http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2020/09/imperialism-part-2-super-profits-and.html
Lenin’s theory of the ‘weakest link’ led him to believe a ‘socialist proletarian revolution’ would most likely occur first in parts of the world still transitioning towards full capitalism, not the advanced capitalist countries themselves. Partly, this arose from his belief that a stratum of workers in the latter – the ‘labour aristocracy’ – had been ‘bribed’ into supporting capitalism out of imperialist ‘super-profits’ produced by a super-exploited colonial workforce. In Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917), Lenin quotes the arch-imperialist, Cecil Rhodes, reminiscing about a meeting of the unemployed he once attended. The discontent he encountered there convinced Rhodes that Britain should expand its empire, thereby improving the economic prospects of British workers, in order to avert a civil war. Yet, incongruously, Lenin states elsewhere in his book (Ch. 4) that if capitalism could ‘raise the living standards of the masses, who in spite of the amazing technical progress are everywhere still half-starved and poverty-stricken … it would not be capitalism’. This prompts the question – why then would the capitalists go to such lengths to raise the living standards of some workers by ‘bribing’ them? Lenin’s definitive statement on the subject appears in the 1920 Preface of Imperialism:

‘Obviously out of such enormous super-profits (since they are obtained over and above the profits which capitalists squeeze out of the workers of their “own” country) it is possible to bribe the labour aristocracy. And the capitalists of the “advanced” countries are bribing them, they bribe them in a thousand different ways, direct and indirect. This stratum of workers-turned-bourgeois, or the labour aristocracy, who are quite philistine in their mode of life, in the size of their earnings and in their entire outlook, is the principal prop of the Second International, and in our days, the principal social (not military) prop of the bourgeoisie. For they are the real agents of the bourgeoisie in the working-class movement, the labour lieutenants of the capitalist class, real vehicles of reformism and chauvinism’.

Prior to the First World War, as Eric Hobsbawn notes, Lenin did not really make a connection between the ‘labour aristocracy’ and imperialist ‘super-profits’ as an explanation for the reformist outlook of workers. Rather, he seems to have attributed this to the influence of certain ‘petty bourgeois’ tendencies becoming more prominent due to a changing occupational structure and the development of a purely ‘economist trade union movement fragmenting the working class into ‘selfish’ (“petty bourgeois”) segments each pursuing its interest at the expense of others’ (Monthly Review, December 2012). It was the impact of the First World War and Lenin’s profound sense of shock induced by the various Social Democratic parties (comprising the Second International) abandoning all pretence of international solidarity and aligning themselves with their respective capitalist governments in the cause of an imperialist bloodbath, which jolted him into further developing his idea of the labour aristocracy. That War, he reasoned, was the quintessential expression of the capitalist rivalries inherent in imperialism. By supporting it, the parties of the Second International betrayed their own inadvertent support for the imperialist project. Imperialism had been condoned on the grounds that, by imposing capitalist development on the newly colonised countries, this would hasten the advent of socialism. However, behind the superficial rationalisations portraying imperialism as some kind of objectively ‘civilising’ and progressive project there lurked ulterior motives. Lenin argued that by materially benefitting from the imperialist project, by increasing their living standards at the expense of the colonial workforce, the labour aristocracy comprising the ‘principal prop of the Second International’, found their appetite for socialist revolution had been considerably dulled if not altogether extinguished. Thus did they succumb to the politics of ‘opportunism’ – or reformism – and, in their leadership role as representatives of the wider working class, they set about persuading the latter to adopt this course of action as well, in the process abandoning their earlier commitment to socialist revolution. Indeed, reformism itself could likewise be construed as a form of bribery insofar as it held out the prospect of workers improving their circumstances within the framework of capitalism itself, thereby shoring it up. Earlier theoriesThe term ‘labour aristocracy’ was originally coined by the anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin, in 1872. Bakunin felt it was not the organised and more skilled workers within the proletariat that were its most radical elements but, rather, those lower down the labour hierarchy: ‘To me the flower of the proletariat is not, as it is to the Marxists, the upper layer, the aristocracy of labor, those who are the most cultured, who earn more and live more comfortably than all the other workers’ (On the International Workingmen’s Association and Karl Marx,1872). This, in a way, anticipated Lenin’s view that revolution was more likely to break out first in the poorer countries of the world. In both instances, the underlying (and rather mechanistic) assumption seems to have been that the more intense the poverty experienced, the more likely are people to revolt. However, this raises the question – what are the people supposedly revolting for? A violent uprising, however understandable, does not of itself constitute a social revolution if all it does is to replace one ruling class with another. Social revolution means a fundamental change in the basis of society irrespective of how it is achieved. Bakunin’s basic argument has been endorsed by others – like Frantz Fanon, whose seminal work The Wretched of the Earth (1961), contended that it was the lumpenproletariat and Third World peasantry who, precisely because of their social distance from the capitalist mainstream and its dominant ideology, embodied the greatest revolutionary potential within modern capitalism. Similar sentiments have been expressed with regard to the newly-identified ‘precariat’ of more recent times. Marx’s opinion of the ‘lumpenproletariat’ contrasted starkly with Bakunin’s. Living largely outside of the constraints of formal wage labour and subject to the vagaries of desperate poverty, the lumpenproletariat, by virtue of its very life situation, was more likely to become a ‘bribed tool of reactionary intrigue’ rather than a force for revolution. This was a reference to elements of the lumpenproletariat being employed by the French state within its armed forces for the purposes of maintaining order during the social upheavals of the mid-nineteenth century – the bribe in question being a soldier’s wage rather than something received in addition to this wage (The Class Struggles in France 1848-1850). Marx’s reference to the lumpenproletariat being ‘bribed’ is ironic, given Lenin’s insistence that it was labour aristocracy, instead, that was the beneficiary of capitalist bribery. However, this may be a case of over-theorising on both sides. One’s own circumstances – be one a lumpenproletarian or labour aristocrat – need not be particularly decisive as far as one’s receptivity to socialist ideas are concerned. Indeed, Marx and Engels themselves in the Communist Manifesto speculated on the possibility of even some capitalists (Engels himself, being a prime example), cutting themselves adrift from their class and seeking common cause with the workers. Nevertheless, the weight of historical evidence suggests that the more militant elements within the working class (particularly those who have embraced revolutionary socialism) have, indeed, tended to be drawn from the ranks of semi-skilled and skilled workers. There is a further irony in Lenin’s depiction of the labour aristocracy as a force for conservatism since it was precisely this segment of the Russian working class that formed the social base from which the Bolsheviks primarily drew their support – skilled machinists in the large factories whereas ‘Lower paid workers, such as the predominantly female textile workers, were generally either unorganized or apolitical (until the beginnings of the revolution) or supported the reformist Mensheviks’ (C Post, Solidarity Sept-Oct 2006). Engels, before Lenin, had suggested a link between capitalist monopoly and the labour aristocracy, in a letter to Kautsky, concerning the political situation in England: ‘There is no workers party here, there are only Conservatives and Liberal-Radicals and the workers gaily share the feast of England’s Monopoly of the world market and the colonies’ (12 September 1882). However, unlike Lenin, Engels held that the tendency for capital to penetrate everywhere would eventually break down England’s global monopoly (and, by extension, undermine the super-profits it derived from such a monopoly), thereby reversing the ‘embourgeoisement’ of the English proletariat. Bribery but how?For all Lenin’s talk of how the capitalists bribe the labour aristocracy in ‘a thousand different ways, direct and indirect’, it is difficult to envisage even a single way in which this might happen – not if we are to remain faithful to the meaning of the term ‘bribe’ as a premeditated act to materially induce the other party to the transaction to do your bidding. For Lenin’s concept of a bribe to make any sense, and to work on its own terms, it would need to imply something given in addition to the wages received – meaning one would need to transparently disaggregate the income of the labour aristocracy into a ‘legitimate’ wage and ‘illegitimate’ bribe component. This obviously did not happen; all workers received was a wage so any alleged bribe would be hidden within this wage. This raises multiple problems. If the capitalists of the imperialist countries were so amenable to surreptitiously sharing the proceeds of their investments abroad with (some of) their workforce at home, one might surmise that they would be less resistant to pressure from the latter for better wages than was the case. As Tony Cliff noted: ‘No capitalist says to the workers: “I have made high profits this year, so I am ready to give you higher wages”’ Socialist Review, June 1957). Workers always have to struggle for higher wages. Indeed, Lenin rather contradicted himself by suggesting that super-profits are obtained over and above ‘the profits which capitalists squeeze out of the workers of their “own” country’ – implying a systemic need, arising out of market competition, for these capitalists to exert a constant downward pressure on wage levels. If Lenin’s thesis was correct we would expect income differentials between the labour aristocracy and other workers to vary in proportion to a country’s level of colonial investment. However, the evidence suggests otherwise. According to Cliff, wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers were higher in a country like Rumania which had very little foreign investment compared to, say, Britain – in Lenin’s time by far the world largest source of foreign capital. Moreover, though wage differentials in Britain did widen significantly between, roughly, 1850 and 1890 because of the growth of craft unions (e.g. the Amalgamated Society of Engineers) dominated by ‘labour aristocrats’, these differentials narrowed towards the end of the nineteenth century with the appearance of the ‘new unionism’ which sought to reach out and organise unskilled and semi-skilled workers. The point is that it was precisely then when the age of imperialism commenced (as Lenin saw it) that these differentials started narrowing, thus contradicting what his theory predicts. There are other grounds on which one might question the theory. For instance, it overlooks that what might theoretically be in the interests of the capitalist class as a whole to collude in bribing workers to achieve some nebulous political objective, may not be a sufficiently persuasive reason for individual capitalists (in competition with other capitalists) to become involved in this stratagem. Meaning it may never take off as a stratagem. Likewise, workers succumbing to such bribery and seeing themselves as indebted to their employers would probably be less likely to militantly struggle for better wages and conditions. This would probably more than wipe out the value of any hypothetical bribe they might have received. There are other problems with Lenin’s theory which we will consider later in the context of a ‘post-colonial’ world. While Lenin fondly imagined ‘national liberation struggles’ would serve to undermine imperialism and thereby strike a blow against ‘monopoly capitalism’ the outcome of such struggles, as we shall see, has been quite the opposite of what he hoped for.

http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2020/09/imperialism-part-2-super-profits-and.html
Lenin’s theory of the ‘weakest link’ led him to believe a ‘socialist proletarian revolution’ would most likely occur first in parts of the world still transitioning towards full capitalism, not the advanced capitalist countries themselves. Partly, this arose from his belief that a stratum of workers in the latter – the ‘labour aristocracy’ – had been ‘bribed’ into supporting capitalism out of imperialist ‘super-profits’ produced by a super-exploited colonial workforce. In Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917), Lenin quotes the arch-imperialist, Cecil Rhodes, reminiscing about a meeting of the unemployed he once attended. The discontent he encountered there convinced Rhodes that Britain should expand its empire, thereby improving the economic prospects of British workers, in order to avert a civil war. Yet, incongruously, Lenin states elsewhere in his book (Ch. 4) that if capitalism could ‘raise the living standards of the masses, who in spite of the amazing technical progress are everywhere still half-starved and poverty-stricken … it would not be capitalism’. This prompts the question – why then would the capitalists go to such lengths to raise the living standards of some workers by ‘bribing’ them? Lenin’s definitive statement on the subject appears in the 1920 Preface of Imperialism:

‘Obviously out of such enormous super-profits (since they are obtained over and above the profits which capitalists squeeze out of the workers of their “own” country) it is possible to bribe the labour aristocracy. And the capitalists of the “advanced” countries are bribing them, they bribe them in a thousand different ways, direct and indirect. This stratum of workers-turned-bourgeois, or the labour aristocracy, who are quite philistine in their mode of life, in the size of their earnings and in their entire outlook, is the principal prop of the Second International, and in our days, the principal social (not military) prop of the bourgeoisie. For they are the real agents of the bourgeoisie in the working-class movement, the labour lieutenants of the capitalist class, real vehicles of reformism and chauvinism’.

Prior to the First World War, as Eric Hobsbawn notes, Lenin did not really make a connection between the ‘labour aristocracy’ and imperialist ‘super-profits’ as an explanation for the reformist outlook of workers. Rather, he seems to have attributed this to the influence of certain ‘petty bourgeois’ tendencies becoming more prominent due to a changing occupational structure and the development of a purely ‘economist trade union movement fragmenting the working class into ‘selfish’ (“petty bourgeois”) segments each pursuing its interest at the expense of others’ (Monthly Review, December 2012). It was the impact of the First World War and Lenin’s profound sense of shock induced by the various Social Democratic parties (comprising the Second International) abandoning all pretence of international solidarity and aligning themselves with their respective capitalist governments in the cause of an imperialist bloodbath, which jolted him into further developing his idea of the labour aristocracy. That War, he reasoned, was the quintessential expression of the capitalist rivalries inherent in imperialism. By supporting it, the parties of the Second International betrayed their own inadvertent support for the imperialist project. Imperialism had been condoned on the grounds that, by imposing capitalist development on the newly colonised countries, this would hasten the advent of socialism. However, behind the superficial rationalisations portraying imperialism as some kind of objectively ‘civilising’ and progressive project there lurked ulterior motives. Lenin argued that by materially benefitting from the imperialist project, by increasing their living standards at the expense of the colonial workforce, the labour aristocracy comprising the ‘principal prop of the Second International’, found their appetite for socialist revolution had been considerably dulled if not altogether extinguished. Thus did they succumb to the politics of ‘opportunism’ – or reformism – and, in their leadership role as representatives of the wider working class, they set about persuading the latter to adopt this course of action as well, in the process abandoning their earlier commitment to socialist revolution. Indeed, reformism itself could likewise be construed as a form of bribery insofar as it held out the prospect of workers improving their circumstances within the framework of capitalism itself, thereby shoring it up. Earlier theoriesThe term ‘labour aristocracy’ was originally coined by the anarchist, Mikhail Bakunin, in 1872. Bakunin felt it was not the organised and more skilled workers within the proletariat that were its most radical elements but, rather, those lower down the labour hierarchy: ‘To me the flower of the proletariat is not, as it is to the Marxists, the upper layer, the aristocracy of labor, those who are the most cultured, who earn more and live more comfortably than all the other workers’ (On the International Workingmen’s Association and Karl Marx,1872). This, in a way, anticipated Lenin’s view that revolution was more likely to break out first in the poorer countries of the world. In both instances, the underlying (and rather mechanistic) assumption seems to have been that the more intense the poverty experienced, the more likely are people to revolt. However, this raises the question – what are the people supposedly revolting for? A violent uprising, however understandable, does not of itself constitute a social revolution if all it does is to replace one ruling class with another. Social revolution means a fundamental change in the basis of society irrespective of how it is achieved. Bakunin’s basic argument has been endorsed by others – like Frantz Fanon, whose seminal work The Wretched of the Earth (1961), contended that it was the lumpenproletariat and Third World peasantry who, precisely because of their social distance from the capitalist mainstream and its dominant ideology, embodied the greatest revolutionary potential within modern capitalism. Similar sentiments have been expressed with regard to the newly-identified ‘precariat’ of more recent times. Marx’s opinion of the ‘lumpenproletariat’ contrasted starkly with Bakunin’s. Living largely outside of the constraints of formal wage labour and subject to the vagaries of desperate poverty, the lumpenproletariat, by virtue of its very life situation, was more likely to become a ‘bribed tool of reactionary intrigue’ rather than a force for revolution. This was a reference to elements of the lumpenproletariat being employed by the French state within its armed forces for the purposes of maintaining order during the social upheavals of the mid-nineteenth century – the bribe in question being a soldier’s wage rather than something received in addition to this wage (The Class Struggles in France 1848-1850). Marx’s reference to the lumpenproletariat being ‘bribed’ is ironic, given Lenin’s insistence that it was labour aristocracy, instead, that was the beneficiary of capitalist bribery. However, this may be a case of over-theorising on both sides. One’s own circumstances – be one a lumpenproletarian or labour aristocrat – need not be particularly decisive as far as one’s receptivity to socialist ideas are concerned. Indeed, Marx and Engels themselves in the Communist Manifesto speculated on the possibility of even some capitalists (Engels himself, being a prime example), cutting themselves adrift from their class and seeking common cause with the workers. Nevertheless, the weight of historical evidence suggests that the more militant elements within the working class (particularly those who have embraced revolutionary socialism) have, indeed, tended to be drawn from the ranks of semi-skilled and skilled workers. There is a further irony in Lenin’s depiction of the labour aristocracy as a force for conservatism since it was precisely this segment of the Russian working class that formed the social base from which the Bolsheviks primarily drew their support – skilled machinists in the large factories whereas ‘Lower paid workers, such as the predominantly female textile workers, were generally either unorganized or apolitical (until the beginnings of the revolution) or supported the reformist Mensheviks’ (C Post, Solidarity Sept-Oct 2006). Engels, before Lenin, had suggested a link between capitalist monopoly and the labour aristocracy, in a letter to Kautsky, concerning the political situation in England: ‘There is no workers party here, there are only Conservatives and Liberal-Radicals and the workers gaily share the feast of England’s Monopoly of the world market and the colonies’ (12 September 1882). However, unlike Lenin, Engels held that the tendency for capital to penetrate everywhere would eventually break down England’s global monopoly (and, by extension, undermine the super-profits it derived from such a monopoly), thereby reversing the ‘embourgeoisement’ of the English proletariat. Bribery but how?For all Lenin’s talk of how the capitalists bribe the labour aristocracy in ‘a thousand different ways, direct and indirect’, it is difficult to envisage even a single way in which this might happen – not if we are to remain faithful to the meaning of the term ‘bribe’ as a premeditated act to materially induce the other party to the transaction to do your bidding. For Lenin’s concept of a bribe to make any sense, and to work on its own terms, it would need to imply something given in addition to the wages received – meaning one would need to transparently disaggregate the income of the labour aristocracy into a ‘legitimate’ wage and ‘illegitimate’ bribe component. This obviously did not happen; all workers received was a wage so any alleged bribe would be hidden within this wage. This raises multiple problems. If the capitalists of the imperialist countries were so amenable to surreptitiously sharing the proceeds of their investments abroad with (some of) their workforce at home, one might surmise that they would be less resistant to pressure from the latter for better wages than was the case. As Tony Cliff noted: ‘No capitalist says to the workers: “I have made high profits this year, so I am ready to give you higher wages”’ Socialist Review, June 1957). Workers always have to struggle for higher wages. Indeed, Lenin rather contradicted himself by suggesting that super-profits are obtained over and above ‘the profits which capitalists squeeze out of the workers of their “own” country’ – implying a systemic need, arising out of market competition, for these capitalists to exert a constant downward pressure on wage levels. If Lenin’s thesis was correct we would expect income differentials between the labour aristocracy and other workers to vary in proportion to a country’s level of colonial investment. However, the evidence suggests otherwise. According to Cliff, wage differentials between skilled and unskilled workers were higher in a country like Rumania which had very little foreign investment compared to, say, Britain – in Lenin’s time by far the world largest source of foreign capital. Moreover, though wage differentials in Britain did widen significantly between, roughly, 1850 and 1890 because of the growth of craft unions (e.g. the Amalgamated Society of Engineers) dominated by ‘labour aristocrats’, these differentials narrowed towards the end of the nineteenth century with the appearance of the ‘new unionism’ which sought to reach out and organise unskilled and semi-skilled workers. The point is that it was precisely then when the age of imperialism commenced (as Lenin saw it) that these differentials started narrowing, thus contradicting what his theory predicts. There are other grounds on which one might question the theory. For instance, it overlooks that what might theoretically be in the interests of the capitalist class as a whole to collude in bribing workers to achieve some nebulous political objective, may not be a sufficiently persuasive reason for individual capitalists (in competition with other capitalists) to become involved in this stratagem. Meaning it may never take off as a stratagem. Likewise, workers succumbing to such bribery and seeing themselves as indebted to their employers would probably be less likely to militantly struggle for better wages and conditions. This would probably more than wipe out the value of any hypothetical bribe they might have received. There are other problems with Lenin’s theory which we will consider later in the context of a ‘post-colonial’ world. While Lenin fondly imagined ‘national liberation struggles’ would serve to undermine imperialism and thereby strike a blow against ‘monopoly capitalism’ the outcome of such struggles, as we shall see, has been quite the opposite of what he hoped for.

Listen to my trauma...this might be our last chance. When I hear Lightning in relation to Final Fantasy I don't think of the XIII heroine, an element that so many characters have wielded expertly, or even an amazing chief of the Gerudo. No, much like Rikku I think FFX Thunder Plains and even years later the amount of time and effort that went into dodging Lightning Bolts. Did I get Lulu's sigil? Of course...but I'm not sure how much of my sanity I left there in that tortured landscape.
Labyrinth so by now you should know what to expect. This might be sooner than you expect since the last one was only two weeks but here we are. The last Lightning focused event was the last Lightning Labyrinth 2 Months ago. The initital reveal and discussion is here.

• Season 1
  
  • Group A: Guy, Emperor, Tellah, Tifa, Red XIII, Rude, Rinoa, Cinque, Cid XIV
  • Group B: Bartz, Gau, Cid VII, Freya, Eiko, Marcus, Vaan, Serafie, Wedge
  • Group C: Firion, Palom, Xezat, Umaro, Edea, Fran, Seven, Eight, Trey
  • Group D: Rosa, Edward, Yang, Porom, Fusoya, Golbez, Cid (IV), Ceodore, Rubicante
• Season 2
  
  • Group E: Master, Matoya, Locke, Cyan, Barrett, Vincent, Sephiroth, Braska, Sazh
  • Group F: Meia, Leila, Aria, Ward, Wakka, Lulu, Rikku, Paine, Lion
  • Group G: Cloud of Darkness, Kain, Relm, Shelke, Garnet, Steiner, Prishe, King, Queen
  • Group H: Arc, PCecil, Leo, Angeal, Beatrix, Curilla, Basch, Hope, Raines
• Season 3
  
  • Group I: Garland, Leon, Dark Knight Cecil, Exdeath, Setzer, Seifer, Nabaat, Ardyn, Sice
  • Group J: Ashe, Penelo, Gabranth, Vayne, Larsa, Reks (Old: Vaan, Fran, Basch)
  • Group K: Richard , Edgar , Reno , Raijin , Lilisette , Lightning , Aranea , Prompto , (Old: Ravus)

Group K: 3rd September 2021 - 24 September

• Low Difficulty Dungeon
  
  • Cloister of Turtle S3 (Lightning, Aranea, Reno)
  • Cloister of Djinn S3 (Edgar, Lilisette, Reno)
  • Cloister of Antlion S3 (Prompto, Aranea, Ricard)
  • Cloister of Weapon S3 (Lightning, Ravus, Raijin)
• Mid Difficulty Dungeon
  
  • Cloister of Clown S3 (Lightning, Aranea, Reno)
  • Cloister of Supersoldier S3 (Edgar, Lilisette, Reno)
  • Cloister of 128 S3 (Prompto, Aranea, Ricard)
  • Cloister of Sanctum S3 (Lightning, Ravus, Raijin)
• High Difficulty Dungeon
  
  • Cloister of Tsunami S3 (Edgar, Lilisette, Reno)
  • Cloister of Bahamut S3 (Prompto, Aranea, Ricard)
  • Cloister of President S3 (Lightning, Ravus, Raijin)

There is another Royal Archives Training Facility dropping with this event.

• Collection event that provide rewards that can be used to power up our characters
• Earn Kupo Nuts to exchange them in a limited trade shop, there will be an increased quantity of Crystal Waters this time round
• In every stage there is a low chance to face a rare enemy, who can drop a lot more Kupo Fruits

Thanks to Leyroux and onthefaultline for the translation work, dataminers like ElNinoFr (and other I'm sure), and S0litair3d as always for the posts on GameFaqs that allows me to do these, C637 for getting the animations for each new relic together, and also thanks to Pyrotios for always checking my work and helping make sure these things are accurate.

Recent JP Megathreads

A Burdening Legacy (X) Fadeless Frontier (V) S3GJ XII (Labyrinth) Starseer Oracle (XV) Chaotic Memories (T0) S3GI Dark (Labyrinth) Fireworks in the Night Sky (Core) Labyrinth Campaign Relic Draw (Labyrinth) Phantom Palace (XIII) S2GH Holy (Labyrinth)

Glory Fest 2021

Megathread Relics

Helpful Links

General JP Version Information FFRK Community Database

S3GK Lightning

Event start time: Sept. 3rd 15:00 JST
New Awakening Dyad Queen, Palom, Raijin
New Arcane Dyad Palom, Raijin
New Chain Palom
New Awakening Queen
New Glint+ Raijin

Stamp Sheets

• Season 3 Group K Relic Draw Stamp Sheet
  
  • 1 Stamp: 5000 Gysahl Greens
  • 2 Stamps: 50 of each 4* Mote
  • 3 Stamps: 50 of each Major Orb
  • 4 Stamps: 50 of each 5* Mote
  • 5 Stamps: 3 Daily Draw Tickets
  • 6 Stamps: 5000 Gysahl Greens
  • 7 Stamps: 10 of each Crystal
  • 8 Stamps: 100 of each 5* Mote
  • 9 Stamps: 10 of each Crystal
  • 10 Stamps: 1 free pick from Selection A
  • 11 Stamps: 5000 Gyashl Greens
  • 12 Stamps: 7500 Gyashl Greens
  • 13 Stamps: 50 of each 5* Mote
  • 14 Stamps: 60 Rainbow Crystals
  • 15 Stamps: 1 free pick from Selection B
  • 16 Stamps: 30 of each 6* Mote
  • 17 Stamps: 90 Rainbow Crystals
  • 18 Stamps: 30 of each 6* Mote
  • 19 Stamps: 90 Rainbow Crystals
  • 20 Stamps: 1 SB Honing Scroll

Relic Draw Banners

Banner 1

Relic	Type	Character	Soul Break/Legend Materia
Save the Queen (CT/DMG)	Sword (Lightning+)	Queen	Awakening Dyad: "Awoken Fiendish Judgment" (PHY: 7x single Lightning/Dark/NE @ BDL+1; self En-Lightning (stacking), BDL+1, "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode One", Lightning Ability Damage +5%).
Twilight Robe (CT/DMG)	Robe (Lightning+)	Palom	Awakening Dyad: "Awoken Tri-Disaster" (BLK: 7x Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE @ BDL+1; self MAG/MND +50%, "Tri-Element Mode II", BDL+1, "Dual Awoken Black Magic Mode One", Black Magic Ability Damage +5%).
Mythril Hammer (CT/DMG)	Hammer (Lightning+)	Raijin	Awakening Dyad: "Awoken Lightning Raid" (PHY: 7x single Lightning/NE @ BDL+1; party Crit Damage +50%; self En-Lightning (stacking), BDL+1, "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode One", Lightning Ability Damage +5%).
Asura Rod+ (Stat/CT/Cost)	Rod (Lightning+)	Palom	Arcane Dyad: "Infinity" (NAT: Instant self "Tri-Element Mode", BDL+1, "Arcane Dyad Empowered Mode", ZSBC).
Raijin's Staff+ (Stat/CT/Cost)	Hammer (Lightning+)	Raijin	Arcane Dyad: "Apex Dragon Soaring" (NAT: Instant party Haste, IC1; self En-Lightning (stacking), "Arcane Dyad Empowered Mode", ZSBC).
Voltaic Saber (DMG/CT)	Sword (Lightning+)	Queen	Synchro: "Devastate" (PHY: 15x single Lightning/Dark/NE; self En-Lightning (3 stacks), Synchro Mode, BDL+1. "Lucid Power").
Sage's Mantle (DMG/CT)	Robe (Ice+)	Palom	Synchro: "Twincast: Double Meteor" (BLK: 15x single Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE; self Synchro Mode, BDL+1, "Tri-Element Mode III", "Bluff").
Lucky Mallet (DMG/CT)	Hammer (Lightning+)	Raijin	Synchro: "Thunderstorm Call" (PHY: 15x single Lightning/NE; party Crit Chance +50%; self En-Lightning (3 stacks), Sync Mode, "Heroic Stormcall").
Golden Staff (DMG/CT)	Staff (Ice+)	Palom	Limit Overstrike: "Black Magic Crush" (BLK: 4x single piercing Fire/Lightning/Ice overflow).
Ochre Bracer (DATB)	Bracer (Lightning+)	Palom	Chain: "Boltlink (Palom)" (NAT: Instant party MAG +50%, Lightning 150-chain, Lightning Damage +10/20/30% based on 0/2/4 En-Lightning members (5s); self IC1, ZSBC)
Thunder Armlet (DMG/CT/Use)	Bracer (Lightning+)	Queen	Awakening: "Lucid Judgment" (PHY: 15x single Lightning/Dark/NE; self En-Lightning (stacking), "Awoken Savage Heart", BDL+1, "Stern Judgement").
Black Garb	Light Armor	Raijin	Glint+: "Daring Stand" (NAT: Instant AoE DEF/RES/MND -70%; self IC1, ZSBC).

Banner 2

Relic	Type	Character	Soul Break/Legend Materia
Mace of Zeus+ (Stat/CT/Cost)	Staff (Ice+)	Vivi	Arcane Dyad: "Frostspark Doomsday" (NAT: Instant self "Twin Element Mode", BDL+1, "Arcane Dyad Empowered Mode", ZSBC).
Engine Blade II (DMG/CT)	Sword (Lightning+)	Noctis	Synchro: "True Prompto Link" (PHY: 15x single Lightning/NE; self En-Lightning (3 stacks), Synchro Mode, BDL+1, IC1; self & Prompto Lightning Ability Damage +30%).
Wizard's Robes (DMG/CT)	Robe (Ice+)	Vivi	Synchro: "Freezing Stormhammer" (BLK: 15x single Ice/Lightning/NE; self Synchro Mode, BDL+1, "Twin Element Mode III", "Frostflash Advent").
Wizard's Robe (DMG/CT)	Robe (Fire+)	Matoya	Synchro: "Alchemic Enchantment" (BLK: 15x single Fire/Ice/Lightning/NE; party ATK/MAG/DEF/RES +30%; self "Quartz Eye Mode III", Synchro Mode, BDL+1, "Tonic Charm").
King's Jacket (DMG/CT)	Light Armor (Fire+)	Noctis	Limit Overflow: "Another Link" (PHY: 4x single piercing critical Fire/Earth/Lightning overflow).
Sage's Miter (DMG/CT/Use)	Hat (Ice+)	Palom	Awakening: "True Thunderstorm" (BLK: 15x single Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE; self "Awoken Black Magic Mode", BDL+1, IC1, "Tri-Element Mode II", "Black Mage's Bluff", "True Thunderstorm").
Spirited Stick	Hammer (Lightning+)	Raijin	Awakening: "Zealous Thunderbolt" (PHY: 15x single Lightning/NE; party Crit Damage +50%; self En-Lightning, "Awoken Lightning Mode", BDL+1, "Stormcall").
Golden Staff (DMG/CT/Use)	Staff (Fire+)	Matoya	Awakening: "Witch's Awakening" (BLK: 15x single Fire/Ice/Lightning/NE; self QC Witch, "Awoken Witch Mode", BDL+1, "Quartz Eye Mode II", "Quartz Eye Mode").
Hermit's Robes (Stat/DUse)	Robe (Fire+)	Vivi	Awakening: "Athlete Queen" (NAT: Instant party ATK/MAG/MND +30%, Haste; self "Awoken Black Mage Mode", BDL+1, "Athlete Queen").
Herding Staff	Staff (Ice+)	Vivi	Ultra: "Freezing Sparkbreaker" (BLK: 10x single Fire/Ice/Lightning/NE; self QC2, Magic Damage +30%, "Tri-Element Mode II").
Judgment Staff	Staff	Matoya	Flash+: "Witch's Concoction" (NAT: Instant self "Quartz Eye Mode", IC2; self Zero SB Cost).
Sword of the Tall	Sword	Noctis	Flash+: "Empower Link" (NAT: Instant self "Tri-Element Mode II", HQC1, ZSBC).

Note: Bolded relics are new.
Available videos of the new relics SBs are linked to the relic names.
Modes and Notes
Banner 1

• Queen's Awakening Dyad:
  
  • "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode One": Self rank boost (Lightning), TCast Lightning, Chase 1/2/3+ Lightning: self equipped Lightning [CT x2/2.5/3, Crit Chance= 50/75/100%].
  • "Dual Shift": Instant self IATB1, "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode Two", ZSBC, remove "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode One".
  • "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode Two: Self BDL+2, rank boost (Lightning), WCast Lightning, 100% Crit Chance, IC Lightning Abilities.
• Palom's Awakening Dyad:
  
  • "Tri-Element Mode II": En-Lightning/En-Fire/En-Ice (stacking).
  • "Dual Awoken Black Magic Mode One": Self rank boost (Black Magic), TCast Black Magic, Chase 1/2/3+ Black Magic: self equipped Black Magic CT x2/2.5/3.
  • "Dual Shift": Instant self IATB1, "Dual Awoken Black Magic Mode Two", ZSBC, remove "Dual Awoken Black Magic Mode One".
  • "Dual Awoken Black Magic Mode Two: Self BDL+2, rank boost (Black Magic), WCast Black Magic, IC Black Magic.
• Raijin's Awakening Dyad:
  
  • "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode One": Self rank boost (Lightning), WCast Lightning, Chase 2 Lightning: (PHY: 4x single Lightning/NE, DEF/RES/MND -70%).
  • "Dual Shift": Instant self IATB1, "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode Two", ZSBC, remove "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode One".
  • "Dual Awoken Lightning Mode Two: rank boost (Lightning), WCast Lightning, IC Lightning Abilities, 1/Battle Chase Lightning: En-Lightning heroes (except self): BDL+1 3.
• Palom's Arcane Dyad:
  
  • "Tri-Element Mode": En-Lightning/En-Fire/En-Ice.
  • "Arcane Dyad Empowered Mode": BDL+1 and multiplier increased for second activation if at least 100001 damage is dealt.
  • "Infinity": (BLK: 20x single Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE, 1x single Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE overflow; self Remove "Arcane Dyad Empowered Mode").
• Raijin's Arcane Dyad:
  
  • "Arcane Dyad Empowered Mode": BDL+1/2 and multiplier increased for second activation if at least 100001/300001 damage is dealt.
  • "Apex Dragon Soaring": (PHY: 20x single Lightning/NE, 1x single Lightning/NE overflow; self Remove "Arcane Dyad Empowered Mode").
• Queen's Synchro:
  
  • Attack (Lightning) "Fiendish Swordflash": (PHY: 6x single Lightning/Dark/NE).
  • Defend (Lightning, "Lucid Power") "Double-Edged Blessing": (NAT: Instant self [Lightning Ability Damage +50%, IC3, BDL+1] 3, Removes "Lucid Power".).
  • Defend (Lightning, no "Lucid Power") "Double-Edged Blessing": (NAT: Instant self QC1).
• Palom's Synchro:
  
  • Attack (Black Magic) "Sparkburn Icecrush": (BLK: 1x single Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE overflow. IF "Twincast": +6x single Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE (before overflow hit); self remove "Twincast").
  • Defend (Black Magic) "A Little Black Magic!": (BLK: Instant 1x Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE; self QC3).
  • "Tri-Element Mode III": En-Lightning/En-Fire/En-Ice (2 Stacks).
  • "Bluff": Chase 2 Sync: Self Black Magic Ability Damage +50% 1, "Twincast". IF Porom alive: +Self Lightning/Fire/Ice +10%).
• Raijin's Synchro:
  
  • Attack (Lightning) "Smiting Thunder": (PHY: 6x single Lightning/NE).
  • Defend (Lightning) "Fleeting Thunder": (PHY: 3x single Lightning/NE; self QC2. Short (.825) CT).
  • "Heroic Stormcall": Chase 2/4/6+ Lightning: Party Lightning Ability Damage +15/30/50% 1, Crit Chance +60/80/100%.
• Queen's Awakening:
  
  • "Awoken Savage Heart": Unlimited Lightning hones; rank based QC (Lightning); Chase Lightning: (PHY: 6x single Lightning/Dark/NE @100% Crit); Chase every 2 Chase: +self Lightning Damage +10%).
  • "Stern Judgment": Chase 2 Lightning: self En-Lightning.

Banner 2

• Vivi's True Arcane:
  
  • "Twin Element Mode": En-Ice/En-Lightning.
  • "Arcane Dyad Empowered Mode": BDL+1 and multiplier increased for second activation if at least 100001 damage is dealt.
  • "Frostspark Doomsday": (BLK: 20x single Ice/Lightning/NE, 1x single Ice/Lightning/NE overflow; self Remove "Arcane Dyad Empowered Mode").
• Noctis' Synchro:
  
  • Attack (Lightning, no "King's Succession") "Royal Charge": (PHY: 3x single Lightning/NE; self BDL+2 1 on Sync ATK).
  • Attack (Lightning, "King's Succession") "Royal Charge": (PHY: 7x single Lightning/NE; self Crit Chance +100% 2, remove "King's Succession").
  • Defend (Lightning) "Triple Breaker": (PHY: 3x single Lightning/NE (1.2s CT); self "King's Succession", IC1).
• Vivi's Synchro:
  
  • Attack (Ice/Lightning) "Dualcast Chillspark": (BLK: 6x single Ice/Lightning/NE; self Black Magic Ability Damage +30% 1).
  • Defend (Ice/Lightning) "Dualcast Frostbolt": (BLK Instant 1x single Ice/Lighting/NE; self QC3).
  • "Twin Element Mode III": En-Ice/En-Lighting (2 Stacks).
  • "Frostflash Advent": Chase 2 Black Magic: Dualcast Ice/Lightning 1.
• Matoya's Synchro:
  
  • Attack (Witch) "Eccentric Chant": (BLK: 7x single Fire/Ice/Lightning/NE, long (2.6s) CT).
  • Defend (Witch) "Miraculous Tonic": (BLK: 3x single Fire/Ice/Lightning/NE; self QC2).
  • "Quartz Eye Mode III": En-Fire/En-Ice/En-Lightning (2 Stacks).
  • "Tonic Charm" (0-1 I hero alive): Self [Fire/Ice/Lightning Ability Damage +15%, Dualcast Witch] 1.
  • "Tonic Charm" (2-3 I hero alive): Self [Fire/Ice/Lightning Ability Damage +30%, Dualcast Witch] 1.
  • "Tonic Charm" (4+ I hero alive): Self [Fire/Ice/Lightning Ability Damage +30%, Dualcast Witch] 3.
• Palom's Awakening:
  
  • "Awoken Black Magic Mode": Unlimited Black Magic hones; rank boost (Black Magic); auto WCast Black Magic.
  • "Tri-Element Mode II": En-Lightning/En-Fire/En-Ice (Stacking).
  • "Black Mage's Bluff": Chase 4 Lightning/Fire/Ice: (BLK: 10x single Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE, 1x single Lightning/Fire/Ice/NE overflow; self remove "Black Mage's Bluff").
  • "True Thunderstorm": Chase 3 Lightning/Fire/Ice: En-Lightning/En-Fire/En-Ice.
• Raijin's Awakening:
  
  • "Awoken Lightning Mode": Unlimited Lightning hones; rank boost (Lightning); auto WCast Lightning.
  • "Stormcall": Chase 2 Lightning: (NAT: Party Lightning Damage +10%).
• Matoya's Awakening:
  
  • "Awoken Witch Mode": Unlimited Witch hones; rank boost (Witch); auto w-cast Witch.
  • "Quartz Eye Mode II": En-Fire/En-Ice/En-Lightning (stacking).
  • "Quartz Eye Mode": Chase 2 Fire/Ice/Lightning Witch; self En-Fire/En-Ice OR En-Lightning.
• Vivi's Awakening:
  
  • "Awoken Black Mage Mode": Unlimited Black Magic hones; rank based QC (Black Magic); Chase Black Magic: Party QC1.
  • "Athlete Queen": Chase 2 Black Magic: Party Fire/Ice/Lightning Ability Damage +30% 1.
• Vivi's Ultra:
  
  • "Tri-Element Mode II": En-Fire/En-Ice/En-Lightning (stacking).
• Matoya's Flash+:
  
  • "Quartz Eye Mode": En-Fire/En-Ice/En-Lightning.
• Noctis' Flash+:
  
  • "Tri-Element Mode II": En-Fire/En-Earth/En-Lightning (stacking).

B1: Queen continues the self buffing route, Palom keeps hitting three elements, and Raijin adds in some helpful enemy debuffs. Overall, three new Awakening dyads, solid Lightning characters, mix of physical and magical...basically if you're looking for Lightning DPS look here.
B2: In addition to the obvious with Viv and Matoya's stuff here it also makes it a decent Ice mage banner too. Overall, as with these B2's recently pull here if you're looking for things you missed for these characters otherwise just look at B1.
There's also an upcoming Dragoon Pick-Up (Full Price) and "7th Anniversary Wonder Relic Draw". Here's what they have:
Dragoon Pick-Up

• Aranea TASB (Lightning+ Light Armor)
  
• Aranea Sync (Lightning+ Bracer)
  
• Entinien Sync (Wind+ Spear)
  
• Ricard Sync (Wind+ Spear)
  
• Estinien AASB (Wind+ Heavy Armor)
  
• Ricard AASB (Wind+ Spear)
  
• Cid (VII) AASB (Wind+ Spear)
  
• Aranea USB2
  
• Estinien USB2
  
• Ricard Glint+2
  
• Aranea LMR+
  
• Estinien LMR+
  

7th Anniversary Wonder Relic Draw (Mostly copied and pasted from S0litair3d on GF).

• These banners are something new for the upcoming anniversary. I'll either copy this or include a link when I get the fest thread going.
• Banners are available from 3rd to 17th September 2021.
• 18 banners in total, 1 for each realm.
• Gems only, each costs 873 Gems for a 3-pull, guaranteeing 1x 6*+.
  
  • FF1: WoL SASB1, Sarah SASB, Meia SASB, Garland SASB, WoL AASB, Sarah AASB, Meia AASB1, Garland AASB, Thief AASB1, Thief AASB2
  • FF2: Firion SASB1, Minwu SASB, Hilda SASB1, Josef SASB1, Firion AASB1, Minwu AASB, Hilda AASB1, Josef AASB1, Josef AASB2, Emperor AASB1, Emperor AASB2
  • FF3: OK SASB1, Aria SASB1, CoD SASB1, OK AASB1, OK AASB2, Luneth AASB1, Luneth AASB2, Arc AASB1, Arc AASB2, Aria AASB, CoD AASB1
  • FF4: Kain SASB1, Kain SASB2, Rosa SASB1, Rydia SASB1, Rydia SASB2, Pecil SASB, Golbez SASB1, Kain AASB1, Kain AASB2, Rosa AASB, Rydia AASB1, Rydia AASB2, Pecil AASB1, Golbez AASB
  • FF5: Bartz SASB1, Bartz SASB2, Lenna SASB1, Faris SASB, Krile SASB1, Bartz AASB1, Bartz AASB2, Bartz AASB3, Bartz AASB4, Bartz AASB5, Lenna AASB1, Lenna AASB2, Faris AASB1, Faris AASB2, Krile AASB
  • FF6: Terra SASB1, Terra SASB2, Celes SASB1, Locke SASB1, Relm SASB, Terra AASB1, Terra AASB2, Celes AASB1, Celes AASB2, Locke AASB, Relm AASB1, Strago AASB1, Strago AASB2
  • FF7: Cloud SASB1, Cloud SASB2, Sephiroth SASB1, Aerith SASB, Tifa SASB1, Tifa SASB2, Cloud AASB1, Cloud AASB2, Sephiroth AASB1, Sephiroth AASB2, Aerith AASB, Tifa AASB, Barret AASB1, Barret AASB2
  • FF8: Squall SASB1, Squall SASB2, Selphie SASB, Laguna SASB, Ultimecia SASB1, Squall AASB1, Squall AASB2, Selphie AASB, Laguna AASB1, Laguna AASB2, Ultimecia AASB1, Quistis AASB1
  • FF9: Zidane SASB, Eiko SASB1, Steiner SASB1, Kuja SASB, Beatrix SASB1, Zidane AASB, Eiko AASB1, Eiko AASB2, Steiner AASB1, Steinre AASB2, Kuja AASB, Beatrix AASB
  • FF10: Tidus SASB1, Tidus SASB2, Yuna SASB, Rikku SASB1, Lulu SASB, Jecht SASB, Tidus AASB1, Yuna AASB1, Yuna AASB2, Rikku AASB1, Lulu AASB1, Lulu AASB2, Jecht AASB1, Jecht AASB2
  • FF11: Shantotto SASB, Ayame SASB, Aphmau SASB, Shantotto AASB, Ayame AASB, Aphmau AASB, Curilla AASB, Prishe AASB
  • FF12: Vaan SASB1, Penelo SASB1, Fran SASB, Vaan AASB1, Vaan AASB2, Penelo AASB, Fran AASB1, Fran AASB2, Balthier AASB1, Reks AASB1, Reks AASB2
  • FF13: Lightning SASB1, Lightning SASB2, Serah SASB1, Snow SASB1, Fang SASB, Vanille SASB1, Lightning AASB1, Lightning AASB2, Serah AASB1, Snow AASB1, Snow AASB2, Fang AASB, Vanille AASB
  • FF14: Alphinaud SASB1, Alphinaud SASB2, Alisaie SASB, Y'shtola SASB1, Alphinaud AASB, Alisaie AASB, Y'shtola AASB1, Y'shtola AASB2, Papalymo AASB, Haurchefant AASB
  • FF15: Noctis SASB1, Noctis SASB2, Ignis SASB, Prompto SASB, Iris SASB, Noctis AASB, Ignis AASB1, Ignis AASB2, Prompto AASB, Iris AASB, Aranea AASB
  • FFT: Orlandeau SASB1, Ramza SASB, Gaffgarion SASB, Orlandeau AASB, Ramza AASB, Gaffgarion AASB, Agrias AASB, Alma AASB
  • FFT0: Rem SASB, Ace SASB1, Deuce SASB, Cater SASB, Rem AASB, Ace AASB, Deuce AASB, Cater AASB1, Cater AASB2, Queen AASB1
  • Core: Tyro SASB, Elarra SASB1, Dr. Mog SASB, Biggs SASB, Wedge SASB, Tyro AASB, Elarra AASB, Dr. Mog AASB1, Dr. Mog AASB2, Biggs AASB, Wedge AASB

If you spot any mistakes or have suggestions on how to improve the quality of my guides, feel free to comment here and I'll do my best to address them ASAP!

Finance & investing is not properly taught in schools and universities. It's unfortunate because finance is an essential part of our lives. No matter where we live or what career we have, knowing the basics of finance will help us manage our money better. It will ensure that we utilise our hard-earned money in the best way possible.
Because of the internet, all the information in the world is at our fingertips. However, for someone who is starting out with finance & investing, it can be overwhelming. There's just too much information. The person doesn't know where to start & how to start. Hopefully, this post will be a useful guide for new investors who are looking to get started with their investment journey.

What is investing ?

Investing is the process of making our money work for us. Whether we have a job or run a business, we work to make money when we're young. However, merely earning enough money is not enough. Instead of keeping the money idle, we put the money to work so that it makes more money for us.
To make money work for us, we buy (appreciating) assets. An asset is something of value which is be more valuable in the future. The price of the asset is expected to increase in the future because it provides some economic value. Investing in the process of buying such assets & holding onto them so that our money grows.

Why should we invest ?

Investing is not a necessity in life. Some people can go through their lives without investing. But, for the majority of people, investing is required because of the following reasons :

1) To build wealth

In our youth, we work to make money. (ie) We exchange our time for money. But, there's only so much time we have. So, we can only make a limited amount of money if we exchange time for money. To accumulate more money, we have to invest. Essentially, investing helps us get more money so that we can buy time (to do the things we love).
Furthermore, we will eventually get old & we won't be able to work. But, we will still need money to spend. Investing allows us to create enough wealth so that we will be financially independent during our older age.
When we're afraid to invest, wealth remains a dream.

2) To crush inflation

Simply put, inflation is the progressive increase in the price of goods & services. (ie) As time goes on, the cost of living goes up. In other words, the value of our money goes down. Why & how inflation happens is a complex topic.
Because of inflation, we can't let our money be idle. If we buy something with 'X' amount of money today, we will need 'more than X' amount of money to buy it in a few years. A healthy level of inflation is normal in an economy, since inflation promotes economic activity.
However, inflation means that we'll lose the purchasing power of our money if we let it be idle. So, we have to invest (most of) our money so that it grows. Otherwise, inflation will crush us.

Where should we invest ?

The basic asset classes available for an investor are Stocks, Bonds, Real estate & Commodities. These asset classes are the building blocks of other complex investment options. Before we learn more about the different ways to invest one's money, this document explains the list of things an investor should handle before they begin their investment journey.

Stocks

A stock represents the ownership of a small chunk of a company. Buying the stock allows us to participate in the future growth of the company, which lets us grow our wealth. This document explains some basic terminologies about the stock market.
Here are some basic points about stocks :

1. Stocks are VOLATILE : During every trading day, millions of investors & traders transact in the stock market. Since everyone is buying & selling with different intentions, the price of the stock tends to change every minute. No one can predict whether a stock is gonna go down or up. If a 10% drop in stock price makes you want to sell, don't buy stocks.
   
2. Stocks don't provide 'assured returns' : Because the stock price is influenced by many factors, we can't expect a stock to generate a consistent return every month/year. If someone is saying that they can generate a specific rate of return from stocks, they're trying to scam you.
   
3. Market crashes & corrections are common : It's a guarantee that the market will crash in the future. But, no one knows when it will happen. No one can escape it. The Indian stock market has experienced a correction almost every year.. Same with S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Instead of worrying about crashes & corrections, we should have a proper strategy to handle them. Whether a crash happens or not, we should invest consistently.
   
4. All-time-highs are common : Some investors have an irrational fear of investing money when the market (or a particular stock) is at an all-time-high. Any quality market/stock will see several ATHs.. It's a mistake to stop investing at an ATH. Don't randomly wait for a 'dip’.
   
5. The odds are against you : Twitteratis will make it seem as if stock investing is as simple as buying some stocks, letting it grow & giving it to our children as inheritance.. But, reality is much different. Among the thousands of stocks in the stock market, only a small percent of stocks are responsible for the returns of the entire market. Finding such stocks is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Statistically, you’re more likely to pick a loser than a winner., since many stocks lose money over the course of their lifetime. Stock investing is hard. Even if we select a winning stock, the journey will be hard.
   
6. Avoid investing based on 'hot stock tips': The cardinal rule in stock investing is "Know what you own & why you own it". Buying stocks based on tips violates this rule. Remember, the tip provider doesn't care about you. They have no incentive to help you make money. After buying, you won't know what to do. You'd be indecisive whether the stock price goes down, or whether it goes up.
   
7. Avoid trading : Trading is injurious to wealth.. Trading won't produce income. Neither does Algo Trading and Forex trading. The only people who get rich because of trading are stock brokerages. When you frantically trade in the hopes of becoming rich, brokerages become rich off of you. Investing builds wealth, while trading destroys wealth.
   
8. It helps to invest for the long-term : In the short-term, stock market is affected by sentiments & emotions about the economy. That's why the stock price of good companies go down during a market crash/correction. Instead of focusing on short-term price fluctuation, we should focus on buying quality stocks & holding them for several years (or decades).
   
9. There are no 'best' stocks : During the 1960s, a group of stocks known as Nifty Fifty were advertised as fundamentally-solid companies that an investor can buy & hold for long periods of time. Fast forward a decade, those stocks have failed to live upto expectations. Some of them don't even exist anymore. The remaining stocks are shells of their former selves. Any company can go irrelevant, and the stock price can stagnate for years/decades. If we had bought some of the bluechip stocks in 2000, the performance would have been terrible till 2021. 'Buy & Forget' does not work. Coffee can investing doesn't work. Buying the 'top' stocks is not a winning strategy either. Several big companies have failed.
   

This document describes the different type of stocks & how to analyse them.

Bonds

Bonds are a way for investors to lend their money to someone & get a fixed rate of return (with minimal risk). Broadly, bonds are divided into two categories - Govt bonds and Corporate bonds. Bonds issued by the government are considered risk free, while bonds issued by corporations tend to have different levels of risk. RBI's website has an in-depth explanation on the intricacies of bonds.
Two metrics are important for any bond investor - The Repo Interest Rate and The 10-year Govt bond yield. These two interest rates are considered as the benchmark for the 'risk-free rate of return' for short-term and long-term bonds respectively. For retail investors to easily buy govt bonds, RBI is launching a portal. Websites like GoldenPI and TheFixedIncome seems to facilitate the purchase of bonds.
Here are some basic points about bonds :

1. Bonds are VOLATILE: Like stocks, most bonds are traded on stock exchanges. The price of bonds change, depending on market conditions. This won't affect us if we want to hold the bond till maturity. But, if we want to sell the bond before maturity, we might have to sell it at a loss. We might not be able to sell the bond at all, if there are no buyers.
   
2. Higher interest rate it is, the riskier the bond is : Each bond issuer has a credit rating, which determines the issuer's ability to pay back the money. If the issuer has good credit rating, many investors will be eager to lend money to them. So, such an issuer can issue bonds with low interest rates. Similarly, if an issuer has bad credit ratings, investors will avoid the issuer (since bond investors don't want to lose money). So, the issuer has to issue bonds at a higher interest rate to compensate for the extra risk that the investor takes. If someone is offering a bond with interest rate that is much higher than the risk-free rate of return, then the bonds are very risky.
   
3. Higher the bond tenure is, the riskier the bond is : Long-term bonds usually have higher interest rates than short-term bonds. Long-term bonds have to offer higher rates because the investor is locking-up their money in such a bond for a longer time period. Long-term bonds are also vulnerable to inflation, since the coupon rate is fixed while inflation increases throughout the years.
   
4. Most investors don't need to invest in bonds (directly) : Although bonds are a great way for investors to get good returns with minimal risk, it's not necessary for most investors to buy bonds. Investors have to pay tax on the coupon payments, so it erodes away some of the returns. There are several ways to efficiently invest in bonds indirectly (which we'll see later). The only reason for investors to buy bonds directly is if they need regular income.
   

Remember, fixed-income is not the asset class to chase after returns. If someone is giving 'high returns', there's obviously high risk. It's prudent to avoid fancy convoluted products like KredX or GrowFix/WintWealth or GripInvest or P2P lending.

Real Estate

Humans have been investing in real estate since time immemorial. Since land & buildings are tangible assets, it gives a sense of security to hold such assets. The investor buys land or a building (residential property or a commercial property), with the intention that it will appreciate in price. Meanwhile, the property can rent out to generate passive income.
Real estate has been the best asset to create generational wealth. Families hold onto land & houses that have been passed down through multiple generations. In theory, real estate seems like the perfect investment. After all, there’s only a limited quantity of land available. There’ll always be demand for land & houses. However, there are some practical difficulties in real estate investment, and thus real estate is not suitable for everyone. And, as more & more investment options become available, we can build an investment portfolio without any real estate.
The biggest benefit of real estate investing is that it’s (somewhat) tough to sell. Unlike digitised financial assets, real estate can’t be sold with the click of a button. Selling real estate is an arduous process. So, this psychological barrier allows people to hold onto real estate for lengthy periods of time. Before selling the property, the investor will have enough time to think long & hard about whether they actually want to sell or not. Unlike a stock, a real estate property’s real-time price is not tracked anywhere. Stock investors might panic-sell their stocks if they see that the price is going down constantly. Such a problem doesn’t exist in real estate. It’s an opaque market, and no one knows the real price of the property.
The other benefit is that we can invest in real estate with leverage (ie) We can take out a loan to invest in a real estate property. If we only have X amount of money, we can buy properties that are worth 4X or 5X. Real estate is unique in the sense that we use the asset as a collateral for the loan. (ie) We are given a loan to buy the property, meanwhile the property itself is the collateral. Investing in such a manner is not possible in other asset classes. Investing with leverage enhances the overall returns we get from the investment.
The biggest disadvantage is that it’s tough to sell. If we buy real estate as an investment, we intend to sell it at some point in the future. If we’re unable to find buyers, we’ll be screwed. If we can’t find someone to buy it at a fair value, we might be forced to sell it at a huge discount (if we are in a hurry to sell it). The house/apartment would become old over time. Over time, newer homes will be built, and no one might be eager to buy an old home from us.
Buying the property has its own set of challenges. We'll have to do plenty of research before buying, and the process of buying involves a lot of overhead costs and maintenance costs.
The property could get land-grabbed and illegally occupied. There are plenty of possibilities for fraud to happen in real estate. It can happen to anyone, regardless of the property's location. If we have the type of jobs that can take us anywhere in the country/world, real estate may not be a suitable investment for us.
There is a way to invest in Real Estate without any of these hassles - REITs and InVits. Real Estate Investment Trusts are companies that own, operate & manage real estate assets (residential & commercial) that produce income. Similarly, Infrastructure Investment Trusts are companies that own & operate infrastructure projects. These companies manage a large collection of real estate assets, so there's automatic diversification. REITs and InvITs are listed on the stock exchange, so an investor can easily buy a small chunk of a diversified portfolio of real estate assets.
Plenty of REITs are listed on the US stock market, with Realty Income being one of the oldest REITs with a good track record. In the Indian stock market, there are three REITs (as of 2021) - Embassy Office Parks REIT, Mindspace Business Parks REIT, Brookfield India REIT. There are a handful of InVits.
While these trusts collect income from the real estate assets, they are mandated to payout a specific portion of the money to investors. So, REITs and InvITs can provide a source of passive income.

Commodities

Commodities are fungible economic goods that are often consumed by individuals or used as raw materials for other economic processes. The price of commodities change drastically because of supply & demand, so commodities are primarily used for trading instead of investing (for long-term). Commodities are non-productive assets (ie) Unlike stocks or bonds or real estate, commodities don't generate any money for their owners.
From an investotrader standpoint, the most common types of commodities available are : 1) Agricultural commodities like rubber, lumber, coffee, cotton 2) Energy commodities like crude oil, natural gas 3) Base metals like copper, aluminium, zinc 4) Precious metal like gold, silver.
Among the entire list of commodities, precious metals is a category that appeals the most to investors. By definition, precious metals are rarer to find. So, the price is always expected to go up in the future. Gold is the most investable precious metal in the world. For 5,000 years, gold's combination of lustre, malleability, density and scarcity has captivated humankind like no other metal. Gold has been used as 'money' by several civilisations. Historically, gold prices have risen as time goes on, especially during times of economic turmoil. Although gold is often touted as a 'hedge against inflation', the data suggests otherwise.
Here are the ways to invest in gold :

1. Physical Gold : An investor buys physical gold coins and gold bullions and stores it safely. This is the most straightforward way of owning gold. The major disadvantage is that keeping the gold in a secure place can be costly. We have to spend money on lockers/safes.
   
2. Digital Gold : With the advent of digitalisation, it is possible for investors to buy Gold in a digital format. Several services like Bullion India and MMTC allow investors to buy gold digitally. It's advantageous since the investor doesn't have to worry about storage costs. However, there are many disadvantages. An investor has to pay 3% GST while buying. Digital Gold can't be held forever. After a certain period, the investor has to take delivery of the gold or sell it. The Digital Gold market is not properly regulated. Avoid Digital Gold.
   
3. Sovereign Gold Bonds : SGBs are issued by the Government of India as an alternative way to invest in Gold. RBI's website has a detailed explanation on the specifics of SGB. These bonds are not backed by physical gold, and they're issued to reduce the demand for importing physical gold. Although it is a 'bond', SGB is not a fixed-income investment. It is a gold investment, and an investor can lose money if the gold price goes down. SGB is the most convenient way to invest in gold, since there are no extra charges.
   

There is one more way to invest in Gold, but we'll see it later. For most investors, gold (or commodities, in general) may not be needed in their portfolio.

Fixed Deposits

Because of its simplicity, fixed deposit is one of the most popular investment options. FDs are basically a simplified version of a bond - We give money to a company for a certain amount of time & the company pays a fixed rate of interest on the money. When the time period is over, they give us back the money. An FD that pays interest regularly is called a Non-Cumulative FD. Some FDs allow the interest to be reinvested, so that all of the interest is paid to use at the end of the time period. Such an FD is called a Cumulative FD.
In a Recurring deposit, we invest our money on regular intervals instead of doing a one-time investment.
Broadly, there are three types of Fixed Deposits :

1. Bank FDs : Since we normally keep our money in a bank account, it's convenient to keep the money in FDs with the same bank. Creating FDs (and breaking FDs) can be instantly done through Netbanking portals. An added benefit of bank FDs is that our money (of upto 5 lakhs) is insured by DICGC. However, DICGC shouldn't be a reason to put money in risky banks. It can take a long time to get back the money, if the bank shuts down. Unless you know how to analyse banks, it's optimal to keep the money in systemically-important big banks like HDFC, ICICI, SBI. Chasing after returns in Cooperative banks or Small finance banks can be troublesome.
   
2. Corporate FDs : These FDs are created in non-banking institutions. Corporate FDs have appeal because they tend to have a slightly higher interest rate than bank FDs. However, these deposits are not guaranteed by DICGC. So, if the company goes bankrupt, the money will be in peril. It has happened several times in the past. Putting our money in Corporate FDs, in the thirst for high returns, could cause unending despair.
   
3. Post Office FDs : This is the safest form of FDs. All the money kept in Post Office FDs is completely backed by the government. So, there's no fear of losing money. Post Office's Netbanking facilities are improving, so it's getting easier to keep our money at the post office.
   

Mutual funds

Mutual funds are investment vehicles that collects money from several investors & invest it for their mutual benefit. It's one of the best ways for retail investors to invest their money, since the investor don't need to do a lot of research while investing in mutual funds. Mutual funds are managed by professional fund managers who'd invest the money in a collection of securities, depending on the fund's mandate. Check out this document which explains the basic terminologies used in the world of mutual funds. This table shows the different categories of mutual funds.
Here are some basic points about mutual funds :

1. They don’t offer a fixed rate of return - Mutual funds invest in securities that are market-linked, so the returns vary depending on the market conditions. There is no mutual fund that can offer a specific return every year. Mutual funds are NOT an 'alternative to Fixed Deposits'. Don't be misled by such claims. Questions like “What fund can I invest in to get 10-15% returns for the next 15 years ?” are moot, since no one can predict whether a fund can give a specific rate of return.
2. There is no ‘principal’ and ‘interest’ - When we invest our money in a mutual fund, we buy 'units' of that fund. A unit is a small chunk of the portfolio. When those assets appreciate in value, the price of our units increase (and vice versa). When we redeem money from the fund, we sell those units. So, unlike an FD, there's is no separate principal component and interest component in a mutual fund.
3. They don’t provide 'regular income' - Since mutual funds don’t provide a fixed rate of return, they don’t provide a regular income.
4. Mutual funds can’t ‘run away with our money’ - Mutual fund companies are structured in such a way that there is no single point of failure. The flow of money in & out of a fund is tracked by several entities, so the AMC can't siphon away the investor's money. Incidents like the Unit 64 Scam can't happen anymore because of strict regulations.
5. Less is more - Invest in as few funds as possible. One mutual fund itself will invest in a diversified portfolio of securities. Investing in several funds will create a cluttered portfolio, and it’ll be tough to manage. In some cases, the different funds would be buying the same type of securities, which leads to an unnecessary overlap. Investing in several mutual funds without any proper strategy leads to diworsification.
6. Investor’s returns are different from the fund’s return : Ever wondered why the average investor lost money in the best performing mutual fund in history ? It's because investors enter and exit the fund at the wrong time. It's called Behavioural Gap, and it's the same reason why investors lose money in every mutual fund. Investors think that the 'market is gonna crash', and they stop investing or redeem their money. It causes them to get less returns than the fund. It's more important to invest consistently(and stay invested) than to invest in the 'best' fund(s).
7. There are no ‘best’ funds - Naturally an invest would want to invest in the fund(s) that provides the best return. However, there's no fund that will give 'good returns' all the time. Every year, the list of 'best' funds keep changing. An investor shouldn't blindly chase after returns, since it's a futile endeavour..
8. Star ratings are worthless - Several websites provide ratings for mutual funds by analysing various quantitative metrics like past returns, Sharpe ratio etc.. However, the performance of a mutual fund depends on so many factors, and it's impossible to properly quantify the risk & reward of a mutual fund through ratings. Don't select mutual funds based on ratings.

This document explains the unique type of funds like index funds, ETF and FoF. It also includes basic resources on how mutual funds can be selected.

Insurance Policies - ULIPs, Endowment Plans, Money Back plans

For decades, insurance companies have sold complex 'investment products' to unsuspecting investors. These products have been greatly beneficial for the insurance companies & the salesmen who sell the policies. But, the policy buyer often gets swindled out of their hard earned money.
Most of these plans take advantage of the fact that the buyer doesn't know about inflation & time value of money. And, the buyer don't know how to calculate the returns from investing in the plans. Insurance salesmen & Bank managers are always on the lookout for such people, and they shove these policies down people's throats. The salesmen nag the buyers so much that they'll buy it out of sheer social pressure. In many cases, the salesman would be a family friend or a relative. So, the buyer would be less inclined to say 'No'. These policies are also sold as 'tax-free returns' and 'better-than-FD returns', so many investors buy it without analysing it properly. The salesman promises unrealistic high returns, just to make a sale.
Insurance salesmen have been using such aggressive sales tactics for decades, because they make money whenever they sell these awful policies. The buyer is not even fully briefed about the policy, and the buyer is not given enough time to properly analyse the policy. The policy would also have a catchy name like 'Smart Privilege plan' or 'Retire Smart plan', so unsuspecting buyers get tricked into thinking that it's actually a good investment.
These policies also utilise the 'Sunk Cost Fallacy' (ie) These policies are structured in a way that the buyer can't get rid of the policy easily. Once the policy is bought, the buyer has to hold onto it for several years to recover atleast some of their money. So, even if the buyer knows that it's a terrible policy, they will be less inclined to cancel the policy because they'll lose out on a lot of money. So, most buyers just continue the policy because they don't want to lose the money they already paid to the policy.
AVOID all of these wealth-destroying policies. They're neither a proper investment nor a proper insurance. Simply buy Term Insurance depending on your requirement, and don't buy anything else.

Annuities

Annuities are financial products that provide a steady stream of income. Annuities are usually bought at the end of an investment journey by retirees. Generally, an investor pays a lump sum of money (or a series of regular payments) to an insurance company. And, the company starts to pay a regular stream of income for the person. The income stream can last throughout their lifetime or for a specific period of time.
The benefit of annuities is that an investor can get a guaranteed passive source of income without having to manage the investment themselves. They don't have to do anything. If the investor wants a completely hands-off approach of generating regular income, annuities can be a good way to do it.
However, the disadvantage is that the annuity payments are not usually inflation-protected. (ie) The annuity pays the same amount of money every year. When the investor's expenses keep increasing (because of inflation), the annuity payments won't be enough to manage their expenses.
Most investors can avoid annuities, since there are more efficient ways to generate regular income.

Chit Funds

Don't invest in Chit funds.

EPF

Employee Provident Fund is one of India's oldest investment options. It was established during the EPF Act of 1952. Employees of most organisations are mandated to put a portion of their salaries in EPF, so that the employees will have a hefty sum of money by the time they retire. The employers themselves will add some money to the employee's accounts. Adding money to the EPF account has tax benefits for both the employer & employee.
From an investment standpoint, EPF works in an RD - An investor puts their money in the EPF account, and EPF will provide a predetermined yearly interest (determined by the govt).
Although EPF is primarily intended as a 'retirement fund' in which a portion of the employee's salary is invested, the employee can voluntarily invest more money into the EPF account via VPF contributions. However, contributions to VPF and EPF can't be withdrawn easily. So, investor should think about their financial goals before putting too much money into the accounts.
Back in the day, EPF used to invest its corpus in bonds. Since 2015, some of the corpus has been invested in the stock market. Since interest rates on bonds are low, EPF will continue to pump money into the stock market to generate extra returns. EPF investors will get the guaranteed return, no matter what happens to the equity investments.
EPF is a complex archaic organisation that handles a massive corpus of money. It has made some questionable bond investments. For the past few years, the interest credit gets delayed by several months every year, which can be inconvenient. However, EPF is still one of the best fixed-income investment options. Investors can analyse the complex rules of EPF taxation & withdrawal, and make a choice on how much money they want to invest in EPF.

NPS

National Pension Scheme is a voluntary retirement savings scheme that is created to provide an adequate solution for retirement income. It's a defined-contribution scheme, in which an investor can invest money throughout their career. Once they retire, they can take the money out to fund their retirement.
Simply put, NPS is a hybrid mutual fund. Investing in NPS is as simple as investing in mutual funds. An investor can invest their money in four asset classes - Equity, Govt Bonds, Corporate Bonds & Alternate Investments. An investor can choose the proportion of these asset classes depending on their own preference, or they can let it be chosen automatically depending on their age. There are several Pension fund managers, and an investor can choose one of those funds. They can later switch to another fund, if they want. Pension fund managers disclose the fund portfolio every month, so we can see how & where our money is invested.
There are two type of accounts - Tier 1 and Tier 2. NPS has complex & strict withdrawal rules. Normal withdrawal from NPS can be done only at/after age 60. Among the corpus accumulated, atleast 40% has to be used to buy an annuity. The remaining 60% can be withdrawn tax-free.
Several organisations have started to provide NPS as a retirement product instead of EPF. NPS is still evolving into a better product, and its tax benefits alone can be a good incentive to invest in it.

Small Savings Schemes

These are fixed-income investment schemes launched by the Government. These schemes are popular because of low/no risk & attractive interest rates. The money collected through these schemes is kept in the National Small Savings Fund, through which the money will be invested in various govt securities and public agencies. Investors can avail the small saving schemes through the post office and big banks.
The most popular saving schemes are :

1. PPF : Public Provident Fund is a long-term savings scheme. The tenure of the investment is 15 years. A maximum of 1.5 lakh (and a minimum of 500) can be invested in a year by an investor. The scheme allows partial withdrawal before 15 years. It's popular because it's a risk-free & tax-free way to build wealth. PPF interest rates are decided every year, and the interest rate tends to be on-par with the 10-year Govt bond yield.
   
2. SSY : Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana is helpful to invest money for the future of a girl child. Its features are very similar to PPF, except that it can only be opened for a girl child. The interest rate tends to be slightly higher than PPF. The maximum tenure is 21 years.
   
3. NSC : National Savings Certificate is a short-term saving scheme with a tenure of 5 years. The interest is compounded annually, but it is payable on maturity. Interest rates of the certificate will not change during the tenure. These certificates can be pledged as collateral to take out loans.
   
4. SCSS : Senior Citizens Savings Scheme was launched to provide a safe source of passive income for senior citizens. It is available for all citizens above age 60. It has a tenure of 5 years, and it can be extended for 3 more years. The maximum investment is 15 lakhs.
   

Some other savings schemes are Kisan Vikas Patra, Atal Pension Yojana etc..
Although the savings scheme tends to have higher interest rates than govt bonds, the interest rate can be expected to trend downwards in the future.
(To be cont'd in Part 2)

They were going to make a Tomb Raider game until LucasArts shut it down because they said Tomb Raider is a shameless knockoff of Indiana Jones.
I hope they still have relations with Eidos (now owned by Square Enix) since I think a LEGO game that is a crossover between every Square Enix IP would be great. Call it LEGO Final Fantasy X Dragon Quest and it would be great. Just add even more RPG elements than usual and make the characters customisable in their own rights with different levelling systems with each character (Warrior of Light can have a Job Upgrade; Bartz can have multiple Jobs and Actions; Cloud can use Materia; Firion can level up by getting hit or attacking with a specific weapon or spell; JC Denton can level up skills individually and use nanomachine augmentations; Adam Jensen can upgrade his augmentations with Praxis points).
Of course, there will also be custom characters inspired by the MMO Final Fantasy games, as well as Dragon Quest IX and X.
And the game should also allow you to play as the villains. Imagine playing as Sephiroth (complete with Masamune) or Gunther Hermann (complete with Skull Gun). You can also train some enemies in a Dragon Quest V-style monster training system.
My dream is that there will also be multiple worlds you can travel to with transportation (maybe Jock's black stealth helicopter; the various Final Fantasy airships; the Epoch from Chrono Trigger; Chocobos; Warp/Teleport spells; etc...) and even time travel (with either the Epoch or the Daikatana). The game will also have some weapons that have their own levelling system, like the Daikatana.
It would be a massive crossover between every Square Enix IP and it is the LEGO game of my dreams that I only knew I wanted when LEGO mentioned Eidos.
It would be a great collab between Square Enix and TT Games. TT Games still had some good relations with Sega even after being bought by Warner Bros., since they got Sonic in LEGO Dimensions, so they hopefully still have some good relations with Square Enix.
I can already imagine a teamup between the Luminary, JC Denton, Chaos, 2B and Crono in a LEGO Final Fantasy game.
And with LEGO not afraid to include multiple iterations of one character, we can have multiple versions of characters such as: both FF7, Remake and Advent Children versions of Cloud; both Daddy and Kid NieR; JC Denton as either black, brown, white brunette, white redhead or albino in both male and female versions (making the Lay D Denton Project canon as far as LEGO goes); both Kid and Adult Rydia as well as After Years Rydia; both Dark Knight, Paladin and After Years Cecil; both Dragoon and Holy Dragoon Kain as well as the Hooded Man from FF4 After Years; both Garland and Chaos; both Summoner and Gunner Yuna; both FF4 and After Years incarnations of Golbez; and both Final Fantasy XIII and Lightning Returns versions of Lightning.
They can probably even have the Square Enix versions of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy playable in the LEGO Final Fantasy game as well as the Arkham version of Batman since Square Enix distributed at least the first Arkham game.
It should take all the best elements of each Square Enix game and combine it into one LEGO game. I think it would work particularly way when it takes many elements from the Deus Ex games.

Gather around fellow cheapskates it’s time for another Stingy Should You Pull the only thread with the balls to force its personal and correct judgements on you!
Before we begin, this is NOT a unit review! Paladin Cecil is a fantastic unit and any player should be thrilled to get him. But this thread is about do you want to make Paladin Cecil… your Pal?
Before we start, let’s go over what makes Pee Cecil, Pee Cecil:

• Magic cover tank
• Stat/Elemental Buffs
• W/T Cast
• Fabulous hair

Let’s see if you should pull or not!

I have no magic tank!

I said last time that I was over this and it no longer bothered me. That was a lie. YES! OF COURSE YOU SHOULD PULL IF YOU DON’T HAVE A MAGIC TANK. Jeez!

I have eSieghard!

Sieg, what are you doing here? You’re not a magic tank, is this a fabulous hair competition? Well with the GLEX buffs he can actually keep up his magic cover 100% (just don’t die) so I’ll count him. Sieg’s SPR is surprisingly high for being a “physical” tank and his mitigation isn’t tied to his physical cover.
However, Sieg’s magic cover is on a CD, his mitigation is only 45% and he doesn’t have much else to do on his off-turns. I would heavily consider upgrading to Pecil.

I have Beryl

Poor Beryl. Even after his rework he got the short end of the measuring stick. He cannot W/T-cast his cover with anything which means no covering and breaking turn 1. His equipment selection is possibly the worst in the game aside from Liquid Metal Slime and to this day I still don't know how his Heaven/Hell modes work. That last one is probably a fault of mine, but I'm blaming Beryl for it anyways.
Upgrade time!

I have Lilith

Ok, I'm too lazy to write much here (this is actually the latest edition despite being early in the list!) Lilith can swap covers easily much like Basch and has a wide array of chaining families for support chainers. But she's not Succubus Charlotte and will probably make it that we never get Succubus Charlotte, so I kinda hate her.
Here's a more fair judgement of her if you are interested.
Upgrade time!

I have Chow!

Sorry, u/cottonc_3939 but I’m not a Chow guy. First of all, I’m a cat person and second of all while Chow can tank magic, I don’t believe he’s strong enough in his side gig as a healer to cut it. He can’t maintain ailment/break protection 100%. He can’t keep up meta-levels of mitigation 100%. His DC for magic and tank skills are separate.
If you want some hardcore Chow discussion, check out that podcast thingy just released.
Upgrade time!

I have Basch!

Ah Basch, one of my all time FFBE Hall of Fame units (need to write that post one of these days). Unfortunately it’s time to take this ancient 36 year old out back and shoot him. His on-demand breaks are only 65%, and his 70% breaks are on a CD. You can however get by with lower 65% breaks if you can account for it by other means like stacking big mitigations. Basch also lacks any sort of innate draw attacks. He’s from a sub-par FF game. No wide party support like general mitigation.
Upgrade time!

I have Awakened Rain!

Yet another unit that got saved from being immediately curb kicked due to some GLEX buffs. However, much like Basch, A.Rain is from the older tank meta when they were expected to just tank. Now we demand MOAR! Which Rain does not deliver. The best thing about Rain is that awesome innate 90% fire resistance (and earth I guess…) and the DBZ aura.
Upgrade time!

I have AI Katy!

Why would you ever pull for another unit again? She does EVERYTHING! If you have AI Katy then you should probably know better than me if you need an upgrade package or not. She is the slot efficient magic tank/breakesupport chainer that Beryl wishes he could be.
Katy however lacks what we come to expect from tanks nowadays that being mitigation. It's pretty much a requirement for high end content to be rolling with 50% general mitigation (pauses to let you go to the comment section and argue this... ok all done?). So you really need another unit to provide this if you are going to keep with Katy. Ignis or Galuf would be great choices. She also lacks any party wide buffs.
If you have the team to make it work, Katy is great. Otherwise it's upgrade time!

I have White Knight Noel!

Oh boy, time to White Knight again… Surprisingly one of our oldest GLEX units is still somehow relevant. For some reason he still has:

• 50% mitigation on an easy to keep up LB (himself excluded)
• 80% innate draw
• Imperils and support chains
• 50% typed mitigation on provoke

That’s a pretty crazy set of skills for an old ass unit whose prism is available in the trust coin shop. And I didn’t mention that if you can build him for passive provoke you can just do this every fucking turn.

Steel - Mitigate physical damage taken (75%) for 1 turn to caster; Mitigate magic damage taken (75%) for 1 turn to caster

Keep in mind that typed mitigation will stack with general mitigation. If you are looking for a provoke magic tank (or shit just a provoke tank in general) look no further. Paladin Cecil however can keep up 75% general mitigation on himself by swapping between light/dark modes. Since high general mitigation is more common than high typed mitigation, WKN has the advantage here.
I’m going to say that Pal Cecil is better (spoiler alert he is the best) but you don’t need him if you have WKN.

I have Lucas!

Now we get to the interesting tanks. Our latest GLEX magic tank is really good! He’s got:

• 25% AoE typed mitigation
• 50% innate draw
• Fire/Ice/Wind imbue and imperil
• 50% gen mitigation on LB with 2x mirage

However, that sounds a bit better than it actually is. You cannot W/T-cast his tank skills with his support skills and his LB cannot be reliably up 100% without a lot of help.
Meanwhile, Pecil can W/T-cast his entire kit, his LB with 50% mitigation is cheap and lasts a ridiculous 5 turns.
All said, you are probably safe sticking with Lucas.

I have Charlotte!

Here is our most common meta magic tank. Being a top-tier waifu, she immediately takes the win in my book, but some of you play the game wrong so I guess I’ll cover the other stuff.
Charlotte has:

• 50% easy to keep up mitigation tied to her cover
• 30% AoE magic mitigation
• 50% innate draw

She does lack any sort of W/T-cast but I honestly find her having a lot of free turns and I just spam her crappy HP/MP restore or defend. Her imperils, stat buffs and elemental resists are nothing special however which is where P.Cecil really shines as he has much higher buffs and better elemental resists. He has zero imperils, but if you are using Charlotte for imperils you are really desperate.
Cecil is an upgrade for sure, but honestly not enough to pass up a top-tier waifu for.

I want to hoard forever!

You literally will be hoarding forever at this rate as JP has no other magic tanks past this one! That’s right, no more magic tanks for the next 9 months! Unless you count the budget FF13-2 Lightning or Alexander Charlotte who’s really more of a physical tank.

I don't need no stinkin' magic tank!

With the advent of XWQL it is now actually a viable strategy to build your whole tanky on the SPR side and just forgo a magic tank altogether. It's a slightly insane strategy, but hey why not?

SSYP

Normally I give the lecture here on how tanks and supports are a much better investment than the next DPS flavor of the month. However, this banner is kinda crappy being 25k lapis and absolutely ZERO GUARANTEES that you walk away with PC. You can get a prism if you do two laps, you can UoC a prism but you cannot get a guaranteed first copy!
Since Penicillin is permanent, I recommend holding off if you have WKN, Lucas or Charlotte and wait to pull one off banner while you are going after the next game breaking GLEX unit!
Special thanks to FFBEBlog for proofreading the beta version.
See ya next meta hyped unit!

Hello and welcome to Post Pull Depression, the only thread that re-watched Advent Children just for you!
And I got to be honest, I was not impressed in the slightest. AC reeks of a Disney direct-to-video sequel. It took what it thinks people liked about FF7 and just doubled down on it. You liked Sephiroth? Well here’s three pseudo-Sephiroths! And don’t worry because one of them will transform into real Sephiroth for Cloud to fight at the end! Hey, wasn’t that motorcycle cool? Well here’s a bunch more motorcycles and how about an unnecessarily long motorcycle chase! Do you have a favorite FF7 character? YOU DO!? Well, we’ll make sure to bring them all out even if it’s for a gratuitous fight scene against a summoned Bahamut because why not?
The film was made in 2005 but in what turns out to be Square’s one-trick-pony was fixed re-released with a Director’s cut in 2009. I assume they are working on how to add DLC to a film and just haven’t quite gotten there yet. I just watched the Complete version, and the CG looked pretty good… until they actually started fighting. The choreography was great, but the action was too choppy and the characters moved too fast but not in the cool faster than you can see DBZ way this was in the I’m watching at 1.2x speed way. Maybe if they manage to shake the screen even MORE they can hide it better?
Children were way too prominant in this movie too and it only now dawns on me that Children is in the fucking title of the movie so I really should not have been surprised. Marlene’s voice in JP was insufferable and the decision to turn her into a chikan was weird, she probably picked that up from Cid. There’s a new kid Denzel whose purpose I still don’t know and his backstory was split up into different time period chunks that took me forever to piece together, because I had no idea which was happening in present time. The movie also flashes back to go and finish scenes that just “ended” five minutes ago. I don’t know if this is the Complete version in action or just bad storytelling. Why not both?
Anyways, since this is PPD (I think?) and not review AC let’s just be thankful that FF7R pretty much invalidates this movie and take a look at the units!
(Reno and Rude were cool though…)

Yazoo & Loz Yooka & Laylee

I’m the one crying…

Don't cry, Loz. - Chance to counter physical attacks (20%) with I'm not crying! (max 1/turn) Chance to counter magic attacks (20%) with I'm not crying! (max 1/turn)
I'm not crying! - Increase ATK (150%) for 3 turns to caster

I still don’t really know what purpose these two had in the movie. Kadaj took care of the bad guy stuff and these two were just there. Loz would cry for literally no reason, but at least that made him memorable. He also had a badass fight scene with Tifa which was the only good one in the movie actually. As for Yazoo, I forgot about him 99% of the time and the other 1% I was mistaking him for Kadaj because their hair isn’t different enough. He had a gun. That I remember. The movie went out of its way to show him drop the gun, which looked broken, but then at the end of the movie he shot Cloud with it and I don’t understand how the gun came back. Or why they bothered to show him drop it. This bothers me, and it really shouldn’t.
TMR: That Stupid Fucking Gun

Velvet Nightmare - Gun ATK+130, Dark Element

See right here! The gun broke, he threw it down and the camera stayed on it for a few seconds. Why bother with this? And yes, I went back for this screencap after typing that above paragraph.

Depression: GUN

And now at the end of the movie, he has it back! It’s the same gun! What was with the other scene of him dropping it then? I don’t know what happened here. I think they dropped the gun ball on this one.

KadajDiet Sephiroth

Like Sephiroth but MORE androgynous
One of the early scenes in the movie is the Turks going to the Northern Crater and for a good 30 seconds all you see is this shot with Elena and Tseng grunting and screaming like they are totally fucking. Later in the movie it flashes back to this scene (heaven forbid we play anything in chronological order) but now we see (in first person mode!) Kadaj and the other two form from the darkness and that’s apparently where Kadajs come from!
Don’t worry his backstory will actually be told 6 years later in the novel The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story. That sounds made up, but I assure you it’s real.
Remember materia? I ‘member!

Stolen Materia - Increase ATK/MP (30%); Auto-cast Stolen Materia every turn

For whatever reason Cloud was hoarding a giant box of materia which the bad guys find. Instead of then having an epic materia fight Kadaj just picks one and summons Bahamut. But not any ol’ Bahamut this is Bahamut SIN! Which is the ugliest Bahamut I’ve ever seen. In fact, I wasn’t even sure if it was a Bahamut or a WEAPON until now. I would also like to thank Brave Exvius for revealing why he was summoned.

Thinking that Rufus has hidden Jenova's remains underneath the Meteorfall Monument in Edge's main plaza, he orders Yazoo and Loz to attack the city. He then uses the materia he stole from Cloud to summon Bahamut SIN and destroy the monument.

I swear to you I watched this movie completely stone cold sober and with my full attention and I had no idea why they summoned Bahamut until now. Also, I didn’t even know they were in a place called Edge city until I saw that monument destroyed. I had just assumed they were in some rebuilt part of Midgard the whole movie. (Which I guess Edge City is exactly that?)
TMR: Mother!

Mother-Seeking Heart - Increase LB gauge fill rate (50%); Increase equipment ATK (25%) when dual wielding

Remember how kinda weird that whole Sephiroth/Mother thing was in FF7? Well about we double triple down on that! They didn’t even do this in a cool creepy way, it was just annoying. I’m also a little upset that I made that Mike Pence/Mother joke last week because it would have been great here.
STMR: Double the blades double the fun!

Souba - Katana ATK+174, Increase ATK 200% when HP falls below 32%

Wasn’t Sephiroth’s giant katana so kewl? What if we made a DOUBLE KATANA! I bet he’s like going to grab Cloud’s Buster Sword and like snap it half and nothing like that happens… I don’t even know why he has this stupid weapon. Probably some dumb metaphor about being twice the half of Sephiroth or incomplete but has all the parts or he has two dicks. Probably the latter.

Depression: PHONE

When Kadaj formed from the abyss he used the dark stuff to also make himself clothes. That’s fine, we can’t have everyone running around naked (and see his two dicks). But where did their matching motorcycles come from? And where did he get the cell phone from? This movie is fucking obssessed with cell phones. I think they tried to use them as a metaphor for Cloud’s issues. Like he wanted to be distant, but still have a connection. At some point his phone fell in the water and I was all “ah-ha that symbolizes…” and I’ve completely forgotten what it was even though I just watched the movie. My brain has correctly started to purge everything it can from this film.

Tifa (FFVII AC)Titfa

Dilly Dally Shilly Shally

prompting her to scold him harshly for his dilly-dallying

Tifa’s most notable line in the movie is “Dilly Dally Shilly Shally.” For those that don’t know your old-timey grandpa english, dilly dally means to mess around and is generally used as “quite dilly dallying and let’s go” while shilly shally means to be indecisive. I have never heard shilly shally be used irl before. Might be a regional thing. So she’s basically telling Cloud to get his ass in gear. (sick burn)
Now, what prompted this mess of words? In JP she says “zuru zuru zuru zuru.” Japan uses onomatopoeia words (words that imitate sounds like buzz, woof, bang) in a secondary way. The most famous example is “doki doki” made famous by Doki Doki Literature Club (ironically not Japanese) and Doki Doki Panic which is what we got as Super Mario Bros 2. Doki doki itself refers to the sound of a heartbeat, but when used in this fashion conveys “heart-racing” or exciting/thrilling. So what does zuru zuru mean? It’s the sound of dragging something (or slurping). Why they decided they needed a sound to imitate dragging, I will never know.
Tifa is basically saying that Cloud is just dragging along, weighed down and not moving forward which is a bit different than messing around or being indecisive. Either way she’s a nag.

There she built a bar in the new city of Edge, naming it "7th Heaven" after Marlene's suggestion. Together with an orphaned boy named Denzel, the four lived happily under one roof until Cloud suddenly vanished.

No wonder Cloud left her to go get cigarettes move into an empty ruined church. Oh jeez, I have an instant family now… ha ha ha great...
TMR: Fits like a Tifa

Tifa's Gloves - ATK+45, 30% Counter Chance, 50% TDH

I had originally assumed these were fist weapons, but they are an accessory. Turns out only 2 gloves are weapons, while 15 gloves are accessories. So it’s pretty much decided that gloves = accessories.
STMR: I’m Sorry You Pulled 4 Tifa Going For Cloud

Unfaltering Fister - LB+3 per turn, Increase ATK +80% when fisting

No, I’m not going to stop doing fisting jokes no matter how many times it pops up! If you don’t like it, remember I always offer a money back guarantee!

Depression: BETTER THAN CLOUD

Did you look at the spreadsheet?

AC Tifa: 34,449,655,763 AC Cloud: 25,342,060,995 

CLOUD IS GARBAGE.
(please note this is sarcasm, I don’t want the one time PPD is taken seriously to be right here, go ask in the DHT if you need to or read this)

Cloud (AC)Air Conditioner Cloud

Forced sequel character development

However, when he contracted the mysterious disease known as "Geostigma," he left them without saying a word. Also feeling guilty for having failed to protect someone dear to him in the past, he begins closing himself off from everyone else.

I somehow have gone this long without mentioning Geostigma which is a major plot point in the movie… because it’s really not. And it turns out that it’s just dirt that they needed to wash off with water. I suppose that this came along and was the impetus for his “character arc” despite it was really about him being unable to help people and that could have been done without Geostigma.
Apparently, Sephiroth reveals he was using Jenova's will to control those with Geostigma through the lifestream and that eventually enough infected people would die of the disease allowing him to control the lifestream and take control of the planet. He would use the planet as a vessel to travel the universe and attack another planet, as Jenova herself had done for eons. I missed all of that, must have been said when I was wishing for a can of spray paint to huff to save me from how bad this movie was.
(please note this isn’t sarcasm, I want the one time PPD is taken seriously to be right here, go huff paint, kids)
Or maybe it was just so nonsensical my brain rejected it.
Remember that Zack guy?

Proof of a Hero's Life - Increase ATK (30%); Increase modifier (5x): Stuff; Increase LB damage (15%)

Before you think I’m just some cynical asshole coming around and shitting on things you like in an attempt to seem edgy and cool, well you’re right, but I did actually like Crisis Core. But the one thing that bugged the shit out of me in CC was goddamn Zack and the boys going around talking about their DREAMS and their HONOR. So of course what is the only part of CC that this movie takes? Zack talking about his DREAMS and his HONOR to Cloud. Fuck.
TMR: Cou...RAGE

Courage to Move On - Increase ATK (60%); Increase LB damage (30%)

Sadly I lacked the courage to move on to a different movie after the first 10 minutes...
STMR: R-worded

Fusion Sword - ATK+190; LB Damage +50%

I’m calling it now. NV AC Cloud is going to go TDH in his Brave Shit with his swords all combined into one. Also, I really want to see the conversation someone had with Cloud over his change of weapon.
Tifa: “So, you’re not going to use the Buster Sword anymore?”
Cloud: “No, I’m going to stick it in the ground and let it rust as a monument to Zack.”
Tifa: “Ok, so what are you going to use then?”
Cloud: “I’m going to get like 5 different swords and then they’ll all combine into one big sword and my motorcycle is like the sheath for them and I’m going to name the motorcycle Fenrir cause that’s a cool wolf name.”
Tifa: “Uh-huh… (don’t call him the r-word, don’t call him the r-word…)”

Depression: CLOUD THE BAPTIST

So I shit you not, the movie ends with Cloud baptizing children. That’s right, this has been Catholic propaganda all along! You need more proof? Geostigma -> stigmata. You need even MORE proof? His 7* awakening quote.

Are sins ever forgiven?

I rest my case.

Post Pull Depression

Thank you, FF7AC. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to hate like this. It’s been quite cathartic.
As is tradition when I do pull, I share them at the end here!
First my stash of EX tickets, 6 of the rainbows were guaranteed, the other 4 were just luck.

• Loren #1 (seriously? my first?)
• Paladin Cecil #1
• Noctis #3
• Ignis #2
• Ignis #3
• Esther #6
• Dark Veritas #4
• Meme Ramza #4
• Rapish Thief Zidane #1
• Kydia #4

For ex tickets, this was pretty nice. So of course that means, I’m getting fucked on the stepup!

• Step 1: Nada
• Step 2: Nada
• Step 3: DP Fina #1 and Kaito #4
• Step 4: Golbez #4
• Step 5: Nada

0 banner rainbows, a first copy of a unit I don’t give a shit about (sorry, u/Acester25), my choice to STMR Moogle Kaito coming back to haunt me and a useless STMR!
PS: I watched and hated AC before the pulls, I don’t want you to think this is the reason I’m so pissy.
See ya next banner!

As Science, Technology and Society progresses in the 21st Century, the old spectre of socialism broods in the corner and begins to pounce on the youth of the world who, in their anxiety, lack a vision of a future. Some youths have given up and look to the past, but there are those brave enough to look forward. As figures on the Left today gain increasingly more power and the world enters the socialist age, it is a gentle reminder to you, o reader, of the history and beliefs that those who came before meant by the idea of Socialism.
The purpose of the following article is twofold, that is to both combat misinformation in regular political circles and to give people hope for the future in that it is more imminent than one thinks. I hope the following will not be impenetrable as claimed, but that it will build one’s understanding of the topic.

I. An Introduction to Marxism

There are at least 6 concepts when it comes to Marxism, in basic, they are presented below. we do not recommend burning through Das Kapital's 3 Volumes as we did in grade 4, Marxism is not worth the trouble. But here is an introduction at least that would give Marx justice.

1. Dialectical Materialism

Dialectical Materialism is a concept that argues that material conditions improve with time and technology. Marx observed that the dialectical synthesis of commodity and property begot Capital[1], he addressed in 3 (supposedly 4) volumes on how this would affect Classical Market Economics.
Adam Smith noticed a slight change in economics that was actually magnanimous. During Mercantilism, if you bought a ship, your goods were in there and it sank you loose everything. But, if you split the cost with those who want a stake in the venture, the stakes in contract could be sold many times their principle leaving the person who had it last only contributing 10% of the cost to the original ship but getting millions in profits.
when you hear empire apologists saying that colonization costed more than it offered, yeah, under classical or mercantile economics but under Capitalism, they were loaded
Capital or Private Property for us is stocks, bonds, deeds, invoices, contracts, & futures. These things need to be abolished for liberation to happen
How they get from one Mode of Production to the next is through Class Struggle between the Upper and Lower classes, with the middle classes beating the upper every time. The old middle becomes the new upper class and so the cycle repeats itself.
Important terms:
● Mode of Production - Where products go
● Means " - what are used to make products
● Factors " - what forces may affect production

1. Labor Theory of value

Within Capitalism:
LTV=RM<->L=P
Profit is created from Raw Materials if and only through Labor.

1. The tendency of Profit to Fall over Time

Doesn't More supply mean less demand/profits? Supply, created by labor, increases profits.
1/Capital(=commodity+property)=Profits
so the more Capital there is the fewer Profits there will be. This manifests over time leading to Economic Crises.

1. Class Struggle

As Profit falls, and Capital increases that means there will be more materials than the Worker can afford, this is measured through Marx's rate of exploitation:
=(LTV/actual wage)100
This creates a conflict of interest that leads to class struggle.

1. Cultural Hegemony

A Majority of people are peacefully unaware of these contradictions however, unless of course in times of crisis. Cultural Hegemony is what keeps the Lower classes from revolting against the Upper classes. This is through Conservatism, Populism, and a semblance of participation in state power. They are also free to do their work without repression if they give in to the power system.

1. Communism

To Marx, Liberation comes through breaking the cycle and letting the working classes win for a change. He's actually not clear as to what this liberation entails. Immediately after his death, the idea of Marxism was a slow burn, to eliminate, at least, material inequity through the political struggle, this was as it is still now considered Social Democracy.
Against Lassale and the Gotha Programme, Marx argued that Revolution will occur within the Workers' Unions who, through a perpetual strike from Capitalist institutions, will seize state power and establish a dictatorship of the proletariat, This dictatorship will then, through authoritarian means, seize the means of production creating a society in which welfare comes as a consequence of economics (lower phase communism), when all peoples reap the benefits of this society, usually through a worldwide revolution, the Fourierist conception: the abolition of work, money, cash, state, gender roles, church, and capital (Higher phase communism) will occur.
Lenin argued that because the dictatorship of the proletariat could not be possible through the classical marxist means (violent spontaneous revolution by Workers' Unions on General Strike), Vanguard parties must exist to educate, arouse, organize and mobilize the masses and must be done by professional party officials who will take over under a Workers' State. By Confederating with all the Communist Parties throughout the world, with material and financial support, it could bring about a world revolution.

II. the Marxist faction of the IWMA's consensus of events

When dealing with the First International's split, it basically disintegrated after the Paris Commune. We acknowledge that Marx has recanted this opinion although we think, sifting through Marx's original assertions, you could create a clear picture of the events that he wanted to occur.

1. the synthesis of the Social object:

When the Social Object is synthesized, as attempted by multiple ironic figures like Mikhail Bakunin, Stafford Beer, Kevin McCoy, and Vitalik Buterin. It would be traded for as itself without the need for intermediary commodities like money and solves ECP simply because it has inherent value rather than Market Theory of Value, Resource Theory of Value, or Labour Theory of Value. What it does is inflate the economy with ghost money, money that only exists within the inherent value of the social object, you could not cut it up or value it at a different price, it is constant despite the market, this breaks down national financial institutions and even whole nations itself when it is known.

1. the seizing of the means of production

The social object would create the conditions for a Reaganite revolution, that being workers being unknowably wealthy enough to do hostile takeovers of their own companies or corporations, aka becoming rich enough to seize the means of production. When this is done, the workers become privileged, whereas Capitalists still need to accumulate, the social object has inherent value meaning it can't degrade by market forces or simply not acknowledge it. This Privilege of the Working-class over the Capitalists, having seized the means of production, would lead us to:

1. the dictatorship of the proletariat

Marx argued that the dictatorship of the proletariat is a liberal democracy. That being multiple parties, debates, et al. the main difference is that economic policy has shifted towards bailouts, stimulus, &c. catered to these newly wealthy and powerful Unions, Councils, Collectives, & Corporations. But as the Workers have become the majority, they have taken a somewhat libertarian right-wing or Austrian idea of economics and pushed for lower taxes and minimal government, except successfully, ultimately turning government redundant.

1. lower phase communism (the state ends here)

The Social(object)-ist economics have spread worldwide and the same process as steps 1-3 have destroyed countries, churches, capitalist institutions, and all manner of oppression. Now, this is where I'm going to speculate because this is where Marx and Bakunin end their descriptions, that being labour vouchers abolishing the economic glass ceiling, in between this and higher phase communism is completely blank.
What it does now, in my opinion, is centralizing the markets with the Social Object being traded. In this stage, common commodities and property are subject to the social object and Capital (stocks, deeds, bonds, interest, futures contracts, &c.) will slowly fade away and with it, the agency tasked to give these charters, the state. This will cause even more chaos than before within the lower echelons. Finally, all these institutions, that during steps 1-4 have simply been repurposed, will be deterritorialized and made redundant. Ending in...

1. higher phase communism

Higher phase Communism is the classless, stateless, moneyless society without State, Church, Capital, and all oppressive entities. They have been swept away by Socialism, those being contradictory to the Social Object was terminated. Now everyone gives from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.
In this timeline, there would have been less bloodshed and revolution.

III. The Social Object: Synthesis of Capital and NFTs?

I think we just synthesized the Social Object I, an anarchist, got here first. Granted we used Marxian economics.
so in order for it to truly be a social object, it needs to:

1. Be non-fungible
2. Have inherent value
3. Get value that derives from labour.

I actually got the idea of the Social Object fairly recently when we played a game of monopoly and a friend of mine complained why there aren't "free market" mechanics in the game, and so we implemented it with the same game rules and it got interesting.
basically you can trade, buy or sell, action cards, properties or money for each other freely, even if you know it is a strategic ploy, made our games much quicker and much more fun,
Then we tried a version where Money wasn't used and the rest complained on that game because somehow it benefitted no one,
There were clear winners but no one liked the game one bit without money, because it benefitted those with few action cards &c. at the beginning and benefited those with utility, property wild cards, and houses or hotels more.
When we asked them why the game sucked it was because the more you gain, the more you lose equally, and you can't cut it because Monopoly has a rule that you can't change.
So, we played more games this time with money and it got more fair, and we restored it back to the games original mechanics, a few antisemitic slurs thrown here and there and it got us wondering, what if our economy went that way
Imagine those that are utilities &c. receiving their fair share rather than through property rent. It was amazing. And the rest is History
I need more ideas to create chaos but that's the basics.
Marx argued that the Social Object had the capability to destroy the state, church, and Capital by itself. The social object's existence is the threat. It deterritorialized at a higher rate and at most a 25-30% rate of exploitation.
It will inflate or deflate economies in a more volatile manner than Capitalism. What it does as well is, theoretically, grant more privilege to those who have them, aka the workers.
So we kinda tried this thought experiment while washing the dishes. Imagine a device that we will call d4rcoin. D4rcoin has the ability to input a value that is at this point incredibly random. The central bank will then bet a value between 0 and market price on the date of publishing. Bell curve rules, if the rng matches the left skew of the bell curve, therefore closer to the bank's bet, they will have to pay the bet. If it skews right, which means closer to market price within that time, that would mean the producers of the commodity will pay the debt. In both cases, the coin can't be used. If it's valid, 90-95% ala LTV, it would mean that it can be locked. This locked random value is then stored in the d4rcoin but we can only ever know its conversions.
Like a d4rcoin can be $15B converted but it will only ever be used in regular market interaction as a fungible coin. But the inherent value of the coin is the LRV, It can be 5 d4rcoins but each coin is valued by their LRV if it will ever be converted into actual money. Meaning some kid with 18 of this could be Mansa Musa.
What this does, if there will be a social object, is destroy capitalism by being incompatible with it. It is a small little nomadic war machine.
the idea is that in comparison to that which came before it, the Social Object actually has inherent value like in economics, any commodity has 3 values: market value, face value and inherent value face value is what it says on the tin, you have a price tag with P5, your coin has P5
market value is post-bargain like tag says P50, you haggle for P47 and this affects marketwide. your coin for example, lookup forex, is around $50 give or take
inherent value is complicated, before Capitalism you have standards like the gold standard, but after it you have seignorage (market value of goods needed to make the money), in today's world you have no backing, aka fiat. and of course you have sign value ala Baudrillard that a brand is what gives something value. self-explanatory
The idea of the social object is that the rate of de-territorialization is faster than re-territorialization unlike Capital where it comes in cycles.
Centralized markets of today are a microcosm since it has the ability to disturb the cycle and consistently drive for deterritorialization. the main death knell for Capital is the synthesis of the Social Object
Basically, there would be a higher wage rate for workers giving them the real possibility of just buying the whole company
the idea is that the existence of the social object has a higher rate of deterritorialization and distribution than Capital

IV. Centralized Markets and the Socialist Economy

This is an introduction to my ideas on economics and my Critiques of Capitalism. Let's first begin with my own critiques coming from my background as a Left conservative. we have already covered the problems on the issue of Technology with this topic once before. But what if it's Characteristics? What exactly is the Central Market and how is it different from Capitalism.
First, let us begin with this simple axiom:
“Capitalism is inherently unstable”
The System of Capital is the idea of signs detached from reality and the present idea of scarcity. It is sustained by the wholesale destruction and oppression of the Third World. It is in many ways a Living being that thrives upon our libidinal desires. It desacralizes and destroys all forms of traditions by its exploitation of the people. It cannot accept organization from its consumers nor can it accept Free Will from its producers. It objectifies people and reduces them to mere statistics.. Its evils come from the State which makes Capital not supply and demand. Only via the Corporate aspects of exchanging states can currency remain in value and thus define Capital.
It fails to stabilize society in many ways. For one, the libidinal economy as a product of the supply and demand principle of Free Markets depletes resources leaving the Middle Class into "White Flights" in a nomadic trek across countries to satisfy their human fill of which can never be quenched. For the second, More demand=less supply, as the economy is growing less and less defined by simple institutions like families and can no longer sustain them and the Western Way of life, it increases the values from communities to families to individuals. 100 became 1000 then a million overnight. On the Third, Capitalism's highs and lows affect many lives who sell their bodies and souls into the machinery that is the free market. To play the game is to gamble real lives and even with high corporate structures and central command economies, the threat is always severe.
In summary, we may have strong allegiances against the crime against humanity called Capitalism, but we too are against the idea of "Free Markets". So what may be my solution? Central Markets, however with a slight twist.
I will reiterate many things we have said before but let's begin with the obvious question, what is the Central Market without the state? Firstly, it no longer concerns stocks or central banks. Rather it is a system, a Machine controlled by Direct Democracy or what we call Free Planning. It is the germ for an "economy of needs" to arise.
Firstly, without the free market exchange, how do the order books work?
They use actual goods. In some system UI called "Metricization", the goal is to make the average person richer.
Second, if not decentralized company-to-company or peer-to-peer, how does the economy truly operate?
Mega-cooperatives. It intrinsically asserts the freedom of its working members on the local cooperative using a bottom-up style of workers' self-management on a hopefully global scale. It respects cultural boundaries and avoids any Neoreactionary tendencies toward patchwork.
Third, if the goal of Supply-and-demand Free Markets is Equilibrium or Homeostasis, is there a goal for Central Markets?
"Full Mobilization of All Available Resources" is the long way to say it. But if it were under a word it would be “Optimal”. Optimal Direct Democratic Control over the Market, not the economy. In such a way, stability can be restored. No longer are the days that we will participate in this market but rather we take the leviathan by the leash. We plan to drive a stake through the Vampire's heart to make sure it will never resurrect.
Thinking about how to explain it but the way I can possibly say it is through the History Matters 10 minute videos format:
Many countries have different economic systems but what happens when you have a form of Market that is woefully different than your international colleagues to the point of drawing the ire of both most powerful countries in the world? Today we'll talk about Centralized Markets, a Market system that forms the backbone of the Indospheric Economic Cooperative.
Before we begin, It is imperative to discuss it as a car engine where there is the main process with all other systems being there to support it, therefore any ideological talk easily falls into the category of pragmatics or incompatibility.
The initial process begins with a Confederation. A Confederation is as the word suggests a Country-wide group of smaller entities called cooperatives composing of at least 5 people. The Confederation owns a share in each cooperative in exchange for a representative whose role we will get to later. So, A Confederation first supplies the Central Market however it sees fit, this initial stage is called the Blood Diamond Program where the Supply of certain products is manipulated according to market conditions whether it is conducive to earn a profit or not. This supply will determine the price within what is known as an Order Book.
The Order Book is collectively controlled by Confederations to avoid above all else, cheating. The Order Book describes the worth of the products within regular economics that can be bargained. The goal is to trade things that are either of equivalent/haggled price to the product or to supply them with goods they themselves requested in exchange for a reasonable amount of the goods.
Thus comes the process at the receiving end, known as procurement. Once the exchange is done the goods are then given to the coops where production finally begins. This is why there are representatives. The representatives who work in offices request raw materials and goods to the Confederation, if it is already in stock they could buy it for a lesser price and fresh traded goods fetch higher, this is on top of membership fees and taxes. These goods are then transmitted down toward coops where production of consumer items begins this could range from steel beams to cookies. These productive cooperatives then transmit their products to shop collectives who propositioned more of their product.
The main reason why this system was adopted was primarily due to the overwhelming desire to abolish the stock market which they believe is the "...tool of oppression, the chains binding us to the West and the Far East".
The IEC controls and facilitates international trade between National Confederations as well as having the power to shut down certain markets in times of crisis and helps with aid. It discourages the creation of international conglomerates, like McDonald's, Coke, Dole & Microsoft to avoid culturally offensive products as well as economic neocolonialism.
This created a system that is known to be the "8th manmade wonder of the world".
It emphasizes control of the market when western markets who got the heads up got the upper hand via colonialism and terror.
Centralized Markets would soon replace the markets we have today. Although still a free market what changes are the characteristics of the Markets that trade more in Macro goods than in individual goods. Nothing is state-mandated. It is when bulk goods are traded with other markets with an expectation of exchange down the line. Self-interest and the increase in per capita possible wealth will be the name of the game. The creation of these Markets would mean whole new data interpreting infrastructures and a mathematical rectification after years of the stock market and economic data corruption of capitalist calculative software. This would be known as the Metricization wherein winning would mean the average person would be infinitely times wealthier in terms of basic goods than any of those who came before us.

V. Conclusion

"I don't want to care", the entire emotion of this article is this. If Zizek has "I prefer not to", this is our motto. It isn't that we don't care about the horrifying things going on in the world, but the fact that at multiple times in history, we had a shot at liberation and taking no action towards it.
When there is genocide against the Palestinian people, When there are people in America who cannot afford to raise a family, When there are children in the third world dying because they cannot afford food. we don't want to care. This isn't supposed to happen.
When the 90s rolled around, there was a great enthusiasm that the dawn of the 1st Millenium would bring us Socialism after the failure of the Soviet Union, when Anarchists roamed the streets. It was finally coming. It's been 20+ years now. Where is it?
When we say we don't want to care. It simply means this isn't supposed to happen. Feminism should have been status quo. Police shouldn't exist anymore, Not having traditional families shouldn't be a problem, there shouldn't be homeless people, Racism and all these problems.
When we was in 5th grade there was a theory amongst [American] libertarians that as the Market and Technology advances, these problems would have gone away due to a purported decentralizing and egalitarianizing nature of Capitalism. Voltaire said, there is nowhere where you could find a Jew, a Catholic, or a Protestant in peace together than in a marketplace.
I have come to believe this was false. And today, this is still a problem. This is a problem because it was only under the advent of Capitalism and its rise, that these problems: Racism, Imperialism, Gender Inequality, and Poverty reigned supreme. The breakdown of the Family, the Moral Corruption of Institutions like the Church, Media and Academia by Pedophilia, Floozy Culture and Modernity. All of these are something that happened when Capitalism was at its peak. The Zenith of Capitalism coincided with the Marianas Trench of Humanity.
None of these is supposed to happen, not in the 21st Century. We should have been done by now with all these. Not just because it's outdated but we assumed we would already have a collective moral dissonance against the faults of the past, collecting the rebellious good of the people that came before and made it our current civilization, yet it did not happen.
Societal instability is the fault of non-other than Capitalism. It isn't reduced to the Class Struggle anymore. Anyone who agrees with this entire text should understand that Revolution is an ethnic conflict. A conflict between those who view this degeneracy of Capitalism and the State as normal, and those who believe in the family(whether cishet or queer) leading normal lives, going to work, coming home, having enough food for the day, living in a house, not watching degenerate displays of female objectification or body mortification on your screens as your children watch in peace. It is to live a life of stability created by a combined effort by all people to just get along.
We should have done this by now, what we experience today shouldn't be our problem, a crappy environment should have been left to the 1800s, War in the 1910s, Racism in the 1930s, Gender inequality in the 1920s, Mental Health problems to the 1950s, Bureaucracy should have ended in the 1960s, Modernity should have ended in the 1970s, Capitalism ended in the 1980s and the State abolished in the 1990s.
We failed in this endeavor not because of individual human problems but because of the non-monolithic systems we treat like G-d above. Capital must fall.

EDIT 1: Before anyone complains, the title is a reference to Ashe's game, not how she is in DFFOO!
EDIT 2: Apparently some people didn't get that my opening was sarcastic. My bad. That's on me.
I thank you all for all the feedback. Although I originally meant for my last post to be a drunken rant, I received an outpour of sympathy and encouragement instead. Rather than rebuff this kindness in an effort to appear manly – or As SQEX would say, “I don’t need this” this kindness – I will humbly accept all of your advice and take it to heart.
I’ve done a lot of soul-searching and contemplation while I was gone. A lot. And I realized that embracing criticism is the fastest path to personal growth. Instead of being upset, I need to face my shortcomings head on and evolve into a better person.
It is egotistical and pigheaded to believe that I need to insert my opinions and bias into my writing. There is no place for that in a character writeup for a promotional crossover game made for mobile devices. This is serious business. The content should be in the spotlight, not me.
I have decided to dedicate myself to producing the safe and neutral content that this community deserves. I want to thank each and every one of you again for all the criticisms and concerns, and I believe that if I really am the writer I think myself to be, then I should rise to the challenge of being able to please everyone and not shy away from it.
This will be my first try though, so please bear with me. Let me know if there are things I can do better.
As I am only human, I also had a certain mod look at my post and edit any traces of bias, opinion, or rudeness, so it should be airtight.

Ashe

General Information

Game: Final Fantasy 12
Roles: BRV Shaver, Buffer, Debuffer
Attack type: Melee
Weapon Type: Greatsword
Crystal Type: Blue
Optimal Use: Magical BRV shaving and pushing your strongest DPS to new heights.

Who They Are

• One user said they enjoyed my detailed explanations of who the characters were and how they functioned, for they really help them get a sense of the character in the context of DFFOO. To honor his suggestion, I introduce the “Who They Are” section which I will thoroughly analyze the newest addition to the roster, their story, their character arc, and the very archtype of literature from whence they sprung.

Ashe is Vaan’s rival for the affection of Balthier. The serious-minded brunette to Vaan’s giggly blonde. Unfortunately for both of them, Balthier cannot love another human being because he is a furry likes bunny girls.

Stats

HP: 3/5 INT BRV: 3/5 MAX BRV: 3/5 ATK: 4/5 DEF: 4/5 SPD: 4/5

Abilities

Ability	Description	Type	Uses	Base	Weapon
Northswain’s Glow	Single Target 1-Hit BRV Magic Non-Elemental Attack. Grants Magical Attack Up for 3 turns.	BRV Attack, Buff, Debuff	6	ATK 120%. Grants Ashe MATK Up +15% for 2 turns.	ATK 180%. Grants all party members MATK +20% Up for 3 turns. Inflicts MAX BRV Down -30% to target for 4 turns.
Heaven’s Wrath	Single Target 10-Hit BRV Magic Holy Attack. Grants Physical Attack Up for 2 turns. Deals an HP attack after BRV hits if STR 60 Passive Ability is equipped.	BRV Attack, Buff, Debuff	6	ATK 10% x 9 + 40% = 130%. Grants Ashe PATK Up +15% for 2 turns.	ATK 11.1% x 9 +110% = 210%. Grants all party members PATK +20% for 3 turns. Inflicts Small SPD Down on target for 4 turns.

*= Max uses at C.lvl 50 and Charged passives equipped.

High Priority Passives

Passive	Description	CP cost
Sword of revenge (Defender)	Increases the potency of Heaven's Wrath (+80%) and lowers it action delay. Inflicts Small Speed Down for 4 turns. Grants Physical Attack Up (+5%) to all allies and extends its duration (+1 turn).	20 CP
Royal Authority (Claymore)	Increases the potency of Northswain's Glow (+60%) and inflicts Small Max BRV Down (-30%) for 4 turns. Grants Magical Attack Up (+5%) to all allies and extends its duration (+1 turn).	20 CP
Charged Heaven’s Wrath	Heaven’s Wrath Use +1.	10 CP
Charged Northswain’s Glow	Northswain’s Glow Use +1.	10 CP
Mighty Heaven’s Wrath	Slightly increases BRV damage dealt by Heaven’s Wrath (x1.1).	10 CP
Mighty Northswain’s Glow	Slightly increases BRV damage dealt by Northswain’s Glow (x1.1).	10 CP
Buff Attack Up	Slightly raises Attack while buffed (+10%).	10 CP
BRV Speed Up	Slightly raises Speed when BRV is over 50%.	10 CP

Low Priority Passives

Passive	Description	CP cost
Break Supply	Slightly raises Break Bonus (+10%) earned after an ally breaks an enemy.	10 CP
Queen’s Authority	Slightly raises INT BRV (+10%) and MAX BRV (+10%) of all allies when HP is under 50%.	20 CP
Danger Attack Up	Slightly raises Attack (+20%) when HP is under 20%.	15 CP

Pretty standard stuff here. Priority between Heaven’s Wrath and Northswain’s Glow depends purely on your team comp and your available weapon. All things equal, I give the edge to Heaven’s Wrath for it’s greater potency and BRV Shaving. Buff Attack is always a good choice for self-buffers. Lastly, BRV Speed Up should be active more often than not thanks to Ashe’s insane BRV shaving.
Break Supply is not bad, but doesn’t make the cut because even though Ashe is great at breaking enemies, enemies won’t always be available to be broken. Queen’s Authority and Danger Attack up require Ashe to remain below certain HP thresholds, which is already ridiculous because she doesn’t have the highest HP pool to work with. WTF is with this girl and getting hit? Is she a masochist? An interesting nod to Ashe’s determination and perseverance in her quest to rise from the Ashes ashes and reclaim her throne. Didn’t Noctis do this same thing? Tetsuya Nomura is really running out of ideas. I guess he thought it was better if he eliminated all the women.

Artifact Priorities

• MAX BRV +330
• ATK +108
• Mighty Heaven’s Wrath ★ ★

Ashe has a high ATK stat and very high potencies, but she’s a coward a mediocre MAX BRV. Her greatest problem is leakage BRV leakage and wasted damage potential. There is only so much help MAX BRV you can give her, though. The ATK boost should enhance her BRV shaving ability, as well as the Mighty Heaven’s Wrath. Not only is her second ability her strongest, but there is a chance it could be resisted, hence it needs all the help it can get.

Weapons

Name	Ability	CP
Claymore	Increases the potency of Northswain's Glow (+60%) and inflicts Small Max BRV Down (-30%) for 4 turns. Grants Magical Attack Up (+5%) to all allies and extends its duration (+1 turn).	15 CP
Defender)	Increases the potency of Heaven's Wrath (+80%) and lowers it action delay. Inflicts Small Speed Down for 4 turns. Grants Physical Attack Up (+5%) to all allies and extends its duration (+1 turn).	35 CP

Weapon Priorities

*Defender *Claymore
If you want to utilize Ashe well, you need to think about team comp. The 15 CP gives the party MATK and the 35 CP gives the party PATK. The better weapon depends on your decisions and whether PATK or MATK are more important to you. But again, with all things equal, you might as well go for the 35 CP to increase BRV shaving capabilities, and ultimately, the SPD debuff can prove to be more beneficial than the MAX BRV debuff.

Strengths

• Incredible Magic BRV Shaver. While Ashe may not be able to shave the most BRV per action like a decked out Seymour. She has more charges to back it up.
• Rare buffs. At this point in time, Ashe would have been the only person with PATK and MATK buffs if Prishe’s CP 35 didn’t arrive early. She is, however, the only one at this point in time who can grant it to others. And while more and more characters gain access to this domain, it still remains relatively rare.
• Great action economy. Ashe is able to shave BRV, buff, and debuff in a single action.

Weaknesses

• Constant danger of BRV leakage. Excessive attack power with limited storage space and no convenient way to dump BRV.
• Husband died during the honeymoon and then she got rejected by a criminal (lol).

Where They Currently Stand

• One user had a really good idea about format: they said that instead of starting with the pros and ending with the cons – which leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths – I should go Pro -> Con -> Pro so the last thing the reader sees is positivity. I think this is a wonderful idea and I will now end each written section with a strong compliment for your benefit, reader.

At launch, Ashe is a piece of shit strong character if utilized correctly. First and foremost, she is a BRV Shaver. 12 charges broken down into 6 charges of 180% potency and 6 charges of 210% potency. That’s wild! On top of that, she’s a pure Magic BRV Shaver, which is far less resisted than physical. She’s not the hardest hitter, but only because there are those such as Seymour and Thancred who get ridiculous bonuses under certain conditions that Ashe cannot come close to. But again, 12 charges. While buffing and debuffing. She is definitely a top contender.
But we’re all familiar with the art of BRV shaving now. Let’s move on to Ashe’s secondary role that most people are excited for: buffing. Ignoring early Prishe 35 CP, Ashe is the first character to introduce PATK Up and MATK Up which specifically increase Physical or Magical BRV damage done respectively. It is very important to note that I specifically said BRV DAMAGE done. It is not as helpful as the standard ATK Up, which not only buffs damage of both varieties, but also many support skills that scale off of ATK. While PATK Up and MATK Up are far more limiting, they come with one large advantage: They stack on top of ATK Up.
Now, while Ashe is a magnificent Magical BRV Shaver first and foremost, most people will be more interested in these new buff categories because we all know what BRV Shavers do and there are plenty to choose from. PATK and MATK, however, bring a bit of a unique niche to Ashe in the 35 CP Era. She can grant a 20% damage boost to almost anyone right now, and that’s an entire free Ifrit boost. It’s significant. But you also have to ask yourself if she is right for both the fight you’re tackling and your team. If you throw Ashe into a team with an ally that can’t benefit from her buffs, you’re ultimately hurting your overall DPS. A 20% buff to a single DPS isn’t worth an entire slot, and while she’s an amazing BRV Shaver, two BRV+HP Attackers will probably outweigh a stellar BRV Shaver and a slightly boosted BRV+HP Attacker. Let alone factoring in potential BRV leakage with the boosted attack (Looking at you, Squall). Let alone factoring in how many abilities actually get boosted (For example, you get a worse return of investment if you bring, say, Zidane, who has an ability that doesn’t factor in BRV damage at all, as opposed to Lightning). Let alone if you’re running two other non-DPS. Let alone if the fight just doesn’t call for BRV shaving. So you can see why I am very wary of recommending Ashe because many do not understand the concept of party DPS over personal DPS a lot of people just ask me who they should bring she really requires a lot of thought into party composition and fight analysis.
For straight up burn parties or brute force parties though, Ashe is invaluable. And how fortuitous that she is being introduced with Vaan at her side though, as Vaan is someone who has very high synergy with her. As a consecutive BRV+HP Attacker that won’t come close to hitting his cap on his own, he makes full use of Ashe’s BRV damage buff without wasting a single drop. And those are Ashe’s best partners: DPS with tons of BRV+HP charges like Vaan and Papalymo. They can easily avoid leaking BRV because they have so many convenient ways to dump it.
Ashe also has debuffs. Small SPD Down and MAX BRV -30%. While nice, they’re nothing new. What make them great though is that they’re added bonuses. Ashe has AMAZING turn efficiency. BRV shaving, party-wide buffs, and debuffs all in a single action! Really amazing. Unfortunately, it’s cancelled out by her mediocre MAX BRV. Ashe’s insane potencies and decent ATK coupled with her middling MAX BRV means she’s going to leak BRV. A lot. You’ll probably be gimping a lot of your DPS if you aren’t dumping BRV every other turn. Add on top the fact that both of her buffs has a duration of 3 turns and you’ll be alternating between BRV shave and HP Attack every turn. Doesn’t seem so bad, right? Well, what if you pair Ashe with a pure Physical DPS and a Pure Magical DPS who both need different buffs from Ashe? Suddenly, you’re going to be sacrificing a lot of DPS and BRV leakage just to keep the buffs up full time. A ton of DPS loss for a character that’s biggest draw is to boost party DPS is suddenly severely gimping it. Then you have to ask yourself if it’s really worth bringing Ashe.
Because of the handicap of her low-duration buffs, it is currently more optimal to being 2 DPS of one type to accompany her. That means 2 Physical DPS or 2 Magical DPS. As I said earlier, trying to keep both up is going to result in a ton of lost DPS. With just one buff to prioritize, Ashe won’t have to fear BRV leakage nearly as much and can use the secondary hope at her leisure, just like how Hope can use one of his buffs as backup. And at minimum, Ashe is able to benefit from both buffs herself.
A final consideration goes into a concept I have been stressing for a long time: party-wide DPS vs personal DPS. The entire point of Ashe’s party-wide buffs is to affect party-wide DPS. If you get blinded by Ashe’s personal high numbers without thinking about how it affects the numbers of your entire team, you are going to be weakening yourself using Ashe. If you get blinded by how much BRV damage your team is doing without taking into consideration how much HP damage you’re doing on a turn-by-turn average, you are going to be weakening yourself using Ashe. It may sound like I’m saying Ashe is a bad character, but that is far from the truth. I just cannot overstate how much thought needs to be put into how to optimize such a nuanced character. She is great in the right hands, and completely self-destructive in the wrong ones.
Now I’m supposed to say something nice!
Ashe is a pretty princess. =)

Future Changes

I want to preface this section by talking about GL getting early buffs. A month ago, we were getting buffs to characters like Papalymo and Yda that didn’t get their buffs in JP until October and November. I am hoping - hoping and praying - that it means entering July, we are ready for December buffs. December buffs really turned a lot of shit characters into great characters. To start off with, it transforms Ashe’s rotation from a chore to a pleasure. So all you Ashe lovers better hope we launch with this or Ashe is gonna be significantly worse. More exciting is if we get it for Ashe, chances are we’ll get it for Aerith, which is SUPER exciting. But more on that later.
Patch Buffs
*December

• Northswain’s Glow’s MATK buff duration increases by 3 turns for a total of 6.
• Heaven’s Wrath’s PATK buff duration increases by 3 for a total of 6 and also grants Ashe MAX BRV +20% for 6 turns.
• Mighty Northswain’s Glow’s multiplier increases to 1.2x.
• Mighty Heaven’s Wrath’s multiplier increases to 1.2x.

The December patch buffs are a gamechanger for Ashe. First, it addresses her terrible BRV leakage problem by giving her strongest BRV shave a hefty MAX BRV buff. Nice. Then it also further increases her BRV shaving power by upping the power of her Mighty passives. Sure, why not. It’s a bonus. THE biggest change is doubling of the buff durations. As I said before, Ashe on launch has a TERRIBLE rotation. With only a 3-turn duration, you’re going to have to refresh every other turn until you’re out of charges or risk leaking a ton of BRV, which is the far worse option. And if you need to have both buffs up? Forget it. You’re fucked. You’ll be leaking thousands of BRV every 3 turns easy. With a 6-turn duration on her buffs, Ashe now has time to breathe. She can dump BRV and refresh the other buff at a leisurely pace. Instead of (PATK, MATK, HP Attack, repeat), it’s now (PATK, HP Attack, MATK, HP Attack, repeat) with wiggle room to adapt to the tide of battle and improvise. It also spreads her ability charges out more so she doesn’t burn out on the longer fights. A fucking godsend. I’ll rate Ashe like trash if she doesn’t release with this buff.
Passives

Passive	Description	CP cost
Buff Boost All	Slightly raises all party members' Max BRV while buffed (+20%).	5 CP
Extended Northswain’s Glow	Slightly raises the potency of Northswain's Glow (+20%). Slightly improves Magical Attack Up (+10%).	15 CP
Buff Attack & Speed All	Moderately raises all party members' ATK (+40%) and SPD while buffed.	5 CP
Extended Heaven’s Wrath	Slightly raises the potency of Heaven's Wrath (+20%). Slightly improves Physical Attack Up (+10%). Slightly improves Max BRV Up (+20%) and grants it to all allies. Triggers an HP attack after Heaven's Wrath.	15 CP

Two big additions make Ashe’s Awakening amazing: a BRV dump and a slew of invisible buffs. She doesn’t get very big potency boosts but she doesn’t really need them. Heaven’s Wrath now boosts MAX BRV by a whopping 40% - on top of her new passive that adds another 20% - and transforms into a BRV+HP attack, finally saving her a turn in her rotation and significantly increasing her overall DPS. Funnily enough, after Awakening she is STILL notorious for BRV leakage. The invisible buffs here are the real prize, however. As Ashe was introduced as the woman pioneering stackable buffs, so to does her Awakening continue this by giving her ne next tier of stackable buffs: invisible buffs. Invisible buffs stack on top of ATK, PATK, AND MATK. So you can take Lightning’s +60% ATK Up, throw on another +40% PATK Up, another +40% with the invisible buff, and just throw in Ifrit’s +20% for shits and giggles. So Ashe by herself could boost Lightning to +160% ATK. This is where she really shines. A free Medium SP buff (Same tier as Eiko’s), a +40% ATK buff, and a +40% MAX BRV buff just for standing there. And of course her PATK and MATK buffs.
Summary

• Several users have said that I talk too much in these write-ups and it detracts from the raw data, so here is a lot of math to make up for it.

In approximately 365 days, there will be 88 characters in the game. With the advent of Awakenings, X amount of characters will not be efficient to run with Ashe. Assume that in your general composition, Ashe cannot run with a second copy of herself and is thus removed from the equation. Solve for X and show your work.
88 Characters - 1 Ashe = 87 Characters

PATK

{No PATK Synergy}

If 0 Attacks or Abilities benefit from PATK or PATK granted to self ≥ PATK granted by Ashe, then No PATK Synergy

• Aerith
• Auron
• Balthier
• Cait Sith
• Deuce
• Eiko
• Garnet
• Hope
• Kefka
• Layle
• Palom
• Papalymo
• Rydia
• Seymour
• Shantotto
• Terra
• Vanille
• Vivi
• Y’shtola
• Yuna

Σ{No PATK Synergy} = 20/87 = 23.5% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{Negligible PATK Synergy}

If BRV Attack benefits from PATK but 0 Abilities benefit from PATK or PATK granted to self is < PATK granted by Ashe but > 0, then Negligible PATK Synergy

• Ace
• Alisaie
• Cater
• Cloud
• Edge
• Fang
• Galuf
• Irvine
• Jecht
• Laguna
• Maria
• Onion Knight
• Lilisette
• Penelo
• Raijin
• Ramza
• Rem
• Relm
• Prishe
• Sabin
• Selphie
• Serah
• Vincent
• Vaan
• Zell

Σ{Negligible PATK Synergy} = 25/87 = 29.5% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{Low PATK Synergy}

If BRV Attack and 1 Ability benefit from PATK, then Low PATK Synergy

• Agrias
• Cecil
• Celes
• Kain
• King
• Locke
• Lenna
• Leon
• Sazh
• Setzer
• Shadow
• Snow
• Tifa
• Wakka
• Warrior of Light
• Yang
• Yuffie
• Yuri
• Zidane

Σ{Low PATK Synergy} = 19/87 = 22% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{Medium PATK Synergy}

If BRV Attack and 2 Abilities benefit from PATK but Low ATK Stat, then Medium PATK Synergy

• Cid
• Edgar
• Faris
• Fujin
• Lightning
• Lion
• Maria
• Noctis
• Quistis
• Seifer
• Seven
• Thancred
• Tidus

Σ{Medium PATK Synergy} = 13/87 = 15% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{High PATK Synergy}

If BRV Attack and 2 Abilities benefit from PATK but High ATK Stat, then High PATK Synergy

• Bartz
• Cyan
• Firion
• Gilgamesh
• Sephiroth
• Squall
• Steiner
• Yda
• Zack

Σ{High PATK Synergy} = 9/87 = 10% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}

MATK

{No MATK Synergy}

If 0 Attacks or Abilities benefit from MATK or MATK granted to self ≥ MATK granted by Ashe, then No MATK Synergy

• Aerith
• Auron
• Balthier
• Bartz
• Cait Sith
• Celes
• Cid
• Cloud
• Cyan
• Deuce
• Edgar
• Faris
• Firion
• Fujin
• Galuf
• Gilgamesh
• Hope
• Irvine
• Jecht
• Kain
• King
• Laguna
• Layle
• Lenna
• Lightning
• Lilisette
• Lion
• Maria
• Noctis
• Onion Knight
• Penelo
• Quistis
• Raijin
• Ramza
• Rem
• Rydia
• Sazh
• Seifer
• Selphie
• Sephiroth
• Seven
• Shadow
• Snow
• Squall
• Steiner
• Thancred
• Tidus
• Tifa
• Wakka
• Warrior of Light
• Yda
• Yuffie
• Yuna
• Yang
• Zack
• Zell
• Zidane

Σ{No MATK Synergy} = 57/87 = 65.5% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{Negligible MATK Synergy}

If MATK granted to self is < MATK granted by Ashe but > 0, then Negligible MATK Synergy

• Celes
• Kuja
• Papalymo

Σ{Negligible PATK Synergy} = 3/87 = 3.5% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{Low MATK Synergy}

If 1 Ability benefits from MATK, then Low MATK Synergy

• Agrias
• Edge
• Cater
• Cecil
• Leon
• Locke
• Relm
• Serah
• Setzer
• Yuri

Σ{Low MATK Synergy} = 10/87 = 11.5% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{Medium MATK Synergy}

If BRV Attack and 1 Ability benefit from MATK, then Medium MATK Synergy

• Eiko
• Kefka
• Krile
• Palom
• Terra
• Vivi
• Y’shtola

Σ{Medium MATK Synergy} = 7/87 = 8% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{High MATK Synergy}

If 2 Abilities benefit from MATK, then High MATK Synergy

• Ace
• Alisaie
• Garnet
• Prishe
• Sabin
• Seymour
• Shantotto
• Vaan
• Vanille
• Vincent

Σ{High MATK Synergy} = 10/87 = 11.5% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}

Final Answer

{Bad PATK Synergy} = {No PATK Synergy} U {Negligible PATK Synergy} U {Low PATK Synergy} = 75% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{Good PATK Synergy} = 100 - 75 = 25% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{Bad MATK Synergy} = {No MATK Synergy} U {Negligible MATK Synergy} U {Low MATK Synergy} = 80.5% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
{Good MATK Synergy} = 100 - 80.5 = 19.5% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
X = {Characters Not Optimal to Run with Ashe} = {No PATK Synergy} ∩ {No MATK Synergy} ∩ {Neglible PATK Synergy} ∩ {Negligible MATK Synergy} ∩ {Low PATK Synergy} ∩ {Low MATK Synergy}
{Characters Not Efficient to Run with Ashe}

• Aerith
• Auron
• Balthier
• Cait Sith
• Cater
• Celes
• Cloud
• Deuce
• Edge
• Fang
• Hope
• Galuf
• Irvine
• Jecht
• Kuja
• Laguna
• Layle
• Lilisette
• Maria
• Onion Knight
• Papalymo
• Penelo
• Prishe
• Ramza
• Rem
• Rydia
• Selphie
• Serah
• Yuna
• Zell

X = Σ{Characters Not Efficient to Run with Ashe} = 30/87 = 34.5% of {Roster 365 Days from Now}
(Thanks, Mom and Dad, for sending me to college to write character evaluations for a mobile gacha game.)
As DFFOO aged, more and more DPS were being introduced with ATK Up self-buffs. SQEX needed a character that could somehow still significantly increase the damage done by DPS as the ATK self-buffing became more prolific. Enter Ashe. For much of the 35 CP Era she would remain unchallenged, though rule of powercreep introduced PATK and MATK to Cloud, Prishe, Jecht, Rydia, Kuja, and Raijin. Still, the 35 CP Era ended with less than 10% of the cast encroaching on Ashe’s niche.
Then we enter the Awakening Era and history repeats itself. The number of DPS who can grant themselves PATK and MATK is growing at an alarming rate, threatening Ashe’s niche once again. As of this writing, more than 25% of the roster can give themselves one or the other. So Ashe’s Awakening upped the ante with invisible buffs, which has yet to receive a cap. While she isn’t as unique anymore, invisible buffs have helped her maintain a niche while allowing her to enhance the performance of everyone to some degree and still be the best there is at increasing BRV shaving capabilities for the entire party. That’s Ashe in a nutshell: an insane BRV Shaver that makes everyone on her team better at BRV shaving. And she does all this whill still avoiding overlap with the all-too-common ATK buff. Go Ashe! Any fight that requires extreme BRV shaving, she’s your girl.
Unfortunately, BRV shaving is just one dimension of the game. Ashe has to compete with supports that can heal, BRV battery, AoE attack, shield, or all of them at the same time. While BRV shaving is nice, oftentimes just straight up giving your allies BRV is better, as well as being able to do all those other things. As far as DPS goes, full DPS can pull out bigger numbers, and most of the time they shave BRV fine on their own. If the situation gets extreme, you always have gimmick picks like Bartz to just cut the BRV by a flat percentage. Or launchers. Most of her competition - Support or DPS - also have BRV Attack+ and/or HP Attack+ for much better longevity as well. It is for this reason that Ashe always sits around average to above average; her niche is uncommon, but it suffices fine in most battles. And, paired with her highest synergy teammates, she can pull out some impressive results.
Oh, right. Nice comment. Umm…
WTF kind of abbreviation is Ashe? And don’t try to tell me it makes sense because her full name is Ashelia. We don’t shorten Ashton to Asht or Ashley to Ashl. It’s idiotic and I will never forgive the translators. Ashe is NOT a dumb and confusing spelling of her name.

Should You Pull

• Several users remarked that this section was either too confusing or seemed to discourage pulling on all but the most powerful meta breakers. So I will attempt to rectify that.

Ashe is a fantastic Magic BRV Shaver, a good buffer, and in the right team, and invaluable asset. Just don’t assume you can put her anywhere and get the full value for your gems.
Vaan is also on this banner, and in my opinion, the grand prize. Many people seemed to be upset that I said he’s better off as a Friend Unit, but I think the same thing of Squall and people still love him. To me, both can get most of their damage out in 5 turns and then bounce, leaving room for a more flexible unit with better longevity. This doesn’t mean there aren’t tons of uses for them, though. Huge burst means speedy farming, easy clears for normal battles in both story and lost chapters, and co-ops. And for those who loved Squall’s gameplay, Vaan will now be a superior version of Squall in every way, so hooray!
Despite what people may think I think, this is still the overall most solid banner we’ve had or will have in a while (excluding the LC one). Vaan and Ashe aren’t as meta as Tidus and Eiko, but their still great characters that are way above all the trash we’ve gotten in June. And while there are banners coming up with some meta picks, this is the only banner in awhile to have TWO great picks, so percentage-wise, it’s a very safe banner. And Vaan is meta as fuck as a Friend Unit. LC banner still way better though, IMO.
You should MLB all the weapons on this banner.

Score

• Several users implored that I use a real score system with real meaning. Too bad.

0 out of 2 pursued men.

Credits

DissidaDB that gave most of the info: https://dissidadb.com & u/phantasmage for most of the information found on this post.
Percentage database managed by Safeena: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T4_urW_OLF754oWGZ1SxL99cRpA_-fcGE_Q75OFJXZY/edit#gid=1141284560
If there are any mistakes, just tell me and I'll fix them accordingly.