#thanks intsys for that i really appreciate it

[soren-apologist]

i mentioned it a couple years ago but i still think feh could really benefit from some sort of trading system

i think we all have an experience of summoning being absolute ass, so being able to trade away good heroes you got on accident and don’t want for characters you actually do would be nice

i guess if intsys was concerned it’d tank the economy they could limit it to feh pass or something so that even if you’re not spending money on orbs you’re still giving them like $10 usd per month just to be able to do it

my ass has been trying to summon one final chrobin duo to get mine to +10 while dealing with the looming threat of brave soren, so having a method of getting characters outside of making blood sacrifices to rngsus would be deeply appreciated. thank you for coming to my ted talk

[adamantineheart]

my final three hopes thoughts

AG >>>>>> SB >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GW

anyway

The Good

AG is basically just dimilix fanfic. like we are either psychics or INTSYS/KT owes us royalties.

The character work in AG was phenomenal. They way they adjusted the characters for their situation but still made them feel like who they are? Fucking ace. SB went a little differently, where certain characters feel much different but I can forgive it because the eagle kiddos were always weird for characterization due to the route split. Which version of these characters you consider canon is up to you.

Whoever wrote the Duscur and Sreng paralogues… I love you. The Duscur paralogue is just so so so emotionally moving and really lets Dedue grieve as he usually isn't allowed and gave Ingrid a lot of closure she desperately needed. Meanwhile Felix gets to just really show what kind of person he is and drive home that what he needs is the present aka Dimitri to feel satisfied (instead of clinging to the past). Sreng was wonderful for the lore, political situation, and all that character work, especially between Sylvain and Matthias.

Monica is the character I didn't know I wanted. I love her…. I've already added background Monigard to two dmlx fics. She's just the perfect amount of unhinged. <3

Playable Rodrigue is one of the best parts of this game. THANK YOU!!!! It also means his optional death is the most impactful of the game, aided by it being centered around dimilix and not Shez.

Voiced Shez is an improvement, as is voiced Byleth. I also appreciate that Shez isn't anyone important and is a student instead of a teacher. Also thank you for only making some characters make romantic overtures toward Shez instead of almost all of them.

There are a lot of excellent paralogues in the game and most of them had a lot of thought put into their setup (which characters were chosen, the premise, the writing, etc).

Making my blorbos uber powerful is a lot of fun 💙Also Felix is such a fun unit (I loved the sword units the most tbf).

Supports are generally amazing. A lot of improvements to some original chains or new versions that add something to the relationship. All new chains altogether that fleshed out relationships we were denied before. Also a lot of ships I hate had reduced supports or had them removed altogether :) No one won as hard as me in the shipping department tbh. 🫡

A great OST again even if nothing hit quite as hard as some of the original final boss themes.

I actually love the setup of the story even if I take issue with individual routes or moments. But it was nice getting out of the academy setting and exploring Fódlan instead. 

Did I mention Dimitri and Felix? His Majesty and Duke Fraldarius? They are perfect and I love them.

The Bad

No fucking snow maps in Faerghus.

Edelgard's reunification scheme is 10x worse here than Three Houses because Rhea is willing to ally with her against TWSITD. As usual, Edelgard is stuck in her assumptions on what she thinks is true and refuses have an open dialogue with the Church and Dimitri, choosing violence because she believes she knows what's best for everyone. I've accepted this about her but it's still a hard pill to swallow that dangled her talking to Rhea and Dimitri above our heads and then took it away.

​​Zahras is badly written independent of route, just like Gronder Field. The desire to make the lords interact even when it’s nonsensical just needs to stop. It sucked every time.

IT’S SO EXPENSIVE TO UPGRADE STUFF (like weapons). LIKE REALLY EXPENSIVE.

Every route had issues, especially toward the end but the worst for me was GW. There was a lot of bad character shit, not just for Claude, though he was the plot instigator of everyone else being out for blood.

Almyra is a joke now I guess. Actually, it flip flops being a joke and completely awful. It’s true they were never great in FE3H but Cyril existed as a contrast. Him not being playable sucked. 🙁

Scarlet Blaze’s convient ending…….. Edelgard’s main enemies just kill each other……….. it just felt like “Why were we even there?” We accomplished nothing.

How dare I not be able to making Dimitri and Felix marry :( WHERE IS THE DIMILIX WEDDING DLC!

[evostrashbin]

I didn't realize there was a CYL going on until I saw your drawing about voting for Grima. So I had four days open when I got the poll thing up.

So I voted for Grima and both Robins (because I don't particularly care who wins and hopping on to do a thing that takes five seconds and like 0.013 effort isn't a big deal)

But I didn't wanna repeat one character and not the other two.

So on day four I voted for that one npc that shows up once in FE Fates Birthright (Layla) entirely out of morbid "I wonder what shenanigans would be unleashed if people banded together to be gremlins and force nintendo to come up with SOMETHING" curiosity. And because it was 2am when I voted that time.

I thought I'd share, maybe you'd snicker a bit before moving on with your day, you know?

I've heard a bunch of people voted for Gullveig out of similar reasons since we literally don't know anything about her yet and she's the main villain (most likely?) of the book so they were curious about how Intsys would probably handle that c': Thank you for supporting my agenda, it's very much appreciated 🙏💖 I'm all for people voting for their faves obviously, which is why I've never really done propaganda in the previous years but I'm making an exception this year over Intsys' treatment of the Robins and lowkey would love for them to win 🙏 I know Grima winning isn't realistic but I want him to rank higher this year

[iturbide]

Since there’s already a working list of terrible fathers in fire emblem, are there any notable good dads that you can think of? I ask because I’ve recently started on three houses, and Jeralt seems like a cool guy. Also, sorry if this is a repeat ask, the submission screen froze, and I wasn’t sure if it went through.

Actually this is the first time the ask came through, so thanks for re-sending!  Tumblr is constantly full of problems, I swear.

But as for good dads, probably the shining example I will always fall back on is Chrom.  He is canonically a loving husband and doting father (Lucina herself talks about it in their supports), and he personally taught her swordplay, something she brings up not just in her supports, but in an in-game cutscene.  Lucina very clearly loves him dearly, and even when he’s at his most unprepared -- confronted by his daughter from a ruined future after she saved him from almost-certain death -- his thoughts are not about trying to understand the situation, but comforting Lucina, apologizing because she “deserved better than one sword and a world of troubles” and holding her when she breaks down.  He’s just a really, really good father.

There’s also Hector and Eliwood from Binding Blade, both of whom really seemed to be caring, loving fathers to their kids.  Hector stated outright that he would protect his daughter Lilina to his own death (which, unfortunately, ends up happening), and despite his failing health Eliwood seemed intent on facing the threat of Bern himself until it became clear that he physically couldn’t, at which point he tasked his son with leadership -- along with professional soldiers and mercenaries who he hoped would ensure Roy’s safety. 

Other examples, though, weirdly include Arvis.  He’s one of those cases where as a person he does some frankly horrific shit in the name of his goals, but as a parent he seems to be quite devoted and loving.  It’s important to remember that he only found out his blood relation to Deirdre after Julius and Julia were born -- but rather than cast them out or harm them, he kept them close, raised them well -- and even when things went so wrong, once Julius was possessed by Loptyr, he tried to find ways to save and support Julia before his death.  A lot can be said about him, but “he was a terrible parent” doesn’t really fit, especially when his dying words are him literally calling out for his wife and daughter.

Also, not gonna lie, Jeralt is a really, really good dad as far as I can see.  Did he make a ton of mistakes?  Oh, heck yes.  Was it malicious?  Of course not.  He very clearly loved his child and did his best in spite of the difficulties and uncertainties.  Byleth was a weird kid, quiet and seemingly emotionless, not to mention the whole missing heartbeat deal, but Jeralt took care of them, raised them, trained them, and tried so hard to shield them from a danger he couldn’t begin to comprehend.  His death hurt a lot, at least for me, because I was really hoping we could have a decent parent actually live through the full course of the story but noooooo they had to take him too just like they do all the good dads.

[shauni-will-never-write]

SHAUNI!!! PLUMERIA HAS A SUMMER ALT!!!

AAAAAARGHHH

I GOT REALLY EXCITED READING THIS BUT TURNS OUT SHE'S PART OF A DUO ALT WITH... CAEDA???

I wish she had been a solo unit instead x'D Caeda being the "main" unit here, I think I'll just skip this one, unfortunately... Damnit, Summer!Plumeria was something I genuinely wanted! TvT Intsys, why!

Thanks for letting me know though, anon, I appreciate it!

[crystalelemental]

I have no idea why Intsys wont give us normal Rhea, honestly she should have been on the church banner with Seteth Flayn and Catherine that came out last year. Do they think she wont sell or something? Because I know a ton of people (myself included) who would empty our wallets once Rhea makes it into the game.

Count me as another because I love Rhea. She should’ve been, but I guess they really needed…uh…shit, who was the GHB that time? I can’t even remember. It wasn’t Solon, he was more recent. Uh. Uhhhh… Fuck I have no idea.

Anyway I really don’t like Shamir or Catherine so I’m personally of the mind that that banner sucked shit. Thanks for making three houses more over represented with half of it being characters I didn’t want in, and making it so Marianne would obviously win CYL5. Appreciate it, IS.

[sunraise]

happy new years... ish! i made crestwills like 3-4 months ago, & yet the amount of support i’ve gotten on this blog is astounding. thank you all so much for... everything, really! the general interest makes my heart swell. but i appreciate every ask, every like i get, i truly do! 

i just drew the three most popular muses on this blog-- sylvain is undoubtably first, which is... surprising? he’s been here like what. for two weeks... what a bastard. next is glenn, who is now my city now intsys, & then mercie, the one who started this all! 

i look forward to the coming years-- even if i get distracted by other fandoms or rpcs, the fire emblem one truly has a huge place in my heart. :)

alt. versions here!

[emmeryn-in-feh]

Man I just wanna say that I really appreciate your dedication to this blog! You post so frequently although it's been over a year, it's admirable! Let's hope IntSys decides to put Emmeryn in sooner, rather than later! Still, your blog is fantastic solidarity to fans like me who just really wanna see Emmeryn!

hey, thank you! it can be pretty... tedious to try to post something unique and original every single day, glad to hear i’m not screaming into a void haha! emmeryn solidarity my friend

[zenithgays]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Fire Emblem Heroes Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Alfonse/Bruno | Zacharias Characters: Alfonse (Fire Emblem), Bruno | Zacharias Published: 2019-05-16 Word Count: 1663 Summary:

Alfonse was the first of the two of them to find his voice again, stepping forward to meet Zacharias better. He still couldn’t quite believe his eyes, that Zacharias was here again. “Were you forced to attend a festival, too?” he asked, not entirely sure what answer he was hoping for, or why he even wanted to know in the first place. He hoped he sounded light enough, like he wasn’t desperate to know what the answer was.

His voice startled Zacharias enough into speaking. “No, no, I was… in the middle of getting married.”

my thoughts under the cut

one day i’ll learn how ao3 tags work and i’ll actually get really good at tagging my content. but that’s not today

anyway hell yeah i got a fic that’s over 1000 words up!

originally i wrote this for a friend’s zine i applied for (bc whether i actually got in or not i wanted to write this anyway). but that fell through so instead it’s just on ao3 now. i wrote this... in august of last year? so it’s Almost A Year Old

anyway i wanted to post this before we got brides announced in case of the very RARE chance that intsys would be kind to me and give me groom alfonse

lmao god i love describing outfits. love it so much. i also think it was super galaxy brain of me to give bruno a wedding veil in place of his mask

of course i hinted at lesbian sharena in this bc it’s very important to me. and also more obviously her being a good sister to alfonse, and a good friend to zacharias by having her make their outfits. alfonse’s is mostly matching bruno’s but minus the veil and the colors are black and purple instead

bruno didn’t wanna tell alfonse for the same reason alfonse had trouble asking, btw. he wasn’t sure how they were in this zenith and he didn’t wanna make things awkward by telling alfonse that they were getting married

ah. once more i put my hc of zacharias going by either name (bc i hc bruno as trans and i know lots of trans people that go by multiple names) in here. i almost forgot i did that tbh. good shit tho

i didn’t really think out how alfonse confesses to bruno. tbh even if i did i don’t think i’d elaborate on it here bc it’s so much funnier when u don’t really have many details about it

anyway. this is maybe my favorite fic i’ve written so i hope you all liked it too. and thanks for reading this post too if you did, i appreciate it

favorite part: “But… who was your bride?”

Zacharias stifled a laugh, reaching out to brush some of Alfonse’s hair out of his face. “A groom, actually, and do you really need to ask? There was only ever one person it could be, after all.”

Alfonse felt his heart fluttering in his chest at the gesture. “I’m sure I’m not misreading this, but please tell me. For my peace of mind, be direct.”

“It was you,” Zacharias said, the look on his face distinctly fond. Alfonse had never known before now that three simple words could ever make him feel such relief.

[draconicthorns]

PSA

H-Hewwo everybody I’m so sad that there’s been no Camilla news recently. My life is hollow with how irrelevant she is right now! Gosh, if only something major Camilla wise had happened last night...

Oh yeah. CYL.

Any time a new Camilla alt comes out, there’s a fair amount of backlash. And I don’t just mean “oh, I wish such and such character without an alt got it instead”. Whilst a lot of you know I hated the hot springs Camilla and banner in general the hate can go really overboard in terms of attacking her as a character, or more importantly, her fans.

I’ve not seen any problems on the dash yet, though that may be due in part to my being busy today, as well as sickness naps. I am well aware of some of the comments in the CYL tag, however, and I don’t dare go into Camilla’s today.

I’ve engaged in arguments on the dash defending Camilla before, to varying degrees depending on the alt. However, these were all in circumstances where the backlash was a bit more understandable to begin with and also, I wasn’t recovering from an illness.

I may be biased, but I believe brave!Camilla to be completely fair. IntSys has no control over the votes, so this is genuinely what fans want regardless of the number of alts she already has. It would be a slap in the face to have removed her from the polls, especially as a brave unit would be incredibly different bolverik Camilla to the alts she already has in terms of style i.e. fanservice.

So yeah. This was a fair vote, rather than IntSys deciding we need another alt. If I do see any outright hate about the outcome, that’s really going to feel like an attack on her fans. Some of you know I have a very personal reason for feeling attached to Camilla, which relates to my disability, so yeah I really would appreciate not having to deal with negativity.

If the brave alt is sexualised for no good reason, I’ll be salting then as well, since brave units have all had really cool concepts behind them so far. But for now, it would be nice to keep the dash clean.

So here’s my stance. I have not seen any hate yet, but if I do, there will be an instant unfollow.

 I don’t mean a comment like: “Oh, Anna’s votes being split was unfair! She might have overtaken Camilla if they were merged.” as that is a valid criticism. I voted for Zeke from Echoes, but wasn’t sure if I should go for Camus instead. I get it.

I mean: “Ugh people only voted for that big titted bimbo because of fanservice!!!”

Yes, I have read that actual description of Camilla from a mutual in the past. Naturally, we aren’t mutuals anymore, given it was this blog they followed. Whether I’ll enforce this on my other blogs is to be decided, but it’s a bit odd to follow a Camilla if you hate her so much.

Sorry if this seems unnecessary or pretentious, but I’m really tired of the Camilla hate, on my Camilla dash, and feel like I need to say this preemptively. I dreaded CYL because I knew there’d be hate regardless of if she won or even just came close. To everyone who didn’t want her to win, but are being respectful, I’m genuinely grateful to you. There are characters I’m not a fan of that I believe have too many alts and don’t get as much hate but try to keep that to myself, or to private servers/dms. So I do appreciate anyone who shows the same respect for Camilla’s fans.

Thank you for reading this!

[doktorpeace]

Top 5 Games Of The Year Runner Up And Honorable Mentions

Runner Up: Doki Doki Literature Club (THIS SECTION CONTAINS BIG SPOILERS, IF YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED DDLC AND ARE INTERESTED IN MAYBE TRYING IT HERE’S THE TL;DR It’s good, it plays with your expectations in a very good way and in a multitude of ways, it’s a great little piece of media that brings to life an extremely good character. Also it’s free, go download it on steam.)

Look, maybe it’s because I don’t consume a lot of horror media but this game really stood out to me. Not only for it’s genre though, also for the high quality of its writing and with how great the game is at accomplishing the one and only thing it truly sets out to do: Convey Monika as a character. The horror elements themselves can be a bit hit and miss and some of them are quite predictable, but I feel the game is excellent at building a continuous sense of dread as the player continues through it. It rapidly ratchets up the intensity of its content after taking just enough time for the player to settle in and get comfortable and mixes in JUST A COUPLE of jumpscares (which honestly it probably shouldn’t) in order to keep the player unsteady enough in terms of expectations to keep that dread building. Regardless, throughout the game Doki Doki Literature Club does a great job taking advantage of player expectations both of dating sim visual novels AND of horror writing to ultimately become something just a little bit more. It becomes an excellent character exercise and exploration. Thanks to some smart programming in service of the game’s ultimate intent, to make Monika into a ‘real’ character actually ended up giving me one of the deepest scares any piece of media, video game or otherwise, has ever given me. And it did it without any secondary stimuli like sound or a jumpscare or horrifying visuals. No, in a completely calm moment all that was said was this:

And I REELED back in my chair because the suspense and the dread the game had been building all impacted me at once. You can’t deliver that kind of scare in someone without some smart writing backed up by some VERY smart programming and understanding of player expectations. Honestly Monika is such an excellent and fully realized character despite the game being so short it’s astounding. By taking care to give her a lot of special conditional dialogue, pages upon PAGES of missable content, and even meta-content such as her having unique dialogue that only appears while looking through the game’s files it really just all coalesces into making Monika feel almost real, real enough to give me the willies and to feel a bit sad for her by the end. DDLC is a divisive game and I understand if the game’s handling of certain themes or content doesn’t sit well with other people but for me, and I say this as someone who is no stranger to suicide attempts, the game never went to far. For me it all worked in service of the game’s narrative and Monika’s character growth. Honestly even just little details like how the piano in the soundtrack only starts playing for the first time once Monika is introduced and only ever stops when she’s not watching you or how there’s a lot of different horror elements that only occur randomly so not everyone has the same experience or how some can only happen in fullscreen or in windowed mode, it’s really amazing attention to detail and consideration of her character while also making the game more unique as a product. DDLC was really good. It gave me some good scares but it also gave me a good story and a GREAT character to appreciate. Even if, like me, you’re a bit of a weenie when it comes to horror content I’d wholeheartedly recommend DDLC as a read, assuming you both can handle a jumpscare or two and can handle game content that involves suicide and self harm. I know I didn’t get too in depth here but I wanted to avoid spoiling TOO much and honestly I already said too much as is! Please excuse me! Honorable Mention #1: Yo! Noid 2 - Enter the Void

It’s not often you get a game that’s developed explicitly as a joke that’s so good. Yo Noid 2 is a solid, fun, and funny platformer. It’s all pretty clearly built just to tell one joke right at the very end but the ends ABSOLUTELY justify the means. I can’t talk too in detail about this game without ruining why it’s special, but Yo Noid 2 is a legitimately fun 3D platformer, with good level design, a relatively expressive moveset, a very special Special Action Button, and honestly a great soundtrack to boot! Its difficulty ramps up in a good way across its very short 90-150 minute length culminating in a very fun final boss fight. PLEASE go download Yo Noid 2, if you like 3D platformers and want to have a good laugh it’s 300% worth your time. It’s even free, you have no excuses!!

Honorable Mention #2: Mega Man 11 Mega Man is back, again, and they really did a good job expanding the franchise. While I still like entries such as 9, 10, and 4 better personally there’s no denying MM11 expands the franchise in a positive way more than any other before it. MM11 takes the time tested side scrolling design of the classic Mega Man series and adds just enough of a new wrinkle with the Double Gear system to really expand the player’s horizons and to push their level design concepts. While Double Gear and in fact all of the secondary weapons are entirely unnecessary as is tradition for Mega Man games MM11 does a great job incentives smart use of these mechanics, keeping them balanced with a shared cooldown system between both gears (power and speed) and making every single one of the Robot Master powers actually useful! Also all of the robot master designs are really charming this time, I was initially worried about the addition of voice acting but the voice cast does a great job! The level design is also a treat, while the length of the levels varies DRASTICALLY and Wily Castle 1 is dramatically longer and harder than another other stage in the game overall it’s very easy to just jump into any level and challenge yourself. There is no obvious first boss, they’re all pretty tough, and I started with Acid Man myself. The only thing about MM11 that let me down was the soundtrack; it wasn’t bad it just wasn’t bombastic either, merely present during play but not sticking in my memory at all. MM11 is a great entry in the series and I hope it signals a true return of one of my childhood favorites with more games to come soon.  Honorable Mention #3: Fire Emblem - Mystery of the Emblem (FE12) Taking the great concept of remaking FE’s earliest titles that Shadow Dragon started and actually putting in the elbow grease to make the game really good, FE12 is a stand out entry in the Fire Emblem franchise. While some aspects of its map design are somewhat held back by the original iteration, FE3′s age, the developers at IntSys really did a great job modernizing Archanea and paying good tribute to the characters and story that made this game an absolutely beloved classic in the first place. With overall good map design, modernized mechanics, the best use of an Avatar Character in the franchise, and massively improved unit, class, and weapon balance over the original FE12 polishes its source material to a razor shine. Top it all off with a decent story and great new content that adds a bunch of new dialogue to the characters and this is the definitive way to experience Archenea and its inhabitants. Except for Marth, he was better in Shadow Dragon. Besides Marth’s characterization taking a step back and the gaiden content being rather slapdash and forgettable, this game is everything a remastering should be; Taking what worked and polishing it, improving what didn’t, and adding all new content that fits in with the original game in a productive and fun way for fans. The addition of a wide variety of gameplay difficulties and including the until this game INCREDIBLY rare BS: Fire Emblem expansion chapters previously exclusive to the Super Famicom Satellaview this game cartridge is bursting with good content. It’s a fun, fun game with a lot to offer and great replayability thanks to its BULGING roster of characters and deeply customizable avatar character. If you like Fire Emblem as a franchise I’d heavily recommending finding a patched FE12 rom out there, harder though it is to do now. You owe it to yourself to experience this game. Oh, just play with the battle animations off, they’re REALLY ugly. Still, this game puts Shadow Dragon’s lazy near-direct port of an NES game to DS to shame. Honorable Mention #4: A Hat in Time - Seal the Deal This DLC has been getting some backlash and frankly I don’t get why. While I was a bit disappointed the new chapter was shorter than the base game ones the Death Wish side of things offered a TON of great new content and new ways to experience past challenges. For its modest price point this DLC really does everything I could possibly hope for out of a 3D Platformer expansion. New, tougher challenges to really push my skills, fun new content that fits right in with the base game in terms of quality and polish, and in A Hat in Time’s case GREAT new boss fight experiences. Taking every existing boss and turning them into a downright Superboss level difficulty fight, remixing all of their attacks, speed, patterns, and adding all new stuff to them is such a great idea and I really loved it. Seal the Deal is a ton of fun as long as you aren’t averse to an easy base game getting a VERY challenging DLC expansion. I can understand why the difficulty whiplash might turn some people off but for me it was just right and really hit the spot. A Hat in Time is just so good, I love it.

[sundoodle]

can i just say i really appreciate how u draw fe gorls with dark skin and muscle and scars and being big its just,,, so good

hehehehehe thank you bc i also love how i draw them like that

@ intsys....more variety please....and give me the warrior women i desERVE not just pale anime waifs

[summoner-kentauris]

Sometimes I feel like this blog has done more to boost my interest in Zacharuno than the app game has. I'm really greateful for your near constant talks/theories/ideas/opinions about him bc it makes me appreciate him as a much deeper character and feel invested in his story. It's really cool seeing how passionate you are about this character and I think it's fun that you can create so many of your own ideas with him. Thanks for doing what you do.

:D :D :D !!!

i aM SO GLAD! THAT I HAVE HELPED YOU BE MORE INTERESTED IN ZEBBY!

i love him very much, and i am equal parts hopeful and terrified that intsys doesnt seem to be finished with his story yet

[storiesofthepast16]

The Most Sexist, Questionably Christian, Camp.... :I

From my Reddit!!!!

"*Intsy bit*" more dark than first post. I try to keep short as possible. The experience, realization, feeling, ALL OF IT, honestly, just sucks.

I grew up Christian, and this camp is still awesome in most aspects, I suppose!! Unfortunately, a camp-that they spell as "kamp"-makes awful decisions.... I will not mention the name, but if you see a Christian camp that ends with "Kamps", I suggest going somewhere more pretty, but it makes a few kids happy, and everybody has amazing event! I'll give them credit. It just broke me when I saw misogamy up close. :D

I shall call the camp Kamp. So, the other times heading off to "Kamp", I loved it! However, it is expensive and we always have to get deals, exactly like what I assume most to all families have to do, too.

I go to Kamp for a few years, and oh boy. Apparently they prefer XY based chromosomes, since base XX chromosomes apparently don't need God. :/ They need MaYk Up

I appreciate Kamp. I really do. But the boys cabins were APARTMENTS. Like, trees in perfectly, BIG, planted "pots" and a legit creek, close to the ziplines and, well, everything else. Big stairs and places I write in my books. A little of only sprinkle (rain) over there, as though faries might emerge. A place you want to live. That's what I'll never forget. Like, fantasy, they get awesome air conditioning.

Best part? "Girlies" (how few described us) were farthest from everything. My friend in Kamp was claiming how it was to "make girls skinnier". I doubted it. I mean, just left over space, of course! ..Right? Oh, and as I didn't mention, our cabins were consistently trashed, easily bug accessible, jammed, small, and could only fit two girl cabin on top of each other. I don't THINK the boys complained about wood not beinging able to block much noise around us-mainly above us. If I estimate how many kids by gender where allowed, 46 girls, 200 boys, it felt like. Well, I **know** there are more boys allowed.

Plus, no boys to had activities near us, and NO TALKING TO BROTHERS is an "important rule"!!! Well, unless we were to be in swimming suits, obviously. No, I'm not joking-- I was even told to take my shorts off while going down a slip 'n' slide until very last moment-THANKFULLY keeping my shorts on. Oh, and sometime we young children and teens could meet boys if it was dark-Kamp councilor approved and suggested!!!! ;"D (No, doesn't matter the age the boy or girl is, we could-potentially still can-meet. Pumped intogirls so it's "normal" to obsess and feel awful at rejection and no coping..It's the man that's enemy. Like, being told, "He's hot! You should ask him out." by councilors bc it's funny to see 7 year olds chasing teens..HHHMMMM......)

Even if the hoards of bullies disappeared, not the worst part. The fact that our "brother cabin" we saw often was..First, off, I think they were the only ones with a real sister cabin. Kids got no say in their cabin, and oh boy. If a kid with mild asthma 1 had that cabin, they be dead.

It is a freak'n storage closet!! That's what it is, and what it deserves!! Broken door (or at LEAST appeared so), hinges off, bugs, so small, distanced from other boys and EVERYTHING, broken down, literal hut, less boys then "normal" and the kind of hut I generically write about for laughs when a which is involved. Not even allowed to send letters to them, I was pained. :( And it honestly did suck... :[

So, it's awful and the fact we have famous 100 step stair a girl broke her ankle on (I didn't see it, but she tripped and landed on the top of her, probably left, foot. You would cry seeing that at 9-10), walking up and down for one waterslide turn in summer, I know now. It probably was for overall weight loss, and if it isn't for that purpose, 9 year old girls thinking so is horrendous.

If you guys want more, I've got more-

....Thank all you for coming to my TEDTalk-!

~Sonu!!!! :d

[iturbide]

I offer you the chance to ramble about the Golden Deer - any support ideas you have for them? As in, any you wish went all the way to A or supports you wish you could change?

I will never pass up an opportunity to talk about my Deer

Honestly there are a lot I wish would have gone to A, just because I love the characters and I wanted to see more of their relationships. As examples:

Lorenz and Ignatz - Their Support chain was the first one that made me question my stance on Lorenz in the first place, and I really wish they could have had an A support post-timeskip where Lorenz makes Ignatz a real offer to become a Gloucester knight because of how much he appreciates Ignatz's artistic talents, even though both know it will have to wait until the war ends; giving them a paired endcard where Ignatz gets to be happy in Lorenz's employ, able to pursue his artistry thanks to what amounts to a permanent commission from a noble house, would have been amazing.

Leonie and Marianne - Honestly I loved their Support chain and how Leonie realized that she'd messed up with Marianne and tried to apologize and make things up to her. It would have been really sweet if they could have had an A support, maybe where Leonie is stressed about the whole war situation and Marianne comes to talk to her, and even though she worries she's not very good at holding a conversation Leonie reassures her that it was just what she needed. Heck, the could even have an A support where Leonie succeeds in becoming a mercenary and ends up visiting Edmund territory frequently, and word of their odd little chats spreads along with the rumor that they both look happier by the time they go their separate ways again.

Lorenz and Ferdinand - Absolutely wasted opportunity, IntSys. These two are two peas in a pod and I am forever disappointed that they only gave us through a B rank. I wanted to see an A rank where they talk during the war phase and both worry for the commoners that are most affected by this war, and discussing ways to provide aid even as they work toward their ultimate goals. Their endcard could have had the both of them becoming heads of their respective Houses but making time to visit, and whenever one of them visits the other's territory the people know to expect the two noblemen to make the rounds patronizing local businesses and talking freely to the people.

Lysithea and Annette - Another utterly wasted opportunity, IntSys, get it together. Seeing these two magic scholars sharing their knowledge and pushing one another to improve and succeed through their B Support was really sweet, and I wish we could have gotten an A to go with it -- one where Lysithea opened up with Annette about why she's pushing herself so hard, and big-hearted Annette promising to try and find a way to make sure Lysithea lives as long as possible. Their endcard could have involved both of them working under Hanneman and finding a solution, after which point they both head to the Kingdom and end up as staff at the Fhirdiad Academy of Magic, with Annette as a professor and Lysithea devoting herself to research (though they constantly put their heads together to help one another out, just as they did in their Garreg Mach days).

Hilda and Sylvain - Actually one of my favorite Sylvain supports because A) he gets duped instead of getting away with his usual flirting in the C Support, B) he shows off how perceptive and capable he really is in the B Support, and C) the way he talks to her actually gets Hilda to reconsider how her behavior impacts other people and take responsibility for things. I really wish they could have had an A Support, especially since Hilda rightly calls him out on how fake his niceness is (it's just a veneer over how poorly he thinks of women on the whole, after all): it would have been really nice if Hilda could have gotten him to rethink his perceptions of women in the same way that he got her to reconsider how her actions impacted the people she tricked into doing her work, and in their endcard it could have been pretty sweet if she ended up going to Gautier territory and really making good on that promise to take responsibility, helping him with the duties of the Gautier House once he takes over.

...and I have a bunch of Supports I would really want to see changed, too, because I am occasionally contrarian not as bad as Felix though

Lysithea and Ignatz - Easily my least favorite Support chain among the members of the Golden Deer House, to the point that I refuse to put the two of them together to in combat (and if I get a Support level by chance I skip it). The way Lysithea comes down so hard on Ignatz for his appearances and his supposed "unreliability" rubs me exactly as badly as Ingrid's Support chain with Claude (one of my least favorites in the game at large), not to mention the fact that parts of their A support go directly against Ignatz's other supports (Ignatz claims he's not very discerning, but he impressed Lorenz in their C support by picking a teapot to perfectly match the blend Lorenz picked for their break -- and while this could be Ignatz talking himself down, it would have made more sense for him to just err on not knowing Lysithea's preferred tastes). I really would have preferred if their C Support had been replaced by the B, their B Support had been replaced by some semblance of the A (for the carry-through about his reliability), and their A Support had been entirely different, with Lysithea perhaps apologizing for her digs at him during their school days and him admitting that he isn't always the most reliable, but he does try, and he's glad not only to be someone she can rely on, but that he can rely on her in turn.

Lorenz and Sylvain - It's so bad. This one's high up on my list of most hated Supports gamewide because it's just so sleazy, and it doesn't manage to highlight any of the good aspects of either character. While it would be fine for them to start out in competition during their C support (because that is the impression they give at first glance), I wish their B had been more character-focused, with them discussing the point of all this: Lorenz is looking for a partner, Sylvain is lashing out because he feels women only want to use him for his Crest. Highlight what makes them different in their approaches, and maybe even have them butt heads over the clash in motivations -- it could have revealed more about their characters in a really interesting way, rather than dragging the both of them through the mud.

Claude and Ignatz - Not a bad Support by any means, but not one that really highlights the best points of the characters. I really would have liked to see both Ignatz's artistry and his piety in his Support chain with Claude, rather than just driving home his religious leanings; for instance, in the C Support he could have been trying to paint an image of the Goddess based on the library records he's been scouring and Claude chats with him about it, then in the B he's painting a landscape and Claude makes some casual remark about how he thinks the gods are part of the beauty of the world and that this captures more of the Goddess than the Church texts ever could, and maybe even an A where they talk about how differently they view the Goddess and the world, and how Ignatz might not understand where Claude's views come from, he would like to see more of the world to try and find the Goddess there -- and they could even cap it off with an endcard about how Ignatz disappeared after the war, only to appear years later in the entourage of the King of Almyra, and how his stunning landscapes and artworks are said to have an otherworldly, almost divine quality to them.

[nako-doodles]

now that you mentioned it, what ARE youre thoughts on aespa?

hmmmm my thoughts are very complicated as im still digesting both the new song/mini album and my issues with the way sm are promoting the girls and the symptoms of the industry as a whole so ill leave everything down in the cut

as someone who has been listening to and supporting sm groups for nigh a decade now, aespa really was the logical next level (hehe), esp if you take everything since sm dropped snsd's i got a boy (all of the experimental genre mashing of f(x), shinee, red velvet, and nct's discography, as well as the alien/digital concepts from exo and nct). i like that sm is pushing the boundaries of the traditional kpop music formula and virtual music propagation/concepts and what we as an audience deem as acceptable and standard. mera does a good job in describing how theyre pushing the music composition, so im not going to rehash sthing someone else has said better than me. i will say aespa's music are purposefully polarizing and they challenge us listeners and i really appreciate it. yes this is coming from someone who a decade later still hates i got a boy 🤣🤣🤣. girls is actually growing to be one of my fave songs this year, next to love dive and quotation mark.

my love of the girls pushing the music composition in the industry aside, my major problem with aespa actually lies in their promotion and their concept even tho yes i did say i liked that theyre pushing virtual music forward. this was an issue that i had since sm announced the concept of their new girl group, and its the perceived perfection and accessibility of virtual avatars vs the girls.

even before they debuted, aespa was called the 'ugliest' of the sm girl groups which is frankly ridiculous bc all of sm (and really all of the industry) goes to the same plastic surgeons and trains girls w the same facial structures and intsy bitsy bodies because theyre being compared to their avatars. no human can or should be compared to digitally generated perfection; its simply asking for the impossible. its also doing the girls a disservice by reducing them down to simple empty avatars that fans can pile all of their fantasies upon. its 2022, not the mess that was early 00s j-idol. treat the girls like theyre actually humans please.

and also thanks to these avatars, sm has not let aespa really sing live at all. not once. i have not heard the girls besides maybe ningning on an odd note sing live. its all prerecorded and lipsynced. because theyre selling that aespa are virtual "perfect" avatars made flesh. god forbid they cannot have a bad day or an odd note out of key or a vibrato not modulating at the perfect even frequency. it creates an unrealistic standard for all girls and women, both in the industry and at society at large. yes pretty girls sing pretty is a trope as old as time, but this is literally the poster child of the problem. this is also a symptom of the industry at large for pushing vocalists to the side. it is no longer a requirement for idols to sing well. their companies can fake their vocal ability from debut to live to when they fade out of the public consciousness. call me old fashioned, but i miss the days where live performances were Actually live on occasion, and not prerecorded edited studio quality (im looking at you 'dingo live' 'its live') the girls sound great and im sure they can all sing well, even if maybe the studio versions are 943058902 takes zombied together, but i have no idea simply bc i dont have empirical evidence besides the fact that ningning can belt. sometimes. once.

my second issue w this concept is what it does to the parasocial relationship between idol and their fans. sm has already had a shitty track record of s*saengs harassing their idols and terrible security (dbsk's uknow accidentally drinking superglue, suju's car accident from trying to evade st*lkers, numerous breaking into hotel and dorms incidents, jonghyun's su*cide, joy's and wendy's cyberbullying etc...). now thanks to how available the girl's avatars are, im worried that this will further degrade the girls and their public personas and how much the public feels that they are entitled to the girls. im worried that their security and sense of self will be overtaken by these virtual representations of themselves. we all know sm cares more about money and brand than their artists. i can only hope they protect the girls as well.

tldr; aespa's music has been pushing the envelop since their debut and im honestly excited to how far they will take this and much they can turn the pop song formula on its head, but im worried that this virtual avatar concept will destroy the girls' body and self image and security, and perpetuate a hyperrealistic beauty standard that will literally be impossible to replicate.