#technically background icemav

[the-ace-with-spades]

A tiny little scene from way further in my trans! Bradley fic - chapter 14/15 o (sometimes I feel) like a monkey pilot, we're currently on chapter 5 - featuring Uncle Slider

For context, Bradley came out after a mental breakdown and reunited with Mav and Ice less than two months before this scene. tw: slight misgendering (one slip-up)

*

March 2013

It was a big day — Bradley had been asked by Maria to meet someone else from the family as his therapy homework and Uncle Slider was selected as the one to fulfill that assignment. Out of the whole family, it was just him and aunt Sarah that lived in San Diego, and only the two of them knew that, well, that Bradley wanted to be called Bradley now and that he’d come out in the worst circumstances possible.

At least Ice said he did know — he was the one to tell Slider when Bradley moved in with them and he hadn’t said more than he was a little confused but he’s okay when Bradley asked how it went. He still didn’t know if Ice didn’t tell him more because he wanted to protect him or if it was truly all the reaction he had from Slider. He hadn't talked to many people since he came out and even the people he did talk to were strangers who Bradley would usually either never see again or could avoid seeing again. Family seemed like an entirely different category, one that made him freeze and tense with dread.

Hopefully, by the end of the day, he’d still be Bradley’s uncle.

He and Mav had just finished kneading the dough for the ravioli they were making when the front door bell rang. Ice, who was just watching them from the other side of the kitchen island, let his book fall down next to the fruit bowl and walked to the foyer.

Ice and Slider talked in the foyer for a minute, tones too quiet to hear the words, before Bradley heard their footsteps and Slider's voice broke through the door to the corridor, “So, where’s the wayward son?”

Ice sounded a bit exasperated when he replied but Bradley could still hear lightness to his tone as he said, “In the kitchen with Mav."

He tried not to worry. Tried to take it as a good sign and not to have the worst case scenarios flash before his eyes.

He turned away, back to the kitchen island and the entrance, looking at his hands, still covered flour from the dough. He saw Mav's concerned gaze in the corner of his eye, but he only shrugged, trying not to worry him.

It all should be fine. Even if Slider didn't react well to actually seeing Bradley as Bradley, it wasn't going to be the end of the world.

Mav pinched the bridge of his nose, a sigh that could be only directed at Uncle Slider leaving his mouth. Bradley turned around.

First thing that caught his eye was a giant baby blue balloon, floating around Slider's head, the It’s A Boy! text in a darker shade of blue in semi-cursive.

Slider himself didn't look much different than the last time Bradley saw him in 2006, right before he retired from the Navy. He already had grating hair back then, now they were almost completely gray, there were a few more wrinkles around his eyes and he seemed to have lost some muscle from around his shoulders but he still mostly just looked like Bradley's Uncle Slider.

“Hey, kid,” he said, like he had always been. “I didn’t want to come empty handed but Shay is at a conference in LA and she’s the one who chooses gifts usually so… There was a shop next to the girls' school and I thought it would be, you know, fitting.”

Bradley hadn't been in contact with them when Slider and Sarah's second daughter was born — he had only heard about her from Ice, a couple of weeks ago when they tried to catch up on all the family matters he had missed in the years he was away.

“The youngest is six now, isn’t she? Sof, right?”

“Almost seven,” Slider replied, sounding quite proud. “Tells us to call her Sofia now, because she is too big for Sof. Well, unless you’re her Uncle Mav, then you can still call her Sof.”

“What can I say? Kids love me,” Mav quipped, right from behind Bradley.

“That’s because you’re a big kid yourself,” Ice supplied, rolling his eyes.

Now that he wasn't standing right behind Slider, watching him for any wrong moves or words toward Bradley, he had moved back towards the high chair on the other side of the kitchen island.

“He’s as big as a kid you mean,” Slider said, one hand making a little measurement gesture, cutting the air right below his shoulder, where the top of Mav's head would reach.

Bradley couldn't help it — he snorted.

Slider used the moment to step closer, pulling on the balloon's string, and handing it off to Bradley.

“Thanks,” he said. When Slider opened his arms, the same way he used to do whenever he wanted a hug from Bradley, his voice cracked as he added, “I’m covered in flour.”

“Come here anyway,” he told him and Bradley did, stepping into his arms. It had been a while but it also didn't feel any different — Slider was still the only person from their nearby family who was taller than Bradley, still would just wrap his long arms around his back and bring him close enough that he'd be sinking into his chest, put Bradley's face in the crook of his neck and say into the curls behind his ear, “You gave your folks quite a scare.”

“I know,” he whispered into Slider's shoulder.

“Good to have you here with us, buddy, really good,” he said and Bradley tried to soak in the moment, but at the same time not to put his dirty hands on Slider's nice black polo.

“Now, is any of you going to roll the dough for me or are you just going to stand there?”

Bradley let go of Slider, still not completely sure this day wouldn't become a disaster, but a bit more relaxed.

“I thought you finally bought him that pasta machine,” Slider said, mainly toward Ice as he took a step back toward the kitchen island.

“Oh, I did,” Ice said, with an accusatory tone to his voice. “Put it in the back of the cupboard right away and never used it.”

“My mamma didn’t need a fancy pasta cutter, I don’t need it either,” Mav said and it sounded like they'd had that discussion at least a couple of times. “Baby, can you roll the stuffing for me?”

“Yeah, just let me wash my hands again,” he replied, giving Slider one last glance over his shoulder as he moved to the sink.

Mav, satisfied now that Bradley was within his reach, turned to Slider with a glare. “What? If you’re not going to be useful, get out of my kitchen.”

Slider raised his arms and backed out, sitting down next to Ice at the other side of the island. Bradley could feel his eyes on him, following him all the way inside the kitchen but not adding anything.

Mav stepped next to him, bumping their shoulders — or his shoulder and Bradley's elbow, really — and asked close to his face, “You doing okay, baby?”

He turned on the tap, trying to gather his thoughts. “Yeah, I just—”

“I can still kick him out if you want,” Mav offered, way too eager. “In fact, I’ll take great joy in kicking him out.”

“You invited him,” he reminded.

“No, we invited him,” Mav corrected. “If it’s too soon—”

“I can’t live behind closed door forever, as much as I want to,” he noted because that was the truth. The past almost two months now, Bradley'd been seeing his parents and the healthcare professionals that were taking care of him and then almost no one else. At some point, he had to start living again, even if it was scary, being in the world and out and not in the safety of his parents house. Most of the time, he still felt a bit like a fraud, calling himself Bradley, telling people to use he and him when talking about, that he was guy — almost like he didn't deserve it until he looked the way people expected him to look.

“I know,” Mav said and he didn't seem any happier about it than Bradley, his eyebrows creasing as his hand reached to caress Bradley's cheek gently — he had flour on his hands, too. “I wish I could make the world a better place for you.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

“Promise I’ll kick him out if he says anything,” Mav added, giving his cheekbone a last swap with his thumb and then putting his hands under the running tap.

“I’m pretty sure that if he does, Pops is going to be the one who’d kick him out,” he noted.

They were both standing around, watching their interactions like guard dogs, ready to bite at any slide of hand, and Bradley felt almost okay with it.

Bradley washed his hands and dried it off on the nearby towel. Mav sent him a wink before stepping away, bending down to find the rolling pin somewhere in the mess of their corner cabinet.

Slider called out, louder than he'd been talking to Ice. “Hey, is there a chance you made enough that I won’t have to think what to make for dinner for the kids?”

Ice sounded exasperated again, shaking his head at him and Bradley smiled as he said, “You just came here to steal our food again, didn’t you?”

“Told you a hundred times, brother, cooking well is his only good quality, I might as well milk it.”

Bradley shook his head at the familiarity of the whole moment and said, “You’re in luck this time — we’ve already frozen the first batch.”

“Don’t let him win, buddy,” Ice quipped.

Bradley pulled up the sleeves of his hoodie, taking out the bowl with the spinach and ricotta filling out of the fridge. As he carried it to the counter, the free space on the shelf below the kitchen island, right next to the ravioli dough, he felt watched again. He tried not to pay attention to it, but Slider was suspiciously silent, eyes scrolling over Bradley's mostly flat chest, clad in a binder invisible under his hoodie, and going up to Bradley's military-regulation short hair. He'd been looking like that the past few weeks every day but suddenly, it felt inadequate.

“Since when do you like Dallas Cowboys, kid?”

Bradley didn't have to look down to remember what he was wearing — the blue Dallas Cowboys hoodie he stole from Jake when he left Lemoore. Bradley didn't know shit about football but he used to go to NFL games with Jake whenever Dallas Cowboys were playing and they were in the area, it was Jake's team and Bradley would always wear one of his t-shirt or sweatshirts to blend in with the crowd and, well, because Jake liked when Bradley wore his clothes and Bradley like to wear his clothes. The past four months, the hoodie had been a source of comfort in the situations that made him nervous, used almost as often as the blanket hoodie Mav bought him in high school.

He wasn't about to tell them he missed Jake or who Jake was or anything else. "Can't I just like football?"

“I thought you were a basketball kinda girl—boy—guy—Shit.” It was clumsy but Bradley would give him points for trying. When Ice elbowed Slider into his side, he added sheepishly, “Sorry, Brad.”

“Please don’t call me Brad.”

“Sorry,” Slider repeated, scratching the back of his neck. “I thought it was Bradley now.”

“It is,” he said. “I’m just trying to avoid all the Brad Brad jokes that will come with it.”

“Yeah, you did make your life harder with that name change,” he said and just as he finished the sentence Mav and Ice turned toward him again, glaring. “I meant—”

“I know what you meant, relax,” Bradley told him, somehow feeling the tension oozing out of him now that the first slip had been made. “Mav said my parents had it chosen for a boy, so…”

“That does sound like something Goose would choose,” Slider said, slowly, and Bradley almost laughed at how hard he was trying to avoid his usual speak-before-think mode. “You can always go by your second name. Plenty of people do.”

Yeah, that was not happening. “I think I will just stick with Bradley.”

“By the way, Ron would make a great middle name,” he added. Ice elbowed him again but he didn't seem to mind too much and honestly, Bradley didn't mind the turn conversation had taken — it was all good-natured and so casual that it had almost calmed down most of his nerves. "Simple, traditional, can't be confused with a female name, what's not to like?"

Mav huffed. “Kerner, don’t even try—”

“What? He had a second name before,” Slider cut in.

“The paperwork is done already, anyway, so you’re a bit late,” Ice pointed out.

Mac turned to him this time, frowning. “It is?”

“Ice took me to the courthouse this week, after—after the session,” he admitted. Ice went with him inside and did most of the talking with the court clerk when Bradley couldn't reply to the simple what is the petition you need for question without spilling his whole life history. “I filed the petition.”

“I don’t think we chose a middle name, did we? Did you put one down?”

“I did,” he admitted, not elaborating and hoping they would leave it at that.

He concentrated on taking out the ravioli filling and scooping it into balls

“What is then?”

He only glanced at Ice shortly but that was enough for them to realize.

“Oh,” Uncle Slider only said before his typical shit-eating grin made its place on his face.

Mav didn’t say anything but he stepped closer toward Bradley, his close presence more than words.

Ice didn’t move even a millimeter. He bit down on lip, blinking the wetness out of his eyes and asked quietly, “You went with—with Tom?”

“Thomas,” he corrected, just barely hearable. "It's Bradley Thomas Bradshaw now. Or will, when the petition goes through."

"It's a good one, baby," Mav said, giving his shoulder an approving rub, eyes a bit watery. 

“Not as good of a choice as Ron, but I supposed you can live with it,” Slider said and just like that, Mav turned to him and tried to hit him with the rag he was holding — he dodged last minute and Mav tried to hit him again, basically crawling over the kitchen island, until Bradley started laughing at them.

Ice was still looking at him, though, still speechless but with the corners of his lips quivering now.

[thatsrightice]

Hello! My name is Olie (She/Her) and I am the aviation-obsessed person running this blog.

main: @waitingforsols

the boys in the boat: @savvylittlecoxswain

band of brothers: @magnoliasforyourmedic

BACKGROUND: I have a mechanical engineering degree with an aerospace minor and I work in the aviation industry.

WHAT DO I LIKE?

Masters of the Air (esp Harry Crosby)

Top Gun (esp Tom “Iceman” Kazansky)

✨ F-14 Tomcat ✨

EAA AirVenture

Research & History

Fighter Pilot Podcast

WHAT DO I POST ABOUT?

Masters of the Air headcanons, prompts, writing ideas, fanfictions, rants, etc.

A LOT of 100th BG historical information

Top Gun headcanons, prompts, writing ideas, fanfictions, rants, etc.

F-14 Tomcat highly technical deep dives

Tons of interesting facts about the F-14, B-17, and aviation history

MY FANFICTION

a lesson in international relations

masters of the air, Croz whump, one-shot

main themes: croz and bubbles get jumped by the Riff RAF, hurt croz, croz & everyone, smart croz!!!,

the war is over and we are beginning

masters of the air, Croz/Rosie, one-shot

main themes: buck’s rosebush, croz/rosie, rosie with a rose, fluff, they’re both so soft for each other

and maybe if i hold you now

masters of the air, croz x bubbles one-shot (like 4k words)

main themes: Crosby x Bubbles, post-reunion in episode 5, misunderstandings, mutual pining, fluff and angst and smut (in that order), Harry Crosby is insecure AF, explicit sexual content (see Ao3 for specific tags), sharing a bed, Harry Crosby definitely experimented in college, Harry Crosby is the dumbest smart person, these boys deserve to be happy

we rest amidst the tumult of war

completed masters of the air croz x rosie multi-chapter fic (8k words)

main themes: crosby/rosie but can be read as platonic, part 6 rewrite, flak house, horseback riding (like actually), fluff and hurt/comfort but mostly comfort, basically 10k words of flirting, these boys deserve to be happy, ft. Rosie’s Riveters, lots of good-natured teasing and jokes, short jokes, insecurities, everyone needs a hug

penguins are flightless birds and so am i

iceman one-shot

main themes: iceman angst, surprise homecoming, hurt/comfort, big fluff, flyboys being flyboys, found family, emotional and physical pain, some military lingo, military accurate (hopefully) underlying future icemav, background HollyWolf, iceman returns home from deployment early but not on his own terms

flying is hard but falling (for you) is easy

multi-chapter icemav fic (WIP)

main themes: iceman AND slider angst, icemav, major platonic slice, hurt/comfort, the boys ™️, flyboys being flyboys <- to the max, flyboy shenanigans, things will get worse before it gets better, everyone needs a hug (especially iceman), takes place a couple months after top gun on the USS Enterprise, soft Iceman and protective everyone else, emotional pain, iceman knows he’s in love but refuses to do anything about it and maverick doesn’t know he’s in love but is doing everything about it <- that’s it, that’s the fic

FOR YOUR REFERENCE :)

F-14 Tomcat Accidents & Issues

The following is a compilation of issues with the F-14 Tomcat that have been encountered by pilots throughout its lifespan due to both mechanical and other reasons. Some are based on individual accidents and some cover epidemics in which many aircraft were lost to the issue *cough* compressor stalls *cough* basically it’s a bunch of ways you can hurt your fav characters in your fics.

F-14 Tomcat Variants

A beginner’s guide to identifying and differentiating the different F-14 Tomcat variants using three distinctive, easy-to-spot features: Glove Vanes, Engine Exhaust Nozzle (aka “Turkey Feathers”), and Sensor Pods.

Flight of the Tomcat

Flight basics of the F-14 Tomcat with diagrams

What Did F-14 Tomcat Pilots Wear?

A little guide including links to videos from a former F-14 Pilot showing and putting on what he wore when he was flying the Tomcat.

FREQUENT TAGS

# just a little thing I wrote

where you’ll find my Top Gun h/c’s, writings, musings, rants, prompts, analysis, etc.

# mota musings

same as #justalittlethingiwrote but for Masters of the Air and Harry Crosby

#FFFOTD or #F-14 Fun Fact of the Day

want to learn something new about the F-14 tomcat?

#research or #information

basically what it says

#top gun or #masters of the air

makes sense

#f-14 tomcat

kind of a given, but will likely include primarily technical posts

#reference

some guides and information stuff you could use to help better understand aviation or the f-14 tomcat

#f14 tomcat has ✨issues✨

if you’re looking for ways to hurt your favorite top gun characters without it being pilot error, check out this tag

MY AVIATION ORIGIN STORY

Basically, and I’m not exaggerating, I randomly decided to make a sad-excuse for a helicopter as a part of our wood shop unit in middle school. I genuinely do not know why I chose a helicopter, there is no reason for me to have chosen a helicopter lol. My wood shop teacher is like “I’m actually very intrigued on why you picked a helicopter like what made you pick it? I’m impressed!” And I literally had not answer for him.

My interest was solidified when I went to EAA AirVenture. Watching the F-22 Raptor fly was and always will be breathtaking to me. That demo gave me the love for military aviation and especially fighters that I have today.

[feetoffire]

gay pilot movies, the rec list

in light of the recent posts about rec lists: Top Gun fics that live in my head rent free. also, this got really long - excessively so - so i split it into two parts. part two.

Ongoing - the fic is complete, but not all chapters are posted

WIP - fic isn’t finished

Incomplete - last-updated-more-than-a-year-ago WIPs

where i can, i’ve tagged the tumblr’s of the authors. recs under the cut; spoilers (of all types) abound

Gen

anything by PurpleArrowzandLeather

Milk by Anonymous. Technically a/b/o dynamics, but it’s kind of understated? Mav nurses baby!Bradley. Set during TG86, but the very end jumps forward some. Eventual Icemav. Contains possibly one of my favorite Icemav interactions in any fic ever. Sweet. 3k oneshot, T. Complete.

Mitchell Family Name series by PurpleArrowzandLeather. Jake is Charlie and Mav’s kid, but Mav only discovers this when Charlie contacts him because she decides to hand over full custody. Lots of domestic fluff and the ‘86 crew rallies around Mav. Absolutely adorable. 13k in four parts, G-T. WIP.

When You Wish Upon a Star by PurpleArrowzandLeather. Mav gets de-aged while Goose is away for the weekend, which prompts the ‘86 crew to adopt him pretty much immediately. Mentions of Maverick’s terrible childhood come up a lot. Ice in particular is very protective. 13k oneshot, T. Complete.

Emotional Support Aviator by PurpleArrowzandLeather. Ice needs a hug. Tiny!Mav. Spans from post-TG to post TG:M. I love this. 2.5k oneshot, T. Complete.

Weasel Your Way Out of It by PurpleArrowzandLeather. Mav can shift into a weasel. Hijinks and fluff and bonding ensue. It’s so damn cute. 3.9k oneshot, G. Complete.

Hop 31 Fallout

Beyond series by boasamishipper (@boasamishipper). Ghost!Goose needles Ice into keeping an eye on/taking care of Mav, with special guest Maverick’s-bad-coping-skills. Regards the MavCharlie relationship as at least a little toxic. Icemav, doubles as a get together fic. 45.6k in three parts, T-M. Complete.

Seeing a Trailer by daenabenjen42. Post TG86 with adrenaline crashes and PTSD for everybody! The ‘86 crew adopts Mav and takes care of each other. Also, people start wondering what, exactly, happened to Duke Mitchell. Has a companion piece for background drabbles. Fifteen chapters, 26.7k, G. WIP.

Sword and Shield Be Gone by PurpleArrowzandLeather. Some time after TG86, Mav gets jumped by sailors on leave. The ‘86 crew, who have adopted him, take exception to that. Also ft. survivor’s guilt, self-hatred, soft boys, and how viciously the grapevine can twist things. 2.9k oneshot, T. Complete.

To Be So Blind by PurpleArrowzandLeather. Ice and Slider decide that Mav needs someone to take care of him after Goose dies and you know what? They’re right and they should say it. (Mav, of course, disagrees, but they don’t listen to him). 3k oneshot, T. Complete.

Stood Alone, Standing Together by PurpleArrowzandLeather. Goose lives! But none of the medics see to Mav until Ice and Slider make them. Naturally, Ice, Slider, and Viper are Unhappy about this. 3.1k oneshot, T. Complete.

Watch His Six by Shearmouth.  Goose lives, but someone beats Mav within an inch of his life in the showers. Ft. Ice and Slider figuring out that Mav a) needs help and b) is, actually, a good person. Two chapters, 10k, T. Ongoing.

Haunted by the Ghost of You by TheRebelHunter. AU. What if both jets went down during Hop 31? The image of Mav holding the other three afloat is seared into my brain. Everyone lives tho! Even if the Navy as a whole hates Mav because of his last name. Hurt/comfort, with a delightful amount of angst. I’m ridiculously excited every time it updates. Fourteen chapters, 20.5k, E. WIP. Rating is likely for the subject matter rather than sex.

Peak Icemav

fire in the sky tonight by susiecarter. God I love this fic. It’s Perfect. They exchange dogtags!!!!! Mav is smol!!!!! Arranged marriage AU inspired by the Sacred Band of Thebes (it’s kind of a wedding night fic). 4.4k oneshot, E. Complete.

time to let go by AortaArgent (@aortaargent). Where do I start? The vibe of this one is *chef’s kiss*. Goodbye sex, i.e. set the night before the mission. Ice is alive, trans Mav, “feelings with smut”, old married couple. They just love each other so much okay. Mixed terms used for a trans man’s genitals. 8.6k oneshot, E. Complete.

Easier Done Than Said series by COMPACFLT (@compacflt). I adore this one. Full on adore it. That being said, it’s emotionally rough, i.e. men not talking about their feelings and also the period-typical internalized homophobia and sexism. Look, honestly they are such idiots and terrible to themselves and each other, but it's so grounded and realistic and good. Occasionally being irritated at their emotional stunted-ness aside, this is one of the best ‘Icemav through the years’ fics out there. Go read it. You won’t regret it. (The second work is somewhat less emotionally stunted.) 131k in two (multi-chaptered) parts, M. Ongoing.

No Less Than Two Miracles by thecarlysutra (@icemankazansky). “You are Iceman Kazansky. You have been dead for less than three days.” Ice has a hand in Mav and Bradley surviving. Second person POV. Icemav. Achingly sweet (and exasperated. you can’t have icemav without exasperation). Wingmen, and all the things that implies. I just. This one is wonderful. 891 words, oneshot, M. Complete.

Mav Whump

Wings Threaded by the Same Weave by WafflesRisa (@wafflesrisa). The wingfic. TG:M!Maverick and Rooster get yeeted back to 1986 (before hop 31), so much angst and drama/trauma, and grief, “tg:m!Mav is confusing and scary to the ‘86 people”. Three chapters, 23.2k, T. WIP

seventy minutes by AortaArgent (@aortaargent). Post TG:M. Mav is self-destructive and more than a little broken in every sense of the term; I think it’s fair to call him traumatized. His approach to sex is very transactional, which throws a wrench in the process of him and Rooster getting together. (they do get together tho.) Angst, hurt/comfort, and fluff at the end. I circle back to this one fairly regularly. Title from a Siken poem. Five chapters, 19.3k, E. Complete.

I’ve Got You, Brother by PurpleArrowzandLeather. Sickfic. Goose is spending the weekend with Carole and Bradley, so it falls to the ‘86 cohort to take care of a fevered and terrified Mav. (they adopt him literally overnight.) Ft. protective!Ice and musing on Mav’s circumstances during and prior to TG86. 12k oneshot, T. Complete. 

Sunshine in a Cup by mavericked (@beterparker). Post TG:M, focuses on how much two ejections in a month would suck, ft. chronic pain. Also, Mav kind of learns to get out of his own way. 8k oneshot, T. Complete. 

Sailor’s Delight by mavericked (@beterparker). Mav crashes his bike on the way to work and ends up with hyperthermia, among other injuries. Whumptober 2022 prompt. Two chapters, 6.3k, T. Complete.

Never Take a Spark by mavericked (@beterparker). Post TG:M, Rooster picks a fight about his papers and leaves in a huff, which throws Mav into a major panic attack. Angst, Ice grief, Mav needs a hug. 9k oneshot, T. Complete.

The Trouble of a Family Name by PurpleArrowzandLeather. OC!Admiral beats Mav half to death because he’s got a grudge against Duke Mitchell, cue panicking Goose and Ice + Slider to the rescue. ‘86 crew adopts Mav. Four chapters, 9.2k, M. Complete.

two thousand miles apart, you’re my home series by GraceEliz. Yes. just. yes. post movie, musing on fate and conversations, second work is a 5+1. 5.5k in two parts, T. WIP.

scared my love, you’ll go (just for tonight i’m wasted on you) by CaughtInATalespin. Dubcon warning. Mav is a wreck during and after Ice’s funeral, Rooster promises to get him home. Ft. major miscommunications and dubcon, Roosmav, poor Mav honestly. 7.9k oneshot, E. Complete.

[victimofthemusic]

I have Thoughts™️ on this. And its 2 in the morning where I’m at and I’m gonna share them with you guys and I apologize in advance. I’m also not saying anyone is right or wrong, just sharing things I’ve observed each time I’ve seen the film. I’m up to three and we’re headed towards a fourth. Pray for me y’all.

So, my thing is, Rooster & Hangman are literally IceMav 2.0. But they’re also their own thing. But I also urge people to not necessarily dismiss how similar they are to their counter parts. In this case, Hangman with Ice and Rooster with Maverick.

*Potential spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie*

We’ll start with Hangman. He literally looks like he could be Ice’s son, with his blonde hair and blue eyes and I think that’s what they were going for—kind of a yin/yang thing like Ice and Mav. But the way he flies is similar to Mav—a little reckless, but he has the technical ability to back it up, but one could also say that he’s ice cold and emotionless up there, just like Ice. And also like Ice, he has a rather spikey personality that doesn’t immediately draw people in to him—he keeps people emotionally at a distance and hides behind snark and sarcasm, which is very similar to Ice in the first movie. He’s always on the outside looking in, never one to be in the midst of the crowd or the one everyone is drawn to. Let’s not also forget the way he always seems to be fiddling with things like Ice and his little pen thing that I could literally write sonnets about. While I do see where Hangman has more of a Maverick style, I think if you look at the smaller things, there’s a lot of Ice in him, too. And correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t originally Hangman supposed to be Ice’s son? I could’ve sworn he was listed as that in the originally cast list, but Wikipedia has since changed it and updated it.

Rooster, on the other hand, has more Maverick in him than most people give him credit for. He’s hotheaded and wears his heart on his sleeve, but also keeps it behind a steel door because he, like Maverick, lost both of his parents at an early age. He’s a little bit more jaded than Maverick, but their backgrounds are similar. Bradley is also more of a social butterfly, the life of the party, as we see in the beginning of the movie when he first walks into the Hard Deck and starts playing the piano. People tend to flock to him because he’s charismatic and friendly, but like Maverick, he tends to hide behind that and use it as smoke show so people don’t focus too much on what’s going on inside. He also tends to ride off his emotions and let these be his guiding point—his fear of losing someone, his anger at Maverick, his love for Maverick, the way he cares about his teammates—and they tend to cloud his judgement. I know Hangman pokes at Rooster for “sitting up on his perch, waiting for the right moment that never comes” but Rooster can also be reckless and not necessarily think through the consequences of his own actions. Like when he pulls the Cobra Spiral or the way he literally almost hits Hangman when he needles him about his parents, while Hangman remains calm, cool and collected. I think Rooster is also, like Maverick, subconsciously afraid of ever letting someone in, in case he never makes it back home—the way his dad never came back home and just like Maverick’s dad never came home. Rooster knows how risky his job is and he never wants to put someone or himself, through that. So, similar to Maverick, he’s got self-sacrificing tendencies that give the people around him gray hairs. And much like Maverick, his father’s death affects the way he flies—slow, steady, conservative, but let’s not also forget that he felt like he had a point to prove, just like Maverick did in the first movie. He’s technically proficient with his skills and he probably knows the manual of every plane like the back of his hand, just like Ice, but I think Rooster is a lot more like Maverick than people give him credit for, because, off screen and something we (sadly) didn’t get to see, Maverick had a hand in raising Rooster and I think it has to be said that some of Maverick’s antics and personality traits no doubt rubbed off on him.

Can you tell this movie lives rent free in my head?

Another thing I don't get is people saying Hangman is Ice and Rooster is Mav. It's obviously the other way around.