Here is the Top 10 Women's Online Clothing Stores
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Looking for Best online shopping sites in India or Top 10 2019 shopping website in India, here during this post we tend to about to tell you Top 10 Indian online shopping sites 2019. Online shopping has been growing very fast in India & World, Only in 2018 online searching e-commerce website range has crossed 1400 from 100. online shopping offers quick, easy, money saving and attention-grabbing shopping expertise, it's several benefits like 24 hours shopping, Shopping with coupon to induce discount, Shopping from Home, High product handiness and specifications etc. Additionally currently several sites like Shopclues, ebay, PayTm offers some nice deals a day or week that you cannot resist like Jaw Dropping Deal, Sunday Fela Deal, PayTm Karo, eBay, Amazon Lightning Deals, Sankalp deals, Homeshop18.com Superdeals, Flipkart offers, Amazon Happy Hours etc.
Online shopping has its drawbacks too, we tend to cannot touch and feel the item, delay in shipping, shipping charges create product costly specially in low price things, A risk of losing your cash, purloined your card details etc. eBay and Amazon are unit the market leaders in online looking within the world. but native looking deal website area unit additional common in the Republic of India. Here could be a list of common Women’s Clothing Stores Online websites providing on-line looking the Republic of India.
Which Are The Best Online Shopping Sites In India?
Here is a list of best and popular online shopping websites in India…

• Myntra

An equally sizable amount of girls favor myntra. Myntra additionally includes a sizable amount of accessories and garments on its online portal. it's an outsized variety of classes further and one should buy from a class of their decisions. From western to ethnic to ancient, every kind of garments squares measures sold-out on myntra.
Score (5.12) Myntra.com is leading online merchandiser of life-style and fashion product. Myntra offers Clothing, T-shirts, Shoes, watches and a lot of at discounted value.

• Amazon

A large variety of individuals from India swear by the services of Amazon. Amazon and Flipkart area unit invariably at war with one another and area unit invariably at shut heels. Amazon has AN equally sizable amount of product as Flipkart. In fact, Amazon apparently sells over Flipkart. Since Amazon is AN yank company, it lacks the desi style that will be most well-liked by AN Indian. it might be informed Indianise its Indian domain. it might then be a second hit amongst the lots.
Score (4.15)- World leader in e-commerce market recently started operation in the Republic of India, currently Indians can purchase Books, Women's Clothing and Electronic at cheaper worth from Amzon.in. For restricted time they providing free shipping.

• Flipkart

Flipkart ethnic wear assortment can leave you spoiled for selection. From sarees together with net sarees, banarasi sarees , designer sarees etc, dress materials, kurtas and kurtis , trousers suits to lehenga cholis, we have a tendency to host the total package. look from the largest names within the fashion scene together with Libas, W, Aurelia, Biba and international Desi among dozens of others. Filter at intervals color, pattern, theme, discount, size and complete for best results.
Score (4.24) - based in 2004 with solely Rs. 400000 currently in 2014 tuned over 60,000 large integer company. you'll not solely purchase books online through Flipkart, however conjointly mobile phones & mobile accessories, laptops, laptop accessories, cameras, movies, music, televisions, refrigerators, air-conditioners, washing-machines, Clothing, Footwear, Accessories, MP3 players and merchandise from a number of alternative classes. when takeover of letsbuy.com currently Flipkart is largest player of e-commerce of India.

• Snapdeal

Snapdeal could be a fully Indian web site and is commonly most well-liked by the plenty for its low-cost rates. It sells a product at extremely low costs and thus, could be a favorite of the plenty. it's an honest plan to shop for from Snapdeal if you're searching for fully low-cost costs. However, there are times once shoppers have complained of the product of Snapdeal and thus, a number of them be from Snapdeal.
Score (4.52)SnapDeal offers everything from native daily deals on restaurants, spas, travel on-line product deals. they provide you best value with free shipping.

• Limeroad

Limeroad is that the noted apparels on-line looking platform for each trendy men and girls.. Not solely apparels, they need the attractive assortment of girls shoes. Now, you'll look from the only store that has varied type of trendy merchandise for men and girls. Limeroad website for Women Clothing Online- Shop Fashion for Women Online in india. Buy Women Clothes, Apparels at Limeroad.com. Online shopping for women in India buy dresses, footwear, accessories.

• Shoppersstop

Don’t we tend to simply like to shop? What with work and every one the opposite chores we've got to try and do it's very troublesome to try and do our favorite factor – Shopping! With an abrupt surge in demand for a whole on-line looking store, we've got stepped up to the challenge. Shoppersstop.com provides the simplest in on-line buying ladies. Here you'll notice the simplest deals in girls apparels, womens accessories amongst others moreover as a excessiveness of brands. Shoppersstop’s on-line store for ladies, men, youngsters and even home can offer one lots of classes and choices to settle on from.

• Shopclues

Shopclues is legendary for his or her heavily discounted best looking deals. Shopclues is one in every of the most effective online stores that provides a large form of cameras, pc accessories, Mobile, Gift, Jewellery, Cosmetics, toys, clothes, books and bag.
score (5.60)- Shopclues is known for his or her heavily discounted Jaw Dropping deals. Shopclues is one among the most effective online stores that gives a good form of cameras, laptop accessories, Mobile, Gift, Jewellery, Cosmetics, toys, clothes, books and bag. Their Jaw Dropping deal has become the most likable deal of 2012.

• Jabong
• Jabong is once more associate degree yank whole however looks to be doing alright in India. it's an oversized variety garment |of garments} and accessories purchasable and maybe a complete paradise for people who love buying clothes. it's every kind of product from western wear to desi Kurtis and it'd be fun to sit down home and buy garments on jabong. Jabong is to a fault most popular by ladies shoppers.

Score (5.09) Jabong Fashion Store offers you excellent discount on all listed product.They offers big selection of merchandise from attire to Home desires.

• Koovs

Koovs is that the impressive on-line looking platform for each men and girls in India. They provide form of merchandise like jewelry, clothing, shoes and alternative trendy merchandise for men and girls Koovs is totally galvanized by the international runways wherever they provide international ranges at the nice value instantly at your step. Also, they provide discounts time to time on varied brands across the world.
Koovs offers best offers in dining, luxury, technology, entertainment, utilities, health care, fashion, travel and many a lot of.

• Overstock
• Overstock is lead in Women’s Clothing Store They provide form of merchandise like Jewelry clothing, shoes and alternative trendy Traders for men and girls Overstock is totally galvanized by the international runways wherever they provide international ranges at the nice value instantly at your step.

My name is Jared A. Brock. Having just turned 35, I sat down to reflect on everything I’ve learned so far and made a list of the things I wish I learned far sooner. None of these are rules or commands for you to follow, just personal reflections from a decade of journaling. I hope they save you a lot of time, energy, and struggle:

1. “Save the best for last” is terrible advice.

A French monk taught me this one. Every morning, I put on the newest pair of socks in my drawer. Why wear the rattiest pair? When I sit down to eat, I eat the tastiest bits first. Why let them get cold? After every shower, I put on my favorite clean t-shirt. I have a great bottle of 10-year-old Laphroaig scotch in my cupboard, but I probably won’t drink it for months because I received two bottles of reactor-aged Lost Spirits single malt for Christmas.
Why? Because life is hard enough and we aren’t promised tomorrow. This doesn’t mean we should throw caution to the wind and “live in the moment” at all times, but it does mean we should try to find the golden middle and glean a little bit of pleasure from every day we’re blessed to live. “Save the best for last” is poverty-mentality thinking. It expects worse in the future. Enjoy the best right now — in your marriage, parenting, work, travel, faith, friendship, contribution. Keep all the chips on the table. Be ready at all times to leave without regret.

2. Tools use us.

A hammer literally cannot hit a nail without using a human. A saw cannot cut through a board without using a human. A phone cannot deliver ads without using a human.

3. Avoid false dichotomies.

When given two great options, choose both. When given two horrible options, choose neither.

4. Failure is overcome by one word.

“Next.”

5. Ambition is ruinous for your happiness.

Most goal-setters (myself included) live much of life in anticipation of tomorrow, and when that day arrives, they’re either disappointed by their failures or underwhelmed by their successes.
Instead: trust the process. Whiskey, pasta, bread, beer, and cereal all require just two ingredients — wheat and water — but the outcome is completely different based on the process. Identity precedes action. Determine what you want to be, then find the process that will get you there every single time.

6. Forget what the market wants.

Listen to your gut. Your body knows the difference between good and great. Someone said you should never record a song or code an app or write an article unless it makes you laugh, cry, or orgasm. If an idea doesn’t move you, it won’t move an audience, no matter how “commercial” you think it is.

7. Give yourself a shove.

The best way to eat more candy, drink more vodka, and smoke more cigarettes is to leave them in the middle of the kitchen counter.
You get it. Willpower is useless. Instead, line up a series of little nudges to automatically get you through your day. If you want to work out, leave your shorts by the door or your cleats in your fridge. My blue diode glasses rest on top of my laptop so I have to protect my eyes before logging online. I can’t not see my vitamins when I brush my teeth, or chia seeds when I reach for the Brita. There’s a book beside my bed, toilet, desk, and car’s gear shifter.
Line up enough nudges and you can shove yourself in the right direction.

8. Grandma didn’t use toilet paper.

She used pages from the Sears catalog. Splinter-free wasn’t available until 1935. The Romans used sponges. The Greeks used clay. Francois Rabelais recommended using “the neck of a goose.” Arabians used their left hand.
Never assume our extremely unique cultural moment is “normal.”

9. Ninety-nine isn’t enough.

Water boils at 100 degrees Celcius. The difference between 99 and 100 is the difference between zero and one. Not-boiling, boiling.
Corollary: 101 doesn’t make it any more boiling.

10. Old people know better.

Honoring our elders is one of the most underrated practices in our newness-obsessed society. Sure, there are a ton of old crazy far-right conspiracy theorists, but there are also good people who have survived four wars, six recessions, and twelve presidents and are somehow still smiling. Get to know them.
Also: meet your old-person self. I try to invent a new word every week — one of them is preflection. To ponder the present through the eyes of your future self. Take an hour in silence to listen to your eighty-year-old self. They might know something you don’t.

11. Fire all your employees.

The employer-employee relationship creates an unhealthy power dynamic between humans that simply didn’t exist when we worked cooperatively to feed our clan or village. I love my work life so much more now that I only work with independent entrepreneurs who are my equals. For me, it’s either a one-man show (my writing business), an equal partnership (my film company), or a co-operative endeavor. Life’s too short to be a boss or be bossed around.

12. Accept that you are a voracious locust of doom.

Nail a roll of paper to the wall and write down everything you consume for a year — food, toilet paper, electricity, car fuel, movies, music, social media content, other people’s time, everything. See what I mean?
Saint Augustine said that the human heart can only fully be satisfied by one thing aside from God himself: everything. All the sex, all the money, all the power, all the possessions, all the glory. All of it. Nothing short of everything could ever fully satiate the human heart. We are wired for more.
Understanding this truth is the first step toward real contentment.

13. Awkward is awesome.

My best friend says that The Office gave society a beautiful gift: the ability to embrace cringe. When you meet someone new and it’s slightly weird, pretend you’re Michael Scott. Just glory and bask in the discomfort.
You can awkward-proof your life by being bold: Ask for discounts. Ask for refunds. Ask for phone numbers. Ask for pay raises. Ask inappropriate questions at inappropriate times. Lather yourself in awkward and pretty soon nothing sticks.

14. Happiness isn’t the purpose of life.

Hitler really was following his bliss by offing millions of Jews. I’m sure Jeffrey Dahmer genuinely enjoyed the taste of human flesh. Bernie Madoff seemed content to bilk charities for decades.
Happiness isn’t the purpose of life. It’s not even in the top ten. Happiness is a seasonal fruit, not a foundational root. Find firm and fertile ground.

15. There is no ugly.

My grandpa re-proposed to my grandma on their fiftieth wedding anniversary and called her the most beautiful woman he’s ever known. Old wrinkly grandma? Yes. Because we choose our definition of beauty through our thoughts, disciplines, habits, and patterns, be they conscious or otherwise.

16. We are what we consume.

The statistical average American is a walking bodybag of sugar, alcohol, caffeine, porn, pills, and digital stimulus. Imagine how different life would be if our only inputs were nature, sleep, sunlight, organic food, and embodied human interaction?
Guard your inputs carefully.

17. We’re going to die quite soon.

Make sure you live first. Practicing memento mori will help.

18. Fame is poison.

One in four Gen Zers thinks they’ll be famous by age 25. One in 3.9999999 Gen Zers are going to have a miserably disappointing life.
Why do people desire the attention of strangers? Because we all need to love and be loved, to know and be known, but are too afraid to risk personal heartbreak to seek it out. Attention is not affection. Influence is not intimacy.

19. Boomers are to blame for half our troubles.

The Me Generation took a free ride at the planet’s expense and are hellbent on taking the rest of it with them. They’re statistically low on empathy — blame the lead, asbestos, and hairspray if you must — but at least acknowledge the reality that life is hard for everyone, and no one has it easier.

20. Children are dope.

Kids are the blood transfusion in our sick system. We need to stop manipulating, brainwashing, colonizing, and propagandizing them, and learn from them instead.

21. It doesn’t have to hurt.

Joy is a choice.

22. Watch comedy before calls and meetings.

Five minutes of gut-busting laughter will prime you for even the most tedious conference call. Your co-workers and customers all have tough lives like everybody else, so brighten their day by pre-brightening your own.

23. No ragrets.

Tattoo it on your neck. Most people play it far too safe. Instead: optimize your life for the least number of regrets and the most amount of selfless contribution.

24. There are better ways to vote.

I’ve manned several local voting stations, and I’ve also hob-nobbed with politicians in Canada, America, and the UK. The reality is that they don’t work for us. They work for their corporate sponsors and private interests.
Democracy isn’t dead. It just hasn’t happened yet, with all attempts to date being stillborn or aborted. Democracy = one voice one vote. Athens wasn’t a democracy — women, slaves, and tenants had zero say. America isn’t a democracy either — no representative system is, because it’s far too easy for private interests to buy politicians. The charade of voting is illusory. All elections are sham elections.
So what to do? Vote with your money and time and attention. One sham vote every four years versus tens of thousands of dollar-votes each year? It’s a no-brainer. My wife and I haven’t stepped foot in a Walmart in more than a decade because thousands of its suppliers are based in China, the billionaire heirs are anti-democratic tax-avoiders, and they treat their employees like indentured servants. Vote for pro-democracy third-party candidates if you must — just understand the game, and vote in the ways that actually matter.

25. Everything easy has already been done.

So run a little further.
And if it hasn’t been done, it won’t be as easy as it appears. The question to ask is: what’s been standing in the way this whole time? Achievement is all about knocking down obstacles. Just make sure what’s on the other side is rightly worth the effort.

26. Broccoli still tastes terrible.

But you’re not a child anymore. Adults do hard things.

27. Fixed-order scheduling > fixed-hour scheduling.

Discipline is great, but it’s also subject to the law of diminishing returns. Life is just too dynamic to schedule with military precision. Free yourself from the tyranny of “only people who wake up at 5 AM are successful.”
All hours are not created equal. It depends on your sleep drive and chronotype. Know yourself. Unapologetically get more sleep, then do your best work at your best time in your best state.

28. “Freedom” isn’t freedom.

America wasn’t founded on freedom. America was founded on violent autonomy.
The ancient Greeks had an entirely different definition of freedom: it was the ability to choose the right regardless of circumstance.

“We talk about freedom all the time, but we’ve stopped talking about freedom a long time ago. Now we’re talking about autonomy. Freedom is different than autonomy. Freedom has boundaries. Truth is one of those boundaries. And morality is one of those boundaries. Autonomy is the ability to do whatever you want whenever you want in whatever way you want. The problem is this: If I’m autonomous and another person is autonomous, and I have preferences and those matter more than the truth, and that person has preferences and their preferences matter more than the truth, when two autonomous preference-seeking beings come together and their preferences don’t match, who is going to win? If truth is on the bottom shelf, truth won’t decide. What will decide will be power. And isn’t it ironic that in our quest for “freedom”, someone gets enslaved?” — Abdu Murray

29. The Marines were right: slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

As teenagers, my friend Tyler and I were in a hurry to get somewhere quickly so we drove 120+ miles per hour for forty-five straight minutes before nearly crashing when the speed burned a footlong gash through the tire. By the time we replaced it with a spare, we were late to our destination by more than an hour.
But nevermind driving. Pump the life-brakes sometimes, or at least, let off the gas. You might get there faster, with less wear-and-tear on the engine.

30. The quest for wealth is destroying life.

We’ve commodified land, water, shelter, clothing, art, time, and nearly everything else. Very little remains, and it’s amassing into fewer hands.
We need a shared global vision. My invented word for it is benevitae: the sustainable flourishing of all creation. Our collective goal should be socioenviroeconomic sustainability. Where to start? We’d do well to let biology determine ecological sustainability and real democracy to determine economic fairness. Our current trajectory is worse than the Space Shuttle Challenger.

31. Most “leaders” aren’t leaders.

Celebrities, politicians, and book-hocking business gurus all call themselves leaders. They’re not.
Real leadership is influence that serves. True leaders are selfless and servant-hearted. They put the best interests of others ahead of their own. Politics and media, by comparison, attracts sociopaths like flies to firelight. Never give power to those who seek it. Nearly everyone worth following is dead.

32. Divide-and-conquer is a business model.

Near the end of high school, dozen friends and I binge-watched multiple seasons of LOST in our friend Mike’s basement. It was one of the most hilarious, riotous, enjoyable experiences we had as a group.
And it was the last show we ever watched together.
People used to go to restaurants in large numbers, to the movies by the dozen, climbing over each other for one of the limited video game controllers, packing out our churches, cheering on our sports teams by the busload. We were almost never alone, and we were far happier. Now we order in, watch Netflix, stream Minecraft, catch the highlights, watch porn, and go to bed. It’s killing us.
Resist the urge to be alone. It’s too easy, and it’s the exact opposite of what we really need. The #1 thing that’s correlated to human happiness is human togetherness.

33. Self-improvement won’t save us.

The great lie of individualist-consumerist culture is that we can improve our way to personal perfection and communal utopia. But it’s incrementalism at best.
It’s just chasing infinity.

34. We know nothing +/-.

On the scale of all that is known, and all that is knowable, our individual understanding is essentially mathematically zero. The entirety of human knowledge is a rounding error.
This is the beginning of humility.

35. The sun is not on fire

I was at an observatory in the Davis Mountains in Texas, and it was the first time I’d paid attention to astronomy since grade school. For three decades, I’d wrongly assumed the sun was a giant ball of flames.
But there’s no fire in space because there’s no oxygen in space. (It just looks like fire because of how our eyes perceive light through the atmosphere and prism.) As I stared at the real-time image of the sun on the observatory wall, I nearly wept. The sun actually looks like a giant, boiling, grey brain.
And then it hit me: I have so many assumptions to set aside and so much left to learn. So pay attention. Don’t worship the “question everything” mantra, but instead spend your life seeking truth, and wisdom, and understanding.
You know what you need to do to get where you want to be.

Hello everyone, for the last few months I have been creating long form write-ups on a variety of unsolved cases. If you are interested in other lengthy write ups you can find them on my profile- https://www.reddit.com/useQuirky-Moto.
Months ago, I was asked to cover the inexplicable case of Judy Smith, a woman who went missing from Philadelphia or perhaps Massachusetts, only for her body to be found in North Carolina months later. The case was famously covered on the show Unsolved Mysteries, and it is strange enough to warrant a long, hard look at the case and a comprehensive timeline. I hope you are able to learn something new about this semi well-known case.
Background
Judy Smith was born Judith Eldridge in Massachusetts in 1946. Right out of high school Judy married for the first time. Her husband and she had been married very shortly when in an attemot to avoid the draft, he fled to Sweden. Judy went in search of her young husband but soon returned to the states empty handed and filed for divorce. Years later, Judy married Charles Bradford a man who worked in the racehorse industry. They had two children together, Craig and Amy, but unfortunately the marriage did not last and soon Judy found herself jobless and raising two children by herself. Rather than fret, Judy got a job and enrolled in nursing school. Judy was known to study in all of her free time and soon became a successful home health care nurse. In 1986 at age 40, Judy was caring for a man who was recovering from throat surgery when she met her patient’s son, a well to do lawyer named Jeffrey Smith. Jeffrey said he was impressed by how Judy cared for his father and asked her on a date. Judy and Jeff had several things in common, both had been divorced single parents who raised children alone, and Jeffrey worked in healthcare as well, except he was a lawyer. The couple both enjoyed going to plays and Celtics basketball games. After seven years together, Jeff and Judy moved in together and three years later the couple married in Nov., 1996.
According to friends and family, Judy was a rather assertive and independent person. She was no stranger to travelling alone. Judy had been to Europe on her own a few times, and when her children were pre-teens, she took them to Europe for a backpacking adventure. Judy also independently traveled to Thailand where she went hiking and visited friends. While Judy wasn’t the epitome of fitness, she was an active person who enjoyed walking, hiking, and sightseeing. She was also known to be a go-getter who once helped an AIDS patient who was having a medical crisis on a plane. So, while Judy was kindhearted and considerate, she wasn’t thought to be naive and was able to take care of herself in a variety of different situations.
The disappearance
Five months into her new marriage on April 9th 1997, Jeffrey prepared to attend a conference in Philadelphia that was taking place from Wednesday April 9th-Friday April 11th at the Double Tree hotel in downtown Philadelphia. Judy decided to accompany her husband to Philadelphia and planned to do some sightseeing in the area. Afterwards, the Smiths were going to New Jersey to spend the weekend with some friends before flying back home.
On April 9th in the morning, Judy accompanied her husband to Logan International Airport to fly to Philadelphia, but discovered at the gate that she could not board as she did not have her photo ID. Judy encouraged Jeffrey to take the 1:30 pm flight and assured him that she would take a flight later that day and meet him in Philadelphia. According to relatives, the Smiths took public transport to the airport and Judy apparently took the bus back home and retrieved her ID. Jeffrey flew to the conference while Judy returned home and booked a flight for later that day. Judy boarded a 7:30 pm flight and arrived at the hotel in Philadelphia at approximately 9:30 pm.
Once at the hotel, the couple purchased some snacks and went to bed. The next morning Jeffrey awoke and ate breakfast at the complimentary buffet downstairs while his wife was still asleep. When he returned to the room Judy was in the shower. The two talked about several things, and Judy explained that she planned on taking the PHLASH bus in order to see the famous sights such as the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. The Smiths planned on meeting up at the hotel in the evening to attend the conference’s 6 pm cocktail party together. With that squared away, Jeffrey attended the conference. Sometime in between 9 and 10 am a hotel concierge recalled seeing a woman matching Judy’s description ask how to get to the PHLASH bus stop. The woman was in her 50s, with shortish hair, wearing a dark colored coat, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes, carrying a bright red backpack. (Picture of the Judy wearing the backpack here).
At approximately 5:30 pm Jeffrey who was done with the day’s sessions returned to the hotel room expecting to find Judy waiting for him. Judy wasn’t there, so Jeffrey attended the cocktail hour in the hopes his wife was already visiting at the party, but she wasn’t there either. For the next 45 minutes, Jeffrey floated between the room and the party hoping to find Judy. At approximately 6:15 pm Jeffrey told the concierges that his wife had not returned from sightseeing and the hotel staff began calling local hospitals. At 6:30 pm, Jeffrey hopped in a taxi and instructed the driver to take the PHLASH bus route slowly so he could look for his wife. In one interview Jeffrey recalled that he made the driver go so slow it angered those stuck behind him. After a few hours without any sign of Judy, Smith called the police to report his wife missing. Shockingly, the PPD told Jeffrey that he couldn’t file a report until it had been twenty-four hours since the last final sighting of Judy. After lodging some complaints with some high-ranking officials within the city, a missing person’s report was taken for Judy Smith on the morning of April 11th, 1997 (Lewis, 1997).
Jeffrey called his step children and asked them to check the house in case Judy had gone home, and he also asked that they would check the answering machine, but there were no messages of note and the house was empty.
A check of the hotel room showed that Judy had left with her signature red backpack, her wallet, the jewelry she normally wore including a diamond engagement band and a simple silver wedding ring, and the clothes on her back. Jeffrey estimated that she had approximately $200 dollars with her at the time.
According to later interviews with Philadelphia investigators, Judy, or someone with her name did in fact buy a USair ticket on the 7:30 pm flight into Philadelphia. Her ticket was used to make the flight and her seat was occupied on the flight into Philadelphia (Justiceforjudy.org). At the time of the Smiths’ trip, regulations that required photo identification to board a plane had only been in effect for 18 months and Judy had flown only one other time during that time frame. Additionally, police have a luggage tag from Judy’s suitcase that showed that she took the 7:30 pm flight, and that her bag did not travel to Philadelphia with Jeffrey earlier in the day (AP, Oct 4th, 1997).
Sightings
As news of Judy’s disappearance spread, many people called the police station to report various sightings of Judy.
One PHLASH driver remembered picking up Judy in the early afternoon at Front and South streets, a stop near the Double Tree.
There was also a reported sighting of Judy entering the Greyhound bus station at 11th and Filbert sometime in the early afternoon. This station is a common place for tourists to use the bathroom and is only a 10-minute walk to the DoubleTree hotel. One report claims Judy was seen entering and then exiting the station but most reports mention only entering the station. This area was close to Philadelphia’s Chinatown and Jeffrey speculated that Judy may have gone to Chinatown for lunch as she loved both Chinese and Thai food, but no restaurant owners remembered seeing Judy that day.
There was yet another sighting of a woman who looked like Judy at around 3 pm near the hotel; witnesses claimed this woman seemed disoriented.
A number of sightings were reported over the next few days in the waterfront area of the city called Penn’s Landing. A variety of people claimed to have seen Judy. Some witnesses said she seemed confused or dazed. Judy’s two children, her son in law Jay, and Jeffrey looked into these sightings and discovered that there was a homeless woman in the area who looked strikingly similar to Judy and it is believed that many witnesses saw this woman rather than Judy Smith. This local resident looked so similar to Judy that at one point Judy’s son Craig crossed the street thinking he had discovered his mother, only for it to be the other woman. Police officers and volunteers stopped this woman a number of times as well.
One transient in the area, a man named David, was insistent that he saw Judy, not the other woman, on the night of April 10th in the Penn’s landing area, either resting or sleeping on the bench. He was insistent it was Judy, and not the other woman as he knew the other woman from the neighborhood. Judy’s son believes this story is credible as David was coherent and very willing to be interviewed, even though there was nothing to be gained from his testimony and he was simply happy to help the family. He also identifed Judy from a collection of photos, something many other witnesses were unable to do.
On April 11th an employee at a Macy’s department store in Deptford, New Jersey believed that she interacted with Judy Smith in the morning on that day. She described the clothes Judy wore, right down to the old red backpack. This shopper told the employee, that she was buying some dresses for her daughter but laughed because her daughter often disliked the pieces that she purchased for her. Judy’s family confirmed that this was acurate and affirmed that Judy sometimes shopped at Macy’s. The customer appeared to be slightly disoriented as she asked a young woman in the store to leave with her, thinking that the other customer was her daughter or a someone else she knew. One report says that Judy asked another customer in the store about menopause, a very odd subject to talk about, especially with someone you don’t know in a department store.
This mall complex was in Deptford, New Jersey, a bus ride away from Philadelphia, across the Delaware River. According to newspaper reports, NJ Transit Buses had routes which traveled from downtown Philly to Deptford hourly, and the stop was very close to the mall the sighting took place at, meaning it was possible for Judy to have boarded the bus and ended up in Deptford quite easily. Unfortunately, the Macy’s didn’t have security footage which showed this customer and the woman paid for her purchases in cash.
After a second story ran in the newspaper on April 14th, a variety of other witnesses came forward with stories. The most famous report came from a Society Hill hotel employee who explained that a woman who matched Judy’s description stayed in the hotel from April 13th-15th. The woman appeared to have psychiatric problems and did a variety of strange things during her stay such as touch herself very noticeably in front of the window (it’s unknown if this was in her room or in the lobby), speak in tongues, and finally claimed that “the emperor” would help her pay for her stay at the hotel. This wacky guest was remembered by several employees including the hotel manager, a woman named Abby Gainer, who alerted the police. The strange guest told the employees that she wanted to stay at the hotel for another night but didn’t have the funds to do so. She later said she would get the money via a Western Union wire transfer from “the emperor” (Altman, 1997).
The nearby Best Western Hotel had a similar situation with a similar woman. Concierge Tyrone Taylor remembered that on the 15th, a woman matching this description entered the hotel to use the telephone in the late afternoon. The woman was speaking loudly and said that “the emperor of China” was going to pay for her stay as she did not have the cash to pay for a night at the hotel. Taylor reported that the woman was well dressed and did not appear to be a transient. Both hotel employees reported that the woman was a heavyset blonde in her 50s, wearing heavy dark makeup, eye glasses with tape on the side, and nicer clothes. Gainer reported the woman was sporting an expensive looking scarf with camels and roses on it. The woman, who signed in as "H. K. Rich/Collins," did not have any luggage with her and was wearing very different clothes than Judy was last seen in. When Taylor called the police to report his sighting, he gave the strange guest a call (she must have left a telephone number) and told her she could have a free night at the hotel. She arrived at the Best Western but police decided that the woman was not Judy Smith (Altman, 1997). The hotel sightings were nothing more than a red herring. Over the next few months various sightings were reported but none seemed to pan out. Many of the sightings were believed to be other people who looked like Judy. After all history has shown that false eyewitness sightings are incredibly common in cases of missing persons.
Philadelphia PD’s investigation
Philadelphia PD launched an inquiry into the disappearance of Judy Smith on April 11th, 1997. Jeffrey tried to report Judy as missing in the late evening hours of April 10th, but the police told him to wait 24 hours. Smith, however, was a well-connected man and after a few complaints to both a Pennsylvania state representative and the mayor (both men were attorneys and knew Jeffrey from previous work functions), Jeffrey was able to file a report in the early morning hours of the 11th. The Smith family made and hung flyers in the area. Judy’s children joined the search and followed up on sightings around the tourist areas of Philly. Police interviewed Jeffrey, Judy’s children, and others in order to retrace Judy’s last steps. Judy left behind her passport at her home in Massachusetts meaning she could not have easily left the county. The Smith’s two landline records were checked but nothing out of the ordinary was found.
After interviews and searches of the area, Philadelphia PD announced that they believed Judy had never made it to Pennsylvania at all and speculated that Judy went missing from the Boston area. This speculation was based on a couple of things.
First, investigators did not believe Jeffrey’s story that Judy couldn’t catch the flight due to a lack of photo ID. Police thought that this story was odd and did not believe a seasoned traveler like Judy would forget her license at home before heading to the airport.
Later investigation showed that someone named Judith Smith took a 7:30pm flight into Philadelphia and flight manifest showed that the ticket was used to make the flight that evening, however, the entire incident is still odd to many amateur sleuths and professional investigators.
Another detective thought it was odd that while Judy had clothes and belongings in the hotel room, she didn’t have any cosmetics with her. Further, detectives noticed that there were few soiled items of clothing in the room meaning that if Judy was in Philadelphia on the 10th, she wore the same jeans and coat that she was wearing the night before. Judy’s children reported that this wasn’t uncommon for their mother as she wasn’t a frilly person. They also said that their mother only wore makeup on occasion and not while traveling so these things didn’t seem out of the ordinary to them. (Personally, I have also wondered if Judy did have some makeup, but it was in her backpack at time. I know plenty of women who don’t wear much makeup, but if you looked in their purse or bag you might find some lip stick or powder.)
Investigators went on to say that no one but Jeffrey could place Judy in Philadelphia during this time frame. This announcement resulted in several eyewitnesses who claimed that they had seen Judy at the hotel. One receptionist from the hotel claimed that on April 9th in between 9-10 pm, she saw Judy arrive at the hotel and greet her husband in the lobby. She said that Jeffrey gave Judy flowers and the two appeared to be apologizing to each other. (Jeffrey said this was the case except Judy gave him the flowers). One concierge remembered a woman in her 50s with a coat and old red backpack ask him how to get to the PHLASH bus stop at around 10 am on April 10th. He knew it was after 9 am because that is when his shift started. Finally, a conference goer named Carmen Catazone, who was sitting in the lobby also recalled the flower incident from the night before. The woman did not know Jeffrey personally, but recognized him from the conference. Jeffrey was a moderator for a variety of sessions and was very overweight so he was easily recognizable. These witness’ accounts seem to line up with Jeffrey’s story. As far as I can tell the flower story had not been released to the press at this point.
Finally, Philadelphia PD divulged that Jeffrey wasn’t fully cooperative, as he wouldn’t submit to a polygraph. Jeffrey denies this and said that as a lawyer he knew that polygraphs are fallible. Further, he claims that he was willing to take a lie detector if it was given by an outside agency such as the FBI, but Philadelphia police declined this scenario. These are the four reasons investigators used in order to prop up their theory that Judy wasn’t in Philadelphia at all. Despite witness sightings, this theory is a popular on online to this day.
Aftermath and Discovery
After several weeks Jeffrey returned to the Boston area and tried to resume his normal life. He drastically cut back his hours at the office reporting that he could not focus on his work. Smith attempted to keep his wife’s case in the spotlight doing interviews whenever he could and eventually landing a spot on the show Unsolved Mysteries. On the show, one friend of the couple called the marriage “tenuous” but modern articles on the case mention that the police could find no one who reported concerns like these about the couples’ relationship. In independent interviews Judy’s adult children denied witnessing any warning signs in their mother’s new marriage. Eventually, Jeffrey hired three private investigators to look for Judy. The PIs faxed over 9,000 missing posters to police departments and hospitals all over the country hoping that someone would recognize Judy.
Five months after her disappearance in September 1997, a man and his son were hunting in the Pisgah National Forest near Candler, North Carolina, a short drive from the city of Asheville. On a steep incline one-quarter mile from a picnic area, which itself was a mile from hike from the nearest parking area, the duo found what appeared to be a human bone. They alerted the police who responded to the scene. Over an area approximately 300 feet in diameter, investigators found most of a human skeleton which had been wrapped in a blue blanket and buried in a very shallow grave. Scavenging animals had dug up the skeleton and a few bones had been carried away. The skeleton was determined to be female. The woman was dressed in thermal underwear under her jeans, hiking boots, socks, a t-shirt, a bra and a jacket. Nearby in two different holes, a blue vinyl backpack and a men’s shirt had been buried. The backpack contained some winter clothing and 80 dollars. The shirt contained a pair of $110 Bolle brand sunglasses, as well an additional $87. A paperback mystery novel was also found nearby. She carried no ID. The slope where the body was discovered was near some hiking trails, but the hill itself was steep and at an elevation of 4,000 feet, the search was difficult. The incline was so severe that one investigator crushed his sciatic nerve attempting to search the area, an injury which required major surgery.
Early coverage of the body’s discovery in the Asheville Citizen Times, initially reported that the police found a body belonging to a woman who they believed to be in her 20s dressed in hiking clothes (Ball, 1997). Several days later, the medical examiner assessed the bones and concluded that the skeleton was that of white woman in her 40s or 50s, who was about 5’3” tall with shortish light brown hair. There were cut marks in the woman’s bra and t-shirt which indicated that she had been stabbed in the chest area, however, no cause of death could be determined. Some reports mention that there was trauma to the woman’s ribs. The decedent also had a severely arthritic right knee (some reports say it was her left knee), extensive fillings and dental work in her molars, and some animal hair on her shirt, which may have been horse hair. The woman did not seem to be a transient due to her nice clothes and dental work. The death was ruled a homicide as the woman had been wrapped in a blanket post mortem and buried. The ME determined that the body had been there for 1-2 years prior. For several weeks the skeleton remained nameless in the ME’s office.
On September 9th, a small blurb about the unidentified body ran in an Asheville, North Carolina paper. 65 miles away in Franklin, NC, an ER physician named Parker Davis was looking at missing poster which had been faxed to the hospital he worked at when he noticed that the woman on the poster had a severely arthritic knee. He remembered the story of the skeleton from the paper who had a similar knee problem. On a whim he called the police who were able to get a copy of Judy’s missing poster. After a preliminary check, the ME contacted Jeffrey in order to obtain a copy of Judy’s dental records. The records were a match, and by the end of September 1997, Judy had her name back. Friends and family were also able to identify Judy’s diamond engagement band with a pear-shaped stone and wedding ring which had been found on or near the body. Some early reports say that the woman had no jewelry and that Judy’s wedding ring was missing, but later reports say that it was found near the body. The area of the burial was searched on at least three occasions so it is possible the rings were not found until later. Missing was Judy’s wallet, red backpack, and some jewelry that she typically wore (it’s unclear what jewelry this is referring to). The coat she was last seen wearing was nowhere to be found and the clothes she was dressed in, as well as those in the backpack were unable to be identified by family or friends. The shirt buried nearby was a men’s shirt and was believed to belong to the killer, not Judy. Furthermore, the sunglasses did not appear to be Judy’s as Judy’s kids said she wasn’t the type to spend over $100 on sunglasses. The sunglasses are an athletic style and to me look like men’s or unisex sport sunglasses.
Buncombe County Investigation
Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department took over the case from the PPD after Judy’s identification. Once it was determined that Judy was the woman in the woods, several residents in and around Asheville reported that they had seen Judy or had interacted with her in the April shortly after she was last seen in Philadelphia. For example, one woman thought Judy had stayed at her hotel from April 10th-12th, one woman who worked at a souvenir shop near the Biltmore house (a tourist attraction near Asheville) thought that she spoke to Judy who said she was from Boston and that her husband was a lawyer. Another woman who worked in a store recalled that Judy with her red backpack. She claims that Judy bought a toy truck and approximately $30 worth of sandwiches. There were two other sightings of a person resembling Judy in the area in a gray sedan. One person claimed to have seen Judy near the Pisgah National Forest in a gray sedan chock full of stuff. This witness said that the woman was looking for a place to camp. Another person saw a woman in a gray sedan in the same area. All sightings occurred in the week or so after Judy was last seen in Philadelphia. Of course, it goes without saying that, eyewitness testimony can be unreliable and the human mind is susceptible to suggestion.
North Carolina investigators traveled to Philadelphia to retrace Judy’s steps. They have said that they don’t believe that PPD did a poor job but simply wanted to cover their bases. Two detectives flew to Philadelphia and determined that Judy probably been there at least briefly before traveling to the Pisgah National Forest. They reported that there was no indication that Judy had been abducted or otherwise forced to travel south. It appeared she at least started the journey of her own volition. In all the sightings of Judy in North Carolina, she was alone.
Buncombe county deputies were able to rule out Jeffrey as a suspect rather quickly, although they concede that anything is possible and Jeffrey could be involved however unlikely it seems. Jeffrey was ruled out based on his size and health. Jeffrey was a morbidly obese man who investigators noted began huffing and puffing when walking quickly or climbing stairs. Because of this they did not believe Jeffrey could have disposed of his wife’s body especially in such an inaccessible area of the forest. Furthermore, they could find no evidence that Jeffrey rented a car in Philadelphia adding to the logistical problems with Jeffrey being a suspect. On top of his lack of car, Jeffrey had less than 12 hours to dispose of Judy’s body as he was seen in the lobby of the hotel at 9:30 pm, and then was moderating a session of the conference at 9:30 am. Driving to the Pisgah National Forest from Philadelphia takes approximately nine hours one way meaning he did not have time to kill and dispose of his wife. One podcast on the case mentions that police could find no large withdrawals of money from the Smith’s accounts which could have indicated the hiring of a hit man or a paid accomplice. (I could find no other corroboration of this claim so take this with a grain of salt.) Jeffrey also kept his wife’s case in the spotlight and suffered many hardships in the wake of his wife’s disappearance. Besides the one woman who was interviewed on Unsolved Mysteries, no other friends or family reported that there were issues in marriage that they were aware of.
Philadelphia police also struggled with Jeffrey’s size as carrying and disposing of a dead body is quite taxing and it is doubtful that Jeffrey could have done this on his own. However, they say that Jeffrey is still as suspect as he could have killed his wife in Boston or had an accomplice.
With the most obvious suspect cleared, investigators moved on to other lines of inquiry. They searched the surrounding areas hoping to find people who had seen Judy which is how the discovery of the woman in the gray car was made. Police also searched a nearby horse farm as Judy was known to like horses and had what could have been horse hair on her body, but nothing definitive was found.
Other information

• Philadelphia investigators looked at the Smith’s phone records and determined that there was no unusual activity on either of their phone lines that would indicate that either of the Smiths were having affairs. Neither Jeffrey or Judy had cell phones. If Judy was having an affair at the time, none of her friends could provide any insight or speculate as to who it was. There was a computer in the house which was searched, but it is unknown if the computer was connected to the internet.
• When Judy went missing Jeffrey believed that she had approximately $200 on her person. About $500 dollars in cash was found among Judy’s things in the hotel room. Judy also disappeared with her ID, her credit card, and her phone card. To this day, there has been no activity on either card.
• Judy’s description varies from source to source. Some sources report that she was “heavy set” or “top heavy”. Others say she was 130 or 140 lbs., which is more average size for a 5’2” woman. In some pictures Judy looks to be of a larger build, but in some photos, she appears smaller. Whether these weights were a misprint or Judy was someone whose weight fluctuated regularly is unclear. It is not a very important detail but it is a discrepancy I wanted to point out.
• Judy had been to North Carolina only once and had no connection to the area. She had once been to Raleigh to visit Jeffrey who was at a weight loss clinic. Jeffrey said that he loved the area and thought about moving, but the couple never returned to the state. Family also said that Judy had once traveled to Tennessee or another nearby state with a former patient but that had been years earlier.
• Judy Smith is also the name of a famous "Crisis Manager." This Judy Smith was the inspiration for the hit show "Scandal" with actress Kerry Washington. This woman is not the same Judy Smith who went missing in 1997.

Suspects
Gary Michael Hilton, sometimes called the national park killer, is a suspect in Judy's disappearance. In 2008 Hilton was arrested for a murder in a national forest and was later linked to three other murders, all of which took place between 2005 and 2008. Hilton, who was in his 50s and 60s at the time, killed hikers in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina and he is considered a suspect in many other murders in surrounding states such as Arkansas, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Hilton, who loved the outdoors, would often stalk hiking trails, camp sites, and other areas known for outdoor recreation to find victims to terrorize. His crimes were tended to be opportunistic and his motive most often was monetary. Hilton held down a series of jobs from 1997 to 2007 but did not work full time. He was also a drifter who moved from place to place. Hilton usually assaulted and robbed his victims of their wallets, atm cards, cash, and valuables. His victims were male and female, young and old. He seemed to prefer victims who were isolated and alone did not try to find a specific type of person otherwise. One thing that is interesting about Hilton as an offender is that it appears that he did not commit any violent crimes before he was 58 or 59 years old. Hilton has a very long rap sheet but most of his crimes were relatively minor such as possession of marijuana, carrying a pistol without a license, soliciting false donations for charity, carrying a police baton, and DUI. Once arrested several violent incidents that Hilton had been a part of came to light but he had never been convicted of them in the past. Most people agree someone with does not start a life of violent crime in their 60s. Many believe the Gary Michael Hilton has more victims then are currently known.
John and Irene Bryant, an eclectic couple in their 80s, were hiking in the Pisgah National Forest in 2007 when they were attacked by Hilton. Hilton killed Irene, and then kidnapped her husband in order to use their ATM cards and withdraw money before killing John as well. Irene's body was left only miles from where Judy's body was found 10 years earlier. This is one of the most convincing pieces of evidence that Hilton may have been involved in Judy's murder as well. However, it is important to note that Judy was not robbed and Hilton did not bury any of his known victims. Judy's murder also took place 10 years before any Hilton's other murders. Some blogs or more unofficial sources on the case mentioned that Hilton was believed to be in Georgia at the time of Judy's disappearance, but this isn't known for sure. If you are interested in learning more about the crimes of Gary Michael Hilton this reddit post is a really good place to start. This post did a good job of putting it all in one place so thank you u/lisagreenhouse.
Another offender who was in the Asheville area at the time of Judy's disappearance was a young man named Lewis Kyle Wilson. In the early 2000s Wilson was arrested after assaulting and robbing a sex worker he had brought home to his property. There's not a lot of information on Wilson online, but he was living in Asheville and would have been 19 at the time of Judy's disappearance. I cannot find any evidence that Wilson actually killed anyone but he does have a history of violence towards women and was in the area at the time so he is sometimes mentioned online as a possible suspect. One sex worker Wilson was known to frequent was the victim of an unsolved homicide that happened in 2006; Wilson is the prime suspect in that crime.
In 2016, only a couple of miles from Judy's burial site in the Pisgah National Forest, a lone hiker in her 60s was attacked, raped, and left tied to a tree. Thankfully, the woman was found alive and taken to the hospital. Some have wondered if this crime was connected to the Judy Smith homicide but there is no hard evidence of this and the rapist remains unknown.
Theories
Amnesia is one possible explanation for Judy’s disappearance. The family believes that Judy was injured or otherwise suffered a bout of dissociative amnesia which caused her to become confused or forget her identity. This is supported by the sightings of a confused or disoriented Judy in Philadelphia. The family believes this explains why Judy traveled to the Pisgah National Forest apparently of her own free will.
One theory is that Judy and Jeffrey had an argument that spurred an angry Judy to leave the area, whether she left from Boston or Philadelphia. After she left the area and traveled south to North Carolina, she met with foul play.
In a similar vein, some believed Judy willingly traveled to North Carolina to meet up with someone, perhaps a friend or a secret boyfriend. The ID incident at the airport was simply a cover so Judy could converse with this person who she wanted to meet. Once in North Carolina she met with foul play perhaps at the hand of the person she went to meet.
One theory Jeffrey explored was that Judy was suffering from mental illness and had a psychotic break. Being a lawyer, Jeffrey was able with some legal maneuvering to obtain all of Judy’s medical records from her adult life, including a physical she had had only months before hand. There was no indication that Judy had ever had any mental health concerns. Neither she or her doctors ever mentioned anything that would have pointed to any mental health problems, even minor ones such as anxiety. According to Jeffrey, Judy’s newest physical reported that Judy was in good mental and physical health (Lewis, 1997 and Trace Evidence Podcast).
Other sleuths have speculated that Judy traveled to North Carolina because she was questioning her sexuality. Asheville at the time was known for having an LGBT community. This theory is pushed forward by one interview on the Unsolved Mysteries segment as Judy’s friend says, “If you are looking for a mystery man, there wasn’t one.” Some have said that this implied that Judy had met a mystery woman, not a man. However, this theory is full of holes. No friends or family ever had any indication that Judy was questioning her sexuality. Judy had been married to men on three occasions and had other boyfriends as well. This explanation fails to explain why this realization would cause Judy to unexpectedly travel hundreds of miles and cease contact with her children. It also fails to explain who killed Judy.
Others have speculated that Judy was tricked into going to North Carolina. Perhaps she met someone while sightseeing who offered her a ride and that person abducted her or drove her to North Carolina for some reason.
Personally, I have always wondered if Judy was suffering from early onset dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. This would be a similar theory to the psychotic break theory; however, I believe this explains why Judy was described as both disoriented and acting normal in different sightings. I am by no means an expert, but if I understand correctly, patients with these conditions can get very confused and agitated but can also have times of acting completely lucid. I think this theory can explain why Judy forgot her license at home before flying, and can also explain her disappearance. I think it is possible Judy got on the wrong bus and ended up first at the Deptford mall and then eventually North Carolina, simply getting more and more lost each day. Of course, this hypothesis does not solve Judy’s murder, it simply gives an explanation for her travels.
A final theory that is prevalent online is the idea that the doe found in Pisgah National Forest was not Judy at all and was instead misidentified. While this is always possible and something I have entertained from time to time, Judy was matched via dental records, her arthritic knee, and her distinct engagement ring with a pear-shaped stone. If the doe was not Judy, then the mystery becomes even stranger, and now includes the identity and murder of yet another woman. While the odds of a similarly aged woman, with a bad knee, similar dental work, and a plain silver wedding band accompanied with a fancy diamond engagement ring, who was not Judy being murdered in the forest is possible, I believe that it is not very likely. Proponents of this theory point to the ME’s report that the doe had been in the forest for over a year, while Judy had been missing only five months at the time of her discovery.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Full list of sources are in part two- https://unsolved.com/gallery/judy-smith/
link to part 2 https://www.reddit.com/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/kky2l2/when_a_body_is_found_600_miles_away_extensive_two/

Playboy is returning to the stock market Thursday after 10 years as a privately held company, but the iconic brand looks far different than it did when it left in 2011. Founder Hugh Hefner died in 2017, the company stopped printing its famous men’s magazine last year and current CEO Ben Kohn has repositioned the firm as a consumer-products company rather than a publishing business. “We’re not trying to be a magazine company. That doesn’t make sense to me,” Kohn, who will be one of the firm’s largest shareholders, told Seeking Alpha in an exclusive interview. “What makes sense to me is being the lifestyle platform that this business originally was.” Playboy recently agreed to merge with special purpose acquisition company Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp. (MCAC) in a SPAC deal that values the company at about $381 million. The stock will begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq under the ticker “PLBY.” MCAC raised some $50M through an initial public offering in June, and its shares rose more than 30% since the IPO to close Wednesday at $13.34 (see chart below).
As for Playboy, the firm still offers articles, adult pictorials and videos via Playboy.com, but Kohn said consumers also buy $3 billion a year of Playboy-branded products that the firm sells on its own or through licensees. He said that even in Playboy’s heyday as a men’s magazine, the company owned or licensed consumer businesses that ran the gamut from casinos to cufflinks that featured its iconic rabbit logo. Kohn, who helped that Playboy private in 2011, said that when he first met the company’s legendary founder, “Hef said to me: ‘I might not be the best editor or the best publisher, but I am goddamn the best marketer.’ I think that’s what we’ve brought back to the company, which is really [to be] an aspirational lifestyle business.” Despite the print magazine’s demise, 68-year-old Playboy remains one of the world’s best-known brands, with 97% of people around the globe recognizing the rabbit logo. Some 90% of customers are under 40, and women make up more than 40% of e-commerce sales. Playboy-branded products sold online range from underwear to calendars to sex toys. Offline, a Chinese company operates more than 2,500 brick-and-mortar Playboy clothing stores in the Asian nation, while a partnership with Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) runs the Playboy Club London casino. The revamped Playboy operates in four verticals:
Sexual Wellness. This includes products like Playboy condoms and sex aids. The company also recently signed a $25M deal to buy Lovers, a chain of 41 U.S. brick-and-mortar “sexual-wellness” shops.
Style and Apparel. The Playboy name is one of China’s top men’s fashion brands, sold through brick-and-mortar stores and more than 1,000 e-commerce sites.
Gaming/Lifestyle. Beyond its London casino, Playboy has partnerships with online-gambling software companies Microgaming and Scientific Games Corp. (NASDAQ:SGMS). The company is also working on online sports gambling, while in the lifestyles arena, Playboy sells furniture via Wayfair (NYSE:W).
Beauty and Grooming. Kohn said Playboy “has been an arbiter of beauty for 68 years,” and currently sells or is developing perfumes, skincare products and cosmetics.
The CEO said that simply by tapping into the growing direct-to-consumer trend, the company can get a bigger share of the existing $3B revenue pie for Playboy-branded products while growing sales organically. “We can drive the lifetime value of our consumers up because we can offer them multiple different products, whereas a licensee can only offer them one product,” he said.
Playboy recently released earnings for 2020’s third quarter and first nine months that showed big year-over-year gains. For instance, the company reported that net revenues rose 86% year on year in the third quarter to $35M, allowing the Playboy to turn a $1.3M profit vs. a $3.4M loss during the same 2019 period. And for 2021, the company is guiding to more than $160M in revenues and $40M of EBITDA. Kohn said that when you add in more than $100M in working capital from the SPAC transaction and $180M of prior years’ carried-forward losses that will cut taxes, he sees big opportunities for growth ahead. “The runway that’s in front of us is really endless,” he said.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3661149-playboy-stock-is-going-public-and-ceo-ben-kohn-says-potential-is-endless

As always, credit to ManteoMax on the official FH4 forums for putting this together!  
The new 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is available for completing the Flex Your Muscles event this Season.  
The 2007 Formula Drift #117 599 GTB Fiorano is available for completing the Super7 this week.  
Latest FH4 Release Notes: Series 32 February 10th, 2021  
Forza Horizon 4 | Series 32 Update  

FORZATHON SHOP (changes at 7:30am Pacific)

• 600 FP Car: 1994 Ford Supervan 3 (previously available Exclusive model)
• 350 FP Car: 1970 Buick GSX (previously available Exclusive model)
• Clothing: Pink Biker Trousers
• Clothing: Pink Biker Jersey
• Wheelspins cost this series: 40 FP & 150 FP  

FESTIVAL PLAYLIST

• 50% Summer Completion: 2019 Zenvo TSR-S (previously available Exclusive model)
• 80% Summer Completion: 2018 Mercedes-AMG E 63 S (previously available Exclusive model)
• 50% Series Completion: Backstage Pass - Click here to see how it works and what cars are available
• 80% Series Completion: 2018 ATS GT (previously available Exclusive model)  

PHOTO CHALLENGE - 3%

• PRIZEDPOSSESSION - Take a photo of the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
• Share a scenic photo with the hashtag on social media for a chance for your photo to be featured by Forza.
• Reward: Super Wheelspin  

FORZATHON

Earn 100 FP from the weekly challenge plus 10 per Daily, plus Bonus for all, double for owning the Lake Lodge  

Weekly Challenge - 15%

Must be done in sequence to count.

• Own and drive any Hypercar
• Earn 10 Pass Skills while racing your Hypercar
• Earn 9 stars from Speed Zones with your Hypercar
• Win a Road Racing Series event at Lakehurst Forest Sprint with your Hypercar  

Daily Challenges - 1% Each

Each challenge is open for 72 hours from 7:30am Pacific of the start day.

• Earn 2 Awesome Skill Chains
• Combine Drafting and Pass Skills to earn 3 Slingshot Skills
• Earn 9 stars in total from PR Stunts
• Complete a Drag Strip event
• Win a Dirt Scramble event
• Earn 3 Binman Skills
• Earn 1 Kangaroo Skill  

SEASONAL EVENTS - 6% Each, 54% Total

The unique reward listed for seasonal championship events requires you to place 1st against at or above the Highly Skilled Drivatar difficulty setting; the Trial requires Unbeatable difficulty.  

• The Trial Co-Op Championship: "Excess Baggage" | Cross Country | (A800) Heavy Hitters
• Reward: 2006 Hummer H1 Alpha Open Top (previously available Exclusive model)
• Heavy Hitters = Cars weighing over 4,400 lbs  
  
• Showcase Remix: "Nine & Three Quarters" | The Flying Scotsman vs. Ford Anglia '59
  
• Reward: Super Wheelspin  
  
• Seasonal Playground Games | Express North Rail Yard | (B700) Vintage Racers
  
• Reward: 1933 Napier Napier-Railton (previously available Exclusive model)
  
• As of Series 24 you don't have to win the event to earn the reward.  
  
• PR Stunt: Great Ridge Danger Sign | 915.4 feet
  
• Reward: Super Wheelspin  
  
• PR Stunt: Coombe Speed Trap | 185.0 mph
  
• Reward: Super Wheelspin  
  
• PR Stunt: Croft Speed Zone | 110.0 mph
  
• Reward: Super Wheelspin  
  
• Championship: "Forest for the Trees" | Dirt Racing | (C600) Retro Rally
  
• Reward: 1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205 (previously available Exclusive model)  
  
• Championship: "Cult Collection" | Dirt Racing (D500) Cult Collection
  
• Reward: 1974 Toyota Corolla SR5 (previously available Exclusive model)  
  
• Championship: "Flex Your Muscles" | Road Racing (S1 900) Modern Muscle
  
• Reward: 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 (newly released Exclusive model)  
  

MONTHLY EVENTS - 21% Total

• Monthly Rivals: Toyota Supra '98 on Bamburgh Coast Circuit - 6%
• Online Adventure: Requires 1 Qualifying race to get ranked - 15%  

As always, credit to ManteoMax on the official FH4 forums for putting this together!  
The new Honda S800 is available for completing the event That 70s Championship this Season.  
The 1970 Porsche #3 917 LH is available for completing the Super7 this week.  

FORZATHON SHOP (changes at 7:30am Pacific)

• 600 FP Car: 2008 Koenigsegg CCGT (previously available Exclusive model)
• 350 FP Car: 2016 Volvo Iron Knight
• Clothing: Disco Chicken Suit
• Clothing: Classic Top Hat
• Wheelspins cost this series: 40 FP & 150 FP  

FESTIVAL PLAYLIST

• 50% Winter Completion: 1991 Bentley Turbo R (previously available Exclusive model)
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FORZATHON

Earn 100 FP from the weekly challenge plus 10 per Daily, plus Bonus for all, double for owning the Lake Lodge  

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Must be done in sequence to count.

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The unique reward listed for seasonal championship events requires you to place 1st against at or above the Highly Skilled Drivatar difficulty setting; the Trial requires Unbeatable difficulty.  

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• Reward: 1931 Bentley 8-Liter  
  

MONTHLY EVENTS - 21% Total

• Monthly Rivals - 2020 Chevrolet Corvette at the Holyrood Park Circuit - 6%
• Online Adventure - Requires 1 Qualifying race to get ranked - 15%  

Latest FH4 Release Notes: Series 31 January 13th, 2021  
Forza Horizon 4 | Series 31 Update  

Hi. I'm Olivia, but people call me Liv or Olive, but whatever works is fine. I posted here recently looking for "anything" & that led me to a lot of friends, but after doing that I realized that I definitely want more than just a friend.
I have a picture of me on my page so go check that out if you care. If you're potentially interested in me then feel free to keep reading to see what we have in common & if you think we'd be a good fit :)
Things about me..
I'm blonde with blue eyes & freckles.
I'm 5'4 & "thicc" or "curvy" I guess. My friends always tell me they'd love to trade bodies because mine is perfect, but I don't personally agree with that statement lol.
I love video games & right now I'm learning how to play COD warzone & I'm obsessed with it so if you're down to play that then by all means message me right now. A guy that can carry me in warzone is... oof hot. (same with fortnite)
I played halo, mortal kombat, & OSRS when I was younger & I still love them deeply to this day. I also love board games & really all table top games. Oh, & I play BTD & COC. Bonus points if you know what those are.
I love cooking & just love food in general.. I'm a sucker for some good spaghetti or mac n cheese.
I also love cleaning & may have a tad bit of OCD. I like things clean & where they belong hehe.
I love all kinds of animals, but cats & dogs really have my heart. If you have one & you don't send me pictures every day I'm cutting you off because that's just simply unacceptable 💁🏼‍♀️
I love kids, especially babies, & I hope to have many, many, many (ok maybe not THAT many) of my own some day. I've known since I was a little girl that being a mother was part of my calling & I've always been the motherly friend just preparing for my little beans lol.
I like all types of movies (don't care for horror much though), but prefer action & comedy over anything. Baby driver, Deadpool & anything with Will Smith, Vin Diesel, or Adam Sandler I LOOOOOVE.
I love all types of music, but 90s music really does it for me. Country, pop, hip hop, r&b, alternative.. I can enjoy a lot of it.
I graduated high school at 16 & moved into a place with my friend & started my first business.
I nanny (on pause because of covid though) do hair & nails, detail cars, & do doordash when I'm bored lol.
I'd like to start a baby & momma boutique (with baby related items like clothes, bibs, toys, etc, & pregnancy items & clothing) at some point in the near future, but I definitely need to save a lot more for that as it is kinda pricey to start.
I've moved around my whole life so I really only have one best friend because she's an online friend (I have met her a bunch of times IRL though) so she goes with me wherever I go.
I've been in a few relationships, but they haven't worked out due to me moving, them being abusive or them cheating because I didn't want to lose my virginity to them yet.
I've never smoked, drank, done drugs, partied, or slept around. I have no issue with people that choose to partake in those activities.. they're just not my cup of tea.
I've never traveled just because my life hasn't allowed for it, but I'd love to when I have the money & it's safe to do so.
I'm a very open-minded & open-hearted person. I love seeing people happy & making people happy makes me happy.
Laughter truly is a medicine that so many people need, especially right now, & I love to be the one to supply it. Having people in my life that can make me laugh & just find humor in the dumbest things is really important for me.
II'm very much a people person & I love making deep connections. I will listen to your pour your heart & soul out & I will keep all your secrets. I will never judge you for anything because I'm not perfect, so I have no right. I love being a safe place for people because I know how it feels to live without one & it's lonely & miserable.
I've been through more than most people go through in their entire lifetime & I know I'm probably not done suffering yet, but I always try to stay positive & focus on keeping good energy & vibes around me, especially for those in my life.
I'm a very emotional person & I am most definitely an empath because if you hurt, I hurt & if you're happy, I'm happy. That's just how my heart works & I think this is why I'm able to have such deep friendships so quickly when I meet someone.
Also, I feel very comfortable talking to people & they usually do with me as well because they know they can be unapologetically themself with me & I love that so much.
I'm a firm believer in "it's only awkward if you make it awkward". 💁🏼‍♀️
I'm a try anything twice type of girl. I try it once to get over the initial shock of it & a second time to decide how I truly feel about it. I think everyone should do this.
Intelligence & wit is super sexy to me. If you can have a conversation where it's flowing & we're being playful & also learning.. just wow. 10/10 conversation.
The type of convo that's ideal for me is where you don't ever want to stop talking because it's that's great.
I do happen to be a flirt/tease & it honestly just makes things fun.
I prefer phone/discord calls over texting & ideally my person would too. Actually.. it's kinda necessary. I need it.
What I'm interested in in a guy..
I'm pretty open in terms of age (though I'd prefer a few years older than me at least for maturity/experience & I don't have a limit on this age atm), race, beliefs, size (as long as you're healthy with good hygiene), relationship history, or anything like that.
Having a job & your poop grouped is a must because I'm not interested in taking care of another person at this point in my life when I'm trying to get my situation worked out & get where I want to be in life.
A guy that is affectionate & caters to my love languages is very important because I've never been with someone that really showed me they cared.
I've always been the one to plan out dates, buy them things, pay for dinners, & go the extra mile in general & I'm dying to be with someone who puts in that effort for me too.
Thoughtfulness & willingness to just do things to see your partner happy is honestly so attractive. I just want my energy reciprocated & to not be the only one putting in effort. Someone supportive & accepting like I am is also a must because I've had a kinda terrible life so far & I'm always scared to open up to people about it because it's a lot & can be overwhelming. 2020 was also a crazy year & a lot happened that completely changed my life so that's stuff I'd like to be able to open up about.
I'd like to be able to call on discord & play games & watch movies & just spend time together & if things go well eventually meet.
If you're interested feel free to message me. I prefer the messaging function over chats. I'd love for you to send a recent picture of you, but you don't have to until I respond if that makes you feel more comfortable.
Not looking for a "hey what's up" type of message so please don't message me if that's all you're willing to contribute. I'm not asking for a novel, but a response to what I said & somewhat equivalent info about you is exactly what I hope for. :)
*Bonus points if you tell me WHY you messaged me. What part interested you? I love knowing what people think. *

I am 32/Canadian and had a very high paying career that had a short shelf life. During my high producing years I wanted to move out of Canada to another country where I could save as much as I could for my future because I knew my income would not last forever.
"Abroad" was a weird term form me. Despite being Canadian and having lived most of my adult years in Canada I felt like everywhere was abroad for me.
I was born in one of the poorest countries of Europe and lived there until I was 17 years old. The country has come a long way today but when I go back I never fit in. I definitely feel more connected with Canada than the country I was born in.
I think a big reason why I focused so hard on work was to never get back to the level of poverty I grew up as a child. Think of North Korea and Venezuela in one combo. In 1997 there was a complete lock down due to civil war and my family was lucky enough to survive because we had a vegetable garden and chickens. If you left your home you could be shot/robbed or worse be killed from stepping on a mine. The city was covered in them.
The other reason was that women got treated like second class citizens where I was born and my childhood was a living hell where I wasn't even allowed to walk on the street alone (even after they took out the mines), talk to members of the opposite sex or have any friends. Dating was not a concept and if they know you are "dating" you have to immediately get engaged and then married and have children or else you are a "whore".
I always had a bubbly personality when I was young, I liked to act, dance, and really liked learning. I was also interested in entrepreneurship and got a full scholarship at York University to study business but to my parents a woman is not suited for business and they pushed me to study molecular biology instead. I hated my University years. I battled depression and never really saw a future for myself with biology.
I ran away from home at 19 and asked my local university what help was there for someone like me that wanted to start a business. To my surprise they were very helpful and told me about grants and loans I could apply to get started. My first business was face painting and entertainment for children's birthday parties and events. I remember I got a $5000 loan and it seemed like so much money at the time. It helped me buy my first car and get started. I grew my business from just me to having 10 employees, having permanent booths in theme parks and festivals in Canada. It was hard work but I loved it. During the time I was still in university and most of my work was summeweekends so it worked out ok.
I remember I was growing more and more fed up with my studies and walked out of my last exam with a smile feeling absolute freedom. I never finished my degree and I was so ok with it even if I was one exam away from graduation. I didn't care about the crazy amounts of student loans I had accumulated. All I wanted was to grow my business and make money. It gave me that thrill that sitting in a lab using a microscope never did.
One day I became curious about online streaming and after having a few drinks with a friend I made an application on a popular site (at the time). The site was more like webcamming but you were allowed to do whatever you wanted on cam as long as there was no guys.
I didn't think much of it because I was doing well with my other business. At the time I had a rocky relationship with an ex bf and decided maybe going online and flirting with men would make me feel better about my break up. Then saw this email about the site I had previously applied had accepted my application.
I did my first stream completely clothed, having fun and chatting with people. I made $4.00 usd which was shit but I had so much fun doing it so I started researching the industry more. After a few more streams I decided this had a potential to be something big and I decided to make a business plan and focus on it entirely. I was constantly doing 10-12h on cam and loved to come up with new creative ideas to entertain people.
I went from making $4.00 my first day to making just shy off a million dollars a year. The money was not the focus but being the best at what I did was.
During my high earning years I knew I had to save and plan for my future. Most of the other performers would have one good month making $150,000 then disappear and not be relevant again. I don't know how I managed to last in the industry for over 8 years, but I am greatful that my hard work was combined with luck and being at the right place/right time.
I moved to Mexico when I was 26 years old.
My life in Mexico was great the first two years. I was dating someone that was super supportive with my work schedule. It was the honeymoon phase. We would always eat out and enjoy nice places and expensive travel. I was always frugal with everything else but vacations and experiences. Looking back my mistake was that I paid for everything and my bf at the time felt used to this cushy life that ended up expecting it. He was bad with managing money too and had a lot of debt which stupiditly I ended up paying off.
During this time I had bought various income properties in central Mexico (in a retirement village) and the agreement was that since I was making more money with my online business which required long hours on cam, my ex was supposed to take care of property management. At first he was engaged then ended up not so pationate about it. I felt used and underappreciated.
When I realized all this I was pregnant with our child. He told me he was unhappy living in a retirement village and wanted to move to a bigger city in Mexico. I told him we could try it out because it would offer more opportunities for our child as well. That's where things went downhill. He constantly ignored me and refused to help with chores in the house. I had a high risk pregnacy so I couldn't do much myself either.
After a few months he ended up cheating and experienced a mental break down, trying to commit suicide. I was crushed. I didn't know what happened and despite my efforts to send him to get the best medical help in the country he never was the same. I really wanted to help him get back on his feet again because I thought we were a team for life. I was wrong.
He ended up leaving the country one day when my son was only a few months old and has not been back in over 3 years. I have never heard back from him and I don't know if he's dead or alive.
I was crushed and myself experienced a complete burn out from work/personal loss at the time. Physically I became ill too and dropped down up 42 kg. I knew I had to do something about it because I had a son to take care of.
Looking back at it now it was an amazing opportunity for me to realize there was more to life than work. It helped me realize that I should have not provided everything just because I loved someone but let them provide and create on their own. If they refused I had to know they were using me as a wallet and to not get involved.
RETIREMENT
It's been one full year since I have been completely off work. It happened in 2020 out of all years. Before I tried to work on and off but my love for my job wasn't the same.
I can say I feel much less stressed than I did years ago. My health is better and my sleep schedule is so much better than it was before.
For the first time I now feel more Integrated in Mexico and I don't think I am missing out much not living in Canada.
Where I live it's safe, it has a high quality of life and there's a lot of international business around. Not that I want to open a new business here but I think it's important to be surrounded by other people that have seen more of the world and are also successful.
On top of that I have always felt like a hybrid of many cultures and being surrounded by people that have moved around the world means that we get to be hybrids together and they understand me better than say someone that lived in Canada/USA all their lives and never left the country.
Mexico has many bad things as well but no county is perfect. Choosing the right location to live in Mexico is very important to not be affected a lot by the bad things.
The pace of life is also much more calmer than in Canada and the US. This can be bad if you want to start a business here but it's a good place to be during retirement.
Also people are a lot less "offended" from things and I find it's easier to make friends than it was in Canada. My general perception of Canada was that people in Canada are very helpful to strangers but much colder if you want to have a meaningful friendship. Of course there are exceptions but that was my experience.
One thing I did not like about the western culture is the victim mentality that the youth of today are embracing. If they can't get something they usually blame the government for not doing enough for them.
Some women blame men for "the patriarchy" and some Canadians blame foreigners because 'they took away their cheap homes and they can't afford real estate'
Having lived in a real "shit hole" country where women get treated like crap I want to remind you that Canada and the US are the land of opportunities compared to most of the world.
Success is not guaranteed for anyone but all the information is free in English for you to look up and use it to your advantage. You don't even have to learn a second language to access it.
Being a woman or a minority gives you the same legal rights as everyone else if not more sometimes. I don't think most western feminists know what it's like to live in a muslim country.
My point is: Westerners are not grateful enough for what they have.
Complaining is human nature so of course it happens in Mexico but the majority know that their government won't do shit for them and they focus on what they can do as an individual. This can be bad too wich is reflected in the general sentiment Mexicans have for public property but that's another problem I won't get into.
Overall i am happy where I have come in my journey. I know I haven't got it all figured out despite having a 4.5 million net worth I don't feel complete being 100% retired.
I am currently building real estate in Mexico, investing in stocks and excercising to keep me busy.
After things open up I will travel more but the urge to have everything figured out which I experienced immediately once I stopped working is less.
Also: It's lonely at the top:
I like to think of myself as an easy and approachable person, however I think having a different upbringing and dedicating and reaching high levels of financial success at a very young age, makes relating to most people not as easy. I think humans form stronger bonds when they share and solve similar problems together. That's why I lurk in this forum from time to time. It makes me realize at the end of the day I'm not alone.
A lot of the questions that get asked here on a daily basis are questions that I ask myself all the time.
The funny part is that no one has the answers, I don't either and the more I live the more I realize that the answers don't matter.
The only realisation I have so far is:
The key to being rich is living in the moment, enjoying the company of your loved ones and being greatful for what you have.
Don't let your brain trick you into overthinking and stay away from the compulsion to use fatFIRE calculators all the time.
Just get out for a walk instead and leave your phone at home. We could be hit by a car tomorrow and none of that shit matters as much as you think.
Edit: since many have asked the country was Albania. I responded here how I ended up in Canada:
https://www.reddit.com/fatFIRE/comments/lh30x8/my_expat_fatfire_journey_abroad_long/gmwn401?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

Hey, this is my first post here, i hope you enjoy it since i think it's pretty interesting, before i begin i want to give you a glossary of words that i am going to be using that you might not be familiar with.
Glossary:

• Mnet: Korean music channel
• Trainee: Girls/boys aspiring to become kpop idols that have not debuted in a group yet.
• Debut: Period in which a group puts out music and promotes it for the first time
• Nations girl group: honorary title given to a girl group by kpop fans to a group that is very successful and well liked in Korea, formerly hold by "Girls Generation" and currently hold by "Twice"
• Music show wins: It's a win on one of the weekly music shows that groups promote on for 2–4 weeks after a release. (The Show, Show Champion, M! Countdown, Music Bank, Music Core, and Inkigayo.)
• Daesang: or Artist of the Year, is awarded to the best artist among up to 12 artists by calculating album and digital sales with online vote and a final judgement by the judges of the award ceremony.
• Bonsang: is awarded to up to 12 artists by calculating album and digital sales with online vote and a final judgement by the judges of the award ceremony.
• Triple crown: Winning first place on Mcountdown for 3 weeks in a row.
• All kill: Title given to a song that reaches #1 in all music charts.

Now with that out of the way let's get into the drama
What is Produce 101?
Produce 101 is a reality talent competition franchise created by CJ E&M and aired on Mnet, the shows format consisted in having 101 trainees from different entertainment companies compete for a spot to debut in a temporary group that would have 11 members, the twist of the show is that it didn't have a panel of judges, which meant that the fans had the power to decide who was eliminated and who debuted base on popularity.
While the show didn't have judges it did have trainers, these would be in charge of the singing, dancing and rapping training that the trainees would receive. In the first two episode after the trainees performed for the first time in front of the trainers they were given a rank from A to F, this was done so that they would be grouped according to their skill level and trained accordingly. This was the only decision not made by the show's fans.
The show had 4 season based in korea:

• Produce 101
• Produce 101 season 2
• Produce 48
• Produce X 101

4 seasons based in China and 2 seasons based in Japan, for this post we will focus in the Korean version.
Before we deep dive into all of the drama i want to talk a little bit about the groups that came out of the show and their success.
Produce 101
In the first season of the show 101 female trainees from 46 companies competed for a spot in an 11 member girl group that would promote for 1 year together. The show aired from January 22nd until April 1st and it had 11 episodes.
In the final episode the winners were announced and the group consisted of:
Somi , Sejeong, Yoojung, Chungha, Sohye, Jieqiong, Chaeyeon, Doyeon, Mina, Nayoung and Yeonjung
IOI debuted on May 4th 2016 and officially disbanded on January 17th 2017, during their run together as a group the put out 2 EP’s and 2 single albums, a total of 4 title tracks and 10 music show wins.
The group had 4 reality tv shows, were nominated for 24 awards and won 6 of them including, rookie of the year and best new artist, sold 237.233 physical copies, one subunit and at one point the group was so popular that some people referred to them as the nation’s girl group.
Produce 101 season 2
This time is for the boys, 101 male trainees from 53 different companies were going to compete for a spot in the 11 member boy group "Wanna One". The season aired from April 7th 2017 to June 16th 2017. In the last episode the final line up was announced and the winner were.
Daniel, Jihoon, Daewhi, Jaewhan, Seongwu, Woojin, Kuanlin, Jisung, Minhyun, Jinyoung and Sungwoon.
Wanna One debuted on July 28th 2017 and officially disbanded on December 31st 2018 but their activities as a group ended on January 27th 2019.
With their debut album the became the kpop debut with the highest number of pre release sales (600.00) and the third kpop group to sale one million copies on their debut, the first one to do so since 1992. Their second EP sold 700.000 copies on the pre release period breaking the record set by themselves.
All 4 of their EP´s were in the top 10 highest first week sellers of 2018, the group sold over 2 million physical copies, won a total of 49 music show wins, got 4 triple crowns, the group won over 30 awards including: Best rookie, Album of the year (2), song of the year (3), Bosang (5) and best male group (3).
Produce 48
This seasons main difference in relation to the previous two seasons was that 36 of the contestant would be trainees of the japanese group AKB48 and this time the group would have 12 members. The show aired from June 15th 2018 until August 31st 2018. By the end 9 of the members were Korean and 3 were Japanese, the winners were.
Eunbi, Sakura, Hyewon, Yena, Chaeyeon, Chaewon, Minju, Nako, Hitomi, Yuri, Yujin and Wonyoung.
Izone debuted on October 29th 2018 and its set to disband on April 2021. Their debut sold 34.000 copies in the first 24h setting a new record for the highest selling album for a female kpop group in 24h. Their second album sold 132.109 copies in the first week creating a new record for female groups.
As of January 2021 the group Izone is the third best selling kpop girl group, with over 1 million physical albums sold, 26 music show wins and they have won 23 awards including: Rookie of the year (6), Bosang (2) and best female group (2).
Produce X101
The fourth and last season of the show created the boy group X1, the show aired from May 3rd to July 19th 2019 and had a total of 12 episodes. The winners were.
Yohan, Wooseok, Seungwoo, Hyeongjun, Seungyoun, Dongpyo, Hangyul, Dohyon, Junho, Minhee and Eunsang.
X1 debuted on August 27th 2019 with the EP " Emergency: QUANTUM LEAP", the group broke the record for highest selling album in the first week with over 500.000 copies and the title track won them 11 music show wins including a triple crown.
The beginning of the end
During the live broadcast of the final episode of Produce X 101 on July 19, 2019, several viewers suspected that Mnet had tampered with the total votes.
It started with the third column of this table, the number of vote difference between each vote count with the one just above in ranking. Some fans noticed unusually high repeating patterns in numbers. This led to some K-nets to look more closely into the numbers and soon discovered many irregularities. This finally led to the discovery of every contestant's final vote count is a multiple of 7494.442.
In a voting as large as Produce X 101, each contestant's final vote count should be mathematically independent from one another. So, having all 20 vote count results to have a common denominator of 7494.442 is so improbable to the point of impossibility. (an exception of Koo Jungmo's vote number of 704,748 is possibly a clerical error from writing down 704,478.)
As it turned out, the number 7494.442 was the average individual final vote count divided by 100. In other words, 7494.442 X 2,000 equaled the total number of votes. This implied that Mnet first converted every individual contestant's vote count into a vote percentage ratio, and converted them once again from 100 base points to 2,000 base points, and then multiplied them by 7494.442.
This whole process makes no sense because each step not only is unnecessary but also complicates the calculation since simple calculations of vote numbers, even with the weighted ones, should be more than sufficient to get the job done. This leads to the conclusion that the procedure has a different purpose, namely extracting a large number like 2,000 that can quickly match to the final total vote counts by multiplying a constant, no matter how 2,000 points are distributed across.
This is the only logical and plausible explanation, and it also explains the second step of the process, converting from 100 point base to 2,000 point base. Distributing 100 points among 20 contestants are limiting whereas distributing 2,000 points makes much easier to fine-tune the distribution. Only natural conclusion from this is that the purpose of 2,000 points is for the distribution and the fine-tuning of the votes. In other words, vote manipulation.
Once the potential vote manipulation methods by Mnet were established, some of the fans also looked into the vote results of Produce 48. And sure enough, they discovered exactly same pattern emerging with the only difference coming from using 10,000 point base instead of 2,000 base points. And there is no transcribing error, unlike in the case of Koo Jungmo, as every final vote count being a multiple of 445.2178. (source)
Mnet admitted that there were errors in calculation, but also maintained that the final rankings were correct and that there was no intention of changing X1's member line-up. Fourteen representatives from the entertainment agencies of the 20 finalists held a meeting on July 29, 2019, and agreed to support *Produce X 101'*s outcome and X1's debut. On August 1, 2019, 272 viewers filed a lawsuit against Mnet for electoral fraud, as their on-site text voting service charged ₩100 per vote.
Level discrimination
Remember earlier when i told you that trainees were given a ranking from A to F so that they would be grouped and trained according to their skill level? well it turns out that that is not the only thing the levels were used for.
It was revealed that during the second season of the show the lower ranking trainees were discriminated against. A label said:

The bathroom is allowed for usage starting from the 'A' group, so the trainees in the lower group have incidents where they can't take care of their basic biological needs. We understand that it's necessary to group the trainees because there are so many of them, but it's unfair for the grades to affect everything

The food also became a problem, the boys would eat in order of level which resulted in the higher level trainees eating most of the food leaving the lower ranking trainees eating only white rice. Another label said:

They're all growing boys, but they're eating just rice without any side dishes. They're not given enough food and they're forced to fight over it. The boys in the lower tier level have to eat and get strength, but they're getting weaker. We're worried this is just making young boys feel defeated

The boys are also allowed out of the dorms only in order. Because there are so many boys and the lower grades can only leave after everyone in the upper level has left, the lower tier boys wait over 6 hours just to be able to go home. A third label said:

"The label can only follow the staff's orders because if we complain, it could be bad for our trainee. Trainees are working so hard just to get their faces out. We're sad that their effort is being twisted."

The investigation begins
On July 26th 2019 Mnet announced through a statement that they will be partnering up with a “reliable investigation team” to get to the truth.

First, we would like to apologize for causing controversy regarding the live final votes from .After the controversy arose, Mnet looked into the issue but we judged that there were limitations to finding out the truth, so we decided to ask an investigative agency with public opinion to look into the matter.Mnet will actively cooperate with the investigation to reveal the truth, and we will take responsibility for whatever we need to.We sincerely apologize once again for causing a disturbance.

News reports soon discovered that the “investigative agency” Mnet was referring to was the police. They had submitted a request for investigation to the police on the same day as their latest announcement.
Mnet reportedly filed an investigation into Ahn Joon Young PD, who created PRODUCE X 101. It’s noted that it’s rare for a broadcasting company to file an investigation on their own producers.

After grasping the situation, we requested the producers to explain exactly what happened and we investigated it on our own. However, we felt that our investigation was lacking. We also felt that we needed to look into this on a whole broadcast level.

On August 20, 2019, a search warrant was issued on CJ E&M offices and a text voting company by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency During their first search, the police uncovered voice recordings of the staff members discussing vote manipulation on the previous seasons of the show, resulting in them extending their investigation to all four seasons of the Produce 101 series, Idol School, Show Me the Money, and Superstar K.
On October 1, 2019, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency confirmed that votes from eliminated trainees were added to the total votes of the members who debuted in X1, a process that affected 2-3 trainees who were originally in the top 11. The police issued a search and seizure warrant on the offices of Starship Entertainment, Woollim Entertainment, and MBK Entertainment.
The police also investigated several agencies involved in Produce 48. Reportedly, per contract signed with CJ E&M, the entertainment agencies were paid ₩100,000 for every episode their talent appeared in. An anonymous trainee alleged only ₩1 million was given to their talent agencies for participating in a song, while each participant would only get a small percentage, and CJ E&M would keep additional profits if the song performed well. Some entertainment agencies who disagreed would request their talents to be eliminated at the last minute to withdraw them.
Idol School
Idol school was another reality talent competition show that had as a goal the creation of a girl group. A former contestant of the show, Lee Hae In revealed that the entire show was rigged. In the first episode of the show we are shown 3.000 girls auditioning for a chance in the show, however Lee revealed that it was all for show and that the girls that made it into the show had already been picked including her.

The producers first told me not to attend the audition stadium where the 3,000 trainees gathered. So I thought I didn’t have to go and didn’t prepare.But the day before the audition filming, they told me to go because I had some popularity from Produce 101If you grab any one of the Idol School contestants and ask where they went for the first auditions with 3,000 trainees, you won’t get an answer because none of them auditioned.

In an interview with MBC, a trainee alleged that, throughout their six-month training period, the contestants were only given clothes appropriate for the summer and had to wear them in cold weather. In addition to that, they were cut off from outside communication, were only allowed to buy daily necessities once a month, and were not given enough food to eat
During the October 15 broadcast of PD Note, several trainees anonymously claimed that their living quarters had poor ventilation and some girls developed rashes from dust. The trainees also claimed that they were so malnourished that some of them did not menstruate or had periods lasting for two months.
Bribery investigation, arrest and indictments
On October 16, 2019, the police began investigating whether the producers had accepted money for manipulating the votes. On November 5, 2019, after approval from the Seoul National District Court, the police issued arrest warrants and travel bans for director Ahn Joon-young, chief producer Kim Yong-bum, a producer with the surname Lee, and Starship Entertainment's vice president Kim Kang-hyo, after they had attempted to destroy evidence. By evening, Ahn and Kim Yong-bum were arrested. During questioning, Ahn initially admitted to having manipulated the rankings for Produce 48 and Produce X 101 only, but he later also admitted to partially manipulating the rankings for the first two seasons as well.
On November 7, 2019, the police revealed that the final rankings of the top 20 trainees during Produce 48 and Produce X 101 had already been predetermined by the producers before the final performances were recorded and broadcast. A total of 10 people, including the previously reported four individuals, were arrested on November 12, 2019. One of the other six people arrested was Shin Hyung-kwan, the vice president of CJ E&M.
On December 3, 2019, Ahn, Kim Yong-bum, and Lee were indicted for obstruction of business and fraud; executives Kim Shi-dae and Kim from Starship Entertainment, former Woollim Entertainment employee Lee, former 8D Creative employee Ryu, and Around Us Entertainment employee Kim were indicted for bribery and violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.
The indictment revealed that Ahn and Kim Yong-bum had met with one other professional two days before the live finale of Produce X 101 to determine the final 11 members of X1 based on pre-finale online votes and had wanted to exclude contestants they did not prefer, particularly those who had already debuted in other groups. Ahn and Kim Yong-bum held a similar meeting in August 2018 before the live finale of Produce 48 to choose Iz*One's final 12 members. Ahn swapped rankings for one trainee who was supposed to debut in Wanna One. A later report mentioned that the indictment also revealed rankings for one trainee who was supposed to debut in I.O.I were swapped.
In addition to this, Ahn had also swapped rankings for other contestants in the earlier evaluations. One trainee from Produce X 101 had originally passed the first elimination had been swapped for another, while the same method was used for the third elimination. He also swapped rankings for two trainees from Produce 101 and one trainee from Produce 101 Season 2, all of whom had originally passed the first elimination. Ahn and Kim Yong-bum stated in the indictment that they had predetermined the line-up for Iz*One and X1 because they were pressured by Wanna One's success.
CJ E&M had earned ₩124.65 million from the paid text messaging votes from Produce 48 and Produce X 101 Police previously found that Ahn had been using services from adult entertainment establishments in Gangnam paid for by various talent agencies approximately 40 times beginning from the second half of 2018, estimating to ₩100 million.
The indictment, however, clarified that, from January 2018 to July 2019, Ahn received services 47 times, estimating ₩46.83 million, that were paid for by the five talent agency representatives in exchange for giving their trainees favorable screen time. In response to this report, 8D Creative stated that Ryu was no longer working for their agency and was being indicted for bribery on Produce X 101 through his own agency, Enfant Terrible. Around Us Entertainment stated that their employee Kim purchased alcohol for Ahn but they were not involved in bribery.
On February 14, 2020, the Seoul Metropolitan Police issued arrest warrants for two people who were on the production staff of Idol School.
Trial
The first trial was held on December 20, 2019. During the trial, the defendants admitted to the charges while also requesting a closed trial to avoid disclosing the names of the trainees whose rankings were changed.
A second trial was held on January 14, 2020 and attended by the legal representatives of the defendants and the prosecution. Ahn and Kim, through their legal team, maintained that while they manipulated the rankings, their actions were not illegal. Han Dong-chul, the chief producer of the first season of Produce 101, and a staff member with the surname Park appeared at the hearing as witnesses; both had been suspected of manipulating the rankings for the first season of the show. The prosecution requested Lee Hae-in and another Produce 101 season 1 contestant as witnesses, but Lee's summoning was delayed and her lawyer stated that she would appear at the next hearing. Han and Park were also scheduled to be interrogated at the next hearing.
On February 7, 2020, all eight defendants were present. Ahn and Kim's lawyer stated that the votes were rigged in favor of the trainees from the first two seasons wanting to leave the program. In addition, Ahn claimed that while he violated the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, he only drank with entertainment agency representatives without accepting bribes, a statement that was supported by the other defendants. The third hearing took place on March 6, 2020.
The trainees that were rigged out
On November 18, 2020, the trial of appeals for the case of Produce 101 series was held, the court revealed the list of contestants who were eliminated due to manipulation

Although compensation is important for the victims who were unfairly eliminated, we believed that disclosing the list of affected trainees would be the start of their healing efforts, restoration of fairness, and the best way to reveal the truth.The trainees who benefit from the manipulation will not be revealed, as they were unaware of the manipulation and can also be seen as victims.The list of trainees eliminated by Ahn Joon Young PD and Kim Yong Bum CP, along with when their results were manipulated, is as follows

• Produce 101 season 1: Kim Suhyun (1st elimination round)
• Produce 101 season 1: Seo Hyelin (1st elimination round)
• Produce 101 season 2: Seong Hyunwoo (1st elimination round)
• Produce 101 season 2: Kang Dongho (Final)
• Produce 48: Lee Gaeun (Final)
• Produce 48: Han Chowon (Final)
• Produce X101: Timothée Anzardi (1st elimination round)
• Produce X101: Kim Kookheon (3rd elimination round)
• Produce X101: Lee Jinwoo (3rd elimination round)
• Produce X101: Koo Jungmo (Final)
• Produce X101: Lee Jinhyuk (Final)
• Produce X101: Keum Donghyun (Final)

Consequences
Final arguments were heard on 12 May 2020 with the prosecution requesting prison sentences of three years each for producing director (PD) Ahn Joon-young and chief producer (CP) Kim Yong-bum; two years for assistant PD Lee Mi-kyung; and one year for each of the five agency representatives charged with collusion.
The sentencing hearing took place on 29 May at Seoul District Court; all eight defendants heard guilty verdicts. PD Ahn Joon-young was fined ₩37 million and sentenced to two years; CP Kim Yong-beom was sentenced to 20 months; and assistant PD Lee Mi-kyung was fined ₩10 million. Agency representatives identified only as "Kim", "Lee", and "Ryu" were fined ₩7 million apiece, while two additional representatives both identified as "Kim" were each fined ₩5 million.
After the lawsuit was filed in August 2019, several brands cancelled their endorsement deals with X1 or put them on hold. The agencies of several of the members refused to sign contracts with CJ E&M until the allegations were cleared up. In spite of this, X1's debut proceeded as planned. After their appearance at the 2019 V Live Awards V Heartbeat was cancelled, Mnet announced that there were currently no plans for the group to promote.
Iz*One's first studio album, Bloom\Iz, was originally scheduled for release on November 11, 2019 with the lead single "Fiesta". Both the album and song were postponed after Ahn Joon-young's questioning on November 6. In addition, Iz\One's showcases, promotions, and several guest appearances were cancelled or put on hold, as well as their concert film, Eyes on Me: The Movie. On November 28, 2019, Iz*One's Japanese promotions were also suspended, including Sakura Miyawaki and Hitomi Honda's individual radio shows. On December 4, 2019, Iz*One's official Japanese fan club suspended activity, closing registrations for new members and refunding current members.
On December 30, 2019, Mnet and CJ E&M announced that both Iz*One and X1 will begin discussing future plans for the groups, and that the eliminated trainees will be fairly compensated. Both Iz*One and X1 were dropped from the nominations for the 34th Golden Disc Awards. On January 6, 2020, X1 disbanded after the members' agencies failed to reach an agreement on the group's future, while the agencies of Iz*One's members agreed to continue promoting.
To conclude
Mnet created a reality tv show called Produce, during the last episode of the last season fans noticed irregularities in the voting and sued the network, the police investigation revealed that there have been rigging in all of the seasons including a different Mnet show "Idol School".
The last group created by the show disbanded after a couple of months while the producers of the show and others involved with the rigging got jail sentences and fines.

Hello There!
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My name is u/houseofcards32 and welcome to airsoft! This thread was created to help beginners and newer players out there. I hope you will get something out of this post, as it contains almost every bit of information you need to get started. This thread gets updated every year with new information and sections, so assume the 2019/2020 guides are out of date. This thread will be automatically updated on January 1st, 2022. At the bottom of this thread will include all of the guides I have created so far, if you are looking for something that is not in here, I would look there first.
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This thread also has a video for each section created by me. Don't want to read the massive wall of text that follows? No worries! Sit back and watch the short 1-3 minute videos on the topic.
Consider liking and subscribing to my youtube channel, cards32 , as I don't make money off of these, but I do make it for beginners/newcomers benefit. Under each section will be a video for that specific section.
How to start airsoft in 2020
Battery Guide (LiPo vs nImh)
Stick with an M4/AK if you are an airsoft beginner
Lancer Tactical is bad
2021 Beginner Thread video playlist (in order)
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Are you looking to start airsoft? Do you need information about the basics? Well look no further! This guide will have 15 sections:
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1. Basic Information
2. How much does airsoft cost?
3. The best beginner rifles (AK/M4 variants) for $100-250
4. Things to generally avoid when playing
5. What should you bring to your first airsoft game
6. What weight bb should I be using?
7. Can I start airsoft as a sniper?
8. What eyepro/lower face projection should I invest in?
9. What is a "MED"?
10. What is a GBBR?
11. The Search bar
12. Orange tips and their legality
13. Airsoft youtubers
14. MSW (MilSim West)
15. What are some cheap gear brands to get as a beginner?
16. Lancer Tactical
17. What airsoft shops should I buy from?
18. Don't go out and spend $1000 before playing
19. Comparing paintball and airsoft is like comparing apples to oranges
20. What are the most common gearboxes?
21. Other guides that may be useful

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Section 1: Basic Information
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Your first airsoft guns is one of the most important purchases you will make while playing airsoft. As your first gun, it should be reliable, affordable, versatile, easy to work on (V2/V3), high performance, and compatible with as many upgrades and accessories as possible. This means buying and AEG, or Automatic electric gun or Sub-Machine gun (also known as an SMG). Forget about buying sniper rifles, pistols, gas guns, and other exotic airsoft guns until you have more experience, money, and at least one backup weapon.
To play airsoft it is HIGHLY recommended that you have the following items:

• An AEG (NOT A LPAEG)
• Magazines (high capacity magazines are recommended, which holds around 300+ bb's)
• Some batteries
• A charger

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All airsoft AEG's come with a magazine out of the box (sometimes a mid cap), but is highly recommended that you have 2-3 of these while you are playing. Eye protection is the most important thing in airsoft. All airsoft fields/sites require you to wear goggles/masks while playing. For more information check section 8.
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Section 2: How much does airsoft cost?
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Although airsoft is markedly cheaper than other shooting sports, it's still an expensive hobby. Site fees vary greatly but will typically exceed $25 for a day's play. It is reasonably common to spend in excess of $400 buying, upgrading and accessorizing a single airsoft gun. Gear and clothing can be similarly expensive. It is possible to play airsoft very successfully with just basic equipment, but even the cheapest possible equipment required to play airsoft safely will still cost you a minimum of $100. If you want a competitive advantage, or to play more advanced simulation games, you should expect significant additional expenditure.
It is common for users to approach airsoft with unrealistically low budgets. If you have less than $100-150 to spend, you are not realistically in a position to play airsoft. We will not compromise your safety by recommending you skimp on personal protective equipment. We refuse to recommend Low Power Electric Guns ('LPAEGs'), spring pistols and other ultra-low-budget airsoft guns because their performance is so poor, and their life expectancy so short, that they represent a false economy. You may still be able to afford to rent gear at an organized airsoft site, but not for more than a handful of games at most.
FAQs:
1. ⁠I think I can afford to play. What's the next step?
If you haven't already,read the rest of this guide.
2. Why are you lying to me? I can easily find airsoft guns that cost less than $100.
In airsoft, as in most aspects of life, there is a minimum price below which a product cannot be made fit for purpose. It is possible to buy something approximately gun-shaped for less than $100. Do not confuse this with the ability to buy a gun that will be sufficiently powerful, reliable and long-lived enough to play airsoft with. LPEGs, spring pistols and ultra-low-budget airsoft guns are utterly inadequate for airsoft play and will break rapidly, at which point you will be back to having no gun and will also have lost whatever you spent. In addition, you still need to buy suitable Personal Protective Equipment ('PPE'), which is an absolute prerequisite of play and not free. THE ONLY EXCEPTION to this rule is spring shotguns. The tri-Shot ones. They shoot anywhere from 3-6 bb’s at a time and most shells hold about 30 rounds. These shotguns are only optimal for CQB arenas and highly urban fields. They have extremely limited range so keep that in mind.
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3. The best beginner rifles (AK/M4 variants) for $100-250
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To get into the hobby of airsoft, you will need to have a decent budget. Most beginneintermediate guns cost anywhere from $100-250, but that cost does not include bb's, magazines, batteries, and a charger. Some guns come with a wall charger and a battery, but most users (including myself) recommend throwing the wall chargers away. This is simply because the wall chargers are normally very low quality. Most players recommend starting airsoft with an M4 or AK style variant AEG. Please note that Lancer Tactical rifles are NOT included in this guide, please check section 16 for more information on this topic. Note that the current Covid-19 pandemic is still ongoing, so things might read out of stock on the websites listed. I would check other websites if the items listed are not shown. Commonly recommended choices are:
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• CYMA AK Series -$130 - CM028, CMO40, CM045, CM048, and CMO28S) are clones of the original TM AK-47’s and AKS-47’s , and they include a high cap magazine (500-600 rounds). These are the cheapest AEG we recommend, and are generally considered reliable, upgradeable, and reasonably versatile. However, their all-Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene ('ABS') plastic construction makes them relatively fragile. For improved robustness we strongly recommend spending slightly more to purchase a Glass-Filled Nylon Polymer ('GFP') AR-15 or a steel AK.
• CYMA Platinum M4 Series -$250 - CYMA's newest addition to the intermediate M4 world, with these being one of the most recommended beginner guns of 2020. With updated internals, great trigger response, and a strong gearbox shell being the highlights of this rifle. Note that these go on sale quite often and the price drops around $240-250.
• CYMA Sport M4 Series -$185 - CYMA's solution to "budget" airsoft guns that have good internals and can be had for a decent price. Not as many features as the plat's, but have completely over hauled internals, as shown in Negative Airsoft's video.
• ICS Sportline -$180-200 - ICS' Sportline AR-15s are effectively a re-shell of their excellent regular guns in a GFP receiver. They retain the convenient split gearbox system of the regular guns. Note that most of ICS's rifles are slightly proprietary in their gearboxes, so keep this in mind.
• Maple Armories Marauder -$180 - Made from high density polymer but has an excellent set of internals which has been proven to be better than the Guay Guay lineup. This weapon series is on the more expensive side but has comparible internals to the VFC Avalon series.
• E and C MK18 Series -$162 - These are not really common in the US, but are popular in places like Canada and the EU. The internals on these have been quite good and QC has been almost top notch for something that is under 200. There are other models available in the US, but are way more expensive.
• Arcturus M4 Series -$161 -Arcturus is a relatively new brand in the airsoft market, but has come out the gate strong with their M4 series. This series has a microswtich installed, which is uncommon for other models in this price range excluding Classic Army. It also comes with 2 magazines which is great for beginners.
• APEX Skirmish Series -$95-100 - OEM'd by Classic Army, Apex's Fast Attack AR-15s are a relatively new entry to the market, and are equivalent to Guay Guay's CM16s. Versions with GFP and metal receivers are available. An intermediate equivalent of these would be a GP or ICS AR-15.
• Guay Guay G2 Combat Machines -$207 - Guay Guay has recently come out with a more updated version of their "Golden standard" AEGS. These are still relatively new and have had reports of poor quality mosfets. But other than that, the Gen2's are a superior upgrade to their Gen1 counterparts. Gen1's have been removed from this guide simply due to more updated rifles being out. Upgraded internals, and a better exterior allow for a better quality AEG. An intermediate/high end equivalent of these would be a VFC or a Krytac. These are not as outdated as the gen 1’s, but they still are classified as outdated when it comes to performance.
• Classic Army Skirmish Series -$180-200 - Classic Army's AR-15s are a relatively new entry to the market, and are equivalent to a slightly upmarket version of Guay Guay's CM16s. An intermediate equivalent of these would be a G P or ICS AR-15. These feature a mosfet that allows you to switch to 3 round burst or 5 rebound burst.
• Specna Arms Core Series -$120 -Specna Arms's CORE series of AEG's were removed from last year's guide due to QC issues, but with the issues mostly being fixed in the later end of 2020, they are being readded for their great price, and overall decent internals. Note that all the CORE series of AEG's have the same internals, just different externals, which are polymer to keep cost down.
• Specna Arms EDGE Series -$220 -Another Specna model, with this being similar to the CORE series, but having a GATE X-ASR mosfet, the newer orion gearbox, and an aluminum receiver instead of polymer. Also features a quick change spring system for easier fps changes.
• EMG Helios CORE/EDGE Series -$220-280 -Features the same specna internals, with the EDGE having the mosfet, and an aluminum body, whilst the core has a polymer.
• EMG Helios Umbrella Corp Series -$220-250 -Features the same internals as the CYMA plat's. Just a different body and externals. Normally on sale for $220.

4. Things to generally avoid when playing
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Airsoft is an honor sport, when you get hit, raise your hand high and display your dead rag. Also yell “HIT” as loud as you can so the other player who is shooting you knows that you are dead. Not displaying your dead rag can lead to being shot more than you want to. Calling someone else’s hits are normally frowned upon as you’re going to cause problems on the field and airsoft drama is not worth it. If someone is suspected of cheating, call a ref/marshal over to observe the player. When you are in the field/game area, DO NOT TAKE OFF YOUR EYEPRO!! EYEPRO is the #1 important thing in airsoft. If a bb hits your eye, you more than likely will be blind. Keep your EYEPRO on at all times while in the field. If you are fogging up, walk off the field. Avoid overshooting other players, once you see a dead rag or a red rag come up, or hear “HIT” stop shooting them. Dead men tell no tales! If you are dead, and a teammate asks where you got shot from, simply say: “dead men don’t talk” and walk back to your respawn.
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5. What should you bring to your first airsoft game
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So you’ve finally bought your gun and gear and you’re heading out to your first game. As mentioned previously, you want to make sure you come prepared. As well as your AEG, you want to make sure your batteries are charged and you brought an extra magazine or two. You also want to bring WATER! Staying hydrated is one of the most important things you need to do in airsoft. Being dehydrated will ruin your day and cause problems for you. Also make sure to have a good amount of bb’s for the day. it is highly advised that you wear boots while playing, running shoes can get dirty easily and there will be mud somewhere on the field that you will end up stepping on and getting wet. An extra pair of socks is also a good idea!
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1. What weight bb should I be using?

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This question is very common with a lot of newer players. LPAEG’s (Löw powered Airsoft guns) and Walmart airsoft guns use .12 gram bb’s. DO NOT RUN THESE IN AN AEG! This bb’s are cheap and will break the internals of your rifle. You don’t want to throw your money away do you? I didn’t think so. The lowest weight you can use in your replica is .20 gram bb’s. There are a lot of brands out there for bb’s: Elite Force, BLS,, HPA, KWA and so on. All of them are good brands to buy from. If you are planning on playing indoor, most users will recommend .2-.28 bb’s for the best range and efficiency. If you are planning on playing outdoor, using .28’s and higher is optimal for the best range. Just keep this in mind: the heavier weight, the slower the bb travels.
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1. Can I start airsoft as a sniper?

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It's not recommended no. You can do whatever you want, but sniping is not beginner friendly. Sniping is an expensive virtue and will take a lot of money and time for you to get a rifle that shoots far. Buying a stock sniper will mean you have to put money and parts into it, as the only “good” stock sniper rifle is the SSG24, and the Silverback SRS. The popular airsoft youtuber, Novritsch, has made sniping extremely popular with noobs as he shows a lot of action and gameplay with his guns. Keep in mind that being a sniper is not all action and takes patience and time. His videos are short for a reason. You do the math.
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1. What eyepro/lower face projection should I invest in?

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Eyepro is the most important thing in airsoft. Airsoft is a sport that requires you to have eye protection on at all times while on the field. Lower face protection is required for most players under the age of 18 in most American fields. Anyone over the age of 18 can normally just get away with goggles, but you don't want to have to go to the dentist do you? Didn't think so. There are different types of eye protection for airsoft, ranging from basic shooting goggles, to face masks that protect your face. There are a lot of different goggles and masks out there, but here are some of the most populamost recommended items. Any eye protection you use MUST BE ANSI 787.1+, otherwise you cannot use them! DO NOT USE MESK EYE PROTECTION UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! They are not anzi rated, and their have been hundreds of cases where someone will shoot someone with mesk eye pro, and the bb will explore on the outside of the google, allowing the bb fragments to get inside an eye.

• Pyramex I-Forces (Slim) -20$ - These goggles are one of the most common eye protection recommended because they are really hard to fog. They are also the cheapest eye protection that this list will have, but these are really amazing goggles. These are full seal but these are not as big and bulky as some others.
• Revison Desert Locusts -$30 - These are another amazing choice when it comes to eye protection. A little more pricer than the I Forces, but provides more protection around the face. Has fine lens curvature and the lenses adjust automatically to shifting or variable light conditions. Please note you can buy these new on their website/evike, but they cost 50-60$ new.
• ESS Land Ops -$85 - Issued by the U.S Army, these goggles are another excellent choice. Features exceptional fog resistance, particle filtration, and comfort. These can also be found on eBay and military surplus stores for cheaper, but keep in mind of scratching.
• Smith Optics OTW -$180 -These no doubt are the most expensive goggle on this list, but these goggles feature a fan inside of the goggle, which allows for no fog at all. The low profile housing of the fan does not interfere with the brim of a helmet. If you want something really good, \*buy once, cry once.\*
• Dye i4/i5 -$100-250 - These are the best option when it comes to full face protection. This was originally designed for paintball, but has been adopted by airsofters as well. The special venting and google coating allows for zero fog. I have had one for 8 months and I have yet to deal with any problems. The prices vary depending on color, but you can find one used for roughly 60-70$. There is an updated mask, the Dye i5, which has an updated back strap and different colors.
• Oakley M-Frames -$120-130 - These are often used by milsimmers as these offer great eye protection in a minimalist setup. Often used by the US military, these offer great non-fogging and are super lightweight.
• ESS Crossbows -$40-80 - The ESS Crossbow Suppressor is the first spectacle frame designed for use with ear cup hearing protection and communications devices. Featuring Z-Bend Geometry, the frame's ultra-thin temple arms help keep noise out by minimizing the effect on the padded seal of ear cups. The slim temples eliminate the hot spots and pressure points that commonly occur when normal eyewear is worn under ear cups.
• OneTigris Mesh Mask -$15-20 - The most common mesh mask in the market, and the most affordable one also. Made out of steel and nylon, this mask allows for maximum comfort as it is has nylon fabric cheek sides.

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9. What is a "MED"?
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If you’ve played airsoft before or are just hearing about this for the first time, a “MED” or minimum engagement distance is utilized in airsoft. Most airsoft guns have semi, and fully automatic. Most fields in the US, do NOT allow full auto within 40-50 feet. Imagine coming around a corner and getting shot with 10 bb’s because the person around the corner didn’t switch to semi. This isn’t Call of Duty, spraying your bb’s all over the place will achieve very little, if not anything. When you get closer than 40-50 feet, switch your AEG to semi. Airsoft, for the most part doesn’t hurt, but getting shot 10-20 times in a row certainly will. Don’t be that guy who full autos people from 10 feet away! It’s being an asshat, and will probably get you kicked out!
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1. What is a GBBR?

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GBBR(Gas Blow-Back Rifles) are the hyper-realistic guns. If you have a larger budget and would like a more realistic experience these are the guns for you. Not usually recommended as starter guns because of the cost of gas and accessories, but not to be entirely ruled out for a select group of people. These guns require maintenance, but most would consider the work to be put to the background in the face of the utter satisfaction of using one of these guns. Check out GasBlowBack for more information on this topic.
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11. The Search Bar
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The search bar is a tool that is at the top of this sub that is used to search for a post or topic. This feature is not used by any beginners as they will probably ignore this guide and ask the question anyways. Most questions have been asked before and you will find your answer. To use the search bar:
A. Open reddit
B. Click on airsoft
C. Using your eyeballs, look at the top of your screen
D. Using your fingers, type in whatever you are looking for (I.E BEST BEGINNER SETUP)
E. Using your eyeballs, look at the results
F. Realize that most people will just ignore this guide and continue asking the same questions every single day.
G. Profit!
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1. Orange tips and their legality

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Orange tips are required for retailers, but you are more than welcome to take them off after you receive your airsoft gun. Just note by doing so you will void your warranty. Also please do not take your airsoft gun out in public and follow basic gun safety. Please check your local state/county rules before doing this though. Note that random strangers on the internet will NOT know your local rules, so I cannot empathize this enough.
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1. Airsoft youtubers

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A lot of users will watch certain youtubers and get a impression of the hobby that does not exist. Remember: Their job is to get views and entertain you, they cut out the parts that are boring. Clickbait content is what most beginners watch and please note that cheaters in airsoft are not as common at they make them to be. If you are interesting in learning more about clickbait, I made a video breaking down airsoft clickbait on youtube. There is of course great content creators out there that don't just make clickbait and I implore you to go look for them.
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14.MSW (MilSim West)
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MSW is considered the only "true" Milsim in the US. Interesting in going? Read the Tacsop.
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1. What are some cheap gear brands to get as a beginner?

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It is also pretty common for airsofters to think they need to spend a bunch of money on super expensive gear to get started. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Good gear does not equal skill (BY ITSELF), and while having good gear CAN help you play, it won't make you a special operator by itself. Most users are on a budget anyways, and investing in cheap chest rigs is a great option to stay within your budget. Note that most of these recommendations will be chest rigs, simply because of the price and functionally of them. Condor is one of the most budget friendly airsoft gear brands out there, as they will be on this list a bunch. NOTE: THE CHEAP CROSS DRAW VESTS ARE NOT INCLUDED ON THIS LIST SIMPLY BECAUSE FOR THE MOST PART, THEY SUCK. Some good budget options ($0-100) would be:

• Surplus Chicom rig -$12
• AK47 Bandoiler Chest Rig -$15
• Chinese AK47 Chest Rig -$20
• NCSTAR 6 Pouch Chest rig -$27
• Condor Ronin Chest Rig -$32
• Condor Rapid Chest Rig -$32
• Condor Gen 5 Recon Rig -$35
• NCSTAR VISM Chest Rig -$45
• LBX Chest Rig-$65
• LBX Tactical Lock and Load Chest Rig -$101

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1. Lancer Tactical

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So Lancer Tactical is not on this guide for a multitude of reasons. For starters, in 2017, their CEO was arrested at shot show under the pretenses of producing non-anzi rated goggles and advertising as such. They were producing goggles that were direct copies of Revision, and lied about their goggles being rated for airsoft. But the primary reason as to why they are not recommended is that their quality control is fucking horrendous. Lancer has created 2 "generations" of guns, with the 2nd generation "having a different oem" meaning that they were magically fixed. Spoiler alert, the QC is still garbage and even their "prolines" having terrible QC, with Reventian having to be SENT 3 for a review, and his 3rd one died. But if you don't believe me on the QC part, check out a compilation of lancer's breaking in the past year.
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1. What airsoft shops should I buy from?

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Recommended US-Based Retailers
Infantryshopusa
Airsoft GI
Evike
Amped Airsoft
Airsoft Extreme
Airsoft Atlanta
Trinity Airsoft
Gas Blowback Central
JustAirsoftAmmo
InfantryShop
Canada based Retailers
Alberta
007 Airsoft
Badlands Paintball
B2 Airsoft
Buy Airsoft
Capital Airsoft/Force on Force Tactical
Comex Hobby
PM Hobbycraft
British Columbia
Badlands Paintball
Camouflage
Milsig
Phoenix Tactical
Trigger Airsoft
Viper Action-Air Innovations
Manitoba
Badlands Paintball
TBD Airsoft
Xtreme Tactics
Newfoundland
Frontline Paintball
Nova Scotia
Venture Airsoft
Scotia Arms Airsoft
Ontario
Action Air Canada
Airsoft Depot
Badlands Paintball
Blackbiltz Airsoft
Canada Wide Airsoft -No Website.
Challenger Airsoft/My Airsoft -No Website. FB Seems inactive.
Chigun Hobby Store
Daymark WindsoSOAR Hobby
DMZ Airsoft & Paintball
Flagswipe Paintball
Forest City Surplus
Gear Up Airsoft
Hero Outdoors
High Percision Airsoft
Infinity Arms
JS Airsoft
JT Military Surplus -No website.
Maier Action Games
Maple Airsoft Supply
Niagara Quatermaster
Nick Sports Shop & Central Surplus
Platinum Paintball -No Website.
Rapidfire Airsoft -No Website
Toronto Airsoft
Ultimate Airsoft
Prince Edward Island
Andy's Airsoft
Quebec
Aventure Airsoft Lanaudiere
Divison XP
Fighter System
Headshot Airsoft -No Website
Tactical Center
Taktik Airsoft
Saskatchewan
SackSoft Armoury
Online ONLY
Airsoft Parts Canada
Ultimate Airsoft
Replica Airguns
Upper Canada Tactical
Western Canadian Airsoft Supply
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Asian-Based Retailers
Redwolf Airsoft
eHobby Asia
ebAirsoft
WGC Shop
Echigoya - Japanese shop, best source for TM guns
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UK Retailers
Zero One
Action Hobbies
Airsoft World
Land Warrior
Fire Support
Wolf Armouries
JD Airsoft
Combat South
Dave's Custom Airsoft
Bespoke Airsoft
Skirmshop
Patrolbase
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1. Don't go out and spend $1000 before playing

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It is also very common for users to approach airsoft with spending a bunch of money. Please don't do this. It is always recommended to rent before playing. After renting, don't go out and buy a shit ton of geaguns. Stay cheap, and don't go all out. Regardless of what you have seen on youtube, having the best gear does not make you the best player. How stupid would you look if you went out and bought a brand new Umbrella Armory and full Crye's if you don't like the hobby? Simply put, don't go out and buy expensive gear, like said above, stay cheap and go out to have fun.
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1. Comparing paintball and airsoft is like comparing apples to oranges

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Comparing paintball to airsoft would be like comparing apples to oranges. They are two completely different hobbies that are very different. Paintball uses balls of paint that cannot go farther than normally 50-60 feet, whilst airsoft uses more realistic looking markers that can go much farther. If you are a paintballer, no problem, just don't come in here and try to compare the two :)
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1. What are the most common gearboxes?

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The V2 and V3 mechboxes are the most common gearboxes found in M4/AK series AEG'S. If you are more interesting in learning about the V2 gearbox, check out the V2 gearbox guide. V2 gearboxes are found in most M4 series AEG's, while V3'S are found in AK series rifles. The MP5 often uses a modified V2/V3 gearbox, it all depends on the brand. The Airsoft Tech is a great resource if you are looking to expand your knowledge. Negative Airsoft is also another great resource, consider checking him out here.
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1. Other guides that may be useful

• GBB Guide
• Searchbar Guide
• How to/How not to deal with cheaters
• Beginner AEG Guide
• 2020 HPA Guide
• 2020 Ultimate Hopup/Bucking Guide
• 2020 BB Weight Guide
• 2020 BUYING AND SELLING GUIDE
• 2020 Barrel Guide
• 2020 Basic Operations Guide
• Diffrent replica guide

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Changelog:
5/30/19-Fixed Formatting and added suggested eyepro section
6/1/19-small typos fixed and section about MED’s added
12/7/19- reposted for Christmas influx of new gun posts
12/7/19- added section on GBBGBB’s.
12/9/19- added section on searchbar and typos
12/27/19- added how the older guay guay are outdated
1/1/2020- post was unpinned so new thread is made.
1/1/2020- updated part about specna
1/19/2020 - orange tip section added
5/16/2020- removed specna cores from the Recommended list of guns due to bad QC
7/22/2020- reposting thread with more updated links as well as adding E and C to the recommended section
7/22/2020- added sections 13 and 14
7/22/2020- Videos added for each section
7/22/2020 - Added more options for eyepro
7/22/2020 -Fixed AMP AMP AMP issue
12/25/2020 - Added 5 new sections
12/28/2020 - Removed G1 CM"s from the recommended M4's.
12/29/2020 - Added new beginner guns to recommended section
12/30/2020 -Fixed spelling errors and guide overhaul
1/1/2020 - Guide re-published