Fernando Alonso & His Relationship With Cards
I'm sure we're all familar with the cards on the back of Fernando's Vegas GP helmet by now, but did you know his relationship with cards goes a lot deeper?
I. Magic Tricks
You've probably seen or heard someone at least mention Fernando's propensity for card tricks. As far as I can tell he was doing them(publically) as far back as 2003 all the way to as recently as 2018. Even once performing a card trick, with a condom and a teddy bear(!??!?!??!!), in front of Valentino Rossi who said "How was that possible?"(x)
But how did this start? According to James Allen, "Fernando admits to having been heavily influenced by his grandfather, a mercurial figure, who taught him magic and card tricks, still one of his passions away from the race track."(x) And I'm not sure the validity of this one, because I couldn't find an actual source, but apparently he once said: "My parents are responsible for the two things I like doing most - driving and magic tricks. They bought me my first go-kart and a magician's kit."
In several interviews he described it as his hobby off track, and that he loved learning new tricks and surprising others in the garage with them! So clearly cards are pretty important to him both as a hobby but also to who he is as a person since they've been with him just as long as racing has.
II. Card Symbolism in His Helmets
This is the reason I originally made this post, but I thought I should also explain the origins of his card fascination first. As I said, we probably all remember the cards on the back of his helmet in Vegas, but did you know that wasn't the first time he had cards on the back of his helmet?
From 2008-2013, he used to have a pair of cards on the back of his helmets. The symbolisms of the cards themselves as well as the evolution of their design is really fascinating to me! Even more so with the recent development of the card choice in 2023.
Fernando said he wanted to reference his two titles in some way on the back of his helmet and after his friend sent him several ideas, he decided on having two cards(an ace of clubs and an ace of hearts, sometimes pictured with 05 and 06 on them as well), saying: "I picked the cloverleaf [the ace of clubs - Ed] to give me luck, but the only pity is that it doesn't have four leaves!"(X)
2008.
Here's the very first appearance of the cards! They're displayed flat, with the 05 and 06 clearly visible
2009.
Very similar to 2008, but with a slightly different design, and they're maybe a bit more straight with less shadow?
2010.
This is the first major change! I was sad they didn't have the years on them anymore, but then I realized they're sparkly to match with his signature lightning bolts on the top of the helmet!!
2011.
Honestly I'm still somewhat unsure if this is the actual 2011 helmet? It's pretty difficult to find clear photos of the back of helmets from older seasons. It's easiest to find them on replica sites or auction sites so I'm not 100%? But anyways, I like that this has the championship years on the underside of the cards
2012.
This is when I started getting weirdly emotional about the helmets. Do you see how they've progressed from being a centerpoint to being curled up and sad at the bottom of the helmet? Not listing the year anymore??
2013.
Same thoughts as 2012. And after this season, they cease to exist (just like his ferrari chair in the garage, WOAH CALLBACK), until cards make a reeappearance in his Vegas helmet, albeit in a different form
2013 Monaco(Honorable Mention):
For some reason 2013 helmets were easier to find proper pictures of, so I happened to witness this absolute beauty. The creativity of this helmet genuinely blows me away??? Wanting to keep the card motif, but making sure to incorporate it into the rest of the puzzle piece design?? Mwah! There was another special 2013 helmet but they didn't change the cards at all so I really applaud this one
2023 Las Vegas(The Return of The King):
The magnificent return! But look! The cards are different cards! Instead of being two aces, it's now an ace of hearts, a four of hearts(his driver number of course!) and, the, now iconic, representation of himself as a Joker. I literally could not believe my eyes when this helmet was released and I saw the Joker card, what a fucking silly old man....I really wonder if he felt nostalgic having cards on his helmet again or if he didn't think about it all and was just like, "ah cards because Vegas!!!"
III. Why Does This Matter?
*The rest of the post was factual, this is moreso my personal thoughts on the symbolism of the cards/designs
This post spawned from me recently watching the 2010 Bahrain gp and noticing "hey wait a minute...are those CARDS ON THE BACK OF HIS HELMET!?" It's a really tiny detail that's unfortunately covered up by the HANS device pretty much whenever he's wearing the helmet, so it's really difficult to spot! But I became fascinated with the fact that he had cards on his helmet before that recent helmet, and now here we are!
There's something to me about how the design of the cards evolves over the course of six seasons from the cards being front and center to being smaller, more folded up and closer to the bottom of the helmet. As I said, the 2012-2013 ones genuinely made me depressed because it feels, symbolically, like his hopes for getting another Ace are becoming more and more unlikely and falling away until they eventually fall falt and fade away entirely after 2013 and disappear for basically a decade.
But when they return? They're not the same cards! Instead of representing Fernando's championships, they now represent him as a person, displaying his driver number and his persona of being a Joker!! Though I do think it's interesting he happened to keep the Ace of Hearts, even though he talked more about the Ace of Clubs before. I'm not sure it's actually this deep in reality, but I like to think that it's him not letting his championships(and the lack thereof) define him, but rather letting who he is as a person shine and be the centerpoint instead! But on a sadder note, as @suzuki-ecstar said to me, maybe the Aces aren't there anymore because he's lost all hope for a chance at a third Ace entirely :(
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OBSESSED with the idea of KID coming into the Kudou mansion seeking refuge (either he got heavily injured or his idenity is compromised) but instead is met with Okiya Subaru, Kudou Yukiko, and Kudou Yusaku. (Conan is also there coincidentally because lady luck hasn't totally abandoned him yet, apparently, but Kaito is sort of distracted by the amount of non-conans in the house to appreciate it.)
one day (before akai moves in) conan drags kid's injured ass back into the kudou mansion to patch him up (and also to demand answers about the snipers in the heist)
kid refuses to tell more about the snipers and conan doesn't pry but keeps an offer of help open
it becomes an unspoken agreement that kid would go to conan if something out of his hand happens in relation to said snipers
by 'go to conan' conan meant go to him, the person, as in wherever location he was at. kid, on the other hand, thought he should come back to the kudou mansion.
months pass, subaru, yusaku, and yukiko come to occupy the kudou household.
kid, injured or identity compromised, sees the lights are on and assumes conan is inside. which well...he ISN'T WRONG (LOL)
kid goes in through the window of conan's room which startles conan who was there to pick something up in his room.
"What are you doing here?!" Conan scream-whispers in a panic.
KID stiffens and stares at him with something like betrayal in his eyes. "Oh, I see I'm not welcome here."
"No! No wait that's not what I meant. It's just, this is NOT the best time."
Someone knocks on the door and the two of them jump. KID's eyes widen in realization as Conan quickly drags and pushes him into a closet. "Don't make a sound." KID does a zipping motion across his lips and makes a show of throwing an imaginary key. Conan rolls his eyes at him before closing the door.
anyways, it was akai who went up to check on conan cause the 4 of them were in the middle of a discussion and conan was suspiciously taking too long.
whether kid gets caught by akai and the kudou fam or not, i have no idea, but either way I WANT IT.
although tbh i feel like akai and yusaku would sense someone else is inside and yusaku would know exactly who it is LOL
then again, whether kid is heavily injured, has his identity compromised, or both, is a big factor on how events will unfold. (and i love exploring each one so my brain is rotting pls someone send help)
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I might be misremembering, but as far as I remember, Tim's mum taking him to the hospital when he was a kid is like the only time any of the main characters parents are mentioned in MH? Which like, if that is the only time any of the characters parents/family are mentioned, it just makes it feel even more tragic to me?
Like, that was presumably an upsetting/traumatic thing for Tim to go through as a kid, like even if being left there at first wasn't traumatic, everything that came after would have made it be. Like, it just makes me think that everyone else's families were "normal" or like none of them really had any reason to bring them up. Their family/home lives were perfectly mundane, so why would they think about them when they have to worry about even staying alive for another day.
It just feels like it makes Tim's whole thing with his mum even sadder, because the only reason he brings her up is to talk about something kinda unpleasant? Like, being taken to stay inpatient in a hospital for god knows how long, with no say in whether it happened or not, would be so traumatic, like abandonment, especially for a kid.
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"We die, and the world will be poorer for it."
Prince Nuada Silverlance x Reader
Word count: 455
Angst, OOC (but everything is OOC if it isn't canon, so fuck it, we ball)
───────────── ⊱ ⋅ ✦ ⋅ ⊰ ─────────────
Once, I made friends with Time. I myself was nothing more than a Careful Creature, young and curious. He was enduring and ancient.
We had a few long years together- or, at the very least, I thought them long, but his age likely meant it was the blink of an eye for him.
He opened up, slowly. About literature and old languages, customs of fighting and war, and legends and stories of his people. He told me of his armour, of his youth, of the golden war.
A few years passed, and he taught me some of the language, wrote in journals with yellowed pages all of his tongue so that I may keep it close to my heart like I did him.
He taught me of the trinkets and little machines he liked to make; tiny little machinations with minuscule springs and the smallest screws, making elaborate systems for puzzles or music boxes.
...he made one for me once, too.
And a new war came.
At first, I hoped we'd both survive. Then, I just hoped I'd die rather than him. But he took the blow, and there is nothing I could have done but hold him.
--------------------------------------------------------------
He was dying. He asked me, with some of his last breaths, if I would honour him by tattooing his marks into my skin. Just to keep his people alive through me. He only trusted that to me.
I knew why- I could see it in his eyes.
And I told him no.
And instead begged him to carve it properly into my cheeks, like they had been done for him.
And with the last of his strength, he cut into my cheeks, a mirror image of the marks of his people that rested on his own.
He told me that he should be the one to die- that he had made too many mistakes, that he was part of a peoples so old they had forgotten who they were, who they were meant to be.
He told me that he should die, and the world would be better for it.
But he could not let me die. I asked him why.
He told me, "I am an old fae. This world has no room nor use for another angry heart like mine. I cannot change anymore, though you have softened me. But you- if you die, the world will be poorer for it."
And as he laid his spear in my palm, blood in his teeth, I saw nothing but worship in his golden eyes.
When he died moments later, I wept.
Because I knew for certain that the moment he took his last breath, he was truly dead- and the world was poorer for it.
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for others who disliked adams greywaren ending, what do you think about the part of his ending with transferring schools?
Personally, i can see arguments for transferring (in terms of adam not having his fantasized perfectly linear path to success), but i want to see him stay and deal with his lies and mistakes. ik that sounds mean, but i intend it in the kindest way possible. like it could be helpful for him to distance himself from the person he invented at harvard and try again, but i want him to contend with that and reconcile his invention with the person he really is; i don’t think they are mutually exclusive!
maybe this comes down to your opinion of his crying club- whether you think theyre really his friends or not- but to me, i don’t think this effort to build community was wrong, even though it was unhealthy that he had to lie about his background to do it. i think adam needs to think about why he had this drive to create a friend group and why he felt like he couldn’t be the same person he was in henrietta. i want him to feel like he can be honest with the crying club, or at least that he can his genuine self with people outside the gangsey. he doesnt have to suddenly dump the whole truth on them, but i wish he could slowly let himself trust them, as they have trusted him with their troubles.
Obviously it was important for him and his character arc to leave henrietta and for him to want to leave behind the person he was there (and the fact that everyone there knew he was poor and a victim of abuse), but i’d like to see adam stay in place somewhere and work through who he is there. I feel like if he leaves and starts somewhere new, he’ll still have that instinct to leave behind this old version of adam and reinvent himself.
what do you all think? i know we all hate the adam becomes a fed thing, but wasnt sure what opinion is on this part
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