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physicsfox7 · 6 months

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You sly dog, you got me monologuing!

Why not?

So I've gotten back into FFXIV pretty hard since I tried it last year. A few friends really pushed me, and I'm enjoying it. Good story, good music. The combat still feels a little bit wonky, but I'm an old school FF player and this is my first MMORPG.

The best times are when my friends aren't busy and they can run dungeons with me, or we explore areas they've seen 100 times and as I explore this new place they tell me about it's history and memories they have of it.

The game is mindblowingly gorgeous. Every time I revisit Gridania and sneak back to my favorite perch at The Hawthorne Hut, I am entranced by the leaves flowing in the wind, the rain falling on a roof, or the ridiculous amount of stars shining in the night sky.

(I know, anyone who's played already knows this, sue me; I am sprout.)

A couple of weeks ago we ran the Alexander raids together, and it was an absolute joy to watch experts play and simultaneously nurture their adopted sprout. Yesterday we visited Ivalice, and I was able to fall in love with the FFT soundtrack all over again and see old friends.

The community has been extremely kind. When my friends are busy, or trying to find some peace for themselves (or hitting the new expansion hard!) and I am left to my own devices, I have come across almost universal support. New job class and running a dungeon for the first time? They'll give you tips, let you run at your own pace, and when you screw up? They pick you up, dust you off, and encourage you to try again.

An unintentional side effect of immersing myself in another FF universe is RP. And no, not ERP. Although that exists, I have not had an opportunity to explore it. (I'm 100x more shy in a video game than on Tumblr, go figure)

We go to a quiet bar, torment ourselves with exotic food that we don't get to eat and drinks that sound terrifying or delectable. Sometimes both. And we talk. We talk to each other, as our characters. Intricate backstories that span a whole game and four expansions, almost 1000 primary quests. These folks have spent years perfecting their characters story.

Now, I had no concept of how in depth this was when I walked into that bar. A simple question about where you're from can spawn conversations that run for hours, with everyone having an opinion on the country you're from. Just don't be Garlean. My first night, I was asked what I do for a living. I said adventurer, because that's a fairly typical answer. I was immediately swept under their wing, to be given tips on how to clear Copperbell more efficiently, what weapon I should be carrying, where to find the cheapest gear that will protect you and look good.

My god, the clothes in this game. Hundreds of articles for each portion of the body. There's a whole website dedicated to picking out the perfect outfit for your gunslinger or white mage.

The best trick? Have loving friends who send you the really sick Converse/Vans, despite your protests. When you push them for why? Because I wanted them. (For reference, decent boots run 30k gil on the market board, the Converse/Vans run 750k because the materials are hard to come by. Needless to say, I have run the last 28 levels wearing orange sneakers, and I look fucking good doing it.

So back to the RP, the original point of this post. Last week, I was sitting in the bar talking about places I wanted to visit (in character, I have already been there for the quests). Mor Dhona was mentioned, as it's the site of on of the most pivotal moments in the story: The Calamity.

When it was recommended to me, my character pulled out a worn leather journal and wrote it down. An innocuous but important detail, to make the immersion feel deeper. The journal was passed around, returned to me, and eventually put away. Not even a physical thing, it spurned a long conversation about the adventurer's life, and the trials they undergo.

Then, my brain said something to me a couple of days ago. What if the journal was real? Tangible, physical, something detailing my characters adventures as that happen, stuffed with "drawings" (my character can draw, I cannot. At all. I have an ink jet printer and an app that converts jpegs into very convincing sketches) and souvenirs from his adventure's?

Sounds a bit silly, but it would be an easy way for me to track the details of conversations, and giving me a little arts and crafts project, as a treat.

So I did it. I bought a (frankly overpriced) leather journal with a compass rose sewn onto the cover with black thread. Beautiful sturdy leather and crisp cream pages.

Then I set about bringing it half way to destroyed. A leather journal carried in the field, through the rain and rivers, into combat, through the snow and up mountains does not stay immaculate for long. My character has had the journal for about 4 months, so I needed to beat it up and give myself a head start. Scuff the leather, soften the edges, curl the whole thing so it never sits flat. Drip a little bit of sealing wax on the cover, put small punctures into the back and knicks out of the corners.

The pages? Some got the tea treatment, to try to age them. No dice, this damn modern paper is resistant to stains. Water stains are forthcoming, but I am an impatient being and already started writing in it. Then a revelation came to me.

I am an absolutely massive fan of FFVIII. Obsessed with it. I know the names of every song in the OST and where each song is used, I have the Lionheart necklace and ring, I have beaten Omega on multiple occasions for fun. Anyone who knows me know I am an FFVIII nerd, and I ain't sorry.

So when I was designing my character last year, the face has scar options. Well, what better choice than Squall's scar? I'll have some of that I said.

Well, my character is from a small, relatively peaceful fishing village. Where the hell did he get that ridiculous scar?! The first job he took, of course! But alas, he was carrying his journal with him when he was injured, and it seems it soaked up quite a bit of blood. Some recommended beet juice. I tried raspberry tea, cherry juice, pomegranate concentrate. Nothing. Oddly, the tea dyed the test page blue.

What time of the year is it? Halloween of course! So we buy some fake blood and I'll be damned if it doesn't look like the real thing. It stains the pages, and the rough parts of the leather.

Now, just 4 or 5 days later, it has a leaf from Gridania from the day my character arrived there, drawings of the aetheryte station, some of the people he's met along the way and some of the more impressive geographic features (the ones that coincidentally took my breath away), and even a Triple Triad card. There are plans to visit the Sea of Clouds and meet the Vanu Vanu, so we'll be tucking a feather into the pages. So many other things await.

This has become a (probably for you, dear reader, painfully) long post about my current autistic obsession. I am particularly proud of this journal. While I was inspired by another persons comment, the execution was all mine. So, having gotten to the bottom of this essay, either by scrolling or reading, I have but one question: Do you wanna see the journal?

edit: it will literally only take one person saying yes.

#ffxiv #ffxiv rp #final fantasy #no spoilers #cosplay prop??#arts and crafts #self promotion #i can't help it im obsessed and i wanna share and i love my friends so much for being so supportive and now youre stuck with me #just scrolled back and damn this is long #loooooong posting #im half sorry if you read through this #but seriously #wanna see the journal?

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misosuper · 2 months

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So given from the looks of it you’ve read the Talon comic quite in depth;

Say you work at DC Comics (May God have mercy on your soul but I digress) and were granted a good hefty amount of creative control with one particular assignment:

Brining Back Calvin Rose, Casey Washington and her daughter or at least having the reappear in any ongoing book of your choosing before they can get their own book once again should sales work great

Basically, what would you do if you’re writing a Talon book?

If ever found myself in that position, I don't need God's mercy nearly as much as some of the folks at DC if I cross paths with them. Assuming I successfully hold myself back from getting a restraining order against several members of the DC staff and focus on the project at hand:

Casey is the focal point for any meaningful interaction with current comics. By the end of Talon, Casey's group is continuing its former work but with significantly more funding. She's also had her civilian identity restored, along with her position as CEO of Securitus. She already has a team with plenty of personal history with different villains and organizations. That gives a lot of flexibility in how we could bring Talon into Dawn of DC.

One straightforward, easy answer for an ongoing series to reintroduce the Talon characters would be Detective Comics. Casey's team could reasonably collaborate with the usual 'tec cast by bringing their own strike team or intelligence to a case.

The other ongoing comic that comes to mind would be Birds of Prey. Dinah headhunting Casey for her expertise would be a cool way to see her reintroduced without bringing in the rest of her crew. I'd very happily settle for a good short-term cameo of Casey in BoP, maybe one that introduces a hero name for her now that she once again has a civilian identity to protect. Since this ask gave me creative control, I do what I want, and I'm giving Casey the codename Firewall.

But the true dream for reintroducing the Talon cast to an ongoing title, without question, would be the current Outsiders series. Casey already has a strong rapport with Lucius Fox, and in her role as CEO of a tech company with very strong ties to WE, Casey establishing a rapport with Luke in turn would be very reasonable based on her tech skills and professional role.

Just read the blurb for the current Outsiders comic and you will understand my vision:

What better way to compliment the goal of digging into the fictional "forgotten corners" of DC than to bring in characters from past titles? The goals of Luke's organization form an interesting venn diagram with the goals of Casey's. This gives us peak synergy, but with a supernatural twist that would be SO fun to see Casey and Calvin navigate. Anya and Joey would kick ass in this comic. I cannot imagine a more perfect way for Talon characters to re-enter canon than Outsiders, which is something I'd never have considered without this ask, so thank you for my new favorite brainworm. I'm going to be thinking about this forever.

Now onto the goal of a whole new Talon story. Sketching out what that would look like is far above my paygrade and ability level, so all I'm gonna do is outline my selfish wish list:

I'd love to see the end of Talon retconned. I gotta be honest, I think using the Lazarus Pits to perform Turbo Resurrection on Calvin was pretty cheap, and also undermines some of the most compelling and central aspects of his character explored in Talon Vol 2. Now that they've dealt with the Court, how does Calvin navigate freedom when so much of what he is and knows was shaped by their abuse? Now that he doesn't have to run away, what's he going to run toward? I want to see him wrestle with these questions, and a whole new Talon book can explore them in the ways the trite happy ending to the original series couldn't.

Now that the retcon is out of the way, I want this new book to explore Sarah more as a character as she ages - we ended Talon with a recovering but deeply traumatized kid. I was shocked that Talon had ZERO acknowledgement of the parallel that Calvin understands what being a kid brainwashed by the Court of Owls feels like, albeit as a Talon and not groomed to be an Owl. I want to see him help Sarah as she processes what she went through! There was a deeply bad scene at the end of Talon where Sarah was triggered by seeing Calvin in uniform, and Calvin was like "huh wild :)" without ANY meaningful connection and I am still wallowing in the missed opportunities there.

As this is quickly becoming a novel-length daydream session, I'm going to cut myself off here. This was such a fun ask to think over, thank you :D

Tl;dr crossover between Talon and Dawn of DC Outsiders my beloved

#ask #into the soup #calvin rose #casey washington #sarah washington #talon #outsiders #dc #long post

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leqclerc · 2 years

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Let it be known that Carlos is not getting mistreated at Ferrari. Let it be known that Ferrari is trying to help Carlos. Carlos fans will need to hold that. He will never get the same amount of love that Charles gets. The harder they try to turn him into a victim the more frustrated they will feel. Genuine love and respect can't be measured, can't be bought and can't be compared. Affection is given freely. You can demand and scream out loud but it will never feel the same. Try as they might to push the tale of Carlos being more of a leader figure to Ferrari, the team feels down after races that Charles don't win (when he rightfully should've) because they feel like they have let him down. And that's the feeling that true leadership evokes.

This! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

The victimisation narrative just doesn't work on so many levels. I mean, for one, he's being treated on par with his more talented colleague, when any other team would've shifted the focus towards the actual title contender by enforcing a hierarchy. He's probably in the cushiest situation of out all the teammate pairings, especially considering the performance and talent gap. The team genuinely doesn't seem to care which driver is winning (in a title contending year), it's all the same to them, which should say enough about how they view them as equals. This is not the same situation as Toto pulling a visibly displeased face every time Valtteri outperformed Lewis, for example. Like that's just not happening. In fact, I don't think I recall Binotto criticising Carlos once this season. When he started off the year poorly everyone was supportive and we kept getting assurances about how it's just a hiccup and his performance will improve and he'll soon be back on the podium with Charles.

They openly celebrate his achievements, birthdays, and career milestones as a team. Even when Charles had a massive advantage and was Ferrari's best championship hope they refused to entertain the idea of assigning roles and using team orders - from April all the way through to August they've refused to do this.

When he’s struggling to adapt to the car, no problem, they just adapt the car to suit him instead. Because, you know, he’s treated so badly and they care so very little about him.

Whether he's likeable is a whole other can of worms. Where Charles is often mentioned as being kind, humble, down-to-earth, some of Carlos's statements have smacked of arrogance and entitlement, including this gem:

I'm not Italian, so I have no idea how Italian Tifosi feel about him, but like you said, leadership is something that's earned, not gifted. Charles is a FDA graduate, the first and so far only driver to complete the journey from academy to Ferrari seat. Some of the Ferrari employees have known him since he was a teenager. He's spent years with these people, he's been brought into the garage and tagged along on track walks before he even reached F1. They saw him grow into the person and driver he is today. That's huge.

More than that, he endured one of Ferrari's most difficult seasons in history (2020) and then another winless season in the midfield and stayed determined, motivated and optimistic, committed to bringing Ferrari back to the top where he feels they belong, never complained while drivers of his caliber and age (Max) were getting race and championship-winning cars. Ferrari knew they were underperforming so they kept morale up with the grand promise of making things right come 2022 ("we will have fun next year, you too, you'll see.") Expecting him to "be the leader" and shoulder all that responsibility during Ferrari's fallow years and then refusing to prioritise him and give back, in some way, a fraction of the effort he put in, is just cruel and unfair. They fired a four-time WDC, a man who is well-known for giving in-depth feedback, under the guise of not wanting two drivers with aspirations to be the lead driver within the team, only to suddenly insist they don't need team orders in a championship contending year and keep feeding Carlos's lofty ambitions. Which only further proves Seb's dismissal had nothing to do with Charles and everything to do with him being (rightfully) critical of the team/management which made him a liability in their eyes, but I digress. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's also very telling that people from the outside - commentators, rival TPs, other experts - see it the way we do. Charles is synonymous with Ferrari. He's still being referred to as a championship contender, despite being almost certainly out of the title fight. Horner, Wolff and countless others have spoken highly of Charles and empathised as he was getting screwed over by Ferrari. Max relished the idea of racing to the title against a worthy opponent and even RB felt Ferrari's clownery robbed them of an entertaining competition. From the beginning their eyes were on Charles, they saw him as their main rival, a real threat to Max's championship hopes. It's like everyone understands the goldmine Ferrari are sitting on...except Ferrari who take him for granted and refuse, for whatever reason, to officially grant him the status he has worked hard to earn.

#replies #anonymous #discussions and predictions #long post

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highfantasy-soul · 2 months

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NATLA - Episode 2: Warriors (2/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

An explanation of what I'm doing here and my history with ATLA.

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

Love love LOVE that they made the Kyoshi statue not only GIANT and made of stone (her native element) but also transformed it into a shrine to her. Feels so lived in and carefully crafted for her. Of course Sokka just walks right in, feeling no sense of 'hey maybe I shouldn't just barge into a temple' and EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! The introduction of the Kyoshi warriors was fantastic! All those women coming out in full regalia and handling the Gaang with ease - then the 'sign' that Aang was the Avatar. You can feel the reverence for Kyoshi in everything the people of the island do and I love how the leader's reasoning she finally gives for letting the Gaang stay is that Kyoshi herself benefited from the kindness of strangers - it really cements just how much of their lives they connect directly to their island's namesake (and creator). Speaking of, love that the island's leader is actually a woman this time, actually following through on the idea the animated version had of an island filled with strong warrior women.

Not going to lie, the few lines Suki has with her mother where she convinces her to allow the Avatar to stay does more to flesh out Suki's character than the entire episode in the animated series. Sue me, but you know I'm right. Animated Suki existed solely to teach Sokka that 'girls strong too' and that was it. She had no agency other than 'strong warrior' - no hopes, fears, wants, history. She existed to further the male character's development and it wasn’t until after the writers saw how much people liked her that they decided to bring her back in season 2 of the animated show. She was literally supposed to be a one off character. I've already posted about Suki and the changes made to her here, but to summarize, in the live-action, she gets to be her own character, not just a 'lesson' for Sokka. She has her own wants and desires, wishes and fears - as does her mother. These female characters are given depth and their struggles make sense in the world.

Aang's beautiful belief in humanity and wanting to 'bring back the world he knew where people were happy' is so heartwarming and I can't believe anyone would deny him anything, but it makes sense that the people of the island would be hesitant to welcome him in. After all, they don't know him or why he's been gone 100 years and everyone is right - he brings trouble with him wherever he goes because of his status as the Avatar. He also seeds a theme that comes around in full force in the finale - that Aang doesn't feel like he belongs here. He's truly a man out of time and feels untethered to the world - which leads him to be perfectly fine merging with the Ocean Spirit with no intention of surviving as himself. Through the season, we see Sokka and Katara building that tether between them and it pays off as Katara brings Aang back from the brink of no return by pulling on that tether they've created themselves

Sokka's whole epic fail of a flirtation while Aang and Katara just grin in the background was amazing. Him asking Katara for his lines: genius. I like this development for Sokka's character MUCH more than the animated storyline where the writers were beating over our heads SOKKA IS SEXIST GUYS! LOOK HOW SEXIST HE IS! DO YOU GET THAT HE'S SEXIST?? Having him want to connect with another warrior because he feels inadequate in his own ability to be a protector is a much better way to build up his character than a sexist storyline that's resolved in a single episode and never affects anything ever again. Feeling like a failure after having a massive amount of responsibility shoved on you as a child, all the while knowing that your father had reservations about your leadership skills, is a much much much more interesting and deep character trait to work through than 'ladies weak, can no fight, only man strong'.

In the live-action, he's still proud of being a warrior, but we see the cracks in this façade - he has issues with feeling inadequate that he tries to hide - issues that are much more interesting and far-reaching than just 'he doesn't think girls can fight and is an ass about it'.

I like this introduction of Zhao a lot - he's not just an obvious macho man who wants to seize power from Zuko, but rather he's much more sneaky and knows how to use the resources at his disposal. Zuko, of course, marches in and makes demands while Iroh smooths over ruffled feathers and brings tact to the information requests while Zuko stalks off, annoyed. It's a great way to set up his eventual maturity and us understanding why he's always posturing in front of other fire nation soldiers - like Sokka, he's struggling with feelings of inadequacy because he isn't everything his father expected him to be, and so he's over compensating. Something I also appreciate with this iteration of Iroh is that I never felt like he was doing an impression of Mako - he made the character his own, there was a different energy with him which did give me pause on my first watch but I do appreciate that he brought his own spin to the character and I think it's a perfectly acceptable change - something I'll touch on in future episodes when we start dealing with the more serious aspects of Iroh like his being a brutal military leader.

A big complaint I've seen is that the Gaang didn't get a lot of time to just goof around and be kids, but I felt that there were moments of levity and fun in almost every episode, especially in the first ones. Aang and Katara playing in the water on Kyoshi island, Aang playing with the kids in town (and doing his classic air scooter into the statue), and I'll mention the moments in later episodes too. While it's not a WHOLE lot of goofy fun times, I still felt Aang's optimism and belief in the goodness of people through the whole show like his conversation with the leader of Kyoshi Island. The animated show had the beginning of every episode to devote to a little scene of everyone having down time and enjoying life, but the live-action couldn't follow that same structure. Plus a lot of the 'fun times' are quite slapstick and can't translate to live-action especially since the animated version, at least in season 1, wanted to keep the extremely child-friendly vibes where no one is ever in any real danger despite the wildly dangerous things that are happening to them. Again, that can work in a cartoon where you know if the Unagi tail-slaps Aang, he'll be fine, but in live-action, that doesn't work so well and can muddy the waters when characters really ARE in danger.

Totally get why they avoided the Koi riding and Unagi storyline too - 1) it's just a massive detour that cuts the flow of the story when you only have 8 episodes to work with and 2) they're already having to juggle tons of sets, flying, and stunts - they don’t need to add a pool set and all the safety issues swimming while filming adds - not to mention the CGI for the Koi and Unagi. I know a big character moment for Aang was going back and using the Unagi to put out the fires in the village - showing that he's taking steps to not run away anymore and even if it's just one town, he was going to do what he could to help. The live-action moved this character beat to Omashu when Aang sees the damage the bombings are having on the city and decides to stay and help instead of moving on - so same character beat, but just in a different place that allows the story to flow more smoothly with what they have (and the lesson they're exploring for each episode)

#natla #netflix atla #avatar the last airbender #netflix avatar #natla spoilers

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nightmarewing · 8 months

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For the latest ask game, if you'd like: Puppyshipping 2 + 9, and Mokuba 7 if you'd like. Thank you! ILU

Thank you for the ask. :D ILU too.

Puppyshipping:

2. ...why I do or don't ship them. It started with childhood obsession with interest in the characters individually, and I still really love both of them. I don't know if they're my favorites, as I'm attached to so many YGO characters now, but I do still spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about them.

Ultimately, I've always enjoyed shipping rivals, characters who rub each other the wrong way, and ones with diametrically opposed themes/backgrounds. They're not the actual rivals in YGO, nor do they even interact all that much in the grand scheme of things, but it's always interesting when they do. There's a palpable contrast in their histories and their living situations and their ideals, and that's fun to play with. Lots of room for interesting conflicts.

I also feel like Jounouchi is exactly the right kind of stubborn, temperamental, aggressively affectionate fool to be able to get under Kaiba's skin, given enough time and exposure. That it's difficult only makes him more persistent. He wants to be acknowledged. And I also think, generally speaking, it's good for Kaiba to be wrested out of his own head sometimes. Even at his most irritated, Jounouchi has always cared about Kaiba to some degree. The same is... not true in reverse, lol.

BUT even this scene is really interesting to me, because this is a point that Kaiba acknowledges Jounouchi: when he thinks he died in the pursuit of victory. He disparages him for loss and weakness in the same breath, but Kaiba really and truly believes there's merit in sacrificing yourself for victory and dying if you can't achieve it. Which is why the perspective of Atem and Jounouchi is so fun to confront him with: losing isn't shameful, and strength comes from doing your best and picking yourself up again no matter what happens. The fight, the journey, matters as much as the outcome.

Nobody represents that better than Jounouchi, and it's so much fun to butt up against Kaiba's issues. Jounouchi won't just lay down! He doesn't even have the grace to stay dead when he dies. Jounouchi doesn't care who he loses to or how many times he loses. For Kaiba, that existence would be crushingly shameful, but Jounouchi is fine. He's resilient. He learns from his defeats and (at least according to the text of the series... we won't talk about the idiot ball) gets better at dueling all the time. He's proud of becoming the third best duelist in the world. That's gotta be so irritating from Kaiba's perspective, if he would give it more than half a moment of thought at a time.

... I didn't know if I honestly had that much to say about them that I hadn't said already, but there you go, lol.

9. ...what my ideal endgame for them is.

Hmm, ideal is hard to consider since I'm into exploring them from a lot of different angles with a lot of different conclusions, but I am a sucker for them getting over themselves enough to grow into a comfortable, stable relationship in which they can maybe grow old together. I think they really could be good for each other if they'd slow down and let themselves be vulnerable and not make every conflict the end of the world. Big ifs, lol. I can't even begin to envision them having this kind of relationship until considerably after canon, when they've matured a little and had some distance from everything that happened (and probably from each other as well).

But I like it. I want Kaiba to soften his edges and process his trauma enough to get by without feeling like he has to put himself on the line all the time to be worthy of anyone's time, and I want Jounouchi to get the same kind of recognition and affection he gives so freely without feeling like he has to prove himself all the time either.

Mokuba:

7. ...the scene that I think adds depth to their character or the relationship this character has with someone.

Ahh, this is harder for me because what I've read of the manga is kind of scattered, and I think Mokuba probably is a deeper and more interesting character in the manga. Need to fix that sometime.

But as far as the anime goes, I love how anytime Mokuba is given a little bit of responsibility or authority, he gets so excited, like... it's childlike in a weird way. His circumstances kind of force him to be more mature and responsible in general than any kid that age should have to be, but he still really wants to help and blow his whistle at BC and be baby vice president and wear his DSoD suit and tie. He guesses he can get you a dueling booth at Kaiba Land under the table because, you know, he has connections.

There's just something about the enthusiasm he handles this kind of thing with which serves to point out that he's just a kid who wants his brother's approval, a kid playing at being a bigshot. It's also sad, because he really is stuck being one, dealing with Kaiba's behavior/handling things in his absence, and we can see how Mokuba reacts to even the slightest, most occasional bit of praise for it. Good stuff.

Questions here.

#thank you again!#ask memes

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aratakuki · 2 years

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𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑'𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐘.

shinobu lost her parents almost a millennia // back some odd 637 years ago, making this celebratory holiday a pain. her mother wasn't the best paternal figure she had as her father made up for most of where a parent figure should fill in or take the lead. kuki's mother had always pressured her to pursue proper etiquette, to act more her 'gender'. clearly that never smoothed over well.

in the past, kuki had always blatantly ignored the holiday as it was a stark reminder of her rough raising. nowadays it's a dreaded memory surging back from the depths; a contrast to how she normally celebrates holidays with a small amount of spirited cheer. if it weren't for the fact she's a member of the arataki gang, shinobu would seal herself away in a dark, damp cavern for the day to meditate and get her mind off of old history.

you can blame itto for getting her into the habit of being a functioning member of society during mother's day. instead, she's patrolling the streets, thanking village elders for their wisdom and all the years they've spent raising the youth of inazuma. onibaba is given a proper dinner shinobu makes herself as thanks for caring for itto and helping him come to be who he is now. each member of the gang is then gifted a charm of blessed luck. though her horns may not be long and full, they do grow; so as a charm, she takes what flakes off from shattered tips and endows them with a blessing of self. her bushin allow her to cycle chakra into the jade shard and bestow an aura of self preservation.

on a person, this charm acts as a protective seal. it will tamper with someone's mental state in a dangerous situation, activating their flight response as a means to save one's hide. it's essentially a reminder that you matter, and that you can't go running headfirst into something that could get you killed.

#HEADCANONS.

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bamfdaddio · 3 years

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Uncanny X-Men Abridged: 1982: Fairytales & Nightmares Edition

The X-Men, those fantastical mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. We’ve been untangling that history for a while, but sometimes, you really want a more in-depth look. Interested? Then read the (un)Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 153 & 160) - by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum, Josef Rubinstein, Bob Wiacek, Brent Anderson

I love how every character gets hit with a good dose of magical fairy dust except for Wolverine and Nightcrawler, who get turned into the Tasmanian Devil and a horny smurf, respectively

1982 is a pretty arc-based year. Most of it is dedicated to space operas, the Brood and Shi’ar politics (yawn), but there are a few outliers. Most notable of these two exceptions are issue 153 - Kitty’s fairytale - and issue 160, the introduction of Limbo. I’ve chosen to highlight these two issues because they are fun, fascinating and, moreover, they are sort of dark mirrors of one another.

Both feature Illyana as a catalyst for the action; both of them feature someone spinning her a little fairytale..

Both feature alternate takes on X-Men: one high fairytale, the other grimdark.

Both are standalone issues that barely feature into the main Shi’ar-plot of 1982 -- seriously, you can take them out without disrupting any narratives -- while still introducing plot points that would become a part of the X-Men mythos. (The Lockheed dragon; the bamf and, most importantly, the introduction of Illyana as Magik.)

It’s funny how the Brood saga takes up almost 80% of the narrative space this year, whereas the whole Limbo/Belasco/Illyana-thing is almost a throwaway plot that is arguably more iconic for the X-Men currently than the Brood are.

Anyway, context. The mansion is in shambles after the attack on the Hellfire Club. Illyana hasn’t returned home after being kidnapped by Arcade -- perhaps to give Colossus a little relief of his homesickness. Illyana then tempts fate:

Take note of that stuffed Fozzi toy, wocka wocka!

Illyana prefers Kitty to tell the story, and I get it. Colossus is a sweetheart, but the dude’s not exactly light of heart. Piotr would probably tell something dreary and fatalistic about three old sisters in a decaying orchard, while Kitty is a lot more fun.

Claremont shows that he is familiar with the workings of the teenage mind, because when faced with the challenge to tell a story, she does the same thing I did when I was thirteen: she goes for a self insert. And she incidentally writes in the boy she has a crush on as her boyfriend.

Look, all I’m saying, we’ve all been there, right?

Anyway, Kitty’s fairytale. Kitty is a pirate, Peter is her shipmate and they stumble upon a quest when ruffians accost a blind prince -- Scott -- and a wizard on his own personal flying carpet -- Xavier. They help out and get roped into the prince’s quest to save his princess from an evil corrupting influence. Sound familiar?

In true Final Fantasy-fashion, all the other party members are introduced one by one. Kitty calls upon a dragon called Lockheed she befriended while Piotr saves a weather goddess trapped in a bottle by the cursed princess. Best highlights, however, are Kitty’s versions of Kurt and Wolverine.

Way of X, I love you, but take note. Kurt was never meant to be puritan.

One of the best parts of this issue is the reaction shots of the other X-Men who listen in to Kitty’s tale. Most of their alternative versions fit stock fairytale characters, although Bamf is more a Disney sidekick than anything else. Wolverine is straight up a Looney Tune though:

At some point, someone looked at this character design and first thought of Sabretooth, right?

The kicker of all of this Kitty wasn´t actually there for the Phoenix Saga: she only met Jean once, briefly, when Jean saved her and the other X-Men from Emma. Kitty never met Dark Phoenix, she only ever heard the details secondhand. Still, she gets it mostly right: prince Scott and princess Jean are star-crossed lovers until Jean is cursed by a corrupting force. As Dark Phoenix, she is hellbent on stopping wizard Xavier and the prince in their tracks, lest they lift the curse by confronting her with her one weakness.

THE HUMANITY

Xavier uses Jean’s humanity to fight off the dark Phoenix and, in this particular universe, they succeed. Scott and Jean get the happy ending they didn’t get in the actual timeline: Kitty even cures his cursed eyebeams. It’s kind of funny that this is the only happy ending the X-Men will ever get during Claremont’s reign.

Speaking of a lack of happy endings, the dark counterpart of Kitty’s fairytale also starts with someone telling Illyana some sweet little lies:

I’m assuming that the whole Stranger Danger-campaign only got big after the eighties? Illyana has all the self preservation skills of a lemming.

Kitty notices that Illyana has vanished and is curious, following her. She steps on a strange light disk and vanishes.

As a slightly piquant aside, I was pleasantly surprised when reading this one digitally. I own a copy of this comic in Dutch (straight from the eighties) and apparently, they censored the version for the low lands. In a comic with creepy assaultey Nightcrawler and many, many, many naked Storms and Wolverines, this page was a bridge too far:

Look, maybe they weren’t entirely wrong. Last time three guys were bouncing around me and I invited them for a shower, I wasn’t entirely innocent either.

I was “also not welcome in that gym again” but that’s besides the point.

Who knows, maybe they just wanted to cut out the clunky exposition of storylines recent. In any case, the X-Men decide to investigate and they are also whisked away: those disks of light are apparently teleportation circles.

Also, can someone please tell Chris Claremont that German sometimes does have i before e?

They’re pulled into a pocket dimension where time and space are treated as guidelines rather than hard and fast rules. While Belasco taunts Kitty (and pulls her skeleton from her body to keep her from escaping), the other X-Men get separated, wandering about this utterly foreign dimension and encountering future/alternative versions of themselves.

I still love how alien this first version of Limbo is. The comic is titled ‘Shoots & Ladders’ and it’s exactly like that, except in creepy, never-ending tunnels and topsy-turvy, shadowy caverns.

Both Wolverine and Colossus are confronted by their dead selves, killed by S’ym, Belasco’s brutish lackey. The alternative Nightcrawler, meanwhile, has been perverted into a freaky little toady who has no qualms about touching Kitty inappropriately. (He's essentially the creepy, disturbing version of a Bamf.) Storm, meanwhile, is aided by an older, jaded version of herself. She’s also the one in charge of teleportation disks, which she uses to aid the X-Men:

Kitty’s casually waving skeleton always sends me

Storm is furious with what Belasco has wrought onto Kitty, her Mother Bear Instincts activating. She wants to give chase, but that’s when older!Storm intervenes. She warns Storm that this is a crossroads. In her variant universe, the X-Men chased after Belasco and it went badly for them: Wolverine and Colossus died, Nightcrawler turned evil and Storm became trapped in Limbo.

There’s no word of what happened to their Kitty or Illyana, but I think that’s because Limbo does not play by any of our regular rules. See, if Belasco wanted Illyana, wouldn't he have one now? But he doesn’t. So maybe Limbo is the Schrödinger’s place, where the X-Men both did and didn’t chase Belasco. Because if they didn’t give chase, they wouldn’t have the older Storm to tell them they shouldn’t give chase, which they end up not doing. But if they don't, there wouldn't be a Storm to warn them from not going, so they would. But they wouldn't.

Got that?

Just when older!Storm prepares to send them home, Belasco returns with an army of demons.

See? I told you that paying attention to that Fozzi-toy would pay off! (Wocka wocka)

And it ends there, with Illyana rescued from her nightmare, but with the promise of more darkness in her future.

I love how Chris Claremont takes a soap opera trope -- aging up a child in the shortest amount of time possible to an age where there’s more to do with them narratively -- and makes it fit into his crazy X-Universe.

And that’s it. Two relatively pared down stories where the normal rules of reality take a backseat: one to lift Illyana’s spirits, one to break her beyond belief. In a year that’s defined by space opera, these two stories have always stuck out to me, simply because of the way they break the mold of the X-Universe. More importantly, they've given us Magik. And Bamf!

Next up: Brood, Brood, Brood, and Shi'ar.

#x-men #uncanny x-men #x-men abridged #abridged x-men #magik #colossus #storm #nightcrawler #wolverine #professor x #phoenix #cyclops #kitty pryde #sprite #limbo #belasco #s'ym #lockheed

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malexfan10 · 5 years

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Malex thoughts

I was watching some old episodes of Dawson's Creek and it made me want to get some thoughts out. I watched a lot of TV shows growing up. For me, the couples I liked were either ones I casually rooted for or on the rare occasion, a couple took me by such surprise that I became extremely emotionally invested. Malex is the latter.

I've been a fan of Captain Swan (OUAT), Stydia (Teen Wolf), Kurt & Blaine (Glee), Buffy & Angel and lots more. The rare pairings I've been completely lost on, I can name on one hand. Pacey & Joey (my first OTP), Chandler & Monica and Malex. I'd say Destiel on Supernatural too but with them, everything is subtext. I don't think the writers will have the guts to go there, not even with the show ending.

With PJ, I love how they started as antagonists, became really great friends, and then fell in love. For me, PJ vs DJ was incomparable. DJ brought out the worst in each other (my opinion) while PJ showed each other what love was supposed to be. The only thing I hated about DC was the constant back & forth between the two pairings. It lasted until the final moment when you realized PJ was endgame (one of my fears for Malex). I hated that but I was a kid so it didn't bother me as much as it would now.

I loved Chandler & Monica because they started out as friends who fell in love, got married and had all the moments in between before adopting a set of twins. I loved their story because it showed their entire journey. True, the show was a comedy but their story didn't end in season 5 when they started dating. Their story just began.

It's hard understanding writers who feel that only the journey matters. Of course it does. The journey is important. It's what makes you root for a couple but the destination and what happens after is important too. It makes you continue rooting for them, seeing all that angst and pain amounting to something substantial in the end.

So as much as I loved PJ, the fact that they kept us guessing until the last 5 minutes before we realized who she chose was too much. The long, drawn out, multi-season, will they/won't they storytelling style is one I'll never be a fan of.

Which leads me to Malex.

They were two broken boys, both brought up under horrible circumstances, who found the missing piece of themselves in each other. When Alex gave Michael a warm and safe place to stay, it was probably the first act of true kindness Michael had ever experienced and it was made by a boy whose pain and suffering mirrored his own. How incredibly heartbreaking but beautiful is that? That initial bond, that "cosmic" connection stood the test of time. Separated for 10 years and it felt like no time had passed at all.

That first moment in the pilot episode outside his Airstream, you could feel the tension. I remember reading interpretations of that scene. People thought Malex were cold and angry with one another "probably over a girl". Are you kidding me? That tension could only be romantic. But that first kiss at the reunion was when I hopped on the Malex Forever train. One stop only. Endgame.

They set them up so amazingly in the first three episodes. The angst was there but you could also feel the deep love between them. They weren't shown as two guys who had a fling back in high school and then crossed paths again 10 years later, said what the hell and hooked up again. No, they were shown as soulmates. Their level of connection even scared and confused them but they both knew it existed. Their love was pure and true and rare.

With all their history and with so many odds already stacked against them, the writers deciding to throw in a triangle just because they could and doing it in such a rushed and messy way really made me scratch my head.

Carina said she loved the triangle on DC. I honestly think she was the only one. That show was incredibly divided, DJ vs PJ. But as much as I hated the constant back and forth, I'll give the DC writers some credit. Joey's feelings for both were fully touched on. I saw her romantic feelings for Pacey more profound and her feelings for Dawson as true friendship (just my opinion), but both sides were shown in depth.

The problem with Roswell? Where did those feelings come from between M&M? They shared a moment when Maria cried and I took that as the start of a wonderful friendship. I was obviously wrong. They hooked up in the desert. OK I hated it but they were two single people and Maria didn't know about Alex so I accepted. All of a sudden, the feelings were real and Maria was conflicted because of how strong her feelings were. Michael chose to be with Maria because he needed something fresh and new and according to the wonderful Vlamis, someone he also had strong feelings for (still hate that last interview LOL).

I understand where Michael was coming from a little better, as much as I hate it and hate how he went about it by leaving Alex just waiting. He'd been through so much trauma and Max and Isobel kept telling him to stop looking to the past (which, really Max? If someone told you that about Liz, would you listen?? But he died so he gets a pass). But as far as Maria's feelings are concerned, I feel like I missed something.

Between episodes 9 and 10, did the M&M feelings bloom overnight from flirty banter to crush to "OMG this is love"? Was their moment in the desert that mind-blowing that the weirdness of episode 11 happened? I don't get it.

The one thing going against M&M is that Malex is overwhelmingly loved and has been embraced by fans and critics alike.

One critic said it best when they reviewed the finale (Vulture).

"I was intrigued by the possibility of Michael/Maria at first, but the love triangle has been so rushed — with so little time spent on Maria’s developing feelings for Michael — that it’s ended up just making her look terrible. We know from Maria’s conversation with Liz that she hasn’t even spoken to Alex about the situation because she feels too guilty, and so having her accept Michael with open arms is such an odd note. Sure, she doesn’t know Alex is waiting for Michael right at the same moment, but she��does know that he’s been in love with Michael for a decade."

And therein lies the problem. A lifelong friendship ruined over a guy (unless Carina makes Alex give his blessing next season which would really make me scream) to push forward a pairing that had little development and makes Maria look bad. One side of the triangle is Michael's soulmate and the other side is the friend with sudden feelings. Not the best character development which is sad because we know how awesome Maria can be and as mad as I am with her, her character that I enjoyed until episode 10 and the actress deserve better. But instead of being original, the writers chose the path always taken. They chose to use her as the odd end of a triangle where, unless they want everyone to hate the show, she will likely be the one forced out so Malex can eventually reunite and for what? Drama?

Season 1 started out really strong and it still had a lot of strong moments in the latter episodes (end scene of episode 9 between Malex, Liz & Jenna being kickass in episode 11, all of episode 12 - my fave of the season, Kyle's confrontation with Jesse etc).

But honestly, I feel like the inclusion of this triangle (amongst other reveals like Noah as the 4th alien) somewhat brought the story down. The writing for M&M felt OOC and was messily done.

Only in recent years have LGBT pairings started becoming more mainstream, given better development and importance in the overall story. With Malex, they have the potential of making Michael and Alex one of the greatest love stories on TV. As much as I love the show, I'm not saying Roswell is on the same level as Breaking Bad or The Sopranos etc. But from all the pairings on the show, Malex is the most profound and has the potential to go down as one of the best on TV. To overcome everything they've been through and still choose each other and their love would be the ultimate happy ending because unlike most male/female pairings that go through mostly regular angst, being two males in a small town, Malex have a whole other level of obstacles to face. That doesn't even include their personal history, the fact that Michael is an alien or that Alex's father is the cause of so much pain between them. Or the fact that Alex is a disabled war veteran. I mean, there is so much amazing points to their story. They are the OTP of OTPs.

But so far, it feels like the triangle is the only major roadblock the writers want to concentrate on and that's the biggest mistake of all.

Season 2 hasn't aired yet. We don't know how little (🤞) or how long (😢) M&M will last. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes and hope that Twitter Carina is not the same as Season 2 showrunner Carina.

But for me, Malex will always be each other's endgame. That's what I saw in the first 3 episodes. That's what I saw in the flashbacks. That's what I saw in Caulfield. Try and convince me differently, show. You'll fail.

❤

#malex #roswell new mexico #roswell nm #roswell alex and michael #alex manes #michael guerin #my thoughts on OTP's

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thefastf1 · 5 years

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Red Bull: The Gasly situation and the state of the Junior Team

As of right now, in the days following a tremendously entertaining Austrian GP that saw Red Bull's Max Verstappen emerge victorious after a nail biting wheel-to-wheel battle with Charles Leclerc, it would be fair to say that Aston Martin Red Bull Racing are in a relatively good position. Although they've won just once this season compared to the three races they had won by this stage last season, we have to take into account the renewed dominance that the Mercedes machine has enjoyed over the field thus far in 2019. When you add to this the fact that Red Bull have managed to claim their first GP win of the year before Ferrari, it paints the picture that Red Bull have (at least on Verstappen's part) maximised opportunities in a very good car and can be looking forward to the rest of the season with quiet optimism.

So, all seems well at Red Bull, despite the admission by Christian Horner that, "the reality is, we don't fully understand why [the car was so fast in Austria]". So, too, at Toro Rosso, with drivers Alex Albon and Daniil both delivering solid performances in a car that is probably no better or worse than anybody expected from the Faenza based team. However, scratch a bit deeper beneath the surface at Red Bull and even a quick glance at the state of affairs at the Red Bull Junior Team suggests there is major upheaval currently ongoing, with even more possible should the current plight of Pierre Gasly continue and incur another game of Red Bull based musical chairs. Essentially, it is absolutely vital that Gasly shows his true potential and starts getting closer to Verstappen, for the consequences should he fail to do so may be more widespread than it appears on the surface.

Of course, this is not to belittle or criticise the drivers currently in the programme in any way. Merely that Red Bull's handling and release of certain drivers (Brendon Hartley and the recently departed Dan Ticktum as notable examples) has been questionable to say the least, whilst many of the youngsters currently within the scheme are simply not yet ready for Formula 1. Whilst, in theory, this was probably a scenario that made sense to Red Bull chiefs at the start of 2019, there's one major factor that has changed it all and that is Gasly's aforementioned struggles at Red Bull. It can't have crossed their mind that Gasly may have needed replacing so soon, for he is a driver that had achieved phenomenal success in the junior formulae with Red Bull backing and was always destined for their F1 team. It would have been unreasonable for anyone to expect Pierre to enter a front running car and immediately be on pace with a man like Verstappen, who is simply exceptional. However, the level of disparity between the pair has been simply too much, a fact no better illustrated by Verstappen scything through the front runners in Austria to take victory whilst Gasly finished down in 7th and even suffered the indignity of being lapped by his team-mate. Whilst it may seem grossly unfair to even consider disgarding Gasly so soon, the reality is that Red Bull do have a long history of harshly and briskly disposing of very skilled drivers. If Gasly doesn't step up his performances soon, he will be replaced by Albon or Kvyat by the time the season is over, which may create big problems further down the chain if Gasly leaves the Red Bull set up completely, which would of course be possible.

As we all know, Red Bull are extremely reluctant to hire drivers for either Red Bull Racing or Toro Rosso, who have been sourced from outside their own driver programme. It hasn't happened since they signed Mark Webber before the 2007 season and therefore it's reasonable to make the assumption that should Albon or Kvyat replace Gasly at Red Bull and create a driver vacancy at Toro Rosso, that seat would go to somebody already within the Red Bull Junior Team and that the likes of Ocon, Sirotkin, Vandoorne, Fuoco, Latifi and other suitable drivers with current affiliations to other F1 teams would be excluded from consideration. With that assumption in mind, who do Red Bull have to choose from?

Long regarded as the best young driver academy in the game, the system that has given us Vettel, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Buemi, Vergne, Kvyat and a whole host of other seriously talented F1 drivers is currently at a point where none of its members are ready to step up to F1 yet.

At the moment, there are 9 drivers in the Red Bull Junior Team, which sounds like quite a lot, but the number of those ready for F1 or even close to that level is far lower. British prospect Harry Thompson is still in karting, whilst Dennis Hauger and Jonny Edgar only currently compete at Formula 4 level. Little known Aussie Jack Doohan is currently having a steady season in the Euroformula Open Championship and indeed is being beaten in that series by two other members of the academy in Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda. At 17 and 19 respectively, both of these guys are competing in the FIA F3 Championship along with the EOC in 2019 and definitely look like ones to watch for the future, however are very inexperienced and do not have anywhere near the required amount of FIA Superlicense points to enter F1 yet. This leaves 3 of the 9 junior drivers in their roster that we can logically assume Red Bull will be assessing for a potential seat at Toro Rosso in the near future; Juri Vips, Patricio O'Ward and Lucas Auer.

All three men are drastically different, yet all intriguing prospects in their own way whilst still not quite ready for F1, although what separates these three from the rest is that a few more months could be all it takes for them to be ready, as opposed to a few years. Vips, an 18 year old from Estonia, won ADAC Formula 4 in 2017 and has made his debut in the FIA F3 Championship this season, showing no signs of being out of his depth at all and has proven quite the opposite, having already taken a victory and is currently sitting nicely in 3rd place overall after 6 races. He looks seriously rapid, however will need to keep up his form in order for Red Bull to consider him an option, but due to the lack of many Red Bull affiliated drivers in the levels close to F1, he has to be considered in the frame for any future race seat at Toro Rosso. Patricio O'Ward of Mexico was a very surprising signing, having only joined the Red Bull Junior Team in May this year after some eye catching performances stateside over in IndyCar. It's very unusual for any F1 teams really to look at drivers in the American market these days, however O'Ward seems an astute acquisition, the former Indy Lights Champion looking set to make waves in IndyCar this year before budgetary issues clouded the picture. Now, having already made his debut in F2 and being set to replace Dan Ticktum in the Super Formula series for the rest of the year, O'Ward has the perfect stage to continue his single seater career and if he gets to grips with these cars like he managed to in America, he'll be a real talent and somebody who Red Bull will seriously consider taking a chance on in F1.

The one Red Bull Junior Team member that hasn't already been summarised sticks out even further than O'Ward, for two main reasons. One of those is that, at 24 years old, he's older than any driver already competing for either Red Bull Racing or Toro Rosso in F1. The other is that he's spent the last 4 seasons driving in DTM, which, for those of you who aren't aware, is the German-based top level of Touring Car racing. The man in question, Lucas Auer is no ordinary Red Bull driver, but his blend of quality and experience may just have him very much in the conversation should a seat at Toro Rosso become available any time soon. Auer may have spent 4 years out of single seater machinery, with a best Championship finish in DTM of 6th, but he definitely still knows what to do when the car doesn't have a roof. Swiftly eradicating any fears that Auer might have lost the sort of form that allowed him to beat Antonio Giovinazzi and Felix Rosenqvist among others in F3 in 2014, he has come into Super Formula this year and picked up a podium already. The Austrian's experience in driving a wide range of cars appears to have been invaluable for him, and could serve him very well as it may hint to Toro Rosso that he'd be a great guy to have in the team, especially for giving feedback to younger team mates to aid their understanding of the car. All he needs now is to continue proving his ability in Super Formula, build on the podium he's already earned and not let his form slip, and if Auer can do that then the F1 world could gravitate towards him.

However, this is all a tiny bit premature. Of course, there's no doubt that behind the scenes, Red Bull will have been having this very discussion internally, trying to decide which of their youngsters are ready for promotion in the case of Gasly's sudden departure. However, I'm not wishing for Gasly to leave and surely neither must Red Bull be, as for so many years he was touted as a future World Champion with unlimited potential. That sort of ability doesn't just go away, but for Pierre's sake I really do hope he is able to address the issues that are currently leaving him so far adrift of Max Verstappen both at qualifying sessions and on race days. Because if he doesn't, the speculation of this article and many others will cease to be speculation and will become part of a real life conversation about the future of Red Bull Racing. And that is something that neither Gasly or Red Bull itself wants.

Red Bull cannot afford to have a driver in one of its cars consistently putting in sub par performances, however that blip may be temporary and they'd be kicking themselves if Gasly went on to flourish elsewhere afterwards. When considering this situation from all angles, it's clear that replacing Gasly would create a range of other issues. Such confusion. Let's stop scratching beneath the surface and just remember Verstappen's marvellous drive to victory last time out, it's a happier and easier thought to process. 🏁🏁

CREDITS FOR ALL IMAGES USED CAN BE FOUND @FASTF1 ON INSTAGRAM

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