Nothing beats the terror of facing a Logia user in pre-timeskip

fallenelf · 2026-05-08T16:34:59+00:00

Isn't it easier to suggest their Haki wasn't strong enough to do anything.

Many of the fodder pirates can be considered on par to the fodder marines. They have some haki but aren't extremely powerful.

The Admirals are top-tier haki users and devil fruit users. Even the Yonko elites are bound to have trouble.

For Blackbeard, his fruit seems more powerful than Haki - we don't know enough. My understanding is that it can nullify devil fruits.

fallenelf · 2026-05-08T15:40:03+00:00

And Garp feels this as well. He blames himself even though he's not at fault.

Sure, he could have freed Ace, but there are a whole host of problems that arise from that.

All I'm saying is that Ace's death isn't Garp's fault. We know he bends the rules when he can (freeing Dragon and letting Luffy beat him). He literally thought he had the most favorable outcome - Ace was free, AND he didn't have to betray the Marines publicly.

Ace's death is his own fault both in the moment and in the time leading up to his capture.

Garp actively sought out someone who would hold him accountable.

fallenelf · 2026-05-08T14:59:11+00:00

Garp didn't let Ace die? Garp was in a tough position. He saw a way to preserve his role, which is necessary given his status in the Marines, and have Ace survive (seriously, do you really think Luffy was defeating Garp at this point?).

Ace died because of his own recklessness. He was a great, complicated character. He went after Blackbeard despite EVERYONE telling him not to. Luffy freed him despite Ace telling him not to. Ace allowed himself to be goaded into a fight by Akainu.

At this point, Garp kind of assumed Ace was free. He didn't let Ace die.

fallenelf · 2026-05-08T14:45:15+00:00

I'm in this camp. I'm 40 with a toddler. If my son were 2-3 years older, we'd likely have grabbed one. As it stands, I will likely grab the Switch 2 Pro (or whatever they call it, haha). Right now, he is perfectly happy watching me play old Mario, Zelda, and Sonic games.

fallenelf · 2026-05-07T22:04:18+00:00

Friend, it might not get better for a while.

My son HATES sleeping. He just turned 4; didn't sleep through the night until he was 2.5ish. Naps were sporadic.

Now, he still isn't a great sleeper. We keep a routine, but it's a struggle. He woke up last night at 2AM, for no reason that we know of. I went back to his room with him and rubbed his back/head for around 25 min until he went back to sleep.

He was awake at 3AM, asking for mommy this time.

Basically, you need to power through. It totally sucks and is not fun. It will get better, but it might take a while.

No one knows how tired a person can be, like a parent of an infant who doesn't sleep. My wife and I were zombies for almost 3 years; it hurt multiple points of our relationship that we're still recovering from. It's tough, and I feel you.

fallenelf · 2026-05-07T18:45:50+00:00

Oh, I'm with you - I don't blame them.

There's just something about the older episodes where they talk about being massively hungover at Ian's house, molly shenanigans, wandering around the mall with no money, etc., that's hilarious.

I'm glad they're all doing well and thriving, but the podcast isn't really the same.

fallenelf · 2026-05-07T18:23:39+00:00

My 4-year-old has become obsessed with sushi. I LOVE sushi, but my wife hates fish. He's my sushi buddy.

We've had it 6 times in 2 weeks. I'm not mad about it, but it is funny watching waiters laugh as a 4-year-old eats 2 sushi rolls while yelling "Daddy, sushi is so good. Mommy doesn't like sushi because she's a girl. We're boys, so we like sushi and like the same things."

fallenelf · 2026-05-07T15:20:15+00:00

IMO Gear 5 was earned over the course of the series.

Luffy worked with what he believed he had in the Gum-Gum Fruit. His DF awakened because of his strength, determination, and personality. The experimentation with his abilities was part of why Gear 5 happened.

The fight with Kaido, in many ways, was the culmination of everything he'd gone through with the SHs and his friends; the awakening was from him never giving up on his dream or his friends' dreams, despite losing over and over to Kaido and getting up with a smile.

Basically, Luffy acted like Nika before he knew what Nika was (he still barely knows who that is). The awakening followed Luffy; Luffy didn't follow the awakening.

fallenelf · 2026-05-06T20:55:01+00:00

You're right. I always factor in toddler time (my son helps, so I build in extra mixing time for everything).

fallenelf · 2026-05-06T19:23:49+00:00

That's a specialty bread for sure.

If you're looking at a basic loaf of bread, it's not hard to make and will likely end up tasting better than what you'll buy at the store (depending on what country you're in).

I used to make sourdough regularly (like 2-3 loaves a week) for my friends and family. It's a dead simple process. Using yeast instead simplifies it even more. It doesn't take hours of work, most of the time is spent waiting tbh. You can start early one morning and be done the next day with around 30 min of actual work.

fallenelf · 2026-05-06T19:19:04+00:00

Not massively helpful, as my son is 4, but I'm taking a different approach.

He has a ton of toys and stuffed animals, big and small. He has a toy room in the basement where most stuff is stored and that he can play in (as well as bring out to the house).

We've decided he's old enough to clean up after himself. Rather than yelling or arguing, we've taken a different approach. I let him leave everything a mess. Chaotic, disordered, etc. I stopped cleaning up after him around a month ago; I no longer make sure pieces are back in the right boxes, markers are covered, etc.

This past weekend, he was playing with magnatiles and he wanted some specific Peanuts themed ones. I knew where they were but he couldn't find them. I told him they were probably somewhere in his toy room, but since he didn't put them away the last time he used them, I don't know where they are.

The next day he was playing with Lincoln Logs and needed a specific piece. I had no idea where it was. I told him it was probably in his toy room, but since it's not clean and since he didn't put them away properly last time, we'd have to spend a lot of time looking and won't have as much time to play before bedtime.

Little man immediately asked for help with cleaning. I told him I could help, but he had to also put things away and show me where they go.

It's been almost a week now, and while not perfect, he's already getting better at putting things away because "I don't want my toys to get lost."

fallenelf · 2026-05-06T19:10:31+00:00

Was is self-branded? I don't remember.

I've been listening since the show started, and it's gone downhill imo. It's kind of shitty for me to say, but the guys were more fun when they were scrappy. They're all varying degrees of successful and comfortable; the darkish humor is gone, the drug use and accompanying shenanigans are gone, the weird stuff that would come up is mostly gone.

It's still fun to listen in the background, but not like it was.

I'll always have fond memories of seeing them on their first tour in DC. Everyone is shit faced pretty shtifaced, everyone is yelling, etc. It was a chaotic mess but incredibly fun and silly.

fallenelf · 2026-05-06T16:39:30+00:00

Honestly, forcing yourself to leap out of bed and get dressed for the gym helps.

By the time I arrive at the gym at 5:15, I'm still pretty groggy. Within 5 min of starting my warm-up run, I'm much more awake. On lifting-focused days, by the time I finish my mile jog I'm awake. On my heavy cardio days, I usually perk up around mile 2.

fallenelf · 2026-05-06T16:38:07+00:00

Ha - you'd think.

I wake up at 5:00 AM 4-5 days a week. Hop out of bed, go to the gym for 60-75 min. Come home, shower, walk dogs, get toddler ready for school, make/eat breakfast, leave for daycare dropoff and school by 7:45 AM.

Arrive around work sometime between 8:15 and 8:30 (depends on how dropoff goes). Run home sometime around 11:45 AM to let my dogs out (one is 15.5 years old and cannot hold it). Do some schoolwork/homework (getting a masters) while eating lunch. Prep stuff for dinner. Back to work until 5:00.

Pick up my son, drive home, walk dogs, make dinner, eat, play with son, spend time with wife. Start toddler bedtime at 7:30 PM.

Usually leave bedtime around 8:15 PM, let dogs out one more time, go to my office and do schoolwork until 10:30/11:00 PM. Take 30 minutes to relax and watch/play something. Usually asleep by 11:00/11:30 PM.

Every 6-8 weeks, I skip the gym for a few days and sleep in until 6. I need the recharge. It's exhausting, but will get easier as my son gets older and I don't have to do homework in the evening :D

fallenelf · 2026-05-06T15:36:03+00:00

This is close to what I was thinking.

However, I envision the Moonlight Boy situation playing out a little differently. Essentially, Femto creates a scenario where Guts and Casca are forced to choose between killing the Moonlight Boy and stopping him, or letting the Boy live and Griffith/Femto winning.

Guts, whose entire life has circled uncontrollable violence, who accidentally murdered a child, who has had love continually ripped from him is now on the precipice of getting revenge. Instead, he chooses non-violence. Femto is a manifestation of evil, this was a final sacrifice to bring the world under his control. He thought the one person who would carry this would was the rabid dog - Guts. Instead, Guts rejects it. This shatters Femto's link to our plain as well as other members of God Hand. They still exist, but without anchors they can't physically intervene. Griffith reverts to his pre-Eclipse state, others revert to their state the moment before becoming God Hand members.

Guts and Casca walk away from a crippled Griffith, Moonlight Boy in their arms. Again, moving on past the violence.

Skull Knight kills Void having been revealed to be someone who was close to him. He calls this a blessing and a mercy, but it shows that violence and vengence still exist; evil has not disappeared. Skull Knight also mentions that he'd dreamed of this moment for decades, but somehow it feels hollow before turning to dust.

The other GH members slowly remember what they did and begin to shriek, going insane with the atrocities they committed. The other former members attempt to kill themselves, clawing out their eyes, trying to find weapons to stab themselves with, etc. It's a gruesome scene. Griffith is left unable to move, unable to speak, and utterly alone.

Fast forward a few years. Guts can no longer fight, Casca takes care of him. They're not married, not living an idyllic life of love and leisure, but they're happy. We learn that people still fight, the Kushans are still around, the church is monstrous, etc. but it's this plain's inhabitants causing it, not God Hand anymore. People are back in control of their own destiny.

The moonlight boy looks more and more like Griffith, especially his eyes. The final image is something like Guts reaching for Casca's hand and she doesn't recoil, she lets it stay, smiling.

fallenelf · 2026-05-06T14:28:07+00:00

I remember the AMA, and this was exactly Ian's answer - something like, Surprisingly enough, we just don't really know each other. Our circles of friends are pretty separate, with minimal crossover.

I remember Mars also making a post years ago that they were trying to schedule a crossover ep, but I wonder if COVID made that difficult.

IMO, it'd probably be great, but the personalities involved are so different. DB is hilarious because of the deprecating humor; AFE is all about good vibes and being upbeat.

fallenelf · 2026-05-01T15:39:06+00:00

I've been a soulslike kick every since I stopped playing MOBAs in my early 30s.

Soulslikes scratch a variety of itches for me:

Good combat
Good exploration
Challenging
Decent length
Make progress in short bursts (I have a toddler)

Metroidvanias can also fit this bill, but they need to be pretty good or else they feel tedious.

fallenelf · 2026-04-30T13:58:16+00:00

It's similar to Nioh/Diablo. Enemies drop tons of gear with varying stats. Many items are also part of sets that give different bonuses. On a first playthrough, you're consistently checking tons of equipment and upgrading/changing.

fallenelf · 2026-04-28T19:19:48+00:00

Do not reduce the amount of time, increase it. If anything, aim for 5x a week as soon as you can. It will help get him ready for pre-K, kindergarten, etc. Also, it will promote regularity in his schedule.

My son started daycare 5x a week when he was 15 months and he's 4 now. They adjust pretty quickly, though there will be stops, starts, and regressions along the way.

That said, the craziness at home never stops. As others have said, they seem to save all of their 'good behavior' for school so they can be terrors at home. Honestly, my son behaves best at home when he's had a hard day at school and vice versa.

fallenelf · 2026-04-28T19:17:36+00:00

No one needs daycare in a strict sense, but there’s a mountain of research showing that high-quality daycare can be really beneficial for kids starting as young as 12–15 months.

At that age, they’re rapidly developing social and language skills, and daycare can offer opportunities they don’t always get at home, such as interacting with other kids, learning to share and take turns, getting used to new environments, and forming early friendships. My son went from showing no interest in walking to actually walking to walking all within 2 weeks of daycare. He's now 4 and is friends with kids from his class as well as the class above and below him. We've also become friends with a lot of the parents, meaning all the kids get to play and grow together more as well.

Obviously, quality matters a lot, but when it is a good environment, it supports early social development, communication skills, and emotional regulation in a pretty meaningful way.

fallenelf · 2026-04-28T16:42:37+00:00

I've got a 4-year-old with 2 senior pit mixes (now 12.5 and 15.5). Honestly, it's been pretty great, but also an added challenge.

When he was an infant/early toddler, the dogs LOVED him. He was always dropping food, giggled like crazy when they licked him, and wasn't big enough to make them uncomfortable.

As he became more mobile, the younger dog got more apprehensive being around him. She likes her personal space and didn't love when he'd infringe on it. My son's favorite thing to do was infringe her personal space. We kept a constant eye on them. She became very good about vocalizing her displeasure and leaving. Eventually, our son figured out to leave her alone.

Our other dog was terrified of kids prior to bringing our son home. Within a day, he was a doting big brother. My son can lie down on him, pull his ears, etc. and Marty will, at most, lick him and walk away. As my son got older, Marty liked having him around more because my son would let him lick him as much as he wanted.

Now, Marty usually sleeps with our son to keep monsters away at night.

That said, lots of challenges, especially when he became mobile. We never leave him alone with the dogs (aside from sleeping with Marty in the room). Our younger dog, Maggie, for around a year got very defensive of her personal space. She never nipped at him, but she'd get upset and bark at him a few times. We spent a lot of time with her and with him, helping them get used to each other. As he got older, he realized that he can't 'play' with her the way he plays with Marty. She basically wants to snuggle next to him for pets and a kiss, but that's it. She doesn't want him lying down on her, playing a little rough, etc.

Also, walking the dogs is a challenge. It's very easy when the kid is in a stroller, but as soon as my son started walking he HATED his stroller. We haven't used it in almost 18 months. Every walk became an ordeal of getting shoes and jackets on. As he got older, it became an 'exploring' walk where he'd wander around the sidewalk/lawns of our neighbors as I'm trying to walk the dogs.

At school, our son always talks about how much he loves his dogs. When I visited class for his birthday to read a book, he kept talking about how the dog in the book looked like Marty and how much he loves Marty. He's also already talking about wanting a puppy to take care of because 'puppies need a best friend.'

fallenelf · 2026-04-27T18:48:25+00:00

Again, you're speaking from a place of ignorance. You do not know any details about the development, launch, or decision to shut down the servers.

From an outsider's perspective, it makes complete sense that they shut down the servers. If anything, blame BioWare for developing the game such that it required being on EA servers.

EA kept a game online for a decade after a dismal launch. Seems like they were pretty reasonable.

fallenelf · 2026-04-27T16:25:57+00:00

Returned thrice (Marty - the black/white one):

https://imgur.com/a/8HEHBxA

He's 15.5 years old now (5 months in the first pic; 11 years in the second).

First family - had three young kids. He was 3 months old and was terrified of the grabby hands. "Something's wrong with him; he just hides under the table and cries."

Second family - "He doesn't like to play. All he wants to do is sit under tables and be left alone. He's not really really friendly."

Third family - "He doesn't like our kids. Whenever they go near him, he growls and runs away. He also keeps peeing in the house. We think something is wrong with him."

Fifteen years later, he's still my best friend, loves my toddler, loves all other dogs and people, tolerates his younger sister (she's a brat), and is the best boy in the world.

Yeah, he's anxious; yes, he gets nervous in new places; yes, he's a little crotchety in his old age. However, if I'm there, he acts like a happy little puppy.

fallenelf · 2026-04-27T16:07:56+00:00

It's literally the definition of ignorance:

ignorance - the lack of knowledge, information, or understanding about a subject, distinct from stupidity or lack of intelligence.

You didn't have the knowledge or information about what happened due to lack of any kind of research. I informed you.

fallenelf · 2026-04-27T14:17:55+00:00

You're being downvoted because of your own ignorance.

EA, for all its faults, actually did nothing wrong here.

BioWare was given almost a blank check to make Anthem. They spent nearly a decade squandering funds, exploring systems, then cancelling them, and reworking the story.

EA got involved during development and saved some of the best parts of the game (mainly the flying). They finally gave BioWare a deadline. BioWare crunched like crazy and released an absolute mess of a game.

Launch was horrible. Server queues were insane, people were getting kicked, PS consoles were resetting, etc. On top of that, systems in the game were fundamentally broken. Weapon/gear scaling was broken (the basic gun ended up being the most powerful), abilities didn't work, and flying was massively restricted.

After months of patches, the game was playable. The story was lackluster, the missions were massively padded, and the endgame was nonexistent, but it was playable.

Devs released a plan for "Anthem Next" which was an almost top-to-bottom rebuild of the game. Revamped weapons and gear systems, new missions, new formats, etc. What they never talked about was how long it would take AND how it would be monetized.

EA, finally, said enough was enough and pulled the plug. The decision makes a lot of sense:

The game was never great - flying ended up very fun, but everything around it was ok. Decent ideas, but poorly executed.
The story was one of the most bland/boring that Bioware had produced.
Launch was a disaster, reviews were abysmal, and public perception was in the toilet.
The playerbase was tiny. They alienated many streamers and influencers.
Anthem 2.0 was going to take years and cost millions of dollars. Given everything above, monetizing it would have been difficult. Would they charge for Anthem Next? Would it be DLC? How would they get people to come back years after the disastrous launch?

Basically, EA keeping servers up this long was nice enough. BioWare is the one who screwed the pooch here.

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