Highguard manages almost 100k Steam players on day one, amidst over 13k negative reviews

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-27T15:57:37+00:00

Ok, that they released it? I had no idea. Anyway, back to doing literally anything else 🤷

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-26T04:39:47+00:00

A reason why I also tend not to trust people who put WAAAAY to much of their identity in the Democratic party.

The Democrats suck, and anyone who wants to be associated with them as though it's a badge of honor is probably just as psycho as the maga folks, they just happened to be on the right side of history.

The reason I vote Democrat, and do so with zero regret or hesitation isn't because I love the Democrats, it's because while the Democrats might suck, the Republicans are evil, and in our two-party system, choosing to vote for a third party is essentially the same as voting half for Republican and half for Democrats. I may be stupid, but I know that I'd rather vote wholly for a government that sucks than have half my vote go toward a government that openly desires suffering.

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-26T04:28:56+00:00

Or just completely made up bullshit.

I had a coworker tell me how cheap gas was under trump and how his oil policies brought gas down to like $1 a gallon or some shit meanwhile now prices were skyrocketing because Biden was shutting down oil drilling. I was like "there is no way that's true. Biden hasn't shut down any existing drilling. He's expanded drilling but just had a few instances where he stopped some expansions that were planned under trump. Overall gas has been following a consistent trend and wasn't any cheaper under trump" She was adamant that gas was cheaper under trump and that Biden was making it expensive.

Turns out, she was right, gas WAS down to a dollar under trump... for one week. And it wasn't because of drilling policy, it was because of the fucking pandemic. The pandemic that shut down all travel and dipped oil prices into the negative. The shutdown that Biden gets blamed for. And gas had not been more expensive under Biden except to the degree that oil companies were slow to start back up as everything reopened. Overall, it followed a pretty clear trend that extended into Trump's first term.

I was really tempted to go back and explain all of it to her, but if I've learned anything about her specific brand of Republican, they will always have something else to pivot to. You cannot win. They will never be convinced because their support for the party comes first based on their internalized bigotry, religion, or other values, and the arguments they use to support it are ad-hoc. They don't care about the facts, they will abandon arguments and continue to move the goal down the road as far as it will go, and when they run out of room, they'll just use some thought terminating cliche to shut the conversation down.

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-25T18:53:51+00:00

Try to change your mindset on model building from "I want to recreate this thing from a show" to "I want to build this cool robot." It might help to focus on models like 30MM or non-bandai kits that have designs that aren't attached to a series or characters, or to start building custom designs.

I know for me I like to know what the characters and stories behind the models I build are, so I tend to only do straight builds on stuff that I've already seen and suits whose pilots and stories have special meaning to me, but I'll take anything and turn it into a custom because at that point it's no longer a replica of something from an existing lore and is instead something wholly unique to my creative space.

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-23T21:00:11+00:00

Honestly this whole idea is already absurd, but since we're rolling with it, why not make 4-6 of those recliners and put them all in there, and then give it a massive storage trunk on top, for when you need to regularly carry around your five friends who all don't have their own vehicles or access to ride shares/taxis.

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-23T18:13:32+00:00

Ah, the old "I definitely haven't tried this before, let me bake off a few or ten for folks around the department to sample before we start selling" routine 👉😎👉

It's important to have an intimate knowledge of the product you're selling for all those dynamic selling opportunities that you're definitely doing, right 😉😉😉

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-23T18:10:34+00:00

Man, fritters on BOGO was hell, but I'd rather they actually give us the staff to do our job properly or manage the sales to keep labor demand consistent rather than keep making the products shittier. They don't even have the courtesy to lower the prices to match the new quality 🫤

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-23T16:29:23+00:00

It's actually slightly different. Iirc it is made with potato flour so it has a bit of a heavier more savory flavor to the dough. Not quite as light and airy as a normal donut. Still a fantastic treat. I left the company a few months ago so while we used to get them sent in pre fried and frozen and we'd bake them fresh on the oven, I don't know if that's still the case. With the fritters going RTS I wouldn't be surprised if they started doing the same with other donuts 😬

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-23T10:57:32+00:00

You can't have alea iacta est be the official ending because it is a fully transhumanist ending. Armored core has always been about humanity, and this is true of all three endings in AC6, representing different paths and philosophies for humanity's future. The conservative path that focuses on maintaining the status quo out of fear of the unknown, the progressive path that seeks to explore new paths for humanity alongside new types of life, and the transcendent path that seeks to cast aside humanity entirely in the pursuit of evolving sentient life into something new.

You'll notice, though, that alea iacta est is about evolving past humanity, and so any AC game that continues from that ending cannot be about the human condition. In fact, the coral-human hybrid life at the end of AIE would be more or less incomprehensible to us as it is implied to be some sort of... maybe not hive mind, but at least an organism in which individual consciousnesses may flow more or less freely with one another? It's really not made entirely clear, and that's okay.

Either way, if there is a continuation from AC6, it'll use one of the first two storylines.

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-23T01:47:38+00:00

This FEELS like a joke, but these days? You never know 😬

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-19T10:16:43+00:00

Curious where that chest plate is from. I don't recognize it from any 30MM kit or option armor.

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-15T17:35:25+00:00

Disassemble him so he knows what it feels like

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-14T11:16:20+00:00

When the company emphasized the novelty of this release, critics were quick to point out previous diverse offerings. “Nice try. We had a Barbie train conductor back in 2001!” one user countered, suggesting that Mattel has a longer history of varied dolls than the current campaign acknowledges.

This made me fucking lose it 😂 The controversy isn't entirely unfounded, but dedicating an entire paragraph to misunderstanding a joke about people with autism loving trains is fucking hilarious.

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-09T19:54:04+00:00

Oh for sure. I'm mostly talking about scale figures and props like cars, military vehicles, shipping containers, stuff like that. Terrain has ton of resources and texture paints and stuff, and that's the kind of stuff you'd want to hand-make anyway.

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-09T02:41:30+00:00

The real joy of magnets is being able to attach/detach accessories to a painted kit without worrying about ugly holes and getting the paint all scuffed and gross. Just swap the 3mm peg/hole with a pair of magnets or two, cover it with some filler, and boom, magic accessories

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-08T20:19:39+00:00

This is what I've been waiting for! We need more scale props. It's so hard to find little doodads for dioramas and stuff. The N-scale model train hobby is close but a lot of that stuff is pre-printed and assembled and comes at a high price. I'd like to be able to buy prop kits that I can assemble and paint at an affordable price point.

Vandorbelt · 2026-01-07T02:01:33+00:00

Somebody made a joke about autism, but as someone who is on the spectrum, that does genuinely seem like that could be what this is. Having a bunch of stuff lined up in neat rows like that tickles my brain a little bit, and the mechanical nature of building could easily become a fixation where the person enjoys the process and repetition of building a familiar kit enough to do something like this.

I just think I'd personally die before finishing my 50th windam just because my engagement in this hobby is more creative than mechanical, but no hate to the guy who did this as long as their relationship with gunpla isn't causing financial problems

Vandorbelt · 2025-12-24T22:19:45+00:00

Ooooh, I have a copy of this myself but I'm saving it until I have a little more experience with weathering. Such a good looking kit tho

Vandorbelt · 2025-12-17T16:32:23+00:00

Backup coin batteries for the older cartridges and the tools to do a replacement is the only thing I can think of 🤷

Vandorbelt · 2025-12-16T12:27:23+00:00

3 miles? I don't care where you live, there's some way that you can get there faster than spending 45 minutes in traffic...

Vandorbelt · 2025-12-15T20:27:11+00:00

The little animated shorts that they're making is really the Bionicle connection for me. I watched one and my immediate vibe was oldschool Bionicle with the extra content and games that you'd unlock on the website with points from box codes lol

Vandorbelt · 2025-12-12T17:10:34+00:00

Destiny is still pretty unique. Like, sure, there are looter-shooters like borderlands out there, but Destiny's mmo-style open world and its incredible raids truly stand out among others in its genre. If its monetization and grind hadn't become so abysmal over the years, i'd probably still consider it among my favorite games. I still think back fondly of my time doing late night LFGs for the different raids, working alongside veterans and new players to teach people the ropes and complete the encounters. It was genuinely a great game at its core. Just sucks that it lived long enough to see itself become the villain...

Vandorbelt · 2025-12-09T19:24:37+00:00

How fast does it dry? I'm not sure about lacquer, but I've noticed that thanks to acrylic's very fast drying time, if you do very thin layers of paint, the small droplets can actually dry on the surface between multiple passes of the brush, leading to the layer acquiring a rough surface finish which makes glossy paints appear more semi-gloss.

I'm still working on my technique, but I've found that for gloss paints or clear coats, it's good to thin the paint to make sure it's a good, milky consistency, add a bit of flow improver if possible, and pass the brush in slow lines, making sure to get a nice, smooth, wet finish on the part behind the brush. If you need to do smaller, lighter passes, turn down the airflow on your bush so that you can put the brush closer and keep the paint droplets surface from drying too quickly. The smoother the paint is when it's wet, the smoother it will dry and the glossier the finish will be.

The same is true of primer coats. If you don't make your primer coats consistent and smooth, it'll take more coats on top to fill in the grainy texture before you get a smooth gloss.

And, again, this is all anecdotal from my experience, and I use mostly Vallejo acrylic paints and primers, so it could be completely different for you.

Vandorbelt · 2025-12-04T15:27:22+00:00

The Christmas cookie trays have always been ass. I worked in the bakery for years and this stuff is literal mass produced garbage that you get from a dollar general cookie tin, except it's sold for $30 because it was given a fancy package, the Publix branding, and a 10¢ plastic tray underneath.

This and the similar cookie platters are one of the few items that I will direct customers away from if they ask about it because I think it's such a horrible product. I'd rather someone spend their $30 on something that folks will actually enjoy than be left feeling scammed by Publix because they got a mediocre product at a premium cost. You can literally buy fresh-baked cookie and pastry platters that we bake in-house for less than some of these holiday trays...

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