title: Luna Vachon

text: Born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Charles Henry Wilkerson, a hotel owner and Rebecca "Van" Pierce, Luna's biological father, Charles Wilkerson committed suicide in his hotel in Atlanta in 1966. Paul "Butcher" Vachon, who was staying at the hotel that night, took care of a devastated Van while she was grieving in the hotel and married her, his second wife. He also adopted the four-year old Luna and continued to raise her as his daughter after the marriage split. By virtue of the adoption, Luna is also the niece of "Mad Dog" Vachon and Vivian Vachon. She was also close to André the Giant.


title: Luna Vachon

text: Luna was married three times, first to Dan Hurd, with whom she had two sons, Joshua (born 1980) and Vincent "Van" (born 1982), who competed on Seasons 6 and 17 of Fox's reality cooking show "Hell's Kitchen", hosted by Gordon Ramsay. After breaking up, she dated Dick Slater for a while until Slater began physically abusing her. She then married childhood friend Tom Nash. After Nash and Vachon split, David Heath, Nash's tag team partner in "The Blackhearts", and Vachon married on October 31, 1994. During this marriage, she was stepmother to David's sons, David, Jr. and Donavan. The two divorced in 2006 but, according to Heath, remained best of friends. She had three grandchildren, Lauren, Austin and Neila.


title: Luna Vachon

text: Luna was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She became a born again Christian in 2004, after attending an Athletes International Ministry conference. She was baptized by fellow wrestler Nikita Koloff along with her then-husband David Heath. In 2007, she worked as a tow truck operator in Port Richey, Florida.


title: Luna Vachon

text: Luna was honored in April 2009 at the 44th annual Cauliflower Alley Club reunion, given the "Ladies Wrestling Award" in Las Vegas, Nevada. One of her fondest memories about the wrestling business was being able to visit children as part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. After her retirement, Luna took an interest in fellow Canadian wrestlers and especially monitored the career of Nattie Neidhart, the daughter of fellow wrestler and friend Jim Neidhart.


title: Luna Vachon

text: Around Christmas 2009, Vachon's house was destroyed by a fire in which she lost her wrestling-related memorabilia and other possessions. After the fire, she stayed at her mother's home and joined her father and his third wife Dee on a cruise in February 2010. The fire prompted a call from fellow wrestler and friend Mick Foley (and others) to fans to send Luna-related memorabilia to Vachon's post office box. Foley also suggested that TNA bring her in to manage Tommy Dreamer at the "Hardcore Justice" pay-per-view in August 2010, but Vachon turned down the offer, stating that she had retired.


title: Luna Vachon

text: On the morning of August 27, 2010, she was found dead by her mother at her home in Pasco County, Florida. She was 48 years old. According to the District Six Medical Examiner's Office in Florida, she died from an "overdose of oxycodone and benzodiazepine". Investigators previously found crushed pill residue and snorting straws at multiple locations inside Vachon's house. Vachon had become addicted to medication at some point and underwent rehabilitation, paid for by WWE, which she completed in June 2009.


title: Luna Vachon

text: On April 7, 2015, The Mountain Goats released a pro wrestling concept album called Beat the Champ where one song, Luna, is named after Vachon.


title: Luna Vachon

text: She was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame's legacy wing (class of 2019) and into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2020.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Psychonauts 2 is a platform game developed by Double Fine and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game was announced at The Game Awards 2015 ceremony, and released on August 25, 2021 for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and on May 24, 2022 for Linux and macOS.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Like the game's predecessor, the player controls Raz, a young acrobat that is training to become a Psychonaut, a member of an international task force that uses their psychic abilities to stop those that perform nefarious deeds with their own psychic forces. Within "Psychonauts 2", which follows directly from events of the interstitial virtual reality game, "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin", the Psychonauts try to learn who was really behind the capture of their leader, unveiling a deep mystery surrounding the organization's founding and Raz's family history. To uncover the mystery, Raz enters the mindscapes of various characters to discover clues. Within these mindscapes, Raz can perform a variety of new and returning psychic abilities that allow him to maneuver through the often-twisted minds and battle the mental creatures they produce.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: The original "Psychonauts", released in 2005, was met with critical praise, but failed to sell well and was considered a commercial failure for several years after its first release. Double Fine and game director Tim Schafer had expressed the desire to create a sequel to "Psychonauts", but the financial demand of developing the game stalled any serious attempt for several years. Double Fine regained the intellectual property to "Psychonauts" from Majesco Entertainment in 2011, allowing them to rerelease the game on modern platforms, which saw strong sales and increased demand from players for a sequel. Double Fine sought to acquire part of its financial capital to fund the developments of "Psychonauts 2" through a crowd-funding and investment drive through Fig, launched simultaneously with the game's announcement. The campaign raised nearly by the beginning of 2016. While "Psychonauts 2" was initially to be published by Starbreeze Studios under a publishing-only deal, Starbreeze fell into bankruptcy in 2018. By 2019, Microsoft acquired Double Fine as part of Xbox Games Studios as well as securing the publishing rights from Starbreeze. This acquisition allowed Double Fine to complete the game as envisioned rather than dropping the planned content.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Upon release, "Psychonauts 2" received generally positive reviews from critics, with many feeling it lived up to the quality of its predecessor. Praise was directed at its platforming, level design, visuals, writing, and tone, while criticism fell on aspects of the gameplay and the boss battles.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: "Psychonauts 2" is a platform game played in third-person. The single player controls Razputin "Raz" Aquato, the ten-year-old child runaway of a circus acrobat family, who possesses powerful psychic abilities that allow him to delve into the minds of others. Raz is a new graduate of the Psychonauts, an agency of psychic spies. His acrobatic skills are used to deftly navigate game environments; he may run, jump, scale walls and platforms, and slide along rails, but cannot swim due to a family curse. Raz hones his abilities into an array of psychic powers that allow him to use pyrokinesis, levitation, telekenesis and so on. Several powers return from the original game, with additions such as Mental Connection, which Raz uses to tether between floating points. Up to four powers are assigned at once, and are swapped out via a pop-up interface.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Each of the game's levels exist in their respective character's consciousness. Levels often require completion of a goal to resolve the character's psychological issues. Environmental design in each level gives insight into the character's life experience and mental state. In one level, Raz enters the mind of a character crippled by alcoholism. The level design alludes to the character's struggles, with beer bottles used as set pieces. Another character develops a gambling addiction; their level is set in a warped casino-hospital amalgam. Combat foes in the levels are typically personifications of mental phenomena. Censors attack Raz with stamps, flying Regrets drop weights, and Enablers buff other enemies' health and attacks. In fights, Raz combines his abilities with melee attacks and dodges. When Raz falls through a level or depletes his health, he respawns at a checkpoint. Several levels culminate in a boss battle arena.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: When not progressing the story, Raz may explore the four distinct hubs of a large overworld. He begins in the Motherlobe, a corporate building used as the Psychonauts' headquarters. Later, he may explore the surrounding areas: an open Quarry, the wooded Questionable Area? and the Green Needle Gulch swampland. Raz may interact with many of the world's characters, and complete side activities and scavenger hunts. Completed levels may be revisited. Across the levels and hubs, Raz amasses several collectible items, such as Figments, Memory Vaults and Nuggets of Wisdom. Some items, such as PSI Cards, increase Raz's rank and unlock ability upgrades. In-game currency is spent on Pins—which provide passive gameplay effects—health kits and other items.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: "Psychonauts 2" is set in a fictional, alternate world in which psychic powers exist thanks to the fictional element Psitanium - a substance brought to the planet by several meteors. The Psychonauts are an international espionage agency focused on psychic peacekeeping, scientific research of the human mind, and the development of psychic-based technologies.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: In "Psychonauts", the player-character Razputin "Raz" Aquato is a young acrobat fascinated by the Psychonauts, but shunned by his family who fear his psychic abilities. He runs away and infiltrates Whispering Rock summer camp, a training facility for young Psychonaut recruits. While there, he helps to foil a plan by the demented Dr. Loboto and misguided Coach Oleander to steal the brains of his fellow campers and the Psychonaut agents Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello, while befriending Psychonauts founder Ford Cruller and Lili Zanotto, the daughter of the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, Truman Zanotto. Raz's father, Augustus, comes to accept Raz's goal of being a Psychonaut, revealing his own weak psychic abilities. "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin" follows immediately from the end of "Psychonauts", where Raz joins Sasha, Milla, Coach and Lili to rescue Truman from being captured by Dr. Loboto.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: In addition to returning characters from the previous games, "Psychonauts 2" introduces the other founding members of the Psychonauts alongside Ford Cruller, known as the Psychic Six: Otto Mentallis, chief inventor who assists Nein and provides new psychic equipment; Compton Boole, who pioneered telepathy with animals; Bob Zanotto, uncle to Truman Zanotto and capable of communicating with plant life; Helmut Fullbear, a psychic actor whose body was lost and his brain was kept in a jar for over 20 years, making him lose his five senses; and Cassie O'Pia, an author of the self-help book "Mindswarm" who is lost in a multiple personality disorder. Additional Psychonauts staff at their headquarters, the Motherlobe, include Hollis Forsythe, Second Head of the Psychonauts, Nick Johnsmith, the only non-psychic member of the Psychonauts who works in the mailroom section, and a group of interns training to become agents. These interns include Sam Boole, elder sister of Dogen and granddaughter to Compton who can communicate with animals like her family; Adam Gette, the African-British keeper of the Psychonauts' history board who powers yo-yos as a weapon; Morris Martinez, a radio aficionado who travels around via levitating wheelchair; Gisu Nerumen, an engineering ward to Otto and levitating skateboarder; Norma Natividad, a shrewd manipulator and talented pyrokinetic; and Lizzie Natividad, Norma's cryokinetic and moody sister. Raz's family beyond Augustus are also introduced, including Augustus' wife and Raz's mother Donatella, older siblings Dion and Frazie, younger siblings Mirtala and Queepie, and their Nona, mother to Augustus.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Having just rescued Truman Zanotto, Raz and the other Psychonauts stage an elaborate interrogation construct in the mind of Dr. Caligosto Loboto to identify who hired him for the kidnapping. They learn he was coerced and his mind heavily booby-trapped against revealing any helpful information, but Raz sees the fear tactic instilled in Loboto’s brain: a vision of Maligula, a powerful hydrokinetic psychic believed dead for 20 years after flooding her home country of Grulovia and being subdued by the founding Psychonauts, the Psychic Six. Sasha and Milla conclude that Loboto could not have committed such a high-profile abduction without help on the inside, and resolve to identify the “mole” back at headquarters.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Upon arrival at the Motherlobe, Raz is stripped of his unofficial Psychonauts rank and assigned to the intern program under a mailroom clerk named Nick, who turns up brainless on his first day. During a routine classroom workshop to learn a new psychic technique, Raz manipulates the thoughts of Hollis Forsythe, the Psychonauts' second-in-command, to eliminate her inhibitions and allow him and the other inexperienced interns along on the particularly dangerous next mission to investigate Nick's missing brain and the new lead on the “mole”. After entering her mind and correcting his mistake, the agents and interns discover the hideout of a "Deluginist", a member of a conspiracy theorist group believing Maligula to still be alive or able to be resurrected, along with evidence of a possible plot to involve Lili, as Truman’s daughter, as a pawn to ruin the Psychonauts from the inside.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Back at the Motherlobe, Truman awakes from a feigned coma and instructs an impressionable Raz to bring him Ford Cruller—the only person able to match the threat of Maligula. Raz sets off on his confidential mission just in time for his father Augustus and the rest of his family to arrive at the Motherlobe, having caught up with him after his runaway to Whispering Rock.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: After summoning Ford back to headquarters using the bacon strip given to him at camp, Raz finds that Ford’s erratic and fractured psyche requires repair. In the process of trying to access Ford’s multiple personalities around headquarters, Raz makes the acquaintance of the now-elderly members of the Psychic Six: Compton Boole, grandfather of Raz’s camp friend Dogen and the pioneer of psychic work with animals, and Otto Mentallis, research & development head of the Psychonauts and keeper of a vault of spare experimental brains.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: In hopes of stabilizing Nick's brainless body, Raz claims an unmarked brain from Otto’s lab to temporarily keep Nick occupied. When the brain promptly causes Nick to experience sensory overload and fly into a panic attack, Raz investigates the mind and finds it to be the long-dormant brain of Helmut Fullbear, another member of the Six who was frozen into a glacier during their fight against Maligula twenty years prior. After helping Helmut handle his panic and recover some of his memories, Raz discovers Maligula was in fact Lucrecia “Lucy” Mux, once a dear friend of the Six and even romantically involved with Ford. Determined to reunite the Six and untangle the new Maligula threat, Raz is finally able to piece Ford’s fragmented mind back together.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Ford confesses to Raz that he never killed Maligula, too in love with Lucy to put an end to her. Once a pioneering Psychonaut, Lucy had returned to her home country of Grulovia amongst political unrest, and was pushed to the breaking point in service of the monarchy, violently quelling peaceful protests, traumatizing her to the point her fight-or-flight complex took over. Raz, horrified, is finally given the truth: that Ford locked the most dangerous part of Lucy’s mind away and rewrote her remaining memories to hide her amongst Raz's family, as his Nona. Then, to punish himself for his deeds and to forget the pain of losing Lucy, Ford shattered his own mind for good measure.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Now knowing his Nona is in fact Lucrecia Mux, with Maligula deeply buried in her subconscious, Raz reluctantly agrees to help Ford fix his mistake by helping him gather the remaining Psychic Six (Seven) to the Green Needle Gulch. Here, he meets with Cassie O’Piea, an expert in mental partitions and archetypes; and Bob Zanotto, uncle to Truman and expert psychobotanist, who succumbed to alcoholism after losing his husband, fellow Six member Helmut, to the fight twenty years prior. Cassie and Bob assist Raz in uncovering an old experimental tool, the Astralathe, necessary to fashion a mental "pit" and allow the Six to permanently banish Maligula into the depths of her psyche.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: As Raz and the Six confront Maligula within Lucy's mind, Raz is pulled out and into reality where Truman Zanotto is erratically investigating the Gulch and tailed by a concerned Lili. When Raz and Lili peek into Truman’s mind, they find it is not his brain in his head at all: it’s Nick’s missing brain, except Nick is the mole, and is in fact Gristol Malik, exiled prince of Grulovia and hellbent on restoring Maligula to overpower the revolutionaries that ousted the royal family. Sasha, having independently connected the dots about the mole, races to the showdown at the Gulch along with Milla, Oleander, and Forsythe.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Ford and the others appear to lose the fight within Lucy’s mind and all are forced to flee as Maligula appears in full force, enveloping the Gulch in a hurricane and threatening to drown everything and everyone. Raz’s family, reeling from the revelation about their matriarch, physically and psychically help Raz overpower Maligula and, with a now-lucid Lucy’s help, banish her from Lucy’s mind and from reality forever.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: While Raz’s family is left to bond and heal from their falsified past, and the Seven are left to reconnect and repair old wounds, Truman’s brain is restored to him, Gristol is put in psychoisolation, and plans are made to rescue Helmut’s body from the frozen glacier. Loboto escapes from Sasha’s lab amidst the confusion, mentioning to Raz that he needs to get back to Whispering Rock, as he “left his kid there”. Raz and the interns are promoted to junior Psychonauts for their role in uncovering the mole and for defeating Maligula.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Double Fine's first title as a studio was "Psychonauts", released in 2005. The title was considered a commercial failure, but was highly praised by critics for its characters and writing and gained a cult following. In the years following its release, fans and game journalists urged Tim Schafer, CEO of Double Fine and principal creative lead on the game, to develop a sequel to the title.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Schafer had expressed interest in working on the "Psychonauts" franchise again, with the company having envisioned larger story arcs for the game's characters over the course of its development. The development of the sequel would require a publisher that was interested in the game, and Double Fine approached publishers with the idea; Schafer said that in these pitches, he pointed out the large number of both legitimate sales through digital distribution and through the illegitimate means of software piracy. After Double Fine's success with the concurrent development and publishing of several smaller games, such as "Costume Quest" and "Iron Brigade", Schafer felt more comfortable about embarking on a sequel, knowing that it need not obstruct the creation of any newer properties. Despite this, the publishers continued to turn down the idea. Some called the concept too creative or too obscure, according to Schafer. For others, with whom Schafer said he had good relations, the deals they offered did not fit with the scale Double Fine had planned for the game.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: In February 2012, Markus Persson, at the time the owner of Mojang, made a public offer to fund a sequel to Schafer through Twitter. Later that day, a company representative for Double Fine stated that Persson and Schafer were discussing the possibility, without further affirmation. Persson noted that the anticipated costs that Double Fine would need would be an estimated $18 million, far exceeding what was initially expected to fund and cautioned fans to avoid hyping the funding possibility. Persson and Schafer met at the Game Developers Conference in March 2012; no definitive plans were made for funding a sequel, however. In February 2013, Persson officially stated that he was no longer directly trying to fund the sequel, commenting that he did not "have the time at the moment to even try to get educated enough to make an 18 million dollar deal", though would be open to the idea at a later time after he left game development; Persson did note other potential investors have stepped forward to help any such effort.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: At the 2015 Game Awards, Schafer announced Double Fine's plans to work on "Psychonauts 2" using a crowdfunding campaign through Fig. The company sought $3.3 million in funding for the game, which represented approximately one-third of the planned development costs, and would augment money being put in by Double Fine and a third-party investor. Schafer noted that while the amount was the same that they had raised for their "Broken Age" Kickstarter, which by the time of its release had significantly overrun its budget, he felt the studio was in a better position to manage the costs and processes necessary to deliver "Psychonauts 2" on schedule. Schafer noted that this funding approach — bringing in money from multiple investors instead of from a single publisher — is similar to the approach taken by the movie industry, and further, that the use of crowdfunding can alleviate some of the traditional risks associated with investment, being an effective means of proving public interest in a title.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Mere days after the announcement of the "Psychonauts 2" campaign, Double Fine announced the development of "Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin", a publisher-funded virtual reality game for the PlayStation VR. The game is a smaller standalone chapter that serves as a bridge between the original game and its sequel, featuring Raz and the other psychonauts rescuing Truman Zanotto, tying into the conclusion of "Psychonauts".


title: Psychonauts 2

text: During the campaign, Schafer confirmed that in addition to voice actors, several team members who worked on the original game would return for the sequel, including Erik Wolpaw as writer, Peter Chan and Scott Campbell as artists, and Peter McConnell as the composer. 2 Player Productions, a video production company who had previously worked with Double Fine to document the development of "Broken Age", would be similarly documenting the creation of "Psychonauts 2". Double Fine planned to utilise Unreal Engine 4 to develop the sequel, allowing them to save time and money that would otherwise be spent developing a custom game engine, as they had done in the past.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: The campaign reached its target funding goal with five days left in its 38-day campaign. Upon completion, a total of $3,829,024 had been raised from 24,109 backers, with about $1,874,000 (48%) coming from those who opted to invest in the game compared to those who chose the more traditional reward-based options. Some of this funding was tied up in process with the Security and Exchange Commission to authorize Fig's use of unaccredited investors; Fig during this time covered Double Fine's development costs from their own capital. The matter was resolved by September 2016, assuring Double Fine will receive the amount funded or invested.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: In February 2016, Zak McClendon, who had previously worked as design director at 2K Marin and Harmonix announced he had been hired as lead designer for "Psychonauts 2".


title: Psychonauts 2

text: In February 2017, it was announced that Starbreeze Studios had invested $8 million to help digitally publish the game across all platforms. They would recoup the investment by gaining 85% of the profit on sales, after the Fig investors are accounted for, until it is recovered, and then take 60% beyond that. The investment only affected the distribution, as Double Fine retains all control on the intellectual property and the development process.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Double Fine had originally planned on a 2018 release for the title, but announced in December 2017 that with the game in full development and their planned roadmap towards release completed, they did not expect to release the game until at least 2019. Double Fine premiered the game's first full trailer at The Game Awards 2018 in December 2018.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: By June 2019 Double Fine had been acquired by Microsoft as part of Xbox Game Studios. Microsoft purchased the publishing rights for the game from Starbreeze for . Despite the sale, Double Fine stated that "Psychonauts 2" would still be released on all previously announced platforms (not being exclusive to Microsoft platforms). The Microsoft acquisition allowed Double Fine to pay back the Fig investors earlier at a 139% return and increasing subsequent revenue-based return on investments from 70 to 85%. Schafer said in a 2020 interview that prior to Microsoft's acquisition, they were at a point that they cut the boss fights out of the game due to lack of funds, but were able to re-add them afterward.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: In July 2019, Double Fine announced that they had delayed the game's release until 2020, wanting to make sure they make the game as good as players are expecting. Double Fine announced in July 2020 that the game was further delayed to 2021, which will allow for an Xbox Series X-optimized version to be released as well. A release date for the game was officially announced at E3 2021. Double Fine announced on Twitter that the game had gone gold on August 6, 2021. On August 23, 2021, Double Fine revealed that the macOS and Linux versions had been delayed to an unannounced future date. Both versions were then released on May 24, 2022.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Most of the game's original voice actors from "Psychonauts" returned to voice their characters, notably, Richard Horvitz and Nikki Rapp as the voices of Raz and Lili respectively. New to "Psychonauts 2" include Jack Black, who has worked on previous Double Fine games, as Helmut Fullbear, and Elijah Wood, who had also provided voicework with Black in "Broken Age", as Nick Johnsmith. As an Easter egg casting, Rikki Simons voices the embodiment of one of Raz's powers; Horvitz and Simons had previously voiced the characters Zim and Gir in the animated show "Invader Zim". Kimberly Brooks, who voiced Hollis Forsythe, won a BAFTA Award for Performer in a Supporting Role for her work on "Psychonauts 2".


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Game critics considered "Psychonauts 2" a successful sequel worthy of its long wait. Reviews for most platform were "generally favorable" according to review aggregator Metacritic, while the Xbox One version received "universal acclaim". The story and character writing was praised for its depth, humor and treatment of serious themes with finesse. Further, the examination of mental health issues was praised for its warmth and sensitivity. Creativity in level design and the colorful art style were widely applauded. Criticisms were leveled at the combat, boss fights and upgrade systems. "Pure Xbox" considered the game one of 2021's best and among the "greatest sequels ever made". "Ars Technica" called it a strong Game of the Year contender and "one of the best video games [they had] ever played". "GamesRadar" and "The Guardian" considered it a standout in the platforming genre, while "The Daily Telegraph" called the game a "straight-up classic". "GameSpot" felt the game was an "astonishing achievement" and Double Fine's magnum opus.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Wide praise was given to the narrative's quality. Its interspersion of sharp, witty humor with well-paced story beats and a delicate treatment of complex themes resonated with multiple critics. "Ars Technica" felt the writing "shines in every dimension". "Gaming Bolt" lauded the writing's charm and humor despite its heavier subtext. "Polygon" and "Telegraph" noted greater maturity in the game's themes over its predecessor; the former praised the handling of thematic complexities with "empathy and responsibility". "Eurogamer" highlighted the exploration of consequence and the ethics of invading one's psyche without informed consent. Reviewers noted this quandary manifested in an early level where Raz recklessly alters Hollis' psyche and must reconcile with the repercussions. "Gaming Bolt" considered Raz a strong lead character written with depth and relatability. The eclectic supporting cast was acclaimed by "IGN" as a testament to the strong writing. Horvitz and Black were considered by "Video Games Chronicle" ("VGC") the standouts of a strong cast . "Ars Technica" called the performances wholly "pitch-perfect". "Kotaku" highlighted the cast's varied idiosyncrasies, supported by strong writing and performance. "Hardcore Gamer" lamented the interns' relegation to supporting roles in the wider narrative after a strong introduction and faulted the final act's pacing.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: The narrative's capacity to harmonize its treatment of mental health issues with warmth, humor and sensitivity was applauded. "Game Informer" praised the artistic framing of mental health and "Pure Xbox" considered it the game's "most incredible achievement". "The Guardian" felt the portrayal was imperfect yet unpredictable. "Gaming Bolt" noted the pairing of "weighty themes" with humor and levity worked as the lightheartedness avoided irreverence. A balance between "caricature and empathy" was achieved, in "Eurogamer"s view, with the thematic portrayal simultaneously playful and sophisticated. "Hardcore Gamer" found the game able to explore its themes with greater substance than its predecessor. The themes, in "VGC"s assessment, were handled with "immense care" and eschewed cliché. "Kotaku" noted the examination of the human condition and its "challenging, painful, wonderful complexity". A positive and hopeful message amid the thematic gravitas was noted by "Gaming Bolt". "Ars Technica" and "Kotaku" praised the humanization of the secondary antagonist Gristol Malik. The former cited ambiguity in "where villainy lives", and the latter found empathy in the depiction of Malik's turmoil. "Polygon" panned the late-game allegory of the "tragic eastern European state" as beholden to antiquated tropes.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: The vibrant color palette and originality of the art and level design was acclaimed. Design and presentation descriptors ranged from "creative" and "imaginative" to "colorful" and "inventive". Stylistic influences cited by critics included the works of Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Sigmund Freud and Pixar. "Game Informer" lauded the aesthetics and "Pure Xbox" called the architecture and character models "beautifully designed". Stylistic distinction between the different levels was noted by "Guardian", "Kotaku" and "Polygon". The design was considered "abstract" and "absurdist" by "GamesRadar". "Telegraph" and "Ars Technica" welcomed the atypical level environments, which subverted expectations by avoiding stock ice, lava and desert themes. Environmental storytelling was noted by reviewers to enrich story and character development. "GameSpot" observed that each level's art design reflected its respective character's mental disposition. "Telegraph" described the shifting story and gameplay elements as "delightfully disorientating". "VGC" posited that the levels would dominate a list of the all-time best in platform gaming. "Game Informer" observed occasional bygone textures, and "IGN" noted stiff facial animations and slight repetition in the level structure. While praising their creativity, "Hardcore Gamer" and "EGM" felt none of the levels eclipsed the original game's; both cited the acclaimed "Milkman Conspiracy" level among others. The music score was revered as "top-notch", "exuberant" and "incredible". The frequent musical motifs were noted by "GameSpot" to add cohesiveness between the different areas. "Game Informer" and "Gaming Bolt" found the music enhancive to each level's presentation. The cooking show level's soundtrack was highlighted by "Eurogamer" as some of the game's best music.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Some reviewers considered combat a notable weakness amid stronger elements. Others observed successful innovation on the original's combat. Negative gameplay descriptors ranged from "dated" and "fiddly" to "clunky". The limitation of having a maximum four abilities equipped at once was a common complaint. As foes were dispatched with different abilities,


title: Psychonauts 2

text: critics found the constant need to switch abilities disruptive to flow. "Telegraph" wrote the game lacks ""s "pixel perfect precision" in character movement. "Ars Technica" felt overlong attack animations impeded fluidity. "Gaming Bolt" and "Pure Xbox" felt Raz's attacks lacked heft. The combat's intensity and pacing were praised by "Hardcore Gamer". "Kotaku" likened combat scenarios to "mini-puzzles", solvable only with command of Raz's abilities. They felt constant ability swapping aided immersion and described gameplay as "responsive and smooth". Some critics felt the original's poor controls were largely corrected, with greater command of Raz's acrobatics. "Electronic Gaming Monthly" ("EGM") said platforming achieved a "level of polish that feels modern", but that combat was merely functional. "Ars Technica" occasionally misjudged jumps and impassable ledges. Jump distance issues were broached by "Game Informer" and "IGN" as well, though both considered the gameplay largely satisfactory. Some boss fights disappointed "GameSpot" as repetitive strategies became a monotony; "EGM" felt the fights amplified combat problems, and that the tedium of waiting out attack patterns exemplified the underlying design's age. Unavoidable attacks and sparse battle checkpoints frustrated "VGC". Design creativity in the other gameplay elements was not, according to "GamesRadar", recaptured in the boss fights, and "Eurogamer" felt "rickety execution" slightly dampened their fun.


title: Psychonauts 2

text: Reviewers praised much of the game's side content, but several faulted the upgrade systems. "Gaming Bolt" called the hub world a "joy to explore", with no disparity between the main plot and the side content. "GamesRadar" praised the world's visual design and the story vignettes players would enjoy discovering. The design was said by "IGN" to recapture the original game's "folksy feel". "Hardcore Gamer" complimented the world's breadth and enjoyed discovering its secrets. Because of their strong writing, "Kotaku" wanted to learn more about the supporting cast, whom "VGC" felt the side missions allowed to shine. "GameSpot" felt "natural intrigue" prompted exploration and that clever world design made it easy to navigate. They said character interactions deepened the world, typified by Raz's family exchanges. "GamesRadar" sought to navigate all possible dialogue paths with the ensemble. "Ars Technica" noted design cues taken from classic Nintendo games, with abundant side content to be discovered. They found that interactions with the supporting cast incentivized world exploration. "GameSpot" felt collectible objects were integrated effectively into level exploration. "EGM" posited that some players may tire of the backtracking necessary to complete all the areas. They saw little incentive to do so, as a fully upgraded Raz had no rewarding way to expend his powers. The upgrade system was considered laborious and redundant by some reviewers. "EGM" felt the upgrades added little to the meager combat. "Ars Technica" felt they supplemented Raz's abilities sufficiently. Some reviewers considered the pin system largely superfluous; the ability to equip only three at once was criticized as limiting by "IGN" and "Kotaku". Both reviewers felt the pins were expensive and that many lacked use, and the former found the game's economy unbalanced.


title: Pride flag

text: A pride flag is any flag that represents a segment or part of the LGBT community. "Pride" in this case refers to the notion of gay pride. The terms "LGBT flag" and "queer flag" are often used interchangeably.


title: Pride flag

text: The rainbow flag is the most widely used LGBT flag and LGBT symbol in general. There are derivations of the rainbow flag that are used to focus attention on specific similar-interest groups within the community (for example, leather subculture). There are also some pride flags that are not exclusively related to LGBT matters, such as the polyamory flag.


title: Pride flag

text: Gilbert Baker designed the rainbow pride flag for the 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day celebration. The flag was designed as a "symbol of hope" and liberation, and an alternative to the symbolism of the pink triangle. The flag does not depict an actual rainbow. Rather, the colors of the rainbow are displayed as horizontal stripes, with red at the top and violet at the bottom. It represents the diversity of gays and lesbians around the world. In the original eight-color version, pink stood for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit. A copy of the original 20-by-30 foot, eight-color flag was made by Baker in 2000 and was installed in the Castro district in San Francisco. Many variations on the rainbow flag exist, including ones incorporating other LGBT symbols like the triangle or lambda.


title: Pride flag

text: The aromantic pride flag consists of five horizontal stripes, which, from top to bottom, are: green, light green, white, gray, and black. In this order, the stripes represent aromanticism, the aromantic spectrum, aesthetic attraction, gray-aromantic and demiromantic people, and the sexuality spectrum.


title: Pride flag

text: The asexual pride flag consists of four horizontal stripes: black, gray, white, and purple from top to bottom. The flag was created by an Asexual Visibility and Education Network user standup in August 2010, as part of a community effort to create and choose a flag. The black stripe represents asexuality; the gray stripe represents gray-asexuals and demisexuals; the white stripe represents allies; and the purple stripe represents community.


title: Pride flag

text: "Bear" is an affectionate gay slang term for those in the bear communities, a subculture in the gay community and an emerging subset of the LGBT community with its own events, codes, and a culture-specific identity. Bears tend to have hairy bodies and facial hair; some are heavy-set; some project an image of working-class masculinity in their grooming and appearance, though none of these are requirements or unique indicators. The bear concept can function as an identity, an affiliation, and an ideal to live up to. There is ongoing debate in bear communities about what constitutes a bear. Some state that self-identifying as a bear is the only requirement, while others argue that bears must have certain physical characteristics, such as a hairy chest and face, a large body, or a certain mode of dress and behavior.


title: Pride flag

text: Bears are almost always gay or bisexual men; transgender men attracted to other men are increasingly included within bear communities. The bear community has spread all over the world, with bear clubs in many countries. Bear clubs often serve as social and sexual networks for older, hairier, sometimes heavier gay and bisexual men, and members often contribute to their local gay communities through fundraising and other functions. Bear events are common in heavily gay communities.


title: Pride flag

text: Introduced on December 5, 1998, the bisexual pride flag was designed by activist Michael Page to represent and increase the visibility of bisexual people in the LGBT community and society as a whole. Page chose a combination of Pantone Matching System (PMS) colors magenta (pink), lavender (purple), and royal (blue). The finished rectangular flag consists of a broad pink stripe at the top, a broad stripe in blue at the bottom, and a narrow purple stripe in the center.


title: Pride flag

text: Page described the meaning of the colors as, "The pink color represents sexual attraction to the same sex only (gay and lesbian), the blue represents sexual attraction to the opposite sex only (straight) and the resultant overlap color purple represents sexual attraction to both sexes (bi)." He also described the flag's meaning in deeper terms, stating "The key to understanding the symbolism in the Bi Pride Flag is to know that the purple pixels of color blend unnoticeably into both the pink and blue, just as in the 'real world' where bi people blend unnoticeably into both the gay/lesbian and straight communities."


title: Pride flag

text: The blue and pink overlapping triangle symbol represents bisexuality and bisexual pride. The origin of the symbol, sometimes facetiously referred to as the "biangles", is largely unknown; however, some postulations describe the colors as "pink represents attraction to women and the blue attraction to men, or the pink represents homosexuality, the blue heterosexuality and the purple bisexuality."


title: Pride flag

text: The intersex flag was created by Morgan Carpenter of Intersex Human Rights Australia in July 2013 to create a flag "that is not derivative, but is yet firmly grounded in meaning". The organization describes the circle as "unbroken and unornamented, symbolising wholeness and completeness, and our potentialities. We are still fighting for bodily autonomy and genital integrity, and this symbolises the right to be who and how we want to be".


title: Pride flag

text: No single flag design for a lesbian pride flag has been widely adopted. However, many popular ones exist.


title: Pride flag

text: The labrys lesbian flag was created in 1999 by graphic designer Sean Campbell, and published in June 2000 in the Palm Springs edition of the "Gay and Lesbian Times" Pride issue. The design involves a labrys, a type of double-headed axe, superimposed on the downward-pointing black triangle, set against a violet background. Among its functions, the labrys was associated as a weapon used by the Amazons of mythology. In the 1970s it was adopted as a symbol of empowerment by the lesbian feminist community. The Third Reich did not systematically persecute lesbian women and lesbianism was not illegal under the Nazi regime. Nonetheless, lesbians were often harassed and some women arrested for their racial, religious, or political identities also had their sexuality noted in their paperwork demonstrating that it could be taken as a secondary factor in their arrest and incarceration. Lesbians wore the symbol of the group they were primarily identified with in their arrest; for instance, a yellow star for Jewish people or a downward-pointing black triangle badge for political dissidents. Some lesbians reclaimed the black triangle as gay men reclaimed the pink triangle (many lesbians also claimed the pink triangle although lesbians were not included in Paragraph 175 of the German criminal code). The color violet became associated with lesbians via the poetry of Sappho.


title: Pride flag

text: The lipstick lesbian flag was introduced in 2010 in the weblog "This Lesbian Life". The flag represents "homosexual women who have a more feminine gender expression". The seven colors of the "pink" lesbian flag were copied from the lipstick lesbian flag (as a consequence, it has been mischaracterized as another version of the lipstick flag). The credit for the modification of the lipstick flag remains unknown; however, the colors-only adaptation attracted more use as a general lesbian pride flag.


title: Pride flag

text: A new lesbian flag modeled after the seven-band "pink" flag was introduced on Tumblr in 2018, with colors dark orange representing "gender non-conformity", orange for "independence", light orange for "community", white for "unique relationships to womanhood", pink for "serenity and peace", dusty pink for "love and sex", and dark rose for "femininity". A five-stripes version was soon derived from the 2018 colors. In 2020, controversy arose over who had actually introduced an orange-pink lesbian flag. Some popular sources claim Tumblr blogger Emily Gwen as its creator.


title: Pride flag

text: The non-binary pride flag was created in 2014 by activist Kye Rowan. Each stripe color represents different types of non-binary identities: Yellow for people who identify outside of the gender binary, white for nonbinary people with multiple genders, purple for those with a mixture of both male and female genders, and black for agender individuals.


title: Pride flag

text: Under the non-binary umbrella are all those people who identify off the gender binary. There are many different identities within this category including androgyny, genderqueerness (which includes agender, ceterosexual, genderfluid, intergender, among others), third gender, and transgender.


title: Pride flag

text: The pansexual pride flag was introduced in October 2010 in a Tumblr blog ("Pansexual Pride Flag"). It has three horizontal bars that are pink, yellow and blue. "The pink represents being attracted to women, the blue being attracted to men, and the yellow for being attracted to everyone else"; such as non-binary gender identities.


title: Pride flag

text: The transgender pride flag was designed by transgender woman Monica Helms in 1999. It was first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona, US, in 2000. It was flown from a large public flagpole in San Francisco's Castro District beginning November 19, 2012, in commemoration of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The flag represents the transgender community and consists of five horizontal stripes: two light blue, two pink, with a white stripe in the center. Helms described the meaning of the flag as follows:


title: Pride flag

text: Philadelphia became the first county government in the United States to raise the transgender pride flag in 2015. It was raised at City Hall in honor of Philadelphia's 14th Annual Trans Health Conference, and remained next to the US and City of Philadelphia flags for the entirety of the conference. Then-Mayor Michael Nutter gave a speech in honor of the trans community's acceptance in Philadelphia.


title: Pride flag

text: These flags represent various sexual orientations, romantic orientations, gender identities, subcultures, and regional purposes, as well as the LGBT community as a whole.


title: Travon Walker

text: Yury Travon Walker (; born December 18, 2000) is an American football outside linebacker for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Georgia, winning the 2022 National Championship with them prior to being selected first overall by the Jaguars in the 2022 NFL Draft.


title: Travon Walker

text: Walker was born on December 18, 2000, in Thomaston, Georgia, and attended Upson-Lee High School. He was selected to the 2019 All-American Bowl. He committed to play college football for the Georgia Bulldogs at the University of Georgia.


title: Travon Walker

text: Walker played in 12 games and had 15 tackles and 2.5 sacks as a freshman for the Bulldogs in 2019. As a sophomore in 2020, he played in nine games with 13 tackles, one sack and one interception. Walker started at defensive tackle as a junior and was a part of the team that won the 2022 College Football Playoff National Championship. He declared for the 2022 NFL Draft following the season.


title: Travon Walker

text: Walker was selected first overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2022 NFL Draft. He signed his four-year rookie contract, worth $37.4 million fully guaranteed, on May 12, 2022. In his debut, Walker recorded a sack and interception in a 28-22 loss against the Washington Commanders.


title: Balaam

text: Balaam (; , "Bīlʿam" "Bīlʿām") is a diviner in the Torah (Pentateuch) whose story begins in Chapter 22 of the Book of Numbers (). Ancient references to Balaam consider him a non-Israelite, a prophet, and the son of Beor. King Balak of Moab offered him money to curse Israel (), but Balaam blessed the Israelites instead, as dictated by God. Nevertheless, he is reviled as a "wicked man" in both the Torah and the New Testament (). According to the Book of Revelation (), Balaam told King Balak how to get the Israelites to commit sin by enticing them with sexual immorality and food sacrificed to idols. The Israelites fell into transgression due to these traps and God sent a deadly plague to them as a result ().


title: Balaam

text: The main story of Balaam occurs during the sojourn of the Israelites in the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan River, at the close of forty years of wandering, shortly before the death of Moses and the crossing of the Jordan. The Israelites have already defeated two kings in Transjordan: Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. Balak, king of Moab, consequently becomes alarmed, and sends elders of Midian and his Moabite messengers, to Balaam, son of Beor, to induce him to come and curse Israel. Balaam's location, Pethor, is simply given as "which is by the river of the land of the children of his people" in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint, though the Samaritan Pentateuch, Vulgate, and Peshitta all identify his land as Ammon.


title: Balaam

text: Balaam sends back word that he can only do what YHWH commands, and God has, via a nocturnal dream, told him not to go. Balak consequently sends higher-ranking priests and offers Balaam honours; Balaam continues to press God, and God finally permits him to go but with instructions to say only what He commands. Balaam then sets out in the morning with the princes of Moab. God becomes angry that he went, implying that he only used Balaam as a tool to further his will, and sends the Angel of the Lord (Numbers 22:22) to prevent him. At first, the angel is seen only by the donkey Balaam is riding, which tries to avoid the angel. After Balaam starts punishing the donkey for refusing to move, it is miraculously given the power to speak to Balaam (Numbers 22:28), and it complains about Balaam's treatment. At this point, Balaam is allowed to see the angel, who informs him that the donkey's turning away from the messenger is the only reason the angel did not kill Balaam. Balaam immediately repents, but is told to go on.


title: Balaam

text: Balak meets with Balaam at Kirjat Huzoth, and they go to the "high places of Baal", and offer sacrifices on seven altars, leading to Balaam being given a prophecy by Yahweh, which He speaks to Balak. However, the prophecy blesses Israel; Balak remonstrates, but Balaam reminds him that he can only speak the words put in his mouth, so Balak takes him to another "high place" at Pisgah, to try again. Building another seven altars here, and making sacrifices on each, Balaam provides another prophecy blessing Israel.


title: Balaam

text: Balaam finally gets taken by a now very frustrated Balak to Peor, and, after the seven sacrifices there, decides not to "seek enchantments" but instead looks upon the Israelites from the peak. The Spirit of God comes upon Balaam and he delivers a third positive prophecy concerning Israel. Balak's anger rises to the point where he threatens Balaam, but Balaam merely offers a prediction of fate. Balaam then looks upon the Kenites, and Amalekites and offers two more predictions of their fates. Balak and Balaam then go to their respective homes.


title: Balaam

text: Later, Numbers 25:1-9 describes how Israel engaged in the Heresy of Peor. Numbers 31:16 blames this on Balaam's advice and because of his culpability in the incident, which resulted in deadly divine judgements against the Israelites who participated, he was eventually killed in a retaliatory battle against Midian in Numbers 31:8.


title: Balaam

text: Deuteronomy 23:3–6 summarises these incidents, and further states that the Ammonites were associated with the Moabites. Joshua, in his farewell speech, also makes reference to it. With God's protection taken from him, Balaam is later listed among the Midianites who were killed in revenge for the "matter of Peor". Joshua 13:22 records that Balaam died "by the sword" during a battle for the Reubenite occupation of Moabite land.


title: Balaam

text: Revelation also states that Balaam "taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel."


title: Balaam

text: The story of Balaam and Balak is also made reference to in chapter 10 of 2 Meqabyan, a book considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.


title: Balaam

text: The poems fall into three groups. The first group consists of two poems which characteristically start immediately. The third group of three poems also start immediately, but are much shorter. The second group, however, consists of two poems which both start:


title: Balaam

text: Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath said: He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open ...


title: Balaam

text: Of these, the first and third groups are considered, according to the Documentary Hypothesis, to originate within the Elohist text, whereas the second group is considered to belong to the Jahwist. Thus the Elohist describes Balaam giving two blessings, making sacrifices on seven altars, at the high places of Baal, before each, then deciding not to "seek enchantments" after the third set of sacrifices, but to "set his face upon the wilderness," which Balak views as a third blessing, and so Balaam then gives the three final predictions of fate. Conversely, in the Jahwist source, Balaam arrives, the spirit of God comes upon him, and he simply delivers a blessing and a prophecy, in succession.


title: Balaam

text: "Agag", mentioned in the third poem, is described as a great king, which does not correspond to the king of the Amalekites who was named Agag, and described in I Samuel 15, since that description considers Amalek to be small and obscure. While it is the Masoretic text of the poem that uses the word "Agag", the Septuagint, other Greek versions, and the Samaritan Pentateuch, all have "Gog". These names are consequently thought to be textual corruptions, and "Og" has been suggested as the original.


title: Balaam

text: The final three poems do not refer either to Israel or to Moab, and are thus considered unusual, since they seem to have little relevance to the narrative. It is thought that they may have been added to bring the number of poems either up to five, if inserted into the Elohist source, or up to seven, if only inserted once JE was constructed. While the sixth poem refers to Assyria, it is uncertain whether it is an historical reference to ancient Ninevah, or a prophecy, which some religious commentators consider refers to the Seleucid kingdom of Syria, which also took the name Assyria. The seventh is also ambiguous, and may either be a reference to the Sea Peoples, or, again in the view of some religious commentators, to the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great.


title: Balaam

text: In the view of some schools of textual criticism the narrative, excepting the episode involving the donkey, is simply a framework invented in order to be able to insert much older poems.


title: Balaam

text: In rabbinic literature Balaam is represented as one of seven gentile prophets; the other six being Beor (Balaam's father), Job, and Job's four friends (Talmud, B. B. 15b). In this literature, Balaam gradually acquired a position among the non-Jews, which was exalted as much as that of Moses among the Jews (Midrash Numbers Rabbah 20); at first being a mere interpreter of dreams, but later becoming a magician, until finally the spirit of prophecy descended upon him (ib. 7).


title: Balaam

text: According to a negative view of Balaam in the Talmud, Balaam possessed the gift of being able to ascertain the exact moment during which God is wroth — a gift bestowed upon no other creature. Balaam's intention was to curse the Israelites at this moment of wrath, and thus cause God himself to destroy them; but God purposely restrained His anger in order to baffle the wicked prophet and to save the nation from extermination (Talmud, Berachot 7a). The Talmud also recounts a more positive view of Balaam, stating that when the Law was given to Israel, a mighty voice shook the foundations of the earth, so much so that all kings trembled, and in their consternation turned to Balaam, inquiring whether this upheaval of nature portended a second deluge; the prophet assured them that what they heard was the voice of God, giving the sacred law to the Israelites (Talmud, Zeb. 116a).


title: Balaam

text: According to Jewish legend, Balaam was made this powerful in order to prevent the non-Jewish tribes from saying: "If we had only had our own Moses, we would be as pious as the Jews." The "wicked Balaam" is included in the list of persons born circumcised along with Moses in the book "Abbot De-Rabbi Natan".


title: Balaam

text: In rabbinical literature the epithet "rasha", translating as "the wicked one", is often attached to the name of Balaam (Talmud Berachot l.c.; Taanit 20a; Midrash Numbers Rabbah 20:14). Balaam is pictured as blind in one eye and lame in one foot (Talmud Sanhedrin 105a); and his disciples (followers) are distinguished by three morally corrupt qualities:


title: Balaam

text: Due to his behavior with the Midianites, the Rabbis interpret Balaam as responsible for the behavior during the Heresy of Peor, which they consider to have been unchastity, and consequently the death of 24,000 victims of the plague which God sent as punishment. When Balaam saw that he could not curse the children of Israel, the Rabbis assert that he advised Balak, as a last resort, to tempt the Hebrew nation to immoral acts and, through these, to the worship of Baal-peor. "The God of the Hebrews", adds Balaam, according to the Rabbis, "hates lewdness; and severe chastisement must follow" (San. 106a; Yer. ib. x. 28d; Num. R. l.c.).


title: Balaam

text: The Rabbis, playing on the name Balaam, call him "Belo 'Am" (without people; that is, without a share with the people in the world to come), or "Billa' 'Am" (one that ruined a people); and this hostility against his memory finds its climax in the dictum that whenever one discovers a feature of wickedness or disgrace in his life, one should preach about it (Sanh. 106b). In the process of killing Balaam (Num. xxxi. 8), all four legal methods of execution—stoning, burning, decapitating, and strangling—were employed (Sanh. l.c.). He met his death at the age of thirty-three (ib.); and it is stated that he had no portion in the world to come (Sanh. x. 2; 90a). The book devotes a special section to the history of the prophet discussing why God has taken away the power of prophecy from the Gentiles (Tan., Balak, 1). Moses is expressly mentioned as the author of this episode in the Pentateuch (B. B. 14b).J. Sr. H. M.


title: Balaam

text: "Ahithophel of the house of Israel and Balaam of the heathen nations were the two great sages of the world who, failing to show gratitude to God for their wisdom, perished in dishonor. To them the prophetic word finds application: 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,' Jer. ix. 23" (Num. R. xxii.).


title: Balaam

text: In (Sanhedrin 106b) and (Giṭtin 57a) Balaam may be likened to Jesus. Some have theorized that Balaam became used as a pseudonym for Jesus in Jewish literature. Balaam's father Beor was a son of Laban. The Book of Jasher reports Balaam's sons were Jannes and Jambres


title: Balaam

text: In the New Testament, Balaam is cited as a type of avarice; for example in Book of Revelation 2:14 we read of false teachers at Pergamum who held the "teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication." Balaam has attracted much interest, alike from Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Josephus paraphrases the story more so, and speaks of Balaam as the best prophet of his time, but with a disposition ill-adapted to resist temptation. Philo describes him as a great magician in the "Life of Moses"; elsewhere he speaks of "the sophist Balaam, being," i.e. symbolizing "a vain crowd of contrary and warring opinions" and again as "a vain people" — both phrases being based on a mistaken etymology of the name Balaam.


title: Balaam

text: A man also named Balaam also figures as an example of a false prophet motivated by greed or avarice in both 2 Peter 2:15 and in Jude 1:11. This Balaam is listed as the son of Bezer, which is usually identified as Beor. Some authors claim that Bezer was the Aramaic pronunciation of Beor, while others hold that the author was attempting to play off the Hebrew word "basar" or "flesh" to insult Balaam. Later Jewish tradition similarly played with Balaam's name to call him corrupt and imply bestiality. Still other authors hold that Bezer and Beor are distinct, while still identifying the Balaams of the Old and New Testaments, claiming that Beor is Balaam's father and Bezer is Balaam's home town.


title: Balaam

text: Regarding the Islamic view of Balaam, no clear reference is made to Balaam in the Qur'an. However, the commentators argue that he is the one to whom the following text is referring:


title: Balaam

text: The Muslim commentators explain that Balaam was a Canaanite who had been given knowledge of some of the books of God. His people asked him to curse Moses (Musa) and those who were with him, but he said, "How can I curse one who has angels with him?" They continued to press him, however, until he cursed the Israelites, and, as a consequence, they remained 40 years in the Wilderness of the Wanderings. Then, when he had cursed Moses, his tongue came out and fell upon his breast, and he began to pant like a dog.


title: Balaam

text: The story as told by Tabari is somewhat more Biblical. Balaam had the knowledge of the Most Sacred Name of God, and whatever he asked of God was granted to him. The story of Balaam and the ass, then follows at length. When it came to the actual cursing, God "turned his tongue" so that the cursing fell upon his own people and the blessing upon Israel. Then his tongue came out and hung down on his breast. Finally, he advised his people to adorn and beautify their women and to send them out to ensnare the Israelites. The story of the plague at Baal-peor and of Cozbi and Zimri follows.


title: Balaam

text: According to another story which al-Tabari gives, Balaam was a renegade Israelite who knew the Most Sacred Name, and to gain the things of this world, went over to the Canaanites. Al-Tha'labi adds that Balaam was descended from Lot. He gives, too, the story of Balaam's dream, his being forbidden by God to curse Israel. Another version is that Balak, the king of Bal'a, compelled Balaam to use the Most Sacred Name against Israel. The curse fell automatically, and Moses, having learned from whence it came, entreated God to take from Balaam his knowledge of the Name and his faith. This being done, they went out from him in the form of a white dove.


title: Balaam

text: The Baghdadi historian Al Masudi said in his book Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems that Balaam ben Beor was in a village in the lands of Shem (Canaan), and he is the son of Baura(Beor) ben Sanur ben Waseem ben Moab ben Lot ben Haran (PUT), and his prayers were answered, so his folks asked him to pray against Joshua ben Nun but he could not do it, so he advised some of the kings of the giants to show the pretty women and release them toward the camp of Joshua ben Nun, and so they did, and they (the Israelites) hurried up to the women and the plague spread among them and seventy thousand of them were dead.


title: Balaam

text: In 1967, at Deir Alla, Jordan, archaeologists found an inscription with a story relating visions of the seer of the gods Bala'am, son of Be'or, who may be the same Bala'am mentioned in Numbers 22–24 and in other passages of the Bible. Bala'am is not specifically mentioned as a prophet of Yahweh in the Bible, but is called upon by Balak, a Moabite ruler, to curse the Israelites (Numbers Chapter 22). Although Bala’am evidently heard from Yahweh in the Biblical account, Bala’am is associated with Ashtar, a god named Shgr, and Shadday gods and goddesses. Bala’am is blamed for teaching Balak how to remove Yahweh's covering from the Israelites through forbidden sexual relationships (Revelation 2:14).


title: Balaam

text: "The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies" describes it as "the oldest example of a book in a West Semitic language written with the alphabet, and the oldest piece of Aramaic literature." The inscription is datable to ca. 840–760 BCE; it was painted in red and black inks, apparently to emphasize the text, on fragments of a plastered wall: 119 pieces of inked plaster were recovered. According to the story in the inscription, Balaam wakes up weeping and tells his people that the gods appeared to him in the night telling him about a goddess threatening to destroy the land. She is to cover the sky and reduce the world to complete darkness. Meindert Dijkstra suggests that "the reticence of OT scholarship to take account of the text may be attributable to its damaged state, the difficulty of reconstructing and reading it, and the many questions it raises of script, language, literary form and religious content."


title: Deborah Meaden

text: Deborah Sonia Meaden (born 11 February 1959) is a British businesswoman and TV personality who ran a multimillion-pound family holiday business, before completing a management buyout. She is best known for her appearances as a 'Dragon' on the BBC business programme "Dragons' Den".


title: Deborah Meaden

text: Meaden was born in Taunton, Somerset. Her parents divorced when she was young, and her mother moved Deborah and her older sister Gail to Brightlingsea in Essex. Meaden went to the Godolphin School, Salisbury, for a brief period and then to Trowbridge High School for Girls (now The John of Gaunt School) which she left at the age of 16.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: On leaving school, Meaden studied business at Brighton Technical College, after which she worked as a sales-room model in a fashion house. After graduation, she moved to Italy at 19 and set up a glass and ceramics export agency, which sold products to retailers including Harvey Nichols. The company failed after 18 months.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: Meaden and a partner bought one of the first textile franchises in the UK, which was based in the West Country; she sold out two years later to her partner for £10,000. She then had several successful leisure and retail businesses, including a spell operating a Prize Bingo at Butlins in Minehead.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: In 1988, Meaden joined her family's business to run its amusement arcade operations and in 1992, joined Weststar Holidays, a family holiday park operator based in Exeter, Devon, with its major sites in South West England. In 1999, she led a management buyout and acquired the majority shareholding. By the time she sold the company six years later, Weststar was providing holidays for more than 150,000 people each year with an EBITDA in excess of £11 million. In 2005, she made a partial exit when Weststar was sold in a deal worth £33 million to Phoenix Equity Partners, and, in August 2007, her remaining stake of 23% in Weststar Holidays was liquidated when the firm was sold to Alchemy Partners for £83 million, valuing her stake at about £19 million.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: In 2009, Meaden acquired Fox Brothers (a West Country textile mill established in 1772 and still based in Wellington, Somerset) along with fellow shareholder, Douglas Cordeaux, former design director at Pepe Jeans London. She was also involved in a collaboration with BBC conductor Charles Hazlewood, 'Play the Field', a weekend of classical music on Charles's farm in Somerset over the August bank holiday weekend 2009. In October 2011, Meaden launched 'The Merchant Fox', an online store selling British-made luxury goods with provenance.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: In 2009, a planning inspector criticised Meaden's evidence to his enquiry as "implausible" in a dispute over the granting of village green status to a field on which Mudstone LLP, a firm in which she is a partner, wished to build 48 homes.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: Meaden is known for her appearances as an investor ('dragon') on the BBC Two series "Dragons' Den", where she took over from Rachel Elnaugh in the third series in August 2006. Like Elnaugh, Meaden was the only female investor, although this changed in subsequent seasons with the arrival of Hilary Devey to replace James Caan. , she has agreed investments through this route in 63 businesses to a value of over £3.3 million.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: Meaden took part in the eleventh series of the BBC One dancing show "Strictly Come Dancing", which began on 7 September 2013 and was partnered with professional dancer Robin Windsor. She was eliminated from the show on 26 October.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: Meaden published "Common Sense Rules" (Random House) in the UK in May 2009. She used a ghostwriting service known as Professional Ghost to complete this project.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: In November 2009, Meaden featured in a short film to promote Somerset to businesses, commissioned by Into Somerset, having previously recorded two other short films for the inward investment agency in February 2009.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: She does a lot of work with the Dogs Trust charity and is an ambassador for the Marine Conservation Society.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: In March 2022, she started her own podcast called The Big Green Money Show. In it, she aims to find out what are big and small companies doing to reduce their impact on the planet.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: Meaden met her husband in summer 1985, while he worked at Weststar during his university break. They separated, but after she took a trip to Venezuela, she returned to London and they married in 1993. The couple have no children and live in a period property near Langport in Somerset with numerous animals. Meaden bought the property in 2006 after selling her Weststar Holidays business for £33 million. Since then, the house has undergone extensive renovations using period accurate materials.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: She is an atheist. Meaden has listed her favourite film as "The Shawshank Redemption", her favourite holiday destination as Central and South America and her favourite sport as rugby union. In October 2020, Meaden adopted a plant-based diet.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: In August 2022, Meaden revealed that she had been diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, in 2015, after her makeup artist noticed a suspicious small spot on her face around six weeks prior to her diagnosis.


title: Deborah Meaden

text: In July 2010, Meaden was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Exeter Business School. She also received an honorary degree from Staffordshire University in the same month. She was given an honorary degree at Keele University in July 2013. In July 2014, Meaden was awarded an honorary degree from Bath Spa University.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Toyota Avanza and Daihatsu Xenia are cars developed by Daihatsu and marketed by both Toyota and Daihatsu. It is a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) and mainly sold with three-row seating. The Avanza and Xenia were developed as an entry-level MPV marketed mainly for the Indonesian and other emerging markets, and mainly produced in Indonesia by Astra Daihatsu Motor. Avanza's spiritual predecessor was the Kijang, whose model program has since been split into two different models (the other being the larger Kijang Innova) to expand Toyota's reach in the MPV sector.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In addition to Indonesia, the Avanza is sold throughout Southeast Asia, Mexico, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Middle East, Caribbean, Egypt, South Africa and other various African countries. A rebadged version of the car was sold in China under the FAW badge until 2016.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In 2021, the Avanza spawned another twin model called the Toyota Veloz, which the "Veloz" name was previously used for Avanza's flagship grade level for some markets between 2011 and 2021. The Avanza also served as a basis for the second-generation Perodua Alza, which was introduced in Malaysia in 2022.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Avanza has been the best-selling passenger car in Indonesia between 2006 and 2019, and then in 2021. At the peak of its popularity in 2013, the Avanza made up 17 percent of total car sales in Indonesia (22 percent combined with the Xenia). By November 2018, around 2.75 million units of Avanza/Xenia had been sold globally.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The name "Avanza" is taken from the Spanish word which means "get moving" and Italian word "avanzato", which means "advance", while "Xenia" is taken from the Greek word "Xenia" (a Greek concept of hospitality), which means "guest-friendship". The name "Veloz" is taken from the English word "velocity" and the Spanish word "velocidad", meaning "fast".


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Avanza and Xenia were both conceived by Toyota, Daihatsu and its Indonesian subsidiaries in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. At the time, the price of the best-selling Kijang had skyrocketed, while the economy in the country had just recovered from the crisis. Feasibility studies started in 1999 when Toyota-Astra Motor proposed for a more affordable vehicle under the Kijang for the Indonesian market. Toyota Motor Corporation handed the development and manufacturing of the vehicle to Astra Daihatsu Motor due to Daihatsu's expertise on low-cost vehicles in Indonesia. Toyota and Daihatsu invested a total of for the project.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The project was also referred by Toyota as the U-IMV (Under-IMV) project, a reference to the Innova that sits in a segment above the Avanza which rides on the IMV platform. Unlike the Kijang and the succeeding Kijang Innova that both utilised full body-on-frame chassis, the first two generations of Avanza/Xenia used a semi-unibody chassis where the front half of the chassis used body-on-frame construction, while the rear half used monocoque construction. This hybrid-type chassis made it possible for the vehicle to retain the rear-wheel-drive layout from the previous generations of Kijang along with its ability to handle heavier loads. According to journalists, it also came with several downsides such as unstable ride during high speeds and unrefined NVH levels.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The second-generation model retained the same platform as the original model and took 4 years of development. Toyota and Daihatsu invested for the project.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The third-generation model ditched the semi-unibody chassis with rear-wheel-drive layout in favour of the full unibody construction of the Daihatsu New Global Architecture with front-wheel-drive layout. According to Toyota and Daihatsu, the switch was made as the infrastructure quality had improved in Indonesia, along with efficiency, performance and comfort benefits of the front-wheel-drive layout.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The first-generation Avanza/Xenia was assembled at the first Indonesian Daihatsu plant in Sunter, Jakarta. Between 2008 and 2011, Toyota also manufactured the car in Karawang under contract to meet the high demand. The second-generation model is assembled at the same plant as the first-generation model and also at the second Daihatsu plant in Karawang, West Java, from April 2013 to an unspecified period. For the third-generation model, production in Indonesia is split between the Daihatsu plant in Sunter for the Avanza and Xenia, and at the Toyota plant in Karawang for the Veloz. It is also contract assembled in Malaysia by Perodua for the first and third-generation models to be sold by Toyota with the Avanza and Veloz badging respectively. Vietnamese assembly for the third-generation model is also carried out via CKD method.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Avanza was unveiled on 11 December 2003 and released on 15 January 2004. The car emerged from the first collaboration project between Toyota and Daihatsu in Indonesia with development led by Toyota chief engineer Kaoru Hosokawa, product planning leader of Toyota Commercial Vehicle Development Centre. It was manufactured at Astra Daihatsu Motor's Sunter assembly plant, with 61 percent of its parts were sourced locally.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: While Toyota targeted a total sales of 30,000 for the year 2004, in January, a total of 25,000 bookings for the car had been received, leading to the increase of production capacity. It sold 43,936 units in that year, which made it the third best-selling car in Indonesia. The Avanza emerged as the best-selling car there from 2006, replacing the Kijang Innova which held the title in 2005.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: At launch, the Avanza was initially available with two grade levels: the 1.3 E and 1.3 G, both powered with a 1.3-litre "K3-DE" four-cylinder engine mated to a 5-speed manual transmission. Starting from July 2004, the limited-production 1.3 S grade with a 4-speed automatic transmission was available to the Indonesian market. Similar to the export models, the 1.3-litre engine was upgraded to use variable valve timing (VVT-i) technology and individual direct ignition coils, while changing the designation to "K3-VE". The variant also included the anti-lock braking system and extra sound dampening materials. For the first time, a black exterior colour option was also added at the same time.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In July 2006, it received its first facelift with an updated grille, bumpers, interior colour and taillights. The 1.3 E and 1.3 G grades were upgraded to use the "K3-VE" 1.3-litre VVT-i petrol engine, complied with Euro 2 standards. In October 2006, the flagship 1.5 S grade was introduced. It is powered by a "3SZ-VE" 1.5-litre VVT-i petrol engine along with dedicated front bumper, rear bumper, side skirts and grille designs.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Avanza received an update on 14 October 2008 with an updated ceiling with grooves to improve airflow, a revamped interior and steering wheel with four spokes. It received a front bumper mesh grille, added fog light garnish and a chrome accent in the rear window. On 17 November 2009, the 1.3 E and 1.3 G grades received a 4-speed automatic transmission option.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In Malaysia, the Avanza was unveiled on 7 October 2004 and launched on 29 October 2004. Sold through UMW Toyota distribution network, it was available in 2 transmission (1.3 manual and 1.3 automatic).It was assembled by Perodua by importing CKD kits from Indonesia. In October 2006, the Avanza received its facelift in Malaysia and have 2 new grades (1.3E and 1.5G).In 2008 the Avanza receive second facelift and new grades added (1.3E automatic and 1.5S).


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In 2006, Avanza makes up 40 percent of Toyota total sales in Malaysia and around 140,000 units were sold in the country by 2012.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In the Philippines, the first-generation Avanza had been on sale since 2006. It was available in two grade levels: the J grade with a 1.3-litre engine, having no power windows and locks, and only available with a manual transmission, while the G grade has a 1.5-litre engine, and available with a five-speed manual transmission and a four-speed automatic transmission respectively. In 2008, the J grade was made available without the third row seat. This particular grade is popularly used as metered taxicabs in the Philippines. The Avanza was also updated in 2008 with an updated ceiling with grooves to improve airflow to the rear and an updated interior colour scheme.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: A twin model called Daihatsu Xenia also offered as a more affordable alternative to the Avanza in Indonesia. Generally, the Xenia is equipped with less safety equipment than the Avanza, while offering more dealer-installed accessories options such as front bumper guards, rear spoiler, or side body moulding to attract consumers. In Indonesia, the Xenia was available in three grade levels: 1.0 Mi, 1.0 Li and 1.3 Xi. Several accessories package was offered to the Li and Xi variants, including Plus, Deluxe, Family and Sporty. In November 2009, the automatic transmission option for the 1.3 Xi grade was launched.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: It is powered by the same 1.3-litre engine found in the Avanza and additional 989 cc "EJ-DE" (before 2006) and "EJ-VE" three-cylinder engines with power and torque rating at at 5,600 rpm and at 3,600 rpm. To minimize the weight and the workload to the engine, the 1.0-litre variant was not available with double blower air conditioner and is fitted with 13-inch wheels. Throughout its production, the 1.0-litre Xenia was only offered with a 5-speed manual transmission.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: Apart from Indonesia, the Xenia was also sold in China. It was previewed by the "D-01" crossover prototype at the Auto China in November 2006, and went on sale in June 2007. Seven-seat and five-seat models (with two rows of seats), either with a 1.3-litre or a 1.5-litre engine, were available. It was produced by FAW Jilin Auto and was also sold as the FAW Senya M80. It was discontinued January 2010 when Daihatsu pulled out from Chinese market and the joint venture for auto parts also dissolved in 2010. However, it continued to be produced and sold under license carrying the FAW marque.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In China, Daihatsu together with First Automobile Works (FAW) launched the first-generation Xenia as the FAW Senya M80 () on 21 June 2007. The Senya M80 was originally simply called the FAW Senya, but later developed a whole range of products based on the Senya platform and was soon renamed to Senya M80. The crossover-styled version called the Senya S80 was introduced later. Production in China was carried out at FAW Jilin Auto until 2010.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Senya S80 was revealed during the 2010 Beijing Auto Show. Starting from the M80 and S80 of the Senya series, FAW Jilin started the Chinese brand Senia (森雅), which later became a brand focusing on crossovers. A later facelift changed the front and rear ends of the Senya S80 which departs it from the Daihatsu-derived designs.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: A rebadged Senya S80 was also sold in North Korea by Pyeonghwa Motors as the Ppeokkuggi 1059 since 2013.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The second-generation Avanza was launched on 9 November 2011 in Indonesia with development led by Toyota chief engineer Kaoru Hosokawa.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The second-generation Avanza is available in three grade levels: 1.3 E, 1.3 G, 1.5 G, and 1.5 Veloz (replaced the S grade).


title: Toyota Avanza

text: On 15 May 2013, dual SRS airbags and front seatbelts with force limiter and pre-tensioner became standard in all Avanza models.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Avanza received its first facelift on 12 August 2015 with development led by chief engineer Kazuhiko Yamashita. The changes consist of a newer engine, where the previous "K3-VE" engine replaced by a 1.3-litre "1NR-VE" Dual VVT-i unit, while the "3SZ-VE" engine replaced by a 1.5-litre "2NR-VE" Dual VVT-i unit. Other changes includes an updated front and rear fascias, interior colour, head unit and ABS/EBD as standard (previously only available on Veloz grade). The Veloz grade also received a 1.3-litre engine option, which can be equipped with either manual or automatic transmission. Drive-by-wire system became standard in all models. The "Avanza" branding was omitted in marketing materials for the Veloz grade.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Avanza received its second facelift on 15 January 2019 with development led by chief engineer Kazutoshi Sakamoto. The front fascia was redesigned with a split-styled headlights, while the side mirrors is shared with the F800 series Rush. The rear fascia also received an update. LED headlights became standard on all variants, along with shark fin antenna, updated alloy wheel design and interior colour, digital air conditioner controls, auto retractable outer mirror (for G and Veloz grades), keyless entry system with push start engine button (for Veloz grade), and revised suspension tunings.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The GR Limited variant for the Veloz grade was launched on 9 August 2021, which also replaced the regular model. It came with a Gazoo Racing-branded bodykit, with black-coloured mirror cover and alloy wheels. No changes were made to the interior. Powertrain options also remain the same with 1.3-litre and 1.5-litre engines. Production lasted until October 2021 with 3,805 units sold.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In November 2016, Toyota-Astra Motor introduced the Toyota Transmover (downgraded Avanza below the E grade) for fleet usage in the market. It also replaces the Vios-based Limo sedan for taxicab usage. After the 2019 facelift for the Avanza, the Transmover retained the previous front fascia while received improvements from the second facelift Avanza such as retuned suspension, digital air conditioner controls, and shark fin antenna.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: Since November 2021, with the introduction of the third-generation Avanza, the Transmover became the sole second-generation Avanza variant sold for fleet markets.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The second-generation Avanza was launched in Malaysia on 11 January 2012. Unlike the first-generation model, the car was not assembled in Malaysia in favour of the first-generation Perodua Alza. It was initially available in four grade levels: 1.3 E, 1.5 E, 1.5 G and 1.5 S (known in Indonesia as the Veloz). The 1.3-litre models was powered by the "K3-VE" VVT-i engine with a 5-speed manual transmission. while the 1.5-litre models was powered by the "3SZ-VE" VVT-i engine with a 4-speed automatic transmission. The facelift version was launched in January 2016. In February 2018, the 1.5 X grade was added to the range and positioned above the 1.5 S. It had several aesthetic add-ons to give the exterior a more rugged, crossover-inspired appearance. The second facelift Avanza was launched in Malaysia on 17 May 2019, with all models received the front fascia from the Indonesian market Veloz. Three grade levels were offered: 1.5 E, 1.5 S and 1.5 S+. The blind spot monitor and rear-cross traffic alert safety equipment was offered on the 1.5 S+ grade. It was replaced by the W100 series Veloz in 2022.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The second-generation Avanza was launched in the Philippines on 13 January 2012. It was available in three grade levels: 1.3 J, 1.3 E and 1.5 G. The first facelift was launched in September 2015 and the second facelift in May 2019 respectively. In October 2017, the fourth grade was added to the line up: 1.5 Veloz. In the 2019 facelift, the G and Veloz grades received a 6.8-inch infotainment screen.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The van version of the Avanza was also offered which was set below the base variant that has only two seats, without radio, no speaker (with radio and 2 speakers, optional) and has steel wheels. The second and third row seats are removed to make room for the cargo area. It was only offered in white colour and powered with a 1.3-litre engine (with 5-speed manual transmission only).


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The second-generation Avanza was available in Singapore from November 2013, slotting in the MPV segment as a more affordable choice below the Wish. Only the 1.5 S grade was available with a four-speed automatic transmission. The Avanza later received a facelift in early 2016 but was discontinued in November that year with the launch of the Sienta.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The second-generation Avanza was available in Thailand from 10 January 2012 in three grade levels: the 1.5 E; available with a 5-speed manual transmission, 1.5 G and 1.5 S; available with a 4-speed automatic transmission. It received facelifts in 2015 and 2019, and was replaced by the W100 series Veloz in 2022.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: Alongside the Avanza, Daihatsu also launched the second-generation Xenia on 9 November 2011 for sale in Indonesia only. It remained to serve as a more affordable alternative to the Avanza.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Xenia was initially available in four different grade levels: 1.0 D, 1.0 M, 1.3 X and 1.3 R. The D, M and X grades came with the 5-speed manual transmission, while the R can have either a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic unit. The D and M grades came powered with a 989 cc "EJ-VE" three-cylinder engine, while the X and R grades came powered by a 1.3-litre "K3-VE" four-cylinder unit. Both engines came equipped with Toyota's electronic fuel injection with VVT-i. Like the previous generation, the Xenia had accessories packages that acts as sub-variant, including Plus, Deluxe, Family and Sporty packages. Between 2011 and 2014, a flagship variant called R Attivo was offered. It offered a rugged body kit and the roof rails, giving a crossover-inspired look.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In May 2013, the Xenia was updated along with the Avanza to include improved safety and comfort equipment. Dual SRS airbags and seat belt warning indicator became standard in the lineup.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Xenia received its first facelift in August 2015. The changes were the same as the Avanza, which consist of an updated fascia, headlights and taillights, and two-tone brown interior colour. The X and R grades received a newer engine, both became powered by a 1.3-litre "1NR-VE" Dual VVT-i engine. The 1.0-litre engine option remains unchanged.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In August 2016, the 1.0-litre Xenia models were discontinued in favour of the smaller, front-wheel-drive Sigra.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: In January 2019, the Xenia received its second facelift. Like the Avanza, it consists of an updated front fascia with LED reflector headlights, side mirrors, and rear fascia. Other changes includes digital air conditioner, auto retractable mirrors and revised suspension tunings. The keyless entry system with push start/stop engine button is not available on the Xenia. Alloy wheels were standard in the lineup. For the first time, the Xenia received a 1.5-litre "2NR-VE" Dual VVT-i engine option, exclusive to the R Deluxe variant.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: Similar to the Transmover, the base 1.3 X grade with manual transmission is the sole variant of the Xenia sold alongside the third-generation model since November 2021.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The African version of the Avanza with no ABS received 4-star safety rating for adult occupants and 2 stars for infants from Global NCAP in 2019.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The third-generation Avanza was launched on 10 November 2021. Departing from the previous generations' rear-wheel-drive layout, it is based on the front-wheel drive-based Daihatsu New Global Architecture, riding on a full unibody chassis as opposed to the previous semi-unibody construction. Development was led by Daihatsu chief engineer Eiji Fujibayashi. Its exterior dimensions are longer by and wider by , creating a significantly larger footprint compared to the previous generations. The wheelbase has been increased by , and the interior space is longer by . Despite the longer body, its turning radius only slightly increased to and its weight is claimed to decrease by around .


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The 1.3-litre "1NR-VE" and the 1.5-litre "2NR-VE" engines received upgrades which increased their outputs by . A split-gear CVT system called the "Dual-Mode CVT" (D-CVT) developed by Daihatsu has been adopted for automatic transmission models.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: For the Indonesian market, grade levels for the Avanza consists of 1.3 E and 1.5 G, both available with either a manual transmission or CVT. The 1.5 G grade is also available with advanced driver-assistance systems package branded as Toyota Safety Sense as an option.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The third-generation Avanza was launched in the Philippines on 7 March 2022 and is offered in 1.3 J (manual only), 1.3 E (manual and CVT), and 1.5 G (CVT only) grade levels.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Vietnamese model was launched on 22 March 2022 and is marketed as the Avanza Premio to distinguish it from the previous generation. Exclusively available with the 1.5-litre "2NR-VE" engine, it is offered with two transmission options: manual and CVT. The latter is equipped with six airbags, Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) and Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA).


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The third-generation Avanza was released in Mexico on 14 March 2022. Powered by the 1.5-litre "2NR-VE" engine as standard powertrain, it is offered in LE (manual only) and XLE (CVT only) grade levels.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Veloz flagship grade level from the previous generation Avanza for some markets was spun off into a separate nameplate as the Toyota Veloz, which is marketed as an upscale alternative to the Avanza. The front fascia has been redesigned to distinguish itself from the Avanza, gaining a redesigned bumper, front hood, front and rear quarter panels, and the addition of faux roof rails, creating a crossover-inspired look. The rear end is differentiated by the integrated taillight design and a distinct bumper design. It is wider by compared to the Avanza due to the inclusion of aero kits and side claddings. The model is also equipped with rear disc brakes, an electronic parking brake, a digital instrument cluster with 7-inch information display, along with other equipment. The 1.5-litre "2NR-VE" engine is standard.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: First assembled at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia Plant 2 in Karawang, West Java, separated from the Avanza, it has also been assembled by Perodua in Rawang, Selangor, Malaysia since 2022 to be sold locally and in Vietnam since November 2022 alongside the Avanza Premio.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: Grade levels of the Veloz in Indonesia consists of base (manual and CVT) and 1.5 Q (CVT only), with an optional Toyota Safety Sense package for the latter.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Thai market Veloz was launched on 24 February 2022, which replaced the F650 series Avanza. It is offered in Smart and Premium grade levels, with CVT as standard. Toyota Safety Sense is standard for the Premium grade.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Vietnamese model was launched on 22 March 2022 and is marketed as the Veloz Cross. It is offered in base and Top grade levels, with CVT as standard. Toyota Safety Sense is standard for the Top grade.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Philippine market Veloz was introduced on 29 April 2022. Locally positioned as a "subcompact SUV", it is offered in 1.5 G and 1.5 V grade levels, with CVT as standard. Toyota Safety Sense is standard for the 1.5 V grade.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Malaysian market Veloz was introduced on 18 October 2022, which replaced the F650 series Avanza. The Malaysian market Veloz was assembled at Perodua plant at Rawang, Selangor (alongside the Perodua Alza). For Malaysian market,front fog lamps was change into DRL(Daytime Running Light) and added with Adaptive Cruise Control. Available in single grade, Toyota Safety Sense is standard.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The third-generation Xenia was launched at the 28th Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show on 11 November 2021. Contrary to the previous generations, the Xenia received a differentiated front fascia. Grade levels available are 1.3 M, 1.3 X, 1.3 R, and 1.5 R. Astra Daihatsu Styling (ADS) package with aero kits and other accessories is available for the R grade, while the flagship 1.5 R is available with optional advanced driver-assistance systems package branded as Advanced Safety Assist (ASA).


title: Toyota Avanza

text: The Avanza-based second-generation Perodua Alza was introduced on 20 July 2022. It is offered in X, H and AV grade levels with the 1.5-litre "2NR-VE" engine with D-CVT as the sole powertrain option. ASA 3.0 advanced driver-assistance systems package is standard on all grades. The model received a lower and more driver-oriented suspension settings, which made the Alza sit lower than the Avanza by with a ground clearance of . It is assembled at the Perodua plant alongside the Malaysian market Veloz.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: By October 2011, there had been around 1 million Avanza/Xenia units sold, including around 113,000 exported units. In 2012, the Avanza/Xenia was the second best-selling MPV in the world after the Chrysler minivans.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: By November 2018, around 2,750,576 units of Avanza/Xenia had been sold globally. The sales consisted of 1,714,196 Indonesian-market Avanzas, 393,380 exported Avanzas, and around 643,000 Xenias.


title: Toyota Avanza

text: Between 2006 and 2019, the Avanza held the position as the best-selling passenger car in Indonesia, before being taken by the Honda Brio in 2020. The Avanza regained this position in 2021.


title: Millennium Falcon

text: The Millennium Falcon is a fictional starship in the "Star Wars" franchise. Designed by Joe Johnston for the movie "Star Wars" (1977), it has subsequently appeared in "The Star Wars Holiday Special" (1978), "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), "Return of the Jedi" (1983), "The Force Awakens" (2015), "The Last Jedi" (2017), "" (2018), and "The Rise of Skywalker" (2019). Additionally, the "Falcon" appears in a variety of "Star Wars" spin-off works, including books, comics, and games; James Luceno's novel "Millennium Falcon" focuses on the titular ship. It also appears in the 2014 animated film "The Lego Movie" in Lego form.