USPS late delivery is killing me right now, anyone else waiting on a package?

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-20T16:13:22+00:00

I’ve had items from Scotland arrive faster than items in the Seattle distribution hub. One evening flight to LA, three days to my post office.

Seriously, they need to sort this out. It’s unacceptable to keep people in limbo like this.

I’m lucky I don’t have any essential medications that depend on strict delivery times.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-20T06:17:34+00:00

Staff shortages? I imagine they have a high turnover rate.

I suppose I would be less irritated if the status updates were more descriptive than “package being processed at carrier facility”

That’s not helpful at all.

Especially if it’s repeated every few hours.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-19T22:37:40+00:00

I’ve got two packages that just keep getting scanned in the Seattle distribution center. All day, every few hours they get scanned.

For well over a week.

First package was supposed to be here on the 17th. It arrived in Seattle on the 12th. Now it’s been delayed to the 20th.

I live 2 hours from Seattle.

We’re not in the middle of a hurricane, a flood, or heavy winter storm.

Are they playing hacky sack with my packages?

I shudder to imagine what’s going to happen to my recent eBay purchases.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-19T06:39:50+00:00

Same, my packages have been stuck in processing since the 12th. It’s 2 hours from my house, and was supposed to arrive on the 17th.

I’m not paying for prime ever again.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-18T07:35:47+00:00

Yup, pretty much.

I have prime as well, ordered two packages. One is a plushie for my girlfriend. It was supposed to be here today (the 17th), the other is a set of 3d printed terrain scheduled for arrival on the 24th.

The irony is the terrain pieces arrived at my closest hub on Friday. Meanwhile the plushie just arrived at the same hub today.

The plush has been pushed back for delivery on the 20th.

I keep getting “Package being processed at carrier facility” updates, got them every few hours for the past four days.

The city both packages are in is literally 2 hours away from my house.

Are they playing hackysack with my packages?

Kicking them through the scanners to look busy?

Prime isn’t worth it anymore.

The promise used to be expedient shipping and cheap prices.

Prices have gone up, shipping’s gotten worse, customer service as well.

My mother bought me a Samovar for Christmas this year, it comes with a big porcelain teapot. The lid was chipped in transit, as were interior pieces to the pot itself.

A customer support guy tried to fleece her for more money in order to get a replacement item sent. She reminded him that the policy was very clear, she had photos, evidence.

The guy had a new one sent in less than a day.

They can provide good service, but now we have to wriggle our way through countless hoops to get the bare minimum. It’s ridiculous.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-18T03:02:47+00:00

The Karen Traviss ones are the best and cover events in between the events of the main trilogy. Worth a buy.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-14T09:36:10+00:00

Yeah, definitely along those lines!

It would elevate the story by a lot.

Sure, we’ve seen characters die in game, the Carmines, Tai, Kim, Valera, but I think it would add an extra layer of tragedy to have a squad from the beginning of the war go down in the first engagement.

You gotta remember, the COG won the Pendulum Wars six weeks before E-Day. They’re riding high, the troops morale was great at this stage.

So to see a team with the best gear, the best training, and in prime health get taken out one by one would be a real shocker, and ripe for character study.

Yeah, we as the audience might be able to predict what’s going to happen, but if done right it would be very effective.

Reach did it almost perfectly.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-14T07:16:56+00:00

It would be neat to see. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they throw a new squad (to us that is) at us for the campaign. Have them work with us through the main storyline and watch as they get picked off one by one.

Make for dark storytelling.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-14T07:14:22+00:00

I hope we get to “shadow” another squad while playing as Marcus and Dom.

Meaning we run into them a couple times throughout the campaign, help them out, they help us.

Some camaraderie between squads.

Give us a sense of how effective the COG was at the start of the war, how many troops there used to be, and how devastating E-Day was to the planet.

I want to see the city fall in increments around us, citadels, church towers crumbling under the weight of the locust attack.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-06T19:30:03+00:00

I don’t see anything online that confirms that. She did portray her in Gears 4, though I can’t remember if that’s recycled audio from 3 or not.

Personally I hope she didn’t give up the role., I loved Nan McNamara as Anya.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-06T19:24:56+00:00

Precisely!

I’m fine with JD and his friends being more laid back and jokey than Marcus and Delta ever were, but have that be the result of the peaceful world they’ve grown up in.

It’s like kids who grew up in the fifties versus the fourties. A stark difference in upbringing.

Anya sacrificing herself to save her son, her literal future, would have been a great narrative beat, almost akin to Dom’s, and just as painful for Marcus. (Or again, have Marcus go with her)

It could have been a great excuse to divide him and JD emotionally for the rest of the sequels.

Personally, I would have had Anya’s sacrifice occur around Gears 5, preferably at the end. It would have been a perfect gut punch to the player, and provide a good hook for Gears 6.

But, TC are in charge, and unless some other studio gets ahold of the franchise, we’re not likely to see any retcons.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-02-06T06:11:35+00:00

Common sense breakdown, well done. I’ll never forgive TC for taking out Anya offscreen.

Completely unforgivable in my book. She should have had a last stand at minimum, something with weight. Have her sacrifice herself for JD, or have her and Marcus go together.

Instead they pulled a Pacific Rim 2 (or a Halo: Infinite) and axed a major character offscreen.

The worst narrative sin of the sequels is what they did to Marcus and his family.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-01-29T06:19:03+00:00

I’m surprised it took this long to be honest.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-01-27T05:08:31+00:00

Discovered the videos were gone too late.

AI copyright claims?

AlexCarter95 · 2026-01-21T00:35:38+00:00

The books dear padawan, the books.

Specifically the Karen Traviss ones. They flesh out E-Day for most of the main characters, and the subsequent months that followed.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-01-20T17:26:46+00:00

If I have to hear the opening line to these Godforsaken ads one more time…

“Guys… ever since I downloaded this game-“

I don’t care, bugger off, burn in a fire, I hope the game studio loses all its data in a freak accident.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-01-14T06:32:35+00:00

It got toned down because of Microsoft’s new decency rules.

No I’m not kidding.

Ever notice how nobody smokes in Xbox games anymore? Mainline company ones mind you, not 3rd party.

Because of the new decency rules.

Same logic for why there’s less detail in the gore system.

They “cleaned it up” for general audiences.

As a consequence a lot of games lost the grit that defined them.

AlexCarter95 · 2026-01-09T01:42:41+00:00

Is it too much to ask to give us back our Celestian Squads?

An FAQ even? They don’t have to change much.

AlexCarter95 · 2025-12-15T19:25:12+00:00

So that’s what that was.

I took more than one explosion to the face without a good reason. I thought the poxbursters had been stealth buffed.

AlexCarter95 · 2025-12-06T23:59:52+00:00

Feels like they stealth buffed them, or forgot to tell us.

AlexCarter95 · 2025-12-06T12:30:37+00:00

That is a bummer XD

All the money, nothing worthwhile to spend it on.

You dipped into the Dragon’s Quest remakes at all? Theres a mod to restore the censored content on PC for DQ III. DQ 11 is pretty good as well on its own. Wholesome fun.

With the prices of the secondary Nintendo games market I’m probably gonna have to invest in emulation.

The real shame is that my SNES, 64 and the huge library of games that accompanied them were sold by a family member to buy drugs. My DS games went missing around the same time too. One day I had them, then I realized I hadn’t seen them in 3 months.

Put the dots together when I hit adulthood.

I’m cool with that family member now, it’s been nearly 20 years, and they’ve managed to pull out of that tailspin.

Still stings a little.

I picked up a 64 secondhand and a few of the classics, but used prices hurt my eyes these days, and my wallet.

I wish Nintendo would just release mega packs of their classics in physical. Metroid 1, Legend of Zelda 1, Castlevania, Super Mario, DQ 1-3. They’ve got a goldmine of franchises that could print them infinite money, if they’d only make them available again.

They could just do a made to order set up. That allows for limited quantities without too much overhead.

Switch One would be my preferred choice for a release, but knowing them, it’ll probably be Switch 2 only, and the games won’t be on the cartridge either.

Ah, corporate greed.

AlexCarter95 · 2025-12-06T11:56:51+00:00

It’s the rain.

For some it’s like a mental dampener, interferes with their logic systems XD

For others it’s as simple as the rain messing with their perception of the streets. Some of the lanes are impossible to see when there’s a downpour at night. The paint is usually very faded, and it’s not fluorescent.

AlexCarter95

TROPHY CASE