KatjaThera

Oh, that's really cool for her then! (I'm still not sure it's fully ok, but I doubt Yuzu would be the type to go after fans like that anyway, so it should be fine, either way lol) Now I wish I could ask someone to get EDEA cards for me...

Sorry, that sort of thing always bugs me lol And I think there are many fans in general who genuinely don't know that, so it feels a bit like raising awareness ^_^; Yeah... if Japan got a good team by Beijing... but not very likely, sadly. Or they could give individual medals for SP, FS and overall lol (It bugged me at that Olympic Japanese medalists press conference, how some athletes had three medals because they can compete in different length competitions lol So it should be possible to get multiple medals in FS, too (Yuzu would have... three golds in Sochi, I think? and two in Pyeongchang, plus a silver. ^_^; so 5 golds and 1 silver. Kinda crazy, though lol)

Mine is still safe, I think, but that is one lollipop I will not eat ^_^; (to be honest, though, I was pretty bothered by that, because making money out of Yuzu merchandise without his/his team's approval is not only unethical, but I'm pretty sure also illegal. Although I also get her argument about official merchandise being lacking...) I had forgotten about Gabby's Gold... but that split Yuzu and Javi and now Javi's all alone... I guess now Yuzu has to get another Olympic medal to keep Javi company!

I agree with all of the above. I would like to add one more big difference between Yuzu at Sochi and Nathan & co. at Pyeongchang. It's something I've mentioned before already, but I think it's worth mentioning again in this context. And that is that Yuzuru had been preparing for Sochi since the end of the previous Olympic Cycle. I don't know how much of it was planning - although it's Yuzu, so nothing would surprise me - and how much a happy coincidence - because I'm not entirely sure he could plan his senior debut to come right after the Olympics - but from the beginning, Yuzuru was aiming for Sochi. Of course, at the earliest point, he wasn't aiming for gold. He just wanted to get picked and go there. He also wanted to get a good result if he did go. He knew then that the only way to try to get good results was to up the technical content. So he did focus on quads in the early days, but like it's been said, he was never just about jumps. (Even as a child, he wanted to a be a skater that had it all: jumps, skating skills, spins etc.) And then he started winning. And I think he realized a victory might not be that impossible. Combined with, I guess, seeing Javi's very rapid improvement under Brian's guidance, I think he picked Brian because he felt that with Brian's help, rather than just get picked and get a good result, he could actually aim for Gold. But the bottom line is, from the beginning, his goal was Sochi and as good a result as he could get there. And slowly building up his arsenal - technical, skating skills, pcs, goe - to be able to be in a good position for that. On the other hand, Nathan & co (maybe with the exception of Boyang, who has also seemed to take a gradual path and his goal seems to be Beijing more, anyway), they seemed to just be going through the motions until they suddenly started seeing the top and realized: "Oh... maybe Gold at Pyeongchang is possible... oh, it is!" then had two seasons to try to be ready for it. And since pcs doesn't grow like mushrooms after the rain, the only way to do that is what Yuzu did at first, too: increase the technical and hope for the best. But Yuzu did that only as the first step, that was then followed by other steps. The current youngsters didn't really have time for more, because I don't think they had seriously considered Pyeongchang before. So, poor planning on the part of their teams, IMO. Shoma has also been working on a bit more than jumps, but not enough and I think for him, too, gold at Pyeongchang didn't seem like a real possibility until his silver at Worlds last year. To me that's a really big difference, too. (It's also a bit funny that Yuzu saw the quad revolution coming long before the ones who brought the quad revolution even thought about it :P)

I kind of want to know who was beyond the fence and how they reacted to suddenly having Yuzu pop up - if he came out on the other side lol

I have no real idea, but like the Biellmann, I think it has more to do with preserving energy. So he might do it more or less, depending on how he's feeling. If he feels he has enough energy, then he might do it properly, if not, not... But that's just a guess...

A bit OT, so under spoiler:

I don't think he wears the heart monitor during performances, but the neck of that costume is a bit tight, so he might have just wanted to have just that, off. Also it seemed to me like he wanted to get his ankle clear and taping removed and maybe tape the ice in already I think it was NHK, yeah... and that was actually shown on the big screens in the venue, too, apparently... (and well, it is a nice back, but... >_<) At least here the NBC camera actually zoomed out at one point, before sliding away when the zipper got undone...

I wasn't a fan around the time of Sochi either, but I did read up on this 'rivalry', too. In some ways, I understand Patrick. He pretty much dominated the sport until the Olympic season started and then suddenly there was this kid who started beating him, apparently out of nowhere. He went from having the title in the bag to having not only a rival, but someone who could and would beat him. And then did. I think most people would be bitter about that. I think in a different way, like Daisuke Takahashi, Patrick was forced to become aware of his shortcomings and limitations by Yuzu's arrival. And few people like that. Personally, I think Patrick is probably a really nice guy. All the off ice stuff I've seen with him - which is admittedly not much at all - seemed really nice. But he does have a habit of saying stupid things. But it's ok. So does Javi at times and most Yuzu fans love him anyway lol (Admittedly, Javi's stuff is rarely about Yuzu, but still.) I really liked that clip at 4CC where he was explaining something to Yuzu, and talking together. And I'm really happy he was able to both admit that he did hate Yuzu and then come to terms with him and get over that. (I do find that he talks up Nathan, too, though, especially given Nathan's attitude towards artistry, which was sort of Patrick's selling point throughout his career... but oh well lol) As for the Sochi incident, the picture Patrick posted on SNS did look bad, if I remember correctly, but I re-watched the gala video several times and Patrick was wearing a white shirt and there was no blood on it, so I think it looked a lot worse than it actually was... proper cuts tend to bleed, I think. It was probably more of a scratch or so... And Yuzu immediately went over to check that he was ok. There are haters trying to make a big deal out of that, but it really wasn't. (Actually, Patrick might have 'enjoyed' the little battle scar, to go with the overall result. He was showing it to people at the end of the gala lol Battle scars can be cool, after all. Which is not to say he wanted to get hurt or anything like that. Before anyone gets any ideas. But since it happened anyway, look at the bright side.)

I was mostly uncomfortable at the last part of the SP one, after the SP... he actually goes to the cameramen and tells them he's going to change and still they keep filming... I was watching like at a trainwreck, like... when are they going to stop filming? The lead camera there did move away faster than the NHK one, though at the same time those ladies came in and I think the covering himself part of the NHK video we saw was more him seeing the ladies than realizing he was actually, still being filmed. Good thing he didn't get to the pants, I guess I do wonder why he was changing there, though... No available bathrooms or proper locker rooms? Or are they actually used to changing pretty much in public like that? ^_^; (Even locker rooms seem pretty open usually, from Brian's comment about white LGC, I got the impression Yuzu changed in bathrooms... Though that could be an exception for competitions without proper changing places, since it was ACI.) It does make me wonder about skaters' privacy a bit, to be honest.

If I remember correctly, Ice Rink Sendai's online shop ships overseas, so if they sold them through that... And there's always proxies, too. (I was not going to get another package in April, but I think there's no escaping it...) I got pretty much the same thing from it lol

In a way, I don't think Worlds and Olys getting the same number of points is fair, but that's a different topic. Does this mean the most Shoma can get is 1200 instead of 1080, so he'd have 5241 points? so, still under Yuzu? Since that'd be his best result this season, instead of the silver at Olys... Or am I still missing something?

I still don't understand how the world ranking is calculated... "best result by points per season" for example... what does that mean? lol Yuzu has 1200 for 2017/2018 because he won the Olympics. So his highest point score in Worlds/Olympics is the highest overall so far so it's worth 1200 points? Or is it actually just that he won? If Shoma were to win Worlds, would it matter if his points score is or isn't bigger than Yuzu's? Like if Shoma won with 318 points, he'd get 1200 and Yuzu would get 1080 (which is what Shoma has now)? Or would Shoma winning just get him 1200 alongside Yuzu's 1200? Or is it something else? (I need examples with numbers, the existing explanations just make my head spin lol) And I thought Yuzu has been leading the ranking since GPF 2013?

I wasn't aware either of those things were being questioned... Not even he could graduate while also winning gold in the Olympics, I think... Plus, anyone following him will know he genuinely loves what he's studying - and I envy him for that so much lol - so why would he quit? As for the Chinese character thing... I was just watching the Yuzu DVD this morning and he says he's good at 漢文 which my dictionary tells me is Chinese classical literature or literature written entirely in kanji. Of course being good at that or even kanji in general does not mean he would be interested in the Chinese origins of Japanese script. But it's Yuzu, so, you never know lol

What's with the sudden gloominess? He said he has no intention to retire. The injury requires three months rehab and that's pretty far from career ending. Even if it ends up longer, it's not career ending. He wants 4A and there's a bunch of 'quad kids' whom he may think are the future, but just like he's not done teaching Shoma how to behave off ice (put very flippantly, don't take it too seriously), he's also not done teaching him and the rest what figure skating is really about. Hint: it's more than just jumps. He may not have the crazy drive that made him skate through injuries or worse, situations like CoC14, but he's a guy who hates losing and that's his personality and all the gold medals in the world won't make him lose that. And yes, he probably doesn't feel he has to prove himself to anyone anymore, but he loves skating. He lives and breathes skating. He will continue skating until he can't anymore. Or at least that's what he said. Why can't we try to trust him on this and be happy for him and be happy that he's finally taking care of himself? Cheer up! We're probably in for another Yuzu full month or possibly months! And he'll be happy and talking our ears off. Let's enjoy some worry free time and leave the worrying for when he'll be in ninja mode again, shall we?

Do not underestimate Mr. Hanyu!

I was actually thinking something like Brian and Tracy doing a little pair number would be nice... (it'd also be a nice way to pay tribute to Tracy's partner, too, maybe...) No idea if there's any chance of that happening, but I think it could be nice ^_^

Effortless...

Brian did backflips? I need to binge watch some Brian videos I think... I think Yuzu will cry anyway... unless all programs will be fun humorous ones... And he will hate not being able to skate... But I think it'll be a special experience, anyway. The comments about taking what he's learned from skaters that influenced him and passing it on to the new generation made me wonder if he'll invite some juniors as well? Maybe as special guest viewers (and turn the thing into Yuzu coach's first lesson LOL).

You know, there's a book series (urban fantasy) I like and in there there's an entity that is so big he can only take human form if he splits himself into several different people. Maybe it's the same with Yuzu... he can only join the forum by splitting himself into several different users (this is reaching lady jumps level... lol)

Hoping to win against the evil overlord trollmaster? Good luck!

Your disguise in real life is impeccable as well!!! And I saw no crutches or limp at NHK, either... CHAMPION!

What if he's actually one of the regular posters here, pretending to be someone else? (j/k)

Those ticket prices are, overall, about the same or slightly cheaper (depending on the seating area) than NHK and definitely cheaper than GPF last year. To give you an idea. (Getting one will be probably be 1,000,000 times more impossible, though LOL)

Maybe not, but what a way to go! (Also, I have a feeling we won't escape cheeky Yuzu in the future, anyway, kitsune or no kitsune... )