#this is absolutely a situation where if this doesn't perform well I will be incredibly sad.

[onthemeander]

A 3-page comic inspired by a post by @wazzi2ya. I would make an "Opps my hand slipped" joke but this is too much time and brain power to even pretend like I could make this on a whim.

Takeaways: Comics are a bitch to make, Angel looks good at every angle and Husk absolutely has a Vulnerability Kink.

#myart #my art #hazbin hotel #huskerdust #hazbin art #hazbin angel dust #hazbin hotel husk #huskdust #husk x angel dust #angel x husk #angel dust x husk #angelhusk #hazbin hotel fanart #hazbin comic #hazbin hotel comic #hazbin niffty #niffty #angel dust #husker hazbin hotel #hazbin husker #husker x angel dust #this is absolutely a situation where if this doesn't perform well I will be incredibly sad.

[charles-leclerc-official]

First, I just want to say that your analysis on the Suzuka race weekend was absolutely beautiful - thought out, concise, to the point and really well written!

I just have one question, since you seem really knowledgeable on the more physics - concerning aspects of a race - how is negative tyre deg even possible? I know what it is, the definition isn't the problem, what I don't get is how can it even happen? How can you go faster on older tyres, how does that possibly work? Considering physics point towards the maxima you, yourself mentioned - new tyres = ability to go faster. And yet negative deg is possible, which has me incredibly confused.

Admittedly, physics isn't my strongest subject, so forgive me if the answer to my question is something very obvious, I would still appreciate you taking the time to explain it!

Took me a while to get to this one because it is a very advanced concept as far as the physics are concerned, and full disclosure I am by no means a physics expert. I understand the principals at play but the calculations for these relationships are pretty advanced.

But the main thing for why this is possible has to do with a relationship between the suspension, the track temperature, the camber of the tyres, the specific setup a driver chooses for their car, and the driver and their driving during the race.

So the idea is if you have a car base that is gentle on the tyres like the SF-24 the tyres may not warm up quickly. Tyres that are warmed will be able to have better grip and thus go faster. So if you have a car that isn't warming the tyres on the first laps enough for maximum performance then there exists a window where it is possible to go faster in later laps. This window can be widened by a driver's specific car setup choices as well as driving. The wider a driver can keep this window the longer they can maintain zero to negative deg. This is I believe what is going on with the SF-24.

So basically if you drive and achieve almost zero deg at first, you are essentially still on new tyres and thus when you want to push to go faster or increase your speed you can. This is a very oversimplified explanation and it doesn't apply to every single instance where we have seen a driver achieve this but you get the idea.

You see this in miniature with some laps for some drivers, if they have a really clean lap you often see them able to do a slightly faster lap or an identical lap on the next one because they didn't degrade as much as expected. It's the sheer consistency in not wearing the tyres or achieving minimal wear over many many laps in a row that gets into the territory we saw with Charles in Suzuka.

However doing this in practice is difficult. The driver's personal setup and the way they drive plays a massive role. So in Suzuka for Charles to pull that off he essentially had to make zero mistakes when it came to slippage on the corners (and he was almost perfect minus that one slip we all saw onto the curb) If he'd made any consistent mistakes that would have added to the wear on the tyres and he wouldn't have been able to last anywhere near as long.

I will say that because a driver doesn't do this it doesn't mean they are doing something wrong. Most drivers operate under the expectation that the tyres will degrade at a predictable rate.

This is a phenomenon that also would not be possible every race, or at every track etc. Conditions do also have to be right. This will probably be impossible in say Qatar, the heat will just be too great for this to come up there.

It's very situation and skill dependent. Both things must align to achieve it. Also obviously you have to have a car that is gentle on the tyres, without that kind of base it doesn't matter how good you are the tyres will still degrade. There is a reason we've only seen this in the top 2 - 4 drivers on the grid at any given time, and that is because the skill to pull it off with so few mistakes is not to be under-stated.

Tyre data would be able to help us understand this better but detailed tyre telemetry is unfortunately not made available by teams. This telemetry records the rate of wear lap to lap, tyre temperature etc. So teams get to use this data to further understand these things in their car and their driver.

I hope this helps at least a little. This is really asking about one of the cutting edge physics topics in F1 that not even some teams fully understand. And since we don't get the detailed data it's really hard to look at what the actual relationships at play are.

What we can do is look at the results we get, the lap times a car and driver generate and we can understand the car behavior that way.

#luci answers #car technical talk

[findafight]

you're so right. i will never understand the hold rockstar eddie has on ppl. his character immediately becomes insufferable if he's super famous and successful, esp in no upside down aus where he never experiences some form of ego death/being forced to reassess his own bullshit. not to mention he is just not someone who would become uber famous like he does not have the personality to either pull it off or handle it well if he miraculously did imo. steve really screams child star to me tho in an au. plus his entire character arc kind of speaks to him being able to handle fame (ie the fact that steve is a v reflective, adaptive character that was capable of actually changing and improving his behavior even w/o knowing about the upside down originally) and knowing/learning who he should be surrounding himself w. like i firmly believe steve could actually handle being famous in a way eddie could not.

I do enjoy rockstar eddie to a point? it depends I think. Rockstar/musician aus are popular in fandoms of all sorts an I like them sorta...hit or miss? haha.

But you're right that it's become...idk over saturated? And yeah absolutely Eddie's ego death and the shattering of the Munson Docterine is kind of pivotal for his character growth. Like I know the duffers don't think Eddie's problem is that he's stuck in highschool clique mode (They seem to think his flaw is that he's a coward...which is a different meta but his reactions are reasonable to the situations he's thrown in), because they only think "jocks" are the problem there, but he is. Him realizing that actually Steve is pretty cool is the stepping stone to him not hating jocks on principal, and broadening and nuancing his view of people outside his assumptions on who are "Proper" nerds. No- upside down aus, regardless of any other trope in them, often fall flat for me in that aspect, yet always make sure to remind us Steve was a bit of a stuck up dick in highschool (until the beginning of grade 11) and it's tiring to nt see Eddie allowed to be wrong and have that moment of self-betterment.

And yeah, I can maybe see eddie becoming semi-famous session musician (not a musician that is a session musician AND recording/performing artist by themself like Glen Campbell or Marvin Gaye) through a series of events like. Playing one of his hyper specific songs at a small gig, someone in desperate need of a guitarist is there and sees he is incredibly talented as a guitarist, asks him to help as a session musician in like two days, he plays, someone at the studio is like hey. wanna be on-call for us? and eddies like sure. ok. So sometimes he's on hit records but they aren't his. royalties are decent from the amount of work he's done. He's a pinch hitter guitarist, and he's good, so he gets a rep in the industry for that. He doesn't seem like the kind of person that could thrive in the high pressure, has major deadlines, environment that being a famous musician woudl be. I mean a lot of rockstars aren't either and it's not healthy for them? I can see Eddie crashing and burning, which I know a lot of fics cover but I also find it super depressing haha. He would probably be too standoffish and anti-authority and possibly refuse outside input for stuff, so he'd be off putting in the industry. not that musicians are always pleasant to work with but i think you get it.

Child star Steve would be so neat tbh. Look I love famous athlete Steve. but also the allure of him being famous young... Maybe as a little piano prodigy? (I love piano prodigy steve hehe) or an actor? like canon era he could have been a Mousketeer! Maybe he did a couple movies (what if he was in a few cult-classic scifi movies...that the party just so happen to love....but don't pay attention to the name of the child actor in...or maybe he used a stage name?) And then him fading away and living his life a little bit, before he decides to come back into the limelight?

I think that often we forget that Steve's "come-to-jesus" moment happened without the upside down. He talked shit, got hit, and then decided that he owed Jonathan (and Nancy) an apology. No one made him help clean up the grafitti! He had no idea there were monsters he just had a shit 48 hours where he went off the handle and then decided he had been an ass and to fix himself. When he was 16! He'd have made these changes to himself without the Upsidedown. Somehow the party knew his full name, and I love the hc that he won a major game/championship for Hawkins as a junior/sophomore so was a minor town celebrity. These lend to Steve being able to handle the pressure without too major a fallout or a long-term downward spiral of self destruction.

Except (okay operating as like a post-canon thing, because I love canon-divergent aus more than no-upside down aus but could still work?) now he's battle scarred and obviously not the rosy-cheeked boy he was when he was a tween. I'm thinking maybe he goes back in '89? give some time to heal from the upside down and Robin is moving for Uni, he's obviously going with her, so he figures acting would beat dead-end minimum wage jobs. Or at least spice things up in between shifts. Maybe he starts with theatre, and decides to see if there's some screen auditions he could do. Maybe he still has people in the industry who remember working with him (he's a good team player and a natural leader) and they help in slip back in. He does some bit parts, a few semi-recurring characters. Maybe he's even on an episode of Law and Order, and people go hey! That guy who's crying over his dead girlfriend (he's a red herring) is the kid from that 70's scifi movie!

Eventually someone actually offers him a role without him auditioning, and it's a bigger part, a side character but one with lines and even a semi decent arc in a b-list movie. he's a good fit. Charming and handsome, plus there are some intense scenes and on set Steve's proved himself capable of handling most things and supportive of coworkers (actors and crew alike.) Except there's a shirtless scene. While his scarring isn't extensive, it's definitely noticeable and not as easy to cover up as the faint discolouration around his neck. it's hard to explain, and usually movies want flawless skin. He tells them this. They still want him.

So he takes the role. And he has a blast on set. He loves working as a team, and even though days are long, he feels everything sort of...coming together. A feeling that this is what he wants to do. that he was right to get back into acting even though he started so young because of his parents.

He makes lasting friendships with nearly everyone he meets on the set. There's a few child actors, and he tries to give them tips and pointers, and be a role model or support for them. he knows what it's like to be little and surrounded by adults a lot of the time, and feeling pressure to be perfect. (They think he's actually the coolest, even if he's also kinda a doofus.) (there's probably a scene where he picks up on of the kids, and then the rest of them on set want piggy back rides too...)

It's considered his comeback role, despite being a few years after he actually came back. The pressures of fame come back again, but he's older now, and he's killed monsters. He has Robin beside him. A few paps don't scare him. Everything he has to hide (besides his bisexuality...and maybe his shitty relationship with his parents) is covered up by the government anyways. He gets bigger parts, and gets an even bigger rep for being a delightful (if viciously sarcastic) and supportive co-worker, especially if there's kids on set. (child stars of the nineties will look back on working with steve and think he was one of the few adults to get it. to understand how big your emotions are as a kid and how most grown ups [often even/especially their parents] didn't let them actually feel what the were feeling, instead wanting them to be acting all the time, instead of only in front of the camera. How he told them to never let anyone do anything they weren't comfortable with, no matter who it was. How he'd stick up for them, no matter what, and would ask how they were doing throughout shooting. They'll look back on being on set with Steve and remember how even if he called them little shits when they tried to prank him or were goofing off, he said it with a wink and a smile.)

I'd say, (please forgive me) he sort of becomes a (90's era) Tom Cruise kind of actor (before he went on oprah and went viral for jumping on the couch and then only did action movies after that) (also steve doesn't become the face of a cult) Like he does action flicks, but can definitely pull his weight as a dramatic actor. (I realize that I already have a movie star steve au but thats a different era I can have overlapping headcanons for the aus!!) His cute heart-shaped smile and amazing hair entrances audiences. He can make emphatic speeches about justice and also carry at least two children out of a burning building. He has range.

idk steve going from child actor to highschool athlete to monster killer to broke thespian to movie star again entices me!!!

#findaanswers #anonasaurus #steve harrington #famous steve harrington #stranger things #steddie #listen. target audience or something #stranger things au #anon...you got me monologuing #finda's rambles #child star steve #eddie munson #forgot i did talk about him at the beginning

[council-of-beetroot]

9, 15, 19 for feliks

9. Do they give tough love or gentle love most often? Which do they prefer to receive?

Despite that he can often be selfish and obnoxious, Feliks is affectionate and he is for the most part gentle. He's definitely the type to have so much planned or have incredibly thoughtful gifts that make one go "damn you are more perceptive than what meets the eye if you figured out that I wanted that." C

Feliks definitely needs tough love though. Boundaries are a must in a relationship with him because when they are unclear then there's issues. Nonetheless there has to be a good mix of gentle love there or it's just not feasible.

That's where I think Tolys struggles with Feliks is that the boundaries are often extremely unclear which isnt the greatest when you're dealing with poland. (I mean it fits given that even with established boundaries Poland still managed to accidentally invade the Czech Republic in 2020) and Tolys has a tendency to send mixed messages or not say much until he's absolutely lost it or is pissed and not willing to listen.

Overall, I'd categorize him as someone who needs a balance of both.

15. What’s the most obvious difference between their behavior at home, at work, at school, with friends, and when they’re alone?

He's a lot more toned down, he is engaged in deeper more meaningful thought, and he's constantly reflecting on interactions and the like. In a way it's nicer for him as it allows him to be his natural self but in ending his performance self it allows the insecurities and anxieties to worm their way back into in his brain and distraction is urgently pursued in order to mute the voice of the asshole part of one's internal monologue.

19. What would they do if stuck in a room with the person they’ve been avoiding?

It's a process to say the least. First, he debates whether to initiate conversation because it's hella awkward and this is a flashing red light to do something for him. Then he attempts small talk but it doesn't go well because usually he's avoiding someone because he is avoiding confrontation. So then he internally panics a bit and says the literal worst thing to say in whatever situation. Then he quickly goes and tries to find literally everything to distract him from his social faux pas. This works for like a minute or two until he begins to think "wait stuck in a room with this person clearly they are at least looking at me" and the best case there is they take pity on him really or knocking the person out with his handbag that might work.

Feliks is so wonderful with social situations. I want to see what happens if he's stuck in an elevator with Sweden.

#asks and replies #eddy! #hetalia #hws poland

[creepylittlelady]

Splendor Man HCs plz

Hiii!!!! Thank you so much for this ask, I love love LOVE Splendorman! I just learnt recently that he's actually meant to be Slenderman's older brother? But I'm so used to seeing him as the emotional younger sibling that I don't really wanna switch that around in my AU. Also Slenderman's backstory sorta relies on him being the oldest lmao.

Splendorman Headcanons!

-Splendorman was born the youngest, being born as Simon Gideon Durchdenwald. He was born in Prussia on October 31st, 1875. He died at the age of 26 in 1901.

-His overly happy and childish persona is sort of a coping mechanism for what he went through in life. He was often teased as a kid and spent most of his days alone, although he really did love the company of others. Not to mention the situation with Charles and his family, he was basically just in a constant state of stress all the time and as Splendorman he vowed to take it easy.

-The dude is the definition of patience. There's not much that will set this man off, and you only ever see him genuinely angry once in a century (Trender genuinely calculated it lmao). You can be every form of just shitty person and he can tolerate it. The dude is always smiling, kinda eerie sometimes......

-Due to being cursed by the Operator, he now takes on a similar form to the rest of the Slender brothers, however as he was the most 'human' out of all of them, he has a face and more human features. His tentacles are white and have little bells on them that chime everytime he's happy :3

-He LOVES doing magic and will often perform for people when they're sad. Upset? Here, have a bunny pulled from a tophat!

-His favourite song is Daisy Bell! He often sings it whilst frolicking the fields lmfao.

-He's genuinely the nicest person you'll ever met, but don't get him wrong, he can still do bad things. NEVER underestimate just how kind he can be. If he genuinely ever does lose his patience with someone, they're dead within the hour.

-He has absolutely no concept of an inside or outside voice lmfao, the dude is always really loud and really hyperbolic about everything, and he just loves using random hand gestures.

-He's an incredibly moral person and doesn't ever kill out of his own volition, and often breaks down in tears every time he ends up killing someone. He's gotten used to it now, but he still feels nauseous.

-He absolutely ADORES Halloween as alongside it just being Halloween, it's also his birthday! He throws a massive party for everyone in the Underground to come and join :3

-He truly does care and love for Slender as he just wants to help with whatever hes going through and get them out of this situation, no scratch that, he just wants to see his older brother again and just have a normal conversation with him. He tries his absolute hardest to find where Slender lives and has had no luck so far.

-He and Trender live in a manor house together in a very fashionable part of the Underground, it's definitely the brightest and most well-decorated in their neighbourhood.

-Splendor operates an ice-cream van!!!! He's also very popular with the local kiddies, and loves performing shows for them

-Lazari is somewhat aware of his existence. However, when she asked Slenderman, while Operating was controlling the body, who he was, it stated that Splendorman wasn't to be trusted, to which she just blindly listened. Although Splendorman has definitely tried to befriend her more than once, she just sort of gives a half-glance and walks away.

-He's also stumbled across Eyeless Jack and Ben Drowned before, and as they were told the same thing about him, they both turned away from him. He wonders if all three of them are correlated with them somehow.

-He hates not being liked. It's his absolute worst fear, and if someone doesn't like he goes into a panicked frenzy.

-He's actually quite smart! He doesn't like focusing his efforts on academic matters, but if you gave him a very complicated question he'd be able to answer it in a matter of minutes :3

Thanks for the request!

#littlelady #creepypasta #creepypasta fandom #creepypasta au #puppet strings #slenderman #ben drowned #creepypasta headcanons #splendorman #trenderman #slender brothers #splendorman headcanons #lazari swann #lazari creepypasta #the operator

[landslided]

sorry same anon again just returning to briefly add that i think season 1 of cobra kai made me so insane and now i'm trapped in this loop because i see that i could be so good like it could be SO good and then i think okay well there's always samtory future cobrakai arc where sam has dropped out of college and worked dead ends jobs for years and has largely pushed her parents away out of self loathing and like tory meanwhile has found like incredible success and similarly in a situation where tory has to help sam but it compels me SO much in how it would be different than daniel and johnny where tory WOULD be SINCERE in trying to make amends etc and sam would be the more instigator/"daniel" role despite occupying the "johnny" position if that makes sense. anyway that is to say i think top two characters who narratively should have sex that aren't daniel and johnny in my opinion. also that the second most INSANE making thing the show has done that was SO good was tory winning because silver paid off the refs INSANE COMPELLING DEFINING moment of all time for samtory season 5 really dropped the ball on the execution of but INSANE set up INSANE choice for their dynamic SO rich. anyway. sorry my only friend i've managed to get into cobra kai is too busy writing deranged piano teacher aus to/with me so i have no outlet for samtory future cobra kai gay sex moment. hey does anyone else think women should be divorced bums in their forties who fuck raw. anyone else. anyo --

(hope it's okay i replied to your anon like this, i wanted to put all your thoughts on the same ask because i know tumblr just hates us and doesn't let us talk the way we want to in asks)

okay wait okay there is SO MUCH TO UNPACK HERE just so much and i feel like it's christmas already

first thing first don't ever feel the need to apologize for sending me anons like this quite literally the best thing i've ever received in many years of being on this hellsite i feel a little bit like chewing glass with how excited i am.

i totally get what you mean about season 1 because it truly feels like they trap you inside this complicated story of violence, vengeance and expectations and then they just never truly pick it up again and you are left with the bits and pieces of this show that not only has so much wasted potential but that has now infected you and you get visions like the fucking youtube red premium cursed cassandra of what it could have been if they'd just committed to what they were selling.

but the. yes. yes, we could have future samtory, it's the thing holding our heads above the water because GOD anon, i feel like you've managed to read my unfinished stories and my drafts on here because i wrote at least ten posts about how i think sam has the same journey as johnny (rich kid who ruins herself through self-hatred and repression and just this insatiable need of not being her father, of not being larusso 2.0 even though she is very much daniel to the shape of her smile and the marrow of her bones), sam who runs away, sam who has to do so to try and find herself except she can't because she has gotten absolutely no tools to do so, she's shaped herself into this perfect glass ornament for her father to put on display because she LOVES him and he loves her too but nothing she has is her own and she cannot find a single thing in herself that doesn't feel like a lie or a performance once again.

and tory is not like this. tory is very much whole and unwaveringly herself even when it gets her in trouble. tory doesn't have to answer for any expectations, tory just has to survive and rise to the occasion in a way sam never had to. tory has this weight on her shoulders that she cannot shake off but in many ways, through love mostly, she picked that weight up and placed it there herself even if it wasn't fair and even if she didn't have much choice, but she makes conscious decisions that pretty much always put herself at risk but she does what she feels is right and good for herself and for the people she loves in the moment, meanwhile sam is carrying around this burden that was attached to her back long before she first even opened her eyes.

there is something to say about the tragedy of daniel, absolutetly unable to have friends, unable to form meaningful relationships with people he doesn't have a past with (louie is his cousin, anoush is his employee, johnny, chozen and mike are part of his past) and when he does, it's robby he chooses because he doesn't look for an equal or a friend, he looks for a way to reproduce his relationship with mr miyagi but in the opposite because that's when he felt at his safest, that's his ONLY relationship that has brought him nothing but love and understanding and when you add all that (which, like you, i do. i do see all of the show's forgetful little things as proof of daniel's forced repression after tkk3 i literally wrote a whole section about his loneliness in one of my fics but ANYWAY) when you do add all that and translate it to sam who has no friends. it's not even that she doesn't have girl friends, she doesn't and its crazy and it says SO much about her, but she doesn't have any friends who aren't something else at first. miguel is her ex, so is robby, demetri was her sort of student for a while and then a sort of colleague to which she applies a relationship that is more reminiscent of boss/employee than actual friends and she!!! doesn't!!! have friends!!! they took away aisha but even before that sam had almost purposefully fucked up her relationship with aisha to enter a circle of popular kids who were NOT her friends and were not close to her and did not care about her. sam keeps herself locked away from a lot of her peers and that is so very clearly in my head an imitation of what her father does that it becomes unconsciously her own behavior.

and worse than all that, she's fucked up! like genuinely fucked up! she keeps ruining her relationships and she doesn't know what she wants and she is angry and scared and mean when she wants to be and yet, there is such a true real kindness to her, a goodness that comes from her very core that she cannot keep from affecting all her decisions.

sam would grow up estranged from her family, unable to express these monstrous feelings she's kept locked away for song long and she would find tory again and feel this same pull. this same moment of oh, maybe you do get me, maybe you do understand what and who i am and that is totally unbearable because being known is being in danger and i don't know myself how dare you know me more than i do. and tory would be genuine in wanting to help sam, because tory, a kid who did so much to survive and who has now found success and comfort would want to help someone she feels like she might have impacted in her life, someone who deserves the same chance she got (and maybe it's to alleviate some of her guilt too but it's still true and it's still done with this undercurrent of honesty that taints everything tory touches)

i also totally agree that making silver pay for tory's win was a wonderful plot decision that they totally fucked up later on but just, ugh the exquisite bittersweet victory, the defeat in sam's eyes because the win should have been hers, she's the best and she's played every single card in the game and tory knows this, knows that she's undeserving and she has NEVER been undeserving in her life and yet here she is, silver has made a liar out of her and has changed a fundamental part of who she is forever.

older samtory who are pathetic losers in the matters of love and keep pulling the same old tricks with each other that always ends up on the mat, licking old wounds before pouring salt directly onto them.

truly. truly ship of all time. samtory has the potential of a thousand suns.

(i ALSO am a big sam shaves her head believer god im UGH yes yes yes yes)

im sorry i ended up talking so much, but like you i feel a lot of emotions for these girls.

ALSO!!!!!!!! YOUR FRIEND'S DERANGED PIANO TEACHER AU????? I HAVE READ THIS FIC AT LEAST FIVE TIMES SINCE IT WAS POSTED LAST MONTH AND I EVEN COMMENTED ON IT THAT IT HAD MADE ME CRAZY LIKE GENUINELY BITING AT MY FINGERNAILS UNHINGED!!!!!!!!

if you ever feel comfortable being off anon, hit me up i think im in love with your brain and would love to discuss samtory with you

#*asks #literally god. im gonna think of this the whole weekend. #samtory

[patchun]

It's that time of year again. Yes, the time for a highly unnecessary but very detailed tier list for an obscure game that no one plays anymore. Today I bring you: the Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime CREW TIER LIST!

First of all, if you haven't played this game, let me explain some basics.

Rocket Slime is kind of in its own genre. You explore these levels where you find slimes to save and materials to gather, and eventually you get a tank, which you can use in tank battles. The stuff you found out in the levels can then be used to improve stuff like your tank HP and ammo, and eventually you unlock the ability to add more crew members to the tank to help with operations. Generally, each crew member will have a two "Tactics" to choose from, which you can switch between at any time in combat. Something like "Infiltrate and sabotage" will have the crew member try to break into the enemy tank and cause chaos, sometimes causing the ammo dispensaries to malfunction if they are successful. Or something like "Use the lower cannon" will have the crew member go around your tank and gather ammo, and then... throw it in the lower cannon. But, there is a lot of diversity in exactly how effective each crew member is within a given Tactic. And that's what I'll be exploring today.

As usual, I meticulously tested every crew member, generally comparing it against other crew members with the same tactics. My wife and I made "best of"s of each Tactic, making notes of everyone's performance, and then put everything together to create an ultimate overall tier list. Without further ado, here it is.

I'll start at the bottom.

Absolute Garbage: These crew members either have Tactics that are completely useless or are so bad at doing their job that you may as well not have them at all!

Mother Glooperior - She's the best of these, as she at least has the option to "Use the lower cannon"... she's just... incredibly... slow... at doing it. Her other tactic, "Keep everyone alive", is entirely useless, as she can only cast Miniheal on crew members that are inside your tank. The amount of times where enemies can actually successfully infiltrate your tank is so sparse, and her usefulness in those specific situations still so little, that I sadly couldn't justify putting her even in the Extremely Niche Use Tier. She does get points for cuteness, at least.

Bunicorn - It can fire itself out of a cannon for a whopping 15 damage!!(?) or it can attempt to Infiltrate and Sabotage... and probably not break down the wall of the enemy tank by the time you've passed of old age. I should probably go into how we tested Infiltrate and sabotage to explain. Infiltrate and sabotage has a crew member leave the tank, walk across that entire field, and enter the enemy tank from the front. There, they will be confronted with a wall.

This wall. They will attack this wall over. And over. And over. For some crew members, it takes maybe thirty seconds. Others, I dunno, about a minute? But for Bunicorn, this takes an ENORMOUS amount of time, because every single time it attacks, it gets its horn stuck in the wall, and has to do a whole recovery animation. If you can't even Infiltrate in the first place, then you can't really Sabotage, can you?But in Bunicorn's case, it doesn't matter. Tired of waiting, I broke down the wall for it, and it proceeded to go in and maybe destroy one panel (seen at the top right of the image above, they control various mechanisms of the tank and provide advantages for you if they're broken), then died to enemies without getting a single hit in. Bunicorn cannot Infiltrate OR sabotage, and for that reason, it is Absolute Garbage. At least it's also cute.

Curate Rollo - If you really needed to be kept alive in the tank, Curate Rollo would be the dude. He can also accompany you and keep you alive in the enemy tank. But like, the only times you would ever possibly even need this, aka the battles against Flucifer and Hooly, he can't be used. So yeah, useless.

Restless Armor - They have two options, "Infiltrate and sabotage" and "Guard your commander". Huge problem with both - this thing is super, super slow. While it may be faster at breaking the wall than Bunicorn, it takes ages for this dude to walk across that field, and once they're in, chances are they'll die before they're able to do anything, also due to their slowness. Guard your commander is a useless Tactic in general, as most of the time they'll get in your way more than protect you, seems like more often than not they'll accidentally attack you (which does damage) rather than the enemy, lol. But for Restless Armor in particular, it can't guard Rocket effectively at all, because it can't keep up with him! It's too slow!

Living Statue - Like Mother Glooperior, Living Statue has the option to use one of the cannons, but like Mother Glooperior, it is incredibly slow in doing so. Its other option is "Keep baddies out", which is probably the worst Tactic in the game ever. It sounds like it could be useful, even if just for those rare instances where the enemy team is dedicated to breaking into your tank... but ironically, that seems to be where it is most useless! I tested Big Daddy, Blubba, and Living Statue, and every time I set these guys to "Keep baddies out", and allowed baddies in... they just wandered around aimlessly doing absolutely nothing at the back of the tank! Like, what? You'd think "Keep baddies out" would have the crew members programmed to stay near the front of the tank for protection, but it almost seems as if they were programmed specifically to not work! So yes, this is a useless tactic, but it gets worse - eventually I got tired of waiting and having my tank destroyed, so I pushed my Living Statue into sight of the baddies, which finally triggered him to fight... one of them. And what did he do? Well... nothing. His attacks are so slow and have such short reach that he was unable to Keep baddies out at all. And here's the real kicker about Living Statue - it's not cute. And why would you use a crew member that isn't cute? Think about that.

EXTREMELY Niche Use: These crew members are really... not that much better than the useless members, but in very rare circumstances, they can actually do something, and do it well. Or, in one case, they provide such great comedic value that it's worth looking past their flaws. Here we go.

Mimic - Mimic's first Tactic is "Bring ammo", which, other than being not a very good tactic in the first place, it completely sucks at, because it's very slow. The interesting one is its second tactic, "Mimic a chest". Mimic will slowly hop across the field and into the enemy tank, get to the wall, and then... sit there. It doesn't even break the wall, so it can't really count as an Infiltrate and sabotage or anything. But, say somehow the wall is already broken, perhaps by you or a different crew member, then the Mimic will enter further into the tank and lie in wait. When an enemy approaches, Mimic will pounce. And the reason Mimic can be good in niche circumstances is because when it pounces, it does not stop. It keeps biting, and biting, and biting, and unless an outside force stops it, it will get at least a few kills. If it can get inside the enemy tank, it's fairly good at what it does. Might be worth shooting it out of your cannon to get it there.

Golem - It does nothing, it just provides you with a Golem that you can hop in and ride. Once in, you have a high movement speed and can easily break into and destroy the inside of the enemy tank. Once that's done, it returns to being completely useless for the rest of the battle.

Flabbot Flancisco - He has one tactic, and that's to stand there and sing, healing your tank for 20hp every 20-30 seconds. Basically deadweight, but not completely useless, as he is doing... something.

Bo - Bo is a very funny crew member. Her options are "Bring ammo" and "Follow the leader". Bring ammo is not very good, but at bringing ammo, she is the best (along with Tokyo Tom). Meanwhile, "Follow the leader" has her shadow you, napping or singing every once in a while along the way. She doesn't pick up ammo, BUT! She will attack the wall with you if you're trying to break in, and she's actually one of the strongest crew members at fighting enemies, as she has an attack with a large hitbox and very quick windup time. I never tried, but shooting her directly at the enemy might not be a bad way of using her, when she isn't supplying ammo.

Tokyo Tom - A similar story to Bo, but Tokyo Tom also has the option of “Goonin Cammoflauge” where he turns himself into a pebble, bullet or medicinal herb and hops over to the enemy tank. Once he gets to the wall, he really struggles, constantly firing off shurikens in the complete wrong direction (why?), but he did manage to break the wall down at an average speed nonetheless. Once inside, he isn’t as sneaky as he thinks he is, and performs somewhat average compared to other Infiltrate and sabotagers. Imp - This dude sucks. He can Fire Like Crazy (basically meaning he can use the upper and lower cannons) or Bring ammo, but is terrible at both of them because he CONSTANTLY trips and falls, dropping whatever ammo he was holding, and usually just leaving it there. So, why is he not in the Absolute Garbage Tier? Because he’s fucking hilarious. Every time he falls he says “Thon of a thlime, I dropped what I wath carrying!” and it’s just gold. He sucks but we love him.

Below Average: These guys are like… the RU tier of Pokemon. They can do their jobs and do it fine. But there are just, generally, much better options Swotsy - Swotsy has the options to use the lower or upper cannon. Relative to other viable cannon users, Swotsy is fairly slow at loading, and speed was generally how we judged our cannon-user viability. Somehow, the most notable thing about Swotsy is that they are really, really talented at… sabotaging our own teammates. Swotsy CONSTANTLY accidentally throws teammates into the cannon, and depending on the teammate, that can either be kind of situationally beneficial, or most commonly very detrimental to our tank’s DPS! I don’t know why it’s just Swotsy that we noticed this most with, perhaps it’s because of Blubba being one of the first teammates we use?

Baron Blubba - He can carry three pieces of ammo, which is really nice, as most crew members save for god himself and Rocket can only carry one. The problem is that he’s so slow at moving that chances are, other crew members will have already picked up the ammo he was moving towards by the time he gets there, so the amount of times he’ll actually come with three pieces of ammo when you’re using other genuinely good teammates is really low. Additionally, due to his enormous hitbox, Blubba is VERY prone to being accidentally knocked into your cannon. Thankfully, it’s not the worst thing in the world, as Blubba isn’t that bad at fighting enemies, so he can do some damage if he ends up making it to the enemy tank… but if he’s disrupted mid-flight, he’ll have to do his very very slow wobble of shame back home. We made a note that, evidently, Blubba just has a very throwable face.

Picksy - The worst of the viable “Use upper or lower cannon” users. Picksy moves very slowly until it has picked up ammo, then it moves quickly - the opposite of Swotsy, who moves quickly until they pick up ammo. But Swotsy seemed to be faster overall via testing, along with the other viable “Use upper or lower cannon” user Dracky.

Ghost - My wife and I heavily debated Ghost’s position, but I definitely think it belongs here in “”C”” tier. It can either “Steal ammo” or “Hamper their commander”, which is basically “Target their commander” by a different name. With regards to Steal Ammo, there are three crew members who can do this, and of them, Ghost is arguably the worst. Though enemy ghosts are very annoying to deal with because they’re invisible, Baddies seem to be able to sense the ghosts through this and hit them anyways. It’s still effective, just, not very. Like the others on this list. Hamper their commander meanwhile has one perk over the other “Target their commander” options (which is more or less Infiltrate and sabotage, but instead of focusing on destroying the enemy ship, the crew member will try to kill the enemy commander, possibly destroying some stuff along the way), which is that Ghost can go through the wall, making it a non issue. We tested Ghost twice with different results, but our conclusion was that Hamper their commander is effective. Honestly, Ghost may warrant further investigation.

Walking Corpse - It can “Fire Like Crazy” and has average speed doing so. The gimmick of the Walking Corpse is that when it dies, it is instantly resurrected… but the only way for it to happen is if an enemy is in the ship, and it’s not great at defending, so why does it even matter? That said, it’s definitely not the worst in the world. Problem is it gets no points for cuteness.

Average: UU Tier of Pokemon. These guys are all pretty good at doing what they need to do. Some may have useless secondary tactics, but it doesn’t really matter if they can accomplish at least one of their tactics well. Because it’s so populated, I’ll try to be brief about these. Jinkster - Zooms around the tank with magic. Small and quick, has Fire like crazy so it can use both cannons. It’s small, so it’s unlikely to be knocked into the cannon by accident, but if it is, it does have the Infiltrate and sabotage tactic. With that, it’s very squishy and dies fast, but it’s also focused. It uses magic and targets specific areas. B+ tier.

Cactiball - Has “Fire like crazy”. Most Fire like crazy crew members are minimally slowed down when they’re holding ammo, Cactiball is not. Sometimes it will dance with maracas which is a plus. “Target their commander” is its other option. It struggles against The Wall, but once in, can do quite a bit of destruction, as it basically makes its entire body into an attack.

Gooshido - Steals ammo. Fun to use, but very squishy, dies quickly, and is bound to jump into enemy fire accidentally.

Big Daddy - Very fast, good at Infiltrate and sabotage. Can break down The Wall pretty quickly, and is really good at destroying the inside of the tank as well as fighting enemies. Other option is Keep baddies out, which we’ve discussed is terrible.

Hooly - Basically the same as Big Daddy, but with a smaller hurtbox and hitbox. Other option is firing himself out of a cannon… which does 15 damage. No thanks.

Mama Mia - She has Fire like crazy, which is good. Her other option is “Mum Missile”, where she charges up and then tells you to shoot her into a cannon, lol. At maximum charge, Mama Mia does 125 damage, which is big. But… she’s locked behind postgame, where you’ll likely have items that can do similar damage AND crew members doing other important things.

Wyrtle - Can Use the upper cannon or fire itself out of a cannon. When using the upper cannon, it’s pretty quick. When firing out of a cannon, it does thirty damage, which isn’t that good - but on the plus side, it has a little bit of super armor so it won’t immediately be knocked out of the sky. This would be really good if it wasn’t able to be accidentally knocked into the cannons, but for some reason, it can be.

Mischievous Mole - Can Use the upper cannon or Bring ammo. As fast as Wyrtle. When bringing ammo, it’s the third best.

Jailcat - Has “Fire like crazy” and “Infiltrate and sabotage”. It’s amazing at infiltrating, as it will always immediately jump over The Wall, completely bypassing it, and then attack the panel that controls it, thus allowing anyone else to come over. But at sabotaging? It’s really bad. It attacks slowly and dies quickly. Still, being able to bypass The Wall is more than a lot of Infiltrate and sabotage users can do. So basically it’s a good support member.

Dracky - Use upper or lower cannon. It’s not that much better than Swotsy, but it’s very cute and is trying its best. Points for cuteness put it in low B tier.

Platypunk - It has Fire like crazy and Infiltrate and sabotage. It really struggles to get past The Wall.

BEST IN CLASS: These are the best at what they do, and probably the best crew members in the game.

Goodybag - “Steal ammo” is its only ability. But god damn can it steal ammo. My wife and I created a competition between Goodybag, Gooshido, and Ghost. To do so, we stood in the upper room of our tank and allowed all three of them to act on their own, then we tallied each time one shot stolen ammo out of the tank. Here’s what that looked like: Goodybag: IIIIIIIII Gooshido:  IIII Ghost:        III …Yeah. Goodybag can instantly Zoom into the enemy tank, grab ammo extremely quickly, and carry it all the way back extremely quickly. It’s probably about as fast as one of the C tiers… while grabbing ammo from ANOTHER tank. It’s genuinely crazy. Not only that, but because Goodybag can Zoom into the other tank, you can use it to enter the enemy tank without worrying about The Wall. Goodybag will run away from Baddies, which can sometimes complicate its speed, but it also doesn’t die as easily as Gooshido and doesn’t risk being hit by enemy ammo. Of course, the effectiveness of Goodybag also depends on the ammo used by the enemy tank. Against powerful lategame enemies, Goodybag will be stealing Kafrizzles and Metal King Swords, but against early game enemies, it’ll be stealing pompoms. Also, if you’ve played Rocket Slime, you’ll understand that Goodybag isn’t exactly fun to recruit.

Killing Machine - Extremely fast movement and ammo-loading, which is made even faster if it gets hurt at all. It uses the upper cannon,but it can also Infiltrate and sabotage. Against the wall, it has average performance, it’s not great at it, but chances are if your Killing Machine makes it to the enemy tank, it’s because it was accidentally knocked into a cannon in the first place, so the wall isn't a huge issue. Not only that, but as far as “Keep baddies out”, Killing Machine is probably your best bet, even though that isn’t even one of its tactics. It will drop what it’s doing and defend your tank against stuff like invisible Ghosts, Dancing Flames, et cetera. It’s a case where an awesome design does awesome things, and ya love to see it.

Goosashi - Goosashi is interesting because he basically has three tactics. The two listed are “Goonin Ammo Strike” and “Goonin Bodyguard”. For Goonin Ammo Strike, it’s a unique ability that allows Goosashi to catch enemy ammo in the air if he’s thrown out of a cannon. A very cool ability that can really come in clutch if used well. Goonin Bodyguard is probably (?) the second best bodyguard skill after Bo’s, but as I’ve mentioned, the guard skills aren’t very good - though, it can be fun to use it at the end of the battle. What the game doesn’t tell you is that while Goonin Ammo Strike is selected, Goosashi will be set to “Fire like crazy”, and his speed and ammo-loading speed are very, very quick. So essentially what you have is a crew member that is by default, very good, but then has some pretty useful circumstantial abilities to boot.

Dancing Flame - Dancing Flame is THE Infiltrate and Sabotaguer… well, other than god. It can break down The Wall in a meager two attacks, barely any time at all, and then is quite good at combat and destruction once inside the enemy tank. If you want someone to Infiltrate and sabotage, Dancing Flame is your dude. Notably, like Hooly, Killing Machine and Big Daddy, the Dancing Flame has a higher movement speed than Rocket. The other tactic for Dancing Flame is bodyguard, once again, something that can be used at the end of battles to take down the core easier,... depending on your RNG, of course.

GOD: Reserved for the best team member in every way.

Hammerhood - I don’t know who on the Rocket Slime dev team just REALLY liked Hammerhood, but there was definitely someone like that. Hammerhood has “Fire like crazy”, where it moves very quickly and does not slow down when carrying ammo… but the crazy thing is, Hammerhood can hold TWO pieces of ammo at a time. Unlike Blubba, however, Hammerhood is just as quick-moving as the other top tiers! But it doesn’t stop there! Hammerhood’s other option is “Target their commander”. In this mode, he handles The Wall above average, and will start causing havoc. But the real kicker about Hammerhood is that when he is damaged a single time, possibly even by being accidentally (((or deliberately))) bumped into by Rocket, he will lose his hammer and go berserk, running towards the enemy ship, absolutely decimating The Wall, and being near unkillable inside. It runs around crying and flailing its arms, destroying everything in its path, be it panels or enemies. The only chance enemies have against it is to team up, and chances are by that point there will have been severe losses already. So basically, Hammerhood is the best cannon user and the best at causing destruction in the enemy tank. It’s just the best crew member. My wife theorized that Hammerhood would be able to hold three pieces of ammo… if it wasn’t already carrying its hammer. If you’ve played Rocket Slime but have never got around to trying out Hammerhood, I highly encourage it, or if this tier list has motivated you to try Rocket Slime, you know exactly who you need to collect 30 of. He can basically solo some fights.

#tumblr killed this post halfway through me making it so i had to retype all of it :d #dragon quest #dragon quest rocket slime #rocket slime #slime #hammerhood

[lumilasi]

Another one off my to-do list yaaay! I initially meant to keep her OG hairstyle, but realized it'd look too similar with her bestie Iris, so I changed it.

While she appears more in the spin-off side of my story, Miriam is still a teacher for some of the main story characters, namely Hayden and Caelan.

Anyway, more info below: (She is a newer one, so things will still likely develop overtime, but tried to put the basics down)

Name: Miriam Belarose

Nicknames: Mia/Bell (Iris) Bells (Azul)

Age: 38

Height: 157 cm

Friends: Azul (A sorcerer and a childhood friend of her bestie who sometimes asks for her assistance with his quest) Reuben (Azul's brother) Beatrice (A forest witch journalist) Ilves, Kuura, Aura & Varis Avara (Iris' adoptive siblings, as in, their family adopted her) Mariella Marisol (A tree nymph)

Love-interest: none

Powers:

Visions: As a medium, Miriam can foresee the potential consequences of decisions made, or look into the past of a spirit or an object. She can also get more vague forewarning about something, such as a sense of something going wrong, or needing to play closer attention to something.

Astral projection: She can project herself into the astral plane to contact others or discuss with spirits, or to physically travel into another location. (Generally speaking, all magic users can perform some form of this, but Mediums tend to spend the most time in there, and they can contact spirits the easiest)

Astral Access: mediums are unique also in the sense that they can go absolutely ANYWHERE in the spirit realm, unlike other magic users. This is because they are naturally attuned to it, and their presence therefore doesn't disturb or bother anything in there. (More powerful magic users often have to force/bargain their way in for example.)

Exorcism: She is able to banish dangerous spirits or remove weak-to-medium strength possessions from people or objects

Spirit realm expertise: Miriam is especially knowledgeable of the spirit realm and its quirks and dangers, and can recognize a potential threat coming through it instantly, or what area she is in.

Weaknesses:

Because she is a Mage, she is considered among the weakest magic users, and has very limited capability ultimately; for example, while she can perform exorcisms and remove possessions, she isn't capable of removing the more powerful types.

While her mind is very resilient against mental invasions, that is more due to her nature rather than her magic; if she is not doing that well mentally, her protections can be breached fairly easily, and once something gets in, she'll need some help to remove it.

(More tba)

Personality:

Miriam is calm and collected woman, who tends to be incredibly patient. She needs to have the nerves of steel because of the kind of people she's surrounded with; where her friends are up to Shenanigans, she tends to be the mature one and remind them that "while yes, you can go and do this crazy thing, but at least be properly prepared for it, you reckless idiot."

She's one of those people who enjoys small things in life such as good cup of tea or a silent moment gardening, and tends to find people who can't appreciate things like these a little vain or at least in need of a break and reflection.

While seemingly the calm and serious one, Miriam absolutely has a sense of humor, and tends to laugh at "bad" jokes, namely puns. She also is absolutely down to help students out with little harmless shenanigans, like ghost hunting (also because she can protect them if there IS a ghost) or wanting to throw a surprise party for someone.

FUN FACTS

Miriam is one of the teachers for one of the members of the main story protagonist family, Caelan, as well as Caelan's friend Hayden.

She was initially kind of sus about meeting Iris' ex boyfriend, given she didn't have full context about that situation as Iris hadn't told her much at that point yet (She only knew he's her ex and a wanted criminal), but after meeting Azul and getting to know him, she figured he's a good person after all

She has a bit of a green thumb, and even those with natural magic connected to plantlife (like Beatrice) tend to be impressed by her home garden.

She met Mariella while the nymph had just started her new job in the biggest city park, after leaving behind her old job as a Guardian for one of the Life trees, and helped her to get to know the area a bit better as Miriam is very familiar with it

Both her and Iris are bookworms and often have long discussions about literacy, be it just debates about the themes of a specific book, or literacy trends at large

#artists on tumblr #oc reference #digital art #lumi's chaotic creations #lumi's art scribbles #The mage and the mobster #Night city parlor #Miriam Belarose #my oc

[lonelier-version-of-you]

Well, Casualty tonight was excellent!! Apart from Faith Cadogan, of course, but that's the norm and I try to pretend she doesn't exist as a character at this point lol.

Jaye Jacobs and Charles Venn absolutely carried the episode, I think - Donna and Jacob are both always highlights of the week for me anyway, but their performances in this one were incredible.

Jacob's phonecall to Billie just about tipped the scales in favour of Jacob's storyline being the best part for me, though Donna's storyline almost won that title. I wasn't expecting Jacob to be as prominent this week as he turned out to be, so I was very pleasantly surprised! Yay for Jacob!!

Jacob continues to be one of the very best portrayals of a trauma survivor I've ever seen in fiction. I thought this ep wove his storyline in wonderfully, and a lot more than I expected it to. I thought he would mostly just get patient storylines and that would be it, so I was so happy they finally went back to discussing his trauma and even more so that they acknowledged his breakup with Billie. The scene where he and Iain were talking about it was fantastic, though it made me sad that he seemed to feel so guilty for how he talked to her. (Not saying it was okay, he definitely shouldn't have done it, but I really do get where it came from in regards to his trauma.)

I'm just... I'm just so glad Jacob exists, okay? I love him so much and he's very important to me. Sorry, I know I say that whenever I talk about him. Also, on that note, I thought the way he got that man to let Iain go was very clever on his part! He was so wonderful and kind all throughout this ep. :)

And I adored the last scene, when he called Billie to say sorry for how he'd treated her. That was just a beautiful scene (the parallel with Charlie's talk with Jacob back in May made it even more so). Jacob admitting and taking accountability for how he acted - that was great. Maybe next he'll even make that therapy appointment! I really hope he can find some healing and support and forgiveness for himself, he deserves it even if he thinks he doesn't. I think this was a positive step for him mentally and emotionally, and I'm glad of that. I hope his mental health/trauma storyline continues to be this good.

Also, I think Billie will be coming back after all, which I'm pleased about! I really like her as a character and she has wonderful chemistry with Jacob. I'm also very happy Jacob is now a fully-fledged paramedic, even if I'm still confused by him doing all the training in such a short space of time.

Charles Venn has really shown yet again why he's worthy of his Inside Soap Award nomination for Best Drama Star this year. Not only that, he'd be more than worthy of a win! :)

I loved Donna's scenes so much, and Jaye Jacobs was brilliant! Seeing Donna's kindness towards Ashley was just so nice. The scene with her and Ashley on the stairs was possibly the best moment of the episode to me (although Jacob's aforementioned phonecall comes so close).

I also think Donna's coming closer to telling the truth, which is good.

And they've aged Mia's character up a bit - Donna said Mia is 19, tonight, when she should be more like 17. That was odd. But I feel like it's going to end up being a Fredrik situation anyway (Holby made Fredrik younger and then reversed it less than a year later) so I'm not too bothered by it.

I hate Faith, and this week gave me even more reasons to. I don't want to waste too much time thinking/talking about her, but I'll just say... you know how I praised Jacob for taking accountability for his actions? Yeah, that stood out not only as a positive step for Jacob, but because it contrasts so massively with Faith - who is doing anything but.

What am I even supposed to say about all this? Faith saw a woman literally suffering from cancer and Faith's apparent only thought was "oh hey, I could tell Stevie I've got the same illness so she feels sorry for me and I can get away with anything!". There's something so awful about her not only lying about being seriously ill, but doing so for such a trivial reason.

I have so much sympathy for Stevie here - she's only recently got away from Marcus, and now she's basically being emotionally abused all over again. I hated seeing Faith gaslight and manipulate her like that.

I hope Stevie figures out what's going on and ends her friendship with Faith for good. Then Stevie can go be friends with Dylan instead. They could be like the Henrik/Jac friendship equivalent for Casualty.

Cameron being fed up with Ryan was nice, in part because I am also fed up with Ryan. Having said that...

I really liked the scenes with Ryan and his patient (did they ever say what his name was? I have to assume they did, but I didn't hear it). Those were cool, and I always love some good disability representation from Casualty!

Are Jodie and Cam going to get together? Only time will tell, but I'm curious now. On that note, I would've liked more Max and Jodie scenes this week.

So yeah, tonight was a good one for Casualty, and I'm thrilled about a potential Jacob/Billie reunion! Yay!

#BBC Casualty #Jacob Masters #tw;abuse mention #Casualty spoilers

[featherssideblog]

Feathers Reacts: Motorcity - Episode 11 - Off the Rack

Time for more Motorcity! Now with more Julie. :)

Episode 11 Thoughts

Oh, the Burners are helping refugees from Deluxe escape! I'm really curious about what exactly the political situation is in Deluxe - how much of the population opposes Kane? I mean, they live in a corporate dictatorship, but it seems entirely possible for someone like Claire to never feel like their freedoms have been limited, and to be extremely sheltered from the violence caused by Kane's expansionist tendencies. Anybody doing polls up in Deluxe? XD

Julie, Julie, Julie. Do you feel guilty because you couldn't help the Burners on this particular mission, or do you feel guilty because you're keeping secrets, or do you feel guilty because your dad is a cruel person with anger management issues who you love anyway? Because I have a feeling all of that guilt is about to result in some real unfortunate decisions.

Claire's total lack of understanding about why Julie is rebelling against Deluxe is just so darn intriguing to me. No understanding of broader social causes - maybe that's the effect of propaganda, maybe it's a bit of willful ignorance given that she's met people from Motorcity - but she's incredibly loyal to Julie on a personal level. Claaaaaaaire I wanna know more about what goes on in your brain!!!

Julie's acting out mission impossible here XD

Texas . . . don't be a bully. :( What's up with you, man? I know he's not the best on picking up on other people's emotions, but this "Miss Deluxe" feels very targeted. On the other hand - Texas is a big bundle of machismo, which - I mean, that sort of braggadocio and extreme performance of masculinity often implies a lot of insecurities. In which case you could interpret his behavior as a projection of his own need to be perceived as masculine. Since Julie is "one of the guys" in his head, she falls into the category of "people whose gender I need to police to make sure I'm not girly."

Mike: "You don't need to prove anything." This guy is so good to his friends, I am filled with warmth.

"The percentage of defecting Deluxians is miniscule." Ahhhh, so this answers some of my questions from the beginning of the episode. And Kane's reply! "We lost Mike Chilton and look where that got us." It's really all about Mike, isn't it? Kane would expand into Motorcity even if Mike hadn't defected, but I wonder how much of his wrath towards the place is specifically about losing control of his prize cadet.

Uhhhhh those cube things don't have people in them, right?? No, the Burners definitely just took down some buildings. Well, now Kane is launching actual human beings at their cars. I guess everybody's wearing invulnerability suits, so no harm done, but holy shit. If there are no casualties here it'll be a miracle.

HAHAHAHAHA oh my GOD Kane's advertisement for Kane Shades with his naked sweating muscular chest, what the HELL?? It's making me think of various other real-life dictators and autocrats who have tried to hype their own sex appeal in state propaganda. XD

Julie: "Are you insane??" Mike: "You'll be fine; you've got the safety suit!" Julie: "Yeah, but what about you??" Mike: "I've got Mutt" :) Mike is such an adrenaline junkie

With Kane pulling crap like this it's a wonder there isn't a higher percentage of defectors. Ahhh but he blamed the Burners. I see.

Concluding Thoughts:

It seems like it never really sunk in for Julie that she doesn't need to prove anything to anyone. And I think that indicates that her insecurity stems from guilt about lying to her teammates and guilt about her father, because those are the things that haven't changed. At least she can confide in Claire.

And speaking of Claire! What an intriguing character! She's not about to join the revolution, per se, but on the other hand she is absolutely risking her life when she lies to Kane to cover for Julie. I love it. :)

Texas is just. A lot. In Texas-ify It, he was slightly humbled by realizing he had misplaced the trust he put in Kaia, but I wonder if we're going to get a Texas-centric episode where he learns to be generally more emotionally aware. We don't need Mike levels of intuitive empathy here, just - I think it would be interesting to poke a little bit more at his character and why he behaves the way he does, and what it would take to get him to make an effort to change his behavior for his friends.

#motorcity #julie kane #mike chilton #claire motorcity #texas motorcity #motorcity episode 11 off the rack

[marmotsomsierost]

Advocating for your family and their medical care is incredibly important.

Being upset that you didn't get an explanation of exactly why your family was discharged is understandable. Even if it is clearly written in the discharge paperwork. It can be legitimately difficult to decode the papers, especially if there is a language or cognitive concern.

Like i will even grant that raising your voice and using demanding language is not necessarily the incorrect choice. Something sucks, you shouldn't have to be sweet and deferential about it.

However.

Loudly berating every single person in scrubs that you see and stating how you are advocating for your family, that you just want them to get the care we would want for our own family, we all are terrible and not doing our jobs because we don't care about our patients, we don't care about someone being in pain and how are you going to discharge a patient without running (test not usually done in the ED in a nonemergent situation) or (test you have already had because your doctor ordered it and we have literally nothing to do with in the ED because we neither performed it nor interpreted it) AND you are 'documenting who i talk to and when and what they say and i need everyone's name who says anything to me' AND after spending six hours sitting in the lobby stewing because the doctor hasn't come talk to you yet while loudly calling everyone you know to talk shit about us and rehash all of the above you say - with absolutely no sense of shame -

that you have been taking photos and video of 'people sitting on their ass' not doing anything

And when i say "You cannot take pictures in here" you say "it doesn't say i can't" and when i say "it is very clearly posted several places that it is not allowed" you say "well i don't see them" and security chimes in pointing out exactly where they are you pause and then say - again, with absolutely no shame -

"Well as much as you all haven't been doing your jobs, i clearly didn't read it"

AND THEN

And THEN you say 'i don't care, i have been documenting all of this because my lawyer told me to because this is (reiteration of entire rant from beginning)'

...THIS IS NOT ADVOCATING FOR YOUR FAMILY MY DUDE

and you are fucking lucky that you got the charge nurse and doctors that you did get because if you had a problem with doc A's attitude holy shit would you have gone ballistic nylon batshit pants if you'd had doc B. And if you'd had a different charge or a different house sup you would have been physically removed the second you said word one about taking pictures. Patients have been removed for taking pictures or video, and you're not even the patient!

"I've been here for five hours and the doctor STILL hasn't come to talk to me. That's how much this hospital is worth. They don't treat the patients right."

We have one doctor. One. If the waiting room is standing fucking room only...maybe, JUST MAYBE, he hasn't come talk to you FOR THE SECOND TIME because HE CAN'T.

...

Anyway. Fuck this day, i'm going home and i'm gonna be just this side of blowing my speakers out on some marcus miller to try and regain an iota of patience.

#just #the absolute rotten radioactive fake maraschino cherry on this fucking day #flashbacks straight to that one fucking family member of one of our regulars on the rig #you're acting like a fucking child and it is actively impeding further care to your family like what the fuck bro #and #AND!!! #one of the things they were harping on about how dare we discharge them without (doing thing) #BECAUSE THAT THING IS MUCH RISKIER FOR THE PATIENT THAN WHAT THEY ALREADY HAVE #like it SPECIFICALLY SAYS on the FUCKING INFO PAPER FOR THEM that that is a CONTRAINDICATION FOR USE #B R O #i have such a fucking headache if i didn't need to save my pto i would be like no fuck y'all i'm done #i got on shift and i didn't even get to my ASSIGNED STATION until THREE HOURS because the charge kept having me do shit in the back #YOU HAVE A MAIN TECH FOR THIS #i don't mind pitching in! i don't mind covering for breaks or if the shit has hit the fan #but when the shit has hit the fan up front or i go on my break nobody covers for me #so i come back to four ekgs and a splint and a charge nurse demanding i room three patients and there's four to be triaged still #and sometimes that's just the way shit goes #but when i i'm running laps doing shit and i see a bunch of people not doing shit #it's not a great vibe! #i am using guy williams gifs because he is very pretty and i loved watching that show as a kid #and when i opened to look for my usual picard facepalm there was one on the suggested menu

[harristops]

https://twitter.com/karri_kemyst/status/1529662445312090112?s=21&t=epWsRTW3epm5n-2wZguAVA

Not sure if this is what the other anon was referring to

So this was the original tweet about microaggressions but again, no quote about what these microaggressions are besides the comment about power and pace (which... are these even microaggressions?). I am also worried people who claim microaggressions don't actually know what microaggressions actually are. Being a POC, a microaggression for me is people constantly asking where I am from, if I know anyone that looks like me or has my same last name, touches my hair (the BIGGEST no), comments on the size of my lips, or tells me "oh you aren't a [specific career]? Isn't that something your people do?" The worst is when it's related to religion lmao I'm not even religious but the amount of people how have microaggressive questions or statements with regards to my culture's religion is wild to me. Talking about power and pace is not a microaggression, I'm sorry. It's too broad of something to ever be associated with race specifically because EVERYONE uses those terms because they are sports terms. NOW, before y'all come with your pitchforks, should she diversify her praises or comments? Absolutely. If you're only using power and pace to describe Black players, that's not a very professional thing to do and in my opinion, could be discriminatory. But it is not racist, at least not in my opinion. I am a POC, but I don't speak for anyone and I definitely do not speak for the Black community, so I could be totally wrong and out of line, but I don't see it to be a problem with racism and more with KK needs a bigger vocabulary to describe player's abilities, especially if she's consistently doing that to most Black players. And if there is a problem with it that I can't see, please (calmly) explain it to me because I want to understand and learn more so I don't make the same mistake and unknowingly harm someone. Again, a sample size of two (Midge and Alana are the only ones people have made claims about) is not enough to make this assumption, at least not to me.

But ALAS, I went digging further just for all of you screamy anons to find the transcript of the AC comment, and this is what I found.

I'm sorry, but where is the racism here? She definitely said it poorly by saying "that's dramatic" but she backpeddles and does provide a rationale. She should have apologized for saying that it was inappropriate to say "dramatic" and she shouldn't be taunting people to tweet her because that is incredibly unprofessional, BUT, it's still not racism, I'm sorry. It's inappropriate commentating, childish commentating, I'll admit, but it's not racist. Her reasoning makes sense and if she had just gone with that to start I think this would be a different situation, but she didn't. She made a silly remark which honestly is hurtful especially if KK's been covering her games for so long and AC has been doing really well in recent games. BUT, she does have a point and I do agree, AC is not a world class defender. She's fabulous, but she's not world class. She has great performances but they aren't consistent. You can't compare AC to someone like Becky or Krieger or even Ertz. She's not at that level (yet) but she has the potential, which is what KK is saying.

But yes, I get it now with the "it's not what she said it's how she said it" because you're right. How she said it is inappropriate, rude, unprofessional, and it doesn't have a place in the big leagues. But, the unfortunate truth is that's what commentators in the big leagues are like. Have you ever listened to the Boston Bruin's commentators? Marchand could literally spear a guy and they would be singing his praises. People have biases and this shit happens, and while that doesn't excuse it, it's not something that will stop all of the sudden. As the game grows, so will the commenting, for better or worse. The same thing will happen with trash talk and how journos cover sports. They literally call Sportsnet, Leafsnet for a reason. They're all biased.

So TL;DR again lol: no, it's not a microaggression (at least not to me, but if you identify as Black and disagree, then you're the better judgement than me because it personally has never bothered me as a POC but I don't speak for everyone nor do I intend to), no it's not racism (it was a matter of opinion), and yes, she did handle it poorly and she should know better and apologize for what she said, which she has not done, and did not do in the moment (instead, she backpeddled to provide her rationale, which helps, but doesn't actually take responsibility for what she said in the moment). So no, I don't defend her actions and I'm disappointed in her for how she handled this and how she said what she said without apologizing.

Does that satisfy you angry anons? See how easy this discussion could be if y'all just gave me the information you were yelling about without coming into my inbox to slander me. Next time if you're upset, tell me specifically why without being vague and give me something to work with instead of threatening me or telling me I'm a piece of shit for defending such an awful person. This is a really important conversation to have and I'm glad you brought me the thread, anon, because it helps contextualize it by using the actual live transcript. I agree, she was in the wrong, and she should apologize, and most importantly, she should do better. It's a shitty situation.

But, it's not racist. That doesn't excuse it, but don't start calling things racist or microaggressions because it fits your narrative. It's not about defending KK because she did mess up, but it's about recognizing how real racism and microaggressions impact people, and by throwing the words out there without actual weight, it can diminish the actual lived experiences of real BIPOC people.

#asks #is this satisfactory now #see how much easier things are when you actually talk and give evidence of what you are upset about #that's what i was asking for for like 8 asks lmao

[not-a-sort-of-anything]

My DA2 Review [pt.3]

These are my thoughts about Thomas´ storyline. You can also find my character review [pt.1] and my overall rating [pt.2].

::::::::SPOILER ALERT::::::::

To begin with, I would like to start with something positive.

Thomas looked fantastic! I liked his look extremely well, even better than in the first film, as the hair was now not quite so radically shorn short on the sides. Unlike some of the other actors in the film *cough*, RJC looks natural and his age. And looks simply gorgeous. He's just a classic beauty. 😊 I liked his performance too, I had several real Thomas moments that I enjoyed a lot. And the sideburns! I almost fell off my chair. 😂

So, now for the less pleasant part. The story.

Okay, where to start... We see a Thomas who takes his role as butler very seriously, and compared to the first film seems more serious, more mature and less humorous. The smile on his face, which we found so unusual and at the same time, so beautiful in the first film, seems to have disappeared. Like Carson once did, he takes on the position of manager and exhorts the staff here and there to get back to work.

Then Mr. Guy Dexter appears, who already makes a clear sexual allusion in the first conversation that he and Thomas have together. To be honest, I wondered how this man came to make such an innuendo out of nowhere, to a man he doesn't even know? Nowadays, that would almost be classified as sexual harassment.

Thomas still seems rather irritated there, understandably so. Because at this point we all know that his heart belongs to someone else. But this is soon no longer relevant, because Thomas receives a letter from Richard in which he reveals that he is getting married. What is completely unclear to the viewer here is what was the status of this relationship during the two years since the first film?

From the conversation with Mrs Hughes, it is clear that Richard was certainly never at Downton again during this time, because Thomas asks if she can remember Richard. This also implies that Thomas could never have even mentioned a relationship with Richard to the staff. It does make you wonder what happened after Richard gave Thomas the silver locket, kissed him and disappeared back to London? After he had so clearly signalled his love and serious interest to him? After he risked his neck for him? It seems to me that there was no intense love story between them, a relationship that could have developed. How else could there have been this marriage, announced in a letter, not in person? It's like breaking up via WhatsApp nowadays.

Imagine the frustration and disappointment Thomas has to suffer (again). And then this dapper actor (who seems nicer than I first suspected) makes Thomas an incredible offer, again out of nowhere. As a viewer you have to understand all this ... And here comes my biggest criticism of this story. You simply learn NOTHING about the emotional state of the protagonists. What is going on inside Thomas? What does Guy think about him? Everything is absolutely unclear.

As the film progresses, Thomas becomes more and more responsive to Guy's advances, which leads to the assumption that he has distanced himself from Richard and is open to new acquaintances. But is it out of hurt pride, does he want to distract himself? Or have his feelings for Richard not been so strong? We do not know.

Soon after, Guy makes Thomas an offer to go with him, without any relevant, emotionally profound interaction having taken place between them. And Thomas agrees.

Although it doesn't even seem certain that it's for romantic reasons. The only way I can personally explain Thomas' decision is that the disappointment of losing his love for Richard frustrates him so much that nothing keeps him at Downton any more. As I am currently going through a break-up myself, I can even understand it a little. Because in this situation it's important to move on, to create new perspectives and also to do something good for yourself. And to have fun. That's the only way I can explain it. There is no real romance between Guy and Thomas. The bottom line is that Guy is the exit scenario for Thomas. It would only have been great if that had been addressed in the film as well.

Now the question, what happens next? Thomas leaves Downton without any goodbyes. How crazy is that? To me there can only be one logical explanation. He must/will come back! His departure was not thematised because it is not necessary, because he will be seen again. I have to cling to that thought because if JF lets Thomas/RJC go SO, then I'm really through with it.

#downtown abbey #thomas barrow #downton abbey a new era #downton abbey 2 spoilers

[hauntedfalcon]

mmkay I'm mulling over the idea of Andy stopping Nile from revealing herself to her family in that scene they never filmed,

and it's consistent with Andy early in the movie ("she wants to talk to her family" "that's not gonna help her" "you tell her that") and it's consistent with comics!Andy being the one who gets Booker to tell his level five tragic back story to Nile so she'll stay away from her family, but it's not consistent with third act!Andy who already knows she's lost her immortality and is almost certainly going to die in the act of rescuing Joe and Nicky, and who sends Nile back to her family anyway

and it's not consistent with this:

and that's not to say the screenplay is consistent either. right after this exchange we've got Andy calling Nile "kid" again even though she doesn't do that in the movie at all after their fight on the plane, and later we've got Nile saying Booker "never told [Merrick] about me" like that matters when she would have gotten captured twice in this movie if she hadn't removed herself from the situation both times *gnashes teeth* anyway the movie is a much sharper and more consistent piece of work than the screenplay and that's on Gina Prince-Bythewood and Terilyn Shropshire :)

but the thing is, all that changes for Andy between this moment and the end of the movie is finding out Booker sold them all out

so if we take that un-filmed scene into account, we go from the sentiment, if not spoken outright by Andy in the movie, of Andy sending Nile off to be with her family (and not expecting to see her again!!!!) to "Andy keeps her from revealing herself". which is a difficult thing to describe in the span of one tweet and there are a lot of ways that could have gone. no matter what, we're reading in to something that was only described in the vaguest terms and we don't have the benefit of description in the script or what would surely have been incredible performances from Kiki Layne and Charlize Theron to interpret. but whether it was meant to be a spoken thing or a silent headshake or my personal favorite mental image of Andy holding on to Nile in comfort until the moment has passed, no matter which way you slice it that's a huge pivot based only, as far as I can see, on Andy getting slightly more information about how bad things were for Booker

Andy goes from behaving in a utilitarian and even brutal way toward Nile at the start of the movie to acknowledging her agency and autonomy. her softening toward Nile, maybe even getting in touch with some humanity she'd arguably cut herself off from in her disillusionment, was a massive growth and turning point for Andy as a character and for Nile and Andy's relationship. the moment outside Copley's house was an act of Andy's trust in Nile that she knew what she was doing and what the possible consequences were, and that she would protect Andy and the squad's secret as well. backpedaling from that feels, well, regressive

I could see it working if there was another scene before the un-filmed scene but after the bar, where Nile decides to go through with letting her family believe she's dead, and she makes that commitment, but in the moment, when she's right there in sight of her family as they're getting the news, she changes her mind, but Andy wants her to follow through and not give in. but even that feels weak, narratively. crazy emotional? absolutely especially if they're huddled together with Andy holding her as Nile sobs, oh god I need to go lie down. rational and internally consistent as a plot point? nahhhh

anyway I guess my points here are 1) thank god for the movie we got where Nile doesn't make that decision before the credits roll and it can be left open-ended indefinitely or tackled in the sequel with the time and emotional impact it deserves, and 2) fuck Booker

#The Old Guard for ts #Nile Freeman

[wanderlustinwonderland18]

Stepanova & Bukin: “Our Fans Really Want Us To Be Together”

How do you feel about being the new Russian National Champions?

Vanya: Wow! To be honest, we didn't get enough sleep. It was a busy time. We sat, talked with the team, discussed a lot. This was our first competition in a long time, so we were a little exhausted.

Sasha: So far, we don't really feel that something major has happened, but the assessment of our coaches is very important for us. They didn't know how we would perform. Yes, the coaches did everything to make us perform well. But from the very start, everything depended only on us... And we managed to perform well so many thanks to our team for this.

Vanya: In general, we liked everything very much. We missed the audience a lot and we hope to perform somewhere else soon. Yes, there are nerves, but they are very pleasant nerves. Competition is great.

Is this national title the main award of your career?

Sasha: No. We have silver and bronze medals from European Championships. We have also performed well at World Championships. The situation here is completely different in all aspects. We had a different task... But overall, we are very pleased with the title of Russian National Champions.

Vanya: Yes, indeed, this is the first time for us. The support was great. Even though the arena was only 35 percent capacity, we felt incredible warmth.

Is the lack of vivid emotions due to the fact your main competitors were not here?

Sasha: Yes, many skaters were missing in Chelyabinsk. It’s a pity that this is the case. We, ourselves, were not able to participate in early competitions such as the Grand Prix in Moscow.

Vanya: For instance, Dima Aliev did not compete here although we were expecting him. We are friends with him, and we communicate a lot. We hope to meet the entire Russian team after the New Year.

Did this situation personally blur the impression of the Russian Championships?

Sasha: Of course. In addition, the federation indicated that this is not the final selection for the World Championships. We simply perceived it as a certain stage where we need to show what we are capable of.

Vanya: On the other hand, the fact that it was our first competition in a long time added more importance to it.

Is it a shame that Europeans got cancelled, while everything goes well in other sports?

Vanya: Of course, it's upsetting.

Sasha: I don’t really follow what is happening in other sports, but the cancellation of our Europeans was not a surprise. Everything pointed towards this direction gradually. We were ready for this news. We understand that holding a competition in such conditions is difficult and unsafe.

How do you feel now?

Sasha: I’m good now, thanks.

Vanya: Yes, we have already recovered.

You guys joked at the press conference that you were unlucky, because you were ill with COVID at different times.

(Sasha and Vanya laugh)

Sasha: Well, yes, we were really out of luck.

How did this happen? You spend so much time together.

Sasha: At first, I just caught a cold. There was bronchitis or something like that. I got better and then fell ill again, but with COVID. I don't know why that happened, but after I got sick, the coaches and Vanya fell ill.

Vanya: Why this happened is still a mystery to us. It is very incomprehensible.

How did you handle the disease?

Vanya: It was not easy. I had palpable lung damage. The temperature was monitored for a very long time, and the dose of antibiotics was quite strong. The hardest part is not how I got sick, but how I went back to the ice. It was very strange and a little scary.

Sasha: You may be fine at home, but as soon as you go out on the ice, you immediately start coughing due to the cold air and the slightest exertion. Usually for us, skating in circles is nothing at all... But after the illness, the body perceives it as a serious threat and reacts instantly. It is scary. You start thinking: "How am I going to skate now?"

Did it come to hospitalizations?

Sasha and Vanya: No.

Vanya: Fortunately, it didn't come to that. I didn't have extreme temperatures (around 37.5 to 38 only). The only problem is that it lasted a long time. Sasha’s condition was different though. High temperatures in the beginning, but the illness quickly disappeared.

Sasha: In my case, it started with a common cold, then the whole body began to ache. I came back from training and it felt like someone was breaking all my bones from the inside. Then, body temperature began to rise. The maximum was over 39. I immediately took antibiotics. The state itself was unpleasant - you go to the kitchen, or to the bathroom and you are already very tired. You also hear how you breathe.

Sasha, I looked at your Instagram and came to the conclusion that you love black and white tones. Why is that?

Sasha: In black and white, there is...

Vanya: Magic.

Sasha: Yes, some kind of charm. Many photographs look better in black and white. I like the lines and shadows.

Do you hear from fans a lot?

Sasha: Very much! Just yesterday, one fan gave gifts through the coaches. She loves our group very much, follows us to all competitions. From my understanding, she is not alone. It is just her who communicates with us. I called for a photo session, but unfortunately, this has not yet happened because of the virus situation. But yes, they write a lot! They post stories, write long messages. Sometimes I read and tears come, people give a lot of themselves. You think how this is possible. Many are busy with family and work, but they take time for us.

Vanya: Most of the times, they post our reactions to performances. This has already become a meme! We have been compared to animals. Sasha recently reposted a picture where I am a dog who smiles, and she is a serious cat. In many shots, myself and Irina Vasilievna (Zhuk) are explosive, and Sasha and Alexander Vasilievich (Svinin) are more restrained. It’s cool and funny!

Does this reflect your nature?

Vanya: I’m probably more emotional after performances. I keep everything to myself so much that it just breaks at the end. Sasha, on the other hand, gives so much to the performances and at the end, she has nothing left.

Are you offended by any comments?

Vanya: Some comments are very interesting. There have certainly been times where I wanted to respond, but realized that it was pointless. It is nonsense.

Sasha: Because you will be invested in it.

Vanya: Now, I laugh at such comments. If a person doesn't like something and expresses their opinion, please, especially if it is really constructive criticism. When you see that this is not the first time a person has written, and really understands figure skating, you can listen to this... But there are some that just write for the sake of saying something.

Sasha: Yes, there are some who throw out unnecessary emotions based on nothing.

Has it ever happened that thanks to a person's comment, you changed something in your performance?

Vanya: A couple of times.

Sasha: It is not with regards to steps and technical issues though. Most comments are like “I want power, brightness.” At such moments, you can reconsider and decide that, indeed, something is missing somewhere.

It happens that unpleasant things are written by fans of other teams.

Vanya: I'm okay with this, but if you like another couple, why are you writing under our post? Go to your guys and write good things.

Sasha, you are sometimes compared to Victoria Sinitsina? Are you okay with this?

Sasha: Yes, absolutely! We sometimes laugh about our similarities. We also have common views on wardrobe sometimes.

What about the comments that you and Vanya would make a good pair in real life?

Sasha: It's fun too.

Vanya: On one hand, that is a compliment because it means that we can show real emotions on the ice. People believe in our story and think that we are also together behind the scenes... But we have already said many times that we are not a couple in real life, so it is quite strange when people ask about this.

Sasha: It's very cute though!

Vanya: Those who have been with us for a long time know that we are not together, but our fans really want us to be together.

Do you follow the situation regarding Russia's two-year sentence? You guys already had some bad experiences in the past with this decision.

Sasha: Yes, we heard this news. As far as I understand, the consequences could be much worse - all athletes from Russia could be expelled indiscriminately. They could say, "Russia, goodbye." But we are still allowed to compete. Let it be without the anthem at the World Championships and the Olympics, but on our form, the name of the country can still be written. This is already pleasant for us. I do not know all the little details, but in this situation, I want to find something positive.

Vanya: Of course, we are upset, because this is our country. We would very much like to perform with the flag and anthem. But the decision has been made, and nothing can be done. We will calmly prepare for all the major competitions. It remains to be seen how athletes will be admitted to the Olympics.

What would you change in ice dance to make it more popular?

Vanya: Ice Dance is a very creative sport. Everything should look simple, easy, and unpredictable with us. In my opinion, to make our sport more popular, teams must be given more freedom for creativity. Then, the couples will not be alike. We have many rules that do not allow us to go beyond.

Sasha: In general, the rules are made for judges. Previously, ice dance judging was based on "like it or not like it."

Do you have long-term career plans?

Vanya: This season has shown that it is difficult to plan the future. We have decided to live day by day, and prepare for specific events. There have been many times where we plan a lot, and in the end, the plan does not come true.

Do you think about life after sports?

Sasha: I do not have any serious thoughts. Maybe participate in shows, but there are no specific plans. However, I can definitely say that I want to stay in figure skating and take a new role in the sport. For now, we still have a lot to accomplish. We have just reached the top level. We have just started receiving recognition from the audience.

Vanya: And we are very grateful to our fans. When new broke out that we were sick, many wrote to us and supported us. It is really motivating!

Do you have plans for the New Year holidays?

Sasha: I would like to go to the skating rink in front of the Red Square. I have never been to massive street skating rinks, so I want to feel this atmosphere.

Vanya: Oh cool! Let's go and invite everyone!

A small wish to your fans at the end of the interview?

Sasha: Health and love. Be happy no matter what. Live everyday.

Vanya: To make all your dreams come true in the New Year.

#MY BABIES ❤️ #Stepanova Bukin #Alexandra Stepanova #Ivan Bukin #Figure Skating #Ice Dance #Dance #Skating #Sports #Arts #Interview #Partnership #Love #Life

[peppertaemint]

What you said about Jungkook being the one that BTS focuses on for a lot of the time is very interesting. I never thought about it before but it's very... weird how much they focus on this one member. I understand he's BTS' center but I wish they would be the kind of group where if JK is out with an injury or sickness, then the performances don't look like it's missing something because of the member that's... wait this is coming out wrong. All the members are important and yes when any member of any group is missing, fans will notice because 0T insert number for life but take for instance a group like EXO. Kai is their best dancer but if he couldn't be part of a performance, that group's skills go so deep that you can watch them and the fact that Kai is out doesn't impact the group's performance because they have so many incredible vocalists and great dancers who... it sounds like I'm insulting BTS' vocals and dancing now and I'm not. I give up lol Do you understand what I'm trying TRYING to say? 😬

I do think I understand what you're trying to say. The group is different to a lot in that its members have certain areas of expertise and there isn't a lot of overlap. With BTS, Hybe didn't go the route of "well-rounded"; they did "specialisms" - so you have rappers, dancers, singers, and some who can do 2/3 etc. Their dance formations are designed to give the most talented dancers the spotlight and help those who don't dance as well to blend in (just ask any dancer, lol). And there is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach because it gives BTS a dynamism that maybe some other groups don't have.

However, with JK, the situation is a little more perilous because his vocals (and his vocals alone, it seems) are the foundation for nearly everything (in terms of group songs, of course; those soloist numbers are different, of course). I do wonder what would happen if one day he couldn't perform, and they had to find a creative solution. They have some great singers in the group so seeing the adaptations they made would be interesting. Obviously, I hope this doesn't happen with such big performances on the horizon.

#this is not shade #it's an apples vs oranges situation