here is what I would create if I was in charge of DC Studios. I would recast every character and start again. Blue Beetle would be the only film I would keep and characters. this is not a finished film slate but I’d use this ruff guideline to shape the films and series I would create. I kept a lot of James GuNNS ideas but expand on them.

Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters

Blue Beetle (Live Action Film)
Superman Legacy (Live Action Film) - Here I would would have superman fight Lobo on earth and in space. Lobo is hunting a bounty which sent him to earth. This leads him to cross paths with superman and fight him.
Creature Commandos (Series 1)
The Elite (Live Action Film)
Waller (Series 1)
Batman: The Brave and The Bold (Live Action Film)
Paradise Lost (Live Action Series 1)
Supergirl woman of Tomorrow (Live Action Film) - Based on the comic Supergirl woman of tomorrow.
Booster Gold (Live Action Series 1)
Lanterns (Live Action series 1) - Two Green Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart are hunting escaped space criminals who fled sciencells (prison). They must contain the prisoners before the people of Earth are ware of intergalactic beings. After hunting down and capturing the alien criminals, they are lead to find Sinestro the most dangerous criminal. Sinestro escapes at the end of the series.
Swamp Thing (Live Action Film) - a Horror film based on the origin of Swamp Thing based on the comic Saga of Swamp Thing.
Superman vs The Elite (Live Action Film) - Superman clashes with the Elite and their ideals of Justice.
Justice League 1 (live Action Film) - A group of villains ( Legion of Doom) are planing to take over the world using a mind control device. A group of heroes (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Black Canary) is recruited by Amanda waller to help stop the villains from destroying the earth.
The justice league defeat the Legion of Doom and imprison them.
Chapter 2: Worlds Apart
Batman under the Red Hood (Live Action Film) - Based on the comic Batman: Under the Red Hood.
Paradise Lost (Live Action Series 2)
Superman and Supergirl
Injustice (Live Action Film) - Joker Tricks Superman into killing his pregnant wife Lois Lane and detonating a bomb that destroys Metropolis, killing millions of people. mad with rage and grief, Superman kills Joker quickly losing his moral compass. Batman and Superman argue over ideals and this leads to justice members picking sides and fighting each other.
The film ends with the justice league disbanded and the heroes at conflict With each other. Superman is killing criminals left right and centre.
Booster Gold (Live Action Series 2)
The Flashpoint (Animated film Animated film) - After the events of The Justice League
traveling back in time to stop him from killing Barry's mother.
Lanterns (Live Action Series 2/3)
​

Chapter 3: Crisis on Earth

Justice League Dark (Animated series 1)
A League of Their Own (Live Action Series 1)
Justice League: Apokolips War (Live Action Film)
Justice League: United (Live Action Film)
Booster Gold (Live Action Series 3)
Green Lantern: Blackest Night (Live Action Film)
Green Lantern: Brightest day (live Action Film)
​

Chapter 4: The New Gods

Batman Beyond
Son of Superman
Young Justice (Live Action Film)

So kind of winded post but need help. Met an amazing woman at the gym and have been chatting each day we are both there. Lots of eye contact and flirting. Great short but sweet conversations. She makes it a point to come up and talk to me. We are at the two week mark and during our conversation today she told me “you can take down my number if your allowed” so I took her number.
I am married but I don’t wear a ring but there is a tan line. We have not discussed or even been mentioned if either of us are involved. Her statement makes me think she knows.
I really want to text her but I think we need to discuss my relationship status first. Also what is the best way to text and keep it way from SO?

So me and my friends were playing Minecraft ofc. But one day once we tried to log back on I was faced with the message “no_session(Expired Auth from Discovery)” and I’ve deleted the game I’ve had the newest update. And yeah. Me and my friends are on Bedrock ps4. I’ve tried everything. And I can’t join any of my friends and they can’t join me

Miami play 3 games in 7 days. More often than not, starters rarely play midweek. Plus it’s against the Fire, not even a competitive team. There’s also an international break the following week, so he may be called up for that. What are your thoughts? Obviously lots of time, just a bit anxious. I have had terrible luck with seeing starters play in person

I was walking down Hollywood Blvd the other day and noticed that a majority of the cool historical buildings there are completely abandoned. It would seem like the area could be a genuinely cool place to live in but it’s filled with empty buildings and shitty souvenir shops. Anybody know how it ended up like this?

Hello, I want to do a low dose in the morning around 45ug of acid, to have a very light trip, at my family’s house, just to add some aura to the day, and do not want it to be noticeable.
Thing is 3 days ago I took 125ug of strong acid, was high for 15 hours, the tolerance calculator for lsd says I would need to take basically 110 ug to feel 45 ug.
Is this real? I don’t want to take a whole tab expecting a light trip, to then getting hit by a 40 ton truck while having breakfast with my family.
Please any info would be appreciated.

When I (18f) came to college, I had immediately made a huge group of friends. In this friend group were many different people, one of which I had a massive crush on named "Cam". He and I would do everything together, from going on late night food runs, to watching movies, and walks. He even kissed me and took me on dates. Him and I were obviously very interested in each other, and I was excited to see how this new chapter in my life went.
In my group of friends there was a girl who I will call Jess. Jess, Cam, and I were a trio that began to do everything together, like I had been doing with Cam. Jess and I became close friends and decided that we wanted to room together for the next semester and moved in down the hall from Cam. Everything continued as usual with him and I, as well as our trio friendship.
One day, I got very frustrated about the dynamic with Cam and I and expressed my concerns to Jess, like I had many times before, she knew I liked him. When I stated that it was confusing at times between him and I, she told me that she "understood." This is when she confessed that she would cuddle with him and do "more."
After more confessions came forward from her about the stuff they did together, I confronted her about it. I told her it made me uncomfortable that she would do that knowing I obviously liked him. I began to cry and told her I did not want to live with her anymore because I did not trust her. She began to cry and told me that she has never had a male friend before, so she did not know it was not normal for friends to cuddle and do "more" (She has many guy friends back home that she frequently talks about.) She even confessed that she had initiated these "more" scenarios with him and it made her uncomfortable that he liked it. According to her she never had a crush on him, and "had no clue" why she never told him no.
I cut the guy off, and I immediately moved out the next week, and didn't tell her much about my leaving and I blocked her on everything. She also tried to accuse me of damaging our dorm room, and immediately ran to the rest of our friend group to tell her side of the story and they all cut me off. This sounds like petty high school drama, but I want to know AITA??

Hi there! I'm Ben. I'm 34 and reside in western Maryland. I'm looking for someone special out there to get to know, bond, and maybe one day spend my life with! But no rush. I've met plenty of people in person and used all the apps out there to date one time or another but I love in a pretty small area and its been difficult as of late so I figured I'd try here!
Me: I'm sweet, kind, compassionate, and affectionate. Friends and others would describe me as adorkable, funny, and genuine. I've always felt the world didn't have enough compassion in it and I try to be a better person each day. I'm also very emotionally intelligent. I'm not educated in the traditional sense, other than a semester of college, but I am pretty intelligent and can hold a conversation on most subjects and comprehend most things well above where I'm at knowledge wise. I'm also an atheist but grew up in a devout Christian home and spent my whole childhood and teens learning about the bible and some others later in life and Atheism is where I landed I suppose.
I've always been a pretty big nerd my whole life. I've been into most things nerdy at one point or another my whole life. Still to try DND one day though!! I'm not too involved in the different communities like I used to but I still play games some.
I had a series of traumatic events occur about 5 years ago and have been picking up the pieces of my life since but thanks to my doctors and therapist my is coming back together, and I'd love to find someone to share this new journey with.
I am absolutely obsessed with animals and learning new and interesting facts and care that surround them (especially reptiles). I currently have 4 crested geckos (who have enclosures of their own) and a colony of 6 mourning geckos living together. I'm incredibly passionate about cresties though! I love DIYing things myself and love working with my hands, though they're so soft you'd never guess :)
Physical description of me: I'm 6' and a big guy but I carry my weight well, and Im usually described as a big teddy bear to cuddle :p. Lost almost 40 lbs over the last few months! I usually have a pretty big beard but somethings happened and one thing led to another and I shaved it off (instant regret lmao). SO I will be growing it back over the next few months. My left arm is pretty tattooed up with two very large pieces, a small piece on my hand, a small piece on my right forearm, and a big piece on my left thigh. Also my ears are at a 00 gauge. I have hazel green eyes. Thick full brown hair, cut short currently. normally i do an undercut and push it back but it was hot and i got tired of my hair being everywhere. I added a few pictures of me and one of my favorite tattoo I have!
You: age Im not picky about, I've dated people much older than me and younger than me. So if you're 23-45 I'm fine and im fine making exceptions for people if they feel drawn to me. I'm such a kid at heart I connect well with most people and be a serious sally when I have to be :)
You: Be compassionate and understanding. I enjoy intelligence, but not a requirement. I love passion for the different things we have in life so some passion is always a plus! I strongly value honest open communication, boundaries, and creativity.
You: I generally prefer atheists but if you believe in something and can handle the fact I dont and wont try to convert me I'll happily accept that you are who you are.
You: left leaning politically. Sorry no room on this one.
I've always been monogamous but I am open to ENM after sufficient trust and love is established. i'm also 420 friendly just not often and I vape (in case its a problem)
Would prefer if you open with a picture but if you're not comfortable with that (since this is kinda the internet) just send a physical description and a blurb about yourself. Thanks for reading this far! Pictures of me: https://imgur.com/a/2FJAZo9

Me and my boyfriend have been dating for a little bit over a year (officially) but were seeing each other for 6 months before we made it official. He expressed to me recently that he is doubtful we will make it through a ldr simply due to the stress and hardships that a ldr can bring. He says he has thought about a future of us moving in together if we ever made it through a ldr, but knows it would be a miracle if we ever even worked through it.
He has always been hesitant about ldr through our whole relationship, but I thought things may be different because we truly fell hard for each other over the last year. Things haven’t always been easy, but we have always known he was going to move after he graduated and knowing this I always thought he and I would work through being in a future ldr for at most 1-2 years after he moved.
We have been talking about it for the last 5 days and he says he doesn’t want to do a ldr because he knows it’s going to be a lot of long and difficult days regardless of being in a relationship or not (financial stress, finding a job, passing qualifying exams for work, etc) but I have always seen us working through our hardships together and growing together as a couple and individually while in this ldr. He says we will only be seeing eachother 8-12 times a year and he just wants to be able to hug and touch me on the hard days and be there for support in person and it’s hard to do that over a screen (even with all of the technology we have today…?) I even wrote down a calendar of dates for the rest of the year for us planned out so the idea of us talking about visiting each other had concrete dates, plans, and ideas.
I’ve stated to him many times that I know ldr are not easy, but he is all worth it to me, and we talked about me moving closer to him in a year from now. He still says it won’t work. He does tell he’s scared for the future and doesn’t know what lies ahead from him especially in the next year. I tell him as long as we have each other, we can figure everything else out but I just think he assumes it’s going to turn ugly since we won’t be living in the same city.
He has said he is open to rekindling the relationship in the future once he has more of his life together, but with me living in a different state I just don’t see that being a logical solution, especially if we rekindled to have a ldr. I also know that this is a “what if”, and I really don’t want to be strung along.
What should I do? These last few days I have been heartbroken. I’ve never imagined us breaking up or him not being there on holidays or important moments. I just love him so much and he is my best friend and other half.
If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it was always yours, right?

The Marble Slab Part 1
By John Westrick
The nonstop pitter-patter of the cold rain against my bedroom window, set the mood. I found myself rubbing my eyes unable to follow the now swaying lines. My book was a jumbled mess of dyslexic text. I spent another minute trying to decipher the words, but my suddenly exhausted state of mind could not put meaning to them. I folded the top right corner of the page and gingerly placed Bram Stoker’s, Dracula, back on the windowsill.
I must've dosed off at some point because I found myself dreaming. Eyes. Red eyes the size of saucer plates peered into the depths of my soul. No matter how hard I tried to look away, I could not break the gaze. I felt as if I was staring into the abyss itself, a black hole pulling me into its inky embrace. That peculiar dream held me captive for God only knows how long.
The fear was overwhelming. It held me fast, like quicksand I found myself descending into the blackness. It was the first rays of light that finally broke my standstill, as if my body was frozen solid and the warmth of the sun was slowly dethawing my bones. I remained sitting in my armchair for a moment, letting the effects of the queer dream wash over me.
Finally, my mind began to return to a semblance of normality. I glanced outside to see the sun dancing happily in the orange and yellow of the fall leaves. My heart leapt at this sight. Shortly with the resilience of youth, I found myself forgetting entirely about the uncanny daydream. With a shout of glee, I found myself barreling down the staircase three at a time. No longer a care in the world, rushing towards blind adventure.
In school we had been reading Robert Louis Stevenson’s, Treasure Island, and I had been convinced there was buried treasure somewhere in my backyard. My first hole was a five-foot deep pit. Buried treasure wasn't found, but I did succeed in severing our sprinkler system. The hole was shortly filled with water, and my parents put a stop to my digging efforts. At least it put a stop to my digging in the yard. I was too stubborn to give up on my dreams of finding pirate treasure to entirely stop. I just became more selective of the location of my digs.
I went into my dad’s shop, pilfered a flat head shovel and trekked down the trail where I could resume my search without my parents' oversight. Looking for the tell-tale signs of pirate interference, I found myself wandering off the beaten path. That is when I saw it. It was the largest oak tree I’ve ever seen. Massive, barren branches loomed over me like the hands of a twisted god. For some odd reason, that daydream came back to the forefront of my mind.
With the clarity of scared eyes, I saw a rickety cross held together by ancient twine fraying at the ends. A spark of excitement burned away all my concerns. Quickly, I clambered down the hill to the base of that giant oak to get a better look at the marker. At closer inspection, I saw one name carved into the base of the cross. It said, “Victor P. Alexandre.” It didn’t sound like a pirate's name, but still it was worth investigating. After all, one place was as good as another.
That first day, I shoveled loose dirt and clay for nearly 8 hours. The hole was larger and deeper than I had ever managed in the past. Even still, I found nothing. No buried treasure. No time capsule. Nothing of interest whatsoever. I was reaching my breaking point, when my shovel suddenly hit with a clink. Uncaring, I threw my shovel aside and slowly began to sift through the loose dirt. To my utter shock, my hands felt a smooth surface.
Using the water from my water bottle I washed the dirt away scrubbing it clean with my hands. The surface was white as bone, yet it was flat. At closer glance, I realized it was smooth marble. My heart was beating fast. If this wasn't hidden treasure, God only knew what else it could be. That second day, I dug like my life depended on it. The marble slab was bigger than I had expected, already I had exposed nearly four feet of it. The day was growing short and the shadows had been growing longer, yet even still, I found myself scouring that slab.
Right before the day turned to night, my hand ran across a large padlock. One of those old-fashioned, cast-iron locks. The heavy ones. It was rusted and the metal was beginning to flake, but still, I couldn't break it. I tried to smash it off with the pointed end of the shovel, yet it resisted my attempts. I heard my mother's voice calling to me.
I went scurrying towards the sound of her voice, doing my best to brush clean the dirt off my arms and legs. I mustn't have done a good job, because as her suspicious eyes fell upon me, I saw disappointment flash in them.
She looked me up in down and said, “You cut anymore sprinkler lines this time?”
With a sheepish grin I responded, “No ma’am.”
She gestured towards the bathroom and said, “wash up before your father sees.”
Immediately I obeyed, not wanting to push my luck. The rest of the night was uneventful. I slept like a babe. It was the last full night’s sleep I’ve had since. The last night not invaded by the nightmares.
I woke at first daylight. The excitement of my find, robbing me of my ability to sleep in. It was a Saturday morning and not a cloud was in sight. The wind was blowing in playful gusts tugging at my hair and the folds of my clothes. It was the sort of morning I'd dedicate to the flying of kites, yet today something else had my full attention. My mind raced at 100 miles per hour, fantasizing of all the possibilities. What lies under the marble floor? It must be something of great value to be buried so deep and guarded by such a lock. I thought that perhaps it was a treasure cove, hidden by conquistadors. Maybe it was secret entrance to a hidden civilization. The possibilities were endless.
My idea was simple If I couldn't break it off with brute force, then I'd cut it off with a grinder in my dad’s shed. To my great amusement I had seen him cut off the heavy lock I used for my bike when I lost the key a year prior. Luck was on my side that day, or perhaps it was misfortune. With a hollow thump, I leapt carelessly down into the hole. Those eyes flashed feverishly bright into my mind. The sudden feeling of fear almost made me clamber back the way I came. As suddenly as it came, it passed.
The curiosity of a ten-year-old was too great for any reservations I might have had. With in moments, I found myself cutting away. The grinder cut through the metal as if it was butter, showering the pearly white marble with orange sparks. A thunder clap brought me back to my senses. With a start, I nearly dropped the still spinning grinder. I looked up to see thick, black clouds beginning to roll its’ way towards me. It wasn't supposed to rain today. Yet, the inky blackness barreled towards me blocking the sun’s brilliant rays.
The light all around me seemed to dim. It felt as if time itself fast forwarded, stranding me in dusk. It was eerie, and a little shiver erupted all over my body. The storm seemed to be triggered by the cutting of the lock. But that's not possible; it can't be possible. Yet even so, I couldn't dissever my mind from this line of thought. It was preposterous, however, there was no storm before and now there was.
I heard a grinding, crunching noise and felt the slab beneath my feet begin to slide open. To my horror, I felt the ground give way, and then I was sliding into pitch darkness. I rolled a couple of feet and ended up sprawled on my back. The darkness down there was almost complete, except a single ray of light that peeked through the opening of the marble slab. I saw nothing down there, but I couldn't shake the feeling as if I was being watched. It felt as if the darkness had eyes peering at me from all sides.
I didn’t remain down there long. I couldn’t take the silence anymore. I kept imagining Dracula staring at me from the comfort of the shadows, his heart remaining eternally still. No need, when one is already dead. I clambered up the steep incline as if my life depended on it, for all I know it did. I didn’t stop running until I was safely in my room under my bed. I know it was silly, but I couldn't shake the feeling as if I narrowly escaped death.
I determined that tomorrow morning I would refill the whole and never look at that marble slab again. Now with a plan of action set into place, my fear began to lessen. When my parents finally made it back home to fix supper, I had forgotten about my near-death experience. I ate my meatloaf and broccoli and had a large bowl of ice cream, while I watched SpongeBob on the tv.
When bedtime came, I didn’t even argue with my parents to stay up later. I did something that night that I had never done before. I grabbed my mom's hand pulling her down to me and kissed her directly on the forehead, then I walked to my dad and repeated the sentiment. Then I looked each of them in their eyes and said, “You guys are the best parents a child could ask for. I love y’all very much.” Tears welled up in my mom’s eyes and even my dad looked close to waterworks. Something happened in the silence that preceded. Our relationship matured. I had seen them and accepted them as the individuals they were, not as the parents who exist for my wellbeing. We had looked into each other's eyes and acknowledged one another.
I think fondly of this memory and I thank God that I had this one final moment to make known all that my childish mind thought, but didn't have the ability to put into words. It was a tender moment, and it was the last time I saw my parents breathing.
I fell asleep almost the moment my head hit the pillow. It was a deep sleep, the kind in which there are no dreams. The kind that leaves you well rested and excited for the next day. But it wasn't the morning when I woke. This watch of the night goes by many names; the dead of night, the witching hour, midnight, the time the moon goes to rest. They all mean the same thing; it's the period in which the night is darkest, and the hope of morning is nearly nonexistent. This is the time owned by the nightmares, where the boogey man walks freely.
It was a gentle tapping on my window that awoke me. My body became stiff and I couldn't move. Fear paralyzed me and I laid in my bed, senses hyper alert. I remained there hoping it was a branch against the window, but knowing better. The window in my room was directly above my head. With very little effort I could be certain of the cause of the sound. I didn’t want to be certain. I'd rather lay trying my best to convince myself it was caused by some ordinary means, than look and see the glowing red eyes of Dracula.
And in one way or another, I knew it was him. I was certain I’d look up and see his pale face shining as pristine as the marble slab that must be his resting place. As the night crawled along, the scratching only got louder until it was nearly deafening. It was then that my curiosity got the best of me. I couldn’t fight the urge any longer. It was like a scratch your mom told you not to itch; the more you
thought about it, the harder it was to ignore. My eyes flung wide and I looked up. I could hardly believe my eyes. There on the other side of the glass was my old kite, the red and blue one that came loose and flew away a few weeks ago. I thought my fear would ease learning the source of the awful sound, but there I remained unable to get those red eyes out of my mind. The kite didn’t help persuade me of the silliness of my fears, in fact, it solidified them, as if it gave some sort of credence.
My alarm clock on my nightstand ticked slowly, and I watched as the digital numbers changed. Each minute seemed to take hours. Slowly the night’s grasp yielded to the onslaught of the coming day. The darkness faded leaving pockets of thick shadow casted by the steady rising of the orange sliver on the horizon. Even these strongholds of the night were unable to stand in the face of such an overwhelming adversary, and shortly I was left in the shining light of morning.
I had made a decision while I was warring with my fear. I was going to tell my parents about the marble slab and what I had done. They would know what to do. In fact, they would probably tease me for letting it get me so scared, but at that point I didn’t care. I would've welcomed the lighthearted jokes made at my expense. It would mean my fears weren't reasonable ones. All would go back to normal and I’d be another kid who had a silly nightmare.
The nightmare began in my parents' bedroom. I barged into their room hoping to receive the comfort I so needed. I found everything but comfort there. The room was entirely normal, except it lacked the presence of my sleeping parents. They were gone. I went into their bathroom thinking they might’ve gotten up early. It was empty. As I made my way back into the room, I noticed the window nearest their bed was open. Lying on the windowsill was an enormous droplet of blood.
My heart dropped and I knew exactly where they’d be. Dracula hadn’t intended to get me; he wanted my parents. The kite was a distraction, a way to settle my rational mind. I was right to fear, if only I had feared enough to run straight to my parents' room. Would things be different now? I think they might. In my book, belief was the only way to combat the vampires, and children have a knack for it. He must've known I'd never let him in my room. But tonight, he can come freely for me.
My parents. I failed them. No, I killed them. I never should've opened that door. I should've buried the hatch closed the moment I saw it. Of course, it was a grave. It had the marker above it and all. I’m an idiot, a God’s damned fool. The marker. What did it say on it? “Victor P. Alexandre.” So, this isn't Dracula after all, but in a way he still is. He can be killed the same way. Yes, that is what I must do.
It took me the remainder of the day to gather the required materials. I found garlic cloves in the spice cabinet, my family are catholic so it was not difficult to find a cross, the thing that took me the longest was making the wooden stakes. In the end, I used the legs of one of our kitchen tables filed down to a nasty point. As an afterthought, I grabbed the massive padlock my dad used on his shed sometimes. It never hurts to have a backup.
I followed the blood droplets of my parents to the hole I dug. I remained staring down at the marble slab, now drenched in my family’s life blood, unable to move from the spot. I watched in horror as the sun slowly began to make its descent, knowing that my chance was slipping between my fingers. A thought occurred to me. What if my parents are down there? Will I be able to look them in the face while I slide a stake through their heart?
Call it what you want, but a few minutes before the sun sank behind the horizon, a metallic glint caught my eyes. At closer examination, it was the little silver cross necklace my mom always wore. This spurred me into action, as if someone poked me with a red-hot brand. It burned my fears away, and left me with a numb sense of responsibility.
Without a second thought I launched myself down into the hole scooping up my mom’s pendant and ignited the flashlight. I didn’t have much time; the sun was falling. The shadows were lengthening. My heart beat a steady staccato against the inner walls of my chest. I was scared my damn heartbeat would wake the creatures giving me away. But I didn't have time to worry, so I didn’t. In a clarity unlike anything I've experienced before or since, I made my way through the opening of the sepulcher.
As I moved forward, I couldn’t help but think that I had been swallowed alive by some mythic monster. The darkness closed in on me and the faint glow casted by my flashlight only went about 4 feet in front of me. It looked as if I was in a catacomb. Urns and vases lined the walls on each side of me. Every few feet or so was a nook that held an empty casket. I began to panic after my first turn and the door was no longer in sight. What if he’s behind me or hiding in one of those alcoves? I was afraid to breathe or make any sudden noises. Thoughts of waking him and having to face him upright nearly stopped me in my tracks.
It was the sound of my parents' voices that pushed me forward. They gave me the resolve to see this thing through. I heard my mom tell me, “If not you, then who?” and the strong voice of my father admonishing me, “Do the right thing, even if it’s hard.” And so, I kept moving one step at a time, my footsteps being muffled by the suffocating blackness. Before I knew it, I was there looking at three closed caskets.
There was a grand coffin against the back wall, the others were near the two side walls. I knew immediately which one would contain Viktor. I walked straight to it, then hesitated and opened the one against the right wall. My mom was in it. She looked to be sleeping, nothing out of the ordinary besides two small puncture marks on the side of her throat. Against the left one was my dad. Tears filled my eyes, and I knew they had been turned. I stood there a stake in my hand, not quite able to plunge it deep into the heart of the woman who gave birth to me.
I closed the casket, making my way to the coffin of the monster who took my parents. I looked forward to shoving a stake through his heart and as I opened the casket a wicked smile was plastered on my face. The smile died away, when I looked down and saw that it was empty. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I heard rich laughter coming from directly behind me. “I must admit, you've surprised me. I’ve had fools rush in here before to try to kill me, but usually they are glory seekers. This is a first for me. I’ve never come across a child brave enough to face me,” purred Viktor in smooth, slightly European accent.
Maybe it was the anger, maybe it was my body being unable to process the fear; regardless, my voice came out strong and confident, when I said, “And that’s why I ‘ll succeed, where others failed.”
Viktor began laughing and wiping at the tears in his eyes, “I’ll tell you what because you've made me laugh harder than I have in centuries, I’ll let you go if you leave right now.”
“Oh, sounds like someone is scared. You’ve been hiding in this tomb so long; I’m surprised you haven’t staked yourself out of pure boredom,” I replied.
“I wasn’t hiding you fool; I was locked in here by foes much cleverer than yourself. They weren’t stupid enough to think they could take me on their own. They locked the entrance and buried my whole sepulcher, until you haphazardly released me,” said the vampire.
I gulped knowing that he was at least partially correct. I had released him and my parents are the ones who paid the price. Without warning I lobbed a whole clove of garlic directly at his face. The creature ungodly fast swatted it away with one hand, hissing as it made direct contact with his skin. I saw a nasty burn appear suddenly on the flesh of that hand. I had time for a moment of triumphant, before the creature blurred towards me.
He struck me with the back of his hand sending me sprawling into the coffin that held my mom. I heard a bone crack in my ribs when I made contact. Pain filled my body and I cried out. This seemed to please the vampire as he slowly stalked towards me, my backpack filled with supplies held in his left hand. The stake I had been holding flew out of my hand when he hit me and I was left with nothing to stop his advance.
He knew this too; I saw it in the smug smile he wore across his face. It was done, my parents died because of me. I couldn’t even get revenge on their killer. I had failed them. And now, this creature was going to rip me apart slowly, enjoying every moment of it.
My mom’s voice cut through all my fears, and I heard her say, “I gave you my necklace, now kill this motherfucker.”
My hand reached to my neck and I felt the comfort of the cold silver against my skin. With one smooth motion I pulled it off, concealing it in my left hand. I knew I’d have to time it right. I would get only one chance at this, I had to make it count. The element of surprise was working in my favor, but even still the creature was fast as hell. I’d have to let him get close, painfully close before I struck.
I gave him what he desired most, I plead for my life. “Please, I didn’t mean it. Have mercy on me. I’ll serve you. I’ll do anything you need me to. I let you out, didn’t I?”
Viktor smiled a smile filled with pointed teeth. I shuttered; it wasn’t hard to act. I truly was terrified. This seemed to please him. He laid his well-manicured hands on my shoulder, holding me like a father holds his son.
“You have been very helpful to me; I can think of one way you can be even more useful,” said Viktor.
He leaned in almost as if he was going to kiss me, then at the last minute he bent his head back as if he was a snake preparing to strike. I expected him to do this, and with one fluid motion I shoved the crucifix directly down the throat of the creature. His sharp teeth cut my hand into ribbons, but the moment the silver touched his throat it erupted in blue flames. I watched in fascination as the vampire's head began to melt, then disintegrate. Within about thirty seconds the entire body of the vampire was reduced to ashes.
My mom’s necklace remained sitting on top of the pile of ash. I reached down and pocketed it. I breathed a sigh of relief, then I looked at the other two caskets. Tears made my vision swim. This is impossible. How am I supposed to kill the people who raised me?
I opened my mom’s casket again; she looked so beautiful laying in perfect peace. They looked happier than they had in years. The wrinkles beginning to form under her eyes were gone, smooth skin replaced it. Bottle that formula and sell it. For one low price of drinking a vampire's blood, you too can have skin that shines bright in the moonlight.
Something caught my eye. I looked down to the now torn backpack and saw the massive padlock I had taken from my dad’s shed. An idea sprung into my mind. Maybe I don’t have to kill them. I can lock them up and re-bury them. The night was nearly here and a decision needed to be made. In a moment of weakness, I chose.
It was well past midnight when I finished packing the rest of the loose dirt back into the hole. Shortly after I started, I could hear a clawing noise coming from within. I didn’t so much as stop for a water break. When the hole was half filled, I couldn’t hear the cries of my parents anymore. Although I do hear them in my dreams sometimes.
The moon was hidden behind rain clouds, making it difficult to see. In my mad scramble out of the catacombs, I had dropped my flashlight. I began my long trek back home, no longer fearing what lies in the dark.

I got a warning that IB failed to find shares to meet delivery for a short position and they would try again tomorrow before closing me out. The stock in question has had hundreds of thousands of "shortable shares" from the day I opened the position to even now. My position is only a few hundred shares. Support has been completely worthless with "we don't actually know how many shares are available". But come on! Almost a million shares "available" and they really can't find enough to cover a position of a few hundred? Has anyone had this happen and did they end up finding shares the morning after?

So I got fired today, they’re reasoning was that I had “To many emotional outbursts and was distracting to the trainer and the other class members”.
Some context, I was in a 9 week training period for a job. I was doing all the work and was one of the top members in my training group when it came to attendance, performance and scores. This class did not come without it’s bumps, we started out with 18 and by week three had 11 due to one particular student who could not grasp the concept of the job we where training for. And when she was told she was wrong she would get verbal and at on point physical. And then we went down too 8 as some drama happened between certain class members and one quit while one got fired.
Now onto me, these class rooms where small and the noise would echo. I get overstimulated as I have extreme anxiety and depression which I’m medicated for but recently the medications haven’t been working. I just got insurance so I was planning on seeing a therapist but until then I was pushing on like a normal human. I had a few times where the overstimulation made me cry so I removed myself for a couple of minutes with the teachers permission and then I would return. I had a panic attack one day as one of the class mates got mad and yelled in my face triggering a episode. But again I removed myself from the room, spoke with the teacher who said I was fine and returned to class. Everyones performance stayed the same and the duties we where doing did not get affected. When they sent me home telling me they where investigating if they wanted to keep me employed I explained my medical condition. But I was still fired, I am hurt, sad and angry

This drama is mainly about the events of Season 7/World Championship 7 (WC7), the season of Battlebots that aired in 2023. Big spoilers for the season inbound, including the overall winner, along with spoilers of the outcomes and winners of previous seasons.
I will try my hardest to be unbiased which is hard because I am extremely biased and any attempt to be unbiased could only come across as enlightened centrism. I will simply try to keep the bias to a manageable level.

Battlebots

In case you don't know, Battlebots (well, combat robotics, but Battlebots is the most well-known and publicized event by an order of magnitude) is a... sport? Game? Hobby? Lifestyle? Where the goal is to throw two robots of a comparable weight against each other, with the goal to destroy each other. Battlebots itself is in the heavyweight category, with a 250 lb weight limit per robot. Other popular weight classes (relatively popular - heavyweight is the only televised one) are antweight (1 lb), beetleweight (3 lb), hobbyweight (12 lb), and lightweight (30 lb.) Battlebots itself airs on Discovery, generally with a main season and a spinoff season each year.
If you watched Battlebots back in the late 90s when it was on Comedy Central, you might remember robots that were basically big wedges pushing each other around a square and maybe occasionally taking a bit of armor off. That's not how it is anymore. Bots are destructive, powerful, and great spectacles to watch fight. Seriously, you should watch Battlebots. It's on Discovery+ and HBO Max. If you don't want to spend the money, Norwalk National Havoc Robotics League (NHRL) has competitions every few months that are livestreamed for free on Youtube in the smaller weight classes.
In case it's not clear from the write-up, Battlebots is filmed usually in the fall, and the season airs spring the next year. So all of the events in this write-up occurred over a 2-week period in OctobeNovember 2022, but only were public drama as the episodes aired January-May 2023. Much like any reality/game show, all the builders, production, etc. knew the outcome of the season before anything aired, there's just millions of dollars of NDAs.

The Culture

Something interesting about Battlebots that might surprise those unfamiliar with it is the culture. While teams work as hard as they can to reduce the other robot to splintered scrap in the box, back in the pits everyone is super awesome and nice and kind and helpful - a frequent occurrence is going to the pit of the bot you just took apart and seeing if there is any way you can help with the rebuild.
The classic example is in the 2021 season, when the iconic Witch Doctor's weapon disk kept breaking due to poor quality steel. They were scrambling to find material and resources to machine a new disk, when a ton of teams came together to save their season.
Team Sporkinok (yes, that's a trans Battlebot) lent them their pickup truck, to go pick up steel from a nearby supplier who was found by the captain of Team Blacksmith.
They needed to recreate the failure to figure out was wrong, so Team Shatter (the biggest, strongest hammer-bot in the competition) took their robot to the test box to try and break a disk.
They took the steel to the nearby build space of Team Chomp, who stayed up all night on their waterjet to cut new disks (the new disks worked well, by the way.)
After the season, they still didn't know for sure what the cause was, so they worked with Team Hypershock to create a dummy test robot, modeled after the very durable robot (and future 2022 champs) Tantrum, they could test the old disks on. They then sent the broken disks to a materials science lab run by a friend of the captain of Team Tantrum to perform materials analysis.
Many of these teams had fought Witch Doctor in the past, others would fight them in the future. But that doesn't matter - in robot combat, everyone is friends outside the box.
Right?

Riptide

Every year there are of course rookie bots competing for the first time. Sometimes from veteran teams and builders, such as last year's Blip (from the creators of Tantrum), or this year's RIPperoni, from former members of the teams behind Uppercut and P1, but just as often from new builders, at least new to heavyweight (almost nobody starts out with with the robots that can cost as much as a new car.)
One of these 'new-to-heavyweight' rookies last year was Riptide, captained by Ethan Kurtz (the guy with the "you know I had to do it to em" pose.) Ethan had found a good amount of success previously with the beetleweight Rival, and Riptide was basically Rival writ 80 times bigger. Riptide had a pretty good first season, winning 2 out of their 3 qualifying fights and making it to the quarterfinals before losing to the extremely good SawBlaze.
No real controversy, aside from a false start and early hit on HUGE in their first fight - written off as "I'm fighting a heavyweight on Battlebots for the first time" nerves, no hard feelings from anyone, not even HUGE. They also gave fan-favorite (formerly) indestructible brick Duck! such a bad thrashing that Duck! permanently retired after that fight (Duck! was having a bad year anyway, that fight was just the icing on the cake.)
Their success led to them co-winning Rookie of the Year alongside Glitch, who won an amazing 7 fights in a row, a feat only done before by 3-time championship winner and undisputed GOAT Bite Force (Glitch had to bow out of the tournament because their bot had taken irreparable damage despite the victories, but it's possible they could have extended it even further.) Riptide became well known for Ethan screaming "LET'S GO!" (or sometimes, "LET'S F------ GO"!", giving the censors a bit of a workout and annoying production) after big wins.
So coming into season 8, their sophomore year, hopes are high for Riptide and people want to see this breakout star do well, right? After all, there's no big controversy in their funding or anything, is there?

Stan Kurtz

Stan is the bald dude next to Ethan in the team picture. He's Ethan's dad, and also one of the main sponsors for the team through his company BeCourageous. Where did Stan Kurtz get his money to sponsor a big team? Well, he once had a company named RevitaPOP. RevitaPOP made vitamin B12 lollipops. If you know anything about 'alternative medicine,' this is where you say "oh no."
Stan Kurtz was once upon a time the president of Generation Rescue. Yes, that Generation Rescue, the Jenny McCarthy 'vaccines-cause-autism' one. He was instrumental in getting the 'movement' off the ground in the first place - I even seem to recall seeing a link to a talk he did where he said he was backstage for McCarthy's interview with Larry King, but I'm not about to sift through hours of his horrid talks and speeches to find it.
Stan Kurtz sold lollipops that he claimed cured autism, autism that he and his organization claimed was caused by vaccines. In fact, he claimed they even cured his son Ethan's autism! Remember this when you read about Ethan's behavior - it's not an excuse, but "autistic but prevented from going to any kind of therapy or anything because it would make his dad look like a liar" is certainly an explanation.
Let me divest into opinion for a sec. Stan Kurtz is evil. There is a direct line between the actions of Stan Kurtz promoting vaccine denalism and snake oil cures, and dead children. Fuck Stan Kurtz. Every other problem with Team Riptide could be overlooked if they did not have this dude as their primary sponsor (which necessarily would require replacing Ethan as captain, because you can't separate him from his dad financially.) Okay, back to the writeup.
But put a pin in "Riptide's captain and his dad are antivaxxers" - it's a surprise tool that will help us later.

Riptide in WC7

Fight 1: Glitch

Aside from that, people didn't have that much of an opinion on Riptide going in to WC7 (and even that wasn't too widely known until partway through the season.) Generally, there was a feeling of "let's see if they can keep it up" - often a lot of very promising rookie bots have weak second seasons. They started the season fighting Glitch, to see who was truly better. One hit, weapon-on-weapon, and Glitch fucking died. Upside down, weapon not spinning, no way to self-right.
Team Glitch asked Riptide to hit them again try to flip them back over, maybe knock some life back into the bot. Not an uncommon thing, but sometimes it backfires. Riptide did, launched Glitch across the box, and now Glitch was super-dead. Instant, extremely decisive knockout for Riptide. No drama yet.

Fight 2: MaD CatTer

Now on to the second fight. This one was against MaD CatTer, consisting of community college professor Martin Mason (goatee in the middle) and his students. Martin Mason is known for his intentionally cheesebally and over-the-top Macho Man imitation/homage, with lots of pointing at the camera and saying "Oh yeah!" Also by all regards the nicest man on planet Earth and one of the most beloved figures in combat robotics.
Of note is MaD CatTer's driver, Calvin Iba (guy beneath Martin's pointing hand.) Calvin Iba is one of the few builders better known for his smaller robot - his robot Lynx is the winningest beetleweight of all time, with an incredible 11 tournament wins, 8 undefeated, and an overall record of 86-11 as of December 2022 (and several events since then, but I can't find overall fight records of those events.) Now, Lynx is a very similar design to Rival (and therefore Riptide) - Lynx predates Rival by a few months, but the design is relatively generic and common at lower weight classes so it's not exactly plagarism.
This is relevant because Battlebots production tried to stir up drama, painting Calvin as angry that Ethan copied his bot and scaled it up to 250lb before Calvin could himself. For what it's worth Calvin did play into it a bit (he brought Lynx to the fight), but by all regards there aren't really any serious hard feelings about that. "Beater bars" (the weapon style of Riptide/Lynx/Rival) predate all three bots. Worth noting that Rival lost to Lynx in a brutal slugfest in the semifinals match of NHRL a few years ago, so maybe Ethan had a bit of a revenge arc more than anything.
On to the fight. MaD CatTer is a pretty serious bot - not most people's favorite to win it all, but a 'serious contender for semifinals' kind of bot - so nobody knew how this would go. It was back and forth for... about 10 seconds, then Riptide got one good hit and did not let up. MaD CatTer got taken apart like they never had before, left a smoking mess, stuck sideways against the arena wall, knocked out within a minute. Riptide then drove around a bit and punted pieces of MaD CatTer around the box, which got them a warning from the ref for being unsafe and for doing unnecessary damage to perfectly salvageable components of MaD CatTer. The team apologized later for that, saying they wouldn't do it again. Remember that.
Okay, two rapid knockouts against serious bots. Riptide is definitely not suffering from the sophomore curse. But in the post-fight interview, we did get a little taste of Ethan being a bit of a jerk - basically dismissed Calvin/Lynx as worse Riptide, and put his hand over Martin's mouth (without Martin's permission) as a way of saying "shut up wrestler man!" Could have been funny, but it came across as somewhat mean-spirited and Martin clearly was not cool with it (and Martin Mason is not a sore loser - he spends almost every post-fight interview gushing about how good the other robot is, even if MaD CatTer loses.) Production asked Calvin what he thought, and he said (while holding Lynx) "well, I designed this robot to be unbeatable, it's a great robot to base it off of. Good job." Good comeback.

Fight 3: Captain Shrederator

Captain Shrederator is a longtime veteran, being one of the few robots (alongside Witch Doctor, Hypershock, and Lock-Jaw) who has competed in all 7 seasons of the reboot. And they've competed for even longer - under various names and throughout various small tweaks, Captain Shrederator is basically the same robot as Phrizbee, from original Battlebots Season 3.0 in 2001. They're not exactly good by any modern standard, to be honest, but they're fun and an institution of the show. Worth noting that leading up to this fight, Nick Nave (son of Shrederator captain Brian Nave and a member of the team) had been hinting at possible controversy around this fight for a few weeks beforehand on the subreddit, so people were ready for some shit.
So going in, everyone expects Riptide to win. Here's a bot that made MaD CatTer look like a middleweight, versus a team with, at the time, a 6-18 career record. Riptide can't be complacent because even Shrederator can do some damage if you let it (by some metrics, Shrederator may have the most powerful weapon in the competition), but it's their fight to lose. Ethan Kurtz explains his strategy in an interview before the fight - get some big hits that flip Shrederator over. Once they're upside-down, they can't self-right and they'll be counted out. Makes sense, a solid, quick, safe, easy way to win. Well, watch the fight here if you can.
If you can't, I will summarize: It starts off with Shrederator dodging Riptide and spinning up, until eventually Riptide gets a solid hit that breaks a piece of Shrederator's shell off and destabilizes them. One more big hit from Riptide and Shrederator lands upside-down - it's over. Well, no. Riptide then goes in and hits them again before they can be counted out. And again. And again. And again. At this point Shrederator is basically completely dead, but it's still able to spin. Shrederator's team calls over to Riptide "yo, stop it we're dead already." Riptide hits Shrederator again. Riptide's weapon operator tells Ethan to hit him again. And so he does. And one more time, as sparks fly out of Shrederator's pulverized electronics. Riptide leaves Shrederator dead on the floor, as they go and, you guessed it, punt shrapnel around the box. At this point the referee has to physically take the controller from Ethan (while the rest of team Riptide tries to stop the ref.)
Of course this is a KO for Riptide, but in doing so they did around $10,000 worth of extra, unnecessary damage to Shrederator, and almost the entire bot had to be thrown out and rebuilt from spares. Riptide was not apologetic (and in fact later Ethan would gloat to the camera over how Team Shrederator hadn't even tried to rebuild their bot.) No members of Team Riptide helped Shrederator rebuild either, though one did offer. (It wasn't Ethan, Stan, or the weapon operator Sid.)
To say this was controversial to the community would be lying. Controversy requires some argument or debate. There was none - everyone thought Riptide went way too far. Riptide later tried to say "we interpreted their spinning as intent to keep fighting, and we couldn't hear them asking us to stop." Which was seen by most of the community as a load of crap, since Ethan had said to the camera that he didn't need to do those late hits just before the fight, and teams are bantering with each other in fights all the time. Riptide was formally warned by the ref again for this fight.
At this point, the editors I guess realized that controversy sells. In almost every remaining episode of the season, even ones where Riptide didn't fight, they had some clip of Riptide, or Ethan, or something else to rub in "these guys are really mean and have a good bot, wHaT iF tHeY wIn???" Very much a 'whenver Riptide's not on screen, all the other robots should be asking "Where's Riptide?"' situation. It got old very fast (read: instantly.)

Fight 4: Black Dragon

You want to talk about beloved teams, you have to mention Black Dragon. This Brazilian team is known for two things - their plush duck, which they won in a claw machine the first time they came to the US for a competition and have kept as a good luck charm ever since, and their durability - they had gone a near-record 24 matches without ever getting knocked out, winning all of those fights or losing by judge's decision. Leading up to this fight, Battlebots kept having segments showing how Black Dragon had almost surpassed Bite Force for the "most fights without a KO" streak (Bite Force was never KO'd in its entire 4-season career, going 26-1 with 1 lost JD.) Of course, then they had to fight Riptide.
This fight was probably the least controversial Riptide fight of the season - you can watch it here. Riptide went in and did not let up, unrelenting, leading to the Brazilian bot suffering their first ever KO in under a minute. Riptide was actually pretty chill in the post-fight interview, very respectful towards Black Dragon - I guess that ref warning stuck. For now. With that, Riptide advanced to 4-0 in the qualifiers, and ended up securing themselves the #2 overall seed (behind the undefeated Brazilian monster Minotaur, a favorite to win it all every season and the season 3 runner-up.)

Round of 32: Shatter

For those who don't know, Battlebots has a series of qualifying fights (this year, 4 fights per bot) to determine, out of the contenders (50 this year), which 32 get to compete in the tournament for the Giant Nut, and where they will be seeded. As the #2 seed, Riptide got to fight the #31 seed - hammer-bot Shatter, who you saw earlier helping Witch Doctor. Now, let me not mince words - Shatter was fucked. To paraphrase a comment I saw, "If Shatter drives like a god, gets the most perfect hammer shots ever, and in general is the best a hammer has ever looked in the history of hammers... they will still lose." There was no way Shatter could ever, ever win, barring some kind of catastrophic self-induced failure from Riptide. But damn it, Shatter captain Adam Wrigley was sure as hell going to try.
Now, for more info, the bots have rules that govern what you can do. There's a lot, but 2 are relevant - strict 250 lb weight limit, and the tip speed of a spinning weapon cannot exceed 250 mph. Bots are weighed before each fight to confirm the weight limit, and all bots with spinners have to do tip speed tests in the test box. After the weigh-in, you cannot modify or work on your bot in any way without the approval of production and safety. Not for anything. Maybe a sticker if you want.
So when a Shatter team member found Riptide working on their bot in the tunnel leading from the pits just before the fight, questions were had, and team Shatter demanded Riptide be reweighed and tip speed retested (there were rumors in the pits that they were spinning faster than 250mph.) The team later explained they were attaching a plastic hammer to the robot to mimic Shatter (teams doing funny decorative mods to their bot to mimic the other bot is a longstanding tradition.) All evidence seemed to point to that being the case, so nobody thinks they were lying about it, but it still warranted a reweigh. My opinion - that's fine, but tell production. If people think you're going to do something illegal, and you do something legal but in a way that looks illegal, don't be surprised when people think you're doing something illegal.
I will note that the show made a big deal out of how when Riptide was weighed before they were 'caught,' they weighed in at 250 lb, and the re-weighing said they were 248. There was some concern from Shatter about that, not helped by Stan Kurtz being kind of smug back to them. In response to one Shatter member asking "Why is it 248 now and 250 before?", Stan responded "You're right, there's something wrong. We made it lighter." Now, the thing with this is that there are multiple scales, they're not extremely precise, and if anyone has ever worked with industrial scales before you know how easily they come out of calibration. Some builders have said that whether or not the AC was on could add a pound of weight from the airflow. The "250lb" scale was not the same as the "248lb" scale as well. Generally, nobody really thinks there is something up with the weight, but working on the bot post-weigh-in absolutely warrants a reweigh, no matter who it is.
Riptide complained a lot about it, to the point where the word "whiney" comes to mind. You messed up, teams are meant to tell production before they add decorative stuff and you didn't, so you need to be reweighed. You've already pissed people off in the past so don't be surprised when they give you a bit more scrutiny. Take your lumps, apologize, act like adults, and maybe people will give you the benefit of the doubt next time. Instead, there was a lot of "oh boo is me, we're being discriminated against" - a direct quote from Ethan is "their paranoia is affecting our performance, I think it's really uncool that they did this." Granted, if the scale drifted the other way and they had to lose 2lb of armor to satisfy the arbitrary scale drift, I would get it more, but as it is they just look, well, whiney.
At this time, unbeknownst to anyone until they revealed it on a livestream, Team Whyachi (the team behind the powerful flipper Hydra, engine of (self-)destruction Fusion, and Comedy Central-era legend Son of Whyachi, who had the pit next to Riptide, was asked by production to put a spy camera up to make sure everything was above board. Allegedly they also began doing analysis of the audio and video of the actual fights, to make sure teams (read: one team) weren't cheating and spinning faster than the "maximum speed" they did in the test box.
However, aside from the (explainable, acceptable) scale drift, Riptide was not found to be cheating with tip speed or anything else. Shatter accepted this without complaint - they just wanted to be sure. So, that's out of the way. Ethan basically said "they are paranoid and are trying to ruin us so we will crush them" - fair enough, I suppose. Here's the fight (note: this video includes the entire 'weigh-in' drama before the fight if you want to watch it instead of just reading about it.) For what it's worth, Shatter lasted longer than anyone yet against Riptide - almost 2 minutes - but it went the way everyone expected. The most unexpected thing was in the post-fight, where Ethan basically said "Adam is a paranoid loser" (alongside, allegedly, some more personal insults that got cut), then went in for a "sporting" handshake. Unsurprisingly, Adam refused it.
Now, Adam is basically the "union rep" for the builders - he's the guy chosen (by the builders) to represent them when Battlebots is thinking about changing the rules. He is a very widely respected guy and is by all accounts very sporting and nice. So when you've pissed him off enough that he refuses the handshake (only the second refused handshake in modern Battlebots history, as far as I am aware), you know you fucked up. But either way, Riptide is on to the round of 16.

Round of 16: Hypershock

You saw Hypershock earlier. They're quite good - definitely a contender, though generally not going to be anyone's main pick to win it all. This year, they were the #18 seed after a rough set of qualifiers, fighting 2021 champs End Game, 2021 runner-up Whiplash, perennial contender SawBlaze, and the confusingly fast Claw Viper (seriously watch this, look how fast that boy is.) But after a solid win over #15 seed Lucky, they were on to the round of 16.
When I say Hypershock is a fan favorite, I mean they are the fan favorite - between their iconic style, aggressive driving, and captain Will Bales's humor and charisma, it's probably not wrong to say Hypershock is the most popular bot and team around. People love Hypershock, and people don't love Riptide, so this fight had a lot of "save us, O-Will Bales Kenobi, you're our only hope" energy with the community. Leading up to this, Will said in an interview that Riptide was good, but every team can't be good forever, and that someday Ethan will experience, in Will's words, a "humbling event."
But Hypershock wasn't the odds-on favorite here - Will Bales's flashy driving tends to lead to errors, and against something as nasty as Riptide, any error is death. The full fight isn't uploaded, but here's a clip of the post-fight highlight reel. Will started out doing a 'box rush' (charging straight at the other bot as soon as the fight starts), only to attempt to dodge to the side. Unfortunately, this led to him powersliding directly into Riptide's weapon, losing a wheel, and getting flipped over.
Now, the thing with vertical spinners in Battlebots is they spin 'up' - this means that the outer side goes up and the inner side goes down, so you can brace your own bot against the floor and send the other one flying. Now Hypershock is upside down, effectively spinning 'down,' so the energy from hits pushes the other bot down and themselves up. Riptide is spinning 'up' as normal. Both of these are extremely powerful weapons. Both want to send Hypershock into the air. So what happens when they collide? The energy of both weapons goes into sending Hypershock flying up over 25 feet and slamming into the ceiling of the Battlebox. Remember that that thing weighs 250 pounds. To quote Will in the post-fight interview, "nobody has ever been hit like that before." Much to the chagrin of Hydra captain Jake Ewert, who had the goal of being the first-ever bot to send another bot into the ceiling (and came within inches in their fight against Deathroll), Riptide made Battlebots history here.
The rest of the fight goes as expected at this point and Hypershock is KO'd, with Riptide moving into the quarterfinals. Sorry Will, you aren't the humbling event this time.

Quarterfinals: Copperhead

It's the final episode of the season - the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals are all in one episode. People are spooked because Riptide is a incredible, powerful bot built and driven by shitty people, and nobody wants them to win but they might. But to go any further, they have to beat Copperhead.. This snake-themed bot is probably best known for getting a new captain almost every year, and this year it's Luke Quintal in charge for his first time. They just came off of an insanely dominant upset over 2021 champs End Game.
Luke has said that he was too focused on Copperhead to pay attention to the controversy, so he became aware of it when, leading up to this fight, builders kept coming up to him and whispering in his hear "dude, you have to beat Riptide. You have to beat them. You might be our last hope." He's just a first-year captain/driver, with the oldest bot in the competition (Copperhead has had the same two frames for its entire 4-year career - this is the longest any frame has competed in the history of modern Battlebots without replacement), who's had to have back-to-back fights against rookie of the year Ripperoni, 2018 Most Destructive winner ROTATOЯ, and End Game. No pressure.
Now, people have tried ways to beat Riptide. You can't just tank their hits with a durable bot (Black Dragon.) You can't outdrive them with fancy footwork (Hypershock.) But something nobody has been man insane enough to try is to go weapon-to-weapon on purpose to break Riptide's weapon. Copperhead just went weapon-to-weapon with End Game and broke theirs. Copperhead is durable enough to take those huge hits Riptide deals out. So their strategy is to just go berserk until something breaks. But there's one major plot twist left.
Remember how I said the Kurtzes are anti-vaxxers? Well, the pandemic is still going on. In order to get into the pits, you either had to be double-vaxxed or test negative every day. Well, there's no confirmation that Ethan was or was not vaxxed (but let's be real), but guess what? In the greatest Chekhov's gun in Battlebots history, he tested positive for COVID the day of the Copperhead fight. Riptide is out their driver for their biggest fight ever.
Other builders have confirmed that this was not the first or only time that team members had to miss days due to testing positive, but previous times either 1) did not involve the drivers, or 2) were in the qualifying rounds where fights could be postponed to following days. But neither was the case this time. Now, this is really a shitty situation for Riptide, and I do feel some degree of pity for them - what a thing to happen. But at the same time, lmao.
Riptide has to spend most of the day deciding who would drive the robot in the fight. The first person they ask? Jack Barker, driver of End Game and 2021 world champion. Jack agreed - can you blame him? Riptide is a hell of a bot, probably super fun to drive, and who knows, maybe he could win another Giant Nut. This got as far as Jack driving Riptide around the test box, before Luke found out and was like "hang on, no. He's not on your team. It's not fair that you can just go to the best driver in the pits and ask them to drive for you." Production agreed and hastily made a new rule where the driver has to be a member of the team. This all was not in the episode, and was only revealed by Luke Quintal after the season aired.
Team Riptide then deliberated between the several members of the team who might stand a chance. They eventually decide on team member Felix Jing, who's an award-winning Vex Robotics driver but has never driven a heavyweight before. Felix seemed to be a nice enough guy, and pretty humble. However, in the deliberations over who would drive, they lose time and are unable to replace their damaged weapon from the Hypershock fight.
So the fight. Riptide box rushes Copperhead, and the first weapon-to-weapon sends Copperhead flying. Luke's bot is still going, though, and goes in for another clash. This goes on for a few hits, until a massive hit sends Copperhead flying up and Riptide flying back - but when they come to, Copperhead's weapon is spinning... and Riptide's weapon is cracked down the middle, exactly what Copperhead was aiming for.
Copperhead does not let up and keeps hitting, eventually ripping about a quarter of Riptide's weapon off completely. However, the damage from the last 4 years of fighting added up. Those big hits from Riptide were the final straw - one of Copperhead's two wheels just falls off. Copperhead can still move, just about, on just one wheel, but suddenly this fight got a lot closer. They keep hitting Riptide, but it goes to the judges after the full 3 minutes.
It's a split decision. Battlebots is scored on an 11-point system - 5 points for damage, and 3 each for aggression and control.
All three judges gave Copperhead three damage points to Riptide's two and Riptide two control points to Copperhead's one.
The first judge scored aggression 2-1 for Copperhead. 6-5 Copperhead.
The second judge scored aggression 2-1 for Riptide. 6-5 Riptide.
The third judge scored aggression 2-1 for the winner...
Copperhead!
They did it, they saved the goddamn universe. We will not have to live in a world where the ur-anti-vaxxer and his dickhead kid win Battlebots. Everyone is fucking ecstatic. I cheered. The audience cheered. God probably cheered. And boy, did the pits cheer - some builders have said this was the biggest celebration in the pits they had ever seen. Tim Rackley of Monsoon (big lad with the flag) apparently was picking Luke up and carrying him around the pits cheering. Riptide is out.
It's a pity Ethan wasn't there to experience his 'humbling event' in person, but it happened. He was there on a video call on a tablet - apparently, production did ask him how he felt and he went on a 5-minute rant about how the team was being forced to face jealousy and adversity because they had to get reweighed. The entire rant was cut from the episode that aired. I've seen conflicting reports if he said "if I was there we would have won," but it would be in character if he did.
Team Riptide used their appeal (each team gets one) to ask the judges to re-review the fight - they did (absolutely fair - you have nothing to lose, anyone should appeal in this situation), and as though to rub it in even more, the sole judge who ruled for Riptide changed his mind about Riptide's aggression, giving Copperhead a unanimous JD. The saga of Riptide in WC7 ends here.

Aftermath

There was zero drama of any kind for the rest of the season (all 3 fights of it.) All the fights were great, clean fights between respected and respectful teams and robots. Copperhead ended up losing to HUGE in the semi-finals - no surprise or shame there, HUGE is designed to be invincible to bots like Copperhead. HUGE ended up facing the mighty SawBlaze in the finals, and in probably the best finals match in combat robotics history, SawBlaze managed to win a unanimous JD, giving SawBlaze captain Jamison Go the Giant Nut.
Literally zero people were unhappy with this - both Jamison and HUGE captain Jonathan Schultz are some of the nicest, most genuine, humble builders in the sport, and going into the finals it was very much a "no matter who wins we all win" kind of thing. Both bots are also "non-meta" - "meta" being the general form of bot that Hypershock, Riptide, Witch Doctor, Copperhead, etc. are, a compact vertical spinner - seasons 3-6 saw meta bots win both first place and runner-up, so people were excited to see a finals match with something new on both sides.
This was very recent, so no news if Riptide will be invited back next year. I would be shocked if they weren't, though - controversy sells, and regardless of how bad the team is, the robot is a killing machine that makes for incredible spectacles. There is allegedly a "sportsmanship rule" being added next year - it's a pity that something that has gone unspoken for decades has to codified in rules because of the actions of one team, but hopefully it will help. Between unethical sponsors, destroying fan favorite bots, being rude both inside and outside the box, cheating allegations, and a stunning lack of humility, Riptide really checked all the boxes in the 'bad guys' field this year.
I could say "the viewing community is willing to give Riptide one more chance to apologize and redeem themselves" but that would be a lie. For the most part, the subreddit, main Discord, etc. are all sick and tired of ever seeing the team again, and would love nothing more than for some cool, nice builder to hijack the bot so we can have cool robots and cool people. I don't know how the builders feel - I imagine that they're probably not quite as vehemently opposed to the team on average, but there's probably no love lost.
I enjoyed writing this up quite a lot, because it really was a classic "villain defeats the main good guys, but then the underdog comes out of nowhere and saves the day" story. Also Battlebots rules. Feel free to ask me anything about the show, or any bots, or if you want to see some cool bots that I didn't include. And seriously, watch Battlebots, it's so good. Check out /battlebots - it's the off-season, so the shitposts are about to get real good. I'm running out of characters so the collection of miscellaneous facts I originally had stuck on the end of this writeup is going to be in the comments.

If they ride solo there's almost no discount. The super broke Pool customers of the old days probably won't bite just for the chance at a small discount.
The reason it used to be so popular is that you got a guaranteed ~50% off and you ended up riding alone a lot of the time.
So far it doesn't seem like that many people are using the ride type. Lots of these will be solo riders who don't get matched with anyone else.
But yes, it's garbage if you can't disable shared rides. It shouldn't be bundled with X.

After maybe 6-7 years since i started my journey (procrastinating don’t ask) in t minus 30 days my doc will start me on stimulants if the current don’t work.
I haven’t told my doc cause it seems not to be the best idea but my experience with them is extremely effective.
Just had to post cause I’m so happy to take control of my life

Almost unbelievable after 2 stress tests there have been login issues almost every day. Currently looking at a 1,500 minute queue which is just laughable.
For a $70 game this is pretty unreal. Blizzard has no shame aftet botching this so hard and killing Overwatch with that half-assed rerelease of the same game we got years ago.
How the mighty have fallen.

So I (27m) recently met someone (25f) on hinge. We had a few things in common and we went on a date. The first date was okay, but I felt like the spark that I was looking for was missing. We ended on a rather awkward kiss which she said was due to her not dating in a while. She asked if I was interested in a second date still and I said yes due to the fact that I think first dates can be rather nerve racking for most people and that maybe I would get to like her more on the second.
So we meet up for a drink and things are going a little bit better. My attraction towards her was beginning to grow more. We end up sharing a kiss which was better than the first because there was no awkwardness. However it was a pretty bad kiss. But I thought hey not everyone is great at kissing. After a few more drinks and chatting we agree to go back to hers. Things seem to be going well.
During foreplay she reveals some self harm scars on her body that she’s understandably very insecure about. This isn’t a problem for me. We all have our own issues that we battle with at the end of the day. When we start having sex though it feels like our bodies just don’t mesh well together. We end up having some pretty bad sex. Without going into detail it’s as if our bodies just weren’t supposed to be with one another.
Essentially I want to call things off between us but I want to be able to make sure that she’s aware that it’s nothing to do with her scars or trauma. And that I think she’s a really lovely person but that I just don’t think we’re a good fit for one another. I’m really nervous that I’m going to make her feel used or disposable. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

I’m back again! Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything except ghosts and people who don’t really know what they want. I can’t believe I have to say this but I am not here to just dirty talk with you so if you are looking to just flirt with someone please move along, I’m looking for a real connection! I have not had excellent luck with love, I’ve been single for a very long time searching for that one who ticks most or even just some of the boxes and I am seriously looking for long-term rest of my-life type thing... So please only reply if you are SERIOUS about dating and know what you want. Where I live everyone is super outdoors oriented and I am quite an introverted homebody who likes video games and cozy nights at home. Online dating apps have been a complete bust due to this, so here I am on Reddit. If you don’t have a good post history on your account you will have to make sure you write a great intro message telling me about yourself or I probably won’t reply. I was almost catfished a while ago so please also send a picture.
​

• 36, just shy of 5"11, short brown hair, blue eyes, trimmed beard. Kinda like a big ol' bear. Or at least I have been told I have a Papa Bear look whatever that means. This is me
• BC, Canada - I won’t give too much away about my location yet but I am in The Okanagan in BC. Seattle is about 6 hours away from me and Vancouver is about 4 hours away.
• No kids - I'm not sure if I want them but open to it if my future partner doesLoves animals, especially big doggos - I had to put down my German Shepherd of 12 years in December and it was the toughest thing I've ever had to do. I have a new puppy! 4-month-old Golden Retriever, expect pics and videos of him!
• Super nerdy - Most of what I do is play video games so if you could join me in that, that would be great especially if we are unable to hang out in person often. I love talking about gaming and gaming-related news.
• Dad bod - Maybe a little bit more than that but I am working on getting it down. I understand that’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it is what it is!
• My taste in music is all over the place. From Video Game Soundtracks & Remixes, Lo-fi, 80's, Rap, Country, Rock, I like pretty much all of it but if I had to pick my top ones I would say Melodic Metal (Amaranthe, Ad Infinitum, Follow the Cypher), and Rock.
• I will always be respectful and treat you kindly.
• Homebody - I don’t really like going out all the time or being outdoors a lot. An issue I’m having is finding someone whose whole identity isn’t hiking, camping, & fishing. I like taking my puppy for walks and to the dog beach though.
• Depression & Anxiety! - Yup me too! Seems to be common among gamers and most people on the internet. Maybe the internet is the problem hmmm... Anyway, support of mental health awareness is a must, and non-judginess (that's not a word) is a must.
• No drugs! - I don’t do any drugs and do not even smoke weed. I don’t care if you smoke weed just don’t let it be your personality lol
• Rarely drink - the last drink I had was over a year ago, I don’t care for it but I will have a drink rarely.
• Non-religious - I don't really believe in any one thing and don't really like it when people are too religious. Religious usually means judgemental. I would really prefer it if religion was not an important factor in your life.
• Supportive - I will be your personal hype man and emotionally support you for almost anything!
• Hopeless romantic - I like to say cheesy things and I probably fall a little too easily.

Now, what about you? What am I looking for? Well...

• 25-40 years old - I don’t think I’d go more than that age range. I have a silly joke book of "The Bro Code" from How I Met Your Mother and in there, it says the youngest you should date is half your age + 7 so I tend to go by that. I have a sister whos 23 so too young would be weird.
• Nerdy - At least even a little bit? I’d love to play video games together, even if you aren't super into them as long as it's something we can sometimes do together. Even if it's just Mario. I would really like it if you also play Diablo 4 since that is what I am mainly playing at the moment and would love to be able to play together.
• Tattooed - obviously, this isn’t actually needed, it’s just really attractive
• Effort - This one is huge. I don’t like to be the one to send the first message all the time. Please be able to hold a conversation. I don’t want to be the one asking all the questions and keeping the conversation going. I just wanna feel like I matter. I want someone that wants to put time and effort into me and I will return it. I like waking up to cute messages you have left or just something that tells me you’ve been thinking about me. Go ahead and be needy, just don’t be controlling.
• Kind - Treat people kindly in general. Not just me. So much negativity in the world I would really like someone that likes to spread kindness and smiles. Also as I said, don't be judgy.
• This one is difficult to explain because I don’t want to seem mean but I don’t find myself attracted to big women. I always hate saying that but there are people who like big women or small women and everything in between. My attraction ranges from petite to curvy. You don’t have to be a gym rat. In fact, I would prefer it if you weren’t a gym rat. I try to keep telling myself it’s okay to have preferences because I do feel bad for ever mentioning it.
• I don’t care how much you have or make and you really shouldn’t care how much I have either.
• Open - I want us to be able to talk about EVERYTHING together. Obviously, this takes time but I have anxiety and don't want to be constantly thinking something is wrong because you are always vague.

It probably seems like I am looking for something a little TOO specific but as I said before you don’t have to check all the boxes. Sometimes you just click with someone and the attraction is just there but I have yet to find that.
I am not interested in anyone from another country! Unless it's pretty close like Seattle, Washington but I primarily want someone in BC, Canada, or at least within 6-8 hours of me like Alberta or something, and you must be willing to travel. I’m just not very good with long-distance unless we are constantly talking and doing things together, so I don't want anything further than that unless you have the resources to visit me often. I don’t really want to leave BC so hopefully if you aren’t within this area then you are willing to relocate in the future. I just want someone who will talk to me every day, send each other memes and music, and do stuff together like best friends would.
This was a lot longer post than I thought and I hope that doesn’t scare people away. I’m just really exhausted with online dating. Thanks for reading my long post! If any of this sounds good to you please feel free to message me and tell me a little about yourself. I’d like you to include a picture too since I’m so cautious now.

Four days after the political catastrophe in Harraq (more than two weeks after the death of Emperor Sennacheri-ba):
The messenger birds from Harraq have finally arrived in Enili. They carry terrible news for the supporters of Marendoth - the philosopher is rumored to be collaborating against the nations of the Bay of Kawriq with the Grandchildren of Alash, a cult slowly spreading throughout the lands. Marendoth was known to question both the rule of kings and gods in his works. Becoming involved with a cult doesn't seem like an action he would choose to take. Some of his followers do not believe in these rumors, while others agree with him and see a new political power in the spreading Faith of Alash, possibly an ally.
The philosopher has been temporarily stripped of his citizen status until his guilt is disproven.
Only a handful of the Grandchildren of Alash live within the city, but this fact is not well-known. Now it seems as if they are everywhere. Many public speakers describing themselves as carriers of truth now teach the Faith on the streets, and the people listen, as they always do, consider, and some even show interest in joining the Faith. Many of those speakers are known citizens of the city and trusted followers of Marendoth. The city militia is on high alert, and the envoy riders and mounted archers from the Colony in the north have already been called for support, though they will arrive in no less than four days.
At the same time, a meeting is taking place, but not of any official board or institution. The conspirators gather in the most eastern part of the city, in a poorly lit basement of one of the newly built palaces. Fearful and accusatory words are exchanged; people whisper and scream, but the decision has already been taken.
This was always considered as an option, and the events were set into motion no more than two weeks ago.
They know what has to be done. The vote was unanimous.
One of the men stands up, raising his chalice.
"It was an honor to be either a friend or enemy to all of you, but my time has come. Nonetheless, I would like to raise a toast for the freedom of Enili, for the new political power soon to come, and for the revolution!"
Five days after PCH:
The royal Enili caravan heading to the funeral of the old Emperor has been stopped in its tracks by a messenger from the city.
The health of Izevel, whose state already did not allow for travel, has worsened to a point where it is feared that he might soon die.
The caravan is divided into two groups. One of the groups, containing most of the royal family, continues its travel to Kawriq. The other group, (with which Shiari-sa, the heir to the Enili throne, travel) , heads back towards the capital.
The city has become divided. There are rumors of a Cult of Alash-led revolution. The news of Izevel's state has already spread to the public.
Six days after PCH:
Sun sets over Harraq, as a large group of thugs and other men claiming to be the Grandchildren of Alash attacks a prison where one of their kin is being held.
At the same time in Enili, the revolutionists strike under the cover of night. Much of the eastern fringe of the city is burning. Many of the philosophers who opposed Marendoth fight alongside the militia to combat the Alash cultists and anti-monarchists aligned with Marendoth. The temple of the Feathered Twins and the defensive fortifications surrounding it are the most protected parts of the city, to which many bystanders flee. However, apparently, even among the priests of the twin gods there were hidden followers of Alash, who now successfully kill one of the higher-ranking members of the priesthood before they can be stopped by the city militia. One of those men takes his own life, but the other is taken prisoner. They both held concealed poisoned daggers.
The palace of Izevel has fallen. The fate of the ruler of Enili is as of yet unknown.
One is certain: day seven will forever change the history of a nation
To be continued

TLDR: I took her on 3 dates so far and didn't give her so much as a kiss because she hasn't hinted at anything. I didn't want to rush it and possibly be the one labeled as desperate / the creep.
There's not much the tldr didn't already explain, but it's basically just that. We met on tinder and talked for about a week and a half and went on 3 dates. The day of the 4th date, she cancelled and said she felt no romantical connection with no intention to talk it through. I haven't had sex or even kissed her in those 3 dates so maybe that's it. After all the talk about finding a guy that wanted more than just sex from her... I wanted to take it slow and at her pace because I didn't want to risk that awkward moment and have the date potentially go sour.
Not sure what I did wrong if anything at all. I'll remind you that she's hinted at nothing and had no conversation about anything romantical. I did find that she made a new account on bumble the day of. Maybe she found another guy while we were scheduled for another date.
Was I wrong for not taking control of the pace? What about having an unrealistic expectation about what women want?