#and now this little tidbit finally gets to get some screentime.

[six-improbable-things]

Actual dialogue from today's session:

NPC: I've been meaning to bring this up for a while, but never really got a chance. In the recording we found [BBEG] mentioned a Lord Alistair Lockwood. For your identification papers, you used the name Adrian Lockwood. Is there any relation between the two of you? Rook, obviously lying: No, there's not. If that's all you wanted to ask me... [*points her towards the door*] NPC: So I'm just supposed to believe that you put that name down by random chance? Rook: Is there any reason it couldn't be random chance? NPC: Rook. You look just like the man. Rook: [*sighs*]

(The NPC in question is an elderly, grandmotherly half-orc barbarian with a strong southern drawl, btw. Her name is Regina.)

[venusonvellum]

If you don't mind sharing, as you stated in your comment that MCU!MK shares similar tidbits from Comics!MK, what details have you notice from the comics corresponding well with the series? For each Marc, Steven and Jake? Granted we only got 6 minutes of Jake but I'm interested to see what you think about that too, since MCU!MK fans tend to be more freeform with Jake's characterization for the screentime he had.

Hey! So I'm actually really glad you asked this because it's something I've wanted to dive into in-depth since I decided to watch the MK series!

So let's start with Steven. In the comics, we see Steven Grant as a suave millionaire investor and entrepreneur. As part of the Moon Knight system, it's Steven’s job to make money to fund Moon Knight's activities, and to utilize Steven’s high society connections to gain information to aid in Moon Knight's quest for justice and vengeance that can only be gleaned in those circles. He's charming, intelligent, smooth-talking, and well-connected, described repeatedly as a philanthropic playboy who cares for others and is generous with his money. Khonshu describes him in the Bemis run: “Steven Grant is a good man. Though narcissistic and decadent, he manipulates the system to benefit the disenfranchised.”

Pretty different from what we see in the TV series, right?

Well, this is where we have to delve a little deeper into what we see of comic!Steven on the surface in order to understand where TV!Steven comes from. First, we get glimpses of comic!Steven being nerdy: one of my personal favorite moments in that vein is when he jokes with his long-time comic-verse love interest, Marlene, about using their alone time at the mansion to get freaky and dress up in their Star Trek costumes. Temperament-wise, like TV!Steven, comic!Steven dislikes violence, doesn't like to get his hands dirty, and is very obviously out of his element when it comes to the crazy situations Marc deals with on the regular.

The way I see it, these traits align with, or are at the very least congruous with how Steven is portrayed in the series: as a thoughtful, sweet, and intelligent guy who enjoys gathering information on the things he's passionate about – Egyptology, unsurprisingly, being among them. As for why Steven is in London, living as a timid man working at a museum where his co-workers treat him like shit instead of living in luxury off at some estate somewhere? My personal theory is that the story we see in the TV series cuts in somewhere after some serious shit went down surrounding the circumstances of Marc obtaining the scarab, which fractured Marc's relationship with his alters and induced some sort of amnesia. If you squint, I believe something similar is alluded to in the series when – I think it was Marc – said something about there once being a wall between the alters, but now whoever is fronting is stronger (I wish the writing had been clearer here because I still can't make sense of it). As for the narcissism and decadence described in the comics, those traits are noticeably missing, but all in all, I can absolutely see comic!Steven ending up in TV!Steven's situation under the right, albeit unfortunate, circumstances.

Next, we have Jake. Described in the comics as an “affable dirtbag” and “avuncular scoundrel,” I think Jake's characterization in the TV series is severely lacking. Aside from his scene with Harrow, we only get one or two (I've only done one watch-through of the series which is why I'm a bit fuzzy on the details) scenes where we see Jake fronting – or rather, the results of it: cut-scenes where we go from Marc or Steven's POV to some people ending up dead, and both Marc and Steven deny responsibility for it. And in the scene where Jake is finally fronting in the flesh, Jake shoots Harrow without hesitation in the backseat of his car after Marc's refusal to kill him.

Naturally, this leads to a lot of people characterizing Jake based only on the one-dimensional portrayal of him in the TV series: as an cold-blooded killer who is willing to take violence to debatably evil extremes to accomplish what needs to get done. However, this clashes with the characterization of Jake preferred by many people familiar with him from the comics: as a kind, loving, gentle, down-to-earth guy – the polar opposite of the ruthless, “evil” killer we see in the series. And, as could be expected, this has led to a fair bit of fandom controversy surrounding the character.

But when you really dig deep into Jake's characterization in the comics, one thing becomes abundantly clear: that both of these characterizations are true. Both of them coalesce in equal measure within the man we know as Jake Lockley.

Comic!Jake is a multi-faceted, nuanced character containing both the best and worst parts of Marc Spector as a system. As a New York cabbie, Jake is a man of the working class, making friends and connections all throughout the darkest, grimiest parts of the city. Describing himself as "friendly" and “mild-mannered,” one of Jake's trademarks is that every time he sees his friend Gena when he visits her diner, a frequent haunt of his, he asks how her kids are doing. The little ways of showing he cares matter to him: details to which we don't see Marc or Steven paying any mind.

But this aspect of Jake juxtaposes sharply against the other side of him: the guy who deals in the “grimy leftovers,” as Jake describes himself. In the Moon Knight system, when things get truly ugly, the buck stops with Jake: he's the guy who gets the job done when it involves the things Marc and Steven can't do: killing those who Marc won't kill, and dealing in circles of society and dishing out violence that Steven Grant simply isn't capable of. Sometimes that involves doing evil things, but Jake himself (mostly) isn't an evil man: rather, he's a man shaped by trauma, who has an intrinsic understanding of the way the world works, and what is sadly sometimes necessary to survive in it.

Now, why did I say Jake “mostly” isn't evil just now? This is where we touch on one of the central themes of the Moon Knight character, and the life and past of Marc Spector. This is a theme that the comics circle back to time and again: Marc's innate lust for violence, and the self-hatred he suffers from as a result of it. Marc and his alters, in their heart of hearts, are good men. They believe in justice, in kindness, in doing right by others. But Marc always enjoyed violence. Raised by a peace-loving rabbi, Marc's relationship with his father was fractured by everything from his enjoyment of war games with his brother as a child to his getting into school yard fights, taking up boxing and joining the Marines as an adolescent and young man. He laments that violence is the only thing he's ever been good at, and he hates that about himself.

Circling back to Jake, it seems fair to me to deduce that Jake is the alter that helps Marc's brain compartmentalize the worst of the worst of himself: the extreme violence he engages in, and the pleasure he feels dishing it out. And, almost as if Marc couldn't bear to have those parts of him exist in one personality by themselves, we find the best of him within Jake, too: the kindness, the caring, the deep love and genuine good-will towards others. Regardless, at the end of the day, Jake is a deeply complex character and deserves to be seen for everything he is, including all of the seeming contradictions that make him whole.

Now, lastly, we come to Marc. Marc's characterization in the TV series compared to the comics is, in my opinion, pretty dead-on. From his New York accent to his weariness, obstinance and grief at being put through the ringer once again thanks to his obligation to Khonshu, we see Marc in the TV series as every bit of the man he is in the comics: the tormented product of a career in professional violence, honed in the depths of the international criminal underworld. A man who has loved deeply and cares for others, but who has been burned for it by his own actions and his own nature: his violence, his selfishness, his tendency to overlook things in his personal life and take others for granted. And if he couldn't escape that nature in his youth, he's now bound to it by the bargain he made with Khonshu: to save his life in exchange for devoting the remainder of it to him in servitude, doing what Marc is best at – the very same thing he hates about himself the most.

Finally, I want to give props to Oscar Isaac for giving all three of these men life in the series, and in spectacular fashion. I was skeptical going into the series, but Oscar absolutely blew my mind with how skillfully he pulled these roles off. He was literally playing three different men, and I came away from the series with a new respect for the art of acting thanks to him.

And that's all I've got for now! I really enjoyed writing this up and I love talking all things Moon Knight, so for anyone who enjoyed this and wants to get into the TV series and comics some more, just drop an ask!

[felixravinstills]

I've finally got on to reading tbosas, it's genuinely so interesting how the book handles these characters compared to the movie — I actually am invested in Coriolanus now, even. You were right, though, about Felix being a minor character in this, and yet I didn't expect to see so little of him(I did keep mentally going "! It's the character from the Felixravinstills blog! Hooray!"), at least the film adaptation gave him some more scenes to talk. :')

Absolutely devastated that they took away Volumnia's silly rhymes, she only had one or two in the movie, this is scandalous! Let her be funny and unusual! Viola would've eaten that up I know this in the deepest crevices of my heart.

Also, i'm curious now because the fic is still haunting my mind, how did the Grandmaam/Gaul joke even start, lmao.

Have a good day!!

-Gaulnon the First

Hi, Gaulnon (the First)! Yes, the book gives the characters so many interesting little tidbits that flesh people out a lot more! Of course, I know something is going to get lost in the adaptational process, but yeah, I think Coriolanus is very interesting to think about in the book!

I'm so glad you thought of me for Felix Ravinstill's handful of mentions (3 or 4?)! I imagine it was like the time the server watched the movie while all being in chat together. A lot of "Felix!" for every split second of screentime but just the book version of that. Haha, clearly, the movie thrust him into the spotlight of my life (although I did weirdly contemplate him while reading the book (mostly if he did feel an ounce of sympathy for Dill and landing on yes, bare minimum with the water. not much to go on but more than some of the other mentors for canon bits) but I was more enamored of President Ravinstill somehow. Love a presence that is an absence... and fleshing out characters with an interesting jumping off point but only crumbs for canon. as my love for Felix and other minor characters shows lol

The origins of Grandma'am/Gaul (and also Pres. Ravinstill/Grandma'am):

...

Thanks for the ask! Have a good day, Gaulnon!

[wixhing0nastar]

So I’m finally sitting down and watching Season 2 of Warrior Nun (I’ve been super sick for the last two weeks but I’ve let it play in the living room over a dozen times for the views) but first I wanted to rewatch Season 1.

Season 1 rewatch thoughts below the cut! Season 2’s coming soon!

First thought: fucking hate Mother Francis or whatever her name is, like, as a disabled person myself learning what she’d done to Ava and the other kids at the orphanage was rough.

On that note though, I do want to give WN props for its surprisingly good representation when it comes to Ava’s disability. Maybe a little-known fact outside of disabled communities, but narratives like Ava’s where the person is magically cured by something are normally pretty unpopular (with us) and offensively written.

But the way it's handled is actually really good! Sure, Ava can magically walk and use her arms again, but we see repeatedly that she struggles with pretty basic (for an able-bodied person) things because she was never in a position to learn them. And even more impressive is how they managed to write Ava’s selfish/thoughtless behavior without demonizing her for it and acknowledging that it’s a result of trauma and something that needs to be worked on... like lots if things you have to work on after a long-term traumatic experience.

-

I suddenly really want to see Ava and Shannon interact. Like, I know it's impossible on account of Shannon being dead, but I’m very curious what their interactions would look like.

-

For some reason, I don't remember the OCS having this much screentime during the earlier episodes... which is good because tbh I really don't vibe with JC’s Drifter group... which is on purpose, we as the audience are drawn into Ava’s narrative and her thoughts and desires and outside of having some uh... Hormonal Feelings towards JC, she doesn't really care about the Drifters outside of having a good time, unlike how she eventually comes to feel out the OCS.

Which, on that note, maybe I’m noticing/paying more attention now because I’ve seen the back half of the season and have come to care about them in retrospect.

-

Me Vibrating In My Seat: Look! This random tidbit supports my “Ava is the WN universe’s Second Coming of Christ” theory!

-

Okay, another thing I don't think I’ve picked up before was that the flying levitating is a power that’s unique to Ava and that different Warrior Nuns have different “bonus powers” so to speak...

I wonder if, based on Lilith’s reaction during the scene, another one of Ava’s powers is either like... ridiculously high pain tolerance or super rapid healing to the point her brain doesn't register the pain from something as simple as getting hit by a stick?

Because Lilith and Mother Superion both seemed to think it should hurt and I feel like out of everyone they’d know what “standard” Halo-Bearer powers should look like best.

-

Ugh Lilith... what sucks is knowing where her character arc is going and this whole “hunting down Ava” thing feels (pardon the pun) saintly in comparison to where she’s going.

-

The Mary/Ava episode is probably my favorite episode of Season 1. Just, peek comedy with a mix of feels and lore, aka: perfection.

-

Camila showing up to a knife fight with an automatic machine gun (after Ava was just shot with an arrow) is also peek comedy. “I really hope I got God’s message right.” Which I only just realized is a call back to the last conversation with Beatrice.

-

Also just... knowing that Ava’s biggest fear is being alone, and like... the joy radiating off of her when Mary, Beatrice, and Camila are taking care of her while she’s injured hurts. Like... after the way Mother Bitch treated her for being quadriplegic, it was such a surprising experience to be taken care of so tenderly by people she’d only known for like... a week? After spending 12 years being told she was nothing but a burden by her own caretaker. No wonder she’s willing to die for them down the line.

-

Also, forgot to say anything during the episode, but I love how the two women we’ve kind of seen as primary antagonists up to this point (Jillian and Mother Superion) are both developed into sympathetic characters (and future allies) during the same episode, which is also right around the time Father Vincent starts seeming a little sus (even though it’s hard to tell because everyone else is even more sus).

-

Ah... the scene that started it all. I do love Beatrice’s coming out scene. It’s so beautifully done and I love Ava’s reaction, not just as someone who ships them. Like... Ava struggles a bit with empathy, when JC told her about his mom she didn't really seem to care all that much, but when Beatrice is opening up about her own messed up history and is clearly upset, you can almost see the switch getting flipped in Ava’s mind and she becomes genuinely serious and concerned for one of the first times in the show...

-

I love heists!

That’s it. That’s the comment.

-

The reveal that the main characters have been unknowingly aiding the bad guys the whole time is just... perfection.

-

AAAND THERE’S THE CLIFFHANGER! Can’t say I’m upset I won’t have to wait another two years to watch the next episode, lol.

[thankskenpenders]

So, about the movie...

At long last, a week after it came out, I was finally able to see the Sonic movie. The Daytona 500 being held across the street from my favorite theater and conflicting work schedules had been keeping me away, but now I’ve finally seen it. And it was...

Decent!

Which is way, way, way, way, way better than a movie with this awful premise has any right being. That’s for damn sure. I enjoyed my time at the theater. I don’t know how they did it, but they did it. If you like Sonic and haven’t already seen it, you will probably get a kick out of this film. If you don’t like Sonic (or Jim Carrey), there is very little in this movie for you

Okay, now that that’s out of the way, it’s time to break that whole movie down. This will contain full spoilers for the Sonic movie

This movie kinda gave me deja vu because it’s set up so similarly to the Bumblebee movie. Both open with a slavishly faithful CGI sequence on another planet to ensure long time fans that the creative team gives a shit, but a conflict sends the title character to Earth. There, they form an emotional bond with the human lead as they’re pursued by the bad guys, who are working with the US government and tracking the energy signature of the title character. This setup worked extremely well for Bumblebee, because it’s so similar to the usual plot of Transformers. For Sonic, it was... a mixed bag. But it worked better than I expected

(This shot does not happen in the movie.)

That opening though, huh? Green Hill Zone looked great, and I was pleasantly surprised to see they did, in fact, use the Hyper Potions track from Sonic Mania in the actual film. (The piano rendition of the Green Hill theme used later was also lovely.) Longclaw was also interesting. I’ve seen one person bring up all the bird-themed ruins in Sonic 1 and 2 as a possible source of inspiration for the character, and I think that’s a valid take. And man, the echidnas! I wasn’t expecting that AT ALL. I guess that was probably the Knuckles Clan or something? I would never, ever picture them being alive during Sonic’s lifetime, but like... I guess Knuckles had to come from somewhere, right? If they do another movie with Knuckles, will the rest of his kind have died out?

Sadly, though, this sequence felt like it was over in a heartbeat. We barely see Sonic’s life on his home planet, and we’re expected to feel emotional over Longclaw’s sacrifice when she only gets like three lines before Sonic is sent to Earth. This is a common theme with the film--it goes for these big emotional beats that it just does not earn with its rapid fire pacing

Anyway, then we fast forward and Sonic’s a teen. This is actually kind of an interesting one if you’re constantly neck deep in Sonic Character Analysis like me, because it’s a pretty different take on the character. It’s hard to give them credit for doing something somewhat fresh with the character, though, because like... how much of that was intentional, and how much was just Hollywood writers trying to squeeze a generic action-adventure movie out of Sonic? (Honestly, it’s probably mostly the latter.)

The closest other piece of Sonic media to the movie would probably be Sonic X, a story in which Sonic isn’t really the protagonist. The Sonic of the anime is fairly emotionally distant. He cares deeply about his friends, and does nice things for them, but he’s totally fine with running off on his own for extended lengths of time, and he doesn’t really talk about his feelings. He’s not the character the audience is meant to sympathize with, but is instead this cool older kid who Chris wants to impress. This is pretty much in line with how Sega likes to depict the character. He cares about his friends, but he’s also cool with being a loner. It feels like he only runs into them incidentally, usually when Eggman is causing trouble, and then when the crisis of the week is taken care of he’s back to going on his own adventures. There’s a reason why one of his catchphrases is “long time no see”

The Sonic of the movie is the polar opposite. His main conflict is that he’s lonely and desperately seeks friendship. He’s also an overly-eager, extremely earnest goober. He literally flosses twice. (Which I loved.) I’ve seen him compared to Silver, and honestly, that’s not a bad comparison. I did like it, though! I don’t mind Sonic being a more emotionally open character, like he was in a lot of older Western media. I mean, he cried in like the second or third episode of SatAM

It’s just that, like many things in the movie, it feels less like a deliberate creative choice and more like a logical string of decisions to make when writing a generic action-adventure film for general audiences. Sonic’s the only one of his kind on Earth, so of course he’d be lonely. He has to have some sort of arc for audiences to connect with him, and if he’s gotta be accompanied by James Marsden for the whole movie, well, his arc’s gotta be about them becoming friends

I’ve gotta say, though: Ben Schwartz is great as Sonic. As much as I like Roger Craig Smith, I wouldn’t complain if he became the new main voice of the character. And thanks to the redesign, he looked great. I can’t imagine how nightmarish this movie would’ve been if Sonic wasn’t cute

My main fear with this movie, though, was that Sonic wouldn’t really be the protagonist. As a fan of Transformers, I know all too well that the cost of doing a full CGI character usually means that said character can’t really be the star of the film. Optimus and Bumblebee aren’t the stars of the Transformers movies--they’re supporting characters who are primarily present for the sake of the action scenes. The humans are the real stars in those movies, and the robots are barely even characters. I was terrified that Sonic would be the same, with the actual character I paid to see taking a backseat to James Marsden The Cop

I’m not quite sure if they struck the right balance there, but they did better than I worried they would. Sonic is central enough to the film and gets enough screentime that you can easily say he’s the protagonist. BUT there is absolutely too much of Tom and his family. The human cast is fine, the performances are fine, and there were a few good jokes, but every time the movie tried to get me to care about Tom’s life I was bored out of my mind. It’s just so trite and passionless. The other characters barely felt fleshed out at all, including Tom’s girlfriend (wife?) and Agent Stone. The little girl who gives Sonic the shoes had some cute moments, though

I do, however, love the part in which James Marsden is walking around in a San Francisco t-shirt, to remind us that he’s planning on moving to San Francisco... which then becomes the excuse for Sonic to think about San Francisco and accidentally send his warp rings there, which becomes the excuse for the buddy road trip aspect of the film. And as much as that was a focus of the marketing, the actual road trip part is like... maybe 20 minutes of the movie? There’s like three scenes with Sonic and Tom on the road and then they’re in San Francisco for act 3. The movie tries to act like they’ve formed this deep bond and I just did not give a shit. I don’t care about the cop. All Cops Are Bastards, and that absolutely includes Tom, whose dream in life is to join the extremely corrupt San Francisco PD

The whole excuse for Sonic having to sit in the passenger seat of a car going the speed limit for a good chunk of the movie is also, just. Stupid. If he doesn’t know where San Francisco is and time is of the essence, just... give him a map?

And then there’s Jim Carrey. I was worried about this one. The previews tended to highlight his most Jim Carrey Being Wacky moments, and as fond as I am of movies like The Truman Show and Bruce Almighty, that’s just. That’s not Robotnik. I was pleasantly surprised by the actual movie, though! I thought he was pretty good. I’m not sure what incarnation of Eggman I’d most compare him to, but like... it was close enough, and he was entertaining enough. I’d pay to go see another movie with him as Robotnik. Sure. (Especially with how he was looking at the end of the film.)

There were some other little interesting tidbits here with Eggman, although again, a lot of that is less “let’s do a new take on Eggman” and more “let’s do a marketable movie with Eggman in it, which requires us to explain some stuff.” Like him straight up just being a normal human from Earth, with none of the confusion present in the current “two worlds” canon of the games. Or him apparently being an orphan who was bullied in school, and who trusts machines more than other humans. It’s a safe way to depict the character in a Hollywood movie, but I thought it worked

The way they got to his nickname was kind of funny, though. Like, obviously they didn’t put Jim Carrey in a fat suit, and thank god for that. So instead of mocking his weight, the nickname is derived from the egg-shaped robots he uses. Which made sense, I guess. It at least felt logical for this incarnation of Sonic, who had annoyingly been calling Tom “Donut Lord” the whole movie, to make up the nickname “Eggman.” (Said robots, by the way, were a weak point of the movie to me. They just didn’t have that Eggman whimsy and felt very safe and very Hollywood. Honestly, though, if they had just made Robotnik’s ship grey and slapped some hazard stripes on it, it’d probably be fine.)

As a whole, I thought the humor of the movie was... okay. Sonic had a lot of good moments thanks to Schwartz’s great performance, as did Robotnik. There were just so many weird lines, like James Marsden telling Robotnik that he was breast fed, or the agonizingly long child trafficking joke with Sonic in the duffel bag. Stuff like that

The action was great, though. They definitely owe a lot to the Quicksilver scene in that one X-men movie (I forget the one), but they had a lot of fun with Sonic’s powers and it felt extremely true to the character. Seeing him do one of his Smash poses during the San Francisco fight was great. The action scenes were an absolute delight

And then the ending. Oh, that ending

So, I had already heard that Tails shows up in the stinger before I saw the film. And when I heard that, I expected it to be like, the classic Tails origin story. Maybe Sonic would return to his planet, and run into this precocious kid who decides to follow him around... but no! Not at all! Tails is already the Tails we know and love. He’s already an inventor, he’s already tracking down Sonic. I’m shocked that Sonic actually stayed with Tom instead of running off to have new adventures, but hopefully this is a sign that more characters will be brought into the fray if they make a sequel

And boy, they better make that damn sequel. This movie had a great opening weekend and a positive reception. They have no excuse not to. GIVE US SONIC AND TAILS GOING ON AN ADVENTURE

Other stray thoughts

Holy shit they put Sanic in the movie

The Sega logo animation meant that Kiryu from Yakuza was in this movie for a few seconds

The pixel art credits sequence, which featured both the Sonic 2 special stage and Get Blue Spheres as well as the Eggman logo screens from the Studiopolis Zone boss, was cute

The Saturn logo could be seen on the diagram of the other habitable planets

Robotnik had a label for “Badniks” on his circuit breaker. I wonder if the drones in the movie are intended to be Badniks, or if we’ll see actual ones if a sequel gets made

Also, was it implied that Robotnik committed war crimes for the US government

One of the government guys who I think only got one line was played by Garry Chalk and as such sounded exactly like Optimus Primal

I can’t tell if Sonic getting a red race car bed was an intentional shout out to the Archie comics or if it’s just a coincidence, but I loved it

A dude about my age wearing a Sonic Mania t-shirt literally stood up and clutched his head in shock when Tails showed up

After the movie a very excited kid got his mom to take his photo with the Sonic display in the lobby. Afterwards he was so excited that he flossed

I can’t believe they talked about Olive Garden so much

[yue-muffin]

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War Review

It took months for me to complete, but at least I can finally say that I have played this game. Of all the older Fire Emblem games (pre-3DS era), this is the one that I have wanted to play the most and whose story intrigued me the most. It is, probably, now my favorite game in the franchise, and this review is the really, really long why.

Gameplay/Story Integration

Before I even mention the story, it’s important to address the mechanics that both make this game a wonderful experience of gameplay/story integration...and make it rather annoying, depending on your perspective. This game’s greatest flaws are also its greatest strengths, which makes me glad that it was produced so long ago. I still love modern games, and most have come a long way in making the player experience much less painstaking to an annoying degree, but there is also a lot of charm in older games like Genealogy, where the player is definitely made to suffer a little.

Like all Fire Emblem games, Genealogy is about a war involving dragons, invading nations, and legendary weapons. Unlike most Fire Emblem games, this one went out of its way to make the player feel like they are embarking on a campaign across a continent, spanning multiple years of nonstop fighting and traveling. Most FE games choose to focus on one battle per chapter, with the story segments in between explaining how we progressed from point A to point B. Genealogy chooses instead to make you move your entire frontline across a HUGE map, from castle to castle, crossing distances that span countries.

It’s a unique feature of this game, and I loved it, no matter how annoying it got to lug the army from the south to the north and back down again to defend a previous position from attack. It made you feel actively engaged in the progression of the conflict, made it easy to track your journey back to the beginning and see just how far you traveled. The tedium makes it feel, in the best way a mere video game can, more realistic.

By far one of the weirder and more annoying aspects of the game is the inability for units to trade money and goods between each other. In most games, there is a single pool of money and anyone in the party who purchases an item draws from that fund. In Genealogy, each unit has his/her own money, which cannot be shared with another unless that person is a spouse or the resident thief. This does make some sense because your army is basically a volunteer army built from people of multiple nationalities and affiliations. Many make it clear they’re here to lend a hand, not join you forever, so it makes sense that they don’t all fork over their money for the army to use. Still makes this part of the game annoying if you are micromanaging the army.

It was fairly difficult getting used to this game’s mechanics, which are way, WAY different from any other in the franchise. But I value the attempts made to integrate story with gameplay (another example is the ability to fix/repair broken or damaged weapons for a price, instead of them disappearing into the ether) far more over the frustration it caused me along the way.  

Story

Finally, the actual story! **Spoilers onward**

The story of this game is initially no different from any other Fire Emblem game, and it’s similar to many fantasy stories. A main character’s homeland is invaded by the bad guys, main character fights back and eventually leads a resistance force against the masterminds behind the conflict.

Genealogy turns that story progression on its head in the first half, then plays it straight in the second half. The second half is undoubtedly the weaker of the two, but it’s not bad - just not quite as interesting compared to the absolute curveball the first half throws at you.

I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that had the guts to do what this game does. The closest example is Aerith from FFVII, but at least that was one character, not the entire playable cast. This game would be devastating if it had more room to develop its characters. Honestly, it does a really good job with the limited “screentime” its characters get. Most of them are given reasons for joining that are sensible enough. The game makes sure to lay out the stakes and consequences of the choices the characters make (at least in the first half).

I think one of the reasons I like it so much is that it makes sure you feel the heavy costs of a conflict like the one unfolding in the game. It makes you feel the loss, and not only through the permadeath mechanic. Let’s be real, many players reset if they lose a unit. But even if you reset, or just are good at the game and don’t get anyone killed, the game still makes sure you see the consequences of war.

Actually, it makes you see the consequences of a simple, well-intentioned action. If makes you see how a conflict can quickly snowball out of one man’s control.

The second half of the game is, admittedly, way more typical and less impactful. The world is suffering because of the failure of the first cast to resolve the conflict, so now it’s up to the main cast’s children to finish it.

There are interesting tidbits revealed randomly and at the very end that give the story more life, so I wish they would’ve utilized these parts a little more.

Characters

A lot of people find Sigurd, part 1′s main character, kind of boring. And that’s fair. He’s a typical noble knight, very loyal and an all around good person. And he falls in love at first sight. His ultimate flaw is...well, that he is a bit too trusting or just lacks foresight.

Which is all true of our main character. But he’s also a good example of a tragic hero. His greatest strengths are his nobility and sense of justice. He starts the story only aiming to rescue a childhood friend from the invaders who have kidnapped her. But those are the same things that lead him far from home, on a campaign that snowballs out of his control and soon comes to look very much like a man working on conquering the continent, putting him in conflict with the major power on said continent who doesn’t like what he sees is happening.

He also falls into a love that will lead to disaster, so. Very tragic hero-y of him.

But I lowkey love Sigurd. I love that moment he looks back and realizes oh shit, he’s way in over his head but he literally can’t turn back anymore. The only way out is forward.

I think Seliph, Sigurd’s son, is largely forgettable. The revelation at the end, and implication that he hasn’t truly chosen his own path this whole time but was led down it was a plot point I wish was expanded on, as well as his own feelings about it all. But it kind of fits that he...doesn’t have much substance to him. In the end, he really feels like a pawn, which makes that lofty title he later gains feel all the stranger in retrospect.

This game is good at making its characters feel small in the larger setting of its world. I appreciate that. 

It has a large and largely forgettable cast of named enemies and npcs. I think it helps make the world feel lived in, rather than an empty place run by like 20 people. idk, I’d rather the world feel more realistic than every named character standing out like a sore thumb. 

The game gives you a lot of units, some more memorable than others. This is where a remake could really help flesh out these characters, but I felt that in most cases their motivations and personalities were realistic and believable. The downside, on the gameplay side, is that mounted units really do dominate this game. The few units on foot that stand out are the ones with outstanding performance in one aspect or another, while the rest just fall by the wayside since it can be so difficult to get them to join the action.

However, I am a boring person who loves mounted units, so. I was very happy.

Overall

As you can tell, I loved this game. It can be a bit janky in some aspects, but it’s definitely one of the more adventurous of FE games (seeing as it came out before the series really settled on a “style”). It’s not a game for beginners, I would say, given its somewhat odd mechanics that aren’t explained very well from the outset. The pacing can be feel rather long and arduous, which is on purpose, but also keeping in mind that you can save at the start of every turn - it wasn’t designed for you to bang out a chapter in a single sitting but come back to chip away at your progress.

[faunusrights]

‘AFTER THE FALL’ - LIVEREAD

I say ‘liveread’ but there’s a pretty decent chance this’ll turn into a RWDEread.

So, After The Fall is finally out in the UK and my copy has landed arse-first on my desk, so I’m gonna read it and post my observations here so that you can experience it with me! And also experience whichever stages of grief I go through as we go!

I will preface this with a warning: as much as I love the characters of RWBY, canon is currently the target of all of my spite, so I’m approaching this novel with HANDFULS of wariness and also salt! Most people who follow me already know I don’t pay attention to canon, nor care for it, nor listen to it, and most of you also know I headcanon Velvet as a 6ft+ trans and queer beefcake who can bend your spine into a pretzel, so I’m already at odds here. As such, if it seems like I’m not approaching this liveblog with the benefit of the doubt: that’s because I’m not!!! Yay!!!

So with that said, let’s enjoy Murphy Wishing Velvet Were Big, But Isn’t, And So Suffering Never Ends:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Firstly, this book is thicker than I expected, whilst the font is bigger than I’d have thought. I know it’s for teens so it’s not as if this was gonna be, like, 1000 pages in a size 10 font, but this probably won’t take me long to read (although it’ll take longer by virtue of me adding to this as we go). There doesn’t seem to be a chapter list, though, so I have no clue how long each chapter is. Guess we’ll find that out when we get there.

Secondly, the cover of this book sure is, uh, a Thing. What’s going on with Velvet’s face?

Thirdly, the cover is Not Nice to Touch. This is a weird observation, but trust me, I’m tempted to laminate the cover just so it doesn’t feel so... dusty.

PROLOGUE

Velvet’s the narrator, and Murphy isn’t surprised! Velvet’s such a fan favourite that having her not be the narrator (at least for some of this book) would have been an absolute crime.

Okay, halfway through the first page and I did laugh at ‘a terrible place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live there’. I may pass that line along to my dad, because it’s a, how you say, big mood.

Fox’s Semblance is Telepathy, which is... a thing, I guess? I’ve seen some pretty creative thoughts on what Fox might have, and this seems kinda lackluster, but the phrase ‘special teamspeak’ IS funny and I love the concept of them acting like it’s a voice channel on Discord. That’s good, and for that I accept this.

(I will note I trust the author of this novel. He seems neat and I already like the humour. I don’t trust M+K but we already knew that.)

‘As [Yatsu] stepped onto [Velvet’s] linked hands, she heaved upwards and stood, boosting his jump as he catapulted high over her head.’

Velvet, bridal-carrying Yatsu: idk he weighs the same as a couple of grapes

I will say, it’s nice having CFVY content at all. They might be Fools but I do love them,

‘[Velvet] pressed the stitched heart emblem to open it and then removed Anesidora, her high-tech camera that used special Dust--’

Anesidora???? That’s the name of her camera??? Of all the things I expected, that was probably the LAST thing I expected. What??? Wikipedia says it’s Greek for sender of gifts, but why that’s the name I am, Not Sure,

‘Combined with her Semblance--photographic memory--Velvet could wield these 3-D replicas with skills and moves that otherwise would have taken years of training to master.’

That’s no surprise, really (and I did already write a short about Exactly That) but I probably wouldn’t have called it photographic memory. Muscle memory, more like? But yeah, that’s pretty expected.

REESE GOT MENTIONED ILU REESE,,,, when will my gay child return from the WAR. LITERALLY. WHERE IS SHE.

Velvet’s thinking abt Weiss dustbun confirmed!!!!!!!!!!! But seriously when will Velvet kiss a small gay Schnee??? What must I do. Whomst must I kill.

OUGH VELVET LOSING THE PHOTOS OF FRIENDS SHE ISN’T SURE HAVE SURVIVED,,,, OWIE. THAT HURT MY FEELIES MR MYERS,,,, but I AM enjoying this angst and that I shall not lie about.

Ruby and Coco, leaders in arms... I will say that the moment of them kinda regarding each other as equals would have landed considerably better had they ever really, uh, interacted in the show. I tend to write Ruby being Coco’s little protege, but we don’t actually have a ton of canon evidence of that really being a thing? So even though I’m enjoying this li’l tidbit, it’s really lacking some foundation, alas.

Fox’s tonfas (is it tonfa time? I think it’s tonfa time) are called Sharp Retribution. Which MMORPG did he get that from?

“We’re Shade Academy’s newest star pupils.”

The sheer cockiness of it all. Ilu Coco.

Okay so, y’all know that Murphy’s about to say: I HATE that Velvet gets treated like a goddamn marshmallow. I’m trying my BEST, I SWEAR, not to complain abt canon Velvet because everyone knows this is my biggest sticking point, but god I hate that she’s written to have such a specific semblance and be so squishy. Aaaaaaaaaaaaa--

Also: we’re having a case of a jumpy POV, particularly with the conversation with Glynda. I know this tends to be something that happens with writing for younger audience, but woof am I noticing it.

I’m liking Yatsu!!!! He had like, no lines (at all) in the show, but he’s actually more of a smartass than I had dared hope for, so that Something.

Oh yeah, Fox is a Vacuan boye! I do like that he’s very chill with everything whilst Velvet is begging for seven different types of death (but could I make a comment abt my Velvet here? Yes. Am I going to? I’m trying not to).

CHAPTER ONE

Owie wowie this is already gettin’ kinda long. If chapter one causes a lot of commentary, I may have to add on in a reblog so the people don’t have to suffer.

Coco is our narrator now! Let’s see how many times the word ‘sunglasses’ comes up (hint: probably enough times that if I took a shot for every one I’d be very dead).

/sees the name Alabaster YOU aren’t a big chunky polar bear Faunus! Leave!

“Who’s your tribe?” “I’m from Kenyte,” Fox said. “But it’s been a long time.”

Vacuan tribes, baby! I’m tempted to see how I could work this into anything, but my lore is pretty stick-stuck so I’m probably just gonna jot this down as a ‘cool thing’. Oh, wait, they’re tribal nomads, which means it DOES fit the lore!!! Nice!!! Murphy guessed it!!! Cool!!

‘A perky Faunus waitress with a pig snout came over.’

With a what. Canon, where are we with traits? Also, like, I feel there are multiple childhood movies that scared the crap out of me with people getting pig snouts so I’m making the executive decision to ignore this line. Never happened.

Racism incoming, so I’m getting a cup of tea.

And we’re back! This guy also has a mace and a mohawk and is he just the combination of team CRDL or what?

‘Coco couldn’t take her eyes off the fit, dark-skinned woman.’

I presume they mean fit as in physically fit but my BritBrain is like ‘hell yeah shes fit’ and now I’m envisioning Coco as, like, maybe a scouser. Can you imagine her with a beehive? Anyway, moving SWIFTLY on.

‘--chain mail crop top--’

I’ve never seen a worse combination of words, which is impressive when I wrote Velvet as wearing bright yellow boardshorts with a neon-blue tank top that one time. And by one time, I mean, every time,

I’ve seen this outfit in pictures ‘cause of Amity Arena but god it sounds even worse in words like. Nobody is hot enough to pull off this absolute jumble of clothes. Nobody is.

I do enjoy big lesbian Coco though, so there’s that.

People have already mentioned the ‘could you picture me in a uniform’ line w/ Thirsty Coco so I won’t give it more screentime but it is a mood, and now we know coco has a uniform kink,

“We’re doing this for school credit,”

fox: i do not want money i want an a+

Velvet POPPIN OFF for Mysterious Reasons... is this gonna be like Qrow’s bad luck Semblance only someone has the Semblance of ‘Will Piss Everyone Off In Vicnity’? I think we call those anons,

CHAPTER TWO

I think I’ll stop after this chapter since this chapter’s a little bigger, and this liveblog is already too dang long. It’s a flashback!

‘Vale has been [Coco’s] home all her life.’

I’m quietly ignoring this line in favour of Atlesian Coco. You cannot stop me. But Coco does have a younger brother, so that’s neat! Kinda! IDK what to do with this information but it sure is there existing!

‘And to top it off, [Glynda] was also hot--’

This is the only bit of canon I will accept, because it’s true and Coco should say it.

‘[Velvet and Coco had] both come from Pharos Combat School--’

Another tidbit ignored because I favour Menagerie-born-and-bred Velvet, but I do like hearing the names of other combat schools outside of Signal. Looooooore.

OH there’s a GOOD PARAGRAPH HERE that I don’t really wanna type out, but Velvet is mentioning how she doesn’t like bunny jokes or puns (’hop to it’, she classifies as ‘harmless-but-hurtful’) and THANK YOU, oh my GOD. I’ve written about this before but if I see one more person have Coco make a bunny joke in a fic I will fight Them Myself,

Oh, Fox’s Scroll has an ‘Accessibility Dialogue Assistant’ (ADA)! That’s quite cool, actually. I’ve been wondering how tech might have functioned for Fox, so we have some confirmation about a Scroll’s use for accessibility stuff! That’s neat! I like that! Also, his telepathy also lets him sense people -- pinpointing them exactly the better he knows them -- so that’s a cool little side-effect, too. Although, I swear these Semblances are getting more poorly named by the minute.

Coco’s weapon is called Gianduja, which is... a type of chocolate! Unsurprisingly.

‘Besides, Coco wasn’t looking for a girlfriend--’

yet.

Coco and Fox have a fun dynamic, and I enjoy it immensely. They’re bros...

Also, how does Velvet procure this very expensive Dust for her weapon, anyway? I wonder if we’ll find out later.

“You’re from Mistral,” she said. Yatsuhashi blinked. “So?” “Your people don’t tend to like my people.”

That’s an interesting tidbit that Mistral as a whole has a reputation. I suppose they mean the Kingdom and not the continent (of Anima), but still.

“Don’t worry,” Velvet smirked. “I’ll protect you.”

ah, that is, how the kids say, hott,

“So it’s a Death Stalker den. Only an idiot would go in there.”

Jaune found dead from a sneezing fit.

Awh, I like Coco describing the temple bit. Already she’s looking out for her Best Boye. Also, playing cards are a cool thing, and they’re the King of Hearts! That’s ‘cause they’re gonna win a lot, too,

Okay, I now understand Coco’s Hype Semblance. It’s interesting! I’m curious how else it can be used, aka how versatile it is, but it’s a neat concept.

Velvet dabbled in fortune-telling when she was younger and I am enamoured with this idea. Also, picking the Queen of Hearts ‘cause it’s the only one w/ good vibes? Love it.

Okay, end of chapter! RIP Velvet who constantly looks like a squishy baby, and even though that still Irks Me As a Person And A Gay, at least it’s. Maybe gonna be a plot point or smthng idk. Anyway, I’m stopping here for now because this is slow going when I’m adding commentary, so I’ll probably reblog this and add onto it later. Less RWDE than expected, but it’s still early chapters yet.

[autistic-witchlighter]

Charmed Reboot Season 1 Episode 9

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Plot: “Mel turns to Harry for guidance after learning information that leaves her questioning everything she knows; Macy is determined to not let fate get in the way of her potential relationship with Galvin.”

The plot was very interesting and well-paced. Significant but not overabundant time was given to each character and story arc. The Sisters got the most screen time and focus, as should be. Each of the supporting characters got enough screentime to serve the purpose and tell their storyline this episode but not enough to steal focus. 

Positives: The episode was obviously the midseason finale. I normally hate those episodes because they are, generally, poorly written and cause a disjoint in the season. However, this one was very well written. It concluded a bit of the story arc questions that have been quite up in the air. Exanples Include: 1) When will Maggie discover the truth about Parker? 2) How is Galvin's protection rune going to be circumvented? 3) What are our villians main motivations? 4) When push comes to shove, who will Parker side with? 5) How could the source come into play?  On the Other side it propsed a lot of new questions going forward. For Example: 1) What are the main goals of The Sarcana and how does recruiting Mel play into that? 2) Are the Elders really as pure intended as they like to protray themselves? 3) Is Jada really into Mel or is she just seducing Mel to her side? 4) Is Maggie going to forgive Parker and does he really deserve forgiveness? 5) Even if Maggie does forgive Parker, could their relationship actually survive? 6) Is Galvin now going to be in on the sisters' secret Life as witches? 6) How is Harry going to be rescued from Tartarus and exactly how will this experience affect him?

Negatives: Harry being dragged into Tartarus makes a lot less sense when you consider that Harry could have orbed to safety at any point. I guess we'll have to pass that off on Harry being intoxicated and not thinking clearly. Otherwise it turns the cliffhanger into a massive plot hole. Now that Galvin's protection rune is null and void, it seems as though Macy/Galvin may officially become an item. Not looking forward to seeing that. Dr. Wagner was proven to be untrustworthy and working with/related to the villians. This is unfortunate because I was hoping she'd become the Elise of this reboot. 

References to the original (This section contains spoilers for the original series.): Parker seems to be a counterpart yet also an antithesis for Cole. While both Parker and Cole are half-demons who manipulate the youngest sister and that manipulation becomes something else, their motivations are quite different. Cole started out as a totally evil demon with little humanity intent on killing the sisters before developing an obsession with Phoebe and abusing Phoebe and her family. Parker, on the other hand, is very human and seems to truly love Maggie. While he did do some bad things, he never wanted to and was forced into those actions. His motivations weren't evil. He was simply seeking to survive but even at that he didn't want to hurt Maggie or her sisters. We learn some aspects of The Source that differs from the original Charmed. In this one, the source can only be brought out into a demon born from a human. In the original, options were much wider as the source could be any upper-level demon. I like this change as it makes the source more unique and it narrows the chances of us seeing multiple versions of the source like we did in the original. A demon shapeshifted into one of the sisters. We saw a lot of that in the original series. I'd go as far as to say too much. Mel and Maggie talking about Maggie's deadbeat father reminds me a lot of how Prue would talk to Piper and Phoebe about their own deadbeat father, Victor.

Theories/What I’d Like To See: I think we will have to wait at least an episode or two before Harry is rescued. I hope this isn't just skated over and Harry is actually impacted by it. He could potentially develop PTSD and this could lead to showing a positive representation of trauma recovery. I think we will also learn more about why The Sarcana need Mel so badly. I'd like to see other whitelighters and see how they compare and contrast to Harry.

Favorite Character This Episode: I'd have to say it's probably a tie between Macy, Parker and Harry. I've been loving Macy and Harry for awhile but this is the first time Parker has won me over. 

Favorite Quote/Interaction: I loved the bonding between The sisters and Harry this episode. Especially, the Vera's sharing Marisol's traditions with Macy and Harry. 

Tidbits: I kinda need family history of the sisters. I wonder if we will get to see Tartarus or if it will remain mysterious. Honestly, I'm hoping we don't get to see it and our only knowledge of it comes second-handed.

Please join me again for next week's episode. In the meantime, please send me asks and/or messages. I would like to get more involved with the community.

[storiesofwildfire]

So, I’m running on a couple hours of sleep and I can’t figure out why I’m unable to go back to sleep, but I guess I’m just awake for the time being...

Anyways, I saw Endgame again for the second time last night, and I gotta admit, I disliked it just as much the second time as I did the first time.

Now, I’m not saying the entire movie was garbage. There were definitely some highlights, some fun moments, and some great character development (shoutout to my girl, Nebula, whom I love with all my heart), but honestly? The film left me overall extremely disappointed. Considering I went in with no expectations and still left disappointed, that’s saying something.

Consider this a warning because Endgame spoilers under the cut:

There are so many things about the movie that were rushed, poorly executed, sloppy, or just overall confusing (looking at you, bullshit explanation of time travel). And as much as I’d like to go through the movie and dissect everything scene-by-scene, I just don’t have the energy for that.

What I wanna do instead is talk about Loki’s very minimal role in it, because I am extremely upset and disappointed in Loki’s story arc or lack thereof. 

Why?

Because the few scenes Loki was in were a few one-off jokes to get the audience’s attention and nothing more. We see him in his cell on Asgard in 2013 when Thor and Rocket go back for the Aether. The pair literally sneak by his cell, but they do nothing with the scene. Loki doesn’t notice them (as he really fucking should, because Loki is one of the most observant characters in Asgard) and Thor doesn’t hesitate for even a moment to look back at his now-dead brother.

Throughout the entire movie, Thor says nothing about Loki’s death, nothing about missing Loki even though Loki’s death (and Heimdall’s death) was a huge catalyst for the depression that he fell into. He watched Thanos murder his brother after Loki tried to stop him, after losing Heimdall and half of the Asgardians, after sacrificing the Tesseract and himself so Thor could live. Loki’s death shakes him (as it usually does, but this time, it’s supposedly authentically real). And yet, throughout the entire movie, he never once mentions Loki, doesn’t even pay attention to Loki when he gets to see his brother alive, and hyper-focused on his mother instead. Yes, I get that her death stung, but her death is also over a decade old. He’s processed it, been through a lot more since then, and while I understand him having issues with visiting the day she died, there is so much more for Thor to think about, to worry about, to mourn.

And Loki should have been at the top of that list. They were finally reconciling, finally getting back to a decent place as brothers and friends... 

Then we have the scenes from the first Avengers film in 2012. Where Loki is literally just in the background, making jokes while in chains. He’s been defeated, he knows what’s going to happen next, and he’s just? Making jokes? Even though that was, quite literally, one of the worst times in Loki’s life physically, mentally, and emotionally. He would not have been turning his defeat and inevitable demise into one massive joke. He barely even got a line at all (half of his only line was as Captain America, so I mean... Because Cap definitely needed more screentime, am I right?) and while yes, his expressions and little tidbits in the background were funny, the entire film seemed to turn him into a giant joke.

Given what they did to Thor, I shouldn’t be surprised. Someone who values appearances and being well-received as much as Thor is thrown into such a horrible depression that he puts on a ton of weight, becomes nothing more than a drunk hermit, and doesn’t take care of himself because of the guilt, trauma, PTSD, and panic attacks that came along with the events of Infinity War and they turned him into a walking, talking fat joke who cried the whole time... mkay.

But anyway, back to the point I’m making. Which is how disappointed in Loki’s arc I am.

Yes, they do go out of their way to show off Tony losing the Tesseract, which skitters over to Loki’s feet, and he quickly picks it up and vanishes. I’ll give the film that, but earlier in the movie, they put so much emphasis on making sure the audience understood that changing the past doesn’t change the future with some sort of ridiculous “when you travel back in time, that becomes your future and you in the present becomes your past” logic. 

Later, we see the Ancient One discussing how taking an Infinity Stone out of its proper place in the timeline can create varying alternate timelines, but that seemed very specific to the removal of the Infinity Stones, but nothing else.

So, worst case scenario is that Loki taking the Tesseract and darting off actually meant nothing because changing the past doesn’t change the future (I am still having such a hard time wrapping my mind around that because it doesn’t make sense). Best case scenario is that it does matter because an alternate timeline was created, but if that’s the case, there’s a very distinct possibility that Loki only still exists in that alternate timeline. And if by some defiance of canon, Loki taking the Tesseract and running does allow him to show up again later in the same timeline, literally all of his character development since The Avengers would have been undone...

But what was really, honestly heartbreaking? Watching all of the portals open at the final battle and watching all of the vanished walk through them. We see all of our favorites and in the theater, I was holding my breath, waiting for Loki to come through one of them. 

And he never did.

It was a heartbreaking moment because in Infinity War, they killed him off so quickly in such a ridiculous way. I’m so sorry, but Loki canonly knows more about Thanos than 98% of the MCU characters. He would not attempt to kill Thanos with a concealed dagger while Thanos is wielding more than one Infinity Stone. It’s just? Not going to happen, honestly. Loki’s far too clever, far too sneaky, and far too knowledgable on Thanos to pull something that stupid.

Not to mention, more powerful. While MCU has never really developed Loki’s abilities to their fullest potential, Loki has so many tools and resources in magic, combat, and strategizing that what he did literally makes no sense. It was almost set up to look like a fake death, but they’re trying to sell it like it was real.

Please tell me how a God--someone who has survived multiple times in space without the ability to breathe, who has suffered fatal wounds and lived to tell the tale--dies from being choked out? That doesn’t even begin to feel or look authentic, and yet, the Russos will claim that it is.

Loki died at the hands of one of his greatest abusers. He deserved to come back, to walk through one of those portals and stand up against Thanos.

If they weren’t going to make him more important to the story by playing off his death as part of a bigger plan, they at least owed him that. Loki could have been such a valuable asset in the fight against Thanos because he literally knows so much about him, but that potential was pissed on. 

But no, he didn’t get that chance. Heimdall didn’t get it. Vision didn’t get it. Anyone who died pre-snap didn’t get it.

And that’s what gets me the most? Because with the Infinity Stones, you can do literally anything, especially while wielding all of them. If Thanos could destroy an entire universe and make a new one as he was planning to do in Endgame, there is no reason you couldn’t bring other people back. There was no reason that those who died pre-snap couldn’t have come back as well. The only people I can justify being gone for good, honestly, are those that were sacrificed for the Soul Stone, because you must exchange a soul for a soul. Loki and Heimdall and Vision were not such people, so they should have been given the same chances that everyone else were given.

But they didn’t get that chance and I am heartbroken by what I saw in that movie.

I didn’t expect Loki to be a huge part of Endgame, but I was hopeful that they would at least give him some validation and a chance to fight back. Instead, we may never see him again going forward because of the blatant disrespect to his character. Yes, I know they’re making a Loki show, and while I’m tentatively excited for it, that’s not the same as seeing Loki survive Endgame and continue forward in MCU.

Honestly? It’s really fucking depressing that a character so wildly loved by so many has been reduced to this. I’ve spent seven years of my life writing and developing this character on my own ever since I fell in love with him. Loki’s such a huge and important part of my life and that love for him is not reflected in MCU.

And I’m really angry and bitter about that.

[allofeos]

First of all, apologies for the long post!

Annoyances with continuity between Chapter 9, Episode Ignis map layout, and overall content disparity.

It’s really jarring when you realize that Prompto and Gladio could’ve easily jumped the debris in the canal to check on Ignis. More-so when you get the loading screen of them in-game across the canal from where the DLC begins.

I circled where the loading screen is (the one saying “Here!”) and jotted out where each major event in Episode Ignis is at. The difference in the altar architecture is frustrating too. 

Nothing in the progression makes sense, his costume too for an example. Ignis’ costume was originally only his glasses off, thanks to PS4 save editing users. This was modified in the update in January/February. I’ll go over this again at the end.

That’s without factoring in the in-game time progression too: Chapter 9:

• Noctis at the palace: 10 am / 1000hrs.  • Lunafreya cutscene, then Prompto shows up: 1pm / 1300hrs. 

• Noctis tries asking Leviathan for her power, gets dumped onto the streets: 2pm / 1400hrs. 

• Lunafreya is stabbed by Ardyn, Noctis powered up and hits the altar: 4pm / 1600hrs.

Episode Ignis:

• Ignis is dumped out in the canal through to arriving at the altar: 5pm / 1700hrs.

• Ignis fights Ardyn: 7pm / 1900hrs.  

It’s a giant circle, there is no point to gathering the files and it’s a cop-out in the narrative for this and the party splitting up in the area. It literally takes a short bit in the game itself, to get to the bridge, and get across the canal where Ignis was knocked down to.

The insult for injury was after the all but completely irrelevant files (the file for Caligo is pretty bloody close to his Ultimania page!) for Ignis and Ravus, was that NEITHER of them got even a loading screen that did not provide information as a summary of events.

All of the loading screens featuring Ignis and Ravus within the DLC are ALL summaries of the three chapters, and the action for V2. V2, which managed to also rip off Lunafreya as well? We don’t even have mention of Caligo’s actions against Lunafreya within the Dawn trailer, but apparently Jared Hester’s demise is important enough to make a fuss about in Episode Ignis? Surely, there’s a mistake here, given that Jared Hester is in service to the Amicitia line?

Whilst I can agree that Gladio was ripped off in his own DLC, in contrast to Ignis we have more connections for Gladio, and know more of his personal life and family overall. We literally know fuck all about Ignis beyond him being assigned to work at the age of six.

Brotherhood didn’t even cover what it was supposed to for Ignis!

Tabata: Brotherhood: FFXV is a series of ten-minute animations, with five episodes currently planned, that shed light on how Noctis and his pals ended up traveling together. Normally you’d start an RPG by gathering a party. But in FFXV your allies are with you from the beginning. By illustrating how they came together

Ignis isn’t even brought up in another interview on Brotherhood prior to his episode.

Akio Ôfuji: It also helps show that the backgrounds of the characters in there, there are social standings as it were, so for exemple in the 3rd exemple that we just released we can see Gladio’s house, you can compare that to where Prompto lives.

Prompto’s house is actually quite small whereas Gladio lives in a big mansion. So this show that his family is a lot richer, Prompto’s parents they need to work very hard, they both work to support him and they aren’t particularly wealthy. So you can see the different social classes there.

In fact, Ignis’ little shoebox of an apartment isn’t even featured in the Film Collections Box artbook. The Amicitia mansion is, Prompto’s house is, Noctis’ apartment is, Lunafreya’s quarters within Fenestala Manor is as well. (I’m not even touching on the fact that there’s nothing regarding Ravus in the Lunafreya end of Brotherhood, especially given the Reddit Dataminer dug out that they apparently cut a mention of Ravus out of a flashback too in-game).

We don’t learn anything about Ignis beyond his duties in Brotherhood, Episode Ignis despite it being his DLC. We don’t even learn anything about Ravus in Episode Ignis for that matter either. 

The only personal tidbits we’ve learnt is that he has an uncle that is an attendant in Parting Ways. Even Ignis’ typical dossier doesn’t give us anything out of the normal. The Official Works expanded on it slightly (Ignis being akin to a family member), and in the aforementioned datamine there was a difference in Ignis’ profile which is pointless if they went with his family being advisers or stewards. Why? Because they never give us any information in regard to Ignis’ family whatsoever beyond the off-hand, barely there nod at his apparent uncle in Parting Ways. We never have any sort of notion of his uncle doing anything of the sort beyond relaying whether or not Regis will be permitting an audience with anyone. This means that whatever role written in his dossier is pointless with this lack of information.

With the new content for Comrades, Royal Edition we have absolutely no development whatsoever about Ignis being in his stated role of royal adviser, tactician, senior adviser to the crown, hand of the king and so-on. Gladio has stepped up into Clarus’ role, Prompto is leading the people, Cor is leading the Kingsglaive now, and Ignis is apparently alive, despite his sacrifice... but cooking I guess? Ignis doesn’t even get a little speech from The Mystic in his part of the Kings of Yore/Knights of the Round battle in the new Chapter 14 content. Gladio, Prompto are apparently attractive, but according to the Hero Highlights, Ignis is impressive for trying! That’s seriously it? Are you fucking kidding me? Really?

The same thing happens in regards to the NPCs talking about the guys, Cor and even Ravus being attractive, but the only off-hand comment that isn’t in regards to Ignis cooking is about him having an expensive notebook and questioning if he’s a spy in the no longer available Assassin’s Festival.

There is no backstory for Ignis, there is no real progression and/or development beyond the blindness and choosing to continue onward. Episode Ignis didn’t show us anything beyond loyalty, brotherhood, cooking, and memes about cooking. All of which we’ve known from the beginning and is in no way, shape or form expanding upon his character. 

I am completely on factoring in the content alone (not for fandom-related content), because I do not find nothing but loyalty to be a good basis, particularly given the reasoning in the Official Works is a “secret plan” with no reasoning for it. There’s even a really interesting thought experiment that I think is quite worth a read!

 This is also whilst completely remembering comments that were transcribed by multiple fans attending the 30th Anniversary fan event earlier in the year, the ones specifically about Ignis being difficult to write in contrast to Gladio and Prompto. They gave Ignis more screentime in Chapter 1, of which tend to be a cause of complaints from users being annoyed at being interrupted for certain underlevelled tutorial handling, and game-over mechanic prevention with preventing players from driving below level 30.

If we also tally the sidequests and tours off the top of my head: Ignis:

• Cooking tour.

• Cooking tour.

• Missing spectacles tour.

•  The only possible sidequest to miss in the base/unpatched game, requires you to be in Chapter 3 and at the Chocobo Ranch to pick it up via NPCs talking, and isn’t possible to complete (see the Disc of Cauthess) due to plot limitations. The quest isn’t even ended by Ignis, but rather Prompto and Gladio talking. Ignis has no comment about it!

• The only new addition is the cutscene after Titan, following the Royal/Windows Editions in March this year.

Gladio:

• Running tour.

• Fishing tour.

• Flowers for Iris tour.

• Cup Noodle quest.

• Scene with Titan.

Prompto:

• Photography tours x3.

• Photo ops.

• Photo op quest in Insomnia.

• Additional scenes at the motel with Noctis.

The main point of likely progression following the events of Chapter 9 is only brought up once in Chapter 14. It isn’t even discussed in Comrades: Departure, in contrast to Talcott.

Ignis? Apparently just pops into existence when Noctis is 5 (or 3 when one considers the repeated timeline error in the Ultimania, recently republished in the Official Works despite being amended within the official in-game dossier), and cooks.

In contrast for the DLC, we didn’t know about the connection between Gladio and Cor with Clarus not being around particularly much within the game. For that matter as well, we didn’t know how Prompto ended up within Insomnia despite his origins either. 

However, both tidbits from Gladio, and Prompto’s episodes about the first scar and heritage were actually mentioned in the Piggyback Final Fantasy XV Limited Edition guidebook (ISBN: 1908172983 / 9781908172983). There’s only a bit about Ignis’ duties, and how his hairstyle, glasses were styled as without anything really covering his DLC.

Honestly put, the general feeling seems to be fuck me for wanting to know about Ignis, Ravus in general and have some actual content balance out of a four-man party instead of the current disparity. That goes for all of the bros, just when you tally the actual information up it’s quite clear that Ignis is incredibly lacking.

It’s terrible that with this feeling, that the addition of Ignis with his hair down feels as though it is to make it seem as though there’s a content disparity in Ignis’ favour, when both he and Gladio were all but ripped off with their unlockable costumes.

However, unlike Episode Ignis, Episode Gladio had a unique area, unique bosses. Episode Prompto had a unique area, bosses, a costume for him and Aranea. Ignis didn’t get a unique area, new bosses, new costume beyond glasses which are not exclusive to his DLC as they have been included within Comrades in contrast to the others. The only new boss was Ravus, and Ardyn’s content is no longer exclusive as it has been utilized to rebalance the main game fight for Ardyn.

Ignis didn’t even get a new weapon model in contrast to the other two. According to the Reddit datamine, he did have different daggers originally, but why this was scrapped no one knows.

On the overall, Episode Ignis doesn’t fulfill the initial marketing for it:

And this is on the overall why it fails in multiple ways for covering Ignis properly within his own DLC. 

[margridarnauds]

For the fandom ask meme you reblogged today: your top three favorite musicals

Thanks! This is super hard for me since I generally shuffle between favorite musicals all the time, but in no specific order: 

1. Friedrich 

my beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world fave: Young!Fritz and Wilhelmine. 

my trash-shit fave: Augustus and Voltaire. Like, yeah, they’re probably not the best influences on Fritz, but they’re FUN. And Voltaire is the last thing before The Pain. 

my I love to hate them fave:GRUMBKOW. The moment when Fritz says it’s a good thing he died before he took the throne is one of my favorite moments because...I’m with you, Fritz. I’m with you. 

my I hate to love them fave: One of my favorite things about this musical is that it was released to celebrate Fritz’s 300th birthday and yet it spends half the time calling him out. Old!Fritz has done some pretty despicable things for fame and glory but...it’s really hard to hate him and he’s such a grumpy old man (his most iconic moment probably being in his introduction where he swears to stay alive out of spite) that I still like him. Also,if you go with my very specific headcanon of Ghost!Katte not being Real!Katte, then he’d count, since even as he does everything he can to edge Fritz closer to death, he’s not...wrong? And he calls him out so beautifully. 

my I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire non-fave: Friedrich Wilhelm. Like, need I say more? 

my I didn’t care about them either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about them now I can’t stand them non-fave: What fandom? Me, you, and a few people who came for the Fritz/Katte content? Or who I suckered into watching it? 

my I could take them or leave them kinda non-fave: I can’t really think of anyone I’m that neutral on, tbh. The closest I can get is Orzelska, but in her case it’s more a mixture of being frustrated and annoyed by the plotline we got with her (FRITZ IS STRAIGHT. VERY STRAIGHT. LOOK. GIRL.) while acknowledging that she had potential rather than true apathy.  

my I will go down with this ship and I won’t put my hands up and surrender, there will be no white flag above my door. I’m in love and always will be fave ship: Fritz/Katte

my dirtybadwrong fave ship: Augustus/Friedrich Wilhelm. It’s god awful and I’d be perfectly happy in a world where Friedrich Wilhelm dies loveless and alone, but...

my they’re cute together and I dig them but I’m not all that terribly invested kinda fave ship: Orzelska/Wilhelmine, though I’m not really sure “cute” is the dynamic I’d give them. I’m really intrigued by this dynamic (Fritz isn’t the only one in the family who likes music, after all!) But it’s also harder to map than Fritz/Katte since there’s less material for the two of them (The recurring problem with femslash in most fandoms, alas.) Like, I have a few ideas for what their dynamic would be like, but it’s hard. (Also, there will always be that one little historian voice in my head saying “It never happened!” which I usually quickly silence by reminding it that if the writers of the show decided Wilhelmine/Katte would work as a ship, I can make this one work.)

my I didn’t care about this ship either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about it now I can’t stand it non-fave ship: As per anything else, there isn’t really a fandom for Friedrich and what little there is seems to be sympatico with me as far as shipping? 

my MAKE IT STOP non-fave ship: Orzelska/Fritz; Katte/Wilhelmine; Fritz/Death Coat

I had my debates about putting 1789 here because I spend most of my time talking shit about it, but let’s be honest here: I’ve spent a considerable period of my senior year with this musical; I have 50k words devoted to it in my Scrivener file, and it accidentally tugged me right back into the French Revolution. I talk shit about it, but I also love it for what I can do with it. 

my beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world fave: Olympe deserves the world. It’s such a good thing that in every. Single. Version. of the musical she survives. Every. One. 

my trash-shit fave: Lazare de Peyrol has just. So much wrong with him as a character but he is also my son who has very skewed priorities and needs several good kicks in the pants to get him back on track and half my time is spent trying to get him on that track and the other half is me seeing how badly I can derail him. (Note: In the sequel to Ah, Ca Ira, he’s going to derail HARD.) Like, I have a playlist that’s just called “Peyrol NO” for him.  

my I love to hate them fave: Charles d’Artois basically lives and breathes “love to hate.” I personally blame Miya Rurika’s performance because DAMN does that woman know how to play sleazy.There’s a reason why in the Modern!Disneyworld AU I have him getting stranded on It’s A Small World. 

my I hate to love them fave: I told myself I wasn’t going to unreasonably project onto another human disaster after Bres took over my life, but no. I had to imprint on Lazare. Which would make more sense if he was given A SINGLE REDEEMING TRAIT IN CANON. Also, even though I have many ambiguous feelings about Danton, French!Danton (and, heck, Takarazuka Danton too) is just too much fun for me to entirely hate. I wouldn’t trust him to walk me home, but he’s fun to watch. 

my I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire non-fave: French!Ramard. One of the best things I think the Takarazuka cast did was shift the role of antagonist squarely onto Artois and relegated Ramard to comic relief, because him doing both was...unfortunate. He had all of Charles’ sleaziness, but none of the slickness, and it was all caked in terrible jokes (because harassing Olympe is hilarious, oui?) and double entendres and freaky furry conventions. 

my I didn’t care about them either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about them now I can’t stand them non-fave: Not the fandom, since it’s the same essential problem as with Friedrich BUT the more the Takarazuka version tried to capitalize off Rose of Versailles by shoving Fersen in our faces, the more I hated the little heroic shit. Also, I can only like Ronan under very specific circumstances at this point. Namely, (1) He’s not in a relationship with Olympe, (2) They use the Takarazuka characterization because French!Ronan is unsettling, (3) Lazare doesn’t spend any more than 1/3 of his screentime doing moustache twirling villainy, especially related to Olympe, (4) His relationship with Solene is addressed, bonus if groveling is involved, and (5) You can’t easily substitute any of the One Direction cast for him with no major changes. 

my I could take them or leave them kinda non-fave: Takarazuka!Ramard is cute, but other than that I don’t really have an opinion on him. It’s pretty telling that the only universe I currently have anything planned out for him and the Secret Police is the Zombie Apocalypse AU. 

my I will go down with this ship and I won’t put my hands up and surrender, there will be no white flag above my door. I’m in love and always will be fave ship: Peyrol/Ronan; Olympe/Solene (I’m rapidly working my way towards understanding this dynamic courtesy of the one prompt you sent me and I’m really liking it.)

my dirtybadwrong fave ship: Charles/Fersen. I have no regrets. The Abomination has also given me lovely tidbits like The Marquis de Sade/Papa du Puget and like. I could go for it, but also no.

my they’re cute together and I dig them but I’m not all that terribly invested kinda fave ship: Camille/Ronan is cute and I can see it, but it’s not my thing. Likewise, Antoinette/Olympe. It’s sweet, there’s a sort of tragedy to it, but it’s one of those things that I ship more as a part of Olympe’s past rather than necessarily wanting a version where it worked out? Like, that was a part of Olympe, I think it helped her, but it’s not something I really *ship*. 

my I didn’t care about this ship either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about it now I can’t stand it non-fave ship: I’ve read way too much bad Ronan/Olympe fic for me to ever like it, especially given the problems with that ship in general. And it’s not just the fanbase. It’s (allegedly) canon. Which is always hard for me to remember because I’ve created a very snug little canon for myself so I’ll routinely see them shipped together and be like “Ronan with his sister in law? Weird’ before. Remembering. 

my MAKE IT STOP non-fave ship: Solene/Danton creeps me out, Charles/Olympe is a given; I once saw Danton/Lazare and NO

And, finally, Elisabeth. 

my beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world fave: This is a musical with very few cinammon roles, but Young!Sisi and Rudolf. Before. 

my trash-shit fave: LUCHENI. 

my I love to hate them fave: Again, probably Lucheni. 

my I hate to love them fave: Der Tod speaks to my inherent weakness for morally ambiguous, vaguely otherworldly goth blonds. 

my I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire non-fave: Sophie. 

my I didn’t care about them either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about them now I can’t stand them non-fave: No one that I can really think of? 

my I could take them or leave them kinda non-fave: Franz Joseph. Depending on the actor, I can either like him or find him annoying. He’s mostly just...there. Pining. Then cheating. Then pining. I’m going to be really interested with the new Takarazuka Moon troupe production with Miya Rurika as Franz, since she’s sold everything I’ve seen her in so far and will probably manage to smash my heart into a thousand pieces. 

my I will go down with this ship and I won’t put my hands up and surrender, there will be no white flag above my door. I’m in love and always will be fave ship: There’s nothing I really ship in this THAT strongly. Elisabeth/Death is a ship of mine, but it’s not one that I feel absolutely DIE HARD for. Like, with, say, Peyrol/Ronan or Olympe/Solene, I’m more or less monogamous with shipping them (Though with 1789, I can ship almost anything that isn’t the canon ships). I can toy with other concepts, but I can almost guarantee that I won’t write anything because I like the chemistry they’ve already got established. With Elisabeth/Death, though? Not as much. It’s very gothic, very romantic, and I get pissed off at every production that leaves her lying on the ground, but it’s also not my be all, end all for the two of them. 

my dirtybadwrong fave ship: Death/Rudolf. Goddamit, I shouldn’t like it given that he’s been stalking Rudolf’s mom for years and he’s pretty obviously manipulating Rudolf to cause Elisabeth pain (though, as with anything, it can vary based on the production), but, at the same time...Die Schatten Werden Langer. 

my they’re cute together and I dig them but I’m not all that terribly invested kinda fave ship: Franz/Elisabeth can be ADORABLE depending on the production (looking at the Korean in particular), but it’s also just...there. They could have been happy, they weren’t, and history knows the rest. 

my I didn’t care about this ship either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about it now I can’t stand it non-fave ship: I ship pretty much all of the major ships, so I can’t really add anything here. 

my MAKE IT STOP non-fave ship: I don’t think I really have any NOTPs in Elisabeth, to be honest? None that I’ve come across yet, at least.  

[logh-icebergs]

Episode 19: The Yang Fleet Goes Out

April 797/488. Since Yang saw right through Reinhard’s plan and warned Bucock in advance about the impending coup d’etat, Bucock is able to st—haha no just kidding, Bucock does literally nothing and Reinhard’s plan goes off without a hitch. Whoops. What Yang somehow failed to predict is that the leader of the newly established National Salvation Military Council is none other than Admiral Dwight Greenhill, aka Frederica’s dad. (Hey, we told you LoGH dads suck…) The one useful thing Bucock managed to do was sneak some paperwork through that gives Yang legal authority to quell any hypothetical military coups, so with that in place to ease his conscience Yang mobilizes his fleet toward Heinessen. Meanwhile, Reinhard and Kircheis stand on the bridge of the Brunhilde holding hands for long enough that the other admirals must have felt they were intruding.

The Yang Fleet

“I can’t imagine the Yang fleet without Lt Greenhill. Just like I can’t imagine the Yang fleet without Rear Admiral Cazellnu or Commodore Schenkopp. Lt Cdr Poplan. Admiral Attenborough. Lt Cdr Konev. Rear Admiral Murai. And so on, many many people. If anyone were missing, it wouldn’t work. Admiral Yang must understand that as well as I do. I know this could be called sentimental, but for me the Yang fleet isn’t simply an organization. Iserlohn is home, and I think a home should hold a family.” —Julian’s Iserlohn Diary, p. 284

In the animation of the season one ED (which incidentally is one of my personal absolute favorite things in the show) we see Yang and Julian moving through the stars as though on some cosmic conveyor belt while other members of the fleet pass by and greet them. We’ve watched this scene over a dozen times by now, playing out behind the closing credits of almost every episode, a whimsical vision of the group that would come to live together on Iserlohn.

...Or is it so whimsical?

Near the beginning of this episode, set to an instrumental arrangement of the opening theme (the ED itself would have been too on-the-nose, I guess?), the ED animation comes to life on the walkways of Iserlohn: Julian and Yang moving not through the stars but through the fortress, as first Dusty and then Poplan and Konev chat with Julian, under the smile of Frederica and the disapproving glare of Murai. The sequence culminates with the arrival of the Cazellnus, and we have all the clues to know why this is so important: Finally, for the first time, the entire cast of the ED is united on Iserlohn. The family of the Yang fleet is complete.

The Cazellnus

As heralded by this walkway sequence, the focus of this episode is the personalities and relationships that make up the fleet on Iserlohn. So let’s delve a bit into this ragtag cast of characters that Yang’s chosen to assemble, starting with the Cazellnu family. 

Total screentime for Hortence ticks up from one second to two! This is for our own protection: If you stare at Hortence Cazellnu for more than an instant at a time, you fall under her thrall and your mental faculties are forever compromised. That’s canon* and explains a lot about Cazellnu. *See diary quote below...

Aww so cute, Julian playing with Charlotte and her little sister the unfathomable hell-demon whose quest to enslave humanity can only be thwarted by discovering and uttering her true name.....

“Yang kindly calls me a ‘master of cleaning and tidying.’ From his level it might seem that way, but from my point of view Mrs. Cazellnu seems like a ‘white witch.’ [...] When I said this in the morning, Yang nodded emphatically. ‘That must be true. She’s a white witch, and her husband is a dark wizard. After he lost a magical duel, he became her servant forever.’” —Julian’s Iserlohn Diary, p. 107

I’ll talk more about Hortence and the dynamics of the Cazellnu family when we do finally get to see her for more than one second at a time; for now let’s focus on Alex Cazellnu himself, whose only real role in this episode is to insult Yang at every opportunity. Ahh the bonds of friendship.

Yang claims to be excited that Cazellnu’s there mainly because he can push mountains of paperwork off onto him—Cazellnu’s official post is as some sort of manager of supplies and personnel; but I imagine that for Yang, who’s been thrust into this position of authority that he never really sought, there’s something comforting about filling his inner circle with people who don’t treat him with reverence. Cazellnu is an old friend who, in some ways, sees Yang more clearly than most people do.

Isn’t there a proverb, “children and fools tell the truth”...?

Schenkopp

Hey, isn’t that what I said about Yang when I first introduced him? Schenkopp must be reading Icebergs!

Like Cazellnu, Schenkopp has no qualms speaking his mind to Yang; unlike Cazellnu, who sees Yang as more or less an open book, Schenkopp sees him as a puzzle to be solved. He’s appointed himself Yang’s amateur psychoanalyst, and prods him on issues ranging from Frederica’s feelings to his political aspirations (or lack thereof) to his wishes for Julian’s future. 

True to form, Yang responds to this implication that Frederica has feelings for him beyond her role as his adjutant by completely ignoring it and deflecting the conversation to how Schenkopp sees him.

While later on it will be mainly Cazellnu's role to question Yang's decisions about his personal life, it's Schenkopp who questions his political and strategic decisions. Yang's discomfort with the direction of the conversation is very clear on his face.

I've touched briefly before on the fact that Yang is projecting his own feeling of being trapped into the military onto Julian, and that's what Schenkopp is accusing him of here.

Poplan and Konev

“Their personalities seem to be really different, but every time I catch sight of them they’re together, so I guess they’re close.” —Julian’s Iserlohn Diary, p. 20

We only get a brief glimpse of Poplan and Konev in this episode, but there’s a ton of character in this short exchange: from their synchronized body language, to Konev’s affectionate smirk as he watches Poplan talk to Julian, to Konev’s roasting Poplan using syntactical terms that Poplan doesn’t seem to totally understand. (Konev’s wordplay and love of language is a recurring theme of his character and I totally love it.) We’ve observed their closeness already when Konev calms Poplan down during a stressful battle; here we learn that Konev also does not hesitate to teasingly call Poplan out on his bullshit—in this case, attributing to Julian his own desire for action.

Julian

I agree Julian, that is a really great assessment of the strategic situation.

We’ve seen Julian in the role of caretaker, shadow, and aspiring protector; but this is the first time we really see him in the role of protégé. When Julian points out how difficult it will be to quell four rebellions on different planets at once, Yang responds by asking him for his ideas, then taking his suggestion and filling in the holes.

While Yang is obviously acting as the teacher here (and equally obviously enjoying it), he talks to Julian without condescension; even pointing out the flaws of his original suggestion feels like a sign of respect for him as a serious student of tactics.

The transition from wide-eyed adulation to a much more serious “why yes indeed that does appear strategically sound” face is amazing.

Of course, despite including Julian as a real participant in a conversation about the upcoming campaign, Yang simultaneously still treats him like a kid, ruffling his hair at the end of this conversation just like he did when Julian promised to protect him two episodes ago.

Like a kid or possibly like a puppy, one or the other.

Also mental note: Do not suggest to Julian that Yang might not actually win an impending battle…

“It pisses me off. Despite flattering him with names like ‘Miracle Yang’ and ‘Yang the Magician,’ when push comes to shove they don’t show faith in him. I was so angry, I almost forgot my crucial errand of buying teabags.” —Julian’s Iserlohn Diary, p. 289

Frederica

TFW you’ve just learned your dad has forcibly overthrown a democratic government.

It’s a rough episode for Frederica. From what we know she seems pretty close to her dad, and perhaps partly because of that she assumes that his role as leader of the coup will throw suspicion on her loyalty.

Lost in translation is the fact that she changes her first-person pronoun, correcting her initial watashi to the more formal/humble shoukan (小官), which emphasizes her formal role here as a military subordinate.

Of course, Yang is way too practical to punish someone for something her father is doing (especially someone whose job saves him a hell of a lot of work), and as both Julian and Schenkopp predict he has no intention of firing her.

We don’t get to see much inside Frederica’s mind about her reaction to her father’s role in the coup, beyond her initial shock; what we do see is overwhelming relief and happiness when she isn’t fired. Between her father and Yang, it’s clear where her current loyalties lie.

Interestingly, Admiral Greenhill himself gets this wrong: He assumes that Yang will have fired Frederica and confined her on Iserlohn, which is part of his rationalization to himself for sending the 11th fleet to fight Yang—they won’t be attacking Frederica because she won’t be there.

...Whoops.

It seems like a minor detail, but Admiral Greenhill failing to predict Yang’s reaction is actually a really nice touch to emphasize the theme—as expressed by Julian’s diary passage that I opened this post with—that there’s something a bit different and more personal about how Yang runs his fleet. 

Stray Tidbits

I hope you’ve enjoyed the exclusive Icebergs sneak peek at Julian’s Iserlohn Diary! As I mentioned, the diary, like the novels, is not officially relevant to our analysis, but I really love that the anime team used it to flesh out the dialogue and characterizations in both episode 17 and this episode—it’s more evidence of just how well they did their homework. (And hey, if you want to read the whole diary in English, write to Haikasoru and tell them you know someone who’d love to translate it for them.....)

I never found Admiral Greenhill especially interesting through the whole season so far, but I really love the closing scene of this episode—somehow it gives me chills every time. Acting to minimize harm in a situation with no good options is a pervasive theme of the show; and as Greenhill tries to explain to his wife’s grave, he believes that if someone more hotheaded and extremist were leading this coup, even more damage would be done. It’s an interesting parallel with Yang’s own motives for staying in the military despite opposing the war.

I love how totally useless Bucock was. LoGH is often quite subversive in its plotting, as we’ve discussed, and the anticlimax of Yang going to great lengths to warn Bucock about the coup in advance only to have that be irrelevant is both hilarious and realistic.

This guy makes a valid point.

Might that “someone” be...an octopus?? Come on Hidive subbers, why the censoring?

Next time you shake hands in farewell with someone, try just not letting go for exactly seven seconds. And also look at them with exactly Reinhard’s expression here. Do it. Report back.

You have been blessed with Beautiful Smirking Schenkopp. He will bring you luck in all of your endeavors today.