iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Dialog from a Ben Affleck character in Kevin Smith movie: "...but if you SAY what you're doing with the pictures, suddenly YOU'RE the bad guy?"

Headline with picture that reads, "Ben Affleck has been banned from instagram." Period. Full stop. "twice." by Vanity Fair. Actually, he was banned for impersonating himself.

000

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

When I'm told Anthropic is banning people who are mean to their confirmation bias machine:

The I'm going to create an environment so toxic meme, but the word query has been written over "environment."

000

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

"How did you get into TTRPGs?" A long time ago, there was something called Inquest Magazine, a guide to collectible card games, which were the style at the time...

A picture of Inquest Magazine with Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy on the cover. It's billed as a guide to collectible card games. This is a special sci-fi issue, which touts killer decks for Star Wars and Star Trek, a Star Trek strategy guide, a combos guide for the Mythos game, an interview with Timothy Zahn, and some combos for Alliances, because your CCG magazine can't not include Magic: the Gathering. Inquest also covered tabletop RPGs from time to time, including a Vampire: the Masquerade starter booklet.

030

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The Heavy is out because he went all in on a pair of eights. I hate him so much.

A showdown with Strong Bad. He has fourty-four thousand dollars, meaning the player has about five thousand dollars.

110

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I'm gonna lose this fucking tournament to fucking Strong Bad, aren't I?

Image of Poker Night at the Inventory game. Max and Tycho are busted out. The player has six thousand dollars, Heavy has 10 thousand dollars. Strong Bad has twenty-nine thousand dollars.

100

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Mars IIC & Mars IIC design process.

A frame from the key and peele sketch, "Gremlins 2." The image itself is under a wall of text which paraphrases the sketh. It reads, "You just like a child. You have the brain of a child. You do not have a high IQ, but you haphazardly came up with a Clan battlemech with ass speed, an ultra autocannon 20, and too many lasers! you a crazy person and it's in the two man!"

010

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It used to have a targeting computer, but...heat sinks. Is it great? I have no idea, but I love slicing up bad guys with it.

Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries layout of an AWS-8Q. It has clan ER Large lasers in each torso and one in the right arm. The right arm has an Assault Hammerfist, the left arm has assault knuckles. The head had a small pulse laser. Everything else is double and single heat sinks. Armor 496 points out of 504.

110

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Did I win because Stream LRMs are a lil' broken and 3050 Clan 'mechs are a bit light on ammo? Yes. Does it count? Also yes. The green heavy that spent half its time on the board no moving was the Dire Maul, which failed a lot of piloting skill rolls & needed to roll a 10 to wake up. They didn't.

001

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

🎵Don't you know🎵 🎵That you are a shooting star?🎵

A custom 'mech called a Cobra two c shoots at a Summoner A. A Streak LRM 15 needs a 12 and rolls a 12, scoring a critical hit on the Summoner's right leg.

100

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

If this is what they think of Star Trek, it's no surprise they don't want to do it.

An image from strange new worlds of a cheap set meant to imitate the original Star Trek.

110

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I've reached the age where all of my anecdotes will be delivered in the style of Sophia Petrillo.

Sophia Petrillo from Golden Girls, with arms raised as she shares an anecdote. Text on top says, "Picture it: America. August 2001." Bottom text says, "A country so innocent the average citizen didn't even know who we were bombing."

010

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The Dire Maul eventually lost from mechwarrior damage and failed piloting skill rolls. That's small cockpits for you.

030

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

"Now, now. Perfectly symmetrical violence never solved anything."

A Hatamoto-Chi and a custom 'mech called "Dire Maul" exchange ER PPC shots. all miss.

120

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This isn't bad luck; it's working as intended.

A Mars IIC takes a PPC to the right leg. The leg is destroyed and damage transfers to the right torsto. The damage does critical damage, crits the engine, and causes an ammo explosion. The mechwarrior needs a 5 to stay conscious and fails. The ammo explosion destroys the torso and deals another engine critical hit.

Image of the Mars IIC. It has 13 armor on the left torso, 4 armor on the head, and 17 armor left on the rear. It has four sections destroyed and a total of 40 points of structure left. It's wrecked.

120

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Tonight's BattleTech is going great:

My Lancelot has to make a piloting skill roll because they took over 100 damage. The target number is 10. They failed.

My dire Maul takes a pilot hit. The mechwarrior needs a 3 to stay conscious. The mechwarrior rolls a 2.

My dire maul needs a 4 to stand up, including a negative one penalty for a small cockpit. They rolled a three and fell down while trying to stand because of the small cockpit.

231

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I should be allowed to hunt people for sport.

A headline saying, "Tom Cruise's weirdest movie yet may have just confirmed a wild fan theory." The thumbnail is from his upcoming film Digger. Digger is not part of a franchise that has fan theories and you can't have 'fan theories' about real people lives and also "confirming" fan theories is a pointless exercise that's almost always clickbait.

010

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I guarantee you my blog is 100% human slop.

a political compass meme, but the two axes are fantasy slash science and rules slash makey-uppy. Fantasy-rules quadrant is labeled Alchemy-fiction. Science-rules quadrant is science-fiction. Makey-uppy fantasy quadrant is simply labeled fantasy, and Science-makey-uppy quadrant is labeled "Dr. Who."

030

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The Mars again took the brunt of the enemy damage. A variety of Hellbringers and Hellbringer 2's absolutely shellacked the enemy.

100

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Don't know what I did, but I got my shit absolutely rocked on this one.

000

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Another #BattleTech game. The Princess bot seems to not do great in urban environments. Their Hatchetman did some good work--it chewed up my Mars like it was supposed to 😑--but it was very easy to focus fire and bring down their lance.

100

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Well, now's the time to repost this: #StarTrek

Captain Kirk. The caption reads, "Ladies and gentlemen and all other genders."

Spock. The text at the bottom of the screen says, "Distinguished guests."

Dr. McCoy. The text at the bottom says y'all.

050

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

The OPFOR was optimized, succession wars-era units with superior pilots. Even with BV-balancing, my Turkina MX just deleted them. I think I only used one of its heavy lasers.

100

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Good Riven session with the roommate. Lucked into some answers. One puzzle in particular was frustrating until it was really satisfying.

Picture of wooden structure standing above a pool of water. There's a trough hanging in the air opposite the structure. Water is pouring into and out of the trough. There's a valve with a weighted handle and free handle on the end of the trough.

010

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

New blog posted...wrong. Gonna fix it then share it.

000

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

My 20-ton Mosquito did some good work while the enemy Wolverine I wrote off did so much damage. Partially because the bot won initiative 5 times in a row as we were getting into knife-fighting range, but also because an SRM, medium pulse laser, and UAC 5 are fine weapons to have on a 5/8/5.

010

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

"🎵I can't believe it's happening to me. / Some people wait a lifetime / for a moment like this. 🎵"

A Star Realms game. The player has a Command Ship, which deals damage and draws two cards, a Stealth Needle that can duplicate it, two scouts, a recycling station that can pitch both of those scouts for something else, and a Cargo Pod that's...okay. The opponent has 3 life left, this is all overkill, but it's nice to get two Command Ships.

000

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Man, it's just one hit to morale after another today. 😔

Trending topics from Bluesky. Number one is "Sonic the hedgehog joins fortnite." If you're visually impaired, do the quotes help?

000

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Them: "It's my favorite monitor! Is it going to be okay?" Me:

Khan from The Wrath of Khan, with his hands clasped, looking intently. In the context of the film, he's looking into a viewscreen filled with static (not pictured).

010

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Not my best #Slipways run, but I'm happy with it.

A slipways run. Score is rated reasonable. Key is J X A dash Y F I Q R A S Z C. Empire size is colossal, with five or six distinct regions and a thin reach of worlds to the east. 32 established worlds, 13 successful, and 1 prosperious. Happiness is 108 percent.

000

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Little megamek game. A slate of 3050 IS designs + 1 Clan 'mech with veteran pilots vs green Clanners. I charged at first before realizing I had to hunker down. That last Stormcrow fought like heck.

000

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

New batch of Magic: the Gathering: Star Trek spoilers and these sure are some choices. Worf:

Worf is a 2 power, 3 toughness creature with Vigilance.

000

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Forgot I made these a billion zillion years ago. RIP, Bevin.

010

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Organizing my files and I gotta be honest; you all missed some bangers.

Dennis hopper as the bad guy in water world saying, "I'm for the jobs the climate change will bring."

100

VanVelding @vanvelding.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

There is now one (1) condition under which I will watch Avengers: Doomsday.

Captain america and professor X watch Galactus be defeated by the Beyonder. Cap ays, "They were swatted back like flies!" Professor X responds, "To the beyonder, even galactus is less than a fly, captain!"

100