#and elite is surprisingly a pretty decent series

[nanonkorapat]

bright is apparently watching elite on netflix and I'm not saying watching elite is bi culture but it definitely is

[tinyboxxtink]

"Not My Yacht" *Chapter 1?*

So this is interesting:

So "Not My Yacht" was my very first fic. Like, I'm talking VERY VERY first.

So when I started asking around about ideas for a new series, a few of my lovelies went through my one shots and this story and "Doodling" got some good votes.

So, I decided to include the one shot and just added to it for a POTENTIAL new series. We'll see how this chapter goes over.

Also I'll be including Rita Calhoun in this for the FIRST time ever, so I may need assistance from @storiesofsvu to get her voice right. I did my best here. I'll be honest I've never really watched her, just that one where that guy blackmailed her or something.

Also Also, if it wasn't obvious enough this is obviously the beginning of the SVU episode "Her Negations".

I don't want to give anything away because I haven't even really thought that far, but I'm 95% sure this is going to turn in a William Lewis situation fic. So...pretty dark. I'm just warning you NOW.

Tag List

@madamsnape921

@lolliepopsicle

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@milkshqke

@wanniiieeee

@word-scribbless

@gibbs274

@sassyada

@aprildecker-blog

@bookishfanfic

@stars-in-the-skies-world

@stars-trash-18

@omgsuperstarg

@objection-argumentative

And yes, the results are in. There is a part 2!

You breathed in the salty air of the sea of the sunny South Hampton shore; It was a beautiful day for a yacht party.

You walked along the pier as you got closer to your boss’s boat: The Crime Wave. Her husband’s idea of a funny name she claimed as she had invited people from the office to this soiree. You were lucky to even get an invite, just being the assistant to the owner of the law firm. “Who else is going to help me dodge boring conversations with men who just wanted a "free ride” on the bosses boat?“ She had teased you; or at least you hoped she was kidding.

You really wanted to just relax and mingle among the elite lawyers of NYC, seeing as you wanted to be one of them someday.

You saw your boss, Rita Calhoun waving you down as you reached the dock space.

"Ah! There you are, for a minute I thought I’d have to mix my own drinks!” She laughed with a wink. You laugh nervously, unable to discern if she was kidding.

“Calm down sweetie, I’m a big girl. Besides, I like to make them myself, strong,” she laughed again, patting your shoulder. Crap had your face looked that panicked? Keep it cool!

“Go ahead, enjoy yourself. I’ll be here, making sure none of those damn punks tries to sneak on here for free booze,” she scoffed, nodding to a group of highly dressed teens playing chicken on the shoreline.

You nodded with a half laugh, stepping onto the yacht. It was a decent size, a second level deck and a very spacious main level. Not a lot of people had arrived yet, so you decided to pick a spot on the yachts back bench area before all the seating was taken. You began removing your over clothes revealing your swimming wear when you hear Rita greet someone else.

“Ah, Barba. You know we have flare guns on board,”

You turn to see the ADA of New York, Rafael Barba. He’s dressed in a windbreaker and what could be either a dark red or salmon polo. You realize Mrs. Calhoun is referring to the almost neon yellow color of the windbreaker, and you can’t help but giggle. It must have been way too loud because they both turn to you which caused you to immediately shut up and go back to undressing and laying out your towel, but ever so slightly still honed in on the conversation.

“You can never be too careful Rita, who knows how many enemies I’ve made in this town; someone might throw me over,” he smirked.

“And anyone here could make it look like a very convincing accident….even my aspiring protege over there,” Rita nods over to you, knowing full well what you were doing.

Barba turned and looked at you, your body frozen in mid towel thrust. You didn’t know whether to throw it over yourself or just run off the boat right there.

“I know it’s an awful jacket dear, you don’t have to keep staring at him.” She called over to you. God why did she have to be so….her.

“Jesus Rita give the girl a break, or did you invite her just to torture her on unbillable hours?” Barba scoffed with a half smile, walking over to you.

“Is it really worth the minimum wage to put up with her?” He asked.

“Mmm…it’s more for the experience, honestly.” You replied surprisingly smoothly.

“Oh….well I mean I could give you the experience without–” He started but was interrupted by your boss’s loud exclaiming.

“Yeah I’ll BET you’d give her experience Barba! Stop hitting on my intern and mingle with the adults.”

If you could dig a hole straight through the boat into the ocean you would do it right then and there.

“…..Without THAT.” He rolled his eyes, lightly flipping her the bird behind his back. You see her respond with a laugh then turns her attention back to the guests boarding.

“She’s probably been drinking since she got on the boat, yeah?” He asked you.

“I…I don’t know I just got here….” You managed to squeak out as your towel strayed from your hands. Barba grabbed it and helped you reposition it on the bench.

“Kinda windy for a yacht party, but Rita will take any chance to celebrate anything remotely resembling a boost to her ego. Am I right?” He chuckled, before sitting down on your towel.

“Just to keep it from blowing away, do you mind?” He asked, gesturing for you to join him. You nodded a boisterous “NO”, plopping next to him on the bench.

“I’m Rafael Barba,” he extended his hand to you, which you took and shook gently, praying to God he didn’t notice you were literally shaking. You had probably had the biggest crush on him since you started working with Mrs. Calhoun, he was constantly in her office challenging her with warrants and favors.

“Oh yeah I know,” you blurted out, mentally facepalming immediately.

“I see….” He raised an eyebrow. “And you are….?”

You were about to answer when his phone went off. He answered it putting one finger up and mouthing the words “one second.”

“Barba. Yeah….what? Seriously, Olivia? On a Sunday?!” He groaned into his phone with an exaggerated eye roll. He raised his hand and ran it over his face begrudgingly as he talked.

“Yeah….alright, fine. Yeah I’ll be there, give me an hour. I’m in the Hamptons. Because it’s my day off, Liv! Do you think I lock myself in my office over the weekends like a vampire in a coffin? Yeah…I’m sorry, I just…” He glanced at you.

“I was enjoying my Sunday.” He gave you a small sad smile.

“Yeah. Ok. See you soon.” He hung up the phone with an exasperated sigh.

“I’m sorry, I gotta go back to the city. Don’t let Rita push you around too much, okay?” He chuckled, rubbing the top of your head like a puppy. You felt your face scrunch up in annoyance, seriously? He thought of you as a kid?!

He obviously noticed, and quickly held out his hand again very sternly.

“Sorry, future counselor.” He said in an overly serious tone, and you couldn’t stop yourself from giggling. Again. Like an idiot.

Relieved he had fixed his faux paux, he gave you one last beautiful Barba grin as he jogged over to Rita and told her something before nodding to you once again, then walked off the boat and disappearing down the pier.

Your boss sauntered over to you, a shit eating grin across her face.

“Well Cinderella, you sure kept that cool.” She gestured for your phone beside you.

“Be sure to tell him your name this time,” she winked, handing it back to you. You glanced down at it as she walked away; she had added a number to your contacts.

“BHole Barba.” You laughed out loud. Nice. Maybe she wasn’t such a horrible boss after all….

--------------

By Monday you still hadn’t had the balls to text Rafael Barba. You had just stared at the number in your phone, imagining all the possibilities contacting him would lead to. You may have gotten so far as planning your summer wedding in the Hamptons, but nobody needed to know that.

But you had chickened out and left it alone, and now you were sitting at your desk typing up a memo for Rita when you saw him come waltzing through the door.

“Ah, Cinderella!” He smiled at you.

“Hey…” Your mind went blank, you couldn’t think of words. Wait, had he already given you a nickname?

“Cinderella?” You blinked in confusion.

“Well I never caught your name-- But I guess I shouldn’t even push it, you’ve clearly moved on and I must seem like a creep,” His train of thought proceeded out loud as he realized you hadn’t taken his number and here he was still flirting with you. Rita had given it to you, he had seen her type it in your phone. Obviously you weren’t interested, why was he pushing this?

“What? NO!” You said a little louder than you intended, actually a lot louder than you intended. You slapped your hand over your mouth after your little outburst, but to you relief he was still smiling.

“Oh? Well I suppose that’s good…” He was obviously fishing for your excuse as to why you had waited until he popped back in your face to talk to him.

“No, I um--” You racked your brain for an excuse that wasn’t “I was busy planning our lives together”.

“I….couldn’t think of something interesting to say,” You finally admitted with a pitiful sigh. You were not a good liar, and under pressure, forget about it.

Again, he still smiled-- but this time he laughed along with it.

“I mean, ‘Hello’ is always an option,” He chuckled. “Or...your name?”

“Oh!” Idiot. You hadn’t even given him your name, how was he supposed to fall madly in love with you without a name?

“Y/N,” You stuck your hand out awkwardly, Was this a ‘shake hands’ moment? Hadn’t you already met before? You stared at your hand as you moved it slightly back and forth, arguing with yourself whether or not this was necessary. Luckily, Rafael settled the argument by taking your hand and shaking it firmly.

His hands were so soft, his long fingers enveloped yours in them. You lost yourself in the moment, and before you knew it he was making an uncomfortable cough, snapping you back to reality. You dropped his hand and snapped yours back into your body like a zip cord, your face in a horrified stare.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry, that was so weird. I’m weird. I’m--”

“Well I don’t know what you were so worried about Cinderella, you’re clearly a chatterbox,” He gave you a tongued smile, referring to the word vomit you just couldn’t help spill all over him.

“Oh yeah, I’m a total word machine,” You laughed nervously. A word machine? What the fuck was that?

“...Word machine. Right,” He nodded in amusement. “Well word machine, would you mind shooting some words to my phone, or do you just enjoy this face to face thing?”

“With that face? Definitely the latter. But you can have my number anyway,” You typed a quick message and sent it to his number. Damn that was smooth! How did you do that?

Rafael made an impressed face with your line, but when he opened his phone his brows furrowed.

“Hit?” He gave you a curious look as he read the text out loud.

“Fuck it was supposed to be ‘hi’-- stupid autocorrect,” You muttered angrily. Yeah, that was more like you.

“Oh yes, the dreaded autocorrect,” He nodded while saving your number. “Turning fucks into ducks since 2011,”

“Oh I didn’t have a phone in 7th grade but I’ll take your word for it,” You laughed, but stopped when his face twisted into a mix of horror and discomfort when he realized how young you actually were.

Dammit. Why...why would you do this?

“....Right, is Rita in?” He quickly shoved his phone back in his pocket and headed into Rita’s office before you could answer.

“...Idiot!” You yelled at yourself as your hands went over your face and your face planted into your desk.

Well, that was nice while it lasted. All 2.5 seconds of it.

-----------------

“Well Barba, about time,” Rita smirked as Rafael abruptly burst into her office trying to get away from you. “Done flirting with the intern are we?”

“Shut up,” He rolled his eyes, though his face was a deep shade of red.

“Oh no, what happened? Did your dentures fall out in front of her?” She smirked.

“I’m younger than you!!” He scoffed.

“Yeah but I’m not the one trying to boff a 25 year old,” She smirked harder, making Rafael angrier.

“Can I just get the warrant I came here for, Rita?” He huffed.

“Oooh, struck a nerve there, did I?” Rita chuckled as she grabbed some papers from her desk and started to hand them to him. “Barba, for the record I’m really not judging you. If I were 20 years younger, I’d hit it too,”

“Excuse me?”

“I had a lot of ‘cats’ in college,” She winked.

“Wow,” Rafael held up his hands. “Rita, we really don’t need to be that personal.”

“Fine, but all I’m saying is if you like the girl, don’t let a stupid thing like age deter you. Don’t tell her I said this, but she’s actually very competent and organized. I would almost prefer her not to graduate, unless she'd come work for me. She’s going to be a hell of a lawyer,” She gestured outside to your desk.

Rafael looked at the ground as he mulled over what she was saying, a small smile crawled across his lips as she complimented your potential.

“I’ll take that under advisement, Mrs. Calhoun,” He nodded as he walked towards the door with the papers in his hand, a huge smile across his face now.

He walked out to find you cursing at yourself and whimpering in embarrassment at your desk. When you heard the door shut you snapped to attention and stared at him, shocked he hadn't sprinted out of the office like Usain Bolt. Even more shocking was that Cheshire cat grin now upon his face.

“I-I’m sorry, I totally meant I was--” You tried doing math trying to make yourself reasonably older.

“It’s fine,” He chuckled as he put a hand over your counting fingers. You blushed at the touch of his skin on yours again, but quickly shoved your hands under the desk nervously as you tried not to look him square in the eye. His eyes were so gorgeous you were positive staring straight into them would actually get you pregnant.

“So does Rita ever unchain you from this desk?” He smirked as he was now very aware and very amused at how nervous he made you. He may be old, but clearly he’s still got it.

“Oh yeah, if I ask very nicely she let’s me--” You tried to think of something witty, but it wasn’t coming with him staring at you with those eyes. “....Yes,” You wanted to put your hands over your face but you didn’t want it to be a ‘thing’.

“Well, maybe if you’re an extra good girl she’ll let you off your leash early tonight,” He winked.

“....Am I a dog or a toddler in that situation?” You were genuinely asking, but Rafael clearly realized how insulting that must have seemed.

“Oh no no no, I just, shit,” He tried to backtrack but if he was being totally honest, you made him nervous. Maybe he didn’t have ‘it’ as much as he thought.

You noticed he was the one blushing now, oh my god were you making him nervous? QUICK, BE SMOOTH. BE SMOOTHER THAN YOU’VE EVER BEEN IN YOUR LIFE.

“Are you asking me out, counselor?” You did your best “sultry “voice with a bat of your eyes. Were you batting them too much? What was too much? Oh god you’ve done it for too long now. STOP BATTING.

“...I don’t know, guess you’ll have to wait for me to text you, future counselor,” He was impressed by the line, and decided to bow out before either of you made idiots of yourselves again. He gave you a wink and sauntered out of the office.

Great. Now he’ll probably make you wait two days for a--

*BEEP*

Your phone went off in your desk. You pulled it out to see a text message:

BHOLE BARBA: Dinner? Tonight?

You really needed to change his contact name. But that wasn’t the point right now. He just asked you out. Rafael Barba just asked you out. You stared at in your hands, unsure of what to do. Then you realized you couldn’t do this again, you couldn’t just sit there and imagine things, this required an immediate response.

You nervously typed a reply and hit SEND:

Sire ;)

“DAMMIT!!!” You cursed your autocorrect. You instantly sent another text.

Sure***

Before you could lecture yourself again, your phone beeped again:

BHOLE BARBA: Play

Play? What did that--

BHOLE: Okay** ;)

You typed the word ‘okay’ into your text reply bubble, ‘play’ came up in the autocorrect word list.

He was joking with you. He was flirting with you. RAFAEL BARBA WAS FLIRTING WITH YOU.

This work day could not end fast enough.

[scoutception]

Robotics;Notes Elite review

Robotics;Notes, the third visual novel in the Science Adventure series, is by far the most unfortunate entry in the series. Not only is it the follow up to Steins;Gate, one of the most acclaimed and popular visual novels ever released, something that even extends to its anime adaptation, but it had to wait until 2020, 8 years after its release in 2012, to be translated into English, well after every other main entry in the series besides Chaos;Head, with its anime adaptation being the only way to experience it beforehand, and while said anime is a decent watch in its own right, it definitely accentuates the source material’s problems, while adding several more. Needless to say, Robotics;Notes had a lot of things going against it when it was finally released, most of which weren’t even its own fault, and it can definitely come off as an underwhelming entry just from that. However, today, we’ll be putting aside all those external factors and take a fair look at the VN itself, and how it holds up on its own. The version I played was the Steam version, using the Committee of Zero patch, a fan made patch that, among other things, fixes many issues with the translation, and is absolutely the recommended way to experience the VN.

Kaito Yashio is a student of Chuo Tanegashima High, and one of the two members of its Robotics Research Club. The president of the club, Akiho Senomiya, Kaito’s friend since childhood, and little sister of the club’s founder, Misaki Senomiya, is completely committed to completing GunBuild-1, a lifesize recreation of the titular mecha from the extremely popular anime Gunvarrel, and a project the club has been working on since its creation. Unfortunately for Akiho, everything seems determined to see her efforts be in vain. The club gets no funding, and is seen as a laughingstock among the students, its advisor, Mitsuhiko “Mitchie” Nagafukada, is completely irresponsible and rarely does anything of help, and Kaito is completely apathetic to anything that isn’t KillBallad, a mobile fighting game he’s determined to become the top player in the world in. While the club soon manages to gain three new members, namely Subaru Hidaka, an expert in robotics whose knowledge far surpasses Akiho’s, Junna Daitoku, a former member of the karate club, and Kona Furugoori, aka Frau Koujiro, the teenage creator of KillBallad, their personalities are just as difficult: Subaru sees the project as a lost cause, and refuses to help with it without a compromise, Junna is painfully shy and has a fear of robots, and Frau is a complete shut in and social mess, being completely perverted and mostly talking in outdated slang, which keeps most people from even understanding her. Despite all this, Akiho’s unrelenting passion for mechas, and desire to step out of her sister’s shadow, compel her to continue on.

Meanwhile, Kaito one day encounters Airi, an AI that exists within the augmented reality app IRUO, along with a strange AR annotation called the Kimijima Report, authored by Airi’s deceased creator, Kou Kimijima. Within it are warnings of a grand conspiracy that aims to devastate humanity, the details of which are contained in similar reports hidden all over Tanegashima, locked behind “flags” that must be cleared before they become visible. Though at first skeptical, it soon becomes clear to Kaito that the reports contain a disturbing amount of truths, and that he’s become involved in something far larger, and far more dangerous, than he bargained for.

I’ll say it now, the story’s focus on both of these plotlines causes a number of noticeable issues, mainly due to feeling very disconnected from each other. While all of the main cast except Airi are heavily involved in the Robotics Club plot, only Kaito, Airi, and to a much lesser extent Frau are involved in the Kimijima Report plot, in comparison to, say, Steins;Gate and Chaos;Child, which tied its whole cast into their stories much better. In addition, the majority of the focus is on the club, and though always interesting, the reports tend to go rather uneventfully as well. Due to this, the story can feel very slow and meandering if you don’t know just what you’re getting into, much more so than the other entries in the series, which can definitely make it seem unappealing. Additionally, the story is much less standalone than most SciAdv VNs, where the references are often minor. Here, there are some rather significant references to Chaos;Head and, to a lesser extent, Steins;Gate, to the point of outright spoilers in a few cases, meaning going through those beforehand is heavily recommended, which is especially annoying when Chaos;Head still has no official translation, and only a fan translation for the incomplete PC version.

Despite all of this, both plotlines are actually quite compelling, once you get used to the game’s pacing. Robotics;Notes’ biggest strength is its absolutely great cast of characters. Everyone in the main cast is very likeable, distinctive, and well developed across the story, and have good dynamics with each other, with Kaito and Akiho’s interactions being some of the biggest highlights of the game, with the end result making everyone feel significant in their own ways, and truly feeling like a unified group, something Chaos;Head and even Steins;Gate struggled with at times. Kaito, who initially comes off as a very motivationless character, has a good amount of backstory and a constant, if subtle, arc throughout the game that makes him properly fleshed out. Subaru, who’d normally just be the token other guy, is a prominent and likeable character in his own right, having a very important role in Gunbuild’s construction, while Frau, who initially just comes off as comic relief, has many great moments throughout the story, with her focus chapter in particular being one of the best in the game. Even Airi has quite a bit more to her than it may seem. The cast is definitely a worthy successor to the cast of Steins;Gate, even more so than Chaos;Child’s, I would say.

The cast also heavily ties into one of the main themes of the game, namely dreams, the harsh difficulties and compromises one faces in pursuing their dreams, and how losing one can change a person. All of them face this, with varying amounts of focus, and it’s a theme furthered with the prominence of robots throughout the game, both the idealized kind found in mecha anime, and the real, practical robots of the real world. There’s an almost exhaustive amount of detail put into the construction and function of real robots, which makes for some interesting, if sometimes long winded, discussions throughout the game, in true SciAdv fashion.

While the story is mainly told through Kaito’s perspective, it switches fairly often to other characters, most often Akiho. While the rest of the series except for Steins;Gate does this as well, it’s notable here for giving almost every character, even the supporting cast, at least one scene from their perspective, often focused on their own personal dilemmas, or flashbacks involving Misaki. These perspective switches make a nice change of pace, and definitely help flesh out the characters even further. On the subject of the supporting cast, while most other entries either have supporting casts that are very inconsequential, such as in Chaos;Child, or almost nonexistent, such as in Steins;Gate, Robotics;Notes, on the other hand, has a much more prominent and fleshed out supporting cast. From Mizuki Irei, the harsh and snarky convenience store employee, and info broker to Kaito, to Tetsuharu Fujita, the grumpy but fair “Robot Doctor”, to Mitchie, the horribly unreliable, yet entertaining club advisor, they certainly leave much more of a mark than usual. The most interesting of all, though, is a 20 year old Nae Tennouji, originally a very minor character in Steins;Gate. She has an almost surprising amount of prominence throughout the game, and even has her own ending, if a very short one.

Compared to most other entries in the series, Robotics;Notes definitely carries a much lighter tone. Tanegashima makes for a very relaxed setting, and as mentioned, there aren’t quite as many big events as one might expect. The characters are generally pretty lighthearted in personality as well, up to Kaito not being nearly as unlikeable to start off as other SciAdv protagonists. However, the tone works quite well, and helps slowly endear the characters to you even early on. And while it’s not quite as messed up as, say, Chaos;Head, it’s got more than a few disturbing elements and scenes of its own. Ultimately, it has the same “feel” as the rest of the series, and when it wants to be intense, suspenseful, sad, or whatever else, it absolutely works, especially from chapter 7 onward.

As far as “gameplay” goes, there’s a surprisingly large amount of interactivity available. At most moments during the story, Kaito can pull out his tablet and access its various apps. Most prominently, there’s Twipo, an obvious lawyer friendly version of Twitter, where Kaito can look at tweets from the Robotics Club, its associates, and even random accounts commenting on current events, with Kaito having the option to reply to those of the Robotics Club. There’s also IRUO, the augmented reality app, which lets the player look around the area and scan geotags, which contain small profiles for characters, or details for locations or objects. IRUO is also used along with a map app to search for the Kimijima Reports, letting you travel to various different locations on Tanegashima to search. It’s a neat concept, but the icons for the reports are so small, and so many locations tend to be available at one time, that finding them can often just be annoying. There’s also, of all things, the otherwise story reliant KillBallad matches, where you have to successfully input a string of buttons, the length of which varies depending on the opponent’s skill, within a time limit in order to win. Most of the time it doesn’t matter, but there are achievements and even story sequences reliant on winning or losing certain matches. All in all, these make for nice occasional changes of pace, but it’s still a visual novel in the end.

Visually, Robotics;Notes is actually quite impressive. As can be seen in the screenshots, instead of sprites, 3D character models are used instead in normal scenes, and having played Virtue’s Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma well before this, I was more than a bit wary of them before release. Thankfully, compared to the cheap models of those two games, they’re much, much better. They’re actually very expressive, and have some great animations that give each character a lot of life. The backgrounds are also quite well done, and Tanegashima definitely makes for a unique and atmospheric setting. As usual for visual novels, there’s also CGs throughout the game, done in a different, but still appealing and well drawn style. Finally, in one of the biggest additions to Elite compared to the original version, occasionally, clips from the anime adaptation is used, mostly to better demonstrate details that were only narration originally, as far as I can tell. This blend of 3D models, CGs, and animation is a bit bizarre at first, but it works surprisingly well, and makes for one of the most visually appealing entries in the series.

As far as sound goes, Takeshi Abo is once again the composer, and once again puts out a very good soundtrack, which further captures and enhances the atmosphere. The soundtrack in general is definitely much lighter and peaceful than usual, but actually has more tracks than most of the SciAdv soundtracks, allowing it to cover many other moods as well. From the very relaxed Winds of Tangegashima, to the mysterious Uchugaoka Park, to the nostalgic Memories with Big Sis, and especially the beautiful title screen theme, Robotics Notes -2nd theme-, there’s a lot of great songs to be found. The voice acting is also very good, and the characters wouldn’t work nearly as well without it, with Ryohei Kimura as Kaito, Yoshino Nanjo as Akiho, Kaori Nazuka as Frau, and Sora Tokui as Junna especially sticking out to me.

It’s worth noting that Robotics;Notes is on the longer side when it comes to SciAdv, much like Chaos;Child. It’s hardly Fate/Stay Night, but it’ll take some time to get through. It also has a very, very weird and annoying ending system. Whereas in other titles, endings are, just that, actual endings you can diverge into somewhere in the story, Robotics;Notes’ endings are actually just regular chapters that are part of the main story, which just happen to focus on different parts of the cast. The divergence happens in chapter 5, and depends on your replies to said characters on Twipo in both that chapter and the preceding one, with you instead going to the short Nae ending if you don’t fulfill the requirements for any of them. While Steins;Gate had a similar system, and was annoying in of itself, Robotics;Notes takes it to another level by making all but the Nae ending mandatory, though said ending has some points that make it worth seeing regardless, and occurring in a specific chronological order, despite allowing you to get the endings nonlinearly, meaning you could accidentally skip from chapter 5 to chapter 8. The system overall is just unneeded, and following a guide, such as the one by the aforementioned Committee of Zero, is highly recommended.

In the end, would I recommend Robotics;Notes? To a SciAdv fan, absolutely. To someone who isn’t, well, I already explained the problems there. I can’t say its one of my favorites among the series, but by itself, it’s still something I enjoyed a lot. Despite the issues it does have, its very well done cast, visuals, sound, and overall story make it a memorable and emotional experience in its own right. Now, with yet another long VN review out of the way, I anxiously await the Committee of Zero patch for Robotics;Notes DaSH, to finally finish off my SciAdv journey, for the foreseeable future, at least. Till next time. -Scout

[littlemisssquiggles]

Heyy, so, idk if you ever watched "Rio", but I was rewatching it, and there's the blue and jewel dance. So I was wondering, do you think there's any RWBY ship that fit in the context of that scene ? I mean, maybe there aren't but I cant help, I love that movie, and I love that scene XDXDXD anyway, what do u think ? have a nice day !!! =D ♡

HiyaLethie!I know I still have to answer your last question from before about your suggestionfor Oscar’s theme. I currently have a bit of a backlog of messages to sift through and answer so that plus my generalbusy schedule during the week with school has left me with not getting much of achance to answer your question as yet. Sorry about that but I’ll get to iteventually XD

Anyways,let’s answer this recent question at least, shall we? I’ve seen Rio 2but have admittedly never seen its first movie believe it or not. However Ilooked up the scene you mentioned. It’s the ‘I Wanna Party’ sceneright? Because that’s the scene that comes up when I look it up on YouTube. Letme know if otherwise.

“So I waswondering, do you think there's any RWBY ship that fit in the context of thatscene?”

Aww Lethie,you should know very well which RWBY ship I’m going to relate this to, right?Like the Nae-Nae song, you already know what it is. Or rather who itis.

Obviously the ship that comes to mind is RoseGarden of course. The scenefrom Rio is making me think back to that RWBY SquiggleScript I wrote before about Team FNKIinviting RWBY and JNPR out to party with them. The two birdssinging; the red and yellow birds (sorry not familiar with their names)definitely make me think of Flynn and Neon.

LikeI’m picturing a scene where Flynn and Neon perform for a crowd at a local rave joint inlower Atlas. Perhaps outside of Atlas Academy, Team FNKI are actually a band with Neon Katt as the lead singer.Now I’m imagining Flynn and Neon inviting the heroes out to one of theirconcerts and during the performance, the heroes really get into the groove asFNKI’s show really gets the crowd excited and dancing.

Ofcourse everyone starts to dance, including Ruby who is pulled onto the dance floorby Oscar. Perhaps for the Atlas Arc, the heroes can have two occasions to hang out and explore the citywith FNKI. One being the roller disco idea I brought up before and the second being an actualconcert where their FNKI friends perform.

NowI’m picturing Neon actually performing her classic theme from V2. Picture Neon singing Neon.Up until this point, Weiss Schnee hasbeen the only RWBY character confirmed to have singing talent in the canon withCasey Lee Williams providing her singing voice. It’d be nice if we could haveanother female character besides Weiss who can sing. Maybe Weiss and Neon could even perform a littleduet together.

Likeimagine a moment were Neon rolls up to Weiss and asks her if she could sing.And when Weiss says yes, Neon gets all excited and informs Weiss about how sheand FNKI sometimes perform little concerts from time to time to as a side job. Neon even invitesWeiss to sing with her the next timeshe performs and surprisingly, Weiss agrees. I would actually really like tosee something like this done for the Atlas Arc.

The only times we’veseen Weiss perform is during concerts hosted by the Schnee Dust Company. Weisshas only ever sung to fuel the agendas of her father.

Soto have Weiss perform outside of her family affairs while actually having fun with her performance this rounds; instead of itbeing in compliance or defiance with herfather’s wishes could be great for her. I just want to see Weiss sing outside ofthe SDC. If FNKI is indeed a band in the canon, perhaps they can even set thatup for Weiss. Imagine…FNKI evenapproaching Weiss with the idea of singing a small concert for a crowd that wasn’t rich Atlesian elites thather father wished to rub elbows with. That could be pretty cool especially forthe her character upcoming story arc for V7.  

Plus,apart from that…whatif…there’s karaoke. Picture FNKI inviting the gang out to karaoke andwe get some pretty hilarious performances from other characters like Jaune for example. Then again, Miles Luna actually has adecent singing voice. I’ll give him that. The man singlehandedly sung the Camp Camptheme song. Oh lord, now I’m imagining a pretty meta moment where Jaune sings theCamp Camp theme song in main RWBY aspart of karaoke. I know it made a cameo in Chibi but…imagine if the main seriesdecides to do this as a gag. Might not happen but…picture itfor a second.

Anywhozzits,getting back on track with my answer. Imagine FNKI’s concert is Ruby’s secondinstance out dancing with everyoneand at this point, Ruby has actually grown more comfortable dancing thanks toOscar helping her out of her shell on the dance floor.

Inreference to Rio, I’m actually torn between which Rosebud represents Blu and Jewel.The figurative response would be to have Oscar be Blue andRuby be Jewel.However going off my favourite Pinehead headcanon whichpaints Oscar as a good dancer, I feel like Oscar could be Jewel in thisinstance with Ruby being the one enamoured by Oscar’s moves on the dance floor.

Thenagain, since this concept reflects on Ruby’s second time dancing with Oscar…maybethis round, Oscaris pleasantly surprised that Ruby is the one eager to get up and dance with him as she practically pulls him into a groove with herand the two honest souls share a dance together for a second time.

NowI’m picturing Oscar definitely as Blu in this moment with he and Ruby moving incomplete sync with each other on the dance floor. All culminating in the momentwhere Oscar just stops, gazing in awe at Ruby’s jubilant form unable to containher content laughter as she enjoyed herself.

Inthat moment, Oscar couldn’t explain what it was---he didn’t know if it was themusic or the flashing colours but something about the moment just made Ruby gofrom being Oscar’s friend who he was happily enjoying dancing with to the mostbeautiful girl in the room. And as much Ruby couldn’t help but laugh as herswaying hips danced circles around Oscar, urging him to stop staring and dancewith her, Oscar couldn’t help but stare completely entranced.

SoI guess when I really think of this scene, Oscar is definitely Blu. Just as howthe red and yellow birds can be Flynn and Neon respectively performing togetherto bring on the FNK. I can even see Nora being the Toucan, encouraging Oscarwith dancing with Ruby.

Pictureif this is how Oscar comes to realize his true feelings for Ruby. In almostevery romance story, there is cupid moment. The moment where the characterrealizes that they are in love with their potential crushes/love interest.

Remember how I saidbefore that Oscar probably already has a crush on Ruby butis too much of a dum-dum to his own heart torealize it yet. Picture a moment like this being how Oscar realizes it.

Picturea moment like this, being Oscar’s spark of love wherehe finally comes to see that Ruby means more to him. Picture a moment like this when RubyRose goes from being the Silver Eyed girl who Oscar admires to Oscar’s bestfriend to Oscar’s crush. The girl he admires to the girl he likes and ultimately thegirl he loves. Looking forward toseeing this transgression but for now, it’s a theory.

Whaddayathink Lethie?Hope that answers your question m’friend. Have a good day too!

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019

[wazafam]

There is no denying that the Super Smash Bros. series is one of Nintendo's best; no matter which game one focuses on, it is apparent that they are all very entertaining to play. A Nintendo crossover of this magnitude had never been attempted before, and fans weren't quite sure what to expect when the original Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 debuted back in 1999. Yet, it surely is a gamble that is still paying off even today, as there are installments from the series on every Nintendo console to date. It isn't going to end anytime soon, either. In fact, it is only going to keep growing.

RELATED: 10 Of The Most Notoriously Difficult Games On Nintendo Switch, Ranked

However, this specific game works so well to this very day, as every character included in the game remains a staple in the series today. It may have a small roster size, but each character brings their own unique dynamic, so it never gets old. That said, while players will always be inclined to pick favorites, some characters are just better than others.

10 Yoshi

Yoshi is a character that definitely can be quite fun to use, as he is quick and jumps well. This mix definitely helps him in battle, but his overall power is very weak, and, as a result, using him can be a bit of a challenge.

He just does not possess any iconic smash moves, which definitely makes him struggle at times. Thankfully, he can save himself pretty easily if he falls off the map, but that does not give him much advantage when he can't dish out adequate amounts of damage.

9 Luigi

Luigi is a balanced character, but that does not help his case against some of the top talent on this roster. Sadly, much like Yoshi, he does not inflict much damage onto his opponents, as his smash moves are just too weak. It is rather disappointing, as he is a character that should be better than this. He just edges out Yoshi, though, as he is a bit stronger. However, the player will have trouble with him against tougher opponents.

8 Mario

Mario is not much better than Luigi, but he is a bit more effective when it comes to his ability to inflict damage. He surprisingly does have decent speed in the game, which does give him an advantage.

RELATED: 5 Nintendo Villains We'd Love To Hang Out With (& 5 Heroes Who Seem Like Jerks)

Yet, what keeps Mario from being among the best in this game is that his moves are just not as strong and entertaining as others. Since he is Nintendo's biggest character, it is strange that he is not better in the original installment.

7 Samus

Samus certainly has a lot of skill in this game. Her moves definitely permit her to do well against her competition, which meshes well with great throwing ability. However, what hurts her is that she is very slow compared to the rest. This definitely poses significant challenges to the player, especially when playing against quick characters. She definitely is a solid choice, but her negative attributes do make her susceptible to failure at times.

6 Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong is an extremely satisfying character to use in this game. As one would expect, he is immensely powerful, which makes him elite when it comes to damaging opponents.

He definitely will do well in HP battles, but, much like Samus, his downfall comes from his very slow speed. It does impact the effectiveness of his attacks, but, when he connects, it tends to always be a home run.

5 Link

Link is a good choice in this game for a number of reasons. His sword definitely helps the damage of his attacks, while he also has decent speed to match. He is a balanced character but has far better moves up his sleeves compared to Mario and Luigi.

RELATED: 10 Most Infamous Canceled Wii Games That We Would Have Loved To Play

He is not the best of the bunch, but he definitely is a smart and popular choice with players. There is a bit of frustration with his jumping, but his array of solid attacks definitely make up for it.

4 Fox

Fox has the ability to be a truly dominant fighter in this game. He definitely ranks among the best because of this, as he is one of the quickest, yet he also has the ability to cause a lot of damage to his opponents. He is a bit weaker when it comes to throwing others, which is not ideal. However, when seeing as how he is elite in every other category in the game, he is an easy choice to make.

3 Captain Falcon

Captain Falcon has the most iconic attack in the Super Smash Bros. series with his signature Falcon Punch. If this move makes its mark, the impact can be devastating. That said, it has an absurdly long wind-up time, making it fairly difficult to use effectively.

He also has the Falcon Kick, which is underrated and almost as lethal. Perhaps the one thing that keeps him from being the all-time best is that he is a bit slow. This does impact him pretty significantly, but, even so, he remains a top-tier character.

2 Kirby

Kirby is among the top characters in the game, which works well with his outstanding jumping ability. This allows him to survive even when hit very far away from the map. This certainly helps his skill level immensely.

As for his attacks, they are definitely very strong too, especially for his small size. It is hard to find too many negative aspects of this character, so using him makes the game a whole lot easier for the player.

1 Pikachu

Pikachu is easily the top character in the game, as every single attribute of his is incredibly powerful. He is immensely quick, has a fantastic move set, and his throwing ability is essentially a completely overpowered when compared to every other character in the game.

His lightning attacks definitely cause a lot of damage and can be quite versatile, and he's an overall nuisance to go up against. Pikachu may not look like the toughest character, but, in the original Super Smash Bros., he absolutely is.

NEXT: 10 Most Expensive GameCube Games in 2021 That'll Leave A Dent In Your Wallet

Super Smash Bros. 64: Ranking The 10 Best Characters | ScreenRant from https://ift.tt/3cvxrqR

[4evafitstore]

BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones Wireless Review

so, with enough courage and money to spare this is the Blueant Pump Zone by blue and now getting a bass tuned headphone can be very expensive but for this one though it's gotta be perfect for any tight budget consumers. Don't get me wrong, it's on the budget range. The quality and feature of this headphone rivals some of the top brands in the market.  Moving on the standard review upon looking at the box design. It reminds me of the first generation of beats to their packaging. I know it's not entirely important but personally the whole box layout could do some makeover. It looks candid for example at first, I thought the brand was pumped zone rather than blueant and heading back that description is a bit hard to read.   Check Price On Amazon Especially with the tour in languages. I also noticed a slight mix-up in the Korean section - maybe using a lighter background is better. Looking at both side of the packaging you will see all the feature it comes with seems that they're trying very hard to lose all the features but let's break it down a bit.  

BlueAnt Pump Zone Features

The BlueAnt Headphones comes with bluetooth 4.1 connectivity NFC for easy pairing. A BTX Kodak Comfort sealed ear cups with antimicrobial sweat proof cushion built-in microphone. Simple OneTouch controller folding design for compact storage. 30 hours of play time, an input jack for Wyatt listening and the best part is it comes with a carrying case, which is a bonus and rarely included even by top brands especially at this price range.   so, with enough courage and money to spare this is the Blueant Pump Zone by blue and now getting a bass tuned headphone can be very expensive but for this one though it's gotta be perfect for any tight budget consumers. Don't get me wrong, it's on the budget range. The quality and feature of this headphone rivals some of the top brands in the market.  Moving on the standard review upon looking at the box design. It reminds me of the first generation of beats to their packaging. I know it's not entirely important but personally the whole box layout could do some makeover. It looks candid for example at first, I thought the brand was pumped zone rather than blueant and heading back that description is a bit hard to read.   so, with enough courage and money to spare this is the Blueant Pump Zone by blue and now getting a bass tuned headphone can be very expensive but for this one though it's gotta be perfect for any tight budget consumers. Don't get me wrong, it's on the budget range. The quality and feature of this headphone rivals some of the top brands in the market.  Moving on the standard review upon looking at the box design. It reminds me of the first generation of beats to their packaging. I know it's not entirely important but personally the whole box layout could do some makeover. It looks candid for example at first, I thought the brand was pumped zone rather than blueant and heading back that description is a bit hard to read.   Startup unboxing, you'll be greeted with and that are shot of the unit for this review I chosen the black gray version. It also comes in rose, gold, blue and red under white. Instead seeing the BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones unit, you will find a carrying case fair switch covered by a transparent plastic. The case is made from hard material which should give extra protection and I do also like the fibrous texture of this case.   Inside the case you'll find a Velcro fitted compartment which stores the micro-USB and input cables however the supply input cable could have been better. If it's thick and longer my first impression holding this unit it doesn't feel cheap at all.   In fact, it feels premium with the metal frames on both of the ear caps which also adds a tiny weight to it. The foam material looks sporty and it feels squishy and blends well with the soft touch rubber on the overall structure. Even the clicks when unfolding the BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones feels nice not to mention the exposed wires on both side of the ear caps really adds design aesthetic even more.   Top of the ban you will find blue and brown with a pump and zone and printed on the right and left respectively blue and design this unit with one touch in mind which makes the NFC sense of being placed on the left ear cap and the right ear caps for all the controller's input jack and charging forward. The controller layout is easy to understand and memorize to power on all you need is to press and hold the play/pause button until blue lights start blinking holding and even longer will let you into pairing mode. For most all Android smartphone user you just need to tap your phone at the left ear cup and it will instantly pair to volume up and down as well as the track control is our relevantly place which is super convenient when controlling your music through the headphone. Only the fan zone is targeted not only for bass levels with the ip54 anti-microbial sweat-proof that happen is also suitable for work app use. This approach is not without caveat instead the air cap being loosely designed for most of the effect it had to be narrowly oval shape which is believed to provide better grip and noise isolation that causes slight discomfort for extended wear and in fact during the test, I was only able to wear it continuously about 40 minutes which is roughly listening to an album before my ears needed a break plus the band only able to extend up to 7 centimeter which is a bit short specially when you're wearing a cap but still results may vary.   Does hands-on testing is recommended like - bluetooth 4.1 headphones. The range is standard about 10 feet and the valley goes on with its 30 our playtime ability. Which is averagely 10 hours plus compared than most top headphone brands would offer recharge time is pretty decent - from 0 to 100% within 80 minutes. Not a big question can this headphone pump some mega bass of course it can surprisingly at this price and did I mention you can get this from $45?  

The base is in DT and punchy till it rattles your ears however as you explore with various genres upside ADM techno the mid turns out a bit shallow and weak which also makes the vocal sound not as crispy. That being said if your playlist is filled with EDM techno z medium Daft Punk and the list goes on then you will not be disappointed at all even without noise cancelling feature the BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones managed to isolate some of the acts no noise but leaks most of the sound when listening above medium level does.   The effort is not suitable for midnight flight or in the library of soil. Personally, I don't do calls via headphones for the purpose of this review yes, the BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones is able to provide decent voice quality but like I said it's not crispy but a bit muffle to be exact. On the plus side though this handphone allows you to activate Siri and Google.   Now by simply double tap the play pause button, Siri when is the Apple Keynote you can watch mine unlike the previously repeal LG infinim tone. Plus, this is indeed a night and day difference so in conclusion if you're into EDM techno kind of thing and you're rocking an android NFC built-in smartphone and this BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones might be for you. 

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BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones Wireless Review

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[omgsamchap]

Thoughts on Classics Pt.1

I didn’t liveblog, but here are some thoughts:

-Deanne Soza is pretty and clean in an era where it pays more to be powerful

-Surprisingly nice DTY from Alonya. If I were Ashton I’d have diarrhea (and flashbacks to when a decent AAer was picked over me for the Olympics)

-Jade Carey’s DTT gets incredible distance. It looks easy for her. Amanar scoring is still...Amanar scoring, but it wasn’t BAD

-Paulson has decent choreo on floor...I could see her being a good dancer with some work. She’s cognizant of the music which is almost rare nowadays lmao

-Back to back wolf turns on floor with no choreo in between? And not actually connected just rapidfire one after the other? Sorry Shania Adams but I’ll never root for you. Not that the rest of the floor routine was compelling enough anyway lol. 

-Good bar routine from Riley all things considered

-Jordan Chiles is hitting the hard things on bars but missing casts to handstand. Not bad tho, I like the geinger.

-Great save from Marz Frazier on bars - missed a hand on her pak and recovered beautifully. In meets she’s not quite the superstar she is in training, but she belongs here at the elite level and she is proving it. I’m cautiously optimistic about her.

In general I do think taking away CV for indirect connections on beam is encouraging gymnasts to go for bigger and better direct connections, which I like. I’ve seen a lot of side aerials in combo to back somersaults and plenty of backward triple series, whether losos or 2 foot layouts.

-Confident beam work from Kalyany steele, with difficult and well-performed acro, but constantly bent back knee on everything dance-related. Wouldn’t be surprised to see her dismount with a triple soon, which would put her d score at 5.9.

-Shania adams could prob do a DTY, but I don’t forgive her from the floor wolf turns so meh.

-Deanne...if you can do an inbar shoot to HB, why can’t you do an inbar half into your Ezhova for an extra .2? You gotta get that bars d score into the 5s girlfriend. Love your toepoint and extension tho.

-Trinity Thomas...you’re doing amazing sweetie. Your bars have improved so much! A cleanly-executed 5.7 routine. Wow.

-My personal issues with her heinous feet aside, Alonya’s bar set is nice. Kind of Nastia-esque super pike down on the DLO, but if she keeps it up Ashton will be even more obselete. Sad!

[remnantoforario]

Dragon Cry Notes

So I saw Dragon Cry a little while ago and just thought I’d do a few quickfire notes about what I saw. Spoilers Ahead!

First the Theater:

The showing was in a small room, which I expected but there were surprisingly more people in there than I thought there was going to be.

No trailers, but curiously enough there was a Dragon Cry trailer about the showing before the movie started.

Took forever for them to turn the lights off once the movie started. I think it was about 5-10 minutes in before the theater finally went dark.

There were some girls in the upper row who kept reacting to “ship” moments (especially the Juvia stuff). That got annoying pretty quick. 

Now onto the movie proper:

When the animation was on point it was pretty good, though that wasn’t much. A-1 Pictures really phoned it in on a lot of the scenes (Looking at you awkward Lucy boobs)

The story itself was pretty basic as far as FT goes. This could have easily been a mini-arc or something when the anime came back. 

Zash was your typical mustache twirling villain without an ounce of charm to his name. Animus wasn’t much better, though the twist with him and Sonya was kind of interesting? I’m still not sure.

Oh I watched the dub for this so shout out to Erica Mendez and Michael Sinterniklaas for being better than this movie deserved honestly. Also, they wasted a Christina Vee on this movie (She voiced Swan). Shame on you, Funimation. 

As for Brandish and Invel, they sounded alright. I don;t know who voice Invel, but I’m sure Brandish was either Amber Connors or Rachel Glass. We’ll find out when the new series is dubbed.

Speaking of the Three Stars they were even less impressive than the goons from Phoenix Priestess. Swan was just there to show off how well the staff could draw legs (not very mind you),  Doll was a MUCH less impressive version of Orga, and Gapri just looked like Sho without the earring. Wholly unimpressive.

The fights weren’t that good either. Wendy’s was fine, but Gray could have ended muscle-man in two seconds if he just used Devil Slayer off the bat rather than waiting until Juvia “sacrificed” herself for fake drama, and Erza probably could have beat Kick Girl ten times over if she used Armadura (which she did earlier in the film!) or used Sea Empress when she was swimming around in the lake, but I guess we had to have that Jellal reference.  

A lot of the ship moments were pretty lukewarm all things considered. Natsu/Lucy was what it was, but Gray/Juvia still had Gray fearing for his life when Juvia showed up (She also abandoned Gajeel’s group when they were confronted by soldiers to go look for Gray so good job being a team player, Juvia). Gajeel, Levy, and Lily were literally there to extend the movie a few minutes, their scenes served no purpose other than to find an excuse for Juvia to find Gray. If you took them out and just had Juvia going by herself on a boat to Stella you would have lost nothing. Though I will give the movie one thing, because of it I have begun construction of a new ship.

Everyone, say hello to SS JuLe (Juvia/Levy), pronounced “Ju-Lay” or “Jewel”. This is going to be a fun one. 

Speaking of useless, let’s talk about the White Tiger soldiers for a moment. Zash spoke one line of dialogue about how they were “Fiore’s elite guard” (even though I’m pretty sure it was said before that it was the Garou Knights, but whatever) so I guess we were supposed to care when Zash curbstomped (or rather made them curbstomp each other) them in about 2 seconds flat. Well you failed Dragon Cry, just like the White Tigers failed their one job.

Poor, Riana. I actually liked your design somewhat. Don’t worry I will restore - or at the very least give you some - dignity in my AU fic.

Things also kinda happened out of nowhere. First Natsu breaks out of prison and runs into some ruins where everyone else (minus Lucy) just happens to be (how did they escape their prisons?), and then later on Lucy and Capricorn are fighting Zash (in her complete waste of a Capricorn Star Dress) only for him to just show up later where Natsu and Sonya are and take the Dragon Cry. Then Lucy bursts in, now wearing Virgo’s Star Dress. What the hell happened?! How did he get past Lucy?! Did he knock her out really quick? Talk his way out? Use a smoke bomb? What?! It was like the movie was trying to hurry up and end.

Natsu’s “Dragonized” form was completely useless due to the fact that the series never brings it up in any capacity. So we can nix that piece of character “development”.

How come Crocus was the only city shown when the Dragon Cry was lighting up the sky? Was it too much to ask for some cameos from the other Fiore guilds? They didn’t have to speak. I just wanted to see Kagura dammit!

When Sonya says that she wanted to experience a love that Natsu and Lucy shared I almost howled with laughter. 

Also how are the Three Stars and Sonya not labeled criminals in Stella for helping Zash? I guess since Sonya is technically the king she can do what she wants.  

The whole flashback with Acnologia was something that probably would have been better served being in the actual film instead of wasting a post-credits scene on it. They could have used that to show all the Spriggans at a round table or something discussing the beginning of the war. That would have been halfway decent. Also J. Michael Tatum is Acnologia, now fangirls are going to love him even more...

All in all I give the movie a 2.5/5. I wasn’t as bad as a few people said, but it definitely as good either. It was just kinda there. Something to be watched and forgotten about the next day. 

Maybe it would have clicked with me a bit more if I hadn’t finished the series before seeing it, but I doubt it. 

I rank it lower than Phoenix Priestess, because at least I felt something when that movie was over. I was actually pretty bummed when Eclair died because it showed that even though Fairy Tail won, they still lost in the end (and there was the whole deal with Makarov’s questionable decision and Erza’s guilt), but with this movie it was just kinda bland and all around uninteresting. The best thing it offered to me was an idea of what Stella looks like.

[sunshineofthegroup]

Diet Coke & Ray, a Raywood fic

Ryan didn’t have favorites, but he had Diet Coke, and he had Ray.  (read on ao3)

Everyone seemed to realize Ryan didn’t have particularly strong pulls towards a ‘favorite’ thing separately, but they all came to the same conclusion eventually.  fahc Raywood, fluff, ignore that Christmas was ages ago, based on the fact that Ryan gets annoyed if you ask him what his favorite anything is, ~6k aka much longer than I intended sorry, (also juggey because who doesn’t have those feels at this point) ((also also im not sorry for all the run on sentences and overuse of the word observant))

*

Michael pulled Ryan’s name for Secret Santa and threatened to rage quit Christmas immediately after seeing the name.  Fortunately Geoff was the only person in the room at the time, because Michael had immediately begged, “Can I switch with Ray?” and Geoff had frowned at him, beginning a Dad Lecture™ about honor and responsibility.  That’s when Michael knew he was screwed.

What the fuck did Ryan even like?  Besides murder?  Michael slowly realized he knew the least about Ryan than anyone in the crew.  Ryan was out with Ray four nights a week doing jobs. The other nights, he was on the couch with Gavin, Jeremy, and Ray playing any pretty much any video game. Geoff and Jack knew everything there was to know about the crew and Los Santos.  Michael didn’t know shit.  Michael was fucked.

Even though Geoff had strictly forbidden Michael from seeking help from anyone else (even the B-team! What kind of bullshit rule was that??), Michael still thought maybe Ray would accidentally (or not) let something slip about what Ryan might want for Christmas.  Everyone knew Ray and Ryan were the closest of anyone, and Ray and Michael were good friends, right?

“So, you know this whole ‘secret santa’ thing?” Michael asked.

“Yeah?” Ray responded, not looking up from (surprisingly) not pokemon, but cleaning his sniper rifle.

“Did you get the whole lecture about not talking to anyone about it?”

“Yeah,” Ray agreed. “Geoff gave me the whole thing after I pulled mine and started bitching about it.”

“I wish I’d gotten you instead, I know exactly what I’d get you,” Michael sighed.

“What’s that?” Ray asked, laughing a little in anticipation.

“Weed and lube, disguised in a bouquet of red roses,” Michael replied.

“Both things I could use,” Ray agreed.  “I’d get you a basket of grenades with a brand new elite xbox controller in the bottom of it.”

“Dude, that’d be sweet,” Michael agreed.

“Personalized to say ‘will you marry me’,” Ray joked.

“Don’t be fucking gay,” Michael replied, but he didn’t mean it.  

“The grenades, not the controller,” Ray explained.  Michael laughed, hard.

“Too bad we didn’t get each other?”

“Gav would be so easy,” Ray continued.  “Anything with gold paint slapped on it.”

“And for Geoff, you’d just have to get him booze,” Michael agreed.  Ray hummed in agreement.

“Ryan is so sure I picked him, he’s been dropping incredibly non-subtle hints about everything he wants for two weeks,” Ray complained.  “Every time we go into a store, ‘Boy, wouldn’t I be disappointed if I got this for Christmas’.”

“You’re not going to get him something anyway?” Michael asked.

“No?  That’s not how secret santa works,” Ray frowned.

“Yeah, but it’s you guys,” Michael shrugged.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know, you’re kind of a Big Deal.”

“I’m pretty sure I understand the rules of Secret Santa, dude,” Ray said.  “Plus, even if I had picked him, I’d just print him out a meme and put it in a card.  That’s the way it works with me and him.”

Needless to say, that conversation didn’t help Michael in the slightest.  What did you get for someone who only expressed vague interests and never favorites?

*

Jack was taking inventory of the cupboards and refrigerator, because as the self-proclaimed resident Mom, she’d put herself in charge of trying to make the Lads eat healthier. They were going to get heart disease before they turned 30 at the rate they kept consuming fast food.  One cupboard at the top left was labeled ‘Ryan’ (with a tiny ‘also Ray’ scribbled underneath it).  She’d never been in that one, as it wasn’t her business what Ryan was eating, but she opened it anyway.  The contents were very predictable.  Half a dozen cans of diet coke, a partially eaten bag of Flipz, and a few packages of ramen that Jack were pretty sure had belonged to Ray when he’d moved in and had been there ever since.  The rest of the cupboard was completely empty.  It’d be a nice gesture in the spirit of Christmas and general camaraderie to fill it up for him, right?  What did Ryan even like?

Jack closed the cupboard and continued inventorying the kitchen, but when she’d finished and was headed out, she still had a big question mark next to Ryan’s name on her pad of paper.  She sighed, knowing the solution to the problem.  Jack pulled out her phone to text Ray.  She knew he was in the penthouse somewhere, but it was a big place and he knew how to hide.  It took five minutes for Ray to stump into the kitchen, annoyed.

“What’s up?” he asked, wiping sleep out of his eyes.  It was 1 in the afternoon.

“You’re coming grocery shopping with me,” Jack announced.

“Why?  I don’t know how to cook,” Ray said.

“You don’t get out enough,” Jack told him, grabbing her wallet and stuffing it in her pocket before picking up the keys to the blue Entity XF she loved.  “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Your definition of fun is warped,” Ray muttered, but followed her into the elevator anyway.

Jack’s suspicions that Ray would know exactly what to get for Ryan proved correct, even without prompting, as Ray kept wandering back to Jack and the cart with items from halfway across the store, saying things like “Rye loves this type of soup,” or “Can I get these chocolates?  I’ll split them with Ryan”.  The variety of items seemed so random that even Jack couldn’t keep track of the things Ray would bring.

*

Jeremy was the newest to the crew, so it didn’t surprise him how much he didn’t know about Ryan.  He’d been outside of the crew for a long time, watching them pull off jobs on the TV and wishing he could be as awesome as he thought they were.  Occasionally Jeremy would catch Weasel News’ live broadcasts of the police chasing them around town.  The Vagabond would always charge straight into danger and emerge laughing almost satanically.  Any stray officers that he hadn’t caught in his initial explosion would be sniped by BrownMan, across the street, hidden on a rooftop.  What a dynamic duo.

When Jeremy actually got into the crew, through a series of happy accidents (not actually involving Bob Ross), he was over the moon, but it was about a thousand times more terrifying than he ever expected it would be.  Ryan lurked with his skull mask on in dark corners of the penthouse at 4am, Michael got angry and chucked bombs off the balcony at least twice a week, and the sheer amount of inside jokes he only vaguely understood was just overwhelming.

The Lads constantly teased him that if he messed up a heist, Geoff was going to kick him out (even though Geoff assured him that wasn’t true).  There was an almost constant onslaught of practical jokes, mostly from the Lads, but Ryan as well.  Then finally, one night, they actually full-on pretended to kidnap him – well, actually did kidnap him – and brought him to a remote location in South Los Santos.  After thoroughly scaring the shit out of him, the Lads inducted him as one of their own.  He’d made it.

“Plus, we think Ray is going to leave the Lads to join the R&R Connection full time,” Michael had joked.

Still, after somehow winning the approval of the Lads, Geoff, and #1 Mom Jack Pattillo, Jeremy was still at a loss as to how to even start a conversation with Ryan.  Sure, they played video games together and became battle buddies, but what kind of things did Ryan do for fun… besides murder? What movies did he like to watch? Was he secretly a giant weeb? SuperFan Jeremy Dooley really wanted to know.

“You know Ryan, right?” Jeremy asked Ray.

“I’m sensing a trend,” Ray said, side-eyeing his accomplice.  They were both in an unmarked SUV that Ray was driving away from a quick burglary at a gas station Geoff had put them up to as a diversion for the real burglary at the liquor store.  They were supposed to lead the cops around for a while, and car chases without grenade launchers were boring.

“What?”

“Why has everyone been asking me what I know about Ryan lately?” Ray asked.  “It’s really weird.  Just ask him yourself.”

“Gav said not to ask Ryan questions,” Jeremy confessed.  

“Don’t ask him questions that make him want to put your head on a spike, simple,” Ray shrugged.

This information was not helpful to Jeremy.

*

Gavin had a habit of asking inane questions, and unfortunately Geoff had a habit of indulging him in them.  Gavin always seemed to have an infinite number of questions preloaded at any given time, ready to shoot them at unsuspecting individuals.  

But Gavin didn’t ask questions to Ryan.  Not since The Incident™.

Ryan hadn’t been with the crew for too long at that point, maybe a few months, and he’d been politely answering Gavin’s questions up to that point, but for some reason, he snapped on this one, and he wasn’t even a part of the original question.

It was something about flipping a coin, and the original premise was that if you correctly called the coin flip, you could have sex with anyone you wanted for the rest of your life, but if you didn’t, then you had to have sex with Bam Bam Bigelow.  By the way, he died in 2007, but for this hypothetical, he would be resurrected.  And you get three coin flips to correctly call it.  Which is pretty decent odds.  Ryan got pulled in halfway through for his math skills, probably misheard or misinterpreted the question, and it turned into a debate that lasted months. Both Ryan and Gavin could easily be provoked with just the words, “but if you flip a coin three times…” and no one wanted to listen to them both insist they were right anymore.

One of the most iconic questions ever asked was that if Ryan was given some kind of astronomical amount of money, would he kill Ray every morning for the rest of their lives if there was a 100% chance that Ray would respawn good as new 20 minutes later. Ryan had responded with, “I hope you guys don’t mind waking up to gunshots,” and Ray had walked in at that point. Gavin had explained the whole premise to him, appalled for Ryan’s sanity and their relationship if Ryan would kill Ray every single day for the rest of their lives for money.  Ray had snorted and replied with, “he better take that money, and he better fuckin split it with me.  You gonna pay up, or?”  And Gavin didn’t ask questions about the pair of them anymore.  

Ray and Ryan had been a duo before they’d joined Fake AH, bringing the crew from three members up to five (then Michael had come along after).  No one ever questioned their relationship or the nature of it.  In fact, Gavin was the only one who had ever gotten close, and he didn’t understand these two apparent sociopaths, yet with such a deep bond between them.  He accepted pretty early on that asking questions to the pair of them was only going to scare him.  

(That’s not even to mention the time Gavin asked Ryan if, hypothetically, he could take all of Geoff’s money by touching Geoff’s penis with his lips, and every single person in the penthouse immediately agreed without hesitation, and Geoff started locking his bedroom door.)

Gavin would say he knew three things about Ryan, for sure, which were 1, that he would not hesitate to murder a crewmate for money, 2, he became very mingey when asked questions, and 3, he was shite at probabilities.

“Gav, c’mon, you gotta know something,” Michael whined.  “What the hell do you get a guy for secret santa?”

“I dunno, boi,” Gavin said, scuffing his trainers on the pavement, or whatever dumb British words he was constantly trying to pass off as real.  “I wish I got someone easy like Geoff.”

“Yeah, fucking so do I!” Michael agreed.  “Who’d you get?”

“I can’t say,” Gavin said.

“Did you get the bullshit lecture too?  I gave up on that.  Ray wouldn’t help me out, you gotta be able to give me something,” Michael begged.

“Give him three coins,” Ray suggested through their comms, reminding the two of them that Ray and Jeremy could hear their entire conversation.

“Shut up,” Michael snapped. “Are we ready for this or what?”

“Yeah, on three,” Jeremy agreed.

“Wait, on three or after three?” Gavin asked.

“On three, Jesus, he just said,” Ray rolled his eyes.

“I’m going now,” Michael shot back, chucking a bomb at the building.

*

Geoff was the leader of the crew, and therefore he knew everything there was to know about his crew, or at least he liked to think.  In truth, he didn’t know much more about Ryan than anyone else did.  He did his research, though, before hiring the pair of them.  Because BrownMan and Vagabond had always been a double act, hadn’t they?

R&R had a pretty slick gimmick running for them.  A sniper and a total wild card?  They could do anything together.  The first time Geoff had noticed they were anything other than a pair of hooligans running around doing petty theft, he’d actually accidentally been a witness to one of their crimes.  

It was genius.  Ryan casually opened the door of a shop, one shot from a suppressed sniper rifle a safe distance away, and suddenly there he was in an empty store with the cops none the wiser.  By the time police arrived on the scene, Ryan had cracked the registers (and sometimes the safe) for the money, and both of them were en route to their next location.  There were 20 stores in LS that kept cash (most had gone to credit only because of the high crime rates), and R&R hit every single one of them.

Geoff had been casually staking a joint for a heist from a nearby roof when he’d seen them do it. Just pull of a job in one bullet. He had to have them.  Who were they?

Considering the sheer amount of intel LSPD had on them, the fuzz sure did know absolutely nothing true or useful whatsoever.  Every time they’d hauled R&R in for questioning, they’d never gotten an English word out of Ryan, and Ray generally spoke only in memes and refused to refer to officers by their real names, instead assigning each of them a new name that sometimes changed three times in a conversation.  Not a single one of their crimes could ever have been pinned to either of them, mostly because fiery explosions tend to conceal evidence fairly well.

So when Geoff finally devised a plan to approach R&R with the intent of asking (bribing) them to join Fake AH, he wasn’t surprised to find out that they were totally different from what he’d expected.  Well, Ray was almost exactly what he’d expected.  Barely out of his teens, total memelord, only owns one pair of sneakers… Gavin would love him.  Ryan was still a total wild card.  He was charming but nerdy.  His eyes seemed to say ‘you are safe here’ but crackled with murder.  His body language seemed to say ‘yes you called this meeting and I am compliant’ but also ‘you are the one being interrogated here Geoffrey’. Ray did 90% of the talking in their meeting and 0% of the paying attention.  Geoff and Ryan stood over the counter in the Fake’s penthouse (it took a lot of convincing – a few hundred grand worth of convincing – to get them to agree to a meeting in the penthouse) talking business while Ray sat on the couch playing on his DS seemingly not giving a fuck about the meeting at all, yet answering every question intuitively as though he was trying to ace some kind of verbal SAT test.  Jack was casually in the kitchen cooking dinner as Geoff’s backup.  (Geoff wanted them to feel comfortable, but not too comfortable, and Jack was an intimidating woman when she wanted to be – but only when or if she wanted to be.)

What did Geoff learn about R&R in that meeting?  Nothing. Absolutely nothing.  They were an amazing duo, and they were going to rise to the top with or without Fake AH.  But Geoff really wanted it to be with Fake AH.  So what does Geoff Ramsey do when he has a problem?  He throws money at it.  And they accepted.  

And that’s the story of how Geoff Ramsey is the leader of his crew, but still knows next to nothing about Ryan Haywood.

*

“You can stop dropping hints, Rye, I didn’t get you for secret santa,” Ray finally burst out, exasperated, as his phone received yet another casual ‘Ryan wants you to see this product!’ email.  “I got Jack.”

“You can’t tell who you got, that’s cheating!” Ryan exclaimed.  “What about honor and responsibility?”

“Boy, Geoff really ran that one into the ground, didn’t he?” Ray rolled his eyes.  “What the hell do I get for Jack?”

“Get her a gift card to Ponsonby’s or Pampered Chef or something,” Ryan suggested.  “OR!  You could carefully construct some kind of message spelled out on the ground such that you can only see it from a helicopter!  That’s creative!”

“That’s a lot of work,” Ray whined, scrolling through all the emails Ryan had sent him to that point of things he wanted for Christmas.

“It would show you really care.”

“Do you ever think about, maybe, opening up to the rest of the crew, telling them literally any factoid about yourself?” Ray asked.

“I tell them stuff about me all the time, it’s not my fault they don’t listen,” Ryan said.

“I mean, yeah, I know,” Ray agreed. “It’s just… people have really started to notice how little they really know about you in the last few weeks.  Do you think you could just walk around the living room and talk really loudly about what kinds of food you like or something?  I don’t want to go grocery shopping again.”

“I guess so…” Ryan agreed.

*

“What’s this?” Michael frowned at the gift-wrapped box Ray had shoved into his hands.  “It’s fuckin heavy.”

“That is what I got you to give to Ryan for Christmas.  You’re welcome,” Ray replied, walking away before Michael could protest any further. Leaving Michael’s room for Jack’s, Ray knocked and was allowed entry.

“What’s up Ray?” Jack asked, looking up from her computer screen where she was diligently researching the available vehicle mods for the upcoming releases.

“Your real present is under the tree, but I got you something extra… from Ryan,” Ray said, holding out an envelope addressed to her.  She frowned at him, taking it and opening it, unfolding the paper inside. “It’s Ryan’s grocery list.  I know that’s why you asked me to go with you. No one genuinely enjoys my company enough to invite me out with them.  I get it.  I’m more approachable than he is.  I know that.”

“Come on, Ray, that’s not true, I had a really good time when we went out,” Jack replied.

“Well… either way,” Ray shrugged.  “I know it’s a long list, but he doesn’t really have favorites, so… you know.”

“Thank you,” Jack said. “I’m honestly touched that you’d think to get this for me.  I wish I had something for you.”

“Again, your real present is under the tree,” Ray reaffirmed.  “You just, uh, keep being the cool Crew Mom™ and I’ll see you later.” He ran from her room before he could be any more awkward.  Jeremy’s room was next on his list of places to visit.  Lil J was, predictably, watching YouTube when Ray walked in.  Lil J didn’t get knocks.  Lil J got walked in on.  Lil J was not really done with being hazed yet.  “Hey.”

“Hey!” Jeremy replied. “What’s up Ray?  Am I late for something?  Lads Heist?  Shopping Montage?  Are you here to kill me?”

“You know how we were on that job the other day, and you asked about Ryan?” Ray asked.

“I didn’t mean it, please don’t kill me,” Jeremy said, eyes very wide.

“You’re new, and I sorta get that, but – please, I am definitely not going to kill you,” Ray said. Jeremy visibly relaxed. “Today.”  Jeremy tensed slightly again.  Ray laughed.  “Ryan likes talking to people.  He loves to tell stories about his childhood back in Georgia.  Ask him anything you want to know.  Seriously.  He’ll tell you.  And if he doesn’t want to answer a question, he’ll tell you.  He’s not going to threaten you with bodily harm or kill you over a few questions.  You’re not Gavin.”  Jeremy laughed nervously.  “Plus, don’t tell the others, but I think you’re his favorite.”

“Ryan doesn’t have favorites,” Jeremy replied.

“Well… he has Diet Coke,” Ray said.  

“And you.”

“What?  No,” Ray deflected.  “I mean, yeah, we’ve been together a long time, but we’re just crewmates. We look out for each other.”

“Okay, sure,” Jeremy laughed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ray asked, frowning.

“If that’s your story, then sure,” Jeremy continued to laugh.  “Sure, there’s nothing going on with you and Ryan.”

“What do you think is going on with me and Ryan?” Ray asked, continuing his confusion.

“You’re… you know…” Jeremy said, starting to get confused.  He’d thought this was another one of the Lads hazing things, but Ray really didn’t seem to know what was going on.  “…a couple.”

“A couple of what?” Ray asked.  Jeremy stared at him.

“No, like…  a couple.  Are you two not… like, half-married?”

Ray stared. Shocked.  Shook.  What was going on?  Did everyone think he and Ryan were… dating?  Fucking? In Love?  Ray didn’t even reply to Jeremy, just walked out of his room and back to his and Ryan’s.

“We share a room,” Ray said to Ryan, who was sitting on the bed reading.

“Yes,” Ryan agreed, confused.  “We always have.  Are you okay?”

“We share a room, we go out together four times a week, we have a combined cupboard in the kitchen, we’re always paired together on heists, and above anyone else in the crew, we’d defend each other with our lives,” Ray said, still shook.  He was aware of Ryan’s presence in the room, but didn’t have the mental capacity to focus his eyes so everything in the room was sort of blurry.

“Are you okay?” Ryan repeated.

“I… I don’t know?  My life is crashing down.  I think I need help,” Ray said, walking forward to the bed and crawling next to Ryan.  Ryan put an arm around him, pulling him to his chest, and continued reading his book, knowing Ray needed to just breathe and calm down for a bit.  Ray actually ended up falling asleep with his head on Ryan’s chest, as he so often did.  When he woke up, he blinked, confused, cracked his neck, and started looking around.

“Feeling better?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah… I just… It was weird,” Ray said.  “It’s like… I guess I should have known the rest of the crew thinks we’re, like, in  super gay love or whatever.”

“Oh, yeah, they do think that,” Ryan agreed.  “After two years, I don’t know what it says about us or them that they still think that.”

“To be fair, we share a room, go out together four nights a week, and defend each other with our lives,” Ray commented.

“Yeah, but… I don’t know,” Ryan shrugged.

“That must be why everyone thinks the joke about me saving my virginity for the day you can actually fuck an xbox is so funny,” Ray finally put together.

“Yeah,” Ryan agreed.

“Are you in super gay love with me?” Ray asked.  Ryan shrugged.

“I wouldn’t want to screw up what we have,” he replied.

“What if I did?  Want to,” Ray almost tripped over his sentence.

Ryan kissed him in response, ducking his head to meet Ray’s, as Ray was still leaning on him.

“Oh, it’s ruined now,” Ray said sarcastically when Ryan pulled away, even going so far as to dramatically start leaving the bed.  “I’m moving in with Michael.”  Ryan laughed and pulled him tighter to him.  Ray put his head back on Ryan’s chest and smiled.

“Merry Christmas,” Ryan said quietly.

“Christmas isn’t for like four days,” Ray replied.

“Yeah, but I have your present right here,” Ryan said, pulling a small red box with a bow on it from the nightstand.

“Oh?  You got me for secret santa?  And you didn’t even have to ask anyone what to get me, I bet. Lucky,” Ray said, taking the box from Ryan and popping it open.  Immediately, Ray stopped talking.  It was a necklace with two charms, a red rose and a black skull.  Objectively, it was pretty badass, and Ray totally would have accepted it any day, said ‘sweet necklace, bro’ and worn it every day for the rest of his life.  But since the whole Ordeal Of Thirty Seconds Ago™, he wasn’t even sure what to say.  

BrownMan and Vagabond had been partners in crime for six years.  Four before Fake AH, and two with Fake AH.  The red rose and the black skull had been graffitied on the walls of Los Santos together for six years.  It was something they sometimes joked about, like getting friendship bracelets or matching tattoos or something.  They’d considered starting a crew for a couple weeks once, and Ryan had created them a crew logo with the images easily.

Ray and Ryan, though? It should have been weird, shouldn’t it? To take their relationship from basically platonic  to romantic? But it really wasn’t.  It felt like… why haven’t we been doing this for six years?  It felt like… maybe we have been in super gay love for six years and we’re both idiots?

“I do love you,” Ray told Ryan as Ryan put Ray’s necklace on for him.  “Maybe I always have.”

“Isn’t that kind of cliché?” Ryan asked.  

“Yeah, you know that clichéd story of two fucking murderers being partners for six years and finally realizing they were in Super Gay Love™ the whole time,” Ray said sarcastically. “Yeah, a total cliché.  Every single Lifetime movie.  People are bored of hearing about it.”

“You don’t always have to point out how wrong I am,” Ryan told him.  “You can let some of them go.”

“Never have, never will,” Ray said stubbornly.

*

Geoff liked to think he was fairly observant.  No one else would ever tell him any differently.  (They wouldn’t dare.)

When Ray and Ryan sprinted into the kitchen on Christmas morning to get some of the enormous breakfast Jack had cooked, Geoff couldn’t say there was anything different about them. Ray had showed his necklace off a few days before, saying Ryan just couldn’t wait for Christmas day to give it to him, and blushing.  

Ryan bumped Ray purposefully out of the way of the fridge with his hip, grinning.  Ray blushed.  Ray blushed? Did Ray blush?  Was that a thing Ray did?  Then he pouted.  Ray pouted? Did Ray pout?  Was that a thing that Ray did?  Ryan laughed and pressed a kiss into Ray’s hair.  Ray blushed again.  Maybe blushing was something Ray did do?

Wait, did Ryan always kiss Ray’s hair?  Everyone knew they were a couple, but there was little to no actual evidence of them putting on public displays of affection.  

Geoff Ramsey was very observant.  He observed this.  And he came to this conclusion:  Ray Narvaez Jr, like many other humans, blushes, pouts, and gets hair kisses.

After breakfast, the crew each opened their gifts, with the exception of Ray, who sat in Ryan’s lap, as usual, and played with his necklace with a dumb grin on his face.

Jack opened her gift from Ray, it was a sweet vintage record player she’d pointed out in the window of an antique shop once while they were on a heist.  Ray and Ryan had been out enjoying the Christmas lights and fake snow, when they walked past the store and Ray remembered she’d said she wished she had one.  So he and Ryan had immediately held up the shop and taken it.  Who the fuck paid for stuff if they didn’t have to?

Jack’s gift was for Geoff. She’d gotten him three bottles of very expensive whiskey and a set of glasses with his initials engraved on them. “If any of you motherfuckers breaks one of these glasses, I’ll punch you in the dick,” Geoff warned the rest of the crew.  Michael made a joke about how Geoff should really keep the pleasure of breaking the glasses for himself.  Geoff threw a punch at him and Michael ducked.  The punch hit Gavin, and everyone laughed.

Geoff had drawn Jeremy, and known exactly what to get him.  (Because Geoff is very observant.  Obviously.) Jeremy was very pleased with his gift, four colors of neon hair dye, a package of gold star stickers, a bright green remote control toy monster truck, and a keychain with two things on it: a pewter cutout of the state of Massachusetts and a key to a Grotti X80 Proto, painted in Jeremy’s favorite ‘Rimmy Tim’ colors.  Michael screamed in protest.  “Welcome to the big leagues, Lil J,” Geoff said.

Even though that was clearly the big winner at the gathering, Jeremy presented his gift to Gavin hastily before excusing himself from the action around the coffee table to play with his remote control monster truck.  He’d gotten him a few different gold tone makeup things that Gavin had seen various advertisements for and whined about wanting for two straight weeks. Gavin gushed in all of his non-real British words about how great Jeremy was for ten straight minutes before Jack cut him off and made him present his gift.

Gavin had gotten Michael. They’d been best friends for so long, anyone would think Gavin would know exactly what Michael would want, but he hadn’t had a clue.  Weapons and bombs were too simple.  He didn’t need a new car, not since Geoff had bought him the chrome Adder (and therefore really had no room to complain about Jeremy’s new car, besides the fact that X80s were twice as expensive as Adders).  What did you get your best friend for Christmas?

“Gav, this box is empty,” Michael told him.

“Yeah, I couldn’t fit it,” Gavin said.  Michael frowned at him.

“Okay…” Michael said with a shrug.  “Where is it?”

“Oh, um… Dammit, hang on,” Gavin pulled his phone out of his pocket and started tapping away. Everyone was perplexed.  There was a knock on the penthouse door.  Everyone but Gavin could be seen trying to subtly count how many of them were already there, thus trying to figure out who was at the door.  “You may want to get that, boi,” Gavin threw out, still texting.

Michael, perplexed, put his empty box down on the coffeetable, got up from the couch and jogged up the few stairs to the penthouse door.  Throwing open the door, he saw –

“Lindsay.”

“Ayo,” Lindsay and Gavin said almost at the same time.

“You’re here,” Michael said, shocked.  “Oh my God, I can’t believe it.”  He hugged her tightly, still standing in the doorway.

“As it turns out, breaking someone out of prison is harder than it looks on paper,” Gavin told the rest of the crew.  Lindsay had been in federal lockup for months on a (mostly factual) counterfeiting charge. Of all the things the feds were going to get on the Fakes, of course it was a fucking counterfeiting charge.  Instead of keeping her in Los Santos where the crew could easily have broken her out, they’d taken her to Washington, and every attempt at hacking even the security system at the place they were holding her had resulted in a completely fried computer on the Fakes’ end.  Michael had pretty much given up all hope of ever seeing her again, and that wasn’t something you lost easily.

“How the fuck did you do that?!” Geoff asked Gavin, voice cracking in his shock.  Gavin just gave Geoff a smug look of ‘do not try to one-up me for the best present of the year, Geoffrey’.  Michael and Lindsay were still hugging in the doorway, having a whispered conversation no one else could hear but everyone assumed it was something like ‘I love you so much don’t you fucking dare ever get arrested again I’m so sorry I couldn’t get you out we tried so hard linds I love you never leave me again’.

“Only one gift left, lads, who’s it for?” Gavin changed the subject.

“It’s from Michael to Ryan,” Ray said, sliding onto the couch from Ryan’s lap so he could retrieve his present.  “I’m guessing he won’t care if he’s not here to see you open it.”  Ryan picked up the box to put it on his lap.

“It’s heavy,” he commented. Ray nodded, rolling his eyes. Ryan pulled the paper off and started laughing.  The box was a 24 pack of Diet Coke.  Nothing else, just that.  “Wow, this is the best present anyone could get me.  Seriously.  It’s perfect.”

“No one knows what to get you!  You don’t have favorites!” Ray exclaimed.

“Diet Coke!” Ryan protested.

“Yeah, Diet Coke and Ray, that’s all anyone knows about you,” Geoff said.  “I’m fine with it.  The longer I don’t know what’s going on in your head, the longer I can continue sleeping at night.”

Michael and Lindsay finally joined the rest of them in the living room, but not willing to separate themselves, as they sat down on either side of Gavin still holding hands.

“Thanks boi,” Michael said to Gavin.  Gavin just nodded.  He already knew Michael was grateful.  No thanks required.  It’s not like he’d worked on it double triple extra overtime for a month.  Michael spotted the case of Diet Coke still in Ryan’s lap.  “Really, Ray, Ryan’s entire life story at your disposal and Diet Coke was in that box?  I could have fucking come up with that.  Last time I trust you to do anything.”

Everyone started sending accusatory looks and phrases at Ray for helping Michael cheat at secret santa.

“Really?  I’m the one who gets yelled at for cheating at secret santa?” Ray asked.  “Geoff had to call Gavin and ask him about, and I quote, ‘Rimothy Timothy’ colors. Jack had Jeremy help her steal that whiskey.  I’m willing to bet Gavin didn’t fucking break Lindsay out of prison without a substantial amount of help.  Ryan gave me this necklace four fucking days ago.  Michael was the one who begged me to help him, but no, I’m the one getting the blame.  Sure, fine.”

“It’s a great present and it doesn’t matter if it came from you or Michael,” Ryan told him.  “And you keep me out of this.  I 3D printed that necklace myself.”

“When are you guys gonna get married already?” Gavin asked them with a frown.

“Yeah, Matt and Trevor started a bet about Ryan proposing for Christmas,” Jeremy said.

“Shh, that’s New Year’s,” Ryan joked.

“Christ,” Ray declared. “At least take me to dinner first.” The joke confused everyone else in the room, but Ryan laughed, pulling Ray back into his lap, the Diet Coke banished to the floor.  “Okay, maybe I’ll settle for delivery.”

Geoff Ramsey prided himself in being a very observant man.  When Geoff Ramsey observed something, it was observed.  Boom. Immediately.  Nothing gets by Geoff.  Except, apparently, Gavin breaking Lindsay out of prison, and the fact that Geoff couldn’t for the life of him name one other time he’d ever seen Ray and Ryan actually kiss.  He knew they must have, he had memories of it, but they were probably clouded over with alcohol or something that was preventing him from accessing them.

Geoff knew.  He’d observed it.  It had been observed.  Maybe he sometimes forgot stupid shit like who the fuck Rimmy Tim was, or where he left his car keys, but he knew exactly three things about Ryan Haywood:  1, Gavin was absolutely not allowed to ask him questions anymore, 2, Ryan was on this earth to drink diet coke and kick ass (watch out when he runs out of diet coke), and 3, Ryan Haywood, the Mad King, would ride or die for that punkass sniper with the pink guns and checkerboard vans.

[caraudiologic]

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Best 12 Inch Subwoofer Reviews

1. Dual Electronics BP1204 :

This sub is definitely going to attract attention, whether it’s because of the dual 12 inch drivers, or the bright glowing lights.

You’re paying a bit extra for the light show, so if you prefer a more standard looking subwoofer enclosure, there are other options, but if you enjoy the look of this, and are looking for a very affordable place to get started, you can build a really nice system with this at the heart of it.

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The first subwoofer we’re featuring is not for everyone, but if you like the way it looks, it offers some pretty incredible value and a very unique style. Some people want something a little more subdued, or simply don’t care about appearance since they’re not going to have their trunks open to show off their system.

This is an awesome system that’s a notch above bare entry-level, and the unique enclosure with glowing lights and plexiglass almost makes it look more like a gaming computer than an enclosure.

Now, it’s worth pointing out that despite the aesthetics, this isn’t the most elite subs out there. It does take 600w RMS so it’s no slouch, and it claims to hit as low as 30Hz (mind you, not at the loudest volume when you start getting that low.)

Overall, the specs are nice, and if you like how it looks and you’ve been looking for a pair of 12” subwoofers that are already in the box and ready to roll, hook these up to your amplifier and you won’t be disappointed.

Both speakers come installed in a unique enclosure with plexiglass that shows off the glowing lights

Quite a bit of power, size, and oomph for the price - this is a pretty good value option

If you don’t care about the lights, you’re spending money on that when it could go towards better speakers or a better amplifier instead

It’s not powerful enough to turn heads at a competition, despite attracting attention with the lights

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2. MTX Audio Terminator Series TNE212D :

This subwoofer set is a steal of a deal, with 400w RMS and 12 inch drivers, pre-installed into a heavy, strong MDF enclosure.

All that’s missing is an amplifier, and your favorite songs. It’s big, it’ll take up a good chunk of your trunk space, but it’s well worth the sacrifice if you’re looking to add some great bass to your car without breaking the bank.

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If you saw that first option and want something a little more subtle, where every single penny is going towards extra power and performance, but you’re still looking for great value at a good entry-point… here it is. This is the subwoofer set for you.

Part of the Terminator Series by MTX Audio, the TNE212D is a more traditional dual subwoofer enclosure with a pair of very nice drivers installed. You just need to hook it up to an amplifier that can dish out 200-400w RMS at 2 ohms.

The frequency rating is 37Hz on the low-end, which is more than others we’ve looked at, but we always like to remind our readers at 37Hz at a good, strong volume is always better than something that can hit 30Hz at a whisper quiet volume.

These subwoofers come installed in a classic enclosure with MDF and carpet, nothing fancy but it’s very sturdy and gets the job done

Incredible value for everything you get, the price to quality ratio is off the charts here

Make no mistake, these are still entry to mid-level subwoofers, it’s not going to rock the block like a competition-tier set, so if you’re in search of CRAZY levels of bass and volume, this isn’t it

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3. American Bass USA XFL 1244

American Bass gives you everything you would expect from the name alone, and it also lives up to its specs.

If you’re looking for very loud volume, very hard-hitting bass, and you wouldn’t mind annoying your neighbors every now and then, here is your ticket into the promised land of deep, hard bass.

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Now it’s time to look at some heavier-hitters. We’ve looked at a few less expensive options that come complete with the enclosures, all wired up and ready to connect to your amplifier, but now let’s look at a standalone subwoofer. You’ll need to find an enclosure to pair up with this subwoofer, but if you’re willing to roll your sleeves up that extra little bit, and to spend a bit more here, you’ll get a lot of bang for your buck.

American Bass is bringing some serious muscle to the table with this offering. The cone is kevlar-enforced, but we don’t recommend using it for target practice. With the ability to comfortably accept 1000w RMS, with 2000w max, you can have the dual voice coils of this sub dancing around like crazy inside of it’s cast aluminum basket.

This sub needs just about 8 inches of depth in order to mount it, and weighs nearly 40 pounds so it’s got some serious weight to it. If you view the pre-made sets we’ve featured as being kind of like “toys” (especially the first one with the lights), then it’s safe to say that this subwoofer right here isn’t playing games.

1000w RMS delivers big sound across the board

Fantastic sound quality and volume, this subwoofer has won awards in its class

Not necessarily the nicest looking subwoofer in the world, but that’s a nitpick

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4. CT Sounds Bio 2.0 :

Bio subwoofers by CT Sounds sound fantastic in a ported or sealed enclosure, they can hit some surprisingly low frequencies with volume, and they offer an excellent value for the price.

You can expect really decent bass on a budget from these subs.

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This is a very impressive sub from an up-and-coming brand that hasn’t been around for as long as some of the others on this list, but that have already been making big waves in the world of sound. One of the advantages in dealing with a brand that isn’t a multi billion dollar worldwide corporation is that it’s easy to get help when you need it, and there is some great value to be had because their operating costs are a lot lower than mega-corporations, and they’re able to be a lot more agile and to push things forward at a faster rate.

In other words, we don’t necessarily see a ton of innovation coming from some of the huge brands, it’s more about keeping things chugging along. This is why it’s exciting to see options like the Bio 2.0 from CT Sounds.

This sub won’t break the bank or chew into your budget, but it will bring you the bass you’re searching for. You’ve got a ton of wiring options with the dual voice coil, so you can easily string this subwoofer together with additional subs, and you’ll have no problem finding an amplifier that can handle whatever configuration you’ve got in mind.

The high-quality magnet allows this sub to react quickly while maintaining a clear, clean sound. It can handle a max of 500w with an RMS rating of 250w. Make no mistake, pair up a couple of these with a good amplifier and the correct subwoofer enclosure and you’re going to feel it.

For the price, they’re hard to beat

A huge step up from entry-level subwoofers, these give you a lot more bass than you could reasonably expect them to

250w might not be enough to satisfy all of the bassheads out there

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5. Rockford Fosgate P300-12 Punch :

Rockford Fosgate is giving you everything you need to step up your bass in a big way. 300w RMS is enough to feel it, especially when it’s finely tuned in a great enclosure like this one.

You don’t need to buy a separate amp, it’s already built in. Getting yourself setup with a huge upgrade to your sound quality couldn’t get any easier than this.

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Let’s change things up a bit and go a different route for this next recommendation. If you know anything about car audio, you’ve heard of Rockford Fosgate.

This time around, they’re offering up a loaded subwoofer, which means that the speaker itself comes pre-installed into an enclosure, which also has an amplifier built-in. Going this route means that you don’t have to worry about matching up your amplifier and your sub, nor building/buying an enclosure and having to measure it to make sure it’s the correct size.

Basically, Rockford Fosgate offers the P300-12 for people who want to boost their audio system’s bass capabilities as easily as possible, and quite affordably, too.

Unlike some of the more compact underseat or free air subwoofer configurations we’ve featured in the past, this one still has a decent size to it, which means you’ll get deeper bass frequencies and better volume, and better overall sound, since the bigger enclosure gives you more control over the movement of air, and that’s what bass is all about.

Instead of all of the above, you’ll only need to run power to this enclosure, a ground wire, and a source cable to connect it to your stereo. Despite the ease of installation and the all-in-one nature of this product, it brings you excellent sound quality and volume that’s been fine-tuned to optimize all 3 of the pieces of equipment to make them work together (subwoofer, enclosure, amplifier), which isn’t always easy to do if you’re getting each piece on its own.

Now, there is a ceiling to loaded subwoofers like this, and you do pay a bit of a premium in some cases, but for the average listener who wants to fill out their sound, and isn’t looking to compete in any bass competitions or to go too hard, this sub can absolutely bring the thunder.  

You’ll just need to get a simple wiring kit to connect this loaded subwoofer to your car’s electrical system and audio source and you’re off to the races

This sub makes higher-end audio accessible for everyone

Excellent sound, excellent volume, and it hits decently hard, all things considered

If you love the hobby of car audio, the trial-and-error, and you enjoy the process of setting everything up and troubleshooting if it doesn’t work, you’ll want to pass on this one because most of the work has already been done for you 

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7. Pioneer Champion Series :

Pioneer is bringing it with their Champion series. Even if we ignore the optimistic frequency range, this sub can still deliver some heat at lower frequencies (just not the lowest.)

It’ll work great on its own, or as part of a duo in a double enclosure. This is a solid budget option, we don’t have any major complaints.

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Here’s a budget subwoofer from Pioneer with some high-end specs behind it. If you just looked at the numbers, you’d think this was a real heavy hitter. It’s not the greatest sub out there, we’d probably take the Bio by CT Sounds above this for just a bit more money, even though the Bio doesn’t handle as much peak power (which really doesn’t matter).

The peak or max wattage doesn’t tell the whole story, it’s not just how much power the subwoofer can accept, but what it does with that power.

For a 12” subwoofer in an average car audio setup, 300w RMS is going to get the job done. If your amplifier choice can handle it, you may want to consider grabbing two of these. Keep in mind that your wiring options are going to be more limited with this single voice coil, it just means you’ll have to plan things out better ahead of time since there isn’t as much leeway to change your plans once you’ve got things started.

Gets the job done effectively at a low cost

Pioneer is a big, reputable brand that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon

Single voice coil (SVC) limits your options of amplifiers and upgrades down the road, but as part of an entry-level setup, that’s not the end of the world

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7. Planet Audio Anarchy AC12D :

The general response to the Anarchy by Planet Audio is “Wow, I didn’t expect it to sound that good.” It’s not a perfect subwoofer, but we can overlook some of the areas that it lacks in by taking into account that it’s priced accordingly, and still infinitely better than not having a subwoofer at all.

This is a fantastic starting point for someone on a budget who wants enough cash leftover to buy a decent enclosure, and an amplifier, and doesn’t mind rolling up their sleeves and putting everything together themselves.

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This dual voice coil subwoofer from Planet Audio gives you a lot of options and versatility. You can pair it up with a monoblock amplifier, with another identical sub, and even other styles of amplifiers. The DVC opens up a lot of doors, or you can keep things simple, too. It’s your call.

It boasts a realistic 32Hz on the low-end, but you have to dig a bit to find the RMS wattage. This product can handle an RMS wattage of 900w, depending on how you’ve got it wired up. 900w is plenty, especially compared to some of the other options on this list, but you’ve also got to keep in mind that this is a budget subwoofer so you probably want to pull back a bit and not drive it at a hard 900w all the time, it’ll help increase the longevity. If you want something you can push that hard, consistently, you’ll probably want to look at some higher-end options.

Having said that, this sub sounds great for the price. More experienced bassheads will be able to notice where it falls short with some more nuanced listening, but for most people, you’ll feel the hard bass hitting and be more than happy.

A subtle design that looks great in just about any enclosure

Supports a lot of power for the price

A good entry point

If this isn’t your first subwoofer, you might walk away feeling unimpressed

The big appeal with this one is how much volume you get for such a low price, but if that’s not a priority then it’s not your best option 

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The post Best 12 Inch Subwoofer Reviews appeared first on Car Audio Logic.

[seniorbuyersguide]

The Best Mobility Scooters

As we said above, the market for mobility scooters is a very competitive one with many different manufacturers, makes and models, let alone a choice of types of scooter across a wide range of budgets. That’s why we chose ten to review, and here we will take a brief look at each one, and point you in the right direction to check out our full and comprehensive reviews.

Style+ Mobility Scooter

We thought it best to start with what we consider a standard type of scooter; the Style+ is a cleverly designed, compact and versatile model with many fine features, and comes highly recommended by satisfied users. It has four-wheel suspension and full padding for comfort, can take you up to 10 miles between battery charges, has fully adjustable tiller, seat height and armrests, and is light and compact enough to be carried in the back of a reasonably-sized car or van. This is a no-nonsense mobility scooter that is also suitable for use with a full range of accessories – you can find reviews of them on the website – and if you check out the Style+ Scooter Review you will find that, at around £600, it is decent value, too.

Pride Go-Go Elite Traveller LX

This is another excellent mobility scooter that is of the standard design, and one that comes with a wide variety of features that make it well worth a look. It’s in the same price bracket to the one above, so is good value, and will get you from A to B in comfort thanks to decent padding and good suspension. It is also very capable with a sensible top speed of 4mph, and comes with a wide range of safety features for added peace of mind. A cleverly designed high-level charging point makes it easy for everyone to use, and it also comes with a set of changeable panels so you can customise the body colour to your taste. All in all it’s a great choice, and if you read the review you will find it is very much one that will get the job done for you, and one that is certainly worthy of including on your shortlist.

TGA Mobility Vita X Deluxe

Among our reviews of mobility scooters we have chosen a few that stand out from the crowd, as they are not what you would expect from such a device. The TGA Mobility Vita X Deluxe is one such model, and it is very special indeed. However, we will say that this is not your average mobility scooter for popping to the shops – although there is no reason it cannot be used for such – but one that covers a much broader scope of use. It is designed for off-road use as much as anything else, and hence is the one for people who are a little more adventurous than the average user.

It looks great, goes superbly, is very powerful and has superb suspension. It’s also beautifully made and very impressive when it comes to performance and safety features. Put simply, if you want a mobility scooter that allows you to get off the beaten track, this could be the one for you, but bear in mind you will have to pay around £5000 – that’s five thousand pounds – for it, so you really have to want one to buy one.

Explorer 4

After the excess and – some would say – madness of the above model, the Explorer 4 brings us back to earth, and is a superbly made, very compact and surprisingly agile machine of the standard variety. Where this model wins is in its battery technology; you can travel as many as 18 miles on a full charge – that is much further than many similarly priced machines – and it also carries you in superb comfort and is easy to control. A dual-braking system is extremely effective and brings you to a halt very quickly, while 360-degree seat rotation means ease of access for those with even the most limited mobility. It’s well-built and can be used with a wide variety of accessories, and at less than £700 is also very sensibly priced.

STD-1 Portable

There are many standard features of this one that make it a great choice for your shortlist, not least its extremely portable dimensions. This one is designed to get you around and about – to and from the home or wherever you might want to go – easily and with little effort, and it can also be broken down into a series of pieces for ease of transport in the back of a car, and can be put back together in no time at all, so clever and efficient is the design.

This model can take you for up to 6 miles on one battery charge, so there is no problem doing the shopping trips, and is very light compared to some others in this range. It is also a neat design that is one of what we would call ‘no-frills’ – you get what you need and what you want, and the job gets done – as well as offering excellent comfort, great adjustability and a powerful braking system for extra safety. This one is a little more than £600, and a very good price for what it can do for you.

Ability Superstore Curlew

Think of a mobility scooter, and you likely think of a small, four-wheeled buggy that zips up and down the pavement carrying an individual and their shopping. This one, the Curlew, is somewhat different – unique, even – and has many clever features that make it stand out from the crowd. For a start, this is a three-wheeled model that is very cleverly designed, especially when it comes to being compact and easy to carry around. Indeed, when folded down – it can be collapsed to a very small shape and comes with its own carry bag – it weighs no more than 20kg, which makes it ideal for those who want a compact and easy to move device.

The Curlew is comfortable, clever and very versatile, and comes with sensible padding on the seats and fully adjustable fittings. It is perfect, in fact, for anyone who travels by train or bus, or even in a car, and needs a portable scooter at the end of the journey. So, what’s the catch? Well, to be fair, it’s not really a catch, but this one will cost you around £2000. That is considerably more than your average standard scooter, but it is a very clever and able machine that is extremely popular with users, so well worth a look.

Drive Medical Envoy 4

Some standard-type mobility scooters go that little bit further, and this one – the Drive Medical Envoy 4 – is one that offers everything you could possibly need from a scooter, and that bit more besides. It’s made by a company that specialises in such machines for people with disabilities and mobility problems, and as such is a carefully considered, well-made and very versatile machine that ticks all the boxes. However, it costs around twice the price of some of these on here – about £1200 – so what do you get for your extra money?

Quite a lot, as it happens! The steering system is designed especially for those who have grip problems, and is superbly easy to use. The battery pack gives a colossal 30-miles on one charge, which is pretty much unbeatable. It can be dismantled for ease of carriage and, when in use, is a substantial and capable machine, and it has full suspension and 360-degree seat movement for ease of access. Is it worth the extra money? We always say that if you can, buy the best you can afford; in this price bracket, we reckon this machine is the best you will find.

Scout Light Weight Mobility Scooter

Back to basics with this model, and that is no bad thing for if you are looking for a cheap and usable mobility scooter, one that comes with all the right features including sensible safety measures and more, at around £550 this could be the one for you. It is light weight, as the name suggests, and is very compact – like all the best designs it can be broken down into pieces for transport and easy reassembly – and it will also fit in the back of an estate, MPV or van in one piece.

It’s comfortable, well-made and can be adjusted in all the areas you want it to be, it is simple to use and performs well with a range of 10 miles – more than some models at much higher prices – and it is a very sensible choice if all you need is a basic, simple and versatile scooter that will get you from one place to another, and that can be fitted with all the usual accessories for carrying shopping and other items.

  Drive Royale 4 Sport

This model is one that takes things to a different level, and while we like it, we do have concerns about its price. It will cost you over £5000 – a lot of money when you can get a perfectly decent mobility scooter for not much more than a tenth of that price – so what makes it worth the extra?

Well, it comes from one of the best and most accomplished makers in the business, and it is very well made from top quality materials. It has a very powerful motor – much more so than most – that gives it a perfectly able top speed of 8mph, and it also offers an excellent range of 37miles on one full charge. It is very comfortable, with more than adequate padding and lumbar support, and has one of the best all-round suspension systems we have seen. It is packed with safety and comfort features, too, and is fully adjustable. Is it worth the price? There is no doubt this is one of the best motor scooters around, so if you want the best, this is up there on your shortlist.

That’s a few of the very best of the mobility scooters on the market today, and we have taken the trouble to make sure we covered all the available specifications, types and budgets that the market offers. As you can see, there are many to choose from, so in addition to checking the specifications, what can you do to make sure you get the best one? You could have a serious think about what it you want out of a mobility scooter, so here are a few pointers.

Which is For You?

With so much to look for in a mobility scooter, it is important you have all the information to hand that can help you make the right decision. That’s why we put together not only this buyer’s guide, but also our series of in-depth reviews of the best models on the market. The choice comes down to a couple of important factors, so a quick recap:

What Do You Need It For

If you want a scooter for simply going back and forth to the shops or other daily destinations, then there are plenty of models that are comfortable and very versatile for much less than £1000 to choose from, and we have reviewed a few for you to help you see what you have to choose from. If you want something more, a model that can go long distances or off-road, for example, there are also models that will do the job, so check our reviews for more information.

What Can You Afford

Budget is always a point to consider, so how much can you afford? There are models here that cost under £700 that do a perfectly good job, and those that go into the thousands of pounds that offer you something extra. It’s all about the above – what you need – and what you want to spend, so choose wisely!

That’s our buyer’s guide for you, and remember, it is best used in conjunction with the individual reviews that we have put together for you, and that are linked on here. Have a good look and make a decision on an informed basis, and we hope you find one that does the job for you.

The mobility scooter is an excellent invention that has brought a new lease of life to people who are not able to walk for anything more than a short distance, to the elderly and to those with certain disabilities. Developed from the concept of the motorised wheelchair, there are many different makes and models of mobility scooter on the market, and each has its own attributes and benefits.

In such a competitive market it can be difficult to decide upon the right model to buy, and that’s why we have put together this brief guide to motor scooters. We have included details of what you need to look for when deciding which scooter to buy. We have also given you links to some of the may detailed and informative reviews we have put together about individual scooters, including an idea of what you should pay and more.

So, if you are reading this, you have likely decided you need a mobility scooter, either for you or for a loved one; let’s have a look at the many factors that come into the equation when comparing mobility scooters.

The Main Features

A mobility scooter, like many items, is designed for a very specific purpose – to enable people who otherwise could not to get out and about and lead a more enjoyable and fruitful life. What you will find as we go through this buyer’s guide is that there are some features that are exclusive to certain types of scooter, and these can have an effect not only on the ability and performance of the vehicle, but also on the price. As budget is always a priority, we have included a guide to the expected price to pay for each one.

Bear in mind also that as mobility scooters are often bought for people with registered disabilities, they may be available with VAT-free discount schemes. It is worth checking with the relevant parties to find out if this applies to you. Here’s a list of the main and most important features you should look for when buying a mobility scooter, and why they rank so highly.

Comfort

If you are going to use a mobility scooter, you are likely to use it for long periods of time travelling between, for example, your home and the shops, or to visit friends nearby. This is why a mobility scooter has to be comfortable, and comfortable enough to sit on and use for some lengthy periods of time. All of the scooters we reviewed are designed for prolonged use if required, and feature padded seats that are comfortable enough for regular use.

Some also have adjustable back-rests and further comfort devices, so you can be sure that you will enjoy your motor scooter. If you have specific problems with your back or joints, there are some scooters that are produced by companies aiming specifically at this market, so make sure you check those out.

Range

All mobility scooters are battery-powered vehicles and, as a result, have a limited range. As most will be used for occasional trips to the shops, the social club, friend’s houses and the likes of church, they will be perfectly suitable. They can be charged from the mains – plus your scooter in at home and leave it overnight and it will be ready for you in the morning – so you can get up and go when you need to.

Range of scooters on a full charge varies by the model; some can manage six or eight miles on a full charge, which is perfectly adequate for a shopping trip. There are some heavy-duty models that will give you as much as 18miles on a full battery, so you can get yourself out and about, perhaps for a walk in the country with the family, without the worry of being stranded. Check our reviews, and the manufacturers specifications, so you can see what you are looking at before you buy.

Practical

The mobility scooter is a practical device that is designed for a specific purpose, and as such, practicality should be an in-built part of the design. The scooter should be easy to use – most have a single-hand control that is designed to control speed and direction – and also should be simple to start and get going, as well as being safe and secure. The scooters we have reviewed are made to a high standard and offer all the practicalities you need in such a device, so you can check the specification before you make your shortlist.

Adjustable

Even the most standard type of mobility scooter comes with a range of adjustable features, so you can tailor your scooter to give you the ultimate in comfort every time. Makers recognise that people are different shapes and sizes, so you will find that the majority of scooters are designed to take weights of 20stone or perhaps more.

Also, you will find they have adjustments to many areas, including the handlebars, seat height, back position and – most importantly for some – the armrests, so you can find the ultimate comfort level for you. Our reviews will tell you how adjustable each mobility scooter is, so you can make a decision on all factors that you consider necessary.

Power and Speed

Speed may not be the most important factor when it comes to a mobility scooter, but you want one that can get you from A to B in the least possible time, and with the least possible effort. The scooters we have reviewed offer a minimum top speed of 4mph, which is more than adequate for daily use on and around your local paths, and some can go considerably faster – although we don’t advise using excessive speed where pedestrians are in the vicinity!

Safety

This is a primary consideration with any moving vehicle, and where mobility scooters are concerned it is one of the most important. Not only does the occupant and user need to be safe – hence the addition of non-tip wheels so you cannot go over backwards and – perhaps most important of all – efficient brakes, which are usually electronically controlled for added effectiveness.

Build Quality

A mobility scooter will cost at least a few hundred pounds and, as such, is a major purchase for most people. This is why we have chosen to review scooters that are made by some of the best-known names in the business and that have been built to a high standard, and that will last you a long time. Steel frames and quality fittings are of the highest importance, and you will also find that they require very little maintenance in order to keep them going throughout the year.

Compact

Many people buy a mobility scooter so they can use it to get to and from home to the shops, social occasions or for other reasons, but some people like to go a bit further afield. Whether you drive yourself or have people who can drive you places, a scooter that can fit on the back of an estate car or MPV is a bonus, and most of our models are designed to do so.

Some are small enough to go into a small van-sized vehicle in one piece, but others may be broken down – in just a couple of minutes – into a series of sections for carrying, and are then easy to put back together again in no time at all. If this is important to you, it applies to many of the standard models as well as the more specialised ones, so you can choose a scooter that does what you want at your price level.

Budget

Before we go on to look at some of the more impressive models we have reviewed, we have to consider the budget; for every purchase there will be an available price range for each buyer, and as there are some specialist models among our reviews we cover every price angle from a few hundred pounds to a few thousand, so it is essential you consider carefully what you want and need before you choose your ideal model.

That’s a few of the main factors you need to consider when you’re looking at buying a mobility scooter, and you may well have your own ideas to add. Our reviews will help you get a better idea of which one has the features that are right for you, so to help you out, let’s have a quick look at some of the mobility scooters that we chose as our preferred models.

  The post Mobility Scooter Buyers Guide – All You Need to Know appeared first on Senior Buyers Guide.

[flauntpage]

James Harden's Defense Will Alter the Western Conference Finals

The conversation, criticism, and internet amusement that’s long consumed James Harden’s defense took a distant backseat behind everything he does when the ball touches his hands this season. The Houston Rockets won 65 games with him as the league’s probable MVP, and leader in scoring, PER, Win Shares, and usage. No individual is more responsible for them being six wins away from an NBA championship.

But no matter how spectacular Harden’s offense is, it will never completely eclipse his standing as a relative weak link. According to Cleaning the Glass, for six straight regular seasons, Harden’s team has been better on defense when he doesn’t play. When he’s on the floor, his teams (including the 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder) have either been average or bad on that side of the ball.

Half of that equation changed in 2018. The Rockets were actually able to get stops at a decent rate with Harden on the court, but when he sat they were basically the best defense in the league. Those on/off numbers are a bit skewed by a roster that’s loaded with above-average defenders, but Harden can still be lackadaisical, with waning interest and low energy. His defense will never be outright incredible or even consistent, but after watching him closely over the past few weeks it’s worth wondering how high Houston’s ceiling can get if he continues to temporarily elevate his play two tiers above “gross sore spot” and levels off somewhere around “you know what...that was actually a pretty good play!”

How, then, do you attack the Rockets? In a breezy second-round series against the Utah Jazz, Quin Snyder reluctantly pulled the plug on his pass/cut/screen system and plopped Donovan Mitchell on an island with Harden, defaulting to a primitive brand of basketball that was, essentially, Utah’s best chance. Except it wasn’t.

Teams that go after Harden in isolation—as the Warriors will likely do more and more for the rest of this series—are choosing the least bad option instead of a good one. According to Synergy, Harden ranks in the 75th percentile as a defender in isolation after a switch this postseason. That speaks to the beauty of Houston’s defensive scheme—how it neutralizes ball movement, and how inefficient head-to-head maneuvering can be for even the most talented teams if they didn’t just spend 90 games perfecting it with one of the best iso scorers ever (Harden!) serving as a bearded vanguard—but also an effort and focus by Harden that he isn’t known for.

Harden stepped up in Game 4 whenever the Warriors went out of their way to attack him. He competed in a way anyone who watched him play basketball three years ago would not recognize. Houston’s coaching staff doesn’t toss confetti in the air whenever he gets isolated against Kevin Durant or Steph Curry, but they don’t weep, either. That’s significant.

With Harden guarding Quinn Cook on the play below, P.J. Tucker instantly recognizes the matchup Golden State desires and quickly switches, forcing Draymond Green to set a second screen to get Harden on Durant. At certain points during this series, most notably in Game 3, this was a feast for the Warriors. In Game 4, Harden fought back.

It’s never any one player’s responsibility to get stops against a superstar, and Harden is supported by intelligent teammates who help off Golden State’s surprisingly long list of non-threatening outside shooters (Andre Iguodala, Green, Shaun Livingston, Kevon Looney, and Jordan Bell). But he’s also finally doing little things that matter, like shading the ball towards help—as can be seen below when Eric Gordon makes the wise decision to ignore Looney—shuffling his feet, and contesting shots.

But with every positive play comes another to trivialize it. Here’s Harden letting Curry get to his right hand, away from help and towards Durant in the corner. Trevor Ariza isn’t thrilled about it.

As someone who lives to gamble, his play off the ball can be an adventure, too. Early on in Game 4, Harden lost track of Klay Thompson twice in under two minutes. In the play below, Harden stops pursuing one of the game’s greatest shooters for no reason at all. Gordon doesn’t need help against Draymond Green in the post, and nobody set a screen signaling him to switch. (Watch as Harden raises his hand to acknowledge the mistake seconds after Thompson’s shot drops through the net.)

And then here, Harden keeps his eye on the ball and somehow loses track of Thompson as he fades into the strong-side corner. At the last second he shouts at Gordon—who’s getting screened by Looney, to switch. That’s illogical.

These are inexcusable lapses that inspired me to jot some variation of “how badly does Harden want this?” down multiple times in my notebook. They bar him from entering an all-time elite tier of basketball player that his offensive genius already allows, and that will always be at least a little frustrating. It all extends to his play on the ball, too: Harden will lean back on his heels, up in his stance (a word that deserves massive air quotes), with his palms hovering over his knee caps. It’s unattractive, detectable laziness wherein Harden assumes the unrestrained confusion of a puppy that’s 100 percent positive you just threw a tennis ball over its head when it’s actually still in your hand.

But as someone who’s mostly glued to the opposing team’s feeblest option, Harden also finds himself in important help situations when his man doesn’t set a ball screen, whether it calls for him to clog up a driving lane or deter a pass. According to NBA.com, he leads all players in deflections and is averaging 0.5 more per game now than in last year’s postseason, despite logging 1.4 fewer minutes.

That’s not new. As has already been mentioned: Harden loves to gamble. His steal rate has always been impressive, and his quick hands create easy baskets (by way of humiliation) on the other end. In the first half of Game 4, he stole a pass from Nick Young and picked Durant’s pocket on back to back possessions. He wanted the ball, and not only added four points to Houston’s score, but erased what could very well have been six for Golden State.

Harden still lunges out of position, gets back cut, and beat off the bounce, but his sturdy reputation down low (according to Synergy he’s in the 100th percentile defending post-ups after a switch in the playoffs), mixed with all the positives outlined above, has, to some extent, replaced the loopy game-plan dissenter whose hypnotizing incompetence used to single handedly validate Vine’s business model.

Still, something happened at the end of Game 4 that shocked me. Harden shook off 40-plus minutes of an intense offensive workload to close out on a critical Curry three with what can fairly be described as an unprecedented sense of urgency.

It’s not rocket science (I’ll show myself out). That entire possession is what it takes to win playoff games against all-time teams in all-time environments. Multiple efforts are necessary, and Harden made several.

Aside from a grotesque performance in Game 3, Houston’s coaches believe Harden’s defense this year is much improved from the 2017 playoffs. Sharing offensive responsibilities with Chris Paul and not having to expend all of his mental and physical energy setting teammates up, scoring, and erasing deficits created by the bench whenever he needs rest has been an obvious help. But Harden’s realization that defense matters is clear.

One play can not change a reputation, and permanent turnaround is never the upshot from a single game or series. But it’s fair to say the Rockets will win the NBA championship if Harden locks in like he did through most of Game 4 for the next couple weeks. What was once a complete liability has morphed into an intriguing variable, and it’s just one reason why Houston may be the best team in basketball.

James Harden's Defense Will Alter the Western Conference Finals published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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James Harden’s Defense Will Alter the Western Conference Finals

The conversation, criticism, and internet amusement that’s long consumed James Harden’s defense took a distant backseat behind everything he does when the ball touches his hands this season. The Houston Rockets won 65 games with him as the league’s probable MVP, and leader in scoring, PER, Win Shares, and usage. No individual is more responsible for them being six wins away from an NBA championship.

But no matter how spectacular Harden’s offense is, it will never completely eclipse his standing as a relative weak link. According to Cleaning the Glass, for six straight regular seasons, Harden’s team has been better on defense when he doesn’t play. When he’s on the floor, his teams (including the 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder) have either been average or bad on that side of the ball.

Half of that equation changed in 2018. The Rockets were actually able to get stops at a decent rate with Harden on the court, but when he sat they were basically the best defense in the league. Those on/off numbers are a bit skewed by a roster that’s loaded with above-average defenders, but Harden can still be lackadaisical, with waning interest and low energy. His defense will never be outright incredible or even consistent, but after watching him closely over the past few weeks it’s worth wondering how high Houston’s ceiling can get if he continues to temporarily elevate his play two tiers above “gross sore spot” and levels off somewhere around “you know what…that was actually a pretty good play!”

How, then, do you attack the Rockets? In a breezy second-round series against the Utah Jazz, Quin Snyder reluctantly pulled the plug on his pass/cut/screen system and plopped Donovan Mitchell on an island with Harden, defaulting to a primitive brand of basketball that was, essentially, Utah’s best chance. Except it wasn’t.

Teams that go after Harden in isolation—as the Warriors will likely do more and more for the rest of this series—are choosing the least bad option instead of a good one. According to Synergy, Harden ranks in the 75th percentile as a defender in isolation after a switch this postseason. That speaks to the beauty of Houston’s defensive scheme—how it neutralizes ball movement, and how inefficient head-to-head maneuvering can be for even the most talented teams if they didn’t just spend 90 games perfecting it with one of the best iso scorers ever (Harden!) serving as a bearded vanguard—but also an effort and focus by Harden that he isn’t known for.

Harden stepped up in Game 4 whenever the Warriors went out of their way to attack him. He competed in a way anyone who watched him play basketball three years ago would not recognize. Houston’s coaching staff doesn’t toss confetti in the air whenever he gets isolated against Kevin Durant or Steph Curry, but they don’t weep, either. That’s significant.

With Harden guarding Quinn Cook on the play below, P.J. Tucker instantly recognizes the matchup Golden State desires and quickly switches, forcing Draymond Green to set a second screen to get Harden on Durant. At certain points during this series, most notably in Game 3, this was a feast for the Warriors. In Game 4, Harden fought back.

It’s never any one player’s responsibility to get stops against a superstar, and Harden is supported by intelligent teammates who help off Golden State’s surprisingly long list of non-threatening outside shooters (Andre Iguodala, Green, Shaun Livingston, Kevon Looney, and Jordan Bell). But he’s also finally doing little things that matter, like shading the ball towards help—as can be seen below when Eric Gordon makes the wise decision to ignore Looney—shuffling his feet, and contesting shots.

But with every positive play comes another to trivialize it. Here’s Harden letting Curry get to his right hand, away from help and towards Durant in the corner. Trevor Ariza isn’t thrilled about it.

As someone who lives to gamble, his play off the ball can be an adventure, too. Early on in Game 4, Harden lost track of Klay Thompson twice in under two minutes. In the play below, Harden stops pursuing one of the game’s greatest shooters for no reason at all. Gordon doesn’t need help against Draymond Green in the post, and nobody set a screen signaling him to switch. (Watch as Harden raises his hand to acknowledge the mistake seconds after Thompson’s shot drops through the net.)

And then here, Harden keeps his eye on the ball and somehow loses track of Thompson as he fades into the strong-side corner. At the last second he shouts at Gordon—who’s getting screened by Looney, to switch. That’s illogical.

These are inexcusable lapses that inspired me to jot some variation of “how badly does Harden want this?” down multiple times in my notebook. They bar him from entering an all-time elite tier of basketball player that his offensive genius already allows, and that will always be at least a little frustrating. It all extends to his play on the ball, too: Harden will lean back on his heels, up in his stance (a word that deserves massive air quotes), with his palms hovering over his knee caps. It’s unattractive, detectable laziness wherein Harden assumes the unrestrained confusion of a puppy that’s 100 percent positive you just threw a tennis ball over its head when it’s actually still in your hand.

But as someone who’s mostly glued to the opposing team’s feeblest option, Harden also finds himself in important help situations when his man doesn’t set a ball screen, whether it calls for him to clog up a driving lane or deter a pass. According to NBA.com, he leads all players in deflections and is averaging 0.5 more per game now than in last year’s postseason, despite logging 1.4 fewer minutes.

That’s not new. As has already been mentioned: Harden loves to gamble. His steal rate has always been impressive, and his quick hands create easy baskets (by way of humiliation) on the other end. In the first half of Game 4, he stole a pass from Nick Young and picked Durant’s pocket on back to back possessions. He wanted the ball, and not only added four points to Houston’s score, but erased what could very well have been six for Golden State.

Harden still lunges out of position, gets back cut, and beat off the bounce, but his sturdy reputation down low (according to Synergy he’s in the 100th percentile defending post-ups after a switch in the playoffs), mixed with all the positives outlined above, has, to some extent, replaced the loopy game-plan dissenter whose hypnotizing incompetence used to single handedly validate Vine’s business model.

Still, something happened at the end of Game 4 that shocked me. Harden shook off 40-plus minutes of an intense offensive workload to close out on a critical Curry three with what can fairly be described as an unprecedented sense of urgency.

It’s not rocket science (I’ll show myself out). That entire possession is what it takes to win playoff games against all-time teams in all-time environments. Multiple efforts are necessary, and Harden made several.

Aside from a grotesque performance in Game 3, Houston’s coaches believe Harden’s defense this year is much improved from the 2017 playoffs. Sharing offensive responsibilities with Chris Paul and not having to expend all of his mental and physical energy setting teammates up, scoring, and erasing deficits created by the bench whenever he needs rest has been an obvious help. But Harden’s realization that defense matters is clear.

One play can not change a reputation, and permanent turnaround is never the upshot from a single game or series. But it’s fair to say the Rockets will win the NBA championship if Harden locks in like he did through most of Game 4 for the next couple weeks. What was once a complete liability has morphed into an intriguing variable, and it’s just one reason why Houston may be the best team in basketball.

James Harden’s Defense Will Alter the Western Conference Finals syndicated from https://australiahoverboards.wordpress.com

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BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones Wireless Review

so, with enough courage and money to spare this is the Blueant Pump Zone by blue and now getting a bass tuned headphone can be very expensive but for this one though it's gotta be perfect for any tight budget consumers. Don't get me wrong, it's on the budget range. The quality and feature of this headphone rivals some of the top brands in the market.  Moving on the standard review upon looking at the box design. It reminds me of the first generation of beats to their packaging. I know it's not entirely important but personally the whole box layout could do some makeover. It looks candid for example at first, I thought the brand was pumped zone rather than blueant and heading back that description is a bit hard to read.   Check Price On Amazon Especially with the tour in languages. I also noticed a slight mix-up in the Korean section - maybe using a lighter background is better. Looking at both side of the packaging you will see all the feature it comes with seems that they're trying very hard to lose all the features but let's break it down a bit.  

BlueAnt Pump Zone Features

The BlueAnt Headphones comes with bluetooth 4.1 connectivity NFC for easy pairing. A BTX Kodak Comfort sealed ear cups with antimicrobial sweat proof cushion built-in microphone. Simple OneTouch controller folding design for compact storage. 30 hours of play time, an input jack for Wyatt listening and the best part is it comes with a carrying case, which is a bonus and rarely included even by top brands especially at this price range.   so, with enough courage and money to spare this is the Blueant Pump Zone by blue and now getting a bass tuned headphone can be very expensive but for this one though it's gotta be perfect for any tight budget consumers. Don't get me wrong, it's on the budget range. The quality and feature of this headphone rivals some of the top brands in the market.  Moving on the standard review upon looking at the box design. It reminds me of the first generation of beats to their packaging. I know it's not entirely important but personally the whole box layout could do some makeover. It looks candid for example at first, I thought the brand was pumped zone rather than blueant and heading back that description is a bit hard to read.   so, with enough courage and money to spare this is the Blueant Pump Zone by blue and now getting a bass tuned headphone can be very expensive but for this one though it's gotta be perfect for any tight budget consumers. Don't get me wrong, it's on the budget range. The quality and feature of this headphone rivals some of the top brands in the market.  Moving on the standard review upon looking at the box design. It reminds me of the first generation of beats to their packaging. I know it's not entirely important but personally the whole box layout could do some makeover. It looks candid for example at first, I thought the brand was pumped zone rather than blueant and heading back that description is a bit hard to read.   Startup unboxing, you'll be greeted with and that are shot of the unit for this review I chosen the black gray version. It also comes in rose, gold, blue and red under white. Instead seeing the BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones unit, you will find a carrying case fair switch covered by a transparent plastic. The case is made from hard material which should give extra protection and I do also like the fibrous texture of this case.   Inside the case you'll find a Velcro fitted compartment which stores the micro-USB and input cables however the supply input cable could have been better. If it's thick and longer my first impression holding this unit it doesn't feel cheap at all.   In fact, it feels premium with the metal frames on both of the ear caps which also adds a tiny weight to it. The foam material looks sporty and it feels squishy and blends well with the soft touch rubber on the overall structure. Even the clicks when unfolding the BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones feels nice not to mention the exposed wires on both side of the ear caps really adds design aesthetic even more.   Top of the ban you will find blue and brown with a pump and zone and printed on the right and left respectively blue and design this unit with one touch in mind which makes the NFC sense of being placed on the left ear cap and the right ear caps for all the controller's input jack and charging forward. The controller layout is easy to understand and memorize to power on all you need is to press and hold the play/pause button until blue lights start blinking holding and even longer will let you into pairing mode .   For most all Android smartphone user you just need to tap your phone at the left ear cup and it will instantly pair to volume up and down as well as the track control is our relevantly place which is super convenient when controlling your music through the headphone. Only the fan zone is targeted not only for bass levels with the ip54 anti-microbial sweat-proof that happen is also suitable for work app use. This approach is not without caveat instead the air cap being loosely designed for most of the effect it had to be narrowly oval shape which is believed to provide better grip and noise isolation that causes slight discomfort for extended wear and in fact during the test, I was only able to wear it continuously about 40 minutes which is roughly listening to an album before my ears needed a break plus the band only able to extend up to 7 centimeter which is a bit short specially when you're wearing a cap but still results may vary.   Does hands-on testing is recommended like - bluetooth 4.1 headphones. The range is standard about 10 feet and the valley goes on with its 30 our playtime ability. Which is averagely 10 hours plus compared than most top headphone brands would offer recharge time is pretty decent - from 0 to 100% within 80 minutes. Not a big question can this headphone pump some mega bass of course it can surprisingly at this price and did I mention you can get this from $45?  

The base is in DT and punchy till it rattles your ears however as you explore with various genres upside ADM techno the mid turns out a bit shallow and weak which also makes the vocal sound not as crispy. That being said if your playlist is filled with EDM techno z medium Daft Punk and the list goes on then you will not be disappointed at all even without noise cancelling feature the BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones managed to isolate some of the acts no noise but leaks most of the sound when listening above medium level does.   The effort is not suitable for midnight flight or in the library of soil. Personally, I don't do calls via headphones for the purpose of this review yes, the BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones is able to provide decent voice quality but like I said it's not crispy but a bit muffle to be exact. On the plus side though this handphone allows you to activate Siri and Google.   Now by simply double tap the play pause button, Siri when is the Apple Keynote you can watch mine unlike the previously repeal LG infinim tone. Plus, this is indeed a night and day difference so in conclusion if you're into EDM techno kind of thing and you're rocking an android NFC built-in smartphone and this BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones might be for you. 

BlueAnt Pump Zone Headphones Wireless Review

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Bentley Bentayga review – the ultimate luxury SUV?

For  Immensely capable, W12 and V8 diesel options both immensely rapid Against  Very heavy, and not really able to shrug it off... and just look at it... Bentley's first SUV is sure to be a sales hit, but its sheer weight limits the appeal as a drivers SUV The Bentley Bentayga takes the terms ‘performance’ and ‘luxury’, ramps them up to the extreme, and then attaches them to an SUV. It’s Bentley’s first car in this class, and as such it’s an extremely polarising model. Is it a triumph of modern engineering and proper Bentley to boot, or is it a cynical attempt to cash in on the growing global SUV market at the expense of the British brand’s rich heritage? Whatever the Bentayga is, it’s certainly not a half-baked effort. In fact, it might be Bentley’s most advanced car to date. This near-2.5-tonne beast may have a cabin stuffed with as much fine leather and wood as a gentleman’s club, but it also has performance to rival serious sports cars. There’s even a modicum of off-road ability – not exactly a Bentley hallmark – and a reassuringly hefty price tag to match. > Click here for our review of the Range Rover The Bentayga may not be a classic Bentley in spirit – in fact, we’d be very surprised if owners are ever let out of a side turning – but in engineering terms, it’s up there with the best, and sits pretty much in a class of one at the top of the luxury SUV pile. Image 11 of 34 Image 11 of 34 Bentley Bentayga in detail: Performance and 0-60 time > Staggering pace from such a huge car; 0-60 time rivals even sports cars Engine and gearbox > Choice of W12 petrol or V8 diesel, both mated to smooth auto gearbox Ride and handling > Impressive, but there’s no disguising the size and weight of this monstrous car MPG and running costs > ‘Frugal’ is a word that doesn’t feature in the Bentayga’s dictionary, but diesel will do 600 miles between fill-ups Interior and tech > Shades of Audi Q7, but stuffed with enough leather, wood and technology to make up for it Design > It’s difficult to call the Bentayga pretty, but ‘imposing’ certainly covers it Image 12 of 34 Image 12 of 34 Prices, specs and rivals The Bentley Bentayga is, perhaps understandably, priced out of reach of all but society’s top earners. A starting price of £135,800 gets the ball rolling, but for most owners that’ll just be a jumping off point for even greater expense. For instance, you’ll need to cough up an extra £30,000 if you want the stonking W12 petrol engine, while it gets even more extreme if you begin to peruse the expansive options list. That said, most Bentayga buyers will let their accounts worry about the price lists, and are unlikely to baulk at a £22k Naim stereo upgrade. The dash-mounted Breitling clock may raise a few eyebrows though – it’s machined in solid gold and costs over £150k (on top of the price of the car!). Rivals? Not many. The elite may consider the Bentayga alongside more traditional luxury cars like a Rolls-Royce Ghost or even Bentley’s own Mulsanne. But we think it’s more likely to appeal as a luxury option for those who need genuine practicality for outdoorsy pursuits. After all, the children’s riding gear can be awfully muddy, and the family Labrador can’t ride in an enclosed boot either. That pitches it as a rival to the Range Rover, Porsche Cayenne or Audi Q7 – albeit at a significantly higher price point. The Range Rover offers the most compelling alternative – a long-wheelbase SVAutobiography fitted with a 550bhp V8 engine starts from £167,280, offering comparable performance and luxury to the Bentayga. In fact, some might argue that it provides a better luxury experience. The Range Rover does after all ride on its own platform, while the Bentayga – no matter how powerful and expensive – shares a great deal of its components and oily bits with the considerably humbler Audi Q7. The Range Rover also offers a far more imperious driving position, while it’ll show a dirty pair of heels to the Bentayga off-road. Performance and 0-60 time Four seconds. That’s a 0-60 time you might think belongs to a low-slung sports car, or perhaps an entry-level supercar. But to apply it to a car weighing well over two tonnes seems impossible. Yet thanks to its 12 cylinders and duo of twin scroll turbos, the 6.0-litre W12 model will leave a Porsche 718 Cayman or Audi RS3 trailing in its not inconsiderable wake. It’s then capable of going on to a frankly ridiculous 187mph top speed, which is pretty pace for a car that shares it  footprint and kerbweight with the average two-bedroom cottage. Plump for the diesel model and you’ll have the honour of driving one of the fastest oil-burners around. 4.0-litres of V8 – the same block as you’ll find in the Audi SQ7 – makes 429bhp and a truly colossal 664lb ft of torque. 0-60mph takes 4.6 seconds, while top speed is 168mph. Image 23 of 34 Image 23 of 34 Engine and gearbox There are only two engine choices in the Bentley Bentayga for now – a 6.0-litre W12 petrol engine or a 4.0-litre V8 diesel. We may see a smaller, V8 petrol in the future, as in the Continental, which could become the engine of choice. No matter which unit you go for, out-and-out muscle is the name of the game. > Click here for our review of the Continental GT Both engines are mated to the same smooth ZF 8-speed gearbox, which sees service in everything from the Range Rover Sport to the BMW 1-series, so there’s no cause for concern there – it’s smooth and quick-shifting and, more importantly, can handle the 600+lb ft of torque that both engines produce. Image 17 of 34 Image 17 of 34 Which engine you choose depends where your priorities lie. A diesel engine in a supposed ‘luxury’ vehicle may seem like sacrilege – and owners of the Bentayga aren’t likely to have more than a passing interest in fuel economy anyway. No, where the diesel wins out is range. It’s not very glamorous filling up at the local Esso, and stopping every 350 miles in the W12 is bound to become tiresome on a cross-continental cruise. The diesel on the other hand can manage almost 600 miles on a tank, theoretically nearly halving your fuel stops and making for a much more relaxed, and faster, journey. Ride and handling Bentley’s engineers have tried hard to hide the Bentayga’s considerable mass, but in the final reckoning you can’t cheat physics, not matter how hard you try. That’s not to say the big off-roader isn’t composed and competent, but it certainly doesn’t put the Sports into Sports Utility Vehicle. The Bentayga shares the basic chassis architecture as the Audi Q7, which means it gets the same anti-roll system. Powered by 48 Volt electrics, this set-up essentially tautens the anti-roll bars in a fraction of second, helping keep the Bentley on a surprisingly even keel through a series of corners. There’s surprising grip, too, and the Bentayga clings on with greater tenacity than you’d think possible for a car weighing the best part of three tons. Direct and accurate steering helps place the car, even if feedback is in limited supply. As you’d expect, there’s a raft of driver modes to choose from - Comfort, Bentley, Sport and Individual, plus another four off-road settings. ‘Bentley’ is the default setting and aims to strike the right balance between comfort and agility. On the whole it’s well judged, the air suspension soaking up big bumps and pummelling the smaller stuff into submission. Selecting Sport tautens the dampers a little without damaging ride quality, but the changes are so small that it’s best to leave it to its own devices in Bentley. Image 21 of 34 Image 21 of 34 Drive briskly and the Bentayga feels decently planted, but up the pace a little and it starts to unravel a little. Body movements are kept in check better than you’d think, but it’s the brakes that suffer the most. Not only are they tasked with slowing the hefty Bentley, they’re also working hard as part of the torque vectoring system, constantly nibbling away to keep the Bentayga’s nose locked as faithfully as possible onto you chosen line. However, it doesn’t take many corners before the effort involved in keeping the Bentley pointing where you want takes its toll on the braking performance. As a result, it’s best to take it a little easier and rely on the old tried and tested technique of slow in and fast out. Driven with this sort of decorum, you can make impressively rapid progress as you make the most of the combination of the engine’s explosive performance and four-wheel drive traction. Speaking of all-wheel drive, the Bentley will head far further off-road than most owners will probably ever dare go. The air suspension can be raised for greater ground clearance, the various driver modes deliver grip where you’d expect slip and there’s even hill descent control. Whether you’d want to risk those 21-inch rims in the rough stuff is an entirely different matter…. MPG and running costs The Bentayga is predictably costly to run. Everything – from premium petrol to the first-rate servicing it requires – costs extra, but that’s not really a problem for most Bentley owners, is it? Very few of these cars will be bought by penny pinchers, and so owners will be willing to pay whatever it takes to keep their ultra-luxury SUV in fine fettle. Fuel economy will be an alien phrase to most Bentley buyers, but owners of the W12 can expect mpg figures in the late teens in real-world driving – compared to Bentley’s official figure of 21.6mpg. CO2 emissions are a similarly hefty 296g/km, which is enough to put the Bentayga firmly in the highest road tax bracket. That means you’ll have to shell out £2000 in first year road tax, and then £140 a year thereafter – plus a further £310 for the first five years owing to the high list price. Image 24 of 34 Image 24 of 34 Opt for the diesel and things become rather more palatable. A combined fuel economy figure of 35.8mpg is positively frugal, while CO2 emissions are two bands down on the W12 at 210g/km – attracting a £1200 first year road tax fee. Regardless of engine, the Bentayga slots into the top Group 50 for insurance – though we suspect most owners will have these garaged, which could keep premiums reasonable.   Interior and tech The Bentayga is as ostentatious inside as it is out – clamber inside and you’ll find swathes of quilted leather, incredibly intricate wood veneers and handcrafted details all over the place, as you would in any Bentley. It’s all very lovely, but try not to prod too hard or you may find certain features remind you rather too much of the Audi Q7. The cupholders, for example, are made from cheap plastic, while the infotainment is straight out of a high-end Volkswagen in look and feel. That’s not to say the cabin doesn’t work well, but it lacks the bespoke nature of something like a Range Rover – ignore the lustrous materials and organ stop ventilation controls and you could quite easily be in an Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne or even – whisper it – a Volkswagen Touareg. At least you won’t be wanting for technology. Bentley has thrown the book at the Bentayga, and almost everything you’d want comes as standard – sat-nav, wifi, soft-close doors, full LED head and tail-lights and plenty more besides. Image 27 of 34 Image 27 of 34 Of course, you can personalise your Bentayga, specifying your interior finish with as much precision as you like. Choose a bespoke wood veneer and leather colour – even split the front and rear seats with different finishes if you so fancy. On a more sensible note, we’d probably spec the surround-view camera system, as the Bentayga has very expensive bumpers to ding, while adaptive cruise control will make those trans-continental road trips all the more relaxing. Design The Bentayga is based on the same platform as the Audi Q7, so its basic proportions are fairly similar. The scalable nature of the VW Group’s MLB platform means it’s a significantly larger car, though – and at two metres in width (without mirrors!) it commands a significant road presence. That’s aided by monstrous 20 or 21-inch wheels and of course the huge chrome Bentley grille up front. Styling is inspired by the EXP F9 concept, but we’re glad to see that it’s been toned down from that car. Traditional Bentley styling cues – the quad headlights, the classic grille – combine with modern touches like the LED taillamps, which proudly display a Bentley ‘B’ when illuminated. You’d be hard pressed to call the Bentayga pretty, but it’s definitely imposing, and that’s what really matters to a lot of buyers. Image 5 of 34 Image 5 of 34   10 Nov 2017

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