About WARNO)
Background:
The first division to be introduced on the Sordish side was the 5th Infantry Division. Deployed in the Nargis region as part of the Sordland First Army, The 5th infantry division is perhaps the most typical of all Sordish infantry divisions before the war of 1958. In fact, the Sordish armed force inquiry specifically designated the division as a template division. The 5th Infantry Division saw its first combat in the Estord pincer; it has since taken part in many major campaigns throughout the war.
Logistics: The 5th infantry division is designed with strong logistical capability in mind, providing the commander with a range of different options for combat sustainment
Sunolis 32 truck: the stereotypical truck that represents the Sordish Armed Forces
M52 munition carrier: the license-produced Arcasian carrier has been used as a mechanized troop transport. On some occasions, they are used to ferry ammunition to the frontline.
Fielddepot: a hardened strongpoint for storing ammunition. The Sordish doctrine relies on a good defense just like it relies on a good offense.
Sunolis 41 jeep: a mobile ride for commanding officers, not exactly the safest option
Infantry: The backbone of the Sordish Army, the men of the 5th infantry division may not be best of the entire army, but they are well-equipped and ready for combat.
Rifleman (motorized): 10 men squads with 8 G2 combat rifles, one MG21 machine gun, a Carl Gustafsson recoilless rifle (12 penetration with 4 shots), and rifle grenades. Initially, the Lancea reform aimed to fully mechanize all infantry units with M52 carriers. However, due to resource constraints, for each infantry brigades, two infantry battalions are motorized on trucks, and the third is mounted on M52 carriers.
Riflemen (mechanized): 8 men squads with 7 G2 combat rifles, one MG21 machine gun, a Carl Gustafsson recoilless rifle and rifle grenades. The squad rides in M52 carriers to battle. The carrier can reinforce the rifle squads with ammunition and material to reflect the fact that carriers do carry ammo on them. The recoilless
Engineers: 6 men squads with 5 G2s, one MG21, and 4 AT grenades (10 penetration and 50m range). Engineers have always been a part of the Sordish army since the Markian empire. Per doctrine, the engineers should be deployed as a reserve unit in the rear to strengthen defenses, they are not expected to hold the line or storm enemy positions.
Pioneers: Pioneers are specialized combat engineers tasked with storming enemy strongpoints and engage in close combat. This role is reflected by their shock trait, which increases their damage output at close range. A pioneer squad has 9 men with 7 G2s, an FO-47 flamethrower, satchel charges (50m range, 3 HE damage), and AT grenades.
Weapon squad: For each company, four machine guns are allocated; this is reflected by the weapons squad with 4 tripod mounted MG21s. The squad has 8 men with 4 G2 and an additional Carl Gustafsson Recoilless.
Anti-tank squad (motorized): The dismounted recoilless squad operates a crew-served 106mm M51 recoilless rifle (14 penetration, 70% accuracy, 800m range). They reflect the anti-tank squad organic to each motorized company.
Anti-tank squad (mech): mechanized AT squads are attached to each mechanized infantry company from the battalion level; they consist of a 5 men team with two Carl Gustafsson. The squad rides in a M52A carrier armed with a 106mm recoilless rifle.
ATGM squad: This is a new addition to the motorized battalion's anti-tank asset, but it has yet to replace the role of the venerable M53. The BS-3 missile is operated by a three-man team with a minimum range of 400 meters. The MCLOS guidance system resulted in abysmal accuracy (35%), but the long range of the missile and its penetration level (14 penetration with 3000m range) brought a revolutionary change to anti-tank combat.
Headquarters team: the leader of the unit. A five men team with 4 G2 rifles and one recoilless rifle. The headquarters team increases the morale of units within its effect radius and increases their veteran level. Enemy units seen by the HQ team can also be targeted with artillery with reduced aiming time due to their “forward observer” trait.
Artillery: Despite being smaller than their gargantuan Rumburgian counterpart, Sordish infantry divisions have access to a wide range of artilleries.
81mm mortar team: Five-men team with an 81mm, not the best nor the worst. (2 HE damage, fast fire rate)
M502 mortar carrier: A M52 carrier configured to carry 120mm mortar (3 HE damage, fast fire rate)
HF110 howitzer: a towed piece of 110mm artillery (3 HE damage, medium fire rate but with longer range and ammunition)
HF155 howitzer: a towed piece of 155 (4 HE damage, medium fire rate)
L213 SPG: A self-propelled 155mm artillery gun, it is armored to protect itself against enemy counterbattery fire (4 HE damage, medium fire rate)
Rk228 “pipe organ”: A heavy multiple-launch rocket artillery capable of firing 16 480mm rockets in one row. The accuracy is poor, but it can absolutely devastate enemy strong points.
Tanks: The Lancea reform seeks to turn the army into a modernized force capable of inflicting devastating losses on enemy units through maneuver warfare. The division’s tank arsenal has been modernized to some degree.
B-45 tanks: first developed in 1945, the tanks were pretty outdated by 1958. They lack modern armor and cannot reliably damage newer tanks with their 88mm gun. (4 front armor, 2 side armor, 1 rear armor, the 88 gun deals 2 HE and 10 penetration with 40% accuracy over 2300m range)
B-55 tanks: the update to B-45 tanks (pretty much T-55 but better), the B-55s are equipped with smoke launchers, newer 100mm guns, and active night vision capability to counter the Rumburgian night capability. The armor is also improved (7 front armor, 3 side armor, 1 rear armor, the 100mm gun deals 3 HE and 14 penetration with 45% accuracy over 2500m range)
B-55M1, the newest generation of the B-55 series, the tanks are equipped with ballistic computers and better armor, the ammunition is also improved. (9 front armor, 5 side armor, the gun deals 16 penetration with a kinetic projectile with 60% accuracy over 2500m range)
B-55cmd, a command variant of B-55, with leader trait and forward observer trait
Recon: The ability to get information across is essential in modern warfare, hence the army has invested much in this field
FernJaeger: 10 men motorized squad with 7 G2 rifles, 2 MG21 machineguns, 1 Carl Gustaf, and grenades. They have exceptional stealth and spotting.
Belluxjaeger: 4-man team with one Carl Gustaf. They can ride in M52 Jagdhross carriers (the recon version of M52, it is equipped with one 106mm and two MG21 guns). or jeeps
Hettmotor Fuchs: A 6-wheeled armored car with a 20mm cannon and smoke launcher (3 front armor, good spotting)
Air Defense: the Sordish air force is confident in their ability to stop most enemy air attack, but infantry divisions usually retain a strong anti-air component
M42 20mm: dual 20mm anti-air gun, it is somewhat obsolete
M55 anti-air: Self-propelled quad 20mm anti-air gun with radar assisted guidance, the main defense against Rumburgian air threat.
FK-20 Magico: Lespian infrared anti-air missile, the only weapon system not made in Sordland. The missiles have a 60% hit rate against air targets.
Helicopters: Sordish infantry divisions do not have access to much helicopters, most helicopter assets are centralized to armored divisions
Antelope II: Lespian light helicopter, somewhat commonly used in the Rika continent by the Pretorian Defense Force and some Arcasian PMCs, the helicopter is mostly used for recon with only an MG21 mounted on it.
Planes: The Sordish Air Force is an independent strategic branch. Due to limited resources, they are more concerned with gaining air superiority and acting as an interdicting force. The vast majority of infantry units cannot call in close air support. A longtime joke is that a colonel in an infantry division can call in as much air support as a captain in a tank division can.
P-86 Sabre: the plane comes in two variations; A2A variant is armed with a Rattlesnake air-to-air missile (60% accuracy). The rocket variant fires 128mm rockets.
P-104 Starfighter: the Arcasian plane’s reliance on speed has made it notorious for crash incidents, it is often nicknamed as “flying coffin” by aircrews. The plane comes in a bomber variant with two 450kg bombs.
P-100 Super Sabre: the backbone of the Sordish air force, the A2A version has semi-active radar missiles in addition to Rattlesnakes, the bomb version carries four 450kg bombs and two 20mm gun pods

I've just completed my re-read of all of Stormlight in anticipation of the WaT coming out later this year. To say I'm excited for the new book would be an understatement.
Throughout my time reading Sanderson's works (Stormlight first then Mistborn Era 1+2, then everything else), I had largely considered Rhythm to be the weakest of the Stormlight series, with rating being something like Oathbringer as a 9.5, WoK a 9, Words of Radiance 8, Rhythm 7.
On my re-read however my view of Rhythm improved markedly and several of the issues I had originally seemed to fall away:

Kaladin repeats his storyline from the first two books.
Navani's storyline with Raboniel felt like lore dumping instead of the slow trickle discovery that worked so well in the Way of Kings
Venli's flashbacks are so boring that Eshonai actually just takes them over.
Szeth straight up murdering Taravangian is just written off by Dalinar, etc.
Kal's big 4th ideal moment is so convoluted they need to bring in time-slowing, speaking across continents and is separated by so many other moments that it loses all tension of Kal falling after Lirin

1st: The first was my biggest complaint. I had always thought Kaladin just replays his arc from the first novels, but on re-read, he is actually learning to grow beyond his old coping mechanism: his men and Bridge 4. Needing to fight and protect them was the identity he created to deal with being enslaved and watching of his squad being murdered by Amaram, but he's growing past that now.
2nd: On re-read I really really appreciated the Navani-Raboniel relationship more and feel like I glossed over this too fast in my first read. Raboniel ends up being a great character and a very interesting looking at someone utterly desperate to escape the prison of a life she is placed in by this eternal war. Navani's appreciation for her near the end after ending her daughter's life and her scenes with Moash were after all.
3rd: Conversely, this one seemed to be an even stronger take than before. Venli's chapters really just felt insufferable to me. I realize her story is about the awful things that happen with a literal child being forced to be responsible for the survival of her people, but her storyline just doesn't feel believable, especially the scenes in Kholinar where she just does everyone's bidding while igniting a war that effectively dooms multiple nations.
4th: This one....really doesn't make sense to me. I hope this is something addressed in WaT, but Szeth walked into Taravangian's room and just murdered a prisoner. We the reader know that Taravangian escaped and took up the shard of Odium, so never actually died....but Dalinar in the Radiants legitimately thing he murdered an elderly prisoner in cold blood with no authorization or process of justice. Dalinar immediately sending him on a mission to Shinovar with Kaladin seems insane given these circumstances.
5th: On re-read I liked this scene much more than I did in my original read, but I feel like it was just overdone so much. Dalinar's forgiveness scene in Oathbringer I think was the perfect template for Kaladin falling through the storm. It would have been better for him as a character to overcome his unwillingness to say the Fourth Ideal on his own, but even if he needed Dalinar to help him, then it would have been better to keep his entire falling plot within a single chapter instead of chopping it up so much. The constant jump cuts really ruined the tension of his fall and his return.
That was really just a stream of consciousness on the books as I finished them, but a few theories I have:

Kaladin is re-walking the same paths that Tanavast walked long in the past. In WoKs Kaladin almost ends his life at the HONOR chasm, presumably where Honor was splintered. The Stormfather later tells Dalinar that Tanavast loved humans and died protecting them. My guess would be Tanavast made a promise to protect both the Singers and the Humans, and was torn apart trying to honor both of those promises much like Kal was during WoR trying to protect Elhokar while also agreeing to help his murderers. More on this right below.
In Mistborn era 1, we are continually led to believe Vin will be the Hero of Ages, but in the end Sazed takes up both shards to form Harmony. Scadrial at the time was plagued by so many environmental disasters that the person to take up the power of the shards needed to be wise enough to use the power to remake the world itself: a task that Vin would have been incredibly ill suited for. I think a story conclusion is very similar in Stormlight, the true problem Roshar faces is the cycle of eternal war that destroys the planet and its people of both Singer and human descent. The person to eventually take up Honor / Odium / Cultivation etc. must be someone who can legitimately bring an end to the war and find a way to peacefully coexist. Kal so far seems like the best example, Dalinar is intent on leading the Radiants as a military force to oppose Odium directly, while Kal has had significant time with the Singers and humans of every kind, and he sees them as no different from each other.
Odium's offer to Dalinar near the end of the book, where the contest of champions is hashed out seems to have some spoilers: Odium: "Though I will be able to focus my attentions on sending agents to the rest of the Cosmere, using what I've conquered here as enough for now." as an addendum to the terms Dalinar demands if he wins. In Mistborn Era 2 we see two groups that are agents of Odium (the Skybreakers and the Iriali) operating on Scadrial. This seems like it indicates that Dalianr will be victorious and Odium will focus on sending agents to other planets and systems.
Dalinar: "I intend to be my own champion, I'll have died if you win." Odium "Yesssss, you will have. And you will give your soul to me. You Dalinar will join the Fused. You will become immortal." Human Fused are confirmed then. Who do we know wanted to become immortal and was generally a huge asshole who caused most of these problems? Gavilar. My pet theory is Gavilar will be Odium's champion when it is revealed that Odium made him a Fused after Szeth killed him. Gavilar being Odium's champion is a great explanation for why we start every single book looking at Gavilar through a different perspective in the prologues and will be a great emotional moment for Dalinar to face off against Gavilar one final time. No one else seems like it will have the same emotional weight as Gavilar, bringing a random Fused we've never heard of to get stomped by Dalinar would be anti-climatic while Gavilar could be an excellent twist for the series with lots of pontential foresadowing left to us in the prologues.

Monster wall of text, but just tons of thoughts as I just finished the novels again yesterday.

MCU (I'm combining these with the original three X-Men movies): Bolivar Trask was one of the worlds leading engineers in the field of robotics and this showed in what type of items that his company sold because Trask industries was one of the few companies that was actually able to compete and beat stark industries in the field of weapons sells but for all the success his company had trask was unable to succeed at his own personal projects which was to build a machine that could protect humanity from super powered freaks and guide the species into the future but while they were successful in creating the prototype body they were unable to create an AI powerful enough to bring the machine to life that was until the death of Tony Stark and when his company then started to go under and was forced to sell the rights to their tech to other companies to stay in business Trask was soon to swoop in and buy the rights to Stark's AI technology and Trask would repurpose it to bring and would rename it Nimrod but due to a programming glitch Nimrod would rampage escaping from the lab into the world one with limitless possibilities for such an adaptive machine
DC animated universe:Many thought that Lex Luther was an arrogant man that could never see his own downfall coming but while they would be right on the first part they would be dead wrong on the second and this showed in one of Luther's many backup that he had come up with soon after taking over the legion of doom plans in case of his Death called operation rebirth which was a plan to take a copy of Lex's mind and download it into a top of the line robot body but the world could not have two lex Luthers so the original would create a network connecting the robot and it's AI to a limited amount of the Internet all so that it could wait for the day that it was reported that the original died which would then cause the activation protocol to take place awakening the robot and so it would slumber in the hidden laboratory for years to come until one day it would be reported that Lex Luther had died sacrificing himself to defeat the new god Darkseid but what was not planned for was that the robot's AI would be corrupted due to the fact that sleeping within the furthest parts of Lex's mind were fragmented pieces of Brainiac's programming and conscious was lodged in his mind an once the robot was activated both of the personalities would fight each other for control which would end up with both of them merging together to create something new and now this new entity would be free to travel the world that was full of opportunities
Invincible:The mauler twins were geniuses and that could not be denied and they were also quite the physical specimens with super human durability and strength but even with such impressive power they still consistently lost to the guardians of the globe due to the fact that they had such a power houses like war woman,the immortal and of course Omni man and while planning their attack on the white house the maulers would realize that even though they might not be able to match their enemies physically they could make a something that could because while Gene manipulation and cloning was their bread and butter they were still skilled engineers so they would craft a adaptive robot that could stand a chance against the Earth's strongest heroes the only thing that was left to do was to bring it to life using a advanced learning AI but what the mauler twins weren't expecting was for their creation to rebel against them due to a glitch in it's programming and it would escape the lab into a super powered world full of opportunities

Intro:
I just saw a post here every day about a lonely guy and his struggles in dating.
When I read it, the frustration, sadness, and despair are palpable. But since 63% of young men are single, and half of male university students are virgins, I can understand why these posters aren’t happy.
The majority of men are lonely.
While I cannot solve this very real societal phenomenon, I will try to put things into perspective.
After all, trite as it may sound, life is truly about much more than dating. We’ll talk about this later on.
Before we begin, I would like to sincerely dedicate this post to all of those people who carry a void in their hearts every day.
I truly hope that reading the following will bring you at least a little peace of mind.
This is something that you need to tell yourself every single day. Life coaches and toxic PUAs like Andrew Tate are telling you to run game on 5 women every day, but I'm telling you to tell yourself this 5 times a day:
It's not your fault.
This should be said and emphasized a lot more. I want you guys to completely digest this idea. It is important to keep reminding yourself of this truth. Once you truly understand this, you will have a much more peaceful mindset.
The situation you are in was forced upon you.
Genetic determinism is anathema to most people. You will always see the fortunate, the lucky people try to take credit for their living situations, but they won't acknowledge the opportunities they were given.
I want you to understand something: when people tell you "you can do it, you can do anything," they are not saying it for your benefit. They are saying it to gaslight you and feel better about themselves. It implies that if you fail, it was because of something you did wrong.
"You could've done it, but you didn't, so it's your fault."
Don't let people gaslight you.
You look at a guy like Jeremy Meeks, scum of the earth. This guy is the personification of luck. The guy made the wrong choices and decisions at every step of the way, and he still made it as a multimillionaire top model, all because of his looks.
He comes from a broken family, he's a criminal, robber, gangster, beat an underage kid to near death, drug dealer, weapons charges, you fucking name it. Yet, women are worshiping him, literally worshiping him.
I ask you this: how many mistakes is too many? 10? 20? 50?
When you are good-looking, no amount is too many. Anything is forgivable.

"Anything is possible. Never give up. God's got a plan for you." - Jeremy Meeks

Well, when you look like him, yeah, of course anything is gonna be possible.

You look at a guy like Hunter Biden, drug addict and porn actor. Still, he's a board member of a nine-figure international investment firm. All because of his dad. All because he was lucky enough to be born into the Biden family.
You look at Elon Musk, richest guy on earth. He in turn comes from a dirty rich family that makes bank with him off of the backs of literal child slaves. His 80-year-old father made a child with his 30-year-old stepdaughter. Think about it, this guy was fucking 50 years old when he adopted that child.
These are morally bankrupt people, and yet you see the lives they are living.
You look at a guy like Bill Gates, whose classmates' parents literally bought a computer room for his high school during a time when even top U.S. universities didn't have computer rooms. Bill got to spend unlimited time with the latest and greatest computers as a child in the 1960s.
I am not saying Bill is dumb. Of course, you also need brains, but even intelligence is luck.
It's brutal how lucky you have to be in life. Not only do you need the smarts, but you need to be born in the right time and location into the right family. You think a smart kid who was born in a war-torn third-world country stands any chance?
Never.
Fucking never.
You gotta be lucky in this life. The most important factor governing success in life is luck. Looks will directly influence how you are treated by others from the day you were born, before you could even remember. Your neurotypicality, face, race, and height are paramount when it comes to how society will treat you (I have mountains of data at the above link, read it to see just how important these genetic factors are). This in turn shapes your personality.
Your intelligence, the opportunities you were born into, your gender; they are all important.
Even in the job market, just your gender influences your chances majorly.
Everything in life comes down to luck.
"Anything is possible, you can do anything."
No, you cannot do anything you want to in life, and it's not your fault. Genetic determinism and luck rule every aspect of your life.
You did nothing wrong.
So don't let anybody gaslight you.
Instead, don't be a free agent in life. Let the blackpill guide you.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Sega of Japan deserves all the criticisms for their idiocy of overtaking the dictatorship of the wider Sega company and running the company down because they tried to manage the global markets without understanding the cultures behind them and basing their actions upon the tastes of the Japanese market. On top of putting their eggs in one baskets and obsessively trying to make the Saturn king of Japan's console industry................
However there's a gigantic misconception on the internet by understandably P$!%ed off Western gamers that Sega of Japan's boneheaded run of the company is some unique kind of stupidity unmatched in history.........
Actually there's bad news and its that this is actually a big problem in the Japanese business world especially among companies that are domestic giants such as Konami.
And I'll start with one of my favorite franchises. Mobile Suite Gundam.
Back in the late 90s and early 2000s the most recent iteration of the franchise Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on the Toonami block on Cartoon Network. And to say it was a massive success. It was easily Toonami's most watched program after Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon and there would be profitable sales of Gundam Wing figures in American major retailers like K-Mart and kB Toys during the show's run. There was more demand for further Gundam content. Easy pathway to creating a juggernaut in the anime industry in America right?
Well the immediate followup to Gundam Wing was....... The original Gundam. Form the 1970s. I'm not kidding. The studios that makes Gundam Sunrise made this choice.
Massive gigantic bomb in America. Even Toonami's less popular programs like Ronin Warriors hard much higher viewerships.
The show's reason for flopping was that the original Gundam looked just so outdated with its animation being 70s flair. The original Gundam is actually superior to Wing in almost every other way especially the overall plot...... But the animation looked so old nobody wanted to watch it.
Why did Sunrise choose to follow up Wing which was their latest installment just before Turn A which was actually running in Japan during the same time Toonami was airing Wing in America?
In Japan the specific continuity the first original Gundam series follows, the UC timeline, is the handsdown most popular canon. The first two sequels Zeta (the Gundam series with the highest ratings ever in the history of the franchise within Japan) and ZZ formed a trilogy with the original Gundam of interlinking stories that culminates and concluded most the unresolved arcs in the original Gundam along with a slew of entwined movies and OVAs (think miniseries in Western terms). Basically the UC timeline is so big in Japan that we still get new stories every couple of years focused on specific characters, incidents, and so much more as well. Ask the general populace about Gundam and its the robot suits and characters of the UC timeline such as Amuro Rey and the Zaku robots and the that they immediately picture in their heads when they think Gundam similar to how the vast bulk of Star Wars fans below 16 always associates the franchise with Luke, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Obi Wan, and Anakin/Darth Vader and the iconic scenes are teh Death Star onscreen and lightsaber fights.
So in Sunrise's head, not only was the first Gundam a guaranteed success in America but that they had to follow it up with it because the UC is the heart and soul of the entire franchise. The studios sincerely believed that with the original Gundam's even better and more complicated storyline that crowds will flock to watch it every weekday on Toonami...........
Failing to realize that a prime part of what made Wing so impressionable on Western audiences was the visuals of space battles and the awareness of the mobile suits in action. The complicated story of Gundam Wing (for the standards of Western animation on TV was definitely a component that made kids stick to the end but what attracted them in the first place was awesome onscreen actions like Heero escaping capture and knocking out a bunch of men on the way with kicks and piloting the Gundam for the first time to demolish tanks and humvees and a division of soldiers within seconds.
Sunrise did not get this point. They mistakenly assumed that teens and children in the West would have understood the original Gundam's anti war storyline entwined with lots of politics and drama was something that was darn complicated for an American 12 year old to get. They failed to get that the West's TV animation scene was extremely tame hell mainstream afternoon Network Television overall even live action was pretty much PG in content and something like Gundam was definitely pushing it for timeslots for minors including teens. That issues like killing children in a mass bombardment with permanent arm crippling even decapitation was only started to be accepted on afternoon teen soap opera and Saturday morning cartoon timeslots.
That it was pretty tame (by modern standards) live action shows with lots of cool visual action that was bloodless and usually PG like Hercules The Legendary Journeys and its sister spinoff Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer that the teen range was watching in addition to laughably corny stuff (but still having cool colorful onscreen effects) like GI Joe making the center of children's animation.
When the original Gundam flopped Sunrise took around 2 years to realize their mistake and released G Gundam. An incarnation of the series around the premise of Robots dueling each other in a tournament of gladiatorial fights. Thats an understatement G Gundam takes the whole premise to another level by making the Gundam robots fight with the speed, fluidity, and magical abilities of Dragon Ball Z. Kung Fu with giant Robots.
But the damage was done. While G Gundam did a hell lot better than the original Gundam, interest in the franchise has waned by then and in turn merchandise sales which Sunrise makes its bulk profits from were nowhere as profitable in America as Wing was. When Sunrise attempted to bring over their newer series such as Seed (which was massively popular in Japan even far more than Gundam Wing and G Gundam which already were considered hits by the studios) it was canceled from the maintime slot shortly afterwards and the ret of the series was put on death slots. The momentum had ceased. And not helping was that by that point other mech anime such as FLCL also aired on Toonami and fellow rival franchises like Zoids were begin imported.
Basically by now Gundam had looked generic to the Western audience esp Americans. The next wave of new anime fans in the 2000s was a disadvantaged market because the novelty of Gundam Wing being the first mech anime was not there for future Gundam installments. Gundam has fallen so out of the anime Zeitgeist that whatever we got in the future aired on lesser known channels like Color TVs or came in DVD releases if not even localised at all only being available on fansubs.
The worst part? When Gundam Wing ended its run on Toonami, Turn A Gundam, their newest incarnation with even better animation and just as much awesome moments of one giant mech destroying a an army of other mechs in addition to divisions of tanks and infantry, had just finished airing in Japan. By all logic it should have been a no brainer to snatch this as the followup to Wing right?
But not to Sunrise because Turn A was one of the lesser popular incarnations at that point. Because the UC was so the face of the franchise in Japan so it must succeed in America and the rest of the world no?
Does this sound familiar? Simply to put Japanese companies have a gigantic issues of failing to realize that what succeeds in Japan is not applicable elsewhere. And that given the chance to they'll even try to micro manage even something as loose in concept as franchise licensing in other countries.
OK thats an exaggeration I just said but my point ist he horrible mishandling of the Sega Saturn outside of Japan isn't really some 1 in a billion lottery ticket level of stupidity. Sega of Japan's screwups is actually quite typical of companies that succeeded domestically but never did anything in other markets that then decide to expand to outside markets beyond Japan. The Gundam example was so already long that I don't feel like typing anymore but boy oh boy there are a gazillion examples you can find if you do your googling from Konami's early mishandling of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG as well as their shift to focusing on Pachinko and Pachislot much to the dismay of Western gamers esp fans of MGS and Silent Hill. And so much more.
Simply Sega of Japan isn't uniquely stupid. Its a perfect symptom many issues of the business world in Japan.

Delivering the commencement address to the graduating seniors at Morehouse College today, President Joe Biden addressed the nation. After thanking the mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, and all the people who helped the graduates get to the chairs in front of the stage, Biden recalled Morehouse’s history. The school was founded in 1867 by civil rights leader Reverend William Jefferson White with the help of two other Baptist ministers, the Reverend Richard C. Coulter and the Reverend Edmund Turney, to educate formerly enslaved men. They believed “education would be the great equalizer from slavery to freedom,” Biden said, and they created an institution that would make the term “Morehouse man” continue to stand as a symbol of excellence 157 years later. Then Biden turned to a speech that centered on faith. Churches talk a lot about Jesus being buried on Friday and rising from the dead on Sunday, he said, “but we don’t talk enough about Saturday, when… his disciples felt all hope was lost. In our lives and the lives of the nation, we have those Saturdays—to bear witness the day before glory, seeing people’s pain and not looking away. But what work is done on Saturday to move pain to purpose? How can faith get a man, get a nation through what was to come?” It’s a truism that anything that happens before we are born is equidistant from our personal experience, mixing the recent past and the ancient past together in a similar vaguely imagined “before” time. Most of today’s college graduates were not born until about 2002 and likely did not pay a great deal of attention to politics until about five years ago. Biden took the opportunity to explain to them what it meant to live through the 1960s. He noted that he was the first in his family to graduate from college, paid for with loans. He fell in love, got a law degree, got married and took a job at a “fancy law firm.” But his world changed when an assassin murdered the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King—a Morehouse man—and the segregated city of Wilmington, Delaware, erupted with fires, looting, fights, and occasional gunfire. For nine months, the National Guard patrolled the city in combat gear, “the longest stretch in any American city since the Civil War,” Biden recalled. “Dr. King’s legacy had a profound impact on me and my generation, whether you’re Black or white,” Biden explained. He left the law firm to become first a public defender and then a county councilman, “working to change our state’s politics to embrace the cause of civil rights.” The Democratic Party had historically championed white supremacy, but that alignment was in the process of changing as Democrats had swung behind civil rights and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Biden and his cohort hoped to turn the Delaware Democratic Party toward the new focus on civil rights, he said. In 1972, Biden ran for the Senate and won…barely, in a state Republican president Richard Nixon won with 60% of the vote. Biden recalled how, newly elected and hiring staff in Washington, D.C., he got the call telling him that his wife and daughter had been killed in a car accident and that his two sons were gravely injured. The pain of that day hit again 43 years later, he said, when his son Beau died of cancer after living for a year next to a burn pit in Iraq. And he talked of meeting First Lady Jill Biden, “who healed the family in all the broken places. Our family became my redemption,” he said. His focus on family and community offered a strong contrast to the Republican emphasis on individualism. “On this walk of life...you come to understand that we don’t know where or what fate will bring you or when,” Biden said. “But we also know we don’t walk alone. When you’ve been a beneficiary of the compassion of your family, your friends, even strangers, you know how much the compassion matters,” he said. “I’ve learned there is no easy optimism, but by faith—by faith, we can find redemption.” For the graduates, Biden noted, four years ago “felt like one of those Saturdays. The pandemic robbed you of so much. Some of you lost loved ones—mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, who…aren’t able to be here to celebrate with you today…. You missed your high school graduation. You started college just as George Floyd was murdered and there was a reckoning on race. “It’s natural to wonder if democracy you hear about actually works for you. “What is democracy if Black men are being killed in the street? “What is democracy if a trail of broken promises still leave[s]…Black communities behind? “What is democracy if you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot? “And most of all, what does it mean, as we’ve heard before, to be a Black man who loves his country even if it doesn’t love him back in equal measure?” The crowd applauded. Biden explained that across the Oval Office from his seat behind the Resolute Desk are busts of Dr. King and Senator Robert Kennedy, challenging Biden: “Are we living up to what we say we are as a nation, to end racism and poverty, to deliver jobs and justice, to restore our leadership in the world?” He wears a rosary on his wrist made of Beau’s rosary as a reminder that faith asks us “to hold on to hope, to move heaven and earth to make better days.” “[T]hat’s my commitment to you,” he said. “[T]o show you democracy, democracy, democracy is still the way.” Biden pledged to “call out the poison of white supremacy” and noted that he “stood up…with George Floyd’s family to help create a country where you don’t need to have that talk with your son or grandson as they get pulled over.” The administration is investing in Black communities and reconnecting neighborhoods cut apart by highways decades ago. It has reduced Black child poverty to the lowest rate in history. It is removing lead pipes across the nation to provide clean drinking water to everyone, and investing in high-speed internet to bring all households into the modern era. The administration is creating opportunities, Biden said, bringing “good-paying jobs…; capital to start small businesses and loans to buy homes; health insurance, [prescription] drugs, housing that’s more affordable and accessible.” Biden reminded the audience that he had joined workers on a picket line. To applause, he noted that when the Supreme Court blocked his attempt to relieve student debt, he found two other ways to do it. He noted the administration’s historic investment in historically black colleges and universities. “We’re opening doors so you can walk into a life of generational wealth, to be providers and leaders for your families and communities. Today, record numbers of Black Americans have jobs, health insurance, and more [wealth] than ever.” Then Biden directly addressed the student protests over the Israeli government’s strikes on Gaza. At Morehouse today, one graduate stood with his back to Biden and his fist raised during the president’s speech, and the class valedictorian, DeAngelo Jeremiah Fletcher, who spoke before the president, wore a picture of a Palestinian flag on his mortarboard and called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, at which Biden applauded. “In a democracy, we debate and dissent about America’s role in the world,” Biden said. “I want to say this very clearly. I support peaceful, nonviolent protest. Your voices should be heard, and I promise you I hear them.” “What’s happening in Gaza…is heartbreaking,” he said, with “[i]nnocent Palestinians caught in the middle” of a fight between Hamas and Israel. He reminded them that he has called “for an immediate ceasefire…to stop the fighting [and] bring the hostages home.” His administration has been working for a deal, as well as to get more aid into Gaza and to rebuild it. Crucially, he added, there is more at stake than “just one ceasefire.” He wants “to build a lasting, durable peace. Because the question is…: What after? What after Hamas? What happens then? What happens in Gaza? What rights do the Palestinian people have?” To applause, he said, “I’m working to make sure we finally get a two-state solution—the only solution—for two people to live in peace, security, and dignity.” “This is one of the hardest, most complicated problems in the world,” he said. “I know it angered and frustrates many of you, including my family. But most of all, I know it breaks your heart. It breaks mine as well. Leadership is about fighting through the most intractable problems. It’s about challenging anger, frustration, and heartbreak to find a solution. It’s about doing what you believe is right, even when it’s hard and lonely. You’re all future leaders, every one of you graduating today…. You’ll face complicated, tough moments. In these moments, you’ll listen to others, but you’ll have to decide, guided by knowledge, conviction, principle, and your own moral compass.” Turning back to the United States, Biden urged the graduates to examine “what happens to you and your family when old ghosts in new garments seize power, extremists come for the freedoms you thought belonged to you and everyone.” He noted attacks on equality in America, and that extremist forces were peddling “a fiction, a caricature [of] what being a man is about—tough talk, abusing power, bigotry. Their idea of being a man is toxic.” “But that’s not you,” he continued. “It’s not us. You all know and demonstrate what it really means to be a man. Being a man is about the strength of respect and dignity. It’s about showing up because it’s too late if you have to ask. It’s about giving hate no safe harbor and leaving no one behind and defending freedoms. It’s about standing up to the abuse of power, whether physical, economic, or psychological.” To applause, he added: “It’s about knowing faith without works is dead.” “The strength and wisdom of faith endures,” Biden said. “And I hope—my hope for you is—my challenge to you is that you still keep the faith so long as you can.” “Together, we’re capable of building a democracy worthy of our dreams…a bigger, brighter future that proves the American Dream is big enough for everyone to succeed.” “Class of 2024, four years ago, it felt probably like Saturday,” Biden concluded. “Four years later, you made it to Sunday, to commencement, to the beginning. And with faith and determination, you can push the sun above the horizon once more….” “God bless you all,” he said. “We’re expecting a lot from you.” — Notes: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/05/19/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-morehouse-college-class-of-2024-commencement-address-atlanta-ga/https://www.inquirer.com/news/a/wilmington-del-riots-occupation-martin-luther-king-jr-national-guard-20181207.html https://www.reuters.com/world/us/morehouse-graduation-thanks-god-woke-class-2024-2024-05-19/

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-19-2024

Previous Entry
Writing these things has made me realize how different I sound these days. Back when all this started I’m not sure I even spoke English and I certainly didn’t speak like I do now but to be honest, I don’t remember. Trying to recall things to write has made me realize exactly how many little things I’ve forgotten over the years. The sights, the sounds, all those fade into the background of most events.
Even something as visceral as Archer’s basement still takes me a while to recall clearly. I wonder if it’s more than just my long life, we do age after all. I mentioned before that sunlight is not deadly to vampires like myself but very unpleasant, that and it makes us more normal. In the sun I won’t be as strong as I would be in the dark and by my assessment I age in the sun as well. Not any faster than a normal person but I do age, its why I don’t still look like that little boy stuck in Paris anymore.
I did spend quite some time in Paris before I left or rather, escaped. I’m not sure I ever would have left if not for the war. I didn’t have many friends there save for other… I’m not sure what to call them… entities? Whatever you want to cal it I had some friends in the more supernatural parts of the city. A vampire named Belle had become a sort of mother figure to me over the years spent there.
I met her by chance one night as I sated myself in an alley. I was ready to fight but she just laughed and flashed her own fangs at me, ridiculing me for being so careless. It was under her wing where I learned everything I know now about vampires. It’s where I realized not all vampires endure sunlight as well as I do, if anything that one trait is what’s most unique about me according to her. But thats not the story I want to tell on these pages tonight. I want to tell the story of lieutenant Marsh and the real beginnings of the organization that would become Chimera.
When war came to Paris that summer I was unprepared. I never expected the war to spiral out of hand so quickly or for it to force me out of my home. I was with Belle and a few more of her friends whose names escape me waiting out the worst of it and hoping things would blow over in the city soon. Obviously we were completely misguided, it was that sense of invulnerability again just the same as when I was a boy. The world was our playground and nothing could hurt us. It didn’t help that in some ways I really was invulnerable and it went straight to my head.
Only flashes of my memory from that day remain. I remember the nazi soldier kicking in the door and firing at Belle’s friends. I remember the screaming that abruptly ended in a single gunshot. I remember the trail of blood leading to her friends body where it lay staked to the ground in the sun. We heal fast, not instantly but much faster than a human. Put us in sunlight though, and we’re just as fragile as a normal person. It was the first time I’d seen someone with abilities like ours die and it made me feel mortal again for the first time in decades.
The rest of the day is a disjointed blur. Belle and I fled the city, I blank out on the specifics of it but we made it out with some difficulty. After that we hunkered down for the night in a rickety old shack. I remember wanting to push on through the day but Belle protested, she didn’t deal with the sun as well as I did. When night finally fell we fled to the coast and managed to catch a ship heading towards the United States.
The trip was unpleasant to say the least, neither of us made good stowaways. We weren’t living life in the lap of luxury before by any means but we lived comfortably. This was a far cry from what we were used to in Paris and the welcome we received was even worse. Apparently fleeing for your own survival is a crime, both of us were separated and sent to prison on our arrival to the states for stowing away on the ship.
That was the last time I ever saw Belle, I get letters from her every now and then but I haven’t seen her in person since. She does well for herself, works in D.C. as a sort of handler for the supernatural. Regrettably she does work with Chimera, says they have the best interests at heart for the supernatural but she doesn’t see what I see out here. She doesn’t know the part I played in its creation, what it really stood for in the beginning. Chimera tends to kill first these days rather than actually try to help or give the supernatural some kind of place in the world. I think thats why I haven’t been to visit her, I just don’t want to argue with a friend as old as her. Funnily enough I don’t think anyone knows she’s a vampire. I doubt they’d take that very well, she’d probably lose her position. They must have suspicions though because theres no way she’d be able to get letters to me without Baelen knowing about it. Every few months they keep showing up though and I always make sure to write her back.
Anyways I’m getting off topic, back to my story. I was in prison for months until an offer came my way, serve the rest of my sentence or enlist in the army and be a free man when I came back, if I came back. Of course I took the offer, I didn’t realize how suspicious that deal sounded at the time but it actually played out exactly as they said. I also didn’t have much of a choice in the matter either. It was hard to get my hands on any blood when I was almost constantly under watch and I could feel the effects it was having on me. I figured it would be best to get a change of scenery.
The next week I was off to training then not long after, we shipped out to the trenches and met the commander of the platoon I’d been assigned to. That’s the first time I met Lieutenant Johnson Marsh and what a man he was. That first day I was convinced I’d never see a smile ever again, the trenches were a horrible depressing place. But there Marsh was, laughing and smiling and just generally enjoying life with the rest of the platoon. He was either crazy or stupid, thats what my first thoughts about him were. I remember those clearly even today but I couldn’t have been more wrong. If anything he may have turned out to be one of the smartest men I ever knew.
The first few weeks were spent holding our position from the germans. It was brutal but I found I was a decent shot with the rifle I was given. Marsh on the other hand spent those weeks barking orders at us and keeping us in line. He never used a rifle like most of the soldiers used. Instead he kept a Beretta m9 with him at all times. That weapon was the only one I ever saw him use. I remember the name only because he was so found of explaining everything there was to know about the gun to me whenever I questioned him about it. You could immediately recognize the pistol as his by its strange grip. One side of it had a picture of an idyllic scene of a manor house in the middle of a sprawling field. The other had a painting of a woman, his wife I’d guess but he never actually told me if that was there case. He seemed to spend the nights staring with longing at each side of the artistic grip.
I’d never really had a family, even with Belle I’d always felt like I was a bit of an outsider. There was so much I didn’t know about how normal people lived. Even though I’d had friends in Paris we were always kind of hidden away in our own personal corner. There was this separation between us and normal life, even between the other supernaturals in the area.
Here I felt like I was part of something though. Sure I was still lost but so was everyone else, we could be lost together and Marsh would always set us straight in the end. There was something about the man, some piece of him that just understood what we were all going through. He expected a lot from us but he was never unreasonable and several times even argued with command on our behalf when ridiculous orders came our way. I actually wanted to serve with him. The rest of the platoon wasn’t bad but they’d all been given the same deal as me. They were all just there to get out of prison. I’m still not sure what Marsh’s story was, he always kept that to himself but any of us would’ve taken a bullet for that man.
Our first real assignment came maybe three months into my period of indentured service. Our platoon was tasked with rescuing a captured American scientist and capturing a German scientist. The scientists in question were Frank Smith and Stein Hoffman and no, the irony of those names is not lost on me, fits the two of them though. I’m sure doctor Frankenstein wishes he was successful as those two. But before those orders could be acted on we had to overtake a German trench surrounding the compound they were staying in.
That fight was bloody and we lost several good men in the chaos. At one point a trench gun was shoved into my arms and I launched myself into the German trench. I wouldn’t be surprised if ghost stories are still passed around of what I did that day. After I made my way over and into the German trench I lashed out with all I had. Moving with superhuman speed and lashing out with both the bayonet affixed to my gun and my fangs, I fell upon the Germans. They stood little chance as I tore into them and all by my lonesome I ensured we’d face no more resistance.
Marsh was the first over into the now silent trench, I’m glad it was him because I’m not sure anyone else would’ve understood like him. I was holding the German officer to the trench wall, fangs buried in his neck as I fed when I heard footsteps behind me. I dropped him and turned to see Marsh staring questioningly at me. I must’ve been a sight to see, blood dripping from my mouth and covering my bullet torn uniform. Marsh steadied himself for a moment and shouted back to the rest of the platoon,
“Boys hold up a second! Just get down and stay up there a minute won’tcha!”
All of a sudden he took a step forward and a well mannered grin took its usual place on his lips.
“Though You didn’t care for sauerkraut J.?”
The joke stunned me, I fully expected him to shoot me then and there, put me down like the abomination I must’ve looked like to him.
“Lieutenant I…”
But Marsh raised his hands to cut me off.
“Command’d probably want me to shoot’cha, hell maybe I aught’a but I don’t think it’d be right. You seem decent, little odd sure but you’ve got heart, I see it in the way you look out for the boys. Plus I always figured there was some’n off about you. The way you stay out’a the light always seem a little faster and stronger than anyone got the right to be just didn’t figure it’d be…. That.”
Marsh told me pointing to the punctures in the officers neck.
“Thank you lieutenant, Could we keep this between us though sir?”
“Drop the formalities J. Jesus! We’re all friends here.”
“I just don’t want the others to know, they may not be as understanding as you.”
“No can do, but you can tell em’ yourself. Alright men, get on down here!”
In all my years I’d never had to explain myself to anyone up until that point. I guess that day my number was up but I never knew just how understanding people, normal people could be. I’d always lived around the supernatural in Paris, didn’t interact much with the normal people I saw in the streets every day, I didn’t have to. I’d always assumed there was a reason for that but in the moment I realized there wasn’t, not really. I’d just avoided normal people because I feared what they’d think if it came out that I wasn’t like them.
Of course There were some of the men that objected to… what I was. Most of them took after Marsh though. They didn’t really care what I was, I’d proven to them I was a good person and thats all that mattered. I just wish they’d been right about me back then because the truth was I still hadn’t learned to care, not really. Even the ones who objected came around eventually and that night Marsh finally came clean to me about why exactly he was so accepting.
According to him he’d always assumed there was more out there, things beyond human that lived on the fringes of society. Even he always thought he sounded crazy. I was the proof he needed to convince himself he wasn’t. Marsh also told me what we were really doing with the scientists. Both Frank and Stein researched the supernatural, their projects were as secret as secret could be. Marsh’s interests and theories, as personal as he tried to keep them showed up in his file somewhere. The higher ups had handpicked him for this mission because of it. The official story was that Frank had been captured but in reality he defected to further his own research with a like minded individual. Our mission was really to force Frank back into the fold and take Stein along with him.
The more he talked the more I could tell his heart was fully committed to this mission and the final assault tomorrow. I’d never seen someone so… alive. In my extremely long life I don’t think Id ever felt that kind of conviction myself. So I promised him I’d have his back tomorrow no matter what.
Morning broke and with it our assault began. Intel on the German defenses was shoddy at best but we never expected what we’d actually run into. At least three times our number acted as guards so a distraction was in order to give us a window of entry. A few of the men would handle the distraction “however they saw fit” to quote Marsh. Then Marsh and I would make our way into the compound itself and the rest of the platoon would cover us.
For what its worth most of the plan went off without a hitch. A tremendous explosion signaled Marsh and I to press the advantage and rush the confused soldiers that lay in front of us. Some actually turned and ran from me, apparently word of my stunt in the trenches yesterday had spread quickly. The rest of the platoon followed behind us but then our luck ran out with the roar of an engine.
An honest to god panzer tank rolled out of a tunnel we hadn’t seen that ran under the compound and turned its barrel towards us. I almost didn’t hear the blast from how slow time seemed to move. But move it did as the explosion of the shell’s impact scattered bodies left and right. The shell impacted behind us but the sheer force of the blast threw Marsh and I to the ground, knocking us unconscious.
When I slowly came to my eyes couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A man dressed in red priestly robes with a matching red top hat was walking between the bodies. When he approached one that groaned out with agony he’d kneel down and whisper things I couldn’t hear to them, after that he’d snap his fingers. sometimes the person he was talking with would disappear other times they would fall silent and sometimes it didn’t appear that anything happened at all.
Just the sight of the man terrified me and I wasn’t sure why. It was an instinctual reaction, the second I lay eyes on him I froze up and ice cold fear crept its way up my spine. When people accuse me of being the devil this man is who I think of. Even today I’m not sure what it is he does or why. What I do know is that he never looks the same. I’ve seen him appear as male, female, even as an animal on a few occasions but I can always tell. The second I’m near him no matter what he looks like the same old feeling comes over me.
Once my vision had finally focused in on the man he seemed to notice without ever looking at me. I blinked and suddenly he was there, kneeling over me.
“Would you like to live.”
He rasped down at me with a voice that seemed to boom around me no matter how quiet it must’ve actually been. I felt like a child again, staring at Archer for the first time. I’d never really had to fear death before but here I was, sure I was about to meet my end right here. In all honestly I wasn’t injured all that bad, I probably could’ve survived with or without this man help. But something told me that if I said no he’d make sure I would die right here.
“Ye…y… yes”
I stuttered out, barley able to form the words through the pain that stabbed throughout my body.
“You will be my instrument for one night at a time of me choosing.”
The man replied. I stayed silent as I stared into his eyes, trying to determine if the sunglasses he wore were tinted or if his eyes really did burn with an infernal red light. The man cocked his head as if waiting for a response to his question. I’m not sure if question was the right word though, there wasn’t much of a choice for me.
Looking back there was always a choice, maybe I could’ve survived on my own merits, found another way. In the years to come I’d wish I just said no, even if it would’ve cost me my life. But thats not what happened. I nodded and the deal maker snapped his fingers. As soon as he had dark clouds flooded the sky and blocked out the sun, allowing my body to begin repairing itself. The man moved on to where Marsh’s body lay and probably made him the same deal as I felt my body healing. Despite that, my consciousness faded again as I strained to try and hear what the man would say to Marsh.
We never actually discussed the man at all. Not then and not in the years since. Maybe that was all an unspoken part of Marsh’s deal. Maybe both of us just wished that man was nothing more than a waking dream, a vivid hallucination. Whatever the case neither of us ever mentioned that man to each other.
The next time I woke up I was chained to a table next to Marsh. We had been captured and brought before the very scientists we were here to apprehend. There were guards around but they all seemed to be waiting for some kind of order. I was certainly surprised when that order came in perfect English, even more surprised when the order was to let us down so we could talk.
Frank and Stein ended up being quite reasonable people. The two let us stay in relative comfort in the compound as long as we agreed to stay and leave them to their work. That was all the convincing it took for me. I understand that the men I’d served with were all dead and that these two were in some way responsible. Maybe that should’ve bothered me more, today it certainly would’ve. Back then I didn’t think the same way, they accepted me for what I was but only briefly, only out of respect for Marsh. What did the lives of people I’d known for so short a time really matter? Writing this now just makes me realize how cold I was before, I didn’t care for anything beyond myself. I’d made no efforts to find Belle since we were separated and how long had I known her, 100 years, more? I may have pretended I cared but when push came to shove I simply tried to make sure I survived.
Marsh wasn’t as cold as me, in fact he almost immediately reached for where his pistol should’ve been when he was unchained. It took Frank, Stein, and myself weeks to convince him that helping would be the right decision. He didn’t like it at first but little by little I think the scientists grew on him. The guards I’d seen our first day here seemed to thin out the longer we stayed. Wether that was a gesture of trust or simply because they were needed for more important duties I don’t know but it certainly eased Marsh’s mind.
I merely observed the scientists most of the time until Stein asked me for a sample of my blood. It didn’t surprise me that he knew what I was but for obvious reasons I was hesitant to give it to him, especially considering what I’d seen so called doctors do with vampire blood. Eventually he wore me down and I gave let him take a sample just to shut him up. After that I became more involved in their research though not by choice. They had me showcasing my abilities and tested the effects of sunlight on my blood. On a few rare occasions Stein even injected it into other prisoners that were brought in, something I put a stop to very quickly. T
hat sample of blood is why Frank and Stein are still around today. Somehow they managed to isolate whatever part of my DNA allows me to age so much slower than a normal person. They took that and spliced it into their own DNA against my recommendations. The crazy thing was it actually worked. Sure they had a newfound appreciation for rare steaks but beyond that I didn’t notice any of the effects that combining vampire DNA with your own would usually have.
As Marsh and I assisted the scientist’s research however we could we both came to the realization that they needed each other to function. Stein lacked a moral compass and was prone to suggest unethical or risky procedures, sometimes going so far as to carry them out without informing Frank. Frank on the other hand preferred caution in everything he did and sometimes I noticed him personally taking and shredding requests Stein had written for test subjects, hazardous materials, or samples from supernatural entities. The two kept a very delicate dance of checks and balances. Stein ever the daring mad scientist and Frank always playing the role of overly cautious genius.
Marsh and Frank got along extremely well near the end. The two would be up at all hours of the night as Frank explained what kind of things really existed in the world. Marsh always shared these ideas of a world where the supernatural and the normal could live together and I think Frank shared that vision. It wasn’t possible, still isn’t but treating the supernatural as something other than monsters couldn’t possibly be a bad thing. I think thats where the idea of the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs really came from, those talks Marsh had with anyone who would listen.
Overtime one of our favorite conversations was what we would do when the war was over and we could leave this compound. Stein wasn’t sure he would, if his research wasn’t going to a man who’d simply use it to cause more conflict he wouldn’t mind staying. Frank wanted to return home, if that was even possible and he asked if Stein would join him. Those two had also become close friends through our months in the lab. That checks and balances relationship they had made them basically inseparable. Marsh’s answer surprised me though, he said he wanted to get out of the military and start a program, something to help the supernatural live closer to normal lives. At least keep tabs on them so that the quality of their lives might improve. I was stunned, I couldn’t believe he’d throw his career away just to chase this pipe dream of his. I didn’t even know Marsh was concerned with that kind of thing. I didn’t have an answer of my own so I said I’d join Marsh and help with this program idea of his. Actually, even Frank and Stein seemed to agree with Marsh’s way of thinking. Little did we know the war would end less than a month after our talk and we’d all get the chance to actually put Marsh’s little idea to the test.
Once the Americans had come and discovered the compound pretty much abandoned aside from us we were all taken prisoner and shipped back to America. We were all interrogated and they either heard what they wanted to hear, or decided anyone we’d talk to about our experiences would assume we were just crazy. We were released back into society under constant surveillance. They even gave us a sizable home in D.C., it was certainly bugged to its core but thats exactly what we wanted.
Through the next year we used Frank and Steins knowledge and my supernatural nature to track down entities all over the country. We made sure that everything was discussed and planned out in the house. That way however was listening knew exactly what we were doing and how successful it was. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows though, some entities would rather we didn’t know about them. Others were naturally aggressive but some we were actually able to help.
Our escapades as a group of four didn’t last much past the first year. Mostly because our master plan of using the bugs worked perfectly. Ol’ uncle Sam had been listening in and wanted his chance at calling the shots but it meant we became a legitimate organization, the BSA. Technically the acronym was already taken but no one ever complained and Marsh never came up with anything better.
We spent 4 years doing everything we could to improve the lives of supernatural beings everywhere. Not every one of our endeavors was a success but we did some good in the world. One such project was blood banks for vampires. While the blood that gets donated is used for transfusions and the like some was put into cold storage for the BSA. That got distributed to vampires who had come to an agreement with us to stop hunting humans for blood. Some vampires were even selected for jobs at these blood banks, under the supervision of BSA agents of course.
The more human supernaturals like werewolves, vampires, and succubi even used us to find jobs in the world. We made in roads for the supernatural in daily life because of it. Werewolves would use their strength for government construction. Vampire’s long lives made them excellent archivists or history teachers because they actually been there for those events. A succubus’s ability to understand and control someones emotions and reactions made them excellent therapists and conflict deescalation specialists. Those are just some of the fields we managed to get the supernatural involved in. While they usually had to hide their natural they were wildly successful.
Everything went well until that fourth year when I first met Baelen. He was headstrong from the beginning, the powers that be were grooming him for leadership. He was everything they wanted, he followed orders and didn’t question things to much. In short, he was the perfect solution to the inconvenience the four of us caused running the organization as we saw fit. But baleen had a mean streak, he didn’t want to protect the supernatural so much as he wanted to put them in their place. Unfortunately a lot of the research we provided had scared pretty much everyone above us who had never even entertained the idea of the supernatural until now. That meant Baelen’s ideas of monitoring and segregating the supernatural population were popular. So popular that suggesting culling their numbers to keep them in check and under the thumb of the BSA was an idea they actually entertained. That sentiment caught on and our orders became more and more militant.
Every time we disregarded them to do things the way we had envisioned the consequence grew steeper. Eventually Frank, Stein, Marsh, and I just couldn’t stand to see what our BSA had become so we left. We couldn’t do anything else to stop what was coming from the inside, no point in going down with the ship.
After that Baelen quickly ended up heading the whole operation. He still took orders directly from government officials and when the BSA became part of homeland security it became Chimera division. Why they chose such a stupid name I’ll never know but the organization was a shadow of its former self. Before we looked out for the supernatural, tried to help. Under Baelen Chimera just exists to monitor the supernatural and “correct” any issues uncle Sam decides to have with them. They’re glorified enforcers that don’t give a damn how the supernatural actually have it. That’s not to say some good people don’t work for them, people like Belle and even Marsh’s own daughter as far as I’m aware.
It sickens me to think I was a part of it though, for all the good we did maybe it would’ve been better if Johnson Marsh’s pipe dream would’ve stayed just that. I can do a lot but I can’t change the past so I guess we’ll never know. A while ago I heard that something had happened in a little nowhere town out in New Mexico. Pretty much dropped off the face of the Earth. The only reason I even heard about it was through Belle’s letters. Apparently Chimera had to do some huge cover up job and decided it was better if the town just never existed. Maybe I should go myself and see if I can’t piece what happened together. Could be that someone else out there has it in for Chimera and is a whole lot more direct about it than me. I’m just imaging it was some runaway experiment Frank and Stein got up to. I wonder where those two ended up, I’ll have to check up on them sometime. This journal writing is digging up a lot of memories for me but thats probably a good thing. Write them down before I forget again. I think that’ll be all for today then, why do I keep addressing these like someone’s reading them? Not much point to that is there?

Look I knew well in advance that Ubi would choose Yasuke as part of this story. It was obvious as we have been in the "woke era" of entertainment development for the past 7 years. So, you could pretty much predict EVERYTHING coming out now.
But here is the deal with this:

Yasuke, in his own memoire fully talks about the fact that he was ALLOWED to train with Samurai by order of the Shogun. This was to have "mock duels" in the court where they would stage fights for amusement during parties and gatherings or to show him off. He was actually referred to in multiple references as a "trophy" of the court. He WAS NEVER AN ACTUAL SAMURAI and did not protect as an official nor as a Samurai did, and he did not fight in any wars.

Which brings us to the next point:

With his obvious necessity of being a part of the Shoguns court, there was plenty of story arc and opportunity to keep the virtue signalling agenda, and have the character be a part of the story in a major way, while simultaneously making a back handed statement about raacial inequality. WHICH IS GOING to be at least 50 percent of the point of this character being in the game. You can tell just by the manner in which they presented him, and his counterpart.

Which brings us to the next point here:

Unlike with AC Origins, this character is, as far as I can tell, going to have a SERIOUSLY hard time being a spy, and running schemes of intrigue since HE IS LITERALLY THE ONLY DARK GUY IN THE NATION! I mean, when he leaves the room, PEOPLE NOTICE, and when he walks in- THEY DEFINITELY NOTICE!

Lastly, I just wanted to say this. This kind of method of story writing and development just for the sake of making a point, needs to stop. Its gotten tiresome and isnt driving sales, just ridiculous arguments.
Yasuke is at best a supporting character to this time period and this story in reality, and he should not be a player character. Japanese players and people, and their forefathers who WERE SAMURAI and lived that code FOR REAL, should be honored by this title in that way, and not shoved to the side as "the male patriarchy whos out to get the black guy and the female". Which according to some sources I HAVE in the gaming world, is EXACTLY how you have portrayed the NPC samurai who patrol the streets.
The fact is that there are HUNDREDS of years of REAL history and historical figures to draw from, under which there were REAL life heroes and real life Samurai who participated in some REAL LIFE EVENTS that Should have been in this story and deserved to be played by the player if you were going to go this route.
Japan's history is NOT the history of black people in Japan. Its THEIR OWN STORY. And you stole that away from them here.
How would it be if in Origins, we played it as the "one guy from Europe who was captured and visiting there".....
Japan has a long, hard, war hardened, and religious conflict oriented story of JAPANESE people of mostly Shinto and Buddhist background, who fought and co-existed in a special way and in a largely ideologically bound way. You don't insult anyone but yourself- Ubisoft- by trying to virtue signal so hard for females and blacks in this game.
You dont piss me off, but if I was Japanese, and I had waited such a long time to see a Japanese setting for AC... Id give you the middle finger and walk.
Origins had a place for the black Assassin. You could do another AC about the RICHEST EMPIRE EVER TO GRACE EARTH: The kingdom of Mansa Musa. And you wouldn't starve Japanese people of an AC title.
You gave CHINESE PEOPLE CHINESE characters in their AC...
I'm sure Ill get some hate for this, but the argument is solid.
Yasuke in REAL LIFE didn't earn Samurai armor nor a sword bearing his soul. He says in his own writings and by historians that he was not Samurai and that he was only allowed to roam the outside world under watchful eye.
And the female shinobi, while stereotypical for pop culture, was still quite rare, as women walking around at night alone was not typical, and men could get in and out of crowded places, bars, and other areas more easily. Ninja werent dressed up in black and sneaking around most the time, they BLENDED. Which is why this whole thing stinks of virtue signalling... none of this story makes sense from even an assassins persepective.
Do better Ubisoft. Between this, and the female Varangian guard in For Honor... you guys are starting to become kind of preachy and boring.

The verses are copied below for reference. But if the Bible is the truth and if these verses are the truth , how did King David live happily after committing adultery with Bathsheba ? Not only this but he KILLED her husband and framed it as a war strategy then wed her and gave her a son.
King David is someone covered with Honor in the Bible and it seems he hardly took any blame for this sin he committed with Bathsheba (other than her first born son dying , but that barely compares to the harm he did by strategically killing a man ? )
It just seems like God is a liar .
I have loved God deeply for all of my life and have usually turned a blind eye to this stuff, but lately with adultery happening around me in my own life, I see those who commit this sin living a similar blessed life like King David who completely trampled all over a man , killed him , and stole his wife
How can anyone excuse this ?
Where is God with his iron fist ?
IT’S NOT FAIR
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME UNDERSTAND
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.

I am creating a character living in post WW2 England. He is in his early 30s, has a Bachelor's in Commerce. I was thinking of setting him up as previously having been a financial broker or banker before the war broke out. Anyways, I am not up to date on how people transitioned out of military service after the war, so here are my questions:

How long did it take for service men to transition out of the military following the end of the war? What if they had been sent to a field hospital near the end of the conflict? Did they just go home or was there a specific process they had to go through?
What was the job situation in 1946 London? Were there bankers or brokers at that point? I know there was a lot of rebuilding going on, but what did that mean for non construction jobs?
Did former soldiers receive some kind of pay or pension? Did that start immediately, or was there a waiting period?
Are there any challenges unique to living in London during 1946/1947 that should be taken into account in this story?

Sorry if these questions are vague, this is my first time posting in this sub. Let me know if I need to clarify or modify anything here. Thank you for any responses.

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