#i love salqueen

[roe-and-memory]

nothing lives more rent free in my head than salqueen.

think of this. lightning wins his first championship. in victory lane, there are cameras and microphones in his face and he’s being asked questions of all sorts; hes only scanning the crowd for one person.

he wants to celebrate this with sally, he NEEDS to celebrate this with sally, and when his eyes finally land on her, squeezing through the crowd to try and get to him, he waits until shes right at the side of his car with his championship shirt in one hand, marker in the other, pretending to be a fan asking for an autograph. he doesnt hesitate, though, he grabs her hand and pulls up, and she gets the hint and scales the car. with absolutely ZERO thought, he dips her and kisses her, and theyre stood in victory lane with confetti falling around them, champagne in his hair, and the love of his life in his arms.

theres a photographer somewhere in the crowd; they catch that scene. the darkness of the sky behind them, the stadium lights being one of the only light sources around, and they catch each piece of confetti in that lens, every person in the crowd, all of the reporters that have backed away to give whoever was photographer the Perfect scene. they capture perhaps one of the most iconic victory pictures to date; the youngest piston cup driver to ever win a cup kissing his girlfriend right after his big win.

its in the RSN magazine, any sports magazine to be frank, and its probably one of their favourite pictures of all time. lightning really wishes he could thank that photographer.

[stickers95]

Biblically accurate 2006 salqueen YEAHHHH‼️

[planerot]

That one tumblr post but as the residents of Radiator Springs.

[dragon-fly34]

POV: You try to flirt with a "country" girl but it goes wrong.

Based on this here:

[ijustlovefiction]

"You look at her and you finally start to live for someone else..."

"…then you find yourself."

[kaderp]

Idk about you guys but I miss just the vibe that Cars 1 had

The desaturated color palette, the mid 2000s music, Lightning being such a young dumbass finding his way through life. Doc taking him in. Early salqueen navigating how they operate together. Mater teaching Lightning new shenanigans. The quiet of it all. It was soothing. Yet had just enough energy because Lightning had all the energy and it bled to the rest of the town.

Don't get me wrong I love older more mature legend Lightning who is kinda now what Doc was for the town. But I miss when the town was still new to him and he was learning.

[bisexualmcqueen]

I had a few questions about your apocalypse au!!

Are there any definite relationships? what happened to Sally and the rest of the townsfolk? And do any of the current characters that are alive die later on?

😈hehehe apocalypse au

so the first thing to know is that apoc au falls in line with my longstanding polyam bi salqueen hc. they are both in multiple healthy consenting relationships with different dynamics. fran/sal/queen is a thing, mchicks is a thing, etc. theyre all queer and all respectful mature adults, they have a lot of love to give, and theyre having a lot of fun!

-What happened to Sally?

in apoc au tho, sally dies very sadly early on. she survives the blast initially and is coherent enough to say her goodbyes, but her injuries take her within a week or so. 996's have an infamous catostrophic engine failure point and are notorious for blowing up, so her odds werent great. with the entire planet in chaos, its hard to help survivors at all...

-Are there any definite relationships?

the main relationship of apoc au winds up being... lightning/chick. yep. chick is visiting his old 'pal' in radiator springs (lightning and cruz stopped home for some rare downtime during the busy season) when it all goes to hell. everyone dies, and 1 billion metric tons of trauma later, chick and lightning accidentally wind up codependent. (cant blame them!).

so far, lightning has 2 other relationships in apoc au. jackson survives, and decides to not sit on his longtime crush on lightning anymore on account of the world being massively fucked up, and confesses his feelings. i also have an oc in development, a medic named Dr. Amiyah Sparkwright who shares feelings with lightning also. both of them dont appear til later in the story, after the characters start to rebuild. all of them are too traumatized to be super serious though... the angst ;,,)

-What happened to the rest of the townfolk?

the rest of the townfolk died pretty much instantly, save for mack, who also died slower. i guess its sort of like a thanos snap? except the bodies dont vanish. chick, lightning, and cruz bury them when they realize no one is coming to save anyone.

-Do any of the main survivors die later?

and do any of the main cast die... spoilers!! but yes, chick dies about 15-20 years in. initially, in the early-early drafts back in 2019ish, chick died only a few years in. changing this and adding him to the main party has shifted everything- his chaos-loving spirit, tricky resourcefulness, and boundless rude comedy are exactly what the story needed. combine that with the pacifist/optimist cruz and the endlessly loving determination and charm of lightning, and its an incredibly fun dynamic. that, and they're all hardened survivors now- big changes happen to these characters, and part of the fun is exploring that (or, how theyve stayed the same despite the changed world!).

to be fair to chick, hes like, 70 by the time he dies, so he does pretty well. Non has a list of ideas on how chick goes, and i love them all too much to decide, tho i am a big fan of him being murdered on a failed supply run. a few other minor characters will also die, oc's and canon. and i havent decided what happens to cruz and lightning yet, i'm not sure if it matters, they may live to old age!

very excellent specific questions- hope this answers them. thanks for the ask!

[champmorado]

yeaaaa this has been the mood on my blog for like. the past few weeks 😭😭

not my fault i love chuiser, townder, mcchicks, salqueen, and chickcal so much 💪💪

[x0stormie0x]

Hello @xceooflightningstormx!

I too ship Lightningstorm in its own way here's a question to chew on.

Are there other ships on par with Lightningstorm that you are invested in? Especially the WGP racers including the regional replacements for Jeff and/or the Next Gen racers?

Hello!! Thank you so much for the ask!

I don't think anything really compares with how much I ship LightningStorm. However, here are some of my other ships from the fandom that I highly appreciate and love seeing content of!

- Cruz x Natalie

- Flo x Ramone

- Jeff x Lewis

- Doc x Sheriff

- Luigi x Guido

- Ray x Gale (specifically for my AU)

- Sometimes Sally x Lightning (outside of the movie, the content people make is pretty sweet)

And occasionally Francesco x Lightning. (LightningStorm kinda replaced it for me)

And that's all I can pretty much think of for now!

I don't ship a lot in the fandom, thought I love seeing all of the WGP ships and other outside ships. (Even SalQueen, @/tailfinpass's artwork makes me cry with joy)

But yeah! Those are just a good majority of the ships I have in the fandom. Most of em are pretty well known!

^^ thanks for the ask once again!

[pinkpinkmermayyy]

this is the salqueen song (sorry I love lana I can’t stop)

@gaystappen @champmorado

[roe-and-memory]

dont think about (redhead) lightning having freckles all over his face and arms, Dont think about sally counting them or connecting them with a pen and calling them stars and constellations and DONT EVER think about how fucking silly they are. dear god theyre so in love. i thought about them once and exploded into confetti.

[bisexualmcqueen]

Another WOC question game thread yippee! [original here] by @praxcrown5

my responses under cut:

-favorite minor character and why? (can range from guy with little screentime or guy with info only available on supplementary material like the books, magazines, etc.)

DOES MACK COUNT. I WOULD DIE FOR MACK. i would actually die for him hes such a sweetheart im in lovee with that man. hes big hes kind hes shiny hes loyal hes funny. he has my heart. you dont understand how obsessed with mack i am like i love him almost as much as i love lightning. his design rules too. ray. i'm fascinated how he took one look at jackson and abandoned his personal racing code of honor. FUCK the heart of a champion, MONEY is where its at! (and he's still genuinely attached to and proud of jackson. melts my heart). outside of that i've oc-ified him to death and Non and i have an entire thing where we've made him some freak who befriends tens of thousands of spiders and is able to speak spider-language and can thus communicate with any spider. he is also full of spiders (in his cab). why? for Because. stanley! hes such a sweetie pie?? i really adore that that the founder of RS is some gentle-hearted goofball. that and the symbolism of his statue being the thing that ensnares lightning and refuses to let him leave? chefs kiss. stanley knows what he's about. you have been chosen! roscoe. i dont know anything about him other than he seems like kind of a funny guy. his design is also very cool.

-favorite relationship dynamic / ship and why?

i loove when all the racing rivals sass each other. its so hilarious to me. goofy bitches talking smack about other goofy bitches. on the flipside, that gentle-firm way smokey treats lightning always gets me. lightning shows up finally after ~12 years, lost and confused, and smokey has that arsenal of what hud's boy is like from those letters. his kindness to lightning (and thus to doc) is one of my fav parts of the third act of cars 3. stabs me right in the heart [in the good way] whenever a character treats lightning well. As for ships, im a bigole multishipper and polyshipper. these cars are horny and im mashing them all together and its hilarious. some of my fav ships are mchicks, salqueen, lightningstorm, and kaciao (incl.sally). one of my funniest crackships is lightning x mack, tho i dont ship them anymore its funny to me. oh also a fan of darrel/bob and sherdoc. these bitches gay. (and queer flomone and sargemore and luido and cruznat. all canon 2 me. materqueen is also very cute. everyone in RS is queer. calqueen and treadstorm are also neat. im aroace so shipping is like weird fluff science to me, i just want them to be happy.)

-favorite piece of fan content(s) and why? (can be a fic, fan art, etc. can even be your own work!!)

For fics... it's gotta be The Curve by @/Whipplefilter. i try not to reread it too often but i think i read it like 3x back in may. the extended action scene of the most recent few chapters is one of the most fun things in the world to me. love the thrills and character development. Takes place during the cars 3 epilogue, lightning-centric (cruz and jackson play big roles too!). my other fav alltime fic is one thats been updating slowly since 2009... you all know the one: Forgotten Highways. Chick-centric: his childhood trauma resurfaces, and it spins into 4 interwoven plotlines as Chick’s struggles ripple through the lives of his friends and foes. Presently ends on the craziest cliffhanger in another thrilling chapter i absolutely love. rq since ive seen a general sentiment rise online in the past year hating on wips and i dont wanna hear that negativity-lip ANYWHERE in this fandom; fanfiction is free fanlabor posted out of passion and love. they are exempt from criticism unless Explicitly asked for by OP. this isnt novel-based academia, this is Fandom [dont like? don't read!]. i love wips. support your fic authors and other fan-creators!! another classic is this short animation by @/hillbillyhell :

yes, that is owen wilson.

-and extra question going off that last one: favorite piece you've made in the fandom?

I actually have 15 published cars fics now, which is crazy! [just earlier this year i had what, 4?] out of what's posted at the time of answering, im most excited about Turbine: a darker-toned entry into the Apocalypse AU where Cruz, Lightning, and Chick all struggle with keeping their hope alive in different ways, and History Repeats: a whumptober entry about Sally getting lost, breaking down, and Lightning setting out to find her from a thousand miles away. as for art- ive got way more of that. here are a few of my favorites from over the years: [mini throwback time!!]

clashing outlook

2019 daytona 500 (aka 'ass delete')

EXCITED ABOUT MY NEW TOOTHBRUSH!

temper tantrum

Mack meets Lightning

and my current favorite that ive ever done:

escape! love how much i was able to combine into this small sketch. the missing panels, deeper anatomy, glowing exhaust manifold, the bend of a cartoon car in motion, the visible chassis, suspension, and powertrain, the flames, the spinning wheels, and of course: the big sparkle on the bolt!

kachow, baby! ...theres even glitter in his eyes lol

dont worry, he finds his bumper and sticks it back on <3

!!! woc question game !!!

figured this would be a fun thing to do in my off time so heres some added questions for the fandom if you so feel free to answer !!

favorite minor character and why? (can range from guy with little screentime or guy with info only available on supplementary material like the books, magazines, etc.)

favorite relationship dynamic / ship and why?

favorite piece of fan content(s) and why? (can be a fic, fan art, etc. can even be your own work!!)

and extra question going off that last one: favorite piece you've made in the fandom?

under the cut is my answers to some previously asked questions!!

how did you get involved in the fandom?

i've watched the cars films before but it was only when my little brother was watching them on disney plus back when my family still paid for it that i really sat down, watched it and got invested in it.

and it hit at a very convenient time because i was phasing out of my empires/life series interest and it just snowballed from me checking out the cars tag on ao3 to skimming the pixar cars wiki to . having a whole side blog named lesbiancruzramirez

it was nice it was just me and my kid brother rewatching the cars movies over and over i even got really into cars 2 !! a fun movie actually!!! then me and him watched all the cars shorts and yeah it truly did just all start when my brother saw the cars movie in the selection of movies on disney plus and picked that to watch

favorite character and why?

tbh. cruz ramirez is kind of annoying (/heavily sarcastic. i am joking. if i ever unironically say that u can shoot me on sight 🙏)

anywho i love love love cruz ramirez 🫶 i will admit when i first kinda sort of watched cars 3 I wasn't too compelled by her but i do remember being endeared to her a lot and then upon a proper rewatch i just sort of fell in love with her she is so lovely and excitable !!! like she's just a little guy? she's just a little guy!!!

i think her whole struggle in the film is so compelling and i wish that and her character could have been expanded upon like storm and mcqueen were..... like maybe in a book or something.....

cars origin: cruz control i will literally never forget you DAVE KEANE . OR ANY OTHER MALEVOLENT FORCES OUT THERE. IF U CAN HEAR ME. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEAK THE MANUSCRIPT 🙏🙏🙏

anyways yeah i jus love her for being really silly and a dorkass racing fan whos only keenly aware of and into the women of the racing world (she only recognizes and knows louise nash among the other racing legends) and lightning mcqueen and i think thats so real of her 🫶 shes a racing fan but only for mcqueen and women 🫶 me too sis. this among other reasons is why i just love cruz shes sooo fun shes so silly shes my babygirl truly. the guy ever

any dream merch you'd like to own/see made?

🫶 cruz ramirez tsum tsum plush 🫶

literally any of the tsum tsum plushes actually THEYRE SO CUTE? SO LOVELY? MY BABES? MY GUYS!!!

would also love die casts of these sillies and also a couple other choice die casts like the tim treadless n natalie ones. the only merch of my favs out there

as for merch id like to see made . if ever, it probably wont be official but id like merch/die casts of some of game-only characters since some of them have such cool designs and i also really really want a candice one

favorite scene from any cars media?

uh UM . cant pick one scene but cars 3 is my fav movie so heres some top 5 of my fav scenes from cars 3 in no particular order

lmq and cruz argument. "i just never thought I couldn't" "i wish i knew what that felt like" <- makes me INSANE about them. GOD. god.,

and correspondingly i like their make-up scene where lmq does the stupid little dance and song and cruz is embarrassed as hell

the whole opening scene makes me all giddy like yay :D good times montage :D bobby cal screen time 🫶 love that for them

cruz doing doc's flip and winning the florida 500 and i would not be true cruznat fan if i didn't mention "heck of a win!" "yeah... heck of a win (gayly)"

jacksons fuckass intro scene with mcqueen. literally such a high school mean girl? "such a pleasure to finally beat you" "you heard me" "i think i touched a nerve" obsessed. what a weirdo ass freak (lovingly)

i literally remember this movie the best and!! now some honorable mentions from the other two movies!!!

my fav kaciao moment "i dedicate my win tonight to miss sally" "actually no i already dedicated my win to her" <- SUCH fun rival banter off the two of them and i think all three of them should kiss sloppy style thanks

"oh por favor señor tow truck" sorry im weak for femme fatale holly shiftwell

docs first try still giving advice to lmq and lmq sasses him "turn right to go left" is just that iconic to me tbh

and the whole "life could be dream" neon roads scene is so so beautiful!! i adore the neon aesthetic in the first cars movie and oh i miss it dearly

what is your favorite personal headcanon?

too many to choose uh um off the top of my head the sudoku obsessed natalie hc . goes hand in hand with the autism hc i love silly hcs like that

also my cruz met jackson pre cars 3 (or well. somewhere in the middle of cars 3 technically?) hc im still in the middle of writing a fic for that!!!

will update with more answers to questions later!!will be yapping more definitely when i get more off time

[lightspeed95]

Them <33

Even if it was for a small moment, it was so nice to finally see them again ❤️

[runthatrace]

at some point, sally must have realised that dating a racing car would come with constant anxiety, for motorsport is well known for being incredibly dangerous and sometimes life threatening.

if she hadn’t realised it by cars 2, then she would have definitely figured it out then.

which means that there must have been nights when she awoke from a nightmare filled with sirens and wrecks and loss. quiet fears whenever lightning did something reckless in a race. secret hopes for a quiet and safe lifestyle once he retired. open relief when lightning returned home, safe, after each and every long season of racing.

of course she would learn to brush off these thoughts as anxiety, discard them as mere “what if”s.

so when everything she ignored came to light in that almost fatal LA 500, i can’t even imagine all of the thoughts running through her head.

the love of her life, the man who took her seemingly unrealistic dreams and made them a reality, the wonderful race car and compassionate friend, all wrecked and broken and almost lifeless. she had known him for 11 years at this point, so life without him would have seemed like a distant memory.

a distant memory that threatened to become the future.

yes, there was no question of sally being worried for lightning’s safety in such an unforgiving sport.

but i don’t think people realise how deep, how far back it runs. the sheer overwhelming force of sally and lightning’s bond must have been such a prevalent point in her life, and for that to be threatened, even if it was only for a short amount of time, must have been devastating.

[whipplefilter]

hi Whipplefilter!

I was wondering, what do you think Lightning McQueen is like as a boyfriend/spouse, perhaps some headcanons? Is he a “southern gentleman”, as they say? What about some of the other country guys (Cal, Darrell, Tex, Strip)?

Thanks! have a great rest of the year! stay safe 🍀

I think Lightning and Sally have a reputation for being low-key, but that’s only actually true like, half the time. Sure, they have brief but intimate private dinners at Wheel Well (brief only because chaos can only be held in abeyance for so long in this town) and when Sally attends races, she’s excited and supportive but not overly dramatic about it. She doesn’t go to every single race, because she’s still the sole proprietor of the Cozy Cone and likes to be reliable and consistent, which means not closing up shop every weekend. They don’t go on destination dates because Lightning equates travel with racing and home with Sally. Plus any time Lightning goes anywhere international for work, it turns out Sally has also already been there. Whatever life she led prior to finding Radiator Springs, "fast lane" doesn’t even begin to cover it.

But Lightning "well, there goes the town" McQueen also told Sally he wanted to spend more time with her by literally moving an entire team’s racing headquarters clear across the country, seemingly without consultation. And he fixed the neon! It’s unclear when or how, but I imagine at some point during his paintjob session with Ramone he was like "so… what is neon and how do you turn it on" and Ramone launched into a whole lecture about powdercoating and mercury and argon and neon gases and and torches and vacuum and the incredible voltage of those alluring glass tubes. I doubt Ramone let Lightning actually touch anything, but Lightning listened and retained enough of Ramone’s spiel to convince Ramone it mattered enough to Lightning that the project was worth taking on. Considering how "turn right to go left" had gone, Lightning’s commitment to figuring out this neon thing was impressive.

That’s all to say, the grand gesture has always been a part of Lightning’s aesthetic and his relationships are no different, whatever his and Sally’s reputation for quietude. I think pairing of grandiosity and charm tends to lend itself to the southern gentleman idea.

Moreover, Lightning and Sally also have a general reputation for wholesomeness, though again that’s only half the story. Sure, Sally runs a cute motel and loves sunsets and history, but it’s not as though she reins in the sass when a situation calls for sass. Lightning also has managed to cultivate a more wide-eyed approach to the world, and is a lot more willing to be publicly dopey than had seemed allowable his rookie season. But for all that that vibe really is Lightning’s genuine article, he can also be pretty astute when the rubber hits the road. He’s very much aware of the ways the business side of racing, or highways, or municipal budget reconciliation can be pretty unglamorous. Publicly his optimism tends to outshine his understanding of realism, but if you’ve never seen Lightning’s black sarcasm at work then you haven’t seen all of him. (Luigi and Guido laugh at LMQ’s "life’s a beach and then you drive" barb but that’s because they know him. That’s not a joke you make on RSN, LOL.)

This goes back to what Lightning is like as a romantic partner because this part of him is actually a critical part of his and Sally’s relationship. Sally didn’t like the attitude LMQ brought to Radiator Springs those first few days, and they do enjoy being wholesome, but it wouldn’t be the same if they couldn’t also have long, animated, slightly jaded (but ultimately motivated and optimistic) conversations about the world. Sally didn’t like being a lawyer but she loves thinking about the world’s complexities, about the way lives play out and systems and structures shape perception. It’s a kind of conversation she doesn’t get from Radiator Springs (except when Doc had been willing to humor her, because this kind of talk was an old pastime of his, too—but only on rare occasions, because he never wanted Sally to be able to discern too much about him, and he knew she was capable of doing so with breadcrumbs) and it’s nothing she expects from Radiator Springs, but this is something she and Lightning have with each other.

Lightning does not consider himself particularly intellectual (and Sally affirms that Lightning’s self-concept in this regard is accurate), but there are things about racing and the racing world that translate well to these kinds of conversations. After Doc, Sally’s the only one that knows any of this, or knows that Lightning knows any of this. In Lighting’s perfect world, racing is racing. Racing is freedom. And at its heart, Lightning believes and feels that it is. But it’s also points strategy and debates about rules packages and SAFER barriers and sponsorship and network deals and storylines and sometimes pain (even if you don’t crash, rebuilding engines and replacing brake lines and fuel pumps and flywheels that often is not entirely pleasant).

Lightning and Sally are each other’s person with whom they will have conversations about things no one else knows is in them. Sometimes Lightning and Sally go out on a bluff and talk for hours on end and when the wind blows the right way the town can hear them and it’s a conversation so referential and full of implication and shared shorthand resonances and so interested in a bunch of things literally only Lightning and Sally find worth talking about that no one every quite knows what all they’re going on about or why. That’s what they give to each other that no one else can—what they are like to each other as partners.

[ijustlovefiction]

Thanks for tag!❤️

So let's do it!

3 ships: Lightning x Sally from Cars, Peter Quill x Gamora from Marvel, Harley Quinn x Poison Ivy from DC

First Ship Ever: SalQueen❤️

Last Song: Black Sabbath- Paranoid

Last Movie: Harry Potter and The Golbet of Fire (I've watched yestarday)

Currently reading: My Hero Academia Manga vol2 (rereading this✌️)

Currently watching: Aracne (Rewatching cause I love this show)

Currently consuming: Sandwich 👍

Currently craving: some hug :/

Tags: @rycusfunnies @dinocos-golden-boy @penname-artist @kachow-i-love-being-me

@elmirovasophie

Tag game! Tag 9 people you want to get to know better (if you like)

Tagged by @ptork66. Thanks for the tag! 💖

3 ships: Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, and i’m gonna say Lucy Carlisle/Anthony Lockwood (😞😭😭) and Mare Barrow/Maven Calore

First Ship Ever: idk probably Anne Shirley/Gilbert Blythe as I read the Anne of Green Gables series in 7 and 8th grade. But Kanej trumps all, so

Last Song: according to Spotify, The Alcott by The National ft. Taylor Swift

Last Movie: Shrek 2 but i didn’t finish it bc i was watching it with my brother and he had to go help our dad put up a door for my brother’s room, so we had to pause it… that was last Saturday…

Currently Reading: …. [runs away]

Currently Watching: The Great, season 3!!!!!

Currently Consuming: nothing at the moment, but i did just finish my merienda (a cup of coffee and sweet bread)

Currently Craving: clarity

tagging @lady-a-stuff @frolicking-grandma @totallynots8tan @bigalockwood @do-any-of-you-see-it @loopsbyelle @thegetawaywriter @kakiwrites @tfotaandstuff