#did we see civil war

[birdmenmanga]

@raventhekittycat

hi okay so I've been mulling this one over for the past day or two and I think I have the answer. not to be using hamburger to explain anything to an american but you're my detco mutual so I'm going to try and explain it in detco terms

There's a post going around recently about how if you've read detco and only detco, the first time hakuba shows up you're going to be totally flummoxed, because damn this guy is clearly important, he gets to be even cooler than Shinichi, he's got a half-page shot of him (in such a panel-dense series such as Detective Conan, no less!!) and he's got a fucking hawk. he's CLEARLY important. everything about the narrative is indicating that you need to PAY ATTENTION to hakuba and that he's the coolest guy and he's important!!!! and then he dies in the case lol (not for real. but still.)!! and you're like huh??? what was that. why did aoyama do that.

But with the context of magic kaito this totally makes sense. He's a beloved character that people have been waiting decades to see again. Of course Aoyama is going to hype him up!! It's his big moment after years of being locked in the backrooms!!!

Anyways reading birdmen for me was kind of like that. The author's previous series, Kekkaishi, was pretty one-dimensional at the beginning, and even after the main plot started picking up at around volume 6, it still felt quite understandable. I knew what she was trying to get at, and the spectacular job she did with the anthropocene and climate change metaphor towards the end of that series really made me interested in the rest of her works. That and the way she writes familial relationships is absolutely DEVASTATING. (I mean this with the highest of praise)

But when I read BIRDMEN for the first time, I was probably in... middle school, maybe? And I read it, sure, but I didn't get it. I could see what was literally happening on the page but the narrative choices were absolutely baffling at times. Why skip over the entire part of the plot where they figure out who the birdman that saved them was? She blatantly doesn't care about that. What does she care about then?? I knew I didn't get it, I knew there were parts of it that were important and I couldn't figure out why and THAT'S how it dug its pretty little claws into me. Even after I finished catching up it nagged at me a little bit, not often at all, but enough that every once in a while I go, huh, right, that was a thing, let me go read it again.

For the record this type of story haunting has happened to me twice. First time was the Heart of Thomas, second time was BIRDMEN. I think the thing is that these are both stories which are not what other people say they are and I think I came into both of these stories with a misconception, trying to look too hard for things that weren't important and therefore missing the things that were.

Because sure, BIRDMEN is about mental illness. Yeah, it's about an evil scientific organization growing mutants in a lab. Yeah, it's about what it means to leave your humanity behind. That's all technically correct, on a surface level, and the fandom at large likely agrees with these takes for the most part, but in my opinion none of that really delves into what the thematic messaging of the story is about.

There are cryptic conversations about authority and human extinction and peculiar outfit and ability choices. You can tell these choices weren't made to serve the purpose of "writing exciting shonen manga" because that was what she did for the most part in Kekkaishi and you can tell she wasn't putting her whole pussy into doing that here. So what was she doing? What's like. All of this. Waves my hands at this.

The short answer is that it's really about the interplay between capitalism (represented by humanity) and communism (represented by birdmen), and explores the role institutional white supremacy (EDEN) plays in enforcing capitalism. It is ALSO about queer liberation and the importance of community, but hey, that double-stacks conveniently with the communism metaphor.

But also take this opinion of mine with a grain of salt. As far as I know I'm the only one who really truly deeply believes that it is not only AN interpretation of the work, but one that was fully intended by the author.

So basically, I like it, because I think it says something true and beautiful that I also believe in, even if I didn't have the words for it the first time I read it. But I don't really think that's what people really look for in a media recommendation.

Do I like it? Yes, I love it. Will I recommend it to others? Yeah, sure. But do I think it's deeply flawed? Yeah, absolutely. It's flawed in the same ways as The Witch from Mercury— a rushed ending, too many threads that were opened and never tied together. The pacing and characterization is perfect in the beginning, and too rushed at the end. There are prerequisites you basically HAVE to read in order to understand the story (tempest for G-Witch and the communist manifesto for birdmen). I think a truly good story wouldn't have any of these things so if people don't like it I never blame them.

It's my personal experiences that make birdmen so profound to me. If you are not queer I just don't think Eishi coming out as a birdman to his mom will hit the same, just as an example. Sorry that I wasn't the kid you wanted me to be. I know you love me and you just want the best for me and that's why you're so controlling, because you think I can be saved by conforming to societal expectations. But I can't live like that. I can't be like that. And that's why I must go. etc.

Aesthetically I do love birdmen a lot. If I had to describe it in a few words it would probably be "chilling", "beautiful", and "powerful", which nicely coincides with the type of things I personally like to draw. It's also silly to a small degree but it's so serious and I know Tanabe can be way way way funnier (read kekkaishi for this. kekkaishi and hanazakari no kimitachi he were foundational to my sense of sequential art humor) so that's not really the standout trait of this series.

I can't let it go because I'm chewing this series like a bone. And it's taking me years but I am getting that sweet sweet marrow. By god. We are on year 3 of this shit and I am GOING to understand this series. and I'm going to make 3 video essays about it

#just thinking thoughts... #stray bird thoughts #so it's like... I don't like it because birdmen is good #I think I like it because I am a certain type of person and the author was trying to say something specifically to the type of person I am #OH #I'M THE TARGETED AUDIENCE THATS WHY I LIKE IT. #YEAH THATS REALLY IT!!! #A long time ago I said that birdmen wasn't written for the people who read it at the time it serialized. #it was written for the people they would become. #and I stand by that 100% #if it really stays with you there is going to be a reason even if you can't articulate it yet #and it may APPEAR sloppy to someone who doesn't see the queer or communist metaphor #like 'what is she doing what is she saying here she's not saying anything meaningful and emphasizing the wrong things' #but that sort of presumes she is gunning to make 'the best shonen manga ever' #which she clearly isn't. #I remember when I was reading fma with a bunch of my classmates and I'd lend them a volume or two every day #and a piece of feedback I received that has stuck with me was 'volume 15 was so boring' #(that was the volume recounting the ishval civil war. it was boring because we were middle schoolers and didn't REALLY get it.) #and like. I think to people who are looking for something like kks. the whole thing is going to feel like fma volume 15 #like WHAT is she going on about? ? ? #like witch hat and dunmesh I think are similar types of stories but I think these two are just executed way better than bm #but because of that it is just not as compelling to me you know. #like yeah yeah it's well constructed. we all see it's well constructed. #the metaphor is so well constructed that I don't feel the need to point it out. everyone is saying it already you know #but bm is cryptic enough and just slightly missed that execution enough that I feel like I'm pulling the analysis out of a smoking wreckage #recently I've been watching mentourpilot videos about airplane accidents and like. that's exactly it. #there's nothing to say about a perfectly executed flight. #it's the ones that failed. and in particular the ones that just barely failed by a little bit. that compels people the most. #cue my de communism is failure post. bc that bm sure did fail.

[sneez]

various fairfaxes and a drawing from my english civil wars hiking au which i never posted :-) [id under cut]

[image description:

the first image is a digital drawing of a group of men on a light brown background. they are all wearing hiking-appropriate clothing. from left to right: a young man swinging from a tree; arrows pointing at him read ‘weirdly passionate about hiking’ and ‘like 15′. a man leaning against a tree; arrows read ‘grumpy’ and ‘only here for family bonding with father-in-law’. a man with a cane and one arm in a sling, leaning over to read a map; arrows read ‘has injured himself on every hike so far’ and ‘designated driver’. a man reading a map with a serious expression; arrows read ‘annoyed about everything except hiking and sometimes also hiking’ and ‘only one who can read a map’. a man with his hands on his hips looking at the viewer; arrows read ‘arranges hikes and then doesn’t go on them’ and ‘good at arguing’.

the second image is a collection of four digital drawings of thomas fairfax, a man with long dark hair, a moustache, and a beard. he is wearing seventeenth-century clothing. one is a full-body coloured drawing of him sitting in a chair facing away from the viewer with his legs folded and his hat on his knee. the other three are uncoloured: two are headshots of him as a young man and an older man, and the third shows him sitting at a table reading a piece of paper with an expression of concentration.

the third image is a coloured digital portrait of thomas fairfax as an older man. he is clean-shaven and has long dark hair and a scar across his cheek. he is wearing a dark doublet and a large white falling band, and is looking to the left of the image with a serious expression.

end image description.]

#artwork #fairfax #and others! theres a bunch of blokes in the hiking one #basically the concept is it's the english civil wars but instead of having a civil war they are rival hiking groups. and they compete with #each other over hiking trails and such. i never drew the royalist group but i was imagining them to be the Official hiking club and the #parliamentarian one started because there was drama in the royalist club so they started their own #and now theres drama between both of them. hiking drama. #ANYWAY thats from last year i cant remember why i never posted it but here it is now :-) #the other ones are much newer (for the most part) i did the coloured sitting fax yesterday #the last one is based on a portrait i came across recently which may or may not depict fairfax in 1664 (the identification is questionable) #and i still havent made my mind up whether or not i think it could be him or not but i was So excited about finding such a late portrait #i knew i had to draw at least something inspired by it. i cant even tell you how i excited i was i almost exploded #for context the latest portrait we have otherwise is from 1650 so if it is actually him it is a Very Big Deal #but i dont think we will ever know because the identification has been rejected by the metropolitan museum of art :-/ alas #of course it could be raised again in the future but i dont know if anyone would care enough to do that. i would obviously. but otherwise #oh for the first one from left to right it's lambert ireton fairfax cromwell pym #i dont know if the writing will be legible given how much tumblr crunches images but We Will See #i hope you are all doing well my dear friends :-) it has been so nice to get around to answering messages today i have missed you terribly #edited to add image descriptions! sorry i didnt do that earlier my apologies

[cxldtyrant]

Arcosian Headcanon: Clothing

Due to their ability to adapt under any sort of climate, as well as the fact their genitals are sheathed and therefore not visible, the Arcosian people don't actually need to wear clothing. In fact, the concept of clothing was only just a recent discovery to Arcos via King Cold's influence once he married Queen Froza, as his various conquests brought the planet all kinds of trades and intrigued the nobility, and thereby impacting the masses who sought to emulate them.

Therefore, if you were to attend a gathering with the nobility at the palace, you would find everyone dressed in various foreign fashions. The more expensive and intricate the outfit is, the more the noble will brag about it. Especially if its a rarity, such as the fabrics or style came from a planet whose populace was just wiped out or naturally went extinct, now making it a one-of-a-kind. To the Arcosian nobles, accusations of cultural appropriation or fetishism be damned, foreign clothing shows status and luxury, and they will gladly partake in it.

Because of this cultural trend, the other castes will attempt to emulate the nobles by purchasing more common fabrics or stitching together their own outfits from materials of their home-world's flora and fauna. For the middle class, such as merchants and military, you can occasionally see them in clothing from trades or their army uniform to show off their status and wealth. But for the people in the lower caste (or those who are outright casteless) It is common to see them without clothing.

Of course, there are some who just outright refuse to partake in the trend out of rebellion. Whether because their xenophobia towards foreign species is that strong, a growing resentment towards the nobility for indulging in expensive goods and flaunting it at the other castes, or simple decency to not glorify the appropriation a subjected planet's culture, it all very much varies.

While Cooler himself is not above bringing new crafts and trades to Arcos, he doesn't particularly care to wear clothing and only does so when attending an important royal gathering at his father's request. He finds them particularly restricting, and with how the nobles use them, an utter waste of resources when it could be distributed across all of Arcos, and not just its upper castes. This makes him come across as something of an eccentric individual to the nobility, while the lower castes see him as a cultural rebel and look upon him much more favorably.

#[arcos; the cold kingdom] #[musings; hidden depths] #[Cooler is much more popular among the lower castes than he is with the upper] #[Whereas with Freeza he is popular among the upper castes while the lower castes fear and resent him] #[Cooler sees an increasing alienation of the middle and lower class] #[and is doing his best to stop it before a rebellion hits from within and plunges the planet in civil war] #[also the fact that the caste system is stupid and is what's causing the planet's slow decline] #[with the Arcosians choosing to leave their home-world or because of their rigid systems can only marry within the same caste] #[thereby causing inbreeding and declining birthrates] #[Cooler: we need to reshape the system and become more inclusive or it will spell the end of our people] #[Arcosian nobility: haha look at the funny hat I just spent a million dollars on] #[this is a post about clothing how did this turn into a post about the unfair caste system lol]

[live-laugh-lobotomyy]

just watched the ahsoka finale. oh my god. OH MY GOD.

#ahsoka spoilers #ahsoka series #ahsoka #dave filoni you absolute madman #you brilliant fucking genius #he has singehandedly provided context for everything that ever has and ever will happen in star wars #AND I AM EATING IT UP #BUT ITS SO TRAGIC SO I’M ALSO CRYING #THRAWN IS BACK AND AT THE HELM OF THE EMPIRE???? OH JUST ANOTHER CASUAL GALACTIC WIDE CIVIL WAR THAT'S FINE #MORTIS ARC REFERENCE????? NOT EVEN A REFERENCE LIKE THAT ARC NOW HAS EVEN MORE SIGNIFICANCE AND IS SO IMPORTANT TO SW AS A WHOLE #THE GALAXY BEING CAUGHT IN AN ENDLESS LOOP OF GOOD AND EVIL AND EVERYTHING IS FUCKED BECAUSE OF WHAT WENT DOWN ON MORTIS #DEATH TROOPERS?!?!?!?!?!??! IN MY CANON STAR WARS!!?!?!?!? IT'S MORE LIKELY THAN YOU THINK #AHSOKA'S CHARACTER ARC OVER THIS SEASON WAS SO BEAUTIFUL I LOVE HEEERRRR #ANAKIN WATCHING OVER HER AT THE END???? JUST LIKE HE DID IN ROTJ I'M SOBBING #WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?????? #NO IDEA BUT I'M SURE IT WILL INCLUDE PAAIINNN #I BETTER SEE MORE OF HAYDEN AS ANAKIN I REFUSE TO BELIVE THAT THIS WAS IT #this episode and this series as a whole was so much more heavy than i expected #but i don't know why i didn't see it coming because it's DAVE FUCKING FILONI #also the title of this masterpiece being a narnia reference is killing me #I NEED SEASON TWO. NOW. #give it to me hat man i am in your walls

[nostalgia-tblr]

i think the problems in the first thor movie really started in that flashback scene where odin explains that he has two sons but only one throne and then he smiles at them and hands each of them a sword and says "you know what you have to do, boys"

#okay maybe it didn't go EXACTLY like that #but it did IN MY HEART #thor (2011) #brodinsons (battle royale version) #if you make them fight it out then you get the best king :) #or possibly a civil war? #if fandom is going to insist on the Jotun Orientalism thing there should at least be Ottoman Sultanate Succession fic u kno? #a system where people eventually went “you know what? there *is* such a thing as too much fratricide.” #personally i would keep the orientalism minimal by just borrowing the basic system of brother-murder and so on #we know thor (or his mum) is the favourite because he's in Asgard and thus close to the capital for when his dad dies #while poor unloved loki (and his less hot mum) is all the way over in jotunheim. so far to travel to compete for the throne :( #oh no i already see the flaw in this idea - i gave them both mothers! whose actions will make a difference to anything! silly me!

[purple--queen]

I love that the Marvels was about "Carol has to fix the shit she broke & dealing with it"

Sure the Supreme intelligence was bad & deserved to be destroyed. Sure most of the Kree we saw were bad. But their're a lot of innocent Krees on Hala.

Sure Dar-Benn's way to saw her planet was not correct, yeah it is evil to kill a lot of planets & lives to saw your own home. Yeah trying to kill Carol is also not correct...but it is understandable. Imagine your home getting slowly destroyed because of a glowing women.

Carol dealing with it. Carol living with this. Carol activating the sun again so that the kree can live again on an healthy planet is great.

#in civil war we see that many of them feeling guilty about some things...sokovia. new york ect. #but did we ever saw them fixing things? did we ever saw them helping these people afterwards? #Zemo said: and the Avengers just flew home. #Carol destroyed it 30 years ago...& still has to deal with this... #it is just great to see that she knows that this is her problem & that she trys to do better #maybe i didnt used the right words for this... #the marvels spoilers #carol danvers

[jahiera]

the one that got away by the civil wars had me walking around in a fugue state thinking about ascended astarion

you bring up the civil wars and tragic Ascended Astarion with Tav and don't even bring up poison & wine? tch (I am also in a fugue state now).....

also DUST TO DUST--

#DUST TO DUST... HOW DID /I/ NOT THINK OF DUST TO DUST. #Oh I'm killing us both (affectionate) (in tears) #we will never see the likes of the civil wars & their agonizing songs again #answered #baldur's gate radio play

[ananke-xiii]

nothing screams "dysfunctional toxic family" more than angels in supernatural. It's a relentless "but you're my brothers, you're my sisters, you're my siblings blah blah blah" and yet the very weapon they each carry is a blade that... could both kill themselves AND other angels. Like no other weapon can kill them but that thing they keep up their sleeves? Yep, that'll do it! Crazy, man. I'd watch an entire spin off just dedicated to them 'cause they're wild and totally insane.

#supernatural #spn #angels #angel blade #a spn spin off where we see the unseen angels civil war of s6 #plus all the shady stuff naomi&co did #man they were crazy

[jesuis-snips]

girl help! the dictator won the elections in my country.

#i hate it here #i honestly don't wanna live here anymore #turkey #he has been ruling this country since 2001 and he's the worst thing that happened to turkey #everything is going horrible #even buying basic food is hard now everything is expensive #there is no justice #no liberty #and he says 'we are starting now' #what are you starting #who were ruling this country for 22 years #me? no #the opposition party #no!!!! #wtf man #i don't have any hope left for this country #we either die from hunger or civil war or america will bring us democracy like they did in Iraq #no good future neither way #im 21 and all i get to see was this man my whole life no other ruler #our people are stupid #so much #so so much i hate them #i hate them for taking away my future from me #i hate them for not seeing the truth that's right there if they try to look #i hate them for blindly believing everything this damn man said #anyways

[stairset]

Maybe it's just because of where I live, but the whole "Satine didn't like that her people were a bunch of warmongering imperialist assholes and told them to knock it off and implemented gun control and made the Jedi Torture Boxes illegal so that her people could rebuild and move on from their violent history of civil wars that reduced their planet into a nearly uninhabitable wasteland in favor of focusing on more productive things like art and education and this is literally cultural genocide and she's erasing history and she should've been a villain blah blah blah" take has always been so weird to me. Like I have absolutely seen people say things like that in real life all the time and about 90% of them have confederate flags on the back of their pickup trucks so. Yeah.

#''but the new mandos are mostly white in tcw!'' despite what many claim mandos were always mostly white even before tcw #i know people wanna act like they're The Single Most Diverse Culture In The Entire Galaxy but that was always largely an informed attribute #i mean star wars in general wasn't as diverse before the disney era that's why rebels and tcw season 7 have more non-white mandalorians #also the whole idea that she only took over cause of republic backing and made her people ''assimilate'' to republic culture #which first of all the republic doesn't have one culture it's made up thousands of planets with different cultures #contrary to popular belief the republic isn't really Space America it's more Space United Nations #and second of all her ENTIRE INTRODUCTORY ARC is about her being against republic overreach #and not wanting them to intervene in internal mandalorian affairs #but yeah clearly she's a puppet for the republic that's definitely consistent with what we actually see onscreen #and don't bother with the ''the republic glassed mandalore'' thing #that's legends and is never mentioned anywhere in tcw at all #as far as lucas and disney canon are concerned it's a wasteland because of centuries of civil wars #which sabine confirms in rebels #the whole erasing culture thing doesn't hold much weight either #when you consider satine is one of only two characters to actually speak mando'a onscreen (the other being sabine) #which. again. she did In Her Introductory Episode #and you can see mando'a writing all around new mandalore #in sharp contrast to the fanon idea that she suppressed the language or whatever #and like there's TONS of uniquely mandalorian artwork and architecture and stuff like that #those things are culture too she just focuses on the parts of the culture that aren't about killing people you don't like #also when pre vizsla starts his whole smear campaign against her and gains the favor of the people #she stands down because the people are on his side now #which shows she believes in the will of the people and thus it's safe to assume that the majority supported her favor when she took over #anyway i'm gonna go watch avatar and day zuko committed cultural genocide #cause imperialism is fire nation culture and he told them to knock it off #shut up tristan

[kyghostly]

ok luka black can get it

#What are those lips... #Cunty ass performance we love to see it #eurovision #Yeah im watching it. Not by my own will tho my sister has me in a chokehold #me: this song kinda sucks not my vibe #luka: *moans* *twirls* #me:... #This guy makes me wanna forgive what Serbia did to us in the civil war- #I'M KIDIDNGNAKDNLAKS #kyro.txt

[hopegained]

i wish we'd seen more of the actual resistance on-screen, like their structure, what other divisions they have apart from the obvious ones, the day-to-day of an average trooper

#(there's more stuff in the books esp. the visual dictionaries but i want to See them yknow) #(we know high command is made up of rebellion vets and leia's most trusted people but other than that. What.) #(the vindication they must've felt for never doubting leia) #(and don't get me wrong im glad we got a look into the NR in mando that tells us what we already know about them lmfao) #(Of Course they're complacent. Of Course they didn't believe leia.) #(when you look at the majority of the soldiers in the resistance they're YOUNG. they didn't live through the civil war) #(what do they feel about being part of this? about finally having a purpose?) #(and for those who came from worlds that weren't under the NR charter? what did they feel?) #(rambling again but Man. the politics during the sequels are predictable in the sense that yea. real world governments are complacent lol) #(and they play down tragedies that they caused. it all makes sense why they would never have worked) #ooc. is it meemees?

[landgraabbed]

still in morrowind hell (also ik it’s not the same daedric artifact at all but getting moon and star never fails to remind me of this masterpiece)

#p #hope ur all good!!! annie's coming this friday 'm so fdjdsDSJDSDF excited i love her so much #vvardenfell wandering #nammu got really lucky and got nearly full ebony when clearing out a daedric shrine #merarii did illunibi yes she got corprus she got cured we barely managed kogoruhn bc i ran out of potions #cave of the incarnate is truly one of the most profound moments in gaming for me #i truly think the writers at bethany esda were on to something when they had you as an outlander introduced by the emperor of cyrodiil #to present yourself as maybe the nerevarine and that together with the state of vvardenfell as a whole during the game is such #*an interesting exploration of colonialism you very rarely see in gaming #and it's cool because for all i rag on skyrim for how it handles the main quest those two games explore those themes and more and more #i find the civil war in skyrim (the actual war not the questlines) is so interesting and the way people discuss it so fervently even #ten years on #(my personal stance: i am staunchly anti empire i could never support the empire but at the same time i dearly wish i could support #skyrim's independence in order to preserve the scraps of old culture you see like that man who still worships kyne #without supporting ulfric and what he stands for and the hypocrisy of skyrim belongs to the nords when the markarth incident is a thing that #happened. it's just sad to see how the empire so successfully took that from the nords) #(i still think ulfric is one of the best written characters in skyrim he's just a tool i hate him lmfao) #but yeah. meeting the false incarnates hearing the stories of their demise. being able to openly state you just want to figure out what's #going on and maybe free the sleepers from dagoth's anti chim fuckery. yes. gimme that. #anyways merarii solved julan's whole fuckery they're engaged and she's working on taking down sixth house bases and becoming hortator #also i gave up on the long dark for now bc forlorn muskeg just. broke me #picked dragons dogma on the switch and i'm really diggin that rn

[mthrfckng-m1r4cl3s]

i think we as a society went through a period where people watched every marvel movie because they’re marvel movies. So, which of these movies was the last one you watched before only watching Marvel movies you’re genuinely interested in seeing?

(some titles are shortened/condensed to fit into the character limit)

#my post

[dear-ao3]

Sorry i tried to scroll past but, i know nothing about f1 other than max verstappen is fast, my dad doesnt like lewis hamilton, fast car goes in a loop and sometimes expodes. Could you give me a crash course in f1 drama? Im very intrigued. Whats the tea as it were?

a terribly loaded question, but i will do my best. i’ve talked about some of the drama before like the red bull second seat and the chronicles of haas but allow me to briefly try my hand at explaining the nightmare that is the upcoming silly season

under the cut we go

silly season is when the drivers go through contract renewals, extensions and switches. usually it’s confined to the first half of the season (march-july) but it has been known to extend all the way to the last race of the season and they like to switch people around at random sometimes. driver contracts are complex, there’s a lot of money involved and basically You Are The Face Of The Team so if you have a shit season then you make the team look bad. but at the same time you could have a shit season because you have a shit car. it’s sticky stuff.

so. there are only twenty seats in formula 1. 10 teams. each team gets two drivers. (there’s also reserve drivers but we’re not going to get into that). who ends up with a contract is largely up to the teams, they can pull the contract out from under people they can also cut you mid season. they’ve done it before.

of the 20 drivers on the grid, 14 of them have contracts expiring at the end of the year. yes. 14. you see how this could get complicated.

so let’s meet the teams.

red bull racing. they came first this year (and last year) in the championship. like aggressively first. like they won the championship by over 350 points. they are definitely the team to beat. but if you end up with a seat at red bull, you do have to deal with max verstappen being your teammate and he won all but three of the races last year. he’s the golden boy. red bull are also notoriously silly when it comes to contracts and famously swap people mid season who aren’t performing.

mercedes. merc is home to 7 time world champion lewis hamilton and they have won the championship a great many times, though not since 2021. they are kind of in their flop arc and their car the last 2 years has been pretty garbage, but they have still made it work because they were able to come in second last year.

ferrari. god help the poor little meow meows with a ferrari contract. ferrari is a notoriously great team and they’re trying to get back to the top again but their strategy every single time has fallen short. to the point where their drivers are the ones doing the strategy in their cars while driving. they came in third last year and have been decently consistent at getting first in qualifying and then getting beat by max verstappen on race day.

mclaren. they’ve definitely worked their way up over recent years. they ended fourth last year and have had some championship wins before but not nearly as many as say merc and ferrari. their team ceo (owner? director?) is a little interesting and their car started out a pile of flaming hot garbage at the beginning of the year but they did manage to get their shit together.

aston martin. they are owned by canadian billionaire lawrence stroll, father of lance stroll (one of the drivers for the team). they’ve undergone several name changes over the recent years (force india, racing point, etc). they positively slayed at the start of the season and then one day they sucked. they finished fifth in the championship.

alpine. the frenchest french team. they’re (i think?) still partially owned by the french government. both of their drivers are french. (their drivers also hate eachother but we’ll get to that. just know they’re in the middle of a modern french civil war). they had the opportunity to have a good rookie driver (oscar piastri) this past year but in a thrilling twitter battle, he publically flamed the shit out of them and went to mclaren instead (and slayed). they're usually solidly middle of the pack. they ended sixth in the championship.

williams. williams has been one of the back of the grid teams for the last many years but they have finally started to get their shit together and don’t quite suck as much as they used to. all of the points this year were scored by only one driver though (except one but we’ll get there). they came in seventh.

alpha tauri. they are the sister team of red bull. so technically redbull owns both teams (meaning they can swap drivers between teams. they like doing this.) they’ve just kind of been There for awhile but they did slay towards the end of the season when one of their drivers led the race for several laps. basically tho, this team is the gateway to redbull. they came in eighth.

alpha romeo. recently renamed to stake f1 team (but sometimes they are going to be called kick sauber. this is a whole other drama post and i’m not getting into it). they’re also just kind of there. generally unproblematic. seems that really great drivers who get ixed out of a contract for a younger driver end up here or young drivers who are in their early years are here before they go to a better team. they ended ninth this year.

haas. oh haas. goofy team. they suck. point blank they suck. they keep loosing sponsors because they suck, they don’t win ever (one time they came first in qualifying last year). they cursed themselves in australia in 2018 by not tightening their tires and its been downhill ever since. they came 10th. their team principle got let go (fired?) who’s to say today.

so those are the teams. it is important to note that:

-there is a cost cap. each team is allowed to spend no more than 135m per year.

-not all cars are equal. some things are standard. they all undergo the same testing. but the cars are all very different. so you can be a good driver but stuck in a shitty car. which makes it impressive if you are doing well in a shitty car.

let’s meet our drivers!!!

starting with the guys who’s contract is not ending in 2024:

max verstappen. 3 time world champion. 26 years old. general beast on the track. he dominated the whole season. he’s currently racing for red bull and has a contract with them through 2028.

lewis hamilton. 7 time world champion. 39 years old. he drives for mercedes. he will not leave mercedes until he retires. he really really wants to win an 8th world championship and is willing to stick it out a few more years as long as merc still believes in him. his contract expires in 2025.

george russell. the other merc driver. 26 years old. hes aggressively british and says thinks like blimey unironically. walking meme. got his merc seat in 2022 right when they entered their flop arc by getting his tractor of a williams to finish second in qualifying in the middle of a rainstorm. his contract expires in 2025.

lando norris. mclaren driver. 24 years old. he has notably never won a race in his five years of formula one (mostly because right when his car finally was good enough max verstappen was 20 seconds ahead of anyone) but he is regarded as Very Good. he has only ever driven for mclaren. and even though there is another year left on his contract there is mass speculation that he will not renew his contract with mclaren after it expires and he may move up to one of the top teams (red bull, merc, ferrari) (tho i think he doesnt hate himself quite enough to go to ferrari). his contract expires in 2025.

oscar piastri. the other mclaren driver. 22 years old. this was his rookie season and he positively slayed. like people compared his rookie season to lewis hamiltons rookie season. he also had the positively funniest start to his rookie year because alpine announced that he would be driving for them (he had been their reserve driver and in the alpine academy) and he posted a tweet that basically said yeah thats false i never singed anything with you and im going to race with mclaren instead (he dodged a bullet) and then alpine tried and failed to sue him for $4m USD. he signed a contract extension with mclaren this year and his contract expires in 2026.

lance stroll. aston martin driver and son of the aston martin owner. hes doing ok, tho there was conspiracy that he wanted to quit and have a tennis career awhile ago. but basically since his dad owns the team it seems that hes guaranteed a seat for as long as he wants one.

so now. moving onto the good shit. the people who have contracts expiring in 2024. hold onto your hats people.

charles leclerc. (everyones favorite slutty little soup can). 26 years old. he is currently at ferrari and he has been since 2019. notably, he was given the longest contract in the history of ferrari after a stellar rookie season at sauber (renamed to alpha romeo, renamed to stake f1) where he got the tractor of a car consistently into the points. having the longest contract in the history of ferrari was a flex at the time, but now its likely how he will introduce himself at therapy sessions. ferrari have fucked this man left right and center up the ass with a plastic lunchroom spork. hes talented, he can drive, and he can drive well. but the strategy that ferrari has absolutely sucks. either something is wrong with the car (see him blowing out his gear box on the formation lap in monaco, his car completely crapping out and spinning into the barrier in brazil before the race even started) or they fuck up his pit stops or put him on the wrong tires and honestly its just frustrating. but will he leave??? likely not. you'd have to pry ferrari out of his cold dead hands and at this rate that might be where this is headed though there has been some minor speculation of him going to another team like merc or red bull, but merc doesnt have any open seats and red bull is a whole other dumpster fire of drama. ferrari are going to have to pay him a boatload of money to make him stay.

carlos sainz. the smooth operator. 29 years old. ferrari driver. previously carlos was at toro rosso (renamed to alpha tauri), renault (renamed to alpine), and mclaren before signing with ferrari. he has been at ferrari since 2021 and has voiced that he would like to stay with them for however long he can. there is speculation that lando might replace him at ferrari (but landos contract is not up until 2025) and there is also some speculation that alex albon might replace him. while charles is clearly the golden boy at ferrari, carlos is slightly slower but also definitely consistent. he was THE ONLY non red bull driver to win a race this past year, in Singapore after max verstappedn was knocked out of qualifying by alpha tauri reserve driver liam lawson (more on him later) and because he basically came up with his own strategy in the car while he was driving.

sergio perez. aka checo. red bull driver. 33 years old. and oh boy here's where we open the can of worms. checo was previously at racing point (renamed aston martin) and it was very near the end of the 2020 (?) season and he was out of a contract. he had a bonkers race where he was knocked to the back of the grid and then overtook everyone and somehow ended up winning (there is more to that story but just trust me) and christian horner, red bull team principle, mr ginger spice and definite disney villain called him and said congrats sir you have a seat at red bull! well. fast forward. hes been causing problems. problems as in crashing a lot, generally not doing great and pissing the crap out of red bull. it is basically guaranteed at this point that he will not be getting a contract extension. there was actually talk this year of him losing his seat mid season to one of the alpha tauri drivers, because remember, red bull owns both teams and they can switch them whenever they want to (and they have!) but ultimately this did not happen. even though checo has a seat at red bull until the end of 2024, its mass speculated that he is going to get switched with an alpha tauri driver, probably daniel ricciardo (more on him shortly) mid season because there is a speculated clause in daniels contract that says that if checo isn't performing well in the first few races daniel is getting his seat.

daniel ricciardo. 34 years old. alpha tauri driver. man oh man what a guy. outside of being the prankster of the paddock, he has one of the most batshit careers of anyone currently on the grid. he started out at red bull and was showing real talent and skill and was on track to win things (and was!) and was there until the end of 2018 when max verstappen (his teammate) started getting preferential treatment and also red bull started having a lot of problems with their engines (which were being outsourced from Renault (now alpine) and another team on the grid) and well very very long story short he made the surprise move of the century and decided to sign with Renault (which makes no sense they're the one with the engine problems) and was there for 2 years before moving again to mclaren where he was reportedly not treated very well and had a hard time driving the car so they mutually ended his contract with them early and he basically retired at the end of the 2022 season and became a red bull reserve driver. then halfway through the 2023 season alpha tauri ixed one of their drivers, nyck de vries, because he wasnt doing well and promoted daniel back up to a full time driver at alpha tauri (which we know is only a step down from red bull) but then he broke his hand in a crash in zanvort (?) and then he was replaced for a few races by formula 2 driver liam lawson (who we will also talk about) and then he came back to finish out the season in alpha tauri after he was cleared. daniel has admitted openly that he never should have left red bull and he was given bad advice to do so. hes towards the end of his career at this point and its well known that he Really Really wants to finish out his career at red bull again. he and max have already been teammates before and they do work well together and daniel is great driver (see his comeback in texas (or maybe it was brazil?) this year). so. Pretty Sure that daniels going to get either an extension at alpha tauri or go up to red bull. thats what we all want. get this man in a red bull we need him there biblically.

liam lawson. now technically liam is not actually a formula 1 driver. hes a formula 2 driver, but he was daniels replacement for five races and there has been some speculation and some confirmed news about him so hes getting included. when he was racing for f1 he was at alpha tauri. hes 21 and looks like he belongs in the movie grease. no one was expecting him to slay in formula 1 and he positively knocked everyones socks off. the scene: Singapore. which, if you'll recall, is the one race that a not red bull driver won. this was largely because liam lawson slayed the absolute game in qualifying. the qualifying part of racing determines what order the cars start in on the grid for the race and theres three parts, the first two parts the bottom 5 drivers each time get knocked out and then the top 10 complete for the last 10 spots. liam lawson knocked BOTH max verstappen and checo perez out of qualifying in the second round by going very slightly faster than them, effectively fucking up red bulls race and allowing carlos to win. and he also scored points in that race, which no one was expecting. now thats all fine and dandy, but here's the speculation: hemlut marko (im pretty sure) (who is somehow decently involved in the decision making at red bull though i couldn't tell you how) said that he thinks that liam lawson will be in an f1 seat no later than 2025. meaning that he will probably get offered a contract this year. and hes already raced for alpha tauri. red bull have sunk a good amount of money into him. they clearly want him. so if he gets offered an alpha tauri seat in 2025, that means theres a good chance danny rics is going to red bull. do you SEE how the plot here is THICKENED

yuki tsunoda. age 23. currently at alpha tauri. and fun fact, the only alpha tauri driver to race there the whole year. he had three separate team mates. he is slaying and hes often slept on. he has a bit of a temper and likes to shout on the radio and also hates working out (they had to force him to move to italy or something to work out, long story) but hes been kinda killing it. he led several laps in the abu dhabi race this year and hes decently consistent. people think theres possibility that he could get moved up to red bull on account of the fact that he is younger than daniel and clearly has more years in him,, but there is also possibility that he might not because red bull like to make stupid decisions. and if he doesnt get moved up to rebel, will he stay with alpha tauri? we don't know.

alex albon. age 27. currently a williams driver. alex albon is another one with a batshit career. he started out his rookie year in 2019 at alpha tauri then got moved up to red bull halfway through the year when red bull decided that pierre gasley wasnt doing a good enough job (more on him later) and stayed with red bull for a solid year and a half until he lost his seat in 2021 to checo. he has been with williams for the last two years and is basically carrying the team. like. williams as a team scored 28 points this year. and alex albon scored 27 of those 28 points. and as we know, williams is still kind of in their shit arc (though they are doing much better. they didnt score any points for a solid 2 (?) years. so this is an improvement.) and if you can get a shit car to perform you catch the eye of bigger teams. now, alex has already been a red bull driver. and he was on the cusp of podiuming two separate times when lewis hamilton ran into him. this (among a few other things) basically killed his chances at getting resigned at red bull because he wasnt ""performing"" and red bull are bitches who love to win. but some people think that red bull should give him another shot. like daniel, hes already been max's teammate and he can definitely drive. but theres also talk he might go to ferrari because ferrari think that he might compliment charles's driving style (or something). but going to ferrari at this point is kind of suicide. so.

logan sergeant. age 23. the only american on the grid. the other williams driver. he just finished his rookie year. he scored a grand total of one single point this season, in texas, and it was because charles leclerc and lewis hamilton both got disqualified because the floor of their car had more wear (by literally less than millimeters) than it was allowed to, bumping him up from 12th to 10th. he has never done better than alex albon. he was also the very last driver to get a contract for 2024, with williams waiting until i think december of 2023 to announce his contract extension. clearly, hes on thin ice. but people have also said that he needs time to get used to formula 1 (other people have pointed out that oscar piastri slayed his rookie season this year and this statement about needing time is largely false). where logan ends up next year though will largely depend on how well the 2024 season goes for him.

fernando alonso. 42 years old. many people like to point out that oscar piastri is actually younger than fernando's racing career. he won tiktok creator of the year (somehow) and is also a 2 time world champion. he retired a few years ago, just to show back up again and slay. during the first half of the season when aston martin had a zoom zoom car he killed it, and then they had problems on top of problems and he didnt do well. except for that one race in brazil where he came in third, beating checo by literally .05 seconds. he hasn't really made any hints about retiring a second time and he is kind of carrying aston Martin right now (he scored 205 points this season, coming in 4th and tying in points with charles leclerc, lance stroll only scored 74 points this year.) and they did have their best year yet this year. (though they are relatively new).

pierre gasley. 27 years old. french. drives for alpine. the french team. previously he raced with toro rosso (now alpha tauri), then got promoted to a red bull driver in 2019, then halfway through the season they decided he wasnt doing a good enough job and he got demoted back down to alpha tauri. then he won a race with alpha tauri just to stick it to red bull. after the great oscar piastri contract twitter war, he was signed as alpines second driver, with Esteban ocon being the other driver (more on him soon). estie bestie and pierre (both french) were childhood friends and now hate each other for unknown reasons and basically feuded on the track for most of the season. french civil war at alpine. he scored 62 points in 2023 and came in 11th. not really sure where he will end up, it is possible that he will stick it out at alpine.

esteban ocon. 27 years old. also french. currently driving for alpine. another one with a silly bonkers career. he started out at force india and had a baller few seasons there but his teammate at the time was checo, and checo didnt really cooperate with him too much and caused some drama that cost estie bestie some places and some points. max verstappen also beat him up in the garage once. thats not really relevant but it did happen. anyway, after the owner of force india was arrested for .... i don't remember what maybe it was embezzlement or bankruptcy or something money related, the team was backed by lawrence stroll and became racing point. but all of that happened mid season and lawrence was basically like look ill back you guys for now but next year my son gets a seat (lance) so one of you two (checo and estie bestie) have to go. and ultimately they let estie bestie go even though he was more consistent because checo had more sponsors and they needed money. so he was out of formula 1 for a few years (but was a merc reserve driver) and then went to Renault, which then became alpine. he did come in 12th though overall this season, just behind pierre. so. will alpine keep both him and pierre and keep the civil war going? whos to say.

nico hulkenberg. 36 years old. haas driver. in his 200+ f1 races he has never been on the podium and he really really wants to be on the podium. unfortunately this will never happen in a haas because haas fucking sucks. and everyone knows it. he is getting towards the end of his career though. though! stake f1 will become the mario Andretti and audi team in 2026 (don't question it) and they have supposedly voiced interest in nico. so we will see if he hangs on that long to end up at audi. for now tough, hes definitely hating it at haas. though, haas are going to have a different team principle next year so maybe that will change things. i have a sneaky feeling through that haas will probably end up with another 2 rookie drivers because everyone else is smart enough to not race for them.

kevin magnussen. 31 years old. haas driver. hes another deeply interesting character. he has had one podium. in his rookie season. in his first race. and none since. kevin started at haas in 2017 and then left at then end of 2020 when he basically got kicked off because the team needed money and they wanted to bring in drivers with more sponsorships. these drivers were mick schumacher and nikita mazepin. so kevin basically was forced to retire after the 2020 season. this went decently well for haas. until russia invaded ukraine right before the start of the 2022 season and, well, nikita was Russian and it was never distinctly proven that his dads company (who was sponsoring the team) wasnt also funding the invasion. so nikita got fired and they were literally like 2 weeks out from the start of the season, down a driver. who are you gonna call? kevin magnussen! and hes been back ever since. but hes clearly getting annoyed with haas. there was one great clip from this year where his car caught on fire and he kind of just stared into to, clearly hoping it would burn for a long time. so the likelihood of him extending his contract is looking slim.

valtteri bottas. 34 years old. currently a driver for stake f1 (alpha romeo, kick sauber, whatever you wanna call it). previously, he was a mercedes driver and notoriously helped lewis hamilton win a great many championships, until he lost his seat to george russell in 2022. there was a rather awkward part of the 2021 season where valtteri knew that he was out of a merc seat the following year and kind of just chose violence. he slayed. then he went to alpha romeo, grew a mullet and made a calendar of his ass. quite the glow up if you ask me. hes also very interested in cycling. honestly though, i have my own personal speculation that hes going to retire at the end of this year.

zhou guanyu. 24 years old. driver for stake f1 (alpha romeo/kick sauber, etc etc). hes doing alright. he just finished his second season, in his first season he was majorly out qualified by valtteri but this past season he managed to out qualify him a good 6 times. which is decently good for the tractor of a car hes driving. its possible that he could get a contract extension, but like logan, its probably going to depend on how the 2024 season goes for him.

and thats all the drivers. theres also a few others i didnt talk about, like some other f2 drivers who want seats and mick schumacher, who is currently a merc reserve driver, all of which could be contenders for f1 seats. but one things for sure. this is going to be the silliest fucking silly season.

feel free to add on and peer review me

#not a tag #from saph #f1 #:) #silly season #my beloved!

[daisukitoo]

I am 40% of the way through Gideon the Ninth. There are no plot spoilers below.

What is refreshing about Gideon as a protagonist and POV character is that she is a jock. She fundamentally does not care about all this nerd shit going on, i.e. the entire setting and plot. She misses exposition, background, and other explanations because, as one person who starts explaining how magic works observes, "right, you're not even pretending to pay attention."

Most writers are writers, so this is not a common perspective for a book to hold. Plot-relevant details can be sprinkled freely because Gideon's narrative will see them and not even shrug before moving on.

GIdeon lacks the emotional and mental maturity to be a good person. She is not evil as such, just apparently unaware of the existence of moral implications. When we meet her, her motivation is to get out of this hick town and join the military, because fighting is glorious and cool and this hick town sucks. She likes weapons and fighting and working out and hot chicks. She fantasizes about leading military charges that bring death to new worlds and fuel necromantic rituals because that would mean hot goth babes would see how cool she is and be grateful. She does not dwell on the thought of worlds that apparently have never known death and her plan to look cool leading imperial invasions and killing enough people to fuel necromantic rituals. She does dwell on the thought of that prissy bitch from her high school having to see how cool and hot she is now that she's a war hero who gets medals and hot babes.

You as the reader can be carried along very quickly by this incurious perspective that does not think twice about things. You as the reader may want Gideon to backtrack and dwell on something or explore it further. The weirdness of the setting is more or less swept under the rug by Gideon's not noticing it. 98.5% of the children on a planet gone (died?), but Gideon doesn't devote a second sentence to boring backstory like that. What was that about galactic conquest, in a setting where the main weapons are swords and necromantic magic? How little advancement has there been in technology or magic in 10,000 years, despite a possibly continuous civilization that whole time? Or some references to what sound like dark ages? Damned if Gideon cares or even notices.

The necromancers are dying to talk shop about their powers. Gideon rolls her eyes and wants to talk to that woman about the cool flip she did, because Gideon wants to look cool doing flips during fights and have girls notice how cool she looks. Also her biceps. Gideon cannot pay attention for a full sentence on necromantic magic, but she does have a half-page to dwell on girls noticing how big her biceps are.

#gideon the ninth #tlt #the locked tomb #tamsyn muir #gideon nav