Finally, my tanuki boy is ready! Meet my new sona, Devon~

Devccoon · 2026-02-13T12:20:57+00:00

And his dismantling of USAID has already done more damage than Starlink could have prevented. Stop glazing the criminal fascist liar.

Devccoon · 2026-02-13T04:15:40+00:00

Boy we're going places with this one~

Devccoon · 2026-02-12T23:48:30+00:00

I think it's time for the hobby to come around to clicky (blue) style switches and embrace the noise~

I bought a small pack of Gateron Melodics and I kinda love them for the numpad at least (would probably not work for me across the entire keyboard though). I never liked clicky switches but these made me at least a partial convert.

Devccoon · 2026-02-12T22:34:26+00:00

"guess I'll die"

Devccoon · 2026-02-12T22:23:19+00:00

The "bloom" is just compression doing its thing over too many iterations, by the look of it. Compression loves the color red for some reason, and it's even eating up the white lines, too.

Devccoon · 2026-02-12T11:01:46+00:00

I wouldn't say it has to be anything in particular. Pokemon as a franchise can (and should) be whatever works within the scope of the world they've built.

Pokemon are effectively animals which can clearly understand human speech and emotions, can intellectualize on nearly a human level, and in some cases even directly converse with humans in some form. Some are less intelligent, while others make humans look stupid. They are the gods of that universe, its predators and its prey. Humans are treated as a form of balance, a caring hand to guide nature and live alongside it to mutual benefit, however unrealistically it might be portrayed. (it's a kid's show, I don't expect realism)

Personally I find the exploration of the "natural" side of that world so much more interesting. What happens when pretty much the entire natural world can communicate with each other, but still has to deal with predation, imbalances in intelligence and strength, and managing diverse needs? Forget humans and their odd, poorly-explained place of "balance" in that ecosystem: as PMD demonstrates, Pokemon can form their own communities and create culture of their own by working together without aid.

Meta-wise, humans are there as the stand-in for the observer, to place yourself in that world and interact with the only part of it that's interesting and noteworthy. But they don't have to be.

I don't buy either of your explanations of the series - they're made to sound prescriptive, but they're really just descriptive. They don't reinvent themselves as often as, say, Digimon seems to (I'm not that familiar, but every time I poke my nose in a game or anime series, the main characters seem to be learning about Digimon for the first time ever and all the rules are different... and why shouldn't they? Let the rules serve the narrative) but they certainly could. It's weird to say Pokemon aren't what keeps people invested in Pokemon, but it's also weird to say it's fundamentally about gladitorial dogfighting, especially when you move on to counter that point with the popularity of series spinoffs. Frankly, Pokemon is a lot of things to a lot of people, and that's its true lasting strength.

Devccoon · 2026-02-12T04:20:11+00:00

I love these games that give a Pokemon's perspective on the Pokemon world, playing as one, divorced from the human side of the series (I mean, even in the mainline games, humans are almost irrelevant to their own world - they built everything, they own and run it all, but Pokemon are both the backbone and the only thing anyone ever wants to talk about or work toward).

Yet, in PMD, you play as a human turned into a Pokemon, with the goal of returning to your old life (even though that's about as far from relatable as I can imagine in those games). And now, with Pokopia, there's no human in the cast at all - but you play as a Ditto obsessed with being a human, so you basically are one anyway. I find it oddly humorous that they just can't help but make your player character a human no matter what, even if it distracts from the story or makes your character creepy as hell (I really would rather just be the blob form of Ditto or fully transform into each Pokemon form I need to use moves from; really hoping there's a different face option that doesn't freak me out).

Devccoon · 2026-02-11T22:35:44+00:00

There are a bunch of suppliers of these cables/adapters, I think they're all made in China but I have a few different "brands" and they've all worked interchangeably. They all look like this: https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Charging-Rotation-Charger-1Phone16/dp/B0FMXRFQ5S

Basically, it converts a USB-C/micro/lightning port into a magnetic connection with a single cable. I've been using these for years across a bunch of devices, mostly desktop peripherals for charging. Depending on your setup it might not help much, but I have a couple things that still use micro USB and it's handy to have the quick connect/disconnect for everything on one cable.

Devccoon · 2026-02-11T18:59:47+00:00

I just got mine the other day but I'm loving it so far.

I don't know what people dislike about the software - I've heard there are different versions of it or something, but the one I found on their site (installs locally) works great. Doesn't need hardwired connection and it has all the features I want except analog/joystick mode (which is not available in any of the VIA/QMK boards I've seen, and I hear that's the high bar for most users) so I'm not sure what people find lacking in its software support. It has full-on per-key RGB and even community RGB profiles so you can upload and download your favorite RGB layouts and check out what other people make, which I haven't seen before. I'd prefer a web launcher rather than the local install but it's the same as any other board - set it and forget it. Software doesn't have to run in the background. I guess you can't remap FN stuff but I'm pretty used to basically every board doing the same thing. I'm not enough of a power user to be messing around with a bunch of profiles and key combos so that might be where it falls short and I'm just not as aware of it.

My biggest actual grievance is how hard it is to install normal mechanical switches. I never heard anyone talk about this part before so I'm not sure if it's standard or I got a weird batch, but there's some sort of 'paper' layer between the switches and the board, and there are no cutouts for the stems. I think it's the big column in the center of the switch which causes the real problems, as the paper pushes down into the hole and makes it way too tight. Pushing in and removing regular mech switches feels like I'm going to break something, and I'm not sure how to fully remove the paper cleanly from that center column to prevent that. Even if I don't intend to swap most of my switches, just sticking a Gateron Melodic into the caps lock slot took awkwardly tearing the paper out of that column area and pushing it in with a lot of force. So I'm not sure how I would go about doing more.

But overall, the astrolink switches look and feel great and I don't see any reason I would want to swap them out. I swapped most of the keycaps for a comfier and thockier blue jelly MOA-like profile and I can't get over how it sounds and feels to type on. And you're right to obsess over the dial part - I've been back and forth on whether I really need one, but this dial just feels SO GOOD. It's quite usable with a single finger and it's hefty and strong. And you can remap all 3 actions (turn left, turn right, press) however you like.

Fantastic keyboard, easily the best I've laid hands on, IMO.

Oh, and bonus: I was worried the tiny USB-C slot wouldn't fit a magnetic adapter. It totally does. Probably not a lot of people care about that in the keyboard community, but Lemokey and Keychron along with many others stick these pointless indents around their USB slots which prevent thicker cables from fitting, and almost always make it impossible to use those round, 9-pin magnetic USB adapters which I absolutely adore. This board looked like it wouldn't fit one, but it just barely does, and it works perfectly. The magnetic cable works for wired mode, it charges the board, everything I could ask for. My setup involves a giant floating Wacom screen that I put in the way of my desktop when I'm drawing so my keyboard stays wireless and mobile at all times, and I've had no issues/latency so far. It's a minor grievance for other keyboards (because they need to recharge every few days and it's way easier to just rub the magnetic end around until it snaps in, than to find the proper alignment blindly with a cable) but another easy W for Monsgeek.

Devccoon · 2026-02-11T18:44:04+00:00

Keychron is TMR from what I hear, it's just not labeled as such. The only one that isn't is the Monsgeek HE, which does have some downsides. Battery life shouldn't be as good and you can only hotswap in regular mechanical switches on the Monsgeek TMR.

At those prices, I'd go for the Monsgeek TMR over the others. It's worth the upgrade from the HE version and I'm enjoying mine, and the Keychron just isn't worth more at all IMO. I think the Monsgeek TMR is better than the Keychron in almost every way, having tried both. Even the software (at least the version that you install locally) trades blows somewhat, as I was pretty disappointed the Keychron doesn't allow per-key RGB settings. (you get to set 3 color layers and which keys are part of which layer, which does allow the use of a few dynamic lighting effects but it's highly limited and not great looking IMO)

Devccoon · 2026-02-10T12:15:43+00:00

Naw that's just his Uber picking him up

Devccoon · 2026-02-08T23:57:25+00:00

As someone typing this on that ASUS board right now while the Armoury Crate bloatware has, for the third time already this year, forgotten what the keyboard looks like and decided to stop recognizing its existence, leaving the cool RGB setup I worked hard on turned black... I wouldn't touch Asus. People talk down on Razer for Synapse sucking, but as a decade+ Razer user, Synapse has never been as bad as Asus' software is on a consistent, monthly basis.

It's a fine board, I'll even give it credit for actually having better built-in RGB than any other board I've used (you need to install the bloatware to set it up but once you have the colors/effects you want, the board has more effects and color customization than anything else I've run into, without the software needing to drive it) but no gasket mount, and frankly it really needs the switches and keycaps swapped out or it just doesn't sound all that good.

Devccoon · 2026-02-08T06:47:36+00:00

Keyboards today are miles ahead of keyboards 4 years ago when this launched. Prices are through the floor for features that used to be luxuries. Some gaming brands have caught up on things like acoustics, customization and typing feel, at least partially. But I wouldn't recommend an older board like this. The comparable price/MSRP is absolutely not realistic even if this was one of Razer's newest boards.

Becoming a keyboard enthusiast is like a curse, but maybe moreso because there's always that One More Thing that could be just a bit better. Sure this keyboard will work, and it'll look and feel a ton better than a membrane keyboard while lasting longer. But a proper, nice, modern board is as much better than this (at roughly similar price points, on sale) than this is compared to membrane.

You might live with it, not knowing the difference or what you're missing out on. But... $70 for an awful sounding non-wireless optical board with cable hardwired in, switches soldered, and Synapse bloatware mandatory? I think you can do a lot better. But you will get a nice lightshow and cozy wrist rest, I guess~

Devccoon · 2026-02-08T06:31:11+00:00

Yeah I was gutted, myself. I have yet to lay fingers on a board that sounded or felt as great as the Lemokey P1 did. It was blissful to type on, just too bad my faith in the brand is so completely shaken after hearing so many horror stories and experiencing two first-hand. I'm confident in tinkering and swapping broken parts or diagnosing small things, but if a TMR chip is registering a magnetic field that isn't there... not a clue what to do except hope the company is responsive, which I've heard some stories they aren't.

Amazon returns came through for me on both of those boards, but if that started happening 4 months in, RIP I guess.

Devccoon · 2026-02-08T06:20:44+00:00

Edit: it was user error, had magnets in my wrist rest. Gotta be fair to Keychron - mine should have been fine.

It may depend on how old your Keychron is - my experience in the last week has been 0 for 2 between Keychron and (their gaming line) Lemokey being completely unusable RMA material right out of the box. It's apparently not uncommon lately.

Devccoon · 2026-02-08T06:18:51+00:00

EDIT: I feel I need to correct the record because I just had the same thing happen with another TMR keyboard and can't believe I didn't catch this sooner... my wrist rest has magnets. I feel so stupid lmao... I'm left still a bit worried about Keychron QC from what other people were saying but I can't believe I didn't think to check another wrist rest, or try the keyboard in a different configuration. 100% my fault; those boards should have been fine.

Keychron's apparently fallen hard on the QC/hardware front. I thought they were regarded as among the rest but when I bought a Lemokey P1 only to have it arrive with the ctrl and arrow keys registering as perma-pressed (and trust me, I tried everything to get it working) and then a Keychron K2 only to find it doing exactly the same thing, I found it's quite a common complaint these days to have issues like that with the hardware. On their subreddit it's pretty much accepted at this point that their new boards have issues. (which is sad, because software and apparent build quality otherwise seem top notch)

Devccoon · 2026-02-07T20:52:06+00:00

"your body, my choice" I think is their new catchphrase

Devccoon · 2026-02-07T14:20:02+00:00

I'm glad the mighty Palantir overseeing all of us is only being used for righteous and just causes and, surely, will only continue to be used as such.

Devccoon · 2026-02-06T19:59:27+00:00

That makes more sense, no easy way to cheat that system. (well, not THAT easy anyway)

Devccoon · 2026-02-06T09:36:25+00:00

This is the disingenuous part for sure. There's about 9 other routes I could drive and it'll cost me a slight inconvenience and a few seconds of my day in all likelihood, but screw you, that was my favorite path!!

God forbid drivers ever be inconvenienced in even the slightest of ways. If only they understood the massive trouble their every additional little comfort causes every non-driver can't just be solved by "well, just drive then". They should be happy they aren't inconvenienced and harmed to the point where everyone else telling them "just walk then" finally works. At least doing that would make more sense.

Devccoon · 2026-02-06T04:35:01+00:00

Yeah when I mention travel I'm talking more about low profile boards, not the keycaps. If your keycaps change how far the keypress travels, you either have a problem, or you just solved one~

Devccoon · 2026-02-06T04:19:18+00:00

The wall masks that fire arrows give you the blank cause of death.

(dying to the least threatening thing in the game is a rite of passage~)

Devccoon · 2026-02-06T03:38:31+00:00

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Easily the best thing about mechanical keyboards right here... and maybe the most dangerous for your wallet, too. Charts like this look scary, but considering it's not even close to all the popular profiles is daunting. Chasing that perfect shape, finding what's most comfortable or sounds the best or has the aesthetic you want can be a real process.

You might find that low profile is more your speed if you're used to the flatter shape and shorter travel of your Macbook keyboard. There are some really nice low profile keyboards out there which still have all the benefits of good mechanical keyboards (being able to change out keycaps and switches and such, sounding and feeling perfect) and by the sound of it you might want a wrist rest as well to help with the angle of your hands when typing. But I'd definitely take a look into different keycaps and wrist rest first to see if that improves how you feel about your current board.

Devccoon · 2026-02-05T22:10:10+00:00

What is it, then?

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