Lurker > Sheep007

Madoka

FOCUS ENERGY
+3 Krookodile
+2 Pikipek
+1 Chimchar
-1 Cottonee
-2 Surskit
-3 Basculin

ASTRAL BARRAGE
+3 Floatzel
+2 Chien-Pao
+1 Centiskorch
-1 Grumpig
-2 Aipom
-3 Mewtwo

Two stacked divisions. Astral Barrage has three of my top 20-ish Pokemon, and a full half of Focus Energy would get my +3 on most days.

Glad Muse dropped there. The album sounds great but lacks substance and something to push it from solid to exceptional. I was kinda expecting to be the bottom ranker. Don't really mind what wins now, although I don't think it's my #1 or #4.

1. Closer
2. Ruiner
3. I Do Not Want This
4. Hurt
5. March of the Pigs
6. Heresy
7. The Becoming
8. Eraser
9. A Warm Place
10. Mr. Self Destruct
11. Reptile
12. Piggy
13. Big Man With a Gun
14. The Downward Spiral

Took me a few songs to get into this, but this is a really strong concept album. Closer in particular is absolutely phenomenal. The whole thing is almost a little too intense, a little too focused on a glob of thoroughly negative feeling for me to enjoy it as much as I might other albums. That said, I don't have to want to listen on repeat to recognise how good it is.

No! Trubbish! It's an adorable lil sack of trash why did it finish last :(

Dancing in the Dark is great, everything else on Born in the USA is very mediocre. Working on the Highway will never leave my head and it is a curse. Relistening for this ranking was a mistake.

A tad surprised to see Automatic for the People dropping there. It feels like very palatable rock with a bit of pathos behind it, and I think a few marginally weaker albums which fit that description have landed higher.

Still, with Springsteen out, we have my 1, 4, 5, 6 and 9 remaining. Can't complain with this, I think any of my top five would be very worthy winners. I expect Disintegration next, I think it's too polarising to have gotten any of those top four scores.

Follow Slowly is really good. Feel I may have underranked it a little on reflection, but I feel it struggles to be a super cohesive album.

FLAME WHEEL
+3 Ferroseed
+2 Shroomish
+1 Bidoof
-1 Blastoise
-2 Politoed
-3 Natu

BELCH
+3 Drifblim
+2 Dhelmise
+1 Inkay
-1 Hitmonchan
-2 Magby
-3 Chikorita

OCTAZOOKA
+3 Serperior
+2 Woobat
+1 Beartic
-1 Cyclizar
-2 Urshifu
-3 Deerling

PAIN SPLIT
+3 Kingambit
+2 Glimmet
+1 Aurorus
-1 Iron Boulder
-2 Blissey
-3 Unfezant

PIKA PAPOW
+3 Trubbish
+2 Sigilyph
+1 Iron Valiant
-1 Bagon
-2 Mantyke
-3 Giratina

AMNESIA
+3 Trumbeak
+2 Rockruff
+1 Scolipede
-1 Regidrago
-2 Azelf
-3 Spinda

Amnesia is probably the most stacked division so far. Everything aside from the -s would get a +2 or +3 in pretty much anything else.

My expected finishing positions

1. Black Holes and Revelations
2. The Suburbs
3. Siamese Dream
4. Automatic for the People
5. Illinois
6. That! Feels Good!
7. Born in the U.S.A.
8. Franz Ferdinand
9. Disintegration
10. Follow Slowly

I expect to be horribly wrong because I had Art Angels dropping around here in the last cycle and it won the whole thing (and Queen winning, but they dropped shockingly early). The only ones I don't think have any shot are Follow Slowly (which is probably next?) and Franz Ferdinand. The rest of the bottom six are probably too divisive so I'm inclined to guess it'll be one of the top four. They've got pretty sizeable leads over fifth.

If the players don't want to play internationals they can simply refuse. They're there because they want to be.

I don't really care about friendlies but international tournaments get way more viewers, and people globally care more about them (especially for the World Cup, but even the average Euros game outstrips the average weekly viewing of all ten Premier League games - roughly 100m per Euros game, 80m per Prem gameweek). While I kinda dislike that breaks are so frequent (it's moreso in early season that I feel disrupts the flow), they need to play the qualifiers at some point. No space for them to be played in May, that makes it basically impossible for fans to make arrangements for major tournaments or teams to prepare. And international tournaments themselves are typically far less soulless than the Prem or CL. I loved Swansea being in the Premier League and Europe but it was nothing compared to watching Wales make the Euros semis.

I agree that extra fixtures (particularly the League Cup) should probably go, in the English system. The big clubs are so far ahead of others in terms of depth and finances these days that it's not even like we get interesting underdog stories anymore, and most fans of those teams don't care anyway, so may as well chop it.

TRIPLE DIVE
+3 Carbink
+2 Honedge
+1 Crocalor
-1 Duosion
-2 Zygarde
-3 Enamorus

HYPER BEAM
+3 Falinks
+2 Rhydon
+1 Sirfetch'd
-1 Patrat
-2 Chewtle
-3 Chingling

Glad one of the two will qualify for Euros (I suspect Wales if only due to home advantage) but the final will be horrible.

Water Sport Division
+3 Garbodor
+2 Runerigus
+1 Lokix
-1 Bruxish
-2 Beheeyem
-3 Bastiodon

ELECTROWEB DIVISION
+3 Drilbur
+2 Mabostiff
+1 Silicobra
-1 Finizen
-2 Dewgong
-3 Purugly

I care about both Poland and Wales and will be simultaneously watching them lose tonight. Particularly looking forward to the embarrassment of struggling against Estonia.

SAND TOMB
+3 Flaaffy
+2 Frillish
+1 Herdier
-1 Trapinch
-2 Trevenant
-3 Gimmighoul

MAX DARKNESS
+3 Togedemaru
+2 Wo-Chien
+1 Banette
-1 Wailord
-2 Wobbuffet
-3 Ambipom

I really dug Magdalene. It's rare that I hear a song for the first time and get frisson, but that's what happened with Sad Day. Was hoping to see it a lot higher than this, I think it's a genuinely spectacular album.

You'll do great if you choose to go for it, Lea. Best of luck to whoever gives it a shot!

Me and IGCD repped GameFAQs in a hydra series back in like 2019. I will claim that as the sole CE representation on MU, and also probably the best reason to stick with og B8ers because we went straight out. Nailed scum but managed to look scummy as hell ourselves, as per tradition.

I checked out that playlist you linked and it (and Lovestory) is great background music. Definitely not surprised to see this drop in the middle. It fills that niche that The xx did in the last cycle, where I can just stick it on and relax. There's not a ton of substance, as you say, and if you aren't super into it there's not much reason for it to be around the middle, so I'm also not surprised to see the polarisation.

Dragon types suck huh.

I think they're hampered a lot by legendaries being meh. Pretty much every gen has one good mon or line, and then everything else varies from meh to dreadful. Voted 4 because the Gible line is amazing and the ratio of good to meh is higher than any other gen, but 2 and 6 are also decent enough. Gen 9 has so many good additions but the dragons are almost all bad.

1) Gasoline
2) How Do I Make You Love Me?
3) Take My Breath
4) Less Than Zero
5) Every Angel is Terrifying
6) Sacrifice
7) Out of Time
8) Phantom Regret by Jim
9) Is There Someone Else?
10) Dont Break My Heart
11) A Tale By Quincy
12) Starry Eyes
13) Dawn FM
14) I Heard Youre Married
15) Best Friends
16) Here We Go Again

Great album. Starts off incredibly strong, and I think it's a little weaker in the middle and towards the end. Overall it's got pretty great theming - the intermissions really bring things together. I kinda wish the best songs were dotted around a bit more, because I was really excited after the first four, and then it mostly didn't hit the same highs, although Less than Zero is very good as well. I'm a little surprised to see The Weeknd at #1 on monthly streams on Spotify, but Blinding Lights was huge, and there's some great tracks on here - it's overall a super palatable album, without totally playing it safe.

Luton would just be screwed in this scenario, because they only finalised the charges this season and so would be applied in 24/25. Feels a bit unfair to reward whoever is in trouble next season with an easier task, when it's this season and last where Forest have had an advantage.

City case is 115 charges. No surprises it's taking forever to figure it out.

I also kinda agree acting on them mid-season is weird, it leaves teams not knowing where the hell they stand in the table, possibly even after the final day. Although the alternative is only punishing teams after their breaches, and directly hindering the teams they were competing against closer to the time of the breaches. Not sure that sits right with me either.

Floaty Fall

+3 Entei
+2 Mothim
+1 Vileplume
-1 Swalot
-2 Shiinotic
-3 Meloetta

Dark Void

+3 Houndstone
+2 Machop
+1 Wooper
-1 Gyarados
-2 Igglybuff
-3 Gholdengo

I woulda bought this easily for 15, maybe even for the sale price, if it wasn't dogshit. The original Battlefront 2 was the first multiplayer game I ever got properly into, and probably my most played video game of all time. What a ridiculous mess.

I beat it on I think the 8th attempt, and it didn't feel like I missed much lore. A lot of the conversations are just based on the number of times you've seen certain characters.

Gen 9 is by far the best. None below fine, and the sheer number of good ones beats out gen 2. The ruin legends are the best legends we've gotten since gen 3.

Didn't sound critical, don't worry! I think this is exclusive to Christmas songs for me, and I don't think either of us are processing this in a weird way. I'm not sure I particularly like them in the first place, so I think my desire to hear them is reduced further when they're not relevant, but they just sound wrong to listen to in, say, early spring. Maybe it's because I grew up in a church school and only sung the associated hymns right around Christmas, so they're exclusively associated with the season in my head.

Peace Beyond Passion was a very solid album, though I expected it to score fairly low. Like Sade, it's gorgeous but there's not really any standout hits. Her emotion really comes through in every song, and I wish it clicked for me more, but it was a great addition to the cycle.

No real comment on Crash Kings. I think it's the least memorable of all these albums, almost nothing stood out. It sounds alright, but didn't draw me in at all.

Just picked this up. Died four times to the start of the tutorial because I was trying to optimise it, before winning my first run (still on the tutorial seed) by taking the joker which increased the multiplier every time I didn't play a face card, and then deleting every face card I had.

Felt weird to rank this one. I didnt listen to it at Christmas and I honestly cant stand the holiday (nor a lot of Christmas songs). Listening in February was very strange. I also never watched much Peanuts. I didn't know what the hell to do with it, because its nice but completely removed from the context it feels off. Theres only so high a Christmas album can go, really.

DEFOG
+3 Weezing
+2 Groudon
+1 Snorlax
-1 Milcery
-2 Unown
-3 Cinderace

MALICIOUS MOONSAULT
+3 Wooloo
+2 Sandile
+1 Flygon
-1 Doublade
-2 Clamperl
-3 Hoopa

Yo I don't even like Adele all that much but what the fuck? This finished below the Christmas album?

-MAX STONESURGE
+3 Bellossom
+2 Corsola
+1 Simisear
-1 Medicham
-2 Gengar
-3 Shellder

RAZOR WIND
+3 Morelull
+2 Xurkitree
+1 Pinsir
-1 Palafin
-2 Orthworm
-3 Tinkatuff

Love Deluxe grew on me a lot and coulda been a little higher. I think lacking a standout hit really brought it down for some (myself kinda included), but the album as a whole is beautiful.

Overheat
+3 Shinx
+2 Charmander
+1 Espeon
-1 Spidops
-2 Spoink
-3 Treecko

Ice Hammer
+3 Rolycoly
+2 Kricketune
+1 Altaria
-1 Ribombee
-2 Luvdisc
-3 Electrode

1) Dorset Perception
2) Around the World in a Tea Daze
3) StarShpongled Banner
4) Once Upon the Sea of Blissful Awareness
5) My Head Feels Like a Frisbee
6) A New Way To Say Hooray!
7) Shpongleyes
8) Room 2
9) Flute Fruit - I love you Flute Fruit. I promise it's not personal, but I can't justify putting the mellow outro ahead of anything else here

What an incredible album. Gestunkenflucht indeed. I'm fine with a track ranking for something like this, I think by my third listen they were distinct enough to pick one song out from another. The only reason I'd consider avoiding ranking is that it would be a disservice to Shpongle to put one part of this album above any other. I have been listening to Shpongle constantly this past week while writing my thesis and I can feel my mind expanding. I really, really cannot emphasise how much I enjoyed this. Listen to Shpongle.

I think that's about where this album deserves. It was talked about a lil harshly in-topic, but it really has the depth of a puddle. I at least remember the good bits of every other album thirty seconds after listening! It's cheesy and fun enough but I wish there was more substance.

The really good ones obviously get their revenue from streams, prize money from competitions and selling their souls to sponsors, in much the same way professional chess players operate. The mediocre trainers definitely supplement their income through other jobs. And the ones who suck are just hobbyists handing out pocket money as courtesy.

Also, not to get all palworldy but there is definitely a market for catching and selling the cool pokemon that rich people can't catch themselves

DRAGON HAMMER
+3 Dragonair
+2 Growlithe
+1 Durant
-1 Ludicolo
-2 Scatterbug
-3 Munchlax

MAKE IT RAIN
+3 Victreebel
+2 Tyrunt
+1 Ampharos
-1 Registeel
-2 Perrserker
-3 Arceus

FoolFantastic posted...

Eh, you really shouldn't take a single work as representative of its entire era. Several of the still best hip hop albums came out in the two years that followed and sound much closer to modern hip hop. Raising Hell was very specifically pushing a blend of rap rock that reads more as a gimmick these days. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Paid in Full, and Straight Outta Compton all hold up, as does "The Message" from four years earlier.

That's fair, I can't say I'm the most knowledgeable about the genre. I think most of the hip hop I do enjoy has been post-2000, I've struggled to get into even the earlier albums I've been recommended (some of which you mentioned).

I'm also glad to have listened to Raising Hell, it was nice to see a progenitor of modern hip-hop, a genre I enjoy but have never gotten really invested in. This one just didn't personally do anything for me, I found even the classics grating and the worst songs almost instant skips. The genre has come a long way.

Thankfully, we got through all of the albums I disliked in the first three! They're all fine or better from here.

I'm shocked that got a 2 ranking. Not a fan, I was constantly thinking I'd rather have listened to any of the songs being parodied and wanting to listen to something else is not the best mindset for an album. It's also not very funny. Probably should have ranked it 24th, on reflection.

I expect Get Your Heart On to go soon. It'll probably get some midranks though, and I think a few people who submitted rankings found it pretty fun. It's definitely more palatable than Disco Volante and I'm not surprised it finished ahead of the gimmick album.

I also really don't like Howl's Moving Castle, for some reason that I've never been able to put my finger on. Glad some others feel the same. Not as huge on Ghibli overall as many others are, but there's something beautiful and tranquil about their movies that no other studio can replicate, and Howl's doesn't capture it for me.

SKETCH
+3 Toxapex
+2 Joltik
+1 Aerodactyl
-1 Gossifleur
-2 Miraidon
-3 Silcoon

HARDEN
+3 Cascoon
+2 Aegislash
+1 Fletchling
-1 Emboar
-2 Scizor
-3 Gothorita

Cascoon supremacy

I'm guessing Adele and R.E.M. will be near the top for this one, they feel the most universally palatable. I assume one of those would be the album getting votes from everyone, too, although I think The Cure with Lovesong and possibly a few others (which I won't name in case anyone wants to be surprised by my votes) could do the same. I couldn't begin to guess what the others in the top four would be, though, and I also don't think Sade will be at the bottom, despite not getting any song votes.

Thanks for hosting this, Sean, and to FoolFantastic for running this every week! It seems like a ton of work and y'all have been doing it for quite some time now.

Disco Volante has cool concepts but unfortunately isn't fun to listen to. I think aggressively annoying sums it up very well, there's some neat experimental stuff in there but that doesn't make a good album. You can hear how it influenced some things on California (their later 1999 album which is actually pretty cool and way more palatable), but I'm glad it got dead last and by quite some distance.

Arsenal are good but I don't think they're quite there yet. You've got way harder fixtures than everyone else too, I don't think it's impossible for them to win the title but they're easily third favourites even with the Liverpool injuries and City being inconsistent given how good both sides have been under pressure in the past. Not just hoping but expecting to win at City by a few goals is beyond silly, even a draw would be a very solid result.

PSYCHIC TERRAIN
+3 Makuhita
+2 Hariyama
+1 Rhyperior
-1 Lapras
-2 Duraludon
-3 Clefairy

AGILITY
+3 Omastar
+2 Mandibuzz
+1 Iron Jugulis
-1 Quagsire
-2 Iron Leaves
-3 Snubbull

Flamigo at least has the decency to be very silly in competitive, Seel is just the most boring Pokemon in existence in every single aspect.

Liquidation
+3 Cursola
+2 Skuntank
+1 Blitzle
-1 Charizard
-2 Meditite
-3 Chespin

Bone Club
+3 Pawniard
+2 Rhyhorn
+1 Kadabra
-1 Jirachi
-2 Maushold
-3 Kecleon