Just curious, what are his reasons for not wanting to upgrade?

In the US there’s the saying “you can’t squeeze water from a stone”

Belt loops would have been for Cub Scouts. Merit badges are for Boy Scouts. There’s definitely plenty you can do at home for both, but with merit badges you need a merit badge counselor, who may or may not be your leader

Sensei of my domain

Arcane. Hands down 10/10 on practically every possible metric, but the thing that really got me was the way they portray trauma and the subsequent impact on mental health. I work with folks who have experienced trauma and I thought this was one of the best depictions of the aftermath I had ever seen in media.

Also, this is a perfect depiction of a Greek tragedy, in the sense that everything ends in tragedy not despite, but because of everyone’s best intentions. As the story unfolds you understand everyone’s motivations and they all make sense. There’s no perfectly good or bad characters, just a lot of people doing the best they can with the cards they were dealt.

Overall I enjoyed it. I really liked the setting of the French Revolution and the way that the Church allied itself with darkness in the face of an existential threat. Very relevant I think to many religious institutions today.

I REALLY liked Olrox. An Aztec vampire that can transform into a serpent god? Yes please. And they made him a three dimensional character, neither totally good or bad.

I agree that more time could have been spent on Rictor and Marie’s upbringing, but that wasn’t critical. I assume Rictor just comes by his skills naturally by way of being a Belmont and doesn’t need formal training. Marie was obviously trained by her mom. I really liked her power of conjuring creatures from another dimension, especially that one particular moment on the last battle with her foot.

Anne was a cool character but I agree she took too much responsibility for Eduoard’s death. But she’s also young and he was one of her only friends, so I can also kind of understand. She has a lot of growing to do.

I thought the idea of reformed Night Creatures was intriguing. Elizabeth Bartlett was underdeveloped as a villain, and Drolta wasn’t much better. Grandpa Belmont coming out of left field was weird and didn’t add much to the story since he didn’t do much.

Whatever it’s flaws, they weren’t enough for me to not enjoy it.

Seymour! Gaza’s on fire!

That’s why I always go alone…

I’d keep it the same, but with blackjack and hookers!

Here’s a good discussion on why you should vary your news sources along with some charts to show how sources vary and specific examples given. Maybe you can find what you’re looking for in there.