#haha what was that joke tag i wanted to make abt my researched posts? I think:

[skitskatdacat63]

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This is the reason I originally made this post, but I thought I should also explain the origins of his card fascination first.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 :(

[kurain-genealogy]

I posted 2,156 times in 2021

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For every post I created, I reblogged 26.3 posts.

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Longest Tag: 140 characters

#kinda like that idea but i dont know about fish/amphibian biology to come up with ideas and it is almost 1 am so brain too fried to research

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

so i see no one’s coping well

594 notes • Posted 2021-02-17 23:19:41 GMT

#4

was so caught up in the whole "dark worlds reflect the will of the knight who created the fountain" thing that i was only looking at it from kris's perspective. i think it's more than that, though.

my brain is fried bc it's midnight and im not really going anywhere in particular with this, but...

i very much think that queen is a representation of noelle's mom. from what we know abt her mom, she's pretty hard on noelle, the mayor, and Pretty Powerful as the mayor since alphys mentions the police not really having a purpose considering how the mayor sort of dominates the town.

queen's stated to have always been a pretty strict ruler, but once the fountain showed up, she'd gotten extreme. she picks on noelle in particular, doesn't care about the other kids, constantly dotes on her and searches for her when she's missing but pressures/threatens her into doing what she wants (or trapping her when she attempts to defy her). she's never outright cruel in a way that isn't humorous or lighthearted to the player, but it's still clear what her intentions are. despite wanting to use noelle to create the "ideal world" or whatever, it's so so clear by the end that she (1) is not evil she straight up says she doesn't want to end the world, and (2) genuinely cares about noelle so so much!! she wants her to be HAPPY and tries to give her everything she wants but just cannot see from noelle's point of view!

and noelle standing up to queen, telling her that her plans would not make her happy and that she wouldn't want to live in that world, that's her growth!!! this dark world helps noelle get the bit of confidence boost she needs to take back the reigns and try for herself.

so queen is funny haha character but i also really think she represents noelle's mom. also berdly is there. his growth is that he needs to be humbled, learn that not everything is about intelligence, and that he'll still have friends even if he's not the best at everything. and our main characters still grow and develop but the cyber world feels so much more like noelle and berdly's stories.

the setting/theme/contents of the dark world is influenced (and confined by) the light world setting that the fountain was created in. it's cyber themed. duh. cuz it's in the library. but i mean... noelle's wish for confidence, berdly's need for approval and praise, ambu-lance enemy (could just b funny antivirus joke but still.. hospital imagery + noelle...), a bunch of Gamer stuff like the punch-out type sequences (because berdly gamer?), the spelling puzzles???? yknow the spelling bee, the big thing that was super influential to both noelle And berdly? yeah. might b more im forgetting.

but basically... soemthing somethign fountains created by the will of the knight. but just as it's influenced by the items in the room, it's influenced by the emotions and experiences that have taken root there, and the people attached to those things that spend a lot of time in that location

basically tl;dr the knight's will when creating a fountain may not just be limited to the knight itself.

606 notes • Posted 2021-09-20 06:18:39 GMT

#3

so is anyone gona talk about noelle's reaction if you equip her with the dealmaker? why are spamton's glasses familiar to her...

646 notes • Posted 2021-09-20 18:57:12 GMT

#2

black space

669 notes • Posted 2021-01-20 23:28:57 GMT

#1

so that direct huh

12523 notes • Posted 2021-10-15 14:42:34 GMT

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