Mercakete

Thanks, guys! Looks like her placement is on the uptrend! =D I see; yeah, number of votes is a better way of gauging that, isn't it? Thanks for the data! So, it looks like she yo-yo's rather than there being a consistent up- or downtrend (though her placement increases every year, which is encouraging!). Hmm it's hard to tell how IS will factor this data into their decisions when picking characters for banners. On the one hand, she's never gotten less than 100 votes, and has even gotten over 300 votes in a single year. That's not bad. Plus, as they run lower on characters they haven't brought into the game yet, she's a very strong contender with her plot importance for both FE9 and FE10, besides being a relative of a main character's. Additionally, quite frankly, she's female. Still, IS seems to like to ignore moms who don't partake in player phase combat, and she has such a wholesome look and background (while also not being eligible), which isn't their preferred way to market females. *sigh* Man, this feels like it's close to a 50-50 chance of her getting into the game, and the data here only strengthens it being such a "could be or could not be" kind of deal. Well! The good news is that she has people who gave her that many votes, so it means that there could very well be a year when she gets rallied behind! I'll just keep hoping for that year. ^_^ Thanks again, everyone who gave me data and who voted for Elena!

I've been mostly voting for wallpapers (even though I never use them.) =P So, besides Summer Nifl, I've also voted for Valentine's Ike and Rearmed Lif. Hmmm who else do I want a neat picture of...? I like that the sprite is included this time, but I'm not sure which sprite I want a pic of, especially since the sprite's just in an idling pose. Hmmm... Maybe a beast, if the transformed sprite is there. Nifl's sprite was her humanoid form, so that's what the dragons use. Hmmm....

It's not that I hate her so much as I'm fatigued by her, I guess. She feels kind of overblown and when I watched a let's play of FE4, I was kind of underwhelmed by the actual events there. I guess another thing is that she feels into 2 camps I'm tired of: "spunky cheerful girl" and "ridiculously tragic offscreen event." Totaled up, it just makes me tired. I'd rather tragic (or otherwise profound) events be both witnessed by the reader/viewer/player and match the buildup to it so that there's sufficient structure to hold the event's weight. Otherwise it's just kind of "trust us, you should feel x way" without having properly earned it. Maybe there's more in FE5 (I haven't watched/played that one) but again, she feels more like an archetype and less like a character. She hasn't earned enough from me for me to care, and it's not even a case of "there's still a lot left to explore about the character." I just wish she was more complex (rather than just cheerful/earnest and then suddenly "I'm a gentle and caring mom like almost every other generic fantasy mom out there" - she feels "idealized" in a way instead of having subtle complexities) and had proper buildup to her tragic event. That's why I feel she just didn't live up to the hype. Really big events in stories need to be handled with care or they'll not only not generate the intended effect, but actually backfire and can lead to the work on the whole feeling cheap. In this case, FE4 has a lot of other things going for it where big events were properly built up to, but that's mostly with the absolute main characters and main plot. The side characters got kind of overshadowed, though I get that that's just because of what the game could actually offer given technology levels at the time, and even then, it's not all that bad (unlike the DS version of Shadow Dragon where a character not named Marth is lucky to get any lines at all.) Anyway, my answer may have been a bit rambly, but I hope that answers your question. If you got lost in the detailed version (which would be totally understandable -- it was kind of everywhere since this was the first time I put my thoughts on this topic to words), here's the short answer: I don't hate her, she's just a kind of character (or written in a kind of way) I don't like and thus prefer to ignore.

Henriette is the only mom here I enjoy as a person. She's not overly sensationalized in any way. So, she gets my vote. We'll see what I'll do if she loses...

Ooo data! If you already have it compiled, would you mind telling me where Elena placed in the various years of CYL? I want to see if she's on the up- or down-trend. It would be really encouraging if her placement got higher and higher every year. ^_^

Oh man I love that. X3 Man, now I really hope we get Emblem Arvis. I'd totally engage him with Dancing Sigurd (which is a Sigurd+Deidre duo unit.) It would make the unit all "Okay, Arvis, Sigurd, you have to share for now." Actually, that would be sort of fudging the dream Valentine's banner I planned out a while back: the whole family trying to make the Day of Devotion special for Deidre, where Sigurd and Arvis had to be civil with one another (being the fathers of her children) so that her whole family could be gathered together, and both were trying to pick gifts while knowing full well how things went at the end of FE4's first half. So there's this surface-level civility with barely-veiled hostility between them the whole time. Meanwhile, Seliph is trying to get his mom's kids to all get along. Julia's awkward because of the tension but trying to smile through it and Julius is barely tolerating the whole thing, being the most openly hostile one there. Deidre appreciates all the effort everyone's making to make the day special and peaceful, in the end. So, the banner went like this: Valentine's Arvis + Sigurd duo, Valentine's Deidre, Valentine's Julia, and Valentine's Julius on the banner, Valentine's Seliph as the TT+ unit. (Really, any of them could have been the TT+ unit besides Arvis+Sigurd, but I figured IS would rather give as many slots to female characters as possible on the actual banner.)

Free pulled my first ascended Fir. Not who I was going for, but cool? Also, in a comical twist of fate, my freebie special hero was Bride Say'ri, whom I'd spent a bunch of orbs to get on her double special rerun. The new one's +def, my previous one is +atk and I'm not sure which she wants to be.

Personally, I think we'll get Emblems of characters not in Engage. FEH is the perfect game in which to expand upon the ring/bracelet/whatever else roster, after all, being the central hub for all FE worlds. It would allow IS to get creative and expand on ring effects, too! There may even be more "minor" emblems. Like, imagine an Engage Pendant or something of Izuna from FE9/10, allowing special buffs to beast allies he's engaged with. Since it only works effectively on a single weapon type, it may have more accessibility. I love the idea of new Emblems and mixing and matching effects like this! Ah, I could see us getting special Emblems too, like deities who give extra bonuses if they're engaged with a character from their home game/country, too. Like, Mila would give extra bonuses to Celica, but not to Berkut since he's from Rigel.

Hey, the wallpapers this year are really nice! My first day vote went to Summer Nifl since she's a unit I don't actually have but want and I don't mind her art. I think I'll mostly follow this pattern (or just go for wallpapers) this year.

No idea what they'll do with Felix, but I hope it's not just a reclass (unless it's an interesting reclass, like Dancer.) Same with Bernie. Also, sure would be something if we got Brave Grima (though that was basically what Rearmed Fallen F!Robin was.) Anyway, I'm most excited for Alfonse! There's just so much potential there! Sure, Askrans basically riff on the same design concept, and there's every possibility that they'll give him the look of one of his immediate family members, but there's more that could be done. King Alfonse would be great, but so would Emblian Alfonse, with a design based on Ascended Vernica's outfit or Zacharias' outfit. They're his consistent best friends. Ah, but it would be fun if he was wearing something based on the summoner's clothes, too! That's still based on Askr's "uniform" though. It would also be cool if he dressed up as Lif (the first king of Askr, not his other undead self.)

Dang, I'm impressed with how well they integrated how Emblem Marth works in Engage into Heroes. These guys are going to be crazy. Well, I don't have this version of Hinoka and I don't think I have that Fir either, so if I get the orbs, I may try to get Marth and start up an Emblem collection. Man, I keep being excited for new Emblems! Ones not in Engage, I mean. Also Emblem Ephraim because the dude needs some kind of presence besides just being only half downloaded into his and Eirika's ring.

*grabby hands* I don't dislike a single piece of news here. *w* I wonder if we'll get Emblem versions of heroes not in Engage! There's some great opportunity here for that! And maybe Emblem Ephraim will finally get to have a voice! I wonder if I should try collecting all the Emblems so that I can constantly have as many characters engaged as possible... (I like the idea of engaging Emblem Marth with Medeus for the lols.) Plus, 5 skills inherited at a time? Good! Been wanting that. Also, looks like I'll have a good opportunity to try to get Child Mark too! I hope I get him as a freebie, but at least I'll be able to try to summon for him with an 8% starting rate. ^w^ And Nifl's coming to the 4* special rate pool! Maybe I'll FINALLY manage to get her! Plus, pleasantly surprised to see that Alfonse won CYL for the men's side! I wonder what IS will do with that... Felix is cool too. I don't know Bernie well enough to care much about her and Robin winning again is a bit "meh" for me too, but only because I'm just not invested. (Watch us get another Grima.) Anyway, lots of QoL improvements! I love that you can read a quick and easy drop-down of the effects in play, too! Man, all this is really making me excited for this year in FEH. I can't wait to see what comes down the line!

XD Oh my gosh that's a hilarious take. (The 2nd bit, obviously. XD)

Hahahaha! When have I EVER voted tactically on here? Honestly, voting "I may as well back this person even though it's not who I'd vote for otherwise" seemed disingenuous conceptually to me. (Not saying others can't go that route if they want, but this is just my take for me personally.) So, I just never did. (Besides, I've been trying to get Elena into the game for the past 7 years (I think.) That's not stopping now.) The only year that wasn't all the Elena votes I could give was Year 1 when I didn't quite understand how this whole thing worked. (I voted for Ike, Soren, Ephraim, Hector, and Elena, with various repeat votes, as I recall. It's ironic how all of the men I've voted for have won at some point, and the one woman I consistently vote for is...well, a stretch.) On that note, thank you, everyone who voted for Elena this year! I hope she gets added to Heroes soon! ^_^

I didn't think I'd free pull a copy of Muspell on the hot springs banner, but here we are. I wonder if he's in charge of heating the baths. Geothermically.

Yeah, Ylgr wanted to go to the Order. As for the Nifl siblings' parents, both are dead. Nifl was mostly destroyed, so Hrid's been working hard to rebuild it. This FB basically confirmed everything I've been saying every time I read someone asking what happened to Hrid. Also, sorry to say it, but I forgot how creepy Hrid's smile is. It just looks wider than his face is actually supporting. The extra bit of Henriette x Gustav lore was adorable too, as always. They're a sweet canon couple. 🙂 I wonder if we'll learn more about Henriette's past in Book 8...

Okay, battle ballot full of Elena complete! Also, the illustrations are cute. I especially like the first one and the one with Neimi, Colm, Matthew and Leila! ^_^

So... Y'know, I thought that they would tell stories from their own worlds for the kids, but... Raising a child army is...sure a leap... And maybe the reason they didn't show Tormod's contribution is because it was just simplified down to "perform arson?"

You're already getting many answers to this, but if you have a spare vote, why not give it to Elena (Ike and Mist's mom; she's listed under Path of Radiance) so that she might be able to get into the game and finally reunite with her family? 🙂 On that note, I've cast her yet another vote today!

I got Tormod really quickly! So then I went to see if I could improve upon my goat collection and managed to pull New Years Nerpuz. So, once again, the only goat I'm missing is Summer Freyja. (I don't count Bunny Freyja since she doesn't turn into a goat in that form.)

ToooOOORRMOOOOD?!??! Okay. All my orbs are being shot at red until I pull a Tormod. So glad he gets a desert version! It's neat how he gets his special movement ability folded into his weapon too! I just wish he had a skill or something that made it so that beast allies could transform next to him without the beasts themselves needing a skill to enable transformation next to humans. He would've been perfect if he had that. Now we just have to deal with the awkwardness of Muarim only having a fallen version for Tormod to hang out with. And now I read other people's reactions.

So, are we discussing silhouettes here? Well, here's my guess: Hawkeye seems to be one of the silhouettes, which would mean (maybe) we're getting a focus on Elibe's desert. I wonder who all will be there. Anyway, that's just a guess, though. Maybe we'll have people associated with dragons because of the whole "we must protect dragons" thing?

Well, I'm a bit tempted to give Alfonse a vote, but nope. Third vote for Elena cast today! Also, earlier I was thinking about what an Elena FB could be like and (perhaps unsurprisingly) dang did my imagination turn up something wholesome. Not sure if anyone would care to read it, though, and the directly impacts whether or not I bother writing this fan FB convo. Hmmm actually, that sounds like it could be fun. That is... What sort of stuff would you guys like to see in your CYL pick's FB? Edit: I wanted to at least rough out an idea for the Elena FB concept I had, but I can't spend much time on it right now, so I won't write full dialogue. Still, you can look at it if you'd like to. Dang it. I want this FB really badly now.

Gave Elena her 2nd vote from me this year! I hope I don't miss any days. I wonder where she'll place this year...

I don't know why but half the time I expected the likes of Hraesvelgr and Nidhoggr to be added, and half the time I thought that wouldn't happen until next year. Anyway, I'd like Njordr to exist as a unit, but not for this theme/not enough to vote for him. I'll just keep hoping that he gets a summer alt or something, like what happened to Freyr. It would be fun to see Alfonse win someday. Thinking about it, he's the main lord and this is his home game. But beyond that, I'm curious about what IS would do design-wise and theme-wise. Would this be the way to introduce King Alfonse? If we can summon from other timelines and eras, I don't see why we couldn't get a King of Askr Alfonse this way. Giving him an aged-up voice would make sense there, too, if that's really very much of a factor. Of course, that said, it makes me curious about Sharena, too. I still want Dead Sharena from Book 3's key art, but I don't think that would fit into the designs for brave heroes. However, I could see a "what if Sharena drank the nectar?" fairy Sharena from Book 4, or (again) an aged-up, more mature Sharena who's less naive (though I don't think IS would actually want to make a version of Sharena who's more of an archetype and less of an actual person with depth.) Between the two of them, Alfonse would be my personal preference for CYL specifically, but I do wish that IS would do more with Sharena too. There's too much potential left untapped there. Again, though, all my votes are going to Elena at least until she makes it into Heroes (though Brave is my preference.) I'm glad I'm not alone there! I know you voted for her because you wanted to, but I still want to thank you for giving her a vote! ^_^ And thanks for the encouragement. Getting nothing but her theme in Resort and a staff for base Mist called "Elena's Staff" (especially with new female characters from Engage and FEH being added, to whom I'm guessing most of the votes will go on the fem side) after voting for her for all these years was discouraging me a little. So, I really appreciate the bit of hope you imparted by what you said! ^_^ I really hope she gets added at all, but I'd be especially happy if she actually won CYL!