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https://www.themarysue.com/stranger-things-5-will-mike-eleven-love-triangle/
All of the Stranger Things memes about the final season’s central relationship drama have us thinking about Parks and Recreation. Online, folks have been diving right into Stranger Things 5. Will and Robin’s friendship is one of the best parts of these four episodes on Netflix. But, we can’t help but notice the similarities to Parks and Recreation’s most iconic throuple. Namely, April Ludgate, Derek and Ben.
Basically, April had a boyfriend before Andy Dwyer. That boyfriend, derek, also had a boyfriend, and his name was Ben. (If this all feels like “Hot Fuzz”-era The Killers, you’re on the right track.) The image of April holding hands with Derek, who is holding hands with Ben is still a delightful sight to behold on the beloved NBC sitcom. Ben and April don’t particularly get along, you see.
All of the Stranger Things memes about the final season’s central relationship drama have us thinking about Parks and Recreation. Online, folks have been diving right into Stranger Things 5. Will and Robin’s friendship is one of the best parts of these four episodes on Netflix. But, we can’t help but notice the similarities to Parks and Recreation’s most iconic throuple. Namely, April Ludgate, Derek and Ben.
Basically, April had a boyfriend before Andy Dwyer. That boyfriend, derek, also had a boyfriend, and his name was Ben. (If this all feels like “Hot Fuzz”-era The Killers, you’re on the right track.) The image of April holding hands with Derek, who is holding hands with Ben is still a delightful sight to behold on the beloved NBC sitcom. Ben and April don’t particularly get along, you see.
The economic boycott declared by Blackout The System, from Nov. 25 to Dec. 2, is still ongoing. The call to action is for people to use their financial power against large corporations that thrive off systemic inequalities and instead apply hard-earned dollars toward purposeful spending practices over the Thanksgiving Black Friday shopping season. The call is to not spend at all during the Blackout, but makes allowances for spending toward Black-owned businesses, in the name of economic empowerment.
This holiday gift guide presents 11 gifts from 11 Black-owned brands that are uniquely suited for consumers that appreciate lit gifts.
Wu-Tang Clan Official Monopoly® Limited Edition
The Wu-Tang Clan Official Monopoly Limited Edition game features album-inspired board art and exclusive tokens that will appeal to fans and collectors. The Wu-Tang official shop offers this game as a holiday gift for 1990s hip-hop fans and those who engage in lituation gatherings. Hurry up and purchase, because it is selling out quickly.
Frances Grey Designer Hats
Deborah Lorenzo creates modern hats with Caribbean style inspired by her Jamaican great-grandmother, Frances Grey. The handcrafted luxury hats made from premium felt and wool materials serve as perfect winter accessories for holiday parties.
Puzzles Of Color
The 500-piece “Comfort & Joy” puzzle from Puzzles of Color offers holiday fun that brings warmth to your space. The puzzle provides an excellent way to spend time with loved ones to enjoy digital-free activities during holiday seasons. The Black-owned puzzle company designed this piece to serve as both a calming activity and decorative artwork.
Black Culture Word Search
Black Culture Word Search by Imani Oliver is a paperback word-search book that contains 100 puzzles and 100 educational facts about Black culture. The book is suitable for anyone who enjoys puzzles or trivia or wants to learn about Black history. The word-search book is as an excellent choice for holiday presents, personal development and relaxation activities. The product is available for purchase through Imani Oliver’s official online store.
OutKast Premium Playing Cards
The OutKast Premium Playing Cards by Theory11 is a gold-accented deck that celebrates OutKast’s musical heritage and appeals to fans of music and cards, as well as collectors. The deck serves as an excellent holiday gift or keepsake that competes with other high-end playing cards.
Harlem Candle Company
The limited-edition luxury candle from Harlem Candle Company called “Holiday,” combines citrus with cloves and seasonal spices. The candle is a warm winter addition to holiday decorations, and a new scent for people who love home fragrance. Every candle produced by Harlem Candle Company draws inspiration from Harlem’s historical legacy and creates a cultural statement which brings back memories of community and seasonal spirit.
TLB X DE’ARRA TAYLOR LIMITED EDITION LIP KIT
The Lip Bar Holiday Makeup Set is for beauty enthusiasts who prefer clean and inclusive makeup products that are vegan and cruelty-free. The Detroit-based Black-owned company, The Lip Bar, offers this set with safe ingredients and social responsibility — and lip colors that gets the whole lituation poppin’
Scotch Porter Grooming Collection
Scotch Porter Grooming Collection, a Black-owned men’s grooming brand, produces beard care kits and face wash and serums and beard balms which help men practice self-care throughout the winter season. It’s the holiday gift that keeps on giving.
Diarrablu Modular Fashion
Diarrablu Modular Fashion provides sustainable fashion solutions through its modular dresses, wrap pieces, and eco-fabric sets that appeal to fashion-conscious people who care about the environment. These are adaptable gifts that suit various occasions, including travel, formal events, and casual daily wear. The design unites artistic elements with cultural values and environmental responsibility to create a purposeful and considerate present.
Jungalow Art
Jungalow Art Prints by Justina Blakeney bring vibrant nature-inspired and Black-art prints on paper or canvas which will enhance any room with their colorful and personal touch. The prints serve as excellent choices for home stylists and plant enthusiasts, and lovers of Black art who want to give a meaningful holiday gift. Prints can be purchased directly from the Jungalow website.
Jungalow® (@thejungalow)Bevel Pro Electric Trimmer & Shaver
The Bevel Pro Electric Trimmer & Shaver functions as a 2-in-1 grooming device that serves the textured hair needs of Black men to achieve a smooth finish while minimizing skin irritation and bumps. It’s a gift that will elevate the grooming experience.
RELATED CONTENT: 12 Ways To Cut Holiday Shopping Costs As Spending Estimated To Surpass $1 Trillion
Rideshare apps have changed how we approach going out for the better. That said, issues can always arise.
For example, users are reporting a recent scam in which an Uber driver will accept a ride, then make no effort to actually pick up the passenger. The hope, it seems, is that the passenger will cancel the ride out of frustration — earning the driver a cancellation fee.
Warhammer Quest: Darkwater delivers a tense and desperate adventure pitting a collection of heroes against the forces of Nurgle, with a mystical spring capable of healing injuries and granting immortality at stake. The new board game, the latest in Games Workshop’s occasional line of Warhammer Quest games, delivers both a fun hobby experience and a game that can be enjoyed as either a replayable campaign or as a standalone battle. Its hefty $255 price tag will dissuade many casual players. But it comes with so many top-notch minis that almost certainly will be usable in Age of Sigmar!
The Warhammer Quest line provides room for smaller stories than the expansive army versus army-style gameplay found in Age of Sigmar. In Darkwater, a group of heroes converge on the Jade Abbey, the home of the mystical lifegiving Everspring. It was once a place of pilgrimage in the Realm of Ghyran. However, a corrupt priest called Gelgus Pust attempted to take over the Jade Abbey with the powers of Nurgle. Sadly, he left it as a ruin filled with rot and corruption. Gelgus Pust hasn’t corrupted the Everspring itself. However, he’s slowly descending through the lower caverns of the Jade Abbey with Maggotkin under his sway. Things have become dire to the point that a band of heroes from all walks come together to beat back the forces of Nurgle. They aim to cleanse the Jade Abbey once and for all.
The Warhammer Quest engine iterates on the classic Warhammer gameplay style of using pools of six-sided dice to determine the success of various attacks. Players control a group of four heroes that individually activate between enemy rounds. Each hero has access to three basic action cards plus some kind of hero ability that’s explained on their hero card. Each action card also doubles as a source of energy, which a player needs to activate an action. Once an action card is used for its energy, it’s no longer available as an action. Functionally, this means that players have three actions per turn.
One of the key choices in this game comes from deciding whether to expend each action card’s energy on its own listed action, or to use to activate another action twice. For instance, a player can choose to spend their Move energy to Move. Or they can spend it to attack. However, once the Move card’s energy is expended, the Move action becomes unavailable for the rest of the round. I really liked this style of action economy. It provides both flexibility and a series of tough choices during every character activation.
Enemies activate using a rudimentary dice system. On an enemy turn, one player (designated as the leader) activates each group of enemies present on the field and rolls a pair of dice (one black and one red) to determine an enemy’s action. The black die typically involves movement of some kind, while the red dice provides attack options. Attacking is very similar to a typical game of Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. Enemies roll D6s to hit and players then roll D6s for saves from damage. Heroes, automatically damage on any hit they inflict on enemies, except for when enemies have a block statistic that auto-deflects damage.
Gameplay itself moves rather quickly – an average session takes about an hour to play through. The hero turn tends to move much quicker than an enemy turn, in part because there’s less dice rolling. I wish there was a way to switch initiative order in between rounds to make things a little more varied. While the game supports up to four players, Darkwater is probably at its most engaging with two players. Each player can control two heroes, which means less sitting around and waiting for the next round to start.
Darkwater offers a variety of different missions, with a variety of maps, enemies, and objectives to complete. (Darkwater features a book of maps, a big upgrade from the tiles of previous Warhammer Quest games.) A campaign consists of a mix of missions and events. Players create a deck of random events and then choose between two at the start of each session. Some events offer needed reprieves and a chance to regain health (as health carries over between campaign sessions). Others offer side quests or the chance to gain rewards like one use abilities that you can activate during battles. I love that Darkwater seems to have a lot of replayability. It’ll take multiple campaigns to get through all the missions, and even the boss fights have multiple options to choose from. This means that there’s lots of variation.
Of course, this is a Warhammer board game and that means that there are tons of miniatures to build. There’s over 45 minis in Warhammer Quest: Darkwater, which are the same high quality as your typical Warhammer: Age of Sigmar miniature. Luckily for novice builders, these minis are push fit miniatures. This means that you can technically complete them without any glue. Building this many miniatures may seem like a daunting task. But most of the miniatures consist of three or four pieces. To be honest, I had the help of someone brand new to miniatures. We were able to crank through the entire box in a matter of hours.
Because they are push fit, some of the miniatures do have small gaps showing from where the pegs don’t quite push into holes smoothly. I cheated a couple of times by using plastic glue to stick together a couple of pieces, but you can also slice off a small of the peg to ensure a close fit.
My biggest complaint about Warhammer Quest is the lack of storage within the box. You’ll need to come up with your own organization options, because there’s precious little in terms of inserts within the box itself. Sure, there’s a few options for saving your campaign mode. However, there’s no bags for components, dividers and storage for cards, or even a place to put your lovingly-crafted minis. I suppose that other Warhammer games leave the storage up to the player. But it’s really disappointing that the board game doesn’t have better storage solutions.
Poor storage aside, Warhammer Quest: Darkwater is a fun board game experience with top-notch miniatures and a surprising amount of replayability. If you’re looking for a fantasy-themed campaign board game with top-notch miniatures or love Warhammer in general, this is a solid purchase. Plus, if you’re looking to jumpstart your Nurgle army, you can buy Warhammer Quest and then augment it with the upcoming Maggotkin of Nurgle line refresh that will likely be coming out in the next couple of months
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