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yourladystar · 1 year ago

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Star's Engage Catalogue Day 34 (part 6)

Time for the second half of my final team.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#fire emblem engage #playthrough #first playthrough #pandreo #fe pandreo #timerra #fe timerra #ivy #fe ivy #veyle #fe veyle #boucheron #fe boucheron #fogado #fe fogado #diamant #fe diamant

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spatio-rift · 2 years ago

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OK AAH hmm i hope u dont mind me talking abt izuki i wanted to kinda tell u about my rarepair and why it came up!!

like ok like as a character izuki gets 0 coverage and 0 anything, he just appears to narrate events happening to other characters, give info on other people, get crumbs of personality and get undermined. overall a kind of sad existence but no time to linger on that! at least he makes goofy faces tbh!

hes a pretty normal guy but he has some really interesting POTENTIAL ideas to work with and for that im like ooh i could pluck him and write side stories about him! because i dont think i could like reasonably refit him into knb without fucking it up, but i still wanna write about him. namely like izukis a Totally normal middle child guy but hes also a smart, observant dude who shows hints of his quick wits, also hes like super stubborn and kinda, kinda like p pragmatic when u notice it. it's like if you like himuro's only child / older brother crisis with being possibly Not able to be the best ever, what if a guy who just accepts his complete and utter normalness is faced with that ALL THE TIME and he just accepts it to the point of possible absurdism.

and so in the process of this thinking its like what character should he interact with that can spawn the most interesting stories with? and i ended up settling with hanamiya because i think in a weird way (its a long story) they have similarities in their thinking and stuff and it's funyn if someone as extreme as hanamiya could get izuki a normal guy to behave like his most deranged self and vice versa where a completely normal guy with the slightest hint of hm maybe hes not normal could drive hanamiya insane. then they realise huuuh we might be similar then the horrors start. i just want hanamiya to psychoanalyse this guy tbh

but tbh it kinda started from a completely random thought, it just happened to work out and im now too attached to stop. i just like izuki for some reason like maybe he's pretty but also just wooaah yea. im like a sucker for side characters. ik like outside though, izuki is a pretty like "shippable" character outside of the like english speaking fanbase so he's got his niche outside too

I DONT MIND AT ALL i asked for it !!! i am taking notes on what u said abt his character so i keep it in mind when i start rereading... i really want to pay more attention to him this time around. ive been trying to do that while reading the weekly chapters on the mangaplus app but i think itd be easier if i could read it all at once though. also ur right i like his silly faces LOL

no but i totally get it i think its really fun to explore how different some characters can act in a new dynamic see what new sides of them another chara can bring out etc i love that! so i really dont think theres anything weird or anything abt it even if its hanamiya i know ive got my fair share of those. also i always love seeing hanamiya being annoyed to no end by any other chara its always so funny lol. it would def be very interesting to see izuki with hanamiya im convinced

#now that i think abt it my obsession with imahanareohyuu since 2020 is kind of like this too #completely nonsensical like objectively. but it makes sense to me. its great.#its funny as hell !

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af1899 · 3 years ago

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FEH - Finally got the first merge on Hoshidan Summer Micaiah + appreciation post

With [Hall of Forms] now finished and all the rewards obtained, I can now rest at ease forgetting it, so I went to [Forging Bonds] and just got the last [Divine Codes: Ephemera 8] to give Micaiah her well earned merge, and here it is, her RES bane is no more.

While I don't see her often in [AR-D], I've come to understand why she's a good option here: she fills a very unique niche as a refresher with min-maxed attack and resistance that deals effective damage on armored and cavalry units, she aged really well as a unit despite her having one of the lowest BST values of her class but her refine will eventually come out and make her outstanding, I'll wait for it before I invest too much in her.

Anyway, this is not what I appreciate Micaiah, so I'll tell you a little story below and sum up my reasons, there'll be minor spoiler warnings and it's a tad too extensive but I hope you'll find it an interesting read if you do look on it.

I've known about her ever since I started to play Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn after I got my black Wii back in 2015 for my birthday and unlocked it to sideload USB games some time after, but it took me a little to feel like trying it and get it running, I used to be a guy that just trained whoever seemed likeable enough from looks so that I could get on, not as attentive with the plot of every game I play as I am now, but I've started to change that around the time I've started Final Fantasy VIII on the second half of 2019, a game that was truly legendary and emotional Imo.

This is more or less how I've come to known her, but I want to share what sparked interest on me for her:

It took me exactly two weeks to realize I wanted her so badly, it helped that when Lilina was announced, I'd need a [Feh Pass] subscription for just this month, and I got it with help from a friend, to date, I'm still grateful to that user for the support and for us to continue upholding a strong bond.

In any case, when the time came, I realized how charming this skin was, it's one of the best we've gotten, the Hel thematic looks wonderful on her (what a delightful blend of colors and precise styling by Sachie, same person that made the art for Legendary Julia and Sara, yes, more favs 💜) and the art is overall just too good but the best piece out of the four is the normal one I think, and I'll explain why while covering my favorite part of character talking: personality.

Micaiah is a kind and caring girl towards those she holds dear, specially the people of the country she eventually leads as a queen: Daein, located in the Tellius continent.

«I don't really like crowds. Sometimes, I sneak off to the forest to catch a break. I'm guessing the guiding hand of this army might need a break, too!»

— Micaiah: Priestess of Dawn, Fire Emblem Heroes.

She also has a bit of a bitter side but that's not how she normally comes off, yet, this doesn't come out without a reason, she was born a Branded (a human born from a human and laguz unity that end up getting a special power and an irremovable brand somewhere in their body, highly discriminated in Tellius), she had to hide her brand to anyone but her closest friends like Sothe so that she's not mistreated.

She's highly capable of selflessness, symbolized through that power she's gotten: [Sacrifice], it heals the target's wounds at the cost of her life force, she can recover just fine, but it exhausts her in return. This has allowed her to heal without staves and get the recognition from her people in Daein, like when she was first fleeing Begnion forces in Nevassa (capital city of Daein) while repelling bandit attacks, the citizens blocked the path when Micaiah and the Dawn Brigade (it's a group she leads to liberate her country) flee, but before she could escape, she sensed danger, and spotted a young guy being hurt from an arrow a Begnion soldier shot to a child named Nico, who would remember Micaiah's act of kindness for nursing him back to health almost instantly.

There were some times in which Micaiah also had to make really tough decisions, for example: Ike's army was tasked by Apostle Sanaki of Begnion to escort her to her country as they were trying to uncover the vile senate's acts, they had to pass through Daein territory, but because of a [Blood Pact] (a contract that enforces its signer's obedience to avoid a greater catastrophe) that Pelleas (that's the former king of Daein's son) signed under the false pretention that was a peace treaty the senate proposed. Micaiah had to hinder Ike's army advancement to see if she can trick the Begnion senate so she sent her soldiers to fight for that... she wanted to give time to Pelleas so that he could find a way to remove the effects from the [Blood Pact], as they couldn't just be removed normally. She had to make those sacrifices all because of a contract, and she couldn't even just tell Ike that she was forced to follow orders, the attacks from Daein forces didn't make much sense to him naturally. It was her people or her soldiers, so she had to make such decisions that tested her willpower, yet she's strong at heart and carried out with the orders she was given.

In Fire Emblem Heroes, she doesn't talk much about those events, but that's because she wishes to be free from the chains of past days, even if for a moment, she shows a friendly personality towards the Summoner and still being herself. She became queen of Daein and led her people to an age of prosperity, welcoming both laguz and human alike.

Now, all this and more things you'd learn as you play Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (or may remember from your playthroughs) show how strongly developed and compelling she is as a character, there's a lot going in her life and she lived many difficult moments, yet she got through and grew into a kind and strong-willed woman, she truly impressed me, and I think she's truly pretty, like, I mean:

(Artwork from Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Memorial Book Tellius Recollection: The Second Volume)

I won't deny that the Resplendent skin is magnificent and gave me the last push-up to play her home game after a long time and learn more about her, but I could see what kind of character she is and what makes her truly special... true, she's not my "best girl" (see PFP) but I still hold her dear as if she was almost high up there. And it's said that "nothing beats the original", so I certainly love her original design.

Here's a little showcase of the other two variants of her I have, I'm missing only her Bridal alt and the possible Legendary one coming later in this month, but here are them:

I love all her official art and how it manages to bring out her friendliness and tender side.

I'm so glad that so far, I've lucked out well with her IVs save her Hoshidan Summer alt, and she appeared randomly when pulling for others most of the time, so it's great to have her now, even as-is.

Her Brave variant from 2019 should be getting a refine next month or any time for the remainder of 2021, I know it'll be good but I would already love to know what it'll do before I give her anything else.

...

And here ends my appreciation post and optional read, if you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading, it means a lot to me if you've come to enjoy it.

#fire emblem heroes #fe heroes #micaiah #fe micaiah #fire emblem #radiant dawn

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impactrueno · 4 years ago

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this a specific question triggered by your tweet regarding rocky cringe phase, so you don’t have to answer if it’s too personal but what was the experience actually like as one of the big mods back in the hall pa$$ days?

it must be such a unique thing to have so many random internet people, (predominantly young teenagers ig as a result of the transferrance of the lorax target audience? ik i was a cringe 13 y/o during the heyday lol) invested in the mythos of you and your pals ocs and cosplaying them and stuff? i mean hell, people still think of them now which is why i’m asking this question!

but i always wondered if askblogs are kinda a weird, niche sort of “internet celebrity” in a sense that the audience can interact directly with rocky or whoever which is part of the fun appeal but, again like e-celebs, did it ever get a bit invasive because the audience boundaries aren’t super clear?

are u still pals w the other big mods? i hope you think of it fondly and that you know you brought so much fun to a lotta people but it must have been a very one-of-a-kind experience? and it’s astounding the knockon effect the 2012 lorax film had wow

oh boy......looking back yeah, it was really weird. but fun nonetheless, and i still miss the very unique dynamic of the audience being able to interact with the characters through asks and all the plot happening in real time (for the most part.) it was truly a one of a kind experience and ive never seen anything else like it online...granted my scope is limited and i dont know how other fandom askblogs operated but i do feel like our "system" evolved into its own thing somehow. interactivity is great for keeping people engaged in whatever youre doing. however (and i dont want to speak for anyone else here) i feel like its possible that the askblog """"big mod"""" experience mightve twisted our expectations a bit re: feedback and engagement from followers....because creators usually struggle a lot to keep people interested in their ocs, but we had people cosplaying them from the get-go due to them evolving from something that was already popular (for better or for worse lmao) so people were already invested in them. and the best part is that a lot of them remained invested even after they became their own thing!! thats very cool. but we might never reach that point again unfortunately. it was just something very unique to that phenomenon

im honestly very grateful for all the people who stuck around and still stick around to this day. rocky being as influential on people as he is is just fucking wild to me man. ive met people who based nearly their whole identity and/or music taste when they were younger around rocky and years later you can still see the influence there. to see that and be aware that youre partially responsible for that is a really weird feeling haha especially because rocky himself has a lot of me in him (conscious choice, i wanted him to be fun and easy to play because i didnt think he would get as far as he did)

but yeah people did get invasive, not just with rocky but with me as well. in so...so many ways. they often treated me like a character too and shipped me with other characters/people and arghhhh bad. just to talk about one example, the reason why i dont really show my face in photos is because back in the day someone saved a few of my (already rare) webcam selfies from back then and made a blog dedicated to my face as a joke but all it did was make me extremely uncomfortable so after asking them to take it down (and yes they apologized and felt pretty bad about it), i decided to simply not show my face and go through something like that again. call it an overreaction but im already a private person by nature, so it felt pretty damn invasive.

i also got hate in rockys inbox that went way beyond in-character 'anonymous voices' when he got in a fight with one. like i was starting to feel that the asks meant for rocky were more directed at me or people were just sort of forgetting that there was still a real person behind the character. the stuff going down behind the scenes on that day wasnt pretty either. for me at least. rough times lmao

also this didnt apply to me but the mods who ran female characters would get an unjustified amount of shit for whatever the characters did, it was insane. the audience was lovely sometimes, yes, but other times they really didnt know how to act and this was the biggest example of it i think. granted, like you said, it was mostly teenagers so thats to be expected i guess

as for me still being pals with the other big mods......ehhhhhhhhh lets not go there.

despite all the bad stuff (that i wont elaborate), i still see the experience as a whole as positive and look forward to taking part in something just like it one day. there was a bit of a trufflu revival via discord servers in 2019 but it just wasnt the same and it went south pretty fast so i dipped. these days id rather not think about trufflu at all if im honest.

ANYWAY yeah.........truly a one of a kind experience and i learned a lot from and during it. 8/10 would not recommend

#Anonymous #asks

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bloody-wonder · 4 years ago

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the gritty realism of aftg characters speaking german

so the other day i read this meta about neil, nicky and the twins speaking german and, although it's fun and interesting, it was written by a native german speaker so most of it is pretty unrealistic - which ig is in keeping with the spirit of aftg, but nevertheless it inspired me to share my own thoughts on how these people who haven't been learning german for that long tbh would actually talk.

an accent

they all have it

yes even neil and nicky have it bc several years are not enough to get rid of it

the thing about the accent is that it's a Bitch. you aren't gonna get rid of it easily. learning a language is one thing, but getting rid of the accent is a different matter entirely - if you wanna do it, you'll have to fucking dedicate yourself to it, take regular classes with a pronunciation coach or some shit

yeah i know neil had to blend in but wanting or needing to have no accent won't really help you get rid of it. it doesn't work like that unfortunately

although nicky has been learning german longer than neil, his accent is worse bc he didn't have an additional motivation of having to blend in. usually, people will progress to a certain level where their accent doesn't hinder the understanding of what they say and stop at that. even if you really want to get rid of it, it won't happen or will happen very slowly just bc subconsciously you know that people understand you anyway. we don't know anything about erik but i doubt he's that person who will correct nicky's pronunciation after every sentence. ig nicky gets better at it when he moves to germany for good but in aftg he has that juicy american accent

the twins' accents are atrocious bc they don't have any motivation to improve their speech nor do they regularly talk to native speakers. they pronounce v as w (instead of f), z as z (instead of ts) and a as ei (instead of uh). and yeah ik andrew has eidetic memory but unless it influences how his toungue moves in his mouth it's not gonna be of much help

all of them say schwul (gay) instead of schwül (humid) regularly bc umlauts are difficult. aaron is probably the only one who gets mad at himself for messing up and tries to pronounce schwül correctly. the rest of them don't care and are content with only ever using the word schwul in both cases bc if god didn't want you to call the weather gay, he wouldn't have made the word schwul much easier to pronounce. nicky can pronounce both words but uses schwul more often on purpose

grammar

as far as i remember the twins had german in high school - and you can't really learn a language in a basic school course. nicky helped them a bit but i doubt that took the form of regular lessons several times a week so their grammar is probably all over the place

der/die/das nutella? how about der/die/das vogel instead?? grammatical genders are totally random and they are near impossible to learn, especially if your first language is english. you learn the genders of the words you use often in your day-to-day and professional life but with the rest you just kinda rely on your intuition and hope for the best. this is where andrew's eidetic memory would come in handy, but the rest of them are screwed. they probably just live their lives misgendering german nouns. if you speak german, just imagine all those aftg dialogues that are supposed to be in german, except half of the nouns are misgendered :)

mixing up dativ and genitiv? how about using exclusively nominativ for all the words in the sentence?

before you utter a sentence in german you have to think very carefully about your life choices: is the sentence in the past tense? do you need sein or haben? if it's in the present tense, is the verb you're gonna use separable, perchance? is there a subordinate sentence? bc you'll need a different word order for that. the german sentence is a mine field that can be navigated in spoken language only if you actually practice your speaking skills intensively and regularly which i don't think the twins have ever done or do. and it looks like they speak pretty fast and don't think ahead about what they're gonna say so i'm 99% sure all the grammar gets thrown out the window

they wouldn't really mix up formal you and informal you bc there's no one they have to address formally in german. they don't use Sie, it's not on their minds. what they do mix up however is du (informal you singular) and ihr (informal you plural)

fluency and cultural references

nicky's german is the best out of the four of them bc his relationship with his partner happens in this language. the reasons are practical (he probably talks to erik rather often) as well as psychological (what purposes you use the language for and what people you speak to in it have a big impact on your progress). btw he and erik probably only talk in german and can't switch to english at will bc when you establish a relationship in a language it becomes "the official language of your relationship". it's weird but this is how it is for many international multilingual couples

the rest of them are hardly fluent bc fluency isn't determined just by how long and where you've been learning the language but also by how often you use it and for what. it doesn't look like neil and the twins talk german very often and they use it only as their "private language" - which basically means they don't use it for anything. unless they will regularly join in on nicky and erik's conversations their german will get worse and worse

as for the very niche cultural references, i doubt that andrew and aaron really know any. neil knows some but doesn't really care anymore bc he doesn't live in germany anymore. with foreign culture, especially with all the proverbs and memes and old media you're supposed to learn as you grow up, there's the information itself and the emotional connotation that people who have grown up in this culture attach to it - and while you can explain the former to an outsider, you can't make them feel the latter. which is why i believe all the stuff neil and the twins learn, they forget very quickly. nicky maybe not so much, just bc erik probably talks to him about it constantly

tl;dr aftg characters speaking foreign languages fluently works only if you don't think about it too much ://

#neil josten #andrew minyard #aaron minyard #nicky hemmick #all for the game #aftg mine #if this looks like i'm nitpicking it's bc i am #this is literally the only purpose of this post #this is how i relax

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inthedusksynria · 4 years ago

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until-lune respondeu seu post “@until-lune I’m 99% convinced that Micaiah will be...”A couple of things that I want to say. • If we...

@until-lune

Hello! Again i am using this one form of reply bc its easier for format! If you prefer i change for reply format it let me know!. Putting under read more bc this got long, but i had lots of fun doing it!. I am answering all your replies here!

M!Corrin-wise - I dont think Omega Yato will be his weapon, because the refined version of his OG version (normal M!Corrin in the red pool) already has it. While his art has his normal weapon, his sprite has Omega Yato.

Dawn Yato is definitely a possibility tho! although it would be very odd to give it to him and not make its Twin/Mirror Weapon Dusk Yato to CQ!themed!L!F!Corrin.(but hey its IS)

(something i am so salty off bc i love Dawn and Dusk Yatos ;-; they are so pretty and match so well their promotions... and games... heck!! they both have their route-represent Legendary weapons features incorpored on them and just *clenches fist at the emotional moments*)

Also, A re-colored dragon alt is also a possibility, since L!F!Corn did that.

I dont think skipping the Staff is a certainty because IS has made weird choices before. Leif has an Bow which is a weird choice for him, but, like Corrin, he has a A Rank in bows in his promoted class, and like Corrin he is an “unpopular” Lord. Chrom and Lucina have Bows, when they also had Lances as options by promotion class.

I dont think popularity certainly incentivizes diversity in weapon usage. because we have had a lot of Weird choices from IS of making a popular character have the same weapon across multiple alts. -> 3H lords, Ike, Eirika and Ephraim had all a repeat of their OG weapons and are far more or just as popular as Micaiah; and even weirder L!F!Corrin, who by CYL and Nintendo magazine poll is more popular then M!Corrin, has the same weapon type than her fallen version (and still lacks a red alt for her emblem AND had an iconic red weapon associated with her promotion of DarkBlood/Nohr Noble (Dusk Yato)). Also fun fact, F!Corrin counterpart to M!Corrin Staff Rank is a Tome Rank. So it would also be possible for her to have had an red tome alt.

conclusion regarding weapons: IS pretty much spins a Wheel and decides what to do. I think its pretty much a case of...whatever the executives woke up on that day wanting.

(that, of course, doesnt make theorizing what weapon they will have any less fun xD)

Honestly the only reason why I am certain it is Micaiah is irrational/a F2P technique. In that if it is not her, it will destroy my will to summon and thus allow me to spend less XD. I have seen people doing it and boy does it works wonders when you arent right.

Going by that (my theory it is Micaiah) I find it unlikely to be Colorless (and thus Staff or colorless tome) only because the other spreads are just That Good^tm.

One of the methods that people used to guess which color the new Leg/Mythic will be is to see which color has a busted spread of colors. And it has been right ever since Edelgard

(The reason for so is that IS seems to have realized that by debutting the hero on a so-so spread, it made people wait for their rerun in order to get them, Bramimond being an example in that his spread was awful (L!Grima) and his rerun spread was godsmacking good (Mila)... pun not intended)

The colorless this time is rather...i wouldnt say weak, because Eir usability is REALLy good and Duma has a nice niche of wrecking people plans(cackles in my AR matches). However, they are fairly outdated in comparation with the other color spreads. So, in the event this leg hero is Micaiah (or Elincia, or Byleth) i dont think they would be colorless because of that.

Oh! Regarding the CYL theory, since the legendaries were introduced in the second year of FEH, I dont consider much broken, since i merely think its always /A/ winner instead of the 1st of each year. Since shuffling of legendaries is possible, (those times when IS changed the calendar lineup), should the Byleths win CYL(which is fairly likely). it would be easy to put them on the next GW. And I also think it will be a theory that will be broken absolutely next year, since I doubt Marianne and Gatekeeper would be viable L!Heroes. I agree with you that is a weak pattern that is likely to be broken.

Counterpoint to Wind F!Byleth -> Blessings not always end up being the element that is most associated with the Character in the main game. Highly Water themed (and midly Fire themed;) Corrin ended up as Wind; Julia, who has Minor blood of fire and was called “Genealogy’s Fire Emblem sword” was Earth; Eliwood, wielding the fire themed Durandal, was Wind. (tbf this is also a counterpoint to Wind Micaiah, since she has more association with Light and maybe Fire(?) than Wind)

Regarding 3H launching with 3H, besides Edelgard, Claude also debuted with no 3H legendary accompanying him. Annete was there, but other than that, no other 3H unit or legendary was on the banner. In fact, the pattern i do see with 3H legendaries is that their first re-run matches with a release of a Mythic in their color spread. (Edelgard -> Hel ; Dimitri -> Seiros).

I want to highlight that i am not saying it wont happen, but that I lean more towards they keeping a space between 3H legendaries release, in order to long term profits, and to not cause burn-out of 3H content. (or at least decrease people complaining about it; They seem to have learned their lesson with the Fates and Tellius spams.)

Finally,I do think that it is possible for Micaiah to be a Staff and for other characters to be released in this month/banner, mostly it is the premises i chose to apply to this theorizing lead me in a contrary direction xD. You show some good points! (I would love a Dawn Yato Corn and a Staff Micaiah ;-;...)

Extra Tangent: I have absolutely no idea what IS(executives) considers the character is associated with Silver Snow like...

For one side, Seteth makes lip service saying the route lord is Rhea; Rhea presents the choice mirror to Edelgard’s in the route split; the ending cutscene focuses on Rhea character development/closure, but, at the same time, she is Sir Not Appearing for 75% of the route and the rest of the time she is benched.

For another side, Byleth was made to be the lord to Edelgard emperor’s and her rival; has several cutscenes showcasing that; is the “lord” of the route in role sense, but, on the other hand, its more associated with Fire (fire emblem).

Honestly at this point i just dont know what FEH is going to do with them. I think IS is going to make one of Byleth Wind as you said and the other Fire, but which one, i have no idea. I could see too an argument for Ground(since i think at the lack of an Light element for Light element character-focused they pick ground sometimes) too, but yeah.

I cant believe the true plot twist of GW is gonna be Rhea being the wind legendary breaking all of our theories xD (/j, but can you imagine how funny it would be?)

#until-lune #text post #typing this out is really fun #formatting was weird tho #will i be able to put a point? will i not? only tumblr knows #I am glad you enjoy it too! :D If you have any memes feel free to send me bc BotV is so memetic and has awesome art! And then turns around #and tugs your heartstrings so hard *i teared up when baby!Og!Mellisa talked to Melissa and discovering Yuri fate as releaving all was so omi #ominious and then Melissa saving Yuri of it was ao djiojoidsjaoiasdj HyPE god i love them and Nine #will i be able to do a paragraph? will i not? will tumblr have a breakdown if i try to take out one point? only tumblr knows #AND YONA YONA DESERVES ALL THE RAISES EVER #syn rambles

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cloneslugs · 4 years ago

Note

majima </3

my friend <3 my beloved <3 ty for majima brain worms in my head every once in a while i <3

under cut bc this got longer than i wanted

Sexuality Headcanon: gay homo <3

Gender Headcanon: trans guy to be vague but his gender is faggot ithink.. homo gender., he hasn't had top surgery <3 he planner a transition timeline w saejima but that got fucked and now he doesnt care

A ship I have with said character: kiryu (:

A BROTP I have with said character: everyone really <3 i love how surrounded by love and friends he is now, but saejima for sure, kiryu, daigo is very cute buddies w him they're sweet he likes to look out for daigo & handle his own complex relations w parenthood/paternal figure whatever, um makoto and lee that's a family right there (:, kashiwagi is also now his buddy his bestie but not really it's one sided <3 haruka is also his little buddy they like to sing idol songs together and teach each other dances he has like a different connection w haruka than other people i think they just click sometimes

A NOTP I have with said character: saejima </3. Freak level shit is nishitani or sagawa . then theres random niche level ships that are gross but not very popular so i am choosing not to see them

A random headcanon: he's autistic (:, he isnt a very good swimmer, he and saejima both cant legally drive they never got their licenses, he paints his nails under his gloves and everyone thinks hes kind of stupid for it but he has fun he likes it he usually goes black but sometimes he'll go green if he does it thinking about saejima or red for kiryu or haruka, really shitty sleep schedule not really caused by anything he just ends up staying up late a lot, he loses track of time really easily he can forget to eat/sleep/drink/etc but having saejima around helps since they're kind of joined at the hip at this point so whenever saejima does something he does too, i think hes missing a pinkie on his left hand, anger issues but really emotional issues he doesnt know how to keep his emotions in check it's either lock em up of blow up, his favorite color is pink, ik this is canon but hes really polite and well behaved in most public settings like when hes getting food or shopping or whatever so he hates going out w anyone who isnt w friend (namely saejima or kiryu) bc it would embarrass him if anyone said anything, hes not good w kids but he is but he isnt i think hes scared of getting close and hurting someone bc he can be moody/sporadic but hes like saejima where he'll always always look out for them or hold their hand if they need help walking somewhere and etc etc, gets cold easily, he can cook simple/traditional dishes but that's it and he doesnt do it often but sometimes cooking calms him down, hes cuddly very overly touchy w friends i think this is most evident w saejima bc once saejima came back he wouldnt stray too far from him and always stays close and just full of love and (: gets in your space too much it's his love language (he doesnt like it reversed on him though from most people) physical contact overall is just a very big thing to him good or bad, his apartment is really clean hes kind of meticulous on organization and tidiness but he doesnt put the same effort into his office ever

General Opinion over said character: my beloved friend <3 im sorry i pretend you're nothing to me bc you are actually a side character i enjoy a lot and mean the world to me you are very sweet (: we are homo gendered together <3

#asks #rgg txt #today is a writing day i will not put off writing <3 theres something i wanna start that feels shareable but first #majima time 😏 <3

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leakypizza · 4 years ago

Text

lets get perrsonal questions or whaveterver

i wanted to make a question tag but feral and this is what i came up with. tag ur friends, tag ur enemies, but most importantly give me a kiss at ur earliest convenience.

thank u @cl0wnapologist i love u molly

1. say hi! :D (name/age/pronouns)

hello i am jillian also referred to as jill and sometimes jill beans im 20 and my pronouns are she/her

2. what’s your venus sign? <3

aquarius <3 i will never experience love

3. would you rather people perceive you as the person you present to the world or your true self? are they the same?

it would be cool for people to see me as my true self but im kinda fuckin wack,,, not in a way like “im not like other girls” like as in wow im just wack as fuck idk. i think i am more my true self at this point in my life than i was before which is cool but i feel really alienated from other people u know? gotta switch to sorority girl sometimes its just more convenient to pretend to be someone else

4. what do you prioritize in your relationships—how well someone treats you or how much you like them?

mmm i feel like how much i like them matters because i dont like anyone so that’s like step 1, and they also probably shouldn’t treat me like shit but i tend to let people do that so i just don’t have relationships

5. what’s the most embarrassing fanfic you’ve ever read?

jokes on you i never read fanfiction as a youth!

6. would you rather be fluent in every language or a master of every instrument? if you could only pick one of each what would it be?

probably every language but i would like to be slick with the guitar

7. share some of your favorite characters!

ymir from attack on titan because i vaguely look like her and she is bitch lesbian. also probably every female from attack on titan. i also am a fan of asuka and misato from nge, and tamaki from ouran. also probably i could go on but i will spare you bc this is embarassing

8. what’s a niche interest/subject you could write a 12-page essay on?

sex education and i have written multiple 10+ page essays on it in fact

also probably astrology i did make a 52 slide presentation on the basics of it which is the most capricorn thing i have ever done

9. what are you missing the most right now?

making new friends but also having friends who have the same interests as me specifically molly and alyssa :(

10. hottest non-human animated character? (ex. zootopia fox, ryuk from death note, aunt fanny from robots)

WHY IS RYUK YOUR EXAMPLE

the female titan��but not annie just like the actual titan

the war hammer titan as well shes so sexy

11. share some of your old urls/handles/usernames (i’m looking at u, 1D insta with 70 followers from 2013)

lets not bring this up :)

12. what’s a favorite physical feature of yourself? what are some favorite physical features of your friends/loved ones?

my personal favorite feature is my boobies not because they look good but because they are soft and squishy and are my own little stress balls. i have been told i have good teeth tho but my ex said that so it doesnt count

and i love molly’s long ass thick ass hair and her laugh and pretty smile and i love how alyssa has very pretty eyes and skin idk how to describe and bof of their styles are amazing

13. what’s a favorite personality trait of yours? of your friends/loved ones?

there is nothing good about my personality

bUt molly has the best sense of humor in the world and alyssa is the most caring woman her intuition makes her insults towards me so spicy i love it

14. describe a recent time someone made you feel loved/valued

when alyssa gave me a pusheen squishmallow for my birthday

15. what’s the most embarrassing character you’ve been attracted to?

akira from devilman which ik isn’t embarassing bc hes hot but like...,,,, specifically the ceiling scene

16. gayest thing you’ve done recently? (complimentary)

made frog cakes with @cl0wnapologist and @lesbianspongeb0b while watching ouran highschool host club

17. gayest thing you’ve done recently? (derogatory)

when my friends were saying what sport we seem like we wouldve played in high school and all my friends said i would’ve played softball <3

18. what are your comfort movies/shows/books/foods?

movies: spongebob, ratatouille, spirited away

shows: ouran, kids baking championship, free!

books: my anatomy textbook

foods: everything. lately it’s been chocolate peanut butter soup which is a monstrosity i created while high but u know what it slaps

19. last 5 things you looked up in your youtube search bar/history?

rice krispie treats , brown butter rice krispie treats , binging with babish rice krispie treats , rice krispie treats without marshmallows , and attack on titan abridged

(i was craving them one night ok chill)

20. should we kiss rn? :*

i’ve been waiting for u to ask

idk if i have any active mutuals left so i’m not tagging anyone lmao

#personal #don’t read this

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mikeshanlon · 4 years ago

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iwwv anon and PHEW OK. I def did not expect that essay and now I feel bad cause I KNOW my thots r not gonna be articulate or right. nonetheless! i think Oliver does qualify as an unreliable narrator cause hes. very oblivious but not like... Richard papen (who is a whole ass clown don't get me started on tsh) but not like addy from dare me(I will support till the day I die that dare me is da like I WILL die on this hill) who sees what she wants to see. 1/?

i think he just... thinks that his friends r diff ppl than they actually r? that doesnt rly make sense but yea. what I mean is that everything the characters do is coated in that empathetic view Oliver has which is usually wrong? so we don't get an objective look into the characters. meredith is my girl like I love the hot popular girl trope deconstruction but at the end of the book she's not at a great place like she's w someone that doesn't love her like she needs to be loved... 2/

I guess the most probable ending is that James never meets Oliver again and that everyone is kinda stuck on what happened but that's soo sad and I really don't want to think abt it. ngl iwwv wasn't like my fave book ever and I really don't understand why people are so obsessed with dark academia sometimes but what i rly liked abt the book is that despite how fucked up everyone is and how toxic they r to each other they do at heart care abt one another...3/

like I rly liked that esp cause at that point the only other da book (other than dare me!) that I had read was tsh and godd every character is so fuckinh annoying and they all hate each other. i was super confused by it till I saw someone saying that it's satire and I felt my mind explode. I feel like this is so long but I didnt rly properly answer all you wrote sorry! I think its a pretty good book tho it has some crazy quotes like hold awn Im gonna look at the highlighted stuff on my copy.. 4/

Were you in love with him?” “Yes,” [...]Yes, I was.” It’s not the whole truth. The whole truth is, I’m in love with him still. LIKEEE PHEWW OK OK OK. WE OUT HERE. that line literally made me go crazy. I'm so sorry for any spelling mistakes or like general mistakes I made here English isn't my first language, it's 1am and I wrote this in the notes app w/o looking it over. so like.. NOT a professional review lemme tell you. 5/5

Ahh im so sorry I did not see this before I yeeted for a month!!!

Oooh okay first of all dare me as a DA… I’ve only watched the show but like yeah I see the Elements for sure.

Also yeah I can understand what you mean abt Oliver being an unreliable narrator now… Ig my view of unreliable was more like they are purposefully twisting the truth or omitting facts or just literally don’t know shit but I get how personal bias can make the narrator unreliable. I do think the assertion that Oliver thinks his friends are different than they actually are makes sense. He sees James in a very positive light and though I like James a lot and think he is better than, like, Richard, he definitely has darker moments and manipulates Oliver at times (again I’d like to think it’s not the most nefarious thing in the world but like him just being shitty bc he’s in a dark place and he one, wants to do anything he can so Oliver doesn’t figure out he fought Richard so Oliver still thinks of him the same way/bc he knows Oliver would do something stupid like get himself arrested for James; and two, is very jealous that Oliver is with Meredith after Richard dies and has sort of a somewhat positive outcome from Richard’s death versus James being riddled with guilt and anger). And yeah, the probable ending is they never meet but I refuse to acknowledge that so LGNRG. Also that line makes me go CRAZZZZZZZZZZY!!! There are so many great lines, both using Shakespeare and on their own and its like okay give me a moment im going bonkers…

Personally, I haven’t read that many dark academia novels yet (bc for some reason i can barely finish a book rn sigh) but the concept interests me. I think what’s compelling is the setting/atmosphere of like ~mysterious college vibes~, and the idea of a sort of niche, obsessive bond and pursuit of knowledge with a tight knit group of friends (and the like inherent homoeroticism in every single DA elrngenrg). Like Dead Poet’s Society (the film I haven’t read the book) isn’t Dark in the same way most other dark academia is by like, obsession and death and manipulation (though of course there are dark elements with Neil’s storyline), but I think the other building blocks of academia are present there in a more wholesome way and you can see why people are drawn to that idea. As for the more Dark aspects I think it’s interesting to analyze things like group psyche, obsession, manipulation, etc, like what went wrong for everything to take such a dark turn???

But, like everything else, it really has to be done well or else its just like okay….… I’ve tried to read TSH twice and I may try again but from the 100+ ish pages I read I totally get what you mean. IWWV is so interesting to me bc the characters are all very compelling and multifaceted and I like that they are a close friendship, we come in after 4 years of them spending all the time together and to me that is apparent. Like you said, we can see fissures and problems especially as the novel continues but there is care there between them. That also makes the decision to let Richard die much more interesting and sinister imo, as well as how all of them interact with each other after he dies, and how the roles of the group change without their “leader” so to speak. Also, maybe it’s just bc I like Shakespeare, but I think the academia part of IWWV is so much more accessible compared to TSH. Like I don’t know every Shakespeare play or anything so I didn’t understand every nuance or was like immediately like oh this is from Cymbeline or whatever the fuck, but you could understand the gist of things and it made sense that they spoke in Shakespeare lines bc that’s all they’ve been doing for four years and also theatre kids are Like That. Their pretention also provided any Layers to the story, like the parallels between the characters they play and their own arcs, how some of the lines echoed their own thots, foreshadowed, or they were able to say things through Shakespeare (I’m thinking of like, Oliver realized he loved James during Romeo and Juliet, the foreshadowing that James was going to ruin Richard’s life and that he dislikes Meredith/Richard when he quotes Mercutio at the start “A plague o’ both your houses”, the exchange Oliver and James had onstage and had that kiss during King Lear before Oliver was arrested,etc.) (Also I think the structure of some of the dialogue being formatted like a play really helped make it feel more realistic and immersive). Versus TSH which is just so pedantic and dense and hard to follow at times im like I get they are smart but what??? And maybe that’s part of the satire aspect (or maybe im dumb) but like donna I read TGF I know you are pretentious and info dump abt random obscure shit anyways so erglknerg. Like to me there was a Point to all of the academic Shakespeare stuff in IWWV and it was the soul of the book, and M.L. Rio made it very interesting—like the way that the directors reimagined the plays and had Julius Caesar be like a modern political play, the cool mirror shit in King Lear, the Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet performances where they did them at events and interacted with their environments (which were one of my favorite parts of the books bc I just think that concept is so interesting), etc. For TSH the shit they did literally just felt like “okay look at them they’re smart see you can’t even keep up!” like okay… I felt lost a lot and only like snapped into reality whenever Henry (?) was like oh… murder….. and even then I was like idk what this dude is saying but like he’s being darksided LMAO. And I also agree that it’s just like… Richard being thrown in the middle of this group could lend itself to some cool ideas but its hard to believe that he fits into the friendship group and hes just like hell yeah I love Greek so much and lets go kill this guy other than like okay ur gay and stupid and just want to impress Henry or whatever his name was (which he was but I digress). It’s just not as impactful to me as this close friend group falling apart. Ik TSH fans might be angry if they see this (and of course I haven’t finished the book so my perception may be warped but I also kno many ppl felt that way u did) bc I’ve seen ppl say IWWV is just like TSH but “lackluster” or whatever and while I can see some parallels (mostly b/w Richard and Henry and Alexander and Francis), I really think M.L. Rio expanded upon common DA tropes and the interesting parts of TSH but made it her own and interesting and oh yeah there are actually multiple compelling female characters and LGBT characters (and no incest)!!!

#if we were villians #books #also literally dont apologize for any mistakes or going bonkers like i have no problem n i understood what u meant anyways LMAO #anon #ask

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dailydoseofcolor · 4 years ago

Text

Taking Stock of Barracks in Fire Emblem Heroes: Part 3, Section 2 (Final)

Okay! So I took a few days off for travel and now want to finish this up. From everything above, I’ve pinpointed the 5* exclusive characters I would love to start getting merges for as well as solidifying who my official potential “projects” are. Now I need to start analyzing my priorities and go from there. The sections will be 5* exclusives that won’t need feathers for merging (barring any unexpected demotes, which is highly unlikely for the majority of these); 3-4* merge potential projects that require orbs, and 3-4* potential projects that require grails. First up, 5* exclusives.

After going through my barracks, these are the characters I have isolated as ones that I want to work towards getting to +10:

Micaiah, Mia, Nephenee, Saber, Silque, Myrrh, OG Ephraim, Brave Ike, Y!Marth, Summer Robin, Summer Innes, Halloween L'Arachel

Now, mama didn’t raise a fool. The vast majority of these are unrealistic, but I can at least use this as a guide for what to save for. So these can be further categorized into three sections: Higher Priority, Realistic Goals, and Pipe Dreams:

Higher Priority

Micaiah, +5; She just takes the least amount of merges to complete. She regularly appears on banners, and will eventually come as a pity breaker on other banners.

Mia, +3; She’s my favorite of the fast sword girls. And while she’s slowly getting outclassed in terms of raw speed, she has good balanced defenses and her weapon can still give her a niche. I also wouldn’t be surprised if she lands a resplendent alt at some point.

Realistic

Nephenee, +2; I’ve thought about it, and I let Nephenee’s -Spd bane distract me from her for too long. She’s at +2 with a Spd boon now, and still holds up stats-wise. Her attack is still a little low, but the armor effectiveness in her weapon more than makes up for that. The problem is that she’s on a banner right now that only lasts today. I can’t +10 her just today, but I need to try for a few merges.

Saber, +1; I have a major soft spot for Saber. He held my Summoner Support for a long time, and I think he has a very interesting niche in the over-saturated sword market. He’s a long-term plan.

Silque (Currently Base, could be +2); I love healers, and Silque is my favorite healer from the series as a whole. I haven’t merged her yet because she has a good staff, good special, and Dazzling Staff fodder. But I now realize that I don’t particularly care for Dazzling Staff fodder. That’s added to almost every new healer nowadays, more fodder will come.

Myrrh, +0; Myrrh is the character I wanted most for so long. The first Manakete/Dragon I ever fell in love with, and she’s relevant again. Problem is, the only one I’ve pulled is +Def/-Atk. Amazing boon, terrible bane. I need merges to erase the bane and start really building her. She’s likely in the Top 5 for priorities.

Pipe Dream

Ephraim, +0; Unless he demotes, this is a long shot. I’ve only ever pulled one and now I have other infantry lance users that out-compete him. It would be nice, though.

Y!Marth, +1; Y!Marth appearing at the same time as Bramimond really hurt my ability to justify spending for him, and now I kinda regret it. As far as sword infantries go, he’s super flexible and has great stats. His boon is +Atk, so that helps, but when he comes back, I’ll make a play for him.

Summer Robin, +0 (Will be +1 after Compile Manuals Purchased); My first ever 5* unit! Summer Robin has held a special place in my heart since I first started the game. Back when getting 5* units as a new player was actually rather difficult, I played for about 2 weeks before my first one came up, and it was Summer Robin. She’ll erase her awful -Atk bane with the Compile Manual I’ll get of her, but I’m going to start working on snagging her in the upcoming summer banners.

Summer Innes, +0 (Will be +1 after Compile Manuals Purchased); The first unit I ever spent money to acquire (purchased an orb pack with an old gift card out of desperation). His Bow unit sucks all kinds of ass, and Axe fliers are still one of the rarer categories. He’ll be +1 soon (I love the limited time compile feature, it’s a much better mechanic than the long term compile option), but more merges would make me happy. He’ll be re-run soon.

Halloween L’Arachel, +0; H! L’Arachel’s art might be one of my absolute favorite in the game. Easily Top 5. Green Cavalry Mages are also almost uniformly bad outside of Gunnthra, who needs a refine to maintain her niche. The only one who might be able to compete is Cecilia, but we’ll see where she truly lands after her eventual refine. Either way, more merges for her would be incredible. Sacred Stones is next up in the Hall of Forms rotation. I don’t expect her to be an option, but she’s on the short list of SS seasonals so…there’s a chance.

Brave Ike, +2 (Could be +3); His Refine is incredible. He carries hard in AR and makes PvE content trivial. If anything, this is just to keep his stats sharp. This is mostly just an eventual “this would be nice” thing.

Now, if I take everything above and rank it, here’s what I have:

Micaiah

Mia

Myrrh

Nephenee

Saber

Silque

Halloween L'Arachel

Ephraim

Summer Robin

Y!Marth

Summer Innes

Brave Ike

Okay, I’m fine with this. Micaiah and Mia make the most sense, since they’re the closest to being done. Myrrh, Nephenee, Saber, and Silque are all realistic and will be making appearances on banners soon (other than Silque). The rest are just guidelines; although I will be saving for Summer Robin & Summer Innes return next month, and then saving for Halloween L’Arachel at the end of the year.

_____________________________________________

Now it’s time for 3-4* Potential Projects! My first pass yielded three groups: ones I already have the copies to +10, the ones I still need copies for, and Grail units. At this point, I need to diversify my +10 units by movement type, specifically flying and calvary, with an emphasis on Player Phase units, strong Mixed Phase units, and tome users.

Here’s who I can +10 today if I desired:

Nino, PP, +5, 100k feathers needed; Benefits from being a favorite character, player phase focused, and a tome user. Slight dock for being infantry.

OG Eliwood, PP, +2, 160k feathers needed; Eliwood remains the front runner of this group if only because of favoritism. It helps that his Player Phase capabilities are now some of the best in the game when it comes to red sword users.

Donnel, MP, +2, 160k feathers needed; Again, a strong Mixed Phase character with a new refine, but that pushes him into a Player Phase role. I just can’t swing the idea of building him up for use.

Matthew, EP, +0, 200k feathers needed; Enemy Phase dagger to compliment Sothe’s Player Phase dagger niche. A favorite character, but shares movement type. Plus he requires a lot of support to really shine. Lower priority.

Soleil, PP, +0, 200k feathers needed; One of the strongest 3-4* infantry swords. Great attack and good speed, middling defenses that could be patched up with skill investment. She ranks pretty high, but has a high merge cost from my current supplies.

Ares, EP, +0, 200k feathers needed; Fills a different role than Eliwood, but makes a case given how oppressive Special Spiral + Bonfire can be. Middling priority.

Est, PP, +0 (No 5*), 220k feathers needed; I love lance fliers and Est is the only one on my short list that isn’t a Grail unit. She’d require some significant investment in terms of resources, but I’ve been thinking of making a dedicated flier team for a while, which she would shine in.

Titania, Support, +0, 200k feathers needed; I love Tactics teams and almost no one runs it better than Titania. She’d require high investment, but I’ve held onto her for years with the plan to invest, it might be time.

OG Tharja, PP, +0 (No 5*), 220k feathers needed; I really love red mages. My Lysithea sees very regular use, and Tharja’s potential on a Tactics team would be incredible. She remains a very high potential.

Soren, Support, +0 (No 5*), 220k feathers needed; I also love Chill skills, and Soren is one of only a few characters that can pull Triple Chill. I might build him with Triple Chill to see how he handles before I invest. He’s lower priority right now.

Here’s who I have on my short list for potential projects that I don’t actively have all the merges for yet:

Rath, PP, +2 (Could be +7, with a +Atk waiting for deliberation); 160k feathers needed; Rath is the closest on this list to having the merges needed. He’s currently at +2, and I only need another 2 in order to be at +10. He will continue to be higher on the list than others, if only because I’m a sucker for calvary bow users.

Altena, EP, +1, 180k feathers needed; So. Here’s the problem. I love Altena, and she’s likely a Top 5 merge project contender….but I don’t have the merges. She just hasn’t been showing up. She just has to remain on the back burner of priority until I have more merges. I’ll reassess if more start coming along.

Norne, MP, (Could be +4) (No 5*), 220k feathers needed; Norne checks a lot of boxes for me: Infantry, Great Stats, Mixed Phase potential, Bow User. I still need 6 copies to make her +10, but I need to start investing in her now. I know she sits in the exact same space that Altena does, but even having a few more merges changes the calculus. The major major problem is that none of the 5* units I’ve decided are priorities are colorless except for Silque. So the likelihood that she turns up on pulls is less likely. But I think my heart doesn’t really care.

Tethys, Support, (Could be +5, No 5*), 220k feathers needed; Tethys makes this list due to her Support potential. Colorless infantry dagger is mostly filled for me, but she sticks out in my mind. I might just build her low at first to see how I like her, similar to Soren.

I’ve been avoiding this for a long time. I never spend grails because I’m worried the perfect Grail Unit will come along and it’s blinded me to the number of amazing Grail Units that have already come along, and some of these Grails are starting to burn a hole in my pocket. Now it’s time:

Astram, PP/Support, +2, 160k feathers, 2200 grails; I’ve been using Astram in Arena this past week and I’ve really changed my mind about him. His performance is very solid, and he handles a ton of things on his own. He also slots into the mercenary/knight side of sword user instead of myrmidon, which I’ve always preferred. Great PRF, good stat totals; this is biased because Arena bonus unit buffs are one hell of a drug. He’s back in the running.

Joshua, MP, +2, 160k feathers, 2600 grails; Making a completely flip-flopped statement from earlier, since Joshua is on the myrmidon side of sword users, but Joshua’s always been a favorite of mine, and I stupidly used one way back for Windsweep on Sothe…of all things. He’s in line for a weapon refine soon, and depending on how they treat it, could launch him into contention again. He remains a strong front runner. Also, there’s a strong chance he’ll be the Grail option in the upcoming SS Hall of Forms. I would love if it’s either him, Lyon, or Valter; that would be incredible.

Black Knight, MP, +2, 160k feathers, 2200 grails; Obviously TT/GHB were originally conceived of to give us fun side characters and villains, and the Black Knight remains near the top. I don’t usually use Armor units, but he’d hold his own very well, especially considering the number of Fighter skills that exist.

Fallen Ashnard, EP/MP, (Could be +2, No 5*), 180k feathers, 2200 grails; The main thing going against Fallen Ashnard right now is how new he is. So his investment will remain high for a while. But it’s hard to ignore how well his stats turned out. Great villain from my favorite series and it’s hard to not be drawn to him. Plus sword fliers are either 5* forever locked or like…Palla (aka Moonbow fodder). He’s got a great niche.

Valter, PP, (Could be +4), 120k feathers, 1650 grails; Another favorite villain from a favorite series in a unit type that is treated poorly by IS. His speed doesn’t hold up, unfortunately, but he’s very likely due for a refine soon, and he could be a part of the upcoming Hall of Forms. He’s higher on the priority list because of his status as a favorite unit, but I should honestly wait for the refine to decide.

Cormag, PP, (Could be +2, No 5*), 180k feathers, 2200 grails; The second in a run of lance fliers with generic stats that seemed to last for several months. Cormag has such an interesting character arc in his game, and it’s a shame the way he was treated. To that end, he has a workable stat spread (I just wish his Res was higher). He ranks high on characters I like, which is why he’s on the list to begin with.

Conrad, EP, (Could be +2, No 5*), 180k feathers, 2200 grails; Conrad is on this list because of a person on my friends list who has a +10 Conrad with Distant Counter and…this boy puts in work. I love bulky units, and bulky cavalry units are few and far between. The only other Lance Calvary units that see use in my barracks are Legendary Ephraim and Dimitri, so he’d be filling a good niche in my barracks. His cost just remains really high for a character that I’m not in love with.

Death Knight, EP (Could be +3, No 5*), 160k feathers, 1750 grails; Decent villain from the most recent game with an intriguing PRF. It’s not quite as evergreen as I’d hoped, but I’ve encountered +10 Death Knights in various modes and they certainly hold their own. Less of a cost than Conrad with slightly less bulk, an interesting trade off.

Young Minerva, EP, +1, 180k feathers, 2700 grails; When Young Minerva first debuted, I was almost positive that she would be my first Grail +10. Now that she’s available, I’m hesitating. I have a strong Axe user already, just not one that flies. She’s got great speed, defense, and attack, and she’d see a lot of use. I just have to decide whether I want her more than I maybe need someone else.

Winter Jaffar, MP, (Could be +1), 180k feathers, 2700 grails; Great art as a unit, I just don’t care for Armors usually. Being a green dagger hurts him a good amount, as does the really high cost. I might just wait a bit for him, but I’m sure he’ll be outclassed in a few months anyway.

Lyon, EP, +7, 60k feathers, 750 grails; My pride and joy for a long, long time. I’m waiting to finish him off until he gets a refine, so I know which way to invest. I also love his recent alt, which has helped fill the void that my original left as he started to fall behind other units (especially Sophia, who has stomped all over him at this point).

Arvis, PP/Support, (Could be +3), 140k feathers, 1750 grails; One of the first red tome users I fell in love with, if only because of his decent stat spread and unique skill. I killed one way back for Ploy fodder, so his cost remains high, but maybe we’ll get some kind of rerun in the future.

Brunnya, EP/Support, (Could be +1), 180k feathers, 2700 grails; My AR defense was recently stomped by a Brunnya and it made me look at her in a different light. As an infantry blue tome, she’s got some competition, but she is surprisingly bulky because of her tome. I am quite intrigued by her.

__________________________________________________

Based on my analysis above, here’s where I’m coming down in terms of a road map. Everyone else isn’t necessarily out of the running, but this focuses on my direct needs for strong Player Phase / Mixed Phase units and puts my resources to best use:

Immediate Use: OG Eliwood, Soleil, Est, Norne, Fallen Ashnard, OG Tharja

OG Eliwood will get the bump first because he fills the most immediate niche and already has some investment made into him. I’ll also dedicate resources to Norne and Fallen Ashnard, since they still need time to develop but are high on my list. I also feels like I’m now making Fallen Ashnard the focus of my grails, for when he comes out in two months, we’ll see if someone overtakes him before then (likely one of the SS boys). I’ll upgrade Est and OG Tharja to test out how they perform before committing. Depending on how Est does, she’ll likely get a bump with Soleil.

Eventual Niche: Titania, Young Minerva, Brunnya

Of these, Titania is the most likely to get the bump, as she’s a favorite and would serve as a solid support unit. Young Minerva functions well at +1 and doesn’t need as much investment as others in order to perform. Brunnya will be leveled up and tested to see if she’s worth the investment.

Build Now and Wait: Rath, Altena

I’m pausing raising up Rath for now, I’ll wait until I have enough copies to fully +10 him. I love his character, but he will almost certainly stay PvE, and his current build shines there. Altena will get further looks after I get more copies.

Determine after Refines: Joshua, Valter, Lyon

I really need to watch and wait for my three Sacred Stones boys. I love all three and would dedicate resources to them, but I need to wait and see what their eventual refines bring to the table. I have the highest hopes for Lyon, since he’s proven to be popular, and they gave Sophia of all people a new life, he deserves it. Valter will likely get some extra stats and potentially Panic built into his weapon (even though he doesn’t have the HP to utilize it as much). Joshua will get some kind of refine that doubles down on his decent Resistance. Conditional DC like Saber/Say’ri would be incredible, but I’m not holding my breath. This also gives me time to continue to deliberate on who I want to spend Grails on.

I’m…..done? No, I’m not done. But this is the closest I’ve had to a game plan for this game beyond “oo! Shiny new units!,” so I’m really proud of myself. Time to spend some resources!

#ddc talks #ddc talks feh #fire emblem heroes #fire emblem #long post

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xb-squaredx · 5 years ago

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Sword Characters in Smash: Unraveling the Hate

The Super Smash Bros. franchise has a plethora of fighters, especially in the latest release, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With the announcement of more DLC fighters at E3 2019, most fans seem quite happy with the announcement of Banjo and Kazooie though many are quite split on the Hero from Dragon Quest joining the roster. Paired with all of the overjoyed and hyped reactions, there are plenty of people that are displeased, and I hear a common refrain from the mouths of those people: “Ugh, not another sword character.” For years now, I hear this repeated again and again, and the complaints only seem to get louder as time goes on. So I’d like to take the time to weigh both side of this argument here. Are sword-based fighters in Smash worth of all this hate, or are people over-reacting? The answer might surprise you.

From what I gather, there are about three common arguments against sword-based fighters. There are too many of them as-it-is, they all play the same, and they’re annoying to fight, dominating the tier lists. That last one is really the only one that I think has much merit, so let’s talk about that one first.

TOP TIER SWORDS

Throughout most of the Smash games, sword-based characters tend to be pretty good in the grand scheme of things. If not the best character, they’re still pretty high up there. Keep in mind, character viability is always going to be a subjective thing. That said, I can see why people would say sword characters are pretty good. They tend to be fast, they have great range, and because of that range, it can be hard for opponents to get in on them. Sword attacks have what you would call a “disjointed hitbox.” That is to say, their attacks have no hurtbox connected to them. So if, say, Donkey Kong throws out a punch and it collides with Lucina’s sword…DK will end up getting hurt while Lucina won’t feel a thing. This means sword attacks have a greater priority when attacks clash, sword characters largely avoid trading blows (on average anyway), and there are indeed a good amount of characters that can struggle when faced with a sword character.

Of course, that goes both ways. Sword characters have range on their side, but get past that range and they’re in trouble. Look at some of the better characters across the games and we see plenty of other characters facing off against sword characters. Fox, Inkling, Snake, Bayonetta, and so on, they all can take on the swordies, so it’s not like they’re an almighty match-up. And again, just because you have a hill to climb against a sword character, that doesn’t mean victory is impossible. I can totally understand not liking fighting against sword characters or not enjoying how they play, and at that point it’s just a preference. But I often don’t see people frame their dislike of sword characters like this, and instead they latch on to the two other narratives I illustrated above.

TOO MANY SWORDS

“We already have like fifty sword characters!” “Oh great, another Fire Emblem rep, cuz we needed twenty of them!” Hyperbole it may be, there seems to be a common argument that we already have “too many” sword characters in Smash and we don’t need any more. The way some people talk, the vast majority of the roster wields a sword. I was curious on the exact ratio, so I did some math.

Starting from the very first Smash game, Smash 64, we have a grand total of ONE sword character, Link, in a roster of 12. You get to Melee, and we gain Young Link, Marth and Roy, for a ratio of 4 to 26. Brawl, assuming we count Zero Suit Samus and Sheik as separate characters, has 37 characters, and only 6 sword-based fighters. We lost Roy and Young Link, though we gained Ike and Toon Link, alongside Pit and Meta Knight. Perhaps coincidentally, Meta Knight’s also considered to be so good as to be broken and low-and-behold, he has a sword. I hear murmurings of sword hate around this point, but it really doesn’t get into high gear until we get to Smash 4.

Alongside the returning six swordies, we gained eight more sword-based characters, with a grand total of 14 sword characters out of the game’s 58 character roster. So that’s Mii Swordfighter, Robin and Shulk in the base game, Roy returning as DLC, as well as Corrin and Cloud as DLC, alongside the “Echo Fighters” Lucina and Dark Pit. Those last two got quite a bit of hate, as they were seen as “wasted slots,” slightly altered versions of Marth and Pit, respectively. That nearly half of the DLC were sword characters wasn’t a fact lost on many. This is where the narrative really got into high gear and complaints started to flood in about there being too many sword-based characters. For all the complaints though, said characters are still just shy of being a fourth of the roster overall. Also keep in mind, Smash 4 introduced us to a LOT of newcomers that were quite unique. Wii Fit Trainer used Yoga, Villager used…anything it could get its hands on, the likes of Mega Man, Pac-Man, Ryu and Bayonetta got in with extremely faithful movesets, and yet people focus on the small handful of characters added in with a bladed weapon. It seems especially weird to hone in on Dark Pit and Lucina, as they were made full-fledged characters late into development, long after the roster was already decided, so it’s not like they were actively taking slots from some other requested character. Concerning the DLC fighters too, Roy was a fan-favorite that many wanted back, while Cloud was a popular fan request that many felt would never happen, and yet many people were hyped when he was revealed. But the hate persisted, and then we get to Smash Ultimate…

Since Ultimate has EVERY character that’s ever been in the series, we see all of the previous swordies back, even in cases where they’re kinda redundant like Young Link. Ganondorf finally gets to use a sword now, so I begrudgingly count him as a sword character, and I’m counting Joker as a swordy as well, even if it is a dagger. While we still don’t know the final two DLC fighters for the Fighters Pass, assuming they’re BOTH sword characters, and counting all the various Echoes as their own fighters, at most we’ll have a ratio of 21 sword characters to a staggering 80 total fighters. At this point I really have to question why people complain about a glut of sword characters, when you have nearly 60 other choices! Most fighting games don’t even have rosters half this large! Looking at all the newcomers for Ultimate too, there’s not a sword in sight until you get to the DLC. Incineroar is our first wrestling-themed fighter, Simon and Richter Belmont give us our first whip-users, while Ridley and King K. Rool are interesting twists on the heavy character archetype, and Inkling can be a kid OR a squid! Super unique overall…with the exception of Isabelle I suppose, but even then, she’s only the second fighter that uses and abuses hammer space, so she’s still contributing to a niche. Now, there IS Chrom as an Echo fighter of Roy, but again…it’s not like adding him in took substantial time and resources away from making sure we got some long-requested fighters that were made more-or-less from scratch.

(An image I’ve seen floating around on this topic gives a pretty good picture of the ratio, circa Smash 4 at least. Can’t seem to find it’s creator though!)

Overall I’d think that with the numbers all laid out, we can see that sword fighters only make up roughly a fourth of the roster on the whole, hardly a majority and plenty of other completely unique fighters available for people tired of clanging swords. So that leaves us with one other issue.

“THEY ALL GOT A COUNTER”

Behind the argument of there being too many swordies, the next most frequent argument I see is that they all “play the same,” and as such, people find them boring. To be fair, there ARE a fair amount of characters that are virtually identical. All the Links, and roughly half the Fire Emblem cast. At least in those cases, it does make sense. Every Link in all of his games uses a sword, and usually has bows and arrows, a boomerang and bombs, so I see no reason to get rid of those moves. Would I like them to be more distinct? Sure, but it makes sense why they play similarly.

When it comes to the Fire Emblem characters, there’s also at least some basis for similarities, from a development standpoint. Roy, and thus Chrom, as well as Lucina, were “bonus” characters added in due to either popularity or to promote a game, and made with Marth as a base to cut costs and make development deadlines. While, again, I’d rather all of them were completely distinct, they’re lucky to be in at all. For what it’s worth too, all of these examples DO have some differences between them, certainly more differences than, say, Peach vs. Daisy or Simon vs. Richter. Young Link’s speed gives him a totally different combo game than the other two Links, for one, whereas with Marth and Roy, they favor hitting from range, or from close-up respectively, with Lucina and Chrom serving as “easier” versions of each. It’s also not as if they can just give them different weapons either, as then their portrayals wouldn’t be faithful. Like it or not, the main characters of Fire Emblem games use swords, so you can’t fault the Smash games when they only have so much to work with. Overall, yes, there are a number of sword characters that are quite similar to each other, but there’s usually a reason behind it, and even then, that’s not to say there aren’t plenty of exceptions.

(via Smash Wiki)

From Brawl onward, it feels as if Sakurai and the developers tried to make any and all sword fighters as distinct as possible, almost like they saw this kind of complaint coming. Ike hits like an absolute truck, Robin and Hero are proficient mages alongside using swords (and have resource management systems to boot), while Corrin has their whole dragon shapeshifting thing going on. The list goes on when it comes to uniqueness to the swordies: Shulk’s Monado Arts, Cloud’s Limit Breaks, and Joker’s Persona...need I say more here? If people are calling all the sword characters clones of each other, then they’re just not paying attention.

Really, it seems more so that people have problems with all of the Fire Emblem reps than anything else. Smash 4 got some flak for giving us four characters from that series, while older franchises like Metroid or Donkey Kong gained no new representation. There’s honestly a weird blind-spot when it comes to people complaining about only certain swordies. Link gets a free pass for the most part (outside of people being annoyed that there’s a Toon Link AND a Young Link in Ultimate), and few complained when Cloud was added but with Shulk or Hero, everyone loses their minds. At times I’ve heard people say “Not another anime sword man,” in which there seems to be emphasis on the anime part of the equation. That tells me that perhaps it’s just a bias against anime, or overly Japanese characters than their weapon of choice. On top of this, the complaints mainly seem to come from Western fans, and with that in mind, the blind hate makes a bit more sense.

(via Reddit)

Up until Awakening, Fire Emblem was fairly niche outside of Japan, while it was rather popular in its native country. Then there’s the inclusion of Dragon Quest’s Hero, a series that is ridiculously popular in Japan, but never really got much play outside of it. It stands to reason that people would be more dismissive of characters from series they don’t have a long history with then, and would help explain why Cloud somehow escapes this unscathed. Final Fantasy VII is essentially THE JRPG that broke into the mainstream in the West, and the Persona series isn’t too far behind in popularity abroad, explaining Joker’s own hype reveal. But let’s go deeper here: the Zelda series is more popular in the West than in Japan, so Link being held in high regard makes sense. Now, am I generalizing a bit here, acting as if all Westerners think alike? Sure. There’s going to definitely be people that don’t subscribe to that notion, and there are certainly people happy to see Hero in Smash or Shulk or Chrom from the West. But this goes a long way towards explaining the somewhat inconsistent hate directed at these characters, and at this point, it feels less like hate and more like indifference or ignorance than anything else.

The Super Smash Bros. games are huge, filled with all kinds of fans, young and old, hardcore or casual. When you get that big, you’re not going to be able to please everyone, and I’m in no way suggesting with this post that people CAN’T dislike a certain character in the game. Everyone has their own tastes and reasons for thinking what they do, but I began writing this post as a way to try to figure out where this somewhat venomous reaction came from. Smash is a series I absolutely adore, and it saddens me to see negativity surrounding it in cases where it doesn’t seem just. It’s really more a case of ignorance than outright malice in most cases I think, and I think the majority of fans are really appreciative, with a small (if vocal) minority giving off the impression that we’re all ungrateful, when it’s simply not true. There will always be some bad apples that try to sour the bunch, but hopefully anyone that reads this comes away with a greater appreciation for what goes into these games, and maybe, just maybe, if the next big Smash reveal involves a sword, there’ll be just a bit less dismissal directed towards it.

-B

#supersmashbros #smash ultimate #sword fighters #fire emblem #chrom #marth #roy #link #shulk #cloud #nintendo switch

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nadziejastar · 6 years ago

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I think a big obstacle that I don't see acknowledged to Lea and Isa becoming romantically involved is that Japanese culture is even more conservative regarding LGBT issues than Western culture is. SE has only had a few LGBT characters in their entire history, and they're all relatively minor. I hope that Isa and Lea can break the mold and I think that them being both supporting characters and adults makes it more likely, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

I definitely don’t have my hopes up either. I think KH3 did everything it could to intentionally eliminate all the intimacy between Lea and Isa. Skuld seemed to be thrown into the mix for that purpose. Even if they hadn’t sabotaged it in KH3, I still think the relationship would have been more implied that outright stated. Because like you said, Japan is even more conservative than the West regarding such depictions. I can compare the situation with Lea and Isa to a few other pairings and how they were handled.

There’s Yosuke and the main character (Yu) from Persona 4. Yosuke was going to be a romance option. Voiced dialogue still exists in the files (including dubbed!), but the option was completely removed by the time of release. The fact that even a more niche series (well, at the time) like Persona felt too afraid to put an optional romance between two guys in, shows how taboo this topic is, especially in Japan. And KH3 was much higher profile and had a much bigger budget than P4. So, it was not that surprising to me to see how Lea and Isa got treated. It was like déjà vu. Doesn’t make me less annoyed by it, though.

I also think they heavily altered Yosuke’s personality in the final game to cover up any suggestion of same-sex attraction. In the final game he mostly acts like a frat boy stereotype. Constantly hitting on any girl, and making sexist and homophobic remarks. They were really overcompensating. It was very annoying actually. And it only made him seem more closeted. In his Social Link, the dialogue was incredibly well-written and I loved his personality. This pairing was handled so similarly to Lea and Isa. Here’s why I think so:

Yosuke: Oh yeah, I’m Yosuke Hanamura! I’m his friend. His partner, y'know.

Marie: …Partner? You mean like a close friend?

Yosuke: Heheh, that about sums it up. Er, what’s your name?

They’re very close. Yosuke constantly refers to himself as Yu’s “partner”.

Yosuke: I haven’t changed addresses since before we moved to Inaba. I mean, I might get a text from someone. …It’s hard to call, y'know? If I called people just to tell them my number changed, they’d get annoyed. And some of them never planned to text me anyway…Oh but hey, don’t look at me like I don’t have any friends! ……Though to tell you the truth, I don’t remember what we all used to talk about. Can’t really call ‘em friends…

He did not feel close to any of his old friends.

Yosuke: It’s only with you guys that I talk seriously like this. I dunno why, but I feel like I don’t have to lie…Especially with you. You’ve already seen the worst of me and all. But well… thinking about it now, if someone had to see that, I’m glad it was you.

He opens up to you in a way he doesn’t with anyone else.

Yosuke: So, you ever invited a girl in here?

“I haven’t.”

Yosuke: Haha, maybe you’re more of a man’s man than I thought.

> Yosuke seems happy…

He’s happy that you are a “man’s man”.

“I will soon.”

Yosuke: Seriously!? That mean you’re working on someone!?

> Yosuke is keyed up…

He gets anxious if you say you’re bringing a girl over.

Yosuke: M-Man, kids sure are mature these days…Well, my first love was in first grade, too! I’ve always been ahead of my time. But, well… I don’t really need that in my life right now. It’s just not the time…I have something I need to do before that can happen…

He said that he was not interested in dating right now. He’s working on sorting out his feelings, since the girl he liked before was murdered. Yet in the rest of the game, they have him constantly hit on every girl and act desperate to get a girlfriend. It was so weird. It felt like deflection, in the same way Skuld was with Lea and Isa.

Yosuke: When the murders started, I got excited…I thought there was finally a point to me being in Inaba…I thought I could forget Senpai was gone… and the fact that I was such a loser…I jumped at the murders and never once thought about what I was doing…I… didn’t even take the first step…I’m sorry…Saki-senpai. I’m sorry… Yu.

He starts crying after opening up to you. There’s an option to hug him. Around the waist too. He says it’s for girls, but still accepts it. That was what he needed. You are the one who helps him sort out his feelings.

Yosuke: This town I hated so much? Now, I love it. There’s still nothing here, but I have family and friends… and you. The important things are never far off… They’re all around you.

He mentions family and friends, hesitates, then mentions you separately. Does that mean you’re more special to him than a friend?

I just did what I thought was the best thing at the time. For Roxas, for Xion, for the Organization—and for Isa. But most of all for me.

It reminded me of this. Axel mentions everyone else, hesitates, then mentions Isa separately. Not Saïx, Isa. Was Isa special to him?

Yosuke: I always wanted to be “special.” I thought my life’d finally have meaning if I was “special” to someone. That’s why I was really excited when got my Persona. But I really didn’t need it… It’s not what you have or what you can do…Just being born, living your life… Before you know it, you’re already special to someone.

“You’re right.”

Yosuke: Yeah… Like you… You’re special to me, you know?

Yep. Yosuke wants to be special to someone, and he says you’re special to him.

“That’s not true.”

Yosuke: You just don’t realize it yet. You’re already special… to Chie, Yukiko… and me.

When Yosuke said “special” it stood out to me. This was before I found out that the romance option was taken out. I don’t pick up romantic vibes between male characters that often. I don’t wear shipping goggles. Their relationship simply seemed romantic to me. “Special” is not a word guys will use with each other very often.

Because it is very intimate. If the writers have a character say that another character is “special” to them, it almost always will seem romantic. Especially between two guys. And I did get those vibes. When I found out he was supposed to be a romance option, I wasn’t surprised. So, after all this intimate bonding, how does their arc end?

Yosuke: I didn’t realize it…When I called you “special,” I thought some more about it. I think of everyone, I wanted to be acknowledged by you the most…So…I want you to hit me! Give me a good one. Knock out all this crap inside of me. I want to be equal with you. I want us to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. So c'mon…

By…getting in a fist fight? Two guys were getting just a bit too close and intimate with each other. Yosuke used a taboo word. “Special”. Now he has to be beaten up for it. Otherwise it’s just too GAY, ya know? And that’s NOT okay. The message is if a guy is too intimate with another guy, he needs to “man up” and get some sense knocked into him. Sad, really. In the deleted dialogue, there was a romantic confession. Yosuke says he likes you. The Japanese word for “like” is the one specifically used romantically. To me this is the ultimate display of the writers chickening out.

And that’s how Lea and Isa’s arc felt to me, too. There was all of this dialogue suggesting there was something very intimate and special between them. Then in KH3, we get a girl shoehorned in out of nowhere. Apparently Saïx was doing “everything for” her, despite having zero emotional capacity. And Lea also wants to “clobber” Isa now, not free his heart. It felt so contrived in order to create emotional distance between them, so any hints of romance would be gone, gone, gone. It felt like the writers were panicking and going “No Homo!” They were so desperate that they wouldn’t even let the real Isa get saved from being a vessel. That’s how afraid they were of Lea and Isa’s natural chemistry and special intimacy together. Pathetic.

Then there’s Ike and Soren from the Fire Emblem series. Lea and Isa reminded me of them. You have the more confident, “masculine” one in Ike and Lea. And then you have the calm, quiet, “feminine” one in Soren and Isa. They have a hard time opening up to anyone else. I think Isa even kinda looks like Soren. They both have that penetrating stare, indicating high intelligence. And they have soft, delicate features, indicating vulnerability underneath the surface.

They both act cold outwardly, but Soren is described as a very empathetic young man. And I think Isa was, too. I love this ship. I think this is the direction they were originally trying to take Lea and Isa’s relationship. This pairing is HEAVILY implied by the story. But it’s never made explicit. Why do I think it’s romantic?

Soren: Curse you! Why won’t you let it go?! I have no one to rely on but you! If I tell you and you turn on me… I… I… I could no longer live.

Ike: That’s why you have to tell me, Soren. You wouldn’t open your heart to anyone else. So if I didn’t so something about it, you’d probably be in pain forever.

Soren is totally emotionally dependent on Ike. And Ike is tender and soft with him in a way he isn’t with anybody else. There’s just a level of trust and intimacy that is unique to them.

Soren: When the sage died, no one would help me. I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t find food. I was dying. You were the only one who helped. You and your father. That’s why you’re my friend. My…only friend.

This is the localized text. Even in the first game, the they tried to remove any romantic intimations. They added a reference to Ike’s dad for no reason. And plenty of people still choose to see Soren and Ike as just friends. I think it’s more than obvious the writers intended for them to be more than that. But many people don’t want to see it. And it was kept ambiguous for that very reason.

Soren: When the sage died, no one would help me. I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t find food. I was dying. Only you held your hand out to me. That’s why…only you are special to me…

This is a translation of the original Japanese dialogue. There’s that word again. “Special”. This word cannot be overstated. It conveys a VERY different message than “friend”. That’s why they thought it needed to be changed.

Soren: “There’s only one place for me to be, Ike… and it’s by your side.”

Soren is described as “the boy always at Ike’s side” by other characters. The story demonstrates again and again that they are inseparable. If Ike and Soren achieve A-level support, there is a paired ending. Ike has this with no female character, and Soren has this with no other character.

Axel: I think you can be inseparable even if you’re apart. It’s like, if you feel really close to each other. Like best friends.

Lea and Isa were inseparable, too.

Ike: Listen, lady. This is a shop, and I’m a customer. What’s so sweet about that?

Aimee: Oh, such cold words… My hero plays hard to get! You’re only making me more interested.

Ike: Will you let go of my hand? Please?

There’s a running joke about Ike avoiding a persistent female admirer that Soren has to save him from.

Gatrie: Not those flowers… THOSE flowers!

Ike: …Gatrie, we’re inside. There’s nothing here but the temple handmaidens.

Gatrie: Exactly! It’s like a whole new species of girl lives in Begnion! Everyone in this palace is drop-dead gorgeous!

Ike: …

Gatrie: You know what I mean, Ike? Tee hee! Say, which one strikes your fancy? That buxom lass with the chestnut hair is… Hey, Ike? Ike?

He has no interest in admiring pretty women.

“Hey, Redhead over there!” Axel turned at the sound of the voice, scratching his head.

“What, Larxene. I’m Axel. Got it memorised?”

“I can’t just remember over ten names all of a sudden, can I?”

“Yeah, I guess not.” Axel watched as Larxene ran up to him.

“How is it? Does the coat suit me?” Larxene did a twirl in front of him. The coat always changed to fit the wearer. It was a perfect tight fit, as expected.

“It’s fine, I guess.”

This feels like it was put in for the same reason Ike’s scenes were. Sure, Aimee is clingy and obsessive. And Larxene is a bitch. It doesn’t prove they’re disinterested in women or that they’re in love with their best friend. But in addition to everything else, it presents a strong argument. Axel isn’t interested in admiring pretty women.

Soren—An officer in the Greil Mercenaries. A cool-headed realist who has deep trust in Ike, but will rarely open up to any other beorc or laguz.

Isa—A quiet and cool-headed youth. Though he does come out of his shell when talking to his best friend Lea, toward others he is distant and untalkative.

Like Soren, Isa is described in terms of his relationship to Lea. He only comes out of his shell for him. There’s a level of intensity to their friendship that is unique. I am sure Isa was dependent on Lea emotionally, like Soren was with Ike.

Soren: Ike? Ike! This can’t… It can’t… What am I… If you’re not here, what am I to do?

If Ike dies in the first game, Soren has a special reaction.

Soren: “Ike… Please live… Even if all the cities burn, and the seas swallow Tellius… You mustn’t die… Not you…”

And another in the second game. He cannot bear to lose Ike. Sounds like some Shakespearean sonnet, too. That just doesn’t sound like something you’d say about someone unless you were in love with them.

Micaiah: Your heart is frozen, but I feel a warm core trying to melt through that ice. I see… You have someone you cherish very much. Someone you rely on.

Soren: Do not presume to understand me, you ridiculous girl. You have no idea who I am and what I can do. None at all.

His heart was frozen, but Ike was able to melt through the ice. Soren cherishes him and relies on him. He doesn’t appreciate hearing it from others, because Ike is his weakness. Soren’s entire character arc revolved around Ike.

Saïx:Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves.

Much like how Saïx says he lost his true purpose as soon as Axel left Organization XIII.

Ike: Soren, don’t cry.

Soren: Cry…? I’m … crying?

Ike: You’re so smart, and yet you’re completely hopeless at normal stuff. Look, come here.

Soren: P-please don’t treat me like a child. I’m not that…

Ike: Come on.

Soren: …

Ike: Sheesh, you’re such a pain. I’ll come over there.

Soren: [breaks out crying]

Another scene that involves hugging a crying person. A very intimate act. Soren opens up about his dark past. He pushes Ike away when he tries to hug him, saying not to treat him like a child. But he accepts it, too. It’s exactly what he needed and wanted. This scene is referred to in the official fan book as “the moment where their two hearts become one”. I think a scene like this is what they were absolutely terrified of happening in KH3.

Axel: Hey, I’m not about to tell you ALL my dark secrets. Got it memorized?

It all comes down to the degree of intimacy. Axel doesn’t express his deepest feelings to Roxas, Xion, or anyone else. And he doesn’t want to. He’s more than happy to avoid heavy issues like his past. He’d prefer to keep things light and fun, just enjoying their company.

Axel: As long as we remember each other, we’ll never be apart.

Roxas: Ha ha, wow, Axel. That sounded ridiculous.

Axel: What? I thought it was pretty deep.

When Axel made his comment, the other two thought it was awkward. Roxas laughs and says he sounded he sounded ridiculous.

Xion: Don’t worry, Axel–we got your hokey speech memorized.

Axel: Just checking.

And Xion said his remark was hokey. And I don’t think either of them were out of line with their comments. I completely understand why they teased him. It was because his statement contained a lot of intimacy. It sounded like something you’d say to, well…a lover. To them Axel’s remark came out of nowhere. And it kind of did. Because for the most part, his comment wasn’t really directed at them. Sure, he never wants to forget them. But he had someone else on his mind before he said it. He only spoke his thoughts out loud to cheer them up. But even they could recognize that the comment didn’t feel appropriate for them.

Day 118: You Changed, Not Me

Talking to Roxas and Xion always brings back memories of my human life, back when I was a kid. It’s a weird sensation. I ought to be able to share all this with Saïx, but I just don’t feel like it anymore. It’s strange, but I’m content with just missing what’s gone. I’m not the one who changed. You did.

Roxas and Xion remind him of his past. But unlike with them, Axel DOES want to share his memories with Saïx. Badly. He wants to connect emotionally with him. But Saïx has no interest in having an emotional relationship. Because of this, interacting with him is incredibly painful for Axel. So painful that he’s more content with just missing what’s gone rather than subjecting himself to continual rejection. Saïx is the only character Axel acts like this towards.

Axel: So you don’t need a heart to have something that you can’t bear to lose then. If that’s true, then I guess the closest thing that we Nobodies have would be memories of our past. It’s the memories that create the things that we don’t want to lose.

Even though Saïx rejects him, Axel is always careful not to open up to anyone else about his past. He never does, even in KH3. And yet, memories of his past were the one thing he felt like he couldn’t bear to lose. The same memories that he longed to share with Saïx. Axel desires intimacy with Saïx and nobody else. He can’t bear to lose his memories of the past—of Isa.

Axel: Love is what happens if there’s something really special between two people.

Roxas: You mean, like, if they’re best friends? Inseparable?

Axel: Well, you can care about your friends, I guess, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

There’s that word again. “Special”. And again, it conveys a VERY different message than “friend”. It’s a very taboo word when used by men towards other men. If men can’t be special to each other in a video game about hearts, light, friendship, magic, love, and Disney Princesses, then they’re pretty much out of luck I guess.

#anti-kh3 #kh axel #kh lea #kh saïx #kh isalea #leaisa #akusai #kingdom hearts meta

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lesbeet · 5 years ago

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god i remember i used to listen to the tsn soundtrack while i was teaching myself to code and making themes and shit lskdlfsdkfj

it’s so funny i remember seeing it in theaters w a friend of mine when it came out in 2010 and i thought it was mediocre, kinda boring, wished i hadn’t spent the money to go see it

i DON’T remember watching it a second time and i don’t remember why i even would have because of how indifferent i’d felt about it the first time, but like. somehow we’ve ended up here and it’s my favorite movie in the world and i’m so glad

i’m putting the rest under a cut bc it got long but like. see more rambling about the social network (2010) below if you have any interest:

i do remember being pleasantly surprised when i found out there’s a tiny little online niche of twitter/tumblr people who love it as much as i do bc i feel like when i tell most people tsn is my favorite movie they’re like “...huh? weird” and i dont wanna go into the whole spiel about IT’S NOT ABOUT FACEBOOK IT’S ABOUT A FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN TWO HORRIFICALLY REPRESSED COLLEGE BOYS WHO ARE PROBABLY IN LOVE, AND ALSO THE SCREENWRITING AND DIRECTION ARE STELLAR

like there are ofc the big-ticket items that everyone knows and loves (”it’ll be because you’re an asshole” “the marlin and the trout” “my prada’s at the cleaners” “i’m just checking your math on that” “let’s gut the friggin nerd,” the chimney-to-pool zipline, and so forth bc aaron sorkin might be pretentious as hell but i LIVE for his dialogue and as much as people complain that he’s too elitist and that he alienates viewers w his dialogue, like...the west wing is widely considered one of the best shows that’s ever been on television, and most peoples’ favorite parts of this particular movie are the zingers and one-liners and other memorable quotes) but also just. on every level it’s so good. on every level!

i wanna talk more about sorkin bc as much as i credit fincher w the reason i love the movie so much bc he’s my favorite director, sorkin did a lot of the heavy lifting as the writer! fincher can obviously hold his own w scripts that are very different

(in fact most people were surprised when they found out he’d be directing this film in particular bc it seemed so different from his usual tastes, and understandably sorkin’s and fincher’s styles don’t necessarily seem readily compatible at first glance, though obviously it worked well! i think fincher’s clinical, sleek look just the right amount of seriousness to the story. so much of it takes place on a college campus and there are college idiots doing stupid shit throughout a lot of it, and i think other cinematography styles might’ve either made it too funny or too dramatic, and we would’ve lost that crucial element, which decontextualizes a lot of the personal growth (or lack thereof) in the different characters. also it feels high-tech and clean and that style works so well with all the tech-mimicry trent reznor + atticus ross wove into the score.

like i don’t really know much about very many other directors, but i’m trying to picture if like. chris nolan or even like. fucking spielberg or whomever directed the movie and i just don’t think it would’ve fit as well. fincher loves digital and cgi and precision and i think that works very well with the pointed tightness of the dialogue, of the rigidity of the majority of the characters in the film (esp mark!!) who seem to change very little, if at all, through the movie, and just visually it’s like w black mirror or ex machina or any other films or shows that feature some sort of technological innovation, where they keep everything high-def and impersonal and sleek and deliberate)

the amount of information about the characters that’s conveyed in the very first scene with mark and erica, more or less unrealized by the audience! the non-linear structure that changes the fundamental story question of “what will happen” to “how did this happen”! the way sorkin made us care about an antihero who literally doesn’t change or grow as a person until the very end of the movie when he’s left with no choice but to realize how badly he’s fucked up!

how about the fact that eduardo literally only mentions his father in 3 little lines throughout the 2 hour film and despite the fact (or because of the fact) that we actually know very little about eduardo as a person those little lines carry SO much weight

now i’m just gonna mention some of my favorite little things in the movie that i don’t see people talk about a lot sldkfjsd

first off that cut from sean saying “you know what’s better than a million dollars?” to eduardo in the deposition saying “a billion dollars.” fucking brilliant (though i think one of fincher’s best cuts of all time is actually in gone girl, when it goes from nick and amy kissing to nick being swabbed for dna, but that’s an obvious one i think)

also “you know how much i’ve read about you? nothing.”

“because we are gentleman of harvard”

“anne, punch me in the face. go ahead”

“whoops, broke your 350 year-old doorknob.”

divya falling and disrupting the a capella performance

“i can’t stare at that loop of niagara falls which has absolutely nothing to do with the caribbean.” (also the fact that they were at an AEPi party klsdjflksjd)

“what you just said makes no sense at all.” “i’m devastated by that.”

brenda song lighting the fucking scarf on fire

i really love the whole scene w dakota johnson it’s such a breath of fresh air from a lot of the rest of the movie (also ik fincher has said he wanted to make a clear visual distinction between california and cambridge, and since this is the first time we’re seeing the west coast in the film the brightness and sun and lax-ness really highlight that)

“the winklevi”

eduardo’s face the entire time sean is talking at dinner is just the visual equivalent of “.......”

hand covers bruise of course duh

“you wanna hire an IP lawyer and sue him?” “no, i wanna hire the sopranos to beat the shit out of him with a hammer”

“i’m sorry that you are not sufficiently impressed with my education” “and i’m sorry i don’t have a rowboat, so i guess we’re even”

“i’m not a psychiatrist, but—” “well i’m glad we’ve got that on the record.”

[EDUARDO: you didn’t bring down the record companies. they won

SEAN: in court

EDUARDO: ....yeah ??]

i didn’t mean for this to get so long i just really love this movie ksdjflkjsdf

#mine #tsn #sefa rambles #im starting a new tag called sefa rambles i think just so i can keep all my digressive garbage in one place

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