#and yet my favorite takumi in heroes is the one who's been through the worst

[iturbide]

@blazeonmars replied to your post: 

If you want to avoid too much pain with Takumi Fates, play Birthright. Conquest is Not Kind to Takumi...

I kind of had a feeling considering Fallen Takumi in Heroes (aka the Takumi I have put the most work and love into and the only one who’s maxed his HM because I used him and Young Azura together in the Dream Tempest Trials). ;v; I love Takumi a lot I want the best for him and Conquest is not the best. 

@lamphoera replied to your post: 

say what you want about heroes but tbh it's undeniably a good form of advertisement for the FE games. i got into heroes before i played a single mainline game and after a couple months i went out amd bought awakening and here we are

I mean yeah there are some valid criticisms about what IntSys does sometimes, but it really is fantastic advertisement for other mainline games.  Fans of certain games are going to be interested in specific units and vying for their inclusion, but it’s actually really cool to me that we can get to know these characters without needing to know where they came from, get to know them and like them and want to know more.  I’d played only bits and pieces of games before Heroes, plus all of Awakening, but Heroes really does make me want to go back and play as many other entries as I can. 

[themoomoorn]

Hoshidon’t You Dare Be Peaceful, Corrin

After spotting the well-tread topic of Hoshido and Nohr again, there’s now plenty of spotlight as to why Hoshido is as flawed as Nohr, and moreso in some ways.  However, the issue I have with that is that Hoshido’s flaws are rarely, if ever, presented in the story itself, and when they are (I.E the Kouga-Mokushu debacle which led to the former’s prince, Asura, being forced to live as a vagrant), they aren’t played up as being bad, or worthy of note.  And heck, some things like Mikoto’s brain-mushing peaceful behavior barrier?  Viewed almost as a good thing.  

Ryoma shitting on the way of Bushido while espousing its values all the while?  Never portrayed as a flaw, whereas Xander’s devotion to his country and fear-driven loyalty to his father definitely are.  Corrin will always harp on Xander for his loyalty to his country in Birthright, whereas they have absolutely nothing harsh to say to Ryoma for withholding medicine from Elise on Conquest.  Camilla’s maternal latching onto Corrin is portrayed as gross and disturbing on Birthright, whereas Hinoka’s almost pathetic fixation on saving Corrin at the expense of her relationship with her siblings and her other royal duties is portrayed as noble and tragic; Other characters question her choosing the way of the warrior to begin with, but that’s more Hoshidan gender roles at play.

 Azura will happily stick by Corrin on Birthright and Revelation, but on Conquest, she has to be forcibly dragged along as a prisoner by Hoshidans three Chapters later in order to actually fight at Corrin’s side.  Despite having been kidnapped and mistreated in Hoshido, she still vastly prefers it over Nohr, and if you give her a spouse and her son, she raises him in all-Hoshidan trappings, with his regular ending and the Heirs of Fate DLC having him work for the Hoshidan government.  Azura’s Hoshidan Corrin support has her prostrating how she had the audacity to be Corrin’s “replacement” Hoshidan sibling, while her Nohrian support has her trying to dissuade Corrin’s masochistic guilt from killing Hoshidans.

Garon’s being horny for his concubines is shown as a bad thing, and it resulted in the remaining Nohrian royals clinging together, with some of them featuring distressing behaviors such as Camilla’s maternal overbearing (that escalates once Corrin is bought into the picture) and Xander’s fear of his father.  Sumeragi being a horndog in his youth - something that you can only find through Fuga’s Revelation support, and something that the localization actually erased - is not.  Him having his wife Ikona (the mother of the four Hoshidan siblings) and his mistress Mikoto (the mother of Corrin) living together is paid no mind, likely because it has no overtly negative consequences.  The separatism and penting up of their emotions is generally dismissed - Corrin is with them now, so nothing to see here.  There’s consequences when Takumi’s distrust of Corrin allows for Anankos to overcome him and manipulate him, but it only plays out on Conquest, as its Birthright equivalent is stopped within ten seconds of its discovery.  

Ah, and lest we forget the lack of consequences of Ryoma flat-out lying to Corrin about them being the “blood” siblings. 

Revelations features two poignant scenes of the Hoshidan siblings getting final moments with Mikoto and Sumeragi’s manipulated spirits, while the Nohrian siblings get left high and dry other than a token shock scene of Garon getting eaten by Anankos.

While Corrin retains their naive, kind, yet pragmatic (when required) behavior on both Revelation and Conquest (albeit the latter takes it to masochistic levels of guilt), Birthright sees them as being uncharacteristically violent.  They show absolutely no quarter to their foes, finds the average Nohrian a mook at best and sick (like Niles) at worst, ultimately doesn’t bother to consider their adoptive families’ reasons for their behavior, or even how the majority of the country supports Garon’s bid for conquest only because they’re constantly plagued by famine and resource-strapped.  While the player may lose out on Azura and the truth, Valla, and Anankos, choosing Hoshido is framed positively.  No consequences are faced for choosing them in anger, for being unquestionably violent.  Corrin never questions this choice, and that’s fine.  The other routes frame picking either side as poor options, but you wouldn’t get that idea if you played Birthright, because Corrin is lauded for picking this “right” choice. 

What’s more, not only do you have this violence be excused, but you get one of the game’s derided “Avatar favoritism” moments - Flora protecting the Ice Tribe from Hoshido and from Garon’s wrath is entirely (and melodramatically) pinned on the latter by Corrin, not even remotely factoring the idea that these non-Hoshidans are trying to defend themselves, and you have Felicia and Jakob having the audacity to shame her for protecting her damn family and doing her duty as future leader of the tribe as heinous because she’s not being nice or loyal to Corrin - heck, they don’t even bring up Garon bringing the heat on to her like Corrin does, it’s because she used to be one of Corrin’s servants!

There’s meta-textual favoritism towards Hoshido that the localization actually did try to downplay, but because there’s so much of it in the game, there was only so much they could, well, downplay.  The most obvious examples are the softer lyrics for the light half of Azura’s song (”The incorruptible silver sword/will slash in order to wake/those slumbering hopes/Bringing peace to the world”), and the renaming of each version of Chapter 6.

Now this dissonance is nowhere near as severe as 3H blatantly presenting Edelgard as a narcissistic, childish variation of the Red Emperor archetype and one of the de-facto villains alongside Those Who Slither, while game dialogue and extraneous material like Heroes go out of their way to make that seem untrue and present her as a cute revolutionary and a good person (*snort*).  But it’s still pretty present, and even when I got the Special Edition all-in-one cartridge of Fates mailed to my apartment back in February of 2016 and beat the game to the ground, this particular dissonance really bothered me, and in a way it was the reason why I ultimately didn’t 100% the game the way I did Awakening, or Blazing Blade, or Sacred Stones.

[eriisaam]

Ten for Ten for Ten

AFKL:jafklasfjj I have been summoned by @arlithenerd

(Just kidding thank you, now here’s hoping I did this right haha)

My responses will be posted under the cut (cuz I’m a wall of text monster and don’t know how to do read mores mid-post), but in the spirit of the meme, I’ll move my own 10 questions up first, and the tags at the bottom of it.

Now let’s see what to ask, UUUH...

1) Is there a character you really, really like? Could be waifu/husbando, could be just someone you really resonate with.

2) How about OCs? Is there an OC you’re really fond and/or proud of?

3) What’s your most favorite character trope, and what’s your least favorite? (Example tropes: Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Beware the Nice Ones, Amnesiac Hero, etc)

4) Now what’s your most and least favorite plot trope? (Examples: Rags to Riches, Hurt & Comfort, specific AUs, etc)

5) To complete the Trope Trifecta: What tropes do you most or least like in terms of character design (Examples: Capes, futuristic or fantasy style, how practical they are, how complex or simple they are, etc)

6) What are you the most proud of? (Like, something you made or an achievement)

7) Who/What has been your biggest inspiration? (Like an artist or celebrity, a fandom, maybe something you read or watched growing up, etc)

8) When you want to relax, what’s your go-to way to chill? What immediately calms you?

9) Any favorite myths, legends, folklore or themes you really like? Or what kind of theme or element would immediately draw you in to a new series if they have it?

10) How merciful or evil will you be with your 10 questions you’re giving? (Heheheheh)

And now to subject all of you to these questions, but especially you: @mdzs-tgcf-svsss-fanblog @miss-laney @moanderfe @abenignsmile @okamiryuu @flowerytrashpotato​  @milli-and-chika819​ @littlemissdash​ @grimastiddies @avistella (kidding, join in if you want, tag or no. Or don’t, even when tagged. It’s all cool, no pressure~ I have no idea who to tag and/or who is chill about being tagged for something like this, I’m sorry orz)

1) a personality trait that most people wouldn’t know about you (if you feel comfortable with sharing of course!)?

I’m kinda self-defeating. I tend to think of the worst about what I do as default and have to ease eventually to the idea what I did turned out at least ok afterwards. It’s still a mindset I’m learning to work on, though it trickles in from time to time.

2) what are you most passionate about?

Creating.

|’Dc Broad answer, I know, but more specifically, I love a lot of creative hobbies, and it’s hard to narrow it down to any specific one since I love them in different moods and different reasons. Things like writing, drawing(/spriting), textile things like sewing or crocheting or origami... It’s easier to say I like the core theme of knowing you made something, and it exists because of you, and “you did this” kind of feeling.

3) what is your favorite flavor profile? (sweet, spicy, sour, umami, bitter, etc)

Sweet! Depending on the food and my mood, I also like sour and spicy things, but I tend to gravitate more to sweetness with less fussiness of how so.

4) favorite series/franchise (from any medium) and favorite character within that series/franchise?

Oh gerd, there’s a bit, but in a vague attempt to narrow it down that let’s face it, I know I’ll fail, UUUH...

Fire Emblem (particularly Fates and Heroes) - I love both of them for just how easy it is to generate ideas for. It’s funny because I realize it’s admittedly taking a lot of things that frustrate or disappoint or leave me hanging with either games that I end up liking the two most by virtue for how many ideas it paves way for in terms of headcanons or fanworks or the like. I do like things on their own merits as well, but I think the “I wish things could’ve been better/elaborated on, and therefore I will create things based on that!” side to it was what made me appreciate them more (probably not exactly for the best reasons, but! It’s a thing.) In terms of favorite characters, there’s a ton inside and out of just these two games, but I’ll give the honorable mention to Summer Takumi specifically, because the paralogue he (among others) was released in came at a critical point in my personal life that had some effects on me that, tl;dr, led to me commiting to making this blog, and making more art in public, and eventually writing fanfics in public too. 

Pokemon - Was basically my childhood and went a long way into starting the first spark of a lot of the kind of hobbies I end up growing up and obsessing over/enjoying. Things like giving me a massive interest in coding and programming along with glitches and unused beta elements, or how it’s where I got my start in art back when I was little and trying to figure out how to do pokemon fusion sprite edits. I’d probably say my favorite character is a tie between Missingno and Celebi (in case the former doesn’t really count), the former for just how varied it is and being the main part of why I love how game coding works while being a gateway to beta content interests, and the latter for sentimental reasons spanning all throughout the entire time I followed the fandom game-wise.

Animal Crossing - It got me through ups and downs, it made up a chunk of nostalgia since the first game up to New Leaf (no switch, so now New Horizons, oh wellz), and I had a lot of memories both fond and low-key terrifying otherwise all throughout. I got a lot of favorites among villagers and NPCs otherwise, but if I had to narrow it down to one each:

 I love Whitney for being the only snooty-type villager back when I played Wild World who was surprisingly kind to me (and I’m sad I no longer have the original cart and imagine she long since moved out anyways probably), and so she gave me an experience pretty similar to Ai’s own experience with Whitney in the movie.

NPC-wise, I’m going to go with Sable (it was a really tough choice!) for the fact that in every game, she was among the first instances you can get to know a villager so closely that she was willing to explain to you more and more of her character. Usually in many of the games, once her arch is finished, she no longer elaborates on her life and goes right back to talking generally, but if it wasn’t enough that it was among the first times you see how her demeanor changes from ignoring or staying quiet with you, to going out of her way to find things to chat with you, it was also the memories she explained once you start befriending her.

5) how have your closest family members and/or friend(s) impacted your life?

I consider friends more as family than my actual family (to put it vaguely and/or kindly, my actual family did few to no favors for me). My closest friends have picked me up when I fell (multiple, multiple times), and they were much of why I’m still here, doing what I can. I owe the world to them...

6) if you could be anything (any job, other person, type of animal or beast, literally anything aside from what you are now) what would it be?

A multi-billionaire Maybe someone who shapeshifts. The possibilities with that are endless.

7) favorite beverage?

Coffee. There’s quite a lot of drinks I really love, but coffee is the most easily accessible for me.

8) i know this is a generic one but favorite subject/class you’ve taken?

Arts & Crafts and Computers, give or take. Pity they’re usually the least important for grades and also the shortest class semesters of the year. 

9) early bird or night owl?

I’m heavily inclined to be a night owl, which is unfortunate, because I’m in a place constantly forcing me to be an early bird.

10) favorite meme?

I’m completely in love with memes of cat pictures where cats have expressions that are beyond words, yet represents big moods all the same. If I had to narrow it to one specific meme, however...

My heart will always be with Anfisa. Aka Angry Cat No Banana.

[invisible-ties]

I hope you are prepared for this, cause I am sending you a long list of numbers for that Fire Emblem Heroes list. You definitely don't have to answer them all if you don't want to! So, 1, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 24, 25, 28, 29, and 30.

lol, a good one. As if I would skip answering questions ever (I’m not getting so many of them to reach that point lol).

30 FIRE EMBLEM HEROES ASKS

1: how long have you been playing FEH?

Since its release. I think I waited for a week or something to actually download it as I was busy with exams and stuff so my boyfriend was the first to download it and was telling me too much stuff about it so I gave in.

4: who did you choose to summoner support, and why?

Chrom, because I couldn’t choose anyone else instead of my husband I’ve finally finalized his built some time ago and he’s a beast that survives everything apart from blue mages! (Totally not abusing this chance to show off my husband… he was so expensive, gosh)

(my pride and joy *wipes off tears* … Aether because he’s savaging TT atm, but usually he carries Bonfire. Distant Def was such a game changer as he survives red and green mages now and kills them in player phase… don’t underestimate that absurd HP pool)

5: do you ally support units based on ships, or synergy?

I’m so horrible at this because I swap units a lot so I ally supported only Chrom and Robin(F) (Ship obviously) and Xander and Reinhardt (Synergy). Although Robin and Chrom are also part strategy as in ideal situation I would ally support male Robin but Female is better in cleaning blue units which Chrom sometimes has trouble with. If one day feh brings back Spring event and I obtain Spring Chrom I would ally support him with Male Robin and build one Robin just for him. (^u^)

7: do you prefer using top tier units, or favorites regardless of tier?

I use my favourites whenever I can (the ones that I have) but you can’t obviously clear missions, quests and all maps without top tier units. But for arena defending team and active team I try to include as much favs as I can. I’m unfortunate that some top tier units I really couldn’t care less about and am always angry when thinking that some of them are so op but some of my favs really useless…

10: favorite cavalry unit?

My imaginary Leo that I don’t even have yet but has a prepared built for when he decides to come home.

A serious answer would be Xander and Spring Xander. Spring Xander is so underappreciated but he’s a wonderful wall and does wonders when used correctly. Mine’s build is not even finished yet but still kicks ass.

11: favorite flier unit?

Cordelia. Sporting a wonderful quad-hit build she’s basically the only flying unit I use. But I use her as often as possible and she’s part of my “main” team as she takes care of Chrom reaching all the targets he needs. :)But I wish to build a good Subaki one day (all for using favourites tehehe).

12: favorite armored unit?

This is the category of units I only use when quests ask for them tbh. The lack of mobility doesn’t suit my battle style at all. But Black knight is the one I use most often.

13: favorite infantry unit?

Hahahahahaa, this is like asking which is your favourite Pokemon. Well, Chrom would be the most obvious choice as my absolute fav, but as units I really appreciate Kagero, Arvis, Nino and Young Tiki. Also, I just recently got a +spd Takumi and am so excited about building and playing with Quadumi (like regular Takumi is okay but he lacks power… enemies keep staying alive and killing him in return as he’s weirdly fragile).  Runner ups are raven tomes, my two Robins and Sophia, which are so fun to use, and new performing Azura as the extra buffs after a dance are sooooo useful (even tho she’s the least fav character out of the 4 performing dancers I ended up using her all the time). I don’t have a 5 star m! Kamui but he would fit my battle style well so I imagine he will be on the list one day that I finish him. :3

14: favorite limited unit?

Out of those that I have - it was Spring Xander for so long (well, to be honest, he was my only limited unit) but these new dancers are so gorgeous and useful that there is a competition right now for this prestigious spot.

I will take liberty and say that my fav limited units are Spring Chrom and Spring Leo, because they are obviously biased favs that I will never stop regretting not getting… AND CHRISTMAS ROBIN OH GOSH I CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS EVENT TO FINALLY HAPPEN!!!! I will be so devastated if I don’t summon him…

15: favorite dancer unit?

Ah, here we are… Performing Azura, as she’s the best support out of all but I really don’t like Azura as a character so I’ve got a problem with this. To be honest, my Inigo and Shigure are not finished yet so they are not performing the best they could. Atm, performing Olivia is the only dancer I’m using without regret and am quite happy with her (if only she had a slightly better attack to be a good user of a poison dagger). Plus her art raises the beauty of my team for 100000%, so that’s a plus as well. 

16: favorite colorless unit?

Kagero. And performing Azura. And I have a feeling I will love my Quadumi once he’s finished. :3 (If only I had Kagero that wasn’t -atk that would be glorious OTL).

19: favorite voting gauntlet match?

Nothing will ever top Chrom vs. Ephraim. I’m so sorry for whoever thinks that anything can be more epic than that. That was a true battle between two same armies and even without multiplier that match so intense all the time. Also, no grudges afterwards. Even though Chrom lost I respected Ephraim’s team so much and was so grateful for that match.

20: any ideas for a future gauntlet?

Nohr vs. Hoshido has to happen someday. Other than that I wasn’t thinking about them that much. I would love to see more limited units voting gauntlets too. ^^

Oh yes, I just remember running into someone’s else post about the Fates retainers wars! That would also be so fun and unpredictable imo as retainers are really not in the top fav characters so I think the result would be really hard to predict here.

24: name one character you’ve always wanted to summon but have never been able to

Already answered so I’ll just copy-paste the answer:

LEO (both summer and regular) AND ALM! I had just the worst luck with summoning them when they were featured on the summon banner and I spent so many orbs… *cries forever when thinking back on all those orbs*I am still hoping to get them every time I summon red orbs regardless the minute chance for that happening as they are both 5star exclusives in red colour which is full of units. Oh, and BOEY as well… although he’s not that rare (as a 4 star unit) I still haven’t managed to summon him, even though I was summoning green orbs for multiple banners but no luck. I am not too worried as I guess it’s just a matter of time… with green pool not being that large and as he can be summoned as a 4 star unit. I just wish for my favs to come to me so I can build the most biased teams full of favs forever…

Spring Chrom would be here as well but as that was a first limited summon event I wasn’t that much invested and found the idea silly so I wasn’t really trying to summon him but now I regret not caring so much… So I wish I was trying to summon him back then and hope that event will be back.

25: which unit do you hate summoning the most?

Stupid Seliph oh gooooosh. I get so much of them it’s crazy…. and of course I summoned a 5 star of him… He sucks as a unit, can’t be used as a fodder and is from a game I haven’t played so I couldn’t care less about him… every possible con of summoning him comes together.

But Soren came really close recently as he fits some of the abovementioned categories as well... Plus, he could have been Boey, so that’s why I hate him >:C

28: which unit(s) would you like to see added in heroes?

KAZE. What’s happening with him not being in already, INTSYS????? He’s an avatar’s retainer for christ’s sake! 

And I am excited for when they start including the second generation of Awakening/fates (with their regular designs that is). I’m so excited for Kiragi, Morgan, Faust and Cynthia! And regular Shigure oh gosh, just please let their art be beautiful. ;u; But basically, just give me Kiragi so I can ally support him with his papa ;;;;u;;;;

29: which units artwork is your favorite?

Already answered so I’ll just copy-paste the answer:

OOooooooh, a good one. But there are so many gorgeous ones and I am such a sucker for fe art diversity~

So the first that I thought of were Alm, Corrin(M), performing Olivia andAttack art of Takumi (so dynamic and full of details wow), but just to be sure to not miss anyone I went through all units and these are other units whose art I swoon over (I don’t have all of them, unfortunately ;;n;;): Ryoma, Boey, Robin(M), Spring Xander, Summer Leo, Arvis, Berkut, Felicia and Sakura.

Of course, I am also very biased so even though at first I didn’t like Chrom’s artwork I am now very attached to it (especially attack and damage pose oh gosh). I still wish he got some other artist to do him justice and make him less two-dimensional…

30: which units artwork is your least favorite?

This new Arden unit, Lloyd, Ogma, Eliwood and Jagen are the units I really despise looking at. But Lilina, Cecilia, Ike and Marth are my least favourites on the other end of the spectrum... I just very much dislike heavily saturated colours with simple shading (Roy is at least cute, so he’s forgiven). And Rebecca, holy shit what’s happened to her eyes... Soren is in here somewhere too because of the poor choice of colours and that weird shading technique. 

And that’s it! If you’ve read all of that I applaud you. Here are cookies for you