#underappreciated lance

[sitizelter]

"Thanks Yuuuki 🥰"

[super-ion]

In honor of the 1 50 year anniversary of Goncharov, I wanted to write just a little thing about my favorite underappreciated side character. Mariella deserves so much better than what she got.

-----

Mariella gasped awake, clutching at her midsection.

Katya shot her.

Mariella, drenched in Sofia's blood had grabbed her lover’s gun. Before she could even attempt to aim, the second shot rang out. A lance of pain streaked through her as the clocktower began to chime. She sank to her knees on the wet flagstones on the bridge and felt the life pouring from her. The last thing she saw was Sofia's glazed eyes. The last word on her lips was Sofia's name.

The clocktower, now distant, rang. She stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, tears prickling in the corners of her eyes.

It was Monday again. The clock was chiming with the sunrise.

Mariella pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. How many times had she woken up in this bed, on this day? How many times had she been around this loop?

She had lost count a long time ago.

Each time was different, as if she were trapped in a story with a thousand authors who couldn't agree on the details.

She wasn't even the main character of whatever this story was. She couldn't explain it if she wanted to, but over the grind of endless living the same week over and over, it had become clear that she was just a minor side character. Someone who existed in the background, along for the ride in someone else's narrative.

She rolled out of bed and stared into the distance.

“What do you want from me?” she asked the universe for perhaps the millionth time.

She didn't think about trying to end it. She had tried. She had tried and tried and tried. But invariably, death simply delivered her back to this moment.

Perhaps she had been dead this whole time. Perhaps this was hell.

She was doomed to relive the same five days, doomed to fall in love with a woman with impossibly twisted loyalties, a woman who herself fell in love with a monster, a monster by choice rather than necessity, but a monster nonetheless.

Even after this eternity, Mariella could remember being a schoolgirl on holiday in the countryside. She could remember meeting Katya, she could remember falling in love.

She could remember their reunion, years later. She could remember the unease, the vague wariness of meeting the woman that girl had become.

The door to her flat opened. Joe was here, bearing eggs and bread and sweet apples from the market.

Might as well start again, she murmured to herself and drifted like a wraith to the kitchen.

Joe was at the stove, his back to her as it always was.

“Hello, sister dearest. Do you want breakfast?”

The boss wants you to work late tonight, Mariella recited silently.

“Boss wants me to work late tonight,” Joe said, without turning from the stove. “Might be a busy week.”

He did turn them, a crooked grin on his face. He stilled at the sight of her. Something dangerous flashed in his eyes. Something she never noticed or questioned before the day after tomorrow.

Why do they call you Icepick Joe?

The question had been innocent enough at the beginning, but she had seen too much, lived through this week too many times.

He studied her a moment.

“There someone I need to pay a visit?”

The woman I love is going to kill you in four days.

Or he was going to kill her.

Both of them would be dead by Friday in either case.

Sofia would kill Joe. Katya would kill Sofia. Or Goncharov would kill Sofia. Or Andrey.

It was always the same. Every. Single. Time.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to fall to her knees and howl until her throat was raw.

Every single person Mariella ever loved would-

The phone rang.

Mariella flinched.

The phone never rang. Not in all the times she had lived through this morning.

It rang again.

She stared at it.

“You going to get that?” Joe called over his shoulder.

With trembling hands, she picked up the receiver and raised it to her her.

“Mari?”

Her breath caught in her throat and she nearly staggered.

That voice haunted her dreams, it haunted every waking thought.

She wasn't supposed to hear that voice for the first time until that evening.

She cast a glance at Joe, who was no doubt listening very intently.

“It's… it's me,” she said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. “I'm here.”

“Mariella, what the fuck is going on?”

[moodbroads]

BACK IN MY WOLFQUEST PHASE ONCE AGAIN!!! MEET ROSEMARY :3

also heres some goofy ah photos of my mate being scared of his own pups-

ANYWAYS IM SO EXITED FOR HELLROARING MOUNTAIN!!! i wonder if theres gonna be a new achivement for like interacting or killing a wolverine since i think they said its gonna be rare or smthin! i already know theres prob gonna be new cool collectibles so im exited about that- OOH WHAT IF THEY ADD A WOLVERINE SKULL

would be nice to also have a den in an abandoned human camp ehehe tbh my dream wolfquest update would be if you could raid like a rabbit warren or maybe get revenge on stranger wolf dens so there could actually be war n stuff >:D MAYBE IF YOU FIND A NON-ABANDONED FOX DEN IN WINTER U CAN MAKE IT UR OWN BY DEFEATING THEM >:D

it would also be so epic to have mutations like having a piebald pup!! aionguedbhklwsuv i have SOOO MANY IDEAS like a 'rp mode' in multiplayer servers where ur able to play as a puppy or special rp-only emotes like stretching, shaking or play fighting/roughhousing! and maybe even splitting players into diff packs (maybe being able to attack the other players- if in a diff pack XD)

BUT YEE ANYWAYS BACK TO RAISE MY PUPS-6 MORE POUDS TO GO (to 15) AFTER THE DEN FLOODED T_T (edit cuz im too lazy to make another post)

I FORGOT HOW DRAMATIC WOLFQUEST CAN BE LIKE SKIPPER JUST GOT YOINKED BY A COUGAR AND THEN 5 MINS LATER THE ALPHA FEM OF THE MOLLIES CAME

also yaya its spring i can finally bring food cuz the only beavers are like a million miles away :')

OH AND I SAW AN EAGLE PERCH FOR THE FIRST TIME ON LAMAR PEAK AND IT WAS SO PRETTY-

PLZ GROW SKIPPER PLZPLZZPLZZAAA IM ON MY WOLF KNEES AND HOWLING WHY DID U HAVE TO DO THIS UR BROTHER IS 16.9-

anyways yeah i saved and left after that to take a break-hope to update yall once again soon XD

i have returned once again i couldnt resist >:)

WE GOT TO THE REN SITE FINALLY!! :D the personalities of em are rlly starting to come out sooo...

introducing...creek the napper/antisocial, ember the explorer/rebel, and skipper the energetic/extremely lucky XD

i got revenge on the cougar that snatched skipper /j

BONE PARTY!! (yeah thats creek sleeping once again ;-;)

fun fact i found out durin this playthrough: the plane will visit your mate if they have a radiocollar on and you dont! even if your far from the den and theyre still at it! i saw it a few times and it was pretty cool but very hard to get good shots of :')

AGRHJ MORE DRAMA- dang calfree creek moved in super close to my home hex while skipper got sick- ;-;

once again skipper being 1 tiny pound away BUT AYYE SHE GOT HEALTHY AGAIN LIKE 2 NIGHTS LATER SO YAYA

also me findin the barbie bag and lance being scared of it for some reason (AgAinSt GuRLiEpOpS?!?1/1/!?)

underappreciated local redhead XD

i finished and creek got air jailed by lance for tryna be active T_T

I KNEW SHE WAS A RUNT >:(

ANYWAYS HERE THEYRE ADULT FORMS!! ember got a cool tinted buffy which was my first npc coat!! (XD aint suprised tho cuz lance was stormy) and creek looks like he ate face-first into a bag of flaming hot cheetos

ANYWAYS YAYAAA I HAD A FUN TIME!! i might continue this bloodline too..someday >:)

[whattimeisitfic]

3, 16, 29, 30, 32

Ask game answers. I’ll put a below the cut thing because I don’t want to force anyone to read or scroll past my blocks of texts of they’re just scrolling for fun pictures in any of the tags. However if you ARE interested in Lucifer-centric angst fics PLEASE consider giving my Ao3 fanfiction “What Time Is It?” a shot! _______________________

3 - Tell me about one of your fics you think is underrated/underappreciated.

Okay, not a Hazbin Hotel or Luci fic (go figure I’ve only posted two and both are pretty well liked) but a Voltron one (again, go figure, the onky other thing I have publish. At least on Ao3). It’s one of the one-shots I have in my collection fic (probably why it’s under-appreciated). It’s called “Notice Me” and I won’t go into too much detail b/c this is definitely NOT the fanbase for it, but basically it’s just some yummy angst, pining, and just Lance feeling like shit after months of being ragged on. With a delicious little panic attack that I had lots of fun writing (there’s nothing wrong with me I swear—)

16 - Is there a type of fic you would never write?

Hmmm… that’s a good question. Definitely nothing that’s like… the really taboo shit like incest or non-LGBTQ related M!preg (sorry y’all I am NOT on the Lucifer birthed Charlie train). Also will probably not, as of right now, ever write a Lucifer ship fic with any canon characters (expect MAYBE Lilith, but even then it won’t be the focus). It’s just… NONE of his ships appeal to me (maybe b/c I just want him so bad but I didn’t say that). And obviously angst is where I live so I probably wouldn’t write anything super smutty. I’ll read it any day of the week, but I’ll stay in my little bubble of giving Lucifer a million mental breakdowns tyvm!

29 - What's your most popular fic?

Gee. I wonder:

30 - What do you struggle with most when writing?

Hmmm… this is a good question. I think there are a couple main things.

One, trying to fulfill the wishes of my ducklings while also not taking forever w/ certain plotlines. Obviously I’m not gonna please everyone all the time, but I try to include requests pretty soon after I read them if I don’t have a specific plan for them to show up in the future (B/c otherwise I WILL forget).

Two, sometimes motivation is a real bitch man. I’ll have all these ideas floating around, then open my fic and realize I can do ANY of that yet because I’ve gotta finish writing this specific part that I’m stuck on how to make it flow right. Also this is gonna sound weird but sometimes I think I straight up zone out while writing. Like if I’m bored, I’ll write and convince myself that everything I just put on the page was trash B/c I didn’t absorb any of it.

Three, proof-reading. I love it and hate it. I need to do it B/c if you’d SEEN some of the whack ass typos I’ve made you’d been pointing, laughing, stomping me into the dirt. But it also takes so much time. It’s much better in the tummy angsty chapters where I’m genuinely excited to read through it again. I’m always so worried about my lacing in certain scenes, whether it’s too fast, too slow, etc. Though, I have noticed, I am a LOT easier on myself when I proof-read in the morning or afternoon as opposed to at night. Which is a little strange but whatever.

32 - What's a fic you'd love to write, but probably never will?

Oooo… there are a LOT of like… ‘head fanfictions’ that have been kicking around up here for YEARS that I know I’ll never get around to B/c like… ugh. Here are a few that are Lucifer/Hazbin Hotel based:

Cast of HH reacts to the show fic. Okay, call me cringe but I actually eat those types of fics up and there is NONE out there. I just want people to react to how BAD Lucifer’s living and mental situation is right now and coddle him, is that so bad? But I know I never will because those kinds of fics take SO! MUCH! WORK!

When I’m not thinking of this fic, there’s this other general concept that gets rolled around with Lucifer basically like… sacrificing himself for both Heaven and Hell in front of like… everyone. He lives in the end b/c like they all cliché stand in a circle and sing and their ‘good’ energy comes together to help him. But like it basically gets heaven and everyone to see him in a new light and realize just how much he ISN’T the monster he’s been pained to be. And what rlly hurts is me imagining his ‘last words’ to be something like: “I didn’t fuck it up this time.” Because. You know. Angst.

OOOO and one where like… it’s set somewhere in the future where Heaven is actually being nice and giving the Hazbin Hotel a chance. Multiple sinners have been redeemed at this point and the angels are down in hell having like a celebration at how far things have come. Lucifer feels both jealous that HE will never get that chance, and just absolutely hates himself because like ALL THESE SINNERS got the chance to go back, but he’s too horrible of a person to be able to have that forgiveness. Lots of feels that I actually DON’T wanna say too much about B/c after WTiI is finished I may want to try and make this happen. I’m only putting it under THIS ask because… u know… I have no clue where my headspace will be if/when WTiI does reach its final chapter. ________________

Thank you for sending in the asks! These were so fun to respond to!

[bigbadowlet]

Great to see someone still appreciates SBT! Recently rewatched too. It’s amazing! Do you have a favorite character?

I love them all!!! But gun to my head I would probably say Octus. I love seeing how he develops from average dispassionate robot to having an existential crisis about the nature of personhood. ‘I Am Octus’ is one of my favorite episodes of television of all time. A close second would probably be Kimmie. Mainly for how she helps develop Octus as a character but also just for how she is treated as a real person with wants and emotions. Yeah shes a stereotypical popular girl but that doesn’t mean she gets dismissed as vapid and shallow. It treats her priorities with the same weight as those of the main characters. So when the finale comes it makes things feel that much more emotional because we feel not just for Lance and Ilana but also for Kimmie. Her boyfriend and his siblings just up and disappeared! We see the effects of their absence on the people they leave behind! I love Lance and Ilana but I feel Kimmie is kinda underappreciated

Honorably mention to Tashy 497 for being the little guy of all time

[yakool-foolio]

So what are the Nocturnal Hunters Guild AU version of the NDA gang like besides Yakou (unless you want to talk about post-exile Yakou as well)?

I'll give some tidbits on the guild members, which includes the train group since they live in this AU! Well, all except for Zilch technically. There's only one Zilch in this AU and that's Yomi's right hand man. All the hunters were brought in overseas from other continents to aid Yakou with the growing Qurio-infested monster problem spreading across Amaterasu Kingdom and its surrounding territories, threatening to destroy the entire continent's ecosystem.

Yuma is a brand new hunter accepted onto the guild after losing his memories due to the Rampage a few years prior. Despite his inexperience, he's proven himself to be a reliable ally that works best in teams to provide support, even if it just leads him to becoming bait.

Aphex grew up in a family of highly renowned researchers, but after the Rampage tore their home apart, he barely escaped as the sole survivor, his parents savagely mauled by monsters. After those horrid events, he trained in the great sword and hunts to avenge his parents' untimely deaths. Enjoying the thrill of the hunt and unafraid to train his fellow hunters the hard way, he finds a new place to call home in the guild.

Zange is a retired commander of Amaterasu Kingdom's calvary, kicked out after he expressed distaste for the new ruthless rulers. He specializes in the lance. Despite his age, he still can be a heavy-hitter, since his wisdom from running the guard never faded.

Pucci is a quiet handler who surveys the biome for danger before hunters are sent out on missions. Her work is underappreciated by the majority, but she doesn't care much for any attention put on her.

Melami is a smithy focused on her talent for creating armor sure to catch the eye of any hunter. However, rumor has it her creations are haunted by the spirits of dead monsters, bringing out fierce tempers from anyone who wears them.

Halara has a knack for remembering a monster’s past attacks in order to predict them during a hunt. They require a high price for their assistance with quests, but they're still greatly sought after. However, they’re prone to losing their calm composure and get embarrassed when they're being out-performed by other hunters.

Desuhiko can be a little in over his head with his ceaseless yearning for fame and glory as a legendary hunter, so he's got a long way to go. Some argue he's a better hunting horn player than a hunter. Nobody can complain about his hearty buffs to the team, though.

Fubuki belongs to an upstanding family of blacksmiths who are well known for their ornate designs in armor and weaponry. Fubuki longs for a life of adventure, so she goes out on hunts frequently to test out her skills with her light bowgun made just for her. She tends to mistake monsters for many different things which can get her in troubling situations, but she's swift to slip out of a monster's grasp.

No one believes Vivia to be a good hunter due to him being constantly tired. On the contrary, he's got an eagle eye for weak points in monsters since he performs autopsies on monsters and memorizes the most common causes of death from weapon wounds. However, he's one of the few hunters who despises hunting unless there's no other option. He sympathizes with these beautifully dangerous beasts, which many hunters don't quite understand.

Before exile, Yakou worked as a quest receptionist who secretly ventured on hunts to carry out unwanted quests. Some of his experience as a receptionist still shows when handing out assignments to the hunters in his guild. He can be pretty picky about who goes out on what quests, which usually leads to none of his advice being followed by the more rambunctious adults. He prefers not to pick fights with the kingdom and remain in hiding, but there's an ache to restore the kingdom to its true former glory that never fades.

[fractalkiss]

I just want to say you really are so good at understanding Lance… I have read every one of your fics and they fascinate and delight me so much!!! I also love it when people are analytical about drivers’ personalities like I tend to get, especially for Lance who is so underappreciated..

HI..... thank you!! Omg really..I TRY... i am out here just listening to my good friend @strulovic and religiously on her blog i'm glad how i write lance works for you! Another lovely long-time mutual put it this way about lance and i agree: that he can be hard to read past the usual surface frustrations but that should make him MORE interesting to write and not the opposite!

Oh boy i am still very much a "okay let me feel out the vibes" type of person, but this is the first time i think i went crazaayyy on psychoanalysis. i started reading about the relationship types for socionics and stayed on wikisocion dot net for 6 HOURS IN TOTAL. very normal thing to do trying to psychoanalyse 2 introverts.

[macaiv]

hi!!! i saw that you mentioned f1's top 10 overtakes video and i wanted to let you know that a lot of fans in the comments were questioning the exclusion/inclusion of certain overtakes so an alonso fan remade it...while still including plenty of esteban's overtakes!

they added his overtake on alex in spa while keeping the overtakes on yuki and checo (his overtake on fernando is actually also included but they noted that they couldn't use the footage in their video due to copyright)! in total, a whopping four overtakes from esteban were included in one way or another which is actually the highest amount from one driver (he even beat fernando, who had three overtakes included in the video!).

i thought you'd appreciate esteban's stellar race craft being appreciated by the f1 community...especially by an alonso fan! i know there are plenty of alonso fans (and f1 fans in general) that aren't blindly hating esteban but it's still nice to see given esteban and fernando's...history.

First of Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays 🎄🎉

Thanks for sharing this! I always love it when I see an Alonso fan (or any other driver fan really) show appreciation for the racecraft of other drivers.

The overtake video list the fan remade has really cemented my opinion that Esteban and Fernando have one of the best racecrafts on the grid. The overtake list was basically just the two of them 😆 I'm not particularly a fan of Alonso (far from it actually 😅 but mostly for offtrack reasons) but he is one of the ones I like watching during races. When he and Esteban were still teammates, I always looked forward to what those two would do on track, both together and individually. It was one of the reasons why I became an Alpine fan.

Honestly, I always have to remind myself that those who blindly hate on Esteban are just a very loud minority and that there are definitely much more who aren't toxic and who can appreciate great racecraft no matter who delivers it. Sometimes I wish the silent majority wouldn't be so silent. It would make the f1 online community not be such a hateful space.

On a side note, I loved that they included Lance vs. Sainz in Jeddah too. It was such an underappreciated overtake and deserved so much more praise.

[asmallexperiment]

Lance Reddick: 1962-2023

I get that we call everyone who isn't maybe one of the 20 or 30 most famous actors on the planet a "character actor," and he was that--it would not be entirely unfair to describe him as "a character actor who played a lot of cops." But...Lance Reddick was just amazingly talented and seemed from the outside to be one of the good guys.

In saying "a character actor who played a lot of cops," it, to say the least, doesn't capture the whole of it. The Wire is my favorite television show and so I guess I would say he's best known as Daniels, who was mostly a man of few words, at least until more were necessary. I'm sure there is one, but I don't know that I've ever seen an actor play the mannerisms of a fictional character so far forward. And, while that sounds like an awful thing, the way Reddick did it was nothing short of brilliant.

But your frame of reference, given his career, could be entirely different. If you're a gamer, maybe you think of him more as Sylens or Commander Zavala. Both Bosch and Fringe share with The Wire the phenomenon of being underappreciated, at least in their own time (The Wire, obviously, has evolved into a thing, culturally, that it wasn't in its time). He also had that period where he spun on that reputation a little and did a bunch of comedic bits, including a legendary appearance on Eric Andre. And he did play a bunch of other cops, with appearances on L&O, CSI: Miami, Numb3rs...I think it must have been Oz where I first became aware of him, though he was also a cop in the episode In Excelsis Deo from The West Wing, which was, at least for a moment or two, regarded as one of the best hours of drama in television history (it's still very good, though I know some people think the show hasn't aged well and a lot of the people who are still on board would probably now go for Two Cathedrals, which came a couple years later).

And, of course, he's been a persistent presence in the John Wick movies. Just reading this bit from his interview with Vulture makes me like him and Keanu more than I probably should:

Speaking of Keanu, can you give us some insight into his personality?  I’m a journeyman character actor. And whenever I work with a big movie star for the first time, I keep my guard up to protect my work from an ego. And if there’s any big movie star who’s not that person, it’s Keanu. I remember my first scene that I shot with him — it’s the first scene you see us together in the first movie — he was struggling with the timing. I said, “Keanu do you want to do XYZ?” I don’t even remember what it was. And he kind of smiled and said, “No man, you just do your thing.” My experience with him after that continues to be one with someone who’s very generous as an actor and then all about the work. He’s also very shy. This is going to sound really weird, but — he seems simple, but spiritually he’s very advanced.

That makes perfect sense, actually.  He’s incredibly deep and insightful and thoughtful. But watching him in social situations, he can be like, “I can only take so much input from other people so don’t bother me.” Which is fine. He’s very shrewd. On one hand I feel like I don’t know him very well but on the other, I just adore that guy. He’s such a wonderful human being.

How has your friendship changed after four movies? We’ve gotten to know each other a little better. I hope I don’t get in trouble for telling this story: During John Wick: Chapter Four, my first day of filming happened to be Keanu’s birthday. But he wasn’t in the scene. He came to the set anyway at nine o’clock at night with his girlfriend who I had never met. And she is … can I say a bad word?

Go for it.  His girlfriend is cool as fuck. And she told me that she asked Keanu what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said, “I want to go see Lance.” He’d never done this before but he wrote me a note thanking me for what I brought to the character in these movies. And he wanted to give the note to me. I’ll never forget it. I’m going to cry now.

Even just opening Netflix last night, it was readily apparent that I wasn't the only one who wanted to go back and watch the man's work--I ended up opting for the first couple episodes of The Wire. So, to return to where I started, I understand that Reddick isn't Keanu-famous, but in the little world of my mind and the media I have liked over the years, his place in it is prominent enough to be that kind of superstar for me.

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

The more I watch Alias and Lost, the more I realize that JJ Abrams really perfected his TV making skills with Fringe. No offense to Lost and Alias cause both are great shows and deserve the appreciation they got. But I feel like Fringe was such an underappreciated and underrated show. I look at all the things that are not good about Lost and Alias and I see how they were perfected in Fringe. Lost, as good a show as it is, is kind of a jumbled mess. Nothing makes sense. They create 100 questions and maybe answer 1 for every 100 they add. From what i've heard about the ending... it really doesn't answer a whole lot of those questions by the end. Fringe is actually very cohesive. They create these potentially confusing dynamics... for instance, parallel universes but then they explain it fully before presenting a new and big potentially confusing plotline. Then in Alias you have the whole "Rembaldi Manuscripts" plotline that never made complete sense and even the actors have expressed confusion about it. Fringe kinda had a similar plotline with the ZFT manuscripts but I feel Fringe never delved into that plot thread enough for me to really care and I also seem to recall the show explaining what it was much better. Alias put all their eggs in that Rembaldi basket so to speak and it underlined how confusing it was because they talked about it endlessly without really explaining it.

Fringe feels like it was planned out ahead of time and then the creators and writers stuck to that plan. Fringe took these incredible actors in the form of Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, John Noble, Jasika Nicole, and Lance Reddick.... gave them these incredibly dynamic and interesting characters. Really delved into their pasts in a non confusing way (Lost had just too many flashbacks and they were too jumbled so it was hard to create a cohesive timeline for each character). Fringe is exciting and fun and had a perfect mix of drama, comedy, and romance. It had moving familial relationships, friendships, and romantic relationships. A lot of the plots that JJ Abrams likes to return to like the memory loss trope and the mistaken identity because the person is taken over by some kind of doppelganger/clone/alternate version was done both in Fringe and Alias and were done so much better in Fringe.

Fringe took some really creative steps as well like doing an animated episode or a 1940s themed episode and it did it in a way that feels unique, fun, and interesting.

Fringe deserved just as many seasons and just as much acclaim as Lost did.

Btw Fringe has the greatest final season of any show and the absolute best series finale. I've never been so moved to tears yet so happy at the same time. Fringe is a masterpiece and JJ's shows are making me appreciate it even more!

[donovanoliver715]

According to Chloe The Hedgefox/ Chloe Heartrocks I remembered back in 2019 while completed helping her with the footages of myself I made on her Holiday Spoof of How Donovan Stole Christmas, she’s planning on doing a spoof version of her own called Olive the Other Reindeer. The story about a brave dog voiced by Drew Barrymore heard that Blitzen was hurt, and must save Christmas, has been a great special even though it had been underappreciated. Upon the release at my birth year of 1999 of December 17th, it has included the Simpsons actor, Dan Castellaneta as the dastardly Postman. Along with the late Ed Asner as Santa Claus, the special is a wonderful addition to the Christmas Canon. So, here’s my cast of my uplifting childhood show of the Holiday Season. Cast: Chloe (Beverly Hills Chihuahua) as Olive Chuckster (The Legend of Secret Pass) as Martini Irwin Wayfair (Small Soldiers) as Tim Tseebo (Star Wars Rebels) as Fido Evil Jim (Earthworm Jim) as The Postman either Lance Sterling, or Deputy Mayor Jeff Thumb, or some other African American Character as Richard Stands Ty-Rux (DinoTrux) as Schnitzel Nutcracker (O’ Christmas Tree) as Round John Virgin Santa Claus (The Story of Santa Claus) as Himself Mrs. Claus (The Story of Santa Claus (If I’m not Mistaken)) as Herself Indiana Jones as Mr. Eskimo Marion as Mrs. Eskimo Papa Henry (The Good Dinosaur) as Comet Aladar as Blitzen Watcho (Disenchantment) as Guard Shack Elf Bruce Wayne/Batman as Zoo Director Various Animals as Zoo Animals News Reporter as Herself Blip (Pound Puppies) as Rhoda Trixie (Pound Puppies) as Ticket Booth Girl Will (Hair High) as Arturo https://www.instagram.com/p/CmCpPX_OQY3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[shentanheng]

It's nice to see people admiring and appreciate Lance. He is the most underappreciated F1 driver out there!

Lance Lore: Florida Winter Series 2014

This post will cover Lance’s participation in the 2014 Florida Winter Series, or as I like to call it: Baby Racing Summer Winter Camp.

Which is where this picture originated from:

First things foremost, what was the Florida Winter Series? 

It was a “non-championship racing series organized by the Ferrari Driver Academy in Florida”. The series used the Tatuus FA010B chassis. This car is also used in Formula Abarth and other regional championships. The car was built to Formula 3 safety regulations.

It was an educational experience for young drivers to gain familiarity and development with single seater racing. For some drivers such as Lance and Max, it was their first ever time racing single seaters as they were literally in karting before this. 

Who participated? 

The series had 11 fixed participants, and Lance was the youngest.

From the FDA there was Lance, Antonio Fuoco (current WEC driver for Ferrari AF Corse), and Raffaele Marciello (current WEC driver for BMW M Team WRT). 

[Lance and fellow FDA participants]

Other notable names include, Max Verstappen, Nicholas Latifi, Ed Jones (WEC, IndyCar), and Tatiana Calderón (WEC, IndyCar).

[The Palm Beach Drivers’ Photo]

Will Buxton’s Reporting

Will Buxton, who if you don’t know is a British motorsport journalist and presenter for F1, was invited to participate for a weekend of the series. He documented his experience on his blog and there was also an NBC mini series. You can read/watch the whole thing online, I’ll just be focusing on Lance for this post.

[Pre Race Warm Up]

From his blog, it’s easy to tell that he quickly became friends with Lance, his garage mate, over the weekend. He documents his first impression of Lance as followed.

Lance Stroll. My garage mate. And on first impressions of him being late for every meeting, playing with his phone, goofing around, I presumed was going to be a cocky karting graduate nightmare. How wrong first impressions can be. A genuinely lovely guy, still so young at 15 and blisteringly quick. Supportive of his boys in the garage, a smart brain… and ever so confident. Confident to the point that if you don’t know him, you’d think he was being arrogant. Just as I had, before I really knew him.

Will realized how behind he was compared to the others, after FP1 he was 8.485s off the leading session time. He writes,

After each session, Lance would sit with me briefly and ask how my session had gone and advise on where I could find some time. After FP1 he handed me a tip that served me impeccably.

“Have you got a tinted visor?”

“Absolutely,” I said.

“Use it, man. The glare out there is so bad, you’ll tidy right up with it.”

And so I did.

I sat with Mario as he overlayed Lance’s lap with mine to give me an idea of how much later I could be braking, and even how I could change my style of braking. I was hitting the brakes early and with about three quarters of the pressure of Lance, pressing on them and then coming off almost completely in a square shape.

[Will and Lance discussing]

During Will’s second run of the first quali session for the race weekend, there was a red flag because Lance had crashed into the barrier. He wrote the following:

Lance was going over his crash, and we all sat down and watched the GoPro footage. He’d turned in just a touch early for Turn 8, a slight lift and then full throttle. The early apex had drawn him out to the edge of the track too soon and his front left had touched the grass moments before the kerbing started. On the slippery green stuff, and at that speed, he was a passenger for the five metres or so before the tyre barrier. The hit was recorded at 5.2G.

“You OK?” I asked.

“Yeah. My knee hurts a bit but I’m OK. I’m just pissed off because if I’d got the turn in right I reckon I could take it flat.”

This was another moment where I realized how much I liked Lance. A big shunt, and he was already thinking about taking the corner faster next time out.

Although during the break between quali’s, they managed to fix Lance’s car. After Will completed his first ever race (he came last and got lapped twice), Nuno Pinto (prema driving coach/manager and Lance’s coach to this day) told Will he did a good job, but was “almost too courteous to the other drivers.”

Which Lance replied: “Yeah man,” laughs Lance. “You’re way too nice. You could have held the other guys up so I could have had a run at them!”

Other Facts/Media

Over the course of the month, Lance podiumed twice (both times with Nicky)!

[Palm Beach R2 Podium]

[Homestead R3 Podium]

He also achieved 1 pole position. Bonus fun fact: Will beat Nicky in one race (due to a DNF). Now for some more pictures!

[Car check and rebuild, Lance removing the air filter to clean it]

[Other pictures of Lance]

[Lance and Antonio Fuoco]

[FWS Class of 2014]

[Bonus: Will congratulating + Interviewing Lance after his first F1 Podium]

Links/further media Will's blog NBC Mini series (spot the boys!) Homestead Race recap FWS 2014 - Highlight Video Florida Winter Series - Funniest moments Will Interviews Lance after Baku 2017

Note I know this was long, but thank you for reading! I've been meaning to write this up for a while now <3

[crystalelemental]

Sync Grid Analysis (March 2023)

We have quite a few sync grid expansions.  Lorelei.  MU Torchic apparently counted.  Gloria.  And perhaps most significantly, Lance, who I understand got both a 3/5 and a 5/5 expansion.  So hey, let’s see it.  Better be good to have sidelined Steven again.  This is only half a joke.

Lorelei As the last winner, and the follow-up to February’s expansions that were incredibly strong, I had high hopes for Lorelei’s grid expansion.  I like Lorelei.  I feel like she’s wildly underappreciated as a character despite being Kantonian.  You’d think natural bias would work in her favor, but no.  It doesn’t.  Not even here.  They focused on sync.  Her sync condition is the foe needs to be frozen.  Dead in the water.  Freeze Synergy 3 sucks balls, Sharp Entry is whatever, Brace Yourself Ramp Up 2 is okay, Towering Force and Heavy Hail 5 are at least somewhat more reasonable, two Blizzard +10 accuracy tiles, Hostile Environment 1 because god forbid we let her have the same odds as Lodge Silver, Invigorating Hail 1 (not a joke), Endurance, and Healing Hail 1.  I’m sure someone can make a tank set out of it but I don’t know why you’d want to.  Lorelei isn’t good.  Her stats are weak, her natural sync multiplier effectively impossible to achieve, her DPS got almost nothing of value, and her tanking abilities aren’t worth that much either.  This is just a bit sad.

MU Torchic I didn’t think they’d give it a grid at all, considering its trainer move is literally just SS Kris’ without the special moves up next.  Let’s see if they actually gave a straight MPR or MP Burst.  HOLY SHIT THEY DID.  Oh my god.  An actual, honest to Christ Special Atk/Crit buffer that buffs to cap in reasonable time?  In my F2P pool?  Unreal.  Gradual Healing on trainer move is also fairly nice, as is Fast-Track 9.  Escape Artist and Quick Cure are fine, Hostile Environment 5 on Flamethrower is pretty nice for those Gauntlets that need it.  Toughen Up and Tighten Up 3 are choices.  Like most F2P units, I think the big concern is just...lack of Endurance.  Stats aren’t fantastic, and lacking Endurance means suffering wildly in CS.  But MPR on trainer move was like the only thing it could ever ask for, and it got it.  I literally never thought I’d see the day.

Lance At 2/5, he got Sharp Entry and Quick Cure for the full cost tiles.  Nothing special.  Atk and Sp Atk +20 nodes for free is good.  2/5 half cost are Furious Brain and Ramp Up 2 on trainer move, which is just funny.  3/5 half cost are Haymaker and Critical Eye 1 broadly, which rules.  Self buffs crit to cap naturally, very nice.  4/5 gives Initial Damage Guard to block damage from the first hit after cutting his HP with trainer move, and First Aid but at the halfway point so it basically turns the 50% loss to a 10% like Marnie.  Okay.  It’s not doing much but sure.  5/5 gives Injured Propulsion which only works the once so no having fun, and Injured Ferocity, which gives +6 to both offensive stats when HP drops below 60%.  Perfect self-setup, a 30% multiplier for Hyper Beam, and a 100% multiplier on sync.  Lance?  You fucking did it, bro.  You’re in.

Gloria 2/5 gets Crit Stirke 2 and Sharp Entry 1.  She now gets some nice multiplier, and pairs perfectly with just Palentine’s Marnie.  4/5 gets Haymaker for sync, and DEFENSE CRUSH 9 FUCKING POGGERS.  I have Gloria at 4/5, this rules.  Anyway.  5/5 gets Rebuff Reducing Hit (Steel), which is a -1 rebuff to steel on a foe the first time an attack is successful, which unfortunately means it doesn’t carry over between Gauntlet phases but small price to pay.  Oh, and Super Preparation 9 on her trainer move.  Okay.  Gloria’s really good now.  Baller.  I’d say this is one of those that’s worth 5/5, given how bad her grid was to begin with.  But even the 2/5 giving Sharp Entry and Crit Strike 2 is really, really nice for synergy with her Zone setter.

Anniversary May I forgot they did do these expansions.  Hers is bad.  Unflappable, Team Healing Entry for Gradual Healing, Supreme Entry which sucks ass, Acuity which is something, Befuddle 1 which is kinda nice because mega evolution but should’ve been Befuddle 2 if they wanted it to matter, and Psychic Wish BOGO 9.  I’m gonna say this is the tamest improvement.  They gave her the only serious tool Bianca had that she didn’t with the Gradual Healing and I don’t think it’s worth 4/5.

Anniversary Raihan 2/5 got Acuity, because sure, and Flameproof, because...I guess.  4/5 gets Sync Damage Guard, and Disarm 9.  Disarm 9 in particular rules.  He already had Mind Boggler for a special defense drop, now he debuffs both offenses too?  Beautiful.  5/5 gets Drought Alert 3 which is fantastic, and Max Countdown 2 to effectively give another means of fast-ramping which is his calling card.  This is a damn good expansion.  But I also noticed.  He and May have lower costs.  A lot of these skills are 8 energy rather than 10.  Did DeNA catch on to the issue of grid costs?  Thank god.  It’s not enough of a fix to matter, since Anni Raihan, while receiving fantastic skills, is going to be really, REALLY hard to apply.  His grid is already hard to shop for, and this is not helping.

Final Thoughts Lorelei sucks, MU Torchic got the one tool it wanted, Lance is saved, Gloria got real people skills, Anni May’s expansion is a waste of skills, and Anni Raihan’s expansion creates an absolute cluster for energy allocation.  Some high points and low points.

[meganuzlockediary]

Soul Silver: Approching the league!

7th February

Ok after a short break I'm back and about to complete the league in Soul silver. Approaching the league was no issue whatsoever. The Kimono girls just required a lot of switching but I am pretty well set up for them.

I forgot how cool whirl islands were such a unique location and dungeon not seen as much any more! I found and caught lugia for the fun of it. When I was a kid I had Soul silver and I remember thinking Lugia coming out the waterfall was so cool! It is a shame I cannot use him due to his legendary status because he would make a brilliant replacement for stantler on the team with his psychic typing.

Finally I ran up Victory road without much issue (although discovered I have no counters for Quagsire!) and took on my rival for the last time in the main game. Honestly it was super easy! I set up Stantler to get the intimidate and a confuse ray on sneasel. I switch to ninetails and use will o wisp to burn the sneasel. Throughly crippled I set up two nasty plots before sweeping the entire team! A brutal victory but I'm glad I got the set up! Finally its time for the Elite 4 and the team announcement!

First is Truffle the Mamoswine - the most recent encounter caught on Ice path and an essential member of the team as the main counter to the dragonites as well as some of Kogas team! Mamoswine has been a staple member of many of my teams int he past so I am excited to use him again.

Moves - Avalanche, Ice shard, Earthquake, Ancient power Holding - Never melt Ice

Another pokemon I have used may times. Ninetails is one of my favourites and with nasty plot and flamethrower I am excited to set up some sweeps. She will be good against Will, Koga and Kaitlin I will probably avoid using her against Bruno.

Moves - Nasty plot, flamethrower, will o wisp, Dark pulse. Holding - Charcoal

Muscle the Machamp was a surprise pokemon in this playthrough. Not one I was intending on using or one that I have used before. I have never used one and honestly have been dissappointed with its movepool. His soul purpose is to be a revenge killer with cuts and cross chop. But I also have a clever idea with Natural gift I want to try out!

Moves: Natural gift, Earthquake, Vital throw, Strength Holding: Zoom lens

My beloved ampharos! Such a cool pokemon I have only ever used in these games. Happy to be using it and so good against water types. He will honestly be a little useless outside of Lance himself but a good stong back up.

Moves - Flash, Signal beam, Thunderbolt, Thunderwave Item - Sitrus berry

After some deliberation I did decide to bring Sven. He is a good utility monwith intimidate and he has been surprisingly powerful so far. Another pokemon I didn't think I'd use. I would be using Crobat in his place and did consider replacing him with xatu but I reckon we will manage. It will just make Bruno a little tougher.

Moves - Stomp, Zen Headbutt, Hypnosis(or attract I cant decide) and confuse ray Item - Silk Scarf

Finally is my starter Feraligatr! What a cool mon! I totally underappreciated it before but now i understand why people like it. It is a true monster! I just hope he survives and doesn't fall behind. He has a great move pool at the moment and I am hoping he will be a great back up for Lance.

Moves - Swords dance, Waterfall, Icefang, Crunch Item - Sitrus berry

Thats the team. I think all will go well in this league I have a strong group and lots of options against all trainers bar Bruno we will see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

[duelingdestiny]

voltron

Send me a fandom and I’ll tell you my:

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most) KEEF WITH THE TEEF KOGANE.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped) HUNKACHUNKA MY LOVE

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave) MATT IS BAE

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week) Ryan Kinkade. Just fuck me up I love him.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave) I"M SORRY DID YOU MEAN LOTOR

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason) LANCE FUCKNG MCCLAIN. It's like self torture but I'm here for it.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell) SLAV I FUCKING HATE THAT IRRITATING CATERPILLAR BITCH I WAS ROOTING FO SHIRO TO MURDER HIM THE WHOLE TIME.

[aimlessarchery]

"Ooh. Tough guy, are we?" A teasing lilt enters Python's voice as he adjusts his weight against his spear. Keeping one's head against the enemies' taunts is an underappreciated combat skill, and it remains one of the more entertaining ones to teach. (As long as it doesn't result in too many nicks and bruises from ticked-off sparring partners…whether he'll manage that this time remains to be seen.) With a languid lurch, he brings the polearm up from the dirt. His off-hand clasps around the bow hanging over his chest, lifting it over his head and draping it over Sir Straw-for-brains instead. As he adjusts his grip the tip of his lance twirls through the air in a motion both lazy and fluid, more befitting of a cat's tail than a weapon of war——if not for the rigid point on its end. "Just a warning: I didn't get my job from smacking piles of straw around either. Got a war or two under my belt myself. As an archer, actually, but picking you off from afar doesn't sound like a very fair sorta test to me." The stance of a lance fighter no longer feels so foreign to him. When he had first picked up the weapon, he imitated the solid, grounded sort of motions that he watched his armored companions practice time and again. The style had never quite clicked with him. Now he adopts a lighter step, fluid and poised—a snake coiled to strike. "Not that I plan on going too easy on you. My paycheck's on the line if I'm caught slacking too often, ya'know." The fingers of his glove hand open slightly around the handle of his lance, curling in the air with a 'come closer' gesture. "Let's see those martial skills, then."

Ye Olde Accuplacer