#streets are saying it was oscar and i am in shambles

[chaoticlandworlder]

@ the drivers who impeded logan in fp3: it is on sight.

[wi55iams]

Because I am autistic and the ridiculous car sport is one of my special interests I am pausing the regularly scheduled carlos/charles/oscar/general f1 driver thirst to instead spew all my thoughts on today into a post otherwise I will not stop thinking about this. To my followers; do not worry I will not subject you to this every race I sometimes just need to SCREAM:

Fellow Tifosi: the hard truth is our team is now slower than Mercedes and McLaren. But I think the important question to ask is why? Aside from that Ferrari are being Ferrari again. Well. First of all they have NOT had the raft of upgrades McLaren or even Mercedes have had. McLaren have completely changed their concept and Mercedes have finally given up on the zero pod, and it’s paying off! It’s becoming increasingly clear that trying to make the most of a bad car just doesn’t work, and that you really need to bite the bullet and commit to a complete concept change. Obviously, this is difficult to do with a cost cap, but Ferrari really haven’t kept pace with the upgrade train (aston martin too... a lot of this also applies to them) and if we want to see Charles on the front row again we are going to need some serious tweaking this season. 

Secondly: This years cars are so close the track is playing a massive part in car performance. The beginning of this year was mostly street circuits due to Imola being cancelled, and I have a suspicion these kinds of circuits suit the Aston/Ferrari far more, and that this drop off in pace is not as caused by a lack of development as it initially appears, but these cars just not being as suited to proper racetracks, wheras on street tracks they are closer to competitors. This may just be me on the copium, but I believe that Ferrari and Aston may be in better form on later street circuits this year.

Obviously, I can’t ignore this; FINALLY SOMEONE HAS TAKEN MAX DOWN A PEG. Red Bull don’t seem as comfortably ahead as they usually are. Perhaps the upgrades have unsettled Max slightly? While I doubt Lewis will be able to win this (he did only manage to beat Max by 0.003 of a second) this is certainly an instance of making the god bleed and realising it can be killed. 

I also want to discuss McLaren; It’s becoming clear these massive upgrades have worked! Changing the car so much is a gamble that’s paid off tenfold for them. I hope this level of competitiveness remains this year and beyond, so we can see Oscar get his first podium and Lando his first win. I also hope it’s a wake up call for Ferrari and Aston who have been very complacent. 

Alfa Romeo, also. Did they have upgrades? Did this new quali format just work for them? I’m not entirely sure tbh but well deserved after a shit few races. Would like to see them do well tomorrow but i’m not sure if the one lap pace will carry over.

Another Ferrari thought: I am beginning to suspect they have written this season off as a dud and are turning their attention to next year’s car. I think the success at Le Mans, and the obvious ploy it was to get around the cost cap and also develop tech for their F1 programme, has left them kinda in shambles and going ‘well, we have next year!’ and hoping their new car works. I hope it does. Charles deserves it after all the shit he’s put up with.

Finally; DANIEL! he has had like 3 hours in that car and he dragged it into Q2, what a start! Although I hope the inevitable rivalry doesn’t become too sour between him and Yuki. Daniel has come into this guns blazing and I love to see it. The honey badger is back and he’s gonna BITE. 

Rant over. I just want to say I’m no expert in this and this is just my observations from being obsessed with this sport. Feel free to add your own thoughts! This has been Opti’s notebook. We will soon resume regular programming. 

[wingresistance]

T.R.O.S. initial thoughts - 

under the cut & subject to enhancements post a second viewing, of course

hello, hello, thank you for returning to my humble abode. i watched tros last night and slept on it before typing this out this morning so it’s been mulled over in my subconscious a bit, hopefully. the fact i’m able to sleep at all is a miracle. i remember the post tlj-debacle where i stayed up till 4am writing a 1500 word commentary on all of it. this is chill. 

the biggest takeaway from all of this is that it is very much a combination of what jj planned for the eighth movie and combined with the nine. it is a speedy run-through of ‘here’s what should’ve happened’ and ‘THIS IS MY VISION NOW’. pacing was definitely rushed and underdeveloped, esp points like rey palpatine or finn being force sensitive or even the trio interactions. while i understand there’s been a time-skip, tlj was just so bonkers and separated the trio to an extent that it’s definitely jarring to abruptly have them be thrown together in this one. still adored them though. i respect and actually like that they bicker, and while the execution was a bit odd, it does feel natural to their characters, especially with rey and poe’s personalities.

it was great, finally, to have that dynamic between those three, and i wished it could’ve been elaborated more. there are scenes that i’m not sure would’ve been necessary but also would not make sense if they were removed (again, because of the two-in-one scenario here).

i’ll leave the meta for other characters to other people or perhaps to another post. we’re going into poe centric territory here. 

pros

poe making strategic decisions and growing into himself as a leader. honestly let the man rest. but between ‘the rise of resistance’ and this, there’s more of a growth and him rising to the occasion, though the trajectory of how it happened or exactly what he has to grow from is not how i envisioned (read: poe was right in leading the mutiny in tlj). poe leading the flight team at the end battle is *chefs kiss* amazing. 

poe talking to leia after her death. i have been SAYING poe is leia’s parallel. him being her acting general and immediately co-delegating to finn? thank you.

poe utilizing his contacts and having street smart skills. im living my best life in terms of the verse i envisioned (we’ll talk about the backstory part in a bit). light speed skipping? we stan

poe flying the millennium falcon. yes. yes. yes. YES. 

cons

oh oscar, we’re really in it now.

the spice smuggling affairs of the past. ok, ok, which smart-aleck thought this was the best backstory to give the latino character? while i appreciate the more underbelly, gotta do what is necessary aka cassian andor vibe of that whole scene, i will say that the implication that poe has had that as a career some point in his life is bonkers. i’ve seen a couple theories thrown about on how that could’ve been an undercover resistance job, and i would’ve loved for that to be explained more than just left hanging and letting audiences assume what they wished. i have also in fact confirmed that they intended for him to have left his home at 16 and join this before leaving five years later and HONESTLY. i was, and am, mad about it, so I don’t know if i’ll do the undercover resistance concept or try something else. i will have to think further about this. WE DO NOT DISRESPECT KES DAMERON AND SHARA BEY IN THIS HOUSEHOLD. 

in any case, please read ‘before the awakening’ by greg rucka aka the master of poe storytelling. poe joined the new republic academy when he was young so disney just retconned themselves like they always do which NO SURPRISE.

his interactions with zorro bliss. while i liked her as a character and would love to know more about her, the forced straightness of it all. oof. i cringed so hard at the awkward flirting like god i can’t even comprehend. did i truly expect a finnpoe moment? no. but i would’ve preferred they left poe open-ended in terms of his sexuality than put this weird dynamic on him. i swear my face was stuck in a single expression for fifteen minutes after that. i can’t read it as that being a characteristically poe thing to do, and i just......nah. please don’t. was it even necessary? no, but disney took one look at finnpoe and went ‘gotta find my way out of this’. abusive and traumatizing relationship? yes. supportive lads with chemistry? nope. 

jj: oscar, please, please act straighter.

oscar: kiss my ass. also finn and poe are in a relationship

general. general. 

as a whole, while i did feel poe progressed, it really was like two steps backwards, one step forwards kinda thing, you can’t really scrutinize this movie too hard because it all falls to shambles once you do. it’s a lot of fluff, but i don’t feel like there was much weight to it. 

while i am not as mad at it as i was at the last one, i can’t really say much in terms of pros either. it’s not a well-executed nor written movie, but it was a ride from start to finish. i won’t be putting much stock by it for my own writing aside from elements here and there, but i’ve gone my own way since tlj and i’m not looking back. 

this is our canon now. we’re free.