The Bop Project

Hey all, I wanted to have this in writing so you can reference this at any time.

After SGDQ, I plan on grinding Ratchet 1 All Gold Bolts for 1:01, or for a couple of weeks to ride out the SGDQ hype. Whichever one comes first. My original goal after SGDQ was to grind for 1:02, but I ended up getting that before even leaving for SGDQ, so I pretty much worked myself out of a job on that front.

But let's talk about what's on the horizon...

I need to preface all this by saying that I have no idea how much time I'm going to have to keep speedrunning as a career. At the very least, I have one more year, but if I get into graduate school for opera singing, I'm going to prioritize that over speedrunning for a while. Speedrunning and singing are both dream careers, but if I had to choose between the two, I'd rather sing. So, since I'd rather go balls deep in case I don't have much time left, I want to potentially go out with a bang.

So, at the end of 2016, I had 10 leaderboard WRs to my name, and had also gotten WR in RaC2 All Platinum Bolts at one point. Over the course of the last 6 months, though (jesus, is it really already halfway through 2017?), I've lost 5 of those WRs due to not running as many categories, and instead focusing on truly optimizing a couple of categories. People are starting to sleep on your boi. Saying shit like "lmao Xem sucked at this category anyway xD" and things of the like. But guess what?

I've never been better.

And I'm gonna prove it. I want to get WR back in every category I've lost WR in over the last year, as well as finally take a couple of records I've been meaning to take. All of these categories by the numbers:

Ratchet and Clank 1 NG+ - Current WR is 22:48 by Scaff. My PB is 23:42 (2nd place)
Ratchet and Clank 1 Any% - Current WR is 35:01 by OneTabloid. My PB is N/A (never done a single run before)
Ratchet and Clank 2 Any% - Current WR is 56:59 by Touhobbit. My PB is 1:01:05?? I think?? (6th place)
Ratchet and Clank 2 NG+ - Current WR is 9:40 by Yoshipro101. My PB is 9:48 (3rd place)
Ratchet and Clank 2 NG+ No IMG - Current WR is 27:15 by Yoshipro101. My PB is 27:46 (3rd place)
Ratchet and Clank 2 All Platinum Bolts - Current WR is 1:26:12 by SuperSqank. My PB is 1:27:54 (2nd place)
Ratchet and Clank 2 All Platinum Bolts, Skill Points, and Items - Current WR is 5:30:27 by Nyehoe. My PB is N/A (never done a run outside of Hundo Trifecta before)
Ratchet and Clank 3 Any% - Current WR is 55:45 by Touhobbit. My PB is 57:03 (2nd place)
Ratchet and Clank 3 All Titanium Bolts - Current WR is 1:26:24 by Touhobbit. My PB is 1:26:29 (2nd place)

I don't care about reclaiming All 4 One Co-op Any% or taking WR for RaC2 PBSPI since that category is shit. I also don't care about keeping the WRs that much after I take them. If someone beats me after I get a WR back, I don't mind. The point of the bop project is to get all these WRs, even just for a bit, to prove that I'm capable of getting whatever time I want in these games.

Once I finish the bop project, I'll either grind Deadlocked NG+ for WR or UYA NG+ for sub 31. It'll depend on when I finish this project and whether or not I feel like continuing the hardcore grind (UYA) or doing something fun for the fans (Deadlocked).

Despite this community growing larger and better than ever, I've maintained my place as the most dominant Ratchet and Clank speedrunner. This is my way of solidifying my legacy, and proving once again to myself and everyone else that I'm capable of doing whatever I set my mind to.

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Progress report:

First category in the project was Rac2 All Platinum Bolts. I began on July 24, 2017. The world record dropped from 1:27:05, to 1:26:22, and then again to 1:26:12 in the time I grinded this. All 3 WRs were by SuperSqank. On August 6, 2017, 13 days after beginning grinding, I brought my PB down from 1:27:54, to 1:27:52, to 1:27:47, to 1:27:17, to 1:25:01 and took WR. The run was okay, nothing really that special, and I lost a lot of time late game to playing safe and securing WR. I expect Sqank to take this record back soon, but I've still completed one category on my list.

Second category in the project was UYA All Titanium Bolts. I began on August 7, 2017. The world record was 1:26:24 by Touh. I derusted an hour or two on the 7th, had a day off on the 8th, and then resumed with full practice on August 9th. On August 12, 2017, 6 days after beginning grinding, I got a 1:25:25 and took WR. The run was quite good until I lost a minute on Metropolis from Klunk flying off the stage like a piece of shit. Aside from that, solid run with a little bit of mid game slop. I'll come back to get a 1:24 soon. I've now completed two categories on my list.

Third category in the project was Rac2 NG+ No IMG. I began on August 12, 2017. The world record dropped from 27:33 by Skitz, then Yoshipro dropped the world record multiple times down to 27:15. I wasn't able to stream from August 15th to August 20th due to work and having to go to Chicago to perform in a musical, but I worked hard and made significant progress after the fact. On August 27, 2017, 15 days after beginning grinding, I brough my PB down from 27:46, to 27:38 (while drunk and high!), to 27:11 and took WR. I wasn't very satisfied with this run, but it got the WR, and that's all I wanted.