Last year, when my ten year prison "stint" was finally up, and I re-entered society, I encountered some... obstacles.
Obstacles like.. Lack of upward mobility. Prejudices and stigmas. Wages and earnings lower than the general population. Undesirable and oftentimes dangerous jobs. And lack of protection from wrongful termination.
Not to mention, an already tough job market, and the fact that my parole required that I maintain steady employment, or face re-incarceration.
Which is why, when I finally got a job offer, after six months of aggressive job hunting, I jumped at the opportunity, giving absolutely no fucks as to how I was actually making ends meet.
"Ever operate a freight elevator before?" Mr. Winfred, the manager of "The Cornelius" and my new boss, asked me my first day on the job.
"No, sir." I replied honestly, as I ran my fingers along the doors of the antiquated contraption, the only remaining evidence of the recently renovated luxury building's ancient past.
"Normally these old things aren't used for passengers, but the building's pretentious designers thought it might add a certain charm to its otherwise sterile decor. Which is where you come in." He continued, as I heard him slide open the freight elevator's outside doors...
SLAM!
...Followed by its scissored metal inside doors.
SCREEEECH!
I heard Mr. Winfred step inside and, using my cane, scanned the interior of the rather large elevator, which must have been eight feet by eight feet, and followed him in.
Instantly, my nose was hit with an overpowering, musty scent, like the kind you'd smell in a basement, combined with your grandmother's attic.
He then closed both doors behind us.
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
"Now this here." Mr Winfred added, taking my hand and placing it on the handle of a lever, "Is how you move the elevator from floor to floor. Up for up. Down for down. You'll hear a click when you reach each floor, which will be helpful for someone like yourself." He said, clearly calling attention to the fact that I'm blind.
Someone like myself? I scoffed internally. You ignorant, entitled piece of shit.
Truth is, I've always had a bit of a short fuse. Which I guess, looking back on it, is what got me into prison in the first place.
But in my ten years of incarceration, I was given tools to combat my anger issues. Tools like reminding myself that it was nothing new. Assholes like him were always dropping unintentional microaggressions. It had been something I'd grown used to, and given my probation, wasn't a battle worth fighting.
"Yes sir." I replied through my teeth, as I begrudgingly swallowed my pride.
"Now, why don't you spend today practicing. Our first residents don't move in until tomorrow."
—
In just a matter of a week or so, as the doors of "The Cornelius" opened to its new tenants, I learned pretty much everything I needed to know about the job.
Said tenants were rich. Very rich. And most of them acted as such. Entitled. Obnoxious. Holier than thou. Especially given my own social class. But a few of them weren't so bad, and tipped well.
Mr. Winfred's assistant, Jane, was a lovely human being. Patient, kind, thoughtful, understanding. Especially when compared to both the building's uptight residents, and Mr. Winfred himself. It had been years since I had dated, and the very thought of meeting a partner stressed me out to no end, but if I was to find someone, I hoped she'd be like Jane.
The elevator didn't open on the basement level. As I'd learned countless times, it was possible to go there, but the doors simply wouldn't open.
The old freight itself was finicky as fuck. Stop the lever one second too early, or one second too late, and when the doors open, you're halfway between a floor. But eventually, I got used to it, to the point where most of the building's tenants assumed the role of freight operator had always been my job. And when you're good at your service job, and do it with a smile on your face, the tips start flowing.
And so, all was well for the first couple weeks on the job...
...A seemingly refreshing return to normalcy, after ten long years...
...Until...
...The disappearances started happening.
—
I was just arriving to work one day, when I heard about the first disappearance.
"Have you seen - I mean, have you been in contact with Elizabeth Davis? From room 401?" Mr. Winfred asked, after correcting himself. Something he did often, which continued to annoy me.
"Um." I replied, unsure of where he was going with the question. "Not since yesterday. She got back from work, and I brought her up to the fourth floor. But come to think of it, I don't think she rode the elevator down this morning. Like she usually does."
"Interesting." My boss replied, before continuing. "She disappeared yesterday."
"Disappeared?" I asked.
"Yeah, husband said she never came home last night."
"Hmm. Well I know for certain that I brought her to the fourth floor. Did you check the hallway surveillance footage?"
"Not yet. Unfortunately the building inspector's in today, and I won't have time until tomorrow. Let's hope she just went somewhere, or got lost. In the meantime, keep an eye out - I mean - just, let me know if you hear of anything suspicious."
"Yes sir," I replied, once again resisting the urge to snap on him, before heading for the elevator, where I started the day's shift.
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
That day, I did my best to do as Mr. Winfred had asked, and listened carefully for any signs of mischief.
But the day went on, business as usual and by the end of the day, I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary...
...Except... The only thing of note was a difference in Mr. Lawrence's demeanor. The tenant of room 805, he was a salesman, and acted like one. When I say the man could talk, the man could talk. To a point where whenever he was a passenger in the old freight elevator, despite the long ride from floor one to floor eight, I'd rarely have a chance to get a word in.
But this time... was different. This time, Mr. Lawrence entered the elevator chatting away, just as he always did. But about halfway up, he just... stopped talking. And the thing about my job is, if someone chooses to talk or not talk, it's their decision, and none of my business. So I left him alone, and when we reached the eighth floor, I simply said goodnight. To which, he didn't reply.
Must be going through something. I thought to myself, having been unable to truly get a sense of his composure, without being able to see him, before closing the double doors and heading off to help the next passenger.
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
—
Later that night, Mr. Winfred called me into his office, and asked me to take a seat beside his assistant, Jane.
"Mr. Owens. Are you aware of the situation that's going on in the building?" He asked, in an interrogating tone.
"Um... yes, you told me about it yesterday. The disappearance, sir." I replied.
"Disappearances now. Plural." He said sternly.
"But... who else?" I asked.
"Mr. Lawrence."
"What happened to him?"
"Well, to be honest, I was hoping you could tell me. Cause much like Ms.Davis, the last place he was seen was going into your elevator."
"What about the cameras in the hallways?"
"I'm afraid that after reviewing the tapes, after stepping into your elevator, neither Ms. Davis, or Mr Lawrence, ever stepped out."
"But that's... not... possible."
"Mr. Owens. I'm going to give you an opportunity. Is there anything you want to tell me? I know you have a sordid past."
"Mr. Winfred!" Jane interjected, clearly offended by his words, and implications.
"Quiet, Jane." He scolded, before continuing. "Answer the question, Mr. Owens."
I didn't know what to say. I was so shocked, so flustered, by what he was implying, that I simply froze.
"Mr. Owens!" He screamed.
"I... I... don't know!" I cried out, as I heard Jane squirm in her seat. "I'm telling you, the last time I heard from either of them, I took them up to their floors. But I'm-"
"You're what! Blind?"
"Well, yes sir. I don't see what goes on inside the elevator. I just let them on and off."
"Mr. Owens. If they got on your elevator, and never got off, where could they possibly have gone?"
"I... don't... know." I replied, at this point, wanting to grab him by force, demand that he never speak to me that way again, and scream out my innocence. But my next parole appointment was the following week, so once again, all I could do was just bite my tongue.
Mr. Winfred paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and regained his composure.
"Mr. Owens, I could go to the police now. And that would be very bad for someone like you."
Fuck. He's right. I thought to myself, realizing, that if he went to the police, and I was even remotely suspected of what was going on in the building, it was back to prison for me.
"But lucky for you," He continued, "There are things going on in the building that I wouldn't want to bring unwanted attention to. And for that reason, I have decided not to go to the police... yet. But consider this a warning. And know, that I have a repairman coming first thing tomorrow morning to install a security camera inside the freight elevator, so I can see what exactly it is that you're doing in there."
I had know idea how to react to Mr. Winfred's continued accusations. So I simply remained silent.
"Now get out of here and go home! We'll reconvene on this tomorrow." He said dismissively, before Jane walked me out of the room, down the hall, and outside the building, where I planned to return home for the night.
—
Fifteen minutes later, we were at a bar down the street, where Jane apparently frequented.
"But where could they possibly have gone?" I asked her, my hands trembling at both the thought of people disappearing in the elevator, and that it was happening under my watch.
"Thing is," Jane said, as she finished her beer. "There's something you should know about the building."
""The Cornelius"?"
"No, from before it was called that. It used to be a factory of some kind."
"Is that what Mr. Winfred was talking about when he said that there were things going on in the building? That he didn't want to bring unwanted attention to?"
"Well, yes and no. Yes, in a sense, that Mr. Winfred cut some corners, and rather than fully renovate the entire warehouse, he simply walled off entire sections of the old structure. Like the basement."
"And no?"
"No, in a sense, that even Mr. Winfred doesn't know what's really going on in the elevator. Sure, it'd be easy to pin it on you, especially with your criminal record - no offense... but even he knows that it's probably something... else."
"Something else?"
"See, that's where things get hazy. Because no one knows what exactly went on at the factory, before it became "The Cornelius." But rumors have it... it was laboratory of some kind, and some fucked up shit went on inside there."
"Like what?"
"That, my friend. I don't know. But what I do know is... I better be getting to bed."
"Fair enough. Well, thanks for the drink, and the support." I said with a smile, as we made our way out of the bar.
"Yeah, don't let Mr. Winfred get to you. And try not to worry too much."
—
Contrary to Jane's suggestion, that night I worried... a lot. About the disappearances, what might be causing them, whatever may have gone on in the factory, and most importantly, about everything getting pinned on me.
I couldn't fall asleep, tossing and turning in bed as my mind raced. And each time I finally passed out, I'd wake up in a panic attack, my heart pounding, short of breath and in a cold sweat.
But it didn't stop there. The uncomfortable feeling of terror and fear, accompanied by the vibrating sensation of adrenaline pumping through my body, remained well into the next morning, when I stepped back into the elevator, terrified by what might be going on inside there.
Please don't leave me alone in this fucking thing. I thought to myself.
And within a matter of minutes, my prayers were answered.
"How goes it?" The surveillance installation worker called out, his cheery disposition contrary to mine.
"Um... not too bad." I replied, lying through my teeth, as he stepped inside.
But after a minute or two of sharing the elevator with him, my fears lessened and my body relaxed, comforted by the positive conversation, and the metallic, clinking sounds of the installation.
Everything's okay. The doors are open. And he's talking. I thought to myself.
But eventually, the man finished installing the camera, and began wrapping up the job.
"Well, that's it! Camera's all installed and running now." He called out. "Let's just take the elevator for a spin and make sure we don't lose the signal."
"Yes, of course." I replied, before reaching for the double doors...
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
..And moving the lever up.
We started moving.
"Fascinating job, I must say, elevator operator. But I suppose you could say the same for mine."
"Pays the bills." I replied, feigning a chuckle.
If he's here, and he's talking, then I'm safe. I continued to reassure myself.
But a few minutes into our ascent, just like Mr. Lawrence... the man... suddenly stopped talking.
"Alright, looks like it's working fine. We can head back down and-"
SILENCE.
"Hello?" I asked.
But he didn't respond.
Fuck. I thought to myself, realizing that whatever caused Ms. Davis, and Mr. Lawrence, and seemingly now the repairman to disappear, could still be in the elevator with me.
Standing there, shaking, sweat rolling down my brow, I backed myself into the corner of the elevator, as I reached for the lever, pressed it down, and the elevator began to make its descent back to the ground floor.
When I finally reached the lobby...
DING!
I scrambled to open the doors...
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
...And darted out, gasping for air, expecting to find a safe haven.
But instead, all I heard was the sound of Mr. Winfred's voice. "Where is the repairman?"
—
A few minutes later, I was once again sitting in Mr. Winfred's office, next to Jane, this time attempting to explain what had happened.
"...And then he stopped talking! Just like Mr. Lawrence."
"You know what, Mr. Owens. I'm tired of your excuses. And now that we have a working camera in the elevator, it's time to find out what's really going on inside there." He threatened, as I heard him clicking away on his computer, clearly reviewing the footage.
"Please do!" I cried out, "I'm telling you, it's not me."
That's when... Mr. Winfred, and Jane, both went silent.
"Hello?" I called out, unable to see what was really going on. Given the fact that my passengers had recently been going silent, the thought crossed my mind that they too had disappeared, but I could still hear their breathing in the room. Breathing, that sounded like it was increasing rapidly...
...Until they broke the silence.
"Oh... my..." Jane said, struggling to catch her breath.
"That can't be. Let me rewind the tape." Mr. Winfred mumbled, the most scared I had ever heard him.
"What is it?" I asked, as they seemingly played back the video.
I would later find out from Jane that the footage would show myself and the repairman in the elevator, as a slithering, grotesque, humanoid figure, suddenly climbed down from the roof of the elevator, wrapped it's slimy arms around the repairman, then somehow hopped back out of the elevator, and pulled the man up with it. Leaving me standing there, completely unaware of what had just happened.
But in that moment, Mr. Winfred must have realized the... complications associated with reporting such a bizarre phenomenon, and instead decided to finally pin it on me.
"Mr. Owens, you shouldn't have done that!" He cried out.
"Mr. Winfred, what are you talking about?" Jane asked, "You and I just watched the same footage."
That's when I heard him drag a file to his computer's trash and delete it.
CRUNCH.
"Stay out of this, Jane. This man has killed three people in the elevator. I knew I shouldn't have hired an ex con!"
"But sir, I didn't-" I tried to reply, before he interrupted.
"Mr. Owens, I'm picking up the phone, and calling the police. I'd suggest you just stay put."
"But Mr. Winfred, I'm telling you, I didn't do anything!"
"Yes, is this 911? I'm the manager of "The Cornelius" and I'd like to report three murders in my building."
"We'd better go." I heard Jane say, as I felt her place her hand on my shoulder.
"And yes, I have reason to believe the killer is our elevator operator, an ex convict, who is sitting right in front of me."
"Come on, let's go!" Jane screamed, as she tugged at my shirt, I hopped up from my seat, and she led me out of the office, down the hall, and into... of all places... the old freight elevator, as she explained to me what she had seen on the surveillance tape.
—
SLAM!
SCREEEECH!
"Take us to the basement!" Jane called out.
"But the basement is walled off." I replied.
"Just do it!" She insisted, before I moved the lever down and the elevator began to move.
I spent the ride catching my breath, until we finally reached the basement level.
DING!
"Now what?" I asked.
But Jane didn't reply.
"Jane?"
Oh fuck. I thought to myself. The monster.
That's when I turned to the center of the freight elevator, where Jane had been standing, reached out into the unknown...
...And sure enough, felt the cold, slimy, skin of the creature, wrapped around Jane's face, preventing her from making a sound.
Not knowing what else to do, I gripped its disgusting appendages with both hands, and slowly pried it off Jane, as she let out a...
...SCREAM..
...And the monster's arm quickly slithered away, back up through the roof of the freight.
Jane dropped to the ground, coughing violently.
"You okay?" I asked her.
But rather than responding, she simply handed me something...
....I opened my fist, to find a pair of keys.
"The lock above the lever. Unlock it." She instructed, still coughing, as I felt around the lever, found the lock, inserted the key, and unlocked it.
CLICK.
"The doors. They should open now." Jane said, as she stood up, having finally caught her breath.
SCREEEECH!
SLAM!
—
We arrived in the dark basement to smell the same, musty odor from the freight elevator.
After her eyes adjusted and she scanned our surroundings, Jane informed me that this floor looked nothing like the other eight, newly renovated floors, with their modern feel and minimalistic designs.
Instead, the basement was a window into the building's former self, when it had been a factory. Its walls brick and crumbling, its floors concrete and cracked.
And scattered everywhere, were the dusty remnants of laboratory equipment. Devices, machines, tanks, most of which were destroyed, or disconnected, or both.
"What went on down here?" I asked.
"From the looks of it, something inhumane," Jane said, after she picked up a few tattered pieces of paper from one of the lab stations, and told me what was on it.
"The first page looks like some sort of a diagram, of a man being pumped with chemicals from tanks. And the second, a drawing... of the creature from the elevator. In pencil beside it, someone appears to have labeled it "The Silencer.""
Silencer. I thought to myself, before remembering that the creature seemed to always silence the sounds of its victims, and to have been repulsed by Jane's scream. At the same time, it had never bothered me in the elevator, as I tended to stand there in silence.
But before I could dwell too much on the thought, Jane interrupted.
"If you don't mind my asking. What did you go to prison for in the first place?" She asked.
"It's okay," I said, surprised she had waited this long to ask, before contemplating the best way to explain what had happened. "’Cause of my temper. Some guy was being a dick on the train platform. We got into a scuffle, and he accidentally fell into the tracks."
"Over what? Did he insult you? Your blindness?"
"No, I'm afraid not." I replied, "We were drunk... and arguing over... a basketball game, of all things. He was... my friend."
"Oh my God. I'm so sorry."
"It's okay."
Jane put her hand on my shoulder, and we stood there in silence for a moment...
...Until suddenly, we heard the sound of Mr. Winfred, and the police approaching, as they ran down what must have been a hidden set of stairs from the ground level to the basement.
"Come on, follow me!" Jane called out, as she took me by the hand and led me into what I'd soon discover was a labyrinthian network of old passages, while the police and Mr. Winfred both called out to us.
"This is the police! Put your hands on your head, and turn yourself in!"
"You're trapped, Mr. Owens! Just confess your crimes, and you'll simply go back to jail!"
We continued to run deeper and deeper into the passages, as our pursuers began to close in on us, their footsteps getting closer... and closer... and closer...
...Until suddenly, the sound of their footsteps was replaced by that of...
...SCREAMING...
...And they suddenly went...
...SILENT.
"What the?" Jane whispered.
"The creature." I whispered. "It must be down here."
That's when we hatched a plan.
—
Having found our way out of the labyrinth and back to the entrance of the laboratory, where we had arrived in the old freight elevator, I found myself standing alone, waiting, as I nervously tapped my cane on the basement floor, Jane having gone off on her own.
That's when I heard Mr. Winfred emerge from the passages, alone, and call out to me.
"Mr. Owens! There's nowhere to run! Even your beloved elevator is gone. You're cornered." He taunted, as I backed towards the elevator and tapped at it with my cane, its doors open, its shaft empty.
"What did you say?" I asked, encouraging him to talk louder.
"What are you, deaf now too?" The ignorant old man snapped back. "I said, you have nowhere to run!"
"I'm sorry, you'll have to forgive me," I said sarcastically, pointing to my ears. "Can you repeat that again?"
That's when Mr. Winfred began approaching and screamed, "You worthless, ex con! I knew I shouldn't have hired you in the first place! And now, you'll go back to where you belong!"
But suddenly...
...Mr. Winfred went SILENT...
...As the creature must have wrapped its slimy tentacles around his face.
That's when I seized the opportunity, ran over to Mr. Winfred, gripped the cold body of the creature, which was indeed wrapped around him, turned, and flung them both behind me, into the hollow elevator shaft...
SLAM!
...Before hitting the "Up" button on the wall, and calling the freight elevator down.
Suddenly, the gears of the elevator above could be heard turning away, and the machine began its quick descent down.
"Mr. Owens, no!" Mr. Winfred cried out, clearly now separated from the creature.
I froze for a moment, as my mind raced back to the night of the tragic accident, when my friend called out to me from the train tracks, and I was unable to save him in time...
....Until I eventually snapped myself out of it, and willed myself to save Mr. Winfred, no matter how evil the asshole's intentions may have been, reaching out my hand out, and pulling him up and out of the elevator, just as the freight car came crash down to the basement level.
SLAM!
CRUNCH!
"RAAAAAAAARRRRR!" The slimy beast cried out, as it was crushed under the old elevator's weight.
DING!
The basement fell SILENT for a moment, until...
SCREEEECH!
SLAM!
...Jane stepped out and said, "Going up?"
But the joke was met was silence. I simply stood there, shaking, as Mr. Winfred did the same, clearly shocked by the events that had just occurred.
—
A few weeks later, after the authorities had done a full sweep of the basement, and cleared out all traces of the building' old laboratory, I found myself once again back in the manager's office.
"Mr. Owens. This is the last time I'm gonna tell you this!" Jane joked, as I heard her recline back in what was once Mr. Winfred's chair, having been named interim manager since her boss's recent and... ironic... prison sentencing.
"Who's the convict now?" I said with a smile, before making my way out of the office.
"Wait." Jane said, stopping me at the door. "You sure you want to go back to operating the elevator? After all that's happened? Like I said, the doorman job is yours if you want it."
"What's the worst that could happen?" I replied with a smile. "There's another one of those creatures in the building somewhere?"

How come when Chinas chang'e 6 went to the moon, they did tests and mentioned nothing about America? They said there were never any footprints or flags
How come if China just now went to the moon and released footage that lagged even with all their technology, how could humans in 1969 go to the moon and take a video without any lag? In 1969 the internet was just first invented and people had to use dial phones.
How come when Neil Armstrong was asked about the landing and was asked to put his hand on the bible and swear he actually landed but he didn't? If you don't have anything to hide and you did go then just do it?
It took china with all their technology 53 days to go the moon there and back but it took 8 days altogether for America in 1969? I've had vacations longer than that.
When china landed on the moon and collected 2kg of moon soil, NASA asked CNSA for some of their moon soil. Why would NASA even ask for any if they ' took back 382 kg of soil from Apollo 17'
Why would Nasa claim to have lost or get rid of all their evidence? If you really did do something as incredible as landing on the moon, you would guard the evidence with your life and never destroy it. Why and how did it 'get lost'?

I finally got to see it today, and:

• Discovery's sitting on a trove of unseen footage that I really wanna see now, or I hope they turn into online exclusives someday. I never thought we'd have videos of Todd Stanley filming Phil Harris until his death, for example.
• I wish they did a two-hour show or longer instead of a relatively short 45-minute one. Not enough airtime to cover 20 freakin' years, you know?
• Sig looks like he quit smoking; he's not lighting up while Jake just keeps going through the sticks, and there's no pack or lighter on his side of the table. But he also looks frail and exhausted all throughout the special. In Bill's words, "How are you doin', buddy?" 😳
• Undergoing prostate cancer treatment and running a crab boat at the same time sounds insane to me. But that's Bill's choice and life, and that's one thing he has some control over because you don't control much while at sea. I hope he beats it and goes into remission 🤞
• We all know Keith can be volatile and physically aggressive (eg. his infamous "Make me a pot of coffee!" clip with producer Brad Carper) to the point where I wonder why no one's sued him yet. But the other clips were newer and made him look much worse; the show did him dirty here. Keith looked drunk (or at least tipsy, the eyes were a dead giveaway) when he pulled a camera from Jake Tawney, who was a producer on several boats from seasons 12-19 (according to IMDB). And Keith pulled Monte off the captain's chair in the renovated, post-rogue-wave Wizard wheelhouse. So maybe within 2-3 years? Seems Keith hasn't changed or learned anything to control his temper since he attacked Carper all those seasons ago, and that's terrifying.
• I also wish they brought more people back to give more depth to the DC 'lore' and really drive the point home that it's been THAT long. I don't mean Elliott or Rip, LOL. But where were Johnny and Andy? Junior, Sean, Harley? Other captains and crew from earlier seasons? And Casey spent like a decade on the show, but for this special episode, he was reduced to an unnamed voice on the radio telling Sig about the Destination's sinking. That's just sad. (Here's the longer version of that clip that originally aired in season 13, with Sig actually calling Casey by name.)
• Then again, maybe bringing certain people back would force them to discuss plenty of things they damn well don't want to... So sure, let's make it into the Jake Anderson Show. 🤷 That bit with him taking his things out of the Saga was heartbreaking, gotta admit. But the special was dodging so many topics and people that it felt like they went from very early to most recent seasons with nothing from in between that.
• Editing was well done for the parts DC had no choice but to show. They managed to use clips that obscured the Harris sons' faces or at least minimized the child rapist's camera time to a few seconds. Edgar's face was blurred out, too.
• There were two people who went overboard from the Northwestern. Damn, I initially thought it was just one.
• Well, I didn't expect to hear that about the Kiska Sea. 😮

What I think happened was. 1967. November 29th. A baby is born on Rokkenjima and taken in by Kinzo Ushiromiya, still deep in his mourning of the Golden Witch Beatrice. As this baby grows up, Kinzo shapes their identity under his upbringing and they grow up with a very stunted sense of self. EIther as some sort of disguise or to give themselves more fulfillment, they assume the identity of a young maid named Shannon and a younger servant named Kanon. This helps them navigate their life on Rokkenjima fine until the larger Ushiromiya family enters the picture, specifically Battler, Jessica and George, whose love for them begins to pull their identity apart. After a conversation with a 12 year old Battler about the kind of woman he likes, and getting even closer with George and Jessica in the years after, this person is at a crossroads on whos wishes get to be fulfilled: Shannon’s, Kanon’s, or Beatrice’s, and this all comes to a head on October 4th, 1986, where they facilitate a series of murders as an internal competition and as a demonstration to the person who affected them the most: Battler Ushiromiya.
….I THINK. I didn’t have the epiphany I thought I would have, more like a slow slow realization when I began to piece together the early-suggested possibility that Shannon was behind the appearances of Beatrice that Maria sees, the weird status of Kanon’s body at the end of almost every twilight, how Kanon had to bail Battler out in the first place, and the Love Duel itself, Shannon, Kanon and Beatrice all being on equal footing within it, and why Shannon and Kanon’s (and Beatrice’s) love had to be mutually exclusive in the first place. Plus more little details like the 19 paces coinciding with the perceived 19 people on the island (family + Beato) and the 19 years since the master of the game had been born, the narration and several characters like Featherine saying that the solution to the previous question or to the logic error could be the key to the whole mystery and is a part of Beato’s heart (her identity). George’s reminiscence of Battler and Shannon as a 12 year old with Beato’s own reminiscence of it coinciding with it. The fact that Battler has literally never seen Kanon and Shannon in the same room and the mystery of how Battler saw Beatrice after the murders of the fourth game. But I think that Shannon, Kanon, and Beatrice are all identities of one person, the 16th person after subtracting Kinzo, Kanon and Shannon from the initial 18, and that their disguises and faked deaths are the key to solving not just the logic error room, but the entire game and magic as a whole. Granted I don’t have *everything* figured out with this yet but I feel like I have my foot in the door finally.
Just starting with the logic error room, we know that Erika and Kanon entered and Batler left, the chain was reset when Erika entered, yet by the end of Erika’s search, Kanon was nowhere in the guestroom. Airtight locked room murder, practically no way to get out of this one, at least through the door. And for good measure, Hideyoshi, George, Nanjo, Kumasawa and Shanon are in the next room over while *everyone else* is in the cousins’ room, and during the escape, the seals to the doors of these rooms are intact. Genuinely the only in that I had on this one at first was the “everyone else” wording with Kanon’s status as furniture as my teeny little screwdriver I was trying to pry this thing open with. Of course the furniture thing is mostly a metaphor for the crested servants’ character arcs, and Genji is considered a person who would be included as “everyone else” but it was a start. Incidentally, my attempts before this episode had me reassessing the idea that Shannon could have disguised herself as Beatrice for Maria from the earlier episodes, and it was like I needed something to bridge these two ideas. And the fact of Kanon coming to save Battler being confirmed in red makes it seem useless to try to figure out how he got out of the cousins' room, but figuring that out was an important first step to my reasoning, as it helped me begin forming the idea that, somehow, to have been out of the cousin’s room, he would have had to be somehow less than one, to not be his own person, to not be included in “everyone else”. And taking this to the guestroom, it eventually dawned on me that, if *he* wasn’t his own person, and his love for Jessica couldn’t exist if Shannon was going to be with George, then maybe these two got in the way of each other because they were the same person, and if this was true, Kanon could escape the guestroom by discarding the disguised and identity of ‘Kanon’, removing him from the guestroom, since it was never specified that nobody was in there, only that Kanon wasn’t. ‘Shannon’ in the next room over could have gotten out through the window, since the status of the seals on the window is a hole that is pointed out in the episode, but Dlanor forbids it from being used, I think because bringing it up without solving Kanon’s identity would be solving the mystery incorrectly or at least out of order.
From here, you can take this to many of the other murders in Question arcs. I think I pointed out that Shannon’s body was hidden from George by Hideyoshi in episode 1, but rereading made me realize that not only had Battler not properly seen it either, but if Kanon was at the scene too, following my theory, the body could not have been Shannon’s. Whose it was I’m not sure. If Kumasawa got into her closet for this that would be funny. If they had a body prepared then sure. But this in conjunction with Kanon’s death not being seen by Battler later leaves this person without the identity of Shannon OR Kanon, free to run around the mansion murdering as they please. Even better if they are prepared to disguise as Beatrice as well, as this would have allowed them to have Maria turn around so they could kill Genji, Nanjo, and Kumasawa without harming her, and when the 4 others would come in and investigate, this person would slip out and kill Natsuhi. For Eva and Hideyoshi, since it was Kanon (and Genji who came upon the crime scene), I think it’s possible that the chain being locked was a lie on Genji and Kanon’s part.
As we know in Episode 2, Kanon’s corpse disappears after his death to the confusion of almost everyone, but this is because the body, as Shannon, is in Kinzo’s study “informing him of the murders” which after learning of Kinzo’s pre-game death means she can be doing whatever she wants. Since Kanon never shows up again, she operates as she needs to until she dies with George and Gohda. I think Shannon struggled with killing both of them. It seemed like there was a genuine struggle to even get the door open and overpower George and Gohda, so her and George could have killed each other, or she kills herself after killing George in mourning, because the final twilight is complete, or because she believes Genji or Rosa will take care of the rest. If Shannon was alive, Rosa stopping Battler from disturbing the body and then chasing everyone out would work for that, but Battler also witnesses like, the viscera of her head spilling out of the hole in it, which could constitute as a body check..? Maybe there’s some fuckery with how this Shannon looks to us and to the people inside the story, and that’s how she bypasses Battler’s body check? idk this one isn’t so solid but Kanon’s missing body is so damning to me. Battler does see Beato and Kinzo at the end and this could have been the culprit as Beato. Battler doesn’t get a good look at her and only sees Kinzo’s back as well. And the magic stuff at the end of every episode in my interpretation is Battler having died and the anti-magic, objective perspective being removed. So idk still working on that one lmao
The biggest thing for Episode 3 is the locked room chain, and having two of the servants being assumed identities really helps. Kanon’s body is ‘found’ in the chapel, a very remote part of the island, so his body is hard to confirm. On the other hand, Shannon is ‘found’ in the parlor, the easiest room to operate from and one that the adults were likely to break the locked room status of by shattering the window. Because Battler sees none of these bodies, the true nature is never confirmed, and it can be assumed that the culprit, having (momentarily) discarded Kanon and Shannon, once again has free reign over the mansion. This comes into play after Eva’s murders take the group into the mansion, starting with Rosa and Maria’s deaths as its unlikely the culprit would kill Maria this early. Kyrie kills Hideyoshi here, briefly surviving a shot to the stomach and either trying to hit Eva or retaliating against her where it would hurt (unwittingly damning her own daughter so yknow that’s not horrible at all). Back when I was a Kyrietrice truther (how I miss those days) I thought she survived much longer and killed George and Nanjo, but it turns out Battler checking her corpse in the metaworld means that Battler confirmed her death in the game too so bleh. But I think the culprit killed George and laid him in the parlor, possibly leading him in as Shannon. From here I think she plays dead as the survivors come in and while they’re distracted (Eva, Jessica and Nanjo are caught up in a fight while Battler overtly is checked out of the situation, not looking closely at the corpses at all), she sneaks out, only to be caught and shot at by Eva, which is what blinds Jessica. The shot isn’t immediately fatal but ‘Shannon’ is bleeding out fast and before she dies, she finds and kills Nanjo, “revives” Kanon, as Beatrice puts it, and leads Jessica out to where they will rest for the remainder of the game.
Chapter 4 is weird, it feels impossible to substantiate anything concrete when the whole island is a huge catbox to Battler, cooped up in the guest house, until after almost all of the murders are committed. WIth Shannon/Kanon in the dining hall with everyone, the best I can work out right now is the first six are shot down by them, the rest escape but are killed as well, at some point in between the 8th and 10th killings, ‘Kanon’ is discarded, making him the ‘9th death’, George and Jessica are killed, not before Jessica sees the dead bodies, is chased to her room and works out that if she gets caught, she’ll probably end up like the rest of them, which she tells Battler. At some point, Kyrie manages to get to a phone and call Battler before being killed. The most concrete thing I can deduce is that the hostage group was potentially never in the dungeon, the status of the dungeon’s existence in that space being up in the air, Kanon’s body is not at the bottom of the well that Battler cannot access, when Beatrice shows up to Battler at the end of the 4th and is spurned by Battler not remembering his sin, she finds a way to die as Shannon and be found.
Very hazy still obviously but idk how else Kanon escapes. Honestly "these clues and circumstances make one body unaccounted for so they can go do whatever" feels sorta cheap which makes me second guess all of this, obv theres some tricks to the locked rooms themselves still but I didn't anticipate that one possible theory would clear up so much. Also relies on the cooperation of some adults and Nanjo. Even tho I believe he’s nice I think Nanjo isn’t difficult considering he lies about Kinzo’s death for so long, and I feel like it wouldn’t be.. too hard to get any of the adults in on it if related to the inheritance? I still think some of Eva and Hideyoshi’s ep 1 behaviors are suspicious and it would be really funny and interesting if Kyrie was fuckin shit up. To me.
Overall if this is what the twist is, I think it's neat since Kanon and Shannon have been among my favorites from the beginning and the idea of them being so closely tied to the thematic core of the story is exciting. My idea of magic is so heavily informed by Ange’s story, it makes me wonder, since the Beato we saw in 67 seemed to live in a great deal of emotional neglect, neglect of her own self rather than of “Beatrice” (probably her mother lol), if this culprit is the same in that she was born from Kinzo and a Beato, likely the 67 one, and their personhood was ignored for the sake of Kinzo having Beato again, maybe “Shannon” and “Kanon” are similar to how Maria summons Sakutaro or Ange summons the sisters, and she summons the servants as a way of enriching her sense of self? Would be sort of interesting but it also feels like its crossing over into like DID territory and after playing like 2 danganronpa games worth of poorly handled stuff like that I dont know. I do kinda feel sad for Jessica not really getting to be with Kanon. They constantly get the short end of the stick, obviously because their love hasn’t developed like George and Shannon’s did over the past few years or even how Battler and Beatrice’s did over the past 5 games, but their love is so full of potential, and I love both of them so much. I’d love to just see them happy together but its not Jessica’s fate sadly lmao.
If we’re to believe that it was Battler’s sin that influenced all of this, I do find it to be really interesting how Battler tends to parallel Kinzo, as another extension of the idea that Kinzo keeps this very harrowing grip on all aspects of Beatrice’s/the culprit’s life. That Battler echos Kinzo’s yearning for the old Beatrice isn’t even solely tragic for Battler’s situation, it also has a lot of terrible implications for what we haven’t seen of Kinzo yet, if Battler’s projection of Beatrice as his former lover onto a girl who sees him as her father is any indication of what Kinzo was like. At the very least, I still love Battler and I think he differs from Kinzo by holding onto the love he had for his family. Even after six games, he’s still just as disgusted at the murders, especially so here, and the portrayal of the mothers of the Ushiromiya family in Battler’s game shows that Battler’s capable of a great deal of reflection and understanding, something that’s hard to believe Kinzo was ever willing to offer. For the sin itself it feels like it’s between Battler being like his grandfather, him neglecting the culprit in some way or him denying magic to her and by extension, her way of like and her worldview, like what we saw with young Ange and Maria.
My last thought on this theory is that it makes so much of the love game in ep6, specifically Zepar and Furfur’s commentary, incredibly funny with how on the nose it is, and shifting from the perspective of the elder Beato who doesn’t get it to that of Kanon and Shannon who are painfully aware, is very eye opening to how heavy handed their dialogue is. Yet another moment of the writers desperately trying to guide you to the heart of the mystery which is comforting as a staple of this whole story.
Looking back at the last post, it is funny how little I had to say about Erika Furudo then. She’s like my second favorite character now, as horrible as she is, and everything she does is in line with how she acted in ep5 (with one caveat we’ll get to), but just way more severe and like mask off about her cold-hearted rejection of emotional truths and desire for complete domination and control of what is accepted as the objective truth which is. very entertaining! Obviously saying a ton about the more clinical, quote unquote “intellectual” camps of mystery readers and writers and about how objective truth really is, which is all incredibly important to understanding the overall mystery, almost like a what not to do when playing Umineko.
But just focusing on Erika herself, she just feels so steeped in every detective trope you’ve ever heard of, and in a story that takes the time to build such nuanced dynamics and relationships between characters, the way she operates can be so two-dimensional it’s actually delightful to watch. Even when she’s given a backstory, it almost feels pre-packaged and thrown in to hastily give her depth and personal relation to truth on a conceptual level, as she is a detective, altho I don’t know if it’s completely hollow. Her back and forth with Dlanor is neat and her final response to it is an early tell that her refusal to recognize the emotions behind people’s truths is a fatal flaw of hers, probably caused by her falling out with her boyfriend. And with the whole game trusting you to see the emotions in everything and to not be cold and clinical in your assessment of the story, I can’t wholly believe she’s completely flat as a character, altho the commentary is still very unsubtle so idk fully. It’s not like bullshit characters can’t be meaningful, and I think there is a level of tragedy in the way she was fashioned on the game board as Bernkastel’s piece, trapped in the position of servitude to Bern, constantly emulating her callousness and seeking her approval, as if she’s like an author insert begging not to be removed by the author herself.
Like I said, she exhibits almost all the same behaviors she did in the last episode, just more brutally here. It’s almost like after failing to beat Battler at the end of episode 5, she’s trying to prove with everything she has that she really is a completely deplorable person, which she does when she fucking kills 5 people in what was supposed to be a non-tragic game, and she does this using the one thing that makes her different from last time: her lack of detective authority. Not only is is a cool trick that runs alongside her casting off the image of a noble seeker of the truth so she can debase herself in order to chase down a more twisted conclusion, it speaks a lot to her own capabilities that even without the privileges of a detective in a classic mystery story, she’s still able to bend the Ushiromiya family to her will and think miles ahead of Battler, making her all the more terrifying. Another thing that makes her different here is that she’s not just trying to solve the murders anymore, she is actively trying to catch Battler in a logic error, trapping him in the broken rules of his own game forever, and once she convinces him to give her seals to a few of the rooms, she does this incredibly easily, guiding Battler to his own damnation in what is, in my opinion, the best battle between the human side and witch side in the entire game thus far. It is absolutely fucking insane the lengths Erika goes to in order to completely destroy Battler. Her command of the game from the very start as if she had planned every mode both of them were going to make is just diabolical and after being a bit desensitized after the past 5 chapters of killings, her BEHEADING five people including a mom in front of her 9 year old daughter just to fuck up Battler’s game genuinely made me sick. And this is all heightened by how well written, translated, and voiced Erika is throughout the entire chapter. Before I got into Umineko, I’d seen videos of the scene completely out of context, and slowly I was drawn into wanting to play the game by the voice acting, the incredible music and tantalizingly rich atmosphere that I would have readily indulged in a full game of. But knowing the context of the scene now, how it acts as the final nail in the coffin of Battler and as the peak of Erika’s twisted level of ecstasy as she gleefully destroys this family, not just for domination of the truth but for the joy of revenge against Battler for denying her that ecstasy in the last game. It is just such an incredibly gripping stretch of scenes so fucking good oh my god.
All of this leads to the wedding of Erika and Battler, which really is the most deplorable action of Erika’s in this whole episode. Just the most disgusting subtext going on here that if you’ve read the novel I don’t even have to spell out. Just the depths she plummets to so she can exercise complete control over Battler. In stark contrast to the way Beatrice let Battler into her game, granting him the tools to understand her and to shed light on the mystery of her existence, finally granting her fulfillment, Erika is an intruder into Battler’s game in every sense of the word, and it’s Bern that created this monster in the first place to further toy with the lives of the Ushiromiya family, not completely different from how it was Kinzo's upbringing that made the adults of the Ushiromiya family who they were, leading to how theyr raised their own kids. Luckily Beatrice is the one who steps in at the last moment to save Battler here, exposing the one thing Erika cannot control: the emotions that are inherent to the facts of the murders. She cannot fathom that the solution to the murder isn’t some one million iq 4D chess move of Beatrice's and after an epiphany about the nature of multiple truths that not only feels kinda fake but is something Battler had come to 3 whole episodes ago with Virgilia and the Braun tubes, Beatrice and Battler’s final red truth shoots her down. Troll officially slayed don't be like Erika Furudo kids. Also there’s only 16 people on the island now! Hopefully you paid attention to Zepar and Furfur earlier. It is actually a funny wink wink nudge nudge that Beatrice entering the chapel to save Battler from the marriage runs parallel to Kanon entering the guest room. As if Ryukishi isnt already on his hands and knees tears in his eyes screaming and begging and groveling for the reader to understand whats going on here.
But yea Erika is a fascinating case study on the nature of truth, its objectivity and how it should be pursued. “True” does not always equal “right”, and the pursuit of objectivity can do immeasurable and irrevocable harm to innocent people just trying to find happiness in their own lives. I didn’t even mention her beefing with a literal 9 year old over a beginner magic trick, but it's clear here that her values run opposite to the games and the writers have a very very fun time criticizing those values through her. I learned this from a YouTube comment but apparently in some WTC bonus material, Rika from Higurashi mentions deep sea fish as omens of misfortune, which absolutely evokes the image of Erika washing up on the shores of Rokkenjima, foreshadowing the ensuing disaster. But after everything, as astute as she is as a riddle solver, she really has not even gotten out of the shallow end in terms of what the heart of a mystery really is, how trauma makes people act and why people are even driven to do the things that they do, ultimately looking like a fish out of water against this very magical setting. Get it like solitary deep sea fish honk honk
Other thoughts. I’m so happy to see Ange again! If the meta aspects of this story weren’t obvious enough, her and Hachijo/Featherine have the most overt readeauthor relationship, and it’s funny how Ange’s risen to Battler’s status of reader insert but in a different way. Battler and Beatrice have a combative, opposing relationship but the way she presents the murders to Battler and beckons him to figure them out very much reflects the writers’ desire for the reader to recognize their fiction. On the outside, it seems tricky but is actually very nurturing. Now, this late in the story, Ange and Featherine have a much more outwardly respectful relationship, likened to a miko and her guardian, although there is a little seedling of toughness that Featherine seems to hold for Ange, probably because of the latter’s stubbornness about some aspects of the story, with Ange also harboring contempt for Featherine sensationalizing her trauma with the message bottles. Funny inversion with Battler and I like the continued commentary on true crime. I also think Ange’s pursuit of the truth and trouble with emotions as Featherine’s reader slightly echoes Bern’s other piece, Erika, although to a much, and I cannot stress that Ange is not anywhere near as flawed as Erika, MUCH lesser extent, and Ange clearly has a higher chance of actually coming to an understanding at the end of the episode, plus its more understanding of Ange to want some power over the narrative as someone whose life was nearly ruined by it, rather than a piece who was just dropped in without any other relation to the Ushiromiya’s, despite being at the mercy of her master. Hate M Zakky guy plotting to kill her at the end altho I figured he sniped those Sumadera henchmen for her earlier and its not surprising but. le sigh
And because you know I have to always bring up Kyrie. That scene with her and Jessica was. Amazing. When Jessica's eyes glazed over and prison strip started playing I lost my mind. Genuinely such a compelling backstory for Kyrie and I love Jessica’s challenge to it, and her finishing line that, as much as Kyrie has been both empowered and terrorized by her jealousy, it does not make her a noble person, and this idea that trauma doesn’t automatically make you virtuous, I believe, will probably be very pertinent to the ultimate mysteries of the story. Besides that, one detail I caught is Kyrie talking about having worked up the nerve to kill Asumu over many many years, and she calls it a miracle that some other force took her the moment that she would have. Earlier this episode, and it’s been echoed in the previous ones, Featherine mentions that magic, as something limited by human ability, is the power to follow through with or get away with it. It really makes me think that. Kyrie could have just. Killed Asumu and is using magic to exonerate herself fdsfdsfds .I mean I’m always biased to my idea of murderer bastard Kyrie and the mountain of circumstantial evidence I thought I had with that and I do think its really funny!!! That she’s the only adult who seems to know how to handle the WInchesters well enough to do it one handed in her cg AND her portrait (og and pachinko not ps3). But hey idk. Every time she makes that closed eyes open mouth portrait it makes me think that she might not be any more savvy than the other adults about whats going on so even if its not serious i can still dream

I expected to have this posted very soon after my trip, but time got away from me! Even the prospect of writing this out is kind of daunting lol so props to all of you who post your trip reports (and I greedily read every word!). Whenever people say stuff like “this is so long, I don’t expect anyone to read this!” I’m always like “of course I’m going to read every word and love it!” But now I am the one telling you guys, this is very long and I can’t imagine who out there is going to read this lol
Thursday 5/16 - Travel Day
Flew to Naples where my friend lives. Plan was to stay two nights with her before we headed to Orlando for one “girls night” before my solo trip began.
Saturday 5/18 - Travel to Disney!
Left at 6:30am to drive to Orlando. It was her and her two girls (age 11 and 5). We had reservations for one night at Beach Club. We bounded as princesses (Tiana, Ariel, Aurora, Jasmine). We walked to Epcot at 11:30am and that short walk was INCREDIBLE. I can’t believe how close the park is!!! Beach Club is amazing for location alone! Here are the things we ate and experienced:
~~Toasted Pretzel Bread (Germany): 20/10 This was absolutely delicious and over the course of the week I think I ate it like 5-6 times lol
~~Raspberry Radler (Germany): same as above, LOVED
~~Harvested a Pearl (Japan): This was seriously THE BEST experience! We all got them put in necklaces. One of her daughters got a gray/blue pearl and it was gorgeous. Lots of attention when she showed mine bc it looked big and she kept moving it up the sizing plate. I ended up with an 8.5mm pearl! It was very exciting and lots of celebration by the workers and crowd. They said it was the largest of the day. Honestly, I recommend this to ANYONE. It was less expensive than I expected, $29 to harvest the pearl, then I think I spent $23 on a cage for it, and I chose to buy a necklace for it to wear right away and that was $26. I am 100% doing it again in September when I go back for my 40th birthday (and I told my hubby he is doing it too and will love it!)
~~Lemon Drop Shandy (The Citrus Blossom): 7/10 good! nothing exceptional, I liked the radler better
~~Cinnamon Roll Bites (Brunchcot): 6/10, I was so excited for these but they were just average. I think maybe if we had a batch that had more frosting it might have been better. They weren’t bad, just not outstanding. Loved the bacon crumbles though!
~~Guardians of the Galaxy: the only reason this is making it into the notes is bc of my Reliefband. I get motion sickness. I tried Guardians last fall (after 2 dramamine) and still had to sit for about an hour afterward to chill and not be sick. I decided to purchase a Reliefband (classic version, Amazon, $129) to try out this trip and see if it would work. I was very skeptical. But I am here to say it worked 1000000000%. I was so blown away. Absolutely ZERO feelings of motion sickness during or after the ride. Kept my eyes open the whole time (it’s the visual speed that usually gets me, screen rides get me too). I am not a big thrill ride person, so incidentally this time around I realized this isn’t the ride for me. I just don’t enjoy it that much, BUT the big deal is to find out that is my ride preference and has nothing to do with motion sickness. It was so liberating not having my motion sickness control me! Ooooo, also, I was absolutely ecstatic that I got the song I’ve always wanted!! Everybody Wants to Rule the World!
We left Epcot at 4pm and went back to the resort to check in. First of all, it’s so gorgeous there. The room was wonderful, the lobby is beautiful and smells amazing. I wish we had the money to always stay deluxe bc I get why people love deluxe resorts so much!
Dinner at Ale & Compass (Yacht Club): 7/10, again, food was decent but nothing exceptional. Actually the Parker House Rolls were 1000% worth the hype, I got the NY Strip Steak though, asked for medium rare and I think it was more medium and that ruined it a bit for me (also taste was just meh)
We spent about an hour and half swimming at Stormalong Bay after dinner. That pool is seriously incredible. I never want to experience anything but a sand bottom pool again. The. Absolute. Best.
18,525 steps
Sunday 5/19 - Girls Leave and Solo Begins
We checked out and then had a Beaches and Cream reservation at 11:30am. We shared the Bacon Ranch Totchos (7/10 tasty but too much topping for me), Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (grilled cheese 9/10, tomato soup 6/10), aaaaand the Kitchen Sink Sundae (9/10)! Was it smart for us to get this with only two adult women and two children? Probably not. But boy was it fun and delicious and we put way more of a dent in it than I thought we would lol. A little siren goes off in the restaurant when one is brought to a table and there is a back and forth with kitchen staff and customers (they say something about a “whole can of whipped cream” and customers answer back as a group) and it was a very fun vibe! In fact that is one of the reasons I rate it a 9/10 haha, bc I think there is just too much whipped cream and a lot of the ice cream is just buried.
We swam at Stormalong bay for 2 more hours before they dropped me off at All-Star Movies and they headed home to Naples.
Magic Kingdom (solo)
I got into my room at All-Star Movies (Love Bug building 6) and tbh I didn’t mind its distance to the bus stop, maybe bc it was just me, but I didn’t have a problem with it, I thought the walk was quick enough. I was in Magic Kingdom by 5:30pm.
6pm PeopleMover (walk on) 5 min posted
6:30pm Pirates of the Caribbean (walk on) 10 min posted
6:45pm Thunder Mountain (10 min) 15 min posted
7:10pm Enchanted Tiki Room (10 min) 15 min posted
7:40pm Haunted Mansion (20 min) 20 min posted
8:25pm Got the Sweet and Spicy Chicken Waffle sandwich at Sleepy Hollow: 7/10, the taste was great, I don’t like spicy stuff but this wasn’t too spicy. The only con is that the bottom of the waffle was kind of soggy and I didn’t really eat that part.
8:55pm in spot for HEA
9:40pm Peter Pan’s Flight (25 min) 10 min posted
Spent a lot of time in gift shops and doing photopass on my way out of park
11:10pm On bus back to resort
19,626 steps
Monday 5/20 - Animal Kingdom
6:45am On the bus to AK
7:22am Scanned into the park
7:32am Nav’i River Journey (6 min) 10 min posted
8:05am Kilimanjaro Safari (18 min) 25 min posted, was off the safari at 8:45am
9:05am Pongu Pongu - tried the Pongu Lumpia! I know this snack is controversial, it seemed like it was up my alley, but others have said the same and didn’t end up liking it so I was expecting to ultimately dislike it. I enjoyed it! 8/10 would eat again!
9:15am Gorilla Falls Trek, walked for 20 mins
9:45am It’s Tough to be a Bug - this was my first time, honestly, I think I have read articles and seen so many vlogs calling it startling and scary that I think I was expecting the worst so much that it wasn't….that….bad? I didn’t mind it? (side note: the ONLY time this entire trip that I wore tennis shoes was the morning of Animal Kingdom. My feet were hurting by the time I went into this show, so while it was going on I switched to my flip flops and my feet took a complete 180 degrees. I wore flip flops the rest of the trip and had zero issues with sore feet. I guess I’m just a flip flop girly???)
10:15am Feathered Friends in Flight - was actually heading to 11am Lion King but a CM I passed was announcing to people that the bird show was starting at 10:30 so I decided to detour there. It was great!
11:00am Maharajah Jungle Trek, walked for 20 mins, this was the most beautiful trail for me, absolutely lovely!
11:30am Eight Spoon Cafe - got the BBQ pork MacnCheese, found a spot to sit down by Drinkwallah and that is my go-to spot now. It is shaded and the carved tables and chairs are so pretty. I really like that little (hidden?) sit-down area!
12:00pm Discovery Trails, walked for 10 mins, then looked around shops in Discovery Island and Asia
12:50pm Rafiki’s Planet Watch (5 min) I did not get off the train, at this point I needed a break but I did not want to go back to resort, so I sat on the Wildlife Train and drank lots of water, I went around the circuit twice, got off at 1:30pm
1:45pm Festival of the Lion King, got in line for 2pm show, this was my first time…it BLEW MY MIND, absolutely loooooooved this. So so much. It was wonderful!
3:00pm Dinosaur (5 min) 15 min posted - first time! Honestly, I have heard so many disparaging comments about this ride I expected it to be terrifying, painful and just not fun. Again, I had an opposite experience! I love dinosaur movies (like Jurassic park) so I really enjoyed this one. I hope it is still there to ride when I am back in the fall!
3:30pm Nomad Lounge (added myself to waitlist on app, there was no “wait” got the text pretty much immediately) This was such an important break out of the heat. I spent an hour here to recharge. I drank a lot of water, had a delicious cocktail Lamu Libation 10/10, Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl 8/10, and Churros 10/10. I was able to charge my phone in an outlet at the bar. It was the perfect break!
5:00pm Left AK and headed back to resort
7:20pm Scanned into Hollywood Studios, walked around, looked through gift shops
8:20pm Catalina Eddie’s: got the Toffee and Coconut Blondie to take with me into Fantasmic! You guys…this is an absolute favorite of mine! My friend got it at NYE and forced me to try it (I didn’t want to bc I am not a coconut fan) but I fell in LOVE. Definitely a 20/10. I was so excited to get it again this trip. If you don’t love coconut, I find it very mild, you should definitely give it a shot.
9:00pm Fantasmic!
10:00pm Got on the bus to All-Star Sports instead of Movies bc in the gift shop at my resort the worker had told me I could find the pin I was looking for at the Sports gift shop. It was the 30 yr Anniversary pin of All-Star Resorts. I bought that and walked all the way back to my building, was back by 10:30pm
31,437 steps
Tuesday 5/21 - EPCOT
10:00am Scanned in at Epcot - kind of embarrassing…I was “that person” to hold everyone up. The past two days I did not need a park reservation, so I didn’t even think anything of it, but they told me one was required this day and he was setting one up for me on his ipad but then it kept erroring out, I felt TERRIBLE.
10:25am - Living with the Land (5 min) 5 min posted
10:50am - Nemo and Friends (15 min) 15 min posted
11:15am - Journey of Water walkthrough
11:40am - bought the Spike’s Pollination Exploration Scavenger hunt, it was nice bc it was 30% off with the rest of the F&G merch and I got my 20% discount on it. I mean it was only $10 regular price but I was still pretty happy lol
11:50am - got food!!! Toasted Pretzel Bread and Raspberry Radler (Germany) still 20/10, Frushi (Japan) 8/10, Fruit Punch Ale (America) 8/10 good but I would get the radler over this every time
1:00pm Frozen (40 min) 60 min posted, I got splashed a lot more than normal this time for some reason! Sat next to a girl who was videoing on a go-pro, asked if she was a vlogger but she said no and then we chatted for a min about our love of Disney vlogs, it was nice!
2:10pm Kringla Bakeri - Viking Coffee, 9/10 excellent!
2:30pm The Honey Bee-stro - Liquid Nitro Honey-Mascarpone Cheesecake, 10/10 LOVED, the cheesecake was smooth and creamy (even while “frozen”) and the tart blueberry compote that comes with it is a perfect pairing. Plus I was able to Pixie Dust someone here! There was a young girl in line in front of me by herself, she was maybe 13? Anyway she was trying to scan her magic band for payment and the CM told her the band was not authorized to be used for payment, she seemed a bit surprised and embarrassed and I stepped in and started scanning my magic band. It was honestly only $6.50. She tried to tell me no and that she would go get her mom, but I just overrode her and said “It’s Disney! Let me!” with a smile. We were both at the window to pick up our items together and when she got hers she unexpectedly leaned in and gave me a hug and thanked me again. I was so surprised and heartwarmed (and also felt bad that I was kinda sweaty lol). But anyway it was a wonderful moment!
2:45pm Bought the Spaceship Earth cookie jar that I have been wanting so badly! I got it with my gift card I got for “mothers day” from our pets :D
2:55pm Spaceship Earth (walk on) 5 min posted
4:00pm Bus back to resort for a break and shower bc it was a very hot day!
6:40pm Scanned back into EPCOT
6:45pm Spaceship Earth (walk on) 5 min posted
Walked around to find Spike for scavenger hunt
7:35pm Toasted Pretzel Bread and Raspberry Radler (again! lol)
8:00pm watched Garden Rocks concert
More Spike hunting!
9:00pm Luminous
9:10pm Started heading out of park
This was my toughest day of my whole solo trip for several reasons. 1) I don’t think I did enough sit down things, I was on my feet a ton 2) I was not being “park smart”. Epcot is huge enough in the first place but I was not navigating the park in an efficient way and ended up walking WAY more than I should have. Around 7:30-8pm I started to feel something pulled in my leg (after googling later maybe a mild issue with adductor tendon?) it was high up in my inner thigh, I decided to leave the park only 10 mins after Luminous started bc I really wanted to not push myself, the next day was going to be my Magic Kingdom day and that is my favorite park and would likely be a long day and I just didn’t want to ruin it.
29,183 steps
Wednesday 5/22 - Hollywood Studios (not Magic Kingdom!)
Woke up before 7am and decided to pivot on my plans bc of my leg. I decided to stay in the resort room until midday to rest my leg, and due to that decision I switched my park day from MK to HS. I figured if I was going to be in a park for less hours of the day I would rather sacrifice time in Hollywood Studios than Magic Kingdom. I bought Genie+ and bought an ILL for Rise of the Resistance for 1:40pm. This ended up being THE BEST decision I could have made. By the time I left my room, my leg was feeling 100% better and I did not have any issues with it for the rest of the trip!
1:15pm Scanned into Hollywood Studios
1:30pm Frozen Sing Along - I love this fricken show, I always want to see it every time I go to HS, I could watch it a million times, I am always impressed by the Arendelle Historians bc they are so funny, and while they will make jokes in a similar vein, they still have so much variety that you don’t see the same jokes when you watch shows with different historians. A++, this will always be one of my faves.
2:15pm Rise of the Resistance ILL - full A mode, also…bc I was wearing my Reliefband I was able to keep my eyes open during the drop with the simulation of flying through space. It was great!!!
3:00pm Smuggler's Run (G+) - okaayyyyyy, I have never been on this (due to motion sickness fears) but I decided to take the plunge. I got all the way to sitting in the seat and tbh I was terrified. I was by myself, I didn’t know exactly what to expect and I was not so much scared that I would be sick, I was confident in the Reliefband, but I was worried I would hate the simulated feeling of flying. That kinda freaks me out. So then, the ride doesn’t actually start and they tell us that a CM will be in to let us out bc it has malfunctioned and we will be given a LL back. I was quite literally SO RELIEVED. I will try that ride, but in September when I am with my husband!
3:30pm Woody’s Lunchbox - Adult Lemonade 10/10 and Raspberry Lunchbox Tart 7/10. I ended up getting two more Adult Lemonades throughout the night bc I thought they were delicious!! The tart was fine, it tasted “good” but nothing unique or outstanding.
4:00pm Beauty and the Beast Live
4:35pm Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (G+)
5:15pm Toy Story Mania (G+)
6:00pm Baseline Taphouse - Charcuterie Board 9/10 and Blood Orange Hard Cider 7/10
6:30pm Frozen Sing Along - I am not kidding about how much I like this show lol
7:10pm Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (40 mins) 45 min posted
8:20pm Rise of the Resistance (used the anytime pass I got for Smuggler Run going down) this time around we ended up having to walk down a hallway bc there was a technical difficulty with the 2nd pre show (where you enter the craft and get pulled in by the first order) we skipped that part and walked down a hallway straight into the storm trooper room. Everything else worked except for Finn.
8:45pm Ran my ass through Toy Story land (picked up an Adult Lemonade!) and hightailed it to Fantasmic! This ended up being a very good lesson for me. Getting to Fantasmic! just as it was starting was NOT a good idea. I was in the bleachers in the last section at the top, like with the walkway in front of you. You can hardly see anything back there. I will not make this mistake again. I left just as the floats started bc I could not even see them at all.
Browsed a lot of gift shops!
10:20pm Got on bus back to resort
I go back and forth on whether G+ was worth it today. Ultimately, I side on yes bc I didn’t even get to the park until 1pm, got to walk the park a ton, I did the most photopass spots here than I did on any other day, so Genie+ allowing me to just hop on 3 rides with no wait gave me the time to do all of that (and watch Frozen twice and B&B show), and I had the time to wait for Runaway Railway standby again. Also, bc the Smugglers Run malfunction allowed me to use a “LL” on Rise again, that alone made it worth it!
20,264 steps
Thursday 5/23 - Magic Kingdom
Wooooohoooo! My favorite park! I decided to get G+ today and get an ILL for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train for 7:40pm
9:10 Scanned into MK
9:25am Thunder Mountain (walk on) 10 min posted, this ride has never gotten to me in the past (motion sickness) but I was in the second to last cart and that made this ride feel faster and “dippier” and I did not care for it lol
9:40am Westward Ho - Crispy Chicken/egg/pepper jack breakfast biscuit, 9/10 would get again!
9:55am Pirates of the Caribbean (10 min) 15 min posted
10:25am Enchanted Tiki Room (walk on, got there just as they were ushering people in)
10:45am Enchanted Tales with Belle (12 min) 20 min posted
11:20am Little Mermaid (G+)
11:35am Mickey’s Philharmagic (10 min) 15 min posted
12:20 Carousel (15 min) 5 min posted - tbh this one pissed me off lol, bc I would have never gone on it had I realized I would wait 15 mins, 5 mins was a cruel trick haha
12:50pm Winnie the Pooh (G+)
1:05pm it’s a small world (G+)
1:35pm PeopleMover (8 min) 15 min posted
2:05pm Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin (G+) - I didn’t remember thinking this ride was this hard! But after having just done Toy Story Mania the day before, I did not find this one to be as easy to “play”, I prefer Toy Story Mania!
2:20pm Monsters Inc Laugh Floor (17 min) 10 min posted
3:05 Peter Pan’s Flight (G+)
3:25pm Pecos Bills - slugged some water, had a coke (12/10 refreshing!) and nachos (4/10, I did not remember these being so spicy, I mean I don’t like spice so I am probably a wimp saying this but I did not enjoy these bc of the spiciness, will not get again)
4:00pm Stopped in Columbia Harbour house which was not too busy and found an empty table next to an outlet to charge my phone
4:45pm Haunted Mansion (G+)
Walked to First Aid station for Tylenol (headache)
5:20pm Pirates of the Caribbean (G+)
5:50pm Sunshine Tree Terrace - I tried the I Lava You Float, and I was sure it was going to be too sweet even though I have read many people’s reviews who loved it. I LAVA THIS FLOAT! 10/10 very much looking forward to getting again in fall!
6:05 WDW Train (Frontierland) (6 min) 10 min posted - I felt like chilling for a bit again so I did a full circuit and then went on to Fantasyland
7:05 Mickey’s Philharmagic (5 min) 10 min posted
7:35pm Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ILL - felt the same way about this one as BTM earlier, I was in one of the last carts (row 8) and it felt faster and dippier than in the past, no thanks!
8:10pm PeopleMover (20 min) 5 min posted - this should have been a walk on, but the ride went down as I was in line, I kept debating back and forth about leaving the line and coming back, but I just kept sticking it out a few more mins and a few more mins. Some people in line behind me were speculating if someone had puked on the ride bc of the workers going up. Not sure, doesn’t really matter, PeopleMover is the BEST at night!
8:50pm Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (35 min) 35 min posted - Listen, I wasn’t expecting to be on this ride during HEA, I was just trying to hop in line while everyone was waiting for fireworks bc the wait would be shorter, but the fact that I actually got on it in perfect timing to see fireworks?! Let me just say it is just as cool as everyone says it is! Also, they put me in row 8 again, grrrrr, is that the designated solo rider lane?
9:30pm TRON - I tried getting a boarding group at 7am and didn’t get in. So then my plan was to get in at 1pm but I totallyyyyyyy forgot about it and I remembered at 1:55pm and I was like “crap! I guess I will see if I can still buy an ILL”. I was about to do that and then I thought to myself, “maybe I should just see if the VQ is still open?” AND IT WAS! So I literally got a boarding group at 2pm, an hour after the VQ started, I was shocked and thrilled when I got one! Plus TRON is always so gorgeous at night. I actually have yet to ride it in the day lol And LISTEN, I get that most people prefer Guardians to TRON, I really do get it. BUT bc I am not that much of a thrill ride person, I like easier going coasters. I seriously love TRON so much. It is such a horizontal coaster that it’s like my ideal. You get the thrill from it being fast and a little dippy, but nothing crazy. It’s a fave for me!!!
10:30pm Casey’s Corner - French fries and coke, both 10/10 refreshing and needed the pick me up!
10:45pm Main Street Confectionary - It was on my to-do list to get the popcorn mix from here. I chose Butter Popcorn, dark chocolate sauce, pretzel pieces and snickers. 10/10 definitely recommend. Will be getting a mix again in September!
11:10pm Got on bus back to resort
Friday 5/24 - Bonus Day?!
This was supposed to be my travel day back home. My flight was set to leave at 5pm, but in the morning my husband told me about storms in the midwest and I got an email from the airline about “adverse weather conditions”, so I called and changed my flight to the next day at 7am. (It ended up being the right choice bc my original 5pm flight out of MCO was delayed multiple times until it was finally canceled at like 10:30pm) I was thankfully able to book another night at All-Star Movies and could stay in my same room. I quickly formed the plan to go back to Animal Kingdom to see Festival of the Lion King again bc I had enjoyed it so much earlier in the week and then go to EPCOT to finish the final 4 Spikes that I had not located yet for the scavenger hunt!
11:00am Scanned in at Animal Kingdom
11:50am Mr. Kamal’s - got the Chicken Dumplings that were on my list to try but I did not get the chance to on Monday, also went back to my favorite spot by Drinkwallah, the dumplings were like a 6/10. Idk just pretty average for a potsticker that you can get anywhere, I probably would not get them again
12:15pm walked around Dinoland to really soak it in just in case next time I come it is walled off!
1:pm Festival of the Lion King - man, this is just fantastic! Be Prepared is my favorite villain song and I get so pumped when they do that part!
1:50pm Satu’li Canteen - got the wood-grilled chicken protein bowl, with rice and black beans and the creamy herb sauce. Literally OH MY GOD, this was so flipping good! 20/10!!! Best thing I ate hands-down all week. I wasn’t sure I would eat the slaw in the bowl but that was delicious, the creamy herb sauce was amazing and those little boba balls that add the citrus burst?!?! So so good. I have already altered our plans for September to include two meals here so I can get this bowl twice next time lol
2:45pm Took bus back to Resort
5:30pm Scanned in at EPCOT
5:55pm Living with the Land (walkon) 10 min posted
6:15pm Awesome Planet (walkon, went into theater immediately and show started) This was my first time checking this out, I really enjoyed it! I will def watch again especially in the heat of the day when I just need to sit somewhere cool for a bit!
6:45pm Found Spike (1 of 4 left) by the Butterly Landing!
7:00pm Found Spike (2 of 4 left) in France
7:10pm Checked out the Annual Passholder lounge in Restaurant Marrakesh
7:35pm Gran Fiesta Tour (walk on) 5 min posted
7:50pm Found Spike (3 of 4 left) in Mexico
8:00pm Got another Toasted Pretzel Bread and Raspberry Radler from Germany (dont judge! lol)
8:10pm watched Lit at Garden Rocks concert (who doesn’t love “My own worst enemy”!?!?!?)
8:35pm Found final Spike in Japan!!! - this one was my ultimate nemesis. I had searched Japan on Tuesday, I had searched Japan (twice?) earlier on this day and I was all set to give up bc I couldn’t find the Kokedama garden. I just hadn’t looked up the stone path to the left of Japan. Finally saw it when it was dark out and got my final Spike!!!
8:50pm Journey of Water walkthrough (always better at night!)
9:05pm Shoutout to the photopass guy who I stopped by on my way out of the park, those were the most awkward poses I have ever done in front of spaceship earth but you tried your best and the photos make me laugh every time I see them!
29,941 steps
Overall Thoughts
10/10 Amazing Trip. I found out about people going on solo trips here on reddit late last year and I was immediately certain I had to book one. While I can be a very social person, I am also a loner in the fact that I do enjoy spending time in my own company (not everybody does) so I knew a solo trip was right up my alley. It was everything I hoped for and more. I didn’t have to consult anyone else, I could do what I want, when I want. Also, (not to brag….shhhhhh…I’m not bragging I swear) but I am not a complainer. The heat usually doesn’t affect me too much, I have a good amount of endurance so I get tired of course but it takes a lot. I’m pretty unflappable because I’m just happy to BE AT Disney World. Others I’ve gone with are not like this so much lol so it was nice to just be in my own company in the sense that I was always in a positive mood and didn’t have anyone dimming that? If that makes sense?
Safety
I am a petite woman. I am 4’10” and 118lbs so I am very aware of my size in terms of my safety. I can honestly say though that I felt safe throughout the whole trip. The one time that I got off the bus at All-Star Sports at 10pm to go to the gift shop and then walked all the way to Movies, that did worry me a bit but only as I was walking through the parking lot sections.
And I did get the crap scared out of me at the resort due to the requirement of a “visual check”. I had not ever heard of this, but I was in my room for a midday break and I had a knock at my door by housekeeping. I thought it was odd bc I had my “room occupied” sign out the whole time bc I didn’t feel the need for housekeeping, it was just me in the room. I said “no thank you” and they knocked and announced housekeeping again. I said “no thank you” louder. (internally I was thinking, can they not hear me through the door????) and they did it again! I finally went closer to the door and I heard the person mumble something about a “visual check” and I very sternly and loudly said “no!” bc I didn’t know what the heck they were talking about. I peeked through the curtain at my window and watched the guy walk past holding a phone in his hand. I think he was wearing a uniform shirt but I couldn’t totally tell. I decided to call the resort in the event this was someone trying to pose as housekeeping staff. They ended up relieving my fears by telling me it was legitimate. Apparently, you have to have your room checked at some point in your stay (I was staying 5 nights) if you choose not to get housekeeping. He explained this has to do with the Pulse Nightclub shooting. I guess they had stockpiled guns in their hotel room and kept not letting housekeeping in. He explained that is why they do the visual check, for the safety of all resort guests. I was 100% supportive once he told me that and I felt bad for yelling at the guy. But also, I am a solo woman and I had no idea what the hell was going on, and to be completely frank, I had just showered so I was in a tshirt and underwear which made me feel even more vulnerable bc I was not fully dressed! I was not letting that person in my room. The guy on the phone totally understood that and apologized for alarming me. I told him to have the guy come back and do the visual check. I apologized to him when he came in. He was in my room for all of 10 seconds and that was it. But it was certainly a crazy ordeal!
Walking
I was doing 20-30k steps each day and other than hurting my leg on Tuesday I was honestly fine. I had shin splints too but again, they weren’t terrible and by Thursday they were gone. I brought tennis shoes and flip flops intending to switch on and off throughout the week in order to prevent my feet from getting sore but that never happened. I spent 3 hours in the shoes on Monday before my feet started hurting and I never wore them again. I had 2 different pairs of flip flops the whole time. I guess that is what my feet like!
Backpack vs Loungefly
I typically wear a normal size backpack to the parks, but also I can usually share wearing it with my husband. I didn’t really consider how hard it would be to wear a backpack alllllllll day long. And it wasn’t even heavy, I didn’t put much in it at all, but still it wore on my shoulders and made them sore. On Wednesday I ended up getting a Loungefly even though they have never really been my thing. It honestly ended up being perfect. It felt different on my shoulders and I wasn’t getting sore like I was with a regular size backpack.
Waiting in Lines
I have often read that one of the things that bothers solo travelers the most is waiting in lines by themselves bc it’s boring and they have no one to keep them company. I thought I might feel this way too but waiting in lines was not bad at all to me. It’s so easy to be on your phone that whole time. I was looking at my photopass photos, browsing reddit, and inputting trip notes. I felt like waiting in line was not a hardship for me as a solo traveler.
Photopasses
This trip exceeded my expectations with photopasses! The number of photos each photographer took and the variety of positions and magic shots was awesome. I am assuming part of that is because I was solo? I am not sure but I just felt like the quantity and time spent at each photopass location was better than normal. Special shout out to Hollywood Studios, that day in particular was just awesome. Every photographer was awesome, but especially the ones in Galaxy’s Edge. I was having such an amazing time getting them!
Total Photopasses each day:
MK - 6 photopass spots
AK - 2 photopass spots
Epcot - 3 photopass spots
HS - 7 photopass spots
MK - 6 photopass spots
AK and EPCOT - 7 photopass spots
I can’t wait to do it all again in September with my husband!

I recently acquired a Legend MM LED bracelet that was handed out at the concert in Japan. Figured I'd take a shot at hacking it to make it light up or even wear it to one of their upcoming concerts (if I could get it to light up). I have a question for anyone actually at the show, did they make the bracelets light up in designs or waves or colors? Or did they all light up at once? Admittedly I haven't seen the entire show footage yet so someone will have to tell me the effects. I took it apart tonight and below is what I discovered.
First a disclaimer - hope this post doesn't get taken down, I'm not sure this violates any community guidelines but my posts seem to get taken down a lot. Second if people are interested in this type of stuff I can make a second post with pictures.
So the bracelet is fairly straight forward but doesn't contain any markings from who manaufactured it. It runs on two LR44 mini batteries that are always on till they finally run out of power. It looks like there is a slot for a slip of paper to cover the back contact of the battery which I'm sure they pulled out to activate them as they handed them out.
It's held together by 4 mini Phillips head screws. The only marking on the circuit board is DS2327 v3 - 2024.1.15 / so it's version 3 and made on Jan 15th but the "DS2327" is a mystery. No mfg name on either side. On the board is an infrared receiver module that is mounted in a cutout hole in the center, presumably due to its size with the only marking visible being 333 on the back. Tried to look this up and think I came close with Vishay TSOP 333 IR receiver module (it looks like that w/ 3 solder leads) but I'll need to remove it to see the sides so I can really tell what frequency it operates at. Looking at the spec sheets from Vishay the info I need is printed on the sides and it is mounted in a pass-thru hole cut in the center so you can't see the sides. Done on purpose? Maybe. Pretty smart because the markings will tell you it's operating freq.
The Vishay TSOP 333xx (xx being the frequency) are designed to operate for short burts in a noisy environment. They range from 30KHz to 56KHz on the receiving signal. I watched some videos on LED crowd bracelets and this type has a IR beam that is directed at the crowd to activate specific bracelets where it is pointed. So it can be used for specific patterns or to spell things - so thats why I'd like to know what the effect was.
It has 3 large surface LEDs on top and 3 three-lead LEDs soldered to each side. I haven't applied voltage to them yet to see what colors they are, but the board is marked with RGB test pads, along with 3.3VDC and ground points. I have a feeling due to the grouping of three, they are red, blue and green - which can make almost any color combination.
The board is made up of a lot of surface mount resisters and capacitors, plus a handful of what I think are transistors or power gates. It's a multi-layered board so there are no surface traces visible, but you can see the outline of the circuit paths just beneath the surface. There is only one integrated circuit (IC) on the entire board - and I kind of figured the IC would give away what it was. Kind of...
The IC labeled as U1 appears to be a timing chip that holds a preprogrammed instruction set. Mfg by HDSC it's marked with F005C6UA on the surface. I found a pic of the exact chip after a little searching and it's an ARM Cortex-M0+ processor running at 32MHz. It turned out to be a programable Memory IC EEPROM HC32F005C6UA - it holds a preprogrammed routine (maybe?). There are a lot of leads labelled as timing circuits out and in. Keil.arm.com has a tool called the MDK v6 that I could probably use to pull out the ICs instruction set...again maybe.
I'm only a hobbiest with electronics but I did work in the industry for several years back in 1997 to 2003. There is no way I am going to be able to create an IR signal that activates the chip and accesses the IC controller to send a timed instruction set to each bank of LEDs. But it would be fun to figure out if I wanted to dive deeper. The best I can do with this device is solder some jumpers from the battery +/- points, insert a micro-switch to control power, and then jumper the LED contacts so they just light up when I flip the micro-switch. That would be fun.
The band is flimsy clear rubber with "MM" cut out on each side, if I try to wear it on my wrist I stretch out the band and risk breaking the MM part and ruining it as a collector item. However if I wanted to wear it I could replace the band with a cloth Velcro style since the band is held in by the clamping force between the two halves of the bracelet body. I'm going to order some LR44 watch batteries and find out more. Any questions or comments just ask. If you want to know more I can make a 2nd post with pics. Also if you recognize any of the stuff I mentioned above and you know who made these bracelets and how I can dig deeper please comment below.

I was thinking about how for fighting games there are videos of professional players giving their thought processes on why they do things as they do them. Or why they decided on one thing over another and how they expect it might pan out.
There are similar videos in the game developer sphere with people posting footage of them actually making games from scratch, showing their process with commentary.
So I suddenly realized, I havent ever actually SEEN an author write a book before. Do videos like this, or maybe just a file of an authors notes they took while writing, exist anywhere? Has anyone sat down and said "hey, what if I just recorded my whole writing process start to finish for a full novel?" And then done it? Giving live commentary on all their thoughts, revealing every little technique on how they go about developing a story down to the nitty gritty?
Because sure, there are plenty of broad, non specific videos on general structure and more minute ideas of how one can write, but I have quite litterally never seen one example of any of these skills being demonstrated directly in a practical manner before my very eyes. The learning potential of just seeing how and when other people do things and having their immediate, and specific, reasoning given is so much more worwhile in regards to teaching someone how to actually think about a thing.
Sure, I know all the "moves", and experience obviously helps refine them, but nothing quite skyrockets ones understanding of a new skill like reviewing footage of better more experienced people actively using them in front of you.
Any direction in regards to this specific request would be highly appreciated.

Has anyone seen or generated a good timeline recently, now that we have more info on what was confirmed, what lies were told, and when the interviews all occurred (police and news)?
I see there's one in this sub from a couple of months ago, but it mostly skips over all the details (both true/verified, and also what was said) about Sunday night and Monday, and that's what I was interested in seeing.
Also I think (?) that JS was interviewed by the news once at her mother's business, and then twice at home? In the home interview I saw, one was just her, one had him in the background for at least a part of it, then there was one that was just him (where she was comforting him). Were those all the same interview or was there more than one?
EDIT: I'll draft one with input. Here's where it stands so far; if you have changes, add them to the relevant thread in the comments, please. :)
Prelim info:

• UNVERIFIED - SS supposedly was living with his parents since December (after getting kicked out by Jen? Due to her father demanding it or she might lose the free condo?), 2.5 hrs away from where JS and MS lived

Sunday evening:

• UNVERIFIED - SS supposedly drove up on this day and was not already in town; supposedly, according to SS, it was specifically in order to "help MS with her (night time) routine" because JS was working, and supposedly JS had asked him to do it; says in a police interview on Tuesday that he got into town "Sunday (night) after the party", approx 8:30 pm. Great point by vanpet22: did he still have a parking pass/clicker with him at this time to get into the complex, having been gone 2 months?
  
• VERIFIED - SS was driving his father's vehicle rather than his own
  
• VERIFIED - MS was at her Grandmother's home during daylight hours (light in photos) for her 13th birthday party
  
• VERIFIED - JS was definitely not at the party
  
• UNVERIFIED - JS is supposedly missing party due to work
  
• UNVERIFIED - Whether SS spent any time at the party
  
• UNVERIFIED - Whether SS picked up MS from party, or whether someone else drove her home
  
• UNVERIFIED - JS says MS was excited and "showed us her presents" after the party, but does not say whether that was in-person or FaceTime (due to her still being at work)
  
• UNVERIFIED - JS says MS went right to bed after the party and she told her good night (presumably after MS sharing her excitement?), "and that was it," without MS checking computephone. Not sure if this was in person, either
  
• VERIFIED - 11:50ish pm - SS is on a website that is sketchy, possibly doing sketchy things
  

Monday morning:

• UNVERIFIED - JS said she asked SS to take MS to school because she was tired (verified that she said it; unverified as to actual events); she supposedly texted him this request
  
• UNVERIFIED - SS says in an interview when discussing his and MS's morning that "We woke up early...", which makes JS's text request to him seem odd if they were all at the condo. Tangent: He says they woke up early because he had promised MS some McD's, which means he was already going to take her to school, which had to have been arranged the night before (so they'd know to get up early), so why would JS need to ask him to take her on the morning he was already doing that?
  
• UNVERIFIED - SS later (in Mon. night law enforcement interview/also possibly in news interview) said MS was wearing green hoodie, black pants, and had a hibiscus backpack with her that morning (it's unverified as to whether that was the outfit she was wearing, beyond the green sweatehoodie; it's verified that he said it, however)
  
• VERIFIED - 7:35 am - SS is seen on cameras tossing what was later discovered to be MS's backpack and laptop into the condo dumpster
  
• UNVERIFIED? But probably the case - SS says both he and MS left their phones at home that day
  
• UNVERIFIED TIME, but logically consistent - SS presumably left the house sometime between 7:35 and ~8 (?) for the first time, because he was seen dumping the pack at 7:35 and returning towards the condo at 8:10 on remote cameras from the school area. Not much has been discussed about this first departure.
  
• UNVERIFIED, and probably not the case - JS says she saw MS getting dressed at 8:00 that morning. JS later says (in Mon. night law enforcement interview, also possibly in news interview) that MS was wearing a green hoodie, black shorts, and had a hibiscus backpack with her (unverified as to whether that was MS's outfit; JS definitely said this, though, so that is verified, though she could not have seen the backpack at 8:00 since it was in the dumpster already; notable that she and SS disagree on the bottoms)
  
• VERIFIED - 8:10 am - Cameras caught SS heading from school area back towards the condo (southward) at 8:10
  
• UNVERIFIED - SS says he was returning to get the clicker for the gate; he says he used his (badge/pass, presumably with the security guard) to get back in on this particular trip (verified that he said it; unverified that it was the reason for the return trip)
  
• VERIFIED - 8:19 am - SS had to have left the complex again; this would be on camera, but we aren't sure the time. However, one law enforcement interview says that 8:19 was when MS was seen on condo cameras (presumably deceased) in the vehicle, so that likely coincides with the second departure.
  
• UNVERIFIED, and untrue - SS says he dropped MS off at the church near the school (timeline puts this at approx. 8:30-8:40 am, I believe is his claim)
  

[Monday morning - specific Timeline position unknown:]

• UNVERIFIED and unlikely - SS says he circled McD's twice for MS but she didn't want it; says he gave her a raspberry Danish he had, instead (verified that he said it; unverified that it actually happened)

Monday during day: [[I can't stand to hear him talk, so I didn't wade through all of this info -- most of which was from the Tuesday law enforcement interview with him -- and hopefully someone has more on this; he was/wasn't sure JS was at home, maybe at blood appointment (she later claimed she was indeed home all day); he went to vape shop twice; maybe they were going to Sam's Club or Costco or something later; he supposedly went shopping for card game stuff at multiple places; etc. All just according to him, none verified]]

• VERIFIED, approx. 2 pm - SS got a flat tire near the scene of where MS was eventually (Mar 1) found

Monday afternoon/evening:

• UNVERIFIED, time unknown - JS finds that MS left her phone at home
  
• UNVERIFIED, but probably true; Approx. 4-4:30 pm - JS goes to school (alone? supposedly SS missed going with her because of the flat tire) to pick up MS and does not find her there; has school make an announcement (possibly requesting that MS come meet her mother at the office?); I believe her next action was to go to her mother's workplace to see if MS walked there? At an unknown point within this timeframe, she says she either texts or emails MS's teacher, who confirms MS was not there that day
  
• VERIFIED, times unknown, approx 4:45 pm; location probably the grandmother's workplace - JS's sister (and possibly mother, but not JS) make a total of 3 calls to 911 requesting assistance for a missing child
  
• VERIFIED, time unknown (between 4:45 and 8:00) - SS showed up at the workplace at some point, not sure if he arrived w/ JS or came on his own; he was definitely there during the law enforcement interview later that evening. Tangent: I believe SS reset his phone at some point after this and not before, because JS had to either call or text his cell to let him know where she was and that he should come there, but LEO says on Tuesday interview (below) that there were no call/text data on the phone at all at that time.
  
• VERIFIED (8 pm-ish? clocks don't match up) - Law enforcement arrives at the grandmother's workplace to take statements; both SS and JS are there and contribute to the details; much of JS's extended family are also there, though observing only; JS gets a phone call from the principal of MS's school during the law enforcement interview.
  
• VERIFIED (time unverified; reason is suspect) - SS "accidentally" factory-reset his phone, sometime on Monday.
  
• VERIFIED; sometime later in the evening - SS goes w/ officers after they leave the grandmother's workplace and shows them where he purportedly dropped off Maddie
  

Edited thanks to mysterious00mermaid: the following apparently happened Monday/into Tuesday:

• VERIFIED - approx. 5:45 am according to PLUNDER vid of footage - Law enforcement arrives at JS's condo; footage of interior is mostly redacted.
  
• VERIFIED (time unknown; Tuesday) - Law enforcement interviews SS and takes his phone away; thanks to Emotional_Ladder_553 for clarifying this was an audio, not a video, interview as I had originally recalled
  
• VERIFIED (Tuesday - time?) - JS and SS give news interviews re: MS's disappearance and SS's upset. Not sure if one interview or multiples, but pretty sure this happened after the law enforcement encounter, because JS provided details on what law enforcement was doing, and SS mentioned he had "even gone with them" to the location where he dropped off MS, which happened the night before
  

Here we are on the day that started it all, a year ago I did a small review on the Jay and Mikey Show’s first episode: The Boys Go To War.
It wasn’t that good, and had one decent joke but after the series ended, I didn’t do a review for the rest of the summer. Then Dhar shadow announced four series’s all of which I covered along with a few more series.
My style of jokes, recapping, and serialized reviews would improve over time, I say the reviews that cemented my style were Mischief Mikey Season 1, primarily the episode where Mikey lies about a bomb to get out of a test.
But one year later, I have a video that will blow your mind out the water, Girl Finds Out She’s Adopted. This remains Dhar’s only proper feature length video and his longest by far since the Christmas film is a combination of a few other videos.
I doubt Dhar will go through the trouble and budget to make another feature film but one must digress. After a teaser a few days before, the film aired live in two parts during Dhar’s second and last Thanksgiving Special along with Carl Jude’s last video.
It had a big premiere event as well and holds the biggest cast in a Dhar Mann video. They even darkened the video so we know this is a movie.
Without further deliberation, let’s dive in. We start with a candle being lit upon a 15, a mother and father, played by Katherine Norland and Colin Borden go to wake up their kid upon their 15th birthday.
The daughter is named Sabrina and is played by professional cryer, Sofia Serna, funny how only one of those three actors I mentioned still commonly shows up in videos. Apparently these parents want to celebrate the 15th at midnight with a cake.
A bit early for celebration if you ask me, let the kid sleep. Also 16 is a way more important milestone than 15 but Sofia was 15 when this came out so let’s move on. She also shares a birthday with Elon Musk, Henry VIII, and even fucking Markiplier which I just found out when checking her age.
Her rude ass parents crash in with a birthday serenade at midnight, not like I can eat a fucking cake and sleep right after can I? She also has school making this midnight caking even dumber if she’s getting up at seven in the morning.
Mom tells Sabrina that she has something to tell her, which bad timing, I know the parents wanted to tell her on her 15th, but this is just a bad time.
You know what is about to be said but telling your kid she’s adopted at this time at night isn’t good, she isn’t going to get much sleep.
Sabrina laughs it off as the gravity sets in, the truth is clear as day despite the lack of day. She’s in tears already with only three minutes of runtime. Sofia only seems to be the crying girl, crying and being sad isn’t really enough to be a good actor, Sofia has the emotions to bring out a good performance but yelling loudly, crying, and looking sad isn’t enough.
You have to feel the emotions of the moment to truly understand the gravity of this truth bomb, she gets the sadness before a single line trips her into anger without much buildup. Is it wrong for me to hate on a child actor? No, because I am a year younger than her.
The parents refuse to let her meet her biological parents as Crying Girl dips into anger, I get not wanting to let her meet them, but telling her that parents are criminals, yeah they are big shock.
If they just told her that her bio parents were criminals and couldn’t raise her, we wouldn’t have a movie now would we? And Dad saying “We didn’t lie, we just didn’t tell you” isn’t really helping either.
She goes into packing her shit as Colin sounds pissed, Kathrine also gives a great performance which I’ll go into later. Crying Girl is all about how they don’t share blood and Dad retorts with the message that family doesn’t require blood but love.
Am I annoyed this movie reused a message Dhar had used multiple times when this came out? Yes, yes I am. Crying Girl is trying to move out with no information as Mon tries her best to kill the conflict.
Crying Girl screams for them to get out, I don’t imagine this kind of reaction to adoption reveal but this is a movie so I’ll relax on that front.
We also see that the cake eating, reveal, and shouting match took up all of 20 minutes on the dot as she slams the picture of her parents dramatically she can put it back up at the end.
She posts to her instagram that she feels alone before getting a call from her Token Black Friend played by Brianni Walker. Weird seeing her here along with Colin after both were apart the protests but hey one must see some nostalgia from this older Dhar era.
Crying Girl tells Token Black Friend that she’s already sent in a DNA despite it still being the same night and we can’t just have a movie of her waiting six weeks. Token Black suggests she search her attic for potential papers as Token Black Friend hangs up.
It’s time for some sneaking, so it’s actually time for false tension baby! How she is able to get into the loud ass freaking attic without waking her people that adopted her up is beyond me.
Mom tries to go and talk things out so the conflict is over but is stopped by Dad. I know I’ve done nothing but give Kathrine Norland shit for the past year but honestly the real reason was her characters’ writing.
She does an amazing job here as she grapples with the emotions as the middle ground of the conflict. I have more to say later so let’s head back to the attic.
With Crying Girl making a bunch of noise with an old toy, we cut to see the parents immediately asleep following that conversation we just saw second ago.
Crying Girl finally strikes gold with a folder labeled “Important Documents” and a book with a hidden compartment with some old childhood pictures reminding her of the message.
Soon she finds the old slip she’s looking for, the papers are clear as day as we cut to day. Token Black Friend is shown the birth certificates.
It appears Crying Girl has found her father only 17 minutes in, Darius Mulgannon, with a name like that can you be surprised he’s in prison? Token Black loudly yells about him being in jail which get prepared for that joke being run into the ground.
The bio mom’s name is Candy Johnson as Token Black Friend loudly yells that she’s going to jail as a teacher walks by. He’s played by Sean Harris as they pretend to be acting which he buys somehow. There was a play last week as apparently he’s trying to get another play up and running already.
Talk about short rehearsal times between shows, but Dhar knows nothing of high school theater. Crying Girl’s plan to get into said prison is simple, emotional manipulation.
She spots a prison guard with his family and he’s played by Johnnie Mack. So she goes into a crying mood again as she creates a story about visiting her dad every year and being unable as her mom is sick.
This story works perfectly so I guess this guard is newly employed. Darius is a little shocked to learn his kid is visiting as it’s clear he’s probably been around as we later learn.
Darius is played by Daniel Salas, and he’s the best character probably because he doesn’t give two shits about the plot. Crying Girl tries to get the info out of him as Darius’s first reaction is that kid’s come by to ask for money from this imprisoned guy.
Crying Girl hoped he be excited as this harden criminal was expected to be a doting father. We then learn that the bio mom used a fake name on the birth certificate to avoid law enforcement.
Why didn’t Darius use a pseudonym either as he makes it clear that this search isn’t going to end well as her birth mom didn’t want her. Asking this guy who’s been locked up for years for info is crazy but thankfully she has an older sister.
With the name Bella, she does the easy thing that one is to do in this situation, find her personal address and info online. All the while woman who adopted her tries to leave some food.
Who learn Thanksgiving is tomorrow as the timeline is really weird. So it starts at midnight on Crying Girl’s 15th birthday, that night she finds her birth certificate and the following morning she says she visiting her dad later implying that it’s the same day.
In America we often have Thanksgiving break starting in the day before Thanksgiving meaning it makes no sense why she be at school the same day she visits her dad and finds out the truth about her adoption.
We are only half way done as Crying Girl just happens upon her sister’s address. Can I get a… bullshit?
You can’t just go tip tap typing and find an address without deep diving straight into the dark web. With plenty of viruses to boot, Token Black Friend puts the idea into Crying Girl’s head that bio mom gave her up and kept her sister.
Did she forget that her mother is a harden criminal with multiple names and false identities? Why assume she has a child with her? Woman who adopted her gets her name changed in her phone as Crying Girl is doubling down on this hunt.
Token Black Friend joins in on how this doesn’t seem like a good idea as Crying Girl literally just rolls up upon this mansion with no plan or way to get in legally.
She’s stumbling over her words, over correcting, and trying to come up with a story to get the maid to let her in. She didn’t plan for this? Well I get her not knowing her sister is an adult as we meet her fiancé. He doesn’t matter.
We eventually see Sister’s Woman who adopted her, IE: Her mom. As we get a pan shot, Sister’s Mom should know about her bullshit as she actually does. Yeah, she isn’t an idiot.
Once fiancé is gone, she goes into question her. Sister’s Mom is played by regular Amanda Klein as Sister is played by newcomer Kelsey Lee Smith. To my knowledge is her only role in Dhar Mann, correct me if I’m wrong but it feels weird to see a newcomer who never shows up again to get such an important role.
Back to chewing out the child, she goes into the questioning before throwing her out without answering a question. She’s caught in the lie as Sister shows up and exposes her.
Crying Girl does what she does best and cries before revealing the familial connection, she believes Sister’s mom is her mom despite criminal record with fake names and mansion ownership not really lining up.
Fiancé is calling for her as Sister pulls her out, we learn what I mentioned earlier as Sister feels a little guilty for kicking her out.
Sister herself was adopted and really doesn’t want her fiancé to know for some reason. She’s also expecting a child by now as Crying Girl tries to mention how she’s lying to her lover but she’s a hypocrite who gets called out.
Apparently Bio Mom visited only to ask for money, and she makes it clear that it isn’t a good idea despite giving her the address. Her real name is Sasha Whitlock, and is the third person to tell her that this isn’t a good idea.
We also learn that she’s been gone from her home all day as Man who adopted her downplays how their kid is missing. I’m with Woman who adopted her on this situation, if your kid is out of the house in the middle of metropolitan California then I’d be freaking out too.
Kathrine doesn’t get enough credit for this performance, Colin does great with what he’s given but Kathrine really shows the emotions of a parent in distress. For Dhar’s most loyal actress, you think he give her better roles.
I don’t respect Kathrine as a person for siding with Dhar, but I won’t say she isn’t a great actress.
So Crying Girl visits skid row and knocks only to be asked if she has drugs. Birth Mom is played by Nerisa Tedesco who decided to play an evil bio mom before playing all those evil foster mom roles.
This typecast of Dhar’s is kinda rude, why does Nerisa play all these terrible mom roles? I guess it’s because she looks mean and a little nasty, talk about dick move.
It turns out we’ve wasted the past 40 minutes searching for this woman as she’s demeaning, rude, likes oranges, etc.
Bio mom is really stupid, guess it’s from all the drugs since she asks if this child is a cop, or if she has pills, and pronounced Target as “Tar-Je” then she just up and leaves Crying Girl alone and without a phone.
Gee I wonder what message Crying Girl realizes while alone with thoughts. We cut back to the people who adopted her as we get a classy “we can’t declare her missing because it hasn’t been 24 hours”
I swear man who adopted her is far too nonchalant for this kind of situation. Cut back to Crying Girl as her bio mom returns high, she questions Crying Girl if she ate her orange despite eating it in an earlier scene.
Bio mom shuts her down again and outright admits to giving her up for adoption. Wow Dhar, I see a message you already have shown in less than ten minutes took 50 minutes here, I’m happy to have wasted my time here.
So Crying Girl decides to get her phone back as woman who adopted her is calling. So she leaves, not before changing her name back to mom in the phone.
We cut back to home as this is kinda Dad’s fault, had he just let Mom tell her the truth about her criminal parents none of this could have happened!
This entire film could have been avoided! I’ve wasted far more than an hour here typing this damn review! Whatever, Crying girl returns to apologize and repeat the message about family not calling just for blood, it calls for SACRIFICE!
We also see Sister went through an offscreen arc about accepting your past or something and explaining how she told her fiancé about said past.
Of course he was understanding, what were you expecting? She welcomed her to visit since she told her not it come back in that earlier scene which I just skipped over.
They invite her to have some dinner with some classy hospitality, Crying Girl is happy and content so she posts a new photo to her story showing how we all went full circle.
Oh and she puts her family picture back up because it wouldn’t be a share adoption video without it.
We see Token Black Friend being happy upon seeing the story as our time together comes to an end. Or does it?
Because we get three mid credit scene based on theee off hand lines, one I mentioned and one I didn’t.
First is of Ayden Mekus visiting Darius and asking for money just to get laughed at, a lot of stupid characters in this story.
Second is bio mom getting her already eaten orange eaten by her partner because funny?
Third is Token Black at her birthday guess her presents, how her family hasn’t realized she’s been looking in the attic by now is beyond me.
Then it’s over, well I went into this with not much expectations and came out with none of them filled. Some of the acting is kinda good, but a few good or decent performances isn’t enough to save bad writing.
Not to mention very little thought went into the writing process, the plot has several opportunities to stop in its tracks so they steer clear of those smarter and more level headed options.
I get avoided revealing her bio parents didn’t want her, but just say they are criminals who couldn’t raise her. The fundamentals of the plot and the setup we are given would have to be drastically different since this film is just a longer version of the family isn’t about blood but love message.
So I must do what I always do, what is my final score to this film which has a shit title. After much thought, I have this rating, 3/10. There’s not much you can expect from a film that refuses to take the smart option and forces itself to continue.
Well that’s it, one year of celebratory reviews in a row. I’m shocked what was to be a one off has blown out into a trend. Not to mention to common use of Fart Bucket as a nickname has gotten so popular even Dhar used it in a short.
As for the road ahead, well I might take a break, I’m not quitting at all but after six straight reviews it probably be for the best to let the over saturation of reviews die down.
I want to thank you for reading these reviews for the past years and for participating in the poll. Leave your thoughts on this review and the video in the comments, and Thank you.

I stayed on the Side+ past the subscription because I was enjoying the extended cuts, but I kinda feel like we got thrown under the bus with the "unseen bits" video on MoreSidemen today.
For us, that upload isn't an "unseen bits" at all. It's just a compilation of the extra cuts that we got to see. I don't really have a problem with them doing that, but we got nothing? Like I don't want to sound entitled but what's the point in paying extra if that's what they're gonna do?
Everyone on YouTube gets the extended cuts that we paid for so realistically we have nothing to watch now since we've already seen all of that? Feels really shitty of them ngl.
They marketed the Inside extended cuts as "This is all exclusive footage if you subscribe!!" but if they had actually explained that todays episode would just be a compilation of those extended clips I wouldn't have bothered with it.
Again this sound so entitled but at the end of the day I paid them money lmao, feels like a totally pointless purchase now :/

As a Castlevania and AVGN fan, I couldn't ignore his most recent episode, even with all the slop content he's been putting out the past 8 something years. Saying I was disappointed would be an understatement.
The main issue with this video is that it was very boring and had absolutely nothing new, except for nostalgia bait.
It starts with a long and boring intro on how AVGN was created... let's just skip forward. So the point of this ree-view is to revisit the Castlevania series and decide which game is the best, however, it ends up being almost a compete copy of his 4-part CV retrospective. It's fine if James doesn't like the RPG direction that the games took after SOTN, but even from the classic era there's so many games he didn't even mention: Haunted Castle, Vampire Killer, Adventure, Belmont's Revenge, Legends, Adventure Rebirth, Legacy of Darkness. Some of these are also genuenly bad games and it could've been at least entertaining to watch his critique of them, but no, nostalgia bait it is. How can he say SCV4 is the best if he hasn't even played all of them?
The video also has no jokes, no nothing, only narration over gameplay footage. I bet "returning to his roots" was just an excuse to not have to do any filming. Even if AVGN's ree-views weren't always "fair", most of the time they used to funny and entertaining.
Now onto the actual ree-view. One of the two new games here is Chronicles, which he dismissed for being "too hard even on the lowest difficulty and taking too much from Castlevania 1." Rondo of Blood was also done dirty saying that it's too cryptic, which is not even true. First of all, only the optional stages are hidden, and second, they're not even hard to find if you think about it. Every CV game has you hitting random walls for health pickups, even your beloved SCV4. You don't have to make a blind jump to find stage 3', just defeat the bone golem boss. Stage 4' is also easy to find if you notice the cracked floor and piece the 2 things together.
And it's just ridiculous how much he whines about the 8-directional whip, for fucks sake. All the way from CV1 the games were designed to be limiting, you have to commit to every action and actually think what to do. That's why subweapons exist, and that's why they're totally useless in SCV4. It's fine to prefer SCV4, but James points limited whipping as a flaw with other games, when you just need to adapt. He also talks about the annoying knockback and bottomless pits in other games while ignoring that just as many exist in SCV4.
He also lost me when he said Richter mode in SOTN is better than the base game. The game was clearly designed with Alucard in mind and Richter as a bonus character. It's fine if James doesn't like the RPG elements, but saying that he'd do awkward fighting game inputs to move around rather than just turn into a bat is stupid. Also how does he think a slide kick is cool but not the badass wing-smashing as a bat or charging sonic speed as a wolf?
And of course the episode ends with a boring pointless clip show with sad music, once again showing how much AVGN has fallen.
So in short, this video like a waste of muh time because James didn't actually revisit any CV games, he just repeated what he said in the previous episodes, and it's a shame, because the CV series had so much potential for another AVGN episode. But at least that hairline came in handy with the Dracula bit.

First, if anyone has seen the Rising segment - you'll notice the YouTube video is heavily brigaded by hasbara trolls. There are several pro-Israel websites & apps that coordinate brigading articles, videos, social media posts, etc. that criticize Israel.
One such website is 'Iron Truth' - which in addition to spamming comments, will also spam reports to get critical content taken down.

• The Intercept did an exposé on 'Iron Truth'.

Intro

Bri is alleged to have been insensitive to the Israeli guest, the sister of a hostage. But I think it's important to actually watch the video and listen to what the Israeli guest is saying.
In an interview with Glenn Greenwald yesterday, Bri says the Israeli guest reached out to Rising on their own accord. The guest specifically requested Briahna do the interview which set off red flags. Nevertheless, Bri's producer went ahead and booked the guest. On Twitter, concern-trolls are criticizing Bri for 'rolling her eyes' - but Bri says it was moreso directed at her producer for setting the 'interview' up since it was clearly politically-motivated.
The guest ostensibly came on Rising to talk about her sister, but then she began making political statements that have long-been debunked. So Bri felt compelled to push back on the political statements. In-turn, the Israeli guest would say 'I'm not a politician' - then launch into another political statement.
The whole thing feels like a set-up.

• Bri says that for many months, the The Hill execs seemingly worked to sabotage their own show. Bri describes how there was complete staff turnover and censorship on Gaza (reducing anything Israel/Palestine to just 1 segment or bloc).
  
  • Bri's producer, Joanne Levine, would attempt to reclassify content as 'Radars' (opinion pieces) and while these segments were an avenue to talk about Gaza, The Hill insisted that mainstream critiques of Israel's atrocity propaganda be categorized as Radars as well. In effect, turning a major news story into an 'opinion piece' to distance The Hill from the findings.

This firing seems to been a long-time in the making, but Glenn points out the inherent risk in criticizing Israel in the American mainstream. That being said, Bri felt it was worth it to work at The Hill in order to platform the kind of critical analysis of Israel/Palestine that is lacking in Old Media.

• As an aside, Bri doesn't blame Robby Soave (her co-host) & implies corporate may have pushed Robby to adopt positions/push his own positions harder, even when he didn't really have his heart in it.
  
• What IS concerning though, is the coordinated fashion in which negative 'clips' about Bri proliferated online prior to her firing. She did a debate a month ago, moderated by Konstantin Kisin - and yet, the clips from the debate didn't wind up online until just before her firing. Richie Torres, AIPAC whore, also helped spread those clips & unsurprisingly was revealed to be a target of astroturfing by the Israeli government.
  
  • Glenn feels that Bri was targeted for some time by Zionist trolls and the Right - who unironically and cynically used the language of #MeToo to go after her.

The full interview with Glenn Greenwald can be watched here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDYYe-4ZojI

But anyways, back to reviewing the deranged hasbara guest's tactics:

1) Hasbara talking-points: "What would America do if [insert a nearby country] did X Y Z?"

Instead of directly answering Bri's question, the guest goes on a rant with a lot of familiar hasbara bullshit - oscillating between presenting herself as just a 'concerned sister' vs. making debunked political statements.
Well, if America was militarily occupying those countries and stealing their land, then that would change the context of any such attacks. Israel is an apartheid State that expels Palestinians from their homes and steals their land.
In Area C of the West Bank, Israel's ratio of demolishing Palestinian homes to granting building permits is 100:1.

Israeli authorities refuse the vast majority of requests by Palestinians to upgrade or build homes, schools, health clinics, wells, water cisterns, animal pens, or other structures. Between 2016 and 2018, Israeli authorities approved less than 1.5 percent of applications for Palestinians to build in Area C, 21 applications in total, while issuing 2,147 demolition orders, according to data obtained from the Israeli Civil Administration by Bimkom. 759 In other words, it issued 100 times more demolition orders than building permits in this period.

• Human Rights Watch - A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution

Israel's pervasive denial of building permits to Palestinians, not just in the West Bank but in Israel proper and East Jerusalem, is part of its overall agenda of preventing the growth of Palestinian communities.
Along with its other crimes against the Palestinian people - anyone who isn't an ethnoreligious supremacist/nutjob can see why Palestinians are upset & fighting.
Not to mention, the Israeli guest's mentality seems to be 'if Palestinians do X to us, then we're justified in doing whatever back'. Apply that in reverse as a talking-point and see where that gets you with Zionists.

2) Citing ZAKA, a discredited organization that stages crime scenes & spreads lies AND lying about having 'seen' photographic 'evidence'

The Israeli guest claims to have SEEN with her own eyeballs 'photos of rape happening'.
This is 1000% bullshit and hilariously, she cites ZAKA - an Israeli organization known for lying and staging crime scenes, whose founder was alleged to be a serial rapist (and committed sudoku to avoid prosecution).
ZAKA has been discredited thoroughly by the Israeli press for spreading atrocity propaganda, such as outright lies & staging of crime scenes:

[...] In the meantime, Zaka volunteers were there. Most of them worked at the sites of murder and destruction from morning to night. However, according to witness accounts, it becomes clear that others were engaged in other activities entirely. As part of the effort to get media exposure, Zaka spread accounts of atrocities that never happened, released sensitive and graphic photos, and acted unprofessionally on the ground.

• Haaretz - Death and Donations: Did the Israeli Volunteer Group Handling the Dead of October 7 Exploit Its Role?

Approaching the group a little more closely revealed that three of the Zaka volunteers were making video calls and videos for fundraising purposes. According to the non-Zaka observer, the body was part of a staged setting – an exhibit designed to attract donors, just when the race against time to gather and remove the bodies of victims of the massacre was most urgent.

• Haaretz - Death and Donations: Did the Israeli Volunteer Group Handling the Dead of October 7 Exploit Its Role?

ZAKA was in severe debt before Oct. 7th. One of its prominent members, Yossi Landau, head of operations for the southern region, went to a Las Vegas fundraiser and told audiences of 'beheaded babies' and pregnant women being separated from their fetuses - both widespread lies.

In the first home he and his colleagues entered "we see a pregnant lady lying on the floor, and then we turn her around and see that the stomach is cut open, wide open. The unborn baby, still connected with a umbilical cord, was stabbed with a knife. And the mother was shot in the head. And you use your imagination, trying to figure out what came first."

• i24 News - Israeli emergency responder: 'I saw 20 children shot, burned and piled together in two piles'

Everyone knows the '40 beheaded babies' propaganda is bullshit. Only 1 baby died on Oct. 7th - due to a stray bullet. Mila Cohen, aged 10 months. Haaretz has a list of all the victims by age and name.
And the Patten report specifically debunked the claim of a pregnant woman being killed and her baby being removed from her:

14) The mission team conducted a visit to kibbutz Be’eri and was able to determine that at least two allegations of sexual violence widely repeated in the media, were unfounded due to either new superseding information or inconsistency in the facts gathered. These included a highly publicized allegation of a pregnant woman whose womb had reportedly been ripped open before being killed, with her fetus stabbed while still inside her. Other allegations, including of objects intentionally inserted into female genital organs, could not be verified by the mission team due in part to limited and low-quality imagery.

• United Nations - Mission report: Official visit of the Office of the SRSG-SVC to Israel and the occupied West Bank, 29 January – 14 February 2024

But onto the specific claim of 'photographic' evidence of rape taking place.
The Patten report & the Israeli government have both said there is no video or photographic evidence of rape/sexual assault taking place.

74) In the medicolegal assessment of available photos and videos, no tangible indications of rape could be identified. Further investigation may alter this assessment in the future. Nevertheless, considering the nature of rape, which often does not result in visible injuries, this possibility cannot be ruled out based solely on the medicolegal assessment. Therefore, the mission team concluded that circumstantial indicators, like the position of the corpse and the state of clothing, should also be considered when determining the occurrence of sexual violations, in addition to witness and survivor testimony.
[...] 77) The digital evidence discovered during independent open-source review appeared authentic and unmanipulated. While the mission team reviewed extensive digital material depicting a range of egregious violations, no digital evidence specifically depicting acts of sexual violence was found in open sources.

• United Nations - Mission report: Official visit of the Office of the SRSG-SVC to Israel and the occupied West Bank, 29 January – 14 February 2024

Israel personally requested Pramila Patten to review their collection of evidence. Patten was previously known for boosting Ukraine's claims that Russian soldiers were taking Viagra to rape more. Not sure if that's ever been proven.
Haaretz in an April 2024 article reports that the Israeli government has no video & photographic evidence of sexual assault taking place:

Beyond this, from inquiries put to three bodies in the defense establishment by Haaretz, it emerges that the intelligence material collected by the police and the intelligence bodies, including footage from terrorists' body cameras, does not contain visual documentation of any acts of rape themselves. Overall, the police and the State Prosecutor's Office refuse to make public details of their investigation, which, they say, is in progress. The many obstacles in its path were present from the outset.

• Haaretz, April 2024

The Pattern report also debunks the claim that the positioning of dead bodies always implies sexual assault took place.

47) Additional challenges emerged due to erroneous interpretations of the state of bodies by some volunteer first responders without relevant qualifications and expertise. Some examples include mistaking “postmortem pugilistic posturing” (a ‘boxer-like’ body posture with flexed elbows, clenched fists, spread legs, and flexed knees) due to burn damage as indicative of sexual violence; misinterpreting anal dilatation due to postmortem changes as indicative of anal penetration; and mischaracterizing grazing gunshot wounds to genitalia as targeted genital mutilation using knives.1

• United Nations - Mission report: Official visit of the Office of the SRSG-SVC to Israel and the occupied West Bank, 29 January – 14 February 2024

3) More hasbara: crying about food & water not getting in TO THE HOSTAGES? And when Bri correctly points out that Israel (including Israeli civilians) is blocking aid, she blames Hamas.

Who is blocking aid again? Israel:

• Reuters - Israeli protesters block aid convoy headed to Gaza
  
• Oxfam International - Israel government continues to block aid response despite ICJ genocide court ruling, says Oxfam
  
• CNN - At the edge of Gaza, Israelis try to stop aid trucks
  
• The Washington Post - How Israel’s restrictions on aid put Gaza on the brink of famine
  

Etc. etc.
The Israeli guest is mouthing propaganda similar to those Israelis who block aid to starving Palestinian children.
Again, this is low-brow hasbara bullshit and would cause any sane person to roll their eyes.

4) Claims Israel has a cease-fire deal on the table and is waiting for Hamas to agree? Nope, Israel has outright refused the latest cease-fire deal just yesterday.

Israel has repeatedly said that it cares more about its military operation than returning the hostages:

• Haaretz - Analysis Israelis Want the Hostages Back. So Why Is Netanyahu's Government Ignoring Them?

Israel has hoped that Hamas would reject ceasefire deals so that it could prolong the genocide:

• Haaretz - Analysis Netanyahu Hoped Hamas Would Reject the Cease-fire Offer. When It Didn't, He Turned to Sabotage

The settlers in the Israeli government have threatened to collapse the government, thereby exposing Netanyahu, if the ceasefire deal is signed:

• BBC - Israeli ministers threaten to quit over ceasefire plan

Etc. etc.

5) Finally, after so much bullshit - the guest claims that 'if the world doesn't help Israel, there will be another 9/11' and she goes onto slander the student protest movement against her apartheid State's genocidal rampage. She specifically mentions MICHIGAN though - because Michigan -> Dearborn -> etc.?

So, at this point the Israeli guest is just being Islamophobic and making psychotic, alarmist claims.
This kind of low-information stupidity goes hand-in-hand with Zionism, so again - what should Bri have done?
The guest was a supreme idiot. A clown.
Bri rolled her eyes and got fired for politely (as much as humanly possible so long as one has an IQ above room temperature) handling a hasbara troll on her show.
But this was a long time in the making, because The Hill is simply intolerant of criticism of Israel. Briahna hit the threshold and her time was up there.

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