Here you go Online Jamily, here is the final complete Part #1 post series link summary of all the Remixes/B-Sides of Jamiroquai from the past 30 years, I hope EVERYONE enjoyed this expansive post series..ENJOY!:

30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series Part #1 Post Series Link Summary!

Emergency On Planet Earth Album Era (1992-1993)

30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #1 "When You Gonna Learn?" Acid Jazz Records/Sony Music Single Releases 1992-1993 "JK Mix" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #2 "When You Gonna Learn?" Acid Jazz Records/Sony Music Single Releases 1992-1993 "JK Instrumental" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #3 "When You Gonna Learn?" Acid Jazz Records/Sony Music Single Releases 1992-1993 "Cante Hondo Mix" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #4 "When You Gonna Learn?" Acid Jazz Records/Sony Music Single Releases 1992-1993 "Original Demo" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #5 "When You Gonna Learn?" Acid Jazz Records/Sony Music Single Releases 1992-1993 "Digeridon't" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #6 "When You Gonna Learn?" Acid Jazz Records/Sony Music Single Releases 1992-1993 "Cante Hondo Instrumental" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #7 "When You Gonna Learn?" Acid Jazz Records/Sony Music Single Releases 1992-1993 "When You Gonna Learn? - Live at Leadmill, Sheffield" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #8 "When You Gonna Learn?" Acid Jazz Records/Sony Music Single Releases 1992-1993 "Didgin' Out - Live At The Milky Way, Amsterdam" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #9 "Too Young To Die" Sony Music Single Releases 1993 "Too Young To Die - Extended Version" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #10 "Too Young To Die" Sony Music Single Releases 1993 "Too Young To Die - Instrumental" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #11 "Too Young To Die" Sony Music Single Releases 1993 "Too Young To Die - Original Version" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #12 "Blow Your Mind" Sony Music Single Releases 1993 "Blow Your Mind - Part 1 & 2" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #13 "Blow Your Mind" Sony Music Single Releases 1993 "Hooked Up" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #14 "Emergency On Planet Earth" Sony Music Single Releases 1993 "Emergency On Planet Earth - Extended Version" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #15 "Emergency On Planet Earth" Sony Music Single Releases 1993 "If I Like It, I Do It - Acoustic Version" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #16 "Emergency On Planet Earth" Sony Music Single Releases 1993 "Revolution 1993 - Demo" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #17 "Emergency On Planet Earth" Sony Music Vinyl Remixes Release 1993 "Emergency On Planet Earth - Planetary Club Mix " (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #18 "Emergency On Planet Earth" Sony Music Vinyl Remixes Release 1993 "Emergency On Planet Earth - International Club Mix " (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #19 "Emergency On Planet Earth" Sony Music Vinyl Remixes Release 1993 "Jamiropella" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #20 "Emergency On Planet Earth" Sony Music Vinyl Remixes Release 1993 "Fingertips Dub" (YouTube)
30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series! #21 "Emergency On Planet Earth" Sony Music Vinyl Remixes Release 1993 "911 Earthbeats" (YouTube)

The Return Of The Space Cowboy Album Era (1994-1996)

Travelling Without Moving Album Era (1996-1997)

Synkronized Album Era (1998-1999)

Bonus Section: Single By Single LineaSong Notes:

WHEN YOU GONNA LEARN (1992-1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"When You Gonna Learn" is the debut single released by British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai. It was originally released in 1992 by Acid Jazz Records, then re-released on Sony Square Records in 1993 as the lead single from the band's debut studio album, Emergency on Planet Earth. The lyrical themes, like many of Jamiroquai's early songs, speak of environmental awareness.
Please note:
I will be noting ONLY OFFICIAL 'Remixes/B-Sides' for this series, NO White Labels/3rd Party Remixes, Per Single Release. All release information provided by Discogs.com!

TOO YOUNG TO DIE (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Too Young to Die" is the second single taken from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's debut studio album, Emergency on Planet Earth. The original version of the track runs at 10:18, however, both the single and album versions were cut, running at 3:22 and 6:05 respectively. The single peaked at #10 on the UK Singles Chart.

BLOW YOUR MIND (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Blow Your Mind" is the third overall single to be released from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's debut studio album, Emergency on Planet Earth. The single was released on 24 May 1993 on Sony Soho Square in the United Kingdom and 1 July 1993 on Epic Records in Japan, peaking at #12 on the UK Singles Chart.

EMERGENCY ON PLANET EARTH (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Emergency on Planet Earth" is the fourth and final single released from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's debut studio album, of the same name. The song was written by Jay Kay, and has a very environmentalist tone, urging the listener to "stop modernisation going on."

SPACE COWBOY (1994):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Space Cowboy" is the international lead single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. The single peaked at #17 on the UK Singles Chart, and was the band's first number one on the U.S. Dance Chart.

HALF THE MAN (1994):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Half the Man" was released as the third overall single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. The track peaked at #15 on the UK Singles Chart.

LIGHT YEARS (1994-1995):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Light Years" is the fourth overall single released from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. The song peaked at #36 on the UK Singles Chart, due to little promotion of the track.

STILLNESS IN TIME (1995):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Stillness In Time" was first released as single in Japan in December 1994, but it wasn't released as single in UK and Europe until in June 1995.
Released as the fifth and final overall single from British band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. The track peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the group's highest-charting release to that date.

VIRTUAL INSANITY (1996):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Virtual Insanity" is a song by British funk band Jamiroquai. It was released as the second single from their third studio album, Travelling Without Moving (1996), on 19 August 1996. The song's award-winning music video was released in September 1996. "Virtual Insanity" was a number-one hit in Iceland and Italy and reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Peaking within the top 10 in Finland and Ireland, the song also peaked at number 38 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart upon the single's release in America in 1997. The sight of underground town in Sapporo, Northern Japan provided inspiration to this song.

COSMIC GIRL (1996-1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Cosmic Girl" is the second single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's third studio album, "Travelling Without Moving" (1996), released on 11 November 1996 on Sony Soho Square in the UK and 14 January 1997 on Sony Music/Work Group in the US.

ALRIGHT (1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Alright" is the third single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's third studio album, Travelling Without Moving. It was released on 28 April 1997 on Sony Soho Square in the United Kingdom and 23 September 1997 on Sony Music in the United States. The song was written by Jay Kay. The song peaked at #6 on the UK Singles Chart and at number 2 in Iceland and Italy. It is the group's only single to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
The song contains samples from Eddie Harris' "It's All Right Now" and Idris Muhammad's "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This."
The song appears in the next gen version of Grand Theft Auto V on the Non-Stop Pop FM station.

HIGH TIMES (1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"High Times" is the fourth and final single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's third studio album, Travelling Without Moving. The song peaked at #20 on the UK Singles Chart.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU'RE COMING FROM? (1996):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Do You Know Where You're Coming From" is the lead single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's third studio album, Travelling Without Moving. Only included as a bonus track on the album, the track features music by M-Beat, who also produced the track. Released on 14 February 1996, the single peaked at #12 on the UK Singles Chart. The single later appeared as a B-side to the group's following single, "Virtual Insanity".

CANNED HEAT (1999):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Canned Heat" is the second single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's fourth studio album, Synkronized, released in 1999. The song was their second number-one on the US Dance Chart and peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart as well as number 2 in Spain. The music video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund. The song is used in the film Napoleon Dynamite, as background music during the title character's famous dance performance before a high school assembly.

BLACK CAPRICORN DAY (1999-2000):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Black Capricorn Day" is the fifth and final single released by British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai from their fourth studio album, Synkronized. The single was released in February 2000 in Japan only, becoming the second single of the group's to be exclusively released in that country. The single peaked at number 14 on the Japan Hot 100 and featured remixes of previous hits "Canned Heat" and "Supersonic". Although the video for the song was included on the British version of the High Times: Singles 1992–2006 DVD, the single was never made available in the UK.

SUPERSONIC (1999):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Supersonic" is the third single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's fourth studio album, Synkronized. The song was written by Jason Kay. The word "supersonic" is repeated a total number of 127 times throughout the song. The track was their third #1 on the U.S. Dance Chart,[1] and peaked at #22 on the UK Singles Chart. The single release features various remixes of the song. "Supersonic" was one of five tracks remixed in 2006 for the group's Classic Club releases.

DEEPER UNDERGROUND (1998):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Deeper Underground" is a single by British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai that appeared on the soundtrack to the 1998 film, Godzilla. The song was also included as a bonus track on the group's fourth studio album, Synkronized, as well as on the special edition of the group's fifth album, A Funk Odyssey.
The song became a hit in several countries, finding the most success in the band's native United Kingdom, and becoming the group's first and only single to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart. The track replaced Another Level's ‘Freak Me’ at the top, and spent a week there before being knocked off by the Spice Girls' Viva Forever. To date, Deeper Underground has sold 339,100 copies.

SUMMARY PART #2 COMING SOON!

To achieve similar strides in promoting flexible work arrangements and improving work-life balance, Kuwait could consider the following steps:

Policy and Legal Framework: Kuwait can review and update its labor laws and regulations to provide a legal framework that supports flexible working arrangements. This may include provisions for alternative work schedules, remote work options, and flexible start and end times. -> which they're relatively attempting to do now.
Employer Engagement: Encouraging employers to adopt flexible work policies and create a supportive work culture is crucial. Kuwait can promote awareness campaigns, provide guidance to employers, and highlight the benefits of flexible work arrangements for both employees and businesses.
Stakeholder Collaboration: Collaboration between government entities, employers, labor unions, and employee representatives is essential. Creating a platform for dialogue and cooperation can help identify challenges, share best practices, and develop tailored solutions that fit the Kuwaiti context.
Pilot Programs and Case Studies: Initiating pilot programs within specific industries or organizations can serve as a testing ground for flexible work arrangements. By collecting data and conducting case studies, Kuwait can assess the impact of flexible work policies on productivity, employee satisfaction, and work-life balance. -> anyone have any idea of a place that's being using as a testing ground for these laws?
Infrastructure and Technology: Supporting the necessary infrastructure and technology is critical for successful implementation. This includes ensuring reliable internet connectivity, promoting digital tools and platforms for remote collaboration, and investing in flexible workspace solutions.
Employee Education and Support: Providing training and resources to employees on how to effectively manage flexible work arrangements can enhance productivity and ensure a smooth transition. This may include time management skills, remote communication etiquette, and self-discipline strategies. -> I'm not sure about self discipline strategies.
Work-Life Balance Initiatives: Encouraging a healthy work-life balance through initiatives such as wellness programs, mental health support, and promoting employee well-being can further support the adoption of flexible work arrangements.
Monitoring and Evaluation: Regular monitoring and evaluation of the implementation and impact of flexible work policies are crucial. Gathering feedback from employees, tracking key performance indicators, and making necessary adjustments based on the outcomes will help refine the approach over time.

By taking these steps, Kuwait can work towards creating an environment that promotes flexibility in working hours and empowers employees to have better control over their work-life balance, ultimately enhancing productivity, job satisfaction, and overall well-being.
Another Q to CGpt. How would these solutions be relevant to Kuwait's current affairs ?
In considering the relevance of the solutions to Kuwait's current affairs, it's important to take into account the specific context and challenges faced by the country. Here are some points to consider:

Economic Diversification: Kuwait has been striving to diversify its economy beyond oil, focusing on sectors such as finance, technology, and tourism. Promoting flexible work arrangements can support this diversification by attracting talent, fostering innovation, and improving productivity in non-oil sectors.
Workforce Demographics: Kuwait has a significant youth population and a growing number of women entering the workforce. Offering flexible work arrangements can help accommodate the needs and aspirations of these demographics, providing opportunities for career growth, work-life balance, and gender equality.
Urbanization and Infrastructure: Kuwait is experiencing rapid urbanization, and infrastructure development is a key focus. Implementing flexible work arrangements can help reduce traffic congestion, ease the burden on transportation systems, and contribute to sustainable urban planning.
Digital Transformation: Kuwait is making progress in digital transformation, with initiatives such as e-government services and Smart Cities. Flexible work arrangements align with these efforts by leveraging digital technologies, remote collaboration tools, and flexible workspaces to enable remote work and enhance productivity.
Quality of Life and Well-being: The well-being of individuals and their quality of life are important considerations. Promoting work-life balance through flexible work arrangements can contribute to improved mental health, reduced stress levels, and increased job satisfaction among employees.
Cultural Values and Social Norms: Kuwait has its unique cultural values and social norms. Solutions that respect cultural practices, traditions, and societal expectations while addressing work-life balance can be better accepted and implemented within the local context.
Public-Private Collaboration: Collaboration between government entities, private sector employers, and labor unions is crucial to implementing and sustaining flexible work arrangements. Encouraging dialogue, partnerships, and shared responsibility can ensure that solutions are relevant, practical, and inclusive.

These factors highlight the relevance of the proposed solutions to Kuwait's current affairs, aligning with the country's goals of economic diversification, infrastructure development, digital transformation, and the well-being of its workforce. By customizing and implementing these solutions in a manner that considers Kuwait's specific context and challenges, the country can work towards creating a more flexible and productive work environment.
Just thought I should share some of these point to y'all.

Here you go Online Jamily, here is the final complete Part #1 post series link summary of all the Remixes/B-Sides of Jamiroquai from the past 30 years, I hope EVERYONE enjoyed this expansive post series..ENJOY!:

30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series Part #1 Post Series Link Summary!

Emergency On Planet Earth Album Era (1992-1993)

The Return Of The Space Cowboy Album Era (1994-1996)

Travelling Without Moving Album Era (1996-1997)

Synkronized Album Era (1998-1999)

Bonus Section: Single By Single LineaSong Notes:

WHEN YOU GONNA LEARN (1992-1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"When You Gonna Learn" is the debut single released by British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai. It was originally released in 1992 by Acid Jazz Records, then re-released on Sony Square Records in 1993 as the lead single from the band's debut studio album, Emergency on Planet Earth. The lyrical themes, like many of Jamiroquai's early songs, speak of environmental awareness.
Please note:
I will be noting ONLY OFFICIAL 'Remixes/B-Sides' for this series, NO White Labels/3rd Party Remixes, Per Single Release. All release information provided by Discogs.com!

TOO YOUNG TO DIE (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Too Young to Die" is the second single taken from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's debut studio album, Emergency on Planet Earth. The original version of the track runs at 10:18, however, both the single and album versions were cut, running at 3:22 and 6:05 respectively. The single peaked at #10 on the UK Singles Chart.

BLOW YOUR MIND (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Blow Your Mind" is the third overall single to be released from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's debut studio album, Emergency on Planet Earth. The single was released on 24 May 1993 on Sony Soho Square in the United Kingdom and 1 July 1993 on Epic Records in Japan, peaking at #12 on the UK Singles Chart.

EMERGENCY ON PLANET EARTH (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Emergency on Planet Earth" is the fourth and final single released from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's debut studio album, of the same name. The song was written by Jay Kay, and has a very environmentalist tone, urging the listener to "stop modernisation going on."

SPACE COWBOY (1994):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Space Cowboy" is the international lead single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. The single peaked at #17 on the UK Singles Chart, and was the band's first number one on the U.S. Dance Chart.

HALF THE MAN (1994):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Half the Man" was released as the third overall single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. The track peaked at #15 on the UK Singles Chart.

LIGHT YEARS (1994-1995):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Light Years" is the fourth overall single released from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. The song peaked at #36 on the UK Singles Chart, due to little promotion of the track.

STILLNESS IN TIME (1995):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Stillness In Time" was first released as single in Japan in December 1994, but it wasn't released as single in UK and Europe until in June 1995.
Released as the fifth and final overall single from British band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. The track peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the group's highest-charting release to that date.

VIRTUAL INSANITY (1996):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Virtual Insanity" is a song by British funk band Jamiroquai. It was released as the second single from their third studio album, Travelling Without Moving (1996), on 19 August 1996. The song's award-winning music video was released in September 1996. "Virtual Insanity" was a number-one hit in Iceland and Italy and reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. Peaking within the top 10 in Finland and Ireland, the song also peaked at number 38 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart upon the single's release in America in 1997. The sight of underground town in Sapporo, Northern Japan provided inspiration to this song.

COSMIC GIRL (1996-1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Cosmic Girl" is the second single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's third studio album, "Travelling Without Moving" (1996), released on 11 November 1996 on Sony Soho Square in the UK and 14 January 1997 on Sony Music/Work Group in the US.

ALRIGHT (1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Alright" is the third single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's third studio album, Travelling Without Moving. It was released on 28 April 1997 on Sony Soho Square in the United Kingdom and 23 September 1997 on Sony Music in the United States. The song was written by Jay Kay. The song peaked at #6 on the UK Singles Chart and at number 2 in Iceland and Italy. It is the group's only single to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
The song contains samples from Eddie Harris' "It's All Right Now" and Idris Muhammad's "Could Heaven Ever Be Like This."
The song appears in the next gen version of Grand Theft Auto V on the Non-Stop Pop FM station.

HIGH TIMES (1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"High Times" is the fourth and final single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's third studio album, Travelling Without Moving. The song peaked at #20 on the UK Singles Chart.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU'RE COMING FROM? (1996):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Do You Know Where You're Coming From" is the lead single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's third studio album, Travelling Without Moving. Only included as a bonus track on the album, the track features music by M-Beat, who also produced the track. Released on 14 February 1996, the single peaked at #12 on the UK Singles Chart. The single later appeared as a B-side to the group's following single, "Virtual Insanity".

CANNED HEAT (1999):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Canned Heat" is the second single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's fourth studio album, Synkronized, released in 1999. The song was their second number-one on the US Dance Chart and peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart as well as number 2 in Spain. The music video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund. The song is used in the film Napoleon Dynamite, as background music during the title character's famous dance performance before a high school assembly.

BLACK CAPRICORN DAY (1999-2000):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Black Capricorn Day" is the fifth and final single released by British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai from their fourth studio album, Synkronized. The single was released in February 2000 in Japan only, becoming the second single of the group's to be exclusively released in that country. The single peaked at number 14 on the Japan Hot 100 and featured remixes of previous hits "Canned Heat" and "Supersonic". Although the video for the song was included on the British version of the High Times: Singles 1992–2006 DVD, the single was never made available in the UK.

SUPERSONIC (1999):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Supersonic" is the third single from British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai's fourth studio album, Synkronized. The song was written by Jason Kay. The word "supersonic" is repeated a total number of 127 times throughout the song. The track was their third #1 on the U.S. Dance Chart,[1] and peaked at #22 on the UK Singles Chart. The single release features various remixes of the song. "Supersonic" was one of five tracks remixed in 2006 for the group's Classic Club releases.

DEEPER UNDERGROUND (1998):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

"Deeper Underground" is a single by British funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai that appeared on the soundtrack to the 1998 film, Godzilla. The song was also included as a bonus track on the group's fourth studio album, Synkronized, as well as on the special edition of the group's fifth album, A Funk Odyssey.
The song became a hit in several countries, finding the most success in the band's native United Kingdom, and becoming the group's first and only single to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart. The track replaced Another Level's ‘Freak Me’ at the top, and spent a week there before being knocked off by the Spice Girls' Viva Forever. To date, Deeper Underground has sold 339,100 copies.

SUMMARY PART #2 COMING SOON!

XRP is a cryptocurrency that was created by Ripple Labs Inc. in 2012. It is designed to facilitate fast and low-cost international money transfers. XRP operates on a decentralized network called the XRP Ledger and has gained significant attention in the financial industry. In this analysis, we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of XRP.
Advantages of XRP:

Speed and Efficiency: One of the primary advantages of XRP is its ability to settle transactions quickly. XRP transactions are processed within seconds, making it significantly faster compared to traditional banking systems or other cryptocurrencies. This speed can be attributed to the consensus algorithm used in the XRP Ledger, which allows for rapid confirmation and settlement of transactions.
Cost-Effective: XRP aims to reduce transaction costs, especially for cross-border payments. Traditional payment methods, such as SWIFT, can be expensive and time-consuming due to multiple intermediaries and currency conversions. XRP eliminates the need for these intermediaries, resulting in lower transaction fees and improved cost-efficiency.
Liquidity and Scalability: XRP has a high level of liquidity due to its large market capitalization and wide adoption. Ripple, the company behind XRP, has established partnerships with numerous financial institutions worldwide, which enhances the liquidity and accessibility of the cryptocurrency. Additionally, the XRP Ledger has the potential for high scalability, with the capability to handle a significant number of transactions per second.
Interoperability: XRP has been designed to work seamlessly with existing financial systems and currencies. It can facilitate the transfer of any asset, including fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies, commodities, or even data. This interoperability makes XRP a versatile tool for various use cases, such as remittances, micropayments, and global fund transfers.

Disadvantages of XRP:

Centralization Concerns: Although XRP operates on a decentralized ledger, there are concerns about the level of centralization associated with it. Ripple Labs, the company behind XRP, holds a significant amount of XRP tokens and has control over the network. This has raised questions about the degree of decentralization and the potential for manipulation of the market by a single entity.
Regulatory Uncertainty: XRP has faced regulatory scrutiny in some jurisdictions. In December 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs, alleging that the company conducted an unregistered securities offering through the sale of XRP. This legal action has created uncertainty around the regulatory status of XRP and could impact its adoption and value in certain regions.
Dependency on Ripple: XRP’s success is closely tied to the success and actions of Ripple Labs. Ripple plays a significant role in promoting and driving the adoption of XRP, which means that any negative developments or controversies surrounding Ripple could potentially impact the value and utility of XRP.
Competition: The cryptocurrency market is highly competitive, and XRP faces competition from other cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based payment solutions. While XRP has established partnerships and gained adoption in some areas, other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to dominate the market and have broader recognition.

In conclusion, XRP offers several advantages such as speed, cost-effectiveness, liquidity, and interoperability, making it an attractive solution for cross-border payments and financial institutions. However, concerns regarding centralization, regulatory uncertainties, dependency on Ripple, and competition pose challenges for its widespread adoption and long-term success. As with any investment or adoption of a new technology, it is essential to consider these advantages and disadvantages while assessing the suitability and potential risks associated with XRP. If you are looking to buy, sell or swap XRP then check out BitSwapNow a non-custodial exchange offering instant cross-chain swaps.

Hawkeye

"Clint. You should not be here."
"Really? I retire for, what, five minutes and it all goes to shit."

Clint Barton worked as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents for a number of years under the codename Hawkeye, being put on various assignments from keeping an eye on notable items like Mjolnir and the Tesseract to the mysterious Budapest mission where he recruit Natasha Romanov to S.H.I.E.L.D.. These experiences led to him becoming a founding member of the Avengers despite his own claims of just being a regular guy with a bow. Hawkeye worked with the Avengers for several years, from Ultron's attack to the superhero civil war that saw the group falling apart at the seams. However, his life as he knew it was snatched away after the invasion of Thanos, which saw 50% of all life in the universe being erased including Hawkeye's entire family. Hawkeye took up the alias of Ronin, a vigilante that roamed the globe in a vengeful rampage to kill the many criminals that had survived Thanos' snap. He eventually rejoined the Avengers after they discovered a way to bring back everyone that had been erased, but the guilt from what he had done as a result of his grief still weighed on him even after his family had been brought back. It wasn't until he met his future protégé Kate Bishop that Clint's faith in himself and his efforts as a superhero were restored.

Source Key

Movies

Av - The Avengers
AoU - The Avengers: Age of Ultron
CW - Captain America: Civil War
End - Avengers: Endgame

Other Sources

AI - The Avengers: The Avengers Initiative
OH - Avengers: Operation HYDRA
SM:HP - Spider-Man: Homecoming Prelude
H - Hawkeye (Disney+)

Strength

Striking

Piercing

Other

Speed/Agility

Reaction

Mobility

Durability

Blunt

Takes multiple blows from Black Widow^Av
Gets punched by Quicksilver^AoU
Knocked back by Vision^CW
Kicked by Black Panther^CW
Takes a bat to the leg^H
Rolls through a wooden shelf and isn't noticeably affected^H
Takes several blows from Echo over the course of their fight who later kicked a man a short distance down the street^H
Is punched by Yelena Belova and continues to dodge afterwards^H
Gets kicked in the knee and thrown into the front of a car by Echo^H
Gets tackled onto an ice rink by Yelena Belova and in that same fight receives a kick to the chest^H
Takes an extended beating from Yelena^H

Other

Skill

Accuracy

Fighting/Close Quarters

Other

Brings a jet with one destroyed engine to ground level without crashing^Av

Gear

Bow
Mechanics

Strength

Trick Arrows
Explosive

Shock/Electrical

Acid

Transportation

Disorientation

One arrow releases some sort of noxious gas that fills a car and causes the driver to crash (Hawkeye later uses this to force a sniper out of his position)^H
A concussive arrow that blasts people back and leaves its targets disoriented^H
Another gas arrow that's a different color^H
A flashbang arrow^H

Pym Particles (Size Changing)

Other

Other

Misc.

"Nice shot."
"Yeah, no shit."

I have recently begun travelling over the course of the past two years as my current job gives me 4-5 weeks of PTO, and things started opening up after the pandemic lockdowns. I have had some great trips, I've been in a few countries in Latin America, Canada, Spain and France. A number of cities in the USA. I live in a different state from my family and have my own home.
However, my family (primarily parents), have attempted to gaslight me to not go and travel anytime I was planning a vacation. I generally ignored them and went anyways as I'm an adult man. My parents have only been out of the country once in their lives: my dad in the Vietnam War, and my mother 1 year of graduate school in the UK in the 1970s. My mother hated being in the UK. They almost never travel anywhere as my mom hates travelling.
My family has become very aggressive in gaslighting about going on vacation, claiming that my travels DIRECTLY cause them health issues, particularly my mother. In their retirement they begun to obsessively consume certain...media sources that everyone is aware of (I want to keep the politics out of this post so I'm not going to go any further on that subject). Relevant to my problem from their media consumption, is that they begun to fervently believe such things as Chicago being an absolute warzone, that Americans if they go to Europe will be made "not alive" right when they step off of the plane. That people in foreign countries run around just waiting to kidnap Americans, even in first world countries such as Canada. They have gone to extreme lengths to try to convince me not to travel. For example, when I went to Colombia and Puerto Rico they called their local police station and bombarded me with calls, texts, and emails about how the police officer said that where I was going is too dangerous to travel to.
They have gotten so "afraid" and xenophobic that they won't even drive thru non-white neighborhoods to go to their local Trader Joes.
I am currently planning a trip to Chile and Argentina to see Patagonia and do some hiking and mountain climbing in the Andes. I went to see my family over the memorial day weekend and casually mentioned that I am excited to go in early December to Chile and Argentina. My family FREAKED OUT. My mother had a panic attack, screaming about how the drug lords control Chile and Argentina (they don't) and lots of yelling from family members. Total chaos.
I drove back to where I live on Tuesday. This morning I received a stern message from my parents that they will be excluding me from their will (two houses, and a couple million $ in inheritance money) if I move forward with my travel plans. They also stated that they have contacted their attorney and are prepared to change their will immediately if I don't cancel my flights.
Reddit: is there anyway I continue to enjoy traveling and not be cut out of their will? I've tried logically reasoning with them that the media over-exaggerates and pointing out to them that I have not gone to dangerous locations, rather to normal tourist destinations and that I practice reasonable safety practices in my travels. My arguments were completely useless.
TL;DR Parents threatening to cut me out of their will for going on vacations.

" ... I think the Kelvin timeline is rather elegant in using quantum theory as character development."
Link:
https://nerdist.com/article/star-trek-into-darkness-is-better-than-you-remembe
(Lindsey Romain, Nerdist.com)
Quotes:
"[...]
Every so often, you have an opinion that boldly goes where no one has before. I doubt my affection for Star Trek Into Darkness is exclusive to me. We defenders exist in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, in a deep pocket of space otherwise forgotten. For some Trekkies, Into Darkness is the worst of the worstOpens in new tab—a film that uses sweeping parallels to things done best in better projects. And while I’d never suggest Into Darkness tops Wrath of Khan, I’d urge those who’ve entirely written it off to take another look. Star Trek Into Darkness is better than you might remember for reasons you might not suspect.
[...]
I’ll never forget sitting in an IMAX theater on opening night and hearing the audience’s collective groan when it turned out John Harrison was, indeed, Khan. Despite Cumberbatch’s protestations, it was so expected that it was immediately annoying.
[...]
The annoying Khan reveal—and the press circus leading up to it—cast a shadow over its legacy, as did the film’s other callbacks to Wrath of Khan. It was the first time we really saw Abrams’ over-reliance on that which came before, a hat trick he’d carry into the Star Wars franchise a few years later.
And yet, I can’t help but have a soft spot for Into Darkness. The film does a lot to “earn” that reliance on the past. That may seem like an excuse for lazy storytelling, but I don’t think it is. There are in-universe reasons for the parallels to Wrath of Khan organically baked into the story. If you recall, in Star Trek (2009), a Romulan mining vessel commanded by Nero (Eric Bana) emerges from the future and attacks the USS Kelvin, a Starfleet ship. The incursion alters the course of history, creating an alternate reality separate from the established canon. The impacts of this event ripple through time. The event reshapes the lives of familiar characters, alters their relationships, and generates distinct storylines.
The idea of a parallel universe isn’t just the stuff of science fiction but has roots in real-world quantum theory. In the mid-20th century, the “Many Worlds” theoryOpens in new tab posited that multiple realities exist as distinct entities without interaction. However, more recently, some quantum physicists speculateOpens in new tab that parallel worlds might actually overlap and exist in the same region of time and space simultaneously. If that’s the case, an infinite number of realities might exist. Many of them would be incredibly similar to the one we’re living in right now. Events in one universe could “trickle into” another, initiating parallels and overlaps that keep our worlds in constant conversation.
That might sound like a pretty basic concept to port into a Star Trek film. Still, I think the Kelvin timeline is rather elegant in using quantum theory as character development. I give a lot of credit to Abrams’ casting of the 2009 film. Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Karl Urban as Bones, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, and the late Anton Yelchin as Chekov add so much to these films. Their chemistry is pitch-perfect, and the family bonds established in Star Trek carry beautifully into the sequel.
The basic set-up of Into Darkness—a terrorist attack on Starfleet that comes from within leads the Enterprise crew on a mission to capture “a one-man weapon of mass destruction”—is immediately knowable and felt. We recognize the stakes because we already care deeply about this new cast, charming and colorful as they are.
The parallel worlds thing would be lazy if we didn’t have these perfect ingredients. The love between the Kelvin-timeline Kirk and Spock doesn’t lean too hard on our history with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. When we learn John Harrison—the commander responsible for the attack on Starfleet—is Khan, a genetically engineered superhuman awoken from centuries of sleep by Starfleet admiral Alexander Marcus to develop new superweapons, we know where things will go. The rest of the film plays out as a loose homage, ending with a mirrored version of Spock’s touching sacrifice in Wrath of Khan after saving the Enterprise’s warp drive. In Into Darkness, Kirk saves the drive, sharing an inverse of the iconic hand-touch moment before succumbing to radiation poisoning. (Unlike Spock in Khan, however, Kirk in Into Darkness is revived by the film’s end.)
Suppose we believe that alternate universes occupy the same space-time, thereby influencing timelines relative to their own. In that case, it makes sense that events as prominent as those in the Wrath of Khan would seep into nearby worlds. I know some fans take issue with the rushed nature of the plotting. When Spock dies in Khan, he’s spent decades with Kirk. Kelvin-timeline Kirk has only known Spock a few years. But this doesn’t bother me. The preceding events are catastrophic and distinct enough that new stakes emerge. And Pine and Quinto sell it like hell. Pine’s delivery of “I’m scared, Spock…help me not be,” and Quinto’s crestfallen face bring me to tears every time. It’s an inversion of something familiar but not a cheap one.
I can’t and won’t defend some things about Into Darkness. The immediate reversal of Kirk’s death irks me. And then there’s the whitewashing of Khan, which is not only offensively shortsighted (Khan is a non-white Sikh in canon) but also boring. There’s also the gratuitous scene revealing Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) in her underwear. The moment has zero bearing on the plot or character and feels like the cheap sexualization of a young actress. That one’s so bad the filmmakers—including co-writer Damon Lindelof—have since apologized for it.
So no, Star Trek Into Darkness isn’t some misbegotten masterpiece. The more aggressive flaws are inexcusable, if not downright retrograde, and I won’t argue with legacy Trekkies that the film bests anything that came before. It isn’t worthy of cultural reappraisal in the way something like a Kubrick movie—misunderstood at its time before growing into an all-time classic—might be. But I think it’s a fascinating watch in 2023, considering the “requels” that now proliferate culture. Abrams and crew found a way to weave science into myth and give us powerful character moments that transcend some unfortunate aspects.
Despite its imperfections, Star Trek Into Darkness is a fascinating and highly entertaining pop culture artifact.
[...]"

Abstract: To reach out to an outside observer for help, looking for one’s best fit type, is a common theme in this sub. While this makes sense in theory, real-life paints a different picture. The following thread discusses the typing process as a whole and argues that the failure of online typing usually is on both sides: The typing practitioner as well as the subject to be typed. While it does not give any solid rules, it illustrates tendencies that may, once pondered and understood, enhance your typing process in general, be it when writing a “Type me!” thread, analyzing such a post, or self-typing.
First, it is important to understand that Socionics views a Sociotype as ideal. The Socion consists of sixteen ideal images, each fitting perfectly next to each other in the cyclic progression of social phenomena.
While this fact is never discussed explicitly, many disagreements in other parts of typology are based on this as an underlying factor. Socionics is a form of modelling psycho- and sociological phenomena by a system of various layers of abstractions. To put it blatantly, these abstractions and their interrelations are first and foremost made up. There is no way to prove them empirically, and even worse, there is no way to disprove them empirically, either.
The logical part of Socionics only happens on the inside of the borders of the system. Socionics is a set of static terms and rules; using them internally allows for total theoretical predictability. A type leading with Intuition of Opportunities has definitively Comfort Sensing as its suggestive (Model A) or dual (Model G) function in its stack.
However, most online discussions don’t touch this internal and closed theoretical part. Instead, the primary concern of disagreements is what precisely happens at those borders of the system. How do these things play out in real-life? How many of those perfect symmetries can we expect in a real person? ― Needless to say, this shift from the ideal to the real is of utmost importance in the field of typing.
Typing has an analytic and a synthetic element. In the following I will refer to the side typing the individual as “the practitioner”, to the side in need of typing as “the subject”. The analytic moment in typing consists of breaking down the information provided by the subject. This requires a decent amount of skill and experience on the side of the practitioner, as reality does not come in parts perfectly fitting this ideal rasterization Socionics theory is.
This detail is worth special emphasis: This difficulty that the analytic aspect of typing requires does not exist because reality would somehow conceal its fragmentation into information aspects. To assume that the information provided by the subject must somehow fit theoretical dichotomies, symmetries or even basic terms, is a misleading influence. In the analytic stage, the mind of the practitioner should indeed take such perfect fits into consideration, like recognizing “a perfect example of leading E”, but it never should jump to such conclusions out of a lack of alternatives. However, this community has already normalized this behavior up to a point where the exclusivity of such an approach is seen as self-explanatory. Again, the underlying cause here is a loss of sight of the scope of Socionics or modelling in general. The typical hobby typologist unconsciously projects inconsiderate demands onto the system.
Socionics is a system of high causal density. Everything is connected to everything else in a strictly deterministic way. For example, from telling you only one thing, namely, that I refer to the type leading with -I, you can immediately tell me the rest of the stack. The irrelevant part is that this could be done by memorization; what is relevant, instead, is that the construction of the stack (of IEE) is also possible by applying deductive reasoning according to theoretical components; in this example: right/left, ir-/rational, polarity of functions, and the other basic symmetries to fill the rest of the stack.
This causal density is Socionics’ curse when it comes to smoothly fitting reality. Imagine the number of possible assumptions the theory makes for a person that expresses nothing but qualities all perfectly fitting -I lead. Theoretically, we are allowed, even encouraged to make such assumptions, but again, the moment we enter real life, such theoretical enforcement becomes questionable.
The answer to this question should stay flexible in the mind of the practitioner. Information directly contradicting the theory can be expected. However, the quest of the practitioner is not to solve these contradictions. The moment he or she begins to frame reality according to the theoretical rasterization, the track of the real qualities of the subject is lost, substituted by a personal interpretation of the facts, making them somehow converge with the theory, at last.
However, Socionics’ high causal density also allows for a multi-angular analysis that is not only horizontally (“flat”), but vertically. A flat multi-angular approach would be to fragment any model, be it Model A or Model G, into smaller parts and attribute the subject’s information to them individually. As already mentioned, this approach is part of the typing process and may prove helpful in scenarios where a statement needlessly conforms to the ideal expression of one fragment. Thereby, the flat approach does not capitalize on the theoretical interrelations of fragments, as it puts them each in total isolation.
A vertical approach is to reason theoretically first how certain fragments may interact by using the structure of a model. An example is given by the idea of “blocks” in Model G. A block combines two known fragments (functions) and reasons about how their interaction transcends what could have been explained by viewing each one individually. It follows the concept of emergency from systems theory and thereby allows for a hierarchy of entanglement of states. Functions interact in blocks, but (how) do blocks interact? And so on.
These stacked layers of theoretical combinations allow for more flexibility in the typing process. The concept naturally helps to balance the fact that the subject usually does not give its information in a theoretically pre-rendered way. For example, when describing a basic outline of one’s life, like what job you have, if you like it and why, how you got where you are, and so on, an entanglement of more than one function can be expected. If the practitioner then goes for the usual method of cutting this picture into smaller parts, following this up with mapping each one on its most likely function or element, then counting them for their final position in the stack, the result, be it in terms of type descriptions or theoretical integrity, is expected to be inaccurate.
So, instead, in the analytical section of the typing process, the practitioner should stay on a layer of abstraction that is theoretically undemanding. Only then synthetically building up assumptions, for example by the basic dichotomies of Intro-/ Extraversion, Ir-/Rationality. These two can be seen as especially helpful in interviews, as these qualities usually show without any need of directed questioning, but by simply letting the subject freely talk about its life. The focus then becomes dependent on already existing assumptions, be it in the form of recursive validation (“Is the subject really introverted?”) or in further, more specific investigation (“Being most likely introverted and rational, the subject should express at least some signs of either L or R lead.”) Higher levels of entanglement, like the “Social Mission” of a type, may act as low granularity validation mechanisms, after a sufficiently specific assumption has been formed (“Does the subject as a whole make sense as an approximation of IEE?”)
This wholistic approach is especially helpful, as contradicting information still acts as a guidance at these higher layers: What specific information does not fit? Are there any other angles that could explain such an outlier, like subtypes, shifts, situational functional states, trauma, special upbringing, you name it. This is different from finding indications for strong use of L after you already found indications of E lead. You have more degrees of freedom utilizing the vertical layers of abstraction, and it is this freedom that may ultimately counteract the idealistic rigidity that stabilizes each layer horizontally.
Of course, this typing scenario is idealistic, as well. Most of us have no chance to get a real interview in the form of a conversation with an experienced practitioner. But I believe that keeping the ideal in mind is a good thing to put the real into perspective.
Most of the “Type me!” posts are from people that already have some understanding of the theory. This is especially harmful to a smooth typing process, as the information comes already pre-rendered according to Socionics theory; even worse, most often according to the lowest layers like the function stack with its information elements. While some people are very explicit about this, even listing the information grouped into functional aspects, I see those tendencies also in posts that don’t follow any explicit order of this kind.
There is little emphasis on basic information, like age, sex, gender, how you do in your job or school, what your outlook on the next years is, etc. It’s like there is an unwritten rule that a person can only be typed by knowing its most special, snow-flakey information about takes, likes, dislikes, and skill ― while the exact opposite is true. If anything, a large community could be utilized to get a broad perspective on where one fits into a thousand people. But this becomes unlikely proportional to the degree the presented information is special, meaning hard to compare objectively on a large scale.
So, in the typical scenario, a post consists of pre-cut, small fragments of information; often listing the most special shards out of the mosaic the subject views itself as. The practitioner side then behaves exactly like the worst-case example I presented before, ignoring the underlying person which would pick such fragments, instead, dealing with every list item in isolation. I suspect that this is done mainly to avoid too much conjecture. Extrapolating of this kind is indeed the opposite of factual, but from my point of view this is the price you must pay. Let's consider the alternative:
Avoiding such extrapolation and instead relying on the parts of information provided results in a warped picture of the typing dynamic.
Usually, an external (compared to self-typing) practitioner is useful, precisely because of his or her perception from outside. When self-analyzing, one often is hindered by a lack of perspective, focusing too much on contextual details that are expected to constantly change but deemed important from a closed off internal, echo-chamber like perspective. Simply not being the subject is naturally a huge step towards being capable of such a perspective.
However, this advantage gets lost in the common online dynamic of practitioner and subject. The latter is both the one in need and the expert at the same time. It pre-renders information according to its understanding of the theory. The practitioner becomes more of a critic that is concerned about the correctness of the subject’s understanding than its potential type. The subject is merely assisted in its theoretical understanding, while the part of putting things into perspective becomes non-existent.
So, that was it. As always, my threads have no clear result but should present an overview of the topic under concern. Maybe this will help you to put certain things in your (self-)typing journey into perspective.

TLDR: TheConsumer is wrong about the CDC/FDA, he arrives at this position with basically zero evidence, and it undermines his entire conversation. He should do better, but I think he can.
Quick set up: I'm basing this post purely on this video, so if there is additional context from the stream I don't have access to it (who watches livestreams lmao). Also I don't hate this TheConsumer guy, he seems good faith and offers a different perspective in good ways, I just think his method of arriving at skepticism is flawed and this specific point is wrong. I'm also not going to talk about the SSRI's convo (as I have no background on it) nor the vaccine convo, we're gonna focus on the FDA/CDC part.
My argument is this: bad skepticism is just as bad if not worse than blind acceptance, and what TheConsumer did during the FDA/CDC conversation was bad skepticism.
Lets start with my probably flawed definition of what skepticism is: skepticism is reasonable doubt and neutral fact-seeking around certain accepted ideas. Importantly skepticism does not start from an assumption of rightness or wrongness of an idea, it requires a sufficient level of evidence one way or another. The sufficient level of evidence is also important as having too high a level makes proving something impossible, and having too low a level can lead to quickly jumping to a conclusion and accidentally biasing ourselves towards that conclusion with further analysis.
TheConsumer's first argument is much too low a level of evidence against the FDA, misinterpreting a fraud suit and rapidly extrapolating. Here's his own words at 16:03. In it TheConsumer speaks about Bextra: claiming the drug killed people, that although the FDA did catch Pfizer the FDA also approved the drug in the first place (clearly implying that this was partially on the FDA for approving the drug). So what actually happened with Bextra? Bextra (Valdecoxib) was an anti-inflammatory drug approved by the FDA in 2001, approved for "relief of signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis and adult rheumatoid arthritis and for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea".
Bextra had two issues, one got it pulled in 2005 and the other was the fraud TheConsumer mentioned. First it had more extreme symptoms than previously found, namely potentially lethal skin rash and some heart problems, and was pulled from the market in 2005. I'm not an expert on drug approval so there is stuff I might misunderstand here, but it appears FDA testing did notice rash side effects (page 20) but it was not as extreme as what got Bextra pulled. Also to note, I'm not totally familiar with the industry but from my understanding a drug being pulled in 4 years is pretty quick, especially since roll-out likely took some time after FDA approval.
The fraud suit had nothing to do with these symptoms, and was not the fault of the FDA. See the FDA approved Bextra as an anti-inflammatory drug for a specific population, but Pfizer began marketing the drug off-label to doctors as a pain medication especially post-surgery. So to be clear the huge fraud suite worth 1.9 billion dollars was due to actual fraud and due to the drug being used outside of FDA approval.
Lets get back to TheConsumer's argument then. He touts this as a "boy cried wolf" scenario where the FDA lied, but this is clearly not the truth. The fraud suit was not because the FDA lied but instead because Pfizer lied. In a scenario where the FDA was perfect and honest this situation would still proceed and Pfizer would be caught in the same way as it is not the failure of FDA regulators which caused Pfizer to sell their drugs off-label. As well Destiny's initial pushback becomes even stronger: we don't trust drugs because Pfizer is honest, we trust drugs because checks on drug companies by the FDA and other regulators who have incentives to check those companies.
"But ah", you might say, "what about when the drug got pulled in the first place and KILLED ^{^seven} PEOPLE?!?!?" Yes that did happen, but here the level of evidence is important. When judging whether an institution is lying or not we need to make space for honest mistakes. My schizo-y section was trying to show whether there was evidence of a cover-up or planned incompetence, and from what I found there is no evidence of this. The FDA trials did see signs of the extreme rash in in-vivo trials but not to the degree as what came later. When evidence began mounting of a clear issue the FDA issued a clear (and at the time, viewed as slightly extreme) statement and action, pulling the drug. Again, if we assume the FDA was a totally honest actor I don't see how very different this could have played out.
To be frank, this is pretty incompetent skepticism. For one, I don't think a singular example or even a few examples of the FDA "lying" would be enough to view them as a corrupt institution. The FDA is massive and so many drugs go through their approval process every year that a couple examples in their 116 year history is nothing. But even then I could grant this line of argument if the examples are MASSIVE or at least show clear systemic fraud....and this case just fails to show anything. I would expect if you hang your hat on singular examples of fraud at the very least you would have read the wiki page.
Second, the argument of how the FDA receives funding and puts the cart well before the horse. TheConsumer states that the CDC [FDA] is clearly not able to monitor companies like Pfizer because they "take large paychecks" from the pharmaceutical industry. Beyond this statement being non-representative to the point of being basically a lie, which Destiny rightly catches him on, the more moderated position is still wrong. In it TheConsumer points out that 40% of the CDC [FDA] budget comes from the fees generated in approval of drugs. This is only partially true as he identifies total "user fees" which includes other sources of income (like Tobacco fees which generate 712 million). According to Congressional reports (this fact sheet is a bit easier to understand) only 1.224 billion of the total ~6.1 billion is from prescription drug "user fees". So ok, 20% of funding. Again, basic research showed this, did TheConsumer do any? These fees are generated from when companies put their drug up for FDA approval. As quick historical background this has only been the case since the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) in 1992.
What does this money actually do? Well it helps fund....the drug approval process. So the FDA is making money off of drug approvals to fund their other departments? I can't find modern numbers but in 2002 only half the cost of drug approval was covered by user fees, the rest was covered by discretionary funding. Presuming incentives here maybe TheConsumer could have a point, incentives could make the FDA more likely to fast-track many drugs to increase its funding. But surely we'd see consequences of this? According to this article we saw an increase from pre to post PDUFA of drugs being removed/getting different warnings post approval from 21% to 27%. That's bad from a public health standpoint, but an increase of 6% is not rabid corruption to the point where you can't trust the FDA. As well, that could be explainable from other sources, prescription drugs are complicated.
This doesn't mean that the FDA cannot be corrupt, but using actual skepticism we need more evidence than this. We should lean on, for example, reliable reporting instead. But TheConsumer doesn't do this, instead its handwaving at numbers and assuming the result.
OK lets address the 1000lb gorilla in the room, why did I hyperfocus on this one 15 second section of this one video?
The reason is this is the foundation of his point and there is no foundation. TheConsumer arrived at the FDA/CDC (because he conflates the two) being corrupt from the fact they receive funding from requiring companies to pay for drug approval, and the approval of Bextra. That's it. The former is inadequate proof of this corruption he speaks to, and the latter just isn't factually true. The lack of basic knowledge of the facts, the conflation of two wildly different agencies, the assumptions of proof; all of this points to a complete disregard of skeptical engagement. On its own this is fine but its that TheConsumer then extrapolates from this to the point where he doesn't trust FDA approval of the Covid vaccines.
I'm gonna go schizo-psychoanalyst here (so I'm making lots of assumptions), but I think this is representative of a broader issue. TheConsumer seems like a smart dude, he can engage in reasonable conversation, he took points in stride and didn't immediately jump argument the moment he received pushback, I wasn't reflexively trying to gouge my eyes out with a melon baller listening the video, overall a good 7/10 convo would watch again. Its the "I'm a jack of all trades" statement he made (that with the anti-vax adjacent language) that got me thinking because it reminds me of myself. Its very easy as a smart dude to conflate two statements together: I do rational things, I am a rational person. The former speaks to a pattern of action from oneself and the latter is identity. The problem is when we conflate the two we begin to believe that the actions we do are rational because we do it, not because the thing itself was a rational thing to do.
Frankly, TheConsumer did not do the bare minimum of research on this subject. He knows less than nothing. Yet he has established a pretty broad-reaching set of values on this nothing. I'm entirely assuming but I think TheConsumer already arrived at this conclusion, that the FDA/CDC/NIH/three letter agency are corrupt and not to be trusted, well before he had any real evidence to try to draw from. That's a problem. Its a problem that is not unique to this guy, but all of us who engage with subjects well out of our field of expertise, especially Destiny. But its not an inescapable problem and I think this video gives good lessons to learn of what not to do. I'll give credit to Destiny as much as I disagree with him at times, he does appear to have a voice which tells him to "stop, lets try to understand this better". But we all can do better.

hello,
My parents (both legal citizens) own and run a small business in Las Vegas, NV. They don't have very many employees and they're all either family members or acquaintances, most of whom are undocumented/illegal. It's not a very formal business setting but they are licensed and are on a lease for their place of business and otherwise run a legitimate business.
One of their employees has asked for a paycheck they can use as proof that they have a steady income so that they can hopefully gain custody of their stepdaughter. They need this paycheck because they have no record of being on payroll for the business as they have been paid in cash only since working for the business. This is because they are undocumented and therefore don't have a social security number or other identification to use for payrolls and tax forms.
The employee also told us that there was never an official custody agreement between the girl's parents. Her parents weren't together long as one of them was very abusive. The employee had married the non abusive parent while the girl was living with her grandparent. So to the employee, the girl is their stepdaughter. But there was never any official adoption.
Due to this, and issues with immigration status as well as the death of the grandparent, the stepdaughter had been taken by the U.S. police and given to her abusive parent. That is why the employee and their spouse absolutely need to gain back custody.
My parents however are hesitant to write a check because of the issue of identification. They're also scared to get help because they don't want to jeopardize their business because of the issues with tax forms. I suggested maybe seeing an immigration lawyer, and I've also been trying to look through old forms but I am at a loss.
What repercussions could my parents face for this if they were to write a check? How can they write a check to begin with without some type of identification number? How can we help our employee get a legal status? Does our employee have a chance of getting their stepdaughter back?
I apologize for the length of this post and any errors. I realize that my wording is vague but I don't want to give away peoples' identities. Thank you.

If I had to pick an embarrassing moment which will haunt me until I die—it has to be the time I tried out for The Sunbeam cheer squad last year. I was a freshman, and I wanted community. Friends.
I heard the cheer squad were just an extra-curricular group rather than an actual majoring level class, so I figured I’d give them a shot. It’s not like I could ignore them.
On my first day when I was moving into my dorm room, I must have walked into the same girl three times. I am in strict belief that it is not possible for a human being to be permanently happy.
And yet that was her. She wandered around like the sun shone right out of her ass, and it was both endearing and terrifying.
The girl resembled the sun herself, a halo of golden curls held in a scrunchie and a flaunting sundress, matching ribbons wrapped around her. The Sunbeam Squad were easy to spot because they were all wearing insanely bright yellow—waving around gold streamers, ribbons tangled in their hair. They all spoke in insanely high pitched voices like they inhaled helium for a living, but that must have been their shtick, right? It was kind of cute. I wasn’t expecting such a welcome in the shape of guy’s and girl’s looking like they had just stepped off of ABC Kids. The girl who handed me a flyer and yelled in my face about school spirit was practically hopping up and down, a bright grin splitting her lips apart.
I nodded and smiled politely, stuffing the flyer in my bag and heading into my room to finish moving my stuff in. When I looked out of my window a few hours later, the Sunbeam squad was still threaded through the crowd, each of them wrapped in glittering fairy lights illuminated in the late evening sunset glow. Sunbeam. Yeah, I got it, but it was still kinda overkill. They were starting to remind me of a cult.
That, however, didn’t stop me trying out. I’m fairly athletic, and they were exactly what I wanted. I’ve never had a group of people I could call friends.
Though it’s not like I could blame anyone but myself. I was a shut-in for most of high school. I either worked or preferred my own company in my room. One of my biggest regrets is pushing people away, friends I wanted to get even closer to. Because now they had built these lifelong friendships and relationships, and I was stuck at 18 years old with nobody but childhood friends I spoke to once a year when we sent mutual holiday greetings to each other. But college could change that.
At least, that’s what I hoped. I spoke to as many people as possible on my first day—and in my head I was making them. Slowly but surely I was actually making friends in my classes I wanted to hang out with.
Sunbeam were my attempt to go even further and join a club. Through word of mouth in my first few weeks of classes, I learned they were more of an extra-curricular group for fun.
They didn’t cheer competitively and had been formed in the mid-90’s by some kids who wanted to make a community out of positivity and school spirit. Sunbeam had a reputation for being Watson State student body’s beacons—and their team’s good luck charm. It was well known across campus that the squad was the reason behind the college’s fortune.
It had been like that since they formed 30 years ago, with members through the generations carrying out that pledge to spread as much pep as possible. While I say that they seemed nice judging from what I heard from others, they weren’t exactly the easiest clique to get into. Unless you were on the squad.
I saw them around campus between classes. They always moved as a group, the six of them with their arms wrapped around each other, brandishing the school colours. The guy’s in loose fitting varsity jackets, while the girl’s flaunted cheer skirts.
The way they acted was a little too close, like they were more than friends—and community and friendship had bled into something else. Like they had just walked out of an early 2000’s teen movie. Not that I was complaining. Their style was intriguing. They were like this untouchable group of god’s who had been placed on the highest pedestals. They ruled over campus, which made me want to get to know them even more. So, I tried out. Which was my first mistake of many in my freshman year.
It didn’t hit me that I was in way over my head until I was in the college gymnasium, standing in front of a four person panel like I was auditioning for a Hollywood movie. Sunbeam took their try-outs incredibly seriously. Which was weird considering they were known to be the complete opposite.
There were maybe fifty or so applicants, and we had to stand near the back wall and watch others try out one by one. Which was already setting off my anxiety. Weren’t they supposed to be closed try-outs? Initially, I was excited.
I had my routine in my head. What I had learned from watching the squad at my old school. High V, Low V, followed by a Touchdown, and then a backflip. I was confident. I mean, it ticked most cheer moves off, and even had a flip to complete the routine. My high school were a multi-sex quad, so I learned a lot from watching the guy’s moves during pep rallies.
I wasn’t really worried about the quality of the moves since they were known not to take everything too seriously. But watching the others try-out, impossible flips without crash mats and twisting their bodies in ways I didn’t know was possible, I quickly realised I was screwed. My competitors were acting like they were auditioning for an Olympic level team. My gut was dancing when I took centre stage.
The panel were made up of four members of the squad. Two boys and two girl’s, including the blonde who handed me the flyer on my first day. I was surprised when her eyes lit up with recognition.
"Oh, I know you!" She squeaked. Leaning forward, her smile seemed to brighten, illuminating her features. All four of them seemed to emanate a warm glow.
I felt myself relax slightly, the knot in my stomach loosening. Maybe their heightened positivity thing wasn’t a shtick, after all. The girl, as well as the other members of the team seemed genuinely happy to see me trying out. “What’s your name?” Her voice reverberated off of the walls, and I was suddenly aware of a dozen other students watching me.
“Alex.” I said, offering a shy wave. “Hey.”
Still grinning, she nudged a redhead next to her playfully. The guy was like no other I’d seen before. He was a god damn traffic light. He was easy to spot in a crowd and was usually one of the low-key members who kept his head down. All of those colours painting him, and yet somehow he wasn’t blinding people.
Though admittedly, he suited them; bright red hair clashing with the blue and gold of his football jersey, pasty skin and dark eyes drinking me in while the blonde girl pulled at his sleeve. “See, I told you annoying freshmen would work!”
In response, he chuckled, rolling his eyes. “Whatever you say, Evie.” The guy straightened up, leaning his chin on his fist, a curious spark in his eyes. “Alright.” Twisting around in his chair, he signalled for music. When it started, the beat slammed into me, rumbling under my feet. “Let’s see what you’ve got!”
I’m not going to describe my routine because I don’t have time to describe how fucking bad I was. In my head, I was doing okay. I was ready to finish with my back flip, but the music abruptly cut off and I found myself struggling to find my breath with my hands in the air, panting like an idiot. The blonde maintained her smile, but it was slightly strained. I could tell she was struggling to keep the façade of a Sunbeam member while also retaining critical thinking.
The redhead looked like he was in pain. He was first to speak, and I could tell by his sympathy smile I’d screwed up. The others who I hadn’t fully taken in until that moment, an asian American guy, and a girl with pigtails, were laughing like pre-schoolers. And they didn’t stop until the redhead shot them the warning eyes.
Weirdly enough, the crowd of onlookers didn’t join in. I expected the redhead to politely tell me I sucked, but instead he cocked his head, chewing on his pen. “You’re good.” He said. “You’re a good dancer, and I liked your moves…”
He trailed off. “But it’s positivity we’re looking for. And you didn’t smile once through your whole routine which made you look stiff. Like you weren’t even enjoying it.” He shrugged helplessly. “I like you, and I like your dancing. And I’m sure you could be better if you worked on it. There are countless dancing clubs here, so maybe you might be better fitted there.” After exchanging a look with the blonde, he sighed. “Unfortunately, you’re not the type of person we’re looking for.”
Evie nodded. “I agree. We pride ourselves on staying positive and smiling. I didn’t see that on you, Alex.”
“Same here.” Pigtails, still giggling, joined in. “I don’t think you’ve got enough school spirit.”
The other guy scoffed. He looked to be of Korean descent. Unlike the redhead, he was always at the centre of their group, always joking around and laughing. Just looking at him told me he was the leader. “Bullshit!” He slapped the table with one hand, running his hands through thick dark hair with the other. “I liked it. Fuck pep, amirite?” He threw his pen at the blonde, who retaliated in a squeak, lobbing hers at him. “Ignore these clowns. I think you’ve got what it takes. We just gotta work on you, y’know? All you’re missing is a cheesy grin.”
He pointed to himself, stretching his lips into the widest smile he could muster. “See? Like this.”
“Clowns?” Evie shook her head. “I didn’t see one smile. Sunbeam is all about smiling!”
“You make us sound like a cult.” The Korean-American caught my eye. “Which we’re not, by the way. These guys are just scared of change.”
“Okay, that’s too far.” Pigtails shot him a scowl. Are you seriously disrespecting the alumni who created us? Who birthed us?
“Well, yeah!” He threw his paper at her. “Sunbeam is a pep cult. We get high off of happiness. I thought we distinguished that.”
“Take that back!”
“Never! Why do you think I joined? To get high! Do you really think I joined for the cheering?”
They were joking around. I could tell by the smiles on their faces—a smile I knew I would never be able to mimic.
“Quiet.” The redhead shushed them. The guy had been sitting silently. Studying me. He leaned back, folding his arms.
“See, even now—even when I’m considering giving you a chance, there’s no hope in your eyes. Not even a glitter of excitement. You’re still not smiling and that’s what we want, Alex. We want people who will embody what Sunbeam is all about. Even if I give you a second chance to brighten up your routine your smile will be fake. And that’s not what we want. We want people who are willing to shed their humanity and become beacons.”
Beacons, huh?
And they were seriously saying they weren’t a cult?
The redhead stabbed at his sheet of paper with the end of his pen. “Can’t you just give us one smile? It won’t kill you.”
It was then when the others watching started to laugh—and I wanted to punch the asshole in the face.
“Dude, chill.” The Korean-American played with his pen, twirling it between two fingers. “He’s right, as much as I hate saying it. We do need smilers, unfortunately. But hey, you can try out next year! Just remember to smile, alright?” He threw something at me. A squashed candy bar.
Which made me look even more pathetic.
I found myself nodding, even when I knew it was all bullshit. Still though, what each member had told me hit me harder than it should have. They were just words, what could they do? It turned out, words were far more powerful than I realised—I just didn’t know it yet. I didn’t wait for the others to speak and made a quick getaway, my gut twisting and turning.
They were a cult. That is what I decided. These guys were a cult who needed members willing to throw away their souls. Probably for ritualistic sacrifice.
They needed weak people, I thought. Even when part of me knew they were right. I wasn't a smiler. Every photo I'm in, I'm either frowning or look constipated. Still though, I didn't dwell on the try-outs for too long. By the time a week had gone by, I had mostly forgotten about it and threw myself into my studies and college life.
Though something was wrong with me. It was as if the world had slowed down, had stopped making sense completely. Every day felt like a dream, and I myself felt like I was a ghost, like I was disassociating from my own body. Conversations with people felt fake. Like I was making them up.
I remember waking up day after day in a daze I couldn’t get myself out of. It was only several weeks later did the thick mind fog which had been blanketing my brain finally lift—only for me to hear the news that all six members of the Sunbeam squad had disappeared. I don’t know how I didn’t notice, how I didn’t see the police investigation, or hear rumours being spread around like wildfire.
According to the college, it wasn't technically considered a disappearance since the members were all over eighteen, no longer minors. However, an investigation was conducted, with a statement being released that they were due to be performing at Knoxville College, cheering on our football team. But they never turned up. And what made it worse, was their bus was found abandoned on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Sounds bad, right?
Well, that's what we all thought. Vigils were already being held, and bodies weren't even found yet. Every time I walked back to my dorm after classes, the night would be lit up in warm golden light, candles flickering in the breeze. I'm not sure how many days had gone by-- they all seemed to blur into one-- when our college made another statement. The members of the Sunbeam squad were alive and healthy and had been sent to a training academy for professionals.
When the student body responded with confusion and scepticism, the college reassured us they were coming back once they were finished training. And while my classmates were relieved, I found myself confused. Sunbeam didn't cheer competitively. Their whole thing was that all they wanted to do was spread cheer and pep, regardless of how good they were. I had seen them perform, and they were good, sure. They were better than average. But definitely not good enough to be trained into pro’s. Their moves were too clumsy, too half assed—which I was convinced they thought overwhelming amounts of positivity could fix. So it didn’t make sense that they had been sent to some training academy. I kept up my scepticism until I saw them for myself.
The college were right. Sunbeam returned a week later like nothing had happened.
I did see a change in them. I think that was a universal opinion though. Sunbeam were well known for their pep and cheer, their constant smiling faces which drove me crazy—and it’s not like that stopped. They still smiled. They still walked around campus laughing together, in their own little world. That was when people were watching. When they had an audience. I caught them when they didn’t have an audience. Without eyes on them, they detached from each other, their eyes darkening, expressions twisting, like each of them could smell something rotten in the air. I started noticing they were getting progressively clumsier at keeping up that Sunbeam façade they must have pledged when they joined the group. I figured it was just tiredness. They must have been through some pretty intense training.
Anyway, months went by. I started to feel less distant, and the fog which had been choking me faded, thankfully. I started my junior year moving into a shared house with my roommate, and the only talk I’d heard about Sunbeam was that one of their ex members was rumoured to be pregnant. As for the rest of the squad, they were still popular, still talked about—but their disappearance had definitely made people wary of them. I even heard someone say they were considered bad luck. I guess people thought they had sold themselves out for a chance to get into the big leagues. And it wouldn’t surprise me.
Forced positivity can get you a long way, sure—but recognition can get you further.
It was just a few weeks ago when I was invited to a game. Our first of the season, thanks to delays due to cuts in the sports department. I’m not much of a sports fan, though I needed a distraction from the copious amounts of assignments I’d let pile on my desk.
When I sat down with a chilli dog and Coke, I wasn’t expecting to get so invested in a game where I had no idea what was happening. It was loud and obnoxious and I was choking on the stink of fried food, but it was fun. It was fun until Sunbeam walked out onto the side-lines. I glimpsed them in a blur of blue and gold, and a dull pain crawled across the back of my head. “You okay?” My housemate’s voice was barely distinguishable in my ears, when I found myself transfixed by the way they moved in erratic jumps, quickly taking position. They had gotten better. Everything which was Sunbeam had been stripped away. Their smiles were forced. Wrong.
I remembered they used to push and shove each other, making the crowd laugh. Now though, they were in almost perfect sync in the way they moved, no longer shakily, sometimes stumbling into each other. Their routine was longer than it usually was—and when the Korean-American guy perfected a triple flip, the crowd went crazy. I expected him to smile when he landed, grinning into the audience to generate what Sunbeam was made for. But his expression stayed stoic. Robotic. They were stiff. Heads up, backs straight, staring ahead of them. I was told when I tried out that fake smiles weren’t allowed, and yet that was all I was seeing. I was seeing egotistical grins and curled lips, quick glances between each member.
I expected looks of reassurances, and in jokes only they found funny. Instead, it looked like a mutual agreement.
They were planning something. From the looks on their faces, it wasn’t a firework show.
Sunbeam used to generate happiness. Their smiles, even under a façade, had always been real.
These guys emanated power. The way they stood. The guy’s at the front, readying what I guessed was a lift, and the girl’s on top of them.
Their routine ended with the music reaching a climax, and the two main girl’s being lifted into the air while performing High V’s.
But they didn’t stop there.
When the crowd exploded with applause, one of the girl’s slowly raised her arms and shot into the crowd with finger guns.
She shot twice—and with every time she pulled that imaginary trigger, her painted lips stretched into a maniacal grin.Until her gaze was on me. And then behind me. I could see it in her glittering eyes I could no longer call human. I met Evie at the start of my freshman year, and then at the disastrous try-outs.
I knew her wide smile, and the glint of passion twisting her expression—a love for the group and the members she couldn’t put into words. Right then I wasn’t seeing Evie, a Sunbeam cheerleader. I was seeing something else entirely, a being scanning faces in the crowd for a victim.
Her expression seemed to melt, from a gleeful grin, to something twisted and putrid, someone who craved the exact opposite of what Sunbeam preached. I watched her lips. I watched the words pop into existence, drowned into nothing by the crowds cheering. But I saw them in perfect clarity. “Drop.” She said, before pulling the imaginary trigger again.
No sooner had the words left her mouth before someone screamed behind me. I twisted around to see a guy had collapsed. He was pronounced dead five minutes later by his sobbing girlfriend who had attempted CPR. When I twisted back to look out onto the field, the Sunbeam Squad were gone. It didn’t make sense that they were the ones to cause the guy’s death—but it couldn’t have been a coincidence, right? Evie had shot into the crowd at the exact same time the guy had dropped dead. Finger guns weren’t a weapon of course, but the timing was too coincidental. I already knew there was something wrong with Sunbeam. And this just strengthened my claims.
Obviously, when I tried to tell people this, I was called crazy. Delusional. I reported it to the student information building and just got a blank stare.
The woman wasn’t even attempting to hear my story. She just heard “murder” and “Sunbeam” and her lips curved into an amused smirk. “You know, you are quite fascinating,” leaning back against her chair, the woman frowned at me through wonky glasses. "First you unexpectedly quit, and then you accuse them of murder. Which I can tell you is false.”
She flipped through a notebook in front of her. “According to the autopsy report released a few days ago, the young man died of a brain haemorrhage, not the result of being pretend shot at by a cheerleader miming finger-guns.” The woman cleared her throat.
“Tell me, what exactly do you have against the Sunbeam squad?"
“What?”
“You quit the squad at the end of your freshman year,” she said, “And now you’re trying to accuse them of murder? Fascinating.”
Her words struck me, a shiver sliding down my spine. The office was cosy, and when I sunk into the rich leather of the couch in front of a roaring fire I recognised the book on her desk. It was a dog eared copy of Harry Potter. I’d seen it before. But that was impossible. I had never been in her office. “Quit?” I shook my head. “No, I don’t…” I trailed off, stumbling over my words. “I’ve never been part of Sunbeam.”
“Were you not?” She shook her head, a crease forming between her brows. “Ah, I must be getting you mixed up with someone else.”
I nodded. “Just… can you just listen to me? That Evie girl was fucking—”
She cut me off. “Language.”
“Sorry. Evie. She was… I don’t know what she was doing... she was doing like... like magic?”
“Are you sure you didn’t dream it?”
“Yes!"
“Mmm hmm.” The woman cleared her throat, dismissing my protests. “I’m not a doctor, but If you’re experiencing memory loss and confusion, I suggest you go to the hospital. As for your ludicrous claims, you should keep them to yourself. That poor young man died due to a brain haemorrhage. Terrible and tragic, yes. But it was accidental, and not the work of… I’m sorry, what were you claiming it to be?”
“Magic.” I said, again.
When she raised her brow, I couldn’t resist a groan. “I saw her! She shot into the crowd and mouthed something!”
“She… mouthed something?”
“Yes! But—"
Again, her words sliced into mine. “Okay, let’s say you were right,” she said. “If you are saying this girl shot into the crowd with her imaginary gun, wouldn’t it be a gun shot which would have killed him? You said it yourself—, it was some kind of witchy magic to kill him. So, where was the bullet wound?” When I tried to speak, she raised her arm to shut me up.
“Exactly. There was none. Because the man suffered a haemorrhagic stroke, and nothing could be done to save him. Your claims a group of young people carried this out as a murder is not only blatant defamation, but also disrespectful to the young man and his family. Now, please leave my office. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” The woman nodded for me to stand up. “I think you have been watching too much TV. Might I suggest focusing on your studies?”
I left her office, slamming the door.
My housemate wasn’t helpful when I told him. He told me I was maybe a little too obsessed with Sunbeam. He headed to work, and I ended up in the lounge trying to focus on an episode of Criminal Minds. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Evie.
I saw what she said.
Drop.
But it wasn’t the force of her imaginary finger-guns ricocheting back. It was the word. Drop.
It had been alive on her lips like it was a sentient thing bleeding into existence. I managed to fall asleep, twisted like a pretzel in my housemate’s favourite chair, when three loud knocks on the door tore me from slumber. I was on my feet, blinking, disoriented. It was rare when we got a visitor. Stumbling over to the door, I had a moment of hesitation. I imagined Evie on the other side.
I imagined her raising her hand and shooting her pretend finger-guns directly into my head.
When I opened the door, I was surprised to see three little kids. The youngest must have been maybe nine years old. To my surprise, they were dressed in Halloween costumes. There was a little witch, a ghost, and a scarecrow all carrying pumpkin shaped holders It took me a moment to realise I was staring at a group of Trick or Treaters. It wasn’t even mid-October yet.
“Hey there,” I said, “Uh, you guys are a little early.”
The little girl’s eyes were wide and unblinking. “We want candy.” She held out her candy holder. “Now.”
I decided to be firm with them. “It’s not Halloween.” I said, taking a small step back. I was grasping the handle, ready to slam it in their faces. These little shits were freaking me out. Not just their tone, but their expressions were vacant. There were no lights on and that terrified me. “Sorry kids, I don’t have any candy. But like I said, come back when it’s actually Halloween, and I’ll have candy bars for all of you. "
What I wasn’t expecting was for the Scarecrow to pull a knife out of his pumpkin shaped candy holder. He didn’t hold it like a kid should, clumsily, confused. There was a strategic way the way his fingers were wrapped around the handle—like he’d brandished one before. The kid held the knife up to his own neck and made a slicing motion. Like the little girl, his eyes were blank. Unblinking. There was something wrong in the way he was standing. Stiff, like a puppet on strings. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He squeaked out a laugh. I didn’t see him lunge forward, I was already moving back, stumbling, losing my footing.
The kid moved with impossible speed—and before I knew what was happening, the hilt of the knife was buried in my lower leg. I didn’t even feel pain. My body was being driven by adrenaline, pushing me to get away from him. I remember falling back. I remember my own trembling hands grasping hold of the handle and pulling out the knife. Red was pooling down my jeans and onto our hardwood floor. The little kids turned around and ran back down the steps into the night, and I watched them in a sort of daze.
They didn’t move like normal.
They stalked down the sidewalk like video game characters. The witch shoved a passing old man before pulling out a gun and pointing it at his head. But she didn’t shoot. The three of them ran off—and it was only when I was watching the top of the girl’s witch hat disappear into the night, when I glimpsed something—or someone—at the corner of my eye.
Before I heard laughter. The tree in front of me moved. At first I thought they were shadow’s. Before the shadows bled into figures. Four of them. I glimpsed the school colours. Blue and Gold. I saw twin ponytails, velvet and blonde-- as well as the tell-tale Sunbeam varsity jacket. The group were laughing, whispering to each other. Not exactly doing a good job of hiding. When they slipped from their hiding place, I recognised Evie. Her fingers gingerly on her nose while intense red pooled down her chin.
The others were the same, swiping at their faces with jacket sleeves. They didn’t seem fazed. The redhead’s gaze was latched onto the retreating children, his lips curling. I could sense he was still tethered to them. He was still commanding them to act out grand theft auto. They had caused the man’s death at the game and had controlled those children.
I wasn’t crazy or delusional. Evie had killed someone by simply shooting imaginary finger guns, and somehow the others were able to bleed into children’s heads, taking them over.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I heaved out a breath. The pain was starting to hit in waves I had to grit through. I couldn’t move. I was stuck, curled up on my floor. While they laughed.
I was halfway through stabbing 911 into my phone when one of them came over. It was the Korean-American. The one who had been the nicest to me out of all of them. The real smile I remembered was gone, replaced by something inhuman. Something I didn’t want to question.
With his hands stuffed in his varsity jacket pockets, he approached me with mocking eyes, almost an attempt at trying to mimic his old self.
The guy knelt in front of me with a chuckle. “Kids these days, right? They’re animals.”
His voice, no, his words, were hurting me. I felt each one penetrate me like gunshots.
My wound wasn’t bad. That’s what I estimated, anyway. I don’t think the kid had hit anything vital. But I needed the emergency room. I still had one hand grasping at my side, drenched in red.
I managed a hiss, grasping for my phone when he pulled it out of my grasp and waved it in the air. “Fuck off. What did you do to those little kids?” I gritted out, trying to reach for my damn phone. I was starting to feel the pain in my side and it hurt like a mother fucker—dizzying bolts of electricity which felt like waves of boiling hot water slamming into me one by one. I tried to get onto my knees, but he pushed me back down again. The guy cocked his head to the side, confusion creasing his expression.
“Ouch. That must hurt.”
"What did you... what did you do?" I hissed out.
His presence was hurting me. Every time he opened his mouth, it was agony. Somehow, it was worse than the stab-wound. This kind of pain was no other I’d felt before. The type I’d rather die than feel. A cry was clawing at my throat, fight or flight taking over. Again, I tried to move, I tried to get away from him. But he was holding down my arms and prodding at my side before sticking his finger in the cut and twisting. "I didn't do anything, Alex.”
His voice barely hit me when my vision blurred and I screamed. Like a fucking animal, I screamed. But not because his fingers were digging around in my insides.
Because my brain was suddenly boiling, a metal rod piercing my skull and stirring it into a soupy mess. His voice was inside me. It was bleeding into me, taking over me. But not just his voice. The world blurred around me and I was no longer in my doorway, bleeding out against the wall.
Instead, I was moving. I was… I was walking. No, I was being dragged. Except these weren’t my memories. This wasn’t my mind. I could see bare feet beneath me delicately slapping on white tiles. When I looked up, I saw an expanse of white like I was being led straight into the clouds. This was a building. There were glass doors and electronic panels, people in black guarding each one. It took a while for me to gain my senses—or him to gain his.
We could smell something like chlorine and taste rusty coins at the back of our throat. Feel the ice cold tiles against our bare toes. A strange feeling at the back of our head. We kept wanting to run our fingers through our hair, but every time we did, our fingers only touched bare skin. Scuffed and rigged skin. Tight fingers were wrapped around our arm, dragging us further and further into a white oblivion. Until a glass door seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
From now on, I am going to describe his memories very vaguely. I’m just going to tell you what I saw.
The room we walked into reminded me of a classroom—but there were no desks. In front of me were the other members of Sunbeam pressed against the back wall. They faced forwards, their gazes penetrating nothing. But I saw they were trembling. Terrified. The squad were dressed in pale white shorts and t-shirt, ugly red spattering the front. There were still traces of blue and glitter on their faces, ribbons hanging from bedraggled curls.
Their feet were bare and filthy like ours. When we were shoved forwards, we took our place next to Evie who had half of her hair shaved off. Her arms were folded across her cheer uniform, her bare feet tapping a beat against the floor. When a woman with dark red hair held in a strict ponytail entered and asked if either of us wanted to show her what we had learned, Evie eagerly raised her hand. “Okay, Evie.” The woman’s voice was too sweet. Sickly sweet. She gestured for the girl forward. “Show us what you’ve got.”
The door opened, and a man stepped through. His hands were tied in front of him, his eyes blank.
Evie nodded, her eyes set in determination. She cleared her throat. “Shatter.”
Nothing happened.
“Intent, Evie.” The woman said. “It doesn’t matter how you say the word unless you use proper intent. Try again.”
The girl did, growling in frustration.
"Shatter.”
The man’s head flew from his torso suddenly in a river of red, and the girl squeaked in excitement.
While we watched in horror, the rest of the squad gave in to their own despair.
Different days bled into one—and we watched faces change. Heads were shaved. Hair grew back. Fear turned to joy.
A blonde girl exploded into bloody chunks, splattering against the walls.
“Yes!” The redhead high-fived pigtails, the two of them locked into some bizarre handshake. “That’s what I’m TALKING about!”
“Bang!” One of the girls used finger guns, and with each “shot” innocents dropped against the wall one by one, their heads blown through.
She jumped up and down in glee. “Bang, bang, bang!”
“Keep going,” the voice of the woman crackled through the speaker. “You’ve almost got it.”
“Divide.” Pigtails used her pointer finger at an old man who was skewed by an invisible force sending bloody chunks of him to the floor.
"Show off.” The redhead said in a sing-song voice. He was slumped against the back wall using his jersey to wipe blood from his face while the others painted the room scarlet. With simple words of intent and a hand gesture, they were able to take people apart piece by piece.
Pigtails snorted when another “test subject” was brought in. "Oh, you think you can do better?”
“Think I can? I know I can.”
This time he plunged two fingers into his temples. He was centre stage, the others against the back wall with their arms folded.
“Rip it out.”
The test subject’s eyes widened, her trembling hands clawing at her own head, fingernails digging into flesh. “Rip…rip it out?”
His lip curved. “That’s what I said.”
We didn’t see the test subject rip her own brain from her skull. We were already burying our head into our knees and screeching into the floor. Another flash. Like watching a movie.
This time we’re cutting into our wrist with shards of glass. Pulling back fleshy flaps of our flesh, there are two wires entangled with muscle and bone. One red and one blue. “Why won’t you submit?” A sharp growl, and I can feel our body pressed against metal. Our arms are restrained. “Out of all of them, you refuse it.” A hand slaps our face. “You don’t want it!”
He started to laugh.
“You don’t want… control?”
He leaned his face closer. “Tell me to mutilate myself. Tell me to… to tear out my brain stem! That’s the beauty of it! No matter how impossible the order is, it will be completed! Control, my boy. Use it. Do you even understand how much you are going to shape the world? Words! Do you know how powerful they are? When said from the right mouth, with the right intent, they can cause bloodshed, pain and misery-- a despair drowning our already shattered earth. And you will be the centre of it. You will bring this world to its knees, Jason."
"Now, do it. We call it cutting, but you will find familiarity in referring to it as erasure. You can make up your own words if you would like. What matters is the intent.” I feel something slicing into our arm. It’s nothing medical. It’s torture. He plunges something sharp into the same spot and twists the blade until we throw our head back and scream at the ceiling.
“You’re the last one.” The man hissed. “Do it.”
“No.” I heard his—our—voice. “I… I can’t!”
“Do it!”
He’s dragging us again, forcing us down a long winding corridor until we reach another door.
"Drown." The boy - - Jason's-- voice was suddenly in my head. I could sense it was trying to hold back, attempting to peel back whatever power his own words had. But the word came again and again until it was suffocating his mouth. “Drown. Drown. Drown. Drown.” We were standing in the doorway of a smaller room. In the corner there was a figure curled up with their head pressed against the wall.
It was a guy.
I recognised our school colours, a bloodied varsity jacket over shorts and t-shirt. When he lifted his head and twisted to face the boy whose mind I was in, I noticed he had an uncanny resemblance to me. His eyes wide, frightened. They were my mother's.
This guy looked exactly like me.
No, it WAS me.
My eyes were shadowed and haunted.
Like I had been drained of everything I was.
As quickly as the memories came crashing into me, they were yanked away when the guy must have pulled back.
I blinked rapidly, and Jason looked as confused as me. Slowly, he pulled his finger from my cut. The man's voice was in my skull, and it was agonising. I felt the command in my head, my body instantly reacting to... to nothing. I had my hands out, ready to do.... do something.
"That was… just a trick,” He said. “Yeah! Just a trick!”
I found myself nodding, echoing his words. Something warm ran from my nose.
"Just... a trick..." I whispered, the words forced from my lips.
Blood spattered down my chin.
“Louder.” He said.
"JUST A TRICK!" I yelled, the force of the wail sending me my knees, panting. The guy was frowning, seemingly unsure what to do with me.
He wrapped up my wound and told me it wasn’t bad—and it wasn’t. I watched in disbelief as my skin stitched itself back together.
"Go into your kitchen." Jason said, and I felt the power of his words ripping through me like bullets. My body moved on its own, and I got to my feet and stepped into my kitchen. He followed me, grabbing a scarf off of the table.
"Get on your knees." I did, dropping to my knees, my breath in my throat, my mouth sealed shut. I could sense the others in the doorway as he wrapped the scarf around my eyes, the heel of his shoe slamming into my neck forcing me onto my stomach.
"I want you to wait for me to kill you."
His words pierced into me. I did. Even when I knew he was gone, the door slamming shut-- I waited. I waited until the next morning, until I regained control over my own body and pulled the scarf from my eyes. I'm still waiting, my brain in constant panic, twisting around when I'm alone, looking into every corner.
I was roped into going to Friday's game against Harrington. During Sunbeam’s routine, they did it again. They had the crowd's attention, and Evie was mouthing something. I felt her words, sharp like needles cutting into me. But they didn't penetrate. They have done something to the student body. Ever since, I’ve been catching looks around me. Those whose heads they have crawled into. Mindless eyes. Every so often an arm will touch mine, fingers will wrap around my neck. I can hear their feet pitter pattering after me. Those little kids from that night. I keep seeing the little witch girl in the corner of my eye. They’re creating an army who are coming for me once he decides to kill me.
If only I knew what happened to the Sunbeam squad. Maybe I can help them somehow.
But something tells me they’re way past help.
And so am I.
I wonder if one day, I might be allowed a glimpse of my memories. What really happened to me during my freshman year.
And why, ever since going into his mind, I dream of a white room.

https://chat.openai.com/share/fbff14bb-bb58-4761-8f57-6bd5a6d75ede
User
I'm looking for references to "Conscious Evolution" as a philosophical or scientific concept.
ChatGPT
"Conscious Evolution" is a term that has been used by a number of philosophers and scientists to describe the idea that humanity can deliberately direct its own evolution. Here are some references to explore:
"Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential" by Barbara Marx Hubbard (1998) - In this book, Hubbard argues that humanity is at a turning point in its evolution and that we have the ability to consciously shape our future.
"The Phenomenon of Man" by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1955) - Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit priest and paleontologist who wrote about the idea of "cosmic evolution," which he believed was leading humanity toward a state of greater consciousness and unity.
"The Future of Humanity" by Jürgen Habermas (2001) - Habermas is a German philosopher who has written extensively on the idea of "communicative rationality," which he sees as a key factor in humanity's ability to consciously shape its own evolution.
"The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins (1976) - While not explicitly about conscious evolution, Dawkins' influential book on evolutionary biology explores the idea that genes are the primary unit of evolution and that their "selfish" behavior drives the process of natural selection.
"The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time" by Alex Korb (2015) - Korb is a neuroscientist who argues that the human brain has the ability to change and evolve throughout our lives, and that we can consciously direct this process to improve our mental health and well-being.
These references offer a variety of perspectives on the idea of conscious evolution, and can help to deepen your understanding of this complex and multifaceted concept.
User
"Conscious Evolution" as a term used to describe the idea that humanity can deliberately direct its own evolution is what I am developing in the context of a transdisciplinary, transontological concept. This would encompass both scientific transhumanism as well as spiritually self-directed evolution. I'm looking for either current active trends in that general direction or past antecedents which can be cited as supporting this approach.
ChatGPT
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the concept of conscious evolution and the idea that humanity can deliberately direct its own evolution. Here are some current trends and past antecedents that may be relevant to your inquiry:
Transhumanism: This is a movement that advocates for using technology to enhance human abilities and extend human lifespan. Some proponents of transhumanism see it as a means of achieving conscious evolution by using technology to overcome biological limitations and enhance human consciousness.
Integral Theory: Developed by Ken Wilber, integral theory is a transdisciplinary framework that seeks to integrate insights from various fields of knowledge, including spirituality, psychology, and science. It provides a framework for understanding how different aspects of human evolution - including biological, psychological, and spiritual - can be integrated and consciously directed.
Evolutionary Spirituality: This is a movement that seeks to integrate spirituality and science in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of human evolution. It emphasizes the idea that human consciousness is evolving and that we have the ability to consciously direct this process.
New Thought: This is a spiritual movement that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which emphasizes the power of human thought to shape reality. It includes concepts such as the Law of Attraction, which suggest that we can consciously direct our lives by focusing on positive thoughts and intentions.
Transcendentalism: This is a philosophical and literary movement that emerged in the early 19th century, which emphasized the power of individual intuition and experience to achieve spiritual insight. It includes figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who advocated for a self-directed approach to spiritual and personal development.
These trends and antecedents provide a variety of perspectives on the concept of conscious evolution, and can help to situate your work within a broader intellectual and cultural context.
User
Is the term Conscious Evolution actually used in these contexts?
ChatGPT
Yes, the term "conscious evolution" is used in many of these contexts. Here are some examples:
Transhumanism: The idea of conscious evolution is a central tenet of transhumanism, which advocates for using technology to extend human lifespan and enhance human abilities. Some transhumanists see technology as a means of achieving conscious evolution by overcoming biological limitations and enhancing human consciousness. For example, Max More, a prominent transhumanist philosopher, has written about the concept of "uplift" - using technology to enhance the cognitive abilities of non-human animals and eventually achieve conscious evolution for all sentient beings.
Integral Theory: Ken Wilber, the founder of integral theory, has written extensively about conscious evolution as a means of integrating different aspects of human development, including biological, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. He sees conscious evolution as a way of moving beyond the limitations of our current state of consciousness and achieving a more integrated and holistic perspective on reality.
Evolutionary Spirituality: The concept of conscious evolution is a central theme in evolutionary spirituality, which emphasizes the idea that human consciousness is evolving and that we have the ability to consciously direct this process. For example, Andrew Cohen, a spiritual teacher and founder of the EnlightenNext organization, has written extensively about the concept of conscious evolution and the role of human consciousness in shaping the future of our planet.
New Thought: The concept of conscious evolution is also present in New Thought philosophy, which emphasizes the power of human thought to shape reality. For example, Ernest Holmes, the founder of the Science of Mind movement, wrote about the concept of "mental equivalent" - the idea that we can consciously direct our thoughts to create a mental picture of the reality we desire, which then manifests in the physical world.
Transcendentalism: The concept of conscious evolution is implicit in the transcendentalist emphasis on individual intuition and experience as a means of achieving spiritual insight. For example, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about the importance of following one's own inner guidance and cultivating a direct relationship with the divine, which he saw as a means of achieving personal and spiritual growth.
User
Tell me more about Ken Wilber and Conscious Evolution.
ChatGPT
Ken Wilber is a philosopher and writer who has contributed extensively to the field of integral theory, which seeks to integrate insights from various fields of knowledge, including psychology, spirituality, and science. Wilber has written extensively about the concept of conscious evolution and its potential to shape the future of humanity.
According to Wilber, conscious evolution is a process of intentional transformation that goes beyond mere adaptation to environmental challenges. It involves deliberately cultivating higher states of consciousness, developing new capacities and abilities, and expanding our sense of identity and purpose.
Wilber sees conscious evolution as a means of addressing many of the major challenges facing humanity today, including climate change, social inequality, and political polarization. He believes that by consciously directing our own evolution, we can overcome the limitations of our current state of consciousness and achieve a more integrated and holistic perspective on reality.
Wilber's approach to conscious evolution is grounded in his broader philosophical framework, which he calls "integral theory." Integral theory seeks to integrate insights from various fields of knowledge in order to provide a more comprehensive and holistic understanding of human experience. Wilber argues that by integrating different dimensions of human development - including biological, psychological, and spiritual dimensions - we can achieve a more coherent and integrated view of reality.
Wilber's work on conscious evolution has been influential in many fields, including spirituality, psychology, and philosophy. He has written extensively on the topic in his books, including "A Theory of Everything," "The Integral Vision," and "Integral Spirituality." His ideas have also inspired the creation of a number of organizations and initiatives dedicated to promoting conscious evolution, such as the Evolutionary Collective and the Integral Institute.

In the communication we sent prior to the 2023 Community of Christ World Conference, we promised to distribute “a post-Conference summary of actions taken” in the resolutions that touched on climate issues and global security. By now, you are well aware that climate change is a threat multiplier. Every conflict, injustice, and societal problem is increased by the stress and crises brought by rapidly changing and escalating climate impacts. As a result, several resolutions considered at World Conference were of importance to the North American Climate Justice Team, and we want to share the results of conference action concerning them.
Climate Emergency
One of the first resolutions under consideration at World Conference called for the global church to declare a “Climate Emergency;” promote sustainability in individual, congregational, and mission center life; and requested the Earth Stewardship Team to create resources to raise awareness and foster action mitigating carbon emissions throughout the global church. There was passionate discussion about the resolution, but few comments in the negative.
The Order of Bishops brought an amendment to the original resolution that widened the responsibility of providing educational and motivational materials. Rather than asking the small, under-funded Earth Stewardship Team to assume the burden of creating resources for the global church, they suggested the entire church body take responsibility. In this way, materials can be produced locally, adapted to the needs and culture of each area. The amended resolution passed.
Racial Justice
The World Conference considered and passed a resolution acknowledging racial injustice and calling for repentance and change. Issues of racial injustice are increased by eco-racism in several ways:
· The populations least culpable in increasing carbon emissions are the ones most impacted by global warming and climate catastrophes. Drought, flood, fires, hunger and poverty add to the suffering endured by those who are already oppressed by racial injustice.
· Developed nations are often the slowest to make the changes needed to mitigate climate change and assist racially disadvantaged peoples.
· Climate solutions tend to unjustly benefit the wealthy while ignoring the economically challenged, perpetuating prejudice and systemic injustice.
The first resolved in the resolution on racial justice crafted by the Greater Pacific Northwest Mission Center begins with “… Jesus has declared God’s love for all the world and all creation…” The statement lays as a foundation for racial justice the unconditional love of God for the diversity built into all creation. The passing of this resolution affirms the equality of all, calls for the elimination of institutional racism, and promotes actions that will bring about a just, equitable, and peaceful world for all people—and by implication, creation and all life.
Climate Refugees
Friday, the assembly approved a Resolution for a Refugee Day, in cooperation with the United Nations, set for June 20, and tasked a team with creating associated educational information in multi languages. During that discussion, a delegate from Africa proposed an amendment that “climate refugees” be specifically included in our focus on Refugee Day.
Climate refugees are those people whose lives, livelihoods, and living environments have been destroyed by climate disasters, causing them to leave their homeland and seek refuge in another country. Although international law protects refugees in general from oppressive actions and inhumane treatment, climate refugees are not included. They are the invisible poor, at high risk wherever they go. The UN High Commissioner Report estimated an annual 21.5 million refugees have resulted from climate disasters since 2008. This number could increase to 1.2 billion by 2050.
By including climate refugees in our resolution, we are raising awareness about the difficulties faced by those displaced by climate crises, and speaking out against the injustices they suffer. The amendment – and the resolution – passed with an overwhelming majority. It is unlikely that educational materials will be created and available this year to assist people in remembering Refugee Day, but you can raise awareness in your own congregation. Please mark it on your calendar and plan your own activity of remembrance on June 18 or 25, which are the two Sundays closest to the official UN Refugee Day of June 20.
Non-Violence
The topic of non-violence was chosen by the First Presidency for consideration throughout the week using Alternative Common Consent Surveys of interest and preferences. As a result, a great deal of information and multiple perspectives were shared during the week. The primary question was:
Should the First Presidency continue to develop a statement on the role of nonviolence in the pursuit of “peace on and for the Earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 165:1d) and in the life and mission of the church?
Please note that the primary question includes avoiding violence to the earth and all life forms, in addition to human life. This initial question was followed by delegates choosing their top three perspectives on this issue, and then the one perspective that was most important in their thinking. The First Presidency will consider that information carefully as they continue to work on a statement about non-violence that can be helpful throughout the global church and applied in multiple contexts.
. Conversations throughout the week in quorum meetings and informal situations helped broaden the applicability to environmental non-violence. The North American Climate Justice Team was privileged to help raise awareness, provide information, and encourage action on the climate emergency, and foster non-violence in all its forms.
As we look toward the future, the North American Climate Justice Team is committed to providing awareness, education, and resources to assist individuals, congregations and mission centers in addressing issues of climate emergency. You can help. Talk about climate issues. Share with others the steps you have taken to make changes in your own lifestyle. Write letters and emails to your legislators supporting sustainable environmental policies. And continue to uphold the sacredness of God’s creation in every possible way, to empower the flourishing of all life.
If you have any questions or concerns, visit the “Contact Us” section of our website, https://cofchristclimatejustice.org,

Hi.
I was driving and tried to merge into the left lane. I was in the right. I had very little room to continue going straight, as the right lane was blocked up ahead. I had to turn right where the lane was blocked, so that is why I got so close to where it stopped. Was seeing if I had to merge or if I could actually turn beforehand. When I started merging, I had enough room to get over. Then, a lady on her phone sped up and the left side of my car grinded against hers. I was certain that she was letting me merge because she slowed down at first. Please note, my turn signal was on and I was moving and merging very slowly. She did not use her horn. Traffic was moderate. I stopped immediately and asked her to relocate to the parking lot nearest to us. She did not acknowledge what I said, and proceeded to scream at me. I forget exactly what she said but she didn't threaten or insult or anything like that. I tried asking her again, then I stopped interacting with her and called the non emergency police number. She yelled at me for about 5 minutes. Her car blocked traffic for about 20 minutes before the cop came and told her and I to go to the same parking lot I suggested earlier. I felt as if the police officer was trying to pressure me into saying I was at fault. I am worried that if I admit I am at fault (which I am unsure if I am) and just work things out with the insurance company, that is will cause further problems down the road because I admitted I was at fault. I do have insurance, I do have a license. The car is my dad's. I had full permission to use the vehicle.

My specific questions;

Was I at fault?
If I do bite the bullet and say I am in the wrong when I work things out with insurance, will that cause further problems down the road?

Look at these articles:

Artificial intelligence could lead to extinction, experts warn
Artificial intelligence could lead to the extinction of humanity, experts - including the heads of OpenAI and Google Deepmind - have warned.
Dozens have supported a statement published on the webpage of the Centre for AI Safety.
"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war" it reads.
But others say the fears are overblown.
Sam Altman, chief executive of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, Demis Hassabis, chief executive of Google DeepMind and Dario Amodei of Anthropic have all supported the statement.
The Centre for AI Safety website suggests a number of possible disaster scenarios:

AIs could be weaponised - for example, drug-discovery tools could be used to build chemical weapons

AI-generated misinformation could destabilise society and "undermine collective decision-making"

The power of AI could become increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, enabling "regimes to enforce narrow values through pervasive surveillance and oppressive censorship"

Enfeeblement, where humans become dependent on AI "similar to the scenario portrayed in the film Wall-E" Dr Geoffrey Hinton, who issued an earlier warning about risks from super-intelligent AI, has also supported the Centre for AI Safety's call.

Yoshua Bengio, professor of computer science at the university of Montreal, also signed.
Dr Hinton, Prof Bengio and NYU Professor Yann LeCun are often described as the "godfathers of AI" for their groundbreaking work in the field - for which they jointly won the 2018 Turing Award, which recognises outstanding contributions in computer science.
But Prof LeCun, who also works at Meta, has said these apocalyptic warnings are overblown tweeting that "the most common reaction by AI researchers to these prophecies of doom is face palming".
'Fracturing reality'
Many other experts similarly believe that fears of AI wiping out humanity are unrealistic, and a distraction from issues such as bias in systems that are already a problem.
Arvind Narayanan, a computer scientist at Princeton University, has previously told the BBC that sci-fi-like disaster scenarios are unrealistic: "Current AI is nowhere near capable enough for these risks to materialise. As a result, it's distracted attention away from the near-term harms of AI".
Oxford's Institute for Ethics in AI senior research associate Elizabeth Renieris told BBC News she worried more about risks closer to the present.
"Advancements in AI will magnify the scale of automated decision-making that is biased, discriminatory, exclusionary or otherwise unfair while also being inscrutable and incontestable," she said. They would "drive an exponential increase in the volume and spread of misinformation, thereby fracturing reality and eroding the public trust, and drive further inequality, particularly for those who remain on the wrong side of the digital divide".
Many AI tools essentially "free ride" on the "whole of human experience to date", Ms Renieris said. Many are trained on human-created content, text, art and music they can then imitate - and their creators "have effectively transferred tremendous wealth and power from the public sphere to a small handful of private entities".
But Centre for AI Safety director Dan Hendrycks told BBC News future risks and present concerns "shouldn't be viewed antagonistically".
"Addressing some of the issues today can be useful for addressing many of the later risks tomorrow," he said.>
Superintelligence efforts
Media coverage of the supposed "existential" threat from AI has snowballed since March 2023 when experts, including Tesla boss Elon Musk, signed an open letter urging a halt to the development of the next generation of AI technology.
That letter asked if we should "develop non-human minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us".
In contrast, the new campaign has a very short statement, designed to "open up discussion".
The statement compares the risk to that posed by nuclear war. In a blog post OpenAI recently suggested superintelligence might be regulated in a similar way to nuclear energy: "We are likely to eventually need something like an IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] for superintelligence efforts" the firm wrote.
'Be reassured'
Both Sam Altman and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai are among technology leaders to have discussed AI regulation recently with the prime minister.
Speaking to reporters about the latest warning over AI risk, Rishi Sunak stressed the benefits to the economy and society.
"You've seen that recently it was helping paralysed people to walk, discovering new antibiotics, but we need to make sure this is done in a way that is safe and secure," he said.
"Now that's why I met last week with CEOs of major AI companies to discuss what are the guardrails that we need to put in place, what's the type of regulation that should be put in place to keep us safe.
"People will be concerned by the reports that AI poses existential risks, like pandemics or nuclear wars.
"I want them to be reassured that the government is looking very carefully at this."
He had discussed the issue recently with other leaders, at the G7 summit of leading industrialised nations, Mr Sunak said, and would raise it again in the US soon.
The G7 has recently created a working group on AI.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-65746524

President Biden warns artificial intelligence could 'overtake human thinking'
WASHINGTON − President Joe Biden on Thursday amplified fears of scientists who say artificial intelligence could "overtake human thinking" in his most direct warning to date on growing concerns about the rise of AI.
Biden brought up AI during a commencement address to graduates of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. while discussing the rapid transformation of technology that he said can "change the character" of future conflicts.
"It's not going to be easy decisions, guys," Biden said. "I met in the Oval Office with eight leading scientists in the area of AI. Some are very worried that AI can actually overtake human thinking in the planet. So we've got a lot to deal with. It's an incredible opportunity, but a lot do deal with."
Scientists, tech execs warn of possible human extinction
Hundreds of scientists, tech industry executives and public figures – including leaders of Google, Microsoft and ChatGPT – sounded the alarm about artificial intelligence in a public statement Tuesday, arguing that fast-evolving AI technology could create as high a risk of killing off humankind as nuclear war and COVID-19-like pandemics.
"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war," said the one-sentence statement, which was released by the Center for AI Safety, or CAIS, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization.
Biden met May 5 at the White House with CEOs of leading AI companies including Google, Microsoft and OpenA to discuss reforms that ensure AI products are safe before released to the public.
"It is one of the most powerful technologies that we see currently in our time," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about the extinction fears of scientists. "But in order to seize the opportunities it presents, we must first mitigate its risks, and that's what we're focused on in this administration."
White House launches $140 million in new AI research
The so-called “Godfather of AI” Geoffrey Hinton last month left his job as a Google vice president to speak freely about his concern that unexpectedly rapid advances could potentially endanger the human race. Others portrayed Hinton’s assessment as extreme and unwarranted.
Asked at a recent panel when asked what was the “worst case scenario that you think is conceivable,” Hinton replied without hesitation. “I think it's quite conceivable," he said, "that humanity is just a passing phase in the evolution of intelligence.”
The White House unveiled an initiative last month to promote responsible innovation in the field of artificial intelligence with the following actions:

The National Science Foundation will fund $140 million to launch seven new National AI Research Institutes. This initiative aims to bring together federal agencies, private-sector developers and academia to pursue ethical, trustworthy and responsible development of AI that serves the public good.

The new Institutes will advance AI R&D in critical areas, including climate change, agriculture, energy, public health, education, and cybersecurity.

A commitment from leading AI developers to participate in a public evaluation of their technology systems to determine if they adhere to the principles outlined in the Biden administration’s October 2022 Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights.

The initiative includes new Office of Management and Budget (OMB)] policy guidance on the U.S. government’s use of AI systems in order to allow for public comment. This guidance will establish specific policies for federal agencies to ensure that their development, procurement, and use of AI systems centers on safeguarding the American people’s rights and safety.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/01/president-biden-warns-ai-could-overtake-human-thinking/70277907007/

Experts are warning AI could lead to human extinction. Are we taking it seriously enough?
Human extinction.
Think about that for a second. Really think about it. The erasure of the human race from planet Earth.
That is what top industry leaders are frantically sounding the alarm about. These technologists and academics keep smashing the red panic button, doing everything they can to warn about the potential dangers artificial intelligence poses to the very existence of civilization.
On Tuesday, hundreds of top AI scientists, researchers, and others — including OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and Google DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis — again voiced deep concern for the future of humanity, signing a one-sentence open letter to the public that aimed to put the risks the rapidly advancing technology carries with it in unmistakable terms.
“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” said the letter, signed by many of the industry’s most respected figures.
It doesn’t get more straightforward and urgent than that. These industry leaders are quite literally warning that the impending AI revolution should be taken as seriously as the threat of nuclear war. They are pleading for policymakers to erect some guardrails and establish baseline regulations to defang the primitive technology before it is too late.
Dan Hendrycks, the executive director of the Center for AI Safety, called the situation “reminiscent of atomic scientists issuing warnings about the very technologies they’ve created. As Robert Oppenheimer noted, ‘We knew the world would not be the same.’”
“There are many ‘important and urgent risks from AI,’ not just the risk of extinction; for example, systemic bias, misinformation, malicious use, cyberattacks, and weaponization,” Hendrycks continued. “These are all important risks that need to be addressed.”
And yet, it seems that the dire message these experts are desperately trying to send the public isn’t cutting through the noise of everyday life. AI experts might be sounding the alarm, but the level of trepidation — and in some cases sheer terror — they harbor about the technology is not being echoed with similar urgency by the news media to the masses.
Instead, broadly speaking, news organizations treated Tuesday’s letter — like all of the other warnings we have seen in recent months — as just another headline, mixed in with a garden variety of stories. Some major news organizations didn’t even feature an article about the chilling warning on their website’s homepages.
To some extent, it feels eerily reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic, before the widespread panic and the shutdowns and the overloaded emergency rooms. Newsrooms kept an eye on the rising threat that the virus posed, publishing stories about it slowly spreading across the world. But by the time the serious nature of the virus was fully recognized and fused into the very essence in which it was covered, it had already effectively upended the world.
History risks repeating itself with AI, with even higher stakes. Yes, news organizations are covering the developing technology. But there has been a considerable lack of urgency surrounding the issue given the open possibility of planetary peril.
Perhaps that is because it can be difficult to come to terms with the notion that a Hollywood-style science fiction apocalypse can become reality, that advancing computer technology might reach escape velocity and decimate humans from existence. It is, however, precisely what the world’s most leading experts are warning could happen.
It is much easier to avoid uncomfortable realities, pushing them from the forefront into the background and hoping that issues simply resolve themselves with time. But often they don’t — and it seems unlikely that the growing concerns pertaining to AI will resolve themselves. In fact, it’s far more likely that with the breakneck pace in which the technology is developing, the concerns will actually become more apparent with time.
As Cynthia Rudin, a computer science professor and AI researcher at Duke University, told CNN on Tuesday: “Do we really need more evidence that AI’s negative impact could be as big as nuclear war?”

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/30/media/artificial-intelligence-warning-reliable-sources/index.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThere%20are%20many%20'important%20and,that%20need%20to%20be%20addressed.%E2%80%9D
Given these, is mankind about to go completely extinct due to AI randomly launching nuclear weapons like how it did in Terminator series very soon? Why or why not?

GO Battle League Season 15 is upon us, and along with it, our now-customary move rebalance! What's new, what's improved, what's good, bad, or ugly coming out the other side? Let's dive right in and see!
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?
A FAIR WIND, OR GALE FORCE WINDS? It might seem odd to lead off with a move given to only two new recipients, but CLEFABLE is no ordinary recipient. It has faded further and further into obscurity over time as other Fairies have risen up around it, having dropped out of the Top 5 Fairies in Ultra League and almost out of the Top 10 in Great League. It's still decently bulky, and still comes with the awesome Meteor Mash, which is not only cheaper than most charge moves found on various Charmers (that don't rhyme with "Aloe Van Pine Nails"), but is very widely unresisted and, critically in themed Cups where Clefable is eligible, super effective versus fellow Fairies, often delivering a knockout blow. The problem, of course, is that like other Charmers, you're unlikely to reach it in multiples, since Charm only generates a way below average 2.0 Energy Per Turn (EPT), tied for worst energy generation in the game. It also has Psychic for coverage, or Moonblast for big STAB damage, but the likelihood of reaching any of those in a critical spot is rather low since Charm is just SO slow to get there. So it has sat, languishing, as other interesting Charmers have come along and is now, at best, just part of a growing pack of similiar Pokémon.
That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!
More of a footnote is TOGETIC, which now also learns Fairy Wind, and boy did it need that. Previously having to rely on the mostly awful Hidden Power (in which case you usually had to hope to get lucky with Flying type H.P.) or the subpar Extrasensory, it was left looking quite pitiful. But now, at least it could be spice in the right meta, maybe.
WIGGLYTUFF did not get Fairy Wind, but it is receiving Disarming Voice, a move I've been wishing would be more widely distributed for years. A Fairy-type clone of moves like Psyshock, Magnet Bomb, and Foul Play, it's a more-than-passable move, and quietly the cheapest one that Fairy has available...15 less energy than Play Rough and Moonblast, and better Damage Per Energy {DPE} than the former. Anyway, seeing as Wigglytuff currently relies on Play Rough, Voice likely now slots in as its replacement for a little more shield pressure and new wins like Azumarill and Lickitung. The needle doesn't move too much, but the improvement is still appreciated!
PRIMARINA also gets Voice, but it doesn't really help it... yet. Prima IS a little underrated in Master League, where its Water typing is much more help (resisting Ice, Fire, Water) than hindrance (very little Grass and Electric around to exploit it). But it won't really take off until it also eventually gets Hydro Cannon... sometime in 2025? At that point, it will appreciate having cheap Disarming Voice alongside Cannon more, I think.
LONG STORY SHORT, Fairy Wind Clefable is one of those rather rare overnight sensations that could see an immediate usage spike in Ultra League and as a nice corebreaker in Great League (the pickup against Noctowl really pushing it over the top). It really appreciates the extra energy to spam charge moves, and has just enough variety between Meteor Mash, Psychic (the move!), and Moonblast to keep the opponent guessing and shielding when they really don't want to. The other Fairies with new toys (Togetic and Wigglytuff especially) appreciate small bumps in performance, but are unlikely to suddenly appear where they weren't already.
DRILL RUNNIN' 🔥 As with Fairy Wind, there are only two new recipients of Drill Run, but both are very interesting.
We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.
LIQUIDATION... GOING OUT OF BUSINESS ALREADY? So about that new move Liquidation. It's a good if not fantastic move, an exact clone of Crunch... same cost (45 energy), damage (70), and potential debuff (30% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense). Not game breaking, but very, very solid.
But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.
I think CLOYSTER actually prefers to hold on to a big closer like Hydro Pump rather than Liquidation, preferring to soften things up with Icy Wind and then go in for the kill. Pass.
Similarly, all of the following prefer to keep existing movesets: SAMUROTT (Hydro Cannon/Megahorn), CARRACOSTA (Body Slam/Surf), BEARTIC (Ice Punch/Aqua Tail), EELEKTROSS (Dragon Claw/Crunch). All remain fringe at best.
VAPOREON basically views Liquidation as a sidegrade to existing Scald, though Liquidation is NOT Legacy as Scald is, so it's worth it for any Vapes that don't have its old Community Day move. But Vaporeon remains mostly on the outside looking in at better Water types in various Leagues. No real boost here.
GOLDUCK sees a slight bump with Liquidation, but remains just a spice play, at best.
There is a reason you have never seen FLOATZEL in PvP... it has terrible charge moves. Bad, bad moves like Swift and Aqua Jet, with Hydro Pump as a passable closer but stymied due to average-at-best energy gains from Water Gun or Waterfall. Liquidation is in some ways just what the doctor ordered, but uh... Floatzel still sinks in PvP.
ARMALDO remains a lost cause as well. If you want a GOOD Rocky Bug, use Crustle. If you want a spice one, go with the new Kleavor. If you want to just tank your ELO, THEN maybe consider Armaldo. That's about it though, even with the new move.
Man, quite a bummer, right? Decent move, but really nothing that gets it stands to benefit in a way that will impact PvP. So moving on then to... wait, what? I missed one? Oh... OH! So I did. And thankfully, we can end this section on a good note... because GOLISOPOD just became a bit more interesting.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.
THE LEAF AGE BEGINS? Probably haven't seen Bullet Punch in PvP much, have you? Scizor and Metagross use it, and uh... that's about the extent of it. But it's actually a pretty good PvP fast move, with the average 3.0 Damage Per Turn (DPT) but above average energy generation (3.5 EPT). And now here comes Leafage, an exact clone of Bullet Punch for the Grass typing. The number of things that get it is quite a bit smaller than Liquidation (only three evolutionary lines), but I think this is a clear case of quality over quantity in Leafage's favor.
I could write an entire article on the injustices done to DECIDUEYE in Pokémon GO. All its interesting moves in MSG, and here it sits with underpowered Shadow Sneak, overpriced Energy Ball, and big but risky closer Brave Bird, and all locked behind low-energy Razor Leaf or arguably worst fast move in the game Astonish. #JusticeForDecidueye! While I do still hope for an eventual and LONG overdue buff to Astonish, for now the addition of Leafage should be a big help, right? Weeeeeeeell..... I mean, yes, it is most certainly better, and will become even a bit moreso when it eventually gets Frenzy Plant. But clearly, it's problems are not JUST the fast moves. Heck, pre-evolution DARTRIX (who has also been trapped behind Razor Leaf) even looks better than Deci in the here and now, thanks in large part to having Seed Bomb as a more workable second charge move to set up Brave Bird. It does seem that even though ROWLETT also gets Leafage, it may still prefer to keep existing Razor Leaf down in Little League, where Razor Leaf can admittedly be particularly dominant.
LURANTIS (and Little League pre-evolution FOMANTIS) operates nicely right now as sort of a Jack of all trades with Fury Cutter (and its Bug damage output) powering up Leaf Blade and Superpower (well, Grass Knot in Fomantis' case). Superpower allows for some nutty wins like Bastiodon, Galarian Stunfisk, and excecuted properly, even Registeel, clearly showing Lurantis' appeal. So does Leafage help or disrupt the good Lurantis has already got going? Eh, I think we're gonna call it a sidegrade, though a tasty one for sure. Lurantis does give up a couple things where the effectiveness of Fury Cutter wins the day (Cresselia, Shadow Victreebel) and loses a little speed, which flips Shadow Alolan Sandslash to a loss. (Luratnis cannot hit a Leaf Blade AND followon Superpower in time with Leafage like it can with Fury Cutter.) But Leafage is able to carve out new wins like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Pelipper with superior neutral fast move damage (as opposed to resisted Bug damage), and also can outrace Walrein far more reliably. So not an upgrade, but a nice sidegrade like this can add some disruption into appropriate metas just fine.
Speaking of disruption, let's check out ABOMASNOW. Obviously it runs more as an Ice than a Grass, humming along nicely in multiple metas with Powder Snow and Weather Ball (Ice) and Energy Ball for a big Grass closer when the situation calls for it. And more than likely, it will mostly continue in that configuration moving forward. BUT, Leafage may be preferred in certain metas now, at least, and not just because it now slams the door on Water types (instead of sometimes merely scraping by with Powder Snow). In Great League, where ShadowBama is usually preferred, Powder Snow continues to shine out, but it's worth noting that while Leafage is an overall downgrade, most of the wins it gives up are versus Flyers (Altaria, Noctowl, Skarmory, Mandibuzz), with new losses to Umbreon and Venusaur as the most notable exceptions. Leafage DOES make some new key contributions like Powder Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Stunfisk that may come more to the fore in Limited metas with, say, fewer Flyers? Just saying. In Ultra League, the biggest knock against Leafage is that it drops the Giratinas (as compared to Powder Snow), but otherwise Leafage makes a pretty strong case with pickups of Poliwrath, Walrein, and Alolan Ninetales (with Powder Snow OR Charm). I think Leafage deserves some real consideration at Ultra League level!
LONG STORY SHORT, no huge improvements to be found with Leafage, but it does earn a rightful place as a robust sidegrade consideration for the Lurantis and Abomasnow lines (particularly with Ultra League Aboma). It's an upgrade for the Rowlett/Dartrix/Decidueye line, though Deci itself remains middling at best until it one day gets Frenzy Plant (or just some more synergistic charge moves in general!). Leafage SHOULD start popping up here and there in PvP soon, moreso than Liquidation likely will.
JUST A BRUSH FIRE, REALLY Honestly, I expected a number of things to get Mystical Fire after it recently entered the game, but for now, Niantic chose to distribute it to only two new Pokémon:
As I mentioned in my analysis on Mystical Fire back during Delphox Community Day, DRIFBLIM is an intriguing choice. Mystical Fire and existing Blim coverage move Icy Wind share the same stats aside from typing, so this is almost the very definition of sidegrade... against neutral targets they do the exact same thing, so it just comes down to effectiveness. If Blim is facing something burnable (like a Steel, Ice, or Bug type), it will prefer to have Mystical Fire. For things weak to Ice, like Flyers and Dragons and Grounds, obviously it will want to be packing Icy Wind instead. (Grasses are weak to both Fire and Ice, so usually no change there, aside from things like Abomasnow with a subtyping that favors one or the other... in that case, Mystical Fire is double super effective and Icy Wind is merely neutral.) I'm not going to bother with the sims, as they're close to indistinguishable at a high level, but I WILL note that Mystical Fire can potentially beat Galarian Stunfisk at Ultra League level, and more definitely beats G-Fisk AND A-Slash, Skarmory, and even Registeel at Great League level, none of which Icy Wind can realistically hope to replicate. (Its only standouts are things like Gliscor.) Yes, giving up Icy Wind means completely abandoning hope versus things like Ghost-resistant Pidgeot and especially Noctowl, but overall? I think Drifblim might be getting much hotter soon, in several senses of the word! 🔥
Not nearly as exciting, I admit, but note that LITWICK also gets Mystical Fire. It's really only for Little League use, and has been an interesting but lesser-used Fire type, falling behind things like Vulpix, Growlithe, and Tepig thanks to them having some good neutral coverage, while Litwick has been stuck with just Flame Charge and two other rather Fire charge moves. Mystical Fire slots in as a nearly straight upgrade with pickups that include Wynaut, Vullaby, Obstagoon (for LL Cups where it's allowed), and... Vulpix, regardless of which fast move 'Pix is using. Something to look forward to in the next Little League rotation!
LONG STORY SHORT, Mystical Fire IS likely the default coverage move of choice for Drifblim going forward, just because of the number of burnable things (as opposed to freezeable things) in its respective metas, Great League especially. Except to see Blim soar up a little higher than it has in a while. It's also a nice upgrade for Litwick, who should finally emerge as a true Fire contender in Little League formats.
ODDS AND ENDS Going to put everything else together in this last main section, but don't mistake that to mean they're less important... quite the contrary! Just doing this because these are all one-offs, as opposed to the changes above which directly affected multiple Pokémon recipients.
Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.
Icicle Spear - 60 power → 65 power. Obviously this only affects WALREIN (for now), and is obviously a strict upgrade, since the cost and all else remains the same, just more damage. Specifically, at a high level, I see Walrein picking up things like Skarmory and Umbreon (non-Shadow) and Trevenant, Pelipper, and Azumarill (Shadow) in Great League, and stuff like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Virizion in Ultra League. So yeah... you didn't need me to tell you this was an improvement, but maybe that helps you decide how much of an improvement and whether you want to turn back to Wally if you ever turned away before. I'd say Great League in particular has reason to fear it a bit more again.
Poison Fang - 40 power → 45 power. More things affected by this than Icicle Spear, but obviously most of you just want to know about NIDOQUEEN, so in the interest of time and... well, interest, we'll just highlight her for now. Again, you don't need me to tell you this only makes things with Poison Fang better, but HOW much better? Honestly not too much changes in Great League (as far as straight wins a losses go, though this is undoubtedly scarier now!), but in Ultra League, I see new wins for Queen versus things like Charizard, Pidgeot, Cresselia, Dubwool, Obstagoon, AND Guzzlord, among others, so this is no small tweak! Might Nidoqueen be "back"? Only time will tell. Admittedly, what made it SO scary in the past was the cheaper cost of Poison Fang, and that hasn't changed, so I don't see it returning to full dominance like she once enjoyed. I also think she was treated rather harshly even before this buff... she didn't fall off quite as hard as many made it out to be. This will reveal that more fully... she's not so much "back" as much as I think she never really left. Also keep in mind things like GOLBAT/CROBAT and SALAZZLE/SALANDIT** that stand to benefit from this as well!
Rollout - 4 power → 5 power. So low power that I can tell you this won't be a big shift, but obviously it DOES help. DUNSPARCE picks up a potential win over Shadow Alolan Ninetales (hey, Rollout is super effective, so....), and MILTANK a new win versus Shadow Swampert, of all things, and sometimes (Water Gun) Lanturn when utilizing Ice Beam instead of my personal recommendation of Thunderbolt (which beats Lanturn as well). It tends to prefer Tackle in Ultra League, though newly buffed Rollout is MUCH improved now with new wins versus Cresselia, Drapion, Umbreon, Alolan Muk, AND Walrein. Perhaps Tackle won't be the default now? As for ALOLAN GOLEM, Volt Switch just remains a much better move in nearly every scenario and meta. Stick with that, I say, and get all the Rock damage you need from the charge moves instead. 🪨
Mud Bomb - 55 power → 60 power. The two big ones that come to mind are TOXICROAK and WHISCASH, the latter of which honestly needed a boost like this. However, this small a bump looks and feels like more of a "win more" where they already won more than anything. The only notable new win I see (at the high level this massive rebalance is demanding of little old me!) is Toxicroak versus Trevenant, though I think that's more due to Trevenant's nerf (which we'll get to in a moment) than Toxicroak's resisted Mud Bomb dealing a tiny bit more damage. (And upon further review, it may be neither of those and instead just come down to move timing.. but leaving Trevor in here as it's a good setup for later.) The big winner here is actually QUAGSIRE, who FINALLY gets a charge move cheaper than 55 energy to reach the same spam potential as its fellow Mud Boys. It's hard to show how this improves things in simulations, as they actually tend to favor Earthquake in many situations (such as in 1v1 shielding, where Quake shows additional wins against things like Azu, Sable, Swampert, and Umbreon), but the difference is more obvious when you go 2v2 shielding, and the extra spam of Mud Bomb shows out with new wins that include Froslass, Jellicent, Toxicroak, Shadow Alolan Ninetales, and Shadow Walrein. I actually don't know if this will actually bump up Quagsire's useage or not, though it's shot up about 60 slots to #15 in PvPoke's rankings. Not sure if that will match reality, but I DO think it's time to see if you have a good PvP Quag to perhaps take out for a spin and see. It certainly has some exciting new potential it's never had before!
Seed Bomb - 55 power → 60 power, Energy Cost Increased. The only thing on this list that's not a straight upgrade, getting the same damage boost as Mud Bomb but increased cost to go with it... mostly, I feel, as a backdoor way to bring Trevenant down a bit. (And indeed, PvPoke has dropped Trev 25 slots from #10 to #35 in Ultra League, and down nearly 70 slots in Great League from Top 10 to outside the Top 70!) I certainly don't think Trevor will be going away -- it still breaks several cores across multiple Leagues -- but this is undoubtedly a hit. In Great League, it looks like it's now at a disadvantage against things it used to be able to beat like Walrein, Talonflame, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, and even Toxicroak. The hit is a bit less severe in Ultra League (where it can hang in longer to somewhat compensate for the increased energy needed), but it does still lose former wins like Jellicent and the re-buffed Nidoqueen. Most of the rest of the collateral damage will be felt in Little League, where several notable things have Seed Bomb (like Bulbasaur, Exeggcute, Oddish, etc.). Note much of note in bigger Leagues, though it IS noteworthy that WHIMSICOTT is getting Seed Bomb for the first time. And yes, I think it DOES become the favorite in most circumstances over existing Grass Knot, despite the latter being a "better" move (50 energy for 90 damage) and using that to get a couple unique wins still like Diggersby and Lickitung, because Seed Bomb brings new bait potential to set up big Moonblast wins over Cresselia, Pelipper, Toxicroak, Vigoroth, and Trevenant. Not sure Whimsie is suddenly going to bust out in Open Great League or anything, but I think it's very safe to say it just became a bit scarier and more versatile in Limited metas for sure.
And there are all the actual move "rebalances". Now to wrap it up real quick with a final list of existing moves now assigned to new Pokémon!
PROBOPASS is in some ways similar to Defense Deoxys, in that it has long had three charge moves that seemed almost interchangeable in overall performance. Rock Slide is pretty standard for Probo, and most folks also run it with Thunderbolt, but it's so lackluster than even Magnet Bomb has always hung around as a viable alternative. Well that changes now, as its bulk allows it to make good use of new addition Zap Cannon. I think it and Rock Slide are the new standard, along with Spark to power them out, and that combo brings in new wins over Sableye and Umbreon, along with wider margins of victory over things it just scraped past before like Cresselia and Bastiodon. Probo used to escape them both with less than 10 HP, but now waddles away with quite a bit more than that. Not sure if this will send it up the charts (Bastiodon itself is still usually preferred), but it IS a more intriguing alternative now.
Speaking of funky Rock types, HEATRAN can learn Earth Power now! But uh... you still don't want it, sorry. At least give it Incinerate, Niantic... c'mon!
A MUCH more interesting Rock type is CRADILY, now getting some more speed with Rock Slide as a new alternative to Stone Edge. In my first blush analysis on the day of these many announced changes, I speculated that Cradily may want both Rock charge moves going forward, as it still beat things like Lanturn and even Swampert without needing Grass Knot. But in hindsight... nah, I think you want to instead just swap out Edge for Slide and be done with it. Keeping this short and sweet, here are some of my findings when comparing these side by side (by side): Grass Knot is absolutely needed to beat Diggersby, and is obviously the surest way to beat Waters and Ground (and/or Rock) types in general (including having ANY shot at beating up things like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon). The raw power of Stone Edge is still the best way to punch out things like Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, and Shadow Victreebel. But the speed of Rock Slide (10 less energy than Edge) adds the potential to now handle stuff like Cresselia, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, Venusaur, and most notably, Noctowl. That's right... Cradily now becomes a handy way to handle Lanturn AND Noctowl, among many others, and can also beat popular Sableye as well. Corebreaker potential on the rise. Dilly dilly!
Look, URSALUNA continues to disappoint and likely always will until it gets a better fast move than Tackle. I know it, you know it, basically everyone but Niantic (and maybe TPCi) knows it. But as I wrote when Luna was first released, Ice Punch at least gives it the most bite of the three main elemental Punches, and until now it was the only one Ursaluna could not learn. Now it can! That gives it a bit more reach in Master League (the one League where it currently has any real play at all) with all the Dragons already. Specifically, Ice Punch allows it to now consistently beat Garchomp and Landorus, so that's nice. But come on, Niantic. Give the people what they want!.
Let's be honest: the addition of Brutal Swing to the arsenal of TYRANITAR is more a cause of celebration for raiding than it is for PvP. (New top Dark type in PvE, I hear!) But yes, it DOES help in PvP too. Tyranitar has the size to work in Master League, but even with Brutal Swing, it's still an awkward fit. The one place I have seen it pop up here and there is actually in Great League, albeit in Limited metas only. While those opportunities are relatively rare, I am happy to report that Brutal Swing is a noted improvement over former best Crunch, adding on wins you would expect of a Dark type (Sableye, Cofagrigus, Jellicent) and a few you might not expect (Drapion, Toxapex, and finally it can beat Altaria!). Still more niche than meta, but at least it's an improving niche!
And finally, we come to humble little EMOLGA, and the first non-Community Day recipient of Acrobatics. Long-time (or even some short-time!) readers have surely seen me write many times about Aerial Ace. It's a passable move -- barely -- dealing 55 damage for 45 energy. Boooooring, but it usually works JUST enough to not be total trash. It's a move I would LOVE to see buffed a little at some point, but it's also a move currently assigned to a massive number of Pokémon, and unlikely to change unless Niantic wants to REALLY shake up PvP. And like way too many Pokémon, poor Emolga has long been stuck with dull old Ace as its only Flying move, leaving what should be an exciting option languishing in obscurity. But now, finally, this mighty mouse may be about to soar! Just look at the HUGE names it can now beat: Medicham. Lickitung. Sableye. Shadow Swampert. Trevenant. Shadow Alolan Ninetales. And Cresselia and even Froslass for good measure. Those are some really big names, folks. Did Emolga just go from being afterthought behind Zapdos to passing it completely? I think it may have! If, like me, you've been holding on to a good one and just biding your time... well, that time is now, my friend! ⚡
Speaking of time, though... it's up! The new season is here! So we're gonna wrap it up right here for now. I hope this was as helpful a read as it was LONG. 🙃
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!

GO Battle League Season 15 is upon us, and along with it, our now-customary move rebalance! What's new, what's improved, what's good, bad, or ugly coming out the other side? Let's dive right in and see!
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?

A FAIR WIND, OR GALE FORCE WINDS?

It might seem odd to lead off with a move given to only two new recipients, but CLEFABLE is no ordinary recipient. It has faded further and further into obscurity over time as other Fairies have risen up around it, having dropped out of the Top 5 Fairies in Ultra League and almost out of the Top 10 in Great League. It's still decently bulky, and still comes with the awesome Meteor Mash, which is not only cheaper than most charge moves found on various Charmers (that don't rhyme with "Aloe Van Pine Nails"), but is very widely unresisted and, critically in themed Cups where Clefable is eligible, super effective versus fellow Fairies, often delivering a knockout blow. The problem, of course, is that like other Charmers, you're unlikely to reach it in multiples, since Charm only generates a way below average 2.0 Energy Per Turn (EPT), tied for worst energy generation in the game. It also has Psychic for coverage, or Moonblast for big STAB damage, but the likelihood of reaching any of those in a critical spot is rather low since Charm is just SO slow to get there. So it has sat, languishing, as other interesting Charmers have come along and is now, at best, just part of a growing pack of similiar Pokémon.
That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!

More of a footnote is TOGETIC, which now also learns Fairy Wind, and boy did it need that. Previously having to rely on the mostly awful Hidden Power (in which case you usually had to hope to get lucky with Flying type H.P.) or the subpar Extrasensory, it was left looking quite pitiful. But now, at least it could be spice in the right meta, maybe.
WIGGLYTUFF did not get Fairy Wind, but it is receiving Disarming Voice, a move I've been wishing would be more widely distributed for years. A Fairy-type clone of moves like Psyshock, Magnet Bomb, and Foul Play, it's a more-than-passable move, and quietly the cheapest one that Fairy has available...15 less energy than Play Rough and Moonblast, and better Damage Per Energy {DPE} than the former. Anyway, seeing as Wigglytuff currently relies on Play Rough, Voice likely now slots in as its replacement for a little more shield pressure and new wins like Azumarill and Lickitung. The needle doesn't move too much, but the improvement is still appreciated!
PRIMARINA also gets Voice, but it doesn't really help it... yet. Prima IS a little underrated in Master League, where its Water typing is much more help (resisting Ice, Fire, Water) than hindrance (very little Grass and Electric around to exploit it). But it won't really take off until it also eventually gets Hydro Cannon... sometime in 2025? At that point, it will appreciate having cheap Disarming Voice alongside Cannon more, I think.

LONG STORY SHORT, Fairy Wind Clefable is one of those rather rare overnight sensations that could see an immediate usage spike in Ultra League and as a nice corebreaker in Great League (the pickup against Noctowl really pushing it over the top). It really appreciates the extra energy to spam charge moves, and has just enough variety between Meteor Mash, Psychic (the move!), and Moonblast to keep the opponent guessing and shielding when they really don't want to. The other Fairies with new toys (Togetic and Wigglytuff especially) appreciate small bumps in performance, but are unlikely to suddenly appear where they weren't already.

DRILL RUNNIN' 🔥

As with Fairy Wind, there are only two new recipients of Drill Run, but both are very interesting.
We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.

LIQUIDATION... GOING OUT OF BUSINESS ALREADY?

So about that new move Liquidation. It's a good if not fantastic move, an exact clone of Crunch... same cost (45 energy), damage (70), and potential debuff (30% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense). Not game breaking, but very, very solid.
But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.

I think CLOYSTER actually prefers to hold on to a big closer like Hydro Pump rather than Liquidation, preferring to soften things up with Icy Wind and then go in for the kill. Pass.
Similarly, all of the following prefer to keep existing movesets: SAMUROTT (Hydro Cannon/Megahorn), CARRACOSTA (Body Slam/Surf), BEARTIC (Ice Punch/Aqua Tail), EELEKTROSS (Dragon Claw/Crunch). All remain fringe at best.
VAPOREON basically views Liquidation as a sidegrade to existing Scald, though Liquidation is NOT Legacy as Scald is, so it's worth it for any Vapes that don't have its old Community Day move. But Vaporeon remains mostly on the outside looking in at better Water types in various Leagues. No real boost here.
GOLDUCK sees a slight bump with Liquidation, but remains just a spice play, at best.
There is a reason you have never seen FLOATZEL in PvP... it has terrible charge moves. Bad, bad moves like Swift and Aqua Jet, with Hydro Pump as a passable closer but stymied due to average-at-best energy gains from Water Gun or Waterfall. Liquidation is in some ways just what the doctor ordered, but uh... Floatzel still sinks in PvP.
ARMALDO remains a lost cause as well. If you want a GOOD Rocky Bug, use Crustle. If you want a spice one, go with the new Kleavor. If you want to just tank your ELO, THEN maybe consider Armaldo. That's about it though, even with the new move.

Man, quite a bummer, right? Decent move, but really nothing that gets it stands to benefit in a way that will impact PvP. So moving on then to... wait, what? I missed one? Oh... OH! So I did. And thankfully, we can end this section on a good note... because GOLISOPOD just became a bit more interesting.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.

THE LEAF AGE BEGINS?

Probably haven't seen Bullet Punch in PvP much, have you? Scizor and Metagross use it, and uh... that's about the extent of it. But it's actually a pretty good PvP fast move, with the average 3.0 Damage Per Turn (DPT) but above average energy generation (3.5 EPT). And now here comes Leafage, an exact clone of Bullet Punch for the Grass typing. The number of things that get it is quite a bit smaller than Liquidation (only three evolutionary lines), but I think this is a clear case of quality over quantity in Leafage's favor.

I could write an entire article on the injustices done to DECIDUEYE in Pokémon GO. All its interesting moves in MSG, and here it sits with underpowered Shadow Sneak, overpriced Energy Ball, and big but risky closer Brave Bird, and all locked behind low-energy Razor Leaf or arguably worst fast move in the game Astonish. #JusticeForDecidueye! While I do still hope for an eventual and LONG overdue buff to Astonish, for now the addition of Leafage should be a big help, right? Weeeeeeeell..... I mean, yes, it is most certainly better, and will become even a bit moreso when it eventually gets Frenzy Plant. But clearly, it's problems are not JUST the fast moves. Heck, pre-evolution DARTRIX (who has also been trapped behind Razor Leaf) even looks better than Deci in the here and now, thanks in large part to having Seed Bomb as a more workable second charge move to set up Brave Bird. It does seem that even though ROWLETT also gets Leafage, it may still prefer to keep existing Razor Leaf down in Little League, where Razor Leaf can admittedly be particularly dominant.
LURANTIS (and Little League pre-evolution FOMANTIS) operates nicely right now as sort of a Jack of all trades with Fury Cutter (and its Bug damage output) powering up Leaf Blade and Superpower (well, Grass Knot in Fomantis' case). Superpower allows for some nutty wins like Bastiodon, Galarian Stunfisk, and excecuted properly, even Registeel, clearly showing Lurantis' appeal. So does Leafage help or disrupt the good Lurantis has already got going? Eh, I think we're gonna call it a sidegrade, though a tasty one for sure. Lurantis does give up a couple things where the effectiveness of Fury Cutter wins the day (Cresselia, Shadow Victreebel) and loses a little speed, which flips Shadow Alolan Sandslash to a loss. (Luratnis cannot hit a Leaf Blade AND followon Superpower in time with Leafage like it can with Fury Cutter.) But Leafage is able to carve out new wins like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Pelipper with superior neutral fast move damage (as opposed to resisted Bug damage), and also can outrace Walrein far more reliably. So not an upgrade, but a nice sidegrade like this can add some disruption into appropriate metas just fine.
Speaking of disruption, let's check out ABOMASNOW. Obviously it runs more as an Ice than a Grass, humming along nicely in multiple metas with Powder Snow and Weather Ball (Ice) and Energy Ball for a big Grass closer when the situation calls for it. And more than likely, it will mostly continue in that configuration moving forward. BUT, Leafage may be preferred in certain metas now, at least, and not just because it now slams the door on Water types (instead of sometimes merely scraping by with Powder Snow). In Great League, where ShadowBama is usually preferred, Powder Snow continues to shine out, but it's worth noting that while Leafage is an overall downgrade, most of the wins it gives up are versus Flyers (Altaria, Noctowl, Skarmory, Mandibuzz), with new losses to Umbreon and Venusaur as the most notable exceptions. Leafage DOES make some new key contributions like Powder Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Stunfisk that may come more to the fore in Limited metas with, say, fewer Flyers? Just saying. In Ultra League, the biggest knock against Leafage is that it drops the Giratinas (as compared to Powder Snow), but otherwise Leafage makes a pretty strong case with pickups of Poliwrath, Walrein, and Alolan Ninetales (with Powder Snow OR Charm). I think Leafage deserves some real consideration at Ultra League level!

LONG STORY SHORT, no huge improvements to be found with Leafage, but it does earn a rightful place as a robust sidegrade consideration for the Lurantis and Abomasnow lines (particularly with Ultra League Aboma). It's an upgrade for the Rowlett/Dartrix/Decidueye line, though Deci itself remains middling at best until it one day gets Frenzy Plant (or just some more synergistic charge moves in general!). Leafage SHOULD start popping up here and there in PvP soon, moreso than Liquidation likely will.

JUST A BRUSH FIRE, REALLY

Honestly, I expected a number of things to get Mystical Fire after it recently entered the game, but for now, Niantic chose to distribute it to only two new Pokémon:

As I mentioned in my analysis on Mystical Fire back during Delphox Community Day, DRIFBLIM is an intriguing choice. Mystical Fire and existing Blim coverage move Icy Wind share the same stats aside from typing, so this is almost the very definition of sidegrade... against neutral targets they do the exact same thing, so it just comes down to effectiveness. If Blim is facing something burnable (like a Steel, Ice, or Bug type), it will prefer to have Mystical Fire. For things weak to Ice, like Flyers and Dragons and Grounds, obviously it will want to be packing Icy Wind instead. (Grasses are weak to both Fire and Ice, so usually no change there, aside from things like Abomasnow with a subtyping that favors one or the other... in that case, Mystical Fire is double super effective and Icy Wind is merely neutral.) I'm not going to bother with the sims, as they're close to indistinguishable at a high level, but I WILL note that Mystical Fire can potentially beat Galarian Stunfisk at Ultra League level, and more definitely beats G-Fisk AND A-Slash, Skarmory, and even Registeel at Great League level, none of which Icy Wind can realistically hope to replicate. (Its only standouts are things like Gliscor.) Yes, giving up Icy Wind means completely abandoning hope versus things like Ghost-resistant Pidgeot and especially Noctowl, but overall? I think Drifblim might be getting much hotter soon, in several senses of the word! 🔥
Not nearly as exciting, I admit, but note that LITWICK also gets Mystical Fire. It's really only for Little League use, and has been an interesting but lesser-used Fire type, falling behind things like Vulpix, Growlithe, and Tepig thanks to them having some good neutral coverage, while Litwick has been stuck with just Flame Charge and two other rather Fire charge moves. Mystical Fire slots in as a nearly straight upgrade with pickups that include Wynaut, Vullaby, Obstagoon (for LL Cups where it's allowed), and... Vulpix, regardless of which fast move 'Pix is using. Something to look forward to in the next Little League rotation!

LONG STORY SHORT, Mystical Fire IS likely the default coverage move of choice for Drifblim going forward, just because of the number of burnable things (as opposed to freezeable things) in its respective metas, Great League especially. Except to see Blim soar up a little higher than it has in a while. It's also a nice upgrade for Litwick, who should finally emerge as a true Fire contender in Little League formats.

ODDS AND ENDS

Going to put everything else together in this last main section, but don't mistake that to mean they're less important... quite the contrary! Just doing this because these are all one-offs, as opposed to the changes above which directly affected multiple Pokémon recipients.
Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.

Icicle Spear - 60 power → 65 power. Obviously this only affects WALREIN (for now), and is obviously a strict upgrade, since the cost and all else remains the same, just more damage. Specifically, at a high level, I see Walrein picking up things like Skarmory and Umbreon (non-Shadow) and Trevenant, Pelipper, and Azumarill (Shadow) in Great League, and stuff like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Virizion in Ultra League. So yeah... you didn't need me to tell you this was an improvement, but maybe that helps you decide how much of an improvement and whether you want to turn back to Wally if you ever turned away before. I'd say Great League in particular has reason to fear it a bit more again.
Poison Fang - 40 power → 45 power. More things affected by this than Icicle Spear, but obviously most of you just want to know about NIDOQUEEN, so in the interest of time and... well, interest, we'll just highlight her for now. Again, you don't need me to tell you this only makes things with Poison Fang better, but HOW much better? Honestly not too much changes in Great League (as far as straight wins a losses go, though this is undoubtedly scarier now!), but in Ultra League, I see new wins for Queen versus things like Charizard, Pidgeot, Cresselia, Dubwool, Obstagoon, AND Guzzlord, among others, so this is no small tweak! Might Nidoqueen be "back"? Only time will tell. Admittedly, what made it SO scary in the past was the cheaper cost of Poison Fang, and that hasn't changed, so I don't see it returning to full dominance like she once enjoyed. I also think she was treated rather harshly even before this buff... she didn't fall off quite as hard as many made it out to be. This will reveal that more fully... she's not so much "back" as much as I think she never really left. Also keep in mind things like GOLBAT/CROBAT and SALAZZLE/SALANDIT** that stand to benefit from this as well!
Rollout - 4 power → 5 power. So low power that I can tell you this won't be a big shift, but obviously it DOES help. DUNSPARCE picks up a potential win over Shadow Alolan Ninetales (hey, Rollout is super effective, so....), and MILTANK a new win versus Shadow Swampert, of all things, and sometimes (Water Gun) Lanturn when utilizing Ice Beam instead of my personal recommendation of Thunderbolt (which beats Lanturn as well). It tends to prefer Tackle in Ultra League, though newly buffed Rollout is MUCH improved now with new wins versus Cresselia, Drapion, Umbreon, Alolan Muk, AND Walrein. Perhaps Tackle won't be the default now? As for ALOLAN GOLEM, Volt Switch just remains a much better move in nearly every scenario and meta. Stick with that, I say, and get all the Rock damage you need from the charge moves instead. 🪨
Mud Bomb - 55 power → 60 power. The two big ones that come to mind are TOXICROAK and WHISCASH, the latter of which honestly needed a boost like this. However, this small a bump looks and feels like more of a "win more" where they already won more than anything. The only notable new win I see (at the high level this massive rebalance is demanding of little old me!) is Toxicroak versus Trevenant, though I think that's more due to Trevenant's nerf (which we'll get to in a moment) than Toxicroak's resisted Mud Bomb dealing a tiny bit more damage. (And upon further review, it may be neither of those and instead just come down to move timing.. but leaving Trevor in here as it's a good setup for later.) The big winner here is actually QUAGSIRE, who FINALLY gets a charge move cheaper than 55 energy to reach the same spam potential as its fellow Mud Boys. It's hard to show how this improves things in simulations, as they actually tend to favor Earthquake in many situations (such as in 1v1 shielding, where Quake shows additional wins against things like Azu, Sable, Swampert, and Umbreon), but the difference is more obvious when you go 2v2 shielding, and the extra spam of Mud Bomb shows out with new wins that include Froslass, Jellicent, Toxicroak, Shadow Alolan Ninetales, and Shadow Walrein. I actually don't know if this will actually bump up Quagsire's useage or not, though it's shot up about 60 slots to #15 in PvPoke's rankings. Not sure if that will match reality, but I DO think it's time to see if you have a good PvP Quag to perhaps take out for a spin and see. It certainly has some exciting new potential it's never had before!
Seed Bomb - 55 power → 60 power, Energy Cost Increased. The only thing on this list that's not a straight upgrade, getting the same damage boost as Mud Bomb but increased cost to go with it... mostly, I feel, as a backdoor way to bring Trevenant down a bit. (And indeed, PvPoke has dropped Trev 25 slots from #10 to #35 in Ultra League, and down nearly 70 slots in Great League from Top 10 to outside the Top 70!) I certainly don't think Trevor will be going away -- it still breaks several cores across multiple Leagues -- but this is undoubtedly a hit. In Great League, it looks like it's now at a disadvantage against things it used to be able to beat like Walrein, Talonflame, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, and even Toxicroak. The hit is a bit less severe in Ultra League (where it can hang in longer to somewhat compensate for the increased energy needed), but it does still lose former wins like Jellicent and the re-buffed Nidoqueen. Most of the rest of the collateral damage will be felt in Little League, where several notable things have Seed Bomb (like Bulbasaur, Exeggcute, Oddish, etc.). Note much of note in bigger Leagues, though it IS noteworthy that WHIMSICOTT is getting Seed Bomb for the first time. And yes, I think it DOES become the favorite in most circumstances over existing Grass Knot, despite the latter being a "better" move (50 energy for 90 damage) and using that to get a couple unique wins still like Diggersby and Lickitung, because Seed Bomb brings new bait potential to set up big Moonblast wins over Cresselia, Pelipper, Toxicroak, Vigoroth, and Trevenant. Not sure Whimsie is suddenly going to bust out in Open Great League or anything, but I think it's very safe to say it just became a bit scarier and more versatile in Limited metas for sure.

And there are all the actual move "rebalances". Now to wrap it up real quick with a final list of existing moves now assigned to new Pokémon!

PROBOPASS is in some ways similar to Defense Deoxys, in that it has long had three charge moves that seemed almost interchangeable in overall performance. Rock Slide is pretty standard for Probo, and most folks also run it with Thunderbolt, but it's so lackluster than even Magnet Bomb has always hung around as a viable alternative. Well that changes now, as its bulk allows it to make good use of new addition Zap Cannon. I think it and Rock Slide are the new standard, along with Spark to power them out, and that combo brings in new wins over Sableye and Umbreon, along with wider margins of victory over things it just scraped past before like Cresselia and Bastiodon. Probo used to escape them both with less than 10 HP, but now waddles away with quite a bit more than that. Not sure if this will send it up the charts (Bastiodon itself is still usually preferred), but it IS a more intriguing alternative now.
Speaking of funky Rock types, HEATRAN can learn Earth Power now! But uh... you still don't want it, sorry. At least give it Incinerate, Niantic... c'mon!
A MUCH more interesting Rock type is CRADILY, now getting some more speed with Rock Slide as a new alternative to Stone Edge. In my first blush analysis on the day of these many announced changes, I speculated that Cradily may want both Rock charge moves going forward, as it still beat things like Lanturn and even Swampert without needing Grass Knot. But in hindsight... nah, I think you want to instead just swap out Edge for Slide and be done with it. Keeping this short and sweet, here are some of my findings when comparing these side by side (by side): Grass Knot is absolutely needed to beat Diggersby, and is obviously the surest way to beat Waters and Ground (and/or Rock) types in general (including having ANY shot at beating up things like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon). The raw power of Stone Edge is still the best way to punch out things like Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, and Shadow Victreebel. But the speed of Rock Slide (10 less energy than Edge) adds the potential to now handle stuff like Cresselia, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, Venusaur, and most notably, Noctowl. That's right... Cradily now becomes a handy way to handle Lanturn AND Noctowl, among many others, and can also beat popular Sableye as well. Corebreaker potential on the rise. Dilly dilly!
Look, URSALUNA continues to disappoint and likely always will until it gets a better fast move than Tackle. I know it, you know it, basically everyone but Niantic (and maybe TPCi) knows it. But as I wrote when Luna was first released, Ice Punch at least gives it the most bite of the three main elemental Punches, and until now it was the only one Ursaluna could not learn. Now it can! That gives it a bit more reach in Master League (the one League where it currently has any real play at all) with all the Dragons already. Specifically, Ice Punch allows it to now consistently beat Garchomp and Landorus, so that's nice. But come on, Niantic. Give the people what they want!.
Let's be honest: the addition of Brutal Swing to the arsenal of TYRANITAR is more a cause of celebration for raiding than it is for PvP. (New top Dark type in PvE, I hear!) But yes, it DOES help in PvP too. Tyranitar has the size to work in Master League, but even with Brutal Swing, it's still an awkward fit. The one place I have seen it pop up here and there is actually in Great League, albeit in Limited metas only. While those opportunities are relatively rare, I am happy to report that Brutal Swing is a noted improvement over former best Crunch, adding on wins you would expect of a Dark type (Sableye, Cofagrigus, Jellicent) and a few you might not expect (Drapion, Toxapex, and finally it can beat Altaria!). Still more niche than meta, but at least it's an improving niche!
And finally, we come to humble little EMOLGA, and the first non-Community Day recipient of Acrobatics. Long-time (or even some short-time!) readers have surely seen me write many times about Aerial Ace. It's a passable move -- barely -- dealing 55 damage for 45 energy. Boooooring, but it usually works JUST enough to not be total trash. It's a move I would LOVE to see buffed a little at some point, but it's also a move currently assigned to a massive number of Pokémon, and unlikely to change unless Niantic wants to REALLY shake up PvP. And like way too many Pokémon, poor Emolga has long been stuck with dull old Ace as its only Flying move, leaving what should be an exciting option languishing in obscurity. But now, finally, this mighty mouse may be about to soar! Just look at the HUGE names it can now beat: Medicham. Lickitung. Sableye. Shadow Swampert. Trevenant. Shadow Alolan Ninetales. And Cresselia and even Froslass for good measure. Those are some really big names, folks. Did Emolga just go from being afterthought behind Zapdos to passing it completely? I think it may have! If, like me, you've been holding on to a good one and just biding your time... well, that time is now, my friend! ⚡

Speaking of time, though... it's up! The new season is here! So we're gonna wrap it up right here for now. I hope this was as helpful a read as it was LONG. 🙃
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!

GO Battle League Season 15 is upon us, and along with it, our now-customary move rebalance! What's new, what's improved, what's good, bad, or ugly coming out the other side? Let's dive right in and see!
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?

A FAIR WIND, OR GALE FORCE WINDS?

It might seem odd to lead off with a move given to only two new recipients, but CLEFABLE is no ordinary recipient. It has faded further and further into obscurity over time as other Fairies have risen up around it, having dropped out of the Top 5 Fairies in Ultra League and almost out of the Top 10 in Great League. It's still decently bulky, and still comes with the awesome Meteor Mash, which is not only cheaper than most charge moves found on various Charmers (that don't rhyme with "Aloe Van Pine Nails"), but is very widely unresisted and, critically in themed Cups where Clefable is eligible, super effective versus fellow Fairies, often delivering a knockout blow. The problem, of course, is that like other Charmers, you're unlikely to reach it in multiples, since Charm only generates a way below average 2.0 Energy Per Turn (EPT), tied for worst energy generation in the game. It also has Psychic for coverage, or Moonblast for big STAB damage, but the likelihood of reaching any of those in a critical spot is rather low since Charm is just SO slow to get there. So it has sat, languishing, as other interesting Charmers have come along and is now, at best, just part of a growing pack of similiar Pokémon.
That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!

More of a footnote is TOGETIC, which now also learns Fairy Wind, and boy did it need that. Previously having to rely on the mostly awful Hidden Power (in which case you usually had to hope to get lucky with Flying type H.P.) or the subpar Extrasensory, it was left looking quite pitiful. But now, at least it could be spice in the right meta, maybe.
WIGGLYTUFF did not get Fairy Wind, but it is receiving Disarming Voice, a move I've been wishing would be more widely distributed for years. A Fairy-type clone of moves like Psyshock, Magnet Bomb, and Foul Play, it's a more-than-passable move, and quietly the cheapest one that Fairy has available...15 less energy than Play Rough and Moonblast, and better Damage Per Energy {DPE} than the former. Anyway, seeing as Wigglytuff currently relies on Play Rough, Voice likely now slots in as its replacement for a little more shield pressure and new wins like Azumarill and Lickitung. The needle doesn't move too much, but the improvement is still appreciated!
PRIMARINA also gets Voice, but it doesn't really help it... yet. Prima IS a little underrated in Master League, where its Water typing is much more help (resisting Ice, Fire, Water) than hindrance (very little Grass and Electric around to exploit it). But it won't really take off until it also eventually gets Hydro Cannon... sometime in 2025? At that point, it will appreciate having cheap Disarming Voice alongside Cannon more, I think.

LONG STORY SHORT, Fairy Wind Clefable is one of those rather rare overnight sensations that could see an immediate usage spike in Ultra League and as a nice corebreaker in Great League (the pickup against Noctowl really pushing it over the top). It really appreciates the extra energy to spam charge moves, and has just enough variety between Meteor Mash, Psychic (the move!), and Moonblast to keep the opponent guessing and shielding when they really don't want to. The other Fairies with new toys (Togetic and Wigglytuff especially) appreciate small bumps in performance, but are unlikely to suddenly appear where they weren't already.

DRILL RUNNIN' 🔥

As with Fairy Wind, there are only two new recipients of Drill Run, but both are very interesting.
We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.

LIQUIDATION... GOING OUT OF BUSINESS ALREADY?

So about that new move Liquidation. It's a good if not fantastic move, an exact clone of Crunch... same cost (45 energy), damage (70), and potential debuff (30% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense). Not game breaking, but very, very solid.
But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.

I think CLOYSTER actually prefers to hold on to a big closer like Hydro Pump rather than Liquidation, preferring to soften things up with Icy Wind and then go in for the kill. Pass.
Similarly, all of the following prefer to keep existing movesets: SAMUROTT (Hydro Cannon/Megahorn), CARRACOSTA (Body Slam/Surf), BEARTIC (Ice Punch/Aqua Tail), EELEKTROSS (Dragon Claw/Crunch). All remain fringe at best.
VAPOREON basically views Liquidation as a sidegrade to existing Scald, though Liquidation is NOT Legacy as Scald is, so it's worth it for any Vapes that don't have its old Community Day move. But Vaporeon remains mostly on the outside looking in at better Water types in various Leagues. No real boost here.
GOLDUCK sees a slight bump with Liquidation, but remains just a spice play, at best.
There is a reason you have never seen FLOATZEL in PvP... it has terrible charge moves. Bad, bad moves like Swift and Aqua Jet, with Hydro Pump as a passable closer but stymied due to average-at-best energy gains from Water Gun or Waterfall. Liquidation is in some ways just what the doctor ordered, but uh... Floatzel still sinks in PvP.
ARMALDO remains a lost cause as well. If you want a GOOD Rocky Bug, use Crustle. If you want a spice one, go with the new Kleavor. If you want to just tank your ELO, THEN maybe consider Armaldo. That's about it though, even with the new move.

Man, quite a bummer, right? Decent move, but really nothing that gets it stands to benefit in a way that will impact PvP. So moving on then to... wait, what? I missed one? Oh... OH! So I did. And thankfully, we can end this section on a good note... because GOLISOPOD just became a bit more interesting.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.

THE LEAF AGE BEGINS?

Probably haven't seen Bullet Punch in PvP much, have you? Scizor and Metagross use it, and uh... that's about the extent of it. But it's actually a pretty good PvP fast move, with the average 3.0 Damage Per Turn (DPT) but above average energy generation (3.5 EPT). And now here comes Leafage, an exact clone of Bullet Punch for the Grass typing. The number of things that get it is quite a bit smaller than Liquidation (only three evolutionary lines), but I think this is a clear case of quality over quantity in Leafage's favor.

I could write an entire article on the injustices done to DECIDUEYE in Pokémon GO. All its interesting moves in MSG, and here it sits with underpowered Shadow Sneak, overpriced Energy Ball, and big but risky closer Brave Bird, and all locked behind low-energy Razor Leaf or arguably worst fast move in the game Astonish. #JusticeForDecidueye! While I do still hope for an eventual and LONG overdue buff to Astonish, for now the addition of Leafage should be a big help, right? Weeeeeeeell..... I mean, yes, it is most certainly better, and will become even a bit moreso when it eventually gets Frenzy Plant. But clearly, it's problems are not JUST the fast moves. Heck, pre-evolution DARTRIX (who has also been trapped behind Razor Leaf) even looks better than Deci in the here and now, thanks in large part to having Seed Bomb as a more workable second charge move to set up Brave Bird. It does seem that even though ROWLETT also gets Leafage, it may still prefer to keep existing Razor Leaf down in Little League, where Razor Leaf can admittedly be particularly dominant.
LURANTIS (and Little League pre-evolution FOMANTIS) operates nicely right now as sort of a Jack of all trades with Fury Cutter (and its Bug damage output) powering up Leaf Blade and Superpower (well, Grass Knot in Fomantis' case). Superpower allows for some nutty wins like Bastiodon, Galarian Stunfisk, and excecuted properly, even Registeel, clearly showing Lurantis' appeal. So does Leafage help or disrupt the good Lurantis has already got going? Eh, I think we're gonna call it a sidegrade, though a tasty one for sure. Lurantis does give up a couple things where the effectiveness of Fury Cutter wins the day (Cresselia, Shadow Victreebel) and loses a little speed, which flips Shadow Alolan Sandslash to a loss. (Luratnis cannot hit a Leaf Blade AND followon Superpower in time with Leafage like it can with Fury Cutter.) But Leafage is able to carve out new wins like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Pelipper with superior neutral fast move damage (as opposed to resisted Bug damage), and also can outrace Walrein far more reliably. So not an upgrade, but a nice sidegrade like this can add some disruption into appropriate metas just fine.
Speaking of disruption, let's check out ABOMASNOW. Obviously it runs more as an Ice than a Grass, humming along nicely in multiple metas with Powder Snow and Weather Ball (Ice) and Energy Ball for a big Grass closer when the situation calls for it. And more than likely, it will mostly continue in that configuration moving forward. BUT, Leafage may be preferred in certain metas now, at least, and not just because it now slams the door on Water types (instead of sometimes merely scraping by with Powder Snow). In Great League, where ShadowBama is usually preferred, Powder Snow continues to shine out, but it's worth noting that while Leafage is an overall downgrade, most of the wins it gives up are versus Flyers (Altaria, Noctowl, Skarmory, Mandibuzz), with new losses to Umbreon and Venusaur as the most notable exceptions. Leafage DOES make some new key contributions like Powder Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Stunfisk that may come more to the fore in Limited metas with, say, fewer Flyers? Just saying. In Ultra League, the biggest knock against Leafage is that it drops the Giratinas (as compared to Powder Snow), but otherwise Leafage makes a pretty strong case with pickups of Poliwrath, Walrein, and Alolan Ninetales (with Powder Snow OR Charm). I think Leafage deserves some real consideration at Ultra League level!

LONG STORY SHORT, no huge improvements to be found with Leafage, but it does earn a rightful place as a robust sidegrade consideration for the Lurantis and Abomasnow lines (particularly with Ultra League Aboma). It's an upgrade for the Rowlett/Dartrix/Decidueye line, though Deci itself remains middling at best until it one day gets Frenzy Plant (or just some more synergistic charge moves in general!). Leafage SHOULD start popping up here and there in PvP soon, moreso than Liquidation likely will.

JUST A BRUSH FIRE, REALLY

Honestly, I expected a number of things to get Mystical Fire after it recently entered the game, but for now, Niantic chose to distribute it to only two new Pokémon:

As I mentioned in my analysis on Mystical Fire back during Delphox Community Day, DRIFBLIM is an intriguing choice. Mystical Fire and existing Blim coverage move Icy Wind share the same stats aside from typing, so this is almost the very definition of sidegrade... against neutral targets they do the exact same thing, so it just comes down to effectiveness. If Blim is facing something burnable (like a Steel, Ice, or Bug type), it will prefer to have Mystical Fire. For things weak to Ice, like Flyers and Dragons and Grounds, obviously it will want to be packing Icy Wind instead. (Grasses are weak to both Fire and Ice, so usually no change there, aside from things like Abomasnow with a subtyping that favors one or the other... in that case, Mystical Fire is double super effective and Icy Wind is merely neutral.) I'm not going to bother with the sims, as they're close to indistinguishable at a high level, but I WILL note that Mystical Fire can potentially beat Galarian Stunfisk at Ultra League level, and more definitely beats G-Fisk AND A-Slash, Skarmory, and even Registeel at Great League level, none of which Icy Wind can realistically hope to replicate. (Its only standouts are things like Gliscor.) Yes, giving up Icy Wind means completely abandoning hope versus things like Ghost-resistant Pidgeot and especially Noctowl, but overall? I think Drifblim might be getting much hotter soon, in several senses of the word! 🔥
Not nearly as exciting, I admit, but note that LITWICK also gets Mystical Fire. It's really only for Little League use, and has been an interesting but lesser-used Fire type, falling behind things like Vulpix, Growlithe, and Tepig thanks to them having some good neutral coverage, while Litwick has been stuck with just Flame Charge and two other rather Fire charge moves. Mystical Fire slots in as a nearly straight upgrade with pickups that include Wynaut, Vullaby, Obstagoon (for LL Cups where it's allowed), and... Vulpix, regardless of which fast move 'Pix is using. Something to look forward to in the next Little League rotation!

LONG STORY SHORT, Mystical Fire IS likely the default coverage move of choice for Drifblim going forward, just because of the number of burnable things (as opposed to freezeable things) in its respective metas, Great League especially. Except to see Blim soar up a little higher than it has in a while. It's also a nice upgrade for Litwick, who should finally emerge as a true Fire contender in Little League formats.

ODDS AND ENDS

Going to put everything else together in this last main section, but don't mistake that to mean they're less important... quite the contrary! Just doing this because these are all one-offs, as opposed to the changes above which directly affected multiple Pokémon recipients.
Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.

Icicle Spear - 60 power → 65 power. Obviously this only affects WALREIN (for now), and is obviously a strict upgrade, since the cost and all else remains the same, just more damage. Specifically, at a high level, I see Walrein picking up things like Skarmory and Umbreon (non-Shadow) and Trevenant, Pelipper, and Azumarill (Shadow) in Great League, and stuff like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Virizion in Ultra League. So yeah... you didn't need me to tell you this was an improvement, but maybe that helps you decide how much of an improvement and whether you want to turn back to Wally if you ever turned away before. I'd say Great League in particular has reason to fear it a bit more again.
Poison Fang - 40 power → 45 power. More things affected by this than Icicle Spear, but obviously most of you just want to know about NIDOQUEEN, so in the interest of time and... well, interest, we'll just highlight her for now. Again, you don't need me to tell you this only makes things with Poison Fang better, but HOW much better? Honestly not too much changes in Great League (as far as straight wins a losses go, though this is undoubtedly scarier now!), but in Ultra League, I see new wins for Queen versus things like Charizard, Pidgeot, Cresselia, Dubwool, Obstagoon, AND Guzzlord, among others, so this is no small tweak! Might Nidoqueen be "back"? Only time will tell. Admittedly, what made it SO scary in the past was the cheaper cost of Poison Fang, and that hasn't changed, so I don't see it returning to full dominance like she once enjoyed. I also think she was treated rather harshly even before this buff... she didn't fall off quite as hard as many made it out to be. This will reveal that more fully... she's not so much "back" as much as I think she never really left. Also keep in mind things like GOLBAT/CROBAT and SALAZZLE/SALANDIT** that stand to benefit from this as well!
Rollout - 4 power → 5 power. So low power that I can tell you this won't be a big shift, but obviously it DOES help. DUNSPARCE picks up a potential win over Shadow Alolan Ninetales (hey, Rollout is super effective, so....), and MILTANK a new win versus Shadow Swampert, of all things, and sometimes (Water Gun) Lanturn when utilizing Ice Beam instead of my personal recommendation of Thunderbolt (which beats Lanturn as well). It tends to prefer Tackle in Ultra League, though newly buffed Rollout is MUCH improved now with new wins versus Cresselia, Drapion, Umbreon, Alolan Muk, AND Walrein. Perhaps Tackle won't be the default now? As for ALOLAN GOLEM, Volt Switch just remains a much better move in nearly every scenario and meta. Stick with that, I say, and get all the Rock damage you need from the charge moves instead. 🪨
Mud Bomb - 55 power → 60 power. The two big ones that come to mind are TOXICROAK and WHISCASH, the latter of which honestly needed a boost like this. However, this small a bump looks and feels like more of a "win more" where they already won more than anything. The only notable new win I see (at the high level this massive rebalance is demanding of little old me!) is Toxicroak versus Trevenant, though I think that's more due to Trevenant's nerf (which we'll get to in a moment) than Toxicroak's resisted Mud Bomb dealing a tiny bit more damage. (And upon further review, it may be neither of those and instead just come down to move timing.. but leaving Trevor in here as it's a good setup for later.) The big winner here is actually QUAGSIRE, who FINALLY gets a charge move cheaper than 55 energy to reach the same spam potential as its fellow Mud Boys. It's hard to show how this improves things in simulations, as they actually tend to favor Earthquake in many situations (such as in 1v1 shielding, where Quake shows additional wins against things like Azu, Sable, Swampert, and Umbreon), but the difference is more obvious when you go 2v2 shielding, and the extra spam of Mud Bomb shows out with new wins that include Froslass, Jellicent, Toxicroak, Shadow Alolan Ninetales, and Shadow Walrein. I actually don't know if this will actually bump up Quagsire's useage or not, though it's shot up about 60 slots to #15 in PvPoke's rankings. Not sure if that will match reality, but I DO think it's time to see if you have a good PvP Quag to perhaps take out for a spin and see. It certainly has some exciting new potential it's never had before!
Seed Bomb - 55 power → 60 power, Energy Cost Increased. The only thing on this list that's not a straight upgrade, getting the same damage boost as Mud Bomb but increased cost to go with it... mostly, I feel, as a backdoor way to bring Trevenant down a bit. (And indeed, PvPoke has dropped Trev 25 slots from #10 to #35 in Ultra League, and down nearly 70 slots in Great League from Top 10 to outside the Top 70!) I certainly don't think Trevor will be going away -- it still breaks several cores across multiple Leagues -- but this is undoubtedly a hit. In Great League, it looks like it's now at a disadvantage against things it used to be able to beat like Walrein, Talonflame, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, and even Toxicroak. The hit is a bit less severe in Ultra League (where it can hang in longer to somewhat compensate for the increased energy needed), but it does still lose former wins like Jellicent and the re-buffed Nidoqueen. Most of the rest of the collateral damage will be felt in Little League, where several notable things have Seed Bomb (like Bulbasaur, Exeggcute, Oddish, etc.). Note much of note in bigger Leagues, though it IS noteworthy that WHIMSICOTT is getting Seed Bomb for the first time. And yes, I think it DOES become the favorite in most circumstances over existing Grass Knot, despite the latter being a "better" move (50 energy for 90 damage) and using that to get a couple unique wins still like Diggersby and Lickitung, because Seed Bomb brings new bait potential to set up big Moonblast wins over Cresselia, Pelipper, Toxicroak, Vigoroth, and Trevenant. Not sure Whimsie is suddenly going to bust out in Open Great League or anything, but I think it's very safe to say it just became a bit scarier and more versatile in Limited metas for sure.

And there are all the actual move "rebalances". Now to wrap it up real quick with a final list of existing moves now assigned to new Pokémon!

PROBOPASS is in some ways similar to Defense Deoxys, in that it has long had three charge moves that seemed almost interchangeable in overall performance. Rock Slide is pretty standard for Probo, and most folks also run it with Thunderbolt, but it's so lackluster than even Magnet Bomb has always hung around as a viable alternative. Well that changes now, as its bulk allows it to make good use of new addition Zap Cannon. I think it and Rock Slide are the new standard, along with Spark to power them out, and that combo brings in new wins over Sableye and Umbreon, along with wider margins of victory over things it just scraped past before like Cresselia and Bastiodon. Probo used to escape them both with less than 10 HP, but now waddles away with quite a bit more than that. Not sure if this will send it up the charts (Bastiodon itself is still usually preferred), but it IS a more intriguing alternative now.
Speaking of funky Rock types, HEATRAN can learn Earth Power now! But uh... you still don't want it, sorry. At least give it Incinerate, Niantic... c'mon!
A MUCH more interesting Rock type is CRADILY, now getting some more speed with Rock Slide as a new alternative to Stone Edge. In my first blush analysis on the day of these many announced changes, I speculated that Cradily may want both Rock charge moves going forward, as it still beat things like Lanturn and even Swampert without needing Grass Knot. But in hindsight... nah, I think you want to instead just swap out Edge for Slide and be done with it. Keeping this short and sweet, here are some of my findings when comparing these side by side (by side): Grass Knot is absolutely needed to beat Diggersby, and is obviously the surest way to beat Waters and Ground (and/or Rock) types in general (including having ANY shot at beating up things like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon). The raw power of Stone Edge is still the best way to punch out things like Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, and Shadow Victreebel. But the speed of Rock Slide (10 less energy than Edge) adds the potential to now handle stuff like Cresselia, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, Venusaur, and most notably, Noctowl. That's right... Cradily now becomes a handy way to handle Lanturn AND Noctowl, among many others, and can also beat popular Sableye as well. Corebreaker potential on the rise. Dilly dilly!
Look, URSALUNA continues to disappoint and likely always will until it gets a better fast move than Tackle. I know it, you know it, basically everyone but Niantic (and maybe TPCi) knows it. But as I wrote when Luna was first released, Ice Punch at least gives it the most bite of the three main elemental Punches, and until now it was the only one Ursaluna could not learn. Now it can! That gives it a bit more reach in Master League (the one League where it currently has any real play at all) with all the Dragons already. Specifically, Ice Punch allows it to now consistently beat Garchomp and Landorus, so that's nice. But come on, Niantic. Give the people what they want!.
Let's be honest: the addition of Brutal Swing to the arsenal of TYRANITAR is more a cause of celebration for raiding than it is for PvP. (New top Dark type in PvE, I hear!) But yes, it DOES help in PvP too. Tyranitar has the size to work in Master League, but even with Brutal Swing, it's still an awkward fit. The one place I have seen it pop up here and there is actually in Great League, albeit in Limited metas only. While those opportunities are relatively rare, I am happy to report that Brutal Swing is a noted improvement over former best Crunch, adding on wins you would expect of a Dark type (Sableye, Cofagrigus, Jellicent) and a few you might not expect (Drapion, Toxapex, and finally it can beat Altaria!). Still more niche than meta, but at least it's an improving niche!
And finally, we come to humble little EMOLGA, and the first non-Community Day recipient of Acrobatics. Long-time (or even some short-time!) readers have surely seen me write many times about Aerial Ace. It's a passable move -- barely -- dealing 55 damage for 45 energy. Boooooring, but it usually works JUST enough to not be total trash. It's a move I would LOVE to see buffed a little at some point, but it's also a move currently assigned to a massive number of Pokémon, and unlikely to change unless Niantic wants to REALLY shake up PvP. And like way too many Pokémon, poor Emolga has long been stuck with dull old Ace as its only Flying move, leaving what should be an exciting option languishing in obscurity. But now, finally, this mighty mouse may be about to soar! Just look at the HUGE names it can now beat: Medicham. Lickitung. Sableye. Shadow Swampert. Trevenant. Shadow Alolan Ninetales. And Cresselia and even Froslass for good measure. Those are some really big names, folks. Did Emolga just go from being afterthought behind Zapdos to passing it completely? I think it may have! If, like me, you've been holding on to a good one and just biding your time... well, that time is now, my friend! ⚡

Speaking of time, though... it's up! The new season is here! So we're gonna wrap it up right here for now. I hope this was as helpful a read as it was LONG. 🙃
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!

GO Battle League Season 15 is upon us, and along with it, our now-customary move rebalance! What's new, what's improved, what's good, bad, or ugly coming out the other side? Let's dive right in and see!
As per usual, Niantic has made us wait until the 11th hour for information on this coming season. (Thanks, Niantic... love you too! 😝) As is NOT usual for them of late, the rebalance taking place at the start of this new GBL season is massive, with no less than thirty three Pokémon being directly affected. Needless to say, this is going to be a lengthy analysis, so let's just dive right into it, shall we?

A FAIR WIND, OR GALE FORCE WINDS?

It might seem odd to lead off with a move given to only two new recipients, but CLEFABLE is no ordinary recipient. It has faded further and further into obscurity over time as other Fairies have risen up around it, having dropped out of the Top 5 Fairies in Ultra League and almost out of the Top 10 in Great League. It's still decently bulky, and still comes with the awesome Meteor Mash, which is not only cheaper than most charge moves found on various Charmers (that don't rhyme with "Aloe Van Pine Nails"), but is very widely unresisted and, critically in themed Cups where Clefable is eligible, super effective versus fellow Fairies, often delivering a knockout blow. The problem, of course, is that like other Charmers, you're unlikely to reach it in multiples, since Charm only generates a way below average 2.0 Energy Per Turn (EPT), tied for worst energy generation in the game. It also has Psychic for coverage, or Moonblast for big STAB damage, but the likelihood of reaching any of those in a critical spot is rather low since Charm is just SO slow to get there. So it has sat, languishing, as other interesting Charmers have come along and is now, at best, just part of a growing pack of similiar Pokémon.
That ALL changes with the addition of Fairy Wind and its 4.5 EPT. Not only does this allow it to finally break away from the pack and make its own unique mark, but it works REALLY well with its moves. Spamming a Meteor Mash every 6 seconds (or thanks to carryover energy, just 5 seconds between the second and third Mash) sounds pretty good to me! And indeed, as compared to Charm, you can see immediate improvement in Great League, with new wins against Noctowl (!!!), Azumarill, Froslass, Diggersby, Alolan Ninetales, and somehow even Fairy slayer Shadow Victreebel by slamming it with two Meteor Mashes. Even after all that, though, it remains underwater overall as far as win/loss record goes, though beating Medicham and Noctowl and all else that you'd expect of a good Fairy give it some great corebreaking potential.
For the eye-popping numbers, we actually turn to Ultra League, where Clef turns from this into this. Yes, that IS more than double its former win total (and a jump from under 30% winrate to now 60%!), with those new wins coming versus Walrein, A-Ninetales, Sylveon, Aurorus, Cobalion, Dubwool, Snorlax, Drapion, DDeoxys, and even resists-all-of-Clefable's-moves Escavalier! And if its relatively high XL cost is scaring you, fear not... you can build a hundo to 2499 CP and miss out only on Walrein and Greedent, for what that's worth. Put simply, Clefable is one of the biggest winners in this rebalance, moving from a previous rank of #145 in Open UL all the way up now to #28, with Tapu Fini being the only Fairy ranked higher!

More of a footnote is TOGETIC, which now also learns Fairy Wind, and boy did it need that. Previously having to rely on the mostly awful Hidden Power (in which case you usually had to hope to get lucky with Flying type H.P.) or the subpar Extrasensory, it was left looking quite pitiful. But now, at least it could be spice in the right meta, maybe.
WIGGLYTUFF did not get Fairy Wind, but it is receiving Disarming Voice, a move I've been wishing would be more widely distributed for years. A Fairy-type clone of moves like Psyshock, Magnet Bomb, and Foul Play, it's a more-than-passable move, and quietly the cheapest one that Fairy has available...15 less energy than Play Rough and Moonblast, and better Damage Per Energy {DPE} than the former. Anyway, seeing as Wigglytuff currently relies on Play Rough, Voice likely now slots in as its replacement for a little more shield pressure and new wins like Azumarill and Lickitung. The needle doesn't move too much, but the improvement is still appreciated!
PRIMARINA also gets Voice, but it doesn't really help it... yet. Prima IS a little underrated in Master League, where its Water typing is much more help (resisting Ice, Fire, Water) than hindrance (very little Grass and Electric around to exploit it). But it won't really take off until it also eventually gets Hydro Cannon... sometime in 2025? At that point, it will appreciate having cheap Disarming Voice alongside Cannon more, I think.

LONG STORY SHORT, Fairy Wind Clefable is one of those rather rare overnight sensations that could see an immediate usage spike in Ultra League and as a nice corebreaker in Great League (the pickup against Noctowl really pushing it over the top). It really appreciates the extra energy to spam charge moves, and has just enough variety between Meteor Mash, Psychic (the move!), and Moonblast to keep the opponent guessing and shielding when they really don't want to. The other Fairies with new toys (Togetic and Wigglytuff especially) appreciate small bumps in performance, but are unlikely to suddenly appear where they weren't already.

DRILL RUNNIN' 🔥

As with Fairy Wind, there are only two new recipients of Drill Run, but both are very interesting.
We'll start with ALOLAN SANDSLASH. It sees some play already in both Great (including the Shadow variant and Ultra Leagues, usually with former Community Day move Shadow Claw to give it a unique profile, and spammy Ice Punch and typically Bulldoze for coverage. Bulldoze has excellent coverage (primarily versus Rocks, Steels, and Fires that give A-Slash a lot of trouble otherwise), but isn't a very good move (60 energy for only 80 damage). Drill Run is a strict upgrade, dealing the same 80 Ground-type damage for only 45 energy, a big savings.
Looking simply at simulation numbers, Drill Run doesn't seem to be a great improvement in Great or Ultra, with just occasional new wins popping up like UL Scizor or GL Alolan Marowak in certain shielding scenarios. But this goes beyond the numbers. Those who already use and love A-Slash will greatly appreciate the extra pressure that comes with Drill Run, as it can now be sprung for just 5 more energy than Ice Punch, making each shielding decision that much sweatier for the opponent. Even without STAB, Drill Run still deals quite a bit more damage than Ice Punch versus neutral targets, so this isn't just for strict coverage either. In every way, this makes Alolan Sandslash better, and better at covering its backside. I think players that don't already use A-Slash may come to better appreciate and respect it now too, and perhaps not just in Limited metas!
Perhaps even more interesting (and, frankly, unexpected) is DEWGONG, the poor WateIce type that has NEVER had a move rebalance other than taking its two best moves (Ice Shard and Icy Wind) away. Niantic has finally given it a LOT of love in this update, with Drill Run providing new coverage, and new move Liquidation finally giving it a viable Water move too. (Water Pulse and Aqua Jet are both terrible, folks... so much so that I've always recommended Blizzard as Dewgong's second move. For example, did you know that it tends to lose to Alolan Marowak with super effective Pulse but actually wins with resisted Blizzard?!) Anyway, I do think you want to definitely keep Icy Wind, so then your choice becomes Drill Run to have a shot at things like Froslass, Toxicroak, Lanturn (with Water Gun), and the aforementioned Alolan Marowak, or Liquidation to better outrace Skarmory and Alolan Ninetales? Either way, you get things like Azumarill and Dunsparce now, and still beat things that don't show in those sims like Swampert and Sableye by remaining fully commited to Icy Wind spam. And while you don't see a lot of new Rock or Steel or Fire wins popping up, Drill Run especially gives them all serious pause, forcing them to shield where they really never had to worry about it much before. (Because, again, Water Pulse is awful.)
So not really a great case for Liquidation here, but this is at least a way to transition into covering that move more fully next!
LONG STORY SHORT, both Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash immediately get better (and get better coverage) with Drill Run in the mix. I think it will be their preferred secondary/closing move going forward, and both will see a bump in play.

LIQUIDATION... GOING OUT OF BUSINESS ALREADY?

So about that new move Liquidation. It's a good if not fantastic move, an exact clone of Crunch... same cost (45 energy), damage (70), and potential debuff (30% chance to reduce the opponent's Defense). Not game breaking, but very, very solid.
But the real question is... do any of the things that recieve it really want it, and if so, do any of them notably improve in PvP?
I'm gonna save you some time (and me some characters!) by immediately pushing many of its recipients right off the raft.

I think CLOYSTER actually prefers to hold on to a big closer like Hydro Pump rather than Liquidation, preferring to soften things up with Icy Wind and then go in for the kill. Pass.
Similarly, all of the following prefer to keep existing movesets: SAMUROTT (Hydro Cannon/Megahorn), CARRACOSTA (Body Slam/Surf), BEARTIC (Ice Punch/Aqua Tail), EELEKTROSS (Dragon Claw/Crunch). All remain fringe at best.
VAPOREON basically views Liquidation as a sidegrade to existing Scald, though Liquidation is NOT Legacy as Scald is, so it's worth it for any Vapes that don't have its old Community Day move. But Vaporeon remains mostly on the outside looking in at better Water types in various Leagues. No real boost here.
GOLDUCK sees a slight bump with Liquidation, but remains just a spice play, at best.
There is a reason you have never seen FLOATZEL in PvP... it has terrible charge moves. Bad, bad moves like Swift and Aqua Jet, with Hydro Pump as a passable closer but stymied due to average-at-best energy gains from Water Gun or Waterfall. Liquidation is in some ways just what the doctor ordered, but uh... Floatzel still sinks in PvP.
ARMALDO remains a lost cause as well. If you want a GOOD Rocky Bug, use Crustle. If you want a spice one, go with the new Kleavor. If you want to just tank your ELO, THEN maybe consider Armaldo. That's about it though, even with the new move.

Man, quite a bummer, right? Decent move, but really nothing that gets it stands to benefit in a way that will impact PvP. So moving on then to... wait, what? I missed one? Oh... OH! So I did. And thankfully, we can end this section on a good note... because GOLISOPOD just became a bit more interesting.
Remember that when it was first released, it was a completely lost cause, with Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, and Waterfall as its clumsy fast moves, and underwhelming X-Scissor, **Aerial Ace, and somehow even worse Aqua Jet as its only charge moves. That left it in a very sad state. Eventually, it acquired Shadow Claw, which made it at least slightly interesting. And now comes the charge move it's been begging for, with Liquidation elevating it into spice territory, at the very least. Now you can potentially beat things like Charizard, Nidoqueen, Alolan Sandslash, Alolan Ninetales (Powder Snow), Talonflame, Cobalion, and Sylveon that you couldn't before, though even as bad as Aerial Ace is, giving it up means you generally now lose some Grasses like Venusaur and Virizion. Still though, things are looking up for Golisopod!
LONG STORY SHORT, while Liquidation is actually a nice addition to Water's arsenal (a clone of Crunch, including the debuff chance), the only thing that gets it initially that really looks to benefit is Golisopod. Stay tuned to what may get it down the road, though... most of its current recipients just have more problems than Liquidation alone can solve.

THE LEAF AGE BEGINS?

Probably haven't seen Bullet Punch in PvP much, have you? Scizor and Metagross use it, and uh... that's about the extent of it. But it's actually a pretty good PvP fast move, with the average 3.0 Damage Per Turn (DPT) but above average energy generation (3.5 EPT). And now here comes Leafage, an exact clone of Bullet Punch for the Grass typing. The number of things that get it is quite a bit smaller than Liquidation (only three evolutionary lines), but I think this is a clear case of quality over quantity in Leafage's favor.

I could write an entire article on the injustices done to DECIDUEYE in Pokémon GO. All its interesting moves in MSG, and here it sits with underpowered Shadow Sneak, overpriced Energy Ball, and big but risky closer Brave Bird, and all locked behind low-energy Razor Leaf or arguably worst fast move in the game Astonish. #JusticeForDecidueye! While I do still hope for an eventual and LONG overdue buff to Astonish, for now the addition of Leafage should be a big help, right? Weeeeeeeell..... I mean, yes, it is most certainly better, and will become even a bit moreso when it eventually gets Frenzy Plant. But clearly, it's problems are not JUST the fast moves. Heck, pre-evolution DARTRIX (who has also been trapped behind Razor Leaf) even looks better than Deci in the here and now, thanks in large part to having Seed Bomb as a more workable second charge move to set up Brave Bird. It does seem that even though ROWLETT also gets Leafage, it may still prefer to keep existing Razor Leaf down in Little League, where Razor Leaf can admittedly be particularly dominant.
LURANTIS (and Little League pre-evolution FOMANTIS) operates nicely right now as sort of a Jack of all trades with Fury Cutter (and its Bug damage output) powering up Leaf Blade and Superpower (well, Grass Knot in Fomantis' case). Superpower allows for some nutty wins like Bastiodon, Galarian Stunfisk, and excecuted properly, even Registeel, clearly showing Lurantis' appeal. So does Leafage help or disrupt the good Lurantis has already got going? Eh, I think we're gonna call it a sidegrade, though a tasty one for sure. Lurantis does give up a couple things where the effectiveness of Fury Cutter wins the day (Cresselia, Shadow Victreebel) and loses a little speed, which flips Shadow Alolan Sandslash to a loss. (Luratnis cannot hit a Leaf Blade AND followon Superpower in time with Leafage like it can with Fury Cutter.) But Leafage is able to carve out new wins like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Pelipper with superior neutral fast move damage (as opposed to resisted Bug damage), and also can outrace Walrein far more reliably. So not an upgrade, but a nice sidegrade like this can add some disruption into appropriate metas just fine.
Speaking of disruption, let's check out ABOMASNOW. Obviously it runs more as an Ice than a Grass, humming along nicely in multiple metas with Powder Snow and Weather Ball (Ice) and Energy Ball for a big Grass closer when the situation calls for it. And more than likely, it will mostly continue in that configuration moving forward. BUT, Leafage may be preferred in certain metas now, at least, and not just because it now slams the door on Water types (instead of sometimes merely scraping by with Powder Snow). In Great League, where ShadowBama is usually preferred, Powder Snow continues to shine out, but it's worth noting that while Leafage is an overall downgrade, most of the wins it gives up are versus Flyers (Altaria, Noctowl, Skarmory, Mandibuzz), with new losses to Umbreon and Venusaur as the most notable exceptions. Leafage DOES make some new key contributions like Powder Alolan Ninetales and Galarian Stunfisk that may come more to the fore in Limited metas with, say, fewer Flyers? Just saying. In Ultra League, the biggest knock against Leafage is that it drops the Giratinas (as compared to Powder Snow), but otherwise Leafage makes a pretty strong case with pickups of Poliwrath, Walrein, and Alolan Ninetales (with Powder Snow OR Charm). I think Leafage deserves some real consideration at Ultra League level!

LONG STORY SHORT, no huge improvements to be found with Leafage, but it does earn a rightful place as a robust sidegrade consideration for the Lurantis and Abomasnow lines (particularly with Ultra League Aboma). It's an upgrade for the Rowlett/Dartrix/Decidueye line, though Deci itself remains middling at best until it one day gets Frenzy Plant (or just some more synergistic charge moves in general!). Leafage SHOULD start popping up here and there in PvP soon, moreso than Liquidation likely will.

JUST A BRUSH FIRE, REALLY

Honestly, I expected a number of things to get Mystical Fire after it recently entered the game, but for now, Niantic chose to distribute it to only two new Pokémon:

As I mentioned in my analysis on Mystical Fire back during Delphox Community Day, DRIFBLIM is an intriguing choice. Mystical Fire and existing Blim coverage move Icy Wind share the same stats aside from typing, so this is almost the very definition of sidegrade... against neutral targets they do the exact same thing, so it just comes down to effectiveness. If Blim is facing something burnable (like a Steel, Ice, or Bug type), it will prefer to have Mystical Fire. For things weak to Ice, like Flyers and Dragons and Grounds, obviously it will want to be packing Icy Wind instead. (Grasses are weak to both Fire and Ice, so usually no change there, aside from things like Abomasnow with a subtyping that favors one or the other... in that case, Mystical Fire is double super effective and Icy Wind is merely neutral.) I'm not going to bother with the sims, as they're close to indistinguishable at a high level, but I WILL note that Mystical Fire can potentially beat Galarian Stunfisk at Ultra League level, and more definitely beats G-Fisk AND A-Slash, Skarmory, and even Registeel at Great League level, none of which Icy Wind can realistically hope to replicate. (Its only standouts are things like Gliscor.) Yes, giving up Icy Wind means completely abandoning hope versus things like Ghost-resistant Pidgeot and especially Noctowl, but overall? I think Drifblim might be getting much hotter soon, in several senses of the word! 🔥
Not nearly as exciting, I admit, but note that LITWICK also gets Mystical Fire. It's really only for Little League use, and has been an interesting but lesser-used Fire type, falling behind things like Vulpix, Growlithe, and Tepig thanks to them having some good neutral coverage, while Litwick has been stuck with just Flame Charge and two other rather Fire charge moves. Mystical Fire slots in as a nearly straight upgrade with pickups that include Wynaut, Vullaby, Obstagoon (for LL Cups where it's allowed), and... Vulpix, regardless of which fast move 'Pix is using. Something to look forward to in the next Little League rotation!

LONG STORY SHORT, Mystical Fire IS likely the default coverage move of choice for Drifblim going forward, just because of the number of burnable things (as opposed to freezeable things) in its respective metas, Great League especially. Except to see Blim soar up a little higher than it has in a while. It's also a nice upgrade for Litwick, who should finally emerge as a true Fire contender in Little League formats.

ODDS AND ENDS

Going to put everything else together in this last main section, but don't mistake that to mean they're less important... quite the contrary! Just doing this because these are all one-offs, as opposed to the changes above which directly affected multiple Pokémon recipients.
Before I dive into the specific move additions, let's briefly review the existing moves that are being buffed or nerfed in this update.

Icicle Spear - 60 power → 65 power. Obviously this only affects WALREIN (for now), and is obviously a strict upgrade, since the cost and all else remains the same, just more damage. Specifically, at a high level, I see Walrein picking up things like Skarmory and Umbreon (non-Shadow) and Trevenant, Pelipper, and Azumarill (Shadow) in Great League, and stuff like Shadow Alolan Ninetales and Virizion in Ultra League. So yeah... you didn't need me to tell you this was an improvement, but maybe that helps you decide how much of an improvement and whether you want to turn back to Wally if you ever turned away before. I'd say Great League in particular has reason to fear it a bit more again.
Poison Fang - 40 power → 45 power. More things affected by this than Icicle Spear, but obviously most of you just want to know about NIDOQUEEN, so in the interest of time and... well, interest, we'll just highlight her for now. Again, you don't need me to tell you this only makes things with Poison Fang better, but HOW much better? Honestly not too much changes in Great League (as far as straight wins a losses go, though this is undoubtedly scarier now!), but in Ultra League, I see new wins for Queen versus things like Charizard, Pidgeot, Cresselia, Dubwool, Obstagoon, AND Guzzlord, among others, so this is no small tweak! Might Nidoqueen be "back"? Only time will tell. Admittedly, what made it SO scary in the past was the cheaper cost of Poison Fang, and that hasn't changed, so I don't see it returning to full dominance like she once enjoyed. I also think she was treated rather harshly even before this buff... she didn't fall off quite as hard as many made it out to be. This will reveal that more fully... she's not so much "back" as much as I think she never really left. Also keep in mind things like GOLBAT/CROBAT and SALAZZLE/SALANDIT that stand to benefit from this as well!
Rollout - 4 power → 5 power. So low power that I can tell you this won't be a big shift, but obviously it DOES help. DUNSPARCE picks up a potential win over Shadow Alolan Ninetales (hey, Rollout is super effective, so....), and MILTANK a new win versus Shadow Swampert, of all things, and sometimes (Water Gun) Lanturn when utilizing Ice Beam instead of my personal recommendation of Thunderbolt (which beats Lanturn as well). It tends to prefer Tackle in Ultra League, though newly buffed Rollout is MUCH improved now with new wins versus Cresselia, Drapion, Umbreon, Alolan Muk, AND Walrein. Perhaps Tackle won't be the default now? As for ALOLAN GOLEM, Volt Switch just remains a much better move in nearly every scenario and meta. Stick with that, I say, and get all the Rock damage you need from the charge moves instead. 🪨
Mud Bomb - 55 power → 60 power. The two big ones that come to mind are TOXICROAK and WHISCASH, the latter of which honestly needed a boost like this. However, this small a bump looks and feels like more of a "win more" where they already won more than anything. The only notable new win I see (at the high level this massive rebalance is demanding of little old me!) is Toxicroak versus Trevenant, though I think that's more due to Trevenant's nerf (which we'll get to in a moment) than Toxicroak's resisted Mud Bomb dealing a tiny bit more damage. (And upon further review, it may be neither of those and instead just come down to move timing.. but leaving Trevor in here as it's a good setup for later.) The big winner here is actually QUAGSIRE, who FINALLY gets a charge move cheaper than 55 energy to reach the same spam potential as its fellow Mud Boys. It's hard to show how this improves things in simulations, as they actually tend to favor Earthquake in many situations (such as in 1v1 shielding, where Quake shows additional wins against things like Azu, Sable, Swampert, and Umbreon), but the difference is more obvious when you go 2v2 shielding, and the extra spam of Mud Bomb shows out with new wins that include Froslass, Jellicent, Toxicroak, Shadow Alolan Ninetales, and Shadow Walrein. I actually don't know if this will actually bump up Quagsire's useage or not, though it's shot up about 60 slots to #15 in PvPoke's rankings. Not sure if that will match reality, but I DO think it's time to see if you have a good PvP Quag to perhaps take out for a spin and see. It certainly has some exciting new potential it's never had before!
Seed Bomb - 55 power → 60 power, Energy Cost Increased. The only thing on this list that's not a straight upgrade, getting the same damage boost as Mud Bomb but increased cost to go with it... mostly, I feel, as a backdoor way to bring Trevenant down a bit. (And indeed, PvPoke has dropped Trev 25 slots from #10 to #35 in Ultra League, and down nearly 70 slots in Great League from Top 10 to outside the Top 70!) I certainly don't think Trevor will be going away -- it still breaks several cores across multiple Leagues -- but this is undoubtedly a hit. In Great League, it looks like it's now at a disadvantage against things it used to be able to beat like Walrein, Talonflame, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, and even Toxicroak. The hit is a bit less severe in Ultra League (where it can hang in longer to somewhat compensate for the increased energy needed), but it does still lose former wins like Jellicent and the re-buffed Nidoqueen. Most of the rest of the collateral damage will be felt in Little League, where several notable things have Seed Bomb (like Bulbasaur, Exeggcute, Oddish, etc.). Note much of note in bigger Leagues, though it IS noteworthy that WHIMSICOTT is getting Seed Bomb for the first time. And yes, I think it DOES become the favorite in most circumstances over existing Grass Knot, despite the latter being a "better" move (50 energy for 90 damage) and using that to get a couple unique wins still like Diggersby and Lickitung, because Seed Bomb brings new bait potential to set up big Moonblast wins over Cresselia, Pelipper, Toxicroak, Vigoroth, and Trevenant. Not sure Whimsie is suddenly going to bust out in Open Great League or anything, but I think it's very safe to say it just became a bit scarier and more versatile in Limited metas for sure.

And there are all the actual move "rebalances". Now to wrap it up real quick with a final list of existing moves now assigned to new Pokémon!

PROBOPASS is in some ways similar to Defense Deoxys, in that it has long had three charge moves that seemed almost interchangeable in overall performance. Rock Slide is pretty standard for Probo, and most folks also run it with Thunderbolt, but it's so lackluster than even Magnet Bomb has always hung around as a viable alternative. Well that changes now, as its bulk allows it to make good use of new addition Zap Cannon. I think it and Rock Slide are the new standard, along with Spark to power them out, and that combo brings in new wins over Sableye and Umbreon, along with wider margins of victory over things it just scraped past before like Cresselia and Bastiodon. Probo used to escape them both with less than 10 HP, but now waddles away with quite a bit more than that. Not sure if this will send it up the charts (Bastiodon itself is still usually preferred), but it IS a more intriguing alternative now.
HEATRAN can learn Earth Power now! But uh... you still don't want it, sorry. At least give it Incinerate, Niantic... c'mon!
A MUCH more interesting Rock type is CRADILY, now getting some more speed with Rock Slide as a new alternative to Stone Edge. In my first blush analysis on the day of these many announced changes, I speculated that Cradily may want both Rock charge moves going forward, as it still beat things like Lanturn and even Swampert without needing Grass Knot. But in hindsight... nah, I think you want to instead just swap out Edge for Slide and be done with it. Keeping this short and sweet, here are some of my findings when comparing these side by side (by side): Grass Knot is absolutely needed to beat Diggersby, and is obviously the surest way to beat Waters and Ground (and/or Rock) types in general (including having ANY shot at beating up things like Galarian Stunfisk and Bastiodon). The raw power of Stone Edge is still the best way to punch out things like Alolan Ninetales, Lickitung, and Shadow Victreebel. But the speed of Rock Slide (10 less energy than Edge) adds the potential to now handle stuff like Cresselia, Alolan Marowak, Sableye, Venusaur, and most notably, Noctowl. That's right... Cradily now becomes a handy way to handle Lanturn AND Noctowl, among many others, and can also beat popular Sableye as well. Corebreaker potential on the rise. Dilly dilly!
Look, URSALUNA continues to disappoint and likely always will until it gets a better fast move than Tackle. I know it, you know it, basically everyone but Niantic (and maybe TPCi) knows it. But as I wrote when Luna was first released, Ice Punch at least gives it the most bite of the three main elemental Punches, and until now it was the only one Ursaluna could not learn. Now it can! That gives it a bit more reach in Master League (the one League where it currently has any real play at all) with all the Dragons already. Specifically, Ice Punch allows it to now consistently beat Garchomp and Landorus, so that's nice. But come on, Niantic. Give the people what they want!.
Let's be honest: the addition of Brutal Swing to the arsenal of TYRANITAR is more a cause of celebration for raiding than it is for PvP. (New top Dark type in PvE, I hear!) But yes, it DOES help in PvP too. Tyranitar has the size to work in Master League, but even with Brutal Swing, it's still an awkward fit. The one place I have seen it pop up here and there is actually in Great League, albeit in Limited metas only. While those opportunities are relatively rare, I am happy to report that Brutal Swing is a noted improvement over former best Crunch, adding on wins you would expect of a Dark type (Sableye, Cofagrigus, Jellicent) and a few you might not expect (Drapion, Toxapex, and finally it can beat Altaria!). Still more niche than meta, but at least it's an improving niche!
And finally, we come to humble little EMOLGA, and the first non-Community Day recipient of Acrobatics. Long-time (or even some short-time!) readers have surely seen me write many times about Aerial Ace. It's a passable move -- barely -- dealing 55 damage for 45 energy. Boooooring, but it usually works JUST enough to not be total trash. It's a move I would LOVE to see buffed a little at some point, but it's also a move currently assigned to a massive number of Pokémon, and unlikely to change unless Niantic wants to REALLY shake up PvP. And like way too many Pokémon, poor Emolga has long been stuck with dull old Ace as its only Flying move, leaving what should be an exciting option languishing in obscurity. But now, finally, this mighty mouse may be about to soar! Just look at the HUGE names it can now beat: Medicham. Lickitung. Sableye. Shadow Swampert. Trevenant. Shadow Alolan Ninetales. And Cresselia and even Froslass for good measure. Those are some really big names, folks. Did Emolga just go from being afterthought behind Zapdos to passing it completely? I think it may have! If, like me, you've been holding on to a good one and just biding your time... well, that time is now, my friend! ⚡

Speaking of time, though... it's up! The new season is here! So we're gonna wrap it up right here for now. I hope this was as helpful a read as it was LONG. 🙃
Until next time, you can find me on Twitter or Patreon. Or please feel free to comment here with your own thoughts or questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!
Stay safe out there, Pokéfriends. Best of luck this season, and catch you next time!

This post is in response to this video.
David open the video VERY upset. Big mad energy. Why? Well, let's let him tell it...

"There's somebody going around sayin' that I made a claim that little kids are being taken by Big Foot. Never said that. Ever...and they're lying. And, it's just to demean me and to make me look foolish in the eyes of some. And, I think it's a shot at my credibility by this, uh, law enforcement person. I've never met the man. I have no idea who he is and I'm not going to give them two minutes of my time. But it is slander because I never even came close to saying something like that. A couple of you have written to me and said "Dave, did you ever say that?" No. I didn't and if you could go into that video - I'm not going to give them any publicity of what it is- go back and say "you're an outright liar" and have 'em quote where I said it, 'cause he can't."

Let's look at this carefully and just address it here. Because, while the words, "Bigfoot did it" have probably never come out of Paulides' mouth, his writings and his suggestions are a different matter.
M411 Profile Points Come From Bigfoot Books
DP does not outright say that Bigfoot is behind so called Missing 411 disappearances, but his M411 framework is demonstrably derived from his two Bigfoot books: The Hoopa Project (HP) and Tribal Bigfoot (TB). There are countless examples in this document. Most of the original M411 profile points are directly lifted from HP and TB and M411 cases are deliberately distorted to look like Bigfoot encounters. It's worth noting that one of the bigger arguments in Tribal Big Foot and the Hoopa Project are that BIG FOOT LIVES IN NATIONAL PARKS AND FORESTS.
DP Says These Are Abduction Cases
DP has in interviews stated that these cases are in fact abduction cases and that you are not a loon for thinking it is Bigfoot. DP claims that the thing that is behind M411 is one hundred percent effective (and non-human) and DP “uses” offender profiling - not to learn more about the M411 abductor - but to create the M411 abductor.
DP also sees scratches, screams and the FBI showing up as evidence people are abducted.
The M411 Abductor Looks Like A Bear, But It Is Not A Bear
Every time a bear is mentioned in newspaper articles DP goes out of his way to convince his readers that it was not really a bear, even when someone says that they saw a bear DP tells his readers it was not a bear. So DP thinks that the M411 abductor looks like a bear, but that it’s not a bear. When asked what Bigfoot might look like, DP claims "like a bear, but upright, and bipedal."
Criteria: Water
In TB (Tribal Bigfoot) DP explains that Bigfoot lives next to bodies of water and DP uses the expression “bodies of water” a lot when talking about M411.

TB, p 85: “This section really isn't about how Bigfoot may obtain water; it is about the rationale of many sightings and incidents so close to bodies of water. In the Bigfoot sightings map section I noted several facts about the map that showed a large percentage of the sightings occur close to water- an abnormal number of sightings.”
TB, p 85: “In Robert Alley’s book, Raincoast Sasquatch (2003, Hancock House) he describes several incidents where Bigfoot is seen swimming in British Columbia and Alaska waters. On page 51, paragraph 2, he writes, ‘Its style of swimming is commonly noted as submerged, not on-the-surface style one might expect to hear for any ape or other primate, or the crawl style if one were to think of a human.’ This style of swimming falls into a category that caused NABS to reflect on the proximity Bigfoot has to water and the benefits of that association.”

So... Bigfoot is like a nuclear sub that just pops out of water to abduct people? Or Nessie?

TB, p 86: “If Bigfoot traveled predominantly at night, the likelihood of witnesses seeing the creature floating the river, or swimming the river submerged (as Alley describes the swimming in his book) would be unlikely. It would be a very efficient method to move great distances in a very stealthy manner. It would also be a very good method to sneak up and ambush prey going to the river at night to drink, similar to the way an alligator slowly moves up on animals drinking from a river bank.”

In M411 book(s)
DP explains that missing persons are found near water.

NAAB (North American and Beyond), p X: “Missing are found in or near creeks, rivers, or other bodies of water.”

In a Spaced Out Radio interview (David Paulides - Missing 411 with David Paulides) DP speculates “a person in a submarine” uses rivers and lakes to access different locations in its hunt for M411 victims. This mirrors what he said in TB (Tribal Bigfoot) above. Please note British Columbia once again is mentioned.

DP: “So I've always said that this is related to water. So you guys have the Fraser River that empties at least nine different lakes… and to me that is strange because you have the ocean that feeds the Fraser that goes upstream to these eight nine lakes that goes in between all of these mountains that gives you access to all these different points and it's like the highway if… if you were a person that could be in a submarine you could use that to go everywhere almost in southern British Columbia. I'm not saying that that is it, but I've always said that water is somehow key to this and it really plays out in Vancouver, Vancouver Island, all the lakes the Fraser flows to. I mean, it’s right there.”

So, now, rather than call it "bigfoot" (as he's implying)...it's an abductor in a submarine?
Evelyn Rauch (3)
Alberta, July 1934
Evelyn was a Canadian girl who wandered off from her farm due to a lack of parental supervision. She was found alive a couple of days later in tall grass next to a river. Rather than accept the police reports, DP invents a scenario where water gives you access to other locations (like described above).

NAAB, p. 313: “The last important fact is the location where Evelyn was found, on the banks of a slough. This is a location next to water, a location where there is access to other locations via the water, rather than having to walk across land.”

Did he say Bigfoot took her? No. But, he's implying that she ended up where she ended up because an abductor, that's not a bear and not a human, could've used an underwater for transporting live victims.
Criteria: Berries
In Bigfoot book(s)
In TB DP explains that berries are an important food source for Bigfoot.

TB, p 81: “There will never be an argument about whether berries are a substantial food source for all bears; bears seek berries out when they come into season, as they offer a significant source of vitamins and energy. There have also been many sightings of Bigfoot either eating berries or being near berry bushes, and there have been many Bigfoot tracks found near berry bushes. The oldest bigfoot sighting noted in this book- the Marble Mountain sighting in ‘The Hermit of Siskiyou’ - talks about the creature at a berry bush eating berries.”

The same information in HP.

HP, p 60: “The berries are an obvious source of nutrition for the bears. Once you complete reading the sightings section of the book you will understand that the berries are also a large part of the Bigfoot diet.”

In TB DP describes a Bigfoot encounter where a child, who is picking huckleberries, is scared by a Bigfoot.

TB, p 231: “She was trying to concentrate on the picking and to go home, as it was getting cold. There were two large huckleberry bushes behind the ones she was working and she saw those bushes to the rear start to shake violently. Then she heard loud, bipedal footsteps. Jan said the footsteps were so loud she could almost feel the rumble on the ground. Her dog was with her and he immediately took off running back to the car. She tried to see what was shaking the bush, but thought it would be more prudent if she also left the area.”

In M411 book(s)
In his M411 books DP also sees berries as a food source, but here he acts like he does not know why berries are important.

EUS, p 8: “Included a section on missing berry pickers because it was a unique subset of people missing in the wild. The missing in this bracket are predominantly older, but there are eight under the age often, and the circumstances of their disappearance is quite troubling. Seven of twenty-one listed are missing from Canada, a significant percentage of missing berry pickers. Many of the places where these individuals went missing are very desolate but abundant with food source at the time. There never was a conclusion on what happened to these people except in circumstances in which a body was found. None of the berry pickers was found to be taken by a bear or killed by a bear.”

So, hold up.... how do you know a bear wasn't involved if the body WASN'T found?

NAAB, p. X: “Berries are inextricably related somehow with the disappearance.”

Let's see what Paulides says about some of the cases.
Gunnar Peterson (65)
Washington, August 1950
Gunnar was an older man who fell and hit his head while picking berries. He was found alive in a cabin after nine days. DP again claims not to understand why berries are important.

NAAB, p 13: “The people who disappear huckleberry picking are some of the most difficult cases, and I have no idea why. What could be the association of a man picking huckleberries in the woods and his subsequent disappearance?”

This is the equivalent of spending years telling a child that Santa Claus is real, buying presents, and then standing in front of the tree on Christmas morning pretending you don't know how the gifts got there...while gaslighting the child about Santa. David, I address this to YOU, people are saying you're linking Bigfoot because they're not children on Christmas morning and they can see through your attempted ruse.
Unknown Name (1)
Michigan, August 1909
A young child who was taken by a brown bear when his/her mother and sibling were picking huckleberries on the Macintosh plains. The Sheriff and a posse of ten men could not find any trace of the child or of the bear according to an article.

NAAB, p 240: “The other odd coincidence in this case that has been found in many other cases is the activity of the adult picking berries, specifically huckleberries. I understand that berries are an important food source for many animals in the region, but it's hard to comprehend what is the triggering mechanism that causes the children to permanently vanish.”

How is it hard to comprehend that a one year old could be picked off by a wild animal when the animal finds it in a berry patch?
Douglas Stofer (2)
Michigan, September 1949
Douglas disappeared from his parents’ vineyard about six pm and he was found alive four hours later a mile from his home. A local cocker spaniel found him so what happened to “dogs can’t pick up a scent”?

NAAB, p 243: “At first glance, and without the knowledge gained from reading
the other ‘Missing 411’ books, the disappearance of Douglas Stofer may seem normal. It's when you start to look at all of the elements involved in the disappearances that certain facets start making regular appearances in many of these missing-persons cases. … Douglas vanished while his parents were picking food; grapes and berries seem to be one food source around which children seem to disappear.”

Eva Hall (13)
Ontario, August 1932
Eva went missing when she was picking berries. She was found alive a couple of days later. DP thinks that she was not found though.

NAAB, p 342: “I have written extensively about the relationship between berries and missing people. There was an entire chapter written in Missing 411-Eastern United States about missing berry pickers. The most dangerous berries to pick are, without a doubt, huckleberries. I have no understanding why huckleberries represent the most dangerous berry, but people picking these berries who disappear are rarely found.”

Part 2, coming soon.
This is a group project.

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30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series Part #1 Post Series Link Summary!

Emergency On Planet Earth Album Era (1992-1993)

The Return Of The Space Cowboy Album Era (1994-1996)

Travelling Without Moving Album Era (1996-1997)

Synkronized Album Era (1998-1999)

Bonus Section: Single By Single LineaSong Notes:

WHEN YOU GONNA LEARN (1992-1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

TOO YOUNG TO DIE (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

BLOW YOUR MIND (1993):

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EMERGENCY ON PLANET EARTH (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

SPACE COWBOY (1994):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

HALF THE MAN (1994):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

LIGHT YEARS (1994-1995):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

STILLNESS IN TIME (1995):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

VIRTUAL INSANITY (1996):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

COSMIC GIRL (1996-1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

ALRIGHT (1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

HIGH TIMES (1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU'RE COMING FROM? (1996):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

CANNED HEAT (1999):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

BLACK CAPRICORN DAY (1999-2000):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

SUPERSONIC (1999):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

DEEPER UNDERGROUND (1998):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

SUMMARY PART #2 COMING SOON!

30 Years Of Jamiroquai All Of The Remixes/B-Sides Series Part #1 Post Series Link Summary!

Emergency On Planet Earth Album Era (1992-1993)

The Return Of The Space Cowboy Album Era (1994-1996)

Travelling Without Moving Album Era (1996-1997)

Synkronized Album Era (1998-1999)

Bonus Section: Single By Single LineaSong Notes:

WHEN YOU GONNA LEARN (1992-1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

TOO YOUNG TO DIE (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

BLOW YOUR MIND (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

EMERGENCY ON PLANET EARTH (1993):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

SPACE COWBOY (1994):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

HALF THE MAN (1994):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

LIGHT YEARS (1994-1995):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

STILLNESS IN TIME (1995):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

VIRTUAL INSANITY (1996):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

COSMIC GIRL (1996-1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

ALRIGHT (1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

HIGH TIMES (1997):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU'RE COMING FROM? (1996):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

CANNED HEAT (1999):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

BLACK CAPRICORN DAY (1999-2000):

MORE INFO ABOUT THESE RELEASES:

SUPERSONIC (1999):