#and I need Timerra and Fogado

[felikatze]

i need to study fogado like a bug i need to blorbo assign him one of my fake emblems for au paralle purposes he CANNOT remain the only one of the young royals i dont have deranged blorbo thoughts over

hortensia and alcryst were easy because Bias and celine took. a lot of cooking to hook my claws in but. i'm coming for you fogado just you wait I'LL BRAINWORM YOU YET

[bi-leth-eisner]

the Solm squad are so precious to me

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

I like that all the nations in Engage show the negative sides of each virtue associated with them

Brodia's might and Elusia's wisdom are both obvious, leading to warfare and research into the Fell Dragon respectively

However, Firene's bounty lead to them being relatively complacent and in Fogado's words, appearing isolated and closed off. They don't need anyone else so they didn't bother building up their alliances beyond "let's not kill each other." They never even considered setting up trading goods by the sound of things

Meanwhile, Solm's freedom does lead to the issue of being less structured. Timerra mentions their forces being spread thin and Solmic culture despises debts which implies their people are more likely to focus on their own personal problems than accept responsibility for other people's well-beings by joining a formal military. Which is probably why every character from Solm mentions dealing with bandit attacks at least once and why Timerra and Fogado are often shown dealing with these attacks personally while Céline is able to delegate the task to someone else in her Alear support

👀

[daydreamingsommie]

Engage's fascinating color theory

A lot of this could be a happy accident, but I'm sticking with it

Every nation has a national color that is used to represent them. Firene is blue. Brodia is red. Elusia is green. Solm is yellow. As you can see, all of the ruling monarchs wear these colors prominently

Of the Firenese characters, Most of them don't have blue in their color schemes. Alfred is the only one to distinctly have blue has his main color. While Chloé has blue hair, she doesn't wear blue and Jean's dark blue accentuates his green more than standing out

Their blues are balanced out compared to how boldly Alfred wear his

Even Céline doesn't wear blue, which makes sense with her character. There was a time when she thought she would be queen instead of Alfred, but when he recovered, she shifted focus towards supporting him instead. Her lack of blue can represent how she has chosen not to challenge his role

He's the one who holds Firene's pride. He's the one who wears Firene's blue the most. She doesn't wear blue to avoid taking any part of that pride for herself

Notably, while the retainers mostly lack blue, they still wear colors that compliment their royals. Boucheron and Etie wear shades of orange and green that compliment Alfred's blue and yellow. Meanwhile, Chloé and Louis both wear greens and golds that accentuate Céline's yellow and light green. I think that shows how they're not loyal to them out of fealty, but because of who they are as individuals. They're fighting for their friend, not their liege

Here's where things get interesting. All of the Brodians have prominent reds in their designs. Considering that Brodia is a military kingdom, it would make sense for it to also be the most patriotic. To have a consistent military presence, they would need more citizens dedicated to Brodia and what it stands for. Hence why more people are showing wearing the national color

The most red characters are Diamant and Lapis. While Diamant wears red as crown prince, Lapis may wear red as overcompensation. Lapis feels like she doesn't belong with the upper crust of Brodia. She's just a country girl and fears their judgement. Wearing her loyalty can be her way of trying to fit in

The least red characters are Yunaka and Citrinne. Yunaka's only source of red is her hair, but nothing else. This makes sense because while a part of her will always be from Brodia, she's not loyal to it and always goes as far away from it as possible in her ending

Citrinne, on the other hand, restricts her red to jewels and trinkets. Unlike Lapis who may be overcompensating, Citrinne may be avoiding red out of insecurity. Her main grievance is that she's afraid of bringing down Diamant and Alcryst. The lack of red despite her love for Brodia could represent how she feels unworthy to carry Brodia's honor. She still chooses to wear it out of love but won't champion it

Elusia, in direct contrast to Brodia, has almost no green characters

Only Goldmary features green in her design, but it's just very small details in an otherwise yellow outfit. Kagetsu, and Rosado are not Elusian natives. I don't know if Zelkov is. Anna is Anna...

Ivy and Hortensia, despite being Elusian royals, neither wears green. More significantly, they wear colors that directly contrast it. Reds and pinks are the opposite of green on the color wheel. This represents how they ultimately turn against the current-day Elusia

Aside from Anna, all of the Elusians have to defect from their homeland and they don't bring that green with them. Their loyalty eventually came to second to their morality. When surrounded by green Elusian NPCs in combat, their lack of green can show that they're different from the standard soldiers and lack the same kind of loyalty they have

Solm is unique in the sense that all of them have yellow or gold, but only as accent colors

Timerra, Fogado, and Seadall have noticeable yellows and golds. Merrin and Bunet are blond and have fitting accessories. Pandreo and Panette have gold eyes, though only Pandreo wears gold details in his outfit and those are easy to miss. (Although, Panette's orange jewels could look yellow depending on the lighting)

The fact that all of them have at least one thing that holds Solm's yellow, but don't show them aggressively fits how everyone has a deep love for Solm, but none of them have the same patriotism that is standard in Brodia

Everyone is their own person with personal goals and passions unique to them, but their love for the queendom is always there even if they're not acknowledging it at that specific time

Again, a lot of this could have easily been coincidences. It's not like I was on the development team. I don't know what their thought processes were. But either way, the color choices ended up being very fitting for all the characters regarding how much or how little of the national colors they wore in their designs

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #6081:

Something I dislike about Fire Emblem Engage is the pact ring feature. If they did not have romantic supports for characters, they did not need the pact ring. The pact ring lets the MC, Alear, create a special bond with any character she gives it to. (Female Alear is the only valid one, so Alear will only be referred to by she/her.) Sounds great and all right?

The only problem is that you can give the pact is that you can give the pact ring to the literal children of the game. The youngest being 10! Like... what the fuck?! It is a red flag if anyone gives the pact ring to any of the characters younger than 18. Y'all know what you are.

Anyways!

Timerra, Fogado, Zelkov, and Rosado are best characters in game. Timerra, Fogado and Zelkov because they are the few black characters in game. And Rosado for being a trans icon.

Meanwhile all the other characters are just generic comedy relief white people.

[emblemxeno]

Oh good. Your ask box is finally open. I've been preparing this so you'd have something fun to return to

Ahem

You know how everyone likes to compare Ivy and Hortensia to Camilla and Elise? I started thinking of how the other Engage royals could relate to the Fates royals

After careful thought, I think Ivy is actually the Xander of the game. Despite being a magic wyvern, Ivy's desire to reform Elusia is much more similar to Xander's desire to reform Nohr. Plus, despite appearing strong and collected, they're both massive dorks

Hortensia is still the Elise as they're both kindhearted healers with charming personalities

I'd say Timerra's the actual Camilla. Both are the most outwardly friendly of the elder royals and are overly doting towards their family and friends. Ivy's caring, but not affectionate in the same way

Fogado is definitely the Leo. They're both strategic cavaliers who are more willing to commit underhanded tactics than the others. The main difference is that Leo's outwardly cold, but secretly softhearted, while Fogado is outwardly cheerful and secretly deadly

Diamant is obviously the Ryoma as the usually serious crown prince who has a hearty laugh and is adamantly following their father's footsteps

Alfred is the Hinoka. Alfred wants to be remembered for being the reliable warrior prince. Hinoka wants to protect everyone by being strong enough to shoulder the burden alone. Both ultimately want to be pillars of strength their armies can depend on

Alcryst and Céline are a bit more complicated

Alcryst and Takumi are both self-conscious archers who compare themselves unfavorably to their elder brother, but Alcryst and Sakura are both very anxious people who find their courage when their loved ones are threatened. Being shockingly bold when they need to be

Céline and Sakura are both gentle princesses who are pacifists by nature. The main difference being that Sakura is a healer who learns to fight and Céline is a fighter who learns to heal. On the other hand, Céline and Takumi are both shrewd warriors who are merciless on the battlefield. Yes, Céline is both a pacifist and a warrior. She wants to just be a pacifist so bad, but life is cruel and is forcing her to be the violent one. This poor girl

So, these are my comparisons between the Engage and Fates royals

Great write up!

What I really appreciate is how you pointed out similarities and differences between all the sibs.

Like, I'd also posit that Xander split into three characters, with Ivy's resolution and complex relationship with her father, Diamant's station as crown prince of a nation he's at odds with in terms of policy, and Alfred being a blonde knightly cavalier prince.

Alcryst and Fogado being like the younger Fates brothers as well as pulling from the sisters (Sakura's meekness and Elise's woes over peace and warfare)

I never considered the Hinoka and Alfred connection! Having singular goals that were originally at odds with their stations as a way to cope with something difficult is another way they're similar too.

Thanks for sending this in!

[nowis-scales]

🔥 for whatever's been bugging you lately

🔥 For FE-related things, I think for sure one thing that’s been getting under my skin is the notion that Timerra is the least popular Engage royal because she’s “just not that interesting” and is one-note because honestly? I don’t really see it. She’s honestly probably my second favourite of them all. I think for some people, they have this misapprehension that her default state is just perky-happy all the time, which is… not that accurate, I would say.

For me, the big thing that stuck out to me about Timerra right off the bat when meeting her in game was that while she was charming and funny, she was also clearly clever and had her own sense of morality that was a bit different than what you would usually see in a leading Fire Emblem character.

The Solmic way of thinking really interests me, particularly in the way it manifests in Timerra. I think there’s a lot to be said about how the country has a sort of carefree approach, but when push comes to shove, they know how to knit themselves together to keep themselves safe. They’ll lend help to one of their own if they’re in a bind, as they’re still people and they care about the world around them… but they also know when to say when and when they need to look out for themselves. Their morality is very much about choosing when to care, and who they will care about. While Albert’s first instinct as prince of Firene was to run off to try and help other people and connect with others, Timerra and Seforia agreed that Solm’s resources would best be spent trying to deal with the problem themselves, and not worry about anyone else because… well, their hands were full already. They had to look out for their own first.

I think that says a lot about Timerra because it’s not a demonstration of a lack of kindness, but rather a dedication to her OWN people. They are her priority first and foremost. The fact that she, Seforia, and Fogado all knew about Sombron but made no indication, instead focusing on protecting themselves and being certain that they could get help from the Divine Dragon, says a lot. It speaks to the degree of thought that Timerra puts into the way she conducts her life, and how she may come across as a silly, cheery girl — but she’s actually much more clever and has a stronger sense of duty than anyone seems to give her credit for. Hell, she doesn’t even react in fear when Hortensia threatens to kill her mother.

I guess to some people that’s not terribly hypnotic, but I personally find it quite compelling that Timerra, as Solm’s princess, is able to strike that balance between being warm and caring, but also thinking with a focus most immediate to herself and her people and what they need. She’s not the type of girl who wouldn’t help a friend in need, but at the same time, she recognizes that politically it’s never that simple. She sticks to her guns, regardless of whether or not it’s comfortable — and she’s never particularly ashamed of the way she thinks, either. I think that creates a neat duality in her character, because yes she is kind and often wants to help, but won’t always do so if she thinks it will cause her and her people an undue amount of trouble. It sounds relatively minor to some I think, but we so often see characters who try to help even at the expense of themselves, so it was refreshing for Timerra to still be a nice girl and know when to say when. Granted, that doesn’t mean she would have been right to decide not to help the others with Sombron, just that she would have had her own set of priorities that weren’t as easy to sway as some others. When it benefits the people of Solm to have the allyship, that’s when she’ll go forward with it.

Even outside of this, though, Timerra is still allowed complex feelings outside of the main storyline. Her support with Fogado is really charming for this, because she makes it clear that she loves her little brother, but she also feels a bit quietly resentful of him at times because of how often his escapades left her lonely. We as players know that Fogado has dedicated so much of his life to supporting Timerra in his eventual reign as queen, but at the same time, we get to see the effect that this distance had on Timerra, too… and realistically, I think Timerra is aware of how much effort Fogado is putting in to support her as queen, but she tries to express to him that she wants her little brother around, too. There’s not an animosity there, but she still has clear and concrete feelings about it, and is open to expressing them to Fogado. It shows a tendency to not shy away from difficult conversations, and to take the opportunity to handle things as they come up.

The more I play Timerra’s supports, the more I feel like just lots of new and interesting stuff comes up, which makes it a bit tiring to me that she’s so frequently dismissed as one-note. Yeah, a lot of her character IS about being cheerful, but there’s more there than what meets the eye. I think a lot of people have trouble understanding that with FE characters it’s about actively looking for things, rather than just having them fall in your lap. The cast will always be simply too big for everyone to get a big piece of the story, so if you want to know more about a character, you tend to have to make a more conscious effort to look.

[tiabwwtws-art]

Been playing a little game called pretend that I was given a written premise for fe engage characters and had to design them as if they didn't already have designs*. Here's Timerra, Panette, and Yunaka !

*kind of. I keep color palettes and generally follow that rule loosely but that's what it is in theory

Explanations/thought process bullet points below the cut

Timerra

I gave her Fogado's feathery sleeves and her mother's feathers in her hat to make them feel a little more connected

In her support with Alear she talks about wearing jewels and she straight up is not. Unless her balloons are jewels¿? So I gave her some

Because she starts off with Ike's ring, she now has Ike's sleeveless-nes with the one shoulder pad and the big cape.

Changed her hair a bit to fit jewelry I thought would be neat

Tried to keep metal off of her skin directly so she doesn't overheat

Flower motif. Just felt like the vibe

Tried to vaguely keep her original silhouette, in that her center of gravity is at her hips. Everything else "points" in that direction

Panette

With how dedicated she is to being a Solm Retainer, you'd think she'd present herself in the Solm fashion more. (Not that Solm fashion is very concrete; I mainly worked off of Seforia and my Timerra redesign for consistency in that regard. So she has the signature lightweight fabric and the tassels + beads to indicate wealth.)

She needs a hood because she is so pale and she is going to sunburn to death . Also it's a little bit gothy

She's significantly less gothy overall bc it seems to me like Presenting As Dignified As Her Station Requires is her whole thing, and being goth is just a hobby

Tried to make her center of gravity higher so that everything points to her shoulders and she's parallel and opposite to Timerra. Don't know how well I succeeded there

Had a difficult time fitting in her brawling into her design. She's embarrassed about it so she wouldn't really want to indicate it...but it's also practical to be ready to throw down if needed...I worked that out by having wraps around her arms that are mostly covered, but on second thought I could stand to extend those to wrap around her knuckles too

Yunaka

Wanted to lean into her mysteriousness + practicality while also letting her be flashy

She's transfem. To me.

Tried to contrast very lightweight assassin-y cloth with big chunky leather

She lowkey reminds me of wolfwood trigun so she obviously keeps her low cut neckline. In reference to him 🙏

Kept it simple but with flare (hopefully). Flashiness is in how her clothing works as she moves (the two-toned "cloak" flitting behind her should be striking) instead of flashiness in jewelry or accessories.

Spare knives at her belt seem appropriate

Tried to keep fluttery strips of cloth throughout her design as a motif

Piercing. Real and true

[sieglinde-freud]

i think the fell xenologue does a great job at characterizing some of the royals beyond the vanilla game mostly because every single royal has like one or two core principles that really make them who they are and so getting rid of those one or two things completely converts them into a completely different person. like alcryst losing his self doubt, celine loses her empathy, hortensia loses her resilience, etc etc. but i think my favorite version of this has to be fogado, who has in my opinion the most drastic change. i think all of the other royals have very outward presenting traits that you can easily catch onto and see theyve lost. but fogado is just a little different, because what fell fogado lacks isnt really a trait; he loses his sense of love. (rest under the cut bc it turned into an essay. my bad also fell xenologue spoilers obvs)

“our” fogado (?? idk how to differentiate between them. work with me here) is not an easy person to read in universe. he makes it very clear in chapter 13 that he’s pretty good at deception and is very willing to make use of that skill. his supports with timerra and pandreo also tell us he’s gotten used to keeping up a specially crafted persona meant to kind of suppress his feelings (that timerra and pandreo can see through but. like 1. theyre smart 2. sister and bff ok moving on). but he doesn’t do it out of malice or because he just likes being tricky, he lies because he loves. everything in fogado’s life is shaped by what he loves: his country, his friends, and his sister. every single motivation he has is fueled by this: the constant partying, how often he leaves the castle, all his acting. its even in his goddamn class name (cupido) and birthday (feb 14) if you needed the game to spell it out for you

so thats why when we get to the fell xenologue, the fogado we meet is changed in that one specific way: his love is gone. we know this because of a few things, the first of which is that he is honest. aside from the robe (in which he is assassinating someone! but also. lets be so honest with ourselves here. you can see his fucking face) he’s immediately upfront with his intentions: he wants the bracelets, he wants power, and he wants you to die. and thats it. he just kind of hands you that information, and then fucks off when you win. on what earth would our fogado do that? dude wouldnt even tell you if he broke his leg, he just partied a little hard last night. but thats just it isnt it? our fogado lies because he loves people, hes protecting them. fell!fogado is transparent because he’s not protecting anyone, he doesn’t care.

but the biggest kicker in fell!fogado’s lack of love is in his interaction with our timerra. our fogado loves his sister more than anything, as he literally plans his entire life around making HER life easier. he sacrifices even just spending time with her just because he needs to make sure hes fully prepared to keep her safe (not that timerra wants that for him but he doesnt really get that. which is another topic i could dive into but this post is long enough lets not make it a novel). fell!fogado though? well you see–

any love fogado holds for his sister, or any love at all really, is just not present in fell!fogado. and you could say that maybe its just because of the corruption, but then why do we still see love between the fierenese and brodian siblings? even fell!timerra still loves her brother if her conversation with our fogado is anything to go off of. but the writers know that fogado lives and dies on his love for people, its his entire being and so much more so than the rest of the cast. which is why thats what had to change in him for the fell xenologue. it wasnt really just a flip of the switch haha murder thing (though. it could have been handled better. lets be real) but it was the loss of everything that makes fogado him. and i think the fact that this gets to be highlighted in the dlc just makes base game fogado all that much more interesting, because it cements his motivation now that we know what he's like without it. fogado is a guy driven by love and its just fucking great

[yanderefairyangel]

Can I get more context on that Timerra thing?

I never saw that post, and I feel like I need more information to decide if that's a red flag or not

There's being happy for more representation, and then there's being tokenizing

Just trying to make sure we're on the same page

Alright so it's been quiet a while however from my foggy memories

Before she decided to make F!Alear her thing, she was obsessed with Solm and Timerra, by that time she went by the alias of flower and often changed to something like Queen of solm or dancer of solm or so

I remember she made some weird post about how disliking Timerra's singing (you know, something she canonically is bad at) was a red flag and a sign of racism... she then tried to cover it up by going "but there are people who dislikes Timerra and Fogado for their skin tones !!" or smth

She got into an argument and said something about how she likes Solm because they have dark skinned and that she related to them because of that

That's the extent I can remember, that said people who have recognized her from other fandom did point out that she wasn't being normal about dark skinned character in the same way she borderlines fetichisizes sapphic relationships so yeah..

Oh and she also tried to accuse the manga of whitewashing Saphir...even though the mangaka never drew her, it was at the time where everyone (for some reason) mistook Alcryst and Diaman'ts mother for Saphir (never mind their design being different)

Anyway, I hope it helped

[bravenewwor1d]

No more desert banners in Fire Emblem Heroes, society has progressed past the need for desert banners in Fire Emblem Heroes

Seriously, I hate looking at the desert alts in the game. It makes my heart, mind, brain, body, and soul hurt so badly.

Can they just stop putting orientalism in that game (And not just in FEH, but also in the FE series as a whole) 😭

How about instead of doing another freaking desert banner next year, they instead do the much cooler desert banner. The one where they finally add in the Solm characters from Engage.

If you're confused, no, I obviously don't want ANOTHER desert banner because again, I hate them.

What I meant is that I want them to finally add in the Solm characters in FEH in a REGULAR, NON-SEASONAL banner.

Please, put in Fogado, Merrin, Panette, Pandreo, and Bunet.

And most importantly, RELEASE TIMERRA FROM THE "SEASONAL ALT ONLY" BASEMENT

Seriously, we need the regular version of Timerra (As well as Ivy) in the game. You know, non-seasonal versions of them.

And most importantly, I hope they stop doing desert banners in the future

[enbyleighlines]

Emblem. Ikesoren <3

(Awesome, thanks for the ask! I put this one under a read more because it got kinda long.)

"Mm, listen to that sizzle! That's how you know it's going to be good."

Soren watched over Clanne's shoulder, his face as impassive as ever. It was true that the meat was making a crackling sound as it cooked, but Soren wasn't sure what that had to do with the meal's flavor. He wished that he had the ability to take notes, so he could remind himself to research it later.

"What spices are you going to use?" Soren asked.

"Hmm?" Clanne glanced up, seeming reluctant to take his eyes off of the pan. "What do you mean? The meat's already marinated."

"With the brown sauce from yesterday, yes," Soren agreed. Clanne was young, so he was trying his best to be patient, but sometimes the boy could be so slow. "But you said the sauce had a sweet, tangy flavor. I assume, then, that it isn't particularly spicy."

"That's true," Clanne said. "It's a sweet, savory kind of dish."

Soren frowned, crossing his arms. Ike liked savory food, he knew, but he wasn't all that fond of sweets. "It should be spicy, too," Soren declared. "Solm has a good variety of spices, I hear."

Clanne blinked. Soren thought he was about to protest, but then his expression turned contemplative. "Sweet, savory, and spicy," he muttered to himself. The boy had an irritating habit of speaking his thoughts aloud. "Yeah, yeah, that might work..."

"Good. I'll seek out Prince Fogado," Soren said. "He'll know where the best spices can be found." His first choice would have been Timerra, but Ike was likely to be with her, and Soren wanted to keep this dish a surprise. That, and he couldn't guarantee that Timerra wouldn't devour all of the meat before Ike had his fill of appreciating its smell and appearance.

—

"Meat! Meat, meaty meat!" Timerra sung in her terribly off-key way, not even quite managing to clap on beat, as they stood in a circle around the completed meal.

Soren grit his teeth and bore the irritation, because Ike was currently hypnotized by the delectable sight before him.

"Wow, that smells good," Ike said at last.

Soren crossed his arms and tried to not let his smugness show on his face. He was hovering as close to Ike's side as he would allow himself, considering all of the people around them. Their relationship wasn't a secret, but Soren didn't need them nosing around in his personal life any more than they already did.

"I'h tases efen bedder!" Timerra squealed around a mouthful of meat.

"Soren had the idea of adding Solmic spices to the marinade," Clanne remarked. "I wasn't sure at first, but the triple combination of savory, sweet, and spicy is divine!"

Ike raised an eyebrow at Soren. "Since when have you been interested in cooking?"

Soren huffed, feeling his face warm. Why could he still blush? It wasn't as if Emblems could bleed! It didn't make any sense. "I'm not," Soren replied. "I just thought..."

"Just thought... what?"

Soren bit his lip. People were looking at them now, which made his incorporeal skin crawl. "I just thought it would improve morale," Soren finally said, lying with as much confidence as he could muster. He couldn't very well tell the truth. He would be basically confessing his love to Ike!

But Ike gave him a knowing smirk.

Soren tore his gaze away, blushing harder. Despite the centuries they spent apart, Ike could still see right through him, right to his heart. Even if it was Ike, it was discomforting to be seen so clearly. Soren was so used to hiding, to concealing. Yet, at the same time, he was glad that it was Ike.

And so, with a steadying breath, Soren met Ike's eyes once more. Though their color had changed, there was no mistaking that warmth and affection, a mirror of his own deep feelings.

It was a strange new world, this place they had found themselves. But with Ike at his side, any place felt like home.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

So in FEH, as of right now we don’t have duos for Thracia (seliph/leif is actually a harmonic cause Leif is Thracia but seliph is geneology), Engage, and TMS.

Not sure what pairings we could logically get but I’ll just force everyone to read my ideas for Engage (don’t know much about Thracia/TMS).

Engage:

King Moron with YOUNG DIAMANT AND BABY ALCRYST (King Moron as lead, also this is how you spell his name the i is a typo actually)

M!Alear/Alfred (no lead pref., M!Alear is mandatory)

Nel/Nil (no lead pref., poor siblings need some hugs🥺)

Fogado/Alcryst (no lead pref., love their chemistry)

Queen Ève/Queen Seforia (no lead pref., two lovely strong queens)

Jade/Chloé (Jade as lead, yes yes Chlomerrin BUT these literally look like they could live in a cottage together, gentle badass author and fairytale maiden)

Timerra/Amber (no lead pref., I ship them ok?)

Diamant/Ivy (Diamant as lead, basic but based imo)

Sommie/Lumera (Sommie as the lead, the dog kicks ass you heard that right)

.

[childofaura]

I know that your experience with FE Engage so far hasn’t been great but who were your favourite characters so far during your playthrough and why?

Augh man… I don’t know if I’m the best person to ask about characters; I dropped so many or didn’t pick others up because of how desperate I was to just progress; and with no constant skirmishes, I didn’t have the privilege to really invest in them when I was already investing in others.

So I’m gonna do a list of the characters I like, and a list of the characters I wish I could have invested in.

Characters I like:

Zelkov- Stated many times, but even though Ivy (unfairly) gets credit for bringing the rings to you, it was Zelkov who stole the rings and the Time Crystal. Chapter 11 was my most frustrating chapter at that time; the freezes, the teleporting, the extra movement. Zelkov was literally my shining light and that’s when I swore to marry him. Him being kind, gentle, and handsome was just a bonus.

Veyle: GOSH I CAN’T GET INTO IT IN JUST A SHORT LITTLE SEGMENT BUT VEYLE. IS PERFECT. There WILL be a whole post delving into her character.

Hortensia: I brought it up briefly but Hortensia really does (ONLY IN MY SUBJECTIVE OPINION) have the better character arc and personality. She’s also cute as a button and whoever voices her does an amazing job.

Rosado: Aside from being pretty and well-designed, Rosado’s actually a genuinely nice character and just… way better than Rosemary. I don’t know if the English VA says it with just as much flamboyance, but his Japanese “EMBLEMU, ENGAAAAAAGE!” is my favorite.

Jean: Listen, this kid is the ONLY original recruitable character in a paralogue (original, Anna doesn’t count). I’m gonna keep this kid with me no matter what.

Fogado: I honestly don’t need to say much. I do feel bad for saying this, but I think he’s more charismatic than Timerra, who I never used. I actually kind of ship him with Hortensia, so when all this is said and done, I kind of want to do a comic where they reunite again later when they’re both adults and they start catching feelings for each other. Mark my words, I WILL do it.

Mauvier: Man, this guy was one of my marriage options because his character was just so fascinating. As much as I’ve come around to Marni and Griss, their character development is very… last minute. Which feels really cheap because while it’s GOOD character backstory, you don’t get to enjoy it. But Mauvier’s growth and character was so well-defined and progressed properly that you just KNOW he’s gonna be important.

Alcryst: He may be timid but he crits at the most needed times, my man. Also again, I love his personality and character growth and dynamic with Diamant.

Citrinne: Also really cool, didn’t know she was Diamant and Alcryst’s cousin until supporting her with Diamant, which bugs me. That’s important info and I feel like she should have been included in the Brodia cutscenes.

Lapis: Listen. I love this baby girl. I love her to death. But her STATS, man. I get that I massively fucked up and promoted her too early (14 or 15), but I struggle with her keeping up. I’m NOT abandoning her though, I love my farm girl.

Etie: Stated before, but I like her unique character design (dainty-dressed lady with abs) and she’s saved my ass. Though it’s weird/funny how her bow twitches like cat ears during cutscenes.

So those were units I actually use, whom I like. And these ones are units I wish I could have invested in:

Panette: LOVE the Day of the Dead aesthetic, love that she’s a berserker. But at the time I was still trying to salvage Boucheron, so I never picked her up. Which sucks because I ended up dropping Boucheron completely.

Kagetsu: I REALLY wanted to work with him, because it’s fascinating that he’s the only Japanese-based character, he reminds me of Say’ri and Yen’fey. But I stuck with Lapis.

Saphir: I like her a lot, and I loved her support with Vander. But I just couldn’t get started on using her because she showed up so late, and I was trying to work with the units I had. I enjoy the older female characters.

Pandreo: Loved this party boy. I tried sticking with him for a few levels, but eventually had to go back to Jean. For what it’s worth though, he was a good reliable unit and I liked his character.

Boucheron: Ok I know I said I dropped him, but gosh dammit I REALLY wish he worked out! But he was super unreliable during my run (and I get it, that’s just how berserker units are in FE), wouldn’t land decently percentaged hits and wouldn’t crit very much. I think his character was pretty funny and well-defined, but they didn’t lean very much into the “cries easily” part of his personality for some supports.

Merrin: Wolf rider. That’s all I need to say.

But yeah, that’s the big ol’ comprehensive list. I probably will NOT be replaying Engage so I can’t really say much, though I’ll happily build most of these units in FEH when they get added.

[yourladystar]

Star's Engage Catalogue Day 34 (part 6)

Time for the second half of my final team.

I wasn't sure if I was gonna keep Pandreo around, but he just refused to stop being useful. His staff utility and magic prowess make him a force, even against high res units. Celica really helped to make him even stronger, and Warp Ragnarock is so much fun to use on him.

He's also just such a hoot. He's such a departure from other priests and holy men we've seen throughout the series, yet he still retains the thing that made them great characters: humility and compassion. His methods might be unorthodox, but he always does it to help others and give them hope when they think there isn't any. And considering what he and Pannete went through as children- seriously, I did not see that coming- it makes it all the more impressive that Pandreo became such a bright beacon of prosperity.

I've seen people say that Timerra struggles to keep up with the enemy and not be as useful as she seems. Either you guys are exaggerating or I just got lucky, because Timerra kicks so much a** it's ridiculous! Her build lets her tackle anything and Ike letting me just throw her into a pack of foes and nuke them out of existence is some of the most power-trippy fun I've had.

The same could be said for her character. Out of all the royals, she's got her sh*t together the most, but she's still not a flat character. She cares for her people and her country and strives to be a good queen. Also, it's nice to have a black female princess who can kick a** and give you a fun time. And I'm saying this as the whitest Puerto Rican ever!

Ivy is another heavy hotter that never stopped being useful. Her promotion giving her staffs only gave her more utility. She had some Emblems I played around with before I went with Camilla. She just seemed like the perfect fit for a character that's basically the antithesis of her.

And that's especially so in her character. The fact that all the advertising made us think that Ivy was going to be this alluring and deadly confident queen only for her to be a shambling stumbling mess of a girlflop was genuinely the best thing they did. It only made me love Ivy more.

Despite coming in so late, Veyle proved to be immediately useful. The dagger and tome she comes with are more than enough to carry her to endgame and Corrin is surprisingly useful on her, especially since it gives her access to all the Dragon Vein effects.

If you've been keeping up with this series, you know how my affection for Veyle and her run as an unwilling villain grew with every chapter she was a part of. She truly is one of Engage's best-written characters.

Out of all the units I expected to bring to the last chapter, Boucheron was the biggest surprise. He definitely got speed blessed, because this man can double a lot more than you think a warrior should and hit like a truck on both attacks. Lucina is not the best option for him, I would have given him Leif if not Rosado, but he is fine enough as is.

Out of everyone, his character is probably the least notable, but he's not bad. He's just a simple down to earth guy with simple ambitions, and the supports of his I read were very nice and comforting.

Fogado may not have been as stupidly strong as Alcryst, but his mounted utility gave him his own niche to fill. And he can still pack a punch when he needs to. Again, Tiki wasn't the most optimal choice for him, but giving him some one-range options comes in handy. And you can't go wrong with seeing someone turn into a dragon.

Fogado was also an interesting character to learn about. His fun-loving and laidback attitude was cool, but learning about his fears and anxieties about his position and kingdom and how he tries to keep them buried to keep his people calm- Mmm! I love it when simple characters have hidden depths!

And last but certainly far from least, Diamant. Like Alfred, he also had a rough patch during the midgame. But once I stopped being stupid and learned to work with his strength he became a very durable and hard-hitting front liner. Roy really is best suited to him and Hold Out has saved him on many occasions.

And surprise surprise, Diamant is a really likable and interesting character. Having him be the opposite of Alcryst, where he appears unshakable and unbreakable on the surface but is an anxiety-ridden mess internally, but learns to be more open about his weaknesses just cements why I love my Brodia boys so much.

[emblemxeno]

There's a very specific fan who is very weird about Timerra, Fogado, and Zelkov

They are weirdly focused on how these three are dark-skinned and put down the other characters as just comic relief white people

You don't need to put down white characters to uplift black characters. And for whatever reason, I've only ever seen them talk about their skin tones. Never their personality traits

Listen. When I first saw Timerra and Fogado, I was happy about the representation, too, but the way this person talks about them makes me feel highly uncomfortable 😬

We really can't have these things without the culture war popping in, it's really sad, I feel it anon

Also they forgot Saphir, they're a fake melanin fan