I finally finished Secrets of Grindea on the hardest difficulty, getting the true ending and 100% completion ingame, took me about 30 hours which I think is very reasonable, doesn't overstay its welcome. Here's a short review in case anyone is thinking of getting it, no spoilers of course.
Story:
As the game tries to emulate SNES JRPGs, the story consists of you collecting various macguffins to achieve your goal that becomes clear as you progress through the game. That's all I can say without spoilers.
Music:
It's very good, one of the game's strongest parts. You got cheerful songs that make you forget about your worries, you got spooky songs, you got desert theme, you got sick orchestral songs. It's overall very good, one issue is that most of the songs are roughly a 1 minute loop so you will get tired of them eventually.
Controls:
They are not the tightest, I often found myself shielding in the wrong direction because the shield came out slightly too late or using a skill in the wrong direction, it just doesn't feel tight enough especially for the later bosses. The hitboxes in the game are also very bad.
Gameplay:
As the name implies, there is grinding. As I said at the start it took me about 30 hours grinding included, multiple retries at bosses to learn them so it's on the lighter side of JRPG grinds. The gameplay has a lot of variety with 2 melee skill trees, 4 magic skill trees and 9 utility skills that are neither and 3 separate passive skill trees so there is a decent amount of variety and player expression. I tried out a bunch of the skills and they all mostly felt good, I played a melee tanky 2 hander.
The main thing you will be grinding for is cards which give you small stat boosts that add up, for 100% you will also be grinding for enemy specific drops which are usually 1% or less droprate or materials to craft every item for completion. Cards start at a very low droprate depending on the enemy, some enemies start at 1% but most start below 0.5%, however there is a pity system that slowly increases your chance and I don't think I needed more than 400 kills of any enemy to get their cards.
Balance:
The balance is very questionable. In my experience 2H was significantly worse than 1H but I'm stubborn so I refused to switch, I never used basic attacks on 2H because they are very slow and their damage does not make up for it, I bonked everything to death with the slam attack. Armor is kind of useless unless you specifically stack it. Hybrid builds are not very good because you will just not deal enough damage, you can also only max out 2 spells completely by level 40 which is the soft level cap. Skills past a level need Gold Skill Points which you don't get a lot of.
Utility skills are amazing so they will be taking up majority of your hotkey slots, they also only cost 3 points to max out so their value is massive.
I think balance needs some work but it's not gamebreaking.
Puzzles:
I'm not a puzzle guy but the puzzles were pretty fun. You got usual sokoban, you got bouncy mirror puzzles, you got math puzzles, you have treasure maps with images and poems. They are mostly easy and don't take a lot of time to do with the exception of a few optional puzzles.
Enemies:
You got basic things like slimes, rabbits, boars, but there is also sand golem, ghosts, yetis, stone statues, teleports behind you man. The overall enemy design and roster is very varied and they are all unique but there is one problem. During grinding, the longer you stay in a room the more enemies will spawn and this gets really bad after halfway into the game because there is a lot of enemies that got massive attacks or shoot projectiles nonstop so the entire screen will be covered in projectiles and you cannot see. Enemies can also interrupt your spellcasting if you get hit, there is a passive that gives you a chance not to get interrupted the more armor you have but if you are a spellcaster, you don't have enough armor to use that effectively, even my melee bonker with 150 defense often got interrupted which is very annoying.
Bosses:
The part I'm the most mixed about. There is a lot of gimmicky bosses, some normal bosses that are just dodge checks and some bosses that will make you want to turn the game off. There is a lot of bosses that take from the enemies in filling the screen with projectiles nonstop but the lack of tightness in the controls makes dodging them very annoying. There are bosses that are multiple bosses so you have to pay attention to 4 different things and try to block all of them at once which you can't so you will get hit unfairly because you can't look at everything at once. Of course every boss can be beaten with a little trying or grinding but majority of them wasn't very fun, the rest of the game is but the bosses feel like they were made for a different game.
The game also has an issue with insane difficulty spikes out of nowhere.
True Final Boss:
This needs its own section.
It took me about 3 hours to beat him and he was incredibly hard but for the wrong reasons. Its attacks are randomized and they can overlap in various ways, some way harder to dodge than others so it becomes a really RNG heavy fight when the fight is supposed to be pure skill with no cheese strats. On the highest difficulty, the fight takes away your health potion and your magic bubble so you cannot use them, it's meant as a fight to show your mastery of the game. It requires really split second parries and turns and really tight dodging but as mentioned above, the controls aren't the greatest so you will get hit when you thought you blocked the attack combined with dodgy hitboxes.
It's a very cinematic fight though and I am 100% happy that I spent the effort into getting the fight and actually learning it despite all of its issues.
Overall:
I think the game is a very solid 7/10, it has its issues but it's still a great game even if it pissed me off in a couple of places and I would definitely recommend. I haven't even touched the arcade mode yet which has its own story and own gameplay, I'll do that later.

I wasn't planning on watching Thrice Upon A Time. I had not liked the previous films and they seemed like a very inferior product compared to the original anime. However, the good reviews and opinions I saw about it encouraged me to do so. I did it with as open and tolerant a mind as possible, knowing that there was a good chance I wouldn't like the film. "What's the worst that could happen? That I don't like it and continue to prefer the original series? At least I'll be entertained for two and a half hours," I thought. What I did not expect at all is the deep feeling of disgust and repulsion that this film provoked in me, in a way that no other film has provoked in years.
I hated the movie from start to finish. I could spend hours talking about the boring action sequences, about its ugly, excessive CGI that ruins the already ugly mecha, about its disgusting hypersexualization of fucking 14-year-old girls, about how Misato's plans don't make sense, about how Last Kiss almost made me tear my ears off, or its plot full of Deus Ex Machinas with concepts conveniently taken by Hideaki Anno from the place that his last name suggests; but the real reason I'm writing this is because I feel like these movies spit on everything the excellent original work represents.
Not only because as adaptations they fail miserably, but also because they retroactively damage the original work (we'll talk about that later).
Before I begin to explain why the rebuilds are bad adaptations, I want to warn that I am going to do a relatively exhaustive review of the 4 films, so this rant is going to be very long, like staying up late on a winter night with chronic insomnia. That said, let's start to see the reasons:
WHAT IS NEON GENESIS EVANGELION?:
To understand why rebuilds fail as remakes, I must first ask you, dear reader: What does Neon Genesis Evangelion mean to you? (it should at least be familiar to you, unless you've spent your life under a bridge) What do you think about when you read that title, apart from Shinji fucking in front of a comatose Asuka? What comes to mind when you hear the most famous opening in anime history, apart from Shinji strangling the otter against Happy Thursday's throat? (in more ways than one). If your answer is: "It's a mecha anime for emos with a coomer protagonist", that's fine, I respect that; but please press the red "X" in the top right corner of your screen, you can now leave.
Now, I'm going to get serious and explain my definition: Evangelion is a work about the hedgehog's dilemma and the difficulties of forming emotional bonds that human beings have, as well as the consequences of trying to separate from them for fear of rejection. It is not a story about heroes. It's not a story about saving the world. In Evangelion there are neither heroes nor villains, but rather a group of emotionally broken characters trying to be happy in a world just as broken as them. The real enemy of Evangelion is not the angels. It is the lack of communication and empathy.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilema_del_erizo
It is that same lack of communication and empathy that progressively causes everything to go to hell to conclude with a cathartic and bleak ending, but consistent with the themes of the work. It is therefore an existentialist work about human relationships disguised as a mecha anime. This, added to a unique visual style, daring direction, and mechas like never before seen on television, made Evangelion one of the most influential anime in all of history, as well as a true commercial success for Gainax Studio. Success that encouraged other studios to carry out projects such as Cowboy Bebop or Serial Experiment Lain, taking anime towards a new golden age.
Even today you can hear the echoes of that Third Impact of End of Evangelion in 1997. The list of works influenced by Evangelion both inside and outside of Japan is endless. Of course, it is not a perfect work, nor extensive in errors: its target audience is ambiguous, many of the biblical references are more for decoration than anything else, and several aspects of the ending(s) could have been explained better. However, many of these errors can be attributed to a lack of time and budget during the production of the original anime (which was quite chaotic and improvised); therefore, they are understandable and forgivable.
In summary, we can conclude that Evangelion is a dark, introspective, provocative and unique work (at least at its time). This is also combined with a unique visual identity and complex characters whose relationships intertwine and interconnect throughout the work. The sum of all these factors is what led Evangelion to be such a critically acclaimed work that it transcended its own genre and became an icon of popular culture. And this in turn constitutes the biggest mistake of rebuilds; because they commit the biggest sin that an adaptation can commit: denying everything that made the original work great.
ADAPTING WITHOUT A CLEAR PURPOSE:
One of the biggest problems with these remakes (as well as a clear example of what I'm saying) is their total narrative inconsistency. Let me explain: the first rebuilds movie (1.11) is a literal copy-paste of the first 6 chapters of the original anime, with practically the same scenes, dialogues and even music. This makes the film completely redundant and unnecessary (and makes one wonder why it exists); But in any case, the message is being conveyed that the purpose of these remakes is to adapt the original series as faithfully as possible to the cinema with a current animation style.
However, the second movie (2.22) is a... something. A pastiche of new and old things where the plot broadly follows that of the original anime, but with many things changed (of course, for the worse) and a different ending. All this compressing no less than 14 chapters of the original anime into two and a half hours. Here the message that one can infer is that it seeks to adapt the original story (very briefly) by changing and rearranging certain elements, now more in line with what an adaptation is.
However, then we get to 3.33 and... well, after a 14-year because reasons timeskip, we're now in a post-post-apocalyptic world (repetition intended) where ex-Nerv members fight against Nerv itself. Nerv in giant spaceships, there are mechas everywhere, Misato is a sociopath, and Shinji and Asuka still look exactly the same because "DAMN JEBA." Here we can infer that what is sought is to create a totally new story and take it in different directions than the original. The following movie (3.0+1.01) is the only one that is consistent with this purpose.
Whether all these narrative pirouettes were planned in advance or not (clearly not), we can see that there is a clear incongruity between what is intended to be done and what is finally done. All of this generates a strong narrative chaos where the elements and themes of the original anime are mixed with the new ones, creating a total inconsistency. Since also in 3.0+1.01 it is revealed (unfortunately to me) that everything is part of the same universe and this is not really a remake, the excuse of "they are different universes, they don't have to be the same" doesn't work either.
In fact, one thing that you will see me comment a lot throughout this article is the lack of narrative consistency of these remakes, especially in comparison to the original work.
A HEDGEHOG WITHOUT TICKS:
No character in Evangelion better embodies the central theme of the work than Shinji Ikari, its own protagonist. Shinji is not a hero: he is not brave. He is not a genius. He is not charismatic. He is not selfless. He doesn't want to save the world. His reason for piloting the Eva is to gain recognition and appreciation from others; especially from his father, whom he hates, but at the same time admires; He feels that she despises him, but he also wants (and needs) that she loves him. Shinji spends the entire series in the dilemma between escaping from what hurts him (classic avoidance behavior) or accepting it and moving on, even at the risk of being hurt again.
This theme is rock solid throughout the entire original series: from the first to the last chapter of the anime, and from minute one to the very end of End of Evangelion. Even the opening itself makes several visual references to Shinji's hedgehog dilemma. This can make Shinji an infuriating character for audiences accustomed to typical anime protagonists; but it's those same things that make Shinji such a unique and special character. He deconstructs and subverts the hero's journey. And it's not as if this hinders the plot: Shinji is not proactive, but he also does not spend the series crying, as many often claim.
https://files.catbox.moe/eolho0.mp4
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomito
And as you may already be imagining, the Shinji of the rebuilds does not have a hedgehog's dilemma. Or rather, he has it, but only during the first movie (copy-paste of the original anime) and part of the second. This is a problem, because it creates a strong narrative inconsistency (again) where it seems that two Shinjis exist at the same time or that this one is bipolar. As of 3.33, Shinji's entire character arc is based on trying to redeem himself for his past mistakes first by unleashing "Almost Third Impact" (what a stupid name) and subsequently preventing Kaworu's death while trying to right said mistake.
Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. The problem is that I have already seen the arc of the hero who fails to eventually rise up and succeed in 100 trillion works, while the hedgehog's dilemma in none more than in Evangelion (at least in my case). Which makes Shinji a much less interesting character. Some might argue that in 3.0 + 1.01 Shinji does have such a dilemma because he spends half the movie crawling on the ground; but there is not a hedgehog's dilemma, but rather depression for having seen Kaworu's head go KAWOOM (I know, the joke was very bad, but if he didn't do it, I would explode too).
End of Evangelion's Shinji did have such a dilemma because the reason for his depression was having been manipulated and used by someone he had previously opened up to and then forced to kill him, not for failing in his mission (in fact, he was very efficient in her mission to separate Kaworu's head from her body), which in turn brings sexual (and later, deadly) results for Asuka. I insist: narrative consistency. But this is not the worst: the worst thing is that at certain moments in these films, Shinji becomes the typical shonen savior hero, betraying the central point of his character in the original series.
https://youtu.be/E-x-f2OrWeA
A perfect example of this is the ending of 2.22, where the fight in chapter 19 (COINCENTLY from where the original anime starts to get more introspective) is transformed into a ridiculous shipping attempt, with Rei turned into a damsel in distress and Shinji into a savior hero while spouting all the typical cliché lines, topped off with a disgustingly cheesy ending. But of course, how could it end otherwise? With Shinji's Eva practicing cannibalism on Zeruel's corpse (the original scene)? Too disturbing for current times. Shinji and Rei fighting as a team to defeat him? Yes of course. Rei has enough not being in the kitchen. Besides, Asuka already takes care of that, hoping to receive her alpha male's cock as a reward.
https://youtu.be/TPS0Uk0TkP0
Because, like any good modern anime protagonist, Shinji now has a harem.
FETISHING WITHOUT CONTROL:
Of all the characters who are now part of Shinji's harem, the one who is most harmed by this is Rei (Asuka's case is different, and the other character is an infernal creation from Anno's sick mind). Not only because acting like a bitch in heat goes totally against her personality and because of the murky situation, considering that she is a clone of Shinji's mother, but also because her character is reduced to a mere fetish object that does things cute to produce tenderness in the viewer and make coomers buy their figurines.
Rei is an interesting character because he raises numerous existential questions based on the ship of Theseus paradox: the concept of identity, to what extent we can consider ourselves still ourselves, the construction and definition of a "self", etc. But here, her screen time piloting her Unit 00 is minimal (COINCENTLY most of it in 1.11) and her exploits are practically irrelevant or non-existent, also being reduced to a mere damsel in distress at the end of 2.22, as I said before.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradoja_de_Teseo
In 3.0+1.01 he doesn't even get to pilot an Eva. Her role in the film is to cause pity and produce tenderness with her total ignorance (I see that the idiot Anno forgot that all the Reis are born with basic knowledge) while she is seen with different hairstyles, different outfits, working as a farmer, taking care of a baby, etc. In short, a fetish object where she wants the public to value her for how "moe" she is instead of for her abilities or as a character. In Anno's mind, feminism advances in reverse. Ironic, considering that it was precisely Rei who unintentionally started the moe culture.
Of course, it goes without saying that Rei is not the only one who suffers from this extreme fetishization of her character in these films. Under the excuse of paying homage to End of Evangelion, Asuka now always wears an eye patch (needless to say it has nothing to do with having been injured there), a cap with cat ears, in addition to having a very convenient trend for the coomer public of walking naked and semi-naked through other people's houses. She sometimes puts on the plugsuit, but near the end of the movie, it is conveniently torn off, lest we forget that this is made by the Japanese.
One of the best examples of how this hareminication has destroyed the main female characters is in the elevator scene. In the original anime, Rei tries to advise Asuka in a time of particular vulnerability and depression. Rei's limited social skills, coupled with Asuka being Asuka, cause her to misinterpret the attempt to help as mockery and an act of condescension, triggering a slap from her towards Rei and a worsening of her already strained relationship and Asuka's mental state. Rei doesn't fight back because she knows that doing so would only make things even worse.
It is an excellent dramatic scene because it once again brings to the foreground the hedgehog's dilemma and the difficulties between human relationships, very much in line with what Evangelion is. In 2.22, this scene is gratuitously introduced and turned into two horny bitches fighting over which of the two will let their alpha male penetrate first, with a highly OC Rei stopping the assault attempt in a 100% gangsta way to make her see more "cool." The scene doesn't even make plot sense, because Asuka at that moment is not even depressed, and in the original anime this occurs at a much later time under a very different context.
and speaking of asuka...
SOMEONE CALLED ASUKA:
When I started watching these movies, I was afraid that Asuka's character had undergone modifications to make her more "palatable" to new audiences. What took me completely by surprise was how radically different this Asuka is from the original. So different that they can't even be considered the same character. To show it very clearly, we are going to review the personality of both:
Asuka from the original anime: An energetic and outgoing half-German, half-Japanese girl (actually it's 1/4, but who cares) who loves to be the center of attention and have everyone praise her due to the lack of parental love received during her childhood having been abandoned by her father and supplanted by her mother, who suffered from severe mental disorders. She is extremely proud and competitive because she feels that being Eva's pilot is the only thing that gives her an identity and purpose, which makes her tend to become quickly frustrated when things don't go her way and become defensive when she feels like she is being outmaneuvered. . He loves to make fun of others (especially Shinji), to the point of being cruel at times, but he does not do it out of malice, but rather to compensate for his enormous inferiority complex due to the rejection suffered by his mother and having witnessed her. committed suicide (and possibly even tried to kill her) the day she was chosen as Eva's pilot and came running to wish her a Happy Thursday. She admires Kaji and wants to fuck him because she hates her own adolescence, she needs to feel adult and independent due to suffering from a certain Electra complex for having lacked a true father figure during her childhood. She has a sweet and vulnerable nature, but she rarely expresses it to anyone except her best friend Hikari and I better stop this now because too much text.
Rebuild Asuka (hereinafter "Asuka"): A girl soldier created by Nerv as part of a series of clones who has always been alone and thinks she doesn't need anyone, although she secretly wishes to have a family. She hits and insults others for no reason, she yells a lot, never smiles or makes jokes, and hates socializing with others, which doesn't stop her from looking for Shinji's dick within 2 days of meeting him. She always plays video games while someone is talking to her and at night she talks to herself with a doll like an autistic person.
As we can see, these two characters not only look nothing alike: several of their traits directly contradict each other. Because they look alike, they are not even alike in aesthetics: the original Asuka had red hair and dressed in the traditional feminine way, while "Asuka" is light brown and dresses in a tomboy style (which I'm not saying is wrong, I'm just commenting to show the radical difference). It's not that they have changed Asuka: it's that they have directly murdered her to supplant her by someone with whom she only shares her first name (not even her last name). And needless to say, the change has been VERY for the worse.
To describe the first character, I had to spend 15 damn lines, and even then I had to leave out many important facets of his personality, his development in the original series and his entire character arc in EoE, because if I didn't have one endless bible For the second, 6 lines were enough for me, and I could have had more left over if I had been more concise. The first character is a complex and three-dimensional character, with multiple facets, edges and layers. She feels like a real person. The second character is a generic tsundere that you can find in any mecha anime of the week. She is not even comparable to the first; She's not even a good character.
We cannot speak of Flanderization because not even the most basic traits of the character have been respected. Nor can we speak of a deconstruction because that same absence of basic traits means that there is no character construction on which to stand in the first place. Obviously, this change greatly resents the interactions between characters: the original Asuka was a charismatic and fun character with the ability to drive the plot on her own (as soon as she appears in chapter 8 of the original anime she is already changing the entire dynamic between characters) , while "Asuka" is mostly only in the background or to fight; He doesn't even have a character arc as such. In fact, in 2.22 he has even less screen time than several supporting characters.
His chemistry with Shinji is also non-existent (and I'm not just referring to the romantic level) and they barely have any development together. They like each other here because... ehhhh... she likes how he cooks and he thinks she's hot? It's not that the AsuShinji (or ShinSuka, or whatever the hell it's called) here is forced: it's just that it doesn't even make sense. The only reason people still ship them together is because they did it in the 90s. Yūko Miyamura's performance also feels very lackadaisical and lacks passion, which is quite unlike her. Although perhaps this is intentional, since her character always talks as if she has the spear of Longinus permanently stuck up her rectum. In fact, the few times she says her iconic "Anta baka?" This one feels very forced, in addition to not having her characteristic high-pitched tone.
In short, the character has suffered the same fetishization as Rei (gamer girl, tomboy, one-eyed, etc.), but also with the aggravating factor that not even her basic characteristics have been respected here. This is especially disconcerting when we take into account that the rest of the characters have their original personalities more or less intact (albeit simplified). Even more disconcerting if we take into account that Asuka is possibly the most popular character in all of Evangelion, and even more so if we consider that she is Anno's favorite character (in fact, the initial idea was for Asuka to be the protagonist).
https://evaresources.wordpress.com/der-mond/
Given this, the inevitable question arises: "Why?" What was the point of turning Asuka into an inferior and tsundere copy of Rei, even more so when there are already three clones? It has always been rumored that Asuka is not popular in Japan, but that is completely false. The only semi-rational explanation I can think of is that they did it to please the haters. It's no secret that a portion within the Evangelion fandom (and outside of it) hates Asuka with a passion. They see her as someone toxic and cruel who dedicates herself to screwing others for no reason, without understanding that you don't have to like a well-written character.
https://imgur.com/a/KznXE1x
What these people fail to understand is that Asuka's verbal abuse is a defense mechanism to avoid opening up to others, since Asuka constantly says things that do not fit with what she really feels or thinks (clear proof is chapter 16 from the original series). It's not like it matters much, considering they were never more than an extremely vocal minority. That the character is so popular is proof of this. The great irony of all this is that the new "Asuka" is a much more unpleasant and detestable character than the original, since she lacks the redeemable qualities of the original and her moments of comic relief.
And if until now I have been more or less benevolent with this remake, this is something I cannot forgive: because changing a character just because a group of people doesn't like it is one of the most cowardly and pathetic acts in the world. that a writer can fall. The fact that this was also at the expense of one of the best female characters in the history of anime and with a wonderful story arc makes it even more bloody. Any other halfway competent writer would have responded with this.
https://youtu.be/5Js0ea6yPKM
...although if we go by Ockham's razor, the most likely explanation is simply that Hideaki Anno is mentally retarded.
A CHARACTER TO DESTROY A FRANCHISE AND BIND IT TO DARKNESS:
Mari Makinami Illustrious A.K.A María Iskariote (what an appropriate last name) is one of the worst creations ever made by humans. Not since the atomic bombs has humanity created something so horrible. Worse than the holocaust. Worse than fascism. Worse than Facebook memes. Worse than stepping on a lego. I would even dare to say that it is worse than pizza with pineapple. No character better reflects Anno's mental decline or better embodies all the problems of the current anime industry than this trash.
This character contributes absolutely nothing to the plot, he does not contribute at any time to its advancement, he lacks his own development or story, he does absolutely nothing relevant in the 3 films in which he appears, and he does not even have a defined personality. So much so, that all of her scenes could be eliminated or replaced by any other character and she would barely affect the plot, or not affect it at all.
The character is so frighteningly one-dimensional that she doesn't even show different emotions or moods during the three films in which she appears, always being perpetually happy and carefree even in tense situations for literally no reason. This leads to moments as surreal as her starting to sing and hum in scenes that are intended to be serious or dramatic (or so I think; perhaps what they wanted was to turn this into an unintentional comedy), again generating a gigantic narrative dissonance. The last third of 3.33 is the best example of this.
But that's not the worst: this character is clearly made for otaku coomers to masturbate to. She has almost every fetish possible: glasses/lenses (whatever they call it in your country), pigtails, miniskirt, schoolgirl, saying "nya", big tits, obsession with smell and tight outfits, etc. To make matters worse in 3.0 + 1.01 we discover that she is 48 years old, so we can also add the milf fetish. Evidently, her tits always bounce in her plugsuit (she would swear that never happened in the original series) and there are many close-ups of her ass. In addition to constantly making sexual advances towards Shinji, which also turns this piece of shit into a potential pedophile.
If the thing simply ended there, we could say that this character remains a mere annoying and unnecessary secondary character. Unfortunately, the character is also disruptive to the plot, occupying long filler scenes that do nothing more than waste time that is already scarce in a film, and that could have been used on something else more interesting; like Pen Pen watching TV, Pen Pen eating a sardine, etc. Without going any further, both 2.22, 3.33 and 3.0+1.01 begin with a long filler scene of her hitting on her. Well, to be honest, the 3.33 one is more Asuka, but this abortion is still out there fucking and singing.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that discussing why this character exists is much more interesting than any other debate that can be created about these films. I still think about it. However, the ending of 3.0+1.01 gives a good clue: the character was created solely and exclusively to stay with Shinji. I can only imagine that Anno made this tired of the fandom shipping and the arguments over who Shinji should stay with, so he decided to end the matter by creating his own ideal waifu with all the fetishes he likes in a woman to end it. with this. It's disgusting, but considering we're talking about a Japanese, totally possible.
It's surreal coming from the man who harshly criticized the use of anime as escapism and the excessive female objectification and sexualization in it, but it's the only semi-decent explanation I can think of. Basically, he is what is called a mascot character in literature. That would explain why this character never shows doubts, nor any kind of internal conflict, or why he is a better Eva pilot than Asuka and Rei themselves. It is also very revealing about the quality of the Rebuilds: creating a self-insert OC just to be the partner of the protagonist or another main character is the quintessential trait of all bad fanfiction.
However, among all this tsunami of disqualifications, I also have to say something positive: spending three movies giving hope to the shippers only to have Shinji be cuckolded simultaneously by Rei and Asuka in the last one and end up with a character with which had zero development (before 3.0+1.01 I didn't even know its name) is a true trolling masterclass, worthy of the best of ball pumpers. Only a true emperor of evil would have come up with such a twisted and at the same time perfect way to screw over a large part of the fandom. I give you my tens, Anno.
THE ANTI-UNIVERSE OF ANTI-NARRATIVE:
Of all the new concepts that Anno brings up at the last minute from the place named after his last name, none stands out more than the "anti-universe." Or, as I like to call it, the "anti-good writing." Basically because it perfectly represents all the problems of the rebuilds and their script. In the final stretch of 3.0+1.01 we have the last-minute revelation of a quantum plane of existence capable of turning imagined worlds into reality and changing this through Lilith, which cannot be understood by the human mind (wow, WHAT CONVENIENT!) and whose existence has never been mentioned or even hinted at in the entire franchise until CONCIDENTLY the aforementioned last third of the film.
In other words, a gigantic Deus Ex Machina created in an improvised way to avoid repeating End of Evangelion and forcing a happy ending where Shinji creates an ideal universe for each character (although that is questionable, as we will see later). And it is far from being the only one: the spear of Cassius, the Eva of Infinity, the key of Nebuchadnezzar, the Book of Life, and so on. None of these concepts are integrated into the plot in an organic and natural way, but rather they arise spontaneously at its convenience when it needs it. Except for the new "Super Berserker Mode" of the Evas, which is simply a power-up to sell figurines.
As I said before, if at least this were an alternate universe separate from the original anime, all this bombardment of concepts pulled out of the ass would be a little better justified. But the revelation that everything is a cycle and we are in the same universe as the original work only makes it even worse, generating countless inconsistencies about why they never mentioned this or never used that (what's the point of the seeds of life If you can create universes simply by imagining them?). Although without a doubt, the worst of all these new concepts is "the curse of Eve."
Here we have a new concept with very strong repercussions completely launched, which is not even an explanation in itself, it does not answer anything and to make matters worse, the same films contradict each other several times. Needless to say, this is a cheap excuse for the three main characters not to grow up and continue sexualizing 14-year-old girls after the most gratuitous timeskip ever seen. And speaking of timeskip, putting such a long one in the middle of the story is a first-time writing error. If you are writers, never do that: the bigger the time jump, the more things you will be forced to explain, since the less you do it, the more plot holes will form as a result.
And of course, here it explains little to nothing of what happened these 14 years. Like where Nerv got such a tremendous base from, if in 3.33 it seemed that together with Rei and Kaworu it was made up of four people. Or how they have gotten such an army of pseudo-Evas, especially when these are supposed to be extremely expensive (wow, and SEELE with all her unlimited resources was barely 9 in EoE). Or worse yet, how Kaji managed to stop Almost Third Impact (seriously, the name couldn't be stupider). None of these questions are answered at any time. Obviously because they can't do it.
Evangelion has always been characterized by leaving things up to the public's interpretation, but here I feel that they are vilely taking advantage of it so as not to have to give any kind of explanations. And in the case at hand, do not even pay attention to contradictions. Like Touji and Kensuke got on Unit 01 and that doesn't stop them from being 28 after the timeskip. Or that Mari appears to be 14 despite looking like an adult in Gendo's photos and flashbacks, plus the fact that Evas, by simple logic, could not exist back then.
The height of absurdity is when near the end of 3.0+1.01 the "unexpected" revelation occurs (actually we all saw it coming) that everything is a cycle and we are facing a reboot of the original timeline, of which only Kaworu seems to be conscious. He let them guess without giving them any clues how many times Kaworu mentioned or even hinted at such a thing in the original series. Needless to say, nothing is ever explained about it: Who created that cycle? (Adam? Lilith? The First Ancestral Race? Hideaki Anno's last name?) For what purpose? How does it work? How long does it last? Why is Kaworu the only one who remembers him? Do these remakes make sense?
THE DEATH OF A STYLE:
Fortress-cities folding in on themselves. Designs and constructions oscillating between the nineties, the utopian and the cyberpunk. Meshes of flesh and blood animated with the souls of the dead fighting with classical music in the background. A mysterious and ambiguous lore where aliens, technology and conspiracies mix with gnostic, cabalistic elements and the most esoteric aspects of Christianity (did the History Channel predict Evangelion?). Minimalist posters moving quickly between frames. Monochrome backgrounds flashing aggressively (bad luck if you were epileptic). So consistent with its themes that the A.T. fields themselves. They were an allegory of the hedgehog's dilemma (I'm not making this up, Kaworu himself says it in chapter 23).
https://imgur.com/a/2M0eDVK
The sum of all these factors is what allowed Evangelion to build an absolutely unique identity, the one that allowed people to say "hey, that's an Eva!". Starting in 3.33, all that is lost to disappear in 3.0+1.01 in favor of giant spaceships, mechanical mechas made of pure CGI, battles full of colored lights, multiverses and time loops. I'm not saying these elements are bad in and of themselves, but I've already seen a thousand mecha stories with these. For that, I start watching any of the versions of Gundam or Macross. I could also complain about the boring shots without audiovisual language and always using the same color palette, but to be fair, that is an endemic evil of current anime.
And like any bad remake, 3.0+1.01 can't help but pay homage to several scenes from the original work, completely failing to understand the point of said scenes. As an example, we have Ritsuko shooting Gendo for no reason other than to pay homage to End of Evangelion, ignoring that the context between both scenes is very different. Furthermore, here they never explain the relationship that exists between the two, so the scene makes no sense; especially for those who never saw the original series, who will also find mentions of facts that these films have never shown or bothered to explain.
Even worse is when they try to pay homage to the iconic battle between Asuka and the Eva Series. Not only because of the total absence of the graphic violence and choreography of the original, but because what makes that fight so remembered is its emotional component, since it is preceded by a narrative catharsis in which Asuka discovers that the Her mother's soul was always in Unit 02, in addition to being marked by the constant tension of knowing if she will be able to finish the fight before the Eva's energy supply runs out. Here the Evas never run out of energy (why do they need the power supply, then?), so there is no such tension.
In the original fight Asuka may not be shooting 1387945 Evas with a super cannon larger than her as she falls through an... interdimensional hole?; But there you feel every blow, you can appreciate every movement in detail, and the dramatic tension in crescendo only improves the result. If this were a shonen, the logical thing is that Asuka would win. After all, her character arc has been wrapped up in a climactic way. Unfortunately, this is Evangelion. When the Evas Series manage to cause a mortal wound with the pseudo-spear of Longinus and the energy counter reads zero, the outcome is already decided. What happens next is horrific (Asuka's enemies are cruel to her even after she is dead), and just as horrifying are Yūko Miyamura's screams and Miki Nagasawa's performance as Maya announcing that Asuka is dead. In the Rebuilds there are no performances anywhere near that level.
End of Evangelion will be as dark and uncomfortable to watch as you want, but it is a film where all those responsible put their souls into achieving the best possible result, both on a technical and artistic level.
and well, I think that for today I have already downloaded too much, an apology for the large amount of text, I will make a second part at another time because I have so many things to comment on... anyway, I hope you have a good day/afternoon/night or when you read this .

Hello /AnimeFigures, and welcome again to the Bootleg Megathread!
Please use this thread to post any and all questions you might have regarding counterfeit figures. This includes questions such as “Is my figure a bootleg?” and “Can I trust this seller?”.
Remember to be as detailed as possible when asking for help. Provide clear pictures (ideally, multiple) or a link to the item you’re looking to buy, depending on what you’re asking. Let us know why you think this might be a bootleg, or why you don’t trust this seller. Also keep in mind that different types of figures vary in quality. For example, a prize figure won't have the same level of detail or quality as a scaled figure.
As bootlegs are a serious problem for anyone who enjoys collecting, we are also happy to provide you with a few tips to spotting them yourselves. We encourage you guys to practice these tips before posting here.

For figures you already have:

• Examine your retailer. Are they known to sell counterfeits? Keep in mind that all retailers on the sidebar are approved by /AnimeFigures, and do not sell bootlegs.
  
• Was the price far lower then the current average?
  
• Check MFC for known counterfeits. If a figure has any there will be red text indicating so on that figure’s listing. Click on the red text to see pictures of the bootleg.
  
• Compare yours to the counterfeit and the user pictures- Do not compare yours to the prototype. (Comparison tip: Start with the hair. I usually find that the be the easiest place to spot differences!)
  
• Look for poor quality paint jobs, materials, or sculpt work (lots of "coloring outside the lines", shiny skin, missing textures or gradients, ect).
  
• Examine the box. Some bootleg boxes are very easy to spot, and some- not so much. Look for a holo sticker of authenticity.
  

Past Bootleg Megathreads can be found here, for reference only. Please be sure to only post in the current one.

For figures you're looking to buy:

General Tips:

• Examine your retailer. Are they known to sell counterfeits? Keep in mind that all retailers on the sidebar are approved by /AnimeFigures, and do not sell bootlegs.
  
• Is the price far lower then the current average?
  
• Check item descriptions carefully. Bootlegs may be listed under fake brands rather than the known manufacturer. They may also contain descriptions like "China version" to avoid admitting that they are fake; similar weasel-word terms include "hand-made" (and its often-associated "item size may vary") and "colors may differ on your screen".
  
• Check MFC for a shop review listing.
  

Ebay Checklist:

1. Price.

• Again. Seriously, have I mentioned that yet? Insanely low prices should be throwing up some serious alert signals.

2. Look for pictures of the actual product, that the seller took.

• A lot of sellers like to list their items with the official photos put out by the manufacturer. Check MFC if you're unsure of what you’re looking at. If the pictures under "official" on MFC are the same as the ones on eBay, then they were not taken by the seller. Some sellers are just lazy and don't want to take pictures for every listing, but some use that as a trick to make you think you're getting an official item, when you're really going to get a bootleg.
• When in doubt, ask the seller for pictures of the actual product. If they ignore you, or say they can't do that, move on to a different listing.

3. Check their feedback.

• Look specifically for feedback where the buyer received a bootleg. This is usually going to be in the "negative feedback" section.

4. Check where it ships from.

• eBay is really good about letting you know where an item is shipping from. If it ships from China, that's a bad sign.

Frequently Asked Bootleg Questions:

1. Is AliExpress a good website to buy from?

• No, stay away from AliExpress. As far as figures are concerned, they only sell bootlegs.

2. How about Wish? And Mercari?

• Wish appears to be nearly as bad as AliExpress in terms of bootleg frequency. User reports from Mercari depict a wide range of scenarios, with good sellers mixed in with people egregiously marking up their merchandise and more than a few bootlegs. Use with caution.

3. Is Amazon.com a good source for figures?

• The increased use of the practice of commingling inventory has led to an increase in the amount of counterfeit merchandise appearing on Amazon. This increases the possibility of receiving a bootleg from them even if the seller appears to be otherwise trustworthy (even for "shipped and sold by Amazon.com"), and should be considered a reason to avoid them if possible. If one does choose to buy figures on Amazon, particularly with third-party sellers, apply the same criteria for price, seller photos, and deceptive descriptions as one would for a seller anywhere else, though the commingling issue will remain unless the item's path to the buyer is specified. Amazon listings may copy images and descriptive text from other sites. Be particularly careful to check that the company in the "Brand" line matches the item's official producer, and watch for questionable text as mentioned above.

4. My Nintendo nendoroid/Figma has a white, square sticker, rather then the shiny oval one that can be found in the official pictures on MFC. Does that mean I have a bootleg?

• No, the square sticker is also legitimate.

A Related Topic:

• People often ask about the legitimacy and/or safety of a number of websites which sell large resin statues. The more commonly-asked of those deal primarily in resins from studios which do not have a license from the Japanese IP holders to produce merchandise. Therefore links to those sites are not permitted here. Another indicator is if MyFigureCollection doesn't list the either the statue, its manufacturer, or the shop it's being sold on. While MFC does not list every legitimate item for various reasons, it does reject unlicensed ones. __________________________

Past Bootleg Megathreads can be found here, for reference only. Please be sure to only post in the current one.
Thanks TychoRC for creating this guide and helping answer questions!

Erik Ten Hag

Erik ten Hag: "Absolutely the club wants to keep Bruno, no question about that. As far as I know, he loves to play for ManUtd."
https://x.com/sistoney67/status/1790862893933596916
Ten Hag on Bruno Fernandes: "He loves Manchester United, he loves to play for Manchester United. Especially with the injuries around him, he has to carry the team, he keeps a high level."
https://x.com/RichFay/status/1790863092248670231
Erik ten Hag: "After the season we have had so far, I don’t talk about pride. We are all disappointed with the season."
https://x.com/sistoney67/status/1790863597142216977

'I promise you those players will give everything'

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag addressing the Old Trafford crowd:
"On behalf of the players, staff and myself I want to thank you all for the brilliant support during this season.
"As you know it wasn’t an easy season, but one thing remained constant and that was the backing of you for the team.
"This season is not over yet. First we go to Brighton where we travel for three points and then we go to Wembley. And I promise you those players will give everything to get that cup and bring it to Old Trafford.
"We are sure you will be there supporting us - thank you, you are the best supporters in the world."
​

'We found the really good balance'

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag told BBC Sport:
"It's always nice to win any game. It's important to win the last game at Old Trafford this season. The fans deserve this because they've had difficult times and always stayed with us.
"We are here together. We wanted to pay the fans back.
"Fantastic. Great goals. But it was a team effort how we made the goals. But I'm always happy at young players who are progressing very good and scored some brilliant goals.
"Newcastle have a lot of physical power and you have to match that but you also have to play football. We had found the really good balance in this.
"I think he [Hojlund] needs some rest so he's fresh. Strikers live for goals. It's very important for his confidence so I'm really pleased he scored."
On the FA Cup final: "We don't think about this yet. First we have Brighton in the last game which is important in the ranking. We don't have it in our hands but we have to do our job."
____________________________

Bruno Fernandes

Bruno Fernandes on his future: “I will be here till when the club wants me and the club wants me to be a part of the future”. “If for some reason they don’t want me, then I will go”.
https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1790857608057733261

'The job isn’t finished yet'

Manchester United skipper Bruno Fernandes, speaking to Sky Sports:
“Obviously the job isn’t finished yet. We still have one game in the Premier League then the biggest game of the season, the FA Cup final.
“It has been a tough season. The table shows that and we are all aware of that. The fans have been amazing and behind us all season. We all appreciate what they have been doing for us.
“We want to do better and do differently and they [fans] deserve that.
“They have been amazing for us and we had to do something, we have been trying but results don’t show that. We have been working hard and everyone has been giving their best it is not enough and we have to do more.
“We still have two games to go and we have to finish in the best way.
“It doesn’t exist, a captain's performance, it is a team performance.
"I am no different from anyone just because I have the armband. I always try my best and we always do the best we can for the club – nobody hides that we play for a big club and we have to lift our standards every game.”
On his future: “I will be here till when the club wants me and the club wants me to be a part of the future. If for some reason they don’t want me, then I will go.”
____________________________

Eddie Howe

Eddie Howe on first-half incident: "It was an absolute stonewall penalty."
https://x.com/RichFay/status/1790858968459342013
Eddie Howe: "We had chances & I felt we could score at any moment. But we have lost the game because of how we defended their goals. We should hang our heads really. The game got away from us in key moments"
https://x.com/CraigHope\_DM/status/1790859629389332521

'We were let down by some of our defending'

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe to BBC Sport: "Frustrating for us. Away from home this year our record hasn't been good enough. Familiar scene for us. We conceded poor goals and ultimately that has cost us the game.
"It was a decent performance. We looked a good team but were let down by some of our defending.
"Attacking-wise we were good and had a threat all game. We took our goals well. Frustrated we didn't get more.
"There's a chance and while there's a chance we'll give it everything we can.
"Anthony Gordon has been excellent for us. He took his goal well. He should have had a penalty as well."
​

'It was an opportunity to grab Europe'

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe, speaking to Sky Sports:
“We had chances to do more, but the way we defended the three goals wasn’t good enough - this season compared to last we have conceded goals.
“It's something we have to change longer term."
On Kieran Trippier's position for the opening goal: ”Reluctant to focus on one player.
“When you look back through the goals we have conceded today there are multiple errors in all three goals.
“I don’t think Man Utd hurt us a great deal but we conceded three goals. We looked good going forward, we did create chances but didn’t get enough bodies in the key chances, but we scored two goals and it should be enough to get something from the game.
“You feel momentum is with us and there is a much better feel with us in the second half. Then a second goal from a set-play. It is a combination of errors and we know we have to do better."
On Anthony Gordon’s penalty call: “I thought it was a penalty. You have to see it one to three times to see where the contact is. I thought that’s what VAR was good at.”
On scrapping VAR: “I have always been in an era where the referee makes a decision and I back it.
“I would possibly keep it [VAR] with offsides, but I want more power with referees.”
On Europe: “I don’t know. In this moment we are disappointed to not win today. It was an opportunity to grab Europe instead of looking around at other results.”
____________________________

Anthony Gordon

'Either get rid of it or get better' - Gordon on VAR

Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon, speaking to Sky Sports: "I thought we played alright.
"Defensively away from home we have been poor - we have to fix that.
"We created a lot, but we didn't take our chances. We cannot blame anything else but ourselves.
"But, today wasn't our day."
On a potential ankle injury and penalty call: "Really sore. Not too sure how good my ankle will be.
"I have watched it back and it is a clear penalty. I don't mind the referee getting it wrong on the pitch, but I don't understand the point of VAR.
"He [Sofyan Amrabat] goes down my Achilles and pushes me in the back.
"I knew straight away, that is why I didn't appeal. I waited for the VAR to check, I told my team-mates 'it was a clear penalty'. I don't understand the point of it, either get rid of it or get better - it's that simple.
"I think I am quite fond of it. Fond of the idea and it should work, but there are too many mistakes."
On his hopes of Euro 2024: "I won't let a sore ankle get in the way of that.
​
Quotes via BBC

ok so as of now there are quite a few AltLinux forks and none of them worked for me out of the box so i'm just posting here how I got it running on my machine, so I can now refresh apps (only works from USB)
I'm on arch linux
the original AltLinux provides an AUR package, which 404s because it doesn't seem to exists anymore. But there also is altlinux-git, which is what i'm rocking it now.
Tho again, this package doesn't even build because it uses pyinstaller, and Arch linux a while ago moved all pip packages to the pacman repo (or something like that), basically you don't install python packages with pip anymore if not for a venv (from my understanding).
Anyways, install pyinstaller and then
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/altlinux-git.git && cd altlinux-git
now we need to edit the PKGBUILD file, edit the prepare() method, and replace pip install pyinstaller with something like echo helloworld
and then finally makepkg -si
now you've got altserver installed but it won't work yet, you need the new anisette server
like this github comment suggests, download anisette (if unsure, download the x86-64), make it executable with chmod +x anisette* and run it with ./anisette* -n 127.0.0.1 -p 6969
we can finally run AltLinux, cd /uslib/altlinux && ALTSERVER_ANISETTE_SERVER=http://127.0.0.1:6969 /uslib/altlinux/altlinux
I know this is not the best explanation, so if you don't understand something leave a comment, i'm kind of tired as of writing this, but i'm pretty sure that if you've been a linux user for a while you can get this running on your own. Best of luck :)
I really hope AltLinux V2 will happen or that at least a working flatpak or something like that will come out
EDIT: you can also edit the .desktop file (/usshare/applications/altlinux.desktop) on the Exec line like this
Exec=env ALTSERVER_ANISETTE_SERVER=http://127.0.0.1:6969 /uslib/altlinux/altlinux so you just have to open a terminal, run the anisette server and then AltLinux will "just work"

TL;DR -> We brought in a doctor of physical therapy to do a seminar on injury resistance, working out, staying healthy, assessing weaknesses and injury potential, and understanding the world of diagnosis, triage, treatment, and recovery. It was great, and I think more BJJ schools should do stuff like this.
This isn't medical advice; I'm telling you what we did and learned, but if you want the medical detail get your own PT to do your own seminar :-)
I have been meaning to post this, and was recently reminded by discussion with u/Historical-Pen-7484 and u/viszlat, so here it is.
Our school recently did something I don't think I've heard anyone else do. Instead of hosting a coral belt or famous competitor for a seminar, we invited a local physical therapist that some of us had worked with. We called it a "PT Seminar", and it was a pretty neat time.
The premise was: the PT will watch us roll for an hour to observe BJJ in action, and then take an hour (and a bit more...) to speak to a host of relevant topics.
I preloaded him with a bunch of questions that BJJ people often ask -- stuff like, "How can I become injury resistant?" or, "How long should I stay off the mat when I'm injured?" etc.
The results were pretty awesome. We got some input from him on how we should adjust or adapt our warmups and mobility / flexibility work in class, and what we should be doing outside of class to maximize our longevity in BJJ. He took us through some diagnostic tests to evaluate for major mobility issues or weaknesses (which was fascinating), and gave some recommendations for working on some of the gaps he observed. Finally, he took a number of questions, which turned into some real back and forth. We learned a lot about our fellow students' aches and pains, and gained some insight on a lot of topics.

Detailed review:
Becoming Injury Resistant
His main recommendation was (of course?) to add two days a week of resistance and mobility training. The advice was to do moderate intensity on all the major muscle groups, emphasizing free weight compound movements to develop and maintain stability in the joints. He wasn't saying we should become body builders or power lifters, but that we needed something that isn't functionality equivalent to BJJ to round everything out. He said more than two hours a week would be another hobby, and not to get sucked more deeply than necessary into the workout crowd (unless we want to).
Warmups and Stretches
I talked with him ahead of time about different ideas in BJJ about warmups and stretches. He talked through what the medical / sports-science benefit of the warmup and stretches actually are, and used that as a basis for some recommendations for our class structure.
He advocated a minimal warmup -- that its purpose is to raise body temperature and heart rate, lubricate the joints, and psychologically prepare for physical activity. So he said it should never take more than a few minutes to warm up. He said 5 minutes is too long, and crossing over the boundary with strength and conditioning.
On the S&C point, he asked if our classes are supposed to include S&C, or if people are expected to do that on their own. Our class was more or less unanimous that we look to do BJJ during paid class time, and he suggested we should think of S&C as something we do on our own time outside of class.
Regarding stretching, he suggested avoiding static stretches during class, and he cited some research results that show static stretching actually sets you up for injury (though stretching for mobility and flexibility should include static stretches, and should just be thier own thing, he said). He took us through some examples of the kind of dynamic and active stretching he thought would be a better fit, given our functional performance goals in BJJ.
Injury Identification and Response
We had a lot of discussion about how to know when you're injured, when to decide it's a bad one, and when to invoke medical expertise. He remained pretty open minded, speaking to when a doctor should be involved, and where he thought PT fits in to maximize recovery. His main suggestion was that injuries that are healing get steadily better, and things should get attention when they flat-line or get worse over time.
Some of our students had a lot of questions about what makes a good PT, so he went into that. Just like BJJ schools have red flags, he said there are better and worse PTs out there. He said that if you go to a place that gives you a list of exercises based on your doctor's diagnosis, and has you do the same thing for awhile, it's not as good. He prefers a PT approach that applies more analysis, and makes frequent changes to the workload to accommodate changes during recovery and adapt to what is experienced by the patient.
He seemed to advocate a pretty nuanced approach to time off and return to activity. His basic logic was that the longer you spend not doing your activity, the more you atrophy, compensate with changed behavior, and settle into a worse condition. Of course, that is balanced by returning too quickly and too much, re-injuring, or aggravating your body and extending recovery.
So he kind of recommended careful re-introduction of activity, perhaps under supervision of a PT (of course), and finding as many ways to do things as you can without aggravating the injury so you don't fall behind.
I don't want to risk this seeming like a medical advice post, so I won't go into more detail. Go find your own PT and get advice from him so it's legit :-). I will just say that this was extremely valuable, and helped a lot of us frame our thinking about the next time we are hurt and how we will approach return to the mats.
Assessing Weaknesses and Problem Spots
Our PT took the group through a bunch of his basic triage / diagnostic exercises. It was very interesting -- for example, he said we were all surprisingly good on upper core strength, but most of us failed the lower core strength tests. This led to some fascinating conjecture as to why, and he spoke to how that manifests as increased risk of injury in some ways.
He did a few different tests, for mobility, strength, etc., and gave a lot of recommendations on specific details of exercises and what expectations we should have of our bodies. Some people remarked that they didn't know this or that were below normal, and it gave a bunch of us some side-goals about where we want to take our bodies in the future. Again, this is very close to medical advice, so I won't repeat a lot of it here.
Diagnosis and Q&A
Finally, he took a lot of questions, and people came out of the woodwork! Back issues, historical injuries, morphological oddities... we learned a lot about our fellow students. But we also got to see how he would inspect, and reason through what might be wrong. In some cases, he spoke to appropriate pros and cons of surgical solutions vs living with something -- all very helpful stuff!
Conclusion
It was really all I had hoped it to be. I had worked with this PT through a major injury (torn hamstring and glute), and been so impressed, I wanted to share him with the school. The end result was really excellent.
If you want to do the same thing (and I think I would recommend it for any BJJ school), it may not be that hard. I tried really hard to pay him, and when he refused money, I tried to suggest a gift in kind like an iPad or something. He said some things about professional requirements to do community outreach, etc., etc., so it turned out to be a pretty good deal. We asked attendees to throw in a couple bucks, and we took him out to eat, and that was it.
I do believe that he actually picked up four patients out of it (at least, three told me they have been to see him a time or two, and one said he was going to). We worked hard not to make it a sales pitch, and our guy was very professional about the whole thing; but nevertheless, if you want to get something similar worked out, the potential for bringing in some business might help tip the scales as you talk to your local PTs.
Someone asked if we'll do it again, and I think we will. Or might mix it up and bring in an orthopedist. Could even think about a nutritionist, sports scientist, etc.
There are so many topics that BJJ instructors or students pretend to know a lot about, but it sure makes a difference when you bring in a real expert in some domain and pepper them with questions!

March 26th, 2024 11:27 p.m. – I think I've done it. I've made a breakthrough on the antisera. With a simple, two amino acid change in the protein, the antisera binds more effectively to the brains neuroreceptors. With an electrolyte injection, I can reactivate neurons in the brains of diseased rodents. I believe that it can work on human specimens up to 3 days old. If this works, then I will have found a way to effectively bring patients back from beyond the point of death. I cannot overstate the importance of this discovery. All I need is a cadaver that’s fresh enough to experiment with. The three-day threshold will pose a unique challenge in acquiring a specimen. It will require further thought before I am to go ahead.
March 29th, 2024 1:18 p.m. – I have spoken with the hospital and the Department of Anatomy and have found a family who are scheduled to take a loved one of theirs off critical care tomorrow afternoon. They have agreed to send him to my lab following a short grieving ceremony. I have their written approval, though I have made no guarantee of my success. I don't want to give them too much hope. Particularly the patient’s fiancé, who the patient had been on route to the chapel to wed, when his car was struck by an oncoming SUV that had missed a red light. I'm worried that she more than anyone doesn't realize how much of a long shot this is. But I'll do my best.
March 30th, 2024 8:12 p.m. – The body has arrived. I have him right here, laid out on my bench. He’s a young man, 24 years of age. He is 6’ 1” and weighs 174 pounds. Aside from some exposed tissue above his right eye, and a fracture along the parietal skull, the head remains entirely intact. There is concern that any intracranial bleeding may interfere with the electrolyte solution. I don’t expect the antisera to revive him completely, but as long as there is some measure of brain activity now, six hours after he was pronounced dead, then I think this test can still be labelled a success.
March 30th, 2024 8:36 p.m. – I have administered 20mg of the antisera, and after a twenty-minute wait, have just administered an equal dose of the electrolyte solution. I noticed an immediate spike in brain activity in his parietal lobe. There was no movement from the patient, but after five minutes, I noticed a faint flutter in his eyelids. Talking in his ear shows a proportionate response in the auditory cortex. The brain is capable of taking in external input.
March 30th, 2024 9:00 p.m. – His eyes are open. At the present, they're only looking forward. He hasn’t yet glanced to look around the room, but his eyes are piercing in their focus, as if he’s processing more than just his initial surroundings. His pupils are an opaque white… what may be due to cataracts from damage to his ocular nerve from the incident.
March 30th, 2024, 9:08 p.m. – There’s movement. His fingers have started to jitter. They're feeling the cuffs of his coat. He still has on the black tuxedo he had wore to his wedding day. His head occasionally spasms, as though just now regaining feeling. Heartrate is 33 beats per minute. His hands have begun moving more noticeably up and down the sides of his body. He’s feeling his buttons, the flower of his lapel, and now the titanium top of the bench. It’s really quite remarkable. I’ve not detected even a flicker of movement in his moth-eaten eyes. He has not blinked since awakening.
March 30th, 2024, 9:12 p.m. He’s trying to stand. There are straps in place, but they're only loosely attached. They snap off with disappointing ease. Perhaps I should've been more optimistic and sprung for the thicker straps. There is a noise that he’s making... a low groaning, as though he is in pain or incapable of making more complex a sound.
March 30th, 2024, 9:14 p.m. I’ve tried speaking with him. I called him by his name. He doesn't respond. He’s now seated on the edge of the table. He’s breathing heavily, his chest noticeably rising and falling. A reflex test shows no response at all.
March 30th, 2024, 9:18 p.m. I’ve tried introducing myself. There’s no sign that he understands. He is still. I don’t know if he’s listening or if he’s even aware, but I think the sound of another person is at least calming for him.
March 30th, 2024, 10:25 p.m. Little has happened. The groom is much the same as he was an hour ago. I’ve taken photos of everything that I’ve observed tonight, but when I left the room to get the camera, I returned to find him standing in the corner of the room. At times, he'll stagger forward a step or two, or slouch against the wall. Always his head is down, his open mouth dripping drool on the floor while he stares ahead as if in a trance. I want to observe him for the night to see how he progresses. I am now seated at the desk in my office, which has a view of the lab from a large window. For the time being I will start recording my findings, but I will look often in case anything of interest happens.
March 30th 2024, 11:06 p.m. I am alerted by a loud crash. The patient has stumbled into a small table with scalpels, knocking them onto the linoleum floor with a clatter. His groaning now is louder now than before. I can hear it as clear as day through my window. It’s a deeply labored noise, creaking with every syllable as though his throat is severely dry.
March 30th, 11: 44 p.m. After completing my preliminary reports, I tried speaking with the patient, hoping that perhaps he could understand me. I explained the situation as simply as I could. I mentioned his wedding, the accident, and the agreement with his family. I went into detail about his operation. His pale eyes were watching me throughout, but there is no sign of any understanding in them. Still, at least he’s attentive. I might be naive for trying, but there's always a chance that he could be understand more than he seems.
March 31st, 12:01 a.m. There is a wailing from inside the room. A horrible, hair-raising cry that has me standing upright from my monitor the sound that I hear it. The noise persists, as if all he wants to hear is the sound of his own misery. He is moving erratically, lurching through the lab. He's knocked over the fire extinguisher, and, just now, the hospital gurney as well. There is no emotion in his face as he makes the most pitiful noises imaginable. I hope that I am not letting my own feelings cloud my judgment when I say that it sounds as though he is feeling a profound sorrow. His limbs flap loosely beside him, as though he still lacks the motor function to control them.
March 31st, 12:10 a.m. The groaning hasn't stopped. Any request for him to quiet down goes unheard. I’m reminded of a child feeling grief for the first time and not knowing what else to do with it than to cry as deeply as they can. Out of a grown man, the noise becomes chilling. It's much deeper and gruffer, like the cry of a wounded animal.
March 31st, 12:22 a.m. I have something I want to try. I've called his fiancé. She had expressed a great deal of interest in the success of the experiment when I met with her at the hospital, and when I explained on the phone to her what had happened to her fiancé, she agreed that she, more than anyone, could get through to him. I’ve called her a taxi and am waiting now on her arrival. It has been twenty minutes since the groom started to wail and he's still going. He stumbles into the wall from time to time and I am worried that he will only act more unpredictably as the drug continues to work.
March 31st, 12:35 a.m. The widow's taxi has arrived. I escorted her down to the laboratory. Behind the safety of the window, she is now looking at her husband for the first time since his recovery. She is noticeably shocked by his appearance. She looks like she might faint from the sight of him, but I can see also a hopefulness in her eyes that keeps her rooted in place. She sees as well as I do that he’s a great deal closer to what he was now than when he was lying unconscious on the hospital bed. She agrees to help when I ask her, though she only nods her response. Her eyes haven’t left her fiancés since the moment she's arrived.
March 31st, 12:41 a.m. We called to him, and the groom responded. He shambled up to the glass to where his bride was standing. He had stopped wailing. I watched his cataracts-riddled eyes stare at her with a dead, unwavering look. I’m not sure what’ was in them or what the man was thinking as he looked at the love of his life. But the response in the bride was profound. She was speechless, her hand trembling as she placed her fingers against the glass. The groom appeared not to have noticed the hand, his stare as focused as ever as he gazed intently into her eyes.
March 31st, 12:43 a.m. The bride has asked if she can go inside. I warned her against it, and when she insisted again, I raised my voice to make the point all the more clear. Whatever she saw in the dead man’s eyes was not her husband looking back. I think she’s blinded herself with nostalgia. The fact that she sees something of the old him in his eyes is just because she wanted there to be something of the old him still there. But when I look into those moth-eaten eyes, I see just the unaware, unresponsive look of an animal looking back at me. But she was adamant, and though I tried to hold her back, she still managed to force her way past me. She opened the door before I could stop her, and I watched in horror as she stepped out into the laboratory.
The groom had turned to face her. A low, raspy groan creaked from him. The two stood a meter apart, both looking into each other’s eyes. There was a bottle of sedative on my shelf. In this time, I took it, and drew a needle with one eye as I watched with the other at what was transpiring outside.
She took a step closer. She was practically standing beneath him. His breaths I noticed were ragged, panting into her forehead like a large dog. Pale, clammy fingers wrapped around her arms, and he drew her in. It was the first time I’ve seen him use his hands with any amount of purpose.
She didn’t struggle at first, and I could see that he was panting more heavily now, as though with excitement. She looked up at him, and him, down at her. His mouth hung slacked, occasionally stuttering or dripping droplets of saliva on her shoulder. But she didn’t seem to mind. Her eyes were half open, and she raised her head a bit to nuzzle his cheek with her nose. I could see that the groom had become still as he took in this newest sensation.
And then, with a noticeable breath, the bride pulled his head down and put his lips to hers. The groom’s groaning returned, but it was quieter and a higher pitch, more of a sing-song kind of noise. He pushed his lips against hers. His jaw slacked and his mouth poured over her mouth. I could see the shift from romance to disgust as she tried to push him off her. It was then that I heard the scream. It was muffled by the groom’s mouth over hers, and I could see that blood was starting to stream from her cheeks. His entire weight collapsed upon her, and the two crumbled to the floor as I bolted for the door. When I got in, I saw her flailing on the ground with the groom still at her face, a horrible slobbering sound slipping out from beneath the hysteric screams.
I plunged my syringe into his shoulder blade and administered the sedative. He hardly noticed. I waited a minute and then two for the effects to take hold, and all the while I had no choice but to listen to the shrieks of the woman, with not a thing I could do to help in the meantime.
March 31th, 12:58 a.m. The drug has finally taken effect, but the woman shows no signs of life. It wasn’t my first thought, but I fear for my research and the possibility of a civil lawsuit. Tomorrow morning I’ll tell the family that the experiment was a failure and ask if I can keep the groom’s body a little while longer in hopes that I can one day revive him. I think they are still hopeful enough to say yes. I will say nothing of the bride or the arrangement that we had made for her to come here tonight.
April 8th, 6:31 p.m. It’s been a week since the horrible events of March the 30th. The groom appears pleased with the latest results. I’m happy that he’s finally done with his infernal moaning. The bride is conscious and seems to have taken warmly to him. It’s a shame I couldn’t do something more about the face, but at least it doesn’t seem to bother them.

Former Colorado Buffaloes F Tristan Da Silva declared for the draft and is 100% committed: https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/1785032667370832128 It's his birthday today...he is 23 years old. Born in Germany to a Brazilian father and German mother, with a brother who also played in the States at Stanford (Oscar), Da Silva made the jump from Bayern Munich's youth academy to Colorado. He improved every season of his four year career and now is headed to the professional ranks.
Da Silva measured in at 6'8.25 w/out shoes and a 6'10.25 wingspan at the combine. 217 pounds. He's got the height/length you're looking for from a combo forward, although he's on the thinner side. He doesn't have the widest frame but I do think he can gain muscle from where he currently is. He already has year to year and it's something that'll be important for him to continue to add as strength concerns are one of his biggest question marks as a prospect.
Da Silva's athleticism is something that has been called into question. I've read the posts about him in recent days on here, which is somewhat why I saved him for last of the three Colorado guys. I wanted to cut to the chase and really see what people think. I think he's a better athlete than some think he is, but obviously, he isn't a standout athlete either. His lateral quickness is viewed in a negative light by some but it really isn't bad. His lateral quickness is above average. He can hang with guards on switches. He can hang with most forwards. His length really aids him on switches against smaller players. He has the mobility to stay linked and will contest/block when they put a shot up.
Da Silva's issues athletically are that he doesn't have great balance and doesn't have great flexibility. On a straight line drive, Da Silva fares well laterally. He can handle a crossover, he can handle some counters and stick with guards/wings. But it's when he's really forced to make a quick change of direction and reaction when he has his struggles. His biggest issue athletically is that he's not the quickest twitch. He's mobile, he has good feet, he's coordinated, but he's not the most fluid and he's not the quickest twitch. His defensive footwork is very good when he's not being handsy, but unfortunately he does get handsy at times on the drive.
Defending quick rips closing out defensively for example is something he struggles with. He doesn't react consistently well to initial moves. He often does, but not consistently. You can get by him defensively with a quick initial move. His all around defensive awareness is worse than some people seem to think it is...ball watches a ton, back cut a ton, misses out on rebounds, misses out on rotations. When he's focused and dialed in, he's a fantastic rotater. He makes on time, sharp rotations. He helps the helper. He hustles and flies around defensively and is active shoring gaps. But he doesn't do that consistently. He loses focus way too much, for a guy who is billed as a 3/D player. His screen navigation is pretty substandard for a veteran. Just does not navigate traffic well enough and strength sees him bumped off spots when navigating screens. He doesn't get taken out of plays, but he does end up behind plays. He can recover with length and hustle at times, but not always.
His lack of strength hurts his ability to defend the post. He can be a little too upright defensively and while he will battle in the post at times, he can be pretty weak down there. Not being down in a stance possession to possession means you can drive into him from the post and the perimeter. Were a few possessions he actually fell down with drivers going into his chest, and he couldn't maintain his balance. He is generally good at closing out on balance and in a disciplined way but not always...he gets jumpy on defense a little. He overhelps a lot defensively, ends up in no man's land, and gives up open 3's or drives off closeouts...one of his biggest negatives on the defensive end.
He does use his length really well on contests when he stays in front of drivers, he defends PnR ballhandlers well, and he uses his length well in passing lanes. He isn't a major event maker defensively but will break up passes and generate steals with his length and activity off ball. When he's locked in, he's a very good team defender. He's simply not always locked in and he just does not have the physical tools to not be locked in every single possession, either on the perimeter or post. He's one of those guys who's versatile defensively but in a tweener way. He's not really an elite option on anyone, but he's capable. He doesn't have the instincts or the toughness to be a guy who can switch up the lineup, but he is capable against 2/3/4 positions.
Da Silva is a pretty mediocre rebounder for his size which is another red flag surrounding him as a prospect, he's not a bad one but also not someone who's necessarily pursuing balls aggressively by any means. He will be expected to be a contributor on the boards as a swing forward and not being able to do so will undercut his value.
Da Silva has a unique blend of skills on the offensive end. His jump shot is his best trait. He was awesome as a midrange shooter this year and he shot 39% from 3 on 5 attempts. 83.5% from the line, and has shot at least 37% on increasing numbers of attempts the last three seasons. His shot is for real...great mechanics. Great extension, great balance. No wasted motion. He makes shots off screens, and he's an elite C&S guy who does a good job creating space for himself off the catch when coming off screens and when relocating on the perimeter. He has some movement shooting ability, but for the most part he's someone who works his way off flare screens, out of DHO's, off-ball screens and leaking out to the perimeter, and catches and fires. He's a very good pull up shooter. He likes the pull up out of the PnR, off curls and off DHO's in the midrange. He will duck in and find himself open around the FT line and take the FT jumper; he's good at finding gaps for himself for jumpers all over the court. He has a little bit of PnP ability. He sets solid screens himself to open teammates for 3's. He does a very good job slipping screens and diving to the basket or leaking out to the perimeter and obtaining easy looks from the outside. He's always catch ready and he's quick into his motion as a shooter across the board which along with his size makes him hard to contest.
Da Silva will find rollers and cutters out of the PnR. He finds the dump off guy when cutting to the rim. He moves the ball and will make the right read within the flow off the offense. He will bring the ball up and can facilitate and get his team into offense. He's not really an advanced playmaker but has some drive and dish ability and can make solid reads as a live dribble passer, but he also overpenetrates and turns the ball over with bounce passes that don't hit the target. He turns the ball over a lot that way. Gets cut off on drives and attempts a bounce pass to get himself out of trouble. Picks up his dribble at inopportune times. He's not an amazing ballhandler overall...he's a bit gumby like with his movements, he's a bit herky jerky, long strides, has a spin move he likes, and he has a good crossover that does gain him space, but he doesn't have incredible burst nor a special first step and he does not have a ton of advanced moves. He accelerates well and he will get to the rim off his own creation but he isn't always gonna create separation with his handle, and he can lose the ball while looking to create, he will have the ball stripped, and he's not always strong with the ball. He is good with the hostage dribble and keeping defenders on his back...he overall does a nice job with pace. He understands pace, he understands taking rhythm away from defenders, he does have an in-and-out move and he has pretty good control on these moves. He works his way to his spots both in the midrange and inside, in a somewhat deliberate way while still being decisive, but he will be stonewalled in the paint and on drives.
His cutting really is a special part of his game. He has awesome instincts as a cutter---he reads his defenders, and has great timing in concert with the offensive flow of the possession. He dives quickly to the basket. He's good for a few baskets a game as a cutter. He moves well off the ball in general and keeps the offense humming. Off ball screens, weaving through the defense, he stays active on the offensive end which helps keep defenses off balance.
Da Silva has an excellent ball fake. He draws fouls with it down low, and he freezes defenders with it on the perimeter which allows him to get past. He also has a jab step. He will change his stride length and draw contact on drives. He will change speeds and explode to the rim. He has a behind the back counter. He doesn't have a ton of dribble moves but does have a diversity of tools he will turn to, to get inside the paint. He overall has very good timing as a driver, which is what allows him to get inside. He uses the glass well and has opposite hand finishes in his disposal. He drives with both hands. Sometimes he'll try to bait a foul and throw up poor shots with no real chance of a finish. He will be swallowed up around the rim at times where his lack of elite athleticism/strength/ability to create space can come back to hurt him.
Da Silva really likes to use spinners, floaters and hooks around the rim. He gets good extension, has a lot of range as a finisher and will take shots from pretty far out and make them at a high rate. He has very nice touch on these shots. For a guy without tremendous halfcourt explosiveness, this is a very good skill for Da Silva to possess because it gives him an ability to beat contests and an ability to score at the rim even if he isn't able to get directly to it. He has a jump stop, eurostep at his disposal. He has a lot of craft as a creator and around the rim which allows him to be a solid overall finisher but not an elite one.
His comfort with the ball makes him a good transition player. He does well getting to and finishing against defenses that aren't set. It also makes him good against closeouts. He can be a little passive at times, which is a drawback many have had of him over the years. When decisive, he does a good job taking advantage of scrambling defenses in both the halfcourt and in transition. The coordination with the ball and the fact he takes long strides allows him to get to the rim quickly in these possessions. It also aids him as a PnR ballhandler.
Da Silva will use his size to his advantage in the post. He turns some drives into post-ups. He will find cutters and shooters from the post as a passer. He'll hit turnarounds, he'll turn in and finish with layups, he'll turn to the middle and take hook ups and floaters. He has nice touch on these shots and has nice footwork in the post and doesn't get rushed. He's someone that can take advantage of switches down low with an important wrinkle for a forward these days.
Tristan Da Silva has elicited a lot of conversation on this board the last several days. I see him as a guy who is underrated and overrated from person to person. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle. He's an interesting talent, and he's got the framework of a player who has the skills teams look for in a swing forward today, but the not every dot connects. But with his shooting and all around versatile skill set on the offensive end and he having real switchability possibilities defensively, he's someone who is viewed by most as a guy with a pretty high floor.
I'm a little bit...I'm not sure what to think honestly. I'll leave it to y'all. Are you all Thumbs Up, Down, or Across on Tristan Da Silva?

Hi all. Long-time BB sufferer here, having suffered for over 22 years (since 2002 at the age of 16 or 17). I am now turning 39 years old this later year.
Like many on here, I have explored countless routes to investigate the cause of my BB to try and cure it. I thought it came from my nose (post-nasal drip), my gut (acid reflux), allergies, and dry mouth. In the end, it was none of these things. Here are some things I had done while trying to cure my BB, based on what I thought were the causes:

• Sinuses/Allergies
  • Surgery: Nasal Polyp Removal
  • Surgery: Deviated Septum correction
  • Surgery: Nasal passage widening using balloon sinoplasty to widen nose and help breathe through nose
  • Nasal irrigation devices to wash sinus using baking soda/salt solution
  • Allergy Medications
  • Allergy Testing and Allergy Shots
• Gut
  • All Acid/PPI medications (omeprazole, pantaprozole, etc.)
  • Multiple stomach endoscopies
  • Silent Reflux (LPR) Test
  • Surgery: LINX implant - a titanium ring now permanently sits on my stomach/esophagus to prevent reflux.
  • Multiple H. Pylori Tests (negative of course)
• Dry Mouth
  • Tried dry mouth meds (salagen and evoxac)
  • Have spent thousands of dollars over the years on Dry Mouth lozenges from Biotene, ACT brand, etc.
  • Mouth covering tape to prevent mouth breathing
• Other Stuff
  • Antibiotics
  • Probiotic toothpaste
  • Essential oils
  • Chlorhexidine Mouthwash
  • Castille soap
  • Bleach and hydrogen peroxide
  • Several hundreds of dollars worth of oral probiotic lozenges found on Amazon
  • The list goes on. You name it, I've tried it.

Around last year, I came across an ad on social media for Bristle, for testing of the oral microbiome. The company said something that was really critical to my journey: that 90% of halitosis cases stem from the mouth and the oral microbiome. Because we BB sufferers are always so good with our oral hygeine regimens, it's natural for us to assume the cause is something else apart from the mouth, which is why we tend to investigate sinuses, gut issues, and so on. However, more likely than not, in over 9 out of 10 cases, it has to do with an imbalance of bacteria in the mouth.
I took the test, and discovered that I had really high levels of two or three halitosis-causing bacteria, that reside in the gum line: Fusobacterium Nucleatum, Prevotella Intermedia, and Tannerella Forsythia. In addition to this analysis, the Bristle team offered a treatment plan and recommended that I use SmartMouth Clinical Strength mouthwash for 2 weeks, and afterwards, repopulating with oral probiotics for several months, to try and change my oral microbiome over time. I tried using the SmartMouth mouthwash, and it helped somewhat for sure, but only temporarily. I knew that it was doing something, and ended up going off the deep end: spending hundreds of dollars more on SmartMouth mouthwash over the course of several months, because I became dependent on it to mask my BB enough for me to go out of the house.
After some further investigation, I came across a different oral microbiome test that was based out of Canada, called OraVital. Similar to Bristle, OraVital does a microbiome test via saliva, and comes back with results (which in my case, matched the same bacteria I had discovered in the Bristle test). However, additionally, they offer a 3 week antibiotic treatment plan (amoxicillin/metronidazole mouthwash and gum ointment), followed by chlorhexidine mouthwash. This was much stronger than what Bristle offered. I did the treatment, and it helped enormously when I was on it. However, sadly, the BB returned when I completed the antibiotic solutions. I was sad and defeated once again.
Next, I came across a third oral microbiome test, by a company called Viome, called the Oral Intelligence Test. This test does the saliva sample, but doesn't give you a list of the bacteria they find. However, they give you an oral probiotic lozenge that is supposed to be custom for you. I noticed the strength of the oral probiotic lozenge to be 30 billion CFU. This was a clue for me, because other probiotic lozenges that I came across online were only in the range of 3-6 billion CFU. The fact that this was 30 billion meant that more probiotic bacteria were needed to combat the problem.
I ended up taking the Viome oral probiotic lozenges for some time, but experienced only modest results. However, they did help somewhat with my morning breath when taken before bed. But the BB always came back.
Over the course of time, it dawned on me. This problem is more severe. It requires more effort to remove the bad bacteria, and more effort/strength to repopulate with good probiotic bacteria.
It was then that I had a revelation that made all the difference. Instead of relying on oral probiotic lozenges, with their relatively minimal strength, why not use extremely high doses? I resorted to trying probiotic powder instead of lozenges. The dosages in some of these powders was over 100 billion CFU per scoop.
The Bristle test indicated that the bad bacteria I have were sensitive to reuterin, which is produced by the probiotic L. Reuteri. I came across L. Reuteri powder on Amazon. Additionally, I came across L. Salivarius powder as well, which a probiotic that produces a compound called saliviricin that kills bad bacteria as well.

• L. Reuteri Powder: https://amzn.to/44LMcPx
• L. Salivarius Powder: https://amzn.to/3KnX64Z

I began taking these two powders in the mouth, mixed with a bit of water (only a little bit, so that they do not get diluted). I also use water because I feel like this helps the probiotics swish through the gum lines, which is where my bad bacteria resides. Within 1 week of doing this, multiple times a day, I noticed a massive improvement. I knew I was onto something, and something big. I continued to do this for a couple of weeks, and noticed my breath getting better and better over time. However, it was not completely eliminated. I figured it would just need to be something that I would use before I went out. However, I noticed the improvement to be getting progressively better after 3 weeks, and then 4.
One thing to note here is that, for the probiotic bacteria to have optimal effect, you need to clean your mouth and tongue before using them. I read in a scientific study that they found probiotics had a significantly higher benefit when used after tongue scraping/brushing. I use both a tongue brush and then a tongue scraper, before I do the probiotic rinse. I also do not eat or drink water for at least 30 min after rinsing.
Within weeks of doing this, I noticed the bad taste in my mouth was gone, when I tried to search for it. My perceived 'dry mouth' was gone, and my saliva flow had increased significantly. I always thought I had dry mouth, but I came across scientific articles online which suggested that the bad bacteria is what was actually causing that feeling. Bad bacteria change the pH of your mouth and cause that taste and feeling of dryness. They reduce salivary flow.
I was encouraged by the results, and I then started doing additional research. There were other healthy probiotic strains out there that were good for the oral microbiome and for combatting bad bacteria. One that I came across was Weissella Cibaria. This bacteria is naturally found in the mouth, and can colonize it. L. Reuteri and L. Salivarius, on the other hand, are just passing through the mouth and do not stay there. Therefore, they can help the oral microbiome by killing bad bacteria, but do not have a permanent residence there. If you don't have a solid presence of good bacteria in the mouth, the bad bacteria that is wiped out can grow back. This is what happens when we use antibiotics. Sure, they're able to kill off bad bacteria, but even the small remnants can multiply back rapidly if there are not enough good bacteria to outcompete it. To get Weissella Cibaria, I found an oral probiotic lozenge that has a patented form called OraCMU:

• Weissella Cibaria Lozenge: https://amzn.to/3UH6ULR

Additionally, Weissella Cibaria is also present in probiotic foods like Sauerkraut and Kimchi, but UNPASTEURIZED only (pasteurizing kills all beneficial bacteria). I switched my diet to high in soluble fiber and fermented foods on a DAILY basis. This includes apples, celery, carrots, sauerkraut, kimchi, and yogurt. I eat a big bowl of some of these foods mixed up, at least once a day, for lunch. I also incorporated fiber gummies to ensure I am getting the adequate amount of fiber the probiotics need to grow in the oral microbiome (they need a type of fiber called fructooligosaccharides to prosper and grow).
I have gotten really big into fermented foods. I am constantly on the hunt for fermented foods and will try to have them whenever and wherever I can, as much as I can. They're not the most appetizing, and can smell pretty bad, but they are working to permanently shift my oral microbiome over time. I even got a yogurt maker off Amazon and began making my OWN L. Reuteri yogurt using a starter culture, half and half, and fiber powder (inulin). This will help create a lasting effect to permanently alter my oral microbiome to prevent bad bacteria from ever coming back.
The role of probiotics in curing oral imbalance cannot be understated. I have read multiple studies relating to probiotic research regularly, which has only begun exploding in the scientific industry in recent years. This is a really exciting time. After years of very limited progress on fixing halitosis, it seems that probiotics is the solution to combating the issue. One thing to note is that it takes time to rearrange your oral microbiome. It didn't get this way overnight. Getting out of it is the same.
In addition to populating the mouth with good bacteria, it is EQUALLY important to keep up with a regimen to clear the mouth of the bad bacteria, which must be done regularly and in parallel with the probiotic regimen. Every morning and night, I do the following routine:

• Tongue brushing with a Tung brush or orabrush (and go as far back as you can go)
• Tongue scraping with a metal scraper (as far back as possible)
• Brushing with Nano-Hydroxyapatite toothpaste which is beneficial for oral pH, removing biofilms, and mineralizing teeth. Some brands I use are Carifree and Boka -- https://amzn.to/44NGRav
• Flossing. I use the REACH Floss Stick.
• Tongue Brushing/Scraping again.
• Probiotic routine. For mornings, I do the powder. For evenings, I just take a couple of lozenges. I take the Weissella one, and/or well a Viome one that I have leftover from my Viome subscription. I also take them randomly throughout the day.
• Occassionally, I will use the SmartMouth Clinicial version of mouthwash for a nice cleanse of bad bacteria. There is a regular version and a clinical version, the clinical one is much more effective -- https://amzn.to/3ULAvUE . It is important not to overdo this because it can disrupt the good bacteria as well in addition to the bad.

Also want to emphasize the absolute importance of going to the dentist for cleanings as many times as your insurance covers. For decades, I did not visit the dentist, going years on end without cleanings. These treatments are essential for breaking up biofilms and plaques of all the colonies of bad bacteria. If untreated over time, they become more resilient and grow rapidly. They build protective shells around their communities which allow them to grow rampant and overpower the good bacteria of the oral microbiome. It is critical to go, and have the calculus and plaque disrupted and removed. Even if you don't experience relief from one or two cleanings, it needs to be done. It is the progressive effect over time that will cure the condition. Removing bad bacteria overtime while populating with good bacteria -- a one-two punch.
And that's about it. That's where I'm at now, and I will continue doing this routine for the coming year, because I have seen in the past how resilient this bad bacteria is. My goal is to continue hammering it down with probiotics, and not just to wipe it to oblivion, but to build a healthy diverse microbiome of good bacteria that will prevent it from ever growing back and out of control again. I still experience halitophobia - the fear of bad breath and reactions - even though I don't experience any. My mouth is moist and sweet. My saliva is flowing. But the fear of a reaction is a psychological condition, because it is what I've known for 20+ years. I hope to be able to shake it off over time through many positive interactions.
Good luck to all and God Speed!

The Communist captain gave me a disgusted look, but then I realized it wasn't me that caused him such disgust, but my bride behind me. I closed the comms channel. xenophobic dickhead.
The tractor beam interrupted the functioning of the gravity plates that had been installed in our brand new two hundred year old ship. They were supposed to work without power for at least twenty minutes. I had paid some attention to the briefing on the ship's systems, just not... really good attention, which was regretting Nyany let out yelp of surprise. She hadn't spent months in zero g training. I grabbed her hand and since I was still bolted to the pilot's seat I easily helped her into her seat where she strapped in.
"Thanks," She smiled at me and blinked slowly. "It's been a couple centuries since my zero-g training. Felidians do not do well in zero gravity."
We sat there for a moment holding hands, getting pulled toward the big grey communist warship, watching in silent horror. I squeezed her hand, and she squeezed back.
And then from every speaker in the cockpit, an alarm started to blare.
Torpedo Alert
A high speed flash of red, I'm guessing the torpedo, smashed into the great grey slab. It came from behind and above us, and very very close. The torpedo lodged right in the protruding tractor beam emitter, disabling it before it exploded.
The explosion rocked us backward and shook our relatively small craft.
Another torpedo seemed to come from our ship and hit the communist ship in the open hole the first one made before it too detonated. Then a visible energy shield appeared around the great warship.
We received a hail from... I hoped whoever was shooting torpedoes at the commies, the computer couldn't identify the source.
Much to my surprise when the viewscreen turned on it was Terriphany, she had clearly aged, but it was very much obviously her. I thought only tortoises lived to extreme ages, but what do I know about xenobiology.
"Terriphany, I assume you're the one who turned off that tractor beam for us?" I never expected to be so genuinely glad to see a woman I had been such as ass in front of.
"No time to explain, standby for coupling." There was a clang on our outer hull and her ship coupled to mine on the docking port.
"Captain Davis, Nyany, whoever is flying up there? Those communist humans are only gonna be disabled for so long. Be a dear and start flying us the hell away from here!" She sounded older too, but determined in a way the young woman from the hot tub hadn't.
Nyany grabbed the yoke in the co-pilot's seat and took control, she punched the throttle full forward and we dove away from our attacker. She aimed us toward the Earth, we had dropped out of the RarDrive at the L1 point between the Earth and Moon. My god, the Earth. It was a covered in a thick grey cloud from pole to pole. What happened? It wasn't this bad two hundred years ago.
As I sat there bewildered at the state of my homeworld, the hatch opened and a handful of slightly-more-human-looking-than Terriphany turtle people dropped in. I was at once reminded of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...
"Hi Dad, Nice to meet you." The first one said. He had a thick bundle of cables in his very human looking hand as he leaned over the seat I was in, and popped open the console to quickly plugged it in. "We're good Mom!"
"Standby..." Terriphany talked past Nyany and me to, I guess our son? While she pressed a few commands on her console. "Alright, Nyany, could you aim us where that navicom is suggesting, and then push that big red button for us."
She aimed the ship up from my now grey world, and over the horizon. Nyany looked at me, and I nodded. She hit the button and a Rainbow assaulted us.
"Owww Fuck!" Said the adult turtle-man standing behind me.
"Leonardo, Language!" His mother chided over the intercom. "Now, come help your old mother down into that ship. I want to explain myself to your father."
Nyany and I got out of our seats. When I was on my feet the need to slap myself in the face with both hands. Nope. Awake.
"Are you okay?" Nyany's tail said she was no edge. I could hardly blame her. That was a very wild few seconds, and now we were off again, but with a bunch of turtle-people we'd never met before calling me Dad. I'm on edge too.
"No... who would be okay right now? I'm pretty far from okay." I am honest. "But I think maybe, eventually I'll be okay. It's just... a lot to process. We almost died."
"Well... lets go see what Terriphany has to say." She took my hand and squeezed it, I squeezed back.
And we walked into the back of the ship where Terriphany, my three children with her, and two of my adult grandchildren and one of their spouses were waiting, along with a clutch of eggs that I assume contain my great grand children.
"First things first, we installed a cloak so that no one will be able to find us, at least hopefully. I put all the money I made from Disney paying me to having your children from stored DNA samples into stealth tech research. I took the pinnacle of our designs and destroyed all the research and the entire company a week before we came here to join you. This is your eldest son Leonardo, the second to hatch was Rembrandt, and your only Daughter Sofonisba hatched third. Her children with a human man, Frank, deceased, are Artemisia and Donatello. Artemisia has laid a clutch that she made with her mate, Chelon. Donatello has yet to find a mate, we all hope he can do so in whatever future we find ourselves in."
Everyone waved one at a time and when she was done speaking, I nearly lost my legs. Nyany helped me find a chair. "Get him some water, please."
Sofonisba brought a glass to me. She looks a lot like me, how can a turtle person look so much like me. What the fuck Disney-corp, Captain Tanner, whichever of them was responsible for this... I actually needed to thank. My surprise family had really pulled my ass out of the fire. I splash myself in the face with the glass of water more than I drink it, but I did swallow a little in the process.
"Okay, so that's a lot. I have questions."
Terriphany gestured for me to go ahead. And all the kids found places to sit down themselves too. Nyany stayed standing behind and beside me, her hand on my shoulder.
"So what now? How much did Disney pay you for this? Was there some sort of reality show associated with raising them too? Is Disney even still around? Why are they all named after Earth's renaissance artists?" They came tumbling out faster than they could answer.
"Disney paid Mom plenty." Rembrandt said.
"Turtin' along with Terriphany, yes." Sofonisba said. "It put us all through college. Phd's the lot of us."
"Disney named the first three of us, and we just..." Leonardo sorta trailed off.
"...carried on the tradition afterward, I guess." Sofonisba took responsibility for naming her own children in the same fashion."
Terriphany's tone took a dire note when she answered his only remaining unanswered question. "As for old Disney corp... well, they fully captured the galactic government when they went properly interspecies in their executive level. It's the Disney Way now, not the Milky Way. Humanity on Earth rebelled against Disney rule and after it was deemed the citizens had too much hope to be properly profitable for the company, the planet was bombarded from space. Most of humanity retreated violently from capitalism after the blanketing of earth in that grey fog."
Nyany was smarter than me, she asked a very good question, "So why did they try to take us alive, and not just blast us out of existence while we crawled around the solar system at near light speed?
"Oh, because the RarDrive is a bomb that will wipe out half the solar system in a single massive explosion if it's disengaged early. Old Disney was smart and vicious. This is all in your contract Captain Davis, did you not read any of it?"
"People from my time don't really fully read contracts. Just press accept or sign and assume its fine."
"That explains why the kids are such a surprise to you. I wasn't the only one you know..." She hook her head in disbelief. "The other reason to not explode you, is that you are the richest single person in the galaxy. Captain Tanner invested a small portion of your funds into buying a rather intelligent investment AI to manage your resources, and it smartly paid to upgrade itself. As a result, It the we left your AI and Disney Corp were engaged in galaxy wide commercial and financial warfare, as well as some actual warfare in terms of proxy wards. Half the galaxy thinks of you as a hero, an the other half a villain."
Nyany gave me a little shake and whispered in my ear. "Earlier when I said It was hundreds of years since my Zero-g training, I meant... from my point of view. I'm four hundred and twelve earth years old." I think she realized I hadn't properly read her bio before starting the show, but I had, it said she was twenty seven, which I now realize must have been her planet's years.
"So... now what?" I asked again.
Terriphany smiled in her turtle way, "Well If the rumors are true, then only the living Relic, Captain Davis, In other words, You, my dear baby-daddy, can take command of the AI and give it new instructions. Its current objective is to "maximize profit for Captain Davis" and the main hub will hopefully still be at the star system about two hundred light years away that we're headed to at a turtle's pace. Feel free to take some time to think about what you want to do with that information, but I'll tell you what I think you should do if you want."
"Hit me, Terri."
She smiled, and I could almost see that twenty four year old turtle girl in the hot tub again. God I was such as ass. "I think you should tell it make the star trek future actually happen."
"Yea, I think I will."
A pretty good day later, we smashed through the rainbow above a beautiful blue-green orb.

The first line of defense for the future and the fallen soldier. See, you did it again. It has nothing to do with Jewish people or any other culture. It has to do with your nature and how you will always be. That's what you fools do not realize. I was chosen for some reason and by whom I don't know. I was given a highly classified secret document that was stolen by someone else and literally left on my desk. Included was a timeline. How do I know that there is a big disaster in front of us? Because I had the entire plan handed to me. I was supposed to be gathering research and testing ideas to prepare for the next phase. But I got my ass beat several times and it gave me brain damage. In one of those attacks, the documents were stolen from me by idiots who are still laughing at me for believing the shit was real. I never said I did believe it was real. But if it was just a prank, then why go through so much trouble to steal the shit back? If none of the craziness ever happened, then why go through so much trouble to silence me and hurt me? Because you know it never happened. You know it was all created fiction meant to make me look like a fool. That's exactly what the plan was, right? No job, no house, no car, and no respect. You bought a script for that purpose. You paid for it using my money so it looks like I bought illegal piracy software from a region forbidden by executive order to engage in business outside their own region. And your entire purpose was to make me lose everything just to make me look like the evil person you told everyone I am. Yes, I can prove that. I don't have to. What is the damn point? The point is that you are the ones who got conned because I can't stop being myself. Stories are sent to my phone that seem to be from valid sources. I read it. I don't even have to comment out loud. My thoughts seem to be transmitted to someone and they send me tasks to figure shit out for them to take credit for. And before you go and categorize me with another psychiatric condition that I don't have, why don't you do some research for yourself and forget the fact you know everything. What if the smartest people in the world actually did have devices implanted in them that somehow allowed a technologically advanced civilization to make their thoughts YOUR reality. What if the person you are pushing beyond the brink of giving a fuck about the pain you experience in your future is the one who is creating your future by proxy? WHAT IF???!!! You don't think I would give all the money in this country to whomever would kick your asses into oblivion and only ask for protection from you? You are out of your mind if you don't think I would do that. I only care about me and mine. Yes, it was all bullshit. I didn't know that. That's good. For me. I know what is in store for me. You better toa look at your own life instead of analyzing others to profit. I am not sure if you even want to be in a free country where you have rights guaranteed by the government. I'd say it was a good run, Kev, but it had to end some time. I win!!! I don't know how to lose!!! That's right. What would you do? If you knew something was morally wrong, would you take the money or save the world? Mhmm. The ex said to take the money. He said go for the money. His ass was not talking to me. He was talking to his wife. Go ahead. Take the money and run. She did. Now I am supposed to be all I love you come back baby? Man. I am not your wife. And darlin you can kiss my ass. Your women got shit. You got shit. You should have read the book. I want a peaceful existence. If the only way I can have that is to delete you from my world, consider it done. You showed me exactly who you are. A rat bastard who hops from dumpsters to gutters chasing the dogs you let out. We are not the same kind, you and me. You ran your mouth about the rich bitch who didn't have anything at all, and every time there's a slight chance of my getting a good opportunity, you run back with the trash you dug out of someone else's dumpster and expect me to believe you didn't do anything wrong. You said I am a crazy, evil bitch. Wtf ever, dog. It's gonna be a no from me. But if you don't pick up the skanks and escort them back to Whoreville, I promise you there's going to be a bigger problem than what you already have coming. No job, no ride, no money, no freedom, no anything but the sound of your own screams haunting you for all eternity. You are not welcome here. Here=anywhere near me. Those women you keep getting messages from, that's all bullshit and Kelly. Just so you know that. It's all Kelly. That's why she said not to call the school. Fantasy land....Kelly. Gas tycoon money. Kelly. The name on my text now apps. Kelly. All the dating shit with my name and pictures. Kelly. Alllllll those hotels that have my info already, KELLY. Who used my name to order sex devices and meet up with men? KELLY. You are a brainless man, sir. I am not Kelly. I am not going to be with a man who can't even accept the simplest explanation that is the truth. She got caught cheating on her husband and lied through her teeth about it. That's not good. And she is the one who actually is or has inherited $$$ not me. Kelllllllly. The one who is talking to everyone's men ...KELLY! The one who set you up because she didn't want to take the blame for stealing my identity....KELLY! The Kansas City fiasco...KELLY. Duh. Her husband was working there. K-E-L-L-Y. That's one whore you are looking for. Now I am going to take a smoke break and be back to bust the other 3 out. Yeah, I know who. Ya damn address is pinged. It goes from the museum to peach tree daily almost. Duh. The other 3 are closer to the queen city most days. All of em sleeping with their husbands or alone and fucking everyone else but their own.

This might be a long shot, but here goes! I'm currently coming to the end of my Level 2 course, and hoping to start a Level 3 course next year. One thing that has been really helpful is a couple of DVDs I found, made by a company called 'Twinkle Fingers'. They've been really helpful to use as homework, alongside watching BSL Zone and attending BSL meet-ups. (In-person experience can't be beat, but watching things you can rewind and slow down has been really useful)
I've heard that Level 3 is quite a big step up, and as there will likely be a gap of months before I can start learning with a teacher again I'd love some more resources to keep my receptive skills up. As I've found Twinkle Fingers helpful, I looked and found out they had made a DVD for Level 3 beginners previously - but also that they were no longer making DVDs due to the costs and had sold out of all the older copies! My hopes were raised and dashed in the same moment, haha.
The DVD of theirs I'm looking for is 'Third Steps British Sign Language for Level Three Beginners'. It looks like no copies are currently for sale anywhere online, though if anyone has any ideas on anywhere else to check I'd definitely be all ears.
So my questions, in order of most to least likely of getting answers for are:

• Does anyone have any advice on good resources to use for the step up from Level 2 to Level 3?
• Has anyone also come across these DVDs and have recommendations for similar resources?
• Does anyone have a secret stash of Twinkle Fingers DVDs squirreled away anywhere?

Disclaimer: the audience for this post is people who are familiar with Homeworld. I've put hundreds of hours into all the games across the series. I'm going to assume that you're familiar with the basic mechanics, story beats and tone of the original game.
Homeworld 3 has been out a few days now. Critic reviews are largely positive, and fan sentiment seems to be a mixed bag.
Personally, I give it a strong recommend. But I also understand some of the frustration: there are a few gameplay design decisions that I don't agree with that I'll get into later. Here's my detailed breakdown:

positive

graphics: amazing, no notes

• it's pretty. really, really pretty
• ships have lots of details and moving parts
• generally runs well on my mid-range computer, a few notable exceptions

camera: generally easy to control

• orbit camera still works as expected
• modern RTS-style movement gives additional flexibility
• dedicated controls for camera elevation

audio design: fantastic

• radio chatter is well done
• music is amazing (Paul Ruskay is back!)

movement & selection improvements

• right click on a 3d surface to move to a point
• sensors manager has helpful movement zones, similar to HW2
• select all damaged units in a single group with a button

environmental improvements

• denser environments are tactically interesting

new unit types

• turrets are cool, can stick to most 3d surfaces

story and worldbuilding

• characters are generally well written
• engine cutscenes are nicely coreographed

roguelike mode (War Games)

• it's fun! and a great foundation for future content
• different starting loadouts are tactically significant
• semi-random upgrades encourage you to play differently

neutral

missing features from HW2

• no subsystem targeting
• no squadrons

different narrative tone

• CGI cutscenes instead of illustrations and line art
• more character-driven than previous games

tactical changes from HW1

• no tactics (evasive/neutral/aggressive) selection
• formations seem to fill this gap

miscellaneous

• some units very finicky to control
• cover system seems underutilized
• too many single-target abilities

negative

pacing & level design issues

• limited time at mission start to build and assign unit groups
• forced hyperspace: no time to collect resources or reconstitute after a mission
• pacing feels needlessly hectic

issues with camera & selection controls

• leaving sensors manager sometimes puts you behind objects
• superstructures can block unit selection
• right clicking on units in the main view does not deselect them
• some controls in hidden menus

discussion

A bit more detail on some of the points above:
neutral: missing features from HW2
I think the general sentiment is that few people liked squadrons in HW2. Subsystems were sort of cool but kind of annoying to target in the heat of battle. I don't really miss either of these features, personally.
neutral: different narrative tone
A lot of people seem to be up in arms about this. I have to say that the character-driven CGI cutscenes do add a bit of texture to the universe, but for me, it comes the expense of the kind of epic feel of the older titles. If you think about it, older games don't really have people as characters: the spaceships themselves are the characters.
The in-engine cutscenes still look great, with cool coreography. I wish they would have done more of this, it's more true to the original style.
neutral: too many single-target abilities
Why can't I shoot my charged beams at multiple enemies? Why can't I band-box to capture multiple ships at once? Not only would more multi-select abilies makes sense tactically, it would make things easier to control: it can be hard to pick out a single enemy from a big pile of ships.
neutral: some units finicky to control
I'm thinking of units like bombers. They have a cloaking ability, which doesn't always seem to work (maybe because one of them is still firing?). It's very frustrating when you *think* you enabled the cloaking device, only to have all your units wiped out 10 seconds later because the ability didn't actually trigger.
Movement and target selection can also be an issue. Again with bombers: they have an extremely long range, but will dive heedlessly toward the enemy at close range and get chewed up instead of turning around at a reasonable distance on their attack run. They also don't spread out their targets enough: they might drop two salvos of bombs on a target that would be destroyed by just one. Torpedo frigates are the opposite: they will try and keep a very large distance from the enemy, sometimes making it difficult to get them to go where you want them to go.
neutral: tactical changes from HW1
You can set a "stance" like in HW2, and this generally works better than in that game. Units don't run all over the map in a hyper-agressive way, and will generally stick close to units they're guarding.
However you can't use "tactics" like in HW1: for example, you can't set your recon units to "evasive" to have them break formation and tie up enemy units in the same way you could in that game.
You can kind of approximate this with formations, though. If you set "no formation" then strike craft will manuever in an evasive way. It took me a while to figure this out: the game doesn't really teach this to you.
negative: pacing and level design
This is the most frustrating thing about the game, even more so because it's 100% fixable. All you would need to do is give players a little time at the beginning of a mission to build a few units and get their selection groups set up before starting mission timers.
Likewise, it would be really nice to have some cooldown time at the end of missions to collect resources and rebuild your fleet. The "forced hyperspace" is a really questionable gameplay design decision.
There's one mission in particular where you're defending a chokepoint against a large enemy fleet. By the end of the mission, your fleet is battered: I was playing on the hardest difficulty, and had no resources remaining. After the combat, there are wrecked ships everywhere that your resource collectors can salvage, but the mission ends before you can collect anything!
Instead, I had to start the next mission with no resources and a crippled fleet. There didn't seem to be any plot justification for this: it's like it's specifically designed to annoy players.
negative: issues with camera and selection controls
These issues are more minor. The first is that you can't deselect a unit directly by right-clicking. As far as I can tell, you can only do it in the unit overlay in the lower-left corner. But in that view, you can't tell _which_ unit you're delecting, since it's just a box with a pile of ships.
The large environmental objects (superstructures) are also an obstacle to selection. This is a problem, since some levels take place in large hollow structures. You can see the units in sensor mode, but if you try to click on one and there's a solid object in the way, it won't select them. This is annoying, and it forces you to waste time rotating the camera around until the object is no longer in between you and the selection.
The sensors manager can also drop you in weird places when you exit back into the standard view, particularly if you've been zooming around. Sometimes there's a big object blocking your view. Hope they can patch this.
Finally, there are hidden controls that are hard to access. There's a whole context menu that you can only find by holding 'alt' and right clicking: I had to look this up online. The command to retire a ship is hidden in this menu. If you've played these series you know that 'retire' is actually a pretty important command: your population is capped and sometimes you need to retire some ships to make room for better ones.

Conclusion

The fact that I can strongly recommend this game in spite of the issues listed above is a testament to the quality of the engine that BBI has built. The minute-to-minute gameplay feels very solid and true to the series. With a few tweaks, I think they could really improve the pacing of the single-player game.
I have high hopes for the modding scene, given that the modding tools appear to be based on a customized version of the Unreal Engine. The roguelike mode is actually a blast, and I'd love to see where they go with it. New maps and mission objectives would be welcome. I haven't played it cooperatively but I'm eager to try.
I haven't played the skirmish mode yet, and I never played the older games competitively, so I've got no opinions there. Would love to hear more from others one what they think.
Also happy to clarify any points above, please feel free to ask.

I, (18F) moved in with my boyfriend (19M) a couple of months after I turned 18, and my parents were furious and hurt. There’s a lot to unpack with this one, so bear with me.
My parents (40F and 42M) are very religious and were somewhat strict while I was growing up. I have two younger brothers, one 17 and one 8 (this will be important later). For context, my father is a pastor at a local church and my parent’s religious beliefs are the reasoning behind most if not all of their actions. Growing up, I was never a stereotypical girl. I didn’t have many female friends and was usually not accepted in groups with guys as I was a girl and we were kids. I was extroverted as a child but due to being repeatedly rejected by kids my age, I became more introverted. I was a major nerd who loved superheroes and I wanted to play sports. Again, for context, the town I grew up in was very conservative and my parents are very conservative themselves. Girls liked girl things- even if they claimed that’s not how they felt, it’s how they acted. However, as a kid, I did not realize this. I played soccer and basketball growing up, regardless of how “weird” it made me because I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. I was probably around 9 or 10 at this point. It was around this time my parents started having issues with my hobbies. I remember my parents trying to convince me to be a cheerleader because I would “like it more,” but I insisted on playing basketball. (This basketball/cheer program was through our church by the way). Because I was still young, they let it slide, but to this day I remember them being annoyed with it. This is also around the time dieting was introduced to me as well as calorie counting. I have always struggled with my weight and so has my mother, so they were very adamant on making sure I was being “healthy.” I didn’t understand it, but as a child, the only thing I was worried about was making my parents happy. A lot of discipline I received revolved around emotion. What I was doing was right or wrong and if I did something wrong, I felt terrible and awful and would often come crying to my parents about the mistakes I made, fearful of their disappointment and anger if they found things out themselves. They also made everything a moral dilemma- everything was about God and religion and as a kid, it really messed with my head. I would blame myself for everything that went wrong, seeing it as God’s punishment for my behavior. When I was 9, I went so far as to blame my grandmother’s death on myself because I was hanging out with boys instead of girls. This made me to be more of an introvert and my now anxiety disorder is much much worse.
About a year later, my parents sat down with me and my brother and told us they wanted to adopt. At first, I was very excited. I loved the idea of having another brother or sister. And I wouldn’t trade my 8 year old brother (let’s call him Scott) for anything, but adopting kids is part of what triggered a huge change in my parent’s behavior. Also- I had started getting older. I loved playing video games, watching cartoons and writing. However, these weren’t the things they wanted me to like I guess, because I started to feel their judgment become more clear and apparent as I got older. Now, I assume this is because as a kid, I just did what I was told, or my oddities were assumed to fade over time, but that is not the case anymore. Anyways, entering middle school, our family fostered a little girl, let’s call her Ally. A young woman in our church had told us that Ally’s family was out of the picture, and as her aunt, she couldn’t take her in as she was already a single mom and planned on adopting her brother, but couldn’t handle all three alone. So my family stepped in- however, we had come to find that her father was still in the picture and was actively fighting for custody. And Ally was a bit of a handful. My parents have admitted that they expected to swoop in, save a child from a hard life and be the heroes, and when things were harder than that they were very upset. Ally was about three- she remembered her mom (who was in jail i believe), her sisters, her grandma and grandpa, as well as her dad. She didn’t want our family, she wanted hers. She didn’t listen to my parents and rejected their parenting. This is what started to make my parents snap. I understand it was hard for them, but now that I’m older, I get it. She was a little girl who wanted her family. But they took her rejection very seriously and were constantly unhappy with her and made sure she knew it. Children not listening immediately was newer to them as my brother and I both did pretty much whatever they asked, and they did not take well to being told “no” by a child. 8 months after living with Ally, she was taken in by her grandparents to live with them and her sisters. The next day, my parents took my brother and I on a small trip. I’m not sure if it was to cheer us up or to celebrate. I was quite sad though- I had started to really care about Ally and had convinced myself that “God would take care of things” and I would have a sister. But I was angry- God took someone away from me and I was doing everything right. Why was he punishing me? Nothing made sense. Yet, only a year later, my parents were considering taking in another child. I wanted nothing to do with it- God had already taken one sibling away from me. I couldn’t do it again. In the end, I agreed and soon became attached to this little boy, who was two when we met him. This was Scott. I immediately became attached- and I love this kid more than I can describe- he’s my little brother and I would do anything for him.
This is where things start to go further downhill. Scott has a lot of trauma and mental issues, one of those issues being oppositional defiant disorder. That basically means that listening to any form of authority is near impossible for him, and causes him to lash out and act younger than he is. This is probably due to a number of reasons, as he was severely neglected and abused as an infant and his birth mother was on several different substances while pregnant with him, to the point where he was born high on several illegal drugs. He was left in a car seat for most of his infant life, so the back of his head is slightly flattened due to this. My parents are very obedient/disciplined-based parents, so his behavior rocked their world. In my opinion, the way they handled things with Scott was borderline abusive. There were several occasions where he would say he hated them (as young children do when they're mad) and they would flip. Telling him that if he didn’t want them that was fine. They didn’t need him. He could run back to his other parents, but his mom was in jail and his dad didn’t want him, so good luck with that. If we were in the car when this happened, they would threaten to leave him on the side of the road and good luck finding his way home. Once my mother literally pulled to the side of the road, placed him outside the car and started driving so he would “think they would leave him if his actions didn’t change,” but she turned around to get him. Because they would “never actually abandon or hurt him,” their actions were justified and perfectly fine. They would tell him he was acting like a baby when he started to cry and scream. “Little baby Scott, do you need a diaper?” Is how they would tease him when he became older, which just made his tantrums worse. They would tell him how disappointed they were with him and that he should be ashamed of himself and the way he acted because they gave him everything. They would call him, to his face, “an ungrateful manipulative piece of shit.” Because according to my parents, he could control his actions 100% and was choosing to act out to make their lives difficult. While I understand that this was hard for them, in my opinion, this in no way excuses their behavior. One time, Scott was crying and was upset (who knows why, but the kid had a lot of trauma and mental issues so it didn’t bother me too much), and my mother picked him up and put him in his room. She told him that every time he tried to leave his room, she would take away one of his stuffed animals. (He had several that he loved very much). Because this sounded so terrible to him, he ran after her trying to say it wasn’t fair. So she went into his room and took a stuffed animal. This cycle continued while he cried and begged for her to stop, because he just didn’t get it that she was going to keep doing this over and over and his trying to convince her was making it worse. Eventually, there were none left, and she told him if he didn’t stop crying she was going to throw them all away. I don’t remember what happened after that, but I do know that several of them were thrown away, if not at that time than others. There are many other instances of things like this and worse occurring, but we’d be here for a while if I tried to recount them all. Moving forwards to closer when I was moving out-
Now, several years later, when I turned sixteen, I had come to terms with the fact that I was bisexual. This went against everything my family was for, and I knew exactly how they viewed queer people. So, I started learning about different branches of Christianity and felt like I knew a God who loved me as I was and was happy in my decision to switch denominations. (My parents were baptists, and I wanted to be non-denominational). A few months after this, I decided to tell my parents the truth. I had done my best to give them hints, but I wanted to be honest with them because I trusted that they would love me and be there for me no matter what. When I told them I wanted to talk to them about something, they pushed and pressed and I had been trying to wait to talk to them until the next day. I had been seeing my high school counselor, and she suggested giving them a heads-up before springing that conversation up on them. However, after telling them to wait, they went through my phone and saw that I had researched different denominations and read different sermons on queer-accepting faith. They were livid. To be clear- I had a friend over while this was happening. We were watching a movie and joking about how I lost my phone and couldn’t show them this picture I wanted to. Then, I was called upstairs. I had apparently betrayed my parents and, “how could I do this to them, when I had someone over?” My father demanded I send my friend home, but my mother convinced him for one more hour. I was told not to tell my friend anything they had said and to act like things were fine, but I couldn’t. I went back downstairs where we were hanging out and started sobbing. I felt like my whole world was falling apart. Everything was over- and the people I thought would love me no matter what made me so afraid and sad, I was completely broken. My friend did their best to comfort me and even felt weary to leave me alone with my family but I told them I’d be okay, and asked that they update our friends about the situation. That night was hellish. So many conversations, them trying to understand what I felt, but not taking me particularly seriously either. That night turned into weeks of books, slideshows, conversations, and prayers. It felt like at-home conversion therapy. Eventually, I was given a choice “put my convictional flag in the ground or loose their trust.” As the petrified 16 year old, I chose to lie. I put my “flag” in the ground and did my best to, “earn back their trust” and repair their reputation that I had tarnished. The next couple months were a blur. I felt so terrible about myself. I didn’t know what I thought or believed and I became extremely hyper anxious and depressed. I had lost all sense of privacy and I did trust my parents further than I could toss them. My 17 year old brother (he was 14 at the time, let’s call him James) was 100% on board with my parents. My life felt like a living nightmare. My parents had it so that all my texts sent or received from my phone would go directly to theirs, so I couldn’t even confide in my friends without getting into trouble (which had happened and was how I found out that they did that because I deleted the texts immediately after sending/receiving things).. Everything felt like it was about me and how I needed to earn back their trust and how I was a terrible betrayer who they were not proud of in the slightest. I had gone to get a pixie cut (with their approval) and after they told me I was disgusting and repulsive and would never find a man to love me. I was heartbroken and felt so alone and unloved in my house, while I had to watch my younger brother be treated the way he was by my parents.
Luckily, I had a lot of friends and our school counselor who had been there for me through everything. They showered me with support and love and made sure I had a safe space to exist and truthfully I think they’re the only reason I didn’t do anything drastic and am still here today. It was hard though because James went to the same school as me and would tell my parents if I was with anyone he knew was queer or queer accepting. This caused me to be very very paranoid about who I was with, when, where, etc. Constantly covering my tracks, having an excuse set up and ready to bolt if I saw anyone I knew. What made things equally hard is that the church my father works at is quite big in our area. So if someone from our church or someone who knew my family saw me with anyone they labeled as “queer” or “gay,” they would tell my family as well. For the most part, I didn’t feel safe anywhere. I was constantly alert and on guard, even when I was asleep as my parents had woken me up before to confront me about someone I was friends with at school.
Fortunately for me, despite everything being such a mess, I am quite academically smart. I got a job the second I turned sixteen as I had heard the horror stories of queer kids being kicked out and wanted to be prepared. I had been saving money, taking college classes (we have a state program that pays for the classes while you’re in high school), and putting on a show for my family for quite some time. After saving some money, I paid my parents for an older car that they had paid off ten or so years ago. After my brother turned 16, he claimed it was too hard to share a car with me, so while I was away visiting a friend they bought him a car and told us that they expected each of us to pay them one thousand dollars before we graduated high school and that when we did so, they would sign over our respective cars to us. To be clear, I contributed to insurance and paid for my own gas, as well as contributing to my phone bill and money for food. Meanwhile, my brother had no job, and was constantly asking my parents for money to go out with friends. He had also taken up golfing, which as most people know is extremely expensive, and my parents funded everything. James had actually admitted to asking for more money than he needed and save the leftovers for whatever he wanted. I was also expected to chauffeur him to golf events and to get togethers with his friends, and my parents would in return give me some gas money. Another thing to note is that the only reason I was contributing to our phone bill is because James wanted unlimited data and my father said it was unreasonable unless we both contributed financially. I refused as I was trying to save money (as I would have with the car situation), however things per normal went James’s way. However, because he did not have a job, he was not expected to pay anything and would not be charged for the months and years that he did not contribute to. I did my best not to let these things get to me and to keep a level head. I paid my parents for the car because I already had over two thousand dollars saved as a seventeen year old high school student due to my hard work.
I focused on my classes and joined theater to help fill the hours in between school and work. I was much more active my sophomore year but when James also decided to join theater I retreated a bit as my once safe space to freely exist was no longer safe. I joined the stage crew but honestly that was also very enjoyable and lethargic for me and I enjoyed it a lot. Anyways, I was mostly a straight A student besides the stray Bs and one or two Cs (psychology and AP government screwed me over) and was working 15 or so hours a week. This is on top of my commitments to the church which were most of my Sundays and my Wednesday evenings. The funny thing is though- James missed more church than I ever did yet because my absence was because of work and not golf, I was the one consistently reprimanded for my lack of attendance and socialization whilst I was there. Yet because James could never do anything wrong and was a very extroverted person his lack of attendance wasn’t as serious as my own. I had one close friend through our church, let’s call her Grace (now 18F) and she actually knew about everything and was very supportive of me. I also had some other friends who really only showed up to church so I didn’t have to go through the torture alone which I don’t know if I could ever repay them for. Besides the people I was comfortable with though, I was pretty much a loner there and this heavily displeased my parents as it made them look bad and messed with their reputation. I never realized how much appearances meant to them until all of the shit that happened took place. As I mentioned before, our church is very conservative and traditional, and many sermons and lessons revolved around gender roles and the sinfulness of the world in terms fo the LGBTQ community. I consistently felt targeted because of my looks and my personality and stopped feeling comfortable there a very long time ago.
Now that more context is in place, fast forward to the end of my junior year. I had at this point finished all my high school requirements for graduation and was given an incredible opportunity to go to our local college full time for my senior year. I was very excited and happy because not only did it give me more freedom but it also meant I would get more than a year of my college education paid for by the state.
It was also around this time when I met my now boyfriend, let’s call him Dean. We were coworkers and had begun to get to know each other. We had a lot in common and while were different people personality wise, we enjoyed each other’s company quite a bit. By some miracle, I convinced my parents to allow me to hang out with him outside of work by claiming he was just a friend and saying that he was a Christian (which is by no means true). They were extremely skeptical but allowed us to hang out. We had an incredible time- and by the end of our first date he asked me to be his girlfriend which I happily accepted. I was so happy, but when I got home, things spiraled out of control. I told my parents about our time, and they were extremely unhappy as they felt fooled (which they were to be fair) and told me I was not allowed to see him ever again. I was devastated and they said a lot of very uncalled for things and but I understand why they were angry. To be clear, they knew I had a romantic interest in Dean and that this hangout was to see if we would be compatible partners and get to know each other better. They did not call it a date though because they weren’t comfortable with it, even if it was a date and they kinda knew it. So while they were on some level “fooled,” I feel that their anger and harshness wasn’t called for as they knew the intentions of our hanging out. The next morning my father demanded to see my phone. This is when I started to panic. You see, they had stop tracking my texts and I had openly flirted with Dean over text. Nothing that explicit and no photos of any kind. But the flirting would be enough for them to tear my world apart and I knew it. They had gone through my personal conversations before and made me feel terrible because of it and I refused to let them do it again. So I deleted everything. The entire conversation chain, I removed it from my phone 100%. My parents absolutely lost their shit. They had been manipulating and gaslighting me for years, doing anything and everything to keep their control and with my actions I showed them they couldn’t control me forever and things went very downhill. I lost all my privacy and was once again told how I had betrayed them and I was terrible and couldn’t be trusted. Again- I partially understand their anger here because I had directly disobeyed a command. But at the same time, I feel as a young woman I should be allowed some sense of privacy and the ability to talk to people without being constantly monitored. I don’t feel like I did anything wrong and would happily do it again in a heartbeat if it meant I’d be where I am today. Regardless of this, my life became a living hell once again, and my parents compared this to when I came out, “which was maybe the worst night of their lives.” They stripped me of all my privileges even if I didn’t have many to begin with. They made me feel absolutely miserable and awful about myself and I was monitored like never before. I would be working and receive texts upon texts of how I was so terrible and how could I do this to them because they had done everything for me and I’m a terrible daughter who should be ashamed of myself for the deceit and malicious nature of my actions. Again- this was because they could not read the messages between me and my now boyfriend. I understand them being mad but they took it to a completely inappropriate level. I shared everything happening with my friends and counselor and they supported me and assured me I did nothing wrong and they would be there for me which helped but as my home was now a living hellscape it was hard to hear it. I found a way to tell Dean about things and at first he felt guilty but I assured him that their actions were not his fault but theirs. He then asked me if I wanted to pause our relationship but I told him honestly that they had taken so many things I cared about over the years and I refused to let them take this. I did tell him however I understood if he didn’t want to put up with all the complicatedness of my family but he told me he cared for me and would be there so long as I was okay with it. He also told me if things ever got really bad at home, regardless of the fact we had just started dating, he had spoken to his family and they offered me a place to stay if I needed/wanted it. This really touched me, but I reassured him that it was not his job to offer that, but I appreciated the offer.
This begins our relationship and we were very happy. We had found a way to communicate over email, and we were able to hide our relationship with my family. Luckily for me, over the years I had made a habit of hanging out at the park by myself so it was not strange for me to head to the park for a couple of hours. There, I would leave my car and phone (my phone had a tracker on it) and Dean and I would hangout multiple times a week and it was heaven. At this point, we’ve only been dating for a year but I can admit without any doubt that I am in love with this man and he is in love with me. During the school year, it became easier for us to hang out in between classes as we both went to the same college (I am older for my year in school and he is younger, so he was a sophomore in college while I was a senior in high school. However, we are barely a year apart in age for anyone who is concerned). However, in order for us to communicate and hang out, I had to be extremely diligent and was consistently covering my tracks while “once again, earning my parents trust and repairing our relationship.” Because of course their actions were completely justified and I was the one in the wrong, per normal. Anyways, every day, I was editing search histories, erasing messages, and looking over my shoulder. Our church had a program on campus where Dean and I went to school, so being together in public was risky as my father’s friends and coworkers were always on campus and I knew I would be screwed if we were caught together. We had a couple of close calls over the months but it was all worth it because I hadn’t been that happy in years.
Now, to the day I left and why. You see, my parents' behavior towards Scott was becoming more aggressive and worse over time. They also had, in my opinion, a drinking problem. Considering they didn’t deny it when I called them out, they may agree. They would behave more hostile after several drinks and it was happening so consistently I was constantly walking on eggshells. Between the way they treated Scott, the way they treated me and the constant stress I was under trying to balance my life in fear of the repercussions, things became too much. When things weren’t going to shit, I was consistently expected to either babysit my brother and do chores while being a full time college student and working a part time job WHILE attending church multiple times a week and keeping up with my responsibilities as a senior. This is on top of the stress my parents' behavior caused, meanwhile James was expected to do almost nothing in comparison. Don’t get me wrong- he didn’t do anything, but he had almost no responsibilities outside of school and his extracurriculars which were exclusively funded by my parents. Yes he helped with dishes during the week and would keep his space tidy. But as my schedule became much more flexible due to my school schedule, my expectations around the house became much higher than his. Even though I paid 200 a month on gas, 50 a month for insurance and 50 a month for the phone bill, and he paid nothing for his car, insurance, phone, gas, nothing. So you would think he would be expected to help in the house more but no. Also, James’s behavior towards Scott mimicked my parents and so all babysitting responsibilities fell on me as they couldn’t be trusted alone together. I was rarely if ever paid for my cleaning or babysitting services as it was my responsibility as their eldest child. They would also consistently judge me for my weight, cloths, hair, hobbies, etc. Why did I think it was a good idea to get fast food? I clearly didn’t need it. They would “outfit check me” to make sure the outfits I wore were feminine enough because the way I look effected their reputation and I couldn’t be trusted. I was not allowed to cut my hair after their tantrum over it. As for my hobbies, I stopped playing sports in middle school as I am very short (currently 5 foot even) and was unable to keep up with my peers. However my interest in video games and cartoons wasn’t feminine enough and they proceeded to compare me to my best friend Grace because she was skinnier and liked more feminine things than I did which hurt a lot. Another thing for context, I have PCOS. It’s an endocrine disorder that heavily effects your metabolism and hormones, which in turn severely effected my weight, however my parents never acknowledged it and again made everything my fault. So from what I wore, what I ate, who I hung out with and what I enjoyed doing was constantly criticized, scrutinized and eventually controlled by my family for years. On top of everything else, I was done. I was 18, I had resaved the thousand I paid my family and knew I was at a place where I didn’t need them and was tired of being treated like shit. So I left.
The night I moved out was a total shit show. I had rallied Dean and my other friend, let’s call them Rita (18NB), and they helped me form a plan. When I returned home, Dean and Rita would be on their way. I would pack everything that belonged to me or I felt they would let me take, and prep the bags outside. After Rita arrived I went to try and explain to my parents that I would be leaving and explain calmly why. In a perfect world, we would have had a long deep talk, and things would have ended alright. That is far, far from what happened. They immediately starting screaming, and took my phone and car keys as both belonged to them, which I calmly handed over. Rita was there for emotional support, and put themselves between me and my parents as they got more angry and seemed to be turning aggressive. After that, my father called the police and claimed that there was an intruder in their home trying to take their child. Yeah. Complete bullshit- which to this day I’m surprised they were never charged with falsifying a 911 call. They screamed at Rita to get out of their home and was screaming that I was throwing away everything and I needed to reconsider. I ignored them and attempted to calmly walk out, and my parents attempted to barricade the doors while harassing Rita to leave. Because Rita is incredible and one of my closest friends now, they refused to leave without me which was very calming. While my parents were distracted yelling at them, I slipped out through the garage. My mother saw this and then grabbed me, attempting to drag me inside by my arm. Rita saw this and assisted me in getting her off me, and after doing so we continued to walk towards Dean’s car where he was waiting for us. He figured it would be best if my family didn’t see him for the time being as they would definitely lose their minds at seeing his face. My parents continued screaming and then the cops arrived. They were quite confused at first because they had been sent to deal with a potential kidnapping, only to see two grown adults throwing a tantrum because their adult child didn’t want to live with them anymore. That night was honestly so insane I could write three more pages about everything they said and did. The most notable events were first when my mother tried to explain to the police that because I was her child, she was allowed to put her hands on me, which they humorously informed her was not the case. The next was when James came home from theater rehearsal, to which my parents told them that I was abandoning our family. He was an emotional wreck through all of it, and to this day has told me that until I “fix” things with our parents he is not okay with having any form of relationship with me. Throughout all of this Scott was in his room, and I was allowed to give him one last hug before leaving. The final and most notable thing, was as the cops allowed my boyfriend, Rita and I to leave, my father threatened violence towards my boyfriend and accused him of "taking advantage of his underage daughter," which is just ridiculous as we are practically the same age, and anything we had done together was consensual and reserved for after I turned 18. Another thing my parents did was go through each bag I had packed and took everything they felt belonged to them, including the laptop provided to me by my high school, which they hilariously were made to give back to me several days later as it was not theirs and they had no right to take it. They tried claiming they were giving it to me out of the kindness of their hearts, but that bullshit meant nothing as after I informed the school of their behavior, the school assured me they would be made to give it back. Another thing they threatened to do as I left was pull me out of high school, which I was assured by the police they were not capable of doing as I was 18. The police were for the most part annoyed with my parents, tired of their bs and told me I seemed to be a capable young woman and wished me the best of luck. My parents had tried to ask the police to say I was mentally unstable for the time being so I wouldn’t be allowed to leave, as their “she’s still in high school” excuse didn’t do anything. You see, as my father is an influential church figure and had friends in the police force, he thought they would be on his side but was sorely mistaken as the chief told him they wouldn’t be doing him any favors. And with that, I was free.
My boyfriend's family has been nothing but unconditionally kind and supportive and have accepted me as part of their family which has been a huge blessing in all of this. I am in contact with my father’s sister and his father, my aunt and grandpa, and as I have expressed my unhappiness at home, they are supportive of me as well. However, as my aunt lives further away and my grandpa is not in the best place to have me live with him, I have been with my boyfriend's family since I left home in October. I have a lot more I could say but I already feel like there are way too many parts here and so for now I’ll leave it at this. So yeah, AITA for moving out after I was treated like shit for years while witnessing the mistreatment of my sibling?

So the announcement that they are completely changing the genre of the game has really disappointed me. I understand airship was put in a bad position but this change they are making is not what me and others paid for… they have said about the founders items still being ‘exclusive’ but now it’s a offline experience people are just going to be able to mod those items in literally making the founders packs completely worthless. When you had founders packs priced all the way up too $130. It really feels shitty that nothing of what we paid for will actually matter in the end :(

Okay... this is a difficult post to make as the WS, because I have debilitating shame and remorse and fear., so putting it all out there is scary... But here goes...it's a long one....
I am 41F, married to my wonderful wife, 33F, for almost 4 years, together for 8. She is gay, the first woman I have ever been with and I identify as bisexual. My 15 year old son from my previous marriage lives with us and my wife has taken the role of stepmother beautifully.
Some background....She cheated on me, physically with one woman (a drunken one night stand) and an emotional affair with another woman (a "friend" I always had bad feelings about - texting inappropriate pics, sharing loving feelings with each other and talking badly about me). This was only a few months into us dating, but I didnt find out until 2 and a half years and moving in together. She was extremely remorseful, claimed she was planning on telling me, and ultimately did everything right as far as helping me heal and reconcile. I felt like it took about 2-3 months for me to decide I was ready to forgive and move on. But I did. I mean, I never really forgot it, and still would look at the both of the other women's social media accts and would compare myself to them constantly. But overall, I felt like we were in a good place after a few months and really did come out stronger. My trust in her was restored and we were good. We got engaged, got married, bought a new house. We were truly happy.
Okay. Now... deep breath.... About 2 and a half months ago I had an emotional affair, texting and talking on the phone, with an old friend who lives in another state, that lasted a little under two weeks. This friend and I did share a history of hooking up, but this was years ago when we were teens/early 20's. He had reached out kind of out of nowhere, to tell me his marriage was on the rocks. I expressed sympathy and offered support. Then he went on to tell me he has always been in love with me, for 22 years. I was taken aback. In hindsight, I wish so badly I had just shown my wife this text right away. But I stupidly thought I could just handle it on my own and avoid making her uncomfortable (again...huge regret). Anyway, I told him that I cared deeply for him, but that I was happily married and boundaries needed to be respected. He agreed. We continued to text, at first just innocent things about what we had been up to over the past few years since we last saw each other. Then he told me he had made a suicice attempt recently. This scared and upset me, so I went on to tell him how much I loved him. He then told me I "saved his life" by telling him this, because he had been in such a bad place. The texts just got out of control after that. I am not saying that to act like I had no control. I know I did. But I started to feel feelings for him (or I thought I did) and honestly, was eating up the ego boost he was giving me. Messed up, I know. I have serious insecurities and vulnerability when it comes to men from my past. Again, no excuse. Anyway, eventually it lead to us being really inappropriate, talking about our past sexual moments with each other, how much we wanted to see eachother, how great it would be, etc. I sent him a picture of me, no nudity, but definitely suggestive.
Shortly after that, the guilt consumed me, I blocked his number, and I confessed to my wife. I admittedly trickle truthed at first, saying it was all him, but as the conversation went on, I admitted I also reciprocated, told him I loved him, talked about sex, and sent him a photo of me. Wife was of course pissed and devastated.
The NEXT day, this man's wife texted me. She said she knew all along. He had been deleting our texts, but she was seeing everything on their phone records. Shockingly, she wasnt flipping out on me. She actually said that their marriage was terrible for years, that this was mild compared to other things he had done, and this was finally her out. She actually even thanked me. But of course, also said this was real disgusting of both of us. She said she could have reached out to my wife several times but didn't. She said she had possession of her husband's phone (including the picture, and that he would never see it again), and that everything she had would be destroyed after their divorce was final. She also told me that he manipulated me (that he uses threats of suicide with her all the time), and that even though I was wrong too, it was him "who sunk his claws into me". She told me to show my wife what she was saying so that maybe it would help. I did, and it did help a little bit. She also said she believes I am a good person. All of this was a relief to hear, even though I didnt feel deserving of such grace. She said that I could give my wife her number if she ever needed to vent, but that she wouldnt pull up the facts she had because that is not helpful or healthy. My wife didnt want to do that. All of my texts with him had already been deleted on my phone, which I had done in state of panic before confessing. So my wife hasnt actually seen anything that was said and has only my words to go off of.
After about three days of talking and crying, and me telling her how remorseful I was and that I would do anything to save us, my wife said she wanted to work through this and stay with me. I was relieved of course, but still felt so awful, and honestly, still scared that she will leave. At one point, she even said she felt like she deserved this because of her cheating. And that what she did was worse because she actually physically slept with someone else. I told her that I didnt feel that way.
Flash forward, Dday was about two and a half months ago. I am still a wreck. Wife says she has already forgiven me (she is still "mad" but she is ready to move on). She believes me when I tell her I would never do this again. I know for a fact I would never.
I cant keep my intrusive thoughts of losing her from making me spiral. I feel so ashamed. I cant eat or sleep. I have constant anxiety attacks. I am trying SO hard not to put this burden on her, because it was ME who did the terrible thing. But i am just crying constantly and not myself. She even told me "the only thing keeping us from moving forward is you. We cant move forward as long as you are stuck."
We are in MC and our own IC. Wife is giving me so much reassurance, so why cant I hear it? And I dont want to keep putting my feelings on her. I know it is just overwhelming her which she doesnt deserve, and I know if I dont pull it together, it will drive her away. She said she misses me. She wants us to be ourselves again. She is still mad that I did this, but says she trusts me overall. Why cant I get out of this terrible depression? I think a part of me worries that if she actually SAW our texts, it would be too much. I dont know. I told her that it was way too emotional, but didnt really give specifics.
I am not totally sure what I am looking for here.... advice? positivity? Anything from anyone who has been there and successfully reconciled and give me hope? Advise on what I can do to snap out of this and move forward. And that reconciliation truly is possible. That what my wife is telling me is true and that alone should help me. She is the love of my life and the idea of losing her because of my disgusting actions is an actual nightmare. I feel terrible for the reprucussions this could have on my son if she left. He loves her so much. Our life was truly amazing, so why did i do this? I hate myself so much. How can i forgive myself??

Dark Souls 2 is usually treated as the bad apple, with many people saying say 'it's a good game but a bad Dark Souls game' and I have mixed feelings about this statement. When it was originally released, I agreed, but not for the usual arguments you heard. But I stopped playing halfway through due to bad hit detection, something that for me, is unacceptable in a soulslike. I was going to replay it after a patch or two. But my love of soulslike wasn’t as absolute back then, so never touched it until the re-release- the 'Scholar of the First Sin' Edition (SotFS), which included fixes hit boxes, better enemy placements, and all the bits of DLC included, and this version is so much better, and the version I will exclusively be reviewing.
Gameplay & Technical:
I hear a lot of people complaining about the very flow of the game, due to there being less monstrous boss fights, and many of the levels having much more enemies to fight, so it’s easy for them to surround you. I’m going to be the odd duck who disagrees with everyone and say I didn’t mind this at all. Every soulslike plays rarely deviates from the formula set by Dark Souls 1. Easy to semi difficult level design, with a difficult boss to cap that section off. Dark Souls 2 (and Lords of the Fallen 2023) are the only soulslike who seem to flip the difficulty around, creating easier boss fights but having levels with a much higher enemy density. While a lot of people dislike this change, I enjoy the change of pace as it is testing another skill set. Instead of testing my ability to dodge and block one big enemy, can I do this and remain spatially aware of everything else. Lords of the Fallen 2023 since changed their game to buff the bosses and remove many enemies, however Dark Souls 2 didn’t. They stuck to their guns meaning it was intentional. My guess is that the Devs knew they had tested their fans skills in Demon Souls and Dark Souls, so wanted this sequel to remain fresh and difficult so made the choice to go this route and I for one don’t mind that change occasionally. The DLC area’s then seem to return to the more standard formula.
Another boon of this gameplay is the subtle options it gives the player. You can beat the 4 huge boss souls to open the door to the castle... Or you can grind to a specific soul level if you would rather.
NG+ is one of the best in the genre, and From Software’s best by a mile. NG cycles have new enemy’s placements and items. And if you only want to beat your favourite bosses or get one item from NG+, then you can burn an effigy in the bonfire to upgrade that one specific area to NG+.. Meaning grinding for that boss door and ignoring bosses is very viable.
Story, Level Design, Art & Music:
The base games story here is inconsequential. It’s told in the usual drips and drabs, but with Dark Souls 1 being the first cycle, and Dark Souls 3 being the last, this being ‘just another one’ didn’t really hook me in the same way. The story implications of the ‘Three crowns’ DLC’s trilogy was much more interesting, and I really wanted this threat to continue more into the third game, but it wasn’t to be. The other thing that made a lot of sense story-wise was the health degradation system every time you hollowed to represent getting further and further from your humanity. Yes, it made the game harder, but I would have loved this change to have stayed in the third game as it works so well thematically.
The level design here is again a negative point to many people. It doesn’t loop back on itself- ever- in the base game, and it’s nonsensical in places. You can see a tower in the distance, walk to the tower, go to the top and there is an elevator which wasn’t visible from the outside that goes to a hidden sky castle. People didn’t like this, but it never really bothered me. Why can’t a fantast title have fantasy in its world? With the hindsight of playing Dark Souls 3, I wonder if this was intentional to show the world degrading in logic with every loop. A point driven home in the ringed city DLC of Dark Souls 3, when part of the Dark Souls 2 world can be seen scattered around. Again, the 3 crowns DLC’s return to the normal formula of shortcuts and logical places you can map out in your head.
My biggest complaint about this game is the art direction. A topic I haven’t heard any other person talking about. My biggest issue with this game, is the entire art direction just seems off to me. I will do my best to explain this, however I am struggling to word it, so if anyone gets what I’m trying to say and can word it better please let me know and I will amend my review.
Dark Souls 1 & 3's graphics are dark, grim, and dripping with atmosphere, in contrast Dark Souls 2 graphics are more vibrant, with a higher contrast and it loses the edge the other games in this series do so well, making the atmosphere less oppressive and the game feeling more like a more ‘typical’ fantasy game.
This isn’t strictly to do with the colour pallet, as Elden Ring also uses much brighter pallet, yet retains an art style in line with the rest of the series.
Conclusion:
Overall a lot of the common complains about Dark Souks 2 never bothered me and I found this an enjoyable game with some unique mechanics that fit the themes of the story perfectly The base game is enjoyable enough, however it’s the 3 pieces of DLC content that really tie this game together. These three DLC’s have all the base areas, boss fights and story in the game and I whole heartedly encourage you to play for this content. I personally, however, hate the visual design they chose, and am so happy they returned to the usual design in there later games.

Some of you may recognise the DLC-shaped fanart (fan plush?) I made two... years... ago ^{omg I'm so sorry}
I'm finally in a position to make more! And even sell them! :D
How I Hope This'll Work:
I currently have materials to make 3 plushies, and there were a lot more than 3 people interested the last time I posted this, so I put together an interest form. This sub moves pretty quickly, so after 4 days, if there are more than 3 people interested, I'll draw 3 by lottery and the rest will go into the pool for a potential second batch. If you want in on this round, fill out the form before 11:59 on Sunday, Central European Summer Time. The form itself will stay open for 2 weeks or until I finally remember to close it, whichever takes longer, in case anyone else wants in on that second batch.
The normal price would be 90€ + shipping (from Germany), just based on how long they take to make, but I made some minor boo-boos in the hoof embroidery for 2 of them. So! Depending on how nice of hooves you want, the two "B-grades" will be 80€ ea + shipping. Shipping to the US/worldwide is usually 25€, in-EU shipping is of course cheaper.
Once the names are drawn and the customization options picked out, I'll do my best to get them done and sent out that week - but a more pessimistic/realistic turnaround time would be "all 3 done and sent out by June 8th".
The Pattern:
The base pattern is a free owl pattern by Choly Knight. So, for the craftily inclined, I'm also publishing the Owlk Pattern modifications I made (with their blessing!). Choly Knight's patterns are extremely thorough and beginner friendly; mine is just a straightforward pattern, but you should be able to swap the pieces out one to one with the originals and have it work. And I'll be checking this thread for questions :)
Bad News about the Fabric:
The colour I used for the body... might have been discontinued 🫠 Really hoping I can source some, but if not, I may have to change colour schemes, or something even more drastic. Which leads me to...
Other Stuff?
I don't have to make the same plushie over and over, I'm open to trying new things! A green-tinted version, to go with the DLC's lighting scheme? Prisoner squishmallow? Little owlk keychains/bag-clips? Toss me your ideas, I'm open!

The trip to Darwin finally gets serious, Geelong look like a serious side once again this year and Chris Scott is the kind of coach who can actually plan for conditions that the Suns know best. Winning this one wouldn’t be any guarantee of our quality but rather confirm that no one has year figured out how to play up there like we do. A win is a win though and it would put us at 6-4 before a tough stretch against Melbourne teams that usually beat us.
The big team news is that Cameron and Hawkins will be rested for the road trip. That leaves Geelong with Henry, Rohan and Neale as the tall forwards. This makes planning easier for Hardwick as he doesn’t have to account for Cameron around the ground. But as we know key forwards tend not to decide games in Darwin at least not with their marking ability, so Geelong won’t be too negatively affected. The running of Rohan could be really handy in applying pressure and with their usual crop of smalls they will remain a tough matchup at ground level and on turnover.
I really trust that Chris Scott will be the first coach to replicate the Darwin gameplan of going for territory and keeping the pressure high. He is an excellent gameday coach and I would be shocked if they came out and tried to chip it around like North. This should make for a much more even and attritional game that the Suns should be well up for.
The rucks have both been managed, Moyle is in for Witts and Conway will play in Stanley’s place. This is kind of perfect for Moyle who gets to go against another young ruck prospect rather than some old juggernaut. I hope Andrew gets to chop out in the ruck too because the flashes he showed last week were really promising that he can bring a chaos element to stoppages in sporadic bursts. I worry that Moyle will be huffing and puffing for most of the second half but Witts’ endurance wasn’t much better last week. The game will be played in very similar weather to last week with temperatures lingering around 30 again. As long as he doesn’t gas out too early Moyle should be alright.
Walter has been rested and Sam Day gets another shot. I am not totally surprised by this because Walter really threw himself around last week to a degree that puts his body at risk. Giving him a week to recover seems reasonable to me. At least Day should know how to play the conditions and won’t have to be a central part of the gameplan as long as he can bring the ball to ground.
The small forwards have also been rotated with Rogers and Holman out and Swallow and Fiorini in. Swallow will probably remain in the forward line but Fiorini will go to the wing and Humphrey and Ainsworth will play forward with Johnston, Long and Berry. Swallow is adapted to these types of games so should fill that pressure role well and Fiorini has looked fairly comfortable on a wing. Refreshing such a defensively demanding position for the second game feels like a good move and should help Rogers stay fit for a full season too.
What are we going to do about Tom Stewart? It has been shown in recent weeks that if you stick a man on him you can limit his influence, but this isn’t a lever Hardwick tends to pull. So if he takes three intercept marks in the first quarter and sets up three scores what are we going to do about it? Lukosius certainly can’t be trusted to stay on him, maybe King can do it but I don’t expect to see it. Let’s just hope our kicking is sensible enough that he doesn’t have 13 marks like last year.
I will assess the North game alongside the Geelong one, to consider the Darwin trip as a whole but I can at least say that it was a job well done. I have to pick good teams to beat the Suns until we actually start beating them, so I expect we will lose by a couple of goals. I think our effort and pressure will be there but Geelong’s smalls should make the most of their opportunities regardless of how the midfield battle goes. As long as we are in it for 4 quarters I’ll consider it a pass.

So, me (19y/o F), and my best friend, 'E' (19y/o F), met during the first semester of school this year through our sorority. She was my big and I was her little, and we connected instantly and because close friends fast. We literally spent every waking moment together, and I even brought her home with me on some weekends from campus so she got to know my family and became a part of it quickly. Eventually I turned into the same for her family, and it even got to a point where people started asking if we were dating because we we're always together plus, I'm bi and 'E' is pan. Though we've kissed, (among other things) and did consider starting a romantic relationship, we both have a lot of issues when it comes to juggling life so we just decided to stay friends.
Anyways, so one time in November, Me, E, my sister, and my mom all went out to lunch near our campus. It was going great and we we're all having a good time, and the group arrives at the conversation of where E is from. Her family lives in Barbados, and she was explaining how she's had a few friends fly with her family from the states to her home when the school year ends, and they stay at their house for a week or so at the beginning of the summer.
I automatically jump at the opportunity and start trying to convince my mom to let me go. I mean, who wouldn't want to go on a vacation to a TROPICAL ISLAND with your BEST FRIENDS for an entire WEEK in a new country where I'm LEGAL DRINKING AGE??? It would literally be a DREAM come true.
**side note and background**
I've only been on ONE trip with friends without at least one of my parents, and it was last summer before I moved to college in Charleston, SC (we live in GA). Me and 4 of my friends paid for an AirBnB out of pocket, and left the next day for a week. It was great! I didn't tell my mom where I was going until the night before, and she couldn't stop me because I had already paid for it and my friend was driving us. She argued a little but didn't say much else because she "trusted the group I was going with.". She literally only knew one person in the group who was a close friend of mine for 4 years and is a Marine.
*back to the story*
I try to sneakily start talking my mom into even considering the idea because I know she won't go for it at first; she's one of those helicopter moms that has to know every teensy-weensy detail of her kids' plans and daily lives, though since I moved out, she can't keep hovering. I don't even get through my first line of begging before she flat out looks at me and E and says. "Yeah, I think we can make that happen."
Me and my sister stare at her like she's grown another f*cking HEAD and E jumps up and down excitedly. I questioned her multiple times on this, saying like,
"Seriously? You're not messing with me right now?",
and, "You're sure? Like 100% you'll let me go? No strings attached if I can pay for it?".
She even goes so far as to PROMISE to PAY FOR IT IN FULL as a birthday present if I don't ask for anything else.
I literally was on the verge of tears because I was having a really rough semester and ready to be done with school already, and this gave me something to look forward to at the end of the year.
Over the next couple of months we continued planning this trip to a tee: we figured out the best dates to plan the flights with the cheapest options so my parents wouldn't have to pay a sh!tload of money (even though we could pay the amount just fine). We planned it around both my little sisters and E's little sisters graduation ceremonies so we could both attend them and fly down together after, with her dad accompanying us. We had a daily workout routine planned so she could get ready for summer golf and so I could get into shape for pre-season basketball. We had friends that we we're planning on meeting for parties at houses in the neighborhood and had a huge schedule-packed-day for E's birthday, which would be on the first couple days we landed on the island.
March hits and the school year ends, and E comes and stays with me for a week after we move out. E had been having some health problems and hadn't been in the best of moods but otherwise everything was pretty quiet other than a few altercations my siblings and I had with my mom before she went out of town. The week goes by quickly, then E's mom comes to pick her up from my house and we try and get E's mom and my mom to collaborate to figure out plane tickets because it's about time to book them, and my mom keeps changing the subject. Before we even have a chance to bring it up again E and her fam have to leave.
Flashforward to a about a week or so later, I've been fighting a bit with my mom and walking around the house on eggshells, but I decide to bring up the flight and ticket booking to my parents the day before mother's day. My mom immediately shoots down the idea and suggests that we talk about it another time, but I push back because it's already mid-May and we're supposed to leave May 27th.
I explain how 'if we don't talk about it now, it's not going to happen, and I want to have an adult conversation about it because I am indeed an adult and want to be treated like one and expect to be treated like one.'
She goes off on me and says:
"Fine, if you want to have an adult conversation then listen to what I'm saying. I don't want you going to Barbados. I don't like the fact that you'll have to fly back on your own. I thought that E's mom was gonna be with you there and back. E's little breakdown the other day makes me think that she needs some time away from you and you going to Barbados with her wouldn't help that. Plus, Delta doesn't fly there and your dad couldn't use his sky miles so the ticket is gonna be expensive. This is just a lot for your first trip and I don't think it's a good idea. Going to a third-world country your first time out of the US just isn't something I think you're ready for. Also have you seen the crime rates there?? It says here that robberies and assault are a huge thing there."
She then had my dad pull up articles and papers on the crime rates on the island, which is little to none.
Ironic because we live in the US and in the 15 different states our family has lived in, I've personally been through 2 school shootings, gone to school on countless days with bomb threats, had to stay home because of armed robberies in neighboring houses (in nice-ass neighborhoods too), and had copious amounts of friends and loved-ones die or get sick from alcohol and drug abuse and/or become a victim or witness to SA.
I tried to cut in multiple times during this rant to give my opinion and talk through this with my parents. My dad listened to a bit of it, but ultimately my mom has absolute say, and she wasn't having any of it. All of the reasoning my parents gave me are just weak excuses that I have a rational solution or failsafe for. The worst part is the fact that I'm not even surprised. I should've known this would happen.
**sob story and me feeling sorry for myself lol skip if u want**
I'm the oldest of 4 and adopted; I try to step up into that role and be helpful as often as I can, but I've missed out on so many core memories throughout high school and college because I feel so obligated to them. I even got a full-ride scholarship, so my parents don't have to pay as much for my college. I'm truly becoming a functioning adult, but I will admit I still depend on my parents for a lot of things. I will never take that for granted. I know my place and know that I am spoiled as hell, but I also know that I'm not being unreasonable for being angry at them for breaking their promise to me.
**OK sob story done
AITA for staying mad at my parents for saying I can't go on this trip, and would it be even worse if I simply just figured out a way to pay for it myself and went without their permission?
Should I try to keep convincing them to pay for it??
SHOULD I JUST GO TO THERAPY? (definitely, yes)
E and me got off the phone about an hour or so ago and she told me some news. Her mom offered to pay for half the ticket (and then some if necessary) to help get me out of the house, even if it's not the week of E's birthday. I start working this coming Monday, and hopefully if I can work as many hours as I can in the first few weeks, I can save up some money and go to Barbados with the help of E and her mom. She's transferring to another college, and I may be dropping out, so we're not going to be going to the same school anymore. We had kinda hoped that this trip could be our last hurrah before the dynamic duo got split up for awhile.
Sorry for such a long post, this just has so many different aspects to it and I need some outsider advice. I keep seeing these on SMOSH and figured people might have a different way of seeing this than me and my friends.
**(PS my mother may or may not have BPD, Anxiety, a split personality and just a lot of childhood trauma that causes her to act like this. My dad is lowk absent and travels a lot but he tries his best; E's parents are almost the opposite from mine.)**