#he’s not even like that amazing of a rider like he’s not bad obviously but he seems to always want to rely on shit like this like he’s

[batsplat]

hello!! i hope you're having an amazing day 🥹💗 do you have any vale's races masterpost?? thank you so much in advance!!

*takes deep breath* *cracks knuckles* *cracks knuckles again for good measure* *rolls up sleeves* *cracks knuckles one more time* yes of course anon. no problem. let's do this

going to forgo any extended intro as this post will be long enough as it is - though it wasn't always easy to both represent the scope of valentino's career and make picks based on actual race quality. there will be a skew towards the early years of his time in the premier class and there are a few obvious fallow spells, but I hope I've adequately done justice to most of his very, very long career... and used the asterisk system to do my quality control for me

speaking of - another rec post, another escalation of the asterisk system (luckily, we have reached the final boss of motogp and it is impossible to escalate beyond this - here are the casey and marc/dovi lists). * means check it out, ** personal fave, *** classic, **** if you watch nothing else please watch these

I also need to mention mat oxley's 'valentino rossi: all his races', which is an excellent reference book that I consulted a fair bit when compiling this list. it's especially invaluable in making sense of the early years - where the archives unfortunately are sorely lacking and I'm grateful for every bit of additional context I can get. about those early years, a little bit of housekeeping with the codes I'll use to indicate in which form these races are available:

ITA: only italian commentary, which means I've found them on youtube. this is relevant only for the very early races. there's upsettingly few of his 125cc and especially 250cc races available even when you include these (though I haven't included all the ones that are available)

HL: only highlights, which is specifically about some of the 2000-01 races. there's only three full races of valentino's first premier class title available in their entirety on the motogp website, which is unfortunate (technically four including valencia, but who would want to watch that). now, the highlights they provide for all the other races aren't actually bad - they're around twenty minutes long for the race themselves so you will see most of the exciting action and the overtakes and all that (though it does raise the question of 'why don't you just upload the full races')

NC: no commentary, and is mainly an issue for the 2002 races that are all uploaded in their entirety but... well, only a few with commentary. obviously not ideal especially with older races. my recommendation would be watching the very short highlights (aka 2-3 minutes of actual race footage with commentary) available on the website for each of the 2002 races - either after or even before watching the race - to just give yourself a better sense of what you're watching

as ever, the descriptions will frequently provide spoilers for the result. my spoiler-free top ten recommendations are: donington park 2000 suzuka 2001 phillip island 2001 brno 2003 phillip island 2003 welkom 2004 donington park 2005 laguna seca 2008 catalunya 2009 assen 2015

and here, ten more spoiler-free recs because it really is a bloody long career: sachsenring 2003 mugello 2004 phillip island 2004 jerez 2005 sachsenring 2006 sepang 2006 catalunya 2007 motegi 2010 argentina 2015 assen 2017

**brno 1996: I find it very charming when riders have early career races that tell you everything you need to know about them. this is valentino's first grand prix win, achieved from his first pole position. he has an awful start, ends up way down the order, fights his way through, is eventually caught by this 34 year old former world champion who he does not like, fights him for a bit, stalks him and lets him draw them away from the pack in what the commentators consider remarkable confidence and poise from a seventeen year old, loses touch enough with the race leader that it looks like he's surely lost the race before pulling out a crazy last lap with some hard racing™ to overtake that other bloke. after he crosses the finish line he's so excited he almost rides into the wall. deeply excessive celebratory fist pumping that just goes on and on and on. angelic smile on the podium as the bloke he's beaten looks rather peeved - and apparently complained about valentino's riding afterwards. what more is there to say, really

^driving his elders to drink. here's a video where valentino is talking about the race: "and from there a fight to the death came out because we didn't get along very well. we weren't very nice to each other because we were bothering each other throughout the championship". like I said, tells you everything you need to know about him. just watch this one and call it a day

nurbuergring 1997 (ITA): an early strong wet weather performance, at a time when he was still a bit of a wimp about the whole riding in the rain thing. granted, he was a little lucky when the runaway race leader had a mechanical dnf, but he got into a nice little scrap with a few other riders to claim his fourth consecutive victory

rio 1997 (ITA): the thing about 125cc/moto3 races is you kinda know what you're getting, and more often than not what you're getting is a fun time watching them go at it. valentino's first, he's third, he's first again, they're having it out... and then on the final lap, he's taking advantage of the backmarkers to secure the victory. which is so sneaky and so valentino that it obviously deserves to be mentioned here. incidentally, his last ever win at assen 2017 had a controversial involvement of a backmarker on the last lap, which is a nice little full circle moment twenty years later

brno 1997: in many ways, this was a more impressive ride from his title rival ueda, who came back from thirteenth on the grid to take the win. which meant that valentino had to finish on the podium to claim his 125cc title at the same venue where he won his first race... and he just about managed it, with the entire leading group of riders headed into the final corner together

there are race highlights in the 5-10 minute range from his 250cc race years which... well. since they're not anywhere close to full races and this is a race recs list, I can't exactly give them their own bullet points, but I'll just rattle through a few highlight videos here I enjoyed from 1998: jerez (features a nifty overtake with four blokes entering one corner together, also harada fucked with valentino despite being a lap down to help capirossi win?? anyway vale's first 250cc podium, to which harada showed up to clap for capirossi specifically???); mugello (featuring his controversial beachwear celebration); paul ricard (see below); catalunya (he spent a lot of that year crashing but towards the end of the season finally figured it out - works his way back from thirteenth place to win), argentina (controversial title decider claxon; valentino found the whole thing so "hilarious" he was giggling when the drama was going off in the garage. he also referenced the jerez incident in his post-race interview, because of course he did)

^the three protagonists of the 1998 250cc season: valentino, harada and capirossi, all part of the same nightmarish aprilia 'super team'. everything I've read about that season makes me want to break into dorna hq and get my hands on the full race footage. both images are from the paul ricard race, in which valentino was trying to figure out how to stop harada from continuously outsmarting him. they kept slowing down the pace further and further, with harada running his bike comically wide to let valentino through and valentino doing a massive wheelie down the straight (image on the right) to force harada to go back past - but harada still eventually managed to best him on the final lap. valentino was heavily criticised in the press for wanting to 'humiliate' capirossi by letting capirossi catch up to the pair, but really he was just getting creative in his tactics. I may not have been able to 'watch' this season but I love it dearly

donington park 1999 (ITA): the ONE 250cc race I've been able to watch in its entirety. it was stopped and restarted due to the weather and the final outcome was decided on aggregate time across the two races (yeah, this does feel weird but they used to do that). a close fight especially in the first part. not too wet, presumably, given his 250cc performances in the soaking wet were often. hm. not great

1999 highlights I enjoyed: catalunya (was riding with a suspension glitch but kept his main title rival ukawa behind him anyway); sachsenring (won an intense battle with capirossi, admittedly you do not see much of him in the highlights); brno (another intense fight, this time mainly with an older rider in waldmann after they both worked their way through the field); phillip island (worked his way to the win from seventh on the grid and one of those phillip island races)

jerez 2000 (HL): valentino's initiation to the premier class wasn't... the most dignified thing you'll ever see... two dnf's in the first two races by which point he was so bloody terrified of the bike he was just very slow in the third. in his defence, those 500cc bikes were pretty scary, but also it was time to get his act together. which he did in jerez! this was another one of those weird ones where the rain interrupted the race and then the whole thing was decided on aggregate time, but a good ride to bag his first premier class podium

**donington park 2000: maybe it was the bikes, maybe it was experience, maybe it was a mindset thing, but eventually he would get over his moral objections to 'getting wet' and develop into an excellent wet weather racer in the premier class. this was his first premier class win - and a pretty neat way to seal it too. had an awful start, took a while to figure out the grip conditions, and then he was off. the second half of the race involved a fun fight between valentino and both roberts jr and mcwilliams for the victory

^almost gave the commentators a heart attack by running a defensive line through the final corner that took him completely off the dry racing line

rio 2000 (NC/HL - as in, both are available): valentino's second win of the year and his first in the dry, the race after his late charge to a rookie title was scuppered by a crash in valencia. he made some adjustments to his riding style after the valencia fiasco and really started to get to grips with the 500cc, which would stand him in good stead the following year. as is traditional, he makes a truly horrendous start, dropping back from the front row to find himself briefly outside of the top ten. from there, he gets to work. it's confident stuff, getting himself to the lead by about half distance and pulling away from there

**suzuka 2001: the first race of 2001 and a clear statement of intent. as ever, valentino had to work his way through the field... which took him right into the path of max biaggi, a man who had already been his enemy before they started actually racing each other. now, it has to be said, biaggi is a dick here! quite literally elbows valentino while running him off-track and could easily have caused vale to crash (as valentino said afterwards, "I had to learn how to ride motocross-style at 140 mph"), he continues using various body parts rather creatively in defending his position. when valentino finally gets past, he sticks out his middle finger. set the tone for that season rather nicely

jerez 2001: this is the cool-headed, calculating valentino who would prove such a formidable foe over the years. having already won the first two races of the season, he's high on confidence as he engages in a duel with the man who had so captured his imagination as a teenager: norifumi abe. valentino takes his time - but when he finally makes the decisive pass, he pulls clear so easily it feels like valentino may have just been toying with his hero all along

^valentino and norick, the inspiration for 'rossifumi'. in 2008, valentino paid tribute to the other man a year after his passing: "norick for me was a hero. I grew up watching the suzuka 500 race in 1994 with the great battle he had together with schwantz and doohan. last year was a shit year for me when I heard of the death of norick and colin mcrae, for me it was not a great year. I think it is possible to dedicate this championship to norick”

catalunya 2001 (HL): I don't care if there's only highlights - I am not leaving out a race that sparked a fist fight. honestly if I were biaggi I'd be pissed about this race too. valentino was twelfth at the end of the first lap and ended up winning... painful, truly. a really good scrap, plenty of fun to watch as valentino always is at catalunya, and obviously you've also got to watch the presser clips with the knowledge they were throwing hands a few minutes earlier

assen 2001 (HL): this one was low-key kinda stolen from valentino. it's good fun - y'know, one of those assen battles, valentino's doing the stalking and lurking thing and it starts raining and valentino takes the lead and... whoops! time to call off the race due to the rain so let's take the results from the previous lap! biaggi win! imagine getting into a fist fight with someone and losing the very next race to them on a technicality. oof

^post-fist fight handshake to show how it's all fine. they're totally fine. completely fine. no problems here

*donington park 2001 (HL): I'm gonna be so real, if I'm on pole and my title rival starts eleventh and he ends up beating me to the win by 1.8s, I think I just call it a day after that one. valentino had a bad crash during practise where he was lucky to not really hurt himself and then obviously had a pretty terrible qualifying, so a great opportunity for biaggi to claw back some points. worst bit is, vale didn't even make a good start - he was still in eleventh place halfway through the first lap. good fun to watch him pick his way through the field, and in his autobiography he ranks this race near the very top in terms of ones that gave him the most "satisfaction"

****phillip island 2001: look, if you've seen one of those classic multi-rider dogfights at phillip island, then, here, I've got a version of that for you from 2001. it's just so much fun to watch, with so many different riders and rider constellations and run orders at various parts of the race, riders looking like they'll break away and getting caught again etc etc etc. and it is also a match point race for valentino - a relatively comfortable one given his formidable championship lead. he didn't need to win the race to take the title, but would you want to see your greatest enemy take the spoils on your big day? in the most dramatic fashion possible, valentino ends up right behind biaggi on the very last lap and makes a daring overtake for the victory. hard to beat that as a way of sealing your first premier class title

*suzuka 2002: you know how I said in the marc rec post that I found it tricky to pick out a few for 2014 because a lot of the races were good without being all timers? this is valentino's equivalent season - he's winning, life is great-ish, tricky to differentiate, and if you enjoy any of these races you'll probably enjoy them all. mostly I'm just going to include the ones with commentary available, even though I'm too stubborn to let dorna completely make my choices for me here. anyway, this one is available with commentary and it's a good watch... valentino hadn't had the easiest weekend to start off his title defence, crashed badly twice, bloodied his hands, all that. he had a sluggish start in the wet conditions and worked his way up the field, before sitting on the rear tyre of the japanese wildcard akira ryo for a while - who knew the track well and knew where all the puddles were. a smart and composed win and feels very typical of his wet weather performances over the years

jerez 2002 (NC): in my head, this is the sister race to le mans 2014. valentino is pushed down quite a few spots to ninth early on (kenny roberts jr just. shoves him aside and does the thing where he gestures back to apologise, but that doesn't really help valentino when half a dozen bikes have passed him) and then he gets down to business. that whole season really does have that 2014 vibe of 'right this is fun but also feels a little too easy' - but hey, the way valentino picks his way through the field is satisfying to watch. and valentino did always like to play with his food, so he sits behind barros for a fair bit before doing the inevitable

*assen 2002: so, the thing about 2002 is that it was the first year of the rebrand to motogp and the introduction of the four-stroke bikes... but you still had two-stroke bikes on the grid, which tended to be tragically outgunned. the circuits where they were competitive tended to be the ones where they could take advantage of how 'nimble' the old bikes were, with more corners and fewer straights - and honestly, if you go on a race-by-race level you could make the case that on-track barros on his two-stroke machine (for most of the year) was valentino's most important rival that season. this is a head-to-head duel with barros that nicely showcases the respective strengths and weaknesses of two such different bikes and riders riding them, and barros manages to mount a stern challenge to valentino for most of the race

*sachsenring 2002: I do find it a little funny that this is one of the ones with commentary they've provided, because there's a bit of an anti-climax close to the end and I'm not sure valentino should have won that race. anyway, similarly to assen, this is another week where the two-strokes can put up a proper fight, and it's an engaging scrap that involves a lot of riders and quite a few nice little shifts in momentum. like above, another interesting study in how the different bikes compare in direct combat

phillip island 2002 (NC): always fun when someone builds up a bit of a gap on valentino. as was so often the case that year, it was barros (now on a four-stroke) who served as valentino's closest challenger, and valentino took his time hunting him down. from there, it's familiar material from the rossi playbook, stalking and studying before making his move - but barros sticks very very close to valentino until he makes an error on the last lap

^is it a bird is it a plane etc etc... don't think this was supposed to mean anything, just being silly

okay we're now headed into the 2003-05 stretch and I should mention that most of the races in that era will also have been featured in this post, which might also be useful to put them into context

*le mans 2003: valentino tries to make a break for it, but the rain denies him. he raises his hand to get the race called off (you could do this as the race leader back in the day, or I suppose also not do that if you wanted to be an asshole)... and immediately almost falls off his bike so. uh. probably a good idea to get it called off. when the race resumes, it's a three-way tussle between valentino, barros, and new challenger sete gibernau, even if at times it's less tussling and more wobbling. in the last couple of laps, it's down to sete and valentino to have it out in the treacherous conditions - and the last lap is proper dramatic. sete had already gotten one over valentino in welkom... but this defeat, coming after valentino had led the race, must surely have stung even more

*catalunya 2003: I feel a little mean making my first three 2003 picks races valentino all lost in quite painful fashion, but, hey, it's character building and really set up his whole arc for the next season-and-a-half. this one is... well. it's both embarrassing and kinda neat from vale. most of this race consists of a duel with capirossi - and when valentino hits the front, you do think that's going to be it. capirossi keeps close, however, and valentino eventually makes an error, running wide to let him through. shortly afterwards, he makes even a worse mistake and runs off into the gravel. once he's fucked up it's a pretty fun performance, where he starts posting pleasingly insane lap times to recover from sixth back to second

***sachsenring 2003: this race will always be remembered for valentino's penultimate corner overtake followed by his last corner mistake that resulted in sete's unlikely victory, but the race before that is good fun too! valentino looks like he'll make a break for it, and obviously miserably fails in his attempt - this time he's the one to be slowly, slowly, slowly caught by a persistent rival who eventually manages to get the better of him again. after this race, valentino vowed he wouldn't be taking any more prisoners. he didn't

****brno 2003: after a horrifying four race losing streak and the humiliation of sachsenring, valentino came back from the summer break with new determination and hunger and a mission to not let anyone get in his way any more. he does not have an easy time of it at brno, with a classic multi-rider dogfight that features regular and dramatic shake-ups of the riders' fortunes. the finish is incredibly close, and vale could have easily been denied the opportunity to pull out his elaborate victory celebrations: dressing up as a convict to symbolise how he felt imprisoned by his own success. here is a more in-depth post about the race

****phillip island 2003: this starts off in classic phillip island fashion, with a bunch of riders having it out in the early laps. then, valentino takes the lead and makes a break for it, and it looks like the excitement of the rest of the race will be all about the fierce fight for the remaining podium positions... except there's a twist. valentino overtook another rider under yellow flag conditions - and unlike donington that year where he was retroactively slapped with a ten second penalty that denied him the win, this time he is informed of the penalty during the race. this race is about as exhilarating as it is possible for a race to get when you're watching someone riding alone in the front - and you'll be provided with some added spice with the scrap for the last podium place. in the end, valentino crosses the finishing line with an obscene margin of over fifteen seconds

^think I already posted these notes somewhere but I can't NOT mention the commentary for this race. bottom of this post I included the autobiography excerpt about how valentino channelled his fury to win this race - very revealing!

****welkom 2004: still perhaps valentino's favourite victory of them all, and with good reason. his first race with yamaha and one that the entire paddock thought he didn't have a hope of winning... until they hit the track that weekend. valentino led every single session and qualified on pole: he said the pole position felt as good as ten with honda. better yet was still to come, with valentino claiming a victory following a thrilling duel against his old foe biaggi that raged on until the very last lap. such was the pace that third-placed sete was seven seconds down on the top pair at the chequered flag

^valentino stopped at the side of the track after his win, kissing his bike and sitting down for a moment to soak in the moment. he says he was laughing into his helmet: "'and so in the end I was right!' I thought to myself. 'I can't believe it, I screwed them all... what a show!'"

****mugello 2004: this race has so much going on, and all of it is highly enjoyable. valentino might have won the last two races at mugello - but off the back of two fourth places and with mugello's famously terrifying long straight, it felt like surely the more powerful hondas would have the decisive edge. and this one is a hard fight for valentino. it's a hard fight with several riders, it's a hard fight with sete and, following an interruption due to the rain, it's a hard fight in mixed conditions where valentino initially drops back to seventh to figure out the grip levels - before speeding off to the win. all the best types of races rolled into one

***catalunya 2004: right after mugello, it's time to visit sete's home - and here valentino kicks off a bit of a tradition of memorable one-on-one catalunya duels... as well as a habit of beating spaniards at the track. it's hard fought, it's challenging, but again valentino emerges on top

***assen 2004: the third consecutive race that featured an extended duel with sete. initially involving barros too - but he crashes, and it's down to the familiar protagonists. this really works as the last episode of that mini-trilogy because you can tell how badly sete felt he needed to reassert himself in that title fight, and conversely how little interest valentino had in letting him do so. involves a hard last lap overtake that resulted in contact. sete was not best pleased, but valentino had secured the win and the championship lead

^left: catalunya, where valentino dons the doctor's garb to perform a series of 'medical checks' on his yamaha, feat. stethoscope and thermometer, before declaring it fit for duty. right: assen, where yamaha staff dress up as doctors to pay tribute to him

qatar 2004: a good old-fashioned hubris ride. valentino was slapped with a back-of-the-grid penalty for some midnight grid cleaning shenanigans and is furious about this. he gets quite possibly the best start of his career and is eighth after a few corners, continues charging and barging his way through the field... before crashing and mashing up his finger and reopening that year's championship fight. the race does get a little dull after valentino does his thing - here are the ten most relevant minutes of footage as well as some more details about the penalty and the race. the weekend that irrevocably damaged his relationship with sete

***phillip island 2004: an underrated spite ride. if you're in the penultimate race of the season and you know a second place is enough to clinch the title and you're over a second behind your title rival and you historically suck at the circuit where title deciders are held, the sensible thing to do is just ride home in second place when it becomes clear the third-placed guy is not catching up. obviously, valentino does not do this, not least because he is determined to stop sete from ever winning a race again. this goes down to the very last lap and it is either a very cool or a very dumb way to seal a title, depending on how you look at it

****jerez 2005: both protagonists make very little secret from the start of the race of just how much they want to beat each other: this is war. and it's a war in which sete has the upper hand for most of the way through (as much as you can really feel you have the 'upper hand' with valentino sitting on your rear tyre) - until valentino makes his move with three laps to go. it takes an error from valentino on the last lap to set up the dramatic and controversial finale, with the infamous valentino block pass that sent his bike careening into sete's. the actions of a man who had decided neither of them finishing the race was a more acceptable outcome than his enemy taking the win, and the relationship between the two riders manages to improbably deteriorate still further

^satisfied with a good day's work as the furious spaniards jeer. if anyone had any lingering doubts about valentino's trademark ruthlessness, they were dispelled that day

**mugello 2005: another year, another thrilling mugello battle. it's looking increasingly clear that this will be a one-rider title fight, but luckily that isn't impacting the race quality (think marc's 2019, where he was incidentally the same age as valentino is here). similarly to the year before, there's cause for concern whenever you're fighting more powerful bikes at mugello, but after a dramatic multi-rider fight valentino is not to be denied

**catalunya 2005: back on sete soil and oh god how much he would have loved to win this race. it's the tension and hatred and desperation that makes these races so exciting to watch - though sete is hardly helped out in his mission of revenge by teammate marco melandri who keeps sabotaging sete's attempts to defy valentino's curse. but melandri has whatever the opposite of main character energy is and the race ends up being another valentino/sete duel. some excellent riding by the pair of them, valentino is particularly fearsome on the brakes that day, and sete has truly taken his gloves off when fighting valentino. but of course, valentino denies sete once again and makes a break for it shortly before the end

****donington park 2005: the defining wet weather ride of valentino's career - even though it got off to a shaky start (literally) and continued to be pretty shaky most of the way. this race was held in truly appalling conditions that they probably would not race in these days, and it's reflected in the number of dnf's - one of which was courtesy of poor sete gibernau once again crashing out of the lead. for most of the way, valentino is wobbling his way into the lead and wobbling his way out of it again... but after some big scares and some time spent nicely sheltering behind other riders, he finally figures out the grip conditions - and he's off. it's one of those rides that is just demoralising for everyone else in how good it is, with valentino pulling insultingly far clear from the other riders with insulting ease

^valentino plays a violin after crossing the finish line. teammate edwards: "I looked at his data and it was scary. he was locking the front in the rain on a shitty track that was slicker than snot, at every corner. this guy's crazy!" not pictured - valentino hugging himself and shivering while parking the bike... and being provided with an anorak and gloves that he only very, very, very reluctantly relinquishes when stepping onto the podium

*le mans 2005: you realise fairly quickly that this one's building to something juicy. colin edwards, valentino's teammate, takes the lead and heads out on his own, as valentino sets off after him - eventually slotting into his favourite position sitting right on the leader's rear tyre. except, he can't afford to hang around - because sete is going faster than both of them and is rapidly catching up. this one really gets going when the inevitable happens and the three of them collide on track, and of course we end up with another sete/valentino duel. cruelly, it's another one where the winner is still not entirely decided when they enter the very final lap... but the curse will not be denied. valentino breaks the circuit record on the last lap

*sachsenring 2005: the problem with watching these races is that even if you would prefer not to know the result going in... well, every single time the race comes down to a duel between sete and valentino post-qatar 2004, however strong sete looks, however confident, however near he is to the victory... you know he's obviously not going to make it. my advice is to really lean into it - the joy/horror of it all is in discovering how it's going to go wrong this time. this race features another lovely duel between valentino and sete, at a track that suits the honda far better than it does the yamaha. valentino leads early on before sete manages to catch up and overtake him. two laps to go and sete is still in the lead as valentino stalks him around... you know how this story goes

*brno 2005: ah, the misery. listen, if you enjoyed the previous sete/valentino duels I listed, then you're going to enjoy this one too. it's the race immediately following sachsenring and it feels like basically they just continued the last one, and boy are they going at it from the very start. sete determinedly sticks with valentino and surely one of these has to go his way... includes a particularly cruel twist on the final lap

qatar 2005: one year on from the race in which valentino put his curse on sete, and it feels like this might be sete's best chance for the remainder of the season to free himself. he gets perilously close to making a break for it ahead of the battling melandri and valentino... but of course, he can never run far enough. another painful defeat (if one caused by melandri more than valentino) and eventually valentino claims victory at the circuit that had caused him such trouble the year before

qatar 2006: valentino's 2006 season got off to a tricky start when toni elias rode into him in the very first corner of the opening race, and his luck didn't get much better from there. still, the year featured plenty of excellent valentino rides - including the second race of the season, where he fought his way through from sixth on the grid. features his first tussle with the rookie pole sitter, one casey stoner, who defends sternly against his future rival. eventually, valentino faces off against nicky hayden in a decent extended scrap that went on for much of the race

***mugello 2006: boy, did valentino get himself involved in some banger races at this circuit during his time. sete tries to escape at the front, and even in a tough year like 2006 valentino will not allow that man a moment's rest. a duel between sete and valentino ensues (featuring melandri and casey), then valentino suddenly drops down to fifth, then the race turns into a three-way encounter between capirossi, hayden, and... still valentino. he emerges from the feisty fray with a much-needed win

***sachsenring 2006: you could copy paste 'much-needed win' any time valentino won this year, and sachsenring is no exception. not traditionally his strongest track, valentino's urgency produced one hell of a race ripe with tension throughout. the yamaha's struggles made for a difficult qualifying and he fought his way through from eleventh on the grid. even when he caught the leaders and passed them, he couldn't just clear off like in times past, dragging three dogged riders along with him - but he just about managed to hold them off for the win

****sepang 2006: one of the best valentino duels, this time featuring one of his oldest rivals in the form of loris capirossi. part of his remarkable late season charge that brought him within kissing distance of the title. the entire race is enjoyable but the final lap is one for the ages, with valentino vicious in both attack and defence

^no hard feelings: capirossi hugs valentino while vale is still on the bike. 2006 is a rare title fight in which valentino genuinely liked most of his major rivals. vale was exhausted after the battle in the gruelling sepang conditions and had a little sit down after hugging his team

phillip island 2006: the first bike swap race and quite frankly the whole thing is a mess. a lot happens and it's classic late season chaos where the championship standings and implications are chopping and changing by the lap. when the dust settles, valentino has snagged third place on the last lap off poor sete gibernau and chips away a little more at hayden's championship lead

***estoril 2006: sure, valentino lost the 2006 title when he crashed at valencia, but he also lost it by .002s in estoril. this race featured a dramatic twist in the title fight when rookie dani pedrosa wiped out his teammate hayden, and suddenly valentino had to consider just how much risk he was willing to take. he had mostly decided to play it safe - but then couldn't help himself and ended up attacking toni elias on the very last lap. if he had managed to bag the extra five points, then even with the valencia crash he would have won the title on countback

valencia 2006: everyone thought valentino would be winning the title again headed into the weekend, and they became even more certain of it when valentino qualified on pole. but in the end, it was not to be. valentino got a poor start and felt something was wrong with the bike (or maybe it was the tyres, if one casey stoner is to be believed), but admits the mistake that left him on the ground was his own. a bitter pill to swallow after a season plagued by misfortunes, though valentino had always gotten on well with title winner nicky hayden and was sincere in his congratulations

****catalunya 2007: from the start of 2007, it was clear that new ducati hire casey stoner would be a problem. with yamaha's struggles continuing into the new 800cc era, ducati had gotten it spot on at the first try... even if it was only casey who could completely tame their troublesome bike. for a while, it seemed easy to dismiss casey's victories as built primarily on the back of the infamous ducati horsepower, but at catalunya casey proved he was far more than just a powerful engine. one of the true classic catalunya duels, with both riders displaying dazzling race craft, and one of casey's finest career victories

***assen 2007: valentino's season wasn't getting any easier - the yamaha was one thing but his continued struggles with the michelin tyres if anything frustrated him even more. he qualified in eleventh place and doesn't get a particularly good start while casey streaks off in the front. casey is over five seconds clear at one stage, but valentino manages to hunt down his title rival anyway. it's studying and stalking and lurking and all the rest of it, and as ever casey doesn't make it easy for him - but eventually valentino manages to pass him and pull clear

*estoril 2007: casey's championship was more or less wrapped up by this point, though valentino was able to deny him just a little longer at the first match point race. this features a nice scrap between casey and valentino, and then an extended duel with dani that is perhaps the best fight the two of them ever had. it was a much-needed win in a rough patch for valentino on- and off-track - and he dedicated it to one of his idols, the rally legend colin mcrae who had just passed away

**catalunya 2008: yes, okay, I know he won the three races before that one - but this one's a more fun race! after an initial adaptation period to his shiny new bridgestone tyres, his season had finally properly kicked off with the aforementioned three race win streak. at catalunya, valentino only qualified in ninth, and pedrosa streaked off in front - but valentino and casey engaged in a highly enjoyable rematch of the previous year's duel. in the end, it was valentino who prevailed, but casey and ducati had clearly gotten their own house in order...

^the version of valentino that marc first met, before vale's race in his special football-themed livery and leathers

****laguna seca 2008: after catalunya, casey stormed on to win the next three races on the trot, typically by ominous margins. heading into laguna seca, a race casey had dominated with ease the year before and valentino had never gone particularly well at, valentino knew casey might be in danger of running away with this championship... and he was determined to do something to finally conduct this rivalry on his terms. nobody expected there would be a contest for the victory, let alone one valentino won - but he did, in a brutal encounter that served as a masterclass in psychological intimidation. the relationship between the two rivals did not emerge unscathed

*indianapolis 2008: another race, another mediocre start, if this time from pole. it sets up a fun (to watch) race in worsening conditions, as valentino takes his time to get comfortable with the grip levels before slowly and surely working his way through the field and stalking first casey then nicky hayden around the track. he makes it to the front before eventually the race has to be called off - and, in a rare moment of unity, valentino and casey are seen briefly talking to ezpeleta together, presumably to tell him they have less than zero interest in going out again in that weather. they get their way and the race is called off, with valentino bagging his fourth consecutive victory - a streak he of course started at laguna. his second and last win on US soil

motegi 2008: the title-sealing race and fifth consecutive win - not the most exciting entry on this list, but earns its place by featuring a bit of a duel between title rivals casey and valentino for the lead (after they both get past dani, casey in a rather rude way that he apologises for with a hand gesture) (not that he gives the position back and valentino immediately swoops through too). motegi had always been one of vale's weakest tracks, and it must have felt extra sweet to clinch the title at the home race of his perennial enemies at honda (as he miserably failed to do in 2005 in a deeply embarrassing performance)

^'scusate il ritardo', or 'sorry for the delay': this title was special given the heartache of the two previous years. all smiles with casey and jorge (who comes to parc fermé to congratulate his teammate)

*sepang 2008: as was sometimes rare in that era, this race involves several good fights going on simultaneously down the order. the fight for the victory ends up coming down to valentino and dani, and it's a nice little duel they put on - plus there's also dovi's dramatic fight for the final podium position to enjoy

jerez 2009: dani and valentino's young teammate jorge lorenzo are the clear pre-race favourites and there's a slight fear one of them will run away with it... but jorge never quite finds his groove and ends up crashing, while dani very much does not run away with it. valentino finds something extra after being absolutely nowhere all weekend, as he had a habit of doing. features valentino shadowing first casey and dani - and a particularly nifty contact-free block pass at the infamous final corner on casey. valentino's first win of a tough season

****catalunya 2009: one of valentino's finest career victories - and another example of his ability to wrest control of a season when he needed to. off the back of two tricky/embarrassing races at le mans/mugello, it felt like the time had come to demonstrate he was a serious contender in that year's championship... as well as assert himself within yamaha over his increasingly troublesome young teammate. the stakes are clear: jorge sorely wanted to win in front of his home crowd and valentino sorely wanted to beat him there. after a strong start, the physically ailing casey falls back, letting jorge and valentino soar off and fight it out as they take turns to tail each other around the track. a duel for the ages and the victory that transforms his fortunes in that season (some more details in this post)

**sachsenring 2009: a few races after catalunya, it was once again jorge and valentino to fight it out for the win - unusual for two yamahas at that track. it's a duel that has been overshadowed by catalunya, but this is another gem: a close and dramatic battle at a time when it felt like jorge was the one who had something to prove. but valentino demonstrates how hard it still is to best him in head-to-head combat, and he ends up beating the number 99 bike by the pleasing margin of .099s (listen I have no evidence for this but in my heart of hearts I 100% believe he noticed and appreciated this fact)

misano 2009: this race followed valentino's massive error in indianapolis, crashing and reopening the championship fight at a time when it looked like he had things perfectly under control. his traditional special home race helmet is dedicated to taking the piss out of himself - featuring a donkey because of how "stupid" he had been. but in misano he was the "flying donkey"... look, it's not the best race you'll ever watch, but after a poor start (surely not), he does do quite a nice job to overtake dani for the lead. in parc fermé, his team dons donkey ears, and he gets his own pair to wear to the podium as he greets his ecstatic fans

**sachsenring 2010: valentino's early season was troubled by a motocross shoulder injury he'd picked up after qatar, and he had to push harder and harder to keep up with an ever-improving jorge. eventually, he pushed too hard and broke his leg in mugello. this was his first race back, returning sooner than anyone had expected (except casey, who thought people were making too big a deal out of the whole thing) - and he immediately was on the pace, to everyone's surprise (not casey's, who thought valentino's main problem was just losing a bit of muscle mass). this race features an excellent duel between casey and valentino in the closing stages for the final podium position, with casey stealing it from valentino at the very last gasp. it was an impressive performance by the pair of them, a heartwarming demonstration of how mediocre bikes and broken legs can be overcome by the power of mutual contempt

***motegi 2010: do you ever feel overcome by the sudden urge to watch someone be an absolute asshole for no good reason? if so, then I have the perfect race for you. jorge is very close to clinching that year's title, and in truth it's a pretty sure-fire thing given dani is out with injury. still, it's generally not considered good form to ride into your teammate at the best of times. valentino continues to struggle with his fucked up shoulder late into the season, but spite will do all kinds of magical things for you. it's a race-long battle for third place between the yamaha teammates, and the last few laps in particular are uh. intense. features valentino dangling out his leg to increasingly comical extents - whether to try and mitigate the shoulder issues or whether to physically block jorge is anyone's guess. jorge basically rides right into the leg more than once. there are at least three separate extremely dubious moves valentino pulls on jorge. you can tell jorge is losing his mind. you can feel the sheer concentrated malice radiating off valentino. when valentino gets off the bike, the mic picks up how he tells the yamaha team that it "was fun". not everyone would agree

^you'd think a season in which valentino had broken his leg might be one where everyone lays off the dramatics a little, but somehow this year was the one in which valentino's relationships with both of his main rivals soured considerably and made the final step from 'rivalry' to 'feud'. there'll always be a slight air of unfinished business to the casey rivalry in particular, but 2010 did end up unwittingly providing us with a few gems. in the motegi qualifying press conference (pictured above), vale talks about how he knows he needs shoulder surgery - but is determined to delay the surgery until the end of the season. it wasn't a good decision for his shoulder

**sepang 2010: the race that immediately follows motegi. valentino doesn't qualify particularly well and starts worse, dropping back to 12th during the first lap as jorge and dovi set out in front. but valentino determinedly sets after them - and when he catches up, they engage in a lovely three-way scrap in the race in which jorge can seal the championship... as long as valentino doesn't knock him off. this doesn't reach the viciousness of motegi, but it still involves three riders who clearly really want to win and also really want to beat each other. his first victory after the broken leg - and his last one for a long time

jerez 2011: thing is, right, if you just ignore the bit where he wipes both himself and casey out and then has to pick the bike up and start again, it's actually a really good ride! can't fault it! did his thing in the wet again! just one little. uh. blot on the copybook. I wouldn't even say the ambition outweighed the talent as much as it was his patience, given he knew it might be the only chance he'd get for a big result for a while on the struggling ducati. it's the kind of misjudgement he makes relatively rarely in his career, and speaks to his frustrations with the continuing shoulder problems as well as the underperforming desmosedici. casey was less than sympathetic

le mans 2011: it's le mans, it's raining, you know how it goes... these conditions were pretty much the only times valentino could manage a decent pace in his ducati years. this one should've gone on the dovi list too actually, not least because jorge executes an extremely rude move on dovi I feel confident in saying dovi did not appreciate (he gets jorge back with a far more polite and civilised move). casey runs off with the win by a fairly obscene margin but behind him there's plenty of talking points - not least the hugely controversial clash between dani and sic that leaves jorge, dovi and valentino fighting for the two remaining podium spots

*le mans 2012: valentino might have expressed mixed feelings over the course of his career about riding in the wet, but it sure did its job during the ducati years as the great big equaliser. now, point of order: in my casey rec list, I described this as 'not a great casey race', which I don't stand by at all. the last casey/vale duel (that also heavily features a vale/dovi/cal crutchlow tussle), with valentino stalking and harassing casey both at the start and the end of the race - though he did exercise some advisable caution... initially. involves a last lap overtake and is valentino's best ducati performance

^the last podium valentino and casey shared, in the race after casey announced his retirement. usually it's a bit easier to tell when a valentino feud is at its worst, and the two of them joked in the press conference about how they were thinking back during the race to their 2011 jerez clash. ducati were in such a miserable place in those two years that in truth, nobody could have done much with that bike - casey certainly could have done more, but by 2010 the bike so awful that valentino outscored casey that season even after fucking up his shoulder and breaking his leg. vale's sole dry podium in the ducati seasons came at an emotional home race in misano the year after sic's passing, though unfortunately it's not a particularly watchable race. there are some other rides in those two years that are strong in isolation, but valentino isn't the star of the show - and really, it'd be a waste of our precious time to talk any more about two years that were a waste of valentino's precious time

qatar 2013: the first race back with yamaha and the first race of a 'qatar trilogy' of sorts, i.e. 2013-15, where valentino just keeps executing extremely watchable races by qualifying poorly/dropping back at the start and then fighting his way through. by the time he catches up with the pack, race winner lorenzo is long gone - but valentino can still have his first fight with the next big thing in motogp, the rookie marc marquez. there's an optimism to this race, the hope of new beginnings in a series that perhaps needed some life breathed back into it... and so did valentino. all three men on the podium have good reason to be delighted, and show it. valentino truly had not known if he could be competitive again after the dark ducati days, and he looks happier here than he has in ages

*assen 2013: his first victory in the post-ducati days and a track at which he had always been strong. partly helped out by jorge's collarbone injury (though assen had always been a bit of a bogey track for jorge), valentino overtook stefan bradl, marc and dani for the win. it's not the most thrilling of races, but is still perfectly enjoyable - and you can tell by valentino's reaction how much it meant to him

qatar 2014: bar a few high points, valentino's 2013 season had been troubled and frustrating as he found himself unable to match the top three in the championship. he decides to make one more big move - this time not by switching teams, but instead by firing his long-time crew chief jb. the start of 2014 is all about seeing if he can become competitive once again... and if he cannot then he will retire. qatar is a promising start, coming back from a poor qualifying to engage in a tightly fought duel with marc that lasts until the penultimate lap

misano 2014: valentino clearly stepped up his game this season, making him decide to continue on racing in motogp in a year in which marc was dominating the competition. race wins, however, remained elusive - but there is nowhere valentino would have rather emerged victorious than his own backyard. the opening stages are a proper fun three-way tussle between valentino, marc and jorge. valentino gets to the front and marc pursues him, so doggedly determined to get the better of valentino that he ends up crashing. the rest of the race isn't all that exciting, but it's notable as the first race in which valentino directly outperformed both marc and jorge when they were fully fit. the ranch visit happens after this race

phillip island 2014: never the most gifted of qualifiers, valentino would continually struggle to get to grips with the new qualifying format introduced in 2013 - and his grid position of eighth was typical of the time. but you can't fault him for his ability to pick his way through the field as he does here, which culminates in his enjoyable duel with jorge for what was then p2. he got lucky with marc's crash out of a sizeable lead, but it was still a good ride to ensure he would be the one to take advantage

***qatar 2015: it takes one corner for the 2015 championship to be blown wide open, when two time defending champion marc marquez goes off and drops to the back of the field. for much of the race, it looks like jorge will be the primary benefactor, battling it out with two revitalised ducatis. valentino starts badly and drops to tenth, but he works his way through the field - and eventually it is he who fights the ducatis for the win. this is actually a really nice marc comeback ride too, even if he never comes into victory contention. it is also a statement victory from valentino. game on

^valentino started the season on a high, daring to hope that the elusive tenth title might finally be his. the optimism would last roughly until they got to europe and jorge hit his stride, after which it was a gruelling defensive campaign to try and cling onto his points lead

**argentina 2015: the thing is, right, qualifying poorly isn't great. starting poorly also isn't great. but if you want to be fighting for titles, you should maybe pick a struggle and stop doing both. valentino's championship bid that year has all these charming races where he's still at the fuck end of nowhere after the first lap before heroically picking his way through the field, which feels needlessly exhausting but there we are. it is, however, exciting to watch how he creeps closer and closer to marc - and he eventually catches up on the penultimate lap. the resulting duel is short but memorable

****assen 2015: a duel that will always be remembered for the controversy surrounding the final chicane, but the whole race is a fantastic watch. valentino needed a result after jorge had won four races on the trot and had led 103 consecutive laps - and he played the weekend perfectly to achieve it. his only pole of the season and, excitingly, actually a good start too... but marc quickly slots in to sit on his rear tyre and it's a fight that continues the entire race. did valentino know what marc had been intending to do at the final chicane, given marc had admitted to repeatedly executing the move during that weekend's practise sessions? or was it just quick thinking that allowed him to read marc's move and realise he only had one counter available? we'll never know for certain - though marc was suspicious of valentino's motives and eagerly made his thoughts on the matter known in the post-race press conference. the beginning of the end

**silverstone 2015: after brno, valentino had surrendered the championship lead for the first time that season on countback and it was obvious he was in serious trouble. silverstone had proven a fairly happy hunting ground for jorge over the years and it looked like he would continue doing his thing that weekend... but then the rain came to the rescue. valentino spends most of the race with fellow wet weather expert marc stalking his every move, until marc goes down and valentino is left managing the gap to a late-charging petrucci. one of the finest wet weather performances of his career - and in several ways jorge got lucky to limit the points damage

^valentino's shadow, until marc pushed it too far and crashed. was marc more determined to beat valentino here than he would have been anyone else? valentino sure seems to think so - he later references both this race and misano as ones where marc aroused his suspicions. who knows, he might be right, but there's still a sizeable difference between competitive fervour and conspiracy

****phillip island 2015: one of the classic multi-rider fights. what valentino lacked in outright pace, he made up for in wheel-to-wheel skill and fighting spirit... except in the end, he couldn't completely make up for the deficit. all year, valentino had been fighting against the odds to keep his championship dreams alive - but at last, they were truly slipping, slipping, slipping away

**sepang 2015: one last roll of the dice, classic rossi-style... but this time it all goes horribly wrong. when the duel between marc and valentino arrives, it has an air of inevitability about it - as, perhaps, does the final outcome. but the fight itself is captivating to watch, in a raw brutality that befits the tragedy we are watching unfold. the penalty that valentino receives after the race is what truly dooms any remaining title hopes

valencia 2015: another doomed title decider, though valentino's race itself cannot really be faulted. he picks his way through the field from the very back and makes it to fourth, but he could never have hoped to catch up to the top three. quite a boring race afterwards bar some late marc/dani scrapping

jerez 2016: it is admittedly hard to vouch for the quality of this race precisely because it is such an extremely non-valentino way to win. clear and complete domination of the race - in a way he had otherwise been incapable of doing post-2009. while the title fight ended up being a bit of a dud for various reasons, early 2016 held promise that this year valentino would be able to match his two enemies on raw pace

***catalunya 2016: after the dramatic closing stages of the 2015 season, everyone was of course waiting for the first proper on-track duel between valentino and marc. it took a while to get going at catalunya, with valentino getting a typically poor start and having to ruthlessly work his way through to even get to the marc fight. but it's worth it once he gets there - like all their on-track encounters, it's a fierce battle of wills nicely complemented by the contrast in styles, and you can tell how ferociously determined they are to get the better of each other. the race that prompts the slight rapprochement between the pair of them

silverstone 2016: maverick vinales ran off in the front to claim his first premier class win, though the fight behind him is well worth watching - and warranted a mention on the marc list too. the first part is good, but the final laps are what it's all about, as the multi-rider scrap distills into another vicious little encounter between valentino and marc. as ever, with these two it's personal, and they're hardly shy in their ferocity fighting each other. but valentino makes clear afterwards he has no complaints... even if marc always reserves a "special treatment" for him

cota 2017: a lovely whiff of controversy to one of the better races cota has produced. valentino is involved in a feisty clash with the rookie johann zarco, who was well on his way to acquiring a certain kind of reputation within the premier class. it's fair to say valentino was not a fan, and he's certainly not a fan of zarco's attempted overtake that valentino argued forced him off-track to avoid taking them both down. he's slapped with a three tenths penalty his team decided against informing him of - which he's still unaware of when closing up on dani with a few laps to go

^not quite the hand-holding of yesteryear, but it was something. the pair of them disagreed in the post-race presser about zarco's aggressive riding - and, perhaps, valentino's off-track excursion that supposedly granted him an unfair advantage reminded marc of a certain other previous incident. riding standards remained a major talking point for all of that season, most notably in assen and phillip island (though valentino himself ended up coming under some criticism, in particular by pedrosa after aragon). the two rivals agreed more often than not, even if valentino still had his reservations. after phillip island: "all riders are very aggressive, so you have to be more stupid than them"

**assen 2017: his last grand prix victory and it's as true to him as brno 1996. a rough, bruising tussle between riders who aren't afraid to exchange paint, with plenty of high quality racing on offer. some rain adds to the excitement - and valentino still faced a sturdy challenge on the very last lap. he remains the only rider in history to have recorded a grand prix win over twenty years after his first. he said afterwards that "sincerely I race with motorcycle for what you feel the five, six hours after the victory". in many ways, it feels like a scarcely believable amount of commitment for so fleeting a reward

****phillip island 2017: multi! rider! scrap! in! australia! valentino's strongest result after a broken leg in a motocross accident took him definitively out of the title hunt (the second serious motocross-related injury that year for him). anyhow, they're at it again and it's a brutal battle between several protagonists who are happy to get their elbows well, well out. valentino's leathers were marked by rather a lot of rubber by the end of the race - but the most important thing is that everyone had fun!

sachsenring 2018: valentino's 2018 performances were generally stronger than the results would suggest, with yamaha increasingly out at sea in a new era hurried along by the return of the michelin tyres. still, he put together a strong first half of the season and was marc's main challenger points-wise. even this late in his career, he demonstrated his willingness to continue to learn and improve by studying satellite yamaha rider jonas folger's performance fighting marc the year before at the circuit, joking after the race that nobody had ever told folger the yamaha wasn't supposed to be good around there. while in the end valentino couldn't really pose a significant challenge to marc, he gives it a good go and gets involved in a fun fight with jorge along the way

****assen 2018: one of the classic multi-rider dogfights, and valentino contributes very nicely to the drama of the race - not least as a result of his deep love for the final chicane. while the winner always had something extra in his back pocket, a rather unfortunate late coming together ends up (probably) depriving valentino of what would have been a deserved podium place

argentina 2019: marc disappears the moment the lights go out, but the battle behind him provides plenty of excitement. there's a bunch of riders fighting for the remaining podium places, elbows nicely out, but eventually valentino and dovi have it out in an entertaining contest that goes down right to the very last lap

^winning a last lap duel against andrea dovizioso... what, like it's hard? a year on from an eventful argentina grand prix, marc memorably likens his handshake with valentino to kissing a girl. the last podium the two of them share

andalusia 2020: some silly good defending against his teammate throughout the race that mainly had the effect of allowing fabio to escape. valentino's result was quite the heroic feat given the gruelling physical conditions: 36 degrees celsius with horrendous track temperatures, with only 13 of 21 riders making it to the end. the blistering heat also hardly helped with the tyre preservation that plagued this portion of valentino's career; managing these tyres was one development too far for his ever-evolving riding style to adjust to. two academy riders could have denied valentino's final career podium, but both their bikes had the decency to break down

^three yamaha's stood on the podium that day for the first time since 2014 phillip island, and presumably for the last time until around 2064. valentino celebrated enthusiastically to the empty jerez grandstands, 21 years after his infamous visit to the portaloo at the same circuit. valentino's decision to retire was complicated by the pandemic, his past ability to bounce back from rough patches and - most of all - his inexhaustible passion for racing, but eventually he called it a day after the 2021 season

[callsign-rogueone]

hey cutie! i hope you're doing well! i saw your liam post a while back and bc i seemed to love him and so does literally everybody else, i was wondering (bc im writing a book) what makes him so likeable to people? like why did we all fall in love with him immediately and then die of devastation when he was killed?

hihi!! Liam deserves multiple essays on how amazing he is, but here's some thoughts that I can def expand on later if you'd like, not edited at all (also if I missed anything, feel free to add in comments / reblogs!!)

he has a tragic backstory and he's from a group that you're "not supposed to like". Xaden drags Vi into the marked group, but Liam's the one who truly brings her around on the issue and builds sympathy? empathy? whichever one. for Vi and the reader -- we find out his parents were killed, he was separated from his little sister, both of them are forced to be riders and serve a country that has done terrible things to them and their family...

he has a sweet old man hobby. he WHITTLES. that is senior citizen behavior. I know the hobbies a person can have in this world are a bit limited since their tech isn't like ours but still. he's 20 years old and he whittles for fun. what a dweeb. (I say this affectionately. you all know I will defend this man with my life. and he's very good at it and it makes him happy 🥺)

his whole relationship with Xaden. Liam is this perfect (literally) little puppy soldier that does absolutely everything Xaden asks of him because he quite literally owes Xaden his life (and Sloane's.) that level of dedication is rare. and that he clearly looks up to Xaden (and I HC that he wants to make him proud...)

adding on to that... him protecting Violet without (visible) pushback. he's agreeable to protecting the daughter of the woman who killed his parents and aunts/uncles/family friends etc., most obviously because Xaden asked him to, but I also think he was able to separate the mother and daughter like Garrick did too. he knows Vi isn't at fault for his problems.

he's smiley / laughing / a good time. he's the foil to Xaden in many ways (brothers who look nothing alike, most obviously) but he shows us that not all the marked ones are angry and gloomy all the time. he gets in on second squad's banter, makes jokes of his own...

he's very observant and emotionally intelligent. he knows what's going on b/n Vi and Xaden, and I highly doubt that's because him and Xaden are having slumber parties with Bodhi and Garrick to talk about their crushes (I have to write that now, don't I... the girlfriends having a "girls night" and the boys not knowing what to do with themselves. so they have their own girls night...) he just picks up on all the little things and he knows when Vi is and isn't okay, despite having known her for like... a max of 6 months?

literally mister perfect. he's the quadrant's golden boy. he was forced to be here, but he's top of the class, jogged across the parapet, best time on the gauntlet, dusted everyone. never lost a challenge. I know Deigh is so dang proud of his boy. probably brags to the other dragons about his perfect son <3

Sloane. he's worried about her for next year, he's writing her letters weekly even though he can't send them, and by the time he CAN send them, she'll be in the quadrant herself... yeah, good thing he wrote them in advance... [crickets] anyway, he's a cutie big brother like Brennan, wanting to protect lil sis, and it's clear he loves her so so much <3 (another headcanon of mine that she absolutely adored him and he was forced into all the tea parties and dolls stuff but he did it with a smile. need girl dad Liam so bad.)

and then the circumstances of his death. he died following Xaden's orders (prime directive: keep Violet safe) and while it's been eight months since I last read that scene and I refuse to read it again any time soon, I think he definitely knew that he was putting himself in immediate danger to save her, and he still did it anyway.

that's all I got for now but I am absolutely positive that there's more. good luck with the book!! I did some work on my own today on the flight, inspiration struck after leaving it to sit there for months lol

[wyverian-lady525]

Hi there been a while since i asked for a story but i love reading em!

How about because of all the times kyle has seen the rider fall off stuff and have horrible landing. (Aka the ship, guardian ratha, raza. Their about as graceful as a scarred yian garuga is pretty) kyle has come to the habit of instinctually catching the rider when they fall off. To the point if the rider is hoping off just to dismount kyle is there catching them.

Welcome back! Hope you enjoy! Thank you!💖

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There To Catch You

Kyle has seen you fall too many times to trust you landing safely on your feet.

You've had a nasty past when it came to falling from dangerously high places. First it was an air ship, then you fell off Ratha, and even more things after that. Your horrible landing has led you coming close to having comas, sometimes that was even the case, leading Kyle to act like a worried mom.

You had about as much grace as a hatchling-if it was blind.

Kyle had thought that you would grow out of this nasty habit, but some people never change. You would always be prone to landing horribly no matter where you fell from. This has led to the hunter doing something he wasn't expecting to do.

Instinctively move to catch you whenever you might seem like falling.

I mean, while you always land like a bumbling trash bag, Kyle can always stay planted on his feet like a flawless god. Tsukino found the whole situation hilarious.

Not only has Kyle become your guardian, but he's taken it way out of hand.

"Kyle...what are you doing?" Your voice floated down from on top of Ratha. You were standing on the saddle, ready to hop off, but the hunter stood stubbornly before you, his arms raised like a toddler wanting to be picked up.

"I'm not taking any chances." He said, moving his fingers in a way that seemed to say "move already." You tilted your head.

"What do you mean?" You asked, obviously not realizing your amazing terrible habit of hurting yourself by falling. Even though the ground was less than three feet away, you would still probably fall on your face.

"You fall and hurt yourself too easily. Obviously, you need someone there to catch you. The felynes can't do it, so I guess I had to." Kyle said as if he despised having to catch you. In all seriousness, he doesn't mind having to play this role. He's been the younger brother all his life, and now he can finally feel like some roles were reversed.

"I do not!" You immediately declared in a stubborn manner before turning your back to him to jump off the other side.

Ratha snorted at the situation.

But as expected, as you moved to jump your foot slipped and you were ready to land flat on your back, crashing the back of your head on the ground. It wouldn't be anything too serious, but you would have a nasty bruise. But instinctively, Kyle had dashed quick on feet to the other side of your monstie to catch you.

And he did.

"You were saying?" Kyle asked in a parental manner as you opened your eyes sheepishly. Your face turned pink in a flustered manner.

"Thank you..." You muttered, looking away from him as Kyle released you from his arms once you were steady on your feet.

"That's what I thought." He declared proudly, hands on his hips. Kyle felt like a disgruntled parent with his irresponsible offspring. Because even though you now realized you had bad luck for falling and landing, it didn't stop you from jumping from high places.

But Kyle was always there to catch you.

Annoyingly so sometimes.

[sso-montana]

Catherine lives! AU

Ok so I finally got around to write this thing so here you all go, more under the cut bc it kinda got long

Also if you want me to make a post specifically abt how Catherine being alive would impact the general story tell me and I'll make one for that, too ♡´･ᴗ･`♡

Catherine always knew Montana was like her, even when she was little. At first she was hesitant to let Justin play and spend time with her but after seeing how good they got along and remembering how she never really had friends she decided to let them be.

Fast forward to Montana coming back to Jorvik and Catherine's motherly instincts I immediately kick in. Yes, she hasn't seen this girl in almost 8 years and she's grown up and changed so much. The Montana before her is so quiet and almost desperately tries to She's reminded so much of her younger self, of how lost and alone she felt and decides that she won't let this happen to another girl. Once Montana realizes she posses magic abilities and starts training with Ydris and a WIP oc of mine (it's a bit messy right now kay?) Catherine sits her down and tells her about how they're the same. Obviously Montana asks her for help and guidance, which Catherine immediately shuts down. Montanas initial reaction of anger and confusion leaves after Catherine explains that she no longer associates herself with magic, hasn't used it in years and never was that good at it. What Catherine can do though is make Montana aware of the dangers of magic, to tell her about her own mistakes, the Keepers and the Sisterhood.

And there are times when Catherine is almost scared of Montana. Because Montana isn't like her, isn't afraid to loose control. She's so full of anger and frustration and sadness right after loosing her parents and that paired with uncontrolled power is a dangerous combination. Montana isn't hurting others on accident but rather manages to keep injuring herself while learning. There are so many times she comes back to the stables and Justin and Montana sit in the saddle chamber putting creams on her arms and wrapping bandages around her hands because she burnt or cut herself. She's stubborn and impulsive and acts without thinking things through and clearly struggles with magic.

And yet she makes up for it with her sheer determination to learn, to master this power which allows her to protect what's left and Catherine can't help but be amazed at this young girl. They're the same and yet so completely different.

Of course as soon as Justin starts to get more involved with all the magic stuff Catherine is worried about him. It's not like she wasn't worried about Montana to begin with, but Justin is her son, her baby. It's the first time the two of them ever had a big argument since Justin never really fought with his mom. Even after they talk it out she's not happy with him joining Montana on trips. But after seeing his determination and desire to protect Mo, to be able to return the favor because she always protects them and he desperately wants to keep her safe, to make her understand she's not alone and doesn't have to do everything by herself, even if at times it scares him, Catherine gives in. At least she has the comfort of knowing they're looking out for each other.

Catherine isn't unfriendly to the soul riders either, quite the opposite. It would be easy to be angry at them, to hold grudges and not want a single thing to do with it, but that's not like her. Catherine isn't a hateful person. She wouldn't be angry at kids for something that their predecessors did. Elizabeth and Avalon are a different story of course, but the girls never did anything bad, she doesn't hold any grudges against them specifically. They're just kids, kids who have way too many things that they have to shoulder than anyone that age should. Those girls aren't even in their 20s and are being told the fate of Jorvik and perhaps the whole world is depending on them. That's fucked up, like, severely fucked up.

So Catherine always tells them that no matter what, they can always come to Moorland Stables. Even if she can't do much in regard to guiding them on their Soul Rider journey, she can make sure there is a place for them where they're safe.

It does hurt to see that just like her Montana feels like she doesn't fit in, doesn't belong with them. To see that cycle repeat itself. Yet Montana doesn't seem to be as bothered by it as she had been, which isn't exactly better if you hear the 'I wasn't really able to make friends after we left Jorvik, so it's nothing new' explanation.

I do think she would stay away from Valedale and the Keepers and Elizabeth as far as she can. The only time I can see her showing up again is after Justin got imprisoned and for the first time in her life Catherine is full on willing to throw hands with someone. (She doesn't. She doesn't stop Montana from doing it for her either.)

TL;DR

Catherine is basically treating Montana as her own daughter and being a great at it. She doesn't hold grudges against the current Soul Riders bc they're just kids. The Keepers can go fuck themselves she ain't dealing with them. When are Montana and Justin getting married she'd love to have her as her daughter in law

[crescentblossom66]

Prompt 15 Stallion

The Express Owls looked one more anxious than the next, as the dreaded trailers arrived. Hat Kid and Bow Kid, meanwhile looked thrilled, they had been looking forward to filming this particular scene of the movie. The Conductor filled out the form needed as the delivery person arrived to bring the horses that were required to chase after the train in the next scene of the. Why the Western director chose to real use real animals instead of CGI irked his subordinates who had to not only take care of the horses, but also somehow ride them to film the movie.

The purple eyed girl immediately took a liking to the white horse that was carefully brought out of the trailer, moved closer the animal and stretched out a hand to pet the face of the horse. Hat Kid soon did the same trying to tame one of the wilder horses, the owls were more reserved shaking at the mere sight of the mares and stallions. “Alright, boys, lets start recording!”

Hat Kid and Bow Kid wasted no time getting on the horses and riding around a little to get a feel for riding. “Uh...I don't think this is a good idea, boss...” One of the owls started, but was immediately shut down by black clad bird.

“Are ye the director or me, lad? If I say it's a good idea, it is a peckin' great idea!” The owls flinched at his voice, now stuck between their fear of the horses and their director's anger. Obviously, the poor Express Owls were more afraid of their boss, so they reluctantly tried to get on the horses, one got thrown off immediately causing the Conductor to sigh in disappointment.

After around two hours, Hat- and Bow Kid managed to get a good feel for their horses and had no trouble riding behind the train...the owls on the other hand fared rather poorly. One owl had injured his wing on take 5, another ate sand as the horse stopped swiftly, and launched him off his back and straight into the ground. All this of course made the yellow owl rage more and more. “How can ye all be so incompetent?! It cannae be that hard to stay in the saddle!” The owl that ate sand spoke up, annoyed enough to talk back to the pissed off bird.

“This is not a horse, sir, this thing is a demon!” The Conductor looked at the owl then back at the stallion with a beautiful red coat.

“This wee lad is givin' ye trouble? He ain't lookin' so bad.” Even the two girls were reluctant to approach the wildest horse of the bunch, yet the yellow bird approached it without even hesitating. The horse shifted its ears back and showed sign of agitation. “Alright, laddie, time ta show ye who's the boss 'round these parts.” He jumped on the stallion's back who immediately tried to buck him off and get throw him either over his head or down his back, yet the director seemed to have no trouble staying on, shifting his weight accordingly. “Yer gonna tired befer me!” The owls watched in awe and the two girls started to clap and cheer at the amazing display, it caused him to grab his hat and hold it outstretched in one had, like a cowboy. A few moments later, the rebellious stallion calmed down, tamed by its skilled rider. “See, that's how ye do it!”

The next take of the scene ended up a lot better than the previous ones, it was as if the group of horses calmed down after seeing their leader being bested by the old, yellow owl.

[natedogx15]

Kamen Rider Deku Mission 15: The Next Phase

Previous Chapter / AO3 / Master List

In one of the office buildings of Deika City's central tower, the Meta Liberation Army executives are meeting about the Kamen Riders. The room is dark, with the only light playing being a projector showing various data they've collected on the Kamen Riders over time.

They're reviewing Deku's performance against Overdrive Nomu and how fast he and the Plus Striker are

"It's impressive that they can have such speed and control to keep up with that Nomu. They're quicker than any of our warriors, I would say." Trumpet says with an intrigued smile as they watch the chase happen.

"Yes. That motorcycle is faster than any support item my company has created. Not only that, it uses the same system as its rider." Re-Destro nods in agreement as the tall man, who recorded him and Giran, pulls up footage of Plus Striker using the Barrier Power Coin.

"It's amazing. I wonder what the capabilities of the system are. It's too bad we can't just take the one wielded by the one Slidin' Go and Shinonome without drawing suspicion. I'd love to see what the inside of such a revolutionary device looks like." Curious says with her usual smile as she watches the different videos.

"I wouldn't mind having our scientists look into them as well. Amazing job as always in collecting data, Skeptic." Re-Destro says while he smiles at the tall man.

"It was a simple task with the resources of Feel Good Industries, Grand Commander." Skeptic nods.

"So, what will our next move be?" Trumpet asks calmly, much to Skeptic's annoyance.

"Obviously, we'll try to find a weakness from the data gathered." He tells Trumpet in a somewhat condescending manner.

Trumpet rolls his eyes at his fellow executive's antics as Re-Destro speaks up.

"That's one of the reasons for this meeting. Another is that I'm having Geten look for a warrior who can wield the proto-type duplicate of the Driver the Kamen Riders use. I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions as well." Re-Destro tells them.

"Unfortunately, I don't know any warriors around me that can wield it." Trumpet tells Re-Destro.

"It's the same for me. I can't think of anyone." Skeptic nods.

The only one not denying it is Curious, who has a finger to her chin as she thinks about those around her.

"I might have someone in mind to test the device and make sure it's safe. He's a rather brave man who works as a security guard at my company. I'm sure he'd be more than willing to test the Driver for our cause. Do you plan to give it to Geten when you know it's safe?" She asks her leader with a smile, causing him to nod.

"Yes. Geten's Meta Ability has already gone through its awakening. Should we give him another way to enhance it, he may even be capable of fighting All Might, and our revolution can happen sooner than initially intended." Re-Destro says with a confident smirk that excites the others.

"Having the next All Might be on the side of our cause would greatly increase our influence. People would believe this was meant to happen and that your ancestor was right from the beginning, Grand Commander." Trumpet says with a pleased smile.

"Imagine how many hearts I could claim for the army by doing a story on Geten's life and his constant training for the Meta Liberation Army's belief. Everyone loves the story of a hard-working underdog whose efforts let them rise to greatness." Curious says happily while imagining publishing the article after Geten's debut and getting the M.L.A. more recruits.

Skeptic doesn't say anything but smiles at the prospect of their revolution taking off quicker with far more firepower than expected.

"Yes, yes. That's all perfect. However, we mustn't get carried away. We don't know how strong that device is or if it will help Geten's Meta Ability." Re-Destro chastizes the revolution leaders.

The leaders calm themselves from their excitement, and Re-Destro continues.

"Now, we have a good amount of information on each of the powers the Kamen Riders have used. Deku seems to be the most well-rounded of the group, with abilities that work to enhance his already incredible abilities along with long-range attacks, such as this Petrification Power Finish." Re-Destro states while the scene of Deku using the Solidification Power Coin against Overdrive Nomu is shown.

"On the other hand, Chamber is a mainly long-range Kamen Rider but does seem to have a mid-range form that relies on invisibility or camouflage," Re-Destro states while images of both Chamber's forms appear for the executives to see.

"Finally, the Kamen Rider we're trying to get on our side. King Explosion Murder." Re-Destro says as Katsuki's image appears onscreen along with his Kamen Rider form.

"From what Slidin' Go has told me, trying to get him on our side has been difficult. He has his mind set on only becoming the number one hero and isn't interested in anything else. All he cares about is the chance to be seen as the strongest." Skeptic states.

"Yes. He's a wild card but is also one of our more promising candidates for new warriors if his history at Aldera is anything to go by. He's apparently smart and has a lot of natural talent. With his Meta Ability, he'd make him the perfect warrior and possibly give him a chance to usurp Geten's position as the strongest warrior to our cause. Especially if we can get him to join us while he's wielding the Driver." Re-Destro states while holding up a file of Katsuki given to him by the Aldera Middle and Aldera High School principals.

"The problem is how we can get him to side with us. And how to do it without drawing suspicion to us." Trumpet nods.

"Exactly. Slidin' Go has told me his teachings haven't been going well. Luckily, from what I've been told, he likely won't hesitate to attack the other Kamen Riders when given the chance again." Re-Destro tells them with a smile.

"That's comforting to know. Even if he's not a part of our cause yet, he's still willing to help us by weakening the other two." Trumpet says with a content smile of his own.

"Yes. That's why I believe the key to our victory is to separate the Kamen Riders so two will be in one place. We'll give our wildcard the chance to take his anger out on the other Kamen Riders while forcing another to fight alone." Re-Destro explains.

"So, we're going to have our wildcard battle one of the Kamen Riders and soften them up for us?" The only female executive asks with a cheerful smile, much to Skeptic's annoyance.

"Obviously. The real question is, who do we make fight the Nomu, and who will fight our Kamen Rider?" He tells her.

This question causes the executives to fall silent as they think about the best course of action.

"Wouldn't it be best to have Deku face off against K.E.M. since his history with Deku made Shinonome choose him?" Trumpet asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Plus, since Chamber is a long-range specialist, it may be easier to handle him with a Nomu than Deku. We can just find someone with a speed Quirk who will easily close the distance against him." Curious states in agreement.

However, Skeptic has other plans.

"I say the one we should make fight King Explosion Murder is Chamber. Lately, they've been at each other's throats more than King Explosion Murder and Deku. Also, Chamber has displayed more experience and tactical thinking, constantly putting himself in a position where his range gives him the advantage. Let's not forget about his new form." Skeptic states calmly.

Re-Destro doesn't say anything as his executives discuss what to do. He can see their points and isn't sure what to do. Finally, after a few minutes of debate, he makes his decision.

-------------------

In Hisashi and David's lab, the two put the final touches on the fourth Hero Driver to ensure it's running right.

"Looks like everything's running right. Get some of the test Power Coins ready so we can test the power output of the nanotech." David tells Hisashi as he sets the Hero Driver on a table with multiple scanners.

Hisashi nods and goes toward a cabinet. He opens it to reveal different sets of Power Coins. He quickly takes a few and heads toward the Hero Driver. He quickly inserts one, and David checks the real-time data it's displaying from the scanners.

"Everything looks good for emitters," David tells him.

Hisashi nods and inserts another.

"Transformation looks good too." David nods.

Moving onto the last one, Hisashi inserts it, and David frowns when he sees that data.

"Something seems off with the mutant-type Quirks. The output is a little sporadic." David warns Hisashi, who frowns in response.

"Let me see," Hisashi says while walking toward David to see the problem.

Just as David says, the power output being shown is moving at a sporadic rate.

"Huh. Well, it's not like we didn't expect this. Mutant Quirks are the most difficult to copy since they have a more permanent effect over the other two types." Hisashi mutters as he tries to figure out where the problem may lie.

"True. We may have to re-check the analyzer again. It may just be a small glitch like last time." David nods as he types a few things on the computer.

Hisashi groans in annoyance when he hears that.

"I can't believe people will want to mass-produce these eventually. It takes so much time to finish one of them. Plus, it takes laser surgeon-like precision to guarantee that it works." Hisashi grunts as he prepares to open the Hero Driver. 

"Well, you know people. They always want more." David laughs as he walks over to help Hisashi.

"Don't I know it? Plenty of the heroes I've made equipment for always wanted me to improve the design of something I made for them so they have a better chance to get up in the rankings." Hisashi says, annoyance clear in his tone.

"We can probably develop a mass-production model by cutting back on some things," David tells him.

"Probably. We'll work on the design later after we finish working on the Hero Drivers." Hisashi tells him.

-------------------

While plots are being formed, Izuku and Shiki are with Toshinori for their usual beach training. Compared to the beginning, Izuku is showing clear improvements in physical ability by continuing to lift various medium-sized pieces of trash like Shiki. Shiki isn't far behind in growth, either.

"So, how have things been with you?" Shiki asks as he carries a refrigerator door off the beach next to Izuku, who's holding a beaten-up trashcan.

"They've been going good. I'm starting to get used to everything, I think." He tells Shiki.

"That's good. I'm glad you're getting used to everything. It'll make things easier when we try out for U.A." Shiki nods before setting the door in Toshinori's truck.

Izuku's eyes widen at the reminder of U.A.

"That's right. I've been so busy that I forgot the entrance exam will be in a few months. It's a good thing I already sent in my application." Izuku thinks in relief as he follows Shiki's lead and sets the trashcan in the truck.

After doing this, he looks toward the horizon.

"It feels weird. After everything I've been through these last couple of months, the idea of the entrance exams doesn't feel as scary. In fact, I'm looking forward to it." Izuku thinks with a smile.

"You realize we can't use our Kamen Rider forms for it, right?" Shiki randomly asks Izuku, causing his brain to pause.

"What?" Izuku asks in confusion.

Shiki continues, thinking Izuku wasn't listening to him.

"We can't use our Kamen Rider forms. We don't want people spreading rumors that the Kamen Riders weren't even in a hero school when they started saving people. We can use other things like our weapons, but not the armor." Shiki states to Izuku.

Suddenly, Izuku's bravado disappears as he realizes it'll be up to his physical abilities without being transformed. He crouches and begins to mumble to himself about the possibilities. Shiki sweatdrops at this reaction.

"Did I say something wrong? I thought he already knew. Did he really think we could use the form for an exam where people can see us and tell everyone?" Shiki questions in his mind as he stares at Izuku.

"Are you okay?" Shiki awkwardly asks as he stares at the panicking Izuku.

"What am I going to do? Will I be able to handle the exam without my body being enhanced? I'll be the only one between us to fail, and All Might will hate me because I took up the precious time he could have used to save people." Izuku continues to mutter as he thinks about multiple bad scenarios.

Shiki's sweatdrop grows when he sees his partner's reaction to his question.

"I kind of feel bad now." Shiki thinks before trying to shake Izuku out of his stupor.

"Hey. Calm down. You still have a good chance of getting in without the armor." Shiki tells his friend as he finally wakes Izuku up.

"R-really?" Izuku asks hopefully as he looks at Shiki as if he's on the verge of crying.

"Yes. We can still use weapons like the Power Blade, and we have another advantage most people don't." Shiki tells him to try and cheer the teen up.

"What?" Izuku asks curiously, and Shiki motions toward Toshinori. Who is currently going over something on his phone and not paying attention to them.

"We're being trained by All Might himself. That's something most people, especially our age, can say. Not only that, we're also getting real experience. That's something only vigilantes have over other applicants." Shiki tells him.

Izuku thinks about Shiki's words before realizing he's right. Most applicants for a hero school have little to no experience unless they break the law by becoming vigilantes or have a hero in their family since those family members can often help them train. He and Shiki would have a clear advantage in the U.A. exam due to their experience as Kamen Riders.

"You're right. But we don't have Quirks either. That could be a problem still." Izuku tells him.

"We're not going up against Nomu during the exam. Our weapons and training should be more than enough." Shiki tells him with a calm shrug.

Izuku still looks unsure, and Shiki sighs.

"We'll be fine, Midoriya," Shiki reassures him.

"Quite right. You two can handle anything that comes your way with proper training and by sticking together." Toshinori tells them as he walks toward them, having heard only the end of their conversation.

The two turn toward their teacher as he smiles at them.

"I want you two to remember. Heroes often work together to accomplish a common goal, even if they have to compete for attention. Teamwork is important for heroes so the people will feel safe with them around." Toshinori tells the two.

Izuku and Shiki nod at his words, causing Toshinori's smile to widen.

"Good. Now, back to your training. Time waits for no one." Toshinori orders while pointing toward the beach.

With a sigh, the two quickly get back to work. As they do, they're both thinking about their futures.

"I can't believe the entrance exam is only a few months away. Am I really ready for it?" Despite Shiki's best efforts, Izuku is still nervous about his chances, given the acceptance percentage of U.A.

On the other hand, Shiki has a determined glare and seems to be pushing himself a little more than before.

"I'm going to get into U.A. I have to. The best way to become a strong hero is to go there." Shiki thinks while lifting another large piece of garbage and power-walking toward Toshinori's truck.

Toshinori watches the two work and can't help but smile at their progress.

"Both of them are showing real signs of change. One of them might be worthy to inherit my title." Toshinori thinks as he keeps a close eye on the two.

He then looks at his palm before clenching it into a fist.

"I'm running out of time. I can barely keep my strength up for a few hours now. I may need to choose a successor soon." Toshinori thinks with an angry scowl.

"Hopefully, I can finish him off before I run out of time. I'm sure he's still alive. The Nomu prove that." Thinking along those lines causes the scar on his torso to start acting up with phantom pains, and he winches.

"I shouldn't have let him get to me. The suffering and Nomu are my fault. I can't leave it to the next generation." Toshinori thinks with a tone of finality before returning to observing his students.

He watches as Shiki determinedly puts more pieces of trash in his truck while Izuku seems to be moving somewhat sluggishly like he's thinking about something.

"They don't deserve to suffer for my mistake." Toshinori thinks.

-------------------

Days after that, Slidin' Go is on his phone with Skeptic.

"That is our current plan for the Kamen Riders," Skeptic informs him about the executive's plans.

"Alright. I'll try to make sure Bakugou works with one of the other Kamen Riders." Slidin' Go nods, knowing his boss doesn't like it when he asks questions.

"Good," Skeptic says before hanging up.

Slidin' Go sighs as he looks at his phone while rubbing the back of his head.

"How am I supposed to do that when neither wants to be near him and are usually together? It's more likely that they'll already be near each other." Slidin' Go mutters as he tries to figure out how to separate Deku and Chamber.

"This is going to be tough." Slidin' Go complains before sighing and getting to work.

-------------------

Somewhere else, Izuku and Shiki are heading to school on Izuku's Plus Striker.

"So, are you feeling better about the entrance exams?" Shiki asks while holding onto Izuku.

"I-I think so. I think you're right. We do have a good chance of getting into U.A.," Izuku tells him with a nod.

"It's not like we can aim for anything lower. Most schools with a hero course have a ban on people without Quirks even trying out. Besides, we'll likely get into the General Studies Course. So, we'll have the chance to get into the Hero Course later on." Shiki explains to him.

"Wow, you know a lot about this." Izuku can't help but praise his friend.

Sure, he's a hero nerd. But his hobby usually involved studying different heroes and their Quirks. Of course, he's kept up with other hero subjects, such as schools. But U.A. was more secretive and protective with their curriculum since it's the best school in Japan for heroics.

"It comes with being the grandson of the Hero Public Safety Commission chairman. I learned a lot that others don't about heroics. And I do mean a lot." Shiki states calmly while checking to make sure his helmet is secure.

"Really?" Izuku asks excitedly.

"Yeah. I might know more than you. Hard to say, though. I've heard you are a heavy hero nerd." Shiki tells him with a shrug.

Hearing this makes Izuku more excited about talking to Shiki. However, something comes to his mind when he keeps hearing Shiki discuss his grandfather instead of his parents.

"Hey, Hikage. What are your parents like? I've only seen you're grandfather, and they weren't at your apartment when I visited." Izuku asks curiously.

Unknown to Izuku, Shiki winches when he hears that but answers anyway.

"They're not around that much. They're both heroes that travel often." Shiki tells Izuku calmly.

"That's cool. What are their names? Maybe I've heard of them." Izuku says excitedly.

"I'll tell you later. We're almost to school now. So, we don't have time if you want to fanboy over them." Shiki quickly states as he sees the school in the distance.

"Alright." Izuku nods.

-------------------

Unknown to the two, the Meta Liberation Army is about to begin their latest plan.

"I'm in position." A male warrior with a shaved head, slightly tanned skin, and brown eyes says into an earpiece.

The man is wearing a black shirt with a skull, blue jeans, and black boots that go a bit above the ankles.

"Good. You sure you're Meta Ability will be able to separate the Kamen Riders when you see them?" A feminine voice asks into his earpiece.

"Yeah. It should work without a problem. I've practiced with it before we got here and have a pretty good idea of how it works." The man states.

"Good. I'll be ready to pounce on them as soon as we see them." The female voice nods.

The man doesn't say anything and looks toward a roof where a woman with long black hair, pale skin, green reptile-like eyes, and skin-colored scales around her cheeks. She's dressed in a long-sleeve black shirt with diagonal dark green stripes, turquoise green jeans, and beige flats.

Seeing she's up there. The man takes a deep breath and starts morphing into his Nomu form.

The man's Nomu form gives him pitch-black skin with a grey belly and legs. His face elongates into a reptile-like one as his skull separates to reveal his brain, and his eyes turn golden. Purple pants replace his clothes as his body bulks until he can dwarf Death Arms, and he seems to grow a tail. Finally, purple scales that wouldn't look out of place on a stegosaurus grow from his back to the end of his tail.

With his transformation done, the man growls like a predator in the wild before charging out of his hiding place and slamming into an oncoming car. The driver screams in a panic and quickly gets out as Stego Nomu picks the vehicle up and throws it at another one.

"Bring me the Kamen Riders!" Stego Nomu screams at the top of his lungs before getting on all fours, and the scales on his back and tail fire in different directions. The scales pierce through anything in their path like a spear through paper, and Stego Nomu regrows his scales instantly to perform a rapid fire of this.

When the two un-transformed Kamen Riders see this, Izuku immediately skids them to a halt while Shiki has to duck to avoid getting his head cut off.

"Get us somewhere to hide! Now!" Shiki shouts in alarm as he sees Stego Nomu's scales regrow, and he's about to fire another volley.

Izuku quickly turns on the gas and drives them toward a corner they passed before to get out of Stego Nomu's line of sight. After turning that corner, Izuku lets up, and the two park. It takes a little bit for them to get their bearings from the sudden Nomu, though.

"Okay. Do these guys have nothing better to do? That was way too close for comfort." Shiki says as he puts a hand to his heart to try and calm it down.

Izuku isn't in better shape. He's shaking a bit from the shock as he tries to relax. After a few moments, the two calm their nerves. When they do, they see most people are busy doing their own thing or heading toward where the screaming is to see the heroes fight.

"Looks like we have room to transform," Shiki tells Izuku before the two duck behind a truck and pull out their Hero Drivers.

They insert their respective Power Coins simultaneously and cause their Hero Drivers to sync with the other as they announce.

"Rabbit + Quirkless, blank match/Rifle + Quirkless, blank match."

Following the synchronization of their Hero Drivers, the two turn the keys simultaneously without realizing it. Causing smoke to envelop them both.

"JUMP, JUMP, REACH FOR THE MOON, JUMPING RABBIT/READY, AIM; I'VE GOT YOU IN MY SIGHTS, SNIPER RIFLE!"

When the smoke clears, both Kamen Riders are ready.

"Kamen Rider Deku/Chamber!"

That announcement draws a few eyes in their direction.

"It's the Kamen Riders!" Someone says excitedly.

"Go take that villain down!" Another person says.

"Go, heroes!" A young boy says happily as the Kamen Riders run past them.

As soon as Stego Nomu sees the two, he grins.

"Perfect. They're here." He says into his earpiece.

"I see that. Make sure to separate them." The woman orders.

"You're finally here, Kamen Riders. You're about to be destroyed by the dino might of Stegogai." The newly named Stegogai announces before charging toward the Kamen Riders, slamming any vehicle in his path to the side as he does so.

The Kamen Riders see him coming, and Chamber fires upon Stegogai with his wrist-mounted guns while Deku equips the Mighty Knuckle. However, the bullets don't seem to slow Stegogai down. He continues to charge toward them while raising his fists above his head. Seeing that the attacks aren't working, Deku runs toward Stegogai with the Mighty Knuckle ready to deliver a punch.

"I need to dive in close to hit him." Deku thinks as he and Stegogai are about to meet.

But before he can meet Stegogai, the dinosaur-themed Nomu slams his fists into the ground and causes the earth around him to move like waves in the ocean. This attack sends Deku flying and pushes him and Chamber to opposite sides of the street as Stegogai stands before them.

Chamber shakes his head and moves to stand up. Before he can, though, he feels talons latch onto his shoulders before picking him up and quickly bringing him into the air. After taking a second to get over the shock of his current situation, Chamber looks behind him to see a feminine Nomu who looks like a pterodactyl is the one carrying him off the ground.

"Sorry. But we can't have you two work together. But don't worry. I'll let you have a partner for our playtime. You can call me Terra Swoop, by the way. As you might have guessed, we're here to take you down." The Nomu says in a mischievous and slightly sadistic tone as she increases their speed to get him further away from Deku before either Kamen Rider can try anything to stop her.

Deku sees Chamber being taken away as he recovers and screams.

"Chamber!"

He gets up and is about to equip his Power Blade to fire upon Terra Swoop before getting slammed into a building by Stegogai.

"No, you don't. You and I will be fighting mano a mano while my friend deals with him." Stegogai says confidently before grabbing Deku's leg and throwing him into a car across the street.

Stegogai follows this up by getting on all fours and charging toward Deku. As he does, he fires the top spines on his back at the prone Kamen Rider. Deku barely looks up in time to see them and pull himself out of the way. He then has to jump back to avoid Stegogai's charge but gets hit with a tail swing before he can do anything else.

Deku groans as he crashes to the ground again.

"Wow. This guy is fast for his size. He's strong, too. He's using his Quirks amazingly. I can't even tell which is his real Quirk." Deku thinks before finding his leg getting grabbed again.

Not wanting history to repeat itself, Deku quickly uses the Mighty Knuckle to punch the arm holding his leg before Stegogai can lift him too far off the ground. The force from the punch causes Stegogai to let him go and take a couple of steps back while rubbing his hand.

"Man. You do pack a punch. No wonder the other guys couldn't get the job done if only one of you packed that much power." Stegogai says in slight irritation as the pain starts to subside.

Deku quickly takes advantage of Stegogai's shock to distance himself from Stegogai and regain his bearings.

"Good. I managed to get away from him, and the Mighty Knuckle can hurt him on its own. If it's like this, I can probably beat him if I keep moving. Should I run toward the Plus Striker, just in case?" He wonders in his mind as he raises his fists in a fighting stance.

"I was hoping this job wouldn't be too easy. It wouldn't do us any good if the Kamen Riders were weak. Besides, it's more fun to beat the crap out of someone to get what you want." Stegogai says as he cracks his knuckles before charging toward Deku.

-------------------

With Chamber and Terra Swoop. The Kamen Rider is struggling to get away from the pterodactyl-like Nomu. However, every time he tries something like shooting her or reaching for his Power Coins, she maneuvers herself to stop him by suddenly diving, corkscrewing, looping, or letting her hold go to grab another part of his body.

After some time, she releases him and throws him into the window of a school building. When Chamber collects himself, he sees that he's in a classroom. More specifically, Katsuki's classroom.

"Woah!"

"What's happening?"

"It's a Kamen Rider!" Someone shouts excitedly.

"Awesome!"

"Wait. He was thrown through a window. Is a Nomu here?"

As his classmates start panicking, Katsuki growls at how Chamber is thrown into his classroom before running out of the room. Luckily, Slidin' Go gave him some lee-way today and let him keep the Hero Driver on him. But while having the chance to turn into a Kamen Rider is nice, it annoys him that he has to hide to transform and can't show that he's the best to the extras around him.

Back with Chamber, he's standing up but doesn't have a chance to do anything else as Terra Swoop flies through the hole she made with him and slams beak first into him, causing the windows and wall behind him to break as they leave the classroom and he lands in the school's track field.

"What's the matter, Kamen Rider? Can't get your feet off the ground? I thought you could fly. I guess I was wrong. I'll bet I was wrong about your aim too." Terra Swoop mocks him as she flies in place by flapping her wings.

Chamber glares when he hears this and equips the Ultra Magnum. He tries to hit her, but Terra Swoop quickly soars out of the bullets' paths, and Chamber has trouble keeping up with her speed. He soon hits the ground again when Terra Swoop divebombs him again and crashes into his chest.

"Looks like I was right about your aim being terrible." She mocks again before needing to dodge an explosion courtesy of the school's resident secret hero.

"Die!" He shouts as he uses his explosions to propel after the Nomu.

Despite his best efforts, he can't keep up with Terra Swoop. That doesn't stop him, though. All it does is anger him more, which he uses to fuel himself and continue chasing her while trying to figure out how to catch her.

As K.E.M. tries to catch Terra Swoop, Chamber gets up and looks through his Power Coins for something to help him shoot her down. After a second, he chooses his new go-to Power Coin, the Dragonfly Power Coin, and inserts it into the Ultra Magnum.

"Dragonfly Power Finish!" The Hero Driver announces as Chamber fires bullets with sporadic flight patterns at K.E.M. and Terra Swoop.

Terra Swoop sees these incoming bullets and secretly smirks.

"Time to put the plan into action. Let's see how you like this." Terra Swoop thinks as she concentrates on the bullets while K.E.M. is charging behind her.

As the bullets are about to surround and pierce Terra Swoop, they suddenly change flight paths and fly toward K.E.M.

K.E.M. is shocked at the sudden shift and is hit by the bullets in full force, causing him to crash to the ground while Terra Swoop charges toward a shocked Chamber. She slams into him and drags him across the ground before she picks him up and soars straight up. She then dives back down and sends Chamber flying into K.E.M.

"Get off me, you useless shit!" K.E.M. shouts as he kicks Chamber off him.

Chamber grunts as he gets up while glaring at K.E.M. and trying to figure out what happened. However, he doesn't have long, as K.E.M. grabs and lifts him off the ground.

"What was that, you worthless fuck? You shot me instead of the Nomu!" He shouts into Chamber's face with a tone full of venom.

"I don't know. It must be one of her Quirks. I was aiming to take her out." Chamber tells him as he pushes K.E.M. off him.

Their fight amuses Terra Swoop before choosing to end it by diving toward them again. The two Kamen Riders don't notice her until she's close to them and don't have time to avoid the hit.

From the ground, Chamber growls and fires at Terra Swoop with her wrist-mounted guns. Luckily, one of the bullets managed to hit her, causing her to falter slightly.

"Why, you little." She grunts in slight pain and surprise as Chamber continues to fire at her.

-------------------

Back with Deku, he's currently ducking under a punch from Stegogai before delivering an uppercut to Stegogai's chin. However, the Nomu sees this coming and quickly intercepts the punch by grabbing Deku's arm before throwing him to the side.

Not wanting to stay on the ground long, Deku quickly springs back to his feet by running forward to keep out of Stegogai's grip. He turns around just in time to see Stegogai, with his back turned to him, about to fire his spines at the Kamen Rider.

Seeing this, Deku instinctively reaches for his Power Coins and manages to pull out the Barrier Power Coin and insert it into the Mighty Knuckle.

"Barrier Slam Finish!" The Hero Driver shouts as Deku slams the Mighty Knuckle into the ground to create a green barrier around him that blocks the incoming spines while they crack the barrier upon impact.

Stegogai turns around in time to see the barrier dissipate and glares at the Kamen Rider.

"Alright. You're as annoyingly tough as they said you were. But you won't be able to beat my combination of Meta Abilities." The stegosaurus Nomu tells him as he prepares to charge again, not knowing that his words cause Deku's eyes to widen in surprise.

"He's referring to his Quirks as Meta Abilities, too, like with the Paper Nomu." Deku thinks as he jumps over Stegogai, causing the Nomu to crash into the wall behind him.

He then follows this up by charging at him and delivering a strike to Stegogai's butt, with the Mighty Knuckle, pushing him deeper into the wall.

"Why, you little," Stegogai growls as he gets up and turns toward the Kamen Rider.

Only to be met with a boot to the face courtesy of a dropkick from Deku before the Kamen Rider uses his face to jump back again. The full-body kick causes Stegogai to stagger back while holding his face in pain.

"Good. It looks like I'm doing some damage to him without the Power Coins." Seeing this makes Deku happy, knowing he's not as weak as he first thought due to the damage done already, even if it's only minor.

However, his happiness is short-lived when Stegogai throws a table near him at Deku and sends him crashing into the concrete. Stegogai then follows it up by charging at Deku and jumping to try and land on him with the entirety of his weight. Deku sees this and panics before rolling to the side. The force behind Stegogai's landing leaves cracks in the concrete.

Deku quickly gets off the ground while equipping the Power Blade in his other hand. He then turns the blade and grip around so the gun muzzle is pointing behind the blade.

He charges at Stegogai and slashes at Stegogai. The blade doesn't cut into Stegogai's tough skin, but Deku doesn't give up. He quickly pulls the trigger on the Power Blade and uses the extra force from the gunshot to force the Power Blade into Stegogai's skin.

Stegogai grunts and quickly slams the arm Deku is cutting into him, sending the Kamen Rider skidding a few feet back. He tries to follow this up with a straight, using his other arm, but Deku ducks under this attack and launches his own punch with the Mighty Knuckle. The force from the weapon sends Stegogai skidding back before he falls forward and gets on all fours. He then launches the top spines at Deku to stop him from getting too close.

Deku instinctively jumps in the air to avoid the shots, but that opens him up for the other spines on Stegogai's back and tail. Deku tries to use his arms to block the attacks, but it doesn't help much, and he falls on his side in pain.

Stegogai takes this chance to charge at him. Luckily, Deku is one step ahead of him this time. While in the air, he reached into his Power Coin holder and pulled out a Power Coin before hitting the ground.

He inserts that Power Coin into the Power Blade, causing the Hero Driver to shout.

"Swamp Power Finish!"

Deku quickly slams the blade of his sword into the ground and the ground before it starts turning into sludgy water, heading toward Stegogai in a wide arc. The Nomu doesn't have time to dodge it and finds his feet stuck.

"Really, A makeshift tar pit since I'm a dinosaur? Too bad for you. This dinosaur has a way to fight against it." Stegogai says as he slams his hands into the muddy water.

This causes ripples within it before it explodes and goes everywhere, freeing him. Deku stares in shock as that move has hardly failed him besides when Overdrive Nomu jumped over it.

"Surprised? We've studied your moves and worked out good ways to counter them. All for the glory of our revolution. You won't be able to beat me with your usual tactics. I can easily break out of any trap you set. Even if it's that weird ability where you petrify someone." Stegogai says while pointing toward Deku with a confident tone.

Hearing this causes Deku to tense up.

"Wait. If they've studied my moves, does that mean they studied Hikage's too?" He thinks, suddenly even more worried about his friend after he was taken away.

"You don't have time to be thinking about other things. Especially since I'm done playing around." Stegogai says before slamming his hand on the ground again and sending a wave of earth at Deku.

Seeing this causes Deku to jump to the side, but Stegogai already predicted that. He got on all fours and fired the top spikes on his back at the hero, hitting him in the arm and causing him to drop the Power Blade in pain. Stegogai follows this up by charging while still on all fours and slamming into Deku, sending him flying into another lamp post.

Deku groans as he gets up and reaches for another Power Coin to try something else. In desperation, he pulls out the Draco-Breath Power Coin and inserts it without realizing what it is.

"Dragonic Breath Power Finish!" The Hero Driver announces as the Mighty Knuckle is covered in flames while glowing orange as Deku charges at Stegogai.

He throws his fist forward, and Stegogai is sent staggering back from the impact while there are slight burns in a knuckle outline where he was punched. However, it doesn't look like he took any substantial damage.

"Now that had some sting to it. But it's not enough to get through my skin." Stegogai grunts before charging and trying to punch Deku.

Deku moves to the side, but Stegogai follows it up by spinning and slamming into Deku with his tail.

Deku manages to stay on his feet and reach into his holder for another Power Coin.

"Division Power Finish!" The Hero Driver shouts as Deku inserts the Division Power Coin.

"I haven't used this one yet." Deku thinks as he charges forward and throws another punch.

As the Mighty Knuckle soars toward Stegogai, energy fists suddenly appear around Deku's arm to launch multiple punches simultaneously, each with equal force to the last. The strength of these punches sends Stegogai flying into the ground and causes his scales to get stuck in the concrete.

"Damn it," Stegogai grunts as he tries to get up.

But he's positioned in a way that he can't reach the ground with his arms and legs that well. He can't put enough power into his attempts. Deku sees this and decides to try and finish things.

He pulls out the Rabbit Power Coin and inserts it into the Hero Driver instead of his weapon.

"RABBIT POWER FINISH!" The Hero Driver shouts as energy builds around Deku, and he charges forward.

He jumps into the air and tries to deliver a flying kick to the trapped Nomu. However, Stegogai suddenly rolls backward while his scales remain stuck in the ground. When Deku crashes into the ground, a small explosion and the earth around him is destroyed.

Unfortunately, it doesn't do much to Stegogai, and he takes advantage of Deku's opening to send another wave of earth at him and send him flying.

"I can't believe you fell for that. I told you, we studied all your moves." Stegogai laughs as he looks at the downed Kamen Rider.

Deku groans as Stegogai charges and tries to jump on him.

-------------------

With K.E.M. and Chamber, the two are having trouble dealing with Terra Swoop and each other. Chamber is being targeted after one of his bullets managed to hit her and her orders.

Currently, Chamber is trying to hit Terra Swoop with his wrist-mounted guns, but she is nimbly avoiding them with the ease of a hummingbird changing directions. Luckily, Chamber has started to adapt to her speed and is avoiding more of her strikes than before.

On the other hand, K.E.M. is trying to chase after her in the air but is getting hit by a few of Chamber's stray bullets for some reason. Needless to say, the two are starting to clash from their situation.

"Will you fucking quit shooting with the pea shooters! You're doing nothing helpful and getting in my way!" K.E.M. shouts at Chamber.

"Maybe if you would stop getting close to her, my bullets wouldn't be at risk of hitting you. I'm trying to figure out what she's doing!" Chamber shouts back with a bit of sharpness in his tone.

"It's obvious this bitch is manipulating your bullets! Quit making my job harder, Pompadour!" K.E.M. screams back as he tries to swipe at Terra Swoop, only for her to move out of the way.

Chamber grits his teeth but realizes that K.E.M. is right and decides to switch things around. He quickly grabs the Chameleon Power Coin and inserts it into his Hero Driver.

"You can't see me? Where am I? I'm on the wall! I've got you in my sights!" The Hero Driver shouts as smoke covers Chamber while he transforms.

"Kamen Rider Chamber!" It says with a tone of finality as Chamber switches forms.

Terra Swoop dives toward Chamber, but he vanishes before she hits him. As she's trying to gain altitude again, a whip suddenly wraps around her wing, and she's pulled toward the ground, causing her to skid across it from her previous momentum.

"You bastard!" Terra Swoop shouts as she gets up and instinctively looks around for the Kamen Rider that sent her crashing to the ground, only not to see him.

While she's doing that, the other Kamen Rider comes diving in and slams into her with a double palm-generated explosion that shakes the ground slightly. Seeing this causes Chamber to drop the camouflage a fair distance from the two as he waits for the smoke to clear.

However, Terra Swoop flies back into the air as if nothing happened, shocking the Kamen Riders.

Before she can see him from above, Chamber quickly camouflages himself again while K.E.M. chases after her. However, Chamber's action wasn't enough for him to completely escape her view. Having the features of a flying predator, her eyesight is enhanced exponentially. So she can distinguish the shifts in coloring and movement from Chamber's camouflage.

She charges at the area where she notices the shifting, and Chamber barely has time to jump over her attack. However, that doesn't stop him from getting hit by K.E.M., who chased after her. The impact causes Chamber to lose his camouflage while the two crash.

"Get off me," Chamber tells him as he kicks K.E.M. off him before needing to duck under another attack from Terra Swoop.

"Quit getting in the way!" K.E.M. shouts at Chamber, getting sick of the other Kamen Rider constantly messing him up.

"That was your fault. You're the one that keeps charging after someone you obviously can't catch!" Chamber shouts back at him.

"Like your fucking bullets are helping Pompadour. You've been hitting me more than you've been hitting Prehistoric Bitch!" K.E.M. screeches.

Terra Swoop sees their argument and secretly grins when she realizes the plan is working.

"Now for a quick disappearing act." Terra Swoop says before flying off at top speed before the Kamen Riders realize she's gone.

It takes longer than you should have for them to realize this. And when they do, K.E.M. pushes Chamber away while growling.

"This is your fucking fault, Pompadour! I could have handled that bastard without you! You and your worthless aim!" K.E.M. screams.

"My aim was fine. Whatever Quirks that Nomu had was the problem. And what about you? You uselessly chased after her when you couldn't catch her." Chamber tells him.

K.E.M. growls, but Chamber isn't done.

"Then again, that's all you can do, seeing as you don't bother collecting Power Coins like you're supposed to. Instead of keeping them on you just in case, you go out of your way to destroy them. So, you're nothing but a one-trick pony." Chamber tells him with an edge in his tone.

Hearing this causes K.E.M. to growl.

"At least I can make better fucking use of this stupid thing than you. You're nothing but a Quirkless reject who got lucky! If your grandfather weren't in such a high fucking position, no one would give a shit about you like Deku!" K.E.M. snaps at Chamber, causing the Kamen Rider to tighten his fist.

"I'm using the Hero Driver better than you. If I remember right, I almost beat you at the docks." Chamber snaps back, causing K.E.M. to growl.

"I didn't fucking lose to you!" K.E.M. snarls back before going for an explosive palm and sending Chamber flying to the ground.

Chamber has enough of K.E.M.'s attitude and launches his whip at the other Kamen Rider, sending him skidding back.

-------------------

Back with Deku. He's running from Stegogai and trying to reach the Plus Striker for extra help since Chamber hasn't returned and K.E.M. is nowhere to be seen.

"I need help to beat him." Deku thinks as he pulls the Unicorn Power Coin off the Plus Striker's Power Coin holder and inserts it.

The Plus Striker quickly turns into its mechanical animal form and throws Deku atop it before running from the charging Stegogai.

"Get back here!" Stegogai snaps at the Kamen Rider and steed before firing his scales at them.

However, the Plus Striker turns around and fires lightning bolts at the attacks, stopping them and causing them to fall harmlessly. It then takes it a step further by charging at Stegogai. As it does, Deku pulls out another Power Coin and inserts it into the Plus Striker.

"Overdrive Power Charge!" The Hero Driver announces as light blue energy surrounds the Plus Striker and its power and speed increase.

With the increased momentum, the Plus Striker tries to slam into Stegogai. However, the Nomu quickly uses his other ability to make a wave of earth rise between them to reduce the damage. The Plus Striker runs through it and slams into the Nomu, sending him flying but not turning him back to normal.

"Alright." Deku thinks happily, but before he can do anything else, he suddenly feels something slam into him and knock him off the Plus Striker.

He looks up to see what hit him and sees Terra Swoop staring down at him while holding a struggling Plus Striker.

"It's your turn to see what it's like to be hunted." Terra Swoop says excitedly as Stegogai stands up.

Deku looks between the two Nomu and backs away nervously while they close in on him. As he's getting cornered, he worries about what happened to Chamber while wondering what he'll do.

Power Coins Deku Rabbit, Draco-Breath, Charge, Marsh, Solidification, Unicorn, Overdrive, Wheels, Division, Bull, Barrier, Creation, Razor Edge, Mantis

Chamber Rifle, Fierce Wings, Shadow Stalk, Gatling, Chameleon, Dragonfly, Sonar, Burrowing Drill, Sprouting

King Explosion Murder Explosion

Next Chapter

[gayemeralds]

i like to think about the Intricacies about sonics world a lot. what do you think is the current state of the communities like the scientific and legal fields for example. what does the political scene look like. is there even an economic system. is there even law enforcement. i know archie sonic dabbled in organized crime when mammoth mogul placed a kid friendly hit on sonic and his casino looked like a front for money laundering but what does the criminal underground look like. would it be comprised of mostly superpowered induviduals with not so heroic tendencies (but also not stupid enough to be villains) or would it just be normal ass Guys who just try to stay out of the big name heroes ways. also i dont know shit about the details in gameverse this is all based on archie sonic so SOWWY if some of these are already answered in canon

hm im going to be honest this sort of worldbuilding is not something i think about a lot but. im interested.

scientific communities: apparently pretty strong? we know gerald robotnik was a pretty important scientist but he’s not the only one. tails references “kutta-joukowski” in sonic riders, and we know there were a LOT of scientists on board the ark. they managed to develop chaos drives and artificial chaos. Gerald was probably the peak of scientific advancement for a bit (too bad they killed him). plus we see a lot of advanced technology in these games, like the gun robots in sa2. and we still don’t know who made omochao. universities also exist since professeur pickles works at one in sonic unleashed. i think a lot of the science community is probably dedicated to chaos energy manipulation and other related mystic things.

i feel like the scientific community is kind of like… like the mobian world just got out of a dark age, in comparison to the ancient civilizations before them. i mean, the echidnas and the babylons had a LOT of amazing technology, like the ark of the cosmos and gizoids. it seems like modern day is trying to chase that high.

political scene: im not sure? monarchies obviously exist- blaze and elise, for instance. and there’s clearly a president that leads the federation. after shadow the hedgehog 2005, and honestly the whole g.u.n. scandal in sa2, it does make me wonder what politics are like.

legal fields and police: police do exist within the gameverse, so presumably laws do too? there’s not much information on police, since it’s usually the military after sonic.

economic system: rings appear to be the currency within the games. the chaotix also have to pay there rent. presumably there’s some sort of economic system here (capitalism?), but it’s a little iffy to debate considering the people we know have homes (tails, amy, rouge) are not exactly conventional people and are outliers when considering how exactly people afford things.

criminal underground: fang and infinite are confirmed to be mercenaries. fang just straight up uses a gun. infinite appeared to be normal before the whole phantom ruby thing. rouge and the babylons could also be considered, and none of them have any particularly impressive powers. so presumably the criminal underground doesn’t have a whole lot of super powered people, which might lead us to believe people having powers is more of a rarity than a norm.

[creator-chaos]

I posted 1,041 times in 2022

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My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Tiger & Bunny S2 really made the right choice in giving all the men a few more levels in himbo

27 notes - Posted April 12, 2022

#4

Thoughts on the OOO movie, starting with things I liked (obviously spoilers):

.

.

.

I actually really enjoyed the Goda plot. "Eiji gets possessed by a Greed" is a fun premise, it was great getting to watch Shu's amazing acting (being just off enough to be uncomfortable before the reveal), and I liked what characterization we got of Goda even if it wasn't much. He felt like a kid playing Kamen Rider and I would have loved to see more of him.

Goda is voiced by goddamn Vector from YGO Zexal. With lefty Ankh being voiced by Astral, it's too funny.

Similarly, the midpoint around the Goda reveal and people dealing with it was imo quite good.

When Ankh said "Goda" for the first time and did that little spin, made the whole movie worth it.

Ankh's character development was shown in lots of ways, most obviously him actually crying(!) but also things like stopping "Eiji" from breaking Uva's Core.

Ankh!Eiji and Tajador Eternity were hot.

Even if the scenarios weren't great, it was fun to see all the characters reacting to them. Just seeing everyone again was great ❤️

Things I didn't like:

They seriously just went full palpatine on the King/Greed plot huh.

Why the hell would the Greed be willing to work with the old King. And they just killed off the Greed before they did anything interesting.

Total disregard for character development--mainly erasing Eiji achieving a will to live, but also making Goto straight (I half kid)

Eiji's death didn't even feel good narratively? Like I already knew I hated the choice to kill him off, but they didn't even try to sell me on it, it was just unsatisfying.

NO ONE ADDRESSED THAT ANKH IS STILL POSSESSING SHINGO. THIS IS A PROBLEM. This was literally what the entire conflict between Ankh and the others was about at the end of OOO, and they just, shoved him back in there? And didn't address that Ankh would still have only Greed senses, be unable to feel satisfaction in his Greed body, etc? No problem was solved here?

All in all, it was like watching the actors act out a semi-decent fanfic, and since I'm used to OOO movies being bad, this one doesn't feel much worse. I just hope the actors got what they wanted out of it and are satisfied with this ending for their roles.

29 notes - Posted March 24, 2022

#3

I'm in loved with every version of Eiji

See the full post

29 notes - Posted April 20, 2022

#2

Denji Chainsawman and Eiji OOO are at two different ends of an "ability to desire was fucked up by extreme trauma and they get roped into some supernatural bs to deal with it" scale. And Iruma Demonschool is in the middle.

36 notes - Posted October 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Oh you know 💁🏻

44 notes - Posted June 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[blackroseraven]

So I got up, and the first thing was to wrestle the cats into their carriers. Well, squish Trashley into hers, then just gently push Ada into her crate.

Trashley screamed the whole way to the vet. Once there and released, she immediately took the high ground and then climbed into the sink like a weirdo and stayed there until the vet assistant came in to weigh them and check them out.

Apparently there’s only a three pound difference between them, but. The way Ada just goes dead weight when you pick her up makes her feel twice as heavy as she actually is.

They got their shots. They forgave us shockingly fast, too: Trashley within like five minutes of getting home, Ada by lunchtime because lunch.

Then we went to horseplace. It was mostly empty, which was kind of a surprise to me. I got Quattro, cleaned him up real nice, then took him out.

He’s become such a trail horse. Stealing grass bites from the side of the arena, generally being a pain in the ass. But we really keyed in nicely together today: even though the outdoor was a little slippery from the rainstorm we had, we cantered, and I was reminded that... riding works best when you let the horse do his thing, and you concentrate on your own damn self. There’s lots for the rider to do: you navigate, you balance yourself, you help the horse judge his turns and distance, and the horse carries you, balances, does the hard labor, and trusts you to guide him right.

So yeah. It was really nice. Amazing, after such a break, too, that we just locked and loaded like this, too. I’m really happy about that.

After a little trail ride, we went back, and I got Q to groom while Quattro cooled down a little. He was able to lift all four legs for me, but it clearly hurt him to do his bad leg still. He really needs to be back on his drugs but obviously the legal owners haven’t been by.

Frustrating.

But made the best of things. Did what I could for him, got the pebbles out, checked his ears and gave him lots of treats before they went back outside.

Jaeger was very happy to get a little attention too. Not much because today has been busy, but. Hopefully I can remedy that this upcoming weekend, maybe even do a little trail thumping with him.

We’ll see how things go, though.

For now, I’m just glad that things are... back.

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

My little world building head finds it cool because

a. The buildings actually seem to be more reminiscent of apartment buildings than the standard medieval home (multiple floors, blocky, multiple windows) which could imply more communal living compared to Ylisstol

b. It seems to straight up be an accurate castle. Obviously, its not the most realistic, but castles are actually more of a large closed-in city/village/fort compared to the modern idea that they are just fancy palaces. In this, the buildings/town seem to be inside the courtyard of Plegia's castle (and Grima's bones). This is closer to IRl castles.

c. This implies Plegia's courtyard/castle has a history of being used in war. Combined with the way Plegia's army seems to be majorly wyvern riders, mages, and archers (classes that can move easier on sand) we can kinda imagine that Plegia's managed to stay so strong because they employ a more "lure in the enemy to us, we have the home advantage" type of strategy. In fact, this happens to Chrom and the Shepherds in act 1.

I find it interesting how Plegia seems to be a more closed-off and military kingdom than Ylisse. We also know they have an amazing navy (800 ships!!! And that's not even all of it!) as well as good wealth. Makes me imagine that perhaps Emmeryn and the Shepherds weren't the only ones to fall for Plegias tactics... Who knows, perhaps Grima employed the same strategies and they just stuck! What ideas/headcanons/theories do you have on plegia's society/history?

Neat stuff! There's not a ton of explicit worldbuilding in Awakening, so it's really fun to draw inferences from little details like this!

I don't have a LOT of headcanons on Plegian society and history I usually try to be somewhat vague in my fics (although, well, The Museum of Plegian History kind of necessarily required me to touch on the matter. True Believers, too, although not quite as much since Chrom isn't actually raised within Plegian society itself). Anyway, my major headcanons are

1) The Grimleal migrated to Plegia from Khadein (though they weren't all necessarily *born* in Khadein; there was a school there, after all, so some people were probably already from abroad), and thus there's a significant blending of cultures within Plegia. (On a somewhat related note, I am fascinated by the fact that the land that was once Altea is now within Plegia's borders and has in fact become the "border wastes" on the Feroxi border... Combined with Ferox's Longfort stretching across their entire southern border, I can't help but wonder how much blood was shed over and on that specific territory... I also wonder how many blue-haired Plegians with Altean features might be around, and if perhaps that could relate to why it's so easy for the Feroxi guards to suspect Chrom of being a Plegian brigand as well as for Cynthia to get tricked by someone masquerading as Chrom...)

2) Because even the word "Grimleal" professes loyalty to Grima, I think loyalty is a keystone principle in Plegian society. You can see it in the way Mustafa's men continue to fight for him even though they no longer support the war itself. I'd say you can also see it in Chapter 7 when you fight Vasto. See, Vasto has some pretty nasty words for the Hierarch, who was supposed to be taken into custody and protected after betraying Emmeryn to Plegia... Instead, though, Vasto just has him killed. And if you're just looking at the text in a cursory manner, it's easy to write it off as a show of brutality (like, yep, these are for sure the bad guys!) BUT Vasto is actually one of the characters that Henry talks about in his supports with Ricken. He's the kind of guy who likes to brag about his mother's knitting, and turns out he was really excited that day because it was his first major command... So in that light, it seems less like he's particularly cruel, and more like he's legitimately disgusted that the Hierarch would betray his ruler like that. There's also a line from Aversa late in the game—"How Robin lives with the shame, attacking his/her own blood..."—which again seems to imply that in Plegia you are supposed to stick with your own even if it kills you (as Aversa also just said that she'd gladly die at Validar's command)

[batsplat]

Is there any evidence showing how the audience reacts to Jorge's celebrations? I'm wondering, like, what if Jorge and Vale swapped their celebrations, would the audience like it more just because Valentino did it? Is it actually about the celebration itself or more about the person doing it?

oh they sure would've liked it more if valentino had done it!! like, the answer is that it's about both those things: what the celebrations are and what performs them. and in 2007... the vibes were still broadly pro-jorge, but he did already have plenty of detractors, plenty of those who thought he was a cocky shit - if not as yet an actively hostile casual audience. still, he wasn't valentino. valentino was valentino, those celebrations would've of course been received differently from him

and yes, let's lead with the obvious here: becoming valentino's rival certainly didn't help his cause. in early 2008, the commentators have been talking up how he's finally winning the people over and he's had such a bright and promising start to the premier class... but then we have to put a bit of a pause on that while jorge more or less disappears for most of the rest of the season, spending most of his time licking various wounds. then you get 2009 and the title fight between the two of them... while jorge did have plenty of support, especially from his own country, and he wasn't necessarily hated yet by the casual audience.... well, going by his biography, he was a bit too aware of how he was perceived:

Jorge Lorenzo thought that he might come under fire for battling against Dani Pedrosa, the other rider fighting to be Spain's number one MotoGP favourite, rather than anything else. How wrong he was! On the Internet the majority of criticism has come from Rossi fans - even in his own country! It is definitely a subject that touches a nerve. Jorge is well aware of the discussions that take place on the Internet - he's a seasoned web surfer and he keeps m touch with what's going on on the forums, as well as interacting with his fans - so there have been plenty of occasions where his typing fingers have clenched into fists of frustration. 'It is amazing what you have to put up with in your own country. We have two guys winning races and fighting for the title, and still lots of people stand up for riders from other countries. Okay, I understand why they support Rossi, because he has won nine titles, he's an incredible rider and he has earned their respect - and mine. But there are these other scumbags - disrespectful and bad-mannered people - who are Rossi fanatics and get enjoyment out of insulting us. They almost want me dead! I hope I never have to hear any kind of abuse or insults towards another rider from a "Lorenzista". That would really sadden me.'

obviously, no athlete should read what people write about them on the internet, like that's just a fundamental case where somebody on his team should be telling him 'no, don't do that :)' and get him to practise some social media hygiene. but of course, it is interesting that it kinda makes him the first rider who was like... online... what does it change, if the rider themselves is up to date with the discourse

so. I have been known to peruse motogp forums myself. it's hard to get a great read of fan sentiment at various points in time beyond what the journalists and the commentators and the occasional relevant book can tell you. forums are obviously not particularly representative either BUT it's still kinda interesting to give yourself a sense of the discourse at the time, what talking points existed and so on. which brings me to my other point: while the rivalry with valentino inevitably exacerbated the situation, jorge already had some baggage with viewers going back to his 250cc days - where he was inarguably a lot. just to give you a taster, from april 2008:

a rich text!

so, to some extent, the narrative of jorge as 'the villain' was something that already existed in early 2008. it wasn't unrelated to emerging as a valentino rival, even then, but it was also not entirely about that. like, the main opponents jorge was linked to in people's minds back then were dovi and dani! (and john hopkins, apparently.) the other narrative you already find here that became quite common over the next few years: okay, jorge was 'the villain', but it's also good for a sport to have something like that. someone to root against. someone who comes across as a bit arrogant, a bit full of himself... even if he doesn't mean to be seen as that

and yes, this stuff does definitely get worse in 2009, which is how you get jorge reading stuff along these lines about himself online - including from his compatriots. he didn't think he'd be unpopular for fighting valentino! he thought it'd be about dani! and the thing is, jorge isn't happy whatsoever with this tag of 'villain' that had followed him since his 250cc days. it's something that comes through a lot in the biography as well as his 2010 title winning season documentary: he feels misunderstood, he wants people to get what he's really all about. he spends so much time worrying about how people will perceive him, attempting to figure out how to better communicate with them... but in reality, a lot of people had already seen all they needed to see. fighting valentino wasn't the starting point for that, and it's likely jorge would have always ended up in a bit of a heel role anyway - but obviously, being valentino's teammate didn't help

then 2010 came, the relationship between the pair of them finally deteriorated publicly, and after valentino's injuries jorge was dominating his way towards his first title. this is when things really begin to change for him. he still had the early season celebrations, drowning himself in jerez and the yellow chair of le mans, plus of course the title celebrations - but, well. I think at a certain point, if you're jorge, you can worry about what people online are saying as much as you want... but you have to figure out what's more important to you: being popular or winning. because maybe, it's just not going to be possible for you to have both. maybe, however much you want to find out a way to connect with the people, to charm them, to bring them on your side with your joyous and creative celebrations, to get them to love you the way you feel you deserve to be loved... maybe they've already made up their minds. maybe, there's only so much you can do... the dorna-produced documentary may be defiant, but it is also frustrated. jorge knows people don't see him how he wants to be seen, and he has run out of things to try to change that

to give an example of how warped perception of him had become by end of 2010:

So at Sepang, Lorenzo was the object of intense scrutiny, his every action dissected and discussed like a presidential candidate's acceptance address. And naturally, when Lorenzo pulled over on the cool down lap after finally securing the championship that had been his life-long goal, the fact that he missed Ben Spies' hand offered in congratulation was jumped upon by the voracious pack and imbued with a significance normally reserved for the actions of mystics and gurus. It was a Deliberate Act, said those whom Lorenzo had angered by stealing Rossi's crown, a Snub. It was aimed at Establishing the Pecking Order in the Yamaha garage for next year, the conspiracists insisted, kicking off the 2011 season within seconds of the 2010 season being settled. Lorenzo, the angry mob proclaimed, deliberately ignored Spies to show him who was boss. Watching the video in isolation, you might even be persuaded that the conspiracists had a point. Spies pulls up next to Lorenzo, tries to shake his hand, which Lorenzo does not respond to, then Spies rides off shaking his head. Proof positive that it was a deliberate and malicious act, say the conspiracists. Like all conspiracy theorists, those who say Lorenzo deliberately snubbed Spies overlook one major factor, however: Human nature. When Spies pulled over to congratulate Lorenzo, the Spaniard was in a daze. Members of his fan club had started the preparations for the complex and impenetrable celebration they had planned before the race, and Lorenzo was clearly struggling to remember what it was he was supposed to be doing. He had marshalls, photographers and his friends all around him, all slapping him on the back, poking him in the gut and touching his arms. There was a lot going on. Most of all, though, this was the moment that it all started to sink in for Lorenzo. After a tough race in stifling tropical conditions - the race had been shortened by one lap at the request of the riders, because the Sepang race is so physically demanding in the heat and humidity - Lorenzo had finally crossed the line in one piece, and with enough points to win the title. He had achieved a lifelong dream, a goal he had dedicated himself to for at least the past 15 years. A goal that he had sacrificed his relationship with his family, his relationship with his manager, and even his relationship with the only girl he ever loved to achieve. Finally, for the first time in his life, he was MotoGP World Champion. He had gone through several harrowing weeks before finally reaching this goal: He had lost points to Dani Pedrosa three races in a row, putting Pedrosa back in with a chance. After Pedrosa injured himself at Motegi, and Lorenzo could have wrapped up the title, he was surprised to be given a good old-fashioned smackdown by his teammate, reminding him that the title is never certain until it's officially in the bag. Those fairing-banging passes between Rossi and Lorenzo reminded the Spaniard of his vulnerability, that a simple mistake can cause a serious injury, and undo all the hard work of a season in a fraction of a second. Finally it was over, and the title was in the bag. At last, after weeks of pressure, Lorenzo could relax. As he pulled over, the emotions washed over him, elation, relief, exhaustion. Within seconds, he had fans around him starting on the Spaniard's meticulously planned celebration. He had barely gathered his thoughts to start dealing with the complexities of that celebration when Spies pulled up beside him, tried to shake Lorenzo's hand, then rode off shaking his head, probably in bemusement at the state of Lorenzo, a reminder of his own emotions at winning the World Superbike title last year. By the time Hiroshi Aoyama shook Lorenzo's hand (the third rider to do so), he had recovered enough of his composure to act as expected, and acknowledge the gesture appropriately.

and here:

There is no question that Lorenzo's actions are open to interpretation. The video only shows men whose faces are hidden by helmets, and whose intentions are therefore much more difficult to interpret. It is entirely possible to read the entire event as a deliberate snub to Spies, and a warning for the future. Occam's razor, however, suggests a simpler explanation: that Lorenzo was overwhelmed, and not completely aware of what was going on. Later, once Valentino Rossi arrived to congratulate the Spaniard, Lorenzo had fully recovered his composure. He accepted the Italian's congratulations in the spirit in which they were offered: begrudgingly and half-heartedly. Once in parc ferme, the childish rivalry continued, with Lorenzo trying to hog the limelight after winning the title, and Rossi trying to steal it after winning his 46th race for Yamaha. They both may ride the same bike and bear the same colors, but Rossi and Lorenzo are still a very long way from being teammates. The rivalry between Lorenzo and Rossi is much of the fuel feeding the conspiracies about Lorenzo's behavior. With such a fierce rivalry between the current teammates, surely this must continue into next year, when Ben Spies takes the place of Rossi in the factory Yamaha garage? That is surely the driving force behind Lorenzo's behavior in those few seconds, the conspiracists ask. Lorenzo himself today responded to questions on the issue on Twitter, posting the following response to the many people who had asked him if he had deliberately ignored Spies at Sepang: "I had some messages asking me why I didn't pay attention to Spies when he wanted to congratulate me. I have to say that I didn't see... ...And feel he was there at that the moment of our celebration. I just told this to him. He is a good guy and we have a good relationship."

it started before valentino, it became worse as a result of valentino, it extends beyond valentino. but, as ever, valentino is inescapable - and in the end he is so to jorge even around the time of jorge's greatest and sweetest success. to jorge there are two wars going on during that time period: one for the title and one for the hearts of the people. he has won one of them, but he keeps finding himself frustrated in the other. still. he might not have openly admitted as much in as many words, but there was one war that was always going to be more important than the other. if given the choice, he was going to win

so then. after that, jorge settles for his defiance, becomes a hardier, steely version of himself as the rest of the alien era unfolds. it is an era of motogp that is deeply unpopular at the time - and so, increasingly, is he. it is not universal dislike, of course it isn't. but it is definitely a feature of motogp during those years. he becomes readier to lean into that role, over time, prepared to play the heel if that is the role he has been cast to play. but the desire to be understood never entirely went away... there aren't many riders who have studied valentino so closely, certainly few who are so fascinated by the secrets by valentino's enduring charisma and popularity. perhaps none who were so determined to capture some of that magic for themselves. if anyone on this planet was aware, then, of how much better any of these celebrations would have been received coming from valentino - well, it would most certainly have been jorge himself

[raulfernandez]

25 and 16, please, I’m curious <3

Thank you so much for these I am a hater so I love these

16: you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Pedro Acosta.... I dunno his vibes are off I don't like him....

The whole concept of RedBull in F1 and people who support them cause it's always "Oh they're so mean" "it's such a bad system" until it's somebody they don't care about getting dropped for somebody most people like then it's suddenly "Okay yeah that's okay that's okay that's good, glad they did it." Also the fact that people excuse Max's behaviour (racism, etc) with his childhood. That isn't a reason, nor is it an excuse.

And one team dominating a sport, be it RedBull in F1, Ducati in Motogp or even Bayern in Football, it just gets tiring. Yeah I guess it is fun when you like the people but most of them are/get really arrogant really fast and it's just annoying to watch the same assholes win shit over and over again. Especially when they don't show emotions at all (RB)

25: common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

"xxx doesn't deserve his seat" what gives you the right to decide who deserves a seat and who doesn't? Are you the team principal? Do you know everything that goes on in those teams? I get when it's about riders only getting their seat because of sponsors *cough cough* Zarco *cough cough* but all of these guys have reasons why they are where they are today. Because the teams, the actually important ones, who make the decisions, decided that they want them and that they deserve a chance even if they maybe didn't win the championship last year. This gets me especially mad when it's about riders coming back from injury, more specifically Enea. We all saw what that guy could do last year, getting podiums and wins on a non-factory ducati, while all the other 6 ducatis were there to give Pecco space, Enea fought against him and even won it sometimes. And now he's back after missing a ton of races, it's his first year with the factory team, he hasn't had much time to adapt to it yet, obviously the worldchampion from last year is gonna be better on a bike that he knows better. Same with Pol, he's been doing amazing the past weeks, especially considering that he's been out since the Start of the season and is on an independent team.

Also same thing, different person. Raul Fernández. Does not deserve ANY of the hate he's getting. He's been consistently getting better and I know especially compared to his teammate, he's not doing that well. But his time will come if they just let him. He's young, he should get the time he has to figure out how that bike works and make it work for himself.

Also one last thing, I don't get why people hate Albert Arenas like what did he do??

Yeah lol sorry I went a bit off there :]

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Select: An Old Weeb's Thesis

These last three seasons of anime have been absolutely amazing. Bangers, he lot of them! I discovered brand new shows which have found their way into the upper echelon of my all-time favorites and others which had already made their claim, came through with a resurgent fury. Obviously I'm speaking about Overlord in that regard but where would it fall in a top tn all-time list for me? What does my top ten all-time anime list even look like? Would i be able to stop at ten or would this be riddle with titles sharing spaces. I decided to actually take the time and think about this thing, really sus out where the chips will fall. I have been watching anime since the late Eighties so, with my catalog of completed narratives, this might be a long f*cking list! But a fun one to put together, i think. Spoiler alert, EVA is number one, that is for sure.

10. Voltron

This is the first anime i remember ever seeing. I was VERY young when this aired and super into robots at the time. Transformers was my sh*t, still is, so when i stumbled upon the bastardized version of Go-Lion airing on US televisions back in the late Eighties, i was all over it. Understand, Voltron is bad. It’s an incoherent mess that chopped and screwed several space robot anime into one show. This was kind of the flavor at the time, see Robotech, so the version of Go-Lion i got was an absolute quagmire. That said, i was, like, four or five hen i first saw this show and the toys were AMAZING! When i got older, and anime became far more mainstream, i finally got to see the original Go-Lion and it turned out to be a solid f*cking show. While i absolutely enjoy that version, that old frankensteined version from my childhood, will always have a place in my heart. It also instilled a love for giant robot anime, one that left a clear path for EVA to top this list.

9. Sailor Moon

Yes, i love Sailor Moon. I have since i was in the fifth grade. I was all over this thing as a kid. Back then, i was already full Weeb, we were called “Otaku” back then, and out anime offerings were slim at best. When i found out that one was airing on TV regularly, at the ass-crack of dawn, i was all over it. I used to wake up at five am to watch that sh*t. I had tapes, upon tapes, upon tapes, recorded on the little TV/VCR combo i got when i was seven years old. Interestingly enough, this was my Dragon Ball z before i actually watched Dragon Ball Z. I adored Usagi and her misadventures in love. Sailor Moon was so ahead of it’s time in terms of representation and LBGTQ+ content, a fact that wasn’t lost on my ten year old self. I remember that first season vividly, Queen Beryl sending Zoisite and Malachite to wreck on the Sailor Scouts for reasons. as an adult, i appreciate it’s place in the annals of anime history but back then, i was just keen on all the magical girl and super sentai elements, both of which would become foundation blocks for my tastes going forward. Sailor Moon directly influenced my love for things like Power Rangers and Kamen Rider. For that, I'll love Princess Serena forever.

8. Chobits

Chobits was a surprise for me. It was a bonus addition from a bootleg DVD site i used to buy from. I didn’t pat for it at all but it ended up being my favorite thing from that company and immediately entered my top ten. You have to understand, i was re-evaluating so much of my life at that point. I had just graduated high school, started listening to other types of music, watching other genres of film, playing RPGs seriously for the first time, so giving Chobits a shot was just a whim. Up to that point, i had kind of written off the lovey-dovery, slice of life, romance anime as “Girly sh*t”. I didn’t think there was anything there for me. Like, Clamp, in general, was a whole enigma to my sensibilities back then. And then Chobits happened. Literally blew the doors of my ignorance. I fell in love with this show. I mean, the second those first few notes of Let Me Be With You hit, i was hooked. Without Chobits, i would have never given shows like ToraDora, My Dress-up Darling, A Silent Voice, or My Love Story; All of which i count as favorites.

7. The Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor

Yo, Guyver blew my mind when i first saw it back in the mid-Nineties. I as old enough to trawl the anime section of video rental stores and stumbled across this pure, Golden Age, gem. I as aware of The Guyver because of the live action adaption “starring” Mark Hamill but i was not prepared for experiencing the wildly visceral nature of the source material. My goodness, was this everything to me! The violence, the brutality, that detailed gore. Man, watching Guyver literally melt into a pile of meaty sludge after Enzyme tore out his Control Metal, haunted my dreams for days after. Up to that point, i had seen brutality in anime (Literally watched Wicked City not a year before) but this was different. This was meant for teenagers. I wasn’t much younger than that, around twelve i think, and it made me realize that Japan was on something completely different. Guyver as the first uncut anime i remember seeing and it was f*cking visceral. I loved it so much! Blood, tits, unadulterated violence, adult themes; Everything a pre-teen would want and i wanted it all! Guyver set the stage for me almost always searching out the purest for of anime, the one which aired in Japan rather than the US. This single show is what made me seek out the alternative narratives for everything that came after.

6. The Big O

If Tim Burton wrote and directed an mecha anime, you’d get The Big O. This show is amazing! I loved the story it told, the ambiguity of it’s nature, and the general vibe of artificiality that makes up Paradigm City. The Big O was the first anime i recalled, being absolutely incoherent but, at the same time, wonderfully endearing. Roger Smith, or as i like to think of him, Anime Batman, really left an impression with his Art Deco adventures. Giant robots, a former bank being his Batcave, awesome adventures, a solid monster-of-the-week formula for the first season; The Big O was tailor made for me. Even his Robin was dope. Or should i day, Nightingale. The Big O showed me what could be done with enigma and an eye toward character in study in anime. The first season of Big O came through and blew my mind. I waited with baited breath for a second season, a conclusion to the narrative i had become so invested with. It would take three years but that wrap around ending was a brilliant choice, allowing me ( and the denizens o f that world) to live in Paradigm City forever. The Big O immediately became a show i would cherish. Hell, the first gift my kid sister ever gave me was a Big O boxset.

5a. BLEACH

It’s weird to have BLEACH at this pot on my list because i absolutely adore this show so much. Seeing BLEACH for the first time, and reading it for that matter, caused a quantum shift in what i understood Shonen anime to be. Up to that point, it was all Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho and then BLEACH came through and gave me something better. BLEAH was the first Shonen anime i remember to actually have a solid f*cking plot. Like, those first two arcs are top tier storytelling and i was captivated by them Aizen’s machinations were everything and, even though the following arcs were considerably less in quality, i chock that up to Jump forcing Kubo to prematurely extend his manga a la Toriyama after the Freezer saga. Even with Kubo's drop in passion after the Soul Society arc, BLEACH continued to live rent free in my head. That art style definitely informed my own, becoming a huge stepping stone in how i draw the human form. For that fact, alone, BLEACH would make this list but the world Kubo dreamed up is so much more than that. Mans is on record as to wanting to just draw dope sh*t and BLEACH is one of the dopest things out there!

5b. Overlord

Way back in the year 2015, during the height of the Isekai boom, i stumbled across this weirdly designed take on what i could only intercept as Skeletor from He-Man. As an Eighties kid, i was well verse in Masters of the Universe, though i didn’t really like the show. I did like the ideas behind, the world crafted and, more to the point, Skeletor, himself. I often wondered what Eternia would be if Skelly-boy actually took it over. Well, Overlord answered that question for me and I've been a fan ever since. This thing wasn’t like any other “Reincarnated into a fantasy world” i had ever seen before. Indeed, the world, itself, was the draw. It was planted with awesome characters, but the overall detail in the rules of that world were amazing to me. Maruyama really put a lot of effort into the lore of his anti-He-Man narrative and i am a sucker for ore. It’s why i enjoy things like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Overlord is up there for me in terms of epicness and easily slotted it’s way into my top ten, even if it shares this spot with two other entries.

5c. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime

A few years after Ainz blew my mind with the potential of world building, Slime came through and did it again with law building. I’m not going to sit here and deny that Slime is every bit the series as Overlord and BLEACH, it definitely is, but the magic system in this show is so much better, it’s insane. Fuse really put time into weaving this system together and it shows. I love the nod toward the RPG style narrative, building upon skill and magic levels like an old Final Fantasy title. You can definitely feel a Squenix influence in there, which is right up my alley because i am a straight up FF shill. More than that, i find the character work in this story to be incredibly strong. Like, i care about these characters WAY more than i should. All of them, even the borderline background cats. They all get time to shine and i can’t wait to see where this story goes. Honestly, i actually spoiled myself a bit and kind of know where it ends up, but seeing the ride to that conclusion is going to be fantastic. All three of these entries at five still have always to go for completion but they have definitely proven worthy to make this list.

4a. Fate/Stay Night

I struggled with this one. I struggled with just adding the entirety of the Fate franchise. I’m talking Apocrypha, Unlimited Blade Works,Grand Order,  Zero, Extra, and especially Heaven’s Fell. In all honesty, this spot should be for Heaven’s Feel. I loved those movies. I loves that route in the game. I love Sakura Matou. She's my favorite Master. But i also love Mordred. That’s painfully clear if you have been frequenting this blog over the years. Mordred is from Apocrypha. Then there’s Nero, Gilgamesh, and Kiritsugu; All from the aforementioned series. Plus, Prototype got an OAD and I've heard rumors of a Strange Fake adaption in the works. I love the entirety of the Fate franchise but, none of these entries would even be a blip on my radar if not for the 2006 adaption of arguably the weakest route in the entire game, Stay Night. Fate/Stay Night makes it on this list, and at such a high spot, for what came after. I liked Stay Night, don’t misunderstand, but everything, and i mean everything, which came after, has been superior. None of it would even be a thing, however, without this first attempt which is why it’s one of my all-time favorites. Plus, i like this route more than UBW in the game, anyway.

4b. Bakemonogatari

Bake is in the same situation as Fate. I wanted to put the entire franchise on here but there is one, specific, story which stand out more than the others. Kizumonogatai. Shinobu or, rather, Kissshot, is an arguably top three all-time favorite anime character for me and it was Kizumonogatari where we got the most of her. i actually own all three Kizu films and even the novel, itself, I loved that character but i wouldn’t know anything about her without Bake. I’m not slighting the first entry into the world of Monogatari, mind you. Quite the contrary actually, I love Bake. It’s my second favorite story after Kizu but that’s by degrees. In terms of character development, i think Nekomonogatari (Black) is superior than Bake in almost every way. Kabukimonogatari went a long way to fleshing our Koyomi and even gave us a look at an adult Mayoi, as well as solid Shinobu content. I can go on and on about the other Monogatari series and how they do the narrative better than the first, but Bakemongatari WAS the first. Without it, i wouldn’t even know the other stories were a thing. That’s why it’s here. That’s why it deserves to be here. Just like Fate/Stay Night.

3. Dragon Ball Z

Listen, DBZ is not “good”. The narrative is all over the place and the plot is paper thin, at best. The “story” is basically there to frame the battles and, my goodness, were those battles straight up spectacle! I remember, vividly, watching the first beam clash between Goku and Vegeta. A full power Galick Gun against a Kaioken x 4 Kamehameha? God, that clash was brilliant. That entire scrap was brilliant. The Saiyan arc set a pace for that show which became the blueprint for Shonen anything going forward. The story was trash, though. So why do i love this sh*t so much that i would put it at three in my all-time list? Influence. Dragon Ball Z introduced me to my second favorite anime character (again, this is a 1a/1b situation) after Rei Ayanami, Vegeta IV. Vegeta is one of the most complete characters ever brought to life through the anime genre and i loved witnessing every second of that journey. By the time he sacrifices himself to Buu, i was in it for life. It made me happy to see that development continue in Super. More than that, Toriyama’s art style influenced my own, for years, until i caught wind of Tite Kubo.

2a. Akira

It was hard trying to place this one but, when i thought abut it, Akira had to sit here along with GitS. I saw Akira, long ago, on cable. the Sci-fi channel used to have these specials very year, one was Godzilla and the other was Anime. It was called Japanimation back then but one of the first films i remember seeing during one of these marathons, was Akira. The thing is, though, i remembered seeing this movie BEFORE that. Watching it on TV like that just reminded me of everything had already witnessed in a time i had long since forgot. I don’t know when i first saw Akira. I can’t remember. But i had to have seen it before i was seven years old. What that mans is Akira has been with me for as long as i can remember. It’s no the first anime i have ever seen, that’s probably Go-Lion (Voltron here in the States) but it had to be one of the first ten. How can it not be number two on my all-time list with that level of pedigree?

2b. Ghost in the Shell

Look, i love cyberpunk. That sh*t is easily my favorite genre of anything. You can write a sappy, cliche, uninspired story that would usually bore me to death but slap a cyberpunk skin on top of it? Yeah, I'm down to suffer for the cause. GitS is not that. Shirow built a whole ass classic with his tale of existential inquiry, wrapped with some of the staunchest political intrigue I've ever seen in an anime, outside of Gundam. More than that, his take on cyberpunk absolutely informed my own. When i think cyberpunk, i think Tachikomas, Ghosts, the net, and full cyborg bodies. Blade Runner was also a strong influence but that’s a much more stylized take on the genre. For me, GitS gets it right. It is the perfect balance between grounded reality and sci-fi magic, and that’s saying a lot because i grew up in the Eighties. Cyberpunk was almost exclusively the only genre of anime we got here in the States back then. Don’t misunderstand, i still enjoy those takes, Night City being the most recent to capture my heart thanks to Edgerunners, but the world of Major Kusanagi will always take the pole position. Along with Akira.

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion

EVA is my top anime, all-time. I’ve never been shy abut this. I love this show, man. I love this franchise. Anno crafted a goddamn masterpiece with this thing. I enjoy the Rebuild films and the manga adaption is a quietly superior telling of the story based strictly on the fact it had nine years to tell that story, but the OG anime is the best of that lot, for me. I had never seen anything so fluidly animated outside of Akira and GitS, let alone a mecha anime with this level of detail. The EVAs, as mechs, are top tier design, only beaten out in my heart by Gundam Epyon and, even then, it’s more a 1a/1b situation. EVA informed so much about my taste in anime going forward, it’s insane. Never mind the eternal Waifu battle shenanigans (Rei is best girl), but just in terms of overall storytelling, EVA raised the bar for me. I have no patience for flat characters or bland worlds because Neon Genesis Evangelion set the bar that high. Also, A Cruel Angel’s Thesis is the best goddamn opening an anime will ever have!

Honorable Mentions: Battle Angel Alita, FLCL, Erased, Goodbye, Mr. Despair, Perfect Blue, Deadman Wonderland, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, One-Punch Man, Ruroni Kenshin, Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, ToraDora, A Certain Magical Index, A Certain Scientific Railgun, A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, My Dress Up Darling, Bubblegum Crisis, Devilman Crybaby, Darling in the Franxx, Code Geass, Angel Beats, Re:Zero, Nausicca, Cromartie High, Blue Exorcist, Paranoia Agent, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Saga of Tanya the Evil, No Game No Live, Please, Teacher!

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Select: An Old Weeb's Thesis

These last three seasons of anime have been absolutely amazing. Bangers, he lot of them! I discovered brand new shows which have found their way into the upper echelon of my all-time favorites and others which had already made their claim, came through with a resurgent fury. Obviously I'm speaking about Overlord in that regard but where would it fall in a top tn all-time list for me? What does my top ten all-time anime list even look like? Would i be able to stop at ten or would this be riddle with titles sharing spaces. I decided to actually take the time and think about this thing, really sus out where the chips will fall. I have been watching anime since the late Eighties so, with my catalog of completed narratives, this might be a long f*cking list! But a fun one to put together, i think. Spoiler alert, EVA is number one, that is for sure.

10. Voltron

This is the first anime i remember ever seeing. I was VERY young when this aired and super into robots at the time. Transformers was my sh*t, still is, so when i stumbled upon the bastardized version of Go-Lion airing on US televisions back in the late Eighties, i was all over it. Understand, Voltron is bad. It’s an incoherent mess that chopped and screwed several space robot anime into one show. This was kind of the flavor at the time, see Robotech, so the version of Go-Lion i got was an absolute quagmire. That said, i was, like, four or five hen i first saw this show and the toys were AMAZING! When i got older, and anime became far more mainstream, i finally got to see the original Go-Lion and it turned out to be a solid f*cking show. While i absolutely enjoy that version, that old frankensteined version from my childhood, will always have a place in my heart. It also instilled a love for giant robot anime, one that left a clear path for EVA to top this list.

9. Sailor Moon

Yes, i love Sailor Moon. I have since i was in the fifth grade. I was all over this thing as a kid. Back then, i was already full Weeb, we were called “Otaku” back then, and out anime offerings were slim at best. When i found out that one was airing on TV regularly, at the ass-crack of dawn, i was all over it. I used to wake up at five am to watch that sh*t. I had tapes, upon tapes, upon tapes, recorded on the little TV/VCR combo i got when i was seven years old. Interestingly enough, this was my Dragon Ball z before i actually watched Dragon Ball Z. I adored Usagi and her misadventures in love. Sailor Moon was so ahead of it’s time in terms of representation and LBGTQ+ content, a fact that wasn’t lost on my ten year old self. I remember that first season vividly, Queen Beryl sending Zoisite and Malachite to wreck on the Sailor Scouts for reasons. as an adult, i appreciate it’s place in the annals of anime history but back then, i was just keen on all the magical girl and super sentai elements, both of which would become foundation blocks for my tastes going forward. Sailor Moon directly influenced my love for things like Power Rangers and Kamen Rider. For that, I'll love Princess Serena forever.

8. Chobits

Chobits was a surprise for me. It was a bonus addition from a bootleg DVD site i used to buy from. I didn’t pat for it at all but it ended up being my favorite thing from that company and immediately entered my top ten. You have to understand, i was re-evaluating so much of my life at that point. I had just graduated high school, started listening to other types of music, watching other genres of film, playing RPGs seriously for the first time, so giving Chobits a shot was just a whim. Up to that point, i had kind of written off the lovey-dovery, slice of life, romance anime as “Girly sh*t”. I didn’t think there was anything there for me. Like, Clamp, in general, was a whole enigma to my sensibilities back then. And then Chobits happened. Literally blew the doors of my ignorance. I fell in love with this show. I mean, the second those first few notes of Let Me Be With You hit, i was hooked. Without Chobits, i would have never given shows like ToraDora, My Dress-up Darling, A Silent Voice, or My Love Story; All of which i count as favorites.

7. The Guyver: Bio-Boosted Armor

Yo, Guyver blew my mind when i first saw it back in the mid-Nineties. I as old enough to trawl the anime section of video rental stores and stumbled across this pure, Golden Age, gem. I as aware of The Guyver because of the live action adaption “starring” Mark Hamill but i was not prepared for experiencing the wildly visceral nature of the source material. My goodness, was this everything to me! The violence, the brutality, that detailed gore. Man, watching Guyver literally melt into a pile of meaty sludge after Enzyme tore out his Control Metal, haunted my dreams for days after. Up to that point, i had seen brutality in anime (Literally watched Wicked City not a year before) but this was different. This was meant for teenagers. I wasn’t much younger than that, around twelve i think, and it made me realize that Japan was on something completely different. Guyver as the first uncut anime i remember seeing and it was f*cking visceral. I loved it so much! Blood, tits, unadulterated violence, adult themes; Everything a pre-teen would want and i wanted it all! Guyver set the stage for me almost always searching out the purest for of anime, the one which aired in Japan rather than the US. This single show is what made me seek out the alternative narratives for everything that came after.

6. The Big O

If Tim Burton wrote and directed an mecha anime, you’d get The Big O. This show is amazing! I loved the story it told, the ambiguity of it’s nature, and the general vibe of artificiality that makes up Paradigm City. The Big O was the first anime i recalled, being absolutely incoherent but, at the same time, wonderfully endearing. Roger Smith, or as i like to think of him, Anime Batman, really left an impression with his Art Deco adventures. Giant robots, a former bank being his Batcave, awesome adventures, a solid monster-of-the-week formula for the first season; The Big O was tailor made for me. Even his Robin was dope. Or should i day, Nightingale. The Big O showed me what could be done with enigma and an eye toward character in study in anime. The first season of Big O came through and blew my mind. I waited with baited breath for a second season, a conclusion to the narrative i had become so invested with. It would take three years but that wrap around ending was a brilliant choice, allowing me ( and the denizens o f that world) to live in Paradigm City forever. The Big O immediately became a show i would cherish. Hell, the first gift my kid sister ever gave me was a Big O boxset.

5a. BLEACH

It’s weird to have BLEACH at this pot on my list because i absolutely adore this show so much. Seeing BLEACH for the first time, and reading it for that matter, caused a quantum shift in what i understood Shonen anime to be. Up to that point, it was all Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho and then BLEACH came through and gave me something better. BLEAH was the first Shonen anime i remember to actually have a solid f*cking plot. Like, those first two arcs are top tier storytelling and i was captivated by them Aizen’s machinations were everything and, even though the following arcs were considerably less in quality, i chock that up to Jump forcing Kubo to prematurely extend his manga a la Toriyama after the Freezer saga. Even with Kubo's drop in passion after the Soul Society arc, BLEACH continued to live rent free in my head. That art style definitely informed my own, becoming a huge stepping stone in how i draw the human form. For that fact, alone, BLEACH would make this list but the world Kubo dreamed up is so much more than that. Mans is on record as to wanting to just draw dope sh*t and BLEACH is one of the dopest things out there!

5b. Overlord

Way back in the year 2015, during the height of the Isekai boom, i stumbled across this weirdly designed take on what i could only intercept as Skeletor from He-Man. As an Eighties kid, i was well verse in Masters of the Universe, though i didn’t really like the show. I did like the ideas behind, the world crafted and, more to the point, Skeletor, himself. I often wondered what Eternia would be if Skelly-boy actually took it over. Well, Overlord answered that question for me and I've been a fan ever since. This thing wasn’t like any other “Reincarnated into a fantasy world” i had ever seen before. Indeed, the world, itself, was the draw. It was planted with awesome characters, but the overall detail in the rules of that world were amazing to me. Maruyama really put a lot of effort into the lore of his anti-He-Man narrative and i am a sucker for ore. It’s why i enjoy things like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Overlord is up there for me in terms of epicness and easily slotted it’s way into my top ten, even if it shares this spot with two other entries.

5c. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime

A few years after Ainz blew my mind with the potential of world building, Slime came through and did it again with law building. I’m not going to sit here and deny that Slime is every bit the series as Overlord and BLEACH, it definitely is, but the magic system in this show is so much better, it’s insane. Fuse really put time into weaving this system together and it shows. I love the nod toward the RPG style narrative, building upon skill and magic levels like an old Final Fantasy title. You can definitely feel a Squenix influence in there, which is right up my alley because i am a straight up FF shill. More than that, i find the character work in this story to be incredibly strong. Like, i care about these characters WAY more than i should. All of them, even the borderline background cats. They all get time to shine and i can’t wait to see where this story goes. Honestly, i actually spoiled myself a bit and kind of know where it ends up, but seeing the ride to that conclusion is going to be fantastic. All three of these entries at five still have always to go for completion but they have definitely proven worthy to make this list.

4a. Fate/Stay Night

I struggled with this one. I struggled with just adding the entirety of the Fate franchise. I’m talking Apocrypha, Unlimited Blade Works,Grand Order,  Zero, Extra, and especially Heaven’s Fell. In all honesty, this spot should be for Heaven’s Feel. I loved those movies. I loves that route in the game. I love Sakura Matou. She's my favorite Master. But i also love Mordred. That’s painfully clear if you have been frequenting this blog over the years. Mordred is from Apocrypha. Then there’s Nero, Gilgamesh, and Kiritsugu; All from the aforementioned series. Plus, Prototype got an OAD and I've heard rumors of a Strange Fake adaption in the works. I love the entirety of the Fate franchise but, none of these entries would even be a blip on my radar if not for the 2006 adaption of arguably the weakest route in the entire game, Stay Night. Fate/Stay Night makes it on this list, and at such a high spot, for what came after. I liked Stay Night, don’t misunderstand, but everything, and i mean everything, which came after, has been superior. None of it would even be a thing, however, without this first attempt which is why it’s one of my all-time favorites. Plus, i like this route more than UBW in the game, anyway.

4b. Bakemonogatari

Bake is in the same situation as Fate. I wanted to put the entire franchise on here but there is one, specific, story which stand out more than the others. Kizumonogatai. Shinobu or, rather, Kissshot, is an arguably top three all-time favorite anime character for me and it was Kizumonogatari where we got the most of her. i actually own all three Kizu films and even the novel, itself, I loved that character but i wouldn’t know anything about her without Bake. I’m not slighting the first entry into the world of Monogatari, mind you. Quite the contrary actually, I love Bake. It’s my second favorite story after Kizu but that’s by degrees. In terms of character development, i think Nekomonogatari (Black) is superior than Bake in almost every way. Kabukimonogatari went a long way to fleshing our Koyomi and even gave us a look at an adult Mayoi, as well as solid Shinobu content. I can go on and on about the other Monogatari series and how they do the narrative better than the first, but Bakemongatari WAS the first. Without it, i wouldn’t even know the other stories were a thing. That’s why it’s here. That’s why it deserves to be here. Just like Fate/Stay Night.

3. Dragon Ball Z

Listen, DBZ is not “good”. The narrative is all over the place and the plot is paper thin, at best. The “story” is basically there to frame the battles and, my goodness, were those battles straight up spectacle! I remember, vividly, watching the first beam clash between Goku and Vegeta. A full power Galick Gun against a Kaioken x 4 Kamehameha? God, that clash was brilliant. That entire scrap was brilliant. The Saiyan arc set a pace for that show which became the blueprint for Shonen anything going forward. The story was trash, though. So why do i love this sh*t so much that i would put it at three in my all-time list? Influence. Dragon Ball Z introduced me to my second favorite anime character (again, this is a 1a/1b situation) after Rei Ayanami, Vegeta IV. Vegeta is one of the most complete characters ever brought to life through the anime genre and i loved witnessing every second of that journey. By the time he sacrifices himself to Buu, i was in it for life. It made me happy to see that development continue in Super. More than that, Toriyama’s art style influenced my own, for years, until i caught wind of Tite Kubo.

2a. Akira

It was hard trying to place this one but, when i thought abut it, Akira had to sit here along with GitS. I saw Akira, long ago, on cable. the Sci-fi channel used to have these specials very year, one was Godzilla and the other was Anime. It was called Japanimation back then but one of the first films i remember seeing during one of these marathons, was Akira. The thing is, though, i remembered seeing this movie BEFORE that. Watching it on TV like that just reminded me of everything had already witnessed in a time i had long since forgot. I don’t know when i first saw Akira. I can’t remember. But i had to have seen it before i was seven years old. What that mans is Akira has been with me for as long as i can remember. It’s no the first anime i have ever seen, that’s probably Go-Lion (Voltron here in the States) but it had to be one of the first ten. How can it not be number two on my all-time list with that level of pedigree?

2b. Ghost in the Shell

Look, i love cyberpunk. That sh*t is easily my favorite genre of anything. You can write a sappy, cliche, uninspired story that would usually bore me to death but slap a cyberpunk skin on top of it? Yeah, I'm down to suffer for the cause. GitS is not that. Shirow built a whole ass classic with his tale of existential inquiry, wrapped with some of the staunchest political intrigue I've ever seen in an anime, outside of Gundam. More than that, his take on cyberpunk absolutely informed my own. When i think cyberpunk, i think Tachikomas, Ghosts, the net, and full cyborg bodies. Blade Runner was also a strong influence but that’s a much more stylized take on the genre. For me, GitS gets it right. It is the perfect balance between grounded reality and sci-fi magic, and that’s saying a lot because i grew up in the Eighties. Cyberpunk was almost exclusively the only genre of anime we got here in the States back then. Don’t misunderstand, i still enjoy those takes, Night City being the most recent to capture my heart thanks to Edgerunners, but the world of Major Kusanagi will always take the pole position. Along with Akira.

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion

EVA is my top anime, all-time. I’ve never been shy abut this. I love this show, man. I love this franchise. Anno crafted a goddamn masterpiece with this thing. I enjoy the Rebuild films and the manga adaption is a quietly superior telling of the story based strictly on the fact it had nine years to tell that story, but the OG anime is the best of that lot, for me. I had never seen anything so fluidly animated outside of Akira and GitS, let alone a mecha anime with this level of detail. The EVAs, as mechs, are top tier design, only beaten out in my heart by Gundam Epyon and, even then, it’s more a 1a/1b situation. EVA informed so much about my taste in anime going forward, it’s insane. Never mind the eternal Waifu battle shenanigans (Rei is best girl), but just in terms of overall storytelling, EVA raised the bar for me. I have no patience for flat characters or bland worlds because Neon Genesis Evangelion set the bar that high. Also, A Cruel Angel’s Thesis is the best goddamn opening an anime will ever have!

Honorable Mentions: Battle Angel Alita, FLCL, Erased, Goodbye, Mr. Despair, Perfect Blue, Deadman Wonderland, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, One-Punch Man, Ruroni Kenshin, Is It Wrong to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, ToraDora, A Certain Magical Index, A Certain Scientific Railgun, A Certain Scientific Accelerator, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, My Dress Up Darling, Bubblegum Crisis, Devilman Crybaby, Darling in the Franxx, Code Geass, Angel Beats, Re:Zero, Nausicca, Cromartie High, Blue Exorcist, Paranoia Agent, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Saga of Tanya the Evil, No Game No Live, Please, Teacher!

[worldchampionpeccobagnaia]

Hi! This is really random but may I know why you don't like Domi? I mean on the rare occasion I watch motoE I don't really vibe with him but I just thought it's because I prefer Eric. Is there any specific reason why?

other than being a massive creep he’s done some pretty unsportsmanlike things during races. at the 2021 motoe finale he and jordi torres were fighting for the championship and he pulled a dodgy move that took jordi out, meaning domi won the championship but he ended up getting a time penalty that was the equivalent of a ride through which meant he lost the championship, then he went on social media and effectively declared himself the moral and true champion (which is bullshit anyways and if he’d not been so desperate he might even have won it fair and square) and then this season in wssp he was involved in a crash, that he didn’t cause he was just collateral damage, and basically faked a concussion to try and get a red flag brought out so he could restart the race, he admitted to doing this the next day and got banned from taking part in race 2 because of it ! finally, and this is just personally, but his fan club just weird me out they’re like a cult almost and apparently only something like ~200 people are allowed to join it’s all very weird and :/

[beann-e]

Haikyu Characters Reacting To Their S/O Screaming Back At Them

Aoba Johsai

Read Part Two Here

kyotani Kentaro

-everyone knows kyotani for his anger and how he doesn’t suck up to people so when they found out he was dating someone they had to assume this someone had the ability to put him in his place and right now that’s just what they needed

“ mad dog-chan you can’t do this not right now“ oikawas voice rang through in annoyance

“ yeah we need you to go in “ iwazumis voice sounded tired as if he was exhausted by trying to convince the boy for the past 5 minutes during their halftime (long timeout)

kyotani grunted as he turned from both of his teammates looking to the wall as he sat on the bench

“ coach seriously — we need him and he’s just on the bench doing nothing “

“ he said he’s tired of you guys only calling him in for 5 minutes and then sitting him back out like an animal— that you use to show off and then send outside when company’s gone “

“ well he’s our secret weapon “ oikawa screamed “ that’s literally what you do “

kyotani grumbled as he rolled his eyes at oikawa who huffed as he moved to turn to the bleachers “ oh forget this he’s not even listening to iwa-chan “

“ well you know what to do flatty-kawa “

“ duh you see i’m doing it iwa-chan”

oikawas hand came up in a wave as he moved to the referee whispering to them as they spoke on the speaker their voices crisp sending a chill through kyotani’s spine

“ we need a y/n l/n to come down to Aoba Johsais Bench — A y/n L/n to come down to Aoba Johsais bench “

you stood up smiling widely as you jumped your way through the crowd voice heaven sent as you screamed “ that’s me “

moving through people talking sweetly “ oops — sorry — sorry have to go take care of a loose hothead—whoops—you should really watch where you place that drink “

you hopped down the stairs waving at the team and the referee as you came to a stop in front of kyotani who was even more mad than he was initially

“ babe whats up why are they calling me down here again “ you sighed “ it’s only happened five other times and I thought we got past it “

“ they say that like it’s nothing “ kindaichis voice came out small as he rubbed the back of his head

“ kyotani “ you called confused usually he would answer you by now and comply and go play for a little while just to make you happy so you could go sit down on the bench to watch his game closely

“ uh somethings wrong iwa-chan “

“ yeah somethings off he’s not responding to her this time “

“ kyo what— “

“ if anything he looks like he’s gonna snap “

oikawa laughed at his comment “ yeah right y/n ‘ s too nice he’d feel horrible if he snapped at ‘em —they’d probably cry he wouldn’t do it “

oikawas face dropped as he heard the loud voice ring out inside the gym “ GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME“

you shuddered at his voice “ your even more fucking annoying than that dumbass over there “

your mouth dropped “ all you do is come down here and bother me everytime and I only go in for you — i’m not doing it this time i’m gonna stand my ground”

he screamed “ they use me for those 5 minutes and then toss me out i’m not doing it — like I said i’m sitting right here on this bench and standing my fucking ground “

your face went up in shock as you felt your body flinch at his voice kyotani and the rest of his team immediately feeling bad at what the whole gym just witnessed everyone listening closely feeling sorry for you

Oikawa moved to glare at kyotani as he walked over to wrap his arms around you “ aw y/n-chan it’s ok to cr— “

“ YOU SCREAM AT ME ONE MORE TIME LIKE THAT AND IM GONNA KNOCK YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF WITH THE BAT MY DAD WACKS INTRUDERS AT HIS STORE WITH “ your screams came out louder than his as you stared down at the boy in front of you

“ I don’t care if you go out there and wipe the floor down with fucking towels or scrape it clean with a toothbrush but your going out on that court kentaro“

your voice was stern “ you better be glad they even give you 2 seconds on that court you love so much with your shitty attitude —if it was me i’d make you a bench rider the whole season while you watch shittykawa smirk at you everytime he goes up for a set that you won’t get “ your screams catching the whole gym off gaurd

“ so your gonna go out there and stand your fucking ground on that court “ you mocked him hand pointing from him to the court

Kyotani’s body shaking at your tone “ kentaro “ you spoke his name like a curse as he jolted and race to stand in his position on the court head never turning back to look at you again as you continued

“ You will score everytime you go up for that ball — everytime you hit something or come in contact with it— I want a point on that board do you hear me“

“ yes “

“ kentaro “

“ yes ma’am “

you moved to fix your clothes as you stared at everyone in the crowd “ everytime my boyfriends feet leave that ground you better clap your asses off do you hear me “

everyone shook their heads in a yes motion afraid of you and how such a big yell could come from such a small person

You smiled at the team before you took your seat on the bench near the coach who read off all his plans for kyotani that hed never listened to

“ oh trust me we’ll do that plan “ you said as you shook your head ignoring all the whispers from the males around you

“ do they know the game doesn’t start back up again until 5 minutes from now “ mattsukawas voice came out in concern

“ I —uh I don’t think they care “

“ oikawa what’s wrong with you “ iwazumi turned to see oikawas face made up in a frown as he sulked

“ pretty y/n-chan called me your stupid nickname “

oikawa

-oikawa never liked losing especially when it was to someone younger than him someone he didn’t like so you can imagine his anger when he lost to Karasuno

-no one expected the hallway to erupt in his screams so soon

“ tooru what’s wrong “

“ i’m just a little tired y/n i’m ok “

“ no but you — you look angry “

he took a deep breath as he shook his head in annoyance moving to walk off you standing in front of him stopping his exit

“ ok then if I look angry why the fuck would you stand in front of me “

“ because I “

“ because your fucking annoying that’s what it is “

“ tooru”

“ no don’t baby me y/n I don’t need you or anyone else to tell me I played good and I was amazing obviously I wasn’t if your standing here talking to me in a hallway and not in front of me while I celebrate on the court “

“ it’s ok baby — you can still win a volleyball nat— “

he lost his cool as he screamed looking down on you “ WHEN Y/N WHEN HUH “

he screamed harshly “ it’s over — are you fucking stupid there is no next time shitty kageyama took it there’s no next time for me — fuck we’re— we’re third years “

his voice sounded bloody by his screams that sounded throughout the hallway his team coming in to check and see if everything was ok receiving their answer when they turned the corner to you taking over

“ if I knew you were so fucking stupid I wouldn’t have dated you you were probably the bad luck charm that made me lose my shitty gam—“

“ the only thing that made you lose this game was you asshole “

your voice was laced with venom as you shot at him screaming constantly “ you and your shitty need to keep working endlessly maybe if you didn’t have a hurt knee — oh wait howd you get that “

you pretended to think “ oh I know FROM OVERWORKING YOURSELF “

you pushed a finger to his chest “ when I say your gonna make it to a nationals someday your gonna make it to a nationals someday you don’t doubt me is that clear “

his face was in fear as his mouth opened wide in a o form unable to process an answer

“ is that clear tooru oikawa “ you screamed

the team letting out yes’s for him as he moved to look back at them before he turned to you shaking his head like a puppy whod accidentally peed in the house

“ I need words “

“ y-fuck y—yes y/n — baby I mean ma’am — shit I mean yes baby “

you moved to stand straight as you cracked your neck and let a smile play on your face as you turned away from him walking to the entrance of the gym “ ok — babe I meant to tell you i’m gonna go say good game to kageyama- kun you go to the busses and make them wait for me ok “ you waved at him as you opened the door “ love you “

“ they wouldn’t dare leave ‘em “ kyotani’s voice came out in a laugh

“ fuck leaving them — theyd let ‘em drive“ hanamaki joked with mattsukawa who was screaming in laughter

your body entering the gym and walking over to kageyama who straightened up turning to speak to hinata who stood in fear

“ you speak nothing of what we heard to y/n-senpai“

“ y-yes ka-kageyama “

“ kageyama-kun youve grown up so much I love it“ you said holding your arms out to him speaking like he was a baby

“ h-hi y/n-senpai “

“ DID YOU KILL THE GREAT KING “