Sometimes, something happens that’s so huge, so massive, and so legendary that it will be talked about for years to come. Last Friday, the data from an immense GameFreak leak went live, giving fans the world over insights as to the internal creative decisions of GameFreak, the makers of Pokémon, the highest-grossing intellectual property in human history.
This post won’t go over each of the details of the leak, which is a developing story, with fans still combing over the gigabytes of information. This post is more about the implications of the leak.
For one thing, the leak is acknowledged by GameFreak as containing personally-identifiable information on a number of their thousands of employees. In saying so, GameFreak has indicated that the leak is authentic.
But it also adds to the potential legal consequences that could be faced by the hacker(s), which Nintendo is likely to hunt down like a shiny Pokémon.
To briefly touch on what the leaks contain, included are, among other things, documents involving the creative direction of the gens 3, 4, and 5 games, many images of Pokémon that were redesigned before release, many Pokémon that were never released, possibly-scrapped plans for a sequel to the Detective Pikachu movie, and some amount of data for upcoming Pokémon games, including Pokémon Legends Z-A and the 10th generation of Pokémon.
And there’s more, such as the internal name for the Nintendo Switch successor, which was referred to as “Ounce”.
Without question, as far as hacks go, this is comparable to the “gigaleak” of Nintendo data a few years ago. But this one is different, as it specifically concerns Pokémon. Again, Pokémon is the highest grossing intellectual property in human history, and it has a fan base in the tens of millions, possibly many more. In the gaming world, the impact of this leak is seismic.
Also among the documents are those concerning the creative direction of the anime, such as concept drawings for the characters, and the reasoning behind the choice to conclude the story of Satoshi/Ash, and take the anime in a new direction.
Personally, I would’ve liked to see Gorochu. But maybe that’s in there, somewhere. Still, having seen the creative decisions being considered for it, I kinda wanna play the Sapphire version, again.
But as for the content concerning future Pokémon games, it’s not a bad idea to consider that things are subject to change. And perhaps GameFreak will gain a desire to change them, now that certain elements that they intended to be a surprise have gotten out there. But considering that the leak has shown us elements of past games that did change, it’s reasonable to expect that unreleased games will be subject to change prior to release.
Also, this leak is massive for the modding community, as it contains full beta versions of games from the DS era, and it sounds like it contains editors for at least one of the GBA games. Beta versions and developer tools are kinda a big deal.
There are also some creative elements that were probably better to leave out of the final products, such as a story about a woman with an injured foot who was attacked by a Vigoroth. That goes to show that the creators of Pokémon considered a lot, including stuff that wouldn’t have fit the tone of the games well.
Out of the unreleased designs, my favorite would be the unreleased Hoenn starter, Warabito (apparently Warabbit, a portmanteau of “water” and “rabbit”). While Mudkip may have fit in more with the other two, I’d have probably picked Warabbit, if that was an option.
There’s likely to be more to the leak to be discovered, as fans are still picking through them. It’ll be interesting to see what they find.
I had just started playing Genshin Impact months ago. And upon finding out that there was a collaboration event involving McDonald’s, I was psyched.
Sure, McDonald’s is well outside of my typical menu. I care about my health, to the point that people are telling me that I could be a little heavier. But when I found out that I could get a special glider for my Genshin account, as well as a special in-game recipe, I was ready to remedy a problem that most people would be happy to have.
But, you saw the title. You know how it went.
The deal is, you download the McDonald’s app, and place an order for a couple Genshin-themed items on the menu. Then, you get a code to copy and paste that grants in-game items, and you could pick up your Genshin-themed meal and/or apple pie, and, if you’re lucky, you meet other fanatics who play this game, and fire it off over your favorite character, and why Sigewinne is totally underrated and you don’t have to be a psychopath to like her.
That was the deal. And it fell through.
First, and most catastrophically, I didn’t get a code. I checked my email, where I expected it to arrive, and then the spam folder. Nothing. I checked again after I picked up the meal, but still, nothing.
Before continuing, I’ll point out that rising fast food prices aren’t just bluster that you see on social media. Twelve dollars for a medium chicken sandwich meal that includes an apple pie? I heard that the overhead costs of keeping a business running (including energy, property taxes, and wages) are going up, but I wasn’t aware just how badly this impacted the cost of fast food. Just a few meals at McDonald’s, and you’ll have spent enough that you could have instead guaranteed a 5* on a limited banner.
But then there’s the meal. There was nothing Genshin-themed about it. The apple pie box was supposed to feature Kazuha, with his normally-soft features in battle-ready stern determination. Nope. Just the ordinary box.
As it turns out, you had to have emails enabled from the app to get the code. Which I didn’t. I was being punished for my own smart practices when using cell phone apps.
Because I figured this out in the dining area, I toggled on the switch for emails, then placed an order for just the Genshin apple pie. Minutes later, I got another apple pie, also in a regular non-Genshin box. Still no code.
And, to top it off, I didn’t even get my soda.
Having subjected the dubious calorie sources in the meal to my metabolic processes, I began to have a crisis. What was I even doing with my life? I decided to buy fast food, which I seldom do, because I wanted digital assets that don’t really exist for some cell phone game, and didn’t even get them. This game, enjoyed by millions, isn’t something a soulless fast food chain cares enough about to amuse you with a code and printed cardboard.
When I got home and checked Reddit, I discovered that I’m not the only one who had this experience. Many other players out there placed their orders, doing everything right, but still didn’t get their codes. Some players did, but for some reason, many of us didn’t.
From what I could glean, McDonald’s was actually manually sending the emails with the codes. If that’s the case, what’s up with that? I’d have imagined that it would have been an automated process: just place the order, and the code would be automatically sent to your inbox. Makes sense, right?
But no, instead it sounds like it’s more like place an order, and some untrained, unskilled worker at a data center (who probably hates Genshin Impact by this point) has to copy and paste an unused code into an otherwise manually generated email, on top of the many that he’s been swamped with in the few hours since the promotion began.
I can believe that the incompetence is McDonald’s fault. It stands entirely to reason. Mihoyo made a mobile game that’s relatively high production value, and played by millions of players, with frequent promotions that usually go off without a hitch. They’re software programmers and engineers, which are usually in the ballpark of SD+1, at least. While a bright person could end up working at McDonald’s for one circumstance or another, that’s usually the place where a person ends up if they can’t get hired anywhere else. (I spent a few months there. It was my first job, at the time, no one else would hire me.)
So, that’s it. I didn’t even get a Happy Meal toy. You know, a little something to set on my desk and sometimes look at before it eventually takes its place at a landfill, like so many other pieces of merchandise that are real enough to do so.
Maybe I’m making a big deal out of what is really just a mundane disappointment, like I can really expect McDonald’s to give a shit about those of us who enjoy things that aren’t McDonald’s.
To put things into perspective, a bunch of Hezbollah goons had their nuts blown off when their pagers exploded, so it’s not like I’m the saddest boy in the world, today.
I just wanted to get that off my chest. Thanks for reading.
EDIT: Maybe I’m the asshole. Not the worst one, but it might actually be that McDonald’s is not to blame.
I decided to check eBay, and this is what I found:
See the second listing, where it says “116 sold”? That kind of seller is why people like me who want the wings and the apple pie recipe for our Genshin accounts can’t get them, because the system is swamped by scalpers who are buying $12 meals by the dozens, then selling the codes off for a hefty profit each. Genshin almost had a pretty cool promotion, but then a bunch of shitheads ruined it.
We might be missing out on codes, but at least a bunch of scalpers could afford to do the line, tonight. We might be pissed, but they don’t care, because they’re getting high.
Looks like Mihoyo might have to do something other than redemption codes for similar promotions.
I’m aware that this is one topic where, unless you were to choose your words with care, you’d be likely to come off as a raving lunatic. I’m also aware just how uncomfortable this topic has the potential to make people feel.
But here goes. I’m gonna try.
The idea I’m floating is that human minds might be influenced by parasites. And not a few, either. It’s possible that a great many people are making choices under the influence of tiny little worms which have the ability to influence the way that people think.
I know how crazy that may sound. It sounds like one of the many shots that Alex Jones might take, in the hopes that maybe a few happen to hit the mark.
So, in the interest in keeping this theory close to ground, we’re going to start with what’s been proven.
For one thing, we know for a fact that there exists a parasite that influences the thinking of mice. This parasite, known as Toxoplasma Gondii, is a single-celled organism which positively thrives in cats. But as for other animals, such as mice, not so much. It can live in mice, but it would rather live in cats.
However, Toxoplasma Gondii has a rather insidious adaptation. If it’s in a mouse, it’s able to manipulate the thinking of the mouse. If a cat eats a mouse, then the Toxoplasma Gondii that was in the mouse would find itself a preferable home. And to the end of making that happen, Toxoplasma Gondii will reduce the inhibitions of the host mouse, making it more likely to engage in reckless behavior. But that’s not all: While the scent of cats causes a fear response in healthy mice, in mice with Toxoplasma Gondii, the same scent causes sexual desire, resulting in a fatal attraction.
Basically, Toxoplasma Gondii really, really wants to be in cats, and if its host is a mouse, it will manipulate the mouse into being eaten by a cat.
So now, you might be wondering, “Can humans be infected with this, too?” And the answer is yes, and the resulting disease is called toxoplasmosis. Generally, it’s apparently asymptomatic, and for those with an effective immune response (most people), said immune response would eliminate the disease in weeks or months, and create an immunity. However, pregnant women are at particular risk, as toxoplasmosis could cause serious problems for the developing child. It’s because of this that doctors advise pregnant women who have cats to have someone else change the litter box.
Now, if it’s something asymptomatic and results in an immunity in a short time, then toxoplasmosis doesn’t sound that bad. However, a study does indicate that in individuals with an immunity to toxoplasmosis, and thus, a latent infection, continue to exhibit changes in behavior. The study indicates that people who previously had toxoplasmosis are less inhibited, more prone to risk taking, and tend to have poorer reaction time compared to people without the antibodies (indicating that they were never infected).
While there’s more studying that can be done, it’s interesting to think that there might actually be a scientific explanation for the “crazy cat lady”! To be fair, not everyone who likes cats is poorly behaved. But it would be great if there were more studies on the matter.
Now that we’ve established that parasites can influence human behavior, let’s make this discussion even more uncomfortable by throwing it out there that Toxoplasma Gondii might not be the only one.
Before continuing, I’ll point out that it should be pretty obvious at this point that this blog does not strive to be strongly politically correct. This post might be unsettling from this point forward, especially if you’re among the kind that is less predisposed than most to striving to understand the viewpoints of those outside your tribe.
Having said that, I’ll come right out and say it: Parasites might be making people gay.
I was started down this rabbit hole upon discovering the following screengrab, which was taken from 4chan. Yes, I know, it’s 4chan. But sometimes, you find the rare thing on 4chan that encourages intelligent thought, rather than destroys it.
If the idea of squinting at a screengrab doesn’t sound like a great time to you, here’s a transcript in blockquote:
Homosexuality is caused by parasites
Let’s take a look at my hypothesis for homosexuality. Right off the bat, there is no genetic incentive for homosexuality. It breeds itself right out of existence. Psychology tries to find ways to defend it as some sort of social mechanism, but this again runs into the brick wall of it going extinct almost instantly on evolutionary timescales. I do think, however, there is another explanation for homosexuality. >Parasites Yes, parasites. Take for example toxoplasma Gondi. When it infects rodents, it alters their behavior to make them more likely to be eaten by cats, where toxoplasma Gondi can then reproduce. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii
Homosexuals have an astoundingly high rate of infection by parasites. According to the national institute of health, 70% of all homosexual men are infected with intestinal parasites, as opposed to only 10% of straight men. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7437971/
This astoundingly high rate of infection by parasites might then explain why homosexuals have such an increased urge to fornicate. These intestinal parasites always need new hosts. Without a viable vector of transmission, the parasite dies. The incredibly high rate of parasitic infection amongst the homosexual population explains why they are so sexually degenerate. Their behavior is being altered in much the same way as the rat’s behavior is altered by toxoplasma Gondi in order to allow to parasite to survive.
This would also explain why the media is freaking out about ivermectin. Ivermectin is potentially the most effective parasite removing drug available. An anecdotal case in my family gives me strong suspicion that ivermectin might actually be a cure for homosexuality. My cousin was a homosexual, until he was prescribed ivermectin for covid. After taking ivermectin, he filled a toilet bowl with intestinal worms. Shortly thereafter, he lost all attraction to men, and found women sexually attractive. He was repulsed by his previous nature.
I know that some people might take issue with the idea that homosexuality is something to be treated and cured. But if the anecdotal observation of Anonymous holds up at scale, then we may have actually discovered a cure for homosexuality, in cases where it’s caused by a parasitic infection!
Let’s turn an analytical eye to the rest of the post. For one thing, the idea that homosexuality is self-defeating as a genetic trait in humans naturally suggests itself. One of the fundamental rules of natural selection is that any trait that inhibits reproduction would be quickly removed from the gene pool. And homosexual acts simply do not produce human offspring. This should be understood by any honest biologist without controversy.
The example provided of a mind-influencing parasite was Toxoplasma Gondii. We’ve already explored this above, with links to scientific literature. While the anon in this case can be criticized for linking to Wikipedia (which doesn’t suffice for scientific literature because anyone can edit it to make it say whatever they want), Wikipedia often does have helpful information that one can learn from. While the link he provided may have been informative, the links I’ve provided are more authoritative. Nonetheless, his assessment on Toxoplasma Gondii does hold up.
Anon then points out that 70% of gays are infected with intestinal parasites, compared to only 10% of the straight population. He does link to a study that provides the numbers, however, he only links to the abstract. Nonetheless, the page that links to an article with more data does bear this out, but the numbers provided are slightly different from those of the Anon. As the study found, 67.5% of homosexual males have intestinal parasites, which is jarring considering that this is just over two-thirds of all homosexual males! This is compared with 16% of heterosexual males, showing that the presence of intestinal parasites is far more infrequent in heterosexual males.
Generally, gays are in pretty poor health. A little while ago, as monkeypox (now referred to as mpox) was making the news, I heard just what it was that gays did for recreation. I’ll spare you the details. But I’ll point out that, for a long while, I thought that they just “aimed for a different hole”. From what I heard, their orgies are so disgusting that I don’t want to describe them. I’ll just say that they’re ideal as germ parties.
Now, if a parasite had the capacity to influence human behavior, then it stands to reason that it would influence behavior in such a way that favored its propagation.
So, why not heterosexuality? While it’s conceivable that parasites can be spread through heterosexual intercourse, that might not be favorable to the parasite, as it would find itself competing with a developing human child for energy and nutrients. Through homosexual acts, the hypothetical “gay parasite” could spread, without having to compete with a developing human life.
Now, if there is a parasite that influences humans into homosexual behavior, as there apparently is, then it would explain so many trends that we’ve been seeing.
It would explain why gays tend to be hypersexual, to the point of being as forward-facing with their sexual preference as they are, even to the point of advertising it on their clothing choices and in parades.
It would explain why child SA victims frequently go on to become offenders, even though they should know why that category of crime harms, through firsthand experience.
It would explain why, in the last couple decades, homosexuality has exploded into the public consciousness. If the parasite has been hyper-spreading, this would profoundly affect society.
It would explain why there is a strong overlap between homosexuals and those favoring the practice of abortion. Perhaps a parasite influences complex human brains in some surprising ways. It’s conceivable that a parasite that doesn’t want to compete with developing humans can influence humans into detesting pregnancies.
It might even explain the trans movement, which shows people changing their bodies in an effort to make themselves more appealing to those of the same biological sex.
It might even explain the irrational hatred of Jews that we’ve been seeing, lately. The Scriptural cleanliness guidelines that they follow would be ideal for halting the spread of parasites. Amazingly, these guidelines are thousands of years old, originating well before humans developed the means to observe microscopic parasites!
Like I said at the start, I’m aware of just how crazy a person discussing this might sound to someone who isn’t prepared to hear about it. But as I see it, there’s a lot here to think about, and topics that deserve to be studied.
But have fun finding the research team willing to study it. One reason being, because it would be a challenge finding anyone willing to fund such research in this politically-correct climate. The fact is, for research to happen, it must be funded. And the matter becomes more tenuous when you consider that nearly all institutions that can perform research, such as universities and government institutions, have become heavily politicized.
Here comes the implications of that: that some parasite that makes people gay may actually be in the process of supplanting humans as the earth’s dominant specie. And if that’s the case, what a whimper we’d be going out on.
The following is a video of J.D. Vance ordering donuts. According to the dead-enders, there’s supposed to be something wrong with the way that he’s ordering donuts. Let’s see if you can spot it.
JD Vance had a very awkward visit to a donut shop in Georgia earlier. Trust us, it’s worse than you even think. pic.twitter.com/Fnohh0bKUf
What I like about the phrase “it’s worse than you even think” is the admission that normal people wouldn’t see anything amiss, but this isn’t hateful enough for leftist self-supposed intellectual superiors. What they want you to find disqualifying is how non-specific his order is.
Give me some glaze, sprinkle-themed stuff, some of these cinnamon rolls … yeah, whatever makes sense.
Which is exactly how you’d expect someone to order donuts if they don’t eat the stuff, but are buying them in quantity for other people, such as for a major event. But when you understand how litigious the hyper-left is, then you’d understand why they’d tend more towards specifying exact quantities of each variety of donut, even when it doesn’t make much difference. After all, they’re donuts. Who the fuck cares?
In an apparent jab at Vance, VP candidate Tim Walz stated at a bake shop, “Look at me, I have no problem picking out donuts.”
Yes we have receipts, and here you go. Just be warned that the audio quality is not great, and you might have to turn your volume up to hear him. It’s at about 1:26 that the line comes, though you’re free to watch the rest for context.
Okay, did you see the donuts that he picked out? Me neither:
Those are whoopie pies. Tim Walz’s attempted pwn just proved that he can’t tell a donut from a whoopie pie.
I get that the hyper-left is so disconnected with the typical voter, and therefore don’t understand why anyone would vote for Trump. But that doesn’t mean that they should get so full of themselves that they could just nominate anyone in their party and expect an undeniable, slam-dunk victory. If they’re going to take campaign donations, they have a moral obligation to put their best forward, and Harris-Walz is not it.
When someone picks out whoopie pies, and seconds later proclaim their brilliance in their ability to pick out donuts, that should give you an idea of the kind of illusory superiority that we’re dealing with, here.
But it gets worse, as Walz’s fan base on the very same post are not much better, as illustrated by these cherry-picked examples:
It’s sobering to think that Tomer’s vote counts just as much as someone who can tell the difference between a whoopie pie and a donut. But on the bright side, he’d probably get lost on the way to the polling place, anyway. So he’s probably not going to have much effect on society, after all.
Prior to filming, he probably already knocked a few back. But how much would it take to not tell a donut from a whoopie pie? I once drank to the point of throwing up, but wasn’t that impaired.
Could never what? Mistake a whoopie pie for a donut? Is this really what H.A. Davis considers firing on all cylinders? Because if Walz were to call an alligator a gecko, that’d probably blow her mind.
Okay, now I know that these people are trolling. Just how many people out there would mistake a whoopie pie for a donut?
Do I have to spell it out?
If space aliens were to abduct a few of us, and then stick them in some simulation that crudely apes our culture in the same way that a hamster cage crudely apes a hamster’s natural environment, I’d understand if they’d make this mistake. However, for a human being that was born and raised on earth, to mistake a whoopie pie for a donut would be totally unacceptable, just like how it would be unacceptable to mistake linguine with ramen, or grape juice with pinot noir. If you’re from this planet, you don’t make that mistake.
Oh yeah, Walz knows his donuts. You know what? Screw it. I’m giving Phil the benefit of the doubt. He’s trolling.
Desperate for any amount of intelligence, I scrolled through the comments, and finally found some:
Why did that take so long?
I know what you might be thinking, “What does one’s ability to tell a donut from a whoopie pie have to do with how to run a society?” And the answer is, if someone can’t tell the difference between the two, the expectations aren’t high. To see a whoopie pie and think, “donut”, doesn’t suggest the ability to convey their economic philosophy beyond just saying “capitalism”, “communism”, or “socialism”. You might expect such a person to attempt to sell bicycles by insisting that they can do everything that cars can do. From a position of sincerity.
It doesn’t take a Rhode scholar to comprehend that something is wrong.
For months, you or a friend you know has been saying that the charges against Trump were politically motivated and not legit. Now, you get to say, “I told you so.”
The DOJ Chief of Public Affairs has admitted that the indictments against President Trump were, in fact, politically motivated, and that Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, was motivated by personal ambition in bringing charges against the President.
And it was all caught on camera.
This fine act of investigative journalism was made possible by the Steven Crowder team. And if you’re only just now hearing about Steven Crowder, he’s someone who does what investigative journalists used to do.
Crowder’s presentation can be viewed here:
Crowder has also made the complete recording available.
Leftists are some of the most smug and self-righteous pompous assholes that I’ve ever seen, and I’d take great relish in seeing their carefully constructed denial of reality come crashing down. And now, it’s become harder than it ever has for them to deny the blatant corruption that is evident to anyone outside of leftism’s hermetically-sealed echo chamber.
Whether they’ve had fun or not as they’ve enabled the castration of children, the delusions of perverts, the murder of infants before they could breathe a breath outside their own mothers, and numerous wars to make the wealthiest among their own just a bit wealthier, and far more than these, the time has come for them to be knocked off their high horses.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s against a former President or some guy who does not have the means to resist, a DA that brings charges against anyone while motivated by either politics or personal ambition is not a legit DA, and is a disgraceful individual on top of that.
Alvin Bragg is an absolute disgrace.
It’s apparent to me the only permissible course to remedy this injustice. For one thing, Alvin Bragg should be promptly dismissed from his duties, and permanently barred from any office with any connection to the administration of justice. Also, all charges against Donald Trump should be dismissed, an act which is necessary to restore confidence in the legal system.
The next course of action would be more extensive, but also necessary. A commission must be formed to thoroughly examine every case Alvin Bragg has been involved in, in the interest of finding every instance of his mishandling of justice. This is necessary, as people may be in prison on likewise illegitimate charges. In fact, if Bragg is bombastic enough to bring illegitimate changes against a former President, it’s almost certain that he’s brought wrongful condemnation against many others.
I understand that the last course of action suggested would take a substantial expenditure of resources. But it’s called for, as the nature of Alvin Bragg’s failure is catastrophic to the justice system, and to confidence in it.
If you’ve been following the developments involving the illegitimate trial of Donald Trump, either as a Trump supporter or from a position of impartiality, the only thing surprising about this development is that an explicit profession from the DOJ Chief of Public Affairs was added to all the evidence and proof that the trial is not legitimate.
The people that I expect to be surprised would be centrists or the relatively-uninitiated who weren’t following closely, or those left-leaning who weren’t paying attention. But as for the dead-enders, we know that they’re going to divert their attention away, unable to face the reality that they’ve already been laboring diligently to avoid. They wouldn’t be able to spin this as anything other than what it is, and if made to face it, any honest assessment would be to interpret it as an undeniable defeat for their tribe.
I’ll leave this with one more thought: This isn’t football. It’s not soccer, and it’s not even women’s tennis. This is no game. Leftists literally are ruining this country, and the dead-enders among them are deliberately doing it because they hate one man who, among the current choices, stands the best chance of making things any better.
Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for the Made In Abyss manga, up to chapters 68 and 69.
What is up with Akihito Tsukushi’s ability to dream up horrifying fantasy creatures? I’d be talking about the one that snatched Nanachi away after it’s failed attempt to abscond with the twins. Now that we got a better look at it, it turns out that it’s no ordinary case of horrifying megafauna.
The official materials don’t give a name for it just yet, so I’m just going to give it a temporary name. For now, I’ll refer to it as “Phantasmaplasm”. I think it’s fitting for such a nightmarish creature.
If the Phantasmaplasm is not the 7th layer’s apex predator, then you might want to avoid whatever that might be. I remember thinking that the Sakawatari looked badass, and that if that’s the worst thing that can come out of the 7th layer, then the place is probably not that bad. But as it turns out, the Sakawatari probably came to the surface for a very compelling reason: to escape the Phantasmaplasm.
If it’s a picture you want: here’s one:
Except that picture might not be much help, for a couple truly terrifying reasons.
It doesn’t convey the sheer enormity of the thing. It might actually be comparable to a skyscraper. And,
It’s usually invisible.
Yep, the thing is usually invisible. Unless you have some form of enhanced perception, its body doesn’t become visible until you make direct contact with it. But at that point, it probably already has you.
Yeah, something that huge being invisible.
But the nightmares are just getting started. In addition to its conditional invisibility, the Phantasmaplasm can also cancel a person’s senses if it’s in their proximity. Riko and Srajo’s group was put on alert when Reg’s sense of smell suddenly vanished. But even that wasn’t much warning.
In this sense, the Phantasmplasm has an ability that is somewhat similar to the Kudara from the Binary Star game. A Kudara is able to create hallucinations by reading the minds and memories of cave raiders in its proximity. Because of this, there’s a precedent for a primeval creature capable of using psychic attacks against a person’s senses. Up until now, the most dangerous creatures that Riko’s team has encountered, such as the Crimson Splitjaw, the Orb Piercer, and the Turbinid Dragons, used things like poison and martial ability to attack. The Phantasmaplasm is unlike anything Riko’s group has encountered so far.
While all this is disturbing already, it gets worse. The Phantasmaplasm can hyper-regenerate. As evidenced by Yataramar’s attempt to burn off one of its enormous tentacles, as long as the tentacle is still attached, it can completely regenerate in a matter of seconds, even if burned.
Oh yeah, it’s also unaffected by the strains of ascension. Which is a pretty big deal in the 7th layer, where the strains are presumably “certain death”. So yeah, we can assume that a person would be killed if it were to pull them upwards by just a few meters.
All things that we currently know about it considered, if you were to see this thing coming as you walk down the street, you’d probably cross to the other side. Or turn and run like you’ve never run before. Except, you wouldn’t be able to see it coming at all, and the only warning you’d have of it’s presence is if one of your senses, such as smell or hearing, were to suddenly go.
Whatever’s at the bottom had better be worth the trip.
When I first heard about the “free money glitch” that was trending, I had questions. The first was, “How’s that working out?” And it turns out that the answer is, “Not well.” My next question was, “Is TikTok somehow involved?” And you could probably guess the answer.
I’m not going to share how it’s done, partly because I don’t want to catch the ire of the financial institution involved. Picking a fight with teams of billionaires is usually not a great idea, as a bunch of TikTokers are starting to find out.
While it’s sad enough that people are uploading videos of themselves committing check fraud to social media, having no idea what could possibly go wrong, it’s sadder still that enough people are falling for this to line up around city blocks for their turn to do the same.
You could probably guess what comes next. The same people ended up with their bank accounts frozen, with negative balances in the tens of thousands of dollars. And possibly also face arrest, because, you know, check fraud.
If you’re wondering whether so many people could be so stupid, then you probably never worked retail. When you work retail, you’re going to see upwards of hundreds, possibly thousands, of people in a day.
As for me, ten years of my life went to waste on that bullshit, which is ten years too many. Afterwards, I went to school for Electronics, reasoning that if something is difficult to learn, the payoff must be great. So, I really applied myself and studied hard, and as most other students in my major dropped out or switched to something else, I got great grades and eventually graduated with honors. After that, I spent about a year in an electronics repair job where I made a dollar more per hour than someone stocking shelves at a nearby grocery store. I did get out of that place, but I was there long enough to see some circuit boards come back for repair again, because the customers did the same thing with it that they did before.
So, at that point, I still hadn’t quite managed to completely get away from stupid people. And I learned a sobering lesson about correlating effort and hard work to better outcomes.
But yeah, stupid people exist. And if you’ve worked retail, the memories of them that you haven’t successfully suppressed will be quite vivid. Sure, most people will be completely ordinary, and therefore, not memorable. However, 10% of the population are on the leftmost 10% of the area of the bell curve, and your experience with them might stick with you.
I still remember the guy who wasted ten minutes of time I could’ve spent on something else searching for some mystery product that he insisted that we regularly stocked. Eventually, I found out that he wanted onion rolls, except he was pronouncing “onion” in his own bullshit way, and I didn’t find out until he finally said “onion” normally. No, he didn’t end up getting jackslapped, because it just wasn’t worth it.
Or the one who was on a program that required her to only redeem her voucher for specific products of a specific size, but she tried redeeming for a box of breakfast cereal that was the wrong size. After finding out this wouldn’t work, she just threw the box down the cereal aisle. The program that gave her the voucher was intended to assist single women with children, so I had to contemplate that someone like her procreated.
There’s more, but I’ll just get to the point: stupid people exist, and they exist in great numbers. If you can avoid working with the general public for a living, then you’re going to be happier than people who do.
It’s no surprise to me that there are enough stupid people out there to line up around a city block to get what they believe to be free money from an ATM, entirely unaware of the crime that they’re committing, and that they’d be expected to pay back the money that they’d steal.
They’re no longer my problem, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t laugh when they do stupid shit, and face the obvious consequences.
I’ll leave this with some food for thought: Much of the internet is tricking people into doing things. Also, TikTok is corrosive bullshit.
The other day, I found out that a friend of mine started playing Genshin Impact. I found out that the game was made in China, which, as you may be aware, is a rival to America.
I did some research, and after looking through some totally-innocent pics of Klee and Nahida, it occurred to me that, because China is communist, anyone who supports this game is supporting communism!
Being an American patriot, I mainly play games that were made by the Japanese. And, being a good friend, I’ve decided to get my friend playing Japanese games and watching anime again.
As you probably already know, there’s this thing called DEI, which is pushed by investors to make games worse. On the surface, this makes no sense at all. But it all starts to make intuitive sense when you consider that the Chinese are investing in DEI initiatives in an effort to undermine the American game industry, and by deliberately avoiding DEI themselves, they make better quality games, outcompeting their American adversaries.
On the surface, deliberately investing in something that you know is not going to pay off seems like a stupid move, but it’s like betting on two opposing boxers: no matter who wins, you’d get some money back after the house takes its cut.
Next, let’s consider the themes of the game. At the outset, there are heavy themes of freedom and personal liberty. As one continues the main story, other themes involve honoring agreements, joining a resistance against a tyrannical regime, an underground information network that can form in light of suppression of information in a setting where the general population is connected to a telecommunications infrastructure, how administration of justice can be inhibited by personal interests, and much more.
Hearing all this, one might be surprised that this game was made in a totalitarian state like China, and is hugely popular among the Chinese. But the game is probably being used to hide something, like some secret plot by the CCP to subvert the culture of the western world, mainly America. Here’s hoping that the many millions of people who play this game, as well as the thousands of autistic fanatics who datamine this game each time an update drops, are eventually able to find some evidence of a conspiracy at some point.
There might be a religious component, as well. As we all know, most people would assume that events in the narrative of games have no bearing on reality. However, those who are determined to uncover the truly weird conspiracies of our day don’t think like normal people!
Notice how the game uses names that have historically had religious significance? While some might say that this is reminiscent of how Japanese games use Norse mythological names in a manner inconsistent with Norse mythology, when you’re operating on the assumption that there’s an underlying motive, it’s harder to give the benefit of the doubt.
Now maybe with all this smart information, my friend might stop supporting communism by playing Genshin Impact, and fight back by playing its competitor, Wuthering Waves.
Hello everyone! This post is a brief explanation on a new tag I’m creating, called weapons-grade sarcasm.
Sometimes, I might make a post that is so ridiculously over-the-top sarcastic, that there will be no doubt in the mind of anyone of reasonable intelligence that the post is sarcastic. However, not everyone is of reasonable intelligence.
Therefore, the tag weapons-grade sarcasm has been made for the benefit of both the stupid and those with terminal literal-mindedness to provide an indication that eliminates any doubt that sarcasm is being employed.
You might be wondering, “Hold on, this post is tagged as weapons-grade sarcasm. Does that mean that this post is sarcastic, too?” To answer this question, I’ll point out that this post is intended to be taken more seriously than any other post with this tag. Also, you’re probably among those who would benefit the most from the tag’s creation.
Please look forward to more content to come.
Edit: Well, I tried. The press or anyone intent on defaming me will probably either miss this post for failure to perform a trivial investigation, or deliberately ignore it. At least this post is here so I can point to it, if desired.
Okay, is anybody actually falling for this? Let me know.
What I’m talking about is a graph that started trending on X, which shows a bar graph of what is supposedly the most unattractive hobbies for men, “according to women”. The chart is as follows:
I ignored it at first glance, but seeing as people kept giving it attention, I’ve decided to take it behind the shed. Spoiler alert, it’s coming back with some teeth missing.
First of all, Online Trolling is listed among the hobbies. That should be a powerful indicator of what’s going on, here. Hopefully, I don’t have to spell this out. Okay, I’ll do it anyway, because no reader left behind.
It’s bullshit. Someone came up with this graph just to mess with people. And it worked.
But it’s not the first indicator that someone is messing with you. That would be the fact that there’s no citations. And if there’s no citations, this means that there’s no study, no survey, no polling, or anything of the sort. If someone wanted their study to be at all respectable, there would be a citation, so that a person could look into the methodology to ascertain that the data has any value. There’s no citation, so there’s nothing of value.
Instead, every indication is that someone just pulled all this information straight out of their ass, and posted it on social media knowing that it would push some buttons.
Notice something else about the data? Conveniently, every data point on the bar graph decrements by five. Sure, it’s possible that if you survey thousands of people, it’s possible for the data points, when arranged in the form of a bar graph, would form a neat decrementation by fives. But it would be strongly unlikely.
Having said all that, the point that really pushes people’s buttons is the one about playing video games. I call BS, because women I’ve met play video games. In fact, the last woman I was with played video games. She had a big stack of them. But she hid them from me, even though she didn’t have to, and I ended up finding them accidentally.
Look, I remember a time when video games were the pastime of hobbyists who frequented Radio Shack. Back then, I would’ve understood if someone regarded them as some nerd hobby. But a lot has changed since then, and now it’s something that pretty much everybody does. It’s been decades since it’s been regarded as a nerd hobby, and if anyone today said that they didn’t play them, I wouldn’t believe them.
Magnetricity 