#psychological deep dive

[goodwomanbadlady]

So Aziraphale is in Heaven, Crowley is unspecified. The humans from S1 have vague fuzzies, Most of the humans from S2 have the same. But we know that Nina at least and possibly Maggie as well (not convinced one way or another on Maggie's humanity) have at least some more distinct memories of the situations they experienced. I'm basing that on Nina being aware of the party behavior of the shopkeepers. The control doesn't seem as strong with her.

Anyway, if Nina (& Maggie?) have more distinct memories of what went down, I'm wondering about their current existential crisis. Every story I've read so far seems to gloss over their acceptance of the situation with their personalities, but I'm guessing they wouldn't be the first humans (by a long shot) that our beings have revealed themselves to and left aware (at least in part) of their true natures and what that would mean for humanity. Confirmation of a Christian eternity, but oh wait, heaven's not great and hell is exactly as described. So eternal torment is a certainty in one form or another. Not to mention, bringing another element to the predestination vs. free will debate we already see in Aziraphale and Crowley.

It would be interesting to see a theological debate or simply a discourse on how (if it were real and as depicted in GO) that particular brand of knowledge would affect a living human, or two. I've seen a few where Nina does freak out but I'm curious that if neither Aziraphale or Crowley is there to answer any questions, what would that mental tornado look like? If Maggie does remember more clearly, like I believe Nina does, what would that do to their relationship? There are obviously multiple scenario possibilities. I've just not seen that being explored. Possibly because Aziraphale and Crowley are already written to be so human like that we are still playing with that, but there are some really interesting deep dives to be done with some other characters.

This just came to me, but the possibility of Mr. Brown (an admittedly very apt name) finding out he has a pash on an actual angel. And then a later reveal of Crowley's true nature. His reactions would be well worth the read.

If these fics are out there and I'm just not aware of them, please please comment fic recs!

[headspacedad]

Parasocial relationships in East Asia: A look into obsession

[handledwithgloves]

someone was all like 'it's so ooc that in fics harry is the messy one and draco is the clean freak bc harry was raised to clean up after himself and others while draco never lifted a finger in his entire life' and i completely agree!!

harry would keep his general living space, kitchen, and bathroom clean and then his bedroom (mostly his bed) would be a bit of an organized mess. like things would be placed what seems to be randomly, but to harry it makes sense. yknow what i mean lol

draco would hate mess but he wouldn't know how to go about taking care of it, so he'll just cover it up or ignore it. stain on the floor? put a new decor over it, problem solved. clothes not folding itself? hide it in the furniture. like yes he'll keep things neat and in logical places like his stationary is distinctly placed and memorized on his desk but don't ask him about his bathroom, bed room or living space. he doesn't use his kitchen.

[dremiruu]

ok theres some apple white discourse on here lately so as the self appointed biggest apple white defender i'm just gonna include parts of an unfinished essay i have sitting in my drafts and leave it at that

[batsplat]

250cc jorge/dovi truly has an unmatched vibe. jorge brings a very fourteen year old energy to the table and then dovi acts like he's about thirty. every parc fermé features jorge flitting around like a socially awkward flamingo while dovi stares into the middle distance puffing at an imaginary pipe. jorge's got the world's biggest ego and the deadliest insecurities in the whole wide universe swirling around in his little chest, prancing around figuring out new ways to be irritating at an unprecedented rate. and dovi has this completely unwavering level of sheer unbridled contempt towards jorge that's unaffected by anything jorge says or does... while also occasionally worrying away at jorge's nerves with his very sensible 'just telling it like it is' descriptions of races reminding everyone of how underpowered the honda is compared to the aprilia. jorge probably wasn't even wrong that teenage dovi was attempting to 'undermine his morale' because dovi would love to do just that. dovi would psychologically ruin jorge if he could without any hesitation whatsoever. jorge is just begging for any attention he can get - positive or negative - and he's constantly being hit by this blank-faced distaste from a kid who wants nothing to do with him. dovi would rather be being beaten by literally anyone else on the planet. jorge just wants dovi to hate him in a normal fun way. they are title rivals for two whole years and they're already sick of each other by the first round. it's the huis clos of teenage motorcycling rivalries

[yuseirra]

children

[bitter-sweet-farmgirl]

Loyalty, Honour, A Willing Heart (Prt. 2)

2. Balin’s Storytime

When Fili and Kili attempt to scare Bilbo over the orcs and whatnot, Balin goes into his story about the battle of Azanulbizar, which ties into what I was talking about prior.

It is a glimpse into Thorin's past life and what he is, but it also looks at his character through a different lens.  It shows the devotion his people have to him.  Because at the end of that sequence once we come back from the flashback, you can see Thorin is standing there reliving those memories.  Balin’s telling the story, and he says, “there is one I could follow, one I could call King.” 

And then, we cut to all the rest of the Company awake and standing around, (stark contrast to when we enter the scene and everyone is asleep), essentially silently confirming--and standing as witness--to the fact that they trust Thorin.

There is zero chance that any of them would be going on what is essentially a suicide-mission to reclaim Erebor where they have no idea what they are going to find.  And are probably going to die on the way. 

There is no reason why they would go unless they were 100% devoted to Thorin.  If they had any small bit of doubt about him and his leadership, or just him as a person, they would not be on that quest.  Those people are DEVOTED to him.  They have a choice, and they have decided to trust in Thorin to lead them straight and bring them through this.  Or, if not, they are willing to die by his side. 

For his cause. 

Another thing that I noticed later after thinking about this was how all the dwarves who did join him are technically working-class. There is not a drop of royal blood in their veins. (Exceptions being made for Balin, Dwalin, Oin and Gloin, as they are also descended from Durin, but from a 'non-royal' line).

They’re tinkers, toymakers, miners.  They are not nobles.  The nobles--which would be the council in the Iron Hills that Thorin went out to talk to about the quest--told him no.  They did not follow him.  Which, given that Thorin is their King (in a way) and very powerful and has the bloodline behind him, speaks a lot about what they think about him.

The people who do join him on this quest are ordinary people. "Hardly the stuff of legend", to quote Balin. They are the last people you would pick to go fight a dragon. But they came when the others who are qualified would not.

And seeing who chose to follow him, I think this scene has a very powerful message about how Thorin has been with his people.  He’s very empathetic, he’s very kind with them.  I mean, he worked as a blacksmith for years.  What princeling VOLUNTARILY goes and does blacksmithing? 

It is an extremely dirty and physically taxing job. And, while historically blacksmiths were viewed as important members of their community, how we see Thorin portrayed (in his 9 second clip) makes me wonder if in his case, that didn't hold true.

I'm sure there could be some sort of racial prejudice about having a dwarf blacksmith (which, technically you would want them because of their talent with metals), but despite that, I wonder if he didn't get treated poorly because he was a dwarf in a human settlement.

He was not obligated to take that job. There are many other jobs he could have chosen to go with if he HAD to take a job. He also could have chosen not to work at all!

But he chose to do the hardest job there was out of his options.

Thorin, of royal lineage, who has known no other life, decided to become a blacksmith to earn money for his people. It speaks absolute volumes about his character and him as a person.

[queer-whatchamacallit]

Thinking about one Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto

How Mikey’s flighty, unreliable behavior and eventual exit from the family reflects their dad while Carmy’s temper and obsession with making something to be enjoyed by others reflect their mom, Sugar doesn’t emulate either of them

How Mikey, Richie, and Carmy all had careers in restaurants, but she just never understood it. Why would they want to be surrounded by the thing that made their mother so miserable and later surrounded by reminders of their dead brother?

How she tries so hard to reach out to everyone and make sure they’re doing okay and just try to help, but she doesn’t know how, and there’s some kind of disconnect there that she has no idea how to get past

She feels like she’s from a completely different world than everyone else, but she’s trying so hard to help and to understand, but it’s all blowing up in her face, and she doesn’t get why

[thechosenanubis]

Nina is actually a better person than people give her credit for. Like at the beginning of S1, I had the same scenario with Patricia happen to me: new girl at a new school, trying to make friends, and this other girl in my class didn't like my ~vibes~ or whatever and started saying nasty stuff and trying to isolate me. (thankfully in my case no close friends were kidnapped by secret societies in search for eternal life 💀 ) So not only i can sympathize with her situation, but even relate to it.

And what I don't see talked about enough is ( or if people did, I haven't seen those posts) calling out Patricia's behavior for what it really was: bullying. Keep in mind here, that I understand where Patricia's behavior is coming from, since she's being gaslit like crazy. But that still doesn't make her behaviour towards Nina acceptable or excusable.

And I wouldn't have blamed Nina if she refused to accept Patricia's apology, because is not a victim's responsability ( only their choice) to forgive their bully.

Still, Nina forgave Patricia because she's good like that ( and probably didn't want to break the already fragile ecosystem of the house with more hostility even if it was within her right to keep a grudge and refuse Patricia's apology. )

What i'm trying to say, Nina is a good person, flawed but good.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[yanxidarlings]

Aaaaaa i did not expect you to reply so soon! Love your perspective, especially the part about spain playing favourites and choosing the most catholic and most resource heavy 😭😭.. i feel like most people never really talk about former colonies and their colonisers... bc theres no way india would be that happy and pleasant with england😭😭.... anyways rant over im really into ur latin america hcs... especially mexico... 😇😇

anonymous asked:

Sorry if im spamming you but i also just had a thought... since mexico would be very similar to spain, would he be equally as delusional... or worse? I think he would start thinking hes in some telenova or hes a cowboy or something ( north america try not to be delusional challenge)(impossible)

i saw the ask and my brain went ding ding that is extremely rare round of applause for anon please do keep spamming i'm on a roll here

oo! i feel like spain is in an interesting position among colonisers and their former colonies; i'm pretty sure, or at least headcanon, that he found pretty much all of his former colonies as chibi's, kind of like china, so they probably don't have as many memories of their native cultures that were stripped from them. that's why they might not bare as intense hatred for spain as someone like vietnam would hold for france.

but there's definately alot of resentment. i think this is especially prominent for peru, who i have often seen characterised as quite in touch with his parent, Inca's, culture and history, and probably wonders what his life might have looked like if he had been allowed to grow up out of spain's iron grip.

i headcanon that latin america, spain's portion of it at least, try to make spain feel as excluded and alienated from what antonio perceives as his 'legacy' in the america's, it's a way to subtly let out some of their repressed resentment towards him.

and on india — you're definately right! i think england and india have a much more snarky? relationship. india is nearly as old as china and was trying to finesse his way through europe's colonial era only to get stuck with this entitled asshole with a superiority complex, that's gotta breed some strong resentment. india is alot like china in the way that he just tolerates those he dislikes for the sake of politics - he's not getting chummy with england unless there's something in it for him.

back to latin american colonisation — i've always characterised mexico as being one of the former spanish colonies that drinks the 'big brother spain' kool-aid. he's not so delusional about colonisation as he is not wanting to recognise how much of a monster spain really was. i can't imagine josé likes to hear or talk about the aztec empire's slaughter at spain's hands; it tears him apart that he lost his actual parent to the only parental figure he knows.

and this definately bleeds into his yandere psyche. mexico doesn't like to confront the reality that any love his darling has for him is manufactured; stockholm syndrome at best, entirely faked at worst. he doesn't like to think of himself as being manipulative or wrong because the implications of that truth are just too much for him to handle.

this is definately where he differs most strikingly from spain; fundamentally, spain isn't able to see the reality of his actions and how wrong they are or how much he's messed up his darling in the process of 'pursuing' them. it's all just a grand romance, his darling is the one with the issues.

josé is definately the type to play into whatever fantasy will best charm his darling, and try to glamourise the relationship "we would make good characters for a telenovela, cariño! we would have so many fans". he likes to compare his actions to others to justify them as well "spain had his own key for your room back in the day" and make intruding on their life seem so normal.

not to mention, piggybacking off my last post, latin america would be a cesspool of yandere's validating each others behaviours. they all picked it up from spain at somepoint, maybe even from each other, so no one bat's an eye when mexico goes on another obsession fueled rant; some countries he's closer to might even offer to help.

the fandom likes to hype up russia and belarus as scary but at least people recognise them as dangerous. latin america is equally as dangerous if not more, imagine being stuck between one, two, or more of them? at least in europe you can pit yandere's against each other, spain raised his colonies as siblings and despite their conflicts they are capable of mass cooperation.

[pluraldeepdive]

Results of a casual survey I hosted on reddit, discord, and uquiz. The majority of participants (54 out of 56) did not identify as a system or plural, so here's all the non-plural data. I will be hosting the same survey again later for only plurals/systems so we can get a nice comparison. Hope you guys find this info interesting!

[voidedgear]

HC: Emotional Dysregulation

Vanitas is an extremely emotional person. He’s literally made from the negativity and darkness that used to occupy Ventus’s heart. The Unversed are literally Vanitas’s emotions come to life and there are a WHOLE LOT OF THEM populating the worlds at the time of Birth by Sleep. He can’t control their creation, it’s something that happens spontaneously as he feels something.

And when he does try to prevent his Unversed from spawning, they find other ways to escape from him…

The moment he entered the darkness between, Vanitas dropped to his knees and clutched his chest. It hurts. Ugh, I feel awful. I’m gonna throw up. Vanitas tore off his mask and cast it aside. Beneath the mask was a raven-haired boy, his face twisted in agony as sweat beaded on his brow. Unable to bear it any longer, Vanitas vomited on the spot and spat out a black mass. The mass twitched, and a red eye rose up on it, glinting. It was trying to become one of them. Vanitas smashed it with a fist, and the inky lump splattered and dispersed like mist.

— (Birth by Sleep Novel, Chapter 9)

Feeling deeply is not a bad thing, especially within the context of Kingdom Hearts. Sora is able to save others precisely because he feels so deeply and openly for other people. But therein lays the difference between Sora and Vanitas. Sora feels for other people and Vanitas’s emotions are all self-centered. Sora will take on the burden of pain for others and Vanitas will stop at nothing to ensure that his own pain stops at the expense of harming other people.

Not that wishing for an end to one’s own pain makes someone a monster. It’s the fact that Vanitas does not often care what he does to other people.

Vanitas also struggles with impulse control. That’s the whole reason for that first fight he has against Ventus in BBS, and why he shows up in the Land of Departure. Despite the fact that he and Xehanort had planned to wait for Ventus to grow stronger in BBS, despite the fact that Xehanort wanted to use Ventus as one of the Lights in KH3… Vanitas saw an opportunity to get what he wanted and he took it. Xehanort even scolds him about it in the novel.

[Master Xehanort] noticed a disturbance in the air behind him and the masked boy, Vanitas, appeared. Without turning around, Master Xehanort reprimanded him. “That wasn’t part of the plan.”

— (Birth by Sleep Novel, Chapter 3)

Vanitas struggles with controlling his impulsivity, controlling his emotions, and controlling his circumstances. In fact, Vanitas spends a significant amount of time feeling as if he has no control over any part of himself. The negativity that creates Unversed is cyclical. The more Vanitas feels, the more Unversed he creates, and the less he feels in control. This lead to him lashing out at the Unversed early on, killing them as they were born.

But all this did was cause him to feel whatever pain he had inflicted on them, which caused him to feel worse and create more Unversed—and so the cycle continued. By the end of BBS, however, Vanitas has come to accept his Unversed as part of him.

Hate, sadness, fear, jealousy, panic, suffering, envy, anxiety, pain, despair. I embrace them all. Y’know, I may not have friends the way Ventus does, but I forgot about all of you. You were always with me, from the moment I was born.

— (Birth By Sleep Novel, Chapter 12)

Vanitas achieves a kind of self-acceptance with his Unversed. He no longer destroys them and accepts them for what they are.

However, just because Vanitas has accepted his Unversed and his emotions does not mean he is… regulating them very well. Vanitas’s mood swings are often powerful and he has virtually no control of them in the moment. They leave him feeling exhausted and irritable. Vanitas struggles to calm himself down and can be destructive toward objects and others when his anger is stoked.

He has trouble defining what he wants and separating it from how he feels. This comes up most consistently with Ventus, Terra, and Aqua. Vanitas is angry at Ventus for denying him the chance to become whole, he hates him, but he also feels lonely without him.

Wish I could be numb like [Ventus], too. We used to be one, so why did we have to get separated? I’d probably feel a little better, at least, if we were together again.

— (Birth by Sleep Novel, Chapter 10)

He hates Terra and Aqua for what they mean to Ventus because a part of him desires that they care about him, too. After all, he spent a very long time watching them all through Ventus’s eyes. He was bound to grow at least a little attached. A little jealous of the way Terra gave him that Keyblade, the way Aqua would bake them treats…

Vanitas also tends to oscillate between extreme self-aggrandizement and severe devaluation of himself (Vanitas’s feelings toward Ventus tend to follow this pattern as well). Vanitas is both the hottest thing since sliced bread and the most miserable creature to crawl out of the dusty cracks of the Keyblade Graveyard.

Of course I should hate my existence. You've hated yourself too, haven't you? I hated you, Ventus. I tried to merge with you, and for a moment I faded away. Did I really hate you? Or was that hatred really directed at myself? It doesn't matter anymore.

— KH Character Files (Vanitas)

In conclusion, Vanitas is…

A Mess.

Basically.

[savagebisand]

I'm actually starting to be of the opinion that nick is the more manipulative mastermind one out of the lot once he's suspicious or hurt enough which means Boston is in some serious dangerous waters and I can't wait to see him taste some of his own medicine right back. I was of the belief nick was going to just fall apart in Boston's scheming cunning hands before but it actually seems like he's going to use some of Bostons own tactics to put him in the uncomfortable position for once.

Something I've wondered since the trailer is that everyone eventually finds out about Boston and Top but how? Whose responsible for making Boston face those consequences? I think it genuinely might be Nick with Sands help. Which would also explain why nick is upset at sand for something he's done to Boston which makes nick feel "embarrassed" and sand is so angry when he tells nick that Boston is a shit person anyway. He clearly has the context Boston doesn't value anyone's feelings let alone nicks by next episode and that's only episode four. So what on earth is Boston going to have done by further down the line to nick that makes sand that upset?

I'm tempted to believe that because nick wants to play a long game with Boston after finding out about Top, he starts getting suckered in again and Sand, being Sand, isn't about to let that happen to his friend so he reminds Boston that nick is more inexperienced or something which causes nick to feel like he's lost a bit of the equal footing he's gained through sitting pretty and silent with Boston's manipulations to Boston's face but in reality doing things like bugging cars, snooping into his personal belongings etc. All that confidence nick has gained by being sly and now he feels stupid and inadequate again.

[fanficfanattic]

Roy tells Jamie how much he means to him, to the team, to everyone that isn’t Jamie’s dad. But the thing is, none of those things are replacements for the dad he wants and deserves but doesn’t get. Doesn’t have.

But if he already doesn’t have the man…how do you get to knowing peace about the loss?

Excerpt:

When he looks up, Roy meets his own eyes. Jamie's still got his faded, torn Roy Kent Chelsea poster, fixed to the ceiling with peeling painter’s tape. Next to that, he's taped up a tattered piece of notebook paper.

My goals

by Jamie, year 4

- make a hat trick at the etihad

- get scouted by city

- play football with roy kent

- play for england in the euros and world cup

- score lots of goals for england

- be good enough for dad to come back

- get mum a big house and lots of food

Excerpt 2, emphasis mine: It is, however, unusual for him to stay late after training with Jamie Tartt. The two have been getting closer since the Spurs game, and especially since Wembley and the promotion back to the Premier League, which delights Ted. It's a stark contrast from the early weeks after Roy returned, when he refused to coach Jamie. The team is better for it. Ted thinks they're both better for it too.

[crumblingspine]

AO3 is an evil website because why is the most interesting and complex character analysis hidden behind the most depraved pieces of writing

[batsplat]

so in assen 2004 comms talk about how valentino helped melandri with riding yamaha A Lot, and how they are two great friends. and indeed those two have known each other since childhood/or at least their teens right? (seen a lot of their photos w matching terrible dye jobs) but then fast forward to 2010 and melandri is going full conspiracy theorist about the freaking chair affghhhkgjk. like what happened here? is it any interesting or is it like mostly one sided bitterness from melandri or something. like that can’t really be about 2005 season for vale bc come on melandri wasn’t his main rival that year.

even if it’s not interesting feud or drama wise it is another friendship that vale had (and unlike w sete vale&melandri go way back) that eventually fell apart as a result of competing in motogp…….hm

yeah, we don't actually have a great sense of what happened there! it's funny the coldness seems to have crept in during the 2005 season specifically, because I'm very much with you here on the 'come on valentino why bother' stance - melandri was aggressively not a proper title contender that season and really not even the main on-track rival... but actually I do think this fits in rather nicely within my sete thesis, which we'll get to. the subsequent public bitterness has been entirely one-sided, with melandri occasionally saying something kinda mean-spirited about valentino in recent years and valentino... not doing any of that

anyhow, they definitely WERE close, which was hammered home not just through repeated mentions by the commentators but also when you read the columns he was dictating every race for mat oxley in his early years. here, from his 250cc days:

mugello 1998

I wasn’t so confident before Mugello because while I was at home I played football and lost, I played tennis and lost, I rode motocross and lost. The only thing I won was minicars – I am the champion! We got beaten in a five-a-side soccer match, six-one, then a friend beat me at tennis, six-one, then Marco [Melandri] beat me at motocross. I’m always fighting with Marco on motocross but he’s faster than me. I’m getting better though – at the start of the year he’d beat me by five or six seconds, now it’s only one or two. I have much fear when I ride motocross because I’m not good at flying. We don’t go crazy; it would be stupid to get hurt doing that. Motocross is great for my muscle power though. I don’t go the gym much in the summer because I want to be outside, so motocross is perfect.

paul ricard 1998

As usual, my break between Mugello and France was full of battles with my friends! First we played football and my team won on penalties. I scored the winner. I never make a mistake from the penalty spot. Next day I did motocross with Melandri and he beat me, as usual, but we had some very funny races. Then I raced with Melandri again, but with electric cars. He’s bought a Honda NSX – it’s fast. Before I left for France we raced minimoto at a track in Rimini. There were about 20 of us: me, Melandri and a load of fast, young Italian riders. We had a lot of really crazy battles. Lots of fun! I don’t think it’s dangerous because the bikes aren’t so fast, maybe 60kp/h. I had some big fights with Melandri, we hit each other all the time – BANG! BANG! BANG! – and we crashed together maybe two or three times.

madrid 1998

I’m doing motocross three times a week now to help build up strength, but Melandri is still faster than me, so I’ve started practising in secret. I get dressed into my motocross gear, then ring him to tell him we don’t need to ride today, then do a few hours riding in secret! Soon I will be faster than him! Anyway, I beat him in minimoto before we went to Jarama.

assen 1998

“Hooray, finally I am first on a 250! It was the day of the teenager at Assen, the Italian teenager! I was so happy when my friend Melandri won the 125 race, so it was fantastic to go out and win the 250. A perfect day, except Marco and me couldn’t party on Saturday night, because I flew home to celebrate with my friends, while he stayed at Assen. I guess we’ll make sure we have a beer together before Donington.

donington 1998

We had our own paddock World Cup at Donington on Thursday, which was really shit, because we played three games and lost three games. I played in the Italian team with Melandri, Boscoscuro, Scalvini, Locatelli, Borsoi and Carpani. First we played the Suzuki 500 team and lost, then we played Team Rainey and lost, and finally we played Dorna, and lost. Dorna were all Spanish and very good. But the games weren’t so much fun because the pitch was tiny and really bumpy. Last year we had the paddock World Cup at Imola on a full-size pitch, and I scored twice. Nice!

sachsenring 1998

Now we have a four-week holiday before Brno, but I’m going to spend most of my time on the beach near my home – it’s sunny and the girls are nice, that’s all I need! But I am going away for one week – a racers’ holiday with Loris Reggiani, Roberto Locatelli and Melandri. We’re going to Tunisia to mess about with jet skis and fast boats. Should be a lot of fun!

sepang 1999

The winter was fun. Usually I don’t like the winter because it’s too cold, but where I live, near the Adriatic coast, there are so many people in the summer. That didn’t used to be a problem, but now everyone recognises me, so it’s Rossi! Rossi! Rossi! all the time. I don’t like it! I spent a lot of time with my friends, as that’s when I’m happiest. We went skiing a few times, a big gang of us. Mad! Snowboarding is more fashionable nowadays but I’m faster on skis, so it’s better! Melandri came with me once, he’s my best mate in the paddock, plus Alessandro Brannetti, a new Italian 125 guy.

mugello 1999

Before Mugello I spent some time at home, riding my 250 road bike and going motocrossing. I have a new motocross bike at home, but I can’t tell you what it is, because it’s not an Aprilia! But it’s a lot of fun on the new motocross track I’ve built behind a friend’s house. I dug the ground myself with a JCB digger we hired. I have designed the track to be safe for me, because modern motocross tracks have near-vertical take-off jumps, which are very dangerous if you don’t have good control in the air. And I don’t! So I’ve built low and fast jumps which I can take in fourth or fifth gear and be safe. Big fun! I’m looking forward to racing my friend Melandri, who hasn’t been doing motocross since he broke his wrist in Malaysia.

sachsenring 1999

Now we have a four-week holiday, hooray! All I really want to do is sleep. During the break last year I went to Tunisia with a bunch of friends like Melandri, but all I want to do now is stay home and rest. My home is near a holiday resort anyway, near the Adriatic Sea, but to be honest I don’t like the sea so much. I prefer snow...”

argentina 1999

I already have some plans for the winter. The World Championship may have finished, but I already have two more races over the next few weeks. No rest yet! First is the X Race at Misano. This is a special event for GP and world Superbike riders. I’m racing go-karts, motocross and cars with [Carl] Fogarty, Melandri, Capirossi, Harada and a lot of other guys. They ran this event for the first time last year and I won it. It’s only fun of course but I want to win again because winning is always important. Then at the end of November I’m doing a car rally at Monza.

so yeah, clearly close buddies! I'm sure there's more out there about their friendship, but I've never been that invested in digging into the details lol. about the collapse of the relationship... well, there's this from the barker biography, which kinda lumps melandri into a generic section about valentino's rivals:

Marco Melandri, who had been a close friend of Rossi's for years before he started winning races in 2005, noted the same shift in attitude: 'When I started to race well with him he changed a lot. When we were growing up we were very good friends. Valentino plays games with everybody... the way he talked to the media - he tries to never say something good about you.'

in 2007, after valentino had finally lost a title fight (and was in the process of losing another), there's another oxley column where a few key figures like his teammate edwards, his rival hayden, and his crew chief jb were asked about what made valentino so good. and valentino's crew chief jb was kind enough to give his own take on the melandri dynamic:

“He only uses mind games when people make a serious challenge, then he pulls out that extra tool in his armoury, which he did with Max, with Sete and to a lesser degree with Marco. Then there’s Loris, who is also serious challenge, but there’s a different understanding between them, there’s a respect. When I first worked with Valentino he was mates with Marco. Whenever there was a dinner or a party, Marco was always there. When Marco came to MotoGP it was still fine, then when there was any sort of a challenge their friendship cooled off a bit."

and then by 2010 you get melandri be like. full yellow chair conspiracy theorist. now, he also mentions how his own celebrations were received, and we do actually have jorge himself give his review of said celebrations a few years earlier (x, x):

I don't really have a point here, I just think it's funny

whereas from valentino's side.... well, there's really not much. his autobiography goes until the end of 2004 and is published in 2005 - so if melandri was already a 'proper' rival when the book was finalised, it will have been a very recent thing... but there's literally one reference to melandri in the whole thing, and it's something generic to do with the yamaha's development. valentino himself has said pretty much fuck all about this friendship falling apart. it's a bit frustrating because... when melandri says that valentino tries never to say anything good about you in the media - look, that's probably referring to something substantive, but we don't really know what exactly valentino supposedly said. we just have to take melandri at his word.... when you go that far back, it's a lot trickier to hunt down specifics if it's not a big news story, if there's not been a major controversy

you do have this from mid 2005:

"No. I think this is not true," replied Rossi, when asked if he deliberately avoided friendships with his closest rivals. "With Melandri, when this year he start to go fast, especially the Italian journalists, try to put some bad things between us - to make fight like what happened between Biaggi and Doohan. "But I go to speak to Melandri after Shanghai, on the podium, because I say one thing and the Italian journalists they modify and say to him another thing - and also the same journalists come to me and make the same. "I know Marco from minibikes when we were friends - we've been friends for more than ten-years - so I try to keep a good relationship because I don't like a bad relationship with anybody," he insisted. "For sure I have had a bad relationship with Biaggi and Gibernau but I don't think that is the right result."

now, according to the article, there were already rumours at the time that the relationship had grown colder that year. which is mainly funny insofar as valentino had quite literally double melandri's points - and the latter still hadn't won a race. again. what's the point

which, well. I do think jb's mention of capirossi is kinda interesting, as another rival valentino had known forever and one who wasn't like. dramatically less likely than melandri to end up a serious challenger to valentino, beyond being a bit older already. jb mentions they have an "understanding", a "respect" between the two of them... it's also maybe worth bringing in what hayden, the man who had actually managed to beat him in 2006, had to say about valentino for the same oxley piece:

“I can’t say it’s just his approach that makes him good. Some guys take their racing real serious, others are really laid back, it’s whatever works for that rider. But regardless of whatever he does he definitely gets around the track fast, that’s what’s most important. “One thing I noticed when we were team-mates is that he looks like it’s fun, fun, fun, he definitely cuts up a lot, but once you’re in the garage that dude is so serious, so focused. Everything seems perfect, right down to the windscreen sticker and the colour of his boots. He doesn’t overlook anything and I think that’s a big part of it. “More than anything it’s the racer in him that makes him so strong, it’s obvious the guy wants to win. He’s got a lot of natural talent but I know a lot of guys with natural talent and it gets some guys in trouble. It’s the whole package that makes him strong: the desire, the focus, the talent. “I think sometimes maybe he’s not as laidback as he comes across. He knows what to say and when to say it to make it look like things aren’t really getting to him. He knows how to play it, on the bike and off the bike. “It’s hard to say what he’s like with mind games because I can only comment on how he’s been with me and I’ve never seen him play any games with me, especially last year when he was taking chunks out of my points lead. The guy didn’t really change, maybe he just knew that I wasn’t going to roll over. Maybe some of the guys he can break down mentally, maybe he knew it wasn’t going to get to me. “Him and JB (Jeremy Burgess) haven’t won all those titles just through his riding, they know how to play people, they know how to play their cards, when to show their hand, when not to show their hand. I don’t think he plays as many games as other guys – you don’t need to play a lot of games when you can ride like that.“ "On track sure he’s aggressive but he’s totally clean and he definitely has a lot of tactics. He knows when he wants to race just one guy, how to separate groups, how to slow down. Like Phillip Island in 2005 I was on him the whole race and he eventually saw that he wasn’t going to get away, so he slowed down, brought the next group up to us to get me caught up with them, then tried to make another break. He’s got a lot of race craft. “I’d say his biggest strength is that he can adapt. If the tyres go off and he needs to slide he can slide, when the bike need to be ridden in line he can ride in line, he can definitely adapt to situations. I can’t say there’s one area of his riding where he just kills guys. It’s not just braking or corner speed or this or that, I’d just say that when he’s in a rhythm and putting those laps down he can break a guy. Like at Jerez this year he broke Pedrosa by about half a tenth a lap, he just kept putting those laps down, riding on that edge. He doesn’t ride 95 per cent, he rides on that razor edge for a long time. “I don’t know about weaknesses, it’s hard for me to point out a guy’s weakness when he’s won all those championships. In fact I’m not going to say he’s got any weak points because I don’t need to motivate the guy! That’s why I don’t want to say anything negative, I’m a big believer in not motivating these guys anymore, that’s why I don’t talk trash.”

like, you do have to bring up the context that valentino had four title rivals in 2006 - melandri, hayden, capirossi and dani - and he really only seems to have cooled off towards one of them. I'm not saying it's melandri's fault! I think it's more... hm, it's a bit telling, isn't it? competitively, there's not really any reason for melandri to be singled out in any way. I mean, you'll note he didn't win the title - and the guy who did explicitly says he didn't think valentino was fucking with him. valentino says in 2005 that he's made an active effort to not let the melandri relationship get worse... which could be true insofar as he didn't want any drama, but clearly he did allow that friendship to grow cold. why do that? is melandri really such a threat? I feel like if valentino said something particularly egregious about melandri, we would have some kind of a record of it - but let's say he was just mildly bitchy about the guy. you'd want to take him to one side and tell him 'dude, you really needn't bother', right? like, no offence, but is THIS guy worth it?

except. well. it is a little interesting that in the immediate aftermath of 2004, valentino had another friend of his (who he had considerably more history with than his last title rival) head over to honda gresini, turn into a more serious challenger... and valentino went. 'hm, yeah, maybe let's not do that again.' whether consciously or subconsciously, he does seem to have drawn back from melandri a hell of a lot quicker than he did from sete - and let's not forget that sete was actually beating him in dramatic last lap duels, which melandri extremely did not do. now, look, of course there COULD have been some sort of private spat here that nobody involved ever talked about... or maybe valentino just decided for completely unrelated reasons he'd had enough of melandri. but isn't it just. a little noteworthy. that when it comes to the 2006 title rivals, valentino is on good terms with all of them, who he seemingly does not piss off too badly with any sort of off-track antics... except melandri. his coldest relationship is with his childhood friend. one might conclude that melandri was the one who had the most power to hurt valentino, if he had been allowed to remain close. one could argue that there the sete rivalry marked a bit of a turning point in terms of how valentino approached his rivalries, that after this point he really didn't want another rivalry that could affect him in the same way. one might point out that some of the details of the melandri rivalry sure feel like they could be used to back up this framing

all that being said. what valentino is doing here is... well, it's basically fine, isn't it. everyone and their dog agrees it's tough to remain friends with your actual close rivals. jb describes it as their friendship 'cooling off', which is also the kind of thing that can just... eventually happen with childhood friends, even when you don't have pressures of competition warping interpersonal dynamics. there's not all that much to suggest valentino was massively treating melandri differently from any of his other major rivals at the time - it's just that his prior relationship had been closer and melandri seems to have taken the shift poorly. given how little of a paper trail there is, it feels like any mind games on valentino's part were generally on the subtler side, perhaps just the occasional snide comment or insinuation or ambiguously shady line that never made it to an article we can still access nowadays. more in line with what nicky "I don't think he plays as many games as other guys" hayden is describing: how valentino knows how to play his cards without necessarily escalating it into full out war. when melandri's talking about the rivalry, at times he does seem less annoyed by anything valentino actually did than he is by the media pressure of being an italian rival of valentino's, of being subjected to a more hostile media environment tan valentino, etc etc. after a certain point, valentino was often a passive beneficiary of his own successes in that regard. it's not like he's telling the italian journalists to put extra pressure on melandri... but he's also hardly going to complain

in general, the timing of it does have a certain charm to it as useful evidence for my great big 'the sete experience changed how valentino approached his rivalries' thesis, but I'm always a tad wary of analyses that flatten valentino's rivalries and by extension valentino by treating the patterns of behaviour in each as identical. it's also worth pointing out that... well, melandri isn't exactly a neutral source here, and his 2010 great big yellow chair theory does maybe suggest his resentment was getting in the way of his judgement where valentino was concerned. in the end, people didn't enjoy melandri's celebrations as much as melandri would have liked. and at some point in 2005, valentino apparently decided he didn't like this guy's vibe any more. c'est la vie