#FENCE spoilers

[fencedits]

FINALLY

[applesandbannas747]

wake up babe new coaches just dropped

[thestarminstrel]

don't very often come into the tag to post my thoughts unprompted, but finished challengers and. eugene.

what did pacat do to him.

i already wasn't expecting great things just based on the preview where eugene, my poor boy, just gave a weak thumbs-up at getting benched. but i had faith and hope as foolish as it was.

like, you're telling me that eugene labao who spent years working to get on the fencing team, every year told his mom "this will be the year", and gave a training camp his all just. gives a forced smile at being booted off the team for state?? what?? if pacat wanted to go with a eugene that cares more about the team than his personal resume, fine. okay. but eugene is allowed to be more upset. he should be. he was given everything he dreamed of by williams saying that they could have two reserves, and now it's gone. i don't care how much a team-player you are, that's devastating. especially as a high school junior (in america and australia i GUESS). if you want to go to college for fencing, i imagine the state competition is a great way to get scouted. also, you miss out on fencing with your teammates for the last or second-to-last time. getting benched as a freshman sucks but you got some more years in your high school career. but eugene's a junior, this is his first year on the team, so now he's fencing state maximum once. that's just a cruel stab in the back by williams, genuinely. he should have been given time to be upset onscreen whether it was privately or with friends.

which then, what the fuck williams. you literally said that you could have two reserves- that you FOUGHT for two reserves- and all the sudden eugene can't compete. i never did high school fencing and maybe things are different in australia, but that seems a little ridiculous to me. like wtf did the higher-ups tell her? "yeah you can have two reserves for one competition but that's it" ???????????????? did pacat have an experience like this or something bc i have no clue how that's a logical train of thought a high school sports organizer can have. i will admit that one could argue she's competitive and wants to win. like sure but then why have a second reserve. could she not decide and was always planning to cut nick or eugene depending on who did better at the camp? what kind of coach is that?? none of the other coaches did that - not even donati and she is neck to neck with williams in this rivalry. it doesn't matter how much she wants king's row to have this gold medal- if williams was intentionally doing any of this, uncaring of whether or not she hurts one of the fencing boys, she should not be a coach actually. period. again, i love early fence williams. but oh my god the way she handled this was so bad.

which then brings me to: what is the point of eugene.

i love eugene, he has been one of my favorite characters since 2020 when i first read volumes 1-3. he is one of the reasons why i get so excited about fence and makes me so happy as a character. but honestly? you could cut eugene out of fence and nothing would change. i know he's not haiden or nichoji, but he was put there for a reason that i think pacat forgot. he never has any signficant screentime unless it's to be comedic relief or be a supporting character to nick, the other "underdog" on the fencing team. i really do hate to say it, but reading challengers really made me wish pacat had written out eugene sooner or not written him at all. he's not treated well as a character, and at this point, i don't understand why eugene is even in this story.

another point i want to make is nick. what the hell is wrong with nick. you're telling me that the same nicholas "zero" cox who was about to give up his scholarship and chance to fence so that eugene, a guy he barely knew at the time, could finally be on the team is the same nicholas who only says "but coach--" when eugene gets kicked off the team? that is a terrible friend. i'm not saying nick should have said "i'm not going to state if eugene isn't!!" but he should have called williams out on it, found eugene later and say "dude i'm so sorry this sucks" -- literally ANYTHING!!! but no, nick bever acknowledges it outside of this panel and is too busy at state apparently to notice eugene being bummed about, you know, not fencing with him. it's so, insane to me that nick became this person that doesn't bother checking in on his bro. that tells me he's more concerned about fencing and seiji - which to each his own but i would drop anyone who did me like that. can't even manage a "how r u doing" text what the actual fuCk. i can not stress enough how much i do not like this nick right now.

in conclusion: i need eugene to have a good cry with his mom or his bros about this bullshit and to eat so much good arroz caldo. please save my son from the narrative, it keeps being mean to him :(((

[sensurround11]

New theory:

Seiji is NOT in fact watching Jesse. He's watching Nicholas and thinking about their upcoming date (hence Blushcon 11 when he's caught). And then:

He loses to Sungchul because he's distracted thinking about Nicholas. But he's not nearly as upset about it as you'd expect. Maybe because his upcoming date made him realize there's more to life than fencing.

And finally (as other posters previously noted to their ultimate credit)

Seiji sweats buckets asking Aiden for advice about tomorrow *in private*. We may be meant to assume he's asking about fencing but I chose to agree with the other posters: he's asking for advice about his date.

I could not love this more. Redemption issue 3 is the bomb.

Actually this whole plot line mirrors one of my favorite Fence fan fics in AO3, As Luck Would Have It. Y'all should go read it.

[iffeelscouldkill]

i'm love them

I hope we get to learn the name of Adrienne's teammate but until then, I've named her Haravali xD Have a drabble:

---

"Look, Har! Free chocolate," Adrienne said as she waved to her adoring fanbase.

"I can see that." Haravali was halfway between amused and exasperated. "I'm not sure you should encourage them."

"Are you saying I should reject a gift?" Adrienne bit into the chocolate daintily.

"I just think they might get the wrong idea."

"That I like chocolate?"

"Come on, you two," said Dafna, who had finished chatting with her ex. "Weapons check."

"You worry too much," Adrienne told Haravali, and before she could reply, placed a chocolate between her lips.

Haravali raised an eyebrow, but bit down. Adrienne smiled.

[ionlydrinkhotwater]

FENCE 4 SPOILERS

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Nic lent Seiji his jacket 🥺🥺🥺🥺

[peaceandvictory]

Nicholas slicked his hair back for Seiji. Seiji messed up his hair for Nicholas.

My heart!!

[fixated-dark-king]

So the final Fence Redemption issue just dropped in my timezone and I realise how lucky that is but also unlucky because I have to go FERAL by myself! About one scene in particular!

And I don't know when others will be reading it so I can't talk about it yet!

So I will just <333 about my fav lil panel under a cut so it's fair. Edit: Finally it can be unleashed.

I can't believe that at some point Nicholas GAVE SEIJI HIS JACKET because Seiji must have been cold?!! In front of a sunset. It ended me. I am ended.

I mean, Nick practically grew up in a gutter/fight club but pulls THIS stunt on Seiji and us? He is diabolical. <3

Um, hi there friggen Fabio! XD

[swordsswordsswords]

Seiji in Issue #1: What do you want, zero

Seiji in Issue #22: sundaes…I do secretly like them…

[angst-iguana]

Aiden didn't need to ask but he absolutely knows I mean who doesn't? Seiji's date is with Nicholas which is why Aiden messes up Seiji's hair because he knows Nicholas will love it.

[hereforthefencing]

Am I the only one that’s obsessed with the new uniforms in Fence Challengers: Long Shot?

They’re so prettyyy, and Ravenswood is now my favorite school for no reason other than the aesthetic of the uniform and the lil’ birdy logo-

[fencedits]

the girls fencing team are SOOO PRETTY AHHHH kinda wish we would see more of them but there's already so many characters

we need a spinoff series immediately...the way they closely resemble last year's fencing team (harvard, aiden, kally and tanner) is just toooo good!

[applesandbannas747]

this is the biggest 'but daddy i love him' face i have ever seen and i cannot be the only one who thought so

[thestarminstrel]

i just think they should get a smooch in their date fits!!

[sensurround11]

Maybe y'all figured this out on your own but my nine-year old kid had to point it out to me. His theory is that Seiji lost to Sungchul ON PURPOSE because he decided to take Aiden's advice and hold back.

I think there's evidence to support this:

1. Immediately prior to that match, Seiji is talking to Scott about this very topic:

2. After the match, Seiji doesn't really get upset about losing (which is NOT in character). In fact, his face here looks almost cunning:

3. Jesse says Sungchul won because of "Seiji’s error."

I don't know enough about fencing to understand what else it could have been other than Seiji's error (Sungchul fencing really well?) But it certainly seems like if it was Seiji's error, Seiji could have made the error on purpose.

Thoughts?!?

[fencefanno1]

FENCE REDEMPTION

Hiiiii - I’ve been a fence fan for a while, but more of a silent lover than active 😅

but I love fence redemption and I’m SUPER stoked for #3 ?!

Also this scene is everything 😭 Jesse is a confused little blorb and Nick looks like he’s about to steamroll him 🤣 pure sibling dynamics lmfao