#in the hypothetical case he retired...

[jorbridgerton1]

And in the case max retired... Well of course is going to hurt me but like thats his life he literally being in this since childhood (like everyone in that grid) but he's done his shit okay ? Hes a fourth time world champion! He's broke records, he demonstrated he a generational talent!

I'm proud of max and if he wants to retire I would be sad but also happy because he say it himself he wants to be present father , as max fans we know he loves his family and he is a family man so yeah is going to be sad because thanks to him I know this amazing sport and fall in love with it and I met such lovely people in this fandom but I'm going be happy because that's he's decision and he already do his work in f1 and he demonstrated that he's one of kind

[the-bibrarian]

I see a lot of incomprehension online about our pension reform and the anger it generates in France, and what it often boils down to is "why are they so angry, 64 is plenty young to retire?"

I don't agree, but even if I did I would still oppose the reform. Here are some of the reasons why:

We already need 43 full years of work and tax contributions to be able to retire. Which means college-educated people were never going to retire at 64 anyway, let alone 62. This reform is aimed at people who start working early, mostly in low-paying jobs.

There's very little provision made in this law for hard/dangerous/manual labour.

There's no provision made for women who stop working to raise their children (51% of women already retire without a "complete career," which means they only retire on a partial pension, vs. 25% of men).

At 64, 1/3 of the poorest workers will already be dead. In France, between the richest and the poorest men, there's a 13 years gap in life expectancy.

Beyond life expectancy, at that age a lot of people (especially poorer, non-college educated) have too many health-related issues to be able to work. Not only is it cruel to ask them to work longer, if they can't work at all that's two more years to hold on with no pension

Unemployment in France is still fairly high (7%). Young people already have a hard time finding work, and this is going to make things even harder for them

Macron cut taxes on the rich and lost the country around 16 Billions € in tax revenue. Our estimated pension deficit should peak at 12 Billions worst case scenario.

While I'm on wealth redistribution (no, not soviet style, but I think there should be a cap on wealth concentration. Nobody needs to be a billionaire.): some of the massive profits of last year should go to workers and to the state to be redistributed, including to fund pensions. The state subsidized companies and corporations during the pandemic, Macron even said "no matter the cost" and spent 206 Billions € on businesses. Now he's going after the poorest workers in the country for an hypothetical 12 Billions??

Implicit in all of this is the question of systemic racism. French workers from immigrant families are already more likely to have started their careers early, to have low-paying jobs, are less likely to be college-educated, more at risk for disabilities and chronic illnesses, etc., so this is going to disproportionately affect them

This is not even touching on the fact that he didn't let lawmakers vote on it, meaning he knew he wouldn't get a majority of votes in parliament, or that 70% of the population is against this law. Pushing it through anyway is blatant authoritarianism.

TL;DR: This is only tangentially about retirement age. The reform will make life harder for people with low incomes, or with no higher education, for manual workers, for women—mothers especially, for POC, for people with disabilities or chronic conditions, etc. This is about solidarity.

Hope (sincerely) this helps.

[hanibalistic]

#6F417E | EARTH-42 MILES MORALES.

genre | fluff, faint angst / reader is gn

synopsis | miles found you fainted in an alleyway one day, except you died two years ago.

word count | 3440

warning | brief mention of injuries / use of spanish phrases translated from the internet :( let me know if i'm wrong about anything! / everything i know about e-42 miles morales is from the movie 

note | not the proudest of my writing here. also, a disclaimer that the events in this fic will deviate from canon haha

parts | one, two, three, four

"Uncle Aaron, I think we forgot to get detergent."

"You forgot to get detergent. I didn't forget nothing."

Miles's shoulders slumped in distaste. His frown mirrored the quiet complaints he spilled out of his mouth as his fingers tugged at the grocery bags dangling on them. He must have been delirious to still forget an item written on a piece of paper and to think the word 'detergent' wasn't even crossed out on the grocery list his mother gave him. It wouldn't be too big of a deal, but he imagined his mother would be mumbling about it as she set the table for dinner. 

The doorknob fumbled a bit before the door swung open. The brightness in your eyes dimmed upon seeing Uncle Aaron's furrowed brows, which reminded you of the cautionary tale he kept retiring about being aware of opening doors to unknown knocks in case of danger. You still had difficulty getting used to a dangerous Brooklyn because yours was bright and sunny, and it had its very own Spiderman. Miles had laughed when you told him about your Brooklyn, asking if there was a ranking for crime fighting bug of the week; Spiderman today, something like Ant-man tomorrow?

“If I’d been a serial killer–“

“Which you are not,” you sang with vague cheerfulness as you tried to take the groceries from his hand. 

“Hence the question being hypothetical–“

“Miles! You’re home!”

“Mi vida.” It was not audible. He opened his arms habitually and let you dive into his embrace. “How’s your day? Did you glitch?” 

You perked up from where you buried your face in his shoulder and examined the bracelet permanently latched around your wrist. Gwen was the one who put the finishing touches on it, and she was so excited about the product that she came over in the middle of the night to hand it to you. It has been about two weeks since you began wearing it, and you have not glitched once. You told Miles it should be safe to conclude that the bracelet worked, but he always asked for good measures anyway. 

“I helped around the house, as always,” you replied. Fixing the bracelet, you felt a soft magnetic pull against the tips of your fingers that touched the metal. You let go of it and rested your chin on Miles’s shoulder, sighing in contentment at the mere solidity of his body. “I didn’t glitch.”

Knowing that he was not being paid attention to, Aaron decided against scolding you for cutting him off twice. Instead, he rolled his eyes and turned to the kitchen, where Rio was shifting through a stack of sealed envelopes. He placed the groceries on the square table in the middle of the kitchen and smacked his teeth, looking pointedly at Rio as he nudged his head toward the apartment door.

Rio didn’t have to look to know you two were stuck in each other’s arms by the door. She smiled, shifting through the letters carefully with a shake of her head. “He is happy, Aaron.”

“Happy enough to cut me off my sentence,” he scoffed before adding, “twice.”

“I’m sure they will apologize if you say something,” she mused. “Especially [Name]. They’re a good kid.”

Aaron’s eye twitched in dismay. Rio was right—you were a good kid. He couldn’t hate you enough to delude himself into believing otherwise, and of course, he didn’t actually hate you. Besides the apparent naivety he suspected came from living in a safe Brooklyn, nothing about you was blatantly dislikable. You were helpful, albeit not the brightest learner. You listened well, which could be a product of being in another’s hospitality. And, most importantly, you were Miles’s safe place. For the first time in years, Aaron could see his nephew find time to be the teenager he was supposed to be. You practically breathed life into him, which worried Aaron the most.

You were a second chance that Miles was unwilling to let go of, but whether you return to your Earth was not his decision. What would happen to him when you leave? You would destroy him. 

“I got the groceries, Mrs. Morales!”

Rio dropped the envelope in her hand and smiled upon your arrival. "Mi amorcito!" 

You tilted your head with a thoughtful grin after you put the grocery bag next to all the things Uncle Aaron had taken out of the one he was holding. When Rio flashed you a questioning look, you shrugged. "Miles called me that before. I didn't know what it meant."

A choked-out cough sounded from behind all three of you, and standing by the kitchen sink was Miles, gripping the edge of the sink and coughing out the water that ran down the wrong pipe. Rio covered her teasing smile with a hand, but her shoulder moved to the gentle beats of her lighthearted chuckles. Aaron stared at his panicking nephew, a tinge of judgemental pity laced in his eyes. 

Slamming his fist to his chest, Miles swung around to glare between the three of you before his eyes landed on your curious face. “What are you talkin’ about?”

"When did he say that to you?" Rio asked. 

You rolled your eyes skyward. If you remember correctly, it was during the first few glitch attacks when you would break down from the sheer pressure of it. He had encouraged you to sleep with him on those nights, and you gladly accepted the offer. It was during one of those tearful nights, you believed. He had whispered it when he thought you were asleep, with teary hiccups still occupying your body's consciousness, and you remembered he had been stroking your hair to lull you to sleep. Everything about him was tender during those nights—his touch, voice, and presence. Unbeknownst to you, its cause was that he physically could not muster any energy when you suffered. 

"He must have thought I was sleeping," you said, then you looked sheepishly at Miles, who returned it with a sneer. “I wasn’t asleep yet.”

“Clearly,” he muttered. 

"I didn't take you for someone who would sneak into people's rooms when they're sleeping?" Aaron chimed in. 

“I didn’t!” Miles groaned in embarrassment. “They cry like hell whenever they glitch. What was I supposed to do?”

“I did cry like hell when I glitched,” you said in agreement as you turned around from the kitchen cabinet where you were stocking the cleaning supplies. “I was the one who looked for him, actually. I couldn’t fall asleep alone. The glitching was terrible.”

Aaron’s eyes darted between you both. Miles reached out for you, his arm moved boldly, but the tip of his finger that touched your shoulder to get your attention was timid and boyish. He exhaled when you smiled at him, and the faintest smirk only you could discern to be a curve of contentment grew on his face as you walked near him. You scrunched your nose into a tight-lipped smile when he muttered something only you could hear, likely giving an unnecessary explanation for his comment on you crying like hell. 

The rate you two could engage in your own world was almost admirable if Aaron wasn’t so cautious of Miles’s growing feelings for you. But watching as you two helped each other stock the kitchen cabinets, shoulders brushing and shoving playfully, he knew he couldn't do anything. 

"We forgot to get detergent."

Rio gasped. She glanced at the washing machine filled with dirty clothes waiting to be cleaned, one of which included her work uniform, and she sighed. She would have to wear the one she did on her last shift. “I guess I’ll make a run to the store after my shift ends,” she mumbled with a thoughtful hum. “Or I can do it later on the way to the bank. I needed to deposit something.”

“The bank closes at six,” Aaron said questioningly.

“They have a drop-off box that opens through the night. It’s super convenient,” she clarified with a finger snap. “I’ll just stop by briefly before my shift starts. I might forget tomorrow.”

“Your shift starts at twelve, right?”

“Yeah,” Rio nodded, “overnight.”

“You gonna eat dinner with us?”

“I will,” she nudged her head toward where you and Miles were bickering about the washed dishes, “if those two would step away from the stove so I can cook something!”

The two of you froze up at Rio’s demanding tone. Quickly organizing the knickknacks on the dish rack next to the stove, not forgetting to scoff at each other about storing the utensils, Miles ushered you out of the kitchen with his hands clamped over your shoulders. Uncle Aaron watched your backs disappear into Miles’s room, and he saw your ridiculous faces trying to hold back from laughing at what he could only assume was an inside joke, as nothing was amusing about this situation. He gulped—he couldn’t do anything about Miles’s feelings for you.

The only thing more dangerous than a teenage boy in love is the person he is in love with. Taking you out of the picture would do nothing but bring Miles out of the canvas with you, leaving two vacant spots once close together. If you left, you would destroy him, but more importantly, he wouldn't hesitate to follow you everywhere. If you jumped the universe, he would jump the universe. If you got stranded in purgatory, he would strand himself in limbo. If you went to Hell, he would go to Hell because, at some point, it stopped being a biblical state of eternal torture. At some point, Hell is not a place; Hell is just where you are. And Miles would follow you there, always. 

You jolted up with the television screen flashing at your face. Even in your sleep, your body subconsciously remembered there was something you need to do. Before Rio left for her shift, which was just a little after Miles and Uncle Aaron left for the occasional hangout, she gave you a sealed envelope to deposit into the bank mailbox because you insisted that you were going to head outside for a short walk of fresh air anyway, so you might as well help you with this tiny task. Except you fell asleep on the couch after getting ready and woke up at one o’clock in the morning.

Scanning the quiet apartment, it was easy to tell nobody had returned home yet. Rio wouldn’t be home until early in the morning; Miles tended to get home around two to three o’clock when he was off with Uncle Aaron doing who knows what. Leaning your head against the couch cushion, you drew a mental map of the path to the bank before closing your eyes. If you jogged, a round trip would take you roughly fifteen to twenty minutes. Not a problem! 

Sliding off the couch, you reached into your crossbody bag that was big enough for a phone to feel for the envelope Rio gave you. It was still in there. You zipped the bag and patted it twice for safety, then fixed your jacket sleeves in preparation for the chilling night breeze. Turning off the television and the living room lights as the last step, you grabbed the house key lying in a bowl with some loose change and left the apartment. 

Keeping up a light jog was easy under this cold weather and the dark streets. You liked walking at night, but you were never outside this late. There were no cars or people, much unlike the bustling morning you preferred much more. Uncle Aaron’s cautionary tale repeated in your head and increased your speed through the empty pedestrian road. The more you stayed outdoors, the more you thought it a bad idea to be outside at this dead time. 

“What? What is–what?” you muttered as you moved your body about. 

Glaring at you was the metal deposit box enclosed in the bank walls. It took you a hot minute to find it because it was behind a wall off the side of the building where the ATMs were. You thought it was a terrible design choice only because you couldn’t find it immediately; it would not have been if you managed to. The second hurdle came when you realized the handle to the mailbox wouldn’t budge. 

“How do you open this?” you laughed as you gave the handle another pull. When the metal texture began hurting your skin, you let go to loosen your jacket sleeve until it reached your palm so you could use the thick fabric as a shield. This time, you put a leg up on the wall to use it as leverage. You pulled again. Nothing happened. Huffing in dissatisfaction, you pointed at the mailbox as if it could understand you. “You’re really–mhm!”

The swift kick to the wall could be heard. Miles perked up to where the soft rummaging noise came from and squinted his eyes behind the prowler mask. He scanned the area carefully, looking for any signs of people to find none. He remained tense even as he dropped the matter—gritted teeth and clenched jaw over a bank heist only a few days in planning. He has done this many times before. Maybe not robbing a bank specifically, but criminal activities were no longer a stranger to him as they were. He would even say he enjoyed it; he liked being strong, and it was a source of easy money. However, the main reason why he turned to a life of crime was to distract himself from the death of his father and you. Now that you were here to repaint a corner of his world with colors again, being a prowler was losing its appeal. 

"Miles."

He snapped out of his trance at his uncle's impatient voice screeching through the earpiece, and cleared his throat. "Sorry. What's up?"

"What's up?" His uncle sounded incredulous. "Are the bombs set up?"

"Oh–uh, yeah." He peeked out from behind the bush to check out the blinking red light he set up at the foot of the gate. "They're all set up."

"And you? You got your head in the clouds just then.”

“I’m fine, Uncle Aaron,” Miles clarified with the kind of grit that would have gotten him in trouble usually. He took a deep breath. “Let’s detonate them so we can move on from here.”

The other end shuffled and scratched; its noise muffled the careless footsteps behind the ATM wall.

“Detonation in three….”

You pouted when you shoved the envelope in your bag, still mumbling about not finding an opening to the night deposit box. It was a good enough reason to give Rio tomorrow when she returned home from the hospital; that metal handle would not budge!

“Two…”

Miles perked up at the familiar figure trailing slowly by the bank entrance where he set a bomb device. His ears did not deceive him when he thought he heard footsteps somewhere, and neither was Uncle Aaron wrong about his head being in the clouds! Nobody should be out to the bank at this forsaken time, but his surprising lack of attention made him miss the slow walker—he tilted his head—a slow walker wearing a jacket he remembered he also owned.

You blew raspberries as you patted your bag twice for safety measures. When you looked up, you met eyes with a figure in a purple suit. His stance seemed agitated, and Miles was. He cursed under his breath when he recognized your face, his legs already bringing him out from hiding. What were you doing here? You should be at home!

“One.”

“Uncle Aaron, no!”

The ground shook under your feet, but what made you lose your balance was the impact of the sudden explosions that came in three—bang, bang, bang! The bank building was collapsing, or perhaps it was only in the process of being destroyed? You didn’t get a chance to see clearly. You could hear the alarm bells, though. It wasn’t the wailing kind; it was the kind that rang non-stop. 

Meeting with the ground was not an extraordinary experience for you, but it felt worse than being pushed in this case. Face planting on marble tiles was mentally more endurable than outdoor brick floors. At least you thought that way for now. A groan left your lips as your brain was overloaded with sensations; you absorbed too much, from the alarm noises to the growing pains at the bottom of your body. You groggily looked to where it came from and saw glass shards sticking to your legs through the fabric of the pants. Great. Turning away from them, you noticed your bracelet scratching up tiny sparks, and you couldn’t bring yourself to wonder if you’d broken it.

“Oh no–shit! No, no, no, ¿por qué estás aquí?” Miles unmasked himself, showing his anxiously darting eyes. His hands hovered over your body indecisively, but he felt his fingers inching toward your face where blood trickled down the side of your skin. Miles needed to look through your hair for the source. Curling his arm under your neck, he lifted you to his chest. “Oh no, oh no. Lo siento, lo siento, lo siento–no quise hacerlo.“

You stirred upon his voice phasing in and out of your muffled hearing. Even with the migraine, you could recognize his voice. He was spilling words you didn’t understand, but some of the vocabulary you knew he had said to you before. Mi cariño, mi corazon…mi vida—he whispered that to you today when he came home from school. He probably didn’t think you heard, but you did. You exhaled, then an exhausted whimper pushed itself out of your mouth when the breathing hurt your throat.

He quickly regained his composure upon seeing a sign of life, immediately hooking his arms under your knees, pulling you to his chest, and leaping away from the falling debris. The sight of you bleeding and injured was all too familiar to him. But instead of letting the flashbacks stop him in his tracks, he planned to do something he couldn’t last time—saving you or at least trying to save you.

Returning to where he was hiding, away from the burning building, Miles scanned his surroundings. “Uncle Aaron! Uncle Aaron, help!”

“Miles!” Aaron emerged from the shadows. “We have to go now, we don’t have time–“ he stopped at the sight of you in Miles’s arms–“what happened?”

“They were here–I don’t know why! They’re not supposed to be out here at this time!” 

You remembered how he carried you, which seemed to always be bridal style. It wasn’t as if he did it all the time, though. His hand on your back felt much weirder, too, like he was digging claws into your skin to keep you in his arms. If your senses had gathered better, you would have teased him with the hope that he hadn't gotten tired of you joking about his feelings for you. Licking your dry lips, you rolled your head to meet his chest. It heaved with each word he hollered beyond the fire, the alarm bells, and the disagreement coming from his uncle. They were arguing about where to go. Miles clutched your body closer to him every now and then. He was hell-bent on bringing you to seek medical treatment, and his uncle was not.

“Gwen is waiting!”

“She would want me to help [Name]!”

“We triggered the alarms, so law enforcement will gather here!” Aaron argued. “The police can bring them to the hospital just fine! We need to stick to our plan!”

“[Name] is dead on record. We can’t just bring them to the hospital!” Miles said. “I’m taking them directly to mom.”

A foolish boy. “You’re gonna throw away everything we built.” It was more than just doing crimes, it seemed. There was a bond, a mutual trust built in the process that was on the verge of collapsing. “For that.”

Miles widened his eyes in disbelief. He had his doubts about the way his uncle felt about your existence. Still, he held out hope that the aloofness resulted from the great unknown of the multiverse and Aaron’s personality rather than that he thought your presence was a nuisance. Supposed he was wrong. The casual dehumanization was all he needed to decide how to proceed. Miles hopped a few steps back, his brows furrowing and his grip on your firm. 

“Tell Gwen I’m sorry.”

Aaron clicked his tongue. “Tell her yourself.”

[lousycapy]

The McLaren drivers dilemma

Alright, I wanted to explore the comparison between Lando and Oscar in term of where each of them is in their career to understand better how McLaren should manage them this year. This is gonna be a long post because I love deep dives so buckle up, and if you do wanna go through it I’d love to read your opinion on this matter.

So, let’s start this off by a simple graph representing someone’s hypothetical development in function of the time they’ve spent practising a certain activity. This relation works because the more time you spend working on something, the more time you have to develop it. Here is our control line :

This will be our control, the starting point is (0;0), since if you spent no time on something you don’t develop it at all, and our finish point is an imaginary limit, because you time is limited wether it is through death or in case of formula 1 racing retirement. Thus, your development will also reach an end-point.

Now when we look at Lando and Oscar, an important factor is that they don’t have the same amount of time spent in formula 1. Oscar is ˜2 years along and Lando is ˜6 years along. We can represent it on our graph like this :

If we were to consider development through time as a linear function, the comparison would end here and there wouldn’t be much of interest to it. However, the function ISN’T linear. When you start practising an activity you tend to learn more then because there are low-hanging fruits in comparison to when you have been practising for a long time, because you’ve already discovered the easy improvements and the next ones are more difficult to identify and could imply that you need to modify what you’ve already trained yourself to do. The function would probably be more of an exponential one like that:

You improve really fast at the start and then start trending towards a plateau, which represents the most that you can achieve before your time of development is up. Another important factor to note is that not everybody develops at the same rate, some will learn faster and some slower. Let’s consider the red curve our standard function, and the one which Lando has been following through his career to make the comparison easier. Here are 3 scenarios that could represent the situation when both drivers reach towards the same end point but with different development rates :

Depending on Oscar’s rate of development, we can observe that his gap to Lando varies from barely anything to quite noticeable. But no matter how fast he develops, in this situation Lando will always be further ahead and thus closer to the end-point. Where the comparison gets interesting is when we recognize that not everyone has the same end-point.

Despite all development being limited by a certain time-frame, the maximum development is naturally higher or lower from one person to another. Maybe one has sharper reflexes or a metabolism that produces important hormones when it comes to their focus more efficiently, the point is that naturally some will have advantages and disadvantages in comparison to others which cannot be diminished through practice of the activity.

And now the question is where do McLaren situate Oscar in comparison to Lando when it comes to his end-point. Because at this point in time it is pretty clear that Lando still has the edge, he usually pulls a tenth-ish over Oscar in qualifying and despite being beaten from time to time, he still generally has the better tire management. But does McLaren think Oscar has the yellow or purple curve of development?

The question is complicated, because you need to identify what is an upward trajectory and what is probably a plateau. When it comes to Lando, his weakness at race starts has been pretty consistent throughout his formula 1 career, and even in the junior series. Over such a long stretch of time, it can be assumed that he has reached a sort of plateau in that regard. This is not a dig at him or anything, just a fact. When you haven’t improved in a decade of practising, it probably indicates that you’ve trained yourself to do something a certain way and are incapable of teaching yourself to do it differently, or that you simply only have incremental gains left.

On the other hand, an upward trend can be observed when we look at Oscar’s tire management. At the start of the year, such as in Australia, Japan and China, the weakness was very obvious especially when in similar conditions to Lando. But the improvement has been noticeable, Spa especially has been clear since both were on two-stoppers and in dirty air, but he’s also been solid in Monza, Hungary and Silverstone. Looking at the tracks he has improved the most on the ones on which he has raced in junior categories, and lacks the most on the ones he hasn’t. Thus we can assume that the more experience he gains on tracks he is relatively unfamiliar with, the more his tire management will improve there.

McLaren’s problem is that at this moment in time, they need to create a hierarchy between their drivers to give them the best chance to clinch a driver’s championship. However, the situation is different from the Max/Checo one, because when Checo came in both were experienced drivers with a few years under their belt, the potential gains to be made were marginal and thus it was easier to determine a first and second driver assuming they were reaching their plateau.

For McLaren, Lando is a relatively experienced driver with a few year under his belt, so a known quantity with an approximate development curve established. But Oscar is a developing driver, we haven’t seen enough of him yet to determine what his development curve should look like. You can’t assume someone’s development rate when they haven’t raced more than once or twice on a given circuit in their career, I’d say once you have 5 data sets it is reasonable to establish what the curve looks like (because you can’t make a curve with two dots, it could be as much of a linear function as an exponential one).

The issue is that they don’t know what to think of Oscar yet. To name him as second driver would be clipping his wings, and you don’t want that. You want your developing drivers to learn and explore, to discover those low-hanging fruits and to improve as fast as they can. By pushing a role onto them you risk stopping this development to the limits you impose. However, right now Lando is in a potential championship fight, and he’d need a second driver to support him throughout the next few gps in order to maximize his chances of winning.

The question is, do they bet on Lando’s chances as of now at the extent of limiting Oscar’s growth, or do they gamble on Oscar’s potential at the extent of reducing Lando’s chances? How long do they want to keep them on the team, would it be better long-term to let Oscar develop into a complete racing driver but to sacrifice some of Lando’s faith in the team, or to alienate Oscar so soon in his career to guarantee Lando’s loyalty? Are they supposed to be teammates for the next decade, or only for the next year? How would forcing Oscar into a second driver role affect his relation to Lando and how the team views him, would they start naturally giving Lando the better strategies at the expense of expressing his full talent? Would keeping them on an equal standing annoy Lando and sour his relation with the team, would he get impatient and jump ship in order to get the first driver status he would deserve if both him and Oscar were at the same point on the time axis? Do they believe they’ll still be competitive in the next few years and thus can afford to sacrifice the 2024 Lando driver’s championship shout, or is this a once in a lifetime opportunity and it is worth confining Oscar to a limiting role in order to get Lando’s championship?

So many factors, so many variables, the McLaren lineup is certainly an interesting pair. It must be headache-inducing to decide how to deal with them, because of these different points in their career they both are at. The dilemma of whether a hierarchy should be established between the drivers is a complex thing, but I’ll still offer my conclusion here.

I’d say considering the drivers are signed until 2026 a minima each, and that they both have similar preferences when it comes to the direction of development of the car (we’ve seen with Lando and Daniel for example, who both have very different preferences, that having to compromise will always leave a driver performing worse than what he is capable of), that it is in McLaren’s best interest to maintain this lineup.

The best course of action in my opinion would be to not establish a first and second driver, because Oscar does noticeably better on tracks he is familiar with. Tracks he is not familiar with are coming up, so that means he should naturally be lacking a bit more there than Lando. Thus, he should naturally fall into a role of rear gunner, without McLaren having to confirm he is their second driver. This way, Oscar doesn’t feel alienated and limited to a second driver role pushed onto him, and Lando still gets the best chance for the driver’s championship. The only downside would be that McLaren don’t acknowledge publicly that Lando is the number one driver, and thus Lando could feel annoyed to publicly be put on the same footing as his less experienced teammate when he has more of a chance at a championship. However, if the team intends on keeping this lineup long term, this feels like the best solution in my mind, as long as the assumption that Oscar will perform at a lower level in unfamiliar tracks is correct.

That’s my piece on the matter, feel free to tell me if you don’t agree with anything I said because I’d love to see different perspectives which are not straight bashing of drivers because GOD I’m tired of seeing underdeveloped takes on the situation at McLaren.

[orphiclovers]

Hypothetically, let's say yjh and sp got into a brawl (not fight!! But brawl!!) And they are not allowed to use their powers, not transcend or murim martial arts, just pure physical fight with muscles, Who would win according to you?

You. Are asking me. To powerscale Yoo Joonghyuk. The Kim Dokja fragment resonance is at fucking 1000%. But alright, sure.

In canon when SP and YJH had their rival arc it came down to their stories, and in the end, the only difference was that 3rd had companions and SP didn't. The 'power of friendship' won, I'm being 100% serious. They even say it here.

Buuut you're asking me to ignore all the themes and magic powers like a true redditor and judge just by the circumference of their manly muscles. I can respect that.

I still think Yoo Joonghyuk is winning. Here's why:

1. YJH is actively going through the scenarios and honing his battle skills in real life and death situations every day. Even if SP keeps in practice with the sword (which I'm not sure he does often?) he is retired and no amount of training can replace real life. YJH's instincts will simply be sharper in this case.

2. SP relies on his powers a surprising amount. Yoo Joonghyuk has hard rules for himself that say 'no cheating with the system' - he trained in the time fault for a hundered years in the 2nd regression, he insisted on learning the actual murim swordmanship instead of buying a skill, he jogs in the epilogue to keep in shape where everyone else relies on stats.

SP doesn't seem to have this hangup. Anytime he's on screen he's using some kind of ability, even for dumb shit like summoning wine and pushing Kim Dokja out the door and slamming it with his mind. He has gotten used to these conveniences. I don't think he has a single conversation on screen where he doesn't use some kind of magic trick. The price for this must be that his actual skills get rusty (er than Yoo Joonghyuks. He could still beat every other incarnation's ass in a second, don't make a mistake. We're looking at the minute differences between two monsters here.)

If we're taking away even the passive stuff like outer god aura, which is the thing that makes him intimidating, the chances that he is just as good as YJH are suddenly not so great. So sorry, his ass is not winning.

I hope that answers your question. In any case, the problem in powerscaling is that who wins a fight in fiction is less about who is stronger but more 'which scenario serves the plot best in this moment'. It all depends on the kind of situation they're in or what kind of story the author wants to tell. <- Got a little too into this, have to briefly remind everyone that I still understand themes and plot. I promise I'm not a redditor!

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Bionicle Superhero AU thing but I'm actually like pinning down some aspects the actual lore I guess (some of which are retcons of stuff from here) in a somewhat disjointed way that I might elaborate more on in the form of a document or diagram or something.

Also if you want more details on a specific thing, just like. Send an ask or whatever. Especially since a lot of this stuff is kinda limited compared to what I could do in one of those other formats.

World

The whole thing takes place on Earth.

Metru City, the main location, is a sort of pastiche of Metropolis from DC, and therefore a stand-in for New York.

If Metru City is Metropolis, then its neighbour, Voya City, is Gotham, being much darker and having a very obvious class divide. It's also kinda inspired by Steelport from Saints Row: The Third, being a run-down industrial city that serves as the base of operations for a powerful crime syndicate.

(Almost) everyone's names are different, but to avoid confusion and because I want to have like a full name list I'll use their canon names. Exceptions will be noted. Characters who lack canon names will have their names [in square brackets].

There are original characters, but they won't be listed here.

There is a metanarrative that's mostly an excuse to talk about hypothetical in-universe game and film adaptations, and also the specific decades different characters and universes are introduced and their earlier versions in cases where I actually have an idea for that.

Alternate timelines/universes

G2

A version of the main timeline where everything is more futuristic, the Mata look and act differently (and are all like 5 years younger), and the Inika and Metru are completely different people entirely (with the Metru acting as the Inika's mentors).

Instead of the Makuta being a species, there is now a single being called Makuta, who is this universe's equivalent of Karzahni. Rather than retiring from godhood and becoming a back-alley surgeon, he was imprisoned for millenia awakening every 100 years; whenever he awakens, he is eventually defeated by...

Ekimu, a warrior that is reincarnated every century and is destined to return Makuta to his imprisonment. This universe's Takua is the next incarnation of Ekimu and can transform into him, magical girl-style. However, every time Ekimu incarnates, so does Umarak, an underling of Makuta with shadow-based powers; the current incarnation of Umarak is this timeline's version of Ahkmou.

Metru City is now called Okoto City and is much larger, covering some of the area that's occupied by Voya City in the main timeline.

There are a few heroes and villains who only exist in this timeline, e.g Exo (who is technically this timeline's version of Dume; more on that further down), Kulta's Skeleton Army, the Elemental Beasts, etc.

Some aspects of this timeline are inspired by Dimension 23 from Ben 10 Omniverse, for example the fact that a lot of characters have different stuff going on than in canon (e.g Vezon is the mayor of Okoto City) and that the "main" heroes are a lot more immature than their main-timeline counterparts.

Empire

Literally just the Toa Empire universe, with very few changes. Tuyet and Nidhiki killed Lhikan, Tuyet declared herself god-empress, and now the world sucks.

Invasion

A morality-swap universe where the Spherans destroyed their own planet and invaded Earth; the Makuta have light powers and are attempting to liberate the planet, and what (specifically human) characters do and don't have superpowers are swapped.

Technically the equivalent of the Melding, albeit much worse.

Opposite

An inversion of the main universe; the Skrall attacked and destroyed Earth, so humanity travelled through space and made contact with Spherus Magna.

The equivalent of the Spherus Magna Alternate Universe, though instead of the plot never happening, the plot actually happened the other way around.

Doomed

A world created when Jaller attempted to use the Mask of Time to travel back and save Matoro; the Skrall's superweapon fired, but missed Earth and hit the moon. However, the radiation from the blast turned most of Earth into a desert; a large amount of Earth's population is dead, and Matoro lives in self-imposed exile. However, what remains of humanity have managed to piece together a new civilisation in what used to be Metru City.

The equivalent of the Kingdom.

City of Silver

A film-noir universe where all the old heroes are still active and in their prime, the Metru and Mata are children, and the Inika haven't even been born.

Superpowers are much rarer, and are mostly explained as being magic, or changed to be more realistic (e.g Dume's ability to instantly repair things is just him being really good at fixing stuff, and Jovan's magnetism comes from a pair of electromagnetic gauntlets).

The Barraki are all a single crime family rather than a syndicate, and rather than being immortal, they are all descendants of the original Barraki (though they mostly look the same as their main-timeline counterparts (albeit in period-accurate clothing), with the exceptions of Carapar, Ehlek and Pridak, who are women). Nocturn is one of the few explicitly-supernatural things in the universe.

While it's named after the City of Silver Pocket-Dimension from Bionicle canon, this universe is conceptually inspired by Earth 90214 from Marvel and also Fallen Aces kinda and really just the whole "proto-superhero" concept.

Earth B

A world where everything is a little bit... off. The Mata and Metru aren't superheroes, the Inika Fanclub are older than the Inika and act like mentors to them, Voya City and Metru City swap names, Axonn and Brutaka are supervillains, there are no Makuta or Spherans, and the Piraka are high-ranking gangsters instead of CEOs, among other changes.

Basically this AU's excuse to reference Bionicle Heroes PC/Console's weird BS (other than the main-timeline Piraka's respective businesses).

Golden Age

The original versions of the Metru, Mata, Mangai and Hagah from the early-1930s to the mid-1950s.

Some characters' genders and even races are different, and the queer characters are all. Not that.

The characters' jobs are also different, e.g Lewa is a circus performer instead of a professional gymnast, Pohatu is an explorer instead of a footballer, and Tahu is a scientist instead of a firefighter.

Various characters and factions don't exist in this timeline, as they weren't introduced (in the metanarrative) until later; this includes the Inika and Barraki (who first appeared in the mid '60s), the Cordak and Order of Mata Nui/Federation of Fear (who first appeared in the early '70s), and the Hero Factory (who first appeared in the late '90s).

The Chiara Games

Essentially the AU's equivalent of the Arkhamverse; in the metanarrative, Chiara has her own videogame series. They include grittier reimaginings of her rogues gallery, and plots adapted (usually somewhat loosely) from the comics. There are also a few original characters.

The games play like a cross between actual Arkham games, but with elements of Dishonored, and Zeno Clash in its stealth and combat, respectively; the former works somewhat differently (you can't grapple up to overhanging scenery, but you have superpowers like a medium-range electric shock that can stun guards and disable security cameras), and the latter is based around attacking individual enemies while avoiding other nearby ones rather than bouncing between multiple enemies in a horde.

Very few other superheroes appear, though some that don't appear are mentioned occasionally, and some of their villains show up as bosses.

While Chiara is the main protagonist, Zaria and Vezon are playable in some of the games; the former has a more combat-focused gameplay style, while the latter is even more stealth focused (since his powers are being restrained).

Other minor worlds that I don't have much to say about

The Shadow Timeline (a more straightforward morality-swap than the Invasion; the Shadow Toa come from this timeline)

Cosmic Nightmares (Lovecraft-inspired early 20th century cosmic-horror take on the main universe; Artakha, Karzahni and Mata Nui are unfathomable elder-gods, Teridax is more obviously an alien pretending to be a human, and no-one has superpowers)

Manga (a manga version of the main "comic" where everything is at least somewhat different; based on similar real-world things)

Chiara: The Animated Series (an animated series about Chiara, which introduced a lot of elements that would be used in later parts of the canon)

Pirates (arrrrr, they be pirates!)

Cinematic Universe (the equivalent of both the MCU and the DCEU)

Zombies (because of course)

Obligatory boring realistic version where everything has to make sense and no-one has superpowers (yeah that)

Cheesy 1960s Toa Mata live-action TV show (which is where the idea of Tahu being a fireman instead of a scientist came from)

Assorted one-off what-ifs (including but not limited to "what if the Mata received their powers from Karzahni instead of Artakha?", "what if Umbra had awakened in the 1880s?", "what if the Chronicler's Company were the most recent incarnations of the Inika?", and "what if Pohatu was a wild-west gunslinger?")

Superhero teams

Mata/Nuva

Six heroes from the Mata district, with element-based superpowers gained by exposure to relics created by Artakha, the god of crafting.

They have an honourary seventh Member, Takanuva, who sometimes works with them (and will therefore be listed here).

Tahu

A firefighter who was given fire-based powers.

His associated relic is the Volcanic Blade.

Gali

A lifeguard who was given water-based powers.

Her associated relic is the Oceanic Hook.

Onua

An archaeologist who was given earth-based powers.

Once went on an expedition led by Avak, but was forced to leave after he caught Avak attempting to steal one of the recovered artifacts.

His associated relics is the Subterranean Gauntlets.

Lewa

A professional gymnast who was given air-based powers.

His associated relic is the Atmospheric Axe.

Pohatu

A footballer who was given stone-based powers.

His associated relics are the Ore Boots.

Kopaka

A rescue worker who was given ice-based powers.

His associated relic is the Auroral Shield.

Takua/Takanuva

Studied history at Metru University.

Gained his superpowers after coming into contact with the legendary Mask of Light.

Metru

Six now-retired heroes who protected Metru City in the '80s and '90s.

Vakama

A welder.

Can turn almost fully invisible, though he still has a shadow.

Nokama

A history professor at Metru University.

Able to translate any language (although she has to actively activate her power to do so; without the power active, she can only understand English and Mandarin)

Whenua

A curator at Avak's museum.

Can see in the dark.

Matau

A retired fighter-pilot.

Able to create visual illusions.

Onewa

A sculptor.

Has limited mind-control powers.

Nuju

A former astronomer who now presents shows at Metru Observatory.

Can use telekinesis.

Inika

A younger superhero team, united by the fact that they're the chosen ones (chosen six?) destined to defeat the Barraki.

They're all students at Voya University.

Jaller

A newly-hired security guard at Antiderm Inc.

Studying law.

Can increase his body's performance for a short period of time.

Hahli

On the Voya University hockey team.

Studying history.

Can transform into animals.

Nuparu

Invents things in his free time.

Studying engineering.

Can move silently.

His father was a famous engineer. In the 1980s, he was commissioned by the mayor of Metru City (who was actually Teridax in disguise) to create law-enforcement robots; Teridax then used the robots to turn the city into a police-state, until the Metru defeated him. Almost 20 years later, he was killed by Reidak, who then started going after Nuparu himself.

Kongu

Really into flight-sims.

Studying ornithology.

Has telepathy.

Hewkii

On the Voya University football team. A massive fan of Pohatu.

Studying sports science.

Has perfect aim.

Matoro

Helped translate Nuju's observatory shows into other languages.

Was studying linguistics.

Could astrally project.

Sacrificed himself to save Earth, using the Ignika to overload the Skrall mothership's cannon.

Mangai

A multinational superhero team, brought together to help fight a giant monster that attacked Metru City in the 1970s. Disbanded in 1984.

In the G2 timeline, they're younger (around the same age as the main-timeline Inika) and don't end up breaking up.

Lhikan

From North America (specifically California).

Vakama's adoptive father.

Carries a pair of high-tech swords that can transform into a hoverboard.

Nidhiki

From Spain.

A former mercenary.

Was mutated into a crab-like creature by Roodaka, and is now a Dark Hunter.

Naho

From Japan.

A professional swimmer.

Can turn invisible.

Went missing ever since the Mangai disbanded.

Tuyet

From France.

The daughter of two very rich, very dead arms dealers. Her parents were assassinated by a Dark Hunter.

Has complete intangibility.

Went rogue after the Dark Hunter who killed her parents came back to finish the job, leading her to kill civilians in the hopes that the murders would be pinned on the Dark Hunters.

In the G2 timeline, she's a full-on supervillain.

[Ice Toa 1]

From Japan.

Has enhanced reflexes.

Returned to their home country, and still helps protect it to this day.

[Ice Toa 2]

From Scotland.

Can use magic.

Stayed in Metru City, and fights supernatural threats that non-magic heroes can't.

[Ice Toa 3]

From England.

Axonn's brother.

Has the same power as Axonn.

Got a job at the Order of Mata Nui's UK branch.

[Ice Toa 4]

From North America (specifically Florida).

Can breathe underwater.

Was killed by the Dark Hunters.

[Stone Toa]

From Australia

Doesn't have any powers, but instead pilots a small mech.

Currently works for the Order of Mata Nui.

[Earth Toa]

From Italy.

Had super-speed.

Was killed by the Dark Hunters.

[Plantlife Toa]

From China.

Has healing powers.

Returned to their original team, before retiring in the 2000s.

Hagah

Six wildlife conservationists who were given superpowers by a dying Makuta that crash-landed in the jungle.

The Hero Factory Initiative

A team of artificial superheroes created by the Order of Mata Nui.

They still have their canon first-names, but their canon "surnames" are now their superhero pseudonyms.

They're also a band.

Their rogues gallery won't be talked about in this post (for the most part) because I can't be bothered, but they're just like. The various Hero Factory antagonists but adapted to the setting (e.g the Quatros Beasts are just mutated animals, Von Nebula is a rejected Hero Factory superhero, and Core Hunter is a high-ranking member of Mantax's "MANTA" taskforce who was also originally part of the Hero Factory initiative).

In the G2 timeline, they're sentient robots instead.

Preston/"Stormer"

Extremely resistant to the cold, at the cost of finding even room-temperature too hot.

Plays drums.

Duncan/"Bulk"

Very durable and strong, but still feels normal amounts of pain.

Plays guitar.

Jimi/"Stringer"

Can shout loud enough to shatter glass, but can't control his voice's volume.

Plays bass.

William/"Furno"

Can control - but not create - fire.

Does vocals.

Mark/"Surge"

Has a constant static charge running through his body and across his skin, meaning he can't touch anyone without shocking them.

Plays keyboards.

Natalie/"Breez"

Can alter the movement of air in a radius, allowing her to glide, but she has to maintain concentration.

Does vocals.

Julius/"Nex"

Can control technology.

Helps with the band's equipment.

Nathan/"Evo"

Can transform into human/animal hybrids, but only for 10 minutes at a time, and he has to wait 10 minutes afterwards because self-indulgent reference.

Helps organise the band's concerts, and designs their flyers and album covers.

Cordak

An ameteur team composed of students from a school for young superheroes. Most of them died during an attack from Teridax's underlings, leaving only one of them alive.

In the G2 timeline, they are still active, acting as mentors to the Mangai.

Lesovikk

One of only two survivors of the attack (the other being Zaria).

Wanders the globe, helping out wherever he can.

Nikila

A powerful psychic, and second in command.

Supervillain teams

Piraka

Six extremely rich and corrupt billionaires who coincidentally gained superpowers at the same time, and went mad with power.

In the G2 timeline, they are more cartoonishly evil, have elemental powers, and their superpowers are more visible when not active. Also, Vezok, Thok and Zaktan are women.

Hakann

The CEO of a tungsten-mining company; gained his powers after being exposed to a strange mineral while visiting one of his mines.

He can fire heat-beams from his eyes, and also has fire-based powers.

His G2 counterpart has a "gauntlet" of cracked stone covering his entire left arm, with a firey glow coming from inside; his eyes also glow.

Vezok

The CEO of a shipping company, and a hobbyist cave-diver; gained his powers after touching a strange artifact while cave-diving.

His G2 counterpart has fishlike scales around her neck and arms, as well as webbed fingers and a large dorsal sail.

Reidak

An extremely successful oil baron, and a former engineer; doesn't have any powers, but instead used his engineering skills to build a powerful exoskeleton out of sheer boredom.

His exo-suit has thermal and infrared vision, can adapt to an opponent's abilities or fighting-style, and its limbs contain multiple guns and lasers.

Had a one-sided rivalry with Nuparu's father, who "stole" the "victory" of having his design chosen for Metru City's robotic defenders. After he murdered him, the hate then extended to Nuparu himself, who witnessed the murder and was approaching his father's level of technological aptitude, the latter of which set off Reidak's hate.

His G2 counterpart is a full-on cyborg, with almost a third of his head replaced by cybernetics, as well as his entire right arm up to the shoulder.

Zaktan

A famous architect and ameteur explorer; gained his powers after activating a mysterious, seemingly magical trap in a temple, which broke his body down into a swarm of flies.

Along with being made of flies, Zaktan can also fire lasers from his eyes.

His G2 counterpart has insectoid mandibles next to her mouth, as well as large dragonfly-like wings and an abdomen with a stinger.

Avak

The owner of the museum that Whenua works at, and an archaeologist who is infamous for stealing the artifacts his expedition crews unearth; while at a dig, he accidentally activated a mysterious, seemingly magical mechanism (while trying to hide it in his pocket), which gave him his powers.

He has X-ray vision, and can summon energy-cages to trap opponents.

His G2 counterpart is made out of a marble-like substance that can shapeshift into different forms.

Thok

The CEO of a lumber company, with an interest in mountain-climbing; while trying to climb Mount Mangaia (which is located in the Pacific in this AU), he fell into a cavern that was actually one of the engines of Teridax's ship, and the alien particles within gave him superpowers.

He can disorientate his opponents, and is also more resistant to the cold.

His G2 counterpart has multiple ice-spikes sticking out of her head instead of hair, as well as "talons" made of ice. She also wears a lot of fur coats.

Barraki

Six ancient kings who attained immortality thousands of years ago, but lost their thrones after the first holders of the Inika title defeated them; they have since become the heads of a very powerful crime syndicate, with their headquarters in the middle of Voya City, hiding behind the front of Kingdom Security Solutions.

Each Barraki controls a sixth of the city, and has their own themed gang.

Their names are all the same as in canon.

In the G2 timeline, they weren't granted true immortality, but instead tranferred into magical stone bodies resembling humanoid versions of their canon selves' respective animals.

Pridak

The leader of the Barraki's current iteration.

Greying but handsome.

Likes wearing white suits, which tend to get stained with blood very quickly.

Eats people, which is the most common reason for him getting blood on his suits.

The leader of the Piranhas; classier criminals who wear white and red.

Kalmah

Covered head-to-toe in scars from many fights, and is missing his left eye.

Wears a bulletproof vest at all times, and is rarely seen in public without the three-eyed demon mask he wore when he was still a king.

The leader of the Krakens; an army of super-strong brawlers that have facial tattoos based on Kalmah's mask.

Ehlek

Weak and emaciated from a combination of spending years Not Doing Shit™, and also just being like that I guess. Relies on Nocturn to do all the fighting for him. Speaks almost exclusively in his culture's language (which is basically just Latin).

Still wears his regalia from when he was a king.

The leader of the Anguillae; warriors that carry swords, spears and shields, and wear armour modelled after the soldiers of Ehlek's kingdom, with eel motifs on the shoulders, a helmet shaped like a sea serpent's head, and Ehlek's coat of arms on the chest and shields.

Mantax

Very buff.

Wears tactical combat gear 24/7.

The leader of MANTA; a squadron of stealth snipers that silently assassinate the Barraki's high-priority opponents.

Carapar

Big in all directions.

Wore the most casual outfit out of all the Barraki; a white tank-top, a pair of canvas trousers, and also metal kneepads I guess.

He also wore a bandolier, despite rarely ever carrying a weapon that would require one. He saw it in an action movie once and thought it looked cool.

The leader of Claw; a militia armed with powerful weapons.

He was briefly part of the Federation of Fear, but died during the mission to rescue Miserix.

Takadox

Skinny murder-twink.

Wears an incredibly garish cyan suit, large red-tinted round-lens sunglasses, and silver high-heeled boots with bladed heels.

The leader of the Peacocks; flamboyant fighters who weaponise dancing.

He briefly became part of the Federation of Fear and went on the mission to resuce Miserix, but then abandoned the team early on.

Nocturn

A strange aquatic being that protected Ehlek's kingdom millenia ago. No other members of his species have ever been recorded, and his appearance is basically a combination of unrelated aquatic species in a somewhat humanoid form (a head resembling a crab, but with a shark's mouth; a pair of tentacles on his shoulders, one of which has been cut down to a stump; frog-like webbed hands and feet, but with claws like a crocodile; anemone-like fronds across his back), making it likely he was created through supernatural means.

Fights on behalf of Ehlek, who is too frail to do so himself.

Dark Hunters

A worldwide assassin organisation.

Most of the members are also standalone villains, and a few even left the organisation at some point. They're just sorted here for convenience.

The Shadowed One

The leader of the Dark Hunters.

Like in canon, he does have a name, but everyone just calls him "The Shadowed One".

Roodaka

The wealthy heiress of a major weapons company.

Has a PHD in bioengineering, which she used to create a substance that mutates people.

Her City of Silver counterpart is an archetypical film-noir femme fatale, who is also the woman-behind-the-man for Sidorak.

Her G2 counterpart is a cyberneticist who uses nanites to forcibly augment her captives.

Shadow Stealer

An extremely edgy '90s villain who, in the metanarrative, managed to stay a regular recurring antagonist into the 21st century, being reimagined as either a serious threat or a goofy parody depending on the writer. In the AU's main "comic run", he's the former, with a faintly-Lovecraftian cosmic horror twist to his design and backstory.

He was a researcher in the 1920s, who found a mysterious artifact belonging to an ancient civilisation that worshipped a being known as Tren Krom. The artifact granted him immortality and the ability to control people by manipulating their shadows, but the twisted his soul, turning him into his current form.

His original '90s premise was just that he was an evil Tren Krom hooded-cultist guy who inexplicably was absolutely ripped, had like 10 belts across his entire outfit, and could kill people by ripping their shadows out of their bodies. He was also technically a hero, but this was changed later on when he was rewritten as part of the Dark Hunters.

Mimic

A warrior who can recreate any action he sees another perform.

Part of Chiara's rouges gallery, though they have worked together in the past.

His wife was critically injured in an earthquake and is now on life support. Mimic works for the Dark Hunters in an attempt to help pay for the treatments required to keep her alive; in the metanarrative, this backstory was created in the '90s as part of the Chiara animated series, and became a major part of Mimic's character going forwards yes that is a Cold Cold Heart reference.

In the G2 timeline, Mimic was injured instead, and his wife has the whole action-copying gimmick instead.

Kulta

A time-displaced king from an ancient civilisation.

His G2 counterpart is undead, and commands the Skeleton Army (who don't exist in the main timeline).

Lariska

Literally just canon!Lariska but human.

Was briefly part of the Federation of Fear, but left after their mission to rescue Miserix from Antiderm Inc.; however, she still helps the Order of Mata Nui from time to time.

Teridax's Rebellion

A group of Makuta who tried to usurp their planet's leaders, but ended up being banished into space.

In the G2 timeline, they are all regular humans, and have their human disguises' names as their actual names.

Teridax

The leader of a failed rebellion against the Makuta homeworld's leaders.

His name is still Teridax in this AU. This applies to all other Makuta.

His human disguise is "Terrence Daxter", CEO of Antiderm Inc.

Antroz

His human disguise is "Andrew Rose", head of Antiderm's materials research department.

Vamprah

His human disguise is "Vance Emporia", head of Antiderm's nutritional research department.

Chirox

His human disguise is "Kai Roscoe", head of Antiderm's sonics research department.

Gorast

Her human disguise is "Gloria Aster", head of Antiderm's neurological research department.

Bitil

His human disguise is "Bill Tilford", head of Antiderm's quantum research department.

Krika

His human disguise is "Christopher Calford", head of Antiderm's communications department.

Kojol

His human disguise is "Cody Jones", head of Antiderm's cybersecurity department.

Tridax

His human disguise is "Tristan Daxter", head of Antiderm's dimensional-travel research project, and also "Terrence Daxter"'s brother.

Icarax

His human disguise is "Icarus Ragnarsson", Antiderm's head of security.

Sidorak

A corrupt politician who Teridax was lobbying as part of his attempt to take over the world.

Was married to Roodaka, but she ended up mutating Sidorak into a giant spider-monster that fought the Metru and was killed by Keetongu.

His City of Silver counterpart is a mob boss, though he's really just a puppet for Roodaka.

The Zyglak

Carnivorous creatures from the Makuta homeworld.

A swarm of them are responsible for the deaths of most of the students at Orde's school, including almost all of the Cordak.

Miserix

A member of the Makuta council who Teridax's rebellion managed to capture, and ended up being brought with them when they went to Earth. The Federation of Fear were sent on a mission to rescue him from a prison under the Antiderm Inc. headquarters, which led to the deaths of Carapar and Spiriah.

His preferred form is a large, dragon-like creature, based on a creature from the Makuta homeworld.

Doesn't have a name for his human disguise, since he improvised it during the Federation of Fear's rescue mission, and went back to his big scary dragon form afterwards.

His G2 timeline counterpart is called "Mr. Ricks", and is Antiderm HQ's elderly head janitor who has been working there since before Teridax became the CEO.

The Shadow Toa

Evil counterparts of the Mata from an alternate timeline, brought into the main reality by Tridax.

Their overall backstories are the same (six random people who were given elemental artifacts created by Artakha), but their jobs and personalities are different.

Tahu

An arsonist who was given fire-based powers.

Gali

A pirate who was given water-based powers.

Onua

An archaeologist who was given earth-based powers.

Once went on an expedition led by Avak, but was forced to leave after Avak caught him attempting to steal one of the recovered artifacts.

Lewa

A thief who was given air-based powers.

Pohatu

A mob enforcer who was given stone-based powers.

Kopaka

A "tour guide" (actually a con artist who intentionally gets people lost in dangerous and remote places, then refuses to return them if they don't give him their money) who was given ice-based powers.

Takanuva

Has shadow powers instead of light.

Other factions (and also species)

The Order of Mata Nui

An organisation that helps fund and support Superhero teams, as well as storing dangerous artifacts and imprisoning superpowered criminals.

Their name comes from a mythical warrior who is said to only appear when the entire world is in imminent danger; Helryx, who founded the organisation, does not believe that Mata Nui was a real being, but instead named the Order after him because the organisation's goal was similar.

While the public knows they exist, their agents are required to keep their identities secret to anyone outside the Order for the safety of both the agents and their loved ones.

Helryx

The Order's founder and leader.

In a secret relationship with a Spheran scientist; after the Spherans finally revealed their existence to the public, Helryx proposed to her, and they got married.

Axonn

The Order's quartermaster, and a former agent.

Can sense if people are telling the truth.

Married to Brutaka; even when Brutaka was mind-controlled by Teridax, Axonn still tried to save him, and they stayed together afterwards.

Hydraxon

A high-ranking agent in charge of the Order's prison, The Pit.

During a successful escape attempt by the Barraki, Hydraxon was stabbed to death by Takadox.

Dekar Sr.

An agent who inherited Hydraxon's position after his death.

Umbra

An ancient demigod who was entombed underground in case the Ignika was disturbed. He awakened in the 1980s when he sensed that the mask has been unearthed, emerging from underneath the roller-rink that had been built on top of where he was hidden, and soon became enamoured with the popular culture of the time, taking his name from a movie poster, adopting a glam-rock fashion sense, and wearing a pair of rollerblades at all times. The rollerblades were eventually upgraded by the Order to have built-in rocket boosters.

Has a very close friendship with Jovan's daughter, who helped him adjust to the modern world.

His name is still Umbra in this AU.

In the G2 timeline, he was instead awakened in the 1990s, and dresses like a character from The Matrix. His purpose in this timeline is to prevent the Mask of Ultimate Power from falling into the wrong hands.

Krakua

The vocalist of a '90s pop band, and currently a superpowered Order of Mata Nui operative.

Partially responsible for the existence of the Order of Mata Nui's UK branch.

Can manipulate sound-waves.

Mazeka

A fan of Krakua's band; he joined the Order and discovered that one of his heroes coincidentally happened to also work there.

He lost most of his limbs and half of his face to a bomb set up by Carapar's gang, and had them replaced with prosthetics.

Tobduk

An Order commander who becomes stronger the angrier he gets, so he stays constantly angry at all times.

Helryx has an entire portion of the Order's funding set aside to replace the equipment that Tobduk breaks.

Trinuma

An extremely prolific agent who has rejected multiple offers of promotion. He has technopathic abilities.

Johmak

An Order assassin who can turn herself into a storm of glass-shards.

Jerbraz

Literally just canon Jerbraz but as a human and with a sniper-rifle instead of a sword.

Botar

A massive human/wolf hybrid, equipped with a Spatial Tether that lets him teleport directly to the Order's underground prison, The Pit.

Lost his memory after seemingly (but not actually) being killed in an explosion, and created a new identity.

Maxilos

The Pit's robotic guards. Basically the same as in canon, but with sci-fi weaponry instead of swords.

In the City of Silver timeline, they look more dieselpunk, have more grounded weaponry (by which I mean actual guns instead of lasers) and communicate via prerecorded clips rather than text-to-speech, but are otherwise the same.

"Terigold"

An alternate version of Teridax from a world where everyone's morality is reversed; his true form's exoskeleton is gold instead of black, and he can manipulate light rather than shadows. He can still shapeshift like his main-universe counterpart.

In his home-timeline, he's the leader of a resistance against the Spheran invasion.

His fake human name is "Daxter Terrence", which is coincidentally an inversion of main-timeline Teridax's fake human name.

Federation of Fear

Organised by the Order of Mata Nui to be an expendable taskforce fo dealing with extremely dangerous threats; literally just the Suicide Squad.

Unlike in canon they have more than 7 members, were active long before the "rescue Miserix" mission, and continue to be active afterwards.

Their most well-known missions (in the metanarrative) include the Miserix rescue, fighting an army of skeletons, and helping to defeat Marendar.

Brutaka

The Federation of Fear's handler.

Married to Axonn; even when Brutaka was mind-controlled by Teridax, Axonn still tried to save him, and they stayed together afterwards.

His civilian job is being a narrator for audiobooks. Because of this, he has to wear a voice filter during missions.

Vezon

Vezok's unemployed nepo-baby cousin, who holds a share in his shipping company.

After going near the Ignika at a museum exhibition that Vezok dragged him to, he gained superpowers (namely a hammerspace-like void behind his back, as well as the ability to conjure spherical energy projectiles) and immediately went mad with power, taking random magical artifacts (including a spear that can fuse things together, and a strange mask that appeared to flicker between realities). Vezok called the Inika's hotline, and the Inika and Piraka worked together to defeat Vezon. The Order of Mata Nui then captured Vezon, confiscated the stolen artifacts, and placed him in their underground supermax prison, The Pit, before eventually transferring him to the Federation of Fear.

In the G2 timeline, he's the mayor of Okoto City, who is unaware of (or maybe purposefully ignoring?) his cousin's criminal activities.

Spiriah

A former member of Teridax's rebellion, who ended up leaving after almost revealing their true identities by choosing a very... out-there disguise. He was then captured by the Order of Mata Nui and offered a place in the Federation of Fear, which he accepted, before dying during the mission to rescue Miserix.

When he arrived on Earth, he took the form of a towering bat-like humanoid.

His G2 counterpart is a towering bat-like humanoid, imprisoned in Antiderm's labs and experimented on by them.

Umarak

A human/Makuta hybrid, mostly resembling the former but with the latter's chitinous, digitigrade legs. He also has control over shadows.

Channeled some of his power into a swarm of mechanical "shadow traps" that temporarily mind-control anyone who steps on them.

In the G2 timeline, he's Ekimu's evil counterpart and the herald of Makuta; much like how Takua can transform into Ekimu, Ahkmou can transform into Umarak.

XPlode

A heavily-armoured supervillain with the ability to generate and fire volatile keratine spines from his body.

Usually part of the Hero Factory's rogues gallery, XPlode was willingly recruited into the Federation of Fear after being captured by the Order of Mata Nui.

The Chronicler's Company

Takua's friends, and fellow Metru University alumni.

The name is what their (legally-distinct equivalent of) DnD characters are collectively called (Takua's character is the Chronicler class).

In the G2 timeline, they are basically the same, but in high school.

Kapura

Studied classical literature.

He can seemingly teleport, though it is unknown if this is a superpower.

Macku

Studied geography.

In a relationship with Hewkii, and currently lives with him in Voya City.

Taipu

Studied geography.

Often mistaken for Hafu, who has a similar fashion sense and hairstyle, but otherwise looks completely different.

Tamaru

Studied marine biology.

The Inika enlisted her help to identify Nocturn's species. The results were inconclusive.

Hafu

Studied fine art.

Often mistaken for Taipu, who has a similar fashion sense and hairstyle, but otherwise looks completely different.

Kopeke

Studied art history.

Canonically nonverbal.

The Inika Fanclub

Some high school (and like two university) students who run an Inika fanclub.

Garan

The club's founder.

Managed to figure out that Teridax isn't what he appears to be.

Balta

The club's resident inventor.

On Earth B, he owns a shop.

Dalu

Used to be very cheerful and friendly, until her father (who was a detective) went missing while he was looking into potential criminal activity in Vezok's shipping company.

Piruk

Due to a rare condition, his fingers end with sharp "talons" made of bone. He is extremely worried that he might hurt someone with them.

Has a pet dog.

Velika

A Spheran scientist who transferred his mind into an artificially-grown human body to spy on humanity completely normal student who just happens to be very interested in photography.

In the future, he becomes a supervillain who uses his access to advanced Spheran technology in order to (repeatedly) attempt to take over the world.

Kazi

The oldest of the group.

Studying philosophy at Voya University.

Dekar Jr.

The son of an Order of Mata Nui operative.

In the future he joins the Order, taking Brutaka's place as the Federation of Fear's handler.

Defilak

Dekar's brother.

Sarda

Idris's boyfriend.

Idris

Sarda's girlfriend.

Silver

Based on the unnamed silver Toa from the DS and GBA versions of Bionicle Heroes (though mostly the former).

They can temporarily copy the abilities of any superbeing they touch.

Their name is, in fact, Silver.

Voriki

Silver's younger brother.

Silver's parents asked them to bring Voriki along to the club's meetings. Like them, Voriki also has superpowers (namely energy absorption), but he hasn't learned how to use them yet.

He doesn't actually care about the Inika, but instead is a fan of the Mata, and wants to become a hero like them. He sometimes gets distracted in class, daydreaming about becoming the seventh eighth member of the team.

In the future, Voriki becomes an actual superhero; he is part of a "next generation" superhero team that are to the Inika what the Inika are to the Mata.

Magnans

An alien species whose homeworld was destroyed by the Skrall Empire.

Their existence hasn't been made public, as that could draw attention to their presence, leading the Skrall to find them and attack Earth.

The Skrall

An alien empire that attacked and destroyed Spherus Magna.

They eventually attacked Earth after detecting the signals from the Order's communications with the Spherans, and tried using a vast orbital cannon to destroy the planet. Matoro ended up using the Ignika to overload the cannon, destroying the Skrall mothership while also sacrificing himself.

The Makuta

Insectoid aliens from the planet Destral.

They have natural shapeshifting abilities, and the power to control shadows. The shapeshifting is mostly used to gain extra limbs to carry more things or eyes that can be used to see in the dark, and consistently maintaining a singular form requires a large amount of practise and concentration, and might require having to adjust to the imitated species' anatomy depending on how different it is from that of a Makuta (for example, a Makuta that's shapeshifted into a human would need to adapt to having plantigrade legs and five fingers). They can also transform into things that don't exist.

In the Invasion timeline, they have control over light instead of shadows.

They don't exist in the G2 timeline; all Makuta characters are humans, with a few exceptions (namely Spiriah).

Unafilliated individuals

Mata Nui

An ancient warrior who only appears when the entire world is in imminent danger.

Still has his canon name.

Doesn't exist in the G2 timeline.

Mayor Dume

The mayor of Metru City.

He was active as a non-superpowered hero in the 1940s (as part of a larger team), and was one of the people who inspired Helryx to found the Order of Mata Nui.

In the G2 timeline, he was a tech-based hero that used a suit of dieselpunk power-armour that he updated over the years, adding computers and more advanced technology. While Dume kept doing his superhero thing for far longer than his main timeline counterpart, he eventually found out that he had a disease that gave him only a month to live, so he uploaded his mind into the armour's systems and became a new hero called Exo.

Zaria

A teacher at Orde's school for young superheroes; when the school was attacked by Teridax's underlings, Zaria was one of the only survivors, and now seeks revenge.

He is an occasional ally of Chiara.

In the G2 timeline, he's the headmaster of the school, which is still active.

Chiara

An antihero from the slums of Voya City.

Basically Batman, but more morally-grey and anti-authority, and with electricity-based powers.

Orde

One of Helryx's childhood friends, and the former headmaster of a school for young superheroes; the school was attacked by Teridax's underlings while Orde was protecting a nearby town from the Dark Hunters.

Keetongu

A cryptid said to wander the woods near the outskirts of Metru City.

Artakha

The god of forges, crafting and creation.

Lives in his temple on the top of an extremely tall mountain, near where the culture that worshipped him lived.

On Earth B, he's "retired" from godhood and now lives in a seaside town in southwest England, where he makes furniture.

Karzahni

Artakha's brother, and the god of death, chaos, and - strangely - medicine.

Has since "retired" from godhood, and now lives in Voya City's most run-down area, working as a back-alley surgeon who mostly works on criminals, including members of the Barraki's gangs.

On Earth B, he's still a god, living in a temple at the bottom of a vast chasm.

Marendar

An interdimensional being that can drain the life-energy of superbeings in order to become more powerful, leaving them either dead or powerless.

One of the Federation of Fear's "main" missions (from the perspective of the metanarrative) is helping to defeat Marendar.

[leafcabbage]

Purely hypothetical,

How much do I have to pay so you ramble about the band Ghost . please

I really wanna get into their music n shit, and feel like there's a lot of story telling in their music that I miss because I Am Shit At Understanding Lyrics And Their Meanings By Myself.

So, how much? (/hj)

you dont have to pay anything! im not deep into the fandom so i would be the first to admit that i am not deeply versed on the lore or anything, but i have been to two rituals (aka concerts) and seen the movie, so i know a bit!

so ghost is a swedish rock/metal/everyone describes it differently band that does everything in full costume and with the story that they are spreading the word of the devil through their music. it's the creation of tobias forge, who is also the front man, currently playing the character of Copia/Papa Emeritus IV. he's the guy in all the posts youre seeing me reblog who ISNT wearing a black mask and all black clothes. his face is a mask though. like a really high quality one thats been painted and stuff. thats why you dont really see his mouth move.

anyway, the way ghost works is that since the formation of the band, different Papas (1-4) were the lead singers of the band, all played by tobias forge. as an era came to the close, the papa would be retired, or beheaded in the 3rd papa (terzo's) case, and the next would take his place to continue to spread the word. the current papa, Copia, has been with us for longer than the others, and Prequelle and Impera are the albums that came out under his time. if you really want to get into the lore, theres also a like... webseries mostly focused on Copia.

then theres the ghouls. those are the guys in the masks. they arent band members as much i suppose, as they're like... contracted performers for tours and certain music videos. so they come and go to an extent, though most ghouls are played by the same people for several years at a time, and a new person = a new ghoul as far as the fandom is concerned. same instrument but new name. i wont get too into all the people behind the masks rn, but they ARE listed on wikipedia now and most are independent musicians with their own music out! the ghouls are all assigned elements based on their instruments (air for keyboard, water for bass, fire for lead guitar, earth for drums, quintessence for rhythm guitar, and multi for the ghouls who do vocals/tambourine/guitar/etc). then they end up with names based on those elements (like keyboard is air, so the keyboard players are cirrus and cumulus).

man i think that's the super basics. but really, at the end of the day, you can just listen to the music. you dont NEED to know all the background to enjoy the music. i didnt know any getting into it and then went on to learn what i know. the ghost wiki is pretty in depth so you can get info there, too, and im happy to do my best to answer any specific questions too! just let me know, my ask box is always open :]

(if youre looking for a music starting place, impera is a good first album)

[deke-rivers-1957]

Lonnie Beale's Rank

Disclaimer: For my tier list I’m basing this off of a one on one fight with no weapons or no outside interference. If a character has to rely on a weapon to win they’re ranked lower. If a character has to fight more than one person at a time, I’ll look at it on a case by case basis. Age, size and general background are factors that will be taken into consideration. Since a lot of those details are going to be up to interpretation as these are characters and not real people, feel free to share your own thoughts.

Let's start with the obvious assumptions by looking at Pam wanting her grandfather's gold. The Gold Standard in the US allowing the average person to get paper money in exchange for gold currency ended in the early 1930s. The technology that's used clearly indicates this takes place at least 20 years after 1933. Therefore, Pam wanting the gold would indicate that there's a different selling market for gold compared to her grandfather's era where a double eagle was only $20. Despite seeing posters for numerous rodeo events, the exact year is conveniently left out. If anything, we can make an argument that this movie takes place over the course of two years. The very first poster that we see is for a rodeo event in January. Unless we want to assume Lonnie only wants a job for about a month, this poster suggests that all rodeo events happen after the New Year. Because one of the Circle Z Jeeps that were proven to be from this movie hit the auction block, we know that they came out in 1965. Despite the posters having the first rodeo event being in January, it's very common for new cars to come out in the fall. A 1965 Jeep easily could've come out in the fall of 1964. The diet culture also reflects the time period Vera makes it a point to emphasize low caloric meals.

Lonnie's age is unknown despite getting a line that he was in the saddle before he could walk. However, Lonnie being a semi-famous bull rider at a professional level gives us some general assumptions. Like all sporting events and competitions there's an average age range that define's a peak competitor. With bull riding, you would be hard pressed to find a professional who started at 20 years old and can still consistently do it as a main source of income in their 30s. There are of course exceptions, but the general rule dictates that this sport is too physically demanding to do for a long period of time. In Lonnie's case he already had a season end because of an injury. This indicates that he's either nearing 30 or is already past 30. Even though Lonnie still kept in shape and had very high quality food by working at the Circle Z ranch, he still struggled to keep up mentally with his focus leaning towards Pam. Based on him suddenly ending his rodeo season because of a change in priority I would put Lonnie in his early 30s since a change like that indicates he was contemplating retiring altogether.

This is the perfect example of a fight that fits all of my criteria. A punch was intentionally thrown that was responded with an equally intentional blow. It's a one on one fight without any weapons and no one interfered until there was a clear end to the fight.

At this point in time we have no idea how this masked man was. Lonnie was able to hold his own as an equal. Until Pam interfered. She hit Lonnie so hard in the head he went limp and passed out. Because she interfered I have to throw this one out. Even if we use a hypothetical of what would've happened if she didn't hit Lonnie, we still have no way of knowing that Lonnie would've won.

This fight does count. No weapons were used. No one broke them up. A punch was thrown, and an attack was launched in response. Even though it wasn't a long fight, Lonnie still used skill to win. Brad isn't that much older than Lonnie to make a difference so I consider the two of them to be equal. Therefore, Lonnie winning gives him some points for his case.

There's a fantasy sequence of Lonnie winning a shoot out with Brad. It's still worth noting given the rivalry between the two, but it doesn't count since one it's a fantasy sequence and two this involved guns.

Another instance of a fight that doesn't count because Pam interfered. Lonnie basically had to fight off two guys at once without any weapons. Even though Stanley tried to help, he didn't make enough of an impact to Lonnie's fights. Pam interfering actively made Lonnie lose again because she kicked him in the leg by accident.

Lonnie had a gun pointed at him and managed to win without outside interference or get shot. That definitely gets extra points since we can assume the mask the guy has on isn't blocking/altering his vision. Lonnie didn't rely on a weapon of his own

We know absolutely nothing about Adolph outside of his name and that he's a cook. Therefore, I can't give Lonnie any extra points for beating someone that's on paper a better fighter.

The final fight and it's a shame Pam interfered because Lonnie had to fight a deputy sheriff. Sure he's a lot older than Lonnie, but he had a gun pointed at Lonnie and a lot of experience with fighting just being a law officer. Lonnie beating him on his own would've been a nice boost. Pam interfering means that unfortunately this fight doesn't count.

Lonnie is quite fit for a man his age. He hasn't hit his decline yet outside of the bull riding field. He would have to have a generally athletic build so he can have a better sense of balance. Balance is a key factor in fighting so he can still keep up with younger opponents. Another thing to consider is how his status changes throughout the movie. He starts off as just recently unemployed due to the seasonal nature of his work, then becomes a ranch worker with high end food only to quit and spend many months on the road without making any money. Sleeping in the elements and barely having money for food makes his win against Adolph and the deputy sheriff more impressive.

Despite being on the wrong side of 30, I still think Lonnie is in better fighting condition than the average person and put him in B tier. Pam interfering in his first two fights, in my opinion, actively caused him to lose. However, when you consider the general plot you know that Lonnie had to lose so the criminals' identities aren't revealed right away. Based on how he was fighting before Pam interfered, I personally think he would've won both of those fights. If he was able to win all of his fights without Pam interfering, I can see the argument of putting him in A tier.

Tagging: @mercsandmonsters, @vintagepresley, @valloos, @almightybigbrain, @hooked-on-elvis,

@an-americcan-trilogy, @thelonelyheart, @eapep, @smokeymountainboy and @arrolyn1114.

[mayisgoingnuts]

Uhm.. you're gonna be shocked with the experiment thing!! HERE'S THE REST🫶🫶

In the next episode the mystery is solved, I'm already expecting the hypothetical fans (if there are any) to have thought they solved it, to think that Kwyn is a clone of her mother. To think that her 'grandpa' is an insane scientist. Since it's already shown that he's a retired scientist. But this isn't the case at all. This episode starts with Kwyn, who is laying in bed, talking to herself. She's just mumbling nonsense really, wondering what she is if she is anything. So she decides to go back to the lab.

She's calmer this time, she can't explain why. She has this odd feeling of deja vu, she still can't explain why. She goes back to the secret room, where she finds a notebook. When she opens it she finds out it's her 'grandpas', as she goes through it she's hit with shock after shock. She isn't a clone. But she was an experiment. She found a picture of her mother holding her, right before she died. Her grandpa talked about how his co-workers wanted to start a new experiment, to see if they could bring back dead monsters. But they needed a child, someone young. He wasn't sure why, but he refused to give up Kwyn. So his co-workers did the only reasonable thing, they stole her. She had been missing for weeks, she was only a few months old. The notebook shows his descent into madness as time passed with how long she had been missing. The notebook ends with him talking about retiring seven years later so he can search for her.

She finds old tapes then goes to look for something to play it in. When she finds it she starts to play them, it's in her grandpa's perspective, he goes back to the lab to ask questions, even asking about the old experiment idea. He was bombarded with scientists yelling at him. He didn't understand why they were mad, but he was incredibly suspicious. So he went back that night when no one else was there. He found the secret area, he found her. A little seven year old in the test tube. The recording shows him going through files and files. She would pause the recording and look at the files herself. The other scientists had found something, a black goo, they had seen before. It didn't behave how it should. They documented how they had gotten her and injected it into her. Every day, the amount of the goo gets bigger with each day. She dropped the documents, accidentally hitting something that rolled and hit the recording, causing it to start up again. When this happened her focus was on that, it showed her grandpa destroying the place, taking a fire extinguisher and breaking the tube. Grabbing the girl and running off while sirens play in the background. The recording ends, she's shaking, panicking, she's confused, she looks back at the documents. They had documented everything. Every bit about her. They had caused her deformity, her ridicule. The thing she hated most about herself, the white streak of hair she kept hidden. She takes these documents and runs home, slamming them on the table in the living room and accusing her grandpa of lying. The episode wraps up with him reassuring her, it fades to black as he tells her she isn't a monster.

Erm... consider this the story for today ookie🫶🫶

•🍂(🌀)(🫧)

/pos

[classicbarbie]

umbrella academy spoilers below lol bc i just finished the last season and i need to vent

Im so conflicted about ep 5, bc i get it, they were all alone for 7 years, it took them 6 years before they even did anything, and it's like, 'would i date you if we were the last two people left on earth'. And from that perspective, hypothetically, yes, I can see it, bc Lila and Five make such a good pair of partners. But that wasn't the case bc they weren't the only two people left, they were just stuck in the wrong place with Lila's very real and alive three kids and HUSBAND waiting-

And despite that the whole reason Lila and Five's dynamic was so, so good and fun was because they were purely partners in crime fighting and shenanigans (besties).

( Also as an aroace, @ the writers why would you take this perfectly platonic good platonic hetero platonic friendship from my hands and ruin it )

It could've been anyone else. It could've been literally ANYONE else. Lila would never cheat on Diego lets bffr (also the way they had both Lila and Five treat Diego like he's completely inept this season was FOUL. Okay. I didn't care until ep 5. But to leave him out and then get together?? :D ? Wild.)

But the thing is, I really liked that little plot for Five. The guy has been begging for retirement the last 3 seasons. At least everyone else got to settle down, have families and recuperate after the first apocalypse. Meanwhile Five was jumping from the end of one apocalypse to stopping the next one, okay. He deserves to sit down in a strawberry greenhouse and live a domestic life with a real person (sorry dolores). But why did it have to be Lila 😭

I don't get why he would hide the book from her, I don't think that Five has ever been that selfish. But I understand why he wouldn't want to leave, because what if the apocalypse has already happened and it's another barren wasteland and everyone's dead and he's all alone again. I understand him needing that security for himself and not wanting to go through it again.

(Also Lila couldn't handle the suburban life with Diego, how is a strawberry greenhouse life any better)

Side note, I thought the plot twist was going to be that Five always knew everything all along (no way he would've missed that his boss was a keeper) but that's a different topic.

[romanceyourdemons]

if stephen chow had retired from acting just one year later there’s a 100% chance he would have been cast in the founding of a republic (2009). much like in the case of the hypothetical jackie chan farewell my concubine (1993), thank god that didn’t happen, but also i would like a three hour long glimpse into the universe where it did

[dausy]

I got a job.

Which is kind of nifty I guess. I feel like it removes some of my stress although I knew I wouldn't have an issue finding a job, its just that the unknown makes us feel like we are continuously poor and homeless when that isn't the case.

An old classmate of mine from nursing school had messaged me some odd days ago saying she was leaving her job because her commute was really long and she wanted to know if I wanted it. She said she loved her job otherwise. I was actually going to wait until we moved to start applying for jobs because a lot of places want you to start ASAP and I don't want to apply too early. But she had already recommended me to her manager and he contacted me with a referral link to fill out. Did a virtual interview and he told me he knew he was already going to offer me the job.

HR already sent me an acceptance package and stated they wanted to pay me a relocation fee. Just an FYI this is for an Interventional Radiology nurse position, which I suppose I do have a bit of experience in with my previous position. IR is considered a cush or "soft" nursing job, but this is with a lvl1 trauma center and I'm not that familiar with the type of high acuity cases that they do. The last time I worked in a lvl1 trauma center it was primarily preop/PhaseII and a smidgeon of pacu. I wasn't in the thick of super acute/sick patients. So I don't really know what to expect in IR. It SOUNDS like they just want somebody who is familiar with and knows how to push meds for conscious sedation. They have techs who scrub in with the doctor. That was primarily what I was nervous about was trying to learn how to scrub for so many different types of procedures (cause they said they do about 40 different types) and I was like "oh lord thats a lot to learn and prove myself on, in a short orientation". But they told me that I would just be doing the conscious sedation and thats it. Which takes a lot of stress off. I don't know how to scrub..so..

anyway, coincidentally at the same time I accepted the position, somebody posted on the nursing reddit saying something like "those of you who want to work in IR because its a soft nursing job, WE DONT WANT YOU" I mean, I work hard and I split myself into 1400 pieces to try and help everybody so I'm not coming in to just sit and play on my phone.

The downsides to this job is that there is on-call and then I'd be making less money than what I was getting paid 5 years ago and rent prices have skyrocketted. Which is really sad. It has pretty much doubled. So less pay and more expensive CoL. We are already expecting to have to pay around 2000-2200/mo on rent alone for nothing super special. Not including pet rent and then utilities.

Me and my spouse were jokingly talking about me joining the service for the benefits. While its been brought up to me before in the past, I didn't think I had it in me to join the military. Now I'm actually kind of taking it seriously. I already talked to a recruiter but they aren't making it easy to get in contact with them which makes me think they're going to tell me they werent interested. But hypothetically, if I joined the military nurse corps, I'd go in as an officer, get officer pay, get BAH, get a retirement, continue the lifestyle of which I've become accustomed and if they have my specialty available, I would just continue doing the job I've become accustomed to. It was actually kind of enlightening.

If I have to work my booty off being full time, on call, making less than my mom as a secretary and I have to continue being a nurse....I mean, I dunno..people say that the military can't compete with civilian hospitals, but I kind of beg to differ. To me, it seems like they're offering a lot more.

But if military says "no, we don't need your specialty", I do have a job waiting for me for when we move.

[love-is-a-pearl]

I think Pearlshipping is cute, but your last post has me wondering what DP would have been like with Dawn as the main protagonist and Ash nowhere to be seen. Who do you think the companions might have been?

That's a good question 🤔

If Ash retired before DP there is the chance they could've gone for battler Dawn, like Platinum and AU purple Dawn (could those be a hint :0c?) Cynthia is super iconic and having the endgame be a battle against her would be something they would absolutely want to include (i mean we even got it in JN so.. yup)

But if Dawn stayed as coordinator then its possible they could've gone for Lucas? Or a anime OC to be the main character? Again, Cynthia is too iconic so I can't see them sidelining the Gym challenge in the case of main character coordinator Dawn situation.

Maybe Barry could be the main character?! He fits the "shonen" stereotype that pokeani loves so I could see him being the one replacing Ash. And thus we keep Dawn doing contests.

So… Barry and Dawn. That leaves the 3rd slot empty.

I would love to say one of the stats trainers. Having Cheryl or Marley to take a big sister role in the place of Brock could be fun but I doubt they would do that.. Mira and Buck could work I guess, but I'm dunno what their goals could possibly be.

If we go for the gym leader thing… Only Maylene and Candice have ages that match, but they're too far in the game to make sense so… idk…

Maybe a Goh&Ash situation would work better? Since this hypothetical scenario could still use the general ideas from a "scrapped" Ash season and thus just delete the Brock parts since they weren't that many to begin with.

Either that or like.... Sorrel and Verity lmao

[silver-studios]

A Hypothetical History: The Ninja Continent

There isn’t much that we know about the history of the unnamed continent that the story of Naruto takes place on. Our canon knowledge is limited to the events that led to the creation of modern ninjutsu before jumping right into the Warring Clans Era. Here, I’m going to theorise on what could have taken place in the years in between.

Most of my extrapolations for worldbuilding in Naruto’s universe come from the map above since the map we’re given in canon is pretty sparse aside from the locations of the Hidden Villages.

We know that the continent is currently split into a whole bunch of countries by the time canon events come to pass obviously, but my theory is that these countries were in fact united in some form at one point in history, probably way before the Warring Clans era. The biggest reason: currency and language. 

Since each country has such vastly different geographies, they’re going to have vastly different economical landscapes too. This is the biggest reason modern-day countries continue to have different currencies. For example, if a country engages in a lot of export, they’re likelier to want a low value currency because it gives them a trade advantage and attracts customers. 

So, why are the countries in Naruto different? Because they have history of unity. 

Moreover, everyone is able to communicate with each other in presumably the same language which further lends itself to this theory. We know that Japanese isn’t the only language to exist in-universe since English phrases do make it through sometimes which means that the people of the Continent came into contact with it at some point. It’s unlikely that an entire continent of people have always spoken the same language and continue to do so even as separate countries, which means that at some point, certain events led to the spread of one language over the others. 

The likely answer to this is conquest and colonisation. Of course, ideas spread through trade, but it makes far more sense for such uniformity to have been forced upon the people and then kept around out of convenience. And we have enough canon clues to guess that the most probable culprit here is Fire Country. 

So, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. And I reckon this was a civilian or samurai conquest over a shinobi one. Why? Because of the existence of the Daimyo who are primarily civilian leaders, especially after the establishment of Hidden Villages. 

Traditionally, daimyo were feudal lords who were subordinate to the shogun and (through the shogun) to the Emperor. This means that the Continent, at one point, was probably united under the banner of a single ruler. The reason I think this ruler was of Fire origin is that Fire Country is widely regarded to still be the most powerful country, and because the language itself would make sense to have originated from Fire, which Kishimoto modeled after Japan. The word ‘daimyo’ and the common language that people use to communicate internationally are thus most likely to have originated from Fire. 

As far as we know, however, there is no Emperor to speak of anymore whatsoever. The Daimyo are the leaders and they have the final say on what happens in each of their countries with no higher authority that they need to go through. Moreover, the fact that the countries have histories of going to war against one another or that the shinobi wars could take place at all makes it pretty clear these guys aren’t united under any one banner anymore. 

So, did the Emperor just retire? It’s far likelier that he was overthrown. And who better to have done it than the subordinate Daimyo. It wouldn’t be the first time in history that the aristocracy of a nation got sick of a ruler and decided to get rid of them. They might have even pulled a Caesar to do it and stabbed the guy themselves. Whatever the case, the Daimyo got rid of the Emperor that united their countries and probably the shogun too since there’s no mention of those if they ever existed. 

Personally, I like to imagine that the nobility of Fire helped in the deposition which is how they’ve managed to remain powerful (militarily and economically) in the aftermath. It also gives a bit of history to the almost-alliance that the Daimyo canonically seem to have since they have precedent for banding together when it serves a common gain. 

And, so, the world of Naruto as we know it came to be.

[eamo2004]

Who I would put in a comic book Gotham Knights team

So it's safe to say we've all seen the Gotham Knights videogame that recently released, and although the game itself recieved mixed reception, the concept of a team comprised of Gotham Vigilantes is solid. So I thought it'd be cool to give my take on who I think would be on a comic Gotham Knights team.

So I think the majority of the videogame Gotham Knights wouldn't work as part of a comic Gotham Knights team, those being Nightwing, Red Hood and Barbara Gordon's Batgirl. Their comics iterations have most definitely grown out of being Gotham based heroes.

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Although I don't think she would work as Batgirl, I think Barbara Gordon could work as Oracle and act as a handler for the team, providing intel and a source of wisdom, akin to Alfred. She could also occasionally act as Batgirl when needed.

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I think a member of the game Gotham Knights that could transfer over to a comic team would be Tim Drake's Robin. As of Oct. 2022, he's based in Gotham and working with Batman. He could definitely work as the field leader of the team.

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Duke Thomas is a favourite of mine and a totally underutilized and underappreciated character in the present day. He's the only Metahuman member of the Batfamily and is Gotham's daylight protector

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Harper Row, although currently retired, still resides in Gotham and works at Leslie Thompkins clinic. As an electrical engineer, she could definitely act as the team's tech specialist, creating new gadgets and weapons.

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Cassandra Cain, with her current activity in Gotham and her close-knit connections to the Batfamily, in this case Barbara Gordon and Tim Drake, could definitely make for some interesting stories. I personally think Cassandra works best in family environments, and the found family aspect that surrounds the character are a highlight personally.

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Stephanie Brown is a good choice, her modern relationship to Cassandra Cain along with her brash and street smart personality would definitely make her a good addition to this hypothetical team.

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[foundationhq]

EMPLOYEE ID 1121-1980-9; 𝐻𝐼𝐺𝐻 𝐹𝐼𝐷𝐸𝐿𝐼𝑇𝑌.

𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞 Stephen “Steve” Wilson 𝐀𝐠𝐞 50 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫/𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬 cis man, he/him 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦 Jeffrey Wright 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 retired

PROFILE.

Once the Lead Researcher of Site-120, the temerarious and avid [𝐻𝐼𝐺𝐻 𝐹𝐼𝐷𝐸𝐿𝐼𝑇𝑌] was a pioneer in creative and unusual methods for containing and securing SCPs, most of which prevented the loss of extraneous human life. This boosted the researcher’s career into new heights. However, [𝐻𝐼𝐺𝐻 𝐹𝐼𝐷𝐸𝐿𝐼𝑇𝑌]’s upward trajectory soon took a swan dive after they presented a new proposal to the Foundation’s Experimentation Committee Board. To say their suggestion was controversial would be an understatement. Following a thorough internal review to gauge the ethics of their activity within the Foundation, it was deemed [𝐻𝐼𝐺𝐻 𝐹𝐼𝐷𝐸𝐿𝐼𝑇𝑌] would give up their research to avoid dismissal and be demoted back to supporting researcher. Since then it seems they have elected to keep their head down and have continued to work on the Foundation’s projects. That has not stopped the rumors surrounding [𝐻𝐼𝐺𝐻 𝐹𝐼𝐷𝐸𝐿𝐼𝑇𝑌]. However, according to our sources, any rumors suggesting they are receiving private funding from a GOI are unfounded. On account of their renewed model behavior and natural scientific intellect and curiosity, the Ethics Committee has no qualms in appointing [𝐻𝐼𝐺𝐻 𝐹𝐼𝐷𝐸𝐿𝐼𝑇𝑌] to one of the researcher positions within MTF Chi-00. — Internal Memo from the Ethics Committee.

LAST ASSIGNMENT.

[ TW: DEATH ] SUPPORTING  RESEARCHER;  Site-120.  Providing  supporting  research  to  Lead  Researcher.  Notable  event  in  2021,  received  a  demotion  following  an  external  security  breach  of  Site-120  from  a  coordinated  effort  by  The  Hive.  Defended  Site-120  by  using  SCP-5673  to  trap  a  group  of  over  fifty  Hive  members.  All  fifty  are  presumed  deceased.

INTERRELATIONS OF NOTE.

𝑆𝑀𝑂𝑂𝑇𝐻 𝑂𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐴𝑇𝑂𝑅. You know you’re playing a dangerous game, and right under the nose of the person the Ethics Committee would send after you if you got caught. But if the Foundation won’t sanction your research, what choice do you have? In any case, would it be wiser to give your commander as wide a berth as a small team allows, or to keep your enemy closer?

𝑇𝑅𝐸𝐸 𝐻𝑈𝐺𝐺𝐸𝑅. You tell yourself that you’re only putting up with them because you can sift through their dross filled ramblings for gems worth sharing with your other employers… but, hypothetically, it’s possible that you miss sharing the thrills of your work with a fellow researcher. But 𝑇𝑅𝐸𝐸 𝐻𝑈𝐺𝐺𝐸𝑅 isn’t exactly a kindred spirit, now are they? Best not get attached.

𝐹𝐿𝐼𝑀𝐹𝐿𝐴𝑀. You’re used to colleagues pestering you with praise or some other distracting demand on your time. Not ones so esteemed as 𝐹𝐿𝐼𝑀𝐹𝐿𝐴𝑀, though, with their precocious publishing history. You hope their interest in you is not anything unprofessional, but what else would have them sneaking glances at you like that?