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scuba school sucks posted:Yeah they're definitely testing us. They gave us the technology to create a Utopia, and we used it to make war even more horrific and gruesome. All those monologues that sound like historical accounts, the last issue we'll find out that it's all testimony at the Trial of the Human Race. Each issue has a number of different covers, and issue 5 has one that I can't wrap my head around: http://www.comcav.net/collections/avatar-press-april-2017-releases/products/uber-invasion-5-war-crimes
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Jan 27, 2017 14:10
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BigglesSWE posted:Each issue has a number of different covers, and issue 5 has one that I can't wrap my head around: That's not an alien, that's a German Uber whose activation went bad. Remember the chair down in the cave?
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Jan 27, 2017 14:31
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scuba school sucks posted:That's not an alien, that's a German Uber whose activation went bad. Remember the chair down in the cave? Yeah but didn't that thing look like an abomination from Warcraft 3/Pudge from DOTA?
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Jan 27, 2017 14:37
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scuba school sucks posted:That's not an alien, that's a German Uber whose activation went bad. Remember the chair down in the cave? I assume it's this, but the one we've seen was very different. There's no saying they can't mutate in different ways though. I do wonder why they make a cover of it.
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Jan 27, 2017 15:29
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It's definitely something with enhancile technology gone wrong, it has the hallmark signs, the striated flesh, the distorted anatomy, the color is off from what we usually get but it's certainly unnatural. My guess here is either Battleship Zero (the official name for the abomination) has mutated itself further in response to some kind of stimulus, this is another failure in stacking technology (perhaps this a Blitzmensch gone wrong, they look somewhat inhuman even when everything goes right), or somebody deliberately set out to make a monster using the Halo Effect on a person.
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Jan 27, 2017 17:18
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I feel really sorry for Mr Gillen because he puts all this research into Uber and he keeps loving it up month after month. At the end of practically every issue his editorial says something along the lines of "yeah this was really hard to write and grim and depressing and I hope none of my readers found this in any way badass or awesome" and I'm like, nope, you missed the mark completely just like you have for twenty issues straight, there's consistently at least three or four pages that are awesome and totally badass. I mean I'm not saying it's NOT grim and depressing and a sobering look at the horrors of war, but it's also pretty badass and awesome and really excellent (if blacker than Darkseid's nightmares) black humor. Crowd of children with their faces melted off while a scientist says we don't know why the survivors die of seizures an hour later but it probably has something to do with the distortion halo scrambling brainwaves, yeah, that's pretty fuckin horrifying. Then you read it again but everybody's got the stereotypically exaggerated BAWSTAN accent and I'm pretty sure this how the Joker feels every day because I'm not really supposed to be laughing out loud at the dying words of two soldiers burned in half? "Cambridge is gawwn. Southie is gawwn. We got into a wicked fuckin pissah with the Krauts down at the caw pawk."
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Jan 28, 2017 00:48
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Über is pretty drat bleak and devoid of the sadistic glee encountered in a lot of other avatar series. But I bet you there's a splerg somewhere vigorously masturbating to the imagery of supernazis levelling Boston.
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Jan 28, 2017 01:21
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I uhh just really dislike Boston okay
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Jan 28, 2017 05:00
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Synthbuttrange posted:Is this week's Island any good? I liked it. It has another "Pop Gun War" chapter and some interesting new stuff. There's no Zooniverse.
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Jan 28, 2017 05:26
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BigglesSWE posted:I assume it's this, but the one we've seen was very different. There's no saying they can't mutate in different ways though. I do wonder why they make a cover of it. Do they? Maria is vastly skewed towards blitz and looks pretty much the same as she did before except for maybe growing a couple of inches.
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Jan 28, 2017 07:37
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It feels so long ago since i read the series but wasnt there a whole dungeon full of failed mutates?
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Jan 28, 2017 07:45
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Neurosis posted:Do they? Maria is vastly skewed towards blitz and looks pretty much the same as she did before except for maybe growing a couple of inches. We don't completely understand how the catalyst works. We know it can do something to a person that gives them the ability to manipulate matter and energy by looking at it in a specific way (I say manipulate because so far we've seen no evidence that the Distortion Halo actually creates energy or matter from nothing, it probably draws on the body's chemical energy reserves in some way as well as the target). We also know it can cause massive growth and fundamentally change human anatomy to accommodate that growth to an extent. Finally, we know that if you combine these two things something completely different happens and what you get is a human who is bigger, stronger, and tougher while still looking completely human, if an idealized version, as well as retaining the ability to kill with a stare. My current working theory as to what is going on when you don't perform pure stacking on a subject is that the Halo makes the physical transformations more, I was going to say efficient but that's not really it. Since the science of the time isn't up to it I doubt we'll know, but I'm guessing that catalyst enhanced humans with at least one activation of Distortion Halo Effect have bodies that are actually different on a molecular or even atomic level than they were before exposure, while those without must make do with the limitations of actual biology. Compare the Dunkirk to the Churchill. Dunkirk was an experimental stack of 5/1 and aside from his old WWI scars he looked like an ordinary human while still being able to fight as well as someone with 6 strength activations (as long as it doesn't turn into a staring match). Churchill, meanwhile, was an unfortunate with around 20+ strength only activations and her bones weren't even really capable of supporting her vastly increased mass (they mentioned at least once that running required her to break her own legs). We'll never know what would have happened if they kept activating her, but I doubt it would have been pretty, or pleasant to be. There's even a chance that the physical changes involved in trying to activate purely physically past a certain point would have just killed her. What does this mean for Maria? Well, first off, she probably only has a few strength activations. She's definitely taller, stronger, and in better shape than she was during the Battle of Berlin, so that means she has at least one strength activation. However, her Distortion Halo is leagues beyond anyone else's in scope, so I'm assuming she only has, let's say two strength activations, and she's definitely fully activated. We saw her take the catalyst and have no reaction, that's the sign of a full activation. This gives her something like a 2/22 mix if my assumptions are correct (although going as far as 6/18 is probably more plausible, we just plain don't know Maria's physical strength). Now, if it turns out Maria was something even more insane than a Battleship potential with their 24 activation limit, she'd make a nuclear bomb look like a children's toy. Either way, single stacking seems to lead to bad things for human anatomy. We still don't know what the Blitzmensch look like under their armor, but from what we've seen they're fairly emaciated and their proportions don't look quite right (while I would normally chalk that up to artist error, it's been consistent), this is probably due to higher energy requirements not being offset by a more efficient metabolism. We know Heavy Tankmen are ridiculously oversized and their bodies are weak in specific ways that no one has been able to fix yet. In short, it seems that mixing the two activation types is the only way to end up with a human looking enhanced individual at the end, the amount doesn't seem to matter, but going all in on one or the other just gets you a freak. site posted:It feels so long ago since i read the series but wasnt there a whole dungeon full of failed mutates? I'm not remembering any live ones, but Sankt certainly had failures before he had successes. The early issues have a bunch of scenes of the aftermath of failed activations, mostly of candidates that aren't sensitive, and they were pretty gruesome.
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Jan 28, 2017 09:47
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There were botched activations but that is the only hint of a failed battleship. Edit: Also, there is one hint Maria is more than a battleship. Battleships' potential tests usually blow up the testing container. When they tested Maria, she blew up the room. Of course, it could just be that the Russian's testing procedure is poo poo. Neurosis fucked around with this message at 11:00 on Jan 28, 2017 |
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Jan 28, 2017 10:41
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JordanKai posted:Speaking of World War 2: has anyone here read Garth Ennis' Dreaming Eagles? Is it worth picking up? It's a good read, if expensive per issue, and the ending hits you right in the gut. You'd have to have a tolerance for the hows and whys of flying a fighter plane in WWII, though, as a lot of the book is a veteran explaining the details thereof to his son. It's not quite as intrusive as that description's making it sound, but I did walk away from the book feeling like it was, to some extent, an aeronautics manual.
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Jan 28, 2017 11:00
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Neurosis posted:There were botched activations but that is the only hint of a failed battleship. I think that's procedure. The British and Americans are testing on weighted, scientifically produced clusters of activation juice. They can make it, and it stands to reason that they can make the smallest possible amount (whatever that is in mg) to test on. The Russians can't do that. Maria just produces 'a lump' which may be 30mg, or something. It's like trying to 'eyeball' a dose of a very powerful drug. You are going to get it wrong.
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Jan 28, 2017 13:01
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The amount of catalyst used in a test definitely matters. A small amount produces a noticeable explosion and residue or simply kills the subject extremely painfully if exposed directly. A large amount, if the other indicators are anything to go by, produces a large explosion or liquefies the subject if exposed directly. As one of the Soviets mentioned, the catalyst would make a superlative chemical weapon if it didn't break down so quickly. Use it on an enemy population and everyone it doesn't kill will be so weak from being activated that you can mop them up at your leisure. Mr Gillen mentioned at one point that the initial activation actually does nothing, it merely shows that you can survive subsequent ones. If it does anything, it's basically primer for the subsequent activation's paint. In this instance I can't speak specifically about Maria, because I am exhausted and do not remember the issue where she was tested to compare their apparatus to the ones the other Allies use.
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Jan 28, 2017 13:18
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Wasn't sure where to put this as it's about a webcomic that got turned into a book, so here it goes. Just finished the final volume of Sunstone and it was wonderful, now I just want Sejic to hurry up and get going Mercy or Jasper (preferably Mercy), more of Death Vigil would also be good.
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Jan 28, 2017 21:45
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This week's issue of Saga was a master class in the art of the gutpunch.
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Jan 28, 2017 22:29
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Dammit! I knew Vaughan was gonna do that!
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Jan 29, 2017 02:33
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Connellingus posted:This week's issue of Saga was a master class in the art of the gutpunch. I read it this morning and the whole thing is just "fuuuuuuuuck"
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Jan 29, 2017 21:22
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atal posted:I think that's procedure. The British and Americans are testing on weighted, scientifically produced clusters of activation juice. They can make it, and it stands to reason that they can make the smallest possible amount (whatever that is in mg) to test on. The Russians can't do that. Maria just produces 'a lump' which may be 30mg, or something. It's like trying to 'eyeball' a dose of a very powerful drug. You are going to get it wrong. Just found the page. 10th page of 23rd issue. They use a vial, and say they expect a small explosion. It's not just a huge lump. That doesn't say, of course, their procedures are as refined as the other Allies, and their might be something special about Maria from being skewed towards Blitz that makes the vial react like that, but it's not quite as crude as might be thought. So she could be post-battleship.
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Jan 30, 2017 04:58
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So just binged read through all that's out of East of West. Originally read the first TPB and Pretty Deadly at the same time and was like "wait a minute." Overall kind of find it frustrating though because it's pretty entertaining, but in all respects (except for loving release schedule) Pretty Deadly tells a much more coherent story. Like artwork is solid, it's pretty funny, but jesus man it's 6 TPBs in and it feels like nothing has happened. Like only redeemable thing would be if Death decides to pull a Rick Moranis, moves to Canada and becomes a devoted single dad
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Jan 30, 2017 07:11
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East of West is way too obscure. 30 issues in and I still have no idea what the motivation is behind the end of the world.
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Jan 30, 2017 13:02
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The only reason to read East of West is Nick Dragotta.
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Jan 30, 2017 16:24
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Can't wait for Image Day on 2/1 to remind me why not to pay full price for comics, ever.
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Jan 30, 2017 20:34
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Does anyone here know if the Bitch Planet trades have any of the back matter and essays in them?
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Jan 31, 2017 21:40
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Endless Mike posted:I read it this morning and the whole thing is just "fuuuuuuuuck" Sadly all it made me think was, "Is this book over yet?"
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Jan 31, 2017 21:47
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krakagar posted:Does anyone here know if the Bitch Planet trades have any of the back matter and essays in them? Volume one paperback does not.
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Jan 31, 2017 22:08
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Baltimore is BACK, baby!
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Feb 1, 2017 20:28
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I'm pretty new to this whole comic-reading thing but I'm looking for the best indie horror/mystery stuff that has come out in the past few years. So far I'm looking to pick up Providence, Baltimore and Locke and Key. Anything that is considered "essential"? Bonus points if I don't need to buy 15+ TPBs to get the story.
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Feb 1, 2017 20:46
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Space Fish posted:Baltimore is BACK, baby! Definitely good news there. In other exciting returns (spoilers for an Image release) I was shocked to see Marcus back in Deadly Class this week. I thought they'd committed pretty thoroughly to his death and I'm wondering how they'll tie everything back together. Thom and the Heads posted:I'm pretty new to this whole comic-reading thing but I'm looking for the best indie horror/mystery stuff that has come out in the past few years. So far I'm looking to pick up Providence, Baltimore and Locke and Key. Anything that is considered "essential"? Bonus points if I don't need to buy 15+ TPBs to get the story. Hellboy and the BPRD involve a lot of reading but you can probably get them for relatively cheap these days and I found the investment totally worth it. I've been enjoying Harrow County lately - it's sort of a southern US mystical horror series. Chinston Wurchill fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Feb 1, 2017 |
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Feb 1, 2017 21:15
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Thom and the Heads posted:I'm pretty new to this whole comic-reading thing but I'm looking for the best indie horror/mystery stuff that has come out in the past few years. So far I'm looking to pick up Providence, Baltimore and Locke and Key. Anything that is considered "essential"? Bonus points if I don't need to buy 15+ TPBs to get the story. Fatale is one of my favorites, it's an occult noir. American Vampire is good too. Now if you wanna buy 15+ TBPs Hellboy is the best horror comic of all time, and BPRD is second.
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Feb 1, 2017 21:23
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House of Penance is my favorite recent horror thing and it's all in one trade. It's based on this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House 
Teenage Fansub fucked around with this message at 21:42 on Feb 1, 2017 |
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Feb 1, 2017 21:37
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Chinston Wurchill posted:In other exciting returns (spoilers for an Image release) What the gently caress. How? No, gently caress, don't tell me. I just gotta get the hell down to my LCBS sooner than I was gonna.
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Feb 1, 2017 23:04
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Thom and the Heads posted:I'm pretty new to this whole comic-reading thing but I'm looking for the best indie horror/mystery stuff that has come out in the past few years. So far I'm looking to pick up Providence, Baltimore and Locke and Key. Anything that is considered "essential"? Bonus points if I don't need to buy 15+ TPBs to get the story. I enjoy Nailbiter, it's one issue away from finishing, it's about a town that produces a disproportionate number of serial killers. Clean room is a pretty cool weird stuff from another dimension type horror too.
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Feb 1, 2017 23:45
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Paul Cornell's Vampirella #0 was pretty interesting. I'm in. Also 25c, or free on ComiXology, so off you go. Anyone try Francavilla's The Spirit? Teenage Fansub fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Feb 2, 2017 |
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Feb 2, 2017 15:34
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Teenage Fansub posted:House of Penance is my favorite recent horror thing and it's all in one trade. This looks awesome, thank you! It's at the top of my list. Gonna be picking up this, some Hellboy/BPRD and possibly Fatale this weekend. Thanks for the recommendations, thread!
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Feb 2, 2017 15:44
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Teenage Fansub posted:Anyone try Francavilla's The Spirit? I picked it up and enjoyed it quite a bit, but I will say that my only experience with The Spirit was the movie that came out years back. Basically picked it up for the art alone, and found the story okay so far. It's also apparently only a 5 issue mini, so no real long term investment.
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Feb 2, 2017 15:49
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Got into print comics recently, first trades should arrive soon. I went some pages back in this thread and added Clean Room, Glitterbomb, Archangel to wishlist and 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank straight into basket. Thanks. Anyone read Prison Pit? Preview with the seemingly bad guy injecting cat semen for pleasure sold vol. 5 to me. Is there something similar with crude yet little surreal humor? What's your opinion on Southern Cross? I already ordered it cause it was the only thing I found which fit the bill for lovecraftian sci-fi but I'm not sure I made the right choice. What about X-Men: Magneto Testament? I think I'm not really into cape comics but this one had several folks complaining there wasn't enough superhero stuff and that got me to order it. And what's up with webcomics? Seems to me reviewers never really recommend them (perhaps except for Freakangels which I found not living up to the hype). Is there some stigma against them? I'm asking cause I read Crossed: Wish You Were Here a few years back and I think it was quite on level. It has more going on besides the gory stuff. Or am I just trying to justify something to myself?
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Feb 4, 2017 20:08
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Gently Caress posted:Anyone read Prison Pit? Preview with the seemingly bad guy injecting cat semen for pleasure sold vol. 5 to me. Is there something similar with crude yet little surreal humor? Preacher and Transmetropolitan will be right up your alley, assuming you've never read them. quote:And what's up with webcomics? Seems to me reviewers never really recommend them (perhaps except for Freakangels which I found not living up to the hype). Is there some stigma against them? I'm asking cause I read Crossed: Wish You Were Here a few years back and I think it was quite on level. It has more going on besides the gory stuff. Or am I just trying to justify something to myself? The majority of webcomics are astoundingly awful. I have read precisely one print comic that even managed to approach the depths I've seen webcomics sink to, and it was Mark Millar's The Unfunnies (do not read The Unfunnies). There are a few good webcomics like Achewood, Cucumber Quest, Unsounded, Gunnerkrigg Court, etc, and they tend to get a lot of play, but the general fervor over webcomics died when everyone realized they were 99% garbage.
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Feb 5, 2017 07:28
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