Opinions on that Fire Emblem Awakening Character #1 - #51 (Chrom & Robin & Grima)

[Magical Glace]

Lon'qu

Can't say I'm fond of the gynophobia gimmick, since most of his supports are with women. He has reasons, yeah, but the FE13 mechanics hit his support pool hard.

Emmeryn

Never actually learns anything, only to "kill" herself in a scene later rendered meaningless by spotpass. And she can't even support Chrom or Lissa, geez.

Gangrel

Generic evil villain during the plot, though he did have a reason to dislike Ylisse. Ugh.

[Thane]

You know Glaceon Mage, I really admire your dedication to expressing your disinterest in all the characters here. You sort of remind me of myself in the Fates subforum.

[UNLEASH IT]

You know Glaceon Mage, I really admire your dedication to expressing your disinterest in all the characters here. You sort of remind me of myself in the Fates subforum.

Well everyone will always have some sort of bias when discussing characters. That's why I can never take the word "objectively" seriously when it comes to threads like this

[Magical Glace]

You know Glaceon Mage, I really admire your dedication to expressing your disinterest in all the characters here. You sort of remind me of myself in the Fates subforum.

There's a couple I do like, but eh, the thread is "Opinions" not "Praise these characters"!

My opinion just happens to largely be either "this character annoys me" or "This character is whatever".

[epilepsyduck]

Whoops, I'm behind a bit.

Olivia

Love this shy little dancer, even if it's a very strange combination of personality and profession. She's got a decent design (certainly better than the FE4 dancers, bleh) and some charming supports, and dancer units are obviously useful. I appreciate that she can be useful outside of that function too, even if I tend to only reclass her for skills and ultimately shuffle her back to her base class before long. It's a shame her son is one of my least favorite characters, though; she deserves better.

Laurent

He's like a lot of the kids in that he greatly resembles his mother, but adds a bit of a spin to it. I appreciate that he is actually able to hold a conversation with people without immediately descending into indecipherable gibberish. I'm also a fan of the mage hats, so he gets points from me just for that. Still, not someone I'm ranting and raving about.

Tiki

Of all the Avatarsexuals, she's the one who suffers the least by being a previously-established character and having the most supports out of all of them. I like all of said support options to varying degrees, Nah being the absolute best one in my opinion. Why this Manakete isn't in the general marriage pool but Nowi is is something I'll probably never forgive the game for. They could've at least let Tiki x Say'ri be a thing tbh.

Lon'qu

Normally the "aloof, vaguely sexist swordsman" thing annoys the shit out of me (Navarre, Joshua, VEGA), but Lon'qu having gynophobia instead of just being a bit of a dick about it makes it more palatable to me. I can't really bring myself to make him anything but a Swordmaster except for getting classes; it just suits him so well. He needed more supports with dudes though; it's just plain silly that someone who's afraid of women can mostly only support with them.

Emmeryn

Shouldn't have been recruitable, let's be honest, especially since she can't support her siblings or anyone but some random tactician she barely knew. Even if they fixed that, I'm not sure it's a good idea to take a pivotal scene from your story and (partially) nullify its consequences. I wasn't too attached to Emmeryn to begin with, so the fact they made her recruitable does nothing for me except make her death feel even cheaper. Still, she's a better character than Mikoto, even if that's not saying much.

Gangrel

As a villain, he's maybe not the most gripping thing but does at least get the job done. Unlike Emmeryn, I wouldn't necessarily have been against recruiting him... if the game did anything interesting with it. Instead, what we basically get is Awakening's own version of recruiting Michalis in New Mystery, though at least the game doesn't let him just fuck off to some new kingdom for him to rule entirely based on the fact that he's pretty.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Today's characters are Lon'qu, Emmeryn, and Gangrel.

Lon'qu:

One of my favorite characters in the game! He has a lot of solid supports, especially with Cherche and Olivia, and he has one of the better supports with Tharja. I really like his design, and as a unit he's one of my favorites.

Emmeryn:

I like her, but her character suffers from Awakening's writing. She doesn't do much in the scenes she's in, and then her death is rendered meaningless! And why can't she support Chrom and Lissa? Her design is okay, but as a unit I don't really use her much.

Gangrel:

Like Emmeryn, he suffers thanks to the writing. He dies way too soon...and then gets needlessly revived through SpotPass. As a villain he could have been good! But alas. His design is kinda wonky, but okay, and as a unit he generally loses out to Anna and Gaius.

[Emerson]

Lonk

Gonna be honest, while he is a very good character and has very good supports, I never particularly cared for him. I rarely use him too, since Donny is a Merc pretty soon after I get Lon'qu, and I focus my Avatar on Strength in most cases.

TrueEmm

Eyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Emmeryn is one of my more favorite character not because she's the most well written nor used the best in the story. I love her a lot mostly because we share a nickname and are similar in a couple different ways. Yeah, on my first playthrough of Awakening, her nickname being Emm make me crack up for a few minutes.

I also relate to her on a more serious level, since we're both pacifists. If you combined Emmeryn and Sumia, then made it male, it'd probably turn out to be me.

Gangrel

Oh god he was cool for what he was. I honestly think the first arc of Awakening's story was really good, and Gangrel solidified it.

He managed to be pretty threatening in general, at least out of battle.

I also don't mind him coming back as a Spotpass unit. It was done in a way that makes sense and kind of 360s the character into a redemption arc. I overall think he might be the best done out of the Spotpass units.

Edited September 14, 2016 by TrueEm

[Ertrick36]

Lon Lon Qu

Honestly, he does have nice supports and his gynophobia isn't sexist (at least not intentionally), but I never came to really care for him. I mean, that's how it is with a lot of the "okay" characters like Stahl or whoever, but I guess for Lon'Qu it's just because of his archetype.

Emmerich

She's nice enough, I suppose. I hear that in spotpass, she has amnesia, which... for whatever reason, makes it so that she can't support her siblings? Her sacrifice was great, but like everyone else says, it's rendered pointless because of spotpass. Her resurrection is the one I have the biggest problem with because her's was the most meaningful death. All other resurrections were of villains, and only one of them had a death with any meaning at all (Yen'fay), but even then, I felt almost nothing for it. Emmeryn had this grand sacrifice that moved even the entire nation her people were fighting, and you just... plop her back into existence. Sure, she's dazed, but she's there, and there's likely going to be some crazy succession crisis going on.

Ganondorf

Power hungry, doesn't care for anyone but himself... More or less just a wasted potential. Instead, we got Evil Wizard^TM who worships a dragon as the supposedly "real" villain. I know Gangrel's shade of grey is pretty damn close to black, but at least it was a shade of grey. And hell, if nothing else, I loved his joke about "breaking wind". There was more entertainment in that moment than there was for all of Vaildar's existence. Ah well...

[Ebony]

time to play catch up

Kellam

Meh. Exists.

Say'ri

Lovely lass, wish she had more supports. I love her design and voice that being said...

Basilio

A character I wish was explored way, way more. He seemed interesting from the get go but we didn't see much due to a lack of supports. It's unfortunate, really.

Olivia

Only thing I dislike about her is her JP voice. Sorry Rey.

Laurent

More personable than his mom. He's a good kid and I feel bad for him due to showing up earlier than the other kids. Poor, poor kiddo.

Tiki

People can say her new design is too sexualized but overall I think it's actually pretty lovely. She's grown up since we last saw her and I can easily say she has one of the prettiest designs in the game. Manaketes are a cool class, so sometimes I try and make room for her. I wish she had a few more supports.

Lon'qu

... -runs hand down face- I marry him so many times... Despite the Cordelia syndrome weakening him a bit, I never found his gimmick annoying. I did feel bad for him due to his backstory overall, so he isn't just a misogynist for the sake of being a dick. He has really good supports with characters like Cherche and Maribelle and Olivia. Then you get to his with FRobin and it's pelting him with figs. But I can't stop marrying him, please help me.

That being said, voice of the Gods and he's a pretty good dad for a few kids. I can only make him a Swordmaster. It's just... I have to.

Emmeryn

Probably my least favorite Streetpass unit because of the fact she's a Streetpass unit and not still dead.

Gangrel

I forget he exists halfway through the game. Lovely shade of red hair though.

[Thane]

Lon'qu

... -runs hand down face- I marry him so many times... Despite the Cordelia syndrome weakening him a bit, I never found his gimmick annoying. I did feel bad for him due to his backstory overall, so he isn't just a misogynist for the sake of being a dick. He has really good supports with characters like Cherche and Maribelle and Olivia. Then you get to his with FRobin and it's pelting him with figs. But I can't stop marrying him, please help me

I'm giggling like a school girl because this is spreading.

[Topaz Light]

I too am gonna play catch-up... using Ebony's ordering of characters as a template because I'm dazed from lack of sleep and don't trust myself to remember all of who was listed on my own. Sorry about that!

Kellam

He's pretty decent. I actually rather like him when the game isn't attempting to bludgeon you to death with his gimmick, which admittedly happens way more often than it should. I really like the touch of giving him Thief as a reclass option, honestly. That was one of the few jokes about his gimmick that I actually did find amusing and clever, especially since it's also a very practical application for that kind of trait. Also, the support triangle he forms with Stahl and Donnel is pretty nice.

Say'ri

I really like Say'ri in theory, but her personal plot feels way too watered down and bare-bones for me to really get much enjoyment out of it. She's got some pretty competent bases from what I can recall, and she's a pretty good unit, but, like the other Avatarsexual characters, she's really hurt both in gameplay and in character development by her lack of support options.

Basilio

A pretty neat character. He's certainly got a lot of personality. I almost never actually get far enough to recruit him, though. I guess he and Flavia are this game's Gotohs, more or less. I kinda appreciate the new take on that archetype, if that's the case.

Olivia

I feel like she's the sort of character who a lot of people would find annoying, but I really don't feel that way, myself. Maybe it's because I too have crippling social anxiety and therefore can relate to that aspect of her character. I always have her marry Chrom, because I love Lucina and Inigo as siblings. I also almost never actually use her as a Dancer because I almost never find myself actually needing a Dancer. Her Japanese voice is absolutely insufferable and nobody in real life actually sounds like that. (Note that I'm talking about mannerisms/inflections as well and not just the pitch by itself.)

Laurent

He's probably the most similar to his mother out of all the child characters, but I like that they still tried to differentiate him a little bit nonetheless. Some of the light blond hair colors look almost lime greenish on him. I used to be annoyed by the fact that he wears a hat, but I'm not so much annoyed by that anymore.

Tiki

One of my more liked characters in the game, probably, although she does have the benefit of being "from" Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light as opposed to Awakening itself. Her voice actress seems to give her a little bit of an accent, and it really bugs me that I have no idea what accent that is. I also love that her Japanese voice actress is the same woman who voices Pikachu, but I don't really hear that a lot since I almost always play with English voices. I can't help but feel like her chest doesn't really match the rest of her body type, though, but since when have artists for these sorts of games ever actually cared about that? Maybe it only bothers me because it seems like they're reaching to give her large breasts without compromising their obligatory "minimal body type diversity" policy as per anime art style regulations. As an aside, I really appreciate that she gets her own custom outfit reflected in her map sprite, too, but I guess that's also true of Frederick.

Lon'qu

I kinda like him... Emphasis on "kinda". How much his gynophobia bothers me kinda depends on the support conversation in question, and I also feel like his backstory doesn't really do a good job of justifying that particular fear; fear of getting close to others in general, or paranoia about being jumped/caught by surprise would make more sense as a result of what happened to him. It seems to me like a better explanation for gynophobia would be something along the lines of all the women in his life up until that point having been abusive to him or something like that. I did feel kinda bad for him in his supports with Miriel, though, particularly because her remark about a female cadaver is very Not Cool™ in light of his backstory. The fact that his combined Speed stat and Killing Edge make him a force to be reckoned with right off the bat certainly doesn't hurt my opinion of him, though.

Emmeryn

She makes bad decisions. Other people try to stop her from making those bad decisions, but she dissuades them from dissuading her by talking with enough conviction that they decide that her bad ideas must actually be good or at least acceptable ideas after all if she believes in them that strongly. She somehow inexplicably ends up stronger after having suffered brain damage and likely other injuries from her fall than she was beforehand when she was in perfect health. Nobody knows why her sacrifice affected so much of Plegia so deeply despite that they hated her mere minutes earlier, nor why she can't support Chrom and Lissa.

Gangrel

I don't really know why he wants the Fire Emblem so badly. Validar and Aversa's reasons for wanting it make sense, at least, but Gangrel openly expresses disdain for the Grimleal in his supports, so he clearly doesn't share their designs for it. I guess he just wants it for the power it would symbolize over Ylisse to have stripped them of their iconic national treasure. On that note, it's kind of interesting to me that where Altea used to be actually falls within Plegia's territory, although Ylisse is centered in the location originally belonging to Archanea. Anyways, he's a pretty decent villain, and it's really cool to me that he's a Trickster instead of the General that his rank would normally contractually-obligate him to be. His (likely retroactive) motivation, as revealed in his supports, actually provides a really good setup for not only a smoother transition and tie into the Valm arc, but also opens up potential to work Gangrel's recruitment into the main story, too. Sometimes I think about how much missed potential that had and get sad.

[RoyLKing]

Owain, Cynthia, and Ricken.

[Etrurian emperor]

Owain

In Awakening I liked Owain. Like everyone I enjoyed the over the top shouting and callbacks to previous Fire Emblem games. But its a gimmick with diminishing returns for me. In Awakening it was funny but carrying it over for a second game was just a bit to much, especially because he doesn't really have anything new to go along with his old gimmick like Inigo and Severa have.

Cynthia:

Cynthia is okay. I like her well enough but she's no favorite either.

Ricken

I never really understood the backlash against Ricken. He's a pretty straightforward representation of the shota type but inoffensive in how he goes about that. His ''treat me like an adult'' isn't depicted much as arrogance but more like a desire to be helpful. He's not terribly interesting but at least well meaning and pretty nice. Ricken isn't any more then just a standard shota which is a bit of a downgrade from characters like Ray or Tormod, but that's the running theme in Awakenings character roster. Pretty much everyone is very comfortable in his archtype.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Etrurian emperor

[Loki Laufeyson]

Tiki: I often dont even recruit her. Shes not bad though and cute fanservice for veteran fans of the series. As a unit, shes pretty solid but i dont tend to use her much.

Olivia: Her personality is ok but she is a little bit on the dull side and i hate her supports with Henry. Its why Inigo is never fathered by him. Her design is super cute though. As a unit, i love her a lot cuz Dancing wins. Getting her Galeforce to make Inigo useful is really annoying however.

Laurent: Im fond of this kid. He really gives a lot of shits about everyone and i think its cute. Hes just nerdy and awkward about it. Awww. I love how he held on to Miriel's hat. As a unit, a kid unit/10. He can and will stomp with the right set up.

Lon'qu: As a character, im really not a fan. I get why hes like afraid of women, but i still hate it. Ugh. Also, edgelord myrm guy is kinda tired. As a unit, hes edgelord myrm guy archetype (Navarre) so his stats all kinda point to that direction. Meaning hes good when trained.

Gangrel: Theres the original Husbando Trifecta, and theres the guy who makes it a Quadrant, and this guy is it. Hes my favorite of the spotpass characters and of the villains of the game. Its a damn shame his motives were not explored more. Cuz i honestly feel like his beef with Ylisse was justified due to the genocidal crusade the previous Exalt reaped on Plegia. Its just we dont know about all that due to bad writing. Gangrel and Walhart really got rammed in the bum with that bad writing. His supports with Male Robin discuss some stuff but its not that deep (deeper than the narrative though) and its just...argh. But i really love this guy despite all of that. As a unit, hes pretty great too. He can get Axefaire and made a damn fine Dread Fighter.

Emmeryn: [spoiler=click me]

Literally the grossest goddamn character FE has bothered to ever produce. Shes filthy and i hate her ridiculous ass. Ive gone on at length about my hatred of Emmeryn, but she literally offends me. The fact you can recruit her as a braindead ninny and marry her is really beyond the pale and grosses me out even more. Just....UGGHHA WHY!

Owain: I love this guy a lot and hes the precious son. Yes. One of the top children for me. Hes so cute and i love his goofiness and it makes me sad face cuz he uses that to hide HORRIBLE CRUSHING FUTURE PTSD. My poor baby. As a unit, hes always one of my best cuz spoiled rotten child.

Cynthia: Sweet little pega pony princess baby girl. Among my favorites and i find her heroic attitude endearing. She tries SO HARD and wants to save all the things. Awww. I like her best as Chrom's baby girl cuz it makes hella sense. Plus her being cousins to Owain always makes me grin. They are so alike, i imagine them being so close growing up. As a unit, Stompy McStomps. <3

Ricken: YOU CANT HAVE ANY, YER TOO YOUNG! Go warm the bench, sonny! Seriously, hes too young to pair with anyone other than Nowi and maybe Lissa. As a unit, squishy mcsquishums who dies when looked at funny. His ickle sprite when he reclasses to cav branch is HILARIOUS though.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Loki Laufeyson

[Magical Glace]

Owain - I actually like Owain. His over the top ham never really failed to amuse me, then I learned it was actually a coping mechanism and wanted to give him a hug.

As a unit, he can have some awesome offensive abilities with his mom's magic mod and Galeforce inheritance. He's pretty good overall.

Cynthia - Adorbs adorbs adorbs. She's cute and I want to hug her. Can be pretty awesome.

Ricken - While he has shota points and mage points, he kinda overstresses the "don't look down on me" gimmick. At least he's not immediately associated with a Tharja expy, unlike a certain other 3DS shota mage...

[Emerson]

OWAIN DARK USES HIS ULTIMATE ATTACK; RADIANT DAAAAAWN!

Jesus this man is amazing. I love him to pieces.

How about another question?

Do you prefer your Owain to be Physical or Magical?

While him being a SM and destroying stuff is fun, I really prefer having Libra as his dad and having him destroy things with books.

Cynthia

I like her, although I've rarely used her nor seen many of her supports. Maybe I'll use her this time around...

Ricken

Meh. Never cared for him. Although, he is a fantastic unit. Defensive Mages are fun!

[Ertrick36]

Okay, so now we've talked about all the spotpass characters... right?

Owain needs no aid

I don't know why I'm so obsessed with that particular line. So, I actually almost started crying during the scene with him and Inigo in Future Past. If there's any proof that Owain is a true hero (Inigo, too), just watch the opening cutscene for Future Past 2. A real heart-wrenching moment, that.

I love Owain. Ever since I realized the joke when he shouted "Radiant Dawn!" and then immediately after, he berated his "hand", saying "this is no time for games", this guy has just been a barrel of laughter for me. If nothing else, his love for roleplaying reminds me of my own love for that hobby, which I've carried since I was a small child. But I like how his over-the-top acting serves to try to emulate the grandeur of the Exalts, since he lacks the ability to carry the Falchion or any semblance of power Lucina and Chrom wield, but wants to be able to save people just like they do. It's endearing in a way. Also really, really sad. If I could give him a long, heartfelt hug, I would.

Do you prefer your Owain to be Physical or Magical?

While him being a SM and destroying stuff is fun, I really prefer having Libra as his dad and having him destroy things with books.

I like that he can do both. In fact, I try to get him so that he has high stats in both regards so that he can act as an auxiliary unit. I always prefer to make him an Assassin in the end though because the high amount of crits and lethality really fit Owain's "hungering sword hand" deal.

Cynthia

At first, I found her to be kind of annoying. Like, it seemed like they were forcing her cuteness. Maybe it was the voice.

But playing Future Past and seeing some of her supports... well, I've warmed up to her. I mean, at some point, the game had me rooting for her over Severa, since Severa was being particularly bitchy to Cynthia for no reason. I like that she puts on a brave face and remains optimistic in the face of dire situations. It's a wonderful thing that takes a level of virtue most people don't attain. And this is proven by the fact that so many of the children are grim and stoic. But not Cynthia.

It makes me think of how so many of my own former friends and acquaintances in high school and middle school grew up to be huge nihilists, while I developed... well, not an overly optimistic outlook, but an outlook that's much more positive than half my classmates. Also, many of them were massive dicks to everyone who disagreed with them on anything, but that's kind of beside the point. So at the very least, I can relate to her on that level.

And it is a bit endearing that she trips like her mother. Which is funny, because I don't even care for that gimmick when it's Sumia who's tripping.

Cynthia

I like her, although I've rarely used her nor seen many of her supports. Maybe I'll use her this time around...

If nothing else, she has guaranteed access to OPforce, along with the class that provides it.

Ricken

Honestly not as over-the-top-shota as he could be. Not as good as Hayato, but also not the worst. Is there much beyond jokes about his height and age? Not really. But he isn't an asshole about it. He's more like the boy in every children's story that wants to help out, but is constantly turned away because he's a kid, and I enjoy those well enough.

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Owain, Cynthia, and Ricken.

Owain:

I like him! I like his shouting and his callbacks to previous games, especially when you learn his background. He has good supports, especially with his mother! As a unit, he's of course pretty darn great, and one I like trying to make room for on my team. His design is good, one of the better ones on the game in my opinion.

Cynthia:

One of my favorite time-traveling second-generation children characters! I never found her annoying, and I think she has a lot of solid supports. I really like her supports with Lucina as her sister, and with Chrom as her father. As a unit, she, like the other kid units, annihilates everything, so of course she's amazing. I like her design a lot, especially with Chrom's hair color, it looks pretty great!

Ricken:

Eh. I like him well enough, but he's not a favorite. He has the "worship Robin!" syndrome that the rest of the cast has, but he also has a "worship Chrom!" syndrome that seems much more natural to me. I mean, he's basically grown up idolizing Chrom. I liked his supports with Maribelle, and I never really minded his "don't look down on me/treat me like a kid" thing, but it also isn't something that I think really helps his character. As a unit, he's okay. He makes a good dad for Brady! As for his design, well...he's like Miriel and Laurent. That awful, awful hat.

[Thane]

Owain

I love him. Seriously, this guy is absolutely hilarious, and it's no wonder he's the most popular child character, if memory serves. I like it that he knows when to get serious, showing that there's more to him than just a silly guy making up silly names for silly moves. Probably the funniest character in the series, even beating his Fates counterpart, unlike Inigo.

Cynthia

The mandatory "character I shouldn't like but I do". I find her absolutely adorable, even with a high-pitched voice and slightly samey supports. I love her design and role in Future Past and I can't help but to be swept up in her cheerfulness, which I suppose is the mark of either a good voice actress or the Awakening writers knowing how to write charming and over-the-top dialogue.

Ricken

Never used him since I dislike his gimmick and I know he's not a very good unit.

[Ebony]

Owain

I'm taking him home with me. I love Owain! Probably my favorite child unit. Hits hard, is a sweet kid, is hilarious, and I want to give him a million hugs. I won't lie, I married him in a run to see what it was like. It was surprisingly cute. I honestly have this weird desire to want to protect him. I genuinely felt bad for him during his supports with Severa. Give him a hug, dammit. He deserves one.

Cynthia

At first I wasn't big on her. She grew on me, of course, especially due to how useful she was. I usually have Henry as her dad and she looks fantastic with that color of hair. I have to say, I liked her support with the above mentioned character, Owain, since it calls forth to the two most popular archtypes of heroes. She's a good kid and I appreciate how hard she tries. Her voice is cute too.

Ricken

Barely use him.

[RoyLKing]

Since this character list is going to be at an end tomorrow, I'll add some villains in to make up.

Today's characters are Maribelle, Excellus, and Validar.

[Thane]

Maribelle

One of the most underrated characters in Awakening. She's got some really good supports in which she shows many different traits while still keeping the core of her character intact. She's also one of the funniest characters in the game, even offering to take Lon'qu to/pay for his visit to a brothel, and when asked how she would know of such a place, she just says a lady is allowed to keep secrets. Like, that's awesome. She often dominates the conversations she's in, but in a very good way. One of my favorite characters in the series.

Excellus

Who?

Validar

Meh, better than Ashnard and Nergal at least because he's at least trying to win and actually succeeds in a different timeline. Is he hilariously underdeveloped and a moustache-twirler? Yes, but the villains in Fire Emblem are generally pretty bad, and Validar is no exception. At least the guy successfully manages to manipulate the Shepherds and then try to kill them when they've served their purpose, unlike Nergal's "I could kill you now but I won't" or Ashnard's "I could win the war right now, but I'll purposefully do the wrong thing, going against my entire 'ideology' to give the heroes a chance to win".

In short, he's really bad, but at least he's somewhat good at his job.

[epilepsyduck]

I was anxiously wondering when Maribelle would show.

Also late yet again, oops.

Owain

This wonderful child is equal parts silly and sincere, and that's a combo that I can really get behind. He's pretty much always a treat, even if he can get a bit out there at times. His mom probably edges him out a tiny bit in my heart, but it's a close thing all the same. Of the three kids to make it into Fates I feel like he's actually the only one who I liked both portrayals of equally, and perhaps even slightly favored his Awakening incarnation if only because Awakening doesn't have anywhere near the tone problem that Fates does, so his antics here fit in a bit better.

Cynthia

Another kid I'm hugely fond of, and unlike Owain I actually prefer her over her mother. She does lightly dip into the "clumsy girl" thing sometimes, but that's okay because I find everything else about her completely endearing. She's also a killer unit, like most of the kids, possibly one of the best, and if it wasn't for how deadset I am against Chrom x Sumia I'd be perfectly willing to go with it to hand her Aether.

Ricken

He's alright, I suppose. I never really used him for much except dad fodder; he's a bit too slow for my taste. I also hate that his alternate classes are both physical ones, because he doesn't really have the stats for it and the hat only really works with magic-based classes. I guess the "don't treat me like a kid" thing could be grating if you got enough of his supports, but I never bother so it doesn't really bug me.

Maribelle

Holy fuck do I love this girl. Like, I'm sure people have perfectly valid reasons for not loving her, but I don't give a damn, I do! She's a completely terrible unit, sadly, but I will shower all sorts of totally undeserved favoritism onto her anyway because I think she's fantastic. She's got a good balance of funny supports and more serious ones, she's the mother of one of Awakening's best kids, and I love that after all this time we finally have Troubadours with pants. Not letting her S-Support Lissa is a tragedy, but it's part of a larger issue I've got with Awakening so it's not too relevant here.

Excellus

When I said I didn't hate any characters in Awakening, I didn't realize that we'd be touching on non-Spotpass villains. The most generic villain in a game fully of generic villains, and I absolutely hate him for being part of the crappy Walhart arc. I hate the effeminate villain thing too, as I've hated it every time it appears. Fuck this guy.

Validar

It was really hard to decide which of Validar and Excellus was the most generic villain. Validar is ultimately just a painfully dull villain rather than an incredibly annoying one, basically being a crappy clone of the already flat and underwhelming Gharnef, with a bit of Manfroy thrown in. He's also got that weird gray-brown skin thing going on that a lot of evil characters in this series do, which I'll never understand. I can't really bring myself to care too much about this guy.

Edited September 15, 2016 by whenbananasattack

[Fire Emblem Fan]

Today's characters are Maribelle, Excellus, and Validar.

Maribelle:

She comes off as a pompous, stuck-up jerk, but she actually has some solid supports and shows she's really not that bad. Now I wouldn't say she's a favorite, but I like her. As a unit, she's a healer on horseback, which is good, plus she has access to good skills. She's good and I like using her. In terms of design...eh, I'm pretty neutral. Not my favorite, not bad, certainly not the worst.

Excellus:

Bleh, I don't like this guy. I can think of nothing else to say other than I don't like him.

Validar:

He ranks incredibly low among the villains of the series. He's underdeveloped, although perhaps not as underdeveloped as Gangrel, yet still somehow worse. He has good moments here and there, but ultimately he falls behind the likes of good villains, such as Nergal and Lyon.

[Magical Glace]

Maribelle - I forgot most of her supports. But she's a pony healer to start and gets Galeforce in grind which is nice.

Excellus - Yet another awful villain. Die die die die die you pointlessly evil jerk.

Validar - Basically the same as Excellus.