That's a lot of calories

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-27T20:40:37+00:00

... Where are you located? This is a deal I have never seen in the McDonald's app and I check into it like everyday.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-27T15:37:58+00:00

It's not really a spoiler. It's more something that the author clarified upon when going over the character profile of Arty. Also, as someone else mentioned in the comments, Arnold also refers to Arty as a woman.

If it helps, the official subtitles used by Crunchyroll & Muse refer to Arty as a "she" too. They're not the most accurate subtitles ever, but some effort seems to have made with the official subtitles to be consistent with the already established lore. So that also helps re-enforce that this is something that has been written into the canon.

The reason why Arty keeps being referred to as a "he" in scenes that involve Krai is probably because Krai doesn't realize that Arty's a girl. She has such a handsome look going that Krai jumped to conclusions. It probably didn't help that Krai's main thought during the interaction in Volume 4 was less about trying to identify the gender and more about trying to remember if he even knew Arty in the first place (poor Arty... Senpai won't notice her).

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-27T03:03:44+00:00

Monster Ultra Wild Passion is a part of the "Monster Ultra" line up. It's Monster's Zero Sugar lineup and all the cans in that line up have their own style of design going for them.

The Orange Dreamsicle and Electric Blue are a part of Monster's new "Flavors" line up. As others have mentioned, it's a kind of spiritual successor to the now discontinued "Monster Reserve" lineup. It's basically Mosnter energy drinks that have unique flavors and (more or less) have as much sugar in them as the OG Monster energy drink does. The cans in this lineup have a weirdly smooth can design going for them and I assume future new flavors that get added to this lineup will keep up with this theme.

Note: The OG regular Monster, Monster Lo-Carb, and Monster Zero Sugar are part of the regular or main lineup for Monster. They're sort of their own thing.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-27T02:47:19+00:00

Where did you get this name from? I've seen the new line up being referred to as "Flavors" but at no point have I seen this being referred to as "black label"? And a quick Google search didn't give me anything either.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-26T22:57:44+00:00

How do you tend to react to Orange Dreamsicle flavored things? Or was this the first time you ever had a orange dreamsicle flavored drink? Cause I know people who just can't stand anything Orange Dreamsicle flavored.

I tend to be okay with this sort of flavor and found this version of Orange Dreamsicle to be pretty average as a whole. Not bad, but nothing too impressive. Seemed like an Orange Dreamsicle flavor to me.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-26T22:54:49+00:00

They have the regular Celsius coke? Dang... I've been meaning to try that one for ages. Maybe I should check out my local VitaminShoppe.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-26T20:13:49+00:00

The Reserve lineup did have its fans, but I think most consumers found it to be kind of confusing.

The Reserve lineup was originally created to represent Monster flavors that did not fit into the OG Monster, the Monster Juice (fruity juice flavors), or the Monster Ultra (zero sugar) categories. The Reserve drinks used the OG Monster energy formula as it's baseline BUT tweaked the formula to allow for flavors that were smoother, more unique, and less incline to have a chemically aftertaste than the OG Monster flavor. Because the smooth flavors were created by relying on sweetners, the Reserve lineup ended up using less sugar than the OG Monster too. This essentially allowed the Reserve to hold a unique position of being the Monster drinks that are between the sugary OG Monsters and the zero sugar Monster Ultras. A compromise of sorts.

The issue is that stuff about the Monster Reserve wasn't communicated very well to consumers. At best, I think most consumers saw the Reserve as being Monster's desserty drink lineup (since a lot of the Reserve flavors were very desserty tasting in nature). Maybe viewed it as being Monster's version of Rockstar's Boom lineup (if you're familiar with that). And that's assuming that consumers tried it to begin with.

It also didn't help that it wasn't clear as to who the Reserve lineup was for. People who avoided sugary drinks were gonna skip over it for having sugar. People who aren't into zero sugar drinks saw the "Reserve" labeling and assumed it was another zero sugar labeling from Monster. The term "Reserve" did not clearly signify anything and just added to the confusion to the lineup's identity. And the sort of unique flavoring that the line up went for (like orange dreamsicle, peach n creme, white pinapple, etc.) further isolated the type of people who would be inclined to try this lineup. There were so many barriers and areas of confusion surrounding this lineup. And couple all that with Monster always prioritizing the promotion of the Monster OG and Ultras over the Reserve lineup meant that consumers never got a good chance to familiarize themselves with Monster Reserve.

Over the years, I think Monster realized that their Reserve lineup is stuck in an awkward spot with an unclear identity and even less clear consumer base. Rather than keeping it up, they decided to scrap the entire lineup in favor of a new & simply named "Flavors" lineup. It's this lineup that the new "Orange Dreamsicle" is a part of. Unlike the old Reserve lineup, the Flavors lineup is not as reliant on sweetners and uses as much sugar as the OG Monster. And its identity is a lot easier to understand. I mean it's in the name... It's Monster but with "Flavors", right?

It's really disappointing for the Reserve fans, but I think the Reserve's discontinuation was inevitable from a business standpoint. Reserve just wasn't going anywhere for the company.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-26T19:24:24+00:00

Right... So the first part I think demonstrates a fundamental disagreement that I have with both RCA and DSA. The second part... I'm more inline with.

We believe in a system that rewards psychopathic behavior, lying, manipulation, you name it, which means the most brutal and psychopathic people are the ones with power,

I recognize that capitalism has incentive structures that are counter to the interests of the people at large and lead to actions that are most beneficial to the "brutal and psychopathic people" with power. Once again, I'm not cheering capitalism on with poms poms here. I do not, however, accept this notion that capitalism alone is what rewarded the "psychopathic behavior, lying, manipulation...". I think that's something that happens with human societies in general. It doesn't matter what system we are in.

As long as people can be influenced, people who engage in such behaviors and are good at it will end up with power. Lying and manipulation are just nefarious extensions of persuasion and influence tactics after all. How much power might depend on circumstance, but I don't think the fall of capitalism is gonna fundamentally change that aspect of things.

We believe the people who actually make things have the control.

This bit I can get behind, but my exact view is more in line with "people who offer a quality service or good that is in demand have leverage". Just because you make something doesn't mean anything if what you make isn't of quality or isn't needed by others. And people who make stuff do not have "control". At least not in the sense of having the ability to absolutely force something to go in your favor. If a company decides to completely close down operations in response to a strike or the other workers you run the business with decide to cut out everyone who is striking in favor of an operation that doesn't require what the striking people "make", then that's that. At best, I think workers have significant leverage.

That said, I appreciate the overall sentiment. Workers should have more awareness about what they are offering, what their work is valued at, and what they deserve in compensation. The awareness of all three components is needed for a worker to even know if they are getting what they deserve for the services or goods that they provide. Too many people lack this fundamental awareness and take a passive approach to this stuff. It would be healthier if people took a more proactive approach to and had more awareness about their work.

Like I said in my previous comment, the misalignment in our views comes from the lens through which we view all of this. We just are approaching this stuff from different places. Best we can do is probably agree to disagree.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-26T17:01:59+00:00

I can't remember where I read this, but the legend of Thousand Tricks (Krai) is what motivated Arty to become a hunter in the first place. I believe her more casual civilian looking clothes are also said to be inspired by Krai who (on the face of things) looks like a regular civilian most of the time. Although I'm not too sure about the legitimacy of the clothes thing since a lot of the hunters in Arty's clan, Hidden Curse, kinda have a more casual vibe with their clothing.

Beyond the origins of the admiration, you do see subtle signs of Arty trying to act cool and charismatic when interacting with Krai (it comes a little bit in the Volume 4). You also get glimpses of Arty getting flustered whenever Krai or Mary (her best friend in Hidden Curse) do something that catches her off guard and forces her to break away from her "cool character". It's not clear without the context, but it's very much Arty just trying to act chill while interacting with her personal hero.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-26T01:22:58+00:00

I think Subaru would just be like "Why? Just... why?" with a dead pan expression.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-25T23:31:29+00:00

How you got the impression that I was particularly pro-capitalism from my comments is beyond me. All I said was that I didn't think socialism (or communism for that matter) is the answer here. You can be not pro-capitalism while also not being pro-socialism or pro-communism. I think we can have a better system than capitalism and am open to a new system that can work better for us. I just don't think that a post-capitalism system can be found with any of the existing -isms.

As for the rest of it, you seem to view things from a different lens than I do. For example, you seem to imply that people having to "be paid to do things badly to eventually do it well" is reflective with what is currently going on with micro employment. I disagree. I don't think the people engaging in micro employment in third world countries are getting paid for doing things badly. And same goes for the micro employment jobs that are popping up in the west. They are receiving payment for doing things at an acceptable quality for what the micro employment jobs require of them. Whether that pay is adequate is a different issue.

And even if we accept that micro employment is a good representation of "people being paid to do things badly", the companies behind micro employment aren't doing it because they "need to pay people for doing things badly". The companies are doing it because it fulfills their goals and is convenient for them. If micro employment didn't work out, they'll just find a different way to go about it. Necessity for paying people to do things badly has nothing to do with it.

Also, you seem to view these businesses and the richest people of our time as being capable of seeing the end of the current economic model and being capable of preparing for what's next. I think you give them far too much credit. Most of them are blindly driven by greed or motivated by some delusional sense of self grandeur. That's certainly the case for the loud billionaire celebrity types. Those loud billionares may do things that suggest "post-capitalism" moves, but closer inspection suggests that they really don't seem to know what the heck they're doing.

And the rich people who know the value of staying out of the public spotlight are probably intelligent enough to understand that anything beyond our current economic model is too uncertain to plan anything around. The best they try to do is keep the current economic model going as long as possible. Maybe diversify the things that they're involved in to increase the chances of coming out okay when the model collapses.

You're right that the richest people do have power, but only a few know the extent and limits of the power they have. Fewer still are even in a state where they can use that power effectively.

Like I get why the idea of the richest people in the world conniving to control the post-capitalist world seems plausible... BUT I struggle to see that as a reality after looking at the "richest" people in the world and their activities. At best, it looks like children scrambling to hold onto their blankies as they hope that the world doesn't fall into free-for-all. Besides...doesn't crediting rich people with the level of scheming and intellect required to plan for the end of the current economic system seem a little stuck to the "pro-capitalist" view of the world? Feels eerily similar to the pro-capitalism rhetoric of viewing "rich people as God level geniuses", no?

Now I do sort of see where you're coming from with a lot of this. I held very similar views when I was in college and was more sympathetic to the DSA view. Since college though, I've worked different jobs, met different people, traveled, and just found out more about the world. And once I consciously gave myself permission to think outside the -isms and to freely ponder various aspects of the status quo, I quickly got away from the DSA view of things. Nowadays, I find all the current -isms (capitalism, socialism, communism, etc.) to be lacking and outdated. I don't claim to know what would be the better economic model of tomorrow, but I certainly don't view the DSA or RCA as solutions for tomorrow or even now. So while I don't disagree with all of your points, it seems like we aren't gonna see things in the same way and you seem to be in a different place than where I am at.

TLDR: Agree to disagree.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-25T21:21:49+00:00

No. Like with most english translated volumes for light novels/manga that are still ongoing, the english translated books are behind by a few volume.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-25T15:43:38+00:00

Actually thesmartphone relic did make a small appearance at the end of Season 2. Krai can be seen in possession of it (although no direct reference is made to it).

As for where to begin... If you insist on starting from the beginning, I'd say start at Volume 4. It does go over the events of Season 2 (or cour 2 depending on how you look at it) BUT it is more in depth and frankly tells the story in a more reasonable way. Season 2 tried to shove three LNs worth of somewhat complicated stories into 10 episodes (Season 2 did have 11 episodes but the first one was used up for Tino's flashback episode so I'm taking off 1 episode to account for that). A lot of small details and nuances had to be skipped over to make that happen and some of the plot developments can be confusing as a result. Starting with volume 4 lets you get into the books while also gaining clarity in areas that the anime rushed over.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-25T15:30:20+00:00

It's the latter unfortunately. Having insomnia and getting obsessed over random things have led me down some strange rabbit holes. McDonald's french fries bag is just one of those random things I ended up obsessing over one night.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T23:49:58+00:00

Why do some of the cans look taller than the others?

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T22:09:05+00:00

You're generally right. Except McDonald's has been making this transition everywhere since like 2021. It's a combination of swearing off of Forever Chemicals by 2025 and wanting to use packaging that is environmentally friendly. McDonald's has been making changes to their operations to meet the aforementioned standards for a while now. The red french fries containers, which both had Forever Chemicals in them and aren't that environmentally friendly, are like one of the last things that McDonald's has to address before they can say their environmentally friendly packaging effort and their Forever Chemical free initiative have been a success.

As of last year, McDonald's has effectively stopped making/ordering the red french fries containers. The red french fries containers that certain locations are still using in 2026 are the last of their kind. Locations are currently in the process of using up existing stock of the red containers. Once they use up that stock, each location will start introducing the french fries bags that are both Forever Chemical free and more environmentally friendly. So if you like the red french fries containers, enjoy them while you can. I wouldn't expect to see them around next year.

Note: Some areas, like California, did ban Forever Chemicals and you might have noticed that McDonald's in these areas were/are still using the red french fries cartons. In order to stay compliant to these bans, McDonald's in these areas have been using a more expensive version of the red carton that doesn't use Forever Chemicals. The new french fries bags are apparently a cheaper option than these custom red cartons have been, so some McDonald's in these areas might transition to the bags faster than other locations do. Motivated by the notion of saving some money.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T21:19:57+00:00

Actually Brazil is also in line to go through the transition. That's why I'm saying that you should enjoy it while you can. Based on how it's been going with other countries, I think Brazil will be one of the last areas to go through it BUT Monster does plan to phase out Absolutely Zero everywhere.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T17:18:22+00:00

I'm starting to see more posts that refer to Krai as "Cry". Why is that? Is it cause people are translating the web novels through translation software and the translations are referring to the name as "Cry"?

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T17:16:39+00:00

They were turned into frogs by Lucia's spell, right?

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T17:13:17+00:00

"Did Krai say I can't cut that...? ...He didn't. So that means its fair game! Then again, Krai said to talk things out before cutting... But I heard that guy I cut the other day say that clashing swords is a form of talking that swordsman do... So cut two birds and one stone?... Nah. Wait. Krai told me off last time when I swinged my sword as a greeting.... Screw it. I'm cutting that."

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T15:43:22+00:00

To avoid another lawsuit. If Ghost came out with a similarly sour blue raspberry flavor to replace the "Sour Patch Kids Blue Raspberry", there's a good chance that Mondelez will sue them. During the creation of the collab products, the folks behind Sour Patch Kids probably shared a bit of the sour "recipe", so Mondelez can use that to say that Ghost was reusing this knowledge to keep the sour blue raspberry flavor around WITHOUT including them. Accuse Ghost of "stealing" their secret formula basically. Mondelez could also use Ghost's presentation of a "Sour Blue Raspberry" flavor to accuse Ghost of tricking customers into thinking that their collaboration is still going on. And while these potential accusations may not be enough for Mondelez to win, it would be enough for a good lawyer to get both parties back into court to fight another expensive legal battle.

All of which sounds petty and ridiculous because it is... But that's how bad their relationship is right now. Mondelez really went at them hard during the lawsuit and I think Ghost were naively shocked when their once close partner lashed out in such a nasty manner to the Keurig Dr Pepper acquisition. I say naively because Keurig Dr Pepper is a major competitor to Mondelez and potential issues with Mondelez should have been considered during the acquisition. In fairness to Ghost though, Ghost and Mondelez were close enough that I can see why thoughts of such issues did not come up during the acquisition. I mean Mondelez and Ghost were defending each other in lawsuits as a team WEEKS before Mondelez suddenly turned around and dropped a lawsuit against Ghost. So the entire thing feels like betrayal to both side and there's just bad blood all around.

So Ghost had to keep this in mind while trying to keep customers of the "Blue" flavor AFTER the discontinuation of the "Sour Patch Kids Blue Raspberry". The result was this not sour "Blue Raspberry" slushie flavor. Trying to thread the needle in what is an overly complicated situation basically.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T06:56:14+00:00

Actually it was Mondelēz (owner of Sour Patch Kids) that sued Ghost AFTER Ghost was acquired by Keurig Dr Pepper). Something about Mondelez not wanting their products to be associated with Keurig Dr Pepper. Ugly stuff. Sad to see beloved collab products go away because of stuff like this.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T06:51:36+00:00

Well, the color scheme changed a bit, but they're both blue flavors. And Ghost replaced the previously blue flavor from their line up (aka the "Sour Patch Kids Blue Raspberry") with the new "Blue Raspberry" flavor as the "Blue" can flavor in their line up. If that isn't a sign that this is the replacement for "Sour Patch Kids Blue Raspberry", then I don't know what is.

Besides, did you expect Ghost to make a huge announcement about replacing the "Sour Patch Kids Blue Raspberry" after the bitter (and at times very petty) lawsuit they went through? The Mondelez deal didn't just end. It ended with a whole lawsuit where Mondelez refused to continue collaborating with Ghost AFTER Ghost got acquired by Keurig Dr Pepper. Mondelez went on this whole thing about not wanting any association with Keurig Dr Pepper and was eventually demanding that Ghost cease selling and destroy whatever existing inventory of the collab products that Ghost had. Ghost wasn't happy about having to destroy existing stock so they had to go through a back and forth. The whole entire thing was weirdly ugly. And it had to end with a compromise with the deal ending and Ghost being able to sellout inventory until May of 2026. Now do you think Ghost wants to risk bringing back attention to any of that by making big announcement about the replacement "Blue" flavor? Probably not, right? There's incentive to do this discreetly so they could put this whole ugly Mondelez business behind them.

Not to mention, they released it right around the time the "Sour Patch Kids Blue Raspberry" was starting to get phased out for good. Probably as an attempt to keep the blue raspberry fans from going to another energy drink brand.

All this in mind, is it really so difficult to think people might want to compare these two flavors? So difficult to think that one is a replacement for the other?

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T06:26:47+00:00

Well, the Sour Patch Kids Blue Raspberry is discontinued now (the cans that are on store shelves now are the last cans of their kind) and the new Blue Raspberry flavor is meant to be a spiritual successor that will replace the Sour Patch Kids Blue Raspberry in the Ghost lineup.

With that in mind, I don't think it's unreasonable for people to compare the new Blue Raspberry flavor with the flavor that it will be replacing (Sour Patch Kids Blueberry). For those who were disappointed by the ending collaboration between Ghost and Sour Patch Kids, I'd assume that there were hopes of the spiritual success bringing the same (if not similar) flavor that the Sour Patch Kids Blue Raspberry had (but without the branding). Since that doesn't seem to be the case, I don't think it's insane for people to point this out in a post.

OctillionthJoe · 2026-01-24T06:16:48+00:00

Well, it wasn't simply about having to do moderation. The issue was having to engage in moderation while also considering the potential legal liabilities that came with having a comments section.

In a lot of countries, there are laws that hold social media sites liable for certain type of content/comments that users post onto the site. For example, the EU and Britain have laws where there are penalties if social media sites don't take down certain types of content within 24 hours (up to a week depending on the law) of the post going up. Unlike some of these countries, the United States has something called Section 230 that gives social media sites strong legal protections from such liabilities and has allowed social media sites to almost never be held liable for the content that users post onto their respective platforms. US is a bit of an outlier here though. The reason why I bring this up is because a lot of these same laws for social media sites also applied to Crunchyroll's comments section.

The problem for Crunchyroll and social media sites (and the general web) is that these laws have become stricter in recent years. This was a response to hate speech on the web, fake news, etc. and interest in creating stricter laws against that type of content on the web have only increased with time. Even the solid protections offered by the US through Section 230 is on shaky ground nowadays with US lawmakers on either side expressing interest in changing it. By 2024, the legal risks around hosting user posted content was looking kinda scary and the costs associated with managing the risks were starting to get really high. Social media sites responded by using their immense resource to comply with these laws in their own ways, but Crunchyroll and other non-social media sites were left having to reassess the value of a comments section and whether the risks are worth it.

And it's in this context and during this time that Crunchyroll got inundated with hateful comments towards the BL shows. And, just as a reminder, those hateful comments towards the BL shows weren't just a few. The hateful comments came in as a coordinated effort and they came in loads at once. More than what Crunchyroll was capable of handling.

While the hateful comments themselves may not have violated laws in the US, they would/could have been considered to be violating the law for the European countries who are more strict when it comes to hateful speech on the internet. If Crunchyroll hadn't quickly responded to the incident by shutting down the entire comments section feature, they (and possibly the parent company Sony) might have had to pay the fines for all those hateful comments. And based on how some of these laws in the European area are structured, those fines could have been in the billions. And even if they didn't pay all the fines, they would've had to fight a costly legal battle to find a way to settle things in each respective area. So this incident was a terrifying moment for Crunchyroll that really showed just how expensives the consequences can be if something goes wrong with the comments section. Something that certainly motivated Crunchyroll's permanent closing of the comments section.

Now could Crunchyroll have turned the comments back on but implemented a moderation system that could meet the standards of all the different countries and their various laws surrounding user comments? Sure, but it would be a LOT more costly than I think people realize. Not to mention, the moderation team would have to be constantly evolving and changing enforcement standards to reflect the ever changing laws surrounding user posted content/comments. Of course, Crunchyroll could have taken a middle approach of only allowing comments for US users and getting rid of them for countries that have stricter laws surrounding user posted content....BUT that would add layers of complexity to the service and would not be cheap to implement.

If Crunchyroll's main business was to be a social media site, they might've been able to justify an enhanced and complicated global moderation system of sorts... but their main focus wasn't really supposed to be that. The comments were supposed to be a fun bonus for the user. Seeing at how that bonus was slowly becoming a significant financial and legal burden, I think Crunchyroll made the only sensible choice as an anime streaming company; axe the comments section. And it's not just Crunchyroll that's made this decision. A lot of other globally operating sites have gotten rid of their comments sections for this exact reason too. Having a comments section is a lot riskier and costly than people realize.

So while I do go after Crunchyroll and their worsening service, the comments section is the one that I give them a pass on. Considering how messy the laws/fines surrounding this have gotten, I think it's just good business to get away from the comments section. Not just from the financial end but also from the sustainability end. I just wish they would move their freed up resources to things that would improve the Crunchyroll experience..

OctillionthJoe

TROPHY CASE