#especially not my p4 era

[nyamcattt]

paulownia mall purikura ✨

[cheriladycl01]

My love, is mine all mine - Max Verstappen x Norris! Reader x Charles Leclerc Part 3

Plot: Norris' Twin sister is also a driver in the 2021 line up and is in her rookie era. Not only do the commentators struggle to now talk about the pair in the race, but they also struggle to talk about talent. What happens when two drivers find her eye-catching.

After the Charles incident you didn’t really know what to do. The next weeks to come you continued straight on from France into 2 rounds at the Red Bull Ring. Of course everyone was looking to Max for the wins as this was the home for the team.

Practice hadn’t gone well, and it was completely your fault.

You’d gone 12th fastest in FP1, however when your best friend from home surprised you at the track you had the time to confide in her.

You told her all about what had happened with your twin and with Charles and Max. She was just as shocked as you were.

You showed her everywhere while you guys went to get some snacks to bring back to your drivers room.

You ended up bumping into some of the drivers, but the one you stuck around the most was Max, he asked you how you were after the post France fiasco and you’d asked him to drop it.

He ended up changing the conversation to your friend asking who she was and you guys all spoke about that instead which as a delight for you.

Eventually Max needed to go for some kind of Red Bull test, and he left you two to get back to the McLaren Paddock.

You guys gossiped like two little girls until Zac and Nico your race engineer came into your drivers room telling you it was time for FP2.

After having that pep talk from Y/BF/N you went 2nd fastest only 0.3 of a second behind Max himself. You were glowing when you came out the car. Everyone was congratulating you and the McLaren admins were taking pictures and videos of you happily getting out of the car!

However, when you turned your head looking towards the garage entrance you couldn’t see Y/BF/N anywhere. You finished up your media duties, talking about the pace of the car and how your head was clear on the flyers you did in FP2.

You spent ages looking for you friend, you assumed she’d stay in your hotel room with you so you were looking for her all around the track.

You eventually gave up sending her a text instead asking where she was to which she sent a short reply explaining she was back at her own hotel.

You went back to yours, laying awake thinking of qualifying and how tomorrow would go.

You thought you’d have a really good day today, you woke up extra early having a nice hotel breakfast and going to the paddock in a really nice outfit from one of your clothing sponsors Versace.

But when you got the the paddock seeing Y/BF/N kissing Max Verstappen’s cheek you were confused. He handed her the jacket she’d been wearing yesterday and you couldn’t help but think the worst.

You wanted to confront him, but with FP3 coming up you knew it was about time you’d have to get ready so you try to ignore it as much as possible. However it was the only thing on your mind.

Max had been so nice to you in your first season. And you always fell for the nice guys, who turned out to be twats. But you didn’t think he was a twat.

If anything you were more upset at the fact that Y/BF/N had potentially lied to you about where she was, and you didn’t know why she would feel the need to do that.

FP3 was awful, and you went 17th fastest a stark contrast from yesterday. Mick in the Haas was faster than you and if that wasn’t a wake up call you don’t know what was. The only comfort was that your brother was P19, so it wasn’t just a you thing the car wasn’t at peak performance.

Come qualifying your cars performed better, especially Landos where he went all the way to Q3 taking second row in P4. You on the other hand only made it to Q2 and was left starting next to Sebastian Vettel behind Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz. You were hoping the Ferrari could give you a slip stream and you’d be able to move up to go for an overtake on George.

You started off really well, doing exactly as you said. You dived in between Carlos and Yuki, both distracted attacking and defending each other you managed to get ahead.

You stormed through the field overtaking Lance and George consecutively, your gotten yourself to P9, left to take over the Alpine and then make a move on Charles. However, Lance came up too close behind you going into turn 4 your car spinning out because of how he hit you in the side.

The car went straight into the barriers not stopped by the gravel and the car was buried. There was no way for recovery.

"Are you okay Y/N?" Nico asks and where you are so winded you don't reply for a second.

"Y/N are you okay?" Nico asks again, you have a little shake of your head now that you breath is back and not caught before you reply.

"Yes. I'm okay. I don't know what happened i was turning on the inside line and Lance was just in the side of my car and I spun out" you say, looking at your hands waiting for Nico to reply.

"Stewards are reviewing footage now, come back to the garage and we'll see you in medical" Nico says.

You switch everything off chucking the wheel out the car onto the gravel before pulling yourself up over the halo. Lance had managed to continue his race but would need to put for wing damage. You came back with a Marshall to the McLaren garage profusely apologizing to Zac who had come to see you from where he had been sat on the pit wall.

"It's okay Y/N! This is your first DNF, there's no need to worry okay? This wasn't your fault at all!" he tells you rubbing your shoulder. You nod and watch as he shows you the decision made by the stewards. Lance was being made to do a stop and go 10 second penalty.

The race ended with your brother up high in the points making up for your unfortunate end to the race and getting the team the much needed points.

All the post race interviews you were asked about the incident with Lance and whether you were happy with the decision made by the Stewards. You kindly explained that you trusted the FIA in their decision making and the penalty clearly paid off as Lance was kept out of the points.

As Lando had done really well, you agreed to take him out to dinner that night. You'd asked Y/BF/N if she wanted to come but she said she'd be staying at the hotel because something in the McLaren hospitality hade made her sick so she'd be having plain toast at the hotel.

You and Lando dressed up really nice as you were taking him to a fancy restaurant so you didn't have to deal with the agg of the media or fans as the crash had really taken a lot of your energy.

You were seated at a central table one where you both had a view of the whole restaurant which was perfect as you could both people watch and comment on all the funny things people were doing. It was a little past time you and Lando had since you were kids.

Where it was one of the nicest restaurants in Austria, you guys saw some of the other drivers. Lewis, Sebastian and Valterri came in, and sat 4 tables down from you both, then Charles and Pierre came in together and sat in the seats behind you.

You were just served your starter when you looked up to thank the waitress, when your eyes locked on Max Verstappen walking in with Y/BF/N.

“Y/BF/N?” You ask in shock, where you ask loud enough for them to hear both their attention is now on you and the rest of the people sitting in your vicinity also look up.

“I thought you said you were to sick to come celebrate with Lando and I?” You ask offended that she’d ditched your for someone else and not told you, you wouldn’t have had a problem if she’d told you.

Not only that but it irked you she was with Max and you didn’t know why.

Did this mean that she had in fact been with Max when she said she was in her own hotel room? Did she even have a room?

“What are you guys doing here?” She laughs awkwardly before looking up at Max who now looks like a deer caught in headlights.

“I told me Lando and I were going out for dinner, to celebrate?” You say as if trying to jog her memory.

“Yeah but let’s be for real it’s you and Lando, I would expect your celebratory meal to be McDonalds and class it as cheat day for your insane diet!” She exclaims making you recoil a little.

“Is that why you said no? Because you didn’t think we’d take you someone nice, so you went with the person that had the better offer?” You ask looking up at Max who was trying to avoid all eye contact by looking everywhere but you.

You couldn’t believe it, was your childhood best friend about to admit she was only your friend for the money?

“Y/N that came out wrong. Looks let’s just enjoy our nights out, and we can talk about this on the plane home tomorrow!” She offers reaching a hand out to you.

“Im not going home tomorrow, I have another race here next weekend. Me and Lando are staying here because it’s cheaper. I told you that the other day” you voice before going back to sit down with Lando and enjoy your meal.

The hostess guides them to the other side of the restaurant, as they didn’t want any more disturbances so both Max and Y/BF/N are out of sight.

“Hey are you okay?” You hear from behind you making you turn round to see Charles turned round on his booth seat looking at you, Pierre also sending you a kind smile.

“Im fine, why wouldn’t I be” you smile but it really is the furthest thing from the truth.

You try to enjoy your night, but it’s constantly playing on the back of your mind.

Taglist:

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[adachimoe]

2009 Persona Club P4 Profiles

I've posted Adachi and Yukiko's before, but this is a collection of all their "YHVH" (Yasogami High Visual H) social media profiles.

The protagonist doesn't have a profile due to him being the silent protagonist.

Yosuke

Nickname: Isn't "Prince Walking Disappointment" kinda mean?

Greeting: Yo!-Sup? This is Yo!-Su?-Ke's room (... I tried ...)

Favorite music: Something you can listen to and play. Guitar owns!

Favorite Food: Fruit flavored throat drops cause they're good for karaoke (Yosuke can give the protagonist a Fruity Fruity Throat Lozenge in dungeon chats; also in the evening hangouts during Golden)

Least Favorite Food: Tofu - sorry Rise!

Dislikes: Cockroaches they're black and rustle around and move so quickly ugh

Clubs: People who commute on bikes, Wanna go to Junes?, Delicious Homemade Food, Trial of the Dragon

Inbox: "DVD!!! DVD!!!" (from Chie)

Parting words: Saving up for a scooter (these profiles are before Golden came out)

Chie

Nickname: Kung Fu Girl

Greeting: Check this! Hyah!

Gender: Girl!!!

Favorite food: Meat

Favorite animals: Hamsters, bunnies, and other tiny animals

Dislikes: Math, insects - the enemy of all mankind

Favorite movies: Kung fu

Clubs: Trial of the Dragon, Burning Dragon, Fans of Animals w/Tiny Eyes, Meat Lovers

Inbox: "Return my world history notebook" (from Yukiko)

Yukiko

Nickname: Yukiko, the lady of the house... Sigh...

Greeting: Hello~ Chie invited me

Likes: Japanese food, dogs (you see, one fateful day on the Samegawa... [omitted]) (Talking about her and Chie meeting due to a dog from Chie's SLink and the Golden audio drama)

Dislikes: Nothing in particular, but I don't take well to sex jokes / dirty talk

Special skills: Kimono dressing and table / place setting

Clubs: Japanese clothing fans, the Go Home club (for people who aren't in clubs), Let's visit the dam, Fans of Showa Era music

Inbox: "Lemme bathe in the hot springs again" (from Yosuke)

Kanji

Nickname: If you call me bald, imma punch you in the face

Greeting: I'm Inaba's Runaway Train

Likes: Ototo (animal crackers), Homerun Bars (topsicles)

Hobbies: Sewing, knitting, peeling the wrappers off of Homerun Bars

Clubs: Let's Sew, Knitting Cafe, Delicious Shops in the Central Shopping District, Hawaiian Quilt Enjoyers

Ideal fight: One without rules

Inbox: "Hey, I got the rare submarine!" (from Yosuke; this was "rare penguin animal cracker" in English)

Rise

Nickname: Risechi / Risette, duh!

Greeting: Where a young maiden's secrets get revealed

Likes: Hagakure special from Hagakure Ramen

Hates: Japanese ginger and royal fern

Favorite people: Senpai / the protagonist, grandma

Least favorite people: Indecisive and unreliable people

Clubs: Cafes and Sweets of Okina city, Tofu Lovers, How about Kanami Mashita?, Fans of Animals w/Tiny Eyes

Inbox: "The best sweets around are..." (from Teddie)

Naoto

Nickname: The detective prince

Greeting: Hi there, my upperclassmen invited me

Gender: No comment (As in, Naoto wrote "no comment")

Favorite book genre: Detective novels due to work

Likes: Putting myself in danger (longer explanation of what it says in Japanese)

Dislikes: Women's clothing - especially anything revealing

Specialty: Working with machines, been doing it since I was young

Clubs: Linux Fans, DIY PC Builders, Fans of Mystery Novel Narrative Tricks, Beginners Fashion

Inbox: "Let's get a bucket ice cream parfait tomorrow" (from Rise)

Lastly, Nanako, Dojima, and Adachi don't have the high school social media profiles, but they still have regular profiles nonetheless.

Nanako

Likes: Dad, big brother, Risechi / Risette, everyone else in the Investigation Team, Junes

Dislikes: Fighting, shiokara (fermented fish guts; it seems that Dojima keeps these in the fridge in P4 lol. She uses some of them to make the Slime chocolate in Golden.)

Specialty: Singing the Junes theme

Dojima

Likes: Nanako, beer

Dislikes: Working, physical tasks that require attention to detail (I'm clumsy)

Specialty: Judo, reading one's character

Adachi

Likes: Sushi (especially uni), beef, cabbage dishes

Dislikes: Paperwork, cleaning his room

Specialty: Revolver maintenance

Here's the full post of Adachi's profile w/the fanart pages too

Teddie's is. Uh. An experience. I'll post his sometime else cause I think I'm not 100% sure how it should be handled. Like he fills out [gender/sex] (they're the same character in JP) as an emoji of a woman and the words "I live for love". Which I feel like is best interpreted as, "Sex: Yes please". But hmmmMMMmmm.

[pucksandpower]

I don’t really care how my boys got P1 & P2, I’m just happy to see Ferrari and Carlando podium❤️❤️🤗

I’m happy too! Like really really happy.

I celebrated the Ferrari 1-2. I cheered when Carlos passed the chequered flag in P1. I clapped when Charles went from P4 to P2.

And I would’ve been perfectly content to leave it at that and just savor the feeling of my favorite team accomplishing something so rare during the era of Red Bull domination.

But then a concerningly large contingent of the media took the Australian Grand Prix and twisted it to suit their own carefully crafted narratives which both directly and indirectly (depending on the outlet in question) put Charles down despite a very commendable performance.

And the fans? Don’t even get me started on the way so many of them senselessly demeaned Charles all over social media despite a P2 finish! Carlos had the better weekend to be sure but some fans are acting like Charles finished behind both Alpines instead of right behind Carlos.

I just find it kind of hard to keep enjoying the double podium and bask in the happiness after all of that (especially since it just keeps going and going).

And I really hope people don’t take any of this as me hating on Carlos — because that is not my intention at all (but I can see how it might be hard for tone to come across properly through text on a screen) — but the starkly different ways that their performances and accomplishments are treated by the media is hard to ignore.

[gothamcityneedsme]

Favorite moments in Persona 4?

Okay there's a lot of them because P4 is my favorite Persona game (not counting P2IS and P2EP which are honestly such a different experience it's hard to compare them to the post P3 era). I love the King's Game, all the fun moments with friends (although other than the culture festival some of the school stuff like the trips aren't as strong as I'd like). I love the social links with the main cast especially, Yukiko's, Naoto's, and Yosuke's especially. I love the fight with Yosuke, and every moment with Nanako.

But to get specific about my favorite scene in the game, it's with Teddie, when he appears in the Velvet Room. It makes me cry every time, I just love him so much and how he loves so much. I also love the scene if you decide to go with him to the beach--that makes me cry too.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

you say that as if it already hasn't been a shitshow in the fandom lol i remember a podcast once describing it as less of a P3 remake and more of a P3 for P5 fans, which i feel like is gonna be the case since that's more than likely the main audience, especially with the original's mechanics and elements more or less gone or replaced

prolly gonna b one of those fandom divisions, like smt5 or the like; i can def see some fans not happy with P3R jumping ship to Metaphor or the like

Oh yeah it is. I just mean it's gonna be MORE of a shitshow. :'D (I dunno why but I'm afraid it's gonna bring......"P4 anime only fans trying to argue canon with P4 game fans" energy, except worse because this will be canon alongside the OG TT0TT)

Oh yeah it's def P3 but for P5 fans.......I am nervous for P1/2/4 remakes now.....

More so if they rewrite chars/story....... Like the games don't NEED anything except new gameplay/presentation updates (my ass would've taken P3/4 era gameplay/updates I'm not that picky). MAYBE add elements from the cell phone games? Maybe an optional battle thing (like vision quest and such, but this is for gameplay reasons)? P4 I can see maybe adding a route/ending(s) to Namatame and Izanami because we could explore them more, but that's the only thing we're missing out on exploring in P4 (everything else has been covered).

Oh they're some how gonna fuck up the P4 dungeons I just know it.

P3 was the one that was an incomplete entry and needed a definitive edition.....The one that'd need some story changes (either by adding male SLs/friend female routes for P3MC, or giving us an FeMC themed Answer). But god what if they change P1/2/4's story/chars? TT0TT I don't want P5 versions of P1/2/4 I might not make it. TT0TT

Anyway back to the ask (excuse me for doom spiraling for a second kflasjdaklfj)

Is SMT5 divisive? I'm not paying attention (I've seen more neg than pos) TT0TT I know SH2 was kinda. They really should've been called something else, poor game. TT0TT

May we all jump ship to Refan! *pray emoji* TT0TT

[akihikosanada]

i implied in my akechi post that i was playing persona 5 BUT i never said that a month or so ago i started persona 4 which i play whenever the tv is being used . crazy girl era is real

anyways this was all to say that the overall gameplay features in p5 are excellent i really like the palaces especially however compared to 4 the characters leave soooooo much to be desired i think they are the weakest of the last 3 games, including protagonist, party members and social links/confidants

since this is my first gameplay of p4 im having a hard time tackling which social links to leave for a future new game plus playthrough as i have to spend time leveling up my social stats but it never felt like i had that problem in p5 and would instead spend time with the stats necessary for my preferred confidants (i mean not like i didn't make a huge effort leveling up my expression stat in 4 for the nanako and dojima links but you get my point). i cried in a bunch of the social links and i find them all genuinely interesting (besides the 2 previously mentioned which are the only i have completed so far are the yumi ozawa/drama club member and single mom links which i think are soooo good) while in 5 i did feel emotional in some but only in the last link i've been crying in a lot of the others since at least halfway through lol. also the majority of the confidants in 5 that aren't party members follow the pattern of making you change someone's heart in mementos which feels lazy and cheap because it's not like you can solve everyone's problems by changing some person's heart. it feels like you are just solving everyone's problems (in a way that gets tiring also) instead of helping them go through a hard moment/give them comfort. there are a lot of confidants that i only want to level up for certain levels because of the abilities they offer you instead of genuine interest. in 4 other than with your party members you cannot gain new abilities so what will end drawing you to them is mainly the characters (or the fusion bonuses)

as for the party members i can see the p4 gang all being friends which helps that banting aside they all show concern for one another + the fact they hang out for silly moments beyond celebrating finishing a mission/welcoming new members. this is besides the different dynamics inside the group and the protag'a different relationship with each of them. however i don't get that sense of friendship in 5? like i don't think these guys would be friends as a group after they stop being phantom thieves and i can only see joker being individual friends with ryuji, ann, futaba and mayyybe yusuke (they still cannot compare to the better dynamics in 3 and 4 though). also as a group dynamic i could only see it with the madarame gang the additions afterward don't feel as close by as a group? plus the convos they have barely make me think they even like each other that much. i think this problem in 5 affected ultimately my feelings on morgana leaving temporarily because it never really hit me where that could have come from even when they started to imply morgana felt useless around the group

as for the protags i know they are all overall meant to be self insert but p4 protag feels like the one who has the most personality. they allow him to be silly, kind and get the "short end of the stick" at times while still having this cool aura around him. joker feels too much like a self insert character meant to be smart and hot and cool etc so guys can pretend to be him. i think something that affected this is how you barely ever get joker's thoughts in the game as morgana kind of works as his consciousness

anyways this is it so far lol as you can see i have a lot of thoughts on the games. i don't think p5 is bad or that you can't love it but its strongest element imo is ultimately what interests me the least i'm all for character driven stories baby ❤ ryuji still *logan roy voice* my number one boy though

[formulapisces]

Lando 3 points behind LEC in the drivers standings 🤭 (& SAI only 9 ahead of LEC 👀) HE NEEDS TO KEEP UP THIS FORM (and Ferrari needs to keep up whatever the bloody hell they're doing atm, maybe Aston too but I think that's me being slightly optimistic)

if you told me at the beginning of this season that i’d be rooting for lando over ferrari, and especially charles, i would probably have imploded. like i still don’t properly believe it 😭 rip to my hardcore chirlie era i guess, you won’t be missed.

i think mclaren can catch aston, not so sure about ferrari, but p4 is pretty much guaranteed if AM keep going 📉📉📉

[lumeha]

Been playing through Persona 4 Golden for the first time and I'm liking it a lot but getting to October, man I really wish Atlus could realize the hot spring comedic misunderstandings are not funny. I know it's a somewhat common joke/cliche in Japanese media especially in that era, but c'mon. It's not funny and it kinda sours you on the characters especially the girls. And while Yukiko gets a chunk of the blame (and it breaks my heart cause otherwise she's best girl), I think Rise deserves a lot of the brunt too for insisting that the girls shouldn't apologize and keep it a secret. And it sucks cause it's arguably one of the last moments before the plot hits the fan (if you know, you know). Sorry for the rant, I still love the game so far but man, we could do without those kinds of scenes.

Anon, you are so very right

I think that, in general, P4's humor and style of comedy kind of often sucks because it relies on a lot of... pervy moments ? And it's just. It's just not very fun.

There are some extremely fun moments (still thinking about Teddie getting abandoned in the ramen shop, okay, that one was funny. Rise looking at the fire alarm. That one time Yosuke removes Teddie's head and realises he's empty and then he keeps the stupid running joke about Teddie being empty (okay that one does end up feeling tragic but)) but a lot of the humor just.. tends to rely on those pervy misunderstandings and it was a little grating.

The serious part of the plot with the investigation is still so good. Some of the best moments are absolutely coming. November ?? oh gods. November. What an intense month in P4.

P4 has a lot of issues (we all know), and I also loved the game despite that... also because, yeah, the serious plot that goes down at the end of that year, november/december ?? it's so good. Damnit it's so good.

[greywindys]

Fair warning that I could be wrong about some things because I’m not following the Gorillaz fandom all too closely at the moment. I’m open to correction and other perspective here. 

Anyhow, the previous post is tangentially related to some other thoughts I’ve had about the fandom now that I’ve been in it for a few years, mainly the focus of the fandom on plot and symbolism.

I can speak from two perspective here, because I came into this as a fan that was very interested in the characters, their relationships, the ~adventures they would go on together etc.  If you dig back far enough in my blog, you’ll see me making predictions about the meaning of logo on the card Murdoc gets from his VA in the Strobelite video, the meaning of the name “Mavis” and what it could mean for the “plot” of P4, my investment in Murdoc as a character in general. I still indulge in my fanon and hcs to this day, especially about Murdoc and 2Doc. I had a lot of fun doing thing, tbh, and I still like to do it sometimes.

However, I, and many fans who jumped into the community around P4 and P5, eventually came to understand that most (arguably all) predictions don’t go anywhere. And in the off-chance that they did, they would be forgotten or re-written by the time the next album cycle came around. To me, this was disappointing, and I became less invested in the characters and what they were doing at any given point. I also feel like I became more realistic and began to make a distinction between my own fanon and long-shot predictions, and what I knew would actually happen.

One would assume that fans that came later (Post-SM and beyond), would come into fandom with a better idea of what to expect. Instead, it seems like they’re more determined to hold onto the idea of Gorillaz as a planned out story with a guaranteed conclusion, that the writers have thought far enough ahead to plant clues for us to find etc. Idk. I find that interesting. I assume it’s in part due to defensiveness towards the older fans, as a lot of the critiques and discussion that came out of the P4/P5 era fans often get dismissed as “negativity” regardless of the cogency of those points, or the fact that most of the people making those points had put a lot of thought into the band and analyzing the project as a whole (aka, other fans). I also assume some fans *do* know the theories may not lead to anything, but still do it for fun. Idk, my main point here is how it’s interesting that the community is still so attached to the theory side of things. It’s not a bad thing, and maybe there will be a change this time, but I do hope people are prepared for the possibility of and unsatisfying conclusion.

[ilovejevsjeans]

How Olympian race engineer Tom Stallard helped coach Daniel Ricciardo to Monza victory

Daniel Ricciardo and the ever-improving McLaren team were seen as a match made in Heaven ahead of the start of the 2021 season. But while it all came good at the Italian Grand Prix, Ricciardo’s win at Monza was a product of hours and hours of unseen work, and some confidence-shaking moments along the way. F1 Staff Writer Greg Stuart sat down with Tom Stallard, the man who’s race engineered Ricciardo throughout 2021, to trace the arc of that breakthrough Monza win.

You could make a strong case that Lap 52 of the Monaco Grand Prix marked the nadir in Daniel Ricciardo’s first season with McLaren. As the Australian exited Sainte Devote and accelerated up the hill, he dutifully jinked left to allow team mate Lando Norris to lap him, Norris acknowledging the gesture with a wave from his cockpit. Norris would go on to finish third. Ricciardo, who’d brilliantly won in Monaco just three years earlier for Red Bull, finished out of the points in 12th.

That was May – and yet just four months later, Ricciardo had taken McLaren back to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2012, capping off a superb Italian Grand Prix weekend with an emotional victory at Monza, and leading Norris home in a McLaren one-two.

How did that happen? Ricciardo’s race engineer Tom Stallard has been the man F1 fans have heard soothing and chivvying Ricciardo over team radio this year, a year in which success has been harder to come by than many had anticipated – and he was naturally delighted when Ricciardo combined all his learnings to take the assured win in Monza, his first victory since that 2018 Monaco triumph.

“I was super proud,” Stallard tells me as we chat in the paddock in Sochi, “because we've worked really hard this year to be honest, and it was nice to see him executing everything that we'd talked about and worked on.

“Obviously he did a fantastic job, but he actually did the job that we'd been talking about and working on together. He's a top driver, obviously, joined our team as a top driver, but we’ve actually had to work at it quite hard and in Monza, he really executed that.”

Why didn’t Ricciardo and McLaren gel immediately? Ricciardo’s stellar second half of 2020 with Renault – during which he took two podiums and finished every race in the points – combined with McLaren’s sharp upward trajectory and the arrival of Mercedes power units at the team for 2021, meant that many earmarked the Ricciardo/McLaren combination as a potential surprise package this season.

But despite claiming points in his first four races for the team – including convincingly leading Norris home in Barcelona – right from the off, Stallard says, there were issues.

“I think the Bahrain race [where Ricciardo finished P7 to Norris’ P4 on his McLaren debut] he did quite well, but that was with a lot of time in the car in the [Bahrain] test – I mean, not a lot of time but a bit of time at the test, and a circuit that suits him well,” says Stallard.

“And then at Imola [where Ricciardo finished P6 as Norris claimed a podium in P3] we kind of exposed the problems, if you like, that he was having with the car, and we understood the struggle that we would have.”

As you might expect from an engineer of Stallard’s experience (he joined McLaren back in 2008) his first reaction to the situation wasn’t to panic, but to put in place processes to help bring Ricciardo on.

“We put in place a plan of what we needed to do differently and how we needed to react. And since then actually, we've been on an upward trajectory from that point, but you don't always necessarily see that from the outside.

“There have been a number of races where after the race, he's been frustrated and I've been reassuring him that actually we are seeing progress, and we don't have the good results yet but they're coming.”

So what was it about the MCL35M that wasn’t suiting Ricciardo and his driving style?

“Ultimately,” says Stallard, “all the drivers would choose the same thing, which is very good rear stability, and front end that increases as you add steer. That is totally universal, but the truth is that having a car that does that is the Holy Grail of Formula 1 design; every team up and down this paddock is trying to do that, and succeeding to a greater or lesser extent.

“We have a car that understeers and that's been something that he's had to adapt to and modify his natural approach to get the best out of.”

One thing Stallard is at pains to point out is that, for all of Ricciardo’s famously insouciant manner, beneath the gigawatt smile there lurks one of the world’s top racing drivers, with a work ethic to match.

“Obviously Daniel seems like the most laidback guy in the world,” says Stallard, “but behind the scenes, under the water, the duck feet are going quite quickly.

“Because we were in lockdown and he was in Los Angeles [over the winter break], we did most of his initial integration virtually, and during that phase, he learnt all the switches, what all the toys do, how to use the steering wheel.

"We spent a lot of time talking through the strategy with Daren [Stanley], our strategist. And actually all the communication side, all of the switches, all the controls, he had completely down by the time he went to winter testing.

“He's been in the factory loads, doing the simulator, partly working on his driving with that, but also giving feedback to the team about what he wants from the car,” adds Stallard.

“And at no point during the phase where he was getting up to speed with our package did he question that there was any kind of, the team backing the other driver, or the engineers didn't know what they were doing, or the car was set-up wrong. He just knuckled down, got on with the work, and I think that the whole team has a lot of respect for him for that.”

Ricciardo endured an up-and-down run of form leading up to the summer break, the lows including a tough Styrian Grand Prix where he finished 13th to Norris’ fifth and a Hungarian Grand Prix where first lap contact with Charles Leclerc hobbled his McLaren, leaving him 11th at the flag.

But Ricciardo appeared rejuvenated after the summer break, nailing his best qualifying of the year at that point with P4 on the grid in Belgium – while after a race to forget for the whole McLaren team in Zandvoort, Ricciardo then put together what would ultimately be his winning weekend in Monza, qualifying P5 on Friday, racing to P3 in Saturday’s F1 Sprint before claiming that sensational victory in the race.

Indeed, it was Ricciardo’s anger at qualifying P5 on Friday at Monza (and just 0.006s off his team mate) that seemed to indicate that a change had come in the Australian’s expectations of the level he should be performing at – with Stallard noting the key difference in Ricciardo since the summer…

“I think the ‘frustration at being P5’ thing was there all along,” says Stallard. “For me, the difference with the break is that it helped him not overthink it, so he's adapted better to the way you have to drive our car without it being completely conscious every corner, what you need to do.

Daniel's easy to work with, because if you give him a problem to solve, he goes away and works at it, so the work ethic's always been good, which makes life easy,” adds Stallard. “He doesn't defer responsibility away from himself; he takes a lot on the chin, which means some of what I've had to do is keeping him, let's say, up, because he's taken a lot of responsibility for things himself.

“But from my side, that means he's great to work with, and that collaboration is very strong. And when we got to Monza, we both had a lot of confidence in each other, so that made the result in Monza feel very natural.”

Going forward

Ricciardo leading McLaren to their first victory since Jenson Button’s 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix triumph, and their first one-two since the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix, was a fantastic moment for all at McLaren, and one that was warmly welcomed by most in the F1 paddock.

But Stallard was under no illusions during our chat in Sochi that Ricciardo is still on a journey to being fully comfortable in McLaren’s MCL35M car this season – a point Ricciardo would then back up himself a few days later when, despite finishing P4 in the Russian Grand Prix, he admitted that “there is still some stuff missing”.

“In Monza, the circuit and our technical package aligned well,” says Stallard, “and actually last year we came second there, so it's a circuit that suits our car and obviously Daniel did a very good job putting it all together, and the strategy was correct.

“He now understands how to drive the car; I think he's felt that himself rather than it just being explained to him, which means we have made another step. But it's a much more linear process than it appears from the outside.”

What Ricciardo does have in his corner, meanwhile – apart from the work ethic and talent that have made him an eight-time Grand Prix winner – is a race engineer in Stallard who has been an elite athlete himself, forming part of Great Britain’s silver medal-winning men’s eight rowing crew at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

And Stallard believes that his own experience as an athlete can help get the best out of Ricciardo, who signed to McLaren on a three-year deal that will take him into Formula 1’s bold new era of regulations with the team.

“In this sport, 20 years ago, the race engineers were very much engineers,” says Stallard. “But now we are coaches, and so we're using the data to guide the drivers in how to get the best out of the car.

“So I see myself now as a coach and I have a lot of experience of being coached, whereas a lot of the other race engineers… don't necessarily have the same experience of being coached. And I think that does give me an insight in terms of the struggles that people have when being coached, especially in a sport where on the way up, drivers often aren't coached that much and it gives me a good ability to manage the pressure and stay calm in what would be a pressured situation as well.

“And I also think that on any journey, although I describe it as a linear process, there's still ups and downs, and there'll be events in the future that are more difficult and that we'll have to respond to and react to. It would be naive to think it's plain sailing from here – but I think that it's a good next step.”(X)

[suga-kookiemonster]

P1 I really hope this next album is more of a fun turn up kind album and I don’t mean this as hate either ive actually been a fan since the wings era! And I love the way the boys have grown I love it they have become story tellers and there about telling a message and not hiding the good and the bad of what they do! But for me personally and again no hate sometimes honestly I do get a little bored of the fake love black swan type vibe especially as somebody who speaks Korean...

not that the albums haven’t been good..obv lol ! but they all follow the same theme of the dark I’m trying to find myself/love myself/ understand myself situation and though that is beautiful! I kind of wish there was more of a mix.But songs that might sound sexy or sound fun but really are sad or dark lyrically it’s hard for someone like me to vibe out bc I naturally translate if that makes sense?

P3 so it kind of throws off the mood! Like V singularity I could not find the song itself as sexy as a lot of the fandom because I can translate the lyrics in my brain does it automatically! So I’m like 🤦🏽‍♀️ Staph just enjoy the thirst Lol I don’t know I just think it would be a good mix because we haven’t gotten a fire, or 21st century girl kinda song in a hot minuteP3 I know this is a sensitive subject so I won’t really get into it but I think Bh is also partially taken advantage of this

P4 this very sad and unfortunate situation so that way the boys can tour two albums next year since inevitably we don’t know what 2022 could have in store for the boys... and I just personally think a more upbeat and fun album that genuinely translate that way LOL would be a good contrast to such a heavy album like seven.. Either way I’ll support them bc I love them but I’m sure a very unpopular opinion this particular album wasn’t really one of my favorites! I actually preferred Persona and

P5 Persona and would have preferred that mixed with a couple heavier songs from this album I think it would’ve been a good mixture of vibes ! However I know the boys don’t have full control they have more control than a lot of other groups but they say it all the time that their label plays a very large part still in the over all come back theme and everything like that so I’m sure that’s also a part of the continuity of everything

i hear you and understand what you’re saying, but sorry, i simply don’t agree 🤷🏽‍♀️songs can be considered sexy due to the composition of the songs themselves, and it doesn’t have to be because of the lyrics. this is one of the facets of the r&b genre, and singularity is an r&b song, point blank, period. while often about sex, r&b is also often about heartbreak and similar dark themes, so singularity’s lyrics are actually perfect for the genre! tae’s pain isn’t sexy, but his smooth voice and the dragging beat are. 

as for albums, i tend to gravitate towards darker themes anyways. but imo i liked persona a lot, but 7 was much better. yes it has dark elements, but i disagree that the whole thing is dark and there aren’t any “fun” songs, because once you hit filter, literally the rest of the album is full of “fun” songs. for me, the difference between this album and persona (you could sort of make this argument as well with the difference between ly: her and ly: tear--though her was a beautiful album) is that it is much more cohesive as a body of work. one of the things that annoys me about western music today is that artists make albums full of singles and don’t bother to make an album, you know? the work doesn’t say anything as a whole, like it used to. so no, i don’t want a “fun” album if it doesn’t say anything. go go is one of my favorite songs, but i don’t want a whole album of go go lol.  persona felt a little disjointed and single-y to me, but imo 7 deserves a grammy 🤷🏽‍♀️

[crystalnet]

State of the Art: JRPG Spotlight-

Issue #1- 2017 at a Glance- A quarterly or bi-annual journal on the JRPG at large, focusing on recent releases, trends, quarterly reviews/analyses and upcoming release hype.

The other night I was getting yet even deeper still into the freshly minted minor-masterpiece that is Xenoblade Chronicles 2 when it dawned on me just how good 2017 was to the quaint little genre known as the JRPG. I knew all year while it was happening that some special games were getting released with a certain regularity, but now that the dust has fully settled, we can look back and be conclusively impressed by such a stellar stretch. 

3 or 4 years ago I think people were getting ready to pen their moratoriums on why big developers and JRPGs should soon plan on never intersecting again save for small-scale handheld releases, and now here we are and Japan is seemingly back on top as far as role-playing goes. That return-to-form didn't always seem so inevitable as it is now that it's fully underway, especially after a somewhat shaky stretch for the genre during the 7th generation. Indeed, high-definition graphics and devs who catered to Gatorade-guzzling gamer bros seemed to not be the boon to the genre that old-school role-players really needed, and even the first couple of years of the 8th generation saw the genre to still be on slightly shaky ground, without a ton of great titles to point to from those initial years. 

But then throughout the 7th gen a little franchise called Dark Souls (a JRPG in spirit, though not quite in practice, in many ways) started to build a little following, generating new interest in things like difficulty, customization, and innovative diagetic story-telling. As of the middle of this decade though, the genre still doesn’t have all that much of a presence compared to the late 90s heyday of JRPGs. Cut to 2016 though and Square drops FFXV which is a solid, if not-perfect realization of the 30-year-old standard-bearer of the genre, (a herald of sorts, if you will) and BAM. 2017 begins and in quick succession Nier Automata, Persona 5 and Breath of the Wild drop, all to stunningly positive reception. Now BotW, like Dark Souls, is not as much of a JRPG as the other 3 releases I hope to focus on, but Zelda has always had it's toe in the same waters as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, borrowing and simplifying elements of role-playing games from an action-adventure perspective, and in turn, also influencing those very JRPG franchises it seemed to pay homage to. 

This wasn't just a coincidental blip of releases though, proved largely by the fact that all the way at the end of the year, Xenoblade 2 would also drop, and show yet again how the JRPG can be fresh and vital, and can be a Nintendo-exclusive at that. Indeed, I hope to demonstrate my thesis that it was a particularly strong year by triangulating my discussion around Nier A, Persona 5 and Xenoblade 2. Not only are these three very strong titles, they are also all pretty vastly different styles of JRPGs, which I think displays the health and potential of the genre even better than the fact that they are so individually good. First of all we have an industry veteran and mad-hatter in Yoko Taro finally coalescing a fully-realized vision of action-JRPG greatness by collaborating with Platinum games to make something as heady, and intellectual as it is well-designed and fun to play. That game is something like a Hegelian Philosophy PhD driving a Lamborghini in terms of the amount of stuff going on with the writing and character development, all while sporting a super classy luxury sports-car, six-cylinder engine. For long-time fans of Taro, I don't think this direction could have ever been predicted, though they may have secretly dreamed of such a fusion of form and function. 

The best thing about how simultaneously weird and playable Nier A is for me is the way it hearkens back to the golden age of PS2 JRPGs for me personally. Without pinning it to a single PS2-era title, it gives me the same feeling that games during that console could consistently deliver on: a fully realized fantasy/sci fi world, a deep-yet-approachable combat system, a weird and very-Japanese, but also deep-as-hell plot, and a certain functionality that games like Kingdom Hearts 2, Rogue Galaxy and Final Fantasy XII delivered on back then. I don't mean to say it's derivative or stuck in the past, it's just that, the highlights of the PS2 days are my go-to precedent for what a good modern, post-16-bit JRPG is, since that equally sweet ps1 era can only be reasonably emulated on smaller and/or handheld retro-style releases. And while the story’s depth and esoteric nature recall the plot’s and worlds of PS1 and 2 greats like FFX, Xenosaga or Vagrant Story, the combat itself feels as fast-and-furious as hack-n-slash classics from then like Devil May Cry. 

So while Nier had action-(j)RPG style gameplay covered, Persona 5 was there for all the turn-based devotees, and oh boy were we there for it also. That game was a huge victory lap for Atlus, who has built up a deep fanbase over the past decade, largely because of youtubers (at least in the west we can thank the cult-y presence of its fans online for the slow-burn development of an army of Atlus acolytes, whereas P3 and 4 were only barely noticed in the States back when they actually first came out.) And they finally capitalized on that hard-earned interest by finally following up P4 after nearly a decade, and while they were at it, they also showed everyone that fully turn-based (not even slightly active-time) systems can still melt faces, please crowds and feel fresh, which is no mean feat at all in a world where some question if turn-based is officially dead save for retro-homages. 

And while Nier captures a kind of ethereal PS2-esque quality, Persona very literally pulls some of the PS2-era goodness into the future by updating and refining the awesomely deep and OCD-enabling systems of the now holy-grail-level PS2 era Persona games. Yes, wandering around Shinjuku, going on supportive dates with classmates, building up your relationships in general, and working a part time job between study breaks has been fully realized for the modern gamer, and it is glorious to behold. 

And that takes us to Xenoblade which out of all the titles I might be most surprised by. Being a bit of a Xeno-noob, I wasn't sure if the release was going to be a major or minor event for role-players, especially given Nintendo's spotty track-record with the JRPG, usually sporting all of maybe one or two truly notable ones per generation, as well as their tendency to censor and/or smother developers. But alas, Xenoblade is fully-formed, proper, brimming-with-life and as deserving of the title of new standard-bearer to the genre as any of the other fantastic JRPGs released that year, many of which I won't even get to. 

As is the case with the others, it seems to draw on PS2 era greatness in someways, by building on battle systems like the ones in FFXI and FFXII, while also being an actual descendant of the Xenosaga series that rocked that console, and also still draws on PS3-era titles that were successful (though smaller in number there were some good ones!) like Ni No Kuni and the Last Story. This is a round-about way of saying the combat system is an excellent take on the free-moving active-time auto-battling-but-with-real-time-triggers-style combat that started to show up towards the end of the PS2's life-cycle just when people were realizing the days of pure turn-based role-laying may be limited. And it also delivers on all those other check-marked boxes that any truly great and special JRPG must deliver on including: emotionally stirring and unique soundtrack, a deep and rewardingly complex story with all sorts of specific and detailed lore, a really nice visual style, and some incredibly beautiful locales. Okay that last thing isn't even a thing JRPGs usually have to deliver on, but it sure is a highlight. Some of the locations you move through during your travels in this game are breathtaking, and even more impressive than the  similarly psuedo-cell-shaded style of Breath of the Wild, whose open-world Monolith Soft also worked on (though you can't climb all over these areas I should say). 

I'm as blown away by the suddenly addictive combat (once it fully kicks in and you are given full control over 3 blades around the 15 hour mark) as I am by the surprisingly moving, funny and immersive story. I can be a little skeptical sometimes when approaching JRPG stories, but by all three of these aforementioned titles, we were treated to surprisingly mature and complex narratives, with refreshingly grounded and/or thoughtful characters. Indeed, with this many games firing on all these different cylinders (I didn't even mention the soundtrack to Persona 5 or Nier OMG), you know something special is happening.

So there you have it, three wildly differently styles of JRPG, only unified by their consistent top-tier quality. An old-school turn-based lite-novel hyprid, a full real-time action-RPG for philosophy students, and a MMO-style combat fantasy epic. And on top of all that there's myriad other fantastic releases, or even re-releases like the Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age remaster of FFXII, one of my favorites and oft-forgotten FF titles that I think got overlooked slightly upon initial release precisely because of the way it showed other developers the way forward from pure turn-based combat. 

And then the behemoth that is Breath of the Wild saw a tried-and-true franchise get fully revitalized in a way that drew on the weapon system of Dark Souls as much as it did the food system of Odinsphere of all games. And like I said, though not a true JRPG, it shows that role-playing adjacent titles are also showing a come-back. Survival components in video games were always the more practical, realist cousin to role-playing/stat-grinding after all. 

So where do we go from here? Well 2018 will show us whether 2017 was a stand-out year or just the beginning of a trend, but all signs seem to point to an ongoing upward trend if releases like Monster Hunter World are any indication. Ni No Kuni 2 is due out soon, Octopath Traveler, which should make good on the idea of a retro-JRPG, and Kingdom Hearts 3 at the end of the year all help to paint the picture of an equally formidable year. Alas, Nippon is poised to continue its domination in coming months. All in all, fans of the genre should be very pleased, and if you haven't checked out one of the aforementioned titles get to it, because all of them are excellent, even if Xeno takes about 15 hours to truly get rolling and Persona takes a whopping like 20. All good things come to those who wait, after all.~

[spicecapadespresentedbyps]

Play That Funky Music, Skate Boy: A Guide to Selecting Music for Your Fics

Hello YoI Friends, Fans, and Ficcers! We have teamed up to help you overcome the roadblock in your fic writing process known as music selection. You want Victor and Yuuri to paint their feelings all over the ice, but you also want your fic to be realistic. You might be sitting at your computer wondering, is it this frustrating for real life skaters to choose their music? (Yes. The answer, is yes.) But we are here to help!

Who are you people? Who exactly is “we?” And why are you qualified to make this post?

We are PoetSnoreate and LittleLostStar. Poet Snoreate runs the SpiceCapades (aka this blog), your destination for all the info you need to write a more accurate skating fic or, if you just want to know more about figure skating. A former competitive skater and sister to a current skating coach (codename: Toepick), PoetSnoreate grew up in and around the sport of figure skating.

LittleLostStar is the author of fan-favorite story Setting Sun and ten other Yuri on Ice fic gems, including the new fantasy AU We are Wanderers Still. A human treasury of music genres, styles, and artists, she incorporates her knowledge into her fics and generously helps other authors in their search for the perfect piece to write to or, in this case, write about!

Both of us are friendly and you can stop on by our blogs to follow us and say hi!

Note: PoetSnoreate wrote this intro. And every word of it is true.

Let’s delve into the hows, whys, do’s, and don’ts of music selection under the jump!

Section 0.1: (I’ve had) the time of my life, +/- 10 seconds

Programs have a time limit. If you exceed this time limit, you will be penalized, and eventually asked to leave the ice. The time limits are as follows:

Men’s/Ladies Short Program: 2:50 Maximum.

Men’s Freeskate: 4:30 (+/- 10 seconds)

Ladies’ Freeskate: 4:00 minutes (+/- 10 seconds)

Most of the time, especially with classical music, the piece will have been edited down to fit these time constraints. You do not have to personally edit your chosen piece for the sake of your fanfic. Please trust LittleLostStar on this. She spent four hours fretting over how to cut up Tchaikovsky’s “Slavic March” before her beta editor stepped in to shut down that malarkey.

Section 0.2: Slow. Now Fast. Now Faster! Slow Again. Fast Again! Oh my god faster! Whew. (or: Your routine needs structure) (or or: This is not quite what they had in mind when they told Chris to practice the rhythm method)

Music is carefully selected based on the program for which it is being used. Short programs are often skated to more uptempo music, because it is easier to sustain high energy for a shorter program. Freeskates are often performed to slower pieces.

You will see variations in mood/tempo in both programs. Short programs often follow this structure: fast music, slow music, fast music, and into a big finish! Free programs often follow the opposite: slow beginning, big middle, heart-wrenching (or uplifting) slow ending to a moving crescendo! These are typical structures, but not a rule, per say. Skaters have different strengths, weaknesses and their programs will be tailored to what they can do best.

Section 0.3: Sing, Sing, Sing! (Or not to Sing, Sing, Sing...No, seriously don’t use this piece)

In the old days of skating, only instrumental music could be used, which is why skating is often associated with classical music. Then, the ISU deemed that music with vocals would acceptable, so long as the vocals were acting like an instrument. Think of your favorite film score in which a choir “Ooohs” and “Aaaahh’s” dramatically during the big climactic scene. That’s what we’re talking about.

When Ice Dancing became really exciting in recent years, the ISU moved to allow Ice Dancers to use music with lyrics. After a few years of this, they finally capitulated and allowed skaters across all disciplines to use music with vocals. So now, anything goes (including the score to Anything Goes!) within reason, that is.

This means no music with explicit lyrics. I can’t find out if this is a set rule, but no one has pushed this envelope and I don’t think anyone will for a while. I’m sure if you choose your favorite rap song, judges will frown upon your choice (unless it’s from Hamilton. Everyone loves Hamilton, and so they should). A pair team from France used the 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack, but none of the songs they chose were graphic or used “bad” language.

Now, what sorts of songs should you pick, and from which genres?

Section 1: Classical (or: You have no fucking excuse to use Swan Lake for the billionth time)

Because skaters could only use instrumental songs for so long, certain pieces of music have become so ingrained in the sport that they’re impossible to get rid of, like that creepy uncle at a family reunion, only with powdered wigs. Skaters have lots of terms for these pieces: “classics” (if you like them), “Old Warhorses” (if you’ve been around awhile, just like them), or, if you’re Toepick, “Skate Bashers” because they make you want to bash your head in with the nearest skate after hearing the same piece of music for the umpteenth time at a competition. Note: this is a little hypocritical, as Toepick has, in fact, used two of the aforementioned “Skate Bashers” in her career.

I prefer to describe these overused pieces as “Boomerangs” because they cycle back. Generally, every season you’ll see a few skaters performing differently choreographed programs to the same overused piece. Or, there was that one year where six different skaters in the Junior Ladies’ bracket were all doing Malaguena.

Here’s a short list of overused classical music: Swan Lake, Carmen, Malaguena, Claire de Lune, Romeo and Juliet (both versions), Nessun Dorma, Firebird, Sing, Sing, Sing! Tosca, Scheherazade. Rhapsody in Blue, that one piano concerto by Rachmaninoff

Now, what do Swan Lake, Carmen, Claire de Lune, Romeo and Juliet, Nessun Dorma, and Rachmaninoff have in common, besides overuse? They’re all from the Romantic Era of classical music. To quote from Wikipedia: “In the Romantic period, music became more expressive and emotional, expanding to encompass literary, artistic, and philosophical themes.” If you’ve heard classical music that’s big and emotional and full of feelings, it’s probably Romantic. Beethoven is an excellent benchmark to show the evolution between the rigid, mathematical High Classical era and the more fluid Romantic era, since his career spanned both. Contrast the first movement of his first symphony, which is tight and precise (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2VKpV9im8g) with the slow build and huge emotional swells of the second movement of Symphony no 7: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgHxmAsINDk .

Romantic Era music is popular for a reason; it’s emotional, varied in tempo, and almost always stunningly beautiful. And the nice thing about it is that there are dozens of Romantic composers, including Chopin, Brahms, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, and many many more. You can start with some of the big names and try to find their lesser-known pieces, or fall down a Spotify Related Artists rabbit hole and find someone entirely new. And if you’re not sure at all where to start, here are a  few of LittleLostStar’s suggestions:

Chopin, Piano Concerto no. 1, II. Romanze – Larghetto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIackkOX2BU

Dvorak's Symphony no. 9, second movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOX15agZ3-0

Smetana's "Ma Vlast": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lvvjsg8_xI

pretty much any portion of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKX0ef1TZWA

Shostakovitch’s piano concerto No 2, second movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHpmHhi1Rxk

Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWmUfIhAukU

Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme for Thomas Tallis": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIhZbvlCjY0

Section 2: Movie scores which are not “The Mission”

Movie scores are amazing, and people don’t always give them enough credit. While there are certainly more than a few films with non-memorable scores (cough EVERY MARVEL MOVIE cough), think of all the films whose music has permeated our culture: Star Wars, Jaws, basically anything by John Williams. After classical music, film scores are an easy place to find emotional music for skating, but there are some pieces--such as “Gabriel’s Oboe” from The Mission--which are also far too overused.

There are movie scores such as Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Mask of Zorro which were only popular in the skating community for a short time. While they saw overuse during this period, they never quite made Skate Basher status and are fun and refreshing when they resurface with a bright-faced new skater. Others, like the soundtrack to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the 1960’s Romeo and Juliet theme have produced some of the coolest programs known to skating history. But those programs inspired other programs, which inspired other programs, and thus have relegated themselves to the ranks of the overused.

If you’re interested in going for the big emotional swells via cinema, here are a few options:

The one piano piece everyone adores from Amelie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hprOTiv3fU

“Transformation” from Beauty and the Beast (1991)*: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH9RTuaUL8k

“The Heart Asks Pleasure First” by Michael Nyman from The Piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsQBKr_x-P4

From John Powell’s stunning How to Train Your Dragon score: either “Test Drive” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5N3q68e7OQ) or “Coming Back Around” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbbsCTafRNw ). The latter, in particular, has a really great buildup that would be suited for Yuuri’s stamina, since it gets very energetic right at the end.

“Define Dancing” from the Wall-e score: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-7LIojfezw

“Transformation” by the Bulgarian Women’s Choir from Brother Bear, that Disney movie you don’t remember: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9csXngPNg

And if you’re feeling daring:

Junkie XL’s score for Mad Max: Fury Road was a furiously energetic jolt of adrenaline. A song like “Brothers in Arms” would be a very bold choice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xllG3fSUAOw

The Chemical Brothers scored a frankly excellent film called Hanna from 2011, and it has no shortage of bizarrely awesome electro songs, but “Container Park” is the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBmwcuLa1as

*LittleLostStar has no idea why we suddenly need to specify the year of this film’s release because there has never ever been another version of the best Disney film ever made and we needn’t speak of this matter again and also this is her favourite film of all time, so if you use “Transformation”, please let her know, because she’s probably going to read your fic and squee.

Section 2.5: What about Broadway tho?!

Don’t worry, fam, we gotchu.

As a current (not-so) starving actor (PoetSnoreate) and a former theater kid who once had dreams of being the next Idina Menzel (LittleLostStar) we would be remiss if we did not include the third most popular source of music for skating--BROADWAY!

Before lyrics were allowed, the sweeping scores to classic shows were brought to life on the ice by talented skaters. Sometimes so much so (in the case of West Side Story) that they became Skate Bashers. Rogers and Hammerstein were also a popular choice, The King and I and South Pacific were/have been fairly popular, but have yet to reach Skate Basher status. Other popular musicals that are on their way to becoming Skate Bashers include Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables...and let’s face it, if we have to see someone skate to “Bring Him Home” one more time, we’re going to be le miserable.

(Get it?! Le miserable? Is this thing on? *tap tap*)

Here are some fun options from people who are not Andrew Lloyd Webber:

“You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray (note: the linked version here is from the 2007 film, which absolutely blew the Broadway version out of the water in my opinion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjOXwuBQT1o

“King of New York” from the film Newsies (or the Broadway remake): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmPnz4g9HGQ. It is an excellent replacement for your more swing-adjacent Skate Bashers like “Rhapsody in Blue”

And while we’re at it, stop using “Sing sing sing” and use the finale from Chicago instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luef1H24hU8

Print off a list of the major songs from Wicked (everything over two and a half minutes that doesn’t include the Wizard, because all his songs are the worst). Pin it to the wall and stand a few feet back. Throw a dart. Congratulations, you’ve got a piece from Wicked. They basically all work.

While we’re on Stephen Schwartz, selections from Hunchback of Notre Dame would be super baller: “Bells of Notre Dame” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4COfl8DMB8) and “Heaven’s Light/Hellfire” for some real AF energy contrasts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eODy_sHpjaQ

“A Piece of Sky” by Barbra Streisand, from Yentl. Ask your parents, kids. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s8NpVhwgnA

Section 3: Yes, you can use modern songs. No, Tswift probably won’t let you use hers.

While programs that are more “traditional” still tend to score better, more and more skaters are making bolder music choices; they’re picking older pop hits, songs from classic singers, and even current chart toppers for their programs. This most recent season featured programs to 1980s classics like “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” by the Eurythmics and “Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie. Elvis may have left the building, but he showed up at the ice rink. Electro Swing is another popular choice; Caro Emerald crooned her way across several disciplines to create some interesting programs with the genre. Currently, most skaters will only select modern music for one program and keep the other in the more traditional vein.

Wacky, wild, and fun music (including disco and techno) tends to remain the purview of the Exhibition...along with the best choreography. Skaters every now and again will insist on skating their exhibitions to overused songs such as “Fields of Gold,” “Arms of an Angel”; but most of the time, the exhibition is where we get unforgettable programs like the infamous “Sex Bomb.” And the time Joe Johnson skated with a slice of pizza on his head.

Skaters don’t personally have to pay copyright to use their music, but they do have to turn in the names, titles, and composers of their pieces ahead of the season, so that rights can be secured by arenas (in their home country) and then by their Federations/other arenas where they’ll be competing. It’s a very convoluted process, and we don’t know the exact details of it (sorry). However, this is why you often don’t see skaters skating to the new big thing, because they have to be ready ahead of time with their selections, and also because programs take time to prepare and perfect.

While LittleLostStar was all set to provide a list of suggestions, the truth of the matter is that if you think a song will work, it’ll probably work! There are videos out there of routines set to “Umbrella” by Rihanna, “Cheap Thrills” by Sia, and “Hand Clap” by Fitz and the Tantrums. Johnny Weir’s routine to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” famously inspired Yurio’s ice slide heard ‘round the fandom in the “Welcome to the Madness” EX. So, really, go wild.

...Okay, she can’t help herself, here are some suggestions:

“Paradise” by Coldplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G4isv_Fylg

...okay, and also “Fix You”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4V3Mo61fJM

“All These Things That I’ve Done” by The Killers. Bonus points if you perform it in a blood-stained shirt and camouflage pants, and double bonus points if it’s a pair skate with someone dressed in a sexy nurse’s outfit. Sextuple billion bonus points if you understand that reference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZTpLvsYYHw

“Some Nights” by fun., which is bombastic and wonderful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQkBeOisNM0

A classic for a reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFWDGTVYqE8

“I Am Chemistry” by Yeasayer is one of the best songs ever, with one of the goddamn weirdest music videos ever, and would make a really interesting FS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XzqCUbiPc4

The Final Movement

We hope you’ve enjoyed our handy and comprehensive guide to choosing the music for your YoI fic. 

As always, our asks are open! 

[innocentbeing]

hh no one talks abt how lizzie is guaranteed to know what the blue sect did after they shut down and still she doesn’t go home. (there’s also the possibility that she knew the whole time)

if her reason is duty then that means duty > morals. i get that since she’s aware & accepts of her role as the wife of watchdog then she isn’t the most benevolent person to exist and wouldn't be totally appalled over death/murder but there’s a major difference between what the watchdog does & what the blue sect did

the watchdog’s duty is to target people who pose threats to the queen/Britain. ppl who know what they're doing, people who run business underground. people that do bad/illegal things. The people chased down by the watchdog are not innocent, unlike the victims of Blue Sect who are responsible for the deaths of harmless unknowing civilians.

 Lizzie is also the daughter of the British knights. Her whole family takes pride and responsibility in protecting and serving the defenseless n Even more than that, she is genuinely a sweet, caring girl. There's no way she can ignore the deaths of innocents, especially not for such a callous reason like duty

now if she’s doing it out of genuine care/concern for ciel, it’s still selfish but at least it isn’t as malice imo. like “i don’t want you to die, but my loved one is in need” vs “i don’t want you to die, but i’m just doing my job” ofc it’s not like lizzie is personally responsible for their deaths, but the fact that she knew/knows about it and still stays with them means she’s can’t claim innocence now and has blood on her hands imm just using the same logic as agni had for soma

tho imo soma is still innocent cuz he was unaware, like the p4 or starlight 4 or whatever the fck they call themselves

but they keep getting tricked so its kinda annoying lol. also they have killed before so they deserve to be put in prison anyway

like idk how many times its been repeatedly highlighted over again how cruel the situation was and it’s probably gonna be brought up when we eventually see Lizzie again lol and uh i dnt want to believe that she could overlook the blue sect’s actions as easily as blavat and the others. i think it fills her with guilt and pain as well but since she cares abt rciel and he needs the blood to survive she’ll bear the heartbreak she feels over the unaware & involuntary sacrifices

There's lot of different elements (duty, Victorian era), personal feelings (guilt, lingering attachment, genuine care, confusion, etc.), personality traits (stubborn, caring, loyal, etc.) and the bond she had with rCiel that keeps her from going home, even tho she probably suffers from running away & worrying her family as well!

so yea there’s a lot of things that could contribute to lizzie’s tears/confusion besides just “oops ciel isnt actually ciel”

[rubiaryutheroyal]

Unite Ouroboros [Eijia/ Akane Haru]

@aireyverkhovensky​ submitted:

HI I’M HERE TO MAKE YOUR LIFE DIFFICULT AGAIN

Here, two fairly long doujins. I did skim them to make sure they didn’t have nsfw - and I’m pretty sure they didn’t - but since that site hosts a lot of nsfw djs, I’d recommend having an ad blocker just in case?

Also, I saw you reblogging some Metal Gear posts so I wonder if you’re starting to get into the series? Hopefully that means you can tell Naked Snake and Solid Snake apart (*・∀-)☆

Sorry for the wait! I have been taking some interest in it (mainly for the memes, but hey, who isn’t?), though I can’t say I’m a dedicated fan yet. It’s definitely grown on me after a while. And yes, I can tell them apart now, though it’s tough keeping track of how many Snakes we have by this point.

To everyone else: please note that the above links are to a nsfw site, but the doujins themselves are sfw as far as I can tell. Just a little violence, but it’s MGS, so… Oh, and the right link is the first part; I almost got them mixed up. Please disregard, I’m stupid.

I’ll release the 2nd part later. For now, I want to get something out. Your patience is appreciated.

First Part

-

P2 4koma: “Fake Next-Time-Preview”

SS: Wha-!?

BB: …

That Soldier: I’ll read a little more… ( porn book )

SS: …A friend of yours?

BB: You think I’d have a friend as carefree as him!?

[T/N: Sorry, the sign’s too blurry. Exactly who is that ghost…?]

P4

“One is the all; therefore He is all. All is for His sake; to Him, all is. The snake is one, and He holds two symbols (good & evil).”

- Cleopatra the Alchemist, from Chrysopoeia, 4th century CE

P5

SS: (…Where am I?)

(Where did I come from? I can’t see anything, and there’s no one here. …It’s cold.)

(Not even the path I took to get here… I don’t know what’s going on!) …Where is this place?

P6

???: And where are you going, “Snake’s Tail”?

If you go that way, there’s no path to go, you know?

SS: Who are you!?

Sorrow: …And what purpose do you have to stand for?

P7

Sorrow: This is a place where your soul resides. Here, there is no past nor future. You’re cold and alone in a place like this. You’re cursed to walk off all alone. And in the end…

You can’t go where the people are.

P8

SS: …Sorry, but I’m not interested in taking the same path that others do.

I’ve severed my relations to others. Things I’ve done and those I’ve hurt; things I’ve been hurt by and my fears.

Sorrow: …That’s right. Just like that.

Especially you, who have chosen isolation, have only this darkness.

…How pitiful.

P9

SS: What the hell do you know!?

Sorrow: You are just like the Ouroboros. You’ve coiled up and bitten onto your own tail, and you see only the world you wish to see.

As I thought, you’re just like that man… Just a tool of a soul who’s closed himself off.

SS: …That man?

P10

Sorrow: …Interesting. Then allow me to act as a guide to you, who are without a path. You should check there, the place where you were called the “Snake’s Tail”.

SS: !?

(I can’t see…) Just… what are you!?

Sorrow: (…I am one who only remains as a name in your time. You would know, as a soldier.)

P11

Sorrow: (We are those who live in the dark and disappear into it. Our names are not left in history.)

(For that is our fate…)

SS: …

!

(The smell of burning wood… And stronger than the faint sound of the river and anything else, …The smell of death.)

(…Am I supposed to go there?)

P12

???: SNAKE!!

SS: …

P13

SS: (Otacon.)

(He knows that there’s no place to run… In that facility out at sea, He has no way to run on his own… I would know, and it doesn’t need to be said.)

(He said, I should run by myself.)

…

(If you don’t come back, or if you don’t want to, head toward the light…)

P14

SS: (Somehow…)

(I’ve managed to return safely.)

*splish sploosh*

Sorrow: (…Yes, I certainly won’t be remembered…)

P15

[2009 Big Shell]

(That is an inexperienced soul.)

[There are only 30 seconds until Priskin detonates…]

P16

Sorrow: (But you will be. And you will face many great people.)

(Snake… this “model” by which you’re named will forever remain with them.)

(When that time comes, you all will realize… the true meaning behind “Ouroboros”.)

BB: Dammit!

Soldiers: The pain… The pai…

P17

BB: (What is this place…?) If this is a dream… (What are those guys!?) Then I have to wake up…!

*bang bang*

(Did I lose them…? Did I get away…?)

If I can, I’d rather not think otherwise…

Soldier(?): How dare you… kill me…!

*shove*

BB: WHOA!!

*burble*

P18

BB: (Boss!)

Boss: (Jack, You can’t contact me anymore.)

(You’re still young…)

BB: (Boss…!)

(Why, Boss…)

BB: AAAHH!!

*surface*

Huff… huff…

P19

Boss: (Jack…)

(Come here, Jack…)

Executive: (Terminate The Boss.)

BB: (…That’s right. I was the cause.)

(If I go that way… That person…)

P20

Sorrow: And just who is over there… Jack?

BB: !

Sorrow: Ah, yes. You’re the “Snake’s Head”. The eternal beginning. It all starts with you. You are an existence who transcends this era.

P21

Sorrow: Truly, a pitiful existence… The Snake dies, and yet it can’t permit its disappearance…

*kyuun*

BB: …

Sorrow: …My, my…

You’d even shoot your own memories…? It seems no one is safe with you two pointing guns at everyone.

P22

BB: What… What the hell are you!?

Sorrow: You both are… Ouroboros.

P23

Sorrow: The snake that represents the cycle of everything… and becomes one with you.

Several more Snakes will be born and will follow after you in an endless cycle of death and rebirth.

BB: Wha…?

*flash*

BB: ! …The light…

P24

BB: [You should try the left wing! Got it!?]

SS: Pops…!

O: [Snake!]

SS: Otacon… Looks like I’m in a pretty bad mess.

O: [No way… Was it because of the Steelman!?]

SS: No, it was my mistake.

…Otacon. (Now that it’s come to this…) I have something to tell you.

P25

SS: If you lose contact with me, or don’t get any kind of response, just run away from here!

[Reject others, and don’t depend on anyone but yourself.]

[1964 Groznyj Grad Sewers]

Soldiers: There he is! It’s him!

After him!!

P26

BB: …huff… huff…

Ocelot: Snake.

BB: …Ggh…!

[That is the eternal cycle of death and rebirth.]

Otacon: [What’s that supposed to mean, Snake?]

P27

SS: If I have to explain that in detail, you really are an idiot! Besides, can you really execute the plan by yourself!?

Otacon: But…!

SS: I’m a soldier… I know when I’m in trouble.

[The future eternal continues without end.]

[That life…]

Ocelot: S-…

SS: !!

Otacon: Snake…!!

P28

[The snake cannot permit its death.]

P29

Otacon: Snake!! Snake, what was that explosion!?

Snake! Please respond!

P30

Otacon: SNAKE!!

…

*splish*…

???: (If you can’t move forward…)

*splash*

P31-32: Unite Ouroboros

P33: About the author & doujin circle, among other things

[T/N: Since it’s bothersome, I’ll just translate the fun picture.]

Sorrow: I just spoke to him from behind him and I got shot… I’m sad…

BB: You surprised me, stupid!

SS: Well, it’s not like I haven’t seen a guy fly around before.

(bubble) “Mantis”

–

T/N: Let me know if I got something wrong or sounds strange!

Thanks as always, Airey.