Time stamp
11.5 upper: $750- 11.5 colt barrel, G$ gas block, colt receiver, 10” G$ ODG fed rail. Has 0 rounds, comes with radian ch, and CMC enhanced Bcg meant for SBRs. Rattle canned the receiver
T2: $750- bought from here. Comes with KAC cap. No box or tool.
Razor gen II 1-6 non-E: $950- jm1 reticle, front lense cap, vortex throw lever and aero mount. Only selling since I replaced it with the K16i
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Girls: Eva, Izzy
Boys: Ezekiel, Mal, Owen, Topher
Episode 21: African Lying Safari
"Last time, on Total Drama World Tour!" Chris opened, the recap montage beginning with a long-distance shot of the cast assembled by the Great Wall of China. "Thaaanks, China, we had a blast," the host said over a shot of Sadie hitting a landmine on her tricycle and an explosion being seen in the distance. "Just not the kind associated with fun," Chris added as Sadie had her tricycle stuck and Owen was shown getting knocked off the Great Wall by Ezekiel's donkey.
"Especially for Mal," Chris said as the troublemaker was shown pedaling his bike after colliding with an explosion, "who not only had to lose to Topher," Topher was shown overlapping Mal on his skateboard, "but he also had his cover blown, thanks to Topher." The Chris wannabe was shown announcing Mal's existence to the rest of the contestants.
"And since she doubted everyone's suspicions when it came to Mal," Chris explained over a clip of Sadie exchanging gifts with Ezekiel, "Sadie was the one to get dropped off!" Sadie was shown receiving her parachute in shock, "right after she learned the truth about Mike not being in control," he added as Mal chucked Sadie out of the plane.
The scene moved to the cockpit. "We're down to the Final Six!" Chris told the camera. "Who won't make the Final Five, and how will everyone band up against Mal? Find out right now, on Total! Drama! World Tour!"
XXXXX
The episode opened to the traditional shot of the plane in flight before quickly moving to economy class where Mal was smirking at Topher, Eva, and Ezekiel.
"So you've been taking control of Mike's body all this time?" Ezekiel griped. "You've gotten some of us eliminated and hurt Sadie and Ella."
"Noah was right about you when he noticed how slimy you were," Eva grimly said.
"I don't even regret any of it," Mal shamelessly said. "And don't even direct all of your hatred towards me. Topher's caused some eliminations as well and worked with me in the process."
Ezekiel and Eva briefly scowled at Topher. "That is true. I did get Amy, Rodney, and Noah voted off, but I simply wanted drama," Topher tried to defend himself. "Mal, on the other hand, has gotten others severely injured and has no redeeming qualities."
"You still decided to collaborate with me even after I made you peeve off Chris in New York," Mal gloated.
"You two are jerks, and I'll have no problem getting you guys off the plane by the next challenge as payback," Eva threatened.
\
The scene flashed to first class, focusing on Owen and Izzy sitting on the couch.
"So what is that thing you're holding?" Izzy pointed at the tea bag Owen was holding.
"It's love tea," Owen confessed. "This was given to me in China. It's supposed to make us love each other more or something like that."
Izzy snatched the bag and chucked it away. "Why would you think we'd need to drink this? I love you enough as it is," she said and sat on Owen's lap.
"Wait. Really!" Owen's eyes lit up.
"Of course I do. I've missed having you around on the plane for the past days," Izzy admitted. "No matter what, you'll always be my special marshmallow."
Izzy hugged Owen affectionately. "You're a wild gal indeed," he giggled coolly.
\
The footage skipped ahead to a shot of an open and sunny savanna, the jumbo jet parked in the background on the left, and a mountain range further beyond it. The landscape was dotted with acacia trees and low shrubs and a few rocks, and a compilation of hissing, hollow notes signified the heat as the camera panned to the right.
Mal, Topher, Ezekiel, and Eva were all waiting in a line. Izzy and Owen were nowhere to be seen as of yet, but Chris did soon appear in a red robe, wearing beaded necklaces and bracelets and a bald cap, and holding a spear. The appropriated outfit earned chuckles from the three boys, and Eva grinned as well.
"Nice dress!" Mal said through his laughter.
"It's traditional Maasai warrior garb," Chris explained, "and, it came with this!" He grinned as he held up his spear, and threw it towards Mal. The malevolent one yelped and moved to the side, the weapon sailing past his torso.
"Watch it!" Mal complained.
"Trust me," Chris told him. "That's the least dangerous thing that'll happen to you today. Welcome, to beautiful Tanzania," he said. "Home of the Serengeti plains, and over seventy different kinds of animals that can kill you."
"Sorry we're late!" the voice of Owen called from off-screen, distracting the group as he and Izzy ran into the shot from the left. "We got a little distracted."
"Whatever do you mean by that?" Chris wondered.
"One minute, Big O was showing me his love tea, and then the next minute, we're both talking about our favorite drinks and movies," Izzy replied.
"Are you two a couple or what?" Mal said rudely.
"No, but we're getting somewhere around that part," Owen said.
"Okay, challenge time!" Chris piped in.
\
A flash took the scene forward to a small clearing, the camera moving in past a few tufts of long grass to show the host and contestants on the left; and Chef dressed in his winter wear, a pile of purple fruit, six gourds of various shapes lined up on pedestals, and a pair of giant wooden heads flanking the whole display on the right.
"Part one combines two of Africa's most popular sports: soccer and cricket." Chris began, holding up a soccer ball and a cricket bat as the camera finished moving in for a close-up. "I call it 'Socc-et To Me'!" he declared dramatically, adding "The 'me' being you, of course."
"Why is Chef dressed up for a blizzard?" Ezekiel asked in confusion.
"Behold, the Penalty Parka!" Chris answered as the camera cut to a close-up of the sweating pilot. "I accidentally rented this coat, and since it can't fit me, I'm making Chef wear it so I can make my money's worth. Lookin' hot Chef," he taunted.
"Each player must run, one at a time," Chris continued as he spun the soccer ball on his finger, "from the starting line to that pile of African safou plums," the camera cut over to the large box of fruit. "Grab as many as you can carry, and run back. And you'll be doing all of this while your fellow competitors pummel you with soccer balls," he added with a smile as he spun his own ball around again.
"Hold on just a minute," Topher said nervously. "Do you have helmets for us to protect our faces?"
"It's Chris. The answer is obviously no," Eva told him.
"Next, take the plums you've brought back," Chris continued, "and whack 'em with the cricket bat to smash those gourds open. Like this," he said, tossing a safou high up into the air and smacking it with the bat when it came down. The fruit sailed through the air, and cracked Chef on the head, causing him to fall to the ground.
"Whoever cracks their gourd open first wins a reward that will be muy helpful in the next challenge," Chris said, ignoring his assistant. "Now, positions people! Izzy, you're up first! Kickers, get ready."
\
Another flash, and the other five players were shown in position with several soccer balls at their feet: Topher, Ezekiel, and Eva looking ready; then a side view of a smirking Mal and worried Owen.
Izzy took a deep breath at the starting line, and got into running position. "Let's do this," she said confidently.
"Ready, steady, Serengeti!" Chris called out, and a blow from his whistle signaled the start of Izzy's run.
She took off at a dash. The camera zoomed in to show her passing Topher, Ezekiel, and Eva in the background, and the three started kicking. "Is that all you got?" she called out as she turned around and kicked the ball back.
She reached the plums, scooped up an armful, and ran back to the start. Mal was shown watching her go past in the foreground, then smirked and kicked a ball her way. It hit the wild girl in the back, causing her to drop some plums and trip on the ones she'd dropped. With a startled wail, she let the rest of them fly from her hands and fell to the ground.
"Awesome!" Chris laughed. "Ezekiel, top that." He blew his whistle, and the footage skipped ahead.
\
Ezekiel gulped from his runner's start and went forward.
The first ball came from the foreground and hit him in the arm, earning a "Hey," as he slogged forward. Another "Ugh," came from a second foreground ball, and a third from a ball from the background.
"Quit complaining!" Eva said. "You're already there!"
Ezekiel smiled in revelation as he realized he'd gotten to the safous intact. "Hey, you're right!" he said in excitement, grabbing an armful of plums then turning and tripping over his own legs and landing face-first in the dirt.
"Owen, your go!" Chris announced, blowing his whistle again.
\
Owen jogged away from the starting line. The soccer balls hit him, but he managed to move on. "Dad was right. Being big does pay off!" he said positively.
The funniest guy around made it to the plums and grabbed two armfuls. He ran back to the line, and even though the balls were being kicked harder and faster, he prevailed and crossed the line with a lot of plums.
"I'd like to see anyone beat him!" Chris said. "Your turn, Topher!"
\
"I should just get this over with," Topher said to himself, racing off the starting line and immediately jumping over a ball kicked his way from behind the camera. "Please don't hit my face! I need my face!" he yelled, avoiding a second ball and covering his head. He was able to grab a load of plums.
"Maybe I could-" he said, a head-on perspective showing him running back...and getting tripped by a soccer ball on the leg from the right.
"Hey! Who did that?!" Topher asked irately, and Mal just snickered in response.
"Alright! Mal is next!" Chris declared before blowing his whistle yet again.
\
Mal took off running, and had to duck under a ball almost immediately. "Careful where you kick that!" he shot at Topher.
"No way!" Topher countered, launching another soccer ball.
"I'm going to aim for the head," Eva told him before kicking a ball of her own.
The shot cut to Mal as he narrowly dodged the second ball, but then seemed unable to dodge the third...but a ball came from the other side and struck the one Eva had kicked, and both fell to the ground harmlessly. "You have to try harder than that!" Mal taunted.
The scene skipped ahead to show Mal grabbing his plums, then turning around. Ezekiel kicked another ball, only for it to miss; the shot from Izzy that had been intended to intercept it also missed its target, though it did come close to hitting Mal.
"I am not sorry about that!" Izzy called out.
Owen kicked a ball himself, and on the other side Topher did as well. The two were shown in split-screen, Topher's going wide but then bounced back on course by Owen's, hitting Mal in the gut and knocking him over.
"How do you like that?!" Topher called out to Mal, looking somewhat pleased.
"And then there was one," Chris announced. "Bring it on, Eva!" He blew his whistle.
\
Eva's start was strong, and she immediately did a series of kicks at the first four balls sent her way. The rest of the contestants stopped and looked on in shock.
The female bully managed to bring an armload of plums back across the line without issue.
Confessional: Eva
"Is it any surprise to you that I'm a pro at soccer?" Eva gruffly told the camera. "I should just ask the producers to give me the million dollars already."
Confessional Ends
"Remember," Chris told the cast as the footage cut back to the six lined up at the starting line with their cricket bats, "first person to smash through gets the advantage! Aaaaand go!"
Izzy and Owen were shown tossing their first plums into the air and making their first swings; Owen missed and groaned in disappointment, but Izzy managed to smack her safou on the first go. The camera cut to the gourds, where Chef was sweating too profusely to try and dodge the plums that were flying his way and completely missing their intended targets but hitting him.
The shot cut in closer to Eva as he wound up and swung, then followed the plum as it shot across the field and struck a gourd on the other side: it was cracked, but not broken. "I'm more into smashing things with the bat," Eva said as the shot cut back to her.
"Mal doesn't seem to be having much trouble," Chris commented as the villain struck another plum; it, too, sped across the playing field and struck the gourd opposite and deepened an already existing crack.
"It's all in the wrist! I can feel it!" Topher confidently declared, tossing a safou of his own and twirling the cricket bat with his wrist as he swung. They connected, but the plum went up in an arc, and ended up hitting Mal in the head and interrupting his swing.
"Don't make me hit you with my bat!" Mal complained, rubbing where he'd been hit.
"You can save that for later," Ezekiel told him, taking a powerful swing himself; it managed to hit the plum straight through his gourd, finally breaking it. "Because I just won this!" he declared proudly.
"And the winner of our first challenge is, Ezekiel!" Chris announced.
"Yes!" Ezekiel announced in triumph.
\
The footage skipped ahead a little, showing Ezekiel standing on the sidelines with Chris while the other five readied their bats again, "The rest of you have ten seconds left to crack your gourd," the host told them. "And trust me, you want what's inside!"
\
Another flash ahead, and Mal was shown swinging his cricket bat and smacking a safou straight through his gourd, finally smashing it. Eva looked at him, scowled, then spun around and tossed her cricket bat like a hammer; by sheer luck, she managed to smash her own gourd with it.
Topher, taking inspiration from the girl, threw his bat as well. It cracked his gourd successfully.
Izzy was next, smacking her two safous as hard as she could, and managed to knock the gourd clear off its pedestal. Luckily, it cracked open when it hit the ground.
Last was Owen, who took a breath and readied a more traditional swing. "Okay, last one,"she said to herself, tossing the safou up and smacking it hard when it came back down. Unfortunately, however, he missed his gourd and hit Chef in the groin instead, the pilot groaned in pain and fell over.
"Broken, but not a gourd," Chris told him. "No success for Owen will make it much harder for him to deal with this!"
He pointed dramatically to the side, where a tall crate had just been wheeled in by a white male intern. Whatever was inside the crate seemed angry, growling, snarling and making the box shake.
"Uhh, should we be running right now?" Ezekiel asked as he and Izzy gave the crate nervous looks.
"Yes, you should be scared," Chris said, mostly ignoring the comment as he walked over to the crate. "Part two of our challenge is a genuine African safari. And the prey?" He knocked on the crate, which shook again as another angry growl came from inside. The contestants gasped. "Why only the most dangerous animal of all," Chris said dramatically, the intern nervously prying open the crate to reveal a metal cage within, with a familiar shadow inside.
"A clone of Ezekiel!" Chris finished, the camera zooming in on the form inside the cage.
The clone snarled from in the cage. It still looked like Ezekiel, but its clothes were torn and shabby, his footwear and hat was gone completely, and his skin had turned greenish. In addition to that, his hair was gone and only a few strands could be seen.
The cast gasped again. "Where did that thing come from?!" Topher squimished.
"Turns out it got on the plane back in Area 51!" Chris said, looking back at the cage and flinching at the glare Ezekiel Clone was giving him. "Once I checked the security footage," Chris explained as the clone snarled, "Chef went a-hunting and found the possible alien down in the hold."
"I should warn you, though," Chris said from off-screen, "he's totally feral thanks to all that time with the animals." The clone gave the camera a frightening look.
Chris turned back to the contestants. "Whoever nabs the beast known as Ezekiel Clone wins invincibility, and! First class seats to our next destination."
"With the player of our choice," Matthew said. "Where's my reward?"
"In a second!" Chris replied snippily. "Go to your gourds and check inside," he said as the camera pulled back to show Ezekiel Clone trying to reach him from his cage. "They contain what you'll use to hunt with."
"A slingshot! Cool!" Izzy said in excitement, holding up the weapon and practicing pulling it back. "I've broken a lot of windows with these as a kid!" She released the rubber band and it snapped forward.
"What's the pouch for?" Eva asked, holding up a small leather belt and pouch. "Magic beans?"
"Close," Chris told her before reaching inside her opened gourd and taking out a small, squishy pink ball. "Tranquilizer balls!" he announced with glee. "Sling 'em with enough velocity and they burst on contact, numbing the area and releasing a hearty dose of sleepy-time goodness." He turned his attention to the side. "Watch, as this intern demonstrates."
He shot a tranq ball at the intern who had wheeled in the cage, and was now eating a sandwich. The ball struck him in the shoulder and released a small cloud of pink gas, which promptly caused the man's eyes to roll back in his head before he fell over. He landed in front of Ezekiel Clone, who immediately snarled and tried to grab the fallen sandwich from his hands.
"See?" Chris said as the shot cut back to the cast. "It's like paintball, only with naps! Now, stand back people. We're gonna give the violent alien a head start. Hey Frosty!" he called back towards the cage with a laugh.
Chef was sweating through his outfit as he shakily moved a key towards the cage's lock, and at the host's call of "Release the beast!" He put it in the keyhole, turned it, and was promptly trampled as the door was slammed open and Ezekiel Clone jumped out, snarled, and ran.
"It doesn't even look like Ezekiel," Mal responded.
"That's because I'm the real deal," Ezekiel said.
"Okay!" Chris said with his usual grin. "Since Ezekiel won the first challenge, he gets six tranq balls," he said before handing over a handful of pink pellets to the grinning prairie boy. "Mal and Izzy, you cracked yours open so you get three," he told the troublemaker and psycho, handing over the ammunition as Eva and Topher looked on. "Eva and Topher, two each," the host told the pair.
"Why are you giving us two?" Eva squinted.
"We cracked our gourds too!" Topher protested.
"Technically, the two of you beat your gourds with cricket bats," Chris corrected as Ezekiel Clone could be seen chasing the intern in the background before turning to the last contestant. "And Owen, since you didn't put a dent in your gourd, you get these," he handed the food fanatic a pair of safety goggles, "and one tranq ball."
"No slingshot?" Owen asked in disappointment. "I have a lot of plums still."
"Nope. You're just gonna have to throw the balls hard enough to make 'em burst," Chris told him. "Which will be hilariously unsuccessful, I'm sure."
"Aaand," he said, the shot pulling back as Chef blew on a large horn, "go!"
At the signal, the six teens, all now wearing safety goggles, ran off.
\
The scene flashed forward to a rightward pan across the savanna, Topher speaking before the camera reached him.
"Can one of you give me an extra tranquilizer ball?" Topher said, eventually being shown traveling with Ezekiel and Mal. "Having two sucks."
"I have one more than you, and I'm going to go alone," Mal refused and left the two alone. "See you dorks after I win."
Ezekiel squinted his eyes at him. "He's a total knob. I swear."
Topher put his arm around Ezekiel. "How about we team up and take him down?" he suggested. "If he doesn't win invincibility, everyone will vote him off."
"I do like the idea of seeing him jump off the plane," Ezekiel agreed. "I'm in."
Confessional: Topher
"I know I'll be targeted next after Mal is gone, but I'll think about what to do after this day is over," Topher admitted.
Confessional Ends
"I remember watching you guys catch the Ripper back in London, but I forgot how you did it," Owen told Izzy and Eva while the three navigated.
"We had to use a burlap sack to do it, but this time, we have to roll with tranquilizer balls," Eva said.
"If you combine them all as a group, we have six overall," Izzy said.
"Six divided by three equals two, and each of us should have two tranq balls just to be safe," Owen explained.
"Keep an eye out for that clone," Eva advised her team. "We have no idea what it can do."
Confessional: Izzy
"I'm relentlessly good at tracking down prey," Izzy said. "The last time I had a date planned, this guy stood me up just to move to another state. I tracked him down, and what happened after wasn't pretty."
Confessional Ends
The scene moved to a low-to-the-ground shot of a rustling bush. Mal walked in from the left, and smirked at the bush. "Are you ready for your nap, alien reject?"
He was answered by a low roar, and a yellowish paw stepped out from the bush.
"A lion?" Mal said blankly as a male lion stepped out. "I wasn't going to tranquilize you. There's this alien-"
The lion interrupted with a roar, causing Mal to take a step back.
"I'm not wasting my ammo on this lion!" Mal yelled before turning and fleeing, and it looked like the lion was going to give chase before the sudden appearance of Chris in the foreground distracted it.
"Who will survive?" he asked the camera. "King of the Jungle, or King of the Fumble? Find out right after this, on Total! Drama! World Tour!"
The lion roared at him, and he turned and fled screaming as well.
\
(Commercial Break)
\

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/EFO4QFc
Grip Plug Pics: https://imgur.com/a/oLirDsH
Dead Air Cap Tool Pics: https://imgur.com/a/nUZyLn0
POF Brake Pics: https://imgur.com/a/g1zQp5E
Panel before and after bevel (no WD-40): https://imgur.com/bo9Ipjp
Finished Panel: https://imgur.com/VqEYmhU I'll take pp ff, venmo ff or zelle. NO NOTES, MAKE ZELLE A PIZZA. Will ship out next dayPlease pm me with any questions. NO CHAT NO CHAT Glock 19.5 Weighted Grip Plug (CUSTOM MADE) 1045 steel in black oxide weighing in at 1.94oz and a bronze plug weighing in at 1.73oz. The steel plug is more of a press fit and the bronze a slip fit with some small machining defects, but doesn't affect the function in any way. These will fit any compact sized gen 5 Glock frame and they also fit the G45 and G47. They are threaded for an M4 bolt, which is included. Asking $60 shipped G10 Rail Panels (NOT RAILSCALE BRAND) I have 12 "3 slot length" available, made by me. All panels are minidot style with bevels on the long sides. Each 3 slot panel comes with mlok hardware for $15 shipped EACH. G10 is layered glass fabric and epoxy resin, so as the black top layer is machined away for the bevels and dots, the epoxy becomes visible from the top, that is why they're not solid black. WD-40 makes the epoxy darker again, but still lighter. SEE PICTURES for before and after bevel and WD-40. Dead Air MK2 Cap Tools (CUSTOM MADE) I have 1 available. They don't have all the same features, but the pins do fit the cap pockets. The finish is black oxide. Asking $30 each shipped Magpul Daka Pouch (small) Never used. $20 Shipped obo Madhouse 9mm Pistol Mount Gift from a friend and never used it myself. $30 shipped https://madhousedesign.com/product/gcs-single-mount/ POF Triple Port Muzzle Brake 1/2x28. Very light salt, less than 500 rds, does NOT come with the locking nut or shims. $40 shipped obo

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/uooMW7E Closeup of the timestamp Here: https://imgur.com/Rhovh2q
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I am active on CBM2 (75+ flair), migrating my goods here to sell as much as possible here as I get back into selling.
Crossposted - I have every item listed on multiple forums. I will strikethrough everything that sells within 24 hours of selling and as I bump this listing, I will keep it updated with what is SOLD.
More than happy to work out package/bulk pricing.
More pictures available upon request. Tons availiable in the below album Links.
Payment will be via proxy (until I reach the flair requirement) due to my PP being canceled 13 months ago for a gun-related comment by a customer. I am currently able to accept cashapp or zell for digital methods, or USPS Money Order or Personal/certified check for mail payments.
Shipping - First-class shipping is included in all stated prices. Priority upgrade = +$6.
Handpick - If there is more than 1x of an item and the buyer desires to handpick the exact one he/she wants add +$10 to the final price. On some sections I have multiple items in the exact same condition, for pictures I only used one or two examples of each.
Tracking - will be provided in chat or PM within 48 hours of Proxy or myself (once appropriate flair (+11 GAFS requirement)) is received. As soon as the Proxy or myself receives payment, I will leave flair for the buyer and request that as soon as the item is received by the buyer they reciprocate with appropriate flair.
Link to Timestamp Closeup Here. Full GAFS pictures with timestamp & user name HERE
MISC / Non AK related parts - AFAL parts Lot, Beretta grips & Scopes -detailed pictures
Parts lot of AR, KSG, and FAL parts (Everything in the AFAL picture- $125 shipped
Beretta M92 buffalo horn grips - Sold to me as SB, but didn't fit, so I think they are for a FS model - $45 shipped
Scopes-
BSA Sweet .223 6-18x40, NIB - $135
Bushnell AR-223 3-9x32 with 1-piece mount -$120
Ruger 4x32 pellet scope - $35
New camo pattern Polish Gn.60 accessory backpackswith full accessory set as pictured. - change up your Gn.60 kit from the old drab green pack. All in very good to excellent condition may have some leather wear or trench art ink - $345 each
AK slings - Left to Right (Full Sling Album Here)
NOS Russian RPK doublehook Slings - $55 each
NOS Russian AKSU slings (Mustard and OD availiable) - $45 each
NOS Russian AEK-971 - Perfect doublehook AKSU sling - $45 each
NOS Russian AKM/AK74 single Hook slings - $35 each
Old Stock Russian T1 slings - $65 each
NOS Russian Navy AK74 Slings - $49 each
NOS Romanian Leather PSL slings - $35 each
Old Stock Romanian web slings - $22 each
Chinese dark OD Type 95 double hook slings - $35 each
NOS Yugo M85/M92 Slings - $65 each
Chinese NOS wide AK/SKS 2x leather strap slings. These are a rarely seen version of CHICOM sling, much more robust than standard 2x tab slings. All NOS with minor age stains, complete with keepers and all have crisp stamps. - $45 each
Polish T2 leather tab fluffy green slings - $45 each
Polish T1 Leather Tab slings (Perfect for the Gn.60 kits) - $65 Each
Polish Fluffy Tantal slings - Missing Keepers - $15 each
Not in bulk picture - NOS Polish Tantal/Beryl (rare Police Grey variant) slings - $39 each
AK Mag Pouches - Left to right (Full Pouch Album Here)
NOS Russian RPK Pouches - $65 each
NOSRussian AK74 4-cell pouched - $35 each
NOS Russian Medical drop bag/pouches - $15 each
NOS Partial Russian SMERSCH harness w/ 2 pouches - $65
NOS Russian Drum pouch - $32 each
NOS East German Vynl drum pouch - $26 each
Egyptian Maadi Drum bag - $30
Worn Maadi Mag Pouches - $22 each
Worn Yugo 4-cell Pouches (OD or Camo) - $25 each
NOS Bulgarian, early first gen 4-cell AK47 Mag pouches - $25 each
NOS Romanian ,early first gen AK47 4 cell mag pouches - $25 each
NOS 4-cell EG Pouches. curved 4-cell, 1x UKN - 4-cell = $25 each / UKN = $20 / Worn Straigt 4-cell Pouches - $15 each
NOS camo Pouches - NOS Polish 3 cell akm $44 & 4 cell beryl $59 Pouches - Priced each
Worn Polish green pouches - $18 each
Vz.58 drop cases & mag pouches -
NOS Desert and Forest camo paratrooper drop cases - $79 each
NOS 3 cell Desert and 2 cell Forest camo mag pouches - 3 cell = $65, 2 cell = $55 each
Russian Med pouches & Khyber pouch/tourniquet packs
Russian Medical pouches & NOS red/pink tourniquet packs, correct for Afghan Era Khyber tourniquet wraps. $55 each
COMBLOC Bayonets & Fighting Knives - Left to Right -Vietnamese Picture here because I forgot to include them in the other proof picture - Full detailed pictures located here
NOS Vietnam Red & Black 6x4s - $185 each
NOS number matching Russian Izzy & Tula 6x4s - $185 each
Good to Excellent Russian 6x3s (Ranging from bright orange to dark plum) - $155 each
Excellent, numbered Russian true black 6x5s - $285 each
NOS, unnumbered Bulgarian black 6x5s - $175 each
NOS, still in Cosmo, Hungarian 6x3s with complete hanger & straps - $135 each
East German 6x2s - $145 each
East German 6x4 - $135
Complete good to excellent Romanian 6x3s (leather & cloth hangers availiable) - $85 each
Polish 6x4 - $135
Polish Wz.55 Paratrooper fighting knife. - $315
Russian Spetznaz fighting knife - $225
Yugo M65 fighting knife - $445
Straps/Hangers
NOS Polish Molle hangers - $25 each
East german Hangers - $15 each
East German straps - $15 each
Polish 6x2 hanger - $25
AK Furniture (Full Sets 1 / Full Sets 2) (RPK sets) (Handguard Sets) (Grips) (MISC) (Saiga Sets) (Uppers & Pallad) (EG BFPU) (VZ58) (AMD65) (Hungarian Blue AKM63 sets) (Underfold Stocks) Right to Left by column -Full detailed pictures here
Full Sets 1
NOS Russian AK100 5.5mm stock sets with railed LHG - $455 each
Russian early AKM set with rare rubber buttpad - $335
Russian AK74 Set - $285
Russian T2 set - $365
NOS, unnumbered Bulgarian T3 set - $455
Romanian BFPU set with Kill hashes - $185
Sanded Polish Hardwood sets - $310
NOS Polish Laminate sets - $225
East German Hardwood set (only made on their first yeat 1964 prototypes) with fat Hungarian grip - $315
NOS Polish PPSH stock - $125
Black Yugo M64 trainer set - Missing metal ferrules - $365
Excellent Yugo M70 set w/ M64 ferruled grip - $235
Romanian ROMAK PSL style sets - $185 each
Custom Vepr clubfoot with purple krackle finish - $35
Full Sets 2
NOS Zastava Yugo M70B1 folding/railed sets - $455 each complete ($225 handguards/Grips combo / $245 Buttstock seperate / $105 grip seperate)
NOS East German MPiK74 sets - $225
RPK Sets
NOS Russian Plum or Laminate 4-piece RPKS sets - $525 each
Have multiple ribbed plum UHGs - $65 each
Handguard Sets - all 3-piece (handguards & Grips)
Bulged Bakelite sets (Tantal LHG, Romanian UHG, either Romy AIMS or Polish Bake grip) - $310 each
Romanian Unvented laminate sets & 1x hardwood SAR set - $105
Chinese BFPU bakelite set with gas tube - $375
Chinese polymer set - $265
NOS Polish laminate sets - $135 each
Russian AK74 set w/ Laminate grip - $205
Russian 74 set with Bakelite grip - $155
NOS Russian Plum set w/ flakes - $185
Polish Tantal sets (dark plum bakelite) - $290 each
East German (brown or black UHGs) w/ Russian bake grips - $155 each
Grips - Left to Right Top to Bottom
UKN US made wood grip - $5 addon / $9 individual
UKN fat wood grip - $45
MD Arms Molot clone - $20
CAA grip - complete - $18
CAA grip - $12
SAW style grip - $12
US Palm black & orange - $15 each
UKN black - $5 add on or $9 individually
UKN Tan - $5 add on or $9 individually
Shiney black over bake - $5 add on or $9 individually
Tapco orange w/ minor damage - $5 add on or $9 individually
Worn Russian black - $10 add on or $15 individually
BFPU Bulgarian - $5 add on or $9 individually
Good to execellent Yugo M70 - $5 add on or $9 individually
UKN OD Green - $5 add on or $9 individually
Hungarian AMD65 Grey - SOLD
Hungarian AMP69 baby blue - $75
MISC
Magpul Handguards Plum Zhukov (fit for VEPR) or Grey AKM - $45 each
VEPR w/ smooth upper handguards - $35
UKN 74 style black handguards - $45 each
UKN railed handguards - $35
3x Beryl folding stocks - $310
Metal railed Beryl handguard set - $310
Beryl lower - $65
Bulgarian Arsenal SAM 4-piece set - $75
Tantal wire folder - $80
Galil lightweight folder w/ pad - $185
Black Saiga sets - $45 each
Uppers & Pallad Lowers
Russian 74 scalloped upper handguards - $49 each
Romanian Bakelite upper handguards - $95 each
NOS Polish Pallad Lower Handguards - $150 each
EG BFPU grips & Upper handguards - $7 add on or $12 individually
VZ58
Beaver barf grip - $28
2x Lower Handguards - $28 each
folding stock butt pad sleeves - $18 each
AMD65 stock/grip sets - $125 each
Hungarian Blue AKM63 sets - Complete w/ all by two unicorn metal parts - $710 each
Individual prices =
NOS Blue stock sets w/ all hardware - more complete than the AOA sets - $150 each
Blue grips with grip nut/screw - $200 each
NOS, unnumbered long gas tube & lower handguard - $180 each
Underfold Stocks
Hungarian set, complete with trunnion & all hardware - $125
Milled Chinese with rear stub and grip nut - $210
4x Bulgarian stocks, with hinge hardware - $55 each
2x Russian, one assembled with hinge hardware, one T2 disassembled - $105 assembled, $85 disassembled.
Cleaning Rods - Detailed pictures here - Bottom to top
NOS Russian SVD 3-piece cleaning rod - $115
NOS Early & late model AKSU cleaning rods - $45 each
NOS Russian RPK74 5.45 Cleaning rods - 22.5" long - $55 each
NOS Russian RPK 7.62 Cleaning rods - 22 3/8" long - $55 each
NOS Russian Cleaning rods, Ribbed T1/early T2 variants - $75 each
NOS Russian AKM cleaning rods - $39 each
NOS Polish Tantal cleaning rods - $45
NOS Repro North Korean T68 cleaning rods - made from OG rod measurements - $75 each
Romanian AKM cleaning rods - $18 each
AK Parts - Multiple items - Detailed pictures here- Listed from left to right off the overall parts picture
Muzzle Devices
Han Solo Blaster aluminum repro cone - $25
26mm Yugo Cone - $35
24mm VISM w/ 14x1LH adapter - $30
24mm Bulgarian 74 device - $45
VEPR 12 thread protectors - $20 each
PKM - Flash Hiders - 18x1.5LH - $65 each
Second & third row are all 14x1LH threads
VEPR barrel protectors - $5 add on or $9 individual
VEPR RSB with pinned 360 degree spike brake = $45
Hungarian flash hiders - $5 add on or $9 individual
2x extended AMD65 brakes - $25 each
UKN parkerized brake - $25
Extended Fishscale brake - $30
2x UKN rigged brakes - $35 each
Custom cheese grater brake - $25
UKN scaled brake - $25
PWS GEN 2 hider - $95
UKN ribbed flash hider - $15
Bulgarian ARM-4 2-slot brake, NOS - $75
R.A.G.E TCS recoil system end cap, rethreaded to 14x1lh to serve as muzzle cap - $10
2x Romanian AMIR long flash hiders - $95 each
Top Covers
Chinese milled - $55
Chinese w/ scope rail - $75
UKN Railed - $15
M92 missing flip sight - $35
2x virgin Yugo M92 barrels - $125 each
Pistons
Turbo This Russian T1 replica - $175
OG Yugo M92 star piston - $75
MISC US made AKM & 74 pistons w/ 2x AMD65 length - $15 each
Recoil Rods
3x NOS Polish Gn.60 - $70 each
3x Chinese - $40 each
4x Russian AK100 series - $55 each
2x UKN - $20 each
Gas Tubes
NOS Polish AKM - $35 each
NOS Polish AK47 T3 - $45 each
2x UKN - $20 each
1x NOS Russian AKM - 60
1x Yugo M72 - $25
Chinese - $45
Chinese with OG Cheese Grater upper - $125
Hungarian AK63 - $45 each
2x Saiga - $15 each
East German AKM - $35 each
AK12 / SVD parts
New Russian Vector-12 AK12 handguard - $385
2x NOS Russian SVDS covers - $385 each
NOS Russian SDV Bipod - $650
SVD Extractors - $25 each
SVD buttpad extension - $25
SVD buttstock bakelite grip cap - $25
4x NOS SVD safeties - $45 each
Milled Stubs
Yugo Rear milled M64 stubs - Fixed & Underfold - $75 each
2x Front milled stubbs - Hungarian & East German - $75 each
Russian AKSU
2x Gas Tubes - $150 each
3x Piston - $55 each
Virgin FSB.Gas Block - $450
Sight Leafs
NOS Russian RPK - $85
2x NOS Polish T3 - $45 each
2x Russian Tigr - $35 each
2x Chinese - $35
4x Builder special Russian RPK FSBs - $45 each
VEPR 12 FSB/Gas Block combo - $65
MISC trigger guard parts - $10 add on / $15 individually
Romanian PSL Lot (2x carrier, 1x stripped bolt, 1x top cover, 1x piston 2x trigger guard, 2x muzzle brake, 1x FSB, Gas Block & bayonet lug) - $295 for the lot
Yugo M72 handguard retainer - $25
Bottom half Polish night rail - rough shape - $65
Hungarian AMP69 gas wrenches - $25 each
2x single point sling attachments - 1x is E93, other is UKN - $15 each
Safety Leavers
East German AKM leavers, early & late versions - $35 each
East German AK47 T3 - $45 each
1x Bulgarian T3 AKK - $45
North Korean T68 Lot - 2x Underfold Stock, both complete w/ hardware (1x missing sling loop) 1x rear trunnion w/out weldment, 1x front trunnion, 1x Bolt & bolt carrier (SN=3300) Handguard retainer (locking leaver seperated from retainer, but present), RSB (missing leaf), BFPU grip. - Lot = $545
Polish BFPU AKM lot (recoil rod, bolt (complete) FSB, gas block, safety, FCG parts - $125
MISC
Yugo M85 .223 Bolt - $125
Leaf springs - $2 add on
Yugo M70 grip screws - $4 add on
Yugo M92 virgin rails - $5/pair add on
Hungarian AMD65 lot - Gas block, FSB & handguard retainer - $65
Saiga/VEPR lot - FSBs, Gas Block, VEPR barrel handguard loops, FCG parts - $65

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/ZvfgXoM
Hello,
Need to sell one of my uppers, so whichever goes first. This one was used for function and to zero the Huey so Les than 100 rounds through it.
No trades or part outs, except the light package which I can sell separate as complete if the upper sells
The Build: https://imgur.com/a/dT2oCYL
Build List:

1. Geissele MK4 Fed Rail
2. Criterion Core 11.5”
3. ADM Adonized Upper Receiver
4. SF 4 Prong
5. Badger TDX Gas Block
6. Bootleg Gas Tube
7. Unity Tactical Fast Riser
8. Vortex UH-1 Gen 2 (same round count as upper, no salt)
9. Geissele ODG Charging Handle
10. True North Hand Stop
11. BCM Folding Iron Sights

Light Setup:

1. Modlite Head and Body PLHV2-56458
2. Modlite Unity Mod Button
3. Surefire DS00
4. One Hundred Concepts Cap

$1,950 Shipped and Insured
All rules apply, please call dibs and PM me No Chat.
Payment will be via PayPal F&F no notes please. I will ship within 3 business days or sooner.
Thank you

I just recently purchased the 2022 M16 with Rtx 3070 ti and i9 12900h processor. I am getting ridiculously low time spy scores for what I’ve seen on YouTube and was wondering if there were some optimization tools that I can do to help my gpu score

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/vx1Wf3n

Optics Package

Prices listed in bullet points are for reference only from online vendors, not parting at this time

• Vortex Gen III Razor 1-10 LPVO FFP EBR-9 BDC MOA Reticle (virtually new)
  
• Scalarworks LEAP/09 34mm 1.93 (virtually new)
  
• Vortex Defender Flip Caps
  
• Wager Machine Works Battery Cap for Razor LPVO
  
• Vortex SwitchView SV-5 Throw Lever
  
• Original Packaging for all serialized items included
  

Yours for $2450 $2350 shipped

Rubber City Armory Titanium BCG w/ Adjustable Gas Key

• Rubber City Armory Titanium AR-15 BCG w/ Adjustable Gas Key (lightly used; finish looks virtually new on carrier, normal wear on gas key, few hundred rounds) + brand new unused bolt and firing ping

Yours for $290 $250 shipped

GQ Armory Handguard Forged Carbon Fiber 6″

• GQ Armory Handguard Forged Carbon Fiber 6″ AR-15 + titanium screws upgrade (takeoff, 500 rounds) - not available individually, only on the flagship carbon PDW

Yours for $390 $275 shipped

Pricing based off the 10" version, equivalent pricing as options and wholesale cost per GQ and not including cost of Ti screws upgrade

The same handguard featured on our Paladin Carbon. Ultra light weight at only 5.15 oz for the entire system. Made from forged carbon fiber mated to a 7075 hardcoat anodized barrel nut. M-LOK attachment points at 3′, 6′, and 9′. Bonded carbon fiber picatinny rail. Our handguard has an ID of 1.78″ and will fit any silencers up to 1.75″ like those from Q, CGS, etc. Forged carbon fiber is extremely strong and durable given its weight, comparable to 6061 aluminum which is what most AR handguards are made of.
FEATURES & SPECS:
– FORGED CARBON FIBER CONSTRUCTION
– FORGED ULTRA LIGHT 7075 ALUMINUM BARREL NUT
– M-LOK ATTACHMENT POINTS
– ANTI-ROTATION SYSTEM
– LENGTH: 6″
– WEIGHT: 5.15 OZ INCLUDING WEIGHT OF BARREL NUT AND SCREWS

Please see my other posts for available items:

• 1100 Lumen BR30 E26 Multicolor LED Bulbs (LIFX) w/ 1x Nightvision IP65 Bulb

All prices are PayPal F&F. Dibs beats PM, send PM within 15 minutes or goes to 2nd dibs.
Absolutely no notes of any kind with payment.
I also have Zelle and Venmo available at your discretion.
Please add 3.1% for G&S or use the fee calculator for specific payment.
When making a payment please put "dibs on XYZ" if you have not already.
If you have put dibs, please send a PM for payment information soon thereafter.
If you have low flair and have previously claimed an item that I am now reposting due to lack of payment, your messages will be ignored and dibs declined.
Trade Interests:

• Dead Air Nomad e-Brake
  
• Esstac 2011 Kywi Inserts (2+)
  
• IWC 45 Offset QD Picatinny Mount
  
• Liberty Precision Machine Atlas / Plan B Thread Protector(s)
  
• Forward Control Designs Atlas / Plan B Thread Protector(s)
  
• Liberty's Defense Suppressor Cover(s)
  

I just got a new iPad Air 5th gen yesterday and I am at the stage where I can transfer my Apple ID from my Air 2 to the new one. I reset my password on the Air 2 because I didn't have my most up to date password saved, and it logs in fine on that iPad.
The new iPad asked for my apple ID password. I type it in. Verification failed, your apple ID or password is incorrect.
I have changed my password twice now and the new iPad keeps rejecting the password. I can sign onto id.apple.com just fine with each password I've used.
Now that I changed my password for the second time, I entered it in the new iPad and it says my account is locked. I opted to unlock via email, but I have not received an email. Checked my spam folder and everything. Am I hard locked out since there's been so much activity in changing my password and attempting to unlock my account twice?
Why is this new iPad rejecting every correct password I've had?

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/vx1Wf3n

Optics Package

Prices listed in bullet points are for reference only from online vendors, not parting at this time

• Vortex Gen III Razor 1-10 LPVO FFP EBR-9 BDC MOA Reticle (virtually new) - ~$2500 value new
  
• Scalarworks LEAP/09 34mm 1.93 (virtually new) - ~$439 value new
  
• Vortex Defender Flip Caps - lists for ~$48 value new
  
• Wager Machine Works Battery Cap for Razor LPVO - ~$50 value new
  
• Vortex SwitchView SV-5 Throw Lever
  
• Original Packaging for all serialized items included
  

Total value of ~$3050 + shipping, yours for $2450 shipped insured (~$600 off purchased new online)

Rubber City Armory Titanium BCG w/ Adjustable Gas Key

• Rubber City Armory Titanium AR-15 BCG w/ Adjustable Gas Key (lightly used; finish looks virtually new on carrier, normal wear on gas key, few hundred rounds) + brand new unused bolt and firing ping

Value of $390 new, yours for $290 $275 shipped

GQ Armory Handguard Forged Carbon Fiber 6″

• GQ Armory Handguard Forged Carbon Fiber 6″ AR-15 + titanium screws upgrade (takeoff, 500 rounds) - not available individually, only on the flagship carbon PDW - Sells for $400 without Ti Screws + ship new

Value of $400 new, yours for $390 $290 shipped

Pricing based off the 10" version, equivalent pricing as options and wholesale cost per GQ and not including cost of Ti screws upgrade

The same handguard featured on our Paladin Carbon. Ultra light weight at only 5.15 oz for the entire system. Made from forged carbon fiber mated to a 7075 hardcoat anodized barrel nut. M-LOK attachment points at 3′, 6′, and 9′. Bonded carbon fiber picatinny rail. Our handguard has an ID of 1.78″ and will fit any silencers up to 1.75″ like those from Q, CGS, etc. Forged carbon fiber is extremely strong and durable given its weight, comparable to 6061 aluminum which is what most AR handguards are made of.
FEATURES & SPECS:
– FORGED CARBON FIBER CONSTRUCTION
– FORGED ULTRA LIGHT 7075 ALUMINUM BARREL NUT
– M-LOK ATTACHMENT POINTS
– ANTI-ROTATION SYSTEM
– LENGTH: 6″
– WEIGHT: 5.15 OZ INCLUDING WEIGHT OF BARREL NUT AND SCREWS

Please see my other posts for available items:

• 1100 Lumen BR30 E26 Multicolor LED Bulbs (LIFX) w/ 1x Nightvision IP65 Bulb

All prices are PayPal F&F. Dibs beats PM, send PM within 15 minutes or goes to 2nd dibs.
Absolutely no notes of any kind with payment.
I also have Zelle and Venmo available at your discretion.
Please add 3.1% for G&S or use the fee calculator for specific payment.
When making a payment please put "dibs on XYZ" if you have not already.
If you have put dibs, please send a PM for payment information soon thereafter.
If you have low flair and have previously claimed an item that I am now reposting due to lack of payment, your messages will be ignored and dibs declined.
Trade Interests:

• Dead Air Nomad e-Brake
  
• Esstac 2011 Kywi Inserts (2+)
  
• IWC 45 Offset QD Picatinny Mount
  
• Liberty Precision Machine Atlas / Plan B Thread Protector(s)
  
• Forward Control Designs Atlas / Plan B Thread Protector(s)
  
• Liberty's Defense Suppressor Cover(s)
  

Hi, just looking for some advice as to what my 2004 Toyota Camry SE would be worth if I wanted to sell it. I’m not too familiar with cars in general so help would be appreciated!
I’m in Canada for reference.
It has around 390000km (242334mi) on it, and I have two sets of tires with their own rims, a regular set and a studded winter set.
It drives perfectly, no engine troubles or noises at all. Eats a small amount of oil, enough to notice over a few months but not even close to causing problems.
Check engine light is currently on due to an issue with the knock sensor (was quoted about 850 CAD to fix - will not be doing this) and an evap code that requires a gas cap replacement (will be doing this as it’s inexpensive).
The physical status of the car is not perfect, but okay, given it’s age: - Some rust spots on the body, nothing too major, the largest one has resulted in a hole near the front left wheel. - One of the windshield wipers is attached to the car via a metal wire instead of what usually locks the wiper in place. Not sure what happened to the original connecter but I’ve only had an issue with it once in the and reattached it as soon as I parked. - Some minor chips and cracks on the windshield.
Interior has aftermarket speakers and head unit installed by previous owner. The cloth roof lining is detached by the rear window. Rest of the interior isn’t in terrible shape (cracked leather, some of the plastic trim isn’t firmly attached etc) and nothing is broken.
I’m not in need of selling it quite yet but since it’s getting up there in mileage and age I wanted to know when I should start looking for a new car before I get stranded on the side of the road.
I can’t imagine it’d be worth much at all, maybe a grand or two CAD? If I could get some advice that would be fantastic!
As a side note when should I start looking for a new car? I was thinking once I get a repair quote that’s worth more than the car is worth I should start looking. Preferably I’d be able to start looking before it dies so that I have time to shop around without immediate purchase.
Thanks!

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/r4naXt3
https://imgur.com/a/ExQMIu1
​
1.) 12.5" Odin Works .223 Wylde barrel 1/8 w/New gas block and stainless tube (Brand new)
PRICE - $180 OBO
​
2.) Toolcraft Phosphate c158 BCG (250 rounds)
PRICE - $90 OBO SOLD
​
3.) 8th Anniversary FCD ODG Double-dimple EPC (Like new condition)
PRICE - $100 OBO
​
4.) Vortex Spitfire 3x HD Gen 2 (Like new condition)
- includes box, tool, high and & low mount, cap covers, instructions
PRICE - $300 OBO
​
5.) BCM Compensator w/2 shims (like new condition - used for about 500 rounds)
PRICE - $45 OBO
​
​

• Just make an offer
• Dibs rules apply
• NO CHATS, ONLY PMs
• PP F&F, Venmo

Hey everyone, long time lurker first time poster. Currently in the market of searching for a used 5th Gen 4runner limited. As we all know, a model change is coming in the next year or so. How does everyone think this new model will affect the price on used 5th gens?
I have no interest in planning to purchasing a new model when they release, but does anyone think it would be wiser to wait till they release in hopes that the market for 5th gens will lower in price?

LPL Summer Power Rankings
Just one person’s opinion. WE diehard so I’ve seen more or less all of their games, but I’ll catch other games here and there. Did a lot of Oracle’s Elixir and Leaguepedia digging as well and followed/consulted @DJJohnnymeister on twitter (must follow IMHO if you care at all about the up and comers of the LDL) for thoughts on lower-level prospects. Will probably make me look stupid when it’s all said and done, but that’s part of the fun right?
Top Contenders
1) JDG
Top – 369
Jungle – Kanavi
Mid – Knight/lzq
ADC – Ruler
Support – Missing
Was the best team on paper last split and lived up to the hype. Coming off of a dominant MSI championship run, they are the slam dunk pick to top not just the LPL power rankings, but the World power rankings.
369 is perhaps the best he’s ever been, easily 1st team All Pro. Kanavi has re-established himself as the best jungler in the world at MSI. Knight’s mechanical talent finally shone through on the international stage. Lzq is an 18-year-old who somehow skipped the LDL altogether and isn’t really relevant to the narrative, but he's on the official roster so I have to mention him. Ruler inserted his name in the GOAT conversation and proved his mettle out of the Samsung/GenG sphere, doing his thing of blending solid damage output with consistent safety. When Missing is the worst player on the team by default and yet still the Spring 2nd All Pro Team support you’re in golden shape.
They get a sentence each because I shouldn’t need to tell you about this team. They’re really just complete without any exploitable holes. Adding Knight and Ruler to China’s best squad in 2022 feels similar to the off-season where the Golden State Warriors added Kevin Durant, with the added bonus that Boogie Cousins is still in his prime. I suppose that makes Yagao into Pro LOL’s Harrison Barnes (I actually like this comparison, down to Yagao receiving blame for the blowing it when it mattered most) and GenG into Pro LOL’s Sacramento Kings (pretty bad, but if we equate the playoffs to making world finals?… ehh still really bad). We’ll see who (if anyone) can rise up to challenge them, but at this point they have to be considered the odds-on favorite.
2) LNG
Top – Zika
Jungle – Tarzan
Mid – Scout
ADC – GALA
Support – Hang
This team had one hole in the roster going into the summer and filled it. LP didn’t have a bad rookie split and showed mettle but he was clearly the odd man out on a team built to compete today. After looking at IG’s ADC Ahn, they chose to spare no expense and traded LP and a boat load of cash for RNG’s GALA who more than fills that hole. GALA will be paired in the bottom lane with Hang, who was a key partner for LP’s surprisingly competent debut, earning an All-LPL 3rd team shoutout in the process.
Scout meanwhile had a downright incredible split that fell by the wayside due to LNG’s immediate playoff exit at the hands of OMG, but it appears that even away from the EDG machine, he’s still one of the LPL’s premier stars at a very competitive position. I mean he put up a mind numbing 17 MVPs individually. To put it in perspective, ThunderTalk Gaming, who were the 8 seed in the LPL Spring Standings, had 18 wins in total. With teams like EDG and JDG sharing the MVP load among their members, Scout downright ran away with it.
Zika didn’t have a super flashy split, but was low key very strong. The team devoted a lot to making sure LP wasn’t exploited and you would think Zika, who was heavily strong-side suited as a rookie on IG last year, would flounder because of it. However, he quietly flourished in the role, even though he only picked up a single MVP performance all season. Putting up strong CS numbers and showing some good weakside ability on top of his typical array of more damage centric tops. Honestly, he might be the most underrated player in the league since he’s overshadowed by his much more resource heavy teammates, but that weakside ability might be even more key with GALA joining the team and needing the resources as well.
Tarzan meanwhile continued as a standout in the regular season, best jungler KDA, strong kill participation basically the rest of the regular season MVP performances, but was perhaps the primary factor in their playoff disappointment. Similar to JDG’s situation with Missing though, when Tarzan (specifically in the playoffs) is the team’s biggest concern, you know you have a roster ready to compete.
3) EDG
Top – Ale
Jungle – Jiejie/Monki
Mid – Fofo/Fisher
ADC – Leave
Support – Meiko
Despite losing their key Korean carries, EDG barely missed a beat last split, finishing 3rd in the Spring Split. It’s a pretty good result all things considered, but it does feel like they have holes in their game. Still, I think that between their core veterans still at the peak of their game and the overall consistency, they are in very good shape for the Worlds slots, even if they feel a step behind the likes of JDG right now.
Even without Scout and Viper, they still have a great veteran core that starts with Meiko, who with Ming’s absence/retirement(?) stands alone as only active LPL’s all-time top 10 support. As part of the EDG core for over 9 years now, and the team’s primary shot caller for a huge part of that span, his presence alone means that EDG will have one of the best macro games in the league. Combo that with Jiejie, who has served in the EDG system for a huge period of time and grown into a top level jungler in his midst of his prime and you immediately have a team that has championship aspirations even before the other 3 members are considered, as both players were 1st Team All Pro for the Spring Split.
The 3 other members were where a lot of the concern lied going into the season, but they exceeded expectations as EDG was the number 2 seed going into playoffs. While the least talked about of the three, it was a great bounce back split for FoFo who was one of the most disappointing players on 2022’s most disappointing team BLG, eventually losing his starting job to mid-season acquisition Icon. On EDG though, he looked revitalized and fairly close to his form on RA 2021, though admittedly he was flanked by better players with EDG. It was a commendable, low drama, stable split for a player who needed it bad.
Similar to FoFo, Ale was coming off of a rough 2021 as well where a talented by troubled LNG team didn’t completely flop by the results, but completely missed the high expectations set. This included a benching for PandaC halfway through the split that really hurt the team in key series down the stretch amid talk about attitude issues. He’s always been a talented pair of hands though and EDG did well to keep him focused and on his game, as he stepped up big time, particularly when given non-tank champions while piloting tanks well enough, earning 2nd team All Pro honors. Obviously, Ale isn’t always the most stable player, but so long as EDG has him on the straight and narrow, he’s going to be a net positive for the team.
Finally, we come to the rookie of the split Leave, who came in with some serious LDL hype and lived up to it for the most part, working well as EDG’s damage carry and showing a flashy mechanics style. Being flanked with the likes of Meiko helps of course, but EDG handed the reigns to Leave and he seemed up to the task. Unfortunately, going up against the likes of Ruler and Elk in the playoffs did prove to be that freshman wall for Leave, but as MSI showed they’ve been folding everyone, so it’s not too shameful. Still as the least experienced player in this top 4 group, it’s going to be a lot of pressure on the youngster. It’s crazy that this super mechanically skilled star of his rookie class could be the weakness of the team, but that’s just the level of the competition among the top teams of this league.
I do want to give brief mention to EDG’s substitute players, who are both very talented youngsters. Monki is a 19-year-old LDL promote jungler who was strong at the lower level and warranted a promotion. Fisher meanwhile had been a standout Korean trainee from Shadow Corp (the same team they picked up About, the new Korean bot lane trainee Ale was talking about) and directly went onto the EDG main roster at 18 years old. Neither will likely see play given this team’s veteran tilt and the championship ambitions, but they’re worth keeping an eye out for down the road whether they’re future EDG starters or purchases for other LPL teams.
4) BLG
Top – Bin
Jungle – XUN
Mid – Yagao
ADC – Elk/Baiye
Support – ON
Given BLG’s penchant for big expenses for early playoff exits, it would be easy to write off their latest roster as yet another flailing attempt to microwave a team into stardom, turning over basically the entire 2022 roster they reportedly spent top dollar for. And yet, it felt different this time around. While the players they picked up weren’t exactly household names, they were talented mechanical players on the rise. They looked genuinely strong in the pre-season tournaments, which admittedly doesn’t count a whole ton, but was interesting to note. And when it was all said and done, it resulted in the best split BLG has ever put up. And while they couldn’t outgun the JDG machine in any of the many shots, it was a great season. While I have them below LNG for their sheer top to bottom power and EDG out of respect for their veteran track record, I’m still very impressed by this BLG squad.
Bin, as somehow the longest tenured BLG member of 2 splits, was the face of the team’s turnaround, and a far cry better from the rocky 2022 he endured swapping between 2 dysfunctional teams. 2023 was where he re-established himself as the premier mechanical top in the league. Always known for his excellent hands since his debut on Suning in 2020, he was able to back up those skills this split, while furthering his profile in the west with his fun trashtalk and gigachad persona. Furthermore, when the chips were down at MSI, he even showed a willingness to pick up tanks, which has always been the clear hole in his game.
As for the free agent additions, the one who most established himself was Elk. If I can put on my hipster hat on, I was an Elk fan before it was cool, given he’s always shown an ability to put up eyepopping damage numbers since his debut which continued this season as he topped the tables far and away leading the league with the number 1 DPM and damage share. However, it was the finer points of the game where Elk struggled on back in the day. Off positioning, hit or miss laning, occasional overextensions trying to maximize damage were all issues for Elk on WE. On this BLG squad though, that has largely ironed itself out, with only occasional blowup performances every so often. An unknown on the World stage going into MSI, everyone now knows the name of this fearsome player. They also added a name that nobody knows, that being Baiye an LDL ADC to the main roster as well. Having just debuted on BLG.J last split and playing all of 7 games in the LDL, it’s tough to take this promotion seriously at all, let alone as a threat to Elk’s seat.
A major part of supporting Elk’s rise was the acquisition of the best young support in the LPL, ON. One of the big pain points of LPL teams is that LDL promotions are just so difficult, and none so more than support, where the talent pool is shallow and the transition is just an absolute killer. So many of the highest profile LDL supports have floundered on promotion, and ON was no exception on Suning back in 2021. That being said, he’s improved an incredible amount since that first rocky season, and the mechanical ability he has as a support and his young age (only 20 years old despite debuting in 2021) makes him perhaps the most valuable long-term asset on the BLG roster. As EDG has shown with Meiko and his cavalcade of ADC pairings, great ADCs can be acquired in the LPL but great supports when kept are backbones to long term success.
XUN was an acquisition much like Elk and ON, a young mechanical standout who BLG scooped up with projection in mind. He arrived into IG in 2021 as a highly touted rookie, and was mentioned alongside the likes of Bo and Xiaohuangren, the 2 super prospects junglers as the next generation. He joined right at the tail end of the Rookie-TheShy era of the team and while he had early struggles then, by the time the next season rolled around, he was IG’s standout player. Even after arriving at BLG, he’s still a very volatile player, and hasn’t solidified his play the way Elk and ON have, but at his best, he’s capable of getting bot rolling, which is exactly what BLG is want to do.
Finally, the Harrison Barnes of the LPL, Yagao, who was the typical blame target for BLG in their losses. It’s true, he’s older and certainly doesn’t match up great against the top of the table mids that he’ll need to beat, but the bottom line is that for the most part he’s fine enough. Just like Barnes, he’s certainly not the team centerpiece, and he occasionally has baffling performances, but he’s usually stable enough to not get in the way. Honestly, he’s probably the weakest individual player among these top 4 teams and the predominant reason (along with coinflippy XUN) that I have the MSI runners up 4th on this list, but to be clear I’m not huge Yagao hater, it’s just that these top teams are so stacked that every potential available weakness makes a difference. I mean, you don’t see Harrison Barnes on the All-NBA teams or anything.
Playoff Expectations
5) OMG
Top – Shanji
Jungle – Aki
Mid – Creme
ADC – Able
Support – PPGod/Jerry
OMG returns with the roster that brought them to their highest playoff finish since Spring 2017 (!!!), finishing a highly impressive 4th in the split. On paper, I still think their roster is lacking in marquee raw talent, but it’s clear at this point that they’re more coordinated than some of their flashier opposition and that they’ve cultivated 2 young stars that have now shown some serious killer instinct.
Without any doubt, this is a team that is defined by the play of their solo lane talents. Starting from the top Shanji had a standout split primarily as one of the most effective K’Sante/Sion tank players the large majority of the time, but occasionally busts out Kennen and his signature Rumble, and been incredibly impactful when he gets them. Furthermore, this synergizes perfectly with OMG’s other star laner Creme, who is afforded the ability to fit AD assassins like Yone. Assassins have continued to be Creme’s calling card and while his control mage play is lackluster, OMG has tailored their gameplans around his champion pool and have reaped the benefits of the young mid laner.
On top of these two really clicking simultaneously, a big hat tip must be given to their teammates as well. PPGod in particular proved to be the right ingredient to bring OMG playoff glory as he continues his ability to accent teams into playoff threats even if he hasn’t been quite been able to reach the Finals at any of his stops. I’ll give him some additional props once we reach the NIP write up. Given PPGod’s late arrival to the team last spring, LDL promotion Jerry sat on the bench for the season, and looks to do so again. Able meanwhile has a pretty non-descript year, taking a back seat to his solo lane teammates but showing some stability that he’s usually lacked. Certainly not a masterful split, but credit where it’s due, he reigned it in and was steady for OMG’s best squad in ages.
Finally, Aki deserves a big hand for his role in OMG’s success as well. A solid vet who isn’t considered a mechanical master by any means, he was steady at the wheel throughout the season, and was even able to out jungle Tarzan of all people in their shock upset win over LNG. Despite taking the most MVPs for OMG in the regular season, it was rarely for single handed domination and I’d point that more as a credit for his facilitation of the team’s coordination in general where they were able to get over the competition where it counted.
I don’t think this team has the ceiling of the others in this tier, but they have a known formula that works. While the others in this group have more talent on an individual level, it’s clear that they have serious questions to sort out that OMG really doesn’t, so I’m considering OMG the safe team in this particular group, but without the upside to challenge the tier above.
6) WBG
Top – TheShy
Jungle – Karsa/Weiwei
Mid – Xiaohu
ADC – Light
Support – Crisp
This team and the one after it were the teams with close to the highest expectations in the League and yet fell flat in spite of talented rosters. Both have largely decided to run it back, with new coaching staffs in an attempt to fix the tactical side where they came short. WBG went big game hunting for their next coach after sacking Easyhoon and was attempting to court Kkoma before he opted to focus on Korea’s efforts at the World Games. They settled for an Kkoma adjacent coach in Daeny, formerly part of the Damwon and T1 programs. A controversial coach in his own right, he’s drew criticism for his pick/bans and his questionable roster decisions, but he still has that Worlds title under his belt, so WBG is out here shooting for the moon. Born to wintrade or whatever.
TheShy is as always, a pretty good representation of the team. Perpetually on top of the damage charts due to his confidence in his mechanics and his propensity to fight constantly, it leads to the coinflippy hit or miss results you so often see from TheShy and his teams in general. He’s certainly not at his peak form where he dominated on the Worlds stage, but he’s not at his worst either near the end of his IG tenure when that whole team looked out of gas, TheShy is an LPL icon, even if that icon is occasionally the death notification on the side of the UI.
Purchasing Xiaohu out of his RNG contract was one of the big stories for this team going into the off season and a large reason for optimism for their future results. In actually he was rather middling by all accounts. Not a total disaster of course, it felt like he was fine for the most part, but not the immediate plug and play mechanical players that Scout, Knight or Rookie serve as. Maybe a second season to mesh is what they need to comeback.
Light for my money was the most dependable member of the team in the regular season, being just a generally stable force in the otherwise chaotic team structure. I wouldn’t call him the best at any individual thing: Ruler is a much safer ADC and Elk is a better pure damage pump, but light is good enough at both of those things to be a consistent plus for WBG, which can’t be said for the rest of the team. Supported by the veteran Crisp, you have to expect them to anchor the team in general, though Crisp was particularly bad in the playoff series against BLG, where his hooks on both Thresh and Naut were off point. It’s just one series of course, but the play needs to be better than that in crunch time next time.
Finally, the jungle situation for Weibo. Karsa continues to be the perpetual punching bag when the team struggles. It’s been a major decline since his Flash Wolves and early RNG days and frankly it might be time to just bucket him as not able to get it done at the highest level at this point. He can still work enough in the regular season to make the playoffs, but the form is just not where it needs to be at this point. In a fascinating move, scooped up Weiwei, who went from BLG’s star jungler to league washout over the course of a single year. The biggest victim of BLG’s 2022 catastrophe, the last look of Weiwei we got was not a flattering one as the team fell flat on it’s face amid roster instability and play not matching up to the expected standard. Still, we’ve seen a number of comebacks for players leaving the BLG ecosystem, such as PPGod and FoFo returning to form after splitting wit the team. Of course it’s not always a winning formula as Doggo and Biubiu (shudder) can attest to, but there’s enough of a strong track record from Weiwei during 2020 V5 and 2021 BLG to say that trying to get that level out of him is worth the attempt.
7) TES
Top – Wayward/Qingtian
Jungle – Tian
Mid – Rookie
ADC – Jackeylove
Support – Mark
Reuniting 2/5ths of the legendary IG core was supposed to lead TES to their Worlds destiny. Yet going into the Summer split they are another team running it back with the exact same roster, though unlike teams like JDG, BLG or OMG, the Spring split was an unmitigated failure for TES. There was not glory, but a collapse down the stretch of the season and shameful defeat at the hands of OMG, a team that is probably running a budget less than Jackeylove’s individual paycheck (note: The previous statement was hyperbole. I do not actually know how much OMG pays their players.) With some of the flashiest names in the LPL, finishing without at least challenging JDG would have been a disappointment, let alone the 7th/8th that they actually managed.
The big obvious question for this team is what exactly they do with the top lane because the decision making around it was seemed heavily stilted. They chose to run Qingtian basically the entire regular season, and then yanked the rug on him with a single series to go? Sure, he was largely a hit or miss top laner who was missing against the better teams (and LGD’s because rookie Xiaoxu was feeling it) but pulling the plug on him and swapping to Wayward literally at the last second heavily sabotaged both of them. Congratulations, Wayward crushed Biubiu in round 1 of playoffs, like basically everyone else who played top lane in the LPL. Up against Shanji (a player TES bypassed as a rookie to pick up Qingtian), Wayward was not up to it, and it was a big part of what ended their season. Even though both top laners are limited, I find it hard to place the blame on them directly given this awkward setup and how they approach top lane in the Summer with both players still on the roster remains to be seen.
The bot lane continues to be the same story as always. Jackeylove is still super high ceiling but there are still sometimes these baffling efforts where he’s playing off of his game, which has been a repeating trend for a while now. Mark did well to stabilize him at the beginning of their shared tenure but it’s been rough going as of late for this bot lane in general.
Moving to the big free agent swap they made, adding the legendary Rookie to the team, and it wasn’t all bad. It’s not like he was an abject disaster, he had his share of good games, such as dominating against Shanks in the first round of the playoffs, it’s just that there were too many series where he didn’t lift the team when things weren’t clicking elsewhere… like the 2nd round against OMG. It felt like too often he wasn’t meshing with Tian who was also off his normally solid domestic game. People joke that it was his Worlds performance showing up and frankly, I’d have to agree.
I don’t know with this team. The on-paper talent is on there as usual but there’s something missing… Normally with teams, the question is: how can this team coordinate together and be more than the sum of their parts, which OMG showcased best? I don’t get that vibe from TES, where the question I’m asking is: do they feel like playing up to their talent, or are they going to let go of the rope and lose in shocking fashion? Just weird vibes. I’d say maybe the coaching swap could help, but bringing in the guy who was overseeing BLG during their moneybag disappointment era doesn’t fill me with confidence. I still think they still should be fine for the playoffs off of their sheer talent running over enough teams when they do hold it together, but I just don’t see them as a viable challenger for the LPL crown unless something flips in them, particularly given how good the top 4 seem.
Playoff Bubble
8) TT
Top- HOYA
Jungle – Beichuan/xiaohuangren
Mid – Ucal
ADC – Huanfeng/1xn
Support – yuyanjia/Yaoyao
A pleasant surprise last split, making their first LPL playoffs since they were known as Sinodragon, TT has shed their bottom feeder status and actually have some breakout potential. They’ve formed a decent core to build off of and collected some of the most exciting young talents in the league. How they split their starts between the young guns and the vets they played last split is quietly one of the most interesting storylines in the league as those talented swing pieces could push them up into contendership or down out of the playoffs depending on how they handle the LPL stage.
We’ll start with the boring part of the team in their now solidified Korean solo lane pairing, HOYA and Ucal. After spinning solo laners basically their entire existence, the duo has been locked in for basically 4 splits now. Neither blow anyone’s socks off (though I maintain Ucal in particular is pretty underrated), but you know you’re gonna get a playoff worthy performance but not much more. Together they provide the solid foundation for the rest of the roster, where it really gets interesting.
Starting with jungle, Beichuan had effective but flawed split. He output damage well and did much to incite action, but he also died a whole ton, with the highest death share of any jungler in the league last split. This volatility has been his modus operandi this TT squad as he manages to lead TT in MVPs and I’m sure would have also led the team had an “Most Un-valuable Player” award been given to the biggest inter on the losing team, so he’s pretty core to the TT identity as they’re constructed. However, the clearly more intriguing option has to be Xiaohuangren, who is likely the youngest player in the league right now, and the most hyped LDL jungler since Bo. Debuting in LDL at just 16, XHR was immediately one of the best mechanical junglers in the lower level, and even when the age limit was placed, he took to dominating the Korean ladder with multiple accounts in his excess time. Promoted in the middle of the Spring split days after he turned 18, he hasn’t seen a stage since that age limit was placed, but eyes will be watching to see if TT put the hyper-talent on the rift.
Their other young hyper-talent TT acquired is at the ADC position where they are bringing JDG’s LDL bot laner 1xn. Highly touted by LDL experts, 1xn doesn’t have a mechanical flaw to speak of, putting out insane damage and CS numbers on the regular. The one thing to note was that the JDM team surrounding him didn’t have the skills to back him up, so he never really got the accolades his performance deserved. How he splits time with Huanfeng, who was pretty ineffective last season, and just clearly is no longer the do-everything ADC we saw at 2020 Worlds with Suning is the other big question. It’s weird to see him morph into a rather conservative low-risk low-reward player, and honestly, if they gave out a “Least Valuable Player” award to the winning team, he’d probably be the among League’s leaders in that sketchy credential.
Finally, the support situation is less exciting but lowkey just as important as the other 2 positions as they’ve opted to add Yuyanjia to the roster to which I’m fairly confused. A lackluster veteran (25 years old?) who has never really helped a roster even at his “peak”, I’m not sure what he brings to the table for TT. It’s even more confusing since incumbent support Yaoyao has been the rare promoted LDL support who has actually looked good in his initial LPL stint, which is some sort of minor miracle given the typical LDL support struggles. Trying to fit XinLiu in last split probably cost them some series, so I’m not sure why they seem so interested in these mediocre at best support players when they have a solid one in hand.
9) WE
Top – Cube/Demon
Jungle – Heng
Mid – Shanks
ADC – Hope
Support – Iwandy
I see WE as the LPL’s gatekeeper team. Last split they were great against the lower ranked teams (exception AL), and awful against the higher ranked teams (exception BLG) and managed to sneak playoffs thanks to the likes of IG being just a bit more volatile. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about them as the season goes on, so I’ll keep things brief here.
They managed to do this with an essential deadweight in the top lane. Cube doesn’t completely alter the equation for WE, as he’s coming off of his worst split to date where he was largely stuck on tank duty, but he does turns the top lane for WE from being a ceiling capper into a floor raiser for the team. Worst case is that he continues his middling tank form and he serves as a rich man’s Biubiu who can actually lane competently. The best-case scenario is that the change of scenery (where he was on RA for 4 years) works to revitalize him towards more of the damage top lane champs he played in his earlier years. Either way, the best part of this addition is really the subtraction of Biubiu, which adds much needed flexibility to a team that desperately needs it. Meanwhile, Demon also augments the team’s flexibility by adding his skills of doing promotional videos when Chinese New Year rolls around. So yeah, you can say this is a much-improved top lane situation.
Otherwise, the team remains the same as their gatekeeper-selves. Iwandy quietly had a very solid season as WE’s most consistent player and a foundation as a support. Hope had a mid-season swoon that showed his deficiencies particular as a laner and on less focused champions, but was able to showcase his carrying skills as the season concluded. Both are what they are: usually net positives for a team, but not really able to take you to a top 6 seed independently. That is going to have to come from their teammates, speaking of which…
Heng was up and down as a rookie jungler, but for the most part demonstrated a willingness to be proactive and facilitate his lanes via early ganks, even if it didn’t always work out as planned. And of course, Shanks who had his best regular season to date, relying on consistently strong lane performances. While capitalizing on those leads remains a hit or miss affair and a particular bad playoff series against TES are marks against him, I still have those high expectations for him and continue to see this as a prove it year. Outside of Cube unlocking something additional, which shouldn’t be counted on, this jungle-mid pair are the key for WE to climb higher than the lower playoff spots. Both are usually strong early, but they’ll need to clean up their mid/late game play for the team to be a contender against higher caliber teams.
10) IG
Top – YSKM/neny
Jungle – Tianzhen
Mid – Cryin/Dove
ADC – Xiaoyueji/Ahn
Support – Wink
Putting IG too low was a big miss for me in Spring and despite narrowly missing out on playoffs and making some pretty major roster changes, they do make sense as a team as a whole to the point where I can see them in playoff contention.
YSKM was the breakout player for them, as his mechanical prowess was legit right out of the gate though I do think he’s a tad overrated as his DPM isn’t as high as you would expect for a player that almost exclusively plays damage top laners. You have to assume he starts over neny who is just perpetually going to be on this roster as a break in case of emergency/illness weakside player.
Their other returning player is Wink, who has proven to be a successfully above average support and revitalized his career in the process after floundering at ADC for IG. Wink is reunited with his former mid laner Cryin, as both were teammates on a Estar team that vastly exceeded expectations on their debut year. While being the low econ mid laner in a Xiaohu-GALA centric RNG didn’t flatter his talents, Cryin had a pretty good year all things as UP’s best player last season, and he’ll get another shot this year. The expectation is he starts over Dove who is still on the roster? He wasn’t awful but was certainly less exciting than his jungle counterpart and I assumed he would be leaving along with GIDEON and the Korean coaching staff.
This is Xiaoyueji’s second shot at the big leagues given he was tried and passed by Ahn last season, but he’s coming off of an LDL Season MVP where he was clearly above the lower level. We’ll need to see if he can step up with the tougher competition ala Photic, or if he’s just a quadruple-A player (too good for LDL, not good enough for LPL) like Asura. It might not even matter though as it’s worth noting that Ahn remains on the roster, even after the promotion of XYJ and a tryout from LNG (who clearly have contending in mind). He’s coming off of a quietly strong split and likely has the inside track in the battle for the starting role as in a repeat of LPL Spring 2022, these 2 will duke it out for the spot again.
Despite not being the LDL MVP, Tianzhen might be the more exciting prospect actually and notably doesn’t have any veteran to compete with. At only 18 years old, he’s going to be one of the LPL’s youngest players and has an eclectic champ pool that is highlighted by his signature Rengar. It will be interesting to see if these LDL standouts can continue the momentum in the LPL. The promotion isn’t easy, but both of them are in position to excel.
11) RNG
Top – Breathe
Jungle – Wei
Mid – Tangyuan
ADC – LP
Support – LvMao/Lele
It’s crazy to think this time last year, RNG were celebrating their 2nd consecutive MSI championship. Obviously, this team has more or less completely shattered from the Golden Road-seeking team that once ruled Spring and faltered at Worlds on a regular basis. I mean it’s been years of speculation that RNG was actually in a NA-esque perpetual financial meltdown that was held together by unfair streaming contracts and bobby pins, but with the departure of GALA and in particular, Ming, who has more or less been on RNG since the start of the era, finally puts RNG on the backfoot. Still, even with the exodus of more or less everyone on those famous teams, there’s a window at the playoffs.
Wei is the final piece of the MSI 2022 team, which is wild to think about because as I mentioned, it's been just 1 year. Now the longest tenured player on the roster, it’s a weird situation as there’s no longer an obvious lane to play into. While he wasn’t always bad, he had many questionable moments and his weakest split to date, and now without GALA in the bot lane there’s no clear place to focus for this team. He’s demonstrated he can be effective without the likes of Xiaohu, GALA and Ming back when he was on EStar in his debut season in 2020, but it’s been a long time since then, so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
Similarly, Breathe is also coming off of a split where he failed to meet expectations. It feels like ever since he left WE, he just hasn’t really found his footing as the good flex top laner, first on that weird 2022 BLG failed “superteam” and then on RNG where he never fit in to the Xiaohu-GALA puzzle. This last split he was basically relegated to weakside tanks and was subsequently pretty inconsequential as either a positive or negative factor. The few forays he took towards more carry champions were bad last split and it’s not a great sign for a player once considered so promising. I guess it’s the WE fan in me talking that he still has that upside to be among the best in the league. Maybe I’m lending him too much leeway given he was maybe WE’s best strongside top ever (which for the record is more about WE perpetually playing bot-centric). With out any of those other major carries on RNG, I’m interested to see if Breathe is placed back in that role.
The rest of the team is a smattering of cobbled pieces who aren’t without upside, but don’t exactly scream playoffs. GALA was exchanged for a large bag of cash and LP, who was the only consistent starter of the new cohort. he was heavily cared for as the rookie bot laner on LNG’s otherwise star-studded group, he was able to deliver in that capacity. Notably, he narrowly had the 2nd highest DPM in the split, though admittedly there was a large gap between 1st place damage monster Elk and a much smaller one to the following ADCs of JackeyLove, Assum and Leave. However, he certainly wasn’t perfect as he managed the lowest CS per minute among ADCs in the league, and he didn’t wow the way rookie of the split Leave did. Still, it was a relatively promising start, though the downgrade from Hang to one of RNG’s supports looms large as needless to say, the “cash considerations” RNG received with LP are most likely not being used for his lane partner.
With Angel departing after a pretty rough split, where the highlight was creating a meme after defeating his former team Weibo Gaming, RNG were rumored for a number of domestic mid laners but ultimately just stuck with the player they seemed intent on before they picked up Angel at the last second. Tangyuan is an LDL promote who has been flatout bad in the few stage performances he got in with the main roster, struggling both in the pre-season Demacia Cup and then to open the proper LPL season while Angel got up to speed. He’s at least known to have good Korean solo queue ranks, but you have to imagine there’s going to be a lot of handwringing over his inevitable growing pains as he starts for one of the country’s most popular domestic teams. There’s not zero upside here, for example Xiaoxu came from the same LDL team and vastly overperformed expectations, but I’d lean towards a year of hard knocks for the youngster.
Ming’s departure is the biggest loss for RNG as they now go from one of the rare franchise defining supports to… not that. LvMao spent the split unsigned for the most part before latching onto BLG as ON’s backup to end the season. Reportedly he served a coaching-esque role for the team as they went on their impressive MSI run but LvMao’s play has left a lot to be desired. Now with over 3 years removed from his standout performances in Spring 2020 and no Bard patch coming in sight, it’s tough to see what LvMao brings to the table as a player outside of an experienced hand. The other option they brought in was Lele, the young rookie support FPX promptly benched for Qiuqiu, which is never a great sign, and you know my stance on LDL supports: they bad. Funnily enough Lele was originally a pretty hyped RNG prospect the team once spent 300K yuan signing out of the yearly rookie camp. Needless to say, he’s been an okay LDL support but hasn’t lived up to that price tag at all, though now it seems they could at least get some games out of their failed investment.

(Also posted in 4runner)
I have a 1998 Hilux Surf (Jap import to UK), it's a diesel 3rd gen 4Runner basically.
The front diff has had a rebuild due snapping the intermediate shaft between diff and actuation collar whilst off-road. The rebuild appears all good as it's been running in the truck for probably 8-10 months. No noises, tight spots etc.
Actuation of the sliding collar however, initially worked but petered out over a couple of months after re-installing the diff. Starting from bottom to top;
Actuation collar is free if you remove the vacuum actuator, it happily slides back and forth and will lock in if wheels are off ground.
Vacuum actuator appears okay. Has been removed and applied vacuum to each side of the diaphragm and vacuum holds.
Pipes appear okay. Vacuum applied from top where they meet the vacuum solenoids under the bonnet and hold vacuum.
Solenoids appear okay, hooked up vacuum pump to each solenoid and ran engine, side that keeps diff disengaged pulls around -95kpa, engagement side pulls around -60kpa.
I'm at a loss of what else to look at, maybe the actuation sensor itself? The dash lights just sit there flashing suggesting the diff/axle is not engaging.
Any ideas?

I have a 1998 Hilux Surf (Jap import to UK), it's a diesel 3rd gen 4Runner basically.
The front diff has had a rebuild due snapping the intermediate shaft between diff and actuation collar whilst off-road. The rebuild appears all good as it's been running in the truck for probably 8-10 months. No noises, tight spots etc.
Actuation of the sliding collar however, initially worked but petered out over a couple of months after re-installing the diff. Starting from bottom to top;
Actuation collar is free if you remove the vacuum actuator, it happily slides back and forth and will lock in if wheels are off ground.
Vacuum actuator appears okay. Has been removed and applied vacuum to each side of the diaphragm and vacuum holds.
Pipes appear okay. Vacuum applied from top where they meet the vacuum solenoids under the bonnet and hold vacuum.
Solenoids appear okay, hooked up vacuum pump to each solenoid and ran engine, side that keeps diff disengaged pulls around -95kpa, engagement side pulls around -60kpa.
I'm at a loss of what else to look at, maybe the actuation sensor itself? The dash lights just sit there flashing suggesting the diff/axle is not engaging.
Any ideas?

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This story assumes a passing knowledge of the [LF Friends, Will Travel] universe.
Bartholomew was last seen here:
The Dunwilians were last seen here:
General Bolhut was last here here:
—----------------------------
Date: 72 PST
This was the first time that Daniela had felt proud of the uniform she wore, of being in the Hatil military. The little cream furred mammal in her military uniform would have also been called “adorable” by any Terrans, but pride was her current feeling. It wasn’t like Daniela hadn’t had a successful career, rising to the rank of Admiral and in command of her own warship after doing her duty willingly. But the simple act of being in the Hatil military was shameful enough on its own.
60 years ago they had launched an unneeded war of shame and idiocy onto their now Terran allies, 60 years ago they had been roundly defeated by the newcomers to the galactic community. Since then the Hatil would have been more than willing to leave the act of having a military to their would be conquerors, as they believed they deserved, but the Terrans were seemingly uninterested in the act of actually conquering others. This had forced the Hatil to have some method of defending themselves: a functioning military.
This required that someone fill these positions. Legally being a member of the Hatil military was like any other job, but culturally it was considered "tainted". The societal solution for this had been simple: the sins of the father.
Daniela had joined the military because her father had, and her father had joined because his mother had been part of that original shameful fleet which had through ignorance and fear attacked their now Terran friends.
Generation after generation of cultural shame, held and remembered. Until now.
The Estorian empire was a collection of five slaving species, all as evil and terrible as the last. Conflict between them and the Terran alliance had been slowly brewing for years, with many Terrans advocating for full military intervention. That had been granted after the Estorians had done one incursion too far, one terrible act too many.
Practically every member of the Terran alliance had pledged some form of military support. The Terran Alliance had every single type of culture and species imaginable, each and every one of them were connected through their friendship with the strange primates of Terra, each and every one of them reacting with the same anger:
How dare they attack our Terran friends.
The Hatil had been part of this. Gone were the days of every single monetary purchase being scrutinised and limited to the barest minimums required to keep pirates and the occasional Tritian warship at bay. The adorable little furred mammals had entered a full war economy, in little under a year boosting their military might to levels not seen since the Hatil - Terran war. If anything considering the major technological advancements the Terrans had provided since then, it was a far greater force.
This time the Hatil wouldn't make the same mistake. This time they wouldn't be against the Terrans, but fighting alongside them. Not a war of ignorance and fear, but for justice and righteousness.
Daniela was the captain of The H.T Remembrance, which was currently part of the Terran alliance’s 2nd joint fleet. Over a hundred dreadnought class warships, all carrying their own support fleets along for the ride. While the vast majority of the forces were of Ritilian, Terran and Hatil make, over 31 different species were in attendance in this particular military endeavour.
Over the past year there had been a multitude of skirmishes and conflicts as both sides rapidly attempted to collate their forces, but this would be the first major engagement of the war. And the Terran Alliance was already on the back foot.
“So we believe the Lelzoil fleet is heading straight towards the Dunwilian cradleworld with an ETA of around about seven hours. We got this intel late, so we are currently 5 standardised hours behind them, at a current projected ETA of 12 standardised hours.”
Daniela spoke to her crew, hundreds of faces looking up at her as she explained the situation to them, the sombre mood apparent as she spoke to new and old members alike.
The Estorians had been the ones to make the first major move, an advantage of having less moving parts to contend with. The Avian Lelzoil were known as the brains of the Estorian Empire, with an affinity for gathering information and technology at any cost, and the move they were making was calculated: Attack an destroy a smaller member of the Alliance, put the fear of god into the rest of the smaller members and break apart untested bonds.
“The Dunwilians have no serious defences, having never been part of any alliances or diplomatic endeavours before the Terran Alliance. It has very little military importance, which is why we weren't expecting a full on assault there. The Lelzoil have enough firepower to glass the entire planet within a few hours. The Dunwilian's reaction was 'You will get here when you can, and we will be witnessed by our deities' "
The mood dropped even further at that. You didn't need a translator to understand that this was a universal statement of 'we are fucked and we know it'.
"We will not let such harm happen to our allies. We might be caught off guard, but we're not out of it. The Olgro scouting guard are already making use of their superior speed to intercept the Lelzoil fleet, while the main fleet hauls ass."
She took a moment to point towards the engineering department as Daniela continued.
"This means until we arrive, I want engineering to be doing everything they can to increase the speed we've got., That means until further notice engineering tasks get the highest priority and are the ones in charge. If someone from engineering says clapping will make us go faster, I expect you all to show that you’re happy and you know it!”
Daniela looked around, at the seat of hopeful faces, those new and old looking up to her.
“We all know our history, what we did, the guilt we share as a species. We all know that the Terran’s had more than enough justification to take their revenge, to destroy us. But instead they provided us mercy, provided us with technology, and most of all provided us with their friendship. They say they saw something in us, something worth keeping around. This is our chance to prove them right.”
—----------------
This had not been what Bolhut had been expecting. He’d been expecting a great many possibilities: being extradited back to Kur space, maybe a reversion of the verdict and back to jail he would go.
“Not Guilty”.
That really had been the strangest thing. Bolhut Tacorg had just over a year ago been a general in the Kur military, during the little “spat” the Terrans and Kur had had. During this period Bolhut had things demanded of him from Kur leadership, things that had seen him placed on the defending side of a war crimes trial.
He had expected the entire thing to be nothing more than a formality: He had fought against the Terrans, it would be a perfectly reasonable thing to humiliate him and get their revenge in one way or another, especially as he had technically done the crime. But instead the strange little primates were continuing to surprise him. Even more surprising had been their acceptance of his asylum claim. The Kur were not happy with the trick he had played on them.
And now… this. A request for aid, a long range message from the Terran Alliance military themselves. An Estorian fleet was heading towards a Terran ally, and he just so happened to be in their path. They wanted them to meet up with some Olgro scouts and work with them to slow their approach. They were offering exceptional pay, and had specifically stated that they were not to directly engage with the enemy, just harass and delay.
In fact they had gone over that detail so many times, that Bolhut knew exactly what they actually wanted.
“So what do you think?”
The insect-like clicking of the Raha’s mandibles interrupted his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. He looked around him for a moment, at the sea of faces and species. “Odds and Ends Security Ltd” was… for lack of a better term, a mercenary group, although the term mercenary was a dirty word. If you needed escorting through pirate infested routes, a show of force or just needed a little extra firepower in order to ensure justice, you could hire them at reasonable rates.
They even had an entire warship, manned by over 400 trained and experienced fighters, each and every one of them a non-Terran Alliance species that now called the Terran space their home. Raha, Kur, Tagaran, they all had similar stories. Seeking Asylum, seeking better lives then whatever their homes had given them, or even just wanting a new arena to test their skills, each had found themselves connected by the friendly demeanour of the Terran’s ever encompassing desire for friendship.
“I say we go for it. Good pay and pissing on some Estorian bastards is always a good shout, no offence.”
Bolhut stood towered over the rest of the members in the room at 9ft tall, white fur covered by his traditional military dress of twisting primal leather which accentuated his ferocious canine teeth and claws. He was not technically the leader of this group, since it was a cooperative of individuals, but by capturing prisoners during the Kur - Terran incursions Bolhut had been one of the few people alive who could claim some sort of victory, no matter how minor, over the Terran forces. That gave his opinion quite a bit of weight amongst this group of misfits and individuals.
“You know there’s no love lost over here. What’s the plan then?”
Kat’Letch’s mandibles clicked and clacked as the young Raha responded. There were three things everyone on the warship knew: Kat’Letch was a decent shot, even better with technology, and had an absolute hatred for his species government.
“We follow the instructions: meet up with the Olgro, then prepare to board and destroy as many Lelzoil war ships as we can.”
The response was simple, but caused a flurry of confused looks from some of the other members of the mercenary band, as well as a flurry of antenna twitching from Kat’Letch.
“Didn’t the message specifically state, repeatedly, not to engage them?”
Bolhut couldn’t help but chuckle at the naive little Raha. Of course Kat’Letch had never actually been in his species military, he didn’t know how the game was played.
“Stating not to do something once is an order, twice is confirmation, five times is simply hinting that’s what they actually want you to do.”
He could see the general agreement from the others around him. Anyone in the military knew that half of your orders would be ‘off the book’ so to say. Hints, power struggles, illegal actions that you couldn’t really say no too without ‘disappearing’. If it worked out whoever gave the order could take credit, and if it didn’t they could point to the obvious trail where they had told them not to do said thing.
That was just how military orders worked, how they had and always would. Why else would the Terran Alliance be so adamant that they don’t directly engage the enemy if that wasn’t what they actually wanted?
—------------
Nothing
The captain of the Olgro scouting fleet had expected to be staring at the Lelzoil fleet. They had expected to immediately be thrust into a delaying action, as every single member aboard the 15 ships were on high alert and ready to do their jobs.
The aquatic based lifeform swam in place nervously, gills and brightly coloured fins flashing as he did so. Like all Olgro ships the entire vessel was filled entirely with the salt water that they naturally lived in.
<>
The captain desperately asked his crew for information, the Olgro’s standard method of sonar communication travelling through the water outside the range of most species hearing.
<>
Communications responded back with the negative, causing the captain’s stress to increase. While the Olgro were well known for the speed of their vessels, this would be the first major conflict the Olgro army had been part of, and it was already not going to plan.
<>
Nobody had really cared too much about the Olgro. Entirely aquatic sapient lifeforms were a rarity in the galaxy and most people didn’t want to deal with the hassle of interacting with a species that needed to be submerged in water at all times.
<>
Apart from the Terrans, who had started a friendship with the Olgro nearly thirty years ago, one that they cherished deeply. Which was why this was so important to get right, which was why the captain was already flaring his gills in panic at this already seemingly going wrong.
<>
The captain started to get a literal sinking feeling in his gallbladder, a terrible idea had just crossed his mind.
<>
Most species tended to think in 2d when mapmaking due to the importance of information. Even Avians have very little need to represent the world on anything other than a flat plane. If you are a species who spends their entire time in water however, depth is suddenly also important
<>
This meant that the Olgro had a different method of calculating the angles and latitudes needed to traverse the universe than most others. Normally this wasn’t a problem as the Olgro didn’t have many diplomatic ties and tended to stick to themselves.
Apart from in right this moment, as the captain of the Olgro scouting fleet realised with a crushing despair that they were literally in the complete opposite location then they should be.
<
—-----------------------------------
Bartholomew looked down at the schematics to the warp engine in front of him. Sure it wasn’t a clockwork toy, but engineering was engineering. Surrounding him was the rest of the Engineering department of the H.T Remembrance, along with various screens showing video feeds of every other engineering team in the fleet.
"The problem is you can't just increase the range, you've got to keep each pulse within range of the sensors, unless you want to warp into something."
The Hatil kept silent as a Ritilian spoke, paying attention but still realising how out of his depth he was. Having a degree in engineering and building clockwork toys was one thing, trying to push a warp core past manufacturing limits in a room of engineers with decades of experience was another.
"It would take a bit of doing, but network the fleet's calculation matrices together, then you get to add the length of the fleet into each jump."
Bartholomew wondered what Rosa and Tim were doing. He knew both of them had also re-enlisted, although he hadn’t managed to keep in regular contact with the two Terrans since then considering that they had gone into the Terran military.
“Nah ain’t gonna work, would take too long to hook everyone up for less than 10% increase”
The difference in both of their reactions had been the most stark. Bartholomew had felt, for possibly the first time, a sense of patriotic pride. Along with practically the entire Hatil culture the concept of not joining the war effort had been unthinkable. The Terrans had done so much for them, it was now their chance to return the favour, to make up for the sins of their fathers.
The Terrans however, their reaction had been different. When the news of what the Raha and by extension the Estorians had done, the difference among Terrans had been stark.
Anger, pure unbridled anger.
“What about the pulse rate?”
If anything, seeing the difference in demeanour had been scary for Bartholomew. The death of the uplift Spot had been said to launch a thousand ships, but in reality it had actually lit a thousand pyres of hate. Before this Bartholomew could never actually understand how Terrans could have done any of the supposed “wrongs” in their history, the crazy primates seemed too goofy and adorable, too friendly and empathetic to do much of anything. But the anger that had been unleashed since then… suddenly he could see a species who were able to crack a planet open with fury alone.
“Theoretically it would work, but each of you would have to deal with the extra heat somehow.”
The groups of engineers from around the fleet each continued to interject and provide suggestions, each ship presumably filled with the same groups of experienced and intelligent people all trying to work out if they could dissipate the additional heat.
It was then that a Terran engineer made a mistake, and said something she probably shouldn’t have.
“Really it’s going to be an individual effort from each ship, but increasing the pulse rate would theoretically work, at the risk of literally setting fire to your ship.”
Because Terrans and non-Terrans heard two different meanings to that sentence. Terrans heard something like “This is a terrible idea that would probably make you blow up” and dismissed the idea, choosing instead to follow other avenues of thought. Every non-Terran heard that as “Yea this is one of those crazy Terran ideas that sets fire to everything but always works for some reason, let's do this!”
Over the next hour every non-Terran ship in the fleet went through the same calculations, the same jury rigged cooling solutions and came to the same conclusion: Like all Terran insanity, it might work.
And much to the horror of every single Terran engineer, the non-Terran ships started to pick up speed as they each enacted this crazy plan.
—-----------------
"So did you know? That caffeine isn't poisonous to Terrans?!"
Kat’Letch screamed out the question as the Raha sheltered behind the console, pausing his furious inputting of commands only to fire back a flurry of plasma from his own pistol.
"Really?! Now is not the time for that!"
Bolhut had just responded with the understatement of the year. Everything had, to put it simply, gone to shit. The Olgro reinforcements they were supposed to have met with never appeared, not that this had surprised the canine. It wasn’t the first time Bolhut had been promised reinforcements that had never come, and it wouldn't be the last. That was just the nature of militaries: sketchy orders and unfulfilled promises.
It had initially gone well, the sheer surprise of a single warship knocking them out of warp and charging an entire fleet had allowed the initial boarding process to go on surprisingly well, the three different groups hitting the three different warships with a practised precision, with surprisingly minimal casualties. The plan had been simple: Infiltrate, take over the navigation and weapons for each ship, use those to cause as much damage to the wider fleet as possible.
Like all plans, it had been going well, until it hadn’t.
“Look, if I’m going to die I want to know. There’s a betting pool on whether you actually knew or not, and I got 50 credits on you knowing caffeine was harmless.”
It had quickly turned into a mess after a “lucky shot” had forced their warship to retreat, which had also taken their main communications network with them. Theoretically their local communications should still work, but something about the Lelzoil was blocking their communications, causing what should have been a synchronised endeavour to devolve into individual teams trying to accomplish whatever individual objectives they had boarded the vessel with.
“Just set this thing to blow so we can get out of here!”
Bolhut’s original team of five was now just him and Kat’Letch, both of them having made it to navigation, where the Raha was attempting to lock out of the rest of the ship’s controls and setting it on a kamikaze path through the rest of the fleet.
The canine gave a another burst of fire, watching the Terran bullets ricochet harmlessly off the doorframe before one finally found their target, splattering a red feathered Avian skull in a plume of orange blood and brain matter before a barrage of return fire forced him back into cover. Still, he had something for that: quickly loading the underbarrel grenade launcher and firing it into the corridor where the attackers were coming from, the sound of screams suggesting a solid hit.
"OK we are done, and need to get the Srek out of here!"
Further explosions and gunfire could be heard as the Raha screamed out the confirmation, signs of the other boarding teams accomplishing their tasks as the Lelzoilwarship surged forwards on its final journey.
"Attention all squads. Main objective has been accomplished, you've got twenty minutes to get the hell off the vessel!"
Bolhut wasn't sure if anyone could even hear him on their communication network anymore, and hoped those still around had enough sense to realise what was happening. Not that the canine could spend the time worrying about that: they had their own escape to make.
Bolhut started setting up the explosive devices along the wall, stepping over avian bodies and plasma scorch marks as Kat’Letch provided covering fire. The entrance they had originally entered from had now been completely locked down under a torrent of Lelzoilwelded weaponry, but in the short amount of time Bolhut had spent fighting with and against Terrans, he'd learnt an important rule.
Everything could be solved with enough application of explosives.
The wall disappeared in a ball of fire, both of them rushing through the new exit while dispensing a hail of gunfire at anything that moved, any unfortunate Lelzoilwho had been caught in the unexpected ship renovation were no match for the pair
“I mean everyone knows that Terrans aren’t affected by caffeine, there’s no way you couldn’t have known.”
The Raha continued to speak as they fired off blasts of plasma to cover their movement down the corridor, generating an exasperated response from Bolhut.
“Still not the time!”
Still they were almost home free, the amount of resistance they were facing had decreased significantly as the Lelzoil realized what was happening to their ship, not that the red feathered birds could do anything to stop the now suicidal charge of their warship.
“You’re just worried that someone will see past your hard exterior to your soft lovable- AHHHH!”
Kat’Letch cried out as a blast of superheated plasma caused the Raha to drop to the floor, Bolhut returning fire at the overachieving Lelzoil before dropping to check on his partner as he screamed in agony. It didn’t look good, the leg was just flat out gone, the stump now spurting the translucent white blood of the insectoid race.
The canine didn’t have time to do anything else other than grab the arms of the Raha and start to drag him along, trying to make his way to the closest escape pod. Making it back to his original fighter was no longer something he had time for.
“Hey Kat, I'm gonna need you to stay awake for this.”
There was a lot of blood and the Raha had started to go silent, worrying Bolhut as he continued to drag him along.
“I’ll tell you what happened if you stay awake, the fact is I got lucky.”
At the sound of this the attention of Kat’Letch seemed to focus on Bolhut as he continued to drag him to hopeful safety.
“When I got the ‘order’ to commit a war crime, I immediately contacted the Terrans because frankly I’m not doing some higher ups dirty work.”
Bolhut dropped to one knee, firing two accurate bursts into the chests of two Lelzoil who turned the corner at the wrong time, both of them slumping to the ground before they knew what had happened. The canine continued on, dragging the Raha longside him, the trail of blood getting thinner. Whether that was a good or a bad thing was anyone’s guess: he was not an expert on the anatomy of other species.
Another splatter of orange blood was added to the wall as one of the Lelzoil had the same idea as Bolhut, attempting to exit the soon to be destroyed vessel via one of the many escape pods that lined the warship. Unfortunately for the avian they had chosen the same exit path as the Kur general.
“But I knew I had to give them something while I waited, otherwise they’d just get someone else to do it. I knew Terrans were immune to some poisons, but I couldn’t remember which one would be safe.”
The doors to the pod opened with a hiss, allowing Bolhut the time to drag his injured partner into the small enclosed space. Moments later the small capsule had launched itself into space, allowing the ex Kur general to actually look at the damage. Kat’Letch was completely out of it at this point, the amount of lost blood clearly having its effect.
Bolhut ripped the medical kit off the wall, opening it up with a grimace as he looked down at the Raha. While every single medical kit in the known galaxy was different, due to differences in physiology, there were certain things that everyone had, that worked for everyone in an emergency. The Kur gave a small silent apology before pressing the item against the wound.
The smell of cooking flesh mixed with Kat’Letch screams as he snapped awake, the wound sealing up as heat was applied, the flow of blood slowing to a trickle then disappearing. The Raha slowly slumped back over as the device was removed, a few moments of heavy breathing followed by the insect compound eyes becoming unfocused once more.
“In the end it came down to Caffeine or Digoxin, both of them destroy the heart, but I couldn’t remember which one was safe. So I flipped a coin. In the end I just got lucky”
Bolhut knew that Kat’Letch was no longer really able to listen, the Kur deciding to take a glance out of the viewport, now that there was really nothing they could do anymore. He could see escape pods and fighters he recognised launching from the Lelzoilwarship as the colossal mass crashed into the rest of the fleet, the explosion lighting up the area.
That had been a mess, pure and simple, one that Bolhut hoped the rest of the mercenaries hadn't paid too dearly for. All the ex-Kur general could do now was wait and see if anyone would pick him up, and hope they had done enough damage to delay them.
____________
"Fuck! fuck! fuck! move! move! move! fuck! move out of the way!"
Bartholomew raced down the corridor as fast as his feet could take him, the other Hatil driving out of the way as he barrelled through the ship with the container of coolant in tow.
He barged his way through anyone too slow to move out of the way. Bartholomew vaguely felt himself knock someone with a far higher rank on their ass, uncaring to anything other than stopping the ship from exploding into flames.
It turned out "dealing with the heat" was a far bigger problem than expected. While the remainder of the fleet still travelling with them were going at a blistering speed, the extra strain on the warp cores were quite literally cooking the vessel. Ambient temperature was sitting at nearly 40 degrees as everything the ship had was being diverted into keeping the warp core from exploding.
Bartholomew skidded around the last corner, practically slamming into the wall as the Hatil frantically unscrewed the seal, ignoring the burns on his paws as he did so. The jury rigged cooling system in front of him was not within official specifications, the metres of hastily assembled piping and heat sinks whistled and gurgled as Bartholomew dumped the entire container of coolant into the system before sealing it back up.
It broke every single piece of safety legislation and good practice, but somehow it worked as Bartholomew and the rest of the Engineering department watched the heat from the warp core reduce from dangerously hot to just hot. Before it started to tick back up again.
Just another hour of this.
—---------------
The power went out, plunging the ship into darkness, before lights began to flicker back on as Daniela once again could see the rest of the bridge again. They were here. It had taken everything they had, warning lights flickered and alarms blared as the ship screamed its protests at what they had done. But they had made it, that was all that matters.
"Status report, now!"
There was a pause as her second in command took a moment to look through all the bad information being relayed to him.
"The Lelzoilfleet is already here and approaching the Dunwilians, we have a quarter of our original fleet, although the R.A Broken Egg seems to be on fire. Due to heat damage our shields are at 53%, weapon capacity 27% and impulse engines at 11%."
Daniela took a moment to take in just how messed up the situation was.
"So a standard Monday. Full speed ahead to intercept. We've got to delay for the rest of the fleet."
The mood turned sombre as everyone realised what such an action would entail. It was basically a suicidal charge to do nothing but buy time. It was then that the communications officer looked up.
“We’re being hailed by the Dunwilians, putting them on the main screen now.”
The Dunwilians were unofficially known as a “Horror” species. Most species around the galaxy follow certain rules, convergent evolution means there’s only so many ways to do something. Occasionally however, evolution decides to ignore the rules and throw shit at the wall and see what sticks.
A Dunwilian stands at 8ft tall, a mass of writhing wiggling blue-purple strings tied and wound together into an egg-like shape, punctuated by eyes of varying sizes burning a deep red. All of this is held up with twenty trunk like appendages, each ending in a maw of teeth and slime.
Their appearance caused them to be shunned and ignored, an unfortunate situation as they enjoyed company and despised being alone. Until the Terrans came along they had no friends amongst the galaxy.
Five of them were shown on the screen, each suspended in midair allowing every trunk to access the control panels that surrounded them. Each of them were also wearing a hat of some kind. Early in their interactions with the Terrans they had been taught a single rule which their entire society had taken on board. “Everyone looks more friendly in a hat”. Each of them wore some kind of head covering: a soft woollen beanie, a giant baseball cap. One over enthusiastic individual had stapled three top hats together to form one giant contraption that they wore, clearly taking the logical conclusion that if one hat makes you seem friendlier, three hats would do the same.
“F̷r̴i̷e̵n̸d̴s̵!̷ ̴W̶e̴ ̴w̷e̷r̴e̴ ̴n̴o̵t̶ ̷e̷x̸p̴e̴c̵t̶i̶n̵g̵ ̵t̵o̶ ̴s̸e̸e̵ ̴y̵o̷u̵ ̶s̴o̴ ̸s̶o̸o̷n̴,̷ ̶w̷h̸y̸ ̴a̸r̷e̵ ̷y̷o̸u̸ ̵h̵e̸r̶e̷”
The Dunwilian closest to the screen spoke, the sound of worrying squelches and bone tingling cracks sounding out as they talked. Daniela gave a confused frown before responding.
“We’re here to help defend. Please send an operation plan and we’ll integrate.”
“N̵e̸g̷a̴t̶i̴v̴e̵ ̸o̷u̸r̴ ̸f̷r̴i̴e̷n̴d̷s̷.̴ ̴Y̴o̸u̷ ̴a̸r̵e̸ ̸i̵n̴ ̵n̷o̴ ̶s̴t̸a̶t̸e̴ ̷t̶o̸ ̸p̷r̴o̷v̸i̸d̸e̴ ̵a̴i̶d̶.̴ ̴W̶e̷ ̶a̴r̴e̴ ̷u̷n̸d̶e̷r̷ ̴t̵h̸e̴ ̸w̵a̴t̷c̸h̵f̶u̴l̶ ̴p̸r̸o̶t̸e̸c̵t̵i̷o̶n̸ ̷o̷f̸ {{_̷̩́͑̕_̷̙̮̈́͝_̴̰̦̘̐̅̔_̴͍́̍̚}} (Deity) ̸w̸h̴o̶ ̶s̴h̵a̶l̶l̵ ̶w̶i̶t̴n̷e̸s̶s̶ ̷u̴s̸ ̷a̵n̷d̷ ̶w̴e̴ ̶w̶i̵t̸n̵e̷s̵s̶ ̶t̷h̸e̴m̷ ̶i̸n̶ ̵r̴e̵t̸u̴r̷n̵.̸”
Daniela couldn’t help but feel confused, feeling as if she was having a completely different conversation.
“Regardless, the Terran Alliance does not abandon our allies, we’re coming to help.”
“T̴h̶e̷r̷e̶ ̸i̵s̵ ̷n̷o̸ ̷n̵e̸e̷d̶,̶ ̸p̵l̷e̵a̷s̶e̴ ̸j̸u̸s̸t̴ ̷w̵i̷t̴n̶e̶s̴s̴ {{_̷̩́͑̕_̷̙̮̈́͝_̴̰̦̘̐̅̔_̴͍́̍̚}} (Deity) ̶a̴n̴d̵ ̵t̶h̶e̴y̸ ̵s̴h̵a̷l̴l̴ ̷w̶i̶t̶n̷e̸s̶s̶ ̵y̵o̶u̵.̴”
It was then that something strange started to happen. Right next to the Lelzoil fleet, a point in space appeared, a grey smudge, as if someone was looking upon the world from a monitor with a little bit of dirt on it. Nothing appeared on any sensors, and it could only be seen visually, the entire anomaly being around about a mile long.
It was then with a bang that a seam in space was ripped open. This event would later be analysed by every single scientist, military mind and witch doctor in existence, all of whom would immediately point out that sound cannot travel through space. Yet the bang still appeared, rattling and shaking every surface of every ship in the vicinity.
For a moment there was silence, there was nothing but the emptiness of this tear in space next to the Lelzoil fleet. Then, dwarfing even the largest of warships, a single giant eye opened, containing a fractal purple pupil. It blinked, once, twice, before seeming to focus on the invading fleet. An ear piercing screech could be heard, then the devastation started.
Grasping impossible swirling tentacles containing non-euclidean geometric shapes reached out, plucking warships out of formation as if they were toys, snapping them in half one by one or pulling them into the tear never to be seen again.
A few of the Lelzoil tried to fight back, firing weapons of destruction at their impossible attacker, anti-matter and nuclear rounds alike having no effect on the impossible masses of… of whatever they were made of. It lasted less than ten minutes, ten minutes of an impossible horror, then, with a final screeching bang, the tear closed again. As if it had never happened, everything how it was apart from the lack of a Lelzoil.
“What in the ever living fuck was that!”
Daniela felt all sense of professionalism leave her at what she had just seen, demanding an answer from the Dunwilians who answered simply.
“W̴e̵ ̷d̵o̸ ̴n̴o̸t̶ ̸u̶n̸d̵e̸r̴s̷t̸a̸n̴d̵ ̶t̶h̵i̴s̸ ̴s̶u̸r̶p̷r̴i̶s̵e̶ ̷a̵n̴d̸ ̷c̸o̴n̷f̸u̸s̷i̶o̶n̴,̴ ̷o̴u̵r̸ ̸f̶r̸i̸e̵n̸d̸s̷.̵ ̶W̴e̷ ̸c̴o̶m̵m̴u̸n̸i̷c̴a̷t̷e̶d̸ ̵t̸o̶ ̴y̷o̶u̷ ̷t̷h̶a̵t̷ {{_̷̩́͑̕_̷̙̮̈́͝_̴̰̦̘̐̅̔_̴͍́̍̚}} (Deity) s̷h̴a̷l̵l̸ ̸w̴i̷t̵n̴e̴s̷s̷ ̵u̸s̷”
—-----------------------
[Top Secret]
Analysis of the defence of the Dunwilian homeworld.
This was an unmitigated disaster. Communication issues plagued this entire operation, and without the Dunwilians having what scientists are still calling “Scary lovecraft powers”, we predict the state of the Terran forces would have at best given the Terrans a Pyrrhic victory, with a defeat far more likely.
Continual cultural misunderstandings caused non-Terran forces to implement unsafe ship operating parameters due to an overestimation on Terran risk taking, causing the fleet to both split up and not be in operational condition when arriving.
The external security company the Terran Alliance military attempted to gain aid from took our clear instructions to not directly engage the enemy as a “wink wink nudge nudge” set of instructions, resulting in unacceptable operating casualties of 31%
A mistranslation of coordinates caused the Olgro scouting fleet to go to the wrong location, which would have caused the lelzoil fleet to end up at our defences far too early had the previously mentioned external security company not misunderstood Terran Alliance orders.
Even the entire engagement was the result of a miscommunication: It turns out our Dunwilian allies “worship” several deities that, at least to some extent, seem to actually exist and come to their aid in times of need. We are still working with them to figure out exactly the nature of these defences, and whether they could be replicated anywhere else.
This had not been noted in any records due to the Dunwilians complete lack of diplomatic contact before the Terran Alliance accepted them, meaning they had not been involved in any major military actions. There was mention of a Zyngoill warfleet that went missing around 300 years ago, but we cannot be certain whether this is related.
Overall this bodes badly for the Terran Alliance military as a whole, and major changes need to be implemented to ensure such a thing cannot happen again.
We will not get a second chance.
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