#also I could not find any sort of clear ref for the bottom half of gayatri

[sapphicschedule]

Should I have looked at my reference picture (amity and willow’s magical girl pose from toh) at least once before or during the making of this?

Yes.

Did my refusal to do so result in me getting the pose fundamentally wrong?

Also yes.

But I was way too far into the making of this when the thought of actually using my reference occurred to me.

Timelapse below the cut.

Also here’s the ref which I only looked at after I finished the drawing.

[theuniversitychallengereview]

Episode 20 - UCL vs Edinburgh

The team from the Scottish capital have had to wait a while for their second appearance, having made their bow in the series opener, a nail biting clash with Ulster, which they won by only five points thanks in part to a helpful gong. In the nineteen weeks since that match their opponents from the English capital have played twice, losing once narrowly and winning once handsomely. Two adjectives which could not be used to describe Jeremy Bentham, whose puppet-y likeness again takes its place as their mascot.

Both teams introduce themselves with smiles abound. Edinburgh probably seem a bit too relaxed for my liking. I can allow a certain level of camaraderie so long as its clear you’re still taking this seriously, but Heaton-Armstrong and Wang look as if they’re having too much fun. The glory of our great University is at stake here, focus guys (and yes, this is going to be one of my partisan posts)

But I needn’t have worried about their concentration levels. It is Wang who takes first blood for Auld Reekie, his eyes darting with recognition as Paxman reads the first clue about the word ‘red’, and then his hand pouncing once the second clue reveals his thought to have been correct. Carson congratulates him roundly, something you never usually hear the captains doing. Perhaps being friends with each other will work to their advantage.

Bonuses on lost treasure follow, and Wang again provides the answer – Montezuma. I just went and checked the lyrics to the Fleet Foxes song of the same name to see if I should have got it too, but they’re cryptic nonsense as usual, though there is a mention of gold teeth. They miss the next two, one rather unluckily with a guess of the wrong Jacobite rebellion. Its easy enough to mix up your old and new pretenders.

The Londoners get off the mark with a Ten on tennis, which apparently used to be played on an hourglass shaped court. This doesn’t make much sense to be, because how could either player get the ball past the net when there would be sand constantly rushing through it? And the poor player in the bottom segment would have to contend with a desert-y deluge as well, though I presume the court would be upended after the customary hour, as befits the format.

Two of the three bonuses on Matilda waltz them into the lead, which they extend through a Raii guess on the next starter. He and the rest of them had sat mute for ages after Paxman finished the question, but when he got it right he nodded knowingly like he’d just been playing chicken with the question being abandoned completely.

Stone takes the fourth for Edinburgh, and Carson throws another ‘Well done’ in her direction like a proud father. He gives a ‘cheers’ to Wang for his help on the first bonus too, and I find myself hoping his politeness doesn’t extend to the opposition if things are going to stay tight like they did in their first match. It’s the only five pointer they can muster, and UCL retain the lead, which they extend over the picture round, though they miss all three bonuses on the location of art galleries related to a particular artist, a classic UC question.

Carson then gets his first starter with a complete guess that takes even himself by surprise, and Edinburgh sort of work out how to do the bonuses to take back the lead. Needless to say, it doesn’t last long, with Dowell buzzing in solely off the back of the Latin name for the Yew tree, which is quite frankly an unacceptable thing to know in this day and age.

The pendulum kept swinging on its merry way. First Heaton-Armstrong for the Scots, and then Wang’s second following an Allinson neg. They stretch the lead to thirty, the largest of the match so far, but Dowell recognises the soothing croons of Dolly Parton to reduce the arrears once more, and they briefly retake the lead before consecutive starters and a double triple on Greek playwrights and the muscles of the heart (which those playwrights enjoyed tugging at, presumably, I haven’t read any Greek stagework) flip the needle yet again. Please calm down guys, or its my own heart muscles that’ll need questioning.

Raii completes the multimedia hat trick for UCL by recognising Edmund Hillary, which I also guessed, purely because it was a picture of a man wearing what looked like a very warm jacket, and with only a couple of minutes to go we find ourselves level. One forty five to one forty five. Poised, like a ballerina on a cliff edge, beautiful and precarious.

Both sides miss the next starter, and Paxman wastes a minute reciting approximately half of Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’. There are things at stake here man, save your poetry slamming for when you’re down the pub with David Dimbleby..

Raii takes the next, on Southeast Asian constitutional monarchies. Thailand and Cambodia. He doesn’t say Malaysia. He could have said it nine times because Malaysia has nine kings, but that doesn’t matter now. The lead is in London. They eke out two five pointers. Twenty points in it.

Heaton-Armstrong with the Ten, but then he overrules a correct answer and they take only one bonus. Five points in it. Seventeen seconds left.

Stone only needs six of them, and takes the final starter of the night with a nerve-splittingly early buzz of Roy Liechtenstein. But it was a correct buzz too, and with no time for the bonuses Edinburgh again won the day by the slimmest of margins.

Final Score: UCL 165 – 170 Edinburgh

The only team from North of the border sure do love to live dangerously, but they just about survive to make it through to the quarter finals for the second year running. UCL came mighty close, but can be proud in their defeat.

And finally, in case you missed by Twitter spam, I’ve compiled all my reviews from last series including Monkman, Goldman, Rudd, Seagull and co. into one huge eBook that you can buy here, if you want. Get it for your Gran for Christmas, even if she doesn’t understand what a Kindle is, I’m sure she’ll appreciate the gesture. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077W9RRWQ/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_A04iAbFTQD81W

Or if you don’t want to buy it, but do enjoy reading this blog, you could plop a quick review of the book up there instead, which’ll help boost me up the Amazonian algorithm like a spreadsheet made by Wonder Woman