Hi,
I'm a Linux user and my current keyboard, Logitech G512 is broken, but for Logitech, there was a nice CLI tool called g810-led which allowed to control lights on Linux.
Now I'm looking for a new keyboard and I found an interesting one which is Alienware AW410K, due to Cherry MX Switches. But I'm afraid about the light control on Linux. Is there any CLI tool to control Alienware gear lights, like keyboards, for Linux?

Hiya, I'm Marnes, 29M from Belgium :) I've a relatively simple but well-filled (busy) life, and while I've got everything taken care of, I lack a significant other to really complete the happiness, as well as the types of interests others have that let them organically meet one out and about. So if you have some room in your life and mind, and want a guy to fill that special spot of belonging, please read on.
I'd like to find a girl to talk daily with about work, hobbies, household, basically anything interesting that happens in our days, with occasional pictures and links. To confide in about anything and everything, give some priority to in free time, send happy selfies to, give goodnight kisses with emote lines, have some adult fun with. Someone I can grow attached and affectionate to, and find that unique, highest level of comfort, contentness, and togetherness with. My player 2, if I may be so cheesy.
I want someone to be there for me, to want me for me and for our time together, and to let me want them, you know? Family and other people are always relying on me for everything and need me to be their help, I have a few good friends but they never have time for anything, and I've talked to some people here but they've always been so incredibly unreliable and ingenuine.

About me

Without spoiling too much, I work in IT and medical intervention, and my personality quite fits both stereotypes you're probably picturing now: often quiet and methodical as a geek developer would be, empathic but rational as emergency work requires. I have my passions and dislikes, try to balance my social energy between not having the spotlight on me but also not being a wallflower, do new or impulsive things from time to time. If I had to pick something that's clearly off-center about me, it's that I can overthink/overdiscuss stuff because misunderstandings and predictable mishaps grate at me.
The last two years I've finally been living alone in my appartment and tasting all the freedom and responsibility. This personal headroom let me finally deal with some physical and personal flaws I used to have, so it has been a great period and I feel better than ever before. I just wish I could complete my circle of few but great friends with a girl who means the world to me. I'm just not comfortable and myself in most "going out" places, and I refuse to fake/force interest in something as a faux premise to meet someone.
I don't have pets but love others' and animals in general. You'll get my best recent picture with a relative's cat if you ask for it. I don't and won't have kids.
If it helps you relate:

• favorite games are single player stories with strong plots and emotions or beauty, instrumental music and pretty graphics: Metroid, Metal Gear, SOMA, Titanfall 2, Zero Escape, Stray, Ori, Valiant Hearts, Outer Wilds, Abzû...
• funny/cute/daring slice of life anime like Nichijou, Ijiranaide, Lightning & Sweetness, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Yashin Dropkick, but also some action like some of the Gundams or friend recommendations like Odd Taxi
• occasionally a movie or series: I clearly prefer one-offs in action/mystery/sci-fi over cinematic universes and superheroes. The Rock, Shutter Island, The Expanse, Stargate, 6 Days, Upgrade, Kingsman, Hacksaw Ridge, ...
• my music collection is a loooot of soundtracks from games or fan albums (85%), some TV things (10%) and a few random hits

About you

I guess I'll resonate best with someone rational, chill, smart. More of a scientist/techie than an artist, but everyone and every hobby has an artsy side. A limited social life like me, so that we'll have time, energy, and geniune interest for each other. Mature and reasonable rather than unpredictable and emotional. If your face and life go on instagram daily, you hang out at parties every week, or I feel like words are cheap and I don't mean anything of value to you, it won't work.
Physically, I don't have a favorite haieye color or something. Mine are brown/brown, and I'm starting to settle on short hair and short beard. The more "plain"/natural, down to earth, relatable, ... you look, the better. I do love artificial hair color, prefer short hair, and love to see a piercing, but don't take it as a necessity. There's nothing remarkable about my looks either, just that I wear glasses and you might spot the scar on my cheek. I'm a little overweight like most people, and you can be too, or you can be thin, average, athletic, short, tall...

Practical

Let's meet at first in reddit chat, but I only like to use discord to talk. I work 9-5 mon-fri and try to sleep by 1, so I can mostly be active in the evening. East coast US is okay (made it work with someone for 9 years), outside there or the EU could be tricky in terms of timing and relatability. Visiting each other eventually would be great, but I'm mainly looking for something online. Not open to moving, don't want kids, don't have pets but I love the pets of others.
--
It's high time I hit Post :) Please send me a chat and tell me how this post speaks to you.

Game Information

Game Title: Diablo IV
Platforms:

• PlayStation 5 (Jun 6, 2023)
• PlayStation 4 (Jun 6, 2023)
• PC (Jun 6, 2023)
• Xbox Series X/S (Jun 6, 2023)
• Xbox One (Jun 6, 2023)

Trailers:

• Diablo IV Launch Live Action Trailer
• Diablo IV Story Launch Trailer
• Diablo IV Gameplay Launch Trailer
• Diablo IV In-Game Intro Cinematic
• Diablo IV Official Release Date Trailer
• Diablo IV Official Gameplay Trailer
• Diablo IV Announce Cinematic By Three They Come

Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 90 average - 98% recommended - 72 reviews

Critic Reviews

Ars Technica - Aaron Zimmerman - Unscored

Each class has a gimmick-or "specialization"-that unlocks as you progress through the game. The Barbarian, for instance, can lug around a huge arsenal of weapons and gains "expertise" with each as you use them, granting buffs and special effects. The Necromancer can choose between different types of minions or sacrifice them to extract their power. The Rogue has three specialization options, one of which is a WoW-like combo-points system. Every class has its own personality and quirks, and they're all a blast to play.

CGMagazine - Brendan Frye - 10 / 10

Diablo IV's dark allure combines ingenious design choices to create an extraordinary Diablo that we couldn't have dreamed possible back in 1997.

Checkpoint Gaming - Elliot Attard - Unscored

Whilst Diablo IV could have done more to advance the genre or perfect its writing and tone across the entire experience, there’s no denying just how impactful this release is, especially for those of us who grew up alongside the series.

ComicBook.com - Adam Barnhardt - 4.5 / 5

Diablo 4 is perfect for both franchise mainstays and newcomers alike. The lore of Sanctuary expands drastically while the game, story and all, is large enough to keep new players busy. The game is built to allow the developers to scale it with ease with battle passes and seasons for a new generation, but it's nowhere close to being empty.

Console Creatures - David Pietrangelo - Recommended

Diablo 4 is an impressive and massive conquest of demons, loot, exploration, and wildly fun mechanics. It's already clear that this game brings tons of new content to the franchise and handles it incredibly well.

Destructoid - Timothy Monbleau - 8 / 10

Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.

Dexerto - Sam Smith - 5 / 5

Diablo 4 is a mighty sequel, but it can feel more like a grand buffet of tasty demon-slaying treats. It offers something for everyone but misses out on that acquired yet curated taste of the older entries. This doesn't take away from Diablo 4 representing the next evolution in the series. It is a stellar sequel – and one that works hard to appeal to every fan of this beloved franchise.

DualShockers - Emma Ward - 8.5 / 10

Your favorite Action Role Playing Game is back and bloodier than ever. Diablo 4 improves upon nearly every core gameplay mechanic from Diablo 3 while introducing a few great quality-of-life features that make this journey to Sanctuary the best yet. While some of the quest systems seem dated, the main story is delivered beautifully, breathing new life into the series.

Everyeye.it - Antonello Gaeta - Italian - 8.5 / 10

Diablo 4 is a canvas on which developers could, over the next few months, paint a true masterpiece.

Fextralife - Fexelea - 9.3 / 10

Diablo 4 is an excellent game and a fantastic next step for the ARPG genre. Smartly melding Open World and Online elements with traditional dungeon crawling and loot farming, this game will become the favorite time-sink of millions for years to come.

GAMES.CH - Steffen Haubner - German - 89%

The irresistible gloom is now no longer opposed by hurdles in the form of confusing item and skill management. We enthusiastically throw ourselves against Lilith's hordes and once again sink hour after hour into perfecting our character. Overall, however, there could have been a bit more innovation.

GGRecon - Joshua Boyles - 4.5 / 5

Diablo 4 has taken everything that fans love about the ARPG format and elevated it to new heights. With a fascinating world to explore, a strong cast of characters, and purposeful combat, it sets a new standard for the genre.
The wheel hasn’t been reinvented, and is remains to be seen how the series will adapt to a live service model. Nevertheless, anyone picking up Diablo 4 at launch will find themselves playing a very strong package with plenty of promise.

GRYOnline.pl - Hubert Sosnowski - Polish - 9 / 10

What are we getting? An excellent game that reeks of a game-as-a-service, with tons of satisfying content. Diablo 4 looks like the best hack’n’slash on the market. The best h’n’s for me, a guy well versed in three previous Diablos, Divine Divinity and a bit of Grim Dawn.

Game Informer - Marcus Stewart - Unscored

While it remains to be seen how the experience handles the incoming flood of players once the lights are turned on, I think Diablo fans, old and new, are in for a treat.

GamePro - Kevin Itzinger - German - 94 / 100

With Diablo 4, Blizzard has created a genre masterpiece that does almost everything right.

GameSpot - Alessandro Barbosa - 8 / 10

Diablo IV's surprisingly moving and engrossing story encapsulates gameplay systems that have learnt all the right lessons from entries past.

Gameblog - French - 8 / 10

Diablo 4 is extremely generous. A clear evolution of the franchise and a real comeback.

Gamer Guides - Nathan Garvin - 8.5 / 10

With a compelling new antagonist, a serviceable, character-driven story, and a familiarly satisfying gameplay loop with an incredible amount of depth, Diablo 4 is a worthy entry into the franchise that threatens to burn away many hours of your life.

GamesHub - Emily Spindler - 4 / 5

Diablo 4 is a behemoth of a game, boasting a gothic world that goes beyond the engaging hack-and-slash gameplay loop.

GamesRadar+ - Josh West - 5 / 5

"After sacrificing nearly 100 hours of my life to Diablo 4, I've barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer"

GamingTrend - Cassie Peterson, Ron Burke - 100 / 100

Diablo IV represents a massive shift for the series, moving to a more inclusive and open world that is somehow as inviting for new players as returning veterans. Complexity is mixed with flexibility to create a game that is sure to consume you for hundreds if not thousands of hours. Diablo IV is the game we've been waiting for, and a return to form for the Blizzard team.

Geek Culture - Jake Su - 8.6 / 10

The worry remaining is that the balance needs to be struck well in order to maintain Diablo IV as a viable and long-lasting adventure that doesn’t lose its freshness or that the incessant rush to get more powerful gear becomes a chore rather than a thrill. At this juncture, there’s much for players both old and new to dive into, making combat and exploration exciting times, all while pushing the story forward in a new chapter for Sanctuary. The hope is that this will last, and that Blizzard will continue to support the game in all ways. After all, Lilith is coming, and all hail the Mother.

God is a Geek - Mick Fraser - 9 / 10

Diablo 4 may not be the huge leap forward some were hoping for, but it still offers an incredible adventure through a dark, compelling world.

Hardcore Gamer - Chris Shive - 4.5 / 5

Based on the franchise's history, Diablo IV has large boots to fill, but does an admiral job of meeting this longtime fan's expectations.

IGN - Travis Northup - 9 / 10

Diablo 4 is a stunning sequel with near perfect endgame and progression design that makes it absolutely excruciating to put down.

IGN Spain - Álex Pareja - Spanish - 9 / 10

Diablo IV is tremendously addictive, its combat is formidable and the character building is excellent. More MMO than ever in a new path for the saga.

INVEN - Jaihoon Jeong - Korean - 9 / 10

While the fusion of Diablo franchise and the open world sounded rather unfamiliar at first, the game has succeeded in capturing the charm of both. You can't say the game is perfect as of its initial release, Diablo4 still is one of the strongest quarter view action RPGs.

Kakuchopurei - Jonathan Leo - 90 / 100

[Diablo 4] looks and feels great to play, it's full of content without being way too overburdened with systems and age-old mechanics, it's accessible but also gets really hard and challenging for action RPG standards, and it's really great with more people in your party, with a good amount of classes to play around with and tailor to your playstyle. A highly-polished loot-filled gateway drug for newbies and veterans alike; not terribly innovative but incredibly fun to get into.

LevelUp - Luis Sánchez - Spanish - 7 / 10

Diablo IV remained stuck in the past while trying to find innovation without generating friction with fans who have played the franchise for over two decades; It feels like the ghost of Diablo Immortal continues to haunt the halls of Blizzard. The game is more of a reinvention of the classic experience, focusing on a games-as-a-service format to ensure another decade of content for Diablo.

Marooners' Rock - Andrew Peggs - 9.2 / 10

Diablo IV has done a good job of delivering an exciting and enjoyable storyline and providing hours of exciting entertainment, whether playing alone or with companions.

Merlin'in Kazanı - Samet Basri Taşlı - Turkish - 90 / 100

Diablo IV has successfully brought everything we wished to be in the 3rd game and has the potential to be the best game in the series.

Multiplayer First - Vitor Braz - 9.5 / 10

Do yourself a favor: ditch your reservations and step into Sanctuary as soon as you can. It’s likely going to be literal hell during the launch queues, but you’ll have a beautifully grim and visceral adventure ahead, one where every leveling up sound will feel like music to your ears. Enjoy it to the best of your possibilities because an action-RPG of this caliber may only arrive in another decade or so, and missing out on Diablo 4 would be something that may just reserve you a spot in hell.

Niche Gamer - Jonathan White - 9 / 10

It ain’t perfect, but provided they continue the course Diablo IV is currently on, this might be the game that bridges the gap and makes Diablo the most accessible and ultimately the most fun it has ever been to players from any background.

Oyungezer Online - Can Arabacı - Turkish - 9.5 / 10

Diablo IV is definitely one of the best games Blizzard has ever made. And possibly the best story they've ever told.

PC Gamer - Tyler Colp - Unscored

An exciting, modern version of Diablo is in here—I can see parts of it poking through the surface—but I'm starting to lose patience waiting for it to show its face.

PCGamesN - Lauren Bergin - 10 / 10

Diablo 4 embodies the essence of what makes Diablo so great, taking the best elements of its predecessors and sewing them together to create an ever-changing, ever-evolving chimera that we can't wait to play for years to come.

PSX Brasil - Paulo Roberto Montanaro - Portuguese - 85 / 100

Diablo IV is, without a doubt, a great success that takes the best of its previous iterations, especially Diablo II, and takes advantage of the potential of an intense open world. With mechanics refined for today, hundreds of hours of gameplay, and the promise of an aggressive post-launch content, this game is the ultimate in the eternal battle between evil and… the other party.

PlayStation Universe - Neil Bolt - 8 / 10

Diablo IV takes the series to new heights, but also spends plenty of time covering familar ground. The compelling rush for loot is as strong as it has ever been, and visually, the game is spectacular. It doesn't exactly feel like a massive leap from Diablo III yet its focus on the series' core strengths ensures that's likely more than enough for long-time fans.

Polygon - Alexis Ong - Unscored

More busywork doesn’t lessen the series-signature lootfest appeal

Press Start - Harry Kalogirou - 9 / 10

Diablo IV is an unquestionable win for Blizzard and one of their foundational franchises when it needed it most. An unrelenting commitment to vision, redefined Sanctuary, never-ending player progression, and excellent boss fights are just a few of the reasons Diablo IV isn't held back by uneven pacing and recycled content.

Prima Games - Daphne Fama - 9 / 10

Diablo IV is a game with a deeply involved combat system, a complex and well-established world, and all the hallmarks of my next gaming obsession.

Pure Xbox - Liam Doolan - 9 / 10

You can see why it's taken Blizzard over six years to get this one out the gate when you look at the end product. Diablo 4 is a natural evolution of the series with its new open-world design and gameplay, enhanced social and multiplayer experience, and a live service that promises to keep players returning to the world of Sanctuary for years to come. These strong foundations and scale of the whole experience, combined with the five unique classes and seemingly limitless customisation options for builds, should keep even the most diehard demon slayers busy for a very long time. With all of this in consideration, Diablo 4 is a must-play if you're a veteran of the series and it's a great starting point for newcomers. We can't wait to jump back in! Now, fingers crossed we just don't have another 'Error 37' at launch.

Push Square - Khayl Adam - 9 / 10

Diablo 4 is the true successor to the bad old days of action RPGs and oozes quality in its frenetic combat and deep, engaging character development. It tells a complex, gritty narrative set in the darkly beautiful world of Sanctuary. Even better, it provides a solid foundation for years of Diablo content to come.

Rectify Gaming - Rebecca Ellis - 9.5 / 10

Diablo IV will usher a new generation of action RPGs into the modern era with its brilliance.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Alice Bell - Unscored

Diablo IV is a beautiful, frictionless grey toybox that puts nothing in the way of you playing it for hours and wondering what you've done with your life.

SIFTER - Adam Christou - Worth your time

Diablo IV offers a strong opening impression. It has a rich, detailed story campaign, filled with spectacle and gore. Its combat and game-feel is so satisfying. The classes feel distinct and play quite differently from each other. It feels so good to burst down screens of demons with spells and swords. Will it live up to other competitors in the ARPG space? It’s too soon to tell, but what’s here so far is extremely promising especially for players looking to enjoy an impressive horror story.

Saudi Gamer - Arabic - 8 / 10

So far, the Diablo 4 experience has been nothing short of very good, the story has been very interesting and it finally returns to what distinguished the series in terms of storytelling before the release of the third installment. The game offered a very solid base of content, activities, addictive gameplay, and a variety of character-building ways that any Action RPG should offer. This is knowing that there are some important issues that appeared at the beginning of the experiment as we mentioned in the full review.

Screen Rant - Carrie Lambertsen - 4.5 / 5

Ultimately, Diablo 4 is a must-play experience for any fan of dungeon-crawler ARPGs.

Seasoned Gaming - Ainsley Bowden - 9.5 / 10

Diablo 4 is a masterpiece. It's the culmination of decades of ARPG refinement and evolution, and it manages to pay homage to the IP's legendary namesake while successfully integrating modern RPG elements.

Shacknews - Josh Broadwell - 8 / 10

Blizzard opts for refinement over innovation with Diablo 4, but it's still a devilishly good time.

Siliconera - Kazuma Hashimoto - 8 / 10

Diablo IV features a compelling antagonist in Lilith, and while it tries to present more interesting ideas into the series by the way of story, it ends up retreading old ground in more ways than one.

Sirus Gaming - Kimberly Mae Go - 9 / 10

Diablo 4 presents an epic and visually stunning adventure, enveloping players in a cinematic journey through its immersive open-world. While some areas, like repetitive dungeons and class imbalances, leave room for improvement; Blizzard has laid a solid groundwork that sparks excitement for further exploration of the vast realm of Sanctuary.

Spaziogames - Marcello Paolillo - Italian - Unscored

Diablo IV is a smooth-running action RPG with a beautiful gothic atmosphere and a fascinating open world, aimed even at those who have never touched a chapter of the Blizzard franchise before.

TechRaptor - Austin Suther - 9.5 / 10

Diablo IV might just go down as one of Blizzard's best games. It delivers exciting and accessible ARPG gameplay, a stunning world and engaging narrative to experience, and so many activities to keep you hooked for hours on end.

TrueGaming - Arabic - 9 / 10

Diablo IV brings you a captivating story, a lot of freedom in your class building and a massive world full of monsters to pulverize and dungeons to explore that will keep you playing for lots of hours to come.

Twinfinite - Zhiqing Wan - 4.5 / 5

An incredible looter experience overall. I cannot overstate just how satisfying it is to play Diablo IV on a moment-to-moment basis, and with so much replay value to be had from its various classes and build possibilities within those classes, Diablo IV feels like a true return to form for the series.

VG247 - Connor Makar - 4 / 5

It's a damn good entry to the series as a whole, and will give the vast majority of its players a bloody good time.

Wccftech - Alessio Palumbo - 8.5 / 10

Diablo IV is a return to form at a much needed time for Blizzard. It delivers incredibly fun hack and slash action combat, a greatly improved skill system, and a ton of things to do, not to mention the best story told in the franchise yet. It also looks awesome, sounds great, and runs well (except for rare instances of traversal stuttering).

We Got This Covered - David Morgan - 4.5 / 5

Diablo IV tows several lines masterfully, be it in its mechanical complexity or the moral ambiguity of its plot. Its greatest achievement, however, is being a great Diablo game.

WellPlayed - Ash Wayling - 8.5 / 10

Diablo IV is a must-play for fans of the series and newcomers alike. It invites you to lose yourself in a world of darkness and embark on a thrilling journey filled with relentless battles, captivating storytelling, and a hauntingly beautiful audio-visual symphony. Just ignore the extraneous limb reaching for your wallet.

Xbox Achievements - Dan Webb - 85%

Diablo IV boasts a new look, with its new open-world and online format, but at its heart, it’s very much a classic Diablo experience. A little old-school still, sure, but the core combat is still as fun and addictive as ever, and there’s RPG mechanics for days to sink your teeth into. What’s not to love?

XboxEra - Jesse Norris - 9.5 / 10

Diablo IV is a triumph. It fulfills its promise, combining the aesthetics and feeling of Diablo II with the fantastic gameplay of III. It is dark and gory, featuring a meaty campaign and endgame that should delight fans of the series for hundreds if not thousands of hours.

ZTGD - Terrence Johnson - 9.5 / 10

Diablo 4 is a massive game dropping in a year chock FULL of massive games. 2023 has already seen Nintendo’s behemoth drop by way of Tears of the Kingdom which has been dominating charts and peoples’ times. Now Diablo 4 is going to come bursting in and demanding that same type of time commitment with a sprawling game world to explore on foot or horseback. Between dungeons, world events, side quests and even the main quests players will never be too far from something interesting to inspect or kill in Sanctuary. Diablo 4 feels like a wonderful homecoming, with its darker tone and sublime cutscenes which Blizzard has always been wonderful at; the whole game just feels like a love letter to us fans who have waited so long to return to Hell and defeat its denizens once more.

These should be spoiler-free reviews (those go live on June 2nd), but there's no guarantee that every review will be spoiler free. This thread will aim to capture as many reviews as possible. Please feel free to leave comments with any reviews and I will attempt to add them as quickly as I can!

Game Information

Game Title: Diablo IV
Platforms:

• PlayStation 5 (Jun 6, 2023)
• PlayStation 4 (Jun 6, 2023)
• PC (Jun 6, 2023)
• Xbox Series X/S (Jun 6, 2023)
• Xbox One (Jun 6, 2023)

Trailers:

• Diablo IV Launch Live Action Trailer
• Diablo IV Story Launch Trailer
• Diablo IV Gameplay Launch Trailer
• Diablo IV In-Game Intro Cinematic
• Diablo IV Official Release Date Trailer
• Diablo IV Official Gameplay Trailer
• Diablo IV Announce Cinematic By Three They Come

Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 90 average - 98% recommended - 72 reviews

Critic Reviews

CGMagazine - Brendan Frye - 10 / 10

Diablo IV's dark allure combines ingenious design choices to create an extraordinary Diablo that we couldn't have dreamed possible back in 1997.

Dexerto - Sam Smith - 5 / 5

Diablo 4 is a mighty sequel, but it can feel more like a grand buffet of tasty demon-slaying treats. It offers something for everyone but misses out on that acquired yet curated taste of the older entries. This doesn't take away from Diablo 4 representing the next evolution in the series. It is a stellar sequel – and one that works hard to appeal to every fan of this beloved franchise.

GameSpew - Richard Seagrave - 10 / 10

We had high expectations for Diablo 4, and we’re so happy to say that Blizzard has smashed them. This is a title that takes Diablo 3’s meaningful quality-of-life improvements and expands upon them with aplomb, while also bringing back the much-loved look and feel of Diablo 2. All the while, it’s not too focused on the past, taking the series into open world territory and making it more story-led than ever before. And what a story it tells: we never expected to be so invested. But more importantly, we can’t wait to start a new character and jump once again into the endgame. Diablo 4 is devilishly good – the best Diablo game yet, in fact – and it only stands to get better.

GamesRadar+ - Josh West - 5 / 5

"After sacrificing nearly 100 hours of my life to Diablo 4, I've barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer"

GamingTrend - Cassie Peterson, Ron Burke - 100 / 100

Diablo IV represents a massive shift for the series, moving to a more inclusive and open world that is somehow as inviting for new players as returning veterans. Complexity is mixed with flexibility to create a game that is sure to consume you for hundreds if not thousands of hours. Diablo IV is the game we've been waiting for, and a return to form for the Blizzard team.

PCGamesN - Lauren Bergin - 10 / 10

Diablo 4 embodies the essence of what makes Diablo so great, taking the best elements of its predecessors and sewing them together to create an ever-changing, ever-evolving chimera that we can't wait to play for years to come.

VGC - Jordan Middler - 5 / 5

Diablo 4's always-online requirement is a shame, and a few of the classes are somewhat slow to kick into high gear, but we're only able to muster minor complaints for what is easily a game-of-the-year frontrunner, and Blizzard’s best game since Diablo 3.

VideoGamer - Ford James - 10 / 10

Diablo 4 feels like the apex of the series, bringing together everything great about the previous entries. It isn't without its minor flaws, and the success of the endgame content is still up in the air, but for once Diablo has a gripping story, phenomenal graphics, and a gameplay loop that doesn't innovate too much but is certainly better than its predecessor.

Windows Central - Jez Corden - 5 / 5

Simply put, Diablo 4 may be Blizzard's best-ever game, and that's a really tough legacy to live up to. Immaculate storytelling meets stunning art, polished, bug-free gameplay, atop endlessly customizable combat with the promise of dozens, maybe hundreds of hours of content — Diablo 4 might be Blizzard's most important, pivotal game since World of Warcraft. Do yourself a favor and go in completely blind. Even if you're not a typical fan of isometric action RPGs, I'm confident that you won't be disappointed.

Multiplayer First - Vitor Braz - 9.5 / 10

Do yourself a favor: ditch your reservations and step into Sanctuary as soon as you can. It’s likely going to be literal hell during the launch queues, but you’ll have a beautifully grim and visceral adventure ahead, one where every leveling up sound will feel like music to your ears. Enjoy it to the best of your possibilities because an action-RPG of this caliber may only arrive in another decade or so, and missing out on Diablo 4 would be something that may just reserve you a spot in hell.

Oyungezer Online - Can Arabacı - Turkish - 9.5 / 10

Diablo IV is definitely one of the best games Blizzard has ever made. And possibly the best story they've ever told.

Rectify Gaming - Rebecca Ellis - 9.5 / 10

Diablo IV will usher a new generation of action RPGs into the modern era with its brilliance.

Seasoned Gaming - Ainsley Bowden - 9.5 / 10

Diablo 4 is a masterpiece. It's the culmination of decades of ARPG refinement and evolution, and it manages to pay homage to the IP's legendary namesake while successfully integrating modern RPG elements.

TechRaptor - Austin Suther - 9.5 / 10

Diablo IV might just go down as one of Blizzard's best games. It delivers exciting and accessible ARPG gameplay, a stunning world and engaging narrative to experience, and so many activities to keep you hooked for hours on end.

XboxEra - Jesse Norris - 9.5 / 10

Diablo IV is a triumph. It fulfills its promise, combining the aesthetics and feeling of Diablo II with the fantastic gameplay of III. It is dark and gory, featuring a meaty campaign and endgame that should delight fans of the series for hundreds if not thousands of hours.

ZTGD - Terrence Johnson - 9.5 / 10

Diablo 4 is a massive game dropping in a year chock FULL of massive games. 2023 has already seen Nintendo’s behemoth drop by way of Tears of the Kingdom which has been dominating charts and peoples’ times. Now Diablo 4 is going to come bursting in and demanding that same type of time commitment with a sprawling game world to explore on foot or horseback. Between dungeons, world events, side quests and even the main quests players will never be too far from something interesting to inspect or kill in Sanctuary. Diablo 4 feels like a wonderful homecoming, with its darker tone and sublime cutscenes which Blizzard has always been wonderful at; the whole game just feels like a love letter to us fans who have waited so long to return to Hell and defeat its denizens once more.

COGconnected - Mark Steighner - 94 / 100

Diablo IV is the true successor to the second game, returning the franchise to its dark, gothic roots with a wild, operatic narrative and bold characters. Gameplay is as addictive as ever, and the sprawling campaign is only the start of a massive amount of content to experience. While Blizzard keeps nudging Diablo’s design towards MMORPG-style multiplayer and co-op, there’s no lack of fun for solo players, even if some bosses are better with friends. With off-the-charts production values and compelling characters and combat, Diablo IV is just about as good as the genre can get.

GamePro - Kevin Itzinger - German - 94 / 100

With Diablo 4, Blizzard has created a genre masterpiece that does almost everything right.

Fextralife - Fexelea - 9.3 / 10

Diablo 4 is an excellent game and a fantastic next step for the ARPG genre. Smartly melding Open World and Online elements with traditional dungeon crawling and loot farming, this game will become the favorite time-sink of millions for years to come.

Marooners' Rock - Andrew Peggs - 9.2 / 10

Diablo IV has done a good job of delivering an exciting and enjoyable storyline and providing hours of exciting entertainment, whether playing alone or with companions.

ComicBook.com - Adam Barnhardt - 4.5 / 5

Diablo 4 is perfect for both franchise mainstays and newcomers alike. The lore of Sanctuary expands drastically while the game, story and all, is large enough to keep new players busy. The game is built to allow the developers to scale it with ease with battle passes and seasons for a new generation, but it's nowhere close to being empty.

Forbes - Paul Tassi - 9 / 10

Though in theory, an “endgame” playthrough of Diablo 4 is probably 100-200 hours across a larger span of classes, I feel like I can judge what I’ve seen. My impressions are overwhelmingly positive based on what I’ve experienced so far, from the map to the gameplay to the new systems to even the story, which I was not expecting. Blizzard really seems like they’ve nailed this, and I’m going to say the only way this will be poorly received at launch is if technical issues kill people’s ability to play. But once it gets rolling? Yes, I think you’re going to like Diablo 4.

GGRecon - Joshua Boyles - 4.5 / 5

Diablo 4 has taken everything that fans love about the ARPG format and elevated it to new heights. With a fascinating world to explore, a strong cast of characters, and purposeful combat, it sets a new standard for the genre.
The wheel hasn’t been reinvented, and is remains to be seen how the series will adapt to a live service model. Nevertheless, anyone picking up Diablo 4 at launch will find themselves playing a very strong package with plenty of promise.

GRYOnline.pl - Hubert Sosnowski - Polish - 9 / 10

What are we getting? An excellent game that reeks of a game-as-a-service, with tons of satisfying content. Diablo 4 looks like the best hack’n’slash on the market. The best h’n’s for me, a guy well versed in three previous Diablos, Divine Divinity and a bit of Grim Dawn.

Game Rant - Shane Robert Moyer - 4.5 / 5

Blizzard has taken twenty years of game design lessons and put all of them into Diablo 4. The variety of things to do in the game and the plethora of build choices feel like they come from a company that has experienced the highest highs and lowest lows in game development and taken some of those hard-learned lessons to heart. There is a lot of love built into every aspect of Diablo 4, and users will find it in every system and corner of Sanctuary. With the first simultaneous release on PC and consoles in the series' history, Diablo players are finally getting back into the fight between Heaven and Hell, and they will more than likely still be fighting for many years to come.

God is a Geek - Mick Fraser - 9 / 10

Diablo 4 may not be the huge leap forward some were hoping for, but it still offers an incredible adventure through a dark, compelling world.

Hardcore Gamer - Chris Shive - 4.5 / 5

Based on the franchise's history, Diablo IV has large boots to fill, but does an admiral job of meeting this longtime fan's expectations.

Hobby Consolas - David Rodriguez - Spanish - 90 / 100

Diablo 4 is the triumphant return of the saga. The game manages to bring back the dark style of Diablo II while boasting a good narrative, gameplay as addictive as ever and some interesting novelties. It only remains to be seen how Blizzard will keep the game, but we can say that the time-eater has returned in style.

IGN - Travis Northup - 9 / 10

Diablo 4 is a stunning sequel with near perfect endgame and progression design that makes it absolutely excruciating to put down.

IGN Spain - Álex Pareja - Spanish - 9 / 10

Diablo IV is tremendously addictive, its combat is formidable and the character building is excellent. More MMO than ever in a new path for the saga.

INVEN - Jaihoon Jeong - Korean - 9 / 10

While the fusion of Diablo franchise and the open world sounded rather unfamiliar at first, the game has succeeded in capturing the charm of both. You can't say the game is perfect as of its initial release, Diablo4 still is one of the strongest quarter view action RPGs.

Kakuchopurei - Jonathan Leo - 90 / 100

[Diablo 4] looks and feels great to play, it's full of content without being way too overburdened with systems and age-old mechanics, it's accessible but also gets really hard and challenging for action RPG standards, and it's really great with more people in your party, with a good amount of classes to play around with and tailor to your playstyle. A highly-polished loot-filled gateway drug for newbies and veterans alike; not terribly innovative but incredibly fun to get into.

Merlin'in Kazanı - Samet Basri Taşlı - Turkish - 90 / 100

Diablo IV has successfully brought everything we wished to be in the 3rd game and has the potential to be the best game in the series.

Niche Gamer - Jonathan White - 9 / 10

It ain’t perfect, but provided they continue the course Diablo IV is currently on, this might be the game that bridges the gap and makes Diablo the most accessible and ultimately the most fun it has ever been to players from any background.

Press Start - Harry Kalogirou - 9 / 10

Diablo IV is an unquestionable win for Blizzard and one of their foundational franchises when it needed it most. An unrelenting commitment to vision, redefined Sanctuary, never-ending player progression, and excellent boss fights are just a few of the reasons Diablo IV isn't held back by uneven pacing and recycled content.

Prima Games - Daphne Fama - 9 / 10

Diablo IV is a game with a deeply involved combat system, a complex and well-established world, and all the hallmarks of my next gaming obsession.

Pure Xbox - Liam Doolan - 9 / 10

You can see why it's taken Blizzard over six years to get this one out the gate when you look at the end product. Diablo 4 is a natural evolution of the series with its new open-world design and gameplay, enhanced social and multiplayer experience, and a live service that promises to keep players returning to the world of Sanctuary for years to come. These strong foundations and scale of the whole experience, combined with the five unique classes and seemingly limitless customisation options for builds, should keep even the most diehard demon slayers busy for a very long time. With all of this in consideration, Diablo 4 is a must-play if you're a veteran of the series and it's a great starting point for newcomers. We can't wait to jump back in! Now, fingers crossed we just don't have another 'Error 37' at launch.

Push Square - Khayl Adam - 9 / 10

Diablo 4 is the true successor to the bad old days of action RPGs and oozes quality in its frenetic combat and deep, engaging character development. It tells a complex, gritty narrative set in the darkly beautiful world of Sanctuary. Even better, it provides a solid foundation for years of Diablo content to come.

Screen Rant - Carrie Lambertsen - 4.5 / 5

Ultimately, Diablo 4 is a must-play experience for any fan of dungeon-crawler ARPGs.

Sirus Gaming - Kimberly Mae Go - 9 / 10

Diablo 4 presents an epic and visually stunning adventure, enveloping players in a cinematic journey through its immersive open-world. While some areas, like repetitive dungeons and class imbalances, leave room for improvement; Blizzard has laid a solid groundwork that sparks excitement for further exploration of the vast realm of Sanctuary.

TrueGaming - Arabic - 9 / 10

Diablo IV brings you a captivating story, a lot of freedom in your class building and a massive world full of monsters to pulverize and dungeons to explore that will keep you playing for lots of hours to come.

Twinfinite - Zhiqing Wan - 4.5 / 5

An incredible looter experience overall. I cannot overstate just how satisfying it is to play Diablo IV on a moment-to-moment basis, and with so much replay value to be had from its various classes and build possibilities within those classes, Diablo IV feels like a true return to form for the series.

We Got This Covered - David Morgan - 4.5 / 5

Diablo IV tows several lines masterfully, be it in its mechanical complexity or the moral ambiguity of its plot. Its greatest achievement, however, is being a great Diablo game.

GAMES.CH - Steffen Haubner - German - 89%

The irresistible gloom is now no longer opposed by hurdles in the form of confusing item and skill management. We enthusiastically throw ourselves against Lilith's hordes and once again sink hour after hour into perfecting our character. Overall, however, there could have been a bit more innovation.

Geek Culture - Jake Su - 8.6 / 10

The worry remaining is that the balance needs to be struck well in order to maintain Diablo IV as a viable and long-lasting adventure that doesn’t lose its freshness or that the incessant rush to get more powerful gear becomes a chore rather than a thrill. At this juncture, there’s much for players both old and new to dive into, making combat and exploration exciting times, all while pushing the story forward in a new chapter for Sanctuary. The hope is that this will last, and that Blizzard will continue to support the game in all ways. After all, Lilith is coming, and all hail the Mother.

DualShockers - Emma Ward - 8.5 / 10

Your favorite Action Role Playing Game is back and bloodier than ever. Diablo 4 improves upon nearly every core gameplay mechanic from Diablo 3 while introducing a few great quality-of-life features that make this journey to Sanctuary the best yet. While some of the quest systems seem dated, the main story is delivered beautifully, breathing new life into the series.

Everyeye.it - Antonello Gaeta - Italian - 8.5 / 10

Diablo 4 is a canvas on which developers could, over the next few months, paint a true masterpiece.

Gamer Guides - Nathan Garvin - 8.5 / 10

With a compelling new antagonist, a serviceable, character-driven story, and a familiarly satisfying gameplay loop with an incredible amount of depth, Diablo 4 is a worthy entry into the franchise that threatens to burn away many hours of your life.

PSX Brasil - Paulo Roberto Montanaro - Portuguese - 85 / 100

Diablo IV is, without a doubt, a great success that takes the best of its previous iterations, especially Diablo II, and takes advantage of the potential of an intense open world. With mechanics refined for today, hundreds of hours of gameplay, and the promise of an aggressive post-launch content, this game is the ultimate in the eternal battle between evil and… the other party.

Wccftech - Alessio Palumbo - 8.5 / 10

Diablo IV is a return to form at a much needed time for Blizzard. It delivers incredibly fun hack and slash action combat, a greatly improved skill system, and a ton of things to do, not to mention the best story told in the franchise yet. It also looks awesome, sounds great, and runs well (except for rare instances of traversal stuttering).

WellPlayed - Ash Wayling - 8.5 / 10

Diablo IV is a must-play for fans of the series and newcomers alike. It invites you to lose yourself in a world of darkness and embark on a thrilling journey filled with relentless battles, captivating storytelling, and a hauntingly beautiful audio-visual symphony. Just ignore the extraneous limb reaching for your wallet.

Xbox Achievements - Dan Webb - 85%

Diablo IV boasts a new look, with its new open-world and online format, but at its heart, it’s very much a classic Diablo experience. A little old-school still, sure, but the core combat is still as fun and addictive as ever, and there’s RPG mechanics for days to sink your teeth into. What’s not to love?

Destructoid - Timothy Monbleau - 8 / 10

Impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.

Digital Trends - Gabriel Moss - 4 / 5

Diablo 4's wealth of loot and meaningful customization systems make up for most of its frustrating MMO concessions.

GameSpot - Alessandro Barbosa - 8 / 10

Diablo IV's surprisingly moving and engrossing story encapsulates gameplay systems that have learnt all the right lessons from entries past.

Gameblog - French - 8 / 10

Diablo 4 is extremely generous. A clear evolution of the franchise and a real comeback.

GamesHub - Emily Spindler - 4 / 5

Diablo 4 is a behemoth of a game, boasting a gothic world that goes beyond the engaging hack-and-slash gameplay loop.

PlayStation Universe - Neil Bolt - 8 / 10

Diablo IV takes the series to new heights, but also spends plenty of time covering familar ground. The compelling rush for loot is as strong as it has ever been, and visually, the game is spectacular. It doesn't exactly feel like a massive leap from Diablo III yet its focus on the series' core strengths ensures that's likely more than enough for long-time fans.

Saudi Gamer - Arabic - 8 / 10

So far, the Diablo 4 experience has been nothing short of very good, the story has been very interesting and it finally returns to what distinguished the series in terms of storytelling before the release of the third installment. The game offered a very solid base of content, activities, addictive gameplay, and a variety of character-building ways that any Action RPG should offer. This is knowing that there are some important issues that appeared at the beginning of the experiment as we mentioned in the full review.

Shacknews - Josh Broadwell - 8 / 10

Blizzard opts for refinement over innovation with Diablo 4, but it's still a devilishly good time.

Siliconera - Kazuma Hashimoto - 8 / 10

Diablo IV features a compelling antagonist in Lilith, and while it tries to present more interesting ideas into the series by the way of story, it ends up retreading old ground in more ways than one.

VG247 - Connor Makar - 4 / 5

It's a damn good entry to the series as a whole, and will give the vast majority of its players a bloody good time.

LevelUp - Luis Sánchez - Spanish - 7 / 10

Diablo IV remained stuck in the past while trying to find innovation without generating friction with fans who have played the franchise for over two decades; It feels like the ghost of Diablo Immortal continues to haunt the halls of Blizzard. The game is more of a reinvention of the classic experience, focusing on a games-as-a-service format to ensure another decade of content for Diablo.

Ars Technica - Aaron Zimmerman - Unscored

Each class has a gimmick-or "specialization"-that unlocks as you progress through the game. The Barbarian, for instance, can lug around a huge arsenal of weapons and gains "expertise" with each as you use them, granting buffs and special effects. The Necromancer can choose between different types of minions or sacrifice them to extract their power. The Rogue has three specialization options, one of which is a WoW-like combo-points system. Every class has its own personality and quirks, and they're all a blast to play.

Checkpoint Gaming - Elliot Attard - Unscored

Whilst Diablo IV could have done more to advance the genre or perfect its writing and tone across the entire experience, there’s no denying just how impactful this release is, especially for those of us who grew up alongside the series.

Console Creatures - David Pietrangelo - Recommended

Diablo 4 is an impressive and massive conquest of demons, loot, exploration, and wildly fun mechanics. It's already clear that this game brings tons of new content to the franchise and handles it incredibly well.

Game Informer - Marcus Stewart - Unscored

While it remains to be seen how the experience handles the incoming flood of players once the lights are turned on, I think Diablo fans, old and new, are in for a treat.

PC Gamer - Tyler Colp - Unscored

An exciting, modern version of Diablo is in here—I can see parts of it poking through the surface—but I'm starting to lose patience waiting for it to show its face.

Polygon - Alexis Ong - Unscored

More busywork doesn’t lessen the series-signature lootfest appeal

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Alice Bell - Unscored

Diablo IV is a beautiful, frictionless grey toybox that puts nothing in the way of you playing it for hours and wondering what you've done with your life.

SIFTER - Adam Christou - Worth your time

Diablo IV offers a strong opening impression. It has a rich, detailed story campaign, filled with spectacle and gore. Its combat and game-feel is so satisfying. The classes feel distinct and play quite differently from each other. It feels so good to burst down screens of demons with spells and swords. Will it live up to other competitors in the ARPG space? It’s too soon to tell, but what’s here so far is extremely promising especially for players looking to enjoy an impressive horror story.

Others from comments (may be duplicate)

Gaming Review Sites

• GameRant: 4.5/5 https://gamerant.com/diablo-4-review/
• WindowsCentral: 5/5 https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/diablo-4-review
• WGTC: https://wegotthiscovered.com/reviews/review-diablo-iv-is-a-complex-and-beautiful-hell/
• Video Games Chronicle: 5/5 https://www.videogameschronicle.com/review/diablo-4/
• TechRadar: 5/5 https://www.techradar.com/reviews/diablo-4-review
• Destructoid: 8/10 https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-diablo-4/

YouTube Reviews

• DM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Wajt6hcGY
• Fextralife https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs4SDn7HP_8
• Dbrunski https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW2Ur3bDeKo
• Force https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ay_3bp29ds
• IGN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZTeEGhqh-k
• EuroGamer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNO-M-yCcRU
• Slaydra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZWtUEauGHc
• Press Start Australia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7iDTOyrECQ
• Khraze: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9vVncU-iVE
• Datmodz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PNsyFql5I4
• Gamespot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_S9rnIUQ3I
• Seasoned Gaming: https://youtu.be/Mz0cxdx2a_Y
• Rhykker: https://youtu.be/WJM3y-4tDhQ

Non-English Reviews

• Gamestar (German) https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/diablo-4-test-review-wertung,3394628.html GamePro from Germany gave 94/100:
• GamePro (German) https://www.gamepro.de/artikel/diablo-4-test-review,3394866,wertung.html
• Jeuxvideo.com (French) 17/20: https://www.jeuxvideo.com/test/1755365/diablo-4-le-meilleur-de-tous-les-episodes-de-la-saga.htm

Game Information

Game Title: Street Fighter 6
Platforms:

• PC (Jun 2, 2023)
• Xbox Series X/S (Jun 1, 2023)
• PlayStation 5 (Jun 1, 2023)
• PlayStation 4 (Jun 1, 2023)

Trailers:

• Street Fighter 6 - Zangief, Lily, and Cammy Gameplay Trailer
• Street Fighter 6 - Pre-Order Trailer
• Street Fighter 6 - Announce Trailer

Developer: CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Publisher: CAPCOM CO. LTD
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 91 average - 98% recommended - 42 reviews

Critic Reviews

Atomix - Alberto Desfassiaux - Spanish - 90 / 100

Street Fighter 6 is the redemption of the series. The way it presents a huge amount of content will make fans smile. The only setback is the poor execution of the World Tour.

Bazimag - Hamidreza Ghaneei - Persian - 9.5 / 10

Street Fighter 6 is an exceptional addition to this revered series, poised to secure its longevity for years to come. With its revolutionary combat mechanics and distinctive character designs, this title promises to captivate both players and spectators alike. Moreover, the implementation of novel control systems and offline modes, such as the Word Tour, offers new players a compelling incentive to explore the game. Overall, Street Fighter 6 is a masterpiece that has undoubtedly raised the bar for the entire franchise.

Checkpoint Gaming - Luke Mitchell - 8.5 / 10

Street Fighter 6 provides the fast and furious action you'd expect from the refined fighting series, offering a dynamic cast of characters, new control modes to make it more accessible, and a variety of features to keep you busy. Its story mode is a campy take on the Street Fighter universe that doesn't always land the winning blow, however; while it's filled with distractions and civilian fighters to take on, it can be a little repetitive and shallow. Still, the technical foundations that Street Fighter stands on are as solid as ever, and with a whole world to battle online, there's a lot of fighting on the menu in what is once again a polished, exciting fighting experience that will keep fans engaged for years.

Console Creatures - Patrick Tremblay - Recommended

Without a doubt, Street Fighter 6 is the best and most accessible entry in the long-running series. Anyone can jump in, and there is a lot of content to keep you busy and practicing on the road to World Champion.

Cultured Vultures - Ash Bates - 10 / 10

A sublime fighting game masterpiece from a company at the peak of their powers, Street Fighter 6 is utterly incredible.

Daily Mirror - Scott McCrae - 5 / 5

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Enternity.gr - Panagiotis Petropoulos - Greek - 9 / 10

Street Fighter 6 is truly outstanding and manages to set new standards for the franchise.

Eurogamer - Wesley Yin-Poole - Recommended

Street Fighter 6 rights the wrongs of its predecessor while dragging the famous fighting game franchise kicking and screaming into the modern era.

Fextralife - Castielle - 8.4 / 10

Capcom delivers and checks the majority of the boxes when it comes to the classic and new features of Street Fighter 6. It heads down a different direction making it more casual while maintaining the core values of the game, allowing it to be a mainstream fighting game for all players. However, with its awkward performance on the PlayStation 4. The concern is, will World Tour have more content and will the performance issues be fixed. We hope these will be addressed. In the meantime, it is recommended to play Street Fighter 6 on current-gen consoles and PC to fully appreciate and enjoy this game.

GGRecon - Jack Roberts - 4.5 / 5

With a slew of fighting games on the horizon like Tekken 8 and the recently announced Mortal Kombat 1, Street Fighter 6 is leading the charge in the most vibrant way possible. With a series of character guides, story campaigns for classic characters and a fantastic open world for you to take the fight to the streets, it feels like everything I could have asked for from a modern Street Fighter entry.
Despite being the sixth game in the mainline series, Street Fighter 6 is easily one of the most accessible and makes for a fantastic entry point for newer players, while still resonating with series veterans.

GameGrin - Mike Crewe - 9.5 / 10

The most complete Street Fighter title to date, Street Fighter 6 is a must-play for fighting game fans, and one to consider even if you're not familiar with the genre. An engaging, stylish beat 'em up that could well be king of the mountain for years to come.

GameSpot - Jason Fanelli - 9 / 10

Capcom's flagship fighter is back in form with intricate but approachable fighting mechanics and a feature-rich package.

GamesHub - Edmond Tran - 5 / 5

Street Fighter 6 is an exceedingly good fighting game. But more than that, it’s an excellent training tool. It’s a fulfilling adventure. It’s a lively community gathering place. It’s an endearingly idealistic and inspiring world of appreciation for martial arts and friendly competition, exceptionally executed in every respect.

Gaming Nexus - Joseph Moorer - 10 / 10

Capcom has given us a complete game right out of the box. The single player experiences are enormous. The online experience is perfect. Street Fighter lore is littered in every nook and cranny of this game. There are modes and modes within modes. This is one of the best Street Fighter games in the history of the franchise. If Capcom hurt you in the past, this is their apology. Street Fighter 6 is a new classic that people will be playing for years to come.

GamingTrend - Jack Zustiak and Abdul Saad - 95 / 100

Street Fighter 6 takes the series to the next stage with a wildly fun fighting system that emphasizes personal choice. Each mainline Street Fighter tends to define its era of fighting games in some way, and Street Fighter 6 confidently steps forward to that next era. From its battle system to its bevvy of modes such as World Tour, it dives deep into everything that makes fighting games great.

God is a Geek - Sean Smith - 10 / 10

Street Fighter 6 is without question the best fighting game package I have ever played, and will keep you going far longer than a one-on-one fighter has any right to be able to. A true classic.

IGN Spain - Adrián Suárez - Spanish - 9 / 10

Street Fighter 6 confirms a solid and formidable start. Whether it's your first fighting game or you're a lover of the genre, go for it.

Inverse - De'Angelo Epps - 10 / 10

Capcom’s latest takes everything you’d expect from the father of the fighting genre and turns it up to 10. There’s something for everyone here, with no fat or filler to ruin the experience. Street Fighter 6 is the best fighting game experience in a long time, and in the years to come, its impact and legacy could be every bit as massive as Street Fighter 2.

LevelUp - Fernando Salinas - Spanish - 9 / 10

In addition to having a competitive focus, Street Fighter 6 offers a variety of modes filled with content for all types of players. The diversity of characters, their improvements in online modes, and the new control system are some of the reasons that make Street Fighter 6 the strongest contender to become the best fighting game of this generation.

MonsterVine - Spencer Legacy - 4.5 / 5

Street Fighter 6 is a grand fighting game experience that just keeps building on the series’ strong foundation. Though the World Tour mode and new characters aren’t as stand-out as they could be, the core gameplay is excellent and there’s plenty to enjoy.

Nexus Hub - Keegan Govender - 9 / 10

Street Fighter 6 is not just a comeback for Capcom, but for fighting games entering next-generation consoles as a whole. It feels like a passion project made by a group of people who were tasked by Capcom to make the last Street Fighter we would ever want to play. With its fast-paced gameplay, beautifully implemented new mechanics, and timeless visuals, Street Fighter 6 has solidified itself among the fighting game hall of fame.

Niche Gamer - NECRO XIII - 9 / 10

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PC Gamer - Mollie Taylor - 89 / 100

Minor technical issues and questionable monetisation scuff what is otherwise one of the best fighting games we've seen in the last decade.

PCGamesN - Christian Vaz - 9 / 10

This is the first Street Fighter game in a long time where it feels like players of all skill levels are welcome. While World Tour mode is disappointing, the sheer scope of SF6 means you don't need to wait for the inevitable Ultra Edition before jumping in.

PSX Brasil - Ivan Nikolai Barkow Castilho - Portuguese - 95 / 100

Street Fighter 6 is another Capcom hit. It's a complete package, offering plenty of content and accessibility for every type of player. The fighting mechanics are varied, fun and take a long time to master. The World Tour mode is interesting and offers something varied for the series, even if it has some issues.

PowerUp! - Charbel Asmar - 9 / 10

At launch, Street Fighter 6 is set to take the fighting game genre to another level

Press Start - James Mitchell - 9 / 10

Street Fighter 6 rights the wrongs of its past with multiple modes for every player and strong battle systems like no other. It invites new players into the fold with well implemented, simpler control schemes, without losing sight of the hardcore player. The World Tour mode won't be for everyone, but Street Fighter 6 stands tall as one of the best fighters Capcom has made.

Prima Games - Matt Vatankhah - 9.5 / 10

In a sense, Street Fighter VI is the full package. It’s a three-course meal and then some, filling you up to the brim and serving you every dish on the dessert menu whether you’re ready for the check or not. It’s bursting with style, swagger, and abundant sophistication, and it’s the perfect entry for newcomers and veterans alike.

Push Square - Sammy Barker - 9 / 10

Street Fighter 6 is an absolute humdinger of a sequel. Capcom has created a fighting system that has all of the tactical depth professional players expect but managed to make it fairly easy for casuals to wrap their heads around. Not only that, it's introduced smart ways to onboard newcomers, including a simplified control scheme and a great suite of tutorials, which even extend to the impressively enjoyable RPG-inspired single player story mode. A strong roster of starting characters, near-flawless rollback netcode, and a seemingly never-ending selection of content – including interactive online lobbies with playable retro games – round out another unbelievably impressive effort from the seemingly unstoppable Japanese publisher.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Unscored

Smooth online matches and an impressively in-depth story already put Street Fighter 6 leagues above the competition.

Saudi Gamer - Arabic - 9 / 10

A great new entry that caters to both the hardcore and casuals, just missing some modes and more characters that keeps it from perfection.

Shacknews - TJ Denzer - 9 / 10

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Spaziogames - Italian - 9.5 / 10

Street Fighter 6 is simply one of the best fighting games ever made, with ton of contents and an incredibly fun gameplay.

TechRaptor - Robert Scarpinito - 9 / 10

Street Fighter 6 is one of the easiest on-ramps to the deep world of fighting games, appealing to casual players and veterans alike. With a diverse roster, meaty gameplay, and flashy animations, this will be a FGC staple for years to come.

The Outerhaven Productions - 4 / 5

Street Fighter 6 takes all the mistakes made with Street Fighter V and tries to not make them again. From the one on one traditional fights that we know, have been improved thanks to the addition of the Drive Gage mechanics, to the online modes where a lot of people are going to play. There is very little that Street Fighter 6 does that people won't be happy with… Unless you live in Australia… However, the looming nickel-and-dime ride of Season Pass after Season Pass could make things worse down the line. Street Fighter 6 is an easy day-one buy for the hardcore eSports player base, but casual players might want to wait for a year or more for a more complete game before buying.

TheSixthAxis - Nick Petrasiti - 10 / 10

Street Fighter 6 doesn't need recommending to hardcore fighting fans – you all already know how incredible it is – but do I recommend it for more casual players? Street Fighter 6 has a real sense of community, welcoming all players old and new, teaching new tricks and providing something for those that just want a bit of fun. This is truly a fighting game for everyone.

TrueGaming - Arabic - 9 / 10

Street fighter 6 will keep players busy for long hours thanks to its fresh and innovative fighting system, and its feature-rich content the World Tour mode Finally, friendly controls that welcomes new players to the series are the cherry on top of the cake.

Twinfinite - Keenan McCall - 5 / 5

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Unboxholics - Θέμης Μπολτσής - Greek - Worth your time

Street Fighter 6 is an extremely rich package that successfully manages to win over new players thanks to its new and sophisticated control system, while also winking at veterans, with its balanced, strategic and deep gameplay. It includes everything Street Fighter 5 did, while the development team has added an entire Street Fighter open world RPG and an online MMO on top of it. So, just like that, Capcom's positive...combo continues!

We Got This Covered - David James - 3 / 5

Street Fighter 6 delivers a deep, complex, and satisfying fighting game bristling with fun new characters and an excellent multiplayer mode. Unfortunately, all of that's shackled to a truly terrible single-player RPG that stands as one of the most embarrassing things Capcom has released in years. If you're here for online play, you'll love it. If you want single-player action, stay far away.

Worth Playing - Cody Medellin - 9 / 10

Street Fighter 6 succeeds in its ambition to cram some big things into one fighting game. Battle Hub may be silly, but it has a lot more personality and more to do than most other titles with their own online lobbies. Fighting Ground does a great job of showing off the new roster and improvements to the fighting engine, while placing an equal amount of attention on both offline and online players. World Tour makes for a somewhat nonsensical yet addictive adventure that can serve as a good basis for a full-fledged Street Fighter RPG. All of this is tied together with a presentation that does well in improving what came before it, only with more fidelity and flash. As stated at the beginning of this review, fighting game fans are going to have a good year, and Street Fighter 6 is an excellent component of that.

XboxEra - Nick Baker - 9 / 10

Xbox players have had to wait a long time for Street Fighter to come back to the platform, and luckily got the best iteration yet.

Hello fellow adventure cyclists!
I created this group with the hopes of finding more gravel and bikepacking enthusiasts located in the Portland / Metro area, and to develop new friendships with people of similar interests. I love living in Portland where I can get some pretty good safe, paved rides in, but also because I can throw my bike in the back of my truck and drive an hour or so in any direction to find sweet gravel tracks and overnight adventures.
About Me
My name is James and I'm a 39 year old teacher living in SW Portland with my daughter and partner. I'm an outdoor enthusiast, explorer and conservationist. I enjoy getting my hands dirty in the garden. I am a long time hiker and backpacker, birder and daily cyclist, but recently realized that bikepacking was a thing and started doing it, fell in love with the idea of covering more ground in a day than hiking and see more in shorter periods of time. I've mostly done solo trips though I have done some small group trips with a few friends. I live in SW Portland which is a great starting/meet up point and easy for me to get anywhere.
When June 15th hits, I'm on vacation and try to take advantage of every day I have away from work. Whether it's hiking, cycling, birding, working in the yard or trying new things, I'm going for it!
Gravel and Bikepacking
I have a 2016 All City Space Horse Disc (Steel). It's reliable but a little on the heavy side. I recently updated my wheel set, handlebar, brakes and drive train, seat post so that it's basically a new ride. I can climb pretty easily with this set up, even on a loaded bike.
I have a couple different set up options for bikepacking, so I have gear to share if anyone is in need once we start riding.
Why I started this
-Could not find any local meetups for bikepacking or gravel cycling (I know they are out there)
-Sounded like others in this group have been looking for the same.
-To make new friends
-To create my own adventures
The Rides
I'm a teacher and coach so planning and details are something I geek out on. I also find with these overnight trips, the more organized I am, the more fun and less anxiety I have leading up to/during adventures. See the spreadsheet below. See the tabs to navigate different trips. I'll update each trip as we get closer to the trip date.
Any Rides I invite you all on are vetted by either bikepacking.com or Dirtyfreehub.org. They will always be mixed terrain rides and drop bar or flat bar compatible.
Summer Bikepacking Trip Ideas: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g7J9QLkgKJXR3wHICoU7-AFIoKXq2wUE-4LfStkGSwU/edit?usp=sharing
- It's easy to follow. If you are in for a ride, put in your contact info and we will go from there.
- The weekend before any overnighters we will do either a shakedown ride or a google meet to go over itinerary and logistics.
- You have to do at least 1 training ride before an overnighter just so we can get to know each other and make sure you are good to go for an enjoyable experience.
- I'm open to ideas and suggestions. This is all just a starting point
Notes
- This is a safe place for everyone, all are welcome. Keep this place safe for all by being a kind human.
- Invite others to join if you think they'd be down.
- If you are not sure about overnighters then at least do some day rides with me/us to help you measure your abilities.
- Practice Leave No Trace when in the wilderness. If you are not sure what that entails, here are a couple of resources:
https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/leave-no-trace.html
https://youtu.be/IH0_3u5HFUY
- Lets get out there and have some fun!

I'm backpacking the west coast trail on VI starting June 8th and would like to find a Garmin InReach or other sat phone to rent for under $100. I saw that Outdoors Geek has them but I'm worried it won't ship in time. If anyone has any experience with them or any other recommendations (either online or local gear rental shops to the Seattle area) I'd greatly appreciate it!

It's "Manpower Monday," and we're gearing up for a new Adventures In Rokugan campaign (you can find the details here). We're showcasing one of the characters players will likely meet in their travels. Meet Kogami, "The Old Man of Shinomen Forest" who's not exactly a man.
Kogami 15th Level LN Yokai Saboteur Shinobi
STR 12, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 17, WIS 16, CHA 10
Saves Dexterity +8, Intelligence +8
Skills Investigation +8, Nature +8, Perception +8, Stealth +8, Survival +8
Out in the backwoods of Rokugan, strange things happen and tall tales abound. One such tale is about “The Old Man of Shinomen Forest,” a surly and curt man who seems to have a very short way with poachers and woodcutters. His wrath seems unusually well calibrated against very specific targets. Those who are hunting to survive and those clearing away dead wood are untouched. But those who are thoughtlessly despoiling the forest often end up dead. Occasionally, a survivor gets away, half-mad from terror, raving about a giant dog of some sort that ripped his comrades apart while the Old Man snarls at them. Crab Clan investigators have often gone looking for the Old Man and the “giant dogs” but end up coming back empty-handed. The nezumi tribes of Shinomen, usually very cooperative when Crab allies show up, seem to be oddly reticent. A few of the Toritaka family suspect the nezumi know what’s going on, but they’re not going to help the humans in this particular matter.
“The Old Man of Shinomen Forest” is very real, however. Periodically, people in Cherry Blossom Snow Village see him, known only by the name of Kogami. They’re used to his brusque and sometimes abrasive manner, assuming he’s probably related to somebody manning the Carpenter Wall. What they don’t realize is they’re looking at a very old animal yokai, one of the last of the wolf yokai in Rokugan. Kogami has wandered throughout Shinomen Forest and the surrounding region for centuries, a wolf without a pack. The nezumi tribes are ancient allies of Kogami and his kind, providing shelter and aid whenever necessary. Kogami’s mission and purpose is to stay on the lookout for the return of his kind, to once again see wolf yokai wandering Shinomen Forest and beyond. He doesn’t often speak of how he came to be the last of his kind, but those who earn his trust will not find a more loyal companion or a fiercer ally.

Time stamp & detail shots
Shipping is $5 CONUS, PM with location for non-US shipping. Paypal only! Please PM before messaging. Prices are not firm. Thanks for looking! <3
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IDOBAO ID80 75% $60hotswap silver v1
Keychool kc-87 $50Cherry Browns
Leopold fc900r $80Cherry Browns sold
Keychron q10 & Wrist rest $180Keychron q0 plus $75$225 together
MelGeek Mojo68 Plastic $175MelGeek MojoPad Plastic $70Gateron Browns$230 together
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GMK Dualshot 2 R2 $250
Standard Base, Macro, Addition, Accent
Domikey Ghost $150
Base Kit, Extension, Novelties, Numpad
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SWITCHES:
Durock T1 72G x90 $50
Zilent v2 67g x100 $80
Zealio v2 67g x50 $40
Zealio v2 62g x85 $65
Gateron Clear x59 $25
Gateron Green x65 $35
Originative MOD-L x65 $30

(First time posting a build of mine so looking for feedback and comments :D also, this ended up being a lot more than anticipated. Guess I got a little too into it.)
Basics:
Race: Dunmer
Main Skills: Conjuration, Restoration, Enchanting
Minor Skills: Alchemy, Alteration
Standing Stone: Ritual or Mage Stone (I use the Andromeda Standing Stones mod so I went for Apprentice, but the Ritual and Mage stones are also good choices in that mod)
Alignment: Chaotic Good (is a fundamentally kind person looking to do good, but is willing to bend or break to the rules to do what she thinks is right)
Factions: College of Winterhold is a must for any mage-sort of character. The Mage is also pretty curious, so you can justify just about any questline with "she just wanted to see what was going on", like the Main Questline. No evil quests like Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood, tho, and some of the Daedric quests like Boethiah's are off the table. Also, with her morbid curiosity, some quests (specifically Hermaeus Mora's and finding the Black Books) work fairly well for her.
Personality
At her core, the Mage wants two things - knowledge, and friends. She wants to learn more about the world and have a good time doing it with her best buds. While I keep the backstory pretty loose, the Mage was lonely for a lot of her childhood, so good friends are very important to her. She's also a people-pleaser, and doesn't always stand up for herself. Her biggest flaw is her curiosity, though - even if it's something incredibly dangerous, she'll stick around to see what it is.
As for how that translates into gameplay, that means the Mage will almost always be traveling with a companion (bonus points if it's a mage follower, double bonus points if it's someone from the College of Winterhold). She'll also take on quests to help the common folk of Skyrim, partially because it's the nice thing to do and partially because she doesn't wanna say 'no'.
Gear
As a bit of a "Generic Mage" kind of build, almost anything goes here. Black robes you picked up from an enemy mage? Works well for early game. Got through the College of Winterhold and got those sweet Archmage Robes? Awesome buffs.
While the Mage mostly uses spells (who would've guessed?) staves are also a good plan for if you run out of magicka. Particularly, the Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson early on, and the Eye of Magnus once you've completed the College of Winterhold questline. Keeping a regular dagger on you also helps as a last ditch effort.
For the cherry on top, I utilized Azura's Star and Savos Aren's amulet. Since we put some focus on Enchanting, you're also welcome to enchant any and all gear you want. Go wild.
Playstyle
While "Mage" is pretty broad and can span just about any magic-user, I specifically planned for this one to be centered around Conjuration, more specifically, necromancy. Going in theme with both her morbid curiosity and lonely past, she learned how to raise the dead to act as companions. She doesn't just see them as servants - she looks out for their wellbeing just like any other ally.
This means that Conjuration will be the biggest skill here. Take any perks you think will help with that - if you play with Ordinator, I've found that the Skeletons you get from the Bone Collector perk are awesome companions. It doesn't need to be All Undead, All The Time, though. Especially in early game, Vanilla Skyrim, undead can be hard to come by, so spells like Summon Familiar and the various atronachs are on the table as well.
The other main skills, Restoration and Enchanting, are to help empower your undead and keep you alive. Enchanting is a good, all around skill with a lot of applications (Fortify Conjuration being a big help here, along with Fortify Magicka), and Restoration can be used to help keep you alive and even heal your undead.
As for the minor skills of Alchemy and Alteration, they're mostly passive. Alteration for bonuses to spells like Stoneflesh, Alchemy for backup potions. You can also sinks a few perks into Destruction, in order to have some stake in the fight and a way to defend yourself.
Modded Options
If you play with Wintersun, Azura is a pretty good goddess to worship. Not only does it fit in with being a Dunmer, but her bonuses work well for a mage character
If you play with Alternate Start, you can skip everything else and go straight into being a new member of the College of Winterhold
Since this is a Mage going to the College of Winterhold, any of your favorite mods that enhance that questline are all free game. I used "Magical College of Winterhold" in mine
Magic mods like Apocalypse, Triumvirate, and Odin are not required but definitely nice to have
Aaaaand that's all! I have loads of Skyrim builds in a giant spreadsheet and I wanted to share one of them :D please comment any feedback you guys have (and i'm really sorry again that this was so long lol)

Hiya, I'm Marnes, 29M from Belgium :) I've a relatively simple but well-filled (busy) life, and while I've got everything taken care of, I lack a significant other to really complete the happiness, as well as the types of interests others have that let them organically meet one out and about. So if you have some room in your life and mind, and want a guy to fill that special spot of belonging, please read on.
I'd like to find a girl to talk daily with about work, hobbies, household, basically anything interesting that happens in our days, with occasional pictures and links. To confide in about anything and everything, give some priority to in free time, send happy selfies to, give goodnight kisses with emote lines, have some adult fun with. Someone I can grow attached and affectionate to, and find that unique, highest level of comfort, contentness, and togetherness with. My player 2, if I may be so cheesy.
I want someone to be there for me, to want me for me and for our time together, and to let me want them, you know? Family and other people are always relying on me for everything and need me to be their help, I have a few good friends but they never have time for anything, and I've talked to some people here but they've always been so incredibly unreliable and ingenuine.

About me

Without spoiling too much, I work in IT and medical intervention, and my personality quite fits both stereotypes you're probably picturing now: often quiet and methodical as a geek developer would be, empathic but rational as emergency work requires. I have my passions and dislikes, try to balance my social energy between not having the spotlight on me but also not being a wallflower, do new or impulsive things from time to time. If I had to pick something that's clearly off-center about me, it's that I can overthink/overdiscuss stuff because misunderstandings and predictable mishaps grate at me.
The last two years I've finally been living alone in my appartment and tasting all the freedom and responsibility. This personal headroom let me finally deal with some physical and personal flaws I used to have, so it has been a great period and I feel better than ever before. I just wish I could complete my circle of few but great friends with a girl who means the world to me. I'm just not comfortable and myself in most "going out" places, and I refuse to fake/force interest in something as a faux premise to meet someone.
I don't have pets but love others' and animals in general. You'll get my best recent picture with a relative's cat if you ask for it. I don't and won't have kids.
If it helps you relate:

• favorite games are single player stories with strong plots and emotions or beauty, instrumental music and pretty graphics: Metroid, Metal Gear, SOMA, Titanfall 2, Zero Escape, Stray, Ori, Valiant Hearts, Outer Wilds, Abzû...
• funny/cute/daring slice of life anime like Nichijou, Ijiranaide, Lightning & Sweetness, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Yashin Dropkick, but also some action like some of the Gundams or friend recommendations like Odd Taxi
• occasionally a movie or series: I clearly prefer one-offs in action/mystery/sci-fi over cinematic universes and superheroes. The Rock, Shutter Island, The Expanse, Stargate, 6 Days, Upgrade, Kingsman, Hacksaw Ridge, ...
• my music collection is a loooot of soundtracks from games or fan albums (85%), some TV things (10%) and a few random hits

About you

I guess I'll resonate best with someone rational, chill, smart. More of a scientist/techie than an artist, but everyone and every hobby has an artsy side. A limited social life like me, so that we'll have time, energy, and geniune interest for each other. Mature and reasonable rather than unpredictable and emotional. If your face and life go on instagram daily, you hang out at parties every week, or I feel like words are cheap and I don't mean anything of value to you, it won't work.
Physically, I don't have a favorite haieye color or something. Mine are brown/brown, and I'm starting to settle on short hair and short beard. The more "plain"/natural, down to earth, relatable, ... you look, the better. I do love artificial hair color, prefer short hair, and love to see a piercing, but don't take it as a necessity. There's nothing remarkable about my looks either, just that I wear glasses and you might spot the scar on my cheek. I'm a little overweight like most people, and you can be too, or you can be thin, average, athletic, short, tall...

Practical

Let's meet at first in reddit chat, but I only like to use discord to talk. I work 9-5 mon-fri and try to sleep by 1, so I can mostly be active in the evening. East coast US is okay (made it work with someone for 9 years), outside there or the EU could be tricky in terms of timing and relatability. Visiting each other eventually would be great, but I'm mainly looking for something online. Not open to moving, don't want kids, don't have pets but I love the pets of others.
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It's high time I hit Post :) Please send me a chat and tell me how this post speaks to you.

--------------------------EDIT: ALL GONE!--------------------------

Howyeh hardwareswappers! In a couple of weeks, the contents of my home is being loaded into a container and I'm off back home to Ireland for good. Before I go, I have some bits and pieces to part with, and like the birdies of spring, they're goin' cheap.
Unfortunately no longer have original boxes for all these, but will be packaged and shipped carefully unless you're buying 'em local. Prices do not include shipping, which will be charged at actual rate. Local zip is 94954, Northern California.
Timestamps: https://imgur.com/a/7B59WzK
Post and PM, no chats, please!!!!
Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero mobo: $100 plus shipping SOLD to u/CCityinstaller
Works great BUT one of the USB ports is kaput with a broken plastic bit when my LOVELY daughter "helped" by yanking a USB cable out as I was moving stuff around.
AMD 5600x: $100 plus shipping SOLD to u/CCityinstaller
Works without issue, never overclocked and used only a small handful of times. Even have a Vetroo V5 (white) cooler I can include if you want it. (Timestamp hint - currently installed in the mobo!)
6x White Corsair LL120 Fans and RGB hub: $60 plus shipping SOLD to u/CCityinstaller
Cool, right? (Geddit!???) Great fans, worked fine. But decided to completely de-RGB my rig which is why there's also a...
Corsair Commander Pro: $20 plus shipping SOLD to u/CCityinstaller
It's a commander pro. The bits are there. This one I even have the box for. Hooray!
32GB Dominator Platinum, DDR4, 3600mhz C18: $100 plus shipping (two sets available) One set SOLD to u/CCityinstaller and one set SOLD to u/VMAN08Never messed with, never overclocked. Get both for $175. EDIT: I originally mislabeled this as C16, it's actually C18! (Told you I never tried overclocking it, just plugged it in and went about my day!)
Corsair K95 Keyboard with Pudding Caps: $40 plus shipping SOLD to u/CCityinstaller
Warranty replacement from Corsair, and been sitting unused since it came back. I decided in my infinite wisdom to sand the keys down on the sides for more RBG goodness, and made crap of them, so replaced them with proper pudding caps. Brown Cherry MX switches.
Kanto Yu2 Speakers in Bamboo: Free! (Just pay shipping) GONE to u/Blooded_Wine (Who also made a donation to the Cal Fire Fund!)
Okay, these are broken - there's a popped capacitor in the main speaker that needs to be replaced. It's a $2 part and a quick fix for someone with a soldering iron who knows what they're doing. I don't know what I'm doing, and I don't know which capacitor went BONK. These are easily salvageable, and I'd get it done myself if I wasn't already balls to the wall.
HyperX Pudding Keycaps: Free! (Just pay shipping?) GONE to u/SadgeandCopium
Bought 'em. Never used 'em. Want 'em?
MetalliGear Qube: Free! (local only) GONE to u/hayhayhayday
It's a Lian Li 011 clone, but unlike the Lian Li, this is fully white in the front instead of having the brushed aluminum strip which I much preferred, hence the reason I got it. Also has an addressable RGB strip too. Oh and there's a Phanteks vertical gpu mount I'm throwing in too.
Box o' Noctua Chromax rubber corner things: Free!
So those LL120 fans got replaced by Noctua Chromax fans.These are those rubber bits that go on the corners. You know the ones. I kept the black and white ones, but if you have a colorful build and want 'em, I'll send them off to you. Better than them going in the landfill.

The whirring blades of my MD-902 throbbed against the warm evening air, and I smiled.
From 5,000 feet, the ground flew by in a carpet of dark forests and kelly-green fields. The sun hung low on the horizon in a picturesque array of dazzling orange and gold, and I could make out the narrow strip of the Ohio River to my left, glistening in the fading daylight. This time of year, the trees would be full of the sweet aroma of fresh blossoms, and the frequent rains kept small pockets of fluffy white mist hanging in the treetops. It was a beautiful view, one that reminded me of why being a helicopter pilot trumped flying in a jumbo jet far above the clouds every day of the week.
Fourteen more days, and I’m debt free.
That made me grin even more. I’d been working as a charter pilot ever since I obtained my license at age 19, and after years of keeping my nose to the grindstone, I was closing on the final payment for real-estate in western Pennsylvania. With no debt, a fixer-upper house on 30 rural acres all to myself, and a respectable wage for a 26-year-old pilot, I looked forward to the financial freedom I could now enjoy. Maybe I’d take a vacation, somewhere exotic like Venice Italy, or the Dominican Republic. Or perhaps I’d sock the money back for the day I started a family.
“Remember kleineun, a real man looks after his own.”
My elderly ouma’s voice came back from the depths of my memories, her proud, sun-tanned face rising from the darkness. She and my Rhodesian grandfather had emigrated to the US when they were newlyweds, as the violence against white Boer descendants in South Africa spiraled out of control. My mother and father both died in a car crash when I was six, and it had been my grandparents who raised me. Due to this, I’d grown up with a slight accent that many of my classmates found amusing, and I could speak both English, and Afrikaans, the Boer tongue of our former home.
I shifted in my seat, stretched my back muscles, and glanced at the picture taped to my console. Both my parents flanked a grinning, gap-toothed six-year-old me, at the last Christmas we’d spent together. My mother beamed, her dark hair and Italian features a sharp contrast to my father’s sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Sometimes, I liked to imagine they were smiling at me with pride at how well I flew the old silver-colored bird my company had assigned to me, and that made the long, lonely flights easier to bear.
A flicker caught my eye, and I broke my gaze away from the photograph.
Perched in its small cradle above the controls, my little black Garmin fuzzed over for a few seconds, its screen shifting from brightly colored maps to a barrage of grey static.
Did the power chord come loose?
I checked, ensuring the power-cable for the unit’s battery was plugged into the port on the control panel. It was a brand-new GPS unit, and I’d used it a few times already, so I knew it wasn’t defective. Granted, I could fly and navigate without it, but the Garmin made my time as a pilot so much easier that the thought of going blind was dreadful.
My fuel gauge danced, clicked to empty, then to full, in a bizarre jolt.
More of the gauges began to stutter, the entire panel seeming to develop terrets all at once, and my pulse began to race. Something was wrong, very wrong, and the sludge inside my bowels churned with sour fear.
“Come on, come on.” I flicked switches, turned dials, punched buttons, but nothing seemed to fix the spasming electronics. Every gauge failed, and without warning, I found myself plunged into inky darkness.
Outside, the sun surrendered to the pull of night, the sky darker than usual. A distant rumble of thunder reverberated above the roar of my helicopter’s engine, and I thought I glimpsed a streak of yellowish lightning on the far horizon to my left.
Calm down Chris. We’re still flying, so it must just be a blown fuse. Stay in control and find a place to set her down.
My sweaty palm slid on the cyclic stick, and both feet weighed heavy on the yaw pedals. The collective stuck to my other hand with a nervous vibration, and I squinted against the abyss outside.
Beep.
I jumped despite myself, as the little Garmin on my panel flared back to life, the static pulling aside to reveal a twitching display. Each time the screen glitched, it showed the colorful map detailing my flight path over the ground below, but I noticed that some of the lines changed, the names shifting, as if the device couldn’t decide between two different versions of the world.
One name jutted out at me, slate gray like most of the major county names, appearing with ghostly flickers from between two neighboring ones.
Barron County.
I stared, confused. I’d flown over this section of southeastern Ohio plenty of times, and I knew the counties by heart. At this point, I should have been over the southern end of Noble County, and maybe dipping lower into Washington. There was no Barron County in Ohio. I was sure of it.
And yet it shown back at me from the digital landscape, a strange, almost cigar-shaped chunk of terrain carved from the surrounding counties like a tumor, sometimes there, sometimes not, as my little Garmin struggled to find the correct map. Rain began to patter against my cockpit window, and the entire aircraft rattled from a strong gust of wind. Thick clouds closed over my field of vision like a sea of gray cotton.
The blood in my veins turned to ice, and I sucked in a nervous breath.
Land. I had to land. There was nothing else to do, my flight controls weren’t responding, and only my Garmin had managed to come back to life. Perhaps I’d been hit by lightning, and the electronics had been fried? Either way, it was too dark to tell, but a storm seemed to be brewing, and if I didn’t get my feet on the ground soon, I could be in real trouble.
“Better safe than sorry.” I pushed down on the collective to start my slow descent and clicked the talking button for my headset. “Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, over.”
Nothing.
“Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, requesting emergency assistance, over.”
Still nothing.
If the radio’s dead, I’m really up a creek.
With my hand shaking, I clicked on the mic one more time. “Any station, this is—”
Like a curtain pulling back, the fog cleared from around my window, and the words stuck in my throat.
Without my gauges, I couldn’t tell just how far I’d descended, but I was definitely very low. Thick trees poked up from the ground, and the hills rolled into high ridges with flat valley floors, fields and pastures pockmarking them. Rain fell all around in cold, silvery sheets, a normal feature for the mid spring in this part of Ohio.
What wasn’t normal, were the fires.
At first, I thought they were forest fires for the amount of smoke and flames that bellowed from each spot, but as I swooped lower, my eyes widened in horror.
They were houses.
Farms, cottages, little clusters that barely constituted villages, all of them belched orange flames and black pillars of sooty smoke. I couldn’t hear above the helicopter blades, but I could see the flashes on the ground, along the road, in between the trees, and even coming from the burning buildings, little jets of golden light that spat into the darkness with anger.
Gunfire. That’s rifle fire, a whole lot of it.
Tiny black figures darted through the shadows, barely discernable from where I sat, several hundred feet up. I couldn’t see much, but some were definitely running away, the streaks of yellow gunfire chasing them. A few dark gray vehicles rumbled down one of the gravel roads, and sprayed fire into the houses as it went. They were fighting, I realized, the people in the trucks and the locals. It was horrific, like something out of war-torn Afghanistan, but worse.
Then, I caught a glimpse of the others.
They didn’t move like the rest, who either fled from the dark vehicles, or fired back from behind cover. These skinny figures loped along with haphazard gaits, many running on all fours like animals, swarming from the trees by the dozens. They threw themselves into the gales of bullets without flinching, attacking anyone within range, and something about the way they moved, so fluid, so fearless, made my heart skip a beat.
What is that?
“Echo Four Actual to unknown caller, please respond, over.”
Choking back a cry of shock, I fumbled at the control panel with clumsy fingers, the man’s voice sharp and stern. I hadn’t realized that I’d let go of the talking button and clicked it down again. “Hello? Hello, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot out of Pittsburgh, over.”
An excruciating moment passed, and I continued to zoom over the trees, the fires falling away behind me as more silent forest took over.
“Roger that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, we read you loud and clear. Please identify yourself and any passengers or cargo you might be carrying, over.”
Swallowing hard, I eyed the treetops, which looked much closer than they should have been. How far had I descended? “Echo Four Actual, my name is Christopher Dekker, and I am alone. I’m a charter flight from PA, carrying medical equipment for OSU in Columbus. My controls have been damaged, and I am unable to safely carry on due to the storm. Requesting permission to land, over.”
I watched the landscape slide by underneath me, once catching sight of what looked like a little white church surrounded by smaller huts, dozens of figures in the yard staring up at me as I flew over a nearby ridgeline.
“Solid copy on that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot. Be advised, your transponder shows you to be inside a restricted zone. Please cease all radio traffic, reduce your speed, climb to 3,000 feet and proceed north. We’ll talk you in from there. How copy, over?”
My heart jumped, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Roger that Echo Four Actual, my altimeter is down, but I’ll do my best to eyeball the altitude, over.”
With that, I pulled the collective upward, and tried my best to gauge how far I was by eyesight in the gathering night, rain still coming down all around me. This had to be some kind of disaster or riot, I decided. After all, the voice over the radio sounded like military, and those vehicles seemed to have heavy weapons. Maybe there was some kind of unrest going on here that I hadn’t heard about yet?
Kind of weird for it to happen in rural areas though. Spoiled college kids I get, but never saw farmers get so worked up before. They usually love the military.
Something moved in the corner of my eye, and I turned out of reflex.
My mouth fell open, and I froze, unable to scream.
In the sky beside me, a huge shadow glided along, and its leathery wings effortlessly carved through the gloom, flapping only on occasion to keep it aloft. It was too dark for me to see what color it was, but from the way it moved, I knew it wasn’t another helicopter. No, this thing was alive, easily the size of a small plane, and more than twice the length of my little McDonald Douglass. A long tail trailed behind it, and bore a distinct arrow-shaped snout, with twig-like spines fanned out around the back of its head. Whatever legs it had were drawn up under it like a bird, yet its skin appeared rough and knobby, almost resembling tree bark. Without pause, the gigantic bat-winged entity flew along beside me, as if my presence was on par with an annoying fly buzzing about its head.
Gripping the microphone switch so tight, I thought I’d crack the plastic, I whispered into my headset, forgetting all radio protocol. “T-There’s something up here.”
Static crackled.
“Douglas Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, say again your last, you’re coming in weak and unreadable, over.”
“There’s something up here.” I snarled into the headset, still glued to the controls of the helicopter, afraid to deviate even an inch from my course in case the monstrosity decided to turn on me. “A freaking huge thing, right beside me. I swear, it looks like a bat or . . . I don’t know.”
“Calm down.” The man on the other end of the radio broke his rigorous discipline as well, his voice deep, but level. “It won’t attack if you don’t move too fast. Slowly ease away from it and follow that course until you’re out of sight.”
I didn’t have time to think about how wrong that sounded, how the man’s strict tone had changed to one of knowledge, how he hadn’t been the least surprised by what I’d said. Instead, I slowly turned the helicopter away from the huge menace and edged the speed higher in tiny increments.
As soon as I was roughly two football fields away, I let myself relax, and clicked the mic switch. “It’s not following.”
“You’re sure?”
Eyeing the huge flapping wings, I nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, I’m well clear.”
“Good. Thank you, Mr. Dekker.”
Then, the radio went dead.
Something in my chest dropped, a weight that made my stomach roil. This wasn’t right, none of it. Who was that man? Why did he know about the thing I’d just seen? What was I supposed to—
A flash of light exploded from the trees to my right and shot into the air with a long finger of smoke.
What the . . .
On instinct, I jerked the cyclic stick to one side, and the helicopter swung to avoid the rocket.
Boom.
My world shook, metal screeched, and a dozen alarms began to go off inside the cockpit in a cacophony of beeps and sirens. Orange and red flames lit up the night sky just behind me, and the horizon started to spin wildly outside. Heat gushed from the cockpit door, and I smelled the greasy stench of burning oil. The safety belts dug into my shoulders, and with a final slip, the radio headset ripped free from my scalp.
I’m hit.
Desperate, I yanked on the controls, fought the bird even as she spun toward the ground in a wreath of flames, the inky black trees hurtling up to meet me. The helicopter went into full auto-rotation, the sky blurring past outside, and the alarms blared in a screech of doom. Panic slammed through my temples, I screamed at the top of my lungs, and for one brief second, my eyes locked on the little black Garmin still perched atop my control panel.
Its screen stopped twitching and settled on a map of the mysterious Barron County, with a little red arrow at the center of the screen, a few words popping up underneath it.
You are here.
Trees stabbed up into the sky, the belts crushed at my torso, glass shattered all around me, and the world went dark.
Copper, thick, warm, and tangy.
It filled my mouth, stank metallic in my nose, clogged my throat, choking me. In the murkiness, I fought for a surface, for a way out, blind and numb in the dark.
This way, kleineun.
My ouma’s voice echoed from somewhere in the shadows.
This way.
Both eyes flew open, and I gagged, spitting out a stream of red.
Pain throbbed in my ribs, and a heavy pressure sent a tingling numbness through my shoulders. Blood roared inside my temples, and stars danced before my eyes with a dizzying array. Humid night air kissed my skin, and something sticky coated my face, neck, and arms that hung straight up toward the ceiling.
Wait. Not up. Down.
I blinked at the wrinkled, torn ceiling of the cockpit, the glass all gone, the gray aluminum shredded like tissue paper. Just outside the broken windows, thick Appalachian bluegrass and stemmy underbrush swished in a feeble breeze, backlit by flashes of lightning from the thunderstorm overhead. Green and brown leaves covered everything in a wet carpet of triangles, and somewhere nearby, a cricket chirped.
Turning my head from side to side, I realized that I hung upside down inside the ruined helicopter, the top half burrowed into the mud. I could hear the hissing and crackling of flames, the pattering of rain falling on the hot aluminum, and the smaller brush fires around the downed aircraft sizzling out in the damp long grass. Charred steel and burning oil tainted the air, almost as strong as the metallic, coppery stench in my aching nose.
They shot me down. That military dude shot me out of the sky.
It didn’t make sense. I’d followed their orders, done everything they’d said, and yet the instant I veered safely away from whatever that thing in the sky had been, they’d fired, not at it, but at me.
Looking down (or rather, up) at my chest, I sucked in a gasp, which was harder to do that before.
The navy-blue shirt stuck to my torso with several big splotches of dark, rusty red. Most were clean slashes, but two held bits of glass sticking out of them, one alarmingly bigger than the other. They dripped cherry red blood onto my upturned face, and a wave of nausea hit me.
I gotta get down.
I flexed my arms to try and work some feeling back into them, praying nothing was broken. Half-numb from hanging so long, I palmed along my aching body until I felt the buckled for the seat belts.
“Okay.” I hissed between gritted teeth, in an effort to stave off my panic. “You can do this. Just hold on tight. Nice and tight. Here we go . . .”
Click.
Everything seemed to lurch, and I slid off the seat to plummet towards the muck-filled hole in the cockpit ceiling. My fingers were slick with blood and slipped over the smooth faux-leather pilot’s seat with ease. The shoulder belt snagged on the bits of glass that lay just under the left lowest rib, and a flare of white-hot pain ripped through me.
Wham.
I screamed, my right knee caught the edge of the aluminum ceiling, and both hands dove into a mound of leaf-covered glass shards on the opposite side of the hole. My head swam, being right-side-up again enough to make shadows gnaw at the corner of my eyes.
Forcing myself to breath slowly, I fought the urge to faint and slid back to sit on the smooth ceiling. I turned my hands over to see half a dozen bits of clear glass burrowed into my skin like greedy parasites, red blood weeping around the new cuts.
“Screw you.” I spat at the rubbish with angry tears in my eyes. “Screw you, screw you, screw you.”
The shards came out easy enough, and the cuts weren’t that deep, but that wasn’t what worried me. On my chest, the single piece of cockpit glass that remined was almost as big as my palm, and it really hurt. Just touching it felt like self-inflicted torture, but I knew it had to come out sooner or later.
Please don’t nick a vein.
Wiping my hands dry on my jeans, I gripped the shard with both hands, and jerked.
Fire roared over my ribs, and hot blood tickled my already grimy pale skin. I clapped a hand over the wound, pressing down hard, and grunted out a string of hateful expletives that my ouma would have slapped me for.
Lying on my back, I stared around me at the messy cargo compartment of the MD-902. Most of the medical supplies had been in cardboard boxes strapped down with heavy nylon tow-straps, but several cases had ruptured with the force of the impact, spraying bandages, syringes, and pill bottles all over the cluttered interior. Orange flames chewed at the crate furthest to the rear, the tail section long gone, but the foremost part of the hold was intact. Easily a million-dollar mess, it would have made me faint on any other trip, but today it was a godsend.
Half-blind in the darkness, I crawled along with only the firelight and lightning bolts to guide me, my right knee aching. Like a crippled raccoon, I collected things as I went, conscious of the two pallets of intact supplies weighing right over my head. I’d taken several different first-aid courses with some hunting buddies of mine, and the mental reflexes kicked in to help soothe my frazzled mind.
Check for bleeds, stop the worst, then move on.
Aside from my battered chest and stomach, the rest of me remained mostly unharmed. I had nasty bruises from the seatbelts, my right knee swelled, my nose slightly crooked and crusted in blood, but otherwise I was intact. Dowsing every scratch and cut with a bottle of isopropyl alcohol I found, I used butterfly closures on the smaller lacerations that peppered my skin. I wrapped soft white gauze over my abused palms and probed at the big cut where the last shard had been, only stopping when I was sure there were no pieces of glass wedged inside my flesh.
“Not too bad.” I grunted to myself, trying to sound impassive like a doctor might. “Rib must have stopped it. Gonna need stitches though. That’ll be fun.”
Pawing through the broken cases, I couldn’t find any suture chord, but just as I was about to give up, I noticed a small box that read ‘medical skin stapler’.
Bingo.
I tore the small white plastic stapler free from its packaging and eyeballed the device. I’d never done this before, only seen it in movies, and even though the cut in my skin hurt, I wondered if this wouldn’t be worse.
You’ve gotta do it. That bleeding needs to stop. Besides, no one’s coming to rescue you, not with those rocket-launching psychos out there.
Taking a deep breath, I pinched the skin around the gash together, and pressed the mouth of the stapler to it.
Click.
A sharp sting, like that of a needle bit at the skin, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the cut itself. I worked my way across the two-inch laceration and gave out a sigh of relief when it was done.
“Not going to bleed to death today.” I daubed ointment around the staples before winding more bandages over the wound.
Popping a few low-grade painkillers that tumbled from the cargo, I crawled wriggled through the nearest shattered window into the wet grass.
Raindrops kissed my face, clean and cool on my sweaty skin. Despite the thick cloud cover, there was enough constant lightning strikes within the storm to let me get glimpses of the world around me. My helicopter lay on its back, the blades snapped like pencils, with bits and pieces of it burning in chunks all around the small break in the trees. Chest-high scrub brush grew all around the low-lying ground, with pockets of standing water in places. My ears still rang from the impact of the crash, but I could start to pick up more crickets, frogs, and even some nocturnal birds singing into the darkness, like they didn’t notice the huge the hulk of flaming metal that had fallen from the sky. Overhead, the thunder rumbled onward, the feeble wind whistling, and there were other flashes on the horizon, orange and red ones, with crackles that didn’t sound quite like lightning.
The guns. They’re still fighting.
Instinctively, I pulled out my cellphone, and tapped the screen.
It fluttered to life, but no matter how I tried, I couldn’t get through to anyone, not even with the emergency function designed to work around having no service. The complicated wonder of our modern world was little better than a glorified paperweight.
Stunned, I sat down with my back to the helicopter and rested my head against the aluminum skin of the craft. How I’d gone from a regular medical supply run to being marooned in this hellish parody of rural America, I didn’t know, but one thig was certain; I needed a plan. Whoever fired the missile could have already contacted my charter company and made up some excuse to keep them from coming to look for me. No one else knew I was here, and even though I now had six staples holding the worst of my injuries shut, I knew I needed proper medical attention. If I wanted to live, I’d have to rescue myself.
My bag. I need to get my go-bag, grab some gear and then . . . head somewhere else.
It took me a while to gather my green canvas paratrooper bag from its place behind the pilot’s seat and fill it with whatever supplies I could scrounge. My knee didn’t seem to be broken, but man did it hurt, and I dreaded the thought of walking on it for miles on end. I focused instead on inventorying my gear and trying to come up with a halfway intelligent plan of action.
I had a stainless-steel canteen with one of those detachable cups on the bottom, a little fishing kit, some duct tape, a lighter, a black LED flashlight with three spare batteries, a few tattered road maps with a compass, a spare pair of socks, medical supplies from the cargo, and a simple forest green plastic rain poncho. I also managed to unearth a functioning digital camcorder my ouma had gotten me for Christmas a few years back, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to do any filming in such a miserable state. Lastly, since it was a private supply run from a warehouse area near Pittsburgh to a direct hospital pad in Ohio, I’d been able to bring my K-Bar, a sturdy, and brutally simple knife designed for the Marine Corps that I used every time I went camping. It was pitiful in comparison to the rifle I wished I had with me, but that didn’t matter now. I had what I had, and I doubted my trusty Armalite would have alleviated my sore knee anyway.
Clicking on my flashlight, I huddled with the poncho around my shoulders inside the wreck of the chopper and peered at the dusty roadmaps. A small part of me hoped that a solution would jump out from the faded paper, but none came. These were all maps of western PA and eastern Ohio. None of them had a Barron County on them anywhere.
The man on the radio said to head north, right before they shot me down. That means they must be camped out to the north of here. South had that convoy and those burning houses, so that’s a no-go. Maybe I can backtrack eastward the way I came.
As if on cue, a soft pop echoed from over the eastern horizon, and I craned to look out the helicopter window, spotting more man-made flashes over the tree tops.
“Great.” I hissed between clenched teeth, aware of how the temperature dipped to a chilly 60 degrees, and how despite the conditions, my stomach had begun to growl. “Not going that way, are we? Westward it is.”
Walking away from my poor 902 proved to be harder than I’d anticipated. Despite the glass, the fizzling fires, and the darkness, it still held a familiar, human essence to it. Sitting inside it made me feel secure, safe, even calm about the situation. In any other circumstance, I would have just stayed with the downed aircraft to wait for help, but I knew the men who shot me down would likely find my crash site, and I didn’t want to be around when they did.
Unlike much of central and western Ohio, southeastern Ohio is hilly, brushy, and clogged with thick forests. Thorns snagged at my thin poncho and sliced at my pant legs. My knee throbbed, every step a form of self-inflicted torture. The rain never stopped, a steady drizzle from above just cold enough to be problematic as time went on, making me shiver. Mud slid under my tennis shoes, and every tree looked ten times bigger in the flickering beam of my cheap flashlight. Icy fear prickled at the back of my neck at some of the sounds that greeted me through the gloom. I’d been camping loads of times, both in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, but these noises were something otherworldly to me.
Strange howls, screeches, and calls permeated the rain-soaked sky, some almost roars, while others bordered on human in their intonation. The more I walked, the softer the distant gunfire became, and the more prevalent the odd sounds, until the shadows seemed to fill with them. I didn’t dare turn off my flashlight, or I’d been completely blind in the dark, but a little voice in the back of my head screamed that I was too visible, crunching through the gloomy forest with my long beam of light stabbing into the abyss. It felt as though a million eyes were on me, studying me, hunting me from the surrounding brush, and I bitterly recalled how much I’d loved the old Survivor Man TV series as a kid.
Not so fun being out in the woods at night. Especially alone.
A twig snapped somewhere behind me, and I whirled on the spot, one trembling hand resting on the hilt of my K-Bar.
Nothing. Nothing but trees, bushes, and rain dripping down in the darkness.
“This is stupid.” I whispered to myself to keep my nerves in check as I slowly spun on the spot. “I should have went eastward anyway. God knows how long I’m going to have to—”
Creak.
A groan of metal-on-metal echoed from somewhere to my right, and I spun to face it, yanking the knife on my belt free from its scabbard. It felt so small and useless in my hand, and I choked down a wave of nauseas fear.
Ka-whump. Creak. K-whump. Creak.
Underbrush cracked and crunched, a few smaller saplings thrashed, and from deep within the gloom, two yellow orbs flared to life. They poked through the mist in the trees, forming into slender fingers of golden light that swept back and forth in the dark.
The soldiers . . . they must be looking for me.
I swallowed hard and turned to slink away.
Ice jammed through my blood, and I froze on the spot, biting my tongue to stop the scream.
It stood not yards away, a huge form that towered a good twelve feet tall in the swirling shadows. Unpolished chrome blended with flash-rusted spots in the faded red paint, and grime-smeared glass shone with dull hues in the flashes of lightning. Where the wheels should have been, the rounded steel axels curved like some enormous hand had bent them, and the tires lay face-down on the muddy ground like big round feet, their hubcaps buried in the dirt. Dents, scrapes, and chips covered the battered thing, and its crooked little radio antenna pointed straight up from the old metal fender like a mast. I could barely make out the mud-coated VW on the rounded hood, and my mind reeled in shock.
Is . . . is that a car?
Both yellow headlights bathed me in a circle of bright, blinding light, and neither I nor the strange vehicle moved.
Seconds ticked by, the screech-thumping in the background only growing closer. I realized that I couldn’t hear any engine noises and had yet to see any soldiers or guns pointed my way. This car looked old, really old, like one of those classic Volkswagen Beetles that collectors fought over at auctions. Try as I might, I couldn’t see a driver inside the murky, mold-smeared windows.
Because there wasn’t one.
Lightning arched across the sky overhead, and the car standing in front of me blinked.
Its headlights slid shut, as if little metal shades had crawled over the bulbs for a moment and flicked open again. Something about that movement was so primal, so real, so lifelike, that every ounce of self-control I had melted in an instant.
Cursing under my breath, I lunged into the shrubs, and the world erupted around me.
Under my shoes, the ground shook, and the car surged after me in a cacophony of ka-thumps that made my already racing heart skip several beats. A weather-beaten brown tow truck from the 50’s charged through the thorns to my left, it’s headlights ablaze, and a dilapidated yellow school bus rose from its hiding place in the weeds to stand tall on four down-turned axel-legs. They all flicked their headlights on like giants waking from their slumber, and as I dodged past them, they each blared their horn into the night in alarm.
My breaths came short and tight, my knee burned, and I crashed through thorns and briars without thought to how badly I was getting cut up.
The cheap poncho tore, and I ripped it away as it caught on a tree branch.
A purple 70’s Mustang shook off its blanket of creeping vines and bounded from a stand of trees just ahead, forcing me to swerve to avoid being run over, my adrenaline at all-time highs.
This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.
Slipping and sliding, I pushed through a stand of multiflora rose, and stumbled out into a flat, dark expanse.
I almost skidded to a stop.
What had once been a rather large field stood no taller than my shoestrings, the grass charred, and burnt. The storm above illuminated huge pieces of wreckage that lay scattered over the nearly 40-acre plot, and I could just make out the fire-blackened hulk of a fuselage resting a hundred yards away. The plane had been brought down a while ago it seemed, as there weren’t any flames left burning, and I threw myself toward it in frenzied desperation.
Burned grass and greasy brown topsoil slushed underfoot, and I could hear the squelching of the cars pursing me. Rain soaked me to the bone, and my lungs ached from sucking down the damp night air. A painful stich crept into my side, and I cursed myself for not putting in more time for cardio at the gym.
Something caught my left shoelace, and I hurtled to the ground, tasting mud and blood in between my teeth.
They’ve got me now.
I clawed at the mud, rolled, and watched a tire slam down mere inches from where my head had been. The Mustang loomed over me and jostled for position with the red Volkswagen and brown tow truck, the school bus still a few yards behind them. They couldn’t seem to decide who would get the pleasure of stomping me to death, and like a herd of stampeding wildebeest, they locked bumpers in an epic shoving match.
On all fours, I scampered out from under the sparring brutes, and dashed for the crumpled airplane, a white-painted DC-3 that looked like it had been cut in half by a gargantuan knife blade. I passed a snapped wing section, the oily remains of a turbo-prop engine, and a mutilated wheel from the landing gear. Climbing over a heap of mud, I squeezed into the back of the ruined flight cabin and dropped down into the dark cargo hold.
Wham.
No sooner had my sneakers hit the cold metal floor, and the entire plane rocked from the impact of something heavy ramming it just outside. I tumbled to my knees, screaming in pain as, once again, I managed to bash the sore one off a bracket in the wall.
My hand smeared in something gooey, and I scrabbled for my flashlight.
It clicked on, a wavering ball of white light in the pitch darkness, and I fought the urge to gag. “Oh man . . .”
Three people, or what was left of them, lay strewn over the narrow cargo area. Claret red blood coated the walls, caked on the floor, and clotted under my mud-spattered shoes. Bits of flesh and viscera were stuck to everything, and tatters of cloth hung from exposed sections of broken bone. An eerie set of bloody handprints adorned the walls, and the only reason I could tell it had been three people were the shoes; all of them bore anklebones sticking out above blood-soaked socks. It smelled sickly sweet, a strange, nauseas odor that crept into my nose and settled on the back of my tongue like an alien parasite.
Something glinted in the beam of my flashlight, and my pulse quickened as I pried the object loose from the severed arm that still clung to it.
“Hail Mary full of Grace.” I would have grinned if it weren’t for the fact that the plane continued to buck and roll under the assault from the cars outside.
The pistol looked old, but well-maintained, aside from the light coating of dark blood that stained its round wooden handle. It felt heavy, but good in my hand, and I turned it over to read the words, Waffenfabrik Mauser stenciled into the frame, with a large red 9 carved into the grip. For some reason, it vaguely reminded me of the blasters from Star Wars.
I fumbled with a little switch that looked like a safety on the back of the gun and stumbled toward a gap in the plane’s dented fuselage to aim out at the surrounding headlights.
Bang.
The old gun bucked reliably in my hand, its long barrel spitting a little jet of flame into the night. I had no idea if I hit anything, but the attacking cars recoiled, their horns blaring in confusion.
They turned, and scuttled for the tree line as fast as their mechanical legs could go, the entire ordeal over as fast as it had begun.
Did I do that?
Perplexed, I stared down at the pistol in my hand.
Whoosh.
A large, inky black shadow glided down from the clouds, and the yellow school bus moved too slow to react in time.
With a crash, the kicking nightmarish vehicle was thrown onto its side, spraying glass and chrome trim across the muddy field. Its electro-synth horn blared with wails of mechanical agony, as two huge talon-like feet clamped down on it, and the enormous head of the flying creature lowered to rip open its engine compartment.
The horn cut out, and the enormous flying entity jerked its head back to gulp down a mass of what looked like sticky black vines from the interior of the shattered bus.
At this range, I could see now that the flying creature bore two legs and had its wings half-tucked like a vulture that had descended to feed on roadkill. Its head turned slightly, and in the glow of another lightning bolt, my jaw went slack at the realization of what it was.
A tree trunk. It’s a rotted tree trunk.
I couldn’t tell where the reptilian beast began, and where the organic tree components ended, the upper part of the head shaped like a log, while the lower jaw resembled something out of a dinosaur movie. Its skin looked identical to the outside of a shagbark hickory but flexed with a supple featheriness that denoted something closer to skin. Sharp branch-like spines ranged down its back, and out to the end of its tail, which bore a massive round club shaped like a diseased tree-knot. Crouched on both hind legs, it braced the hooked ends of its folded wings against the ground like a bat, towering higher than a semi-truck. Under the folds of its armored head, a bulging pair of chameleon-like eyes constantly spun in their sockets, probing the dark for threats while it ate.
One black pupil locked onto the window I peered through, and my heart stopped.
The beast regarded me for a moment, making a curious, sideways sniff.
With a proud, contemptful head-toss, the shadow from the sky parted rows of razor-sharp teeth to let out a roar that shook the earth beneath my feet. It was the triumphant war cry of a creature that sat at the very top of the food chain, one that felt no threat from the fragile two-legged beings that walked the earth all around it. It hunted whenever it wanted, ate whatever it wanted, and flew wherever it wanted. It didn’t need to rip the plane apart to devour me.
Like my hunter-gatherer ancestors from thousands of years ago, I wasn’t even worth the energy it would take to pounce.
I’m hiding in the remains of the cockpit now, which is half-buried under the mud of the field, enough to shield the light from my screen so that thing doesn’t see it. My service only now came back, and it’s been over an hour since the winged beast started in on the dead bus. I don’t know when, or how I’m going to get out of here. I don’t know when anyone will even see this post, or if it will upload at all. My phone battery is almost dead, and at this point, I’m probably going to have to sleep among the corpses until daylight comes.
A dead man sleeping amongst friends.
If you live in the Noble County area in southeastern Ohio, be careful where you drive, fly, and boat. I don’t know if it’s possible to stumble into this strange place by ground, but if so, then these things are definitely headed your way.
If that happens . . . pray that they don’t find you.

Hey guys. Hoping you can help me out with something. First long ride of the season this afternoon, and on my way home on an empty straight I let it loose a bit. After a couple of gear changes, I heard a sputtemisfire and then felt a loss of power.
I’ve had something like that in the past, where I had water in the plug wells which was causing the misfire, and subsequent cherry reddening of one of the headers due to the lack of combustion. Anyway, I pull over and hop off and there’s fuel everywhere.
Powered it back on for a second and fuel was misting out from the spot where the fuel line quick connect is under the tank. Did some quick forum research and some people surmised the quick connect wasn’t connected all the way, but I’ve already gone on a few short rides and have an experience this.
I know I won’t know what’s up until I strip the tank and start looking, but wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar to this??
Getting sick of this bike

The Future is Officially Canceled.
Dee had read articles like this before. He couldn’t remember if the future had ever been officially canceled. But it had been canceled. Unofficially, perhaps. Hence the need to do it officially.
He skimmed the first few paragraphs …the slow cancellation of the future… …pop culture is eating itself… …imitators are imitating an imitation… The ‘slow cancellation’ theory was first flung around in the early twenty first century, on the hypothesis that if you played 1970s music to someone in the 1950s, it would blow their freaking mind. And if you played music from the 1990s to someone in the 1970s, their mind would be equally blown. But if you played music from the ‘10s to someone in the 1990s it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch. In fact, that person may even think they had heard some of it before. The same thing with music from the ‘30s to someone in the ‘10s or music from now to someone in the ‘30s. That person might conceivably think they were even listening to music from a previous decade. Pop culture had referenced itself so many times over, it was now just a copy of a copy of a copy. Degrading every time.
Dee looked down at the article's credit, Dennis Bagley, Editorial AI Operator. He knew it, AI. No wonder it read so familiar. He looked up at the various awards on his top shelf. Dee knew he was different. Better. His AI operating skills were the thing of accolades. The thing of applause. Just last week he and his AI processor picked up Gold in Effectology for their Just Poo It campaign for Charmin. And Silver in Originology for their The Ketchup In The Rye commercial for Pepsi-Heinz, about a young guy who gets kicked out of school and stays out all night trying to find a bottle of ketchup. He looked down at his processor and beamed. Its glowing red light beamed back at him.
They didn’t just stumble into that kind of effectiveness. Campaigns didn’t even get greenlit unless they scored ninety or above on the Effectology meter. He and his AI were usually hitting ninety twos or ninety threes, even a ninety five for Here’s To The Lazy Ones for Caspar mattresses. That campaign killed.
But Dee held himself to that higher calling, Originology. The metrics of original ideas. Sure, the AI did most of the work but Dee was able to tweak his processor to go way beyond the requisite twenty five percent Originology score. Together they were nailing figures in the forties, sometimes even peaking into the fifties. Scores that were head and shoulders above the rest of the department.
That’s how he could afford the sweet ‘18 Jordans Reissues on his feet. He curled his luxe Loewe headphone cable through his fingers and wrapped it around his neck like a scarf. He scoffed at a time when people didn’t think they needed a headphone cable. And imagined having nothing to twirl while listening to reinterpreted rock, nothing to wind around his fingers while he fed the processor. How many headphones must have been lost forever, just because they weren’t plugged in? Like everything else in pop culture, what went around came around, and, relatively recently, headphone cables had come back hard as the status symbol. Today, you didn’t just have to have a cable to be considered cool, you had to have the cable. It had to be thick as a rope, plated with rare metals, and covered in a fancy leather sheath from a chic brand like Gucci or Loewe.
Dee beamed as he thought of all the cool historical cultural knowledge he had amassed. Not just advertising history like the dweebs in the cubicles around him, but film history, fashion history, art history, music history. If it happened in culture, he knew about it. And he used it. That’s how he scored so high on the Originology meter. It made him feel almost like a real writer. Though he would never say that out loud. He imagined being like the old timers, upstairs. The un.ai.ded human writers, that clients would pay a serious premium for. Then he wouldn’t have to work on ketchup and toilet roll. He could have a crack at the big dogs, like Googlesoft, United American Airlines or DoritosLocosTacoBell. For now though, he’d have to stick with clients more becoming of his position. This morning’s task was to create a campaign for Pepsi-Crest. A toothpaste. Not super interesting. But he knew how to spice it up. Instead of letting his AI go back through decades of toothpaste ads just to pump out tired old crap like the It Cleans Your Face While it Cleans Your Teeth campaign that Mike Bey pitched last week, Dee mixed in a little fast food inspo from one of his favorite eras and found himself at the highly original and equally effective Where’s the Teeth? campaign. He was stunned by his own brilliance. He patted his processor and imagined it congratulating him back, then he programmed it to write an epic fifteen second anthem film and a suite of six second pre-roll spots, then sent it off to the CG department to render in time to air that night. Dee’s colleagues often asked him how he and his processor were so good at what they did. How their campaigns always scored so highly in both Effectology and Originology. They all used the same machine learning. It’s what the agency sold itself on. Never wanting to sound aloof; even though he was, or like he was tooting his own horn; even though he often did, he would merely say, “I like to pepper a bit of non advertising data in there. A little hint of me.” It was enough to provoke gasps and even make his colleagues take a step back or two, they had all been programmed to do just one task, feed the machine with advertising data. They couldn’t fathom diverging. “The AI should be enough,” was the general understanding. “The machine has better knowledge of advertising history than we do,” and “knows the ins and outs of Effectology better than we ever could.” It’s even been “scientifically programmed to exceed all expectation of Originology.” Dee couldn’t be swayed by any of the standard reactions. He would just smile, and casually amble off. Knowing full well he was beating the machine. He was a rebel in his own right. That afternoon, his section boss leaned over his cubicle. “Hullo Tara.” “Keep it formal please, colleague,” she scolded, “call me Antino. What do you look so ruddy chuffed about anyway?” “I just came up with a brilliant campaign for a very dull toothpaste. You’ll see it on The Comedy Central Reruns Channel tonight.” “Yes, well, an upstairs project is running behind and they’re calling on us down here to pull together some inspo decks, help jostle something loose in those tired old brains.” “Wouldn’t that make them not human-made? What are their clients paying all that money for?” “Loopholes, colleague, loopholes. As long as one of them humans writes the final line, it doesn’t matter how much AI they used to get there. “ “I could do that. I could do better than that. Did I tell you about my toothpaste campaign?” “Yes you did. Twice now. Must be good.” “It is.” “Well, here’s your chance for a peek into the real writer life. I’m deprioritizing your regular workload and prioritizing this inspo creation.” “Yeahhh!” Dee punched the air and freeze framed like he saw in an old movie. “The brief is for Fiat Maserati Jeep Dodge RAM. It’s a car. The Fiat Maserati Jeep Dodge RAM Unica. Like a fancy off-roader, you know what I mean? They wanna sell it to people in cities who don’t drive. More of a status symbol, you know what I mean? Like park it in front of your house so people will know you could go off-roading if you wanted to. Audience archetype is Moms. You getting this?” Dee finally broke his freeze frame but his mind was already whirring. “Yeah, I got it.” “Alright then. Bon chance.” Dee jumped into action, flipped up his AI processor’s screen and started cross referencing old Land Rover ads with The Rock movies, some Nora Ephron classics, Michelle Rodriguez’s character from all twenty eight Fast & Furious movies; even the fully CGI’d ones, the scene from Mrs Doubtfire when she’s playing the broomstick like a guitar, some Bikini Kill records, a memory of his own Mom making him wait in the car while she went shopping at Bergdorfs, a bunch of cool off-roading stuff from Top Gear and a painting of a car he’d always loved by Robert Bechtle. The machine spat out fifteen possible campaign inspo starters and Dee ran-walked them to the inspo courier in the office atrium. Before the day ended, a synthetic orchestra sounded through the building, \Pah pahhh, pah pa pah pa pah pahhh** and the employees were called into the atrium. Office meeting. As Dee strolled in, he caught the rare sight of the last few human copywriters lined up around the balcony above them. They applauded the downstairs employees, theatrically, motioning with their claps as they walked in and took seats, stood awkwardly or otherwise congregated.
There was a dramatic hush before one of the last true human copywriters finally spoke. “Great inspo. Thanks.” Wow. Each word, each letter, worth its weight in gold. That's probably why they used so few, thought Dee. “Yeah, really really good stuff.” Said another. “AI did this?” Said a third as she held the sheets of inspo out. “Some of the best inspo I’ve ever seen in all of my career.” Coughed the oldest and most regal sounding.
Dee squinted and peered up at them. Was that his inspo deck they were flashing around? Was this whole elaborate ceremony all to celebrate his AI operating? He didn’t know whether to be chuffed or anxious. Did they know he was cheating the system? Did they care? These are some of the last true human copywriters in history. They have, and are encouraged to have, the unique thought. Their work isn’t judged on how similar-without-being-exactly-the-same it is to existing campaigns. It’s judged on how different, how breakthrough, how stand out it is.
“It was me!” Dee blurted out. Quite uncharacteristically. He was usually so cool with the compliments. So coy with the recognition. His whole angle required it.
The other AI operators standing around him took their requisite step back, though this time it was less in awe, more in disgust. The air in the room stiffened. AI had ruled his department, and most of the industry, for so long that people didn’t speak up anymore. They just quietly fed the machine. And the machine took all the glory. Dee felt instant ostracism from the colleagues he had worked alongside for most of his career. He immediately questioned his outburst and retracted his ownership claim, knowing that his inspo deck would have been one of many.
“Some of it, at least. My AI, I mean. Processor.” He said. Sheepish this time. Back in his place.
The last few human copywriters smiled, nodded, bowed, gave final congratulations to all from high up on their balcony and then shuffled away in single file. All but one, Sir Coughing-Most-Regal. He slowly made his way down the grand staircase, into the atrium. A man leaving behind his usual pomp and circumstance, bringing his rare ability of unique thought into a crowd of imitation suppliers. As he reached the bottom step, he lost all of his royal air and seemed suddenly so vulnerable, walking among the regular folk. Most of Dee’s colleagues had already left, gone back to their metal masters, but Dee stayed. He knew this old man was coming to see him. He thought he might be in for a dressing down but he hoped it would be the opposite. He manifested that this titan of singular thought, the rare, unique idea, was coming to congratulate him.
“Freedkin.” The old man shoved out his hand. “Pleasure.” Dee shook it. “You say you programmed this inspo deck, yes?” He flapped the pages around. “Yes.” “Ruddy good work, let me tell you.” “Thank you.” “In all my years, since this artificial thinking thing came in, I’ve never read anything so good. Inspired me all over. I’ve been positively bursting with ideas since.” “Thank… you.” “AI wrote this you say?” “Yes.” “Ruddy good for AI. Never read anything so ruddy good. And you processed it?” “Yes.” “What’s your name son?” “Dee.” “Dee what?” “Palmer.” “Pleasure to meet you, Palmer. How much did you… influence it, the AI?” “How do you mean, sir?” “Call me Freedkin.” “How do you mean, Freedkin?” “I mean… how much of it is yours and how much is the machine’s?” Dee didn’t answer. He was looking for the angle. This old man surely didn’t value what AI does. He’s one of the last bastions of actual human creation. What was he getting at? Freedkin reoriented his question. “Mostly the machine or mostly you?” Dee thought he might have a kindred spirit here, in front of him, for the first time. He was going to take a risk. Recognizing a willingness to open up, Freedkin leaned in and spoke quietly. “Did you write this inspo or did the machine?” “I wrote it.” Dee postured. “All.” “Thought so. Good job. Our secret.” Freedkin winked. “Jolly good.” The next day, as he fed his AI little snippets of unexpected data, Dee noticed a hush come over his floor. The usual keyboard click, clack and grumble of inter-colleague banter were dead silent. All that was left was the processors’ harmonic hum. He lifted himself from his expensive ergonomic office chair and peered over his cubicle wall, spying across the sea of operators that made up the AI.ded Creativity department. A hunched figure at the opposite end of the bullpen sauntered from operator to operator, swilling a cup of coffee, looking in at each workstation. Giving a “hello” here, a nod there, even the odd salute. It was Freedkin. A real writer. Down here with the machine feeders. The other operators seemed afraid to go near him. Worried they might infect him with their inability. Dee had never seen a real writer in the operators’ bullpen. Freedkin, already old by industry standards, looked positively ancient in these surroundings. A sepia photograph in a technicolor world. Dee watched him, wondering if he should call out. He felt bound by social etiquette to not foist another outburst onto his peers. So he just watched, for a number of minutes, until Freedkin was close enough that his old eyes could make out Dee’s visage.
“Palmer!” Bingo. The two sat in Dee’s cubicle. Freedkin in the expensive office chair, as was fitting, and Dee on the wooden footstool. “For a short time we all worked from home. At the start of my career. For a short time.” “Everyone?” “Most. Not everyone, I suppose. But it was the thing to do. Was deemed more productive. Until it wasn’t. Then when this thing became the norm,” he tapped on Dee’s tiny AI processor, its red light glowed, “there was a sort of an office renaissance. I remember the bigwigs back then didn’t really want us using AI for ideas. Like it was giving in to the machine. We slowly got called back to the agency so they could keep an eye on our output. Keep it human, I suppose. That’s when the separation happened. In the end, the agency had to start using artificial thinking to keep up with demand. What are you lot churning out these days? Three campaigns a day? Four? We used to get a whole week to come up with one idea. After a while, of course, it got squeezed down to a couple of days. To the point where we needed the machine to keep up. Not long after, the bigwigs realized they could actually charge more off of the ‘human’ written stuff. Anyway, enough of the history lesson, what.” “It’s very interesting.” “Yes well, what I really came down here for,” Freedkin paused and looked around, “was some of that… good… inspo.” “I hear ya.” Dee poised his fingers over his keyboard and looked into the air like he was about to write something un.ai.ded, cocksure in his posture. “What’s this one about then?” “Watches. For Googlesoft. ‘Time,’ I was thinking, means so much, yet so little. Where does it all go? You know? How do we make more of it? Watches are time machines. See?” Dee’s posture sank. He thought of all that, by himself? No machine? He suddenly felt very ineffective. Unoriginal. He saw only the red glow from his little AI processor, staring back at him. Taking all the credit. He imagined it laughing with his colleagues in a bar while he sat at the other end of the table, ignored. He imagined it accepting awards by itself. He felt weak. He felt useless without it. It just glowed. “It kind of flows better… when I’m alone.” Dee nervously mumbled. “Right. Don’t say another word. Right you are. ‘Time.’ Remember. Where does it all go? Ok, I go. Ta-ta for now.
Dee looked down at his processor, apologetically. He quietly admonished himself before it until he felt forgiven. Then he typed in a weak initial prompt, all he could muster, write an advertising campaign about time.
The AI spat back a perfectly crafted campaign idea, line and film execution almost faster than Dee hit enter. The Best Things Come To Bros Who Wait. Dee immediately recognized it as a Guinness Surfers imitation. Tick followed tock followed tick followed tock. Its Effectology score clocked in well into the nineties. But its Originology score barely scraped by, just making it into ‘passable.’ Dee silently sneered at his surrounding coworkers. Any one of them would submit this as is and call it a day. It’d be rendered in minutes, deals made with celebrities’ CG likenesses under the hour, a revered AI voiceover and stunning synthetic music that would leave audiences lining up for these passively useful timepieces. But that wasn’t enough for Dee. That’s why he was who he was, goddamnit. Why Freedkin came to him. Him! Not Buton or Deytoro or Heckering. Him!
He added more detail to his prompt. Meaning of time. How to get time back. Time Machine. Back in time. Michael J Fox. Einstein (dog). Time Bandits. Timecop. Van Damme. Kyle Reece. Time displacement. Uhhh huhhh this felt good again. This was working. Dee and his processor were back in sync. As though they were one. Of course, as far as Freedkin knew, they were one. As Dee typed away, he imagined him and his AI coming together. Two heads. Better than one. He lost himself in his prompting and pictured his processor sitting on his shoulder, a second head, right there, next to his own. A tiny, metal appendage. Sleek, gray, with its glowing red light. And, for some reason, it was growing a little mustache. Dee and the mustached machine were completely lost in their work over the next few days. They hardly wrote any of their own campaigns. It was all inspo, inspo, inspo for Freedkin. The good stuff though, Viking Space Cruises, 1900 Tequila, Acne Studios. Each time, Dee and his processor were pretty much writing the entire thing. Freedkin hardly needed to change them at all. Just put his old world tone all over it. Add all of his extra words and ‘personality.’ Dee’s two heads were coming up with the best campaigns in the agency. And no one knew it. Except Freedkin. By now, his second head felt almost as big as his first. He could see it in his periphery. When he looked to the left, it looked back at him. It smiled sometimes. And that little freaking mustache was starting to freak Dee out. That night, Freedkin invited Dee for a couple of drinks with the other real human writers at the fanciest DoritosLocosTacoBell on the Westside. They didn’t even have to wait in line. Dee marveled at the size of the place, the expansiveness. It was packed. They were led through by the greeter to a private table at the back with a leather rope around it. He sat on the edge of the booth as the others ordered various flavors of Gatorade-aritas. When it got to Dee, he said he would have the same as Freedkin, which turned out to be a Frost Glacier Cherry-arita, the classiest -arita of all.
The writers’ conversation was mesmerizing. Every word that came out of their mouths was a unique thought. An opinion. A point of view. Dee tried to join in by recounting the narrative of various movies he had seen. The more obscure the better, attempting to interact at their level. While telling the story of Mick Jackson’s Threads to Bigelo, he could feel her searching for a point of view or an opinion in what he was saying, but he couldn’t stir one. If only he had his processor right now. Its red light glowed comfortingly in his mind. He missed it. Slowly, the other writers left. Dee couldn’t help but think he had something to do with it. He was feeling so inadequate by the time everyone but Freedkin had gone that he just sat quietly and half-smiled at him. Both of them were five or six Gatorade-aritas deep, slumped in their private booth. “Do you like what you do?” Asked Freedkin. “I love it.” “Do you really?” “I don’t know.” “I hate what I do. But I’m good at it. Do you want to know the secret, Palmer? The secret to what we do?” Dee couldn’t do anything but smile a little bigger to communicate his response. Freedkin paused for dramatic effect. “If you love advertising, you shouldn’t work in advertising.” Did Dee love advertising? He didn’t even know. He knew he knew advertising. “You think your audience loves advertising? You think they want to see your tribute to that Googlesoft spot that was an imitation of an Apple spot that was inspired by a Brett Morgen film? No! They just want to see the Brett Morgen film! They don’t want to see your thing at all!” Dee slumped further down. “But if you’re lucky,” Freedkin continued, “if you’re really lucky, and you show them something they’ve never seen before, because you hate advertising too and you just wanted to make something that made you feel something, if they feel that same feeling, you’ve got gold. But you can only get to gold by summoning all of your experiences outside of advertising. You can’t just try to make the Nike of pimple commercials. You have to make the Palmer of pimple commercials. Do you see? That’s the problem with your AI. Your machine.”
The red light flashed again in Dee’s mind. Awakened by Freedkin’s heresy.
“The best AI will ever do is just show you a better version of something you’ve seen before. They call that effective? The numbers can say whatever they want them to, all they’re really doing is pasting wallpaper on top of wallpaper on top of wallpaper. Until eventually the audience ignores it completely. But you’re different Palmer. You and I are different. Different is what sells. I had a word with Simmons up on six. She’s agreed to give you a trial period on the human floor. At my behest. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her you were already thinking for yourself. I just told her you had the potential to. You start tomorrow. Trial period. Tonight was about the other humans meeting you. I can’t tell you that they’re not skeptical. But they’re open to it. For me. What do you think?” Dee was nervous. He got off the elevator at the operators’ bullpen without even thinking about it. He walked all the way to the atrium and up the grand staircase to the human writers’ floor, instead of getting back on the elevator. He took each step steadily, taking it all in. He felt like a tourist. Like he was borrowing an identity. He imagined he was a young Freedkin and tried to put a confident stride in his step. It didn’t work. He put his hand in his pocket and felt for his AI processor. His second head. Mustached. He couldn’t turn it on because, as everyone knew, AI wasn’t allowed upstairs, in case the agency got audited. The cost consultants would be all over a human writing department that used artificial ideation. They’d be shut down. At the very least, they would lose their Un.AI.ded AI.dvertising license. The only reason for charging such a premium. Dee ran his hand along the balcony rail. He’d only ever seen it from downstairs, from the non-human thinkers’ floor. He walked from the balcony to the human writer’s work area. It was the exact opposite of what he was used to. No sea of cubicles. No click clack. No mechanized productivity. No hum. Just couches, writing desks and quiet.
“Morning.” Whistled Freedkin. “How are we?” “We?” “You.” “Wish I hadn’t drunk so much.” “Ohh, I know. Think of it as an initiation. Nothing wrong with it. Takes your mind off the job. Stops you from thinking for a minute. You need that after everything you’ve been pumping out. All that gold, that is.” “Right.” “Right. Well. Set yourself up wherever you like. First brief is for Coca-Cola. A new water! The freshest water they’ve ever sold, so they say. Tap Clear” Dee wandered over to a small writing desk and put his touchscreen down. He unraveled his headphone cable and felt for his processor in his pocket. When he found it, he rubbed it like a lamp, wishing for a genie. A couple of human writers who’d been deep in concentration when he first walked in, had been disturbed by his arrival. He didn’t recognize them from last night. They glared at him as he set himself up. He smiled in their general direction. They continued to glare. “Big Jim.” Whispered Freedkin. “Him and his team have been here three days straight, on a pitch. Don’t worry about them. They’re just under tremendous stress. This human work really takes it out of you, you know? ” Dee turned and sat with his back to them. He powered up his touchscreen and put his headphones on, draping his Loewe headphone cable around his neck and shoulders. He hovered his fingers over his keyboard, expecting ideas to come. Nothing. He skimmed the brief. Still nothing. He read the brief. Not a thing. A few of the other writers strolled in. Dee watched them find a workspace, sit down, start writing. One of them even used a pen! Dee loved this whole lifestyle. Turn up for work whenever, spout genius, have lunch, sell some billion dollar ideas, have a cocktail. The thought of it all spurred him on. He hovered his fingers over his keyboard again and braced himself for the idea flow. Nothing came. Nothing. All morning. His mind was blank. It felt like it was getting blanker. He couldn’t believe it. Even half thoughts were swimming away from him. Impossible to catch. Even just individual words. Gone. By the afternoon Dee was starting to freak out. He felt like an imposter. “Freedkin,” he hissed, “I can’t think. I can’t come up with anything.” “It takes time, my boy. Days. I told you, before we used to even have weeks…” “But my brain’s not working at all. It won’t… generate… anything.” “Relax your brain. Relax yourself.” “But Freedkin… Freedkin,” he hissed again, “I didn’t write any of that stuff. It was AI. All of it. No… I mean… I helped… but it wasn’t all me.” “Ok… hold on… boy… be careful. That kind of talk will get you killed around here. Try and make it to the end of the day. Try just writing some things down. Some thoughts. Some words. And if you still feel the same tomorrow, I’ll let the brass know it wasn’t for you. No harm.” Dee’s eyes hardened. “Do you hear me, Palmer?” Dee rubbed his temples. “Listen, this affects both of us. Yes, you, but also me… for recommending you. I’ll be out… Think!” Freedkin distanced himself. Hoping it would quell the panic. Dee stared at nothing for as long as he could. An hour, at most. Just stared. No thoughts came. No words. A blank screen. So he slipped his hand in his pocket, held his AI processor warmly, and turned it on. Instantly, an alarm sounded. “What's going on here, Freedkin?” Skewered Big Jim. “Is this your kid? What’s the big idea? Is he working for the machines? What is he…trying to infiltrate us? I can’t have this. I’ve got a family. I can’t be out of a job.” “It’s just a misunderstanding, Jim. He’ll be leaving now.” “No he won’t. Get back here, kid.” Big Jim grabbed at Dee’s shirt. Dee squirmed and tried to push him away. Big Jim got a hand on his neck instead, as some of the other writers tried to grab his arms. Dee instinctively swung his fists around. He got one of the writers, Bigelo, square in the eye. She roared “He’s blinded me!” Big Jim picked him up by his neck. Dee choked. He grabbed his touchscreen and swung it. The edge caught Big Jim on the side of the head. Big Jim dropped him and screamed. Freedkin put a hand on Big Jim’s shoulder. Big Jim swung his fist around and slammed it into Freedkin’s nose. Dee tried to slip away but Big Jim, raging, grabbed his headphone cable and dragged him back, winding the cable around his neck to try and hold on to him with it. The other writers stepped back as Dee kicked around in a panic. He got one of the writers in the stomach and another in the back. The headphone cable slipped out of Big Jim’s hands. Dee reached out for anything he could grab onto. He found a desk leg and pulled himself away from the melee as the gang of writers got him by his feet. They pulled off his Jordans and he crawled away as fast as he could, out of the writers’ area and onto the balcony. The writers caught up with him. He swung the few punches he could muster. He cracked one writer on the cheekbone as another reached for his headphone cable, wrapping it around the balcony rail to stop him from getting even further away. Big Jim steamed in, bleeding from his head, and slammed into Dee, launching him into the air with his sheer force. Dee reached for the rail but it slipped under him as he toppled over into the open atrium, between the floors. He felt a snap as the headphone cable went taut around his neck. A colleague standing in the atrium shrieked. Dee kicked his legs and wriggled about, trying to slip out. He clawed his hands around the cable and tried to loosen it but it just got tighter and tighter. He looked up to see the human writers peering down. Not helping. He could feel his consciousness slipping away. He looked to his left to see his second head staring straight back at him. As he hung, he could feel the metal head growing, exponentially, until it popped off, hit the ground and shattered. Shiny gray liquid metal spilled all over the floor and splashed up the walls. Its red light glowing all over as the metal spread around the room. Once it had flooded the entire atrium it enveloped Dee’s mind. And he was gone. The agency left his body hanging there for two days. They blamed it on a lack of janitorial availability. Everything in the office was automated, and cutting down a dead body wasn’t something their sanitation robots had been programmed to do. But, deep down, everyone knew that it was a message. That they should stay in the roles they had been assigned. So they did. So they wouldn’t end up like Dee.

Hey there 😀
I'll be honest, I'm not expecting much to come from this, or getting my hopes up, but nothing wrong with keeping an open mind and seeing what happens.
I'm Lawrie, 28 straight male from Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
I'm looking for friendship that could potentially lead to a relationship, looking to get to know someone and see where it goes from there.
I'm looking to meet someone honest, genuine, good hearted, who likes to have a laugh and have fun, someone that I can be myself around. Common interests and shared hobbies would be the icing on the cake/cherry on top. And accepts me for who I am.
I can be quite shy to begin with, but once I get to know someone a bit more, I feel more myself and more relaxed. What you see is what you get with me and dating me would be like being honest, genuine, no games.
I'm a big kid at heart who doesn't take life too seriously, I enjoy having a laugh and creating fun memories with someone, I'm good hearted, honest and genuine , treating others the same way I'd like to be treated back, with respect and kindness, being there for someone and looking out for them when they may be feeling down or upset and talking to them to cheer them up or make them smile.
My sense of humour goes from goofy, silly and sarcastic, to dark and brutal 🤣😈 consists of funny stories from childhood, pop culture references, quoting films, to more darker humour.
I have many hobbies I enjoy doing, these include:
🀄 Krav Maga Self Defence 🀄 Video gaming 🀄reading 🀄 relaxing 🀄 films and cinema 🀄 gigs and festivals 🀄 listening to music 🀄 geek culture 🀄travelling 🀄spending time with friends/family 🀄80s/90s pop culture nostalgia 🀄 animals 🀄 watching daft YouTube videos 🀄keeping fit at the gym 🀄 browsing second hand shops
If you want to apply for this exciting opportunity, send me a message with your age, location and a picture and where you saw my post. We can get chatting from there to see if we're a good match.

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/GAWGz4D
Feel free to reach out for more info and pictures.
(Shipping not included in Prices)

Keyboard	Description	Price
Iqunix A80 Explorer (Tri-Mode)	RGB, Akko CS Sponge Switches, Great Condition	$100
Iqunix OG80 Wormhole (Tri-Mode)	RGB, Costar, TTC Gold Pink Switches, Great Condition	$100
Eclipse EC66 Translucent Black (Tri-Mode)	Akko CS Blue Switches, Light Scratches on Bottom Case	$50
Dustsilver D84 - Red and White Classic (Tri-Mode)	Gateron Black Switches, Great Condition	$100
Melgeek Mojo68 and MojoPad - Pigeon (Tri-Mode)	JWICK T1 Durock Black Switches, Light Scratches on Bottom Case	$150

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DIY Kit	Description	Price
GK96S - Aluminum Gray DIY Kit (Bluetooth)	Great Condition	$100
GK84S Gasket Lite- Aluminum Purple DIY Kit (Bluetooth)	Great Condition	$100
Gamakay LK67 - Translucent Black DIY Kit (Tri-Mode)	Great Condition	$40
NJ80 - White DIY Kit (Tri-Mode)	Has Gold Knob, White Top Case and Steel Plate, Extra Blue Knob, Clear Top Case and Brass Plate, Great Condition	$100
KBD67 Lite - Pink DIY Kit (Wired)	Kit is built, Great Condition	$100
Ikki68 Aurora R2 - Clear DIY Kit (Wired)	Bodo Flexcut PCB, PC Flex Clut Plate, Extra Dampener Foam Kit, Great Condition	$120
Savage65 - Rose Gold Custom Kit (Bluetooth)	Custom Milmax BT65 PCB from UpgradeKeyboards, Custom PE Foam Sheet from Green Door Geeks, Kit is built, has one small scratch at the bottom case	$250

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Keycap	Description	Price
Puku GMK Camping Dyesub PBT Cherry Clones	Mounted once for moderately used keyboard	$15
Yongqiu GMK Jamon Doubleshot ABS Cherry Clones	Unused	$30
Yongqiu GMK DMG Doubleshot ABS Cherry Clones	Unused	$30
Akko Red and Blue Samurai Doubleshot PBT ASA Keycaps	Mounted once for lightly used keyboard	$75
Idobao Blue Cat Dyesubbed PBT MA Keycaps	Mounted once for lightly used keyboard	$35

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PCB	Description	Price
Savage65 Soldered PCB	New	$35
KBD75 Hotswap PCB	New	$50

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I just nerded out for an hour and went through setlist.fm and put this together by album. Bands like DMB and Phish have tools for this, and it seems like The National might be digging deep enough that maybe someone should build something for them! For bands like that, who play different songs every night, chasing songs and enjoying the variety really adds to the fun for me, especially when going on tour and seeing multiple stops.
For me, I've seen 13 shows since 2010, including 2 festival sets (not including their own festival). I've seen Fake Empire and Bloodbuzz Ohio 12 times, Terrible Love and Mr November 11 times , and England 10 times. I've seen 75 unique songs, performed 279 times.
I've seen every song off of Boxer (helped that I went to Homecoming), off the other albums I'm missing just The Alcott; Sleep Well Beast title track; Fireproof Slipped and Hard to Find; and Little Faith. I've seen fewer songs from Alligator than I would've thought (6) and more songs from Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers than I would've thought (5).
The smallest crowd I saw was certainly 400 earlier this year in Bearsville, and the largest crowd probably would've been at Panorama Music Festival in 2016. My first show was maybe 1000 people, 13 years ago!
Anyway, if this is at all interesting to anyone, here are my stats--
Shows seen
10/13/10 Rialto Theater, Tucson AZ
9/9/11 Bank of America Pavilion, Boston MA
5/26/13 City Hall Plaza, Boston MA
7/23/16 Randall’s Island, NYC
10/6/17 Forest Hills Stadium, NYC
4/28/18 Smale Riverfront Park, Cincinnati OH
4/29/18 Smale Riverfront Park, Cincinnati OH
9/29/18 Forest Hills Stadium, NYC
3/4/23 Bearsville Theater, Woodstock NY
5/18/23 Auditorium Theater, Chicago IL
5/19/23 Auditorium Theater, Chicago IL
5/20/23 Auditorium Theater, Chicago IL
5/21/23 Auditorium Theater, Chicago IL
​
First Two Pages of Frankenstein
Once Upon a Poolside 5
Eucalyptus 5
New Order T-Shirt 3
This Isn’t Helping 3
Tropic Morning News 5
Alien 5
Grease In Your Hair 5
Ice Machines 2
Your Mind is Not Your Friend 3
Send For Me 4
​
I Am Easy to Find
Rylan 3
Light Years 3
​
Sleep Well Beast
Nobody Else Will Be There 3
Day I Die 6
Walk It Back 3
The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness 5
Born to Beg 2
Turtleneck 2
Empire Line 3
I’ll Still Destroy You 3
Guilty Party 4
Carin at the Liquor Store 4
Dark Side of the Gym 2
​
Trouble Will Find Me
I Should Live In Salt 4
Demons
Don’t Swallow the Cap 7
Sea of Love 4
Heavenfaced
This Is the Last Time 3
Graceless 7
I Need My Girl 7
Humiliation
Pink Rabbits 4
​
High Violet
Terrible Love 11
Sorrow 3
Anyone’s Ghost 2
Afraid of Everyone 8
Bloodbuzz Ohio 12
Lemonworld
Runaway 2
Conversation 16 7
England 10
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks 7
​
Boxer
Fake Empire 12
Mistaken for Strangers 5
Brainy
Squalor Victoria 6
Green Gloves 3
Slow Show 4
Apartment Story 6
Start A War 2
Guest Room
Racing Like a Pro
Ada 2
Gospel
​
Alligator
Secret Meeting 5
Baby We’ll Be Fine
All the Wine 2
Abel 5
The Geese of Beverly Road
Mr. November 11
​
Cherry Tree
Wasp Nest 3
About Today 8
​
Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers
Cardinal Song (partial)
Murder Me Rachael
Thirsty
Available 2
Lucky You
​
The National
Son
​
Unreleased
Deep End
Space Invader
Tour Manager
Turn Off the House
Weird Goodbyes 2
​
Covers
The KKK Took My Baby Away

I ran my first marathon last weekend in Cleveland Ohio! It was a great experience.
Goal A: Finish ✅ Goal B: Have fun ✅
Time: 5:58:16
~TLDR at the bottom~
THE COURSE:
This course took us on quite the tour of Cleveland! It had more hills than I anticipated, but I loved that we got to see some cool places like the First Energy Stadium, Progressive Field, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, a Christmas Story House & the Fountain of Eternal Life.
That being said, it had over 70 turns! There were very few points in the course where you could see a long stretch of where you were going.
There were plenty of water stops and porta potties along the course. I don't think we ever went more that 2 miles without one.
One interesting experience of the course was running on Cleveland Memorial Shoreway. It had a great view of Lake Erie, and was fun to run on a freeway and take the exits.
GEAR:
I wouldn't change anything that I wore/used on raceday! I had tested everything on long runs prior to the marathon.
I stocked my hydration vest with water, tissues, wet wipes, fuel, body glide, sunscreen, my phone and camera. I did not use all of these things, but I'm sure if I didn't pack them I would have needed them!
The shorts had a few pockets including a large back pocket to carry my selfie stick when I wasn't using it.
I chose shoes that I had worn for several training runs. They had about 150 miles on them before the marathon.
🧢 Vimhue Cacti Print ponytail hat
😎 Goodr Hot Alien Summer sunglasses
🎽 Nike tank top
🩳 New Balance Impact Run 5" shorts
👟 Asics Gel Nimbus 25
⌚ Garmin Forerunner 245
Sports bra - Under Armour High Infinity
Hydration Vest - Camelbak
FUELING:
Running my first marathon without hitting a wall, was quite the pleasant surprise! I attribute this to following a great training plan and sticking to my fueling strategy on race day.
Pre-Race I ate 2 slices of bread with butter & honey. During the race, I used pink lemonade and cherry blossom Honey Stinger chews. I ate about 5 every 40 minutes. I also ate a piece of candy that someone was handing out at about mile 23.
For hydration I used water and GU electrolyte pills. I sipped the water as I went and took one GU capsule every hour.
TLDR:
The course had many turns and a few large hills. The clothes I wore had all been previously tested and I wouldn't change a thing. I fueled every 40 minutes and used electrolyte pills every hour. Never hit a wall and loved every minute of it!