Taking csgo skins mainly (knives, gloves, aks, m4s, awps and so on). Anything as long as offer is good
I don't update this list everyday, so I have many items which aren't listed here. Check if something interests you! Also, some of the items are on trade hold, for release date you can add me or check by yourself.
TRADE LINK: https://steamcommunity.com/tradeoffenew/?partner=35769104&token=J30wyEpy
Add me to talk here: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197996034832
Keys from these buy outs aren't TF2 keys. I don't take Hydra keys either.
Buy outs are in keys for the sake of having a buy out, I trade for skins mainly.
Gloves/wraps:
Gloves Slingshot FT 0.36 float - B/O 200 keys
Gloves Amphibious WW 0.42 float - B/O 170 keys
Gloves Omega FT 0.33 float - B/O 160 keys
Gloves Snow Leopard FT 0.36 float - B/O 150 keys
Gloves Snow Leopard FT 0.37 float - B/O 150 keys
Gloves Tiger Strike FT 0.32 float - B/O 140 keys
Gloves Smoke Out MW 0.14 float - B/O 120 keys
Gloves King Snake FT 0.36 float - B/o 120 keys
Gloves Tiger Strike WW 0.44 float - B/O 100 keys
Gloves Field Agent FT 0.36 float - B/O 85 keys
Gloves Bronze Morph MW 0.14 float - B/O 75 keys
Gloves Cool Mint FT 0.36 float - B/O 75 keys
Gloves Arid BS 0.64 float - B/O 72 keys
Gloves Emerald Web BS 0.56 float - B/O 71 keys
Gloves Diamondback MW 0.13 float - B/O 68 keys
Gloves POW WW 0.38 float - B/O 66 keys
Wraps Caution FT 0.31 float - B/O 59 keys
Gloves Overtake MW 0.14 float - B/O 59 keys
Gloves King Snake BS 0.59 float - B/O 58 keys
Wraps Caution WW 0.38 float - B/O 50 keys
Wraps Overprint WW 0.43 float - B/O 50 keys
Gloves Big Game BS 0.69 float - B/O 47 keys
Gloves Polygon FT 0.18 float - B/O 50 keys
Gloves Blood Pressure FT 0.32 float - B/O 43 keys
Gloves Blood Pressure FT 0.35 float - B/O 43 keys
Gloves Blood Pressure FT 0.36 float - B/O 43 keys
Gloves Finish Line FT 0.22 float - B/O 50 keys
Gloves Finish Line FT 0.32 float - B/O 42 keys
Gloves Nocts BS 0.62 float - B/O 42 keys
Gloves Boom FT 0.37 float - B/O 38 keys
Gloves Lunar Weave FT 0.36 float - B/O 36 keys
Gloves Finish Line WW 0.41 float - B/O 36 keys
Gloves Diamondback FT 0.37 float - B/O 35 keys
Gloves Field Agent BS 0.77 float - B/O 34 keys
Wraps Overprint BS 0.75 float - B/O 34 keys
Gloves Marble Fade BS 0.57 float - B/O 33 keys
Gloves Case Hardened MW 0.12 float - B/O 33 keys
Gloves Mogul BS 0.60 float - B/O 33 keys
Gloves Cool Mint BS 0.63 float - B/O 31 keys
Gloves Bronze Morph BS 0.61 float - B/O 30 keys
Gloves Jade FT 0.23 float - B/O 35 keys
Gloves Forest Ddpat FT 0.35 float - B/O 26 keys
Wraps Duct Tape MW 0.12 float - B/O 25 keys
Gloves Charred FT 0.21 float - B/O 30 keys
Gloves Overtake FT 0.16 float - B/O 30 keys
Gloves Jaguar Queen FT 0.37 float - B/O 22 keys
Gloves Rezan FT 0.16 float - B/O 30 keys
Gloves Rezan FT 0.28 float - B/O 21 keys
Gloves Yellow-banded FT 0.30 float - B/O 21 keys
Gloves Diamondback BS 0.58 float - B/O 20 keys
Wraps Arboreal FT 0.31 float - B/O 20 keys
Gloves Snakebite FT 0.16 float - B/O 25 keys
Gloves Blood Pressure BS 0.74 float - B/O 19 keys
Gloves Forest Ddpat BS 0.46 float - B/o 19 keys
Gloves Convoy WW 0.44 float - B/o 19 keys
Gloves Case Hardened FT 0.15 float - B/O 23 keys
Gloves 3rd Company FT 0.36 float - B/O 17 keys
Goves Buckshot FT 0.15 float - B/O 20 keys
Gloves Unhinged FT 0.24 float - B/O 17 keys
Gloves Overtake BS 0.45 float - B/O 17 keys
Gloves 3rd Company FT 0.38 float - B/O 16 keys
Wraps Constrictor FT 0.31 float - B/O 16 keys
Gloves Buckshot WW 0.40 float - B/O 16 keys
Wraps Desert Shamagh FT 0.35 float - B/o 16 keys
Wraps Constrictor WW 0.38 float - B/O 16 keys
Gloves Transport BS 0.60 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Rezan BS 0.74 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Yellow-banded BS 0.63 float - B/o 15 keys
Gloves Guerrilla BS 0.53 float - B/o 15 keys
Gloves Buckshot BS 0.53 float - B/O 15 keys
Wraps Desert Shamagh WW 0.41 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Case Hardened BS 0.53 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Emerald FT 0.36 float - B/O 15 keys
Wraps Constrictor BS 0.74 float - B/O 15 keys
Gloves Needle Point FT 0.36 float - B/O 14 keys
Gloves Rattler FT 0.35 float - B/O 13 keys
Gloves Mangrove FT 0.25 float - B/O 12 keys
Gloves Racing Green FT 0.30 float - B/O 11 keys
Knives and high tier items:
Talon Black Pearl MW 0.07 float - B/O 600 keys
Karambit Autotronic MW 0.13 float - B/O 350 keys
Nomad Fade MW ST 99% 0.07 float - B/O 400 keys
M9 Tiger Tooth FN 0.003 float - B/O 300 keys
M9 Tiger Tooth FN 0.01 float - B/O 270 keys
Daggers Sapphire FN ST 0.004 float - B/O 230 keys
Karambit Black Laminate FT 0.29 float - B/O 210 keys
M9 Black Laminate MW 0.11 float - B/O 200 keys
Talon Slaughter FN 0.03 float - B/O 200 keys
DEAGLE Blaze FN 0.01 float - B/O 170 keys
Flip Lore FN 0.05 float - B/O 170 keys
Butterfly Night FT 0.19 float - B/O 190 keys
Bayonet Tiger Tooth FN 0.02 float - B/O 160 keys
Flip Gamma Doppler FN P4 0.02 float - B/O 160 keys
Butterfly Stained BS 0.90 float - B/O 150 keys
M9 Freehand MW 0.11 float - B/O 150 keys
Flip Marble Fade FN 0.004 float - B/O 140 keys
Butterfly Forest Ddpat FT 0.16 float - B/o 140 keys
Flip Gamma Doppler FN P1 0.01 float - B/O 140 keys
Butterfly Safari Mesh FT 0.19 float - B/O 140 keys
Flip Doppler FN P2 0.03 float - B/O 140 keys
Karambit Ultraviolet BS 0.51 float - B/o 140 keys
Bayonet Lore FT 0.25 float - B/O 140 keys
Ursus Doppler FN P4 0.06 float - B/O 140 keys
Nomad Vanilla - B/O 130 keys
M9 Damascus Steel FT 0.20 float - B/O 130 keys
AK Head Shot FN ST 0.05 float - B/o 130 keys
M9 Blue Steel BS 0.99 float - B/O 150 keys
Stiletto Tiger Tooth FN 0.006 float - B/O 130 keys
Huntsman Fade FN 0.03 float - B/O 130 keys
Flip Tiger Tooth FN 0.03 float - B/O 120 keys
Skeleton Stained FT 0.23 float - B/O 120 keys
Ursus Crimson Web MW 0.12 float - B/O 120 keys
Ursus Doppler FN P1 0.03 float - B/o 120 keys
Flip Vanilla - B/O 120 keys
Stiletto Vanilla - B/O 120 keys
Huntsman Gamma Doppler FN ST 0.02 float - B/O 120 keys
M9 Stained Ft 0.28 float - B/O 110 keys
Karambit Forest Ddpat FT 0.36 float - B/O 110 keys
Flip Doppler FN 0.01 float - B/O 110 keys
M9 Rust Coat BS 0.66 float - B/O 110 keys
M9 Night BS 0.49 float - B/O 110 keys
Ursus Tiger Tooth FN 0.008 float - B/O 110 keys
Bayonet Lore BS 0.62 float - B/O 100 keys
Flip Autotronic MW 0.14 float - B/O 100 keys
Skeleton Night FT ST 0.27 float - B/O 100 keys
M9 Urban Masked FT 0.28 float - B/O 100 keys
Bayonet Black Laminate MW 0.12 float - B/O 100 keys
Paracord Slaughter FN ST 0.03 float - B/O 90 keys
Flip Slaughter FT 0.23 float - B/O 90 keys
Huntsman Marble Fade FN 0.009 float - B/O 90 keys
Skeleton Stained BS 0.65 float - B/O 90 keys
Ursus Vanilla - B/O 85 keys
Gut Autotronic FN 0.05 float - B/O 84 keys
Bayonet Crimson Web FT 0.34 float - B/O 84 keys
Paracord Slaughter MW 0.10 float - B/O 83 keys
Bowie Marble Fade FN 0.01 float - B/O 82 keys
Bowie Marble Fade MW 0.07 float - B/O 82 keys
Bayonet Damascus Steel FT 0.22 float - B/O 82 keys
Bowie Doppler Fn P3 0.03 float - B/O 81 keys
Flip Autotronic FT 0.23 float - B/O 80 keys
Huntsman Tiger Tooth FN 0.02 float - B/O 75 keys
Talon Boreal MW 0.08 float - B/O 73 keys
Survival Vanilla - B/O 72 keys
Flip Ultraviolet MW 0.14 float - B/O 72 keys
Daggers Gamma Doppler FN P4 0.02 float - B/O 71 keys
Stiletto Damascus Steel FT 0.31 float - B/O 71 keys
Flip Bright Water FN 0.04 float - B/O 71 keys
Skeleton Safari Mesh FT 0.15 float - B/O 68 keys
Talon Safari Mesh MW 0.13 float - B/O 68 keys
Ursus Ultraviolet MW 0.13 float - B/O 67 keys
Bowie Tiger Tooth FN 0.02 float - B/O 67 keys
Paracord Crimson Web FT 0.15 float - B/O 80 keys
Classic Case Hardened MW 0.09 float - B/O 65 keys
Nomad Blue Steel BS 0.87 float - B/O 64 keys
Falchion Lore MW 0.09 float - B/O 61 keys
Gut Lore MW 0.12 float - B/O 60 keys
Paracord Forest Ddpat FN 0.06 float - B/O 57 keys
Bowie Case Hardened FT 0.18 float - B/O 57 keys
Gut Tiger Tooth MW 0.07 float - B/O 56 keys
Falchion Vanilla ST - B/O 55 keys
Ursus Damascus Steel FN 0.05 float - B/O 54 keys
Daggers Marble Fade FN 0.05 float - B/O 53 keys
Navaja Marble Fade FN ST 0.01 float - B/O 51 keys
Flip Night FT 0.23 float - B/O 51 keys
Gut Marble Fade FN 0.01 float - B/O 50 keys
Huntsman Black Laminate BS 0.80 float - B/O 50 keys
Falchion Lore Ft 0.24 float - B/O 50 keys
Gut Doppler FN P2 0.008 float - B/O 50 keys
Huntsman Freehand FN 0.06 float - B/O 49 keys
Huntsman Night MW 0.14 float - B/O 49 keys
Daggers Tiger Tooth FN 0.01 float - B/O 49 keys
Classic Blue Steel MW 0.12 float - B/O 48 keys
Ursus Ultraviolet FT 0.28 float - B/O 48 keys
Huntsman Crimson Web FT 0.31 float - B/O 48 keys
Huntsman Case Hardened WW 0.42 float - B/O 48 keys
Gut Doppler FN P4 0.02 float - B/O 48 keys
Ursus Damascus Steel MW 0.10 float - B/O 47 keys
Bowie Vanilla - B/O 47 keys
Daggers Lore MW 0.14 float - B/O 46 keys
Gut Tiger Tooth FN 0.03 float - B/O 46 keys
Daggers Vanilla - B/O 46 keys
Nomad Night FT 0.25 float - B/O 46 keys
Flip Rust Coat BS 0.63 float - B/O 46 keys
Navaja Doppler FN P2 0.02 float - B/O 46 keys
Navaja Marble Fade FN 0.03 float - B/O 46 keys
Ursus Night MW 0.14 float - B/o 45 keys
Gut Doppler FN P1 0.03 float - B/O 43 keys
Navaja Slaughter FN 0.05 float - B/O 43 keys
Stiletto Safari Mesh FT 0.20 float - B/O 43 keys
Classic Night BS 0.73 float - B/O 43 keys
Nomad Boreal FT 0.37 float - B/O 43 keys
Huntsman Freehand MW 0.11 float - B/O 43 keys
Daggers Slaughter MW 0.11 float - B/O 42 keys
Huntsman Damascus Steel MW 0.13 float - B/o 42 keys
Falchion Crimson Web FT 0.18 float - B/O 45 keys
Gut Vanilla - B/O 41 keys
Flip Urban Masked FT 0.28 float - B/O 41 keys
Paracord Blue Steel FT 0.36 float - B/O 40 keys
Nomad Safari Mesh MW 0.12 float - B/o 40 keys
Navaja Tiger Tooth FN 0.01 float - B/O 40 keys
Ursus Blue Steel BS 0.95 float - B/O 39 keys
Falchion Bright Water FN 0.05 float - B/O 39 keys
Daggers Lore FT 0.32 float - B/O 39 keys
Bowie Bright Water FN 0.06 float - B/O 39 keys
Gut Lore BS 0.59 float - B/O 38 keys
Flip Forest Ddpat FT 0.36 float - B/o 38 keys
Flip Scorched FT 0.34 float - B/O 37 keys
Flip Safari Mesh FT 0.36 float - B/O 37 keys
Nomad Scorched FT 0.35 float - B/o 36 keys
Nomad Safari Mesh WW 0.44 float - B/O 36 keys
Daggers Lore WW 0.42 float - B/O 35 keys
Daggers Crimson Web FT 0.37 float - B/O 35 keys
Classic Scorched FT 0.16 float - B/O 35 keys
Classic Boreal MW 0.08 float - B/O 34 keys
Falchion Bright Water MW 0.14 float - B/O 34 keys
Ursus Urban Masked FT 0.33 float - B/o 34 keys
Navaja Blue Steel FN 0.01 float - B/O 34 keys
Daggers Freehand FN 0.06 float - B/O 34 keys
Classic Urban Masked FT 0.35 float - B/O 34 keys
Classic Forest Ddpat FT 0.18 float - B/O 33 keys
Ursus Scorched MW 0.13 float - B/O 33 keys
Classic Safari Mesh MW 0.12 float - B/O 33 keys
Ursus Safari Mesh MW 0.12 float - B/O 32 keys
Ursus Scorched FT ST 0.35 float - B/O 32 keys
Navaja Vanilla - B/O 32 keys
Gut Ultraviolet MW 0.13 float - B/O 32 keys
Huntsman Bright Water FT 0.35 float - B/O 32 keys
Bowie Bright Water FT 0.17 float - B/O 31 keys
Bowie Ultraviolet WW 0.38 float - B/o 30 keys
Ursus Boreal FT 0.15 float - B/O 30 keys
Ursus Safari Mesh FT 0.20 float - B/O 30 keys
Falchion Black Laminate WW 0.39 float - B/O 29 keys
Survival Night BS 0.66 float - B/O 28 keys
Paracord Urban Masked FT 0.22 float - B/O 28 keys
Navaja Case Hardened WW 0.44 float - B/O 28 keys
Huntsman Boreal FT 0.27 float - B/O 28 keys
Huntsman Scorched FT 0.20 float - B/O 28 keys
Gut Bright Water FT ST 0.21 float - B/O 27 keys
Daggers Ultraviolet FT 0.30 float - B/O 27 keys
Gut Damascus Steel FT 0.35 float - B/O 27 keys
Gut Rust Coat BS ST 0.52 float - B/O 27 keys
Gut Bright Water FT 0.26 float - B/O 27 keys
Bowie Rust Coat BS 0.48 float - B/O 27 keys
Paracord Forest Ddpat FT 0.26 float - B/O 27 keys
Gut Night FT ST 0.18 float - B/O 26 keys
Gut Blue Steel FT 0.32 float - B/O 26 keys
Paracord Forest Ddpat WW 0.38 float - B/O 26 keys
Gut Freehand FT 0.30 float - B/O 26 keys
Paracord Safari Mesh FT 0.17 float - B/O 26 keys
Navaja Damascus Steel Fn 0.05 float - B/O 26 keys
Falchion Rust Coat BS 0.52 float - B/O 26 keys
Bowie Scorched FT 0.19 float - B/O 25 keys
Gut Freehand WW 0.40 float - B/o 25 keys
Falchion Forest Ddpat FT 0.15 float - B/O 25 keys
Daggers Ultraviolet WW 0.38 float - B/O 25 keys
Gut Rust Coat BS 0.55 float - B/O 24 keys
Gut Safari Mesh WW 0.38 float - B/O 23 keys
Daggers Bright Water FT 0.21 float - B/O 23 keys
Daggers Ultraviolet BS 0.52 float - B/O 23 keys
Navaja Blue Steel MW 0.12 float - B/O 23 keys
Gut Urban Masked FT 0.19 float - B/O 23 keys
Gut Boreal FT 0.23 float - B/O 23 keys
Gut Safari Mesh FT 0.28 float - B/O 22 keys
Daggers Black Laminate FT 0.37 float - B/O 22 keys
Gut Scorched FT 0.15 float - B/O 22 keys
Navaja Ultraviolet FT 0.36 float - B/O 22 keys
Daggers Night FT 0.25 float - B/O 22 keys
Navaja Boreal BS 0.67 float - B/O 21 keys
Navaja Night MW 0.12 float - B/O 21 keys
Navaja Stained FT 0.30 float - B/O 21 keys
Navaja Blue Steel WW 0.40 float - B/O 21 keys
Navaja Night BS 0.57 float - B/O 20 keys
Daggers Rust Coat BS 0.66 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Boreal FT 0.15 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Boreal Ft 0.15 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Urban Masked FT 0.28 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Night FT 0.20 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Safari Mesh BS 0.65 float - B/O 20 keys
Navaja Forest Ddpat FT 0.29 float - B/O 20 keys

PART III of our Character Study of Gorou Amamiya is an intermezzo chapter. We'll rehash some content from the previous parts and try to understand them on a basic structural level . This is more of an extra edition I allowed myself to write down since this was impossible to fit into the main study without unnecessary distractions . Last but not least some conversations that followed from the previous releases had been ever so fruitful for the creation of either new or advancing preexisted ideas .
This is an Analysis of the Good and the Evil, the Heroe's Journey, the Problem and the Solution.

For thosee who are new here and haven't read the previous parts: You still can just enjoy MYTHOLOGICAL LORE! Scroll down until you see all the Hyperlinks or better start a bit earlier at "3. Entertainment"

​
​
SANATORIUM - DISEASES - TREATMENTS
In Part I we discussed Gorou's loner existence in a rural city that would mainly revolve around the mountain hospital he works at. Due to low patients frequency Gorou had lots of free time to hang around mostly in patient rooms. Besides of highlighting a selfish reason for his behaviour, the general assumption was that his arrangement was convenient. Just a doctor hanging around at his workplace, right?
Now I'd like to flesh this picture out for you. This previous one was actually pretty dull, it allows too many variables in a story that is actually very intentional. Since Aka Akasaka - as well known - had figured out the beginning and the ending of the story he wants to tell before the manga even started, it's obvious that the beginning scenery is thrilled with symbols, metaphors and meanings for both the Heros but also the meta plot itself and is interconnected with the story's ending in which all those pre-established elements will meet a final resolution to its opposite: In principle this is what you all know as the "Hero's journey".
First lets talk about location location location, as real estate agents love to say. And indeed the location is essential to the plot. Our story begins in a rural hospital. Stop. Actually "hospital" is already too arbitrary of a word and misses the significance of the location. A more accurate word for a rural hospital on a mountain is the Sanatorium. A Sanatorium is an antiquated name for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are tradionally located in healthy climate, usually in the countryside. In the 19th and 20th century these were popular centers for tuberculosis suffers. Some of you might be familiar with Thomas Mann's "The Magic Mountain" (german: Der Zauberberg) which is the most prominent novel revolving around such an institution. Magic Mountain, huh? So we have our Sanatorium, we have our countryside Mountain and certainly we have our magic through the sanctuary of Ame-No-Uzume Goddess of Entertainment and the reincarnation on top of that mountain.
Now that we have established the location lets look at our most prominent patients. What's so special about their condition that they would need treatment in a specialised hospital? How are they all connected to each other? Our most prominent patients are Sarina Tendoji, Ai Hoshino and ... well ... Gorou Amamiya.
​

1. Gorou Amamiya

The alert reader immediately knows why I include Gorou Amamiya in that list. I know, including Ai is actually the hot take here. But be patient, we'll get o her later.
Since we established Aqua's trauma to be inherited from Gorou and explored the tragic nature of his birth and the abuse he suffered during his childhood, his inclusion is reasonable. But this - only way later in C75 unvealed background - is already visible right from the beginning with intentional symbols, metaphors and hidden meanings. There are two levels for the representation of his illness.
​

• The general representation of his life in this rural area and his habitual lurking around patient's rooms, like when Sarina was around and so on. Just sitting their while looking out the window at the beautiful landscapes. On the surface this is of course just a Doc with a qurik and a lot of free time. But no, the actual meaning is here that he's seeking a cure too. That he is sick. Patients are naturally bored in hospitals, they have a lot of free time because they are sick. They also enjoy the countryside's view. It's one of the main healing attractionto Sanatoriums and made them so popular in the 19th and 20th century. In this specific case the countryside he observes is sacret and related to entertainment. Keep this in the back of your head for now.

Thus we transformed the surface explanation that his free time as a doctor comes from low frequency to the meaningful symbolic depths that it's actually reflecting his status as a chronically ill patient. Moreso even his decision to move out of Tokyo to the countryside - what I called in part 1 the "self-imposed isolation" - turns out to be a meaningful representation of his trouble. We'll later explore another underlaying structure which is the very reason for his "existencial boredom". It's not directly trauma, but for now lets just say it's so fundamentally burned into him that as a consequence his stay at the Sanatorium is as permanently as befits his disease and eventually only ends with his death and reincarnation, or perhaps only then it actually is challenged. Stay tuned.
​

• The second, now tangible representation of his diseases is what we already established in Part 1: his obsession with Ai, the inner void he tries to cure with his active measures of "medicine" in a patient's room. While technically he could've watched her literally elsewhere, he decided to hide away in a patient's room. This is a symbol. His first scene in the Manga ever starts exactly in such a room. The sister came in to check - metaphorically speaking - on the patient Gorou Amamiya. This illustration is completely intentional and meaningful to flesh out the double-sided irony of his employment at this particular hospital as a doctor and admission to the Sanatorium as a chronically ill patient.

It's the very first scene that exactly establishes that split personality. We witness a hard cut between the body language of the patient and the body language of the competent cross legged Doctor who explains to us the nature and reason he consumes this "medicine". In this scene he switches back to the doctor's role and while it's a funny cope towards the sister it's at the same time sounds like a serious prescription for himself. Absurdity meets underlaying seriousness and a real problem of the highest importance possible. A problem which is the very reason this story exsists, a problem that will embark our heros on their journey and a problem that will ultimately be solved.
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https://preview.redd.it/ewasnfmvnd3b1.jpg?width=2571&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3fed46b24063b90c79df20a7a1231eaca9208bc2
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1. Sarina Tendoji

In contrast to Gorou's more subtle immaterial deciption of his disease, Sarina's situation is basically the exterior as the utmost visible form of it. She is the embodiment of the classic Sanatorium inhabit with the typicel physical characteristics: chronic disease, handicapped existence, very care-dependent. But these 3 characteristics will show themselves also for Sarina as mental barriers after she reincarnated in Ruby. Care-dependets in her seek for Ai's, a mother's and a father's love, the handicapped existence in her troulbe to move and dance how she''d like to and ultimately the expression of a chronic disease in form of the trauma she inherited from Sarina's soul. From the point of view of "plot related meaning" Ruby's inheritance of those 3 characteristics are more important then the physical showcase in Sarina's body, although we will later also unveal another layer of particulary Sarina Tendoji not Ruby Hoshino in this story. You see, I'm really bulding up here.
She has a symbolic double function as both a sick dying child but also as physical representation of Ruby's, Aqua's and Gorou's mental situation. To quote PART II for that matter:

In a sense the image of the handicapped Sarina living in the hospital is the quintessential metaphorical representation of Gorou himself. She shows upfront what was the psychological state of Gorou's soul. When he realized in C119 that Sarina's life must've been like hell he reflected his own experience too.

But in order to apply these 3 characteristics to Gorou we first have to explore another symbolic layer to why all of our proganists revolve around this particular hospital. For this we have to step back and look at the most dominent theme of the story: Entertainment...
​

3. Entertainment

... is our PATIENT ZERO. Entertainment itself in this Story is chronically ill. It's existence - the very nature of art - is handicapped and crippled by cold hearted and ultimately in opposition to the essence of entertainment standing particular business interests. Their practice of entertainment harms both artists and art enjoyers and thus the meaning of entertainment itself. Entertainment as a mass-produced industry is a disease to entertainment as the realm of the truth-seeking, philanthopic and graceful expression of the uttermost passionate creative minds who enjoy the blessing of the goddess and share her blessing with the community.
The true meaning of Entertainment is joyfull fullfillment and the exploration of new uplifting expressions of cultural life. It's a healing power in the most innocent and human-loving way, it's first and foremost an enrichtment of the soul, not of the pocket. The industry however inverted this relation: Now the money dictates the art. As a consequence talent get's blocked, content is cheap and underwhelming, instead of uplifting humanity, the mere consumer gets just as much exploited as the performer. The consumer is conditioned to waste his limited precious lifespawn with the consumption of the most primitive motives of entertainment. This is a form of exploitation through the industry and it has rotten everyone to the bone. The artist gets either drained or he himself corrupts and uses the same sort of schemes, trickes and deceptions to climb to the top. But the higher they climb the further they uproot from the essence of true entertainment ... And those who oppose and try tu succeed with honest and uplifting ideals will literally killed on the way.
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🚬
We have diagnozed the problem, the chronical disease. A disease which is the very reason for this story to exsist, a disease that will embark our heroes on their journey and a disease that will ultimately be cured. And indeed the location has proven to be essential to this plot. Our story begins with a Mountain Sanatorium in the heart and on top of the Goddesses of Entertainment's realm. A symbol for The Cure of Entertainment.
​

1. Ai Hoshino

To understand why Ai seeks cure exactly at that hospital we have to expose the location she's fleeing from: Tokyo. Tokyo is the center of this plot's Entertainment industry. A metropolis is the absolute opposition to the countryside, this tension between Tokyo as the center of Business and Commerce and Takachiho as the center of the Goddess of Entertainment's true and opposing expressions of Art sets the dialectic. I was purposely holding back the name of Ame-No-Uzume's town until now because it only has a concrete meaning in this tight relation to the plot-stretching antagonist, which culminates in Tokyo. Ame-No-Uzume occupies the domain of Takachiho, but who occupies Tokyo the? It's a mix between the Japanese Mythology of the Seven Lucky Gods who are basically characterized as Gods of Business and Commerce and the Seven Deadly Demons from Christian Demonology.

1. Lucifer: pride
2. Beelzebub: envy
3. Satan: wrath
4. Abaddon: sloth
5. Mammon: greed
6. Belphegor: gluttony
7. Asmodeus: lust

It all leads to Hikaru Kamiki as our personified antagonist: If you write "Kamiki" in kanji, it will be like 光る or just 光, which literally means "to shine, to glitter, to be bright", which make a lot of sense being the name of man who got starry eyes. But, if we look a bit deeper, such name can be translated as "The Shining One" or "One who brings the Light"... In christian mythology this is - Lucifer the Morning Star himself. Double irony there in the fact that Ai often nicknamed and referenced as VENUS, Evening Star Reborn, as u/Raeliic4 pointed out to me. On top I also found a suitable association with Beelzebub which is another name for the Devil. Beelzebub is also called "The King of Flies" and in the Dictionnaire Infernal (1863) a Book on Demonology he's depicted as a Fly! So maybe he wasn't wearing only crow feathers but actually also Fly-hair?... Beelzebub is known in demonology as one of the seven deadly demons or seven princes of Hell, Beelzebub representing gluttony and envy. Gluttony = He appears as the best drinking buddy of Yura (and maybe Frill). Envy = He's envious towards the white-glooming Star-People.
Thus the antagonist is created: It's a demonic force of industrialized Entertainment that has rotten down Art to the bone and occupies Tokyo as it's center. Kamiki however is for now the most malicious and excessive release of this evilness. While the industry tries to just drain, corrupt and exploit stars, he literally kills stars out of personal envy. In order to cure Entertainment our protagonists have to be embarked on a journey to Tokyo. In this antagonistic relation Aqua and Ruby are ultimately Heroes blessed by the God of Entertainment to cast out the Devil that holds "Entertainment" in his death grip.
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Ai Hoshino's story begins with her escape from the Devil. She flees Tokyo and tries to find protection and cure in Takachiho in at least 3 meanings.
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1. AS AN IDOL : On the surface level it's because an Idol can't justify promiscurity towards her fans and because the Agency can't justify pregnancy of a Teenager, so she has to flee where nobody knows her. This is besides also a metaphor that indeed the Town of God is where nobody knows the filth of the rotten Tokyo-World. But this is just again the convenient explanation the characters verbalize towards us, as proven many times there is also a hidden symbolic dialectic to it. The IDOL as the Evening Star VENUS is an object of LUST (Asmodeus, one of the seven deadly demons). You might be familiar with the VENUSBERG) from european folklore. "In German folklore of the 16th century, the narrative becomes associated with the minnesinger Tannhäuser who becomes obsessed with worshipping the goddess Venus." But what AI seeks is real love, somethinf that can be loved. And thus she steps down from the Venusberg ("Venus Mountain") in other words steps down as an Idol of Lust to become a Mother, It's a purification - "I am Maria" she sings in the OP song. There is a metaphorically similar transformation which starts Richard Wagner's "Tannhäuser" Opera. Tannhäuser: The world of Venus is dedicated exclusively to LUST. Tannhäuser found his way here as a mortal, but is increasingly weary of the enjoyment (“If a god can always enjoy, I am subject to change”). Trying to persuade her knights to stay, Venus prophesied that the people would never forgive Tannhäuser for dwelling with the pagan goddess of love: he would never find salvation there. However, Tannhäuser sticks to his decision: “My salvation rests in Maria!” When Mary is invoked, the world of Venus disappears and Tannhäuser sees himself transported to a lovely forest valley in Thuringia at the foot of the Wartburg. The Beginning of Wagner's Tannhäuser basically sums up AI'S ESCAPE from her VENUS-TRAMMEL to her MATERNAL HAPPINESS. Even that this purification situates Tannhäuser in a lovely forest valley at the foot of a mountain-castle fits the narrative. Our Sanatorium in the lovely rural japanese backwaters is a powerful castle which gives her ultimate protection to bear her children. Just like that Ai "spawns" into the our plot. A minute before that she was the worshipped VENUS obsessed over by Gorou on his TV, but became the MOTHER when she entered the Castle. Gorou became her KNIGHT. Gorou had a Tannhäuser-Transformation himself, when he realized that the IDOL Ai needs him as the future MOTHER Ai and therefore overcame his lewd interest and served her as the protector of her maternity.
2. AS A BRIDE: Lucifer's wife is also associated with the she-demon LILITH, the child murderer. Ai flees her relationship with Kamiki and therefore flees from the fate of a child murderer. She was pregnant with "soulless Children" which means: Stillbirths. In german we also say "Sternenkind" (Star Child) for stillbirth. So she metaphorically flees the "marriage" between Evening Star and Morning Star and eventually opposes her fate as the child murderer LILITH who carries Sternenkinder with the help of the Knight and Hero Tannhäuser-Gorou. As Takachibo is the realm of our blessing Goddess of Art and the Sanatorium her Castle on the Magic Mountain it's fair to assume that also soul migration is only possible there in the center of her purifying power. The Devil Kamiki maybe can't even enter the Castle himself because it shields itself from Evilness...
3. AS A SAVIOUR: Just as RUBY and AQUA our AI gets send back with a Mission: To Cure Art and Entertainment. There is a lot we can say about her involvement in this but I want to cut it down to one essential plot-line: Her association with Gotanda and the following shoots for a documentary with him. Gotanda for that matter is a very, very important figure. He is the man who only wants to hear the TRUTH, a man who is capable to see through LIES instantaneous, he who CAN'T BE DECEIVED. As long as he doesn't stop the recording it is a proof for the verisimilitude of the content. He is the "NOTARY" who witnessed her TESTIMONY but also her TESTAMENT (in german we also say "LETZTER WILLE" instead of Testament, which means LAST WILL or LAST WISH... Ai's Wish). She was killed but she archived everything she needed to archive: Found true Love and passed down her LEGACY through the recordings with Gotanda. Ruby and Aqua received everything they need to fight the Evil. Ai's KARMA as a result led for her soul to enter NIRVANA and break out of the cycle of rebirth which in Buddism is called "SAMSARA" - Thus "her soul collapsed and returned to the stars and the sea. It will never be reformed again. Death is Death. Ai Hoshino doesn't think of anything anymore, nothing is on her mind" -> NIRVANA. But as far as the content of the movie goes it's obviously a big exposure of the corruption and wrong doing that is happening in the Industry. She, Goatanda but als Aqua want to archive a social phenomenom with the movie. They want CHANGE. Thus she came to Takachiho to heal and left as a HEALER and MOTHER MARIA with her Twins as the SAVIOURS of ART. In PART I and PART II we identified in full extent her role as a saviour for Ruby and Aqua in the form of Ruby's muse and mother-figure and Aqua's unconditonally loving mother that reenacted his innocence in the tragic death of Gorou's mother.

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I promised to talk about another connecting layer, the very reason why it must be exactly SARINA and GOROU who are chosen to wield the sword against the devil. But we will delay this topic for another time. PART IV will get us to the THAT CORE. They are not chosen because they have Trauma, this would be absurdly dull. The Trauma or chronical disease they suffer are the result of a "crime" against the blessings of the Goddess of Arts. That's a small hint from my side.
Thank to the faithful readers and brave souls who dived back again into another of my essays and also thanks to every new face here as well.. Hopefully I'll see you all again for the next Part!
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note: this mini-rant is not about the hit-or-miss challenge detection, problems with goofy stance in challenges, etc.
In my opinion, it seems like a weird gameplay design choice by the developers to not give hints or clues for the historical challenges. You can get a few by chance and luck, but ultimately if you want to get all the historical challenges you're basically required to have a tutorial/video guide to show you what they actually are. When you look in the list and it just shows ???????? for each one, what are the game devs actually expecting the players to do?
This especially goes for some of the longer line challenges (Welcome to Hell, I'm looking at you) where the chance of doing that line by coincidence are basically zero. If you're struggling to complete the manhattan historical missions, are we really expected to know "Oh, I should do Jamie Thomas's specific line from that one video here." Are the game devs intending to force players to read a third-party guide? They could improve this by providing vague hints, or the name of the skater who did it but not the trick required, etc, but currently there is no way to get all of these without following a tutorial, which seems like weird/bad gameplay design in my opinion. Wanting to 100% the game's achievements and being forced to follow an external guide takes a lot of the sense of accomplishment out of it IMO.
/rant

TL;DR if you're truly being unfairly treated, don't be afraid to dispute their decision and threaten arbitration. This is likely more costly to Stubhub than the refund you are seeking and only costs you about 15 minutes to fill the form and $5 to send certified mail.
Story: Like many of you, I can't always purchase tickets firsthand and sometimes I have to sell tickets when plans change. I'm not a professional scalper; I'll attend probably 20-30 events per year, including pro sports games and concerts.
Last year, I was able to buy tickets from TM for a major pop concert because the original dates were recently rescheduled, so tickets would slowly pop up on TM, presumably as fans opted to return their tickets for a full refund. However, ultimately, the show for which I got tickets (with parking) would eventually be rescheduled again, forcing me to sell, and I elected to sell on Stubhub.
My listing naturally included the parking pass, and though I listed for over what I paid, the tickets sold within minutes. When I attempted to transfer the parking pass with the tickets, I encountered an error. The parking pass was not transferable. I immediately contacted Stubhub to notify them and see how I could work with them or the buyer to ensure a successful transaction.
After repeated contact, Stubhub was able to confirm with the buyer they would accept the tickets without parking for the price they paid. The speed at which they sold indicated to me that a $50 parking pass was inconsequential compared to the savings for similar tickets posted for $200-300 more than my sale.
Months went by, because the concert was rescheduled and payments aren't fulfilled until after the event to guarantee no issues. Finally, payment posted, but less 25% which was nearly 300 dollars. When I called to request an explanation, they indicated that 25% is standard for any issues with orders that are at fault to the seller. I explained the value of the parking pass was only $50 and that a blanket 25% fee was unfair. They requested documentation from my original TM receipt which I provided. Then they came back and said, they couldn't do anything more and that their decision was final.
I was pretty peeved, so I scanned their User Agreement, which contained a section (22) on legal disputes. One of the clauses links to a dispute form, which I sent via certified mail with a request for a full refund of the 25% charge plus some additional credit for the inconvenience.
A couple of days after the form was delivered, I received a call from the Stubhub legal team, who at first tried to explain the decision just as their colleagues had done before. I responded by saying that I felt the previous comms suggested recognition by a Stubhub member of the unfair penalty with a 25% charge for a $50 parking pass. They put me on hold and then returned to offer to repay 20% of the charge which I accepted.
The interesting thing with this process is they are careful to not admit wrongdoing; the Stubhub representative offered the partial refund, As a one-time courtesy. If I did not accept, I'm not sure if they would have gone higher, but this was the first and only time I felt treated like a real customer, after I expressed an interest in pursuing arbitration as my next step.
In conclusion, I hope my experience helps shed light on how others can navigate the asymmetry of information and get a fair shake from this organization.

There's probably a lot I could unpack in this and I don't know if I'm expecting anything to come from it other than writing out some of what I'm feeling in hopes that it will be cathartic. In one sense I hope no one else connects with this because it has absolutely gutted me, but if it does, maybe you will find at least some comfort in knowing you're not alone. I'm also being intentionally vague about some specifics. There are a lot of variables and if you're reading this you are clearly only getting my perspective.
Some context: My wife and I are in our early 30s with 2 young kids and have been together over 8 years, married for a little over 5.
I can honestly say I love my wife more than anything, and i do truly believe that she loves me. When the kids first came along, I did, and sometimes do still, feel neglected. It was harder at first but it's something I remained optimistic about once we got going. I knew having children would change things and i absolutely do not regret or have second thoughts, but in my mind my marriage has to come first. I don't know how i can be a good dad if I'm not a good husband. And this is something we have talked and communicated about and have even agreed upon.
As i mentioned, taking a back seat to the kids needs really isn't my hangup. It was an adjustment but one we both wanted so i was somewhat mentally prepared. Eventually we started getting into the parenting rhythm a little more aka the kids started to sleep better and we started to embrace the chaos meaning understanding we are going to have to laugh more and try to stress less about things we can't control.
The toughest part for me at first was the degree to which our sex life suffered. It didn't just suffer, it pretty much entirely stopped. And I struggle with accurately trying to describe why this was so difficult because i don't know if it's the same for everyone, but i feel like there is definitely a difference for men/women, and i truly don't feel like most women understand it (i hate to stereotype/generalize but this is based on my life experiences). I also know this is not atypical and i continue to do my best to be understanding and considerate of why. But it is what ties me to her in so many ways - trust, validation, vulnerability, appreciation, and so many more - again, i don't know why and i can't explain it, it just is. It is tied to my identity and thus with her. I am a different person both to her and altogether without that connection. And we had such a great sex life prior to all of this which is why it feels like the rug was pulled out. Regardless, i realize there are hormonal changes and body image issues, for us there were infertility issues as well, so so many things that come with being a mom that i will also never fully understand so i really have done my best to not just accept the situation, but also talk to her and communicate that to her, and again remain optimistic.
Fast forward to very recently and the reason i ultimately created an account today to post. We took our first extended trip away from the little ones. I knew it was going to be more difficult for her and i honestly believe i did everything i could to make her feel special and make the trip entirely about her. The trip was going great up until the last night when we got into a little argument which initially felt like most tiffs we have been in throughout the last couple of years. It started out with me being a dumbass and losing something from drinking a little too much, mind you something of no value but still, i was letting loose a little bit and carefree and it just felt good to not have to worry about anything in the moment and it happened. Now my wife would attest that we are both more affectionate and generally more fun when we drink and i think that's because maybe we are both a little more introverted, so i wasn't out of control or mean or abusive, but in the moment or at some moment i wasn't something that she needed because I soon started to realize that she wasn't really mad about whatever i lost, so i started listening a little more.
I sat quietly while the list of things she was upset about kept growing. I was responding with aploogies, which weren't just bs but more like hey, i am sorry i did that, i really didn't mean to hurt your feelings when i did, but all the while i was confused because these weren't like egregious acts, they were more so just things i do ie how i talk to people or what conversations we have, playful jokes i make, things i do or act upon when i see them happen in public. And again, I'm intentionally being vague because the exact things don't really matter, it's the entire principle that has just been eating me from the inside. The way i felt in the moment and then especially after thinking about it for a while just hit me like a ton of bricks: She was unhappy with things that are fundamental to me and who i am. In other words, how i carry myself, how i talk, how i act towards other people, a lot of things that i thought attracted me to her when we first met have become things that she does not only appreciate but have become annoying or frustrating to her. Ive been trying to accurately describe what i could literally feel happening in my chest as it all started to sink in, but i can't find the words.
I have talked, and I've talked, I've hugged and reassured. I've given and taken space/time when needed. I've made adjustments to myself in ways that i can, but it hasn't seemed to really get anywhere. But now it is becoming more clear why - she is asking/expecting me to be someone else that i am not and have never been. I struggle with doing or saying the right things because there are times when i have that i didn't do it the right way, and she tells me, and it kills me, but even if i try to do it her way its hard because it isn't authentic. Not because i don't feel a certain way, but because that's not how i show it. There was a whole thing on love languages we talked about, but it feels like I'm always the one needing the changes.
I made a commitment to her and i don't intend on not fulfilling it, but right now it feels like the only way to honor that is to fundamentally change who i am. I can't fake that, at least not long term, and even if i did, whose to say that that would be enough in 5 or 10 years. I know that part of marriage is growing and there is change that comes along with that, but this feels like something different.
The last thing i would say is that i have tried talking to her about most of this stuff. I will admit that most of my personal frustrations have stemmed from the sexual aspect, though i don't know if it has or will ever hit home for her as to how/why it is difficult for me to just be able to give that up entirely. But now this latest incident cut a little deeper when i noticed it's really been more than that all along. It is also difficult to talk sometimes because when i get frustrated about something i inevitably end up apologizing because she feels bad and i have to reassure her that i love her. I also don't feel comfortable talking about this to any of my friends or family because i don't want to paint my wife to be this villain when she is clearly going through something and then that is what they'll remember and think about. I've also thought about individual or couples counseling previously, or maybe even therapy for me. Don't think I'm there yet because this all still is fresh and i want some time to try to sort it in my brain. Either way, i didn't come back refreshed or myself at all and i can only play the being tired card for so long before some kind of conversation will need to happen. I don't know how to say it to her any differently than i already have. It's funny how there are so many things in life where you think that will never happen to you.
I lied, this is the last thing. I love my wife to a fault and i am optimistic even though right now it is hard. She is beautiful, kind, caring and a great mother. Though today I'm feeling a little lost, not hopeless, just lost. I also understand more today the phrase suffer in silence, and that its not always a matter of what you wanted or tried to do, but something you felt you had to do.

Hello Reddit!
This is — for a change of pace — Cuzi from Team BethelFrankel, here to tell you that the ratings for Leo, Yingel, and Anatoli are now live on the Community Tier List! I’m sorry this took as long as it did. Fourmana was busy, the website was getting updated, and I was playing Honkai Star Rail. No excuses, just a sorry. As always, a “should you pull” section, followed by some big updates in preparation for the upcoming anniversary.

Should You Pull…

Leo - S-/S+ - Leo’s ceiling is nuts. In terms of raw damage, his damage potential is one of — if not the — highest in Forest. This is an impressive feat, considering that Forest is an element with beasts such as Jeriah, Paloma and Areia. His main issue is a large portion of this damage is gated behind requiring both Refinements and team support. This makes him a weird unit to rate; his R0 baseline performance undercuts Forest’s contested S-tier, with his damage scaling up to SS-tier levels the more e-tiles you feed him. The Goldie teams that could let him reach this potential, however, have hotly contested team slots. Jeriah, Naroxel, and Paloma all provide utility alongside their damage that makes them much more indispensable, leaving Leo and Gabriel to duke it out for the last slot in meta e-tile teams. Still, the fact he’s a top contender for that slot at all as a raw damage dealer speaks to his potential. He also fits decently well on other e-tile teams, such as those featuring Minos, Hiiro and Siobhan.
With Leo, you’ll usually want to use his second Active once per Burst turn before dumping all his stacks into it on the final Burst turn. The gimmicks on his first Active are largely flavor text: the second and third effects are difficult to use outside longer stages, while the first effect is only useful in mobbing. All this said, there are a lot of minor optimizations you can do with him. Firstly, his second active is only useful if you can ensure around at least 3-4 Normals including diagonals; saving the stacks to benefit from his Equipment’s Chain Combo buffs may be worthwhile if this is not the case. Second, the CD reduction on his first Active from getting 19 stacks only applies on cast; if you have enough enhanced tiles, saving his first Active to cast during his AT can let you gain maximum value from it. This room for minmaxing offers Leo some appreciated flexibility, cementing him as an excellent option on teams that can feed his appetite for e-tiles.
TL;DR: Pull if you want him and can offer the appropriate support, otherwise probably skip. Meta e-tile Forest has stiff competition for slots, but he’s as good an option as any to round it out after you have the core setup. Outside of e-tile teams, he’s usable but not great.
Yingel - A-/S at BT3 - Yingel is another addition to the “weird converters” we’ve been seeing over the past few patches, but this time placing heavy emphasis on 1x1 content. We did the math on her damage output and her damage leaves much to be desired, even for a sniper. Yingel’s kit is based around using special high-power Normals to stack a powerful defense ignoring buff. This sounds great in theory, but Yingel’s inability to normal attack in between her special Normals severely neuters her; it more or less means her Normal attack damage is the same as most other units, and makes her defense ignore stacking is too slow for it to ever realize its full potential.
Her conversion is similarly restrictive. 5 select tiles on a 2 CD is actually pretty incredible; the issue is her cross-shaped conversion pattern makes it incredibly janky to properly use and get contact tiles with outside of 1x1 content. Her conversion can be cloned by Axelia, but the high cloning cost and Axelia's numerous other cloning options makes the effort not always worth the payoff.
Ultimately, Yingel is a combination of almost all the most powerful effects in all of Alchemy Stars nerfed in every way. This has its place — she’s a pretty good captain for 1x1 content, and better than most of Thunder’s bog-standard snipers even at BT0. You just won’t feel good using her over Luke, Reinhardt or R3 Wrath.
TL;DR: Probably Avoid. While Yingel certainly isn’t bad at BT3, there are significantly better options to go for at this level of investment. With the 2nd Anniversary being the next event, you don’t want to regret pulling on someone that may potentially collect dust on your account.
Anatoli - A - Anatoli is the welfare character for this patch and more or less a Forest Brock, offering niche but potentially valuable Aggro support and decent personal damage for mobbing. His active can also be used as a janky TP and gap closer if only selecting one target, which is… interesting, at the very least, and occasionally useful. However, his EQ is noticeably worse and the element he’s in has much less synergies for him. Forest also is home to some of the best mobbers in the game in Lenore, Migard, and Barton:DB, who are also just overall better units whose value doesn’t nosedive outside their niche. For a welfare, though, Anatoli is admirably effective at what he does — he’s a good investment if you don’t have one of Forest’s myriad mobbers, and will still see use in secondary or tertiary teams in content like Pandora’s even once you do.
Finally, his art and animations are top-tier — he’ll be a staple for those invested in the aesthetics metagame.
TL;DR: Build if you want. He’s very niche, but excellent at it — whether that’s important to you depends on your own account.

Tier List Updates

We’ve made some pretty big changes to the tier list, but none of them should be much of a surprise — it’s more or less just following through on things we had announced in the last update. The most important of these is we have new ratings now! The (N) rating has been added to units whose value dramatically improves in niche situations, while the (T) rating denotes units whose potential is locked behind requiring specific team setups.
Some background on this — the team is forever mentally scarred by Goldie, and I could honestly end the explanation here, refuse to elaborate, and leave. While that is partly a joke, Goldie is the unit that prompted us to think about how we tier things. Goldie is honestly pretty terrible outside dedicated e-tile teams that need very specific units, but said e-tile teams offer some of the best damage in the game. This unit design is a consequence of how the game has evolved — since the game has covered its bases for generalist units like Sinsa and Azure, characters’ roles have become much more specific. The tier list, formulated in the days of yore, couldn’t really account for that. We’re hoping these new ratings fix that.
This isn’t a perfect solution; the most glaring problem is how much it increases clutter in a tier list which already suffered from it. This forces us to be rather conservative about how we give these ratings, and we’ve tried to limit it as much as possible to units where the improvement is fairly drastic or units who are the linchpin of entire strategies. That said, if you feel we’ve missed someone we’re happy to get feedback about it! We’re far from perfect, and constructive criticism is how we can improve.
Finally, we’ve gotten rid of class ratings and nothing of value was really lost. They did more harm than good, and we’ve replaced them with extremely brief descriptions of what the unit actually does. So all that said… let’s delve into the units that got changed!
Goldie - SS(T) (is S-) – Behold, the woman behind the slaughter. Dedicated e-tile teams are incredible, and we’re letting Goldie eat the SS rating for almost all the units that dramatically improve due to it given the setup revolves around her.
Lilica - SS(T) (is S+) – Similar to Goldie, Lilica is taking the SS tiering for all shield synergies because they’re ultimately centered around her. Lilica shield teams offer some of the highest damage in Fire and are surprisingly strong in Water too.
Minos - SS(T) (is S) — Minos already had a note marking him as SS in specific teams, so we’re just adjusting that to fit into the new system. Unlike a lot of other e-tile units he doesn’t depend on Goldie to get the number of e-tiles he needs to shine, so we’re marking him separately.
Tessa - S+(T) (is S-) – Tessa’s interaction with low-CD units is pretty potent. The most notable of these is Axelia + MBT Roy and to a lesser extent Leyn, who push her damage above a good chunk of Thunder’s long list of detonators.
Lucoa - S(T) (is A) — Lucoa’s buff is one of a kind and instrumental in making a lot of Active-based teams work.
May - A(T) (is C+) — May is pretty important for certain Giles nuke setups and serves as the only other good defensive option on Lenore+Jeno setups. That said, neither setup entirely revolves around her which limits her overall tiering.
Axelia - S+(T) (is S) — Axelia’s ability to copy summons gives a lot of notable synergies even outside the aforementioned MBT Roy and Tessa. Of particular note is Reinhardt and Irridon, and her presence on whale Thunder teams is a testament of how much she improves its playability.
Brock - S(N) (is A-) — Brock is absolutely incredible in mobbing; his ability to aggro mob can trivialize waves and his Attack buff in these stages is very potent. The cherry on top is his importance on Giles nuke setups.
Nails - S(N) (is A-) — Nails’ Bleed application is only really contested by Pasolo, and he’s almost required on certain Elysium floors while also being strong on DoT weak enemies outside of that.
Chandra - A-(N) (is C+) — Chandra is amazing for Nightium farming, and the long-term value this provides is actually quite notable.
Giles - SS(N) (is S+) — Updated calcs show that Giles’ damage on shorter fights actually outdoes most of Fire’s S-tier even on 2x2; his ability to trivialize some stages by nuking them combined with his almost unrivaled 1x1 performance puts him at SS in the right situations.
Odi - S+(N) (is S-) — Odi has unrivaled Poison application, allowing her to clear some stages that even meta teams can struggle on.
Noah BT2 - S-(N) (is A-) — Noah’s Lilica synergies paired with the importance of her shield against certain specific damage checks gives her some valuable use cases, even if she usually is outdone by Philyshy.
Raphael - A(N) at BT0 (is B-), S+(N) at BT3 (is S-) — Raphael’s oddball mix of resets, conversion, damage and healing lets her function in a way no other unit really can, and makes certain endgame content like BoredomShatterblast significantly easier.
Erica - A(N) (is B) — Erica is the only decent reset option in Thunder, so your hands are often tied on certain stages. Still, her Detonator chain and team buff means she’s not deadweight.
Vivian MBT - A+(N) (is B-) — MBT Vivian’s raw conversion value makes her pretty powerful on the right stages. There is nothing quite like letting her paint boards yellow.
Keating - B+(N) (is C+) — Brock and Anatoli have shown that aggro is actually extremely valuable when the situation calls for it. However, Keating is hampered by their brutal cooldown combined with a lack of pre-emptive.
Zhong Xu - S(N) (is A+) — Zhong Xu was extremely disappointing for a unit that was meant to be Fire’s long-awaited select tile converter. That said, his push-pull synergies do make him worth using on some stages, especially alongside Charon and Brock.
Jane - A(N) (is C) — Jane’s ranking is almost entirely based on her ability to reliably auto-farm the penultimate Nightium stage with a specific setup. Outside of this, she’s still pretty bad.
MBT Tina - SS(N) — MBT Tina can be incredible — 4 pseudo-select tiles on 2CD alongside a very janky TP is nothing to scoff at. The issue is all this is contingent on being able to predict enemy movements and plan ahead with her tile placement; this isn’t easy nor reliable, but MBT Tina can even outdo Bethlehem in situations where it’s feasible.

Some Other Tier Shifts

Philishy - S (was S-) – Philyshy was initially downshifted during an era of content involving very high DPR checks. Abyss and Pandora’s Box did a lot to change this, and both game modes seem tailored to reward Philyshy’s absurd healing output and additional utility through her global teleport. She’s more than worth the $1 you may pay for her; while you still aren’t going to use her in most content that has a DPS check, her value is nigh-unparalleled outside of it.
MBT Frostfire - S- (was A+) – Like Philyshy, the higher importance of mobbing makes Frostfire much more valuable — especially given her mobbing capabilities in Fire are only really rivaled by R3 Regina. She’s still extremely reliant on her MBT and is entirely eclipsed by Giles in bossing, but the gap between her and her Old Seal brethren is now far closer than it used to be.
Leona - S- (was A) – Leona is probably the unit that was the most underrated in the tier list for quite some time: her 1x1 and 2x2 numbers are competitive on both fronts with other S tier units. She’s still too reliant on Burn and good conversion to truly be S-tier, but a well-supported Leona can carry you a surprisingly long way.
Barbara A- – Despite her overall numbers being better with the buff and the refinements, Barbara is still a unit that really doesn’t have much in terms of what she brings to the table. You could even argue her equipment buff being element-locked now makes her arguably worse! While that isn’t exactly true, it does go to show how decidedly underwhelming her improvements have been.
Vice R3 - S- (Was A) — R3 Vice’s performance is actually pretty incredible — her 1x1 performance outdoes most of Water’s other snipers, and her mobbing is potent. Her main issue is the competition she faces in both cases. Vice: KS is your go-to option in 1x1 content, and base Vice can’t be used alongside her; meanwhile, Water mobbing is a tightly contested spot between Azure, Fia, Mu Yuebai, Fleur, and Connolly. Still, she is pretty good on her own merits, especially considering she’s completely free.
Vic — While his overall ranking hasn’t changed, Vic’s description has been touched up. As it turns out, he’s one of if not the best option for the 5th slot in Water against purely 1x1 content. His performance tanks with summons, he’s a miserable captain, and his 2x2 performance is laughable — but it was pertinent to mention he does have a pretty well-defined use case for those who like him enough to invest in him. In a way it’s fairly in-character for him: even though he’s good at what he does, he’ll probably spend most of his time in your roster on the bench.

New and Future Content

I'd talked a bit about how tier lists are a pretty inherently flawed format earlier. We're doing our best to circumvent this — for all its failings, it is both straightforward and intuitive. Still, especially as we get closer to Anniversary, the team has found that it might help to branch out in the content we make to help both new and returning players. Recently, you probably saw Eclogia's beginner and advanced guides. If you haven't, you probably should! They're really well written and you can find them in the reddit post here.
We also have a lot more in the works. Trakan is working on an Ultimate Checklist — a super handy tool featuring an Aurorian Tracker, team building customization and even some Cloud Garden tools. Meanwhile, Ivory is working on a polished Lilica guide — a handy walkthrough to help explain one of Alchemy Stars' most unique and nuanced units. This is just the start, too — hopefully there's a lot more to come in the future.

Event CG Archive

Mechhydra here!
I apologize for not showing up for the last event–I got busy, and as a consequence didn't update the Archive for a while. Regardless, both of the past two events are now live for viewing. Stay tuned for the 2nd anniversary, where I'll be making my own standalone archive post for the first time in a long while!
Event Album Doc
Drive Folder

Community News

Sometimes I wonder if Fourmana has a secret vendetta against me. Maybe I wronged him in another life to have been stuck with writing this monster of an update. Perhaps my sins have caught up to me, and the gods commanded him to make me write this post in their displeasure. We’ll never know.
Jokes aside, it’s been an amazing time working with the team to push this update out, and I’m glad Four doesn’t have to deal with it when he already has a lot on his plate — he’s already put overtime into this project. As always, our rankings are tentative and we both appreciate and rely on feedback, especially considering this is my first time making a write-up of this length for Alchemy Stars. The tier list is written for the community, and it’s helpful to hear what you want from it!
And with that, I shall lay my metaphorical pen down to rest. Until next time.
Best regards,
Cuzimori
Team BethelFrankel

Long post time. I've decided to list every affliction I could think of, in no particular order. I initially wanted to make this to display the differences in stuff like deletion, corruption and glitching, but got carried away with the details. Feel free to yell at me about anything I miss.
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Condensed list for those who don't want to read:

• Process Ending
• Deletion
• Restoration
• Awakening
• Corruption
• Glitching
• Stunning
• Minecraft Effects

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Process Ending - Alan can use the task manager to end the processes of tasks on his computer, including stick figures and facebook stickers. When a Fighting Stick Figure or FB sticker's process is ended, it instantly turns into a few transparent puffs of rising smoke which disappears after a second.

• In the case of the Fighting Stick Figures, ending their process does not kill them as they come from an external site that can be refreshed to start the process again.
• The Second Coming is "too resistant" to have his process ended, and the ViraBot program just starts it's process again when ended.

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Deletion - When something is deleted by a ViraBot or The Dark Lord's blades, a shade of red gradually wipes over it from the point of affliction, which is then converted into meaningless red symbols (representing it's data), and then these symbols are scattered into nothingness.

• Interestingly, ViraBots seem to suffer deletion near-instantly when enough damage is dealt to them, being converted into red symbols right after this happens. This can be seen when The Chosen One defeats the first ViraBot, and when TSC slashes open the rest.
• TCO has some resistance to deletion, being able to withstand the attacks of the ViraBot on ALANSPC (despite red symbols being shown at the point of affliction, we never see the red wipe over him) and multiple impalements from TDL's attacks. Similarly, Alan's cursor can have holes punctured into it, but the deletion doesn't spread and it takes a prolonged attack by TDL and the ViraBots to delete it from the Outernet.
• The Second Coming has less resistance, as TDL's blades leave holes all over his body and he would likely die if he wasn't able to restore himself, but even then the deletion doesn't spread on it's own.
• Stick figures like the Fighting Stick Figures cannot resist deletion at all, as well as objects like drawings and desktop UI elements.

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Restoration - Being the opposite of deletion, stick figures, cursors, and presumably objects that have been deleted can be restored back to the state they were in prior to deletion.

• When a stick figure is partially restored (the holes in TSC's body left by TDL), lime sparks can be seen around the deleted areas, and the missing parts are gradually filled in.
• Completely restoring a stick figure is harder, seemingly requiring both restoration powers and a terminal (TDL's Console). The meaningless symbols that the stick figure was converted into appear and reconverge, but they're now white and their colour gradually changes to match the stick figure's colour before forming part of the stick figure itself. The figure is built from the head down, and the edge between what's already been restored and what's yet to be appears jagged. Lime sparks float around the area of the stick figure being restored while it's happening. Assumedly, the process is the same for Alan's cursor.

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Awakening - Hollow-headed stick figures throughout the series seem to be able to temporarily "unlock" more of their power. These gained powers are likely to reflect the stick figure's traits. So far, this has only been actively seen in AvA V, and only in two stick figures at most.

• TDL may have awakened when he equipped his Virus Bands, as the powers he gains afterward are all deletion-based, and his main personality trait is his mission: "mission.The_Dark_Lord = destroy(The_Chosen_One);". This could mean that TDL understands how awakening works better than anyone else if he's able to intentionally trigger it. It could be argued, however, that the powers were provided by the bands themselves.
• TSC definitely awakened after being brought to the brink of deletion by TDL, as his quick thinking and creation skills are reflected by his awakened speed and restoration powers, though he is also able to use telekinesis and laser vision, which I don't really have a metaphor for. After a short time, his awakened powers had gone dormant, and he'd forgotten everything that happened while he was awakened - this may be specific to TSC or a side-affect of awakening in general.
• If TDL truly does understand awakening, then it could be argued that he's the only one that does - when TCO goes to him for help, he thinks that the powers he saw TSC use are just things that he can do, leading to TCO unintentionally putting him in harm's way.

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Corruption - Objects and stick figures can become corrupt if their code interacts with other code in unintended ways. When something is corrupt, pixels can be seen missing or floating off, and it can be warped for split seconds. The frequency of these effects denotes the amount that the thing is corrupted. When something is corrupted enough, it completely loses all form and meaning. Essentially, it's cancer that only kills you if your entire body is consumed by it.

• When the Minecraft demonstration became corrupted in The King, it spread from the sun through the game, changing the blocks' data and appearance initially, and eventually making everything an amorphous, pixelated, black goo. It took longer for Gold to be fully corrupted, presumably because Gold's data is more complex than a given block's, but given enough time they too were assimilated into the pile of meaningless code that remained, causing a fatal error and terminating the connection.
• King Orange's staff, when equipped with the combined game icon, produces enough matter per second to create a black hole, which is dense enough to suck all other Minecraft objects in and makes their code interact in unintended ways when pulled in, which would have ultimately corrupted the entire game if the icons were not brought through the portal. When fired at other stick figures, the matter produced begins replacing and interacting with their code, corrupting them.

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Glitching - When something is hit with a Glitch Bomb from a mercenary scooter, it sometimes glitches and changes appearance partially or entirely for a few frames, becoming pixelated, TV static, or chromatically aberrated.

• An object being hit can damage it, such as the fire hydrant in the city chase scene of Wanted which starts spewing out water when hit.
• If a stick figure is hit, then any actions that it's doing can be interrupted by their body glitches. For example, when glitched, TCO's fire sometimes abruptly stops, leading to his flight being impaired.
• Glitching likely affects code similar to corruption, but instead of adding new data or taking data away, it changes the existing code. This makes sense, as the scooters were probably made to specifically capture TCO, not to kill him.

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Stunning - There are multiple ways that stick figures have been stunned throughout the series, including but not limited to;

• The lightning bolts sent out by Avast!Antivirus in AvA II, which don't really function like lightning but can still pin down stick figures, in this case to trap TCO.
• The mercenary's stun guns in Wanted, which shoot a charge that sticks to objects and periodically zaps them (again with yellow lightning), stunning the victim whenever a zap occurs. This stun also forces a glitched thing to glitch.
• The tall merc's Pause symbols, which completely freeze anything they touch for an indefinite amount of time. There is some sort of method to unpause things, as in Wanted we see that TSC is paused when the mercs leave for the base but unpaused upon arrival, but we don't see this happen on screen. It could be argued that this is it's own kind of effect, but I'm not going to classify it as such here since we only see it once anyhow.

Minecraft Effects - When a mob or stick figure is affected by a potion, potion particles emanate from it, as they do in game.

• These effects generally function like they do in game, but don't really follow the same rules. For example, Haste and Speed wouldn't make you click faster in game like they do in Clicks Per Second, and slowness only affects your walking speed unlike when the Warden and Purple are slowed down completely in The King.
• There are some effects that don't exist in the real game but are from Minecraft here, such as transformation, wormholes and Techno Power - which is itself an effect only given to Reuben.

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For those who bothered to read all of this up until this point, I riddle you this: when you don't save changes to an untitled document, is that document deleted? Corrupted? Glitched? Some other fourth thing? Or, simply just not saved? Now, what does that mean for victim?

It is clear that paying for early access is here to stay and that this community largely supports the idea. In fact reading some posts you would think that many ultimate fans had personally given the company they lionize 1.5 million themselves instead of merely 30 dollars.
I suggest that companies should accept our help in early access tiers as follows.
5 weeks early : Any amount $5000 or more
4 weeks early : $1000
3 weeks early : $500
2 weeks early : $250
1 week early : $120
Release week : $80
Special titles should be handed out that hover over the heads of each character indicating how much they paid for the game and special events should be run for those who spent above certain amounts. This proposal would show the developers how much we enjoy their work even if they would not actually receive any of the money which would of course go to the executives and the share holders.

Small wins. I had to fight Prime Therapeutics for a formulary exemption because MJ was non formulary. Well I won that fight in March (after 2 denials and an appeal) with it put as a Tier 4 med for me with a copay of 100 bucks. I didn’t argue with it as I was just happy they were covering most of a med that wasn’t on their list of medications to cover. Then as of yesterday it is now on their normal formulary with a copay of 2.00/month and 6/3 months! Glad I fought as it still requires a PA BUT that’s even less money out of my pocket! So continue checking those formularies as things are always changing! Good luck everyone.

I have been low on JHS, in part because of his highlight shooting stats of 42/33/77 being pretty unremarkable. Then, I saw his advanced shooting stats and havent been able to rationalize them. I always assumed he was not a good shooter, but Synergy has him as one of the best pull-up/off-the-dribble shooters in the entire draft, both from midrange and from 3P. Ultimately for me, pull-up 3P and midrange are really the shooting stats that matter most for guys who will be primary ball handlers, because that's how they're gonna affect the game. It's nice if Haliburton and Donovan Mitchell are elite catch and shoot 3P guys, but really you value their pull up 3P shooting, since it's a weapon in the PnR and when driving.
For context, JHS has a better pull-up 3P percentage (37% on 54 3PA) than premium shooters like Brandon Miller (33% on 76 3PA), Sensabaugh (26% on 31 3PA), Whitehead (36% on 22 3PA), Jett Howard (30% on 63 3PA), Jordan Hawkins (31% on 58 3PA), and Keyonte George (35% on 99 3PA).
Basically, the only lottery-caliber shooter in this draft with better pull-up 3P shooting is Gradey Dick, who shot a scorching 53.5% but only on 43 pull-up 3PA.
It doesn't end there. From off-dribble/pull-up midrangers, JHS (42% on 142 2PA) is in a tier with Brice Sensabaugh (53% (!!) on 97 2PA) and maybe Cason Wallace (45% on 58 2PA) and I guess Scoot Henderson (38% on 151 2PA).
Is there something here we're all missing in our evaluation of him? A guy with high level pull-up shooting and really good PnR feel/passing (which I think he might have) plus his excellent measurables and defensive upside... suddenly this guy is sounding like a comfortable lottery pick, not just a reach. I've had him outside my top 15 but I might move him up.

Assuming all equal and all 4*s were E6,, which would be the strongest DPS and supporting characters? Imagine a tier list, how would you rank them?