Hi! Looking for dryer recommendations for super thick hair to help cut down drying times. Preferably ones which come with a good diffuser attachment! It takes me about 40 minutes to dry my hair, and I would love to cut that down with a more powerful dryer. Not majorly concerned about budget - I’m willing to invest if it’s a good bit of kit I’ll use often!
As an aside - I have a dyson air wrap (which I like to use to smoothly blow out and style my hair sometimes) which is much more powerful than my current blow dryer. It dries my hair in about twenty minutes - so much quicker than my current one! Issue is it doesn’t have a diffuser. If anyone knows of a good diffuser attachment which fits an air wrap, I would be really interested to know! Would save me some pennies.
Thanks so much in advance.

I remember having this DVD with 3 episodes from 3 different cartoons when I was little, I think we gave away the DVD at a garage sale or something, each of the cartoons where probably very niche since I haven't found anything about them online yet, I can't remember their names but here's what I remember about them
The first cartoon was 2D animated with a fairly simplistic style about a penguin kid who lived in an igloo going to school, I think the penguin wore a yellow backpack with blue boots? It was the character most in focus on the DVD cover
The second one I can't remember if it was a live action x CGI thing or a costume, but it followed a white and brown spotted bipedal cow in green overalls in a library teaching live-action kids about books or something
the final cartoon was an entirely 3d cgi, I don't remember the animation being very good, very simple 3d models, the characters were aliens I think? or looked like them, the only character I remember is a purple girl with a spherical head and possibly orange hair or antenne, I think they where superheros living in an orange tower, it might've had a musical number in it?

It was a day like any other. Delvers fought and harvested, mana flowed in, expansions were made and threats were no longer present since Deepholm was eliminated, and life was peaceful as little changed. The only thing differentiating it in any way was the inspection scheduled, yet even that was a common occurrence, with the unusual types of upgrades and expansions that Caldera made. However, as is usual for Caldera, any occurrence she calls normal or positive turns into something unexpected very quickly
​
And so it was that Lydia entered her territory, communication stone in hand, and started her exploration of the dungeon, killing creatures among the way and being shown the novelties that were added. Being larger than previously, Lydia ended up deciding to explore Caldera in two phases, making a stop at the bath house to regenerate from her wounds. And this is where the unusualness begins. While she is undressing to relax in the bath, Caldera decided to look over in that (un?-)fortunate moment, her gaze drifting as she was lost in day dreams, at least until she accidentally stumbled upon the inspector that just got done using the artificial hot spring, stretching her toned body in the sun, the droplets glistering as they slowly wandered across her abs, just like caldera's stare, one that she noticed too late to stop before it occurred. Her flustered mind quickly directed her looks somewhere, literally anywhere else, trying to distract herself from this breach of privacy and so deciding to drill emmet with questions she randomly made up. the alchemical scion was only too happy to comply, not noticing the emotions shared through their bond or simply feigning ignorance, only to surprise her by asking what cheese is and why it could be grated on Lydia's abs, being prevented from asking any further questions that could embarrass her master by said master making their quick escape to bother someone else.
​
The inspector meanwhile got ready to continue her delving, and so made her way to beat up the sexy rabbit men, who were currently busy covering themselves in oil, posing, wrestling with each other and doing other things that served no practical purpose before Lydia arrived. She observing the scene with an unreadable gaze before talking into the stone, stating that the bunnies seem to be ready to make an enclave, despite the clear lack of intelligence that is usually required, as well that they somehow have procured Oil, despite no apparent access to plants with a high fat content nor any form of press machinery. She also noticed and told the stone how there appears to be a crowd of various people watching the bunnies, probably collecting information and waiting for the best moment to engage. With the note sent, she decided to indulge the posing and imposing rabbits as well as the crowd by charging in head first rather than being careful, feeling familiar with the way these brutes worked and trusting that Caldera would not allow any serious harm befall her. Expecting a more or less easy fight, she was surprised as any attempt to grab one of the bunnies or strike at them with her weapon just ended with them moving with the strike or grabbing movement, both her hands and weapons slipping over their bodies rather than inflicting any serious harm. The fight which she expected to last only 5 minutes at worst thus got prolonged, with Lydia making a mental note that these Rabbits have learned from her fight with Jackie, thus proving the capability to learn more than just the most rudimentary of functions as well as that she once again underestimated the dungeon, which has disguised yet another massive change as something one might dismiss as inconsequential.
​
Unable to truly harm one another in a fight ending way, the battle instead went on for a minute, then ten, and simply continued as the two opposing parties tried to win via attrition, or rather, one of them did while the other simply launched itself against their enemy, prompting said enemy to simply dodge out of the way unable to attack any fallen bunnies to exploit their prone positions when they fell due to the other ones rushing at her, with both sides too stubborn or maybe brain dead to end the fight by running away or calling backup, their pride as fighters on the line that even death wound not be a price too much to pay to preserve.
​
While the two parties battled, the mass of people from earlier now started to increase as a lot more people now wanted to observe the spectacle, the cheers from the crowd only serving as further fuel to the ego of the participants of which eventually Caldera took part of too, having mostly forgotten the incident from before by conversing with Giorno, who dutifully distracted his Don by explaining the details of army composition to her, which she listened to with a thanks. Having come fearing the worst as usually can be expected from her brawler bunnies, she instead was greeted by a crowd of raunchy and cheering parties and what looked like a battle between the buns and Lydia. even more surprising, she noticed them as well as her cru- the inspector covered in Oil and sweat too, likely from the times where a bunny hit or she tackled or tried to grab one, the reasoning coming to her later when she received a recap of the fight by Alexa. her wondering of when they even acquired oil was quickly washed away as she noticed that what the fighters were doing was actually something found in the media she often consumed in her alone time while she was still human, embarrassment mixed with the realization that the scions were not the only ones able to seek information from their Dungeon, with an even more growing feeling of horror appearing at the thoughts of what else her denizens would try from the rich store of forbidden knowledge that was her brain. What if they adopted a certain style dictated by striped thigh-highs? Or even worse, _capitalism_ and ***middle management!?***
​
Breaking out of her unholy thoughts, she realized that the fight was finally won by the inspector, the bunnies not having a way to sweat to relieve themselves of the high temperature, thus dropping in exhaustion as their body was continuously exposed to ever increasing amount of heat, yielding their loss. and there, over the pile of exhausted brawlers stood Lydia, her body glistering from the sun, crowd cheering and hair blowing in the wind. There was nothing more cool than this, and if dungeons could die from blood loss then Caldera would have when the inspector noticed her presence and gave her a wink. Prompted to once agayn bravely charge into battle backwards, Our surprisingly-down-bad-for-a-dungeon heroine decides to look at the sky instead as a distraction, finding herself seeing Lydia in the forms that the skies formed. Unable to make a tactical retreat, she gave up and decided to watch her Idol from a distance, hoping that she would not be noticed following her. "Nope, not creepy at all. This is my home and it is okay to watch what is happening in it" were the thoughts as she followed the Inspector doing her work, who always had a stern look on her face as she did her duties, leaving the scions wondering why she still remained an emerald when a ruby would be more fitting to represent her physical manifestation.
​
at last most of the inspection was over and Lydia called upon Jackie in a request to inspect the dungeon core as procedure demanded of her to do if possible, and Caldera had to come out of the questionably secret hiding spot of far away to answer, the answer as usual being yes. Leading her to the core, the dungeon trusting the inspector enough to not post up any guards while at her most vulnerable, the inspection of the core too started as usual too with Lydia focusing on the core's parameters and Caldera trying to and still failing to not look at Lydia, though this time she held back far less than she usually would due to the former experiences. looking into her eyes, she felt like she fell into them like she would into a black hole in the night sky, a force of nature as inescapable as it is beautiful, the rings of color around it being an amalgam of all the matter that collected around it for over millions of years, glowing brighter than even the stars which dotted the background with a faint blue spread throughout, all of them coalescing into a single piece of beautiful imagery as deep as the cosmos, stretching for infinity despite the small confines in which it had to be placed, the slow hypnotizing movement of it all leaving her entrapped and completely lost without any conscious thought being able to form as she stared into the abyss and the abyss stared back.
​
it took her far too long than she'd like to admit, but eventually after what felt like an eternity Caldera noticed that the staring back part was more literal than she thought it could be, for Lydia was looking directly at her, a wide grin on her face. The thoughts stopping in an instant before starting to race, an attempt was made to talk herself out of the situation that formed. "You, umm, you've got interesting eyes" shit, that was just an admission that she actually was staring at them.
"Oh, you think so?" came the reply from Lydia. "Well, I hope they are as interesting as the rest of my body is, considering how intensely you've been staring at it throughout the day." Fuck. A laugh escaped her beautiful, soft lips which she sadly covered up soon with her hand before speaking again, the grin growing more mischievous. Was it that bad? "You know, it is kinda hard to ignore it when it feels like your vision is licking me all over" okay, it is that bad. in a panic, I try reaching out to Giorno, Jackie or anybody else who might be close, just to find them all too far to respond immediately. shit shit shit, I am on my own, what do I do now? I found myself left word or metaphorically-breath-less as this devilish angel in front of me moved closer, gay panic crossing past peaks by the moments, every second a new height as she said in a hushed voice "you know, you could always just have asked me".
​
All thoughts coming to a stop, I feel like my eyes are about to pop out of my metaphysical head as she unfastens her armour somewhat, taking her sweet time to loosen the belts, letting the protective equipment show part of her midriff as well as the inner sideboob. As she finishes up the teasing display, she starts to stretch in the very same way she did in the safe zone, and poses a bit like the bunnies did, all the while I simply keep staring at the show in front of me, not able to say a thing while half my brain cheered and the other one was panicking, though the cheering part is louder.
​
Watching her showing herself this way specifically for me, I cannot help but drift my gaze upon her soft lips formed into a pleasing, teasing grin, something that did not go unnoticed by her. "when you're not focused on my eyes or body, this is what you mainly look at. So, would you like to feel them?" for yet another time this day, my thoughts froze and ran rabid at the same time, unable to keep up with the information my brain was supposed to process as I watched her move closer yet again, her soft, beautiful lips being licked slowly by her tongue as she visibly prepared to do something with them. wait, wait, I am not prepared, I'm not mentally ready! There's no heads up, I did not even brush my teeth! Can I really let my first time be like this when -
​
all thoughts were silenced when her lips met my core, a blue-green-golden glow forming between them and my core as an electrifying feeling swept across me from the glowing point, the lingering taste of aether still on me as well as a feeling akin to a shiver that runs up one's body as a tingling reminder of what just happened. Letting out a soft giggle, Lydia gave me a smile, this one filled with warmth rather than mischievous intent "you know, of all the things I expected, giving my first kiss do a dungeon was not one of them" I simply sat there for a moment, stunned before bursting out in a WOOOOHOOOO! Not even caring about what happened in the past nor thinking about the future, I just partied at the whole scenario that just played out, before the feeling of her finger on the emerald grounded me once again. slowly running the finger in circles, she makes my legs melt with that one simple motion, as she dreams "now that you've gotten a kiss, we can except even more in the future, can we not?" leaving me once again as a stammering mess all at her command. My core sat there with my presence, she slowly stood up, saying those dreaded words "I'm afraid for now I have to leave - there are duties I need to uphold, " making me long for more, just another moment of this closeness that I've never felt before, before she makes another mischievous grin, easily plugging those thoughts with a "but don't worry, next time I return, we shall make it up for alllll the time that we've missed out on" as she exits while wiggling her hips somewhat for me to enjoy, leaving me with anticipation of the next time I need to be inspected, thinking about whatever she may have in store for me.
​
***
​
​
"Okay, what the hell is this?"
​
I wave the piece of paper around telepathically in front of the group of scions that was assembled, most of them having an unrecognizable expression on their face with Kelvin simply wanting to get away, Emmet looking intrigued at this piece of non alchemical information while Alexa simply continued to sort the files.
​
"Would somebody please mind explaining, why there is a FANFICTION of me and Lydia in the folder related to me?" no answer, Kevin simply looked like he just wishes the time back when he could do his job by relaxing on a malleable rock.
​
"And more Importantly, _why am I portrayed as such a bottom in it?_" once again the group gave no further reaction, except once again Kevin, not handling through the wrangler (a German saying)
​
"Who even made this? and how long does it exist? and perhaps even worse, why is it that EVERYONE seems to know about this except me?" yet again the same thing repeated, except for a chuckle from somewhere, the source of which I did not notice before the origin supressed any further noise
​
"And you wish to tell me that Alexa distributed this to everyone, scions and Denizens, throughout the entire network!?" the reply was a simple emotion of "I serve" felt throughout the bond, as another chuckle came from the crowd
​
shifting her piercing look towards group, the unfortunate target of it would up being Giorno, as she looked around him while he held a face as expressionless as a Moai, asking "Did you do this, you traitorous little toad?" directing the stare at Jackie, she then asked "and what about you? going to keep quiet too, despite being one of the first?"
​
Emmet received a short look, quickly moving on to someone else as she just did not think that this curious creature could ever hide any of their discoveries, let alone fake interest in a topic. The twin scions simply pointed at each other, leaving the search for the culprit fruitless and the fanfiction without an author

I am unattractive and average looking i am aware of that fact . I am short clothes don't look good on me i am skinny . My face is full of shit. my hairs are not doing me any favour either . I was never a failure i never failed any class even took maths in my high school scored more than average i am not a topper either. I do not have any friends left to talk to about my situation right now . Nobody talks to me some of them even blocked me out of the blue i was feeling very low looking at other kids my age enjoying college life with new friends hanging aroung chilling while i am rotting with no friends no one to talk my heart out to.
But then i thought atleast i have a family that's supportive gives me a good time i can always talk to them but they proved me wrong too. My father i don't know he was never like this always supported my dreams he was so encouraging and empowering he used to give me motivation to be a independent women now says things like " you are worth nothing you will do nothing in life your husband will beat you up" called me a bitch too.
I thought maybe he is just stressed aur tensed he never said sorry never even acknowledged the statements he made . My mother is the person i love the most in this world . Ask anyone in family aur my relatives who i love them most or am i most closest too they will all say my mother.
She and i went for a walk after dinner like we usually do in the park. she said " people like you will achieve nothing in life you would achieve nothing and will do nothing" . I didn't replied back i just said i am going home my world was shattered. My own mother i never thought she would say something like that that too in a park in front of people.
I have no hope left nobody believes in me i have no self confidence left i don't think i can do this . I need your help be my family

Hey techsupport, I'm facing an issue with my mother's computer that suddenly shut off while she was browsing the internet. I initially cleaned out the dust since she has a cat, and there was a significant amount of cat hair. However, the computer still wouldn't start. We took it to Staples and Best Buy, but they couldn't determine the cause either. A Best Buy employee suggested that the power supply might have failed. Since we were considering upgrading her PC in the future, we decided to go ahead and purchase a new one from Corsair, specifically the RM850x model. Her previous power supply, an EVGA 430W, had been working fine for over 2 years.
After installing the new power supply, the computer still doesn't turn on. This leads me to suspect that the issue might be with the motherboard or the tower itself. Tomorrow, I plan to investigate further to determine if the tower is the problem. However, I have a hunch that the motherboard may have failed.
The hard drives seem to be functioning correctly, and I'm currently transferring her data as a precautionary measure. The tower appears to be working, but I'll continue looking into it. Fortunately, I live near a Micro Center, so I can easily pick up new parts if necessary. My goal is to fix this without spending too much right now, and if it turns out to be a motherboard issue, I can easily purchase a replacement.
Previous Power Supply
Current Part List PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i3-6100 3.7 GHz Dual-Core Processor	Purchased For $0.00
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	Purchased For $0.00
Memory	Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 4 GB (1 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 CL16 Memory	Purchased For $0.00
Memory	Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 4 GB (1 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 CL16 Memory	-
Storage	ADATA Premier Pro SP600 128 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	Purchased For $0.00
Storage	Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	Purchased For $0.00
Video Card	Gigabyte GV-R724OC-2GI REV2.0 Radeon R7 240 2 GB Video Card	-
Case	Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	Purchased For $0.00
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x (2021) 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	Purchased For $0.00

The Ephiri trees rustle in the breeze. As two boys fight, surrounded by onlookers, the clacking of their wooden swords fill the air. One of the twins was Ferrum, who was born blind and given prosthetic eyes to see. The other was Atrox, a boy quick to anger, and stronger than all the others their age. Ferrum stepped to the side of his brother's attack, using his momentum to trip him. Atrox fell to the ground, turning and staring at his brother with a competitive rage. His brother's eyes glowed with a mismatched colored glee.
“I believe I won, unless you would like to try again?”
Atrox grumbled as Ferrum offered his brother a hand up, he refused and as his brother turned to leave the arena, Atrox pounced. Having transformed into a wolf, onlookers gasped in surprise. Ferrum threw the wolf off his back, and he- accepting the challenge- turned to a wolf himself. The brothers circled the arena, snarling. Atrox covered in a thick black fur, and Ferrum covered in a dark reddish brown fur, both marked with a single silver streak. The brothers charged at each other, as they pounced to continue their fight, a man stepped between them and separated them. It was their trainer, a man named Fridur. Fridur was a tall, round man. The man was the town tinker, and the last man anyone expected to be a warrior or a trainer of warriors, or a father. The brothers returned to their human forms and stood before their teacher.
“Do either of you realize the danger you put everyone in? Not just yourselves, but the rest of the village!”
The brothers protested in return, “what do you mean? We were just having some fun!” Their teacher gave a large sigh, before leading the boys back home. That night the brothers and their teacher were sitting at the table in their longhouse, the warm light reflecting in Fridur's glasses, the boys quietly watching their teacher, mess with spare gears from various projects. “When I brought you two in, it was with hopes to keep you safe, revealing your curse makes that difficult;” the parent said. “It's getting late, and you both have duties for the festival tomorrow, we'll talk more tomorrow.” As the brothers went to their room, with more questions about how they were cursed, why their father made it seem like they were adopted, and what danger was after them.
As the boys began to rest, they could feel the cool breeze blow through their window, the dire wolves barking in the distance, the wravyns cawing in the trees. The smell of hel-flowers (a small flower characterized by petals that look kin to ice crystals), muspel-blooms (a flower that glows and flickers like a never ending flame), and gold berries fill the air from the nearby alchemist. The leaves of the Woodbine and Ootros trees gently rustle in the wind. The boys laid in their beds thinking of their questions. Fridur was a good man, and the whole village admired him; but everyone was curious, how a man who never had a spouse, suddenly had two baby boys. Now the village wondered where these cursed children, that they've cared for, for 12 years came from. Fridur knew who their real father was, he was content to hide it from his adopted children, just a little longer.
That extra time he wanted, was now quickly depleting. Fridur went to his room late that night, such concern that he felt, was only felt by those who knew they were now being watched. The tinker sat in the chair in his room, staring out the window. The man prayed to Eshe for the forgiveness of the boys, prayed for the protection of the village, and the boys, and prayed for protection from the father of the boys.
These prayers would be proven futile.
The dawn broke the shroud of night and the village began to wake from their tree huts, mound homes, and longhouses. The boys and Fridur went out into the golden morning. Ferrum grabbed his bow and knife, and headed towards the gate of the town, passing the market and the village circle. Atrox grabbed his axe and headed to gather wood for the festival, and Fridur's house. The tinker of the village went to his shop, creating toys for the village children, tools for trades folk, machines for all purposes on Ephiri, and wood carvings for the temples.
This village was named after High King Gulli. Gulli Whitemane was the last of the high kings before the Heretical Wars, and he was the first of the high kings, to be cursed with all that afflicted the leaders of the system. As high king, the guardians felt the blame rested on the position of high king the most, as he did not succeed in trying to stop the heresy of the mortals. The village of Gulli, ironically, became the most famous for tributes to Eshe, the festival became famous both on Ephiri and amongst the other planets. Eshe priests from all over would come and preach to the people, tell stories of the glory of the goddess, sing songs, and feast. An effigy of the heretical king would then be burnt, along with effigies of the leaders of each planet who rose against the gods in heresy.
The golden leaves lightly covered the ground as the smell of roasted cow and hog filled the air. Ferrum arrived back at the village gates with a sled full of rabbit and headed to the butcher with his game.
“Ah, the valiant hunter returns with plenty for all,” exclaimed the butcher. “Tell me, how do you catch so many?”
“I used the snare traps you gave me, do you think it's enough?” The boy asked the kind old man, who answered the question with a smile and a nod, before walking to the back to get to work.
Atrox brought his sled of wood and divided it between the stack of wood for the festival and the stack of wood behind Fridur's house. The effigy weavers look at the young dark haired boy with a shy gratitude, the village respected the boys, but after their sparing match the other day, the people were afraid of what this festival will bring. For years the festival had gone without problems, however, this was different, the twins, who had been in the village for over a decade showed that the village had been hiding those cursed for heresy. Now to us, the sins of the father should not be put upon the sons, however heresy is such a heinous sin in Vestige, and the curses of the bloodlines was seen as the passing of sins from parent to child. Those cursed by the gods served as an example of how powerful and truthful the gods are.
The sun began to set, the people gathered in the amphitheater of the village to celebrate the festival. The effigy weavers brought their works to the center of the stage. The priest from the Ephiri capital, Gullna Konan, took the stage to tell a story of Eshe. Atrox and Ferrum sat in the back of the amphitheater, the boys had sat through this festival every year, but never before did they feel so far from those they had known their entire lives. Fridur had not arrived at the festival, and it was about to be time for him to show off the idol of Eshe he spent the last year making. The youngest of the three village shamans, who was the same age as the boys, made her way to the twins. Climbing the steps in a fashion as to not distract the audience. Once she arrived at the twins, she asked them to find their adoptive father, so that the idol could be presented to the priest from the capital.
The boys agreed and got up to find Fridur, the twin full moons lit the night sky with just enough for Atrox to see, his brother having less struggles as his eyes could see in the dark with ease, and glowed softly their mismatched colors. No sounds were heard in the village besides the singing and stories from the amphitheater, the street braziers were dark, the ootros trees did not even rustle. The twins come upon the tinker shop, its lights on, the doors and windows shut, Ferrum and Atrox cautiously peer in through a crack in the shutters.
Between the small crack and the idols, it was hard to tell how many there was, was it three? Four? The brothers counted a total of five figures in their father's shop, four of which wore dark armor, with shinning gold accents, and a sigil of four colored orbs surrounding a central, glowing teal orb.
“Come now Fridur, let's get this over with so you can enjoy the festival,” one figure pleaded.
“I told you already, those boys are perfectly normal, I should know, they are my sons!” Replied a frustrated Fridur
The figure who had been speaking, paced the floor before walking to the window the boys had been peering through.
“We would like to meet your sons, is all. We've heard they are quite 'gifted' and think they'd be perfect to fight competitively.”
“Not on my life would I allow them to fight in his damned arena, you bloodthirsty Igniean,” silence fell over the room as the figure turned around walked back to the tinker, and grabbed him by the throat.
“You ignorant fool, we'll see your sons and judge for ourselves, Kanshu, take this man to the capital, to talk to Lord Mendax about his remarks.”
A taller, bulkier figure walks behind Fridur, tying his hands behind his back, while the two other sigil wearers drew symbols in the air forming a gateway and filling the air with a weird frequency. The tinker and Kanshu walked through the gateway with one of the gateway makers follows and closes the gateway behind them. The two figures left in the shop, started heading towards the door to find the boys. Ferrum and Atrox ran back to the festival yelling the entire way. The celebrators paused as they came running to the stage to tell the capital priest what had just happened. Celebrators listened in horror as they heard of the arrest of their tinker, the figures from the shop arrived at the amphitheater, seeing the twins and running down the stairs after them. The capital priest put himself in between the sigil wearers and the boys. The figures stopped, staring at the priest with their weapons drawn. The figure who had spoke in the shop, had dark hair with golden beads decorating the ends, grey eyes and soot covered skin. The gate maker wore a white veil with gold embroidery, and had the figure of a gentle mother, and the air of a sea's breeze.
“Who put you to this plan, arresting the father of these boys?” The priest asked.
“That is none of your business, priest. We came to meet those boys, and their 'father' got in the way. Now if you will stand aside, we have business to attend to.”
The priest stood firm, keeping the boys out of reach of the two individuals, determined to protect them in the name of Eshe. Silence befell the crowd as they watched, before a gasp of horror, as the ashen man struck down the priest with his sword. As the priest fell, Atrox transformed and pounced at the ashen man, and Ferrum grabbed the priest's dagger, charging at the woman. The crowd stood in shock as Ferrum slashed the veil off the woman leaving a cut across her face. She knocked the glowing eyed boy back as the ashen man gained hold of the boy turned wolf. The two looked at each other, looked at Ferrum, and disappeared through a gateway.
Atrox was gone. Ferrum was devastated, he had just lost his father and teacher, watched a priest get struck down at a holy festival, almost got kidnaped and lost his brother. For the first time in his life, his eyes shone the same color. Red. His anger and heartache combined and he transformed himself into a wolf, howling at the moon before darkness clouded his vison, and he collapsed before the crowd.

I moved out of my family home in February 2023, so I’ve been out of the house for almost 4 months now. It was messy, it was abrupt, and even now it’s tense because even though I gave my parents the reasoning of my moving out, they cannot accept it and therefore cannot move on and now every conversation (not many since I left) is just a fight for them to be right, and not come to a productive solution regarding anything. I was not paying rent or in any sort of legally-binding “contract” with regards to living there.
After not hearing from them in a few weeks, my father sends me a text out of the blue saying that my parents will be sending me a bill in the mail for “the paint and spackle to repair the walls in your old room” claiming that I got hair dye on the wall and the shelves that were stuck onto the wall were ripped off and damaged the sheet rock.
The issue I am having with this is: 1. That stain on the wall is not hair dye. My family had moved into that home in November of 2021, and it was newly built, we are the first residents. The paint had left residue on my fingers for the first few months we were there. And I noticed this dark stain appearing on the wall where I’d put my head back onto sometimes. The first actual photo I have of it was taken in January of 2022, months before I even touched hair dye. I sent that but it was ignored because it disproved his point about it being hair dye.

1. Regarding the sheet rock from those shelves, when I moved out, a lot of belongings were still in my room, I left abruptly but was in heavy communication with my parents at the time. I would be at work for my 9 hours a day and I’d get texts that sporadically change from me getting more of my stuff after work to now, all of my belongings were going to be put in garbage bags and placed on the porch, I was from then on NOT Allowed to enter the house, or step on the property without their supervision. Okay, that’s fine. Except they left up all the command strip hooks and shelves that I had stuck to the wall. I was not given the opportunity to get those off the wall myself. When we moved to the house in late 2021, we were all told to not put nails in the wall, if we wanted to hang stuff up, to stick things onto the wall, and was told we had command strips in a drawer if anyone needed it. The shelves (there was 5 total) came with the option to nail or stick to the wall with provided double sided peel & stick tabs, It was something random off Amazon I got as a secret Santa gift. I figured okay, I’ll stick them since I was told to not use nails. They were not Command strips and did not have the tab that hangs down that you can pull during removal. So I am now being told that I didn’t install them properly, I say there was no tab that came with it, and then I get told that we were ALL (me and my 4 siblings) told to use ONLY Command strips and NOTHING else. Which is very not true at all, I would have had NO problem buying solely command strips for the little shelves if that was the case, I actively try to do whatever I can to avoid a problem and have been extremely compliant with many of the wishes my parents had. But now I’m being told that we actually WERE in fact told only Command strips and they have “witnesses” (my 4 siblings that they’ll manipulate into complying and just going along with what they want so they can “win”).

So I told them, if they didn’t just spontaneously decide to leave all of my belongings out on the porch and ban me from entering the house, and just let me gather my belongings on my own, I could’ve removed the tabs properly, and would’ve done research to see how I can remove them WITHOUT damaging the wall. Instead, my dad decides to remove them months later, just rips them off the wall and is now blaming me and sending me this bill because “It actually is your fault because in the eyes of the law, BUT FOR, you installing those shelves that you were not suppose to, said damage would not have happened.”
I am unsure of how to proceed. I obviously do not want to and don’t think I should pay this bill they’re gonna send. If I am being ignorant I’d also like to know because I really don’t have a lot of knowledge with this kind of stuff. My parents would not have done this if I moved out of their terms, and have just been fighting with me and being petty since I moved out. Is it possible for there to be legal repercussions/actions against me if I don’t pay ? Thank you.

Aight lets Run it back I got really tired of Streamers streaming this game who have no idea how to play an old school style MMORPG and before you say anything there are currently 3 other School MMORPGS in development in the west and Runescape is currently the WORLDS MOST played game by daily numbers.
Don't ask me what it cost to get into the beta because it cost way to much then i am willing to admit so lets talk about the good the bad and the streamers got it wrong stuff.
​
The Good:
Optimization OH MY GOD what else is there to say in the clip below you can see my stream highlight. Am standing on a pretty open ledge seeing the world down below playing on MAX OUT graphics 100% Epic not a SINGLE FRAME LOSS not 1 FRAME was lost i had my capped at 144 and NOT A SINGLE frame was ever lost Optimization in this game is beyond insane not 1 other game company has ever come close to game optimization like this. During events with over 100 people nearby my FPS on EPIC MAXED OUT will not drop below 80 and thats over 100 people on screen! and what else is there to say the game looks amazing. For the record i don't have the best PC on the market right now i have a 3090 with a Ryzen 5900X Cpu and 32GB Ram. so if your rocking a 2060+ you should be able to play on at least High/Med with maxed out settings.
https://www.twitch.tv/sgsamii/clip/StylishSaltyMonkeyKappaWealth-CCR81z89Cebop5v_
^ Clip of the view from stream highlights.
Story/Cinematics
The story and cinematics up to first 6 hours of gameplay is extremly fun and engaging am a very avid MMO Lore fan and honestly when certain events happen no spoilers it really did put a tear in my eye even after seeing it 4 times the music just hits PERFECTLY followed by the very detailed animations on the face and body posture. There are story cinematics, Movie Cinematics, and Stop motion animated picture cinematics and ingame engine cinematics there are so many cinematics in this game and i honestly love the lore so far.
World Events
The best MMO with world events for me has been Guild Wars 2 no other MMO has ever given me that itch until today Throne and Liberty has some of the best world events both PVE and PVP (tho mainly i tried the PVP) World Events basically entire Zones once every 2 hours different zones a world event occours for example wolf tails you kill wolfs collect tails and deposit easy reward. People can attack you and steal your tails so be careful. These events are fun but fun really only comes from rewards without rewards its just brainless repetition. The Rewards are by far the most important rewards in the game in the form of Paper you use paper to craft all of your skills No papper No skills. I grouped up with 3-4 people and we were gaming we placed top 5 and all of us got some paper!
Crafting
Similar to Albion & Runescape all items are player crafted. The only exception as far as i can tell is Green/Blue that can drop from monsters everything else especially Purple drops as a craftible materiel you need to spend extra recourses to make. Crafting actually goes very in depth in this game not only items but as mentioned earlier skills are also craftible this game WILL NOT GIVE YOU SKILLS so if your lvl 20 and wondering when your getting your first skill? you Wont you have to go craft it and you can even do that as low as lvl 5 you just need paper.
Bosses
World Bosses aside that turn into loot pineata like every other MMORPG TL goes a step ahead and fixes this problem the same world bosses will appear as solo 1v1 world bosses the player can challange for massive XP and Gold you can rechallenge but the XP/Gold get MUCH lower. if you wanted to have fun with friends you can! THE SAME WORLD bosses will drop BETTER loot if done as a Guild RAID. it sounds exactly as it sounds the same world bossess and much more can be done in a guild group only your guild has to work together to take them down.
Guld System
By far the most advanced Guild system i have ever seen in my life END GAME LOOT is directly obtainable through the guild system from bosses to other aspect of the game. You also have a guild house that can be upgraded to add more layers and layers the guild house can be visted by all guild members there is even a private guild dueling arena inside the house. You can also directly declare war with other guilds this will turn to open world pvp anywhere you are for the avid PVP fans.
Skills
I mentioned you need paper to craft skills but then you can upgrade each skill each skill has 5 upgrades and then a Rare, Epic and LEGENDARY upgrade effect. this is not trivila this is a WHOLE NEW SKILL your entire skill will change in some cases from basic > Legendary for example the legendary skill on 1 of the skills allows you to recast if the skill crits INFININETLY.
Exploration
This game world is like nothing you seen before there are clues hidden everywhere a random shipwreck? oh there a letter hiddin in the cabin? oh it tells you to find the hidden treasure BIG LOOT. i have honestly never played a game that prioritizes exploration to this level TL has surprised me at every step.
Enhancing
This is by far the best enhancement system in any game i have ever seen at least UP TO BLUE and purple but not 100% confirmed THERE IS NO FAILURE you will always 100% Succeed when enhancing BUT you have chances to succeed BETTER and with Higher percentages when upgrading gear. So yes you will not fail but you only got 5% or 1% when you need 100% instead of getting 40% on a 10% chance. this might be the dopamine hitting but NEVER failing ALWAYS succeeding really does feel much better.
The Cons OH BOY.
Combat
This has been mentioned a lot so lets talk the combat will feel like Runescape in unreal engine 5 an updated version of Runescape 3 into a brand new world and a new engine so if your coming from black desert this is not the game for you. However i will admit Melee combat needs to be changed you should be able to move while auto attacking as Melee its far to much of a disadvantage to not be able too. If your Into Lineage & Runescape like me with over 50,000 hours across 17 years on Runescape you will enjoy the combat at least i did. The skills combo into each other really well but yes there is "clunkyness" now this VERY WELL COULD be because of the 300+ ping every streamer is playing on and the beta server is holding over 15,000 players on 1 server but at the end of the day its not game breaking if your use to it. There are YouTubers for example "ForceGaming" Claiming there are not that many movement skills as a Melee this is wrong your first Skill you learn starting the game is a dash with the 2H Sword and your first big skill on daggers is Shadowstep. and they are on a very short cooldown.
Auto Combat (Astral Hunting)
This is an instant turn of for most of you and after watching most the streamers you probably think this game can be played 100% afk and for the most part up to lvl 30 even though max level is 70 but we don't know about later on this game can be played on Astral Hunting now the later you get especially lvl 20+ if you are AFK and not hunting monsters at least 5+ levels below you then you will die. On top of that Astral Hunting will not corectly use your skills for example Fire bolt on Staff can be cast 3 times the 2nd Faster and 3rd Instant but Astral Hunting only casts it 1 time.
No matter what the streamers tell you Astral Hunting is 1000% Slower i Reached lvl 18 in under 5 hours on stream while other streamers playing for 48+ hours were only lvl 20 ish after only using astral hunting. This is a PVP open world Game if you are behind when the game launches and you want to partake into PVP action good luck lmao being lvl 20 while everyone else is lvl 30+
​
Pay2Win
Its a korean game and honestly am tired of this song and dance what game is not pay2win?? Argubaly WOW is the most pay to win spend $1000 on gold every 6 months BOOM you can get a raid group to BOOST you for The BEST GEAR in the game repeat in 6 months this is genuanly how some people will play world of warcraft. There will be pay2win from what we seen there is Growth pass, Battle Pass then a Battle pass part 2?!?! I would like to say its Korean? But you can Pay2Win in WOW, BDO, Albion, Runescape and there not all korean it just depends on your own standards but so far in the shop other then the battle passes there really is not anything too pay 2 win especially the market place you could argue yes you can buy gear from market place directly but so can a free to play player all they got to do is sell the items on market and they get pay 2 win currency so realisiticly this actually a really fair system.
​
Honestly there so much i have not even discovered and so much i want to share with you that i have learned across my first 6 hours but lets be real most of you won't read this thread or care about the game outside of bad misinformed YouTubers & Streamers talking about the game and your going to miss out on potentially one of the greatest Oldschool Style MMORPGS ever invented.
Thank you for reading if you got this far the Amazon Beta will be announced on June 8th.

Would the Pay Over Time limit equal the CL AmEx would give me? I have a Gold Card but am thinking about applying for a Blue Cash card as well.

Would the Pay Over Time be the same or close to the CL AmEx would give me? I have a Gold Card but am thinking about getting a Blue Cash card too.

Would my Pay Over Time be the same as the CL AmEx would give me or would one be higher than the other? I have a Gold Card but am looking to get a Blue Cash as well to increase total available credit and reduce utilization.

It was...plain. Brown hair, white skin, and vague facial features made up the head, while the body was a t-shirt and jeans.
It felt like the Nike Off-Whites of Funko Pops.
"I gotta ask, what do you do with all the money you make off making these?" I asked off-handedly.
"Save money, but I always splurge a bit. Tonight, I'll probably buy a roast ham for my family if you buy this one. It's a milestone."
In my mind, I suddenly held the power of life over some distant pig, a dirty thing that was treated poorly until the time came to hack it apart. I would certainly never do such a thing myself, a half-eaten salad sitting on the front passenger seat of my car.
"You've got yourself a deal," I said as I handed over the money.
++++
The Funko Pop pair in my hands were unique in that both were considered part of the same product.
The first had blue hair and fancy glasses over its feminine features. The cheeks were slightly bubbled. Tiny dots along the t-shirt indicated a host of pins and stickers, while its right hand held a cell phone up at the viewer. If I turned it, the screen was painted to look like it was writing a short bird message. There was some sentence about believing science on whatever space was left of the t-shirt.
The second had soft red hair and freckles. The eyes and mouth were curled into a smile, giving it a grandfatherly-expression. The clothes were that of a cowboy, but I could make out the words about making the nation great again on the shirt.
"You know who these two people are, right?" I asked the seller.
"Yeah."
"Didn't this one literally set a hospital on fire?"
"And the other killed someone at the same protest, yeah."
"And you don't think it's weird to make figures about them?"
"Nothing weird about it. I'd be a fucking idiot to not try and cash in on currently trending people. What's weird are the people who come to buy it."
"What about them is weird?"
"Well, some are outright buying it because of what they did at that protest. The other type just buys it because they liked what those people did before the protest."
I nodded in understanding. Both were renowned philanthropists, responsible for funding education, housing, and medical facilities for the impoverished. Even my grandmother, who didn't pay attention to the news, effusively praised them.
"What about collectors who just want a full collection? Like me?"
"To be honest, you struck me initially as the kind of person who buys things because other people hate it."
Ouch.
"You've got yourself a deal," I said as I handed over the money.
++++
This Funko Pop's hair was longer than I had expected, the blonde curls extending to the waist. I did like, however, that the book in its left hand was in pristine condition, that was hard to get and why I had driven so far to get it. Also, the business shirt and skirt looked damn cute.
"Kinda weird to see one for her," I remarked.
"I don't, uh, follow? Sorry, it just feels totally normal that they made one for her. I mean, fuck TERFs and all that, but she is a billionaire." The seller squinted at me. "Are you a TERF? I don't sell to them."
"No, no, not at all. Just found it weird, that's all. It's just, the reason she's famous is way old now. It had its moment, who cares now?"
"Yeah, but all the kids who read her stuff grew up and can now buy movie tickets and merchandise. Like a Funko Pop," they said, gesturing to the figure in my hand.
"True, true. Are you-"
"Listen, I'm very busy. Are you going to buy it or not?"
"Sorry, just checking one last thing. I thought you said in your text you'd be free all day, though? Just wondering, that's all."
"She," the seller pointed at the figure, "is coming to this town to talk about how everyone needs to tell their representative to vote a certain way on that one bill, and I don't want to be in this place when she gives her hateful rant. I'm only here because you're the only one willing to buy this from me, everyone else I know won't touch it."
It made sense, I supposed.
"You've got yourself a deal," I said as I handed over the money. Untraceable at the seller's insistence, since officially tracked re-sales sent a portion of the money to the depicted person.
++++
I frowned at the figure in my hand. The hair looked even more painted on than official images suggested. It was as if a black sharpie had been used on the chocolate skin instead of permanent paint. Still, at least the red clothes and skull necklace didn't look as cheap.
"So...Hey, HEY! Can you turn that down a bit!" I shouted at the seller.
They turned the music down. "Sorry, what were you saying?"
"Uh...I forgot. But that was his famous song, right?" I pointed at the figure.
"He's got multiple famous albums, my friend. But yes, it was his music. I have all his stuff."
"Neat. How come you're selling this, then? Do you not like Funko Pops?"
"Nah. That's for kids to play with." They paused. "Or collectors to buy, sorry."
I waved it off with my other hand. "Did you hear about what he said recently?"
"What are you referring to?"
"He was talking about how he would ensure all people of certain religions were removed from government positions."
"Oh, really? I guess I need to catch up on the news. I drove a while to get here, so..."
"Right. You've got yourself a deal," I said as I handed over the money. I knew a portion of it would undoubtedly find its way into the depicted person's political campaign.
++++
I didn't even look at the figure in the seller's hand. "Excuse me, are you by any chance-"
He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I'm Adolf Hitler. The man who ordered six million Jews and many others killed. I started World War 2 and got resettled here as a condition of surrendering."
"Huh. So...why are you dealing in Funko Pops?"
"I'm trying to establish myself as an artist, and making custom figurines pays well. Do you want it or not?"
"...Out of curiosity, what do you do with all the money you make? I saw that you made several hundred thousand just last year alone."
"Fund my local Neo-Nazi chapter. They killed two undesirables last month, I really wish they wouldn't slack like that. Anyway, do you want it or not?"
I stared at him for a moment, then down at the figure.
"You've got yourself a deal," I said as I handed over the money.
++++
As I drove home that day, I looked at the plastic box placed where the passenger's feet would be. It had been empty when I started and was now totally full. In terms of collecting, it had been a spectacular success.
A part of me wondered just how stained my soul had become this day.

This post is part of a series of reviews. To see them all, click here.

Serial Information

• Episodes: Season 7, Episodes 19-25
• Airdates: 9th May - 20th June 1970
• Doctor: 3rd
• Companion: Liz
• UNIT: The Brigadier, Sgt. Benton
• Writer: Don Houghton
• Directors: Douglas Camfield, Barry Letts (Uncredited)
• Producer: Barry Letts
• Script Editor: Terrance Dicks

Review

Proper little bureaucrat, aren't you? Can't shoot me unless you've filled out all the forms, is that it? – The Doctor, to the Brigade Leader
Inferno starts like a very typical story of this era. The Doctor's been acting as observer at some sort of drilling operation, and is using their nuclear reactor to power his attempts to get the TARDIS working again, when some murders happen and the Brigadier joins the Doctor to investigate. As it so happens, the drilling operation has unleashed some sort of primeval forces turning people who come into contact with some green goop into monsters. Meanwhile the director of the project is a pain in the ass, and…oh god this is basically just a worse Fury from the Deep.
But then…well you know what happens. The Doctor's experiments with the TARDIS console send him sideways through time, he goes to a parallel world where the UK is a fascist state and all of a sudden things get really, really good.
I don't want to sound like before the parallel universe stuff gets introduced Inferno was shaping up to be a bad story. Rather, up to that point, it was following the "base under siege" playbook to a letter, and by this point I've grown somewhat tired of the tropes of that formula. Fortunately, we're going to be moving away from the format for some time, and in the meantime Inferno uses the familiarity of the format to its advantage.
By taking the Doctor into an alternate universe, we get to see what a worst case scenario of one of these stories looks like. A version of events where things don't just work out, but continually get worse and worse until an entire world is consumed by lava. It's all deeply tragic.
But here's the rub. If you're an American sci-fi fan like me, you're probably familiar with the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror" a great episode that does something very similar by sending Captain Kirk to an alternate universe where the crew of the Enterprise are all evil. But Inferno's alternate universe characters aren't evil counterparts. Instead what it does, and I think I prefer this approach, is that it imagines what its characters would be if they lived in this alternate world.
Taking the Brigadier, or to give his rank in the alternate universe, the Brigade Leader, as an example. At first glance he seems very different from his main universe counterpart. He's a bully, and an eager servant of a fascist state. There's no way our Brigadier would be like that. But imagine if Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart had grown up in this world.
See, the main characteristic that defines the Brigadier is his sense of duty. His duty to UNIT, and in a wider sense to the world. He can even be a bit of a bully, as we see in this story when the Brigadier gets Benton to physically drag Stahlman away from his work. Given Stahlman's behavoir he was right to do so mind, and generally his more aggressive and blustery tendencies are constrained by his strong moral sense. But imagine for a second if he existed in a world that did not allow him to succeed with that moral sense intact. What you're left with is the Brigade Leader.
Of course, the Brigade Leader has a bit of a breakdown as he comes to accept that his world is doomed. This story has what is probably Nicholas Courtney's best performance on Doctor Who as in episodes 5 and 6 we see the Brigade Leader slowly lose control. The Brigade Leader tries to take control anyway he can, at one point actually pulling the trigger on Sutton…but he's used up all the bullets in his gun. What this is, is the bottom being pulled out from under a man. The thing, the supposed "republic" that he has devoted his life to is about to die, like the rest of his world, and he just can't deal with the scope of that. His final act is trying to force the Doctor to take the parallel universe characters to his universe, something which the Doctor says will unravel time and space in all universes.
Thing is, the differences between the two Lethbridge-Stewarts is probably the most extreme. Consider the difference between our familiar Liz Shaw, and her counterpart Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw. Initially, she seems remarkably different. She's a soldier, not a scientist. Like the Brigade Leader she is a servant of that aforementioned fascist state, and puts the Doctor through a pretty harsh interrogation.
And yet, think about Liz as we know her. She's intelligent, sardonic, and skeptical. All of those personality traits are preserved with the Section Leader. And as we learn later, she did consider a path of the scientist, but in this world a military role must have seemed more attractive. And yet, like Liz, she doesn't consider herself a simple cog in the military machine. Just as Liz is willing to defy the Brigadier when she thinks it appropriate, we see early on that Elizabeth is willing to challenge the Brigade Leader when she feels it appropriate.
After it becomes clear that the alternate Earth cannot be saved, Elizabeth seems to manage to deal with the horror of what's happening better than most, possibly because she has her rationalist attitude and scientific understanding to help her accept it. And unlike the Brigade Leader she seems to understand the value in fighting for the greater good of saving the Doctor's world.
Other characters are a bit more similar in both universes, which makes sense from a writing perspective, given that we know so much less about them. The exception is Benton, who is Lethbridge-Stewart's loyal man in both universes, which naturally leads to a lot of differences between how the two characters come across.
Otherwise though, we should talk about the couple of Petra Williams and Greg Sutton. In both universes Petra is Stahlman's loyal assistant, though in the alternate universe she seems to have achieved a Doctorate she didn't in the main one. Crucially though, she's loyal, but not to a fault. In our universe when things start going south she recognizes the trouble and instantly starts teaming up with Sutton to try to fix the problems, whatever Stahlman thinks. She's a bit less quick to work with Sutton in the alternate universe, but that's mostly because the alternate England's government is so restrictive that she seems to feel more compelled to play by the rules. She still is willing to stick her neck out, especially for Greg Sutton.
And Sutton is basically the same character in both universes. Mind you, he gets off to a pretty rough start, both for me and Petra when he's incredibly patronizing towards her. I think what bothers me about this sexism versus any other we see on the show, is that, typically on Doctor Who of this era sexism is portrayed as an understandable character flaw. Like the Brig can occasionally be a bit sexist, but we're meant to understand that those instances are failings on his part and he's a better person than that. But with Sutton it feels like we're supposed to like him for his witty jokes about Petra being a secretary.
Anyway, once we get past that false start we understand a few things about Sutton. First, he knows what he's talking about. He's brought in as a consultant due to his experience with oil rigs, and while this is not a traditional drilling operation, he still knows enough to know when things are going wrong and often what should be done. Second, he's not afraid to speak his mind, in either universe. This is especially notable in the parallel Earth where it's made very clear that speaking his mind is likely going to get him executed at some point. Third, he is very easily annoyed, which definitely makes point two more apparent.
And yes, Petra and Greg get together in the main universe and were clearly on their way there in the parallel world if not for…you know…the world being consumed by lava. Their relationship mostly works for me, with Greg, especially in the parallel universe trying to bring out her individuality and Petra balancing her feelings with Greg with her loyalty to Stahlman.
And speaking of whom…it's time to talk about Stahlman. Now, if you've been reading along these reviews you're well aware of my frustrations with the obstructive base commander archetype that pervades this era of the Classic Series. You'll most recently have read me complaining about these characters with Dr. Lawrence in Doctor Who and the Silurians being the most recent example. If you haven't been reading along with these reviews…well I've grown increasingly frustrated with the obstructive base commander archetype that pervades this era of the Classic Series. I wouldn't mind it so much except it's a character type that shows up multiple times a season during this period and they seem to get increasingly more frustrating. And Stahlman is a textbook example of this archetype.
I think Stahlman works really well in this story.
Now, to be clear he's still incredibly frustrating to deal with. And in the first two episodes, before the alternate universe stuff gets added in, he's every bit as aggravating as any other iteration of this character type. But, just like Inferno uses our familiarity with the base under siege format to its advantage, by giving us a familiar setting to show two versions of, it does much the same with Stahlman.
The contrast with Stahlman between the two universes has nothing to do with his personality. He's exactly the same obstinate self-important pain in everyone's collective ass in both worlds. Rather, it's his ability to do what he wants to. On the alternate Earth, when Sir Keith Gold goes off to whatever the alternate Earth's equivalent of the ministry is, he dies, and it's heavily implied, though never stated, that Stahlman arranged for his death. In our universe…Stahlman blackmails Sir Keith's driver to drive him on a route away from the complex. Moreover, Sir Keith actually manages to talk the driver out of it. In the alternate universe, a tinpot dictator like Stahlman is able to do basically whatever he wants to get his project working. In our world, he is still constrained to some extent. This matters in the end as Sutton and the Doctor are able to convince the technicians to shut down the drill in a way they weren't in the alternate world.
Mind you I do have a criticism of Stahlman…I don't get his motivation. Now with all past obstructionist base commanders I've at least understood why they behave in the way that they do. For instance Fury From the Deep's Chief Robson, probably Stahlman's closest analogue, doesn't want to stop the working of his oil rigs because he has a perfect record of never shutting down to maintain. This makes him a painfully annoying character to deal with, but it makes sense. Stahlman though…
The drilling operation of Inferno is Stahlman's baby – he's been working on it in one form or another for eleven years. He believes that there are pockets of energy-rich gas accessible just beneath the Earth's crust. Why he believes this is never stated, but we can assume he did some sort of surveying work before setting up this operation. The thing he absolutely doesn't want to get done is slow down. If anyone ever slows down or, heaven forbid, temporarily stops the drilling he throws a fit. But why though? Nobody, not even the Doctor before he makes his little trip to the alternate world, ever suggests permanently stopping the drilling. Just paying attention to danger signs and proceeding more cautiously. This isn't just irrational behavior from a man too invested in his own ego, that I could at least understand.
Now eventually, in both universes, Stahlman is infected by the green goop that turns people into monsters. Because he got very little of it on him the process is a lot slower, and it's implied that it makes Stahlman more irrational and wanting to speed up even more, as he starts pushing past safety margins. The thing is, there is no discernible change in his personality after he gets infected. It probably would have been better if Stahlman had been a reasonable person, if overambitious and slightly egotistical, before he was infected and his infection had caused him to start acting more irrationally and accelerate the drilling. It would have made his character more bearable as well, though admittedly I think that aspect works somewhat in this story.
We haven't yet talked about the main universe versions of Liz and the Brig. There's not a huge amount to say about either. Liz does show some of her intelligence at times, as well as the close professional and personal relationship she's developed with the Doctor. However, a lot of the time Liz is in the background in this one, in contrast to her alternate universe counterpart. You might think that, with the Doctor missing this would be Liz's time to shine but the truth is we see very little of what is happening in the main universe while the Doctor is away, and what we do see has Liz mostly acting as the Doctor's doctor.
The Brigadier similarly doesn't get a tremendous amount to do, aside from be annoyed at Stahlman (and everybody's annoyed at Stahlman). He does end up showing a lot of grace at the end of the story, but we'll get to that when we talk about the Doctor. The Brig's tendencies to butt heads with Stahlman are, interestingly enough, somewhat reminiscent of his more acrimonious interactions with the Doctor, since the 3rd Doctor can be quite obstinate and self-important in his own right, but that's about all I have to say about the Brig.
And yes, it's time to talk about the Doctor. He ends up getting put through the ringer in this one. The Doctor was already in an ill mood before being sent to a parallel fascist Britain – dealing with Stahlman on a daily basis will do that to a person. And then well…there's the interrogation and implied, though never shown, torture. And in spite of that, the Doctor gets invested in this new world. Maybe it's just that he's that good of a person. Maybe he can tell that these people are closer to the versions he knows than it initially appears. Whatever happens, he cares about what happens next.
What happens next is, of course, the destruction of their entire world. It's obviously horrifying. There's nothing that can be done. The portion of the story that has the Doctor in the parallel world is four episodes – episodes 3-6 – and episodes five and six occur after the point of no return. And the Doctor has to work with these people, people he knows will die, must die. I'm sitting here, trying to find the words to describe the mix of terror, futility and somberness that those two episodes convey, and I cannot find the words. It's brilliant television, and it is utterly devastating.
So naturally when the Doctor returns to the main universe, he's a little unbalanced. First he spends a few hours passed out, just managing to mumble some key information for Liz to pass on. However when he wakes up, he unfortunately makes the call to destroy the console that controls the drill with a wrench. Was it the right approach? Absolutely not, but it absolutely makes sense, given what the Doctor's been through.
On the other hand, I did not care for how this story ended. The Doctor, thinking he's got the TARDIS console working again, gives a tender, and quite sweet, goodbye to Liz and then…hits the Brig with a barrage of insults. Maybe this would feel more earned if the Brigadier and the Doctor's relationship were more difficult, but the truth is, outside of The Silurians they've managed to get along reasonably well, albeit with some friction. Hell, even if The Silurians had lead to more prolonged animosity between the two it might feel earned, but the fact is they seemed to patch things up during The Ambassadors of Death. As such the Doctor just comes off as kind of an asshole.
Now, it's commonly believed that the parallel universe plot was a late addition in order to fill out 7 episodes, but this appears to be incorrect, as the original outline included the parallel universe plot. The origin of this claim comes from Terrance Dicks, who must have misremembered. On the other hand, the monsters (called Primords in the credits but nowhere in the story proper) were a late addition to the script. They were not in early drafts, but Producer Barry Letts and Script Editor Terrance Dicks felt the story needed some kind of monster.
I'm kind of two minds about the addition of the Primords. On one hand, objectively, they are given basically no explanation. Why does the green goop flowing out of one of the output pipes cause people to turn into heat-loving monsters? No clue. On the other hand, I have difficulty imagining the story working as well as it does without some sort of active threat, especially at it's seven episodes long. Episode 6 in particular basically relies on the Primords to form some form of barrier against what would otherwise have been a fairly straightforward task.
Still, I will say that the Primords look really good in this story. In fact everything looks good. The Primords themselves have distinctive green skin and seem to grow extra hair. But also, there's just a number of alterations to the appearance various cast members (to account for alternate universe versions) that all look good. The one exception is Elizabeth Shaw's wig which is so obviously a wig, but everyone else looks great.
Inferno is an excellent story. Its unique premise takes what initially feels like a very familiar setting and turns it into something special. The destruction of the alternate Earth is genuinely one of the most horrifying things that Doctor Who has ever shown, even if just in part. And that makes the relief at managing to save the main Earth all the more potent.
Score: 9/10

Stray Observations

• This was the first story that Barry Letts commissioned as producer. All prior stories in Season 7 were commissioned by previous producer Derrick Sherwin before his departure.
• Sheila Dunn, Director Douglas Camfield's wife, played Petra, but she wasn't the original choice. Originally, Camfield wanted to cast Kate O'Mara, who Doctor Who fans will remember better as 80's villain The Rani.
• Caroline John preferred playing the "evil" version of Liz over the original.
• There's a famous story that Nicholas Courtney liked to tell. When he shot the scene of Brigade Leader Lethbridge-Stewart swiveling around in his chair to reveal his eyepatch, he swiveled around to see that the entire cast and crew were also wearing eypatches.
• This was the final story to use the original TARDIS console prop. It was falling apart at this point, and after this story the decision was made that it would have to be retired. A new one was of course constructed for the next time they would need it.
• This was both Nicholas Courtney and Caroline John's favorite story.
• Director Douglas Camfield had a hard time of it on this serial. He got into arguments with both Jon Pertwee and Caroline John. This escalated until he collapsed, whereupon his wife (who, remember was playing Petra) revealed he'd been working while suffering from a heart murmur, causing Barry Letts to take if off the serial. Because Camfield had completed most of the prep work, Letts decided that he would direct the final five episodes himself, though Camfield received the sole director's credit for all seven.
• This story has a bespoke title sequence, the last of the Classic Series. It features shots of lava, with the story title and writer's name coming into focus in white text. It's a really good one, nice way for this particular little quirk of the early Classic Series that goes back to The War Machines to come to an end. I particularly like how the spiral at the end of the 3rd Doctor title seems to transition into the lava, I'm sure it wasn't planned, but it's a really cool effect nonetheless. The volcano footage had been used previously in Doctor Who, in The Enemy of the World.
• In this story the Doctor uses the Sonic Screwdriver as, as he likes to put it, a "door handle". More specifically, he uses it to open the gate the hut he's running his experiments out of.
• According to the Doctor something similar to the events of this story happened at Krakatoa, though it would seem that no Primords were created in that instance.
• In episode 2, the Doctor performs a kind of nerve pinch he calls Venusian…Karate. This was, of course, eventually changed to Venusian Aikido, in order to use a more defensive martial art.
• Okay, I get why the Doctor was shot off into the parallel universe, but why Bessie?
• The Section Leader version of Shaw is initially shot from the back so that we don't recognize her. It helps that her hair is a different color.
• When the Doctor claims he doesn't exist in the parallel universe, the Brigade Leader responds with "then you won't feel the bullets when we shoot you."
• The technicians at the parallel universe facility all wear name tags on their uniforms, which is useful to the audience when they all start turning into monsters, but makes you wonder why they're there in the first place. It does make a bit more sense than when a similar thing was done in The Power of the Daleks.
• To indicate a change in dimension we use a rather odd whirring sound effect combined with a light show that looks a bit like a sped up disco ball. It does the job.
• One of the more surprisingly effective moments in this story is when, in episode 5, we see Platoon Underleader Benton drilling his men. By this point in the story we know that the alternate Earth is doomed, and therefore Benton there's no point.
• Alternate Benton getting turned into a Primord is actually kind of fitting when you remember that John Levene started out by playing monsters, including a Yeti back in The Web of Fear
• It takes nearly 20 minutes in episode 5 for use to go to the main universe. Even then it's just to check in on Sir Keith, and after that scene we never go to that universe again until the next episode.
• A lot of the dialogue in episode 7 is repeated dialogue from bits set in the alternate universe, which makes sense when you remember that the alternate universe was supposedly running slightly ahead of the main one.

Next Time: Season 7 continues with…wait what do you mean Season 7's over?

Mine is a hot shower. Sure, I like playing roleplaying games and watching stuff on streaming as much as the next guy, but hot water on my skin? That's where it's at. Sometimes you have to appreciate the simple things in life.
There are other things I like, of course. Aside from the aforementioned roleplaying games (see the second half of my username to find out which ones), I'm a big fan of technology, hockey, and animals. I have 2 cats and a bearded dragon, and am happy to share pics of any of them!
I haven't talked about myself professionally yet, and that's because there isn't much to say. I'm still in college, because I took a looong break from it and worked retail for a while because of mental health issues and later the pandemic. I'm in an engineering field and am hoping that'll go well. So no, my shit is not yet together, but when it is together, it'll be REALLY together.
So... politics and religion. Touchy subject which I'm approaching with all the grace of a bull in a china shop, but suffice it to say, I'm an atheist and I'm pretty far to the left. I staunchly refuse to date a conservative (not that they'd be particularly interested in my "child murder" supporting ass anyway), but I honestly don't care if you believe in a higher power, the universe, reincarnation, the flying spaghetti monster, whichever you like. Just keep in mind that I won't believe in them.
Oh, and one other important thing I won't do - reproduce. My bloodline dies with me, as a friend once told me. I don't hate children, though I do feel a certain discomfort around them (was the youngest growing up, never really had to change a diaper or whatever), like I don't know what to say or how to behave. But that's not the main reason I don't want kids. Mostly it's because I have mental health issues that I've been struggling with throughout my life and I think that even if I did want to have kids, it would be selfish of me to pass that on.
Physically, I'm 135 lb, five foot five inches, I have brown hair, blue eyes and I'm white. Picture will be available upon request. I prefer women who are average or slender like me. Oh, and you can be any height, I don't care, I only mention it because you likely do and I don't want an awkward situation where you start talking to me and find out I'm too short for your liking.
Penultimate paragraph. What I'm looking for right now is intimacy of any kind really. Long term would be nice, short term would be perfectly acceptable. I find it difficult to meet people using apps (I'm a 5.5 on a good day, and I know it), and IRL I'm surrounded by 18-22 year olds who are either A) too young or B) have no interest in me.
P.S.
I'd like to share pictures early, and ideally video call early. I have no patience for women with "broken phones" as I've encountered time and time again. I'm sorry, that trick is just not believable if it's been the case with 4 separate women I've talked to on here. if you're not willing to prove you are who you say you are, I have no interest in you.