Radiator Springs - Blog Posts

I’m not crying... I just got something in my.... Oh man this freaking sad and beautiful and sad and heartbreaking and sad.

I’ll write a fic of this someday... but first.

*Starts to cry*

how do you think Lightning will react about if Sally dies suddenly ? I'm feeling a little down right now

Oh…. oh. Wow. Okay. 

Well I hope you feel better soon, anon. I don’t know if this will help or make it worse, but I hope somehow it helps you out.

Everyone thought he took Doc’s death hard. That was nothing compared to this. When they heard the news, he started screaming and swearing, completely turning into someone else the townsfolk had never seen.

He just leaves town without saying a word. He can’t take seeing it without her. She was the one who really made him appreciate it to begin with.

No one sees him for three or four days, no one knows where he went. Turns out, he drove up into the mountains and just sat in isolation while he mourned her. He couldn’t bear being around anyone.

He makes it back for the funeral, but doesn’t speak. Everyone is trying to provide what comfort they can, but it’s like talking to a brick wall. She was his life. Nothing, not even his racing career, was as significant as her.

Afterwards, he spends a lot of time at her grave. They buried her near Doc. He tries to talk to her to ease his conscience, but he can’t say anything without breaking back into into sobs.

He tries to find someone to blame for his pain, but can’t. He can’t control his thoughts and goes back and forth between being vehemently angry and unbearably anguished.

He’s torn between leaving Radiator Springs for good and staying. It all reminds him of her, and it’s painful. But at the same time he knows she’d want him to take care of it now that both she and Doc were gone.

He never goes to visit Wheel Well again. He can’t even look at it. He still supports and manages the operation, but he’ll never go back. He makes a point not to look at it if he has to drive by it. That was sacred ground for them as a couple. It’ll never be the same.

He treats the Cozy Cone motel similarly, although he still stays there. He hires on an old friend to keep it running so he doesn’t have to do it himself. Going into the office was hard to take. All the decor was still as she’d left it.

A couple weeks later, Mater finally gets him to talk. He doesn’t respond much, but it’s an improvement. Mater doesn’t push him, but he does say something that strikes a chord with Lightning. “Forgetting her won’t make it [the pain] go away.”

Lightning was given similar advice when Doc died, and he knew that he needed to honor her in a similar manner. He decided that he wasn’t going to leave town. That town was her everything, and if that’s all he had left of her besides memories, he was going to do whatever he could to support it.

Later on, he tries to focus more on racing, but it’s not quite the same. He still does well, but he finds himself pushing himself to the limits a lot more and thinking a lot less. It’s not a good strategy, and his eager spirit is just gone. He misses seeing her there in the pits waiting for him.

It takes several months for things to return to any degree of normality. The town is still much quieter, as Sally’s bubbly, optimistic personality isn’t there to supplement it anymore, but everyone at least functions again. 

Lightning eventually remembers how to enjoy himself and have fun again. He spends more time with the other members of the town and even with his racing buddies. He’s gotten to a point where he can think about her and not feel overwhelmed by her absence. There’s still a void in his soul, but it’s one he intends to keep, in memory of her.

BEWARE MY SPRAY CAN!

Red looks impress

Ramone looks so pissed holy shit

I love it and consider it canon and over-hated.

I know John Lasseter had genuine intentions with it because he loves these characters. I’ve seen the commentary, interviews, behind the scenes thing,etc. He made this because he wanted to. Not because of toys, if it were than I think he’d also own them as well:

The point is that I love Cars 2, I waited five years to have seen my favorite characters again and meet new ones in whatever screen time they had.

There’s flaws, not going to lie, but I still appreciate the movie. When I know there’s flaws and acknowledge them it kind of makes me appreciate the movie more.

I never found Mater annoying. If anything he actually became an interesting character with his knowledge of car parts, how he’s very literal minded like someone with Autism or in the spectrum, and how he’s never really thought about how people see him and it actually does make sense. He’s never left Radiator Springs, let alone the flipping country so of course he doesn’t know exactly how these things. Especially since Lightning doesn’t explain to him exactly what to do and not to do. Not to mention, Sarge, Fillmore, Luigi, and Guido seem to be terrible babysitters if they can’t keep track of Mater for leaving!

Also Miles Axlerod totally started the Disney Villain Surprise thing that Disney’s been recently in the animated canon (King Candy, Prince Hans, Yokai/Professor Callaghan, Assistant Mayor Bellweather, and Te Ka). Except I think he does it best and is probably the most intelligent of all of them since he was pretty prepared if Plan A didn’t work he’d have a back up plan. He also doesn’t show up to his meetings, physically. He live-streams at the meeting and with both a disguised voice and body.

That’s Axlerod’s engine, but not his body color. This is Axlerod just after the crash in Italy:

That’s a darker, grassy green, than the more pale-ish, almost bluish green. The disguise itself must have been design for him to easily and quickly place it on while getting his clutch assembly fixed and then taking it off to go back into the public eye. That’s pretty damn prepared.

Axlerod’s also a pretty amazing liar since he fooled a lot of the characters, including a lawyer (Sally), the spies, and the in-universe media. However, it’s not an out-of-nowhere type thing like Hans as it was foreshadow in a much better way while still keeping it a surprise (in my opinion).

There’s also the fact that unlike the other surprise Disney Villains, he didn’t reveal himself to the heroes due to him thinking that he won, but because he was under the threat of death by Mater. Yeah if you think Mater was basically holding Axlerod hostage with the bomb on him and if he didn’t turn it off, they were both going to die! Keep in mind, Axlerod wanted Lightning dead because he chose the alleged alternative fuel Allinol and thus gave alternative fuel another chance to redeem itself. Since when Mater came with a clearly alive Lightning and accused Axlerod of being the mastermind, Axlerod’s plan at this point was busted. The most he can get out of at this point would be his life and what he made off of the World Grand Prix. But even getting out this with his life is a problem for him since Mater figured it out and isn’t going to let him get away unless the bomb is deactivated. Unlike the other surprise Disney villains Axlerod was at a crossroads of being screwed either way. If he didn’t deactivate the bomb, he would die, (and possibly the spies, Lightning, and Radiator Springs would be arrested):

If Axlerod did than he’d go to jail. Axlerod chose the one where he wouldn’t die.

Mater noticed the bolts that are attached to the bomb on him were also the ones ordered by the mystery engine. An engine that was specifically made for a British car model and one that uses oil. There’s also how Mater specifically says that he DOESN’T leak oil. Axle rod put the blame on Mater because he was literally right next to him when it happened and easiest car to blame, because honestly if Mater didn’t come at that moment Axlerod couldn’t have blame Lightning, as the oil leaker and thus would have somebody calling him out as either a liar or a hypocrite. If it were only Lightning and Axlerod up there and no Mater, who would you assume as someone who leaked oil? The racer or the former oil baron? That’s why it’s easier pin the blame on the silly, hick of a tow truck.

What I’m getting at is while some may see it as stupid cash-grab I do see it as something rather interesting and different, with thought and care put into it. John Lasseter WANTED Cars 2 to be different. He LOVED Mater and saw a lot of himself in the character. He WANTED to do this movie.

Can’t exactly defend him on Toy Story 4 though...

Reblog if you actually like Cars 2

I can’t be the only one out there!