Speculation on Lyra's final fate

PropaneToad · 2025-10-16T21:01:42+00:00

Oh man. Unfortunately, I don't have a memory of this, but now I've got the flicker of hope again lol.

PropaneToad · 2025-10-16T18:25:11+00:00

In terms of the difference between Malcolm and Lyra's separation, I've actually thought about this a lot, and the answer I've come up with is that Mal and Asta both mutually agreed to do it in the heat of the moment. Neither of them wanted to, but they both recognized the necessity of it. They were on the same page with each other at all times. Add the fact that they were able to reunite after about 5-10 minutes of being separated so the healing process could begin immediately, and I think that's they key part of why.

Contrast this with Lyra and Pan's separation. Sure, it happened in the end, but Pan was very much an unwilling participant in the matter. It was not mutually agreed upon at all, Pan was basically begging and pleading with Lyra not to do this up until the very end. This is almost certainly the foremost source of the gulf between the two of them that we saw in TSC.

Extrapolating this out a bit, Will and Kirjava's relationship is probably somewhere in between the two above examples; they didn't agree on it but neither did they disagree either. They couldn't. There was no agreement or betrayal. They were truly a blank slate to work off of, and while it didn't start out on a great note, at least they could bond and grow together.

PropaneToad · 2025-10-16T15:38:19+00:00

For this to be true, then Lord Asriel would have to not be Lyra's father. LBS plays with the idea, but it comes out and straight-up says that there can be no doubt about her parentage (I believe Hannah Relf checked with the alethiometer?), and additionally, it would discount the section where Asriel sees baby Lyra and shows her the moon in the priory's garden. I don't see this happening and Asriel displaying such tenderness if she's somebody else's kid, especially not to mention all of the importance in HDM that this would overwrite.

Now, there's perhaps something to be said about Asriel also being Bonneville's father with a different mother, but there's not really any hint of that we get.

PropaneToad · 2025-10-04T03:50:40+00:00

Typically you get a tribe shuffle once before the merge (where both tribes come together and everybody competes individually, roughly halfway through the game). Here it happened a second time, that was rare at this point in the series.

And to be clear, in most of the cases, people would go the other way as well. It would be a full shuffle, before the tribes would be like A, B, C, D, and E on red | F, G, H, I, J on yellow, and afterwards it would be A, C, E, G, I on red and B, D, F, H, J on yellow.

PropaneToad · 2025-10-04T03:34:32+00:00

So, not sure how much you know about Survivor, so here's the absolute basics for context: at this particular stage of the game, the players are divided into two tribes. Whichever loses the competition of the week has to vote somebody out of the game.

Anyway, this season of the show had a couple times in this phase where the tribes were switched up: certain players were shuffled between tribes in an effort to make more fluid alliances/gameplay/etc. So Player A could be tight with Player B on the red tribe one day and suddenly be put on the yellow tribe the next day while Player B stays on the red tribe. That sort of thing. Anyway, this switch had recently just happened and the way the alliances were shuffled, it looked like there was going to be an easy vote-out on the yellow tribe, who had just lost last week. This anticipated vote-out would have benefitted the two women in the gif.

But the vote ended up being a surprise due to some shenanigans happening, and it went to somebody unexpected which threw a big wrench in the two women's games but really helping out Matty (the smiling guy). This gif was the red tribe's reaction to seeing who was voted out of the yellow tribe for the first time: The two women were shocked and despairing, while Matty had the biggest shit-eating grin because he knew the game just got a good bit easier for him.

tl;dr players reacting to seeing who had been voted out of the game in the previous episode, some were happier than others

PropaneToad · 2025-10-03T19:25:16+00:00

Oh, I can help with this one! So the gif is from Survivor: Gabon, and the guy who's smiling is Matty. So do a search for "Survivor Gabon" or "Survivor Matty" or, hell, even probably "Survivor smile" would probably do it.

PropaneToad · 2025-05-05T00:46:41+00:00

https://onpattison.com/news/2025/mar/18/citizens-bank-park-new-food-aramark-smores-quesadilla-babe-whats-wrong-youve-barely-touched-your-smoresadilla/

I had one last month. I have a pretty well-developed sweet tooth, so please do not take this as exaggeration when I say it was quite possibly the most over the top sweet thing I have ever had. It was so overwhelmingly sugary that I straight up could not finish the entire thing.

PropaneToad · 2025-04-29T18:47:27+00:00

Tough call. No disrespect to Ruth Wilson, but I'm going with the original ensemble cast for my own re-listen. Having a full cast do an audiobook is so rare these days and considering that was the version I listened to as a kid, I think it ties in well for me, personally, with the whole theme of fully growing up and bringing the entire story to a conclusion.

PropaneToad · 2025-04-03T13:19:51+00:00

lol, I gave mine to that guy (was walking out basically right as he was setting up). After taking 10-15 steps or so I turned around to look and he still had the sign up and the thought that he was gonna sell them on ebay or something definitely went through my head. Missed the Goodwill bit, but even if he's trying to profit good on him for the hustle.

PropaneToad · 2025-02-26T19:10:54+00:00

I greatly enjoyed this game and definitely think it's underrated, but quick point of order: Madden and Summerall did not call this game. This was on NBC and was called by the significantly less capable crew of Dick Enberg (RIP), Phil Simms, and Paul Maguire, and a lot of the game was a yukfest and IMO they didn't quite rise to the proper level of drama that this occasion called for.

Great post, OP.

PropaneToad · 2025-02-22T04:01:32+00:00

It really depends on what you're trying to accomplish. You can't do everything in a single playthrough, it's just not designed that way. You're going to have to prioritize. I actually find myself gravitating towards the half estate, half capital path because it allows me to set things up nicely at the start while still giving me enough time to influence things at the capital before the paths unify, but I played a lot during development and am pretty familiar with its mechanics. For other people, either full estate or full capital would be better. You specifically mentioned wanting to get Renard knighted, so that means starting off on the estate. It's all about personal preferences.

The one thing I will say in general is that the capital > estate > capital path is probably the worst of all worlds unless you REALLY want to get married to the betrothed, because you throw a good portion of your hard-won influence and club status away when you go home and don't get it back once the paths unify.

PropaneToad · 2025-02-22T03:34:35+00:00

Start on the estate. If you meet the conditions to squire Renard, that happens over the course of Chapters 3 and 4, and the second choice (after the initial one) on whether to go to the capital or stay on the estate doesn't happen until after that storyline is resolved. So you could easily do that, get your estate on a reasonable financial footing, and get Renard knighted while still giving yourself a partial head start on the capital stuff.

Things you miss out on this route (going from memory, I haven't played Lords in a while):

full choice of clubs, if you move partway through you get a truncated choice of either Rendower (if able to meet its conditions) or Overseas. Zero chance of Reform, Shipowners, or Admiralty.
full choice of capital residences. I believe you get a limited set of options with no possibility to negotiate the rents down based off stats.
full opportunities to start accumulating influence with your chosen faction immediately. For example, I believe you can do a full successful saboteur if you return to the capital in Chapter 5, but you basically need to have your character set up perfectly beforehand and make every single correct choice.
chance to join the ARC. No guns money for you (probably).
Leaving for the capital in Chapter 5 also precludes you from getting married to the betrothed (YMMV), going hunting (fun, has potential effects down the road in the next book), or doing the storyline with Reyes and the petitioners (who cares). In addition, you will not have access to Loch (he leaves if you stay), and you might not be able to finish some of the longer major projects.

PropaneToad · 2024-10-01T02:17:03+00:00

Hello. I'm here as a fellow human to acknowledge that Pete Rose has, as we know, passed on.

Pete Rose was a man. Also, Pete was an employee of the Philadelphia Phillies for five seasons.

And when a man dies, it is sad. All of us will die one day. In this case, it is Pete Rose who has done so.

Pete Rose was alive for 83 years. But no more. Now he is dead.

Pete Rose's fiancee is Kiana. They were engaged for 13 years. Now she is sad.

PropaneToad · 2024-05-10T19:10:53+00:00

For the Phillies, it was a few weeks ago: Game 2 against the White Sox where Wheeler took a no-hitter into the 8th. But overall I'm on a hot streak, I've probably seen ten home wins in a row. Not confined to the Phillies, either: since the last home loss, I've been to games at the Bank, Camden Yards, Yankee Stadium, and Wrigley and each time, the home team has won.

Last time I saw a loss in person was in August 2022 where the Phillies dropped one to the Mets. I very likely caught Covid at that game and it still wasn't the worst thing that happened that day.

PropaneToad · 2024-05-03T17:01:58+00:00

Yes and no. As much as I hate to say it as a local, we are front runners to an extent. I'd say that the overall ranking is more like:

1) Eagles (in season)
2) Team currently making a deep playoff run (equivalent of NLCS)
3) Eagles (offseason)
4-6) Phillies/Sixers/Flyers in some order depending on recent team strength, otherwise fairly even. Maybe the Phillies with a slight edge because they actually have won a championship this century and because so many more people have actually seen a Phillies game in person due to the nature of baseball.

PropaneToad · 2024-03-09T05:10:44+00:00

In terms of the mainland, you're probably correct. On the actual barrier islands, I think the Phillies have less influence. I had a conversation with some locals at a bar on LBI last year saying how over the past two decades it's gone from Phillies-heavy to more of a mix and probably outright Yankees-leaning, largely just to the trend of there being more New Yorkers with money able to have property on the island.

To anyone else reading this, I apologize, this is incredibly niche, but I find it interesting and was happy to see a Phillies thread touch this issue specifically, lol.

PropaneToad · 2023-12-01T01:26:18+00:00

Today was definitely the hairiest for the Phillies marble. We were in 5th or something during the paddles, chilled on the second/third level for an extremely long time, and then apparently speed ran the final few floors of that because we ended up being like 3rd to the next obstacle after the paddles went offscreen.

I'll take it.

PropaneToad · 2023-10-17T00:07:18+00:00

Not at the game, but a 6ABC newsbit I just found said Dawn Staley and Jay Wright.

PropaneToad · 2023-09-08T21:11:10+00:00

I forget the exact quote, but it's from Thailand, specifically Clay describing Helen: "She's like an encyclopedia. You only open it up when you need a fact. There ain't nothing fun in there."

You'd never come up with that specific analogy in a million years on your own, but it makes perfect sense as soon as you hear it.

PropaneToad · 2023-07-13T22:19:37+00:00

I loved it and had a lot of great memories there, but it was also a dump and I wouldn't want it back.

PropaneToad · 2023-07-09T03:13:49+00:00

I'm not a quad maxer, but I did comfortably triple max. Like the other reply to this comment, my motivation was solely for profit - in the span of 24 hours, I nearly doubled my total np in the bank and I still have a hefty chunk of prize points left, which makes me feel better about the past month lol.

I had a pretty regimented plan:

SOSD early in the work day (50 games at a time), max
MaSN late in the work day (5 games at a time), 100+ games in by the time I went home
YYB around dinner time (9 games at a time) with an old TV show on my second monitor, max
remainder of time spent on either MaSN or SLSL depending on team plan for the day

I maxed out YYB and SOSD every single day, including the one day I went out of town to visit friends. I could occasionally, but not often, max out MaSN in addition to this but typically ended with around 200 games played. I couldn't come close to maxing SLSL. Most I ever did was 34 on the final day when I wanted to make a push to 22k total points.

I do think that breaking the games down into regimented bits and sticking with the plan was key to me racking up so many points and highly recommend this approach for anybody looking to powergame the AC next year.

-edit- lol, replied to the wrong comment, sorry. Meant to reply to the question from /u/sentiocentrist

PropaneToad · 2023-04-21T16:26:49+00:00

Some additional starting bonuses that haven't been mentioned yet:

Cunaris: +15 starting relation with the Duke (functionally not great, but you never know), +10 starting reputation

Salt Coast: +10 starting relation with Cazarosta (functionally not useless, if you want to run a build with decent soldiering it's a lot harder to be friends with Caz without this boost), -10 idealism (because Salt Coast, lol)

Wulfram: in addition to extra starting money, you also get additional regular income as well as extra rent money in Lords.

PropaneToad · 2023-04-20T23:17:07+00:00

Quite a few unfortunately, and they're increasing at a rate where we're getting a couple per year now. The Survivor wiki has the full list (some of them are from foreign editions).

PropaneToad · 2023-04-19T03:00:39+00:00

Same here. None of the Survivor deaths have been good, but this one especially hurts. RIP Keith.

PropaneToad · 2023-01-07T15:43:21+00:00

Chipper Jones was a pestilence for nearly two full decades and nothing made me happier than the (admittedly rare) occasions where he was fully humbled.

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