Category: News

As Migos rolled out their album Culture III this spring, the Atlanta trap trio also revealed that they would be hosting their own festival in Las Vegas promoting the album in October (14-17). Now that it’s closer to the date in question, we have a better idea of what that festival is going to look like — especially since they’ve announced the headliners and more details about the event.

Far from being your usual field festival, they’re describing it as a full-on takeover, complete with pool parties, club nights, and of course, performances from Migos and their guests, which include fellow Quality Control Music artists like Duke Deuce and Lil Yachty, fellow Atlanta trap rap star Gunna, and some feminine representation from Kash Doll and Rubi Rose (who you may remember got her start as a model in their “Bad And Boujee” video with Lil Uzi Vert).

The venues include Drai’s Beachclub & Nightclub and Area 15, with more to come. The “Migos curated Vegas experience” will even include custom food and beverage menus and event partner Pollen is offering a “COVID-19 Money-Back Guarantee to make the event 100% refundable if it is canceled or rescheduled due to COVID-19.”

Tickets will go on sale Monday, July 12 and more information can be found here.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Ice-T is many things, but most of all, he is not willing to endure people talking sh*t. Especially about him. It’s what also makes the rapper and TV star an incredible poster on social media, and he’s certainly not afraid to tell people exactly what he thinks of criticism that goes his way.

On Thursday, the Law and Order actor was taking questions on social media that stemmed from a post about his various roles in TV and film. The post focused on how different some of those roles have been, anything from a police officer to henchman.

A commenter asked why the actor has played police officers in the past, and T himself chimed in, saying that the role is a “heavy” no matter if he has a badge or not.

Another follower questioned why people are always upset about him playing cops on TV, and T then made it clear: only “squares” care that he has played a police officer on TV.

“I don’t really get ANY flack from REAL players in the Streets,” T wrote. “They understand and respect the Hustle…. Just the occasional SQUARE talking sh*t. F em.”

It’s hard to argue with that, especially considering that he’s the one choosing to take these roles. Despite his general meme status playing Tutuola, he’s played a long list of characters over his acting career. If he says they’re the same approach and vibe, well, you sort of just have to take his word for it here.

Tinker Hatfield is as legendary a figure as there is in the sneaker world. The man who Phil Knight credits with saving Nike by keeping Michael Jordan with the company after he took over designs for Jordan’s signature line starting with the Air Jordan 3 has worked on countless iconic sneakers. Currently, he serves as Nike’s Vice President for Design and Special Projects.

For someone who has created many of the world’s favorite sneakers, however, the explosion of sneaker culture still baffles him a bit, as he notes he grew up in a time where “everybody just wore Converse or whatever.” He finds it best to not try and figure that part of the equation out, but instead focus on coming up with something new and always looking to progress sneaker design forward, just as he did when he started in the 1980s.

Earlier this week, Dime got to speak with Hatfield on behalf of Michelob Ultra, with whom he partnered to design the Not For Sale bottle that will be wheeled into the winners’ locker room after the NBA Finals and a select number will be available for fans to win after the series ends. Hatfield spoke about storytelling through signature sneakers and balancing design with performance, why he sometimes has to tell athletes they won’t make shoes that look like the Air Jordan line for them, the challenges of progressing designs forward when an athlete falls in love with a certain feel, what its been like seeing the interest in his original designs, and how he created his bottle concept for Michelob Ultra.

To start, how did this partnership with Michelob Ultra come together for the Not For Sale bottle and what drew you to this project?

Well, it came out of the blue, it was a request through someone that I know and who has connections with people in New York and also in sports in general. And so Michelob essentially reached out to me and asked me if I would do it. And I felt like Michelob being an official sponsor the NBA and the WNBA, and I think they present themselves in a classy way, and really, have good advertising and have a fine product that’s a little … I guess you could say for a lot of people, it’s a little healthier, because it doesn’t have so many calories and all that. So I thought, we’re not in the alcohol business here at Nike, so there’s no competitive conflict. So it’s one of those very few projects that I decided, you know what, this could be fun, so I took it.

There you go. How did you come up with the design for the bottle and what did you want it to say?

Well, Michelob and Dinner Party, their contract design firm, they did a good job of explaining to me the context, which was it was going to be limited edition, and it was going to show up in the locker room after the game. And I’m like, okay, so it’s not going to be seen all that often and it’s not going to be that available, and it’s going to need to be noticed in a chaotic environment — the winner’s locker room after championship, you can’t get much more chaotic than that.

So, I figured that I needed to be bold, and I was looking for that one thing that would just stand out against the background of the bottle itself. And so I’m like oh, the winner gets to cut down the net, and I started drawing scissors and nets and hands cutting, and it sort of led me to the fact that, well, we could just take a net that’s been cut off the rim and drape it right over the bottle. And that was really the beginning of the design process, and that set the stage for all the other details that came later. But it was good. So, I think, when that the camera is in that locker room, I think those bottles are going to be quite unique and stand out because of that stark white net draped over the bottle.

Storytelling is obviously something that you’re you’re passionate about with the sneakers that you work on. I want to talk specifically about that in signature sneakers, because you’re trying to tell someone else’s story. How do those conversations go and what have you learned about getting to what the athlete really wants to be able to say with a shoe?

That’s a great question and I think there’s two goals for me. The way I see it is that I need to create a project, and in this case, it would be a performance footwear design that is better than its predecessor, and is tuned in to the specific athlete as best as possible so that they feel good in it, they can play well in it, and also, their career may be enhanced in a longevity situation, because the shoes are protecting them more. But it has to all be done in a lightweight form so that everybody feels quicker, and, you know, speed is very important in most sports. So that’s really the beginning process is to actually kind of get to this kind of criteria list, that helps me check off those kinds of boxes: traction and lightweight and stability and the right amount of cushioning.

And then I can move into the second phase, which is all about what the shoe looks like and is there a narrative or a backstory that helps describe the actual athlete, some of their interests, what they like, either in color or maybe there’s something even more involved. There might even be a statement or a saying or something, and there’s a lot that that gets then layered on to the original sort of problem solving and performance so then this other layering of design occurs. So, working with athletes, pretty much all of these — I think have been designing shoes for 35, 36 years — it’s been very consistent, that part has been consistent.

Yeah and some guys, you can see this in some of the sneaker lines, they fall in love with a design or a feel. How do you balance that, where you know they like a certain thing but you want to keep progressing the shoe? Because you look at some lines and it’s very subtle changes, and then others are willing to take more more risks and bigger swings, how do you deal with that as a designer?

I think that’s really perceptive of you to know that there are these differences in the athletes’ personality and the way they play, and also the way they see themselves and think. And I have to tune into that, and I can’t, if someone is not interested in being quite so risky and maybe flashy or what have you, I have to, like, still create an interesting product that suits them. And so, Pete Sampras was quite different than, say, Andre Agassi in tennis as an example. And then you can see those same patterns are true in basketball as well. So, you know, individual athletes have different interests and their tolerance for being more risky can vary, quite a lot.

So it was always fun with Michael because he just — Michael Jordan — he loved to zig when everybody else was zagging, so he was really open minded. And Kobe Bryant after that, and LeBron as well, and of course KD, and a lot of athletes sort of in succession have, I think, learned probably from Michael Jordan, and been much more open minded than possibly they might have been otherwise.

Yeah I wanted to ask about the legacy of the original Jordan line, because like you said, here are so many iterations and each one popped in its own way. How have you seen how that impacts how guys want their shoes to look and feel and present?

Some people will literally come in and say, “I love Air Jordans, can you make mine look a little bit like that,” and we go, “Nah, we want to know your story, and you know we can treat you like we treat Michael Jordan, but your design should be unique to you, not to anyone else.” So, sometimes there’s a little bit of a conversation like that. Other people come in and they already have their own sort of a vibe about how they want the project to proceed, and they’re looking for uniqueness right off the bat. They’re looking to make a personal statement, along with having high performance dialed in for them. We jump around and different athletes have different sorts of agendas and/or tolerance for certain ways to design a product, so I try to be really flexible that way.

And I think that even with Michael, as you mentioned, from year to year, it was almost like we were jumping, like he was a different player from one year to the next, even though he wasn’t as much. I mean, he was always learning and getting better, but he was also interested in being deceptive as a player, hiding his tendencies so that he could surprise people, especially at the end of the game and help win the game. And he was like that with the footwear. He wanted to always surprise people with the next new design. And we found that relationship between him and I, and me being interested in … we’re risk takers, I guess, in nature. So that worked out great. We had a wonderful run and a relationship that is still strong to this day. So we were kind of on a beam, kind of like, “Yeah, this is, we’re going to do, this may piss off a bunch of people that are expecting one thing, but we’re okay with that because we want to keep changing we keep changing it.”

Finally, the interest in some of your original designs and seeing those come to life, obviously the Tinker 3s were kind of the ones that I think standout. Has that surprised you, that there’s been the interest in seeing some of those original designs and then also just bringing those to life, and what was that like for you, because obviously you’re so focused on telling their story, but this a chance to tell your story as well?

Oh yeah, you know, I would have to just simply say that I didn’t prognosticate or think that these things would be such a big part of modern culture at this point and time. But the reality is, I think the designs, the athletes themselves, Nike’s ability to tell stories, and my ability to kind of react to all of the above just has worked out really well. I think my timing, you know, where I started, when I started, no one had thought to take footwear design into this higher level design kind of process beyond the performance side. So that was fun, and I feel like I don’t really necessarily understand why everybody is so crazy over sneakers, because I personally come from an era when everybody just wore Converse or whatever. So having been involved in helping sort of move this into a whole other realm has been really fun, and I’m not going to try and even understand all of it, because then I’ll get all screwed up, but it’s best to just keep trying to do a good job and thinking up some new stuff.

As far as must-have accessories go, there has been perhaps no more popular item than the Telfar bag. Although the brand insists on inclusivity in direct contradiction to industry conventions, it has still been practically impossible to secure one of its ubiquitous shopping bags due to its purposely low price point (they max out at around $250, as compared to luxury brands, which can run up to five figures) and the borderline insane demand for it. Anytime it goes on sale, the brand’s website is flooded with fans clamoring to get their hands on one, and they usually sell out in a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately for those who haven’t been able to get one yet, the Telfar shopping bag may reach an improbable new height of popularity thanks to the co-sign of the latest celebrity to be seen sporting one out and about. A paparazzi shot of Beyonce walking around Brooklyn with a bag has gone viral on Twitter, shooting “Telfar” to the top of the trending topics list and leaving fans lamenting their chances of ever being able to purchase one now that the queen of marketing impossible-to-get items (shout-out to Ivy Park!) has put her unofficial stamp on the hot-ticket item.

Ironically, many of the tweets acknowledge that the price point is likely to remain unchanged but the furor has led to many fans realizing that the demand will make them harder to get than ever. Meanwhile, those who already have the bag are rejoicing at having something in common with the pop music queen. Check out more responses below.

After Marvel dropped the newest trailer for What If…?, it’s next series headed to Disney+ in August, fans couldn’t help but notice Vision popping up in the preview, and well, they have some concerns. Namely, it sure looks like the android Avengers is, once again, having the Mind Stone ripped from his head, which left him for dead (twice) in Avengers: Infinity War. Considering he also “died” in the WandaVision finale, it’s completely understandable that Marvel fans are bracing themselves to watch Vision bite the big one for the third time in a row.

However, there does appear to be a glimmer of hope hiding in the official poster for Marvel’s What If…?, which appears to show Vision wearing Ultron’s armor with… all six Infinity Stones planted in his chest? If that’s the case, it seems the person removing the Mind Stone from Vision’s head is most likely Vision.

Released on Thursday, the new Marvel’s What If…? trailer featured the return of Robert Downey Jr. who voices Tony Stark in the animated series. It also features the late Chadwick Boseman’s final MCU role, as he recorded his lines as an alternate reality version of Star-Lord shortly before his tragic death last year. The series will also feature episodes centered around Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, and Peggy Carter who will see their MCU realities drastically altered.

Marvel’s What If…? starts streaming August 11 on Disney+.

Gossip Girl: Season 1 Premiere (HBO Max series) — The original CW series helped to launch the careers of Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Sebastian Stan, and Penn Badgley (and the latter is now portraying an amped-up version of the same character on Netflix’s You). HBO Max is now ready to welcome another crop of mostly unknown faces playing wealthy, privileged teens who find themselves socially surveilled and at the mercy of the “Gossip Girl” narrator, who’s still voiced by Kristen Bell. Showrunner Josh Safran has promised that this reboot series will be much more socially conscious than the original, and that the teens will “take Ubers, not limos.” If you’re wondering how well this premise will update for 2021, that’s one of the reasons why this show’s worth a whirl. XOXO?

Looney Tunes Cartoons: Season 2 (HBO Max series) — This batch of ten new episodes is more than guaranteed to put a grin on your face, given that Daffy will act as an “emotional support duck” to Porky, apparently. Also expect to see most of the gang, including Tweety, Sylvester, Elmer, Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner, Marvin the Martian, and Taz. However, one should not expect to see the cancelled stalker-skunk named Pepe Le Pew, which is just fine.

Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness: Season 1 (Netflix series) — Based upon the survival horror video games (and surely, you’ve seen at least a few of the films) comes this Netflix original anime series that follows up on 2017’s Resident Evil: Vendetta CGI film with more franchise entries apparently on the way.

Holey Moley 3D in 2D (ABC, 9:00pm) — This new season of holes (yes, that’s right) includes a Corny Hole, a North Pole on the Ho Ho Hole, and Holey Matrimony. These puns never get old for the contestants or the audience.

In case you missed this streaming pick from last Thursday:

LFG (HBO Max film) — This documentary film presents an unflinching look at the fight by U.S. women’s soccer team members (Megan Rapinoe, Jessica McDonald, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara, Sam Mewis, and more) for equal pay. This battle takes a look behind the curtain of the 2019 class-action, gender discrimination lawsuit (filed against the U.S. Soccer Federation) mere months before the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Expect to see the legal fight coverage interspersed with transcendent athleticism while the documentary highlights how these women’s courage will hopefully lead to society-wide change that hasn’t been seen since Title IX.

The Minnesota Lynx are here. Riding high on a five-game winning streak that’s shown flashes of brilliance from Sylvia Fowles, Napheesa Collier, and Kayla McBride, it’s easy to buy stock in what the Lynx are doing. A 31-point blowout over the Phoenix Mercury, one-point win over the championship-favorite Las Vegas Aces, and six-point victory against the playoff-hopeful Dallas Wings is enough proof.

Sure, Minnesota stands just 10-9 due to a flurry of injuries and late arrivals, but the top of the WNBA has been proven beatable in the last week alone. The Connecticut Sun dropped to the historically bad Indiana Fever, the Aces lost to a Diana Taurasi-less Mercury team, and Seattle had scares against a pair of low-tier opponents.

Keep an eye on the Lynx, and in the meantime, let’s power rank all 12 teams:

1. Seattle Storm (15-4)

The Storm had a few close calls this week (a three-point win over the Atlanta Dream and late pull-away from the Los Angeles Sparks), but still edged out three wins in three games. By nature of the Aces losing to a Mercury team missing its most prolific scorer, Seattle owns the top spot for now, but it doesn’t feel convincing heading towards the Olympic break.

2. Las Vegas Aces (14-5)

The Aces were tormented by Brittney Griner in the post and stonewalled for the first four minutes of overtime in a nine-point loss to Phoenix. We’ll write that one off as a game that got away though, considering the team has won nine of its last 11 games.

3. Connecticut Sun (12-6)

It’s been a bit of a rough week for the teams at the top. The Sun losing to the then one-win Fever is … well, embarrassing. Jonquel Jones had, by far, her worst game of the season and nobody else stepped up. Watch out for the red-hot Minnesota Lynx. This could be their spot next week.

4. Minnesota Lynx (10-9)

After a rocky start, the Lynx are on fire. They look solid with Sylvia Fowles producing MVP-level nights alongside her Olympic teammate Napheesa Collier. Kayla McBride has also been on a tear, scoring 75 points on 27-for-39 shooting in her last three games. The Lynx can play big, small, and everything between. When Aerial Powers returns, this team could make even bigger waves.

5. Chicago Sky (10-9)

Though the Sky are much-improved with Candace Parker back in the rotation, they haven’t shown a level of consistent, elite play yet. A nine-point loss to the Wings on Friday didn’t help. Chicago could be a team that really benefits from a month break to regroup and return as the powerhouse we expect them to be.

6. Phoenix Mercury (8-9)

Brittney Griner has been spectacular this season and her shredding of the Aces showed why she’s such a problem for opposing defenses. Without Diana Taurasi in the lineup, Griner scored 33 points with 10 rebounds and five assists matched up against Liz Cambage. Phoenix is a scary single-elimination team.

7. New York Liberty (10-9)

We’re eagerly awaiting the return of Natasha Howard, but in the meantime, the Liberty are playing about as well as anyone could’ve reasonably hoped. Sabrina Ionescu’s finding her rhythm (28 points on 11-for-18 shooting in her last two games), Betnijah Laney is an All-Star, and Michaela Onyenwere is the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year. They’re in position for a playoff berth one year after posting the second-worst record in WNBA history.

8. Dallas Wings (9-11)

Despite a positive net rating, the Wings find themselves two games below .500 and in constant question over rotational roles and playing time. Four losses by four points or fewer stings. Still, they’ve got too much talent to miss the postseason this year. Hopefully, they can turn things around in the second half of the season.

9. Washington Mystics (7-10)

Mercifully, Natasha Cloud is set to return to play on Saturday for the most-injured team in the WNBA. We’re still awaiting Myisha Hines-Allen, Elena Delle Donne, and maybe Emma Meesseman (who is overseas) to re-join the Mystics. Even if the team drops this weekend’s game against the Sky, they can’t be too upset with their record all things considered. They could be a whole new team by August.

10. Atlanta Dream (6-11)

They’ve lost five of their last six games and star point guard Chennedy Carter is suspended “until further notice.” Yikes.

11. Los Angeles Sparks (6-12)

The Sparks may be the team most in need of the Olympic break after losing their fifth straight game on Wednesday. With all signs pointing to both Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike being healthy enough to compete in the Olympics, it looks like we can safely say they’ll both close out the season for the Sparks. That’s great news.

12. Indiana Fever (2-16)

I can’t figure out how they beat the Sun, but it happened. They’re still far and away the league’s worst team, but at least they can hang a “Made Jonquel Jones Shoot 29 Percent From The Field” banner from the rafters.

Just one day after Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared to acknowledge logic by offering a surprisingly rational warning to Trump supporters, she’s back on her B.S.

This time, instead of comparing Biden’s new strategy to get people vaccinated with a paramilitary group employed by Hitler to round up Jewish citizens during the Holocaust, she’s trivializing the death of George Floyd, equating his murder with the killing of Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt.

Greene went on Newsmax to primarily rant about tech companies and censorship after Trump filed a lawsuit against some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley for kicking him off social media following the January 6th insurrection. Babbitt of course came up since some Trump supporters — and even the former president himself — have pushed conspiracy theories regarding her death. Greene told host Greg Kelly that she’s actually been in contact with the attorney for Babbitt’s family and sides with them in their demands to know the name of the officer who shot Babbitt as she attempted to breach the House chamber where lawmakers were sheltering during the storming of the Capitol. And, if trying to doxx an officer who risked his life to keep Greene and her colleagues safe wasn’t enough, she then went on to compare Babbitt’s death to that of Floyd.

“If this country can demand justice for someone like George Floyd,” Greene said (via Mediaite), “then we can certainly demand justice for Ashli Babbitt and everyone deserves to know who killed her. We need to know who it is.”

Of course, Greene seems to be omitting key details in her wildly insulting correlation between Floyd and Babbitt. George Floyd was a Black man who died after former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly 10 minutes all because a shop owner believed he’d paid with a counterfeit bill. Babbitt, an air force veteran, was part of the mob that launched an assault on Capitol Hill to stop lawmakers from certifying the results of a presidential election. Floyd tried to buy cigarettes, Babbitt tried to disrupt a democratic process. They are not the same.

Then again, this is the same person who compared wearing a piece of cloth over her face to the Holocaust.

(Via Mediaite)

Common sense suggests we should be helping people who are struggling financially, not shaming them. And that goes double for children, who are never responsible for their parents’ financial situations. However, in schools across the country, children are often stigmatized for their parents’ inability to pay for their lunches.

In New Jersey, students with lunch debt aren’t allowed to attend prom. In Pennsylvania, parents are threatened with being turned in to child protective services if they have outstanding lunch debt. In Rhode Island, students who have significant lunch debt are given jelly sandwiches instead of a hot lunch.

In other districts, children are given stamps on their hands that say, “I need lunch money.” In some school cafeterias, children’s lunches are thrown away in front of the entire cafeteria if they have lunch debt.

“When [lunch shaming] happens, it’s short-sighted,” Crystal FitzSimons, the director of school programs at the Food Research and Action Center, said in an interview with Popular Science. “Cafeterias should be positive experiences for all kids.”

via Nevada Department of Agriculture

While in some states children are shamed, others are working to create a level playing field where children aren’t called out for having lunch debt. Two years ago, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law that guarantees students will receive state-funded lunches regardless of whether their parents or guardians have unpaid meal fees.

In some districts, all students are given the same cards to pay for their lunches so those who have debt or are on free lunch programs aren’t identifiable to other kids.

When children are stigmatized in the cafeteria it can affect their mental health, stress levels, and school work. “When we remove that stigma, it makes a big difference in kids’ lives,” Juliana Cohen, an adjunct assistant professor of nutrition studying school food programs at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Popular Science.

The state of Minnesota is working to be on the right side of the lunch debt issue. State leaders are putting a halt to lunch shaming by issuing new rules for administrators to address school lunch debt.

The state recently passed a new education finance bill that says its schools are no longer allowed to withhold any meals, affix any pins or stickers to students, or throw away a child’s lunch.

“These are moments a child will never forget,” state Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater, said in comments published by the Senate Republican Caucus. “Now that we have passed this critical language, it is my hope that no student will ever have to experience this traumatic shaming ever again.”

The state’s education Commissioner Heather Mueller agrees.

“We know that hunger can negatively impact a student’s ability to learn, and quite simply, no child deserves to be hungry — especially in our schools,” she said during a briefing on the bill. “Our lunchrooms are an extension of the classroom and set students up for academic success.”

One of the biggest roadblocks a school can put in front of its students is making learning a traumatizing experience. States such as Minnesota that put their students’ well-being first are a great example of how schools can align their educational priorities for student success.

A show all about time travel wouldn’t be complete without some good ol’ fashioned revisionist fun, and luckily for us Loki insists on having it. In the series first episode, Loki explains the resolution of the legendary D.B. Cooper heist with a bit of magic and Heimdall’s magic portals. While trailers made it seems that was the only crack the show would take at explaining an unsolved mystery, in this past episode the show writers decided to go at it once more and tackle the infamous mystery surrounding the USS Eldridge — also known as the Philadelphia experiment conspiracy.

For those of you not familiar with the USS Eldridge and its strange, urban legend, strap in because it’s a weird one. Constructed in the 1940s, the USS Eldridge was built to help the US transport both troops and supplies abroad during World War II. However, according to the legend, the most action it saw was actually during its construction. In 1956, 13 years after the Eldridge was first commissioned, a man named Carlos Miguel Allende claimed the ship had a mysterious past. According to Allende, on October 28, 1943 — as the U.S. Navy sat at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard — the USS Eldridge was the subject of an experiment in vehicle cloaking.

Allegedly, the ship was outfitted with generators that would render the ship invisible to enemy radars, however, when the generators were turned on, this ship was surrounded by a “green fog” and then disappeared. Now, while testimonies generally agree with the ship’s dramatic exit, there are several rumors regarding where it appeared. According to some, the USS Eldridge emerged 200 miles away in Norfolk, Virginia. Others claim it reappeared in the same spot or, more unusually, went back in time. However, while where the ship landed is up for debate, nearly all the reports provide grim details regarding what happened to the crew.

According to the reports, nearly all of the crew members aboard when the experiment took place wound up sick or mentally unstable upon their return — but that’s not the worst of it. Some testimonies said the members were severely burned or had their bodies melted and merged into the ship. To this day, however, the U.S. Navy denies any of this actually occurred, and it’s widely regarded as a hoax.

While the show’s fifth episode doesn’t delve all that deeply into exactly what happened to the USS Eldridge — after all, it’s a bit hard to take such a sharp detour in a series penultimate episode — what’s shown is indisputably a reference to the ship. The USS Eldridge makes its big appearance when Loki and his motley crew of counterparts await a deviant’s entry into the void so the team can get a better look at Alioth. As soon as the ship drops, Alioth makes their move, and attacks the crew members, horrifying and completely disintegrating them. Whether or not the ship was pruned or perhaps the military accidentally created their own version of a TemPad is left up for debate, but either way, it’s an interesting take on a pretty infamous event.

With only one episode left, we might be out of luck when it comes to seeing any more of these fun revisions, but with What If… only a few months out, we know it won’t be long until Marvel is back at it.