#electrical device repairs

[idevicerepairf]

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[coasttocoastmarineservice]

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[native123-world]

[phantomrose96]

What the hell happens in the pikmin game?? Those little colourful bitches have been around for ages, but i never bothered looking them up, i just figured they were cute little mascots of some game. But your posts are making me question everything. Is it a horror game? (I know i could just google it, but asking you is funnier)

Yeah you're right asking me is much funnier :)

Pikmin is a fun and relaxing game! You play as a little astronaut man who gets to spend his days growing Pikmin, who are sweet and peaceful little plant creatures with leaves, buds, or flowers on their heads. You can corral them around with a little trumpet, like a bouquet of flowers following you through the pretty and whimsical landscapes of planet PNF-404 :)

Wait did I say fun and relaxing?

Sorry, typo.

It's a brutal skill-based survival game (❁´◡`❁)

So then maybe you're wondering, what's up with the Pikmin? What was that about growing a bunch of little flower guys? Well growing the Pikmin is super important!

It's super duper important mainly because you need to replace the Pikmin who die in the carnage of battle for you!

Battle against what?

Everything.

See on PNF-404, Pikmin are the bottom of the food chain. Just about every living breathing creature on this planet is orders of magnitude larger than the Pikmin and munch Pikmin by the hundreds for breakfast. Predators will do this instinctively. They will do this unprompted. They will do this while you're not looking. They will do this endlessly until every last Pikmin is dead.

So... what good are the Pikmin? What chance do they stand?

Really easy. Pikmin are the most violent creatures in the entire game 🥰🥰🥰.

How else do you survive when you're small and fragile other than incredible violence? Pikmin can exist out and about in swarms of up to 100. And the only way to survive predators as small little leaf creatures is to beat those predators to death with incredible mob violence before they can kill all of you.

Pikmin don't die like plants. They die like warriors.

And sometimes, this is the hardest mechanic to handle. Left to their own devices Pikmin will seek to shed blood. It's up to you to call them away from orchestrating their own demise, their own pursuit of the glory of Valhalla. It's in their nature. It's in their plant-blood.

And they go down hard. They shriek when snapped up in the jaws of predators. They glub and wail when drowning in water. They trill out screams when on fire. They choke and cough in poison. They die instantly to electricity. And you'll know a Pikmin is well and truly dead once it lets out a final whimper, and a ghost drifts away from where it once stood. This can happen by the dozens. This can happen to all 100 at once.

So wait, wait I've gotten far ahead of myself. Why the violence? Why the death? Why the fighting? What was that about a little astronaut man?

Well your astronaut man is Olimar, an honest and simple family man who's a freight ship captain from his home planet of Hocotate. He's a truck driver! He's just a guy taking his first vacation in years.

And a meteorite strikes his ship, tearing it to pieces as it crash-lands on a completely uncharted planet. Welcome to PNF-404...

And so you're Olimar. A truck driver. A nice dad. A victim of capitalism with the world's worst boss. Out on vacation.

Your ship is destroyed. No one is coming for you. No one will save you.

The oxygen on PNF-404 is poisonous.

You have 30 days before your life support system runs out.

You have 30 days until you die a brutal and lonely death.

Your only hope is to find every scattered missing piece of your ship--30 of them--strewn across the planet, return them to your ship, and repair it, before your 30 days are up.

But this is simply impossible. You're one tiny little man. You wouldn't be able to lift a single piece of your ship, let alone 30 of them, let alone doing so while fending off the wildlife hellbent on killing you.

But the Pikmin seem to like you...

So all that death? All the carnage and destruction? It's all in the effort to repair Olimar's ship before he suffocates. You pave a path of destruction decorated with the bodies of any creature that stands before you and your missing ship pieces.

The Pikmin do it. The Pikmin trust you. The Pikmin follow your command and die by your command. After all, you're growing their species. Oh did I forget to explain that part? The "how" of how growing Pikmin works?

Simple. Pikmin are grown from the corpses of the creatures they kill :).

If you kill something, the Pikmin take it back to their base and process it for pieces, and grow new Pikmin from it. That's how you get all the nice little flower creatures following you around. :)

Is it good enough? Can you sleep at night knowing that 50 creatures who trusted you implicitly were slaughtered under your misdirection? All to retrieve a hunk of metal which is 1/30 of the hope of getting you home alive? 100 slaughtered? 200? Day 30 is approaching. Things are looking bleak.

You're Olimar. Day 30 has arrived, and you haven't fully reconstructed your ship. You have no option to stay. Your life support has run out. You watch the Pikmin you've left behind, as you attempt to start up your ship which has not been safely repaired.

You try to take off, and try to make it home.

It does not go well.

But at least the Pikmin have another corpse to carry.

[skeletoninthemelonland]

I let the brainrot win, I made a Fusionsprunt OC

I took the liberty to came up with a whole new company that focuses on building ships, mechanics and androids to use in the ocean field (because I'm an ocean nerd HAHA)

She doesn't have a name yet, but her model was built to lift heavy things on a transportation ship (Ercole= Hercules) and doing minor fixes on machineries of the ship. Also the number of her neck is the date in which I created her (so the day I am sending the ask LMAO I WAS HYPERFOCUSED ON HER THE WHOLE DAY), making it like her series number or smth

I am no scientist but I try to make things have sense HAHAHAHAH So:

Ercole androids are powered by water. They get water into their system like a human drinking water, for then extracting the hydrogen from it with a fuel-cell and releasing the excess water in the water tank on their backs (that can be reused) and the heat from their necks. Extracting the hydrogen from the water is a process called electrolysis, that requires a source of electrical energy, in this case wind power. The hole on their chest serves to capture wind and store the energy created by it, used for the electrolysis. It can open and close, because excessive wind can result in overriding the android's system.

I wanted to make her one of the androids that B2 rescued from their absusive owner (that also broke the wind capturing device making it unable to close, that's why she wears a shirt. Not that she really needed a reason to, but oh well HAHA) 👉👈 For then starting her new life at Fusionsprunt. She ofc helps with heavy lifting (BIG FOREARMS RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-) and sometimes with machineries repairment

I will make doodles of her interacting with B2, Hunter and Guto because- *cries in wholesomeness*

Also I hope the design makes sense HAHAHAH I am very new to this robo thingy

(SORRY FOR THE LONG ASK AHVHDBFJSBHDBSHS)

WOOAAAAAAHHHHHGAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAA💕💕💕💕

[three-dee-ess]

Hey I saw your post about the puffy battery and my 3DS has that (it’s starting to crack the case). I knew it was affecting the battery life but I didn’t know that it was dangerous. How would you go about repairing/replacing this?

ok this is going on my FAQ after this. possibly in my pinned post.

Contact your local *non emergency* number and ask them how to dispose of a puffy lithium ion battery. Follow their instructions.

To remove the battery from the case (which is the best thing to do in that situation) follow the instructions linked in my pinned post "for physical 3DS issues" (https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Nintendo_Handheld_Console)

Be as careful as possible to NOT puncture the battery.

for getting a replacement, just look at the number on your 3DS's battery and type that into amazon. Should be plenty of results, all around $10~$20 USD and they should work perfectly fine. check the reviews if you are worried.

Again, if you have any battery that is bending or breaking the case, is is a legitimate explosion hazard. That battery can explode into a fiery ball of toxic gas. It is in your best interest to dispose of it as soon as possible.

this also goes for batteries inside of ANY electronic device. Switch batteries, macbook batteries, phone batteries, electric bike batteries are also examples of lithium ion batteries that get a lot of usage and often can get overcharged.

resource links:

[mariacallous]

Oregon governor Tina Kotek yesterday signed the state's Right to Repair Act, which will push manufacturers to provide more repair options for their products than any other state so far.

The law, like those passed in New York, California, and Minnesota, will require many manufacturers to provide the same parts, tools, and documentation to individuals and repair shops that they provide to their own repair teams.

But Oregon's bill goes further, preventing companies from implementing schemes that require parts to be verified through encrypted software checks before they will function, known as parts pairing or serialization. Oregon’s bill, SB 1596, is the first in the nation to target that practice. Oregon state senator Janeen Sollman and representative Courtney Neron, both Democrats, sponsored and pushed the bill in the state senate and legislature.

“By eliminating manufacturer restrictions, the Right to Repair will make it easier for Oregonians to keep their personal electronics running,” said Charlie Fisher, director of Oregon's chapter of the Public Interest Research Group, in a statement. “That will conserve precious natural resources and prevent waste. It’s a refreshing alternative to a ‘throwaway’ system that treats everything as disposable.”

Oregon's law isn't stronger in every regard. For one, there is no set number of years for a manufacturer to support a device with repair support. Parts pairing is prohibited only on devices sold in 2025 and later. And there are carve-outs for certain kinds of electronics and devices, including video game consoles, medical devices, HVAC systems, motor vehicles, and—as with other states—“electric toothbrushes.”

Apple opposed the Oregon repair bill for its parts-pairing ban. John Perry, a senior manager for secure design at Apple, testified at a February hearing in Oregon that the pairing restriction would “undermine the security, safety, and privacy of Oregonians by forcing device manufacturers to allow the use of parts of unknown origin in consumer devices.”

Apple surprised many observers with its support for California's repair bill in 2023, though it did so after pressing for repair providers to mention when they use “non-genuine or used” components and to bar repair providers from disabling security features.

According to Consumer Reports, which lobbied and testified in support of Oregon's bill, the repair laws passed in four states now cover nearly 70 million people.

[githling]

🛑 Palestinian family in need, please reblog!🛑

I am making this post on behalf of a friend I met during the genocide in Palestine. His name is Mohammed Khaled and he is struggling to save his family of ten. His GoFundMe is at just under $4,000 out of the $50,000 necessary to evacuate his family.

Mohammed worked for a very successful auto repair shop run by his father, and planned to take over due to his father's passing. Unfortunately, just 16 days into the bombing, Mohammed's home was destroyed along with the auto repair shop. Now, Mohammed donates all of his time and resources to running a generator that provides power not only to charge devices but also to pump water. This one generator is vital to the survival of approximately 100 families, or 1500 people in his neighborhood. However the generator is degrading every day and they hope to replace it with a new, lighter and more efficient one which would cost $500. Without the tireless effort that Mohammed has put into maintaining this generator, over 1000 people would be without electricity or usable water.

I have only known Mohammed for a short time, but he is a kind and generous soul who would sacrifice anything to see his family safe. Even during this heinous period of genocide and bloodshed, Mohammed still posts his writing and poetry on his Instagram stories so that the world might hear the pain and suffering he and countless others are enduring. Please, please, please consider donating, and if donating is impossible then I beg you to share this post. Mohammed and his family, many of which are young children, depend on this visibility.

His GoFundMe is linked below, where you can read his full story.

As of right now it is only at $3,958 which is not enough to evacuate even one person. Please donate and share!

[queeranarchism]

Hej, I just came across your post about carbon emissions and energy and may be I am wrong but it seems to me to be the entirely wrong approach to reduce consumption on the indivdual level. Because for instance I can't reduce my energy any further in a meaningful way with out compromising my wellbeing. Maybe if I shut down using my computer - which I can't for occupational reasons, plus it would isolate me for good. Well we can go of course the full way and declare electricity a mistake. Would inconvience a whole lot of people, kill plenty of them too and so on. But hey! there's been some emission avoided! Well that is just my opinion and may be I am just too negative

It is aboslutely 100% true that we can not meaningfully reduce CO2 emissions by reducing consumption on an individual level.

Of course we can do some things, like 'eat plant-based and local when possible' and 'don't fly' and 'repair instead of replace' but the impact of these things is minor compared to the total CO2 output and it isn't realistic for most of us.

Simply put: I can not get rid of my car if there is no bus service. I can not repair my phone if companies are allowed to deliberately make phones that can not be repaired. I can not eat local if everything is monoculture mass-argiculture for walmart. I can stop flying, but it is no good if all the private jets stay airborne. I can take shorter showers, but it's no use if the massive digital billboard next to my house is using more energy per month that i use per year.

The real massive reduction that we need requires a full societal transformation. Which means ending capitalism and going from a profit driven economy to one that is based on meeting collective needs while reducing CO2 wherever possible. Which means that when it comes to electricity and battery use, we prioritize human needs like medical care and accessibility devices, NOT the latest gaming platform or super car.

This will be a society without private jets, without fossil fuel mining, without advertising, without unnecessary plastic trinkets, without fast fashion, without mega-farms, without cryptocurrency, without bullshit jobs, without the military-industrial complex, without a constant stream of more wireless and battery operated gadgets. But it will be a society with broadly available and affordable public transport, with locally organized and sustainable food production, with medical care for all, with worker control over the workplace, with free repair-workshops everywhere, and more.

I can't imagine every aspect of that world because I am only one person with limited knowledge of all aspects of producing the things we need, but I know it starts with moving from a society organized around profit to a society organized around meeting human needs, including our very immediate need to stop climate change to prevent even more suffering than has already been caused by climate change so far.

[calmoose415]

The Movie Star Speech

Tails sighed.

He folded his elbows over his desk. With another heavy exhalation, he rested his chin on his wrists while his namesakes swished in mild aggitation.

It was supposed to be so simple.

Another day, another raid on one of Eggman's bases. Jewel had sent him, Sonic, and Amy on a mission to scope it out and see if there were any supplies they could grab from there.

And while they had managed to grab some useful stuff, they ended up accidentally tripping some of the bases old security protocols.

Thankfully, with his trusty Miles Electric on hand, he could shut down those protocols with ease.

Keyword: could.

But no. Instead a stray blast from one of his defenses hit the device before he could finish hacking the system.

It took some time, but eventually, he, Sonic, and Amy were able to successfully escape.

But Tails still didn't feel better, especially while carrying the remains of his device back.

To make things worse, when they filed the report upon getting back to Restoration, he could practically feel the eyes on him.

While most people at Restoration were generally fond of him, some even idolizing him, he still had his handful of doubters.

"What is he even doing here?" He could hear some of them saying "He's just a kid, he doesn't belong here."

"What does Sonic see in that kid, anyway? It's not like he does anything that important."

"I heard Sonic only took him in because of his skills. It's not like their actually friends."

No matter how many times he heard it, well-meaning or not, their words always cut worse than any badnik.

These feelings continued to persist even after they got home.

Of course, whenever he was feeling down, Tails always fell back on his hobbies to distract himself. And since the Miles Electric needed repairing, this would be the perfect oportunity.

However, no matter how hard he worked, the thoughts still lingered in the back of his mind.

His head began to hurt as he desperately blinked away the tears building in his eyes.

He was eight years old with a 300 IQ; he shouldn't be crying like a little baby!

Suddenly, the door to his workshop creaked open, startling him out of his thoughts. He spun around, picking up a stray wrench on his desk and instinctively throwing it at this supposed intruder.

Instead, he was greeted with the sight of his big brother standing in the doorway, catching the wrench with ease.

"Woah, bud!" Sonic exclaimed a light chuckle in his voice. "Could've given me a concussion with this!"

Tails' shoulders relaxed. "Sorry." He mumbled. "Didn't know it was you."

"Hey, no harm, no foul." Sonic shrugged.

The teen casually strolled over to Tails' desk, placing the wrench down gently.

Tails hung his head, rubbing his eye tiredly. It was dark outside the windows of the workshop, the sun having set over the horizon a couple hours ago. And it was beginning to affect him.

"You doing okay, bud?"

Tails looked up at his brother, his heart clenching at the concern in his voice.

"I-I'm fine."

Sonic tilted his head before donning a soft smile. He knelt down in front of the kit, placing his hand behind the cub's ear and gently scratching.

"Is this about what happened today?" He asked.

Tails wilted, refusing to meet his brother's eyes, picking at one of his namesakes curled in his lap.

That all but confirmed it for Sonic.

"Hey, bud. It's not that big a deal..." Sonic started.

"It is a big deal!" Tails suddenly snapped, cutting his brother off.

Sonic recoiled a bit at the boy's outburst.

"I couldn't stop Eggman's security protocols fast enough because I was an idiot and didn't see that stray shot coming for me!" A few angry tears leaked down his cheeks.

"Bud, that wasn't your fault. None of us saw that coming." Sonic smiled comfortingly.

"You would have." Tails murmured quietly, looking back down at the ground. "I'm supposed to be smarter than this. But every time we're put in a life-threatening situation, I never pull through."

"Hey," Sonic voiced sternly. "You know that's not true, right?"

Tails, a bit startled, remained silent.

Sonic sighed tiredly. "Hey," He gently took Tails' hands into his own, giving them a light squeeze. "Do you need the Movie Star Speech?"

Tails glanced up his brother before he hesitantly nodded.

"Okay." Sonic smiled. "Tails, you are the star of this movie."

Tails glanced down at his idol's hands, grasping them tightly in his own.

"And this is the part of the movie where you get your heart broken. Where the world tests you, and people treat you like shit."

Tails flinched a bit, some of those peoples' words from earlier that day coming back.

"But it has to happen this way. Otherwise, the end of the movie, where you get everything you want, won't feel as rewarding. There are assholes out there. But in the end, they don't matter."

Tails found himself gazing up into his brother's emerald eyes, a soft smile adorned on the blue hedgehog's face.

"Because this movie's not about them. It's never been about them." Sonic's voice was warm, like a soft blanket draping over him.

"All this time... the movie's been about you."

Tails felt the edge of his lips quirking up into a smile. His eyes began to feel watery again. "Thanks, Sonic."

Sonic smiled back. "No problem, little bro." He gently ruffled the fox's bangs.

Tails giggled happily at his brother's touch before he yawned sleepily.

Still smiling, Sonic wrapping his arms around Tails' waist and lifted him up onto his hip.

"C'mon, bud. Time for bed."

Tails snuggled into his brother's soft fur, bunting his head under his chin and nuzzling him lovingly.

Sonic couldn't smile any wider than he already was as he carried his baby brother out of the workshop and up the stairs towards his room.

Gently laying him down on the mattress, Sonic carefully removed Tails shoes before draping the covers over him.

"Goodnight, Tails." He whispered. He then leaned in and softly kissed the fox cub on the forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too... big bro..." Tails murmured in his sleep.

Sonic chuckled as he stood up and walked over to the door, taking one last glance over his should at his sleeping kid before leaving the room.

[yuurei20]

Malleus Info Compilation part 7: Malleus, Technology and Music

Malleus has an infamously difficult time with mechanical devices, and we learn that in Briar Valley they “rarely ever see fully mechanically things”, as most of what they use is “technomancy”.

When the electronic toy from Lilia that Malleus carries with him gets wet and breaks, Cater comments “Good thing magic exists—and that you’re good at it! Should be a snap for you to fix, yeah?”.

Malleus explains, “It’s completely mechanical. It’s not technomancy. I don’t understand machinery, and I can’t repair what I don’t understand.”

Ortho help Malleus look up information on various monsters for Halloween costume inspiration and, while grateful, Malleus admits he has “no idea how he did what he did”.

He also cannot figure out how to work a shaved ice maker that Ortho gifts him for his birthday. In the Firelit Sky event, we learn that Malleus does not know what GPS is.

Malleus says, "Don't ask me about modern gadgets. Even I have blind spots in my knowledge."

In his birthday vignette Malleus explains that he is quite confidence in his ability to play string instruments, as he had been forbidden from going outside when he was younger and had had a lot of free time as a result.

Lilia taught him to play a variety of string instruments, and he says he is particularly adept at playing violins and cellos. We learn in the Firelit Sky event that he can also play the kamancheh. Cater describes the song he plays as "kinda forlorn".

Malleus says that Lilia did invite him to join the Pop Music Club with Cater and Kalim, but when he visited he made an attempt on an electric violin, and everyone who heard it fainted (with the exception of Lilia himself, who "found it all most amusing").

Malleus says he never went back to the Pop Music Club again. In Spectral Soiree, we see that he can also play the pipe organ.

[lets-try-some-writing]

You got any more creative juices for the Twins AU O.O that was such a jummy au angst with the truth and pinpricks of healing at the end nom nom nom

I'm Listening, all of us are

Ah yes the twin au. Its been a while. Honestly I am low on ideas for this au. It was a concept that I took and ran with and failed to make notes for. However, I will write what I can.

Previous part here. (excuse the formatting I was still figuring tumblr out when I wrote the last piece for this au.)

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━

To wear the face of another was a... difficult thing. It wasn't merely a mask for Optimus. In order to take the identity of his brother, there were sacrifices that had to be made, ones beyond losing his connections and name. Most of the augments had long since been forgotten, but with his identity revealed to his team, it was not hard to find those augments now that the difference was clear.

"Orion, what is this?" Ratchet's digits hovered over sealed compartments on Optimus's frame. The medic worked worked the plating before Optimus could respond, and within a klik, his data cable ports were revealed.

"Sir, you..." Arcee stared in horror, as did the rest of the team. Optimus for his part merely shrugged. He was from the data caste. Optronix was not. His twin had been an enforcer, and no enforcer in Iacon had data cables of all things.

His were cut and cauterized, stopping them from every fully regenerating. It was painful in the extreme, and the instincts of the Archivist demanded he engage his data cables whenever he interacted with technology. He gave up the ability to ever perform his one soothing duties for the sake of appearances. It didn't hurt anymore, it merely prompted a vague feeling of loss.

Ratchet made attempts to assess the damage and repair the worst of it, but all he got in return were hisses of pain from Optimus. His cables were sensitive, even when cut and hidden away. To repair them would be to reopen millennia old wounds and fish around in what amounted to a sensory organ. Without proper tools, it would be needless agony. Ratchet gave up on repairs but did put caps over the cut data cables to limit additional pain that Optimus had been walking off since his rise to Prime.

Arcee worked with Ratchet quietly to make prosthetic data cables for Optimus to use. The prosthetics attached to the caps and simulated the feeling of connecting to a device via electric pulses. It didn't actually do anything, but it would ease the archival coding. Optimus was dubious, but later in the dead of night he could be found with a smile on his face as his prosthetic cables attached to the console. The simple act have him comfort, and for that, the team found the effort worth it.

His devastated data cables were not all the team discovered. As Ratchet ran examination after examination, a whole plethora of augments were swiftly located. Optimus did not stop them. There was no point in it. They knew now, and it was not as though his augments could be removed now.

His optics had been remodeled as one of the first changes to his frame. Optronix's optics had full optical glass coverage. Orion's were of the cycling variety. Optronix needed protection from shrapnel and explosions. Orion needed to be able to capture everything with photographic clarity. When he took on his brother's identity, his sensitive optics were covered with thick optical glass and changed in color to match Optronix's gold ones. He had not seen his own optics since he became Prime, and he had long grown used to the faint pain that came from having to squint just to see through the optical glass.

Ratchet offered, or rather begged to be able to remove the glass. Optimus allowed him. However the glass had to quickly be put back into place when Optimus all but screamed in agony at the sheer level of sensation. After so long seeing through lenses, he couldn't handle light or the level of detail his optics afforded him.

To try and slowly acclimate him back into his original frame, Optimus was ordered to take out the optical glass at least once a cycle for five minutes. The children did their best to make it more bearable for him by having him read books to them. The small text gave his optics something to focus on and helped him reintroduce archival programming back into his priority trees. Every day he would take time out of his usual working hours to read a book to the children. Usually this amounted to reading out their homework questions or helping them get through their assigned reading. However it was always enjoyed and more than once, Bumblebee sat in to listen and see what his Sire's optics actually looked like.

The collective agreement around base was that Optimus's real optics were far more attractive than his fake gold ones.

Optimus had always had a rather boxy build as an Archivist. The frame type allowed him to process all of the data that assaulted him. Optronix however had a slim build, rather unusual for an enforcer. But it fit him due to his position as an investigator. Optronix was designed to be seen by the public and both fast and flexible. Orion had not been forged with such intentions in mind. In order to achieve his brother's frame type, Optimus went through extensive fasting periods and slowly had his waist taken in over the course of vorns. The damage to his internals meant he could never consume great quantities of anything and instead was forced to fuel slowly in order to not overwhelm his crushed tanks.

When Ratchet discovered that fact, he nearly lost his mind in rage. He immediately began attempting to find the bindings that kept Optimus's frame from reverting. However when he did locate the bindings, it was a slow and painful procedure trying to remove them. The bindings had been welded into Optimus's spine and served as a sort of ribcage for his waist. Getting it off involved surgery and Optimus being a wet noodle for several weeks while he recovered.

He vented far better after it was taken out, and for the first time since his rise to Prime, he actually felt like he fit into his frame. Getting him to fuel properly became a new fight for the team, especially once Optimus began to grow unhappy with his frame as it reverted. After so long, the shift began to come rather quickly. He maintained his waist, but he bulked up considerably. More than once the team caught him trying to wrap makeshift binds around his middle just to alleviate his discomfort at losing what he had long since deemed "necessary augments". Bulkhead came in clutch when it came to easing Optimus's concerns. The Wrecker was quick to bring Optimus into sparring matches, showing him that being extra bulky didn't do a thing to his combat capabilities.

Optimus was still the Prime and just as deadly. A supermodel waist didn't define his skill level.

The team were more than pleased when Optimus began to go without his mask without seeming on edge. They smiled when his optics adjusted enough to the light that he didn't need the optical glass anymore. They were all but thrilled when he openly used his prosthetics and moved comfortably in his frame. He had never been visibly as happy as he was, even though they were still at war.

Then Smokescreen arrived, and all that hard work went down the drain. Optimus was dead set on keeping up his persona around those who didn't know.

Ratchet wanted to scream.

[monstersdownthepath]

Herald of Brigh: Latten Mechanism

CR 15

Neutral Large Construct

Adventure Path: Iron Gods: Lords of Rust, pg. 84~85

One of the few Heralds to exist outside of Inner Sea Gods, much like Courage Heart before it, Latten Mechanism* got some serious mileage out of being allowed to stretch across two entire pages, having complete art, lore, a personality, and a kit more complex than most Heralds’! And just LOOK at how adorable that art is! Of course, when you see what it can do to any hostiles it encounters, you may not find it as cute as I do.

*Note: not “The” Latten Mechanism, mind; first name Latten, last name Mechanism, though it’s not opposed to having a “The.” To preserve my sanity, I’ll be shortening it to Latten or Mechanism from here on out unless I feel like being dramatic.

This gigantic machine is a direct creation of Brigh, Goddess of Invention, and dutifully serves her as a siege engine and destroyer of all impediments of mankind’s progress... despite having a personality akin to a loving parent towards more or less every Construct it meets, an a excitable engineer when encountering a mechanism it has never seen before, and an enthusiastic mentor towards any inventor or craftsman it meets. Embodying ALL aspects of Brigh, Latten is also a master engineer, its Master of Crafting and Integrated Crafting Tools allowing it to perform ANY feat of crafting it desires, the former allowing to reallocate its 18 ranks of Craft between any Craft medium(s) it can envision with just 10 minutes of work, the latter allowing it to fabricate masterwork tools for any Craft skill it has without limit or restriction. If speed is needed, it’s got Fabricate at 3/day to cheat on its Craft checks, though it prefers the slow and methodical approach.

But it’s not JUST the act of creation, it’s defending what has already been made. It has several spell-likes which exclusively affect items, structures, and Constructs (such as Make Whole, Rapid Repair, and Unbreakable Construct) to shield its precious “children” and creations from being destroyed, or even harmed. Even further than its spell-likes, Latten has all the abilities of a Lyre of Building, a magic item that can shield all structures within 300ft from all forms of damage for 30 entire minutes AND rapidly craft entirely new structures and pathways as if it were a team of 100 humans working without pause for three entire days... but should it need to, it deals Double Damage Against Objects, an ability which does exactly what you think it does, letting it easily dismantle any device it encounters if that’s what its goddess wills. 

Latten Mechanism is capable of razing or raising entire towns in an hour of work, and all this is before we get to talking about what it can do against player characters directly!

Before we get to its offense, let’s take a look at its defenses first, because the first thing you should check with any Construct is if it can hold its own without crumbling to its component parts with a slight brush. To start off, Latten has DR 10/Adamantine and Magic, except not really; remember Unbreakable Construct? THAT lovely little spell is one it can cast on itself, raising its DR by 5 points to a total of 15. If you don’t have a proper weapon to bypass its reinforced DR, you’re not likely to be outpacing its Fast Healing 10, its body swiftly rebuilding itself right before your very eyes in a manner I think would be fun to watch.

In addition to the standard 26 Spell Resistance possessed by many Heralds, it’s got Cold and Fire Resistance 30 and is outright immune to Acid damage. You would THINK a giant clockwork bug would have the same Vulnerability to Electricity as most Clockwork monsters, but Latten Mechanism has no such weakness. It’s got no resistance to Electricity, mind, but it’s not especially damaged by it, something savvy players may be counting on if they find themselves face-to-faceface with the Herald. Bringing lightning against it might see the bolts bouncing back, in fact, as Latten can cast Lightning Bolt 3/day for a literally shocking bit of ranged burst damage.

That’s not its only ranged attack, and it’s not even the most damaging! Once every 1d4 rounds, the Mechanism can blast a 120ft line with 12d6 Acid OR Electricity damage, showering an area with dramatic bolts or corrosive gas. Able to swap freely back and forth between both damage types, Latten can remove both enemies and obstacles alike, the Electricity damage also giving it unique power against both Clockworks and Robots, two foes it relishes in battling. Not because it enjoys killing “rival” machines, but because it enjoys observing how they function in battle; Latten prefers to not destroy any Construct if it can avoid doing so and especially views killing an intelligent Construct as an unforgivable sin, preferring to incapacitate and reason with them instead. If normal words won’t work, Latten can use Soothe Construct (at-will) or Control Construct (3/day) to pacify such foes once it feels as though it has observed them enough.

Against living or Undead foes, Latten grants quarter only to those who relent first, making it uniquely merciful among the Neutral Heralds. The Mechanism doesn’t attack any creature that stays out of its way, even going as far as to warn anyone nearby that it’s about to muck with the local topography with Move Earth (which it can cast at-will!) or that it’s about to spear straight through a structure like a sapient bulldozer, granting people enough time to get out of its way or evacuate. If they don’t (or can’t), that’s on them. Once it revs its jaws up, whatever its goddess has marked is sure to be destroyed.

Latten Mechanism possesses only one natural attack, but it’s a doozy, dealing 6d8+13 damage PLUS 6d8 Acid or Electricity damage on top of that. Anything struck is in danger of being Grabbed by the mechanical jaws, at which point the mechanisms within the Mechanism’s head sprout out and swiftly grind through the captured foe, dealing an additional 6d8 bludgeoning damage AND 6d8 Acid or Electricity damage. Not breaking the Latten Mechanism’s grapple means taking 12d8+13 + 12d8 Acid/Electricity damage a round (average damage ~130), often enough to shred anything it’s got grabbed... but if it encounters something or someone it either cannot or does not want to chew through, it can instead regurgitate iron cables from its mouth to Entrap any creature it’s grabbed, forcing them to make a DC 19 Fortitude save (which Constructs struggle with) or be entangled for 1d10 rounds, and rendered entirely helpless if they fail a second save before the Entrap wears off.

If you think a monster with only one big attack is less threatening than a lot of little ones, you’re mostly right, but the Mechanism has ways around that. Not only does it have Cleave to hit two people a round with one attack, it can cast both Haste AND Slow 3/day each, the former giving it an additional bite during a Full-Attack, while the latter may mire the party to prevent them from keeping up with its Fast Healing... but the Haste is even more powerful than it first seems, because the Mechanism has an army at its beck and call. Once per day, it can instantly snap four Clockwork Soldiers together from a storage of parts in its body, the machines individually posing little threat to a party, but when working together and supported by the Mechanism’s spell-likes and Entrap, can swiftly dispatch a party whose individual members are far above their own meager CR 6. 

Hey, do you remember Double Damage Against Objects? Do you know what Clockwork Soldiers are really, really good at? Disarming people. And then throwing the weapons they’ve stolen directly into the grinding jaws of the Latten Mechanism, where they’ll take an average of over a hundred damage, likely destroying them utterly even if they’re enchanted adamantine! Hope that wasn’t the only weapon you had that could pierce the Herald’s DR... Also, these Soldiers remain animated for only one hour before collapsing into their component parts, which I assume Latten recycles each time, but the adorable mental image occurs to me of the Herald summoning its soldiers for an engineer to study... and when they collapse, the challenge for that engineer becomes “put them back together perfectly.”

Already this article is so much longer than most! That’s the benefit of getting to grow across two different pages! Which reminds me--the Mechanism is capable of adjusting its size at will, shrinking down to Medium or growing to Huge as it sees fit with a single standard action. In addition to letting it calmly walk around workshops without risking damage to them, this gives it quite the surprise round; what you thought was just a small, amusing clockwork automaton suddenly ballooning in size until it’s tall as a house and biting 40 hitpoints out of you during the surprise round. If you thought being in melee with a critter with a considerable Cleave was bad when its reach was just 10x10, just wait to see how bad it gets at 15x15! And did I mention the Walls of Iron it can call up...?

There’s at least some good news here: so long as the party isn’t threatening some one-of-a-kind miracle machine or trying to set civilization back by a few decades by destroying a revolutionary invention, they’ll probably never be caught in the Latten Mechanism’s warpath. It’s more likely the party will be seeking the Mechanism’s assistance in creating or analyzing some work of artifice; that IS its specialty, after all!

You can read more about it here.

[pennyblossom-meta]

The Ides of April, (part of) upcoming one-shot.

Title: Unfortunate and confusing

Summary: He only said it to blow them off his trail. The events of the next few days manage to baffle him beyond reason.

Lost moments during chapter [x]. Written in L’s POV, after he casually mentions that he ‘could fall’ for Misa — in Anna’s presence. [World building. Character analysis. Misunderstandings. LxOC]

--

I've been feeling a bit down in the past couple of weeks and having trouble finishing chp3 in the timeframe I wanted, so I've written this little one-shot to cheer myself up. This is only the first of 2/3 parts, but I hope it's fun to read :) Should be released in full once I get to chapters 6-10.

No one knows that Anna is a witch. L is confused. Misa has a kind of reverent respect towards her and Yotsuba!Light can't help but to be polite.

--

There are Spoilers Ahead for future chapters (not yet released). You've been warned. Read at your own peril.

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Part 01

The lights in the ceiling flicker, at first shy and then in quick succession. Something about it reminds him of a disco ball or, perhaps, a low budget horror movie.

The flashing lasts for a total of 15 seconds before stabilising again. He makes a mental note to ask Watari to have that fixed soon before it short-circuits the wiring on the whole floor. The last thing he needs right now is to deal with third-party maintenance on the premises, especially when they’re so close to capturing the latest Kira.

Uneasy, he watches her leave Misa Amane’s apartment, a tense smile playing on her lips as she excuses herself with the very much believable explanation that there’s some pending project she has to wrap up for university soon — though it may just be a coverup, a ruse for whatever business she’s been tending to in the privacy of her own room. With some luck, Wedy and Watari are likely to have finished setting up all the new cameras in secret; he’s insisted on a more durable model this time since the previous ones stopped working the moment he turned them on, for some reason. 

And the previous ones, too. The ones before that as well.

Suffice to say, Anna Green’s bedroom seems to be a hotspot of technical trouble. 

Not even the 5 laptops he’s purchased for her are able to escape this fate, with only one exception much to his chagrin. She’s still using that mammoth from a bygone era, happily typing away for assignments with all the giddy excitement of a child learning how to write. How curious that there's something faulty with the electrical installation localised specifically in the area where she inhabits, one that affects every appliance except for that ridiculous 1989 Macintosh Portable she insists on carrying everywhere. Inside an antique Victorian-style case, no less — made of either crocodile leather or the skin of a rather large snake (01), judging by the sheer size of the scales. A coincidence indeed, that over 2 months later no one has been able to figure out where the true issue lies.

He’s had to carefully consider whether she might’ve cleverly tricked him somehow and placed a bug on the cat. Nowadays, it spends an abnormal amount of time with Watari down at the main control room, or following him around the building (a betrayal, she called it more than once, shaking her head at the two strolling through the corridors or when Watari assembles his afternoon snack in the kitchen); it’s more than plausible that she might’ve attached some kind of micro device he’s unaware of to listen in to their conversations so she knows when new cameras are being set up. When an impromptu X-ray proves him wrong (02), he grudgingly reverts to a state of befuddlement — and slight irritation — the next time some electrical appliance eventually breaks beyond repair.

His eyes linger for a second too long, and he feels his stomach give a sharp lurch. The warm lights on the ceiling cast a golden glow on the back of her head, almost as if the brown strands of her hair were alight with the sun, giving them a halo that endures even under fluorescent lights.

The door closes with a sharp click. In response, L clenches his fists inside the pockets of his jeans before turning towards the two Kiras. 

Under normal circumstances Misa would have thrown him a knowing look, perhaps even given him a not-so-subtle jab that he’d be quick to deflect and use to throw her off his trail, but she’s been quiet — unusually so, in fact. He notices that she’s looking at the door with a strange expression, a blend of concern and caution, biting her bottom lip as she taps her fingers on her thigh, deep in thought. Light gives him a puzzled glance while scratching his head, obviously uncomfortable.

Giving no outer indication of his actual thoughts, he furiously reviews the last few minutes, trying to remember whether there’s some small detail that he’s missed, anything that would’ve caused the previously excited mood to drop so fast.

Ever quick to cogitate a variety of scenarios, he soon reaches a conclusion; one that brings more questions than answers. Was this because of…?

“That was…is Anna alright?” Light asks, frowning at the door. Misa glances between the two of them, though she says nothing. She does look ready to bolt after her friend, something he can’t quite allow right now.

“I’m certain Miss Graham is fine, (03)” he deadpans, keeping an eye on Misa. Under his and Light’s scrutiny, she stays put. “Now, we were discussing our upcoming plans and, most importantly, Misa-san’s role in all this.”

Lights clears his throat. “Yeah…Ryuzaki, what exactly are you planning? Like I said, I've opposed this investigation since the start. If it means Misa’s involvement, I can’t allow it; this is too dangerous for her! And let me tell you…”

The attempt to go back to the previous subject before this untimely interruption snaps him out of any lingering reverie. He nods, listening, but also taking in several other aspects surrounding them, to further analyse later when there’s some peace. As if he’s unable to multitask. Misa, he sees from the corner of his eye, has gone back to sitting on the couch, cross-legged. She picks up a magazine on the latest fashion shows from the Tokyo collective that she and Anna had likely been pouring over and places it on her lap, though not before carefully folding the tip on one of the pages in a neat triangle. They seem to have been mid-way through it before he and Light barged in to interrupt their moment’s indulgence in frivolous fun.

In a dash of cynicism, he wonders whether the next ‘date’ their resident idol is bound to suggest — or rather, demand, as is her custom, especially given how long it’s been since the fiasco of their last outing to the zoo — would be to watch one of the upcoming runway shows for next year’s Spring/Summer collection. The logistics alone would be a nightmare. She’ll want VIP seats, no doubt. He’ll need to veto it when the time comes; they don’t have the time to partake in such distractions anymore, certainly not with the latest development on Yotsuba — nor does he particularly want to be under the spotlight with a thousand cameras flashing in his direction. The show itself would be boring enough without considering the blatant security implications. Another option would be to send Matsuda with them, though Misa will complain endlessly about Light’s absence. But it’s a small price to pay if it keeps them both somewhat satisfied and out of his way.

At least Anna should be easy enough to handle once he lists all foreseeable hypotheticals (and edge cases, even the most extreme ones) to her. She’s not usually unreasonable when it comes to following the rules he’s set, barring some exceptional misunderstandings. Bristling aside, he’s confident she’ll be agreeable to his concerns.

As if drawn by a magnet, his eyes briefly land on a book detailing the fauna and flora of the Hokkaido region that sits half-hidden on a small table, next to the couch. He immediately identifies it as the gift he’d asked Watari to buy for her birthday at the end of June, one of his first attempts to endear himself to her and gain her trust, short days after she’d found out about the conditions of Misa’s imprisonment. From the creases on the cover and spine he can tell it’s been loved more than enough times. 

He takes a thumb to his lips and bites down until the nail starts to hurt. It’s the only way to keep the smile off his face and prevent that warm, electric feeling in his stomach that threatens to spread until it muddles his brain.

“Ryuzaki, are you even listening?” Light demands, an annoyed look plastered on his face as he faces him. L can feel the tension emanating and forces himself to focus once more.

Of course he’s listening. Though perhaps his thoughts have, once more, drifted towards other (more pleasant) topics.

“Hmm? Oh, of course. There’s a few things we need to discuss in detail first, namely —”

CRACK

Misa screams, clinging onto Light's arm for dear life. The three of them jump when one of the table lamps suddenly blows up, followed by a flickering of all the lights in the living room. Then, with a resounding whoosh, they all shut down at the same time, leaving them in the dark. Outside, the lights of Tokyo’s nightlife shine like neon stars in the distance.

Grunting, L picks up his phone and activates the lantern feature while Light tries to do the same to the best of his ability, with Misa all but cutting off the circulation in his arm. Bathed under the limited light of both their phones, the shadows cast in her round face look odd, as if caught in a dance of subtle mockery that is both irritating and beyond his understanding, making her eyes look even wider when filled with fear.

It seems that Misa’s floor is also cursed by the same faulty wiring that plagues Anna Green’s bedroom. Whether this is coincidence or another labyrinth he needs to pursue, only time will tell.

Nonetheless, something about the whole situation gnaws at the back of his mind. Instinct tells him something’s afoot, and indeed he’s proven correct when he bashes his big toe on the leg of a chair that he could swear wasn’t there a few moments ago.

TBC

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(01): It's actually dragon leather, but poor L couldn't know.

(02): Yes, L asked Watari to covertly get Rufus through an X-ray test to find any hidden devices. No one came out of it happy (especially not the Kneazle in question). Watari stills bears the scratches, though he was quickly forgiven after a peace offering of freshly cooked brill and tender chicken.

(03): L gives Anna the alias 'Anna Graham', which is a clever way to call her Anagram, which in turn is a jab for whatever it is that she's hiding from him. He's nothing if not subtly acidic, at times. Anna is, naturally, quite annoyed at this.

[cod-dump]

I present to you, Shadow 0-34, Julia "Jules" Conway, the electrical engineer of the Shadow Company. She's the chaotic repairer of the company, your radio doesn't work, go with her, the explosive circuit you planned didn't react, she knows thousand ways to make it boom.

Her callsign was a joke make by Graves when she presented herself, her name being Julia and her love for electricity just went correctly at being called Jules.

She's really sweet but chaotic, the definition of an orange cat, she would be working in her office fixing devices or climbing impossible places on the base.

Do you think Moose would like to be around her?

-🍵

Jules and Moose definitely work a lot together considering their jobs overlap. Moose can get a little testy when working with tech so they might butt heads but in a good natured manner. probably would hang out with her a bit, either in her space or in his. Moose would most definitely worry about her climbing around the base and would probably try to at least accompany her out of worry. Graves found them on a water tower once in one of their temporary bases and he lost his mind.