Sominex mixed with soma
Character Concept: Soma, Devoted Gale
2024.05.10 07:06 SolomonSinclair Character Concept: Soma, Devoted Gale
 | IntroductionThis character is part of a project I largely began out of boredom back during the beginning of Version 3.4; probably late-January, early February of 2023. It was mostly complete around the end of March 2023, just prior to the start of Version 3.6.At the time, we didn't have any Cryo catalysts, so I decided to design the kit for one based one what I'd like to see. She ended up being a melee-style catalyst similar to Heizou, because I really like the whole concept of elemental fisticuffs, which is hilarious in hindsight, as our first Cryo catalyst is, obviously, Wriothesley. Well, after finishing her kit, the completionist in me decided I then needed to make a Melee Catalyst for each element and nation. Some of the resulting characters were completed the better part of a year prior to this, while a couple have been updated or rewritten in the intervening time. With that out of the way, here we go. Here's Soma, 5th of my melee catalysts and probably the 4th one I made over all. I'm not super satisfied with him, as I intended to create a shielder and dedicated support, but he ended up as an almost 5* Heizou (mixed with some Anemo Traveler). Which, I mean, isn't a terrible fate, because Heizou's cool and I clearly don't have issue adapting other character's kits (*side eyes Mai*), but I was still hoping for something more different. https://preview.redd.it/iuh4zlbwxizc1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=30476e6d42160fb825d9d4d5e459800dff69b7ae
Press Soma unleashes a howling gale with a condemning palm strike that pulls objects and opponents towards his current position, dealing Anemo DMG to nearby opponents. Hold Charges energy to unleash an even stronger blow. While charging, it will pull objects and opponents over a larger AoE than Press Mode and will begin unleashing a storm of vacuum blades, causing continuous Anemo DMG to nearby opponents. When the skill button is released or the skill finishes charging, he will strike forward, dealing massive Anemo DMG. Gameplay Notes
This is essentially a fusion of AMC's Palm Vortex (the pulling and continuous DMG), Lisa's Violet Arc (the very short press CD, press not generating particles, and the circle to indicate charge level), and Heizou's Heartstopper Strike (the quick strike DMG and hold to charge for greater single DMG).Elemental Burst - Invocation of the Four Winds Soma calls upon the four winds, solidifying them into Skygrasper Sigils, marking nearby opponents and dealing AoE Anemo DMG. Skygrasper Sigil Opponents marked by this Sigil will have their All Elemental RES decreased by 15% and, when they take DMG, Soma will trigger a Vortex Implosion, dealing AoE Anemo DMG and pushing nearby opponents away before pulling them back towards your active character's current location. Soma can trigger a Vortex Implosion once every 1.8s.
Fun fact about this one: the Skygrasper Sigils were originally supposed to make temporary platforms at the terminus of the active character's jump, and you could just continue jumping straight up, creating a new platform, up to 3-4 times. You could then use a Normal Attack to trigger a Plunging Attack straight through the Sigils, boosting your Plunge DMG by insane amounts for each Sigil. Then Xianyun's kit was leaked as a Plunge Buffer, but not quite as clunky, so I ditched it in favor of an off-field RES Shred and CC.1st Ascension Passive - Bite of the North Wind If Soma is hit by an attack while charging Grasp of the Four Winds, that skill will finish charging immediately.
Soma's Normal Attack, Charged Attack, and Plunging Attack DMG is increased by 75% of his Elemental Mastery.
Increases the Gliding SPD of your own party members by 15%.
Soma will regenerate 5 Energy every time an opponent marked by a Skygrasper Sigil is defeated.
Increases the AoE of Swirl Reactions by 15%. Additionally, if your active character is below 25% HP, causing a Swirl Reaction will restore HP equal to 250% of Soma's Elemental Mastery.
Increases the level of Grasp of the Four Winds by 3.Constellation 4 - Four Corners Rotation When Invocation of the Four Winds is used: Creates a Raging Gale shield that absorbs up to 75% of Soma's Max HP for 15s. The shield absorbs Anemo DMG with 250% effectiveness. Elemental Absorption If Raging Gale comes into contact with Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo: after your active character hits opponents with a Normal, Charged, or Plunging Attack, the shield will perform a coordinated attack, dealing 200% of Soma's Elemental Mastery as Pyro/Hydro/Electro/Cryo DMG. DMG dealt this way is considered Elemental Burst DMG. This effect can only be triggered once every 2.5s. Elemental Absoprtion can only happen once per use.
Increases the level of Invocation of the Four Winds by 3.Constellation 6 - Devastating Maelstrom Elements infused by a Swirl ignore 15% of opponents' DEF.
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2024.05.08 19:54 Jayda_The_Spear_Lady Should I make Trinity Prime?
Last week I trade a bunch of my prime parts for a Soma Prime Stock, but I was also got Trinity Prime in the mix. Now, I like support frames, I think they're my second favorite behind damage types. I especially like the ones with an AOE a ability that shreds through enemies over time.
But Trinity is a bit different, all her abilities seem linked to enemies and her abilities seem to help a lot but in a time where every frame can nuke a room I wonder if she's even useful anymore. Should I just sell her or is she worth playing?
Also somewhat related but I wanna know if there's a better place to trade augment mods at other than trade chat, since that place is so chaotic and all.
submitted by Jayda_The_Spear_Lady to Warframe [link] [comments]
But Trinity is a bit different, all her abilities seem linked to enemies and her abilities seem to help a lot but in a time where every frame can nuke a room I wonder if she's even useful anymore. Should I just sell her or is she worth playing?
Also somewhat related but I wanna know if there's a better place to trade augment mods at other than trade chat, since that place is so chaotic and all.
2024.05.08 05:44 PriMateria_AniMunda Hekhalot/Merkabah mysticism, Gnosticism, and DMT or other psychedelics (?)
Entheogenic theories of esoterica/occultism tend to be speculative, but theories surrounding psychedelic use in the Eleusinian Mysteries have become more popular with the work of Carl Ruck and Gordon Wasson, ancient soma/haoma, and others. We also of course know shamans routinely use a wide variety of entheogens.
Looking deeper, it seems at least plausible that groups like the Egyptian priesthood and various mystery schools were using some sorts of psychoactive substances. The Greeks weren’t strangers to divine mania/altered states as a means to access the divine. The Egyptians heavily influenced the Greeks and the Greeks influenced Judaism and Christianity, and we know that at least cannabis was likely used by the ancient Jewish priesthood in their incense burnings.
All around, there seem to be incenses, sacred eucharists and mixed beverages, and use of plants for religious purposes, and I wonder if these practices may have influenced ancient Hekhalot/Merkabah mysticism and/or Gnosticism, as Gnosticism likely drew from Jewish mystical sources (and both likely were influenced by the type of thinking found in the Greek/Egyptian/Jewish magical papyri, which also influenced the theory behind Neoplatonic theurgy.
I find the Hekhalot/Merkabah literature to be such an incredibly fascinating area of study, since they were so specific, vivid, and seemingly outlandish in how they described mystical ascent (or “descent”, often in this body of work). It seems that these traditions, which were also influenced by the record of Ezekiel’s vision, share so many parallels with how people describe DMT trips. It almost seems that everything found in this literature can be tied to some psychedelic parallel. Blinding, colorful lights, visions described as similar to fire and lightning, beings with multiple eyes, angels with nonsense names/“barbaric names” (reminds me of Terence McKenna’s fascination with glossolalia/speaking in tongues), architectural structures with the same characteristics as the entities (even the described architectural structures/divine palaces have “names”), beings with multiple faces, the beings are described as being potentially terrifying, and so on.
Furthermore, the Jewish mystics of this body of literature seemed to prefer the term “descent” rather than “ascent”, and this reminds me of many people describing a sinking or dropping feeling during trips, or Terence McKenna and others describing that the DMT space intuitively feels like it’s taking place “underground”. There was a story of four rabbis who descended to the throne of God, and three out of the four either went insane, became heretics, or even were said to have died. There’s something about a “water test” in this literature, which ties into the story of the rabbi who died during the journey, because it was said that he thought that he was basically submerged in water during the experience (?) (potential alteration of one’s perception of their physiological state during trips, or just the general feeling many describe of being at a near-death state during trips).
I won’t talk about Gnosticism nearly as much right now, but a lot of its ascent literature shares similar elements, like encounters with entities and then having nonsense names.
Anyone have any familiarity with these traditions and find any agreement with the hypothesis?
submitted by PriMateria_AniMunda to EsotericOccult [link] [comments]
Looking deeper, it seems at least plausible that groups like the Egyptian priesthood and various mystery schools were using some sorts of psychoactive substances. The Greeks weren’t strangers to divine mania/altered states as a means to access the divine. The Egyptians heavily influenced the Greeks and the Greeks influenced Judaism and Christianity, and we know that at least cannabis was likely used by the ancient Jewish priesthood in their incense burnings.
All around, there seem to be incenses, sacred eucharists and mixed beverages, and use of plants for religious purposes, and I wonder if these practices may have influenced ancient Hekhalot/Merkabah mysticism and/or Gnosticism, as Gnosticism likely drew from Jewish mystical sources (and both likely were influenced by the type of thinking found in the Greek/Egyptian/Jewish magical papyri, which also influenced the theory behind Neoplatonic theurgy.
I find the Hekhalot/Merkabah literature to be such an incredibly fascinating area of study, since they were so specific, vivid, and seemingly outlandish in how they described mystical ascent (or “descent”, often in this body of work). It seems that these traditions, which were also influenced by the record of Ezekiel’s vision, share so many parallels with how people describe DMT trips. It almost seems that everything found in this literature can be tied to some psychedelic parallel. Blinding, colorful lights, visions described as similar to fire and lightning, beings with multiple eyes, angels with nonsense names/“barbaric names” (reminds me of Terence McKenna’s fascination with glossolalia/speaking in tongues), architectural structures with the same characteristics as the entities (even the described architectural structures/divine palaces have “names”), beings with multiple faces, the beings are described as being potentially terrifying, and so on.
Furthermore, the Jewish mystics of this body of literature seemed to prefer the term “descent” rather than “ascent”, and this reminds me of many people describing a sinking or dropping feeling during trips, or Terence McKenna and others describing that the DMT space intuitively feels like it’s taking place “underground”. There was a story of four rabbis who descended to the throne of God, and three out of the four either went insane, became heretics, or even were said to have died. There’s something about a “water test” in this literature, which ties into the story of the rabbi who died during the journey, because it was said that he thought that he was basically submerged in water during the experience (?) (potential alteration of one’s perception of their physiological state during trips, or just the general feeling many describe of being at a near-death state during trips).
I won’t talk about Gnosticism nearly as much right now, but a lot of its ascent literature shares similar elements, like encounters with entities and then having nonsense names.
Anyone have any familiarity with these traditions and find any agreement with the hypothesis?
2024.05.05 05:13 Specialist-Crazy1466 Sominex
Sominex
Popping sominex, seroquil is next wash it down with moonshine, it's my tripple threat. I feel high like a jet pop my cipralex. I been a vet, you know I'm on, Bupropion, get my coping on, I'm coasting on, like a star, tear up the scene, poppin vraylar cariprazine. The fear will make ya shxt ya jeans . The dove cry sounds like symphonies, I just want to empty me. the only thing keeping me is THC. I need tlc. It seems, my prescription is Setraline, had me left a fiend. I'm wrecked between, my inner screams and inner deeeeemons, acting in legions. Too much at stake too much on my plate. I'm Ritalin over,my mental state. When I take, Methylphenidate let me demonstrate I spit hot shit , I might decinigrate but sense it's getting late, I'm gonna say peace pop another soma and pass out like I was in a coma.
submitted by Specialist-Crazy1466 to raplyrics [link] [comments]
Popping sominex, seroquil is next wash it down with moonshine, it's my tripple threat. I feel high like a jet pop my cipralex. I been a vet, you know I'm on, Bupropion, get my coping on, I'm coasting on, like a star, tear up the scene, poppin vraylar cariprazine. The fear will make ya shxt ya jeans . The dove cry sounds like symphonies, I just want to empty me. the only thing keeping me is THC. I need tlc. It seems, my prescription is Setraline, had me left a fiend. I'm wrecked between, my inner screams and inner deeeeemons, acting in legions. Too much at stake too much on my plate. I'm Ritalin over,my mental state. When I take, Methylphenidate let me demonstrate I spit hot shit , I might decinigrate but sense it's getting late, I'm gonna say peace pop another soma and pass out like I was in a coma.
2024.04.30 22:40 MalteseMalteser Malt's Trip Review across the Golden Route
Hi all, first time posting in this sub but found some of the advice really helpful planning for our trip, so thought I'd post our trip report.
A bit about us: Two late 20's Brits, husband and wife team. Mixed levels of fitness - we lift weights in the gym 5 days a week, and my wife additionally plays rugby with training/games 2-3 times a week (I coach). We both work 9-5 deskjobs. Interests include food, videogames, anime and history.
The trip: 10th April: Flew business class with JAL from LHR to HND. Flying business class was a bucket list thing for us, and we'd saved up a lot of money during Covid even with a marriage and a house move. Overall it was a great experience, but I'm a light sleeper and couldn't sleep a wink on the plane. Watched season 1 of SpyxFamily which became the anime of the trip, as we'd watch Seasons 2 and 3 before getting to bed most nights.
11th April: Landed at 7:40am at HND and set up our Ubigi eSims. My advice would be to set it up before you fly, as connecting to the Wifi at HND was a bit troublesome. On the whole, though, Ubigi was great - decent connection throughout and only lost connection in some tunnels, or in a couple of spots in Akihabara.
Got Suica cards at Terminal 3 and dropped luggage off at our hotel (Hotel Gracery Shinjuku). Was cool being in the Godzilla hotel on the Godzilla floor - room was pretty big and you get some good views from the 30th floor. Loved the iconography on the walls of various kaiju's in the Godzilla franchise (King Ghidorah, Rodan etc.), the iconography on the lift doors, and there's a panorama in the hotel lobby, too.
Went for a walk around Shinjuku and Shinjuku Gyoen garden whilst we waited to check in and were lucky enough to see the various cherry/plum (I think?) blossoms in the park. We had planned the trip knowing we were missing the blossom season, so to see some in full bloom was great. We'd grabbed some onigiri from a 7-11 and had a picnic on a bench under the trees. Grabbed Shinkansen tickets for a couple of days time in the Green Car from Shinjuku station, which was hassle-free. Checked into hotel, then went to find some food. Booked online at Teppanyaki Hama which was literally down the street, and what an experience that was. Only 12 seats in total at the restaurant, and we were treated to the chef cooking right in front of us a variety of 9 courses from roe, to oyster, lobster, snail and the best grilled veg I've had. Cost about £216 from memory, but it set the tone of the trip really well.
12th April: woke up early and got to Meiji Jingu for about 7am. We enjoyed how quiet it was, with only a handful of tourists at this time. We then went to a Family Mart and came back to Meiji Jingu (with the intention to eat breakfast in the park) at 8:30am, but all the tourists had arrived by then and we could see no food/drink signs so we moved on to Yoyogi Park which was also lovely.
Next we did Harajuku and I visited the Asics store there. Was disappointed at how touristy the area seemed even at 10/11am. At this time, it started to rain and, with not much appealing to us, we moved on to Shibuya. Did Shibuya scramble a few times for the fun of it, then grabbed lunch at Ichiran. Decent ramen, better than the chain ramen we get in the UK (I'm looking at you, Wagamama's) but not the best of the trip. Explored Shibuya and saw the Pokemon Centre there with Mewtwo, and then the One Piece and Jump stores too. We went to Sushiro for dinner. Ate about 15 plates between us for roughly £26 with drinks. First ever conveyor belt sushi experience and had to wait about 30 mins for a seat. Was pretty cool. Rounded off the day wandering Golden Gai and Kabukicho near the hotel.
13th April: had planned to explore Nakano Broadway and Ikebukuro this day but...
I was ill all day and after being up and down during the night, spent all day in bed. My wife was fine, so I either overate, felt jetlagged, stressed from overplanning, ate something my wife didn't (likely sea urchin at Sushiro), or a bit of everything. My wife went to Gotokuji temple in the afternoon and explored some of the neighbourhoods to find an Airbnb which a Youtuber she follows, owns. My illness put me off of seafood for most of the trip, which is unfortunate as I love seafood, but the smell of it just put me off on this trip.
14th April: took the 6:33am Shinkansen to Kyoto. This was awesome, and watching the Japanese countryside go by with the mountains in the background was something I'll never forget - it's so much more picturesque than from UK trains. We were lucky to see Mt. Fuji from the train as well, as we knew she was usually shy, but that morning she looked majestic.
Popped by the hotel so they knew we were in the neighbourhood (Yoin Hotel Kyoto Gion). Hotel was a bit disappointing. Largest hotel room of the trip (save for the ryokan) but it was only 4/5 storeys high so had a lot of noise from the road below from loud tourists at 1am.
We explored Gion district. Visited Chion-in which was brilliant, saw different delegations of monks and even a bit of their ceremonies when we were there. Also did Yasaka Shrine, Yasaka Pagoda, and Kiyomizu-dera (too crowded by the time we did it), and grabbed some lunch at Smile Burger. Smile burger was great, a small burger joint which did simple burgers that tasted good for a great price. We then took a break at Ryozen Kannon temple. Ate dinner in our room with some of the ekiben boxes I didn't eat for brekfast as I still felt iffy.
15th April: originally planned to do Fushimi Inari this day but instead took a trip to Nara as I wasn't feeling a 5am wakeup after being unwell. Nara was lovely, but again loads of tourists by 8am. Fed the deer, and loved how the vendors all charged the same and how part of the money goes towards conservation. We went to Kofuku-ji and then grabbed breakfast at a conbini next to the famous TikTok mocchi making place, then sat at Sarusawa-ike watching the Terrapins to eat. It was so peaceful here, away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist parts. Then visited Todaiji Temple and explored Nara park. Then, we hopped on a train to visit the old Imperial Palace of Nara with the intention of seeing all Imperial Palaces in the cities on our trip. Admittedly not much at the site but it was cool seeing the old buildings and some of the conservation work being done. Then, on a whim, we went to Uji at 3:30pm and again, it was away from the hustle and bustle of tourists. I dislike green tea and matcha, but my wife likes it so thought it'd be good to try. We found a cafe overlooking the river and got there at last orders. Admittedly, I didn't like anything on the menu but that's just my taste and dislike of matcha. We left Uji and found a Wagyu steak yakiniku place in Kyoto called Douraku Kyotorokkakudoriten. Had a whole board of Wagyu fillet, tongue, cheek, rib etc. for about £89 and we got to cook it ourselves. This was a treat, and I've never tasted beef so good - it literally melted in our mouths. We left very satisfied after getting a side order of rice and bimbap, too.
16th April: Tackled Fushimi Inari this day as I was getting my groove back. Got to the foot of Fushimi Inari at 7:30am and it was already packed with wannabe influencers - I could tell this was going to be fun...my wife and I like hillwalking and occasionally walk Bennau Brycheniog or the Lake District, so we can hike at a good pace. We passed many people getting irate over the number of people getting in their shots (what did you expect?) and even one woman walking in a dress and stilettos with her partner carrying a tripod!! Madness. The crowds did thin considerably once we hit the part where the path splits in two, and we got all the way to the top in 55 mins. We bought a tori gate from one of the stalls neat the top after waiting around for 25 mins for it to open, and we had our names and date painted on it in kanji. Certainly take some time to see the various shrines in the small paths off the main track, as they're so picturesque and peaceful. Shoutout to Pocari Sweat, which kept me fuelled this entire time whilst recovering from the lurgies.
We walked down the mountain pass at the back, past a small bamboo grove, and here I jumped with glee as I heard a school bell go which had exactly the same tone and tune as the one from the 'Izekai Quartet' anime. From here, we did Tofuku-ji as it was on the way back into town along the path. What was really nice was seeing the backstreets of Japanese society, so tranquil and well-kept (like it was straight out of an anime). We then grabbed some lunch at a Korean hotpot place in Kyoto station, and did Kyoto tower on a whim. I suffer from vertigo and 'call of the void' (where I want to jump off of high places just to know what the sensation is like) and they were pretty bad at the top of Kyoto Tower as I felt like the tower was shaking in the wind. Still, the views were great and I'm glad I did it. They had a stand/vending machines of 'Sound Euphonium!' merch, which is an anime I love as a former brass band player, so got some photos next to Kumiko and Reina. We then went on an hours detour just so my wife could find another Pokelid and ended up in a park watching the Shinkansen go by. We grabbed dinner in an udon place called Udon Shiogama round the corner from the hotel which did curry udon. My goodness it tasted so good! The rich, spicy sauce went so well with the juicy udon I can still taste it. It's about on par with a Jalfrezi or a hot tikka spicewise, so if you can't do spice it may not be for you, but my wife had tempura udon ramen which she said was also as excellent.
17th April: trip to Osaka. I originally wanted to go to Himeji castle given the advice on this sub, but my wife didn't want to go too far astray so instead we went to Osaka castle at 9am. It was nice to see the museum inside of it and was very informative. From there, we went to Dotonbori and tried the best Takoyaki from a place right outside Osaka-Namba station with a massive crab on top. Also tried melonpan with vanilla ice cream inside it (a game changer) and Okonomiyaki at Mizuno Okonomiyaki which was brilliant. Went for the seafood option (risky given recent events) but it was so tasteful. Top tip would be to get here early at 5pm to avoid much of a queue, as only a limited number of seats and they cook it up in front of you. Then went to find the Osaka Pokemon Centre as my wife wanted to see that. Eventually headed back to Kyoto at about 9pm.
18th-19th April: Kinosaki Onsen
We wanted to do a ryokan/onsen experience as part of the trip but I wanted to get away from the crowds, so avoided Hakone. A friend had gone to Kinosaki so I decided to as well. Took us 3 hours to get there from Kyoto so set off at about 9am and the scenery out the window as the local trains go through the mountains was beautiful. Got to Kinosakionsen at midday and grabbed lunch at Kinosaki Burger by the station. Best burger of the holiday, hands down. Japan does simple burgers, but it does them well. It doesn't overcomplicate them by adding in more ingredients/foods, they're just a solid good burger. This is no different, but their chips were the best chips I've tasted. Cooked to order, cripsy on the outside, fluffy on the inside and seasoned generously with salt. At 2pm we checked into the ryokan (Nishimuraya Honkan Ryokan) and got changed into our Yukatas and getas. We had the suite room so we had the highest room in the ryokan. Went to Kouno-ko onsen to try it out and didn't get weirded out by the amount of people there and being completely naked around them. Top tip - if you wear glasses, take them off as it can help with an 'if I can't see them, they can't see me' mentality. Had fun walking in getas - how anime characters run, fight and kick in those things will remain a wonder to me (looking at you, Elfman from Fairy Tail).
Had kaiseki dinner in the ryokan which was so good! Fresh crab, cold sakura noodles, sashimi, grilled salmon...divine. Went for a late walk in the town as it was lit by lanterns and it was so picturesque. I estimate maybe 50 tourists in total within the town on this Thursday evening? It was great. Went for a dip in the onsen within the Ryokan - it has two onsens, one male and one female, which alternate each morning. Both onsens are done in different styles, too, one Japanese and one Greco-Roman. Learning the history of Kinosakionsen was also cool, with healing storks and praying monks with a history spanning over 1400 years.
The next morning we ate breakfast in our room and after another dip in the ryokan onsen, again on a whim, did the Kinosaki ropeway. You could see the Sea of Japan at the top along with shrines to crabs and other Buddhist deities. We stopped halfway down to see the Onsen temple which I believe had nightingale flooring. The monk there was brilliant with even very broken English, gave us a leaflet with info on it, and let us roam. We missed the 12:10pm gondola down so were stranded midway until 12:50pm, but it was nice to take the time to smell the flowers as we heard more Isekai Quarter schoolbells ring, trains zip along the valley below us, birds singing their song as the gentle breeze tickled us. I'll never forget that moment.
Upon getting down from the ropeway, we stopped off at Kinosaki Burger again before getting the train to Kyoto. We went to Pontocho alley for some grub and along a backstreet, stumbled upon Restaurant Muni which is a French/Japanese place. Looks to be a father and son operation and we were the first ones there ar 6pm. They recommend 2-3 plates per person for 2 people. I started with the Japanese beef curry which was just right, and the wife had omurice. I then had grilled duck which was cooked to perfection, before I ended with omurice whilst my wife had a pork cutlet sandwich. All meals were divine and tasted good, think the bill was near enough £100 but in our minds, it was worth it. Reminded me of Yokihira Soma's restaurant in 'Shokugeki no Soma' (Food Wars) a bit with the dynamic of the chefs and the menu, but it gets 5 stars from me. From there, we sauntered along the river and took in the atmosphere, seeing the buildings all lit up.
20th April: Decided to skip Arashiyama bamboo forest as I was tired of tourists by this point (yes, I realise the irony that I am myself a tourist) so instead we hopped on a bus and headed straight to Kinkaku-ji. Even at 9:05am there's so many tourists and we were herded through narrow paths. Was nice for a quick photo op but it suffered from overtourism. We then went to Heian shrine on a whim which was so quiet! I loved the red wood and the green roofs of the buildings. We also did the gardens which were my favourite gardens of the trip. We fed the koi carp (and a turtle) for 200 yen and even saw a Japanese wedding on the bridge - the groom was a handsome young man in his attire and the bride looked beautiful in hers. We did some shopping before getting dinner at CoCo curry. I was hungry, so went for extra pork cutlet, extra mushrooms, and spice level 5 and I struggled with the spice. It was one of the hottest dishes I've tasted, so if I were to go again I'd pick a milder level.
21st April: Took the bus to Nijo Castle and walked around the grounds. The grounds were lovely and the castle was cool too. Then hit up Kyoto Imperial Palace. Went to the Kyoto Pokemon Centre and then hit up Gyoza Dokoro Sukemasa. Got their Gyoza Set B menu which was 6 gyozas, miso soup, rice, string beans and chicken mayo salad for...880 yen. Bargain! The gyoza had hints of ginger in them which made them bright and freshing. So good! We then walked through Gion at night and took pictures of Nannenzaka, Sinnenzaka, and Yasaka Pagoda in darkness when illuminated by lights. Beautiful.
22nd April: Bullet train to Tokyo where we hit up Nakano Broadway and Ikebukuro. We were disappointed by both - Nakano Broadway just felt like multiple Mandarake stores, and Ikebukuro didn't have much aside from Sunshine City. We then hit up Akihabara in the afternoon and loved it. We went for dinner at Kanda Matsuya which was a lovely pre-war building serving ramen. Loads of locals in here and the place was bustling which was great to see. Some great food too, at decent prices. Afterwards I stopped by the local MacDonalds to try their double Big Mac burger (4 burgers in a Big Mac bun) as it's such a novelty. Checked into our hotel (The Gate Hotel Kaminarimon) in Asakusa. Hotel was great, some lovely views on the 10th floor and a 2 min walk from Sennsoji Temple and Akihabara station. Our room was huge. Would recommend.
23rd April: did Sennsoji-Temple as it was right across the street from our hotel. It was pretty cool to see in the morning at 8am with barely any tourists around, though did get busy at 9am. Wandered the old streets of Akihabara and reflected at the shrines/memorials around Sennsoji. Had Tokyo Tower booked in the afternoon and almost died at being 350m up due to the vertigo, but managed to get my shit together for a photo on the green screen floor at 450m high (though did politely ask my wife to hurry up as I could sense the tower wobbling and I was freaking out). Grabbed curry udon by Skytree which was underwhelming compared to the one I had in Gion, then got some fresh Taiyaki in Asakusa and then some cute mango sorbet ice cream with eyes and biscuits by Canelé Créme Glacée. They donate 3 yen to a good cause for each ice cream bought, which was nice, especially as you get to choose which of the charities to donate it to.
24th April: Was going to do the Tokyo Imperial Palace but couldn't be bothered with the hassle of getting tickets. Did Ueno Park and the National History Museum instead and enjoyed a morning there, before hitting up Akihabara in the afternoon/evening. Did some crane games and played a Kantai Collection arcade game which was cool. Then played the Taiko(?) drumming game with the SpyxFamily and other anime tunes blaring out - awesome!
25th April - Akihabara. Enough said.
26th April - Had a reservation at a michelin star restaurant (another bucket list item for us) in Ginza so headed into Ginza for the morning. It was an interesting insight as to the other half of society lives, as we'd never been into any of the shops that surrounded the station. The michelin star experience at Ginza Toyoda was exceptional. Several courses at 30,250 yen each and had crab mince with ginger jelly served on a crab shell, tiger prawns, sashimi, sea urchin and abalone...sublime! We spoke a bit of Japanese with the chef, who said we spoke good Japanese for first-timers (albeit this was said over trusty ol' Google Translate). Just made the experience so much better! Spent the evening in Akihabara and had Pork tonkatsu ramen in Yaro Ramen Akihabara. We then had a frozen strawberry crepe out of the nearby vending machine for the fun of it.
27th April: flew from HND business class with JAL.
Things to note:
We're now looking to do another trip to Japan, maybe doing the Northern prefectures of Tohoku and Aomori, and Hokkaido. We'd love to go back to Kinosaki Onsen again, and spend more time in Tokyo. We're going to double-down on the Japanese language learning, too, as we can barely read Hiragana and Katakana to a worse extent.
Thanks for reading, I hope other first-timers found this insightful and I'm happy to answer any questions.
submitted by MalteseMalteser to JapanTravel [link] [comments]
A bit about us: Two late 20's Brits, husband and wife team. Mixed levels of fitness - we lift weights in the gym 5 days a week, and my wife additionally plays rugby with training/games 2-3 times a week (I coach). We both work 9-5 deskjobs. Interests include food, videogames, anime and history.
The trip: 10th April: Flew business class with JAL from LHR to HND. Flying business class was a bucket list thing for us, and we'd saved up a lot of money during Covid even with a marriage and a house move. Overall it was a great experience, but I'm a light sleeper and couldn't sleep a wink on the plane. Watched season 1 of SpyxFamily which became the anime of the trip, as we'd watch Seasons 2 and 3 before getting to bed most nights.
11th April: Landed at 7:40am at HND and set up our Ubigi eSims. My advice would be to set it up before you fly, as connecting to the Wifi at HND was a bit troublesome. On the whole, though, Ubigi was great - decent connection throughout and only lost connection in some tunnels, or in a couple of spots in Akihabara.
Got Suica cards at Terminal 3 and dropped luggage off at our hotel (Hotel Gracery Shinjuku). Was cool being in the Godzilla hotel on the Godzilla floor - room was pretty big and you get some good views from the 30th floor. Loved the iconography on the walls of various kaiju's in the Godzilla franchise (King Ghidorah, Rodan etc.), the iconography on the lift doors, and there's a panorama in the hotel lobby, too.
Went for a walk around Shinjuku and Shinjuku Gyoen garden whilst we waited to check in and were lucky enough to see the various cherry/plum (I think?) blossoms in the park. We had planned the trip knowing we were missing the blossom season, so to see some in full bloom was great. We'd grabbed some onigiri from a 7-11 and had a picnic on a bench under the trees. Grabbed Shinkansen tickets for a couple of days time in the Green Car from Shinjuku station, which was hassle-free. Checked into hotel, then went to find some food. Booked online at Teppanyaki Hama which was literally down the street, and what an experience that was. Only 12 seats in total at the restaurant, and we were treated to the chef cooking right in front of us a variety of 9 courses from roe, to oyster, lobster, snail and the best grilled veg I've had. Cost about £216 from memory, but it set the tone of the trip really well.
12th April: woke up early and got to Meiji Jingu for about 7am. We enjoyed how quiet it was, with only a handful of tourists at this time. We then went to a Family Mart and came back to Meiji Jingu (with the intention to eat breakfast in the park) at 8:30am, but all the tourists had arrived by then and we could see no food/drink signs so we moved on to Yoyogi Park which was also lovely.
Next we did Harajuku and I visited the Asics store there. Was disappointed at how touristy the area seemed even at 10/11am. At this time, it started to rain and, with not much appealing to us, we moved on to Shibuya. Did Shibuya scramble a few times for the fun of it, then grabbed lunch at Ichiran. Decent ramen, better than the chain ramen we get in the UK (I'm looking at you, Wagamama's) but not the best of the trip. Explored Shibuya and saw the Pokemon Centre there with Mewtwo, and then the One Piece and Jump stores too. We went to Sushiro for dinner. Ate about 15 plates between us for roughly £26 with drinks. First ever conveyor belt sushi experience and had to wait about 30 mins for a seat. Was pretty cool. Rounded off the day wandering Golden Gai and Kabukicho near the hotel.
13th April: had planned to explore Nakano Broadway and Ikebukuro this day but...
I was ill all day and after being up and down during the night, spent all day in bed. My wife was fine, so I either overate, felt jetlagged, stressed from overplanning, ate something my wife didn't (likely sea urchin at Sushiro), or a bit of everything. My wife went to Gotokuji temple in the afternoon and explored some of the neighbourhoods to find an Airbnb which a Youtuber she follows, owns. My illness put me off of seafood for most of the trip, which is unfortunate as I love seafood, but the smell of it just put me off on this trip.
14th April: took the 6:33am Shinkansen to Kyoto. This was awesome, and watching the Japanese countryside go by with the mountains in the background was something I'll never forget - it's so much more picturesque than from UK trains. We were lucky to see Mt. Fuji from the train as well, as we knew she was usually shy, but that morning she looked majestic.
Popped by the hotel so they knew we were in the neighbourhood (Yoin Hotel Kyoto Gion). Hotel was a bit disappointing. Largest hotel room of the trip (save for the ryokan) but it was only 4/5 storeys high so had a lot of noise from the road below from loud tourists at 1am.
We explored Gion district. Visited Chion-in which was brilliant, saw different delegations of monks and even a bit of their ceremonies when we were there. Also did Yasaka Shrine, Yasaka Pagoda, and Kiyomizu-dera (too crowded by the time we did it), and grabbed some lunch at Smile Burger. Smile burger was great, a small burger joint which did simple burgers that tasted good for a great price. We then took a break at Ryozen Kannon temple. Ate dinner in our room with some of the ekiben boxes I didn't eat for brekfast as I still felt iffy.
15th April: originally planned to do Fushimi Inari this day but instead took a trip to Nara as I wasn't feeling a 5am wakeup after being unwell. Nara was lovely, but again loads of tourists by 8am. Fed the deer, and loved how the vendors all charged the same and how part of the money goes towards conservation. We went to Kofuku-ji and then grabbed breakfast at a conbini next to the famous TikTok mocchi making place, then sat at Sarusawa-ike watching the Terrapins to eat. It was so peaceful here, away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist parts. Then visited Todaiji Temple and explored Nara park. Then, we hopped on a train to visit the old Imperial Palace of Nara with the intention of seeing all Imperial Palaces in the cities on our trip. Admittedly not much at the site but it was cool seeing the old buildings and some of the conservation work being done. Then, on a whim, we went to Uji at 3:30pm and again, it was away from the hustle and bustle of tourists. I dislike green tea and matcha, but my wife likes it so thought it'd be good to try. We found a cafe overlooking the river and got there at last orders. Admittedly, I didn't like anything on the menu but that's just my taste and dislike of matcha. We left Uji and found a Wagyu steak yakiniku place in Kyoto called Douraku Kyotorokkakudoriten. Had a whole board of Wagyu fillet, tongue, cheek, rib etc. for about £89 and we got to cook it ourselves. This was a treat, and I've never tasted beef so good - it literally melted in our mouths. We left very satisfied after getting a side order of rice and bimbap, too.
16th April: Tackled Fushimi Inari this day as I was getting my groove back. Got to the foot of Fushimi Inari at 7:30am and it was already packed with wannabe influencers - I could tell this was going to be fun...my wife and I like hillwalking and occasionally walk Bennau Brycheniog or the Lake District, so we can hike at a good pace. We passed many people getting irate over the number of people getting in their shots (what did you expect?) and even one woman walking in a dress and stilettos with her partner carrying a tripod!! Madness. The crowds did thin considerably once we hit the part where the path splits in two, and we got all the way to the top in 55 mins. We bought a tori gate from one of the stalls neat the top after waiting around for 25 mins for it to open, and we had our names and date painted on it in kanji. Certainly take some time to see the various shrines in the small paths off the main track, as they're so picturesque and peaceful. Shoutout to Pocari Sweat, which kept me fuelled this entire time whilst recovering from the lurgies.
We walked down the mountain pass at the back, past a small bamboo grove, and here I jumped with glee as I heard a school bell go which had exactly the same tone and tune as the one from the 'Izekai Quartet' anime. From here, we did Tofuku-ji as it was on the way back into town along the path. What was really nice was seeing the backstreets of Japanese society, so tranquil and well-kept (like it was straight out of an anime). We then grabbed some lunch at a Korean hotpot place in Kyoto station, and did Kyoto tower on a whim. I suffer from vertigo and 'call of the void' (where I want to jump off of high places just to know what the sensation is like) and they were pretty bad at the top of Kyoto Tower as I felt like the tower was shaking in the wind. Still, the views were great and I'm glad I did it. They had a stand/vending machines of 'Sound Euphonium!' merch, which is an anime I love as a former brass band player, so got some photos next to Kumiko and Reina. We then went on an hours detour just so my wife could find another Pokelid and ended up in a park watching the Shinkansen go by. We grabbed dinner in an udon place called Udon Shiogama round the corner from the hotel which did curry udon. My goodness it tasted so good! The rich, spicy sauce went so well with the juicy udon I can still taste it. It's about on par with a Jalfrezi or a hot tikka spicewise, so if you can't do spice it may not be for you, but my wife had tempura udon ramen which she said was also as excellent.
17th April: trip to Osaka. I originally wanted to go to Himeji castle given the advice on this sub, but my wife didn't want to go too far astray so instead we went to Osaka castle at 9am. It was nice to see the museum inside of it and was very informative. From there, we went to Dotonbori and tried the best Takoyaki from a place right outside Osaka-Namba station with a massive crab on top. Also tried melonpan with vanilla ice cream inside it (a game changer) and Okonomiyaki at Mizuno Okonomiyaki which was brilliant. Went for the seafood option (risky given recent events) but it was so tasteful. Top tip would be to get here early at 5pm to avoid much of a queue, as only a limited number of seats and they cook it up in front of you. Then went to find the Osaka Pokemon Centre as my wife wanted to see that. Eventually headed back to Kyoto at about 9pm.
18th-19th April: Kinosaki Onsen
We wanted to do a ryokan/onsen experience as part of the trip but I wanted to get away from the crowds, so avoided Hakone. A friend had gone to Kinosaki so I decided to as well. Took us 3 hours to get there from Kyoto so set off at about 9am and the scenery out the window as the local trains go through the mountains was beautiful. Got to Kinosakionsen at midday and grabbed lunch at Kinosaki Burger by the station. Best burger of the holiday, hands down. Japan does simple burgers, but it does them well. It doesn't overcomplicate them by adding in more ingredients/foods, they're just a solid good burger. This is no different, but their chips were the best chips I've tasted. Cooked to order, cripsy on the outside, fluffy on the inside and seasoned generously with salt. At 2pm we checked into the ryokan (Nishimuraya Honkan Ryokan) and got changed into our Yukatas and getas. We had the suite room so we had the highest room in the ryokan. Went to Kouno-ko onsen to try it out and didn't get weirded out by the amount of people there and being completely naked around them. Top tip - if you wear glasses, take them off as it can help with an 'if I can't see them, they can't see me' mentality. Had fun walking in getas - how anime characters run, fight and kick in those things will remain a wonder to me (looking at you, Elfman from Fairy Tail).
Had kaiseki dinner in the ryokan which was so good! Fresh crab, cold sakura noodles, sashimi, grilled salmon...divine. Went for a late walk in the town as it was lit by lanterns and it was so picturesque. I estimate maybe 50 tourists in total within the town on this Thursday evening? It was great. Went for a dip in the onsen within the Ryokan - it has two onsens, one male and one female, which alternate each morning. Both onsens are done in different styles, too, one Japanese and one Greco-Roman. Learning the history of Kinosakionsen was also cool, with healing storks and praying monks with a history spanning over 1400 years.
The next morning we ate breakfast in our room and after another dip in the ryokan onsen, again on a whim, did the Kinosaki ropeway. You could see the Sea of Japan at the top along with shrines to crabs and other Buddhist deities. We stopped halfway down to see the Onsen temple which I believe had nightingale flooring. The monk there was brilliant with even very broken English, gave us a leaflet with info on it, and let us roam. We missed the 12:10pm gondola down so were stranded midway until 12:50pm, but it was nice to take the time to smell the flowers as we heard more Isekai Quarter schoolbells ring, trains zip along the valley below us, birds singing their song as the gentle breeze tickled us. I'll never forget that moment.
Upon getting down from the ropeway, we stopped off at Kinosaki Burger again before getting the train to Kyoto. We went to Pontocho alley for some grub and along a backstreet, stumbled upon Restaurant Muni which is a French/Japanese place. Looks to be a father and son operation and we were the first ones there ar 6pm. They recommend 2-3 plates per person for 2 people. I started with the Japanese beef curry which was just right, and the wife had omurice. I then had grilled duck which was cooked to perfection, before I ended with omurice whilst my wife had a pork cutlet sandwich. All meals were divine and tasted good, think the bill was near enough £100 but in our minds, it was worth it. Reminded me of Yokihira Soma's restaurant in 'Shokugeki no Soma' (Food Wars) a bit with the dynamic of the chefs and the menu, but it gets 5 stars from me. From there, we sauntered along the river and took in the atmosphere, seeing the buildings all lit up.
20th April: Decided to skip Arashiyama bamboo forest as I was tired of tourists by this point (yes, I realise the irony that I am myself a tourist) so instead we hopped on a bus and headed straight to Kinkaku-ji. Even at 9:05am there's so many tourists and we were herded through narrow paths. Was nice for a quick photo op but it suffered from overtourism. We then went to Heian shrine on a whim which was so quiet! I loved the red wood and the green roofs of the buildings. We also did the gardens which were my favourite gardens of the trip. We fed the koi carp (and a turtle) for 200 yen and even saw a Japanese wedding on the bridge - the groom was a handsome young man in his attire and the bride looked beautiful in hers. We did some shopping before getting dinner at CoCo curry. I was hungry, so went for extra pork cutlet, extra mushrooms, and spice level 5 and I struggled with the spice. It was one of the hottest dishes I've tasted, so if I were to go again I'd pick a milder level.
21st April: Took the bus to Nijo Castle and walked around the grounds. The grounds were lovely and the castle was cool too. Then hit up Kyoto Imperial Palace. Went to the Kyoto Pokemon Centre and then hit up Gyoza Dokoro Sukemasa. Got their Gyoza Set B menu which was 6 gyozas, miso soup, rice, string beans and chicken mayo salad for...880 yen. Bargain! The gyoza had hints of ginger in them which made them bright and freshing. So good! We then walked through Gion at night and took pictures of Nannenzaka, Sinnenzaka, and Yasaka Pagoda in darkness when illuminated by lights. Beautiful.
22nd April: Bullet train to Tokyo where we hit up Nakano Broadway and Ikebukuro. We were disappointed by both - Nakano Broadway just felt like multiple Mandarake stores, and Ikebukuro didn't have much aside from Sunshine City. We then hit up Akihabara in the afternoon and loved it. We went for dinner at Kanda Matsuya which was a lovely pre-war building serving ramen. Loads of locals in here and the place was bustling which was great to see. Some great food too, at decent prices. Afterwards I stopped by the local MacDonalds to try their double Big Mac burger (4 burgers in a Big Mac bun) as it's such a novelty. Checked into our hotel (The Gate Hotel Kaminarimon) in Asakusa. Hotel was great, some lovely views on the 10th floor and a 2 min walk from Sennsoji Temple and Akihabara station. Our room was huge. Would recommend.
23rd April: did Sennsoji-Temple as it was right across the street from our hotel. It was pretty cool to see in the morning at 8am with barely any tourists around, though did get busy at 9am. Wandered the old streets of Akihabara and reflected at the shrines/memorials around Sennsoji. Had Tokyo Tower booked in the afternoon and almost died at being 350m up due to the vertigo, but managed to get my shit together for a photo on the green screen floor at 450m high (though did politely ask my wife to hurry up as I could sense the tower wobbling and I was freaking out). Grabbed curry udon by Skytree which was underwhelming compared to the one I had in Gion, then got some fresh Taiyaki in Asakusa and then some cute mango sorbet ice cream with eyes and biscuits by Canelé Créme Glacée. They donate 3 yen to a good cause for each ice cream bought, which was nice, especially as you get to choose which of the charities to donate it to.
24th April: Was going to do the Tokyo Imperial Palace but couldn't be bothered with the hassle of getting tickets. Did Ueno Park and the National History Museum instead and enjoyed a morning there, before hitting up Akihabara in the afternoon/evening. Did some crane games and played a Kantai Collection arcade game which was cool. Then played the Taiko(?) drumming game with the SpyxFamily and other anime tunes blaring out - awesome!
25th April - Akihabara. Enough said.
26th April - Had a reservation at a michelin star restaurant (another bucket list item for us) in Ginza so headed into Ginza for the morning. It was an interesting insight as to the other half of society lives, as we'd never been into any of the shops that surrounded the station. The michelin star experience at Ginza Toyoda was exceptional. Several courses at 30,250 yen each and had crab mince with ginger jelly served on a crab shell, tiger prawns, sashimi, sea urchin and abalone...sublime! We spoke a bit of Japanese with the chef, who said we spoke good Japanese for first-timers (albeit this was said over trusty ol' Google Translate). Just made the experience so much better! Spent the evening in Akihabara and had Pork tonkatsu ramen in Yaro Ramen Akihabara. We then had a frozen strawberry crepe out of the nearby vending machine for the fun of it.
27th April: flew from HND business class with JAL.
Things to note:
- a bit of Japanese goes a long way. Simple phrases like 'hai', 'iie', 'sumimasen', 'gomenasai' and 'daijoubou' go a long way. Locals love it when you try to speak the language, and most of the time what they infer can be interpreted through their hand movements.
- carry around a plastic bag for your rubbish, as has been said plenty of times on the forum.
- the weather for the first week was about 20-26ºC, which did not help my wife or I whp had packed jeans, sweaters and down jackets. A trip to Uniqlo later had us buying shorts and Activism tshirts which were a godsend on the trip.
- Japanese public transport is second to none. It's clean, efficient, and usually on-time. Even the buses were well-labelled (we took the number 12 bus from Gion-in to Kinkaku-ji and Nijo Castle in Kyoto).
- be mindful of the Japanese culture, don't be loud, don't be a dick, always be humble and apologise if you think you're in the wrong. We did apologise plenty of times on the trip.
- Japanese schoolkids are adorable. They're young but behave so well, and take themselves to/from school alone. They navigate busy train stations solo, and do schoolwork on the train. They wear hats, and the lads wear shorts with high socks. Made my wife (a former teaching assistant) so happy seeing well-behaved kids. We saw some schoolkids on a trip at Osaka Castle and they were well behaved, lined up in single file, talking quietly and not getting in the way of tourists.
- We asked the hotels to forward our luggage between Tokyo-Kyoto and Kyoto-Tokyo. Cost us about £35 each time for 3 suitcases, with one of those days being on a Sunday. Arrived next day. We had Apple AirTags in each suitcase so we knew where they were.
- Google Maps on Android worked better than Maps on iOS, often with better signal and pathfinding.
- food was as expensive or inexpensive as we wanted it to be. Sure, we splashed out on several meals, but we tried to balance them with cheaper meals. I got addicted to Melonpan for breakfast when I was ill, and would double that up with pizza and fami-chicki for breakfast. Drinks-wise, Minute Maid was basically melted orange Calippo, Pocari Sweat was a mild lucozade original, and Calpis soda a muted lemonade. All were my top 3 drinks from vending machines/combinis. My wife loved the oolong green tea.
- the last few days in Tokyo we did have stuff planned, but we decided to focus on Akihabara to buy merch. Arguably taking these days at a slower pace was much nicer and enjoyable to what we had done in Kyoto.
- we averaged about 24,000 steps per day, with the highest being roughly 29,500 steps and the lowest about 12,000 steps. I wore New Balance 880 v12's and my feet were still sore after each day!
- Pokemon Centres personally became a bore after the second one as they sell the same merch more or less, with a few exclusives in certain stores. If you're a Pokénerd like my wife, you'll love it, but if you have no interest like me then you won't. We spent about 4 hours total in Pokemon stores across Japan, and a further couple of hours looking for Pokelids. All stores were out of stock of my favourite Pokemon (Alakazam - because he has spoons and is Gen 1).
- we only booked Tokyo Skytree and Ginza Toyoda before we flew. We booked a couple of restaurants the day of, after quickly browsing Google Maps or TripAdvisor.
We're now looking to do another trip to Japan, maybe doing the Northern prefectures of Tohoku and Aomori, and Hokkaido. We'd love to go back to Kinosaki Onsen again, and spend more time in Tokyo. We're going to double-down on the Japanese language learning, too, as we can barely read Hiragana and Katakana to a worse extent.
Thanks for reading, I hope other first-timers found this insightful and I'm happy to answer any questions.
2024.04.28 16:06 Stunning-Welder6121 Somras the youth elixer found
so somras is a drink made from soma plant but here is said that some yellow orangish part of that plant is pressed in stones to give a brown orange liquid then fermented and mixed with milk so it gives a violet pinkish hue which has potential antioxidant benefits and rejuvenates the body into youth . so according to rigveda somaras was used by Indra During war. initially the somaras was stolen by Indra from his father Kashyap so by this means Kashyap had it and so did his father the saptarishi saint marichi and it came to saptarishi from Brahma dev which he made from a plant that was unknown so here in rigveda it is mentioned that this plant only blooms at night giving soma which in another form is also called Chandra . there is another story that sun once loved a moon (was a princess definitely the name was unknown) and she died because of him and there he was sad and told that you would take rebirth on earth and would bloom as the moon comes at night. okay so this somras also was taken by women of Hindu mythology and had infertility issues and the children would become 2 head or had unusual body parts. so I know this plant and it was a plant that Brahma created which was very dear to Indra and Indra dev took it from devas . the plant which is soma must be very near and dear to indra dev which he does not want to give to other devas because somras was given to them but the plant was unknown for many of them excluding the ancestors of saptarishi and some other people like krishna should I tell you the full story of the plant that I found is exactly as written here no one thought it to be
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2024.04.26 08:14 redditduk [MEGALIST] SG Gigs Concerts Raves - May 2024: Labour Day Week (26 Apr - 9 May)
Editor’s Note 10 May: Visit the new list here - https://reddit.com/singaporemusicchat/comments/1co3y9megalist_sg_concerts_gigs_raves_till_vesak_day_10/
I am on telegram: search sg music chat or visit t.me/sgmusicchat
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26 Apr, Fri
- BOYS LIKE GIRLS Live - 2nd Show@Scape, SCAPE Ground Theatre (orchard somerset), $91
Events truncated for word limit
- DJ, Tipsy Unicorn: King Promise (🇬🇭 Afrobeat LIVE) pres by Fuego Night, Tipsy Unicorn Beach Club 🏖 @ 36 Siloso Bch Walk (Sentosa), $71
- DJ, XPULSE pres. HARDTECHNO "BOILER ROOM", Por Vida Skateboarding @ GR.ID mall (bencoolen, dhoby), IG 📸 , $27
- DJ, FAILSAFE!: dcln (of sarco) x Inflake - live electronic music, 42 Waterloo St (bras basah), IG 📸$12
- DJ, Offtrack: Retromigration 🇳🇱, music gastro bar @ 34 North Canal Rd (next to hong lim park, clarke quay)
- DJ, .WAV(Y) Remixed Presents: FRANCHISE (🇦🇹 riddim baile funk hiphop) with PRAV, XG & KNRCK - hiphop vibe, Mortar & Pestle rooftop bar @ 269 South Bridge Rd, , $19
- DJ, iki: Uncaged with Muttiah Ashnim (deep progressive house, tehcno, indie dance), club iki @ ikigai izakaya riverwalk (clarke quay), , $22
- DJ, High House: Groovetop pres. Wantigga (🇳🇱), supported by YA5TH , High House Rooftop Lounge 🗼@ 1 Raffles Place (old 1-altitude), $38
- DJ Sivilian Affairs x MUGIC presents Chucheewa & Logisticman (🇹🇭), Joe Delon (🇬🇧), and Miss Lil., tuff club @ 138 robinson rd cbd, $32
- DJ, Thugshop Presents - All Night Long with .VRIL (🇩🇪Ambient, IDM, Peak time Techno, Electro), headquarters techno-house club @ 66A boat quay, $36,
- DJ, Marquee: GARETH EMERY (🏴trance), nightclub @ marina bay sands shoppes, $30
27 Apr, Sat
- CNBLUE live in singapore 2024 , Indoor Stadium, $168
- TBA (aka Coboy Junior / CJR, 🇮🇩 pop) live, Capitol Theatre (city hall), $108
- 白鲨JAWS Band - Live in Singapore (🇨🇳 rock), Wire Entertainment @ Atrix building, 82 Lorong 23 Geylang (aljunied mrt), S388409, $55
- M-pop: FNM Mini Hari Raya Show - HADY MIRZA, Bo Jenggo, Dayak Konspirazy, Ezam Ernandy, The Coral Ballroom at 18 Kaki Bukit Rd 3 (kaki bukit mrt), S415978, $78
- Indie Rock: The Jansen (🇮🇩 power pop punk) ft Intermission, Camping, Krunkle, Cave Sex, Phil's Studio @ High Street Centre L3 (clarke quay/city hall), $35 doors
- SakuraFest: Singapore K-On Club, Taiko Drums, J-JAZZ Maestros, ANIME TRIBUTE by Rina-Hime, YOASOBI tribute by Lihannah, X Side Man (canto and japanese hits), WHEELERS Estate Seletar @ 2 Park Ln S798386,free
- DOUJINFES @ Heartlands: Day 1 - Reiko, Halim, DJ Rogue (anime culture, ani-song), Beyblade Compeition, hometeamNS @ bedok reservoir, 11am-7pm, free
- Indie Pop Singer-songwriter: Sunroom Sessions #5 - Trevor Wong, kai.zen, Nino, Elaine, Vananko (bedroom pop, jazzy pop, soul), Sunroom Studios @ 63 Hillview Avenue, L10 (hillview mrt), $20
- Indie Rock Acoustic: Rabak Records: Reflections - ft acoustic sets with Nosedive, Days of Television, Late Culture (normally indie, dream/gaze), Crane @ Claymore Connect 442 Orchard Rd, L1 (orchard mrt), $18
- Indie Pop Gig: Late 4 SCH! by OVERDRIVE!! - ft ICEBOX, REGINA SONG, LAST MUNUTE, DJ KIKS, Everrich Industrial Building L5 @ 1 Tannery Lane, Singapore 347719 (tai seng/potong pasir mrt), $25
- Experimental Contemporary Music: WA #8! - Weird Aftertaste (vaporwave, metal, synthpop, youtube covers, hiphop, sensitive number for ladies), The Music Parlour @ Peninsula Shopping Ctr L4 (city hall), $26
- Noise Electronic, Doom Stoner Rock Metal: MATARAMBANG - Rumang, Kushna, Terminal Liner, ORQAN 🇮🇹, IBLISS and Tripping Haze Ceremony 🇲🇾, rad studio 345, $25 doors
- Jazz Loft: Mei Lin Hii - Tango Appassionata (tribute to Astor Piazolla, a night of south american classics),Blu Jaz L3 @ bali ln (bugis), $24
- Maduro Jazz: Through the Years - A Disney Night with pianist Gabriel Hoe, maduro @ sofitel sentosa, $38+ drink credits
- SCO: Journeying Together - Shao En and Singapore Chinese Orchestra 一起走过 - 邵恩与新加坡华乐团 (G), Singapore Conference Hall @ 7 Shenton Way, $20
- Esplanade: Tracing Origins – The Life and Times of Cantonese Opera’s Laosheng《溯源》粤剧老生 – 戏剧人生 with Tung On Opera Orchestra - Day 2 of 2, Esplanade Theatre Studio, $38
- Esplanade x SSO: Ravel's Spain by Singapore Symphony Orchestra, ESPLANADE concert hall, $15
- Esplanade contemporary classical: The Vast One by Tze Toh and TO ensemble - human x A.I, music x visual projections, Electronic Sound Design, Indian, Chinese, Japanese music, modern jazz and classical orchestra, recital studio $25
Events truncated for word limit
- LIVE & DJ Tropika presents Gabriele Poso (🇮🇹🇨🇺 Afro-Latin, Disco, Conga, band), El Chido at Pullman Singapore Hotel @ 1 Hill Street (city hall), $45
- DJ, Wallich Manor Wallich's House Party with Seng Wei & Widenski (🇪🇪), Wallich Manor Lounge @ Sofitel City Centre Hotel L6 (tg pagar)
- DJ, ARK 11: ARENSKY (🇫🇷), ARK 11 Club @ Orchard Central Mall L11
- DJ, Tipsy Unicorn: BASSJACKERS (🇳🇱 dutch electro house, hardstyle, techno), Tipsy Unicorn Beach Club 🏖 @ 36 Siloso Bch Walk (Sentosa), $20
- DJ CÉ LA VI: Pres. FABIO NEURAL (🇮🇹 tech house), marina bay sands hotel rooftop bar-club 🗼, IG 📸 $38
- DJ, 1880: TEMRY (🇩🇪 neo-soul and afro-house), 1880 Members Club @ 1 Nanson Rd (Robertson Quay), $60
- DJ, BTGD: FRANCA (🇩🇪🇳🇱 house , techno - electro disco, deep, melodic) ft EJ MISSY supported by Morabito x Soul Collective, Behind the Green Door @ 97 Duxton Road (maxwell), $36
- DJ, Tuff: Thugshop x Unmute pres. SEDEF ADASI (🇩🇪 acid, progressive, electro, tech house), tuff club @ 138 robinson rd cbd, $36,
28 Apr, Sun
- Debbie Gibson: Electric Youth 35th Anniversary Live in Singapore, Gateway Theatre Bukit Merah, $128
- Teresa Cheung (張德蘭) in Concert ft Johnny Yip (葉振棠), ESPLANADE concert hall, $78
- One Night With George Lam 林子祥新加坡演唱会 ft Sandy, Marina Bay Sands Grand Ballroom, $68
- Jazz Day at Botanic Gardens: Jazz Au Jardin - VOilah! France Singapore Festival x Jazz Association (Singapore) - Celebrating International Jazz Day , Singapore Botanic Gardens Shaw Foundation Stage, 530pm, free
Events truncated for word limit
29 Apr, Mon - Golden Week, International Dance Day
- INCUBUS Live in Singapore, The Star Vista Theatre (buona vista), $118
- BLOOD RED THRONE (🇳🇴 Death metal) - Live in Singapore ft End of All, Phil's Studio @ High Street Centre L3 (clarke quay/city hall), $52
- Acoustic: Tony & Will - the Mini Show (acoustic love songs), Blu Jaz @ bali ln (bugis), $32
- Asia Pacific Band Festival at School of The Arts - Day 1, School of the Arts (bencoolen/dhoby), the full schedule, $15 per show
30 Apr, Tue - International Jazz Day, International Workers' Day Eve
Events truncated for word limit
- The Projector Orchard Market & DJ Party AFTER HOURS SOCIAL CLUB - Streetwear Night Market & EATMEPOPTART Party, Projector X Golden Village No Spoilers Box Office Area Bar @ Cineleisure Orchard L5, free to $15
- DJ, Bollywood Club DJ AQEEL LIVE - DISCO 82 , hard rock cafe cuscaden (orchard), $37
- DJ, Tuff: Thugshop Presents - SAM ALFRED (🇦🇺 house, deep, tech house) ft Tashasan, Dexter Colt, tuff club @ 138 robinson rd cbd, $35
- DJ, MDLR: ØGravity x ArtBeyond Presents – STEPHAN JOLK (🇩🇪melodic techno) - ft David Carollo & Raja Rani, MDLR club @ 62 cecil street (cbd), $47
- DJ, Marquee: presents Da Tweekaz (🇳🇴 hardstyle), marquee nightclub @ marina bay sands shoppes, $30
- DJ, JST BCZ Presents 30 Years of V Recordings (🇬🇧 Drum n Bass Label) - Bryan Gee, Paul T & Ed Oberon, Saxxon and Felon MC, club iki @ ikigai izakaya riverwalk (clarke quay), $32
01 May, Wed - Labour Day, End of SIFAS Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society Festival
- DEEP PURPLE Live in Singapore (G),
Fort Canning ParkThe Star Vista Theatre (buona vista), $188 - MIRROR FEEL THE PASSION CONCERT 2024 SINGAPORE (G), Singapore Indoor Stadium, $168
- MAYDAY! Festival 2024 - WE THE KINGS, STAND ATLANTIC, TINY MOVING PARTS, BLUSH, Rocket Rockers, Dads in the Park, Defying Decay, Battle of Bands Winner - update Aarcade , SCAPE Ground Theatre (somerset orchard), IG Lineup 📸, $129
- 金刚慧音 Imee Ooi & JSJG 演唱会 Mantras and Sutras - Day 2 of 2 , capitol theatre (city hall), $50
- Lawrence 陈俊宏 个人音乐会 Concert Serenading Under the Moon (月下倾诉) with MacPherson Philharmonic Orchestra (MPPO), Victoria Concert Hall, $78
- Piano Recital by Piotr Anderszewski, Victoria Concert Hall, IG 📸$25
- >> Esplanade
- E: Lim Yu-Beng: Notes To Self (the actor's music debut - folky rock singer-songwriter), ESPLANADE Recital Studio, $35
02 May, Thu
Some events truncated for word limit
- YNGWIE MALMSTEEN (the neoclassical shredder) w/ Special Guest MARTY FRIEDMAN (the megadeth axeman who went to japan) (G), Capitol Theatre (city hall), $158
- SSO x Esplanade: Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev - Hans Graf and Benjamin Schmid by Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Esplanade Concert Hall, $15
- Esplanade: Ryan Hunt - percussive fingerstyle guitar & covers, indoor concourse, free
- Anderson Serangoon Junior College Symphonic Band - Vivezza 2024, Victoria Concert Hall (city hall), $11
- ==Cool Cats: What the Jazz: Bram and Lucy Wijnands - Day 1 of 3 Swing and the American Songbook, nco club @ 32 beach rd (esplanade), $20 schedule
03 May, Fri
Some Events truncated for word limit
- Gregg Arthur (jazz), Victoria Concert Hall, $52
- Adam Hall & The Velvet Playboys 🇦🇺 ft Cuban Young Guns - 1 of 2 - plays iconic music of Buena Vista Social Club (afro-cuban jazz), Mandala Club at 31 Bukit Pasoh Rd (outram), sold out last week at tix 🎟) $33
- Jazz Loft: AARTSENS-VARELA - Israel Varela (🇲🇽 jazz flamenco) & Nita Aartsen band family (🇮🇩) - Day 1 of 2, Blu Jaz L3 @ bali ln (bugis), $24
- Maduro Jazz: Jazz of a New Generation by EJ Trio, maduro @ sofitel sentosa, $38+ drink credits
- Cool Cats: What the Jazz: Bram and Lucy Wijnands - Day 2 of 3 (Swing and the American Songbook), nco club @ 32 beach rd (esplanade), tix 🎟 $20, schedule
- Indie: Strangefest - 7 Bands 1 Drummer lol - Tariot, Rockanine, Bigdaddyrai & Chero, Wrathbourn, Floral Sky, Shuffle Squad, Tenga Band ft DJ TheSoundofAlvin afterparty, from thrash metal to indie pop to japanese rock, Phil's Studio @ High Street Centre L3 (clarke quay/city hall), $23
- Indie: SMU Soundfoundry: The Red Gala - ft. Daniel Sid and Bellied Star + SMU's the backdoor boys, best regards, velvet, beef cheeks, the matyrs, indie / college / uni gig, from pop rock rnb soul punk etc, scape ground theatre (orchard somerset), $22
- Candlelight: Tribute to Imagine Dragons w VOX String Quartet, arts house chamber, $42
- SSO x Esplanade: Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev - Hans Graf and Benjamin Schmid by Singapore Symphony Orchestra - Day 2 of 2, Concert Hall, $15
- Esplanade Opera & Mini Intro: OPERA 101: An Introduction to Opera by Lirica Arts wtih musicologist and speaker Shridar Mani , Recital Studio, $42
- Esplanade FREE Music: Danesh Leonadi - I'm Just Being Human (singer-songwriter), indoor concourse 645 745pm, free
- Singapore Poetry Writing Month SingPoWriMo Closing Party ft Vivien Yap, sing lit station @ 22 dickson rd (jalan besar), free RSVP
- DJ, EMONIGHTSG: The B-Sides (emo pop punk, nu-metal, post hardcore), hard rock cafe cuscaden (orchard), $20
- DJ, TASTY vol. 15.0 - hiphop afrobeat reggaeton - DJ Sweezy, DJ Shai, DJ Axeo & Emcee T.Williams, Blu Jaz @ bali ln (bugis), $22
- DJ, Highh Party: K Pop Night SEOUL SEARCHING with DJ Raw, Highh Party @ Pan Pacific Hotel, 7 raffles blvd (esplanade, promenade), $35
- DJ, Freebird Craft Beer Bistro: Three Years Deep Anniversary Day 1 of 3 - Martyn (Deep House), Katong Shopping Centre B1, free
- DJ, Temple Cellars Bottle Shop: Bring Your Own Vinyl Night, 31 Binjai Park (king albert park), free
- DJ Cherry : pres. Chambers: graduation ft Keagan, Tajima , Joon (hiphop top 40s pop) , 133 cecil st (cbd), $20 or free in grad gown
- DJ, Offtrack: Dexter Colt (leftfield house), bs hong lim park, music gastro bar
- DJ, Behind the Green Door: Candice B, Stephen Day, Kunda (afro, house, disco, funk), Behind the Green Door @ 97 Duxton Road (maxwell), $25
- DJ, Quintino (🇳🇱big room house) & Nora En Pure (🇨🇭🇿🇦 deep progressive house & techno) for Sports Illustrated The 19th Hole presented by LIVGOLF, Tipsy Unicorn Beach Club 🏖 @ 36 Siloso Bch Walk (Sentosa), $60
- DJ, Midnight Shift pres. ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U (🇯🇵post-indsutrial deconstructed club edm, from trance to gabber to hardcore to house to rnb), tuff club @ 138 robinson rd cbd, tix 🎟 $35
- DJ, Zouk: pres ARGY (🇬🇷 melodic techno), zouk club clarke quay, tix 🎟 $45
- DJ, HQ: Thugshop Presents - KANGDING RAY (🇩🇪 techno, glitch idm) & NVST (🇨🇭 breakbeat industrial acid techno), headquarters techno-house club @ 66A boat quay, $36
04 May, Sat - Star Wars Day
Some events truncated for word limit
- LAUV pres by Liv Golf, Palawan Green at Sentosa, $138
- A-LIN 黄丽玲 - A-LINK WITH PASSENGERS 2024 金曲 ONE MORE TIME (G), Resorts World Ballroom, Sentosa $98
- HAVOC BROTHERS Mayileh Night (18+), sector 26 indian club at Cuppage Plaza B1 (somerset), $48
- Carnival & Pop Raya at Sports Hub Day 1 of 2 - shazza , kallang wave mall, outdoor covered area, shazza at 6pm free
- HC Punk: GWU pres. Restraining Order (US 🇺🇸) ft Check Your Head (MY 🇲🇾), Psylock, Spirits, Pseudo Reality, city area, $27
- Indie Chinese: FULL POWER CHINESE ROCK NIGHT - feat college rock bands), Wire Entertainment @ Atrix building, 82 Lorong 23 Geylang (aljunied mrt), (S388409), $30
- Timbre+ One North: Singapore Originals - IZZAN ADLAN (mpop), music food court/beer garden @ 73A Ayer Rajah Crescent (one-north), free
- J Music: OreDan オレダン - Live J-Music Afterparty - Singapore K-ON Club ft AIJOU, KIRAMEKI Future, L5 @ Gr.iD mall (bencoolen/dhoby), $20 includes dance event below
- Gardens by the Bay: Borealis Preview Show - NORTHERN LIGHTS Light and Sound Installation with atmospheric soundtrack by French composer Guillaume Desbois, gardens by the bay supertree groove, free
- Tampines Hub: GEMA RAYA 2024 - Hyrul Anuar, Fuad Rahman, Sanisah Huri, Zalelo, Rudy Djoe, Najip Ali and Orkestra Melayu SG, our tampines hub stadium-library-library, free with reg
- > Jazz
- Adam Hall & The Velvet Playboys 🇦🇺 ft Cuban Young Guns - 1 of 2 - plays iconic music of Buena Vista Social Club (afro-cuban jazz), Mandala Club at 31 Bukit Pasoh Rd (outram), $33
- What the Jazz Mini Fest:
- Cool Cats Performance: Bram and Lucy Wijnands - Day 3 of 3 Swing and the American Songbook, nco club @ 32 beach rd (esplanade), $28
- Jazz Loft: AARTSENS-VARELA - Israel Varela (🇲🇽 jazz flamenco) meets Nita Aartsen band family (🇮🇩) - Day 2 of 2, Blu Jaz L3 @ bali ln (bugis), $24
- Thomson Jazz Club; 30 Years of Music Making! big band music & swing ft alemay fernandez, mario serio, regan wickman, stephen rufus, tama goh, Singapore Conference Hall @ 7 Shenton Way, $20 or student dc
- Esplanade : Chinese Dance Fiesta 2024: Talk & Demonstration , 5pm 6pm Indoor Concourse, free
- Esplanade: Chinese Dance Fiesta 2024: Performance , 7 830pm, Outdoor Theatre, free
- > Others
- Methodist Girl's School: MGS Festival of Arts (Visual and Performing Arts ) – Kizuna I (G), Victoria Concert Hall, $30
- Candlelight: Film Scores and Hollywood Epic w Vocalise String Quartet, arts house chamber, $42
- Candlelight: A Tribute to Ed Sheeran on Strings w Vocalise String Quartet, the arts house, $53
- Movie & DJ, The Projector THE MAN WHO SAVES THE WORLD (Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam aka Turkish bootleg Star Wars) and post-screening party with Reptile Skin Business Club, the projector golden mile tower
- DJ & Art Exhibition Opening: Michael Cu Fua's ‘Traces of Introspection’ feat. DJ set by ARMS1, Late Studio at 2 Jalan Rajah (along Balestier Rd)
- Mini Festival DJ, Sound Renegades - 3 Stages: 90s rave, progressive, house - feat. Gaspray & Sivanesh, Pure Love & Yuju & Kayh, Pengsoo, Jared Kong, Cosmo Carbon & Koppa, Dr Foo, Vivra Verra, Secret Site near National Stadium & Kallang Riverside Park, $25
- Alt Rave, Bussy Temple Rave Anniversary - rEmPiT g0dDe$$ B2B LnHD (DJ set), Mervin Wong x Anise (LIVE), howrøng (DJ set), Metamoksha (DJ set), Josh Tirados (performance), alternative culture rave, sold out no doors $30~
- DJ, Drip Chinese Hiphop Battle: Salt Basement pres. EastOut 第七集, drip club @ 100 Orchard Rd Concorde Hotel, $27
- DJ, Moonstone: EATMEPOPTART The Kids are Alright - an unapologetic pop night - with weelikeme & YA5TH, Moonstone BAR @ 103 Amoy St
- DJ, Behind the Green Door : May the Beats Be With You - James Selva, Nicolette, HBN, Leland (underground vibes - uk garage, disco, house, techno, asian funk, baile), Behind the Green Door @ 97 Duxton Road (maxwell), $25
- DJ, Bollywood Club - GULABO, hard rock cafe cuscaden (orchard), $27
- DJ, Luxuria, Afrobeat & Amopiano - Move and Groove with DJ fidixx, Luxuria rooftop lounge @ Tekka Place Mall (rochor), (S218227), $30
- DJ, Party Social 5th Anniversary : ALL PINK - CINCO DE MAYO EDITION, Wallich Manor Lounge @ Sofitel City Centre Hotel L6 (tg pagar), $20
- DJ, WILDIN' v8.0 - hiphop reggaeton afrobeats - DJs Sweezy, Kelibre & Snickaz, Phil's Studio @ High Street Centre L3 (clarke quay/city hall), $22
- DJ, Feel Africa: THE FORCE - DJs Gillou, BADGALDIDI, SWTLKR & Saint Ben - afrobeats, amapiano, kizomba, zouk kompa, reggaeton etc, Mortar & Pestle rooftop bar @ 269 South Bridge Rd, $16
- DJ, Cherry: Starwars - May the Fourth be with you , 133 cecil st (cbd)
- DJ, Cinco De Mayo by Element - Stephen Day, Chichi, Kris Haagensen, Mr Gray, Kinki Restaurant + Bar Rooftop at Customs House Collyer Quay (downtown, cbd, just off merlion), free
- DJ Debut Event: Tanglish Urban Music - Curry : "The First Serving" - Tamil & English Dance Event, Blu Jaz @ bali ln (bugis) L2, $25
- DJ, BYOT - Bring Your Own Trunks, gay event. Pullman Singapore Hotel at 1 Hill Street (city hall), $40
- DJ, Fate by HaveFun: Future SG Presents : Interstellar (Star Wars themed) with DJs Limm, Kavok, Sharkboy, Skabush, southeast asian style club @ orchard cineleisure L8, (S239695), tix 🎟 $30
- Drag,: Salud: Labour Day with Femme Fartale & Earth na khaa , salud bar @ 19 Keong Saik Rd (maxwell, outram), free/bar
- > Hangout or Restaurant Gigs
- DJ, Vatos City House: Cuatro De Mayo by Vatos Urban Tacos - DJ Shai and hiphop reggaeton trap, City House 36 Robinson Road, $20
- DJ, Freebird Craft Beer Bistro: Three Years Deep Anniversary Day 2 of 3 - Sadat & Fernyfren (World Electronica), Katong Shopping Centre B1, free
- Wellness & DJ: Wild Pearl Immersion - breathwork, cold plunge, sauna etc, at SOMA HAUS, 108 Joo Chiat Rd, well it might be less DJ focused on this one, $50
- Hangout DJ, Fat Kid Records Rooftop Party - some drinks and dancing, it is a hiphop funk rnb electronic leaning record store @ 57 Joo Chiat Pl (paya lebaeunos)
- DJ Brunch to Night: Manifest and Mandala Club - Papi’s Fabulous Fiesta & Taco Libre ft DJ stephen day, raaj, Taco Libre with Gregor Salto (🇳🇱 house), mandala members club @ 31 bukit pasoh, $68-$88
- DJ, TRANCE4M International ft Suncatcher & Exolight (🇷🇴 UPLIFTING & CLASSIC TRANCE), club iki @ ikigai izakaya riverwalk (clarke quay), $37
- DJ, High House: Gioli & Assia 🇮🇹 melodic trance house n techno, indie techno pop, High House Rooftop Lounge 🗼@ 1 Raffles Place, $55
- DJ, FOMOHOMO pres. Bianca Oblivion (🇺🇸 house club uk bass & miami hiphop bass, baile funk, mixed-genre), tuff club @ 138 robinson rd cbd, queer gig,35
- DJ, MDLR: Thugshop pres. ADIEL (🇮🇹 hypnotic techno), MDLR club @ 62 cecil street (cbd), IG 📸 $47
- DJ, CÉ LA VI [pres. SPENCER BROWN (🇺🇸 progressive house, melodic techno)](ttps://celavispencerbrown2024.peatix.com/), marina bay sands hotel rooftop bar-club 🗼, $38
- DJ, Marquee: Showtek (🇳🇱 hardstyle, edm house), marquee nightclub @ marina bay sands shoppes, $45 or student dc
05 May, Sun - Cinco de Mayo (Fifth of May)
Some events truncated for word limit
- ALL TIME LOW ft Iman's League (G), Fort Canning Park, $158
- Choral: Voices of Singapore - Concert of the People 2024: In One Voice!, family friendly, Capitol Theatre outdoor Plaza (city hall), $23
- Carnival & Pop Raya at Sports Hub Day 2 of 2 - Sezairi , kallang wave mall, free
- Kinda Jazzy Raya Sama-sama Shiok Raya! with Rudy Djoe, Rachma (Keys), Niq (Percussion) and Rudy & Namie (The Jazz Djogets), EXP at 340a Joo Chiat road (paya lebar, eunos, katong), $22
- NYJC & Nanyang Chorale: in.harmoNY 2024, kid friendly, Victoria Concert Hall, $20
- What the Jazz Festival: Workshop and Party - Jazz Inc and Amanda Lee Swingtet present a dance workshop, a Lindy Hop taster, and a dance party, jazz loft at Blu Jaz L3 @ bali ln (bugis), $24
- Gardens by the Bay: Borealis - NORTHERN LIGHTS Light and Sound Installation with atmospheric soundtrack by French composer Guillaume Desbois, gardens by the bay supertree groove, Straits Times IG preview vid 📸 free
- > Esplanade
- ESPLANADE: Mother's Day Special by Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra, Esplanade Concert Hall, free with Reg full
- ES Free Perf: Crooner’s Corner: Hillary Francis , Indoor Concourse 645 745, free
- ES Free Perf: Chinese Dance Fiesta 2024: Performance , Outdoor Theatre 7pm 830pm , free
- ES Art Talk & Demo: Sounding : .:. : . :. ..::.: Sand as score by Suhui Hee & Marjet Zwaans 🇳🇱🇸🇬 , Esplanade Annexe Studio, free with Reg
- Bike DJ Rave, Wild Pearl's Cargo Bike community ride, Cinco de Mayo special with Chimi's, Chimi's Marina Bay (downtown/raffles place/near merlion), free
- Party: CINCO DE MAYO at Lucha Loco - Tropical Garden Party ft DJ Black Tropik, At Lucha Loco - Mexican Cocina Y Mezcaleria 15 Duxton Hill
- DJ, Freebird Craft Beer Bistro: Three Years Deep Anniversary Day 3 of 3 - DJ Candiceb, Katong Shopping Centre B1, free
- DJ, High House: DJ SWTLKR for cinco de mayo by casa agave (afro beats & baile funk), High House Rooftop Lounge 🗼@ 1 Raffles Place (old 1-altitude), $38
- 🏖 DJ, Tipsy Unicorn : DAZED OUT (trance progressive) takes over Jonic, Victoria Leembruggen, Arif Rajab, Yukun and Jong, Tipsy Unicorn Beach Club 🏖 @ 36 Siloso Bch Walk (Sentosa)
06 May, Mon
- As I Lay Dying (melodic metalcore), FooChow Hall @ 21 Tyrwhitt Rd (next to Jalan Besar Stadium), $92,
- Diana Krall (vocal jazz), ESPLANADE, $58
- Esplanade: Coffee Morning & Afternoon Tea Release Me, The Hits of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck by Peter Chua, Recital Studio 1030am 3pm, $18 with drink
- DJ, Offtrack: Restrospective with KiDG (80s notalgia), 34 North Canal Rd (bs hong lim park, clarke quay), music gastro bar
07 May, Tue
- ES: Forward to the Past by Joy Alexis (singer-songwriter), indoor Concourse, free
- ES: Peirce Wind Symphony of Peirce Secondary School, Esplanade Concert Hall, $15
- Open Mic and Performances with Spoke & Bird presents: readings with Kirsten Han, electronic with Bani Haykal & singer-songwriter Malaika Mfalme, THE COUP BAR on 7 ANN SIANG HIL (maxwell) , tix 🎟 *$11 soldout
- YST Conservatory: Masters Recital : Clarinet, NUS Yong Siew Toh Conservatory main concert hall L1, other recitals free
08 May , Wed - Music Matters Live & Creator Week
- Music Matters Live Festival Schedule and the conference Creator Week
- Swee Lee: NME Live Music Series: Girls To The Front - ft Shye, shazza, rhyu and noui at Swee Lee Clarke Quay, Swee Lee Music Store at CQ @ Clarke Quay, IG free with reg was full awhile back
- CLARKE QUAY Fountain Square Stage: DAY 1 - ADRIEL 🇲🇾, Dhruv Visvanath 🇮🇳, Fi-Ne 粉内🇨🇳, Ben Swissa 🇦🇺, Isserman 🇬🇧🇫🇷, Balu Brigade 🇳🇿, Berywam 🇫🇷, William Singe 🇦🇺, ONE CLICK STRAIGHT 🇵🇭, the center area of clarke quay, fountain square, free
- ZOUK Phuture Club: Set the Tone - hiphop, pop r&b - William Singe 🇦🇺, WHO SHOT SCOTT 🇳🇿, Arlo Maverick🇨🇦, Kyleaux🇵🇭 & VIVAOLA 🇯🇵, Zouk Phuture Club at Clarke Quay, tix 🎟 18+ free
- Conference: see Creator Week link above
- Esplanade: Papaya Duck (vocalist Grey and violinist Audrina, sings Mandopop with classical fusion), Esplanade Concourse 645 745, free
- Choir: St. Andrew's Junior College's Saints Chorale - Viva Vox VII, The Salvation Army at 20 Bishan Street 22, $10,
- 8 (Wed) -12 May: Comedic Theatre - God of Carnage (Advisory - Some Mature Content and Coarse Language), Drama Centre Black Box @ national library (bugis), $30 - $60
- DJ, Club Rich: DJ Nicole Birthday, southeast asian club @ 114 middle rd (bugis), (S188971)
- DJ, Flow @ club Iki (rnb hiphop reggaeton afro night), iki @ ikigai izakaya riverwalk (clarke quay)
- ==DJ, Moonstone: BOOGIE BALL w KidG (throwback pop), Moonstone BAR @ 103 Amoy St
- Ladies night at clubs, cant list them all.
Other Arts / Musicals
- Festival 25 Apr- 26 May: Voilah! France Singapore Festival, various
- Festival 1 - 25 May: Singapore HeritageFest 2024
- Till 11 May: Theatre - Backstage Betrayal, A Crack the Case Mystery (Some Mature Content), KC Arts Centre @ 20 Merbau Rd (robertson quay, fort canning mrt), $68
- Till 4 May Theatre And the Cats Dance by the Light by Intercultural Theatre Institute, Drama Centre at National Library (bugis), $27
- Till 9 Jun Musical: Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda, marina bay sands, $80
- 4-5 May: The Everyday Museum: Roving Theatre inspired by Hilmi Johandi's Stagecraft: Landscaped Grounds, Start at SAM Tg Pagar Distripark
- ℹ: more info
- 27 Apr - 12 May: Hendrick's Sunset Cinema Tanjong Beach, Sentosa Tanjong Beach (harbourfront), $48
- 24 Apr- 25 May: European Film Festival 2024
- 4-5 May: Chinese Kids Theatre: 神笔马良 The Magic Paintbrush (G), Gateway Theatre at Bukit Merah L8, $24
- 8 May: Standup Comedy: KAMPUNG UNDERGROUND: Comedy Night with LADYBO$$, Mad & Midas cocktails @ 39 ann siang hill (maxwell), IG 📸 $19
- 8 -12 May: Comedic Theatre - God of Carnage (Advisory - Some Mature Content and Coarse Language), Drama Centre Black Box @ national library (bugis), $30 - $60
- 9-12 May: Teochew Opera The Pawned Wife 典妻 by Nam Hwa Opera, SCCC Auditorium @ 1 Straits Blvd (shenton way), IG 📸, $10
09 May Thu - Esplanade's Pesta Raya (Malay Festival of Arts)
- Niall Horan, indoor stadium, $108
- PREP (UK Synth-Pop), SCAPE The Ground Theatre, $84
- Cancelled: Converge (metalcore mathcore pioneers)
- Felix Martin Guitar Clinic (prog guitarist), Tonehouse Studios at Parklane Shopping Mall (bencoolen), IG 📸 $28
- 9-12 May: Teochew Opera The Pawned Wife 典妻 by Nam Hwa Opera, SCCC Auditorium @ 1 Straits Blvd (shenton way), IG 📸, $10
- ESPLANADE: Pesta Raya Festival
- ES: Sanggar Seni by Kelana Purba and Makyong Kedek, Esplanade Courtyard, free
- ES: DINAMIKA! by DIAN Dancers, Outdoor Theatre , free
- ES: Kembang Mara: A Gathering of Flowers by Singa Nglaras Gamelan Ensemble, Esplanade Concourse, free
- ES: Jalan Raya by Zarina Muhammad, in collaboration with local artists, Esplanade Annexe Studio, $17 - $22
- Music Matters Live Festival Schedule and the conference Creator Week
- Fountain Square Stage: DAY 2 - Peej 🇵🇭, VIVAOLA 🇯🇵, Jewel Owusu 🇦🇺, Arlo Maverick🇨🇦, Kyleaux 🇵🇭, GAC 🇮🇩, BINI 🇵🇭, Nadhif Basalamah 🇮🇩, GOOD MORNING EVERYONE 🇮🇩, the center area of CQ @ clarke quay fountain square, free
- Senor Taco Stage: DAY 1 - JHM 🇦🇺, Mali 🇮🇩, MATILDE G 🇸🇬, TBA, Señor Taco restaurant livehouse at CQ @ Clarke Quay
- PHIL STUDIO: Full Volume - ONE CLICK STRAIGHT 🇵🇭, Lemony 🇹🇭, Isserman 🇬🇧🇫🇷, Balu Brigade 🇳🇿, Emma Dilemma 🇳🇿, Adriel 🇲🇾, COUNT VERNON 🇸🇬, Phil's Studio @ High Street Centre L3 (clarke quay/city hall), free
- DJ, Offtrack: Kaleidoscope: Bongomann (jazzy not jazz), 34 North Canal Rd (bs hong lim park, clarke quay), music gastro bar
- DJ, iki: ROYAL BEATZ (Afrobeats, Hip Hop, R&B), club iki @ ikigai izakaya riverwalk (clarke quay)
- DJ, Drip: NRG Thursdays @ Salt Room ft Skilla & Zax (hiphop rnb afrobeats amapiano latin), drip club @ 100 Orchard Rd Concorde Hotel
2024.04.24 07:40 dangayle WTS: Synths, drum machines, other studio gear
- Alesis SR-16 $100.00
- Alesis Wedge $150.00
- Allen & Heath Mix Wizard 3 20s $500.00
- Allen & Heath Zed 14 mixer $275.00
- Bellari RP220 tube preamp $300.00
- E-RM Multiclock $550.00
- Elektron Analog Heat MKII with Decksaver $600.00
- Elektron Digitone with Decksaver $600.00
- Elektron Digtone Keys $800.00
- Mackie OTTO-1604 $150.00
- Novation Launchpad Pro MK3 $300.00
- OTO Machines Bam $500.00
- OTO Machines Bim $500.00
- Soma Lyra-8 (black) $700.00
- Soma Ornament-8 (black) $700.00
- Soma Pulsar-23 (black) $1,900.00
2024.04.20 22:39 Fluffy_Pat Would anyone want to see more proper Dax in the Corrupted faction?
For the longest time, the Corrupted faction have been enemies from the Grineer, Corpus, and Infested, which I understand that this is due to the Neural Sentry taking over their minds, but what if there were some sort of Simulicri of proper Dax enemies?
They don't have to completely overwrite the current faction mix, but I was thinking of maybe replacing some of the higher tier enemies such as the Corrupted heavy gunner with Duviri's Dax Malleus w/ a Soma (big hammer guys) or sprinkle in some Gladius instead of butchers, Dax Arcus (archer) just to change things up.
Issues with this could be how the designs of Duviri enemies are not 100% close to the Dax given their hollow appearance, but this can be justified by them being approximations of Dax.
Whatever the case, i'm curious as to what ya'll think!
submitted by Fluffy_Pat to Warframe [link] [comments]
They don't have to completely overwrite the current faction mix, but I was thinking of maybe replacing some of the higher tier enemies such as the Corrupted heavy gunner with Duviri's Dax Malleus w/ a Soma (big hammer guys) or sprinkle in some Gladius instead of butchers, Dax Arcus (archer) just to change things up.
Issues with this could be how the designs of Duviri enemies are not 100% close to the Dax given their hollow appearance, but this can be justified by them being approximations of Dax.
Whatever the case, i'm curious as to what ya'll think!
2024.04.19 00:25 shikaiDosai Why the Alien Chapter "failed" - A measured response
 | I think one of the most confusing things to happen in the current year of Dead by Daylight was the release of the Alien chapter, coming with two of the most iconic and likely most anticipated characters to ever be added to the game: Ellen Ripley and of course the one and only Xenomorph. Alien is the flagship IP for sci-fi horror having essentially birthed the genre, with Ripley being one of the original "tough female badass" final girls to contrast the traditional female damsel in distress we saw as the final girl in movies like the original Halloween and original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, giving birth to many iconic characters like Kirsty Cotton (Hellraiser), Sidney Prescott (Scream), and of course Dana Polk in the deconstructive Cabin in the Woods movie. submitted by shikaiDosai to deadbydaylight [link] [comments] So what's confusing is how such an iconic franchise ended up being largely ignored by the community. Everywhere you go you'll find posts by content creators and common players alike asking "what happened to Xeno?" and the stats don't lie: nightlight.gg cites Xenomorph as having a 2.2% pick rate, below the overall killer average (2.9%) and below the likes of Spirit or Clown. While Xeno's pickrate isn't truly in the godawful tier (she beats out Knight, Pyramid Head, and Demogorgon to name a few) it's still insanely low for an iconic movie monster. But a character who fares even worse is Ripley: for such an iconic character having them be (according to Nightlight.gg) the 6th least played survivor in the game (above Haddie, Quentin, Tapp, Jonah, and Yoichi from most to least played) is truly a sad display. She's under even Laurie Strode (by a tiny margin, but still) a character who notoriously aged far worse than her. I want to write out a detailed analysis on why I think the Alien chapter "failed", diving into the survivor, the killer, and the map to see how such a major license could've failed so spectacularly. Part 1 - The SurvivorStarting with Ripley because she is much, much easier to talk about than her killer counterpart. There is a lot of detail that goes into a killer power but since survivors are ultimately "just skins" there's only two things you can really care about: their looks and their perks... shame neither of which are that good.The Perks Ripley's perks are... bad. Okay that's the understatement of the century: Ripley's perks are easily the worst we've gotten all year, and the worst perks we ever got since... well, Thalita Lyra (goddamn Year 7 was a bad year for DbD.) Lucky Star Lucky Star is such a bafflingly bad perk. For one the activation requirement of going into a locker is pretty big: doing so slowly (and it's not like you're going to fast vault into a locker) takes about 3 seconds, which if you account for both entering and exiting a locker means that you're wasting about 6 seconds just to use this perk. 6 seconds doesn't sound like a lot but that's everything in DbD time, especially since the perk has a very notable effect of being a stealth perk. Spending 3 seconds to activate "stealth mode" and silence your grunts of pain is pointless: you'd be better off running away as no killer is going to give you 3 seconds to hide mid-chase or even when approaching your generator. Even in the context of running it alongside Quick and Quiet your lingering pools of blood and scratch marks will likely inform the killer where you are hiding anyways. And that isn't even mentioning that for whatever baffling reason this perk has a limited duration of 10 seconds. Why? This is a very genuine question: why does the perk that makes you quiet while inside of a locker have a limited duration? I have tried my best to make Lucky Star work as a perk (because I hate myself) and you do not know how often I have been hiding in a locker, the killer searches the area around a completed generator (because they see no signs that the survivor ran away), and then midway through checking the area my character starts fucking grunting in pain again because of the perk's limited duration. You are legitimately better off running Iron Will instead of Lucky Star if planning to hide quietly in a locker, because while Iron Will doesn't make you completely quiet the natural muffling effect of the locker will mix with Iron Will to make you fairly quiet. And simply put: it's probably more effective for you to be at 10% volume all the time instead of being at 0% volume for 10 seconds and 40% volume after that. Even if it had been released in Year 1 of DbD it would still be pretty awful, but given the context that at the time Deja Vu had recently been buffed to be one of the best generator tracking / generator speed perks in the game having a perk that was mainly advertised as "a perk to find generators" was redundant. This would be akin to releasing a killer perk that allows you to slow healing down by 10% for 30 seconds when Sloppy Butcher lets you slow it down by 30% for 90 seconds... Oh wait we have a perk like that it's called Leverage (from Skull Merchant), and that isn't used either. The effect of revealing teammates is similarly limited by the duration: while I don't think Lucky Star should just be "Aftercare but better" the fact stands that perks like Bond and (the previously mentioned) Aftercare are available 24/7, giving you immediately actionable information at all times. Lucky Star's 10 second duration means that you only have a mere 10 seconds to do anything useful with knowing where your teammates are, and this is all after spending 6 seconds bumming around in lockers pretending that wasting 6 seconds to get 10 seconds of aura reading is in any way valuable. Oh and did I mention this perk has a cooldown? Yes the perk that consists of Iron Will but only in lockers for 10 seconds, Aftercare for 10 seconds, and Deja Vu but not even on important generators for 10 seconds has a cooldown. Okay so how long is this cooldown? 10 seconds like its duration? No: THIRTY. Thirty goddamn seconds to get the effects of 3 mid-tier perks but weaker for 10 seconds! To put 30 seconds of DbD time into perspective: healing someone takes 16 seconds. Healing yourself with a medkit is 33% slower, so it takes 21.3 seconds to heal yourself with a medkit. That means that you could use this perk, heal yourself to full with a medkit, and the perk would STILL be on cooldown for another 8.7 seconds! Lucky Star is a perk that already only worked in extremely niche situations that has limitations upon limitations upon limitations holding it back. But at the very least I can say as someone who has used Lucky Star that the perk has potential. Seeing where your teammates are from across the map can be useful in a variety of builds and scenarios, and silencing your grunts of pain can lead to some fun escapes. But for the perk to be in any way viable it needs its limitations removed: Jesus Christ remove the cooldown from this perk, and make it so the silencing effect is permanent while in a locker. Additionally the aura reading from this perk could be buffed to have a longer duration, since the perks its trying to replace (Deja Vu / Visionary / Aftercare / Bond) have unlimited durations. But even then I don't think Lucky Star would even be worth running outside of niche builds unless the perk had either a Quick and Quiet effect basekit (entering lockers quickly is silent; this effect would honestly warrant having a cooldown to prevent abuse) or have another effect like entering lockers 50% faster. Woo that's probably the most thought anyone has put into Lucky Star. Thankfully Ripley's other perks have way less to talk about. Chemical Trap I think this concept is cute but the problem is that it fundamentally requires you to play badly for a bad effect. For one Chemical Trap only works on downed pallets, which I mean... yeah duh but the point still stands. But what's worse is that to place the Chemical Trap you have to stand still for 2 seconds doing an animation just to activate the perk. And if the recent PTB has taught us anything, it's that Behaviour does not know how important animation times are when it comes to game balance. But what's worse is that this perk only affects one pallet. And "well yeah duh" you say, but most pallets can be mindgamed nowadays. This means that Chemical Trap is pretty much only useful on what's colloquially known as "god pallets" in the DbD sphere: otherwise known as pallets the killer has to break if they want to continue chasing. The thing is that these pallets are extremely valuable and many high-end players will recommend not dropping them at all so that a player who's in a more dangerous game state (such as on death hook) can use it for distance. "But how does this perk require you to play badly?" Well put simply in order to use this perk you have to:
Light-Footed Talk about a perk released way too late. There is one killer in the entire game who cares about footstep sounds, and that's The Spirit. "Oh but what about killers like Wraith or Pig or what if you're on The Game and sprinting on another floor and the killer hears you upstai-" No. We're in 2024 now and killers have better ways to track survivors than hearing their footsteps in the modern state of Dead by Daylight. So this perk is good against one, singular killer out of 33 available killers. And that killer isn't even all that popular. Cool. Calm Spirit at least hypothetically counters more killers than just Doctor, but that perk wasn't popular until Ultimate Weapon became popular. Oh and by the way: Doctor is played more than Spirit, so that says a lot about its usefulness. "But Light-Footed has uses beyond playing against Spirit! It lets you run away from killers without them realizing!" Yeah about that: there's this cool mechanic in Dead by Daylight called scratch marks. If a survivor sprints they leave them behind, and the killer can track them. Light-Footed does nothing to combat this mechanic, and in the words of SkoochLoL's video "Can We Talk About This: Pyke" What good is it to be unseen by the naked eye if the person in stealth is screaming at you yelling "I'M INVISIBLE!"Or in this case the inverse is true: what good is it to be completely silent if you're holding a bright neon sign reading "HELLO MISTER DUMB IDIOT KILLER I RAN IN THIS DIRECTION PLEASE FOLLOW THESE SCRATCHES TO FIND ME AND CLAP MY CHEEKS." This means that Light-Footed is essentially useless outside of extremely niche builds running perks like Lightweight or Boon: Shadowstep to hide the far more important thing, which is scratch marks. "Oh but I can run this with Dance With Me or Lucky Break to make my footsteps silent so I can use the hidden scratch marks after I vault / am injured to hide better!" Oh did I mention that this perk doesn't work while injured and is disabled for TWENTY SECONDS after vaulting?! Why?! It's just limitations upon limitations for an already weak effect! Light-Footed is a perk effect I'd expect to be attached to another, better perk as a bonus; not an entire dedicated perk slot. It's ridiculous that (release day) Made For This could've had its speed effect along with the effect of getting Endurance for healing others, but Light-Footed takes an entire perk slot for an effect that you need 3 other perks to support. Her Appearance This is probably the biggest issue with Ripley. Or at least that's what the website formerly known as Twitter would have you believe. Ripley fundamentally doesn't look like Sigourney Weaver, and while this is not Behaviour's fault in the slightest (it is up to miss Weaver herself if she is to give her likeness to corporations to use it) the fact remains that DbD Ripley looks very "baby-faced" for lack of a better explanation. I'm no expert on character modeling but DbD Ripley's face is too round. Sigourney Weaver's face is taller and DbD Ripley lacks the defined cheekbones and chin shape of Sigourney Weaver, something that Behaviour has proven themselves capable of doing not only with the two recent male survivors (Gabriel and Nic Cage, both of whom have defined chinbones and cheekbones) but also other female survivors like Haddie, Elodie, and Yui. Yui has a clearly "triangular" face, Elodie has noticeable creases around the top of her mouth, and Haddie similarly has very notable cheekbones. Fortnite understood the assignment regardless of if they were allowed to use Ripley's likeness or not. Ripley's hair also suffers. Put simply it doesn't look like she was given "hair" but rather a flat texture with some hair models loosely taped onto it. This looks especially bad in Ripley's "Back in Action" outfit where the hair is essentially one massive blob. It's extremely strange because other survivors with similar hairstyles are not modeled nearly as poorly, most notably Thalita Lyra who practically has the same haircut as Ripley minus the length and inclusion of a hairband. Thalita's hair looks... like hair, with individual strands while Ripley looks like doll hair where all the hair is connected at one point on the scalp. But I think the most notable part about the DbD model versus the actress is the eyes. I can't explain it (again: not a professional modeler) but they seem too... wide. Maybe it's because its attached to Ripley's flat, porcelain doll-esque face but she seems to have a constant doe-eyed expression that makes her look incredibly goofy. Overall while I do not know how much of the issue with Ripley's character model was a result of copyright the fact still stands that her appearance is lackluster in comparison to even Laurie Strode, a survivor released in 2016 who also couldn't be made to look like the actress due to copyright issues. DbD Laurie has a similar facial structure and eye shape to Jamie Lee Curtis, and while the model lacks proper cheekbones (old model) or the "softness" of Jamie Lee in the 1978 classic you could still make a convincing argument that DbD Laurie looks like Jamie Lee Curtis. Ellen Ripley doesn't look like Sigourney Weaver in the slightest. But hey: I can at least compliment BHVR that they got Weaver's nose right. Oh and not so much about her face but another weird part of her model, and there's no way to mention this without sounding like a creep... but why are her boobs so pointy? https://preview.redd.it/1zyozv8eqavc1.png?width=928&format=png&auto=webp&s=2457ae56a314cabbbfd359a562db3ab0ecb39b1b This is not an issue with Ripley 8 (which notably doesn't have a cloth top) or her Christmas sweater, but both her base cosmetic and the "Back in Action" Aliens cosmetic have extremely strange pointy boobs. Her Cosmetics & "The Set problem" The truth about Ellen Ripley is that outside of Legendary Cosmetics for Amanda Ripley or other characters from the Aliens franchise we weren't going to get many outfits. Behaviour more-or-less gathered every appearance of Ripley / Sigourney Weaver and gave us a cosmetic for each one: Alien Ripley (the default), Aliens Ripley (her more action-oriented look), and Alien: Resurrection Ripley (Ripley 8.) I think that minus the weird pointy boobs problem I mentioned with her base model her default is very good, and it manages the appearance of a one-piece sweatsuit well, complete with the lazily opened zipper that's iconic in almost all depictions of Alien 1 Ripley. Ripley 8 meanwhile... was never going to be a popular skin. Alien Resurrection is a very unpopular movie from the era where "everything was trying to be The Matrix" and having what's extensively "Matrix Ripley" was inherently not going to be popular amongst both Aliens fans and the general DbD audience. I think the only cosmetic that translated poorly is "Back in Action" IE Aliens (Aliens 2) Ripley. Yes it is movie-accurate: In Aliens Ripley does wear a white shirt, jean overalls with bullets on her straps, and has short hair... but it becomes very, VERY obvious when looking at the skin in Dead by Daylight that this outfit was NEVER meant to be seen in the lighting of Coldwind Farm. Because put as bluntly as possible: bright blue jeans and a bright white tee-shirt looks gaudy as hell and sticks out like a sore thumb. Aliens was specifically filmed in darker, moodier settings of space stations, and Ripley's brighter outfit was picked to make her stand out amidst that darker backdrop. And while I'm not saying that Ripley's shirt should be dark blue to compensate, perhaps the shirt should be #AAAFAE instead of #C0C6C4 is all I'm saying. But now for the other issue, which is "The Set Problem." Ever since the introduction of Cheryl Mason almost every licensed character has released with sets as opposed to individual cosmetic pieces you could mix-and-match. The only exception to this prior to Nic Cage and Alan Wake was Yoichi, who "doesn't really count" as he's technically a half-original character for Dead by Daylight (we've only ever seen child Yoichi in the Ringu films), and because well... he only has two alternate cosmetics, and one of them is actually a set. I think while everyone was expecting Ripley to only have sets there was also a hope that we'd return to the ways of old. The last time we had a film license in DbD was Stranger Things and none of those cosmetics were sets, even though many cosmetics (namely on Nancy) looked terrible when attached to other cosmetics. I think that deep down we hoped that the choice to make all outfits be sets was something exclusive to the video game licenses, as Capcom and Konami were perhaps stricter with their intellectual IPs. Unfortunately that's not the case, and all of Ripley's outfits can't be combined at all. Want the Prestige head on Back in Action Ripley? Too bad. Want your default Ripley to wear a cool leather jacket? Sucks to be you! Want to wear casual jeans alongside your Christmas sweater? Well shit bro that's too bad. I fully understand that sets are ultimately the choice of the license holders as opposed to Behaviour: I do not remotely believe that the choice to make all of Ripley's outfits sets was some sort of cruelty or negligence on the developers. But I think that perhaps at some point in the negotiations a push should've been made to allow for mixing-and-matching of cosmetic pieces, or further technology needs to be pushed in Behaviour's pipeline so sets aren't forced to consist of all 3 pieces of an outfit. I understand the need for sets if a shirt + pants combo can't be split (either due to licensing issues or clipping issues) but I think it would really help Behaviour in the long-term if people could wear their Prestige heads on top of their favorite outfits. I think Behaviour vastly underestimates how much... well, prestige a prestige bloody face carries when sitting in the survivor lobby. Stealth & Audio A very quick passing mention of Ripley's stealth as someone who's been playing her semi-regularly: ...She's fucking loud. Both her injured sounds and her general breathing are very distinct, putting you at an automatic disadvantage when playing against killers who rely on sound for tracking. Not only that but her cosmetics aren't good for stealth either: her Prestige model isn't nearly bloody enough to be good for stealth and both her alternate cosmetics are sleeveless, meaning that her bare white arms will be visible from a distance to any killer. Stealth as a playstyle is largely dead (and anyone who wants to play stealthy is playing Claudette, Zarina, or Ace anyways) but it is still worth mentioning. Consider her lack of stealthy options a cherry on top of all her other issues. The Context One final thing that I think is very important to analyze about Ripley is the context she was released in. No character is ever released in a vacuum and general community consensus can shape a lot of perception. Take for example the release of Knight into Skull Merchant during one of the worst generator metas of all time: the perception of releasing highly defensive killers during an incredibly generator-stall focused meta resulted in one of the worst perceived killers of all time, and while no one can argue that release-day Skull Merchant was a good addition to the game I think community opinion on Skull Merchant might not be so vile if not for the context she was released in. "But you're talking about Ripley: why are you bringing up Skull Merchant?" Well Ripley released at a time that two of the most impactful survivor releases in recent times had recently occurred: Gabriel Soma and Nicholas Cage. I can not stress that while I don't think Nic Cage was "the most played, most popular survivor ever in the history of the game" or anything he is easily one of the most hyped survivor releases since probably the first Resident Evil DLC with Leon and Jill. Having a survivor with proper voice lines who was simply put funny to play was a massive breath of fresh air to Dead by Daylight at the time (again: still dealing with the after-effects of CoBverchaRuption meta.) The overwhelming community response of "I am going to P100 Nic Cage" was staggering, and any survivor released after him would have an extremely high bar to climb. Not helping Ripley's case was Gabriel Soma. While the survivor himself is unpopular and his perks now are nothing to ride home about, release day Gabriel came with one very important perk for understanding the context of DbD at the time: Made for This. For those of you who don't remember (or wish to forget) Made for This originally only required you to be Injured and not Exhausted, a very low bar to allow good players to run every loop far more tightly and also allowed bad players to still get a massive increase in distance when holding W while still being able to run perks like Dead Hard to have the safety of an Exhaustion perk at hand. (MFT didn't Exhaust you, it just turned off when Exhausted.) So in short Ripley released at a time that almost everyone wanted to get Nic Cage to high Prestige, and also when most newer / returning players would be encouraged to dump bloodpoints into Gabriel Soma to get him Prestiged to unlock Made For This on their other characters. Ripley already arrived at the marathon with two bullets in her feet just for Nic Cage to shoot her in the kneecap and Gabriel Soma to kick her while she was down. Who'd Prestige an ugly survivor with bad perks and cosmetics you couldn't mix-and-match when you could instead prestige the funny Nicholas Cage who screams whenever he sees a killer and wants to have tea parties with Sadako, or the insanely broken new survivor with "new Dead Hard" as one of his teachables? tl;dr of the problems with Ripley: her perks are awful, she doesn't look anything like Sigourney Weaver, her model is just generally bad with low quality hair and weird body parts, her cosmetics are all sets that can't be mixed together, and she was released right after two extremely popular survivors Part 2 - The KillerSo there are some things that remain constant issues about Xenomorph, but I don't think we can talk about this killer without discussing...Release Day Xeno Release day Xenomorph was... overpowered. There's no other way to put this. On release Xeno had basically no slowdown for their tail attack, meaning that they could keep following you at full speed after hitting you (or missing.) Imagine a killer who permanently had 8 stacks of Save the Best for Last. Okay: now imagine a killer who permanently has 8 STBFL stacks, can hit over pallets, has a smaller model (making it harder to mindgame them at loops), a smaller terror radius, and a global pseudo-teleport. Can you see why Xeno was so hated on release? And negative reviews on Steam reflect this with many reviews mentioning how OP Xenomorph was on release. Oh but it's okay! Behaviour were going to fix the killer right! Just make the killer slow down a bit and maybe make the tail take a bit to charge. Certainly they'd make the animation slower to compensa... Patch 1 Xeno Oh dear they broke the alien kitty. After Xenomorph's first nerf he was broken. Not "insanely overpowered broken"; I'm talking "Twins" broken. Behaviour made the tail attack slower but did not slow down the animation to compensate. This made the tail feel unbelievably janky as both killer and survivor because as killer you'd watch your tail travel through a survivor and miss them completely, and as survivor you'd watch the killer's tail strike where you were 5 seconds ago and then hit you anyways. It was the worst of both worlds: the killer was confusing to play and survivors were dealing with Long Arm Freddy Syndrome every time the killer used their power. How long did this bug last for? A day? A week? THREE WEEKS. Three weeks of one of the most anticipated characters in the game being simultaneously unplayable and so ungodly buggy that every survivor had to second guess if they were playing against a hacker! "Why does this matter? Xeno works fine now, right? It's not like a killer being bugged so hard they're practically unplayable is new, right? I mean, Twins and Knight players experience that biweekly!" No you do not understand: while Xenomorph was extremely frustrating for survivors to play against on release, she was also extremely fun to play as killer. You had an anti-loop killer with good mobility who was... well essentially cheating, meaning that low-skill players could have fun with her while high-skill players had fun discovering unique techs you could perform with Xenomorph's tail hitbox. She was an incredibly fun killer... and breaking her two weeks after release to leave her in a practically unplayable state for nearly a month was the biggest crash you could possibly give a player after the dopamine rush of essentially playing with cheat codes on. Imagine if you will a low MMR baby killer: the ideal "casual player" as it were. They love the Aliens franchise and purchase Xenomorph day 1. They play her and dominate, I'm talking completely stomp the competition. Sure they need to play around flame turrets but the survivors also don't know how to face Xeno. They don't know good flame turret placements, so our killer has a massive advantage. Then one day a hotfix comes out and they can't hit any tail attacks. At first they think they're just having a bad game but then they notice the tail going straight through survivors and not giving health states. They post on the official forums or Reddit or wherever and learn that "oh yeah the tail attack hitbox is bugged now." Doesn't that just feel like complete shit? You had a very fun killer that no one knew was overpowered because... well new character, and after winning game after game thinking "man this character is so good" they're hit not with the Nerf bad, but with the "Gamebreaking Bug" bat. They're not "worse" they're unplayably bad, right at the peak of your enjoyment. Imagine every time a new killer comes out how much fun you have, and now imagine that Behaviour comes and takes your toys away and replaces your cool RC car with a McDonald's Hotwheels toy that's missing a wheel. Wouldn't you be upset too? So killers hate Patch 1 Xeno because she literally doesn't work, and survivors still hate Patch 1 Xeno because we replaced "insanely overpowered" jank with "busted hitboxes" jank, which no matter what feels awful to play against from the survivor perspective. Neither side has fun and many of the Xenomorph players quit playing her because... well she literally doesn't work. Why play Xeno when you can play Nemesis or Demogorgon and accomplish similar results on a killer who actually functions? Patch 2 Xeno (IE Current Xenomorph) Current Xenomorph feels just a little too clunky, as someone who has her as an off-main (P13, which yeah ain't impressive but my highest prestige is P34 so sue me.) The tail has a nearly second-long windup and getting used to it can be frustrating. The best analogy I've heard is that Xenomorph's tail works like a flintlock pistol where you have to pull the hammer back before it fires. But very few abilities in Dead by Daylight work like this, and those that do have far more fluid animations than Xeno. Huntress raises her arm, goes "HOP", and then goes "YA" and flings her hatchet. Deathslinger raises his gun and fires. Nemesis raises his tentacle before whipping it. Wesker raises his tentacle, goes "heh heh heh", and then goes "HUUUUHHHH" and choke slams a survivor into a wall. Xenomorph raises their tail, waits for a second while they read their website formerly known as Twitter feed, and then strikes forward. It's weird and takes getting used to. The problem however is that playing against Xenomorph still feels odd, especially for new players. While I think Xenomorph is more balanced (and possibly even weaker) than the likes of Nemesis due to the counterplay of turrets many new players do not know how to effectively place turrets, so even though Nemmy can shred through pallets Xeno still feels worse to play against due to her longer range and less obvious windup. (Not to mention she can start to wind up while keeping full momentum.) Even veteran players are often put into lose-lose situations against Xeno if there are no turrets nearby. "Okay so it's just a skill issue on both sides then? Killers need to git gud and learn how to aim their tail, and survivors need to git gud and learn flame turret placement." Well not quite. There are still other problems with Xenomorph that will constantly exist that hinder her play rate, even if they're far less impactful than her other issues. Flame Turrets, otherwise known as "The Singularity EMP Problem" Few killers have powers that encourage the survivor to fight back directly. Yes a survivor can clicky clicky a flashlight at you but there's few killers where the power actively consists of survivors doing something to hinder you. Singularity was the first time Behaviour truly experimented with the survivors being able to do something mid-chase to hinder your power beyond looping well, and it's perhaps fitting that the next killer released had a very similar mechanic. The problem with Flame Turrets versus Singularity's EMPs is how the power dynamic between the two interacts. The problem with Singu EMPs is that they require very little effort on the survivors' part to use: they just hold M1 and a big "no touch me mister killer" bubble appears to disable your power. But the good thing about Singu is how the killer can dynamically respond to this counterplay by replacing biopods. Flame Turrets meanwhile are the exact opposite. They require a good bit of skill to find effective spots to put them so that they can knock the killer out of their power before they're destroyed. This means that new players will inherently struggle with placing Flame Turrets and with facing Xenomorph by proxy, as Flame Turrets are the only truly effective means of disabling the killer's power. But the bigger issue is that the counterplay as killer remains fairly binary: hit the turret before it knocks you out of your power. There are ways to play around this (such as walking around cover) but this almost always relies on either the survivors making misplays or you bringing addons to counteract the turrets (Emergency Helmet / Lambert's Map.) I think every Xeno player can recall at least one match where it felt like there was a turret everywhere you went and you weren't allowed to use your power. Having your power get disabled inherently feels bad, which leads to the killer feeling frustrating to play. Not helping this problem is... OH MY GOD STOP SCREAMING AT ME There are loud killers: Oni is loud. Demogorgon is loud. Knight is loud. The thing about this killers is that they're menacingly loud: Oni's roars and stomping, Demogorgon's stomping, Knight's... stomping: they all contribute to an aura that the killer is a big lumbering beast coming to crush your skull like a sparrow egg. Xenomorph is a different type of loud. Xenomorph is fucking annoying. The Xenomorph's sound design is not Behaviour's fault, and in fact I think the sounds themselves are fantastic and very movie-accurate. The problem with Xeno is that the alien's screeching is meant to contribute to a horror atmosphere. Hearing them screech when they attack is meant to be a jumpscare, and hearing them scream in agony as they're burnt alive is meant to make you think "fuck yeah you space bastard; get away from our heroes!" These sounds do not sound good as a killer player. The hit sounds are fine enough but every fucking time you walk into a flame turret you're met with a mix of obnoxious SFX. You hear flames being shot in your face, your killer screams in agony, and all the while the beeping of a safety alarm is blaring in your ears as you do the gameplay equivalent of smacking your alarm clock off. This happens every goddamn time you walk into a flame turret. It's inherently unpleasant to constantly hear your character screaming any time you deal with your main form of counterplay, which by necessity of the killer's design will happen a lot. Control Stations, otherwise known as "The Sadako TV Problem" I'm sure anyone who's played Sadako has had a time when they've teleported to a TV that's facing the opposite direction of a generator and is 10 feet away from said gen, giving the survivor ample time to run away... Xeno's Control Stations have a similar spawning logic to Sadako TVs, which therefor means she experiences the exact same issues as her ghostly counterpart. It just feels bad to have a control station be behind two walls, giving the survivors a massive head start. It just feels bad when for whatever reason the game's RNG decides that you shouldn't have a control station beside an important generator. It just feels bad when the control station in the Garden of Joy main building is located on the first floor but the gen is on the second floor and in the time it takes you to walk up the stairs to the gen the survivors finish it in your face and all take the window to escape you. This is sadly an issue that can not be fixed without a complete rework to the spawning logic of Sadako TVs / Freddy clocks / Pig boxes and so-on. I think this is an unfortunate "c'est la vie" sort of issue with Xenomorph, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. The Addons, otherwise known as "the just another anti-loop killer problem" One sad thing about Xenomorph is that the power doesn't lend itself to a lot of creativity. Xeno isn't a Chucky or Blight or Wraith where they can attach a lot of different effects to the power. She fundamentally has three mechanics:
Not helping is that many of Xeno's addons have durations that are simply far too short to use. Parker's Headband is 5% Haste for 3 seconds, shorter than the time gained from one use of Brutal Strength. Harpoon Gun lasts 10 seconds, which given the bad spawns of control stations it's never guaranteed you'll get a hit in that time. Molted Skin lasts a mere 3 seconds which... why? Who the heck is going to deploy a turret directly in front of the killer when the turrets already make you move at a snail's pace? Same thing can be said for Brett's Cap: it would be fine if the effect was tied to the range of turrets (akin to Sadako's Rickety Pinwheel addon), but no it's just "placed a turret? Have 25 seconds of blindness lol." Cat Carrier and Acidic Blood require you to mess up to get any value (Cat Carrier in particular requiring you to turn off your power for some gimmicky stealth)... The only addon that does anything interesting is Self-Destruct Bolt, and that's just basekit Superior Anatomy. It's only really useful in gimmick builds running Bamboozle or Superior Anatomy to just W key a survivor to death if they spam window vaults. I'm in no way trying to imply that Xenomorph's addons are bad: no no she has plenty of good ones like Semiotic Keyboard, Kane's Helmet, Lambert's Star Map, Crew Headset, Cereal Rations, Ripley's Watch, and of course Emergency Helmet. My point is that all the addons are very boring and either make turrets weaker, apply negligible debuffs, or have too short of a duration to use. tl;dr about the problems with Xenomorph as a killer: she was released in an overpowered state, "patched" with a gamebreaking bug for a month, and is now rather clunky to play. Flame turrets feel bad to play against, sometimes control stations spawn in bad locations, Xenomorph herself is very loud and annoying, and her addons are boring(Continued in the replies because post is too long) |
2024.04.18 21:13 Magicallyhere I need a 40B but maybe a 42B would work. Any recommendations?
Hi, I have strange shoulders is my conclusion. I spent my 20s in strapless 36Bs because bras with straps often slipped and it was a disaster, strapless bras are still great for me but they wear out fast. I tried 38Bs with straps and still had the same issue. I tried sister sizes and anything over a B cup was all wrong for me then and still is and my band size is definitely a 40 currently. I'm decidedly a B cup. Now I'm wearing 40B in Soma bras but they feel uncomfortable eventually during the day & I wish they had smoothing sides but they have been the best I could find. Why are they uncomfortable? A mix of straps being slightly off to them creating extra bulge in my sides that eventually hurts. I could try a 42B, if I even found that size. So far anything 42+ goes into C cups+, I know those are too large for me.
Anyway any suggestions are appreciated. I prefer something with regular to minimal padding but enough to cover my nipples bc the season of icy cold AC is coming! I'm thinking of trying some of the Thirdlove, other online brands but don't know how comfortable those would be.
submitted by Magicallyhere to ABraThatFits [link] [comments]
Anyway any suggestions are appreciated. I prefer something with regular to minimal padding but enough to cover my nipples bc the season of icy cold AC is coming! I'm thinking of trying some of the Thirdlove, other online brands but don't know how comfortable those would be.
2024.04.18 21:11 HaseoRegious Tips for fiinding rent in SF as a young female (Nob Hill or Mission)
Hi folks! I am looking into some rental units as a young female in SF. I have lived in SOMA for 3 years so I am familiar with the city and am looking to move out to another area in the city. I am looking into studios, and my budget is anything less than $2500. I am currently interested in Nob Hill and Mission area and have found some great listings but I have some questions.
Some of the locations I found were on Craigslist. I have tried to avoid scams by using an email that is not related to any of my bank accounts but unfortunately I made a mistake and gave them my real phone number (instead of a google voice one). I was wondering if this would be an issue? Additionally, do you guys have any tips to avoid scams? For the listings that I found, they were very willing to show the units, and did not push me to pay anything in advance, but I want to check if there is a chance of scams or not, as I did not find the listing on other sites like Zillow, Rentcafe or Trulia. One of the listing is this one.
Some of the other rentals I found and absolutely loved belonged to either RentSFNow or Brick+Timber, both of which I have seen mixed reviews, though more negative than positive. For the people who have rented with them, what were your experience? If not, which companies would you recommend for the areas in Nob Hill and Mission?
Thank you so much in advance! I appreciate you all.
submitted by HaseoRegious to AskSF [link] [comments]
Some of the locations I found were on Craigslist. I have tried to avoid scams by using an email that is not related to any of my bank accounts but unfortunately I made a mistake and gave them my real phone number (instead of a google voice one). I was wondering if this would be an issue? Additionally, do you guys have any tips to avoid scams? For the listings that I found, they were very willing to show the units, and did not push me to pay anything in advance, but I want to check if there is a chance of scams or not, as I did not find the listing on other sites like Zillow, Rentcafe or Trulia. One of the listing is this one.
Some of the other rentals I found and absolutely loved belonged to either RentSFNow or Brick+Timber, both of which I have seen mixed reviews, though more negative than positive. For the people who have rented with them, what were your experience? If not, which companies would you recommend for the areas in Nob Hill and Mission?
Thank you so much in advance! I appreciate you all.
2024.04.15 11:29 AceyBoy558 Album ranking from other countries. France/Belgium.
All the band listed: Noisy Fate, Keishah, Watcha, Clone Inc., Guts Syndicate, Acid Blitz, Psykup, Mass Hysteria, No One Is Innocent, Oneyed Jack, Vegastar, Lofofora, LIK...ID, Eths, Black Bomb A, S-Core (hmm...), Hertz and Silence, Dagoba, Sikh, Scorch, Silmarils, Sidilarsen, Unswabbed, Stereotypical Working Class, peach f.t.l., Freedom For King Kong, Out, Mypollux, Kells, Munshy, Da'wa, Bawdy Festival, Babylon Pression, Flying Pooh, Kiemsa, La Logique Du Pire, Troides Priamus Hecuba, Furaya, Mensayak, Oedipe, D.Majiria, Twage, Alpha Project, Kobayes, Brasero, Inimikall and S.Box.
Yo, I gonna do something fucking mental. I gonna rank all the French nu metal bands (that I know of) ever. It will take a fucking month or 2 to do it but it will be so worth it. Alright. Let's test my mentality.
Pt.1:
Note: These are the bands I had pain/will have pain to rank: Watcha, No One Is Innocent, ONEYED JACK, and Lofofora.
Noisy Fate's Avoir l'air: (ranked November 2)
Even tho it's more on the softer side of nu metal (if it was nu metal), it's still a great album. Gonna give a High-Mid A.
Keishah's Self Titled: (ranked November 2)
I think it's one of the greatest French nu metal albums in this post. This is one of the bands that you have to show to people who want to know what's nu metal. S tier.
Watcha's Self Titled: (ranked November 6)
We can compare this album with Keçkispasse?, just how fucking good it is. They are quite heavy too. High A.
Veliki Cirkus: (ranked November 6)
Can we fucking talking about the distortion of the guitar? It's so damn heavy, à la Seo Taiji. Great album, high A. (Gonna rank Watcha later)
Mutant: (ranked January 17)
Clone Inc.'s X Y: (Ranked November 3):
Could they have at least one consistently heavy song (Apnée doesn't count)? low A.
Guts Syndicate's Laisse faire: November 12
It was heavy, alright. But I wish they were more energetic. Mid-A.
Acid Blitz's discography (there are like 5 songs in total...): (ranked November 13)
I wish they made a bigger EP or an album. Their discography was nice. A.
Psykup's le temps de la réflexion: (ranked November 11, oopsie)
It's so zany and crazy sometimes. That's a very great album. High A.
Mass Hysteria: Le bien-être et la paix: (ranked November 6)
Eh... It's not bad, I guess. Some tracks are very good while the rest doesn't do much. B tier.
Contraddiction: (ranked November 7)
This album is a bit better. So I'm gonna give it a High B
De cercle en cercle: (ranked November 7)
Now, that's an album I like. I like them when they are more Alt Rock than Industrial Metal. Gonna give a mid-A.
No One Is Innocent's Self Titled: (ranked November 8)
The middle is the best while the first/last few were less good. It's still not bad. Low A to High B.
Utopia: (ranked November 9)
Eh... Just eh... Some songs are good but the rest is uh... average. It doesn't stand out much. B tier.
Oneyed Jack's Cynique: (ranked November 9)
I like the energetic rap songs more than most of this album. It feels slow and bland. So, gonna give it a B.
Arise: (ranked November 9-10)
OMG, such a boring album and it was long, too. Gosh, it was just background music. C tier.
Prepare to Reactivate: (ranked November 10)
I'm free... I'M FREE!!! At least it's a bit better than Arise. C.
Vegastar's un nouvel orage: (ranked November 11)
It's a very good accessible album, I like Noisy Fate better, tho. Mid-A.
Lofofora's Dur comme fer: (ranked November 13)
It's was an enjoyable album. Very hardcore. Mid-A.
Le fond et la forme: (Ranked November 13)
It's a bit weaker than Dur comme fer but it's good. Low A.
LIK...ID's Élevé à la peur: (ranked November 13)
It reminded me of some Japanese bands with the sound of the vocalist. Good album. Mid-A.
Eths's Autospie: (ranked 15 November)
Dark, heavy and funkeeeehhh... Man, great EP. S tier.
Samantha: (ranked 15 November)
I think this EP went darker than Autospie, heavier in some parts, too. It's another great one. S tier.
Soma: (ranked 15 November)
It's another great album from Eths. They got a bit smoother...? And yet, they are still heavy. S tier.
Black Bomb A's Straight In The Vain: (Ranked November 15)
It was pretty good but doesn't stand out a lot. Mid-A.
Human Bomb: (ranked November 16)
They are groovy and heavy, AND they stand out. S tier.
Speech Of Freedom: (ranked January 25)
They went core with this one, while still having its nu-metal roots. It's heavy, some chorus seems to be off. S tier.
S-Core's Riot...Process Engaged: (ranked November 16)
Now that's a great album. You know, I was skeptical with this band. Like they are great, but are they nu? It feels like they are more Groove than Nu. But still, S tier.
Hertz & Silence's Biological: (ranked November 20)
This is the chuggiest album I ever fucking heard. Jesus Christ. I don't know if I want to give this album an S, in terms of heaviness or a low A, in terms of creativity.
Dagoba's Self Titled: (ranked November 26)
It got some repetitive riffs, that's for sure. But god DAMN!! It's heavy. S tier.
Sikh's Self Titled: (ranked December 1)
It's a pretty nice album. Really heavy. LOVE THE BASS. High A.
One More Piece: (ranked December 2)
It reminds me of Slipknot (Vol.3) and (Hed) P.E.. The sound is a bit more unique than the last one. It is also another case of ''the tracks is getting better and better''. High A,
Scotch's À genoux: (ranked December 2)
Their heaviness is on par with Pleymo's Keçkipasse or even closer to Eths. Maybe that's an exaggeration but MAN, they are heavy. S tier.
Pt.2:
Bands that are a pain in the ass to rank: Silmarils, Freedom For King Kong and Unswabbed.
Silmarils's Vegas 76: ranked (December 5)
So the first album I decided to rank was not nu metal. Eeeeeuuuuhhhh... Should have ranked the 1997 fist. Anyway. It's way too chill. Some songs are good but the rest, eeeh... Low B.
4life: (ranked December 5)
This album makes me feel cool, listening to this. The rapping is nice. Good riffage. Gonna give it a low A.
Sidilarsen's Biotop: (ranked December 5)
The first half was good but I'm less fan of the second electronic half of it. High B.
Eau: (ranked December 5)
They stepped up more which I like, but they kinda stray away from nu metal. It is still nu metal, just less, now. High B.
Unswabbed's Self Titled: (ranked December 12)
I love the fact they make heavy verses with the catchiest choruses. This is a great album, that's for sure. High-Mid A.
Instinct: (ranked 12 December)
Holy fuck, they demi-double down on the heaviness. It's heavier with still the catchiest choruses. High A.
In Situ: (ranked January 22)
Ok, even their melody have some sense of heaviness in their songs. It's quite impressive. I don't know if it's better than Instinct but it is still High A.
Stereotypical Working Class' Illusion: (ranked December 5)
This is just great album. It's very Incubus. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and Make Yourself together. High A.
Sans repères: (ranked January 24)
I think is the best album of the three. They still have energy while also having melody, unlike its successors where they're being more softer. S tier.
Day After Day; (ranked December 5)
You know, they have a bigger melody than the EP I listened to before, it's good. But I miss the funky sound of the band. But still, High-Mid A.
peach f.t.l.'s Addiction: (Ranked December 5)
Now, that's an album. I want to hear. High A.
Supernova: (ranked December 6)
Ok, this is way better than Addiction. S tier.
Freedom For King Kong's Citoyens du monde: (ranked December 12)
I hope we won't have a Oneyed Jack, that will suck so bad. Anyway, this is not bad. It got some boring songs but some were pretty good. B.
Primate diplomate: (ranked December 12)
Okay, thank god we didn't have a Oneyed Jack moment. ANYWAY! This is better than Citoyens du monde. That is for damn sure. High B.
Marche ou rêve: (ranked December 17)
This is getting kinda better. They passed the vibe check. Low A.
Out's X-Position (I'm not doing the self titled one): (ranked 17 December)
The riffs were actually pretty good. It feels like they tried to do their own thing. But man. they all sound the same, it was honestly hard to rank this album. A tier.
Mypollux's Trouble amarante: (ranked 18 December)
This is definitively one of the most unique sound in this ranking. Love it. High A.
Contraires: (ranked December 23)
It's less better than its predecessors but it's good. Mid-A.
Kells's Lueurs: (ranked December 23)
Ok, now THAT'S an album. S tier.
Munshy's Self Titled: (ranked December 26)
Ok, this album is very unique, unlike some bands in this ranking post. Pretty nice. S tier.
Da'wa's Apportez demain: (ranked December 27)
They are good but kinda generic. Low A.
Pt.3:
Band that will be a pain in the ass to rank: La Logique Du Pire. Troides Priamus Hecuba
Bawdy Festival's Tri Nox Samoni Into The Weird Side: (ranked December 30)
This is an interesting EP... Very gimmicky. A tier.
Into The Weird Side: (ranked December 30)
Ok, the fact that this album is all live is very interesting. It was a great experience. High A.
Babylon Pression's Négative Génération: (ranked January 3)
Ok, this is a lovely album. High A. BTW, is it just me or French nu metal bands are more prone to have reggae elements in their music? Idk.
Travaille, consomme et meurs: (ranked January 5)
Imagine Unswabbed but heavier and ANGRIER, that's what I think about this album. They actually stepped up their game. S tier.
Flying Pooh's Spanking Day (If only Viva San Antonio was on streaming services): (ranked January 6)
This is one of the weirdest and unique bands of this ranking post. They can be funky, groovy, punky, scary AND they will probably affect your psyche (hyperbole). High A.
Kiemsa's Nuits rouges: (ranked January 25)
This is one of the most fun albums to listen to. It's like 40% nu metal, 60% ska. Good one. Mid-A.
Eaux troubles: (ranked January 26)
I don't know if this is better than the previous album or not, but it is still enjoyable. Mid-A.
La Logique du Pire's Coûte que coûte: (ranked January 6)
Industrial as HEEELLLL!! They are good, i guess. Low A.
Hiro Shima: (ranked January 7)
That one is good too, got nothing to say. Mid A.
Troides Priamus Hecuba's Bienvenue à Biolandz: (ranked January 12, 11 SUPPOSEDLY)
Buncha rhythmic weirdos. They are great in rapping, holy crap. I thought I will have a hard time to listening to them but. Not really, huh? A tier.
Vous êtes ici: (Ranked January 25)
I think this is better than the last album. It's way more energetic and a bit heavier. High A.
Furaya's Self Titled: (ranked January 7)
Ooh... This one is just generic. It did the job, tho. B tier.
Mensayak's Mondialiénation: (ranked January 7)
See, that one is less generic. It's a bit better than Furaya. High B.
Self Titled: (ranked January 7)
The vocalist makes this album much more interesting and unique than the last album. I'm quite impressed. Low A.
Oedipe's Amaeru: (ranked January 8)
I love this album. The melody, the catchiness, hmm!! Love it. S tier.
D.Majiria's On a marché sur la Terre: (ranked January 12)
High A, pretty good, really good.
Hybridacide.com: (ranked January 24)
Some were eh, but the later parts were interesting. Low A to High B.
Twage's Self Titled: (ranked January 12)
A very accessible EP. Pretty nice. High A.
Alpha Project's Seconde d'éternité: (Ranked January 13)
This is another case of ''this album is getting better and better''. That one was actually hard to rank cuz they all sound the same. It's very accessible, à la Linkin Park. A tier.
Kobayes's à bout de souffle: (ranked January 14)
GOD, I love their sound. The thrashy hardcore sound. It was energetic as hell. S tier.
Brasero's Malade mental: (ranked January 14)
It's not bad. They have a few that sound ''unique'' but the rest is fairly just nu metal. Low A-High B.
Inimikall's Urban Division: (ranked January 14)
Oh, wow. That's nice. Uhh... They are heavy, uhhhhhhhhhhhh... They good. A tier. OKNOWTHELASTBANDLETSGO!!!!!!!
S.box's el viaje: (ranked January 14)
This is probably the best album of all the ranking posts. It's just hit hard!! S tier.
FINALLY, IT'S DONE!! It has been more than 3 month I have worked on this. Worth it. I can do my other project, now. You don't know HOW MUCH I am relieved to finish this. I know, This is the longest ranking post ever from me. Pretty sure this post won't ever be dethroned.
So what do you think of this ranking post? Good? Bad?
submitted by AceyBoy558 to numetal [link] [comments]
Yo, I gonna do something fucking mental. I gonna rank all the French nu metal bands (that I know of) ever. It will take a fucking month or 2 to do it but it will be so worth it. Alright. Let's test my mentality.
Pt.1:
Note: These are the bands I had pain/will have pain to rank: Watcha, No One Is Innocent, ONEYED JACK, and Lofofora.
Noisy Fate's Avoir l'air: (ranked November 2)
- Destin bruyant (THAT'S THE NAME OF THE BAND IN FRENCH RANDOMLETTERSPAM)
- Au Jour d'aujourd'hui
- Encore une chance
- Loin des flammes
- Un sale temps
- L'ordinaire (on dirait fucking midwest emo)
- La cohérance
- L'ère du vice
- Le piège
- Agir à tort
- Avoir l'air
- La t'no lover
- Pluies acides
Even tho it's more on the softer side of nu metal (if it was nu metal), it's still a great album. Gonna give a High-Mid A.
Keishah's Self Titled: (ranked November 2)
- Le sang coule
- Elle s'éveille
- Dans mon repaire
- Effacé
- Ce pouvoir
- Une journée ordinaire
- Hidden Track
- Explose
- Ton regard d'effraies
- Parasites
- Uniforme
- RLX
- 1termede
I think it's one of the greatest French nu metal albums in this post. This is one of the bands that you have to show to people who want to know what's nu metal. S tier.
Watcha's Self Titled: (ranked November 6)
- II II I IV II I I IV I
- Mesaidaboom
- Fun at All
- Indigestion
- Tout pourrit
- Elle dort
- X-Mass
- À qui la faute
- Kayanamasha
- Sam
- Méchant flou
- Concrete Lie
- Machine à sang
- Paranoia
We can compare this album with Keçkispasse?, just how fucking good it is. They are quite heavy too. High A.
Veliki Cirkus: (ranked November 6)
- Hard Core 100% Fluor
- 101 Radio Racket
- New Brutal Fonk
- Clash
- Tambata
- Sofa Masta
- Sam2
- Veliki Cirkus
- Cupide
- Egalamonego
- www.a/grave/pas/mon/k@
- Dead Man (Is a Good Man)
Can we fucking talking about the distortion of the guitar? It's so damn heavy, à la Seo Taiji. Great album, high A. (Gonna rank Watcha later)
Mutant: (ranked January 17)
- Vibe m
- I.A.
- Doc'
- La rumeur
- Dunk Barrow le baron
- Sam III
- Borné
- Clean
- And The Beat Goes On
- Cool
- Mutant
- King Anymore
- Narrow Minded
Clone Inc.'s X Y: (Ranked November 3):
- Mes manques
- L'affut de la fin
- Syst(m).Core
- Ma théorie X Y
- 1, 2, 3, 4 Syncope
- L'inceste 3-3
- État d'sauvage
- Psychédélique
- Le cycle infini
- Apnée
Could they have at least one consistently heavy song (Apnée doesn't count)? low A.
Guts Syndicate's Laisse faire: November 12
- Guts Syndicate
- Laisse faire
- Mystère 2 l'éducation
- On est bien + chez' oit
- Fight Core
- Lop'sa
It was heavy, alright. But I wish they were more energetic. Mid-A.
Acid Blitz's discography (there are like 5 songs in total...): (ranked November 13)
- 18
- 20
- 15
- 13
- 11
I wish they made a bigger EP or an album. Their discography was nice. A.
Psykup's le temps de la réflexion: (ranked November 11, oopsie)
- Libido
- Rebirth & Succession
- Insipid
- Martin X Part 2
- Time & Space
- Teacher
- L'autruche
- La peur du vide
- Or Not To Be
- Martin X Part 1
- To Be(tray)
It's so zany and crazy sometimes. That's a very great album. High A.
Mass Hysteria: Le bien-être et la paix: (ranked November 6)
- Hard Corps (Les fils du vice)
- L'homme qui en savait trop rien
- Unique
- Gone
- Donnez-vous la peine
- Shine
- Respect to the Dance Floor
- MH 2 C.E.S.
- L'effet papillon
- Knowledge Is Power
- Mass Protect
Eh... It's not bad, I guess. Some tracks are very good while the rest doesn't do much. B tier.
Contraddiction: (ranked November 7)
- Attracteurs étranges
- Finistère amer
- P4
- Zion
- Le plus just effect (Irie)
- Le dernier tango
- Osmos '99
- Contraddiction
- Furia
- Aimable à souhait
- Sur la brèche
- Corazones Olvidados
This album is a bit better. So I'm gonna give it a High B
De cercle en cercle: (ranked November 7)
- La canopée
- La puissance bienvenue
- Montherlant
- Remède
- L'importance du sort
- Millenium apprauvi
- Ya-Vyemma
- L'harmonie invisible
- La Adventura Humana
- Coup2mass
- Temps mort
- Fragment
- Immixtion
Now, that's an album I like. I like them when they are more Alt Rock than Industrial Metal. Gonna give a mid-A.
No One Is Innocent's Self Titled: (ranked November 8)
- Épargne-moi
- Henry, Serial Killer
- Ne reste-t-il que la guerre pour tuer le silence?
- Rusted Faces
- Genocide
- La peau
- Le feu
- Nova
- Gratitude
- They Learn Your Love
- Beast In A Bottle
- Another Land
The middle is the best while the first/last few were less good. It's still not bad. Low A to High B.
Utopia: (ranked November 9)
- Black Garden
- Woman
- Nomenklatura
- Inside
- Invisible
- Two People
- Ce que nous savons
- Amère
- Neuromatrix
- Chile
- Radio 101
- Pinecrest Solution
- Le poison
- Autobahn Babies
Eh... Just eh... Some songs are good but the rest is uh... average. It doesn't stand out much. B tier.
Oneyed Jack's Cynique: (ranked November 9)
- Cynik
- 128
- Le pouvoir
- Da Borgn
- Push Your Face Down
- Tribe
- Otage
- Bad Brian Killer
- La peine
- Himalaya
- Zéro
I like the energetic rap songs more than most of this album. It feels slow and bland. So, gonna give it a B.
Arise: (ranked November 9-10)
- La choléra - Hip Hop
- Real
- You Shouldn'?
- Shameless
- Alièné
- I Can't Work For Shit
- Escape
- Funk Hope
- Do You Feel Me?
- I Swear
- Chemical Clouds
- Ma seule joie
- Will I Arise
- MK 2 Mix
OMG, such a boring album and it was long, too. Gosh, it was just background music. C tier.
Prepare to Reactivate: (ranked November 10)
- Easy
- Oneyed vs Interlope
- I Pay
- Invincible
- NF
- 200 000 prises de tête
- Auch
- Crache ma mère
- J'aime cet hôpital
- inna Hole Pt. 1 + Pt. 2
- Prepare to Reactivate
- Much More
- La Finca
- Funk Doo Scratch
- MK DJ Crew
I'm free... I'M FREE!!! At least it's a bit better than Arise. C.
Vegastar's un nouvel orage: (ranked November 11)
- L'étincelle
- À se demande
- Comme un aimant
- Elle blesse
- À cause de toi
- Trouver l'issue
- Maître de ma vie
- Une nuit
- Un nouvel orage
- L'ombre de vos vies
- 100ème otage
- La faille
- Mon repaire
- Savourer tes pleurs
- Mortem
It's a very good accessible album, I like Noisy Fate better, tho. Mid-A.
Lofofora's Dur comme fer: (ranked November 13)
- Weedo
- 5 milliards
- Rêve et crève en démocratie
- Incarné
- 1 million
- Les gens
- Charisman
- Série B
- Dur comme fer
- Au secours
- Les liquides de mon corps
- Partouze musical gang bang orale
It's was an enjoyable album. Very hardcore. Mid-A.
Le fond et la forme: (Ranked November 13)
- Carapace
- Psaume Cac 40
- Comme à la guerre
- Ici ou ailleurs
- Social Killer
- L'emprise
- Auio-pilote
- Le fond et la forme
- Série Z
- Alarme citoyen
- Requiem pour moi-même
- Histoire naturelle
- Bienvenue
- Hidden Track
It's a bit weaker than Dur comme fer but it's good. Low A.
LIK...ID's Élevé à la peur: (ranked November 13)
- Vrai
- El le reste suivra
- Prendre un temps
- Jusqu'a bout
- Immoral
- Épilogue
- Je me sens bien (baguette)
- Supplice des nerfs
- Impertinence
- Peur
- La blanche
- Préface
- C'est ainsi
It reminded me of some Japanese bands with the sound of the vocalist. Good album. Mid-A.
Eths's Autospie: (ranked 15 November)
- Le chair et le sang
- Le mâle
- Autospie
- A la droite de Dieu
- Dévore
- Pourquoi
- Des hommes bon
Dark, heavy and funkeeeehhh... Man, great EP. S tier.
Samantha: (ranked 15 November)
- Des cendres
- Intro + Samantha
- Le project humain
- Volée
- Encore
- Animadversion
- Entends-tu
I think this EP went darker than Autospie, heavier in some parts, too. It's another great one. S tier.
Soma: (ranked 15 November)
- Je vous hais
- Le fruit des anges
- Infini
- Simiesque
- Crucifère
- Rutsah
- Ailleurs c'est ici
- Spetum Lucidum
- Méléna
- Détruis-moi
- Elle s'endort
- L'instant sourd
- Hidden Track
It's another great album from Eths. They got a bit smoother...? And yet, they are still heavy. S tier.
Black Bomb A's Straight In The Vain: (Ranked November 15)
- Judge
- Law' Phobia
- Shot
- Hostile Infection
- Born To Die
It was pretty good but doesn't stand out a lot. Mid-A.
Human Bomb: (ranked November 16)
- My Mind Is A Pussy
- Down
- Your Enemy
- Project
- Get Out Da Bastards
- Police Stopped Da Way
- Everlast
- Make Communication With God + Make Your Choice
- You Can't Save Me
- Human Circus
- Hidden Track
They are groovy and heavy, AND they stand out. S tier.
Speech Of Freedom: (ranked January 25)
- Fine Talkers
- Legalize Me
- Reject For Me
- New Wars
- No One Knows
- Who Fucks Who?
- Burn
- Shoot At The Gossip
- Double
- Madman
- Look At The Pain
- Mary
They went core with this one, while still having its nu-metal roots. It's heavy, some chorus seems to be off. S tier.
S-Core's Riot...Process Engaged: (ranked November 16)
- Hate Your Faith
- God Sells War
- The Things
- R.Vince Smith
- Riot
- Hate (Fuel For My Engine)
- Depressive Am I
- Embrace The Pain
- Four
- Nothing
- Fee Real
- Process Engaged
Now that's a great album. You know, I was skeptical with this band. Like they are great, but are they nu? It feels like they are more Groove than Nu. But still, S tier.
Hertz & Silence's Biological: (ranked November 20)
- 37 Sec
- Animal
- Find Me - Watch Me - Raise Me
- 01 At Ypic + Lost
- I Am
- Parasite
- 6equj5
- Déchiré
- Keep In Step
- Outside The Screen
This is the chuggiest album I ever fucking heard. Jesus Christ. I don't know if I want to give this album an S, in terms of heaviness or a low A, in terms of creativity.
Dagoba's Self Titled: (ranked November 26)
- 4.2 Destroy
- Act 1, Pt. 2
- Dopesick
- Another Day m?
- Here We Are
- Gods Forgot Me
- The White Guy (And The Black Ceremony)
- Torture To Enslavement + Maniak
- Pornscars
- Rush
- Something Stronger
- waste Contained in a Crystal Ball + Year of the Scapegoat
It got some repetitive riffs, that's for sure. But god DAMN!! It's heavy. S tier.
Sikh's Self Titled: (ranked December 1)
- Kallaghan V.1.02
- I Can't Take It
- Planet B
- Ground Zero
- W.E.A.R.E
- Malingo
- Foofipe City
- Maderica
- Choirs
- Blizzard
It's a pretty nice album. Really heavy. LOVE THE BASS. High A.
One More Piece: (ranked December 2)
- One More Piece
- Pshychotro
- Box My Balls
- Ocean
- Hammering The Sun
- Hollywood
- Halcyon Days
- Ballad Of The Harmless
- The Quake
- 5seasons
- Slaves Of The 70s - Whiskey
It reminds me of Slipknot (Vol.3) and (Hed) P.E.. The sound is a bit more unique than the last one. It is also another case of ''the tracks is getting better and better''. High A,
Scotch's À genoux: (ranked December 2)
- 29 secondes + À genoux
- Noir et blanc
- Fbtg
- Le dernier
- L'effet S.asch
- Du droit du plus fort
- Le masque tombe
- Tout ça passera
- Boomerang
- Ëtre ange
- La belle est la bête
- Momento Mori (LIKE IN DBD!!?!?!??!?!)
Their heaviness is on par with Pleymo's Keçkipasse or even closer to Eths. Maybe that's an exaggeration but MAN, they are heavy. S tier.
Pt.2:
Bands that are a pain in the ass to rank: Silmarils, Freedom For King Kong and Unswabbed.
Silmarils's Vegas 76: ranked (December 5)
- 1980
- Two Shots For The King
- Copacabana
- Missing Files
- Je ne t'en veux pas
- Rock With It
- Boogie
- For My City
- You Want Me
- Va y avoir du sport
- Monica
- Get Off My Back
- Jesus Burn
- Jennifer
So the first album I decided to rank was not nu metal. Eeeeeuuuuhhhh... Should have ranked the 1997 fist. Anyway. It's way too chill. Some songs are good but the rest, eeeh... Low B.
4life: (ranked December 5)
- Je n'dois à personne
- Quelqu'il en reste
- Folk Song
- Always Shine
- Le 3ème tour
- Smart
- Animal
- Pour ça
- on est pas comme ça
- Guerilla
- Grass Smoking
This album makes me feel cool, listening to this. The rapping is nice. Good riffage. Gonna give it a low A.
Sidilarsen's Biotop: (ranked December 5)
- Apesanteur
- L'homme mécanique
- Rien pour l'instant
- Biotop
- Sidistation
- Total écran
- Dressés par les ondes
- Teknotrône
- Défragmentés
- Bbmw
- Cardiotronic
- Heretik System Remix
The first half was good but I'm less fan of the second electronic half of it. High B.
Eau: (ranked December 5)
- À qui je nuis le pardonne
- La morale de la fable
- Surhomme
- Le fer
- Prédiction
- Fluidité
- De temps à autre
- Elle me tends toujours la main
- La fibre
- La parole
- Ethereal
They stepped up more which I like, but they kinda stray away from nu metal. It is still nu metal, just less, now. High B.
Unswabbed's Self Titled: (ranked December 12)
- Intimes souffrances
- En Silence
- Paranoïaque
- Le lien
- Défier l'ennui
- Ailleurs
- Laissés en vrac
- Coma
- Si souvent
- Ne tient qu'à un fil
- Le monde ne tourne pas ronde
- Shred Up
- 8-6 Interlude
I love the fact they make heavy verses with the catchiest choruses. This is a great album, that's for sure. High-Mid A.
Instinct: (ranked 12 December)
- Devenir personne
- Comme un autre
- Encore sourire
- Sur la brèche
- Paumé
- Seul
- Invisible
- Sans faire de bruit
- La chute
- Sans limite
- Rien à perdre
- Un monde parfait
- Jusqu'à l'aube
Holy fuck, they demi-double down on the heaviness. It's heavier with still the catchiest choruses. High A.
In Situ: (ranked January 22)
- Ma dernière heure
- Libre comme l'air m
- Sauvés
- Remonter le temps
- Faire pause
- Comme hier
- L'écho de vos âmes
- Un monde sans pitié
- Les nerfs à vif
- À la dérive
- Ma place
- Pourquoi
- Addict
Ok, even their melody have some sense of heaviness in their songs. It's quite impressive. I don't know if it's better than Instinct but it is still High A.
Stereotypical Working Class' Illusion: (ranked December 5)
- Behind
- Already Lost
- Chorar
- Illusion
- Misc
- A Few Thing To Forget
- Hidden Track
- Last
- Instinct
This is just great album. It's very Incubus. S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and Make Yourself together. High A.
Sans repères: (ranked January 24)
- Lucide
- Silence
- Insecure
- Sorrow
- Sans repères
- Here We Go Again
- Si J'en sors
- That's All Right
- Bustabraï
- Selfish
- Karma
- Nothing At All
- No End For A Circle
- Interlude 2
- Interlude 1
I think is the best album of the three. They still have energy while also having melody, unlike its successors where they're being more softer. S tier.
Day After Day; (ranked December 5)
- Looking For Break
- The Rest
- Walk Away
- Hartigan's Last Bullet
- Still Alive
- Calendar
- So Sorry
- Bustaflow
- Narcolepsy
- Coming Home
- Destructed
- Nobody's Wrong
You know, they have a bigger melody than the EP I listened to before, it's good. But I miss the funky sound of the band. But still, High-Mid A.
peach f.t.l.'s Addiction: (Ranked December 5)
- Pardonne-moi
- Irreversible envie
- Dévoile - Maxi
- 01:45 am
- Subliminal
- Kahuna
- Le ciel et l'éternel
- Mes sens
- L'empreinte
- Je n'était pas
- Émoi
- Crêve
Now, that's an album. I want to hear. High A.
Supernova: (ranked December 6)
- J'ai fini par croire
- On meurt ensemble
- Juste une histoire
- Supernova
- Dans vos yeux
- Conscience
- Si...
- À quoi bon
- Mauvais choix
- Hidden Track
- Regarde toi en face
- Instants
- L'être et le mal
- 90kms
Ok, this is way better than Addiction. S tier.
Freedom For King Kong's Citoyens du monde: (ranked December 12)
- Les pensers
- Souriez
- Donne de la choix
- L'impasse
- H
- Révolution
- Cekikontatou
- Babylone
- Serial looser
- Mauvais zélé ment
- La boucle
- Afrique ma mère
- Rackam (le raise)
- Me me, me me, me me, 1er
- Me me, me me, me me, 2ème
- Me me, me me, me me, 3ème
I hope we won't have a Oneyed Jack, that will suck so bad. Anyway, this is not bad. It got some boring songs but some were pretty good. B.
Primate diplomate: (ranked December 12)
- Boîte de nuit story
- Les étiquettes
- Jamais politiquement correct
- Un mec qu'aime bien ça? + Chaos
- Phénix
- Le cour des miracles
- 100%
- Deo miso
- Comme un fou
- Rencontre
- A.K.A.
- J'aurai voulu
Okay, thank god we didn't have a Oneyed Jack moment. ANYWAY! This is better than Citoyens du monde. That is for damn sure. High B.
Marche ou rêve: (ranked December 17)
- Amour propre
- Marche ou rêve
- Des plumes
- Modern Faust
- Phénomène
- Sodocratie
- Gun Tune
- Le syndrome de Peter Pan
- Les marionettistes
- Primatologie
- Le figurant
This is getting kinda better. They passed the vibe check. Low A.
Out's X-Position (I'm not doing the self titled one): (ranked 17 December)
- Les voix du silence
- Girl X Man
- Left In Limbo
- Will
- Bio Burger
- Watch Me In
- Who's Alive
- X Position
- Nine Hates
- Lie No Lights
- Like A Fish
The riffs were actually pretty good. It feels like they tried to do their own thing. But man. they all sound the same, it was honestly hard to rank this album. A tier.
Mypollux's Trouble amarante: (ranked 18 December)
- L'éclat
- Grage
- Toc + Nuit blanche
- Chanson pour Mars-Aile
- Éclipse de fonds
- Trois petits points...
- Madame tranquille
- I don't care
- Toc-toc
- Lapsus
- Si je m'endors
- Leïloqi
This is definitively one of the most unique sound in this ranking. Love it. High A.
Contraires: (ranked December 23)
- Jeu
- L'ore et le coton
- Coffre à souhaits
- Qui dort dine
- Ubiquité
- Par défaut
- Eau + Chrysallide
- Paraffine
- Lettre à ma bulle
- Mon lit à baldquin
- Notre nouveau monde
- Contrego
It's less better than its predecessors but it's good. Mid-A.
Kells's Lueurs: (ranked December 23)
- Le ciel m
- In Utero m
- Mes rêves
- Lueur
- Sans teint
- Le dictate sure le silence
- Merveilles
- La sphère
- Ailleurs
- Délivre-moi
- Rémininscence + Avant que tu...
- Sur le fil
Ok, now THAT'S an album. S tier.
Munshy's Self Titled: (ranked December 26)
- No Drama m
- On My Shoulder
- Joue de pluie
- So Tired m?
- Satisfied
- Liberate + 2
- Under My Bed
- Not Otherwise
- Rotten
- Whales
Ok, this album is very unique, unlike some bands in this ranking post. Pretty nice. S tier.
Da'wa's Apportez demain: (ranked December 27)
- Taire l'élément
- Toutes griffes dehors
- Le trou
- Son coeur à la rue
- La page blanche
- 211212
- Intras
- Je ne suis pas
- Dramogram
- J'vais changer
- Femelle
- Détournement d'honneur
They are good but kinda generic. Low A.
Pt.3:
Band that will be a pain in the ass to rank: La Logique Du Pire. Troides Priamus Hecuba
Bawdy Festival's Tri Nox Samoni Into The Weird Side: (ranked December 30)
- Boogalion Mafia
- Shake ta boulimie
- Get Clowned
- Cross Road
This is an interesting EP... Very gimmicky. A tier.
Into The Weird Side: (ranked December 30)
- Clown Soldier
- Back In Da Wood
- Freak Side
- Where Is My Ball!?
- Fashion Metal
- Shake ta boulimie
- Bawdy Mother Fucker
- Cross Road
- Battle dans l'cul
- Get Clowned
- Boogalion Mafia
- Hxclown
- D.O.A.K.
- Into The Weird Side
Ok, the fact that this album is all live is very interesting. It was a great experience. High A.
Babylon Pression's Négative Génération: (ranked January 3)
- La fange m
- Contre-courant
- La confession
- Schizo
- R.M.I.
- Personne
- J'oublie
- Champion Lova
- Négative génération
- Émeute
Ok, this is a lovely album. High A. BTW, is it just me or French nu metal bands are more prone to have reggae elements in their music? Idk.
Travaille, consomme et meurs: (ranked January 5)
- Tellement de connards, si peu de cartouches
- Ne perds pas ou je te tue
- J'ai 30 and et j'ai rien fait
- Déjà mort
- Esclave de la patrie
- Je ne sers à rien
- Demagloria
- Seul parmis les autres
- La France a peur
- La vie sous vide
- Sandwich à la merde
- Responsable mais pas coupable
Imagine Unswabbed but heavier and ANGRIER, that's what I think about this album. They actually stepped up their game. S tier.
Flying Pooh's Spanking Day (If only Viva San Antonio was on streaming services): (ranked January 6)
- Spanking Day
- Good Morning Sweet Heart
- My Lovely Ghost
- Super Pin-up
- Get Drunk
- Myaghi
- Your Life
- Wanna Kill a Rock-Superstar
- Me, I and Myself + Be Fat!
This is one of the weirdest and unique bands of this ranking post. They can be funky, groovy, punky, scary AND they will probably affect your psyche (hyperbole). High A.
Kiemsa's Nuits rouges: (ranked January 25)
- Utopie
- Bavarde
- Brise-Glace
- Désir
- Jazzz Nemesis
- Oversun
- Cinéma
- L'atelier fantôme
- Salut à toi (L'intermittent)
- Le théâtre du bruit
- Intro + Pourquoi tu the bats
- Apparence(s)
- Ivresse
- D-Block
This is one of the most fun albums to listen to. It's like 40% nu metal, 60% ska. Good one. Mid-A.
Eaux troubles: (ranked January 26)
- Sans un mot
- Kiemsa Sucks
- Méchant pas content
- Spectre
- Tequila Guerrilla
- Qui veut savoir?
- Dans les profondeurs + Mass Media
- Armada
- Please Stay
- Orange Duck
- Faut consommer
I don't know if this is better than the previous album or not, but it is still enjoyable. Mid-A.
La Logique du Pire's Coûte que coûte: (ranked January 6)
- Au centuple
- Coûte que coûte
- L'espoir
- Une vie entière pour mourir
- Numerus Clausus
- Pas de faiblesse
- Jour après jour
- Privés de lumière
Industrial as HEEELLLL!! They are good, i guess. Low A.
Hiro Shima: (ranked January 7)
- Étouffés
- Bête à concours
- Masses critiques
- Seuls contre tous
- Personne en face
- Courir
- Atomik Bomb Killer
- Le partisan
- Est ouest
- Re-produire
- Le souffle du diable
- Hiroshima
That one is good too, got nothing to say. Mid A.
Troides Priamus Hecuba's Bienvenue à Biolandz: (ranked January 12, 11 SUPPOSEDLY)
- Pt l'poing sur la table
- Axxxepte
- De la bouffe pour les porcs
- Opposés
- Boulot, boulot...
- Nos valeurs
- Aigriculture
- Pmou
- Bienvenue à Biolandz + Le tout pour le rien
- La tête dans le sable
- Adrenochome
Buncha rhythmic weirdos. They are great in rapping, holy crap. I thought I will have a hard time to listening to them but. Not really, huh? A tier.
Vous êtes ici: (Ranked January 25)
- Message de paix
- Nous
- T Ki?
- Wock'n Woll
- L'alchimiste
- Fuck le pipole
- Cyborg
- Porquoi tu mens?
- La rézistance est tenace
- Skyzonoïa
- MP2P3
- No Present
- Cimetière Indien
I think this is better than the last album. It's way more energetic and a bit heavier. High A.
Furaya's Self Titled: (ranked January 7)
- Bullshit
- Amnésique
- Impitoyable
- La rage
- Bernard
- Africa
Ooh... This one is just generic. It did the job, tho. B tier.
Mensayak's Mondialiénation: (ranked January 7)
- Assassins
- L'axe du Mal
- Système monde
- Priorité à l'éducation
- Bastà!
- Indipendenza
See, that one is less generic. It's a bit better than Furaya. High B.
Self Titled: (ranked January 7)
- Vergona a te
- Mars m?
- L'éclipse
- 1962
- Appétit colonial
- Priorité
The vocalist makes this album much more interesting and unique than the last album. I'm quite impressed. Low A.
Oedipe's Amaeru: (ranked January 8)
- Futile
- Gravites
- Pardonne-moi
- Marquise
- Libre
- Amaeru
- Le lien
- Le reflet
- Terre promise
- Contre moi
- Mon automne
- Âmes perdues (Holy shit, the biggest riff in the end)
I love this album. The melody, the catchiness, hmm!! Love it. S tier.
D.Majiria's On a marché sur la Terre: (ranked January 12)
- Contre sens
- Faces
- Sans toi
- La corde raide
- Cercle vicieux
- Hidden Track (La mort du choix)
- État paradoxal
- Leur monde
- Les enfants du sang
- Mauvais fils
- Semer le doute
- La route du paradis
- Elle me tue
- La mort du choix
High A, pretty good, really good.
Hybridacide.com: (ranked January 24)
- Bombardier
- Faces
- Psychepultura
- Origan
- Rire cruel
- aCIDe.com
- Buenas Tardes
- Ramirez
- Le libre arbitre
- Jeux dangereux
- Hybride
- Tahiti Bob
- L'absente
Some were eh, but the later parts were interesting. Low A to High B.
Twage's Self Titled: (ranked January 12)
- Respire m
- À force de m
- Guerre sainte
- Luxure et excès
- Pardonne-moi
A very accessible EP. Pretty nice. High A.
Alpha Project's Seconde d'éternité: (Ranked January 13)
- Faux semblants
- Un monde meilleur
- Pas facile
- Tous ces mots
- Ange guardien
- Ensemble
- Changer tout ça
- Seconde d'éternité
- Evidence
- Dis-moi
- Quelques larmes
This is another case of ''this album is getting better and better''. That one was actually hard to rank cuz they all sound the same. It's very accessible, à la Linkin Park. A tier.
Kobayes's à bout de souffle: (ranked January 14)
- Monster
- Carpe Diem
- À bout de souffle
- N'¸être que soi
- Kobfeat
- Nouveau monde
- Lever les yeux
- Apokalypse
- Do You Like My Sexy Shoes?
- Le prix à payer
- K.D.S.
- Simple comme une balle
GOD, I love their sound. The thrashy hardcore sound. It was energetic as hell. S tier.
Brasero's Malade mental: (ranked January 14)
- Sinistrose
- Le 13ème guerrier
- Vampirisme
- Psycho romantique
- Backside
- Malade mental (they just saying every mental illness)
- Fanatisme
- La dame blanche
- L'associé du diable
- Chute libre
- Automne à Brighton
It's not bad. They have a few that sound ''unique'' but the rest is fairly just nu metal. Low A-High B.
Inimikall's Urban Division: (ranked January 14)
- 1968 Broken Army
- Un aller simple m
- Amnesia
- Une nouvelle ère
- Holly
- Urban Division
- Hollywood Star
- Homesick radio
Oh, wow. That's nice. Uhh... They are heavy, uhhhhhhhhhhhh... They good. A tier. OKNOWTHELASTBANDLETSGO!!!!!!!
S.box's el viaje: (ranked January 14)
- Juste là
- Au gré des vagues
- Opic
- Je rêve
- L'envol
- Les couleurs
- Les choses changent
- Glassjar
- Un autre monde
- xxx
This is probably the best album of all the ranking posts. It's just hit hard!! S tier.
FINALLY, IT'S DONE!! It has been more than 3 month I have worked on this. Worth it. I can do my other project, now. You don't know HOW MUCH I am relieved to finish this. I know, This is the longest ranking post ever from me. Pretty sure this post won't ever be dethroned.
So what do you think of this ranking post? Good? Bad?
2024.04.15 03:32 Awkward-Board4102 San Francisco Coup d'État via Food Delivery Drivers
San Franciscians, change is near. Whilst you retire to your West Elm couches and oscillate your muddled gaze between 3 screens, a powerful force stirs just outside your bay windows.
For too long, you have not only neglected to see, but actively taken part in a subjugation of caste now rivaled only by the untouchables of pre-imperial India.
They go by many names: Dashers, Postmates, Uber Eats…. But regardless of name you send them into the cold and foggy streets in retrieval of your lukewarm pad thai with a simple click of a few buttons and the idle acceptance of $5 fee.
Sure, you may be among the few to take that extra moment and, like a lord flipping a handful of pence to his grateful subject, hit the “Tip” button as well, but it is of no use. Mercy is beyond reach, and a rough beast now slouches towards Civic Center, in search of retribution.
If you look on any street corner, or listen to the buzz of their second hand mopeds, you will recognize their numbers. Not only do they have power in numbers, but they command a comradery and work ethic only rivaled by an elite military task force. It would only take the guidance and foresight of a charismatic Strong Man to unite these forces, and the result would be unstoppable.
Well today, that strong man has arisen.
The drivers will be assembled using the Napoleonic Corps system. Each Corp can act as an independent army, allowing for swift movements and repositioning.
These corps will be made up of a mix of Infantry (Scooters and E-Bikes), Cavalry (Moped and Motorcycle), and Artillery (Compact Cars).
The corps will be strategically positioned in all of the major regions of the city: I Corps in North Beach/Russian Hill. II Corps in Marina/Pac Heights. III Corps (aka Les Invincibles) in Soma/Tenderloin, etc.
Additionally, there will be an elite Imperial Guard Unit (made up of pre-iPhone era delivery drivers), to accompany the Supreme Leader and be used in decisive moments of the battles.
Staging the Coup:
The coup will begin with a hunger siege on a Monday at lunch. Most San Fransicans neglect to eat breakfast to start the week. When they look to break their fast at lunch, they will notice the average expected delivery time to exceed 2.5 hours. Our work has begun.
It's unlikely this will lead to any significant chatter online, as most of these folks will be too embarrassed to admit that a typical Monday lunch is brought to their doorstep. The hunger will begin to weigh on them in the afternoon, but they expect to relieve this once their laptops close and they scroll through their favorite ghost kitchens.
But they will be gravely mistaken.
On Monday night, average delivery times will exceed 4 hours, and will be past closing hours for most of their favorite grub locations. We might expect some level of internet chatter, but nothing that cannot be overcome. People will look to their freezer reserves, or walk to their corner store, but they will go to bed that night unsubstantiated.
Tuesday morning will be a disaster. Coffee delivery: gone. Breakfast burrito? No chance. The Drivers will feel no remorse for this act, as the targets of this particular attack are amongst the most gluttonous and least generous lot of the delivery customer base.
By Lunch on Tuesday, the city will be famished. Work will be picking up, brains will be foggy, nerves will be tested, and the quality of decision making will be at an all time low.
By Dinner, the attack is launched.
Each corps will send out skirmishers from the Scooter infantry to invade the sidewalks and harass those looking to pickup dinner themselves. This will cause general fear and confusion amongst the populace.
The skirmishers will provide coverage for the Artillery (primarily Honda Prius and Scions) to be positioned on the high grounds. They will blockade the primary entryways into the city, bringing Franklin, Pine/Bush, Van Ness, Lombard and Geary to a standstill.
From the command center (Chinatown), the Supreme Leader will call on the Cavalry to lead a general charge on Civic Center. The Hussars (Postmates) will take the flanks, while the Dragoons (Door Dashers) take the enemy center.
By 8PM, the Civic Center is taken, Martial Law is in place, the mayor and all district supervisors are ordered to appear in front of Bill Graham, which has now been commandeered by the Supreme Leader.
The first demand: Green Cards for every driver (regardless of existing residential status). No paperwork required.
The second demand: elimination of delivery availability for any food items excluding Chinese, Thai, Indian and Pizza. McDonalds is fine too because they actually do a pretty good job, but no fries.
The citizens will begin to sympathize with the movement, as many of the rational actors already recognize this as a defacto rule of delivery, but are often burdened by driver limitations directly resulting from preposterous orders for burgers, fries, milkshakes and italian pasta.
The third demand: Mandatory conscription of every delivery age person, until satisfactory completion of 10 deliveries.
This will instill empathy for the drivers, and will lead to friendlier interactions and an increase in tipping.
Fourth demand: No more special orders. The restaurants hate it. The drivers are often punished for demand fulfilment issues, and it's just arrogant to think you can rewrite the menu each time you need to eat.
The demands will be met that evening, and by Wednesday morning peace will be restored.
The Supreme Leader will retire from his position, return to his farm, pick up his plow and get back to work. He will not expect any thanks from his army or the citizens of a now saved San Francisco.
submitted by Awkward-Board4102 to sanfrancisco [link] [comments]
For too long, you have not only neglected to see, but actively taken part in a subjugation of caste now rivaled only by the untouchables of pre-imperial India.
They go by many names: Dashers, Postmates, Uber Eats…. But regardless of name you send them into the cold and foggy streets in retrieval of your lukewarm pad thai with a simple click of a few buttons and the idle acceptance of $5 fee.
Sure, you may be among the few to take that extra moment and, like a lord flipping a handful of pence to his grateful subject, hit the “Tip” button as well, but it is of no use. Mercy is beyond reach, and a rough beast now slouches towards Civic Center, in search of retribution.
If you look on any street corner, or listen to the buzz of their second hand mopeds, you will recognize their numbers. Not only do they have power in numbers, but they command a comradery and work ethic only rivaled by an elite military task force. It would only take the guidance and foresight of a charismatic Strong Man to unite these forces, and the result would be unstoppable.
Well today, that strong man has arisen.
The drivers will be assembled using the Napoleonic Corps system. Each Corp can act as an independent army, allowing for swift movements and repositioning.
These corps will be made up of a mix of Infantry (Scooters and E-Bikes), Cavalry (Moped and Motorcycle), and Artillery (Compact Cars).
The corps will be strategically positioned in all of the major regions of the city: I Corps in North Beach/Russian Hill. II Corps in Marina/Pac Heights. III Corps (aka Les Invincibles) in Soma/Tenderloin, etc.
Additionally, there will be an elite Imperial Guard Unit (made up of pre-iPhone era delivery drivers), to accompany the Supreme Leader and be used in decisive moments of the battles.
Staging the Coup:
The coup will begin with a hunger siege on a Monday at lunch. Most San Fransicans neglect to eat breakfast to start the week. When they look to break their fast at lunch, they will notice the average expected delivery time to exceed 2.5 hours. Our work has begun.
It's unlikely this will lead to any significant chatter online, as most of these folks will be too embarrassed to admit that a typical Monday lunch is brought to their doorstep. The hunger will begin to weigh on them in the afternoon, but they expect to relieve this once their laptops close and they scroll through their favorite ghost kitchens.
But they will be gravely mistaken.
On Monday night, average delivery times will exceed 4 hours, and will be past closing hours for most of their favorite grub locations. We might expect some level of internet chatter, but nothing that cannot be overcome. People will look to their freezer reserves, or walk to their corner store, but they will go to bed that night unsubstantiated.
Tuesday morning will be a disaster. Coffee delivery: gone. Breakfast burrito? No chance. The Drivers will feel no remorse for this act, as the targets of this particular attack are amongst the most gluttonous and least generous lot of the delivery customer base.
By Lunch on Tuesday, the city will be famished. Work will be picking up, brains will be foggy, nerves will be tested, and the quality of decision making will be at an all time low.
By Dinner, the attack is launched.
Each corps will send out skirmishers from the Scooter infantry to invade the sidewalks and harass those looking to pickup dinner themselves. This will cause general fear and confusion amongst the populace.
The skirmishers will provide coverage for the Artillery (primarily Honda Prius and Scions) to be positioned on the high grounds. They will blockade the primary entryways into the city, bringing Franklin, Pine/Bush, Van Ness, Lombard and Geary to a standstill.
From the command center (Chinatown), the Supreme Leader will call on the Cavalry to lead a general charge on Civic Center. The Hussars (Postmates) will take the flanks, while the Dragoons (Door Dashers) take the enemy center.
By 8PM, the Civic Center is taken, Martial Law is in place, the mayor and all district supervisors are ordered to appear in front of Bill Graham, which has now been commandeered by the Supreme Leader.
The first demand: Green Cards for every driver (regardless of existing residential status). No paperwork required.
The second demand: elimination of delivery availability for any food items excluding Chinese, Thai, Indian and Pizza. McDonalds is fine too because they actually do a pretty good job, but no fries.
The citizens will begin to sympathize with the movement, as many of the rational actors already recognize this as a defacto rule of delivery, but are often burdened by driver limitations directly resulting from preposterous orders for burgers, fries, milkshakes and italian pasta.
The third demand: Mandatory conscription of every delivery age person, until satisfactory completion of 10 deliveries.
This will instill empathy for the drivers, and will lead to friendlier interactions and an increase in tipping.
Fourth demand: No more special orders. The restaurants hate it. The drivers are often punished for demand fulfilment issues, and it's just arrogant to think you can rewrite the menu each time you need to eat.
The demands will be met that evening, and by Wednesday morning peace will be restored.
The Supreme Leader will retire from his position, return to his farm, pick up his plow and get back to work. He will not expect any thanks from his army or the citizens of a now saved San Francisco.
2024.04.12 12:09 _VegasTWinButton_ Your stack/protocol should look more like this then you can waste less time on this subreddit
Yes, the whole idea is called "megasupplementation" and it works. I survived multiple bioattacks from vaccinated humans in the last years with a smaller version of this protocol and regenerated myself.
Divided into cycles for anti-parasitic/anti-fungus/anti-mold interventions, one for bloodflow optimization, one for fighting inflammation, one for general nutrient delivery and one for anti-aging/skin health/rejuvenation and possibly one for enhancing fitness performance + of course some components for defence against vaccinated humans.
Epithalon 5 mg/day (during April - September) or Endoluten 0.5 - 1 mg per day (I prefer Epithalon)
Testosterone (only important for men), around 70 mg per week
If your own testosterone production is still intact enough, you can boost it with Cistanche 500 mg + Tongkat Ali every day. Arimistane 40 - 80 mg per day can also be very worthwhile for estrogen reduction.
There exist also peptides that can repair testosterone production (Bryan Johnson doesn't know this).
Semax 250 mcg - 1 mg/day or every other day (depending on individual response)
Injectable Gluthathione or oral S-Acetyl Gluthathione (> NAC) OR high dose CMAs (Carnitine, NAC, Creatine, etc. research yourself what is a CMA) 1200 - 2400 mg NAC/day 2 - 5 g ALCAday
Vitamin D3 +K2 MK-7 oil softgel capsules 10k IU per day (Maybe some Vitamin K2, but you also get that through grass-fed cow steaks or egg yolks)
At least 2 g Vitamin C complex (!) not ascorbic acid (and best = liposomal) // but the daily optimum dosage is more around 8 - 12 g
Black Garlic extract capsules 500 mg - 2000 mg
1 - 2 g flax seeds (better than fish oil for omega 3-6-9 supply)
Daily 1-2x Adestab tablet (advanced Russian mixture of plant extracts for blood flow/pressure regulation)
Daily 2x Actiman tablet (Russian libido/blood flow mix)
If in Europe: Ecogenetics "Sin Inflamacion" capsules from Spain supplement mix, very good to fight inflammation.
Beef liver tablets (can replace a multi vitamin) or EVEN better the whole cow organ supplement mix from Nutriest or similar sources.
Liposomal vitamin B complex, try to get a lot of Vitamin B1 for brain health and cancer prevention, I take 200 mg per day liposomal.
2.5 - 10 g Colostrum per day (or 100 g if very rich and very active lifestyle)
500 mg DHEA/day (though quite pointless if using Testosterone (applicable for men only))
1000 mg Oleuropein (Olive Leaf Extract) if black garlic extract does not work
1 mg iodine (every 3 days as Lugo's solution)
3 mg+ Boron per day (more important for men) 10 mg Lithium Orotate per day (for mood boost, but more important: for anti-inflammation effects) Zeolith minerals for detox/parasite removal 0.5 - 2 g per day Diatomaceous Earth powder for detox/parasite removal a few gram per day 25 mg Zinc 500 mg - 1 g Magnesium Glycinate/Citrate/L-Threonate/Malate 2 - 4 g Sunflower Lecithin for cellular membranes and brain repair (also better than fish oil) 5 mg Tadalafil per day for bloodflow 1 - 2 g L-Citrulline per day for vasodilation/bloodflow (if required) 100 - 300 mg Aspirin every day (very important, also don't quit it suddenly) 25 - 500 mg Niacin (or Niacinamide) OR 1 g Niacinamide OR 1.5 g NMN/NMNH (if you can afford/get it though actually now in 2024, NR looks better than NMN) PQQ + Q10 high dosages for mitochondrial health 1 - 2 mg Nicotine sublingual a few times per week (after being surrounded by many mRNA biohazards or as prophylaxis) 500 mg - 1g sunflower extract per day against spike protein contaminations Nattokinase 2000 FU per day (kills spike protein contaminations, ideally don't take it together with Aspirin) 50 - 200k IU Serrapeptase per day (or even Lumbrokinase if rich) for anti-spike protein contaminations and general health/removal of waste from bloodstream. the best product here are enteric coated liquid softgel capsules from Vitalzym with systemic enzymes
Pregnenolone 50 - 100 mg 2x per week at night (neuro-steroid/stroke prevention) 500 mg Fisetin per day for longevity Creatine (5 g - add to protein powder) Taurine 5 g - add to protein powder) Lysine (5 g - add to protein powder) Leucine (3 g every 3h to maintain muscle biosynthesis) Glycine (10-50 g per day) (add to protein powder) Collagen peptides of all important types (20 g per day, add to protein powder) D-Ribose (20 g per day for 2 weeks, then continue with 10 g per day, add to protein powder) Inulin Prebiotic (add to protein powder) Hyaluronic Acid high dosage 1-2 g for collagen synthesis increase (add to protein powder) Revifort (Russian Mushroom Complex, every 2 months for 30 days, anti-cancer + liver protection) Cayenne Pepper (anti cancer) Oregano Oil Capsules 2x per day Essentiale Forte Phospholipids (liver + cell membrane repair, do not take if peanut allergy) Amla Powder Arjuna powdetablets (for heart health but obviously right now it's very expensive and in high demand) Kutki powder
Chlorella powder + Spirulina powder (or tablets) for detox and nutrients.
Graviola powder or tablets for cancer prevention IP6 (Inositol hexaphosphate) + normal Inositol megadosages for cancer treatment Indian Neem for detox/blood cleanse as required 1 - 2 g per day (anti-parasitic/viral/bacterial) Methylene Blue for mitochondria health TUDCA 500 - 1500 mg per day (for liver health)
submitted by _VegasTWinButton_ to Biohackers [link] [comments]
Divided into cycles for anti-parasitic/anti-fungus/anti-mold interventions, one for bloodflow optimization, one for fighting inflammation, one for general nutrient delivery and one for anti-aging/skin health/rejuvenation and possibly one for enhancing fitness performance + of course some components for defence against vaccinated humans.
Epithalon 5 mg/day (during April - September) or Endoluten 0.5 - 1 mg per day (I prefer Epithalon)
Testosterone (only important for men), around 70 mg per week
If your own testosterone production is still intact enough, you can boost it with Cistanche 500 mg + Tongkat Ali every day. Arimistane 40 - 80 mg per day can also be very worthwhile for estrogen reduction.
There exist also peptides that can repair testosterone production (Bryan Johnson doesn't know this).
Semax 250 mcg - 1 mg/day or every other day (depending on individual response)
Injectable Gluthathione or oral S-Acetyl Gluthathione (> NAC) OR high dose CMAs (Carnitine, NAC, Creatine, etc. research yourself what is a CMA) 1200 - 2400 mg NAC/day 2 - 5 g ALCAday
Vitamin D3 +K2 MK-7 oil softgel capsules 10k IU per day (Maybe some Vitamin K2, but you also get that through grass-fed cow steaks or egg yolks)
At least 2 g Vitamin C complex (!) not ascorbic acid (and best = liposomal) // but the daily optimum dosage is more around 8 - 12 g
Black Garlic extract capsules 500 mg - 2000 mg
1 - 2 g flax seeds (better than fish oil for omega 3-6-9 supply)
Daily 1-2x Adestab tablet (advanced Russian mixture of plant extracts for blood flow/pressure regulation)
Daily 2x Actiman tablet (Russian libido/blood flow mix)
If in Europe: Ecogenetics "Sin Inflamacion" capsules from Spain supplement mix, very good to fight inflammation.
Beef liver tablets (can replace a multi vitamin) or EVEN better the whole cow organ supplement mix from Nutriest or similar sources.
Liposomal vitamin B complex, try to get a lot of Vitamin B1 for brain health and cancer prevention, I take 200 mg per day liposomal.
2.5 - 10 g Colostrum per day (or 100 g if very rich and very active lifestyle)
500 mg DHEA/day (though quite pointless if using Testosterone (applicable for men only))
1000 mg Oleuropein (Olive Leaf Extract) if black garlic extract does not work
1 mg iodine (every 3 days as Lugo's solution)
3 mg+ Boron per day (more important for men) 10 mg Lithium Orotate per day (for mood boost, but more important: for anti-inflammation effects) Zeolith minerals for detox/parasite removal 0.5 - 2 g per day Diatomaceous Earth powder for detox/parasite removal a few gram per day 25 mg Zinc 500 mg - 1 g Magnesium Glycinate/Citrate/L-Threonate/Malate 2 - 4 g Sunflower Lecithin for cellular membranes and brain repair (also better than fish oil) 5 mg Tadalafil per day for bloodflow 1 - 2 g L-Citrulline per day for vasodilation/bloodflow (if required) 100 - 300 mg Aspirin every day (very important, also don't quit it suddenly) 25 - 500 mg Niacin (or Niacinamide) OR 1 g Niacinamide OR 1.5 g NMN/NMNH (if you can afford/get it though actually now in 2024, NR looks better than NMN) PQQ + Q10 high dosages for mitochondrial health 1 - 2 mg Nicotine sublingual a few times per week (after being surrounded by many mRNA biohazards or as prophylaxis) 500 mg - 1g sunflower extract per day against spike protein contaminations Nattokinase 2000 FU per day (kills spike protein contaminations, ideally don't take it together with Aspirin) 50 - 200k IU Serrapeptase per day (or even Lumbrokinase if rich) for anti-spike protein contaminations and general health/removal of waste from bloodstream. the best product here are enteric coated liquid softgel capsules from Vitalzym with systemic enzymes
Pregnenolone 50 - 100 mg 2x per week at night (neuro-steroid/stroke prevention) 500 mg Fisetin per day for longevity Creatine (5 g - add to protein powder) Taurine 5 g - add to protein powder) Lysine (5 g - add to protein powder) Leucine (3 g every 3h to maintain muscle biosynthesis) Glycine (10-50 g per day) (add to protein powder) Collagen peptides of all important types (20 g per day, add to protein powder) D-Ribose (20 g per day for 2 weeks, then continue with 10 g per day, add to protein powder) Inulin Prebiotic (add to protein powder) Hyaluronic Acid high dosage 1-2 g for collagen synthesis increase (add to protein powder) Revifort (Russian Mushroom Complex, every 2 months for 30 days, anti-cancer + liver protection) Cayenne Pepper (anti cancer) Oregano Oil Capsules 2x per day Essentiale Forte Phospholipids (liver + cell membrane repair, do not take if peanut allergy) Amla Powder Arjuna powdetablets (for heart health but obviously right now it's very expensive and in high demand) Kutki powder
Chlorella powder + Spirulina powder (or tablets) for detox and nutrients.
Graviola powder or tablets for cancer prevention IP6 (Inositol hexaphosphate) + normal Inositol megadosages for cancer treatment Indian Neem for detox/blood cleanse as required 1 - 2 g per day (anti-parasitic/viral/bacterial) Methylene Blue for mitochondria health TUDCA 500 - 1500 mg per day (for liver health)
- sublingual/injected Russian peptide bioregulators as required for treatments, especially Crystagen and Vesugen and Ovagen + add other peptides as required for individual optimization + add C60 in extra virgin olive oil or even better: C60 FullerLife Strips for anti aging + for critical disease states: CDS, Gc-MAF/Goleic, Nano Soma (Metadichol), Quinton Marine Bio Plasma, Fucoidan, ISRIB, Hydrogen Peroxide, Spooky2 Rife Machine, Eagle Research Aquacure Browns Gas Machine.
- add hyperbaric oxygen therapy and red light therapy for anti-inflammation and anti-aging/tissue rejuvenation.
2024.04.11 07:54 SomaShopblockprints Dohar Blankets and Quilts at Best Price in India: Elevate Your Bedroom with Soma Blockprints
 | Introduction submitted by SomaShopblockprints to u/SomaShopblockprints [link] [comments] In the realm of bedding essentials, dohar blankets and quilts offer the perfect blend of style, comfort, and functionality. Whether you're looking for lightweight bedding for summer or cozy layers for winter, dohars are versatile options that cater to every season. If you're in search of high-quality Buy Dohar online in India, , look no further than Soma Blockprints. With their collection of hand block print dohars and organic cotton options, Soma Blockprints offers a wide range of choices to enhance your bedroom decor. Why Choose Dohar Blankets and Quilts from Soma Blockprints? Soma Blockprints is renowned for its commitment to quality and craftsmanship. Their collection of dohar blankets and quilts is no exception, featuring hand block print designs and organic cotton fabrics that prioritize comfort and sustainability. Whether you're looking for a lightweight dohar for summer or a cozy quilt for winter, Soma Blockprints offers a variety of options to suit your needs and preferences. https://preview.redd.it/iu139wwshstc1.png?width=674&format=png&auto=webp&s=83175acd44649f083d18ae6d2f9a9875adfdb549 FAQs About Shopping for Dohar Blankets and Quilts 1. What is a dohar blanket? A dohar blanket, also known as a summer quilt, is a lightweight bedding option that consists of two layers of fabric stitched together with a layer of cotton batting in between. Dohars are perfect for summer months when you want to stay cool and comfortable while sleeping. Soma Blockprints offers a selection of hand block print dohars made from organic cotton for the ultimate comfort and breathability. 2. Are organic cotton dohars suitable for summer? Yes, organic cotton dohars are ideal for summer months due to their lightweight and breathable nature. The organic cotton fabric allows for better airflow, keeping you cool and comfortable throughout the night. Additionally, Soma Blockprints' organic cotton dohars are made from natural and eco-friendly materials, making them a sustainable choice for environmentally-conscious consumers. 3. How do I choose the right size dohar for my bed? When choosing a dohar blanket or quilt, consider the size of your bed and your personal preferences for coverage. Soma Blockprints offers dohars in various sizes, including single, double, queen, and king, to fit different bed dimensions. Measure your bed beforehand to ensure a proper fit and optimal comfort. 4. Can I buy dohar blankets and quilts online in India? Yes, Soma Blockprints offers a convenient online shopping experience for customers in India, allowing you to browse and purchase dohar blankets and quilts from the comfort of your home. With just a few clicks, you can explore their collection of hand block print dohars and organic cotton quilts and have them delivered right to your doorstep. https://preview.redd.it/nh8o6unvhstc1.png?width=907&format=png&auto=webp&s=5bbe8b01c2ecabd561b3759f4fd5ac6dd4df700d Exploring the Collection of Dohar Blankets and Quilts Hand Block Print Dohars for Summer Add a touch of elegance to your bedroom with Soma Blockprints' collection of Cotton Dohar for Summer. Perfect for summer months, these lightweight dohars feature intricate designs and vibrant colors that elevate your bedding ensemble. Made from organic cotton, these dohars are soft, breathable, and eco-friendly, ensuring a comfortable night's sleep. Organic Cotton Dohars for Sustainable Comfort Experience the luxury of organic cotton with Soma Blockprints' collection of organic cotton dohar blankets. Crafted from natural and eco-friendly materials, these dohars are gentle on the skin and safe for the environment. Whether you're looking for a single-layer dohar for summer or a double-layer quilt for winter, Soma Blockprints offers organic cotton options that prioritize comfort and sustainability. Dohar Sets for Complete Bedding Solutions For a coordinated look, consider purchasing a dohar set from Soma Blockprints. These sets include a hand block print dohar blanket along with matching pillow covers, providing a complete bedding solution for your bedroom. With a variety of designs and colors to choose from, you can mix and match to create a personalized and stylish bedding ensemble that reflects your unique taste and style. Conclusion In conclusion, Soma Blockprints offers a wide range of dohar blankets and quilts at the best prices in India. Whether you're looking for hand block print dohars for summer or organic cotton quilts for sustainable comfort, their collection has something for everyone. Shop online for Soma Blockprints' dohar blankets and quilts and transform your bedroom into a cozy and stylish sanctuary. Read Also: Luxury Dohars Online: Find Your Ideal Blend of Elegance and Softness |
2024.04.10 18:40 Gontzal81 Mead (History)
Mead is a drink widely considered to have been discovered prior to the advent of both agriculture and ceramic pottery in the Neolithic, due to the prevalence of naturally occurring fermentation and the distribution of eusocial honey-producing insects worldwide; as a result, it is hard to pinpoint the exact historical origin of mead given the possibility of multiple discovery or potential knowledge transfer between early humans prior to recorded history. In Europe, mead is first described from residual samples found in ceramics of the Bell Beaker Culture (c. 2800–1800 BCE). With the eventual rise of ceramic pottery and increasing use of fermentation in food processing to preserve surplus agricultural crops, evidence of mead begins to show up in the archaeological record more clearly, with pottery vessels from northern China dating from at least 7000 BCE discovered containing chemical signatures consistent with the presence of honey, rice, and organic compounds associated with fermentation.
The earliest surviving written record of mead is possibly the soma mentioned in the hymns of the Rigveda, one of the sacred books of the historical Vedic religion and (later) Hinduism dated around 1700–1100 BCE. The Rigveda predates the Indo-Iranian separation, dated to roughly 2000 BCE, so this mention may originate from the Western Steppe or Eastern Europe. The Abri, a northern subgroup of the Taulantii, were known to the ancient Greek writers for their technique of preparing mead from honey. During the Golden Age of ancient Greece, mead was said to be the preferred drink. Aristotle (384–322 BCE) discussed mead made in Illiria in his Meteorologica and elsewhere, while Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) called mead militites in his Naturalis Historia and differentiated wine sweetened with honey or "honey-wine" from mead. The Hispanic-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in De re rustica, about 60 CE:
Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius of this water with a [Roman] pound of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring;
Ancient Greek writer Pytheas described a grain and honey drink similar to mead that he encountered while travelling in Thule. According to James Henry Ramsay this was an earlier version of Welsh metheglin. When 12-year-old Prince Charles II visited Wales in 1642 Welsh metheglin was served at the feast as a symbol of Welsh presence in the emerging British identity in the years between the Union of the Crowns in 1603 and the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.
There is a poem attributed to the Welsh bard Taliesin, who lived around 550 CE, called the Kanu y med or "Song of Mead" (Cân y medd). The legendary drinking, feasting, and boasting of warriors in the mead hall is echoed in the mead hall Din Eidyn (modern-day Edinburgh) as depicted in the poem Y Gododdin, attributed to the poet Aneirin who would have been a contemporary of Taliesin. In the Old English epic poem Beowulf, the Danish warriors drank mead. In both Insular Celtic and Germanic poetry, mead was the primary heroic or divine drink, see Mead of poetry.
Mead (Old Irish mid) was a popular drink in medieval Ireland. Beekeeping was brought around the 5th century, traditionally attributed to Modomnoc, and mead came with it. A banquet hall on the Hill of Tara was known as Tech Mid Chuarda ("house of the circling of mead"). Mead was often infused with hazelnuts. Many other legends of saints mention mead, as does that of the Children of Lir.
Later, taxation and regulations governing the ingredients of alcoholic beverages led to commercial mead becoming a more obscure beverage until recently. Some monasteries kept up the traditions of mead-making as a by-product of beekeeping, especially in areas where grapes could not be grown.
submitted by Gontzal81 to In_the_name_of_Beers [link] [comments]
The earliest surviving written record of mead is possibly the soma mentioned in the hymns of the Rigveda, one of the sacred books of the historical Vedic religion and (later) Hinduism dated around 1700–1100 BCE. The Rigveda predates the Indo-Iranian separation, dated to roughly 2000 BCE, so this mention may originate from the Western Steppe or Eastern Europe. The Abri, a northern subgroup of the Taulantii, were known to the ancient Greek writers for their technique of preparing mead from honey. During the Golden Age of ancient Greece, mead was said to be the preferred drink. Aristotle (384–322 BCE) discussed mead made in Illiria in his Meteorologica and elsewhere, while Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE) called mead militites in his Naturalis Historia and differentiated wine sweetened with honey or "honey-wine" from mead. The Hispanic-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in De re rustica, about 60 CE:
Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius of this water with a [Roman] pound of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring;
Ancient Greek writer Pytheas described a grain and honey drink similar to mead that he encountered while travelling in Thule. According to James Henry Ramsay this was an earlier version of Welsh metheglin. When 12-year-old Prince Charles II visited Wales in 1642 Welsh metheglin was served at the feast as a symbol of Welsh presence in the emerging British identity in the years between the Union of the Crowns in 1603 and the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.
There is a poem attributed to the Welsh bard Taliesin, who lived around 550 CE, called the Kanu y med or "Song of Mead" (Cân y medd). The legendary drinking, feasting, and boasting of warriors in the mead hall is echoed in the mead hall Din Eidyn (modern-day Edinburgh) as depicted in the poem Y Gododdin, attributed to the poet Aneirin who would have been a contemporary of Taliesin. In the Old English epic poem Beowulf, the Danish warriors drank mead. In both Insular Celtic and Germanic poetry, mead was the primary heroic or divine drink, see Mead of poetry.
Mead (Old Irish mid) was a popular drink in medieval Ireland. Beekeeping was brought around the 5th century, traditionally attributed to Modomnoc, and mead came with it. A banquet hall on the Hill of Tara was known as Tech Mid Chuarda ("house of the circling of mead"). Mead was often infused with hazelnuts. Many other legends of saints mention mead, as does that of the Children of Lir.
Later, taxation and regulations governing the ingredients of alcoholic beverages led to commercial mead becoming a more obscure beverage until recently. Some monasteries kept up the traditions of mead-making as a by-product of beekeeping, especially in areas where grapes could not be grown.
2024.04.02 21:07 armin-lakatos Rating all games I have played so far
I have decided that after 10 full years of gaming, it is time to rate most if not all the games I have played up to this day. This might not be the best subreddit for this, so please remove if not appropriate. I am only rating games I have completed or have played for a considerable time. I'll try to be as objective as possible and provide my main thoughts for each game.
I'm happy to hear your comments, comparisions and criticism regarding these games (and also my ratings) and I'm also open to any recommendations on further games to play based on my interests. I'm also happy to discuss more about these games and offer advice whether it's worth purchasing or not.
submitted by armin-lakatos to gaming [link] [comments]
I'm happy to hear your comments, comparisions and criticism regarding these games (and also my ratings) and I'm also open to any recommendations on further games to play based on my interests. I'm also happy to discuss more about these games and offer advice whether it's worth purchasing or not.
- 2064: Read Only Memories - 7/10 - Interesting and sometimes thought-provoking side scrolling interactive drama that manages to remain lighthearted, but has a lot more depth than it seems at first.
- ABZU - 7/10 - Beautiful and calming, a lovely atmospheric game that manages to tell a story without any words.
- Alien: Isolation - 6.5/10 - Might be the most terrifying game I've ever played, but it overstays its welcome and drags on for too long with little to no change in gameplay.
- Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs - 5.5/10 - Fails to live up to The Dark Descent, but it's still a fine game on its own, even if it is more of a walking simulator than horror.
- Amnesia: Rebirth - 6/10 - Not exactly the expected renaissance of the series, but still a decent horror in its own regard.
- Amnesia: The Bunker - 7.5/10 - Unexpectedly good, even for its shortness, the introduction of new mechanics is a fresh breath of air, all while managing to stick to the roots of the franchise.
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent - 8/10 - A classic that revitalized psychological horror and made the hide-and-seek game design popular in the genre. My personal favourite.
- Among Us - 6.5/10 - Unique idea, very fun with friends if you all know how to play the game.
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - 6.5/10 - Highlight of the franchise that is made fun by the pirate gameplay and the atmosphere of the Carribbeans.
- Assassin's Creed: Origins - 5/10 - The first AC game with the new open-world RPG direction, something I despise even more than the original design of the franchise. It was an okay game and the combat was fun, but it's flawed in almost every every other aspect. Wasted potential to revive the series.
- Assassin's Creed: Syndicate - 5/10 - Fairly divisive game that I also tried to really like, but it fails at the obligatory turf-war and lackluster storyline, despite its very promising characters and historical figures.
- A Way Out - 6/10 - Unique idea with average execution, quite fun with a friend, but it's a one-time game at best.
- Badland - 7/10 - Creative and well-executed platformer that's even more fun with friends.
- Batman: The Telltale Series - 6/10 - I'm not a huge Telltale fan, this one was alright though. Nothing special, but it was sometimes interesting and/or exciting.
- Beyond: Two Souls - 6.5/10 - Very unique idea, with sometimes great, sometimes horrendous execution. Despite the craziness of the story, it manages to be relatable. It's a shame we never got a sequel.
- Broforce - 7/10 - Pure chaos, very fun mindless 2D action with tons of irony. Even better with friends.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - 6/10 - Decent FPS that managed to stay mostly grounded compared to other entries in the series.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - 6.5/10 - Probably the peak of the franchise and a milestone for FPS games as well.
- Cities: Skylines - 6.5/10 - Dethroned the SimCity franchise from being the top city builder, but it's painfully empty without the add-ons or mods, not to mention the hellish traffic management.
- Cooking Companions - 7/10 - Inspired by DDLC, it manages to be a unique and fresh nightmare in the horror visual novel genre.
- Cry of Fear - 6.5/10 - Frustratingly clunky with many more flaws, but it still beats many high-profile horror games and is among the scariest (and most depressing) efforts in gaming history.
- Dead by Daylight - 5/10 - Interesting concept that gets a bit boring and repetitive unless played with friends. It's also a shame that lots of characters are locked behind paywalls.
- Detroit: Become Human - 7/10 - Interesting game with sometimes questionable design choices and storylines. I wish it delved a bit deeper into its themes and questions, 2064: ROM handled the topic much better.
- Doki Doki Literature Club - 6.5/10 - An unforgettable, unique and creative nightmare lies beneath probably the cheesiest horror dating sim I've ever seen.
- Doom (2016) - 7/10 - Paved the way for the modern era of the franchise, incredibly fun, but sometimes lacks variety.
- Doom Eternal - 8/10 - Improves on the previous game in almost every aspect and cranks up the action to 11. One of the best FPS games of all time.
- Erica - 4.5/10 - An okay live action interactive drama with a somewhat creative story. The game is nothing special and while it's worth a playthrough, you wouldn't miss much by skipping it.
- Fall Guys - 6/10 - Fun online platformer made mostly for kids, sometimes dominated by tryhards for some reason. I still play every once in a while with friends.
- Flower - 6.5/10 - Beautiful game about reviving a depressed city. Just like ABZU and Journey, it manages to tell its story without words.
- God of War (2018) - 8.5/10 - Revitalized the series with a whole new direction that was an absolute hit. Bar a few minor flaws, it's an amazing game, can't wait to play the sequel.
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - 7.5/10 - Stands the test of time amazingly well with very little flaws and is a core childhood memory not just for me but most likely lot of others.
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - 5.5/10 - Very atmospheric, but also fairly outdated, even if it improves on many of the flaws of its predecessor.
- Grand Theft Auto III - 4/10 - Revolutionary at its time, but even compared to San Andreas, its many flaws make it a much weaker entry in the series.
- Grand Theft Auto IV - 7/10 - A new chapter in the franchise and a considerable upgrade from the 3D era, even if it sometimes falls flat. Probably the best story in the series.
- Grand Theft Auto V - 8/10 - Most influental game in the series and arguably of the modern gaming era. While it's sometimes missing that special feel of GTA games, it's still one of the strongest entries in the franchise.
- Heavy Rain - 3/10 - So many ridiculous design choices and plot twists. It has a decent concept, but the execution is poor to say the least. This is the game that walked so Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human could run.
- Helltaker - 5/10 - Equal part horny and wholesome, a fun short puzzle game with many loveable demons and a soundtrack that slaps.
- Here They Lie - 7/10 - Equally good for a horror game and a walking simulator, it provides a thought-provoking and quite depressing and disturbing allegory about today's society.
- Hollow Knight - 10/10 - Excellent example of a 2D action-adventure metroidvania, a near perfect game that sets the bar insanely high for all indie developers, which is a remarkable feat considering it was pretty much made by 2 people. Easily my favourite game.
- Horizon Chase Turbo - 5.5/10 - Not to be confused with the open-world action-adventure series, this is a simple and fun arcade racing game that is a lot of fun with friends.
- Horizon Forbidden West - 8/10 - Huge improvement compared to the first game in almost all aspects and manages to stay interesting and fun even if it's plagued by boring modern open-world game design and forgettable dialogues.
- Horizon Zero Dawn - 7/10 - Incredibly unique concept and story with fun combat that is held back (but improved upon in later games) by poor animation and dialogue writing and lack of interesting side content.
- Hue - 7/10 - Very creative puzzle / platformer that utilizes colors as its core mechanic. I wish it was longer and had more complicated levels.
- Journey - 7/10 - The most popular and probably the best in its genre, beatiful and emotional game.
- Just Cause 3 - 6/10 - Fun open-world action that gives you a lot of freedom, but the pacing is terrible with all the mandatory turf-war, not to mention the horrific vehicle controls.
- KickBeat - 5.5/10 - Very underrated rhythm game with huge potential that's held back by its lack of depth and track selection.
- Late Shift - 5/10 - Fun live action interactive drama that takes us through a normal guy's night who gets caught up in a robbery. Perfect for a different kind of movie night, but nothing more than that.
- Life Is Strange - 5/10 - It was a complete miss for me and I do feel that it could have been a lot more objectively as well. The plot twists were more on Heavy Rain's level and the overall game didn't feel as compelling as others in the genre, despite the time travelling mechanic.
- Mafia III - 5.5/10 - Very atmospheric game with great soundtrack and fun main missions made frustratingly boring with mandatory turf-war gameplay.
- Outer Wilds - 9.5/10 - Incredible exploration game with probably the most creative and unique concept ever and also with a near perfect execution. This is the game I'd love to experience again for the first time, only going in blind is recommended.
- Outlast - 6.5/10 - Often compared to Amnesia (and sometimes as the better one), but it didn't click for me that well. The atmosphere is great, but the gameplay gets old after a while, despite the frequent change of setting.
- Outlast 2 - 4.5/10 - Not quite the sequel Outlast deserved. Way too over the top with the gore and shock factor to be effective, visually very dark or confusing at times and overall not that interesting, even if it has its moments.
- Planet of the Eyes - 6/10 - Cute little platformer that has all the usual mechanics for the genre. Great for a short playthrough.
- Portal - 9/10 - Classic platformer with a very unique concept, a remarkable game that tells a great story despite its very sterile environment and small amount of dialogue.
- Portal 2 - 9.5/10 - Even better than the first one, the sequel manages to keep the original concept of Portal and wildly expand on it in lots of aspects. Excellent game.
- Ratchet & Clank (2016) - 7/10 - I never played anything else in the series, so I don't have any comparison, but it's a really good lighthearted action-adventure, something that's quite rare in the industry nowadays.
- Rebel Galaxy - 6/10 - Insanely good soundtrack and overall great atmosphere with decent space combat, but the gameplay loop gets boring quite fast and the game is fairly grindy, not to mention the lackluster story and exploration that seems more promising in the beginning.
- Red Dead Redemption 2 - 9/10 - The pinnacle of modern gaming, probably the most complete game ever made, considering all genres. It has its flaws and drags on a bit towards the end, but overall, it's an excellent and very well made game.
- Resident Evil 7 - 7/10 - A good effort on the revival of the series and a nice return to the original roots of the franchise in first-person. It's a shame the Baker family storyline ends so fast, the first 1-2 hours are among the best in horror gaming.
- Rocket League - 6.5/10 - Decent game with a very toxic community, but still a lot of fun regardless, even better with friends. However, ever since Epic bought the game, it's been going downhill.
- Rome: Total War - 7/10 - Despite its many flaws, broken mechanics and outdated graphics, it's still one of the best turned-based strategies I've ever played.
- Rome: Total War 2 - 6/10 - Despite all the hate it gets from the community, I still found this sequel a decent one, even if I don't agree with some of the design choices and mechanics.
- SimCity 4 - 6.5/10 - Albeit outdated in many aspects, it's a clear contender for the best city builder ever made. Great for nostalgia.
- Slay the Spire - 9/10 - I'm into neither roguelikes nor card games, so can't compare, but this is a phenomenal combination of both. The mechanics are simple yet so in-depth, I feel I'm only scratching the surface after almost 100 hours.
- SOMA - 8.5/10 - Amazingly well-written and rather thought-provoking horror that sticks with you for a long time and is among the best in the genre. Might not be the scariest, but definitely quality.
- Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion - 5/10 - A one-time fun ride that has the most potential for giving heart attacks. Gets quite disturbing at times, but mostly repetitive towards the end.
- Spore - 4/10 - One of my childhood favourites, but looking back, it's a very simplified (and at times boring) game for kids, especially if you consider what it was originally meant to be.
- Star Wars Battlefront - 6/10 - Fun multiplayer for fans, but severely lacks depth and is somewhat a disappointment for the much anticipated revamp of the Battlefront series.
- Star Wars Battlefront II - 6/10 - Infamous for its terrible launch and approach to microtransactions, EA managed to dig the game out of the grave, but it is still lacking in many departments. At least the atmosphere is spot on most of the time.
- Stellaris - 7.5/10 - The most approachable RTS of Paradox and one that is also not completely empty without the DLCs (although it's definitely more fun with them). Very fun space empire sim that allows for a wide variety and flexible roleplay (again, more so with add-ons).
- Subnautica - 8/10 - Easily the best and most unique survival game, only held back by lack of optimalization and an abundance of bugs and glitches. Would be rated higher if not for all the technical issues. Also, it severely needs multiplayer.
- Superhot - 7.5/10 - Incredibly creative and unique FPS where time only moves when you do. Apparantly more fun in VR, but it was just as fine on flatscreen. Shame it's so short.
- The Coffin of Andy and Leyley - 6/10 - Edgy visual novel / interactive drama that may or may not turn into an incest dating sim upon full release. Has some creative writing and meta design choices and is worth a playthrough if you are okay with its themes.
- The Last of Us - 8/10 - Great game with one of the best stories ever written in video games. The gameplay loop may get a bit stale, but the story and the atmosphere make up for it.
- The Sims 3 - 6/10 - One of my childhood favourites. Unique concept and design, but somewhat lackluster execution that is only improved by paid additional content.
- This War of Mine - 8/10 - Very atmospheric and emotional game that shows the ugly side of war. Resource management can get unbalanced during playthroughs both ways and that sometimes ruins the immersion, but overall, great game.
- Titanfall 2 - 9/10 - Probably the best FPS I've ever played. Not only it has amazing gunplay and spectacular missions but also a great story, loveable characters and very well-written dialogues. It's a shame it's so short.
- TrackMania Nations Forever - 6/10 - One of the games I grew up on and made me interested in the series. Cool game, even if it lacked customization.
- TrackMania Turbo - 6/10 - Even if it's dead online, I still play every once in a while. I'd give it a much higher score if not only 2 out of 4 track types would be enjoyable.
- Tropico 5 - 6.5/10 - Fun dictator simulator and city builder that goes for entertainment more than for realism. The advisors' dialogues are golden.
- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - 6/10 - The first title of a great franchise. Clearly has some outdated design choices and it's not as polished and balanced as the others, but still a decent game.
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 7.5/10 - Often regarded as the best in the series in many aspects, while I don't see it that way, I have to concede that it's easily the best from the Nathan Drake Collection.
- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - 6.5/10 - While not as spectacular and high-stakes as Among Thieves, it's still a good entry with some crazy set pieces.
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End - 8/10 - The best in the series and an overall remarkable TPS that stands among the best shooters. Some of the most spectacular set-pieces and action scenes I've ever seen are from this game, not to mention the emotional story and beautiful graphics (especially for its time).
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy - 7.5/10 - Fine addition to UC4 and a great chance to see the rest of the cast shine. Not much different from the previous title, but it's nice to see Chloe as the protagonist.
- Until Dawn - 6/10 - A decent interactive horror that offers a fun movie night (and a lenghty one) with friends or even alone. Not too scary and it mostly builds on cheap jumpscares, but it's a fun ride for a one-time playthrough.
- Watch Dogs - 6/10 - Compared to its E3 trailer, sure it's a huge disappointment, but despite its flaws and all, it's still a decent game with fun enough gameplay.
- Watch Dogs 2 - 6.5/10 - Slight improvement in gunplay and the overall open-world, but insanely cringey and weak storyline. Nevertheless, it's a fun game, worth a playthrough.
- What Remains of Edith Finch - 8/10 - A beautiful walking simulator that blends some of the most creative minigames, game designs and set pieces mixed with a vastly emotional story. Absolutely recommended, shame it's so short.
- XCOM 2 - 8/10 - Very entertaining and incredibly unforgiving turn-based strategy that's capable of making anyone swing from a state of triumphant euphoria to complete despair in a matter of seconds. I've never went from strategic genius to enormous fool so fast and so often, absolutely recommended for strategy fans.
- Zombi - 7.5/10 - Criminally underrated survival horror that is, despite its flaws, one of the best in the zombie genre.
2024.03.31 11:39 Successful-Eye340 1 month May-June Japan Itinerary
Hi everyone, we're a couple, planning a trip on the 5th May to 5th June (avoid golden week, see sakura in Hokkaido and leave before rainy season).
I've been to Japan 5 times in the last 10 years (mainly Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo) and my partner has been once but on a tour bus stopping briefly at a few places so wasn't memorable. It's our first time in Hokkaido and we plan to share the driving and see sakura! We like to eat, shop, take photos, walk around to explore, nature and wildlife and onsen. We planned Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo again even though we said we wanted to avoid other tourists if we can...but I guess we are having a mix of unfamiliar and familiar and it's easier to plan.
**4th May - New Chitose -> Otaru (1night)**
7am car rental, Otaru in the morning, break at Niseko for lunch and spend afew hours, then get to Hakodate in the evening
Parking might an issue here so will leave car at hotel and take the tram. Explore at a leisurely pace
Not sure what to do in Biei besides the blue pond (maybe the shrine?). Probably spend the morning there then head to the zoo.
5hrs and 11min round trip (309km), not sure if it's worth it. I read somewhere that it's a scenic drive.
Car rental return day so try to do afew more things that require a car
Although not that into modern art, am a fan of architect Tadao Ando so seeing his designs here.
Daytrip
Been doing alot of traveling so might relax and have an easy day here walking around Kyoto
**24th May - Kyoto**
Been before but loved it
Staying in Gora
Rent an E-bike
Been to Tokyo many times so no plan just go wherever we want
submitted by Successful-Eye340 to JapanTravel [link] [comments]
I've been to Japan 5 times in the last 10 years (mainly Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo) and my partner has been once but on a tour bus stopping briefly at a few places so wasn't memorable. It's our first time in Hokkaido and we plan to share the driving and see sakura! We like to eat, shop, take photos, walk around to explore, nature and wildlife and onsen. We planned Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo again even though we said we wanted to avoid other tourists if we can...but I guess we are having a mix of unfamiliar and familiar and it's easier to plan.
**4th May - New Chitose -> Otaru (1night)**
- Arrive in evening, get dinner and walk the canal
- Otaru Canal
- Sakaimachi St
- dessert at Le Tao
- Visit Music box museum
- See the Steam clock
- Kitachi Glass shop / cafe
- Nichigin-dori
- Maruyama Park for sakura night viewing (forecasted to be peak bloom)
7am car rental, Otaru in the morning, break at Niseko for lunch and spend afew hours, then get to Hakodate in the evening
- Nikka Whiskey Distillery
- Mt Tengu (sakura viewing)
- stop at either Kutchan or Niseko to lunch
- Drive to Hakodate
Parking might an issue here so will leave car at hotel and take the tram. Explore at a leisurely pace
- Morning Market
- Goryokaku & Tower (Sakura viewing if theres any left)
- Red Brick Warehouse / Meijikan
- Motomachi Area (Public hall, churches, Hachimanzaka Scenic Road, Soma house)
- Green Island and Marina
- Daimon Yokocho for food
- Kosetsu-en Park (Trappistine Monastery)
- Mt Hakodate Obervatory for sunset
- Onuma Quasi-National park (spend an hour or two here)
- Lake Hill Farm for ice cream
- Lake Toya Observatory
- Footbath onsen around town
- Walk around the lake promenade
- Mt Usu
- Get on the Espoir (castle looking cruise) to Nakajima Island or just for a nice cruise on the lake
- Sakura lined road from JR Noboribetsu to Noboribetsu Onsen
- Jigokudani
- Oyunuma Pond & Oyunuma River Natural food bath
- Onsen at Dai Ichi Takimotan
- Sengen Park then Yuzawa Shrine
- find all 11 demon statues in 9 locations
- Date Jidai Village if there is time
- Drive 1.5hr to Lake Shikotsu East wild bird forest to see some birds
- Hill of the Buddha & Stonehenge (aim to get there by 10 and stay for 2hrs)
- Moerenuma Park (sakura viewing, have lunch here so maybe 3hours total)
- 2hr drive to Furano, try to get there by 5 or 6pm.
- Morning if the weather is good, drive an hour to Tomamu to see the Unkai Terrace & Chapel on the Water
- furano marche for snacks
- Farm tomita & melon house
- Campana Rokkatei (dessert/cafe)
- Ninguru Terrace at night
- Cheese Factory
Not sure what to do in Biei besides the blue pond (maybe the shrine?). Probably spend the morning there then head to the zoo.
- See Unkai Terrace if didnt do it the day before
- Shirogane Blue Pond
- Shirahige waterfall
- Biei Shrine
- Arashiyama Zoo
- Maybe eat at Ramen village for dinner
5hrs and 11min round trip (309km), not sure if it's worth it. I read somewhere that it's a scenic drive.
- Hokkaido Ice Pavilion
- Shibazakura Takinoue Park
- Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park
Car rental return day so try to do afew more things that require a car
- Mt moiwa
- Fushimi Inari temple
- maybe Maruyama Park again as it seems to have alot to do.
- Mt. Okura Ski Jump Stadium
- Shiroi Koibito Park
- Lilac Festival at Odori Park
- Former Hokkaido Government Office Building & clock tower
- Sapporo TV Tower for the view
- Botanic Garden at Hokkaido University
- Beer Museum
- Tanuki Koji Shopping St
- Susukino for dinner and maybe bar hopping
- Ganso Ramen Yokocho
- Arrive Okayama airport in the afternoon, stay in Kurashiki
- Morning in Kurashiki
- Mid day in Okayama Korakuen & Castle
- Afternoon get to Naoshima and see the James Turrell Open Sky Night program at Chichu Museum
Although not that into modern art, am a fan of architect Tadao Ando so seeing his designs here.
- Chichu Museum
- Benesse Museum (Turrell's Open Sky)
- Lee Ufan Museum
- Go to Honmura to see the art house projects
- I <3 Yu bathhouse for photos and onsen during onsen hours
Daytrip
- Teshima Art Museum
- Inujima Art Museum (if worth going)
- stay the night in Okayama
- Travel to Osaka and staying near Universal Studios
- Catch the Captain Line to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan.
- Tempozan next to Aquarium
- Denden Town
- Dotonbori
- Namba Park for the architecture and shopping
- Shinsekai
- Pokémon Center Osaka
- Osaka Museum of Housing and Living
- 16th floor of the Harukas for free
- Universal Studios
- Universal City Walk Shopping Mall
Been doing alot of traveling so might relax and have an easy day here walking around Kyoto
**24th May - Kyoto**
- Miho Museum
Been before but loved it
- Matcha!
- Phoenix Hall
- hopefully Nintendo Museum will be open by then
- Walk around and explore Kyoto
- Concert in Osaka at night
Staying in Gora
- Enoura Observatory
- Hakone Shrine at sunset
- Start the Hakone-Kamakura Pass
- Hakone loop
- Pirate ship
- Eat black egg
- rent private onsen at Hakone Yuryo
- Pola Art museum
- Open Air museum
- Gotemba outlets for half day
- Train to Enoshima and explore
- Train to Kamakura and stay for the night
Rent an E-bike
- Hokokuji Temple
- Kotoku-in
- Hasedera Temple
- Meigetsu-in
- Komachi Street
- Onari Dori
- Marushichi Shotengai
- Train to Tokyo with the pass
Been to Tokyo many times so no plan just go wherever we want
- walk around and explore places
- Port Festival
- walk around and explore places
2024.03.29 00:24 Yakuza-wolf_kiwami Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The Magnum Opus of modern mecha
After over a year of writing these reviews, slugging through shows that I had mixed feelings on (except 08th, Unicorn, G Gundam, & X), I've made it to the anime that got me into this franchise. The anime that got me into anime as a whole. I'm talking about the anime that reignited the Mecha boom, Gundam 00. In my Unicorn review, I've mentioned that this and 00 was my favorite anime of all time, and honestly what can I say that hasn't been said before. I can say, “ya this anime is perfect, 20/10” and none of you would question it. Because it's not a far stretch to say this anime is the most influential Mecha series of all time. 00 may have not created militarized giant robots, it's Gundam, those existed forever. But it did popularize the idea of a well coordinated team with giant robots having specific roles in mind. Sorry folks, teens in multi-colored spandex don't use their machines to fight silly looking monsters, in this anime they fight other Mecha, and they're also terrorists. Pacific Rim, Infinite Stratos, Knights and Magic, and basically any Mecha anime involving a team, was shaped by 00. And it helps that the anime is really good, so I'm gonna explain why I love this anime.
But 1st a little background, when I was little pre-teen watching the 1st episode, I thought THIS SHIT WAS FUCKED UP. It's also boring, where's the Mecha laser battles & sword fights. Look, don't blame me, I was just a fucking kid, I was in middle school, I was still watching power rangers at that time. Plus I didn't know anyone who knew anything about Gundam, so I didn't bother with the rest of the show for a while (let alone finish ep 1). But then, when summer came around, after watching Justice League Doom & Captain Earth, I thought “y’know what, I like giant robots, like mature stuff, I'm a grown up, so I gave it another shot. Once I got to the 5th episode, it hit me. And since that day, I've been in love with this franchise. So I'm gonna explain why this anime got me into the franchise.
submitted by Yakuza-wolf_kiwami to Gundam [link] [comments]
But 1st a little background, when I was little pre-teen watching the 1st episode, I thought THIS SHIT WAS FUCKED UP. It's also boring, where's the Mecha laser battles & sword fights. Look, don't blame me, I was just a fucking kid, I was in middle school, I was still watching power rangers at that time. Plus I didn't know anyone who knew anything about Gundam, so I didn't bother with the rest of the show for a while (let alone finish ep 1). But then, when summer came around, after watching Justice League Doom & Captain Earth, I thought “y’know what, I like giant robots, like mature stuff, I'm a grown up, so I gave it another shot. Once I got to the 5th episode, it hit me. And since that day, I've been in love with this franchise. So I'm gonna explain why this anime got me into the franchise.
- Plot:
- Before I give you the synopsis, I gotta talk about the opening scene. This is known as the most iconic opening of all time, and good reason. It begins in a torn down village where a fight is taking place. Rotting bodies laying on the ground, mobile suits get wrecked left to right, child soldiers fighting desperately for their lives, all while a single Enf mobile suit looms over them slaughtering them one by one with a single voice spouting out some redirect about “God’s Holy War”. A single boy running helplessly clinging to life until he's finally cornered. And as he's about to be killed, a light shot out of sky, taking out every invading MS in town. And as the little boy looks into the sky, he sees an angelic figure in the shape of a Gundam, becoming the god that he'll worship for as long as he lives. Now THAT'S how you start an anime.
- As for the actual story, an armed organization known as Celestial Being in possession of the mobile weapons Gundam, who uses their mechanical superiority to eliminate all conflicts from the world. That one simple premise opens the floodgates to so many great stories. From getting involved with century long conflicts to stopping war from starting, anything involving warfare will be a target by Celestial Being. And the pacing is just on point, they speed up with the action, and then slow down with the character drama, and then speed up, all leading to a final stand and bittersweet ending with the possibility of more stories. It's just so good. My favorite arcs are the space arc against the Human Reform League & the Azadistan arc revolving around the civil unrest. Both of these arcs dive deep into the lore of Anno Domini & goes deep into both Allelujah’s & Setsuna’s character. The story is just really well written. And then there's the animation. For a mid 2000s anime, it looks really good, especially less than 20 years later. Even the CGI animation holds up really well. So far, it's a really great start to the series.
- Characters:
- It's not a far stretch to say that these are easily the best characters in the anime. Every single character is written in a way that makes their motivations interesting & understandable. From the main group to the civilians, everyone was in top form here. Starting off with the fine people at Celestial Being, we have the boy who started off, Setsuna F. Seie. As the 1st person we see on screen, it's not hard to see why we get invested in his character immediately. He's a distant & stoic boy who bottles up his emotions, with a single goal to become a Gundam himself. The last part may not make sense to everyone, or his personality may turn off some people, but what saves itself is his backstory. Not only do we have the opening scene to consider, we also have more flashbacks towards his past. As a child, he was kidnapped & brainwashed into taking part in doing some messed up stuff “in the name of god”. In Wing, we're told that Heero went through brutal training that led to his distant persona. But that's so vague and we're never given an idea on what he went through, since it was told to us instead of shown. In 00, we clearly see why Setsuna would be like this. He's been through a lot and with a traumatic experience like that, who can blame him for being distant towards people.
- And the great character writing doesn't stop there, as there's the rest of the ministers to consider. Lockon Stratos is a lot of people’s favorite just for how laid back he is. He's basically the big brother of the group and always tries to be a shoulder to lean on. He may be tough at times and does let his emotions get in the way of his actions, but he's still the most down to earth guy out there.
- But my favorite has to go to Allelujah Haptism, as he's probably the best written character. He's Gundam’s answer to Jeckle & Haide as he has a dark side that he must suppress at all times. This Two-face persona makes him such an interesting character as in one moment he can show compassion & a good level of humanity. But when Hallelujah takes over, he'll murder the shit out of his enemies and leave their corpses to rot. It's a great contrast that shows us his inner turmoil that he constantly struggles with.
- The only weak character of the ministers is Tierra Erde. He's not a bad character by any means, but one of the boys has to be last place. He was just so confined to the Ptolemy that we rarely see him interact with the characters outside of CB. But in spite of that, he still has a really solid character arc. He began the series cold & stern with a belief that anything less than perfection is a sign of weakness. But after nearly getting captured, he learns that even he has his limits and accepts them. I also do like how he progressively gets close to both Setsuna & Lockon after learning about their pasts.
- There's also the rest of the group, Christina Sierra & Lichtendahl Tsery, while not having major character arcs themselves, adds a sense of humanity to the group as they feel the least serious about their work and more about the vibe of the group. That's the opposite case of Lasse Aeon, as he's too dedicated to his work to so any form of emotion and/or form any relationship with his co-workers. Feldt is also serious about her work, but is willing to open up to others, especially towards Lockon.
- But the best characters in CB outside of the Ministers is without a doubt Ian Vassti & Sumeragi Lee Noriega. Ian is just a funny character because of his short temper & hilarious remarks. I missed it when the mechanics had personality. As for Sumeragi, she's a milky commander, what can I say. But in all seriousness, she has a really deep character as she acts as both the team tactical forecast (the most badass term for a strategist) and as a motherly figure for the team. She comforts them in their time of need & treats them like she's her own kids. I also gotta throw my 2 cents on Aeolia Schenberg before I forget. Despite his lack of screentime & lines, his importance looms all over CB.
- The only weak CB character I can think of is Dr. Moreno as he only appears in one episode and that's about it. Also, Wang Wu Mei, while having some decent dialogue, doesn't have her role in the plot defined well. It took me a year to learn that she's basically the group’s sugar mama.
- As for the characters from the other factions, they're filled to the brim with distinct personalities & goals. Starting off with the Union, our starring American Graham Aker steals both the show & our hearts whenever he appears on screen. He just has this grace & charisma to him that hardly any Gundam rivals have. And he also can put his money where his mouth is as a mobile suit pilot as he can keep up with the Gundams with an inferior MS and still give them a hard time. I also do like his relationship with his team, more specifically with Billy Katagiri. Billy as a character has always been interesting to me as not only he has a good back to back relationship with Graham, but also had a relationship with Sumeragi in the past. Howard & Daryl (the black dude voiced by Wolverine, not the cripple) also has a great relationship with their leader. Howard always tries to keep up with him and is the straight man with a calm & collective demeanor. As for Daryl, he's more emotional and very defensive for the captain. The man was about to throw hands with Patrick for nearly insulting him. The last memorable Union member is definitely Professor Ralph Eifman. While he does help the Union with hunting down the Gundams, he has a more calm & rational view towards them. In one scene, he prevents Graham from interfering with one of CB’s interventions involving drugs because he hates drugs that much (makes sense since he’s a college professor and all).
- Moving into the AEU, where unfortunately Patrick Colasour & eventually Kati Mannequin are the only characters worth talking about. But even so, they're still worth talking about as they steal the show. Especially Patrick Colasour, as he's the 1st one who encounters the one of the Gundams. And let me tell you, this anime used his plot armor & cocky arrogance to great comedic effect. While Kati is a competent commander, she doesn't get expanded upon until S2. However, her rapport with Patrick is pretty funny.
- Next we got the Human Reform League with Sergei Smirnov & Soma Peries. Sergei is an honorable soldier who's loyal to his country, while Soma is a cold hearted super soldier who'll follow her orders to the letter. This leads to a really cute father & daughter dynamic. Kim is a decent character too as he does respect his troops, but not much else.
- As for the girls from Azadistan, Marina Ismail & Shirin Bakhtiar, let's just say they feel the same way for them as I do for Reilina, they're there I guess. However there's one character who's delightfully hateable, and that's Ali Al Saachez. This man is a menace to society and takes pride in it. A man you want to get his just desserts.
- Same thing for the Trinity Team; Johann, Michael, & Nena. Johann is the nonchalant head of the team who justify their mass murder with being “part of the plan”. Michael is both an asshole & a straight up psychopath. And Nena is thirsty for her kuchi to be filled, and she killed an entire family because she was “jealous”.
- And while we're still on the subject of villains, we got 2 more; Alejandro Corner & Ribbons Allmark. While Alejandro isn't the most compelling villain, it's nice to see him slither his way through any position he wants. Plus him being gay for Ribbons was pretty funny. Speaking of which, Ribbons starts off as just his sexy gay man servant AT FIRST, but then backstabs towards the end, perfectly setting up his role as a main antagonist in the next season. So while not the most interesting villain, they do set up a lot of important moments in the anime.
- As for the side characters we got Saji Crossroad & Louise Halevy. While a lot of people don't like them because of how little they contribute to the plot (at least in the beginning), I found them really cute and a nice break from the serious moments in the anime. I like the back & forth they had as both have personalities that parallel one another, with Saji being more shy, timid, & easily embarrassed while Louis is more spoiled & whinny. I also really love Kinue as she's a strong-willed journalist who gets deeper into discovering the truth of Aeolia Schenberg’s plan. And I do like how much she cares about her brother Saiji, making her brutal death really upsetting. So the characters are really well defined and diverse.
- However, I would be an absolute fool to ignore the great voice acting from the cast, especially Brad Swalie as Setsuna & Scott McNeil as Ali Al Saachez. Two VAs that defined my childhood in X-Men Evolution as Nightcrawler & Wolverine…oh and Light & Duo. While beaten by Unicorn in terms of voice acting years later, all the VAs gave it their A-game here.
- World Building:
- For a timeline set on our own, it could've easily half-assed it and not put too much thought into it. But thank God they did & gave us easily the best time in the franchise. Each side has such great detail that reflects the real world with a sci-fi twist. Stuff like the architecture of famous landmarks gets a more futuristic look like white house or Tokyo tower. But the crowning jewel that isn't based on real life is definitely the Orbital Elevators. These are towering pillars reaching space that provide the Earth with Solar Energy while also serving as easy transport to space and a social hub with shops & restaurants. With lore like that, it's really easy to see why the economic blocks would take advantage of them.
- Speaking of which, I also love how each faction is formed based on their IRL country.
- The Union of Solar Energy is based around both North & South America, Australia, and Japan. These are mainly countries that are based on capitalist economies. They will also get involved in other wars if it benefits they're goals.
- The Advance European Union (AEU) is both the United Kingdom & basically all of Europe. They'll take advantage of any other nation by selling weapons to them. Both the Union & AEU handles Celestial Being in a more defensive sense.
- As for the Human Reform League, they are mainly composed of communist countries such as China, Russia, and every other Asian country. They have a super soldier program where they kidnap random children and force surgery onto them. They also take a more offensive approach towards CB as they're the ones that nearly capture both Tierra & Allelujah. The latter of which came from there & was the result of his dual personality.
- While these blocks have easy access to the elevators, Azadistan is another story. They're one of the very last countries that heavily relies on fossil fuels, which have been affected by some rough regulations, since they never participated in the construction of said elevators, and there's a reason for that. Based heavily on Middle Eastern countries, there's the religion aspect that's evocative of the real life connection to their politics. There's 2 sides of the country that's affected by this; the Reformists who want to change their country for the better & getting access to solar energy, and the Conservatives who stick to their religious beliefs & view solar energy as blasphemy towards god. This exact turmoil is what destroyed Krugis with terrorism in the solar wars in the past, how it caused a civil war in the present, and how it'll eventually destroy them in the future.
- And last but not least, there's Celestial Being. While not too much is known about the organization itself, you can tell they're a very well coordinated team as all of their interventions are well planned out. They're always based on the issues at hand and there's an ambiguity in these missions. One minute they're taking out militaries like it's a musou game, and the other they're saving civilians from terrorists. And all of these cleverly made tactics were made with the super computer, Veda. It's basically the backbone of a lot of the team’s tactics & is responsible for picking the pilots. You can tell by the last half of the series how important Veda is, as the Tierra couldn't access it or when the Gundams shut down instantaneously. It makes the system a vital part of the team. It also makes sense that the meisters were products of the effects of war; Setsuna was brainwashed into guerilla warfare, Lockon’s family were killed in a terrorist attack, & Allelujah was a test subject to the HRL’s super soldier program. This makes CB’s actions, while questionable at times, understandable. Team Trinity on the other hand, are the total extreme where they take out anyone they deemed a threat to the world with no ethical reasoning (let alone an actual plan).
- So the TL;DR is that Anno Domini has a really deep world that feels so lived in. Its world building can rival that of the Universal Century in terms of lore. My only complaint is that it doesn’t go deep into the colonies, but the lore on Earth is so interesting that I can live it. Overall, the world building is top notch
- Mobile Suits:
- The last thing this anime really does well is without a doubt the mobile suits. In both design & fight scenes, they went all out here. Of course we have to start off with Celestial Being Gundams (side note: I won’t include the 0 Gundam since it doesn’t play a major role until season 2 in spite of the opening of EP 1).
- Starting off with the Gundam that made me believe in Kanetake supremacy, the GN-001 Gundam Exia. Easily one of the most iconic Gundam in the franchise, the seven swords live up to its name by slicing & dicing through the Enact and into our hearts. Equipped with a GN Sword that can turn into a gun (beginning my sword/gun kink), 4x GN beam sabers (2x long & 2x short), a long & short GN blade, a bladed shield, and a left hand mount vulcan gun, this thing brings close-combat to a whole other level.
- The following Gundams follow Takayuki’s design philosophy, starting with the GN-002 Gundam Dynames. This thing excels at long range shooting with its GN Beam Sniper rifle, 2x beam pistols, and GN missiles. It also has shoulder guards that can cover its body & 2x GN beam sabers for close combat.
- GN-003 Gundam Kyrios on the other hand is more of a hit & run machine that can transform into a fighter mode for more mobility, and I gotta say its fighter form looks slick as hell & its transformation isn't complex at all. As for weapons, it has a GN beam submachine gun, 2x handheld missile pods, a shield that can turn into a bladed claw, & 2x GN beam sabers. Even its fighter mode has weapons, with a missile container & Tail booster with 2x GN beam cannons.
- And finally we have the thicc curvy mama, the GN-005 Gundam Virtue. This thing is a monster with heavy armor with the weapons to boot. With both the GN Bazooka & 2x GN shoulder beam cannons. And that's not all, it can strip its armor to become the GN-004 Gundam Nadheel for more mobility & use some beam sabers (with some sexy locks). It can use another type of beam rifle.
- These Gundams are not only well armed, but also well equipped with the powerful GN Solar Reactors. These babies can provide the Gundams an infinite amount of solar energy, block communication signals, & generate a near invincible GN field which can give it some defense against incoming fire & give it atmospheric re-entry capabilities. They also have a special system they use at the end of the season called Trans-Am, which turns them red & makes them 3x faster & stronger than regular mobile suits (see what's going on here). I guess the reason I'm not bothered by its color changing effect is because you can easily make a red effect with some lights without painting the kits IRL.
- The Gundams are versatile as individuals & as a team. Over the past reviews, I've been talking about how effective their respective Gundam teams are as both individuals & as a single unit. The reason is because this anime completely perfected the concept with Celestial Being. These 4 are well coordinated and have well defined roles.
- Exia for close combat
- Dynames for long range sniping
- Kyrios for hit & run maneuvers
- and Virtue for heavy support
- Even by themselves, they can handle themselves as they have defensive measures to hold out.
- Exia has range weapons
- both Dynames & Virtue have some beam sabers with the latter being able to strip its armor,
- and Kyrios having its shield turn into a claw
- It's kinda funny that the Gundam team concept is like a game of telephone; ZZ started the trend, G gave them more definably roles, Wing popularized it, X & 08th made them more tactical, SEED made them more coordinated (get it), and 00 completely hit out of the park. Same thing applies to the Trinity Team.
- The GNW-001 Gundam Throne Eins is a long range machine
- GNW-002 Throne Drei is a support that provides energy to the Eins & provide a stealth field
- GNW-003 Gundam Throne Zwei copies Berserk's edgelord with a big sword & left arm mounted beam gun, with some drone like fangs that can shoot beams & act as close combat bits.
- While more violent, Trinity is still a pretty well coordinated team too. They also have GN Drive, but it's vastly different from CB’s GN Drives. For one, the particles are red, giving it a more violent look. There’s also the fact that it has stronger signal blocking capabilities & has a harmful effect to everyone surrounding it. I also like how both Haros are used on both sides. I didn't bring up Haro in any of these reviews because, while I really do like that ball of joy, it never really served much of a purpose outside of fan service. But here it not only serves as a data terminal & can help with repairs, but help the Gundams with certain actions like secondary defenses and weapons control.
- Moving onto the other sides, outside of the GN-Xs (which are kind meh in my opinion) the other suits are grossly underrated. Which is a shame cuz these are some genuinely good mechanical designs. Starting with the Union, these are easily the best designs out of these factions.
- The Union Flags are one of, if not, the best transformable mobile suits in the franchise as they are the apex of Anno Domini. Equipped with a linear rifle that has a rapid fire mode & long range fire mode, these things serve as great rifles. It also has a plasma sword that just looks so cool, along with a defensive rod that basically serves as a shield. And its 2 other variants are just as badass
- The Over Flag has an even stronger rifle that can even knockback a Gundam in a single shot. And then Graham’s Union Flag Custom II, which unfortunately can't transform or even has a rifle, but is powered by a GN Solar Reactor and has a GN Beam saber, letting it go toe to toe with a gundam properly
- There’s also the Union Realdo, which kinda underrated NGL. It just has the Flag’s armaments with some shoulder missiles. These were designed by Armored Core mechanical designer Hiroshi Fukushi.
- On to the Human Reform League, they have the case of the “Zeon simping” and have its Tierens looking like Zakus. Even so, these are some cool looking designs. Its equipment is composed of a smoothbore cannon, machine gun, & carbon hand blade. I especially love the variations;
- the Tieren Space type (including the commander type) with its carbon nets & gel launchers
- the Tieren High Mobility Type with its carbon bladed smoothbore cannon
- the Tieren Taozi with about the same weapons but has high mobility as it was made for super soldiers,
- Tieren Long Range Cannon Type with its head cannon
- And of these Communist Zakus were designed by good ol Kenji Teraoka. There's also the Anf with its chin machine gun & smoothbore arm cannon. All of these are good, but I can't say the same about the AEU machines. To quote our favorite engineer (RIP Kirby Morrow) “It's just a cheap knockoff of our Union Flag”. And it literally is, same frame, same transformation, same weapons, even the same designer. Even the fucking Hellion were copying the Realdos. Europeans really do like copying us, don't they? The Agrissa looks cool though.
- The final machines are made with Pseudo GN Drives, the GN-X. Hot take: I'm not a fan of the GN-Xs. The head looks ugly, the X on its chest is silly, it has pretty lame weapons. Alvatore & Alvaaron looked cool though.
- That's all of the Mobile Suits in 00 (at least for season 1), and if it wasn't obvious by now, these are some top tier designs. Kanetake Ebikawa became my all time favorite mechanical designer along with Takayuki Yanase. These are easily the best Mobile Suit designs in any series.
- The last thing this anime really does well is without a doubt the mobile suits. In both design & fight scenes, they went all out here. Of course we have to start off with Celestial Being Gundams (side note: I won’t include the 0 Gundam since it doesn’t play a major role until season 2 in spite of the opening of EP 1).
- Verdict:
- Gundam 00 is without a doubt the best Gundam series. And it seems a lot of people are on my side. This along with Code Geass & Gurren Lagann single handedly revived the Mecha genre in the 2000’s. These became instant favorites along with many fans, and 00 was no exception. Many consider this the best Gundam series of all time, and with the kind of rep like that, they of course have to make a second season. Was it going to be a good second season? To quote our boy Tobey, “Oh boy ya”.
2024.03.29 00:22 Yakuza-wolf_kiwami Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The Magnum Opus of modern mecha
After over a year of writing these reviews, slugging through shows that I had mixed feelings on (except 08th, Unicorn, G Gundam, & X), I've made it to the anime that got me into this franchise. The anime that got me into anime as a whole. I'm talking about the anime that reignited the Mecha boom, Gundam 00. In my Unicorn review, I've mentioned that this and 00 was my favorite anime of all time, and honestly what can I say that hasn't been said before. I can say, “ya this anime is perfect, 20/10” and none of you would question it. Because it's not a far stretch to say this anime is the most influential Mecha series of all time. 00 may have not created militarized giant robots, it's Gundam, those existed forever. But it did popularize the idea of a well coordinated team with giant robots having specific roles in mind. Sorry folks, teens in multi-colored spandex don't use their machines to fight silly looking monsters, in this anime they fight other Mecha, and they're also terrorists. Pacific Rim, Infinite Stratos, Knights and Magic, and basically any Mecha anime involving a team, was shaped by 00. And it helps that the anime is really good, so I'm gonna explain why I love this anime.
But 1st a little background, when I was little pre-teen watching the 1st episode, I thought THIS SHIT WAS FUCKED UP. It's also boring, where's the Mecha laser battles & sword fights. Look, don't blame me, I was just a fucking kid, I was in middle school, I was still watching power rangers at that time. Plus I didn't know anyone who knew anything about Gundam, so I didn't bother with the rest of the show for a while (let alone finish ep 1). But then, when summer came around, after watching Justice League Doom & Captain Earth, I thought “y’know what, I like giant robots, like mature stuff, I'm a grown up, so I gave it another shot. Once I got to the 5th episode, it hit me. And since that day, I've been in love with this franchise. So I'm gonna explain why this anime got me into the franchise.
submitted by Yakuza-wolf_kiwami to anime [link] [comments]
But 1st a little background, when I was little pre-teen watching the 1st episode, I thought THIS SHIT WAS FUCKED UP. It's also boring, where's the Mecha laser battles & sword fights. Look, don't blame me, I was just a fucking kid, I was in middle school, I was still watching power rangers at that time. Plus I didn't know anyone who knew anything about Gundam, so I didn't bother with the rest of the show for a while (let alone finish ep 1). But then, when summer came around, after watching Justice League Doom & Captain Earth, I thought “y’know what, I like giant robots, like mature stuff, I'm a grown up, so I gave it another shot. Once I got to the 5th episode, it hit me. And since that day, I've been in love with this franchise. So I'm gonna explain why this anime got me into the franchise.
- Plot:
- Before I give you the synopsis, I gotta talk about the opening scene. This is known as the most iconic opening of all time, and good reason. It begins in a torn down village where a fight is taking place. Rotting bodies laying on the ground, mobile suits get wrecked left to right, child soldiers fighting desperately for their lives, all while a single Enf mobile suit looms over them slaughtering them one by one with a single voice spouting out some redirect about “God’s Holy War”. A single boy running helplessly clinging to life until he's finally cornered. And as he's about to be killed, a light shot out of sky, taking out every invading MS in town. And as the little boy looks into the sky, he sees an angelic figure in the shape of a Gundam, becoming the god that he'll worship for as long as he lives. Now THAT'S how you start an anime.
- As for the actual story, an armed organization known as Celestial Being in possession of the mobile weapons Gundam, who uses their mechanical superiority to eliminate all conflicts from the world. That one simple premise opens the floodgates to so many great stories. From getting involved with century long conflicts to stopping war from starting, anything involving warfare will be a target by Celestial Being. And the pacing is just on point, they speed up with the action, and then slow down with the character drama, and then speed up, all leading to a final stand and bittersweet ending with the possibility of more stories. It's just so good. My favorite arcs are the space arc against the Human Reform League & the Azadistan arc revolving around the civil unrest. Both of these arcs dive deep into the lore of Anno Domini & goes deep into both Allelujah’s & Setsuna’s character. The story is just really well written. And then there's the animation. For a mid 2000s anime, it looks really good, especially less than 20 years later. Even the CGI animation holds up really well. So far, it's a really great start to the series.
- Characters:
- It's not a far stretch to say that these are easily the best characters in the anime. Every single character is written in a way that makes their motivations interesting & understandable. From the main group to the civilians, everyone was in top form here. Starting off with the fine people at Celestial Being, we have the boy who started off, Setsuna F. Seie. As the 1st person we see on screen, it's not hard to see why we get invested in his character immediately. He's a distant & stoic boy who bottles up his emotions, with a single goal to become a Gundam himself. The last part may not make sense to everyone, or his personality may turn off some people, but what saves itself is his backstory. Not only do we have the opening scene to consider, we also have more flashbacks towards his past. As a child, he was kidnapped & brainwashed into taking part in doing some messed up stuff “in the name of god”. In Wing, we're told that Heero went through brutal training that led to his distant persona. But that's so vague and we're never given an idea on what he went through, since it was told to us instead of shown. In 00, we clearly see why Setsuna would be like this. He's been through a lot and with a traumatic experience like that, who can blame him for being distant towards people.
- And the great character writing doesn't stop there, as there's the rest of the ministers to consider. Lockon Stratos is a lot of people’s favorite just for how laid back he is. He's basically the big brother of the group and always tries to be a shoulder to lean on. He may be tough at times and does let his emotions get in the way of his actions, but he's still the most down to earth guy out there.
- But my favorite has to go to Allelujah Haptism, as he's probably the best written character. He's Gundam’s answer to Jeckle & Haide as he has a dark side that he must suppress at all times. This Two-face persona makes him such an interesting character as in one moment he can show compassion & a good level of humanity. But when Hallelujah takes over, he'll murder the shit out of his enemies and leave their corpses to rot. It's a great contrast that shows us his inner turmoil that he constantly struggles with.
- The only weak character of the ministers is Tierra Erde. He's not a bad character by any means, but one of the boys has to be last place. He was just so confined to the Ptolemy that we rarely see him interact with the characters outside of CB. But in spite of that, he still has a really solid character arc. He began the series cold & stern with a belief that anything less than perfection is a sign of weakness. But after nearly getting captured, he learns that even he has his limits and accepts them. I also do like how he progressively gets close to both Setsuna & Lockon after learning about their pasts.
- There's also the rest of the group, Christina Sierra & Lichtendahl Tsery, while not having major character arcs themselves, adds a sense of humanity to the group as they feel the least serious about their work and more about the vibe of the group. That's the opposite case of Lasse Aeon, as he's too dedicated to his work to so any form of emotion and/or form any relationship with his co-workers. Feldt is also serious about her work, but is willing to open up to others, especially towards Lockon.
- But the best characters in CB outside of the Ministers is without a doubt Ian Vassti & Sumeragi Lee Noriega. Ian is just a funny character because of his short temper & hilarious remarks. I missed it when the mechanics had personality. As for Sumeragi, she's a milky commander, what can I say. But in all seriousness, she has a really deep character as she acts as both the team tactical forecast (the most badass term for a strategist) and as a motherly figure for the team. She comforts them in their time of need & treats them like she's her own kids. I also gotta throw my 2 cents on Aeolia Schenberg before I forget. Despite his lack of screentime & lines, his importance looms all over CB.
- The only weak CB character I can think of is Dr. Moreno as he only appears in one episode and that's about it. Also, Wang Wu Mei, while having some decent dialogue, doesn't have her role in the plot defined well. It took me a year to learn that she's basically the group’s sugar mama.
- As for the characters from the other factions, they're filled to the brim with distinct personalities & goals. Starting off with the Union, our starring American Graham Aker steals both the show & our hearts whenever he appears on screen. He just has this grace & charisma to him that hardly any Gundam rivals have. And he also can put his money where his mouth is as a mobile suit pilot as he can keep up with the Gundams with an inferior MS and still give them a hard time. I also do like his relationship with his team, more specifically with Billy Katagiri. Billy as a character has always been interesting to me as not only he has a good back to back relationship with Graham, but also had a relationship with Sumeragi in the past. Howard & Daryl (the black dude voiced by Wolverine, not the cripple) also has a great relationship with their leader. Howard always tries to keep up with him and is the straight man with a calm & collective demeanor. As for Daryl, he's more emotional and very defensive for the captain. The man was about to throw hands with Patrick for nearly insulting him. The last memorable Union member is definitely Professor Ralph Eifman. While he does help the Union with hunting down the Gundams, he has a more calm & rational view towards them. In one scene, he prevents Graham from interfering with one of CB’s interventions involving drugs because he hates drugs that much (makes sense since he’s a college professor and all).
- Moving into the AEU, where unfortunately Patrick Colasour & eventually Kati Mannequin are the only characters worth talking about. But even so, they're still worth talking about as they steal the show. Especially Patrick Colasour, as he's the 1st one who encounters the one of the Gundams. And let me tell you, this anime used his plot armor & cocky arrogance to great comedic effect. While Kati is a competent commander, she doesn't get expanded upon until S2. However, her rapport with Patrick is pretty funny.
- Next we got the Human Reform League with Sergei Smirnov & Soma Peries. Sergei is an honorable soldier who's loyal to his country, while Soma is a cold hearted super soldier who'll follow her orders to the letter. This leads to a really cute father & daughter dynamic. Kim is a decent character too as he does respect his troops, but not much else.
- As for the girls from Azadistan, Marina Ismail & Shirin Bakhtiar, let's just say they feel the same way for them as I do for Reilina, they're there I guess. However there's one character who's delightfully hateable, and that's Ali Al Saachez. This man is a menace to society and takes pride in it. A man you want to get his just desserts.
- Same thing for the Trinity Team; Johann, Michael, & Nena. Johann is the nonchalant head of the team who justify their mass murder with being “part of the plan”. Michael is both an asshole & a straight up psychopath. And Nena is thirsty for her kuchi to be filled, and she killed an entire family because she was “jealous”.
- And while we're still on the subject of villains, we got 2 more; Alejandro Corner & Ribbons Allmark. While Alejandro isn't the most compelling villain, it's nice to see him slither his way through any position he wants. Plus him being gay for Ribbons was pretty funny. Speaking of which, Ribbons starts off as just his sexy gay man servant AT FIRST, but then backstabs towards the end, perfectly setting up his role as a main antagonist in the next season. So while not the most interesting villain, they do set up a lot of important moments in the anime.
- As for the side characters we got Saji Crossroad & Louise Halevy. While a lot of people don't like them because of how little they contribute to the plot (at least in the beginning), I found them really cute and a nice break from the serious moments in the anime. I like the back & forth they had as both have personalities that parallel one another, with Saji being more shy, timid, & easily embarrassed while Louis is more spoiled & whinny. I also really love Kinue as she's a strong-willed journalist who gets deeper into discovering the truth of Aeolia Schenberg’s plan. And I do like how much she cares about her brother Saiji, making her brutal death really upsetting. So the characters are really well defined and diverse.
- However, I would be an absolute fool to ignore the great voice acting from the cast, especially Brad Swalie as Setsuna & Scott McNeil as Ali Al Saachez. Two VAs that defined my childhood in X-Men Evolution as Nightcrawler & Wolverine…oh and Light & Duo. While beaten by Unicorn in terms of voice acting years later, all the VAs gave it their A-game here.
- World Building:
- For a timeline set on our own, it could've easily half-assed it and not put too much thought into it. But thank God they did & gave us easily the best time in the franchise. Each side has such great detail that reflects the real world with a sci-fi twist. Stuff like the architecture of famous landmarks gets a more futuristic look like white house or Tokyo tower. But the crowning jewel that isn't based on real life is definitely the Orbital Elevators. These are towering pillars reaching space that provide the Earth with Solar Energy while also serving as easy transport to space and a social hub with shops & restaurants. With lore like that, it's really easy to see why the economic blocks would take advantage of them.
- Speaking of which, I also love how each faction is formed based on their IRL country.
- The Union of Solar Energy is based around both North & South America, Australia, and Japan. These are mainly countries that are based on capitalist economies. They will also get involved in other wars if it benefits they're goals.
- The Advance European Union (AEU) is both the United Kingdom & basically all of Europe. They'll take advantage of any other nation by selling weapons to them. Both the Union & AEU handles Celestial Being in a more defensive sense.
- As for the Human Reform League, they are mainly composed of communist countries such as China, Russia, and every other Asian country. They have a super soldier program where they kidnap random children and force surgery onto them. They also take a more offensive approach towards CB as they're the ones that nearly capture both Tierra & Allelujah. The latter of which came from there & was the result of his dual personality.
- While these blocks have easy access to the elevators, Azadistan is another story. They're one of the very last countries that heavily relies on fossil fuels, which have been affected by some rough regulations, since they never participated in the construction of said elevators, and there's a reason for that. Based heavily on Middle Eastern countries, there's the religion aspect that's evocative of the real life connection to their politics. There's 2 sides of the country that's affected by this; the Reformists who want to change their country for the better & getting access to solar energy, and the Conservatives who stick to their religious beliefs & view solar energy as blasphemy towards god. This exact turmoil is what destroyed Krugis with terrorism in the solar wars in the past, how it caused a civil war in the present, and how it'll eventually destroy them in the future.
- And last but not least, there's Celestial Being. While not too much is known about the organization itself, you can tell they're a very well coordinated team as all of their interventions are well planned out. They're always based on the issues at hand and there's an ambiguity in these missions. One minute they're taking out militaries like it's a musou game, and the other they're saving civilians from terrorists. And all of these cleverly made tactics were made with the super computer, Veda. It's basically the backbone of a lot of the team’s tactics & is responsible for picking the pilots. You can tell by the last half of the series how important Veda is, as the Tierra couldn't access it or when the Gundams shut down instantaneously. It makes the system a vital part of the team. It also makes sense that the meisters were products of the effects of war; Setsuna was brainwashed into guerilla warfare, Lockon’s family were killed in a terrorist attack, & Allelujah was a test subject to the HRL’s super soldier program. This makes CB’s actions, while questionable at times, understandable. Team Trinity on the other hand, are the total extreme where they take out anyone they deemed a threat to the world with no ethical reasoning (let alone an actual plan).
- So the TL;DR is that Anno Domini has a really deep world that feels so lived in. Its world building can rival that of the Universal Century in terms of lore. My only complaint is that it doesn’t go deep into the colonies, but the lore on Earth is so interesting that I can live it. Overall, the world building is top notch
- Mobile Suits:
- The last thing this anime really does well is without a doubt the mobile suits. In both design & fight scenes, they went all out here. Of course we have to start off with Celestial Being Gundams (side note: I won’t include the 0 Gundam since it doesn’t play a major role until season 2 in spite of the opening of EP 1).
- Starting off with the Gundam that made me believe in Kanetake supremacy, the GN-001 Gundam Exia. Easily one of the most iconic Gundam in the franchise, the seven swords live up to its name by slicing & dicing through the Enact and into our hearts. Equipped with a GN Sword that can turn into a gun (beginning my sword/gun kink), 4x GN beam sabers (2x long & 2x short), a long & short GN blade, a bladed shield, and a left hand mount vulcan gun, this thing brings close-combat to a whole other level.
- The following Gundams follow Takayuki’s design philosophy, starting with the GN-002 Gundam Dynames. This thing excels at long range shooting with its GN Beam Sniper rifle, 2x beam pistols, and GN missiles. It also has shoulder guards that can cover its body & 2x GN beam sabers for close combat.
- GN-003 Gundam Kyrios on the other hand is more of a hit & run machine that can transform into a fighter mode for more mobility, and I gotta say its fighter form looks slick as hell & its transformation isn't complex at all. As for weapons, it has a GN beam submachine gun, 2x handheld missile pods, a shield that can turn into a bladed claw, & 2x GN beam sabers. Even its fighter mode has weapons, with a missile container & Tail booster with 2x GN beam cannons.
- And finally we have the thicc curvy mama, the GN-005 Gundam Virtue. This thing is a monster with heavy armor with the weapons to boot. With both the GN Bazooka & 2x GN shoulder beam cannons. And that's not all, it can strip its armor to become the GN-004 Gundam Nadheel for more mobility & use some beam sabers (with some sexy locks). It can use another type of beam rifle.
- These Gundams are not only well armed, but also well equipped with the powerful GN Solar Reactors. These babies can provide the Gundams an infinite amount of solar energy, block communication signals, & generate a near invincible GN field which can give it some defense against incoming fire & give it atmospheric re-entry capabilities. They also have a special system they use at the end of the season called Trans-Am, which turns them red & makes them 3x faster & stronger than regular mobile suits (see what's going on here). I guess the reason I'm not bothered by its color changing effect is because you can easily make a red effect with some lights without painting the kits IRL.
- The Gundams are versatile as individuals & as a team. Over the past reviews, I've been talking about how effective their respective Gundam teams are as both individuals & as a single unit. The reason is because this anime completely perfected the concept with Celestial Being. These 4 are well coordinated and have well defined roles.
- Exia for close combat
- Dynames for long range sniping
- Kyrios for hit & run maneuvers
- and Virtue for heavy support
- Even by themselves, they can handle themselves as they have defensive measures to hold out.
- Exia has range weapons
- both Dynames & Virtue have some beam sabers with the latter being able to strip its armor,
- and Kyrios having its shield turn into a claw
- It's kinda funny that the Gundam team concept is like a game of telephone; ZZ started the trend, G gave them more definably roles, Wing popularized it, X & 08th made them more tactical, SEED made them more coordinated (get it), and 00 completely hit out of the park. Same thing applies to the Trinity Team.
- The GNW-001 Gundam Throne Eins is a long range machine
- GNW-002 Throne Drei is a support that provides energy to the Eins & provide a stealth field
- GNW-003 Gundam Throne Zwei copies Berserk's edgelord with a big sword & left arm mounted beam gun, with some drone like fangs that can shoot beams & act as close combat bits.
- While more violent, Trinity is still a pretty well coordinated team too. They also have GN Drive, but it's vastly different from CB’s GN Drives. For one, the particles are red, giving it a more violent look. There’s also the fact that it has stronger signal blocking capabilities & has a harmful effect to everyone surrounding it. I also like how both Haros are used on both sides. I didn't bring up Haro in any of these reviews because, while I really do like that ball of joy, it never really served much of a purpose outside of fan service. But here it not only serves as a data terminal & can help with repairs, but help the Gundams with certain actions like secondary defenses and weapons control.
- Moving onto the other sides, outside of the GN-Xs (which are kind meh in my opinion) the other suits are grossly underrated. Which is a shame cuz these are some genuinely good mechanical designs. Starting with the Union, these are easily the best designs out of these factions.
- The Union Flags are one of, if not, the best transformable mobile suits in the franchise as they are the apex of Anno Domini. Equipped with a linear rifle that has a rapid fire mode & long range fire mode, these things serve as great rifles. It also has a plasma sword that just looks so cool, along with a defensive rod that basically serves as a shield. And its 2 other variants are just as badass
- The Over Flag has an even stronger rifle that can even knockback a Gundam in a single shot. And then Graham’s Union Flag Custom II, which unfortunately can't transform or even has a rifle, but is powered by a GN Solar Reactor and has a GN Beam saber, letting it go toe to toe with a gundam properly
- There’s also the Union Realdo, which kinda underrated NGL. It just has the Flag’s armaments with some shoulder missiles. These were designed by Armored Core mechanical designer Hiroshi Fukushi.
- On to the Human Reform League, they have the case of the “Zeon simping” and have its Tierens looking like Zakus. Even so, these are some cool looking designs. Its equipment is composed of a smoothbore cannon, machine gun, & carbon hand blade. I especially love the variations;
- the Tieren Space type (including the commander type) with its carbon nets & gel launchers
- the Tieren High Mobility Type with its carbon bladed smoothbore cannon
- the Tieren Taozi with about the same weapons but has high mobility as it was made for super soldiers,
- Tieren Long Range Cannon Type with its head cannon
- And of these Communist Zakus were designed by good ol Kenji Teraoka. There's also the Anf with its chin machine gun & smoothbore arm cannon. All of these are good, but I can't say the same about the AEU machines. To quote our favorite engineer (RIP Kirby Morrow) “It's just a cheap knockoff of our Union Flag”. And it literally is, same frame, same transformation, same weapons, even the same designer. Even the fucking Hellion were copying the Realdos. Europeans really do like copying us, don't they? The Agrissa looks cool though.
- The final machines are made with Pseudo GN Drives, the GN-X. Hot take: I'm not a fan of the GN-Xs. The head looks ugly, the X on its chest is silly, it has pretty lame weapons. Alvatore & Alvaaron looked cool though.
- That's all of the Mobile Suits in 00 (at least for season 1), and if it wasn't obvious by now, these are some top tier designs. Kanetake Ebikawa became my all time favorite mechanical designer along with Takayuki Yanase. These are easily the best Mobile Suit designs in any series.
- The last thing this anime really does well is without a doubt the mobile suits. In both design & fight scenes, they went all out here. Of course we have to start off with Celestial Being Gundams (side note: I won’t include the 0 Gundam since it doesn’t play a major role until season 2 in spite of the opening of EP 1).
- Verdict:
- Gundam 00 is without a doubt the best Gundam series. And it seems a lot of people are on my side. This along with Code Geass & Gurren Lagann single handedly revived the Mecha genre in the 2000’s. These became instant favorites along with many fans, and 00 was no exception. Many consider this the best Gundam series of all time, and with the kind of rep like that, they of course have to make a second season. Was it going to be a good second season? To quote our boy Tobey, “Oh boy ya”.
2024.03.26 15:20 DndQuickQuestion The Tainted God’s Pantry (WPAtaMS Fanfic Part 3/4): And the Devil Deals the Cards
Chapter Links: [1: Trouble for Dessert], [2: Poison and Potash], [3: And the Devil Deals the Cards], [4: Crownlands Pride] / (Main Index)
Last Chapter: Cadet Emma Booker managed to convince her skeptical professors that her dad’s chocolate cake wasn’t the recipe of an evil cultist and Chef Keiran wasn’t poisoning students with rare alchemicals, but it seems the cook was hiding a secret from Emma about one of the ingredients...
Chef Keiran smirked mischievously like he had been caught. He averted his eyes, “By far the most difficult part, milady Apprentice. Even with earthrealm artifices and painfully exact instructions, those caused me weeks more failed trials than alkalizing the cocoa nibs without eliminating too much of the flavor.”
“They are... milk chocolate.”
No one reacted to his dramatic pronouncement except Mal'tory, whose eyes widened ever so slightly with recognition.
The chef continued with a crooked grin, “The solid chocolate squares you are familiar with have been made in elite confectionery houses for a millennium and a half, but their use is mostly limited to couvertures, fillings, and accenting other dishes because sugar alone is insufficient to quench cocoa’s innate bitterness. Crafting milk-free ‘dark’ chocolate into a stable solid is difficult enough. A slight deviation in melting temperature, discrepancy in the balance of butters and cocoa, unevenness in the nib milling, mixing, or cooling, or even a single errant drop of moisture, and the batch is ruined.”
“Milk removes the bitterness of cocoa, as you might know if you have ever had a mug of hot cocoa, but combining the essences of milk and cocoa into a stable, solid form is a damnably tricky affair.”
“About 250 years ago, a process to alloy the two was discovered which was held in secret by a single entrusted Crownlands guild-kitchen. Everything was kept behind lock and spell, but scullery canard held that preparing the milk was somehow equally as laborious as the cocoa: bizarre and extremely precise, doubling the troubles. Milk chocolate doesn’t keep like darker milk-free chocolate either. For all these reasons, milk chocolate was almost never found outside the palace and a few of the highest houses of the Crownlands core.”
“But something unfortunate occurred. An edict enacting eminent domain was brought down on the guild-kitchen’s borough so that its character could be raised up to the standards of modern enlightenment.” There was a faint tinge of resentment in the way Keiran said that made me think the Crownlands high nobles treat city districts like their personal sim game.
“The heir had to relocate. Certain tools were damaged in the move and atmospheric conditions at the new location weren’t quite right. They were eventually able to bring back their solid dark chocolate but not at their former quality. The prepared milk failed to stabilize with the chocolate. The founder soon passed and his heir could not afford to keep trying. She couldn’t let it alone though and one morn her mate found her dead, suffocated. Guardsmen established it was a spell that got out of control, but a lot of folks kept skeptic thoughts. Her heir was a babe and never even tasted the proper stuff. And so milk chocolate faded into urban legend.”
“This the first tempered milk chocolate to be produced on Nexus in over 200 years.” Chef Keiran crossed his arms across his broad aproned chest, rippling with pride.
“Making this milk chocolate is the reason for my suspicious activities. Working the witching hours alone, setting up anti-observation spells, and why I caused you gentles an unnecessary degree of trouble,” he acknowledged Vanavan and Mal'tory.
“It was bad enough that the formula for milk chocolate was lost so tragically, but there are more devils lurking in the dark. You see, palace observers gossiped that the Eternal King himself became fond enough of the treat that he still laments its absence from time to time. That’s caused something of a competition between notable Crownlands confectioners to rediscover the recipe for milk chocolate. Now I wish to clarify, I never sought involvement in that complicated business. Sweetmeats weren’t what I was known for, but I know the scuttlebutt simply by adjacency. Anyhow, that competition... has become a bit warm at moments. Certainly it’s hot enough to take a swing at a lone mate with weak backing like me,” Keiran accidentally slipped back into his naval voice before clearing his throat with a hasty cough.
“The most deeply invested competitors could certainly fall for the diabolical allure of fame and royal patronage. It would be very tempting to hire rogues to waylay a student of Transgracian to misappropriate her recipes.”
Belnor hemmed under her breath, “Perhaps ‘chocolate cake from the evil god’s pantry’ is an apt name.”
Keiran acknowledged that, “I was lucky to be the first chef our dear Cadet showed her recipes to. If she had interviewed others and rumors spread that she held such coveted intelligence, conspiracy would have forced itself on the Academy and its guardians. Covetous devils may visit yet, but now their plots will be redirected at me in Elaseer rather than at the school and the newrealmer.”
I pondered this Nexian tale of tragedy and intrigue. Once again, I had become a lightning rod for controversy simply by existing, and once again the center of the storm was one of those bolt-from-blue topics I could have never predicted would be troublesome and thus had no context for knowing ought to be withheld. At least this time, I had found a friend rather than a foe.
Larial chirped up, “And how could Earthrealm and Cadet Emma Booker’s common father know this legendary lost recipe, or is theirs some inferior… artifice-based equivalent?”
“Their alchemist-chefs discovered it independently. And, comparing memories, I would not consider Earthrealm’s version inferior. It chafes my pride to say this, but theirs is clearly better… for now. You see, their discovery not only predates our own, it seems to be so celebrated that Earthrealm has a specific holiday where commoners gift each other boxes of exquisitely-decorated tempered chocolates with various fillings such as caramel, nuts, marzipan, jam, and even liqueur so that each one is a delightful surprise. I believe it was called something like the ‘Feast-day of Saint Valinor’... Oh! Is he one of the saints of virtue you mentioned, Cadet Booker?”
“Valentine is the saint of, um ... courtly love,” EVI hopping in for a quick save. “The holiday gifting traditions have gradually expanded to cover any sort of love, especially romance.
Now, everyone’s focus was squarely on the cake and its king-coveted, legendary garnitures. Room heavy with ulterior motives, I could see a way out of this predicament, albeit one that would require a sacrifice.
“Dean Astur, sir, maybe any remaining uncertainties about the chef’s and my motives could be cleared up if I surrender the cake for your official inspection. You could also suggest a more... enlightened name for it?”
Astur dramatically paused to pretend he was meaningfully considering a foregone conclusion, “...Yes, that would be an acceptable solution for now, Cadet Emma Booker.” His thin, concessional smile could not mask his concession-hungry eyes.
“Perhaps we should send for a lesser elf to taste first. They are particularly sensitive to even trace poisons.” Mal'tory offered.
I muted my vocoder and furiously wished a curry-paste enema upon his slave-owning posterior in slightly-mangled Thai.
“Acknowledged. Objective added. Would you like to set a priority?” My over-stressed imagination colored the VI’s military-grade monotone with a faint hue of dismay.
“No! Cancel that, EVI! Belay that order.”
“Acknowledged, Cadet Booker.”
I returned to the conversation in time to hear Keiran say “...safe for those of elvish heritage, or I would be quite deceased,” and a mana-surge ping from blue-robed Vanavan who suddenly had a stack of gold-rimmed plates and cutlery. Keiran retrieved his keychain of doodads, fiddled with it, and suddenly he had a full-sized knife and server to start cutting the cake with.
The apprentice, technically the lowest-rank and most expendable person present besides me, hesitantly stepped forward to be the first to taste the unknown and shoulder-bumped into gangly Vanavan who was making no pretense of hiding that he was thrilled for the opportunity to eat my dad’s alien alchemical chocolate cake.
Larial hesitated to examine one of the spiraling chocolate curls, while the blue-robed professor plowed right into his slice.
Everyone took a half-step back from Vanavan at the same time EVI dinged that there was a localized increase in indeterminate mana radiation from his direction. “This is a testament to the incredible talents of two realms!” He grinned infectiously at me and Keiran.
Larial’s face became nearly as vacant as Lortal’s as she channeled for the first time the luscious, sugary ‘mana’ that comforts and sustains every overworked and overstrung human graduate student.
Belnor poked at the spongy cake with her fork, “I am impressed alchemicals could achieve such a texture without magic.”
“Much of what fine diners attribute to the mana-arts is merely the selection of the right ingredients, thoughtful preparation, and precision in technique, but I daren’t lecture to a grandmaster on that topic.” Keiran offered diplomatically.
Mal'tory scrutinized a milk-chocolate petal and realized about then that the cruel pleasure of forcing me to watch everyone enjoy my special cake while I got none also required him to eat my cake, which meant I was going to win gloating points if he admitted he liked my completely unNexian, mana-deficient, family heritage cake.
He just about broke his purple face trying to hide his rapture to chocolate paradise, which was far more hilarious than if he had simply let himself enjoy it.
I muted my vocoder in the nick of time while EVI snapped on in-armor positional reorientation mode so I could figure out how to breathe again beneath the unmoving armor’s stoic facade. I’m so close to getting out of this, Director Weir and Field Captain McCay would be disappointed if I blew it now because I was making fun of an alien on a cultural exchange mission. That thought immediately grounded me and EVI returned my movement.
Keiran focused like he was prepared to cast, then a look of confusion and realization crossed his features. “Ah. Honorable Dean, could you permit an outward bound–” Astur simply cut him off with a nod and casual flourish of his hand.
ALERT: UNKNOWN MANA-SURGE, 425% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO NEUTRAL A05: PROFESSOR ASTUR.
ALERT: SPELL SUMMON OBJECT, 300% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO FRIENDLY E89: CHEF KEIRAN.
“And to celebrate the spring return of a Nexian treasure after a much-too-long winter, albeit in alien form...”
He presented a wine-like bottle for the faculty’s inspection. “This one compliments chocolate quite well.” I didn’t know enough about alcohol to guess what it was, but the tawny-rose color looked expensive. There was no cork to pull either; it was sealed like an ampoule at the top.
The educational collective’s eyes went a bit wide at what to me looked like a picture-only label. It was slightly subtler than the usual sort of ostentatious, a small belly-up black dragon and gold leaf knight with a floating crown kneeling in front of the sword impaling the dragon’s neck. Golden glitter sparkled within, some mana-based shenanigans no doubt. I had a feeling that to end the war in our favor, Chef Keiran had brought out a decisive tactical warhead.
ALERT: SPELL SUMMON OBJECT, 325% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO FRIENDLY A03: PROFESSOR BELNOR.
Transgracian Academy’s legendary brewmaster had the glasses in hand before anyone could suggest fetching them. She looked at me apologetically, and I waved my hand understandingly.
Soon, the professors were heaping compliments upon compliments on the drink and Keiran started telling them about a sightseer memory I had shown him of cakes disguised as common objects, and that Earthrealmish courts would summon grandmaster confectioners to hide chocolate sculptures and well-decorated cakes among real clutter and force jesters to select objects to try to eat in front of the spectators.
With Keiran topping them up before they were even half into their first glass and Astur cutting a second round of cake slices, the arcane educators seemed well on their way to sloshing and noshing into a golden chocolate haze that would hopefully spell the end of this evening’s troubles for me.
As if I would ever be that fortunate.
“Chef Keiran, what do you think of Cadet Emma Booker’s candidacy?” Astur asked.
Candidate.
I have really come to despise that word.
That meant Keiran was one of those personally-interested “hands”. In retrospect it was obvious. He was from the Crownlands and cagey about who exactly he worked for before. This encounter proved he had a lot of intellectual interests outside of being a chef. The town nobles hadn’t been able to bully him into toning down his ‘research campus’ that anyone else would have been sixed and kicked for. Hindsight is 20/10.
I didn’t doubt his fall from grace because everything about his usual down-to-earth persona was consistent. But in asking Keiran about me, it meant Astur still considered him consequential enough to be worthy of voicing an opinion.
Keiran swirled his own glass while formulating a political answer, looking specifically at Mal'tory for a moment.
“This cake was made with unorthodox ingredients without the gift of mana, yet it is undeniably delicious. Cadet Emma Booker does not wield magic arts as we understand them, yet she is undeniably powerful in her own ways.”
“While I can only speak from my perspective in the culinary arts, she has been strategically omitting information, less to deceive and more to avoid further friction with her peers and Nexus’ representatives. This is a dangerous pattern because I see the aura of a greater power beyond that portal veil, an order more characteristic of a trusted realm long patronized by Nexus rather than a typical newrealm. An order likely capable of fielding great armies, but which rarely practices war because they build greenhouses that cannot be repaired by magic. An order which has impressively attacked the fundamental problem that plagues all growing civilizations, hunger, with designed crops, not merely products of careful breeding.”
Keiran then turned to stare me down with a callous and lordly expression that fit his face yet was utterly foreign to me, “...An order that requires crops modified so that they can be tended by explorers and soldiers on long distance ventures in mobile gardens, and fields those especially large vessels capable of supporting mobile gardens.”
I started at that.
“I spent some time in the navy, Cadet Emma Booker,” he snapped at my silence. “Surely you do not presume your military is the only one to conceive of plants meant to be grown in hazardous conditions, properties carefully selected so that they will survive even a hungover boatswain’s mate who thinks gardening is beneath him?”
I said nothing.
Dean Astur nodded solemnly like the answer was not completely unexpected, casting a glance at me I could not read. Professor Mal'tory flickered with an ugly, twisted grin of victory.
And before I could really take in what just happened, cobble together a reply to this foreign Keiran I have never met, Astur redirected the conversation.
“Does your kitchen take appointments or tours?”
Keiran’s gaze lingered on me for a moment, the conceit gone from his eyes, before slipping back into stuffy chef, “Very unofficially. I have begun to consider light service now that I have established a beachhead and finally have a little free time to rectify the privations and bring the campus up to expectant decorum. The dock still requires renovations, but I gardened a path to the canal so visitors don’t have to arrive by the mud and cobble road. I have gotten into the habit of taking regular palate cleansers from all these experiments and foreign alchemical foods by practicing The Golden Palantine Garden Gourmet Coursebook, but the workhands and half the kitchen staff don’t appreciate it. Some days, I’m just handing samplers out the kitchen front window to whoever walks by.
Astur’s mouth fell open aghast, unable to find all the words, “The Palantine Garden... to riff-raff?”
“They think the snacks are more of my taste tests. I had to break up a street brawl over my tartlets, but I can’t even give away grape leaf paper terrine. Butter-churn ladies scarf it down and suggest it tastes ‘funky’ and too sharp, so I ought to spread it thin over bread.”
White-robed Astur kneaded his forehead with one hand, disgusted with the philistine modality of Elaseer’s plebs and Keiran for graciously indulging them anyway.
Keiran continued, “Now, to be fair, everything looks a little off because of the plating. Earthrealm...”
Larial motioned Mal'tory aside, whispered something, and dropped a privacy spell.
Without turning, I strong eyed the 3 o’clock cam, but EVI had already launched the lip reading alpha test which so far only worked well on elves I had gotten lots of speech data with in good lighting who also had “standard accents” that didn’t veer into heavy vernacular like Keiran or Belnor. Luckily, that included these two.
[A110 APPRENTICE LARIAL (FRIENDLY): The {soma-dissectant} duplicants failed to thrive, as you predicted. Perhaps the council should recall you to interpret prophecies. (NOVEL WORDS PRESENT! HIGH PARSING CONFIDENCE)] Reading the word ‘duplicant’ in this room made my spine crawl.
The apprentice politely averted her eyes to the floor in lieu of a bow that would draw attention. [LARIAL: May I inquire into the source of your sagacity, Professor, to further my horticultural knowledge?]
The duplicants were made from my plants?
EVI’s spirograph gyrated in a yellow triangle-knot like it had a realization and popped out two infoboxes titled “cloning plants via micropropagation” and “LREF protocols to mitigate agricultural espionage, unwanted crossbreeding, and invasive potential using genetic use-restriction technology” and slid them unexpanded into the secondary priority collapsible of my HUD.
Taking the VI’s ‘word’ for it, I refocused on the conversation.
[A02 PROFESSOR MAL'TORY (HOSTILE): My wisdom was rooted not in vegetable aspects but rather the possessive and paranoid character of their animal source. I foresaw the final act when your memorandum stated the Groundskeeper was convinced the pollen was sterile. (HIGH PARSING CONFIDENCE)]
[LARIAL: I am prepared to try again, if you can obtain more fresh samples.] I couldn’t hear her voice, but her demeanor read tired.
[MAL'TORY: Disabling the chef’s alarms and venturing into another house of pranks is far too tiresome. I would rather obtain another point in my contest with Professor Astur.], Mal'tory almost let himself chuckle like he had a private joke but snapped back to seriousness, [Request a point of personal privilege if you wish to discuss this matter further, out of line of sight.] I had barely got this program launched and he was already getting suspicious!? Sure, Mal'tory was right on the money, but he had no right to call me paranoid!
The two, side-eyeing me without knowing I was side-eyeing the hell out of them, started meandering back in our direction.
And I returned from that high-stakes, cloak and whispers spy saga to find Keiran, Astur, and Belnor three glasses deep into what I can only call the conversational equivalent of moon food while Vanavan impishly snuck extra milk chocolate curls, magically flicking one to Larial to buy her silence when she made a face at him. Tonal whiplash seemed to be the menu theme of the night.
Keiran was describing boxed meals, “... a puzzle-form lunchbox of many layers, and the self-cooking military ‘Emma-Ree’ which discards all pretenses of decorum and most of edibility for field longevity. To explore potential paths to the cultural reformation of Earthrealm’s obsession with maximal compactification of anything and everything into boxlike forms, I am putting forth that necessary first foot into the foreign ... by establishing a single booth table right in the kitchen.”
“Now, several adjacent realms had kingdoms where diplomats and nobility were served intimately so they could oversee preparations as security against poisoning. But these kitchenary developments were motivated by mistrust and habitual anarchy, not cultural devotion to the rectangular.”
“To pull down that final barrier and truly emboxify the entire dining experience requires both a brigade de cuisine of supreme confidence and honored guests possessing the highest caliber of civility in a state of mutual trust so that the pace of the kitchen hierarchy and the flow of guestly conversation is not disrupted. I do have my doubts, but if Earthrealm can attempt, then Nexus can achieve,” Keiran concluded his rousing officer’s speech.
“Well, if you’ll be baking more sponges, enroll me as your lab elf! And tour me through those newrealm borosilicates and maybe your wine closet along the way!” Belnor guffawed.
“Periodic inspections to ensure compliance with the Academy’s standards and moral duties would be wise.” Astur seemed pleased with the idea. Larial was too busy snagging the last milk chocolate flower petals before Vanavan snarfed them.
Mal'tory, having had enough interactions with Earth-made boxes for one lifetime, immediately gave up trying to parse that half-heard nonsense and swiftly finished his glass. He didn’t share his headspace with a surly VI that could instantly summarize the prior conversation for me to speed read.
Keiran, knowing ringmaster of this conversational circus, was rather more sober than the others. “Course, I have to get approval from the admiral of my operation.”
“Er, if you think everything is squared away go ahead and open up your restaurant. I think a chef’s table in the kitchen does sound very fancy, Chef Keiran, but if you think putting things in boxes is a disease, maybe I don’t want to be cured.”
“Textbook. Absolutely textbook anti-reformative polemic.” Astur looked like he had a thunderous epiphany. He also looked a tad rosy in the cheeks.
“Emboxified, you could say,” Vanavan bantered jovially at me.
I flipped over to the helmet mic, “Uh, huh. Good luck ‘emboxifying’ whatever the heck that ‘out-boxing Earthrealm’ reformation talk was about for the sociologists, EVI.”
It beeped and its avatar briefly collapsed into a square.
“Set objective, lowest priority, mail reminder one week after I return to Earth to send whoever snuck banter mode onto you a box of chocolate doughnuts from that one bakery near Auntie’s apartment, the one that makes them square shaped.” ❧
Chapter Links: [1: Trouble for Dessert], [2: Poison and Potash], [3: And the Devil Deals the Cards], [4: Crownlands Pride] / (Main Index)
This is a completed, four-part fanfiction loosely based on StopDownloadin's Eat Well, Live Free. Thank you to StopDownloadin for beta reading.
submitted by DndQuickQuestion to JCBWritingCorner [link] [comments]
Last Chapter: Cadet Emma Booker managed to convince her skeptical professors that her dad’s chocolate cake wasn’t the recipe of an evil cultist and Chef Keiran wasn’t poisoning students with rare alchemicals, but it seems the cook was hiding a secret from Emma about one of the ingredients...
The Transgracian Academy for the Magical Arts, Secure Ritual Room. Local Time: 2010 Hours.
Larial scrutinized the cake and her eyes suddenly narrowed. “And what are the flower and curls made of? They don’t appear to be pulled sugar.” The professorial collective stared down Keiran with renewed suspicion.Chef Keiran smirked mischievously like he had been caught. He averted his eyes, “By far the most difficult part, milady Apprentice. Even with earthrealm artifices and painfully exact instructions, those caused me weeks more failed trials than alkalizing the cocoa nibs without eliminating too much of the flavor.”
“They are... milk chocolate.”
No one reacted to his dramatic pronouncement except Mal'tory, whose eyes widened ever so slightly with recognition.
The chef continued with a crooked grin, “The solid chocolate squares you are familiar with have been made in elite confectionery houses for a millennium and a half, but their use is mostly limited to couvertures, fillings, and accenting other dishes because sugar alone is insufficient to quench cocoa’s innate bitterness. Crafting milk-free ‘dark’ chocolate into a stable solid is difficult enough. A slight deviation in melting temperature, discrepancy in the balance of butters and cocoa, unevenness in the nib milling, mixing, or cooling, or even a single errant drop of moisture, and the batch is ruined.”
“Milk removes the bitterness of cocoa, as you might know if you have ever had a mug of hot cocoa, but combining the essences of milk and cocoa into a stable, solid form is a damnably tricky affair.”
“About 250 years ago, a process to alloy the two was discovered which was held in secret by a single entrusted Crownlands guild-kitchen. Everything was kept behind lock and spell, but scullery canard held that preparing the milk was somehow equally as laborious as the cocoa: bizarre and extremely precise, doubling the troubles. Milk chocolate doesn’t keep like darker milk-free chocolate either. For all these reasons, milk chocolate was almost never found outside the palace and a few of the highest houses of the Crownlands core.”
“But something unfortunate occurred. An edict enacting eminent domain was brought down on the guild-kitchen’s borough so that its character could be raised up to the standards of modern enlightenment.” There was a faint tinge of resentment in the way Keiran said that made me think the Crownlands high nobles treat city districts like their personal sim game.
“The heir had to relocate. Certain tools were damaged in the move and atmospheric conditions at the new location weren’t quite right. They were eventually able to bring back their solid dark chocolate but not at their former quality. The prepared milk failed to stabilize with the chocolate. The founder soon passed and his heir could not afford to keep trying. She couldn’t let it alone though and one morn her mate found her dead, suffocated. Guardsmen established it was a spell that got out of control, but a lot of folks kept skeptic thoughts. Her heir was a babe and never even tasted the proper stuff. And so milk chocolate faded into urban legend.”
“This the first tempered milk chocolate to be produced on Nexus in over 200 years.” Chef Keiran crossed his arms across his broad aproned chest, rippling with pride.
“Making this milk chocolate is the reason for my suspicious activities. Working the witching hours alone, setting up anti-observation spells, and why I caused you gentles an unnecessary degree of trouble,” he acknowledged Vanavan and Mal'tory.
“It was bad enough that the formula for milk chocolate was lost so tragically, but there are more devils lurking in the dark. You see, palace observers gossiped that the Eternal King himself became fond enough of the treat that he still laments its absence from time to time. That’s caused something of a competition between notable Crownlands confectioners to rediscover the recipe for milk chocolate. Now I wish to clarify, I never sought involvement in that complicated business. Sweetmeats weren’t what I was known for, but I know the scuttlebutt simply by adjacency. Anyhow, that competition... has become a bit warm at moments. Certainly it’s hot enough to take a swing at a lone mate with weak backing like me,” Keiran accidentally slipped back into his naval voice before clearing his throat with a hasty cough.
“The most deeply invested competitors could certainly fall for the diabolical allure of fame and royal patronage. It would be very tempting to hire rogues to waylay a student of Transgracian to misappropriate her recipes.”
Belnor hemmed under her breath, “Perhaps ‘chocolate cake from the evil god’s pantry’ is an apt name.”
Keiran acknowledged that, “I was lucky to be the first chef our dear Cadet showed her recipes to. If she had interviewed others and rumors spread that she held such coveted intelligence, conspiracy would have forced itself on the Academy and its guardians. Covetous devils may visit yet, but now their plots will be redirected at me in Elaseer rather than at the school and the newrealmer.”
I pondered this Nexian tale of tragedy and intrigue. Once again, I had become a lightning rod for controversy simply by existing, and once again the center of the storm was one of those bolt-from-blue topics I could have never predicted would be troublesome and thus had no context for knowing ought to be withheld. At least this time, I had found a friend rather than a foe.
Larial chirped up, “And how could Earthrealm and Cadet Emma Booker’s common father know this legendary lost recipe, or is theirs some inferior… artifice-based equivalent?”
“Their alchemist-chefs discovered it independently. And, comparing memories, I would not consider Earthrealm’s version inferior. It chafes my pride to say this, but theirs is clearly better… for now. You see, their discovery not only predates our own, it seems to be so celebrated that Earthrealm has a specific holiday where commoners gift each other boxes of exquisitely-decorated tempered chocolates with various fillings such as caramel, nuts, marzipan, jam, and even liqueur so that each one is a delightful surprise. I believe it was called something like the ‘Feast-day of Saint Valinor’... Oh! Is he one of the saints of virtue you mentioned, Cadet Booker?”
“Valentine is the saint of, um ... courtly love,” EVI hopping in for a quick save. “The holiday gifting traditions have gradually expanded to cover any sort of love, especially romance.
Now, everyone’s focus was squarely on the cake and its king-coveted, legendary garnitures. Room heavy with ulterior motives, I could see a way out of this predicament, albeit one that would require a sacrifice.
“Dean Astur, sir, maybe any remaining uncertainties about the chef’s and my motives could be cleared up if I surrender the cake for your official inspection. You could also suggest a more... enlightened name for it?”
Astur dramatically paused to pretend he was meaningfully considering a foregone conclusion, “...Yes, that would be an acceptable solution for now, Cadet Emma Booker.” His thin, concessional smile could not mask his concession-hungry eyes.
“Perhaps we should send for a lesser elf to taste first. They are particularly sensitive to even trace poisons.” Mal'tory offered.
I muted my vocoder and furiously wished a curry-paste enema upon his slave-owning posterior in slightly-mangled Thai.
“Acknowledged. Objective added. Would you like to set a priority?” My over-stressed imagination colored the VI’s military-grade monotone with a faint hue of dismay.
“No! Cancel that, EVI! Belay that order.”
“Acknowledged, Cadet Booker.”
I returned to the conversation in time to hear Keiran say “...safe for those of elvish heritage, or I would be quite deceased,” and a mana-surge ping from blue-robed Vanavan who suddenly had a stack of gold-rimmed plates and cutlery. Keiran retrieved his keychain of doodads, fiddled with it, and suddenly he had a full-sized knife and server to start cutting the cake with.
The apprentice, technically the lowest-rank and most expendable person present besides me, hesitantly stepped forward to be the first to taste the unknown and shoulder-bumped into gangly Vanavan who was making no pretense of hiding that he was thrilled for the opportunity to eat my dad’s alien alchemical chocolate cake.
Larial hesitated to examine one of the spiraling chocolate curls, while the blue-robed professor plowed right into his slice.
Everyone took a half-step back from Vanavan at the same time EVI dinged that there was a localized increase in indeterminate mana radiation from his direction. “This is a testament to the incredible talents of two realms!” He grinned infectiously at me and Keiran.
Larial’s face became nearly as vacant as Lortal’s as she channeled for the first time the luscious, sugary ‘mana’ that comforts and sustains every overworked and overstrung human graduate student.
Belnor poked at the spongy cake with her fork, “I am impressed alchemicals could achieve such a texture without magic.”
“Much of what fine diners attribute to the mana-arts is merely the selection of the right ingredients, thoughtful preparation, and precision in technique, but I daren’t lecture to a grandmaster on that topic.” Keiran offered diplomatically.
Mal'tory scrutinized a milk-chocolate petal and realized about then that the cruel pleasure of forcing me to watch everyone enjoy my special cake while I got none also required him to eat my cake, which meant I was going to win gloating points if he admitted he liked my completely unNexian, mana-deficient, family heritage cake.
He just about broke his purple face trying to hide his rapture to chocolate paradise, which was far more hilarious than if he had simply let himself enjoy it.
I muted my vocoder in the nick of time while EVI snapped on in-armor positional reorientation mode so I could figure out how to breathe again beneath the unmoving armor’s stoic facade. I’m so close to getting out of this, Director Weir and Field Captain McCay would be disappointed if I blew it now because I was making fun of an alien on a cultural exchange mission. That thought immediately grounded me and EVI returned my movement.
Keiran focused like he was prepared to cast, then a look of confusion and realization crossed his features. “Ah. Honorable Dean, could you permit an outward bound–” Astur simply cut him off with a nod and casual flourish of his hand.
ALERT: UNKNOWN MANA-SURGE, 425% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO NEUTRAL A05: PROFESSOR ASTUR.
ALERT: SPELL SUMMON OBJECT, 300% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO FRIENDLY E89: CHEF KEIRAN.
“And to celebrate the spring return of a Nexian treasure after a much-too-long winter, albeit in alien form...”
He presented a wine-like bottle for the faculty’s inspection. “This one compliments chocolate quite well.” I didn’t know enough about alcohol to guess what it was, but the tawny-rose color looked expensive. There was no cork to pull either; it was sealed like an ampoule at the top.
The educational collective’s eyes went a bit wide at what to me looked like a picture-only label. It was slightly subtler than the usual sort of ostentatious, a small belly-up black dragon and gold leaf knight with a floating crown kneeling in front of the sword impaling the dragon’s neck. Golden glitter sparkled within, some mana-based shenanigans no doubt. I had a feeling that to end the war in our favor, Chef Keiran had brought out a decisive tactical warhead.
ALERT: SPELL SUMMON OBJECT, 325% ABOVE BACKGROUND, LOCALIZED TO FRIENDLY A03: PROFESSOR BELNOR.
Transgracian Academy’s legendary brewmaster had the glasses in hand before anyone could suggest fetching them. She looked at me apologetically, and I waved my hand understandingly.
Soon, the professors were heaping compliments upon compliments on the drink and Keiran started telling them about a sightseer memory I had shown him of cakes disguised as common objects, and that Earthrealmish courts would summon grandmaster confectioners to hide chocolate sculptures and well-decorated cakes among real clutter and force jesters to select objects to try to eat in front of the spectators.
With Keiran topping them up before they were even half into their first glass and Astur cutting a second round of cake slices, the arcane educators seemed well on their way to sloshing and noshing into a golden chocolate haze that would hopefully spell the end of this evening’s troubles for me.
As if I would ever be that fortunate.
“Chef Keiran, what do you think of Cadet Emma Booker’s candidacy?” Astur asked.
Candidate.
I have really come to despise that word.
That meant Keiran was one of those personally-interested “hands”. In retrospect it was obvious. He was from the Crownlands and cagey about who exactly he worked for before. This encounter proved he had a lot of intellectual interests outside of being a chef. The town nobles hadn’t been able to bully him into toning down his ‘research campus’ that anyone else would have been sixed and kicked for. Hindsight is 20/10.
I didn’t doubt his fall from grace because everything about his usual down-to-earth persona was consistent. But in asking Keiran about me, it meant Astur still considered him consequential enough to be worthy of voicing an opinion.
Keiran swirled his own glass while formulating a political answer, looking specifically at Mal'tory for a moment.
“This cake was made with unorthodox ingredients without the gift of mana, yet it is undeniably delicious. Cadet Emma Booker does not wield magic arts as we understand them, yet she is undeniably powerful in her own ways.”
“While I can only speak from my perspective in the culinary arts, she has been strategically omitting information, less to deceive and more to avoid further friction with her peers and Nexus’ representatives. This is a dangerous pattern because I see the aura of a greater power beyond that portal veil, an order more characteristic of a trusted realm long patronized by Nexus rather than a typical newrealm. An order likely capable of fielding great armies, but which rarely practices war because they build greenhouses that cannot be repaired by magic. An order which has impressively attacked the fundamental problem that plagues all growing civilizations, hunger, with designed crops, not merely products of careful breeding.”
Keiran then turned to stare me down with a callous and lordly expression that fit his face yet was utterly foreign to me, “...An order that requires crops modified so that they can be tended by explorers and soldiers on long distance ventures in mobile gardens, and fields those especially large vessels capable of supporting mobile gardens.”
I started at that.
“I spent some time in the navy, Cadet Emma Booker,” he snapped at my silence. “Surely you do not presume your military is the only one to conceive of plants meant to be grown in hazardous conditions, properties carefully selected so that they will survive even a hungover boatswain’s mate who thinks gardening is beneath him?”
I said nothing.
Dean Astur nodded solemnly like the answer was not completely unexpected, casting a glance at me I could not read. Professor Mal'tory flickered with an ugly, twisted grin of victory.
And before I could really take in what just happened, cobble together a reply to this foreign Keiran I have never met, Astur redirected the conversation.
“Does your kitchen take appointments or tours?”
Keiran’s gaze lingered on me for a moment, the conceit gone from his eyes, before slipping back into stuffy chef, “Very unofficially. I have begun to consider light service now that I have established a beachhead and finally have a little free time to rectify the privations and bring the campus up to expectant decorum. The dock still requires renovations, but I gardened a path to the canal so visitors don’t have to arrive by the mud and cobble road. I have gotten into the habit of taking regular palate cleansers from all these experiments and foreign alchemical foods by practicing The Golden Palantine Garden Gourmet Coursebook, but the workhands and half the kitchen staff don’t appreciate it. Some days, I’m just handing samplers out the kitchen front window to whoever walks by.
Astur’s mouth fell open aghast, unable to find all the words, “The Palantine Garden... to riff-raff?”
“They think the snacks are more of my taste tests. I had to break up a street brawl over my tartlets, but I can’t even give away grape leaf paper terrine. Butter-churn ladies scarf it down and suggest it tastes ‘funky’ and too sharp, so I ought to spread it thin over bread.”
White-robed Astur kneaded his forehead with one hand, disgusted with the philistine modality of Elaseer’s plebs and Keiran for graciously indulging them anyway.
Keiran continued, “Now, to be fair, everything looks a little off because of the plating. Earthrealm...”
Larial motioned Mal'tory aside, whispered something, and dropped a privacy spell.
Without turning, I strong eyed the 3 o’clock cam, but EVI had already launched the lip reading alpha test which so far only worked well on elves I had gotten lots of speech data with in good lighting who also had “standard accents” that didn’t veer into heavy vernacular like Keiran or Belnor. Luckily, that included these two.
[A110 APPRENTICE LARIAL (FRIENDLY): The {soma-dissectant} duplicants failed to thrive, as you predicted. Perhaps the council should recall you to interpret prophecies. (NOVEL WORDS PRESENT! HIGH PARSING CONFIDENCE)] Reading the word ‘duplicant’ in this room made my spine crawl.
The apprentice politely averted her eyes to the floor in lieu of a bow that would draw attention. [LARIAL: May I inquire into the source of your sagacity, Professor, to further my horticultural knowledge?]
The duplicants were made from my plants?
EVI’s spirograph gyrated in a yellow triangle-knot like it had a realization and popped out two infoboxes titled “cloning plants via micropropagation” and “LREF protocols to mitigate agricultural espionage, unwanted crossbreeding, and invasive potential using genetic use-restriction technology” and slid them unexpanded into the secondary priority collapsible of my HUD.
Taking the VI’s ‘word’ for it, I refocused on the conversation.
[A02 PROFESSOR MAL'TORY (HOSTILE): My wisdom was rooted not in vegetable aspects but rather the possessive and paranoid character of their animal source. I foresaw the final act when your memorandum stated the Groundskeeper was convinced the pollen was sterile. (HIGH PARSING CONFIDENCE)]
[LARIAL: I am prepared to try again, if you can obtain more fresh samples.] I couldn’t hear her voice, but her demeanor read tired.
[MAL'TORY: Disabling the chef’s alarms and venturing into another house of pranks is far too tiresome. I would rather obtain another point in my contest with Professor Astur.], Mal'tory almost let himself chuckle like he had a private joke but snapped back to seriousness, [Request a point of personal privilege if you wish to discuss this matter further, out of line of sight.] I had barely got this program launched and he was already getting suspicious!? Sure, Mal'tory was right on the money, but he had no right to call me paranoid!
The two, side-eyeing me without knowing I was side-eyeing the hell out of them, started meandering back in our direction.
And I returned from that high-stakes, cloak and whispers spy saga to find Keiran, Astur, and Belnor three glasses deep into what I can only call the conversational equivalent of moon food while Vanavan impishly snuck extra milk chocolate curls, magically flicking one to Larial to buy her silence when she made a face at him. Tonal whiplash seemed to be the menu theme of the night.
Keiran was describing boxed meals, “... a puzzle-form lunchbox of many layers, and the self-cooking military ‘Emma-Ree’ which discards all pretenses of decorum and most of edibility for field longevity. To explore potential paths to the cultural reformation of Earthrealm’s obsession with maximal compactification of anything and everything into boxlike forms, I am putting forth that necessary first foot into the foreign ... by establishing a single booth table right in the kitchen.”
“Now, several adjacent realms had kingdoms where diplomats and nobility were served intimately so they could oversee preparations as security against poisoning. But these kitchenary developments were motivated by mistrust and habitual anarchy, not cultural devotion to the rectangular.”
“To pull down that final barrier and truly emboxify the entire dining experience requires both a brigade de cuisine of supreme confidence and honored guests possessing the highest caliber of civility in a state of mutual trust so that the pace of the kitchen hierarchy and the flow of guestly conversation is not disrupted. I do have my doubts, but if Earthrealm can attempt, then Nexus can achieve,” Keiran concluded his rousing officer’s speech.
“Well, if you’ll be baking more sponges, enroll me as your lab elf! And tour me through those newrealm borosilicates and maybe your wine closet along the way!” Belnor guffawed.
“Periodic inspections to ensure compliance with the Academy’s standards and moral duties would be wise.” Astur seemed pleased with the idea. Larial was too busy snagging the last milk chocolate flower petals before Vanavan snarfed them.
Mal'tory, having had enough interactions with Earth-made boxes for one lifetime, immediately gave up trying to parse that half-heard nonsense and swiftly finished his glass. He didn’t share his headspace with a surly VI that could instantly summarize the prior conversation for me to speed read.
Keiran, knowing ringmaster of this conversational circus, was rather more sober than the others. “Course, I have to get approval from the admiral of my operation.”
“Er, if you think everything is squared away go ahead and open up your restaurant. I think a chef’s table in the kitchen does sound very fancy, Chef Keiran, but if you think putting things in boxes is a disease, maybe I don’t want to be cured.”
“Textbook. Absolutely textbook anti-reformative polemic.” Astur looked like he had a thunderous epiphany. He also looked a tad rosy in the cheeks.
“Emboxified, you could say,” Vanavan bantered jovially at me.
I flipped over to the helmet mic, “Uh, huh. Good luck ‘emboxifying’ whatever the heck that ‘out-boxing Earthrealm’ reformation talk was about for the sociologists, EVI.”
It beeped and its avatar briefly collapsed into a square.
“Set objective, lowest priority, mail reminder one week after I return to Earth to send whoever snuck banter mode onto you a box of chocolate doughnuts from that one bakery near Auntie’s apartment, the one that makes them square shaped.” ❧
This is a completed, four-part fanfiction loosely based on StopDownloadin's Eat Well, Live Free. Thank you to StopDownloadin for beta reading.