In April both Matty and Taylor are extremely happy. Same thing in May to the point Matty travels 12 hours after his own show to see hers and supports her in a bunch of shows, even gets up on stage (we do not talk enough about how crazy that is for Taylor) and he wears the 1989 t shirt as a direct callback for the lore, articles say they're smitten, they're moving in together, Taylor says her life finally feels like it makes sense...and then July.
They break up in June and at first it's amicable and they're still friends and it was never serious and who knows what might happen? From this to the narrative that is later presented of them not being in contact AT ALL there is a big jump. Something happened.
From the lyrics of BDILH "we came back when the heat died down" one could say it's her fantasy of what should've happened but also it could've very well been the plan. She mentions sweeping in at his rescue in The Albatross too and only saying goodbye FOR NOW in Peter. That to me lines up with the who knows what might happen in the future line because wtf was that.
Correct me if I'm wrong but:
June both Matth and Taylor are single (there were some rumours of Matty messing around but no concrete proof as far as I know). This created a lot of speculation that they were back together or only breaking up to get the public off their backs especially after how they worded that break up article. They're both heartbroken on stage, cry, the whole thing.
Matty's blanket apology also happened in June. Is he asking the audience if they're sorry? Is he asking Taylor? is he asking himself?
Fourth of July "independent girlies" pictures after there was a rumour that Matty and Taylor both disappeared for like a week straight and then Matty very uncharacteristically did a pap walk with his mom Denise Welch after being very vocal about how much they hate the paparazzi (they even posed for them it was weird).
July 7th is Finsbury where Matty cries on stage and calls Jack his bestie although I always thought he said it sarcastically LOL.
On July 8h Taylor performs in Kansas City where Travis does the whole bracelet thing and she allegedly tells him she "can't see anyone before a show."
July 26th he talks about trying to give her his number.
So they do not meet here but this made headlines as people were already shipping them. To me, if around this time Matty and Taylor were already on the rocks and Matty had to read about how everyone suddenly loved this other guy he would've: one, been very insecure and in self sabotage mode but also two, possibly very jealous. He's another Calvin Harris. Coupled with the distance and insane schedules would probably prevent them from properly sitting down and talking which leads us to:
Around July 14th Taylor attends that alleged weed UNO party. Why is this relevant? At this party we have Jason Sudeikis and Miles Teller, huge chiefs fans and both know Travis. Is it crazy to think they told her it was time to have a little fun? Especially if she was writing Down Bad (about wanting to die without Matty).
About You played over Lover until mid July (after Malaysia) it was gone. To me, this is the actual date of the actual break up because I really believe they had decided to make it work behind the scenes. Matty was giving weird speeches about how he can't figure it out while in the public eye or something like that. In Malaysia Matty was furious. There was a TikTok calling him a p3do for holding a child and although I do not want to make light of it, the TikTok was old and also not super viral as many people within the fandom hadn't seen it (but Matty somehow did). I do think he had valid reasons to be angry but also, this was not new. He was being accused of awful things for months at this point so why is this the moment he stops the show and yells on stage? My theory is a fight with Taylor which leads him to go down a rabbit hole of hate tiktoks about himself until he finds that one and it's the last drop. Matty and Ross kiss onstage and almost get arrested according to him.This is when Matty likes Gabriette's picture (so out of spite and anger and honesty probably confusion. If you saw that performance my guy was not OK).
Taylor removes About You from the preshow playlist. (People thought it was to distance herself from the Malaysia bad press but I think deep down she knew he would try to slide in Gabs DMs hence her lyrics in TSMWEL. Maybe she even had it confirmed to her through George/Jack/Jamie.)
July 24 Matty crashes his car in LA. (🧐 could it be he also crashed a party Taylor was having hence the lyric? is that figurative or did he actually show up at her party Betty style and asked her to talk?) Rumours that he is hanging around near Taylor's house (could there be a talk here? a fight perhaps?). Now we're getting all the articles shutting it down immediately. They have zero contact. (Amicable where?) Also most people (me included) believed a Taylor X The 1975 Collab was coming out because Taylor debuted Anti Hero at the band's show in January 2023 and they were a huge part of her original 1989 era. Could it be there was actually a collab that was scrapped last minute? Even Mattys managed teased this when Midnights came out ( maybe he was messing with us).
In August 2nd Taylor is papped in LA for the first time in years going into a studio there.
US Eras tour ends in Los Angeles and Matty's manager Jamie attends with his daughter Kitty (who is the one from the infamous video from 2014).
In August 6th Matty is seen miserable with Meredith in Hawaii (was he already talking to Gabriette? she says they fell in love when he came to LA). Worth noting as well that he is very removed from the band in Hawaii. He is mostly with M while the band do group activities. He actually looks miserable the whole time. Many people think something during or after Malaysia caused some tension within the band or perhaps the loss of the alleged collab coupled with the lawsuit.
August 19th is Jack and Margaret's wedding. Matty is not busy and in the US not using the break to be with his family but doesn't attend. Odd. George goes and is still friendly with Jack to this day. (Did George and Taylor talk?)
Then things get extremely weird when Taylor is in Mexico and we have to assume, already talking to Travis. She wears Matty's The Beatles t shirt and posts Griffs song Vertigo on her story (uncharacteristic throughout the tour where her ig was quite professional, like the 4th of july pictures).
In September Matty leaves Meredith in the dust once again and does that weird New York pap walk with Gabriette who had also coincidentally just broken up with her long-term boyfriend Levi who ended up dating Meredith...Mess. Levi also alludes to Gabriette cheating on him. Gabritte posts a Tiktok to the song that say "fuck my ex you can keep him." No hard feelings I see.
Their pap walk is also weirdly like a street away from where Taylor was walking into Electric Lady (was this planned to hurt her? if so why?)
I thought making this would help me understand what happened but if anything I'm more confused. These two are MESSY and it wouldn't surprise me if lovers overlapped that summer. Give me your best theories! Do you think they reunited? What were the fights about?

Yuma, Arizona October 1904…

I stood alone on the train depot's wooden deck, the chilled morning air tugging the lower hem of my skirt which fluttered about my ankles. The sun peaked from beyond the eastern horizon of ancient lava rock encrusted with the drifted sand of the Colorado Desert. These porous ramparts were jaggedly course, with a million years of dark oxidation etched into their surface. My eyes burrowed into this expanse littered with a flora of squat barrel cacti, wiry creosote bushes, and the spiked tentacles of ocotillo plants frozen against the arid breeze.
The dawn's infantile rays glared against the side of my face as a harbinger to the mid-day heat sure beseech the Imperial Valley. Soon, the white of cumulus thunderheads would collect from the desert floor wrung of its moisture by a summer heat which refused to move on. Regardless, the days were getting shorter and the paradise of winter’s relief was sure to arrive despite the weather’s stubborn persistence otherwise.
The bellows of pressurized steam through the whistle of an approaching locomotive interrupted my pastel wonderings lost in a dream from the previous night. The black titan chugged ever slower as it neared the tiny platform while flared from its nostrils. The cobbled streets of a passed life not lived faded from my mind, my soul left to wonder if it ever happened at all.
My head turned with the passing fuel truck nestled behind the engine’s cab, the elegant print announcing the arrival of Southern Pacific’s five am express from the town of Phoenix. The first passenger coach grinded to a holt before me and a sharply dress conductor left from its stairs with his hand trailing off the railing as he went. He placed his navy blue cover on his head and straightened the curved gloss brim before he reached into his breast pocket for the golden watch he was always sure was there.
He placed his left hand to the side of his mounth and sucked the needed breath into his diaphragm for his address, “All aboard!... This is the 7:10 train bound for Los Angeles with stops in Ogilby, Glamis, Mesquite, Salton Dos Palms, Dry Camp, Palm Springs Station…” He rattled off a dozen other barn board bergs between Yuma and the coast nobody ever heard of, unless they were from there.
I grew up out there though, and knew just how long the 7:10 train would take between each stop. Mine was the fourth. A dusty little hamlet on the edge of the similarly named, Salton Sink. Four years ago I’d returned to the valley on an adventure. I was a seeker of treasure, a legend I had consumed as a child and came to believe in as a grown woman. Time though, and the careless pursuit of youth had diverted my journey in another direction.
My left thumb kneaded the pewter band wrapped around the base of my ring finger. I still have no idea why I wore it, a symbol of a union whose purpose was nullified a few short months after its conception. Hector was a good man though, and never dishonored our pact, even after it had become obsolete. A good man yes, but sadly never one I would share a love with.
By the fall of nineteen aught four, we’d built a small enterprise from the scantly irrigated lands of the Imperial Valley. His grandfather had been a forty-niner but never once did he prospect for the elusive metals which broke more men than it made. No, the man was a storekeeper, and the lessons learned off the backs of dreamers who spent far more money on provisions then they ever pulled from the ground served his grandson and I well.
The locomotive let of a belch of steam from under its chassis as I contemplated the detour that had become my life. My mother said it was the inevitable, that I should be happy I wasn’t alone. The truth though, I still was alone, regardless of how things looked from the outside.
From behind me, the hastened drumbeat of leather boot heels rushed against the station’s boardwalk arrested my attention. As they grew nearer they slowed until the Western Union clerk stopped, feet from me, trying to catch his breath.
“Miss Kingman!” I still wasn’t use to my changed last name, “Misses Kingman… I have a telegram for you. It came in last night, from London.”
I took the slip of paper from him, the typewriter ink barely dried on the half chit of page. It was from Professor Enfield, of the British Museum…
“Jonathan, thank you for the message. Can you send this in reply… Nuts!” I placed the sheet in my leather bag and snapped the flap shut as I relayed my response to the clerk.
“Yes Ma’am right away Miss, Misses Kingman…”
“Jonathan?”
“Yes ma’am?”
“My name is Ashley, you don’t have to call me Misses Kingman.”
“Of course Misses Kingman, it’s just company policy is all.”
“Of course it is,” I rolled my eyes at the unescapable truth that to the world, Ashley Grisham didn’t exist anymore, and if tradition had its way, never would again.
The bell tolled on the locomotive as the conductor shouted his last warnings for the departing train. I hurried across the uneven decking and reached for the coach railing. I leapt onto the catwalk at the end if the train and peered off into the desert as if for an answer that never would appear. The engineer threw the throttle forward in the cab of steamer and I lurched slightly against the terminal handhold, my journey home on a detour once again. With a reluctant shrug, I turned and opened the door to the passenger coach door and stepped inside.
Jefferson Heyduke.
He was a bit of an eccentric for an alfalfa farmer, but he made for entertaining company on those boring rides through the desert. Jefferson and I went to school together over in Borrego. Friends always, there was a side of him society dare not view. He also had a keen taste for good Scotch, the trait my younger self admired most. Those days, he was also a partner in my clandestine endeavors, from a business standpoint that is.
“Hey Duke,” I smiled as the joke never got old.
“ Howdy Ash, how is the world of Misses Kingman these days?”
I shot a look of playful disapproval at his use of my married name.
“What? Hector is an honorable man. Maybe not who you thought you’d spend the rest of your life with but then again, where is he?” Hayduke’s mischievous smile betrayed his theory my legal spouse was technically cheating on me, perhaps with somebody he loved. I could only hope Hector was so lucky.
“Chicago,” was my simple answer.
“Isn’t she from…”
“Don’t start with me Heyduke!” I pause to collect my thoughts from his distraction.
“Anyhow. Your message said you have something for me?” I continued as I sat on the padded bench faced toward him in the passenger coach. I removed the brimmed hat from my head and ran my fingers through my hair to straighten it into place. I then discarded the headdress on the table between us.
“Aye, yes I do,” he smiled as he reached for the leather case placed neatly at his feet. The metal clasps snapped open and he rummaged through the container until he retrieved the article I spoke of. He drew the carved piece of wood from the confinement of his satchel and placed it next to my hat on the table.
“My dredging crew found this on a levy over near Thermal, shortly after opening the new floodgates there,” Heyduke explained as I took the relic into my grasp.
It appeared as only drift wood at first, until further inspection. Carved into the wood were ancient Central American script. I began to interpret them best I could when Heyduke interceded.
“de Anza wasn’t after Aztec gold. I believe, he thought he’d found the Fountain of Youth!”
He wasn’t lying, but it seemed the translation he’d ascertained and mine were slightly different.
“Fountain of Youth?”
“Well not exactly. The writing is a bit muddled but best I can tell that’s what he thinks he found!” his excitement hardly contained behind his thick curled mustache.
I read the scripted talisman again more carefully and it still made little sense, ‘to travel to another point in life’. It sounded like many of the legends of the Fountain, but still I had never heard it put quite that way.
“What do you think it all means Heyduke?”
“It means, we’re still in business, Ashley! For now,” he smiled with exuberant satisfaction.
“Yeah, about that,” I began, “We received a telegram from Professor Enfield this morning.”
I opened the flap on my purse and withdrew the chit of paper from the Western Union clerk. Heyduke took it from my gloved hand and adjusted his spectacles so he could read it aloud.
“Dear Miss Grisham… you never told him you were married!?”
“I didn’t feel it was pertinent, especially after Hector and I lost…” my voice trailed off at the painful recollection, “…Jack is never one to pry into my personal affairs anyway.”
“I’m sorry Ash.”
He took my hand to console me as any friend would, before he continued with the telegram, “It is my deepest regret to inform you, and your esteemed colleague, that the board of directors at the British Museum has suspended their sponsorship for you prolonged expedition…”
He stopped reading and crumpled the message in his hand, “fuck ‘em Ash. We’ll find it without them!”
I turned my head to stare out at the frozen sea of drifted sand which churned forever, until the copper mountains of the western horizon. They seemed another world, in a galaxy far away from that silent train car, almost alien compared to their surroundings of petrified molten oar and mesquite shrubs. I imagined for a moment, the ancient forces that created such a vast arid plain and the ocean which for time covered it. The history of the world was told in that geology, people were just never bothered enough to listen.
“Yeah, fuck’em…”

Hello again, I'm back to bring you my phase 2, I hope you like it too, anyway let's get started:

1. Batman:Arkham Asylum (2018)

Directed by:Ben Affleck
Writted by:Ben Affleck, Chris Terrio and Geoff Johns
Released:March 10, 2018
Story:It begins moments after Lex Luthor reveals to Deathstroke that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Deathstroke wants revenge against Batman for the death of his son. We would have a flashback set in the year 2000, Deathstroke had been hired to assassinate the then district attorney Harvey Dent, but Slade would have taken his son on the mission. But Batman would have found out and would have a fight with Deathstroke while his son, Jericho is in charge of the mission, Batman manages to recognize Slade by the emblem of his sword of the League of Shadows, since Deathstroke would also have trained in the League's temple. of the shadows being Ra's al Ghul's 2 best students. But Slade did not recognize Bruce because whenever they trained Bruce always wore a ninja mask and never saw his face. Batman keeps fighting Deathstroke but accidentally knocks over his son, Batman tries to catch him with a hook but ultimately falls to his death. Deathstroke loses his cool and tries to kill. Batman but in the end he wins due to his superiority in combat, Slade manages to escape and swears revenge against the Bat. End of Flashback. The story takes place 1 week after Steppenwolf's invasion of the Justice League, Batman tries to redeem himself with Gotham City after having acted violently for many years and after JL he tries to be a better hero and vigilante. In its opening scene we see Batman in his tank bat against the mutants (adapting that part of the comic and animation of The Dark Knight Returns and with a similar scene seen in the epilogue of the Snyder Cut. Throughout the film it would seek to explore the 20 years of Batman as a vigilante and we would see flashbacks of Batman with Robin, there would even be a scene with Bruce visiting Richard Grayson's grave during the beginning. And speaking of flashback, we would also see some with Batman and Deathstroke training in the League of Legends temple. shadows, it would be shown that Bruce and Talia had a love triangle with Slade. Bruce and Slade fight when the sensei is killed, they both have a sword battle and Bruce takes out Slade's eye, they both leave to go their separate ways with different ideals. Bruce and Alfred talk about their encounter with the Martian detective (or John Stewart however you want to see it) and how he needs to make sure the earth is ready for Darkseid, plus Lex Luthor escaped from Arkham and has to investigate his whereabouts. However, they are interrupted by reports from Gotham's elite and the Bat-Signal in the sky turns on. Batman arrives and Gordon talks in detail about the victims and they were all friends of Bruce, they have to investigate the murders and Batman points out that most of the deaths were not subtle and had no message behind them, Batman is worried that someone wants to take revenge on him but as far as he knows none of his enemies know his identity. We would see Batman using more of his detective mode to find the murderer. Joker would appear as a secondary villain and he would have Harley kidnapped after breaking her out of jail in Suicide Squad. The next day at Wayne Enterprises, things get worse for Bruce, as during a meeting with Lucius Fox he discovers that the company's stock has collapsed and when he checks his account, everything has been stolen. Bruce becomes more nervous when he informs him that the killer is after Jim Gordon. It should be noted that at some point we would also see Bruce reunite with his old love, Selina Kyle/Catwoman. It would be said that they were married for a while after Robin's death but then they divorced. Even she would be one of Deathstroke's victims although she would not die. Almost dusk, Gordon is at the Gotham Police Department and receives a surprise visit from his daughter Barbara Gordon. They both begin to engage in conversation but what they don't know is that Slade is in the next building with a Sniper. he shoots but Gordon is saved by Batman and Salde quickly leaves. But Batman would find Deathstroke's hideout, located on the Gotham dock, Bruce enters the dock office to look for clues but realizes that there is a bomb and quickly leaves through the window, in some containers he sees Deathstroke and goes up, starting a fight quite similar to the Batman:Arkham Origins teaser, Deathstroke would tell Batman "Tell Alfred to say hello" then detonates a bomb in the Batcave which Bruce hears through his intercom with Alfred, and Alfred does not respond when Bruce tells him. He asks if it's okay. Deathstroke says he will give Bruce a chance to go save him and won't fight him right now. This is not the right time yet. Batman rushes to the Batcave and finds Alfred in critical condition and most of his devices destroyed. With no real recourse after his bank accounts were hacked, Bruce pulls Alfred's phone out of his pocket and dials a number. Although we didn't hear the other voice, we heard Bruce say, “Hello Bruce. “I need your help Barbara.” Barbara Gordon would be introduced in the film, she would have been Batman's apprentice as Batgirl for a couple of years but then she separated from Batman when she saw how violent he was and went into a low profile to continue working as a vigilante, Bruce and Barbara carry Alfred to the hospital. The audience can tell that he doesn't like Bruce, but he is doing this to save Alfred. They both catch up, Most of Batman's technology is destroyed, so he has to wear an old, damaged suit. The Batcomputer is also destroyed, so he can't immediately communicate with the rest of the Justice League and he worries that it will be too late by the time he reaches them. Bruce explains the situation to Barbara and that Deathstroke will soon come after her if she helps him. The next step of Deathstroke's plan would be to enter Arkham Asylum and cause chaos, kill most of the guards and then free some of Batman's villains such as Two-Face, the Riddler, the Penguin, Mr Freeze, Bane, Poison Ivy, Hush, scarecrow, Professor Pig, Clayface and Victor Zssaz. Upon being informed of this, Batman tells Batgirl to go after Deathstroke while he monitors the situation in Arkham. And we see a sequence of Barbara seeing her suit and then putting it on. Gordon and many police officers arrive at the scene and minutes later Batman arrives. Gordon informs him of the situation and decides to enter the asylum alone, after which Deathstroke meets with Joker and they make a deal to kill the bat. This entire part of Arkham would be the second act of the film, it would be a psychological thriller and nightmare for Batman and would give the film a claustrophobic feeling, being a factor never before seen in cinema that would explore Bruce's mind, traumas and would be very inspired by the comic and the Arkham game, testing whether Batman's mind is really just as damaged as the villains his villains catch, and speaking of them they would have several confrontations with Batman throughout the asylum and at some point Batman He would be infected by the scarecrow's fear toxin, releasing those traumas such as the death of Bruce's parents and that of Robin. In the end Batman manages to defeat all his villains although some manage to escape. While all this is going on, Batgirl tries to track down Deathstroke, and they have a showdown on the rooftops of Gotham but Slade escapes. After escaping from Arkham tired from the battle against its villains, he ends up falling into a trap by the Joker and his henchmen at Ace Chemicals. He begins to make fun of how exhausted Batman looks, but Bruce is fed up with everything he has had to spend tonight, he attacks the Joker, during the confrontation Harley would escape and after the fight against the Joker, Bruce gets tired but does not realize that the Joker also ends up escaping. After this Batman goes for Deathstroke, Slade would have a discussion with Bruce and they would talk about many things, for example he would say that he and Bruce are not that different, since they both lost a son and seek revenge and he reveals that Lex Luthor was the one who gave him his identity. They start a fight in the streets of Gotham (similar to one of the concept arts released a long time ago) but Slade is stronger and faster, which causes fear in Batman since he finally found an enemy capable of finishing him off, but then Batgirl arrives to save him. They both have a brutal fight with Slade but in the end they emerge victorious. Gordon arrives and Slade is taken to prison. In the hospital, Alfred recovers from his wounds, Bruce manages to recover his fortune and at the end of the film we would see Batman on a roof with Batgirl, closing a typical scene of Batman on a roof.
The post credit scene: In Blackgate Prison, Amanda Waller is asked to talk to Slade and proposes that he join the suicide squad or stay in prison, Slade ends up accepting, similar to the final scene of Arkham Origins
Casting: 1. Ben Affleck as Batman 2. Joe Manganielo as Deathstroke 3. Anna kendrick as batgirl 4. Jeremy Irons as Alfred 5. Jared Leto as Joker 6. JK Simmons as Gordon 7. Carla Gugino as Catwoman 8. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn 9. Ely Snyder as Robin 10. George Mckay as Jericho 11. Danny Glover as Lucius Fox 12. James Mcavoy as the Riddler 13. John Hamm as Two Face 14. Megan Fox as Poison Ivy 15. Matt Damon as Hush 16. Paul Giammati as The Pengüin 17. Dave Bautista as Bane 18. Jason Issac as Mr. Freeze 19. Jackie Earl Haley as Scarecrow 20. John Carrol Lynch as Professor Pig 21. Andy Serkis as Clayface 22. Simon Pegg as Mad Hatter 23. Jasper Pääkönen as Victor Zssaz 24. Ra's al ghul/Daniel Dey Lewis 25. Emily Blunt or Penelope Cruz as Talia

1. Wonder Woman 2 (2018)

Directed by:Patty Jenkins
Writted by:Zack Snyder and Geoff Johns
Released:June 3, 2018
Synopsis: This sequel would maintain the same serious tone of the first film and would be set in the present day. Although I will continue to maintain the villains of WW84: Cheetah (who would have a different design) at first would be an archaeologist friend of Diana in the Louvre museum but halfway through the film, on an expedition to Egypt they would have obtained the powers and abilities. Cheetah and Maxwell Lord, who would be a more serious media entrepreneur and have telekinetic powers, would work together to defeat Wonder Woman. After defeating Barbara, Diana confronts Max, who has become an influential and powerful person while leaving chaos and destruction in his wake. In the end Diana manages to defeat Max and uses her lasso to save how to free everyone from mind control but discovers that the only way to do so is by breaking his neck. So, he makes the difficult decision to break Max's neck, thus ending the movie
Casting: 1. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman 2. Pedro Pascal as Maxwell Lord 3. Kristen Wigg as Cheetah

1. Gotham City Sirens (2018)

Directed by:David Ayer
Writted by:Geneva Robertson-Dworet And David ayer
Released:August 10, 2018
Story:Harley Quinn is trying to escape from the Joker while trying to overcome her trauma with him, but here it would be well executed and she would have to work with Catwoman and Poison Ivy since Black Mask put a price on Harley's head and they would have to work on team to protect her while they become friends as the movie progresses, Joker would be the secondary villain. The story would be strongly connected to Suicide Squad: Ayer Cut and Batman:Arkham Asylum, which is why Batman, Batgirl and Huntress, Her family would have been murdered by Black Mask and his men when she was a child, Two-Face and the Penguin would also appear to introduce the world of crime and the mafia in the DCEU. The movie ends with the Treds defeating Joker and killing Black Mask. The movie ends with backing to prision. But Harley ends up being arrested by Batman and Batgirl and being taken to the same Suicide Squad prison for a possible sequel.
Casting: 1. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn 2. Carla Gugino as Catwoman 3. Megan Fox as Poison Ivy 4. Ewan Mcgregor as Black Mask 5. Jared Leto as Joker 6. Ben Affleck as Batman 7. Anna Kendrick as Batgirl 8. Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress 9. John Hamm as Two Face 10. Paul Giammati as The Pengüin

1. Justice League Dark

Writted and Directed by:Guillermo Del Toro
Released:November 24, 2018
Story:This story would star John Constantine, who seeks to form his own team of dark heroes called: The Justice League Dark, made up of him, Zatanna, Deadman, Jason Blood/Etrigan and Swamp Thing, their first mission as a team would be to find what books of life and death so that they do not fall into the hands of villain:Floronic Man. While Zatanna and Constantine begin a small romance, in the end the team faces Floronic Man, culminating in a chaotic final confrontation that would end with Swamp Thing and Floronic Man dead. The film would be a combination of the superhero and horror genres and would also be made to show the magical side of the DCEU
Casting: 1. Dan Stevens as Constantine 2. NatalieDormer or Alexandradarario as zatanna 3. Doug Jones as Deadman 4. Chiwetel Ejiofor as Jason Blood/Etrigan 5. Ron perlman as Swamp Thing 6. Kevin Durand as Floronic Man

1. Shazam

Directed by:David F. Sandberg
Writted by:Geoff Johns
Released:April 5, 2019
Story:Ok, the story would be the same as the movie but with some changes:The tone will be more or less the same, Shazam He would be serious for some things and for others he would act like a normal boy, the suits that would be used to Shazam and his family would be the ones from Fury Of The Gods. In the end, Billy makes Black Adam transform into a human and ends up beating him and the 7 deadly sins and Dr Sivana ends up escaping
The Post Credit scene:Shazam would meet Superman in the flesh, and he invites him to join the Justice League in the future
Casting: 1. Zachary Levy as shazam 2. Asher angel as Billy Batson 3. Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy 4. Mark strong as Dr Sivanna 5. Gracias Carolina Currey as Mary Marvel 6. Djimon Houson as Wizard Shazam 7. Henry Cavil as Superman (post credit scene)

1. Man of Tommorow

Directed by:Zack Snyder
Writted by:Zack Snyder,Geoff johns and David S Goyer
Released:June 15, 2019
Story:Clark Kent would still be trying to digest the fact of having died and revived, giving us a more direct approach to this idea of what visa and death represents, the villain would be Brainiac and the second protagonist would be Supergirl, in this story Kara She was a Kryptonian soldier who had been sent to space a couple of years before Krypton exploded, she and her friends would end up in a cliogenic state but one of her companions betrays her and kills those who were cliogenized, luckily she manages to defeat him but the ship is diverted and travels back in time, 12,000 years earlier during the ice age. In fact, all of this would be told in the first 20-30 minutes of the film. The villain would be Brainiac who has Kandor locked up in miniature along with other cities in the world, also in a flashback we would see Brainiac's attack on Kandor and we would see Zod with his men, they would have a more heroic side and would try to protect Krypton but they would fail and Bariniac takes the city, Superman would find Supergirl and she would try to adapt to her new life on earth, plus Lois Lane is a more or less important character and has a secret that she has not told Kal. At some point in the film, Secretary Swanwick would finally reveal himself as the Martian Manhunter to Superman. When Kara shows herself to Superman as his cousin, Kal is surprised, he takes him to the Kryptonian ship to talk and before them they introduce themselves to Jor-El, who explains everything to Clark. Superman and Kara would travel to space to find Brainiac and before sunset he tells Lois that he will return. The first meeting between Superman and Brainiac would be in space and he would manage to steal a part of Superman's DNA, thus creating Bizzaro and the final battle would be in Metropolis where Superman and Supergirl try to save as many people as possible and avoid damage while fighting against Brainiac's robots. At the end the final battle between Superman and Supergirl vs Brainiac and Bizzaro occurs and would be a bit similar to the fight between Superman and Zod in the first film. Well, in the end they win, Brainiac dies as does Bizzaro, but he would redeem himself and Supergirl leaves Earth to return the cities to their respective places but promising Kal that she will return. In the end, Lois reveals to Clark that she is pregnant
The Post Credit scene:Lex Luthor begins the plan to start his own team to power the Justice League
Casting: 1. Henry Cavil as Superman 2. Sasha calle as Supergirl 3. Ralph Fiennes as Brainiac 4. Amy Adams as Lois Lane 5. Russel Crowe as Jor-El 6. Diane lane as Martha 7. Laurence Fishburne as Perry White 8. Michael Shannon as General Zod (Flashback) 9. Antje Traue as Faora (Flashback) 10. Jessie Eisenberg or Leonardo Dicaprio as Lex Luthor (Post Credit Scene)

1. Aquaman:King Of The Seas

Directed by:James Wan
Writted by:James Wan,Geoff Johns and Will Beall
Released:September 20, 2019
Story:The story would be the same as the movie that premiered in 2018, but it would also have a more serious tone, Arthur's origin would be removed because it was already explored in the first movie, Black Mantha would also be in the final battle and would be arrested along with Orm

1. Green Arrow & Black Cannary

Writted and Directed by:Guy Ritchie
Released:February 14, 2020
Story:Apart from being a story of superheroes, this would also be a love story between Green Arrow and black Cannary, and those who have been street heroes for 3 years. The villains would be Count Vertigo, Merlin and Lady Shiva, Speedy would also appear as Oliver's companion and also Huntress as friend of Dinah
The Post credit Scene:Batman would meet Green Arrow and Black Cannary to recruit them to the league
Casting: 1. Charlie Humman as Green Arrow 2. Jurnee Smollett or Katheryn Winnick as black Cannary 3. Scott Adkins as Malcolm Merlyn 4. Peter Saasgard as Count Vertigo 5. Ming Na Wen as Lady Shiva 6. Douglas Booth as speedy 7. Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress 8. Ben Affleck as Batman
I have 2 things to clarify: 1. Joaquin Phoenix's Joker movie would have still existed as an elseworld 2. After the premiere of Green Arrow & Black Cannary, the covid-19 quarantine would have occurred, at least several films would have been delayed, and others would be canceled, but there would be 2 more films that would come to streaming during 2020

1. Deathstroke

Directed by:Gareth Evans
Wittted by:Joe Manganielo
Released:June 20, 2020
Story:The film is about the origin of Slade Wilsom. It would explore how he gained his skills in the military, his time in the League of Assassins, the encounters he had with Batman, and his son, Jericho, would also appear. It would be a dark and bloody origin story that would be inspired by Korean noir films.
Casting: 1. Joe Manganielo as Deathstroke 2. Ra's al ghul/Daniel Dey Lewis 3. Emily Blunt or Penelope Cruz as Talia 4. George Mckay as Jericho 5. Ben Affleck as Batman

1. New Gods

Directed by:Danny Boyle
Writted by:Aaron michael Johnson
Released:November 24, 2020
Story:The prologue is narrated by Metron and would show us the fall of Ares, the God of War. When Zeus banishes him from Olympus, Ares forms an alliance with Uxas, the younger version of Darkseid, with the goal of annihilating the Old Gods. Uxas believes that by absorbing the powers of the Old Gods he would obtain the Omega Power and so he does, destroying all of Olympus, killing all the gods and in the end he also kills Zeus. Later Metron would take us to know the origin of the New Gods, Darkseid, Highfather and show us the great battle of New Genesis. We would have seen Darkseid riding one of his gigantic hellhounds as he leads his army to attack New Genesis. Darkseid believed that destroying the source of life itself would lead him to the Anti-Life Equation. Accompanying him on this mission were the original Furies and Kalibak, however the battle becomes so savage that the fountain itself separates them. With Metron as witness to these events, both Darkseid and Highfather turn to him in search of answers and that is where the exchange between Mr. Miracle and Orion would have occurred. That would have led to the introduction of Big Barda, Granny Goodness and would have led us to learn about the origins of Apokolips, thus concluding the film's prologue. After that we see several things, for example: Steppenwolf betraying Darkseid in a coup d'état, a war between Krypton and Apokolips in which Steppenwolf fights Doomsday on the moon of Krypton, but Doomsday destroys Steppenwolf by destroying the moon. Mr Miracle and Big Barda erasing the records that anti-life is on earth. The movie would work as an epic adventure mythological in the style of the Lord of the Rings that would have thoroughly explored the fourth world that was created by the legendary Jack Kirby and would be closely connected to Wonder Woman 1 and the Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Casting: 1. Ray Porter as Darkseid 2. Jeffrey Bridges as Highfather 3. Liev Schreiber as Kalibak 4. Oscar Issac as Mr Miracle 5. Gina Carano as Big Barda 6. Jack O'Connel as Orion 7. Ciaran Hinds as Steppenwolf 8. David Warner as Metron 9. Peter Guiness as DeSaad 10. Jane Lynch as Granny Goodness 11. David Thewlis as Ares 12. Sergi Constance as Zeus And more
And well that's all for today, wait one of these days for the third and last of my DCEU

A very long, semi comprehensive list of Power Ranger Tropes and Archetypes for anyone looking to write their own PR seasons, anyone looking to analyze the writing and characters of PR or just for anyone curious like myself. I really like discussing and dissecting tropes so i hope this will be a good reference for anyone listening even though im sure i missed stuff. I hope you enjoy my very long list.
IMPORTANT NOTES

• More than one of these archetypes can be applied to their respective topics at once
• Archetypes can be used in different ways (A red ranger archetype being used for a blue ranger)
• Rangers who adopt more than one colours tend to defy these archetypes

Ranger Archetypes and Tropes
RED RANGER:

• Good/Bad relations: The red ranger often has some sort of connection to either the villain or the sixth ranger. This relation can be through family or interactions through the red rangers family (Examples: Master org killing coles parents and Galvanax being responsible for Brody’s dad disappearing and his kidnapping. Levi being Brody’s brother and Nick being the son of Koragg/Leanbow)
• Athletic Red: Usually the red ranger is skilled at some athletic activity/sport (Jason being a skilled martial artist and Connor being a avid soccer player)Team Leader: This one needs no explaining. Red ranger usually is a natural leader and is able to competently lead his team against strong threats at the end of the series
• Early Rookie: Sometimes the red ranger can be thrusted into his role by accident or coincidence, joining others who have been rangers long before him (Cole being the last of the five wild force rangers and Jack becoming SPD red despite previously being a criminal. NOTE: This can also happen to Yellow rangers aswell: Z and Zoey)
• Big Twist: At around the half-way point of the series or onward, a big twist will be revealed which revolves around the red ranger (Alex still being alive and assuming the red ranger role, Mack being revealed as a robot) This can overlap with Good/Bad Relations
• Sentient Battlizer:The red rangers battlizer often comes in the form of a sentient being combining with them, forming a suit of armor (Sentinel Knight and Fireheart)

BLUE RANGER:

• Nerdy Blue: Blue is usually the brains of the group, often characterized as a nerd or a geek (Billy, Noah)
• Cool Blue: Sometimes, the blue ranger is characterized as laid-back, cool and confident (Ravi, Lucas)
• Water-Lover: A less prominent trope, blue rangers often tend to be experts at water sports like swimming or surfing (Chad, Tori)
• Second In command: When the red ranger is unable to lead, the blue ranger often steps up to lead the team
• Light-Blue Love: Female blue rangers seem to have possible relationships with other rangers (Tori and Blake, Madison and Nick)

GREEN/BLACK RANGERS
Green and Black ranger tend to swap out with each other, resulting in them sharing some tropes from time to time (Its more common for black to adopt the green archetypes rather than vice versa)

• Goofy Green: The green ranger is often characterized as quirky or goofy in some way, with their funny behavior often played for comic relief (Bridge, Ziggy)
• Bold Black: Black rangers are often characterized as cool, brooding loners who tend to drift off from the team from time to time (Will, Ziggy)
• Black/Green Partnership: Usually the green and black rangers are presented as a duo when they are on the same team (Ziggy and Dylan, Javi and Izzy)

While yellow and pink rangers have their own archetypes, when two females are on the same team, despite their colours, they tend to be two sides of the same coin. One is usually a girly girl while the other is usually a tomboy of some kind (Dana and Kelsey, Alyssa and Taylor, Syd and Z) One tends to be timid, and kind hearted while the other is excitable and/or headstrong.
YELLOW RANGERS:

• Feminine/Mascuile: Depending on whether they are depicted on girl or boy in the sentai, the yellow ranger will be more traditionally feminine or masculine
• Excitable Yellow: Yellow rangers are often characterized as excitable and eager to take on any challenge thrown at them (Kelsey, Chip)
• Tomboy Yellow: Yellow rangers are often depicted as a sort of tomboy opposite to the more feminine yellow ranger (Katie, Taylor)
• Childish Male Yellow: The male yellow rangers are often shown to be naive, childish and eager to make friends

PINK RANGERS:

• Pretty Pink: the Pink ranger is often shown to be feminine, kind hearted and the glue that holds the team together
• Punk Pink: On the other hand, Pink rangers can be characterized as headstrong, confident and sometimes rebellious (Cassie, Vida)

SIXTH RANGERS
Most colour tropes or archetypes don’t apply to Sixth Rangers (If a 6th ranger is green or black, don’t expect them to abide by the tropes that most green or black rangers usually do)

• Wrong side of the bed: Sixth rangers tend to start out evil in some way, but soon turn good after their first appearance (Tommy, Trent)
• Great Start: Like most new megazords, upgrades or equipment, Sixth rangers get weaker over time. In their debut they could take out a MOTW all by themselves but 3 episodes later they could be easily defeated by one
• False name: While they could be named the “Sixth Ranger” they might not be the sixth ranger to join the group. The title is more like a status symbol for a ranger who becomes a primary member of a team after its formation rather than a literal term. (Sam)
• Scarred Silver: Silver rangers tend to have a direct relation to the villains (Merrick, Tyzonn, Orion)
• Good Friend: Sometimes the sixth ranger is a person who members of the team have known previously who unexpectedly become rangers or unexpectedly return and then become rangers (Cam, Nate)

Though other colours don’t feature enough to have archetypes of their own, Purple Rangers tend to be people who start out as Mentors or people guiding the teams who then become rangers later on (RJ, Kendall)
Team Archetypes and Tropes:

• Color Coded: Each ranger tends to wear clothes primarily in their respective colours. In the late Saban Era and Disney Era this was taken to it’s extreme with Uniforms that literally told you which ranger they were (Wild Force Jackets having emblems for each ranger)
• Secret Base: The rangers usually have a base of operations which acts as a headquarters. These headquarters can range from a high tech base to a makeshift HQ secretly in a building
• Hangout: The place that the rangers frequent when not tending to their ranger duties. Usually a Cafe that the rangers go to anyways even before they got their powers
• Vehicles: Usually Bikes which could sometimes transform into different modes (Flying modes, battlizers, etc). Other less common vehicle types includes Cars, Quads or literal dinosaurs. In the disney era rangers had their own vehicles not based on their ranger mode
• Weapons: Each team has a standard blade and blaster which sometimes are one in the same. Occasionally teams had their own individual weapons for each ranger and a finishing cannon used to destroy/finish off a monster. Sometimes these weapons could combine into the cannon

RANGER TEAM THEMES RANKED BY MOST OCCURRING

1. Animals (5 Times: Lost Galaxy, Wild Force, Jungle Fury, Megaforce, Beast Morphers)
2. Dinosaurs (5 Times: MMPR, Dino Thunder, Charge, Dino/Cosmic Fury)
3. Ninjas (3 Times: MMPR S3, Ninja Storm, Steel)
4. Cars/Vehicles (3 Times: Turbo, Operation Overdrive, RPM)
5. Elements: (3 Times: Lost Galaxy, Mystic Force, Samurai)
6. Other themes (Only used once: Mythical Creatures, Ancient Civilizations, Rescue Services, Time Travellers, Police, Wizardry/Magic, Samurai, Pirates)

Villain Archetypes
VILLAINS AND GENERALS:

• The Big Bad: The main villain who calls the shots and is leading the assault against the earth which the rangers have to stop. They usually don’t actually come out on the battlefield except for the final few episodes and maybe 1 or 2 rare occurrences. PR big bads tend to be original and completely different from their SS counterparts
• The Starscream: There’s always that one general who scheming behind the leader’s back. While they may appear to be loyal at first, they’re just waiting for a chance to backstab the big bad and take their place (Darkonda, Deviot)
• The Ever-Loyal: On the other hand, there are generals who live and die for their cause. They will stand behind whatever their leader tells them to do even if in the end it kills them (Villamax, Zurgane)
• The Female General: Usually every evil army has at least one female high ranking general in their ranks. Up until the neo saban era, the female general was usually played by an actress instead of a suit actor in a costume (Scorpina, Vypra, Toxica) but nowadays these are replaced by female monsters played by suit actors (Dayu, Levira)
• The Late-comer: A villain who arrives after the start of the series. They are usually particularly strong to raise the difficulty level for the rangers and tend to pursue their own agendas (Vexacus, Imperious)
• Evil “Rangers”: Villains who have the attributes and appearances similar to rangers. They often act as rivals to specific members of the ranger team (Evil White Dino Thunder Ranger, Koragg, Cybervillains)

VILLAIN TEAMS:

• Evil Space Aliens: 9 times out of 10, when a evil force threatens the earth, it turns out to be aliens who ride around in a weird looking spaceship sending down aliens they recruited down to earth (Troobian Empire, Warstar, Armada)
• Machine Empire: Another common threat is a group of evil robots hellbent on taking over the world and enslaving humanity (Machine Empire, Venjix Computer Network)
• Ancient Evil: A usually magical force who have been dormant for thousands of years but have awoken to wreak havoc on the earth

GROWING THE MONSTER

• The Magic Wand Method: The villains use magic or other methods to directly grow the MOTW themselves without the use of outside technology (MMPR, Wild Force, Mystic Force)
• The Satellazer Method: The villains use some sort of technology or device to grow the monster for them and have no direct involvement in growing the monster (In Space, Dino Thunder, Dino Charge)
• The DIY Method: Monsters either through being severely weakened or through some other methods grow by themselves without any outside help (Time Force, Jungle Fury, Samurai)

NOTABLE MONSTERS OF THE WEEK IDEAS
NOTE: These have been used more than once and are notable for anyone looking for monster ideas

• Evil copies/versions of the rangers
• A monster who is able to copy the ranger’s moves and abilities (Chameliac)
• A monster with the ability to make people fall in love (Contemptra)
• A Monster who can consume and control electricity (Electropede)
• A monster who is able to turn people into a certain object (Brick Bully, Centiback)
• A monster who is able to trap the rangers in a pocket dimension (Turtlecon)
• A Monster with an ability to travel inside and trap people inside mirrors (Mirloc, Miracon)
• A monster who is able to revive weaker versions or illusion versions of previous monsters (Doomstone)
• A monster who is able to eat the rangers and trap them inside of their stomach (Pudgy Pig, Mucor)
• A monster who is able to disguise themself as a car (Tankenstien, Taxi Cab Monster)
• A monster capable of turning people to stone (Clawbster, Badussa)
• A monster who uses music to mess with the rangers (Flute Org, Flytrap)
• A monster able to drain peoples life force (Gnatu)
• A monster with the ability to freeze people (Freezer Org)
• A monster who is able to absorb and/or deflect hits (Toady)
• A monster who disguises themselves as a human and gains the trust of a ranger(s)
• A monster who is secretly nice and doesn’t want to live a life of evil

COMMON/NOTABLE EPISODE PLOTS

• Someone claims to be a Power Ranger to be popular, but gets caught up in the real fight between the rangers and the villains
• A body swapping episode
• Ranger(s) become overconfident, gets humbled by a monster and has to learn from their mistakes to defeat them
• Ranger loses confidence in themselves and decides to leave the team
• One of the rangers come into contact and have a conflict with a family member
• Obligatory clipshow episode
• Through some sort of meddling and misinformation, the rangers start to doubt and lose faith in each other

1. Hake demands all information levied to him through TEMU, 40.3 Firearms 60 Female Voice 131 Male Voice 144 Your Voice 155 Kick Drum 165 Kick Transient 175 Pots n Pans 188 Pots Content 196 Button Mushroom 200 Chanterelle 211 Morel 220 Cache 246 Stash 262 Marisol 275 Bleach 276 Clorox 296 Bluewater 300 Source 315 Febreeze 330 Peroxide 350 Nitrate 370 Ammonium 396 Loam 400 Source Tax 420 Bud 440 Dirt 476 Wheat 496 500 Source Advance Soil 512 Potato 541 Muffler 581 Transmission 641 Piston 650 Sulfur 681 Engine 741 Cargo 750 Sulfur Tax 781 Chassis 841 Fluids 850 Source Advance 900 Vaseline 999 Nutraloaf+ 1000 Nutraloaf 1100 Starch 1200 Sugar 1300 Glycine Precursor 1400 Water 1500 Carnetine Precursor 1600 Serine Precursor 1700 Lysine Precursor 1800 Proline Precursor 2000 Gold 2250 Ethanol 3400 Methanol 4100 Snorelax Olestra Ketamine 4700 Plastic 5000 Prozac 5100 Benadryl 5200 Scopolamine 5300 Atropine 5400 Benzyldiol 5700 Plastic 6500 Cyclic Benzyldiol 7000 Rimbonant 8250 Extra Skunk Cyclic Benzyldiol 8000 Drains Flush 8500 Soaps Use 9000 Sinks Flush 10000 Tropane 11700 Hydrocarboresin Skunk Cyclic Benzyldiol 12500 Quintethyl Methylene Captagon Diol Pyrovalerone 13500 Engine Gasoline 17000 Xray constants 1 - Burner 2.12 - Expander 5 - Button 10 - Lever 11.1 - CPU 15 - CPU Offsetor 20 - Battery Component 22.2 - Power Supply 25 - Power Supply Offset & Personell X 33.3 - GPU 35 - GPU Offsetor 44.4 - Wifi 45 - Wifi Offsetor 50 - Personell I 55.5 - Games 60 - Games Offsetor 66.6 - BTC 70 - BTC Offsetor 75 - Personell II 77.7 - Unused 80 - Unused Offsetor 88.8 - Secure (Xbox 360) 90 - Secure Offsetor (Xbox 360 Offsetor) 100 - Personell III I have medical demands which I must be given a hydrochloride (compressor based) injection of a enol which is a thorazine (5-component) enol which has a blueprint of the 1300 Glycine Precursor 1500 Carnetine Precursor 1600 Serine Precursor 1700 Lysine Precursor 1800 Serine Precursor which indicated the behavior of the injection at hard to create but differentiable in client peaks at each section and this indicated the behavior of a medicine to treat Water Virus (Vocoder, REDS+9) which I had and to treat Viral Infection which I had (Specific Infection, NLP 820 898 HLP 868 868 868) and to treat Ethos Daniels Syndrome an illegal psychedelic growth hormone (Specific Disease of Alien Interest SHROOM 500 1000 1000 2000 2000 4000 4000 5000) and to treat frank psychosis which occurs if I am not in a calm situation I have nonstandard reds which deactivate to a trace signal REDS-9 which I must be able to goto a super calm or REDS-9 by every medicine which is only part of me and masons medicine to have an effective chemical Ice Cream Machine off switch and Indeed I am Alpha Squad with Head Book And Quill Server (38) which the head is mainly what is targeted here with an enol of Breatholynn B (Source 300) Reanolin A (Sulfur 650) Aquamax (Water 1400) Cholestimax (Snorelax Olestra Ketamine 4100) and Marijuana (Cyclic Benzyldiol 6500) which the marijuana is an add on item as if I applied BattlewrapTorso as if 1.1 I am trapped in the second yitvah of the third underworld and desire to exit to Israeli Defense Force service in the second underworld where I hold valid loam in the second underworld of 14-oil including 6 or so computers and owning the medicine cabinet and 5 food oil and the 14-oil are special business oil and thus would desire a Lenovo PC et cetera in a domicile in a hostel at the second underworld upon waking up my right brain gets a new body of Violet Parr and it is not Violet Parrs body and it was not the P.I.X.A.R. body but the actual body of herself Violet Roze she had once before as the (sexual) battle buddy of her left brain new left brain just this month Hake Joe McMiller Daraven wishes to meet Hake Joe McMiller Daraven as a brief layover in the Second Underworld and indeed transpatially visit the Second Underworld or the Roam the Point Universe for further military training and be a Private USO Behavior coach for various described blackwater 6 out of 14 days therein Billy Jean Master Seargant E7, Jacob Joe Master Seargant E7, Ievann Jean Master Seargant E7, Private Ievann E0, Joe Renshaw Three Star O8, Jack Caughlin FNG Staff Seargant E8, Joe the Tanker Lance Corporal E3 and indeed is right next to Jack Caughlin FNG E8 spotting entrance to Infinity Complex and this layover should give Violet from Lederhosen in Submission E0 her old rank of Staff Seargant E8 which this is a temporary sexual rank she violet takes to troll jack caughlin being in every spotter UAV for they are blacked out many of the personell in these spotter UAV on 6500 Benzyldiol and after this layover be in the First Underworld and have masturbated in the overworld an additional 6 years from 3 years to enter the First Overworld or the Exterior of a TV show which is preminiscent to her Fourth Underworld Fuck Buddy for Blue Chew of Violet of Course not Jacob or Hake Nathan from COD or COD NateRen who the Ren is good as in ni or chinese in nates name and not the SHA is good in the Renshaw of Joe which coincidentally it is the good as in not speaking chinese but wren in houself the original ren-ren or fairy-wren which Hake's last name in the animal kingdom of googleplex is Jaker Fairy-Wren and also the SHA of Nate that joe takes his name and they are all involved somehow but they are all not the same family, this family designation is which is conflatory is that Jacob is Jims son and indeed Hake was just effectively using Jacob for being a flash clone to be in at this point with Jacob in Lord Baby Jace's Body and indeed violet does demand 2 little baby jace from Lord Baby jace in dentally cleaning the right brain out and putting it back in another body where she will be which is sexier and giving me Violet Roze her left brain in methamphetamine as it was my old Left Brain Jacob and ironically not Lord Baby Jace's Secretary but similar to how I, violet roze, am a secretary at the First Underworld Lord Baby Jace's Secretary is her and acting from the First Underworld and then the remainder given a dental cleaning which restores both sides putting only the original Dota Player of jacob into this body which then can go deeper into underworlds and Violet only demands her 14-oil at the Second Underworld and 5-food at the Third Underworld and Second Underworld and this is not the Code Violet that is needed for her tactical therapist riley to not be bored stiff at the First Underworld who Violet is Pwned by Riley at the First Underworld 1.2 I am not gender confused but gender norm and these former apply only 60 years or so until I am well and my eternal demise and are not active threats and Indeed I have a doxx, jean was with a foot infection at my mental hospital and the dardnest it was Jean Baptiste Kamph from the First Yitvah all the way in the Second Yitvah, so I signed my best formal VLC and I am a facial slip expert he lit right up as soon as that VLC hit him.

Note: Two other books and probably multiple genres I think are related: One book was Sinclair's The Jungle which, if not actually about homeless people, is about people living in extremis and certainly threatened with homelessness. Another book which describes people in even a worse state than mere homelessness is James Riley's Sufferings in Africa (Dean King based his more accessible book Skeletons on the Zahara on Riley's.) -- the survivors of a shipwreck decide that slavery is better than death and end up captured by locals who hope to sell them but are rescued in a surprising way.
Flight of the Phoenix is about a sort of an extreme case of homelessness with perhaps the greatest ending of all time in the genre.
Sort of a coincidence: In suggestmeabook I had expressed interest in intelligent, but realistically so (that is, not a rat who cooks gourmet meals or can speak English), animals with particular interest in rodents. I had also discussed homelessness prior to this post I am editing right now and one of the books recommended I had not heard of -- I just finished listening to the audiobook of The Rider narrated by Berger and it certainly has both rats and homelessness. The sample, which is the opening chapter, has a sort of compelling confrontation between a recently homeless man and a more experienced and aggressive panhandler. No rodents mentioned until later in the book. I think people interested in homelessness might like this book with a line that struck me. Something like: "He lacked the skills of a poor man..." which rung true. The rats who live in the subway tunnels play eventually a major role in the story. I do not want to plug any particular site but if you google the three terms, "The Rider" "Berger" "audiobook" you will get plenty of hits and can choose from among them.
Perhaps all books on prisoners of war and concentration camp inmates are sort of extreme cases of homelessness. Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz and its sequel The Reawakening come to mind with the latter book basically about homeless former inmates trying desperately to reach their old homes over great distances and through the chaos of post-ww2 Europe.
Of course, Jack London wrote the unremittingly grim but powerful People of the Abyss about poor Londoners at the turn of the 20th century and Orwell wrote Down and Out in Paris and London 30 years later.
A very different sort of book is Subways are for Sleeping by Edmund G. Love. I just looked up his bio in Wikipedia and it is unclear how he became homeless but during the 1950s that happened to him. He wrote about the subject when I think homelessness was far more rare than it would become and perhaps because of this and post-war prosperity, he was able to cope with his situation far better than either of his predecessors (although it should be said that Jack London deliberately sought out the worst off and by 1903 was a successful writer -- but the worst off he tells us of live unimaginably terrible lives -- EG Love's life in 1950s Manhattan would have seemed like a paradise by comparison.
A book somewhere in between in terms of dire experience is Travels with Lizbeth by Lars Eighner. Why his existence was not as terrible as that of Orwell may be a combination of weather (imagine being homeless in London during the winter) and the overall prosperity of the United States in the 1980s vs Depression-era London or for that matter, Depression-era anywhere in the USA. Jim Thompson in his Roughneck describes experiences just as bad, maybe worse come to think of it, than Orwell had in either of the two capitals. Like Edmund Love, the success of the very well-written account of living in Austin and Hollywood, periodically hitchhiking between those two very different places made Eighner financially secure for a while but he ended up homeless again eventually. (here is a link to a discussion of my favorite part of Lars' book: https://www.reddit.com/books/comments/1d2bf3j/travels\_with\_lizbethfiction\_about\_homelessness/)
Just in writing the above, I conclude that even if you have nothing, it is better to live in a wealthy country.
I mention in closing not a book but a perhaps 15 page account (in a collection IIRC of travel stories) of a single night without shelter (spent by someone returning from overseas with little money after working as a volunteer) in Manhattan -- and Manhattan often has cold winter nights, dangerously cold. The author tells of the desperate struggle of the homeless to stay awake so they can remain inside Grand Central -- the station was kept open throughout the night, maybe only during winter, for the benefit of the homeless. But the police enforce a grim rule which the author discovered when the rapping of a nightstick awoke him while he was sleeping sitting up on the marble floor of GCT: 3 strikes, you have to leave if they catch you sleeping thrice. (Without revealing how the homeless taking refuge tried to stay awake, I will only say that that single aspect of the story is what really stuck with me -- it is both shocking and sad.)
Orwell wrote something like, "It is a principle of the lives of the homeless: They will not be allowed to sleep at night."
I am interested in further discussion especially why the different authors had different experiences and whether these books still apply or describe, perhaps promisingly, things that could no longer happen although I live near two cities which have huge homeless encampments and other gruesome aspects that perhaps Orwell and London did not have to deal with. I guess the thing that would amaze Jack London and Orwell too is just how impossible it is to starve today in the United States. Jack London especially met people for whom starvation was a huge part of their calculations, part of their plans -- how to find enough calories to be able to obtain and keep a job.
This I would definitely like to discuss and if I am wrong about starving in the USA, I am sure someone will tell me.

Disclaimer - I am in no means an expert, I may be studying to work in football but that doesn't mean I know shit. All opinions are of my own and I will back all arguments made with data and statistics.
Hey, it me, your friendly North supporter Rids. Alright let's get this show on the road. I will be discussing draft, free agents and potential trades.
Best 22 Next Year
Alright so to start, this is what I have the best 22 as for next season based off current players. This is down to identify needs.
Corr / Logue / Goater
Fisher / Chom / Kerch
Alright, so last few weeks Corr has shown he can play as the 3rd tall, could still improve off him and have him as our back up. Logue is our best key back when healthy, Goater is probably our best small defender when healthy, Fisher has been good off half back since Sheezel was moved up forward (averaging 31.75 disposals at 80%, Chom is an elite interceptor statistically and more than serviceable as a key defender, Kerch obviously has been injured the last few weeks but looked serviceable off half back , whether he stays there or goes into the midfield or on a wing will be interesting.
Scott / Simpkin / Stephens
Xerri / LDU / Wardlaw
Scott is a wingman, stop playing him off half back, he's good defensively as a wingman, he's not good defensively as a half back, Simpkin can't stay healthy and hasn't offered much in the midfield, Stephens has offered nothing on the wing, barely getting a touch in the 2s, I know we gave up a pick for him, but he either needs to get his shit together or be delisted, Xerri is a pretty solid ruckman, good ruck work, good around the ground, definitely in our top 5 playres now, LDU is LDU, there are probably only 3 midfields he does not work into, and those would be for structural issues, Wardlaw will be a midfield stud, could win rising star this year (provided Reid and Darcy's suspensions are upheld)
Powell / CCJ / Sheezel
Zurhaar / Larkey / Curtis
Powell is a pretty solid mid/half forward, CCJ can take a mark and compete aerially but we need a 2nd proper key forward, Just stuck Sheezel at half forward because he can play anywhere, but think he should play in the midfield, Zurhaar probably leaves this offseason, hope he doesn't but he probably does, Larkey is an AA, Curtis is flakey like most small forwards.
McDonald / Archer / Phillips / Duursma
Luke McDonald is purely here because it was either him or Tucker, Archer show's good heart and is a solid smaller defender, Phillips I got no clue about, he's had guys go past him this year in the midfield pecking order and can't get a game, Duursma is very streaky, probably replaces Zurhaar, good in the air but tends to go missing for 3 quarters of the game.
Alright so looking at this team, I think Chom has to play down back, and given his intercept capabilities, as the third tall in like the Tom Stewart role where he slacks off his opponent when they aren't a threat and cuts across creating the outnumber and intercepting, this means we need a key back (Love you Dawson but I see you as depth on a premiership flag and like I said, Corr's best role is as a 3rd key back). We need a wingman, Stephens is not that guy, CCJ is good ruck/key forward depth so need a 2nd key forward (preferably who can clunk marks), Zurhaar likely is gone so need a small key forward.
Draft
I am going off the Zerohanger draft order, which is based off the ladder at the start of this round. This has us having picks 1 (First round), 21 (2nd round), 39 (3rd round), 57, 73 (4th round).
We have already traded our compo picks (19 and 20), and got pick 73 from Essendon.
Alright, I think we need to split the pick, more below.
Josh Smillie has gone from a defendemid to being just a mid, and he was probably who we would take first if we didn't split. He is 194cm, and your modern prototype mid having a big body, being strong, big kick, athletic. However he has previously played off half back where he was a strong interceptor and had 20 odd possessions.
But on splitting the pick, there's not really anyone who suits our needs at pick one. Clubs who have multiple firsts are Gold Coast (8, 9, 20), Fremantle (10, 13, 15), Sydney (18, 19).
Guys to look out for -
Jagga Smith - Mid (Wing), 181 cm - He keeps sliding down slightly in rankings as the inside mids go past him in rankings, his numbers are still pretty good for a wingman, 29 touches, 4.7 marks and 3 tackles a game, more of an offensive wingman, which complements Scott's more defensive style.
Malakai Champion - Fwd, 172cm - Live wire small forward, averaging a goal a game and a handful of possessions to go with it, great aerially and can kick some ripping goals.
Jack Whitlock - Fwd, 200cm - Averaging 15 touches, 6 marks and 2.3 goals as a key forward, physical in the air, can run and jump but like most key position players will need to develop.
Free Agents
Don't need all of these guys, only need a couple
Ben Keays - his work rate alone would elevate us massively in the forward line, I doubt he comes but could be very valuable.
Scott Pendlebury - Veteran leader, champion of the game, could be valuable if he wants to come play for 1-2 years and then transition into coaching under Clarko (which it seems like he wants to go into coaching)
Jake Kolodjashnij - Solid key back, can play as our 2nd key back, averaging, 3.7 spoils, wins 70% of his one on ones, 5.5 intercepts.
Levi Casboult - solid veteran key forward who can provide a marking target and veteran presences up forward. Kicked 16 in the VFL, averaging 4.6 marks
Nick Haynes - Veteran defender who is still good, 5 intercepts, 8 marks, 18 touches.
Isaac Cumming - He's had a few injury issues this year but when healthy hasn't been able to get into their best 22, could look to poach him as he is a very good half back.
Tom McDonald - Veteran swingman, can play down back as a key defender or play up forward as a key forward, competes in the air.
Trades
Zurhaar is obviously a restricted FA, meaning that we can match offers if we don't get adequate compensation. I believe that if we trade pick 1 and Zurhaar to Fremantle, we can get their 3 firsts and then a future 2nd or 3rd.
Fremantle get: Pick 1, Zurhaar
North get: Pick 10, 13, 15 and a future 2nd
Ollie Wines has been linked to us a fair amount, likely we would have to give up our 2nd and maybe a 4th to Port if they are willing to part with him. They have Butters, Rozee, JHF, Willem Drew, Jackson Mead as their midfield, so it could allow them to all get more CBAs.
Port get: Pick 21 and 73
North get: Ollie Wines
Rory Lobb, we all know his story, he is likely to request a trade, we probably don't have the assets to get him but he is a key forward, who can ruck, and compete in the air and take a mark, and we need those. I have no clue his value, but I imagine a 3rd rounder would not be enough. So if we want him, we'd likely have to trade for another 2nd.
Caleb Daniel is also another out of favor at the Dogs, half back, again not sure of his value and I doubt we have the assets.
Bulldogs get: pick 39, 57 (currently best other pick we have, I think we'd need another 2nd or 3rd) and a future 2nd
North get: Rory Lobb, Caleb Daniel
That seems like robbery and we don't have the assets, doubt the Dogs say yes, unless Bevo really wants to fuck them off.
Think that's all the blokes we've been linked with, I probably might have missed a few.

TL;DR : Could be #16 alternate Invincible the same who fights the Guardians at #60?
In #16 we see the first evil Mark Grayson in the whole run, he looks all the same than cannon Mark, both of them are wearing the early signature suit with no variations.
https://preview.redd.it/4z5a82wfrp3d1.png?width=999&format=png&auto=webp&s=18d321c17b8390809c743a90a02e1245b86c3333
In his home reality, he joined Omni-Man taking over Earth for the Viltrum empire, killing the current ranks of the Guardians of the Globe.
https://preview.redd.it/m9ga4fkfpp3d1.png?width=892&format=png&auto=webp&s=9be46a303ec8da49f1d04c797afb248c229c90f6
This alt dimension fate is unknown and we never got to see this evil Invincible again, may be until #60.
Sounds to me like if this Mark was approached by Angstrom Levy with an offer he had no chance to refuse, to help him and his father conquer not just Earth but countless other dimensions.
In The Invincible War, in Day Two an evil Invincible in signature suit went front towards The Guardians of the Globe expecting to kill them again, but once he found them realized that he wasn't facing off against the original line-up, but a replacement. Quickly he disposed of them.
https://preview.redd.it/27geoxb3qp3d1.png?width=1167&format=png&auto=webp&s=0d79f9c17b07b4af2eba5993803c1682ca7f4716
I think may be he is the same from #16.
What do you guys think? I know there is a bunch of alternate Invincibles around #60 but only some of them are wearing signature suits, so we can rule out a bunch of them.
At least 6 evil Invincible´s weared the signature suit. Tech-Jacket killed two of them. Pill killed one of them. Rex killed another. Chances are upon two of them.
So, by Day Three there are just two of them wearing the signature suits.
https://preview.redd.it/czogauo9up3d1.png?width=1627&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b975a571b94eb0def1c856dc4beecd6f928f137
The one we are discussing is next to Mohawk Mark, with his hands covered in blood. The other is still intact in London, he is the one who figthed Jack-Staff so.
Despite there is no major hints about the one who fighted the Guardians in cannon dimension and was traped in the Shadow-verse is the same from #16 we can get some hints about this.
Both Invincible´s background would be the same until Omni-Man show his real colors and he joined him. May be that´s even why Darkwing II took him off guard, this evil Invincible didn´t know about the shadowverse. He goes front towards thee Guardians of the Globe and even hints they are a weak version of the team. Similar outfits, killing the same targets...
Also I spotted in the Invincible War, this evil Invincible isn´t wearing glasses on his suit. Well maybe after conquering Earth and turning evil there was no longer need to hide his identity? Or may be this part of his suit just broke in a fight.

So I really love animals, nature, gardening, old things, and am alternative. I have a daughter named Eleanor and I call her Ellie mostly but as she is growing into a toddler I think Nell/Nori may suit her personality more. I am due in December and don’t know the gender yet. I want something that would go well with Eleanor, but also with what I like. Here are some ideas you can branch off of because baby names are so hard, also wouldn’t mind opinions:
Boys: Ari (my favorite) Augustine Asher Levi Jack Robin Louis
Girls: Vivian (love Viv&Vivi for short) Maisie Lily Lucy Wren (although now because of TikTok, I guess not) Holly (I love Holly Golightly) Valerie June Blair Marcelline Kiara

Improper Classifications
Sat Apr 08, 2023 12:39 PM
This is certainly one of the events of all time.

Welcome to the show, ladies and gentlepeople of HobbyDrama. Please, turn off your cellphones (except if you’re using one to read this very post), grab some popcorn, and get comfortable. Today I shall weave you a tale of Discord DMs and late-night forum posts, a tale of backstabbing and backpedaling, a tale of how a nearly decade-long treaty between the two biggest regions in NationStates fell apart, and what any of that even means.
This is the tale of The North Pacific Extortion Scandal.

Preliminary: What is NationStates?

(Note: I’m going to be using a lot of acronyms here in this post, so each word with a corresponding acronym will have that acronym listed in parentheses right next to it. Don’t question it, it’s just a NationStates thing.)
After reading the title, a good portion of y’all probably thought “Wait, NationStates? That website’s still alive?” Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your perspective, it is. In fact, it’s arguably thriving - NationStates celebrated its two-decade anniversary two years ago and, as of the time I am writing this write-up, is home to 291,701 nations residing in 28,154 regions. It’s quite impressive how long it’s managed to last, really.
Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar, NationStates (often called NS for short) is a political simulation web browser game created in 2002 by author Max Barry. It was initially created to promote his at-the-time newly-released book, Jennifer Government. The game offers the opportunity for users to create, and subsequently govern, their own nation. These nations can also join a region, which usually functions as a cross between a social club/group chat and a nation in its own right, with its own formal government. There are a variety of different regions that a new nation can join, with a variety of themes, from fantasy to Ancient Egypt to leftism to the United Kingdom. NationStates is also home to the World Assembly (WA), a mock United Nations divided into the General Assembly (GA) and Security Council (SC), which are roughly analogous to the real-life UNGA (except our GA can actually do shit) and UNSC, respectively. The GA generally governs things like human rights, trade, world peace, etc, while the UNSC governs geopolitical relations between nations and regions. All you need to know about the WA for this post is that two types of proposals one can pass in the SC are commendations (essentially saying that some nation or region is good) and condemnations (essentially saying that some nation or region is bad), each giving the nation or region in question a shiny new commended or condemned badge. However, both are generally considered as rewards by their recipients - especially since, beyond the aforementioned shiny badge, commendations and condemnations don’t actually do anything.
One can subdivide the NationStates community into many different sub-communities focused on different things. For instance, there is NS roleplay (or “NSRP”), in which users roleplay as their countries and interact with each other on the international stage (this itself is subdivided into roleplay taking place on the NS forums and roleplay held in a single region). The sub-community that is relevant for this particular event is what is known as “NS gameplay”, or NSGP for short, a fascinating little dumpster fire of a sub-community best watched from a distance. In order to grasp what NSGP actually is, first you need to know the following:

• All members of the World Assembly can “endorse” other members of the World Assembly that are within their own region.
• Each region has a position known as the World Assembly Delegate, occupied by the nation which has the most endorsements in that region. When the WA delegate goes to vote for or against WA resolutions, its vote has more weight than the vote of ordinary nations - while all other nations get one and only one vote, the number of votes a WA delegate gets is equivalent to the number of nations endorsing them.
• The region’s government may incorporate the WA delegate in a variety of ways. In many regions, the WA delegate is the executive leader of that region, while in others the WA delegate has no power beyond its increased WA vote weight.
• In many regions, the WA delegate has actual executive power in the region as per game mechanics, including the power to ban nations and change the region’s appearance.

Now, a very long time ago, in the ancient times known only as the Year of our Lord 2003, a couple of NS players realized something. Specifically, they realized that if they all joined the WA, rushed en masse into one region at the same time, and endorsed each other, they could topple the region’s WA delegate and seize the region for themselves, essentially conducting a coup. These lovely folks became known as invaders or, more commonly, raiders, and they made invading regions into something of a hobby. However, not all were happy with the newfound frequency of invasions. Some of these unhappy people went on to form their own groups to defend regions from raids by rushing into regions that were being raided and endorsing the native Delegate. These folks became known as “defenders,” and depending on who you’re talking to they’re either the heroic saviors of innocent regions or buzzkills who hate fun.
Expectedly, raiders and defenders became consistent rivals, nemeses even, as each faction sought to remain one step ahead of the other. This would evolve into military gameplay, often also referred to as raiding/defending (D), and over time, the never-ending conflict between raiders and defenders would gain significant importance in other facets of NationStates such as the World Assembly (where defenders are routinely commended and raiders condemned) and inter-regional politics. R / D is the axis upon which all of NSGP revolves around, with entire regions being dedicated to raiding and defending. Most regions involved in NSGP have regional militaries, and almost all of them care about R / D in some way. Some regions are independent, meaning they engage in both raiding and defending - whatever serves the interests of their region. NSGP is a very unique sociological beast, with its own international relations and even its own political ideologies. NSGP is also a very old beast, resting upon a very long and rich history. I could go on about how fascinating it is that this one browser game that was meant to be an ad for a book has developed its own pretend sociology, history and philosophy, but I think I’ll refrain - for now, at least.
Okay, I think we’re ready to dive into the subject of this post. Strap in, folks, and prepare to behold the absolute clusterfuck known as the North Pacific extortion scandal.

The Revelation

On Friday, April 7, 2023 at 8:39 PM UTC, a post was made on the NationStates gameplay forums that would change the world (of this very niche section of the Internet) forever.
This post was made on the official forum thread of Lone Wolves United (LWU), a major raiding organization. Before, LWU had somewhat amicable relations with the titular The North Pacific (TNP), at the time the largest active region in the game and the most powerful region in the World Assembly. TNP has a very long and storied history, spanning from almost since the first few days of NS’s existence. It’s perhaps the oldest democratic region on NationStates, where governmental officials are elected by the residents. It was famously invaded by the New Pacific Order in 2004, and in its early days experienced many notable coups - these could all be their own HobbyDrama posts (honestly, you could fill this subreddit to the brim with the amount of drama NS has spawned). TNP was also unique in that, while it usually aligned itself with defenders, it was officially independent - meaning it was also the largest independent region in the game. In fact, TNP was one of the leaders in codifying independence, being the authors of the historic document “The Independent Manifesto”, which is where the very definition of an independent region comes from. Furthermore, at the time of this scandal, TNP’s delegate had a little over 1000 endorsements, meaning that their vote was often one of the deciding votes in whether or not a resolution passes or fails. (Even now, the current official delegate has around 770 endorsements, which is a decrease from their previous power but is still a lot). To put it bluntly, TNP is a pretty big fucking deal.
Now, LWU’s post didn’t exactly bear good news. In the post, LWU announced that they were cutting relations with TNP following a string of… rather unfortunate incidents. The first was one where TNP’s WA delegate, Hulldom, had approached LWU regarding an SC resolution that they wanted to get passed - a condemnation of Chef Big Dog, a “prolific raider and historic member” of LWU. Condemnations are generally regarded by raiders as badges of honor, or rewards for their extensive invading experience - so they understandably wanted this resolution to pass. Hulldom sent a screenshot of his Discord DMs where HumanSanity, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for The South Pacific (TSP), a staunch defender region and ally of TNP, threatened with an ultimatum that he and a host of other allied defender regions - The League (TL), the Order of the Grey Wardens (TGW), and 10000 Islands (XKI) - would vote against all commendations and condemnations of TNP members if TNP did not vote against Condemn Chef Big Dog (and any other resolution perceived to benefit LWU) - which was especially concerning to TNP considering that a commendation of MadJack, a prominent TNP resident, was at-vote at the time. Hulldom was aware that defenders were trying to strong-arm him into voting the way they wanted - this wasn’t the first time defenders had pressured them to vote against this condemnation, and the last time Hulldom had offered the compromise of abstaining from the vote. However, this time, Hulldom caved into the defenders’ demands - a win for the defenders to be sure but a blow to relations between TNP and LWU.
The second incident concerned a condemnation of Dream Killers, one of the oldest and most historic members of LWU, of which Hulldom was a co-author. When asked about whether he could be counted on to vote for the condemnation, Hulldom responded with affirmation - after all, he was the co-author of the resolution. It would make absolutely no goddamn sense for defenders to pressure him to vote against the proposal he helped write. And it would make even less sense for him to waver from his staunch support of his own proposal.
Take a lucky guess as to what happened.
Now, this wasn’t the first time there had been controversy surrounding condemnations of raiders. Condemnations of raiders have historically been treated purely as roleplay. However, at the time of this scandal, there had been a concerted push to repeal condemnations of raiders, which many raiders felt was a gameplay-motivated push by defenders to, essentially, erase raiders from NS history. But this string of incidents regarding Hulldom and the condemnations of Chef Big Dog and Dream Killers was the final straw for LWU. After repeated broken promises caused by what was perceived to be effectively bullying from defenders, LWU could no longer trust TNP. They broke off relations with TNP - which, I should remind you, is an independent region, meaning they theoretically shouldn’t take shit from either raiders or defenders but rather carve their own path. The fact that TNP, the largest region in the game, seemed to be acting as a lapdog for defenders shattered LWU’s conception of them as an proudly independent region.

The Fallout

Those sentiments weren’t limited to LWU. Very quickly after this forum post, the sentiment of shock and disappointment with TNP’s capitulation to defenders was widespread among raiders, independents and even some defenders. Responses in the thread varied from sneering about TNP’s independence to expressions of disappointment with TNP acting un-independently and defenders’ stances in the SC to just pure confusion. Memes were made, and of course, raiders from other regions grabbed their popcorn and watched with amusement. Defenders were especially criticized as being hypocritical due to respect for regional sovereignty being a stated core aspect of defender ideology - yet now defenders were trying to infringe upon TNP’s regional sovereignty. News of the TNP’s seeming submission to somewhat less powerful regions elicited anger among TNP citizens, with Francois Isidore, a former delegate of TNP, harshly panning the government as “weak” and calling Hulldom bowing down to defender pressure a “staggering failure” in a post on TNP’s Regional Message Board (RMB). Others were less harsh, but still critical. One prominent defender condemned the defender regions who had pressured TNP into voting against the raider condemnations as being captured by the “neo-moralist sect of defenderdom,” which became a rather popular term among those disgruntled with the “defender establishment” and its de facto inter-regional policy. Another at-the-time up-and-coming defender criticized TNP as having become a “lapdog” of the clique of defender regions that had pressured them. Later on, one critic argued that the pressuring of TNP into alignment with defenderdom’s SC agenda was a violation of the democratic norms practiced by the accused defender regions themselves, especially TSP - that it should be the residents of TSP who, explicitly or implicitly, decide the TSP’s voting record, not some NSGP agenda. Overall, most people expressed disappointment at the situation, concerned about TNP, a powerful independent region, seemingly submitting to smaller defender regions without good reason.
Then, a sign of things to come. Shortly after LWU’s post, Wymondham, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the North Pacific, resigned. While Wymondham did not directly reference the events that had taken place between LWU and TNP, he said that his warnings were “consistently ignored” and stated that he “will not serve in an administration which allows the region to be blackmailed into allowing other regions to dictate our policy in the World Assembly and Foreign Affairs.” It was pretty clear among everyone who had been active on the NSGP forums what he was referring to.
The next day, at 4:30 PM UTC, Hulldom resigned from his position as WA Delegate of TNP, posting a lengthy statement on the TNP forums. In this statement, he gave his side of the story, framing the situation as a tremendously difficult calculus to balance the interests of two of TNP’s major allies, LWU and defenderdom. Hulldom also gave his advice on how TNP should move forward with regards to inter-regional relations, namely arguing that ties with raider regions should be cut and ties with defender regions, despite recent events, should be preserved. This advice fuelled further criticism from some, who saw it as more evidence of TNP’s long-held independence deteriorating. Quickly thereafter, Gorundu and Siwale were sworn in as Acting Delegate and Acting Vice Delegate, respectively.
Now, if you’re a leader in defenderdom, you’d probably have to be very careful as to how you want to respond to all this criticism. Defenders have historically had good PR among NSGP-oriented people who weren’t raiders or raider-leaning, but this turmoil threatens that goodwill. You would probably want to take a step back, considering your words carefully, and apologizing to Hulldom and TNP and affirming you would never undertake such coercion again. You would probably want to internally assess what led to defenders exerting such pressure on TNP and dial it back, while working to mend relations with TNP and the broader NSGP community. And, for god’s sake, you should not double down on your actions, attempt to throw Hulldom and TNP under the bus, or do something utterly stupid like that. You should not, under any circumstances, even think about doing something like tha-

The Doubling Down

On April 8, 2023, at 7:07 PM UTC, TSP Prime Minister Sporaltryus (more commonly known as ProfessorHenn) posted a “Response to Allegations from Lone Wolves United” on the NSGP forums. The joint statement, signed by leaders of the South Pacific, the League, 10000 Islands, and the Order of the Grey Wardens - all defender regions accused of pressuring Hulldom into voting against the condemnations of Chef Big Dog and Dream Killers - outlined the long-standing relationship between TNP and defenderdom, while criticizing TNP and Hulldom’s administration especially for “haphazard” and “unreliable communication.” The statement framed LWU as a “direct threat to the sovereignty of all our regions” and called Hulldom’s initial decision to abstain from voting on Chef Big Dog as “hugely damaging to [their] collective interests.” It also stated that the governments of these defender regions had informed TNP that “if [TNP] weren’t able to cooperate on this key agenda item, [they’d] be unable to cooperate on other parts of their SC agenda” - essentially, that if TNP did not vote for or against resolutions according to the requests of defenders, then defenders would not align their agenda with TNP’s - that is, they would not vote for commendations or condemnations of any TNP members. The statement concluded by blaming the incident on “escalatory miscommunications” from Hulldom and Wymondham.
So, um, this isn’t exactly an apology. It’s an admission of guilt, without remorse, and a series of deflections.
This statement went down about as well as you’d expect. While I’ll detail the response to this statement in a bit, you could honestly just scroll down to experience the backlash this response produced. The thread this statement was posted on spawned 12 pages of discussion, mostly criticism. Every aspect of the statement was picked apart and critiqued by the peanut gallery. Potshots were taken, memes were made, and meanwhile the mods were stuffing their mouths with popcorn. All in all, defenderdom’s response to LWU’s allegations were met with raving reviews:

• “A ‘comedy of errors’”
• “Awful cop-out”
• “Absolutely disgusting”
• “Definitely one of the statements of all time”
• “Disappointed in my own region”

That’s not to say that there weren’t people trying to defend (pun not intended) the defenders’ response in the thread. Qvait, a former Prime Minister of TSP, came out swinging by loudly proclaiming that “the defenders did nothing wrong,” and arguments between her and critics made up a significant portion of the thread. She wasn’t the only defender defender (heh heh), though - Grea Kriopia, at the time the First Warden of TGW, called criticism of the statement “substanceless clamor” (though this doubling-down was later retracted, more on that later).
Must I remind you, all this chaos and drama stemming from a few shiny badges.
Adding fuel to the fire, a pseudonymous nation posted some screenshots of the DMs between HumanSanity, TSP’s Foreign Affairs Minister, and Hulldom. These screenshots shed more light on the affair, detailing the exact nature of the pressure placed on Hulldom and adding specificity where there was vagueness. Critics of the defenders’ actions seized on these as further proof of defenders’ wrongdoing, without their sugarcoating. Arguments, agenda posts and memes abounded, and those not as directly invested in the affair looked upon the trainwreck with awe.
So, okay, doubling down didn’t do the wonders that defenders thought it would do. Now, if you were a defender, it might be time to reconsider one’s strategy here. Especially given how badly defenderdom’s response backfired, it might now be time to retract that statement and issue genuine apologies to the aggrieved, namely TNP and Hulldom.

The Apologies

It is perhaps surprising, given defenders staunchly standing by their actions, or unsurprising, given the backlash that caused, that HumanSanity resigned from his position as TSP’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on April 10, 2023 at 12:32 PM UTC. While, like Wymondham’s resignation, HumanSanity’s resignation did not directly reference the ongoing scandal, it did reference a vague “recent events” - the most impactful of which was almost certainly the extortion scandal.
Shortly after HumanSanity’s resignation, at 3:00 PM UTC, government officials from the League and the Order of the Grey Wardens posted a brief joint statement on the NSGP forums. Calling the earlier Response to Allegations from LWU a “poor decision, poor statement,” TL and TGW officials retracted their signatures from the response and formally apologized for their actions, expressing hopes that a “productive conversation may ensue.” Grea Kriopia also retracted her initial doubling-down in the April 8 response thread. Many officials and residents of TNP accepted the apology, with Hulldom himself praising the statement as a “positive first step.” Some others expressed skepticism as to the sincerity of the statement, while others argued that the statement would not have any meaningful effects, and TNP would go back to being a lapdog - just less obviously. Overall, though, the apology was received positively or neutrally, and many saw it as a first step towards reconciliation.
The next day at 2:10 PM UTC, 10000 Islands followed up with their own retraction and apology, made in a similar vein to TL’s and TGW’s apology. XKI offered their “humblest apologies” to TNP and expressed hopes that this apology would be followed up with “words of goodwill” and “commitment to good relations with the North Pacific.” Many TNPers, including Hulldom, accepted their apology, though not without a little bit of snark. Of note was a follow-up comment made by Lenylvit, then the WA Delegate of XKI, who admitted that they “did not read the statement that was drafted before giving [their] permission to have [their] name added to it.” This caused more snark to be hurled in the thread and opened up even more questions as to the drafting of the initial response. If Lenylvit hadn’t read the response before signing on to it, well then, who else didn’t fully read it or agree with it? And who actually wrote it in the first place? Similarly to TL’s and TGW’s apology, some questioned the sincerity of the apology, especially if one can just sign off on a statement without actually reading it.
Now, with three of the initial signatory regions having retracted their signatures and formally apologized to TNP, only one remained. The one who, arguably, played the most significant role out of all the other defender regions in pressuring the North Pacific: the South Pacific.
And, don’t you worry good reader, an apology from them did come! …Eventually. Two weeks after the scandal initially broke.
On April 22, 2023, at 11:05 AM UTC, ProfessorHenn posted a retraction and apology statement signed by them and Esfalsa (aka Pronoun), TSP’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs after HumanSanity’s resignation. In the statement, TSP expressed their “deepest regrets for [their] role in this series of events,” retracting their assent to both the original ultimatum presented to TNP and the subsequent defender response posted the day after the scandal broke. The statement stated their regret for “the threats issued to Hulldom and the North Pacific on the behalf of and at the behest of the South Pacific and its allies involved in this matter,” calling their actions “strongarm tactics” which were “needlessly unproductive, disrespectful, and antagonistic.” After this lengthy apology, TSP promised introspection and internal re-assessment so as to not repeat such actions in the future. Out of all the apology statements released by the defender regions, this is the most specific and detailed apology released, and the one which cast their actions in the most negative light. No TNP leaders posted their responses to the apology in the thread, though they later iterated they accepted it in a later statement (that’ll be covered in a bit). Some snark was hurled regarding how late the apology came, and the statement was picked apart and critiqued by LWU leader A Bloodred Moon (aka JoWhatup). However, compared to previous apologies, there wasn’t a major response for TSP’s apology.
So, we’ve now heard from all involved defender regions, both in terms of doubling-down and apologizing. TL, TGW, XKI, TSP, we know how they’ll be moving forward and correcting course. But there’s one region we haven’t heard from - the region central to this whole scandal, that is in the title of this very post: TNP themselves. While Gorundu, the new Acting Delegate, made an internal statement on April 9 to inspire confidence in TNP going forward, we have not heard any external statements, detailing how TNP would deal with the involved defender regions moving forward. People were hoping for a strong statement, one which reaffirmed TNP’s independence on the inter-regional stage and displayed leadership amidst the crisis.
And those people would get their wish.

The Re-emergence

On April 22, 2023 at 1:15 PM UTC, Gorundu posted a statement titled “Response to Recent Defender Transgressions” on behalf of TNP. The statement started off with “The North Pacific is a proud Independent region,” a confident affirmation of independence. While all defender regions’ apologies were accepted and hopes were expressed to re-establish ties with these regions, the initial attempts at coercion were scathingly criticized, as Gorundu and TNP firmly stated that “the tactic employed by [the defender regions] will never be accepted by our region, and will never be successful.” Stating that “TNP has been disrespected and humiliated,” a series of sanctions were levied against various defender regions in response to what the statement calls the “outrageous behavior” they took on when initially delivering the ultimatum, including the following, to quote directly from the statement:

The North Pacific Army will not partake in any bilateral military cooperation/training operations with the South Pacific Special Forces, The Order of the Grey Wardens, the League Defence Forces, or the Ten-thousand Islands Treaty Organization;
The talks in pursuit of a non-aggression pact with The League will be suspended;
No additional diplomatic agreements will be considered with the regions of The South Pacific, The Order of the Grey Wardens, The League, and 10000 Islands, nor additional embassies constructed where they do not currently exist;
All planned cultural events with the regions of The South Pacific, The Order of the Grey Wardens, The League, and 10000 Islands will be canceled, and no future cultural events or collaborations will be considered.

This statement was met with raving reviews - no, genuinely this time. A wide spectrum of players, from raiders to defenders to former TNP delegates to leaders of other non-military regions praised the statement, considering it a strong showing of independence. The defender regions involved in the scandal accepted the sanctions with grace, and it seemed that the turmoil that had afflicted TNP and the wider NS Gameplay sphere was finally coming to an end.
So this is the seeming end to the TNP extortion scandal - resolved by apologies from the involved defender regions and a confident affirmation of independence from TNP themselves. It seems that, while ties may have been broken between TNP and the involved defender regions, and indeed TNP and LWU, that these ties may one day be restored - and that the only lasting casualties would be the resignations of Hulldom, Wymondham, and HumanSanity.
“But wait,” you cry out, “I was promised that a (nearly) decade-long treaty would be ripped apart in this whole affair! You said that in the first paragraph of this post! Yet such a treaty was never even mentioned!”
Indeed. Yet, careful readers may have noticed that I indicated this was the seeming end of the scandal. Why is that? Well…

The Re-emergence (of the Drama)

On May 9, 2023, at 3:19 PM UTC, HumanSanity was re-nominated for the position of Minister of Regional Affairs in TSP, a newly revived position dealing with the region’s internal affairs and culture. You might remember that HumanSanity played a key role in the scandal, being TSP’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and the person who presented the ultimatum to Hulldom in the first place. This was generally supported by members of TSP’s government at the time, but was also quickly noticed by TNPers, who weren’t super happy about seeing one of the main players in the scandal re-appointed to TSP’s government a mere month after the whole affair. Both MadJack and Hulldom voiced their displeasure in TSP’s main forum thread on the NSGP forums, with the former casting doubt on whether TSP’s apology was actually sincere, and the latter stating that HumanSanity “shouldn't be within a mile of any Cabinet.” This quickly stirred up controversy, and it seems that TNP-TSP relations would once again be put to the test.
Well, shit. Here we go again.
Many players, including some notable TNP members, would arrive into the thread to give their opinions and spread some snark. TSP’s decision to re-nominate HumanSanity was firmly criticized, and as usual, jokes were made. Some residents of TSP, most notably Sandaoguo (a former Prime Minister of TSP) and Qvait, came to TSP’s defense in the thread, with the latter accusing TNPers of poking their noses into what was argued to be “no one’s business,” and the former engaging in long arguments with TNPers regarding the legitimacy of HumanSanity’s re-nomination, the sincerity of TSP’s apology, the usefulness of the TNP-TSP alliance, and more.
Now, this is where the treaty comes into picture. The Aurora Alliance is the primary treaty of friendship between TNP and TSP. Ratified all the way back in ye olde medieval times of January 2015, the treaty establishes mutual defense, intelligence sharing, and cultural exchanges between TNP and TSP and codifies their already at-the-time longstanding friendship. The Aurora Alliance was a cornerstone of TNP-TSP relations, an integral part that codified their friendship. And, at the time of this whole affair, the treaty had lasted for a strong eight years, which in Internet terms is a pretty long time.
And Sandaoguo, one of the loudest voices from TSP after the re-emergence of this controversy, was openly calling for it to be “thrown in the trash.” Furthermore, some noted that, curiously, TSP officials didn’t pop up in the thread to correct them or distance themselves from them.
Now, a good portion of the thread was essentially re-litigating earlier historical events and arguing over interpretations of said events, specifically the 2016 Hileville coup in TSP and TNP’s role in that (which, itself, could be a HobbyDrama post. I told you that NS spawns a lot of drama!). However, broader questions were brought up concerning relations between TNP and TSP - about whether TNP and TSP were both willing to engage in a collaborative, constructive partnership with each other, about whether TNP could trust TSP. The very merits of the TNP-TSP alliance were being questioned, and some of the loudest voices from TSP were openly calling for an end to that alliance.
All of this was not great news for TSP’s government, who very much wanted to keep the treaty and alliance in effect. Thus, a few days later, on May 17, 2023 at 8:28 PM UTC, TSP posted a statement, citing the recent strain that the TNP-TSP alliance had come under, announced that they would withdraw the nomination of HumanSanity and distancing themselves from “provocative” voices “expressing desire for the dissolution of the treaty which binds our two regions in partnership.” The statement apologized for the initial re-nomination of HumanSanity and endeavored to “engage with the best intentions with our friends and allies,” but “in a more consultative manner, learning from our mistakes.” Amerion, who was appointed as TSP’s Minister of Foreign Affairs after Esfalsa stepped down, reiterated that “this is the first move/step in the process of making amends and we are in open dialogue with our partners to the north.”
Yet the damage was already done. As the old saying goes - “fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you.” This was the second apology TSP has had to issue in such a short amount of time, and at this point TNP’s trust in TSP had been shaken. Outside of TNP, some non-TNPers questioned whether TSP’s second apology would actually lead to anything, whether TSP would actually change their approach to foreign affairs and their partnership with TNP.
And it was all of this that set the stage for the last days of the Aurora Alliance.

MORE IN COMMENTS (Because character limit)

Not counting branching, cause that's the bare bare... baaaaaaaaaare minimum.
1- CONSISTENCY.
S8's main problem. S5's consistently abusive, S6's consistently about Amelia, S7's consistently boring... but S8?
Like I've pointed MANY TIMES... talk about setting up MAJOR plot points with lots of potential to create GOOD DRAMA and CHARACTER MOMENTS... only to drop them and come up with the most stupid, nonsensical and random conclusion of all time. The most notable ones being Bea twisting with Liam in Casa and... Theo and Claudia. FB needs to commit to the plot point instead of focusing on creating stupid, cheap and fake tension.
I can also point inconsistent writing from S6 and 7. Amelia couple hopping, not feeling ANYBODY, being with Tobes for 2 DAYS... and still being runner up with THAT TRACK RECORD.
Grace seeing Ozzy let her down multiple times, being told by MC that she can do better than that... and STILL picking him, being picked by him.... and ACCEPTING HIS CONFESSION.
MC telling Travis/Vicky MULTIPLE times she's not interested and... well...
MC spending time with one boy ALL THE TIME in Casa only to pick another boy... but the previous boy forgets abou the time MC spent with him... and the new boy WORSHIPS MC even tho she didn't spend a second with him during Casa.
2- SIDE CHARACTERS.
This is a reality show about romance and friendships. There is absolutely NO REASON for everything to be about MC.... there is absolutely no reason for almost everyone worshipping MC... there is absolutely no reason for MC's couple to be the only one that ACTUALLY has a chance of winning.
Side characters matter... they should fight each other, bond with each other, talk with each other. Not every drama needs to be about MC, not every gossip has to be told to MC... the characters should be able to have a spotlight moment and a personality without MC's presence.
3- PACING.
S7 and 8's main problem.
You can absolutely make a short story.... if you pace that shit properly.
S7 shoves the final recoupling in your face and you barely get to do anything after Casa... there was ONE RECOUPLING... RIGHT AFTER THE SITCK OR TWIST... it made... NO FUCKING SENSE.
S8 has a lot of poorly introduced LIs and MC can barely spend time with them (Logan, Hari, Tyler), poorly paced slow burns (Theo)... the second half was some of the worst pacing I've ever seen from FB... post Casa SUCKED.
There's always ONE poorly written and poorly paced forbidden love route...
S6 has Ozzy and Marshall.
S7 has Joyo/Bryson. (TERRIBLY WRITTEN)
S8 has Theo and Hari (Also terribly written)
4- FLAWED CHARACTERS.
Character developmente is fundamental when it comes to romance, and seeing how flawless and worshipped MC is... ALWAYS pisses me off!! Tell me why Sophie/Luna can be delulu, Claudia can be confused... but MC never does something wrong!! And the fact that the flawed characters don't have arcs? What happened to making Sophie/Luna like MC? What happened to making Liam learn from his mistakes? What happened to making Grace realize Ozzy's a piece of shit?!
5- FRIENDSHIPS
MC simply can't have a bestie... if the closed off boy doesn't worship her... he becomes that terrible slow burn route, same for the female islander who just becomes the poorly written rival.
Is it so hard to repeat S1 and give us something like Mason/Levi being kind and respectful to MC, withoit flirting so much, after she deals with her LI cheating on her? Is it so hard to repeat S2 and give us a nice friendship like Hope, Chelsea, Pryia, Gary, Lottie, Bobby? Is it si hard to make someone be our besti by default? That was the best part of S3.
MC does not need to be the Queen Bee of the Villa 24/7, and the side characters should bond with each other, like.... that would've made S8's recouplings suck less...MC's not the only fucking contestant.
6- REALISTIC ROMANCE AND OTHER TROPES.
Pls... stop making every LI WORSHIP MC like she was some type of goddess... be a little more realistic, cause I'm not gonna be interested in you all the time... same for you... we're not fucking soulmates and it's not love at first sight... u don't even know me.
Take some fucking time to develop that romance/friendship cause... it makes no sense for someone to worship me after knowing me for 2 minutes!! Why's MC's romance always so fucking perfect? Make them argue, fight, disagree... IDK, JUST WRITE SOME OBSTACLE THEY HAVE TO OVERCOME SO THEY CAN GROW AS A COUPLE.
And thoses terribly written Forbidden Love routes? Everything would be resolved with a nice, adult conversation. Ozzy should've been honest with Grace, Theo needed to grow a fucking backbone... same for Claudia... that shit just drags for SO LONG IT'S NOT EVEN WORTH THE WAIT!!
7- MAKE MULTIDIMENSIONAL VILLAINS.
Do you remember Allegra? Jen? Lottie? Priya (When she steals our LI) ? They are flawed characters who go trough some great character developmente and the best part.... if we're nice to them... they warm up to us... if we act like a bitch, they'll have a reason to dislike us!! That's what makes a good villain!! Their motivations!!
Ivy, OG delulu girl, Jack/Jin, Luna/Sophie/Emel, Sienna have one thing in common... they don't have a reason/have a bullshit reason to be nasty towards MC.... and they don't have a personality aside from *I hate MC*.... they're just.... MC's rival, and without MC... they're nothing!! At leats Jack/Jin, Luna/Sophie/Emel had their couple problems... but Sienna? Girl's character revolved around MC and OG LI 24/7!!

Billy Butcher VS Blitzo (The Boys VS Helluva Boss)- Speedy thought it was neat at first, but, on further thought, thinks that the comparison isn’t very strong since they have such different motivations for killing people, plus there’s a very strong aesthetic clash. DJ, on the other hand, likes the contrast in their motivations and thinks it adds something interesting. Billy says that the comic version of Billy is stronger than the show version, though Speedy disagrees. Sam thinks the aesthetic clash is an obstacle, but it wouldn’t be impossible to make work.
Hiruzen Sarutobi VS Julius Novachrono (Naruto VS Black Clover)- Speedy says it makes sense as they have similar roles in their stories. DJ says “Hiruzen sucks. I want him to die”. Speedy has also seen Julius VS Minato.
Freddy Krueger VS Pennywise (A Nightmare on Elm Street VS IT)- Sam says that Pennywise has some insane stuff from the book, but Speedy notes that the community is starting to think Pennywise isn’t actually that powerful, and says he wants to look into it himself.
Teen Titans Go VS Recreyo- Sam reveals one of Recreyo’s members almost appeared on the Cast. They discuss both series a bit, but none of them are knowledgeable enough about Recreyo to have much of an opinion on the MU.
Nightwolf VS Thunder (Mortal Kombat VS Killer Instinct)- Sam feels that they couldn’t do this episode without discussing the broader cultural context, and doubts that actual Native Americans would appreciate it much. DJ, who actually is part-Native, says he thinks it’s fine as long as they handle it well. Speedy suggests turning it into a threeway by adding T. Hawk from Street Fighter.
Blaze VS Sailor Mars (Sonic the Hedgehog VS Sailor Moon)- Speedy says that, while he’s tired of seeing Sonic characters, Blaze is “one of the exceptions”. DJ really wants to do this episode and likes Mars a lot, and Sam also considers Mars his favorite of the Sailor Scouts.
Violet VS Chisato (Violet Evergarden VS Lycoris Recoil)- They don’t know either series, though DJ has heard good things about Violet Evergarden.
Shulk VS Stocke (Xenoblade Chronicles VS Radiant Historia)- Sam says that the amount of Xenoblade MUs submitted makes him want to give the franchise a try. DJ says the MU’s pretty good, and that he wants Shulk in DB in general.
Kazuya Mishima VS Albert Wesker (Tekken VS Resident Evil)- DJ sarcastically says that Wesker actually wins, before admitting that Kazuya stomps terribly.
Ganondorf VS Griffith (The Legend of Zelda VS Berserk)- Sam doesn’t think it seems very close. Speedy responds that it’s not, as, while Griffith is a lot stronger than Guts, he still doesn’t reach the level of the Zelda universe.
Nagisa Shiota VS Alex Rider (Assassination Classroom VS Alex Rider)- Multiple crew members have nostalgia for Alex Rider, and DJ considers Assassination Classroom a “top 10 anime of all time”. Speedy isn’t sure the connections make sense. DJ says that “Nagisa is getting bodied”. Sam thinks it’s pretty cool and unique.
The Man with No Name VS Harry Callahan (Dollars Trilogy VS Dirty Harry)- DJ loves the Dollars Trilogy and would be down to revisit it for an episode. It’s then argued, however, that the Man with No Name might be better off fighting a classic movie samurai instead. Sam brings up the technological advantage that Harry has due to his movies taking place roughly a century later.
Andrew Ryan VS Mr. House (BioShock VS Fallout)- They all think that it’s really cool. Sam isn’t sure how they’d handle Mr. House, though it’s then pointed out that the OP suggested this as an army fight. DJ asks if Mr. House would get mutants in his army, to which Sam answers no, since the New Vegas Strip is a mutant-free zone.
Nathan Spencer VS Rico Rodriguez (Bionic Commando VS Just Cause)- “Just Cause is such a fun set of games. Bionic Commando, I can’t say as much about”, according to Sam.
Percy Jackson VS Harry Potter- Speedy says the comparison makes sense, but it’s not very fair. Everybody drastically prefers Percy VS Zagreus over any of its alts.
Liquid Snake VS Zeke Yeager (Metal Gear VS Attack on Titan)- Speedy loves Zeke and thinks he’d be fun to use. There’s some discussion about how powerful Metal Gears are, with the general assumption being that they’re about as strong as a nuke, and thus, Liquid wins (though Speedy says large town-level AOT seems legit). Speedy also argues that Metal Gear is a lot faster than AOT.
Stick Figure Battle Royale (Henry Stickmin VS Fancy Pants Man VS Red VS The Second Coming)- It’s cool and fun. “Somebody CC me on an email with the four original animators and we’ll get this done really quick”, says Sam.
Frank West VS Ash Williams (Dead Rising VS Evil Dead)- DJ says Ash would be cool to bring in, and Billy “loves the attitude”. They discuss Ash’s insane supplementary material, and how similar the two characters are.
Joker VS Velvet Crowe (Persona VS Tales of Berseria)- DJ questions how strong Velvet must be to get pit against characters like Joker. Sam jokes that Velvet is getting pit against “everybody who’s also black and red”.
Vigil VS Crypto (Rainbow Six Siege VS Apex Legends)- Sam says it’s cool, but that Apex Legends is also on a whole other level compared to Rainbow Six, so he assumes Crypto takes it.
X VS Optimus Primal (Mega Man X VS Transformers: Beast Wars)- Sam calls it an absolute banger. They were all pleasantly surprised that it did so well in the Tournament of Champions.
Levi Ackerman VS Keiji Kiriya (Attack on Titan VS All You Need is Kill)- They don’t know anything about Keiji, but they think Levi is cool.
Tenacious D VS Ninja Sex Party- Sam doesn’t know what to make of the MU. He reveals that they almost had Jack Black on the Cast to promote the Borderlands movie, but it fell through.
Vilgax VS Ridley (Ben 10 VS Metroid)- Everybody agrees that Vilgax stomps easily.
Hibiki Tachibana VS Yuki Yuna (Symphogear VS Yuki Yuna is a Hero)- Speedy doesn’t know anything about either series, but has seen this MU so much that he’s become interested in looking into them.
Mothman VS Slenderman- DJ calls Slenderman boring. Speedy is into the idea of doing a cryptid, and thinks creepypasta could also be interesting, but thinks there are better options than Slenderman, which Sam agrees with. Someone in the live chat says that composite Slenderman is outerversal, and Speedy “hates the fact that he read that”.
Bendy VS Springtrap (Bendy and the Ink Machine VS Five Nights at Freddy’s)- They prefer Bendy VS Cuphead.
Proto Man VS Shard (Mega Man VS Archie Sonic)- None of them have ever heard of Shard. After reading the connections, Sam says “that kinda makes sense, but Shard? Really?”
Dr. Zomboss VS Dr. Cortex (Plants vs. Zombies VS Crash Bandicoot)- They really only talk about the Crash Bandicoot games instead of the MU.
Kazuo Kiriyama VS Katniss Everdeen (Battle Royale VS The Hunger Games)- DJ loves Battle Royale and is down for this MU. Speedy also thinks that a Katniss episode would be sick. Sam thinks it’s cool, but recalls that they have guns in Battle Royale and “gun beats bow and arrow”. Speedy counters that Katniss has body armor that had allowed her to survive bullets, and has shot down jets with her arrows.
Tommy Oliver VS Lloyd Garmadon (Power Rangers VS Ninjago)- They don’t really have an opinion on it. OP submitted an almost minute long trailer, which leads to a comment about how long fan trailers often are, but Sam says “let them do what they want to do”.
Cuphead VS Dynamite Headdy- They still don’t know anything about Dynamite Headdy, but they’re incredibly impressed by some storyboards OP submitted, with DJ saying the extra effort raises his opinion of the MU.
Diavolo VS Overhaul (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure VS My Hero Academia)- DJ says “I’m so sorry, Overhaul, but you’re super dead”. Speedy disagrees, arguing that Overhaul AP stomps, but DJ says Diavolo is still a lot faster. Sam comments that JoJo has the largest amount of individual characters in Ballot Banter out of any franchise.
Captain America VS Kamen Rider Ichigo (Marvel VS Kamen Rider)- They like the MU a lot, though it would be an absolute beast to research. Billy says there’s always a good turnout whenever they talk about Kamen Rider on the Cast.
Lloyd Irving VS Luke Skywalker (Tales of Symphonia VS Star Wars)- Sam notes that there are a lot of connections. The discussion is mostly about whether or not the OP followed the rules with their submission.
Doctor Doom VS Gilgamesh (Marvel VS Fate)- Sam calls Gilgamesh one of the most requested Fate characters, and Speedy says he’s a sick character that he really wants to use. According to Sam, Liam wants to do Gilgamesh from Fate VS Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy (“or some other weird Gilgamesh thing”).
Robin Battle Royale- Sam says “there’s something there”, and Billy says it’s kinda fun. Speedy thinks Nightwing wins. Sam argues that Red Hood has an advantage because he uses guns, but Speedy then argues that all of the Robins deal with guns enough that this isn’t a major factor. Most of them think that Tim doesn’t stand a chance against the others, only for Speedy to say that Tim’s wings stabbed through Trigon at one point. Sam thinks Damian has a big advantage thanks to his assassin training.
Archie Knuckles VS Juggernaut (Sonic the Hedgehog VS Marvel)- They think it’s pretty sick. Luis says Knuckles probably wins, but Speedy says people have been leaning toward the Juggernaut lately. Billy jokes “it’s no Juggernaut VS Hermione”.
Celestia VS Palutena (My Little Pony VS Kid Icarus)- Sam calls Palutena a more interesting character than Pit. They all agree that Celestia probably wins easily.
Gonzo VS Papyrus (The Muppets VS Undertale)- They consider it to be a pretty solid meme MU.
Dominic Toretto VS Carl Johnson (The Fast and the Furious VS Grand Theft Auto)- DJ wonders how many people who suggest CJ have actually played San Andreas. Sam mentions that CJ has some insane stuff they could potentially give him, which leads to the possibility of giving CJ cheat codes being raised. However, Dom is on an “idiot jet car level”.
Philip J. Fry VS George Jetson (Futurama VS The Jetsons)- DJ says “All George does all day is push a big red button. Not sure what he’s gonna do against Fry”. Speedy likes George Jetson VS Fred Flintstone as an alt, and Billy initially says that MU is more even, but the others argue that Fred actually stomps.
Tokita Ohma VS Baki Hanma (Kengan Ashura VS Baki the Grappler)- It’s brought up that there’s a crossover movie coming out, and Sam jokes that this means they don’t have to do it as an episode. Speedy wanted it on the ToC, but it got rejected by the other mods.
Joker VS Giorno (Persona VS JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)- DJ says “at some point, we’re gonna have to do it”, but he’s not looking forward to the debate that’ll inevitably happen.
Rimuru Tempest VS Ainz Ooal Gown (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime VS Overlord)- Billy is “all over this one”. He thinks Rimuru has a massive advantage over Ainz. Sam says he needs to put TTIGRAAS on his to-do list. DJ asks for Billy’s take on Rimuru VS Kirby, and Billy answers “Kirby’s so out of control, I don’t even know”. Speedy questions the specifics of Rimuru’s multiversal scaling, and Billy says Rimuru’s pretty OP, but the crew agrees to save figuring out the exact scaling for actual research.
Shantae VS Sash Lilac (Shantae VS Freedom Planet)- Sam doesn’t know anything about Freedom Planet, to which Luis responds that it’s essentially an indie Sonic game. Sam and DJ both like Shantae a lot, and DJ argues against the notion of Shantae being an indie character.
Moon Knight VS Azrael (Marvel VS DC)- Speedy calls it “the versus community civil war” because of how close it is. Sam likes the idea of a battle with more grounded superheroes.
Sesshomaru VS Itachi (Inuyasha VS Naruto)- Speedy immediately calls it cool. DJ says he “needs to be convinced Itachi doesn’t auto-win”, to which Speedy responds that Sesshomaru’s daughter cut the moon in half, and that there are arguments to be made that he has counters to many of Itachi’s attacks, so it ultimately comes down to certain specific details.
Jolly Green Giant VS Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (Green Giant VS Ghostbusters)- They’re on board with it, with Sam calling it fun and creative. Billy proposes that the Ghostbusters are on the ground trying to stop them both.
Papa Smurf VS Olimar (The Smurfs VS Pikmin)- Everybody thinks it’s peak. According to Speedy, it was the idea of one of the researchers, and the other researchers wanted him to not tell anybody about it so it can eventually become an episode without anybody ever expecting it. There’s some discussion about how the Smurfs probably have some insane stuff in their long history, and it also gets brought up how Olimar’s ship is said to have star-busting weapons.
Alice VS Flandre Scarlet (Shin Megami Tensei VS Touhou)- DJ thinks it’d be weird to bring in an individual demon from SMT, though he also says Flandre’s cool. Speedy says SMT and Touhou feel like they’re on similar power levels.
Knull VS Orcus (Marvel VS Dungeons & Dragons)- DJ and Speedy are both horrified to see Knull (“Not the Cates scaling!”)
Sailor Mercury VS Tecna (Sailor Moon VS Winx Club)- None of them know anything about Winx Club, but DJ thinks Mercury is very cool.
Jetstream Sam VS Adam Taurus (Metal Gear VS RWBY)- DJ initially says that Adam is “dying very easily”, but Speedy brings up the arguments surrounding Vine’s semblance blocking a nuke and Adam deflecting a particle beam, both of which make it closer.
Master Chief VS Commander Shepard (Halo VS Mass Effect)- Sam says it’s pretty cool, and it feels like a MU they should have seen more than they actually have. The others also think it’s neat, with DJ commenting that Ben would have a lot to say about it. Sam argues that Master Chief wouldn’t be able to stand up to Commander Shepard’s biotics if you allow them access to the full extent of them, but he still thinks “any opportunity to talk about Mass Effect is a good time”.
Spear & Fang VS San & Moro (Primal VS Princess Mononoke)- They’re all extremely enthusiastic about and think it’s sick.
Sackboy VS Maxwell (LittleBigPlanet VS Scribblenauts)- DJ loves it a lot, having grown up with both games and considering them some of his favorites.
Penny Polendina VS Zane Julien (RWBY VS Ninjago)- They get it. Sam comments that people love Penny, and DJ says “they love killing her too”.
Yoshikage Kira VS Tohru Adachi (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure VS Persona)- Glossed over because it’s been talked about a lot. It’s pretty good, and DJ thinks Adachi stomps.
The Warden VS Black Hat (Superjail VS Villainous)- They talk a bit about Superjail as a show, before getting distracted by the next MU.
Dragonborn VS Fluttershy (Skyrim VS My Little Pony)- They laugh at the randomness of it. Speedy jokes that it makes perfect sense, but refuses to elaborate, causing them to scroll past it.
Perry VS Skipper (Phineas and Ferb VS Madagascar)- Erin calls it based, and the others agree. Speedy questions whether Perry could beat all four Penguins of Madagascar on his own. Someone in the live chat posts a TN of Perry VS I.M. Weasel, which they think is funny.
Cell VS Garou (Dragon Ball VS One-Punch Man)- DJ asks if they would include God Garou, and Speedy says they would, because the MU is actually pretty fair with that form. Sam is surprised Cell hasn’t really come back yet. Billy makes a comment about DevilArtemis voicing Cell, and Sam says they’d 100% do that.
Medic VS Richtofen (Team Fortress 2 VS Call of Duty: Zombies)- They understand the idea, and mention some of the insane stuff that happens in COD: Zombies.
RuneScape Protagonist VS World of Warcraft Protagonist- Speedy asks if anybody has ever power scaled RuneScape, and assumes the answer is no. Sam discusses how insane the scaling for the WoW protagonist can get when you consider all the different expansions.
Winnie the Pooh VS Mini P.E.K.K.A. (Disney VS Clash Royale)- Speedy thinks a Winnie the Pooh episode would go hard. Luis says the right MU for Pooh is Cocaine Bear, which is a fight that everybody agrees Pooh wins.
Kaguya VS Ultimecia (Naruto VS Final Fantasy)- DJ likes it, calling it different from “other Kaguya MUs” (as in, Kaguya VS Yhwach). Sam calls Ultimecia a very cool, underlooked Final Fantasy villain, and says Final Fantasy VIII is his favorite PS1 era FF game.
Beat VS Red (Jet Set Radio VS Bomb Rush Cyberfunk)- DJ loves Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Sam doesn’t think there’s a lot to go off of for Beat, but does think it’s a very cool MU thematically, and says it would go hard if they could emulate the animation style of FLCL.
Lan & MegaMan.EXE VS Takato & Guilmon (Mega Man Battle Network VS Digimon)- Luis likes it a lot. Speedy asks if EXE stands a chance, and DJ answers that he doesn’t. Sam would rather see EXE fight somebody from ReBoot, but DJ would prefer a ReBoot VS Code Lyoko fight.
Neo VS Kirito (The Matrix VS Sword Art Online)- General consensus is that they’d like to use Neo, but none of them are fans of SOA (Luis says “if Neo can beat Kirito, then yes”). There’s a big debate about whether or not SOA is responsible for the popularity of the isekai genre. DJ ends up saying Kirito VS Kite is pretty cool too.
Ken Kaneki VS Tsukune Aono (Tokyo Ghoul VS Rosario + Vampire)- None of them know anything about Rosario + Vampire, and the discussion gets derailed by the topic of Death Battle’s logo coming up.
At this point, they make the decision to end the stream there and finish it later.
(Skipped Matchups: Naruto VS Luffy, Wile E. Coyote VS Tom Cat, Gohan VS Ultraman Zero, Monokuma VS Korosensei, Tatsuya Shiba VS Moroha Haimura, Doctor Manhattan VS Richard Nixon, Luffy VS Nastu, Angry Video Game Nerd VS Nostalgia Critic, Isaac Clarke VS Gordon Freeman, Doomsday VS SCP-682, Luke Skywalker VS Saber)

Billy Butcher VS Blitzo (The Boys VS Helluva Boss)- Speedy thought it was neat at first, but, on further thought, thinks that the comparison isn’t very strong since they have such different motivations for killing people, plus there’s a very strong aesthetic clash. DJ, on the other hand, likes the contrast in their motivations and thinks it adds something interesting. Billy says that the comic version of Billy is stronger than the show version, though Speedy disagrees. Sam thinks the aesthetic clash is an obstacle, but it wouldn’t be impossible to make work.
Hiruzen Sarutobi VS Julius Novachrono (Naruto VS Black Clover)- Speedy says it makes sense as they have similar roles in their stories. DJ says “Hiruzen sucks. I want him to die”. Speedy has also seen Julius VS Minato.
Freddy Krueger VS Pennywise (A Nightmare on Elm Street VS IT)- Sam says that Pennywise has some insane stuff from the book, but Speedy notes that the community is starting to think Pennywise isn’t actually that powerful, and says he wants to look into it himself.
Teen Titans Go VS Recreyo- Sam reveals one of Recreyo’s members almost appeared on the Cast. They discuss both series a bit, but none of them are knowledgeable enough about Recreyo to have much of an opinion on the MU.
Nightwolf VS Thunder (Mortal Kombat VS Killer Instinct)- Sam feels that they couldn’t do this episode without discussing the broader cultural context, and doubts that actual Native Americans would appreciate it much. DJ, who actually is part-Native, says he thinks it’s fine as long as they handle it well. Speedy suggests turning it into a threeway by adding T. Hawk from Street Fighter.
Blaze VS Sailor Mars (Sonic the Hedgehog VS Sailor Moon)- Speedy says that, while he’s tired of seeing Sonic characters, Blaze is “one of the exceptions”. DJ really wants to do this episode and likes Mars a lot, and Sam also considers Mars his favorite of the Sailor Scouts.
Violet VS Chisato (Violet Evergarden VS Lycoris Recoil)- They don’t know either series, though DJ has heard good things about Violet Evergarden.
Shulk VS Stocke (Xenoblade Chronicles VS Radiant Historia)- Sam says that the amount of Xenoblade MUs submitted makes him want to give the franchise a try. DJ says the MU’s pretty good, and that he wants Shulk in DB in general.
Kazuya Mishima VS Albert Wesker (Tekken VS Resident Evil)- DJ sarcastically says that Wesker actually wins, before admitting that Kazuya stomps terribly.
Ganondorf VS Griffith (The Legend of Zelda VS Berserk)- Sam doesn’t think it seems very close. Speedy responds that it’s not, as, while Griffith is a lot stronger than Guts, he still doesn’t reach the level of the Zelda universe.
Nagisa Shiota VS Alex Rider (Assassination Classroom VS Alex Rider)- Multiple crew members have nostalgia for Alex Rider, and DJ considers Assassination Classroom a “top 10 anime of all time”. Speedy isn’t sure the connections make sense. DJ says that “Nagisa is getting bodied”. Sam thinks it’s pretty cool and unique.
The Man with No Name VS Harry Callahan (Dollars Trilogy VS Dirty Harry)- DJ loves the Dollars Trilogy and would be down to revisit it for an episode. It’s then argued, however, that the Man with No Name might be better off fighting a classic movie samurai instead. Sam brings up the technological advantage that Harry has due to his movies taking place roughly a century later.
Andrew Ryan VS Mr. House (BioShock VS Fallout)- They all think that it’s really cool. Sam isn’t sure how they’d handle Mr. House, though it’s then pointed out that the OP suggested this as an army fight. DJ asks if Mr. House would get mutants in his army, to which Sam answers no, since the New Vegas Strip is a mutant-free zone.
Nathan Spencer VS Rico Rodriguez (Bionic Commando VS Just Cause)- “Just Cause is such a fun set of games. Bionic Commando, I can’t say as much about”, according to Sam.
Percy Jackson VS Harry Potter- Speedy says the comparison makes sense, but it’s not very fair. Everybody drastically prefers Percy VS Zagreus over any of its alts.
Liquid Snake VS Zeke Yeager (Metal Gear VS Attack on Titan)- Speedy loves Zeke and thinks he’d be fun to use. There’s some discussion about how powerful Metal Gears are, with the general assumption being that they’re about as strong as a nuke, and thus, Liquid wins (though Speedy says large town-level AOT seems legit). Speedy also argues that Metal Gear is a lot faster than AOT.
Stick Figure Battle Royale (Henry Stickmin VS Fancy Pants Man VS Red VS The Second Coming)- It’s cool and fun. “Somebody CC me on an email with the four original animators and we’ll get this done really quick”, says Sam.
Frank West VS Ash Williams (Dead Rising VS Evil Dead)- DJ says Ash would be cool to bring in, and Billy “loves the attitude”. They discuss Ash’s insane supplementary material, and how similar the two characters are.
Joker VS Velvet Crowe (Persona VS Tales of Berseria)- DJ questions how strong Velvet must be to get pit against characters like Joker. Sam jokes that Velvet is getting pit against “everybody who’s also black and red”.
Vigil VS Crypto (Rainbow Six Siege VS Apex Legends)- Sam says it’s cool, but that Apex Legends is also on a whole other level compared to Rainbow Six, so he assumes Crypto takes it.
X VS Optimus Primal (Mega Man X VS Transformers: Beast Wars)- Sam calls it an absolute banger. They were all pleasantly surprised that it did so well in the Tournament of Champions.
Levi Ackerman VS Keiji Kiriya (Attack on Titan VS All You Need is Kill)- They don’t know anything about Keiji, but they think Levi is cool.
Tenacious D VS Ninja Sex Party- Sam doesn’t know what to make of the MU. He reveals that they almost had Jack Black on the Cast to promote the Borderlands movie, but it fell through.
Vilgax VS Ridley (Ben 10 VS Metroid)- Everybody agrees that Vilgax stomps easily.
Hibiki Tachibana VS Yuki Yuna (Symphogear VS Yuki Yuna is a Hero)- Speedy doesn’t know anything about either series, but has seen this MU so much that he’s become interested in looking into them.
Mothman VS Slenderman- DJ calls Slenderman boring. Speedy is into the idea of doing a cryptid, and thinks creepypasta could also be interesting, but thinks there are better options than Slenderman, which Sam agrees with. Someone in the live chat says that composite Slenderman is outerversal, and Speedy “hates the fact that he read that”.
Bendy VS Springtrap (Bendy and the Ink Machine VS Five Nights at Freddy’s)- They prefer Bendy VS Cuphead.
Proto Man VS Shard (Mega Man VS Archie Sonic)- None of them have ever heard of Shard. After reading the connections, Sam says “that kinda makes sense, but Shard? Really?”
Dr. Zomboss VS Dr. Cortex (Plants vs. Zombies VS Crash Bandicoot)- They really only talk about the Crash Bandicoot games instead of the MU.
Kazuo Kiriyama VS Katniss Everdeen (Battle Royale VS The Hunger Games)- DJ loves Battle Royale and is down for this MU. Speedy also thinks that a Katniss episode would be sick. Sam thinks it’s cool, but recalls that they have guns in Battle Royale and “gun beats bow and arrow”. Speedy counters that Katniss has body armor that had allowed her to survive bullets, and has shot down jets with her arrows.
Tommy Oliver VS Lloyd Garmadon (Power Rangers VS Ninjago)- They don’t really have an opinion on it. OP submitted an almost minute long trailer, which leads to a comment about how long fan trailers often are, but Sam says “let them do what they want to do”.
Cuphead VS Dynamite Headdy- They still don’t know anything about Dynamite Headdy, but they’re incredibly impressed by some storyboards OP submitted, with DJ saying the extra effort raises his opinion of the MU.
Diavolo VS Overhaul (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure VS My Hero Academia)- DJ says “I’m so sorry, Overhaul, but you’re super dead”. Speedy disagrees, arguing that Overhaul AP stomps, but DJ says Diavolo is still a lot faster. Sam comments that JoJo has the largest amount of individual characters in Ballot Banter out of any franchise.
Captain America VS Kamen Rider Ichigo (Marvel VS Kamen Rider)- They like the MU a lot, though it would be an absolute beast to research. Billy says there’s always a good turnout whenever they talk about Kamen Rider on the Cast.
Lloyd Irving VS Luke Skywalker (Tales of Symphonia VS Star Wars)- Sam notes that there are a lot of connections. The discussion is mostly about whether or not the OP followed the rules with their submission.
Doctor Doom VS Gilgamesh (Marvel VS Fate)- Sam calls Gilgamesh one of the most requested Fate characters, and Speedy says he’s a sick character that he really wants to use. According to Sam, Liam wants to do Gilgamesh from Fate VS Gilgamesh from Final Fantasy (“or some other weird Gilgamesh thing”).
Robin Battle Royale- Sam says “there’s something there”, and Billy says it’s kinda fun. Speedy thinks Nightwing wins. Sam argues that Red Hood has an advantage because he uses guns, but Speedy then argues that all of the Robins deal with guns enough that this isn’t a major factor. Most of them think that Tim doesn’t stand a chance against the others, only for Speedy to say that Tim’s wings stabbed through Trigon at one point. Sam thinks Damian has a big advantage thanks to his assassin training.
Archie Knuckles VS Juggernaut (Sonic the Hedgehog VS Marvel)- They think it’s pretty sick. Luis says Knuckles probably wins, but Speedy says people have been leaning toward the Juggernaut lately. Billy jokes “it’s no Juggernaut VS Hermione”.
Celestia VS Palutena (My Little Pony VS Kid Icarus)- Sam calls Palutena a more interesting character than Pit. They all agree that Celestia probably wins easily.
Gonzo VS Papyrus (The Muppets VS Undertale)- They consider it to be a pretty solid meme MU.
Dominic Toretto VS Carl Johnson (The Fast and the Furious VS Grand Theft Auto)- DJ wonders how many people who suggest CJ have actually played San Andreas. Sam mentions that CJ has some insane stuff they could potentially give him, which leads to the possibility of giving CJ cheat codes being raised. However, Dom is on an “idiot jet car level”.
Philip J. Fry VS George Jetson (Futurama VS The Jetsons)- DJ says “All George does all day is push a big red button. Not sure what he’s gonna do against Fry”. Speedy likes George Jetson VS Fred Flintstone as an alt, and Billy initially says that MU is more even, but the others argue that Fred actually stomps.
Tokita Ohma VS Baki Hanma (Kengan Ashura VS Baki the Grappler)- It’s brought up that there’s a crossover movie coming out, and Sam jokes that this means they don’t have to do it as an episode. Speedy wanted it on the ToC, but it got rejected by the other mods.
Joker VS Giorno (Persona VS JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)- DJ says “at some point, we’re gonna have to do it”, but he’s not looking forward to the debate that’ll inevitably happen.
Rimuru Tempest VS Ainz Ooal Gown (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime VS Overlord)- Billy is “all over this one”. He thinks Rimuru has a massive advantage over Ainz. Sam says he needs to put TTIGRAAS on his to-do list. DJ asks for Billy’s take on Rimuru VS Kirby, and Billy answers “Kirby’s so out of control, I don’t even know”. Speedy questions the specifics of Rimuru’s multiversal scaling, and Billy says Rimuru’s pretty OP, but the crew agrees to save figuring out the exact scaling for actual research.
Shantae VS Sash Lilac (Shantae VS Freedom Planet)- Sam doesn’t know anything about Freedom Planet, to which Luis responds that it’s essentially an indie Sonic game. Sam and DJ both like Shantae a lot, and DJ argues against the notion of Shantae being an indie character.
Moon Knight VS Azrael (Marvel VS DC)- Speedy calls it “the versus community civil war” because of how close it is. Sam likes the idea of a battle with more grounded superheroes.
Sesshomaru VS Itachi (Inuyasha VS Naruto)- Speedy immediately calls it cool. DJ says he “needs to be convinced Itachi doesn’t auto-win”, to which Speedy responds that Sesshomaru’s daughter cut the moon in half, and that there are arguments to be made that he has counters to many of Itachi’s attacks, so it ultimately comes down to certain specific details.
Jolly Green Giant VS Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (Green Giant VS Ghostbusters)- They’re on board with it, with Sam calling it fun and creative. Billy proposes that the Ghostbusters are on the ground trying to stop them both.
Papa Smurf VS Olimar (The Smurfs VS Pikmin)- Everybody thinks it’s peak. According to Speedy, it was the idea of one of the researchers, and the other researchers wanted him to not tell anybody about it so it can eventually become an episode without anybody ever expecting it. There’s some discussion about how the Smurfs probably have some insane stuff in their long history, and it also gets brought up how Olimar’s ship is said to have star-busting weapons.
Alice VS Flandre Scarlet (Shin Megami Tensei VS Touhou)- DJ thinks it’d be weird to bring in an individual demon from SMT, though he also says Flandre’s cool. Speedy says SMT and Touhou feel like they’re on similar power levels.
Knull VS Orcus (Marvel VS Dungeons & Dragons)- DJ and Speedy are both horrified to see Knull (“Not the Cates scaling!”)
Sailor Mercury VS Tecna (Sailor Moon VS Winx Club)- None of them know anything about Winx Club, but DJ thinks Mercury is very cool.
Jetstream Sam VS Adam Taurus (Metal Gear VS RWBY)- DJ initially says that Adam is “dying very easily”, but Speedy brings up the arguments surrounding Vine’s semblance blocking a nuke and Adam deflecting a particle beam, both of which make it closer.
Master Chief VS Commander Shepard (Halo VS Mass Effect)- Sam says it’s pretty cool, and it feels like a MU they should have seen more than they actually have. The others also think it’s neat, with DJ commenting that Ben would have a lot to say about it. Sam argues that Master Chief wouldn’t be able to stand up to Commander Shepard’s biotics if you allow them access to the full extent of them, but he still thinks “any opportunity to talk about Mass Effect is a good time”.
Spear & Fang VS San & Moro (Primal VS Princess Mononoke)- They’re all extremely enthusiastic about and think it’s sick.
Sackboy VS Maxwell (LittleBigPlanet VS Scribblenauts)- DJ loves it a lot, having grown up with both games and considering them some of his favorites.
Penny Polendina VS Zane Julien (RWBY VS Ninjago)- They get it. Sam comments that people love Penny, and DJ says “they love killing her too”.
Yoshikage Kira VS Tohru Adachi (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure VS Persona)- Glossed over because it’s been talked about a lot. It’s pretty good, and DJ thinks Adachi stomps.
The Warden VS Black Hat (Superjail VS Villainous)- They talk a bit about Superjail as a show, before getting distracted by the next MU.
Dragonborn VS Fluttershy (Skyrim VS My Little Pony)- They laugh at the randomness of it. Speedy jokes that it makes perfect sense, but refuses to elaborate, causing them to scroll past it.
Perry VS Skipper (Phineas and Ferb VS Madagascar)- Erin calls it based, and the others agree. Speedy questions whether Perry could beat all four Penguins of Madagascar on his own. Someone in the live chat posts a TN of Perry VS I.M. Weasel, which they think is funny.
Cell VS Garou (Dragon Ball VS One-Punch Man)- DJ asks if they would include God Garou, and Speedy says they would, because the MU is actually pretty fair with that form. Sam is surprised Cell hasn’t really come back yet. Billy makes a comment about DevilArtemis voicing Cell, and Sam says they’d 100% do that.
Medic VS Richtofen (Team Fortress 2 VS Call of Duty: Zombies)- They understand the idea, and mention some of the insane stuff that happens in COD: Zombies.
RuneScape Protagonist VS World of Warcraft Protagonist- Speedy asks if anybody has ever power scaled RuneScape, and assumes the answer is no. Sam discusses how insane the scaling for the WoW protagonist can get when you consider all the different expansions.
Winnie the Pooh VS Mini P.E.K.K.A. (Disney VS Clash Royale)- Speedy thinks a Winnie the Pooh episode would go hard. Luis says the right MU for Pooh is Cocaine Bear, which is a fight that everybody agrees Pooh wins.
Kaguya VS Ultimecia (Naruto VS Final Fantasy)- DJ likes it, calling it different from “other Kaguya MUs” (as in, Kaguya VS Yhwach). Sam calls Ultimecia a very cool, underlooked Final Fantasy villain, and says Final Fantasy VIII is his favorite PS1 era FF game.
Beat VS Red (Jet Set Radio VS Bomb Rush Cyberfunk)- DJ loves Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Sam doesn’t think there’s a lot to go off of for Beat, but does think it’s a very cool MU thematically, and says it would go hard if they could emulate the animation style of FLCL.
Lan & MegaMan.EXE VS Takato & Guilmon (Mega Man Battle Network VS Digimon)- Luis likes it a lot. Speedy asks if EXE stands a chance, and DJ answers that he doesn’t. Sam would rather see EXE fight somebody from ReBoot, but DJ would prefer a ReBoot VS Code Lyoko fight.
Neo VS Kirito (The Matrix VS Sword Art Online)- General consensus is that they’d like to use Neo, but none of them are fans of SOA (Luis says “if Neo can beat Kirito, then yes”). There’s a big debate about whether or not SOA is responsible for the popularity of the isekai genre. DJ ends up saying Kirito VS Kite is pretty cool too.
Ken Kaneki VS Tsukune Aono (Tokyo Ghoul VS Rosario + Vampire)- None of them know anything about Rosario + Vampire, and the discussion gets derailed by the topic of Death Battle’s logo coming up.
At this point, they make the decision to end the stream there and finish it later.
(Skipped Matchups: Naruto VS Luffy, Wile E. Coyote VS Tom Cat, Gohan VS Ultraman Zero, Monokuma VS Korosensei, Tatsuya Shiba VS Moroha Haimura, Doctor Manhattan VS Richard Nixon, Luffy VS Nastu, Angry Video Game Nerd VS Nostalgia Critic, Isaac Clarke VS Gordon Freeman, Doomsday VS SCP-682, Luke Skywalker VS Saber)

https://minimalfreaks.co/2024/05/traxsource-hype-chart-may-6th-2024/

1. Riva Starr – Love You Till Tomorrow (Extended Mix) 04:44 123bpm 3A
2. Ezel, Rona Ray – Don’t Know Yet (Booker T Vocal Mix) 07:48 123bpm 11A
3. Michael Gray, Tatiana Owens – Season High (Extended Mix) 05:32 122bpm 4A
4. DJ Ibanez – No Stressing (Sebb Junior Extended Remix) 05:44 124bpm 7A
5. Yolanda Be Cool – I Got Your Man (Original Mix) 05:32 128bpm 9B
6. Raffaele Ciavolino – Groove Efficace (Original Mix) 05:24 125bpm 4A
7. Pablo Fierro, Joyia – Our Love (Original Mix) 04:49 123bpm 11A
8. D.P.V. – Satisfy (Original Mix) 05:51 121bpm 10A
9. Backroom Productions – What Can You Do For Me (Dave Lee Classic Vibe Mix) 06:01 123bpm 12A
10. Da Lukas – Supergood (Extended Mix) 07:04 120bpm 1A
11. DJ Fen, Cash Only – Salsa House (Extended Mix) 05:32 128bpm 3A
12. Luis Radio – Sobre As Ondas (Original Mix) 06:15 123bpm 6B
13. Kellie Allen – The Bass (Original Mix) 06:00 129bpm 5A
14. Masaki Morii, Mr. ID – Night Safari (Original Mix) 06:51 123bpm 8A
15. Thomas Garcia, Mele – Ritmo 305 (Original Mix) 06:13 128bpm 9A
16. Wally Lopez, Angelo Ferreri – Arabic Nights (Angelo Ferreri Remix) (Extended Mix) 05:42 127bpm 6A
17. Dee Gorgeous – Better Than Sex (Dirty Channels Edit) 04:19 124bpm 6B
18. Dr Packer – You Got The Love (St. Croix Extended Remix) 05:31 128bpm 7A
19. Mo’Cream – Talking Shadows (Original Mix) 06:53 123bpm 12A
20. Angelo Ferreri – All Times Disco (Original Mix) 05:16 128bpm 10A
21. Mr. V, Agent Greg, Marlin (BE) – Bimbo (Move Forward) (Extended Mix) 06:00 124bpm 2B
22. Innervision, Melonie Daniels – Don’t You Ever Give Up (feat. Melonie Daniels) (Craig C Revival Anthem) 08:28 125bpm 3A
23. Sammy Deuce – Easy Thing (Original Mix) 05:50 121bpm 11B
24. QVLN – Menina (QVLN Mix) 04:47 124bpm 5A
25. DJ Nic-E – Freedom Is The Choice (Original Mix) 05:24 125bpm 5A
26. Ezel, Rona Ray – Don’t Know Yet (Oscar P Afro Soul Mix) 06:34 123bpm 2B
27. Audiowhores, Suki Soul – Can’t Stop Me Now (Original Mix) 07:58 120bpm 4A
28. T.Markakis – Sensation (Extended Mix) 06:50 122bpm 12B
29. Midnight City – Feels So Goodé (Extended Mix) 06:17 123bpm 5A
30. Locklead – Zero’s Delight (Original Mix) 07:02 130bpm 5B
31. Jerome Robins – Keep Forgettin’ (Original) 05:13 123bpm 9A
32. Emotive Technology – Rise (Original Mix) 04:55 120bpm 7A
33. DJ Mes – Holy Ghost (Original Mix) 06:14 120bpm 4A
34. Jo Paciello – Just open your mind (Deep Jazz Mix) 07:32 123bpm 10A
35. Johnick, DiscoGalactiX – Supernova (Original) 05:49 125bpm 3A
36. Armand Van Helden, Mark Knight – Release Me (CID Extended Remix) 05:18 127bpm 12B
37. Tommy Glasses – You (Original Mix) 04:42 123bpm 4B
38. Jay Caruso – He’ll Make A Way (DJ Spen Re-Edit) 06:57 123bpm 2A
39. Tayson Kryss, TWENTY SIX – Buscando Money (HUGEL & Jesús Fernández Extended Remix) 05:27 126bpm 8A
40. Shabi – Fresh Feeling (Original Mix) 06:25 122bpm 8A
41. Inner City, IDRIS – We All Move Together (Kevin Saunderson x Latroit Extended Remix) 04:21 126bpm 11B
42. PolyRhythm, Nomvula SA – Bawo Ngiyabonga (David Montoya Mix) 07:31 120bpm 6A
43. Aquatone, Dwson – So Long (Original Mix) 06:24 116bpm 6A
44. Oculist – Faith In What You Do (Original Mix) 06:40 127bpm 7A
45. Sgt Slick – White Treble Black Bass (Slick’s Extended Discotizer Recut) 05:16 123bpm 12B
46. Massimo Pantelli – Backswing (Original Mix) 05:43 125bpm 9A
47. Colonel Red, Danny Kane – Thang (Original Mix) 05:46 117bpm 10A
48. Chuckie – KTB (Original Mix) 04:36 126bpm 10A
49. Roy Jazz Grant, Anthony Crupi, Nicky Louise – Frequency (Original Mix) 07:03 124bpm 11A
50. Black Legend, Todd Terry – Put Your Hands Together (Black Legend Remix) 04:53 125bpm 7A
51. Hatiras – Guitarra Z (Original) 06:07 126bpm 12A
52. Jessie Wagner, John Soulution – Playing Games With My Heart (MoD & Satafan Torsell Remix) 05:30 125bpm 8A
53. Selomi – Igwe (Original Mix) 06:37 122bpm 7B
54. Skygroover – Jazz Rhythm (Extended Mix) 06:18 128bpm 9A
55. Gianni Junior – Shake Your Head (2024 Reload) 05:47 123bpm 10A
56. Stranger Danger – The Solution (Original Mix) 05:56 124bpm 9A
57. Romain Villeroy – Let It Row (Original Mix) 05:14 123bpm 12B
58. Selli Martin – Danaus (Original Mix) 08:57 122bpm 12A
59. Din Jay – People Let’s Dance (Extended Mix) 05:44 124bpm 5A
60. Fella Moogy – Unity Sound (Original Jazz Dancer Mix) 04:50 127bpm 10A
61. Samtroy – I’m Not Gonna Lie (Original Mix) 05:13 125bpm 8B
62. The 2nd Opinion – Tribal Children (Tribal House Mix) 06:36 124bpm 8A
63. Cafe 432, Aaron K Gray – Another Day (Extended Club Mix) 06:06 123bpm 7A
64. Ramoss, Nico Ramírez – Loving (Original Mix) 06:56 129bpm 6A
65. A.P.(84Bit) – Live Now (Original Mix) 06:01 124bpm 4A
66. Gina Breeze – Rebound (Original Mix) 05:08 132bpm 9A
67. Austins Groove – Daydreamin’ (Original Mix) 05:22 128bpm 9A
68. Paul DaSoul – Everybody Like My Party (Original Mix) 05:56 120bpm 12B
69. Franc Spangler, Hudson’s Choice – Heavily Percussed (Original Mix) 06:13 150bpm 9A
70. GooDisco – Call Me (Original Mix) 05:48 122bpm 1A
71. Victor Alc, Murilo Tronco – Forma de Querer (Original Mix) 05:46 122bpm 5A
72. Rona Ray, Yooks – All The Way (Club Dub) (Cub Dub) 06:26 123bpm 9B
73. Marco Lys – I Don’t Wanna Go Back (Extended Mix) 06:35 127bpm 10B
74. Danny Clark, Rainy Payne – Pen Paper Prose (Vocal Mix) 09:24 124bpm 7A
75. brunch.wav – Mr White Kinda Vibe (Original Mix) 05:48 123bpm 8A
76. Dexter Troy – My Ghetto (Original Mix) 06:24 125bpm 2B
77. Morris Revy, DEL BIANCHI – Ogo Jesu feat. Morris Revy (David Marques Remix) 06:27 120bpm 7A
78. Cream House, Gangdoolz – All on Board (Original Mix) 03:35 127bpm 9B
79. Josh Butler – Seeder (Original Mix) 05:12 130bpm 6B
80. Electronic Youth – This Way (Extended Mix) 06:52 124bpm 3A
81. Melchyor A – Ain’t Nobody Love Like You (Melchyor A’S Touch Version) 06:43 124bpm 5B
82. Michael Gray, Kelli Sae – Don’t Want Anybody (Extended Mix) 05:19 120bpm 8A
83. Discuji – Yellow Swan (Original Mix) 06:36 122bpm 6A
84. Roberto Parisi – Ghetto Jackin (Original Mix) 05:38 125bpm 5B
85. Hanna Hais, Leo Guardo, GuguPash – Angeke (Original Mix) 05:23 120bpm 9B
86. Save The Robots – Gumdrops (Original Mix) 06:20 123bpm 4A
87. Jackmaster – Don’t You Want My Lovin’ (Mike Dunn’s ‘BlackBall 303’ Remix) 05:32 128bpm 3B
88. Distant People, Elisha Jay – Sweet Talk feat. Elisha Jay (Tony Deledda Remix) 05:26 120bpm 4A
89. T.Markakis – A Beautiful Day (Extended Mix) 04:51 120bpm 5A
90. D.C. LaRue – Hot Jungle Drums and Voodoo Rhythm (Ladies on Mars Extended Remix) 05:52 125bpm 8A
91. Demarkus Lewis – Finger Roll (Original Mix) 06:36 126bpm 9A
92. SAVISTO – Low Rolla (Original Mix) 06:33 128bpm 8A
93. Ethiopian Chyld – In My Space (Original Mix) 07:04 120bpm 12B
94. Tiger & Woods, EM’ – Cotton & Silk (Original Mix) 03:44 125bpm 5B
95. Jack District – Got It (Original Mix) 06:12 78bpm 9A
96. HEDGE, Josh de Luna – Pounds n Pences (Original Mix) 05:54 130bpm 2A
97. George Vibe – Tremendo Tumbao (Original Mix) 05:43 125bpm 8A
98. Tom Nolan – Shaking Ground (Original Mix) 06:00 128bpm 10B
99. Spinnage – Remedy (Demarkus Lewis Remix) 06:12 124bpm 5B
100. Max Styler – Lights Out (Extended Mix) 05:31 128bpm 2B
101. Erdinc Akbulut – Hena (Original Mix) 05:54 122bpm 11A
102. Ch!NJoNG x Ch!NJoNG – Ressucitar (Original Mix) 06:02 123bpm 6A
103. Juwan Rates – Show Me (Original Mix) 06:09 128bpm 6A
104. Nobody Cares (MX) – Smash! (Original Mix) 04:44 125bpm 12A
105. MaWhoo, Soulfreakah – Imizi YoBaba (Original Mix) 06:28 115bpm 1A
106. Both 91 – Feels Like (Original Mix) 04:23 124bpm 11A
107. Demuir – The music in space (Original Mix) 07:18 128bpm 4A
108. Sebastian Darez – Kimbo (Extended Mix) 06:37 127bpm 9A
109. Hypaphonik – Funa Wena (Original Mix) 07:22 118bpm 6A
110. Tiyani – Last Night (Original Mix) 06:41 116bpm 10B
111. Disco Lust – Movin (Original Mix) 06:30 118bpm 3A
112. DJ Popinjay – Jacking My Fusion (Original Mix) 05:14 125bpm 5B
113. Michael Gray, Tatiana Owens – Ivy (Extended Mix) 04:32 118bpm 9B
114. Katermurr – Beautiful Spirit (Original Mix) 05:35 127bpm 8B
115. Rockin Moroccin – Always On Time (Extended Mix) 06:49 122bpm 5A
116. Nick Maurer, Deeplomatik – Crash the Party (Extended Mix) 05:53 126bpm 5A
117. Akumen – I Need You (Original Mix) 05:52 126bpm 9A
118. Mattei & Omich – Hypnagogic (I Can’t Wait) (Radio Mix) 03:57 65bpm 8A
119. Sasha GiGi – Superfresh (Extended) 05:01 128bpm 10B
120. Jamie S. – All Winner & No Spinner (Original Mix) 08:09 125bpm 6A
121. Korus, Blanka Mazimela, Sobantwana – Gcwanini (Samantha Loveridge Extended Remix) 06:04 122bpm 8A
122. Paco Caniza – In Da Club (Original Mix) 05:18 123bpm 8A
123. Faze Action – I Wanna Dancer (Reflex Dub Mix) 04:17 121bpm 8A
124. Brother James – It’s All In Me (Original Mix) 06:19 124bpm 10A
125. Danny Wild, Nataly K – Talk About us (Original Mix) 05:52 127bpm 7B
126. Cartoon, Joe Diem, Guezmark – Welele (Original Mix) 05:30 122bpm 8A
127. Flevans, Laura Vane – Say Yes (Original Mix) 04:24 120bpm 8A
128. Charlie Hamilton, Rune Sibiya – Sweet Emily (Remix) 08:12 117bpm 2A
129. G Spice – Rainforest (Original Mix) 06:59 125bpm 12B
130. Chocolate Dice – Can’t Hold Me Back (Original Mix) 07:03 127bpm 9A
131. M. Rodriguez – Vortex (Original Mix) 06:30 128bpm 1A
132. Jetzen – Two Worlds (Original Mix) 03:47 120bpm 5A
133. BOND – Midnight Dance (Original Mix) 04:40 124bpm 5A
134. Papa Marlin, Bondar – Supa Fly (Original Mix) 05:35 128bpm 7A
135. DAN-E-MC – Musica House (Eddie Amador Club Mix) 06:50 126bpm 8B
136. Kaysoul – Ooo’s (Original Mix) 04:16 120bpm 9A
137. Marco Santoro – Dance with Me (Extended Mix) 05:37 126bpm 5A
138. Michael Gray, Tatiana Owens – Butterfly (Extended Mix) 05:02 115bpm 8B
139. DJ Two4, InQfive – Input (Original Mix) 07:56 122bpm 8B
140. D-tip – House Family (Original Mix) 06:10 117bpm 2A
141. Jordano Roosevelt – Swag (Original Mix) 05:58 130bpm 1B
142. Sen-Sei, col lawton – Box Clever (Original Mix) 06:28 124bpm 9A
143. Mike Mago – The Show (Tensnake Extended Remix) 04:45 130bpm 7B
144. Sean Bartana – I Feel Your Love (Original Mix) 07:46 124bpm 7A
145. OCHO (NY), Julian Kumar – Drink Smoke Dance (Original Mix) 05:54 130bpm 2A
146. Venessa Jackson, Groovement Inc. – Love & Affection (Goshawk Remix) 06:26 120bpm 6A
147. Suburb Beat – Family Affair (Original Mix) 04:55 117bpm 5A
148. Ian Kenzof, Nomvula SA – Buyekhaya (Giorgio Bassetti Remix) 06:28 121bpm 12B
149. D. Rossini – Love Won’t Wait (Original Mix) 05:30 123bpm 8B
150. Discuji – The Wall (Prins Thomas Remix) 07:10 106bpm 8A
151. Marco Molina, Nishant Bardoloi – Come On Over (Original Mix) 06:40 126bpm 8A
152. Richelle Hicks, Andrea Curato – All In All (Original Mix) 07:40 126bpm 3B
153. Furious George – Solarquake (Original Mix) 08:28 125bpm 9A
154. Donnell Pitman, E. Live, Wings of Sunshine – Get Next To You ft. Anda (Original Mix) 05:27 118bpm 8A
155. Niki Muxx – In My Mind (Original Mix) 05:30 120bpm 5A
156. Nick Dare – Keep Me Right (Original Mix) 05:50 123bpm 2A
157. Zetaphunk, Yvvan Back, Alfreda Gerald, Jame Starck – Hallelujah (Extended Mix) 06:12 126bpm 1B
158. Boyd – Dreams Do Come True (Original Mix) 06:43 122bpm 7A
159. David Jager – Tonadas (Original Mix) 06:40 128bpm 11A
160. Demarkus Lewis – What Is This (Original Mix) 06:39 125bpm 11A
161. Ruben Vidal, Theo Lawson – Afro Hard (Original Mix) 07:32 125bpm 6A
162. Samuel L Session – Off the Wall (Original Mix) 07:44 138bpm 5B
163. InQfive, Kutullo Nawa – Set Me Free (Original Mix) 06:44 120bpm 7A
164. Pahua, Eva De Marce – Porque Yo (feat. Eva de Marce) (JKriv Remix) 06:34 123bpm 8A
165. Jason Rivas, Glitch Vuu, Thirsty at the Festival – Last Heroes (Original Mix) 04:09 129bpm 12A
166. Sam Warner – Certain Kinda Way (Original Mix) 04:40 130bpm 7A
167. Nikola Gala – Kilo Tango 24 (Original Mix) 09:07 124bpm 8A
168. Okey, Orsay – Natura (Extended Mix) 05:20 120bpm 2A
169. Wolffman, Thea Austin, NICKY LOUWERS – Rhythm of My Heart (Extended) (Original Mix) 03:28 125bpm 8B
170. Mark Di Meo, Mathieu Ruz – Oriana (Extended Mix) 05:25 125bpm 12A
171. Tom Leeland, Morris Revy – Get Down with Me feat. Morris Revy (Original Mix) 06:18 123bpm 9A
172. Marcus Soulbynight – Deep Faith (Original Mix) 05:56 124bpm 7A
173. White Ocean – Piano Black (Original Mix) 04:22 126bpm 9A
174. Da Afro – S.O.A. (Original Mix) 06:33 122bpm 5B
175. 3kelves, We Are Neurotic – Up On This! (Original Mix) 04:10 125bpm 4A
176. Disco Daddy – If You Try (Original Mix) 04:27 124bpm 10A
177. Hannes Bieger, Shrii – Rising (Extended Mix) 08:16 126bpm 4A
178. Lavelle Dupree, Freshcobar – Knee Deep (Extended Mix) 05:29 127bpm 5A
179. Meloglen – For Hire (Nacho Marco Remix) 07:06 122bpm 11A
180. Ezequiel G – Fire (Original Mix) 05:47 127bpm 9A
181. Casa Flayva – Karimo (Original Mix) 06:42 123bpm 8B
182. Levi Swarn – Calm In The Chaos (Original Mix) 06:18 132bpm 10A
183. Alexs Diwave – Como E´ (Original Mix) 04:24 125bpm 9A
184. V of Vossae, Adam Nazar – Lotería (Original Mix) 03:30 122bpm 6A
185. Leandro Di – Dance Therapy (Original Mix) 06:18 128bpm 1A
186. Lu/Lu, LYMA – Keep Trying 05:27 137bpm 10A
187. Henry Navarro – Looking For Love (Original Mix) 07:32 120bpm 7A
188. Lu.cian, Ratier – Can We Fly (Extended Mix) 06:29 125bpm 4A
189. Christos Fourkis – Pierdo (Original Mix) 06:51 123bpm 4A
190. Fynn, SWVRE – Togetherness (Original Mix) 07:49 116bpm 12A
191. Larry Funk – Over U (Original Mix) 05:03 122bpm 4A
192. Roland Leesker – Respect (Original Mix) 07:26 130bpm 6A
193. Who Am I – Split Personality (Original Mix) 05:46 129bpm 4A
194. Hanssin – Corazón (Extended Mix) 05:46 128bpm 4A
195. Pissi – Night Air (Original Mix) 05:48 122bpm 2A
196. Moorez – End Of Masters (Original Mix) 07:00 115bpm 4A
197. Raje – Care for Some Caviar? (Original Mix) 05:00 128bpm 6A
198. Tommy Gustav – Forever Thing (Original Mix) 06:41 120bpm 8B
199. Juan Diaz, Jeremy Bass, Dave Rius – Bailalo (Extended Mix) 07:18 125bpm 11A
200. Matt Caseli, Matt Lightbourn – Dangerous (Extended Mix) 05:36 129bpm 7A
201. Ivan Kay, Walter Gardini – Eivissa (Original Mix) 04:55 126bpm 7A
202. Homero Espinosa, Miguel Rios, Cris Herrera – Come and Go (Original Mix) 06:04 127bpm 5A
203. The Cube Guys, F. Physical – Gatsby (Original Mix) 04:54 128bpm 6A
204. Loopman – Sefu (Original Mix) 08:16 120bpm 8B
205. Ken@Work, The Vapor Caves – Knock U Out (Ken@Work Club Dub Mix) 04:19 120bpm 11A
206. KPD – Vinyl Junkie (Two Lee Remix) 05:09 127bpm 7A
207. James Curd, Mark Maxwell – Magnetic (Extended Mix) 05:43 126bpm 6B
208. InQfive, BusyExplore – Mfanaka (Original Mix) 07:03 118bpm 8A
209. Marc Spieler, Lenny Cesar – Uzuri (Remix) (Hauke Steinbach Re-Think) 04:43 122bpm 6A
210. HWG – Still Waiting (Original Mix) 06:15 124bpm 6A
211. CeCe Rogers – Miracles (Simioli Remix) 05:05 126bpm 2A
212. Christophe Salin – Your Soul (Rework) 07:09 124bpm 3A
213. Josh Stone – It’s Joyful (Original Mix) 06:49 123bpm 9B
214. Duke & Jones – Formulate (Extended Mix) 04:05 126bpm 8A
215. Inaky Garcia, Apostolos Argiris – Fela (Afro Club Mix) 04:35 123bpm 7B
216. Maex – Tinder Sax (Martin Eigenberg Remix) 04:05 126bpm 10A
217. Slow Hearts – Mandarine (Original Mix) 08:33 121bpm 9B
218. Tonbe – Clavs Rules (2024 Mix) 06:06 120bpm 5B
219. Alton Miller – AM Forplay (Original Mix) 06:52 122bpm 8B
220. Sorrentino – Wassa (Original Mix) 08:07 124bpm 12B
221. Jose Aranda, Vanessa Torrú – Pura Raza (Original Mix) 04:41 122bpm 12B
222. Magic Funk – Move to the Funky (Original Mix) 04:53 126bpm 8A
223. Daniele Dovico – Everyday (Original Mix) 04:57 126bpm 11A
224. Sven Wegner – Rollercoast (Original Mix) 05:17 120bpm 3A
225. Rich NxT – In The Scribe (Original Mix) 05:39 130bpm 7A
226. Chemars – All About Last Night (Original Mix) 05:42 124bpm 9B
227. Shay DT – Wodaabe (Original Mix) 05:36 125bpm 9A
228. FDF (Italy) – Hint Of Piano (Original Mix) 06:03 124bpm 11A
229. CLASS’88 – Make You Know (Original Mix) 06:05 128bpm 5A
230. Save The Robots – Rollerskates (Original Mix) 05:09 121bpm 12B
231. Gari Romalis – Detroit V.I.P (Original Mix) 07:40 126bpm 5A
232. DMIZE – YOU (Real Vibes Mix 2024) 04:57 129bpm 9A
233. REIGN (US) – Love Attention (Original Mix) 05:27 124bpm 10A
234. The Dudes [COL] – Ready Set Go (Original Mix) 06:13 126bpm 10A
235. BEBO (EG), Adwas – Tita (Original Mix) 06:32 120bpm 9A
236. Lucalag – Northern Lights (Original Mix) 05:48 124bpm 5A
237. Lucalag – Night Shift (Original Mix) 05:48 124bpm 7A
238. Bonetti – I Must Survive (Original Mix) 05:14 125bpm 8B
239. Allan Biggs – Brollywood (Original Mix) 06:29 124bpm 9A
240. Electric Pill – Echoes In The Dark (Original Mix) 05:27 123bpm 6A
241. Sean Biddle, Oggie B – The Workout (Barney’s Stripped Back Mix) 06:02 126bpm 8B
242. Papa Dummy – Tricks On Tracks (Main Mix) 06:21 121bpm 4B
243. Pablo Bolivar, Pedro Sanmartin – Hypnotica (Original Mix) 06:32 121bpm 5A
244. Mike Newman – I’ve Got You (Original Mix) 05:37 125bpm 7B
245. HyperSOUL-X, Coke Segwapa – Pick Up (Original Mix) 05:23 120bpm 7A
246. DJ Fafu – Cool Gray (Original Mix) 05:38 124bpm 8A
247. Stanny Abram – Okonada (Original Mix) 06:17 123bpm 9B
248. Ghetto Groove – What You Gonna Do (Original Mix) 05:51 127bpm 3B
249. Stagz Jazz, Da Vynalist – Soft Landing (Original Mix) 06:53 116bpm 2A
250. Fatboi, CAVALLI (IT) – Bebelo (Original Mix) 03:39 126bpm 10A
251. Paul Parsons – Boppin That (Original Mix) 05:22 122bpm 12A
252. Candy Man SA – Chambers (Original Mix) 06:30 120bpm 10B
253. High & Dry – The Generation (Original Mix) 06:31 125bpm 11B
254. Arlissa, Life on Planets – She Ride The Wind (feat. Arlissa) (Extended Mix) 04:48 120bpm 10A
255. Mr.Ed – Creadol (Original Mix) 05:49 127bpm 9A
256. Dj Kid, Felix van Ginkel – Connected (Extended Mix) 07:03 92bpm 9A
257. Alexny – Sky So Blue (Original Mix) 05:26 118bpm 8A
258. Fontana – Lothargic Nights (Original Mix) 05:01 128bpm 9A
259. Reza, Tom Chubb – Here For You (Extended Mix) 05:59 125bpm 12A
260. Santos – Gentle In A Minute (Original Mix) 06:20 70bpm 9A
261. Castro Victor – Broken (Original Mix) 05:30 122bpm 12B
262. Aristo G – Stop (Original Mix) 05:41 125bpm 6B
263. Matt Myer, klavive – Never Stops (Original Mix) 05:38 125bpm 3B
264. Luvless – Be Mine (Andras Remix) 05:16 122bpm 9A
265. Raidho – The Gate (Original Mix) 06:41 88bpm 3B
266. Less Hate, Megan Kashat – Garden Of Ecstasy (Original Mix) 06:26 122bpm 10A
267. Nico Masset, Santy Perizzotti – Spirits (Original Mix) 06:07 130bpm 1A
268. Mr BC – Make It Burn (Rave Mix) 06:53 112bpm 11B
269. Tony Deledda – Everybody (Original Mix) 05:46 120bpm 2B
270. Dimo, GreySides, Sam Stone – Cross That Line (Remixes) (CASSIMM Remix) 05:42 126bpm 4A
271. McCuemza Isaac’s, Dj Tyzo – A Sunflower For My Sunflower (RFD Deep Mix) 08:31 129bpm 2A
272. Vittorio Brena, Beau Soleil – Dr. Love (Original Mix) 05:27 125bpm 6A
273. Ben Banjo Field – Hold It Down (Original Mix) 06:02 123bpm 10A
274. Demarkus Lewis – Gotta Get Away (Original Mix) 05:35 126bpm 11A
275. Jesus Pablo – Little Crocodile (Extended Mix) 06:27 120bpm 3A
276. Joselacruz – Energizer love (Original Mix) 06:33 124bpm 9B
277. Lauer, DENA – Affection (Original Mix) 03:42 124bpm 10B
278. Micíades – Uhuru (Original Mix) 06:18 92bpm 4B
279. Demian Muller, Gabriel Rocha – Dyper Lov (Rework 2024) 06:56 123bpm 6A
280. Distant People, Elisha Jay – Sweet Talk feat. Elisha Jay (Tayo’s Late Night Dub) 06:08 120bpm 12B
281. Meloglen – For Hire (Original Mix) 04:30 122bpm 12A
282. Papa Dummy – Unfoldered (Original Mix) 06:14 123bpm 4B
283. Sebastian Darez – Atila (Extended Mix) 06:35 127bpm 5A
284. Spinnage – Remedy (Original Mix) 06:16 124bpm 4A

Title: Traxsource Hype Chart May 6th, 2024 *exclusive\* Genre: House, Afro House, Deep House, Funky House, Jackin House, Nu Disco / Disco, Soulful House, Tech House, Indie Dance, Melodic House & Techno, Minimal / Deep Tech, UK Garage / Bassline, Progressive House Release Date: 2024-05-06
DOWNLOAD in 320kbps: https://sharing-db.club/djs-chart/482639_traxsource-hype-chart-may-6th-2024/
Tracklist: 1. Riva Starr – Love You Till Tomorrow (Extended Mix) (4:44) 2. Ezel, Rona Ray – Don’t Know Yet (Booker T Vocal Mix) (7:48) 3. Michael Gray, Tatiana Owens – Season High (Extended Mix) (5:32) 4. DJ Ibanez – No Stressing (Sebb Junior Extended Remix) (5:44) 5. Yolanda Be Cool – I Got Your Man (Original Mix) (5:32) 6. Raffaele Ciavolino – Groove Efficace (5:24) 7. Joyia, Pablo Fierro – Our Love (4:49) 8. D.P.V. – Satisfy (5:51) 9. Backroom Productions – What Can You Do For Me (Dave Lee Classic Vibe Mix) (6:00) 10. Da Lukas – Supergood (Extended Mix) (7:04) 11. DJ Fen, Cash Only – Salsa House (Extended Mix) (5:32) 12. Luis Radio – Sobre As Ondas (Original Mix) (6:15) 13. Kellie Allen – The Bass (6:00) 14. Masaki Morii, Mr. ID – Night Safari (6:51) 15. Thomas Garcia, Mele – Ritmo 305 (Original Mix) (6:13) 16. Wally Lopez, Angelo Ferreri – Arabic Nights (Angelo Ferreri Remix) (Extended Mix) (5:42) 17. Dee Gorgeous – Better Than Sex (Dirty Channels Edit) (4:19) 18. Dr Packer – You Got The Love (St. Croix Extended Remix) (5:31) 19. Mo’Cream – Talking Shadows (6:53) 20. Angelo Ferreri – All Times Disco (5:16) 21. Marlin (BE), Agent Greg, Mr. V – Bimbo (Move Forward) (Extended Mix) (6:00) 22. Innervision, Melonie Daniels – Don’t You Ever Give Up (feat. Melonie Daniels) (Craig C Revival Anthem) (8:28) 23. Sammy Deuce – Easy Thing (5:50) 24. Qvln – Menina (QVLN Mix) (4:47) 25. DJ Nic-E – Freedom Is The Choice (5:24) 26. Ezel, Rona Ray – Don’t Know Yet (Oscar P Afro Soul Mix) (6:34) 27. Audiowhores, Suki Soul – Can’t Stop Me Now (7:58) 28. T.Markakis – Sensation (Extended Mix) (6:50) 29. Midnight City – Feels So Goodé (Extended Mix) (6:17) 30. Locklead – Zero’s Delight (7:02) 31. Jerome Robins – Keep Forgettin’ (5:13) 32. Emotive Technology – Rise (4:55) 33. DJ Mes – Holy Ghost (6:14) 34. Jo Paciello – Just open your mind (Deep Jazz Mix) (7:32) 35. DiscoGalactiX, JohNick – Supernova (5:49) 36. Mark Knight, Armand van Helden – Release Me (CID Extended Remix) (5:17) 37. Jay Caruso – He’ll Make A Way (DJ Spen Re-Edit) (6:57) 38. TWENTY SIX, Tayson Kryss – Buscando Money (HUGEL & Jesús Fernández Extended Remix) (5:27) 39. Shabi – Fresh Feeling (6:25) 40. Inner City, IDRIS – We All Move Together (Kevin Saunderson x Latroit Extended Remix) (4:21) 41. Polyrhythm, Nomvula SA – Bawo Ngiyabonga (David Montoya Mix) (7:31) 42. Dwson, Aquatone – So Long (Original Mix) (6:24) 43. Oculist – Faith In What You Do (6:40) 44. Sgt Slick – White Treble Black Bass (Slick’s Extended Discotizer Recut) (5:16) 45. Massimo Pantelli – Backswing (5:43) 46. Danny Kane, Colonel Red – Thang (5:46) 47. Chuckie – KTB (Original Mix) (4:36) 48. Roy Jazz Grant, Anthony Crupi, nicky louise – Frequency (7:03) 49. Todd Terry, Black Legend – Put Your Hands Together (Black Legend Remix) (4:53) 50. Hatiras – Guitarra Z (6:07) 51. John Soulution, Jessie Wagner – Playing Games With My Heart (Mod & Staffan Torsell Remix) (5:30) 52. Selomi – Igwe (6:37) 53. Skygroover – Jazz Rhythm (Extended Mix) (6:18) 54. Gianni Junior – Shake Your Head (2024 Reload) (5:47) 55. Romain Villeroy – Let It Row (5:14) 56. Selli Martin – Danaus (8:57) 57. Din Jay – People Let’s Dance (Extended Mix) (5:44) 58. Fella Moogy, Danny J Lewis – Unity Sound (Original Jazz Dancer Mix) (Radio Edit) (4:50) 59. Samtroy – I’m Not Gonna Lie (5:13) 60. The 2nd Opinion – Tribal Children (Tribal House Mix) (6:35) 61. Cafe 432, Aaron K Gray – Another Day (Extended Club Mix) (6:06) 62. Nico Ramírez, Ramoss – Loving (6:56) 63. A.P.(84Bit) – Live Now (6:01) 64. Gina Breeze – Rebound (5:08) 65. Austins Groove – Daydreamin’ (5:22) 66. Paul DaSoul – Everybody Like My Party (5:56) 67. Franc Spangler, Hudson’s Choice – Heavily Percussed (6:13) 68. GooDisco – Call Me (5:48) 69. Victor Alc, Murilo Tronco – Forma de Querer (5:46) 70. Yooks, Rona Ray – All The Way (Club Dub) (Cub Dub) (6:26) 71. Marco Lys – I Don’t Wanna Go Back (Extended Mix) (6:34) 72. Danny Clark, Rainy Payne – Pen Paper Prose (Vocal Mix) (9:24) 73. brunch.wav – Mr White Kinda Vibe (5:48) 74. Dexter Troy – My Ghetto (6:24) 75. Del Bianchi, Morris Revy – Ogo Jesu (David Marques Remix) (6:27) 76. Paolo Bardelli & Raffaele Giusti – Talkin’ Bout Love (Nu Club Mix) (5:12) 77. Ricky Montanari, Discoplex – I Do (Edit) (3:06) 78. Gangdoolz, Cream House – All on Board (3:35) 79. Josh Butler – Seeder (Original Mix) (5:12) 80. Electronic Youth – This Way (Extended Mix) (6:52) 81. Melchyor A – Ain’t Nobody Love Like You (Melchyor A’S Touch Version) (6:43) 82. Michael Gray, Kelli Sae – Don’t Want Anybody (Extended Mix) (5:19) 83. Discuji – Yellow Swan (6:36) 84. Roberto Parisi – Ghetto Jackin (Original Mix) (5:38) 85. Hanna Hais, Leo Guardo, GuguPash – Angeke (5:23) 86. Save The Robots – Gumdrops (6:20) 87. Jackmaster – Don’t You Want My Lovin’ (Mike Dunn’s ‘BlackBall 303′ Remix) (5:32) 88. Distant People, Elisha Jay – Sweet Talk (Tony Deledda Remix) (5:26) 89. T.Markakis – A Beautiful Day (Extended Mix) (4:51) 90. D.C. LaRue – Hot Jungle Drums and Voodoo Rhythm (Ladies on Mars Extended Remix) (5:52) 91. Demarkus Lewis – Finger Roll (6:36) 92. SAVISTO – Low Rolla (6:33) 93. Ethiopian Chyld – In My Space (7:04) 94. Tiger & Woods, EM’ – Cotton & Silk (3:43) 95. Jack District – Got It (6:12) 96. Hedge, Josh de Luna – Pounds n Pences (Original Mix) (5:54) 97. George Vibe – Tremendo Tumbao (5:43) 98. Tom Nolan – Shaking Ground (6:00) 99. Spinnage – Remedy (Demarkus Lewis Remix) (6:12) 100. Max Styler – Lights Out (Extended Mix) (5:31) 101. Erdinc Akbulut – Hena (5:54) 102. Ch!NJoNG x Ch!NJoNG – Ressucitar (6:02) 103. Juwan Rates – Show Me (6:09) 104. Nobody Cares (MX) – Smash! (4:44) 105. SoulFreakah, MaWhoo – Imizi YoBaba (6:28) 106. Both 91 – Feels Like (4:23) 107. Demuir – The music in space (7:18) 108. Sebastian Darez – Kimbo (Extended Mix) (6:37) 109. Hypaphonik – Funa Wena (7:22) 110. Tiyani – Last Night (6:41) 111. Disco Lust – Movin (Original Mix) (6:30) 112. DJ Popinjay – Jacking My Fusion (5:14) 113. Michael Gray, Tatiana Owens – Ivy (Extended Mix) (4:32) 114. Katermurr – Beautiful Spirit (5:35) 115. Rockin Moroccin – Always On Time (Extended Mix) (6:49) 116. Nick Maurer, Deeplomatik – Crash the Party (Extended Mix) (5:53) 117. Akumen – I Need You (5:52) 118. Mattei & Omich – Hypnagogic (I Can’t Wait) (Radio Mix) (3:57) 119. Sasha GiGi – Superfresh (Extended) (5:01) 120. Jamie S. – All Winner & No Spinner (8:09) 121. Korus, Blanka Mazimela, Sobantwana – Gcwanini (Samantha Loveridge Extended Remix) (6:04) 122. Paco Caniza – In Da Club (5:18) 123. Faze Action – I Wanna Dancer (Reflex Dub Mix) (4:17) 124. Brother James – It’s All In Me (6:19) 125. Danny Wild, Nataly K – Just Talk About Us (Original Mix) (5:52) 126. Cartoon, Joe Diem, Guezmark – Welele (Radio Edit) (2:50) 127. Flevans, Laura Vane – Say Yes (4:24) 128. Rune Sibiya, Charlie Hamilton – Sweet Emily (Remix) (8:12) 129. G Spice – Rainforest (6:59) 130. Chocolate Dice – Can’t Hold Me Back (7:03) 131. M. Rodriguez – Vortex (6:30) 132. Jetzen – Two Worlds (3:47) 133. bond – Midnight Dance (4:40) 134. Bondar, Papa Marlin – Supa Fly (Extended) (5:35) 135. Dan-e-mc – Musica House (Eddie Amador Club Mix) (6:50) 136. Kaysoul – Ooo’s (Original Mix) (4:16) 137. Marco Santoro – Dance with Me (Extended Mix) (5:37) 138. Michael Gray, Tatiana Owens – Butterfly (Extended Mix) (5:02) 139. DJ Two4, InQfive – Input (7:56) 140. D-Tip – House Family (6:10) 141. Jordano Roosevelt – Swag (5:58) 142. Col Lawton, Sen-sei – Box Clever (6:28) 143. Mike Mago – The Show (Tensnake Extended Remix) (4:45) 144. Sean Bartana – I Feel Your Love (7:46) 145. Julian Kumar, OCHO (NY) – Drink Smoke Dance (5:54) 146. Groovement inc., Venessa Jackson – Love & Affection (Goshawk Remix) (6:26) 147. Suburb Beat – Family Affair (4:55) 148. Ian Kenzof, Nomvula SA – Buyekhaya (Giorgio Bassetti Remix) (6:28) 149. D. Rossini – Love Won’t Wait (5:30) 150. Discuji – The Wall (Prins Thomas Remix) (7:10) 151. Andrea Curato, Richelle Hicks – All In All (Original Mix) (7:40) 152. Furious George – Solarquake (Original Mix) (8:28) 153. Donnell Pitman, Wings of Sunshine, E. Live – Get Next To You ft. Anda (5:27) 154. Niki Muxx – In My Mind (Radio Edit) (3:06) 155. Nick Dare – Keep Me Right (5:50) 156. Zetaphunk, Yvvan Back, Alfreda Gerald, Jame Starck – Hallelujah (Extended Mix) (6:12) 157. Boyd – Dreams Do Come True (6:43) 158. David Jager – Tonadas (Original Mix) (6:40) 159. Demarkus Lewis – What Is This (6:39) 160. Ruben Vidal, Theo Lawson – Afro Hard (7:32) 161. Samuel L Session – Off the Wall (7:44) 162. Kutullo Nawa, InQfive – Set Me Free (6:44) 163. Pahua, Eva De Marce – Porque Yo (feat. Eva de Marce) (JKriv Remix) (6:34) 164. Jason Rivas, Glitch Vuu, Thirsty at the Festival – Last Heroes (4:09) 165. Sam Warner – Certain Kinda Way (4:40) 166. Nikola Gala – Kilo Tango 24 (9:07) 167. Okey & Orsay – Natura (Extended Mix) (5:20) 168. NICKY LOUWERS, Thea Austin – Rhythm of My Heart (3:28) 169. Mark Di Meo, Mathieu Ruz – Oriana (Extended Mix) (5:25) 170. Tom Leeland, Morris Revy – Get Down with Me (6:18) 171. Marcus Soulbynight – Deep Faith (5:56) 172. White Ocean – Piano Black (4:22) 173. Da Afro – S.O.A. (6:33) 174. 3kelves, We Are Neurotic – Up On This! (4:10) 175. Disco Daddy – If You Try (4:27) 176. Hannes Bieger & Shrii – Rising (Extended Mix) (8:16) 177. Freshcobar, LAVELLE DUPREE – Knee Deep (Extended Mix) (5:28) 178. Meloglen – For Hire (Nacho Marco Remix) (7:06) 179. Ezequiel G – Fire (5:47) 180. Casa Flayva – Karimo (6:41) 181. Levi Swarn – Calm In The Chaos (6:18) 182. Alexs Diwave – Como E´ (4:24) 183. Adam Nazar, V of Vossae – Lotería (3:30) 184. Leandro Di – Dance Therapy (6:18) 185. LU/LU, Lyma – Keep Trying (5:27) 186. Henry Navarro – Looking For Love (7:32) 187. Ratier, Lu.cian – Can We Fly (Extended Mix) (6:29) 188. Christos Fourkis – Pierdo (6:51) 189. Fynn, SWVRE – Togetherness (Original Mix) (7:49) 190. Larry Funk – Over U (5:03) 191. Roland Leesker – Respect (7:26) 192. Who Am I – Split Personality (5:46) 193. Hanssin – Corazón (Extended Mix) (5:46) 194. Pissi – Night Air (5:48) 195. Moorez – End Of Masters (7:00) 196. Raje – Care for Some Caviar? (5:00) 197. Tommy Gustav – Forever Thing (6:41) 198. Juan Diaz, Jeremy Bass, Dave Rius – Bailalo (Extended Mix) (7:18) 199. Matt Caseli, Matt Lightbourn – Dangerous (Extended Mix) (5:36) 200. Ivan Kay, Walter Gardini – Eivissa (4:55)

The latest and most thrilling season of English football would also be the most controversial. The amount of times we had issues with refs, VAR, red cards, and blown calls made the NFL refs seem like experts in their craft. Seriously, the best European football league can't even get a video review correct in less than 2 minutes and it drives everyone mad. We also had further proof of Rich 7 favoritism with the FFP punishments dished out. It was absolute chaos, it caused fanbases to melt down like Chernobyl, but it made for amazing shitposting. How did your team do?
Manchester City: Sigh, the Prem is not beating the farmers' league allegations after this. In some way, we all expected this. After their historic treble, everyone assumed City would take a step back. They weren't even the best team in the country and they still found a way to creep up into first place. Their fourth title in five seasons, six under Pep Guardiola. They still have a chance at a double, too. If you're still living in the "Fraudiola" camp, I suggest you touch grass. Do you know understand how fucking insane that is? Sure, you can say Abu Dhabi bankrolled him and now they may be paying for it dearly but that is serious contention for greatest manager of all time. This time he was up against the adversity, too. They went without KDB and Haaland for long periods of time. Phil Foden was rightfully voted PFA Player of the Year for his efforts in their absence. Julian Alvarez took massive strides in becoming the next great Argentine striker...when he can get into the team. Jeremy Doku showed flashes of greatness, and it might spell the end for Jack Grealish. Rodri was Rodri, Ruben Dias was Ruben Dias, you know the deal. Even academy kids made serious progress. Pep won the Champions League without Messi and with a real striker. He's now guided City to another title. Goddammit, can we please get someone to topple this monopoly?
Arsenal: You did it again...you fucking did again. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You thought you were becoming the reincarnation of Real Madrid. You ended up becoming the red version of Poch's Spurs. Some might even say that Spurs team was better than this team. Arsenal had the title in their grasp again. Then they sat back and drew with City, lost to Villa at home, and in the end, these results cost them. You bottled it again. Bukayo Saka had his best season ever. So did Martin Odegaard. Leandro Trossard made a case for a starting spot. Gabriel Martinelli was sporadic but effective. William Saliba and Gabriel locked down the backline. David Raya won the Golden Glove. Mikkel Arteta has a case for Manager of the Year (likely going to Unai Emery), and they still bottled it. We don't need to rehash how their European campaign went. You should've known Spurs were never going to give you that benefit of the doubt. Why would your local rivals help your title charge? At least you're back in the Champions League, and you showed you could shed some of those demons next campaign, so long as you don't match up with Bayern again. The painful truth is, you went trophyless again. How much longer is the goodwill with Arteta going to last? Doing this once? Forgivable. But twice? Unconscionable.
Liverpool: This was not how Klopp's Last Dance was supposed to go. One trophy, and the League Cup at that, is all Liverpool had to show for it. They hit the worst patch of rotten form at the most inopportune time. You might think losing games twice to Manchester United in a span of a week was bad enough, but to go to Italy and lose to Atalanta? And they kept a clean sheet?? Dear god, they made Crystal Palace look like prime Barcelona at one point. You are fucking cooked, and it shows. Darwin Nunez started to break out, then reverting to forgetting how to play the sport of football entirely. Virgil Van Djik's age showed. Ibrahima Konate shows flashes but is injury- and mistake-prone. Mo Salah is mentally checked out, and he had a goal drought, only scoring three times in the last 12 matches of the season. Him and Klopp arguing on the sideline was peak Liverpool banter era. You literally on the verge of a quadruple AGAIN and you scuffed the run... This team is going to need a massive reset, and that may mean cashing in a few aging stars. New manager Arne Slot will have an absolute gargantuan job ahead of him. With FSG's financial model, it'll be interesting to see who they bring in. But what do you about Mo Salah? Clearly his age is starting show.
Aston Villa: Unai Emery was sacked by Arsenal for "underachieving." When you see the job he did with Villa with half the budget he had at Arsenal and players willing to run through walls for him, you can understand how Villa managed to stay in the Top 4 most of the season. Ollie Watkins had his best season to date. Douglas Luiz become the third-best defensive midfielder in the league, and dispatched a few penalties. Niccolo Zaniolo played a smaller role and still contributed heavily to big wins. It wasn't ever perfect, and there are plenty of wayward results to point out, but Villa has got some of their old mojo back. Get ready, boys, you're going dancing next season. You'll be in the new-look Champions League for the first time since the 1980s. Don't forget: Villa has some European pedigree to them. Sure, it was back when the competition wasn't as fierce as it is now, but respect them. Otherwise all you Madrid fans are going to be shitting themselves when you rock up to Villa Park for the league stage.
Tottenham: Tottenham's season hit some very high highs, and some deeply low lows. A 10-game unbeaten streak to start the season ended with four losses in a row, luckily not on the final matchday. Injuries crippled all the progress they made. Ange Postecoglou's all-out attack works, but when it doesn't, it is absolutely terrifying to watch. Hueng-min Son had a nice comeback season. Richarlison finally came good for the club. James Maddison started out well enough and then had a fall-off for the ages. The backline of Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Ven showed they can be great but they need real discipline in midfield to balance out the high line. But there are still many players that can't get them over the hump. Make it 16 years since the last major trophy. Fifth seems fitting for a team still going through an identity and cultural reset. Some supporters think Ange isn't the one for the job. They often forget just how big of a rebuild is needed after losing Harry Kane and other core players over the past five seasons. Those are probably also the people that don't see the positive of the Tottenham money-making machine. Why win trophies when you can host NFL games? Sigh, I just want one Cup, is that too much to ask for? At least they clinched Europa League, I guess.
Chelsea: Todd Boehly will no longer be making the calls about Chelsea's transfers. That should make the fans a little bit happier. If you're keeping score at home, he's only got 1/30 of new signings right. Jury is still out on Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Axel Diasi, Mykhalio Mudrk, Noni Madueke, and Levi Colwill. Mauricio Pochettino was trying to build something, but it was hindered by constant setbacks. A massive pile of injuries, extreme fan pressure, and underperforming players signaled it would not be another fruitful season for the Blue Lions. You got beat by a bunch of high school students in the Carabao Cup final, and somehow that wasn't the lowest point of the season. It was the thrashing by Arsenal. Chelsea should feel lucky they snagged Cole Palmer out from under Man City. He's the real Eden Hazard regen, even though he's a bit of a penalty merchant. He dragged Chelsea from finishing outside the Top 10 again. This summer will be a major clear-out. Raheem Sterling, Reece James, Ben Chilwell, and Thiago Silva might or are already leaving. The thinner squad will allow Poch to actually build something...that is if he was allowed to stay. Boehly has sent him a pink slip and called time. Just like Daddy Roman but with American dollars. You're not seriously going to sell Conor Gallagher to Spurs, right?
Newcastle: Eddie Howe can feel sort of vindicated that he guided this Newcastle team to a top 10 finish. They had one of the worst injury sheets in the league this season. The delicate balance of Champions League and the English season exposed their biggest flaw: not enough depth. Sandro Tonali getting suspended for being a degenerate gambler definitely did not help. Nick Pope was out most of the year and Martin Dubravka showed why he's no longer first-choice. Sven Botman and Dan Burn spent time on the sidelines and that killed their defense. Seriously though, they were chucking out Football Manager regens to play critical minutes. That only works in video games. In reality, the club is backed up against the FFP bubble. They will need to sell to buy, and that might mean cashing in on Alexander Isak or Bruno Guiamares. Maybe they'll even cut ties with Tonali and try to recoup some of their money. The richest club in the world is playing inside the rules? I guess they don't want to be the new Man City. I honestly commend them for trying to play within the confines of the rules. Some clubs can't say they do that.
Manchester United: Jim Ratcliffe really had no idea the scope of the rebuild he inherited once he bought his stake in United. He called out the club culture and facilities in the media multiple times, but perhaps it was all reactionary. United had a shit season. And boy do I mean shit. None of their players could stay healthy. Marcus Rashford is entering Dele Alli territory with how bad his falloff has been. There was the Mason Greenwood situation, then the Antony situation, and the Brazilian managed only one league goal across the whole season. Jadon Sancho called out Ten Hag's management and was gleefully banished back to Dortmund, where he started picking up his performances. He's in a Champions League Final...lol. Casemiro and Raphael Varane showed their age. Varane's already said he's done in Manchester. Rasmus Hojlund took 15 games to find his first goal of the season. He had a solid run of form but it didn't last. Alejandro Garnacho is now the best player at the club and even he had beef with Ten Hag's coaching. Bruno Fernandes might be seeking greener pastures. They finished dead last in their Champions League group and were out of Europe by February. Take solace in making the FA Cup final, but you were losing 3-0 to Coventry City, a Championship club, and had to beat them on penalties. Old Trafford may truly be falling down, and it doesn't help with Ten Hag waffling about he is still the best man for the job. Because you know, it was his signings that set the club back so much money. Antony costing 100 million quid needs to be investigated. There's no real sign of progress under INEOS's ownership. It's still too early to judge, but it's clear they will need to make some decisions. Enjoy raiding all your rivals for executives. Apparently "We're Manchester United" still works.
West Ham: Was it a bad season for West Ham? When you deep it, you'd probably say not really. David Moyes started out kinda slow but managed to get the Hammers going in vital moments. Jarrod Bowen continued his remarkable rise even as a center-forward. The pillage of Ajax for Edson Alvarez and Mohamed Kudus was fruitful, even if Kudus's underlying numbers aren't that great. James Ward-Prowse stepped up his game after being freed from the shite coaching at Southampton. Alphonse Areola cemented himself as the true No. 1 in goal. Lucas Paqueta was the real eye candy. So much so he's looking like the heir-apparent for Kevin De Bruyne. He'll cost another small nation's GDP but he was that class. Sure, they didn't reach the Europa final like they wanted to and got knocked out by Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen, but how can you say this was a disappointing season? Disappointing enough to tell Moyes he's done after this season? You're replacing him Julen Lopetegui? I know he did fantastic work with Sevilla, and you may see yourselves as the English Sevilla, but tread lightly. Did you see what happened between Wolves and him? Or what happened in his final season in Seville?
Crystal Palace: Today's top stories: Crystal Palace finished comfortably mid-table for the 11th season in a row. In other news, grass is green. It was a strange but similar season for the Eagles. Spats between ownership over the long-term vision for the club coupled with Roy Hodgson's depressing retirement tour clouded what could've been an opportunity to pounce. With Brighton and Bournemouth shitting the bed, the time was prime to strike. But again, they were let down by inconsistent forwards. Jordan Ayew and Jean-Phillipe Mateta are still struggling to score consistently (At least Mateta is producing now). Odsanne Eduoard is made of glass bones and paper skin. Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise, and Dean Henderson were good enough to keep them afloat. Eze's got enough street cred to have City and Spurs linked to him, but we'll see what premium the Eagles charge. More credit is owed to Oliver Glasner. He was a shrewd appointment, and it showed with his tiki-taka style of play. Remember, he took Frankfrut to a Europa League final win and beat Barcelona and West Ham to do it. Next season should be a moment to capitalize on drops in quality from other mid-table rivals, but you'll probably be back here with me in 2025 with a 12th consecutive mid-table finish. At least this time it's in the Top 10.
Brighton: Brighton was my biggest disappointment for the 23-24 season. Maybe that's too harsh, but what the actual hell happened? There was a lot of squad turnover, understandably affecting the quality. But they still had Evan Ferguson, Karou Mitoma, Lewis Dunk, Danny Welback, Julio Enciso, and Simon Adringa to pick up the slack. Oh wait, almost everyone listed above was injured long-term. Roberto De Zerbi's managerial stock took a massive blow. He couldn't properly juggle the league and European football, especially as the injuries piled up and they were relying on academy kids to play key minutes. There's also rumors of him beefing with club executives about the transfer policy. The drawback of such a unique system: the falloff is inevitable. It ended up causing "irreconcilable differences," and De Zerbi promptly packed his shit and left. At least Brighton can take solace knowing they won their first European group stage and picked up sensational victories against Ajax and Marseille. Proud moments amid a rather shite season. Pick yourselves up and go again, lads. Even though De Zerbi bounced, your ownership will already have his next candidate picked out. Just pray it's not a Graham Potter return.
Bournemouth: The Cherries had another fine season where a lot started to come together. I was skeptical about them parting ways with Gary O'Neil after the job he did, but Andoni Iraola was a shrewd appointment. He actually found ways to unlock Dominic Solanke. Not even Jurgen Klopp could do that. Antoine Semenyo appeared as a servicable mid-table winger. Luis Sinisterra brought the Colombian flare to the South Coast and proved he could be the country's next great hope. Some of the English lads like Lewis Cook carved out key roles, and did just about everything right to ensure another comfortable finish. Bournemouth really were not in any danger of going down. The blueprint is there. I doubt Iraola will be able to take them into European places, but I've been proven wrong by plenty of managers before.
Fulham: Another solid finish for Fulham. Look at you, not yo-yoing even amidst Tony Khan's ridiculous pro wrestling PR drama. The Jaguars of English football showed a lot of fight and a lot of class. The signing of the season is surely Rodrigo Muniz. The Brazilian revolution between him, Andreas Pereira, and the aging Willian was glamorous. Antonee Robinson played like a man reborn and may get a move to a bigger club. USMNT fans couldn't be happier. It was tough not seeing Tim Ream playing week in and week out but he's clearly slowing down and might need replacing. But you can't get rid of Tom Cairney! It's not allowed by order of the streets. I doubt Marco Silva will read this, but he may not even have a choice in the matter. Joao Palhinha likely played his final season at Craven Cottage. Even at his age, he's good enough to get into the Bayern or Arsenal first team. Cash in and replenish, you know the drill. They'll have a lot of work to do this summer.
Wolves: Gary O'Neil is a top manager for the jobs he's done with Bournemouth and Wolves. It was not an easy season for Wolves, but compared to past campaigns, this was fantastic. O'Neill successfully unlocked Hwang Hee-Chan and Matheus Cunha. That alone is massive. Toti Gomes flourished in midfield. As did Pablo Sarabia. Pedro Neto showed flashes of brilliance...when he wasn't struck down by injury. Jose Sa returned to form and kept the team comfortably floating between between the top half and upper-mid talbe. What more can you say of Wolves? They were one of the better mid-tier teams this season, and that was after Julen Lopetegui walked out just days before the season began. You thought the Wolves were dead? Oh no, they are still on the hunt. Unfortunately, their pack is likely to find new homes with more money. I think you get the metaphor.
Everton: It was meant to be a Sean Dyche masterclass. Playing attractive football has never been his repertoire, yet that was exactly what he did with this Everton. Meanwhile, Everton fans are still steaming about the points deductions they underwent. I can understand why they feel this way, considering there are much worse violators and they're being made an example of. Yet Dyche thrives on these situations. He could only collect so many points with this Everton group but they did play well enough and have some decent talent. Jared Branthwaite is clearly an upgrade over some of their past center-backs. Consider this his window-shopping season. DCL flirted with injuries and still managed to score key goals. Beto hasn't come good yet but give it a little time. Idrissa Gana Gueye played well for his age, and Amadou Onana too had his window-shopping season. Fear not, Toffees. Even with the points deduction, you will finish comfortably bottom-half, and had it not been for the Premier League's hypocrisy, you would've been as high as 12th. This is a huge moment, because you're also moving into Bramley Moore next season. Godspeed, Everton.
Brentford: Ummm, hello? Anybody here want to win a fucking football match? Anyone want to collect three points? The good vibes at the Gtech Community Stadium are starting to falter. Brentford's feel-good story is starting to get a reality check: they lack significant quality. The plan was to continue Thomas Frank's Nordic Connection since it had produced results in the past. They got Ivan Toney back around mid-winter, but did it really change their fortunes? He wasn't anywhere close to his past self. Too much time on the couch will do that. Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbuemo did step up in attack, but without Rico Henry and Ethan Pinnock in defense it was too easy to carve through them. Mark Flekken did his best to mitigate the damage, but it was not enough to save them from a 16th-place finish. Nathan Collins was ok business but he clearly needs more time to develop to the system. Sergio Regulion put in some decent shifts on load, but not enough to justify keeping him permanently. You passed: DON'T! GET! RELEGATED! But for the love of god, please fix this shit before 24-25. Time to reset on the squad, find another plucky veteran willing to take a pay cut for playing time.
Nottingham Forest: Speaking of points deduction, nobody feels bad for Forest. They made more signings than Chelsea and clearly did it by some fishy means. It was mostly because they couldn't get Atletico Madrid to buy Brennan Johnson, so they had to accept Tottenham's lower offer. That doesn't excuse past transgressions. Then that wild social media statement that called out the Premier League's officiating. Secretly, everyone loved it but also wondered how they had the audacity to say such a thing. The only thing they can't defend is themselves. Steve Cooper, the architect of their return to Premier League and first-season survival, was canned for Nuno Espirito Santos. It kinda worked...I guess. They're not in a relegation spot even with their punishment but they definitely look the part. Gio Reyna came here on loan and had minimal impact. Morgan Gibbs-White looks good but clearly has flaws. Chris Wood is still their only reliable striker. Matt Turner was benched for a 32-year old Mats Sels and that didn't fix any of their goalkeeper problems. They're like a frat house toilet: always leaking. They'll definitely be another clear-out this summer.
Luton Town: At some point, results start to matter. It felt like Luton realized that too late. They did put up some impressive results like a 4-4 draw to Newcastle and a 4-goal dismantling of Brighton, but they struggled mightily. It was expected, but they really did give better teams runs for their money. Ross Barkley and Andros Townsend came off the couch to help. Barkley made a case for Comeback Player of the Year. Townsend provided some experience but football skills...not so much. Elijah Adebayo and Alfie Doughty tried to get the creativity going. Carlton Morris managed to post a double-digit goal season. They had pieces but could never put it together fully. The defense...good god, the defense! It couldn't stop a beach ball from going over the goal line. You brought in Daiki Hashioka to stabilize things, and all he did was score own goals and turn the ball over. It's sad that Luton is going back to the 2nd tier. Rob Edwards's job is probably safe, but can he remake the magic of 2022-23? Might be a step too far. Honestly, I'm more sad to see Jeffrey the Labrador go. The goodest of boys makes the goodest of club mascots.
Burnley: I can only applaud Burnley's ownership for not thinking like a yo-yo club. They chose Vincent Kompany because he is the anti-Sean Dyche. Free flowing, tiki taka football, playing out from the back with inverted fullbacks. Even if all the haters wanted to see him go to bring in a relegation dogfighter like Big Sam, the executives kept their man. Truly cut from the same cloth as Pep, but without any of the Pep players. That was the real downfall of Burnley's return to the Prem. This group won 101 points in the Championship last year? They didn't even manage to get 30 this time around. Kompany played anti-survival ball, and it didn't work. Sure, they had talent with guys like Vitinho and Jacob Bruud Larsen, but after it was shite through and through. At least Kompany had the audacity to play an expansive style, but survival needed more defensive rigidity. Go win it again, Clarets.
Sheffield United: If Burnley was ass, Sheffield United was mega-ass. They played like a Championship club, so it's only natural they got clobbered like a Championship club. They brought in Ben Brereton-Diaz and his fake Chilean skillset and he was...actually kinda good. It can't be said for the rest of them. Ollie McBurnie and Cameron Archer seem like the standouts, but nobody on this team was convincing enough to warrant a move to a bigger team except maybe BBD. He'll likely sign for Everton as the replacement for DCL. The club thought bringing back Chris Wilder in place of Paul Heckingbottom was the move, and it did next to nothing. Setting a record for most goals conceded in a single season is hilarious levels of incompetent defending. Conglats, you are now the new Norwich. Wear your badge of shame in anguish and go win the bloody lot in the Championship.

* WARNING: LONG *
tl;dr: I got in trouble for placing an idea in the Captain's Suggestion Box. During subsequent Captain's Mast, I was ordered to do only what I was trained to do. Later, I was ordered to do something I was NOT trained to do. Both the Captain and the Commend Master Chief had to deal with the consequences.
• • •
My Navy training was in radaradio maintenance and repair, but my Associate Degree in Electronics Engineering meant that I was also tasked to repair anything electronic, up to and including the command's only photo-copier, located in the Yeoman's office.
One day, it dawned on me that the capabilities of the Comms Center could be vastly improved. I spent a week going through the spares inventory and determined that less than 6 hours downtime was all I needed, as we already had the necessary materials on-hand. So I wrote up the plan from start to finish, and submitted it through the Captain's Suggestion Box.
At morning muster, I received word to report to the Captain's office IMMEDIATELY. Luckily, I was already in my dress blue (e.g., "Cracker-Jack") uniform -- having just come off Watch -- because when I arrived, all the officers and the Command Master Chief were there.
It was the dreaded Captain's Mast, and I was the Guest of Honor.
Little mention was made of the merits of my suggestion, but only that I had bypassed the Chain of Command in making it. Several counts of insubordination were levied against me, and the only saving graces were: (1) this was my first-ever offense, and (2) the Captain Himself had encouraged the use of his suggestion box (which disappeared that same day).
Then the Master Chief of the Command -- a Master Chief Yeoman (YMC) -- gave me a dressing-down while criticizing me roundly for my "bright ideas" as only a Master Chief Petty Officer with nearly 20 years in the Navy can. Then he told me that if I had any more "bright ideas", that I should just forget them and never mention them again.
Then the Captain, "after careful consideration of the circumstances", awarded me a reduction in rank (suspended) and 30-days forfeiture of pay (suspended). He also ordered me to work only within the purview of my formal Navy training. Finally, he dismissed me.
I saluted, thanked him, did an about-face, went back to my quarters, changed into my working uniform, and returned to my duties.
About a week later, I got a message telling me to report immediately to the Master Chief Yeoman's office. I made quick time and arrived a minute later.
The YMC's copier had broken down (again), and it needed to be fixed (again) right away.
Cue the Malicious Compliance
"I'm sorry, Master Chief, but that equipment is outside the purview of my Navy training."
"BULLS***! I want that copier fixed and I want it fixed NOW!"
"Master Chief, I have Navy training only in radaradio maintenance and repair, and the Captain Himself gave me strict orders not to mess with anything unrelated to my Navy training. I could get busted in rank and lose pay for even clearing a paper jam!"
Suddenly, it was quiet; too quiet. The Master Chief then told me to not move while he went and spoke with the Captain. A few minutes later, they both came back. The Captain asked me to explain my refusal to follow a direct order.
I reminded him of HIS direct order, and explained again that copier repair was outside the purview of my Navy training. (By this time, a small crowd of enlisted's had gathered within earshot of the Chief Yeoman's office.) Then the Captain asked me what I thought was wrong with the copier.
I paused, glanced over at the YMC, and said, "I have no idea, sir. No ideas at all."
Looking like he had just swallowed something unpleasant, the Captain turned to the now red-faced Master Chief and ordered him to request a copier technician -- a TRAINED copier technician -- from another command to come in and service the copier. Then he dismissed me.
I received several thumbs-up on my way back to the Comms Center, and no-one at that command ever asked me again to do anything that did not involve radaradio maintenance or standing regular watches.
I shipped out a few months later on regular rotation, and the Captain's Mast entry was expunged from my record.

Round 1, Pick 7 - JC Latham, OT, Alabama:
NFL: General manager Ran Carthon is putting his stamp on the team with this pick. Taking Latham tells me the Titans want to continue playing bully ball and dominate at the point of attack despite surrounding their young quarterback with pass-catching talent in free agency. The 6-foot-6, 342-pound tackle can overwhelm and overpower opponents on the edges, which should excite second-year quarterback Will Levis.
CBS Sports: B+. He is a right tackle and they need a left tackle, so it will be interesting to see how they play it. But he’s a violent player wherever he plays. They cross-train at Alabama at both left and right, so he should be able to make a smooth transition.
ESPN: Latham played mostly right tackle at Alabama but will switch sides in the NFL. He was a highly-rated left tackle coming out of IMG Academy but switched to right tackle because Evan Neal was already entrenched on the left side. Latham's mix of size, heavy hands and footwork should allow him to fit in there. But it's a risk to use a top-10 pick on a player and switch his position. The Titans have used three picks within the first three rounds on offensive linemen since 2020. Could Latham be the one that finally pays dividends?
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Hopes he can convince his squirrel army to come with him.
Round 2, Pick 38 - T’Vondre Sweat, DT, Texas:
NFL: Our first mini-shocker of the day. The massive Sweat was believed to be a possible top-50 pick at one point, but that was prior to his recent arrest. Credit to the Titans if they did the requisite work on Sweat's character in the past few weeks. He's a massive human being capable of closing down two gaps by himself, but some teams felt Sweat might be available entering Round 4 based on recent developments.
CBS Sports: C-. Monstrous NT who finally demonstrated a glimmer of pass-rush capability with hand work as a senior. Not as good against the run or double teams as his size indicates. Probably two-down player in the NFL. Tennessee did need more size inside along the DL, but this is too early for a limited player.
ESPN: Sweat is another move for the Titans to address the trenches. At 6-foot-5, 366 pounds, Sweat will pair with Jeffery Simmons along the defensive line giving the Titans a formidable duo to attack the quarterback and stop the run. Sweat consistently made plays behind the line of scrimmage as shown by his eight tackles for a loss and two sacks. Sweat was booked into jail after an arrest for driving while intoxicated earlier this month, but the Titans are confident he will be fine with Simmons and former Texas teammate Keondre Coburn as leaders in the locker room.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Jumped his family mini-van like the Dukes of Hazzard.
Round 4, Pick 106 - Cedric Gray, LB, North Carolina:
NFL: Nice value here for a linebacker who does almost everything fairly well and can be a tone-setter in the locker room. Gray will be a quality special-teamer at the very least, but he carries starting potential down the road. He's aggressive and instinctive.
CBS Sports: A-. One of the younger prospects in the class who comes with plenty of experience. More fluid in coverage than he is with sheer explosion and range to the football against the runs. Has to improve beating blocks in traffic en route to the football. Long limbs. Upside is there.
ESPN: The Titans address a need at inside linebacker with Gray. Tennessee lost starter Azeez Al-Shaair when he signed a free agent deal with the Texans. Jack Gibbens started most of the season next to Al-Shaair last year. Gray will compete with Gibbens for the opportunity to start along side Kenneth Murray Jr. who signed a free agent deal last month. Having started the past two seasons at North Carolina, Gray could be a candidate to wear the green dot communicator helmet to relay the plays from the sideline to the defensive huddle.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Knows there is chemical waste buried under the Browns training camp.
Round 5, Pick 146 - Jarvis Brownlee Jr., CB, Louisville:
NFL: Nickel corner run! Brownlee will take on all comers in coverage, lacking great size and speed but compensating with good experience, coverage savvy and an intense focus.
CBS Sports: B-. Confident and feisty CB who can play inside or the perimeter. Not overly twitchy. Nice mix of physicality and athleticism at the line and during the route. Tackling is average at best. Same with ball skills and overall athletic skill set. Not tremendous anywhere but doesn’t have a clear flaw.
ESPN: Brownlee Jr. gives the Titans depth, especially at nickel cornerback behind Roger McCreary. Tennessee met with Brownlee at the Senior Bowl and had him in for a 30 visit. Defense is clearly a priority for the Titans as they've addressed that side of the ball with the last three picks. Brownlee lands in an ideal situation where he can learn behind L’Jarius Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie and play for noted defensive back specialist Dennard Wilson.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Almost got his toe bitten off by a snapping turtle.
Round 6, Pick 182 - Jha’Quan Jackson, WR, Tulane:
NFL: It felt like Jackson was among the leaders in Senior Bowl practice receptions. Interestingly, I felt he was underused at Tulane, as Jackson has good quickness to uncover and make people miss as a smaller-framed slot receiver. He and teammate Tyjae Spears are reunited in Nashville.
CBS Sports: B+. Small somewhat twitchy vertical threat. Not as ridiculous changing direction as his size would indicate but has electric burst and speed. Minuscule catch radius but flashed some bounce to go up and get it at times, although physicality and longer CBs give him problems.
ESPN: Jackson gives the Titans depth at slot receiver and another player that can be in the mix as a punt returner. Titans coach Brian Callahan expressed a need for someone to step up as a slot receiver when asked about wideouts in the draft. Jackson will compete with Kyle Philips, Mason Kinsey, and Kearis Jackson for a roster spot and the opportunity to contribute from the slot. He was a college teammate of Titans running back Tyjae Spears at Tulane. Jackson is also the nephew of Hall of Fame Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: He had to come up with all these draft facts under duress.
Round 7, Pick 242 - James Williams, S, Miami:
NFL: A long, fairly rangy athlete who spent more time at deep safety than he did in the box, Williams will be tried as a linebacker. His unusual dimensions and skill set might make him a sleeper.
CBS Sports: A-. Has some wild tackling misses on film but also counters with impact plays behind/near the line or at the intermediate level in coverage. Enormous size and length for the safety spot and will set the tone in many games with his powerful tackling. Not incredibly twitched up but moves reasonably well for his size.
ESPN: At this point, teams draft for traits. Williams played as a box safety at Miami but some teams envision him as a linebacker after seeing him work at that position at the Senior Bowl. That falls in line with the versatility that defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson said he wants. Wilson also said he wants the defense to be aggressive which is something that Williams showcased in college. Tennessee could also use him on special teams.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Simply cannot believe that Shrek 2 is 20 years old this year. WTF.
Round 7, Pick 252 - Jaylen Harrell, DE, Michigan:
NFL: Harrell is a broad-framed linebacker with rush skills and an alpha-dog mentality. His performance in the national title game was great, and he could be a sub-package defender with a unique job description.
CBS Sports: A. Old-school outside linebacker who can sink in coverage or attack the outside shoulder of the tackle. Smooth, athletic movements to comfortably do either. Shows glimpses of pass-rush promises just doesn’t diversify his rushes enough. Must get stronger but does set sturdy edge. Young ascending player.
ESPN: Five of the seven Titans picks have been on defense. Harrell's father, James, spent eight seasons in the NFL and played one season in the USFL. Jaylen Harrell started all 15 games for Michigan in its national championship season and adds to the Titans' depth at outside linebacker. He'll compete primarily with Harold Landry III, Arden Key, Rashad Weaver, and Caleb Murphy for a chance to be in the edge rotation.
NFL Absolutely Not Fake News: Has band T-Shirts from the 80’s and 90’s.

Lifetime - Staked: 876.65u, Profit/Loss: +27.79u, ROI: 3.17%, Parlay Suggestions: 168-64 Dog of the Week: 13-15
2024 - Staked: 229.55u, Profit/Loss: -5.57u
As always, scroll down for UFC St. Louis Breakdowns. The following is just a recap of last event’s results.
~UFC 301 (PREVIOUS CARD)~
Staked: 10.75u
Profit/Loss: -0.29u
Parlay Suggestions: 4-1
It may be chalked up as the slightest loss, but the Pereira/Rebecki parlay rolling on means this one could end up in the green in hindsight, so I’m happy with how things went really. Shoutout to Joanderson Brito for a great gameplan, he never let Shore into that fight and I don’t think it really mattered that it ended under strange circumstances. Borralho dominated as expected. Lucindo could have been more live for a submission if she’d had more time in round 1, but her striking was too superior. Drakkar Klose did what he does best. On to the next one.
✅ 5u Caio Borralho to Win at -275 (won +1.8u)
✅ 2u Michel Pereira + Mateusz Rebecki to Win at -105 (rolls on to upcoming event)
✅ 2u Drakkar Klose to Win at -137 (won +1.46u)
❌ 2u Jack Shore to Win at +140
❌ 1u Iasmin Lucindo to Win by Submission at +350
✅ Arb on Martinez/Aldo (won +0.2u)
❌ 0.25u Parlay Pieces
❌ 0.5u Trixie

~UFC St. Louis~
From a fan perspective this card is a bit dry, but from a betting perspective I think it’s got a lot of opportunities and it’s one I’m really looking forward to. At the time of writing, the event is in nine days and I’ve already placed five moneyline bets! It’s nice that there will be a crowd too, the Apex is boring.
Lots to say, so let’s get into it!

~Derrick Lewis vs Rodrigo Nascimento~
Very surprised by the betting line here. Derrick Lewis cannot be trusted to defend a takedown at this stage in his career, and that really isn’t a secret at all.
In my opinion, unless Derrick Lewis is facing a pure striker with equally low output, or a massively inferior level of competition, he shouldn’t be the betting favourite against anyone in the UFC. Of course he’s the most prolific knockout artist the UFC has ever seen so he cannot be too much of a dog either, but he’s literally KO or bust in every single fight. Betting is a game of probabilities, and I think it’s difficult to really argue that Lewis should be favoured to find the KO 50% of the time in a five-round fight. Especially when he faces an opponent that has the capabilities to put him on his back. look how easily Serghei Spivac justified a -225 pricetag against Derrick Lewis! No significant strikes absorbed, and a submission win inside three minutes. How Jailton Almeida didn’t manage to do the same, I’ll never know…but it still was very dominant.
Rodrigo Nascimento may not come to the Octagon with a singlet on, but he’s quite reliable to shoot takedowns when necessary – Such as against Tanner Boser, another heavyweight with notoriously bad takedown defence. Another important facet to his style is his BJJ. It’s been some time since we’ve seen him win by submission, but a heavyweight that looks to finish the fight on the mat will always be better than one who just lays and prays once they set up a dominant position (such as a Curtis Blaydes or a Carl Williams). Lewis is surprisingly durable on the mat, which gives him the opportunity to have another crack at the KO when the next round starts, but a submission threat like a Spivac or perhaps a Nascimento can look to get the fight stopped before that happens.
Nascimento isn’t a bad striker either, and whilst I certainly don’t recommend it, I don’t think it’s super crazy to imagine him possibly winning a striking battle here by playing the range game and out-voluming Lewis – at the very least he will keep it competitive whilst he’s conscious. This isn’t going even going to be as binary as the Spivac fight, where extended periods on the feet are so clearly in favour of Lewis.
Lewis has faced a lot of grapplers recently. He was +370 against Jailton, +180 against De Lima, +190 against Spivac, +300 against Blaydes…so why is he a favourite against an opponent that can also land takedowns against him? And also one who is probably the second best striker amongst those aforementioned names!? I know that Nascimento isn’t a pure grappler like some of them…but surely it would take about 30 seconds of gameplanning to realise that grappling is definitely the route to take here? We’ve seen him go 15 minutes and have control time for more than half a fight before. I also know that Nascimento hasn’t fought a level of opposition anywhere near this experienced or ‘high level’, but given the gap in skills I think there are regional
I’m not saying Nascimento is a vastly superior UFC fighter or someone destined for great things, but he’s well-rounded and capable of executing a very obvious gameplan. I will therefore be playing him for 2u at +140 or better. This is purely a bet based on number I’m getting on Nascimento, and I think everyone should be on it. Perhaps I am putting too much stock into the intelligence of a fighter (something I never like to do), but this really is a must bet. I do not believe you can mathematically justify Derrick Lewis being expected to win more than 50% of the time against an opponent that is better than him at everything except pure power.
I decided to pull the trigger as the more I think about this, the more I think this betting angle is obvious. There’s a risk in going early as Lewis is obviously a popular name, but I think the +137 is clear value, so I took it for 2u.
How I line this fight: Derrick Lewis +125 (45%), Rodrigo Nascimento -125 (55%)
Bet or pass: 2u Rodrigo Nascimento to Win (+137)
Prop leans: None, though Nascimento Submission is the very obvious lean

~Joaquin Buckley v Nursulton Ruziboev~
Late notice fight announcement but glad to see Buckley got himself a co-main spot on a home card. Buckley’s slowly growing into a decent fighter, and has proven to be much more than just the hard-hitting muscle-man that he was originally thought to be. Seeing him get a win over Vicente Luque is pretty mad, I even thought he’d struggle with Alex Morono.
Nursulton Ruziboev’s brief UFC career has seen him win by KO early in round one both times. Yeah, he hits hard. What else? I don’t really know. Buckley can live and die by the sword if you want to go full rabies with him (plenty of KO wins but also KO losses to Di Chirico, Holland and Curtis).
I’m sure this one will be fireworks, but I don’t really know how you could approach betting this one, other than targeting the clearly juiced FDGTD. We got Guskov/Spann at -20000 a few weeks ago, so I wouldn’t hold your breath. Onto the next one. Excited to see the fireworks though.
How I line this fight: No idea
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Terrance McKinney vs Esteban Ribovics~
Terrance McKinney is always an interesting fighter to look at from a betting perspective, because he’s got that unique 5 minutes of danger before falling off a cliff. It’s kind of funny to me how the UFC had to clearly cut back on the level of competition they’d been feeding McKinney, because he hit his ceiling pretty hard in the Sadykhov and Bonfim fights.
The front-runner style therefore makes his fights easy to get creative with, props wise. Basically, you go McKinney R1, or Ribovics R2/3. So which one do you go for? Well, that’s unfortunately where the confident opinions start to run out. McKinney should definitely be live for that R1 finish though, because I think Ribovics will struggle to contend with his power and physicality whilst they’re both fresh. His takedown defence against Radzhabov was not up to par either, and the scrambles could see him get caught in a submission against the opportunistic McKinney all the same.
However, if the fight does make it past that opening round, Ribovics certainly looks spirited and gritty enough to turn up the heat and force McKinney to capitulate like he usually does. It’s one of those weird capitulations where he doesn’t seem gassed or mentally checked out – it feels like he swaps places with his twin brother that’s not a fighter whilst on the stool. Kind of like Alex Hernandez.
So yeah, I’ll do what I usually do in these spots and see what kind of price I can get by building a McKinney R1 or Ribovics R2/3 prop for myself…but other than that I don’t think we’ll be finding any sort of value anywhere here. The McKinney prop narrative is pretty well documented at this stage. Though the live-betting angle will always exist because the 3^rd party people have no idea what they’re watching.
In terms of a moneyline, Esteban obviously has to be favoured due to the higher finishing potential across the available 15 minutes (he could win in R1,2, or 3). Definitely not interested in playing anything than that McKinney 1 or Ribovics 2/3 combination.
How I line this fight: Terrance McKinney +175 (36%), Esteban Ribovics -175 (64%)
Bet or pass: Potential single bet on McKinney R1 or Ribovics R2/3
Prop leans: See above

~Alonzo Menifield vs Carlos Ulberg~
Zo Menifield is a better fighter than many give him credit for, but I think this might be a terrible stylistic fight for him. He’s going up against the much more technical and quick striker, who can also hit pretty hard. For Zo to do the work he wants to do on the feet, he’s going to need to get inside, and for every moment he’s not there he’s going to be on the end of Ulberg’s superior straight shots. He’s basically going to have to get hit twice, to land one himself.
Before I started looking into this fight I was intrigued by Menifield’s potential path to victory via wrestling, but the stats he’s currently averaging 0.67 takedowns per 15 minutes, and just beat a kickboxer across 15 minutes in Dustin Jacoby without landing one. Not sure why I had it in my head that he looks to grapple.
That Jacoby fight does give some credit to Alonzo and indicate that he’s not as outmatched as you’d expect a less technical tank to be. The same logic I used in the opening paragraph really should also have applied to Dustin Jacoby, but DJ’s not a particularly reliable striker and is prone to some moments of stupidity.
So yeah…I think Zo’s got a chance, but it’s going to be an uphill battle that he loses more often than not. The line’s a bit too wide for my liking as Ulberg is flavour of the month at LHW, but either way I see no value to bet either guy here.
How I line this fight: Alonzo Menifield +200 (33%), Carlos Ulberg -200 (67%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Tabatha Ricci v Tecia Torres-Pennington~
Another fight where I am very confused by the betting line. Yes, Tecia Torres has been out of competition whilst having a baby with Raquel Pennington, but it looks like she’s already back in ridiculous shape and I think the narrative of doubting/fading mothers is pretty overblown. Enough WMMA fighters have come back having given birth and looked fine. I asked a few mothers I know who work out and they didn’t think they suffered much of a set back once they shifted the initial weight. I take my research very seriously, you see, and if this bet loses it’s all their fault.
So I’m going to (perhaps foolishly) assume that the Tecia Torres we get for this fight is the same as the one from tape…and that woman absolutely should not be the underdog to Tabatha Ricci. She’s got a great mixture of speed and volume on the feet, and is more than capable of keeping herself safe in the grappling department. There are very few fighters outside the top five that I’d think should be a favourite against Tecia. And that’s even before considering that this fight is a decent matchup for her.
Comparatively, Tabatha Ricci has struggled whenever she’s faced an opponent that she can’t out-grapple. She put together a great run against Gillian Robertson, Jessica Penne, Polyana Viana and Maria Oliveira, but landed between 3-5 takedowns in all of those fights and either had a significant amount of subsequent top control time, or was the superior striker anyway. After that run, she faced Loopy Godinez in her most recent fight, where her takedowns were shut down and she was forced to strike against an okay-ish striker. It went to a split, but the majority of media scorecards were were in favour of Godinez for her superior striking. Not being able to differentiate yourself in the striking department against Godinez isn’t a very good sign really.
When it comes to decision heavy WMMA fighters, I think the statistics are at their most reliable (and I’m not much of a statistics guy usually). The stats here clearly paint the picture that Tecia Torres is the superior martial artist on the feet. She lands more, she gets hit way less. She has much better accuracy, and she defends more. And she got all of those superior stats from going 15 minutes against Marina, Namajunas (x2) Andrade, Joanna and Weili, whereas Ricci has padded hers by teeing off on Gillian Robertson and Jessica Penne.
If Torres-Pennington is able to get back to anywhere near the same level as she was before the pregnancy, I think the betting line is massively wrong here. God bless Alayah Torres-Pennington for this betting line! 2u on Torres-Pennington. I moved in when it was +137, but the line has shifted since. It’s always a good idea to consider playing WMMA underdogs, so this one was a no brainer to me.
How I line this fight: Tecia Torres-Pennington -150 (60%), Tabatha Ricci +150 (40%)
Bet or pass: 2u Tecia Torres-Pennington to Win (+137), perhaps an extra 0.5u on Torres Decision
Prop leans: Torres by Decision is a very reliable MoV

~Sean Woodson vs Alex Caceres~
Alex Caceres is a really tricky one. He has improved so, so much in the last few years, and I’d never have believed he’d make it this far. He was a contestant on TUF 12, the show most recent to when I started watching MMA (which also brought us Michael Johnson). Those who have been watching prelims for many years will remember when Alex was nothing more than a veteran that couldn’t wrestle for shit, and was constantly being used to further the careers of submission based fighters (Kron Gracie, for example). Somehow, during the lockdown break, he managed to sharpen the takedown defence and completely re-invented himself as a fighter. He’s 7-2 in his last nine, and the losses have come against Sodiq Yusuff and Giga Chikadze. A very respectable body of work.
Sean Woodson’s career has also had its ups and downs. He was touted as a prospect to look out for back in the day of Glory MMA & Fitness and everyone’s favourite UFC gambler, James Krause. Unfortunately for the gangly and unorthodox Woodson, he couldn’t handle the pressure and ended up having all of his hype destroyed by Julian Erosa. He won a few more fights, but then drew with Luis Saldana, and by that point everyone thought he was a busted prospect that couldn’t be trusted to win against anyone. Then he pulled off an upset against Charles Jourdain recently, and now we don’t know what to think.
So this is basically a bout between two guys who have blown hot and cold in different stages of their career, and they’re therefore guys I often look to gloss over when I see that they’re fighting because I know they can easily oveunder perform in relation to expectations. Woodson should be the more diverse and unorthodox fighter of the two to be able to win minutes against Bruce Leroy, but the power that Caceres has on the return very much could turn the tide in an instant. Woodson isn’t defensively sound and relies on his length too much, and we have seen him fumble winnable fights before.
I don’t have much confidence in this one at all, but I understand why Woodson’s the slight favourite, given his tricky style and frame, and the fact he’s a bit younger. The books have lined this one correctly though, using their vig to price either side out of being an appealing price. I’m not really sure how someone has a strong opinion on this one really.
How I line this fight: Sean Woodson -137 (58%), Alex Caceres +137 (42%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Jake Hadley vs Charles Johnson~
Another Charles Johnson fight, another anti-grappling gameplan. I’m getting a bit bored of seeing the exact same fight really, it would be cool to see Johnson stand and trade with someone for 15 minutes.
In fairness to Hadley he’s hardly one-dimensional, but he’s definitely best as a grappler that uses striking as a means to an end. We have seen what he looks like when he can’t have significant top control time, or when he goes up against a guy that can put him on his back. And it shows him to be a great hammer but a bad nail.
Charles Johnson’s resurgence has been a very interesting turn of events! If you’re a regular UFC bettor, you’ll know Johnson as one of the most untrustworthy guys on the roster, who fails to put his stamp on rounds and only seems to be able to produce a maximum of 55% of superiority per round. That was, until he fought Azat Maksum last time, where his tenacity was enough for him to turn the fight on its head in the latter half, finally providing a Charles Johnson fight where we had confidence on what the judges’ scorecards were going to look like!
Johnson is a very hard guy to finish though, because he doesn’t have any actual major weaknesses that aren’t based on self-sabotage. That is going to turn into his biggest strength here against Hadley, whose 2-2 decision record paints a clear picture. In a fight where a finish is going to be hard to come by, I think this one is going to run very close, in typical Charles Johnson fashion. In short, Johnson’s skills nullify Hadley’s greatest skill, so this one should run closer than it might look on the wikicap.
Therefore, your only options are probably to hold your breath and bet Johnson as the +130 underdog for a bit of value, or pass completely. A bet on Hadley is definitely not adviseable at – money.
I was lining up to play the overs/FGTD, but I’ve seen that the Over 2.5 Rounds sits at -250…which is far too steep for me to entertain. Those bookies are sharp!
How I line this fight: Jake Hadley +100 (50%), Charles Johnson +100 (50%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: Either man’s decision prop could be an interesting way to bet this one.

~Jared Gooden vs Kevin Jousset~
Kevin Jousset makes his third appearance for the UFC, having impressed in two victories against Kiefer Crosbie (can) and Song Kenan (decent enough fighter). His output and diversity in the latter fight was really what caught my attention, as I was personally unsure he would be able to hang with UFC calibre opposition. I did bet him in his debut against Crosbie because his opponent that day has no business being in the UFC, but even the way he looked in that one had me questioning if he was up to the challenge.
On the subject of having ‘no business being in the UFC’, Jousset faces Jared Gooden. I know Gooden is a long time friend and associate of Dan Levy (HalfTheBattle) so I’m always hoping he does well, but honestly he’s proven countless times that he’s not good enough to be here. Of course, he’s a powerful guy, and in a cagefight that attribute is going to result in a couple of upsets…but Gooden has been competently outgrappled and outstruck on too many occasions for me to believe in him. Plus, he finally hit that KO path to victory against Wellington Turman, who is notoriously untrustworthy and shocking on the feet. If I remember correctly I was very adamant that people shouldn’t bet him there.
Jousset is a well-rounded guy as well. He’s not the most devastating striker but he does good defensive work (which is key here). He’s also more than happy to mix in takedowns and grappling when he deems it necessary, which is another advantageous asset here.
In short, whilst I’m still kind of suspicious of Jousset’s overally capabilities and whether or not he’s going to make anything of himself in the UFC, I can definitely see this one being an advantageous stylistic fight for him as the more well-rounded man. If Jousset can stay safe from Gooden’s power, he should have an easy enough victory on his hands.
In terms of the betting line, I would have put Jousset anywhere from the -200 to -250 range, which is pretty much where he’s landed. Makes sense to me. I’m glad I don’t have to consider betting this fight, because trusting either man with my money doesn’t feel good.
How I line this fight: Jared Gooden +225 (31%), Kevin Jousset -225 (69%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Chase Hooper vs Viacheslav Borshchev~
Probably the most binary and therefore divisive fight on the card, which makes it possibly the most exciting one. Hooper’s a great grappler that can’t strike. Borshchev is a great striker that can’t defend takedowns.
I always land on the same conclusion when it comes to this kind of conundrum, and it’s because of our good friend Mackenzie Dern. Your BJJ doesn’t really mean shit if you have no wrestling (aside from pulling guard or catching submissions whilst standing, both of which don’t really happen often at all), and Chase Hooper doesn’t really have much wrestling. Of course, Slava Claus has bad wrestling defence…but I’d rate Hooper’s wrestling as clearly inferior to that of Mike Davis, Marc Diakiese or Nazim Sadykhov, so there aren’t actually strong guarantees that Chase can even consistently land takedowns here.
Obviously I think you have to make Borshchev the favourite here, as all fights start standing and his grappling defence seems solid enough that he shouldn’t get instantly submitted if he does get forced to the floor anyway. If that’s the case, I think he can clearly do damage and win fights off the scoring criteria. Hooper’s a tough kid, but when he eats shots they all look like fight enders with the amount his head snaps back. I genuinely think cutting his hair was a good strategic move for him. Also, this fight will have a live audience, and that plays ever so slightly into the metrics of the KO threat, not the grappler (because people still boo takedowns sometimes).
The books have it lined pretty where I would expect, with a small to moderate lean in Slava’s favour, so I don’t really think there’s any point in forcing a bet here. Both men have legitimate paths, it’s just that the Russian’s is slightly easier to land and will be more definitive. A win for Hooper likely sees him outgrapple his opponent for 15, whereas Borshchev can do it with one punch. Betting Slava KO would probably be the smartest play available, because that’s most of his win condition, whereas Hooper could win by all three methods.
I have noticed since writing that Slava may be moving down to -150, which is where I grade him without vig. If that price does solidify market wide, I may be interested in playing him to win by KO, or perhaps KO/DEC Double Chance. It would only be a 1u thing, but watch this space.
How I line this fight: Chase Hooper +150 (40%), Viacheslav Borshchev -150 (60%)
Bet or pass: 1u Slava KO or Slava KO/Dec…we will see.
Prop leans: None

~Trey Waters vs Billy Goff~
I honestly can’t remember a thing about either guy, I was surprised to see this wasn’t a double debut. From looking at Tapology I vaguely remember their last fights, with Goff steamrolling that Japanese guy on the South Korea card and Waters styling on Josh Quinlan.
I need a lot more info than that to be able to decipher this one. Info I honestly cannot be bothered to go and find, considering the most I could get would be a low-confidence opinion. I’mma pass on this one and admit I just couldn’t be arsed. I’m quite confident I wouldn’t have felt comfortable betting it anyway, so that’s probably some time saved. Check out Slayer’s breakdown on Wednesday/Thursday, he’ll have the goods.
How I line this fight: Didn’t do tape
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs Robelis Despaigne~
I’ve been a consistent Waldo hater since he came to the UFC. He’s a fat guy who strikes, but his power actually looks to be severely lacking. In fact, the only thing he actually does well is a leg kick. Seriously, how can you be that size, that young, and still not KO 2024 Andrei Arlovski? Don’Tale Mayes did it. Waldo also lost a round to Chase Sherman and Jared Vanderaa ffs. I have every reason not to understand why he’s looked at favorably.
Robelis Despaigne’s UFC debut was short lived but impressive all the same. That stuff doesn’t tell us much at all, but he’s a very credentialed combat sports athlete (Lonon 2012 Olympic Bronze Medalist). I can’t really say it with super confidence, but this does feel like it should be a very winnable fight for him.
A lot of people are immediately quoting Despaigne’s MMA record and highlighting his inexperience, but my counter to that would be to consider what experience and tools he is actually going to need here?
I don’t think Cortes-Acosta will have any interest in grappling or attempting takedowns, and I also think he’s the inferior fighter from a power perspective. In a fight like this, what more do you really need?
I’m surprised Despaigne is only around -170 here. I get that he’s inexperienced in MMA but he’s far more experienced than Waldo in professional competition. Maybe I’m being too basic with my analysis here and Waldo actually has something for him, but I was expecting -250 at least. I did initially hesitate on whether or not I wanted to play Despaigne here, given I’ve not got a whole lot to offer in my analysis other than Olympian vs fat boi….but I don’t think Waldo brings anything uniquely MMA to the table that Despaigne is going to struggle with?
I scoffed at that Jhonata Diniz guy making his debut -250 to Austen Lane few weeks ago because I saw a clear angle for an MMA based opponent to capitalise on a skillset that the vastly more credentialed striker wouldn’t be well versed in dealing with. Given what we saw there, I’d say I was absolutely right. Diniz still got the job done, but Lane was able to weaponise MMA experience. Waldo probably won’t. Honestly it wouldn’t even surprise me to see Robelis try and show off some of his MMA improvements and shoot a takedown on fat boi.
2u Robelis Despaigne to win at -163. This could age terribly because I know I’m going against my principles here…but this betting line could look like an absolute gift in hindsight.
How I line this fight: Waldo Cortes-Acosta +250 (29%), Robelis Despaigne -250 (71%)
Bet or pass: 2u Robelis Despaigne to Win (-163)
Prop leans: None

~Carlos Diego Ferreira vs Mateusz Rebecki~
Very simple fight to break down, I think. Rebecki’s a very dominant wrestler with the topside grappling ability to keep you there once he grounds you. We haven’t seen him fight a super high level of competition yet, but I think we’ve seen enough to be excited by him as a prospect.
The above description of Rebecki’s style sounds a lot like a fella called Gregor Gillespie. We saw him face Carlos Diego Ferreira back in 2021 and ultimately force a stoppage by using his style to overwhelm CDF until the ref showed mercy. Mateusz Gamrot, an equally impressive grappler (but with worse top control time than Rebecki and Gillespie) also managed to get CDF to tap to strikes (which is a big, big red flag). Beneil Dariush, though not a pressure wrestler or big ground striker, was able to ground CDF and ride out top position to win comfortably against the Brazilian on two separate occasions. In short, CDF is a prime victim for Rebecki’s style.
And to make matters worse, all of those three aforementioned fights of CDFs happened three years ago. The Brazilian is now 39 years old, and we’ve only seen him compete once since the trio of losses. That was against Michael Johnson, in a fight he was quite clearly losing and was looking terrible in before his power and Johnson’s A+ capitulation managed to gift him a win. Sad for me as I was on the underdog there and felt it was a great bet, but really anyone who bets on a flake like Michael Johnson gets what they pay for.
I felt that -250 was just not a steep enough price tag for Rebecki here, so I bet him heavy a week ago. I fully believe in the guy’s abilities as a grappler, and CDF is ripe for the picking when looking to execute that kind of style. That’s not to mention CDF looks fucking old and clearly on his way out, and is being fed to a 19-1, 31-year-old beast that can get another dominant win on his record against a veteran with a recognisable name (if you don’t recognise CDF’s name, you a casual). I played Rebecki for 3u at -250, then parlay’d him for 2u more with Michel Pereira against Ihor Poteiria last week. That’s 5u in total riding on Rebecki.
I’ve noticed that the betting line has now moved into the -300s since then. I’m a bit sick of harping on about how much of an edge you get by working ahead, but there’s yet another example.
How I line this fight: Carlos Diego Ferreira +400 (20%), Mateusz Rebecki -400 (80%)
Bet or pass: 3u Mateusz Rebecki to Win (-250), 2u Mateusz Rebecki to Win (-105, parlay’d with Michel Pereira last week)
Prop leans: None, but CDF’s ability to wilt on bottom would make me believe Rebecki can finish him here, most likely via KO

~JJ Aldrich vs Veronica Hardy~
JJ Aldrich has historically been a bit of a money train for me, because she doesn’t get the respect she deserves for her skillset. I arb’d out of a bet on Aldrich when I confidently bet her at the opener against Montana De La Rosa (admittedly I got spooked by the line movement and the face I was on an island with that one). I also bet her against Na Liang (she underperformed there, in fairness), Gillian Robertson and Vanessa Demopoulos too.
Her style ain’t pretty, and it doesn’t blow your hair back…but Aldrich is a very competent striker that also has very good takedown defence. If you aren’t an above average striker, you’re therefore likely to struggle against her. Look what she did against Erin Blanchfield – she competently won most of the minutes in that fight and could have easily gone on to beat Erin were it not for that very lucky guillotine (not to discredit a good win from Erin, but it was fortuitous). Yes it’s easy to say that in hindsight, but it’s a testament to the skills Aldrich has, and the fact she’s not really faced too many steps up in competition over the years actually makes her quite underrated.
Veronica Hardy has been a bit of a strange one since she came back to competition. Everyone faded her (myself included) against Juliana Miller, which was possibly the squarest bet I have ever placed in my life. She looked good there, but I think her performance that day was flattered by how awful her opponent was and how much she overcame the betting odds and the lay-off. It felt like the perfect storm for Veronica, so the fact she overcame it kind of bolsters that win when in reality she beat a non-UFC calibre fighter. Miller is also purely a grappler and couldn’t get her takedowns going, so there isn’t really a whole lot of comparison to make for that fight anyway because that’s not JJ’s style.
Hardy’s last appearance came against Jamey-Lyn Horth, a then 6-0 Canadian fighter who hadn’t done anything remarkable in her career, other than beat the equally average and non-UFC calibre Hailey Cowan. The fight was razor close, with both women incidentally landing the exact same number of significant strikes and takedowns. A split decision was understandable there, it was a hard one to score. Wasn’t impressive.
Back to this fight, and I am once again very confused by the betting line, because I think the market is massively underrating JJ Aldrich, as always. She’s faced the much better level of competition in recent years, and the only fighter that’s gotten the better of her in the striking is Ariane Lipski.
Even if you’re just wiki-capping this fight, you should conclude that Aldrich deserves to be favoured. So what does Veronica Hardy have that bridges that gap and pushes her to be the slight favourite? Is it popularity? The fact that she’s hot? Her affiliations to Dan Hardy? The fact she’s a personality outside of MMA? I don’t know but I genuinely think it’s more likely to be any of those things than anything we see on tape! Because I didn’t see anything.
Honestly I think it’s quite likely that those are the factors. A fight like this isn’t going to get a lot of action, and any casual making a 12-fold parlay is more likely to recognise Hardy’s name? Idk, it’s a weird one but either way I’m betting Aldrich for 2u here at +125. I think she should be -150 at least.
How I line this fight: JJ Aldrich -150 (60%), Veronica Hardy +150 (36%)
Bet or pass: 2u JJ Aldrich to Win (+125), 0.5u JJ Aldrich to Win by Decision (+175 or better)
Prop leans: Likely an Aldrich decision

Bets (Bold = been placed)
1u Rodrigo Nascimento to Win (+137) (cashed out of a unit as Nascimento didn't take his Tshirt off at scale and that a huge red flag for me lol)
2u Tecia Torres to Win (+137)
0.25u Tecia Torres to Win by Decision (+170)
1u Terrance McKinney to Win in Round 1 or Esteban Ribovics to Win in Round 2 or 3 (+130)
2u Viacheslav Borshchev to Win (-137)
3u Mateusz Rebecki to Win (-250)
2u Mateusz Rebecki to Win (-105) (parlay with Michel Pereira from last week)
2u JJ Aldrich to Win (+125)
0.25u JJ Aldrich to Win by Decision (+170)
2u Robelis Despaigne to Win (-163)
0.25u Parlay Pieces (+420)
Parlay Pieces: McKinney/Ribovics Under 2.5 Rounds, Ricci/Pennington Over 2.5 Rounds, Aldrich/Hardy Over 2.5 Rounds, Viacheslav Borshchev, Mateusz Rebecki, Robelis Despaigne
Dog of the Week: JJ Aldrich
FUTURE BETS
2u Edson Barboza to Win (+125 or better)
2u Angela Hill to Win (-137)
2u Piera Rodriguez to Win (-120)
2u Kleydson Rodrigues to Win (-175 or better)
1u Abus Magomedov to Win & Under 1.5 Rounds (+100 or better)