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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 49m

The first nightmare I remember having as a little kid was about my father inexplicably undergoing the painful-looking transformation sequence from the old "Incredible Hulk" TV show.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

There's a Green Lantern named Simon Baz who's a Lebanese Muslim, if that helps at all.

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Flora 🍓🏳️‍⚧️ @floramerigold.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Yesterday's news about Jacob Geller broke my heart, so much that I couldn't stop dwelling on it all day. In an effort to make sense of this horrific news and my admittedly complicated feelings about it, here is my article on the Jacob Geller situation: epiloguegaming.com/what-do-we-d...

epiloguegaming.com

What Do We Do With Jacob Geller? - Epilogue Gaming

Earlier this week, a friend noticed Jacob Geller’s book, How A Game Lives, sitting amongst my living room shelves. Under almost any other circumstances, this would have been an exciting invitation for...

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I got them *privileges*, see, I exist in that *exalted* state

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

He genuinely looks like the old lead singer from Saliva. I'm not doing a bit. Palmer made $6 billion and ended up looking like a distinctly unkempt Josey Scott.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I catch some heat for this occasionally whenever I report on legal issues. There's a reason that journalists write this way. It's not a conspiracy.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I really struggle to find the difference between Steam on a typical day and Steam Next Fest.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I'm bleakly fascinated with the 21st century's ability to exploit new parts of the human experience. First COVID forced you to explain to adults that they should care about other people. Now it's AI stripping out the basic purpose of art and communication. It's all techno-solipsism.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

He looks like what happens when Kirby swallows the War Nerd.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Glad to hear there's a solution. I like to read more about tech like this. Thanks for the breakdown.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Congratulations. Out of curiosity, what are your bionic hands called? I'd like to read more about them.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"Whaddup, YouTube, it's yo' boy, Objective Game Reviewer Steve, standing in front of a wall of swag that either cost me $30,000 on eBay or is representative of my deep ties to three dozen separate PR firms"

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I've lost track of the number of comment-section warriors who'll accuse journalists of corruption/glad-handing, then turn around and hold up some random YouTuber as a paragon of accountability.

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Keza MacDonald @mackeza.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"Influencers" really will receive a box of swag and IMMEDIATELY turn around and sell it for massive profit. Sometimes they even brag about it. It's the games press who are corrupt tho, remember

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

That's absolutely my biggest problem. If you slow down for long enough to check one thing out, you miss another half-dozen others. You can't hope to stay even remotely up to date.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Another fine encounter from the team that brought you "Alan Wake beats up construction equipment."

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I am in need of a middle finger that lands like approximately 1,000 Bruce Lee one-inch punches: a non-verbal blast of raw disdain that reduces people to stammering wrecks of themselves. Clothes shred; eyebrows burn; unborn descendants vanish, their timelines erased. This approaches sufficiency.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I would need to enter a richly supplied technical workshop, montage for some time, and come out of my labor with a device that allows me to flip people off so hard with the power and force of the Chicxulub asteroid impact. Only then would I approach my needs in this specific instance.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Were I to construct a pair of middle fingers as big as the sky, stretching from horizon to horizon in an overpowering display of nonverbal profanity, unavoidable, unignorable, it would not approach the depth or breadth to which this guy needs to fuck off.

The AI-Made Game the Internet Told You to Hate Is Out of Early Access, and Now It Has Online Co-op

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Kyrie Page @kyriepage.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Rest in peace to Richard Harrison, impeccable B-movie master, part of one of the funniest movie endings of all time.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Steam Frame trip report: Well, it's trying to squeeze my brain out through the top of my skull, so that's not ideal. Oh, hey, ARIZONA SUNSHINE's on Steam now. Bonus. Ouch, my head.

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geekwire.com @geekwire.com · 21/09/2026

Bungie apologizes to fans, unseals ‘Destiny’ content vault, tries to convince the world it’s still Bungie www.geekwire.com/2026/bungie-apolog…

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

My first thought was Spillane's original run of Mike Hammer novels. They aren't bad, but Hammer supposedly looks like he just lost a boxing match and has killed more people than some diseases, but still manages at least two affairs per book.

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Francisco Dominguez @dominguezf.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Japan’s cautious approach to growth and staff retention once seemed old-fashioned and unambitious. Against a backdrop of AAA failed gambles, gratuitous executive compensation and uncontrolled costs, I spoke to experts who explained why that conservative stance has never felt more modern.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

If you were one of the many people I talked to at PAX West 2026 who were confused why Washington's Secretary of State had a booth in the expo hall: me too. Fortunately, I am occasionally moved to do a Journalism and I went to ask him directly. This is the story:

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

What is the etiquette protocol for telling a PR flack that they appear to be routinely misspelling their own name in their promotional emails, because this is starting to make me uncomfortable

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

If I didn't know Zach Cregger was in The Whitest Kids U Know, I would be so confused about why every comment thread about his RESIDENT EVIL movie eventually mentions how he took a gallon of PCP.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

His resting facial expression somehow communicates that he has tried to tear down a beloved local monument to replace it with condos, only to be thwarted by plucky local misfits.

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geekwire.com @geekwire.com · 14/09/2026

Monday-morning surprise: Valve Software suddenly launches its wireless VR headset Steam Frame for $1,059 www.geekwire.com/2026/monday-mornin…

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World of Warcraft Gamemakers Guild - CWA @wowgg-cwa.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

We are out and about at the con! Come see us on convention way and get some pins and swag.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Pretty bummed about this one. I'd covered Polyarc a lot in the last few years, and met a bunch of the team on a couple of occasions. They'd even given me one of their Quill statuettes.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I read an editorial last week where someone used the phrase "brand capture," and that seems to get at the heart of it. For some people, it simply came along at the right time to become a core pillar of their personalities, regardless of it or its author's flaws. I've got a couple of those myself.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

There are ways to make him interesting, but they don't work well with video games or even film. Logan makes a surprisingly good protagonist for noir stories, for example, or espionage fiction. If you want to do straight-up solo action, his guitar only has the one chord.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

It is. Both parties have to consent to being recorded, which is why I have to tell people whenever I turn on my tape recorder in an interview.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

There's also a tendency to write him as a collection of his simplest traits, which even some otherwise good or at least skilled writers have done. Jason Aaron's trick in particular was to write that surface-level interpretation as a defense mechanism, and that's colored the character for years now.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

That was always the secret Claremontian sauce that none of the various Wolverine imitators (cf. Warblade, Ripclaw, Troll) managed to replicate. He's shockingly good with kids because he doesn't want anyone else to turn out like he did.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

That's a good way to put it. There's a tendency to evaluate the show by the expo hall and this year's was mildly anemic, but the panels/community/activities are still the real reason to leave your house.

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Jen Vaughn, Storyteller at Large @thejenya.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

RT if you've never had a tab of ChatGPT open, period.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

First thought for a hallucinogenic game (hallucinogame) is MOUTHWASHING.

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Part VIII: Thomas Takes Manhattan @stolisomancer.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I did okay on them 2 years ago, but I swear they have more pickup now.

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