AAAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD IT'S DONE!!! Victor Drawn In The Barbie Outfit That My Victor BJD Is Wearing

"Go to hell" is basic. "Hope your favourite anime movie sequel gets cancelled after seven years in production AND getting an animated teaser." is smart. It's possible. It's terrifying. It's happened.

Sometimes I think about them and the fact that 8 years have passed and that now they are 26 and 23 yo ⛸️🔥🤟🎸

Of course Yuri is taller than Otabek now and nobody can convince me otherwise 😌

We need to talk about this

because Yuuri's reaction here is a result of his anxiety disorder and his tendency to self-deprecation and having depressive thoughts. That he ends up here is being carefully foreshadowed throughout the series:

First, Viktor said a couple of things that made Yuuri believe that Viktor only wants to coach him until the GPF:

This

and this

is enough to convince and anxious person like Yuuri that Viktor has no intention to coach him beyond the GPF. Note that Viktor never explicitly states that he will coach Yuuri only for the first half of the season - it's the natural conclusion an anxious brain will draw. And that's neither Viktor's nor Yuuri's fault.

And then this, while Yuuri is within hearing distance:

I'm getting a queasy feeling in my stomach just from watching this scene because I relate to Yuuri so much. If I had eavesdropped on this interview, I would have freaked out internally. Like what does that even mean? Is he talking about his career or is this a carefully crafted answer to convince the press to leave him and Yuuri alone for the next couple of weeks? This secret is probably between Viktor and the YOI creators alone (I have theories, but I'm not going to discuss them here because this post is about Yuuri).

Second, although he becomes more confident throughout the show, the self-deprecating part of Yuuri has a low opinion about his own skating. From his perspective, his contribution to the sport seems less valuable than Viktor's, even when he starts to understand that he's far more than a dime-a-dozen skater. The realisation that he is as least as talented as Viktor, only drives home the moment he breaks Viktor's world record.

Because Yuuri has such a low opinion of himself, he doesn't understand how much Viktor enjoys watching him skate, which is another aspect factoring into his decision.

Third, Yuuri genuinely believes that Viktor wants to return to the ice and would rejoice when Yuuri retires. Having seen Viktor watch the other skaters at the GPF cements the decision he made at the Rostelecom Cup. The fact that basically everyone has told him throughout the last 11 episodes that he's keeping Viktor from skating gives more weight to the idea.

Yes, you got that right. Yuuri deided to retire, before he proposed to Viktor and before he bought two matching rings and put one of them on Viktor's finger. However, now Yuuri knows that Viktor would coach him for as long as Yuuri wants to keep skating, which forces him to release Viktor from his duties at the point he believes Viktor wanted to stop coaching him initially.

"Let's end this" is not about breaking up. Yuuri is releasing Viktor as his coach. He is sacrificing his career so that Viktor can keep pursuing his own career which Viktor once sacrificed for him.

Of course he's surprised that Viktor bursts out in tears.

Yuuri has the right to retire whenever he wants. He doesn't need to consult Viktor. If he thinks (for whichever stupid reason) it's time, he can make this decision on his own.

Is it selfish?

Lol no. Only Viktor thinks it is because he's conflating the coach and the partner and takes it personally. He's hurt and feels rejected because he doesn't understand that Yuuri did it for him and that causes a drama Yuuri was not prepared for.

Is it stupid?

Absolutely. But poor communication skills, Yuuri is too caught up in his mental issues to even think of having a discussion that would lead them to a solution with which both would be happy (both training in St. Petersburg *wink* *wink*). It's not malice, insensitivity, or shitty behaviour that drives Yuuri to this point. It's all about his mental issues. And love.

Scoring, Music, and Programs

So people new to figure skating through the YoI fandom may not be aware, but the scoring system used in the show is actually relatively new, having only been around a decade (and oh man watching the shitstorm that lead to the change was fascinating). A part of me thinks that the old ways really stands out among the oldest skaters - Victor, Chris, Georgi and to a lesser extent Yuuri, because they’re the last of the generation that would have had to adapt roughly during their transition from Junior to Senior. Yuuri is probably a BIT too young, since it changed in 2005, but he’d have seen its effect. 

Before the scoring change figure skating was, IMHO SUPER conservative, because it wasn’t a system of so many points for this, and so much for that. It was much more subjective and relied on the judge’s opinion of the program more. Yeah, the skaters would be docked for a fall, or if a landing wasn’t clean. But there would be times that seemingly flawless programs would get lower scores just because the judges didn’t like it. 

Music choices were a huge factor in playing to the judges… like I remember in the ‘94 olympics one skater used the instrumental theme from Jurassic Park, and I thought that was pretty bold when compared to the overwhelming number of Beethoven and Mozart pieces. 

Back to why I think it affects the oldest YoI skaters though… look at when they play with their music. They make bolder music choices in the short program: Intoxicated, Eros, Carabosse but fall back to more traditional/conservative in the free skate. (I do think Tale of a Sleeping Prince is a more conservative piece than Carabosse)

But look at the upcoming generation and their free skates - Minami does a boogie, Phichit chooses a movie piece that isn’t defined by western norms of music, Guang Hong’s Inferno, and Emil’s Anastasis all let them tell a story that nobody would have dared a decade ago because if the judge didn’t like the music it could affect scores. And since the Free Skate is worth more, that’s where the oldest skaters would have learned to play it cool and not rock the boat. 

It’s subtle, but I like that detail in how the age gap is presented in another way. 

Yuri is such a bi icon. Down horrendous for both men and women.

Oops…Sorry for the spoiler!!…

 …Ok no.  ≖‿≖

 But I NEED THIS TO HAPPEND!!!!!

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for old times' sake ...

Binderary week 1 book 1! This is Until My Feet Bleed and My Heart Aches, a bangin' Victuuri fic by @kazliin.

This book was SO fun to make, because it's made with the work and materials of several people! All my love to @ziezie13 for sharing her typeset, which is drop-dead GORGEOUS <3 My favorite parts are the handwritten titles, the QR codes which link to recordings of the program music during certain scenes, and the mock-ups of the in-universe AO3 pages for Victor and Yuuri, which are labeled as "Figure Skating RPF." Genius!

The beautiful cover paper (which reminds me so much of an ice skating rink, so I just had to use it for this fic!) was a gift from either @humanalias or @aetherseer at Havencon 2022 (ACK I'm so sorry I can't remember - so many supplies were traded and gifted that fateful weekend! I didn't realize how important I would think it a year later to document who I got what from, but something for me to keep in mind at this year's Renegade retreat, mayhaps...and also now I know to pack as much paper as I can, to return to favor :3). So thank you so much to everyone who made this book possible! <333

ALSO y'all should absolutely check out Zie's copy here, which is printed on 11"x 17" sheets of paper, so each page is 8.5" x 11". In other words it's DOUBLE the size of my copy, which is already pretty chonky. She made it HUGE--it's hard to tell from the linked pics--but it's literally over 4.5 pounds of pure book (@simply-sithel said it best: you feel like an epic wizard holding it!)

@viktuuri-week 2024 - Happiness

This is the only thing I could think of that would surprise you more than you’ve surprised me.