Shanghai and Hong Kong Disneyland March 17 – Day 7 Complete in Hong Kong Proper; 12/04

Leave the Pictures to Us – All about Disney PhotoPass



You may have noticed that I had some Disney PhotoPass pictures in amoungst yesterday’s set of pictures.


That’s because Shanghai Disneyland does have PhotoPass photographers located around the park. I found them mostly down Mickey Avenue (the prime spots!) and in the character meet and greet locations.





As part of the PhotoPass system, you’ll also find cameras in some of the major attractions to take that candid shot of you whilst on the ride. At time of writing, TRON Lightcycle Power Ride, Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue and PotC: Battle for the Sunken Treasure all have in-ride cameras installed.


I have previously purchased Photopass Plus or Memory Maker at Walt Disney World and at Disneyland before so I knew how it worked in the US. However, I hadn’t bothered to do any research on the photopass options at Shanghai Disneyland or the cost. The most I knew of it was what Zanzibar had written in her Opening Day trip report and I recalled that she had difficulties with making a purchase online. So, it just kinda made sense not to dwell on it too much. Besides, there were at least 7 people in our group that had a camera of some sort.


Some time during this morning, a PhotoPass photographer approached our table to have a chat about the service. As the booking was under my name, the others just pointed in my direction.


The Shanghai Disneyland Photopass service works the same as what you would expect at the American parks. There are photographers that will take your picture around the park and the resorts. They will give you a card (the white ones in the picture below) that has a QR code. Every time a PP tog takes a picture, they should scan a card, either start a new one or add to the one that you already have, after they take your picture. The card will store an electronic record of the photo numbers.

You can purchase individual picture – either by heading to Carefree Corner in Mickey Avenue or online via www.DisneyPhotoPass.com.cn. Hand over the card in person and they will scan the QR code and show you the pictures that have been stored against that code. Alternatively, enter the card details (or use a QR reader) online and you can view the pictures on a screen near you.

An individual picture will set you back about 59 Yuan. I think that is roughly in line with US pricing for individual photos.


There is also the option to purchase the PhotoPass Plus option. This is what I ended up buying after the discussion with the tog this morning. The PP+ option at SDL will set you back 369 Yuan. After the transaction was completed, I got given the card at the top of the picture below.





For that price, I was told that I would get unlimited downloads for all my photopass photographs over the 3-day period. I asked about how many cards I could link to the account. I was told up to 3.


The photographer wanted me to set up the service whilst he was around. I guessed from some of his comments that guests were having difficulties doing this when they got home by themselves.

So, we downloaded the app on to my smart phone. The spanner in the works on this morning was that it appeared that to set up the account, I needed to enter my mobile number. I would then need to verify the account by entering the verification code that was sent to that mobile number.

Yeah. I was on a prepaid Hong Kong service and there was no point using that number. So, the tog and I gave up at this point.


It wasn’t until I got back to my room that night when I figured out that there was also the option to enter an email address to set up the account. And that’s what I did that night. Having VPN Express meant that I could then check my email and enter the verification code. So, I successfully managed to set up an account by myself that night.

I even managed to enter the card details against my account.

However, I couldn’t work out where to go after that to see if the pictures had downloaded against the account. I ended up making a trip down to Lumiere’s the morning after and finding that tog for some help. As it turns out, I was blind. All I had to do was go to the “photo” tab on the top bar and click there. Once I realised how blind I was, my Photopass Plus was all good to go. My mother and I had a great time collecting photos after this point using that souvenir PP+ card.


There was something that the tog told me which I’ve put down to “lost in translation”. I was to find out about it after I came home.

I had collected a white card on the morning of Day 3. The photographer taking our picture that morning was just too quick. He had scanned the card before I could even pull out my Photopass Plus card. As I was told that I could load up to 3 cards to the account, I just went into my account and added it. Then I promptly forgot all about it.

When I got home to download the pictures, those pictures from that morning were blocked for downloading. I just couldn’t get it to work.


I ended up emailing Disney. They responded within 3 business days:


Greetings from Shanghai Disney PhotoPass Team!

With the purchase of Disney PhotoPass+, you will be able to download all your photos of up to Three Park Tickets or PhotoPass cards in ONE day OR ONE Park Ticket/ PhotoPass card used during THREE consecutive days. In addition, you can download them as many times as you want within 365 days starting from the day you take photos.

We bring good news. In order to thank you for your support, we have updated your PhotoPass account. You could download all of your photos.

Now please “Pull to Refresh” your “Purchased” page or “Sign out” and “Sign in” your PhotoPass account again.

If you have any enquiries, please contact us anytime as you want.


Thank you!

Disney PhotoPass Team
Shanghai Disney Resort



So…for anyone wanting to purchase PhotoPass +. Just remember that you need to use the 1 card for 3 consecutive days. Or 3 cards in 1 day. It’s the little details that get me!!!!!


In any event, it’s all good. I have a full set from the 3 days that I was there and I’ll be adding the PP+ pictures at the appropriate spots in this TR as I go along.
And I have a full year to download the pictures.


For those interested. I’ve come back with just a little over 1000 pictures against my PP+ account. There are numerous locations where we got multiple shots of us, and Disney have added character signatures and borders to all the shots. Assuming that I got 6 or 7 shots per photographer, that’s about 150 different pictures I’ve come home with. A lot of the pictures were from this morning’s character breakfast as we had 6 people to get through for 4 characters.

For each of the attraction pictures, they gave me 3 versions every time. The difference between the 3 was how much the pictures were cropped. All the attraction pictures came with their own borders.

As you would expect, the quality of the pictures varies from downright "ugly" to “OMG! So glad I got a memory at that location”.


369 Yuan equates to about $75. For what I came home with, this was money well spent.


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The Early Breakfast is Worth Four Character Meet and Greets In the Camera




As one of the earliest tables to arrive for Lumiere’s, we scored big time where the characters were concerned. They started to come out at around 8 am and there was only one other group around. It was them or us.


Us! We won. ;)


Yup. Before we could even hit the food buffet, we had the full cornucopia of visitors! We were the first table the characters came to visit and the characters all came to visit complete with their handlers as well as PhotoPass photographers.


As you would expect with a group of 6, all our cameras were clicking overtime. We were also doubling up as photographers for each other as we handed our cameras to someone else to take our picture as we took our turn with striking a pose with the characters. I could post the pictures that I took with my camera, but they are mainly of my mother and the group. That's one of the reasons why I buy PP. It's so that I can get pictures of myself.



So, given that we had purchased PP+, I figured you’d be more interested to see a selection of pictures that we got. That way, you can gauge the quality of the photographers and Shanghai and figure out if the equation works for you or not.


We got to meet the main cheese, Mickey.















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Minnie also came out.
























Up next was Goofy.
(Just so there are no mistakes in identity, Goofy is the tall one with the hat.)
























Pluto tagged along as well.























That official Disney photopass camera was working overtime with our table. All 6 of us grabbed individual shots with each character and we made sure we got a group shot with each as well. We ended up with a heap of pictures, way to many to post them all.


For my part, I wished that some of the PP togs would wait for us to get into position. Most of them were good but some of them would just snap and not pay any attention to composition. I know there were some in the selection that were also a little out of focus.
Still, the majority worked out well.


I hope everyone is happy with their pictures!





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Rainy Day Strategy #2 – Linger over a Leisurely Breakfast (Lumiere’s Kitchen Food Porn)




Mother Nature was providing a wet start to the day. It was the perfect backdrop for us so that we would want to spend a bit more time enjoying the breakfast rather than rushing off to the park!


Strategy #2. Linger over a leisurely breakfast. Afterall, there’s no point rushing to the park for rope drop when there is yummy food to enjoy.


With the character meet and greets all out of the way, it was time to concentrate on the buffet tables.


There was a decent array of food at Lumiere's Kitchen.





The egg station was a perfect example of east meets west.





@franandaj and I have had various discussions over the years on various threads and TRs about how to cook the perfect scram. You whisk the egg up, put it in a hot pan (preferably with butter) over a low to medium heat. As the egg cooks, you gently push the bottom and move the cooked egg to the middle. Continue doing so until most of the egg is cooked and then turn the heat off. Then flip the whole lot over to just cook any bits that may not have quite set. Take off almost immediately after you flip the egg over. This chef cooked eggs the proper way!




Just throwing it out there. For anyone that disagrees that this is the perfect way to scramble eggs and wants to DisMeet with franandaj and me over a homecooked meal, feel free to pick any other meal time other than breakfast. We both cook our eggs like this. :p


I was completely distracted by the waffle station! Sooooooo cute!





I may have sampled a few.





There were some fruits on offer.





But not as diverse a range as you would expect! But that was par for the course in Shanghai.





No matter. There was plenty else on offer. Including that all important sweet pastry food group.





There was a LOT of sweet pastry.









The hot buffet section was also diverse and rather ‘grown-up’.




There was the standard selection in the Western hot buffet section.




Likewise, in the Eastern hot buffet station.





But there was the classic Disney touch here and there.





My favourite station was the Dim Sum selection.





It may not have been the best Dim Sum in the world; but it was decent enough.


I guess you could say that about the whole Lumiere’s breakfast. It was a decent enough breakfast and everything was cooked well. I have no complaints about the food.


Was it value for money?

For food alone, no. But factor in the floor show and it’s a probably yes. Compared to US pricing….it IS expensive.






princess::upsidedow
 
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I agree about the PhotoPass being great value for money.

We just grabbed the one-day PhotoPass which I think was around $40 (AUD) and we ended up with around 350 photos. As we're a couple, we typically don't end up with too many photos with both of us in it, so it was great to have so many photos with the two of us.

Did you experience any issues with the photographers? Towards the end of the day, the photographers were getting really stroppy (I guess they just wanted to finish work and get home), but it was pretty poor behaviour when interacting with guests (i.e. snatching the PP cards from guests, audibly grumbling and just generally clearly communicating with body language that they did not want to be there).
 


We just grabbed the one-day PhotoPass which I think was around $40 (AUD) and we ended up with around 350 photos. As we're a couple, we typically don't end up with too many photos with both of us in it, so it was great to have so many photos with the two of us.

You're right about the one-day PP. I think it's about 199 Yuan. At AU$40, that is a bargain.




Did you experience any issues with the photographers? Towards the end of the day, the photographers were getting really stroppy (I guess they just wanted to finish work and get home), but it was pretty poor behaviour when interacting with guests (i.e. snatching the PP cards from guests, audibly grumbling and just generally clearly communicating with body language that they did not want to be there).

I didn't experience issues with any of the togs during the 3 days we were there. I guess low crowds makes it a pleasant experience for everyone, CM included.

The togs were always pretty polite to me and were always courteous when I ask them to take pictures using my camera. My camera has 'special needs' because I set it up for back-button focussing. So I always have to explain it to them. But it means that I can always pick the better togs out. Those that know a bit about photography know exactly what I mean when I show them the back-button. Those that aren't that experienced just look blankly at me. Towards the end, if I was getting blank looks, I was just handing over my cell phone instead. But I never got any 'attitude' from the togs in the 3 days we were there.
 
Great choice for a rainy day! You scored a great value with the photo package; love the pics!
 
That's a very sensible thing to pack.

I was going to take my Rockport. But when I checked them, I realised that they were a little worse for wear. They were cracked at the toe. I had got them soaked by sea water when I went down the Great Ocean Road and they would have ended up letting the rain in them as well.

I need new hiking boots.

Oh that's a shame. A pair of waterproof hiking boots is a wardrobe staple for me!

I think we kept missing each other by about 5 or 10 mins. I figured we were in the Gardens of Imagination at the same time.

Yes, I suspect there were several occasions where we just kept missing each other. But the number of times we just happened to bump into each other also surprised me in such a large park!

My mistake. I thought you came home with it as well. I know we had a conversation about the backpack at the hotel lobby when we were waiting for our taxi. But then again....I was in a complete muddle that whole morning!

I think we discussed that I regretted not buying one as I wasn't sure I'd have enough room to pack all my souvenirs ;)

Thanks. Yeah. There were so many trash cans in that area!

If you want a high res version of that photo, let me know.

Would love a copy, thanks!

I have a similar set of photos like this for the second night. :faint:

I actually had a lot better luck the second night. Only had to wipe the lens every 30 seconds or so instead of constantly lol!

Wow. I'm guessing you got very wet and had a hot shower when you got back to the room.

Well, I figured I was about as damp and cold as I was going to get, and couldn't really be bothered with buses and crowds. Between my waterproof boots and fairly decent raincoat, it wasn't too bad going.

$50 is comparatively pricey for a character breakfast; especially when you stack it up against the same offerings in the US. But if it seems expensive by Western standards, it must seem exorbitant by Chinese standards. I guess that’s why there are only 3 TS dining places at SDL and much more options for QS and snacks. In any event, we figured it was going to be a good way to spend some Dis-time together.

It certainly was a splurge, but I really enjoyed it and it was lovely to do it as a group. I think though the rain that morning made it all the more worthwhile :thumbsup2

Leave the Pictures to Us – All about Disney PhotoPass

Thanks for putting up such a detailed post on this. I'm sure lots of people will appreciate it :thumbsup2

So, given that we had purchased PP+, I figured you’d be more interested to see a selection of pictures that we got. That way, you can gauge the quality of the photographers and Shanghai and figure out if the equation works for you or not.

Love most of these photos, especially some of the group shots!

There was a decent array of food at Lumiere's Kitchen.

That is the understatement of the century lol! I couldn't think of anything I might have wanted that wasn't there.
 


Thanks for the tip about PhotoPass+. We will definitely be purchasing that for one of our tickets in Shanghai Disneyland. Also, I bought an eyeglass retainer strap based on your experience on Tron. I am hoping they let me keep my glasses on or I will not be able to see much of the ride!

Your trip report and photos are amazing!
 
Looks like a fun, albeit expensive, Dis meet.

Also fantastic job getting such great value out of the photopass. It was one of the best purchases we made when last at WDW.

Been trying to catch up with your thread (and others) for over a week now, but the Dis seems to like going down each night during my prime internet time of 8-10pm. So this morning, with 1 degree temps outside, I am staying in bed and catching up on Disney gossip :rotfl:
 
Oh that's a shame. A pair of waterproof hiking boots is a wardrobe staple for me!

I'm going to have to go shopping for a replacement pair soon. I just didn't realise how bad the leather had cracked from the seawater.



Yes, I suspect there were several occasions where we just kept missing each other. But the number of times we just happened to bump into each other also surprised me in such a large park!

I know, right?



I think we discussed that I regretted not buying one as I wasn't sure I'd have enough room to pack all my souvenirs ;)

Oh, that's right. I think I was using mine as carry-on and you weren't sure you could have even done it that way.




Would love a copy, thanks!

:thumbsup2



I actually had a lot better luck the second night. Only had to wipe the lens every 30 seconds or so instead of constantly lol!

I look forward to seeing your pictures in your TR (no pressure). popcorn::



Well, I figured I was about as damp and cold as I was going to get, and couldn't really be bothered with buses and crowds. Between my waterproof boots and fairly decent raincoat, it wasn't too bad going.

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to walk back to TSH?




It certainly was a splurge, but I really enjoyed it and it was lovely to do it as a group. I think though the rain that morning made it all the more worthwhile :thumbsup2

I really liked having breakfast with you all. It was a lot of fun. And the rain just made us all want to stay and enjoy it.




Thanks for putting up such a detailed post on this. I'm sure lots of people will appreciate it :thumbsup2

:thumbsup2



That is the understatement of the century lol! I couldn't think of anything I might have wanted that wasn't there.

I don't recall seeing oatmeal porridge? And the kitchen sink. :rotfl2:
 
Thanks for the tip about PhotoPass+. We will definitely be purchasing that for one of our tickets in Shanghai Disneyland. Also, I bought an eyeglass retainer strap based on your experience on Tron. I am hoping they let me keep my glasses on or I will not be able to see much of the ride!

Your trip report and photos are amazing!

Thank you. Hope you have a good trip to China!

If your strap keeps the glass on and it's a tight/close fit, they will let you keep your glasses on. I'm in the same boat. Everything is a blur if I don't have my glasses on.
 
Looks like a fun, albeit expensive, Dis meet

::yes:: A lot of fun. You know how much I enjoy DisMeets! :)



Also fantastic job getting such great value out of the photopass. It was one of the best purchases we made when last at WDW.

It makes perfect sense at WDW. There just seems to be a lot of photographers around.
I still have that picture of you and me at Epcot from 2013.




Been trying to catch up with your thread (and others) for over a week now, but the Dis seems to like going down each night during my prime internet time of 8-10pm. So this morning, with 1 degree temps outside, I am staying in bed and catching up on Disney gossip :rotfl:

I know how that feels like. During daylight savings in Oz, the Dis Twilight Zone time is during those prime internet times for me too.

That's cold! But I bet it's lovely scenery where you are.
 
This is such a fantastic trip report. Thank you so much PrincessInOz, the level of detail in fantastic and the photos are great. I didn't realise
Shanghai Disneyland was so big!
 
This is such a fantastic trip report. Thank you so much PrincessInOz, the level of detail in fantastic and the photos are great. I didn't realise
Shanghai Disneyland was so big!

Thank you. Glad you're enjoying it.

Maybe....there's a trip to SDL in the future for you?



It took a good 20 minutes - probably not the smartest idea after a long day in the pouring rain lol!

Thanks for the info. Looks like it could be closer to walk to the DL Hotel.
 
Rainy Day Strategy #3 – Walk around the Park in One Direction



For anyone keeping track of where we had gone to yesterday on the Park Map, our path would have looked something like this.





My head hurts just by looking at the ground we covered yesterday. That’s a LOT of backward and forward from one end of the park to the other!

It’s no wonder that my stepper app told me that I had walked over 29,000 steps yesterday.



Rainy Day Strategy #3 is one that you probably should adopt for any park; rain, hail, snow or shine. The aim for today was to head around the park in one direction. The assumption was that if we didn’t go back and forth, we would reduce the amount of time we were outside in the wet.


I had taken a look at the map last night and checked out the show guide. My plan of attack for today would have me taking a path around the park like this.





It turned out to be a good rainy day strategy. My stepper app told me we covered 21,000 steps today. That’s definitely over 1.5 trillion raindrops we avoided!



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Rainy Day Strategy #4 – Spend Time doing Meet and Greets (Shanghai Mickey)



After breakfast, the others headed to reception to check in. They were all moving to the Disneyland Hotel as part of their split stay strategy.

My mother and I just headed straight to the park and it didn’t take us long to get there using Disney Transport. The rain was falling a little on the heavy side so we were keen to find somewhere to get out of the rain as quickly as possible.


Rainy Day Strategy #4. Go do some Meet and Greets in park. Normally, there is a queue for in-park character meet and greets; which is why I will choose to go to a character meal during our stay. But when it is raining outside, I don’t mind the extra queue time. It means we stay out of the wet for longer. So, on the bus, my mother and I had already decided that there was a character Meet and Greet that we just needed to do in Shanghai.


You’ll find the Meet Mickey attraction on the Tomorrowland side of the Gardens of Imagination. We powerwalked from the transportation hub here as quickly as possible. The wait time was 5 minutes.






There were some very funky looking pictures in the front Gallery. The people were definitely taking their time looking at these pictures!





We turned around the corner……



……and would you believe…..



…..everyone else walked PAST Mickey in his official Shanghai Disneyland jacket. I guess the Chinese haven’t yet worked out who he is!





Not that I minded. It just meant that we got more time with the Big Cheese. He was even happy to pose for me.





I was pretty pleased to have stopped here.






The Photopass Service added the Grand Opening border to our pictures.






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Incorporating the Marvel Universe into the Disney Empire



In 2009, the Walt Disney Co bought Marvel Entertainment for about $4 billion. As I was a comic fan-girl from waaaay back, I was totally celebrating that entry of the Marvel Universe into the Disney Empire.


$4 Billion isn’t quite the 1.5 trillion number of raindrops we managed to avoid falling on us today….and that’s an eye-watering number by any standards….but then in 2009, I could not wait to see how the Marvel Universe would be incorporated into the ever-increasing Disney Empire. At least in the Asian parks, that unfolding story is starting to happen.





Yes, I know the Tower of Terror in DCA is undergoing a Guardians of the Galaxy transformation right now. But that doesn't quite stack up to an entire land. Hong Kong will have a new land based on Marvel in its future and for me, that means that my DH may be much happier to head to the land of merchandise when they are built. Happy DH, many happy Disney trips for me, right?





But until then, we’re temporarily stuck with entering the Marvel Universe to see static displays and exhibitions. This seems to have been the well-trodden chosen path at Disneyland to date. (Yes, I know the Tower of Terror in DCA is undergoing a Guardians of the Galaxy transformation right now.)





In this Universe pavilion, we got to check out Iron Man’s walk-in closet.





It’s official. Iron men definitely have less outfits than Iron women. Tony Stark only has seven suits, one for each day of the week. I think I can change outfits at least twice a day.

































It wasn’t just look and don’t touch the suits. We even got to virtually try on an Iron Man suit in here. “Virtual” being the operative word. But what cool about this is the fact that there is no need to don any headset, special goggles or even a wearable to step into the Iron Man suit. Just stand on flat bullseye pad and I guess 3D-sensors do the rest.





As I couldn’t read or understand Mandarin, I can’t tell you anything about the back-story to this experience. But any home-gamer can walk their way through without any issue. Afterall, ka-pow and ka-boom and ka-hit are pretty much Universal in any language.





If you’re pressed for time, you can skip it and DIY with your Playstation, X-Box or Wii system at home. You’ll probably burn the same amount of calories at home compared to doing the hands and feet exercise in the Marvel Universe.



We did follow Rainy Day Strategy #4 of seeking out Meet and Greets in here.


Poor Spiderman was spinning webs waiting for someone – anyone – to hang with him. We were happy to oblige.





Marvel Superheroes and my DM have never met face to face before! I think she did an AWESOME job at posing with them. Much better than me.





And because we had time, I asked Spidey if I could Peter Parker to his Spiderman. He was more than happy to strike a pose.






Right next to Spidey was another All-American hero. Again, he was just pacing around….waiting, waiting, waiting.






I can confirm that he was a proper American, and again, more than happy to shield-up for me. He was also very chatty and kept us talking for far longer than most. I guess finding people to pose with him was hard enough today; much less ones that speak English.






I have to admit that whilst I liked what I saw in the Marvel Universe, it did leave me wanting more. Much more. Perhaps Disney ran out of budget when they decked out this pavilion, but I wished they had put in a Spiderman version of Sum of all Thrills. A design-your-own swing and upside-down-cling-fest experience would be awesome!





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Rainy Day Strategy #5 – Repeat Rides as much as Possible (Buzz Lightyear Planet Rescue)



It was still raining when we made our way to Tomorrowland.






My DM wanted to head to Infinity and Beyond. Even though we were heading to outerspace, we were inside and out of the rain!





We followed the well-worn path to Star Command.





There were very familiar signposts in here.






I guess Zurg is still the Most Wanted Baddie around.






The ride vehicles are the same as any of the other Buzz Lightyear shooting galleries I’ve been in. Thankfully, the gun is based on the DLR version so you get to remove it from the holster for better aim.

There are some cool additions to this version.





But there seemed to be a lot less giant robots around.





In fact, for a photographer, Infinity shooting in here is few and far between.









Perhaps it was just me and faulty memory. But I was missing photographic targets in this version.





Heading to infinity and beyond was mostly just 2-dimensional.





There were the odd 3-dimensional target.





But they were definitely in the minority.





So, it was hardly surprising that my other infinity shooting score was higher.





Despite shooting with a camera, I still got to 1st Class Ranger status.







Rainy Day Strategy #5. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, go on the same ride multiple times to stay out of the rain.


When we came back to Tomorrowland, the rain seemed heavier than before. So, we opted to enact Rainy Day Strategy #5. We decided that given the wait time was 5 minutes (aka walk-on)……






…….we needed to repeat the ride. This time, I chose to only use the gun and leave the camera in the bag. The Photopass System here sent me a cool video. Hopefully, it works!







We did repeat ride 3 times to stay out of the rain. Shooting at infinity is DEFINITELY easier on this version of Buzz.




This is now my newest highest score on any Buzz shooting gallery (my previous being in the high 600,000's, so I still stay a Cosmic Commando).
I’ll take it.



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