#i think the results here could be very predictable OR very surprising. no in-between

[charles-leclerc-official]

2024 China Grand Prix Race Analysis

Here is my full analysis of the 2024 Chinese Grand prix. I already covered the sprint in a separate post here.

The important thing to keep in mind about this weekend is that the Chinese track was a very unique surface. It caused a lot of unusual grip problems for many of the top teams. I think as a whole that this race saw some outlier results as far as car behavior goes.

Table of Contents Stake - Zhou - Valtteri Ferrari - Start - Charles: his race, vs Lando - Carlos - Data Analysis Mclaren - Lando - Oscar - Data Analysis Penalties - Logan - Kevin - Daniel - Lance VCARB Aston Martin Red Bull - Checo Final Thoughts

Stake

Zhou

I usually start these with Ferrari. However this is a special occasion. So we are starting the analysis by celebrating Zhou and his performance this weekend.

This was the first Chinese Grand Prix in Formula 1 history with a Chinese driver racing on track. Zhou Guanyu made history and considering the car he's in he gave a good performance for the home crowd. Between qualifying 10th in the sprint, making some pretty good overtakes during the race, and carrying his team after Valtteri's DNF it was a pretty good weekend all around.

It was so nice to see all of the home support for Zhou. He was given an honorary spot at parc fermé after the race, and I am so glad they did something special to highlight this moment for him and the country he is representing in F1.

Zhou driving this weekend really was the highlight. This was only ever going to happen once in F1. Glad I was here to see it.

Valtteri unfortunately suffered a power unit failure and had to retire from the race. No damage to the car. This did bring out the yellow flag and a VSC. And when the marshals were unable to roll the car off the track quickly enough it upgraded to a full safety car(don’t worry we will be coming back to this)

He was looking pretty good in the car until that point, actually getting close to the points. I think we might see Stake in the points this year if they ever get their pit stops under control.

Ferrari

Ferrari's race was probably the weakest for the team so far this season. It wasn't really a surprise though. The cooler temperatures and inconsistent track surface were not ideal for the SF24.

Charles started in P6 and finished P4, Carlos started P7 and finished P5.

I do consider this not to be indicative of any downward trend for Ferrari. It was pretty predictable and it did not reveal any issues in the SF-24 we weren't already aware of (tyre warming)

Ferrari did say that they sacrificed more in qualifying in favor of a better race setup. And I don't think this was necessarily a bad idea. It's impossible to say if a different setup might have put them higher and if they have been able to defend with that setup. Going for a more race focused setup and relying on the better tyre deg to be able to allow for overtaking is a pretty good plan, especially if they didn't think they could get much more out of qualifying.

This did mean that we got to see some proper overtakes in the SF-24 from Charles and that is something we just haven't seen a lot of this season so far. So seeing how it handles in that regard was good.

So the big question is, why did Ferrari suddenly end up behind a Mclaren when Ferrari have been easily beating them all season?

Well there are a few factors:

- Ferrari struggled this weekend with grip and failed to find the best balance in the car to maximize top speeds. They did sacrifice some downforce in favor of speed during the race but I don't think it was enough. It didn't do enough to help the top speeds and it sacrificed grip so we ended up a weird middle ground that didn't optimize either problem. This track surface really made it so hard to figure out the right direction for setup.

- Mclaren(Lando) were stronger than expected. Lando was really the one pulling performance out of that car.

I will point out some key areas on this in the data analysis section as well.

Race Start

The most notable thing about Ferrari’s race was the start, when Carlos compromised his and Charles’ start by attacking right into turn 1. This forced Charles to have to defend(something he should not have to do right off the race start from his own teammate who started behind) and this resulted in them both immediately losing a place to Russell. This was a place they both had to fight to make up.

Again, this kind of thing isn’t good when compromising the results for the whole team is the result.

Footage Analysis

Just so we are clear about who is responsible for the loss of placement I want to show the footage from this start. This is from Carlos' driver cam footage as it most clearly shows what happened.

Charles starts P6 with Carlos behind him in P7. George is behind them in P8.

Into turn 1 Charles has the inside line, very clearly. Carlos has the outside line into the turn, this is fine. Charles is also clearly ahead.

Carlos pushes inside more, putting pressure on Charles. Notice how much closer Carlos got and how much space he left on the outside(another vulnerability he left open)

Charles pushes Carlos back(to defend which he has to do if attacked especially into a crowded corner like that a the race start)

Charles then took full position in front of Carlos, and this allowed George to slip past both of them on the inside line.

Because Carlos forced Charles to defend George was able to take that inside line that Charles had and passed both of them, dropping Charles and Carlos down a place.

Charles cannot defend both the outside and inside line on his own. He defended against the car that put pressure on him first. His teammate should not be the main one he has to defend team track position against.

Carlos compromised Charles' ability to defend position against George(which is the priority, he's on a rival team that is more important than racing between teammates)

Again if he is attacked Charles has to defend, why would he give up the place to the teammate he was faster than? Nothing would have happened if Carlos hadn’t pulled this move. Charles would have kept George behind and they might have been able to overtake earlier in the race and gain one more position, because they lost a full position to George this early they had to take that back before they could make progress climbing further up the field.

Carlos

This was Carlos' weakest performance so far this year. He compromised the race start for himself and Ferrari causing them both to lose placement immediately. Then he was unable to overtake. The only real overtakes he's pulled off were on cars with seriously compromised brakes.

He struggled with grip and tyres more than Charles. They both had issues in this area but it was more noticeable in his performance.

Charles finished 10.36 seconds ahead of his teammate who was directly behind him in the final 13 laps this race. And that gap can be explained by the fact Carlos was stuck behind Fernando for more laps(as well as a pit stop), however once he got into clean air he did not make up any time at all, his pace didn’t gain on Charles at all with the clean air. A gap in pace that big between teammates is concerning(at least for Carlos) It may be due to his personal choice of setup, or tyre management, or grip in the track. Given that he had more issues with grip on this track I am thinking that was a factor. He lost most of his time on turns 1, 5, 7, 8, and 10.

Edit: also Carlos did pit under normal conditions while Charles pitted under the safety car, this saved Charles some time(aprox 7-8 seconds), however the main point stands that Carlos did not make any progress closing the gap between them.

Charles

Charles' overtakes climbing up the field really saved Ferrari's race. Starting off by losing a position he climbed up places pulling some really clean overtakes and also helping his teammate through.

It was great to see him doing some overtaking in this car, he hasn't been in the position to do much of that due to track position etc in previous races. SF-24 looked good on that front in his hands.

Charles mentioned the lack of speed on straights, and this is due to the fact he wasn't able to gain on Lando in those sections(when he should have) this is due to the less than optimal downforce balance Ferrari went with this weekend(again I don't this is anything terribly concerning, this was a hard track to get that right on)

Overall Charles ran a really good race, obviously not the results he wanted but he extremely optimistic about the upgrades and that they will address some of the current limitations of the SF-24.

Data Analysis

I want to compare Charles and Lando's pace to highlight where Mclaren had the edge on Ferrari in this race. Charles was the fastest Ferrari this weekend and Lando was the fastest Mclaren.

First here is a breakdown of the fastest lap both driver's set.

Lando's straight line speed was really a big factor in keeping him ahead. That plus the fact he was consistently strong in sector 2.

And here is a look at the overall race pace between the two.

Ignore the mess in the middle, that curve is just correcting a slope for the outlier laps due to yellow flag and safety car conditions. It's not important here.

Lando had the edge on Charles almost the entire race. Until the end on the old hards.

What is important is that Lando had the pace on the new hards. Charles didn’t have the time to catch Lando once he managed to gain the places. He probably would have without the yellow flags and if track placement was better. The point being that Ferrari’s pace was off this weekend but it wasn’t as bad as it looked on track, there were other factors at play.

I think this result was a combination of a sub-optimal setup for this track on Ferrari's part on top of the fact this wasn't Ferrari’s strongest track, and Mclaren getting things right for Lando. Also some fairly solid driving from Lando.

Now I want to compare Charles' and Carlos' fastest laps and pace. This was the biggest gap in performance we've seen so far this year between the two Ferraris. Some of that I will attribute to the fact this track was weird as far as track surface goes, but such a big difference between teammates like this means it wasn't just the car or the track surface. While both were not great with grip or setup this weekend one outperformed the other by a decent margin.

Here is a look at Charles' and Carlos' fastest laps.

Charles having better straight line speed consistently and putting in a strong sector three is what put him ahead of Carlos and kept him there for the entire race.

Now here is the full race pace.

Again remember to ignore the weird lines in the middle that is just the graphing tool not able to create a good slope for all the safety car laps.

But you can see that Charles' pace was better the entire race, on both the medium and the hard tyres.

I don't think there was a lot more to get out of this weekend for Ferrari. It's possible managing the pits a little differently would have gotten Charles up to third but with the yellow flag chaos It was really difficult to gauge in real time when the best time to pit was. I think the pit management was good. We can look back and go "oh we could have gained a place here" So I have no issues there.

Hopefully that clears up some questions about Ferrari's overall race and car performance this weekend.

Overall this was still decent points for the constructors’ and we saw some good racing from Charles. I do fully believe we will be seeing Ferrari come back stronger in Miami.

Mclaren

Why was Mclaren, specifically Lando, so strong this weekend?

Well it's unclear.

They have had the clear #3 car so far this season. So I think that it's a combination of this not being a strong track for Ferrari and some conditions that favored their car that put them ahead.

No one, not even Mclaren expected this so I really think it seems like it comes down to this track being better for them than expected and Lando specifically being tuned into the track. Like after practice Lando was not feeling confident(his words) and the team were also not making any promises. I don’t think they were sandbagging, I think this genuinely all came together for them. 

Now it’s clear that Lando would have finished P3 behind Checo if it were not for the luck/strategy(a little of both they timed that well, but also had to get lucky with Red Bull timing) with the pits. Red Bull lost track position to Lando when they pitted Checo and they were unable to take it back. If Red Bull had timed their stop better Lando would have been P3 because his pace was not going to catch Checo if he was ahead.

So the P2 is due to some good driving on Lando’s part and Red Bull giving up track position and failing to recover it.

Oscar struggled more on this track. However he wasn't far outside where we've seen him in other races and for Mclaren in general. So he wasn’t under-performing, Lando was over performing. I also want to note that Oscar was slightly damaged during the crash between Lance and Dani, Dani's front wing tapped the rear of his car and there may have been a small amount of damage, important to note as he may have been compromised on pace due to this.

Data Analysis

Comparison of Lando and Checo’s pace

The first half of the race isn’t as important, the graph is very odd in the middle due to all of the outlier laps caused by the yellow flags, so that is not important. What I want to point out is that Lando was on the same pace as Checo(or slightly better) for those first 6 laps after the race started again when all the yellow flags were done, but after that Checo was faster until the end of the race. Not enough to catch Lando, but enough that Lando would not have been able to pass him if he hadn’t had track position.

Now here is a quick look at Lando and Oscar's pace.

There isn't a ton to dissect here, Lando was faster the entire race, by a pretty big margin on the hards especially. Given that a lot of drivers this race had issues managing deg on the hards I think that second stint gap really came down to tyre management, an area where Oscar is still improving.

Here is a look at their fastest laps to really see where Lando was making those bigger gains and where Oscar was struggling.

One thing that I find interesting is that Oscar's fastest lap had a section of DRS, Lando's didn't and Lando was still a full second faster. Just a really solid lap from Lando all around. His strength in sector 2 is what really gave him an edge all race.

Overall this was Mclaren’s best finish, but their strongest weekend overall so far this season is still Australia(because both drivers had a strong finish not just one)

Penalties and Incidents

Welcome to the “everyone gets a penalty!” section of the analysis. This was a mess to unravel. After reviewing the footage and reading the stewards judgements as well as the driver and teams statements I have come to a lot of the same conclusions as the stewards. 

The middle of this race was a mess. One yellow flag had just ended before another had to be brought out again. 

There were two yellow flags this race, the first after Valtteri DNF'ed and the second due to multiple incidents right after the end of the first yellow flag. 

My biggest critique is that the VSC was deployed weirdly late. They seemed about 10 to 20 seconds off in calling for one, and that is concerning. A driver on the side of the track is at risk, so it’s important to make sure a race is slowed immediately.

Logan: overtook under safety car conditions after the VSC was enacted when Valtteri’s power unit failed. Nico was coming out of the pitlane as Logan was coming down the straight, Nico managed to barely exit in front of Logan, but Logan’s faster momentum into turn 1 put him ahead of Nico, and thus he overtook under a yellow flag. Time penalty and license points is an appropriate penalty. I have no idea why his team didn’t get him to slow down more. They said they missed Nico, which I really don't know how. Lack of track observation. This was a failure of the team as much as it was sloppy on Logan's part. I think he would have slowed more had the team actually noticed this sooner.

Kevin: Kevin made contact with Yuki going out of turn 6 right after the race restart. He broke late and made contact with Yuki’s rear wheel and this led to a tyre puncture. Yuki had to retire from the race. Kevin was clearly at fault here, he failed to brake when catching Yuki.

Daniel: Dani was penalized for overtaking under a yellow flag and a safety car. He did this deliberately because Nico took a place from him and he thought it was okay to take that spot back. However he should have waited for the race to resume under green light conditions before doing that. He knows better. What happened with Nico is a little murky as far as why he took a position and why he did not get penalized. I think it's because it was right before the safety car but the FIA reporting on that isn't clear.

Lance: At turn 14 Lance rear ended Daniel after the first safety car had ended they were waiting on Max to restart the race. Max was leading the race and setting the pace until proper racing speeds could resume. Lance is at fault here, it’s that simple. This was seriously negligent driving on his part. I really have no idea what he was doing but no competent driver does this. I will agree with Oscar in the sentiment that everyone was crowded together, only one person crashed into another car in that scenario. 

“Yes, but not everyone decided to crash into each other.” - Oscar 

Lance argued that it was the concertina effect, and said the stewards should account for that. This is a weak argument at best. The concertina effect is to describe car behavior on track, it isn’t an excuse. Going into a corner a driver who is supposedly one of the best in the world should know how to account for that effect. The fact is that he was going too fast into that corner and not paying attention to the car in front of him.  

Furthermore his lack of accountability and attempts to blame everyone but himself for the incident is not a good look. He is very clearly in the wrong here. I think that the penalty he received might be on the gentle side of things as well. Personally I would have liked to see a 20 second time penalty for that, or a grid penalty. 

I agree with Dani’s statement that Lance should have only been paying attention to the car in front of him. He clearly wasn’t doing that, or at least not well enough. He appears to be looking at Max and Oscar waiting for Max to restart the race. But that is not where he should have been looking. Additionally Dani pointed out that Lance’s speed there was too much, he put half his car under Dani, that’s not the concertina effect, that is going too fast. 

Dani of course is heated, and I feel that for him, he DNF'ed because of the carelessness of another driver through no real fault of his own. I don’t think continuing to argue is good on either side, but he has every right to be mad, especially when the offending driver refuses to admit his fault. Two DNFs in a row is hard for any driver. Lance really cost him a lot. 

This isn’t just sloppy driving on Lance’s part, it's outright negligent.

VCARB

Quick note about VCARB. Dani was on track for his best performance all year this weekend. Which makes the DNF all the more upsetting. Yuki struggled with this track all weekend, seems he was not feeling this track or that car. I will say his performance seems like an anomaly compared with the rest of his season so far so I don’t think it’s cause for concern for future races. 

VCARB as a team were obviously the worst off this weekend with both driver’s DNF'ing at no fault of their own.

Aston Martin

I already covered Lance, so I want to just quickly mention that Fernando was on fire this weekend. He was defending, and had that car in places it really had no business being. His recovery from the close spin, the defending, the overtakes. He really is just continuing to show his skill and experience, and he overall had one of the best drives of the entire race.

Red Bull

Max won the race, and it was a pretty clean race for him, which is amusing due to the utter chaos happening behind him. First time he has won at this track, so that is another track conquered by Max. Well done Max!

Sergio

Checo’s race wasn’t actually that bad. He was comfortably in P2 until Red Bull gave up track position and he wasn’t able to recover the place from Lando. I already compared the pace between those two. But I think it’s pretty clear that he would have been P2 were it not for the pits. If he has position he has the pace to keep the spot. However he does not have the same pace Max has in the RB20 to take lost positions back if the car ahead has similar pace. 

I also want to note here that there were a few corners where it was pointed out that Alpine and Williams were outperforming Ferrari on. However taking a look at the data it wasn’t just Ferrari. Pierre was literally faster than Max in that corner consistently. What this tells me is that something about the unusual grip of this track was not suited to any of the fastest cars. So it’s not a Ferrari problem, or a Red Bull problem, it’s just highlighting an unusual quirk of the track that no one really figured out this weekend.

Here is a fastest lap comparison of Pierre and Max. Obviously Max is the best driver in the best car, so I think this just highlights my point about certain corners especially turns 1, 2, and 3. There was something off there that gave the edge to some midfield cars are far as grip goes. All top cars struggled for speed on those turns and I think it was due to weird track surface conditions.

Final Thoughts

This was the most chaotic race of the season. Hopefully we have a penalty free race next time.

See you when I return with Miami GP analysis!

[redistrictgirl]

The Big Gut Check - Presidency

Disclaimer: This is NOT my model and this is NOT statistics-focused.

We’re in the final countdown to the second wacky federal election in a row. I have all the information I want to set some personal expectations, and a LOT of you wanted to see my hunch, so here it is. I disagree with my model.

I think Vice President Harris is in a very good position heading into Election Day. I’m not saying that as a left-leaning hack, I’m saying this from the same place that made me predict the winners of 49 out of 50 states correctly in 2020. I’m also hopeful that, after four years of studying the intricacies of electoral politics in my free time, those feelings are even sharper. I doubt I’m going to bat .980 again, to be clear, but I think I can at least provide more insight than the people who just say “it’s close, IDK” or “Harris is gonna win South Carolina” or “New Hampshire is a tossup!”

Let’s break down what I expect to be the closest states as well as some of my hot takes, including my reasoning. Margin predictions will be within two points, because a four-point range tells us nothing and trying to call it within a single point is like trying to hit a dartboard bullseye with a giant Sharpie. My favorite points of consideration included:

My hypothesis of modern political gravity, where elections center around a D+3 margin (+/- 1) in the popular vote on presidential years.

Nate Silver’s, Nate Cohn’s, and Ettingermentum’s analyses of pollster herding (or adjusting of results excessively to match the consensus).

The final Selzer, Siena, and Marist polls, parsed with an understanding of them as snapshots and not predictions.

A few smart peoples’ analyses of early voting in Pennsylvania. (Ralston would have made it too if he didn’t drag his feet.)

General Thoughts: I think Ms. Harris is being underestimated, both because her national polling average has fallen substantially below the D+2 to D+4 range we would expect from our highly polarized electorate and because her statewide polling is atrocious compared to even that. Herding might be contributing here. Mr. Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, is incredibly nervous, to the point where THEY LEAKED AN INTERNAL THAT STILL SHOWED HIM LOSING GROUND FROM 2020. I’m also seeing a high enthusiasm factor from Democrats, not just in opinion polling, but on the ground compared to what I saw in the heart of Atlanta in Fall 2020 (to be fair, enthusiasm among the GOP is also clearly substantial!) I was real about Ms. Harris’ collapse in October, but I think she’s bouncing back at the perfect time and polls are missing it (similarly to Mr. Trump in 2016, some might argue.)

Wisconsin: Yes, this is probably going to be the tipping point state again. I don’t care that Pennsylvania is supposedly closer in the polls, this happened in 2020 too. That said, we have a very good poll for Ms. Harris here from Marist and the state shares a border with Iowa (more on that later). Harris +0 to +2

Pennsylvania: 2022 repeat. Early vote has been exactly what Democrats need and hedging has been berserk in this state. The only thing that makes me hesitate on this is an even poll from Siena, even if the Marist one was rough for Mr. Trump. Harris +1 to +3

North Carolina: This might be a little bit of a surprise given my… other Sun Belt takes. But there’s a fantastic poll for Ms. Harris here from Siena and I think an overall slightly bluer environment than polls indicate will also make this closer than the current data suggest. Though it could be a “Dewey Defeats Truman” situation, Marist’s poll last week is a bright spot for Mr. Trump. Gun to my head, Harris, but this is still my pick for the closest state presidentially. Trump +1 to Harris +1

Nevada: In the absence of Ralston’s guidance, I feel like there’s a lot of split signs between polling and demographics, but this feels like a state Mr. Trump wins in a squeaker. Trump +1 to Harris +1

Georgia: Say what you will about him, but the Georgia GOP is building momentum under Governor Brian Kemp. The top pollsters have broken a bit from the riffraff, being nicer to Democrats, but I don’t think it will be quite enough. Trump +2 to +0

Arizona: If you said this would be Mr. Trump’s best swing state two years ago, I would have laughed in your face. But the polling is undeniable at this point - the former President is approaching 50% in the averages and top pollsters have been even more impressive for him. The crank in me blames Katie Hobbes for being forgettable. Trump +4 to +2

Iowa: I think Ann Selzer might have her first genuine miss on her hands - it’s just too hard to construct a presidential-year environment where Ms. Harris wins the state or keeps it as close as The Big Seven. At the same time, unless she’s comically wrong (and I would never bet that hard against her), there’s almost certainly going to be very real, very substantial movement away from Republicans in the Hawkeye State. Trump +5 to +3

Maine’s Second Congressional District: I’ve been bearish on Mr. Trump here all cycle thanks to a poor showing for the GOP in 2022, and our very limited polling here seems to line up with that. Trump +4 to +2

Kansas: Very demographically similar to Iowa, it was zooming left even before this cycle, and the lone recent poll I believe we have from this state was almost as shocking as Selzer’s, only having the Vice President trailing by 5%. Trump +10 to +8

New Jersey: It would be strange for every non-giant state to trend left or mostly stagnate, and the Garden State seems like a prime candidate to move in Mr. Trump’s direction given its proximity to New York and high nonwhite and (to a lesser extent) Orthodox Jewish population. This is a very wild guess, but hey, no polling to contradict me. Harris +8 to +10

Texas: A rare example where I think pollsters might be herding in favor of Ms. Harris, considering the border (again), nonwhite population (again), and the fact that Siena’s most recent poll, despite being nearly ten days old, had Mr. Trump gaining in the state. Trump +7 to +5

[birdship]

This project is unfinished and will remain that way. There are bugs. Not all endings are implemented. The ending tracker doesn't work. Images are broken. Nothing will be fixed. There's still quite a bit of content, though, so I am releasing what's here as is.

Tilted Sands is a project I started back when AI Dungeon first came out--the very early version you had to run in a Google colabs notebook. Sometime in late 2018, I think? I was a contributor at Botnik Studios at the time and I was delighted by AI Dungeon, but I knew it would never be a truly satisfying choose your own adventure generator on its own. I would argue that the modern AI Dungeon 2 and NovelAI don't fully function as such even now. That's not how AI works. It has to be guided heavily, the product has to be sculpted by human hands.

Anyway, it inspired me to use Transformer--a GPT2 predictive text writing tool--to craft a more coherent and polished but still silly and definitely AI-flavored CYOA experience. It was an ambitious project, but I was experienced with writing what I like to call "cyborg" pieces--meaning the finished product is, in a way, made by both an AI/algorithm/other bot AND a human writer. Something strange and wonderful that could not have been made by the bot alone, nor by the human writer alone. Algorithms can surprise us and trigger our creative human minds to move in directions we never would've thought to go in otherwise. To me, that's what actual AI art is: a human engaging in a creative activity like writing in a way that also includes utilizing an algorithm of some sort. The results are always fascinating, strangely insightful, and sometimes beautiful.

I worked on Tilted Sands off-and-on for a couple years, and then the entire AI landscape changed practically overnight with DALL-E and ChatGPT. And I soon realized that I cannot continue working on this project. Mainstream, corporate AI is disgustingly unethical and I don't want the predictive text writing I used to enjoy so much to be associated with "AI art". It's not. Before DALL-E and ChatGPT, there were artists and writers who made art by utilizing algorithms, neural networks, etc. Some things were perhaps in an ethical or legal grey area, but people actually did care about that. I remember discussing "would it be ethical to scrape [x]?" with other writers, and sharing databases of things like commercial advertising scripts and public domain content. I liked using mismatched databases to write things, like a corpus of tech product reviews that I used to write a song. The line between transformative art and fair use vs theft was constantly on all of our minds, because we were artists ourselves.

All of the artists and writers I knew in those days who made "cyborg art" have stopped by now. Including me.

But I poured a lot of love and thought and energy into this silly little project, and the thought of leaving it to rot on my hard drive hurt too much. It's not done, but there's a lot there--over 14,000 words, multiple endings and game over scenarios. I had so much fun with it and I wanted to complete it, but I can't. I don't want it to be associated in any way with the current "AI art" scene. It's not.

Please consider this my love letter to what technology-augmented art used to be, and what AI art could have been.

I know I'm not the only one mourning this brief but intense period from about 2014-2019 in which human creativity and developing AI technology combined organically to create an array of beautiful, stupid, silly, terrible, wonderful works of art. If you're also feeling sad and nostalgic about it, I hope you find this silly game enjoyable even in its unfinished state.

In conclusion:

Fuck capitalism, fuck what is currently called AI art, fuck ChatGPT, fuck every company taking advantage of artists and writers and other creative types by using AI.

[katyspersonal]

What are your expectations/theories for Messmer?

I have a few! I even considered making a predictions bingo on him specifically to check when DLC comes out! XD But overall the predictions resulted from me and @val-of-the-north bouncing the ideas around 🤔 I'll need to link a few of other posts here too to help clarifying some relevant topics!

___________________________________

1) I think he is one of the children between Marika and Godfrey, or maybe even her first-born!

At first I was also thinking that him having red hair was a damning evidence that he had to be born from selfcest, like Malenia and Miquella! But Val brought this to my attention that in ER manga, which is apparently on a stronger level of directing than BB comics from my knowledge, Rykard is a blond!

So Val suggested that genes can work a funny way since Marika and Radagon are still the same person, and if Rykard got Marika's golden hair gene even from Radagon's body, the reverse is possible and someone in Golden Lineage could have red hair even from Marika! I also agree because Miquella is venturing into the Shadows Land presumably to discover Marika's secrets:

(Famitsu interview with Miyazaki, taken from this ( x ) post) But Messmer to me feels like he would be fully aware of every Marika's dark secret there is! I joke that he is very Lucifer-coded, but actually Satan-coded is a better comparison. He is the holder of "Hell", where the 'graceless' beings and those rejected by Golden Order reside, like that ancient Misbegotten(ish) creature! If he was the third sibling of this kind, why would he know more than Malenia and Miquella? (I mean, surprise me!) But if he had been there from the very start, carrying her (God's) punishment, then sure!

My other clue towards that is that he shares the "spartan" aesthetic in his clothes with Godfrey and his Duelists ( x ) (and actually Goldmask too)! This whole thing with leg wraps and waistwrap!

2) He is the first to historically partake in Dragon Communion, and the inspiration of Drake Knights

There are dragonic features about himself, the design of his armour and his snakes! Initially I thought of Dragonic Sentinels too, but their whole deal is to combat Granssax, who I concluded attacked after Farum Azula war and Placidusax' lord was fled. More than that, their deal is 'electric' line of dragons specifically, whereas Drake Knights and others who that partake in Dragon Communion are not picky! They eat dragon hearts to take their power, and that includes 'fire' line of dragons, like Greyoll and her spawn!

I speculate that he was the first person historically, with the bright idea of eating dragon heart to take its power, and this is where his fire powers came from. Fire is associated with heresy, but in his case it was both: assuming powers of dragons was heresy itself (so, before Godwyn made dragons 'friends'), but fire powers came from it! As a Demigod, he also did not meet the same miserable fate as Magma Wyrms! He had the privilege to really take something useful by being not mere mortal.

3) The snakes, therefore, are part of his body!

There are two of them, and I assume they're growing from the base of his spine and function like his tails! If Placidusax is anything to go by, this is part of him developing multiple heads but in the way that would not mess with his body too much. Funny enough, I had two dreams of Gwyndolin as a baby, and in both Gwyndolin as a child only had two snakes that did work as tails, so maybe I am biased!

4) Rotten Duelists also take inspiration from him

I am resharing the image by Val from a post I've already linked, but whereas they elaborate sign of Godfrey and hatred for the Giants in their design, the snakes around their arms and on their helmets are supposed to refer to Messmer!

I imagine Godfrey and Messmer being that super cool OG battle duo. Duelists feature two kinds of 'heresy' in their design - the snakes and the symbols of the Giants, and I assume they were proudly wearing these before being driven from the Coliseum! Back then symbolism of "taking power from the enemy" was something honourable, and so was what Messmer did - becoming 'sinful' to be the more powerful weapon of Marika was courageous and virtuous of him. So, snakes were also fine to proudly depict in the clothes! Until it was not:

5) He is banished for (attempted) burning of the Erdtree

This theory is coined in by @val-of-the-north! In this ( x ) post it is explained better, but in short, there are evidences that the big golden Erdtree we see is an illusion, most interesting one is ashes being all over Leyendell even before defeating Maliketh. So that's why it no longer is giving its blessed sap and is "only an object of faith" now, though its lower part is still physical of course. I agree with this idea!

I think he had to do something bad because of the huge sealed eye possibility! Ranni and Melina also have an eye sealed, and both are Demigods that had their 'privilege' within the Golden Order removed in one way or another. Messmer, on the other way, wows to burn whoever is devoid of grace, so I doubt that he would willingly divest himself of it! Whereas he's been heretical for dragonic powers and the 'Satan' to her system to take care of the 'sinners' from the beginning, but he got excommunicated from the family and likely erased from its records! Bonus points if Godwyn being the first in the Golden Lineage is just what they tell people now!

6) GEOOOOOORGGGEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

I've always had a feeling that whereas everyone is anticipating him to become the first true Soulsborne sexyman, something just has to put a dent in it. Just something to sour the character. I can't explain it, it is like sixth sense...? But I think I finally know what it is. During answering this ask, I payed attention how even with other things put in consideration, he still appears to be loyal to his mother and the purpose she intended to him. He speaks defensive against her letting the "unworthy" to become a Lord. Like... this is not necessarily something weird, it could just be strong loyalty even against his self-interest like what we see in Maliketh or Morgott, but there is just strange sixth sense about perhaps some Freudian shit going on in his head that I can't shake, and not anti-climatic one after what they did with Mohg.

7) Motivation for attempted burning of the Erdtree were themes of ambition and perfection

I will link a couple of posts (with pictures) in which I explained how Erdtree is itself a Crucible and how I theorise existence of Omens resulted in denying and loathing the thing ( x ) ( x ). They're not too long tbh, and in both I forgot to bring up the fact that Ancestral Followers worship Minor Erdtrees :') But the main point is, everything sacred will eventually rot and die, however, giving the way to a new thing to sprout from it, and that was something Marika was unwilling to accept. Erdtree and Golden Order, were supposed to be Eternal, like herself.

Marika made everything that reminded of the other side of life, like Misbegotten and Omens, illegal, and ensured immortality in the best way she could, but Messmer took it even further. He attempted to remove the 'life' aspect of the Elden Ring, to separate the sacred power granted to his mother and relatives from the earth. So, from from inevitable death, from ever rotting, from 'cycle'... from everything "imperfect", so it could be just the one perfect, pure, 100% spiritual thing in their hands. + I think what he did happened after Gloam-Eyed Queen fiasco, so that was another point in realising the instability and imperfection. + to draw from the previous point, he might have been really pissed at Greater Will itself on behalf of his mother.

Except, what he did was not something even Marika would agree to. Greater Will specifically sought this "imperfect" world FOR its "imperfections", to gain form and purpose through births and deaths and feelings and struggles from the amorphous empty cosmic state. It was suffering from its superiority, there was nothing to love or hate or want. It gives me the same vibe as how in BB, the Great Ones are willing to trade their perfection for simple joy of loving a child; they don't need to give birth since they're immortal and their genes are not in need of surviving, but there is just... nothing in this immortality. This is something Messmer would not understand. Sellen is another example of this mindset, aspiring for the things the "perfect" beings were willing to escape. It is always the case of 'greener grass' lol

But yes, absolutely no one appreciated the attempt to separate the Elden Ring from being rooted into mortal "flawed" things. I think he still thinks he is right, and that whatever little dialogue he will have should contain quite the vitriol.

8) In the second stage of his battle, he will become far more dragonic.

I expect at least something happening with the snakes akin to becoming his wings. Maybe he will even turn into a dragon, a two-headed one! + also if there is no particularly gruesome (lethal) visceral attack by his snakes I will rebel lol

___________________

Soooo yeah... This isn't much, but my imagination is weak when I have limited information x) I have also seen an idea that the thing that pierces Marika's body might be his doing since he is titled the Impaler, but for now I think this is not the case! Her hammer is full of similar sharp shards of Elden Ring, so I think this is just another shard, or, perhaps, something Elden Beast threw at her. Red coloration comes from being bloodied! Marika was a mortal once, after all!

[ejzah]

Hi! How are you? I'm so glad to see you're still writing for LA. I'm a big fan of your fics. And as I was randomly thiking about Densi, I was thinking we never got to see Kensi ask Callen and Sam to walk her down the aisle. I was wondering if you could write it? Especially Callen/Kensi because I love their friendship. Thanks again for taking the time to write wonderful stories! :)

A/N: Dear anon, so sorry for the delay (my constant anthem). Thank you for your kind words and continued support!

***

Going to the Chapel

“No, no, I don’t actually have the wedding date yet, I’m it trying to get an idea of how much catering for between one hundred and two hundred people would be. Um, I’m not sure about that,�� Kensi said, tugging on her bottom lip as the caterer on the other end of the line continued to ask questions she didn’t have the answers to. “Right. I suppose I should figure that out first. Yes. Thank you so much for your time.”

She hung up, rubbing her temples. There was another hour of her life gone with no results to show for it.

“I take it wedding planning is going well,” Callen commented from beside her. His sarcastic delivery made her crack the tiniest hint of a smile. She’d almost forgotten he and Sam were in the bullpen with her.

“At this point, I’m beginning to think Deeks was right and we should have just eloped. Would have been so much easier. And less stressful.”

“I remember when Michelle and I got married. We had a tiny ceremony and reception and it still took a couple months to plan. Trying to accommodate relatives was probably the hardest part,” Sam shared knowingly.

“Oh my god, yes!” Kensi groaned. “I love Roberta, but she has so many opinions, and even though my mom is less vocal about it, I know she has just as many. Deeks spent two hours convincing his mom that we did not need crystal centerpieces to give all the guests or beef prime rib.”

“Well, we’re here to support you guys however we can,” Sam offered. “Especially if it means we get this wedding on the road.

“I will help with everything but folding napkins,” Callen specified, nodding significantly when Sam gave him an odd look.

“Actually,” Kensi hesitated. She’d been debating the whole walking down the aisle issue for months. Did she ask her mom or walk alone? Just skip it altogether?

“There is something I wanted to ask you,” she finished before she could lose the nerve again. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to though.”

“Why, is it something weird?” Callen asked. “I also draw the line at helping pick out lingerie.”

“Oh my god, no. I swear you get ten times worse when Deeks isn’t around,” Kensi said, making a face. “No, I was wondering if you and Sam would consider walking me down the aisle.”

“You want us to give you away?” Sam said, sounding surprised.

“I like to look at it more like being transported to the next stage of my life.”

“Wow, wedding planning really has screwed with your brain.

Kensi jabbed her elbow in Callen’s direction, and he moved to the side, chuckling.

“I’m serious. I was going to ask Granger before he passed.” She paused, blinking away the sudden tears in her eyes. When she spoke again, her voice betrayed a slight shakiness. “You know, since he knew my dad and he turned out to be a pretty good mentor.”

“Granger would have hated that,” Callen predicted.

“Yeah, but he wouldn’t have let anyone else do it. The man had a soft spot for sure,” Sam added. He nodded to Kensi, his expression compassionate. “I’m sorry Don couldn’t be here to walk you down that aisle.”

“I think he would be happy to know it’s two of the best men in my life,” Kensi told them honestly.

“Well, after that I don’t think we can say no,” Callen said softly.

“Definitely not.”

Kensi stood to give each of them a hug, lingering a moment in Sam’s comforting strength. “Thank you.”

“We show up for family. But “two of the best”?” Sam pointed out, feigning offense. “Not the best.”

“Only because you’ll be leading me to the very best man in my life,” Kensi said.

“Smitten,” Callen sighed, shaking his head.

“Yep, she stood no chance against the curly blonde hair and blue eyes,” Sam lamented.

Kensi just rolled her eyes, secretly enjoying their teasing.

***

A/N: I hope that was ok. It’s very rare for me to write a fic that doesn’t include even a tiny bit of Deeks.

Thanks for the prompt!

[fantasiawandering]

@belphegor1982 tagged me 20 questions for writers thingy, and I don't know if I'm a writer again yet, but I don't think there's anything here I can't answer. Thank you for thinking of me! I'm going to tag in anyone who sees this and goes "oooh!" But also @dawntreaderflynne especially.

How many works do you have on AO3?

29, but some of those are novel length.

What's your total AO3 word count?

553,402. Whoof.

What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly TMNT and Undertale, with solitary forays into Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Transformers Prime.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A Shield Against the Dark - Part one of the Undertale odyssey that started out as trying to work out a couple of things before getting the story I actually wanted to write. Which has yet to be written.

Adventures in Human Sitting - Undertale shenanigans exploring what happens when a human is raised by a bunch of well-meaning monsters who don't quite know what they're doing.

The Monster Files - What happens when human authorities attempt to investigate these strange new monstrous arrivals in the overworld by hacking into the Monster Embassy computer networks, with predictably unpredictable (and occasionally pasta-filled) results.

Hushabye - Undertale fluff between Frisk and Sans, originally written as an exercise to hammer out the weird tonal push and pull of their platonic soulmate thing.

To Heir is Human - More Undertale fluff (yeah there's a theme) in which Asgore and Toriel have to deal with their incredibly complex feelings when Frisk falls ill (featuring Sans's reaction as well by request).

I'm honestly really surprised there's no TMNT on this, actually.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes. Unless it's something that's un-respond-able, I do try to respond to everything. When my brain breaks I tend to avoid the inbox out of guilt, but I do get there eventually. Even if it takes a few years.

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

That Which Is Not Done, for sure. It's the prequel story about the parents of the four turtle kids from the Children of the Forest TMNT AU I started writing with @nicollini, and since the turtles are orphans being raised by Splinter, the ending was already written for me, and I think I cried more writing this one than any other. It's far enough removed from the source material that it could read as a standalone, and there's still hope to be found in it, but it's definitely a tougher read than most of my fluff.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I don't think I can pick. Most of what I write tends to end on a high note (if it ends at all -- my brain rewiring itself to deal with stress and paving over the writing parts kind of put a lot on indefinite hiatus). If I have to pick, probably Little Gifts because it's also full of holiday fluff.

Do you get hate on fics?

Generally no, and not on AO3. There was one several-hundred-word hit piece on That Other Site about how my story was trash and so was I, and if I'm being honest, it's a big part of why my cross-posting to that site kind of fell off a bit.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not really. I tend to do fade-to-black if anything, because I tend to write what interests me, and my little ace heart is just way more interested in platonic soulmates than anything else. There is a ridiculous amount of platonic cuddling though.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Generally no, with the very notable exception of the TMNT/Pacific Rim crossover series. I had also intended the big Undertale story to be a crossover with another property, but I'm not actually sure if I want to go that route any more. Time will tell (I hope).

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't actually know. I think someone reposted Falling without permission once.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not to completion (not for lack of trying -- brains are fickle), but there are a lot of collaborations and pieces of fics that started out as co-written stories and/or roleplays and/or art that were repurposed (with permission) into stories on the TMNT side of things.

What's your all-time favorite ship?

It takes a lot for me to actually ship something, but notable ones are Shepard/Garrus, John Crichton/Aeryn Sun, and I got a huge kick out of Luz and Amity on Owl House.

What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I'm not going to answer this one because I don't want to curse anything. I really do hope to tie off all the loose ends eventually. That said, the one that's a massive mashup of ALL THE TMNT AUS AT ONCE will probably stay at one chapter, just because it's so dang hard to write.

What are your writing strengths?

Before the brain break, probably dialogue, largely because it would just happen in my head and I'd frantically write to keep up. I like to think exploring relationships that don't get that much focus in canon is also something I'm pretty good at, but I may just think that because it takes up so much space in my head.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing things. Curse of the ADHD brain even before the break.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Only if necessary for the mechanics of the story, and then I try to find someone who actually speaks the language to help (and now that I'm older and wiser, hire).

First fandom you wrote for?

TMNT 2012. There had been countless stories in my head since I was a wee Fantasia, but that was the first one that wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down. There were just so many spaces between canon scenes that made me want to see what fit in there, and since they weren't getting explored in the show, I ended up writing Falling, and that led me to everything else.

Favorite fic you've ever written?

I can't choose. It depends on my mood. Whichever one is the one I need most to read at the time (which also happens to be my rationale for writing order).

[because-its-eurovision]

hey !! i was thinking about whether this year’s esc winner is already set in stone and the likelihood that käärijä could still manage to bag the win with a majority televote score …

i was feeling kind of nervous about it all but then i thought back to 2021 - (i haven’t watched it in a while so correct me if i’m wrong,) but did måneskin get that many high scores from the jury? I don’t think they got many 12 points there at least? (maybe just enough to get a rather average jury score i can’t remember)… they had some 12’s tho i think.

… obviously måneskin absolutely dominated the televote so i was wondering if there could be a similar situation in 2023 as to 2021, as 2021 had some hugely competitive acts and it was a nail biter up to the last minute ✨ (i’m tryna remain positive to manifest this win ahahah 💆🏻‍♀️)

This is one of those asks that lighted me up with need to answer with a thousand-word essay 😄 My take on why these cases are different and why Sweden is the winner Eurovision 2023 under the cut 👇

How to win with televote

Your arguments about Måneskin winning are correct. Italy got a set of 12 points from the Slovenian (neighbour), Croatian and Georgian juries but their average jury score was only 5,42. Both Italy 2021 and Ukraine 2022 won thanks to televote despite being only fourth in the juryvote. Here’s my explanation.

In 2021 the differences between jury favorites weren’t that big. Switzerland had 267 points, France behind them 248 points, Malta 208 points and Italy 206 points. Juries tend to go for artistic ballads but televote rarely shares that sentiment, so Switzerland’s “flop” was predictable. Malta is the biggest jury favorite in Eurovision history so their lower placing in televote wasn’t a surprise either. France did well in both components, deservedly so, and over all placed second behind Italy by only 25 points.

In 2022 Ukraine landslided the televote by getting exactly 200 points more than Moldova who came in second. They got an astounding average of 11,26 points from every country’s televote, and I don’t think we’re going to see a result like that for a while if ever. I believe that Ukraine would have won last year anyway, but understandably the war had a huge effect on televoters.

Sweden vs. Finland

Juries love Sweden. Or rather, Sweden has learnt to send entries that fit to the jury taste. These are the Swedish results from the last ten years: 2012: jury 1st, tele 1st 2013: jury 3rd, tele 18th 2014: jury 2nd, tele 3rd 2015: jury 1st, tele 3rd 2016: jury 9th, tele 6th 2017: jury 3rd, tele 8th 2018: jury 2nd, tele 23rd 2019: jury 2nd, tele 6th 2021: jury 17th, tele 11th           2022: jury 2nd, tele 4th

Eight times of ten, jury has loved Sweden more than televoters. Of those eight, they have placed Sweden in their top-3 seven times. Of those seven, they have won three times.

However, the juries' attitude towards Finland is very different. Since the juries came back in 2010, Finland has failed to make it to the final thanks to juries three times (2010, 2015, 2017) when the televote would have been enough for qualification. In comparison, here are our results from the last ten years.

2012: jury 12th, tele 12th in semi (NQ) 2013: jury 18th, tele 20th 2014 jury 7th, tele 17th 2015 jury 16th (last), tele 10th in semi (NQ) 2016 jury 12th, tele 15th in semi (NQ) 2017 jury 12th, tele 10th in semi (NQ) 2018 jury 24th, tele 21st (in semi jury 15th and tele 7th, thanks to televote 10th combined and qualified) 2019 jury 16th, tele 17th (last) in semi 2021 jury 11th, tele 4th (in semi jury 6th and tele 1st) 2022 jury 22nd, tele 16th

Why Sweden is the frontrunner

Just going into the contest, Sweden is almost guaranteed jury support. By looking at the results from previous years it is safe to say Loreen is going to be the jury winner. There is a slight possibility that we get a surprise jury winner like Austria in 2018 and North Macedonia in 2019. However, that would require there to be a clear jurybait song with great vocals, most likely a powerful ballad with innovative staging, and as far as I see, there are really no contenders for that this year. Who could surprise us? Switzerland, Spain, Estonia? Maybe Ukraine because their entry this year is so much slicker and more modern?

I'd also like to point out that in 2021 the jury winner placed sixth in the televote and in 2022 fifth. That is not going to happen in 2023. Loreen is a former Eurovision winner, fan favourite, charismatic, great singer and performer, the staging shows something never before seen on Eurovision stage (assuming they’ll bring the led screens with them to Liverpool) and Tattoo is already a huge hit so it’s not going to be too artistic or boring for the casual viewers. Sweden isn't even a country anyone would vote against for political reasons. I can’t see Loreen placing outside televote top-3. She can easily get over 300 points from the juries (average of 8,34).

Can we trust the odds?

There are years when neither the betting odds or fans have no clear idea which country is going to win, but those are in the minority. We’ve had some out-of-nowhere winners like Austria 2014 and Portugal 2017, who only begun to shine during the rehearsal week, but the way I see it that 2023 is going to be like 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2022 when the odds got the winner right weeks or months before the contest. As far as I can remember, the odds have always managed to predict a Nordic winner 😄

People have been pointing out to me that the odds might be wrong and Finland still has the chance to win despite being second in the odds. I do worry that the betting odds are failing us this year, but for a different reason. My concern is that thanks to the Käärijä hype that has been going on in Finland since January has made lot of Finns bet for their own country. In 2015 the night before the first semi final Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät was sixth in the odds to win the whole contest, only to end up in last place of their semi.

It is not often that Finland believes in their own chances in Eurovision, but when we do it sometimes makes us blind for what is realistic. Not everyone making Eurovision bets is familiar with how the juries usually vote and how that might effect the overall result. Not to mention that despite Finland being second in the odds behind Sweden, their winning chance is now 40% and ours only 15%.

Personal prediction

Please keep in mind that I’m not an expert of betting odds nor Eurovision, just a fan with a love for statistics 🙃

As for Finland, just qualifying let alone a placement in top-10 is of course an amazing result for us – hell, we’ve never even qualified more than twice in a row! My wish is that we could somehow crack into top-5 for the first time ever (2006 not taken into account). There is a possibility that we could win the televote (depending on running order) but juries are going leave Käärijä outside top-10, which means our placing is around 6th/7th in the overall results. Juries rarely care about silly upbeat songs especially if they are sung in native language and based on that I see Finland going the same route as Moldova 2022 (2nd in tele, 20th in juries, 7th combined) or Norway 2019 (1st in tele, 18th in jury, 6th combined).

Sweden wins. Loreen either wins both the juries and televote or placing in second/third in one or both of them. We might have a different jury winner (Spain? Switzerland?) or televote winner (Finland? Norway? Czechia?) but it doesn’t matter because they both flop in the other component (still placing in top-10 though).

You can quote me May 14th 2023 🙂

[itsnothingofinterest]

Hmm, you know its been a while since I did a prediction post (and I always like to have a chapter tag in my recommended tags ahead of leaks), so hows about a quick, easy prediction for what’ll go down in chapter 376 before the leaks drop? Plus a few wild guesses to spice things up.

While a jump back to UA with Shigaraki, Kurogiri, & Midoriya is possible; I think few would be surprised if we’ll be sticking to the fight in the mountains. Uraraka & Tsuyu will continue trying to talk to Toga (especially since they can do little else now) while Endeavor will...probably continue failing to talk to Touya right to his face. Like I’m really just imagining Dabi verbally tearing into his dad and Endeavor just shutting down and taking it; since that’s been the pattern so far and Enji’s really bad at changing his behaviour even now.

Meanwhile Hawks will be internally panicking up a storm between Twice & Dabi being here, though I’m sure he’ll try to keep a cool head. Also since he’s set on repeating his greatest mistakes in front of a crowd this time, I’m hoping he’ll finally do something to really ruin everyone’s view of him. The only question is how; as under these circimstances, there are two options.

He could try to murder Toga right in front of Uaraka just as she’s trying to talk to her, causing her to reflect on everything Toga’s said about the world rejecting her and her close friend getting killed. This would leave quite the ugly impression of hero society on Uraraka, but would also vastly mprove her ability to reach out to Toga.

Alternatively, with his hero in trouble, Hawks could instead turn to attacking Dabi to try to get Endeavor to fight and beat him. But being that he’s right in the middle of his supposed redemption arc, this could result in the opposite, but still positive, response; here is a known killer going after Enji’s son, and Enji’s only redeeming quality has always been his capacity as a hero. So if, in the heat of the moment, Endeavor’s body moved on its own to turn on Hawks and save Dabi; well I think that would be a very interesting turn of events with some fun ramifications to explore.

And during all of this, AFO could and possibly would just be standing around looking ugly & going “Luigi wins by doing nothing.”

Also just as a for-laughs real shot in the dark theory (which is saying something after suggesting Endeavor turning on Hakws), I’m gonna suggest that the chapter will end on a scene change to the Jaku fight with Machia, Kirishima, & Mina. Reason being: that fight seems like its also supposed to be important like the fight for Kurogiri was, so we’ll probably get around to it before arc’s end.

[ewanmitchellcrumbs]

Happy hols, Ange and everyone else. ❄️🎄🎄🎄❄️

Finally got home and watched Saltburn and I have thoughts.

SPOILERS (?) below :

First of all, I didn’t feel Michael was creepy or anything. Sure he was sort of weird at times, and also possibly annoying , but the one character I genuinely disliked was Farleigh , and of course, Oliver.

Keoghan is amazing at his craft — you can feel the crazy radiating off him, despite Emerald’s + hair and makeup team’s efforts to make him seem normal and pitiable. I could go on and on about his face, it’s so. ..expressive and so unique.

A lot of Oliver Quick’s behavior isn’t surprising , because well…let’s just say — men have a very predictable manifestation of behavior and sexuality when it’s delves into obsession, particularly with other men. (I’m saying men here because this is about Oliver and Felix and the story built around and between them vs if it had been with Venetia or Elspeth etc).

I’m surprised Fennell didn’t turn it up a few notches and make it worse (more shocking) , but to each their own.

You feel bad for Michael because he does end up alone, as is seen during the scene with end of year exams. But frankly, he dodged a bullet, loser that he is. Although I wonder - would his crazy have come out as a result of Oliver’s crazy?

(P.S : has anyone gif-fed the end of year exam scene with Ewan in a suit , yummmmm. Also love his little teef, 🐰, they’re so cute)

holly jolly and all that 🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎁🎁🎁

I think Michael and Felix are the only two genuine people in the entire film. I started out hating Felix, but you quickly realise he has a heart of gold, but his privilege has made him a bit thoughtless.

I think Elspeth ended up being my favourite character, she’s so funny!

Barry’s talent is insane. His performance had me gripped. I spotted the twist from a mile off though. I said when I first saw it that you have to be working class yourself to predict it, but didn’t elaborate further as I didn’t want to spoil it. Now most people have seen it, I will.

Straightaway, when Oliver says his parents are dealers/addicts, I thought “you’re not really poor”. And that’s because it’s a stereotypical middle class belief that the working classes are all drug addicts, anyone that is genuinely working class knows better and would not describe themselves or their family as such.

@barbieaemond gif’ed the scene of Michael coming out of the exams.

Hope you’ve had a lovely festive break so far!

[intheshadowofwar]

2 July 2023

The Death Drill

Amiens 2 July 2023

We must return again to the Hindenberg Line.

I mentioned earlier that the Hindenberg Line was eventually cracked. We’re still not there yet - that’ll be a discussion for tomorrow. I have, in fact, been very deliberate in waiting for that moment. As I mentioned on the 28th, the Hindenburg Line was a perfect defensive position, and one that the Allies encountered with some surprise during the Arras offensive. It did not blunt British ambitions - it simply couldn’t be allowed to. To the south, on the Chemin des Dames, General Robert Nivelle’s French offensive was drowning in blood, and Haig had to try and keep the pressure off of them. The Line would have to be attacked. Thus, the tragedy of Bullecourt.

Bullecourt - and given the black humour of the Tommies and the Diggers, I’m surprised it was never corrupted into ‘Bullet Court’ - was to be attacked by Hubert Gough’s Fifth Army in a novel way. There would be no preparatory barrage. The 4th Australian Division would attack by surprise with the support of tanks. In the event, when the attack was launched on the 11th of April 1917, barely any tanks arrived - they almost all broken down, and the few lumbering beasts that made it to the starting point were soon knocked out. Worse, the loud engines alerted the Germans. The Australians advanced into a funnel, covered on all sides by interlocking fire - some positions were taken but then lost by a fierce German counterattack. Three thousand men became casualties, and more men were taken prisoner here than in any other Australian battle. To add one final insult to injury, Gough, convincing himself that he had an exploitable breakthrough, sent an Indian cavalry brigade into the killing field, causing yet more useless deaths.

Something changed in the AIF after First Bullecourt. Gough’s reputation with them never recovered (and indeed, he was despised by pretty much everybody who had the misfortune of being under his command), even though some of the blame for the catastrophe should also be laid at the feet of Birdwood and some of the battalion and brigade commanders. The Australians would take a long time to trust tanks again, but in particular, a large part of the AIF lost faith in the old British Army. Most of this loss of faith was directed towards the generals and the staff, but Bill Gammage’s seminal work The Broken Years indicates that a great many men lost their respect for the ordinary Tommy too. The British, it was said, had let them down; they had no stomach, they couldn’t fight, they’d left the Australians in the lurch. (In fact, poor staff work had led the British 62nd Division to attack too early, with predictably bloody results.) I remember reading Gammage’s book a while ago, and some of the accounts felt like a few Diggers would have rather dug their bayonet into a British Tommy than a German soldier. Always be suspicious when you hear people talking about the brotherhood between allies.

(The British stereotype of the Australians was that they were overpaid and underdisciplined, and that they had everything you could ever want but still moaned about it, so lets not pretend this doesn’t go both ways.)

That tragic field of Bullecourt was our first stop of the day. None of the Australian divisions chose here to be their memorial, for reasons that are probably obvious, but a memorial was put in place to the battle in the 1990s. It depicts a Digger on a cairn, starting out towards the battlefront and the site of the Hindenburg Line. He looks almost casual, wearing his slouch hat with his rifle slung over his shoulder - yet there’s a somber weariness to his features. I don’t think there was any deep meaning to this figure when it was sculptured - more likely the DVA just said ‘STATUE PLEASE’ - so it’s interesting how the mind invents them when looking at statues like this.

We carried on from Bullecourt to Peronne, where the memorial to the 2nd Division stands on the slopes of Mont St. Quentin. It was here that the 2nd Division seized the heights from the Germans and held it in the face of several ferocious counterattacks, an achievement Fourth Army General Sir Henry Rawlinson believed was the ‘greatest military achievement of the war.’ (I actually disagree with Rawlinson on this, but that’s another thing to be discussed tomorrow.) The 2nd Division’s memorial is actually a replacement - the original might have been the most ‘metal’ of Australia’s war memorials, depiciting a soldier thrusting his bayonet into a Prussian eagle. When the Nazis came through in 1940, they spared most other war memorials - but they destroyed this one. It was replaced in the 1970s with a soldier looking down in thought. It’d diplomatic, and probably more appropriate - but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a sneaky desire to see the old one.

We continued into Peronne, and after lunch went into the Historiale de la Grand Guerre - the Museum of the Great War. This has been built up for me for years, the brainchild of Annette Becker and our spiritual liege Jay Winter. They are, of course, no longer with the museum as far as I know. I think this may be to it’s detriment, because the main feeling I felt here was a sense of disappointment.

This museum is still worth visiting, and I don’t know if it would ever have lived up to my expectations. Laying the uniforms and equipment at the viewer’s feet, as if laying in state, is not only artistically genius but surprisingly practical in allowing you to actually see what these artifacts are. There’s a whole section on the work of Otto Dix, a soldier who made print art of his experiences after the war. I won’t include any photos of these pictures, because while Dix’ works are amazing and everyone should see them, they are also, pardon my French, fucking horrifying.(The Nazis, being big on the whole war as national regeneration thing, banned them.) It does its best to cover as many perspectives on the war as possible, and while the pacifist bent here is obvious, it doesn’t get in the way of being a museum too much.

That’s a bit of a shame, though, because it’s the ‘being a museum’ category that causes it to fall down for me. There are so many errors that somebody really ought to have caught - a tunic of the Leicestershire Regiment is mislabelled as a Coldstream Guards tunic, which would be forgivable were it not for the giant ‘Leicestershire’ badges on the collar, clearly visible to the public. A tunic is described as belonging to a ‘Captain’ in the ‘Derbyshires’ - not only does it belong to a Lieutenant, there was no Derbyshire Regiment. That region was covered by the Sherwood Foresters. I’m sure this all sounds like rivet counting, but these are errors that are easily noticeable and easily corrected, and they’re in the first room. If they’re making basic factual errors in the first section of the museum, why should I, as a member of the public, trust what they say in the next? (And before someone asks if they simply mistranslated the name of the rank, lieutenant is a French word. The word for lieutenant in French is lieutenant. I don’t know how a museum of war could make this mistake.)

This annoyed me, but what got me really cross was a placard about the Hundred Days Offensives at the end of the war.

‘Without suffering any great defeat, the German Army was forced…’

Hold on, what?! Not only did the German Army suffer a great defeat, it suffered nothing but great defeats. What about Second Marne? Amiens? The St Quentin Canal, the Canal du Nord, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive? The Germans were defeated decisively and consistently on the field of battle, and I know a museum with a pacifist bent probably doesn’t want to throw around words like ‘victory’ in relation to war, when it comes to the Hundred Days, you have two choices. You have the history or the myth. The history was that Germany was decisively defeated. The myth was that it wasn’t. The myth is that the war was ended by the civilians - the socialists - while Germany was still capable of fighting. The myth is that Germany was betrayed by the socialists - and their perceived masters.

This is the genesis of the stab-in-the-back theory, one of the first steps on the road to the Holocaust. I know they didn’t intend for it to look like this, but that is what it looks like. You don’t have to necessarily say the Allies won, but you absolutely do have to say the Germans lost, and lost decisively. We cannot allow any academic or popular wriggle room for this antisemtic theory. (And for the record, I think you absolutely can emphasise this from a pacifist perspective. Talk about the suffering inflicted by the naval blockade, or the casualties of the Hundred Days. Just… don’t repeat antisemitic talking points.)

Sorry, I got a little bit angry there. Let’s talk about something a little more humorous - the cognitive dissonance one experiences when they leave this museum, Dix’ paintings still on their mind, and walk into a gift shop that’s selling faux-LEGO tanks, plastic helmets and poor quality hoodies with little Anzacs and Poilus shaking hands on them. It’s something of a mental whiplash, like I felt when I went into Rise of Skywalker expecting to have fun and then didn’t.

We went from there to Delville Wood, where the South African National Memorial is - a great shock, as I wasn’t aware they had one at all. The South Africans today are most known for fighting in East and Central Africa, particularly the running guerilla war with von Lettow-Vorbeck (in which 80% of their black African labourers got malaria and died.) Yet they did send a few battalions - all white men, of course - to the Western Front, where they suffered greatly in battles around here. The beautiful and sinister at the same time. For the most part, it looks a lot like you’d expect a First World War memorial to look - white stone, lists of the missing, inscriptions of battles - but over the arch in the centre is a message to all visitors - ‘Their ideal is our legacy. Their sacrifice is our inspiration.’

It seems a bit generic, but in the context of the Apatheid South Africa that raised this memorial, it’s downright chilling. What ideal are they talking about? We can’t exactly change the meaning of it - it’s ‘their’ ideal, not ours. For the first time, I found the white wall of the missing, amplified by the afternoon sun, to be deeply uncomfortable.

On a more positive note, the site has a small museum - and it’s free! If the memorial hasn’t been updated since the end of Aparteid, at least the museum has, with a frank discussion of the service and suffering of black South Africans during the First World War alongside the typical histories of battles and kit. What particularly stood out to me was the account of the sinking of the SS Mendi in a collision off the Isle of Wight, carrying black labourers to Europe. Oral tradition preserves the last speech of Reverend Wauchope Dyobha on the deck of the sinking ship. This was reproduced at the museum, and I’ll give you an excerpt.

“Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers. Swazis, Pondos, Basutos, we die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the kraal, our voices are left with our bodies.”

824 labourers were aboard the Mendi. Over 600 were lost to the sea. Reverend Dyobha was among them. They lived as servants of an uncaring empire, but I like to think they died as free men.

We carried on from there to Amiens, where I now have a glorious view of it’s beautiful concrete bus station. I saw a few memorials on my way to grab dinner, and I’ll try to take my camera out to get some pictures tomorrow evening if I have time, but I can’t promise anything. For tomorrow, we go to Villers-Bretennaux.

We’ve seen the tasteful ways Canada and South Africa use the spaces around their memorials. Surely, Australia would be just as tasteful, right?

Right?

[ossifer]

Hey! Hope your day is going well :) For the AO3 wrap up: 19, 27, and 30??

19. What's one pairing you want to explore next year?

Chaseprice! I recently started reading We Shall All Be Healed by Mogatrat and I swear every chapter has been steadily cranking my passing interest in Chaseprice into overdrive. I love friction and tension between characters, I love Chloe, I love Victoria, and I really wanna come up with a nice Chaseprice concept and write it at some point.

27. What do you listen to while writing?

To name a few artists: chloe moriondo, renforshort, The Aces, The Mountain Goats, and the occasional bit of Hozier.

The only thing all those artists have in common is that their songs either make me feel strongly, have lyrics that I always wanna use in fic titles, or appeal to my urge to listen to sad or yearning shit while writing romance lol. I think the only consistency here is that I avoid more high-tempo stuff because it always ends up distracting me?

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

Making friends through it.

I’m a very anxious person: my first foray into writing was a fic I intended to immediately orphan so I could watch it anonymously from afar instead of having a name associated with it, I wanted to write but hated the idea of being known, but I ended up deciding against doing that. That was back in March this year.

I ended up getting a very positive reception to that first fic, in fact it’s still the most popular thing I’ve posted, and that made me drop the idea of writing fics just to orphan them after posting altogether.

I’m now sitting at 14 fics and as a result of my writing have met a number of lovely people I wouldn’t have otherwise. People that I know consider me a friend, even though sometimes I still struggle to use that word myself. Never could’ve predicted that.

[postgamecontent]

'8-Bit Adventures 2' Switch Review

I'm a bit tired of love letters. I'm not saying that love letters ought not to exist or anything. People can and should make what they want. But as a player and a critic and all of that, I'm getting somewhat exhausted with games that "pay homage to the classic 8- and 16-bit RPGs". Some of them are too ironic. Some too on-the-nose. Most of them are so busy trying to offer tribute to their objects of adoration that they forget to be their own thing. That's what I was expecting from 8-Bit Adventures 2, a sequel to a game I have yet to play.

I won't say that it completely bucked that prediction, but 8-Bit Adventures 2 is actually really good. It almost makes me wish that some of its more obvious winks to other games had been left out, because it makes it occasionally read as an imitation rather than the legit experience that it is as a whole. What I'll say first is that if you're in the same boat as I am, you don't need to worry about playing the previous game to understand this one. It follows up on that game, but it does a decent enough job of catching you up on what you need to know. I will probably go back and play that first game now, though.

A hero has gone missing, and the search for him kicks off this quest. It turns out he has fallen prey to something called a Glitch, and he's not quite himself as a result. It seems clear that if the Glitch is left unchecked, the entire world could be at risk. That Glitch has a story to it, and it makes for an interesting character in its own right. Indeed, if I were to highlight one aspect of 8-Bit Adventures 2 above all others, it's the character writing. This game's dialog is a pleasure to read, and while the plot sometimes wavers the moment-to-moment story remains engaging all throughout. It's a very sincere game, and it shows.

In terms of gameplay, not many molds are being broken here. Battles are turn-based and allow for three active party members at once. Similarly to Final Fantasy X, you can swap party members in and out during combat, and you'll often want to do that during more difficult encounters. You'll have access to a basic fight command with three different levels, trading accuracy for power as desired. You also get a number of additional abilities and magic that are tied to AP/MP. Defending not only lessens the damage you take but also restores some HP, which is a fun strategic choice. Eventually you'll unlock Chrono Trigger-esque combo moves, and there's one party member that beeps to its own beat just to keep you on your toes.

Things outside of battle follow the usual traditions, with dungeons that have treasures and visible monsters to get into scraps with. Some puzzles here and there spice things up. You have towns to visit, a world to explore, and lots of gear to upgrade with. There are, perhaps befitting a game aimed at evoking a particular era of RPGs, some very clever bits that help break up the usual loop. It threads the needle between adhering to traditions and doing some new things very nicely.

The solid writing even extends to the NPCs, to the point that I enjoyed my usual process of talking to everyone. One thing that really surprised me is the length of the game. I'm used to this kind of game running in the ten to twenty hour range, but this game runs way past thirty hours. Even more surprising is that it doesn't drag. It ramps up at a good speed and seems to know when it needs to throw in curveballs to keep things from getting repetitive. It's a well-paced ride that I think most RPG fans will enjoy.

Visually it is more "8-bit in your memories" than actually 8-bit, but it's consistent and I think doesn't egregiously betray the vibe it's going for. I really enjoyed the enemy designs in the battles, as they're detailed, cool, and very much old-school. Probably more 16-bit than 8-bit, but I'm already getting tired of being a pedant about that so I'm not going to bring it up again. The soundtrack sticks to the rules and it actually rules. Very good tunes in this game, which I think is vital to a good RPG.

Overall, I was genuinely surprised by how good 8-Bit Adventures 2 was. I've played tons of RPGs, and thanks to my work as a Kemcologist I have devoured more generic RPGs than any human ever should. I initially feared that this game would be one more, so imagine my delight when it turned out to be one of the more satisfying indie games in the genre that I've played. If you like this genre, I highly recommend 8-Bit Adventures 2.

Switch Score: 4.5/5

[itsawhumpsideblog]

For America's Bright Starry Banner, Book 1

If you'd like to be added to a tag list, let me know! Content notes: sad goodbyes, past physical abuse and resulting injuries The lyric that starts this chapter is from the song that inspired Patrick's character. It's "Honest Pat Murphy of the Irish Brigade", another one with a dozen variants. This is the one I grew up hearing, because we had this tape in our car (back in the stone age when cars had tape decks- and I'm not as old as that makes me sound). https://youtu.be/LKVk8ScYA-w

"Says Pat to his mother, "It looks strange to see

Brothers fighting in such a queer manner,

But I'll fight till I die if I never get killed

For America's bright, starry banner."

~Honest Pat Murphy of the Irish Brigade

Our lives in New York were hard sometimes, as Patrick's mother had hinted in her letter of so long ago that they would be, but they were good, too. I got work with Patrick at the docks, unloading ships, and in a way it was like old times. We spoke more English than we had at home, but luckily we had found rooms in the same building where the Murphys lived and now, instead of running next door, we were forever running up and down stairs between apartments, which wasn't so different at all.

It was the fall of 1860 and Patrick and I were 17 when I really became aware of the politics of my new home country. I had gotten into the habit of reading the newspaper over the summer. If I managed to have a few extra pennies I bought it from one of the newsboys on the street, or scrounged old editions out of the garbage when money was too tight. There was talk of rebellion in the southern states if Abraham Lincoln was elected. I wasn't overly concerned with the politics of the thing, but Patrick followed them closely.

"If the South secedes, Micheál, there's going to be a war," he said very seriously one evening.

"They won't, though," I replied. "It'll never work to just leave a country like that- think of Ireland and the British."

Patrick just shrugged. "It worked for the Americans once before," he pointed out, "And it could happen again, if Lincoln's elected."

"Do you suppose we'd have to go in the army?" I asked.

Patrick shrugged again. "Don't know. I think I'd have to go. I've been here too long I suppose," and he laughed. "I don't think I could watch the country fall to pieces now."

Patrick, as usual, was right. Lincoln was elected that year and was inaugurated March 4th of 1861, just four days before Patrick's 18th birthday. Patrick was immensely satisfied with the outcome and considered the inauguration his birthday present.

As Patrick had predicted, the Southern States had begun to secede right after the election and just a week after the inauguration, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas were calling themselves the Confederate States of America and had written their own constitution.

Everything happened fast from then on. In April, the Union arsenal at Fort Sumter, in South Carolina, was fired on by the "Confederate States of America" and the war began in earnest. My birthday was later that week, and Patrick joked that his birthday present might have been the inauguration, but that mine was the war. Of course, I thought, it stood to reason that Patrick would have that luck.

Naturally we weren't content to stay home and miss the excitement, and one afternoon Patrick and I left work and went to join the militia.

We found ourselves in a long line of men standing in front of the recruiter's table as the recruiter, who looked rather surprised to see such a gathering, went through the line methodically, asking for birth dates, names, heights, hair and eye colors. We were nearly to the front of the line when all of a sudden Patrick, who had been lounging and looking bored, stood straight up.

"Hey!" he called. "What the devil do you think you're doing, boy?" I looked curiously to the young man stepping up to the table, and realized with a start that it was Declan. There was fire in Patrick's eyes as he marched to the head of the line and collared his brother.

"What the devil are you playing at?" he asked again. Declan looked sullen. His jaw stiffened in the same stubborn manner Patrick should have recognized in himself, and he burst out,

"I'm enlisting and you're not going to stop me."

"Of course I am," Patrick insisted. He turned to the recruiter. "He's only sixteen," he explained and gave Declan a much more gentle push towards the door. "Go home, laddie. I'll be there soon."

"Fine," Declan spat and left.

Patrick and I looked uneasily at each other as he joined me again in line. At last it was our chance. Patrick stepped up to the table and the recruiter looked him up and down.

"Name?"

"Patrick Murphy," Patrick said confidently, his familiar accent ringing through the room as the rest of the line looked on. Something about Patrick made other people stop and watch him.

"Age?"

"18 this past month." This passed without comment as the recruiter wrote down the information.

"Where were you born?"

Patrick gave the name of our village. "In Ireland," he clarified.

"Occupation?"

"Dockworker."

"Hair?"

"Red," Patrick laughed.

"Eyes?"

"Green."

"Height?"

"Near six feet."

"Can you write?"

Patrick nodded.

"Sign here," the recruiter said tersely, and with a flourish Patrick picked up the pen and signed his name. Then it was my turn. We went through the same routine.

"Name?"

"Michael O'Sullivan," I said and glared at Patrick when he laughed. He was like Mother- unwilling to get used to the Americanization of my name. He never called me anything other than Micheál. The recruiter, however accepted my answer but when I stated truthfully that I was 18 he looked at me strangely. Shaking his head as though unable to believe it, he wrote that down too and moved on.

"Where were you born?" he asked me, in the bored tones of one who had asked the same questions a hundred times. I answered with the name of the same village as Patrick and he looked at us more closely for a moment before moving on.

"Occupation?"

"I work at the docks."

"Hair?"

"Black."

"Eyes?"

"Blue."

"Height?"

"Five feet, nine inches."

"Can you write?"

"Sure, I can." I signed my name as Patrick had done and we were officially enlisted.

When Patrick and I arrived home, not much later, we were the property of Abraham Lincoln himself for the next three months. We had our orders to report in two days to board a train to, as far as we could guess, march south to end the rebellion in time to be home when our enlistment ran out.

We were in high spirits until I opened the door of my apartment and realized that nobody was inside. A little more cautiously, we went up to the Murphys apartment and opened the door to find our families sitting there waiting. Declan looked daggers at us both as we came through the door and our mothers had clearly been crying. Maura was staring determinedly at her sewing and Bridget and Colleen were nowhere to be found.

Patrick's Da, who had taken it upon himself to be father to my sisters and me as well, was staring out the dirty window to the street and when he turned and we saw the look on his face, I felt Patrick brace himself for the impact.

"What have you done?" Mr. Murphy said in a terribly quiet voice, and I heard Patrick gulp air.

"I've enlisted," he said more steadily than I would have done. I added, too loudly in the silent, still room,

"So have I." I heard my mother sob and out of the corner of my eye I saw Maura brush her hand quickly across her eyes.

"Micheál, I've lost your Da," Mother burst out. "I can't afford to lose you, too."

"Mother, nobody's going to die," I protested. "I'm not, sure, and Patrick's not either, so don't worry!"

She shook her head. "You can't get out of this, can you?"

"No!" I exclaimed. I was about to say more when Patrick poked me. I quickly closed my mouth and Mother just shook her head and that was the end of the conversation. Somehow, no more was said about the war that evening, or about our enlistment.

In fact, nothing much was said about it until the morning we were going to leave. I didn't sleep much the night before and when I woke for breakfast with Mother and my sisters, the mood was sullen and sad. Very little was said over the meal, until I rose to go.

"I should-" I began awkwardly and Mother began to cry. I could see from their red eyes and the way Bridget wiped her nose that it had been a long night for my family.

Maura came around the table and gave me a hug. I realized with a start that though she was still four years older than I, she was now much shorter.

"You be careful, Micheál," she said. "And write us." She choked up and hugged me tighter. I took a long look at Bridget, too, as she hugged me. She was taller than Maura, like I was, though she was only 16, and I was suddenly sorry that I was going to miss the next three months with them. Surely it wouldn't be any more than that, and three months wasn't so long, I thought, to comfort myself, and at last turned to Mother.

I had been most worried about saying goodbye to Mother, but when the moment came she held up well and I was relieved.

"Be careful, my son," she told me and then, kissing me, added simply, "Until we meet again, Micheál." She held me at arms length and looked at me so tenderly that I had to look away or start crying myself and after a moment Mother smoothed my hair back and kissed my forehead one last time before she let me go.

I couldn’t make myself speak and I waved and tried to smile as I walked out the door. I felt better when I met Patrick on the street, however. I could see that we weren't the only ones saying goodbye to our families at that moment, and the flying flags and crowds of people in the streets restored my spirits. Just like that, I was excited for the adventure which I was sure we were about to have.

When I think back on it, I realize: We had no idea.

After hours of hurrying up in order to wait, we were at last marched through the streets of my beloved adopted city to the train station to go south. Patrick and I marched side by side, grinning. We were about to start off on the adventure of a lifetime. It was crowded when we got to the train, and Patrick and I milled around with the rest of the newly-minted soldiers waiting to board it.

Near us, a woman with an accent from Dublin was tearfully bidding her son goodbye.

"Be careful, Teddy," she begged, wiping at her eyes with a handkerchief. "Come home safe to me, you hear?"

"I will, Mother," the boy replied, sounding embarrassed. She hugged him and then he submitted to hugs from a group of girls, apparently his sisters, and a very small brother. At last, after second hugs from most of the sisters and a third from the little boy, he tore himself away from his family to a chorus of, "Bye, Teddy! Write us! Come home soon!" I grinned at the look of relief on his face.

Patrick and I, when we finally stepped onto the train, found a set of benches that were empty and next to a window, looking over the platform where crowds of people waved to their loved ones about to leave for the war. We sat next to each other and relaxed at last, but we had only been there for a minute or two when a strangely familiar voice said from my elbow, "Micheál?" and I turned around in surprise. A tall, skinny young man was standing next to me, running his fingers through his brown hair.

"Jack!" I cried, jumping up to shake his hand. "Where did you come from?"

"I could ask you the same," he laughed and then looked at Patrick, sitting on the bench and watching us curiously. "And is this Patrick, himself, the famous Patrick Murphy?"

"That I am," Patrick grinned, standing to shake Jack's hand.

"Patrick," I said, "Jack Lynch, seasick all the way from Ireland to the New World. Jack, Patrick Murphy, the apple thief." They had both heard stories of each other, and laughed. Jack sat down across from us and after a second another boy sat down beside him.

"I didn't think I'd ever make it on this train," the boy said, in an Irish accent like we all had. It was the boy from the platform, the one with all the sisters and he looked around after a second, as if he'd just noticed us for the first time. "You don't mind me sitting down here, do you?" he asked. We shook our heads, amused. I liked him already.

"Name's Ted McGrath," he said, pronouncing it the Irish way- McGraw- and again there were handshakes all around. We introduced ourselves and settled back into talking about the war, and what we expected from it, and about all the heroic things we planned to do.

"I tell you, we'll have those rebels running back down South in a week- at most," Ted declared. "When they let us Irish boys at it, we'll show them down in Dixie how things are to be." We laughed and agreed. All President Lincoln really needed was us.

"They'll promote us, sure," Jack chipped in.

"Captain Patrick Murphy," Patrick mused and nodded. "I like the way it sounds. With Lieutenant Micheál O'Suilleabhain by my side."

"Michael," I said automatically and the three of them laughed and shook their heads.

"You can take the lad out of Ireland, but you can't take Ireland out of the lad," Patrick joked. Jack and Ted laughed and I rolled my eyes. It was then that we noticed the boy standing quietly at Ted's elbow, looking uncomfortable.

"Can we help you with something?" Patrick asked kindly and the boy colored up.

"Begging pardon," he said with an accent that matched Patrick's but was thicker- perhaps he had come more recently from Ireland- "but could I sit down? The other seats all look to be full."

"Of course," Patrick said, gesturing to the seat opposite himself, next to the window. "Ted, Jack, shove over and give the lad some room to breathe."

The younger boy looked grateful and sat as far in the corner as he could squeeze himself.

"And what's your name?" Patrick asked the newcomer.

"Rory Coleman," he answered, ducking his head.

"If you don't mind me asking, Rory, how old are you?" Ted wanted to know.

"Near eighteen," Rory replied in that frightened voice.

"How near eighteen?" Ted asked dryly.

"Nearer seventeen," Rory amended, blushing and then when Ted raised an eyebrow, he admitted, "Sixteen."

"That I'd believe," Ted said, satisfied.

"Will you tell anyone?" Rory whispered, looking around anxiously.

"Not a soul, right lads?" Jack assured him, looking seriously at us. We nodded, but Patrick looked uncomfortable.

"I've a brother your age, Rory," he said. "I didn't let him enlist and I know you didn't ask me but I think you'd be better off at home."

Rory frowned a little and, blushing, worked up the courage to ask, "What makes you think that?"

Patrick looked startled. "You're too young for the army, that's all. We'd all be better off at home, only the rebels have started this and it's up to us to put a stop to it. But you're too young. We're all of enlistment age."

Jack colored a bit and chuckled. That was when I remembered that he wasn't eighteen yet and I laughed, too.

Rory shook his head and looked down at his feet. "I wouldn't be better off at home," he said, so firmly that we let the matter drop.

We slowly went back to joking around, with Rory sitting quietly watching us and laughing sometimes at something we said. Soon enough we had talked ourselves out and exhaustion overtook us. Ted, to our amazement, leaned over and folded his arms on his knees and, laying his head on them, went to sleep. Rory leaned against the side of the car and watched the distance speed by. Jack whistled under his breath. I looked around at everyone else in the car and wallowed in boredom.

We reached the train depot at Washington, D.C before dark and were herded out to set up tents.

"All right, men," the officer in charge shouted at us. "You'll collect your blankets and a day's rations and sleep here tonight. Tomorrow you'll get your uniforms and start learning to be real soldiers. Dismissed!"

We collected what we needed for the night and set up next to each other, the five of us in two tents. We talked about how difficult it would be to sleep, and we were right. The ground was hard no matter how I lay on it, and everywhere I tried to put my head there seemed to be a rock. I could hear the other boys tossing and turning, and it was hours before I was ready to be asleep.

Then, the next morning, we were awoken for the first time by reveille. It was a sound I would get used to someday, but on that morning, waking up fully dressed and with a red mark where my face had been pressed against a rock all night, I couldn't remember when I had been more exhausted. It was worse than my long hours at the docks- at least in New York, or at home in Ireland, I had come back to a real house at night and slept in relative warm comfort.

I got up anyway and hauled Patrick out of the tent. At the sound of the bugle he had merely smiled in his sleep and turned over.

"Wake up," I grumbled at him, shaking his shoulder. "Come on, lazy."

After a moment his eyes opened and after another split second they focused and he sat up quickly, then stood and left the tent.

"Well," he commented, stretching, "that wasn't so bad."

"Speak for yourself." Around us, men were coming out of their tents, yawning in the crisp spring air and stretching. Fires were started and coffee was put on to boil. After a moment, the flaps of the tent next to us were thrown open and our new friends made their way out.

Jack looked around at the field full of white tents and campfires and grinned.

"We've made it boys," he said and Ted, stretching his arms over his head and yawning, nodded. Rory, following behind them, said nothing, a shy shadow, but he gazed with those solemn eyes out over the tents and gave a satisfied nod.

Soon, our fire was started and we were eating the hard biscuits we had been issued, and drinking some coffee that Ted had made. We were just waking up enough to start wondering how we would know what to do next, when a bugle call was sounded and a sergeant came through yelling, another sound we would soon get used to.

"That means fall in! And that means you, and you and you," he informed us at a roar, shoving men into place and kicking dirt on a fire that one man had been putting fresh wood on.

"You've got to get going, laddie!" the Sergeant replied to the stunned look on the man's face. "You've no time for that! We've things to do!" The man must have decided that it would be futile to argue; he stood up and headed off with the rest of us, shaking his head.

As you can imagine, our attempts to fall into some kind of formation were not met with approval.

"What the hell kind of a formation is that? You're in the army now, not back on the farm digging potatoes! Stand up straight there! You, get your hands out of your pockets!" Ted moved his hands to his side, looking furtive and the Sergeant laughed. He paused for a moment in front of the five of us, who stood shoulder to shoulder. "Mary, Mother of God," he sneered. "They've enlisted children." He looked strong Ted, the tallest of us, up and down. "Do you shave?"

"Yessir, I've been shaving a few years now," Ted replied. The sergeant shook his head. 

"How about you?" he barked at Rory, and Ted moved closer as if to step between them. "Stand still at attention!" the Sergeant snapped, and turned back to Rory. "Well? Do you?"

"Yes-yessir," Rory stammered quietly, probably lying. The Sergeant snorted, but he left Rory alone. Harsh, he could be. Cruel, he wasn't and it didn't take a particularly discerning mind to sense Rory's fear.

"You likely looking lads are going to be fitted out in uniforms like real soldiers," the Sergeant yelled. "You'll go over to that tent and pick up one of everything they've got and then you'll trade until you've got what fits you. And if those bastards at the quartermaster's give you any trouble, you tell them Sergeant O'Malley'll have their hides and if they still gives you trouble, you come find me and I'll deal with it myself and you can be sure there'll be no more trouble, then. Right! Dismissed!"

Reeling slightly from the ordeal and trying to figure out what to make of our Sergeant, we meandered over to the quartermaster's tent. There was a wait, and then each of us was loaded down with shirts, drawers, pants, a pair of shoes, blankets and the like; everything we could carry and possibly more- Ted ended up carrying Rory's shoes after he dropped them for the third time- and we were sent back to our tents to put them on.

With no women around for miles, we changed right there in front of our tents, exchanging brown trousers for sky-blue and civilian hats for army issue caps. Patrick struggled with a shirt twice the size he needed, while Jack laughed over a pair of pants that came past his knees, but not much farther. We looked around after a moment and realized that Rory was nowhere to be seen.

"Rory, lad?" Jack called, looking around, and from inside their tent a voice answered,

"I'm in here."

"Why?" Ted asked, but Rory said simply,

"I'll be out when I'm dressed." He could evade a question better than anyone I had ever met.

"But why-" Ted began and pulled the tent flap back and looked in.

Then he stopped cold. His eyes widened and, curious, we gathered around too and one by one fell silent.

Rory stood inside the tent in his army pants- he had been lucky enough to find a pair that fit him, more or less,- but with his shirt off. He was staring at the ground, but we were staring at him. We could see across his back and up his shoulders, and disappearing into the waist of his trousers, a web of fine pink scars and a few open red cuts. His right shoulder was a massive blue bruise and there was a healing cut on his chest.

Ted stepped over and put a huge hand on Rory's shoulder. "Lad, what happened?" he asked quietly, a tone of voice we had not yet heard from him.

Rory looked up then, meeting Patrick's eyes. "I told you I wouldn't be better off at home," he repeated in a shamed whisper. Patrick just nodded.

"How old is that cut?" Jack asked. Rory shrugged.

"Maybe a week, now. The cuts on my back are newer."

"He should see the doctor," Jack said sounding shocked. "Come on, Rory. Let's go find him," he continued in a kind tone. Rory shook his head.

"I'll be fine- I always am," he said.

"How can you march like that?" Patrick demanded and Rory shrugged again.

"I've learned, is all," he said, his face burning, and we never got a chance to press the issue because the call came again to fall in and we were bound to obey. Ted, being Ted, took matters into his own hands.

Before Rory could put his shirt on again, the Sergeant could be heard standing right outside our tent bellowing.

"Sir!" Ted called, stepping out of the tent. He had Rory by the shoulder still, and pulled him along. "Sir, Coleman can't keep drilling, sir."

"Why not?" the sergeant asked absently, and Ted simply turned Rory forcefully around. I half thought that Rory would faint; his ears had gone totally red and he was biting his lip. I had never seen anyone look so ashamed, and to this day the sight has never been equaled in my experience.

"I'm inclined to agree with you," the sergeant said evenly. "All right, Coleman, go see the doctor about that and come back to duty when he gives his approval." With that, the sergeant walked briskly off and we scrambled to gather our gear and follow him- all except Rory.

We drilled late into the afternoon, and by the time we were finished I was nearly asleep on my feet. We went back to our tents when we were dismissed, grateful not to be on guard duty that night, and ate dinner quickly and without enjoyment.  

The next day began in the same way- we woke up uncomfortable from a night on the ground and went for drill. Today, though, something was different- when we formed up on the drill field, there were ten boys, a few of them not older than I was, standing there in neat grey uniforms. They were coolly sizing us up and just knowing that they were watching made me feel inadequate. I tried to stand as straight as I could at drill, to march as sharply and handle my gun as competently as it was possible for a man to do, but they still found fault with every step and breath we took. It was a long morning, but in the afternoon I could feel the improvement, just a little at a time.

That evening, we sat up late around the campfire. I wasn't as tired as I had been the previous day, and I wondered whether I might be getting used to sleeping in that tent. Though I was lucky enough to have a nice cot back in New York, it wasn't as though I had slept on one all my life. I thought of our room in the boarding house before we left Ireland.

"How's your back?" Patrick asked Rory as he wandered back from the sinks.

"I'm better, thanks," Rory said, ducking his head. He had been, by all appearances, working pretty hard although he was supposed to be resting. There was always enough firewood and when we came back from drill Rory had usually begun supper. We were grateful, but we wondered whether he was taking care of himself as he should.

"You wouldn't believe the fun you're missing," Jack told Rory sarcastically. He explained how drill was going and what we had been up to. "And you're lucky enough," he finished, "to be excused from duty and miss all of this exciting work we're doing."

"I'm not sure lucky quite covers it," Rory said dryly. Jack simply shrugged; perhaps that was so.

"I came from Ireland with my family five years ago," Rory said quietly and instantly we stopped moving, stopped talking, nearly stopped breathing in order to hear the story. Typical of him, it was tersely and quietly told, no extra details, no elaboration. "And then my mother and father died. I was in an orphan home, until they sent me out of the city on the Orphan Train. I went to Western New York. I was thirteen, then, and I was almost too old, so I was chosen first. They thought I would be helpful on the farm." Rory shrugged with his good shoulder, and then continued, slowly, "I did everything I could. And, when I couldn't, they whipped me. Last week, I spilled soup. I forgot to brush the horses in the morning. I tried to run away. Then I ran away for good, in the night. And I came to the army." He fell silent and the story was over.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Ted breathed. I realized that I, too, had been holding my breath. There was a long silence which Rory, being Rory, did not break. It was Jack who finally spoke.

"You're here now," he said, clearly casting about for something to say. "And you'll never have to go back." Rory nodded in relief.

We were silent for a long time, deep in thought, and sort of shocked by Rory's revelations of that evening. When the signal sounded, we wished each other good night and simply went to sleep.

We drilled under the watchful eyes of those little grey-coated taskmasters day after day. Rory's back healed and when he joined us again we were surprised to find that he seemed to know what he was doing. At least, he knew his right from his left, which many of the recruits did not. Still, his gun was nearly as tall as he was and he was a slight boy. Strong, it was true, but not quite big enough to haul his gun along with any amount of equipment. I often saw the Sergeant watching him at drill as he sweated and struggled to manage the gun and the marching all at once.

One day, the Sergeant pulled Rory aside, which we had been expecting, and then, to our surprise, asked Jack to come as well.

"Boys," he said to them, "We all know neither of you should be here. If I'd been your recruiter, you wouldn't be." Jack looked amazed- he'd thought he was passing for eighteen perfectly well- and when he opened his mouth to protest, Sergeant O'Malley held up a hand. "It's no use boy, I know what I know." Jack closed his mouth and looked sullen.

"I think," our Sergeant continued, "that we can strike a deal that'll serve both our purposes. You'll stay with the army and I won't be worrying about Coleman tripping over that musket every time he picks it up. What would you think of drumming?" he asked, looking at Jack, "and you," he said, turning his stern gaze on Rory, "do you think a fife might suit you?"

Jack and Rory traded looks and Jack shrugged. "I don't see why not," he allowed. "I don't know how to play, though."

"That's just fine," Sergeant O'Malley said. "We'll get you a drum and then some lessons. A few of the men here know what they're about. Finding a fife teacher will be more difficult, but let's see what we can do." He started off, leaving Rory and Jack standing still, and when he realized they were no longer following, he turned around. "What are you waiting for? Come on, never put off until tomorrow what could have been done today." With that, he turned briskly and kept going, Jack and Rory jogging to keep up.

By the time they got back to camp, we were sitting around the fire, cooking supper and dying of curiosity.

"What was that all about, then?" Patrick asked, and then noticed the instruments. The drum, strapped around Jack's neck, was hard to miss and Rory took his fife out of his pocket and held it out to show us.

"We've been detailed as musicians," Jack explained.

"Can you play at all, either one of you?" Ted asked bluntly.

"Not a bit," Jack said. "In fact, I haven't tried it out yet."

"Come on, then," we encouraged him. "Let's hear you play something." Jack picked the sticks up clumsily and beat a little bit on the drum until somebody from the next fire, his face safely obscured by the dark, yelled peevishly,

"Shut up that drumming. Hasn't today been bad enough yet?" With a hearty laugh, Jack stowed his sticks and set the drum behind him so he could lean on it.

"How about you?" he asked Rory. "Suppose you can get a sound out of that thing?"

"I think I can," Rory said with a quiet confidence and to our complete shock, he put the fife to his lips and played "Lorena" so sweetly that I felt my jaw drop.

"Rory, you can play?" Patrick asked, though the answer was obvious. Rory just nodded and blushed.

The same voice from the next campfire called back, "Drummer, you ought to take a few lessons from your friend there. We'll hear that again any day, laddie." Rory fairly glowed.

Next

Masterpost

[yellowhollyhock]

Alright, here's my analysis of the data. I've never taken a single statistics course, don't know how to finish this sentence,

How the Turtles Compare in the Open Poll

Leo and Raph are about equally popular; that's not surprising. Donnie pulls ahead, also doesn't shock me, and--wait wait wait whaaaat. Mikey is the least popular? But but but. Look at him though he's such a sweet little guy. He's funny he's competent he has so much potential for angst, why didn't people--oh wait I didn't vote for Mikey either asldjfls.

This seriously does surprise me, though. I see a lot of Mikey content in the fandom, I was always under the impression he was one of the more popular. So is there some sampling bias, because I don't post about Mikey very often? Probably. Is that sufficient to explain the gap? I don't know, that's a pretty big gap. Especially considering how much Mikey writing and Mikey art. From this alone I am concluding that we don't always draw or write about our favorites--and this holds true for me. I do have a lot of Donny stories, but even they tend to feature Mikey quite a lot, and if there's a turtle I write about second-most it'd easily be Mikey (although I haven't written about any of them in a while asdfadsf).

I also wonder if the fact that I didn't specify the iteration put Mikey at a disadvantage. Because lots of times even Mikey lovers I find have one Mikey that they just find annoying--which tbh always surprises me I love all of them alskdjfla. Well I mean I can't claim to know all of them, tmnt is endless, but I've yet to meet a Mikey I dislike. He is usually given the trait of being the annoying one though, and with him being annoying in different ways in each iteration, it makes sense that a multiversal poll (I guess that's what I'm calling this, no it's not implying anything confusing I think this was a great choice, I make great choices, especially in words, help I'm stuck in the parantheses lsjfdlakjsdkfj) would skew the results against him (whew I keysmashed my way outta there oh wait oh no asldkfjalskdjag). That's just speculation though.

Each Turtle's Data

Leo fans are very evenly split between drawing and writing. Lowest percentage of 'other' votes within Leo votes. Ah, the traditional turtle is enjoyed in traditional ways. He's balanced, versatile. One thing I would be curious about with Leo specifically is how much specifying iteration would change his data. I suspect not much--I feel like regardless of which Leo I see a fair amount of art and writing--however I suspect if it were Rise Leo it would be more writing, because there are so many stories exploring how the movie affected him. I don't think there's a Leo I would have predicted less writing and more art for.

Raph is also very close to even, with only just more writers than artists. He does have more 'other' votes as well. I would say his data shows the most variety. In a way, this could make it feel like there's less on him than there is. Raph and Leo both split close to even between writers and artists, but Raph got more votes for other, putting votes for 'Raph, write' behind 'Leo, write,' and the same for drawing. So if you're looking for a specific type of content about Raph (which is the way we usually search, right?), it might seem like there's less on him generally since it's all more spread out.

Don Don really is the People's Choice, huh? (J'hanna reference brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Dongel shipper). Between 1987 Donatello 'I can take you wimps' The Turtle, 2003 severely traumatized sweetheart of all time Donny, and Rise Canon Austism Tello, the numbers are not surprising. Anyway here is where we see the biggest spread, and it looks like Donnie fans are most likely to be artists, with almost half of his votes for drawing! Which is kinda cool because Donatello makes things with his hands. He's not usually portrayed as the artsy turtle, but the care we see him put into making things for people he cares about and the way he sometimes attaches his worth to how well it's received or lives up to what he had in his head--fun correlation.

Mikey, while he only got a few votes, is our winner as far as percentage of 'other' votes. Which also surprised me. Maybe it shouldn't, though, he's a very useful character for comedy, which means incorrect quotes and screenshots. I honestly expected a lot of Mikey fans to be writers. He's such a versatile charatcter to write for, whether you're wanting a few laughs, catharsis, action-packed plot, shipping. He's so dynamic and so much deeper than he often presents. And I see a lot of writing on him. Idk y'all I think this poll just didn't reach the Mikey fans. Or the Mikey fans aren't on tumblr? idk.

Open Poll vs Yellow Circle

Before putting the poll out there I posted an unrebloggable version only intended to reach my followers, in order to get an idea of what type of bias I would see in the circulated poll after, as well as the ways what I'm likely to see differ from what's theoretically out there.

One bias: I am clearly posting about and following those who post about Raph (I mean I ran the March for Raph event, I don't think surprises anyone). Looking at the numbers, I think this filtered itself out when the poll was circulated, but it is still worth bearing in mind that a poll I posted is more likely to have the data skewed in Raph's favor.

Another bias: hardly any Mikey votes. This is where I was glad I did this because I didn't expect that, I think of myself as a Mikey lover and forget sometimes that I really don't post about him. Mikey lovers aren't likely to follow me, too many of my posts are Raph essays and Donny incorrect quotes. Looking at the numbers, this bias is evident in the circulated poll. We can assume that if this bias weren't present we'd have more Mikey votes, but the difference is still so significant that I believe we would see a gap still, just not as much of one.

Also an interesting difference: Leo and Raph were evenly split in the open poll, but in the check-yellow's-bias poll, we had more Leo artists and more Raph writers.

That is all.

Thank you to everyone who participated! This was fun. My curiousity is satisfied. Perhaps I will revisit this data and come up with more questions, but not this week. After school is over (or maybe in a few years idk askjdflsa)

I'm curious about the correlation, if any, between someone's favorite turtle and their participation in the tmnt fandom. Like, are there more likely to be drawings of Don and stories of Mikey (random example)?

Other= gifsets/screenshots, incorrect quotes, analysis or reaction posts, video clips and compilations. Probably something else that I forgot.

please vote and spread!

[fan-of-mulligan]

FOM BLOG: GILLINGHAM SUPPORTERS BLOG SEASON 2023 / 2024 SEASON - PART ONE

At The Start Of The Season, For The First Supporters Blog, I Asked Gillingham Supporters for there thoughts and opinions on Gillingham’s Summer Signings, Performances and results in pre-season friendlies, Gillingham keeping the core of the squad together from The 2022 / 2023 Season heading into The 2023 / 2024 Season, and the score prediction for Stockport County V Gillingham on the opening day of the season, And the link to that blog is here - LINK - https://fan-of-mulligan.tumblr.com/post/724767191346642945/fom-blog-gillingham-supporters-blog-season

This Blog Is A Follow Up Blog which was previewing Gillingham before the start of The 2023 / 2024 Season, and given that there is a free week between The Wrexham and Salford City League Games, this is the ideal opportunity for the second of the fourth Gillingham Supporters Blog throughout the season, the third supporters blog usually is after the thirtieth league game, and the fourth and final supporters blog is at the end of the season, and there is always a interest comparison between all four supporters blog from the start to the end of each season.

Answering these questions are the following Gillingham Supporters,,,,, Dean, Colin, Naylor, Mark, Paul, Gillingham Legends, Loonpotter, BQGillsFan, Rob, and Lewis - I want to thank everyone who has participated in the latest Gillingham Supporters Blog, as well as thank those who participated in The Gillingham Supporters Blogs throughout The 2022 / 2023 Season, It is because of the involvement of everyone who has participated in the previous blogs which have made these blogs so successful, so once again, thank you, Now on to the questions and answers……..

1. AND THE FIRST QUESTION I HAVE GOT TO ASK IN THE LATEST SUPPORTERS BLOG HAS GOT TO BE THE DEPARTURE OF NEIL HARRIS ON THE FIFTH OF OCTOBER, DID YOU THINK THE DECISION FROM BRAD GALINSON TO SACK NEIL HARRIS WAS THE CORRECT DECISION ??? OR, DO YOU THINK NEIL HARRIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN MORE TIME, BECAUSE AT THE TIME OF NEIL HARRIS’ DEPARTURE, GILLINGHAM WERE EIGHTH IN LEAGUE TWO AND ONLY FOUR POINTS BEHIND FIRST PLACE NOTTS COUNTY IN THE DIVISION ???

Dean - It’s looking like the wrong decision; but I was behind it at the time; and I still believe long term it’s the right decision.

Colin -  There was clearly a lot of frustration about our style of play and the associated lack of goals being scored during the early part of the season. I was though a bit surprised that the sacking came at a point when we were sitting pretty in the table having managed to get results despite the boring football and lack of goals. I think Neil was unlucky to see so many key players getting injured at the same time. It’s interesting that neither Millen nor Clemence have felt able to change the selection, shape or style of play given the options available to them.

Naylor - Time will tell. We haven't exactly vastly improved since his departure but Clemence hasn't had much time to work with the team to instill new ideas as of yet. Timing of the sacking still doesn't make an awful lot of sense to me and I wouldn't have sacked him at that point if I was in charge.

Mark - I was surprised to see him go but not disappointed. I want to see a more attacking style and that wasn't Neil's approach. I think it was the correct decision but the delay in appointing Clemence showed the timing was wrong. I don't think you sack a manager without having an plan to replace him. 

Paul - Personally I think Neil should have been given more time but our goal scoring record was one of concern. It has to be a priority not with new management.

Gillingham Legends - I was very surprised and felt it a little harsh given our position and start to the season. That said, the football wasn’t great and we were struggling to score goals so I can see why it could be felt a change was necessary. Just thought the timing was strange and a bit harsh on Harris, who kept his job when we were rock bottom and rubbish.

Loonpotter - Absolutely the right decision. 

BQGillsFan - The sacking was a complete shock to me, came absolutely out of nowhere compared to how sackings normally are. In the short term it's clearly been the wrong decision, as our league position is worse and our performances have not improved. Really hope to be proven wrong, but right now I feel it was the first real bad decision of the Galinson era.

Rob - Yes, I think it was the correct decision. The football was poor, we weren't attacking enough and we seemed to have run out of ideas. 

Lewis - I think it was the right decision. It was a big risk but I wasn’t enjoying watching the team and the performances weren’t sustainable. We’ll head in the right direction now. 

2. AND WHAT ARE THE THINGS YOU CAN POINT TO AS TO WHY NEIL HARRIS IS NO LONGER GILLINGHAM MANAGER, WHAT ARE THE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS THAT LEAD TO GILLINGHAM HAVING TO MAKE A MANAGERIAL CHANGE ??? BECAUSE UNLIKE PREVIOUS MANAGERIAL SACKINGS WHERE GILLINGHAM WERE STRUGGLING TO AVOID RELEGATION, THIS TIME, THE MANAGERIAL CHANGE WAS MADE WHILST GILLINGHAM WERE EIGHTH IN LEAGUE TWO ???

Dean - The football wasn’t entertaining to watch, I believe Brad wants attendances to rise and the football on show wasn’t for me going to bring fans through the turnstile 

Colin - The lack of entertainment. We have been boring to watch. A 1-0 win only goes so far in getting the fans excited. In some games we simply didn’t turn up. Galinson is trying to build a brand that keeps the money coming in. Casual fans and new season ticket holders were getting switched off and that spills over to sponsors and advertisers.

Naylor - We have to assume it's down to the lack of goals and style of play. Arguably the team should have been doing better in the games against Doncaster, Grimsby & Colchester and we managed to comfortably lose those. 57 goals in 75 league games in charge is always asking for trouble though.

Mark - I suspect something happened behind the scenes. I don't think it was based on results put it that way. My hunch he was given some sort of ultimatum, didn't accept it and was dismissed. 

Paul - The lack of goal scoring was I believe a reason for his sacking plus a number of fans were unhappy at the state of play.

Gillingham Legends - As above. The quality of football and inability to score goals and dominate matches despite the standard of the squad and signings.

Loonpotter - Neil Harris whilst steadying the ship to a good degree once the Galinsons came in was never going to be able to propel us enough in an attacking sense to see off some of the heavy hitters in this league. Whilst we would have had a respectable season I don't think we'd have had the tactical firepower for a promotion. 

BQGillsFan - Obviously the style of play was not very inspiring under Harris, and the constant 1-0 wins was not a sustainable situation. The wheels weren't exactly falling off the bus, but the foundations were very shaky to say the least. 

Rob - I think the big reason is that things weren't improving. It was obvious what the issues were, yet they didn't improve from week to week.

Lewis - You can tell by the stats that we were struggling. Lowest scorers, lowest crossed, etc. It was an issue all throughout his reign and things weren’t getting better.

3. NEIL HARRIS WAS APPOINTED AS GILLINGHAM MANAGER ON THE 31ST OF JANUARY 2022, IRONICALLY, BOTH NEIL HARRIS’S FIRST AND LAST GAMES AS GILLINGHAM MANAGER WERE AGAINST THE SAME OPPOSITION, CREWE ALEXANDRA, BUT HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP NEIL HARRIS’S TENURE AS GILLINGHAM MANAGER ???

Dean - Frustrating, couldn’t score when he took over; couldn’t score when he left.

Colin - In the first few games of his tenure it looked like Harris might pull off a miracle and keep us up but we ran out of steam in the run in and were relegated. In the first half of our first season back in the basement Harris had limited resources and seemed to be resigned to not getting much out of the squad while he waited for the cavalry to arrive from America. Given our league position I wouldn’t have been surprised if the new regime had dispensed with his services. I was however prepared to back him when he was retained and given some investment he managed to revive our fortunes and drive us up the table. Sadly, not helped by that run of injuries and despite further investment in the squad the upward momentum wasn’t really there this season. Overall verdict is “unlucky but maybe could have done better”.

Naylor - He nearly achieved the impossible with coming so close to keeping us up in League One. I'm sure he still regrets those Easter weekend games against Cheltenham & Fleetwood which could have saved us. The recruitment for summer 22/23 was horrendous however and we deserved to be bottom of the table this time last year. If it wasn't for the cup runs at the time he perhaps may not have kept his job. From January he looked refreshed and we achieved the 2nd most amount of points of any team in 2023 up until his sacking which is no mean feat. As I said I don't think his sacking came at the right time but here we are.

Mark - He was on a hiding to nothing under Scally's ownership in terms of playing budget and that showed. I feel for him as hopefully we are at the start of better times under the Galinsons but our lack of goals has come back to haunt him. He never addressed that. 

Paul - My summary was too much long ball and not enough possession. He did well against higher league clubs though.

Gillingham Legends - A real mixed bag. He gave us enormous hope when he arrived and almost kept us up from an impossible position, just falling short. The first half of last season was absolutely shocking for many reasons but come January, he proved with decent backing he could produce the goods. This season couldn’t have started much better but we were starting to lose form just before his sacking and ultimately the lack of goals throughout his reign has probably been his downfall.

Loonpotter - Neil Harris was average at best. We should never have been down the bottom of the league previous to the takeover.. 

BQGillsFan - Harris walked in to a dire situation, and I honestly believe if he'd come in a couple weeks sooner we would have survived relegation from League 1 in 21-22. Last season was a tale of two halves, but we saw what he can achieve when backed. Like my answer to the first question, I hope I'm wrong when I say this, but sacking Harris may prove to be a moment in time we look back on it and regret it.

Rob - It's very difficult. He had a good time trying to keep us in League One, a disaster of a first half season in League Two under huge budget constraints, and then we spend big and survive. He should have done better with this group, though.

Lewis - I almost break it down into four sections. The relegation year, the first half of last year, the second half and this year. They were all very different but it wasn’t a disaster or anything.

4. AND IF YOU WERE TO SELECT YOUR TOP FIVE GILLINGHAM RESULTS UNDER NEIL HARRIS, WHICH MATCHES WOULD YOU SELECT IN YOUR TOP FIVE ???

Dean - Brentford away, Southampton this season, Stockport away this season, Stockport home last season, Wimbledon home last season. 

Colin - Apart from winning the penalty shoot out at Brentford nothing much stands out. That’s the problem we didn’t score much and the football was dull. Maybe the high scoring draw at Swindon and beating Orient at home were mildly memorable. 

Naylor - Not sure if I can select a top five but the wins against Brentford & Southampton in the League Cup stand out.

Mark - I'll say Brentford away for top game and leave it at that. 

Paul - The FA cup matches for me and when we played Swindon plus Salford away.

Gillingham Legends - 

2-0 win away to Lincoln (21/22)

1-1 draw and penalty cup win against Brentford (22/23)

2-0 win home to Hartlepool (22/23) start of new era

1-0 win away to Stockport (23/24)

3-1 win against Southampton in the cup (23/24)

Loonpotter - I guess you'd have to put Brentford in the cup up there and then I'm not sure too many stick in my mind.

BQGillsFan - Brentford 1-1 Gillingham (Gills win on pens) / 2. Gillingham 3-1 Southampton / 3. Gillingham 2-0 Leyton Orient / 4. Stockport 0-1 Gillingham / 5. Bradford 2-2 Gillingham 

Rob - No idea. Didn't we have a big win at some point? I guess the big one has to be when we got the new players

Lewis - The win over crewe first game, win over Stockport at the start of the season… one that always sticks in my head is beating Grimsby at Priestfield last season too. I can’t think of five off the top of my head!

5. ON THE FIRST OF NOVEMBER 2023, GILLINGHAM APPOINTED STEPHEN CLEMENCE AS HEAD COACH, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ON GILLINGHAM APPOINTING STEPHEN CLEMENCE AS HEAD COACH ??? AND WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE LENGTH OF TIME BETWEEN NEIL HARRIS LEAVING THE FOOTBALL CLUB, AND STEPHEN CLEMENCE BEING APPOINTED AS HEAD COACH ???

Dean - It took a while, but if we now push on then it’s time well spent. I’m pleased with the appointment personally. 

Colin - I don’t really know much about Stephen Clemence apart from his association with Steve Bruce. He is young and will bring modern ideas and he seems to be nice which is what Galinson wanted. Maybe he comes across as a bit too nice. In the long term the gap between managers won’t matter that much and the results under Millen were about on par. At least there is still the prospect of Clemence having developed some thoughts in advance of the January window.

Naylor - Clemence has a brilliant pedigree for coaching at top clubs so that is incredibly positive. It's of course a big risk with it being his first time as a Number One so it may not be an overnight transformation as we all would hope, but as ever, I remain hopeful for the future.

Mark - The delay was far too long and might have costs us points. I'm open minded about Clemence - lets see what he does, I think he needs the January window to come ASAP though. Unless he addresses the lack of goals then he's unlikely to be any more successful than Harris. 

Paul - I believe that due diligence was taken and we have a good appointment with both Stephen and Robbie.

Gillingham Legends - It took a while but I think that’s ok if we get the right man in. Time will tell. I think it’s an exciting appointment. A well respected, young coach who has worked at a higher level and gained a lot of experience. I hope he can succeed as a manager, as you never know if they can make that step up and I hope that he is given the time to try and do so.

Loonpotter - I don't have a problem with the length of time it took to appoint Clemence. The owners were clear that they wanted to be sure they got the right man. I think Clemence is a good risk. Its a shrewd, brave appointment but he comes highly recommended. 

BQGillsFan - Can't say I know too much about Stephen Clemence. But he has my full support and hope he goes on to be a Gills great. The gap between the sacking and the appointment is a HUGE cause for concern to me, as it suggests the sacking of Harris was a knee jerk reaction to the Crewe result, and hints at a lack of planning.

Rob - I'm pleased with the appointment. He seems to fit the bill for what we need. It did take perhaps too long, but I'd rather we took our time and got the right man.

Lewis - Again it was a massive risk because it’s his first job. But Brad obviously wants more control and dominance and I get that. We’re seeing signs of it already. I think it was a shame it too so long but it was also understandable. 

6. AFTER GILLINGHAM LOST 4-1 AWAY AGAINST WALSALL, GILLINGHAM CHAIRMAN BRAD GALINSON POSTED THE POSSESSION STATS FROM THE MATCH, WHICH WAS 68% POSSESSION OF THE BALL FOR THE GILLS, DO YOU THINK THE POSSESSION STATS THAT BRAD GALINSON MENTIONED HERE WAS WHY NEIL HARRIS HAS LEFT THE FOOTBALL CLUB AND STEPHEN CLEMENCE HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS HEAD COACH ???

Dean - We will never know unless Brad tells us, under Harris it was score and defend; I’m hoping it can now be score, and score more!

Colin - I think the Walsall game was symptomatic of a style of play. Harris tends to play one up top and pack midfield with holding midfielders. It’s simply not attractive to watch. We have also started to leak goals despite the defensive approach and much touted clean sheet mentality. Key players missing and the lack of pace in the squad handicapped Harris but the Chairman couldn’t do much about that and obviously felt that changing the manager was worth a try. 

Naylor - Not necessarily. Possession isn't everything. That game is a prime example as we got tonked 4-1.

Mark - I thought it was a strange comment from Brad. We'd just been stuffed 4-1 who really cares about possession stats. I think he was just trying to boost some positivity in the fan base. I like him so won't criticise him for trying. 

Paul - Yes that was one of the factors as fans didn’t like watching us chasing the ball so much after giving it away.

Gillingham Legends - Not really. You can have 90% possession and still lose! The only stat that really matters is the goals for and against. We need to score more goals. We can have all that possession but we need to create better chances and more importantly, tuck them away. Otherwise it’s meaningless.

Loonpotter - I think the Galinsons just saw a side that wouldn't get broken down too much but would also struggle to put anyone to the sword which is probably over a season a recipe for low end of top half.

BQGillsFan - I'll be honest, Brad doing that came across as very petty to me. And I think it's a problem with modern football, is this obsession with stats and looking nice. We are not prime Barcelona, I do not care about having lots of the ball if we ship 4 goals. Yes nice football is desirable, but results are what matter most. Hopefully Clemence brings both, but I'll take results over performance any day.

Rob - I think it was the lack of chances and goals. If we scored playing like mid 2010s Stoke I don't think anyone would mind as we would be getting results. When you're not playing well or getting results, it's a bad combination.

Lewis - Yes, I think Brad wants more control and dominance in games and that’s what Clemence will aim to bring. 

7. AND WITH GILLINGHAM LIKELY TO PLAY WITH A MORE POSSESSION BASED STYLE OF PLAY, DO YOU THINK CHANGING THE STYLE OF PLAY WILL SEE STEPHEN CLEMENCE GET MORE OUT OF JONNY WILLIAMS AND GEORGE LAPSLIE, AND HOW DOES STEPHEN CLEMENCE GET BOTH PLAYERS FIT AND FIRING FOR THE GILLS ???

Dean - We need to for me play then in the middle, I’d go either both behind a front 1 or JW behind a front 2 and GL in CM.

Colin - Time will tell. For a variety of reasons the supposed flair players Jonny Williams, Lapslie and Dieng haven’t shown us much this season. The movement off the ball has been terrible. Our build up play is too slow.  The midfield don’t support the striker quickly enough as you have to do in a 4-5-1 formation. We simply don’t create enough chances for the one forward we have been playing and the midfield isn’t contribution much in the way of goals. Maybe it’s fitness, maybe it’s coaching or maybe we just need better players.

Naylor - Wrexham game was a good flavour of getting Jonny Williams more on the ball can have a positive influence. It has to be the right form of possession football as needless sideways passes won't achieve anything.

Mark - I hope so as both are disappointing so far.  I'd like to think they are fit, as for firing play them in more advanced roles and in Lapslie’s case.........play him. 

Paul - Certainly hope so as both good players on the ball.

Gillingham Legends - Hopefully yes. Been underwhelmed with the pair of them since their arrivals but know that they are capable of much more. Williams is an international so must be performing better than he has shown. Hopefully a new style will bring out the best and see these players get more involved and controlling games. Then we should start to create more.

Loonpotter - All of the more attack minded, technically gifted players should benefit from Clemence’s style.

BQGillsFan - Hopefully a change in style will bring the best out of those players, because they are clearly talented enough. Our squad should be doing way more than it currently is, so hopefully Clemence will unlock the full potential of these players.

Rob - I certainly hope so. They're our two great number 10 attackers and they haven't been played in the right position, nor have they been particularly effective. Get them creating chances, and scoring them, and we'll be fine.

Lewis - Absolutely, especially Williams. We’ve seen that so far and I think he could really flourish in this sort of system. 

8. AND BEFORE STEPHEN CLEMENCE WAS APPOINTED AS GILLINGHAM HEAD COACH, THERE WERE OTHER NAMES LINKED WITH THE MANAGERIAL POSITION, WERE THERE OTHER NAMES WHO YOU THOUGHT WERE GOING TO COME IN PRIOR TO STEPHEN CLEMENCE’S APPOINTMENT AS GILLINGHAM HEAD COACH ???

Dean - Scott Lindsay that’s all, would of been happy with him.

Colin - I had no idea who was in the frame. I doubt any of the big names were ever under consideration. A lot was dependent on the budget and whether we would buy out a big contract to get the right man or whether we would limit ourselves to those out of contract or nearing the end of a contract. My own preference was Dean Brennan who has done well at Barnet and whose teams play some good football. Scott Lindsey at Crawley obviously had a couple of interviews and seems to have been first reserve. 

Naylor - As it's supposedly rumoured Scott Lindsey was offered the job but the two clubs couldn't agree compensation then yes perhaps Clemence wasn't first choice. I for one second never believed the nonsense about Bruce being manager however.

Mark - I would have been very happy with Scott Lindsay as I thought he ticked lots of boxes.

Paul - I heard that Steve Bruce recommended Stephen so that’s good enough for me

Gillingham Legends - Scott Lindsey was the other that looked possible but I’m not sure if that would’ve been the right move. He has done well at Crawley but is also still fairly inexperienced having been Chatham Town’s boss only a few seasons ago. Other than that, none of the realistic names mentioned particularly excited me which is ironic as Neil Harris’ appointment at the time was one of the most exciting appointments we ever made.

Loonpotter - Rumours confuse reality so by the time of the appointment it could have been any one of about 8 in my mind.

BQGillsFan - The large number of names being linked just left me waiting to see. I didn't bother caring about potential names.

Rob - I had no idea. There were a few interesting names, such as the Ebbsfleet manager, but the rumour mill was quiet on who would actually take the job.

Lewis - I thought Lindsey may have got the job and he likes to play with the ball too. I would imagine he was in the final few. 

9. AND HEAD COACH RATHER THEN MANAGER IS STEPHEN CLEMENCE’S JOB TITLE AT GILLINGHAM, WITH KENNY JACKETT AND ANDY HESSENTHALER AT THE FOOTBALL CLUB AS DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL AND HEAD OF RECRUITMENT RESPECTIVELY, WITH STEPHEN CLEMENCE CONCENTRATING SOLELY ON FIRST TEAM MATTERS, DO YOU THINK GILLINGHAM HAVING A DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL AND HEAD OF RECRUITMENT PERHAPS PUT SOME MANAGERIAL CANDIDATES OFF ??? OR, DO YOU THINK GILLINGHAM ARE RIGHT TO HAVE THIS STRUCTURE IN PLACE AND APPOINT SOMEONE AS HEAD COACH ???

Dean - Totally behind it. 

Colin - For me the management structure looks a bit too heavy for a fourth tier club. We haven’t exactly recruited the best available players on the back of it. In fact some of our best technical players seem to have come via Neil Harris’s Millwall connections. I don’t think the structure will have been a massive deterrent to those who might have been expected to apply for the job. Is obviously heard the rumours about it being an issue for Steve Bruce but I am not sure he was ever a contender.

Naylor - It's the modern football club model. An old style manager doing every job in the stadium is long gone and non sustainable any longer, considering the average length of a manager/head coach role in England is now only 15 months. The Director of Football offers stability to the football club and allows the Head Coach to solely focus on field matters.

Mark - It depends on who has the final say on which players to sign. I hope thats still the Head Coach otherwise it may well have put people off. 

Paul - I bet it did put off some but a good idea to let the head coach just focus on the first team. I am sure he has input into general matters as well.

Gillingham Legends - I really don’t know, I guess we will see over time. I’m not sure how different or successful it will be. I’m not sure it would’ve put too many candidates off.

Loonpotter - It's a similar structure to many of the top clubs now. It's not one I've ever liked but it seems to be the modern way. 

BQGillsFan - I don't think one structure is necessarily better than the other, it's down to the personnel. Now that sounds pretty obvious, but ultimately I think Gills could succeed either way. Previous use of the manager model hasn't worked too well in recent years. So hopefully the change to head coach, DOF, etc. will bring positive change.

Rob - This is the modern structure and any manager that wants a long term career will need to adjust to it at some point. I actually think it suits our boss better

Lewis - I think it’s the structure of a modern football club. I do wonder if it would have impacted the chances of the likes of Karl Robinson coming in but it’s how it is these days. 

10. LEWIS WALKER AND JOE GBODE HAVE BEEN RECALLED FROM THERE LOAN SPELLS AT WOKING AND MAIDSTONE UNITED RESPECTIVELY, STEPHEN CLEMENCE WILL GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH BOTH STRIKERS, AND CAN YOU SEE LEWIS WALKER AND JOE GBODE BEING MORE INVOLVED WITH THE FIRST TEAM ???

Dean - No, not up to it for me 

Colin - No. I don’t think either Gbode or Walker are anywhere near being the answer to our goal scoring problems. 

Naylor - I can see Walker being in and around the first team, especially as we only have Bonne & Nichols fit. Gbode I expect to go back out on loan.

Mark - No. I can understand the new coach getting his squad together but I suspect both will be back out on loan very soon. 

Paul - I can see Walker being more involved but Joe a little too young yet.

Gillingham Legends - Probably not, though we are a bit short up top. I don’t think Gobde is ready yet and Walker is probably not quite good enough. I think there is a player in there but he’s flattered to deceive thus far. Injuries haven’t helped either. Maybe Clemence can get something out of him.

Loonpotter - I don't think they're guaranteed first team action, but when you are new through the door you want a good look at all your assets. 

BQGillsFan - Might as well give them a chance. Don't necessarily see either of them being good enough right now, but again, hope I'm proven wrong.

Rob - No. Neither are not good enough.

Lewis - Not really to be honest. I don’t think either are good enough. Walker I’m sure will leave at the end of the season. Gbode needs another loan.

11. WHEN THE TRANSFER WINDOW OPENS IN JANUARY, WHERE DO YOU THINK GILLINGHAM NEED TO STRENGTHEN THE SQUAD ???

Dean - Yes yes yes winger and a forward, let some go too

Colin - Ideally a goalkeeper with quicker distribution, a right back, some real pace in central midfield, a pacy winger and a big centre forward with a goal scoring record. I doubt we will get half of that as the business model is to generate the income before spending.

Naylor - We need more creativity. If we're going to play with wide players then we need another wide man with the spark or Mahoney to compliment either wing. Jayden Clarke is still very raw to be playing week in and week out and imo Williams is wasted playing out wide so another option out wide is needed.

Mark - "Goals, goals we want more goals, give the ball to.......the new signings".  As well as goals I want to see real wingers with pace.  I loved watching Notts County - I hope we are heading that way. 

Paul - Front line.

Gillingham Legends - Obviously up front, we need a goalscorer. If the so called creative players continue to not deliver then we will need more creative midfielders too. Not unhappy with the rest of the squad.

Loonpotter - Pace, wingers, forward

BQGillsFan - The obvious answer is goalscorer. Definitely need more cover in defence. And probably another pacey option for the wings.

Rob - We need a striker. A proper Simeon Jackson, Cody McDonald type. Someone who can get 15-20 in a season

Lewis - A winger or maybe even two has to be priority. A forward would be nice, a target man if Hawkins is still out. And I think a back up centre half. 

12. AFTER SEVENTEEN LEAGUE GAMES THIS SEASON, GILLINGHAM HAVE SCORED FOURTEEN GOALS, WHICH MEANS THAT GILLINGHAM ARE THE LOWEST GOAL-SCORERS IN LEAGUE TWO, AND WITH TOM NICHOLS, MACAULEY BONNE, ASHLEY NADESAN, TIM DIENG, GEORGE LAPSLIE, CONNOR MAHONEY, JAYDEN CLARKE, OLI HAWKINS, LEWIS WALKER AND DOM JEFFERIES AT THE CLUB, THERE ARE PLAYERS HERE WHO CAN SCORE GOALS, SO WHAT DO GILLINGHAM NEED TO DO TO IMPROVE OUR GOAL-SCORING RECORD UNDER STEPHEN CLEMENCE’S MANAGEMENT ???

Dean - Attack with more purpose, we attack so slowly 

Colin - We need to get players fit. We need to find some pace in midfield. We need to get players working on their pass and move football and we need to not play one small forward on his own up top.

Naylor - Create them opportunities. We won't score anything if we keep playing the ball sideways in our own half.

Mark - Get bodies in the box and get the ball into the box. Bonne has been so isolated its no wonder we don't score. 

Paul - I think perhaps sending them to a strikers boot camp but seriously it is often down to delivery into the box.

Gillingham Legends - More confidence, more finishing practice, more chances created and new ideas.

Loonpotter - Implement his desires quickly and the rest should fall into place. 

BQGillsFan - Well we've certainly been creating chances, but all of our forwards seem like they need 4-5 chances a game to score right now. It's on the players to be more clinical.

Rob - Need to be creating more and better chances. We have a wealth of talent in the squad, most of whom have had decent goal tallies elsewhere. We need to get them firing here. The striker needs more support, with runners from midfield much closer to them.

Lewis - I think we saw a lot of it against Salford. Getting players into the box is a start. And I think a lot of it is confidence based too. 

13. WITH THE EXPANSION OF THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, AND MORE INTERNATIONAL MATCHES, FA CUP REPLAYS COULD BE SCRAPPED ALONG WITH THE SECOND LEG OF THE LEAGUE CUP BEING SWITCHED TO A ONE LEG SEMI FINAL, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS ???

Dean - FA cup replay’s must stay. 

Colin - It all comes down to money. Top clubs don’t really want to play lower league clubs at all if they can help it. 

Naylor - FA Cup replays shouldn't be scrapped as they prove to be such a vital form of revenue for lower league/non-league sides. 5th Round onwards is when to make a case for no more replays but they should stay for up to and including 4th Round ties.

Mark - Scrapping FA cup replays is an awful decision for the little clubs - that's the glamour of the cup and a financial life saver to the little clubs........that includes us.  Can you imagine how much a televised replay would be worth to a little club.  League cup I really don't care about one legged semi final. Not sure many clubs take it that seriously. 

Paul - Perhaps replays scrapped in say the fourth round.

Gillingham Legends - Strongly against scrapping replays! They have been in place for over a century and give smaller clubs the chance of a day out and important revenue. This should not be compromised for the sake of the ‘big’ clubs. I’m not against a one leg semi-final in the League cup but the FA Cup is a historic competition, its already not as important as it used to be due to the big clubs and its in danger of losing its romance with too many more changes.

Loonpotter - Do not mess with the F.A. cup. It is the staple focus point for every fan and has been for years (although it has dwindled slightly in more recent times through managers disrespecting it).

BQGillsFan - Was an inevitability really. Football runs to serve the big 6 teams, and it's the rest of us that suffer.

Rob - A two legged semi final in the League Cup is pointless, in my view. By the 5th round of the FA Cup, all the small teams have been knocked out anyway, so there's little magic to be lost by scrapping replays from then onwards.

Lewis - I think it’s an awful decision that benefits the big teams, but that’s how football is these days. 

14. BACK IN SEPTEMBER, JAKE TURNER SIGNED A CONTRACT EXTENSION WITH GILLINGHAM FOOTBALL CLUB, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON JAKE TURNER SIGNING A NEW CONTRACT WITH THE GILLS???

Dean - Pleased, decent keeper 

Colin - I think Jake is a good prospect but he isn’t the finished article. His distribution needs to improve. 

Naylor - Yep he's done relatively well since he got the shirt this year so getting it done early is only positive.

Mark - I like him and its good to see us tieing our promising players down to longer contracts. Thats where we can make money by developing and selling players. 

Paul - I think Jake is a good goal keeper

Gillingham Legends - Well deserved, he’s had a great season so far, is a young keeper and think it’s a good move to tie him up while we can. Let’s not forget that Glenn Morris was our Player of the Year last season and Turner has kept him out.

Loonpotter - Jake Turner has been fantastic and really grasped that number 1 shirt. 

BQGillsFan - Player of the season so far. Absolutely delighted he's signed a new deal. England's number one!

Rob - Makes sense. He's a good keeper at this level and we need to tie our better players down

Lewis - I think it’s good to tie down a goalkeeper who has great potential. He’s still so young. He has a long way to go and I’m not fully sold on him yet but I like him and have enjoyed watching him improve. 

15. AND ALTHOUGH STEPHEN CLEMENCE HAS COME IN TO REPLACE NEIL HARRIS AS GILLINGHAM HEAD COACH, KEITH MILLEN IS STILL STAYING AT GILLINGHAM FOOTBALL CLUB, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON KEITH MILLEN STAYING AT GILLINGHAM FOOTBALL CLUB ??? - AND HOW WOULD YOU RATE KEITH MILLEN’S ROLE AS GILLINGHAM INTERIM MANAGER ???

Dean - Awful interim manager, keep him away from 1st team duties 

Colin - Keith is here to develop the B team and provide a pathway for developing players. He did OK as interim manager largely continuing with the Harris team selection and tactics.

Naylor - His spell as interim boss went as I expected it would. It's good to have his experience around the place but I don't think it's best him being the No.1.

Mark - I didn't like him. His comment after Notts Co. infuriated me "the thing with Notts County is they back themselves to score more than the opposition". Well I wish we did Keith ! If he's doing a decent job with the academy then that's fine but I didn't like his spell with the first XI. 

Paul - Keith is highly experienced and an asset to the club.

Gillingham Legends - Keith Millen has a completely different role and there is no reason why he shouldn’t continue. He helped us out while we were in need and did what he could in a short space of time which was always going to be difficult.

Loonpotter - Millen’s role as interim was less than spectacular, but if he has a role to play, who am I to argue. 

BQGillsFan - I honestly struggle to have any thoughts or care, positive or negative, for Keith Millen.

Rob - He's in charge of the B team, so it's no surprise he's still at the club. His tenure was more of the same as under Harris.

Lewis - I thought he struggled a little bit in terms of his game management but we got a couple of really good results too. He stepped in when needed and was thrown into it and we’ll be thankful for that but I’m happy he didn’t get the job full time. Good that he’s still around too though. 

16. WHN GILLINGHAM DREW 1-1 AGAINST MANSFIELD TOWN, THE FIXTURE WAS PLAYED ON THE SAME DAY AS A TRAIN STRIKE, AND GILLINGHAM DECIDED TO RUN COACHES THROUGHOUT KENT TO HELP SUPPORTERS GET TO AND FROM PRIESTFIELD STADIUM, DID ANYONE USE THE COACH SERVICE ??? AND DO YOU THINK GILLINGHAM SHOULD OPERATE A COACH SERVICE FOR HOME GAMES IN THE NEAR FUTURE ???

Dean - Great idea, let’s hope it’s done again 

Colin - I live in Medway so it wasn’t an issue for me. Maybe try one coach picking up around the east of the county particularly where there isn’t a direct train option and see if the demand is there.

Naylor - I did not use the coach service, but yes it's a good alternative to the train if more strikes occur.

Mark - If its financially viable then go for it. It was nice to see the club think about fans again.

Paul - Excellent idea and well received

Gillingham Legends - I didn’t use the service but heard that it went well and think it’s a really good idea. If it’s feasible then I think it would worthwhile to offer this service in the future.

Loonpotter - I don't use the coach service.

BQGillsFan - It was a great move by Gillingham and Brad to do that during the train strikes. Don't think it's something that needs doing for every home games, but certainly something whenever there are difficulties for fans getting to games, such as future train strikes.

Rob - As I don't live in Kent, no. Yeah maybe, if it's profitable enough

Lewis - If it benefits the fans then yes. It’s nice to see the club forward thinking like that. 

17. IKE ORJI, MATT MACARTHUR, ALEX GILES, RONALD SITHOLE AND STAN SKIPPER HAVE ALL MADE THERE DEBUTS FOR GILLINGHAM IN THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE TROPHY AND LEAGUE CUP THIS SEASON, AND JOSH CHAMBERS AND JOE GBODE HAVE ALSO PLAYED FOR GILLINGHAM IN FOOTBALL LEAGUE TROPHY MATCHES, WHICH YOUNG PLAYER MENTIONED HERE CAN YOU SEE MAKING MORE FIRST TEAM APPEARANCES FOR GILLINGHAM THIS SEASON ???

Dean - Orji or MacArthur 

Colin - I don’t see any of those young players breaking through this season. Particularly as Hawkins, Nadesan, Dieng, Lapslie and Nichols are on the way back to fitness. They need to be playing in a competitive B league. Unfortunately they are not. Until we get the B team properly sorted most will be better off going out on loan. 

Naylor - Orji seems closest to the first team having played a number of games for Chatham Town before. MacArthur is an interesting one and could be the next Dack if he develops in the right manner.

Mark - I liked the look of Ike Orji. We lack width and pace. If he has that then I can see him getting into the first XI. 

Paul - All of them have impressed me

Gillingham Legends - I’m not interested with EFL trophy so haven’t seen much of them to be honest. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Orji and can see him being involved quite a bit. Gbode could fear given our lack of attacking options and I think Macarthur is an exciting prospect who could prove useful in the future but probably not just yet.

Loonpotter - Orji could cement his place in the 1st team before long and I would like to see more of Macarthur. 

BQGillsFan - MacArthur and Sithole may get some game time in the first team, but I honestly don't see any of the names listed getting much league time this season.

Rob - Probably Orji, as McKenzie is injured still and Alexander may need resting or will have a suspension at some point

Lewis - I really like Orji, MacArthur and Gale. It’s nice that we have the stepping stone from the academy to the first team now and it’ll help a lot. 

18. FOR ANYONE WHO WENT TO WREXHAM 2-0 GILLINGHAM, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH ???

Dean - Awful, no effort, no creativity, no anticipation shown, no attacking intent, lack of movement off the ball; I could go on 

Colin - I thought we were poor against Wrexham. I didn’t expect us to win but I did expect us to make more of a game of it.

Naylor - We didn't do ourselves justice. We played the ball sideways too many times and just didn't penetrate Wrexham. Defending for both goals was very poor and considering there was about 1150 of us there, it was a rather disappointing performance. We were denied a clear penalty which also added to our woes but regardless wasn't good enough.

Mark - I didn't go. Listened on the Radio but never thought we would score two. 

Paul - I didn’t think we were as bad as some suggested

Gillingham Legends - I didn’t go and wasn’t too surprised by the result. Stephen Clemence is not going to be able to change things overnight and we need to give him time to implement his ideas.

Loonpotter - A very tough ask for Clemence’s 1st league game in charge and I didn't really expect to much else. 

BQGillsFan - Wasn't in attendance

Rob - I didn't go

Lewis - I’d rather not relive it! It was a really long day and we were awful to be honest. But Salford made up for it.

19. GILLINGHAM REACHED THE LEAGUE CUP SECOND ROUND, WINNING 3-1 AGAINST SOUTHAMPTON IN THE FIRST ROUND AT PRIESTFIELD STADIUM, BEFORE LOSING 3-2 AGAINST LUTON TOWN IN THE LEAGUE CUP SECOND ROUND AT KENILWORTH ROAD, HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP GILLINGHAM’S CUP RUN IN THE LEAGUE CUP THIS SEASON ???

Dean - Decent, and enjoyable 

Colin - I wouldn’t call 2 games a cup run. We played quite well against the team Southampton put out and deserved our win. We also did OK at Luton. I enjoyed both games.

Naylor - Harris definitely knew how to get the best out of the side for the cup games and that Southampton game showcased how good this team can be. We pressed so well that day and made Southampton look like the L2 side and us the championship side. Frustrating we don't seem to be able to carry that over to the league.

Mark - It was good fun. Southampton was the best we have played all season. Luton is an absolute dump of a ground but good to be part of a noisey away following. 

Paul - Excellent and a lot of credit to the team and manager

Gillingham Legends - It was very admirable, much like last season. We were outstanding against Southampton and deserved the result. And we gave Premier League Luton a tough game too and could’ve won on another night. Nothing to be ashamed of there.

Loonpotter - We punched well above our weight in the league cup.

BQGillsFan - Great cup run. A fantastic home win against a former Premier League side, and then a fun away day to new Prem boys Luton, where we made a game of it. Was at both games and had so much fun.

Rob - Was good to get past the 1st round. Luton away was an experience, that's for sure!

Lewis - Not bad to be honest considering we played two big teams! That Southampton game was great. Add it to the list of my favourite games under Harris from earlier. 

20. GILLINGHAM REACHED THE SECOND ROUND OF THE FA CUP, WINNING 2-0 AWAY AGAINST HEREFORD IN STEPHEN CLEMENCE’S FIRST GAME IN-CHARGE AT EDGAR STREET, AND GILLINGHAM ARE STILL WAITING TO SEE IF WE ARE PLAYING CHARLTON ATHLETIC OR CRAY VALLEY PAPER MILLS AT PRIESTFIELD STADIUM IN THE SECOND ROUND, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON GILLINGHAM WINNING AGAINST HEREFORD IN ROUND ONE ??? AND YOUR THOUGHTS ON GILLINGHAM PLAYING EITHER CHARLTON ATHLETIC OR CRAY VALLEY PAPER MILLS AT PRIESTFIELD STADIUM IN THE SECOND ROUND ???

Dean - We looked ‘ok’ at Hereford, hoping it’s Charlton as would be a great crowd 

Colin - I enjoyed the Hereford match. We came under some pressure at 1-0 but we held onto the lead and we’re able to increase it before the end of the game. I would have been disappointed if we had lost to a mid table Conference North side.

Naylor - Yep a game you'd hope we'd win. Didn't watch the game but good starting block for Clemence. Just another game against Charlton.

Mark - Glad we won and a decent draw for the second round. Should be a decent away following. I hope its Cray and that probably gives us the best chance of the glamour tie in round 3.  

Paul - A well deserved win and we now face Charlton in the next round

Gillingham Legends - I think the Hereford win was a decent, professional performance in what could easily have been a banana skin. Obviously we now know it will be Charlton and I think Charlton at home is a good draw- at home, a derby against one of the biggest clubs in the competition at this stage. And its one we can win too.

Loonpotter - Fantastic result against Hereford and now a mouthwatering game against Charlton to look forward to. 

BQGillsFan - Well the win was to be expected, would have been a horror show if we failed to reach the second round. Don't expect us to get past Charlton in the next round, but maybe home field advantage will see us through to the third round.

Rob - Charlton at home is a big game and the ground will be packed. Am looking forward to us causing an upset

Lewis - I hate games against Charlton. I think it brings the worst of our fans out. But it is what it is. Winnable game. 

21. ON TUESDAY, GILLINGHAM LOST 1-0 AT HOME TO FULHAM U21’S IN THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE TROPHY, A RESULT WHICH SEE’S GILLINGHAM ELIMINATED FROM THE COMPETITION, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON GILLINGHAM FAILING TO QUALIFY FROM THE GROUP STAGES OF THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE TROPHY ???

Dean - I was there, I’m disappointed; I think we should of put a better 11 out and tried to progress 

Colin - I don’t attend Trophy matches. The club doesn’t take them seriously. The attendances are usually barely above a thousand. The completion needs to be revamped. I would drop the U21 element.

Naylor - I don't care about that competition so have little thoughts on the matter.

Mark - I never even give this trophy a thought. Honestly couldn't care less. 

Paul - A tough group but been nice to progress

Gillingham Legends - Really have little interest in the competition. It’s always been poor and a low priority but they’ve made in so much worse with the inclusion of the U21 teams. The low attendances reflect its popularity and Gillingham have never done anything in it anyway. I don’t think anyone will be losing sleep over our exit.

Loonpotter - It's a good competition to see fringe players but doing well in it is pretty irrelevant. 

BQGillsFan - Couldn't care less about the Football League Trophy

Rob - I don't care in the slightest about the Trophy, I hadn't realised we hadn't qualified

Lewis - Couldn’t care less to be honest. But I do like going to watch the games of an evening. 

22. ON TUESDAY THE SEVENTEENTH OF OCTOBER, MAIDSTONE UNITED WON 2-0 AGAINST GILLINGHAM IN THE KENT SENIOR CUP WITH GILLINGHAM NAMING A YOUNG SIDE AT THE GALLAGHER STADIUM, WITH GILLINGHAM MOSTLY USING THE KENT SENIOR CUP FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, WHAT DO GILLINGHAM NEED TO DO TO WIN THE KENT SENIOR CUP WITH A YOUNG SQUAD ???

Dean - Play fringe players 

Colin - We would need a much better young squad if we are going to field a youth team. It was men against boys. I would prefer is to be able to field a mix of youth, B team and fringe first team players but the current squad and injury situation saw us fielding a very young side.

Naylor - Probably not play the B Team

Mark - As per my comment on the trophy above. 

Paul - Play the main team and for once win the cup

Gillingham Legends - Despite being the only pro club in Kent, Gills have only won it twice in their entire history and not since 1948. That tells you everything you need to know about the importance of this cup. If we were to field our first team, we would walk it most seasons. But it will always be used to field the youngsters and unless we get a particularly good bunch come through at once we will never win it.

Loonpotter - I'm not sure they will and I don't think it's too important. 

BQGillsFan - Couldn't care less about the Kent Senior Cup

Rob - Again, I don't care what we do in the Kent Senior Cup. It's games for the B team, in my view.

Lewis - Not sure we will to be honest. I did think a few more senior players would be involved in that one. But at the same time you don’t want to risk it. 

23. WHAT WOULD YOUR STARTING LINE UP AND SUBSTITUTES BENCH BE FOR GILLINGHAM V SALFORD CITY ON SATURDAY ???

Dean - JT CA ME CM SO SM EC SW JW TN MB - 3-4-1–2

Colin - Depending on who is available, Turner, Alexander, Ogie, Masterson, Malone, Mahoney, Jefferies, Williams J, Lapslie, Bonne, Nichols. Whoever is left on the bench.

Naylor - Personally would go diamond. Turner. Alexander, Ehmer, Masterson, Malone. Coleman, Dieng, Jefferies, J.Williams. Nichols & Bonne.

Mark - Two up front please. We are at home can we show some attacking intent. 

Paul - As against Wrexham but if fit I would have Nichols up front with Bonne

Gillingham Legends - I think we should play two upfront. My team would be - Turner, Alexander, Malone, Masterson, Ogie, Coleman, Dieng, Mahoney, Jefferies, Nichols, Bonne. Subs - Morris, Ehmer, Lapslie, S.Williams, J.Williams, Clarke, Walker.

Loonpotter - I'm not sure who is available.

BQGillsFan - Turner, Alexander, Masterson, Ogie, Malone, Coleman, Dieng, Mahoney, Jeffries, Bonne, Nichols /// Morris, Ehmer, McKenzie, S. Williams, J. Williams, Lapslie, Clarke

Rob - Probably what Clemence went with!

Lewis - I was really surprised when I saw the team but it worked really well. That was the best I’d seen Nichols play on his own and Williams thrived out wide too for the first time. 

24. AND WHAT IS YOUR SCORE PREDICTION FOR GILLINGHAM V SALFORD CITY ???

Dean - 2-0 with my line up

Colin - 1-0 Gillingham. 

Naylor - 2-2

Mark - Gills to win 1-0 

Paul - A tough one but a draw

Gillingham Legends - Gills win 2-1

Loonpotter - Gillingham 2-1 Salford City

BQGillsFan - This will be my first game back since Harris' sacking due to work commitments, so I'm hoping for a good game. 2-1 Gills

Rob - 3-1 Gills

Lewis - 3-1 win…!

25. AND FINALLY, IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WISH TO ADD (EXAMPLE: IS THERE SOMETHING I HAVE NOT COVERED IN THE TWENTY FOUR QUESTIONS ASKED ABOVE YOU WANT TO EXPAND UPON) ???

Dean - Trust the process

Colin - Nothing To Add

Naylor - I'm hoping to see the Paella back in the Rainham End soon.

Mark - Its almost a year since the Galinsons took over and they have worked wonders for the fan experience. Results have gone a bit off recently BUT the club is in far better shape than  this time last year. I'd like people to keep that in mind and be more positive. The Galinsons deserve that.

Paul - It’s good to see the club changes but we must start to see better from the team now and more goals.

Gillingham Legends - I don’t think so, well done as always. Lets get behind Stephen Clemence and give him time and our support to get us going!

Loonpotter - Nothing To Add 

BQGillsFan - Nothing To Add

Rob - It's good to see the shop open again and hopefully the retail side of the business will be booming again. Need to get a popup stand at Bluewater and Hempstead Valley around Christmas shopping time. Thanks for doing this again Lee.

Lewis - Nope. Thanks as always Lee for asking me to be involved and up the Gills.

Once again, thank you to everyone for participating in this blog, and if anyone who is reading this wishes to participate in The Next Gillingham Supporters Blog, then feel free to send me a message, and your more than welcome to participate in The Next Gillingham Supporters Blog, The Strength Of The Gillingham Supporters Blog comes from everyone who has contributed, so once again, thank you to everyone who has participated in every single Gillingham Supporters Blog, Now, Gillingham have got back to back home league games against AFC Wimbledon and Bradford City, and hopefully, Gillingham can pick up back to back league wins and start to pull clear of The League Two Relegation Zone - COME ON THE GILLS!!!!!!!!!!