#Vehicle Cavalier

[sirfrogsworth]

I'm moving out of the city and I'm going to have to learn to drive. Any advice for someone (reluctantly) looking into cars for the first time?

Sorry for the late response, but I really wanted to answer this because I think I have some relevant advice.

I started driving the very day I was allowed to get my learner's permit. I took it very seriously. My dad was a mechanic, my brother literally built a car when he was 16. They were car guys and I was the goofy comedian they didn't really understand. So I wanted to be a really good driver to impress them.

I practiced every chance I got. I took driver's ed in school and got a 100% in the class. And I got a perfect score on my written driver's test and only got dinged for 1 thing on the main exam (it was bullshit, but apparently there is no way to protest a near perfect score).

But then I got sick and it didn't make sense to pay for car insurance and maintain a vehicle. So I didn't drive for roughly 15 years.

Then both my parents got sick and they became dangerous drivers and so I had to figure out how to drive again. And at first I was nervous, but after about a week of driving, I was nearly as good of a driver as when I was younger.

The reason?

Muscle memory.

Muscle memory will save your life over just about anything. The less you have to concentrate on the physical actions and habits required to drive, the more you can concentrate on situational awareness. If you don't have to think about turning the wheel, or braking, or even activating the turn signals, you can use all of that brain power to pay attention to all of the dumb fucks they let drive cars.

So my biggest piece of advice would be to break down all of the physical actions required to operate a vehicle. Even the tiny stuff like switching the station on the radio or turning down the fan on the A/C. Then find a way to practice these things over and over and over until you have that muscle memory embedded into your brain. My muscle memory was so deeply ingrained that it lasted through 15 years of not driving and a batch of mind-wiping electroshock treatments.

Find a safe place to practice and just repeat things until they feel like second nature. Especially checking your blind spots. If you can get checking blind spots to the point where you do it without even thinking about it, you will increase your safety substantially.

Other tips...

Small cheap cars are best first cars. Big cars can make you feel disconnected from the road. Almost like you are piloting the vehicle in a video game. I started on my grandma's 1987 Chevy Cavalier. It was tiny. It had no power. It was free. But I could feel everything I was doing. I could feel the turns. I could feel the road. I could feel braking and acceleration. And it really helped me understand the relationship between driver and vehicle. It was like a big go-kart but I think having that as my first car really helped me develop my driving skills.

And my last tip is to learn gradient braking and acceleration. It's mostly for the comfort of your passengers. It gives them a smoother experience but it also makes them feel safer driving with you. Basically you want to figure out how to apply pressure to the pedals in such a way that almost no G-force is felt. So you start with very light pressure and gradually transition into the max pressure you need. And you need to do it quick enough to stop and accelerate at the proper rate. If you don't transition fast enough you might not stop in time or be able to merge onto the highway. And if you transition too fast people will be lurching back and forth in their seat. But, again, practice makes perfect.

My brother is horrible at this, though mostly on purpose. He likes driving like everything is a race. And with his muscle cars, that can be fun at times. But when you are just going to the store it can make one a little nauseous. I find myself just grabbing the "oh shit" handles and never letting go.

But if you can smooth out your acceleration and braking to the point it is barely felt, all of your passengers will thank you for it.

Hopefully that helps. And maybe other folks can reply with additional advice. And if you have any more specific concerns feel free to ask. I wasn't sure if you were more worried about driving or picking out a car, so hopefully we can collectively cover both.

I wish you luck and hope you learn to love driving. It is pretty cool once you get the hang of it.

[daisynik7]

“S&M” by Rihanna for Toji Fushiguro - smut

S&M

I may be bad, but I'm perfectly good at it. Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it

Pairing: Toji Fushiguro x f!reader

Rating: Explicit – MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Word Count: ~2.0k

cw: smut - PIV sex (doggy style), cunnilingus, mild S&M practices - whips, blindfold, handcuffs, protected sex (for once lol), use of safe word, rough sex, pet names (cutie, sweetheart)

Summary: You are next-door neighbors with a man named Toji Fushiguro. You don’t know much about him, except for the fact that he’s a divorced father who spends every other weekend with his young son, Megumi. On the weeks he doesn’t have him, you notice the same trio of women visiting his house. One night, his package gets incorrectly delivered to your door. Too curious, you walk over to return it, only to find the front door unlocked and a naughty secret to discover.

Author’s Notes: Thanks for the request anon! I love Rihanna, so it’s no surprise that she’s on the y2k karaoke party playlist! I personally am not well-versed with S&M practices, so this was an experience to write, definitely a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I hope it’s still okay! This is more on the milder side, I'm sure. Likes, comments, and/or reblogs are always appreciated, thanks for reading! MDNI divider credit to @/cafekitsune.

You’re not usually this nosey when it comes to your neighbors, but something about Toji Fushiguro draws you in. Maybe it’s the fact that he’s a divorced dad who takes good care of his adorable son, Megumi. Or maybe it’s the mysterious trio of women who frequently visits his house on the weeks he doesn’t have his child. Or maybe it’s his obvious good looks and impressive physique that you can’t help but notice every time he steps foot outside. Whatever it is, whether it’s a combination of all of the above, you just can’t get Toji Fushiguro off your mind. 

On this particular Friday night, you’re staying in, binging a TV show with a glass of white wine in your hands and a frozen pizza that you just baked in the oven. There’s a knock on your front door, which surprises you because you aren’t expecting anybody at this hour. You give it a few moments, seeing if there’s another knock. When none comes, you get up to scope it out, finding a large package directly in front of you and a delivery truck driving off in the distance. You check the shipping label, reading Toji’s name on it instead of yours. You glance at his front yard, spotting his car parked in the driveway and no one else’s. His girlfriends must have already left; you noticed their vehicle earlier beside his. 

Not bothering to change into anything presentable, currently wearing your sweats and fuzzy slippers, you carry the wrongly delivered package to its rightful owner, hoping if you can find some truth behind your neighbor’s unique bi-weekly ritual. You’ve thought about it before, the most likely answer being a polyamorous relationship or group sex. Still, it’ll put your mind to rest to know exactly what he does in there when little Megumi is away and Toji is free to play. So, you carefully lift the box, which isn’t heavy, over to his front door, setting it down to ring the bell. You push the button, then notice that the door is already open, slightly ajar. Another ring, and no one comes, though you’re certain you hear movement inside. 

You should turn around. Go back home, sink into your couch, continue the night as normal. Yet, your feet guide you in, closing the door shut behind you, tip-toeing farther into the house, waiting to catch Toji in the act, whatever that could be. Eventually, you make it to the living room, where you stand in the doorframe, searching for your neighbor, who you find sitting on the couch with his shirt off, scrolling through his phone. 

You knock on the wall, announcing your presence. He looks up, confused, inspecting you carefully before saying your name. “What are you doing in here?” He’s way more cavalier than you imagined he’d be, which you’re thankful for. 

You present the box to him, a nervous grin on your face as you explain, “This just got delivered to my house on accident. I rang the bell, but no one answered. And your front door was open, so I figured I’d just come inside to give it to you.” It’s a poor excuse; you really shouldn’t have barged in without permission. 

He seems to buy it though, rolling his eyes, muttering, “Damn Kimi. She’s always doing that.” He approaches you, grabbing the box from your hands. “Thank you for getting this to me. Been waiting for it all night, so I was bummed it didn’t come in on time.” He sets it down on the floor, kneeling beside it, ready to unwrap. 

You search the room, trying to find any clues of what they could be doing inside here. It looks normal, nothing nefarious standing out. Slightly disappointed, you take this as your cue to leave, turning on your heel to make your way back home. Before you can, Toji calls out your name and asks, “Don’t you want to see the little present I got? After all, it was almost yours. Would have loved to see your reaction if you opened it by accident.” His tone is playful, yet there’s something wicked behind his words. Something naughty.

You swallow hard, mouth already salivating. This isn’t how you planned your night to go, but you’d be lying if you said you haven’t thought about it before. You face him again, stepping towards the box slowly, sitting on the other side. He uses a pocketknife to slice through the tape, eyes lighting up as he reaches inside, holding up his delivered item like a treasure. It’s a riding whip, soft leather on one end, handle on the other. He smirks at you, slapping it against his palm, making a loud crack sound. You jump up, startled by the noise. He barks a laugh at your reaction, laying the whip down on the coffee table next to him. He reaches in again, pulling out three sets of fuzzy handcuffs, twirling one around his fingers. “Damn, would have been fun to use these tonight.” Glancing over at you, legs squeezed tightly together, arousal seeping through your panties, he scans you up and down, giving you a wicked smile. “You want to try these out, neighbor? I promise, I’ll go easy on you.”

It's ridiculous, right? Completely silly and irresponsible for you to agree to this, right? You blurt out your answer before you can even contemplate those questions logically. “Yes.”

He chuckles, biting him lip, eyes focused on your loins currently throbbing against the fabric of your sweats. You really wish you dressed up now, but it doesn’t matter, as he commands you to, “Strip.”

Almost too eagerly, you obey, kicking your slippers off and undressing, starting with your shirt, which you toss behind your shoulder. He studies you carefully, eyes following your every move as you slip out of your pants, down to only your underwear and bra now. He licks his lips, stepping closer to you. “Yeah,” he purrs, breath hot on your skin. “This will definitely work.”

~~~

Within minutes, you find yourself naked in his bedroom, blindfolded, wrists handcuffed behind you, face buried into the pillow, and ass up, perfectly vulnerable for him to do as he pleases. The two of you establish a safe word: mignon, because he thinks you’re cute, and the filet mignon is his favorite cut of meat. He suggests several acts he wants to perform on you and lets you decide which ones you want to go through with. You make your choice, asking to be spanked with the new whip he received. Something about breaking in one of his new accessories turns you on. 

Not being able to see anything, you listen carefully to what he’s doing behind you. You hear him unwrap the condom wrapper, sliding the latex over his cock. Then, there’s a squelch, most likely the lube he’s pouring into his hand, coating his shaft with it. “Are you ready, cutie? I’m going to start with the whip first, okay?” You nod, heart pounding in your chest, nervous and thrilled all at once.

“Words, sweetheart. Use your words. I have to hear you say it.”

You swallow your spit, trying to speak coherently. “Yes. I’m ready.”

“Good. That’s a good girl.” You feel the cool leather against your skin, anticipating it as he counts down. “Three, two, one.” Then, smack. It’s quick, painful for only a few seconds. You can tell he’s holding back, cautious of you. “Did you like that?” he asks. 

“Yes,” you say, wiggling your ass to him. “Give it to me harder.”

He chuckles, swearing under his breath. “Fuck, okay. I’ll go harder then.” He counts down once more, the slap definitely more intense this time. Your skin stings from the contact and it feels like you’re already gushing from your cunt, core tight with pleasure. 

He continues this until he’s delivered ten smacks to each of your ass cheeks. Your body is sweltering now, the skin on your ass surely hotter than the rest of you. Your pussy flutters, aching to be filled, clit throbbing, desperate to be licked. “Toji,” you whimper, drooling from the sides of your mouth. “Fuck me.”

There’s that laugh again, low, taunting, so fucking sexy. “Not yet. Want to make you come before I fuck this pretty cunt.” He positions himself beneath you, between your legs. “Fuck my face. You can be rough with me. I can take it.”

His grip is firm on your hips, guiding you as you ride him, spreading yourself over his wide tongue and gaping mouth. He’s eats you better than any guy you’ve ever fucked before, sloppy and wet, as if he thoroughly enjoys slurping at your juices. He slides his hands over your ass, massaging the skin made raw from his spanking. And before you get a chance to warn him, you come all over his face, gushing into his mouth. 

“Fuck yeah,” he muffles, lapping up your slick. “So fucking good for me.”

Desperate now to be filled, you beg, “Please, Toji. Fuck me. Need you inside me.”

He slides out from beneath you, positioning himself behind you with his cock pressed between your ass cheeks. “I need it too, cutie. Need to pump my fat cock inside this perfect pussy.” He moans loudly as he slides himself inside you, stretching you out, inch by inch, until you swallow him whole. He thrusts into you, slowly at first while you adjust to his length. Gradually, he picks up the pace, pounding you hard and fast, his grip on your wrists, still bound by the handcuffs. The stretch in your shoulders is starting to burn now, arms pinned way back as he uses it for leverage. It’s not enough to coax the safe word out of you, yet. You need more of him to satiate this overwhelming desire.

“You’re taking it like such a good girl,” he moans, pumping himself into you. “Did you ever think about this before? Think about me?”

“Fuck yes. All the time,” you admit, drooling onto the pillowcase. 

“Shit, I knew it. I knew I should have slutted you out sooner,” he growls, bullying his way deeper. It’s almost too much. Almost. A couple more strokes and it actually is, your shoulders sore, nervous they’ll pop out of its sockets. You’ve had your fill of him, your guts feeling like they’ve been rearranged by his massive cock. You’re tempted to stay quiet, not wanting this to end just yet. But your body is begging you for a break. 

“Mignon,” you croak out, throat dry from the incessant moaning.

“Fuck,” he mutters, pulling out, immediately unlocking the handcuffs on your wrists and untying the blindfold. “You were taking that so good.” He flips you over on your back, inspecting you. For the first time since you started, you make eye contact with him, your heart swelling from the genuine smile on his face, gazing at you fondly. “Are you okay, cutie?” He brushes the tears from your eyes, cupping your cheek in his calloused palm.

You nod, mumbling an exhausted, “Yes,” closing your eyes to lean into his touch. 

He cuddles you, kissing your neck as he continues to stroke himself off. He trails down your chest, latching his lips around your nipple, sucking until he comes inside the condom. When he’s done, he removes it, tying the open end closed and tossing it into the waste basket next to him bed. 

It’s silent for a few moments as the two of you relax in each other’s arms. Eventually, he clears his throat to say, “This was fun. I usually don’t do this outside of the group.”

You understand that he’s referring to the trio of women who you saw earlier, and finally, the mystery is solved. Slightly disappointed, you respond, “I’m sorry if I messed anything up.”

He smiles at you. “You didn’t.”

You snuggle closer, kissing him softly. His lips melt into yours, tongue slipping inside your mouth. When you break apart, you ask, “Then, should I only show up when they show up?”

He shakes his head, smirking. “No. I think I want you as my own special plaything from now on.”

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

Dashboard Confessional

Pairing: Billy Washington (Trigger Point) x f!reader Warnings: Mentions of PTSD, mild angst, smut, semi public sex. Word count: ~1.7k

Summary: Billy is forced to deal with past trauma when his girlfriend's car breaks down on the side of the M1, while driving home to Nottingham for Christmas. She finds the perfect way to ease his mind.

Author's note: Day four of the Smuffmas prompts - "reassurance and car sex". No tag list. Follow @fics-by-ewanmitchellcrumbs and turn on post notifications.

Her hands tighten on the steering wheel, eyes flitting nervously towards the check engine light that’s just lit up on the dashboard panel. They’re only an hour outside of Nottingham, and if she was by herself she’d simply ignore it, finish the journey, and take her crappy old Skodia Fabia to a garage in the New Year. But Billy sits in the passenger seat next to her, and she knows that that little red light will look like a fiery beacon to him, a reason to panic. The best thing she can do in this situation is pull over onto the hard shoulder and call AA Breakdown Recovery.

Billy used to joke that she’d spent more on keeping her shitty little car roadworthy than she had when she’d actually bought it. He’d insist on driving them everywhere, his Vauxhall Cavalier the more reliable of the two vehicles.

That feels like a lifetime ago now though, before the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team had pulled him from it and it had exploded into a fiery ruin in the middle of Cranstead Gardens. Billy doesn’t joke at all anymore, and he’s not gotten behind the wheel of a car since.

He has spent the last four months attending weekly therapy sessions. It’s only in the last month that he’s been willing to allow her to drive him anywhere, and that’s not before they’ve done rigorous checks of the entire car to make sure it’s safe; the wheel arches, under the bonnet, the boot, beneath the seats and in the glovebox all need to be examined thoroughly before he’ll even consider getting in.

When it had come time to arrange their annual visit to Billy’s parents’ for Christmas, he had suggested they get the train. However, a return ticket would be close to one hundred pounds each for them. She had argued they would spend less than half that on fuel if she drove, and it would save them the effort of lugging gifts all the way there, only to have to take all of the ones they inevitably receive back with them the same way - everything could just be stuffed into the boot if she drove.

He had relented eventually, and she had regretted it almost as soon as they’d gotten in the car. For the last two hours of the journey his leg has bounced anxiously, and she’s been met with snappy one word answers to each of her attempts to make conversation, despite his insistence that the radio stays off.

If she were a weaker person she’d have decided that this was all too much and ended things long ago, however, Billy is her everything, he always has been. He has never thought much of himself, but she loves him enough for the both of them. Where he sees a failure, someone that lives in the shadow of his successful older sister, she sees a man with a thousand watt smile, someone that lights up the room just by entering it. That light has dulled over the last few months, but she is determined to help it shine once more.

It’s with this in mind that she clicks on the left indicator, pulling over onto the hard shoulder, and switches the hazard lights on.

“What you doing?” Billy asks, frowning slightly as he removes his thumb from his mouth, the nail of which he’s been chewing absentmindedly on for the last few miles.

She turns the engine off, turning to him with a slight smile, an attempt to appease and keep him calm. “Check engine light’s come on, I need to ring the AA.”

“Fuck’s sake!” He seethes, unclipping his seatbelt and forcefully pushing open the passenger side door.

She watches him, illuminated in the darkness by the motorway lights, rounding the car, before stepping over the crash barrier and onto the grassy verge. Sighing, she unbuckles and climbs out.

“Billy–”

“I told you we should’ve got the fucking train!” He shouts, though there is no anger in his tone, she hears it in the wobble of his voice, sees it in the barely concealed tears he’s attempting to hold back. He’s close to breaking down.

“I know, babe, and I’m sorry,” she soothes, “I should have listened to you. But I promise you it’s nothing serious. You know how this old shitheap gets when it’s damp, remember last time it rained and the electric windows stopped working?”

It’s an attempt to lightheartedly downplay his fears, but it’s obviously unsuccessful. She watches as he fishes his cigarette packet from the pocket of his jogging bottoms, pulling one out and lighting it with shaky hands.

She takes out her phone and calls the recovery service, straining to hear over the roar of the traffic that speeds past on the M1. It’s going to be a forty five minute wait for anyone to get to them, though she should consider herself lucky, bearing in mind it’s December 23rd and there are cars nationwide breaking down on their way home for Christmas.

When she ends the call and tosses her phone onto the driver’s seat, she turns back to see that Billy is three quarters of the way through his smoke, his gaze downcast as he stands there shivering. The sight makes her heart ache.

“It’s freezing,” she calls out to him, “at least come and get your hoodie.”

She opens the door to the backseat, grabbing his Adidas zip up from it and holding it out to him. His head remains bowed, though his eyes look up at her, before he crushes his cigarette beneath his trainer and slowly walks towards her.

“Thanks,” he says quietly, slipping the hoodie on and perching on the edge of the backseat, facing out of the car, long legs stretched out in front of him.

They remain in silence for a few moments, Billy simply sitting with his hands clasped in his lap, staring at the ground, as she stands before him, looking out towards the steady stream of cars, eyes narrowed at the oncoming headlights that rush by.

“How long until you get fed up?” He finally asks, looking up at her.

“Well, I’m fed up already,” she jokes, “but we’ve gotta sit tight until someone comes to get us.”

He huffs a humourless laugh through his nose, lips quirking upwards slightly as he shakes his head. “You know that’s not what I mean. How much more of me can you hack before you finally decide I’m not worth the effort?”

“Oi,” she chastises playfully, ruffling a hand through his shaggy blonde hair. “To me, you will always be worth the effort. I’m not going anywhere.”

Billy bends his legs at the knees, planting his feet flat on the floor and pulls her between them as his arms wrap around her waist. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Don’t talk like that,” she says gently. “It’s been a rough few months, but we’ll get through it.

“God, I love you,” he tells her, stroking his palm across her cheek.

“Tell me again,” she smiles, leaning down to bump her nose against his.

“Love you,” he whispers, pressing his lips to hers.

She kisses back, expecting it to be quick and chaste, but gasps in surprise as his hand slides from her face into her hair, gripping and anchoring her to him, as his tongue slips into her mouth. He tastes faintly of tobacco, but she responds eagerly as their mouths move together, the sensation sending heat pooling between her legs.

He leans back against the backseat, keeping his feet planted on the ground outside, dragging her with him. She giggles, pulling away breathlessly.

“Billy, we’re on the side of the motorway, anyone could see us!”

“Best give them something good to look at then,” he grins lazily up at her, fingers tugging at the waistband of her leggings.

It’s been so long since he was this uninhibited and spontaneous, that that’s all the encouragement she needs. She scrambles to pull them from one leg, as Billy lifts his hips, pushing his jogging bottoms and boxers down just enough to free his cock.

As she hovers back over him, his fingers move to push her thong to one side, and she can’t help but smile into the crook of his neck. He’s not even fully hard, though his pushes against her entrance are quickly rectifying that.

There’s no time for either of them to prepare each other properly, not for a quickie on the side of the road, so when the head of him does finally breach her opening the intrusion steals her breath away.

She whines, as each slow withdrawal and thrust upwards from him pushes him deeper, her rapidly gathering slick helping to ease his passage, until he’s fully sheathed inside of her.

He pants along with her when she moans helplessly against his shoulder as he pistons up into her, holding her steady by her hips. The tight confines of the car make it so that every drag of his cockhead brushes against the sweet spot inside of her, making her involuntarily tighten around him.

His pace becomes rushed, sloppy, and the feeling of him pulsating inside of her sends her toppling over the edge, white hot sparks of pleasure shooting through her as she spasms around him. His fingers dig into the meat of her hips as he pushes up one final time, emptying himself into her with a groan.

She shifts to move off of him, but he grips tighter, keeping her where she is. “Don’t,” he whispers breathlessly, eyes closed.

“I need to put my leggings back on, babe,” she chuckles, “I don’t think the AA bloke will appreciate the sight of my bare arse.”

“We’ve got time,” he murmurs, pulling her back to him, stroking her hair. “Just stay like this for a minute.”

She squirms, the chill of the air on her naked skin and his spend leaking out of her around his softening length making her uncomfortable, but she stays where she is. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he says, slowly blinking open his eyes. “It’s just…this is the first time I’ve been in a car where I haven’t thought about something horrible happening.”

Her gaze softens, and she pecks him on the cheek. “That’s good. So, what were you thinking about?”

“You, just you.”

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

Outside the AMC Box: 1966 American Motors AMX II Concept

Posted on March 19, 2024 by MCG

To create the AMX II, AMC design chief Richard Teague reached outside his own styling studios and brought in independent designer and builder Vince Gardner.

In his long tenure as vice president of design at American Motors from 1964 to 1983, Richard A. Teague earned a reputation for working outside the box. This constant drive to be different could be seen, for example, in the four Project IV concept vehicles his design staff prepared for a 1966 promotional tour, with displays in six major American cities. For one of the Project IV cars, the AMX II, Teague reached outside the box a little further and brought in an independent designer, Vincent E. Gardner.

Among car designers, Vince Gardner had a remarkable skill set. In addition to being a talented stylist, he was also a highly capable clay modeler and fabricator. As a kid fresh out of high school, he prepared the clay model for the 1936 Cord 810, working alongside designer Gordon A. Buehrig. His own design credits include the 1947 Gardner Special, the 1953 Vega sports car, and the 1964 Mustang III, while the 1962 Thunderbird Italien and 1968 Dodge Charger III are among the concept vehicles he constructed for the automakers.

While the AMX II was Gardner’s creation, it didn’t look at all out of place among the other three Project IV concept vehicles, integrating nicely. (See our feature on the Project IV Cavalier here.) According to the American Motors press materials, the AMX II was intended to expand on the theme of the AMX sports car concept, which made its public debut in the Project IV program

Eight inches longer than the AMX, the AMX II included room for four passengers and a generous trunk. (AMX stood for American Motors eXperimental.) Though it almost doesn’t look it, the wheelbase was a full 110 inches, with a shape that could remind you of the 1967 Mercury Cougar, though it’s slimmer, less chunky.

Features included hidden headlamps and windshield wipers, while an automated circuit locked the doors when the AMX II was moving. At the rear was was a safety tail lamp arrangement with green, yellow, and red segments for driving, slowing, and braking. However, it seems many of these features probably existed only on paper.

Like the other Project IV cars, the AMX was not a running vehicle, but merely a fiberglass studio glider with no drivetrain or running gear. There was no real interior, either, only a black sillhouette panel inside, just under the beltline, to fill the cabin volume. Like so many pushmobile show cars, the AMX II served no real function once its display career was concluded, so it was more than likely scrapped soon after.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Stampede Wolfwood got Metaphorically Isekai'd (No This is Not a Shitpost)

Oh my god if this winds up being part of my legacy I'll probably cry.

So. Everyone who's watched the new show knows that Wolfwood is introduced by getting hit by Meryl's van in the middle of the desert where he is literally the only thing to get hit for miles around. What an entrance. Welcome to the team buddy.

[ID: A screenshot from Trigun Stampede Episode 4. At an above view, the van has spun, unfortunately sending the trailer back part crashing directly into Wolfwood. He is starfished face-first into it, rather comically. End ID.]

It's funny as heck, but, since I am deranged, I'm gonna try and convince you that this is not only an isekai joke, but that the basic premise of an isekai actually applies fairly well to Stampede Wolfwood in the first season... but then a lot of the standard tropes are made into notable and tragic subversions. Also please note I have never actually watched an isekai anime so maybe take all this with a grain of salt. Or several. (Also isekai is a really broad genre. I'm talking specifically about the tropiest things to come out of it - please don't take what I'm about to discuss as representative of the entire genre!)

In the manga, and I believe in the 98 anime as well, Wolfwood is spotted by Vash while him and the insurance girls are travelling on a bus. He is out in the middle of the desert, and so thirsty and exhausted he's initially mistaken for dead. Vash and the girls manage to cause enough of a ruckus that he is literally saved (which echoes the influence they, but especially Vash, will have on him later on), and they all end up on the bus as him and Vash become acquainted - the start of their companionship, and the start of their journey together (being quite literally on a moving vehicle). In the 23 anime, it all seems set up to give us the same intro: there is a vehicle, Wolfwood is clearly exhausted from trekking through the desert, Meryl and Vash are there... and then, suddenly -

[ID: Two screenshots from Trigun Stampede Episode 4. In the first, Wolfwood is walking with Punisher across the sand with a bright blue sky background. He does not see the van coming into sharp focus on a direct path towards him. In the second, Meryl, in the driver's seat, looks out with a shocked expression. Roberto's hand has reached over to grab the wheel. End ID.]

Pfft. Sorry I had to rewatch this to get the screenshots and I swear it does not get any less funny. Anyways, Wolfwood gets hit instead of getting rescued, but the end result is the same - he ends up in the vehicle and his journey with them begins.

So. Why the difference?

Well, I can only really speculate, and honestly it was probably just for the humour of it, but I do have another (deranged) suggestion.

See, Wolfwood in the manga is a little different from Stampede's Wolfwood - he's a lot friendlier for one (though no less trying to scam people), and he's got a little bit more self-made purpose (protecting and providing for the orphanage), even if he still lacks true agency. Stampede Wolfwood, by contrast, is a lot more aimless. He's on constant survival mode, which makes him a lot more openly abrasive right from the get-go, more cavalier about his own life (smokes way more than in the manga, takes bullets when there's actually no reason to), and a lot less in control of his outward persona (there have been many observations I've seen on how he's not the best at holding back his emotions - imo I don't think manga Wolfwood is especially good at that either, but in Stampede, it's really obvious).

Stampede Wolfwood also plays up his "monstrousness" a lot more in front of people, which is probably the most significant difference to me. Manga Wolfwood... doesn't exactly try to hide it, but he tends to take a "well, somebody had to do what needed to get done" attitude, like a kind of tired "I know there's no going back and I know I've turned into a monster. This is all I know how to be now. Somebody has to make the hard calls." But he feels shame about it all the same - look at how he puts his sunglasses on whenever he's about to do something he finds reprehensible (well, except the Ninelives fight... but no one was around to witness him there). It's made pretty explicit later that the glasses are a way for him to say "don't look at me. don't see what I've become".

Meanwhile, Stampede Wolfwood never takes the glasses off. He's much more upfront about the threat he poses - calling out Vash for not watching his back, outright saying he could've shot him - not a smart move when trying to earn someone's trust. His teasing, when he does it, isn't quite as playful, and has a bit of a bite to it. It's almost like he wants to be hated; like he's torn between justifying the necessity of his actions and convincing others that he is just as much of a monster as he feels.

I really think the key differences have a lot to do with their respective situations. Wolfwood in the manga... he got out, for a bit. He couldn't go back to the orphanage, but for at least a little bit, he wasn't under the Eye of Michael's thumb, he did get to meet people outside of missions and travel a bit, and was acting on his own intent... until he ended up pulled back into it because of Knives. Stampede Wolfwood has been under their control since he was taken from the orphanage. Everyone he loves is a hostage. He's taken on the name of his weapon and has known nothing else except this world of darkness - there's very little to imply he's travelled or spoken to anyone without it being for some mission. He's under consistent surveillance.

This "babysitting" mission, then, is something very different from his usual. It's not an assassination. Even more so, it's putting him in close contact with people who are not part of the world that he inhabits, the only one he's known since he was taken, which kickstarts significant changes in his life. You could even say he's been... transported to a different world than the one he'd lived in up to this point...

Enter Truck-kun. Or, rather, Van-kun.

Alright, so what is an isekai? Essentially, it's a wide-ranging genre where the protagonist gets transported or reincarnated to another world (usually regular world -> fantasy/sci-fi world), and typically involves an ordinary person becoming important/powerful in this new world - the genre is, a lot of the time, a mix of power fantasy and wish fulfillment.

Obviously, there is no literal transporting to another world here; it is still very much the same world (I'll bring up why this is important later.) But it's notable that Wolfwood remains very much the outlier in their group - he does not blend in, and his methods and approach are very different to that of the rest, who do not come from the same "world" as him. It's the start of a pretty drastic change in situation for him. It's why I really wish there were more episodes showing his dynamic with the group before it all went to hell - I bet he was so awkward.

The next thing I want to mention is that if you thought I was going to be arguing that there is a standard isekai parallel here... well I lied to you. A lot of the common tropes actually get subverted in kinda heartbreaking ways.

Usually the protagonist of an isekai (not always, but often) is some kind of chosen one. They are able to excel in situations that others cannot, and it's usually because they bring some kind of skill or knowledge from their old life that the people in the new world, obviously, don't. They tend to become ultra powerful, well able to take on any of their challenges in this new world, with advantages others don't have.

This doesn't sound like anything to do with Wolfwood after being hit by Meryl's van. But it sure sounds an awful lot like him after being taken by the Eye of Michael.

He is transferred from his comparatively normal life to one straight out of a sci-fi horror. He's a chosen "Child of Blessing", ranked "S+". He was able to survive grievous harm and experimentation, "excelling" where most other hapless kids did not. What did he bring with him from his old life that none of the people in his new life seem to have that allowed him to survive in the way he did? Well... he had something to protect didn't he? That's how he continues to struggle on. This is far from the sentiment shared by people like Conrad and Legato.

And so Wolfwood becomes ultra powerful - his body is fast, strong and resilient; he's efficient and good at what he's been trained to do. But this is far from anything he wanted. The power fantasy is subverted. Wolfwood is powerful enough to handle pretty much any threat that's thrown at him... but all it does is isolate and alienate him, and make him feel like a monster. Another aspect of isekai is that freedom one gets from being able to start over and become someone closer to their ideal self in a new setting - that's the wish fulfillment part. Well, Wolfwood has never been further from free, or less like the person he wishes to be. He hates everything he has become, but can't get out. Unable to change his situation, and increasingly jaded and disillusioned, Wolfwood takes on the moniker of "Punisher" and gives up on his old self. "Wolfwood" has effectively died.

Other than "transfer" isekai, there is also another kind - the "reincarnation" isekai. I'm not going to even touch bringing up the premise of reincarnation with a guy who carries around a giant cross on his back as I am far from qualified (knowing very little about Christianity at all), but I think it's worth noting that Wolfwood's arc (in all iterations) has much to do with his ever-present conflict with Vash over morality, but also just as much about his struggle to reconcile the person he was with the person he was forced to become, and if there is such a thing as forgiveness or redemption for him.

If "Wolfwood" has died before the story started, then he is "reincarnated" over the course of the story as he slowly starts to find himself again, with the kickstarting impetus being him getting hit by Meryl's van.

The changes don't start instantly. He wakes and things seem relatively normal - the plan is working, there's someone obviously suspicious of him - all stuff he's probably very used to. And then Vash goes and completely blindsides him.

[ID: A screenshot from Trigun Stampede Episode 4. A close up of Vash's face in the dim lighting, with eyes softened and a smile. End ID.]

"I can see it in his eyes."

Okay, so we all kinda giggle a little bit here because who the hell says that to some sketchy guy wearing dark sunglasses in a dark cave-like area when you've only just met, but I really want to stress that this is probably the first truly positive interaction Wolfwood has had in years... and I think Vash is well aware of that.

Wolfwood starts the transition from darkness to light... quite literally.

Almost all of Wolfwood's defining scenes are in the darkness of night, in contrast to the brightly lit desert in the day - think of when he moves away from the fire to speak to Zazie at the end of his intro episode, and assassinates the EoM traitor at the beginning of episode 6. In episode 5, we also get this:

[ID: Two screenshots from Trigun Stampede Episode 5. In the first, Rollo has Vash pinned to a metal wall by his neck. The sun can be seen between the two of them. In the second, Rollo lies dead on the ground. It is now night, and Vash stands over him, head low. Wolfwood stands a distance away. End ID.]

As Vash tries to speak to Rollo, to talk him down, the sun, though setting, is bright and illuminates both their faces. This all comes crashing down, literally, as Wolfwood takes the shot. Rollo falls, the sun stops shining on him, and by the time they all reach his body, night has fallen and the world is in darkness. The light goes out for Rollo... and in Wolfwood's eyes, for him too. He shot out of mercy, after all. He's living a nightmare he sees no escape from nor feels deserving of escaping from - worse, he feels as though he's a part of that darker setting, dragging it into their journey along with him.

However, we've established the lens of the "reincarnation" isekai for the purposes of this analysis, and along with that usually comes a way to compensate or reconcile for missed opportunities or mistakes made in the past by becoming something closer to one's own original ideal - sometimes this can even be a literal starting over, by being reborn into one's own younger self. And that's the importance of what Vash says to Wolfwood in episode 4 - he sees the potential in Wolfwood; the old self he thought had "died" a long time ago. Vash knows he's not the person he's been made to become and encourages him - not to do as Vash does, but to do as Wolfwood actually wants to do but thought for the longest time as hopeless. After all, what is a blank ticket if not a second chance or a new lease on life?

On the sand steamer in episode 6, the scene starts off in daylight once again, but after Wolfwood realizes the new assailant is Livio and we see their backstory, the snap back to the present scene is at night, and the scene darkens as the situation becomes more dire... and as Wolfwood comes to the conclusion that he will have to kill his brother.

But as Zazie's bug, or "eye", gets shot by Vash deflecting what would have been a fatal blow to Livio... suddenly, Wolfwood is free to act without the EoM's ever present surveillance. This is a serious step to severing the binds to that old life, and, as Wolfwood ultimately does not want any harm to come to Livio, he finds another way. And the sky starts to lighten again.

[ID: A screenshot from Trigun Stampede Episode 7. A close up of Livio's face with a distant, pensive expression. A wisp of smoke trails underneath as the pinkish hue of the sunrise is seen in the background. End ID.]

Of course, while this does succeed in waking him, it doesn't actually save him. But it is enough that Wolfwood decides to try letting a little bit of hope back in - to acclimate, even if just a little, to Vash's ideals, or his "world". Wolfwood's wish, to protect the orphanage, is (temporarily) fulfilled - in broad daylight, and without the death he'd been so accustomed to in his old "world". While he outwardly denies it, angrily telling Vash that he is no longer "Wolfwood" and instead merely "the Punisher", that "I'm not like you", the episode's title card, which appears directly after this exchange, does not agree.

[ID: A screenshot from Trigun Stampede Episode 7. A black background with white text; the title card for the episode that reads "#07 Wolfwood". End ID.]

He's more himself than he's been in a long time.

In that sense, going back to my insane original premise, we can say that he was isekai'd once by transfer, turning him into someone else... then isekai'd again by reincarnation after he thought his old self dead, helping him to start on the path to finding that younger self and that hope he thought he'd lost. It's a double subversion, in a way, as the first is far from wish fulfillment, and the latter is actually a restoration - a realization that as he slowly starts to transition to the light, he actually never left this world at all when he was changed against his will. He's not a monster of the dark. He still has a place in this lighter world.

Heartwarming, in a way, but also kind of heartbreaking, as if he hasn't truly left this world then there are still consequences.

Wolfwood, after this, still has to complete his contract. He didn't actually get out.

And Vash, for all that he appears to be someone "not like" Wolfwood, is actually far more similar than he'd initially suspected - Vash, too, came from darkness. The Big Fall happened at night. And even as Wolfwood's world grows lighter, Vash's grows ever darker as what he has tried to stave off bleeds into the light, culminating in the events of July, which take place entirely at night, and are truly Vash's darkest hours. Rather than Vash being some naïve creature of a lighter world that Wolfwood cannot reach, he is instead another person from darkness who is struggling for the light all his own.

Because of course, there is no "lighter world" or "darker world". No true "travel" between the two. Just one world that is both at once. And what one finds in it is dependent on what one chooses to read into their circumstances. A kinder, brighter world isn't something they can simply get isekai'd to. It's something these characters have to struggle to make a reality - it's what Vash does, it's what Meryl takes a stand for, it's what Wolfwood, deep down, wants to believe is possible. Hope is something you build yourself, etc.

Anyways, I can't believe I just wrote all that. I think I'm losing my mind. If you came out of this going, "Story, what the hell are you talking about?" then... well. Me too. Thanks for reading anyways!

[diabolus1exmachina]

VW-Porsche 356 LaDawri Special

This is the VW-Porsche 356 LaDawri Special, it’s the only one of its kind ever made and up until recently it’s been a “long-lost” mystery car. Images of it would surface from time to time and people would wonder where the car was being hidden, if it still existed, and what its backstory was. La Dawri Coachcraft was founded in British Columbia, Canada by Leslie Albert Dawes. In 1956 the company debuted the La Dawri Cavalier which would be Canada’s first ever fiberglass car. The company name came from combining Leslie Albert Dawes with his business associate Don Wright – resulting in “L. A. Da Wri��� or La Dawri.

The car you see here is the only one of its kind, it’s a La Dawri body based on the earlier Victress C2, which is fitted to a Volkswagen Beetle chassis and powered by a Porsche 356 engine.

It’s a great example of the creative automotive chimeras that were being produced in California in the 1950s and 1960s, with builders taking the best aspects of various cars and bolting them all together into new vehicles.

This car is an interesting mix, it includes that aforementioned VW chassis and Porsche 356 engine, with the brakes, suspension, and 15 inch steel wheels also coming from the Porsche. The 4-speed manual gearbox comes from a VW, and the body comes from La Dawri.

[bronx-bomber87]

Good morning Happy Weekend :) Our ship is back together in this episode and what a come back it is. I keep saying how each ep is so good its because it is ha S2 doesn't disappoint for moments. Let's get started.

2x08 Clean Cut

We first see our beautiful OTP getting ready for the day. Tim and Jackson are being recognized for helping that family last ep. Lucy telling Tim his accommodation is a big deal. Tim being his self deprecating self is thinking it’s not. He’s out of his damn mind if he thinks she’s not going to make a big deal out of this. Lucy couldn’t be prouder of him for this. I could see her beaming as Jackson tells her the story.

Lucy telling him she’s planned her emotional day around it is too cute. It's the most important part of her day. I love them so much. Tim continues to lessen what he did. Saying it’s not why he does this job. Ok honey she’s not buying that for one second. Their banter is the best. Lucy is of course is going to give him crap for his lack luster excitement. She wants him to be a little more excited about this.

You know he’s proud but just won’t acknowledge it let alone let Lucy do so. Oh Tim. Can't say I don’t relate to Tim with this. No doubt he wasn't given words of affirmation growing up. So when he does receive them he deflects it. Because he either doesn't believe he deserves it or just can't handle when it is genuine. (Like from Lucy and all her sunshine proudness) I'm the same way. I too didn't get those growing up. So getting them is hard to process or accept.

With Lucy making a big deal of it he can't process it so he deflects that feeling instead. Lucy calls his bluff tells him to turn it down then. Tim freezes then says it doesn’t matter to him (Lying liar who lies) but it matters to the higher ups. Says if he scores well in his exam plus the award it could rise him in the ranks faster. Lucy lets it go for now replies fair enough.

We rejoin them them in their shop. Lucy asks if Tim invited Rachel to his award. He says no and reminds her it’s not a big thing. Lucy calls him on it says she was busy wasn’t she? He caves and says out of town... They cute. They’re having a good time till Tim doesn’t see brake lights in front of him. Then their whole day changes in an instant.

The look of worry all over Lucy’s face when she see’s Tim is bleeding. Looks like she wants to reach out but doesn't. He disregards his nose and asks if she’s ok. He's more worried about her. Ugh my heart. You know him crashing is going to shake him alone. Crashing a car with Lucy in it only makes it so much worse. He thinks he’s endangered her on top of everything else. Tim calls it in and lets them know a city vehicle is involved.

Doesn’t take long for their crash to be swarming with cops. Lucy is surprised at how many are here. Tim tells her how serious this is. Officer involved accidents are anything but good. His body language is all anxiety. He’s trying to keep it in but he’s worried. He’s never been very good at hiding his true emotions from Lucy.

The Sargent running the scene comes up and is cavalier. Telling them Tim is getting a day at the beach. Lucy is beyond confused about what this means. Tim explains what the off handed comment means. You can see the stress coming off him in waves. We all know how Tim needs his control and now it’s out of his hands. He’s listing off all the ways he could be disciplined. All the joking and 'not caring' about his award is out the window now. The only thing left is his disappointment and shock.

Lucy’s face in that gif above ugh my heart. Her eyes alone showing all the empathy she is carrying for him. She doesn’t want him to feel this way. To feel like taking the exam is useless now. It’s written all over her face she wants to fix this. To save him from whatever is headed his way about this. It’s killing her to see him so defeated.

Lucy knows he’s beating himself up ten fold over this. You can see her wanting to protect him from this whole thing. All she wants to do is make it better. Tim is thinking all his hard work is going to go down the drain before his eyes. That all he can do is wait and watch it happen. Lucy can't stand the fact he's defeated right out the gate. Its all over her body language how much she wants to rectify this for him.

Tim’s face kills me when Grey pulls up and asks what happened. He’s in a state of shock as he’s explaining. He looks so sad. Grey says he should sit out the ceremony. Tim makes a morose joke the deputy director won’t want to give an officer facing demotion a plaque…Lucy looks just as sad as him. We all know this award meant more to him than he was leading on. It's being ripped away from him now.

Harper advises Tim to get checked at hospital for liability reasons. He looks so beat but says thanks. He’s clearly upset and lost by the end of the scene. Lucy tells him how sorry she is. It’s coming off him in waves. Tim tries to compartmentalize. Tells Lucy to get their shop back to the garage then meet him at the hospital with their new one. She looks like she wants to say more but doesn't. That anxious need to fix this for him is seeping out of every pore in her body.

Poor Tim is at the hospital by himself. He sees Lopez for a second but she’s looking after a high af Jackson LOL You can tell he wants to talk. Jackson wanders off and Angela has to follow leaving him standing there. Dr Sawyer tells Tim, Sarah the driver is ok and that she asked about him. Then he is cleared and goes to talk to the driver. She seems like she just wants to let it go. Let the city pay for everything and move on. Her BF is a little more intense. Saying they’re gonna sue. Flying off the handle when Sarah is trying to just be done with it. Alarm bells are going off for Tim with this guy. He just doesn’t know why. So he walks away from the situation telling her he hopes she feels better soon.

Lucy arrives at the garage and the Sargent that was at the scene is there. Calls her little lady (first mistake my friend…) Lucy shakes it off and says she was the one with her T.O. and the accident. He continues to be an ass and says 'Oh beach boy...yeah he’s screwed.' It’s like this guy wanted to have his head ripped off by her I swear. She’s already anxious from how he’s feeling, with no way to currently make it better.

He’s poking an angry bear and has no idea what he’s in for. Lucy is aghast with his finality about the situation. Questions him and ask if he’s even checked out the other car yet. He tells her not yet. Lucy tells him she doesn’t remember seeing brake lights from that woman’s car. The Sargent continues his condescending tone and says ‘uh huh…’ Lucy then asks him if he can check. He is dismissive and says when he has time. That’s when the wrath of Lucy Chen comes raining down on this man. LOL

There is a great line from Castle that fits this. It's from one of my favorite episodes. Where the baddie is caught by Beckett and he says he was told about hell raining down on him if he was caught by her. Then says "He said something about hell raining down on me. Never imagined hell would look like you." That's how I feel about this scene. How this guy had no idea the hell that was going to rain down on him by not helping Lucy with Tim's situation. I am sure he wasn't expecting that day if he was going to get his ass handed to him it would be by her. Amazing.

Lucy is already irritated with the entire situation. She is also feeling a lack of control. Then she comes here trying to help Tim and gets this dismissive schmuck. She was ready to fight before this guys rude attitude. This only lit that fire from a flame to an inferno and he was in her path. I love how she completely destroys him. How fiercely she defends Tim to this man she doesn’t even know.

Refuses to let this be the end of it. She’s going to make him look at that other car even if she has his drag his ass over there to do it. Lucy calling this guy out on his macho BS. God I love her resilience in the face of stuff like this. Lucy is so wrapped up in passionately defending Tim she forgets she’s speaking to a senior officer the ‘sir’ and respectful posture at the end. Classic.

The best part is he listens. I think he respected her for standing up to him and calling him on his crap. The Lucy Chen effect haha This wouldn’t be the first time she’s chewed out a superior officer for him. She did the same thing back in 1x16 with Detective Murphy. No one kicks Tim while he’s already down superior officer or not in her presence. I love watching her defend and protect him.

They go to check out the car and the brake lights were pulled. Lucy asks if this could've happened during the accident. He says no they were pulled on purpose. So our girl was right. Gotta love it. She asks why this person would do this? He tells her insurances scams. He sees it all the time. Tells her maybe your T.O. isn’t screwed after all. Lucy relaxes visibly and the claws get put away. They find extra stuff in the trunk. Chemicals that are used to cook meth or set fires. Tim’s gut from earlier coming true about these people.

Lucy makes it back to hospital to tell Tim the good news. That the brake lights were disconnected. The relief on Tim’s face when she tells him is immense. She also tells him about the arson materials they found in the trunk as well. They go to confront Sarah. Tim has his confidence and swagger back. Not as defeated as before. You can see it in his stance while they're in Sarah's room.

They tell her they know her car was rigged and the materials they found in her car. She gets testy and a tad defensive. She then tries to say car isn’t hers. Tim goes on offensive and says is it your boyfriends? The one who wanted to sue me? She doesn’t reply. They get his name off her contact sheet ‘ Mike Garvey’ and he’s next.

First off I love that he trusts her enough to do this interrogation alone. It makes sense she would do it solo. He doesn't know she was with him. I just adore him not even thinking about it. Knowing she can handle this all on her own. Lucy doesn’t question it for one second. Just does this for him on his behalf because that’s what partners do. Right now she will do anything to get him out of the hole he’s in. They just need to get this guy to crack and they're golden. I do love how he paces watching it. Ready to pounce on this guy if he does anything.

Mike is instantly defensive with Lucy. Could not be more guilty. He tries to get under Lucy’s skin and tell her Tim should be fired. She won’t even make eye contact with him cause she will eat him if she does LOL Straight up lies when Lucy asks if he ever uses her car. Lucy goes right at him. Saying he didn’t disconnect her taillights for insurance fraud? He lies again says nope. Lucy brings up his past of being convicted of fraud.

That’s the last straw and he storms out and Tim follows him out. Mike goes off saying how he’s going to sue him and whole dept. Tim confidently (also very sexy btw) comes up to him. Says if he can only afford one retainer he should go for a criminal one. *fans self* God I love me some confident Tim. Phew lord. Mike takes off. Lucy apologizes for not getting more out of him. Tim says not to be the point was to wind him up. Send him back to Sarah wind her up and see who breaks first. Look at that sexy stance. He knows he'll have him dead to rights soon enough.

They go to see Sarah tell her to make a deal. She’ll wanna be first one on this. She agrees. Sarah tells them she was about to leave him. That she was using the car to get suitcases. She had no idea about the brake lights. Lucy asks why she’s leaving him? She tells them he's going over the edge. Used to just be insurance scams for money or arson scams but now it’s worse. She says he’s agreed to kill a man’s wife for cut off the life insurance policy. What a prince… Tells them she know it’s going down today.

Lucy gets to do another mini UC as the potential wife. They easily catch Mike and Tim gets to be the one to stop him. Sweet karma you putz. I think he enjoyed shouting instructions at this ass-hat to get him to surrender. I know I did haha Tim is cheeky and can’t let the wig go and makes a comment to Lucy about it. Her face I’m dying LMAO Even in the middle of an arrest the work flirts find their way in.

Lucy is so so proud of Tim and his accommodation. She is in wifey mode 100% and there is no stopping her with the pics and pride. Claiming they’re ‘For Rachel’ Sure they are Lucy.... Whatever you need to tell yourself. Tim is trying to make sure she doesn’t add it to her Home Screen haha They’re so cute I can't stand it. Also little bit of payback when he took all those pics of her last season when she fell asleep haha Parallels galore in this ending scene.

The look on his face when she shows him the lock screen hehe he’s so used to her shenanigans at this point. Doesn't even fight it. Tim has gone from annoyance to adoration though. It makes me so giddy.(The growth *heart clutch*) Look at that sheepish smile. He’s so cute and flustered by her attention and affection for him. Girl isn't hiding how she feels about this one bit. That reverence she has for him It's inevitable at this point and he's accepting it slowly. Another crack grows, carving out a piece of that wall of his. It hits the ground and shatters.

He then gets serious. Tim is very aware he wouldn't be standing here without her. That she fought and clawed to save his career. I love him for thanking her. The absolute growth in him for doing so. We get two special growth moments in this scene. Makes my shipper heart so damn happy. Recognizing what she did for him today. Verbalizing it the best way he can. He's still working on this particular skill with her. He’s in awe that she did that for him. It shows in how he tries to thank her. He's stumbling on his words to get it out.

She relieves him of his flustered thankfulness by throwing his line back at him. The most beautiful thing about this moment is the parallels to when Tim saved hers. Lucy didn’t even think for two seconds before going and doing everything she could to save his career. Just like he did in Plain Clothes Day and The Checklist from last season. Refusing to let this be the end of his path to Sargent. Her way of thanking him for all that he’s done for her. Also she didn’t record that audio book for nothing LOL

The lengths these two go for one another astounds me. Her doing this was letting him know she has his back just as much as he has hers. This is the kind of stuff that built the amazing couple we get in s5. The beautiful base they build along the way is rock solid. These are the moments that get us there.

Honestly Lucy throwing back his doing my job line. My heart. The work flirts make my heart so happy. He can’t even fight the smile on his face. She saved his career and used his own words against him. He’s falling in love and has no idea about it. So smitten with one another not ready for that to be more just yet. The underlying chemistry and attraction was always there though.

How can two people exude so much chemistry just sitting next to one another? All they’re doing is drinking beer and yet. They look so married in this scene. Like they're already a couple just celebrating with their friends. Let’s also note how much room there is on that bench. Yet they’re within inches of each other. Their love affair with being anti personal-space continues. I’m here for it all damn day. Look at how in-sync they are in both those gifs. The physical chemistry between these two long before they were together blows my mind. I love them so much.

~~~~

Side notes- Non chenford

Jackson being high as a kite is hilarious as hell. Angela chasing him around all ep, trying to keep it under wraps too damn funny. Always enjoyed their dynamic.

Harper having a good day with Grey. Getting him to write a positive eval for her for Lila. Her growth continues as well and I love it. I enjoy her journey to the Harper we have now so very much.

John and Ellroy super cute as well. Him introducing him to Nell beyond precious. I'll say it again I enjoyed John and Grace a lot. They had solid chemistry.

[cloudycaffeinatedcryptid]

How do you think the counselors would be as drivers? What kind of cars do you think they would own?

oooh this is fun to think about!! i also don't know anything about cars so prepare for unfiltered, no context nonsense! but srsly thank you so much for the ask, i love to Brainrot <3 sorry this took so long, i needed to chew on it

Jacob - as much as i love ragging on our beefy boy, i do think he's a good driver. i don't think he would've been trusted to drive the van if he wasn't & i can see him having a pickup truck. maybe he gets it from his dad/parents on his 18th birthday? i have. Theories 👀 maybe got like,,, a couple speeding tickets in high school & his truck is probably old & beat up & red for sure. otherwise, he gets a subaru & no i won't explain

Kaitlyn - everyone on the road is stupid & in her way & "why is this even a 30 mph speed limit when it goes up to 45 in like a mile???" it's not so much that she's a bad driver, she's just impatient & pissed off by everyone else. when she's in a bad mood, unfortunately she sometimes parks like an asshole :( & she's jumped a curb or two when she's in a rush. a fistful of parking tickets & half as many speeding tickets have made her a tad more cautious but she still doesn't like driving. she would 100% have a Jeep, but i would LOVE to see her on a motorbike

Ryan - public transportation boy. he has a subway pass, he doesn't have to deal with traffic, it's perfect. he prolly could drive if he had to but he'd really rather not & he's a bit hesitant when he does. buick verano, one of the most car-looking cars ever

Dylan - also prolly a public transportation boy, he tends to be an anxious driver. if he has/had a car, it's an early 2000s, obnoxiously red, chevy cavalier

Nick - i know dunking on Nick is my brand & i very much enjoy it, he's a Slimy Boi, but begrudgingly, i think he's an okay driver. he's not anyone's first choice to drive when they go out but it's not a big deal if he ends up behind the wheel. i think he got one of his parents' old vehicles after they got a new one, so maybe either an old, small truck, or an old hatchback

Emma - the darling love of my life is a Woman In A Hurry. she should prolly have more speeding tickets than she does & she WILL make it thru the yellow light before it turns red, no matter how impossible that is. her turns are usually sharp, she doesn't slow down enough for speed bumps, & if there's no one around, she usually rolls thru stop signs. it makes everyone in the vehicle very nervous so she usually doesn't drive. she also can't drive on ice. she has a kia rio or similar style car

Abi - she's actually a really good driver. she has good reflexes, she's attentive, & obeys all traffic laws. she needs her maps app to get anywhere but her ability to leave in time to get places five minutes early no matter the road conditions is uncanny. she's never gotten a ticket & she wants to keep it that way. she isn't comfortable driving big vehicles & she for sure has a volkswagen beetle

Laura & Max - maybe cheating a bit here to combine them, but i have my reasons. i think they're both good drivers, honestly. i think they swap out the driver's seat pretty often - Max is better at night driving & long distance, but Laura usually drives during the day, around town, & for any daily errands. Laura's more likely to have gotten a ticket or two for not paying attention to the parking or going over the speed limit without really meaning to have gone so fast, but Max has definitely accidentally blown a couple stop signs bc he didn't notice them until the last second. his vehicle is the one they're in during the prologue - i'll be honest, i have no idea what kind it is, i've been googling cars this entire time. i think Laura has some type of sedan from around 2009

sorry this was so long - i only put pictures for vehicles i was rlly specific on, incase you're like me & don't know ✨anything✨ about vehiculars. please enjoy my headcannons

thank you again!!

[ariesgamesandminis]

Restocks are up for BattleTech!

20-206 Huitzilopochtli Assault Tank "Huey" (Standard) 20-217 Crusader CDR-5K 20-236 Marauder IIC 2 20-298 Archer ARC-6W 20-324 Tundra Wolf 20-347 Galahad "Glass Spider" 3 20-350 Ghost GST-10 20-361 Thorn THE-N 20-367 Spider SDR-7K / SDR-7K2 20-385 Scarabus SCB-9A 20-398 Shrike SHK-VP-A 20-410 Malak C-MK-O Invictus 20-431 Ocelot 20-481 Maultier Hover Vehicle (2) 20-485 Balius Prime / B / C 20-5001 Eagle Fighter EGL-R6 20-5008 Flamberge Prime 20-5019 Kestrel VTOL 20-5040 Mad Cat MKII (Enhanced) 20-5049 Carnivore Assault Tank (Standard) (2) 20-5059 Septicemia E 20-5080 Vulture MK IV Prime 20-5088 Hollander III BZK-D1 20-5102 Eyrie (Standard) 20-5105 Cardinal Transport VTOL 20-5110 Carronade CRN-7M 20-5117 Kodiak II (Standard) 20-5122 Tenshi TN-10-O Prime 20-5126 Gun GN-2O Prime 20-5133 Gotterdammerung GTD-20S 20-5134 Juliano JLN-5A 20-5139 Roadrunner RD-1R 20-5140 Ostscout OTT-7J 20-5148 Flea FLE-14 20-5151 Avalanche AVL-1O 20-5153 Uziel UZL-2S 20-5183 Locust LCT-1V 20-5187 Dominator 20-5193 Hierofalcon Prime / A 20-5197 Wolverine WVR-6R / 6D 20-5204 Stormwolf Prime 20-623 SRM Carrier (2) 20-627 LRM Carrier (2) 20-634 Epona Pursuit Tank Prime (2) 20-638 Rakshasa MDG-1A 20-642 Berserker BRZ-A3 20-645 Ha Otoko (Standard) 20-702 Corsair Fighter CSR-V12 20-712 Shilone Fighter SL-17 20-722 Anhur Transport 20-725 Cavalry Attack Helicopter 20-727 Karnov UR Transport 20-741 J-27 Tow Vehicle, Thumper towed gun, trailer, and boxes 20-766 Lynx LNX-9Q 20-779 Manticore Heavy Tank (2) 20-780 Hussar HSR-200-D 20-786 Hachiman Fire Support (Standard) (2) 20-790 Salamander PPR-5S 20-800 Hex Bases (4) 20-822 Demolisher Tank 20-825 Bulldog Medium Tank (2) 20-912 Kingfisher 20-956 Tessen TSN-1C 20-990 Lightray LGH-4W 99-201 Large Flat Top Hex Base #1 99-202 Large Flat Top Hex Base #2 BT-004 Afreet Battle Armor BT-006 Phalanx Battle Armor BT-028 Cavalier Battle Armor BT-128 Tornado Battle Armor BT-129 Infiltrator Mk I Battle Armor BT-133 Corona Battle Armor BT-134 Gray Death Legion Battle Armor BT-178 Jade Hawk JHK-03 BT-187 Djinn Battle Armor BT-188 Nighthawk Battle Armor BT-189 Kobold Battle Armor BT-198 Tengu Battle Armor BT-199 Asura Md. Battle Armor BT-200 Shedu Assault Battle Armor BT-201 Nephilim Assault Battle Armor BT-208 Triton ProtoMech BT-209 Se'irim Medium Battle Armor BT-214 Deva Dominus BT-222 Tau Wraith BT-226 Fast Recon BT-230 Kopis Battle Armor BT-236 Ravager Battle Armor BT-244 Heavy Infantry - Standing BT-245 Heavy Infantry - Firing BT-250 Ignis Infantry Support Tank BT-269 Sling SL-1G BT-293 Hitotsume Kozo HKZ-1P BT-319 Wheeled APC BT-321 Hover APC BT-335 PWWKA S-PW-1LAM (Air Mech) BT-364 Gabriel Hovercraft BT-370 Kurita Infantry (3) BT-371 Davion Infantry (3) BT-372 Savannah Master Hovercraft BT-374 Roc Protomech BT-381 Basic Inner Sphere Battle Armor (3) BT-383 Longinus Battle Armor (3) BT-385 Grey Death Legion Battle Armor (3) BT-387 Gnome Battle Armor (3) BT-388 Salamander Battle Armor (3) BT-390 Fa-Shih Battle Armor (3) BT-391 Fenrir Battle Armor (1) BT-413 Marauder Battle Armor BT-414 Niso Attack WiGE (Standard & Support) BT-433 Warwolf H BT-476 Ares ARS-V1E Apollo FT-027 Gotha Mech Scale Fighter OP-080 Mad Cat E Left Arm OP-115 Heavy Lasers 20-203D Solitaire Main Gun 20-410F Malak Hatch Cover 20-917ARM Nova Cat (Omni) Arm Sprue BT-292G Shiro SH-2P Banner BT-294F Hatamoto-Suna HTM-30S Banner Sprue

[gasha40k]

At long last! It’s been a while since my last post, although I’m sure I could probably start every post by saying that. Warhammer has taken a back-burner position in my life for the past few months. I haven’t played a game of 40k since October! If I’m honest, this is primarily because of money. I’ll spare everyone the rant and say that 40k’s prohibitively expensive nature has become, well, prohibiting, I guess. But that being said, the fixation always returns. And return it has! In the last however-many-months since my last post, I’ve spent most of my 40k time playing Kill Team and avoiding finishing my reading of Angron: The Red Angel, but I’ve done a little bit of fun stuff on the side that I’d like to share.

First time using colored primer went pretty well! Certainly saved me a lot of time and Mephiston Red paint

Angron is progressing! Since my last post I’ve primed him and most of his subassemblies. I’m painting him sort of in half, with his left arm and wing detached, as well as his bronze armor plating. I’m doing this so that I can get in and color the backsides of his wings properly.

This guy has been a big challenge so far. A model this large is both imposing and resource-intensive, and I’ve done literally no painting as of recent, so I’m likely not going to finish him for a long while, but I’m excited for when I eventually do.

Formerly known as Urayen’s Reavers, the Eclipse Cavaliers are a band of opportunistic Aeldari Corsairs who all seek one thing and one thing alone: profit

Moving on. As I mentioned previously, I started playing Kill Team this year, and I gotta say, KT fucking rocks! The rules are super approachable and the small scale of the game allows for much more focused and cinematic battles. It’s also a lot quicker, which makes it much easier to get pickup games in, which means I can actually play some 40k sometimes nowadays.

These xenos boys are known as the Eclipse Cavaliers. They’re a band of scumbag Corsairs and my squad of choice. I’ve written a lot of backstory for these boys so as to texture my games a bit more for myself, so I’m gonna put all that stuff in another post where I can talk about these characters in a bit more detail.

The 2nd Company is lead by the boisterous Captain Zaraf Gorfried Redfale. They specialize in the utilization of heavy war implements, such as Gravis armor, tanks, and artillery vehicles

Now that we’re onto more conceptual subject matter, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how the Thunderbearers actually function as a Chapter. Each Company of the Thunderbearers controls a massive warfleet—much larger than the average fleet of most Successor Chapters—and acts as a semi-autonomous fighting force in and of itself, with the ability to prosecute independent campaigns so long as they remain aligned and in accordance with the Chapter as a whole. The 1st Company is functionally the “core” of the Chapter, made up of the Chapter’s command fleet, veteran company, and portions of the 10th.

The 2nd Company is technically the first of the Chapter’s autonomous fighting forces, and they’re also the only Company for which I own a Captain (the big Gravis fucker who I show off pretty often). The 2nd Company’s culture can largely be sourced to that of a feudal desert world known as Manticore. As the 2nd Company makes up a good amount of the Chapter’s infantry regiments, I felt it necessary to give them their own heraldry.

The special heraldry on their armor pays respect to Manticore in a few different ways. First and foremost, the red armor is a visual homage to the cold, crimson dunes that cover Manticore, but secondarily, it is a holdover tradition that comes from Manticoran warrior culture, wherein it was standard practice to color one’s armor with any number of red pigments so as to camouflage themselves in the dunes. Over time, different colorations of red grew to signify different things, with the 2nd Company’s crimson and gold coming to represent wealth and nobility.

I think that having a squad or two with a splash of red will really make my Space Marines pop out a little bit, and will definitely add some variation into my annoyingly uniform army. I’m thinking of doing little streaks of red on a few of the vehicles, as well, which will make them stand out too.

Speaking of vehicles, the Thunderbearers have received some reinforcements!

This is a Ballistus Dreadnought that I got my hands on through a friend of mine who was selling his Astartes. I kitbashed him a little but tried not to overdo it with the baubles, since my Redemptor is a bit of a piece. Design-wise, I tried to make this a sort of “Primaris update” of one of my first models, Big Harold.

The Aurum Eternatus, one of the Chapter’s most sanctified relics, is a Venerable Dreadnought whose chassis contains the body of the previous fallen Chapter-Master

The thing that I like the most about the Venerable Dreadnought is the ornate look to it. It’s got a lot of trim and fancy panels everywhere and kind of looks like a church-mech.

This aesthetic choice is most noticeable in the lascannon, in my opinion. Combined with the gold trim, the cool indented archway designs on the side panel of the las sorta gives “Gothic castle wall.”

While I couldn’t really replicate the trim, I did use a bunch of bits from the Venerable Dreadnought kit to up the Gothic factor. There’s also a noticeable lack of purity seals on Big Harold, which was something that I absolutely had to remedy. There’s 7 seals! Now we’ve got a proper 7-times blessed Primaris-scale lascannon to snipe tanks with.

Harold has sort of fallen out of use in my lists recently because, uh, Venerable Dreadnoughts do not exist anymore. Awesome! The older Dreads just aren’t as good as Redemptors as well, so Harold has sort of retired to a more ritualistic position on the Chapter.

In his stead, though, we’ve got quite a few new additions to the army alongside our Ballistus. Not included here is another drop pod and a bunch of new infantry units.

Sternguard Veterans of the Thunderbearers 1st Company

Here’s one of ‘em! This is my first squad of Sternguard Veterans, but I’m in the process of building another. Like the Ballistus, these dudes are as of yet unnamed, but I like them quite a bit! To be critical, though, I think I overdid it with some of the bits, but I’m sure the silhouettes will look less obnoxious once they’re all painted and voluminous.

My favorite of the bunch is probably the Veteran Sergeant. His heroic pose and classic bits give “default Space Marine.” And the Veteran on the left is using a bit of a unique shoulder pad that may or may not be a cleansed and sanctified Chaos relic, which may or may not be a common practice in the Thunderbearers Reclusiam Cataegis.

Next post will include the Eclipse Cavaliers and a new Thunderbearers character guy.

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

went to a sim racing facility for the first time!! having never raced or driven in my life, I set a somewhat ok 58.1 in a Fiat Abarth 500 Assetto Corsa around Brands Hatch Indy.

In honor of this, do you have any Fun Fiat Facts?

Whipped out me sim rig to find out how good a time that was, and it must have taken me around ten laps to manage less (a 57.8)! (Gamer excuses for this sessions are a framerate barely at illusion-of-movement levels and some clutch mapping issue that made most shifts crunch.) For someone who never even drove, that's quite good! Now, maybe not "Run get a sim wheel right now for the good of humanity" good... but maybe "Finding out a used Logitech G25 is Christmas-present cheap may enrich your free time" good.

As for the Fun Fiat Fact request, it's denied: not only because I've already written about Fiat -and for my very first post no less- but most importantly because that car is not a Fiat! Indeed, since 2007 Abarth is, officially, a brand unto itself, that sells models like the 500 and the 124, just like Fiat sells models like the 500 and the 124. Now, I don't think anyone is going to try and pretend the similarities are just a coincidence or that an Abarth 500 is in any way not objectively a Fiat - but it's not a "Fiat 500 Abarth" any more than the one below is a "Chevrolet Cavalier Toyota".

That's right, there once was such thing as a Toyota Cavalier. Oh, brand engineering.

This is a rare but not completely isolated arrangement - see for example Ruf, German brand that makes vehicles based on Porsches, best known for the Ruf CTR -nicknamed "Yellowbird"- that bested the Ferrari F40's incredible top speed record.

Be careful who you call ugly under the 200mph barrier.

But yeah, all that is to say, I am not going to give you any fun Fiat facts. >:(

Let's give you fun Abarth facts then! Let's talk about fake exhausts. Big engines move a lot of gas -that's kind of the point- so they have big exhaust pipes for all that gas to leave, and high-tier exhausts are made of fancy materials that shine.

This -and our love for fancy shiny things in general- makes people like big shiny exhausts. But exhausts are very long, and making them big and shiny is costly. So people figured, what if we only make it wide at the end, where you actually see it?

After all, if the tip is large enough, it will satisfy regardless of what the rest of its length is like - sure, people may think it looks a bit weird when you take it out, but that only happens by the time you've already scored, doesn't it. But now, back to exhausts.

If you can just attach a bigger tip to the end of your exhaust, surely you can attach a tip of a different material and have a bog standard exhaust with a cool shiny tip, that now you can also shape to your designer's content!

(Fun fact: an aftermarket exhaust system that only replaces the components that come after the catalytic converter -which, contrary to the popular misconception that confuses it with the muffler, is mounted right beside the engine- is called a "catback exhaust". Picture unrelated.)

But then, if the tip material is completely separate from the exhaust pipe, you can now just make it a plastic part of the bumper and it doesn't need to withstand temperatures as high and is even cheaper and easier to style!

And now that they're not mounted on the tip of the exhaust, they don't have to coincide with it, so you can split the exhaust into two tips, which is cooler because they're more! Hell, you can also do that by just making the exhaust coincide with one tip and have the other blanked off!

But at that point, why even have the exhaust show up back there at all? Just make the tips blank and make the exhaust go down behind them!

And at that point why not just fuck it up to the point where you need this exhaust evolutionary biology 101 course to even recognize it is meant to be an exhaust, if we can kill God who's left to stop us from dancing on his corpse.

Well, the Abarth 500, as you might have guessed by now, has fake exhaust tips. But here's the weird thing: the real exhaust tips are not any less shiny and prominent than the fake ones. See for yourself in this sound video.

Oh also, I hope the devil got some killer stuff from the deal he made with the Abarth exhaust engineer, because if he only got a piddly little soul in exchange for the ability to turn 500 engine noise into this he got majorly screwed over.

Links in blue are posts of mine explaining the words in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

[dailycharacteroption]

Roleplaying Races 15: Orang-Pendak

(art by young920 on DeviantArt)

And so we come to the final entry of the week, and it’s a First Edition ancestry that… well, I kinda thought was lame when I first saw it.

I don’t think I can be blamed though. After all, the orang-pendak are a species of sapient primates (already done with the vanara) that are based in part on folklore of ape-people living in the forest (also vanara) that are only really set apart by their small size with surprising strength and their unique aversion to riding on mounts or in vehicles. With only that bestiary entry to go off of, it’s easy to see why they’d be another bestiary-orphan ancestry.

But is there more to them? Certainly!

In the real world, orang-pendek (so glad to have validation that spelling it with an ‘e’ is ok) are beings from Indonesian folklore, specifically Sumatran, where the people have stories of the “short people of the forest”, which were similar to the orangutan, but different, more human-like. Certain accounts from islanders claim they are smart enough to use tools and could sometimes be territorial and violent.

Now, regardless of whether these tales are true or merely folklore based on misinterpreted sightings of orangutans or insular forest-dwelling societies, but the nature of the story has naturally attracted the attention of both legitimate biologists and cryptozoologists alike.

In any case, the Pathfinder version does not list a specific nation in the bestiary entry, but it can be assumed that they are from parts of Tian Xia. Additionally, they are described as a distant relation to sasquatches, and are just as shy and insular.

The orang-pendak are small humanoid apes covered in shaggy fur that ranges from brown to a rusty red-orange. As such, it’s easy to see how they could be mistaken for orangutans or gibbons from a distance. However, their proportions are more akin to a human’s or halflings, albeit with a hunched posture.

They are also semi-nomadic gatherers that only really hunt to round out their diet with protein, and spend most of the time subsisting on the world around them before moving on in order to minimize their impact on their surroundings. Beyond this, they are a close-knit people that are shy and distrustful of outsiders.

Surprisingly strong for their size, orang-pendaks are also empathetic and wise, but their lack of formal education hampers them somewhat.

Familiar as they are with forest terrain, they are adept at climbing and hiding within the foliage.

They also possess excellent night vision.

Orang-pendaks however, become easily unnerved and motion sick when being moved by forces other than their own autonomy, making riding mounts or in vehicles difficult and outright undesirable for them.

Their kinship with the other apes they share their territory with makes it easy for them to get along with other primates.

Their surprising upper body strength also makes them shockingly adept at destroying objects as well.

It’s nice to see a small ancestry that not only doesn’t have a strength penalty, but has a strength bonus, making those small barbarian or fighter builds much more viable. Their wisdom also lends itself well to rangers and druids, or even clerics. On the other hand, however, that intelligence penalty does make arcane magic builds somewhat limited, but the real kicker is their Own Two Feet weakness, which basically makes classes and archetypes with mounts, such as cavalier or samurai, difficult to play without using archetypes that remove and replace the mount with something more useful, to say nothing of the difficulties of overland travel in adventures where mounts or vehicles would be the superior way to travel. Like all weaknesses, however, they can be surmounted.

That does it for this week, and I hope you enjoyed it. This is the second to last time we’ll be able to do this for first edition ancestries, but fret not, I already have plans to continue into 2nd Edition, not to mention continuing to look at species from Starfinder!

[soylent-robot]

ORKS ORKS ORKS

i entered a fugue state and did a review of the orks 10e index

orks are back! like actual mobs of orks and not a load of dinky mario karts! the changes to morale means ork mobs arent just going to bleed models anymore, and their stratagems are worth a dang now too. tldr im excited to throw down a vast tide of green and say "chew through that" again. the enhancement i really like is Follow Me Ladz for a flat +2" movement to any unit you like, even warbikers. the real tricky part will be deciding which character goes in which unit, because they all hand out some really good buffs but dont have any rules that let you wedge two leaders into one unit, outside of the regular boyz mob.

battlewagon is here for firing deck 22. you can shove all kinds of shooty nonsense in here, like burna boyz, flash gitz, lootas. theres also ferrying meganobz around of course. its own weapons are incidental, im thinking to just give it a deff rolla and let the riders handle the shooting. the trukk is the smaller transport option with a built in 6++ and firing deck 12, but has no assault ramp style rule like it used to. still it will be good for ferrying smaller units about.

beastsnagga boyz are fine with their 6+ FNP, theyre mainly here for bodyguarding the beastboss, who is an absolute monster. pack them in a hunta rig to get them in fast. the beastboss on squigosaur are pretty much daemon princes, theyre hard as nails with T10 and 3+/5++/4+++, and hand out charge re-rolls which is pretty good now the orks dont have that by default. mozrog is the same but doesnt hand out the charge re-roll, instead just beating the absolute shit out of anything he runs into. i prefer the charge re-roll aura tho. the painboss can only join beastsnagga boyz now, upgrades his unit's FNP to 5+, and once per battle can return D3 dead models to his unit. hes fine, but hes not the beastboss, so hes going to sit on the shelf. squighog boyz put out a respectable amount of damage 2 melee attacks and ignore all moving modifiers, alongside the boss's charge re-roll theyre going to get to where they want easily. theyre a surprising T7 as well, so tougher than they look. the squig riding nob is still a separate character for some reason but ignore that and put him in the unit for a bit of extra punch, and he can take follow me ladz for a further movement boost. hunta rigs are a good mix of anti monster/anti vehicle shooting and melee, and they can somehow pack 21 models inside, so thats two mobs of 9 or 10 beastsnagga boyz with their own beastboss each. the kill rig holds only 11 models and can hand out a strength buff, but the main thing here is the horrific wurrtower weapon, a S12 AP -3 damage D6 torrent bastard that you want to use overwatch on all the time.

the warboss goes in your mob of boyz or nobz, hands out a bonus to melee hit rolls, and kills shit. the warboss in mega armour goes in your mob of meganobz, hands out a bonus to melee hit rolls, and kills shit. hes here to kill shit and buff his unit with enhancements. dont forget about that epic challenge stratagem to kill specific shit!

the weirdboy has some kind of psychic shooting attack, but nevermind that, it can teleport its boyz mob around like some kind of monochrome cavalier. gagging for a plastic model, please GW. the wurrboy on the other hand joins beastsnagga boyz and messes with enemy battleshock tests, which is alright but not something the index is really focused on. his LAZER EYES got a substantial shooting buff however, going to D6 shots at S8 AP -3 D3.

both types of big mek hand out an invun against shooting to their unit, but no longer give it to the vehicle they ride in, and also hand out hit rerolls of 1 when shooting. the mega armour version has an unexpected medic type rule to return models to his unit, which is kinda crazy when that unit is meganobz. the non armour version handing a 5++ to a mob of 20 boyz will give a surprisingly hardy objective grabber. the shokk attack gun version goes with some lootas and blows shit up, but is probably too unreliable over taking the regular big mek for that 5++. basic meks are going to be stretched thin, because they can hand out a bonus to hit rolls for nearby vehicles (and i do mean nearby, only 3", so dont zoom off and leave them alone).

nobz have a lot of good melee attacks and are pretty tough if a warboss is leading them. give them all power klaws and big choppas and go to town. the nob with waaagh banner can call the waaagh for his unit only a second time in a battle, and is OC 5 when the waaagh is in play. unfortunately he doesnt get the benefits of similar elites characters like lieutenants and foetid virion, and will hog a whole character slot to himself without letting a warboss into his unit.

out of the four flyers, the dakkajet & wazbommer are still the ones worth looking at, with the dakkajet getting 18 shots when in rapid fire range with its 3 twin supa shootas (always give it the third one) that always get critical hits. itll never happen but that 36 hits is always a faint hope. the wazbommer meanwhile puts out a big pile of nasty blast attacks and can swap its grenades keyword out for a 4++.

boyz are some real good ladz in this index, i promise. theyre still T5, they dont bleed models to morale anymore, and if you start with a mob of 20 you can add 2 leaders to them, one of which must be a warboss. the other leader can add some great buffs to this big unit: a weirdboy gives you a teleporting hammer unit (though it might be difficult to find a place to teleport such a big unit to), a big mek or painboy to sit on an objective and be invincible with that 5++ against shooting or 5+ FNP, and the nob with waaagh banner to give the unit an extra waaagh (which also buff's the warboss's melee attacks again). you can really mix and match some powerful buffs into this unit.

gretchin generate CP for standing on objectives and they have OC2. youll always be taking at least one of these units to sit on your home objective, because free CP. zodgrod can join a unit and give them scouts 9" (yes 9") and some fun little buffs that make them a tiny bit harder to kill. when the waaagh is up, his unit becomes move 12", which can be a surprise objective grab.

hey burna boyz might be a real unit this time, right? overwatch is cool, yeah? they get full wound rerolls with their flamers against units on objectives, thats a thing right?

lootas need to sit still to fire good (bs 6+ with heavy, oof) but a mek can help with that. if they shoot a unit thats near an objective, they get full rerolls to hit however. their deffguns are pretty likely to remove whole marines with each hit when they do hit, but theyre hampered by having to bring along some dorks who dont have deffguns. stick them in the back with a regular big mek for that 5++.

tankbustas would be good with their D3 rokkit launchas and hit/wound bonus when shooting vehicles, but theyre locked into a unit of 5 with very specific equipment based on their ancient finecast kit. new plastic kit please!

boss snikrot hands out a once per game teleport to his unit of kommandos. he also stabs good, but hes got no special battleshock rules despite his killer reputation. kommandos themselves have a big dumb list of upgrades im going to ignore in favour of just giving them a breacha ram, a burna, and a distraction grot who can give out a 5++ against shooting once per game. with infiltrate and stealth they can grab objectives early and be hard to shift with the grot.

grotsnik is no longer a hindrance to moving around, and lets his unit fall back and charge, very useful. hes also handing out a 5+ FNP to a mob of 20 boyz, which is stupid and good. he also hits like a truck. the regular painboy also hands out 5+ FNP and can return D3 dead models to his unit once per battle. 

the deffkilla wartrike can join units of warbikes now, and its melee attack doesnt hit like a wet sponge anymore. 6 warbikes and the deffkilla is a big pile of tough wounds to deal with, and they auto advance 6" on top of moving 12". with the waaagh, ere we go and follow me ladz, this unit goes 14", auto advance 8", charge 2d6+2" and that sounds like an easy first turn charge to me. warbikers themselves are T6 with 3 wounds apiece, and put out a crazy amount of fire with their dakkaguns.

deffkoptas are stupid because rokkit launchas are stupid because they now fire d3 shots and have blast, and theyre still a flat 3 damage. goodbye marines.

flash gitz can get up to 4 shots each and hit on a 4+ if they stay still, with some slightly better than a heavy bolter guns. they really need badrukk with them, who hands out full hit rerolls when shooting.

meganobz tear shit apart with their pile of attacks at minimum damage 2, and they get devastating wounds during a waaagh. they can be joined by a big mek for a 4++ against shooting, useful cos they have no native invulnerable save, but you probably want to go with a warboss in mega armour for that bonus to their hit rolls. follow me ladz on their leader boosts them up to move 7", and with ere we go theyre surprisingly fast. attaching ghaz might actually be a downgrade since he provides lethal hits, which skips the opportunity to trigger devastating wounds during a waaagh.

im not sure what ghazghkull is doing this time. he wants to go in a unit of meganobz because he lost his wound-per-phase cap, but if he does that he cant ride in a battlewagon cos of his fat ass taking up 18 slots (19 including makari). hes move 5" and theres no way to speed him up or deep strike him outside of the ere we go strat. hes terrifying in melee yes but hes going to find it very hard to get there

in mario kart, the boomdakka snazzwagon vomits out a load of anti light infantry shooting, but orks wont struggle with that sort of target. the kustom boostablasta is a confused mix of close range torrent and long range shooting, neither of which is that exciting, but it does hand out a hit penalty to units it shoots. the megatrakk scrapjet gets free mortals when it charges, but its melee isnt as good as it used to be. it still puts out a nice amount of damage 3 rokkit attacks though, but needs mek support to hit. the rukkatrukk squigbuggy is still here, but its two launchas are consolidated into one, and its putting out 6+D6 shots instead of 3D6. its the only real source of indirect fire in the index tho so i think theyll still be a mainstay for pushing that damage around. the shokkjump dragsta is a sniper buggy now with a nasty precision gun that hits on a 3+(!) and it can still teleport so good luck avoiding getting your support characters exploded.

stormboyz max out at 10 models now, and luckily the nob can still get the power klaw despite the kit not having one. theyre fast with built in advance & charge, and theyre the only deep striking unit here, so theyll be useful for some late game objective grabbing as always. boss zagstruk allows his unit to re-roll charges on the turn they deep strike and hands out hit rerolls in melee. if youre taking a full unit of stormboyz intending to punch stuff hes pretty much vital to that enterprise, but not for the small mob of 5 objective grabbers.

i dont think deff dreads are tough enough to take. they dont hand out any cool buffs like the helbrutes, and any real anti-vehicle firepower is going to look at them and theyll vanish. killa kanz dont suffer from morale anymore but theyre merely okay. they have bs 4+ on their guns but they can also hand out mortal wounds to your own army if youre unlucky, and theyre not particularly tough or fast. gorkanauts and morkanauts are big dumb piles of wounds with good melee and okay firepower. the morkanaut no longer hands out a 5++ aura, sad face. it really depends on their cost if theyre good or not, because they need a lot of mek support to land their hits. the stompa is uh big. i respect anybody who fields one, good luck.

mek gunz! theyre fun and goofy and would sit at the back blasting shit, but none of them have indirect fire :( . bubblechukkas have 3 random profiles and i dont want to deal with that. mega kannons and traktor kannons are probably worth a look, especially the traktor's silly anti-fly 2+ and devastating wounds, slapping out up to 7 mortals per shot if something unluckly flies in their line of sight. they will fold like cardboard the moment something looks at them funny.

im not talking about the fortifications are you crazy.

[inventors-fair]

The Power of Incredible Violence: IP Partner Examples

Given the nature of this week, examples felt appropriate, and my fellow judges were all too happy to provide me with them. Disclaimer: Any submissions from the same IP or with similar mechanics will NOT be penalized, so please do not avoid your own good idea because of a similarity here! With that said, lets get into it!

James McCloud (Star Fox) - @shyflops Hailing from the classic video game series, James McCloud is ready to suit up and go into battle with the power of a Vehicle by his side- specifically, a Vehicle with the Starfighter subtype. This is a great example of a twist on Choose a Background, especially since the flavor and mechanic synergy of having one commander be able to crew the other is very cool. As for his ability, it obviously synergises very nicely with him as a pilot- not only can he give his squadmates a solid buff, but he can even give it to his own Starfighter if he already crewed it! Heck, he can even buff another pilot just in time for them to crew their own Vehicle. It's nothing too complicated, but it makes for an amazing support piece that suggests he would work well with a very nice, flashy Vehicle.

Palamedes Sextus (The Locked Tomb) - @loreholdlesbian We're all on Tumblr, so I'm sure the Locked Tomb is no stranger to most of you, but the TL:DR is that Necromancers have a bonded, oathsworn companion/bodyguard known as a cavalier- which of course makes for a great partner mechanic. Namely, this is also an excellent example of gameplay over flavor- in the books, necromancer/cavalier relationships are meant to be 1-to-1, which might technically be better represented as Partner with, but for gameplay reasons (and y'know, to make it eligible for the contest), it was swapped over into a different form. As for the card itself, Palamedes is a pretty nerdy fella, so the scrying, drawing, and "studying" of artifacts all fits him to a T. It does imply some greater level of artifact synergy in the set, which would be very interesting to see.

Raleigh Becket (Pacific Rim) - @mistershinyobject Finally, we see an example of a classic Partner mechanic, using what might be one of the most iconic presentations of "two people who fight in sync". Once again, just because it doesn't line up perfectly with the flavor of "two people are drift compatible with each other and no one else", doesn't mean this isn't the right choice for gameplay and/or drafting reasons. Interestingly enough, we can see some Vehicle synergy in Raleigh, just like good ol' James, but without the benefit of having a Vehicle in the command zone. Obviously a Pacific Rim set would have a glut of Vehicles, but it does make Raleigh a potentially dead card in some unfortunate situations. However, it's also a great sign that if you pull Raleigh, you want to stuff your deck with as many giant robots as possible.

Hopefully these examples help! I'm available in the Discord or on Tumblr at any time, so I'll see y'all around!

~judge @naban-dean-of-irritation

[utilitycaster]

In the Locked Tomb series, the villain of the first book ends up being Cytherea, Lyctor of the Seventh House. She, like most lyctors, epitomizes her house. The Seventh House serves to celebrate the beauty found in death and decay: "They draw out moments of beauty, preserving people, places, and times in amber for later dissection and delectation."[1] Cytherea is herself nigh-immortal, as a lyctor, and also eternally dying of a terminal illness. Her plan is to eliminate the heirs of the houses to prevent there ever being other lyctors, destroy the Emperor (and Empire), and in doing so, be destroyed herself.

She succeeds only in her final goal. The Seventh House's predilection for those preserved-amber moments is its undoing, as its heir is slaughtered by its lyctor, and its lyctor driven to seek death because of her unending pain, but unable to do even that with peace and dignity, as ending her life means ending what remains of her cavalier, who, by the nature of the lyctor process, must be an eternal sacrifice.

Given the author's background in fandom (particularly fanfiction) and internet culture[2][3] and the many references to that both textually and metatextually within the series, it is not out of line to assume that the Empire, constructed in-universe in our near future and stagnated for ten thousand years at the start of the series contains commentary for, among many other things, fandom itself. The plight of Cytherea explores the fallacies inherent in a number of common trends in fanon.

Cytherea explores, as do all the original lyctors, the trope of lifespan angst. In Harrow the Ninth, we learn that the requirement of cavalier sacrifice is a profound source of guilt for the necromancers who experience it, even millennia later. It is then revealed that the sacrifice was always avoidable. By the end of Nona the Ninth, only one "imperfect" lyctor remains of the seven there have been, and she is newly ascended within the past few months, underscoring the unsustainable nature of this trope.

Cytherea, and the Seventh House's philosophy, can also be interpreted as a critique of "woobification", of angst for the sake of angst, and of the prioritization of the aesthetic with no consideration of consequence. It is precisely Cytherea's combination of incredible power and endless pain without respite that destabilizes her utterly. The preservation of that which is by its nature ephemeral is itself her destruction - and deconstruction. The attempt to create something from a mortal being that must simultaneously embody fleeting beauty, saintly tragedy, and near godlike power, and which must exist in this state, as a public figure, for eternity, ultimately becomes, not once, but twice, a vehicle through which corruption, failure, and ruin enters what was meant to be a sanctuary.

In the Critical Role fandom, the ultimately impossible ideals imposed upon Cytherea which lead to her downfall are reflected in the similarly impossible expectations some fans have regarding the characters played by the women of the cast (and, in extreme cases, those women themselves), most notably those of Marisha Ray. In this essay I will

Rocket, Stubby the. "Find Your Necromancy Family Among the Houses of Gideon The Ninth". Tor.com. Written Sep 20 2019, Accessed Dec 9 2022.

Grady, Constance. "How Gideon the Ninth author Tamsyn Muir queers the space opera". Vox.com. Written Feb 5 2021, Accessed Dec 9 2022.

Clements, Mikaela. "The Butch Lesbian Sci-Fi Aesthetic: A Conversation With Tamsyn Muir". Los Angeles Review of Books. Written Oct 1 2020, Accessed Dec 9 2022.

[betabites]

+++ ADEPTA SORORITAS ORDOS ACTIVE IN TROIAS CLUSTER +++

+++ OFFICIO MINISTORUM MEMORANDUM +++ ++ SECURITY CLEARANCE LEVEL BURNT-SIENNA ++

+++ TROIAS CLUSTER ORDO STATUS +++

+ TIMESTAMP: 25.9.14.4.112.M42 +

++++ ADEPTA SORORITAS ++++ ++ MILITANT ORDOS ++

+ ORDER OF OUR LADIES OF THE BLOODY SABATON + Classification: Militant Ordo Minoris, Convent Sanctorum. Military assets: Primus Convents (Mater & Alius Mater) on Briseis & Cressida; major convents on Andromache Prime, Atalanta, & Ilona; minor convents on Hecuba, Aethella, & Laodice. Estimated current strength: 12,000 women under arms, with the ability to muster 40,000 highly trained Frater Militas with the aid of the Troian 147th Foot ("Frater Iconis Legion"). Deviations: Rejects standard doctrine on the use of Penitent Engines and Arco-Flagellants in favor of Repentia and penal units. This unorthodoxy has been APPROVED by order of HER GRACE, MORVENN VAHL, in light of local beliefs of the Eternally Recurrent Sz. Nika, and the stance that the inescapable torture-death of a mote of her incarnation would displease her. Active Concerns: Cluster-wide peace-keeping missions, typically acting in concert with PDFs and Guard as assault units. Occasional alliances with Forlorn Company and Peryton Space Marines. Have made repeated petitions to declare the Noble Sons of Pyrrus Space Marines traitors and heretics; investigations are currently underway.

A convent on Hecuba I is accused of tech-heresy by the Mechanicus. See attached document, CONCERNING THE DISPOSITION OF THE ARCING WRITS OF THE PLASMA CONDUITS. In brief, they are accused of modifying their vehicles to mount plasma weapons, in concert with the Troian 52nd Armour ("Plasma Cavaliers") and their 'suspicious' number of Leman Russ Executioners.

A convent in the Sekhmetarian moons is believed to have succumbed to heresy regarding their depiction of the God-Emperor as some manner of felinid abhuman. They are believed to be joined in corruption by the Troian 7th Foot ("Maidens of the Sacred Las").

++ CIVITAS ORDOS ++

+ ORDER OF THE AERIAL DREADNAUGHTS + +++ NOTABENE The Sisters of the Order of Aerial Dreadnaughts do not operate any dreadnaughts: marine, terrestrial, or aerial. They are so named for the shape of their head-dresses. Cease assigning them to warzones on the fraudulent basis that they are an armoured unit. +++ Classification: Hospitaller. Active Concerns: Medical attachés to the Order of the Bloody Sabaton, and work closely with them in most matters. Their training mission-hospitals on Briseis & Cressida have recently been destroyed by party or parties unknown, and an investigation is currently underway.

+ ORDER OF BLESSED ETERNAL RECURRENCE + Classification: Famulous. Active Concerns: Continually seeking the next incarnation of Sz. Nika, sector patron. Recent sightings of previous incarnations of Sz. Nika have greatly increased their workload, setting aside concerns raised by Forlorn Company Space Marines regarding genetic purity and alleged xenos taint.

+ ORDER OF SAINT SERAPH + Classification: Dialogus. Active Concerns: Serve as cultural translators & liaisons for the ogryn 38th Foot regiment ("Sz. Nika's Crusaders"). Their long isolation in the wastes of Kreusa has all but broken their grasp of Gothic, but they are terrifying warriors who make few demands on the Munitorum.

+ OTHER ORDERS + STATUS UNCHANGED. Refer to previous TROIAS CLUSTER ORDO STATUS document, timestamp 08.11.25.1.952.M41 for details.