#yeah i don't think we're getting THAT drastic of a timeskip

[swan2swan]

So are the CampFam gonna steal some razors on this boat, or are we getting beards on our boys next season?

[yellowocaballero]

on one hand, idk how flayn might've helped in the breakdown dimitri had, other than maybe having more experience w the human condition bc she's longer-lived. On the other... I am choosing to find it hilarious that right after she temporarily leaves to go help seteth, the blue lions are confronted w how Not Okay dimitri and their general situation is... Lol

HAH YEAH. I think Flayn is a weird sort of character where she's halfway between the children and the adults. I think in some ways I felt as if she was auditing the classes. Still 100% a Blue Lion, but undoubtedly in a very different situation than the rest and coming from a very different place. Petra's the same - I wrote the two late joiners as very much having their own stories that intersect significantly with the BL. Dedue was here from the start, but I don't think he ever becomes actual friends with Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix, so he entered the academy pretty isolated.

I didn't want to homogenize the characters and give them the exact same relationship with each other and the cult BL, so different characters absolutely put a lot of their identity into the cult (the kids who were childhood friends and the kids from broken homes, mostly) and others just have intersecting lives (the outsider kids). They all care for each other the same (for reasons I'll reveal next chapter which I personally think are VERY funny), but each character has a separate reason why they need the BL found family, and if they need it or just want it.

I don't think Flayn would have known how to help at the time. I think she would have been pretty frightened, but not devastated or terrified like a lot of the other BL. Her sense of self isn't tied up in Dimitri, unlike a lot of her classmates lol. But Flayn's relationship with Dimitri becomes important, and we'll see much more of it next chapter. Dimitri's relationships with everybody in the BL changes drastically once he gets severely sick. Again, we'll see more of it.

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but we're done closely following the game. Part 1 basically set up why the big canon divergent thing happens, and then during the timeskip the big canon divergent thing happens and then Part 2 is absolutely different. Good news for readers unfamiliar with the game I guess lol. Thanks for the ask - I'm super looking forward to posting the next chapter!

[dragontamer22]

Some not-so-quick hypotheses on the S3 specials:

-definitely in agreement with others that there will be a small ish but meaningful timeskip.

-it will be the Adults who reopen the portal door because they literally have access to what they'd need for that, it just might take a while since the blueprints they DID have didn't quite work and making it stable is... Something! Maybe they make a new door? Maybe.

-i actually think the kids will return to the demon realm in the *second* special, maybe around the halfway ish marker? Sometime in the second episode for sure though.

-this is because I think the first special will deal with the immediate fallout from King's Tide, on both sides. Rising action and all that.

-idk when the time skip will happen but I think it will most likely be between the first and second special. Idk makes sense to me, but I can invision being partway through the first or second episode, I just really think it's a cleaner split to have it between episodes.

-feel this goes without saying but I'll say it anyways, the series finale is perfectly set up to be a three act 2hr15min story because of the three episodes, and I fully 100% expect the episodes to each be their own Act, rather than something clunky like others have suggested, with each episode focusing on different arcs.

-agree that Camila will be going to the demon realm with the kids. She's a GOOD Mom and is going with them!!!

-Vee/the basilisks will be important to the plot somehow, as others have mentioned

-i see no reason why new permanent portal door(s) couldn't be made by the end

-IF and ONLY IF anyone dies who is a good guy, and I really mean IF AND ONLY IF, then I predict Lilith will sacrifice herself for something idk what but like if someone has to die so Dana and crew get their bittersweet ending then I feel the narrative threads are actually pointing to a Lilith death. Eda? No she's done it too many times, each more successful than the last I suppose but idk I think Eda has learned her lesson about sacrificing herself and after multiple tries in different ways, this last one was the last one that would be emotionally impactful and anymore I think would be exceeding the threshold of acceptable near deaths, which I think is 3. Yeah rule of 3 I think applies here. Let's leave it at that.

They're not gonna kill any of the kids, and I just don't think Raine, Darius, or Eberwolf are dying either. Both for meta reasons and also because none of them have any real narrative death flags? Like Darius and Eberwolf have just been vibing trying to stop Belos. Raine is Raine, and is much more clearly written to be the "the love of my life was let go and has returned to me just as in love with me but now we're both Older and Wiser and can actually have a healthy relationship at long last" and idk it would feel like a huge waste for Eda and Raine to come full circle about their love just for one of them to die? I mean I guess the drama would be intense, but I just don't get the vibe at all. And I don't think they'd kill off Eda's love interest like that.

But LILITH!? This woman STILL obviously feels horrible about what she did to Eda, and in the penultimate episode of season two she even very obviously tried offering to take Eda's place in the draining spell. And throughout season two she's been trying so hard to make things right, and I feel from Clouds on the Horizon that she still hasn't forgiven *herself* for what she did (and who can blame her?) As much as Lilith is redeemed to the audience, she isn't redeemed to *herself.* And IFF anything happens at all to cause major good character death, Lilith is going to take the brunt of it. She has the motivation, the redemption arc, and willingness to do something drastic to save her sister. Those are some pretty big death flags to me.

-and obviously the collector will be redeemed

-luz will be allowed to stay in the boiling isles and we can finally have an Isekai where the main character gets to stay!!! Maybe even regularly travel between worlds... *Sighs* I wish.

-not so much a prediction as a manifestation of wants: mall trip with the hexsquad (and Vee?)

-SOMEONE in the group will get really into watching soap opera type stuff idk who but my first guess is Gus, for no reason other than vibes. It feels right.

-camila LOVES Amity and is super happy for Luz having such a lovely girlfriend, insert cute cringe mom stuff

-slumber party in the living room while beds are acquired

-at least one big family meal together, please

-hunter experiences joy and gets sleep

[nagirambles]

On the subject of the seven year time skip, what do you think about the post timeskip designs? Because I know that fans would argue that most of them are downgrades to the original ones.

And I absolutely agree! To begin with, most of them barely changed. Of course we have the Tenrou team, but Lamia and Blue Pegasus didn't really change either, except a little here and there like Yuka. Bisca looks exactly the same as before with more sexualised clothing, but Alzack looks like a completely different person. Plus, Mashima changes designs so often even in the main story that the minor changes we got don't feel like changes at all. All this in addition to the studio change in 2014 that gave everyone abrupt art style + design changes + same face syndrome at the same time somehow? Yeah, we're just tired.

This is strangely enough how I feel about Lucy as well. She changes her hairstyle so often (it's not a bad thing, but) when she got a new one after the 1y timeskip, it felt like just that-- a new hairstyle. It didn't feel like a timeskip where she genuinely grew up. It doesn't feel like our baby has grown up visually. I'd say the same thing to any hair that is magically turned back to default, not just Wendy, but Freed (BOFT) and Natsu (1yTS) as well. It just feels like Mashima wanted to introduce the idea but refused to commit to the bit, and thus, it became really hard to give them a real design change that feels like a growth change rather than just another Mashima impulse.

And yes, hair growing is the easiest way to show someone has grown literally-- but that's the thing. Mashima clearly loves long hair, so he vehemently refuses to do anything except make their hair long. Meredy? Juvia? Lisanna? Wendy?? Laki??? Erza Knightwalker, too! Who's going to bet Erza is getting her hair back after the conflict in 100yq is done?

So yeah, I liked some of them, I'm meh about them, but I also hated most of them. Even so, the only ones that drastically changed were all side characters, so I just don't have enough energy to muster to really rage about it. Mashima knows his weaknesses which is why he tries his best to actively not change things. It's Ash Ketchum all over again. All in all, just sloppy execution everywhere.

Some I liked: Laki, Max... Mest, I guess. Yeah that's it.

On the fence: Juvia (she's gorgeous, but her design turned generic,) Lisanna (adorable, but why? Keep the short, let girls have short hair, Mashima please stop,)

Hate: Droy (became a fat joke), Reedus (his plot relevance disappeared along with his very charming body size), Macao (went from cool old man to senile geezer), Gildarts (I get why they changed it, but he just went from looking like Shanks to looking like August. Who HE IS FIGHTING), Kinana (seriously she is unrecognisable by the end of the series because they changed it again), Romeo (why the stupid hair shape?), Meredy (she looks like pastel Sherry), Millianna (oh come on), Elfman (he's now bait for Bara fans), Alzack (give him his little emo haircut back).

If we're not just talking about timeskip-specific changes though, I rather like Bickslow's and Midnight's redesigns, Gajeel's bandanna addition, and I wish Evergreen kept her hair in the bun. The long curly hair, like Juvia's, is really beautiful! But it's also very generic for the female characters of the show, which isn't a good design variety. Mashima has done that 'she got a glow up! into my favourite long flowy hairstyle' thing so many times now, starting from Sherry. I think it's fucking beautiful but I also think he should stop.