Anyone remember in the 2000s when GM had hybrid versions of full-size body-on-frame SUVs and trucks - such as the Escalade and Silverado - that were barely any more fuel efficient than their pure ICE counterparts? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

This is why it is hard to role play as a dedicated mage in Skyrim, especially considering destruction spells are the only magic type that cause direct damage in the game. Once you start using physical weapons like bows or swords, you’re not really a traditional mage anymore and are more of a hybrid class of sorts.

The robes intended for mage style gameplay also do nothing to absorb damage, even if they buff magic in various ways, so expect to get one shotted a lot if you go that route. I suppose they probably intended you to use ward spells to try and absorb and deflect incoming attacks.

Underground’s AI was programmed so that their vehicles upgrades were based on the player’s, or they try and keep on par with you. However, people found out this also applied to downgrading your vehicle, or if you made your car slower, the AI would do the same. People would take advantage of that by doing that so that more difficult tracks with lots of obstacles to crash into were easier to play, and since the AI cars were never truly faster than you, it worked.

This is what the Safer Seas servers are supposed to do, and that is only feature PvE gameplay. The announcement and implementation hasn’t been all well received by the fan base because there is a faction that sees PvP is critical to the SoT experience, and this will just split the playerbase. In their words, if you don’t want to deal with PvP, the game isn’t for you.

While Ford had a major product placement deal with that movie (which resulted in an early reveal of the not for sale yet S550 in the film), I think they really wanted Tobey to drive a hypercar in the final race, and I highly suspect they really had to talk Ford into letting the hero car get wrecked and sitting it out.

To give you an idea how Ford can get with positive portrayal of their products in films, the Transformers films are a good example. The reason why Barricade was a Saleen S281 was Ford apparently didn’t give permission for the Mustang to appear badged as a Ford in the film as an antagonist or a Decepticon, so using a S281 was a back-door way of getting a Mustang in without being an actual Ford Mustang, or a technicality. When Barricade returned in The Last Knight in 2017, he became an S550 Mustang, but the screen car had no Ford or Mustang badging. More telling though is any merchandise and toys of Barricade sold at the time used a non-screen accurate design that looked nothing like a Mustang, almost like Ford’s legal team said the Mustang design was trademarked and Hasbro couldn’t even use it without any Ford badging.

Up here in Canada, we didn’t get the last two generations of the Sable because Ford decided to pull the plug on Mercury in this country in the year 2000, with the exception of the Grand Marquis which continued to be sold at Ford dealerships until the Panther chassis was discontinued. I should note civilian sales of the Crown Vic ended in Canada after 2000, so the Grand Marquis was the closest thing the Canadian public could get to a new Crown Vic off of a Ford dealership during the 2000s.

One thing I have noticed is that other than Volkswagen, most European brands sold in North America today are premium, that is, they are marketed as higher-end. VW prior to Fiat’s return was the only “commoner” Euro brand in NA, and arguably the most successful one. The French also tried with their mass market makes such as Citroen, Peugeot, and Renault in the past, but they all tanked eventually, and none of them have been had an official presence for over three decades in Canada or the US now.

Fiat looked like it was initially on track to succeed in NA, but as you said, it almost seems like they are on their way to their second exit from the continent.

• Set off a nuclear bomb, killing thousands of civilians and military personnel.
• Particpated in a mass shooting at an airport (find the Easter Egg of a baby crying in a locked bathroom, presumably with a mother to realize just how fucked up the shooting was).
• Mass shooting results in a false flag that Makarov partially orchestrated, which leads to Russia invading the US and likely causing more innocent casualties.

There was so much satisfaction watching Price wrap a winch cable around Makarov’s neck and looking at the fear in the latter’s eyes when he realized he was going to die as Price caused him to fall. I think if Makarov had existed IRL, even fairly passive people would be calling for his head.

You know you are getting old when you see there are people that don’t remember the early 2000s TJ Unlimited were set up like this, or think it is notable trivia.