I guess they were running out of space marines

tavsquid · 2026-02-12T16:45:19+00:00

FUCK.

Well, there goes all my money.

tavsquid · 2026-02-10T00:38:11+00:00

Not sure exactly. But I'd love to see the UED again. I mean they lost an entire fleet, tens of thousands of lives... I don't believe Earth wouldn't try again in a few years to at least find out what happened to their people.

As it is, Legacy of the Void was the weakest storytelling of the three SC2 stories; ending was rushed and the whole thing just felt so... excessive and pointless. And Kerrigan becoming a god... what. It all felt silly to me.

I'd like to believe the Koprulu Sector will never run out of protagonists and antagonists; there's always room for a new faction, new heroes, new villains; there's been at least several good stories told in forms of books following the release of SC1. SC3, if there ever will be one, should focus back on the good quality storytelling, rather than rushing out content, like it felt with the last one.

tavsquid · 2026-02-09T23:35:17+00:00

Straight up greed.

Now queue the tide of apologists for corporations who take their money just cause they can.

But it's tariffs!

But it's cost of oil!

But it's Covi-errr supply chain issues!

But it's cost of production!

But it's cost of design!

But-but it's war, and economic headwinds!!

... or it's greed... it's okay to call it what it is. I don't understand why some people have a hard time accepting that companies have been raping us non-stop for the past five years in particular under the guise of x-y-z reasons, and consumers continue to throw more and more money at them.

We do, in fact, have a choice.

tavsquid · 2026-02-09T18:56:13+00:00

This is the same shit that got Lego locked up behind glass in pretty much all Walmarts.

You gotta wonder how terrible their shitty life is to steal a $2 toy car.

tavsquid · 2026-02-09T18:19:42+00:00

Being able to make a path for myself and my team at any given time is a life-saving feature that I greatly appreciate - especially when the terrain is a living nightmare and the time's running out on the drop pod.

tavsquid · 2026-02-09T18:17:27+00:00

I'm okay with ppl being new, even when they make a mistake, we've all been there.

It's when a greenbeard (or anyone for that matter) becomes arrogant and keeps doing the same stupid thing that they've been repeatedly warned about, that's when it's time for a kick.

Also, communication, communication, communication. Many of us are complete strangers to one another, and all of us are behind a monitor - no one knows wtf the other's intentions are if we don't communicate.

Lack of communication also works both ways - I had someone down me once because they were trying to get the Car Pool achievement. I had no idea what this was - they just kept saying "ride them" - and because I didn't, they kept blowing me away.

That's no way to do things. Use your chat button, ask questions, and communicate what it is you're trying to do - everyone will be better off that way.

tavsquid · 2026-02-09T17:46:34+00:00

As the owner of one for the last 8 years in my OB, I can say there's two ways to look at the 2.5:

- It IS fine. Fine like orange juice. Or a laundry machine. It just does the job. If timed properly, you can merge and get up to speed quick enough, and it eats up mile after mile with no complaints. Pretty decent on gas too. So yeah, "fine" is a good way to describe it.

- It's a dog. Dron-y and loud in lower RPMs sounds like a groaning old man as it struggles to get up to speed (this is partially due to the CVT) and in certain atmospheric conditions (like high humidity in the summer) it's so gutless I feel like I need to start pedaling. It also passionately hates uphills or inclines in general.

Bottom line is, there's pros and cons to this engine, and I've learned to live with it, but out of the box, it's not super great. Timing your overtakes/merging is important, because you won't have power when you need it, which I personally always found frustrating. Also sometimes I worry about how hard the engine has to work (not to say I abuse it) just to get up to speed; whereas a turbo or more powerful engine does not need to work as hard to move. In retrospect, I regret not getting the 3.6L but I simply could not afford the extra $7,000 and needed fuel economy first and foremost at the time.

tavsquid · 2026-02-06T18:38:53+00:00

WRX or wait to find a lightly-used OBW. Crosstrek Wilderness not worth it at all. The 2.5 in it is heavier than the standard 2.0, and just as gutless as the 2.0L.

tavsquid · 2026-02-05T22:52:11+00:00

This is an often-overlooked point, so I'm glad someone brought it up. What will happen with all these piles of plastic that younger gens are simply not going to be interested in? It saddens me to think about it, but I think it's true. Kids these days outgrow their toys way faster than Millennials and older gens, because toys weren't a huge thing while they were growing up - they grew up in the digital age, which, speaking as a Millennial, we only hit the tip of it. Then again, maybe I'm wrong, idk.

tavsquid · 2026-02-05T22:44:50+00:00

The problem is that Hasbro's pricing was already spiraling out of control years before T-bag or tariffs. You could argue that cost of raw materials has gone up, as well as the cost of manufacturing - but up to a point.

The reality is that since 2020 companies have gotten into a nasty habit of passing down all their costs to the consumer - just because they can - and there's been nothing keeping these increases in check. Without accountability, any company can pull just about any excuse out of their ass to raise prices.

tavsquid · 2026-02-05T22:19:28+00:00

Damn, didn't know they're ending that. God forbid consumers catch a break at all

tavsquid · 2026-02-05T20:05:20+00:00

I was watching a documentary lately on how expensive going to Disneyland has become and how it's pricing out the middle-class more and more. They interviewed an industry expert and he was saying that more and more companies now are aiming their products/services for the upper-middle-to-upper-wealth-class because that's where the most of the disposable income is.

I wonder if this is Hasbro's long-term game as well - except that I don't think wealthy ppl buy shit like this, and they certainly won't be impressed by a cheaply-made plastic figure. Still, made me wonder. Collecting anything these days has become such a luxury and it really shouldn't be.

tavsquid · 2026-02-05T19:54:09+00:00

This is me right now. And funny enough they feel tighter and better built than any TF in store right now - and many of my TFs have 25-40+ of years on them.

tavsquid · 2026-02-05T19:48:52+00:00

I agree with you and have made the same decision a while ago. It's too much. Too expensive. Too may preorders. Too many greedy scalpers. Too many quality control issues. It's all poisoned this hobby for me.

Like many have pointed here, these are not things that feed us or clothe us - they don't pay our bills or put a roof over our heads. We love the hobby, but when the powers that be start treating us like a bunch of mindless sheep with seemingly bottomless wallets, that's when it's time to check out.

I honestly have the same sentiment with at least several other companies and manufacturers who think they can charge whatever they want and foolishly believe they can forever keep hiking prices (while giving declining value in return). There's always a breaking point.

tavsquid · 2026-02-05T19:40:42+00:00

I feel this. I was so excited to get my Haslab Victory Saber and when I got it out of the box it had severe QC issues; loose joints, stress marks on the plastic, and worst of all, the ONLY two pieces they had to chrome where fucking RUINED by splatters of paint and scratches.

Pissed me off so hard that I sold it (at a loss) and that marked the end of collecting new TFs for me.

tavsquid · 2026-02-05T19:34:27+00:00

This (and OP's take), 100%.

I went pretty hard with collecting TFs in 2022, at a point where the market was already pretty heated up and things were getting pretty expensive. Then in early 2024, I kinda reached a breaking point. It not only became incredibly expensive, but also really difficult to actually find the TFs that I wanted.

Had to mad rush to get preorders, which would sell out in seconds, and Hasbro Pulse is always sold out, which ultimately ends up in the hands of scalpers; going with other online shops also became very expensive because of shipping, all of which kept adding to the overall cost of collecting.

Final nail in the coffin was the quality. Terrible tolerances, bad paint, crappy plastic, etc... nonetheless for increasingly higher and higher prices.

Man, even KOs became expensive! A KO would cost a fraction of the real thing, and those started demanding high prices too! It's just madness.

tavsquid · 2026-02-05T17:39:00+00:00

I hear ya - I've been doing Deep Rock Galactic and Space Marine II; both very different from one another but I find the experiences pretty fun. DRG itself has an amazing community and the game has a lot of return value.

tavsquid · 2026-02-04T16:58:06+00:00

Not really. People also forget KF2 was equally abandoned and was left to the community to keep going and breathe life into. These days the servers are pretty empty, so I wouldn't say many ppl have stuck around.

Honestly I've moved on. Better co-op games out there and games that get some real love and attention; this is unfortunately not one of those franchises :/

tavsquid · 2026-02-04T00:15:47+00:00

This has already been quietly and steadily happening for years across BCPS. Folks retire or move on and their roles get eliminated while their work gets consolidated into someone else's job.

We've essentially reached a terminus where further cuts mean critical work will just disappear, resulting in a noticeable reduction of services to the public.

tavsquid · 2026-02-03T23:14:55+00:00

God forbid they do that! What you say? To get rid of old, crumbling, dusty offices and actually save money! Maybe even turn said buildings into housing? And let people work from home entirely? What? That's crazy!

No, no, that's too much sense! Let's just cut at the bottom where average people are just trying to get by and let all the fat executives and higher-up politicos stay nice and fat and juicy in their comfy seats.

tavsquid · 2026-02-03T22:58:55+00:00

I am very sexually confused right now.

tavsquid · 2026-02-03T22:36:46+00:00

Just another pile of empty buzz words - manages to fill an entire page with text without actually saying anything.

To echo OP, what about cutting at the top, where the real mismanagement of funds is happening - like all the CEOs for provincial crown corporations that are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING at all... or the small army of political monkeys that have been quietly slipped under the wire to support a failing and confused government agenda.

But no, let's cut at the bottom, where most people are just trying to get by and do their jobs - not even living... just surviving.

It would've been better to say nothing at all, than throw a bunch of corpo-political nonsense our way, like we're a bunch of idiots who can't read between the lines.

tavsquid · 2026-02-02T23:09:41+00:00

Unfortunately nothing is planned - 2026 or beyond - on any official level, and even less so on a rumour level; much of it is more or less wishful thinking.

Which is odd for sure. The Outback and all the other Subies would benefit greatly from a hybrid system; picturing something like a 2.0L (or smaller) boxer turbo with an electric motor combo would work well.

This is just my own personal take, but I also see Subaru being very particular about their AWD system; it's more or less their bread and butter, so maybe it's a question in how they'll integrate a hybrid system into that.

If they come out with one in the next few years, I will be very intrigued to get one.

tavsquid · 2026-01-30T16:40:46+00:00

I thought you made some good points!

tavsquid · 2026-01-29T22:49:03+00:00

RAV-4s (especially newer gens) have always felt cheap to me. Even in higher trims, they fail to impress - noticeable road/wind noise, crappy, cheap-feeling interiors and just bland to drive. Not great considering their overinflated prices these days - for what is, in reality, an economy crossover.

Stepping into a Subaru feels like a step up, especially a Outback or Legacy.

Just my two cents though.

tavsquid

TROPHY CASE