https://tiermaker.com/list/league-of-legends/league-of-legends-all-champions-1318-15475761/3985061
https://i.imgur.com/0mGTAHG.png
Long story short, i come from dota originally and the one thing i miss is playing a melee carry. I play adc in league generally, and most of the ranged adcs in the game can be divided into two categories, caster or attacker. your either throwing abilities and auto attacking, or just auto attacking. Because of this, most adcs feel the exact same. Melee characters on the other hand have a pretty wide variety of different abilities, and i crave variety.
So with that out of the way, this tier list is mainly comprised of how well a melee character can survive in the bottom lane. Tahm kench is the main standout doing extremely well, but there are a few others who do decent. A tier are my list of characters that you can pretty much always run in a lane. It might not be a great time depending on your and enemy support picks, but its really doable. B tier is also really strong, but due to some factor with their kit or laning ive decided to rank them a bit lower. C tier is where things start to fall apart, and these characters either dont have the damage, sustain, or need a specific support to do well. D tier is much the same, with the main point being they dont provide enough damage or sustain. And then there is olaf. I really thought he would at least be decent, but his q cooldown is far too long if you cant pick it up, and if you pick it up you get poked down really quickly. You cant stay at low hp either because the support or carry will just straight up kill you.
As for my bans, zeri does really strong damage as you approach, and can fuck you up as you run away, super annoying. Smolder also spams abilities to poke and even with careful laning, his late game is just far too strong to deal with. And finally nilah is basically what this list provides, a melee carry, but actually excels in lane. Very hard to play into a nilah with these picks.
Anyway ill answer questions about this list as they come in, but this list was just more or less made for fun. Thanks for looking, I appreciate it.

Hello, whoever you are on your side of this screen.
Predictability and ordinarity bores me. The idea of casual sex makes me more asleep than a Snorlax. I also don't want to be asked "How are you?" for the millionth time. And photos - well, one is always more than enough.
I'm sure I'm not everyone's cup of tea, but I don't seek anything ordinary, either. I'm just an author and researcher currently living in Portugal, and looking for someone new and truly unique to inspire me. We can talk about pretty much anything, plus you can learn a ton of super unusual but cool stuff if you're also into culture, literature, legends, stories, etc. What else can I tell you about me? Well, I'm often told I'm the most interesting person people have ever met, but let's go here for ten groups of facts about me and my life:
1- I've travelled to over 100 countries in search of knowledge, my favourite place being the streams of water and forests in the north of the Pyrenées, where I once placed my feet in the water and meditated for days.
2- I do not have a favourite book, but I do feel many marked my life. For example, Ovid's "Ars Amatoria" (as a teen), Cicero's "De Senectute" (as an adult), the "Ramayana" (as someone eager to explore other cultures), the "Nag Hammadi Library" (as a person deeply interested in lost religious texts), etc.
3- I once met a really amazing woman, we were together for 10+ years, we never married but we both knew neither of us was going anywhere else, I lost her in 2014 (and I don't want to talk about it), and I'm perfectly comfortable being single.
4- I've published over 80 books, between my real name and various pseudonyms, with the most sold having been top 100 on Amazon, and the least sold still stuck at under 10 copies (and it's intentionally supposed to sell very little).
5- In college I studied Computer Science, Psychology, French "LLCs" and Classical + Medieval Studies, but among my many passions you can also count Theology, Philosophy, Art, Mythology, Classical Music, Western Mysticism, Languages, etc.
6- I dislike social media and photos of people. I hardly ever take photos of myself or others, but I do have an enormous collection of photos I've taken around the globe, where I mostly tried to eternalize places and moments.
7- Apart from writing, I spend most of my free time as a volunteer for projects related to Culture, Children, and Mental Welfare. I also tend to donate to charity on a monthly basis, because I feel we should try to spread to others the good things we have in our lives.
8- Although I'm 39, I'm perfectly okay talking to much younger, or much older, people, because I feel they can also teach me a lot of things that I'm not necessarily familiarized with. And, in fact, one of my biggest pleasures in "real" life is talking to random people and learning new stuff from them.
9- I survived cancer and meningitis. I'm 99% okay, with the exception of a small physical problem most people never even notice.
10- I was recently "rejected" from a buddhist monastery for health reasons, since it seems my constant need for medication for an auto-immune disease would contrast with the simple life their monks need to have. So, yeah, that's mostly why I'm back online and posting this message.
So... if you are indeed tired of the usual messages and conversations, write me. Maybe you are indeed what I seek.

April's big inflation reveal: The meme trade has been a fun diversion, but the serious business is here: the April Consumer Price Index reading is set for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. Prices rose 0.4% over the prior month, matching March's pace and bringing the annual inflation rate down to 3.4%. Stripping out food and energy costs, economists expect core inflation fell to 3.6% annually in April, which would be the slowest pace in about three years. ‌
Biden hits China with tariffs: The White House announced a suite of new tariffs on Chinese goods on Tuesday, with a key focus on EVs. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, President Biden painted cheap goods flooding the market — subsidized by the Chinese government — as an attempt to "put everybody else out of business and then they take over." Biden also said he expects China to retaliate but that the trade conflict would be manageable. ‌
GameStop and AMC continue to surge: GameStop followed Monday's 74% gain with a 62% surge Tuesday as the company continues to ride the recent meme stock rally. AMC also saw a second day of gains, finishing Tuesday 33% higher after gaining 80% Monday. Shrewdly, the company disclosed it raised $250 million issuing stock after Monday's pop. ‌
Google's new search: Google unveiled a new way of googling at its I/O conference that, yes, involves a lot of AI. The biggest overhaul to its search engine in years will integrate its AI engine to provide complex answers to queries — with citations. This time, we hope they're real. Users will also be able to perform compound searches for more targeted results without resorting to googling multiple times. For example, the ability to search for "a gym that offers discounts for new members — and how far it is from where I live." ‌
Powell plays down PPI: Fed Chair Jerome Powell provided a timely response to Tuesday's hotter-than-expected headline number for the Producer Price Index, speaking from a panel in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Powell downplayed the hot overall number, pointing at the mixed data and backward revisions. Still, the central bank head again stressed a need to be patient and "let restrictive policy do its work." What we're watching Morning Brief is written and edited by Ethan Wolff-Mann. For the web version, click here. Follow all the action throughout the day on Yahoo Finance and on the Yahoo Finance app.
GameStop’s 'Roaring Kitty' surge doesn’t mean meme stock rally has legs. ‌ Vanguard appoints BlackRock veteran Salim Ramji as next CEO. ‌ Justice Department says Boeing violated 737 Max crash settlement. ‌ ️ Musk ordered to resume testimony in SEC Twitter probe. ‌ 3M shareholders vote down executives' pay packages. ‌ Biden expects China to retaliate to new tariffs. Here's what that might look like. ‌ Why Biden's tariffs on Chinese EVs will have little immediate impact on the US auto market What we're reading AD • SPONSORED BY SMART ASSETHave This Much Money? You May Want a Financial AdvisorMoney can't buy happiness, but research finds that if you have this much in household assets, hiring a financial advisor could potentially help. Just how much money do you need? Find out here.
Today's Takeaway is by Jared Blikre, Markets Reporter ‌ Meme stocks survived another volatility-fueled session Tuesday. ‌ Taking a page from the 2021 playbook, GameStop and AMC Entertainment led the charge. ‌ Both meme stalwarts notched gains over 74% Monday and had further doubled their share prices on the open Tuesday — only to sell off most of the day into the close. Nevertheless, after dozens of volatility halts GameStop closed the day up 62% while AMC jumped by 30%.‌ Amid some gentle coaxing by Keith Gill (aka Roaring Kitty), a slew of names familiar to Reddit boards followed — companies like Koss, Tupperware, Virgin Galactic, Hertz, and BlackBerry. ‌ But while the explosion in volatility rightfully invites comparisons to the well-known 2021 saga that played out on Reddit and across US stock exchanges, 2024 is already proving to be quite different. ‌ This year, Wall Street is driving the bus. ‌
Vanda Research crunched the numbers and reported in a note to clients that GameStop and AMC have only seen a fraction of the inflows experienced in early 2021. Flows into these names at the peak of the early 2021 frenzy were over four times Monday's volume. ‌ "Do we think more retail traders can jump in on the trend in the coming days? Yes. Do we think this is a repeat of 2021? No, and the chances we reach that stage are low," said Vanda. ‌ Without glancing at a single stock chart, it's easy to point out that 2021 was likely a historical aberration fueled by bored recipients of pandemic stimulus checks. ‌ Wall Street was caught flat-footed. Hedge funds like Melvin Capital were obliterated. ‌ But institutional investors learned from the 2021 episode and are better prepared now, argues Vanda. ‌ "Quant/hedge funds are much better equipped to handle these situations nowadays," Vanda senior vice president Marco Iachini noted. "If anything, we believe the chances that they participate along with retail in the squeeze but also lean against and then exit these trades ahead of retail traders are high." ‌
As of Monday's close, the portion of share turnover in GameStop attributable to retail investors averaged 7% over the prior five days — and that number was only slightly higher for AMC. In 2021, the averages and spikes were materially higher, indicating much greater participation by retail traders. ‌ Data in the options market confirms a similar story. ‌ But the biggest difference this year might just be the lack of one single, coherent narrative like the meme story that captured headlines in 2021. ‌ Only last week, we wrote about the recent resurgence of volatility in meme names. "In a critical break from prior trading epochs, much of the recent meme stock volatility is being fueled by material news and fundamentals, like earnings, as opposed to Reddit posts," we wrote. Why the 2024 meme stock action is much tamer than 2021 — so far Indeed, our (unofficial) Yahoo Finance meme stock heat map reveals impressive returns over the last two days that are mostly green across the board. But aside from GameStop and AMC, these daily returns are decidedly not triple digits as they were three years ago. ‌ In fact, the bigger names on this list — like Coinbase, Carvana, and Palantir — have been making their gains the old-fashioned way: around earnings and bitcoin fundamentals.
How much Wednesday's inflation print surprises economists — up or down — will be of particular importance during Wednesday's trading day. ‌ But analyzing market action from CPI release days back to May 2023's print, the equity research team at Goldman Sachs led by David Kostin found that "interest rate sensitive pockets of the equity market typically experience particularly large moves on CPI days regardless of the magnitude of the surprise." Chart of the day As seen in the chart above, non-profitable tech and the small-cap Russell 2000 index (^RUT) have moved significantly more depending on where the inflation print lands over the past year. ‌ — Josh Schafer, Markets Reporter
Wednesday ‌ ‌ ‌ Thursday ‌ ‌ ‌ Friday ‌ ‌ Earnings and economic calendar Economic data: Consumer Price Index, month-over-month, April (+0.4% expected, +0.4% previously); Core CPI, month-over-month, April (+0.3% expected, +0.4% previously); CPI, year-over-year, April (+3.4% expected, +3.5% previously); Core CPI, year-over-year, April (+3.6% expected, +3.8% previously); Real average hourly earnings, year-over-year, April (+0.6% previously); MBA Mortgage Applications, week ending May 10 (+2.6%); Retail sales, month-over-month, April (+0.4% expected, +0.7% previously); Retail sales ex auto and gas, April (+0.1% expected, +1% previously); NAHB housing market index, May (51 expected, 51 previously)
Earnings: Cisco, Dole, Monday.com, Super League Economic data: Initial jobless claims, week ending May 11 (233,000 previously); Housing starts month-over-month, April (8.6% expected, -14.7% prior); Building permits month-over-month, April (+1.6% expected, -3.7% prior); Philadelphia Business Outlook, May (8.7 expected, 15.5 prior); Import prices, month-over-month, April (+0.2% expected, +0.4% previously); Export prices, month-over-month, April (+0.2% expected, +0.3% previously); Industrial production, month-over-month, April (+0.2% expected, +0.4% previously)
Earnings: Walmart, Applied Materials, Baidu, JD.com, John Deere, Take-Two Interactive, Under Armour Economic data: Leading index, April (-0.2% expected, -0.3% previously) Earnings: No notable earnings.

1 year since I switched from 5e to Pf2, and I gotta say that casters actually feel stronger in Pf2 than 5e.
Concentration is gone
5e had a mechanic where most spells with a duration required concentration (unrelated to the concentration trait in Pf2) and you could only concentrate on one spell at a time. Many things could cause you to break concentration and end the spell (e.g. damage forces a save, conditions like incapacitation auto-break concentration). In Pf2 this doesn't exist; you can stack Bless, Invisibility, Haste, Slow, etc. have multiple buffs/debuffs ongoing. The closest thing is spells that require sustain, and you could max out your action economy and have 2 sustained spells at once (even more if with options like Cackle and Effortless Concentration).
No arbitrary house rules that "fix" 5e casting
RAW 5e spellcasting is more powerful than Pf2, but in most games the DM tries to fix this by banning problematic spells, nerfing them, or adding teleportation on all boss monsters once you learn Forcecage. This leads to casters feeling artificially weaker compared to Pf2. 5e has a lot more imbalance which leads to the DM often adding a layer of homebrew rules to balance things, sometimes too much in the other direction.
Control spells still do something on a success
In 5e, the most powerful spells took enemies out of the game on a failed save and nothing on a success. In Pf2, the most difficult enemies will probably at least succeed. Spells like Roaring Applause, Slow, and Synesthesia still have a debilitating effect on a save, so rarely are your turns completely wasted.
Knowing good spells from bad is still important
Pf2 still has a crapload of garbage spells just like 5e. Knowing which spells are powerful and versatile makes you a better caster.
My experience in Abomination Vaults as a resentment witch
I played a resentment witch in AV and went with an extreme minmax approach. Notable spells I always prepared:

• Laughing Fit/Roaring Applause: MAPless strikes are strong, taking out an enemy's reactive strike halves how often they get a MAPless strike per round.
• Slow: taking out 1/3 of an enemy's action is extremely strong, often single handedly won boss fights because it allowed the party to kite in combination with tripping and door slamming.
• Max rank Calm: incapacitates mobs and renders most of them harmless until you kill the other half that succeeded.
• Synesthesia: cripples boss fights by nerfing their AC, speed, offense, and spellcasting.
• In combination with my witch abilities, I was often sustaining Laughing Fit, extending Slow with familiar of ongoing misery, and repositioning myself so enemies either gave up being able to hit me or had to eat multiple reactive strikes to try.

I would like to buy a Rav4 second hand for around $20k to $25k if that is an option. Can this range get me a good Rav4 or should I consider changing it?
The car should have an electric AC plug at the back. This is important to me as I am a remote software programmer who works from home. I like to go to green areas such as Hermann Park and be able to charge my laptop or monitor to do my job. It might sound silly, but that's the main reason I am buying an SUV with a large space at the back.
I don't want a big car because I am the only person, and I think a medium-sized one should help with parking. Too small seems to be bad for safety. So, the Rav4 seems to be perfect.
Safety is very important to me, especially since I am a new driver. The car model should have the best and easiest blind spot detection, plus anything else that can help me stay safe. I think some models have that on the side mirrors, but some might display it right in front of me, which might be better for a new driver like me. Which models have this? Which one is better and why?
I'm scared someone might simply steal the car when it is parked somewhere. How can I get a car replacement with no questions asked? I have read that GAP insurance might be what I need. Is this available for a second-hand car? Can I ask for it from the dealer? Is it better to buy insurance myself? If yes, which insurance offers GAP or full replacement? What insurance should I ask for and get?
I won't drive much, maybe just on weekends or for exploring nearby. In fact, I have no clue where to go. I am just getting a car because I am tired of people telling me Houston is a car city! Should I just get a car that runs on gas only, or do you suggest getting a hybrid car or even jumping to the Rav4 Prime for the sake of being future-proof?
I prefer to spend less so I can have more savings in the bank. That savings make me feel secure. I also don't want to buy with installments, only cash.
Finally, I am an Android fan. The car should support Android Auto. I don't care about support for iPhone. USB-C PD would be great.
With the above information, what Rav4 model is best for me?
Should I buy second hand or get a new car as my first car?
Finally, should I buy this online or must I go to a dealer?
One more thing, how can I be sure the car that I am getting is okay and it won't break down on the road within the first few months? Also, what should I do if it breaks down on the way?
For your info, I am living in the Midwest of Houston. I am 50 years old, living by myself, and have nobody else! I never had a car, but of course, I played lots of Need for Speed when I was young! For now, I just have a driving license with over 30 hours of road driving school in Houston plus cash to get my first car. Be my hero and tell me what to do. I really need your help!
Please let me know if you need more info or if there are other things that I need to consider. Thank you very much!

Hey! Got my watch a few weeks back. Been great so far, have some minor concerns that I've been wondering if people know how to fix;
Firstly, when I open a text message from the notifications, the watch doesn't actually open the Messages app; which means I don't get to view images, and it doesn't mark as read unless I press the trash icon underneath all 16 of the customizable auto replies (which I can't seem to trim down to 5 or 6 replies?), so messaging can get pretty inconvenient. Is there a way to make it actually open the Messages app from the notifications menu such to avoid this issue?
Next concern is also technically regarding messages; for some reason, I do not have an option for default messenger in the watch's settings. I have default app options for the browser, assistant, home, and phone apps, but messages is strangely absent from this list; from my own research on this sub it seems like a relatively common complaint but I have not been able to track down a solution. The reason this matters is because Bixby is unable to send text messages using Google Messages, which prompted me to switch to Google Assistant instead. I have no issues on GA, so it's not a big deal, but it would be nice to have Bixby working correctly so that if I get used to some Samsung integrated featureset I would be able to activate it by voice.
Lastly, this isn't much of a question with an answer, but does anyone else have the hall effect bezel skip tabs sometimes? Like I'll intend to go from notifications to watch face, and it'll skip to the next page after. Doesn't really matter, just curious.

After about 60 hours, I have finally put the XIII Trilogy to rest with Lightning Returns. I went into this game with only vague high school memories of a bad story, a boring world, and a mediocre combat system, so my expectations were low. But damn, was I entirely wrong. Let’s get into it!
The Story
The Good: I really enjoyed the main narrative here, Lightning’s journey to save her sister and, begrudgingly, as many people as she can slowly turning into a journey to save her own soul is great, and I felt it satisfyingly wrapped up the overarching narrative of the trilogy. I also enjoyed how the side quests expanded on the concepts and themes of the plot and helped undermine some of the facts stated at the start (like Lightning not being able to save the dead or only humans having souls).
The Neutral: I wish that the ending had been a bit more explicit in the fates of the party, because it was dissatisfying not knowing if Serah and Snow ended up together finally and if everyone stayed in touch. I also think the scenes before the final dungeon could have been fleshed out more, especially when Noel returns.
The Bad: they gave Noel Brynhildr and let him take Sazh’s place in the finale. I was very satisfied with Sazh’s story in the main game, but damn was he done dirty in the end. He should have been there while Noel searched for Serah’s soul. The dialogue writing was also quite messy, lots of repetition and “reveals” of things we’d already known for ages.
The Characters
The Good: I loved all of the original main party members in this game. Seeing them all reduced to their absolute worst, desperately needing someone to come and snap them out, was awesome, and I loved seeing them all come to their senses. I also really liked the role Lumina played, intentionally antagonizing each main character after Lightning beats some sense into them to light a fire in them and make them, in a way, save their own souls.
The Neutral: While it was awesome to have Fang as a party member, I wish she’d stayed with you even after the main quest, and that Noel, Snow, and Sazh had been party members after their quest lines as well.
The Bad: there’s not much else beyond Sazh’s sidelining in the finale.
The Music
The Good: the new compositions are generally very good, with the area and most of the battle themes in particular standing out.
The Neutral: I wish they’d used less music from previous entries, it made the soundtrack as a whole feel less fresh as I played through it.
The Bad: there are a few battle themes that are quite repetitive and mediocre, and the game runs into a common open world issue where there’s not enough variety, internal or external, to area themes to sustain large amount of playtime in a given area. Loading screens also cut off the soundtrack, even in continuous zones like the Ultimate Lair, which really ruins the vibe.
The World
The Good: exploring Luxerion, Yusnaan, and the Wildlands was a lot of fun, lots of books and crannies to find treasures and NPCs with quests or interesting dialogue. Having Odin/Angel in the Wildlands helped that zone feel more manageable as well.
The Neutral: The Dead Dunes were a bit too big to not have any real alternate mode of transport. The teleportation statues are a nice feature, but we definitely could have used something like Odin here. I also found Yusnaan confusing to navigate at times, though it got better as I went on.
The Bad: The Ultimate Lair and final dungeon were a bit of a letdown, very simple in their design and mostly just enemy gauntlets. I also found the Temple Ruins in the Dead Dunes tedious to navigate.
The Combat
The Good: Combat in this game feels amazing. Switching schema is a ton of fun and very fluid, and figuring out the optimal ways to stagger enemies is great. I like that the game encourages unique and personalized builds to tackle most challenges as well, and the multitude of healing options at your disposal keep things from feeling too bleak. I also like that you can permanently eliminate monster species with enough effort, it really makes the combat feel meaningful.
The Neutral: enemy variety could definitely have been better, even just having multiple enemies in a “family” like the Vali/Hanuman line. It certainly would have been less repetitive than skewering a Gremlin over and over. I also wish movement outside of attacking was faster.
The Bad: some encounters are incredibly annoying, especially large monsters before the last few days and Archangeli, which just suck to fight. I also strongly dislike the Stagger indicator, which doesn’t tell you anything and would have been better served being the gauge from XIII/XIII-2.
The Character Progression
The Good: having so many ways to customize Lightning is really cool. Between earning your stats from the different quest types, to choosing between specializing or generalizing your abilities, to the various ways garbs, accessories, weapons, and shields interact, to the upgrade systems for abilities and gear, it really feels like you can tailor Lightning to your playstyle. It’s cool that NG+ can be used to continue pushing your stats up to and even beyond their limits. I also loved the dress up aspect for the most part.
The Neutral: it’s unfortunate that equipment upgrading is NG+ only. It’s a system that would have been nice to have access to earlier, at least so you could start gathering the material. Upgrading abilities also takes a fair amount of resources to do, and the lack of input on auto-abilities for them is a bummer.
The Bad: the interface for ability upgrading is just bad, and makes an already tedious process even more so. There’s also a pretty large disparity in the usefulness of some garbs, and I have to say it: while the changes to appearance are cool, some of these costumes are ridiculous and wildly out of character for Lightning to even consider wearing.
The Content
The Good: I like that there are categories of quests. Some of them are passively ready to be completed as you kill enemies, some require much more interaction and may reveal some cool lore, and of course the main quests that can be picked up and dropped at any time are a solid feature for a game like this. I also like that some side quests are integrated into the story, not always necessarily needed to complete the game but certainly helpful. There’s also no minigames or puzzles, which is a huge win after XIII-2.
The Neutral: the quest board rewards feel a bit underwhelming, especially for the ones that functionally require the extinction of a species, and the stat drops in NG+ are a bit drastic.
The Bad: turning in quests at the board is a slog, another victim of the poor menuing in this game. Some quests feel half-baked, and cool concepts brought up (like robots having souls) aren’t elaborated on.
Conclusion
Overall, I absolutely adored this game. It’s got a lot of rough patches, but the good parts more than make up for them. This has rapidly become one of my favorite games in the series and one of my favorites overall. I give it a 9.5/10, second only to the original XIII in this review series.
Thanks for reading if you got through all that. There was a lot to talk about this time. I’m planning to wrap up some NG+ runs and then dive into Type-0 for the first time, though I may detour and try to finish Tactics A2 again. We’ll see, I suppose. Until next time!

After about 60 hours, I have finally put the XIII Trilogy to rest with Lightning Returns. I went into this game with only vague high school memories of a bad story, a boring world, and a mediocre combat system, so my expectations were low. But damn, was I entirely wrong. Let’s get into it!
The Story
The Good: I really enjoyed the main narrative here, Lightning’s journey to save her sister and, begrudgingly, as many people as she can slowly turning into a journey to save her own soul is great, and I felt it satisfyingly wrapped up the overarching narrative of the trilogy. I also enjoyed how the side quests expanded on the concepts and themes of the plot and helped undermine some of the facts stated at the start (like Lightning not being able to save the dead or only humans having souls).
The Neutral: I wish that the ending had been a bit more explicit in the fates of the party, because it was dissatisfying not knowing if Serah and Snow ended up together finally and if everyone stayed in touch. I also think the scenes before the final dungeon could have been fleshed out more, especially when Noel returns.
The Bad: they gave Noel Brynhildr and let him take Sazh’s place in the finale. I was very satisfied with Sazh’s story in the main game, but damn was he done dirty in the end. He should have been there while Noel searched for Serah’s soul. The dialogue writing was also quite messy, lots of repetition and “reveals” of things we’d already known for ages.
The Characters
The Good: I loved all of the original main party members in this game. Seeing them all reduced to their absolute worst, desperately needing someone to come and snap them out, was awesome, and I loved seeing them all come to their senses. I also really liked the role Lumina played, intentionally antagonizing each main character after Lightning beats some sense into them to light a fire in them and make them, in a way, save their own souls.
The Neutral: While it was awesome to have Fang as a party member, I wish she’d stayed with you even after the main quest, and that Noel, Snow, and Sazh had been party members after their quest lines as well.
The Bad: there’s not much else beyond Sazh’s sidelining in the finale.
The Music
The Good: the new compositions are generally very good, with the area and most of the battle themes in particular standing out.
The Neutral: I wish they’d used less music from previous entries, it made the soundtrack as a whole feel less fresh as I played through it.
The Bad: there are a few battle themes that are quite repetitive and mediocre, and the game runs into a common open world issue where there’s not enough variety, internal or external, to area themes to sustain large amount of playtime in a given area. Loading screens also cut off the soundtrack, even in continuous zones like the Ultimate Lair, which really ruins the vibe.
The World
The Good: exploring Luxerion, Yusnaan, and the Wildlands was a lot of fun, lots of books and crannies to find treasures and NPCs with quests or interesting dialogue. Having Odin/Angel in the Wildlands helped that zone feel more manageable as well.
The Neutral: The Dead Dunes were a bit too big to not have any real alternate mode of transport. The teleportation statues are a nice feature, but we definitely could have used something like Odin here. I also found Yusnaan confusing to navigate at times, though it got better as I went on.
The Bad: The Ultimate Lair and final dungeon were a bit of a letdown, very simple in their design and mostly just enemy gauntlets. I also found the Temple Ruins in the Dead Dunes tedious to navigate.
The Combat
The Good: Combat in this game feels amazing. Switching schema is a ton of fun and very fluid, and figuring out the optimal ways to stagger enemies is great. I like that the game encourages unique and personalized builds to tackle most challenges as well, and the multitude of healing options at your disposal keep things from feeling too bleak. I also like that you can permanently eliminate monster species with enough effort, it really makes the combat feel meaningful.
The Neutral: enemy variety could definitely have been better, even just having multiple enemies in a “family” like the Vali/Hanuman line. It certainly would have been less repetitive than skewering a Gremlin over and over. I also wish movement outside of attacking was faster.
The Bad: some encounters are incredibly annoying, especially large monsters before the last few days and Archangeli, which just suck to fight. I also strongly dislike the Stagger indicator, which doesn’t tell you anything and would have been better served being the gauge from XIII/XIII-2.
The Character Progression
The Good: having so many ways to customize Lightning is really cool. Between earning your stats from the different quest types, to choosing between specializing or generalizing your abilities, to the various ways garbs, accessories, weapons, and shields interact, to the upgrade systems for abilities and gear, it really feels like you can tailor Lightning to your playstyle. It’s cool that NG+ can be used to continue pushing your stats up to and even beyond their limits. I also loved the dress up aspect for the most part.
The Neutral: it’s unfortunate that equipment upgrading is NG+ only. It’s a system that would have been nice to have access to earlier, at least so you could start gathering the material. Upgrading abilities also takes a fair amount of resources to do, and the lack of input on auto-abilities for them is a bummer.
The Bad: the interface for ability upgrading is just bad, and makes an already tedious process even more so. There’s also a pretty large disparity in the usefulness of some garbs, and I have to say it: while the changes to appearance are cool, some of these costumes are ridiculous and wildly out of character for Lightning to even consider wearing.
The Content
The Good: I like that there are categories of quests. Some of them are passively ready to be completed as you kill enemies, some require much more interaction and may reveal some cool lore, and of course the main quests that can be picked up and dropped at any time are a solid feature for a game like this. I also like that some side quests are integrated into the story, not always necessarily needed to complete the game but certainly helpful. There’s also no minigames or puzzles, which is a huge win after XIII-2.
The Neutral: the quest board rewards feel a bit underwhelming, especially for the ones that functionally require the extinction of a species, and the stat drops in NG+ are a bit drastic.
The Bad: turning in quests at the board is a slog, another victim of the poor menuing in this game. Some quests feel half-baked, and cool concepts brought up (like robots having souls) aren’t elaborated on.
Conclusion
Overall, I absolutely adored this game. It’s got a lot of rough patches, but the good parts more than make up for them. This has rapidly become one of my favorite games in the series and one of my favorites overall. I give it a 9.5/10, second only to the original XIII in this review series.
Thanks for reading if you got through all that. There was a lot to talk about this time. I’m planning to wrap up some NG+ runs and then dive into Type-0 for the first time, though I may detour and try to finish Tactics A2 again. We’ll see, I suppose. Until next time!

After about 60 hours, I have finally put the XIII Trilogy to rest with Lightning Returns. I went into this game with only vague high school memories of a bad story, a boring world, and a mediocre combat system, so my expectations were low. But damn, was I entirely wrong. Let’s get into it!
The Story
The Good: I really enjoyed the main narrative here, Lightning’s journey to save her sister and, begrudgingly, as many people as she can slowly turning into a journey to save her own soul is great, and I felt it satisfyingly wrapped up the overarching narrative of the trilogy. I also enjoyed how the side quests expanded on the concepts and themes of the plot and helped undermine some of the facts stated at the start (like Lightning not being able to save the dead or only humans having souls).
The Neutral: I wish that the ending had been a bit more explicit in the fates of the party, because it was dissatisfying not knowing if Serah and Snow ended up together finally and if everyone stayed in touch. I also think the scenes before the final dungeon could have been fleshed out more, especially when Noel returns.
The Bad: they gave Noel Brynhildr and let him take Sazh’s place in the finale. I was very satisfied with Sazh’s story in the main game, but damn was he done dirty in the end. He should have been there while Noel searched for Serah’s soul. The dialogue writing was also quite messy, lots of repetition and “reveals” of things we’d already known for ages.
The Characters
The Good: I loved all of the original main party members in this game. Seeing them all reduced to their absolute worst, desperately needing someone to come and snap them out, was awesome, and I loved seeing them all come to their senses. I also really liked the role Lumina played, intentionally antagonizing each main character after Lightning beats some sense into them to light a fire in them and make them, in a way, save their own souls.
The Neutral: While it was awesome to have Fang as a party member, I wish she’d stayed with you even after the main quest, and that Noel, Snow, and Sazh had been party members after their quest lines as well.
The Bad: there’s not much else beyond Sazh’s sidelining in the finale.
The Music
The Good: the new compositions are generally very good, with the area and most of the battle themes in particular standing out.
The Neutral: I wish they’d used less music from previous entries, it made the soundtrack as a whole feel less fresh as I played through it.
The Bad: there are a few battle themes that are quite repetitive and mediocre, and the game runs into a common open world issue where there’s not enough variety, internal or external, to area themes to sustain large amount of playtime in a given area. Loading screens also cut off the soundtrack, even in continuous zones like the Ultimate Lair, which really ruins the vibe.
The World
The Good: exploring Luxerion, Yusnaan, and the Wildlands was a lot of fun, lots of books and crannies to find treasures and NPCs with quests or interesting dialogue. Having Odin/Angel in the Wildlands helped that zone feel more manageable as well.
The Neutral: The Dead Dunes were a bit too big to not have any real alternate mode of transport. The teleportation statues are a nice feature, but we definitely could have used something like Odin here. I also found Yusnaan confusing to navigate at times, though it got better as I went on.
The Bad: The Ultimate Lair and final dungeon were a bit of a letdown, very simple in their design and mostly just enemy gauntlets. I also found the Temple Ruins in the Dead Dunes tedious to navigate.
The Combat
The Good: Combat in this game feels amazing. Switching schema is a ton of fun and very fluid, and figuring out the optimal ways to stagger enemies is great. I like that the game encourages unique and personalized builds to tackle most challenges as well, and the multitude of healing options at your disposal keep things from feeling too bleak. I also like that you can permanently eliminate monster species with enough effort, it really makes the combat feel meaningful.
The Neutral: enemy variety could definitely have been better, even just having multiple enemies in a “family” like the Vali/Hanuman line. It certainly would have been less repetitive than skewering a Gremlin over and over. I also wish movement outside of attacking was faster.
The Bad: some encounters are incredibly annoying, especially large monsters before the last few days and Archangeli, which just suck to fight. I also strongly dislike the Stagger indicator, which doesn’t tell you anything and would have been better served being the gauge from XIII/XIII-2.
The Character Progression
The Good: having so many ways to customize Lightning is really cool. Between earning your stats from the different quest types, to choosing between specializing or generalizing your abilities, to the various ways garbs, accessories, weapons, and shields interact, to the upgrade systems for abilities and gear, it really feels like you can tailor Lightning to your playstyle. It’s cool that NG+ can be used to continue pushing your stats up to and even beyond their limits. I also loved the dress up aspect for the most part.
The Neutral: it’s unfortunate that equipment upgrading is NG+ only. It’s a system that would have been nice to have access to earlier, at least so you could start gathering the material. Upgrading abilities also takes a fair amount of resources to do, and the lack of input on auto-abilities for them is a bummer.
The Bad: the interface for ability upgrading is just bad, and makes an already tedious process even more so. There’s also a pretty large disparity in the usefulness of some garbs, and I have to say it: while the changes to appearance are cool, some of these costumes are ridiculous and wildly out of character for Lightning to even consider wearing.
The Content
The Good: I like that there are categories of quests. Some of them are passively ready to be completed as you kill enemies, some require much more interaction and may reveal some cool lore, and of course the main quests that can be picked up and dropped at any time are a solid feature for a game like this. I also like that some side quests are integrated into the story, not always necessarily needed to complete the game but certainly helpful. There’s also no minigames or puzzles, which is a huge win after XIII-2.
The Neutral: the quest board rewards feel a bit underwhelming, especially for the ones that functionally require the extinction of a species, and the stat drops in NG+ are a bit drastic.
The Bad: turning in quests at the board is a slog, another victim of the poor menuing in this game. Some quests feel half-baked, and cool concepts brought up (like robots having souls) aren’t elaborated on.
Conclusion
Overall, I absolutely adored this game. It’s got a lot of rough patches, but the good parts more than make up for them. This has rapidly become one of my favorite games in the series and one of my favorites overall. I give it a 9.5/10, second only to the original XIII in this review series.
Thanks for reading if you got through all that. There was a lot to talk about this time. I’m planning to wrap up some NG+ runs and then dive into Type-0 for the first time, though I may detour and try to finish Tactics A2 again. We’ll see, I suppose. Until next time!

This entire chapter the shotgun meta has been complete trash, last season the frenzy did almost as much damage as the pump with like 5 times the fire rate, and this season the gatekeeper does almost the same damage as the pump but with like 3 times the fire rate. It’s ridiculous how epic thinks it’s a good meta to have these fully auto shotguns that do 100+ damage per shot, so annoying having people hop in your box and spray you down with 2 shots of a gatekeeper (yes, 2 shots with Cerberus is enough to kill you if one’s a headshot and even if it’s not a headshot it does like 195) like what is the point of having a pump shotgun if it does the same damage as another shotgun with 3 times the fire rate. And yeah I probably sound like I’m whining but I actually don’t know if I can handle another auto shotgun meta next season, I hope they buff the hammer pump as well, thing does like 70 damage for a body shot you’re basically forced to go for headshots

Hi guys, I'm trying to max some specs, I have some silver to spare for faster progress. I have 100 specs of fighter sections, but my weapons or chests are not 100.
Here is my question, an average satchel consumes 1.15 per extra fame but I couldn't find the information about auto-respect (It gives 80% rather than %20 when you active it as far as I understand, but it doesn't say how much silver it consumes.) Did someone do this math before? Which one is rational? Thanks.

The scene faded back in to a shot of the team and host in the prison courtyard, the two groups of teens each standing by a dirty laundry cart. "Elimination challenge!" Chris exclaimed happily. "Here we go! No 'Get Out of Jail Free' cards here, people! This, is 'Escape from Total Drama Pen.'!" The camera quick-panned away from Chris' close-up to one of the carts.
"Each team must hop in their laundry carts, while one member pushes through the obstacle course to freedom!" As he spoke, the scene flashed to a shot of wooden dummies dressed like prison guards with automatic swinging arms, and then again to a pair of narrow platforms over a water pool with large sandbags swinging back and forth between them, and once more to the prisoner dummies with various sharp objects attached to their hands.
"When you reach the wall," Chris continued as the camera moved back to the group shot, "get diggin'! First team to reach the boxcar to freedom wins immunity!" The shot quick-panned over to a pair of boxcars sitting on a small section of rail tracks. "Convicts, select a pusher!"
"I'll do it!" Chase and Sky volunteered simultaneously, and the two quickly turned their heads to each other.
"I'll be the one to push for us!" Jasmine declared to the Grips. "Does anybody have a problem with that?" she asked her team, who were already starting to climb into the cart.
"I don't," Millie said as she got on.
"You are our best option," Anne Maria added as she hopped onto the cart.
Jasmine smiled. "Excellent!"
Confessional: Jasmine
“When you have long legs, speed can come off as an attribute,” Jasmine confessed.
Confessional Ends
"Not to be a jerk or anything," Chase said as the focus moved back to the Gaffers, "but I want to be the one who pushes, not you."
"Only one of us can do it, and it should be me," Sky offered.
"I know we won the shovel, but the Grips have Jasmine pushing for them," Chase argued, “and if we want to beat them, we'll need a lot of speed coming from me.”
"You're not the only one who's been on a track team," Sky protested. “I practice track at my school in order to prep myself for the Olympics.”
"I have longer legs than you," Chase pointed out, "and that'll at least make us on par with the other team."
“This bickering is not helping us,” Sky groaned and turned to her team. "So team, who do you want to drive the cart? Me or Chase?"
"I say Chase," Ripper said first. “Sky's not Sonic fast.”
"Well I think Sky should push us," Scott declared. “Chase being on the track team is more of a hobby to him.”
"To break the tie, I'll go with Sky," MK said. "She is the team's leader."
Chase sighed. "Alright!" He walked towards the cart. "But if we don't win, it's not coming back to me."
Confessional: Sky
“Me and MK don't know each other well, and she is generally not cordial, but I do have to thank her for having my back in the situation,” Sky explained.
Confessional: MK
“The way I see it, if Sky loses the cart challenge for us, me and Scott can use that as a reason to pick her off,” MK told the audience. “With her and Trent's love plot coming to a halt, there's no need to keep her in the game any longer.”
Confessionals End
"This is it, teams," Chris announced as the two groups were shown in their starting positions – most of the teams in their carts, with Jasmine and Sky ready to push. "On your marks...," the host said as a few deep notes began the fast-paced music that would play during the challenge, "get set...escape!"
The two started pushing immediately, and Jasmine managed to get an early lead for the Grips. However, Sky was gaining momentum, and the two kicked up a cloud of dust behind them as they entered the first obstacle – the sharp-handed prisoner dummies. The camera watched from above as they weaved around and through the field in different directions, and at one point it looked like their paths were going to intersect. The two girls briefly locked eyes and steeled themselves as their carts bounced off each other, rattling their teammates inside.
The viewpoint shifted to show the start of the next obstacle – the narrow platforms over water, with large bags already swinging back and forth threateningly. Sky pushed her team up onto the platform, and the focus moved ahead to Jasmine doing the same as well. The people in the carts ducked down to get away from the swinging bags. However, Anne Maria's big hair stuck up enough for one of the bags to brush past it, which slowed it down enough that Jasmine ran face-first into it while she had been distracted looking back at the other team. It knocked her down and caused her to let go of the cart, which managed to keep rolling along without her.
"We can use this to our advantage!" Ripper barked. "Keep it steady and we can catch up!"
"I got it!" Sky picked up her pace. She managed to get them past Jasmine and another two bags and they caught up to the Grips' cart, which had stopped at the end of the second obstacle. The viewpoint shifted to show them watching in shock as the Gaffers approached unsteadily, with Jasmine running just inches behind them.
Just as Sky was getting the groove of pushing the cart, a bag hit her in the head, which caused her to lose her balance and the front left wheel of the Gaffers' cart to leave the platform as it rapidly approached the end of the second obstacle, and the camera zoomed in as it dipped down and hit the corner where the narrow platform ended, causing the cart to spill forward.
"Hurry up!" Anne Maria commanded as Jasmine retook control over the Grips’ cart and sped forward, past the pile of Gaffers and into the final obstacle.
The camera followed them as they weaved through the guard-dummies, becoming more and more excited as they neared the wall. "Alright," Jasmine said. "We're getting closer to victory!"
A second passed in silence as they kept going at the same speed. "Uhh, Jasmine?" Justin said nervously as he eyed the approaching wall.
"We can stop now!" Millie notified.
Their words caused her to skid to a stop just in front of the wall. "Thanks for the warning," Jasmine said as her teammates breathed a sigh of relief.
"We may not have a shovel," Brick told his team with a spoon in hand, "but we must make do with what we have."
“Go go!" Jasmine eagerly ordered everyone out the cart. “Hop to it like kangaroos!” They all ran over to the large 'X' and started digging.
"Well this is just great!" Ripper complained as he, MK, Chase, and Scott picked themselves up off the ground, and Sky turned their cart back upright. "We're behind the Grips!"
“This is why I should've been the driver,” Chase spoke out. “I would have been able to avoid those bags.”
"None of this is our fault," Sky said. "We can still catch up to the Grips if we don't start arguing with each other."
The footage flashed ahead, showing the Gaffers sitting in the laundry cart with Sky pushing them through the final obstacle. Moments later they arrived at the wall, a hole and sizable dirt pile already by their opponent's cart. The four Gaffers hopped out, and Sky took the shovel out of her pocket.
"Jump right to it, team," Sky ordered. "We have a lot to dig!"
The camera flashed to Chris and Chef at the finish line, Chris sitting on the entrance of a boxcar while Chef leaned against it. "So..." Chris asked. "You ever seen that prison flick? The one with the guy in it? You know? The guy with that face?" Chef rolled his eyes and shook his head.
"So are you doing anything after work?" the host asked awkwardly. "We could always rent a-" He noticed the look on the cook's face and amended, "or not. I was... busy... anyway. Very busy. I'm just… throwing it out there."
The scene changed to a side view of the Grips in their tunnel, Jasmine hastily digging in front with her spoon.
"We're making good progress so far," Jasmine said. "Even if we're stuck with spoons."
"I can hear them ahead of us now," Millie said. "Wouldn't it be faster if we helped dig too?"
"Ten hands are better than two," Jasmine agreed.
Confessional: Jasmine
“After losing two challenges in a row, the Grips really need to bounce back this time,” Jasmine stated. “I've watched enough prison movie like “Holes” and “The Shawshank Redemption” to understand which spots are easier to dig out first.”
Confessional Ends
Another flash took the scene back to the Gaffers, Ripper being the one using the shovel to dig in the front.
"I'm not lying when I say that we're going to win," Ripper said as he kept digging.
"The Grips may have gotten here before us, but they have spoons and we have a shovel," Chase added.
“And it's all thanks to me!” MK cheered before catching sight of Scott's glare. “And Scott as well.”
Confessional: MK
“Right. Forgot the basic concept of teamwork,” MK sheepishly confessed. “Usually I always fly solo in everything I do, except group projects, and most of the time, I have to do everything because my supposed group members are uncooperative.”
Confessional Ends
The Gaffers heard a sudden rumble, causing them to stop in their tracks. A hand burst out of the dirt, creating a hole that increases thanks to a familiar head sticking their head out.
“Izzy?!” the team cries out at the sight of her. The psycho hose beast had fake buck teeth in her mouth and a camo hat with sticks sticking out on top, and she chittered in response.
“Yep. That's her,” Chase confirmed.
“Yeah, I've been living underground amongst the prairie dogs,” Izzy explained as one of the prairie dogs popped up and angrily chittered at the team.
“Aw, Butchie, it's okay,” Izzy assured the creature. “These are my friends.”
“Are you here to help us or…” Scott started to ask.
“Of course! Follow me, I know a shortcut to the finish line!” Izzy said.
“A shortcut?” Sky felt uneasy.
“Of course,” Ripper scoffed. “Why spend hours digging when you can finish faster?”
Confessional: Sky
"I'm not the type to cheat whenever I'm in a competition, and taking shortcuts is the easy way out," Sky explained in the confessional trailer, "but I don't really have a choice here."
Confessional Ends
“And of course, I became the second in command prairie dog,” Izzy told her team a story as they moved through the shortcut, “which meant I shared all the prairie dog council meetings and oh, oh! Here we are!”
“Finally! I need to get out of this hole!” Chase said and crawled faster.
The viewpoint moved to the surface as rock got pushed out of the way and Chase emerged from beneath. "You've got to be kidding," he muttered in annoyance.
The camera moved again, showing that the Grips’ tunnel had come up in front of the boxcars. All members of the Killer Grips were celebrating in front, while Chris and Chef watched.
"We lost?" Izzy said as she emerged from her hole.
"Yes, we did," Chase told her as he and the other Gaffers got out of the hole. "And aren't you out of the game? We did vote you off."
“Uh-uh. You voted off Kaleidoscope,” Izzy rebutted.
A flash took the scene back to the third episode's elimination with Izzy, Ripper, and Chase in the bottom three. “Izzy! Time to go!” Chris announced.
“I'm not going anywhere,” Izzy objected. “That's not my name.”
“Can I get a pen over here?” Chris raised his hand in annoyance. A pen was given to him, and he started to write on the paper. “It says "E-Scope" now, okay?!”
Izzy stubbornly stayed in her seat, and Chris looked over to his side. “Yo guys. Want to make sure we keep this ballot in the files as an official record of Kaleidoscope's departure?” he asked as he continued to scribble. “I'll notarize it. Foresight. That's why they pay me the big bucks.”
The flashback ended and the focus returned to the Gaffers. “So technically, Izzy's still in the game!” Sky realized.
Confessional: MK
“I didn't expect this to happen, but I'll allow it if it means I get an extra vote for tonight's elimination ceremony,” MK said.
Confessional Ends
A flash took the scene to the craft services tent, the camera lingering on an outside shot before cutting to Chef at the counter while the Grips ate at their table in the foreground.
“It's such a relief to have finally won a challenge after losing the past two ones,” Brick started to say.
“Well, this is an effect of Trent not being around to lose for us,” Justin said. “We made the right decision voting him off last time.”
“Even with the other team getting Izzy back, they're still going to lose a member,” Anne Maria remarked. “It's sorta a win-win for us.”
The footage skipped ahead, showing Ripper and Scott sitting around in their trailer before MK joined them.
"Okay, look," MK said as she addressed the two boys, "we have to vote Sky off tonight. She's helpful, sure, but she'd be hard to beat if the teams merge."
"I second that," Scott nodded. "She also slowed us down in the cart portion of the challenge."
"I told you guys that Chase should've pushed for us, but you didn't listen," Ripper huffed.
“I convinced Izzy to help us with the vote, and Chase won't be necessary since he and Sky have some sort of friendship with each other,” MK said.
"As long as we have the majority, we're all set to go," Scott said with a wink.
The theme of the Gilded Chris ceremony began to play, accompanied by the standard introduction sequence. It faded into a long-distance shot of the award stage, the camera zooming in as the theme came to an end. The six Gaffers cast their votes, the camera panning down from Chase and MK in the top row, to Izzy and Scott in the middle, and Ripper and Sky at the bottom.
"Time's up!" Chris announced excitedly. "I'll tally the votes!" He held up a device similar to the voting pads, and began to read off names. "Chase, Scott, Izzy, and MK." Each name was accompanied by the sound of an award getting thrown and caught and the four were shown holding their latest prizes. "Another award, and another day to compete."
The host held up the final award. "Tonight's final Gilded Chris and another chance at the million goes to…" he said as Ripper and Sky were shown watching nervously, "...Ripper!"
The aforementioned contestant caught his prize as Sky felt disappointed with the results.
Confessional: Sky
“I didn't want to vote for Chase and Izzy and MK and Scott helped out with the challenge, even if they're unsportsmanlike,” Sky explained. “I talked to Chase and Izzy about voting for Ripper since he didn't do much today, but I guess Izzy chose to vote off someone else.”
Confessional: Ripper
“Voting for Sky didn't hurt one bit,” Ripper confessed. “Like MK said, she's really athletic and could easily win the season if we chose to eliminate somebody else tonight.”
Confessional: Izzy
“Even though I was told to vote off specific people, I decided to go with voting MK,” Izzy admitted. “I still remember how she acted during last season's dodgeball challenge.”
Confessionals End
The footage flashed forward, showing Sky on the red carpet getting handcuffed by Chef.
"Dead girl walking!" Chef called out before escorting the eliminated contestant.
"Hold on!" the voice of MK cried out as she ran up to the two. “Leave her and take me!”
“Sure. Whatever,” Chef took the handcuffs off Sky and offered them to MK.
“I was kidding!” MK pushed the cuffs away from her. “Like I'd willingly quit the game. I'm just here to see the loser off.” She looked at the slightly taller girl teasingly. “I'm sure you'll be happily reunited with Trent the Challenge Thrower.”
"As long as I'm not on a team with someone as underhanded as you," Sky retorted as she grabbed the handcuffs and walked past the now miffed girl, "I'll be happy anywhere."
The Gilded Chris theme began to play as Chris turned to the camera. "Folks are getting feisty!" he said. "The Gaffers just lost their best player and team leader this early in the game, and with her out of the way, how low will this team sink just to win? Tune in next week to find out on Total! Drama! Action!"
(Roll the Credits)
(Bonus Clip)
Sky was sitting in the back of the Lame-o-sine as she looked at the window. "You know what’s ironic?" she started. "Trent outlasted me last season by one episode, and now the same thing occurred, only with the roles reversed." She turned her head to look at the camera. "I wish I could've stayed on the show longer and prove that I'm more than Trent's athletic girlfriend, but I'm pretty sure the fans know that I have a distinct personality."
"If there's one thing I can say about my performance, it's that I didn't do anything questionable or controversial that could be used against me in the future or vilify me." She paused for a moment and blinked. "What do you mean Aftermath?"
Eva - 14th
Geoff - 14th
Izzy - RETURNED
Trent - 12th
Sky - 11th
Killer Grips: Anne Maria, Brick, Jasmine, Justin, Millie
Screaming Gaffers: Chase, Izzy, MK, Ripper, Scott

I just want a yellow rectangle with text in it. As I type, I'd like it to grow down vertically. This is the default behavior of any text object in higher level drawing programs like, say, Keynote or Google Slides. In these programs objects like text have all sorts of baked in attributes (like background fill) and auto size functionality. Figma of course is far more precise and lower level (that's a good thing!)
I've got something working but it's shockingly hard to get even close (it's not perfect)

• Auto Layout a frame with a yellow background with FIXED width and HUG on height.
• The text inside is FILL width and HUG height

With this, if I just type, it auto grows down. So far so good. I can even resize the width and things still work. However, if I resize the height (which is easy to do my accident if I drag a corner), Figma converts the frame to FIXED height so my auto snap to text is gone. (Keynote and Slides just ignore edits to height) Ignoring height edits is apparently not possible?
This isn't a horrible problem. I'm just looking for simpler alternatives, e.g.
* A widget I could install * Or just copy a postit out of FigJam!
I just like trying to 'break' programs as a way to learn more about them. I have a much deeper understanding of how HUG works now so it's been a win. I'm just trying to see if there is a way around LOSING the HUG attribute on a resize?

Back in November we bought a new Toyota Corolla Hybrid. First time buying a new car as well as first time dealing with a dealership. Originally they gave us a good rate but then later AFTER we drove away with the car they had to change it because I guess they put it in wrong and Toyota wouldn’t let them do that rate. Fast forward we now have about $23000 left on the loan but we have a 7.27% APR with 42 months remaining. We financed through Toyota but I think we could refinance somewhere else and get a much better rate. I just have no idea how to. I have a credit score of 750+ and I’m in my early 20s. Any recommendations of what to do from people who know and are experienced with auto refinancing?

Hey guys, I hope you are all doing well, apologies in advance for the long post.
I've been recently looking into financing a car of my own, however, I'm in a bit of a complicated situation.
For context, I live in Malta, and due to the heavy amount of traffic every day, constantly using the clutch has been a literal pain for me and my legs, so I wish to switch to an automatic vehicle to not only find driving more convenient, but also to save my legs as much as possible.
I currently drive a Kia Rio with a 1.3l engine (I believe it's the 2022 model) but it is a rental from the company I work with. I intend to move on from said company, and also I do not wish to keep the car because as comfortable as it is, there's the lingering feeling that it's not mine, hence not knowing what year the car was manufactured, I guess the term is. And it wastes a ton of fuel, no matter how careful I drive.
So anyway, I found a second hand vehicle for sale, it's the Honda Fit 2016. It has pretty much all I need: Auto transmission, air conditioning, a 1.3l engine, electric foldable mirrors, easy access to the vehicle by keeping the key in your pocket, etc. It is also a Japanese Import.
The current range on it is 72,000km approximately. (About 45,000 miles for American fellows)
I went to see it and it is in really good shape. I will be test driving it this Saturday.
The used car is €10,500, but I can finance it for approx. 5 years for €180 a month, which is a pretty sweet deal. (Approx. $11,500, per month would be $192)
However, there is a new car that I am leaning my eyes on, and it is the Toyota Yaris Hybrid 2020.
It's got a lot of good features, and I also would get a very good deal. In Malta, our government is offering a grant of €10,000 to whomever purchases a hybrid or electric vehicle,
The asking price is at base, about €25,300. (Approx. $27,500)
Financing will require a minimum of 5% deposit, which then will be split to monthly payments.
There are also benefits that once the financing is finished, I can either keep the car, or get a completely new one with the same financing model.
While the new car does sound like a no-brainer, I want you guys' opinion, whether I should start with a second hand, or go straight for a new car with a ton of benefits, but expensive insurance, etc.
I hope I explained well. Please feel free to correct anything I may have said wrong.
View Poll

Sorry- long, but needed- I edited this to make it more readable… I’ve been a private pilot for 20 years, flying on and off.
I went for my instrument checkride a week ago and I had an experience that I’m questioning now. I did well on the oral, I was well prepared re: planning, paperwork, endorsements, etc. all done and even a “great job” by the DPE.
We flew a bunch of maneuvers without any issues. I was feeling confident going into the approach portion. I do pretty well on these usually and even caught a few NOTAMS that affected us. The DPE, unbeknownst to me had flown me inside the ILS approach during our unusual attitudes. He then said “ok, are you ready to start the approaches?” Sure. So he said, “ok call up XYZ Approach and tell them we want two approaches and some practice holds starting with the ILS.” All good, got that in there. Radio work was solid.
Then XYZ Approach gives me “turn heading 270, vectors for the ILS, maintain 3000 until established”. Ok, woah, this is quick, I haven’t even loaded the approach fully since we didn’t even get the approach until 10 seconds prior. So now I’m scrambling. Ok, got it loaded, AP on, stable, radio still solid, tuned ILS, checked, GPS switched to Nav, phew- got it.
My situational awareness was garbage for that moment but I started getting it back together. Mind you, I have an HSI and a 24 year old GPS, steam gauge system in a 172. It’s crap. Usually I supplement it with ForeFlight for basic improved awareness but that’s not allowed during the checkride.
Then the DPE starts with the usual distraction stuff. Fine, I get it, part of the program. But I’m trying to get ahead of the airplane when he does this. And his distraction stuff is moving from distraction where I can just say, “standby, I’m working,” bc he’s actively questioning my judgement so I feel compelled to answer. In my opinion, far beyond distraction bc to me, the threat of a non-answer is checkride failure.
I mistakenly then added the miss approach VOR frequency to the Nav 1 instead of Nav 2. This happens, sure, but usually I can go back through my checklist, or fly the plane and ask to be vectored if this takes place. But now he’s pressing. “What are you doing? Why is ATC calling you? You should answer them back.” “XYZ approach, can you vector me to the ILS” “so weird, where’s your glide slope? Why is ATC asking you if you need help? Is the glide slope out of service?” “I don’t know, but I can still fly the localizer while I sort it out.” So my needle stayed seemingly ok bc it was directly in line with the runway.
Phew-AP off just to make it easier instead of having AP start reorienting me with wide turns; found my mistake prior to the FAF so I’m still in spec, descended on the ILS perfectly after that, hand flown. Then while hand flying the ILS in windy weather, he tells me to ask Approach to fly the published missed. Declined, “but we’ll give you a few vectors to the hold to simulate the published missed”. Ok, I got this.
Minimums, nailed it, called missed and then pressed Direct to cycle the gps to the holding fix at the VOR (yes, that’s how it’s done on crap GPS unit, not OBS to suspend, god I want my Garmin back.). So he keeps on actively asking questions about “why it has to be Direct, I must be doing something wrong, etc.” so I’m not feeling confident.
So now I am getting ready to do the hold at the VOR and I decided that I was going to continue to use the GPS for this part of it since I’ve already got it dialed in and I’m already flying on auto pilot and I’m direct to the VOR. And then at first I said I’m going to do parallel for the hold and then about 10 to 15 seconds later realized that that would not work that it would really be a teardrop, but it was on the cusp. I tried to draw it out to visualize it.
He starts asking me all these questions about what’s the degrees that I should be using I tell him 30. He said, “are you sure?” And he keeps on querying me continuing to distract me, but I feel like I’m obligated to answer this guy, and it’s going way beyond a distraction. It’s just overwhelming me beyond task saturation when I actually need to have some level of concentration. My unit does not display the hold, so I have to just do this with the needles.
Then he starts querying why I’m going to be using the GPS with an OBS instead of flying it with the VOR tuned, and I explained that it’s perfectly fine, perfectly legal to fly this with the GPS in OBS mode and in fact, more precise than a VOR and I don’t see why there’s any issue with that.” He says “I don’t think that’s right for you to use that. I think you need to use the VOR, you really should be tuning that right now. Why aren’t you tuning that? What are you doing?”
So I was perfectly fine going into this but he was giving me so much grief that I ended up overshooting the course and then tried to tune it which made it worse. Now I was on the unprotected side of the hold and then he looks at me. He said “you know, unfortunately we’re now going to have to end the check ride because you’re on the unprotected side of the hold and not flying it correctly.” Which was true, but only because of his basically arguing with me over the use of the OBS/gps.
So we debrief and he apologizes a few times but I’m not thrilled. I find out later two other guys I know failed in exactly the spot I did and he argued both sides of the coin with them there too causing the failure. They are both good pilots and thorough- So it’s the DPE’s script.
So I ask… is this normal or extra cash maker for the DPE bc he gets another $400+ for the 2nd attempt for only another 1.5 hours of work? I own that I failed. But it feels a little off.

mass report to every last store, school, gov department, every last resident:
to the gov: we reports our situations 24/7 every second reason: ❶police interaction you are required to sound off to defend your rights and halts violation, stops for a second it could be misunderstood as consent granted ❷in court all that it mattered is the fact that you sent those report, we don't care if they are blocked blacklisted mistaken as spam by the system, the server, the user, none of our business, for as long as we sent it in court it takes effects.
to the civilian we reports to inform exactly what the radar weapon system is, and what intelligence community do by using it, so it achieves 2 things:
❶reduces the severity of the situation, so it's not as life threatening or lethal (this can lead you into aggrieved assult so violence and murder, national security threats charges so counter terrorism, or sexual charges since we're no better than any president even they gets set up and falls horrendously what make you think you'll survive all 3, the fact that they allowed you to live, is that correct? ok so we want to ensure of that) not this is protective but by doing so we loses value in intelligence work so much that we're more liability than asset so things don't go that way long as it's all survival so you don't piss anyone off.
❷for the second part, wouldn't you want the next naive person when tormented they would make the right choice to keep themselves safe not get fooled and wasted so they resolves private investigation early by not walked into an interview so naively and able to start immediate mass report keep them safe keeps everyone safe so they don't get evoked into horrible things. Yes, you can be killed. <20 case Havana syndrome death>——basically reports to every city in and near your county except for your own city cause that's irrelevant waste effort.
Essentially the exact same principle dealing with the police as to how to deal with gangstalking, very clear simple as taught by and Lawyer after lawyer all repeats the same thing:
❶don't talk to the police. you have no business attending any interview (DOD/DOJ/CIA interrogation), detectives private investigator set up the interview just to hear you talk about yourself cause they care so much about you? more like the job they do is to land you extensive investigation, criminal charges and fine the KPI is fruitful cases, So why would you talk to a private investigator playing dress up pay 20 dollahr to opens up 10years+ of investigation for you,
❷ know your right defend your rights, described by retired detective: police lie cheat scam plays every tricks in the bock to get you to do the wrong thing catches people by evocative approach meaning tiniest mistake maximum amount of permanent punishment, so instead of interrogation and evocation leads to charges and search permit/warren that'd make a fruitful case that's the whole job of investigator, we just want court request and judge decision to stay clear of extensive which is essentially exactly what gangstalking is, why would anyone want to be drag into this?
in police interaction we witness over and over exactly how common it is for them to lie about the law, lie about the procedure, so we see our rights and legal ground aren't granted, we follow court decision and the correct procedure not what they tell us, very likely to be an lie just to make a catch to meet the quota, our legal ground can be easily work around with especially radar weapon system disruption so traceless so much room to explain and interpret, on top of that investigator are part criminal part spy part assassin the business model is playing by the rule, simple idea pretty easy to understand, we want to be certain of "Do I have the right to not die? can this not be damaging? can I just go do my thing and be productive?" how do I know that? report and cover all ground reaches area top hand or top dog, that's the same idea as requesting police supervisor so situation's much less likely to be lethally dangerous.
OK, SO MASS REPORT
you need the following:
• computer wrap in metal to reduce damages from extremely powerful direct ray
• crawl website email addressses
• sending email 24/7 every second full auto
• an email accurately describe all the torment you went through, exactly what day what happened the full log
• another email accurately inform the local people that's not in your city of all essential facts, don't spread rumor, only send confirmed facts, raises awareness on how to handle special investigation and ho to deal with radar weapon system.

I work at/partially own a smaller independent agency here in the Midwest with my dad and brother. I've been doing this for 14 years now and boy, the past 12 months has sucked. We only have 4 agents but I think the last time I checked our total written premium we were at $9m so we're doing alright. We're pretty evenly split between personal and commercial and are really lucky to have a big selection of companies.
* Travelers, Progressive, Nat Gen, Safeco, Hartford AARP, Auto Owners, Cincinnati, Philly, Nationwide, Openly, Stillwater, and probably a dozen specialty and mutual companies. I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple.
I'm fully aware we got it better than most. Even still, this isn't really fun anymore. Especially on the personal side of things. I know we're not FL or TX but my god is it getting tough to shop people around. That's kinda our whole thing. We've always prided ourselves on being honest, upfront, actually answering the phones when folks call in, and trying to do what's best for the customer even if that means less commission. Us agents do all our own quoting and 90% of the servicing. I know we do it differently than most agencies. By doing that we've done pretty well for ourselves and really don't need to advertise or worry about finding leads. We run solely off referrals and call ins and are too busy to keep up.
That's the good thing about right now. 10 years ago, we were desperate for business and would have to take anyone who walked in the door. Nowadays, I bet we have to turn away 30% of new customers for misc reasons. Oh your roof is 11 years old, tough. Your house is $212k and 100 years old, sorry. A single water claim in the last 5 years, nope. You bought both of your daughters Kias?? I can't tell you how many call ins I've sent to Farm Bureau. 2-3 a week at least.
We just had a big regional meeting with our parent company last week and boy it was grim. It was the most depressing company round up I've ever been to. Record losses, more companies tightening guidelines, don't expect profit payouts again anytime soon. I was sitting with some of our peer agency (comparable # of employees and companies) and man, they sure seemed like they were struggling. A couple of them said they were closing 3-4 customers a week and he seemed proud of it. Like for the whole agency. I didn't tell him that I myself did 6 that week.
I'm not complaining about the money. I made $25k more this past year than the year before it. I'll probably match that again this year given what renewals are rolling in at. I'm just getting real tired of quoting a perfectly normal 2,700 sqft 2 story with a perfectly fine 12 year old roof and not being able to do anything. I quote 9 different companies and only one offers me a price and it's $1200 more than what they paid last year. There's a good chance I'll get that sale but the customer already doesn't like me. I'm tired of having to justify the 79% rate increase I saw this morning on a Nationwide home (no claim). I'm tired of every single elderly person telling me "I'm on a fixed income" whenever their policy goes up $27. I'm tired of roofing companies rolling our customer's wind/hail deductible into the amount they're billing the insurance company to win over their business. And then I'm tired when that same customer bitches to me next Summer when their home goes up $1800 on renewal. I'm tired of not being able to talk to an underwriter anymore without first going through India and having them pretend to know what's going on only to transfer me to a misc underwriter 10 minutes later. I'm not saying this job was all sunshine and daisy's but it's crazy how much less stressful it was just 2-3 years ago.
My dad's been an agent for 40 years (25 with Farmers) and he said this is the worst market he's ever seen. He predominantly does commercial and habitational and that's become a nightmare as well. He's had to turn away $250k premium accounts recently because there's literally not a single other market for it.
Please tell me we're not alone. Please tell me this is temporary and it won't suck to come into work in 2 years. We've never ever listened to a single buyout offer but man, I get why some folks do it these days.

I looked over the patch notes and watched the patch 14.10 rundown. Smolder was not listed in the Patch notes at all and the only time Phreak mentioned smolder ins the 14.10 rundown was to say that he was a user of ER. Yet in the video, he mentioned nothing at all his state as a whole after these changes go through.
So again, seeing as Riot has said nothing at all about Smolder's viability going into this patch, I really am pushed into believing that Riot didn't predict that these changes would harm him so much. I mean, how can I believe otherwise?
All Riot had to say was something like " We understand that Smolder will be in a rough place after this item update. We are currently investigating ways to address this and what we can do improve Smolder's viability with the new items" or something along those lines. Instead, we got nothing.
The changes happen (Which literally any half decent Smolder player was able to predict these changes would be ass for Crit Smolder) and now Crit Smolder is utter dogshit. So bad infact that you could feasibly argue that playing Crit Smolder is actually just griefing your team.
Some of you who do not play Smolder may not understand why this is though. The answer is very simple: Smolder has the fundamental flaw of having absolutely 0 synergy at all with the attack speed stat.
This is a problem, because the majority of Crit items are now more involved with attack speed. Is that a problem in and of itself? No. It actually makes perfect sense for Crit items to be more about attack speed and basic attack synergies than anything ability related. Because after all, the stat 'Critical Chance' was first and foremost develop around the idea of auto attacks.
The problem here, is Smolder's kit. Riot tried forcing Smolder into crit by giving him a sizeable crit ratio on his Q. While this worked to an extent last patch, due to having access to crit items that had nothing to do with attack speed (ER, Navori, bloodthirster), it now no longer flies with this current item update. Quickblades was quite literally removed, which was the capstone item for Crit based AD casters like Smolder. Bloodthirster has also lost crit chance, which means less damage for his Q. RFC lost its AD in exchange for attack speed, which Smolder wants nothing to do with and ER became worse for him due to it losing the sheen effect.
Basically, Smolder not only doesn't function with the majority of crit items that are now available, but the few he did function with have been removed or made outright worse for him. Basically, Crit Smolder has no viable itemization.
Now, how do you fix this? There are a few ways to fix this. If Riot wants to just ditch the idea of crit, all they have to do is remove the crit ratio on his Q and adjust the remaining ratios on his kit.
However, if Smolder is meant to stick with crit chance, he will require sizeable adjustments. Either his kit needs to be reworked to the point where his basic attacks are relevant to his kit, like Xayah. Or he needs to be given some sort of synergy with attack speed, like converting it into AD like Jhin does.
As Smolder is now though, his kit just quite literally does not function with the existing crit items. The fact he has literally no synergy at all with attack speed is far too damning to make it viable otherwise. Which is why you're seeing Smolder players now opting for AD bruiser with Trinity + Shojin or going full AP since his AP Ratios are actually pretty good.
Regardless though, I just really want to hear acknowledgement from Riot that were already working on something for Smolder. I truly don't want to think that Riot somehow couldn't predict that these item changes would absolutely gut Crit Smolder.

Hey all so back in december I filed a police report against my parent because my credit card company advised me to. This is in UT, usa.
Here's the situation: When I was 18 my mom opened a credit card in my name. I was vaguely aware of the account but she had all access to it and said she was doing it to help my credit score. I didn't get access to the account until I had a fight with her and she gave me the login information and said good luck. It has a 10k limit which was maxed out. l hadn't ever used it or was aware of how much the limit was or anything like that. She had had me call discover a handful of times to dispute a charge, but I wasn't aware of anything else on it or even the charges I was disputing aside from what she told me.
I got access to the account and saw how bad it was in the end of 2022. I wasn't able to do anything at that point due to depression. Her account and my aunt's account were both on the card and connected to auto pay so I wasn't even paying on it until the end of 2023 when the payments no longer went through. At that point I freaked out and added my bank account and made a payment. which is also when I called the bank and asked them to investigate fraud. They ended up determining that it wasn't fraud due to me calling a few times years ago to dispute charges. I'm over that. I will pay it I don't want to deal with my mom ever again. During the fraud process though, the bank asked me if I could call the police department and report it. So I did, I don't believe that I lied to the officer at all during that time, and my memory is so bad from abuse until I was an adult that I didn't knowingly lie either.
But now I just got a call back that my mom called on the case and is fighting back saying I did know about it.
I just want it to go away. I can't talk to my mom about it at all, that's not in the picture. But I don't want to get in legal trouble for this. I want to just pay her debt and be left alone. Am I in trouble at all or what can I do? I asked the officer if I can just close the report and I provided screenshots of when she gave me the login information in 2022, which is the first time I had access to it, but she also has information about when I "used" the card to book things, when it was really her the whole time so he's investigating to see if any criminal activity occurred. I'm so worried that I could get in trouble for a false police report even though I didn't do it on purpose and didn't even want my mom to get arrested or anything in the first place.
What action should I take, or what actions can I even take here?