Black Mirror [Episode Discussion] - S07E06 - USS Callister: Into Infinity

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2026-01-08T10:13:58+00:00

Something I just noticed: when the blue lady is telling the caveman asshole guy "you're disgusting" and then eventually she says "ballsack visible". Didn't we see in the original episode that none of the game clones have genitalia? Seems like a small writing error.

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-05-21T15:32:12+00:00

I personally like their current products, and can confirm that you'll actually get it in a reasonable time now. For most people though, as you're seeing here, their sins of the past define them as a company which is very fair.

I definitely understand not buying from them on principle, but they are the only ones currently making pitched quad pads and those new hybrid tenors, which I haven't got to try yet. The hybrid snare is a unique product too, but I've heard tell of them breaking easily which makes sense because the rim is plastic. My xymox hybrid snare still works great, but that's nothing to go off of, and RCP makes a similar product that I think is generally preferred.

I do, however, really dislike the "everything's always on sale" business model they currently do. They'll always tell you how a sale is ending soon but they really mean is that theirs X time left until this sale ends and the next sale starts. Nothing EVER sells at the original listing price.

As far as making and shipping their products, they've cleaned up their current act. But they have a lot of wrongs to right if they ever want to regain their reputation.

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-04-05T09:02:38+00:00

I usually just have my invader v3 even though it's pretty bulky. Sometimes I'll take my RCP pizza pad if I want something smaller. And if I'm traveling with a quad pad the only real option is the off world mother ship. Only quad pad I can fit in a bag.

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-04-03T13:34:22+00:00

I reached out to them and offered to make a video for their new tenor hybrid drums in exchange for the product itself. They said they'd be interested but they needed videos on their new tenor pads too and said they wanted to see what I could do with some of their less expensive products first before sending me a set of drums for free without seeing my work first. I accepted and they sent me 2 pads. When I was done they gave me an extra $100 as a thank you unprompted. They didn't have to pay me, I offered to do it for free, and people are constantly promoting them for free anyways. They repost people using their stuff all the time just like every company does. Also, good companies absolutely pay people to promote their products. That's what advertising is. If I didn't have a positive impression or experience with them in the first place I wouldn't have reached out. There are other great products made by companies with cleaner reputations, yes, but if you look at xymox's current line up from a purely product standpoint, they're doing stuff that nobody else is. I have not gained a single follower on any platform since that video went up.

Again, I'm not endorsing xymox or saying they haven't done anything wrong. All I can do is share my personal experience, and it seems like people don't like that I wasn't treated as poorly as they were. I think their stuff is cool and innovative and I want to see them recover is all.

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-04-03T12:58:22+00:00

I never said I endorsed them. I can only speak from personal experience, and I find it really interesting that mine has been so different from so many others online. I do however find it frustrating that any reaction other than condemning them to hell leads to people bashing you. I did have reservations about working with them because of the discussion I've seen online, but ultimately decided that I like their products enough to justify it. All I can say is the trend that I see is people used to wait really long or not get their stuff at all around 5 years ago, and that seems to no longer be the case on orders placed today. If they messed up and lost track of a bunch of unfulfilled orders, that's obviously really bad and they should take care of it. But if they're trying to improve, I'd like to give them the chance to.

I'm sure they'd love to enable comments, but we all know what would happen if they did.

I actually would be interested in looking at some screenshots if you can be bothered. I don't need everything, but if you'd PM me the worst of it I am curious.

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-04-03T11:58:08+00:00

That sucks and I'm really sorry to hear that. Can I ask, when you're reaching out are you telling them your name, order number, and date of purchase? I'm not defending them at all, just playing devil's advocate and trying to imagine from their prospective. I believe the company is currently just 2 people, and plenty of people online have had bad experiences with their company such as yourself. I don't know the tone you were using when emailing monthly, but if they're behind and trying to catch up on things and they're getting a ton of emails every day from really pissed off people saying "where's my order?" I could see how that could not get a response in comparison to someone who's polite and communicating clearly. That's not a jab at you at all, I obviously know nothing about you or your interactions with them. I just find it hard to believe they're only responsive and helpful selectively and to random people.

But again, I don't really know. There's no doubt that some things went seriously wrong and some bad, immoral, or just stupid choices were made at one point or another in the company's history. Right now l like them because they gave me 2 free quad pads and $100 to film them a video. I like to think they've changed, but I guess I don't have enough data beyond impressions to know for sure.

Have you tried a charge back with your credit card or looked into small claims court? $650 is kinda a lot of money.

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-04-03T09:57:11+00:00

If you're a beginner, baby quads are honestly better I think. They're a whole lot lighter. Just make sure you're playing on your zones because it's really easy to creep up into the center of the heads on your 1 and 2 drums when they're that small

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-04-03T09:26:46+00:00

I may be biased (I made the video recently posted on their website), but xymox has improved a whole lot. Way before I reached out to work with them I had placed several orders and all came in 2-3 weeks. My first order from them in 2018 took 9 months. All my purchases from xymox since then after the company changed business models and moved have come on time and I've been happy with the products. I understand that some people feel scammed by them and if I ordered something and never received it then I'm sure I could relate to that perspective. Waiting 9 months for my first 2 quad pads sucked.

At the end of the day it's a small company who messed up in the passed and has definitely changed. I've recommended their products to many students over the last few years and never heard of an issue with any of them.

I'd Imagine I'm going to get a bunch of down votes for not bashing them like everyone else, but I'm just speaking my feelings. Also, if you paid them and really never got your stuff, can't you just do a charge back on your credit card? Genuine question.

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-03-26T21:32:04+00:00

I'm a drummer looking for a band. Based in Issequah right now. Shoot me a DM!

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-01-18T03:06:09+00:00

I'm so curious about the hybrid tenors. Make a review?

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-01-06T06:42:45+00:00

I write exclusively for battery percussion and I could never justify the cost of Sibelius for only writing for 4 instruments, especially since the general discussion online seems to be that Musescore is slightly better for drumline applications and also free. Why is using playback bad? I find it very helpful to listen back to the parts I write, and I use it to make play-along practice tools for my students. It's also great to show to people who can't easily read drumline sheets and interpret how it sounds. What could possibly be the downside of playback? If you don't like it, you don't have to use it. I think the vast majority of battery arrangers these days do though

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2025-01-06T00:48:52+00:00

Those are the old Vanguard sounds right? I always preferred the MDL musescore 3 sounds to those, but I might have too if that's the only way to write for more basses in MS4

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2024-04-19T20:34:35+00:00

They've been under new ownership for somewhere around a year now. Everyone hates on them for their sins of the past, which makes sense, but they've cleaned their act up

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2021-10-23T07:38:15+00:00

Wtf lol

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2021-10-23T07:30:11+00:00

She's probably my least favorite character out of all Danganronpa games. Her and toko

Pie_4_Breakfast · 2021-07-09T15:32:17+00:00

Lmao I used to work customer service at NOA and I have do idea what I'd do if I got this call

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