#(going to us this tag as well since this is niche liveblogging)

[racingliners]

F1 2022 Re-watch: Round 3 - Australia 

So yeah re some previous rambly posts, I subbed to F1 TV because I was kind of tuned out for the bulk of the 2022 season and bc it ended up being Seb’s last season in F1, I wanted to re-watch all of them in full. bc Seb caught covid (😭) I’m starting from Australia!

Since I’m mainly doing this for the laughs I have no idea what I’m doing avwvguhrgug I’ll probably put a lap number before any sarcastic comment for context.

Anyway, onwards! (under a read more bc this will get chatty)

Starting with the F1 intro. noice. (quietly bops)

As I am a religious Channel 4 viewer I just got major whiplash from Will Buxton doing commentary esblhrlbi.

I actually really like Albert Park, it’s not a bad track, dare I say it quite underrated.

Seb in 17th, the AMR22 really was a tractor 😭

Jolyon Palmer?!?!? I forgot he worked for F1 these days.

I’m also really not used to Aus not being the tradional season opener. Does not pass the vibe check.

[Start/Lap 1]: A clean turn 1???? sounds very fake.

A clean first sector???? sounds very fake

My god I can’t believe the grid all had their braincells on the first lap. Astounding.

[Lap 2]: nvm Sainz spun into the gravel. (I very vaguely remember this from C4 Highlights)

Unrelated, Zhou’s helmet design is really pretty.

[Lap 3]: Aston Martin Safety Car!! My beloved!! (The soft spot I now have for them after Seb’s two seasons with AM asdfghjkl)

[Lap 5]: Oh, pitting Lance to run the mandatory compound for 1 lap, then pitting again for hards. That’s clever. (Bernie Collins and Seb shared AM’s braincell lets be real).

I’ve also very suddenly realised that while I’m re-watching all of Seb’s races from 2022 bc it was his last season, there is no guarantee I will see much of Seb. I did not think this through.

I have once again slipped back into the routine of constantly checking for Seb’s name on the leaderboard. (pls don’t ask me how I’m going to cope this year bc I probably won’t)

I’m also humming the jaws theme everytime one car gets close to another.

Still not used to Will Buxton commentary eagheguh Palmer & Sam Collins are great though!!

[Lap 11]: Not Seb going through the gravel and dropping to plum last 😭

[Lap 12]: The McLarens following the Mercs. Merc on Merc powertrain violence

[Lap 13]: “Lots of unforced driver error” It’s because we had such a clean first lap that the racing gods demanded clownery as payment.

Unrelated but I said this to a mate the other day, but I miss glossy car liveries!! The matte ones are fine but shiny liveries just hit different. (Merc please go chrome for 2023 it would be v sexy)

[Lap 16]: Anyway Seb in P16 woo

Kevin mowing the lawn at turns 9 and 10

[Lap 18] Ah Leclerc leading Verstappen by almost 9 seconds. Remember when we had hope for the title fight? (Man watching the season long Ferrari clown show back is going to be fun, and by fun I mean devastating).

Speaking of car liveries, please have less black on the car this year McLaren. It just makes the car look unfinished. The accents of blue are so pretty though.

(I love how this is the most important thing on my mind rn eaugheuigh)

[Lap 22]: Seb thinking about an overtake!!! And the camera cut away!! why???

[Lap 24]: Seb DNF noooooo 😭😭😭😭

(I really should have looked up race results before starting this huh)

Well, zero joy sparked. But I have paid for F1 TV so we carry on through gritted teeth.

The AMR22 was a tractor, but damn it she was a beautiful tractor.

[Lap 25] “Keep getting unlucky with safety cars” Me 🤝 Lewis: Permanently traumatised by the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

“The only time we will see an Aston Martin leading the race this weekend” Will Buxton I will fight you

[Lap 26]: THE FUCK Yuki, Mick do not frighten me like that.

I still keep checking for Seb on the leaderboard even though he’s out. Pain.

Back on livery watch: The blue and pink Alpine my beloved.

[Lap 30] oh we have passed half-distance. yay.

Lewis getting past Nando: ‘Cause I seee sparks flyyyyy’

[Lap 33] Bold of anyone to call Magnussen “Alonso’s rear gunner”

[Lap 35] Cuts to Leclerc in case we forgot about him

[Lap 36] “Is that Ferrari very slow or...?” “No that’s just how it looks” And yet Apollo gave them the gift of prophecy re the second half of the season 😭

Another livery watch update: Alpha Romeo v pretty.

[Lap 39]: Oop Verstappen DNF

Back to livery watch: Red Bull I’m begging you to go back to having a dark metallic blue instead of the matte navy. Keep the bright red tho.

The “Leclerc you’re my red flag”  sign. Bestie that does not mean what you think it means.

[Lap 41]: The midfield once again saving the entertainment value of the race. I fully support Fernando’s rights to go a little bit feral.

Albert Park when the sun starts to go down >>>>>

(Yes a circuit’s aesthetic/surroundings completely plays into whether or not I like it. shh)

[Lap 45]: ...did AM tell Lance that he got a penalty or?????

[Lap 46]: How did I not notice Albon in P7??? pet power! (he still had to stop but whatevs)

[Lap 48] Albon on 46 lap old tyres 😳

I have now learned I’m watching the F1 TV feed and not the global feed (which I’m assuming is Sky F1???) so I’ll need to actually pay attention to what I’m clicking on for the next race 😅

[Lap 49]: It’s taken almost the whole race for Nando to start bitching on the radio iaefbhsebh. At least it feels like a race now (said with the upmost affection for my favourite menace to society)

[Lap 51]: There you go Nando, Pierre got past Lance

also is Alex going to pit at some point???

“I think don’t hit the one [car] painted the same as yours” F1 TV make Sam the lead commentator pls.

“The McLaren is a quick car” words I thought I would never hear

[Lap 54]: Charles 🤝 RBR Seb: Can I go for the fastest lap 👀

I also think it’s bs that you have to finish in the top 10 to get a point for the fastest lap. If you get the fastest lap, you should get the point. Don’t disrespect the non-points finishers like that @FIA 

[Lap 56]: Three laps left and Albon still hasn’t pitted

Williams did you forget about your driver????

Shit I’m emotionally invested in Albon now

Oh man if his tyre fails I will not take it well

[Lap 57]: Don’t cut to Leclerc!!! I need to know if Albon has pitted yet!!!

There he is!!!

[Lap 58] “Are you still awake” Perez @ Williams pit wall

Oh thank fudge Albon pitted

[Lap 58/end] Charles & Ferrari taking a dominant win. doesn’t feel real tbh.

Albon got P10!!!! hell yeah!!!

Charles really did learn from Seb by going for fastest lap despite being told not to vvuuehrfgusrhguh

Rocky name drop!!! Yes I’m still fond of him shhh 

Okay so that race was a bit of a slow burn, ty to the midfield for bringing the bulk of the entertainment. Overall 6 and a half front wings out of 10.

[tieria-erde]

cam i have to know as someone who just got into something niche as well how Do you stay alive with such little content

ok so i don't know how much this will apply to axiom verge since it's significantly more recent than gundam 00 and from what it seems has never had a very active or large fanbase. but i will tell you my methods

(had to put my methods under a readmore because i loveeee talking. especially about 00. so sorry for all this shit you'll have to read)

something i used to do concerningly often is that i would choose a character from gundam 00 and scroll through, literally, their entire tumblr tag from beginning to end. every single post from the last 10+ years. UNFORTUNATELY because tumblr is horrible i think they broke their tag search recently? but also i'm blocked by one or two people who are extremely active in the gundam 00 tag (proshippers, ostensibly) so that might be why it hasn't been working for me. anyway this is very enriching, i did it like 7 times last year during online classes, but it has eaten hours upon hours upon hours of my time. like i think for the Main characters it'd take me up to a full day to get through the whole tag? again i don't know how much this will help you—gundam 00 actually had a fairly active fandom in like 2011-12 so there's more old posts than recent ones, and axiom verge seems to have fewer characters anyway

i'm not gonna lie you kinda have to be way less picky about the fancontent you consume. like of course you should always keep your boundaries intact, but there's gonna be a lot of content that you wouldn't be particularly interested in if it was for media with a larger fanbase and you're gonna have to make do with that. i've gotten really into content for minor characters that i otherwise totally wouldn't care about! but gundam 00 also has a lot more characters than axiom verge so this is sort of a given

don't just stick to tumblr and ao3—branch out to other websites! this also might be less applicable to axiom verge than to gundam 00. in my case it was VERY helpful to look at sites like pixiv and livejournal for gundam 00 content because there was WAY MORE there. in pixiv's case that was because gundam 00 is of course a japanese media and more fancontent for it was posted on a japanese website; for livejournal, that was just... where anime fans were in 2007-2012. sometimes i namesearch gundam 00 on twitter just to see what i find; i often stumble upon people watching the show for the first time and liveblogging it this way! which, yes, does count as content for the niche media enjoyer. (just found some cool shit namesearching axiom verge on twt)

unfortunately you do have to make the content you want to see in the world. look at middy and his 900 wiki edits. you have to become a primary fancontent creator for your niche media, it happens to all of us. this is easier when you have a friend to talk to about it; i use danny @neildylandy as my resident Guy For Talking To. we get very into it and it is DEEPLY enriching. basically, rope middy into axiom verge convos with you—i assume you're already doing this but can't hurt to stress the point! you will have to sustain yourself on your own art, writing, and conversations between friends. also, if you find enough people who are into axiom verge (or if you can get enough people into axiom verge) you can make a little discord server for it

once you've finished the game go watch some let's plays. since metroidvanias are relatively non-linear past a certain point you'll get a lot of Varying content from different let's plays, which is good

i asked danny if he had any input and xe said this: "i am gonna be honest and this is a terrible thing and not good advice but really genuinely having my entire room be full of gundam merch inspires me greatly and always. every day i wake up and i look to my side and there are 2 haros and lockon stratos and they smile at me so sweetly"

"as for actually staying engaged with it i honestly like don't look at 00 fics very much that aren't in the tag or written by my good friends i kind of just Always Have A Project Going so i'm always thinking about gundam through the lens of something i'm actively working on. and sometimes things i'm Not actively working on like ghd00"

"this is advice you've already given i'm sure but Having An Enabler is like. the key to this honestly i would not still be here in the 00 zone if i was all on my lonesome and i guess just like. don't worry about actually putting out content to Fill the Void if you have something to ramble on about it doesn't have to be Published it can just be thoughts and words and phrases between you and if it turns into something you can put out there then Cool if you make the priority be 'my friends will like this' rather than 'approximately a handful of strangers will like this' then you're happy right away and then also maybe you'll get a comment and it'll be like a Bonus rather than a Necessity"

have you tried making an au where all of the main characters are being parasitized by alien bug robots