#like objectively i know red bull doesnt give a shit

[adimouze]

VCARB changing their name to Racing Bulls in 2025…brands don’t just give up advertising real estate like that, that too within a year…oh the lack of daniel ricciardo hurting the bottom line i see…well junior teams get junior team sponsors and junior team “launches” sorry no one’s paying for kendrick lamar for them again lol

[mcl38]

regarding your last post about daniel and oscar, you said literally exactly what ive been thinking all this time, but i can't say shit on twitter without getting attacked. why would the team purposely sabotage their own driver and consequently the constructor's championship? it just doesn't make any sense. they also use the "mclaren ruined daniel's mental health and they should pay for it" argument, but they clearly don't give a shit if oscar ever comes across all the hateful things they say. and i know oscar lurks on twitter, there's no way he hasn't seen some of those posts and it genuinely breaks my heart cuz he did nothing wrong. and i don't think anyone at mclaren ever tried to hurt daniel's mental health, the reason why i think he was so down was because he couldn't adapt to the car and the driving style no matter how much he tried. but how much of that can you blame on mclaren? even carlos has talked about how the car feels weird to drive. it is what it is.

and regarding the "oscar stole the seat from daniel" argument, daniel was gonna lose it anyway. if not to oscar then to some other driver, like alex palou or pato o'ward. it just wasn't working with daniel and his fans need to start accepting it and thinking more objectively. it made no sense for him to stay at mclaren so everyone could be miserable for another season. and it's definitely not oscar's fault the fact that daniel made bad career moves after red bull.

sorry for the rent, but as an oscar stan this really pisses me off.

i hope you're having a great day 😊

i wanted to say 'ur first mistake is being on twitter' but lets be honest daniel fans r equally toxic on this website. ive literally seen takes like 'if mclaren has that mind partnership then they should care abt mental health and yet they fire daniel' as if firing someone is an unpardonable act of damaging someones mental health... as if hiring and firing people isnt exactly what the management of a team is in charge of.

and yeah ofc it makes no sense for them to sabotage daniel. they brought a race winner on board after 2 years of lando being beaten by his teammate so they literally all expected daniel to mop the floor w him and be team leader. the atmosphere literally Was Not biased towards lando, if anything they put a lot of faith in daniel for the amount he was underperforming. the only thing mclaren realistically did to 'ruin daniels mental health' or 'sabotage him' was break his contract, which was essentially necessary considering how much he dragged them down two years in a row. and they did it in full transparency + with loads of time to spare for him to find seats during silly season (unlike, say, alex getting kicked from red bull). not their fault he doesnt wanna drive a haas

anyways oscar stans 🤝 lando stans being unnecessarily targeted by daniel stans. welcome to the team cant wait for oscar to give lando a proper run for his money

[pilot-boi]

Shouting In Cafes: Chapter Twelve

Data Acquired

Scarlet meets Sun and realizes some things that are blatantly obvious to him if that aren’t obvious to his roommate. Neptune, meanwhile, wishes nothing more than to crawl into a hole and die.

AO3 LINK

“Look at my hair!” Neptune gestured wildly to the absolute mess sitting atop his head. “This takes time, as you very well know!” he yelled, scurrying off the bed and immediately yanking open his drawers to pull together a somewhat sensible outfit.

“You know, Jaune would probably say ‘Don’t worry Neptune! Friends don’t care if their friend’s hair is messy!’”  Scarlet remarked offhandedly.

“Well, I care!”

“Yeah, I don’t blame you. You do look like a hot mess.”

“Oh thanks for the vote of confidence, dude,” Neptune snapped, tugging on a pair of pants while hopping on one leg. All he succeeded in doing with this maneuver was toppling to the ground while Scarlet laughed.

With Scarlet’s help, he finally got into an outfit that didn’t look like he’d just rolled out of bed. “He’s late,” Neptune grumbled, arms crossed.

“One minute late,” Scarlet sighed from beside him.

“He said give him an hour.”

“No one means exactly an hour, Neptune. We can’t all be perfectly on time.”

“Should I seriously wear this?” Neptune asked, gesturing vaguely at his shirt. “I look obscenely gay.”

“I like the flower print. Why? Do you think he’s going to ask you about it?”

“Is it bad? Should I change?”

“Neptune, I was just teas-”

“It’s bad, you’re right. I’m gonna change.” 

Luckily, just as Neptune was spun around to walk back into the room, an echoing voice down the hall yelled, “Neptune! Bro!”

And five seconds later, a large hand clapped onto Neptune’s back, forcibly turning him around.

Sun looked… clean. Weirdly clean. An-effort-was-put-into-his-look clean. What the effort might have been for, Neptune could not guess in a million years. It escaped his notice that he’d also put in similar effort for this “event,” but surely that was unrelated.

His hair was messy, it was always messy, but it looked like more thought was put into the chaos than usual. Like, maybe he tried a couple times before he got the windblown look exactly right.

His shirt wasn’t horribly wrinkled, though it did say “I’M HERE (YOU’RE WELCOME)” in that same horrible impact font and it, again, had no sleeves. He wore board shorts, because of course he was, but somehow, someway, he was not wearing open-toed shoes. Instead adorning his feet were pristine black and yellow converse, either newly bought or newly dry cleaned.

Neptune had to admit that he was impressed.

“Wow,” he began. “You look-”

“This is the first time I’ve seen you out of your work clothes!” Sun yelled, effectively cutting him off. “You do have a sense of style, I could tell.”

Neptune frowned. “Is that because of the gay thing.”

“Bi thing. And no, I think it was because of the hair. Or the glasses.” Sun raised an eyebrow, a cocky smirk pulling at his face as he began to turn around, arms extended as if to show off what he was wearing. “It’s nice to find someone with comparably good taste in clothes.”

Neptune grimaced in distaste. “My sense of style is not comparable to yours.”

Sun slapped his hand back onto Neptune’s shoulder. “Oh, you look great, don’t sell yourself short!”

Before Neptune could object to this, he was being pulled into a very tight hug, complete with manly man thumps on the back.

Neptune couldn’t bring himself to hug back, but he could apparently bring himself to notice how warm Sun was. And of course how he could feel every single muscle in his arms.

Scarlet appeared in his peripheral vision, giving Neptune a thumbs up. Thanks for nothing, man.

Finally, Sun released his captive, still gripping his shoulders on either side, still smiling like a madman. “You know, I was a little afraid that we were never actually gonna hang out! You waited, like, two whole days before texting me at all!” He was pouting now, eyes wide in that stupid puppy dog look.

“Isn’t that proper etiquette?” Neptune asked carefully, deciding not to mention that it was actually Scarlet who had texted back, and that if it had been left up to him, maybe there would never have been a second contact.

“Maybe for dates, but not for friends!” Sun slid to Neptune’s side, and slung an arm over his shoulders. “Unless this is a date, handsome.” And a wink, always with the damn winking.

Neptune laughed, not nervously, never nervously, and shrugged off the arm. “Not a date, you wish. Just doing… something. What are we doing again?”

“Oh! That’s right. It’s a surprise.” Sun wiggled his fingers, as if somehow that added to the mystery.

“Wow,” Neptune deadpanned, fighting the urge to laugh at this giant child. Can’t let him know that he was actually amused by his antics, that would be admitting defeat.

“You two have fun! Just text me when you get back, Neptune,” Scarlet called. He had apparently been edging himself down the hallway while thie interaction occurred, and suddenly Neptune panicked.

Jesus, God. He was about to be left alone with this madman.

“Oh!” Sun spun around, stepping towards Scarlet and capturing one of his hands in two of his. “I didn’t see you! You know Neptune?”

“Yes, I’m his roommate, Scarlet,” he said. He was tracing his eyes up and down Sun, as if sizing him up. Neptune felt torn between rolling his eyes in amusement at the look of delight on Sun’s face upon meeting a new potential friend, and horror at what the fuck Scarlet was doing, and not even subtly at that.

“Nice to meet you, Scarlet!” Sun exclaimed, shaking his roommate’s arm hard enough that Neptune thought it might fall off.

“Likewise,” Scarlet said, prying his fingers out of Sun’s vice grip. “Nice one, Neptune,” he shot over Sun’s shoulder to Neptune, who was still standing frozen in mortification. Scarlet’s eyes took one last look up and down Sun, who blessedly seemed not to notice. “This one’s a keeper.”

“Scarlet!” Neptune hissed, flushing as red as his roommate’s hair. 

Just at the same moment, Sun rubbed the back of his neck and grinned. “Aw thanks, dude! I try.”

“Just bring him back to me in one piece, alright?” Scarlet asked Sun, shooting Neptune an incredibly knowing look. How dare he. This was betrayal of the highest order.

“Can do!” Sun said and twirled back to Neptune. He moved so constantly that it was almost dizzying to look at. Neptune began to feel ill and fought to get the flush out of his cheeks. Sun grabbed Neptune’s hand, leading him away. “It was great meeting you! Come on bro, let’s go!”

“Agh, Jesus, you haven’t even told me where we’re going!”

“It’s a surprise!” Curse the delight in his voice, how dare he sound so excited about potentially kidnapping him.

Neptune caught Scarlet’s eye as he was dragged away. He was leaning in the doorway of their shared room, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised sardonically. 

‘Help me!’ Neptune mouthed at him.

He was yanked around the corner before he could get a response in return.

Sun was blathering away, talking about nothing and generally making a huge ruckus. Neptune’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he fished it out as best he could while being yanked down a hallway by an excitable child.

Red Rackham: You said he was tall, you never said he was cute

Ocean Man: Dude what the fuck?!

Red Rackham: Hey, I’m just telling it how it is

Red Rackham: Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, you two lovebirds ;)

Ocean Man: Theres nothing you wouldnt do!

Ocean Man: And we are not lovebirds!

Red Rackham: Sure you’re not

Red Rackham: I’ve only seen you have one conversation, and you two were acting like an old married couple

Red Rackham: He even tried to get all spiffed up for your little date, it’s adorable

Ocean Man: It is not a date!

Red Rackham: Bullshit

Ocean Man: And he is not adorable

Red Rackham: Bull

Ocean Man: Were not even friends!

Red Rackham: Shit

Ocean Man: Come on man dont be like that

Red Rackham: I think he likes you

Red Rackham: He was flirting with you hardcore

Neptune froze. Or he froze as much as he could while getting tugged down a stairwell by a giant with volume control issues.  

Neptune had long since  tuned out of whatever conversation he was having with Sun, but luckily Sun was talking loudly and enthusiastically seemingly without needing any input from him. He was waving one of his hands around excitedly as he talked, but not both.

Sun was still holding his hand.

His phone buzzed.

Red Rackham: Earth to Neptune, come in Neptune

Ocean Man: You really think he was flirting with me?

Red Rackham: Oh I know so

Red Rackham: He said you looked great, complimented you at every turn

Red Rackham: The man could not keep his hands off you

Ocean Man: Thats just what hes like with everyone it doesn’t mean anything.

Red Rackham: Neptune

Ocean Man: It doesnt mean anything!

Ocean Man: And even if he was flirting with me.

Ocean Man: Which he is not.

Ocean Man: Its not like I have a crush on him so it doesnt matter.

Red Rackham: Whatever you say

Red Rackham: Have fun on your not-date-totally-a-date

Red Rackham: I have to update Jaune, he needs these deets

Ocean Man: Scarlet I swear to god you better fucking not!

Ocean Man: You better not be texting Jaune.

Ocean Man: Scarlet?

Ocean Man: Oh god fucking dammit.

With his roommate abandoning him, and the very real idea that he might be getting into cahoots with his coworker to cook up some sort of horrible plan based on very untrue accusations, Neptune felt fear of the likes of which he’d never felt before.

He barely even noticed Sun holding the door of his car open for him to get into. He definitely didn’t notice the too-fond looks Sun kept shooting at him as they drove too many miles over the speed limit and Neptune panicked.

Sun only let go of his hand to drive. Neptune wondered behind the panic of the drive if his heart was racing from the high speeds and the wind rushing through his hair, or if it was from how Sun seemed unable to stop himself from glancing expectantly over at Neptune every time he made a joke or a sly comment.

Or if it was how Sun’s cheeks flushed and his eyes twinkled with delight whenever Neptune shot back with snark of his own.

[nerdsideofthemedia]

Did Ilia steal Adam’s redemption arc?

This is kind of a follow-up to “Adam Taurus: where’s the redemption arc?”.

The majority of the last paragraph is a response to a comment saying that what Ilia got was what Adam’s fans thought he would get.

Let’s ignore the stupidity that is not being able to consider that one can be both a mentor and a romantic partner (whether one should is an entirely different matter). And the lack of picking up the clues that Sun was meant to be the red herring, while BB was meant to become official. Yes, I do find mind-boggling how so many reveal a lot of trouble to deal with the bait-and-switch as if it was invented now.

Instead, I want to start addressing the claim that the only difference between Ilia and Adam is that she’s gay, he’s not. Even as far as identity goes, I can think of another difference between them (hint: pronoun). It says a lot that the person decided to focus on the sexual orientation. Of course, they are actually very different.

In my article about Adam’s redemption arc, I proposed that a writer has to respond to a few questions to make one of those. They were:

- Have they been conflicted about their actions?

- Does the character want redemption?

- Do they deserve it? If yes, then:

   - Can it be achieved?

   - How?

I concluded there were ultimately no real objective answer to “does a character deserve redemption” – each person has an opinion on it and that, in a story, is entirely decided by the writer(s) (assuming they have total control, which isn’t always the case).

Let’s answer them for Ilia and Adam.

Were they conflicted about their actions? Ilia yes, Adam no. He wants to destroy Blake and Yang until his last breath.

Do they want redemption? Ilia, yes, which is why she goes to Mistral. Adam doesn’t.

Do they deserve redemption? Well, this one is subjective, so let’s take a look to their actions:

Ilia: she spies on Blake and ambushed her and allowed for her family to be attacked, even fought Blake and Sun twice. One of those times, injures her friend, though it was a minor injury from which he had completely recovered from by the next episode. She also had never intent to kill them.

Adam: he was part of Beacon’s fall, which caused several to die; abused Blake and tried to kill her; cut off Yang’s arm and tried to kill her; tried to destroy Haven which would probably to the partial obliteration of Mistral, judging by what happened in Vale. Not to mention all the psychological trauma caused to Blake and Yang.

If you think Ilia’s beyond redemption, that’s fair, I suppose. In reality, she would go to jail. Still, when it comes to storytelling and characters getting a redemption arc, I can tell you her actions are pretty tame when compared to the usual.

However, you can’t think she’s not worth redeeming yet Adam is. The opposite is possible though as his actions are far worse than hers. Not to mention that all throughout she was shown to be confused and conflicted while he wasn’t. He wanted to take things even further.

There is one more thing I want to address in the original comment: “I want to like all the characters in RWBY and for them to be well-written, so Adam being wasted as a character annoyed me.”

This is very obviously bullshit, because when claiming Ilia stole Adam’s arc, the implication is that she didn’t deserve to get it. Also, at no point, there was even the slightest hint Adam would be getting a redemption arc. Quite the opposite considering the damage he caused to 2 out of 4 main characters. Like I said before, “It’s time I got what I deserved” makes Harvey Dent’s “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” look subtle. He was very clear his path was a downfall, not a redemption.

I know some of you missed all the clues and projected what you wanted and are now disappointed. But writers don’t owe you giving you what you want. They have their story and if you pictured it differently… well, it happens to all of us. And no, choosing not to develop a character that was always meant to be a villain and used as a plot-device to build 2 main ones and their relationship isn’t bad writing. To some extent, there’s a limit to the characters that can be developed, because too many and your audience stops giving a shit. People just don’t get attached to that many characters and every time spent on a tertiary character is time not spent with other more important ones.

All is not lost though as one did respond to the comment:

Thanks Todoroki. I knew there’s a reason why I like you.

Just a side note: bulls don’t really see the color red. They charge because of the movement, not the color. I know this may seen like a pedantic nitpick, but... actually it is just that.