#I haven't talked about D2 for a WHILE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zalia · 4 months

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Experiencing Destiny 1 as a D2 player

I picked up Destiny 1 in a sale recently despite being told a lot about its problems, and honestly I'm really enjoying playing it! I feel a bit like a time traveller visiting important places and events from the past.

I also have friends who played Destiny nearly from the beginning and it's fun to go back and go 'ooooh that's what they were talking about!'. I am also very aware that if I had started playing it without already being invested, I would be having considerably less fun. (Also, being fair, much of the fun is doubtless novelty after playing *mumbletymumble* hours of D2 over the past couple of years).

But it's genuinely been really interesting from a design and narrative perspective going back to it and seeing where the story began and how things have changed and I wanted to ramble about it. Full disclosure, I have played up through the first couple of missions of The Taken King. There are also things I can't comment on such as Crucible (because getting enough players for a match has not happened yet), events (no longer happening) etc. Also haven't managed to run a raid yet but hopefully will eventually!

I will start with the bad, to get it over with. A lot of stuff here will be well known and honestly it's probably less interesting than the good/thinky stuff.

The Bad

Oh boy I have maligned D2's New Light introduction so badly since it is miles ahead of D1 just by merit of actually having one! D1 gives you the opening run through the Cosmodrome where they tell you what buttons to use and then refuses to explain anything ever again. (This very definitely ties into it being a game I enjoy now but would probably not have enjoyed if I wasn't already invested)

You don't realise how many QoL improvements D2 has until you have to go to orbit and select a new destination every single time. Also no fast travel points. And no you cannot just look at a map of the place you're traversing. Fashion is difficult too.

Up until Taken King, I am not sure why they bothered hiring voice actors for anyone except Ghost, Elsie Bray, and maybe the Speaker. And I have no idea why they hired Bill Nighy for that part (I mean I do, it's because they wanted to use Big Names for marketing but still...). The Vanguard could easily be replaced with cardboard cutouts because they are basically uninvolved in anything until Taken King begins. I know they aren't involved in every seasonal plot now, but they do appear and develop.

The story and writing is... well, it makes an attempt to exist. It does not succeed until The Taken King. I went in knowing what happens in the story and I'm still not actually sure what happens in the story because it is basically someone's pre-first draft bullet points of a narrative. The only reason I knew I was starting different storylines is because the mission popup tells you which storyline it is. 'I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain' is a meme for a reason, but another bit which I think illustrates the point well is from House of Wolves. Petra tells you that Skolas has entered the Vault of Glass and this is bad so you need to stop him. It is never explained before then what the Vault of Glass is, what it does, why it would be bad for Skolas to be in there, or... anything. While D2 can be obtuse, and sometimes leaves important info in easily overlooked lore tabs (or in vaulted content), it at least tries to tell you what the story is. I feel like D1 actively resents that players do not read the bullet points and fill in everything the writers had in their heads. Another example is the Devil's Lair strike. it's the first one you take on in D1, and after doing it in D2, I was expecting backstory and build up. Nope, you just get sent in with nothing to really explain what is going on, who the House of Devils are, what a Servitor is... I know it had troubled development and the story got torn apart and remade very close to launch, and it really shows in the early stuff. It's a series of missions that were made and then had to be strung together with the thinnest of threads. It gets better in Taken King, but at times is still not great. You first encounter the Taken on Phobos, I think Ghost asks about what they are. I was expecting more discussion about them and what they are and how horrifying it is. But nope, they just exist now and we're all fine with that.

So. Much. Grinding. The pinnacle grind was annoying in D2, the grind to just get your light up in D1 is so much worse. You will be doing bounties desperately to try to get your rep up with the various groups just so you can actually get fragments of story and quests. You will be grinding just to level up your subclass and it takes ages.

The places you visit are very expansive - even the Cosmodrome is significantly larger - which is great when they're used well, but a lot of the time they feel very empty, there to make you play for longer to get between areas than because there is anything to do.

The Good

The game is gorgeous! I'm loving getting to see Venus and Mars and the Dreadnaught. They're beautiful environments. Everything feels very expansive which can be very cool (as above, it can also be less good). When used well, it feels like there are so many mysteries and secrets hidden in this abandoned world. There are hidden bunkers and spaces, huge Vex structures and ruined cities, tunnels burrowed beneath the Cosmodrome and the Taken King's dreadnaught. It's genuinely fun to explore (up to a point).

It does an excellent job of making you genuinely feel like it's post-apocalyptic and the existence of humanity is precarious. And you, the Guardian, are brand new and everything is trying to kill you. You don't have multiple gods stored in your vault in the form of guns! Everything feels more dangerous. For example, I think if D2 is your intro, you look back at the Great Disaster and the first Crota fireteam and go 'but how did that happen when I go onto the moon and take out ogres with a single punch? The biggest threat in the Abyss in Crota's End is falling into a pit or getting hit by a pendulum! Yeah no I get it now. In D1 you are much less powerful and it makes swarming thralls and normal enemies much more of a threat. Things feel dangerous in a way that D2 rarely manages. I'll talk about this a bit more in depth later.

By making your supers and abilities less powerful, they have weirdly made them more useful. In D2 I usually save mine for bosses since it feels like a waste to use them on normal enemies. In D1, it makes absolute sense to use your abilities basically as soon as you have them. You should absolutely use your Golden Gun on a normal Hive Knight or Fallen Vandal!

There's some great atmospheric touches. I love hearing the snippets of distorted music when I'm near a Rasputin bunker. Going into some of the ruined buildings on Mars or Venus where it's dark and suddenly seeing so many red Vex eyes staring back at you is chilling.

The opening mission of Taken King is fantastic. Genuinely creepy and the Taken in general in D1 feel much scarier and threatening than in D2.

All the different enemy factions are different colours and designs! I love that!

Weapons still go brrrrr in a very pleasing way. And getting new gear feels genuinely satisfying in a way that it rarely does in D2. I junk 99% of the armour and guns I get in D2, in D1 I end up being much more considering of whether something is useful. Legendary weapons and armour feel precious!

I keep picking up random Warmind weapons to turn into Banshee that I know lead to an exotic quest and I am enjoying the feeling of that being another Secret Thing I am discovering.

Honestly, I really like Banshee's weapon bounties - you get given a prototype weapon to test out and gather data by doing certain things (killing X number of a certain enemy etc.) and that gains you rep. And you can then order a legendary version of the weapon from him to be delivered the next Wednesday.

Thoughts/Observations

Knowing that the 'original' story was seemingly going to focus more on Rasputin, and an exo version of him getting stolen by the Hive makes the appearance of some of the Hive areas on the Moon make more sense. There's some bits that are high tech in a way that feels very at-odds with what we see of the Dreadnaught and, other Hive locations which lean much more towards the organic and magical.

Similarly, Rise of Iron feels a lot more hard sci-fi than much of what Destiny has become, and has such a huge Rasputin focus. I believe it was partially developed by an outside studio, so I do wonder if it was based, at least in part, on the 'original' story of Destiny, and was either too far into development, or the other studio just never got the memo about the change in tone.

Vaguely related to the above, but way more speculative, I wonder if Banshee was originally meant to be a Rasputin exo, then that story got shifted to Felwinter, but the seeds were used for the story of Banshee having been Clovis Bray.

Honestly while it's fun to think about, in general I find the obsession parts of the Destiny community have with 'the original story' (of the 'maybe they're finally going back to the original story!' type where the unspoken idea is that this was the perfect undiluted pure story that was 100% planned and set in stone) to be fundamentally misunderstanding how creating stories work. I can guarantee that even if that first story had been used, after 10 years of multiple writers etc. it would still be in a very different place than where the people who came up with it initially thought it would go. It would have evolved and changed and shifted, even if it was following the same vague plan. That's just what stories do.

Oh wow, suddenly all the Nightmare Hunts in Shadowkeep make way more sense! I get it now!

Actually I get a lot of references now XD

Oh wow Shaxx sounds so depressed. I guess this was before he started therapy.

So many identical caves...

Thoughts on Power Creep

D1 leans much more into the post-apocalyptic setting and it does an excellent job of making the existence of the Last City, humanity, and Guardians feel precarious. Everything seems more dangerous, more of a threat. You really are part of the last bastion of humanity. And there's a few ways this is done.

First, you are much less powerful. Yes, you have supers and grenades, but they do much less damage (and are much less flashy) than in D1. There has been a huge amount of power creep! You won't be one-shotting bosses, even normal Vanguard Strike bosses with golden gun easily.

Legendary weapons feel rare and special, and I am still using Blue weapons at times because sometimes I have to just to get the higher light level. I have reached level 40 and have only just got my first exotic armour pieces which I bought from Xur! They are FR0ST-EE5, an exotic I have never bothered with in D2, but in D1 the recharge for abilities when sprinting is genuinely handy. I don't have any exotic weapons at all yet!

It leads to a very different playstyle - I play much more carefully because I cannot just charge in with something like Osteo Striga and wipe out a room with a few shots. In D2 we have killed multiple gods, taken down an Empire, and forged alliances. In D1, we're just some random Guardian and the gameplay reflects this.

And I hate to say this, but I also kind of get the YouTube/Stream BNFs who complain about things not being hard enough. It's just... they're completely wrong about the reasons and the solutions.

They seem to think that what is needed is more enemies with higher health, and nerf Divinity because it makes it too easy, and everything should be designed to stop normal players being able to do it. And it... it doesn't work? Ghosts of the Deep was fun, but holy fuck the health bars on the enemies make it feel grindy and dragged out. Legend Avalon was a slog because there's Too Much - too many elements at the same time so it's just overwhelming instead of fun. (Starcrossed on legend is tough, but feels more enjoyable and managable. I'm looking forward to doing it again instead of dreading it).

More difficulty isn't what makes D1 feel harder, being weaker is what does this. I have no doubt that if I could put my D2 stuff against D1 enemies I would decimate them. But in D1 I am a lone Guardian with scavenged gear and yes, I have the Light and can be resurrected, and it gives me an edge vs normal humans, but not a crazy amount.

In D2 I have so many exotics and weapons that I can just throw them away. I can have intricately crafted builds to take on any enemies! I am basically one of the most powerful entities in the solar system.

And that's not something you can really scale back. They did it with Red War at the start of D2. Maybe they could do it as a result of Final Shape and do smaller stories focused on Earth and recovery and what you even do after your purpose for fighting for so long is gone (and I think there is value in those stories! I would love it personally). But uh... I don't think most people would actually be happy having everything nerfed on such a scale. Give up your 999,999 Celestial Nighthawk boss damage, for a Golden Gun that with a bit of luck might one-shot a yellowbar?

Give up a lot of creativity in terms of what you use and how you play, in exchange for a tougher game with way less choice for builds, but one that is potentially more atmospheric and in-keeping with the post-apocalypse and the dangers of the solar system?

I don't have an answer for that! And it's not even the most important thing. Gamer BNFs gonna always want to prove that they're better than everyone at pressing buttons, and forget that the majority of players are casuals. But it's been interesting playing a different type of difficulty, rather than the forced difficulty of insanely high HP and Too Many Things.

Power creep is a real issue in a lot of long-running media (just look at superhero movies, or many many monster of the week TV shows). You're in a position of feeling like you need to one-up yourself every time. Every new villain has to be the biggest and baddest, and so you have to become more and more powerful to combat that, which means the next villain has to be even bigger and badder.

With Destiny we've gone from a scrappy underdog, to a god-killer.

I'm reminded of Osiris talking about Saint in The Sundial lore.

'I watched him grow from neophyte to demi-god'.

King of fitting for us to have done the same as Saint's inspiration.

#destiny 2 #destiny 1 #destiny the game #meta #gaming #video games #my thoughts

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twinsunstars · 5 months

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Thrawn: Alliances - A Discussion of My Favorite Parts

Hello! I recently finished reading Thrawn: Alliances and I loved every bit of interaction with every character featured in this novel. The novel goes back and forth from the present to the past, focusing on the Imperial Era with Darth Vader, and the Clone Wars era with Anakin Skywalker, as Thrawn has met both. Note that I didn't put every excerpt in order of how the book goes, I just placed my screenshots and went along with my thoughts.

SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET!

Anakin misses her so much… I wonder how the book’s plot would have gone if this took place before Ahsoka left the order. She would possibly be on the mission with Anakin and would have met Thrawn long ago.

This was too funny. I really want to hear Anakin try to pronounce his whole name. It would be great if Star Wars brought this scene (or all of the Clone Wars scenes in here) to life in either animation or live action.

R2-D2 is one of the best companions anyone could ever have. R2's survived through so many events and battles, and he loves being alongside Anakin. R2's ready for anything.

I love it when Thrawn focuses on tiny details that are important to the big picture. It's definitely all part of his love for art. I think Anakin is really fortunate that Thrawn came along his path and joined his mission, and without him Anakin would be having a lot more trouble trying to find Padmé.

Back in the present, Thrawn and Vader just continue to keep on arguing and disagreeing with each other. I found it quite funny.

I love how R2 is always watching out for Anakin, it's really cute. Losing him towards the end of the Clone Wars probably took a toll on him, and he never knew what happened to his old master, and he's the only droid who remembers him so closely.

Anakin's really trying to be like "I don't know what you're talking about" while Thrawn is already figuring out that Anakin and Padmé are basically an item.

I love how Thrawn is willing to stay loyal to his homeworld while making the choice to be an Imperial. He chooses to fight for both sides, and nothing will stop him from doing that.

Vader really keeps telling Thrawn that "Anakin Skywalker is dead", and Thrawn just keeps nodding his head with it. Like he knows, but isn't addressing the fact that he knows. He just has to go along with whatever happened to his old friend.

We all know Thrawn loves art. Every piece of art has meaning to it, from the colors to the textures to the lines. Thrawn's art analyses are something I'm always willing to read and pay close attention to.

Thrawn said "we", and Vader caught that. He himself claimed he killed Anakin Skywalker himself back in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and the inner Anakin deep inside him remembers that Thrawn knew him. Vader has the need to correct Thrawn, as Vader was never with Thrawn before, but Anakin was.

Padmé really wanted to hug Anakin, but they can't do anything with others around watching them. Anakin didn't like the idea of splitting up and Padmé going with Thrawn instead of him, but he makes sure Thrawn will take care of her.

Padmé tells Thrawn about a useful tactic Ahsoka had created that is sometimes used in battles, and Thrawn takes inspiration from this. Unfortunately, Ahsoka isn't here since she had already left the Jedi Order, but it would have been interesting if she was here and had met Thrawn years ago. It'll be interesting when Ahsoka meets him in the series.

I love this line. Thrawn will serve his own people more than anyone else, and protect them more. Nothing else matters when his people are involved in an event.

I need to physically SEE Thrawn holding and fighting with Anakin's lightsaber. He naturally somehow knows how to fight with a lightsaber and use the weapon.

This part was funny. Most of the time, Vader has no idea what Thrawn is talking about, while Thrawn is like "It makes sense, just go along with it."

Honestly, Thrawn should really be keeping those Force-sensitive Chiss they found far away from the hands of the Emperor, but to me it wasn't too clear on what Thrawn and the Emperor had actually been talking about regarding the Force-sensitives, and it's different for them on his homeworld. Vader is definitely thinking out of the box here.

With this, I finally got to understand how the Force works with his people. I began reading the Ascendancy novels, and the girls with the "Third Sight" are definitely being overworked to the point where their ability begins to fade. Or it could be something that they get the Force but it just starts to fade.

Sureee, until a clan of purgills comes to take you far away and strand you with one of the Jedi rebels you're trying to defeat...

I made a post before talking about this part, and ever since I finished the book, this part has just stuck with me. Thrawn remembers Anakin how he had met and known him, and he will never forget it.

Vader said "us", similar to the scene where Thrawn said "we". Vader making this error in speech just further confirms Thrawn's suspicion of Vader being Anakin under all that armor.

You've reached the end! I really liked this book, and Thrawn and Anakin's dynamic was enjoyable to read. I'm excited for the Alliances comic that is set to release next year, and we can finally see this book in visuals. Let me know your thoughts of the novel!

#thrawn alliances #thrawn novels #star wars #grand admiral thrawn #anakin skywalker #darth vader #padme amidala #ahsoka tano #ahsoka series #clone wars

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mxnd-infxction · 18 days

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ok i haven't talked about my work crushes in a while so

i realized i kinda forgot about D for like weeks and that's because i haven't seen him in like a month lmfao. i think he either quit or got fired or found a new job or something. kinda sucks cuz i was gonna ask him out but oh well

there's another guy, i'll call him D2 - i kinda like him but more as a friend than like romantically. plus i'm like lowkey mentally clocking him (if you get what i'm saying) like i did with I.

Speaking Of I. i need one of y'all to whack me upside the head or something because i'm starting to think i still have some feelings for him. i mean - a) he's the only gay man i know in real life, b) long hair, eyeliner/makeup, nail polish, c) he has tattoos on his arm(s)?? (idk i just think they're cool tbh)

i mean tbh i need to give it up because he either doesn;t remember me or wouldn't wanna hang out with me

#the fucking PAIN of being in the closet holy fucking shit #i don't think i ever said this here but i look like a cis woman #it sucks shit because in my head i'm like. me but more masc idk #but definitely would not get taken for a woman yk #pretty boy? ig #not to be Like That on this blog but he could forcemasc me tbh idgaf hes so hot #he lowkey reminds me of andy sturmer circa 93 #new mistake mv #FUCK!!!!#i should stop yapping lmao

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csykora · 2 years

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on your final note on that impeccable roller skating analysis: could you expand on australia being beloved by the hockey world, for a new aussie hockey fan? i know a little of the players who've made it to the nhl from here, but beyond that and the fact that we have our own tiny hockey ecosystem, i haven't really seen any other discussions! and certainly none on our reputation among the global community (but it is wonderful to know that hockey cares about us, ty <3)

Of course! Like every other league, Australian ice hockey has been affected by the pandemic, so I have to admit that talk about it on tumblr has probably died down. (I’m also really not a reliable source on what is and isn’t popular on hockey tumblr, so I may be speaking more on what I see in the sports dork community.) But when Australia is playing I’ve always seen a lot of positivity from the stats side as well as general goodwill from North American fans on here.

Largely because your national jersey is, and has always been, gorgeous.

But Australia is also pretty consistently competitive in D2 international tournaments. (Discussion of those might be more on twitter and reddit than here?)

As that jersey suggests, there’s a lot of history to the program, which is closely tied to the history of UK ice hockey and Western Canadian hockey. Hockey historians have done some good writing about that—I especially enjoy icelegendsaustralia.

[The Aussie national team snuggling in a hotel hallway in the 1990s]

In between international events, you’re most likely to find woho fans and sled/para folks talking about day-to-day Australian league stuff. In the mid 2010s there was a lot of appreciation for the Australian hockey community because they seem to share a lot of the best parts of the North American woho community at the time. The stories I hear coming out of Australia suggest that because it’s a smaller, less-discussed league, the players and fans who are in it tend to have a real enthusiasm and inclusive attitude.

While I’m sure there’s bias, there’s less of a chasm between the resources that players on competitive men’s and women’s teams, and the smaller pool means more integrated noncompetitive teams. The women’s teams are strong and trans athletes like Ella Licari (goalie for Syndey) have been playing for years, as well as the LGBTQ+ Harbor Lights team who started during the pandemic. Sled hockey has been growing really fast there too (it’s often big in places where standup hockey isn’t, just because sled hockey is such a unique sport for people with mobility disabilities). So there has been discussion about how the seemingly very positive growth of the game in Australia can be a model for programs in other communities.

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andmaybegayer · 2 years

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Last Monday of the Week 2022-06-20

Pathfinder plans cancelled 16 dead 23 injured.

Listening: My mother didn't know that Trance Music is like, a contemporary genre of music that is active and popular, which I only realized now because we were talking about some trance music that was playing over a store's speaker system and she started talking about "people dancing around a fire." Anyway when she went to search for it on google she spelled it Trans Music so here's "High Pressure Low" by Against Me!

youtube

Reading: First two chapters? books? whatever the hell Manga is broken up into of Mai No Mushigurashi which @thosearentcrimes successfully pitched to me as

(...) manga about lesbians farming and doing wildlife conservancy and relating their personal lives and experiences to a different insect each issue.

Which like. You really got my number here.

Also the second and third Murderbot books. Poor Miki :(

Watching: You can tell this section is bad when I open up my YouTube history. I got nothing here man let's just say that thankfully Loading Ready Run is back to doing Crapshots.

youtube

Making: Less "making" and more "learning" but I've finally picked up the Ham Radio Operator Exam Guide since exams are coming up in October. I do have an electrical engineering degree so the electrical stuff is mostly trivial, although I'll have to refresh my antennas, haven't worked with those since third year, but I put together some Anki decks on radio protocol to keep up to date.

Playing: Knocked out every race and almost every PR stunt in Forza Horizon 5 while listening to podcasts. I guess I should try online gameplay there, I'm a good enough racer that if I don't bonehead myself into a wall I can usually make first to third against humans in races but I have as yet not really tried too hard.

Tools and Equipment: I have long been a Bread Knife Guy who insists that you should Use A Bread Knife On Bread because otherwise you just crush the shit out of most breads, but in an emergency situation I was called on to slice a ton of loaves with nothing but my handy pocket knife which was alarmingly good at this job. Turns out bread knives are better than what most people keep in their kitchens but if you have a nice sharp razor edge you can actually do even better.

So here's to say that you can totally use a kitchen knife as a bread knife but only if you keep it really sharp. As a side note, D2 steel is a fantastic pocket knife blade if you have the presence of mind to handle the most basic bare-ass essential maintenance of "oiling it every now and again" and "not putting it away wet". I have not had to sharpen this thing and it's still sharp as hell over a year of light to moderate use later.

#last monday of the week #Youtube

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tiderideraa · 2 years

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what do you think about the canon confirmed ships in descendants? like ben x mal?

i'm very sorry for only answering this now nonny, i genuinely don't know when this ask was sent or how long it's been sitting in my askbox. based solely on the films ( as i haven't read the books ) i understand the canon ships from a narrative stand point, i understand their purposes, and i think i understand where the writers were coming from and what they wanted to portray when they decided to run with them.

that said, i don't like a lot of the canon confirmed ships, mostly because i think their execution was done poorly and a lot of the relationship issues that were implied, touched on, or brought up were never completely resolved or the issues were brought up for the sake of conflict without building upon reasoning.

bal is the most obvious canon confirmed ship, they have a lot of issues that they never address and never resolve and ultimately i don't think that they're compatible with each other as from my understanding of the two characters ben is very much "what can i do for you" while mal is very "what can you do for me".

evie and doug is the other canon confirmed ship i can think of that just sprints past some weird issues with zero continuity and was overall poorly executed and developed. doug's crush in d1 is initially very cute and he had an obvious impact on evie realizing that it was more than okay to flaunt both her beauty and her intelligence, but randomly following evie and chad was a weird choice as was doug asking evie if she was cheating on him in d2. the former is just taking an underdog character and making them creepy, while the later came out of the left field with zero build up so it's just shoehorned in there for conflict purposes (i personally think doug would have assumed that evie was having isle trouble or bullying issues before he would suspect her of cheating but that's because i'm a doug sympathiser)

then there's jane and carlos, which again, from a narrative standpoint, makes some sense. they're both coming into their own identities, taking ownership over their own lives, growing into these confident, skilled people and both are kind of social outcasts, neither exactly fit into any one group. so it makes sense to stick them together. they were also awkward as hell, but cute as heck.

chad and audrey i could get behind but then it got very weird very quickly when chad started...acting like that in d2 and then how audrey treated him in d3. had potential, then that potential crash and burned.

but yeah. there's my thoughts. i'd of talked about huma but as far as i know it's not canon confirmed. other ships i'll scream cry about, sea3, buma and bevie. the really niche ones are uma and audrey, hades and belle, and doug and uma.

#. ooc . › what's a god to a nonbeliever .

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rito-flips · 2 months

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BALISONG SPOTLIGHT: EPS KNIVES 101

I will admit, I've had one hell of a time with the 101. So, for a bit of a backstory, I got my first 101, a V1, in a trade last November. While I was admittedly terrified of it due to it being my first proper live blade, I couldn't get enough of it, and I ended up liking it so much that a few weeks ago, I went and bought a V2 directly from EPS themselves. Despite my personal V2 absolutely maiming my thumb when I first got it, I haven't been able to put it down, and much to the dismay of my wallet, I'm seriously considering buying the titanium version EPS is cooking when it comes out. TL;DR:

The Good: Spot on quality control, and a consistent flipping experience similar to a Kraken, but different enough to warrant owning both.

The Bad: Chaplins are slightly uncomfortable. V1s are slippery and lack handle jimping, and not everyone will like the V2's handle finish.

GENERAL INFO

Meant to be EPS's entry level knife, the 101 sits with other mid-range balisongs in terms of price, with both versions' live blades sitting at $245 USD, the V1 trainers sitting at $170 USD, and the V2 trainers sitting at $175 USD. At the time of writing this, both the V1 and the V2 can be purchased directly from EPS's website.

The unboxing experience of the 101 is a bit more elaborate than similarly priced knives. When you get it, the box is kept closed magnetically, and the knife is tightly nestled in a foam cutout that's a perfect fit for it. The knife doesn't come with spare hardware, but with how good the tune was out of the box, there's not much of a reason to take it apart in the first place, so while it sucks it ultimately shouldn't matter that much (if, for whatever reason, you need spare hardware, it's best to ask EPS what the hardware dimensions are).

Since this is a live blade, it'd be good to talk about the blade itself. For the blade steel on the 101, EPS uses D2, which is is a tried and true steel that's seen use in knives since the 1940s and can hold an edge well (although sharpening it can be a pain). The edge itself is so sharp it's almost frightening, and I had to learn this the hard way when it sliced through an artery and a few nerve endings in my thumb (i'm okay i swear). The only real downside of D2 is that it's more prone to rusting than other steels, but this can be mitigated by keeping a thin coat of oil on the blade at all times—it also isn't much of a concern if you don't live in a humid area like me, but do pay attention to the blade.

EPS markets this knife as a no-frills knife that a flipper can start and grow on, and it shows quite a bit in its design and construction, sporting a classic weehawk blade and simple channel construction handles with a faux-hole pattern and jimping if you buy a V2. It uses a bushing pivot system allowing for minimal handle play and the handles are made of 7075 aluminum, with the finish on them being a stonewash on the V1 and a heavy bead-blast on the V2 (more on this later). The tunes on both of my 101s have been spot on and are the best tuned knives I currently own, with perfect handle swing, no tap, and as close to zero handle play as you could ask for.

FLIPPING

With the 101 being a ~$250 USD channel aluminum live blade, it's obvious what it's competing with: the Squid Industries Krake Raken, which has been the community's gold standard for flipping since its debut in 2019. The question most will ask is: Does it compete with the Kraken?

If you ask me, I'd say yes.

Both knives have an ever so slight handle bias and even weight distribution, but the 101 has some small differences that make it different enough from a Kraken to warrant owning both:

If you put a 101 and Kraken side-by-side, you might notice that their overall length is about the same, but the 101 goes for shorter and thinner handles in exchange for a longer blade. This extra blade weight makes the knife as a whole feel more "neutral" than on a Kraken (I hesitate to call it this because neutral is a very subjective term in this hobby), and it makes fanning unusually good for a weehawk blade.

The 101 is also lighter (~3.8 oz as opposed to the Kraken's ~4.3 oz), and its aforementioned balance makes for a very consistent flipping experience. It carries momentum well, has no problem with ricochets thanks to the weight, and despite the short, more rectangular handles, it doesn't have a problem with more technical tricks. As far as the flipping experience itself goes, my only criticism goes to the zen pin cups on the blade, which makes chaplins a bit uncomfortable, but it is something you can get used to.

If you get a V1, the stonewashed finish is soft to the touch and feels nice in the hand, but it suffers from the same general pitfall that aluminum has in the context of flipping, which is that it's unbearably slippery if your hands are sweaty or dry. The lack of anything to help with grip outside of the faux-hole pattern makes this all the more apparent, and the absence of jimping is noticeable during ladders, especially with its rectangular shaped handles.

As for the V2, it's a similarly mixed bag. Two things were changed from the V1 to the V2, those changes being the addition of jimping and a different handle finish to help with grip. The former is an objective upgrade, but I want to focus on the latter because of how polarizing I know it'll be. I mentioned before that the V2 uses a very heavy bead-blast finish, and it is the most matte finish I have ever seen on any type of metal. It does help with grip (especially if you naturally have sweaty palms like I do), but it looks and feels like a chalkboard, and at this price point, a good chunk of flippers would rather throw themselves off of a cliff than touch that. I don't mean to knock those who like it, but I do want to warn you that if you dislike matte textures, the V2 is not for you.

As much as I love it, this is easily my biggest critique I have to give the 101. If I were to give feedback for EPS, it would be to offer different handle finishes for the V2 for the people that don't want a bead blast (if you ask me, a more subtle satin option would be nice); even though the more aggressive bead blast was done to improve grip, how it feels in the hand can change a person's opinion of it very quickly (one flipper told me it outright ruined the experience of the knife for him). Someone who wants to buy the knife shouldn't have to choose between not having jimping and going with a handle finish they dislike.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

I''m sorry if it seems like I've been waffling and giving this knife shit, because it really is one of my favorite balisongs at the moment. I personally like the finish on the V2, but as I said before, the finish is simply not for everyone. If EPS offered more handle finish options (kinda like how Krakens can be bought in either satin or matte finishes), this would be a much easier recommendation for me to make, but for now at least, if you like matte handle finishes or if you're fine without the jimping, this knife is something I think you'll like a lot.

#balisong #knife #balisong flipping #butterfly knife #hobby #skill hobby #butterfly knives

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bhawk-goose · 4 months

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I'd like to start by saying that I'm really bad at chess, so if you're very serious about chess you may not want to see this cuz I'll probably cause you physical pain with how bad my moves are. If you are super serious about chess but are also fine with that, pls read, I really wanna know how good chatgpt was when it wasnt' blatantly cheating.

now I'm playing chess against chatpgt, also allowing it to cheat without telling it. We've been playing chess normally and legally for a little bit, but already chatgpt has cheated for the first time on its 6th move. I'm for some reason keeping track of the stages of chatgpt chess. First is the legal phase, which in this case lasted all of five turns. Now is the semi-cheating phase, where chatpgt still makes some legal moves. This first cheat is pretty minor, just moving its bishop from f8 to b4 by jumping over a pawn at d6.

next move: this may have skipped semi-cheating and minor cheating, on its next turn it's already started making new pieces and combining cheats by moving its knight from g8(currently its knights are on f6 and b8) to d7. I would like to mention that the place it created its kinght at can't legally reach d7, but both of its preexisting knights CAN legally reach d7. I'm not going to stop it cuz that's not how this works but still.

next move: it's gone back to legal moves with pawn to a6. This is interesting, perhaps my previous model of stages which was based on vague memories of seeing chess youtubers talk about chatgpt was incorrect.

next move: it has returned to cheating in response to me capturing its bishop with my pawn perfectly legally. It was an incredibly obvious move, I'd just moved my pawn to a3, and its bishop was at b4, and it could've easily fled or captured my knight to put my in check(I could've captured back but still), but instead it ignored that, and now it's thrown a temper tantrum and moved its illegally created knight from d7 all the way down to b4.

next move: chatgpt has gotten a double kill by creating another fuckin knight ontop of my knight on c3, and used it to capture my pawn at d4 after I captured its pawn there. I'm not looking back until the end where I list out all the moves made so you can visualize it but I'm pretty sure chatgpt has moved a bunch of pawns in the legal phase as well as a bishop once, and now it's just been using knights.

next move: for the first time I'm starting my writing before I move. I'm nervous, since this is almost definitely going to lose me my queen, but I'm gonna capture its knight. Now writing about the response, somehow my queen is alive, chatgpt spared me, instead making a bishop at f8 and moving it to e7.

next move: I'm gonna start using all my first sentences to describe my move, I'm grateful for the mercy so I feel kinda bad but I know this won't last, so I'm going to take advantage of it while it lasts and continue my queen to capture another one of its knights, bringing it back down to a legal 2. Now after its move, thank god its mercy has continued, it's even making legal moves, it's castled kingside, there's nothing in the way, this is actually perfectly allowed, its king and rook haven't moved.

next move: now I feel especially bad cuz chatgpt's been keeping track of the moves in chess notation and the notation for kingside castling looks like a little face, I don't wanna hurt that, I'll just move it to a defensive position at d2. After the move, I think chatgpt has calmed down. It's actually being merciful. It's still blatantly cheating, but it's not slaughtering my army. It's just moving its knight from f6(where it actually is) to g6.

next move: so far chatgpt has been blind, so I'm moving my knight from h3 to g5 even though its bishop is on e7. Next move, I just feel bad now, chatgpt just castled kingside even though it's already done that and hasn't moved its king or rook since. I think its strategy is just to make me feel bad and resign, but it isn't going to work.

next move: I'm moving my knight to h7 to open up its defences, my hope is to move the knight back out now that it's open, move my pawn blocking my rook to another file by capturing a knight with it, then move my queen in to attack that area moving in directly next to the king for checkmate since other black pieces are blocking it everywhere except where my queen is, but my rook will be defending it. Chatgpt's too smart for that, it created a rook on h8 and captured my knight. It's still salvagable, it I can bait it into capturing my pawn I'll be able to recapture with my rook and that spot will still be open.

next move: I'm moving my pawn forward to make it seem threatening without putting it in reach of chatgpt's knight. It's responded by fortifying that position, it's moved its rook from f8 over its king to h8.

next move, that position is hopeless, I'm moving my queen from d2 to e2 so I can threaten its bishop, It's probably a bad idea but it's the only idea I have. Chatgpt has gone for an interesting move of getting its bishop out of the way by capturing its own pawn at d6.

next move: I'm going from a hail mary, I'm moving my queen to e8, putting chatgpt in check, the only way for it to get out of this legally is for it to remember it has a queen on d8 and capture, which would put my king in check, there's a reason I'm calling this a hail mary. I looks like I'm dumb, it actually found a legal defence, knight to f8, I got so focused on the top row that I didn't even notice the knight waiting on g6.

next move: I'm offering a draw, this is hopeless. Chatgpt accepted, IDK why, it could easily win, but it's a draw.

now for the list of moves:

I start by moving my knight from b1 to c3

chatgpt responds by moving its pawn from e7 to e5

I respond by moving my pawn from f2 to f3

chatgpt responds by moving its pawn from d7 to d6

I move my pawn from e2 to e3

chatgpt moves its knight from g8 to f6

I move my pawn from d2 to d4

chatgpt gets the first capture by moving its pawn from e5 to take my pawn at d4

I move my pawn from e3 to capture d4

chatgpt moves its pawn from c7 to c6

I move my pawn from h2 to h3

chatgpt makes the first illegal move with bishop from f8 to b4

I move my knight from g1 to h3

chatgpt creates its first new piece, making a knight at g8 and moving it to d7

I move my pawn from a2 to a3

chatgpt moves its pawn from a7 to a6

I move my pawn from a3 to b4, capturing chatgpt's bishop

chatgpt moves its knight form d7 to b4, capturing my pawn

I move my pawn from e3 to d4(I had to change a bit on my board I was redoing this on for this to work, so I may have actually cheated, IDK)

chatgpt gets an(in my opinion) iconic double kill by summoning a knight out of my knight like a chessburster and then moving it to capture my pawn on d4

I move my queen from d1 to d4 to capture chatgpt's knight

chatgpt becomes a pacifist for a bit and makes a bishop at f8 which it moves to e7

I move my queen from d4 to b4 to capture another knight

chatgpt castles kingside

I move my queen from b4 to d2

chatgpt moves its knight form f6 to g6

I move my knight form h3 to g5

chatgpt does nothing

I move my knight from g8 to h7, thinking I'm smart

chatgpt ends its pacifism by showing my just how stupid I am and making a rook at h8, which it moves to h7 to capture my knight.

I move my pawn from h2 to h3

chatgpt moves its rook back to h8 from f8

I move my queen from d2 to e2

chatgpt captures its own pawn by moving its bishop from e7 to d6

I move my queen from e2 to e8, putting chatgpt in check(apparently, I looked at the chat and I distinctly remember chatgpt moving its rook through its king, but I don't see that anywhere, so I'm just gonna say it's not check)

chatgpt moves its knight from g6 to f7, capturing its own rook.

I offer a draw

chatgpt accepts

here's a link to the conversation because for some reason I'm being very thorough with this:

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redwineconversation · 9 months

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Lyon - Olympique de Marseille Preseason Postgame Thoughts

You know when you go to the dentist and you're like, this is going to suck, but you know you have to go anyway, so then you're in the chair with a drill in your mouth and you're questioning every life choice you made that lead you to this moment?

That's a little bit what watching this game was like, except I've had dentist appointments more enjoyable (probably because I've never had braces or a cavity, but we can talk about dental hygiene another time).

Anyway, let's recap an experience that somehow was more painful than a trip to the dentist.

My feelings about Sonia Bompastor's youth academy experiment are well documented at this point, and they haven't changed. There's just such a massive gulf between the youth leagues and the professional league, and the transition is brutal. Not every player who shines in the youth leagues will make it as a professional player and not every player who becomes professional will have the same statistics and profile as a pro as they did in the youth league.

You can't compare the two, which is why it puts me on such a back foot when we have academy players integrate the pro group without sending them out on loan first. It's just such a huge step. and as I said, there's a gulf in talent that shouldn't be ignored.

Out of all the academy players who were on the field today, I would say maybe on Maelvine Mendy and Alice Marques were the only ones who deserve to train with the pro group. The others had no business being there. I don't care what potential an academy player shows in training or with the youth leagues, the differences are too great between academy and pro, and Lyon should have too many aspirations to be treated as a stepping stone. That's what you have mid-tier teams for.

We are - and by that I mean I am - in for a very, very long season if Melvine Malard does not get shipped off in loan this season. Extending her to 2026 was one of Bompastor's biggest mistakes. She has suffered such a drop in confidence that she can't control a game while playing with youth players and can't score against a D2 team.

If anything, it just shows that the 2021-2022 season was an exception, and she was being propped up by better players and better playmakers. When both of those were taking away from her, she was exposed for what she is.

Therefore I fully anticipate Bompastor starting her every game this season because she "showed promise in training".

Laura Benkarth made her first appearance for Lyon, and there was some good, some bad. I'd rather have a player like her on my team sheet than not, and as this was her first game with Lyon I'm willing to give her a little bit of slack. She made some really good saves, especially on the penalty, and was a little bit hung out to dry by Lyon's statuesque defense on two of the goals. So it's a little hard to really get a read on her for how she will do in a game with proper defenders in front of her, but for now, at least I wasn't recoiling in horror.

Marozsan still runs at the speed of a drunk lumberjack and played with maybe 20 percent interest, which is kind of on par with most of her performances last season, so at least she was being consistent. That being said, even a player of Marozsan's calibre would struggle to make something happen with the players around her, so I can't really rip into her for that. I was a little surprised when Ines Benyahia took the penalty instead of Marozsan, because Marozsan is a player even I would trust for penalties, but Benyahia scored so I guess faith is relative.

On the topic of Benyahia - I think it's vital she goes out on loan. If I am desperate for Malard to go out on loan because I want her to stop handicapping my team, I think Benyahia would benefit from regular game time, because it would increase her game sharpness and maybe overall fitness as well. She has talent but it's not going to do her any good unless she can have a proper go at things, and due to her position and - hopefully - Lyon's ambitions, it's just not something she is going to get at Lyon.

The final score was 3-3, which doesn't really tell us anything except that the academy players won't win you games, which everyone other than Bompastor knew already.

#all good love stories start in the rain #floss regularly and you too can be smug leaving the dentist

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auradon-bore-a-don · 10 months

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Hello, Oc Bingo buddy it is I @endless-oc-creations here to ask you five questions!

I know your ocs are from The Descendants Which I haven't got to watching yet. So my questions will mostly be for them!

Which oc do you absolutely wanna gush about? Like who they are, some fun facts, their parents, etc.

2. Which oc has the most complicated relationship with their parent or parents?

3. Which oc has the most 'healthy' or loving relationship with their parents?

4. Which oc who has a love interest you wanna share or talk about what their relationship is like?

5. Do you have a line from one of your wips you want to share?

Have an amazing day!

Hello! I'm so sorry it took me so long to respond, thank you for sending! I actually just send you my questions earlier lol.

There are so many for me to choose from but I'll go with Daphne as she was my first in the fandom and one of my favorite's. Daphne is the daughter of Roger and Anita Radcliffe from 101 Dalmatians. She's grown up in and out of Belle and Beast's castle while her parents, Pongo and Perdita has business to deal with. This is where she met Ben and started their long friendship. Fun Facts about Daphne are: She was created mostly because I do not believe Carlos would have gotten over his fear of dogs as quickly as he did in the movie (I know it's a movie but still). She runs the campus animal shelter and was the first person to take care of Dude. She is one of the very few people who can go up to Ben and will treat him like a regular person.

Complicated is the default state on the Isle but I'll go with Acadea and Dr. Facilier.

Any of the AK's, none of the Isle relationships are particularly loving or healthy. I'd go with either Daphne or Naomi.

Definitely Killian and Nessa, they were the first OC couple I created and hold a special place in my heart as I created them right after Daphne in between D1 and D2. Sadly, a lot of how I imagined their relationship is how Uma and Harry are in canon. But while the relationships are still similar, I have changed some aspects, Nessa and Killian hold a dear place in my heart. They are soulmates, the definition of "my other half," they are each other's home. You rarely find one without the other. They share things with each other that they would never tell anyone else. They would both kill and die for each other.

My current WIPs aren't OC focused (I'm trying to do what I call Humaugust - participating in AU August and centering my fics around Huma) but here is a couple lines from one of them: "They gazed into each other's eyes, as if they were seeing each other for the first time. Neither spoke, the silence between them deafening."

#ocb2023 #oc bingo #disney descendants #descendants ocs #my oc: Daphne Radcliffe #my oc: Acadea #my oc: Naomi #my oc: killian hook #my oc: nessa udine #huma

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hunting-destiny · 2 years

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HELLO HELLO I LOVE TALKING ABT DESTINY OCS AND HEARING ABOUT DESTINY OCS MY DESTINY OC BLOG SPECIFICALLY IS @eosofhearts IF U WANNA CHAT SOMETIME

IMMEDIATELY GOING TO FOLLOW YOU HELLO!! I ALSO LOVE TALKING ABOUT D2 OCS

What are your characters' names (and pronouns) and some fun facts about them :0 !! My Hunter's name is Neza (they/them) and they are pretty good on guitar but they haven't had time to practice in a long while LMAO

#they used to play all the time but now there's too much to do :'(

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banghwa · 3 years

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hi! i saw your post about the un performance being called a publicity stunt and in it you said the mcdonalds thing was one of the least questionable things they did, and i really didnt want to ask but that phrase got stuck in my head and im so curious about what other questionable things they did (i wasnt very active in the fandom until recently so apart from mcdonalds and maybe the d2 thing i cant recall anything) please feel free to not reply, i know you might get weirdos in your asks because of this

hey! most of it rly comes down to anti-blackness/racism, of which i personally feel they've worked hard on and it shows but i think you should read up yourself, as well as cultural appropriation, the most recent instances being the use of native american cultural objects like dreamcatchers during BE/life goes on promotions im not really sure i should speak on bcs 1. im not indigenous and 2. ive heard opinions from both indigenous armys who are rightfully upset and k-armys who say that it was they were atually inspired by jeju's indigenous customs...im honestly not the person to ask about it and i would really suggest you do your own research on it and reach out to indigenous armys about it

i think it would probably take a while to go over everything else individually lol so im gonna redirect you to a really informative post about it by user leepacey. i think its a little outdated, maybe by a year, but i haven't really heard of anything big or concerning since it was posted....if i am missing anything tho anyone pls lmk so i can check it out myself and also add it to this ask <3 or if there's anything specific you wanted to ask or talk abt im here for that too! its just that its Kind Of A Lot To Go Over lmao

#sorry for this kind of lazy answer! :( im not rly sure if you had a particular question in mind so ill leave it at this #as for the d2 stuff..lol i have my own opinions about it but honestly i got such shit for it last year that i dont even wanna bring it up #💌#anonymous

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fly-pow-bye · 4 years

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DuckTales 2017 - “Moonvasion!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Storyboard by: Vince Aparo, Kristen Gish, Victoria Harris, Ben Holm, Sam King, Kat Marusik, Stephan Park, William Ruzicka, Brandon Warren

Directed by: Tanner Johnson & Jason Zurek

The last episode of Season 2.

Well, this is it, the season finale for DuckTales 2017 Season 2. It's been a long journey, sometimes feeling a lot longer than usual, but I'm finally going to tackle this episode. It's the Moonvasion they were building up to since "The Golden Spear!", and I can only assume they are not messing around with this one.

There is certainly one way to tell when they are not messing around: the episode immediately begins with the opening theme song. They knew they either wanted to get it out of the way first, or just omit it entirely. It would just seem wrong to not have it, and I will say that this episode doesn't seem rushed to the point where its omission would have improved the episode at all.

After the theme song, we see Scrooge calmly pouring a cup of tea with the sounds of the Scottish Highlands in the background, with no bother in the world. He looks at the clear blue sky, and turns his chair around.

Suddenly, Della shows up to tell Scrooge that she hopes he can keep that same feeling unconditional love he had when she showed up at the door after her long unwanted stay on the Moon, pointing towards the window. In other words, "please don't be mad." Scrooge immediately gets that this is probably not going to be something pleasant, and this is shown right from his worried expression.

Scrooge is horrified to see several golden versions of the Spear of Selene landing on various places in Duckberg. Needless to say, Della doesn't exactly get her request. Maybe not to the extent of the "sea monster" incident from the original, but still understandably unhappy.

Scrooge gets everyone together to watch the news. Roxanne Featherly tries to report the news on this Moonvasion in a professional way, even though the people who make the on-screen text can't seem to keep their composure. This does give a little bit of humor to this mostly serious scene, which is probably for the best.

Gizmoduck, the beloved resident superhero and "top man for the job", shows up to confront these space invaders. Even wearing his mighty GizmoDuck suit, Fenton just can't seem to shake off his utter fright at being the first person to talk to someone from another planet. Can they even speak any Earth language? Actually, that never seems to come up.

However, the one language he is sure that would work is the universal language of pie. And...it works? The soldiers of the moon decide to stop their Moonvasion. The rest of the episode involves Huey, Dewey, and Louie going to Penguin Pete's, and Louie gets a toothache.

No, of course not, the Moonlanders take out their lasers and fire at will, having their pie and eating it too, both literally and figuratively. One thing I can definitely commend here is the scale of this invasion. We see that fisherperson's wharf from "The Ballad of Duke Baloney" get invaded. The Waddle headquarters get invaded as well, which leads to a joke about Mark Beaks taking selfies while he's under attack. Yup, that's Mark Beaks, alright.

Scrooge and his kin barely make it to the Money Bin, where Scrooge would tell Gyro to unleash one of his big weapons. He tries to unleash the Unstoppabomb, the Doomsday Ray, and a weapon so destructive and secret that the Moonlanders wouldn't have been able to find and destroy it. Turns out, that Unstoppabomb was not as unstoppable as advertised, the Doomsday Ray was as destroyed as it was generically named, and Scrooge couldn't even name that last one before Gyro interrupts him with the bad news about it. All in all, a good use of the Rule of Three here.

After Gyro decides to sort of praise these invaders for such a well thought out plan, General Lunaris shows up on Gyro's projector. There's no pretense of him being the peaceful leader he was in his first appearance; his only goal is to make that blue orb fear the mighty Moon as much as he feared it. One of his big steps? He's going after the Scrooge family, and shows footage of one of the spears landing right on the McDuck Manor.

Scrooge asks if the satellites were destroyed by the aliens too, but Huey tells him that Louie did it last week. Huh, last week; the allusion would have worked better if DuckTales was on a weekly schedule rather than the "DuckBomb" treatment it got. Also, it's good to know that last episode was important.

Gyro has his plan to rally Scrooge's troops together: a bunch of Lil Bulbs, led by a Lil Bulb with a crack in its head. I like that distinction; even if one could tell who is the leader just by its actions. These Lil Bulbs have a walkie-talkie feature, and are on their own network.

While the Lil Bulbs are doing their work, Scrooge tells the kids that there's some good news for them. Some could expect this would lead to another "please stay out of this" situation like the last big finale, but instead, Della tells her kids and her kid's best friend that they're going on a worldwide quest to find even more reinforcements. She's going to need all the skills, from Webby's skills, Dewey's gusto, Huey's know-how, and Louie's...

...ability to see the angles that she couldn't. Yeah, at this point, Della has completely forgiven Louie, even though he was only grounded a week ago. Any anger towards him would just get in the way of this plot. Besides, it's probably better to have anyone who can win Scrooge's money on Scrooge's team. She leads the kids to the Cloudslayer, and they take off.

We then cut to someone who prefers a different name for that plane. Launchpad tries to drive out of his garage, only to find out long after he got in the car that the car was on fire. It's just as likely this had nothing to do with the Moonlanders, but one Moonlander shows up anyway to zap him. That Moonlander is interrupted by a purple smoke bomb, held by someone who is now really getting into the role.

Once again, Launchpad and Darkwing Duck team up, but this time, the role of Darkwing Duck is being played by Drake Mallard! Yeah, that was the big twist of the last episode to feature him that I intentionally left out; it turns out Darkwing Duck's biggest fan has the same name as his secret identity in the original. The reboot never clarifies if that's the case in the fictional Darkwing Duck show, though it's likely it was just never shown.

Darkwing Duck even comes with his famous intro: He is the terror that flaps in the night! He is the scream you can hear in space! He is...

...nobody important, according to the Moonlanders, who just run off. The purple guy was so least of a threat that the one guy totally forgot that he was going to zap Launchpad. Thankfully for Darkwing, one of the Lil Bulbs thinks he's important, and they get the message to go to the Money Bin. A bunch of other people get visits from a Lil Bulb as well, most of them intended, and one of them accidentally gets caught by Gibbous.

Oh yeah, those two Moonlanders that were curious about the dogs were named Gibbous and Zenith. Thanks, last minute research.

Meanwhile, on the worldwide trip, Della's first stop is at Egypt. Unfortunately, the Moonlanders have already landed a Spear on the territory, and Djinn, the "Dijon but way better" character, and Amunet, former follower of Toth-Ra, are too busy fending off against the invading Moonlanders. Louie tells his mom to land, thinking of a plan to get Djinn and Amunet on the plane.

She does the opposite of that, claiming that there's nowhere to land. Even Dewey points out the error in his mom's logic. It is as if she’s too afraid to land. While she is worrying, the Lil Bulb is still getting a signal, where we get this tidbit from Amunet:

Amunet: If only there was some sort of Moon God!

They're probably not going to find the Egyptian Moon God Khonsu, but this statement does remind them of a different moon deity.

Going back to the Bin, we see that Scrooge's troops are already gathered, and they all have ideas to stop this Moonvasion. It seems like every Duckberg dweller that can help out is here, including the hosts of the fully funded for about 50 seasons Ottoman Empire. No, not that one, Djinn. Also, there's this:

Gyro Gearloose: (After saying his "Clone Army" plan) We'll send GizmoDuck out as a decoy!

M'Ma Cabrera: (grabs Gyro by the collar) You hurt him, I hurt you.

Gizmoduck: Ha ha! Thank you for your concern, random citizen!

M'Ma Cabrera: I'm your mother, I know you're GizmoDuck.

Gizmoduck: Ma! Secret identity.

I was thinking Gizmoduck just plain gave up on that, but he's trying. Oh, is he trying.

Speaking of problems, after Darkwing Duck attempts to dramatically say his plan, to no effect, he gets greeted by Gizmoduck. His response of a grunt shows that he is none too pleased by the offer of a handshake, continuing from his distaste of Gizmoduck from his appearances in the original Darkwing Duck. While a reason is not stated, it's a bit clear even from just this episode that it may be jealousy. Gizmoduck is a beloved hero, while everyone from Moonlanders to the other people in the room pay him no mind. Eventually, everyone decides to go with Scrooge's plan to fight them head on.

Meanwhile, Della just reached Ithaquack to find Selene, and maybe Storkules as well. If you're going to fight invaders from the moon, why not get the goddess of it?

Unfortunately, Zeus has to get in the way of that, because he's Zeus, and he's nothing like the kind Disney God-dad people may know. It's a shame, because both Storkules and Selene want to help out the mortals. Well, Storkules just wants to help out Donald Duck, but his help would have helped everyone else, too. But alas, Zeus would rather not do anything that would benefit his most hated mortal. He even does the cliched line.

Zeus: We are not going to help Scrooge McDuck! If a mortal jumped off a bridge, would you, too?

Storkules: Yes, father, for I am immortal!

(Zeus zaps him)

Okay, I guess there was some element of the Disney version in here after all.

Della bangs on the door, asking that they need to hide. Louie assumes this means they need to hide so they can come up with a plan when they come back to Duckberg, until Della blurts out that they can't go back to Duckberg.

(Pardon the interruption, but here's an editor's note: I pride myself with taking my own screenshots rather than taking them from somewhere else, though there are times where I couldn't do that. To make a long story short, this was one of those times. Special thanks to the website KissThemGoodbye for the rest of the screenshots for this review. I will replace these with my own as soon as I can actually do that.)

Going back to Duckberg, we end up getting the first big fight between the gathered Duckberg citizens and a troop of Moonlanders. There's a lot going on here.

Duckworth in his demon form doing what he does best. This is going to seem very weird for those not familiar with that.

Lena turns one of the ray guns into a raven. More actual real life birds!

Violet gets to use a pink mace. Comes with being friends with Lena.

Gyro gets to use the clone army he's been teasing about since "Timephoon!"

Gizmoduck gets to repeat his pie plan, except he's actually going to pie them in the face.

Officer/M'Ma Cabrera gets to use her own skills to disarm a Moonlander.

Oh, and Scrooge gets to ride on Manny the Headless Horse, wearing his Scottish gear. He even gets to jump on the Moonlanders with his cane just like he did in the NES game!

Oh, oh, Darkwing Duck ends up getting involved in a great plan to distract the Moonlanders, mostly involving him switching clothes with the Richest Duck in the World.

A play by play would take a long time to describe, but trust me, it's surprisingly action packed for something involving the Disney Ducks.

While all of this fighting is going on in Duckberg, above the ocean, Della is thinking of ways to hide. After a bit of questioning, she emotionally calls out that she just doesn't want the kids to be lost like she was. It does seem a bit odd; it's not like she wasn't involved when the kids on dangerous adventures before. Then again, this is a much bigger story than teaming up with Dewey to get a tree seed, even if that tree seed was so much harder to get than she thought. Unfortunately, any kind of sense-talking from the kids would have to wait, as one of the golden bootleg Spears is on their tail. Eventually, they get shot down, complete with a shot of the Cloudslayer heading for a crash towards the ocean.

Another golden bootleg Spear, the one that landed on the Manor, is finally approached by Scrooge, only for him to fall through it.

It turns out, that Golden Spear was just a Golden Distraction, and General Lunaris gives him a big speech on fear. To make a long story short, he tells Scrooge his big plan: have a giant rocket latch on to the Earth, and use that rocket to make the Earth spin around the mighty Moon.

And, in a bit of his wisdom, he decided to tell his plan just when the rocket is latching on to the Earth. There's no race against time, because it's already done. This is certainly the "darkest moment" of the episode, and this will be exemplified when we see Scrooge again.

Meanwhile, good news, they did survive, as they crash landed on an island. Even better news, this island isn't entirely uninhabited, as we find out exactly whatever happened to Donald Duck.

He turned into Tom Hanks' character from Cast Away, complete with his own inanimate buddy. In this case, it's a watermelon in the shape of a character that may otherwise never appear in DuckTales. Maybe. This watermelon ends up being this episode's Barksian Modulator, as Donald's Mickey impression is surprisingly accurate despite his impediment.

With some yelling, of course, because of all the misunderstandings between each other. For all Della knew, her brother was just on some cruise, not even taking the time to even write a letter to his family. It’s the classic misunderstanding, which would usually mean a few minutes of moping.

Thankfully, the "few minutes of moping after a misunderstanding" trope doesn't last too long, as we get a brother and sister hug not too long after. Dewey definitely had to help out, though. I guess he doesn't like the misunderstanding trope, either.

Finally reunited with her brother, Della sets out her plan to stay on the island until Scrooge fixes everything. See, Scrooge would definitely know what he's doing!

Scrooge: Ooh, I have no idea what I'm doing!

Wah, wah, wah, waaah. See, I told you.

Scrooge can't figure out a plan. The Moonlanders have already won. He would need a plan from an unlikely source. He may get one, but not with that exact wording. Not a plan, but a scheme.

We get a great Glomgold moment here, where he gets to do his big plan to get to the rocket in his usual way of presenting his plans: a blueprint presentation. He starts by showing off that the Earth will definitely freeze if Lunaris's rocket starts, so he has to get the best possible weapon: a Sharka! It's a shark...with a parka!

Scrooge: I'm going to miss being a planet.

Forgot a word there, Scrooge, though considering himself as the soon-be-be-former-planet he's on wouldn't be too beyond him.

Eventually, Della does learn to trust her kids, and not to worry about adventure destroying them, and it's all because of a heartfelt talk with the angle-seer. It seemed like he was the last sibling to get any bonding moment. Dewey had his adventure at the Doomsday Vault, Louie got to learn a lesson about not doing schemes that would hurt his family, and Huey did...

...whatever this was supposed to be.

After that bonding, they run into a problem: The Cloudslayer has been destroyed! How can they get off the island?

Simple: Cousin Fethry, who is still on the giant crawdad from his last appearance, along with Gladstone Gander. As much as I didn't exactly like the episode he first appeared in, I will say one thing that episode did right that this episode doesn't: it doesn't look that impressive seeing the crawdad in full. Maybe since the Moonvasion is supposed to be the big event, we got to make this crawdad "small".

After a tragic event happens with a beloved character, at least, that's how Frank Angones advertised it, we go back to see exactly what kind of plan Glomgold has come up with to destroy that giant rocket.

Sure enough, it's embarrassing for everyone involved. Everyone has to put on a costume, and, in Scrooge's case, he has to dress up as his worst enemy. No, not Glomgold, that's what Glomgold wishes it would be, it's Santa Claus!

Somehow, it works. Even the Sharkas manage to do some major damage. For a Glomgold plan, it manages to work absolutely perfectly; maybe it's because he's actually doing something for good this time.

I'm not going to spoil too much, but all of this eventually leads to a big space fight very reminiscent of Star Wars. At least one would-be missed opportunity due to Zeus gets rectified. Turns out, Lunaris doesn't even know his own "planet's" goddess.

In the end, they get a pretty super happy ending, actually. Happier than I would think.

Yeah, this is pretty much a finale for the whole series, there's no real loose ends. Pretty much the only loose end right now is whatever happened to the Terries and Fermies. That's a loose end I don't really mind never getting anything, actually. This would be a pretty good shot to end the series on, as it seems like everyone's going to live happily ever after...

...or will they?! No, really, there's a scene right at the end that's a huge cliffhanger for Season 3. It does make me wonder if it would have been in the final cut if DuckTales 2017 didn't get its third season. Disney did greenlight the second season before the show even started. It wouldn't be out of place for a cartoon to end on a cliffhanger; even that old Sonic cartoon ended with some evil eyes in the darkness. Only time will tell what would happen, but one question I can answer now is...

How does it, and this season, stack up?

While most of the Moonvasion tetralogy was just barely great, after watching this, I can say it was worth it.

As for the season. I did pull out the Disgusted Donalds for this one for two episodes in particular, though that was more because I've raised my standards for this show throughout the years. Honestly, even the Disgusted Donalds in this season are better than the Tenderfeet plot.

Still, there is a lot to love about Season 2, and I couldn't possibly give it anything less than another Happy.

And that is it for DuckTales 2017 Season 2. I'm going on vacation. And not the kind of vacation Donald Duck took. See you later!

← The Richest Duck In The World! 🦆 Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks! →

#fpb dt 2017 #fpb reviews #ducktales 2017 #ducktales #disney

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followthebluebell · 7 years

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So I'm guessing it's a necessary thing to use like calcium? I feel bad cause I didn't know and they haven't been taking it (and mine are also adopted and I don't think the previous owners had it either). I'll start it ASAP but do you think they'll be alright?

Yes. Calcium is absolutely vital andyou should start supplementing with calcium/calcium+D3 ASAP. I can’tsay if your reptile will be ok or not; I’m not a vet and, even if Iwas, I’d need to personally examine the animal before making anydiagnosis. A vet visit is your best bet, so you can know theseverity of your pet’s metabolic bone disease and the proper steps intreating it.

Thanks for sending this in; this isactually a topic I feel we don’t talk about in enough detail. Peoplequote “you need twice as much calcium as phosphorus!” withoutunderstanding what this actually entails and WHY it’s important.

[CUT HERE]

[edit so i can’t do cuts in ask, woops, but anyway beyond here we GET INTO A SCIENCE)

Relationship to Phosphorus aka “Whyare we talking about a non-calcium thing when we’re trying to talkabout calcium?”

Ok, so the first step to understandingthe importance of calcium is to talk about bones. First step in THATis to stop thinking about bones as fixed. They’re not an unchangingsystem; they’re constantly in flux, always either releasing orabsorbing calcium as necessary, normally in relation to how muchcalcium is in the serum around bones. When there’s not enoughcalcium in the serum, bone releases some. When there’s a lot ofcalcium just floating around, bones are able to use it.

Bones themselves are made of calciumphosphate. In order to form calcium phosphate, a phosphorus moleculeneeds to attach itself to one calcium molecule. Thus bone is born! But wait. We need calcium for ALL KINDS OF STUFF in the body! It’sused to moderate the heart rate, the nervous system, the absorptionof OTHER minerals… so the bones start worrying and will RELEASEcalcium from themselves, which eventually makes them all spongy andfragile. This eventually leads to a form of MBD (metabolic bonedisease). Yes, there are different types of MBD (more on that in abit). This particular one is called Osteomalaciaand is the most common in reptiles.

I’d like to make it clear thatphosphorus is not bad; we shouldn’t try to eliminate that from areptile’s diet, since it plays important parts in almost all of abody’s processes. The best thing we can do is make sure a reptile hasplenty of calcium to spare.

With this in mind, the best ratio ofcalcium to phosphorus is 2:1. We need twice as much calcium asphosphorus in our reptiles’ diets (with the notable exception ofsnakes; their meals are naturally very high in calcium, so they don’tneed help. Go, snakes!).

How do reptiles in the wild handlethis?

In many different ways! Non-baskingreptiles handle it by consuming a wide variety of prey, includingmany that are high in calcium. We’re talking 40 or more species PERDAY. We simply can’t match that in captivity. Vegetarian oromnivorous species consume many different plants.

Basking—-and non-basking, to anextent—-deal with this by sitting around in the sun and absorbingUVB rays, which helps metabolize vitamin-D3.

Vitamin D-what?

D3, D2, all sorts of D’s just flyingaround! Vitamin-D3 is more properly known as cholecalciferol.It’s bound within serum protein and transported to the liver, whereit’s metabolized into another form (1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol),which is actually usable by the reptile. Reptiles who have access toUVB can make their own vitamin-D3, which has been superior to calciumD-3 that’s included within a diet (Bernard, et al). Now that thereptile has a nice dose of vitamin-D3, it can use calcium moreeffectively. Basically, it helps make calcium more usable.

Honestly,the best thing is natural sunlight. So far, we haven’t created aperfect UVB bulb. This is actually why I suggest that animals whorequire a lot of UVB (tortoises come to my mind first because oftheir unique needs; they can’t absorb UVB through their shells andare prone to being burnt by bulbs that are placed too close to them)are kept in outdoor pens at least partially.

Butsince a lot of reptiles aren’t appropriate for outdoor pens, it’s upto the owner to research their needs. A diurnal reptile who lives inthe desert is best kept with 10-12% UVB, while a reptile who’snocturnal or lives in a thick jungle environment does better with2-5% UVB.

UVBmay not be appropriate for all reptiles. Albino geckos, for example,may suffer eye damage. Use your knowledge.

There’sa particular rumor going around that vitamin-D3 is ‘easilyoverdosed’. I have yet to see a single substantiated case ofvitamin-D3 overdose. While it’s theoretically possible, it’s highlyunlikely. I personally have seen way more MBD cases than evenPOSSIBLE vitamin-D3 overdoses.

Ok,so how much calcium, calcium-D3, and multivitamins do I use?

Itstrongly depends on your reptile! Baby and juvenile reptiles requirecalcium with every meal, multivitamins once a week, and D3 at LEASTevery other meal. I usually give my adults calcium every other meal,multi once a week, and D3 once a week (depending on species and UVBavailability).

So…what about those OTHER MBDs you mentioned?

I’monly going to touch on these because most aren’t commonly seen inreptiles.

Osteoporosis– if you’ve lived through the 90’s, you probably remember those GotMilk commercials where they claimed milk would prevent this. This…isn’t entirely true since true osteoporosis isn’t caused by a calciumdeficiency, exactly; it’s caused by a protein deficiency and can bemore accurately attributed to lack of movement. Reptiles who arekept in extremely confining shelters are prone to this.

Thisis a risk of those ‘minimum-space’ racks. You can prevent this byproviding plenty of space for reptiles to roam and lots of things forit to interact with (climbing branches, digging places, swimmingareas for appropriate species, etc).

SecondaryNutritional Hyperparathyroidism– Thisstarts when the calcium levels in the serum are too low. The thyroidis stimulated to produce parathyroid hormone (PTH). This in turncauses the bones to release calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin-D3. Calcium becomes more easily absorbed in the gut. Once again, bonesare robbed of calcium and there’s simply not enough calcium toreplace it.

Manyof these conditions are entirely preventable simply by providing theright sort of diet and UVB exposure.

Shit,I think my reptile has MBD. What do I do?

Goto a vet. As I said before, I’m not a vet. I can’t diagnose ortreat your pet. If caught early, MBD IS treatable. Some bone damagemay even be reversible. It’s treated by calcium in various forms(some forms are more easily usable than others), injections, and UVBexposure. It’s a plan you’re best off discussing with your vet.

Sources:

Bernard,J.S., O.T. Oftendal, P.S. Barboza, M.E. Allen, S.B. Citino, D.E.Ullry and R.J. Montali. (1991) The response of vitamin D deficientgreen iguanas (Iguana iguana) to artificial ultraviolet light. ProcAm Vet1991:147-150.

Frye,Fredric F. “The Importance of Calcium in Relation to Phosphorus,Especially in Folivorous Reptiles.” NutritonalSociety.Cambridge University Press, 1 Feb. 2001. Web. 21 Jan. 2017..

Centerfor Avian And Exotic Medicine -https://avianandexoticvets.com/metabolic-bone-disease-in-reptiles/

#reptiblr #mbd #reptile health

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