GeForce RTX 3090 reviews are up.

Image Link - GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition

Reminder: Do NOT buy from 3rd Party Marketplace Seller on Ebay/Amazon/Newegg (unless you want to pay more). Assume all the 3rd party sellers are scalping. If it's not being sold by the actual retailer (e.g. Amazon selling on Amazon.com or Newegg selling on Newegg.com) then you should treat the product as sold out and wait.

Below is the compilation of all the reviews that have been posted so far. I will be updating this continuously throughout the day with the conclusion of each publications and any new review links. This will be sorted alphabetically.

Written Articles

Anandtech - TBD

Arstechnica - TBD

Babeltechreviews

NVIDIA says that the RTX 3080 is the gaming card and the RTX 3090 is the hybrid creative card – but we respectfully disagree. The RTX 3090 is the flagship gaming card that can also run intensive creative apps very well, especially by virtue of its huge 24GB framebuffer. But it is still not an RTX TITAN nor a Quadro. These cards cost a lot more and are optimized specifically for workstations and also for professional and creative apps.
However, for RTX 2080 Ti gamers who paid $1199 and who have disposable cash for their hobby – although it has been eclipsed by the RTX 3080 – the RTX 3090 Founders Edition which costs $1500 is the card to maximize their upgrade. And for high-end gamers who also use creative apps, this card may become a very good value. Hobbies are very expensive to maintain, and the expense of PC gaming pales in comparison to what golfers, skiers, audiophiles, and many other hobbyists pay for their entertainment. But for high-end gamers on a budget, the $699 RTX 3080 will provide the most value of the two cards. We cannot call the $1500 RTX 3090 a “good value” generally for gamers as it is a halo card and it absolutely does not provide anywhere close to double the performance of a $700 RTX 3080.
However, for some professionals, two RTX 3090s may give them exactly what they need as it is the only Ampere gaming card to support NVLink providing up to 112.5 GB/s of total bandwidth between two GPUs which when SLI’d together will allow them to access a massive 48GB of vRAM. SLI is no longer supported by NVIDIA for gaming, and emphasis will be placed on mGPU only as implemented by game developers.

Digital Foundry Article

Digital Foundry Video

So there we have it. The RTX 3090 delivers - at best - 15 to 16 per cent more gaming performance than the RTX 3080. In terms of price vs performance, there is only one winner here. And suffice to say, we would expect to see factory overclocked RTX 3080 cards bite into the already fairly slender advantage delivered by Nvidia's new GPU king. Certainly in gaming terms then, the smart money would be spend on an RTX 3080, and if you're on a 1440p high refresh rate monitor and you're looking to maximise price vs performance, I'd urge you to look at the RTX 2080 Ti numbers in this review: if Nvidia's claims pan out, you'll be getting that and potentially more from the cheaper still RTX 3070. All of which raises the question - why make an RTX 3090 at all?
The answers are numerous. First of all, PC gaming has never adhered to offering performance increases in line with the actual amount of money spent. Whether it's Titans, Intel Extreme processors, high-end motherboards or performance RAM, if you want the best, you'll end up paying a huge amount of money to attain it. This is only a problem where there are no alternatives and in the case of the RTX 3090, there is one - the RTX 3080 at almost half of the price.
But more compelling is the fact that Nvidia is now blurring the lines between the gaming GeForce line and the prosumer-orientated Quadro offerings. High-end Quadro cards are similar to RTX 3090 and Titan RTX in several respects - usually in that they deliver the fully unlocked Nvidia silicon paired with huge amounts of VRAM. Where they differ is in support and drivers, something that creatives, streamers or video editors may not wish to pay even more of a premium for. In short, RTX 3090 looks massively expensive as a gamer card, but compared to the professional Quadro line, there are clear savings.
In the meantime, RTX 3090 delivers the Titan experience for the new generation of graphics hardware. Its appeal is niche, the halo product factor is huge and the performance boost - while not exactly huge - is likely enough to convince the cash rich to invest and for the creator audience to seriously consider it. For my use cases, the extra money is obviously worth it. I also think that the way Nvidia packages and markets the product is appealing: the RTX 3090 looks and feels special, its gigantic form factor and swish aesthetic will score points with those that take pride in their PC looking good and its thermal and especially acoustic performance are excellent. It's really, really quiet. All told then, RTX 3090 is the traditional hard sell for the mainstream gamer but the high-end crowd will likely lap it up. But it leaves me with a simple question: where next for the Titan and Ti brands? You don't retire powerhouse product tiers for no good reason and I can only wonder: is something even more powerful cooking?

Guru3D

When we had our first experience with the GeForce RTX 3080, we were nothing short of impressed. Testing the GeForce RTX 3090 is yet another step up. But we're not sure if the 3090 is the better option though, as you'll need very stringent requirements in order for it to see a good performance benefit. Granted, and I have written this many times in the past with the Titans and the like, a graphics card like this is bound to run into bottlenecks much faster than your normal graphics cards. Three factors come into play here, CPU bottlenecks, low-resolution bottlenecks, and the actual game (API). The GeForce RTX 3090 is the kind of product that needs to be free from all three aforementioned factors. Thus, you need to have a spicy processor that can keep up with the card, you need lovely GPU bound games preferably with DX12 ASYNC compute and, of course, if you are not gaming at the very least in Ultra HD, then why even bother, right? The flipside of the coin is that when you have these three musketeers applied and in effect, well, then there is no card faster than the 3090, trust me; it's a freakfest of performance, but granted, also bitter-sweet when weighing all factors in.
NVIDIA's Ampere product line up has been impressive all the way, there's nothing other to conclude than that. Is it all perfect? Well, performance-wise in the year 2020 we cannot complain. Of course, there is an energy consumption factor to weigh in as a negative factor and, yes, there's pricing to consider. Both are far too high for the product to make any real sense. For gaming, we do not feel the 3090 makes a substantial enough difference over the RTX 3080 with 10 to 15% differentials, and that's mainly due to system bottlenecks really. You need to game at Ultra HD and beyond for this card to make a bit of sense. We also recognize that the two factors do not need to make sense for quite a bunch of you as the product sits in a very extreme niche. But I stated enough about that. I like this chunk of hardware sitting inside a PC though as, no matter how you look at it, it is a majestic product. Please make sure you have plenty of ventilation though as the RTX 3090 will dump lots of heat. It is big but still looks terrific. And the performance, oh man... that performance, it is all good all the way as long as you uphold my three musketeers remark. Where I could nag a little about the 10 GB VRAM on the GeForce RTX 3080, we cannot complain even the slightest bit about the whopping big mac feature of the 3090, 24 GB of the fastest GDDR6X your money can get you, take that Flight Sim 2020! This is an Ultra HD card, in that domain, it shines whether that is using shading (regular rendered games) or when using hybrid ray-tracing + DLSS. It's a purebred but unfortunately very power-hungry product that will reach only a select group of people. But it is formidable if you deliver it to the right circumstances. Would we recommend this product? Ehm no, you are better off with GeForce RTX 3070 or 3080 as, money-wise, this doesn't make much sense. But it is genuinely a startling product worthy of a top pick award, an award we hand out so rarely for a reference or Founder product but we also have to acknowledge that NVIDIA really is stepping up on their 'reference' designs and is now setting a new and better standard.

Hexus

This commentary puts the RTX 3090 into a difficult spot. It's 10 percent faster for gaming yet costs over twice as much as the RTX 3080. Value for money is poor when examined from a gaming point of view. Part of that huge cost rests with the 24GB of GDDR6X memory that has limited real-world benefit in games. Rather, it's more useful in professional rendering as the larger pool can speed-up time to completion massively.
And here's the rub. Given its characteristics, this card ought to be called the RTX Titan or GeForce RTX Studio and positioned more diligently for the creatoprofessional community where computational power and large VRAM go hand in hand. The real RTX 3090, meanwhile, gaming focussed first and foremost, ought to arrive with 12GB of memory and a $999 price point, thereby offering a compelling upgrade without resorting to Titan-esque pricing. Yet all that said, the insatiable appetite and apparent deep pockets of enthusiasts will mean Nvidia sells out of these $1,500 boards today: demand far outstrips supply. And does it matter what it's called, how much memory it has, or even what price it is? Not in the big scheme of things because there is a market for it.
Being part of the GeForce RTX firmament has opened up the way for add-in card partners to produce their own boards. The Gigabyte Gaming OC does most things right. It's built well and looks good, and duly tops all the important gaming charts at 4K. We'd encourage a lower noise profile through a relaxation of temps, but if you have the means by which to buy graphics performance hegemony, the Gaming OC isn't a bad shout... if you can find it in stock.

Hot Hardware

Summarizing the GeForce RTX 3090's performance is simple -- it's the single fastest GPU on the market currently, bar none. There's nuance to consider here, though. Versus the GeForce RTX 3080, disregarding CPU limited situations or corner cases, the more powerful RTX 3090's advantages over the 3080 only range from about 4% to 20%. Versus the Titan RTX, the GeForce RTX 3090's advantages increase to approximately 6% to 40%. Consider complex creator workloads which can leverage the GeForce RTX 3090's additional resources and memory, however, and it is simply in another class altogether and can be many times faster than either the RTX 3080 or Titan RTX.
Obviously, the $1,499 GeForce RTX 3090 Founder's Edition isn't an overall value play for the vast majority of users. If you're a gamer shopping for a new high-end GPU, the GeForce RTX 3080 at less than 1/2 the price is the much better buy. Compared to the $2,500 Titan RTX or $1,300 - $1,500-ish GeForce RTX 2080 Ti though, the GeForce RTX 3090 is the significantly better choice. Your perspective on the GeForce RTX 3090's value proposition is ultimately going to depend on your particular use case. Unless they've got unlimited budgets and want the best-of-the-best, regardless of cost, hardcore gamers may scoff at the RTX 3090. Anyone utilizing the horsepower of the previous generation Titan RTX though, may be chomping at the bit.
The GeForce RTX 3090's ultimate appeal is going to depend on the use-case, but whether or not you'll actually be able to get one is another story. The GeForce RTX 3090 is going to be available in limited quantities today -- NVIDIA said as much in yesterday's performance tease. NVIDIA pledges to make more available direct and through partners ASAP, however. We'll see how things shake out in the weeks ahead, and all bets are off when AMD's makes its RDNA2 announcements next month. NVIDIA's got a lot of wiggle room with Ampere and will likely react swiftly to anything AMD has in store. And let's not forget we still have the GeForce RTX 3070 inbound, which is going to have extremely broad appeal if NVIDIA's performance claims hold up.

Igor's Lab

In Summary: this card is a real giant, especially at higher resolutions, because even if the lead over the GeForce RTX 3080 isn’t always as high as dreamed, it’s always enough to reach the top position in playability. Right stop of many quality controllers included. Especially when the games of the GeForce RTX 3090 and the new architecture are on the line, the mail really goes off, which one must admit without envy, whereby the actual gain is not visible in pure FPS numbers.
If you have looked at the page with the variances, you will quickly understand that the image is much better because it is softer. The FPS or percentiles are still much too coarse intervals to be able to reproduce this very subjective impression well. A blind test with 3 perons has completely confirmed my impression, because there is nothing better than a lot of memory, at most even more memory. Seen in this light, the RTX 3080 with 10 GB is more like Cinderella, who later has to make herself look more like Cinderella with 10 GB if she wants to get on the prince’s roller.
But the customer always has something to complain about anyway (which is good by the way and keeps the suppliers on their toes) and NVIDIA keeps all options open in return to be able to top a possible Navi2x card with 16 GB memory expansion with 20 GB later. And does anyone still remember the mysterious SKU20 between the GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090? If AMD doesn’t screw it up again this time, this SKU20 is sure to become a tie-break in pixel tennis. We’ll see.
For a long time I have been wrestling with myself, which is probably the most important thing in this test. I have also tested 8K resolutions, but due to the lack of current practical relevance, I put this part on the back burner. If anyone can find someone who has a spare 8K TV, I’ll be happy to do so, if only because I’m also very interested in 8K-DLSS. But that’s like sucking on an ice cream that you’ve only printed out on a laser printer before.
The increase in value of the RTX 3090 in relation to the RTX 3080 for the only gamer is, up to the memory extension, to be rather neglected and one understands also, why many critics will never pay the double price for 10 to 15% more gaming performance. Because I wouldn’t either. Only this is then exactly the target group for the circulated RTX 3080 (Ti) with double memory expansion. Their price should increase visibly in comparison to the 10 GB variant, but still be significantly below that of a GeForce RTX 3090. This is not defamatory or fraudulent, but simply follows the laws of the market. A top dog always costs a little more than pure scaling, logic and reason would allow.
And the non-gamer or the not-only-gamer? The added value can be seen above all in the productive area, whether workstation or creation. Studio is the new GeForce RTX wonderland away from the Triple A games, and the Quadros can slowly return to the professional corner of certified specialty programs. What AMD started back then with the Vega Frontier Edition and unfortunately didn’t continue (why not?), NVIDIA has long since taken up and consistently perfected. The market has changed and studio is no longer an exotic phrase. Then even those from about 1500 Euro can survive without a headache tablet again.

KitGuru Article

KitGuru Video

RTX 3080 was heralded by many as an excellent value graphics card, delivering performance gains of around 30% compared to the RTX 2080 Ti, despite being several hundred pounds cheaper. With the RTX 3090, Nvidia isn’t chasing value for money, but the overall performance crown.
And that is exactly what it has achieved. MSI’s RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio, for instance, is 14% faster than the RTX 3080 and 50% faster than the RTX 2080 Ti, when tested at 4K. No other GPU even comes close to matching its performance.
At this point, many of you reading this may be thinking something along the line of ‘well, yes, it is 14% faster than an RTX 3080 – but it is also over double the price, so surely it is terrible value?’ And you would be 100% correct in thinking that. The thing is, Nvidia knows that too – RTX 3090 is simply not about value for money, and if that is something you prioritise when buying a new graphics card, don’t buy a 3090.
Rather, RTX 3090 is purely aimed at those who don’t give a toss about value. It’s for the gamers who want the fastest card going, and they will pay whatever price to claim those bragging rights. In this case of the MSI Gaming X Trio, the cost of this GPU’s unrivalled performance comes to £1530 here in the UK.
Alongside gamers, I can also see professionals or creators looking past its steep asking price. If the increased render performance of this GPU could end up saving you an hour, two hours per week, for many that initial cost will pay for itself with increased productivity, especially if you need as much VRAM as you can get.

OC3D

As with any launch, the primary details are in the GPU itself, and so the first half of this conclusion is the same for both of the AIB RTX 3090 graphics cards that we are reviewing today. If you want to know specifics of this particular card, skip down the page.
Last week we saw the release of the RTX 3080. A card that combined next-gen performance with a remarkably attractive price point, and was one of the easiest products to recommend we've ever seen. 4K gaming for around the £700 mark might be expensive if you're just used to consoles, but if you're a diehard member of the "PC Gaming Master Race", then you know how much you had to spend to achieve the magical 4K60 mark. It's an absolute no brainer purchase.
The RTX 3090 though, that comes with more asterisks and caveats than a Lance Armstrong win on the Tour de France. Make no mistake; the RTX 3090 is brutally fast. If performance is your thing, or performance without consideration of cost, or you want to flex on forums across the internet, then yeah, go for it. For everyone else, and that's most of us, there is a lot it does well, but it's a seriously niche product.
We can go to Nvidia themselves for their key phraseology. With a tiny bit of paraphrasing, they say "The RTX 3090 is for 8K gaming, or heavy workload content creators. For 4K Gaming the RTX 3080 is, with current and immediate future titles, more than enough". If you want the best gaming experience, then as we saw last week, the clear choice is the RTX 3080. If you've been following the results today then clearly the RTX 3090 isn't enough of a leap forwards to justify being twice the price of the RTX 3080. It's often around 5% faster, sometimes 10%, sometimes not much faster at all. Turns out that Gears 5 in particular looked unhappy but it was an 'auto' setting on animation increasing its own settings so we will go back with it fixed to ultra and retest. The RTX 3090 is still though, whisper it, a bit of a comedown after the heights of our first Ampere experience.
To justify the staggering cost of the RTX 3090 you need to fit into one of the following groups; Someone who games at 8K, either natively or via Nvidia's DSR technology. Someone who renders enormous amounts of 3D work. We're not just talking a 3D texture or model for a game; we're talking animated short films. Although even here the reality is that you need a professional solution far beyond the price or scope of the RTX 3090. Lastly, it would be best if you were someone who renders massive, RAW, 8K video footage regularly and has the memory and storage capacity to feed such a voracious data throughput. If you fall into one of those categories, then you'll already have the hardware necessary - 8K screen or 8K video camera - that the cost of the RTX 3090 is small potatoes. In which case you'll love the extra freedom and performance it can bring to your workload, smoothing out the waiting that is such a time-consuming element of the creative process. This logic holds true for both the Gigabyte and MSI cards we're looking at on launch.

PC Perspective - TBD

PC World

There’s no doubt that the $1,500 GeForce RTX 3090 is indeed a “big ferocious GPU,” and the most powerful consumer graphics card ever created. The Nvidia Founders Edition delivers unprecedented performance for 4K gaming, frequently maxes out games at 1440p, and can even play at ludicrous 8K resolution in some games. It’s a beast for 3440x1440 ultrawide gaming too, as our separate ultrawide benchmarks piece shows. Support for HDMI 2.1 and AV1 decoding are delicious cherries on top.
If you’re a pure gamer, though, you shouldn’t buy it, unless you’ve got deep pockets and want the best possible gaming performance, value be damned. The $700 GeForce RTX 3080 offers between 85 and 90 percent of the RTX 3090’s 4K gaming performance (depending on the game) for well under half the cost. It’s even closer at 1440p.
If you’re only worried about raw gaming frame rates, the GeForce RTX 3080 is by far the better buy, because it also kicks all kinds of ass at 4K and high refresh rate 1440p and even offers the same HDMI 2.1 and AV1 decode support as its bigger brother. Nvidia likes to boast that the RTX 3090 is the first 8K gaming card, and while that’s true in some games, it falls far short of the 60 frames per second mark in many triple-A titles. Consider 8K gaming a nice occasional bonus more than a core feature.
If you mix work and play, though, the GeForce RTX 3090 is a stunning value—especially if your workloads tap into CUDA. It’s significantly faster than the previous-gen RTX 2080 Ti, which fell within spitting distance of the RTX Titan, and offers the same 24GB VRAM capacity of that Titan. But it does so for $1,000 less than the RTX Titan’s cost.
The GeForce RTX 3090 stomps all over most of our content creation benchmarks. Performance there is highly workload-dependent, of course, but we saw speed increases of anywhere from 30 to over 100 percent over the RTX 2080 Ti in several tasks, with many falling in the 50 to 80 percent range. That’s an uplift that will make your projects render tangibly faster—putting more money in your pocket. The lofty 24GB of GDDR6X memory makes the RTX 3090 a must-have in some scenarios where the 10GB to 12GB found in standard gaming cards flat-out can’t cut it, such as 8K media editing or AI training with large data sets. That alone will make it worth buying for some people, along with the NVLink connector that no other RTX 30-series GPU includes. If you don’t need those, the RTX 3080 comes close to the RTX 3090 in raw GPU power in many tests.

TechGage - Workstation benchmark!

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3090 is an interesting card for many reasons, and it’s harder to summarize than the RTX 3080 was, simply due to its top-end price and goals. The RTX 3080, priced at $699, was really easy to recommend to anyone wanting a new top-end gaming solution, because compared to the last-gen 2080S, 2080 Ti, or even TITAN RTX, the new card simply trounced them all.
The GeForce RTX 3090, with its $1,499 price tag, caters to a different crowd. First, there are going to be those folks who simply want the best gaming or creator GPU possible, regardless of its premium price. We saw throughout our performance results that the RTX 3090 does manage to take a healthy lead in many cases, but the gains over RTX 3080 are not likely as pronounced as many were hoping.
The biggest selling-point of the RTX 3090 is undoubtedly its massive frame buffer. For creators, having 24GB on tap likely means you will never run out during this generation, and if you manage to, we’re going to be mighty impressed. We do see more than 24GB being useful for deep-learning and AI research, but even there, it’s plenty for the vast majority of users.
Interestingly, this GeForce is capable of taking advantage of NVLink, so those wanting to plug two of them into a machine could likewise combine their VRAM, activating a single 48GB frame buffer. Two of these cards would cost $500 more than the TITAN RTX, and obliterate it in rendering and deep-learning workloads (but of course draw a lot more power at the same time).
For those wanting to push things even harder with single GPU, we suspect NVIDIA will likely release a new TITAN at some point with even more memory. Or, that’s at least our hope, because we don’t want to see the TITAN series just up and disappear.
For gamers, a 24GB frame buffer can only be justified if you’re using top-end resolutions. Not even 4K is going to be problematic for most people with a 10GB frame buffer, but as we move up the scale, to 5K and 8K, that memory is going to become a lot more useful.
By now, you likely know whether or not the monstrous GeForce RTX 3090 is for you. Fortunately, if it isn’t, the RTX 3080 hasn’t gone anywhere, and it still proves to be of great value (you know – if you can find it in stock) for its $699 price. NVIDIA also has a $499 RTX 3070 en route next month, so all told, the company is going to be taking good care of its enthusiast fans with this trio of GPUs. Saying that, we still look forward to the even lower-end parts, as those could ooze value even more than the bigger cards.

Techpowerup - MSI Gaming X Trio

Techpowerup - Zotac Trinity

Techpowerup - Asus Strix OC

Techpowerup - MSI Gaming X Trio

Still, the performance offered by the RTX 3090 is impressive; the Gaming X is 53% faster than RTX 2080 Ti, 81% faster than RTX 2080 Super. AMD's Radeon RX 5700 XT is less than half as fast, the performance uplift vs the 3090 is 227%! AMD Big Navi better be a success. With those performance numbers RTX 3090 is definitely suited for 4K resolution gaming. Many games will run over 90 FPS, at highest details, in 4K, nearly all over 60, only Control is slightly below that, but DLSS will easily boost FPS beyond that.
With RTX 3090 NVIDIA is introducing "playable 8K", which rests on several pillars. In order to connect an 8K display you previously had to use multiple cables, now you can use just a single HDMI 2.1 cable. At higher resolution, the VRAM usage goes up, RTX 3090 has you covered, offering 24 GB of memory, which is more than twice that of the 10 GB RTX 3080. Last but not least, on the software side, they added the capability to capture 8K gameplay with Shadow Play. In order to improve framerates (remember, 8K processes 16x the pixels as Full HD), NVIDIA created DLSS 8K, which renders the game at 1440p native, and scales the output by x3, in each direction, using machine learning. All of these technologies are still in its infancy, game support is limited and displays are expensive, we'll look into this in more detail in the future.
24 GB VRAM is definitely future-proof, but I'm having doubts whether you really need that much memory. Sure, more is always better, but unless you are using professional applications, you'll have a hard time finding a noteworthy difference between performance with 10 GB vs 24 GB. Games won't be an issue, because you'll run out of shading power long before you run out of VRAM, just like with older cards today, which can't handle 4K, no matter how much VRAM they have. Next-gen consoles also don't have as much VRAM, so it's hard to image that you'll miss out on any meaningful gaming experience if you have less than 24 GB VRAM. NVIDIA demonstrated several use cases in their reviewer's guide: OctaneRender, DaVinci Resolve and Blender can certainly benefit from more memory, GPU compute applications, too, but these are very niche use cases. I'm not aware of any creators who were stuck and couldn't create, because they ran out of VRAM. On the other hand the RTX 3090 could definitely turn out to be a good alternative to Quadro, or Tesla, unless you need double-precision math (you don't).
Pricing of the RTX 3090 is just way too high, and a tough pill to swallow. At a starting price of $1500, it is more than twice as expensive as the RTX 3080, but not nearly twice as fast. MSI asking another $100 on top for their fantastic Gaming X Trio cooler, plus the overclock out of the box doesn't seem that unreasonable to me. We're talking about 6.6% here. The 6% performance increase due to factory OC / higher power limit can almost justify that, with the better cooler it's almost a no-brainer. While an additional 14 GB of GDDR6X memory aren't free, the $1500 base price still doesn't feel right. On the other hand, the card is significantly better than RTX 2080 Ti in every regard, and that sold for well over $1000, too. NVIDIA emphasizes that RTX 3090 is a Titan replacement—Titan RTX launched at $2500, so $1500 must be a steal for the new 3090. Part of the disappointment about the price is that RTX 3080 is so impressive, at such disruptive pricing. If RTX 3080 was $1000, then $1500 wouldn't feel as crazy—I would say $1000 is a fair price for the RTX 3090. Either way, Turing showed us that people are willing to pay up to have the best, and I have no doubt that all RTX 3090 cards will sell out today, just like RTX 3080.
Obviously the "Recommended" award in this context is not for the average gamer. Rather it means, if you have that much money to spend, and are looking for a RTX 3090, then you should consider this card.

The FPS Review - TBD

Tomshardware

Let's be clear: the GeForce RTX 3090 is now the fastest GPU around for gaming purposes. It's also mostly overkill for gaming purposes, and at more than twice the price of the RTX 3080, it's very much in the category of GPUs formerly occupied by the Titan brand. If you're the type of gamer who has to have the absolute best, and price isn't an object, this is the new 'best.' For the rest of us, the RTX 3090 might be drool-worthy, but it's arguably of more interest to content creators who can benefit from the added performance and memory.
We didn't specifically test any workloads where a 10GB card simply failed, but it's possible to find them — not so much in games, but in professional apps. We also weren't able to test 8K (or simulated 8K) yet, though some early results show that it's definitely possible to get the 3080 into a state where performance plummets. If you want to play on an 8K TV, the 3090 with its 24GB VRAM will be a better experience than the 3080. How many people fall into that bracket of gamers? Not many, but then again, $300 more than the previous generation RTX 2080 Ti likely isn't going to dissuade those with deep pockets.
Back to the content creation bit, while gaming performance at 4K ultra was typically 10-15% faster with the 3090 than the 3080, and up to 20% faster in a few cases, performance in several professional applications was consistently 20-30% faster — Blender, Octane, and Vray all fall into this group. Considering such applications usually fall into the category of "time is money," the RTX 3090 could very well pay for itself in short order compared to the 3080 for such use cases. And compared to an RTX 2080 Ti or Titan RTX? It's not even close. The RTX 3090 often delivered more than double the rendering performance of the previous generation in Blender, and 50-90% better performance in Octane and Vray.
The bottom line is that the RTX 3090 is the new high-end gaming champion, delivering truly next-gen performance without a massive price increase. If you've been sitting on a GTX 1080 Ti or lower, waiting for a good time to upgrade, that time has arrived. The only remaining question is just how competitive AMD's RX 6000, aka Big Navi, will be. Even with 80 CUs, on paper, it looks like Nvidia's RTX 3090 may trump the top Navi 2x cards, thanks to GDDR6X and the doubling down on FP32 capability. AMD might offer 16GB of memory, but it's going to be paired with a 256-bit bus and clocked quite a bit lower than 19 Gbps, which may limit performance.

Computerbase - German

HardwareLuxx - German

PCGH - German

Video Review

Bitwit - TBD

Digital Foundry Video

Gamers Nexus Video

Hardware Canucks

Hardware Unboxed

JayzTwoCents

Linus Tech Tips

Optimum Tech

Paul's Hardware

Tech of Tomorrow

Tech Yes City

Hello everyone!
To repeat what the title said, ten months ago I responded to a prompt:

[WP] When out in the woods, you discover a cave that leads to a world that operates under Pokémon logic... And find that you have an innate ability to tame the monsters of this world.

The idea absolutely gripped me - and now I’ve published a novel inspired by that prompt and my love of monster taming games! Here’s the details:

Two suns, foreign plants, and a whole slew of monsters to tame.
Amateur entomologist and reluctant Life Scout, Caleb finds far more than he expected when he stumbles through a hidden cave and into a new world full of Kritt - monsters that can be tamed and taught to fight. He also didn’t expect evil overlords and their minions looking to use the power of Kritt to grind this world under their bootheel.
Unless someone stops them, that is.
Once meeting Antoinette, an affectionate ant Kritt that bonds with Caleb, and Karla, a tamer of this world that’s living off the land and preparing to strike back against the Darkholds, they set off. Their goal? Help free the people of this world from the Overseer’s grasp. A mountain’s worth of threats stand in their way, though: the Overseer’s soldiers, terrible abominations, wild Kritt, and all the trouble Caleb’s sarcastic mouth can cause.
Welcome, Caleb, to the world of Kritt. Now evolve - or perish.

Into the Tall Grass is a Portal Fantasy/Isekai book with strong gamelit elements.
FAQ
Harem/Sex/Murder?
Nope. This story is designed to capture the feel of those classic games, and while it does have higher stakes than those games, it is designed to capture the light-hearted feel that we all love.
Audiobook?
Nothing yet announced, but I’ll update if there is one!
Stats?
Into the Tall Grass is a stat light gamelit, and the stats do not appear explicitly until later in the book once Caleb gets his totally-not-a-Pokedex goggles. The later books in the series will have more detailed stats as Caleb delves further into the system that runs this world.
Shorts?
They’re comfy and easy to wear.
Where do I catch the book?
Well, you first need to learn HM Cut, go to the hole in the wall after beating the second boss...or you can just get it on Amazon
Amazon US Link - UK | CA | AU | DE | MX | JP | IN | BR | FR | ES | IT | NL
I want to sample before I pick up?
Well, good news for you - just read on!
Caleb Cooper slapped at his arm with a growl. Another mosquito. He wouldn’t have said camping was his least favorite activity in the world. Even at sixteen, he could easily imagine worse ways to spend his time. He could have his feet dipped in acid, or be stabbed in the back repeatedly, or repeat algebra. But no one was forcing him to do any of those, because he’d passed algebra and hadn’t angered any Bond villains lately.
“C’mon, try to smile some,” his dad said, walking up behind him and shaking his back. “What more could you want? We’ve got the great outdoors, we’ve got trees, we’ve got sun, we’ve got fresh air...this is perfect!”
Caleb sighed. “Oh, yeah, surrounded by kids who’re still in junior high. It’s everything a growing teen could want. Toxic plants, the sun, brats who think I’m a weirdo, the sun again...what’s not to love? You know, I could be going to a party tonight.”
His dad’s smile didn’t waver. “You do so love the party scene. I mean, the last one you went to was...Jimmy Dryer’s eighth birthday party? Getting wild up in the hizzouse there.”
“Okay, dad, I need to tell you two things. First of all, if you say hizzouse out loud, ever again, I will die. I will literally fall over dead from embarrassment. No, I know the correct definition of literally and I am using it correctly, that is actually what will happen. Do you want to be responsible for filicide via intense shame?”
“I’m positive that’s not actually possible.”
“Oh, it totally is. Remember Becky? Died last year because her mom was singing ‘Ain’t nuthin but a G Thang.’ Sure, they say Becky changed schools because they moved, but it was all a cover up. Heard her mom singing and pow!” Caleb punched a closed fist into his empty hand. “dropped over dead.”
His dad laughed. “Noted. And the second thing?”
“You might have picked up subtle hints about this, what with me mentioning it no less than two hundred and ninety eight times on the drive down here according to you. I don’t really like camping.”
There was a long pause, and his dad’s face fell. Caleb immediately winced, but it was too late. “You used to beg to go out every year, remember?”
Yeah, in like 8th grade. When all his friends had been in boy scouts with him, and he’d been able to spend time with them. But high school had come, and his friends had moved on. But the Coopers came from a long line of Eagle scouts. His dad was an Eagle Scout, his grandfather had been an Eagle Scout, and Caleb’s dad would be damned if his son wasn’t an Eagle Scout. “Right,” Caleb muttered. “Sorry, I’ll give it a chance. I’m sure once I get back in the groove it’ll be fine.”
“That’s the spirit!” His dad’s face lit back up.
Caleb gave him an expression that could have been a grin if you squint hard enough. “Awesome. I’m going to...head out.” He turned to trundle off into the woods.
“Where are you going?” his dad asked.
Caleb held up a glass. “Going to see if I can find an Acorn Weevil. There’s a lot of oaks around here, and I’d like one for the collection.”
It was the one part of the outdoors Caleb enjoyed -- catching insects. It was a bit of an odd hobby, but Caleb was a bit of a junior entomologist and enjoyed it. He was thinking about going to college for entomology after he graduated. Something about the wide variety of possible insects, finding things that people usually overlooked, categorizing them...it was calming. He had several glass cases of them pinned at home, many of them gathered from scouting trips like these.
Naturally, it was the one part of the outdoors his dad didn’t like. His father turned green and motioned for Caleb to go ahead. “Don’t wander too far!” he shouted.
Yeah, yeah. It wasn’t like he could go too far even if he wanted to. The campsite was in the middle of a series of mid-Missouri bluffs, and wandering more than an hour’s walk would inevitably lead to a solid rock wall. Or a road.
Step by step, the sounds of the rest of the boy scout troop receded in the forest behind him. Caleb let out a sigh of relief. He was the only high schooler still in the troop, and a lot of the older kids thought he had to be some kind of loser to still be doing this at his age.
They aren’t wrong, Caleb thought. Just not for the right reasons. Being a boy scout isn’t what made him a loser. It was his complete lack of social life at high school, relegated only to a few other dorks at lunch who he didn’t really hang out with, and the fact that he collected bugs when most people were going to parties or making out or getting drunk or playing video games or even playing Magic: The Gathering - that made him a loser.
That’s right. The MTG kids could look down on him for bug collecting. Was that fair? Obviously, they deserved someone who they could look down on too, and Caleb understood that unlike their weird hobby, his weird hobby was also gross. Still, didn’t he deserve the same? Someone he could silently judge and feel superior to? But, no, the only ones lower than him on the social hierarchy were kids with actual issues, and Caleb didn’t want to be that kind of jerk.
The worst part was, he felt bad for not enjoying the scouts anymore. If his dad had planned these trips as one on one things, where they could go out and find rare insects, or even some other wildlife finding things like birdwatching or something, Caleb would have loved their trips as much as he used to. Well, probably. Maybe. I’d like it better if I knew this was the alternative, Caleb amended. These days, however, he’d found most of the insects at their usual camping sights. He actually had an acorn weevil already, but there was no way his dad would remember it - since his dad didn’t really look beyond his own wants. He wanted an Eagle Scout, so an Eagle Scout Caleb would be.
Especially after what had happened with mom. Dad had become rabid about father-son activities since then. “It’s just the two of us now,” Dad said once, when he’d had a bit too much to drink after work. “Just the two of us.”
Caleb shook his head and brushed away a tree branch before it could slap him in the face. The stinging in his eyes was a good reminder why he didn’t want to go down that particular rabbit hole.
A little while later, as he had expected, Caleb found himself at one of the bluffs. It was a solid expanse of rock, covered in creeping vines. The tendrils would be crawling with acrobat ants, which made them a nice place to stop because they’d keep the wasp population down in the region. Maybe I could try to find a nest. Maybe even a queen. That thought he discarded - it would be a prize, but the only way he’d ever add an ant queen to his collection would be if he found one dead. It felt different than taking a single insect and putting it on his board. Taking a queen could wipe out an entire colony.
When I finish college, I’ll get a whole terrarium. Then I can have living ones. That way I’ll get to enjoy my insects in peace and make sure I never ever have people invite themselves over. They’ll be all ‘oh, can I come over’ and I’ll be like ‘sure, don’t mind the ants.’ And then I’ll have alienated another person! That would be better and would make him feel better about what he did. Even the knowledge that he was killing bugs sapped the fun out of his hobby. Of course, that same hobby would also guarantee his adulthood was as lonely as his teenage years, so maybe…
“Gah!” Caleb cried, and kicked a rock at the bluff. It was stupid and childish, but it helped with the frustration. He leapt to the side to avoid the rebound.
He needn’t have bothered. The rock went straight through the vines instead of plinking off the bluff. Caleb froze, then slowly started inching toward the barrier. Is that a...cave? He reached out, brushing some vines away, only to reveal a cave on the side of the cliff. It went back a good twenty or thirty feet in a crevice easily large enough for him to walk through before vanishing into darkness.
Bet I could find something new in there. He groaned. Because amateur spelunking has such a high success rate. That can’t possibly go wrong. Oh, wait, I’m thinking of...actually, I don’t know anything where amateur is a good thing.
Ignoring the warnings of his own hindbrain, something he was exceptionally good at, Caleb flipped on his flashlight. While he wasn’t a big fan of being a scout, their motto of “Be Prepared” had stuck with him more firmly than he cared to admit. Summoning his courage, he headed inside.
The cave was large enough for him to walk upright, at least. I wonder if anyone’s ever even been in here before? It was possible he was the first human to ever notice this cave hiding behind the vines, that his were the first human footsteps in this cave. Who knew what could be ahead? Hell, if it went deep enough, he might discover an entirely new species - cave ecologies were often very isolated from the rest of the world.
That thought overrode the lingering fears of going spelunking alone, and Caleb pushed ahead. To his relief, the cave didn’t really branch off anywhere, so there was only a miniscule risk he’d find himself wandering in circles. It wasn’t long until he was plunged entirely into darkness aside from his flashlight.
“You have now left the domain of the sun,” Caleb said in his best announcer voice. He’d heard that line from…was it a webcomic? Or a blog? He couldn’t remember, and that train of thought was derailed as his heart started to beat faster. The primal fear of the dark still clung to him, and he wasn’t as certain as he’d been at the outset that this was a good idea. Given he’d been fairly certain this was a terrible idea, that was saying something. Just as he was about to turn around, he saw it.
It looked like an ant, but it wasn’t like any ant Caleb had seen before. It was large, nearly a foot from mandibles to thorax, and too brightly colored to be a normal cave dweller with its exoskeleton covered in gold and black swirls. Its eyes were wrong, too, looking more like something you’d see on a mammal than on an insect. It should have been frightening, but somehow, it was oddly cute. The gentle eyes, the way it moved awkwardly, like it was a newborn that hadn’t quite grown into its legs...it had an overall appearance of helplessness. It looked up at Caleb and chirped curiously.
Holy crap. “Well, hello there,” Caleb said. “What are you?”
The strange ant chirped again. I have to catch it. It was too big for his glass jar, but that didn’t matter. It also didn’t matter that his dad would refuse to let Caleb bring it back alive. Caleb would find a way, damn it. This wasn’t just a new species, this was an insect that shouldn’t be possible. Ants didn’t get this big, and certainly not in caves. Caleb reached out a tentative hand.
What the hell are you doing? he thought. He knew nothing about the thing. It could be venomous. It could be dangerous. It was a wild animal, and he was trying to pet it?
Much to his surprise, the ant didn’t recoil from his hand or lunge at it. Instead, it studied it curiously, then rolled over on its back and began to wave its legs in the air like a cat trying to get attention, chirping happily.
Screw it. Caleb ran his fingers over the thing’s belly. It made a sound halfway between a chirp and a purr, almost like a trill. “Oh my God, I have to find a way to keep you. What do you eat?”
Not that he expected the ant to answer. He didn’t expect the ant to respond at all, besides continuing to make happy little trills as Caleb gave it a belly rub. Its exoskeleton was softer than he expected, covered with fine hairs that probably served to keep off water but also made it unimaginably soft. Already Caleb wasn’t thinking about the enormity of the discovery, he was thinking about taking it for walks around the block, or letting it chase a laser pointer.
Then, abruptly, the ant fell silent and righted itself. It hissed in Caleb’s direction.
He froze, shying back and running his hand through his own hair.. “Woah? What’s wrong? Too many tummy rubs?”
And then he realized the ant wasn’t staring at him. It was staring over his shoulder.
Caleb spun, whipping the flashlight around, and came face to face with an oncoming monstrosity. It was a bipedal insect creature with four limbs, nearly as tall as Caleb was. The upper limbs ended in vicious stingers, and the lower limbs had grasping pincers. Instead of mandibles, it had tentacles growing from under its six beady eyes.
That flashlight saved Caleb’s life. The creature shied back, its eyes glowing in the brilliant light.. The ant screeched and began to run deeper into the cave. That seemed smart. Panicked by the monstrosity, Caleb followed.
This isn’t happening. The sound of Caleb’s feet pounding against the floor of the cave filled his ears. His heartbeat joined the sound, and the light swung wildly. He was gaining on the ant. A surge of adrenaline hit, and Caleb reached down to scoop it up. The ant trilled in confusion, and lacking anything else to do, Caleb put it on his head without breaking stride. He kept running, the ant now turning behind him and shrieking more and more. It's gaining on us! Caleb could almost imagine it saying.
Then the light ahead grew bright. Without warning, he was back out into the forest, into the sun.
The monstrosity skidded to a halt near the entrance of the cave, waving its tentacles and roaring but refusing to enter the sunlight. Caleb was fine with that. Caleb was fine with doing nothing but running at a breakneck pace, his new friend sitting on his head and now trilling in defiance. Darting forward, he wove in and out of the trees, turning to avoid tripping over rocks. At one point, his vision a fog of panic, he was thought he jumped a stream.
It wasn’t until his lungs started to burn that Caleb started to slow down. A few steps later, he dropped to the forest floor, panting.
After a few minutes of gasping, he took stock of his surroundings. With dawning horror, four realizations hit him. The first was that he’d somehow run through a bluff that stretched for a hundred miles in less than a day. The second was that the trees didn’t look like anything native to Earth, let alone Missouri. That alien impression was greatly aided by the fact that there were two suns overhead, one red and one yellow, which was number three. Multiple suns were kind of a big one. Finally, and most importantly, he had completely lost track of where he was in relation to the cave.
Panic seized him, and Caleb plucked the ant off his head with shaking hands and held it across his knees, on its back. It came to Caleb so naturally that he didn’t even think about the fact that his panic response was to cuddle a strange animal until after he had. The ant looked up at him with eyes full of warmth and gratitude. “Where the hell am I?” he asked.
In response, the ant started to purr.
Chapter 2
After a bit, the ant began to struggle. “I can’t just keep calling you ‘the ant,” Caleb said to it as he put it down. The ant looked up at him and clacked its mandibles. “Hmm. Don’t know if you’re a girl and or a boy ant. Although if you’re eusocial, those terms probably don’t matter anyway. You’re not a queen or you’d be in your hive, so...are you a soldier? Or a worker?”
Maybe it was Caleb’s imagination, but the ant seemed to be happier with the word soldier. That’s probably just wishful thinking. You need to get your priorities in order, man. You’re in a world with two suns, you should be flipping out right now! And yet, he felt strangely calm. Maybe it was just because the whole thing was so surreal. Or maybe it was just because he expected at any moment to wake up back in his tent with the story of a crazy dream. Or maybe you’ve just snapped, and any moment now you’re going to realize you’re completely barking mad. Caleb shook his head. If he was dreaming or crazy, there was no point trying to figure it out. Either he’d wake up, or he’d be put in a nice padded room and given pills until he could see things normally. “How about Antoinette?” he said.
The Ant - Antoinette - began to bob its head and marched over to Caleb’s hand, pressing its head against his palm until he started to scratch it. Might as well think of you as a she, he thought. Giving her a name seemed to have done the trick, and Antoinette was now trilling and purring happily against his hand. “So, Antoinette, don’t suppose you know if I’ve gone crazy or anything, do you?”
Antoinette was not particularly eager to respond. After some time scratching and spacing out, Caleb shook his head. “If this is all real, I have to start thinking of what comes next,” he said to Antoinette. “C’mon girl, let’s get moving.” As soon as Caleb stood, Antoinette reared onto her hind legs. Smiling, Caleb scooped her up and put her on his shoulder. Even though she was nearly as long as a cat, she weighed about half as much. That, plus the long years of scouts giving Caleb at least some muscles to work with, meant she could stay on his shoulder easily. “Okay. Let’s go back and see if that thing is gone from the cave, right?”
Immediately Antoinette’s demeanor changed. She began to shiver and rubbed against his cheek. “You can’t possibly understand me,” Caleb said. Antoinette continued to shiver and rub, and Caleb decided it had to be his imagination. Even if Antoinette seemed to be more along the lines of a small mammal in terms of intelligence than an ant, there was no way she had the intelligence of a human - and even if she did, she couldn’t speak or understand English. She was probably just picking up on his nerves over returning. As he turned to retrace his steps, he reached up and began to stroke her back. “Don’t worry. If it’s still there, I won’t be going anywhere near it.”
Antoinette’s shivers seemed to subside. “Totally a coincidence,” Caleb said with a nervous chuckle. “No way you understand anything I’m saying.”
The look she sent his way could easily be called reproachful.
The trees here really weren’t like anything he’d ever seen before. They towered over his head, looking more like giant, single ferns than they did like trees. There weren’t any visible roots, they all just shot out of the ground. At the top they branched oddly, feathering into individual strands that were covered with tiny leaves that grew away from the rest of the body of the plant, maximizing the sunlight its green blade could get. It was a relief to see those tiny leaves on the trees though - up until then, between that and the giant ant, he was beginning to worry he’d somehow been shrunk and was walking among giant blades of grass.
As soon as he had the thought, he couldn’t quite shake it, but too many other things were wrong for that to be the case. The dirt was still normal sized, not huge chunks like they would be if he’d shrunk coming over here, and there weren’t any obvious giant landmarks to indicate he was tiny. Still, it was a strange feeling, and he was relieved when he found the stream from earlier. That had to be normal sized. Water wouldn’t flow with that kind of babble if it was shrunk down, not unless it was hundreds of feet wide from his perspective.
The relief was almost immediately quashed when he realized that he didn’t recognize this part of the stream at all. He hadn’t exactly been taking in the scenery, but he still had expected to at least recognize something. Unfortunately, nothing about this part of where he was looked even remotely familiar. He grimaced. “Is this where we were?” he said aloud.
Antoinette trilled, an almost sad sound. It was like she was saying “I have no idea, you think I was paying attention?” Caleb had to laugh at himself. Already he was assigning actual full sentences to Antoinette. “Okay, well, rule one,” Caleb told her. “Head downstream. It will take me to somewhere eventually, and hopefully that somewhere will include someone who has the faintest idea what the hell is going on and how I can get back to the cave.”
Resolution made, he started to walk in that direction. It was a beautiful day here in...wherever this was, and thus far - joy upon joys - he hadn’t seen a single mosquito. As long as he was stuck in this weird dream or psychotic break or whatever was going on, he was going to enjoy it. He did see a few more traditional insects climbing along the fern-trees he’d marveled at before, which was nice. It helped him feel less like he was tiny walking in a giant world. As much as he wanted to, he resisted the urge to peer down for a closer look at them. Right now they were tiny specs climbing along in rows, and if he didn’t look too closely he could tell himself they were just normal ants. The moment he did, he was certain he’d notice things that would mark them of nothing from Earth, and that idea straight up terrified him.
“Yes, that’s right,” he said to the foot-long ant on his shoulder. “The terrifying thought is the insects here might be different. Crap on a stick, I am going insane.”
There was definitely a spring in his step as he walked, but not from how happy he was feeling. It was like every step carried a little bit...extra. It added to the surreal quality of everything. He’d noticed it before when he’d been running down the hill, but now that he was fully aware of how he was moving and a bit less panicked, he could really feel it. “Oh yeah,” he said. “Definitely dreaming.”
And since this is a dream... He reached up and carefully pried Antoinette from his shoulder. She chirruped in confusion. “Don’t worry, girl,” he said, placing her on the ground. “I’ll be right back. I just want to test something.”
Antoinette cocked her head at him, and Caleb grinned. Then, tensing up his legs, he kicked off the ground.
And went sailing through the air. “Oh my God!” he shouted. He’d had a decent high jump before, but this...it took him nearly ten feet into the air. He whooped in excitement and pumped his fist as he reached the apex of his jump. He could see over the fern trees! He could see smoke in the direction he was walking! He could see...he could see a bird.
It wasn’t like any bird he’d ever imagined. It was soaring through the air like a hawk, but its feathers were red and blue, and its face was more like a reptile’s than a bird’s. It looked almost like an archeopteryx, but without the claws on its wings, and with three massive feathers streaming out behind it. It wheeled in the air. It was beautiful.
Then gravity reminded him that, while he could jump high, he wasn’t able to fly. Caleb began to fall. The fall was faster than it should have been, given his leap. It felt like he was falling in normal gravity. Okay, this is it. I fall, and right before I hit the ground, I wake-
The thought was cut off when he slammed into the dirt beneath him. The impact drove the air from his lungs, which was the only thing that spared him from crying out in pain. He tasted blood, and his vision was obscured by black spots. Caleb could only whimper. He collapsed to the ground in a heap. What little of his brain was still working confirmed that he hadn't actually shattered his legs. The rest of it just screamed in pain. This isn’t a dream. That was now painfully clear. Dreams couldn’t possibly hurt this badly.
Antoinette walked up to him and nudged him with her mandibles. When he didn’t respond right away, she climbed onto his chest and began that rumbling trill. Caleb could only wheeze as he tried to catch his breath. Antoinette studied him, and a long tongue raced out of her mouth to lick his forehead. “Thanks,” he managed to grunt, glad she was so much lighter than a cat - otherwise she’d be crushing his chest. “No, really.”
It took him a few more minutes to stand again, and only when he was able to was he certain he hadn’t broken any bones. He took a few deep breaths, feeling an ache across his entire back. “I saw some smoke ahead,” he said to Antoinette, who was clawing at his leg. “I really hope that’s a town, and that they can help. And also that they have painkillers. I’d kill someone for some painkillers.”
Antoinette clacked her mandibles.
“No, I mean, it would have to be someone I didn’t like!”
Antoinette kept clawing his jeans and Caleb shook his head. “Mind walking alongside me for a bit? I need...I need a new back. And legs. Really just a new body. Phew. Give me some time to recover.”
Antoinette stopped clawing and trilled sadly. Again, Caleb was struck with the distinct impression she could understand him. But that doesn’t make sense, he thought. There’s no way she could. It’s just...insane.
“You there!”
The sudden shout nearly made Caleb scream, and he whirled to face the speaker. Antoinette did as well, hissing.
“You need to step away from the Kralant. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
The man was wearing something that looked like a military uniform from the eighteen hundreds, black and red with buttons that pinned up far on the left side of his body. He wore a cap that matched the color of his suit, and he stood with a rigid formality. For all that, he looked like he couldn’t be much older than Caleb.
More interestingly, however, the bird Caleb had seen earlier was perched on his shoulder. “You...want me to move away from Antoinette?” Caleb asked, trying to register what he was seeing.
“You...named it?” the soldier said, sounding incredulous. The bird on his shoulder peered at Antoinette hungrily, and Antoinette clacked her mandibles and hissed. She showed none of the fear she had towards the monstrosity in the cave. The soldier only frowned. “Who are you?”
“Caleb,” Caleb said, narrowing his eyes. “Who are you?”
“I am Ruzo, First Private of the Darkhold Omal. This is Silv.” The bird chirped at its name, although it didn’t take its eyes off Antoinette.
“I’m sorry, you called Antoinette a Kralant and seemed surprised I named her. Is Silv its name, or is it it's species?”
“He,” Ruzo said, stressing the word, “is a Silvtherix. I named him Silv.”
“Wow, very original name there.” Caleb couldn’t help himself. Something about Ruzo’s attitude was rubbing him the wrong way. It was his imperious demeanor, like he owned the place. Who the hell does he think he is?
“Says the boy who named a Kralant Antoinette,” Ruzo said, although he flushed a bit at mockery. “I need you to come with me, Caleb. These woods are forbidden. I thought you’d just gotten lost, but since you’re a Tamer...clearly you’re in violation of the Treaty. Put your hands behind your back.”
“Okay, first of all, working Antoinette’s species into her name is a brilliant pun. I didn’t just chop off part of the name and call it good. Second of all - put my hands behind my back?” Caleb asked. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“First private of the Darkhold Omal,” Ruzo said, repeating his earlier words and with the same drilled in efficiency. “Who do you serve, Caleb?”
“Oh. Uh. Well...I’m with Troop One-Eighteen,” Caleb said, uncertain what else to say. “Boy Scouts, United States of America. And, private, I’m a Life Scout. So, yeah. Shove that up your craphole and spin on it.”
It was pretty clear that Ruzo had no idea what anything else Caleb said meant, but his eyes narrowed at the last sentence. “I don’t know who you serve. But clearly, someone needs to teach you manners.” He swung out his arm. “Silv! Attack!”
With a shriek that put a chill into Caleb’s bones, Silv took to the air.
In response, Antoinette let out a hiss of challenge.
Oh you’ve got to be kidding me, Caleb thought, squaring up.
I’ve definitely gone insane. But the pain in his back reminded him that insanity was much less certain than he’d previously believed. He could be absolutely certain of one thing, however - he had no idea what he was doing.
Silv shrieked as he swooped through the air, diving for Antoinette. Caleb couldn’t help but notice how dangerously curved those talons were, each ending in wicked barbs. It looked like they could tear through flesh like razorblades. “Antoinette, do...something!” Caleb shouted in panic.
As soon as the words left his lips, he felt something. It was almost like a tug on his skin, but it was a strange and alien feeling. Like part of him had been yanked away. Antoinette leapt to the side, snapping her mandibles. Silv passed through the space she had just vacated, his talons clutching only empty air. Confidence flashed through Ruzo’s eyes. “Do something? That’s the best you have? Silv is going to tear your Kralant apart.”
Caleb’s heart started to pound. In the games, the monsters would always faint at the end of fights, then there would be a heroic rush to town and the monster would be cured. Looking at those talons, it was hard to imagine this fight would be that harmless. “Antoinette, do something ranged this time!” Caleb said, frantically going through his pockets. That strange tug happened again, but Caleb ignored it. He needed to help.
A meme he’d seen the other day on his phone flashed through his mind as he frantically patted his pockets, modified for his current situation. “I’ve had Antoinette for only half a day, but if anything happens to her I’d kill everyone in this field and then myself.” Really, Caleb? You’re watching a pair of monsters fighting for their lives and the best you have are memes and vague commands? It’s not like he could do much else. He didn’t really have any kind of weapons on him. A simple Swiss army knife, too small to be used for actually fighting anyone. Not that he had any idea if he could actually bring himself to stab Ruzo. The guy was an ass, but Caleb had never hurt a fly.
Well. Metaphorically speaking. He’d squished plenty of flies in his day.
Besides that, he didn’t have much else. A can of bug spray. Some twine. A granola bar, still in its wrapper. A zippo lighter. A...wait, that’s it. Caleb looked back up to the fight as he pulled four of the items out of his pocket, trying desperately to get his hands shaking at another terrifying scream from Silv.
Silv was circling the fight, staring down at Antoinette with eyes full of fury. Ruzo was watching Caleb with a curious expression, as if he were trying to figure out what kind of stupid thing Caleb was going to do next. Oh, if you had any idea how stupid I was about to be, you’d be...very...uh...shocked? Antoinette was on the ground, watching Silv carefully.
“Now!” Ruzo shouted.
Silv screamed and dove towards Antoinette. The Kralant had never seemed so small before, but she held her ground, her mandibles pointing towards the sky.
Then, the moment Silv got close, Antoinette let loose a spray. It was white and stringy, almost like spider silk. Silv flapped his wings hard, letting a gust of air blow the strands away. Where they touched the dirt they sizzled like acid. Caleb’s eyes widened. “Holy crap, what was that?”
Antoinette trilled happily and rose up on her hind legs, letting loose another barrage of caustic strands. Silv took to the air, getting out of range, and screeched in fury at having its attack interrupted. “You really don’t know?” Ruzo said, his eyes hard. “You’re an absolute moron, aren’t you?”
“Yeah? Well, would a moron be doing this?” Caleb responded. It wasn’t exactly the witty repartee he’d been hoping for. With the distraction the battle had provided him, he’d managed to tie the zippo around the bug spray and held up his prize.
“...it seems one would,” Ruzo said, his forehead creasing. “What the hell is that supposed to be?”
Silv dove down towards Antoinette again, banking to dodge the spray of acidic webbings. In response, Caleb flicked the zippo opened and stepped forward. A small flame sprang to life, and Ruzo’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?” he shouted. Caleb ignored it. He pressed down on the top of the bug spray.
The fine mist met the flame of the zippo and flamed to life. Silv screeched in sudden fear and pulled back, still several yards from reaching Antoinette. Antoinette whipped her head around and gave Caleb a curious chirp. “That’s right!” Caleb shouted, pointed the improvised weapon at Ruzo. “You think you’re going to hurt Antoinette? I will literally set you on fire.”
Ruzo’s eyes were wide, and Silv flew over to his outstretched arm, landing on it like it was a tree branch. The massive bird looked like it shouldn’t be something Ruzo could hold, but his arm never wavered. “You...are an Artificer? I should have known…” he trailed off, studying Caleb up and down.
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m an Artificer,” Caleb said, hoping the term was descriptive enough to be able to fake what he thought it meant. “I just built a flamethrower. Back down, buddy, or I swear to God I’m going to set you up like a cheap firework.”
Of course, it was a total bluff. Ruzo was a good fifteen feet away. The flame from this thing could go a foot, max. If Ruzo called him on it, Caleb would find himself having to reveal the limits of his homemade weapon very, very quickly. And when he did, what would happen? Would Ruzo send that damn bird after Antoinette again? Or would he send Silv straight after Caleb, trying to tear out his eyes?
Oh man. This is really, really looking bad for me.
“I’m surprised, Artificer,” Ruzo said, reaching up to stroke Silv under the beak. The bird leaned into the touch and chirped. “Entering the battle so early? You must have something serious you’re hiding. Something the Darkhold Olam will want to know. Well, if you wish to make this a test of that…” Silv began to crawl up his arm until their heads were butting together. “I’ll be more than happy to oblige.”
“Yo, you’re talking a pretty big game for someone who’s about to get his ass set on fire,” Caleb said, but the brave words couldn’t stop the tremor in his hands. “Why don’t you stop what you’re doing and go away? I don’t want to hurt you.”
Ruzo laughed, a mocking sound, as Silv began to work around to his back. The bird started to wrap wings around Ruzo’s face, and the spots on his wings matched up perfectly with Ruzo’s eyes. “Don’t worry about that, little Artificer. I promise, I’m in absolutely no danger.”
Their forms began to glow. Caleb took a step back, reflexively pressing down on the button for the bug spray. The flame seemed almost dark when compared to the immense light pouring out both soldier and monster as they began to rise into the air. “Antoinette?” Caleb said, shaking so badly he thought he might fall over. “I think I’d like to wake up now.”
Antoinette cooed in a sound that trembled with fear.
The glow vanished. Ruzo was gone. So was Silv. In their place was a single being, one that combined traits of both monster and man. Ruzo’s hair was now the bright feathers of the bird, his hands and feet ended in the wicked talons that the bird had shown in its diving sweeps at Antoinette, and two immense wings jutted from his back. Worst of all were the eyes, however. Ruzo’s normal two human eyes peered out at Caleb, but above those were the exact same eyes that had adorned Silv’s head. “So that is your flame, little man?” Ruzo said, and his voice had an odd quality to it, some kind of echo, like it was being spoken through two mouths. “I thought you Artificers claimed you could match am Tamer’s power. Looks like you’re just another worm.”
“Uh…shit,” Caleb said, looking down at Antoinette. “Do you know how to do that?”
This time there was no imagining it. Antoinette shook her head, and there was real fear in her eyes.
“Yeah, me either.” Caleb dropped to one knee and held out a hand. “Get on.”
Antoinette leaped onto Caleb’s arm and wrapped her legs around as Ruzo took to the air.
“So, Artificer,” Ruzo said, every word laced with mockery. “What will you do now?”
Fortunately, for the first time since he’d arrived here, Caleb knew exactly what to do.
Screaming in fear, Caleb turned and ran away from the four-eyed taloned bird-human hybrid that was rising into the sky. And as he did, the small part of his mind that couldn’t stop from being sarcastic even now couldn’t help but point out that it was totally unfair – none of the games allowed you to do that. Where’s the overly drawn out tutorial when you really need it?
Want to read more? Why not pick it up now?
Amazon US Link - UK | CA | AU | DE | MX | JP | IN | BR | FR | ES | IT | NL
And if you want to see more of my work, you can do so at /hydrael_writes

LPT: If you have a lot of free time at the moment, you can generate a little income on the side by doing online work like teaching english, transcription, microtasks or surveys. It's not a fortune but if you have time to spare anyway it's a good way to pay a few bills. (list of sites attached)

Unleashed pt. 37

I took a short break after my double chapter, but things are back to normal again now. Once again, credit to my teammate u/eruwenn for the polish and additions.
First / Prev / Next
The arguments had gone on for what felt like an eternity, raising a lot of questions that Aaron had no answers to, and his patience was wearing thin. Eventually he threw up his hands and raised his voice. “Look, you know everything I know. They have the bio-weapon. We don’t know when, or where, it will be used. We have to push on with our own mission. To get Alexa and Norrin treatment.” Allistan raised his hand and Aaron sighed. “I’ve told you, you don’t need to do that.”
The Fae’Dan stood and looked around the group. “I think I speak for all of us when I ask; If we aren’t going to do anything, and we can’t tell anyone, or investigate, then why did you tell us?”
“Choice.” Aaron said as he looked around the table. “I’m giving you the choice, to stay or to leave.” He raised his eyebrows at their confused faces. “With a handsome retirement amount, of course.”
Embar looked offended. “You expect us to quit? We’ve only just begun.”
Aaron returned to his seat. Keeping his voice calm and even, he looked at each one of them as he spoke. “No. But, fighting the Sentinels? Spies? Plots? This isn't what any of you signed on for. You could get in real trouble, or worse." He slumped slightly. "I don't even know why you all agreed to come with me in the first place.”
“You are my home.” Alexa’s answer to his rhetorical question was without hesitation or embarrassment at the honesty of her statement. “You, and Sassie.”
Aaron reached out and took her hand. “Thanks, I wasn’t asking for-”
“I felt responsible.” Estrilla’s voice was quiet, but determined. “The way you are now – the nanites – is because we purged your body of its own defences. On my orders. And, worse still, I couldn’t fix you. I’m staying. Stopping the war will save a lot of lives and that’s a doctor’s job.”
Before Aaron could reply Ranjaz spoke up. “You stole a planet and took a fortune from the Arkellians without breaking a single law. You bet your weird pink monkey ass I’m in.” He grinned broadly. “Besides, without me you’re all doomed.”
Jar’Bek was quick to interject. “He did in fact break several laws, and is testing the elasticity of dozens, if not hundreds, more.” Jar’Bek paused as he considered his own reason for coming on this journey. “I was shunned by my people for becoming a lawyer, shunned by those within the law for being an Ashi. At first, I came because I needed money and a modicum of protection from my previous employers. Now, we’re building a new world. Writing the rules from scratch and for the first time those rules apply to everyone equally. Anyway, a war would interfere with our profit projections.”
Deciding it was wise not to mention the insane amount of money war generated on his own world, Aaron nodded his gratitude to Jar’Bek. The pair had spoken at length about their vision for the new colonies and both wanted a focus on equality and opportunity. “Especially if they begin a war with the Imperium. We don’t want to be caught in the middle of that.”
Embar spoke, a grim resignation to his voice. “Except, that’s exactly where we’re headed. Directly between the Federation, Hive and Imperium as they are steered towards war by the Sentinels. We’re the unknown quantity, being used by this councillor to do her dirty work.” He saw guilt on Estrilla’s face, but pushed on. “I’ve been a soldier most of my life; the further I got promoted the harder the decisions became. The more lives I was responsible for. And at some point they just stopped being people and became numbers. Acceptable losses. When I urged caution amongst my people upon our joining the Federation, I was given a parade. They celebrated my battle victories - my orders that brought about countless losses of life - and gave me an early retirement, dismissing my change of heart as easily as one tosses out a cupcake wrapper. All around me I saw the compromises, the gaps in what we once were as well as families with pieces I caused to be missing, and I couldn't live with these constant reminders around me. I needed an escape, so I joined the exchange program. Figured that if I didn't like the Federation maybe I could try to change it from within.” He let out a long sigh, and for the first time his world weariness showed through his intimidating exterior. “You, Ambassador, looked at the Federation and without anywhere else to go, said no. Refused to be a pawn. I can tell you don’t like the way things are. I see the anger in your eyes when they treat Alexa like an object, or Jarby as a criminal. I feel like I lost my will to fight, thought I’d tag along and borrow some of yours.”
Estrilla chuckled at the old general. “You stormed an embassy single-handed, how much more fight do you need?”
The Rinoxian let out a deep rumbling laugh. “And it was glorious!”
The human laughed as well. “Yes, it was.”
Fire kindled in Embar's eyes as his weariness seemed to evaporate. “So, you want to take on the Sentinels? Then I’m in. Let the spirit of Rambo be with us.”
Allistan’s pen was clicking furiously. “Take on the Sentinels. You all make it sound so simple.” He clicked his pen one final time, then put it down and turned to face Aaron. “You made me feel uneasy about the Federation, its rules and systems.” He glanced at Alexa, seeming halfway ashamed. "Were we wrong?" Feeling unsettled, Allistan's hand moved, halfway reaching for his pen before thinking the better of it. "I came with you to explore my own ideas, my beliefs. I may not agree with everything you have done, or everything you say, but I want to keep exploring this human way. Only through questions can we grow. As for our mission, it is our duty to help our friends, and our moral obligation to take steps to stop a war created by subterfuge. I am not leaving.”
As everyone seemed to be taking this opportunity to speak, Danyd coughed and raised his hand. “I don’t care about the Hive, or the Sentinels, or a war. There’s always a bloody war somewhere.” He shrugged as everyone looked at him in shock at his candid statement. “I joined you because you offered me a big pile of credits and, quite frankly, thanks to you I wasn’t very popular on the station anymore. They can suck Tulseria’s balls – I was stuck, and you got me out of there. As long as you’re crapping out credits and sharing them around, I’m in.”
“That’s disgusting!” Jaym scrunched up her face. “And a damn lie.” She looked at the Satryn as he scowled, his angry face telling her to be quiet. “He told me he was proud of you, proud to have a decent captain for once. When you saved Aiov, and after you set up Space Post he cried, and said” -Danyd was about to argue but she pointed at him, putting on a gruff voice in a poor impersonation- “Someone who looks out for the little guys, that’s a man you can follow into Tulseria’s embrace with a smile.’”
Danyd furiously and vehemently denied it. “I said no such thing, and I certainly didn’t cry!” He took a deep breath and calmed himself down, “I may have said it was good that someone was looking out for the smaller ships out there, and only because I know how hard that life is, but I never cried.”
Aaron decided to move things on. “It was your idea, and it was a good one. Space Post is gaining traction, especially in fringe worlds. Jaym, are you staying? This may be a little more experience than you wanted.”
It was true that she had signed on to get hands on experience with Hoban drives so she could advance her education and career prospects. She was also young and idealistic, sending home more money than her father had earned in a whole celes and taking part in the creation of new colonies. They had saved the leokas, stopped the sacrifices, and now it felt like she was part of a revolution about to sweep the galaxy. “I’m in. I want my life to make a difference and stopping a war is a pretty awesome difference!”
Her enthusiasm and naivete caused a chuckle around the table. Embar was about to speak but Estrilla cut him off. “This is going to be dangerous, you should think of your father and sister.”
“No.” Her voice was strong and final. “Arkellis is on the Imperium border. If the Sentinels succeed in attacking the Hive, that message said the Imperium was next. I’m doing this for them and everyone I love back home.”
Embar nodded as several others murmured their agreement. Ranjaz looked around, finally fixing his gaze on Chae’Sol. “Everyone else shared, your turn.”
Aaron raised his hands. “No need, if you don’t want to. I wasn’t asking, just making a point, but I am grateful you all have your own reasons for being here.”
Chae’Sol appreciated Aaron’s words, but decided to share his own truth. “I am here for Sassie.”
“What!?” Several voices cried out at once.
He gave a dashing smile. “My people have a legend of a great king, you know the type: started with nothing, eventually saved the kingdom sort of thing.” Nods spread around the table; it was a common theme on every world. “Well, this king was a friend to all, including the animals. It is said he could command beasts, and when a great enemy appeared every creature in his kingdom fought by his side. I loved that story as a kid.”
Jaym squirmed in her seat with excitement. “The King of Souls, he was amazing! He rode a flying Farnek, he had three beast companions: a small flying Len’uk called Chio, a ferocious Cronax called Duma and a clever Giloh called Sar. He once fought the Emperor of the Dead and regrew his arm mid-battle.” Several questioning looks caused her to pause. “I love Niham culture,” she said bashfully, “there have been six movies and two series about him, as well as three animated books.”
Chae’Sol shook his head in disbelief. Niham culture had exploded in popularity recently, especially their animation and pop culture. “Fantasy stories are popular on my home world - nobody thought you could actually communicate, let alone command an animal.” He looked to the corner of the room where Sassie was now curled up in one of the armchairs, snoring loudly. “I want to know if this myth could have been based on something real. Something my people have forgotten about themselves.”
Ranjaz laughed loudly. “That’s who you are!”
The Niham’s eyes narrowed. “What?” Jaym also seemed nervous.
A mischievous glint appeared in the Kittran’s eyes and his lips curled revealing his toothy grin. “Since you came on board the Azrimad something’s been bugging me. You seemed so familiar in a weird way, but I couldn’t figure out why. Honestly, I can barely tell you Niham apart.” Ranjaz shrugged at the gasps. Different species used different visual cues for recognition, and for the Kittran looking at the shape of ears, eyes and noses were less important than colour and pattern of fur. “Don’t judge me, half of you could barely tell the Kasurians apart.” He took a moment to enjoy putting them in their place. “It finally clicked.”
Chae’Sol, his eyes pleading, stood and waved his hands in front of Ranjaz. “How about you and I discuss this later? Like gentlemen?”
“Nope.”
Jaym joined in, moving her seat closer to Ranjaz. “Come on, it’s his secret to keep. At least hear him out.”
“Secret?” Estrilla said with a chuckle. “Are you talking about his career before he joined the military?”
“Doctor!” the Niham said loudly. “those files are confidential.”
Embar looked at Chae’Sol through narrowed eyes. “A secret career? A spy?”
Ranjaz joyously announced, “Oh, he’s been a spy. A detective as well, and I think he was a businessman who had never found love.”
Chae’Sol rolled his eyes, and Jaym leapt to his defence. “The businessman was allergic to women, it was the coffee shop owner who never found love.”
Estrilla shook her head, ruffling her feathers. “No, no. The ghost was allergic to women, the businessman lost his memory and forgot his fiancee.”
As Jaym and Estrilla began their in depth discussion, voices steadily rising, the others looked at Chae’Sol and Ranjaz with concern. Aaron was the one who finally realised what was happening. “You were an actor!”
Chae’Sol groaned and slumped into his seat as Ranjaz looked on triumphantly. “Oh, he was much more than just an actor.”
The Niham groaned. “Please, I have left that life behind.”
Suddenly unleashed from her vow of secrecy Jaym couldn’t hold back her excitement. “Oh my Tulseria, he was so much more than an actor! He was the most popular member of Niham Boyzz, and when his music career went solo he started acting! He was only the most famous person on the whole of Niham!”
Chae’Sol whimpered. “it was a long time ago. I never expected the recent galaxy-wide interest in our culture amongst certain demographics.” He was trying to remain polite about the strange people who had begun obsessing over the culture from his world. It wasn’t even their real culture, just a polished, idealised fantasy from the most mass market
Ranjaz was enjoying every moment of deflating the navigator. “Of course he loves the story of the Soul King, he was the star of the show!”
“Yes, yes,” the Niham said dismissively. “But, then I had to serve in the military and decided to leave that life behind. Far, far behind.”
Aaron nodded, he had suspected something was up when the former security officer somehow had intimate knowledge of the entertainment industry. “Well, it looks like it worked out in our favour. Maybe we can share some of your work another time.” He was pleased with the diplomacy of his response, giving Chae’Sol a chance to open up at his own pace.
Nobody was listening as the discussion had already broken off into many fragments. Estrilla, Jaym and Ranjaz ware in a heated, and highly animated, argument over which show should be shown first. Meanwhile, Embar was asking a sullen Chae’Sol a hundred questions about his newly-revealed past. Jar’Bek, Allistan and Danyd were left looking baffled at the impassioned arguments brewing between the doctor and assistant engineer.
Alexa took Aaron’s arm and led him away, picking up Aiov as Sassie grunted and rolled off her comfy seat to join them. The human allowed himself to be led, and as they reached the overlook he still had no idea what Alexa had planned. As they entered his quarters, though, he found himself resisting. “Why are we going in here?”
She ran her fingers through her silver hair, pushing it back from her face. “Time for some special training.”
Aaron was exhausted, lying on the floor of his quarters in a pair of shorts with sweat covering his body. Alexa lay beside him, holding his hand with a frustrated look on her face. “Stop trying to force it. Just breathe, and focus. You can do it, I'm certain.”
Aaron released her hand and rolled to his side, his back now to her. “That’s easy for you to say. It’s been twelve cycles and I can barely manage five minutes.”
She sat up and grabbed a water bottle and towel from the floor nearby. “You’re pushing too hard.”
He sat up and accepted the water and towel, quickly taking a long, refreshing drink. “I’m used to performing better, this is much harder than I expected.”
“That’s what she said.” They both laughed a little, easing the tension and Aaron’s frustration. She took the bottle from him with gentle hands. “Let’s try one more time.”
Ranjaz sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge, cautiously turning a matte black pistol over in his hands. He passed it back to Embar. “Yeah, I reckon this would probably go through most armour designed for energy weapons. It’s way too dangerous to use on a ship, though. Why’d you make it?”
Embar accepted the weapon. “Thought the captain might like it, something sitting on his hip as he talks to the Inorganics.”
The Kittran rolled his eyes. “Inorganics are like liquid, and shooting them with metal is basically giving them a snack. Energy weapons work great, he should take one of those.” He grinned. “Or five!”
Embar pulled back the slide on top of the gun, double checking to make sure the Kittran hadn’t put anything in there. “The Inorganics don’t allow them on the surface. I thought of this as more of a symbolic item, maybe a distraction?”
“A distraction?” Ranjaz pulled out his datapad. “So, you want to place a bet?”
The Rinoxian groaned and put the gun back in its holster. “No. And you shouldn’t be gambling on this. Lives are at stake.”
Sliding off the seat and moving in close, the Kittran lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Alexa has placed a bet.”
“Really?”
“Want to know what it is?”
Standing and pushing the Kittran back gently, Embar replied, “well, she would know her people best.”
“Ha!” Ranjaz jumped back on the captain’s seat, swinging his legs over the arm. “No cheating. No using Alexa for inside knowledge.”
Embar waved a hand at the irritating Kittran before returning his attention to his station. “We’ll reach planet Alpha-Numeric Designation in half a cycle. Let’s hope they have the energy to see this through.”
The wannabe captain let out a chuckle. “Aaron has been looking pretty drained lately. Special training.” He gave a knowing wink.
Embar nodded, ignoring the insinuation. “Judging by Alexa’s quietness and Aaron’s - well, his excessive combat training - things aren’t going well.”
Ranjaz put his datapad back down and turned to face Embar again. So far Aaron's managed to overcome everything the galaxy has thrown at him. Whatever this special training is, he's unable to perform." He waved away Embar's frown. "What I mean is, he's failing, and I don't think he likes to fail. He's getting pretty mad at himself.”
Tapping a system diagnostic box and swiping it to run, the Rinoxian nodded. “Just because his body didn’t reject the nanites doesn’t mean they can do this. I barely understand it myself, especially as it seems to be putting such a strain on their relationship.”
“Bah!” Ranjaz muttered, slumping back down to play with his datapad once more,“those two are like a pair of Narfs in a bog-hole.”
Embar shuddered at the image those words conjured. “Disgusting, but I get your point.”
Chae’Sol entered and pushed Ranjaz’s feet from the captain’s chair. “That’s not your seat.” He sat at his station and ignored the obscene gesture being made behind his back. Without turning to face the Rinoxian he asked, “Are you checking the weapons systems again?”
“Yes,” the Rinoxian answered pointedly. “Are you checking the Nav systems again?”
The navigator fired off a battery of tests and sat back in his chair watching them run. “Of course. We may need to make a swift escape, and it’s a long way to a friendly system. Danyd’s been taking things apart and putting them back together all over the ship. No one wants to get in trouble this far out. It’s no wonder that no-one found the Inorganics for so long in this dead space.”
A series of noises came from Ranjaz’s datapad, which were followed by a string of curse words. “Crap, I hate that level.” He tore his attention away from the screen and observed the others. “Well, we’re walking straight into trouble. Knocking down the door and marching right into its house with a list of demands.”
Chae’Sol looked at Ranjaz and then to Embar. “After this we should double check the armoury, make sure all the weapons have fresh energy cells.”
The Rinoxian nodded. “Right.”
Sassie, sitting in the back of the K7 while Alexa piloted, looked very unhappy in the custom environmental suit the Inorganic had commissioned back on the Azrimad. Fidgeting in his own helmet, Aaron understood the German Shepherd all too well. The human's issues, however, were compounded by the small container on his lap. “It feels kinda weird, having Norrin’s core in a box like this.”
Alexa didn’t look back. “He is most likely unaware of his surroundings.”
He picked up the box, tilting it slowly from side to side and observing the gentle shift of Norrin from within. “That is less reassuring than you think.”
The shuttle shuddered and listed to one side. “There's a storm," Alexa unhelpfully explained. "Be prepared, and be careful - we have a short walk outside from the landing pad to the facility.”
Aaron finally got the clasp on his helmet to lock into place. “I’m always careful.”
Once the shuttle landed and powered down, Alexa double checked their environmental suits and zipped up her jacket. “You’re sure you want to do this?" she asked as she finished her second safety pass, watching Aaron's face closely. "If we can't convince them, they will take back your nanites forcefully. They will remove our individuality. They may even kill us entirely.”
He held up the small box. “You want to end up in one of these?”
Her blue eyes, so similar to his own, stared hard at him. “I’d rather die than end up alone in the dark again.”
“Right.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “We ride together, we die together.”
She placed her hand on top of his. “Bad boys for life.”
Aaron smiled, lifting her spirits. “Hey, maybe they’ll trade their help for free EarthFlix and Premium Musicify subscriptions?” Not waiting for an answer he slammed the door release. The howl of the wind drowned out any further conversation, and they marched through the storm, buffeted from side to side by the strong winds full of grey sand. Sassie clung closely to his side, her covered tail firmly between her legs.
Looming ahead of them was a featureless square building, seeming to somehow be made of a single block of grey stone. It looked old - weathered - and even seemed fractured in places. As they approached the doorway, and were able to more clearly see through the swirling grey sands, they could tell it was already open. The dirt of the storm had been blown inside, building up to give an eerie abandoned feeling, and the feeling only deepened as sparsely-placed orange lights began to flicker. They entered, and the doors silently slid closed behind them, cutting channels through the built-up dirt.
The room was as blank as the exterior, and the flickering orange lights and dirt-covered floor gave off an oppressive, cave-like feel. Aaron looked around the small, desolate room as he kneeled to pat Sassie's side. "You're sure they are expecting us?"
The response he received didn't come from his companion. A fine line suddenly snaked down the wall ahead of them, and as it opened wider proper lighting began to stream in from the other side. As the second set of doors continued to open, Aaron's hand went to Embar's gift on his hip. He breathed deeply, quickly pulling his hand away, and stood up in an attempt to look as casual as possible.
Two bulky shadows were now visible in the light of the opening doors.
A hollow, metallic voice rang out. “FOLLOW.”
Next

Idol-Rapper Analysis #2 - 4th Gen Boy Groups pt2 (Stray Kids-3Racha)

You know who it is, comin round again

My original post outlining a lot of Hiphop terminology/concepts/analysis can be found here
My post where you can submit other groups you want to see analyzed or performances/songs you think i should see can be found here

Previous Breakdown: Ateez/Oneus/ACE

Ranking system:
I will give a tier ranking using the S / A / B / C / D / F tier system.
Here is a full breakdown of what i consider each tier to represent generally. If you care about how I rank these folks I highly recommend checking it out
I give tiers based on the following aspects technical abilities like speed/breath control/enunciation/dynamics/and complexity of flow, cohesion with the group, creativity/originality, emotional delivery and versatility.
Note: I consider an AVERAGE idol rapper to be around a D or C tier. If you think my ranking is harsh that's what i'm comparing against.

Some Disclaimers:
This post is fxckin long
This post will cover both technical aspects of rapping and some more critical analyses including my own personal opinion. I will try and justify my opinion as best possible but in the end, the opinion belongs to me and only me, if you enjoy a rapper I don't, or if you don't enjoy a rapper I do, that is all ok! Additionally if you are uncomfortable seeing your faves criticized this might not be the post for you! All of our faves have flaws and room for growth and pointing them out does not diminish their talents or hard work.
If you disagree with my analysis I'd love to hear your thoughts! If i get something incorrect please feel free to correct me in the comments! I am open to criticism and correction!
!!!!!! I will do my best to point out both an idols strengths and weaknesses, but I will not water down my opinion to do so. !!!!!!
My preparation for this post was listening to ALL the tracks the group had available on streaming, if the rappers have their own subunit or solo work i looked at that too. I didn't watch all of their live performances although I usually will watch it for tracks I'm curious about.
I'm not an expert, My word is not gospel. My opinions don't hold some special authority. The only qualifications i have are a lot of time spent researching and a lot of listening to better smarter people talk about rap.
Also please note I have changed the format of these posts slightly, so rankings are now listed at the end of each rappers analysis rather than the beginning. This is in order to, i hope, take some of the focus away from the exact letter grade and onto the thing I actually spent the most time on and what I think is most important.

(Lmfao this was originally supposed to be a part of the first post but it became SO long and I didn't wanna skimp on details. A testament to the amount of work 3racha has already put out and the overall quality of it that I couldn't edit down my thoughts at all. Stays win this round because I ended up with a LOT to say.

Stray Kids: Bang Chan + Han + Changbin

Notes about SKZ as a whole:
Stray Kids is one of the 4th gen groups that has actually based itself around its rapline. 3racha members have been involved with both the lyrics, production, and arrangement on the majority of group tracks including title tracks (the first two title tracks had first line producer credits to other artists but since then they have taken the lead) since debut. On 3racha's predebut tracks they have did all the writing and production besides tracks that used other artist's beats (note: this is fine to do on free mixtapes, it is common practice in hiphop as long as you aren't profiting) Although I can't say for sure that 100% of the lines they individually rap were written by the person rapping because i wasn't there to watch the process, that is the assumption I will go in with, i assume they probably collaborate to some degree or workshop lyrics with one another, but I also get the sense that they take a lot of pride in writing for themselves.
At just over 2 years old they are already nearing 100 songs (over 100 if you count all the SKZ2020 rerecords), which is extremely impressive especially when considering that 3racha is lead on writing and production on almost all of those songs. Before debut they released ~40 tracks across a Mixtape and 2 EPs, some of those tracks would end up getting reworked as full group tracks but many remain soundcloud-only releases.
Lyrically the majority of 3racha and early SKZ songs lean on a "we are young and passionate/we are overwhelmed by self doubt in our passions" type of lyrics often focused around trainee life and anticipation of debut. As a very young group this still makes sense although it can become a bit one-note if you're trying to read the lyrics but they have expanded their lens somewhat in more recent albums.
Stylistically SKZ's group songs tend to lean heavily into EDM but unlike a lot of other groups they pull from MANY subgenres of EDM for inspiration (as opposed to sticking to House/Techno/Trap) they have used EDM genres from Psytrance to Drum and Bass. Their b-sides take on some of these styles but also do more casual electronic hiphop tracks and even a few more melodic ballad songs.
The rappers are usually central to their tracks however as time has gone on Han especially has made a switch to being about half and half vocalist and rapper, making room for Hyunjin+Felix to be the larger rap presence on their tracks. This means his verses are now usually shorter or sometimes nonexistent, to make room for the other two. Changbin's lines have also been shortened overall and Chan has essentially switched into a fulltime lead vocalist.
In 3racha they went pretty wide for influences and styles. Of particular note is a song like Eunseoki which takes on a 3rd person narration which idol rappers don't usually tackle but which i was very excited to see and usually a pretty important step for lyricists (being able to tell other peoples stories not just your own). Their emotional range (or at least the range they attempted) from love songs, hype songs, emo songs, and braggadocios songs is pretty diverse.
There's no doubt some extremely impressive stuff in their predebut work, I'll point out Peer Pressure, Don Qixote, ID:a, and 작은 Dragon Three 마리, as some examples of songs where everything lined up and everyone sounded excellent, I think the production really elevates both songs and it's clear they are all much better able to perform if they have a juicy beat to get into (note: that ID:a is a sample of a Logic's Fade Away)
One full group track i feel obligated to mention here is N/S which absolutely shocked me when I first heard it, I'd truly never imagined I'd be hearing a Big Shaq type flow over a near-remake of the Mask Off beat. Honestly, I laughed.
There are a few issues that consistently bug 3racha and SKZ tracks some of which I will tackle in the individual breakdowns but one of which I should mention here. Namely that the transitions between rhythmic and melodic sections of songs (from rapping into a sung hook or from a rap verse into the prechorus for instance) are often sloppy or jarring. Luckily this issue doesn't have as much of an effect on the rap sections themselves but it is something I notice overall and it does affect a lot of the tracks I'm going to mention here.

Bang Chan/CB97:

On full group songs Bang Chan rarely a strong rap presence. It is clear that his focus is a lot more on the production aspect and he often lends himself to the vocal delivery of group songs rather than the rap side preferring to let members like Hyunjin and Felix take over in those places. On 3racha tracks he is also usually the one delivering the fewest bars, but he sings a lot of the hooks. Overall Bang Chan clearly leans more into the production and lyrical side rather than the rapping itself.
When he does rap he is almost always melodic in his delivery, sometimes this follows a clear tune but other times he's not really following a clear melody line all the time but he jumps pitches a lot. Bang Chan has a lot looser adherence to beat than the other 3racha members, his bars tend to be a lot slower tempo and plays around on shortening and lengthening vowels a lot more. He reminds me of a lot of American rappers in the cloud+trap genres, like internet rap.
Although i am not familiar with SKZ's process of production if i had to guess it seems as though Chan is heading up a lot of the songs, I say this mainly because production of the bulk of 3racha tracks was credited to him and I imagine that travelled over to group songs as well.
Strengths:

Chan's focus on melodic delivery has meant that he's really developed in interesting sound in that area.
- Awkward Silence is a more basic version of this but it works well! Simple but sweet.
- This melodic delivery is especially at home on an east coast style beat such as in Don Qixote When there's jazzy or melodic elements front and center in the beat Chan plays really really well off of them.
- On Shhh and Cloud 9 Chan shows off what i mean by his cloud sensibilities. The melodic movement in this verse is really compelling and it's something i'd love to see more of and the much looser beat adherence only adds to the effect.
- When he goes intentionally dissonant from the track like here on Go Live it's killer, a REALLY interesting sound and it brings immediate focus and interest. Just generally i like idol rappers more the weirder they get, but with Chan especially i want MORE weirdness all the time.
- Sometimes that melody line he chooses just WORKS especially on chiller beats, Subway Pt II has a lovely Chan verse especially when he switches to a sing song delivery
He feels totally at home on a trap beat like the original Double Knot. His style fits in damn near perfect.
Chan probably has the most emotive voice of the three and he's worked to be able to deliver differences across different emotional beats.
Probably his greatest strength is just the way he contrasts the other rappers in his group. I actually think this is a pretty overlooked quality of both vocalists and rappers, but sometimes it's not as important whether you're objectively great, but rather that you provide and interesting and intriguing counterpoint for the other members. In this way Chan's melody-driven style is a great addition to the group.

Weaknesses:

Reliance on very basic flows for the majority of his verses for instance in Alchemistry, nothing stand out or interesting going on flow-wise and the verse ends on "forever" which has no paired rhyme to it.
The man is an English speaker and writes lines in English so I can actually critique that lmao...
- Some truly just baffling lines.... what does this mean ??? Why would that hurt my feelings??? Why are orcas walking??? What is happening
- Maze of Memories evokes even more questions. Although I like what he's going for with dense multisyllabic the lyrics simply don't hold up on closer inspection. What is an open fair? What do Citadels have to do with this and why do you want to tell it to dream? More importantly was "dream" really the only rhyme for "dream" that we could come up with?
- just some exceptionally corny bars, Start Line's Lyrics are full of them. And I honestly love how he starts it like pretending he's giving a graduation speech that's clever but.... ok first of all \a problem throughout is having hanging rhymes, basically words that should have a rhyming pair but just don't, "heart" "opinion" "myself" "instinct" "curious" are all left awkwardly without pairs. He also does the linguistic gymnastics to make feline and saiyan rhyme (barely) overall it's just a really oddly structured verse. This verse also happens to be really flat in terms of flow It definitely relies on the audience actively caring about Bang Chan as a person and just loving the story he's telling, but you should be able to tell a good story and deliver it well at the same time, that is LITERALLY the job of a rapper. I'm not a purist in the sense that I think every ending word needs a clear and precise rhyme, i think choppier styles can be effective, but i wouldn't call this choppy i'd call it sloppy (which, coincidentally sounds like a bar Chan himself would write)
His hooks are very very juvenile in a lot of 3racha's early work and even in some recent releases (hooks are incredibly important to rap songs just as much as beats are so I don't feel out of place bringing them up). He is clearly getting better but at the time they were melodically and delivery-wise very bland and sometimes unpleasant enough that I don't wanna hear the song again. For instance I personally really love the "blessings wait for you" hook from For You on paper, but his problem is that the first time it is in a range that is really uncomfortable for him and sounds rather unpleasant, the second time which he sings in falsetto is much better. Hooks, especially rap song hooks, need to be TIGHT and this is something i think he still struggles with.
More of a complaint than a weakness and I know 42 is a track people really admire for it's openness (as do I) but>! "suicide" shouldn't be an adlib you throw into a song like that. It's just not right my guy!<

So in summation... i have some pretty major issues with Chan's work thus far and, since he's moved his focus towards being a vocalist, it is unlikely we will see the return of a fully rapping Chan at any point in the near future. Despite what I've pointed out, however,I would call him a competent idol rapper, capable of being enjoyable and compelling when he tries hard enough. but i have not seen him take it far enough or show consistent engagement for me to rank him higher. His strengths have clearly always been more on the production end and that seems to be where he's keeping them for now.
Ranking: Low/Mid C-Tier

Han Jisung/J.One:

Han is a highly rhythmic rapper, meaning he has a pretty strict adherence to the beat and easy to follow divisions and subdivisions. He rarely if ever travels over beat or subdividing lines with his syllables, though his lines do occasionally. His preferred delivery in the beginning was to have clear and precise diction and enunciation makes his words and consonants pop, more recently he's been moving towards a gruffer delivery in certain songs but he still seems to favor the cleaner sound.
Strengths

His biggest strength here is rhythmic dexterity between fast and slow and switching between different subdivisions. I think this is what most people pick up when they talk about how great he is. As I said in my overview post, speed by itself is not the key to being a good rapper but it is certainly an indicator of skill in areas like diction and rhythmic awareness which Han has.
- Han is exceptionally gifted at high speed delivery and has been roundly praised for this and rightfully as he's probably one of the strongest fast-spitters in kpop right now. Maze of Memories has an excellent example of this, he sounds great here especially the second part of his verse, Complain also has some excellent bars in that same vein (also god that Pusha/Kanye beat is just *chef kiss*). Basically, speed for Han is not just something he pulls out as a party trick or on a verse here or there, it's highly integrated into his style and structure.
He has a lot of energy in all of their tracks and never sounds bored or disinterested even when he's rapping slower like on Shhh he still delivers with quite a bit of energy.
His softer delivery is still really charismatic and he knows when to pull back on rhythmic dexterity to let the lyrics breath. Even the shadow needs light he goes for a really simple delivery for the entire verse and it really adds to just how... heartbreaking it is? Simple flows aren't always the wrong choice and I think this was an example where if he'd tried to add a lot of flourishes it would have detracted from the message.
Another example of a more laidback great delivery from Han is on Easy, probably my fav verse of his off Go生 despite how short it is.
I know I don't normally talk about Korean lyrics but "i wanted to find myself so I called a private detective agency" is hysterical
Han is known as a freestyler. Now i take some issue with this because "freestyle" is usually used to refer to delivery off the dome (off the top of ones head) without prewritten lyrics and all of the freestyles I've seen from him have been either clearly prewritten or getting more preparation time/prewritten material (like there's the idol radio one people reference a lot where he had 2 minutes of hearing the beat to prepare + he used lyrics from Double Knot). HOWEVER! I am still very impressed with his ability to come up with verses under a tight time limit and make them match a beat. He also plays around with rhythmic changes during his freestyles a lot more than other artists might be willing to. I think if he spent time training that skill he COULD absolutely have honest to god freestyle skills.
He just has mad potential. SKZ is still a very young group and I think Han is what? 19 now. I don't think he's at his peak potential by any stretch.

Weaknesses:

Probably the biggest criticism I have with Han is that his vocal quality is so similar to other idol rappers as to be almost indistinguishable. Unlike his groupmate Changbin, he doesn't have a tone that immediately makes him stand out from others.
- Even within his group and even after MULTIPLE listenings of their albums I still found myself on occasion struggling to differentiate Hyunjin and Han. There are a few tells that I can usually pick up, namely that Hyunjin always throws his voice up at various points and Han is much more likely to add speedy rhythm sections, but in terms of timbre my ears still have a hard time telling them apart. When it is only 3racha performing this issue is much less noticeable as both Chan and Changbin are far different from Han, but in full group songs the issue becomes quite pronounced.
- I want to make clear, as I did with Ateez's Mingi last post, that having a common sounding vocal tone is not something people can usually control. Having a naturally unique tone is something only some performers are born with. Additionally, having a common tone doesn't stop someone from being a good rapper HOWEVER a huge component of being a rapper is having a unique delivery which unique vocal tones can create. Han does not naturally have this which puts him at a disadvantage (similar to how having really long limbs might be a disadvantage to a dancer) but there are ways to overcome it.
- The job of a rapper in many ways is to create their "voice" which usually means experimentation in their tone, pitch, and vocal chord strain/relaxation, additionally if the vocal quality itself isn't something they can/want to modulate a rapper can find other ways to distinguish themselves through rhythmic signatures or styles that they stick to. I actually think Han has done this in the past with the speedy rhythmic flow as i mentioned before being his signature. But this isn't something he keeps up all the time and it is difficult for him to stay dexterous on tracks if he needs to be fast in order to make an impression. Speed is good but it isn't always appropriate, and i would push Han to find other ways to make his voice stand out
- The most distinctive delivery style I've heard him use is actually a slightly slower one with drawn vowels and heavy nasality but that gets really sticky in a different way as i'll mention in the next bullet point.
Ok, this is where I'm going to get myself into some of the weeds, Stays please do not read this the wrong way, i don't say any of this out of hatred, it is observation and critique not a character judgment: Han tends to be the most derivative of other artists out of the 3 there have been a number of occasions where Han has sounded distinctly like he is imitating another rapper, Suga probably being the one he noticeably draws from the most. A few examples of this I have found are Runners High, Rock, Awaken and 0325 where both rhythmically and the way he's delivering vowels match completely, (honestly if you just played me his part of 0325 and asked me who i was listening to I'd think it was Suga). I don't think it's coincidental that this has happened quite a few times over multiple tracks, albums, years, and eras is.... concerning. Part of this is stylistic decisions that line up like the half-laugh through some lines that Suga is very known for or specific intonation. There have also been times like here in Cypher 1, where he sounds like he's imitating Zico. I hesitate to call it flow-jacking because I know the implication that carries and I really don't know if this is intentional but it IS an issue, and with Suga and Zico being perhaps the most well known Idol-rappers ever, and having many years seniority over Han, it is Han's problem to fix.
- A better example of him leaning closer to this voice without sounding derivative would be here. I think it's because he's still keeping it dryer and higher and not so oily (describing human voices is hard but I hope you can hear the difference) It plays to his strengths of diction and speed without sounding like a copy of another person's voice.
There are times when he tries to play around with rhyme placement presumably to mix things up but it just doesn't quite hit. 1Million Won has a good example of this, no matter how I slice it that flow doesn't make any sense (unless a korean speaker wants to tell me some lyrical reason why it might be happening). The stretch out of "u - top - i - a" is especially awkward.
Han's singing has improved immensely overtime but he definitely still had issues predebut, so his verse on tracks like Placebo are noticeably out of tune and clearly too high for his voice. He needed to find a lower pitch to deliver. With rapping, "out of tune" might sound weird, but considering he's staying on the same pitch (as opposed to how Changbin does on the same track where he is closer to speaking and therefore changes pitches but without a clear melodic profile) it's really clear when he doesn't hit the right note so to speak.
He does this thing quite often where he ends a line/verse by yelling a single word or sound, often before the final beat of the verse I don't know how to describe it but here are some examples , this is a big pet peeve of mine as it is usually used as a kind of shortcut to emotion or hype but actually ends up shortchanging the listener of a) a rhyme and b) a satisfying ending. Also it is rarely as hype as it's supposed to be. Anyways Han does this a LOT here are a few examples 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 he even did it in that freestyle lmao... at this point i think it might be one of his stylistic quirks but i strongly dislike it for the reasons I laid out already. JUST GIVE ME A FULL VERSE DAMMIT. I'm not saying it's always a bad decision but it's such a cliche at this point not just in idol rap but for Han specifically

Overall Han is an extremely competent rapper, capable of being truly excellent on certain tracks. My main problem, and what holds him back from a higher ranking is the difficult to distinguish vocal tone, and the tendency to derive style from other artists. I want and need to see more of his unique flair in order to rank him higher, that said his core competency for rapping is extremely high and his innate understanding of rhythm, subdivision, and flow is clear and operating at a higher level than most idol rappers.
Ranking: Mid/High B tier

Changbin/SpearB:

Changbin has a mid-low tone and HEAVILY textured voice with a ton of gravelliness and growl added and a tendency to lean into the rougher and even "uglier" facets of his tone. His delivery is often fast and chopper-like, chopper being a genre especially popular in the midwest US relying a lot on aggressive flows and focus on consonant placement and heavy alliteration. You can hear this quality in Changbin both in his speed but also in his enunciation of plosive consonants (p, b, g, d, t, k) where he adds a ton of punch and breath. When he's being less aggressive his voice falls into a mid-tone extremely nasal sound.
If i had to put a comparison point for Changbin's voice out there he reminds me a lot ofEminem (himself a student of Midwest Chopper), the closest voice to his in kpop is slightly higher pitched and more aggressive version of PO from Block B or Bigflo's main rap per Hightop (yeah bet you didn't think you were getting a Bigflo reference when you clicked on this post) But otherwise his vocal quality is pretty rare.
Strengths:

Changbin's unique vocal tone without a doubt one of his best assets and being part of the production and a central member of Stray Kids is a great benefit for him, where a lot of other idol rappers would probably need to tone down their delivery or try and soften the edges of their voice if it was like Changbin's he is REALLY able to have songs that push his style to the forefront, especially when the songs have a bit of rock, grunge, or industrial influence. Grrr, 3Racha SKZ:Player, and Gods Menu and also the intro to My Pace which is just the definition of hype shit
Changbin is particularly good at flow-switching, including while already going at a fast pace of delivery, and his breath control to push through long phrases is very good
- This can be seen here on the original Double Knot where he does a couple of longer sections in one breath each one right after the other. Unfortunately there isn't a live version of this verse which i would have loved to see.
- His verse in District 9 is also one of my favorites especially the flow-switch into double time with two low unstressed + two high stress syllables, (would we call that double-time iambic or is that pretentious) it's such an unexpected an interesting turn to take the music in but it falls right into place especially with how he ends the verse a bit slower to lead into the chorus.
This section in Easy is a great example of a less aggressive delivery from him that totally works. As he talks about how things come easily to him he switches into a much more casual laid back flow after being in his standard gruff delivery. It works for the song and i like this cleaner sound for him.
He has a tendency to use really unexpected rhythmic patterns to switch things up. His opening verse to Mirror has a good example of this, it is a similar delivery to district 9 which is a good way to connect the two tracks next to each other.
- Along with this he also makes unexpected choices in rhyme placement, including going beyond bar lines and finishing the rhyme in an off kilter fashion like here in Eunseoki
His voice pairs well with autotune and other vocal effects like on Gone Days and Cloud 9, something SKZ have been getting more into every comeback,
Unexpected and absolutely DELICIOUS rhyme schemes carrying across songs like in the song Alchemistry where he uses the "-ae/-wae" rhyme for the ENTIRE VERSE he puts in some other little couplets + rhythmic switches too but he keeps coming back to it the whole verse i just.... bro THAT is how you make a verse feel effortless
Some excellent use of consonants for rhythmic effects (and makes me wish I spoke Korean just so I could talk about wordplay), examples of this in Broken Compass with the b, d, and n syllables delivered in rhythmic yet still unexpected ways.
His laid-back delivery has some issues that I will explore in the next section but when he hits it, wow. Don Qixote especially fits so well
Changbin on a jazz beat? Changbin on a jazz beat Ok fuck i have to fan about this because jeez so the first 3 lines end with the "-illa/-iller" rhyme and then you expect it for the 4th and there's a word in there that has the "illa" sound (or something similar) BUT THE line KEEPS GOING ！！！ Little things like that just absolutely thrill me.
I'm sure some people might expect me to say that his shouty aggressive delivery is too much but honestly.... if you have a style and it's really truly YOURS i can't be mad at it. All my problems with shouty boy rap are that they are often a substitute for style or artistry or as a quick substitute for skill or training, but Changbin gives me all of that not despite his aggressive delivery but through/because of it. I don't find it grating, nor do i find that he skimps on dynamics. The style feels natural to him rather than something forced, it feels like something he arrived at after a period of exploration and experimentation, and it is a truly additive component to SKZ's work.

Weaknesses:

When he isn't spitting hard and attempts a more laid back delivery i think he has a tendency to lose a lot of his power to the point that he sounds quite uninterested. That would be ok if the songs he were doing that to were about boredom/nonchalance but in songs that don't it can sound out of place, Pacemaker, the song after Easy, has an example of this... he's talking about lifting you up with 10 thousand troops but he sounds bored as hell.
Most melodic deliveries he's tried in the past and they have been, middling, not bad but nothing that stood out. I think there's a lot of room for growth here and he might still find a sound in that lane that works better for him, but as of now it's not at the same level as his other styles.
In the context of a group song where he only has 4 bars to express himself Changbin sometimes struggles to deliver on the versatility he is capable of. This was especially apparent on the Go Live album, He clearly thrives in longer verses where he is able to develop a full arc, but these are very rare in a group context and he hasn't been as effective in adapting his delivery to fit that.
Also like... clearly this man was not meant for softer heartfelt tracks because his default is just... kinda mad sounding. He does well in songs where the primary emotion is anger, pain, grief or frustration but other emotions he still struggles to employ fully
- Here on For You where his slightly-to-very angry emotional range feels really odd and out of place, that said he does have a different and, to my ears, more appropriate sound later that same song. While I've already made clear i love his rough delivery there are times where he relies on it even in songs where that is simply not the appropriate sound. another example is On Track also his verse on Awkward Silence verse.
- I so wanted to love his SKZ-player solo but that cheesy beat is simply not meant for him. He's not skipping on the flows but the beat simply does not serve his strengths. Give the man some grit!

Before writing up this post I actually hadn't dived very deeply into SKZ music (because the title tracks were never enough to really grab my interest tbh) but in doing this I've been extremely impressed by Changbin at every turn. Not only does he have a ton of technical skill and competency but he has one of the most unique deliveries of an idol-rapper period. His vocal tone is really unique in the kpopverse and, after listening to many many idol rappers who start to all blend together, hearing something that sounds so purposefully distinct was so refreshing.
While there are some group tracks that don't play to his strengths and where he sounds a bit disconnected from the feeling of the track, this is far outweighed by the number of times he is the total standout. This opinion might change if Stray Kids started releasing only midtempo, upbeat and bright tracks, but as it is now there is about 1-2 tracks per SKZ album where I feel Changbin doesn't fit as well and then the rest of them he stands out as the best part of the song. It is really rare for me to feel like one rapper consistently steals the show (scene stealer if you will), but Changbin does it, i think he is clearly not just the best in his group but one of the best idol rappers active. Easily top 10 for me. I'm not heaping this praise on him easily, I do still have issues and areas for further growth, but I find his sound and confidence extremely engaging on every single track.
Changbin seems like he would be a great candidate to put out a solo mixtape, I'd love to see how he handles more hardcore beats (think ones like Tony Montana from Agust D-1), anything with a good guitar riff or a heavy sub-bass, he also does really well with industrial hiphop, but all of that said I also want MORE jazz Changbin and MORE east coast hiphop Changbin, give the man a hardcore hiphop beat plEASE. The way for him to rank higher at this point is simply to show me some solo work, do some collabs, and take it beyond the kpop-sphere.
Ranking: Mid A tier

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GeForce RTX 3090 Review Megathread

GeForce RTX 3090 reviews are up.

Below is the compilation of all the reviews that have been posted so far. I will be updating this continuously throughout the day with the conclusion of each publications and any new review links. This will be sorted alphabetically.

Written Articles

Anandtech - TBD

Arstechnica - TBD

PC Perspective - TBD

TechGage - Workstation benchmark!

The FPS Review - TBD

Video Review

Bitwit - TBD

Tech of Tomorrow

Former investment bank FX trader: some thoughts

Why it matters

Capital and position sizing

Kelly Criterion

How to use stop losses sensibly

Picking a clear level

Coming up in part II

Coming up in part III

[OT] Ten Months ago I responded to a prompt about wandering into a cave and finding a world with tamable monsters. Today, Into the Tall Grass is a published novel!

LPT: If you have a lot of free time at the moment, you can generate a little income on the side by doing online work like teaching english, transcription, microtasks or surveys. It's not a fortune but if you have time to spare anyway it's a good way to pay a few bills. (list of sites attached)

Unleashed pt. 37

Idol-Rapper Analysis #2 - 4th Gen Boy Groups pt2 (Stray Kids-3Racha)

Stray Kids: Bang Chan + Han + Changbin

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