My partner (25F) and I (26M) have 3 children, the latest of the 3 was born three weeks ago. I stated before the 3rd pregnancy that I don't want to have any children under the age of 3 in my 30's because we'll have spent the majority of our twenties looking after babies and toddlers.
I love in the UK, they will not give you a vasectomy while your partner is pregnant. Throughout the pregnancy my partner has made an uncountable number of both passive aggressive and aggressive comments about me getting a vasectomy booked as soon as possible. Which I have been unable to do until my third was born. I want the procedure, I don't want any additional children.
Everytime I mentioned phoning the doctor for a referral following the birth of our child she has made excuses for me not to phone. "What if they want you to go in right away, I need you at home" and that was absolutely fair, so I put it off until my paternity leave was coming to an end. I called last Thursday, got my letter yesterday and due to a cancellation I'm going for the procedure tomorrow, which I'm really happy about.
Now I know my partner, she never approaches a subject directly. She'll make excuses, hint at things and then deny only to get upset a week or two later and tell me directly. She does this with absolutely everything. And that's fine it's one of her quirks.
Problem is, since telling her yesterday that I've got the appointment, she's started with the excuses. "The kids will have to stay at your mam's" (The two older kids who have a tendency to impact my testacles on a daily basis.) Would like to say I've not requested this, the kids can stay at home, I can just guard the effected area. The number of baby photos she sends me throught the day has increased volume with additional comments like "We made these" "We make cute babies" and a collage of all three kids wearing the same sleepsuit at the same age. I appreciate the images but again, I know her and I know the purpose of the messages.
She has gone to great lengths to find out every possible thing that could go wrong with the minor surgery and describe them in excruciating detail. Including "You'll be able to smell your skin burning when they cauterise the tubes" I don't even know if they're doing that, it just says "block the tubes" in the information pack. She has proceeded to repeatedly tell me everything I won't be able to do for the next 6 weeks.
The latest excuse was just terrible "That means I'll have to cook that night" she does not cook, and apparently this one night is an issue. (I didn't even say I wouldn't cook). "I'll have to watch the baby on my own" The procedure is 20 minutes and I've taken a days leave from work so I'll be home for an additional 6 hours than I would have been if I didn't take the day off. And finally the straw that broke the camels back. "Do you really not want another one of these?" While holding out newborn up to me. Less than 12 hours before I'm getting it done.
I've asked her if she doesn't want me to get the procedure done, she has denied not wanting it done. She says she's been doing these things unintentionally but I'm pretty sure they're intentional. Pretty sure she's decided she wants a fourth.
I'm happy with three kids. I'd like to never go through the stress of a pregnancy again. She's said this is the last one after each kid. We're currently purchasing a new house with the specific number of bedrooms we need, if we have another we'll have to move again. She was high risk this time and I was worried the whole time. I helped her deliver one of the kids at home with the midwife on the phone during COVID because we couldn't make it to the hospital. We're busy enough with three kids. She spent 9 months acting like it was my fault she was in discomfort and telling me to "pull my finger out and get the vasectomy booked" like she didn't ask to be pregnant. I don't want to buy a fourth brand new pram for absolutely no reason because the previous three are in a fantastic condition.
I'm still going to get the vasectomy done but I know what's coming in two weeks time, the inevitable blow up. I think the reason she won't just openly say it is because she's told everyone we know we're not having anymore because I'm getting the procedure and if she tells me not to do it she can't use me as the reason for getting pregnant again. She has a habit of making an excuse up for each pregnancy because we had our first so young. "He blew the last condom up as a balloon." I didn't we didn't use condoms. Dumb teenager stuff (Yes I know, I know. We got all the scoldings at the time). "We ran out of condoms because of lockdown" We actively tried for a second child during COVID. And "He didn't get a vasectomy" again we actively tried for the third. She's scared of being judged for having kids so young, we were judged for the first but we own our own home now and have a good income between us, nobody has judged us since the first. If I don't get the vasectomy but she hasn't told me to not to get it she can blame me again if we have a fourth.
We've argued, nothing extreme but I still feel bad. I just feel like I'm going to disappoint her whether I get the vasectomy or not. AITAH.

My dog was diagnosed with arthritis today.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to allow a dog with arthritis to go upstairs? There's maybe 13 or so steps (I'll edit when I return home). I feel like a ramp would be too steep. Is there anything that could allow him to get up on his own without assistance? (Or with assistance if need be)
(If you have tips for dogs with arthritis, feel free to share any help is extremely appreciated)
Anything is helpful. Thanks for reading
He's a miniature poodle, age 12. He weighs around 11 pounds, and currently, he whines and tries to bite aggressively with the slightest touch. Sometimes he looks like his body is locked, like he can't move his neck. This post is with the hope that he recovers enough to perhaps be pet again.

My IGS Rep Page: https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/niyzkj/sensualtyrannosauruss_igs_rep_page_13/
[H] I have these games for trade:

• Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery
• DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT
• Eternal Threads
• Honey, I Joined a Cult
• Meeple Station
• Operation Tango
• Turbo Golf Racing
• Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters

[W] Some of the bundled games I'm interested in:

• Later Alligator
  
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy
  
• Fights in Tight Spaces
  
• Mega Man Legacy Collection 2
  
• Beat Hazard 3
  
• Blade of Darkness
  
• Resident Evil Revelations 2 Deluxe Edition / Season Pass
  
• Deadlink
  
• Strangeland
  
• Mechwarrior 5
  
• Star Renegades
  
• There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension
  
• Monster Hunter Rise
  
• Wildermyth
  
• Jackbox 5 + 6
  
• Offers! There's probably a bunch more I'd be interested in!
  

Please note that I do not sell or buy games.
Feel free to propose any offers or ask questions. Apologies if I already have or am not interested in what you're offering; I buy a fair amount of bundles, and I only trade for games I'm actually going to play!

I've been a BP owner for now 6 years and just got a young one who is extremely underweight and has been refusing to eat at the store. It's her first 24 hours home. Her substrate is coco husk and moss. Her temps are 86f - 79f and humidity is kept around 54%. She was previously kept on aspen, so im sure her humidity was dismal. I can't find my scale to get a weight on her but her body is sharply triangular and her skin fits loosely. She also appears to have broken belly scales which I've never seen before, perhaps from bad sheds? I got her knowing she may pass but she will at least have a chance. I will probably end up taking her to the herp vet but is there anything I can do for her now?

So, context... I'm an autistic trans woman, who will be 21 in 18 days. I live in a rural town in central Alabama. I'm very much a legal adult, and despite this, I am only just now beginning to have some sense of agency and independence- no one's fault, but simply life to blame. To elaborate, and answer the question of "why not simply leave", there's much information to divulge. I thought about telling the whole story of discovering my gender identity, but that would make this already massive post even longer, and I'm so used to justifying it due to my own internal doubts hammered in by the people in my life, that perhaps I shouldn't constantly feel the need to explain why my feelings are valid to everyone. But anyway. Here's the gist of my situation.
I became homeschooled starting in 7th grade- because Alabama schools are absolutely bottom of the barrel, and I simply refused to go, due to the disparity in how different it was from what I was used to, the people in particular being difficult to handle, having moved from Georgia. I pretty much coasted along since then- not wise, but options were ever limited. I essentially had no social interaction outside of family for those 6 years or so, besides online interactions.
Back in 2021, is when things started getting bad. I was finally about to start learning to drive, studied up and preparing for that- at the time still very much in the closet as much internally as externally. But at the start of the year, my health took a turn for the worse. I was perpetually bedridden for weeks, and living with extreme pain, out of nowhere. I finally went to the hospital, and was diagnosed with a rather extreme case and nasty flare up of Ulcerative colitis. Those were the most painful days of my life. If that was not going to get better, I would rather have not continued. Thankfully, the suffering subsided, as I slowly got on medication that gradually improved my condition. It's still hell to live with, and has permanently impacted how I live my life, but thankfully I can for the most part live like a normal person, barring the unpredictability of my chronic illness loving to flare up and suddenly deciding I should suffer from time to time.
Halfway through that year, when I was finally becoming more stable and healthy again, my mother, who had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's for a while at that point, suddenly changed. It was like a switch was flipped that day, and the illness went from something we barely noticed, to her never being the same again. It was really bad for a while. Dementia is not at all how it's portrayed in media... She had constant delusions, absolutely no emotional control, essentially dementia-induced psychosis, and for a while we thought we would have to send her to a home for her and our safety. Thankfully, her condition improved over time as well. She was never the same. Her frequent delusions are now rare, but she has the mental maturity of a child. I'm beyond grateful, that she knows who all of us are, and the most important parts remain- how she feels about us all. But since then, my father had to retire from work early to help take care of things, and being the oldest, with two younger siblings, and my mother who is more of a child than them, there's a lot of responsibility placed on me, and frankly, I should be doing even more than I am already. Especially due to this next point.
After a long time of getting things stable again, this past month, my father discovered a lump on his tongue. It turned out to be stage 2 cancer. All removed now, but he's currently receiving radiation treatment- we were very lucky to catch it this early on, and the doctors claim he likely won't need any further treatment afterwards. But of course, this means more turmoil in an already turbulent living situation. We already barely had the money to scrape by, now with potential medical bills and other expenses added on, me being here is more important than ever. I get my medical needs met by living here, my disability money is one of our sources of income, and even without that, I would never leave during all this. Not when there's no way of knowing how much time I have left with either of them.
Of course, all that said, I'm trans. And remaining with my family, of whom the only supportive ones, are my younger sister, and my two older half-sisters who live with their own families, means that I'm stuck in a place where I can not be the person I want to be, and am essentially living a double life. My sleeping schedule is quite awful, but staying up late into the night and early morning is the only time I can be who I want to be, and no longer put on a mask. My social life pretty much consists of VRchat exclusively. Before discovering that platform last October, I just... didn't talk to people. And now that I know, what it's like, to truly live as myself, to be perceived, both by myself and others, as who I am- taking steps towards that is not something I am willing to wait a completely unknown amount of time for, most likely several years at the very least... especially when I've heard the earlier you start treatment, the better.
I finally received my learner's permit after life repeatedly getting in the way. Rushed to obtain it before my father started his radiation treatments, given my ability to take people places is more important than ever now. He may start teaching me before his treatments complete, maybe after. I'm unsure. Either way, I am finally about to have some semblance of freedom, for the first time.
What I'm curious about, is what I can do with that. If I can begin gender-affirming treatment, that would be incredible, and terrifying. I wouldn't be able to say no. Of course, I'd keep it secret, and only talk about it when it becomes the ever obvious elephant in the room. Until then, there's already so much to deal with that I absolutely do not want to be at odds with my family during this already difficult time. There's absolutely no benefit to them knowing. Only more potential problems.
And of course, that's assuming that's even possible for me, in Alabama. I'm well aware this is certainly not the best state for me to be in. Regardless...
I just want to know. What steps CAN I take, in order to proceed with possible gender-affirming medical treatment- or just anything, resources, advice, etc that would help in this situation, for that matter.
Any additional questions, I'm more than willing to answer. Thank you for reading this gargantuan post.

I received a DVD in the mail I didn't order and I'm scared. I am a schizophrenic person with paranoid delusions. Little things like a car being in my apartment complex's parking lot when I don't expect it or noticing someone multiple times in the grocery store can make me feel extremely scared, panicked, and paranoid. So today when I went to get my mail and found a package I didn't order, my alarms were already going off. I opened it up and found a DVD inside. Star Trek VII Generations. I have never even mentioned liking star trek to anyone. I have an extremely passing interest in it. If it were a surprise gift from a friend, this would be the last thing anyone would get me. I also don't have a DVD player and I am way too fucking aware of trojans and malware to put it into my laptop.
The package itself says its from SecondSale.com. The address is listed at 900 Knell Rd, Montgomery IL 60538. I have never started an account on this website - I have never even heard of it. Along with it tucked in the DVD case was a note that said "Sell your books at sellbackyourBook.com! Go to sellbackyourBook.com and get an instant price quote. We even pay the shipping - see what your old books are worth today! Inspected by:maria_hernandez".
This is the only clue I have. I DID buy a digital textbook off of a shady website not that long ago. But it wasn't sellbackyourBook.com. or SecondSale.com. I checked for any other experiences like mine - no, no credit cards have been opened in my name, and no money has been taken from my account to purchase this DVD. Nothing has happened to my credit.
Why would I receive this? Am I right to be scared or is this just my illness getting to me?
edit: I should have mentioned that it was addressed to me and my home address specifically.

(potentially triggering content vis-a-vis growing up fat)
does anyone else have fat-to-thin parents and feel like you’re a disappointment to them due to your size? my parents would never say it outright, but i imagine they’re quietly wondering why i couldn’t lose the weight while they could. my mom is the best but knowing how she speaks to herself, i can’t bring myself to wear anything tight around her because i imagine her picking me apart in her head, even though she gasses me up endlessly and tries to feed me like a christmas ham when i visit once a week. my dad teases me about being physically lazy but there’s no venom behind it…and also he’s kind of right, i take walks and camp often but i love laying down.
i’m not really looking for advice, just wanted to write about something that has been on my mind lately and see if anyone has had a similar experience because i feel alone in this.
my mom was a fat teenager during the 80s/90s, lost weight around middle of high school via atkins or something along those lines, and has been thin ever since. she still has a lot of body dysmorphia and goes on and off crash diets. i think being fat during that period of her life was extremely traumatic, she describes having to cut open the arms of all her shirts because her arms were too big to fit. my dad similarly was always a big guy and hovered around 300+ lbs until i was at least 10, then dropped most of the weight and got SUPER worryingly thin, and recently has gained a solid amount back. my grandma on my mom’s side has been fat since she was in her early 20s.
i was a chubbier kid— looking back on photos, i was very clearly just in that “storing up fat before puberty phase” but my family shit their pants about it. when friends came over, my mom would give them ice cream and then give me fruit salad without thinking about how strange and isolating that would feel. it was just a lot of little actions that added up to a whole lot of body dysmorphia for me— i was also (and still am) VERY hairy so i really just felt like this big fat monster. i struggled (still do) to make friends and this was definitely a huge part of why.
i also HATED veggies or anything that wasn’t chicken nuggets, basically. i grew out of this and now i love every kind of veggie— turns out they’re great when you roast them and season them instead of steaming them in a microwave, lol. this bothered my dad a lot and one of my worst memories ever still kind of haunts every interaction i have with him. i don’t tell this story to anybody, even my loving and supportive partner because it was just so humiliating. i was no more than 6 years old and my dad shoved corn in my mouth with his hand and kept it there until i choked because he was so pissed about my picky eating. later that night (or maybe a few days later, i was 6 who knows) i went into his room and he started taunting me, only i didn’t understand what he was doing until much later. he was like “of course you want a snack, let me guess— deep fried chicken nuggets? french fries?” i don’t even remember exactly what he said, but the tone was so nasty and sing-songy. he talked to me like i was a pig. i’ve NEVER brought this up with either parent but it’s my worst memory. i have a good long-distance relationship with him now but it still weighs on me.
i love my body, or at least try to. i am the largest i’ve ever been and i feel so sexy and feminine when i put actual clothes on. it bothers me that my parents are probably assuming i hate myself, that i’m trying and failing to lose weight. i would love to hear your thoughts and feelings if you’re in a similar place!

I've started talking to my mom about finding community with autistic women and self discovery about potentially being on the spectrum. I shared with her some things and asked her questions about some early signs I might have had in childhood (social deficits, motor issues, hyperfixation) as well as some my brother has. My brother is honestly a walking autistic stereotype, a super dorky guy who works in IT, a "late bloomer" with social deficits and incredibly high intellect, although he's never been diagnosed. My mom actually seemed extremely receptive to this (this isn't the first time I've brought it up to her and she was pretty receptive the first time as well) and said she'd considered it might "run in the family" but that she doesn't believe seeing a professional will be of any help and my symptoms are "so mild" it doesn't matter. Usually my mother isn't so receptive to things like this and we come from a culture that is very heavy on self reliance and trying to hide anything that shows weakness or difference from the norm as a means to survive. However autism has definitely caused serious issues in my life. I have quite a hard time holding down employment (although I have been able to support myself independently for roughly the last 6 years) and my social and dating life are extremely lacking, despite the fact that I have pretty good "social skills" (what my mom calls my mask) and know how to "not act weird." Idk if seeing a professional would necessarily make my life easier (I would like to one day marry or at least have some kind of decent career instead of working shitty temp jobs) but I would like the "closure" of a diagnosis. I also have had very negative experiences with psychiatrists and therapists in the past and found them mostly useless or at worst actively harmful so I'm not sure if I want to go back to them...
Edit: my mom also "considered I was autistic" once when I had a mental health crisis and was hospitalized, but since I "like taking baths" I must not have it... yeah.

Background information to “What the Jaunedice Arc should’ve been” https://www.reddit.com/RWBYcritics/comments/13yzqni/what_jaunedice_shouldve_been/
Julius Arc: the first wielder of Crocea Mors, bastard from a prostitute and a Vale lord, the Vale lord made a promise to the prostitute to give Julius an education, train him in combat through retainers and give her a decent amount of gold as long as he never uses his family’s name, Julius’s mother both worked him to the bone to try and use him to elevate her status so when Julius was recognized by a Vale high lord during a tourney who asked for his family name so he chose Arc since he didn’t want to use his mother’s or father's family name, the high lord commissioned him a sword and shield that befitted his skills, fought for Vale in the Great War, during the Great War he earned the name “Julius the Undaunted” for his boldness on the battlefield, fought in the final battle of the Great War alongside the king of Vale, retired from combat, married a woman, had a son with the woman, and passed away from wounds he sustained during the Great War
Tyson Arc: Trained to be a huntsman to make a living, designed dual broadswords to be his weapon, took huntsman exam and passed it with flying colors, earned the name “The Whirlwind Demon” for how he fought, married a woman, had a son with that woman, and died due to contracting a disease
Lance Arc: attended combat school to train to become a huntsman, designed a specialized lance to be his weapon, took the huntsman exam and barely passed, had an okay career as a huntsman, married a woman, had a son with that woman, the woman he married died 2 years after childbirth, and he died from a heart attack
Chase Arc: never really knew his father due to him dying when he was 3, was raised by his aunt and uncle on his mother’s side, enrolled at Beacon to train to become a huntsman to earn good Lien to support his aunt and uncle, designed a katana to be his weapon with help from a blacksmith from the most eastern region of Anima, used a small meteor he as the material to create the katana, became the leader of team CYAN, made many friends at Beacon who helped him out, met a woman from Atlas named Sara Stark during the Vytal Festival, romanced Sara up during the Vytal Festival, graduated from Beacon and passed the huntsman exam, enjoys a pretty successful career as a huntsman, helps out his aunt and uncle by sending them Lien, marries Sara Stark, fathers Clarice on their wedding night, fathers Saphron 2 months after Clarice is born, Sara Stark and him divorce 2 months after Saphron’s 3rd birthday, Chase gets Saphron while Sara gets Clarice, meets Morgan Pendragon who works as a blacksmith and manages to romance her up, marries Morgan Pendragon and fathers Alyssa 1 month after their wedding night, Chase and Morgan divorce after 5 months Alyssa has been alive, Morgan got Alyssa, his aunt and uncle pass away due to old age, meets Amanda Lancaster who had opened a new bar where he was drowning his sorrows after the passing of his aunt and uncle, manages to romance Amanda up and marries her after accidentally getting pregnant, fathers Emma 3 months after Lyla’s 4th birthday, Amanda and him get divorced 4 months after Emma’s birth, Amanda got Emma while he got Lyla, meets Rosine Anderson who runs the local bakery 2 years after his divorce with Amanda, marries after 6 months of dating, fathers Jaune 1 month after their wedding night, fathers Fiona 5 weeks after Jaune’s birth, Rosine and Chase get divorced 2 months after Fiona’s birth, Chase got Jaune while Rosine got Fiona, meets Vivi Wells who works as a local innkeeper 4 months after his divorce with Rosine, Chase marries her after dating her for 7 months, and fathers Darcy 2 weeks after their wedding day. Despite the divorces Chase generally does have an amicable relationship with all of his ex wives. Has a good relationship with all of his daughters that he doesn’t have custody over due to both him and them being able to visit each other without any difficulty due to all of them still growing up in the same mountain town. If he had to pick a favorite kid he would choose Alyssa and if he had to pick a least favorite it would be Jaune because of his extremely whiny attitude and the fact that he gave up on the first day of his initial training. He still works as a huntsman to support his family. Chase is called “The Lightning Blademaster '' for his work as a huntsman while the town calls him “The Lightning Husband” due to how fast he goes through marriages with his wives. The reason why he doesn't give Jaune his approval is due to Jaune’s reason for going to Beacon being about family pride instead of feeling like it was his true calling or some other higher purpose.

1. Clarice Stark 31: works as an independent journalist so she mainly travels around all over Remnant looking for stories to report on, just broke up with somebody, currently in a crappy mood because of the break up, usually quite chill though, her favorite sibling would have to be Lyla since she constantly does help her out with her photography and her least favorite would be Emma due her trolling nature
   
2. Saphron Arc 30: moved to Argus to try to pursue a career in acting that went nowhere and was gonna move back home until she met Terra and fell in love with her, so now she married to Terra and now has a job in teaching at the local theater, her favorite sibling would have to Clarice for encouraging her to go to Argus to pursue acting and her least favorite Lyla for blaming her for messing a photograph when she didn’t
   
3. Alyssa Pendragon 27: The only other Arc sibling that chose to become a huntress, did not have faith in Jaune and did discourage him due not wanting to see him get hurt at Beacon, she managed to gain world renown due to be one the few huntsman in all of Remnant to single handedly slay a Megoliath all on her own, has a bit of a gambling problem, does some amateur modeling for a magazine when she her gambling debts get a little too steep, and her main weapon is a 2 handed great sword that she designed and her mother made, and her semblance is a light that she can either use to cover her blade that allows it to cut through almost anything or condense it to the tip of her sword that allows her to send the light either straight through her enemy or make the light expand and explode on the part the enemy that it has made contact with the latter two requires extreme concentration especially the third one and they both wear her out, her favorite sibling would have to be Lyla due to helping her out with her gambling debts and her least favorite would be Emma due being trolled by her a lot
   
4. Lyla Arc 24: works as a professional photographer, works for the magazine that Alyssa models for occasionally and is Alyssa’s contact for the magazine, has bit of a drinking problem whenever she gets stood up for a date, ends up ranting to Jaune about stuff whenever she is drunk, her favorite sibling would have to be Jaune due being able to vent things at him with him being fine with it and her least favorite would have to be Saphron due her messing up a perfectly good photograph at one time
   
5. Emma Lancaster 20: works as a bartender at her mother’s bar, likes to smoke from time to time, can give okay advice when she wants to, can be a bit of troll at times, currently in a relationship, doesn’t think it’s gonna go anywhere though, always gives Jaune good advice when he comes to her, doesn’t like alcohol, her favorite sibling would have to be Jaune since he only ever comes to her for advice when ever he really needs it And her least favorite sibling would have to be Clarice since she ruined a perfectly good prank and got her grounded for a month when she was younger
   
6. Jaune Arc 17: the only son of the current Arc family, currently a student at Beacon Academy, finds Darcy to be bit annoying, his weapon is Crocea Mors, thinks that his father is disappointed in him and he’s right but not for the reason he thinks, wants to surpass Alyssa and get his father’s approval, quit on the first day of his initial training from his father, had a lot of pride in his family name, helped out with mother’s bakery, got stood up for his first date and was really depressed for a couple of days, gave up on love after being stood up until Emma, Lyla, and Fiona managed to help him out, his favorite sibling would have to be Emma due to the good advice she gives and his least would be Darcy due annoying him at times
   
7. Fiona Anderson 16: currently helping out with her mother’s bakery, is eventually gonna take over the bakery, not good at cooking anything else besides bakery goods, trying to fix that, often tells Jaune to shut up when he’s whining, comforted Jaune when he was stood up for his first date, her favorite sibling would have to be Darcy due how cute she finds her to be and her least favorite sibling would have to be Jaune due to his constant whining
   
8. Darcy Arc 13: occasionally helps out at her mother’s inn, really hyperactive, easily amused, gets along with animals, tries to play with whenever she can but she ends up just annoying him at times, her favorite sibling would have to be Jaune due to how funny she thinks he is and her least favorite would have to be Fiona due to how clingy she thinks she is
   

« Previous (Sorry, missed a couple weeks there… Hope you still found some fun!)
Festivals!

• The Freedom Festival kicks off on June 14 with a flag raising at the Veteran's Memorial Colosseum, 8 AM

Sports!

• Five Seasons Ski Team show with Boulevard Grill food truck Thursday, June 8 @ 7 PM, Ellis Road
• Weekly Races at Hawkeye Downs Friday, June 9 @ 7 PM
• Studio Dance celebrates their 30th Anniversary with performances June 9 & 10 @ 7 PM, Paramount Theatre
• U.S. Grand Prix Central Regional Taekwondo at the PowerHouse June 9–11, various times & ticket options
• The Pointe School of Dance presents their 2023 Recital — The Beauty Within June 11 @ Noon, 3 PM & 6 PM, Paramount Theatre
• Kernels start their series against the South Bend Cubs at home June 13–18

Signature Events/Fundraisers

• The District hosts the 2023 Tiki Tour Thursday, June 8 @ 5 PM
• City of Cedar Rapids hosts Ride the Districts! Bike Ride Saturday, June 10 @ 10 AM, Ellis Park
• CR Pride hosts the Pride Parade Saturday, June 10 @ 1–4 PM, New Bohemia & Czech Village
• Prairiewoods hosts a Garden Party fundraiser: Growing our Roots Saturday, June 10 @ 4:30–8 PM, Prairiewoods

Theater

• Giving Tree Theater opens Neil Simon's Plaza Suite, running through June 25.

Thursday, June 8

• NewBo City Market hosts Meet Me at the Market 5:30 PM
• Cedar Rapids Museum of Art presents a FREE! Art Display from students of Harrison Elementary in conjunction with Feed Iowa First 5:30 PM
• Ideal Theater & Bar presents The Wildwoods 7 PM

Friday, June 9

• The History Center & Cedar Rapids Murals & More present a Chew on This! Lunch & Learn overviewing downtown murals and more 12:30 PM — bring your own lunch
• Gilded Pear Gallery hosts a Welcome Reception for gallery artists 5 PM
• Bo Macs presents American Made Live! - country music 6 PM
• NewBo City Market presents Rock the Block with The Evan Stock Band 6 PM
• Uptown Marion hosts Pop-Up Acts in the Artway with Matt Gogel 6–8 PM
• Chrome Horse presents Farm Rock 6:30 PM
• Marion Parks & Recreation hosts Moonlit Movie "DC League of Superpets" at Lowe Park 7 PM
• Opus Concert Cafe presents Vibe 7:30 PM
• The Lucky Cat presents Prime Time Comedy Showcase 8 PM
• Ideal Theater & Bar presents Critical Mass, Worst Impressions and Maaze 8:30 PM

Saturday, June 10

• Marion Farmers' Market at Taube Park 8–11 AM
• NewBo City Market hosts their weekly farmers' market 8 AM–Noon
• African American Museum of Iowa presents a Juneteenth Commemoration: Storytime, featuring authors Michelle Edwards and Brion Martin at the Marion Public Library 10 AM
• The Cleveland Area Neighborhood Association hosts the Community Safety & Wellness Fiar at Cleveland Park 10 AM–1 PM
• Bo Macs presents The Laidback Band 6 PM
• Chrome Horse presents Gen X Jukebox 6:30 PM
• Marion hosts Music under the Moon with Uptown Funk Bruno Mars Tribute Show at Lowe Park 7 PM
• Opus Concert Cafe presents Vibe 7:30 PM
• Ideal Theater & Bar presents Alex Geiger's Biannual Bass Invitational featuring Tristan Gray, Miss Christine & Blake Shaw 8 PM
• The Lucky Cat & CR Pride present the Pride Comedy Show with headliner Riley Cosgrove 8 PM

Sunday, June 11

• Ideal Theater & Bar presents The Groove Garden Open Jam 5 PM
• Old Neighborhood Pub presents Rhubarb Red 5 PM

Tuesday, June 13

• NewBo City Market hosts Food Truck Tuesdays 11 AM–2PM
• Meet Tom Ecker, author of Wherever I Choose presented by The History Center 6 PM
• Indian Creek Nature Center hosts FREE! Summer Yoga 6 PM
• Lucky Cat presents Open Mic Comedy 7 PM
• Rival Sons present The Darkfighter Tour with The Black Angels & Special Guests Starcrawler at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse 7 PM

Wednesday, June 14

• Noelridge Farmers' Market at Noelridge Park 3:30–5:30 PM
• African American Museum of Iowa presents a Juneteenth Commemoration: "Decolonizing Mental Health" film screening at the Cedar Rapids Downtown Public Library 6 PM

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TL;DON'T MISS***:

• The District hosts the 2023 Tiki Tour Thursday, June 8 @ 5 PM
• City of Cedar Rapids hosts Ride the Districts! Bike Ride Saturday, June 10 @ 10 AM, Ellis Park
• CR Pride hosts the Pride Parade Saturday, June 10 @ 1–4 PM, New Bohemia & Czech Village
• Ideal Theater & Bar presents Critical Mass, Worst Impressions and Maaze Friday, June 9 @ 8:30 PM
• African American Museum of Iowa presents a Juneteenth Commemoration: "Decolonizing Mental Health" film screening at the Cedar Rapids Downtown Public Library 6 PM

***Highly subjective
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Post what I've missed below!

D-day was Nov 21. Immediately filed for divorce and separation. I was officially a single father of 2 kids by July 22. Go thru my history if u wud like to get details. Here I am now....
I have been raising both my kids with my elderly parents. My mum is in decent health and shape and she stays at home looking after my kids. My dad plays his part in taking my daughter for swimming and son for his activities while I am at work. Kids have no complaints today. I am not dating yet but I have no complaints as life is better.
I went no contact immediately after d-day and any attempts by her to contact me were futile. In the past, she even asked my mum to ask me to call her for stupid reasons and sometime in December 22, she realised that I was not giving in. Now, 5- 6 months later, she took my boy just couple of days before his 6th bday. I then had to speak to my son to wish him on his bday thru my mums phone. I couldn't see my son on his bday. I hated the fact thst she was holding the phone while I spoke to my son. She does absolutely nothing for them. Now, she contacted my best friend and discussed things like my finances, company he is working for and some other things that make no sense. She was lying all the way to extract as much details as she could. For example, she made up a story rhat her credit score went down as I missed my mortgage payments. Not true. Infact, I had a call as recent as few months ago where the recovery agents were asking me to get her to pay for her cc.
Am I in trouble in the coming days, months or years? She is an absolute narcissist that I can confirm.
Edit: oops, forgot to mention. She is going to meet my friend soon is what she mentioned at the end of the call.

Hi guys. Currently gold 4 struggling to carry out of low elo and need tips on what to do. Heres my ugg https://u.gg/lol/profile/na1/mo3/overview . For some backstory, I just started playing moba this season, started bronze 2 and now plat 4 (deranked all the way down to g4 again). I win lane every single game unless its a smurf. This isn’t surprising considering I’m radiant in valorant and gm in overwatch so my mechanics are very refined. After gaining a lead every game, I find myself losing it somehow. I’ll be 4-1, and then end the game 6-6 or 8-6 for example. I’ll try and be proactive and make plays with my lead but end up just dying and inting. I’m starting to seriously lose my sanity and mental. Went on a loss streak today where I played super well in all my games but still lost almost all of them. I do try and move past those but it’s become so common that I can’t afford to lose games where I could potentially 1v9. How can I stop selling leads and learn better macro? I’ve been mimicking a lot of smurfs I play against where they just perma farm which has helped but I feel like my teamfight approach and overall game knowledge is lacking. How can I learn more about these aspects? How can I move past unwinnable games? My mental is completely destroyed today so I just got off because I couldn’t handle it anymore. Really soul crushing losing games when ur top decides to go tank caitlyn. or when the enemy kaisa is 6-0 before 10 min. I know this is low elo cope and this is just a rant post at this point so any tips you guys could give would be nice. Also the coin flip on who gets more smurfs on their team is also very tiring.
Edit: I started playing new champs to figure out new carry potential so thats why I inted on ahri but aurelion sol has been promising so I think I’ll start playing him more.

Hello, Everyone. Just moments ago made this account solely to post this, but I've been browsing this reddit without an account for awhile trying to create a load order that would work without any crashing and have some mods that I would like to play with. Unfortunately I've not been able to do this successfully, so I'm now asking for help. The crashing may occur but may not always occur when entering or existing a place, I don't believe it matters where as it's happened in different areas. It has also occurred when scrolling down the inventory of a chest, as well as when just walking a certain distance.
I'm playing on Skyrim Special Edition but with Anniversary Edition update installed, as well as with all the Creation Club content installed. The specific Xbox I'm playing on is the Xbox One X, if that matters.
This is my load order, I believe I am following a logical load order but still am not successful with the mods that I have together playing without crashing. I'm not opposed to swapping out one mod for another, or removing a mod entirely, as I've already done both to more than a few before posting this.
The template that I'm using is based off this one that I've found under a comment from a post on this forum, it's apparently based off Gamer's Paradise Server's LLO template. Not every mod is in the specified order that it should seemingly be based off the LLO's criteria, but that's only due to a certain number of mods explaining in their description where they should be placed in a logical load order or placed in conjunction with another mod (I.e. above/below a particular mod.) Either that, I'm actually unable to move it since it's unable to go lower than I would otherwise cause it is apparently a master file mod. Still, do feel free to correct any mistake I've made unknowingly even in regards to this, as I am asking for help cause I'm sure some things are just in the wrong area. It may be that certain mods or a combination of them are too script heavy, or perhaps something else entirely as in a dirty edit within a mod.
This is my load order as follows, along with the load order template which is why some areas are completely empty but still shown. Thank you for any kind of help, please.
Master Files — These mods auto-load to the top of your LO. You cannot move these below any non master file mod.
• Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch
• Unofficial Skyrim Modder's Patch (It actually isn’t visually showing up in my load order but it is download and enabled, I believe it is placed here although I cannot see it for reasons I'm unaware.)
• Simple Workaround Framework
• Campfire: Complete Camping System
• Orange Steal & Pickpocket Text
• Reconciliation: QOL and Bigfixes
• Reconciliation: Gameplay and Quest Alterations
• Reconciliation: AiO: USSEP Patch
• Better Container Controls
• Reforging - To the Masses (Weapons Expansion)
Foundations & New Gameplay Mechanics — Mods that affect the whole game, mods that make a lot of light edits, mods that add entirely new mechanics.
• Ugh. Mods Manager Cap.
• Alternate Start - Live Another Life
• Cutting Room Floor
• USMP - Cutting room floor Patch
• Relationship Dialogue Overhaul - RDO
• RDO - CRF + USSEP Patch
• USMP - RDO Patch
• Cheat Room
• Quest Debugger
UI / Font / Menu Changes — Any mod that edits the menus, the user interface, heads-up display, font mods, etc.
• 60 FPS Menus - Natural Interface
• Font Overhaul - Natural Interface
• Oblivion Interaction Icons
• SkyHUD - Oblivion Preset - Pastel Icons
• Dialogue Interface Reshaped - Immersive w/NPC names version
• Gregorian Skyrim Calendar
• YOT - Your Own Thoughts
• YOT - Your Own Thoughts for Campfire
• Relationship Change Notifications
• Qwix Favorite Menu
• Dear Diary Lockpick Interface
• Daggerfall-Style Animated Main Menu Screen
• Lore-Based Loading Screens
Audio - Music & Sounds — Music additions and replacers, sound effects edits/replacers, player voice mods, etc.
• Chapter II - Jeremy Soule Inspired
• Sounds Of Skyrim Complete v2.0
• Immersive Sounds Compendium 3.0
• Immersive Sound Compendium - CC AE Patch
Existing Quest Alterations —Mods that alter vanilla quests in some way. Path to Volkihar, Quests for Good Guys, etc.
• Double Beds Are For Two People
• Go To Bed (Hand near your body)
• undress for bed
• JaySpera's Quest Expansion Bundle
• JaySpera's Quest Expansion Bundle USSEP Patch
• Heart of Golf - An Adoption Bundle
• Charitable Soul (a mod for good guys)
• Miraak - Dragonborn Follower + Dialogue Overhaul
Craftable Only Items — Mods that add new items by adding new recipes to crafting stations. Crafting only armoweapon mods.
• Armor of Intrigue - Modular Armor from the Witcher 2 - SE XB1 Edition
• Wearable Lanterns
• Skyrim Outfitters: Ebony Backpacks for Adventuring
• Skyrim Outfitters - Backpacks for Adventuring
• Vanity Mirror
• Warmonger Armory - Belt-Worn Dragon Priest Masks Only by batmanna
Existing Game Mechanics Changes — Mods that alter existing mechanics such as jump height, run speed, sneaking, death, all sorts of - mechanics.
• Minimalistic Auto Save
• Linker Crafting Storage
• [XB1] Unlimited Rings and Amulets
• BIG Jump 2X (Jump Twice as Higher)
• Sneak Tools
Level Progression Changes — Mods that alter levelibg/progression in some way. 50 pct More Perk Points, Double Perk Points, mods like that.
• Character Creation Overhaul AIO
• Dealing With Backstories v2.3
• Dealing With Backstories RDO Patch
• Reflection - Level Up Messages
• [XB1] Truly Absorb Dragon Souls - Heavu by AdventurerX
Perk Overhauls — Mods that alter the player character's perks/perk trees by editing vanilla perks or adding new perks.
• Perks & Magic Mega Bundle - Ordinator Version
• Monster Perks, New Shouts, Unique Stones & More Bundle
Magic Overhauls & New Spells — Mods that overhaul/tweak vanilla spells or mods that add new spells.
• Frozen Electrocuted Combustion
• Sun And Soil: A Restoration And Alteration Expansion Bundle
Loot Leveled Lists Edits — Mods that alter loot Leveled Lists. Dynamic Dungeon Loot, Summermyst, Equipment Flexibility, Project, etc.
• Fashions of the Fourth Era
• (XB1) Narrative Loot - 1,629+ new items - Housewares, Furniture, Books and Misc Props
Enemy Leveled Lists Edits — Mods that edit enemy NPC Leveled Lists. Examples: Enhanced Skyrim NPCs, NYFS.
Items Attributes & Effects Changes — Mods that edit items effects or stats. Examples include Reliquary of Myth and mods that alter armoweapon/etc stats.
Grass Mods — Self-explanatory. Mods that edit vanilla grass or add new grass types go here.
Landscape Fixes — Landscape Fixes for Grass Mods is usually the only mod going here.
Skin Meshes & Textures — Mods that add new body meshes or skin textures.
• Bella Beauty AND THE BEASTS Bundle
• RS Children Overhaul
• RS Children -Cutting Room Floor Patch Heart of Gold / RS Children Patch
Skeleton Replacers — Mods that replace the vanilla Skeleton. Most often, XP32 or one of its variants will be the only mod here.
• Belt Fastened Quivers
Idles & Animations — Mods that edit existing or add new animations or idles.
• Comprehensive First Person Animation Overhauls
• First Person Camera Sway - Idle
• RBE's Enhanced First Person Camera Bob
• Animated Clutter SSE
Weapons & Armor Meshes & Textures — Mods that include textures for weapons and armor.
• Truly Unique Weapons
• The Original Sleeving Skyrim - No Bare Arms
General Meshes & Textures - Blood, Magical/Enchant FX, Flora, ect. — Basically, any Mesh or texture mods that isn't landscapes or weapons/armor. All architecture textures can go here.
• Luminous Atronach
• R.A.S.S. (Shades and Effects)
Landscape Textures & Mountains, Roads, Snow, ect. — Mods that include landscape and landscape-related textures.
• Enhanced Texture Detail by Some_Random_Guy_83
• Haze 2 - Weather-Seasons-Atmosphere (Fixed & Updated)
• Haze 2 - Sounds of Skyrim (tonycubed2 version) Patch
NPC AI (Non-Combat) — Any mod that affects NPC AI that isn't combat-AI related. AI Overhaul for one goes here.
• AI Overhaul
• USMP - AI Overhaul Patch
• RS Children / AI Overhaul Patch
Existing Followers Changes — Mods like Serana Dialogue Addon that edit existing vanilla followers in some way.
• Improved Follower Dialogue Lydia V. 3.3.
• Flackjacks17's The Good Erik
• Serena Expanded - Dialogue Added
Player Immersion Mods — Mods like Run For Your Lives, some hearthfire mods, the one that keeps npcs from interrupting you, etc.
• Guard Dialogue Overhaul
• Immersive Speech Dialogues
• Skyrim Reputation
Player Character Beauty/Facial Modifications/Presets — Mods that edit the player character's facial features. Hair, eyes, teeth, skin textures, etc.
• Better Male Presets
• HG Suga Roughed
NPC Beauty Overhauls/Facial Modifications — Mods that overhaul/beautify NPCs faces. Pandorables, Seranaholic, etc.
Weather Mods — Mods that alter existing weathers or add new weathers to the game.
Interior Lighting — Mods that alter interior lighting values/settings or add new lights to interiors.
Single Edit Areas — Mods that edit a single location in some way, be it a Jarl's Palace or a Hunter's Camp.
• Crystalwind Estate and the Waterfalls of Rielle
• Naalslaarum - A Forgotten Vale Player Home
Multiple Edit Areas — Mods that edit 2 or more exterior locations in some way.
• DMT's Northern Encounters SE v4. 0 1k
• Word Walls Relocated (XB1)
• Hero- A Fort Takeover And Bounty Hunter Bundle
Exterior Lighting — Mods that edit exterior lighting values/settings or add new lights to the world.
Unique Items Added To Locations — Mods that hand place items in the world.
• Magpie's Immersion Books AIO
Combat Mods — Mods that inprove/edit enemy NPCs Combat AI, Movement, Stamina Actions.
• Wildcat - Combat of Skyrim
Enemy NPC Improvements & Edits - Stats, Attributes, Perks, etc. — Mods that improve enemies stats, attributes, perks, combat abilities, etc.
New Followers & Frameworks — Mods that add brand new followers and Frameworks like Immersive AFT and IFF.
• Immersive Follower Framework Overhaul
• Immersive Follower Overhaul RDO Patch
• Xelzaz - Fully Voiced Argonian Telvanni Follower
• Xelzaz - Fully Voiced Argonian Telvanni Follower Anniversary Edition Plugin
• Remiel-Custom Voiced Dwemer Specialist Companion XB1
• INIGO (XB1)
• Kaiden 2.1.1.
• Lucien - Fully Voiced Follower
• Lucien - Anniversary Edition - All-In-One Creation Club Patch
• Redcap the Riekling - A Fully Voice-Acted Immersive Follower and Quest
• Redcap the Riekling - Creation Club
• Nebarra - Fully Custom Voiced Altmer Follower
• Song of the Green (Auri Follower) V 1.4
• Auri-Inigo Banter Patch
• Auri / Kaidan Banter Patch
Added Creatures/NPCs — Mods that add new enemy creatures/NPCs/spawns to the game world.
• Real Wildlife by Nedius
• Realistic Elven Children (Aymar and Friends Reimagined)
• Adoptable Snow Elf Siblings
New Quest Mods — Any mod that adds new quests to the game.
• More To Say 9.0.2
• Rotmulaag - Meditations on the Words of power
Map Mods — Quality World Map and map marker mods pretty much.
Water Mods — Any mod that edits or retextures water
Tree Overhauls & Additions — Any mod that edits vanilla trees or places new trees in the world.
Top of Bottom of LO — .INI Tweaks, LO-irrelevant Mods, Insignificant Object Remover, Patches (potentially), etc.
• Insignificant Object Remover
Bottom of LO — Mods that need to load as low as possible

A humble boy from Argentina blessed with other-worldly football talent committed himself to a Catalan club with his signature written on a napkin. He would eventually debut with the first team and shock the world with his phenomenal ability.
Coached by one of the most genius managers in history and mentored by arguably the greatest midfield duo ever, Leo would go on to shine for his club which he loved so much and deliver numerous trophies and magical moments.
Eventually FC Barca would be overseen by idealists obsessed with star-power similar to the club’s bitter rivals Real Madrid. Over time, this transfer policy would erode the identity of Barca and result in extreme financial mismanagement leading to degrading team performance after expensive transfers that were not effective. Leo and the rest of the aging core would continue to carry the responsibility of leading the club to consecutive league titles in difficult times.
After an embarrassing 2018 CL exit, Leo Messi at the age of 31 would single handedly dismantle a strong Liverpool side in the first leg of their 2019 CL encounter as he promised the Camp Nou he would do everything in his power to bring the trophy home once more. Despite his best efforts, the team collapsed at Anfield and were once again embarrassed out of the competition.
Two years and three managers later, things would only get worse. More embarrassing CL ejections, pandemic financial turmoil, and consecutive defeats for the league title. Leo was frustrated, he was getting older and his body wasn’t what it once was. He tried leaving Barca but the board was ready to take the matter to court. Leo stayed because he loved his club too much to endure a legal battle.
After the appointment of a new board and president, Leo was assured his contract would be renewed and he was committed to staying under new leadership. It wasn’t until the eleventh hour that Leo was informed the club could not afford him and that he could not continue at Barca. Feeling broken and betrayed by the club he gave his life to, Leo would take his family to Paris to begin a new chapter.
Little did the Argentine know what was to come, as the football gods looked down upon him and smiled, writing his destiny of greatness into stone. Leo endured great suffering with the Argentinian national team never having won a trophy with them, and many Argentines questioned his capability and loyalty to them. The appointment of a visionary coach and a team willing to die for their captain would see Argentina to their first international trophy in 3 decades, the Copa America. This victory would set Leo’s soul free and set the stage for the greatest triumph of his career.
During his 2nd season at PSG, Leo Messi would captain Argentina to their first world cup in almost 40 years. Leo played with ice in his veins surrounded by young and energetic players and brilliant tactics which resulted in overcoming the French powerhouse. The economically turmoiled nation was celebrating, because the little boy from Rosario gave them a reason to smile again, and cemented himself as the greatest footballer of all time.
Leo’s contract at PSG ran down and he was excited at the opportunity of re-joining Barca for one last ride. Unfortunately, the club was still recovering from financial turmoil and had to go to extreme lengths to attempt to re-sign him. In the end, Barca could make no guarantees and Leo was still haunted by his previous exit from the club. He chose to join the MLS and move to Miami to ensure consistency for his children, relieving Barca financially, and securing his own financial future.
Lionel Messi has reached immortal status, and is loved endlessly by the Catalan and Argentinian people. He has achieved everything possible with both teams and has nothing left to prove.
In life, closure is never a guarantee - even for the greatest footballer of all time. Let us not dwell on how he left, but celebrate the magical moments he gave us. Nothing is forever, but his name will live on through us. The phenom, the legend, the chosen one - Lionel Andres Messi.

When I log onto my PC, I get the error message of access denied to my desktop directory, and although the icons show up, the order is reset.
(Sorry, image didn't stay in the draft...)
Also, my pinned icons on the taskbar don't show until I try to pin one of my auto-launch applications.
​
This started when I had swapped out my WD Blue 3TB drive for a WD Black 8 TB. I had copied all the data over (Just used it within windows), and after shutting down the system, had switched which SATA port I am using to run the drive, and had also signed in using a different user to make sure the drive letters were correct (can't remember if I had to manually remap them or not).
Drive was decommissioned as I was running out of space.
​
I am not sure why this is happening or how to resolve it. I have:

• Run a ChkDsk
• Run a DSIM and SFC scan
• Confirmed the security permissions on the folder.
• Tried Recreating the folder... no I hadn't... tried it actually, with none of the folders on the desktop, and the desktop loaded correctly with no errors; solution steps at bottom

Specs (Don't think they matter, but...):

• Hardware:
  • Asus Crosshair VIII Hero Wifi MB
  • AMD Ryzen 5, 3600X CPU
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX, DDR4 3200 MHz (PC4-25600) DIMMs, 2x 16 GB
  • Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti OC Edition
  • Corsair HX 1200 PSU
  • Storage:
    • OS: Corsair MP600 M.2 2280 PCIe v4 4x NVMe (500 GB)
    • Primary Data: WD Black 8 TB SATA
    • Cache: SanDisk Extreme II SSD 240 GB
    • Other Internal: WD Red [Plus] 4 TB, WD Red Plus 8 TB
• OS: Windows 10 Pro
• Pertinent Config:
  • OS is on C, with basic user profile data there
  • User profile data (Desktop, Documents, Pictures, etc) has been moved to D:\_Profile\ as not needing to clutter up the OS drive

​
Update... just before I posted it, tried the thought (Didn't think it would work, but wanted to show I did my due diligence), before asking. I had not been able to find a solution from searching... off and on for months... so just wanted to continue posting this, so there is a record, for if anyone else has the issue and needs a solution.
I don't see posting a solved issue as being not permitted, and thought it would still be good to post.
​
Solution Steps I did:

1. Renamed the desktop directory (I added today's date after a period, as I normally do)
2. Created a new "Desktop" directory in the location
3. Moved the User Desktop location
   1. Right-clicked old desktop directory, and selected Properties
   2. Location tab, clicked Move...
   3. Pointed it at the new Desktop folder
   4. Clicked No on move files prompt
4. Moved the shortcut links to the new desktop
5. Deleted desktop.ini from the old desktop (as it had an item to display "Desktop" as the name instead of the directory name; could have just removed the LocalizedResourceName line from the file too)
6. Logged off and back on to test; issue did not reoccur and did not have issues with desktop or pinned apps.

Please hear me out before you respond. I know a lot of people feel very strongly about this, and a lot of people are tired of complaints and just want to play the dang game, and I get it.
That said, Second Dinner has created numerous issues for players in the past two months that, notably, have left a poor taste in the mouths of the community. Namely:

1. Flexible Series drops came as an unpleasant surprise, rather than being announced in advance, which lead to people saving fopinning/unpinning cards like Darkhawk and Knull and then not getting them.
2. After deciding not to drop Darkhawk, they're putting out an incredibly overpriced Darkhawk Bundle, allowing you to buy him directly after arbitrarily refusing to make him easier to acquire freely.
3. Among the cards that they've decided not to drop are, surprisingly, extremely meta-relevant Season Pass cards (Hit Monkey and Zabu).
4. This is especially concerning with SD's proven history of nerfing cards only AFTER they become more available.
5. SD is dropping only undesirable cards (cards that have no meta relevance), and, rather than dropping them directly to series 3 as they suggested was possible, they're dropping them first to series 4, which could make cards like Darkhawk, Knull, Spider-Ham and Spider-Man 2099 more difficult to acquire through collector's reserves.

All of this paints a picture of a card game that is all too eager to tie performance to value, creating the possibility that those who pay more will have an easier time competing, which does not bode well for the future of the game, and is in diametric opposition to Ben Brode's stated goal at the beginning (anyone else keep getting those YouTube ads that start with Brode saying "what if you couldn't just go into a card game, drop hundreds of dollars and immediately have the best cards?").
Thus far, though, SD has been entirely unreceptive to any of these concerns. They were brought up when flexible series drops were announced, and SD pushed forward with this month's series drops as if we said nothing. It's clear they hear us, but they aren't listening. The only response given thus far has been to tell us that there's "more to come," which is not exactly comforting given that what we've already seen is not so great.
What we could consider is a one-day blackout, where a large enough group of us decide collectively to not play the game. Don't even log on to collect your free 50 credits. I would suggest we do so on the day of Silk's release on 6/12. That would certainly get SD's attention. I would also suggest that we have specific asks (rather than just "stop," or "be more transparent"). I think two reasonable requests are as follows:

1. A transparent series drop schedule for Season Pass cards - that way we know exactly how much early access we're paying for, and they can't keep $10 cards out of the hands of the public in perpetuity. Have all the flexibility you want with newly released cards, but leave $10 monthly cards out of it.
2. No bundles containing series 4 or series 5 cards. Stop letting people buy their way into higher series.

These two demands alone would help prevent SD from tying value to performance and pushing the game into dicey territory where cash is king.
There is precedent for these types of boycotts. I remember when the Ubisoft game For Honor had released and immediately started putting a heavy emphasis on their premium currency. That led to a proposed boycott, and the community didn't even have to go through with it before Ubisoft enacted meaningful change.
This could be a real chance to let Second Dinner know that the community is unhappy but also that we're willing to do something about it. As they've proven, just being upset is not enough for them to make any meaningful changes. I'm curious to see what you all think. I can see a lot of you are unhappy about these changes.
A note to those who are totally OK with everything Second Dinner has done thus far: consider for a moment that we all want the same thing. We are all here because the core game of Marvel Snap is so freaking fun, and the theme is so on point and relatable to our interests, and we want to see the game succeed because then we get to keep playing it forever and ever. But, if you are someone who doesn't think Second Dinner has done anything wrong, you have to know that their actions have negatively impacted the Marvel Snap community. In no uncertain terms, they're turning people away, which means the game that you and I both love is potentially jeopardized. Just look at the state of the subreddit and content creator community. You have prominent people saying they aren't playing anymore, or aren't spending any money because it's either not worth it, or too predatory. I myself almost quit earlier this year. I stopped playing for two weeks during the Shuri/Thanos meta because SD was slow to balance untenable metas and the card acquisition system made it extremely difficult to compete without the imbalanced cards. And yeah, the thought has crossed my mind to stop again given this new round of card acquisition shenanigans. And, like it or not, I'm not the only one. So even though you might be totally fine with it, and think people who aren't are just entitled whiners, but at the end of the day they're people who play the game and healthy games can't afford to lose players, at least not at the rate of those who are upset. So again, we want the same thing, and SD is the obstacle.
I hope we can have a reasonable discussion about this. Please share your thoughts. Do you think a boycott is a good idea? Would you suggest any changes to what I've outlined (date, demands, other issues)? If you don't think it's a good idea, how do you suggest we better get the attention of Second Dinner in a greater capacity than what they've shown right now?
TL;DR: SD has screwed up in numerous ways, but hasn't shown a willingness to listen to our concerns and adapt. A one-day boycott on 6/12 (the day of Silk's release) could make them listen if enough of us participate, and enact meaningful changes. If you don't agree and think SD has done nothing wrong, know that we both want the same thing - a healthy and vibrant game with lots of players, and SD's actions are harming player retention.
Edit: One last thought: What would Hobie do??

Yesterday I had multiple people ask me to post this, and their comment has 552 likes at the time of me writing this, so I have spent the last day and a half editing, and adding information so it's up to standard. Overall, it has taken me close to a week to make. It probably isn't perfect, but I will edit it if I notice any mistakes. I hope you enjoy ❤
I would like to start this off by saying that this is an incredibly long write-up. This case spans 54 years, and this write-up is over 8650 words long, and is in fact so long that it exceeded the character limit, forcing me to make 2 parts. u/that1guywiththehat has already covered this case, and their write-up is much shorter. I will link it here, and you can check it out if you'd like. They did a fantastic job. 😊
https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/g3wqcc/after_18yearold_annette_craver_vail_vanishes/
Secondly, this write-up borrows EXTENSIVELY from "Gone," a 35,500 word book about the life and crimes of Felix Vail. It contains information that you simply cannot find anywhere else, and I'd estimate that around 80% of this write-up uses it's information. While it's extremely long, being over 4 times the length of this write-up, it is well worth the read. I will also link it here so you can check it out if you'd like.
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/felixvailgone/2016/12/29/felix-vail-gone-one-wife-dead-two-other-missing-jerry-mitchell/95895894/
Now with that out of the way...

PART 1:

MARY HORTON:

​
Born on the 16th of February 1940 to Floyd and Lillie Horton, Mary was popular, beautiful, and well liked. She became homecoming queen at Eunice High School and wrote for the school newspaper. After graduating she began attending McNeese State University where she was so popular that all 5 sororities invited her to join. She eventually chose Chi Omega.
https://www.clarionledger.com/gcdn/-mm-/d313713be82928fb5c54a52348e9f0b6fbe9ca88/c=0-232-3288-4617/local/-/media/2016/12/27/JacksonMS/JacksonMS/636184665129485321-mary-horton-0001.jpg?width=300&height=401&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp
(Mary Horton from 1957, as Eunice High School homecoming queen.)
A FATEFUL ENCOUNTER
In 1960 she began dating William Felix Vail Sr, who goes by Felix. He was 6’, slender and in the words of another sorority girl “looked like he’d been touched by heaven.” In her diaries and messages to friends, Mary spoke of being happy and excited. However, not everything was sunshine and rainbows for the young couple.
On June 20th, 1960, Mary confided in a friend “I really do love Felix, but I don’t think that I like him anymore. He really is sweet, but we don’t see eye to eye on things.” She requested that a friend set her up on a date with another man in the hopes that Felix would leave her.
In response to this date, he came to Mary saying he suffered from a disease. She asked what disease he had. He meant Mary.
The 2 had a conversation that Mary described as ‘Felix doing all the talking, and her just listening.’ He told her that he had changed, and she said that she had too.
The 2 began dating again, but Mary continued to see other people. She attended a house party with Kelley McFarland, who afterwards heard that Vail was so angry he ‘wanted to kill him.’ McFarland tracked him down, eventually meeting him in dark woods. The 2 exchanged no blows, and they went their separate ways.
After this incident, Mary described herself as “miserable” and Felix as “jealous”, although she reiterated her love for him. There was reportedly an incident at a pool party where Felix “walked up to Mary and just slapped the heck out of her,” according to Mary’s high school boyfriend Leonard Matt.
Despite everything, Mary continued to defend him, calling him a “wonderful person.”
THE MARRIAGE
On July 1, 1961, in Eunice, Louisiana, Mary Horton and Felix Vail got married.
https://www.clarionledger.com/gcdn/-mm-/3a212b032aef874dfc60297c45f3a63946f5aeee/c=0-304-1765-2658/local/-/media/2016/12/28/JacksonMS/JacksonMS/636185193505145184-1022maryhorton003.JPG?width=300&height=401&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp
(Mary Horton in her wedding dress, July 1st, 1961.)
In the fall of that year, Mary began her job as a second-grade teacher at Moss Bluff Elementary School. That December, she found out she was pregnant. Another teacher, Myrtis Quinilty said Felix didn’t want a child.
Her sister-in-law, Sue Jordan, told Mary the only reason Vail believed she wanted to get married was to have a baby, and not because of him. Mary blamed herself, saying “I can see, looking back, from many things I said how they could have been misunderstood.” Mary insisted that the couple were happy but did comment on how unattractive she felt while pregnant, a sentiment that Felix shared.
On their anniversary, Mary gave birth to William Felix Vail Jr, who they called Bill.
https://www.clarionledger.com/gcdn/-mm-/c701d4cdc0e5ff127e79b575a1c137adfa57d585/c=0-0-180-240/local/-/media/2016/12/28/JacksonMS/JacksonMS/636185195986996911-TCLBrd-08-11-2016-ClarionLedger-1-A001-2016-08-10-IMG-636047953682196834-M-1-1-G0FAJ00I-L860703094-IMG-636047953682196834-M-1-1-G0FAJ00I.jpg?width=180&height=240&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp
(Mary holding Bill in 1962)
Within a month, Mary suspected that she may be pregnant again. At this time, strange things began to happen in the couple’s apartment. One morning, the couple awoke to find their front door had been removed from its hinges. Another time, they found the front door of their apartment wide open. Nothing was stolen.
Mary began receiving threatening calls. The couple concluded that whoever was calling must be watching them because the caller only ever did it when Felix wasn’t home.
Mary spoke with her mother about divorcing Felix. Her mother, a devout Catholic, urged her daughter to stay and work things out. It would be a fatal mistake.
MARY'S DEATH
On October 28th, 1962, at 7:30pm, Felix Vail drove up to Shell Beach saying that his wife had fallen in the water of the Calcasieu River while they were running trot lines. It took 2 days to find her body, close to where Vail had said she disappeared.
Her funeral was held on October 31st. Vail never paid a cent for it.
On November 4th deputies arrested Vail at work, hauling him to jail and questioning him. He refused to take a lie detector test. The coroner ruled Mary’s death an “accidental drowning,” a sentiment not shared by the officers who found her body, or the community at large. Days later, Vail was released without charge, as the D.A declined to prosecute.
Months later, he picked up his son, Bill, from the Louisiana home of his late wife’s aunt and headed for Mississippi. According to Bill years later, Vail told him that he and Mary were out fishing, that a boat had come by and caused a big wave and knocked her out of the boat. Mary didn’t know how to swim, had no life jacket (despite being afraid of water) and so immediately sank and drowned. He said he had almost died trying to rescue her.
I will go further in depth into Mary’s death further down this write-up when I go through the investigation that followed, decades later. There are more details that I will cover there.
ROBIN SINCLAIR:
In this section I will cover his relationship with a girlfriend between the murders of Mary Horton and Sharon Hensley. Vail was a full-time scumbag and I want to illustrate that, as well as show some of the other lives he’s impacted, and other people he’s hurt. I will be covering multiple instances like this one. If you only want to read about the 3 murder victims, feel free to scroll down, I have them clearly marked for convenience.
AN 11 YEAR AGE GAP AND A DEAD-BEAT DAD
In 1967, Vail met a 17-year-old Robin Sinclair at a bus stop in San Diego. (Vail would have been 28 at this time. Large age gaps will be a theme in this write up.) She was spending the summer there with her sister, and the 2 began dating. When summer break ended, she left without him, returning home to San Francisco.
In October of 1968 while attending an Iron Butterflies concert, Vail appeared again. Sinclair took it as a sign that the 2 belonged together. He had his young son Bill, and the 3 bounced from place to place together. Sinclair would later describe how Bill was poorly looked after, neglected and that Vail would even give the young boy drugs. Bill would later recount his father giving him LSD as a child.
While watching over another couple’s home during the Christmas holidays, she learned she was pregnant and shared the news with Vail. He said, “Well, I don’t think you’re emotionally stable enough to handle the pregnancy.” The next morning, Vail and his young son had vanished. A friend told Sinclair that he went back to Mississippi, that it was time for his son to go to school and that he didn’t want to be with her.
Heartbroken, Sinclair would move in with her parents. In August of 1969 she gave birth to her daughter, who she named Simone. She wrote Vail an angry letter, and 2 months later he showed up on her doorstep. She told him to leave, and that she never wanted to see him again. She never did.

SHARON HENSLEY:

​
Sharon Hensley was born on December 20th, 1948. Growing up in the state capital of Bismarck, North Dakota, she dated football players and belonged to the high school’s 'Demonettes', an award-winning dance team founded by a former Rockette.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-drYY1YZjqadja6gpHI_j8-zHNTiww7XDLwZ3pq-m&s
(A photo of Sharon Hensley.)
She graduated in 1966, and attended Bismarck Junior College, where she took classes in dance and acting, performing in a play with her older brother, Frank.
In 1967, aged 19, Sharon discovered she was pregnant. Wanting to escape her hometown, she followed her brother Frank and other classmates to San Francisco. After arriving, she stayed in a home for single mothers, where she gave birth to a girl she named “Cherry” after the popular Neil Diamond song. She told friends she wanted to keep the child but was unable to. Two years after leaving for California, Sharon was in jail and her mother, Peggy, headed there with a $5,000 cashier’s check to bail her out. When she returned, Sharon wasn’t with her.
“She said she had lost her daughter,” her younger brother Brian would later say. “She cried almost every night. She was never the same after that.”
MEETING VAIL
While house-sitting in a high-rise apartment, Vail would meet his future girlfriend, Sharon. She was 20, and attractive, having even modeled in her teens. They became friends, and then started a relationship despite the 10-year age gap.
While hitchhiking across California, Vail would confess to Hensley that he had killed Mary, something his son Bill overheard. Because of this, Bill would later go to the police to report his own father for murder. The police at first didn’t believe Bill, but after camping out on the front steps, one detective listened. He told the detective that he was hungry, tired of using the drugs his father gave him, that he wanted to go back to school, live like other kids, and that he had overheard his father admit to killing his mother.
At a beach along the Merced River, police found his father and Hensley, carrying a bag of LSD capsules. Police charged the couple with LSD possession and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Vail received a six-month jail sentence, plus three years’ probation, after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of LSD possession.
California police shared their information with Louisiana authorities. Once again, the district attorney in Lake Charles once again passed on prosecuting Vail for murder. Another fatal mistake.
Bill returned to Mississippi to live with his grandparents, who then gained full custody. On January 23rd, 1971, Vail and Sharon showed up in the driveway. Bill thought Vail was there to kill him, and his grandmother had to reassure him that he was safe.
The father and son eventually sat down and had a talk. Vail told Bill that he didn’t blame him for the time he spent in prison, but instead blamed Sharon, which the young boy found strange because “she had nothing to do with it.”
The family wondered how the couple could even legally be in Mississippi if they were supposed to be on probation in California. They couldn’t. After a visit from the Sheriff, the 2 were smuggled out of town and given enough money to get back to the West Coast.
In the Summer of 1972, the couple appeared unannounced at Sharon’s childhood home in Bismarck. The more the family saw of the couple, the more horrified they became. Sharon wore a mini skirt with no panties and had armpit hair and leg hair "like a man." She had been losing weight and losing clumps of hair.
Her younger brother Brian said it felt like his sister had been brainwashed. If someone asked her a question, “either Felix would answer the question for her, or she would look at Felix while she was giving the answer.”
The couple left then North Dakota and traveled to Mississippi, where they stayed with Vail’s family. On the dairy farm the family owned, they helped paint the home. The couple also sunbathed in the nude, drawing the ire of neighbors.
Peggy Hensley received a telephone call from Sharon, who said she and Vail were heading to New Orleans and then to Miami to make pornographic films. She believed it was a cry for help as “what daughter tells her mother she’s going to do a porno?” Sharon’s parents wanted to travel down to get their daughter back but couldn’t. (The 2 did end up shooting pornographic scenes together, but I won’t get into any of that.)
In early 1973, Sharon called and talked of traveling to South America with Vail, where they would eat natural foods and write a book. It was the last conversation the family would ever have with her. Soon after, she would send her final letter. It contained a photo of her holding a pen, captioned “making travel notes.” It was the last picture ever taken of Sharon Hensley.
https://www.clarionledger.com/gcdn/-mm-/94195697544ea2e63b0b95e33a6de88a8b4f1e2b/c=0-50-399-276/local/-/media/2016/12/28/JacksonMS/JacksonMS/636185487179588030-Sharon-Hensley.jpg?width=399&height=226&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp
(The last photo ever taken of Sharon.)
THE DISAPPEARANCE
In March of 1974, Peggy received a letter from Vail, claiming he was in West Florida. He wrote that he last saw Sharon about a year before in Key West, with an Australian couple that was traveling around the world. All he recalled was the first names of the couple (John and Vanessa), who were talking with Sharon about “island hopping around South America, the West Indies, --- Hawaii for a while, maybe a couple of years in the Philippines, then India, Egypt and the Mediterranean islands and coasts. I don’t know which of these (if any) they decided on or in what order.” Peggy didn't believe a word of it.
In the fall of 1975, Vail’s mother wrote to the Hensley family, saying that her son was surprised the family hadn’t heard from Sharon during that time. Interestingly, Vail told his mother the names of the couple that Sharon left with were Frank and Sally, different names than he had given a year earlier. Vail explained to his mother that before Sharon left, she had burned all her identification cards, got new IDs, and declared that she would become a completely different person.
Bill recalled his father mentioning Sharon. “He said she would never bother anyone ever again.” The words upset Bill, who believed his father had just confessed to another murder. “There was not a soul I could tell about it because I had had my experience in court when I was 8, no one would believe me. It would be my word against his, and no one would believe a 13-year-old.”
​
SHARON CAMPBELL:
I want to talk about this relationship because of the egregious age difference. For reference, Campbell is only 4 years older than Vail’s son.
While riding a bus to north Mississippi in 1975, Vail sat next to 17-year-old Sharon Campbell. Despite being literally twice her age, he commented on how fit she looked, saying "he needed someone like her to keep him fit." In spite of this, she felt flattered and shared her telephone number with him. Not long after she got home, Vail appeared in a yellow Volkswagen bug.
Vail said he wanted Campbell to travel with him, and she told him the only way her parents would allow it was if they got married.
On July 24, 1975, they did, honeymooning in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
In court years later, she would tell prosecutors that they never consummated the marriage because “he was unable to obtain an erection.” (This isn’t relevant, I just wanted to include it out of spite because fuck this guy.)
Several weeks later, she went with Vail to visit his relatives in Louisiana. There, she said a niece told her, “You probably need to know that he killed his first wife --- they arrested him. We all believed that he did it, he drowned her out of a boat.”
Campbell didn't believe them, telling herself that he would be in prison if he was a murderer. But as the months passed by, she concluded that he “had no value in the female gender,” and that “he hated women.”
She later traveled with Vail to his parents’ home in Montpelier. While there, he was outdoors working on the Volkswagen and Campbell walked closer without him noticing. He opened a compartment, and she said she saw “sinister, surgical looking saws of all shapes and sizes in a neat formation.” To her, the sight screamed evil. “It scared me. I said, ‘I’m not going anywhere with you.’” She left, annulled the marriage, and never looked back. It was likely the best decision she ever made.
After the divorce he would marry a woman named Carolyn in 1977. The relationship would end after he cheated on her with a woman named Alexandra Christianson during a double date. When Carolyn called Vail’s mother and asked her if the behavior surprised her, she simply replied “no.”
After being served the divorce papers, Vail smashed his car into her MGB Sports Car. A month later he would call her saying “I love you.” She did not reciprocate. She would later describe Vail as “mentally deranged.”
​
ALEXANDRA CHRISTIANSON:
Alexandra is the woman Vail cheated on Carolyn with. She eventually got married to him in Mexico after he officially divorced Carolyn. Not long after their marriage, she heard that Vail was cheating on her.
After a motorcycle accident, he came to rest up at her condo in Costa Mesa, where she confronted him about the cheating. He reportedly got agitated and said, “you know my first wife died.” When she replied saying he’d told her she drowned, Vail shot back “I could have saved her, but I chose not to.”
After telling him to leave, she went to have a shower. While in the shower, Vail attacked her, wrapping his hands around her neck. Hearing her screams, Alexandra’s young brother came in, grabbing Vail and forcing him to the ground. Vail then left.
Soon after this, she found out she was pregnant. The child was still-born, and Alexandra was heart-broken. She would later lead important investigators to witnesses that were used in Vail's eventual trial.
In part 2, I will cover Vail's final victim Annette Craver, and the lengths her mother went to to finally secure justice.
Here is Part 2:
https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/143riqi/felix_vail_the_pedophile_serial_killer_caught/
MY SOURCES:
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/8284?nav
https://charleyproject.org/case/annette-michelle-craver-vail
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/felixvailgone/2016/12/29/felix-vail-gone-one-wife-dead-two-other-missing-jerry-mitchell/95895894/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5796622/mary-elizabeth-vail
https://charleyproject.org/case/sharon-hensley
https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/20525?nav

A thread for new collectors to ask basic questions of the community.
Frequently Asked Questions below!
A longer version of the subreddit rules is here.
For questions specifically concerning bootlegs or vendor legitimacy, please ask in the Bootleg Megathread.
NSFW & Spoiler Guidelines

• For Self Posts: include a bolded NSFW note next to links in that post.
• For Links to sites/images: If the figure is NSFW, or the website has any NSFW content (including ads) be sure to tag your post NSFW and use the appropriate link flair.

Bootlegs
Any collection posts containing bootlegs, comments advocating buying bootlegs, or links to sites selling bootlegs, recasts, or unlicensed merchandise will be removed.
People often ask about the legitimacy and/or safety of a number of websites which sell large resin statues. The more commonly-asked of those deal primarily in resins from studios which do not have a license from the Japanese IP holders to produce merchandise. Therefore links to those sites are not permitted here. Another sign is if MyFigureCollection doesn't list the either the statue, its manufacturer, or the shop it's being sold on.
MyFigureCollection
My Figure Collection is like MyAnimeList... but for figures! Their database includes thousands of items which been produced during the last couple of decades, along with reviews of shops and other helpful articles. One can also list their own collection and post gallery photos.
Shops

Retailers:
AmiAmi HobbySearch Mandarake (sells rare figures) Good Smile Company Online Shop (often has exclusives) Good Smile Company US shop Crunchyroll Shop Hobby Link Japan (aka HLJ) Solaris Japan (MFC partner) BigBadToyStore (MFC partner, US retailer) Big in Japan (also has proxy service) Tokyo Otaku Mode Right Stuf FigureHaven Archonia (EU) Yorokonde (EU) Figuya (EU) Dekai Anime (UK) Gamersheek (UK) Jungle
List of retailers on MFC
/AnimeFigures' List of Retailers
Community Guide to Shopping in Japan

Blogs/News:

Nekomagic (News/Previews) NyaaFigurines (Reviews/Releases) Kahotan's Blog (News/Reviews) Figma Blog (JP)

Buying & Shipping

1. What’s the best place to buy my anime figures from?
That’s going to depend a lot on what works for you, but most people around here buy them from Amiami, Big in Japan, Hobby Search, HobbyLink Japan, or Tokyo Otaku Mode. If none of those work for you for whatever reason, there’s a list of reputable retailers in the sidebar that you can check out at any time. Be extra careful when ordering figures from websites like Amazon or ebay, as there are a lot of bootlegs on those sites. Don’t be afraid to ask in our Bootleg Megathread if you’re unsure.
2. What differences are there between the shipping options I get from most Japanese shops?
Below is a rundown of the main shipping choices you’ll get at most retailers. Keep in mind that if an order is large enough you will be forced to use one of the more expensive options, as SAL shipments have lower size and weight restrictions.

• Unregistered SAL: Sometimes referred to as uSAL, is usually the cheapest method. It does not come with any tracking or insurance. Usually takes up 2-4 weeks for delivery.
• Registered SAL: Sometimes referred to as rSAL, is insured for the declared value up to 6,000 yen. It comes with a tracking number and usually takes 2-4 weeks for delivery.
• EMS: This method of shipping is much faster than either SAL options, usually arriving within a week of shipment. EMS shipments are insured for the declared value up to 2,000,000 yen.
• Airmail
• E-packet
• Surface: Shops don't offer this very often. It's an actual cargo ship and slow as a result.
  
• DHL: Becoming more available as an alternative to EMS on AmiAmi and other sites. Can be less expensive than EMS and of comparable speed, but may be more reliant on the specific geographical area being shipped to. The price is also determined by the size of the box. Offers their own tracking.
  

3. I placed two+ orders for figures at different times. Will my items be shipped together, or will I have to pay shipping twice?
Most shops will ask you to pay shipping on a per-order basis, but here are some that will allow combined shipping:

• Amiami: You can combine orders here, as long as the orders ship in the same month. It doesn’t matter if the item is new or preowned. Any preorders that are set for that month can also be combined with other orders for that month. However, be aware that if the preorder gets delayed, Amiami will remove that item from that month’s shipment and place it on a new order. To combine orders on Amiami, use the “Combine Orders” feature under “My Account”.
  
• Hobby Search: Hobby Search will let you combine orders that release in the same month, but you cannot combine in stock items with preorders. If you want to combine multiple preorders, or multiple in stock items, you can do so using the “Order Recombination” feature on your account page.
  
• HobbyLink Japan: At HLJ, you have the option to send paid orders to their “Private Warehouse”, where you can store them for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to ship the items, you simply select which items to ship and HLJ will combine them into one shipment for you. To use this, just select the “Private Warehouse” option as shipping when you order.
  

If you’re unsure about whether or not a shop we haven’t listed will combine your orders, please refer to their individual FAQs.
4. When will I get charged for my preorder?
Most Japanese shops charge you once the item is in stock and ready for shipment. When that happens, they will send you an email asking for payment. Some shops (mostly overseas ones), will allow you to pay for the item up front though, if you’d like. A few with that option are:

• Big in Japan (Japanese store)
• Tokyo Otaku Mode
• Anime Island
• Crunchyroll

Keep in mind that overseas stores will likely get the figure a few months after Japanese ones, so pay attention to the release date stated on the website you are buying from so as to avoid that confusion.
5. Should I expect to pay customs fees when importing figures?
That depends on where you live. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Australia: 10% GST is now assessed up front.
• Canada: Minimum declared value for charges is around CAD$20 for regular shipments, and CAD$60 for gifts (gifting something only seems to lower the declared value by about CAD$40, not deplete it completely). When using Amiami, try their Small Air Packet option. It comes with tracking, gets there in about the same time as EMS, and is better at avoiding customs.
• European Union: As of 1st July 2021, VAT has to be paid on all goods imported from outside of the EU. Retailers are supposed charge VAT for purchases under €150, however many Japanese retailers currently do not, so VAT will be charged when your order arrives in the EU. Orders that are >€150, VAT and duty will be charged by your local customs.
• UK: As of 1st January 2021, VAT is to be charged by retailers for orders <£135. However, customs isn't currently charging VAT on parcels valued at <£135, even if the VAT hasn't been paid. Goods >£135 will have their VAT and duty calculated and charged by customs.
• Mexico: Minimum declared value for customs fees is USD$300 for shipments by post, and USD$50 for shipments by courier.
• United States: A shipment has to have a declared value of USD$2,000 before customs starts hitting you with fees, so you most likely won’t have to worry about them at all.

6. The figure I want is an exclusive, how do I go about ordering one outside of Japan?
You have three options for this:
A. Big in Japan is known to stock exclusive figures and ship to other countries. Usually the price is higher because they build in their proxy fees, but it’s easier than worrying about using a forwarder or proxy service. If you live in the US, Crunchyroll, Right Stuf, and Tokyo Otaku Mode also get exclusives sometimes, but out of the states the shipping can get expensive.
B. Forwarding Services: A forwarder is someone who you ship an exclusive item to so that they can forward the package on to you, usually for a flat fee + shipping. When using a forwarder you still make the purchase yourself, and enter their address into the shipping field. When the box arrives at the forwarder they will then stick your address onto the package and send it on its way.
Some popular forwarders are:

• Big in Japan
• Tenso

Be sure to read each sites instructions on forwarding carefully!
C. Proxy Services: With a proxy, you tell them what the item you’re looking for is and they will purchase it in your stead. This is handy for when a company doesn’t accept foreign credit cards, or you’re having trouble navigating a Japanese website.
Some popular proxies are:

• Big in Japan (Won’t proxy for Yahoo Auctions)
• From Japan

Again, be sure you thoroughly read through each sites proxy instructions.
7. I see a bunch of really cheap figures that ship from China on ebay. Are those okay to buy?
Generally, no. They’re most likely bootlegs. If you want a second opinion on that, feel free to ask in the Bootleg Megathread that’s always stickied at the top of the sub.
8. What’s a bootleg, and how can I avoid buying them?
A bootleg is a counterfeit figure often made using rejected molds of the official product. They are usually priced significantly lower than the genuine article, and in order to make their profit, bootleggers use lower quality materials and have less attention to detail- resulting in a substandard figure.
The Bootleg Megathread that I mentioned in question 7 is a great tool to avoid buying any bootlegs. It has a few tips and tricks to avoiding them to begin with, and a few more on how to spot them if you’re worried you might already own one.
9. Does anyone know when figure X is going to be released? How do I know if it was delayed?
My Figure Collection (sometimes referred to as MFC) does an excellent job of staying on top of information like release dates and delays. If you’re curious about an upcoming figures release date, check there first. This information can be found directly under the “Releases” section on a figure’s entry. If you only see a month and a year in that section, it means the release date has not yet been announced by the manufacturer, and there is still a chance the figure could be delayed.
If you make an account on MFC you can also subscribe to comments, changes, and pictures via a checkbox on the right hand side of a figure’s listing. Subscribing to any of these things will allow MFC to send you an email anytime the subscription in question updates. Subscribing to “changes” is a great way to keep up with release dates and delays, among other things.
10. The figure I want is long sold out at normal retailers! What’s the best place to pick it up in the aftermarket?
A list of reputable retailers can be found under the “Shops” section of the /AnimeFigures sidebar. They all sell legitimate products, and many of them also sell figures second hand. However, the most frequently suggested second hand sites are Mandarake and Amiami- who has a preowned section that they update every night save Sundays and Japanese holidays around 1PM JST and again around 6PM JST.
AmiAmi grades their pre-owned items on a letter scale. The general consensus from buyers is that their ratings are conservative, so unless the item and/or packaging is specifically indicated as having significant flaws, pre-owned items from them are usually in at least as good a condition as their rating suggests.
Note: When you search Mandarake, you’ll get the best results by using the Japanese characters for whatever you are searching. If you don’t know them, you can find them on MFC by clicking on any of the “details” in that figure’s listing.
11. Amiami has a figure I’m interested in labeled as “For sale in Japan only”. Does this mean I can’t order it without a proxy or forwarder?
No, you can still order it. Amiami’s English site has that warning on many items, and it’s mostly meant to inform you that this product was made for a Japanese market, and as such, will have Japanese speaking/writing in it- so don’t expect any instructions to be in English. If Amiami doesn’t want foreigners buying a certain product, they won’t even list it on their English site.

Displaying Your Figures

12. What display cases do you recommend?
If you live near an Ikea try out one of these:

• Detolf *
• Klingsbo
• Billy (Often used with Morliden doors and glass shelves.)

*If you decided on a Detolf, you might find that there is a lot of wasted space. Here are a few tutorials on raising the shelves or and adding extra ones in.

• Using metal clips
• Using acrylic supports and PVC pipe

If you don’t live near an Ikea, Amazon has a few display options, though they are more expensive. Also keep an eye on your local Craigslist (or your country’s equivalent) and stores near you that are closing up.
13. What lighting do you guys recommend?
Ikea’s Dioder LED strips were discontinued after a long run. A current version is the Vattensten, if you're inclined to buy your case and lights at the same time.
LED strips have become very commonly available in recent years; most hardware and home furnishing stores carry a selection now. Just make sure that the lights don’t get too hot!
14. What are those clear plastic boxes that I see under everyone’s figures in their collection posts, and where can I get them?
Those are called risers. Most of us use standard acrylic risers like these. Some other, easy to find things that have been suggested are:

• Plastic picture cubes
• Card Deck Boxes
• If you’re feeling adventurous, try making your own!

Check your local hobby store for the first 2 options, or your local hardware store if you want to make your own.
Another common suggestion is to visit The Container Store if you have one near you. They have a lot of things to choose from that can suit a variety of needs. Be sure to check out their standard acrylic risers, their Amac boxes, and the various display cases they sell (baseball cases, mini car cases. hockey puck cases, etc).
15. Should I keep my figures sealed?
That is, of course, up to you really, but here are a few things to keep in mind when debating this question:

• Keeping it sealed can actually damage your figure. PVC figures usually have something called plasticizer in them, and that plasticizer needs to be able to breath. If a PVC figure isn’t exposed to oxygen, after a period of time the plasticizer starts to break down and form a sticky substance on the surface of the figure. Simply opening your figures and taking them out of the box prevents this from happening. If you happen to find plasticizer goo on one of your figures, Kahotan has a handy guide for dealing with it.
• Unlike some other figure markets, keeping an anime figure sealed won’t raise its value by a whole lot. In fact, because of the plasticizer problem mentioned above, your figure could actually be in better condition if you open it versus keeping it sealed.

Finding the Right Figure(s) for You

16. What are "scales" and "prizes"? What is the difference between them?
Those are classifications for figures based on a few factors.

• "Prizes" are generally more simply produced figures which are intended to be given as prizes for playing arcade games. They are inexpensive and lack the detail of scale figures, though some prize figure lines have standouts which may approach lower-end scales in quality. That is uncommon and often depends on the individual figure.
• "Scales" are called such because they are nominally designed to be proportional to the dimensions of the character which they are based on. They are generally of much better manufacture and materials than prize figures, allowing for more detail in painting, accessories, or complex poses.
• "Trading" figures appear in gashapon machines or as blind boxes on shop counters, often as sets which include multiple characters. As suggested by the class name, the randomness encourages trading. They are usually very inexpensively-produced, though as with prizes, some series are better than others.
• "Non-scale" encompasses a variety of other categories. It is often used to describe poseable figure lines such as figma and Nendoroids.

In recent years producers such as Good Smile Company attempted to further bridge the gap between prize quality and scales by introducing figure lines which are intended to be moderately-priced while retaining a higher level of detail than the typical prize figure, to varying levels of success.
17. There are so many figure companies! Who makes good figures?!
Obviously this is a very subjective question, but as a general starting point, here are a few well renowned figure companies:

• Alter
• Max Factory
• Good Smile Company
• Kotobukiya (usually hit or miss for people. Use your best judgement based off of the prototype)
• Flare
• Stronger

18. I really love “series X / character X”- how can I check if any figures were ever made for it?
My Figure Collection can be your best friend here. Simply do a search on the name of the series or character using the search bar located at the top right of the screen, and all associated figures pop up!
Alternatively, if you’re looking at a figure’s MFC entry, most of the text under the “Details” section can be clicked on and used to run a search.
19. How can I commission a custom figure?
None of the major figure companies (Alter, Kotobukiya, Good Smile Company, etc.) will take a commission for a single figure. This thread has a few websites in it that you can check out, or you can look into garage kits. Some kit painters would be willing to resculpt, frankenstein together, or otherwise modify kits for the right price.
If you're looking for help completing a garage kit, /brushforhire may be useful.

Keeping Up with New Announcements

20. How can I keep up with figure news (announcements, updates, etc.)?
Most people use a MFC combined with any or all of the following news sites:

• Neko Magic
• Alter’s Blog (In Japanese)
• Kahotan’s Blog (Only GSC and their sister companies)

Many figure companies are active on Twitter, so following them there is recommended for quicker news.
To use MFC for this I’ll quote question #9.

If you make an account on MFC you can also subscribe to comments, changes, and pictures via a checkbox on the right hand side of a figure’s listing. Subscribing to any of these things will allow MFC to send you an email anytime the subscription in question updates. Subscribing to “changes” is a great way to keep up with release dates and delays, among other things.

Most companies have one or more Twitter accounts. Some examples: Good Smile Company sales, Good Smile's USA branch, Max Factory, AmiAmi Hobby News.
21. Everyone’s excited about something called Wonfes….. what the heck is that?!
WonFes (short for Wonder Festival) is a biannual figure expo where many figure producers (both large and small) show off new sculpts and updates to figures already under way. Most companies save their most exciting announcements for WonFes, so we all look forward to the expo whenever it rolls around! Winter Wonder Festival is usually held in February, while Summer Wonder Festival is usually in July. The event has also spread to Shanghai, in the late spring.
22. One or two (or 15) figures were announced at WonFes that I’m really excited about! How can I keep track of their progress once the event is over?
MFC is always really quick about getting new WonFes announcements (or any others throughout the year, for that matter) listed in their database, so we suggest using that. To find a figure from the event you can search any number of things, including the name of the character or the name of the show. You can also use the tag search to search “WonderFestival 20xx_[season]” to see all items announced at that event.

Hi everyone, I wanted to reach out and see if anyone here has any experience with these birth injuries?
(content warning: birth trauma, birth injuries)
5 months ago I gave birth to my happy, healthy baby girl. She is awesome- I truly feel like I won the lottery. I am completely in love with her and am loving motherhood more than I ever could have expected.
However, I did have a traumatic birth (vaginal delivery) with her which left me with some pretty serious birth injuries, one of which is permanent. My daughter had to be resuscitated at birth and thankfully is perfectly healthy today.
I won’t go into detail re: my birth story but in the past 5 months I have dealt with: 1) pubic symphysis diastasis (mine was severe enough that I would scream when lifting my foot one inch off the ground while in the hospital- and I had SPD in my third trimester so I’m no stranger to pelvic pain), 2) super painful muscle spasms in my pelvic floor, 3) what we suspect are torn pelvic floor muscles or ligaments stretched beyond rebound limits- hard to tell, 4) stubborn scar tissue on one of my two internal second degree tears, 5) a hematoma on said scar tissue which has since popped (that was fun), and 6) stage 2/3 bladder prolapse.
I had kidney stones while pregnant and did 12 hours of unmediated back labor before I got my epidural so I know what extreme pain feels like and the pain from these postpartum complications- it didn’t even register on a pain scale for me. I remember trying to walk from the bathroom to the bedroom 5 days postpartum and just being absolutely stunned that you can experience that level of pain and still be conscious. It was the worst pain of my entire life.
I have been in pelvic floor PT since 6 weeks postpartum and I do my home exercise program daily. I am religious about doing all the things I need to do to keep my symptoms manageable (using proper technique when lifting objects, etc). Most of the above issues have resolved aside from the prolapse but I am becoming very disheartened by the reality that the prolapse is something I’ll have to try to manage lifelong. It is really negatively affecting my quality of life. I had 2-3 good days so I pushed myself too far by allowing myself to hold my daughter for longer periods while standing/walking and dancing to music while holding her which caused a major exacerbation in prolapse symptoms which I am still recovering from. I haven’t even thought about running, jumping, or lifting anything heavier than my daughter as the little I try to venture out and do seems to cause a major symptom flare up.
I’m only 5 months pp so of course there is time left to improve, but I’m discouraged that my symptoms are still this bothersome this far out despite me doing my PT exercises religiously and being very careful about what I do throughout the day. There isn’t an hour during the day that I don’t have to think about what I’m doing/ how I’m doing it and how it will affect my symptoms.
Is there anyone else on here going through this? My husband and I had always planned on two kids but the thought of enduring another recovery anything similar to this is just not something I can fathom doing. How careful I am about lifting things and how religiously I do my PT exercises not to mention all the follow-up appts I’ve had for postpartum complications is something I don’t think is even possible to manage while caring for two young kids.
Obviously, if we ever had a second, I would go for an elective c-section, but a subsequent pregnancy itself would put a lot of strain on my pelvic floor. I just don’t think I’m willing to risk my quality of life for a hypothetical second child. I’m only 27 so I have time to decide (but on the other hand, if I recovered this poorly at 27 I can’t imagine how bad another postpartum recovery would be for me years from now). My pelvic floor PT has also commented that the ability to “bounce back” from pelvic floor trauma significant decreases starting mid to late 30’s in her clinical experience. That fact alone puts me off from trying to do this again too far in the future.
I apologize for the wall of text here. I’m just hoping to find someone who can relate to this and be my crystal ball so to speak. If you endured something similar, what did your recovery look like 1-2 years down the road?
I’m so sorry if any of you can relate to my experience- it is truly unbelievable what we go through physically and emotionally to bring these babies into the world.
To anyone reading this in the future- I’m more than happy to circle back around and update on my postpartum recovery progress.
And I cannot recommend pelvic floor PT enough- we have resolved all issues above (except for the prolapse) with PT alone and are still working on muscle strengthening to alleviate prolapse symptoms. PT has been life changing!

The 1950s Yankee dynasty had some great hitters -- Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Moose Skowron, Hank Bauer, Gil McDougald, just to name a few -- but the key to going to eight World Series between 1950 and 1959 (and winning six of them) was a pitching staff that led the league in ERA in five of those 10 seasons -- and in the top three in all 10!
Whitey Ford was the ace of the staff, going an unbelievable 121-50 (.708 W%) with a 2.66 ERA (140 ERA+) between 1950 and 1959. And that was with Casey Stengel often skipping Ford against weaker teams to save him for tougher match-ups, meaning that most of those wins came against top competition. In 1956, for example, the Chairman of the Board had 10 starts against teams with losing records, and 20 starts against teams with records of .500 or better. He went 7-1 with a 2.27 ERA against the losers, and 12-5 with a 2.59 ERA against the winners!
But behind Ford were some pretty good if less famous pitchers, including Allie Reynolds, Eddie Lopat, Tommy Byrne, and Bob Grim. And another, even lesser known hurler won two rings as a key member of the Yankee rotation: Tom Sturdivant.
A hard enough thrower in his youth that he got the nickname "Smoke," by the time Sturdivant reached the Yankees he was called "Snake" because of the way his pitches moved. He threw a curve that broke away from right-handed batters, a screwball that broke away from lefties, a sinking fastball, and a looping change-up. All were good pitches, but none of them was great. Ted Williams was asked how Sturdivant was so successful without overpowering stuff, and he replied:

"Maybe he hasn’t got a thing. But I notice one thing. He keeps winning."

Eventually he did find a thing, though. Particularly later in his career, Sturdivant became known for his knuckleball. He would call it his "money pitch." He also complained about the pitch like an unruly pet, saying "it just won't act right 'til late in the season."
Born in Gordon, Kansas, on April 28, 1930, Thomas Virgil Sturdivant grew up in Oklahoma City and attended Capitol Hill High School. Sturdivant was signed by Yankee scout Tom Greenwade, who also signed another kid from Oklahoma, Mickey Mantle. Like Mantle, Sturdivant was signed as an infielder. But Sturdivant also was a pretty good pitcher as a teenager, as Greenwade told a reporter:

"Used to be a high-school pitcher in Oklahoma City, you know. And one of the greatest. He set some kind of record. More than 100 innings without being scored on."

Sturdivant struggled to hit his first few seasons as an infielder in the minors, hitting .246 in 281 at-bats in 1950. He then spent all of 1951 and much of 1952 in the U.S. Army, and -- as happened to most major leaguers drafted into the service -- spent most of his time playing baseball for a base team. (As Whitey Ford once said: "Army life was rough. Would you believe it, they actually wanted me to pitch three times a week!") Sturdivant's success pitching in the Army, as well as a leg injury that cost him some of his running speed, convinced him he should ask the Yankees to try him at pitching.

"I knew I wasn't getting anywhere, batting .246 in Class B, so I decided I'd better try something else if I wanted to stay in baseball, which I did, badly."

He returned from the Army in time to pitch 86 innings with the Yankees' Double-A affiliate, the Beaumont Roughnecks, and went 3-3 with a 3.56 ERA. His days as an infielder were over.
Sturdivant went 10-7 with a 2.98 ERA in Double-A the following season, and 8-9 with a 3.57 ERA in Triple-A the year after that. Yankee pitcher Allie Reynolds, a fellow graduate of Capitol Hill High School in Oklahoma City who had gone 20-8 for the Yankees in 1952, had retired after the 1954 season. That winter, he worked with Sturdivant and told him he might make the Yankees in spring. Sturdivant's hard work that off-season impressed manager Casey Stengel. "We learned that he can be a fighter, and that's what we want with this club," he said.
He made the team out of spring training and made his major league debut on April 14 against the Red Sox at Fenway Park -- Boston's home opener. Bob Grim started the game and was bombed for five runs on seven hits through six innings. Sturdivant entered the game in the 7th, with the score 5-2, and gave up another run. The Yankees battled back in the bottom of the 8th, scoring two runs on back-to-back singles from Elston Howard and Jerry Coleman to make it a two-run game, but Sturdivant gave up a two-run single in the 8th to pitcher Ellis Kinder to put the game out of reach again, and the Yankees lost, 8-4.
In 33 games that year, Sturdivant posted a 3.16 ERA and a 1.302 WHIP, not bad for a rookie. He didn't give up a lot of hits, but he did walk 41 men in 68.1 innings. Stengel didn't mind that, though. In a 2020 article, "Big Walkers", Bill James wrote about how Stengel employed a strategy of "pitching around" power hitters. When a slugger was at the plate, pitchers were coached to work the edges of the plate, not giving him anything good to hit. He might chase pitches and strike out... he might hit something off the end of the bat... or he might walk. Any of the three, in Stengel's opinion, was a better outcome than throwing a pitch down the middle to a guy who could hit it 450 feet.
As a result, the Yankees often were near the top in walks allowed -- but also in fewest home runs allowed. And also in double plays. And also, not coincidentally, in earned run average.
In his five seasons with the Yankees, Sturdivant walked 221 batters in 524.1 innings (3.8 BB/9), but only gave up 45 home runs (0.8 H9). He also induced 44 double plays. James, in looking at what made the Yankees successful in the 1950s, discovered that they had a huge differential in HR-GIDP. In 1955, Sturdivant's first year in the league, the Yankees hit 175 home runs, and grounded into 101 double plays (+74). Yankee opponents had 108 home runs, and grounded in 145 double plays (-37). In 1956, the Yankes were +86, their opponents -53.
James wrote:

This is not a typical championship team pattern. In many areas, the 1950s Yankees were just an ordinary team. They really had only one outstanding starting pitcher, while Cleveland usually had three or four. But the Yankees huge advantages in Home Runs vs. Double Plays enabled them to win almost every year.

Sturdivant rode this strategy to back-to-back 16-win seasons, going 16-8 with a 3.30 ERA (118 ERA+) in 1956, and 16-6 with a 2.54 ERA (142 ERA+) in 1957.
After those two great seasons, though, Sturdivant's career went up in... well... smoke.
In Spring Training 1958, he held out for a raise, eventually signing for $18,000, a $4,000 raise from what he'd made the year before. He gave up 10 runs in his first two starts of the year, and then missed a month with a sore arm. When he came back, he was hit hard in his next three starts, and was banished to the bullpen. After a pretty good month (8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 7 K), he was put back into the rotation, and went 3-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 32.2 innings, but his arm still wasn't quite right, and he missed some time in August due to a heel injury. He was on the World Series roster in 1958, but didn't pitch.
All off season there were rumors that Sturdivant was on the trading block, and after another slow start -- 0-2 with a 4.97 ERA, and still bothered by his sore arm -- he was dealt to the Yankees' favorite trading partner in the late 1950s, the Kansas City Athletics. "Snake", along with Jerry Lumpe and Johnny Kucks, was dealt for Ralph Terry and previously forgotten Yankee Hector Lopez -- a pretty good deal for the Yankees, as Terry and Lopez helped the Yankees to five straight pennants and two championships between 1960 and 1964. Lumpe, a little used utility player with the Yankees, proved to be a solid regular for the Athletics and then an All-Star with the Tigers in 1964. But Kucks, an All-Star with the Yankees in 1956, was done, going 12-21 with a 4.78 ERA (84 ERA+) in two seasons with the Athletics, and was out of baseball after the 1960 season.
Sturdivant would hang around another five seasons, and pitch for six different teams! He went from the Athletics to the Senators -- not the original Senators, who were now the Twins, but the expansion team founded in 1961 that would become the Rangers in 1972 -- then the Pirates, the Tigers, back to the Athletics, and then rejoined Casey Stengel on the Mets in 1964. Over that stretch he went 21-20 with a 4.16 ERA and 1.301 WHIP as a swingman.
The 34-year-old Sturdivant announced prior to the 1964 season he was running for the Oklahoma State Senate and that he'd quit baseball if elected in November. The Mets beat him to it, though, releasing him in May after he posted a 5.97 ERA in 28.2 innings. Maybe more as a campaign ploy, in July Sturdivant signed with the Oklahoma City 89ers. He went 6-3 with a 3.89 ERA and 1.365 WHIP in 74.0 innings. He lost the election, and retired from baseball.
After that, Sturdivant owned a trucking company and tried to drum up support for the Hall of Fame case for his old mentor Allie Reynolds.
In 2000, the 69-year-old Sturdivant was in a serious car accident. Someone -- he never learned who -- found him on the roadside, thrown from his truck after it had rolled five times. When the ambulance arrived, they thought he was dead. They strapped his body to a stretcher and loaded him into an ambulance.
Sturdivant told sportswriter Brian Jensen:

"When we were driving to the hospital, I was in the back and they had me strapped down and I guess when I came to, I raised my head and I said, 'hey could y'all call my wife for me,' and the driver almost jumped out of the van. It just wasn't time for me to go."

He had broken his back, both hips, his pelvic bone, his tailbone, multiple ribs, and had a punctured lung. He never recovered.
"I don't have a life," Sturdivant said. "You know, I have a hard time remembering a lot of stuff and I'm kind of slow. I kind of have little spells where I pass out and have a hard time walking straight."
Sturdivant died on February 28, 2009.
Smoke Show:

• According to a 2010 article in Sports Illustrated, Mickey Mantle hurt himself while playing golf with Sturdivant in 1957. Sturdivant must have been having a better game than Mantle was, because at some point the Mick threw his putter in frustration. The putter hit a tree and knocked off a large branch, and then either the putter or the branch landed on Mantle's leg, giving him a nasty cut. Mantle missed five games due to what the Yankees told reporters at the time was "shin splits."
  
• Another key starting pitcher for the Yankees in the early 1950s: Forgotten Yankee Vic Raschi, "The Springfield Rifle." Raschi had one of the all-time great lines about pitching: "My best pitch is anything the batter grounds, lines, or pops in the direction of Rizzuto."
  
• Sturdivant wore #47 all five years he was with the Yankees. He was, according to baseball-reference.com, the first Yankee to wear the number. The number is currently assigned to Frankie Montas; prior to that, it was worn by Jordan Montgomery. Other #47's include Ivan Nova, Shane Spencer, Dave Silvestri, and Roy Fontenot. Luis Arroyo, the Yankee closer from 1960 to 1963, wore #47.
  
• In addition to Tom Sturdivant and Allie Reynolds, the other graduates of Capitol Hill High School to play in the majors were 1960s outfielder Don Demeter, 1950s infielder Jerry Snyder, and 1980s outfielder George Wright, though none played for the Yankees. The Yankees signed another pitcher out of Capitol Hill High School, a righty named Bob Shipman, but he never made the majors despite going 32-14 between 1953 and 1955 in the Yankee system.
  
• Demeter later became a pastor in Oklahoma City, and Sturdivant was a member of his church!
  
• The Yankees almost released Sturdivant early in the 1956 season. Hoping to sneak him back down to the minors, the Yankees put him on waivers, but Detroit manager Bucky Harris put in a claim for him. Harris had been the Yankee manager prior to Casey Stengel, and after leaving the Yankees went to the Senators, where he had picked up a number of former Yankee pitchers -- Bob Porterfield, Fred Sanford, Tom Ferrick, and Spec Shea. (They also acquired previously forgotten Yankee Jackie Jensen.) For whatever reason, ex-Yankee pitchers on the Senators seemed to dramatically improve. Now Harris was on the Tigers, and wanted Sturdivant. Thinking Harris must know something, the Yankees pulled him back. Apparently Harris did know something, as Sturdivant went 32-14 with a 2.88 ERA over the next two seasons!
  
• In the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers, Sturdivant started Game 4, and did what he usually did: He gave up six walks, but no home runs, and got a double play. He went the distance and the Yankees won the game, 6-2, to even the World Series at two games each. After the game, the Associated Press called it "the best pitching job in the series." Sturdivant's glory was short-lived, however: the next day, Don Larsen threw a perfect game.
  
• The infielder turned pitcher because he couldn't hit was a pretty good hitter for a pitcher in 1956, when he hit .313 with a double and a triple in 64 at-bats. Overall, though, he hit just .183/.208/.195 in 364 career plate appearances. Moving to the mound was a good decision!
  
• No relation, and spelled differently anyway: Tyler Sturdevant, who pitched in the minors for the Indians from 2009 to 2015. He finally made his debut with the Rays in 2016, at age 30, with a not-bad 3.93 ERA and 1.309 WHIP in 18.1 innings. The following year he was in the A's system, but he never got another trip of the Show.
  

Sturdivant remained a Yankee for life. After his playing days were over and he was living in Oklahoma, he was an early adopter of a subscription service that allowed him to watch Yankee games!