#v.2: hell kaiser

[herukaizaa]

No...! The light...! So strong...!! It's ruining his edgy Darkness!

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 127-128 Subbed (Finalized)

(Previously: Episode 126 Subbed [Finalized])

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

TURN-127: Martin, Breaker of the Seal

Principal Samejima and Pegasus discover the stone tablet dedicated to Rainbow Dragon and are en route to it. Martin, acquiring the three Phantasm cards, provokes Amon into a duel with the three Phantasms at stake. Amon is conflicted, but he decides to duel Martin to ascertain how he feels. Martin summons Mad Reloader in Defense Mode, while Amon summons his 3000-ATK Cloudian — Eye of the Typhoon to blow away 3000 of Martin's Life--yet Martin is composed about that attack. Elsewhere, Johan and the others know the facility that will allow them to obtain the Rainbow Dragon card and head for it.

TURN-128: The Gem Beasts VS Cyber End Dragon

As it turns out, obtaining the Rainbow Dragon card will require fierce Duel Energy--leading Hell Kaiser Ryou and Johan to duel to that end. On his first turn, Ryou summons Chimeratech Overdragon, going on to activate his Future Fusion Permanent* Magic and prepare to summon his Cyber End Dragon in two turns. Johan performs a direct attack with Amethyst Cat, but Ryou barely flinches, summoning his Cyberdark Dragon to attack him even more. *Like originally happens in the episode, the original summary makes the mistake of calling Future Fusion "an Equip" Magic and not a Permanent/Continuous one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like Pegasus designing Rainbow Dragon, I've splendidly finalized my subs for 127 and 128!

Working on both works as a bit of an unintended two-parter as we have Amon confronting Martin--and the being within him--for the three Phantasms, learning more about himself in the process, while the race is on for Johan and co. to make it to the tennis courts and accumulate enough Duel Energy to get Rainbow Dragon and a shot at getting home. I do like 127 for the juxtaposition of Echo confronting Pegasus and offering more of Amon's past ("My dream of Amon becoming king... was shattered by Amon himself.") with the being--which episode 128's credits already reveal as Yubel so there we go--reading Amon and the will he's adhered to like a book and making him think of how it's held him back. Where that ultimately takes him--and whether it's good or not--is for another post, ofc. I also do love 128 and Ryou's intense duel with Johan; that opening turn with "Rival's Onslaught" playing and the first use of "Testing Duel" off Sound Duel 2 are great, as is the first use of "Wicked Grudge" as Martin plays House of Sand and we see what happened to Yubel. [Also I forgot how much dialogue 4Kids stuffed into this episode, especially as Marcel activates House of Sand--so much needless fluff...]

Animation error-wise, there's actually nothing too big involved--I applied a handful of fixes to both episodes (13 altogether), mostly quality-of-watching ones like split-screens, though I did fix up the error with Ryou calling Future Fusion an "Equip," along with one odd Ruby-related animation error. Details under the cut below, as always, for the interested!

Anywho, enjoy! We're just about set for a big reveal as we hit the arc's climax; I'll be mostly focused on getting some work started on 129-130 (I'd hoped to get them done before the GX remaster starts next Friday but hopefully it won't be too long after it does lol) while I look over the ARC-V work I've done for Yuya over in Tag Force Special as I get started with translating the ARC-V character story text after having just wrapped ZEXAL's. Stay tuned!

Fixes and Edits! (127)

As Martin and Amon get their duel started, they slide into a split-screen to shout "Duel!"; as they then slide apart to show their LP counters, Martin's split takes a frame longer to slide offscreen than Amon's does. A quick fix in Sony Vegas, as I held a split-less frame after that over the erroneous frame to get them offscreen simultaneously.

A bit later, as Amon uses Eye of the Typhoon to attack Martin's Mad Reloader, the two are on a split-screen as Amon explains the former's effect; as they split apart, something odd happens: 1) Amon starts to slide offscreen but Martin's split stays still--and shows more of Martin behind Amon's split; 2) Martin's split, now showing more of him, only starts sliding offscreen the frame after their slide-out starts; and 3) with the slide-out lasting only four frames (vs the usual 7-8 frames), this leads to them unevenly sliding out, with Amon's mostly gone and Martin's still halfway in the shot in the last frame before they're both gone. Fixed this in Vegas by redoing their slide-out to be smoother and the usual frames long while also keeping Martin's split consistent, grabbing a loop of the rain/wind slamming on him to move.

Later, after Martin is impressed by Amon's first move, the two are on a split-screen as the being inside Martin assesses his dueling--but as they split apart, things are uneven and odd, with Martin and Amon both moving to split apart yet Amon's split slides down and offscreen for two frames before Martin's actually splits away from his (and Martin still moves up in his split as the border on it shows up), leading to Amon's eventually being fully offscreen a frame before Martin's is. Fixed this all in Vegas by redoing their split-out to be even, keeping Martin consistent in his split as it slides upward, and also panning the pan shot of Amon behind them slightly downward behind them as it's transitioned to.

Later, as the being inside Martin suggests breaking Amon's god-like will, Amon slides in on a split-screen to gasp, but a few things happen: 1) Martin slides down for two frames before Amon's split starts to slide in; 2) after Martin reveals his Break the Seal Traps, Amon slides up to end the split-screen, but it's a quick four-frame slide-out (vs the usual 7-8). Fixed these in Vegas by redoing both the slide-in and slide-out, syncing Amon's slide-in with Martin's moving down and making Amon's slide-out a smooth seven-frame-long slide-out.

As we see the Phantasms’ silhouettes rising behind Amon’s Eye of the Typhoon, Amon and Martin slide in on a quick split-screen before sliding out to show Eye of the Typhoon being made to dissipate–but for a quick frame on slide-in and slide-out, the border on Amon’s split is a bit ghosty and faded, while on the slide-out, the close-up of Eye of the Typhoon that's being transitioned into is also briefly missing. As noted in 126's breakdown as I looked at this shot for the preview, I fixed these here first, redoing the border on Amon’s split for both ghosty instances to look more per usual, while on the slide-out, I masked in part of the close-up Eye of the Typhoon shot between him and Martin.

In the next shot, we see a shrouded-in-darkness Raviel standing up--but in the original preview for 127 in 126, his eyes ominously glowing red as he does so, while this was removed for some reason in the episode proper, so he stands up with his eyes looking normal. I thought it made more sense to still have his eyes ominously glow, so I took the preview version of the shot and masked out the glowing eyes over the footage here to restore it.

Near the end of the episode, as Johan and Ryou are about ready to start their inter-dimensional duel, there's a quick frame as we start to pan up on Ryou (as he stares Johan down) where he's... missing from the shot--he's then added back in the next frame. A quick fix in Vegas, as I replaced the erroneous frame with that second fixed frame.

Fixes and Edits! (128)

A rare audio fix: as Ryou activates his Future Fusion on his first turn, he erroneously calls it an "Equip;" the card is shown as a Permanent/Continuous Magic, with its last appearance as an Equip Magic being in episode 83. Fixed by using UltimateVocalRemover to isolate the vocals and music/SFX, then replaced his use of "soubi"/"Equip" with an "eizoku"/"Permanent" I pulled from one of his Duel Links lines before mixing it all back together, making sure it was a seamless edit working with the audio before and after the clip before mixing it back into the episode's audio--to some good success, I think!

The next error doesn't happen until the eyecatch; it's a rare eyecatch involving a split-screen as Judai, Ryou, and Johan slide in--but there's a bit of a ghost split-screen border around the bottom of Judai's split that sticks around as Ryou and Johan slide in. Fixed using Photoshop to draw the ghosty border away with more of Judai's jacket and shirt, slightly redoing the proper borders around the edit for blending, then sliding the fixed portion of his split down with the rest of his split.

A bit later, after using Sapphire Pegasus to place her in his Magic/Trap Zone, Johan activates Ruby Carbuncle's effect to Special-Summon her and his other crystallized Gem Beasts--but an odd error happens as Ruby uses its "Ruby Happiness" effect, as light shoots out of its tail in a close-up scene launching the effect, yet in the next shot zooming out from her the light is... detached from Ruby's tail somehow. Thought I could fix this, and I think I did pretty well at it; I first used Photoshop to work on the first frame of the zoom-out by clipping out Ruby to move her so that her tail overlapped the ball of light, then redrawing the tennis court turf under her [using the Clone Stamp tool] and clipping out the ball of light to now be a layer above the re-positioned tail--after that, I started using Vegas to redo the zoom-out that happens before remembering, "Oh, yeah--Track Motion in AfterEffects;" working in there, the Track Motion mostly nailed the positioning for the zoom-out, so with a few tweaks, re-positioned Ruby was working seamlessly.

In the next shot, as Johan calls out Emerald Turtle, Amber Mammoth, and Amethyst Cat, who emerge onto a split-screen that then splits out to show them on the field, their splits all slide out unevenly, with Emerald's split being the first to slide offscreen before Amethyst's does so in the next frame, while Amber's takes two frames after that to fully slide offscreen. Fixed in Vegas by re-doing their slide-outs so that they were in sync, each lasting the usual eight frames.

After everyone escapes into the underground pipe tunnels, Judai implies what happened to Napoleon after he rescued him and stayed behind, causing everyone to gasp; Asuka then turns and notes that Amon hasn't come back either (want to note that the dub instead made Alexis think they're all done for because Bonaparte's gone for some reason), but as she turns, for some reason Rei jitters on the same frame and then stays in the same position the rest of the shot. A quick fix in Vegas as I masked out Rei in the previous frame and held her over her jittered self for the rest of the shot to keep her consistently drawn.

One last error happens at the very end of the episode: Judai, shaken by Martin's threat to eliminate everyone he turned into a Duel Zombie, boldly says, "I don't think so, Martin!"--but as he moves his head upward to say this, there are three movement frames [each lasting about three frames] in which Judai has a duplicate bottom-lip shadow. Fixed each one using Photoshop to first remove the extra lip shadow, then used Vegas to throw the fixed frames back into the video.

[chimerafflesia]

since you wanted ygo asks ummmm what's your favorite ygo arc/chunk of episodes

I hope u don't mind I answered for every series because I cannot pick a single arc :3

DM: battle city SORRYYYYY for being basic but it really is the best. just everything with the introduction of the ishtars and learning more about atem's backstory UGHHH it's all SO good. yami bakura vs yami yugi destiny board duel is one of my top 3 ygo duels EVER I've seen it like 383847 times. all timer arc. this really was our battle city ❤️

GX: I AM A SOCIETY OF LIGHT ENTHUSIAST idc it's so good. season 2 of gx my all time beloved. we get so much out of this season like first of all introduction of aster phoenix one of my top 3 GX guys because he's incredible and thought he was batman for a while. really good. ALSO we get HELL KAISER RYOOOO AKA ZANE TRUSEDALE AKA ZANEYYYY <- can you tell I watch aster vs zane a lot it's so good. ALSO SARTORIOUS IS A GOATED VILLAIN IDC I FUCK WITH HIM. the final duel with jaden and him is sooososososo good. EVERYONE WATCH GX S2

5Ds: CRASH TOWN BABYYYYY I feel like this is no surprise cuz kiryu is my favorite but god for 9 episodes they COOKED. I have a massive thread on my twitter about this arc somewhere but I just really enjoyed how they didn't dismiss kiryu's struggles and tackled it head on and also didn't make yusei his savior. instead he struggled and grew on his own and yes his line in the mine where he says "im fighting to live" did make me cry who cares. also the dub has the kalin special. you can't go wrong either way. kiryu kyosuke kalin kessler you moved mountains boy.

Zexal: LOWKEY HAD TO THINK ABOUT THIS ONE but I have to say barian arc aka zexal II just in general. you gotta understand shark is my favorite zexal character and good LORD they put that boy THROUGH IT. he's the best friend he's the rival he's the villain he's actually been dead for years and the soul of a former king has been living inside him like OKAY!!!! god it's so much but it's so good. also the barians are so much fun I love each of them even if I do have favorites (hi miza hi vector hi nasch and marin) also everything with kite and mizar ok blonde bitches will be blonde bitches I guess. kite died on the moon and it was so peak. I love zexal II

ARC-V: ummmmm this one's actually a little hard because all my favorite duels/episodes are sporadic. like my favorite duel in the whole show (shun vs dennis) is in synchro arc but my favorite episode (135 aka the trembling dimensions aka peak everything) is in the fusion arc. but SUPPOSE my favorite arc is the academia arc because it does have banger moments (yuya/yuto vs ruri and serena is my second favorite duel seriously they COOKED) and I also really love the eps where they lore dump 200 episodes of information in about five. there's a scene where yuya uses performapal gatlinghoul to fire 38377 rounds into leo akaba and it's glorious. also academia arc is where my friend yuri is and well I'm a little biased. truthfully every arc and every episode of arcv is my favorite even the mid ones WELL ACTUALLY probably not the battle beast episodes I don't really know what that was. screentime that could have been given to Literally Anyone Else I think. watch arcv but watch out!

I'm not done w/ vrains so I cannot accurately answer and I haven't seen rush animes yet but I will report back when I do 🫡 thank you for the ask I LOVE talking about yugioh if you couldn't tell.

[sydsaint]

My quick overview of Money in the Bank! Overall, it was a pretty good show. 7/10⭐

‼️MITB 2023 SPOILERS AHEAD‼️

So happy that Iyo won the women's match. Love her 💜 Zoey was my sleeper pick to 2 win but I don't quite think she's ready yet. Trish is making her better every week tho. Iyo and Bayley are gonna have some drama now. I know it! The handcuff spot ending was great! I loved the creativity. Zelina showed out with that Code Red from the top of the ladder. And all the ladies where serving this their gear. As they should.

Gunther kicked Riddles ass, as he should. The match was good and Gunther looked great as always. Drew coming back was the highlight of that segment. He and Gunther are gonna kick the crap out of one another soon. And I honestly see Drew as the one to dethrone Gunther. Perhaps with some help from The Brawling Brutes again since Vinci and Kaiser are still a factor.

Surprise ! John Cena showed up and hinted that Mania may be in London in the future. My Aussie husband Grayson showed up and he and Cena had a good promo battle. Possible Cena/Grayson match in the future?? Because I'd love to see that when Grayson's leg is good to go. Grayson had a killer shirt on as always. That's one more to add to my wardrobe when I've got money.

Finn and Seth put on a banger match. Kinda wished it was Demon! Finn tho. Judgment Day is so clearly gonna break up soon and I am all for it. Finn needs to be free of the shit Rhea and Dom have going on. So does Damian. Personally, I think that Finn should start tagging with JD McDonagh and Damian should get a singles run.

Not a huge Cody fan but he kicked Dom's annoying ass so yay Cody! The match was okay. I've always found Cody kinda eh. And Dom's character with Rhea is just annoying.

Didn't really care for the tag match until Shayna pulled a GOATED move and smacked Rhonda up. Hopefully this either means Rhonda is gonna be gone for a while or Shayna is gonna give her the work in a full match/fued. Also, I'm happy for Liv getting the belt back. Don't really care for Raquel 🫠

Bloodline Civil War was a great match! Jimmy and Jey both showed out and proved that Roman is slowly becoming irrelevant. Loved seeing my man Solo kick ass! (even if it was his bro's ass😭) That's my man and I can't wait for him to drop Roman and get back on the same page with his bros. Romans's time on top is coming to an end and I can't wait for him to drop the belts. I'm a shield stan for life. But that man has become so bland both with his promos and his in-ring work. It's time for someone else to have the belt and be on top. I 100% think that Jey should be the one to dethrone him. Poetic Justice if you will.

The men's ladder match was 🔥🔥🔥. Shoutout to my man Ricochet for putting Logan through that table with that amazing spot. Shinsuke and Butch both looked really solid in the match. Hopefully, they'll let Shin get more screen time. (also let Pat come back. I miss him jamming out to Shin's music) Logan was okay in the match. His ring work is getting better. He works well as a heel and I loved the boys all ganging up on him. (not a Logan hater. Just thought it was funny) Damian did solid work. He was my sleeper pick and I didn't mind him winning. Though my husband LA Knight should HAVE WON THE MATCH!! Triple H will be hearing from my therapist. Papa Trip hinted after the show that Knight is gonna get a push soon because of all the attention he's getting. I can see him going after Austin's US championship since Theory's run is dry as hell and it's about time he dropped the belt.

Extra random thoughts.

Wade Barrett looked fine as fuck in that pink blazer. I'm obsessed and in love 😍

The Sami and Kevin segment was great. Love my chaotic BFFs

Rhea needs to drop the title already. Cuz girl ain't doing shit with the locker room.

Asuka V Iyo outta be 🔥🔥

[boinin]

Blue Lock Manga

Chapter 221 scanlation ("Take Me With You") is out and ready for devouring! Going back to a numbered structure for this chapter's analysis. My half-formed thoughts are below the cut.

No chapter next week, due to a break.

Previous chapter analyses

1. How many injuries did that goal (and the shenanigans that lead up to it) cause??

Butt monkey Mandou Sendou, the Ubers goalie and best sharkboi Kurona all get benched this chapter. I'm glad Isagi is cognisant of how demanding he is of Kurona. He calls him his planet/satellite for a reason I guess, but must be exhausting, especially when Kurona doesn't know what he's planning or going for.

Meanwhile, Canoli the Ubers GK might have cracked a goddamn rib trying stop that crazy Kaiser goal. Mad respect, best NPC goalie so far. 💀 While Sendou's... being Sendou (comic relief/a victim of the narrative basically).

I'll say this once and only once:

Bless Igaguri for this, lol (and Neru). But most of all, poor Kurona - you don't have to hurt yourself orbiting Isagi bb 😭

2. Kaiser is done playing.

The reason I got excited seeing the leaks this week is because of how stone cold Kaiser is in this chapter. HE IS SO BOTHERED IT STINGS. Tell me that's not one pissed off catboi right there. Plus, the aura of thorns? Fuckin' sick dude. His ego is coming to the forefront now, and he's less king of the court, more tiger about to pounce.

Ugh, he's such an arse, but I really enjoy him as a character. He looks fit to murder Ness (who's unnerved, no bloody wonder) and all his dialogue revolves around how disgusted he is that he had to serve up Isagi's leftovers.

Imagine. You just scored THE GOAL of the Neo-Egoist League so far, but all you can think of is how badly you're doing in the feud you initiated against your seventeen year old Japanese teammate.

For once, I'm with Ness here. Kaiser what the hell? Just take the W and move on, man.

We saw Kaiser get more serious during the Manshine game, but he's never not been smug towards Isagi. Allow me a segue, as I flick through those chapters.

[[In chp 177, he leers at Isagi that he's losing interest (Isagi: and I took that personally).

In chp 181 he scores the first BM goal against Manshine. He shows the same cat-eyed focus (his version of Predator Eye I speculate), but he's still pretty satisfied with himself.

It's only when chp 182, when Isagi turns around and tells him I see hope in crushing you now that Kaiser starts to second-guess his little game with Isagi. Antagonising the Blue Lock ace is backfiring hard on him, because bullying Isagi is a surefire way of leveling him up.

Still. Even when Isagi sets up Kunigami's score in chp 185, and we get the I'm going to fucking kill you if it's the last thing I do moment, Kaiser's still like 😏 He's not bothered. Perhaps because Isagi's doing a fine job of usurping Ness's role, but not his own.

It's not until chp 202 that Isagi finally, seriously, starts getting at Kaiser. Because at the last minute, Isagi not only anticipated Kaiser fucking with him, but had a back up plan to specifically ensure Kaiser would not take the final score of the game. That's NG11 levels of playmaking, or at least approaching it. Itoshi Sae operates at that level, but he's a prodigy. Isagi's managed to close that gap in several intensive months of training and plays. that's why he's the protagonist 😎

After Yukimiya scores and ends the game in chp 203, that's when Kaiser approaches and proposes that, versus Ubers, they compete on goals alone.

That's when Kaiser starts to take Isagi seriously. And now that we're more than halfway through, you can see Kaiser is starting to worry about his odds of winning the competition he set.]]

I don't know how the BM v Ubers game will pan out. Convention suggests Ubers will win it. Barou is a serious rival to Isagi, and at the very least, he's going to get the next goal of the game. I wouldn't write off Ubers winning altogether, with Snuffy subbing on to turn the tide.

But I think there's a strong chance one of Isagi or Kaiser will score again, and I'm leaning towards it being Kaiser. Their rivalry is too good to wind up so soon, even with a rivalry-packed PXG match on the horizon. What will happen before that is Isagi driving a sea of change at Bastard Munchen. They're already five/eleven on the team. Change Ness or Grimm out for Hiori, and Blue Lock will have succeeded in infiltrating one of the best U20 teams in the world. No mean feat, and driven mainly by Isagi's playmaking.

Anyway, back on track. I couldn't sympathise with browbeaten Ness for too long. What in yandere hell was this panel??:

HE'S SO DERANGED. It's really well drawn and everything, but it's legit HAUNTING. Something about the V shaped mouth and massive teeth I think.

Anyway, Ness will need to be sedated after this match if Isagi ends up scoring the last goal, because man can't be trusted 😊🔪

Speaking of Isagi...

3. Japanese man obsessed with being the sole thing on German striker's brain, more PRIDE news at 10

they're so frickin gay, I--

Jokes aside, their rivalry is a feast for the eyes as well as us shippers. Everytime Kaiser talks shit about him, one of Isagi's cells morphs into a jigsaw piece. Man's going to have more puzzles than a ‎Ravensburger catalogue if he doesn't stop soon.

This panel goes so hard. Unfortunately the image quality of this week's scanlation is a little rough. I'm hoping there's better quality raws floating around for anyone that's into colouring, but this chapter has so many cool shots. This and Kaiser bitching out Ness are my personal favourites.

4. Star System Sub Alert! Marc Snuffy's coming in clutch for the Ubers side

I did kinda hope that neither Snuffy or Noa would sub in this game. Neither of them seem like the type to want to outshine their younger charges. Prince and Lavinho are both massive narcissists, while Loki is a peer as well as a coach to his PXG players. Those coming on in a game makes sense.

That said, Snuffy seems to really gel with and support the Ubers boys, and they're on the losing side. To me, that's the only sensible reason for him to step in, forcing Noa to come on also.

I think Snuffy's MO will be to set up a goal for Barou, while knocking Kaiser and Isagi down a peg. I hope he synergises with Lorenzo! Noa will be man marking Snuffy, but might get time to do some Isagi coaching while he's out there, who knows?

Either way, we get to see Snuffy in action on the field, which I'm down for.

Lastly: did anyone think Snuffy was that tall? Noa's got to be around Kunigami's range in height (so ~188cm/6'2" territory). From this panel, Snuffy's just as tall, which was a shock... 😶

5. OH LAWD HE COMIN

(and by comin, I mean: signing up to join Isagi Yoichi's harem of rehabilitated sad bois)

HIORI MY SON

WHEN WILL THEY SUB YOU INTO THIS GAME?

Not by the time I predicted, that's for sure. But I am excited to see his ego awakening as he looks with completely platonic admiration at Isagi.

All in all, a hype-worthy chapter, even after the adrenaline from Kaiser's mega goal fades. I'm so excited to see where it goes with two masters on the field (+ Fukaku Gen I guess? I feel validated for writing him into the national team in my post-canon fic haha).

Prediction tracker

(alternatively: how wrong can one nerd be week to week?)

Last time, I predicted: Chapter 221 will be both teams reckoning with this goal. We’ll likely get input from both Ubers and BM, and some sort of change in dynamic–be it a substitution or the coaches opting to play (reeeally doubt this will happen though, unless they get a nudge from Ego). In particular, I’m eager to see how Lorenzo and Hiori process this. Also, someone’s going to yell at Isagi. Kunigami or Raichi are my guess.

Egg on my face? Ah well.

We're down to two more chapters for Hiori to get subbed per my original prediction... chuckles nervously

Already went through my thoughts for where Snuffy/Noa are going to go with this, so I'll chalk that up as next chapter's prediction. See you then!

[bloodbank4050]

2020 look back: a musical compilation of events

(Each number is a significant event in the year!):

Prologue-

“Lead into Demise” Kingdom of Sorrow

“Jackboot Jump” Hozier

January –

“Disco Inferno (Australia Version)” The Trammps [OR “You Cunt” Once Human]

“I Quit” Hepburn

"(Kill Me) Ce Soir" Golden Earring [OR “WW3 Blues” Bob Dylan]

"Impeach the President" The Honey Drippers [OR “Die” Badflower]

"Sportstar" Alex G

February –

“The New Plague” Gwar

“A Woman In a Man’s World” Chaka Khan

March –

“It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)” R.E.M

"Don't Stand So Close to Me" The Police

"Stock Market Blues" Hank Williams Jr.

April –

"Unemployed" Tierra Whack [OR "Young, Dumb, and Broke" Khalid OR “I Can’t Hug My Mama” Beth Hatchett Norwood OR “Rx (Medicate)” Theory of a Deadman]

“Another One Bites the Dust” Queen

“I saw Elvis in a U.F.O” Ray Stevens

“Locust” Machine Head

May –

"Party in the U.S.A." Miley Cyrus [OR “American Idiot” Greenday OR “Another brick in the Wall part 2” Pink Floyd OR “Disaster Party” Magic Giant]

"Lord of the Hornets" Robert Calvert

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” Billy Joel [OR “Breathless” The Corrs]

“Mr. Spaceman” The Byrds

‘Tutti Fruitti” Little Richard

June –

“Disco Inferno (USA Version)" The Trammps [OR “I Predict a Riot” Kaiser Chiefs]

"Take Me to Church" Hozier [OR “Sympathy For The Devil” The Rolling Stones]

July-

“Killing in the Name Of" Rage Against the Machine [OR “God Save Us All (Death to POP)” Sum 41 OR “Fuck Tha Police” N.W.A. OR “Bat Out of Hell” Meat Loaf]

"Mothers of the Disappeared " U2

"Rocket Man" Elton John

“Nowhere Man” The Beatles [OR “This is America” Childish Gambino]

“Hamilton” Lin Manuel Maranda

“Please Mr. Postman” The Marvelettes

“Robot Man” Connie Francis

“For What It’s Worth (1967)” Buffalo Springfield

August-

“eXplosion” Anitta, Black Eyed Peas

"Wildfire" DeTrek

"Ramblin’ Man" The Allman Brothers Band

"Zombie Zoo" Tom Petty

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" Nirvana [OR “California Love Remix” 2Pac ft. Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman OR “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” Paul Simon]

“Rock You Like a Hurricane” (x2) Scorpions

“7 Shots” Volbeat

“Wakanda Forever” Heiakim

September-

“Notorious B.I.G.” Biggy Smalls

“Superbug” King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

“Sinking Ship” Cake

“I’m Going to Venus” Adam Brand

“1 Sided Love” BlackBear

“Down with the Sickness” Disturbed

“1040 Blues” Robert Cray

October-

“You give me Fever" Peggy Lee

“Runnin’ With the Devil” Van Halen

“Fly on the Wall” Bobby V

“Somthin’ Bad” Miranda Lampert

“The Hopeless Housewife” Bad Religion

“Masturbation Blues” David Allen Cole

“Live and Let Die” Paul McCartney & Wings

“Blue Moon of Kentucky” Elvis Presley

November-

“Wires” The Neighborhood” [OR “Impeach God” Dethklok]

“Four Seasons” Vivaldi

“Here Are Many Wild Animals” A Camp

“I Lost on Jeopardy” Dr. Demento/ Weird Al

“Vaccine” George Lynch [OR “Uncivilization” Biohazard]

December-

"Telescope” Arti Manchinii

[higuchimon]

[announcement]

Starting on January 1, 2023 and ending on December 31, 2023, every Sunday I will post a fic or a chapter set in my YGO GX Reversal AU. Starting on January 4, 2023 and ending on December 27, 2023, on every Wednesday, I will post a fic or a chapter set in a different AU for a different fandom. At the moment, my choices will be drawn from this list:

Game of Life: Digimon Adventure 02: breeds AU

Angels, Demons, & Deciding Factors: YGO Arc-V: angels/demons AU

Godslave: Digimon Frontier: fantasy AU with Lucemon as god-king

Cry of Vengeance: YGO Zexal: supernatural creatures AU

Replacement Vampire: Digimon Adventure 02 & YGO GX: alternate timeline

Dark Brotherhood: Digimon Adventure 02: breeds AU

Dead Weight: YGO GX: zombie AU

Course of Events: Digimon Adventure: breeds AU

Stirring Shadows: Digimon Adventure 02: status of AU kept secret for now

Hunting The Great Game: Digimon Xros Wars: rewrite of Hunters & parts of Xros Wars

No Good Choices: Digimon Adventure 02: Kaiser & Daisuke

Blood of His Blood: Digimon Adventure 02: breeds AU

Strike Hard, Strike Fast: YGO Arc-V: vampire AU

Collars and Keeping: YGO Arc-V: captive Shun AU

Fragmented Memory: DIgimon Adventure 02: memory loss AU

In Space In Light: YGO GX: Juudai possessed by the Light of Ruin AU

Confusing: YGO Arc-V: memory manipulation AU

Destructive Flames: YGO GX: combination Reversal & Healer/Firestarter AU

Hell's Ice: YGO GX: Ryou as a Seven Star/Hell Kaiser of Ice AU

Scars of Victory: Digimon Adventure 02: Kaiser defeated the Chosen AU

Bonds & Bondage: Digimon Adventure 02: captive Daisuke from episode 2 AU

Bridges: YGO GX: Juudai is the incarnation of Light AU

In The Shadows of the Fae: YGO GX: Juudai as the Fae King AU

World of Fusion: YGO GX: Brron fused all twelve dimensions AU

Shadow Demons: YGO GX: Juudai as the king of demons & hell, Ryou as a demon prince, Yuusuke as a shadow mage AU

Dragonflame & Nature's Spark: YGO Arc-V: Healer/Firestarter AU, featuring other legacy characters such as Ryou & Mizael

Division of Destiny: Digimon Adventure 02: Vamdemon defeated the Chosen AU

Bitter Bargain: Ken x Daisuke: Kaiser blackmails Daisuke for sex AU

Forgotten Families: Digimon Adventure 02/Tri: alternate ending to Tri

Those are the options from series I've already posted. I am not ruling out fics that I have yet to post. One thing they'll all have in common: they'll all be on the darker end of the writing spectrum. What I enjoy writing the most.

[freyayuki]

Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia Lufenia Quests with Sephiroth Part 6

Lufenia Quests are currently the hardest kind of fight in the Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia (DFFOO) mobile game. They’re level 200. Aside from the usual gems and tickets, winning will give you 20 High Guard Tokens, which can be used to buy High Armor.

The battles featured in this post include Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII as part of the team lineup.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Sephiroth info

Lufenia quests list

Crimson Arms Lufenia Quest

Mother Fixation Lufenia Quest

Conclusion

Introduction

After I ended up having to pity the Burst or BT weapon of Sephiroth, I wanted to use him as much as possible, especially in Lufenia fights.

I talk more about this in another post, but I also ended up pitying Cloud Strife’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Burst and it was a back-to-back pity. Spent a total of 240,000 gems just to get Cloud’s and Sephi’s BTs. It would have been more if their banners didn’t come with a free multi-draw as part of the game’s winter holidays celebration.

Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII

My Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII (#ad) is Level 80 and Crystal Level 80. His 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD are fully MLB. His Ex is at Ex+ 3/3 or Purple. He’s currently equipped with his Burst weapon and his High Armor. All of his Boards have been completed. He has his Bloom Stone.

He has 3 Attack 108 with Max Brave 330 Artifacts and

3 Attack 108 with One-Winged Angel Boost★★ (Raises INT BRV, MAX BRV, ATK, DEF by 5% if HP is MAX at start of last wave) Artifacts.

If the fight only has 1 wave, then I equip him with triple 108/One-Winged Angel Boost★★. Otherwise, I go for triple 108/330.

Sephiroth is equipped with the following A Spheres:

Edgar Roni Figaro’s (from Final Fantasy VI) Debuff Power

Increases BRV damage dealt by 10% while an enemy is debuffed

Cloud Strife’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Critical Power

Raises BRV damage dealt with critical hits by 10%

Vayne Carudas Solidor’s (from Final Fantasy XII) Broken Power

When attacking target afflicted with Break: • Increases BRV damage dealt by 10%

Lufenia Quests List

So far, I’ve been able to use Sephiroth in the following Lufenia fights:

The Terse Turk

Mechanized Sentry (Guard Scorpion Raid)

Roses of May

Thrall of Darkness

Storming the Citadel (Mission Dungeon)

Tree for the Void

Soaring Flames (Boss Rush)

Divine Diabolos (World of Illusions)

Abyss: A Lead to the Thick of It

Keeper of the Farseer

Gentle Giant

Operation Airborne Interception

The Power of Ignorance

Garden of Despair (Boss Rush)

Eternal Light (Story Act 3 Chapter 1, Part 1)

Swordmaiden

Two Moons Waxing (Story Act 3 Chapter 1, Part 2)

Devourer of Light (Hell Wyrm Raid)

Reliable Partner

The Power of Knowledge

Solitude (Story Act 3 Chapter 2, Part 1)

The Yuke Cometh

Searching for Friends (Story Act 3 Chapter 2, Part 2)

His Raging Blade (Kaiser Behemoth Raid)

Abyss Perfectum Stratum 5

Divine Alexander (World of Illusions)

The Power of Action

I talk more about these fights in other posts.

Crimson Arms Lufenia Quest

This fight has 1 wave with 2 enemies. The Lufenia orbs are increased by dealing wind BRV damage. Just got Kadaj (from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children) fully built so I wanted to bring him here. So I was on the lookout for possible team comps that included him. Initially, I was also looking for vids that didn’t have Bartz Klauser (from Final Fantasy V) in the main party. 

Bartz is boosted for this fight. The banner that came with this event features his LD and BT. He deals wind damage so he can easily take care of the Lufenia orbs. He’s a support who can’t heal but he provides great buffs and auras. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get his LD with tickets. Thankfully, it looked like it was possible to beat the Crimson Arms Lufenia quest without Bartz or a wind char in the main party. Just having Bartz’s regular Call and/or Fujin’s (from Final Fantasy VIII) Calls could be enough to deal with the Lufenia orbs, depending on the team comp. Borrowing a friend support Bartz was also an option.

Some of the comps I saw consisted of various combinations of Kadaj, Paladin Cecil Harvey (from Final Fantasy IV), Terra Branford (from Final Fantasy VI), Nine (from Final Fantasy Type-0), and Garland (from Final Fantasy I).

However, as luck would have it, my tickets came through in the end. I kept tossing every ticket I could get my hands on in the Crimson Arms banner, and one of them gave me Bartz’s LD. Hell, yes! I talk more about that in another post. Now that I have Bartz, I planned to use him alongside Kadaj. I was considering either Paladin Cecil or Aeris or Aerith Gainsborough (from Final Fantasy VII) as my support slash healer slash battery. 

Galuf Halm Baldesion’s (from Final Fantasy V) LD was coming soon though. His banner was gonna show up before the Crimson Arms event ends. I was gonna pull for Galuf with gems, and he’s actually boosted for this fight, so I thought it was better to just wait for him. Then I could run something like Kadaj, Bartz, and Galuf.

Notice that I hadn’t bothered to mention Sephiroth in any of the team comps I’m considering. That’s because I wasn’t considering him at all. Both he and Cloud were getting pretty outdated so it was getting harder and harder to keep bringing them to Lufenia quests. This was especially so with Seph since he was mostly a DPS. He provides a speed down aura and he can debuff with his LD, but neither of these were all that relevant. 

Simply put, he’s been powercrept by now and there were a number of better chars out there who have more to offer. At least Cloud still has his uses in launch comps. He also has way more utility than Sephi, including the ability to paralyze which is always useful unless the enemies are immune to said debuff. 

So I was planning to just not bother using Seph for now. I figured it was better to wait for his upcoming rework before using him again. Besides, I wanted to use Kadaj and, well, shouldn’t that count? Heck, Sephiroth appears whenever Kadaj casts his Ex. That totally counts as having Sephi on the team, right? Right? LOL.

Really though, I’ve wanted to have those 2 on the same team since I got Kadaj but I didn’t think it’d be possible, not on a Lufenia quest anyway. Then I actually went and Blued Kadaj. Then Galuf arrived and I ended up upgrading his armor to Blue too. I also saw a screenshot that featured the 3 of them on this Lufenia quest. Didn’t see any other details but it made me want to do the same, especially since I’ve fully built Kadaj and Galuf. Plus Galuf was boosted here and he’s good. Kadaj was good too. And I thought, surely, between the both of them, they should be able to carry Sephiroth to victory.

And so my team for the Crimson Arms Lufenia quest (also known as Power’s Deepest Chasm: Pitch LUFENIA) was Sephiroth, Galuf, and Kadaj with Odin as my summon. My Calls were Bartz’s, Fujin’s, and Gabranth’s (Noah fon Ronsenburg from Final Fantasy XII).

The 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD of both Galuf and Kadaj are fully MLB. They’re equipped with their Purple or Ex+ 3/3 Ex weapons, and their High Armors have been upgraded to Blue. All of their Boards have been completed. They have their Bloom Stones. Kadaj has 3 ATK 108 with Remnant Up★★ (While Latent Thoughts active: Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 5%) Artifacts while Galuf has 3 ATK 108 with Buff Attack Up★★ (Raises ATK by 5% with active buffs) Artifacts.

Galuf is equipped with the following Spheres:

Eight’s (from Final Fantasy Type-0) Evasion Attack Up Shorter A Sphere

Raises own ATK by 20% for 3 turns when evading enemy attack *Does not stack with same sphere

Galuf Halm Baldesion’s (from Final Fantasy V) Evasion Attack Up Longer B Sphere

When dodging attack: • Raises ATK by 10% for 6 turns

Wakka’s (from Final Fantasy X) Buff Attack Boost All 5 D Sphere

With 5 or more buffs: • Raises party’s MAX BRV, ATK by 5% *Does not stack with same sphere

Kadaj is equipped with the following Spheres:

Garland’s (from Final Fantasy I) Break Hit Raging Attack Up A Sphere

Raises ATK by 2% when inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break up to 5 times, once per turn

Oerba Yun Fang’s (from Final Fantasy XIII) Break Hit Attack Up Longer A Sphere

Raises ATK by 10% for 6 turns when inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break

The Emperor’s (from Final Fantasy II) Debuff Success Attack Up Longer E Sphere

Raises own ATK by 10% for 6 turns when inflicting debuff on target

Kadaj is mainly a debuffer with DPS capabilities. He can hit pretty hard, especially with his Blue armor and the proper supports and batteries. He can gold frame his debuffs which means they can’t be cleansed no matter what. He did very well in this fight. Was super pleased to see his equipped Spheres activating and showing up on the upper left side of the screen basically every time he moved. The Spheres also appear on his status effects screen.

Galuf’s a cover tank. He does a very good job protecting his allies from single target attacks. He takes their place so the single target attack hits him instead. Except he also has evasion so most attacks miss him (unless they’re guaranteed to hit and/or they’re magical attacks though he still does have the chance to evade magical attacks; it’s just not 100% like with physical ones). 

When attacks miss him, he counters with the buffs from his Shirahadori+ skill. With the buff from his LD, he’ll always counter even if the attack doesn’t miss him. He also batteries and provides some pretty decent auras and buffs for his team mates. His A and B Spheres only show up on the screen whenever an attack misses him. His D Sphere is displayed as long as he has at least 5 buffs. All 3 appear on his status effects screen though. 

Like Kadaj, Galuf also did very well on this fight. Since he was boosted, he dealt even more damage than usual and he was able to battery the party a lot to the point that there were lots of times wherein everyone was at max brave.

Sephiroth was undoubtedly the weak link here, but he didn’t do that badly thanks to the buffs and auras from Galuf as well as the debuffs from Kadaj. His equipped Spheres helped too although since they’re all BRV damage up, they only show up on the upper left side of the screen every time he moves and fulfills their activation condition.

Near the beginning of the battle, decided to use Gabranth’s regular Call already for the debuffs and HP damage up. So the enemies were currently afflicted with the following debuffs:  

Outlaw’s Brand from Gabranth’s regular Call - reduces ATK; effects a certain amount of BRV damage; increases HP damage taken; returns to Criminal’s Mark while afflicted with less than 4 debuffs

Judgment from Gabranth’s regular Call - lowers MAX BRV

DEF Down - lowers DEF

Stigma from Kadaj - lowers ATK; effects a certain amount of BRV damage; increases BRV damage taken

Fixation V from Kadaj - lowers ATK, DEF, PHY DEF; steals BRV recovery

Cellular Erosion from Sephiroth’s LD - raises BRV damage taken; effects a certain amount of BRV damage

Only 1 enemy can be afflicted with Fixation V at a time. The other will be at Fixation I until Kadaj switches targets.

It was only when the Lufenia orbs were both at 3 that I had Galuf use Fujin’s regular Call for the party wind enchant.

The enemies also dealt group AoE HP attacks but the damage wasn’t that bad, and Galuf does have party HP regen so it didn’t take long for Kadaj and Sephi to be back to full health a few turns later. 

When the bosses were down to 79% HP, they removed all of their debuffs (except Kadaj’s gold-framed ones) and gained a huge amount of brave. Thanks to the sap effect from Kadaj’s effect, their brave gain was halved. It’s still a bad idea to let them attack in this state though. Also, until they’re broken, everyone will deal 1 brv damage.

Thankfully, I actually have 2 chars who can deal with this mechanic. Both Kadaj and Sephi have a gravity effect on their Ex cast. They can reduce all of the brave of the enemies down to 0. In Kadaj’s case, his Ex, Divinity, also deals brv damage so he can break them right away.

The problem was the fact that neither his nor Seph’s Ex skills were charged when the bosses got their huge brave gains. Should have held off on casting their Ex earlier. In Kadaj’s case though, Divinity should be charged in 2 skill uses but there’s currently a bug so that his Ex charges in 3 skills instead. It’s really quite vexing, and I really wish this bug would get fixed already.

At least I also have Bartz’s Calls equipped. His LD Call has a gravity effect too. Had it slotted on Sephiroth since it has some additional good effects for when I activate his Burst mode. So I didn’t want to use this Call yet. Had no choice but to do so though.

Afterwards, resumed the skill spam. I thought things were going pretty well. Then the enemies got down to 59% HP. I forgot they were gonna do the same thing they did when they got down to 79% HP. Once again, I was unprepared to deal with this. Kadaj’s Ex needs to charge faster. When are they gonna fix that annoying bug? Argh! Had no choice but to summon Odin now.

Thankfully, his entry broke both enemies. Kadaj’s Ex finally got charged during the summon so I readily cast it to refresh his golden debuffs. If it charged faster, I wouldn’t also have to worry about his debuffs falling off before I could refresh them. How troublesome.

Fujin’s regular Call’s effect had long since ended but the orbs were at max count so I ignored them for now. When the summon ended, the orbs were once again down to 3 while the bosses were at 47% and 52% HP. I was thinking it was about time I call on the friend support Bartz I borrowed already. The question was who should I switch out for Bartz.

I didn’t want to switch out Galuf since that would mean losing his buffs and auras and battery, not to mention his protection and counters and healing. If I can’t keep the enemies from attacking, I definitely need Galuf to protect the rest of my party. I didn’t want to switch out Kadaj either since that would mean losing his debuffs. Besides, he deals way more damage than Sephi and he even has Blue armor. 

I didn’t want to switch out Sephiroth either though. He may be the weak link here but he’s also the only one with a Burst in this team. My usual plan was to get the friend support char’s Burst effects then activate my own char’s Burst. Ah, if only either Kadaj or Galuf came with a Burst. LOL. So I was trying to decide what to do. In the end, I chose to switch out Sephiroth for Bartz. I thought Kadaj and Galuf should be able to deal more damage with their Blue armors when combined with the effects of Bartz’s BT. Bartz deals wind damage so he was the one who took care of the Lufenia orbs this time. 

Continued spamming skills. Everyone was dealing pretty awesome damage and there was plenty of battery to be had. Was worried I’d regret not being able to use Seph’s Burst mode right now, but things seemed to be going pretty well so no regrets. 

Then the enemies dropped down to 29% HP and they got that massive brave gain again. Man, that’s really annoying. At least this time Kadaj’s Ex was actually charged. Hell, yes! Plus the support Bartz was still around so his LD could have taken care of that in case I couldn’t cast Divinity yet.

When Sephiroth returned to the field, the enemies were down to 8% and 7% HP. Decided to activate his Burst mode already. He did pretty decent damage. 

By the time he was about to cast Heaven’s Light, his finishing Burst move, both bosses were down to 3% HP. 

Was especially pleased to see Heaven’s Light going up to 204997. Overall, Sephi was able to deal around 1.2 million+ total HP damage during his Burst mode. Not bad at all. Too bad he wasn’t able to finish off the enemies with his BT. When his Burst mode ended, they were both at 1% HP.  

It was Galuf’s turn next. He has 0 uses of his LD, 4 uses of Cover+, and 2 uses of Shirahadori+ left. His Ex was currently charged. He could still use Fujin’s LD Call which deals AoE damage but I wanted Galuf to get one of the kill shots so I had him use his Ex. It deals group AoE brv + single target HP damage. The attack finished off one of the enemies.

Sephiroth finished off the last one with one of his moves on turn 49. IIRC, used the last of his Scintilla or his Ex, Black Materia, which was currently charged. 

Managed to get the score as well as all the other mission requirements. Really very pleased with this team and this victory. Super glad I got to use both Kadaj and Sephiroth on the same team in a Lufenia quest. Even got to use Galuf too. Sooner or later, I’d love to be able to field a team that has all Blue armors. Wouldn’t that be awesome? 

Mother Fixation Lufenia Quest

After my victory against the Crimson Arms Lufenia quest, I was inspired to bring the same team and take on the Mother Fixation Lufenia quest. Mother Fixation is the event that first introduced Kadaj as a playable char in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia so he’s synergy for all the quests here. 

This time, my summon was Diabolos. Sephiroth and Kadaj had the same Calls but Galuf now has Amidatelion’s (from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers).

As can be seen in the screenshot above, I’ve already cleared this quest. That was before I made up my mind to Blue Kadaj’s armor though. My team was Kadaj, Bartz, and Paladin Cecil Harvey (from Final Fantasy IV).

In the beginning, I thought things were going pretty well. Just spammed skills and made sure to refresh buffs and debuffs. The Lufenia orbs here were a non-issue thanks to Kadaj’s gold-framed debuffs. Since he’s boosted here, he dealt even more damage than usual. Galuf’s counters didn’t do as well as in the Crimson Arms Lufenia quest since he doesn’t have synergy stats anymore but he still did well. As usual, Sephi was the weak link here.

The 2 bosses here also cleanse all their debuffs (except gold-framed ones) and gain massive amounts of brave when their HP gets down to 79%, 49% and 29%. When that happens, everyone will deal 1 brv damage until the enemies are broken. Thankfully, when the bosses reached 79% HP, Kadaj’s Ex was charged.

Galuf has like 4 casts of his LD. I used it whenever the buff it gives was at 1 turn remaining. In retrospect, maybe I should have been a bit more careful when it came to using this. Maybe I could have let the buff fall off and wait a turn or 2 or 3 before casting it again. Because by the time the bosses reached 72% and 74% HP, Galuf only had 2 uses of his LD left. The enemies can hit pretty hard although Galuf did a great job in taking on all the single target attacks. 

When the bosses were down to around 65% and 68% HP, decided to switch out Sephiroth for the friend support Bartz that I borrowed. In retrospect, I might have been better off borrowing Golbez (from Final Fantasy IV) instead. He’s synergy for this fight and his Burst effect freezes the brv gain of all enemies. This stops their massive brv gains when they reach the aforementioned thresholds. That was what I did when I first cleared this quest. Should have done that again now. Bartz has an awesome BT effect and his LD can deal with the massive brv gain of the enemies but he’s more of a support and battery so can’t exactly rely on him for DPS-type damage.

By the time the bosses were down to 50% and 56% HP, Galuf only had 1 use of his LD, 4 uses of Cover+, and 2 uses of Shirahadori+ left. On a side note, it’s really awesome to see Kadaj with such a massive amount of brv.

When the enemies were down to 42% and 49% HP, decided to summon Diabolos already.

It wasn’t long before Sephiroth returned to the field. By then, the bosses were at 33% HP and 36% HP. I’ve been spamming everyone’s skills so their counts were starting to run low. Really needed to finish this fight already. Easier said than done though.

Turn 48 - both enemies were finally down to 29% HP. Unfortunately, that also meant they just got thousands of brv. Even more unfortunate was the fact that their turns happen before either Kadaj’s or Sephiroth’s so I had no way to break them. It was Galuf’s turn. Used his Ex just to refresh the buff it gives. If it wasn’t expiring already, I’d have used his HP Attack++ or his Cover+ instead since his attack barely did any damage. 

Thankfully, the buff from Galuf’s LD was still up. He took the attacks of both bosses. His counters did crap damage, and he would have died if his LD buff hadn’t been active. As it was, his HP just got reduced to 0. He has no more uses of his LD though so I really needed to end the fight already before the buff from his LD runs out.

After the enemies attacked and tried but failed to kill Galuf, it was finally Kadaj’s turn. His Ex was charged so I readily cast it to break both enemies.

On Sephiroth’s turn, I decided to activate his Burst mode already. By the time he was about to cast Heaven’s Light, his finishing Burst move, the bosses were down to 22% and 23% HP. He was able to deal around 1 million+ total HP damage during his Burst mode.

Broke the enemies out of order so they’d still be able to attack since Galuf’s LD buff was still active so I wanted him to be able to deal as much damage as possible before the buff ran out. In retrospect, should have waited to use Seph’s BT until after Galuf’s LD buff ran out. Then I could have taken advantage of his BT effect to keep on delaying the enemies.

Soon, Sephiroth only had 1 use of Octaslash and 2 uses of Fervent Blow left. His Burst effect has long since ended. The debuff from his LD had long since been cleansed by the enemies and he has no more uses of Scintilla so I can’t apply it again.

Galuf has 2 uses of Cover+ and 1 use of Shirahadori+ left. His LD buff had run out already so he was no longer “invincible”. The enemies were also doing more group HP attacks now so Kadaj and Sephi weren’t at full health anymore.

Kadaj has no more uses of his LD or Volley. He only has 1 use of Mayhem left. Both enemies were at 7% HP left. It was turn 69. The turn count requirement was turn 70. My chars had all taken more than 8k HP damage. 

Even if I could heal them, there was no way I’d be able to finish off both bosses without going over 70 turns. I doubted I could defeat them even if I went over the turn count requirement, considering my chars were all basically out of skills.

And that’s why I decided to just quit the fight already. Sigh. It’s disappointing to fail after managing to get that far. Ahh, maybe it was possible to win if I’d done  some things differently like not spamming skills too much, especially Galuf’s LD and using a support Golbez instead of Bartz. Or using support Bartz but not switching out Sephi so he’d be able to deal more damage during his Burst mode thanks to Bartz’s auras and BT effect alongside Galuf’s buffs and auras and Kadaj’s debuffs.  

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to try this quest again before the Mother Fixation event ended. Ah well, too bad, huh? At least I’d already cleared this before and gotten all the rewards. I’d have been more upset otherwise. I wish I could have used Sephiroth here as well but, well. LOL.

Conclusion

So, what about you? Which chars did you use to complete these Lufenia Quests? Did you pull for either Sephiroth or Kadaj or both? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging or replying to this post.

Notes:

screenshots are from my Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia game account

[herukaizaa]

𝓥𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓮 𝓛𝓲𝓼𝓽.

v.1: star student

verse takes place canonically in season 1, or before the series starts. zane is the top student in duel academy and is marking himself as their best student to date. he is glorified as a future pro duelist that is sure to be one of the greatest. despite his status, atticus' absence as well as his own, weak brother enrolling the academy, seems to weigh on him from time to time.

v.2: hell kaiser

verse takes place canonically during season 2. after sustaining a major blow to his reputation in the form of 10 straight losses in his career and losing out on many sponsorships, zane's outlook and character completely changed. taking on an edgy approach, talking about enduring pain and displaying a ruthless, cold and disrespecting disposition - he now adopted the moniker 'hell kaiser' and strives for nothing, but victory.

v.3: weakened

season 3 timeline - both before and during the trip to the other world. having realized his weakened composition, zane has calmed down significantly from his pro dueling days, and is looking to land one final duel, to mark his legacy. in his concern for the safety of people in duel academy, he's willing to endure pain to complete necessary duels. he's not too sure where he stands, between the top student zane and hell kaiser. he is both, but in his desperation, also neither.

v.4: second life

post-season 3, and season 4 onwards timeline. having been revived unexplainably, zane has for some reason, received a second shot at life. with his need to recover, zane abstained from dueling unless the situation was dire enough to force his hand. but his priorities now lay in his younger brother, syrus.

v.5: cyber legacy

set post-season 4's timeline. with the promise to start again with a new deck and plenty of recovery time taken, zane reclaimed his position as a pro duelist. owing his status and goal to the cyber arts and to his brother's progression, zane strives to create a new pro league, in which he too is a participant, to honor his past. he soon becomes an accomplished and world-renowned duelist, enough to be marked in days to come (arc-v). but for now - the new pro league is what he focuses on.

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 65 and 66 Subbed (Finalized)

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

Hell Kaiser Ryou! Chimeratech Overdragon

Since his defeat to Ed in the Pro Leagues, the life in Kaiser Ryou has faded.  But at the invitation of a suspicious promoter, he participates in an underground duel--duels in which, crucially, one risks their life to treat their savage audience to a show.  As Acidic Last Machine Virus causes his Machine-Types like Cyber Dragon to rust, the Kaiser is not only cut off from summoning any Monsters, but it causes him to take damage.  With each drop in his LP, an electric current flows through his body, exciting the spectators...

Judai’s First Dream Duel!

Lost in the forest, Judai’s consciousness starts to fade from hunger, causing him to reminisce about his duels thus far--taking down Instructor Chronos’s Ancient Gear Golem with Flame Wingman during his Entrance Exam, battling the then-Blue elite Manjoume and his V-to-Z Dragon Catapult Cannon shortly after his enrollment, battling Misawa’s seventh deck with the right to represent the Academia on the line, and his first loss in the face of Kaiser Ryou’s Cyber End Dragon...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*crashes onto your TL months late with non-corporate coffee*

And these two are finally up and finalized! Sorry for the wait, if you were looking forward to ‘em--as I mentioned in my post on Sunday, they were pushed back a bit while I did one final lookover on 1-64′s scripts and hardsubs so I could actually call them “finalized.” I’d started to get them out of the way while waiting for some potential editing help, then just decided to finish it after scrapping the last little thing I hoped to work on (I planned to break briefly after 66 to do these re-finalizations anyway, but the timing happened to work out).  More details there.

But leaving that aside, here we have a pretty popular episode in Hell Kaiser Ryou’s debut, as he’s pushed to the brink by Mad Dog Inukai after Monkey Monkey Mountain Saruyama invites him to his first underground duel. They do a really good job of portraying Ryou as having lost his mojo post-Ed, showing a realistic view of what the big leagues in sports are like when that happens to you and you lose out on sponsorships/etc, and so when he gets cornered and Saruyama drills into him how he never once thought of winning since that duel, wanting to just stick with his respectful dueling, a spark lights up in him and... well, RIP Mad Dog. (Also, s/o to Takeshi Maeda for really selling Ryou’s shift in mindset by the end, and to his dub VA for sounding similarly good, imo.)

66 is probably less popular in comparison, treating us to our first clipshow of the series, though 66 episodes in isn’t a bad time (could be worse, VRAINS jk).  It’s endearing enough, though--kinda nice seeing SAL again; Judai’s hunger-induced visions give us Chronos, Misawa, and Manjoume making monkey noises; and the duels featured were important for Judai early on.  I also like the bit of new animation as vision!Ryou follows up with Judai about respecting his opponents; goes with what I’d noticed before about Judai adding his Fusion Undone/De-Fusion strategy to his own dueling after losing to him. (also Judai making a signpost sweatdrop from his aloofness pls)

Part of the initial delay with these were the footage fixes I wanted to work on, as well as a couple visual translations here/there which were fun to work on.  Really want to thank @paradoxi-kay for their great work as always in helping to translate the cover of the copy of Duel Magazine that Judai comes across early in 65, and starting the one on Shou’s copy that I finished up.  List of everything worked on below the cut, as usual, if you’re curious.

Enjoy, folks! I’ve gotten some work started on 67 already, and my plan is to try and work on some double releases to make up a bit of time, lol.  I’ll be posting these two on NAC in the next couple of days along with the re-finalized hardsubs and scripts/DVDRips; while I work on getting 67 and 68 done, I’ll also start some work on prepping softsub MKVs (also to go up on NAC) for everything I’ve fully finalized, since it’s been a while on that front.

Fixes/Edits! (65)

As Judai wanders in the forest early in the episode, he comes across a stack of old Duel Magazines; the front cover shows Ryou and is an issue from his winning streak days before his more recent loss to Ed.  Thanks to @paradoxi-kay​‘s great work in typesetting my translation onto the cover I blanked (which I detailed here), you’ll see it in English in the hardsub above.  The translation was first applied to the close-up of the cover that comes after #2 below, and then I took the translated cover and made it its own image that I put into the earlier shot as Judai approaches it while they’re all still tied up (detailed here).  The text reads, “Exclusive!! Kaiser Ryou Marufuji / Breaking down his Cyber Dragon deck!!! / In this issue: / -Duelists Du Jour / -Pro League Battle Data! / -Reader-Submitted Best Duels! / -Strategic Attack Decks by Type!” (Really appreciated Kay’s input on “Du Jour” because my original translation for that, “Duelists Who Are All the Rage,” wasn’t as catchy, lol.)

As Judai picks up one of the older Duel Magazines and flips it open, we see on the back cover an ad featuring the three Phantasms--it’s actually an in-show ad for Shadows of Infinity (since the episode aired around the time the pack came out in Japan); I detailed the process in blanking and translating it here (shared above).  The ad reads, "The Three Phantasms Descend!" featuring Uria and Raviel’s names on their images.

As we go to the Red dorm as Shou narrates about the Kaiser’s slump, we see a magazine page describing what happened to him since his loss to Ed; I covered my blanking/translating this in the link shared in #2.

We then see that it’s Shou reading the page from his own copy of Duel Magazine, this one more recent than Judai’s featuring Ed on the cover, though it features the same SOI/Phantasms ad on its back cover (now showing Hamon and its name as well).  Like with Judai’s issue, I used the Japanese cover and the dub’s edit as reference to just redraw Ed and Diamondguy enough to remove Ed’s name; Kay had started the translation placement and I finished it up.  For the SOI ad, like with #2, I added in the dub’s edit in pieces, tweaking it to match the original image more (since they again oddly edited the text out or redrew Uria/et al weirdly to do so).  We do now see more of the ad which shows that the trio’s names are on each of them, the English of which I added.

As Asuka snatches the magazine from Shou to work on cheering him up, to be consistent, I also worked in these cover translations to the magazine as she lifts then curls it up, using the dub’s blanked Phantasms edit as a base that I touched up a bit while adding back the Japanese cards.  Detailed more in #2′s link.  (We now also see that the ad reads on, “New! Shadow of Infinity - On Sale November 11th [2005]!”; the IRL booster pack came out in Japan on Nov. 17th, 2005, a few weeks before 65 aired.)

Asuka then lifts the curled-up magazine into view in a close-up, with the SOI/Phantasms ad visible which I also applied my translations above to as needed, using the dub’s blank edit as a base that I redrew parts of to touch up and match the Japanese image more.  Detailed more in #2′s link.

As Ryou meets Monkey Saruyama, he introduces himself by handing out his business card reading, "Saruyama Promotion - Representative Monkey Saruyama;" as detailed in #2′s link, I cleaned it up using Photoshop’s Clone Tool, then slapped the translation on using Calibri as the font.

As Ryou contemplates attacking Acid Slime with his Cyber Dragon and Mad Dog Inukai taunts him, as Mad Dog then slides in on a split-screen to “clear his doubts,” there’s a quick frame as Inukai takes over the screen where there’s a gap between his pecs and the split-screen edge.  I fixed it by just drawing in the rest of his chest in Photoshop to fill his side of the split-screen.

As Inukai starts his turn and activates his Contingency Fee Magic Card, there’s a frame where, as he’s sliding his hand with the card into the shot, the card itself slides ahead in his hand before his hand does; as a result, you can see a bit of the background just under the card before his hand catches up to the card in the next frame.  I fixed this by just duplicating the first frame here over it in Vegas.

Two here--first, after Ryou has his Proto Cyber Dragon attack Clone Slime, as Inukai begins to explain its effect, there’s a quick frame before the shot goes from a close-up to a slow zoom as he moves where his neck vanishes (new meme format go); I fixed this by just duplicating the previous frame in Vegas, while also correcting one of his looping lip-flap frames so that the scar on his chin is above the shading under his lip.  Then, as Inukai goes into Clone Slime’s effect and the shot slowly zooms out, we see Clone Slime on his Disk in Attack Mode when it’s in Defense Mode right now; fixed it by placing a proxy in Defense in AfterEffects for a frame, then re-keyframing that frame to the zoom-out in Vegas to put it in place.

After Acid Slime slips out of Inukai’s Cemetery as Clone Slime’s effect activates, Inukai moves to grab it before the two Slimes switch out, but Clone Slime’s still in Attack Mode on his Disk; fixed by placing the Defense-Mode proxy over it in AE, then moving it as he moves his Disk and applying a brief brightness increase as the light from Clone Slime being replaced with Acid Slime grazes it.

As Proto Cyber Dragon’s attack approaches Acid Slime in a quick shot, the card under it in Defense Mode is reversed (the name box should face to the left to match how it’s placed on his Disk); fixed by first applying the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects and moving it as the shot moves, then masking Acid Slime back in over it, along with the light coming from the attack as it starts to shine over its card.

As Ryou explains Overload Fusion’s effect, just before it starts to zoom out as he then chooses the six Monsters he’ll fuse, there are a few frames I noticed where Ryou’s whooshing hair throughout this shot suddenly stops whooshing; I fixed it by just masking in his whooshing hair from the previous frames for a few.

As Ryou taunts Inukai about how his Acidic Last Machine Virus will bother him no more, Inukai starts to slide in on a split-screen, but until his split-screen has fully slid in, there’s no border on its edge; I fixed it in Vegas by first masking out the border once it’s fully slid in, then moving it in another video layer with his split-screen for those nine frames.

As Ryou explains Chimeratech Overdragon’s multiple attacks, we see it reversed on his Disk; fixed by slapping on the correctly-facing proxy in AfterEffects, then re-keyframing it to the slow zoom in Vegas for the 94 frames it zooms out in (phew).

One error that I hoped to fix but scrapped happens as Chimeratech Overdragon’s first attack closes in on Inukai’s Multiple Slime, where we see a Defense-Mode card under it despite it being in Attack Mode the way Inukai summoned it (and since he then takes damage from the attack); couldn’t quite figure out how to light up the floor I’d redrawn under it with the ensuing explosion, and had sought a bit of help to get it right but ultimately that fell through. (Incidentally, not only did the dub not catch this as they dubified its card, but they reversed the card, at that, lol.)

Fixes/Edits! (66)

(Note: These are all flashback-related, and I detailed most of them [including a few new ones] in my post from Sunday that I linked just under the summaries; I went on to apply the fixes I’d applied in 66 to the respective episodes, so I’ll be brief here.  Reinserted fixes from a while back are in italics.)

(Episode 1 Flashback) I reinserted the fix I did to replace the blank Normal Monster on Judai’s Disk in Flame Wingman’s spot with its card as Antique Gear Golem crashes onto Chronos.  [Ep. 1 Flashback End]

(Episode 22 Flashback) As Misawa attacks with Litmus Death Swordsman to start his flashback, I reinserted the fix I did to detail the blank cards on his Disk with Diamond Dragon and Litmus Death.

As Misawa finishes explaining Wingbeat of Giant Dragon’s effect and it zooms out to Litmus Death, I reinserted my fix to his reversed card on Misawa’s Disk to flip it right-side-up.

Reinserted my fix to the repeat of #3 as Skyscraper fades.

Reinserted my fix to another repeat as Misawa explains Spirit Barrier’s effect.

R-R-Reinserted my fix to the r-r-repeat again as we see Misawa’s Disk while Judai explains Cyclone Boomerang’s effect (gotta love reused animation!) [Ep. 22 Flashback End]

(Episode 4 Flashback) As Judai prods Manjoume into choosing a card from his hand for A Hero Appears’s effect, I fixed Manjoume’s blazer looking semi-faded for a frame on his split-screen.

As Judai’s LP take a hit from V-to-Z destroying Burstlady, I fixed the four frames where the upper part of his Disk is missing the little bottom part that extends out a bit and Judai’s vanishing Disk wrist grip.

A bit complex, but I fixed Judai’s briefly-still-missing-then-vanishing-again wrist grip, the shading near his Cemetery slot, Judai’s arm becoming part of his Disk, and his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

Reinserted my fix to the Attack-Mode Winged Kuriboh on Judai’s Disk to put it in Defense Mode as he discards two to activate Evolutionary/Transcendent Wings.

As Judai swings his arm around telling Winged Kuriboh LV10 to “send [V-to-Z’s] energy right back” at Manjoume, I reinserted my fix to put its Defense-Mode card in the spot on his Disk colored like the Monster Zone it’s on for a few frames.

A bit complex again recycling the Judai shot in #9, but I fixed his again-vanishing Disk wrist grip and half-Disk arm, his wrist grip suddenly consuming his whole wrist again, and his yet-again-vanished wrist grip, miscolored undershirt, and his half-Disk elbow while restoring some previous detail to his Disk. (Detailed in that Sunday post)

As Judai summons Featherman–to Shou and Chronos’s surprise–and has him lunge at Manjoume for the finisher, I reinserted my fix to keep the black faraway box that is Featherman on his Disk both as those two slide in on split-screens and as they slide back out. [Ep. 4 Flashback End]

(Episode 8 Flashback) I reinserted my fix to remove Featherman from Judai’s Disk as his LP drop from Cyber Dragon destroying it.

Reinserted my fix to a repeat of #14 as Judai’s excited about Ryou’s Time Capsule.

As Judai draws for his turn, I added a Fusion card over the dark-orange rectangle briefly in his hand as he draws it.

After Judai’s first hit on him, I fixed the error as Ryou Special-Summons another Cyber Dragon as a Monster in face-down Defense Mode on his second Monster Zone (detailed in that Sunday post).

Reinserted my fix adding Cyber Twin Dragon to Ryou’s Disk over a yellow rectangle.

As the screen zooms in on Judai after Ryou declares Cyber Twin’s attack, I added Thunder Giant to Judai’s third Monster Zone, then reinserted my previous fix adding it as it zooms back out while Judai uses A Hero Appears.

Reinserted my fix adding a few quick lip flaps to Judai as he says, “Partner,” out loud.

As Judai thinks about how Evolutionary Wings would evolve his Winged Kuriboh and we then see Bubbleman on his field, I added a missing Bubbleman card to his Disk.

Right after #21, I revised my previous fix to replace the Defense-Mode Mudballman on his Disk with an Attack-Mode Bubbleman, after I accidentally put it in Defense Mode before.

As Ryou grabs Power Bond from his hand before activating it, I reinserted my fix adding Ryou’s two missing Cyber Dragons to his Disk and then one over the blank Normal Monster card in his left hand.

As Ryou slips Power Bond into his Disk, I reinserted my fix adding those two missing Cyber Dragons onto his Disk.  [Ep. 8 Flashback End]

For the Ep. 67 preview, I added my translation of the notice left on the Red dorm by Napoleon which I’ll be using in the episode proper.

[ryttu3k]

Onwards with more CoNY! Night 6 through to, well, endgame (it’s not a long game XD;; ), and some closing thoughts.

Oh impressive, didn’t actually piss off Kaiser! Still, that was a hell of a bust XD

Who’s next... Agathon, I think. Heh, when I was watching Outstar’s LP, she got up to the animal blood part and I went, “Huh, I wonder if that’s a Tremere thing, since Invidia was working on sheep blood too?” And, well. Small world XD

“After Agathon parks the car, it’s time for you to enter the nightclub. You glance at the Tremere, evaluating him. It’s obvious this is not his kind of place.” Oh mood.

Juno’s rude :(

“You were too busy licking Aisling’s boots to realise what you had!” “Aisling doesn’t wear boots.”

Oops. Yeah, didn’t impress either Agathon or Aisling much there, alas.

Stalker spotted! :o

Okay, more fun with Kaiser. Wine shop at 232 Mullberry St, ask for the 1821 Special Reserve Donatello Negroamaro. When they decline, say you’re a ‘fedele servitore della famiglia G.’ Ugh, fuckin’ Giovanni. Take it, say ‘grazie’ and nothing else. Got it!

Ugh, Willets Point doesn’t look cheery! Oh well, got the address, at least.

I hear a ‘shrill, unpleasant laugh’. Oh boy, him XD;; Didn’t actually speak to him earlier in this run.

Well, rest of the night is free! Time for D’Angelo, this time! Man, never thought I’d be so relieved to see his ugly mug, but hey, beats the NYPD XD

I mean, being right is one thing, but it’s pretty uncool to realise what’s going on and what it could mean :-\ I like that he does seem fairly compassionate towards the Thinbloods, like he recognises how shit they have it and doesn’t want to make it shittier.

Yeah, Larson’s in a really tricky situation too :-\ But yikes, this shelter is... deeply unpleasant. Definitely prefer Santa Monica beach XD;;

Hi, Sana, nice to meet you. Are you a serial killer, by any chance?

Buaargh grabbed by the throat that was very rude!! Ooof, blood hunt. Even ruder :( Scourge, not fun. Has it ever occurred to them that maybe the mass killing off of Thinbloods would lead to Gehenna? I mean, call it a wild and crazy theory... XD;;

Ooh, lots of choices tonight. I think Benoit, then back to D’Angelo. There’s also the stalker and reporter sidequests, but I want to save those for later (reporter with the Ventrue, stalker with the Brujah, although I think there are two options for the stalker so I might do that one with the Ventrue too... for now, focusing on Benoit with Lamar).

...uh oh. Hunters.

Hmm. That sure was a thing. Back to D’Angelo, let’s see if we can find Sana before the Scourge does...

lmao feeding opportunity on the random flask. Sure why not.

“Something about impending doom and oh lawd, he comin’.” *SNORTS*

“Who are we meeting?” “Better strap in, ‘cause this one’s a doozy.” “Am I meeting your parents?” Wow and it’s only the third date XD

“We want her alive.” / “Don’t be a murderous bitch.” God you have no idea how much I want to do the second one...

D’Angelo and Valerie, huh XD

Poor Sana :(

Oh, uh, hi Qadir! Make yourself at home. Oh you already did. Okay then!

...good talk!

Awww fuck it’s Emma :(

Mrph. No time for that yet, so back to D’Angelo. Sana seems calm. If we can get her out of the city, that’s a better option than turning her over to Panhard, that’s for sure. Hmm, Larson turned someone over to the SI. That is... uncool. Still, if helping her get out is feasible, let’s give it a shot.

Dee and jello. Hee.

Oh fucking - um, hi, Qadir? Okay, yes, fair to say that did not go well.

God this is just sad :( But if we had gone to Elysium, she probably would have been publicly executed, and if we had turned in Larson, he would have been killed instead...

Ahhh, the book reveal. I had already been spoiled for this, alas, but it’s still a pretty neat - and sad - twist.

I’m having emotions over the friendship between a Toreador and a Nosferatu don’t mind me ;_; And that is D’Angelo’s arc complete and achievement got!

Now to say goodbye to Emma :(

“It’s going to leave a scar, boy. But a true artist knows those are not something to hide, but to display with pride.” Man, I so wonder what Qadir would be doing if he wasn’t Sheriff. He’s a Toreador! What’s his creative outlet?

God that scene is so sad ;_; Also Qadir is such a good character, seriously.

Next up - now that D’Angelo’s arc is done, over to Agathon.

He’s such a good grandson ;_;

Time for Benoit part three. Final part, I think? God that’s an intense scene. In Outstar’s LP, she had Lamar run, so I haven’t seen the outcome of it, but. Yeah. That’s full-on. And that’s the achievement done, so back to Agathon!

Ahh dang. Asked about the notes instead of the missing Invidia. Ah well, I’ve seen that text option - the next step is syncing it up with Night Road.

I mean. In fairness. Juno’s right, the Tremere are pretty shitty XD;; Got the notes back with Celerity, though! (Didn’t think Presence was a good idea, she’d probably just counter with Dominate.) Oof, wonder what she did to Agathon, though?

Oooh, she’s House Carna!! Okay, that’s damn cool... and now I’m wondering if she was right after all XD No chance of convincing Aisling and Agathon to ditch the Pyramid and go join Carna too, huh? Either way, arc done, and achievement got!

Oh huh, now I’m out of options XD Won’t have enough time to do Hope or Tamika’s runs, so... I guess let’s start the stalker and journo ones? I think I’m going to run out of time before endgame, though. Or, I can deliberately fail at recruiting someone for the achievement... yeah, okay, let’s go say hi to Hope.

Hi chat! Nice to meet you all! Friendly crowd here! God this is so much funnier having seen Hope’s arc already.

“Any last words?” “Your chat room sucks ass.”

V I B E C H E C K

Lamar: “What.”

Hope’s show is goddamn wild. Also, confirmation that it definitely is set in 2019.

Huh. Not the impression I got from the description of v5 Blush of Life, it’s supposed to be normal saline.

Aaaand the reveal! I love the username InfodumpDeliveryService lmao

Whoops. Accidentally succeeded in recruiting her XD Well fuck it, we’re only just meeting with Torque now, let’s see how far I can get before endgame!

“Heard this is the place to meet hot chicks who hate the patriarchy.”

Man I wish you legit could join the Anarchs XD;;

Yeah not surprised Mia is a Brujah XD I bet she and Damsel would get on!

Hmm. Fun times with stalkers, I guess. Oh rude just got beaten up :(

Huh. Wonder if Bruce’s mysterious master is Samira, the Banu Haqim primogen?

Hrmm. Could try failing with Tamika, I guess. Hi Gangrel dude I like your tree tattoo! Raoul, gotcha. Oh goddammit I accidentally recruited again XD

Oh fuck police D8 Oh, right, that was the stalker. Fun times! Oh shit that note was from Adelaide, right, because those definitely sound like stereotypical Malk speech patterns XD;; ...Or not, because it’s time to meet ‘the boss’ :|

RIP Vince but not too much of the P.

God Callihan is repellent I’m so glad, uh, SoNY happens.

Okay, nasty stalker, let’s see what you’re on about! Or not because Sophie is being scary as fuck and forcing the poor kid to meet with Torque D:

Poor Lamar’s just realised he’s a pawn and is like, “...well fuck.”

Okay, now we’ve set all that up, now we go meet with the stalker XD;; Aaand... she thinks Lamar is pretty, and got an achievement XD;;

Well that was a rude as hell awakening. D’Angelo, you are a sight for sore eyes!

Man the music that plays here is giving me super strong Bloodlines vibes.

Ooof, back to that apartment. That’s fun.

And of course this is the part where the game all falls apart :-\

Just... god. This is probably the biggest problem with CoNY, and the reason I didn’t bother getting it until it was like... 60% off. The bulk of the game is great - the writing is intriguing, the design is stunning. But the choices themselves are so limited it’s barely worth even getting it at 60% off!

You have three choices of characters, with their own opening chapters and own individual scenes with their touchstones. You have four choices of coterie members, and three sidequests. You can probably get in at least three full story arcs and a sidequest or two, but you’re only ever limited to two of your coterie members showing up at the not-yet-endgame.

So let’s say you decide to play all three protags, which, indeed, is encouraged (there’s an achievement for it). You are going to repeat coterie arcs and side quests, because there simply aren’t enough for three unique playthroughs.

And then you get to the end and literally everything is scripted. You get attacked by the SI. You get rescued by your two coterie members (and then never see them again, despite the game being called Coteries of New York). You meet Torque, you escape the SI, Sophie reveals her plan to Torque, you go to Ellis Island, Adelaide kills Sophie (and despite the fact that you’re given multiple options there, none of them work), Arturo does his spiel, end of game. You don’t even get to choose between ending up blood bound or going “no fuck you” and at least dying with a bit of dignity!

I just. I really want to like it, and there genuinely is a lot there to like! But uuuugh the ending. Like damn at least give the poor protag the option to choose what happens to them!

Anyway. Not sure what’s next. To get all the achievements, you have to finish with all three protags, so that’s three full runs and a lot of repetitiveness (compare to, say, Bloodlines or Night Road. I have eighty-five hours on Night Road and there’s still stuff I haven’t seen!), so I can’t even just... rush it through up to the meeting with the touchstones on the third play. Nope. Gotta finish it :-\

Final rating: 6/10

8/10 characters, 9/10 atmosphere, 8/10 story aside from ending, 3/10 story ending, 2/10 replayability. Final consensus: get it on major sale if you can, otherwise, you might as well just watch an LP. I might do that instead of doing a third run, although I at least want to do a second.

But yeah. Either way, I’m definitely going to be setting it aside for a while. I want to do a short-play game (probably ABZU), then back to Bloodlines for my Tremere Cammy run. At least there’s still plenty there to explore, even if the endgame combat is pretty repetitive! It has actual different endings and your choices actually matter!

[duxwontobey]

Since everyone is probably gonna be inside for the next week or month, here’s some stuff to do and look into!

Music:

Declan McKenna: Indie Rock, very passionate and thoughtful. Cage The Elephant: Indie Rock, punk aesthetic, moody and meaningful. Ghost: Heavy Metal/Rock, cool and chill as hell, Satanist aesthetics. AJJ: Folk Punk, incredible lyrics. Very sad but powerful songs. Nothing But Thieves: Alternative Rock, Awesome and unique rock sound. Gorillaz: You know these folks probably but they’re fantastic. Dance With The Dead: Hard Techno, perfect for a rave or club, dark and cool. Depeche Mode: Mixed Genres, some of the best old style synths and vocals. Radiohead: Misc rock, one of the most unique sounds out there with fabulous vocals and meaningful songs. MUSE: Rock/Metal, absolutely perfect riffs and melody, heavy and energetic. Nightwish: Viking Metal Band, do I need to say more? Royal Blood: Heavy Rock, headbanging powerful riffs and beautiful vocals. Skip The Use: French Punk Rock, catchy and beautiful vocals with great rhythms and aesthetic. Kaiser Chiefs: Indie Rock/Misc, fantastic beats and absolute bangers, would recommend the hell out of Education Education Education and War. Red Vox: Indie Rock/Misc, Vinny Vinesauce’s band, beautiful vocals and moody feels and dreamy space-inspired tones. Arcade Fire: Indie Rock, incredibly emotional and powerful songs. Nero: Dubstep/Electronica, Cyberpunk/futurism feel with some great tunes like Dark Skies and Promises. The Wombats: Indie Pop/Post-Punk, mental lyrics with great melody, lots of variety and quality. Tame Impala: Psychedelic Rock, Incredibly chill vibes with catchy well structured melodies.  Brockhampton: Hip-hop/Rap, deep basslines and meaningful well crafted rap. Noisia: Grime/Dubstep, dark and moody electronic chunes. Stop Light Observations: Indie, powerful lyrics and catchy tunes with a deep relaxing background, Dinosaur Bones is a perfect sleep track. IDLES: Post Punk, soulful music with classic punk vibes. Rebellious af. Slaves: Punk Rock, loud, proud and all about meaningful British Punk.

Free To Play Games:

Team Fortress 2 Counter Strike Global Offensive YuGiOh Duel-Links Warframe Destiny 2 Warthunder Hearthstone

Youtubers:

Bisnap: Gaming youtuber with hundreds of videos on indie games like The Binding Of Isaac, Risk of Rain 2 and Tower Of Guns.

Joel: Variety streamer with long lets-plays and hilarious content, known for OS destruction where he uses a virtual computer to download viruses and other dodgy things to see what they’d do and how long the virtual computer can survive.

Vinesauce:  Twitch streamer who does long playthroughs of games and game corruptions, where he uses a program to break games and create extreme glitches.

Dexbonus/Dodger: Twitch streamer who plays a lot of puzzle games and is generally chill as heck. Very good playthroughs of games are uploaded to youtube too!

aliensrock: Twitch streamer/youtuber who plays tough puzzle and strategy games with great editing. A great chill time.

Joltzdude139: Twitchstreamer/youtuber who solely plays Borderlands games currently, with challenge runs and one life playthroughs.

Jerma985: Variety streamer and weird dude. Honestly I don’t know how to describe him. Totally crazy but has amazingly inventive content and plays a lot of unique games, lots of fun to watch. He took out a $6k loan to put on a funfair for his viewers.

Aztecross: Destiny 2 youtuber with informative videos and great gameplay, all around charming dude.

Duel-Links Meta: Yugioh Duel-Links streamer/youtuber, very loud and very energetic and one of the best players out there.

GernaderJake: Destiny 2 streamer known for trials and other high-skill game types. Very friendly and positive and always has something cool going on in his streams if you like Destiny 2.

Jim Browning: Tech expert and general awesome dude. Outsmarts scammers and accesses their computers through backdoors to get some revenge and to destroy the scamming companies. Very interesting and satisfying to watch scammers get what they deserve.

Call Me Kevin: Variety youtuber with tonnes of personality. Official number 1 funniest Irish youtuber. Loads of well edited comedy gaming videos.

Let’s Game It Out: Simulator game player who’s only goal is to play the games as wrongly as possible. This includes; making the most inefficient factory possible in Satisfactory, making the worlds worst zoo in Planet Zoo and making the worlds most unsafe hospital in Two-Point Hospital.

Nyx Fears: Hilarious horror reviewer who talks both about philosophy and meaning in horror films while also talking about hilariously bad films that couldn’t scare anyone. 

Critical Role: 5 Years running dnd group who are some of the most well known voice actors in gaming. Hilarious and emotional dungeons and dragons live sessions with millions of subscribers and views. 

Kripparrian: Hearthstone streamer known for being salty as hell. Very good at the game and makes a lot of cool videos on Arena/Battlegrounds regularly.

How To Drink: One of the most charming people to ever exist. This channel is all about cocktails, mixers, drinks and the history of all those combined, incredibly fun to watch even if you don’t drink!

Braille Skateboarding: Amazing channel all about skateboarding, but you don’t need to know anything about skating to enjoy it. The entire team is lovely and they’re all insane, mainly because they often do videos where they try to skate anything they can, including crowbars, glass skateboards and “nunchuck boards”

oboetwoshoes: Variety youtuber/streamer who mainly plays Borderlands. Incredibly fun commentary and editing. Also loves bionicles a bit too much.

Grand Illusions: Strange old man who reviews his collection of even stranger old toys and gadgets. Very relaxing and blessed.

AquaFPS: Escape from tarkov/Rust streamer who’s generally a lot of fun. Great video editing and immersive yet funny gameplay videos.

Ryan Hollinger: Horror film enthusiast with incredibly insightful and interesting videos about the depths of horror films and the history and complexity behind them. Also has a great series on how to survive various horror films.

Jesse Cox: Variety streamer/youtuber. Amazing personality and great series of long playthroughs of games like Control and Night In The Woods. Does one of my favourite series ever with his friends called Scary Game Squad, where he teams up with his mates to do horror game playthroughs, I highly recommend watching their entire playthrough of Until Dawn. 

Welyn: Perhaps the best Rust streamer/youtuber out there. His videos are almost like miniature films about how he betrayed a clan or infiltrated a base, and he’s known for overcoming even the most deadly and large clans in the game solo.

Binging With Babish: Cookery youtuber who creates some of popcultures most famous meals, such as the Krabby Patty, Portal Cake and more, along with actually helpful guides on how to cook basics like hotdogs and burgers.

The Spiffing Brit: Variety youtuber who does his very best to be the most British™ person ever while also finding thousands of exploits in games like Civilization V, Evil Genius and Stellaris.

Feel free to add your own shit in the comments, I’ve got pretty limited taste so the more people add the more stuff we’ll have to occupy folks during these coming weeks.

[daggerzine]

You Gotta Lose? Hell, Some Of Us Ain’t Dead Yet by Mary Leary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0fz3FVBlOE

NRBQ has done so many amazing songs. I never thought much about “Roll Call,” from Tiddlywinks - for one thing, it has a lighter, almost Billy Joel sound that’s more about latter day Terry Adams style than what I think of as the classic Q. Yet just as Adams’ work has grown on me, this track has made its way into my consciousness. The lyrics speak to me more in 2020 than they did when Tiddlywinks was released in 1980, before the D.C.-area music scene had lost Robert Goldstein (Urban Verbs), Kevin MacDonald (brilliant visual artist and scene stalwart who helped me design and layout [The] Infiltrator), Danny Gatton disciple/guitar maverick Evan Johns, bassist Michael Maye from the original H-Bombs, Rick Dreyfuss (Half Japanese/Chumps/Shakemore), Libby Hatch and Michael Mariotte  (Tru Fax and the Insaniacs), Sally Be/Berg - REM/Egoslavia/SHE/Robert Palmer), Nurses member Marc Halpern (heroin, 1982), Lorenzo (Pee- Wee) Jones (Tiny Desk Unit) and hybrid rocker Jim Altman (HIV, 1990s).  Goldstein, Dreyfuss, Maye and MacDonald succumbed to cancer, while Evan Johns’ deterioration followed years of touring, hard drinking and pushing himself past the limit.

(Top to bottom: Tommy Keene, Kevin MacDonald, Susan Mumford)

Those named above have been joined by Tommy Keene (the Rage/the Razz/solo/Paul Westerberg/Matthew Sweet - cardiac arrest at the age of 59; 2017), TDU’s Susan Mumford (cancer, 2018), David Byers (Psychotics/H.R./Bad Brains), and Skip Groff (Yesterday and Today/ Limp Records/Dischord - seizure, 2019).  This is just an imperfect/incomplete naming of D.C.-area losses - I’m sure journalists from other cities could make lists. A horde of New Wave and early alternative musicians have died within the past few years. Whether through the stress of hard living/poverty, substance abuse, cancer or Covid-19, we’re seeing artists pass much earlier than I, anyway, expected them to.

(Top to bottom: Fred "Freak” Smith, Michael Maye with Evan Johns, Tru Fax and the Insaniacs)

We’re already past the loss of all the original Ramones. All the Cramps less Poison Ivy. Joe Strummer. Robert Quine. Hilly Kristal. Lou Reed. As of July, 2020, since 2018 we’ve also lost Andy Gill, Ivan Kral, Genesis P-Orridge, Adam Schlesinger, Danny Mihm, Ric Ocasek, Daniel Johnston, Kim Shattuck, Lorna Doom, Mark Hollis, Keith Flint, Ranking Roger, Mark E. Smith, Glenn Branca, Randy Rampage, Hardy Fox, Pete Shelley, Matthew Seligman, Bill Rieflin, Dave Greenfield, Florian Schneider,  Ian Dury, Benjamin Orr, Kirsty McColl and David Roback.

(Top to bottom: Sally Be/Berg, Ranking Roger, Danny Mihm)

Talking about the deaths of talented, gifted creatives is a helluva way to start a column. But here we are. Older performers don’t always get the attention afforded newer, so the rest of this piece shares and celebrates artists from the original New Wave/punk scenes who are still around and active. Many are from the D.C.-area cornucopia I know best, while others have just come to my attention, or seem especially noteworthy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MED9_XK_JVQ

The Zeros’ Javier Escovedo has been steadily emitting tasty Americana-ish rock while occasionally dropping some Zeros sturm-’n’-drang - most recently with Munster Records single “In The Spotlight” and a track on Burger Records’ Quarantunes compilation. Quarantunes is a seven-album affair featuring 140 alternative/punk performers old and new, all of whom wrote songs between March-April 2020. A cursory listen to Volume 2 reveals the recorded version of a good night at a very wild bar, with Zeros still handily kicking ass of all ages.

https://velvetmonkeys.bandcamp.com/album/legacy-of-success?fbclid=IwAR0lJyS0YDE4e3o7LJiITEtw1lhBWMkUX47Vuag1Lf9fs2QozJJKD1lwkes

Velvet Monkeys/B.A.L.L. player and Sonic Youth/Teenage Fanclub producer Don Fleming reports, “We’ve put out new tracks ‘Theories of Rummanetics’ and ‘Legacy of Success.’ Jay has written a few ‘modules’ and Malcolm and I are having fun doing the music,” adding, “I play some electric six string on the new Rob Moss album - it’s fun to be on, with lots of guitar slingers from the DC daze.”

Yup, Rob Moss of Skin-Tight Skin has solicited contributions from Fleming and from Marshall Keith (Slickee Boys), along with a pile of talent including Stuart Casson (Psychotics/Dove/Meatmen), Franz Stahl (Foo Fighters/Scream), Billy Loosigian (Nervous Eaters, the Boom-Boom Band), Nels Cline (Wilco) and Saul Koll (the guy who made guitars for Henry Kaiser and Lee Ranaldo). The set is called We’ve Come Back To Rock ‘n’ Roll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdIB8a_0Q4c

Chumps/Workdogs/Jam Messengers player Rob Kennedy apparently has too much energy to throw in the towel - he’s kept recording, performing and making various sorts of lo-fi, DIY mischief that never loses that fresh, ‘70s feeling. Jam Messengers released Night And Day on vinyl in 2017. One of my fave Kennedy tracks, “A Low Down Dirty Shame” speaks to this moment as well as any.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-CRBEGVLE4

Former Tiny Desk Unit/Fuji’s Navy/Rhoda & the Bad Seeds members Bob Boilen, Kevin Lay, Michael Barron and Bob Harvey have released a new Danger Painters joint, Thank Speak Love This Record. Lay joked, “I have a voice made for Morse Code” before revealing his recent work with Rhoda and the Bad Seeds material, released June 30 as Live at Nightclub 9:30. Boilen continues to introduce artists both vital and obscure via Tiny Desk Concerts and All Songs Considered/NPR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejQ1GajwfB0

I’ve seen David Arnson play recently and can attest to his proclivity for unfettered growth via Insect Surfers, the instrumental group that originally had some trouble establishing cred. with younger D.C. punks. The Surfers’ most recent release was Living Fossils (2019). Arnson celebrated the band’s 40 years of existence with a European tour in 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SkIuWIZVkM

Jad Fair says, “Half Japanese will have a new album released in November on Fire Records.” Jad’s art was recently featured at the Hiromart Gallery/Tokyo, while David has created a Facebook page where fans can pick up his colorful images for, well, mere bags o’ shells, as far as we can see -  https://www.facebook.com/David-Fair-Painting-107055447700859/

Despite health issues for several members, Bad Brains has collaborated with Element to make BB themed skate wear https://www.elementbrand.com/mens-collection-bad-brains/ and added some killer live tracks to its YouTube channel.  

Former WGTB programmers John Paige and Steve Lorber have been presenting Rock Continuum on WOWD-LP FM 94.3 since 2017.

Mike Stax continues to give excellent motivation for hunting down a pair of Beatle boots - Munster released the Loons’ 7” EP, A Dream In Jade Green, last year. The latest issue of Ugly Things, said by Stax to be heavily focused on the Pretty Things’ Phil May, was reported in early July to be nearing publication.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6jSc7gEAv0

Razz (the) Documentary will tell the story of how an uncommonly combustible rock band - especially with the Bill Craig/Abaad Behram line-up - helped spread the Flamin’ Groovies gospel while throwing down oddly compelling originals and taking the two-guitar thing up several notches - the producers are purportedly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Whether anyone can ever recreate the experience of being in an altered state via obsessive, sometimes conversational repetition of certain chords, anchored by Ted Nicely rethinking just what can be done with a bass guitar, given girth by Doug Tull’s intuitive drumming; with Mike Reidy the heat-seeking missile somewhere near the center... well, I doubt it. ‘Cause at this point you’re feeling no pain and it’s not about drinking; there is no room for anything but water - the beer will be knocked over when you’re this busy matching David Arnson’s other-side-of-the-front-line’s leaps into joydum while PCP’d out yahoos from the sticks learn the hard way that hugging Marshall amps can lead to lifelong repercussions. There (in case nothing I want to say about [the] Razz makes it into the film) - I’ve said it.

Discussions among old friends have confirmed that I’m not alone in being happily surprised at this development - we never expected our actions - which led to the hardcore explosion that’s received a lot more attention... would ever make it into any history book. Yet coverage of many of the D.C.-area musicians featured in this piece also comes with Punk The Capitol, A History of D.C. Punk and Hardcore, 1976-1983. Spring 2021 is the projected date for streaming/DVD release.

Ivan Julian came back from a scary 2015 bout with cancer to do a show in New York in 2016. The cancer has returned. Friends have organized a GoFundMe to raise money for surgery and basic needs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDB_3by-xkI

The Shakemore fest also refuses to fade, promising “eight hours of streaming steaming video” on August 1. Sounds will be provided by R. Stevie Moore, Velvet Monkeys, Tav Falco’s Panther Burns, Half Japanese, Johnny Spampinato, Weird Paul and the Chumps, among many, many others.

Despite having played at CBGB and other alternative venues in 1979, at the height of the New Wave, Gary Wilson’s work is so distinctive, he’s rarely been included with any musical genre other than the oft-vague “experimental” category. Folks were too unmoored by his visceral performances to get behind him. Wilson’s 14th album, Tormented, was released by Cleopatra in February.

Paul Collins recently published a book that he wrote with Chuck Nolan; I Don’t Fit In: My Wild Ride Through the Punk and Power Pop Trenches with the Nerves and the Beat (Hozac Books).

As “Heath,” Michael Layne Heath, a journalist who contributed to (the) Infiltrator and many other ‘zines, published My Week Beats Your Year: Encounters with Lou Reed in May (Hat & Beard Press).

In April, X released its first album in 35 years; Alphabetland.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ1I-laItPI

As exciting for me as any of the above is Richard Hell with the Heartbreakers’ 2019 release of Yonkers Demo 1976. Hell’s “You Gotta Lose” is one of my picks for best punk/new wave singles of all time. The Heartbreakers version is, predictably, messier than the Robert Quine guitar-spiked classic. Its more excessive charms are growing on me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48QnsysCN_A

This piece could go on and on - compiling it has been exhausting. The best part has been the response to my social media call for any info I didn’t have re: the D.C.-centric scene I left for New York in 1983. Musicians anxious to keep their compadres’ names alive have hammered that post with 138 comments to date. Urban Verbs percussionist Danny Frankel, who’s played with a colorful spread of artists including Beck, Marianne Faithful, Lou Reed, John Cale and k.d. Lang, made a point of being sure I knew about the passing of Marc Halpern, a source of obvious pain. People were worried I wouldn’t mention John Stabb (Government Issue - 2016), rockabilly player Billy Hancock (2018), Fred “Freak” Smith (Strange Boutique/Beefeater - murdered in Los Angeles, 2017), John Hansen (Slickee Boys - 2010), record store owner/Wasp Records starter/music supporter Bill Asp, Jimmy Barnett of The Killer Bees, and David Byers.

One of the hardest for me to write about is Chris Morse, whose 1984 passing from a drug overdose wrenched so many - I managed to get an obituary into, I think, The New York Rocker (that physical trek was part of a long-ago blur; a very hot day of traipsing over steaming concrete in a narrow-skirted dress to deliver the copy). Chris popped up in my dreams for years - one “visitation” pushed me to write a poem about it in the ‘90s. Morse, who played in Rhoda & The Bad Seeds and worked as a doorman at The Pyramid after moving to NYC in the early ‘80s, was on one of the Urban Verbs’ early flyers. I’m on another.

(Top to bottom: Me in an early Verbs flyer/photo shot at the Atlantis; Chris Morse on another Verbs flyer)

I ended up getting so burnt out on the responsibility of populating this sad roll call, I’ve started a memorial page for them all on Facebook. The nature of truly alternative music is such that many of its lights still fail to fill the pages of major publications. Many of these lights gave a great deal of their lives, if not everything, for the art they believed in. It’s good to remember them, and those heady early days. It’s good to enjoy what we still can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA3IfK76mmI

[hits1000]

Top Songs of 1980 - Hits of 1980

Top Songs of 1980 - Hits of 1980 Top Songs of 1980 including: ABBA - Super Trouper, AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long, Air Supply - All Out Of Love, Andy Gibb – Desire, Barbra Streisand - Woman In Love, Billy Joel - It's Still Rock And Roll To Me, Blondie - Call Me and many more! Subscribe to our channel to see more of our content! 1. ABBA - Super Trouper 2. ABBA - The Winner Takes It All 3. AC/DC - Hells Bells 4. AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long 5. Air Supply - All Out Of Love 6. Andy Gibb - Desire 7. Barbra Streisand - Woman In Love 8. Billy Joel - It's Still Rock And Roll To Me 9. Blondie - Call Me 10. Blondie - The Tide Is High 11. Bob Marley - Could You Be Loved 12. Bob Seger - Against The Wind 13. Bruce Springsteen - Hungry Heart 14. Camilo Sesto - Perdóname 15. Christopher Cross - Ride Like The Wind 16. Christopher Cross - Sailing 17. Cliff Richard - Carrie 18. Daryl Hall & John Oates - Kiss On My List 19. David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes 20. DEVO - Whip It 21. Dexy's Midnight Runners - Geno 22. Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out 23. Diana Ross - Upside Down 24. Doce - Amanhã De Manhã 25. Dolly Parton - 9 To 5 26. Don McLean - Crying 27. Eddy Grant - My Turn To Love 28. Electric Light Orchestra - All Over The World 29. Electric Light Orchestra - I'm Alive 30. Elton John - Little Jeannie 31. France Gall - Il Jouait Du Piano Debout 32. Frank Sinatra - New York, New York 33. Genesis - Misunderstanding 34. Gianni Togni - Luna 35. Gilbert O'Sullivan - What's In A Kiss 36. Goombay Dance Band - Sun of Jamaica 37. Irene Cara - Fame 38. Jeane Manson - Vis Ta Vie 39. John Lennon - (Just Like) Starting Over 40. Johnny Logan - What's Another Year 41. Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry 42. Journey - Any Way You Want It 43. Katia Svizzero - Ape Maia 44. Kenny Rogers - Lady 45. KISS - Shandi 46. Kool & The Gang - Celebration 47. Leo Sayer - More Than I Can Say 48. Lio - Amoureux Solitaires 49. Lipps Inc. - Funky Town 50. Los Secretos - Déjame 51. Maywood - Late At Night 52. Michael Jackson - Rock With You 53. Miguel Ríos - Santa Lucía 54. Mike Krüger - Der Nippel 55. Oliver Onions - Santa Maria 56. Olivia Newton-John - Magic 57. Olivia Newton-John - Xanadu 58. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay 59. Ottawan - Hands Up (Give Me Your Heart) 60. Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train (Speak Of The Devil) 61. Paul McCartney - Coming Up 62. Pedro Marín - Aire 63. Peter Jacques Band - Is It It? 64. Peter Kent - It's a real good feeling 65. Queen - Another One Bites The Dust 66. REO Speedwagon - Keep On Loving You 67. Richard Sanderson - Reality 68. Robert Palmer - Johnny And Mary 69. Roland Kaiser - Santa Maria 70. Rui Veloso - Chico Fininho 71. Sheena Easton - 9 to 5 (Morning Train) 72. Spargo - You And Me 73. Tequila - Dime Que Me Quieres 74. The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime 75. The Police - De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da 76. The Police - Don't Stand So Close To Me 77. The Rolling Stones - Emotional Rescue 78. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Refugee 79. Village People - Can't Stop The Music 80. Visage - Fade To Grey Related Searches: Greatest Hits of 1980, Best Jukebox 1980 Playlist, Late 1980 Non Stop , Top 1980 Non Stop, Mix 1980 Compilation, Best 1980 List, Late 1980 UK, Best 1980 Playlist, Best 1980 Non Stop, Best 1980 Video, Greatest 1980 Non Stop, Mix 1980 Playlist, Best Jukebox 1980 List, List of 1980 Mix, Top 1980 USA, Best Songs of 1980, Top Music 1980, Hits of 1980 Relate Hashtags: #songsof1980 #hits1980 #songs1980 #listof1980mix #hits1980 #bestsongs1980 #classic1980playlist #greatest1980nonstop #best1980list #best1980video #top1980mix #greatest1980video #mix1980playlist #top1980nonstop #mix1980compilation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwdKNrtYk_c

[gear-project]

EX Mode/Gold Mode Summary

This is just notes for @d-author

EX Anji --Many of his moves have higher bounce like in GGX. --Most moves are no longer auto-guard based, or just simply guard cancelled. --Auto-guard moves are bigger/simplified. --6H is old multi-hit. --Gold/Gold EX Anji can have any number of Shitsu butterflies on screen at any time. --Supposedly had a scrapped move called Higi: Hitori Mikoshi in soundtest.

EX Venom --Charge Moves are replaced by standard command inputs. --A lot of his normals were altered based on GGX incarnation. --EX Gold Venom has Level 2 charged balls when using Red Hail or Carcass Raid Overdrives. --EX Gold Venom's balls auto-charge, so Object ball is not needed.

EX Faust --Lots of classic GGX animations and antics. --Gold/Gold EX Faust has Infinite Tension and releases only Meteors.

EX Baiken --All moves can be done as specials, not guard cancels. --Many normals/moves are based on her GGX incarnation, especially Youzansen. --Gold Baiken/Gold EX Baiken Tatami Gaeshi mats won't disappear if Baiken gets hit.

EX Bridget --Previous moves from GGXX incarnation. --Bridget can do more moves in the air now. --Gold/Gold EX Bridget's bear Roger stays out longer during attacks.

EX Potemkin --Return of classic GG1 move Nitro Hook. --Unbreakable Spirit has multiple responses that Pote can choose from after taking an attack. --Giganter is no longer a two-part Overdrive, and the Lightning Wall lasts longer/acts like Aegis Reflector. --Gold/Gold EX Potemkin has a Dash/Airdash but his walking speed is reduced.

EX Ky --Has many forcebreaks. --Classic GGX Normals/specials including Crescent Slash. --Moves are closer to Sol's style, except Grand Vapor Thrust, which can cross players up. --Gold/Gold EX Ky has enhanced Lightning Damage and more hits during Stun Edge moves. EX Stun Edge Charge Attack won't disappear until its off-screen (like GG1 version). --Awakened Ky from GGIsuka had Aces High/Ray Divider Moves based on Robo-Ky from GGX. --Gold EX Ky has a Greed Sever Overdrive.

EX Testament --Many classic GGX Normals. --More Teleports that aren't triggered by getting hit. --Hitomi Trees are replaced by gigantic enhanced EXE Beast jaws. --Phantom Soul comes out faster like it did in #Reload. --Nightmare Circular has both an instant and delayed version. --Grave Digger swaps with Badlands as the Forcebreak. --Gold/Gold EX Testament: Phantom Soul, Grave Digger, Warrant, Throw/Airthrow all place Curse on opponent.  Curse causes EXE Beast behavior to act faster/more aggressive.

EX Millia --GGX normals (except GGX Lust Shaker which was utterly scrapped). --Pretty Maze replaces her aerial Tandem Top Forcebreak. --Secret Garden causes her to backflip. --Silent Force can be done on the ground (based on GG1 Living Lancer, but it can't be controlled). --Gold/Gold EX Millia has a hyper dash that can skip through opponents.  She has a wide backdash too.

EX Zappa --Graceful Body-moving System 2 lets Zappa pick which summons he wants based on how many Souls he has. --He can unsummon Raou and cause a Lightning Sphere to happen as a last resort. --A few of the summon attacks are slightly altered. --Raou's 6H gets swapped from Bellow's Malice, and is replaced by Knuckle Kaiser. --Gold/Gold EX Zappa has permanent Raou.  Raou won't disappear even if he uses the Lightning Sphere unsummon in EX Mode, 6H is still swapped from Bellow's Malice, however.

EX Chipp --Teleports can be done in Mid-air. --Alpha/Beta/Gamma/Banzai chain in to one another up to 3 times (not sure if Forcebreaks can extend the chain). --Banki Messai behaves like a command throw after so many hits. (It has a 6P combo variant in GGXPlus). --Gold/Gold EX Chipp Invisibility won't disappear if Chipp is hit and lasts longer.  He also has relatively faster dash/backdash speed.

EX Axl --Many GGX Normals (no vacuum on attacks). --Moves don't need to be charged. --Angry Thrust behaves like an Overhead Dust Attack, as does his Combo Overdrive. --Gold/Gold EX Axl: Beehive Trap auto-links in to Thieves' Flame Overdrive without Tension or input.  EX version of Beehive auto-attacks regardless of it being hit or not, but the Overdrive addition won't trigger unless the trap makes contact.

EX Slayer --Now has a Mach-punch chain system of special moves.  Gatling tree is also looser with less links. --V-Formation Dandy and Royal Hunt (former is an Anime reference, latter is a metal reference). --Many of his moves behave differently on counterhit. --Ground dash effects Mach Punch spacing/momentum. --EX/Gold EX Slayer has auto HP-regen, and health gain on hit based on damage, and regular Gold Slayer has wider Forward/Backward Dashes with more invincibility.

EX Jam --Many of her moves are punches, no longer kick-based (based on Kenshiro). --Lots of GGX Normals recycled. --Gold Jam has permanent fully charged Kick Cards. --Gold EX Jam has an auto parry that replaces her standing neutral guard, this works up to a certain point behind Jam's guard hurtbox.

EX May --Many moves are based on her GGX Incarnation. --May Dynamic from GG1. --Moves are altered based on Overdrives. --Gold/Gold EX May has huge stun dizzy modifier for moves like 6P or 6H.  Applause for the Victim releases a lot of Dolphins and is fully charged.

EX Johnny --Mist Finer is now an attack counter, but not as effective as before (still damaging though). --Many scraped normals based on GGX incarnation. --Has moves that behave like a DP reversal. --Dash move is altered. --Gold/Gold EX Johnny has enhanced damage on all slash moves, and enhanced Tension gain on walk. --Gold Johnny's Mist Finer does 588 damage which causes near-instant death in most cases.

EX Dizzy --Has a secret GGX intro animation in the Grove Stage. --Many GGX Moves. --Necro behaves as both an auto-guard dash enhancement (Necro Install) and a catch counter (Necro's Anger). --Dizzy gains a variant of Michael Sword based on Justice. --Gold/Gold EX Dizzy has Health Regen, and Ice Fish stay out until they are hit or disappear offscreen.  They can be controlled by different inputs.  Necro's Flamescythe Spiral does additional hits when active. --Boss version of Gold Dizzy has a Burst Overdrive called "Wings of Light" that has three versions, a Light Pillar, a Radial Beam, and a full Burst.  It gets triggered when she has Burst and at least 75% Tension.  She does three FRCs before it goes active. --GG Mode Dizzy gains an Instant Kill animation.

EX Robo-Ky --Has derivatives of moves based on Prototype Robo Ky from GGX. --Knee Missiles eventually fall back down. --(Worth noting these moves get effected/altered by Robo-Ky Mk II in GGIsuka if you spend time to customize him.) --Gold/Gold EX Robo-Ky has Tension Regen and will never Overheat with max Heat Guage.

EX I-No --Has a ground dash and many moves based on GGXX incarnation. --Slightly different Overdrives. --Can use a unique move to do a ground-to-air dash. --Megalomania is a Burst Overdrive (can auto-FRC if you have Tension to alter the path of the Heartball lanes).  Costs Burst to use though. --Gold/Gold EX I-No has Health Regen/Speed Enhancement and Disharmonic Scale Note does maximum hits regardless of distance.

EX Sol --Many moves are based on GGX incarnation. --Jump Dust has an auto wall-bounce for easy Dustloops. --Many moves are based on Ky, and also have lots of Wallstick options. --Sidewinder followup to Volcanic Viper still has a Clean Hit option for silly combos. --Forcebreak version of classic Grand Viper (super enhanced by the way). --Fafnir > Tyrant Rave Forcebreak input is based on classic GGX Tyrant Rave. --Gold/Gold EX Sol has enhanced Flame Damage, Health Regen, Permanent Dragon Install, Full Tension, and enhanced Speed. --Be careful when using GG Generations Mode, as Sol loses certain Forcebreak moves if he's in GG or GGX Mode. --Still missing moves from Awakened Sol in GGIsuka (enhanced Riot Stamp would later get added to GGXrd incarnation though). --Ironically Gold Sol "loses" the Permanent Dragon Install hidden Overdrive that normal Sol had.

EX A.B.A. --Auto Berserk --Can use Forcebreak to recover Health!! --6H is swapped from Dangoku ender. --Slightly different normals. --Bakumetsu can damage anyone on the ground (was optimal in GGIsuka situations though). --Gold/Gold EX A.B.A. Sacrifice Mode health-loss is slightly reduced with more health gained when using a Blood pack. --Gold EX A.B.A. is in permanent Double-Edged Hell Mode (so you better be aggressive with her).

EX Kliff --Technically doesn't exist unless you switch from ACPlus to ACPlusR rebalance. --Gold Kliff has Infinite Tension, slow Walking speed, reduced dash/backdash.  Enhanced Ahead of Time (Sen no Sen) dodge time, enhanced Specials (with multiple hits), and enhanced Overdrives.

EX Justice --Technically doesn't exist unless you switch from ACPlus to ACPlusR (which is a terrible Nerf for her). --Gold Justice has Health Regen, and can fire any number of N.B.bombs on screen, and her speed is enhanced. --Black Justice in Accent Core is especially strong, though.

EX Order-Sol --Has a dash based on GG1 Breaker dash (has a P and K version). --Many moves based on GG1 Sol, but can be FRC'd. --Bandit Revolver and Jump Dust have different attack frames from regular Order-Sol. --Slightly different input for Dragon Install Instant Kill combo, but the consecutive hits are still the same. --Tyrant Rave has a HUGE stun value and can be spammed with enough Tension. --Rock-It is highly spammable like Ragna's Hell's Fang in this incarnation. --ForceBreaks are based on Dragon Install moves (don't use GG Mode EX Order-Sol unless you're prepared to lose these). --Classic All Guns Blazing Instant Kill. --Gold/Gold EX Order-Sol gains a move called Flame Distortion that acts like a super Dragon Install that lasts for 15 seconds: ---For Gold Order-Sol this regenerates Tension at double the rate, as well as Charge Gauge, and it Regens Health. ---Gold EX Order-Sol only benefits from Tension/Health gain. ---Gold/Gold EX Order-Sol: Dragon Install Instant Kill auto-inputs the full combo so long as the first hit connects. ---Worth noting that EX Order-Sol has TWO ways to Instant Kill an opponent.

[iyliss]

Yaaaaay so many 4s !

2 - Favorite character?

Dm : all three bakura.

GX : Fubuki and Saiou. Ironically, the host of the darkness' will and the host of the light's will. ( I could totally start a comparison analysis of these two...).

5D's : Lucciano and Kiryu (but I love Yliaster as a groupe).

Zexal : Astral and Thomas (then Durbe and Vector).

Arc V : Sora obviously !

(And if I can add my TCG fav : Risebell is wonderful and I love him.)

4- Favorite duel?

Dm : Yugi vs Marik, when he gets osiris. The strategy he used was pretty good, and not too twisted for once.  I love to see « perfect combos ».

GX : I'm still destoyed by Fubuki vs Hell Kaiser so I can't really say anything beside this one.

5D's : Probably Aporia vs Zone. A beautiful and tragic duel, much like Mizael vs Don thousand, but with a bond between the two.

Zexal : The two Thomas vs Ryouga. I have watched them many times and am thinking of studying the parrallelism between these two.

But Zexal has a whole lot of really powerful duel so it's hard to say.

Arc V : Sora vs shun ! Such a powerful, interesting duel where every played card has a meaning...

(oh and something funny about this duel : I have a V jump with the result of a poll about the favorites duels in each series. This duel won for Arc V, and the only one of all the winning duels to not include the protagonist.)

14- If so, what's your favorite shipping?

Dm : heartshipping, thiefshipping, mizushipping.

GX : idolshipping, destinyshipping (and a bit rivalshipping too... but I love idol and destiny with my entire heart).

5D's : toolshipping, roseknightshipping, and every yliaster ship you can think of (zone/antinomy, zone/aporia, aporia/paradox, aporia/antinomy...).

Zexal : keyshipping, hellshark, vkai mostly... alsothe totale nonsense that is Elithousand. Platonically dorumiza  and  rio/kind prince Vector (I need a name for this).

But there are a lot of awesome ships and these are just my absolute favs.

Arc V : dusk, luster, frypan, darkrebel, serenade, and musicbox (as pure broship).

24- Favorite Duel Disk design?  

I really love Academia's duel disk in Arc V. It looks like both a cross and a sword (and am I in love with biblic symbols).

And probably Thomas' and Mihael's duel disks too !

Thanks for these asks ♥