As some of you may know, I've been dealing with an as-yet-unidentified health problem. I've been getting really winded and short of breath really really easily, and it's requiring a lot of pretty expensive tests and doctor visits to get to the bottom of. I'm also still paying off a colonoscopy I had to get in January. I'm lucky enough to have fairly decent insurance, but my portion of the bills is still mounting, and I could use some help, if you have any to spare.
I'll put a cost breakdown under the cut if anyone's curious, but as of now, the grand total I'll be paying (barring any other tests becoming necessary) is $1132.49. I set up a goal on Ko-Fi, just for easy tracking and transparency. If you can spare a few bucks, or even a buck, I would really super appreciate it! If not, reblogs are just as welcome 🤎
Thanks, y'all, and please cross your fingers these tests find something actionable!
I would like to remind everyone that Shang qinghua is, in fact, a peak lord.
Don't get me wrong, I love how pathetic he is in canon and even moreso in fanon. But still, he is very much a peak lord. No matter how mediocre his skills are, he would still be in the top percentage of cultivators.
It’s unfortunate that MDZS isn’t mainstream enough to reference in casual offline conversation, because “this is what killed Nie Mingjue” is thee best possible way to describe an offensively grating piece of music and there is simply no normie equivalent.
so ive been meaning to do this poll for a while because my hypothesis is that seattle is the most Tumblr city, likely in the entire world. tumblr has a huge american majority userbase obviously, but just for comparison going forward, only 0.22% of the american population lives in seattle. as of this reblog, this poll is showing 4% of respondents are seattleites. given, this isnt scientific at all, because my blog just has a lot of seattle connections and seattle followers, but it's still an impressive bias
TGCF’s take on abuse re: Jun Wu and Xie Lian is interesting but also so uncomfortable to read because it’s such a great example of how grooming differs from… I don’t want to say more “conventional” forms of abuse because that’s not quite an apt description, but I suppose the more overtly antagonistic ones a lot of people first think of when they hear the word “abuse.” And I mean in the context of Jun Wu’s Heavenly Emperor persona specifically, not Bai Wuxiang (who adds a whole other layer to this that further complicates things, but that’s not what I’m focusing on right now). Jun Wu’s relationship with Xie Lian revolves around framing him as someone deserving of special treatment; on the surface, this looks like gentleness, love, favoritism, unwavering trust in him, etc. — but when you dig into the motivations for that ostensible favoritism, the whole thing unravels into a horror show, because you see how it’s designed to try to prevent Xie Lian from being his own person. So of course this treatment isn’t really validating, even if it appears that way at first — it’s a means of keeping Xie Lian exactly where Jun Wu wants him: in a gilded cage atop a pedestal he’s being deliberately set up to fall from again and again, even before you factor in the blatant torture and attempts to break Xie Lian’s spirit.
can’t stop thinking about how Zoey is the only hunter we see wielding her weapon without needing to touch them at all:
was she the first hunter to discover this??
like, sure, past hunters wielding bows might’ve had an infinite quiver of arrows, but I doubt they thought to re-direct the arrows *mid-air* by using the Honmoon as a kind of surface
it’s another credit to what a creative fORCE she is—not only as lyricist—just operating on a different mind level than the other two…
Celine must be so pissed Zoey discovered this before her
from all her fights—including the train sequence—she is shown to be jumping off of various demon heads / other surfaces
there is ONE noticeable moment that can be read either way:
like, yes ok from an animators perspective, the honmoon is lit up to show demons tearing through it, and it IS on the side of a wall she could be making contact with instead.
on the other hand… 4 steps on the side of a vertical WALL?? there’s parkour, and then there’s gravity operating differently for her…
even if you don’t accept that headcannon, theres lots of canon evidence for the honmoon as a potential #DoubleJump surface
Derpy uses the honmoon to walk on air:
They literally floated… *googles namsan tower’s height*… 770+ feet into the air by the end with a fan-supercharged honmoon
I mean, this is actually my theory for how they survived that fall from the plane: honmoon sliiide
For Rumi, the Honmoon isn't much different from her perception of Celine; always been there, firm, unyielding save for when their goals perfectly align, a force of nature. She's always under its watchful eye and the passive-aggressive judgement of her patterns shapes her behavior and perceptions of other people.
For Mira, it's a weapon. It's a thing to make That Guy Over There Stop Being A Problem. And, as with all weapons, it's a way to extend her reach, make the space between her and her opponent their problem. She uses it strategically and tactically.
For Zoey, the Honmoon is a friend and toy and support and everything she ever wanted in her pre-HUNTR/X life but never got. It's an expression of her art and a cradle for her heart and an ally from the start. It's her muse and security blanket and the building blocks of everything she does.
I made a guide like this before but I wanted to rewrite it since I found some flaws and want to add more resources and stuff for both YoI fanfic authors and fans who just want to understand scoring in figure skating a little better maybe :)
Disclaimer: I am only human. This guide is most likely flawed. But the ISU doesn't seem to understand their own scoring most of the time either so does it really matter? Please tell me if I have wrong information on anything or explained it wrong/confusingly. ^^
The International Judging System (IJS) has been used in figure skating and ice dance competitions since 2004. It replaced the prior 6.0 system which awarded two marks on a scale to 0 to 6, one for technical merit and one for presentation.
Some of the "older" skaters in YoI, e.g. Viktor, Chris and Yuuri, still skated under the 6.0 at some point. If you place the start of the story in 2015/16, then Viktor skated under the 6.0 for his whole Junior career and the switch was made around when he started skating in seniors.
But we are not here to talk about the 6.0.
Scores given within the IJS consist of 2 parts: The Technical Element Score (TES) and Program Component Score (PCS), which are then combined to make up the Total Segment Score (TSS).
A score sheet from a competition (in this case short program) looks like this:
So let's break that down, shall we?
Technical Element Score (TES)
The TES is about the technical elements in a program, such as jumps, spins, step and choreographic sequences.
In the Short Program there are 7 required elements which can be skated in whatever order:
A double or triple Axel
one triple or quad jump
a jump combination
one spin with a flying entry
a camel or sit spin with just one change of foot
a spin combination with just one change of foot
a step sequence
Single jumps don't recieve any points at all, but do count as a performed element. That means if a skater "pops" a jump, meaning they open up to early and only perform a single rotation, they can't just try again.
The short program is 2min 40 secs long +/- 10 secs
The Free Skate is more...well...free. But there are also restrictions.
A total of 12 elements have to be performed:
7 jump elements. One has to be an Axel jump.
Three spins. One has to be a combination, one has to be a single position and one has to have a flying entrance
One step sequence
One choreographic sequence
Different to the short program, you get points for single jumps. Though those are hardly ever performed on purpose.
The Free Skate is 4 minutes and 20 secs long +/- (now it's 4 min).
Every Element has a Base Value (BV). That meas the performed element is guaranteed those points minus deductions and plus the Grade of Execution (GOE).
Base Values
In Figure Skating there are 6 jumps which can be performed with up to 4 roations at the time being. I will list them with the according base values and with the according abbreviations.
Those values are for prior to 2018 and correct in the context of YoI, the Base Value of the quads and 3A are now a little lower.
-> Why is the Axel worth so much more?
Unlike the other jumps, a single Axel has 1 1/2 rotations, since, other than the all other jumps, it has a forward take off, but is landed backwards.
As of now, the quad Axel has only been landed succesfully by Ilia Malinin, a 18 y/o skater from the USA. He landed it for the first time in competition and got it ratified at the beginning of the 22/23 season at the US Classic, a challenger event that was freaking geoblocked so no one outside the US fucking saw history being made...
Prior to that, Yuzuru Hanyu trained the 4A intensely, and landed it in competition on two feet at the Japanese National Championships in 2021, but failed to get it ratified internationally at the 2022 Olympics because he fell.
But, as far as YoI canon goes, not even Viktor jumps a quad Axel. The extra half rotation makes that jump extremly difficult and was deemed impossible for a very long time. And while I encourage you to use the quad Axel as a story point and a goal for one of the characters, and think it can be very powerful, I highly discourage you from putting a quad Axel in your story lightly.
Euler Jump (a transitional half jump used in combinations to change the edge for take off): 1 EU 0.5 points
-> in YoI that would still be called a single Loop (because thats what it is basically...) and be marked as 1Lo! They changed the name in 2018.
I will try to make another post about the different jumps soon, but for now here is a guide for telling apart jumps!
Combination jumps:
For jump combinations the base values are simply combined. E.g.: A 3F+1Lo+3S combination has a base value of 10.1 points.
Reduction of Base Value:
An underrotated jump (<) will receive 70% of the Base Value, a downgraded jump (<<) receives the Base Value of the jump with one less rotation. If I am not mistaken the 70% Base Value rule also applies to jumps with a wrong take off edge (marked with "e"). Someone please corect me if I'm wrong, I couldn't find the information anywhere...
Repetition:
In the Short Program, each jump can only be executed once. That means that if a skater jumps for example a triple toe loop as a solo jump and as part of the combination, the second jump won't receive any points.
Further in the Free Skate, the "Zayak rule" is to be observed, meaning that from all triple and quad jumps, only two can be executed twice. The repeated jump has to be in combination! For example having a 4T and 4T+2T in your program is valid. But if you have two solo 4T the second one gets marked +REP and receives 70% of the base value.
This also means that if a skater falls on that combination with the repeated jump, it's extra bad. Because that means -1pt for the fall, negative GOE of course and the jump is only worth 70%...tough.
If a skater repeats a jump, it will often be refered to as "zayaked".
Jumps of the same type but with different amounts of rotation are not considered the same jump.
Extra jump elements exceding the 3 in the Short and 7 in the Free don't receive any points.
Spins:
For Spins there are 4 basic positions: Upright, Layback, Sit and Camel. A Combination Spin must include an upright, a sit and a Camel position.
You can get awarded up to a Level 4 for a Spin, depending on various features such as a difficult entry, difficult change of position, visible increase of speed....
I will explain Spins and Spin Levels further in another post but here is a (very long...) list of values for different spins:
If you want to see good spins in men's skating, I highly recomend taking a look at Roman Spindovsky...ehm I mean Sadovsky ;D Here an example of a level 4 change of foot combination spin from him:
Step Sequence
A step sequence should have little two footed skating, a variety of different difficult turns and steps and cover the whole ice surface. Just as for spins, levels from base to 4 are awared depending on several factors that I will try to explain in a future post.
But for you to get an idea of what a masterful Level 4 step sequence looks like, here is the step sequence from Yuzuru Hanyu's Rondo:
As for Base Value:
Basic Level: 1.5 points
Level 1: 1.8 points
Level 2: 2.6 points
Level 3: 3.3 points
Level 4: 3.9 points
Choreographic Sequence:
The Choreographic Sequence is only performed in the Free Skate, and includes choreographic elements such as spirals, lunges... I will also make a post introducing different choreo elements in (hopefully) the near future, but for now have this Choreo Sequence from Deniss Vasiljevs as an example!
Watch the video from 1:25min to roughly 2:00min (or watch the whole thing I highly recomend :D). Using this as an example out of spite because the judges are stupid and inavlidated it for some reason...idiots...
As for Base Value, there are no different levels for choreographic Sequences so, very short "list":
ChSq 2pt
Grade of Execution (GOE):
The GOE ranged from -3 to +3 prior to 2018. The panel of judges awards GOE depending on how well executed an element is.
But how is GOE awarded?
Both positive and negative aspects of a performed element are considered and then added in the end for the final GOE.
Jumps:
To receive +1 GOE, 2 of the following bullets must be achieved, for +2, 4 bullets and for +3 6 or more.
unexpected/creative/difficult entry (An example for that would be a back counter into an axel jump)
clear recognizable steps/free skating movements immediately preceding the element (My favorite example in Yuzuru's Twizzle exit from a 3A)
varied position in the air/delay in rotation (Remember when Yuri Plisetsky raised his arms during his jumps in the Grand Prix Final? That's what they mean with varied position in the air. Delay in rotation is pretty self explainatory I think. The skater needs longer to rotate, making it more difficult)
good height and distance
good extension on landing/ creative exit
good flow
effortless throughout
element matched to the musical structure (I just love when a skater lands a jump right when the music pics up mmmh chefs kiss)
Negative GOE is given for the following errors (It's too much to write down so here is a screenshot from the ISU Guidelines):
Spins:
To receive +1 GOE, 2 of the following bullets must be achieved, for +2, 4 bullets and for +3 6 or more.
good speed or acceleration during spin
ability to center a spin quickly
balanced rotations in all positions
clearly more than required number of revolutions (which is 3 is think)
good, strong position(s) (including height and air/landing position in flying spins)
creativity and originality
good control throughout all phases
element matched to the musical structure
Negative GOE is given for the following errors:
Traveling refers to a skater moving across the ice during a spin instead of staying in roughly the same space.
Step Sequence:
To receive +1 GOE, 2 of the following bullets must be achieved, for +2, 4 bullets and for +3 6 or more.
good energy and execution
good speed or acceleration during sequence
use of various steps during the sequence
deep clean edges (including entry and exit of all turns)
good control and commitment of the whole body maintaining accuracy of steps
creativity and originality
effortless throughout
element enhances the musical structure
Negative GOE is given for the following errors:
Choreographic Sequence:
To receive +1 GOE, 2 of the following bullets must be achieved, for +2, 4 bullets and for +3 6 or more.
good flow, energy and execution
good speed or acceleration during sequence
good clarity and precision
good control and commitment of whole body
creativity and originality
effortless throughout
reflecting concept/character of the program
element enhances the musical structure
Negative GOE is given for the following errors:
Calculating GOE:
The Panel of judges usually consists of 9 judges. The lowest and highest GOE mark are cut, then the average of the remaining 7 is used to determine the GOE points for that jump.
For example:
A skater executed a Triple Lutz with a base value of 6 points. The GEO marks from the judges were as followed: +2, +2, +3, +2, +1, +1, +2, +2, +2. The highest and the lowest mark get cut. The average of the remaining 7 is 1.86. To calculate the GEO you now take the base value and do the following: 6 x 18.6% = 1.116 so about 1.12 points. The total points awarded for that jump would be: 7.12points
For combinations the base value of the hightest valued jumps is used to determine GOE, not the combined base value of the jumps.
As for step and choreographic sequences you multiply the average by 0.5 to get the GEO.
Yay! Maths :D
Highlight Distribution:
Jumps performed in the second half of the program are awarded a 1.1 multiplier of the the base value. E.g.: A 3A performed in the second half has a base value of 8.8 points.
Yuuri takes advantage of that a lot.
Prior to 2018 there was no limit on how backloaded (term used to describe programms with a lot of jumps in the second half) a program could be. Technically all jumps could be executed in the second half. However that left programs empty and boring in the first half since the skaters were basically just stalling time.
Now the multiplier is only applied to the first jump in the second half of the short and to the first 3 in the second half of the free. I am not opposed to that rule. The ISU made a rule that made sense for once
Deductions:
Of course, points are deducted for mistakes or other rule violations.
Deductions are:
Falls:
First two falls -1pt each. Third and fourth fall -2pt each. -3pt each for each fall after that.
Interruptions:
If the performance is interrupted by the skater, they lose -1pt for >10 but <20 secs, -2pt for >20 but <30 secs and -3 for >30 but <40. -5pt if the program isn't resumed withing 3 minutes.
Time violation:
-1pt per 5sec (program either too long or too short)
Costume/prop violations:
-1pt
A costume violation would for example be feathers (real feathers are prohibited), or if, for women, a boob falls out or something.
Props aren't allowed all together.
Part of the costume falls off on the ice:
-1pt
Somersault type jumps (aka Backflip):
-2pt
Late start:
Skater doesn't take starting position within 30 secs -1pt
Program Compoment Score (PCS):
The PCS used to be about the 5 following categories and is awarded by each judge on a scale from 0 - 10 in steps of 0.25. 5.00 Would be "average". As you may already be able to tell...this is not a very reliable way to judge this. Yeah...
Skating Skills:
Basically how good a skaters skating is. Can they skate with power and ease both forwards and backwards as well as clockwise and counter-clockwise? How clean and clear are the curves (edges) over the ice?
A skater should look effortless in their movement. Quick and easy, flowing over the ice with soft knees and ankles.
Their skating shouldn't be scratchy and noisy, resulting from pushing with the toe rather than the side of the blade.
Something you will often hear fans complain about or praise are edges. A Figure skate blade has two edges, outside and inside, and one sign of good skating skills is being able to go down deep on them. Look at Ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir for example. Edges so deep the side of the boot almost touches the ice. Beautiful!
Transitions:
The "in between" technical elements. You don't want to just skate between elements, you want to tie the program together with linking steps. Skaters idealy incorperate different steps and turns to make the programm seem seamless. You want there to be little (visible) prep time for the next element.
I will make another post regarding such steps and turns.
Performance:
This is one of the categories that is heavily dependent on the judges personal preference.
In this category skaters are judged based on their, well, performance... Are they emotionally, physically and mentally involved? Do they project the entire audience? Do they have good ice presence?
In the case of Yuri on Ice: this is where all the Katsudon, waterfalls, grandpas etc. come in. Yuuri seduced Viktor for those sweet PCS points haha xD
Composition:
In this category the placing of the elements across the ice surface are judged.
Idealy a skater should use as much of the entire ice surface as possible.
Then there's also questions such as if the spacing of the elements etc. has some sort of purpose. Is there a story told or idea conveyd? Does the movement match the phrasing of the music?
For this category, having a good choreographer comes in very handy ;)
Interpretation:
Again, heavily judge dependant...
Is the skater performing with their soul? Are they skating with music in the background or are they skating to the music, their movement matching the beats in it?
This is the "music" that Yuuri emits when skating according to Viktor! So this is something he is very good at and should receive high points in...if the judges actually do that is another question...
Calculation of PCS:
Very easy this time! It's just the average of the individual scores given by the judges. For the Free Skate the score is factored by 2.0, meaning it's doubled to balance it a little with the TES.
Further Resources:
Now this looks very overwhelming! But here are some pages to help you!
SkatingScores:
You can use this blank IJS sheet to easily calculate scores using the abbreviations I used in this post! They also are the best and biggest available data base for scores in figure skating and you can look up competitons and skaters here!
The best resource for Figure Skating scores and stats on the web.
ISU Results:
If you want to find score sheets for a specific competition you want to reference, you can also quickly google "ISU results (competition)". For example, Grand Prix Final 2015:
Event results for ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2015.
There you can access the judges scores for the competion as pdfs.
So you want to watch figure skating?:
This blog is really helpful. They have various guides to figure skating as well, but be aware that they are of course up to date with the newest rules. But they also have a handbook with terms you will often hear and may want to use!
Further Notes:
Scoring in figure skating is highly controversial and in conversation with fans you will often hear terms such as over- and underscoring.
There is corruption, there is favoritism...you name it, figure skating probably has it...
If you want your characters to be upset about something in the sport, scoring is one of your safest bets.
You can have Yuuri's fans and probably Viktor too, be outraged by Yuuri's too low PCS, or the low GOE on his step sequence. Maybe they even rated that one a level 3 instead of the usual 4? Lot's of possibilities for frustration...
Another thing that is frustrating for Yuuri in particular is that jumps are worth so much more and make up a big chunk of the TES.
He is known for his intricate step sequences. But what does that matter if he can't get more than 5.4 points for it? And you rarely get full +3 GOE! The step sequence, which is such a vital part of a figure skating program and show cases such a varried skill set, is worth roughly the same as a triple flip max...
Sure there is the PCS, but here the judges are often biased, or simply don't know how to award points. It sometimes appears to be a bit arbitrary. Skaters who do a shit tone of cross overs suddenly get skating skill scores in the 9 point + range... It's bizarre.
Anyway...I hope you enjoyed this guide and find it usefull! I will try to get the other parts to this out as soon as I can!
And if you read this far: thank you <3 Have a lovely rest of your day and have fun writing!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an insane show because the first 4 seasons as we experience them are technically no longer canon by season 5. To the characters, those first 4 seasons were different in ways that we will never get to see, which is such a wild storytelling choice that i am literally always thinking about
When they're waiting to board the boat and the crowd is all listening in on Murderbot telling the humans its going back to help the militia hold off the corporates
The crowd all parting to let it through and Mb thinks it must be its angry face and not the fact that everyone just heard its going off to protect them
When passengers spot it in the water and work together to pull it aboard
Random humans recognizing its heroism and working to help it
They hear its kid? say "They will kill you" they hear its wife? ask if it's "going to do the thing." It has a past the kids don't know about. It's going to protect everyone or die trying. Its going to buy its family time to get away. You know every human on that boat was relieved when it made it back aboard.
#😭😭😭😭 #murderbot #god yeah they probably DO think that's its family!!!! #and it is. to be clear. farai is about to report back to tano like 'bad news :/ i'm on ayda's side about the secunit now.' #[communist bugs bunny meme] OUR secunit #but my point is that a bystander probably sees what they think is a heavily augmented human person #someone so augmented that it MUST have been some kind of lifesaving measure rather than a choice (per artificial condition) #who has their wife(?) and their mother(?) and their THREE children(?) with them #and THAT is the person who says with total authority that it's going to protect them or die trying #of course they step aside to let it through #that's some entertainment feed quality heroism right there! (via @words-writ-in-starlight)
