#also Matt deserves better they need to accommodate for him like?..

[notbballstars]

It’s honestly a talent on how bad big brother is at running the show.

[amazingmaeve]

matt murdock fic recommendations ii

these are fics that i just love so much . and if you like these fics too please go and show them some love because they sure as hell deserve it.💕

go and show the authors some support as well, because these fics are so worth it.

also there's going to spoilers for the whole series with most of these fics so beware

there will also be some of the fics that are on A03. they'll be stated as so, and go and give them their praise as well. hopefully the links work if they don't please message me and ill try to fix it.

also what I interpret as angst, fluff, smut etc is just an opinion doesn't mean you'll that it's the same.

💕 = fluff 💋 = smut 🌧️ = angst

ೃ⁀➷ ten times better [💕] by @mvtthewmurdvck

summary: you haven’t been feeling the best and you finally find out why.

warnings: sick reader

ೃ⁀➷ hands off [💋 💕] by @grippingbeskar

summary: you and Matt indulge in an interesting game that ends up in a place you love to be in.

warnings: none

ೃ⁀➷ i think i love you [🌧️ 💕] by @multiharlot

summary: you wake up at 2am to stare at the oven clock because you've reached a revelation.

warnings: age gap

ೃ⁀➷ sound of silence [🌧️ 💕] by @fandom-imagines-stories

summary: Matt tries to find his pregnant wife when half the world seems to have disappeared.

warnings: spoilers for infinity war/endgame

ೃ⁀➷ takes two to tango [💕] by @alrighty-matty

summary: Matt disturbing your reading time by being an annoying boyfriend.

warnings: none

ೃ⁀➷ listening in [💕] by @certifiedskywalker

summary:The four times Matthew listened to your heart, and the first time he listened to his own.

warnings: none

clinton coffee collective ➵ @funnylittlelad

summary ➵ Matt Murdock finds the new café two blocks away from the office by chance when meeting a potential client. He's immediately absorbed by the atmosphere, the coffee, the food, but most of all the owner who effortlessly accommodates him. So, maybe he starts walking an extra two blocks for coffee every morning. It's a victimless crime, until Foggy catches on. (or the funnylittle coffee shop AU)

lingering ➵ @someplace-darker

summary ➵ You've been worked to the bone and slept a total of 3 hours, so Matt takes care of you during your burnout.

interim hearing ➵ @starduststevie

summary ➵ matt is opposing counsel and you hate when opposing counsel makes a motion leading to the two of you being in front of the judge on a saturday. at least, that is until the judge leaves the room...

his wife and nothing more ➵ @writingdumpster

summary ➵ Matty wants a housewife and no one can convince me otherwise. fluffy.

wanting ➵ @coalix

summary ➵ You're the secretary for Nelson & Murdock, and you may or may not be romantically interested in the Murdock half of the firm.

customer service ➵ @farfromstrange

summary ➵ After a particularly rough week, all you want to do is cry. It has you on edge and makes you say things you don’t mean. After letting out your anger on your boyfriend, he makes it his mission to take care of you for a change.

please don’t be mad ➵ @chvoswxtch

summary ➵ matt’s run in with his ex has you questioning everything about your relationship, and he’s determined to prove himself to you.

untitled ➵ @murdock-barnes

summary ➵ After a rough sex, Matt needs to go into the night as the devil. When you're left alone, your head starts to fill with terrible and unpleasant thoughts and feelings.

all I feel is you ➵ @courtforshort15

summary ➵ The story of how Matt Murdock falls in love with you, as told through the five senses

strawberry rhubarb ➵ @ellephlox

summary ➵ You get kidnapped by Fisk.

how sweet it is (to be loved by you) ➵ @courtforshort15

summary ➵ Matt Murdock is the sweetest man you’ve ever known.

seeing stars ➵ @little-miss-dilf-lover

summary ➵ you and Matt share a tender night together after one of his nightly patrols

in the review ➵ @courtforshort15

summary ➵ Reader returns from a trip home to visit her family, and Matt is less than happy to hear about the details.

daddy issues ➵ @farfromstrange

summary ➵ There are some scars from our childhoods that just won't heal, like daddy issues will somehow always affect our relationships, especially with men. It's the trauma that makes us afraid. Matt Murdock is a considerate boyfriend and he hardly ever raises his voice, so when he lets his anger out on you, he triggers something in you that you have never told him about.

green is the color ➵ @courtforshort15

summary ➵ Karen Page looks flawless next to Matt in a way that you don’t. Insecurities and jealousies were bound to pop up at some point.

to be worshipped ➵ prettyoddmoon

summary ➵ In Hell's Kitchen, Sundays are reserved for desirous affection in the form of delicate aftercare and light teasing. Well, you're not entirely sure whether that applies to its entire population, but it sure as hell does to your somnolent boyfriend.

all too well ➵ phoebedanvers

summary ➵ You and Matt are college sweethearts, but his other job gets in the way.

when the rain comes down ➵ stainedglassdaisy

summary ➵ Your day couldn't get any worse after walking home in the middle of a freezing rain storm. Luckily, Matt is waiting for you and has a few ideas to help warm you up.

dreaming of you ➵ misstedious

summary ➵ You have a wet dream about Matt, but things are not the same as usual since you found out he is Daredevil.

so heavy i fell through the earth ➵ Cheetara

summary ➵ We all know Matt would be phenomenal at eating pussy.

tempting the devil ➵ JamOnToast

summary ➵ Work was awful and you need a distraction. You need Matt. But he's out tonight on the other side of town... Until he isn't...

make you better ➵ pettifogger

summary ➵ Another cramp twists through your lower belly and you curl into yourself with a soft groan.

“Oh, sweetheart.”

Looking up, you realize Matt definitely heard that noise. He crosses the room to sit next to you and ignores you trying to wave him away. Before you can mount any real protest, he lifts your legs and sits down on the other end of the couch with your calves stretched over his lap.

He rests one of his big hands on your ankle and squeezes gently. “What can I do?”

we’re not just friends ➵ mvtthewmurdvck

summary ➵ You have a leak in your apartment, and Matt—your friend for several years—offers up his home. You know you have feelings for him, and still, accept his invitation.

a savoury moment ➵ Hart269

summary ➵ Matt returns home early just as you were about to eat your cookies.

the girl who healed him ➵ sentimental_boy

summary ➵ You find Matt in a dumpster about to bleed out.

fuck it, i love you ➵ sadyx

summary ➵ you would be lying if you said you weren’t feeling lonely. of course you love Matt and respect his love for the city, but there was only so much you could take before that loyalty made you question his love for you.

gymnastics ➵ Fluffyprettykitty

summary ➵ Late-night workouts were your favorite but why is that couple in the corner staring so intensely at you?

come kiss me black and blue ➵ deactivated?

summary ➵ you stitch up matt after a fight and finally confess your feelings.

the night nurse ➵ Enscora

summary ➵ Reader is a nurse who moved to Hell's Kitchen for a fresh start. She quickly befriends Claire who works in the emergency department with her and their lives quickly get tangled up with Daredevil and his shenanigans. Lots of catholic guilt, sexual tension and poorly written romance is likely to show up so consider yourself warned.

the way you are ➵ geckogirl7

summary ➵ Reader has had a rough week. You feel like you are bad at your job, not attractive, smart, and are an overall loser. You also are convinced Matt, Foggy, and Karen are only friends with you because they feel sorry for you. After you cancel plans for that evening with the three, Matt appears in your apartment and finds you crying. He's determined to fix this. You're determined to keep your problems to yourself. And so it begins...Stubborn Reader Vs. Stubborn(er) Matt Murdock.

meet me in our hotel room ➵ cellophaine

summary ➵ You and Matt were co-workers, with a lot of flirtatious banters, and the sexual tension between you was hard to ignore. You didn't tell him about your feelings until an unexpected business trip pushed you into an awkward situation, in which some secrets may be revealed.

partners ➵ 1Ash3r

summary ➵ Matt is always going off and taking on dangerous people all by himself. You are sick of getting left behind when you are more than capable of helping.

insomnia ➵ dani_writessometimes

summary ➵ You tried everything in your book of stuff to sleep: reading the most vanilla book you had, meditating, breathing exercises, stretches; all but one thing. You didn’t want to do it, because you weren’t sure how long it would take, and you had a kind of super boyfriend that could literally hear you and smell you from blocks away—he was working, so he would probably get all distracted by you.

protection ➵ deactivated?

summary ➵ You're in a tight spot and, despite your rejection of the role of "damsel in distress", Matt is going to have to come to your rescue.

swayed by the devil ➵ prettyoddmoon

summary ➵ Stuck at a luxurious function you cannot help but feel out of place at, you take dancing with the devil to a new level and tiptoe the perilous realm of falling in love.

the five times you see matt murdock shirtless ➵ dani_writessometimes

summary ➵ A recount of the five times you saw Matt Murdock shirtless that impacted your relationship with him.

ready for work ➵ Hart269

summary ➵ You watch Matt get ready for work from bed.

pleasant distraction ➵ hxbbit

summary ➵ Being Matt Murdock's girlfriend had it's perks but also its downsides. One of the downsides being, hardly having any time together, because he is working by day and at night he is fighting crime. But you figured out a clever way to get what you want.

only you ➵ cellophaine

summary ➵ Matt let his fear for your safety take over, triggering a heated fight between you two. Could this be the end of your love?

these things you do to me ➵ kissofbelladonna

summary ➵ You love him.You love Matt Murdock and by God, does that scare you, terrify you even. However... he's addicting.The... feeling of exhilaration, euphoria, anticipation, and everything in between is something you wouldn't trade for the world. It fills you up in a way only he does.(or in which you realize that all these symptoms equate in love.)

blue moon ➵ rancheel

summary ➵ After a rough breakup you head back to the one place that'll help you drown your impending sorrows: Josie's.

wounds ➵ LunaSerenade

summary ➵ When Matt calls in the middle of the night for help, how can you refuse him?

a matter of sanity ➵ The_Winter_Straw

summary ➵ He’s going to have a lot of conflicting feelings about this later, but for now, Matt will take what you’re willing to give him.

fingers on skin ➵ Kay_Erin

summary ➵ Matt comes home after a long night, and you two fall into the familiar rhythm you know all too well.

to show appreciation ➵ softstxrlight

summary ➵ Matt has been feeling like he's letting his city, and her, down. She doesn't agree, and she'll show him just how much she appreciates him.

the blind leading the blind ➵ kviii (hellowkatey)

summary ➵ Matt Murdock knows first hand what it's like to live in a world of sight and have it suddenly stolen from you. When he encounters a woman that has found herself in a similar situation he can't help but want to be there for her.

little hope ➵ cellophaine

summary ➵ Congratulations on 1k followers!! Though with your incredible writing I am surprised it’s not more 😉 I am having full on Matt Murdock brain rot, and dad! Matt has taken over my heart and soul. I’d love to request a little something where Matt almost (almost because tbh I need to see this man happy) misses the birth of his kid because, well, Dare Devil. The worry, the drama, the ultimate happy ending for him—I just feel it would be *chefs kiss*. I haven’t seen it done yet, but I’d love if you’d consider it for your celebration! Again, congrats!

pool ➵ rancheel

summary ➵ It's date night for You and Matt, so you both decided it was a good idea to play a nice friendly game of pool in Josie's Bar.

the crimson lust ➵ cellophaine

summary ➵ The Devil of Hell's Kitchen showed up at your fire escape in the middle of the night, bloody and agitated. What did he want?

the devil inside you ➵ mvtthewmurdvck

summary ➵ You grow tired of waiting up for Matt, but your anger when you see him quickly dissolves.

I know you best ➵ WinterWidow22

summary ➵ After a bad breakup and a talk with Matt he finally confesses how he really feels.

felicis ➵ thebearking

summary ➵ You worry about Matt, you tell him not to be reckless, and you patch him up when he doesn't listen.

what can I get you? ➵ dani_writessometimes

summary ➵ (Y/N) works as a waitress at a shady Korean restaurant and she doesn’t expect that her favorite customer would also be her savior on an unfortunate night.

his little miracle ➵ TheBravePrincessPure

summary ➵ Just a collection of scenes from Matt/Reader’s journey through pregnancy and parenthood. The angst, the fluff, and everything in between.

senses ➵ YouAreMyMuse

summary ➵ In moments like that, Matt Murdock thanked God for his enhanced senses.

just a taste ➵ sparecoochiepls

summary ➵ Just a taste of Matt Murdock would never be enough.

sutures ➵ kviii (hellowkatey)

summary ➵ You're a medical student who is horrible at sutures. Matt Murdock is a vigilante with a habit of getting himself sliced up. You can probably see where this is going.

so you’re not in fight club? ➵ mvtthewmurdvck

summary ➵ Matt confesses how he gets his bruises.

when you hold me ➵ redahlia

summary ➵ There’s something endearing in the way Matt seeks comfort in you, the way he found himself picking you as his safe place, dropping his defenses fully, allowing you to find your way into his life, offering himself to you with no restraints. It makes you swell with joy, a welcomed ache in your ribs soothed only by his presence.

love is blind ➵ SidneyDR

summary ➵ Reader is invited to her aunt’s yearly christmas party and she asks Matt to pretend to be her boyfriend for the evening to avoid her evil cousins making fun of her even more.

something ➵ WritingWithADinosaur

summary ➵ Everything seemed to be going wrong. Breaking clean streaks, getting fired, and more. A walk to clear your mind takes you to a church. When things are this low, maybe this will actually help?

[im-all-in-shiro]

One of my absolute favorite Sheith headcanons is them starting to date and Keith not realizing it, him thinking Shiro's just being nice/platonic. Can this count as a fic request too? Thank you!

Sorry for taking so long! I actually really like this au too, I even made a version of it a while back, but was too nervous to publish it and never finished it. Here’s a different version than what I had started to write. I hope you like it! 

(Summary)

It’s late one night Shiro decides to seek Keith out, nightmares plaguing his sleep. Keith is all too willing to give Shiro whatever he needs, but when Shiro begins giving Keith more than what he ever expected, Keith doesn’t know how this will affect his heart.  

It was surprising when Shiro came to Keith in the night for comfort. Keith was mainly used to the strong and determined leader willing to hide his problems from everybody—even his oldest friend.

Shiro didn’t explain anything at first when he came and hesitantly asked if he could stay in Keith’s room that night, and Keith didn’t ask. Stunned as he was, he scooted back on the bed and lifted the covers to accommodate Shiro’s size. Shiro didn’t hesitate then, going forward to situate himself under the sheets.

It turned out Shiro was a cuddler. He’d of course been slightly upset the first morning he found himself with his arm wrapped loosely around Keith, but at Keith’s insistence he didn’t mind, he allowed himself to indulge. He’d tug Keith closer before he went to sleep, situating Keith’s head under his chin. Unfortunately, Keith also found out that if there was another body in his bed, he’d snuggle into the warmth. This led to mornings where Keith would be closer to Shiro than he intended, but Shiro never allowed him to apologise. Keith was worried, but somehow their routine never truly made him uncomfortable. He liked Shiro tangling his legs with his and how Shiro’s hand would occasionally go to stroke his hair lightly.

The attacks were thankfully few and far between, the ones where Shiro would wake up in a sweat, panicked eyes roaming around the room for something that wasn’t there. Keith, the light sleeper that he is, always woke up. Keith, somehow, was able to ground Shiro with a soft touch to his arm and words encouraging him down from whatever state he was in. Shiro avoided talking about it, only offering vague explanations about his time under Galra enslavement. Keith always offered to talk about it if Shiro wanted, but never pushed.    

Keith was thinking this all over as Shiro played with his hair softly, using his fingers to brush through the soft strands.

“I was asked out on a date,” Shiro murmured, suddenly speaking, but didn't stop stroking Keith’s hair.

Keith froze. “By who?”

Shiro hesitated a moment. “I don't remember his name. He's on the Atlas team.”

Keith frowned. The last thing he wanted was Shiro going off with some guy even Shiro couldn't remember the name of, somebody Keith didn't know if he could trust or not, but if there was the potential for Shiro to be happy, he shouldn't try and ruin it.

“I told him I'd give him an answer later. What should I do?” Shiro asked.

Keith paused, not expecting the question. “You deserve whatever you want.”

Shiro paused in his ministrations. “You think so?

“You're a great guy, Shiro… it's easy to love you. Anybody would be lucky to have you. If you want somebody, you should go for it.”

He meant to continue, to add on Shiro can do whatever he wants with whoever he wants as long as he's happy, but found he couldn't.

“You're so good to me, Keith,” Shiro said with a smile. “You're pretty easy to love, too.”

Keith flushed pink at the compliment, but didn't get the chance to reply.

Shiro kissed him.

It was nothing more than a quick peck on the lips, but it was perfect. Shiro’s lips were soft against his, but the kiss was not nearly long enough. Shiro had parted quickly and stuttered out an apology, clearly nervous, but Keith only smiled at him. It was a weak smile, knowing very well that Shiro did it out of something that wasn’t romantic. They were like brothers, and nothing more.

That’s when Shiro asked if he could kiss Keith again. Keith could only nod, allowing Shiro to take his own time before trying to kiss him again.

Keith realised pretty fast that the kisses were some sort of way of coping for Shiro, just like why he continually came to Keith’s room at night to keep the nightmares at bay. It didn't mean anything, nothing at all.

The kisses only continued the days after that.

Keith found out he loved Shiro’s kisses. At first they were chaste and sweet like that first kiss, little things Shiro would do to say good night and good morning. It was intimate and soft, but Keith always knew to write it off as Shiro needing something he hadn’t had in too long. Physical comfort was legitimate, he supposed, and Shiro probably figured he could seek this from his best friend with no consequence (there was of course consequences, such as the breaking of Keith’s heart, but Shiro didn’t need to know that). It was later when Shiro began to give real heat behind them, pressing his lips insistently against Keith’s. These became sessions of passionate kisses, their hands tugging off clothes and wandering naked skin. Keith loved the feel of Shiro’s muscles underneath his fingertips, and gave in to the wonderful sensation of Shiro tugging at his long hair.

Keith wanted to go further, even tried to sometimes. He'd tug at the waistband of Shiro’s sweatpants slightly, a silent question. Shiro would chuckle, tell him they had time to go that far, then laugh even more when Keith pouted.

Despite Shiro resisting, their kisses did progress. Shiro would place his hands low on Keith’s hips, only Keith’s red boxer-briefs between his hands and Keith’s bare skin. Lips and tongues would roam, and Shiro in particular enjoyed lightly nipping and sucking at Keith’s skin. Keith was bolder, leaving little bite marks all along Shiro’s torso, and even recently would swirl his tongue and bite all the way down to the band of Shiro’s underwear. He never crossed that boundary, but it was a silent promise for someday (a someday that he hoped would exist).

He loved these kisses, but they hurt too. Everytime he got another kiss he always had to remind himself that this was something Shiro was using to get comfort or something from him, nothing more. Shiro didn’t love him, they weren’t meant to be, but Keith would take every kiss, touch, and compliment Shiro was willing to give.  

It was after a particularly passionate night of touching that Keith woke up feeling hollow. What the two of them were doing… it was only going to hurt Keith in the end and he knew it. They were friends with benefits, and that wouldn't end well. Shiro was going find a good boyfriend, a better husband, and Keith would have to step back in to “brother” status and pretend nothing ever happened.

As wrong as he felt, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of Shiro stepping out of the bathroom, a towel slung around his shoulders with nothing else on but black boxer-briefs.

Shiro was beautiful.

He noticed Keith watching him and gave Keith a fond smile of his own.

“Good morning, Keith,” Shiro said, getting closer to Keith. He reached forward, using his flesh hand to tuck in a strand of hair behind Keith's ear.

He then lowered his hand to cup Keith’s jaw and leaned down to press his lips lightly to Keith’s.

Keith hummed into the kiss, placing his hands on Shiro’s broad shoulders, making sure the kiss didn't remain brief.

Shiro stopped the kiss, parting away from Keith. “You have a meeting, Keith. Didn't Lance want you to meet the rest of the team before it, too?”

Keith winced, remembering what he told Lance, Hunk, and Pidge. He'd much rather be here with Shiro.

Shiro laughed, giving Keith one last peck on the lips before going to Keith’s closet to pick out his own uniform.

Keith realised he had to hurry if he wanted to meet the team, but Shiro was incredibly distracting. As with most of Shiro’s actions these days, Keith had felt conflicted when he'd brought some of his clothes into Keith’s room. It was domestic, intimate in its own way. Keith didn't need that, another reminder that Shiro had found something in Keith to keep him distracted. Maybe Keith was even nothing more than a craving for intimacy. Whatever it was, Shiro wasn't Keith's. Every little action Shiro made that reflected a different sort of love that Shiro didn't truly feel for Keith, he hurt.

Keith allowed himself to get ready, trying to push all those thoughts in the back of his head. He had to focus.

Shiro, who got ready before Keith, left before him with a kiss. Keith then continued changing and braided his hair (something Shiro said he found beautiful). He didn’t particularly want to meet Lance and the others so early in the morning, but he said he would.

He found the three outside the building Keith resided in, all staring at him with eager looks on their faces.

“Congratulations, Keith,” Lance said slyly, leaning closer towards Keith.

“Congratulations on what?” Keith replied tersely, pushing Lance away.

Lance rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. Everybody knows now. You can't pretend anymore.”

Keith looked at Lance with a mixture of exasperation and confusion. He really didn’t need to deal with one of Lance’s games today.

Pidge frowned, scrutinising Keith’s expression. “Uh, Lance? He’s being serious. He doesn’t know.”

Hunk’s eyes widened at Keith. “You mean he didn’t tell you?”

“To be fair to him, Shiro probably made the mistake of thinking Matt could keep a secret,” Pidge interjected.

“What are you all talking about?” Keith asked frustratedly.

“You and Shiro,” Hunk answered. “Everybody knows about the leader of Voltron and the Captain of Atlas finally dating after years of pining.”  

“What?!”

Lance gave him an annoyed look. “You can stop pretending you don't love each other. Everybody knows you're banging now.”

Keith tensed. Shiro wouldn't tell anybody he and Keith were doing what they were. They were nothing more than friends with benefits, nothing at all to be proud of.  

“Shiro and I are not like that,” Keith insisted. “We’re just friends. I've told you guys this before!”

“Then why did Shiro tell Matt that dating you is one of the best things that could've happened to him? Really mixed signals you two are giving right now,” Pidge said.

“What?” Keith asked weakly. “He likes me?”

“Try ‘is so in love with you it's disgusting,’” Pidge corrected.

Keith didn't know what to say. He figured the compliments were Shiro being nice and the kisses were some way Shiro.

“You really didn't know?” Hunk questioned. “Keith, buddy, he really loves you. Did you think he'd start dating you if he didn't really care about you?”

Keith was silent.

Pidge frowned. “Keith, please tell me you knew that you and Shiro were dating.”

Keith could only shake his head.

His friends were quiet, apparently knowing what to say about as much as Keith did.

Pidge looked up at him seriously. “I do know one thing. You have to tell Shiro.”

[nickireadstfc]

The King’s Men, Chapter 8 – Baby, Now We Got Bad Blood

In which Neil’s birthday surprise bloody sucks, I have opinions about the Terrapins’ naming choices, Matt is too good for this world, and the Twinyard’s first attempt at Actual Human Interaction doesn’t quite go as planned.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The King’s Men.

(This is a longass chapter and lots of shit happens, so this is a longass update. I’m sorry in advance.)

             Neil flipped his phone open to stare at the date. It was Friday, January 19th. “Neil Josten” was supposed to turn twenty on March 31st. Today Nathaniel Wesninski turned nineteen years old.

OH SHIT IT’S HIS BDAY!!! HAPPY BIRBDAY MY BOY!!!!!

And we almost made it in time as well! 12 days late, but still – happy late birthday, my dude.

Actual footage of my baking disaster ass making a cake for our birthday boy.

Sadly though, Neil doesn’t care much for his birthday, and because he tragically keeps his mouth shut about it for most of the chapter, neither can anyone else.

I love birthdays. How dare you deprive me of some good good festivity. This is a gosh darn shame, Josten.

             Neil knew he went to his classes, but he didn’t learn anything. He wrote down what his teachers said but didn’t absorb a single word.

In other news, when will Neil in uni stop being such a goddamn #MOOD.

Exam season is hitting me hard right now folks, and while I’m tryinfg to play catch-up on my notes this just feels like an unnecessary callout post to my lazy past self.

In other other news – it’s time for Orange Sportsball again!

Our Foxes are playing a home game against Belmonte which, if you’ll all kindly remember, resulted in The Most Epic Move Andrew Has Ever Pulled, Ever last time we played them.

So, you know, no pressure.

Before Neil can pop a boner about being on an actual game court again though, he has a little birthday surprise waiting for him, and it’s, well, how do I put this –

A bloody hell of a situation.

             It exploded in his locker, triggered by the door opening, and Neil recoiled as it cascaded over everything insde. (…) The bag looked big enough to hold at least two gallons; it was more than big enough to destroy every single piece of gear Neil owned.

WHAT THE FUCK.

For all y’all non-American folks, two gallons are about 7.5 litres. SEVEN POINT FIVE LITRES.

For further reference, that’s about as much as would fit in this bucket.

Yeah.

THAT’S A FUCKLOAD OF BLOOD.

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.

             Neil wrenched the broken bag off the hook. When he turned to throw it Andrew caught his wrist. Neil hadn’t even heard Andrew cross the room toward him. (…)

             “It’s ruined,” Neil said, voice ragged with an awful rage. “It’s all ruined.”

Yup – his entire gear, complete with helmet and shoes, now looks like it played a supporting role in the Red Wedding, and really took on some method-acting for it.

But we’re not done here, oh hot diggity shit no.

             Matt’s startled voice echoed off the bathroom walls. “What the hell?” (…)

             Written in blood across the tile was a bold message: “Happy 19th Birthday, Jr.”

OH SHIT.

OH SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT.

DAD’S HOME, FOLKS.

I am decidedly NOT FUCKING LIKING THIS.

I don’t even want to think about what this means.

If this is the Raven’s doing (which was what I thought about the blood), then that means they’re more in touch with Daddy Wesninski than we thought, which is super bad.

If this is Daddy Wesninski’s own doing, then he’s way more in touch with Getting Revenge On Neil than we thought, which is super super bad.

Either way –

(I also immediately regret calling Wesninski Senior ‘Daddy’. Please remind me to bleach my eyes at the next convenient time.)

             He grabbed the fledgling sense of panic and buried it deep, the same way he’d smothered his broken heart long enough to burn his mother’s body. He would have to react to this later, but if he did it now with all of the Foxes as his witnesses he was going to lose everything.

And bury it he does – Neil, that badass motherf*cker, just buries oh, y’know, the realization that his childhood abuser and indirect killer of his mother is figuratively right behind him,  somewhere in his brain and moves the fuck on.

What a dude.

             “Can you play?” Kevin asked.

             “I’m pissed off, not injured,” Neil snapped. “I’m not going to let this keep us from winning tonight. Are you?

GO GET EM, MY BOY.

WHAT A DUDE.

             “I will give you one chance tonight,” Wymack said. “If I think your head isn’t in the game, I will pull you so fast you’ll get whiplash.”

HSM basketball gifs will never not be appropriate for this team.

In the cleanup process of the Bloody Hell of a Situation, Matt steps out to grab some underwear for a half-naked Neil, and when he comes back he takes the opportunity to remind us all again what a genuinely great character he is – lest we forget.

             Neil opened the door just far enough to realize it was Matt in the hallway and was startled into saying, “You knocked?” (…)

             It wasn’t the first time the Foxes had gone out of their way to accommodate Neil#s privacy issues, but they usually had time to think it through. Matt was late for warm-ups because of Neil and shaken by Riko’s awful trick. Despite that he’d remembered not to barge in.

Matt, you sweet considerate spikey black Billie Joe Armstrong, LET ME LOVE YOU.

And now that Neil is all suited and booted (and had his anger horn tooted), let’s fucking go.

             The ghost of [the blood incident] egged him to go harder and faster. Kevin didn’t warn him to scale back, and they crashed into their backliner with an unusual aggression.

To the Foxes, what the fuck is unusual aggression?? Instantly fucking murdering a dude right there on the field?

“Unusual Agression” is pretty much those guys’ team motto, folks.

Unsurprisingly, our Foxy Sportsball Squad totally rules the following game, no biggie.

Nothing like a bit of blood, childhood trauma and accidental nudity to get fired up before a big game.

             Two minutes later, the Foxes got the chance they needed. A Terrapin striker got around Matt and raced at the goal. (…) Andrew was outside of his box in a heartbeat, and he body-checked the striker hard enough to floor him.

GET REKT.

Also, to remind y’all non-Native English speakers (like me) what a Terrapin is, it’s these cute lil fellas.

Not exactly a threatening opponent.

Not so much a fast one either. Who the fuck thought that naming choice was a good idea, like “yeah, sure, let’s call our skilled Sportsball team after fucking turtles”.

The Team of Poor Naming Choices gets what they deserve, in any case – the Foxes run right over them and celebrate an epic 8-5 victory.

             Wymack and Abby were waiting for them, Wymack with a toothy grin and Abby all smiles.

I love me some supportive Fox Parents.

However, the party is pretty much over instantly as the Foxes are back on their infighting bullshit.

             Allison (…) kept her eyes on Neil. “I’ve hit the limit of what bullshit I’ll tolerate this week, let alone this year. I need to know how much worse this pissing contest between you and Riko is going to get.”

Can we have literally….. 5 seconds of happy celebratory peace up in this bitch, thank you.

At least Wymack feels me.

             “I’m instigating a new rule where everyone is required to be happy after a win. You downers are going to suck the life out of me before my time.”

Thank you, my man.

Allison is kind of right, though – they do need to really fucking talk about this.

             “First off: the massacred elephant in the room. Massacred birds, rather. I called in a favour with the faculty and got Abby access to the microscopes in the science labs.”

Oh, that is morbid.

If that Bloody Hell of a Situation was the Ravens’ doing, then that is the most macabre symbolism I’ve seen in a while.

If it was Wesninski Sr’s – then I don’t want to think about the symbolism, quite frankly.

Which reminds me of an interesting point: Everyone is automatically assuming Riko did this. This makes sense considering almost no one knows of the existence of Neil’s dad, but Neil does not only seem to be playing along, but he seems to have the same opinion. The writing on the wall clearly said “Junior” – why isn’t he considering the fact that it could have just as well been his dad?

Obviously, don’t get me wrong here, knowing their power situation Riko/Tetsuji are still behind all of it and would know of what Neil’s dad is doing to Neil. But to me, this doesn’t sound like Riko’s style. Gallons of blood set up like a crude school prank and words written in blood – this sounds much more like a man who calls himself The Butcher than a rich sleek featherfucker.

Unsurprisingly, Neil isn’t exactly a fan of presenting his entire life story to his team. However, a certain someone who is still massively Salty™ at Neil for ratting him out to his girlfriend intervenes.

             “They’ll never find proof that Riko was involved in this,” Aaron said, “but they might find you, right? (…) Your looks, your languages, your lies – you’re running from something or someone.”

Ohhhhhhhhhh shit.

This is CALLOUT CULTURE.

While the team is busy collecting their jaws from the floor, Neil makes a weak attempt at sassing his way out of this situation.

             Keeping his voice calm took every ounce of energy he had left. “You know, I expected low blows and backstabbing from the Ravens. I thought Foxes were better than that.”

Don’t generalize, my dude.

Dan, Matt and Renee would never.

Neil then does worm his way out of this situation, though – by making a Bad Callout Situation a Worse Callout Situation, Like So Much Worse, Oh God.

             “I’m still waiting for a thank you,” Neil said. “From both of you, to each other. You’re even now, aren’t you? So why can’t you just wipe the slate clean and start over? (…) You don’t want me to be right, because if I am it’s your fault she’s dead.”

             Andrew finally joined the argument. “No. It’s always going to be her fault.”

Oh no, honey, please don–

             “I told her what would happen if she raised her hand again. She had no right to look so surprised.”

DID YOU JUST.

             Wymack pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled noisily. “Could you at least let us leave the room before you confess?”

Same, my dude.

Also hah, nose puns.

             It took Aaron a minute to find his voice again. He still sounded angry, but there was a muted edge to his, “You wouldn’t even look at me. You wouldn’t say a word to me unless I said something first. I’m not psychic. How was I supposed to know?”

             “Because I made you a promise,” Andrew said. “I did not forget it just because you chose not to believe me. I did what I said I would do, and fuck you for expecting anything else.”

And this paragraph right there, this is so, so important because it just sums up both their worldviews perfectly.

Aaron is still the more “normal” one of the twins – hard and bitter, but eventually the more grounded, the more realistic brother. But he also never really got to know Andrew, the real Andrew – whether out of fear of him or out of Andrew’s refusal. Andrew didn’t talk to him, and Aaron never learnt who exactly he was dealing with, so how was he supposed to know?

Andrew, on the other hand, makes promises and sticks to them, absolutely no matter what. He doesn’t care about the means to achieve his goals, he is colder and more ruthless than Aaron – or any sane person – ever could be. And in his world, this all makes sense – legit murder isn’t out of proportion, nothing can be, when it comes to keeping those he cares for safe (lizziedunbar99 made an excellent point on this the other day). When he protects someone, he protects them, all or nothing, and fuck anyone for expecting anyone else.

Yes, hello, I love these idiots.

             There it was again: a hint of that infinite anger at Andrew’s core. (…) He put his hand up between [the twins]. A heartbeat later Andrew’s expression went dead. Neil regretted his intervention immediately. No one could let go of that much rage that easily; Andrew had simply buried it where it could hurt only him.

And the moment that anger finally, healthily (!) breaks free will be the happiest day in this goddamn series.

Or, y’know, everything will go up in flames, but them’s the risks when you’re dealing with our favourite Murder Maniac.

In other news – in case you forgot (which I did), the other Foxes are still present, and they do kind of want answers at this point.

             “Is [your past] going to be a problem?” Dan asked.

             “No,” Neil said.

             Allison arched a brow at him (…) “Are you sure about that?”

I want Allison to please barge into conversations like this always, her head appearing over the scene John Cena-style.

This meme is long dead, but watch me give no shits.

             “Riko knows who I am because our families operate in similar circles, but he is a Moriyama in name only. He doesn’t have the resources to do more than threaten me.”

             “Damn, Neil,” Matt said. “Your parents must be something else if even Riko’s got to follow the rules.”

Oh hon, oh my sweet summer child, you have no idea.

And with that, the conversation is blissfully over, and we have only two tiny things to get to before this monster of a chapter is finally done.

First, Neil gets a text message:

             He didn’t recognize the number or the area code. He understood the message even less: “49”. Neil gave it a minute, but nothing else was forthcoming. He deleted the text and put his phone away.

Ah well, I’m sure this ominous and vaguely threating thing was merely a wrong number and is totally not going to come back to haunt our asses a few chapters from now.

And second, the Normal People Squad still has some opinions on the Murder Situation:

             “Just like that,” Matt said dubiously. “You’ve always known what he’s capable of, but you said he’s never given you a real reason to be afraid of him. What the hell are your parents into, if you can glide past murder like it’s no big deal and get in Riko’s face all the time?”

OH HON, OH MY SWEET SUMMER CHILD.

Also, me a few books ago.

Oh, how far we’ve come.

Unsurprisingly, yet to my great delight, Renee is not as shellshocked as Dan and Matt about Andrew’s confession, and offers some much-needed insight.

             “We cannot understand the situation entirely, Dan. We will never know Andrew’s frame of mind at the time or how bad life with her was for them. All we can do is make a choice: believe that he was protecting Aaron or condemn him for taking the most extreme path. I would rather go with the former.”

Mic drop, sweet smile, Renee out.

God, I love this girl.

If you like what I do here and you want me to continue writing fun things for you, why not buy me a coffee? Every lil bit helps, getting me through uni and all that jazz. Thanks so much!

[wobblyfet]

The Definitive Ranking of Villainous Pokémon Teams

With USUM just coming out and Team Rainbow Rocket being a thing, I thought I’d dig up a ranking I started a while ago!

7. Team Flare

Look, those outfits are snazzy. There’s no denying that. But… who the hell are these people? What’s their goal as a team of villains?

I mean, Lysandre talks about creating a more beautiful world because he thinks humanity is dumb. The qualifiers for what a more beautiful world exactly are is never made particularly clear, just that this involves the purging of everyone not in Team Flare. He gets a bit of backstory about having a genuine savior complex turned into radical disillusionment, but it doesn’t really cover how murky his goals are here. Like, what exactly is he objecting to about the ugliness of the world? Does he want to wipe out much of the world’s ecosystem with the laser beam of doom in their headquarters or just people? How does that work? And what is Team Flare?

I’m not sure at all what the organization of the rest of this team is. The grunt dialogue suggests getting in is quite expensive, and some of them seem pretty caught up in this whole beautiful world business. There’s suggestion Flare membership is kind of an issue of status. Much of both Lysandre’s and general dialogue about it do sort of resemble the dialogue from real world radical organizations, but the problem here is that radical ideologies tend to have a deeper surface rationale than what Team Flare’s deal is. They care about class elitism while also wanting to destroy what makes the world economy, and I don’t really know why these people would be more invested in genocide than, say, aggressively running a fashion line or a country club.

The problem for me probably boils down to how little depth this team is given. The grunts are just sort of there, admins are indistinguishable, and nobody has really any characterization except Lysandre and Malva, and even that’s pretty murky. Because of that, they fall flat as antagonists.

One thing I did like about them as villains: how Lysandre uses the Holo-Caster to spread his message. Having him pop up between videochatting your friends to monologue about purity and cleansing was genuinely disquieting. In this day and age, abruptly revealing that this world’s equivalent of a smartphone is actually a vehicle for ideological evil is intimidating and relevant.

Though, I gotta say, a Pokémon game is really not the place for Holocaust puns. Boo on that.

 6. Team Aqua

These guys are the only ones to seriously rival Team Flare’s stupidity. To begin with, looking at the original games, the whole hook of “More water! Yay environments for Water Pokémon!” is really bizarre in the context of a villainous team on Hoenn. Hoenn is a goddamn island, and at that one that is already thoroughly integrated with the sea. Why there would be enough radical water lovers in this area to warrant any a whole group obsessed with expansionism is kind of beyond me.

I do like that how the remakes broadened both Aqua and Magma’s motives, but… remixed Team Aqua is still incredibly dumb. They’re a radical group in defense of wronged Pokémon, which is cool, but the answer is to destroy the world and restore it to another primordial state? What? I’m no expert in environmental science but I’m pretty sure something like that would, like, definitely wipe out most Pokémon, including the ones that live in the sea. A questionable goal for a group purportedly all about saving wronged Pokémon.

And what’s the long-term plan here for the rest of the group? Is this destruction of the world like a death pact for the members or what?

Archie is entertaining, but let’s be real, he’s also pretty lame. Going so far as to recruit a potentially suicidal eco-terrorist cult only to chicken out when a big whale starts to make it rain is kind of pathetic.

Things that win Team Aqua villain points: fleshed out and entertaining characters in Archie, Shelly, and Matt. Also, pirates are cool.

 5. Team Galactic

I feel like Team Galactic started the trend in Pokémon games of there being apocalyptic stakes with the villains. A good Pokémon villainous team doesn’t really need to be world-destroying to work well as bad guys, as I’ll elaborate on below. That said, I would still put a big gap between Galactic and the bottom two teams, and I do generally like these guys.

Cyrus wants to create a new universe without pesky things like spirit or feelings. This makes enough sense for a villainous team in the context of Sinnoh, where a person can capture deities of space and time in Pokéballs. And I also quite like how the game contextualizes Cyrus as a villain of emotional abuse in his childhood- not to say this excuses him, but it adds a nice bit of depth.

Like the last two villainous teams, I have some questions about how exactly Cyrus’s goals translate to an ideology for an entire team of mooks, or, more importantly, how such a wet blanket of a leader convinced a legion of followers to run around Sinnoh in those embarrassing spacesuits. It’s never made super clear what the rest of Team Galactic is hoping to get out of the deal, but unlike Team Flare or Team Aqua, it’s easier to headcanon a large group of people being enticed by holding positions of power in a new world where, without any spirit, people and Pokémon might easily function as slaves.

Another thing I like: Cyrus’s eventual fate in the distortion world. No redemption, no dramatic downfall scene, just him eerily ranting about his ambitions as he wanders off into the netherworld. It’s creepy and sad, and fitting ending to his saga.

Overall, I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other about Team Galactic. It’s satisfactorily developed but comparatively not as interesting as other bad guys in this franchise.

Those team spacesuits, though. There’s no explanation for that.

 4. Team Magma

Look, this team suffers from a lot of the issues that their counterparts do. Namely, the way Maxie and his team just kind of fuck off very quickly after awakening Groudon. It’s sort of ridiculous to go so far to advance your villainous team only to give up so quickly. But, other than that, Team Magma is so much better.

To be fair, in the original Gen III games, their motives are pretty thin. However, for the same reasons Team Aqua doesn’t make much sense, Team Magma does. Hoenn is a tropical island in the middle of the sea that demands travelling through the sea and jungle to get anywhere. Hell, I spend enough time facing Wingulls and Tentacools on water routes and I’m ready to sign up. Or take a Team Magma pamphlet, at least.

I kid, but that’s mostly why I like Magma’s expanded motives in the remakes so much. In a world that’s obsessed with accommodating Pokémon and keeping balance with the environment, a reactionary group obsessed with human expansionism makes for realistic bad guys. And expanding land for development at the cost of the ecosystem is exactly what a group like that in Hoenn would focus on. To be clear, none of this is to say that Team Magma is condonable, or that Pokémon’s pro-environmentalist message is somehow a bad thing- it’s just that in this context, Team Magma would be one of the most plausible villainous organizations to come up.

I also quite like Team Magma’s characters. Maxie is a cool customer and exactly the type of smug asshole you’d expect to present an environmentally-unfriendly development plan at the corporate meeting, and Tabitha and Courtney are quite amusing. Updated Courtney in particular is weirdly charming, and I kind of hope we see more of her. And even though I just whined about how easily Maxie turns around and changes his mind, I don’t really think a redemptive ending for them is necessarily a bad thing. Isn’t an ending like that what most of us are trying to get from the Maxies of the real world driving our planet to ruin?

Anyways, if Magma started looking into building eco-friendly bridges across those damn water routes, I’d totally take a pamphlet. Just saying.

 3. Team Rocket/Neo Team Rocket

Team Rocket! The OG villainous team! And easily still the most iconic, over twenty years later now. They invented the Pokémon villainous team, and they surely deserve some props for that. That’s the whole reason Giovanni’s coming back as the leader of the super-villains, right? (I have some qualms about this, but more on that later)

Nostalgic factors aside, I think Team Rocket works quite well as an antagonistic force. I just praised Team Magma for being possibly the most realistic villainous team in the Pokémon world, but I really think that dubious honor should go to Rocket. These guys don’t want to end the world or build a new universe or anything like that; they see simple profit in Pokémon and are totally willing to go after that, whatever the cost. And with that, they’re able to function on a large scale and do terrible things.

Even without threatening the Pokémon world with apocalyptic aims, for my money they’re still demonstrably scarier than any other evil team in the series. Yes, Team Rocket will actually murder that Cubone’s mother, and they will mutilate those Slowpokes for profit, and they will mess up Magikarps with freaky radio wave experiments. For that reason, Rocket plots are more memorable than like anything else in the series.

And, like any evil organization worth its butter, they won’t fucking die. They’ll be reorganizing and spreading their tendrils to the underbelly of Johto and the Sevii Islands and now Alola. It’s totally plausible to me that a mafia with an eye for exploitative profit would have more lasting power than any of those other cults and become the villains of the Pokémon world.

They’re only at #3, though, and that’s because of one thing: Giovanni makes very little sense as a big bad boss.

I mean, he’s the shadowy kingpin of Kanto’s criminal underworld, and a gym leader? Isn’t a gym leader’s entire job to be a public official/stepping stone for up and coming trainers in the league? I’ve seen the meme of the one dude in Viridian City musing on the mystery of the gym leader while standing right next a sign that says “GYM LEADER: GIOVANNI”, but really, that’s actually, that’s a really strange problem for the team.

Because really, why would Giovanni think it’s a good idea to run a criminal syndicate from inside an establishment that literally asks for kids to come in and beat him, and then when it happens, be all like “Welp, that’s it for my criminal empire. Time to fuck off to the mountains.” It’s easily the most inexplicable downfall in the series.

I’m not sure why Neo Team Rocket in Johto wanted this guy back so desperately. And I know he’s leading Team Rainbow Rocket because he’s the most iconic legacy villain and all, but let’s be real, all those leaders probably could’ve picked someone more competent to be the evil superboss.

 2. Team Plasma/Neo Team Plasma

If I were in the Pokémon world and didn’t have the luxury of a video game screen’s distance, I would probably have some serious moral qualms about the whole catching, training, and battling system. I mean, like, PETA’s response to the Pokémon franchise is over the top and unintentionally funny, but the ethics of how you train Pokémon the only way the games let you is a fair thing to consider. Would the Pokémon world be better off without gyms and Pokéballs, really?

That’s the main reason I like Team Plasma. Their premise is more ideologically compelling than any of the other teams. Because, really, in the first four generations there’s a lot talked up about bonding between Pokémon and trainers and how the two built up the world through cooperation, but there’s really not much to indicate that this exchange is demonstrably preferable to Pokémon whose best interests might not, you know, involve forcible abductions and battling until passing out. Having a villainous team like Team Plasma let the franchise address this question in a thoughtful way, and I dig it.

It also let the Team Plasma grunts be some of the most gloriously awful hypocrites in the franchise. I still remember how absolutely infuriating it was to have all these twerps show up and obstruct me with Pokémon battles while getting all self-righteous about how battling this way was wrong, and how much I hated them all even though they had a valid point. I dig that too. A mix like that can be an ideal recipe for a good antagonist.

What really sells me on Team Plasma, though, is the family drama backing it all. N is great every time he shows up, with all his cryptic dialogue and struggles to do right by the creatures he loves. Pokémon never really had an anti-villain before and he was perfect for games as much about moral ambiguity and balance as Black and White were. Having someone intimately connected to Pokémon and their needs (I remember the chills I got when you first go in his room and see all the scratched-up toys) makes him ideal to communicate the message that good trainer-Pokémon relationships are a healthy reciprocal exchange where a trainer ideally pays attention to the needs of their Pokémon. It’s a nice message.

N adding moral ambiguity to the game is great, but the drop of Ghetsis as the true mastermind is a good one too. The extent of Ghetsis’s manipulation of N was damn chilling, and silly robe or not, adding the personal touch cements him as one of the most solidly awful main bad guys in the series. Child abuse is sort of a running theme in this franchise, and I oddly appreciate much of the way it’s featured- I mean, I don’t like it, but it’s a literary appreciation. In the case of Black and White, framing an ethical struggle of how to do right by your Pokémon against someone brutally exploiting that struggle for the sake of a power grab was effective.

(as an aside, I didn’t much care for the reveal that N wasn’t Ghetsis’s biological son. I feel like the game sort of treated the reveal as a “Guess what? Ghetsis wasn’t your legitimate father all along!” which isn’t great, since whether or not a child has blood relationship to their caretaker doesn’t actually have any bearing on said caretaker’s impact and moral responsibility as a guardian, and pretending otherwise reinforces a harmful message that adoptive parents aren’t somehow “real” parents. Not super important but it’s just a little thing that bothers me)

Team Plasma’s second appearance is honestly less memorable to me than the first, but I dig the whole team evolution and split between Ghetsis’s power grabby followers and N’s good-hearted followers. It gives the saga of Team Plasma a legacy development we’ve really only seen otherwise with Neo Team Rocket in Johto, albeit with a more epic bent.

The big unanswered questions- how the hell did Team Plasma end up a weird religious monarchy? (And who the hell are Anthea and Concordia?) I feel like demanding more practical details of the running of all these evil organizations than a game for children is realistically going to give us is a running theme in this ranking, but I care about these things, dammit.

 1. Team Skull/Aether Foundation

When I first made this ranking about a year ago, I gave first place to the Sun and Moon antagonists then too, but I wondered if it was recency bias speaking. But after a year of being less wrapped up in Gen VII than I was then, I can look back and say that these guys are the definitive #1 villainous Pokémon team. I make this announcement seriously and with perfect objectivity on the matter. No questioning or dissenting opinions will be tolerated in this house, silly nit.

I kid, of course. This is just an opinion-based list I wrote for my own amusement. But that said, I do think the antagonists this game gave us are easily a cut above everyone else on this list, just with what speaks to me.

Team Skull, to begin with, is everything. Everything from their designs to their dialogue to the way Alola treats them like a giant joke really feels like these guys were crafted with a lot of affection for them. They’re perfect for the Gen VII games because, like much else, it’s goofy and self-aware and just plain fun. I’ve seen footage of the grunt reacting in horror over you getting to say you don’t remember who they are several times now and it’s still hilarious.

But also like much of Gen VII in general, it swings back around with a surprising amount of depth. The more time you spend talking with grunts, you get more and more of the sense of a lost and displaced group of people turning with their comrades on a society that doesn’t have a place for them. A lot of this is framed around the failure in the Island Challenge, but really, it’s not hard to read more into all the possible reasons the Skull kids could have turned to crime than that, right? (and even if you just leave it at that, I do sort of wonder sometimes about how much value the Pokémon world puts on someone’s strength as a trainer. It seems like it might be a somewhat limiting way to run things, to say the least, but that’s a discussion for another day)

Anyways, Team Skull resonates with me for the same reasons that Magma and Rocket do- it’s a not inaccurate depiction of what kind of evil organizations would appear in a world that resembles our own. What many of the Skullsters describe reflects real life gang psychology remarkably well. The world doesn’t want you, because the normal standards (the Island Challenge) are too high, perhaps on top of not having food or money or being shut out socially for any number of bullshit reasons. But the gang has your back, and it’s gonna provide AND stand with you against the world. Hence the perpetuation of crime culture even when “better” life choices are there, and the emphasis on belonging and group loyalty. The way the story frames Team Skull along those lines gives you another totally plausible villainous group, but unlike Rocket or Magma, it does it in a way that frequently plays on your empathy.

Don’t get me wrong here, I definitely do not mean to paint Team Skull as a bunch of poor lil’ woobies who turned to crime because they had no agency to be better people. They’re still the villains here, after all. We see plenty in game of all the ways they’re earnestly terrible to Alolans, from generally being obnoxious punkasses who get in your way to vandalizing to stealing children’s pets to taking over Po Town. As funny as it is, I’m not totally sure why the denizens of Alola are as unconcerned with Team Skull as they are; taking over an entire goddamn town is nothing to sneeze at.

It’s just… surprisingly nuanced, is all. Team Skull can be a bunch of weenies, genuinely threatening, and have a kind of a tragic reality underneath it all at the same time. Walking through the barricaded ruins of Po Town, across all the belligerent patrollers or members just sitting in the rain, is eerie for more reasons than one.

Boss Guzma encapsulates all of it pretty well. He’ll gloriously ham things up every time he’s on screen, and he’ll bully anyone in his way, but the game also gives him some backstory and, eventually, room to express his standards and prove that he’s really not beyond redemption here. Because getting caught up in Lusamine’s sinister plots really always came down to wanting personal validation and what’s best for his Skull kids, more than a core desire to watch the world burn from Ultra Space. (I might just be a sucker for the Even Evil Has Standards trope, but even so)

I also love the moment where Plumeria decides to help you. It’s not a moment of redemption in the sense that she’s seen the light and decided to stop being a punk. Her MO doesn’t ever change at all; she fights you because she wants to protect her kids, and she comes to your side because she wants to protect her kids.

I love everything about Team Skull, but they’re only half the equation. Sun and Moon also gave us the Aether Foundation. Hoo boy.

Lusamine is my favorite main antagonist in the series. For my money, she’s easily the scariest. And not just because she fucking froze her favorite Pokémon in ice to admire them at her leisure forever. I mean holy fuck what was that and was anyone expecting a scene that horrifying in a game like this. But anyways… (shudders)

Lusamine is intimidating first because of the way she wraps herself in a veneer of civility and benevolence. I mean, it’s true that she gives off creepy vibes from the introduction, just like Lysandre, but the difference lies in just how much the Aether Foundation embodies the qualities of Pokémon Good Guys we know so well at this point. They want to protect the ecosystem and, for Lusamine, it comes from a place of love. But it takes a while to figure out just how messed up that understanding of love is.

Lusamine’s love bubble is about what she can control, and when what she loves deviates from her expectations, she reacts with physical and emotional violence. Because underneath it all, she’s an astonishingly selfish person who puts her loved ones in danger by association. She treats her love for vulnerable parties as a tactic to mold them into whatever she wants, even to horrifying ends (permafreezing Pokémon who probably loved and trusted their trainer), and treats love as a commodity that can be withheld as a punishment and an excuse for doing whatever she wants in retribution. She can take advantage of Team Skull, and more horrifically, Nebby and her children, and eventually end up at critical self-indulgence in Ultra Space because all the world has failed to meet her impossible standards for love and therefore deserves to be razed by her deadly interdimensional pet jellyfish.

I mentioned in the last entry how child abuse is something of a running theme in the Pokémon franchise, and Lusamine brings the most intimate and thoughtful depiction of it yet. It winds up with Gladion lost and caught up with criminals he doesn’t even like associating with and turns cold. Lillie ends up working very hard, by way of new positive social bonds, to overcome the complexes association with her mother forced into her. In the end, both get to symbolically save themselves and stand up to Lusamine’s abuse. It touched me in a place I would have never expected a series like Pokémon to reach.

Lusamine is the fucking worst, but… I appreciated how the games even gave her backstory and space for empathy, too. The lady had a hard deal herself, and after losing your partner that way, it’s understandable that someone would end up obsessed with control and selective about love. She’s still terrible, mind you, but it’s worth seeing where something like that is coming from. And also, I really appreciated that even when her kids are breaking free and standing up, how they still sort of love each other. I loved Lillie’s monologue on Exeggutor Island about how her mother wasn’t all bad all the time, and they have good memories. It’s a realistic outcome for abuse victims to think that way, really. Lusamine’s concept of love is horrifying and unconstructive, and the fact Lillie loves her isn’t going to stop her from resisting her mother’s mind games, and the mere existence of familial love between them isn’t going to come close to fixing just how much in the wrong Lusamine is, but it’s there. It’s more unexpected thoughtfulness it would have been easy not to include, and I’m very glad it’s there.

I also love how Lusamine, like N, addresses in a meta sense some of the moral quandaries the format of Pokémon lends itself to. Because yeah, realistically, the average player is going to be kind of similar to Lusamine- we see Pokémon as ideally under our control and as decorative collectibles to be frozen in the game file indefinitely when we don’t need them anymore. And just like Lusamine, our reaction to seeing a brand new interdimensional jellyfish of doom (or the like) is going to be “I’ve got to get that.” The value of an antagonist like Lusamine is to show how this way of playing Pokémon absolutely cannot be extended to your living, real life relationships.

If I have one criticism of the Skull/Aether coalition as bad guys, it’s probably that the rest of the Aether Foundation is rather opaque. One minute they’ll be serving the wholesome environmentalist mission, and the next they’ll be attacking you with evil grins under Lusamine’s orders. Exactly how much the members knew about and were chill with Lusamine’s secret agendas or how this was dealt with after her downfall was never something that was really addressed.

(Also, screw Wicke. That woman was clearly aware of both how Lusamine was abusing her kids and the shady things the foundation was up to, and why it was wrong, but she still supported it all by working as an Aether executive. I would have hoped you’d get to kick her oily butt like you do with Faba to teach her a lesson about passive complacency in evil activities, or at least see her get a verbal slap on the wrist, but apparently not)

Overall, though, I have a hard time nitpicking when the good parts are so thoughtful and meaningful to me. It’s with this that I’m proud to declare these the top baddies! Woo!

Anyways, that’s it for the definitive ranking! I had fun with this. Will Rainbow Rocket be more or less the sum of its parts? I can’t wait to find out!

[natasha-cole]

Ready Steady Part 27

*Smashes face on keyboard* Here, I wrote another chapter?

Summary: Reader attends her baby shower, still feeling guilty over her previous behavior. She expresses her concerns and fears to Rob, hoping that he can comfort her.

Word Count: 3283

Warnings: mostly fluff and slight angst

Note: For the sake of the remainder of the fic, I’m using some old Louden Swain songs and making them new ones. Also, as you can tell, my reader is a singer/songwriter and a country girl at heart… so for her, instead of trying to write my own lyrics, I’m using songs by Miranda Lambert and claiming them as the reader’s own. Hey, this way, you can listen to the actual songs after you read!

Another Note: I don’t know what I’m doing anymore… this is terrible and I apologize.

Catch up: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14  Part 15  Part 16  Part 17  Part 18

Part 19  Part 20  Part 21  Part 22  Part 23  Part 24  Part 25 Part 26

After having spent the next week recovering from your embarrassment over your false accusations against Rob and Briana, you finally had something to look forward to today. Sure, you had ruined the surprise that they had been working on for a while; but knowing that you were going to get to spend the day with Rob and all of your friends at your baby shower helped to make you feel better.

You watched Rob as he got ready, wondering how he managed to put up with you half the time. You had spent the last week apologizing and feeling terrible about things, and he continued to calmly remind you that none of that mattered anymore. He also felt terrible for sneaking around when he was well aware of your trust issues, and all he could do was remind you that he wasn’t that guy. You knew that, you had always known that. Unfortunately, the way you reacted to things often felt out of your control. You wanted to give him the trust that he deserved, but it was difficult for you to do so.

Although Rob had been disappointed that the surprise had been ruined, he too acted excited for today. You sat on the edge of your bed, having already had quite the workout just trying to get ready for the day; and now you were attempting to put on your shoes. Rob watched you as you struggled, your very large baby bump now making it extremely difficult to accomplish certain tasks.

“Help me?” you whined as you made eye contact with him, his blue eyes watching you from behind the glasses that he chose to wear today. He smiled warmly as he moved towards you, kneeling down to slip your shoes onto your feet. As he stood back up, he leaned in to give you a kiss.

“Are you ready?” He asked as he allowed his lips to linger against yours.

“I am,” you replied, taking a moment to run your hand through his hair. He pulled back, reaching his hand out to you, helping you stand up. You wobbled slightly as you were finally on two feet, Rob holding your arm to steady you.

“You okay?” he questioned, not letting go of you until he was sure you were.

“Yeah, I’m just so huge, I can’t even keep my balance anymore.”

Rob frowned at you, “you’re not huge. You’re beautiful.”

“Aw, thanks,” you giggled, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, “you always know how to make me feel better.”

“Let’s get to Briana’s,” he insisted as he began to gather his wallet, keys, and your bag, “I’m sure everyone is probably there by now.”

“It was nice of her to do this at her place.”

“She’s happy to do it. She’s really excited for us.”

“Am I acting surprised, or does everyone know I messed it up?” you asked, scowling at yourself over having ruined the surprise in the first place.

“We just told everyone that we clued you in.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s okay. Let’s just forget all of that happened. Today is a good day.”

You nodded as he took your hand and led you out of the room toward the front door.

When you arrived at Briana’s, you were fairly surprised at seeing how many people had actually shown up for this. Luckily, her house was big enough to accommodate everyone and you couldn’t help but feel like she went too far out of her way to give you a baby shower. You were also surprised to see that it wasn’t only your girl friends in attendance, but many of the guys were there too.

You and Rob wandered into the room, hand in hand, as you took in the decorations and the number of people there. Gradually, people approached the two of you; offering hugs and congratulations. You were thrilled to see your closest friends; Kim, Ruth, Billy, Mike, Stephen, and Rich who each took the time to invite you in and check to see if you needed anything. It was nice to see many of Robs other friends, most who you had only been around when you attended conventions and who were in attendance with their wives.

When you found Briana as she was playing hostess, you made sure to approach her to thank her for everything. She pulled you into a tight hug before you could speak.

“Y/N, how are you feeling? Do you want something to drink? I’ve got food if you’re hungry.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle as she fussed over you, “I’m good for now. I just wanted to thank you for… this… everything. And I’m sorry.”

She put a hand up to quiet you, “no more apologizing,” she insisted, “it’s over, it’s in the past. And you’re welcome. I’m happy to do this for my friends.”

“I’ve never been to a baby shower before,” you stated as your eyes scanned the room filled with people, “I thought they were usually reserved for women.”

“Nah,” she shook her head, “I think it’s nice to get everyone together for things like this.”

“It is nice,” you mused, pleased with the way Briana and Rob had managed to get everyone together here to celebrate.

“Besides, this isn’t going to be a regular baby shower, just a… party for everyone to hang out and congratulate you and Rob… with gifts of course.” She added with a wink.

“Ha, more stuff?” you questioned, “not like Rob hasn’t already gone overboard with baby stuff…”

Briana laughed, “sounds like Rob. Don’t worry, I just told everyone to keep it simple.”

“Good, we don’t have room for much else.”

“You guys are good though, right?” She asked.

“Yeah, we’re really good… despite all of my crazy.”

“You’re not crazy,” she stated simply.

Briana excused herself to attend to some things and you grabbed a bottle of water before making your way back to the living room. Weaving in and out of people, occasionally being stopped to receive hugs and exchange pleasantries, you eventually made it to where you were headed. You mostly just wanted to sit as your feet were already throbbing, but were discouraged when you noticed that the couch was completely taken. You stood uncomfortably, searching the room for Rob who had disappeared.

“Need a seat?” you heard a voice call out. You turned toward the couch to see Matt standing before you could even answer him.

“I’m fine, you don’t have to do that,” you insisted.

“Are you kidding? Here, sit,” he reached for you, grasping your hand as he led you to the now free spot on the couch next to Kim. You gladly sat, relieved to finally be off your feet.

“Thanks Matt.”

Instead of wandering off now that he had given up his seat, Matt sat cross from you on the coffee table.

“So, how are you feeling?” he asked, trying to make small talk, “you’re getting closer, I bet you’re nervous.”

“Well, if I wasn’t scared before, I am now. Thanks for that,” you chuckled. Truth be told, you were extremely nervous. As each week went by and you drew closer to your due date, your anxiety built. The only thing keeping you sane at this point was Rob; even though he seemed to be more anxious than you were at times.

“Jeez Matt,” Kim cut in, turning slightly so that she could join the conversation, “way to make a girl nervous.”

Matt blushed, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… I really was just wondering how you were feeling.”

“It’s okay,” you assured him, “I’m actually pretty good. Mostly just uncomfortable at this point, and yes… pretty nervous.”

“You’ll be fine,” Kim promised, “you and Rob, I think you two were always destined to get through things together.”

“Yeah well, we have been through a lot. It just never seems to end though.”

“You’ll get there,” chimed in Matt, “relationships are a lot of work in general, I honestly don’t know how you two have even lasted this long.”

“Oh, thanks?”

“I didn’t mean it like that. Just, you’ve gone through a lot together. A lot of people would have given up, but not you two.” He smiled warmly at you and you knew that he was right. Not many people would even be willing to work through the ins and outs of a relationship like the one you and Rob had. There were always really wonderful moments, and too often, really bad moments. But somehow, the two of you just made it work.

You smiled at him, honestly surprised by his sentiment. “Well, I think it’s because we really do love each other.”

“Good, I’m happy for both of you. And I know you’ll keep getting through whatever comes your way.”

“We try.”

You looked away from Matt when you noticed Rob had entered the room. His eyes scanned the space until he spotted you, smiling as he headed toward you with two plates of food. He handed you one when he reached you.

“I thought you might be hungry,” he explained.

You thanked him, gladly digging in now that you realized you were starving suddenly. He sat on the arm of the couch, still smiling at you as you ate.

Just then, Briana chose the moment to start in on the gifts that everyone had brought.

“Are you ready for baby presents?” She asked eagerly, a large grin spreading across her face. You were certain she was probably more excited for this part than you were. You looked over to the pile of gifts, now feeling really overwhelmed. You weren’t kidding when you told Briana that Rob had already over done it on baby stuff, the idea of adding more to it had you slightly panicked.

“Sure,” you said softly, setting your plate down hesitantly. Suddenly, all eyes were on you and you felt yourself grow even more uneasy. You had never been to a baby shower before, much less been the guest of honor at one. You weren’t sure what was expected of you or how you should act. Mostly, you wanted to leave right now. The only thing keeping you somewhat calm was Rob, who was now rubbing your back. He leaned in toward you until his face was against yours.

“Are you okay?” he whispered into your ear. He had gotten really good at sensing your uneasiness in any situation and you appreciated that.

“I think so,” you whispered back, “I’m just… not used to this kind of attention.”

“You’ll be fine,” he assured you, not letting his hand break contact with you, “these are our friends, and they’re just happy for us.”

You nodded, letting him know that you understood. You breathed in deeply, trying to shake the nervousness that you now felt over nothing. Still, Rob silently comforted you, knowing that you didn’t handle attention well.

You made your way through the pile of gifts that everyone had brought, growing more relaxed as time passed. Amid the laughter and conversation, you realized that you were no longer uncomfortable being the center of attention, at least not with this group. Most of them had gifted cute baby clothes; many of which referenced Supernatural, and the band had gotten together and had tiny Louden Swain onesies made for the baby. When you had finally finished opening everything, you looked around at everyone; grateful to have them in your life. While Rob had worked hard at obtaining all of the necessary items for a new baby, these people had proved to be sentimental and thoughtful in their gifts.

“Thank you all,” you said as you began to feel yourself tear up, “this has been… so amazing.”

“Yeah guys,” Rob added, “we really appreciate everything.”

“And Briana, thank you for putting this all together and letting us hang out at your house.”

“It’s my pleasure,” she smiled.

“Really, I…” you weren’t sure if it was a good time to get sentimental, but your emotions were already taking over, “I don’t have a family, and I’ve been on my own for a long time… to have all of you be here for us, despite everything that has gone on in our relationship… Rob and I are just, so grateful.”

“Hey, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again,” Kim spoke up, “you do have a family.”

You smiled again as you looked down at your belly. You still hadn’t learned how to be accepting of this group referring to you as part of their family. Often, you felt like you didn’t deserve it. However, you knew that no matter what, your son would at least be loved by them.

A couple of hours later; after more conversation had been exchanged, guests began to leave, and gifts had been eventually been packed into the car; you thanked Briana again as you and Rob decided to head home. It had been a busy day… an emotional day, and you were feeling exhausted and still slightly overwhelmed.

Rob helped you into the car before taking his place in the driver’s seat.

“That was really nice, Rob,” you ran a hand through his hair, leaning in slightly toward him. He moved in to kiss you and you melted at the feel of his lips on yours.

“I’m glad you had a good time,” he said, “I could tell you were a little anxious at first, but I think you did really well.”

“It’s just still hard for me to have attention like that, but I really do appreciate all that you and Bri did.”

“Anything for my girl.” He gave you another quick kiss before starting the car.

When you finally made it home, you both decided that the gifts could wait for the morning. The baby shower had lasted a long time, and you were both visibly tired as you walked into the house.

“Do you need anything?” Rob asked as he followed you to the bedroom.

“Sleep!” you cried out dramatically. He chuckled as you immediately went right for the dresser, pulling out pajamas and changing quickly.

“Sounds good to me,” Rob agreed.

You were already under the covers, getting comfortable as he got ready for bed.

When he was finally changed, he crawled under the covers next to you and you sat up so that he could rest his arm under your head. He wrapped his arm around you, pulling you in close to him and you felt all of your anxieties from the day disappear. This was it. This was all you ever needed. Just Rob, holding you and feeling safe in his arms. You sighed as you snuggled in to him as close as you could.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” You didn’t look up at him as you asked, you wanted to stay in this safe place right now.

“What’s up?” He replied, now placing soft kisses on your forehead.

“Are you scared at all?”

Now, Rob moved back so that he could look at you and you glanced up to meet his gaze, “scared of what?”

“I don’t know… scared of being a dad I guess,” you didn’t really know how to approach the topic. It had been something that he been on your mind for some time.

“I wouldn’t say I’m scared… nervous, sure. But not scared.” He tilted his head in confusion as he kept eye contact. “Why? Are you scared?”

“Honestly? Yeah, I am.” You felt proud in this moment. This may have been one of the very few times in your relationship where you were immediately honest about anything with Rob. You weren’t sure how he would react to you admitting your fears to him, especially at this point in your pregnancy, but you had finally found that you were comfortable enough with him to express those fears.

“What are you afraid of?”

“I’m afraid that I won’t be a good mom,” you whispered. You had spent a lot of time thinking about your own childhood, about your own mother that you didn’t really know. Knowing that you had a bad habit of falling into bad situations and old ways, you often wondered if you could eventually end up like her.

“Why would you think that? You’re going to be an amazing mom.”

“But, what if I’m not. I mean… I don’t even know what it’s like to have a mom, much less be one,” you realized you were grasping onto him now, almost as if you were afraid he was going to leave you as you expressed your concern to him. “What if, me not having my mom around when I was a kid, makes me become a bad one.”

“Honey, are you kidding me? Everything that you’ve ever gone through has not made you a bad person. You’ve been hurt, but you still know how to love. You’ve been alone for so long, but you still let people in. Not having your own mom around isn’t going to make you a bad parent. If anything, I think all of that is going to make you love our son even more.”

“I already do,” you added, “love him, I mean.”

“I know you do. And think of it this way, did you ever stop loving me because of what you had been through with your ex?”

“No…” you trailed off, wondering what he was getting at.

“See? Just because you’ve been through things that are difficult, it doesn’t mean that you are incapable of love. Your mom bailing on you… isn’t going to determine how you will be as a mother.”

You stared at him for a moment, grateful for his words. If anything in the world could calm you or ease you mind, it was him. It was always him. He was right of course, you spent so much time thinking that your past determined the outcome of your future, you failed to realize that you were very wrong. You had always thought you were destined for loneliness, pain, and fear… but here you were; very much in love and very secure, so close to having a real family.

“I promise you, we’re in this together,” he added, “I love you so much and I am not going anywhere, I won’t let you do this alone.”

“Thank you,” you said, leaning in to kiss him. He gladly met you halfway and kissed you hard, perhaps to remind you just how much he loved you. For the first time during your pregnancy, you actually felt comfort now. Maybe it was the fact that you had openly expressed your fears honestly to him, maybe it had been his words… either way, you really felt that you were in a good place with Rob. He was willing to accept your crazy behavior over the misunderstanding from last week, knowing well enough why any of that had happened. He understood you and he understood why you reacted the way that you did to certain things. He was patient with you, something that you hadn’t experienced from anyone in a really long time. You knew from experience how difficult love was; you figured that loving someone who felt as broken as you often did, had to be the hardest thing in the world to do. Yet, here he was, doing just that.

When the kiss ended, he rested his forehead against yours as he stared into your eyes, and you couldn’t help but smile.

“I love when you do that,” you hummed appreciatively.

“Do what?”

“That… the forehead thing. You always do it when I need it most. It relaxes me.”

“Really?” he smirked, “I hadn’t realized.”

Tag List: @tas898, @wolfyangel-is-a-pluviophile, @narisjournal-blog, @dont-hate-relate-pls, @waywardswain, @nerdyforyourbooks, @perksofbeingafangirl26, @crowley-you-sinnamon-roll, @pepperwoodatnight, @idk-fandom @please-stop-killing-dean, @b-northington, @sclerafantrash, @itsilvermorny, @jannalionheart, @feelmyroarrrr, @capital-eyyyy-ohhh, @prlncess-nuala, @nekodresden85, @thebookisbtr, @internationalfandomgirl, @smoothdogsgirl, @chantelle-c333. @emilywells19 @laffytaffyhumor @lucifersxvessel @thefelinemedia78 @onlyanothersocialcasualty @typicalweirdbookworm @littleshone @a-queen-and-her-throne @fandooomqueenforyou @spnackleholicswainer  @omgitss0y @girl-next-door-writes @destielschild @fangirl1855  @your-not-invisible-to-me @bea789  @a-michellerae-things​  @multi-fan-dom-madness  @winchestergirl-13   @ncisgothchick @simplycheyenneautumn

Some of my tags still aren’t working… ugh.

[bolachasgratis]

Vodafone Paredes de Coura 2019: the review

Sometimes it’s hard to be objective and unbiased when writing about a festival that is such a big part of your life. Except for two (very) unremarkable lineups that made me stay home, since I was old enough to go to college all my summers involved a trip to Paredes de Coura (and a painful trip back, too). When you’re a kid, they say you’ll eventually get older and boring, in a process they call “becoming an adult”. This usually comes with amazing perks such as ceasing to listen to any new music whatsoever, stopping seeing your (also ageing) friends, having great conversations about changing diapers with your remaining friends (yes, the other couple with kids you always go vacationing with to some shitty beach full of other couples with kids and the odd mother-in-law). Obviously, a multi-day, non-kid friendly, rural music festival such as Festival Paredes de Coura seems like one of those things that are amongst the first to drop from your newfound “adult life”. Except you don’t have to be that person; and is there anything better to remind you of that than going there and finding all your friends in the same place, same month, year after year, all over again? (Well, other than imagining the smell of those diapers.)

That does not mean the festival itself is perfect. The lineup itself is arguably the best amongst Portuguese generalist indie festivals, with a carefully picked mix of artists that appeal to a young, college-aged crowd that is the heart and soul of the festival - although we have missed some of those fast, hard pounding guitars that were always amongst the top moments of the festival - and more contemplative, “adult” artists that appeal to an ageing demographic who has chosen Paredes de Coura to be the soundtrack to their summers for the past ten to fifteen years. And this seems to be the main issue for the organization to tackle in the years to come: How can they better accommodate a fanbase that is growing older and craves a level of comfort that is a few degrees above the needs of a camping 18 years old kid?

For starters, the beautiful green amphitheatre we can find on Wednesday – the real headliner of the festival, every year – is rapidly gone as soon as you get used to it, at least in some areas of the festival grounds where there is more movement, and especially after two sold out days. A less than ideal scenario, unless you love the feeling of having your nostrils taken over by dust. More frequent extreme weather conditions in the future will likely worsen this problem. As elitist as this sounds, and although this has not been a source of extreme queues for food and drinks, a cap on the number of tickets sold per day would be appreciated by most, even if a ticket price hike is needed as a trade off. The lack of sufficient, suitable accommodation in town (and nearby villages) may also become a problem in a scenario where more and more 30- and 40-somethings refuse to trade the highlight of their summers for a painfully boring conventional lifestyle. On the bright side, it is refreshing to see that the food options in the festival keep improving, with the traditional junk food slowly being replaced by tastier and/or healthier alternatives, in line with the excellent food lineup NOS Primavera Sound boasts every June; the press area has a great ambience and provides an excellent view over the stage, with an added sidescreen; the staff, and especially the security team, is miles ahead of any other festival we usually attend in the country.

KOKOKO!. Photo: Hugo Lima

As for the music, the first night was saved by the superb polyrhythmics of the Congolese ensemble KOKOKO!, who certainly deserved better than a 2am slot in an after-hours stage that, unfortunately, cannot comfortably hold enough people that can properly listen to and enjoy a show like this. Julia Jacklin’s songs are perfect in any situation, but they felt slower than usual and I wouldn’t hold it against people that thought it wasn’t the most attention-grabbing set of all times. For a festival set, we could have used a bit less slows and a bit more energy. Boogarins sounded unlike everything we think a tropicalism-inspired Brazilian indie rock band should sound like and their set was a major letdown; local rockers Bed Legs are not the most interesting band in the world, but at least they sound like they give a shit (in fact, they played their hearts out, and fair play to them). In a prime time slot, Parcels seemed to entertain those who could see past the idea that they are were brought up in a lab, tailor made for indie music festivals and commercials. The National were up next.

The National. Photo: Hugo Lima

We do not want to sound like people who advocate alcoholism, but it was a bad omen to see Matt Berninger entering the stage with some Coca Cola instead of the wine bottles we were used to in the golden days around the release of Boxer and their shows in the Sudoeste and Alive festivals and their shows in Lisbon and Guimarães. Berninger might look healthier than his younger self, but the 2019 version of the National is tamer, more predictable (how many new songs with the same drum beat can they possibly write?), less interesting, and equally anthemic, but in a worse way. It’s not during “Mr. November”, the only song rescued from Alligator that night, that Berninger does his typical first row freak out; that song sounds quite graceless now. (Yes, this isn’t a good pun at all, he did that trick during “Graceless”). “About Today”, one of the greatest songs the National have ever written, also sounded a bit dull. Or was it because we knew that the cheesiest moment of the night, that a capella “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” chorus was about to come next, and we were already dreading it?

It wasn’t all bad, though. Despite the shameful absence of two handful of great songs off their pre-2011 life, their top songs released in this decade are amongst the best they’ve ever recorded. “Bloodbuzz Ohio”, “Day I Die”, new tracks “Rylan” and “Light Years”, and especially “Pink Rabbits” were the highlights of the show. The other songs off the new album are competent at best, and the musicianship is certainly there. Deep down, we know we might still see some spark in this band in the future, but not now. Berninger might have seen Nick Cave (who told him to fuck off) in this very stage fourteen years ago, but apparently he learned nothing from him. The National is a pretty decent band in a desperate need of a long break.

Stella Donnelly. Photo: Hugo Lima

Shamefully, we were working during one of our most anticipated sets of this year’s edition of the festival, but we heard only good things about Khruangbin’s show on Thursday. Of course they had to steal everyone’s hearts. How could they not? Same as last minute replacement Stella Donnelly, who ended up being one of the major highlights of the whole weekend. Donnelly and her five piece band had the best energy, played some of the songs with the quirkiest and poignant lyrics, did the best synchronized dances, and she deserves to be crowned the undisputed queen of Vodafone Paredes de Coura 2019. At least for the diminutive crowd that was there at 7pm - was everyone else working, too? Only time will tell if this is the next case of a singer-songwriter who will start playing two shows in Portugal per year until everyone’s tired of her but we sincerely hope the first part of the sentence is true. Later on, Car Seat Headrest made up for their lukewarm show two years ago and provoked the strongest bursts of energy in a crowd that seemed thirsty for some guitars, singing along to every single song, from the new "Can’t Cool Me Down” to the absolute anthems “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” – one of the greatest songs added to the indie rock canon in the past few years – and “Destroyed By Hippie Powers”, off Teens of Denial.

Car Seat Headrest. Photo: Hugo Lima

But the night belonged to a New Order rare apparition in Portuguese stages. You just have to check a couple of 80s and 90s New Order live shows on YouTube and do the same for contemporary gigs to know they're a totally different beast, and in a good way. They may still not be the best live band ever, and Sumner's vocals sound quite hilarious at times. But, at this point, they're a very oiled machine - and some of the best sounding songs were the ones off their most recent LP, such as "Tutti Frutti", "Plastic", or opener "Singularity". We would prefer, though, a few forgotten New Order classics ("Ceremony", "The Perfect Kiss", "Age of Consent"...) instead of that four song long tribute to Joy Division ("She's Lost Control" and "Transmission" in the beginning, and "Atmosphere" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" in the encore) that made them look as a band that would prefer to have never existed. The crowd didn't give a flying fuck about my eye-rolling reaction to that encore, as it provided the biggest sing along moment of the festival. 

New Order. Photo: Hugo Lima

Our Friday opened with a laidback, seemingly endless (in a good way, they should have gotten a 2 hour long slot anyway) Jonathan Wilson show. Featuring ex-The Mars Volta drummer Deantoni Parks on drums (what an amazing extended solo at the end of “Dear Friend”) and Jeffertitti Moon on bass guitar, Wilson’s band smooth sailed through the early afternoon. Playing mostly Rare Birds material, taking us straight to LA along with album art-inspired visuals in the background, there was still time for a single foray into Fanfare (the abovementioned “Dear Friend”) and two picks off his “official” Dead Oceans debut, Gentle Spirit: the classic “Desert Raven” and traditionally set closer “Valley of the Silver Moon”. Jonathan Wilson will be back in Braga for a solo show next November but he’s apparently only going to play Frankie Ray tunes in my dreams.

Jonathan Wilson. Photo: Hugo Lima

One of the most expected shows of the festival was Black Midi, the most likely band in the lineup to make the kids go wild. And they did. The London boys might be young and a bit inexperienced, but they’re already masters of the whole tension and release thing, to the point that they’re comfortable with not releasing at all at the most obvious moments for that grandiose firework effect. Doesn’t matter: the kids still won’t be quiet, the kids are hungry for movement, the kids are loving it. This band is a blessing, and we hope they stay with us for years to come.

Black Midi. Photo: Hugo Lima

Deerhunter played possibly their most interesting set of their long history of boring me around 9pm in every single festival I go to, but the moment we were waiting for (and we waited for some 15min longer than supposed - thank you Jonathan and your extra long set, we love you) was for Spiritualized to take the stage. In a format of a six piece band complete with a three voice choir, Jason Pierce refuses to take center stage – as always – and sits on his chair by the far left of the stage as the band bursts into “Come Together” and proceeds into a more gospel-y phase with Lazer Guided Melodies’ “Shine a Light” and the miraculous, anthemic “Soul on Fire”. The straightforward rock and roll Amazing Grace cut “She Kissed Me (It Felt Like a Hit)” gave way to an almost complete performance of their latest record “And Nothing Hurt”, with the song titles written in the big screen on morse code to keep with the album artwork. The combo “On the Sunshine” (complete with a long outro filled with strobe lights) and the post-rock-like crescendo of “Damaged” were amongst the highest points of one of the best shows Spiritualized have performed in the country in recent times, before closing off with an ecstatic “Oh! Happy Day” version where the choir shone even brighter than those strobes.

Spiritualized. Photo: Hugo Lima

It’s a very tough job to follow up a Spiritualized gig, but it’s simply impossible for Father John Misty and his band to play a bad show. With a heavy focus on latest record God’s Favorite Customer but especially 2015′s I Love You, Honeybear (the same record that fueled that marvelous show in this very stage four years ago), at this point, about five out of every five songs he plays live are above average, to the point that there’s really not much to say about it. I would like to use this opportunity to tell the kid that was singing all the words behind me during the whole set to frantically listen to Fear Fun, since those were the only moments (“Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings”, “This Is Sally Hatchet”, “Nancy From Now On”) I could hear Tillman’s voice – the kid didn’t know the lyrics. Thanks man, you can learn them now. Unfortunately for Peaking Lights, there’s really nothing we could do to pay attention after Spiritualized and FJM, but a few of us really tried to fit Macarena’s lyrics into your beats.

Father John Misty. Photo: Hugo Lima

There’s always a dark cloud looming above us in the last day of the festival, and this time it was threefold: a certain sadness because we knew it was time to go, a cloud of dust in certain parts of the festival grounds due to too many people walking above holy ground, and a proper giant cloud threatening us with that classic Paredes de Coura rain we all know and hate. The Lisbon six-piece Ganso opened the main stage with their slow, pastoral brand of indie rock reminiscent of Capitão Fausto, who closed the main stage after the New Order show two nights before. Elsewhere, Alice Phoebe Lou was experiencing problems with her mic (and her sore throat), and the audience celebrated like a goal the moment her voice finally echoed through the Vodafone FM stage. A crystal clear voice that we cannot help but think it was cloned off Angel Olsen’s vocal chords. The up and coming singer-songwriter was presenting her new album, Paper Castles, from which she drew two of the highlights of her set: the marvelous ballad “Nostalgia”, “Galaxies”, and “Fynbos”, a song evocative of her homeland of South Africa. Looking forward to explore a record that, somehow, fell through the cracks and did not cross our radar in the first half of 2019.

Mitski. Photo: Hugo Lima

"I played three songs”. Those sharply pronounced four words, said while laying on top of a table, were the only words uttered by Mitski Miyawaki in between songs, sending away the photographers from the pit. On one of her last shows before an already announced hiatus, the Japanese-American songwriter brought us the unusual stage antics we were still looking for in the shape of unsettling dance moves that might have come straight from a 90s instructional fitness VHS. And tons of great songs covering all her albums, with a focus on latest Be the Cowboy and the brightest jewel in her discography, Bury Me at Makeout Creek.

Sensible Soccers. Photo: Hugo Lima

But the biggest moment of the night, and probably the festival, started taking place before Mitski even left the stage. We had already pointed out that Sensible Soccers was our top pick for the day and our favorite Portuguese act in the lineup, and they did not disappoint. On stage, the trio turned into a five piece that sounded tighter than most bands with extensive continental and overseas touring, despite their touring consisting of shows far and between, and almost always in their home turf. We like to believe the only reason for them not to be consistently touring and playing sold out shows all across Europe is simply because they have their own jobs and don’t want to. Aurora is an absolute beauty of a record that needs to be listened to right now (we told you that a few months ago), and too bad you cannot find them on a stage near you. Oftentimes contemplative, ecstatic when we needed it to be, this show was one for the ages - and we didn’t even need the bonus that is them closing the concert with the fantastic “Sofrendo por Você” - complete with their mythical dancer on stage as it should be. Later on, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib would prove hip hop is in Paredes de Coura to stay (although the fifteenth “fuck police” chant was starting to bore us) and Jayda G’s set was on point until 5 am, but our festival was largely complete. See you next year.

[junker-town]

7 takeaways from the USMNT’s rotten, yet important 1-1 draw against Honduras

The Americans got the result they needed, but it sure didn’t feel good.

The United States men’s national team did not play well on Tuesday evening. Its 1-1 draw with Honduras was a terrible game to watch. Field conditions, weather, the classic laissez-faire CONCACAF style of officiating, bad tactical choices and bad individual play led to a game that was thoroughly unenjoyable. Then the USMNT clawed its way to a set piece goal, and now the Americans are in decent shape in World Cup qualifying again.

Despite the game having so few positives for the USMNT to take out of it, a draw made it more likely than not that it would progress to the World Cup.

With the 1-1 draw in Honduras, #USMNT's SPI chances to qualify for the World Cup are now at 74%. http://pic.twitter.com/iaBeqEt3fI

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 5, 2017

So we’re left to consider what to take out of a game in which the USMNT played poorly for the second match in a row, but ultimately did its job.

5 players deserve credit for great effort on the equalizer

Christian Pulisic was largely invisible in this match, but went on an excellent dribbling run to win the free kick to set up the Americans’ only goal. Then four of his teammates combined to find the back of the net, so let’s single them out for their efforts too.

GOOOAAAAL: It's a mess, but @BobbyS_Wood to the rescue for #USMNT! #USAvHON http://pic.twitter.com/FbtF4b6ToS

— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) September 5, 2017

Kellyn Acosta, for a great free kick on target. It would have gone in if not for an excellent save by Luis Lopez.

Matt Besler, for chasing down the rebound and getting it back into play.

Jordan Morris, for an excellent flick-on header.

And Bobby Wood for his very composed chest trap and finish.

This might have been the only truly good moment of the game for the Americans, but it was solid bit of set piece play, featuring big efforts from players who had looked like they were physically incapable of running about two minutes prior.

Now to the bad stuff — that stunk

By expected goals, a 1-1 draw looks like a fair result, and the Americans don’t look like they played particularly poorly.

xG map for Honduras - USA. The US men just barely snag a draw on the road with a late set play goal. Wheee. http://pic.twitter.com/g0STfyUFIc

— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) September 6, 2017

But the biggest chance by far was the goal, and the other big chance is probably a bit overstated by the xG model — it was taken by Pulisic in the 41st minute, and the Honduran goalkeeper Lopez was in great position to make an easy stop. It would have taken a truly miraculous finish to beat him. The other seven shots are of little consequence; the USMNT created nothing from open play.

The passing stats look even worse. According to Opta, via the MLS Match Center, the Americans completed only 50 percent of passes in the final third and an appalling 8 percent of crosses.

via MLS Match Center

The passing map looks even worse still than the stats — the USMNT completed one forward pass into the box.

via MLS Match Center

The lack of completed passes to attacking areas on the flanks is alarming too. Even the center of the park looks bare. There’s nothing to like here.

Bruce Arena made miscalculations in back-to-back games

Against Costa Rica, Arena sacrificed a midfielder to get two strikers on the pitch, thinking he’d be better off with an extra body in the box. Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood struggled to combine, while Michael Bradley being isolated in midfield by himself led to the opening goal. After the game, Arena admitted he got outcoached.

On Tuesday, Arena decided that he needed a runner in Jordan Morris and a second striker behind him in Clint Dempsey, rather than hold-up or possession players that might let the USMNT keep hold of the ball. The Americans barely got Morris running onto the ball and Dempsey was a total non-factor.

The best attribute Bruce Arena has as a coach is that he makes the right game-day tactical decisions, helping a team become better than the sum of its parts and limiting the opposition’s strengths. That’s why the LA Galaxy succeeded under him while cycling through replacement-level minimum salary USL players, and that’s why U.S. Soccer thought he was the best man to clean up Jürgen Klinsmann’s mess. He’s whiffed on pre-match tactics two games in a row.

The individual errors from center backs are inexplicable

I’ve watched what Omar Gonzalez does on the Honduras goal about three dozen times and I’m still at a loss for words.

GOOOOAAAAL: @RomellSamir strikes first, and #USMNT will have to wake up from an early nightmare! #USAvHON #WCQ2018 http://pic.twitter.com/cIvRMugIU2

— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) September 5, 2017

Regardless of what you think of Gonzalez and his errors in a USMNT shirt, he’s a solid player. Pachuca offered him more money than the LA Galaxy was willing to pay him because he’s a good player, and he was a key starter for them in a title-winning season because he’s a good player.

And even if he wasn’t a good player, any professional center back should be able to get a toe to a ball that is right next to them. Omar Gonzalez has made this play literally thousands of times. He makes this exact play successfully at least once every game. Even though there was no pressure on the passer and the grass was weirdly long, Gonzalez will look at this tape and tell you he expects to make this play 100 percent of the time.

Gonzalez started this game in place of the dropped Geoff Cameron, a first choice player for Premier League team Stoke City. Cameron is technically solid for a center back, which is why Stoke has used him in midfield and the Houston Dynamo even played him as a No. 10, but he was benched for giving the ball away repeatedly while under little pressure against Costa Rica.

For good players to make individual errors as poor as Gonzalez and Cameron did in back-to-back games is something that shouldn’t happen. Maybe they won’t do it again. There’s nothing to analyze here, they just have to not make uncharacteristic errors anymore.

Build around the team around Christian Pulisic

For the second straight game, Pulisic started on the right wing and it didn’t go well. His passing map is ugly.

via MLS Match Center

Pulisic also went 34 minutes without attempting a pass, from the 47th to the 81st minute.

via MLS Match Center

Even though he’s just 18, Pulisic is already the USMNT’s most talented player and its most effective attacking option. He was primarily responsible for the Hex win over Trinidad and Tobago, the draw in Panama, and was arguably the man of the match in the 6-0 home defeat of Honduras. He’s had a spectacular start to the season for Borussia Dortmund. The USMNT should be built around getting him the ball in dangerous attacking positions as often as possible.

Pulisic’s best games for the USMNT have come in the center as a No. 10, and his usual position for Dortmund is on the left wing, where he can cut in on his stronger right foot. He’s more effective in both roles than he is on the right wing, so that’s where he should be played, even if other players need to play out of position to accommodate him.

The USMNT has a fullback problem

DeAndre Yedlin is injured, Timmy Chandler’s USMNT performances have never matched his Bundesliga performances and the Eric Lichaj experiment didn’t go well in the Gold Cup, so Arena’s decision to play Graham Zusi at right back is understandable. So was his decision to turn to the experienced DaMarcus Beasley in a tough road game in Honduras. But those two players got absolutely roasted by Honduras’ quick wingers, repeatedly.

This is a problem without an obvious solution. Jorge Villfaña is quicker than Beasley, but also makes more mental errors. Fabian Johnson prefers playing midfielder over fullback. And even when Yedlin is healthy, he’s a very attacking fullback who relies on his speed to cover for defensive mistakes. It’s probably too late in the cycle to pluck a new player out of MLS and throw them into the deep end.

Arena switched to a 3-5-2 formation at the end of the game, and it’s something Klinsmann experimented with as well before he was relieved of his duties. The USMNT’s personnel seems to fit a back three better than a back four — it has good center back depth, but no obvious starting pair, and fullbacks who are athletic but mediocre defensively. But that’s probably too extreme of a change to make ahead of two must-win games, so Arena’s stuck with trying to pick the least bad fullbacks for his back four and praying.

Why are we sure the USMNT can win 2 games?

The USMNT doing enough on Tuesday to control its own destiny is... good, I guess? In most cycles, getting a win at home against Panama and a win away to Trinidad and Tobago would sound very doable. But this iteration of the USMNT only has two wins in the hex and is coming off two bad performances. Panama outplayed the Americans in the draw between the two teams in Panama City, and T&T contained the USMNT in Colorado before Pulisic took over the game. In the previous round of qualifying, T&T earned a 0-0 draw at home against the Americans.

These games are not gimmes for the United States. October is going to be dramatic.

[junker-town]

NASCAR rumors: Hendrick Motorsports names Alex Bowman to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. for 2018

Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth, and Kurt Busch are former Cup Series champions with a combined 90 wins and credentials of future first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famers. Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, and William Byron are three of the sport’s rising stars, possessing the kind of talent that owners covet.

These are six of the major players in what is shaping up to be a seismic Silly Season in which some of NASCAR’s most prominent teams will shuffle their driver lineups. Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Furniture Row Racing will each have at least one new addition to their rosters in 2018, with potential openings at Stewart-Haas Racing and Team Penske.

The first big domino was Dale Earnhardt Jr. announcing in April he would retire from full-time competition at the end of the current season, followed by Kenseth revealing July 7 he wouldn’t return to JGR in 2018. Last week, JGR announced Jones will join the organization to replace Kenseth and drive its No. 20 Toyota.

Kenseth’s availability prompted speculation he could replace Earnhardt at Hendrick, serving as bridge until the team felt comfortable promoting the 19-year-old Byron from the Xfinity Series. That will not happen, however, as Hendrick named Alex Bowman on Thursday to fill the seat Earnhardt will vacate.

Which driver may potentially move to a different team is continually shifting. With many teams operating on reduced budgets due to a lack of sponsorship, organizations are hesitant to commit to a driver before sponsorship is secure, further muddying an already fluid situation. All that’s certain is there will be much change ahead.

Matt Kenseth

With Hendrick choosing to go in a different direction, Kenseth is facing the realization he may not have the opportunity to sign with a competitive organization for next season. The possibility exists he could sign with SHR, though that is dependent on the team finding some additional sponsorship. Barring that, Kenseth will have to decide between joining a lesser team or stepping away with the hope that something more attractive eventually opens up.

Matt Kenseth is facing the realization he may not have the opportunity to sign with a competitive organization

Kenseth was asked about his future during a July 18 appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, and acknowledged he doesn’t have anything lined for 2018.

“I don’t feel like that’s going to be an opportunity I’m going to have,” Kenseth said. “I really I don’t know. I really honestly don’t have anything lined up for sure. I will say that I’m not really that worried about it. I’m not really losing sleep over it. I’m not that concerned about next season.”

Matt Kenseth may suddenly find himself without any attractive options

Brad Keselowski

At the beginning of the season, it seemed a foregone conclusion Keselowski would re-sign with Penske, where he’s been since 2009 and won a Cup title three years later. Negotiations remain ongoing, though, believed to be complicated by Keselowski’s desire to have increased manufacturer support for his Truck Series team and interest in rejoining Hendrick — whether that interest is real or merely a negotiating tactic is up for debate.

Ultimately, Keselowski is expected to stay with Penske. The two sides are “close to a new deal,” multiple sources told SB Nation.

Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

Erik Jones

Erik Jones

The 21-year-old is no longer on the market after JGR’s announcement. However, his leaving FRR opens up an attractive ride with the same equipment Martin Truex Jr. has taken to three wins and the Cup Series points lead.

Kurt Busch

SHR holds an option on Busch’s contract, and co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas exercising it largely hinges on whether Monster Energy continues to serve as an anchor sponsor for Busch’s No. 41 team. To varying degrees, Haas is already funding out of his own pocket the teams of Busch, Clint Bowyer, and Danica Patrick, and there is speculation SHR could downsize to three cars if the appropriate sponsorship cannot be found to relieve the burden.

If Busch were to leave, FRR becomes the frontrunner to land the 2017 Daytona 500 winner where he’d replace Jones. Busch had a successful one-year stint with the team in 2013 and the organization is even better situated than it was then, an enticing prospect for a driver who at age 38 is still capable of contending for a second championship

William Byron

The Hendrick camp had been split on on what to do with Byron. Ultimately, the team resisted pushing him too soon, thinking another year in NASCAR’s second-tier division will only help the driver some feel is a prodigy in the mold of Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott. What’s clear is that Byron will be in a Hendrick Cup full-time no later than 2019.

Ryan Blaney

Team owner Roger Penske told USA Today he wants to bring Blaney in-house after a three-year loan to Wood Brothers Racing. If Keselowski re-signs as expected, that would mean Team Penske expanding to three cars to accommodate Blaney, whose name has also been speculated as a possible Earnhardt replacement at Hendrick.

But were Keselowski to depart, Blaney then becomes the driver of the No. 2 car — a move sponsor Miller wouldn’t object to as the 23-year-old is an ideal spokesman for the adult beverage thanks to his youth and fun-loving way of life. Regardless, Blaney is likely racing a Penske-owned car next season.

Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick’s future with SHR is in serious doubt

With the results absent and Patrick no longer bringing in substantial sponsorship dollars, her future with SHR is in serious doubt. Her contract expires at the end of the season, and for Patrick to return, additional sponsorship is needed, which could be tough considering she no longer moves the marketing needle like she once did.

What Patrick would do if she and SHR separate is unknown. With a new clothing line launched and a fitness book due out in January, Patrick looking outside racing becomes a realistic proposition.

Kasey Kahne

Unless circumstances radically change, Kahne’s tenure with Hendrick will come to an end with his 2018 option not being picked up. A change of scenery would do Kahne good, and a midsized organization could greatly improve itself by signing the 17-time Cup race-winner who, at 37, still has many good years left.

Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images

Kasey Kahne

Alex Bowman

A lot of factors contributed to Bowman getting the biggest break of his career. Foremost, he did an excellent job as Earnhardt’s fill in a year ago -- on the track where he was competitive in several races, and off it where he had great rapport with sponsors and the team. Earnhardt advocating for him publicly also helped convince team owner Rick Hendrick to give him a shot.

Now the pressure is on Bowman to prove he’s deserving. A one-year contract gives the team an out if he doesn’t produce, and if he stumbles Byron is in the wings ready to step in.

Carl Edwards

NASCAR’s white whale who a lot of upper-echelon teams would love to sign, Edwards has given no indication he’s going to give up the Missouri farm life to return to racing on a full-time basis.

Paul Menard

With backing from his family-owned home improvement chain, Menard isn’t lacking sponsorship. That places him in a favorable position where he has more suitors than a driver with just a single win in 382 Cup starts would have otherwise.

What Menard won’t be doing is returning to Richard Childress Racing, which will subsequently contract from three cars to two and has already begun layoffs. Menard’s likely destination is either Penske (Menard sponsors one of Penske’s IndyCar Series teams), which could add a fourth car if Blaney also slides over, or the Wood Brothers as Blaney’s replacement.

Chris Buescher

The second-year driver was loaned by Roush Fenway Racing to JTG Daugherty Racing this season, and that relationship will continue into 2018, Buescher said Thursday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

The story was updated at 1:10 p.m. ET on July 20, 2017