Fates Character Design Opinions (Final Day #37 - Arete, Sumeragi, Anankos)

[Nanima]

Oh gods this is going to take me forever, but oh well:

Corrin: I like the heads and hairstyle of both (the only hair that looks good on M!Corn in fact), but their clothes/armour.. It looks like a weird patchwork quilt, and not something a royal would wear. M!Corrin has that silly collar thing, and F!Corrin has the unnecessary thigh exposure. Their promoted outfits look much better, except for F! Corrin's beyond ridiculous sexualisation.

Azura: I love it. Her hair is and eyes are beautiful, and the dress is lovely, though also a little on the queastionable side, but much less egregious than Corn's clothes. If only the story had let her be anything more than an exhibition bot. Overall it's one of my favorite designs.

Ryouma: The big boss lobster. I liked the design from the moment I saw it. His mane and red-white colour motif is simply amazing. Though i guess the chin armor is not quite that stylish. Everything else is great though.

Xander: Not everyone can work a hairstyle like that, but oh does he do it. His armour is great and beautiful. You really get the sense that he is a powerful warrior from him. Both big bros are so well designed.

Hinoka: I thought she was a guy in the first trailer haha. She looks amazing anyway, with the fiery red hair. Her armour is great. The colour scheme is as always really nice. Her lack of leg armour is unfortunate, but not nearly enough to call it out really.

Camilla: Well... I like the hair and face. The armour design isn't terrible if you overlook the fanservice. I could stomach the breasts (if not the fixation on them in her fucking introduction cutscene), but the battle panties are just insulting really.

Takumi: So my favourite character also has the best hairstyle. It's so fluffy and flowing, and I really like the colour. The way he stands out from his siblings design wise is pretty cool. All his colours work very well together, and I especially like his eye colour being amber, instead of normal brown. The archer outfit is great, specifically the pelt he wears looks comfy. The only criticism I have are his poofy pants, but that can be overlooked easily.

Leo: That armour must be a nightmare to draw, but it's very cool. The colour scheme also works well for him. Otherwise he is just a clone of Marth, so I don't have much to say.

Sakura: Love the hair, and all the pink and white she wears. She is simply lovely to look at, and really cute without feeling obnoxious. Her pose in the official art is awkward, but I can deal with that, since it doesn't appear in the actual game.

Elise: Now here I will be honest and say that I am not a big fan of her design. The colours of the dress are fine, and I do like the upper half of it. Her skirt isn't really my thing though, and the boots are way too obnoxious. I am not a fan of the drills either. Her design overall feels like it's trying too hard to be cute, which Sakura doe smuch better.

Felicia: Something about her face bothers me. Her hair is lovely, and maid outfits are maid outfits, so it's good. Not much to say about her, honestly.

Jakob: Like the suit and his silver hair. A very good design for a very lackluster character.

Kaze: I like his hair and his face. The ninja suit feels a bit generic, but it's workable.

Mozu: She is so cute and small. Really looks the part of the shy country girl. Although her small stature often makes me worried about pairing her with some of the huge guys around. Don't rush her please.

Silas: Eh, the armour is good I suppose. His hair is just silly and there isn't much else to say about mister generic here.

Gunter: A really badass design. He really looks like the veteran of a hundred battles. Both his armour and face are very well done.

Hana: She is cute, with her long hair and flowy robes. I really do love her pink Samurai outfits, especially once she promotes. Overall she perfectly encapsulates the tomby with a girly streek look.

Subaki: I really like his hair (except the idiot curl, though i suppose it gives him character), and the fact that he is the first mal sky knight. Of course, he gets to have his legs covered.. Oh well he looks nice, though there should have been some more unique elements to it.

[Ertrick36]

His look in comparison to the female counterpart doesn't seem too major except he wears pants instead of the dress that they get (Which would be bizarre if he wore that).

Hey! Men in dresses look absolutely glorious.

Also, if anyone is interested in a small kid's opinions, my 4 year old gave her assessment of the royals:

Xander - his sword looks cool. Just his sword... I guess his shirt is pretty cool, too.

Ryoma - I like his boots, I guess. I don't like his body.

Camilla - you KNOW she's my favourite! Camilla has my favourite design. I love her purple hair. Can you make me an outfit like her?

Hinoka - no, I don't like her design. I like her hair, but not anything else.

Leo - I LOVE LEO. I love his whole shiny armor.

Takumi - I really like him. I like his bow and I like all of him. All of his body. He's just really cool.

Elise - oh, she is SO cute. Oh, I just love her. I love Elise.

That's really adorable. I, too, love Leo's shiny armor and Takumi's bow. Though does she have an opinion on Sakura?

... but on a personal level I prefer more customization from class designs in general.

Me too. Though then again, I generally just want to see the armies break from the usual blue = ally, red =enemy, since it's easy enough to tell who's who with the map sprites (those sprites can keep the blue/red/green scheme). I'd like to see all Hoshidan units wear red and white (which they do when you fight them, but red is swapped with blue when you capture them) and all the professional knights and fighters of Nohr to wear colors reflective of Nohr. Bandits can wear whatever the hell they want. But even more, I'd like for all the retainers to wear special apparel to signify that they're servants and guards of the royal siblings. A badge of office, if you will.

Anyway, here are the opinions of the day.

Hana Barbera

Can't remember how the surname's spelled, but I tried. Alright, we got Samurai Mia, here. I actually like the color scheme on her outfit. It's much more appealing to me than the generic Samurai outfits. Other than that, I agree with the statements others made. It's just too bad she isn't all the appealing as a character, what with the whole "victim blaming" support line and whatnot.

I don't really have much to say about the Samurai animations, since they're pretty identical to the Swordmaster/Master of Arms animations. Though it is worth it to note than unlike the Swordmaster, both the Samurai and Master of Arms classes always use single weapon animations, regardless of whatever weapons they use. So that means you'll get to see Hana wielding a single Sunrise Katana in both of her hands, while you'll never see Ryoma holding less than two Sunrise Katanas without reclassing.

Tub-ak-ee

First ever male Pegasus Knight, except for all those male Pegasus Knights in the original Mystery of the Emblem that nobody talks about since that got retconned in the remakes. I have to say, his face looks very pompous. Like, even the way he wears his face has to give off this aura of perfection, though it's more accurate to say it gives off an aura of him believing (or pretending he believes) that he's perfect. Though I love his "nervous" face; it looks like he accidentally spilled a bowl of cereal on Sakura or something.

Not much else to add. His hair's nice, and the male Pegasus Knight uniform is nice. I don't really have feelings about him having pants. Personally, I don't think the female Pegasus Knight design comes across as pandering or impractical nearly as much as the female Cavalier and Armor Knight/General designs do. But I'm pretty sure I already talked about female Pegasus Knights when I talked about Hinoka, so there's no reason to talk about it more here. And thus, I also have nothing to say about Subaki's animations, as they're the exact same as Hinoka's.

[Naturesshadow]

It's just too bad she isn't all the appealing as a character, what with the whole "victim blaming" support line and whatnot.

I feel like I've been a minority in people that like her as a character, That one support overshadows her quite a bit. While I agree that it's not a well done support with Corrin I don't have any problems with Hana in her other ones and at least she apologized for her rash actions by the end of it (It could be said that it was shoehorned in to allow the S rank but i digress). But anyway I shall not derail this thread and get on with the next two (a bit late today due to being away from home)

Edited October 1, 2016 by Naturesshadow

[Naturesshadow]

Now onto Elise's retainers, Effie and Arthur:

#19 - Effie

Thank god they fixed the shoulder pads for knights! After the silly over sized ones we got in Awakening I was expecting them to continue this trend, but thankfully that didn't end up being the case. I like her hair design, which its cute design makes for contrast to her mighty figure and mighty strength. The design reminds me of the knights from previous games (particularly the GBA era ones) in terms of armour size and layout. Her pink colour scheme reminds me of Amelia's look as a knight. I've heard people say her voice is a bit off but I personally find it suits her quite well, but there are one or two lines that make her sounds a bit dopey (I forgot to mention voices for these characters which we can discuss as well).

Of course...there's only one problem I have with her design....her backdoor. Why is she not wearing pants? It sticks out to me (no pun intended) especially when compared to Benny, who actually wears pants, and just comes across as more unneeded sexual pandering. Like the issue I had with Camilla's design it just feels awkwardly placed amongst all the heavy armour and makes the design look inconsistent, especially with her victory animation pushing it in your face.

#20 - Arthur

The mighty hero himself. He's certainly the most colourful fighter I've seen in this franchise. All that blue, red and white (America justice joke here), it's nice on the eyes. I really love his facial design, that grin of his is very amusing, the polished hair, it makes him look like such a fun character. His voice sells his character well, you can tell the voice actor was having fun with this character (I love the way he say's his son's name, always makes me laugh).

[Ertrick36]

I feel like I've been a minority in people that like her as a character, That one support overshadows her quite a bit. While I agree that it's not a well done support with Corrin I don't have any problems with Hana in her other ones and at least she apologized for her rash actions by the end of it (It could be said that it was shoehorned in to allow the S rank but i digress). But anyway I shall not derail this thread and get on with the next two (a bit late today due to being away from home)

Don't get me wrong; I don't hate her. If anything, it just makes me like Corrin less (not because of her victim blaming having any validity). But I'm also not her biggest fan. Just indifferent. But I already expressed my opinion of her in the old opinion thread, and this is not the place for this kind of analysis, so I will discuss it no longer.

Backdoors, anyone? Yeah, there's one to talk about here.

Effie

And it's with our lady Armor Knight. Yes, the exposed derriere. Because we need to make absolute certain that this horse is deader than Sumeragi.

Because Sumeragi came back from the dead, and we don't want the same to happen to this horse we've been beating.

We've all agreed that it's weird that Camilla's got those battle panties. And in regards to the Cavaliers, the forum has discussed it in passing and in depth. But it's the worst for Armor Knights because they're supposed to be heavily armored. Now, I know that typical armors protect the crotch region and leave the back part exposed, but usually, one wears chainmail or something underneath all the plates. Sure, male Armor Knights actually don't seem to wear chainmail, but it's just distasteful for females to wear less than their male counterparts when they're both supposed to be heavily focused on defense. Especially in a region that's pretty sexualized in general to begin with...

Anyway, I don't want to bog down her otherwise solid design; I just wanted to let that complaint out, since it's stuck with me since Awakening. I like the toned down weight of the armor. It looks more like a suit of armor than it does a vehicle in the form of armor, if that makes any sense. I'm always down for armors that set themselves apart from the generic, and it's especially good since it uses a couple of colors similar to the ones Hana wears. It just aligns right with the mirror themes they were going for with the royals and their retainers.

As for her face and hair. There aren't many characters in Fates (or FE in general, really) that have green eyes, and they seem to work for her. I like buns on girls no offense, fellow dudes, but manbuns are an abomination, and I like its color. She has some butter lips, kind of like Sully and Kjelle, so I'm pretty sure that's just going to be a recurring thing for big, tough girls from here on. She looks fairly cute, but the cuteness factor doesn't take away from the impression that she could probably snap you like a twig with relative ease.

Now, animations... In Awakening, the Armor Knights seemed kind of... floaty in their movements? Like, they could jump about 2-3 feet in the air, and it just seemed like they had a hard time grounding themselves. Of course, it could just be that the animations in Fates are all around faster and flow better, but the Armor Knights seem much heavier, and they use weight to help them make smashing strikes that would make Nigel Thornberry proud. They have varied attacks as well, which makes them a bit more interesting. Effie's victory pose, though...

Captain Nohr: Civil War

There's just one thing I have to say about Arthur's color scheme:

Amurica! F*** YEAH!

I like that instead of just being mostly bare skin, he wears tights. It actually makes the Fighter design more appealing by at least 50%. If they were going for the super hero look, they've obviously succeeded with flying colors. I lied when I said I only had one thing to say about the colors. This image is only furthered by his blonde hair, blue eyes, and big chin. If Superman had Aryan traits, you wouldn't be able to tell him apart from Arthur. I also love his "H" belt buckle. Again, it just screams Super Hero.

Animation-wise, he has typical axe-wielder animations. In fact, I think they were ripped straight from Awakening, for the most part. Not very impressive, but no glaring flaws, either.

(I forgot to mention voices for these characters which we can discuss as well)

I'm gonna have to make a separate post for all that. And put it in spoilers. Then, if there are no characters between now and when I voice these opinions, I'll just add that spice to the stew that is my lightly salted opinions.

[Naturesshadow]

Don't get me wrong; I don't hate her. If anything, it just makes me like Corrin less (not because of her victim blaming having any validity).

To be fair it's Corrin. At this point he's our punching bag for a majority of Fates problems and he rightfully deserves it.

But I already expressed my opinion of her in the old opinion thread, and this is not the place for this kind of analysis, so I will discuss it no longer.

As have I on said thread, Although I really need to see more supports to get the full picture on the entire cast as at the time, half of mine were more of first impressions or in the case of Revelations, hadn't encountered yet.

[Naturesshadow]

Next up, Takumi's retainers, Hinata and Oboro:

#21 - Hinata

A spunky looking samurai we got here. In contrast to Hana's look, Hinata's got some nice contrast with the purple/white combo. Also has a similar chestplate and the same kind of shoes. Speaking of which, I've wondered about them shoes in terms of how practical they are when running around with them. Looking at them reminds me of why I don't wear Thongs (sandals for those outside Australia) as that lead to me stubbing my toe on a rock in the woods and leaving a nice trail of blood back to camp.

One thing to note about the image I found of him, what the hell is up with his face? it's looks so feminine and the red lips look out of place, especially since Oboro's doesn't have that. It looks like he's wearing lipstick. These 4Koma portraits are quite hit and miss.

#22 - Oboro

Another favourite of mine, such a colourful spear fighter. The bright orange with the dark blue is really nice and suits her character. The diamond patterns on her stockings are a stylish choice and I can imagine that was her choice to add them, which works for her character. She rocks the ponytail well and I like her facial expressions, a mixture of dopey and cute and of course that angry face of hers:

It was one of the first images of her I saw when leaks of Fates were coming out before release and it certainly caught me eye.

I really like her voice too. Such a sweet voice she has, her giggle in particular is adorable.

Edited October 1, 2016 by Naturesshadow

[saisymbolic]

Hinata

Like, literally my favorite character and one of my favorite designs. I agree about the 4Koma art; I don't have anything against the artists, but some of them really are hit-and-miss. That said, I love his color scheme. The purple, black and white works very well together and gives him a rather regal look, in spite of his cheerful and somewhat simple-minded personality. I'm also rather skeptical about the sandals. Part of me doesn't mind them and the other part of me wished the Samurai actually wore matching closed toed shoes. Luckily, his Swordsmaster promotion pretty much mends that tiny qualm that I have.

Oboro

Another of my favorite designs. I love her color scheme as well. Aren't orange and blue complementary colors. Her face (again, quite shallow of me) is one of my favorite aspects of her; her smiling portrait absolutely makes me melt. I'm actually not too fond of her Spear Master color palette with white replacing the orange as the primary color.

[Emerson]

Well shoot, I've missed a lot now.

Kaze

Green man. Not the biggest fan of the design, but eh, it works for an Abel archetype.

Ninja animations are fine.

Nanako

I like Mozu's design. Simple, and not as fancy as the rest of the army, which is how it should be.

I'm not a huge fan of the class animations. They feel awkward, which I guess makes sense, but it still feels... off.

Silas

Fauxhawk.

Gunter

I find it weird that he's pretty much the only person in the entire game with a palette for Great Knight. I though Peri was a canon GK?

Great Knight's animations are actually really nice. Very stilted, but it makes sense why unlike another class.

Hana

Literally the most adorable little flower among the entire Hoshidan army. If she wasn't so rough personality-wise (And didn't have some of those bad supports), she'd probably be my favorite character.

I love the little headband, not to mention I really like the color pink.

Subaki

While I may not like him, his design is very nice. He has Cordelia's bangs, but that's about it in similarities (besides color).

Effie

She's also really adorable design-wise, plus again, pink. Her design really fits her Jpn personality really well imo, and kinda clashes with her localized personality.

The animations, like Great Knight, are very stiff. But, similarly, it makes sense why.

Arthur

America.

Nothing too much to add beyond what everyone else has said.

Fighter animations are nice, I guess. Pretty much Awakening's but a bit more exaggerated, which is good.

Hinata

I really like his color palette. I also like his hair (And Oboro's) being an homage to Takumi's.

Oboro

Orange and purple work really well together, huh. Her hair, like Hinata's, is styled after Takumi's.

I also generally love the Spear Fighter outfit.

Spear Fighter animations are also very nice. Lots of two-handed Naginata stabs and slices.

[Ertrick36]

As have I on said thread, Although I really need to see more supports to get the full picture on the entire cast as at the time, half of mine were more of first impressions or in the case of Revelations, hadn't encountered yet.

That is true. I mean, for one thing, there are some supports that Corrin has with certain characters that are pretty good. And another example is many people hate Azama, but I actually went through his supports with Subaki, and they're pretty good as well. You can never fully judge a character from an incomplete picture, but most of the time, that's all we have to work from. It's like in real life, where you never really know someone unless you spend a great length of time with them, but because there are so many people around us all the time, we pick and choose our friends rather than befriend as many people as possible. It's the attitude most players carry to these games.

Anyway... damn, I was hoping I would be able to post voice opinions here before the thread updated, and I wanted to keep my voice opinions for the former characters in a separate post, but I really want to talk about Team Takumi, so I'm not going to wait on this. They'll be together, though voice opinions will go in spoilers below my Team Takumi posts. And I may or may not post opinions for all characters, as some of them aren't too remarkable to me. Also won't have any opinions on Japanese voices, since I've hardly ever heard them.

Hinata Matata

What a wonderful phrase that I may or may not have referenced before. Oh yis, this boy's got some spunk! He's got lots of scars, some of which I'm pretty sure he got from trying to cut his own hair when Oboro wasn't around. Another character that has green eyes, though I think they're darker than Effie's. Again, I like unique outfits, and his is pretty goddamn good. Very showy design, displaying both his arm muscles and his scars. Overall, it meshes well with his personality. And I like that he keeps the themes of his clothes (the colors and the bare arms) in his canon promotion.

As for his voice, I think it adds nicely to his established character. Cocky, young, almost something of a dudebro. Very enthusiastic about fighting, but I like it more when he lets out that disappointed "Oh, man..." He shounds like he dropped some ice cream all over the floor and the cat started eating it.

Glorious Fashionista

Yes, you can absolutely tell that she's a real trendsetter. Her outfit's one of the best, if not the best female outfit in the game. Her promotion outfit is nice, but I miss the blue, and I don't particularly like that the orange is less prominent. And her hair... you know I like that shade of blue, and it only helps me to like her more that her hair is that color. It's wonderful that both she and Hinata wear their hair the way they do to emulate Takumi, but they still have their own flair to their hair.

At first, her face kind of made me laugh. That sounds horrible, but it wasn't because I thought she was ugly. It was because of her smile and the way her eyes look. She's the only character that I can remember who has a perfect curve to her smile that's so wide. Most others, it's either a side smirk, or they have really tiny mouths. And her eyes... I think some people said they look dopey, but I think they more look uncannily content and longing. I don't know why, but that was my impression initially; the uncanny part might have been spurred on because her introduction has her doing the "scary face" and whatnot, so it was weird at first, getting to see her warm side. But I think the smile in her mouth and the contentedness in her eyes actually reflect well in her personality. In most of her supports, she acts as a rather mature caretaker, pretty much like a mother. And her expressions of happiness are so warm. It's just so precious.

And then there's her other half, which terrifies even little children. I like that they give her a literal shade in her face to add to an already pretty terrifying visage. There's a real lust for revenge behind it that would make Skullface from MGS V proud.

As for animations, they kick ass. They express great mastery over the use of the naginata and lances, and make lance-exclusivity more appealing aesthetically. If you'll notice, the lance animations are different from the naginata animations. The same is true for the victory poses Oboro has. With lances, she does this salute which always reminds me of a certain maniacal group of right-wing extremists from Germany. With a naginata, she takes on a rather darling pose.

Her voice is wonderful. It's very comforting outside of combat, again reflecting her mother-like nature in a lot of her supports. In combat, she more sounds like she's trying to get revenge against a wasp that stung her, especially when she says "Oh, that's it!", and I love it.

One more additional thing, but I'll put it in spoilers, as it's less about her design than it is about art styles.

I noticed how after the royals, Naturesshadow started using 4Koma works, which is absolutely fine. But I actually liked the official artwork of Oboro better:

I mean, some say her face makes her look like she's burping, but I think it's totally awesome. I like this non-sexualized fighting pose she has.

I also like how she looks in this drawing from Kozaki's Twitter account:

In this one, she actaully reminds me of Lucina, another great character with a solid design. I mean, she is distinctly Oboro, but her hair looks like Lucina's with a ponytail. Very gorgeous.

One last thing: I believe there is official artwork of Hinata out there as well, since it appears on a sticker for the drama CD for Takumi. It's good as well, but I can't find a good picture of it.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for (except not really). The moment where I dump a bunch of text about voices into yet another spoiler. Arr ya ready, kids?

Corrin

Corrin has six separate voices, but I think for both genders, the middle one is the best. I'm never too keen on the young voices for my avatar, and the "mature" voices aren't appealing, either, especially since the avatar is usually around adolescent age. I try really hard not to judge the aesthetics of the character based off of my views of their personality (and vice-versa), but Corrin's personality just... gives me certain impressions on the voicework. And they're not good ones.

Azura

So yeah, I'm sure everyone's familiar with Rena Strober and the appreciation thread dedicated to her. In that thread, I said that her performance as Azura made me curious about the other works she took part in, and I meant it. And I also commented that I never understood the hate it received, and that I thought it fit well with the game, and while I don't particularly like Fates' story and think Azura's character gets screwed over by plot devices, I meant what I said there as well.

Azura has a wonderful voice, and her singing is hauntingly beautiful, even if it's only ever one song. From what I know, it's actually kind of difficult to find someone who can both voice act and sing, so that's a bonus.

Ryoma

He sounds like he's 25-28 years old, which if I were to follow the general opinions on his age, that would make his voice accurate. He sounds very much like a young king.

Xander

Same as Ryoma, but with a Nohrian twist to it.

Hinoka

Her voice seems pubescent for some reason. I don't have much to add beyond that because I actually haven't heard too much of her voice/can't remember too many of her voiced lines.

Camilla

Voice of the weirdly seductive sister. Nothing else to say.

Takumi

"Not my fault your weak!" That line alone expresses the sound of his voice. I also wanted an excuse to quote that line.

Leo

Yeah, he certainly sounds scholarly. I like his voice.

Sakura

Her shy voice seals the deal. Absolutely adorable.

Elise

Excited voice sells her character, as well. Again, it's adorable. It's especially adorable when she comes swooping in with the line "To the rescue!"

Felicia

Very, very nervous all the time. Even her laugh is nervous. I love the delivery on all her lines, though "We've got trouble" takes the cake because of spicy memery.

Jakob

Sounds very buttlery. You can tell he holds his duties in high regard, and won't take bullshit from anyone.

Kaze

A very calm, yet serious voice. I mean, he even has the line "Remain calm" as part of his ad-libs, so it makes sense.

Mozu

Very squeaky, adorable voice. Though I still don't know how she does the excited gasp I've been fixated on since first hearing it.

Silas

"Hey...! Listen up!" Why does he put in an ellipses after the "hey"? Is he waiting for people to look at him?

Gunter

Douglas does an exquisite job with our elderly retainer. One of the most memorable voices, even though he isn't around/used most of the time.

Hana

Certainly sounds tomboyish. It fits her character.

Subaki

"Perfect...! Yes! Perfect! Almost perfect!" Seriously, he needs a medal for how many times he says that freaking word. Naturally, the actor set out to emulate this obvious love for perfection probably no more than five minutes into the recording process, seeing as probably a third of Subaki's lines have the word "perfect" in them.

Effie

Sometimes sounds really dopey. Other times, she sounds like a proper meathead. It's hit-and-miss for me.

Arthur

Evil has met its match with this absolutely magnificent voice! I can't get enough of this guy, seriously!

[Book Bro]

Late to the party:

#1 - Corrin (M/F)

I prefer the male design honestly because I just can't get over the form fitting armour with exposed skin on the female design. The hair is better on the female design though. Both are kind of ugly designs.

#2 - Azura

One of the better designs in the game. The colour scheme is pleasant and the outfit is fitting to her personality and class. The only things I would change are the hair on her face and her bare feet.

#3 - Ryoma

I'm torn between thinking this is a cool design and thinking it's way too over the top.

#4 - Xander

One of the best designs in the series, I was amazed in the first trailer with Xander. The bottom half is a little weird, and it sucks that everything the design seems to say about the character doesn't end up actually corresponding to his role in the game, but it's still very good overall.

#5 - Hinoka

Very good design. It's a practical outfit but it also looks nice, and the colours go well together.

#6 - Camilla

Burn this outfit. The colours are nice, but the armour makes no sense. You want cleavage, ok, fine, but I just can't with the perfectly round giant bubble boobs. Her crown would be better without the little ears. The bottom half is a mess. Her face and hair are the only good parts.

#7 - Takumi

Tooooo poofy!

#8 - Leo

It gets the job done, the armour isn't my favourite, but Blonde Marth is cool.

#9 - Sakura

One of my favourites. It's a very elegant design which reminds me of classic clerics like Ellen and Natasha.

#10 - Elise

Terrible generic anime design.

#11 - Felicia

Looking past the weird meido stuff, it's a nice design.

#12 - Jakob

See Felicia.

#13 - Kaze

I like the colours and the outfit.

#14 - Mozu

There's something about her face that bothers me, and I feel it's just a little too plain. I get that she's a villager but I would've preferred a more interesting colour scheme.

#15 - Silas

Amazing design, from the armour to the hair, there isn't anything I dislike.

#16 - Gunter

Another amazing design. I really wanted him to be useable in Conquest when he was revealed. Shame.

#17 - Hana

She's like Mia but less exciting.

#18 - Subaki

This is a beautiful man. However, his face is too similar to Inigo. I saw it instantly and I can never unsee it.

#19 - Effie

Another case of dumb form fitting armour, plus the butt window, means I can't take this design seriously.

#20 - Arthur

I suppose it's a good design in that it perfectly describes the character. However, said character highly annoys me and so does his face.

#21 - Hinata

Totally adorable, give him to me. I really like the colours and the outfit design. I'm not usually a fan of long hair on guys but this game totally changed that.

#22 - Oboro

Top tier fashionista, simply beautiful. Bright orange is not a colour I would expect would work so well as the main colour in a design, and yet her outfit makes it work. The stockings are balling.

[BANRYU]

Oboro is my favorite character in this game. Huge sweetheart and super cute, she is the japanese Nephenee and I love her.

[Naturesshadow]

That is true. I mean, for one thing, there are some supports that Corrin has with certain characters that are pretty good. And another example is many people hate Azama, but I actually went through his supports with Subaki, and they're pretty good as well. You can never fully judge a character from an incomplete picture, but most of the time, that's all we have to work from. It's like in real life, where you never really know someone unless you spend a great length of time with them, but because there are so many people around us all the time, we pick and choose our friends rather than befriend as many people as possible. It's the attitude most players carry to these games.

Funny you should mention Azama as even with his reputation as a troll character, I like him regardless. He's gotten the most chuckles out of me and he's rather interesting as a character, being a monk who doesn't take his role seriously. Plus I like his design (which shall be coming up soon). I have to wonder if I'll see any Jakob supports that dont portray him as an arse because so far THAT'S a character that's been hard to see a good side too (Hell his paralogue with Dwyer ain't winning him father of the year anytime soon). But then again diversity in personalities makes an army more lively, just look at Shinon from the Tellius games.

I noticed how after the royals, Naturesshadow started using 4Koma works, which is absolutely fine. But I actually liked the official artwork of Oboro better:

Oboro_Official_Art.png

I mean, some say her face makes her look like she's burping, but I think it's totally awesome. I like this non-sexualized fighting pose she has.

Since the main characters have been the only ones with official art so far I've had to resort to the 4Koma stuff for the rest of the cast. I was thinking about using Oboro's other artwork but for consistency sake I decided to stick with her 4Koma one, which is probably one of the better ones of the bunch (some of them are pretty off).

I also like how she looks in this drawing from Kozaki's Twitter account:

Oboro_Sketch_Stitchingclothes_.png

I've noticed those Kozaki drawings and I have to say they're pretty neat. I like the one with Sakura and Hana, that puzzled look on Hana's face is cute.

Edited October 3, 2016 by Naturesshadow

[Naturesshadow]

Now onto Leo's retainers, Odin/Owain and Niles

#23 - Odin/Owain

Owain's gotten more flashy in comparison to his Awakening getup, abandoning the myrmidon look for the dark mage look. Still got the yellow theme going for him which suits him well. In comparison to the female dark mage's design it's less pandering but they've tried to balance it with the exposed chest and arm bits, which are a tad odd. Although I have to say, I've noticed Owain's got some tough looking abs going on there. I imagined Henry looking like that with the amount of defense he got for me in my Awakening run. I like the sorcerer's black wings cape, it's a nice touch to their profession.

#24 - Niles

A solid design. The white hair along with his light brown skin makes for a nice colour contrast. The eyepatch is a nice touch considering his background (Is there a support that explains his eyepatch?) and I'm digging the dark blue attire, with specks of gold from the belt for that little flair. Also I've noticed that his boots are really big, I wonder if they'd be rather loose when on the run.

[Loki Laufeyson]

Hinata: Charming design but doesnt quite do it for me.

Oboro: One of the best designed characters in the game. Shes perfect and i love how misleading she can be. Like she comes off as smug and cocky with that expression, but shes really just a great and bright girl with a talent for LANCING THINGS IN THE FACE.

Odin: Hahaha he finally has a spangly outfit to match his spangly personality. I absolutely love his design and his assets look fantastic in it.

In comparison to the female dark mage's design it's less pandering but they've tried to balance it with the exposed chest and arm bits, which are a tad odd.

My dude, Odin's outfit is very much pandering, just a different demographic. The "exposed" bits are pandering. B:

I like how Odin has taken a really bold pose of reaching out instead of his hand in his face.

Niles: Probably my favorite male design in the game other than Xander. Dude is lit. Eyepatch, great skin tone, very lean, white hair, dem hips, and that smirk. Oh yes, sock it to me. He just looks amazing. I love the belt on his outfit too. I kinda wish he got the Adventurer/Trickster hat....

[saisymbolic]

Odin

Well, I don't know about anyone else but Odin can pander me anytime. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) The tome hand is indeed strong.

Pushing my aside my incorrigible pervert ways, I actually like this design for Odin. It fits him as he is a bright, bold, dramatic character that has little to hide. I also like the contrast he has with his fellow retainer and his lord; whereas Leo and Niles are primarily covered in darker colors, Odin is the odd man out as he dons his yellow, revealing Dark Mage robes.

Niles

I also love Niles' design. That eye patch is pretty awesome, along with the stark white hair. A lot of people note his skin tone, which I do appreciate the darker tone that pulls together his dark blue cloak and his gold accessories. I never noticed that his pants were striped, which is something else that I find charming.

[Naturesshadow]

My dude, Odin's outfit is very much pandering, just a different demographic. The "exposed" bits are pandering. B:

I suppose with all the pandering female designs that Awakening and Fates has introduced, male design variants are far and few between and I just seem to blank over them when they do show up.

[Book Bro]

Odin

Another dumb fanservicey design, the colours are very nice, but there's so little left to the imagination...

Who am I kidding, I can't resist dat booty and dem abs. Guilty pleasure design right here.

Niles

I love his design. It seems kind of classic FE actually. The only part of it I'm not big on is the eyepatch.

[Naturesshadow]

Onward to Hinoka's retainers, Azama and Setsuna:

#25 - Azama

I was surprised that they kept the fuzzy hair from Awakening's custom M!Robin hair selection, which I thought looked silly on him but for Azama, I reckon they've got it working here as It suits his aloof attitude and works with his getup. Black is a slick colour and its a nice colour for a monk, who are usually portrayed in white/brighter colours. I like those little fuzzy balls that he has around his chest, a cute little addition. He pulls off the closed eyes look well and I find it amusing that according to Mitama he has the same star eye pupils that she has.

#26 - Setsuna

Blue would be the first thing that comes to my head when thinking about Setsuna's design. Blue hair, blue eyes, blue stockings, blue boots, blue gloves, blue coat, at this point I'd make her official theme song I'm Blue by Eiffel 65. I do like blue though so It looks nice to me. I like her dopey, sleepy look in the facial expressions, It suits her character. Also I've noticed that alot of characters in this game seem to have that "fringe covering the face" look going for them (off the top of my head I can think of 5 characters that have it, including Setsuna).

[NekoKnight]

Gosh, I have lot of catching up to do. Here's the first half.

Sacrificial Knife + Kaze = Kamikaze

I love his hair and the green outfit pulls everything together nicely. I think he has the best "arm-blades" of the ninja trio (quartet?). The scarf together with the slightly open chest really make it seem like this guy would be a lady killer.

Killager

Despite being a farmer, her outfit looks more like it belongs to a noble, with only the brown and white colors suggesting her humble origins. Still, it's a lovely design and her freckles and flowers in her hair give her a charming provincial appeal. Her shaky, clumsy attacking animations is a good way of tying in story to 'gameplay'.

Mortal Frenemies

I like the generic cavalier outfits a lot and this design is no exception. Like someone mentioned before, the silver highlights do well to contrast the gold used in the Nohrian noble outfits. It also matches his hair. He looks well armored but the puffy sleeves give it a renaissance vibe that is cool.

Foxy Grandpa

More Nohrian armor, yay! Him 'official' art makes the Great Knight armor look a lot slimmer and I think that is more realistic. It looks sleek but also strong. I especially like his waistcoat. Very noble.

Hana Montana

To think we'd ever have a pink myrmidon (unless we had one before that I'm forgetting about)! Her long coat is a fantastic element of the design but I don't like her uneven socks. It's kind of interesting that her chestpiece is similar to GBA era cavaliers. Her slightly wild hair and headband do well to hint at her fighting obsession.

Mandelia

Eh, I'm not as fond of this design. He looks more like a genderbent female character (and personality-wise, he's based on Cordelia) than a original male character. Still, the ponytail is pretty nice and I like his boots.

[Ertrick36]

I just realized that the first and last voice options of the male Avatar are of Cam Clarke, and I said I preferred the middle one... I guess subconsciously, I don't want to hear Cam Clarke out of Corrin's mouth.

Since the main characters have been the only ones with official art so far I've had to resort to the 4Koma stuff for the rest of the cast. I was thinking about using Oboro's other artwork but for consistency sake I decided to stick with her 4Koma one, which is probably one of the better ones of the bunch (some of them are pretty off).

Right, I figured as much. I myself am a stickler for consistency in a collection like this. I mean, I wouldn't chastise or criticize you for not using portraits from various different artists - after all, it can sometimes be difficult to find an artist who draws all the characters from a game like this - but it can really irk me if I come upon, say, a little indie game where character sprites are of wildly varied artistic styles. And when I create stuff, I'll go out of my way to make things relatively consistent.

she is the japanese Nephenee and I love her.

True, dat. And in BR at least, she's just as useful as a unit.

Sacrificial Knife + Kaze = Kamikaze

Killager

Mortal Frenemies

Foxy Grandpa

Hana Montana

Mandelia

More fantastic names. Especially love "Foxy Grandpa".

Alright, moving on from all of this, it's time to catch up on the latest FE fashion trends.

Nightman, fighter of the Dayman
If you're a girl and you see a pretty (and very sexualized) boy, let it go "Ding, ding!" So I actually am alright with his sexualization. It's not only in the exposed abs and pecks; he's got some bulges going on downstairs, too. Odin's gotta be one of the sexiest men in the whole game from a design standpoint. And the reason I'm okay with this is because mages in the series hardly ever wear protective armor, so unlike Cavaliers, Malig Knights, and Armor Knights, Odin doesn't really need to wear protection. If he wanted to, he could run around naked. Plus, it fits with his showy attitude.

Onto his non-clothing cosmetics. I mean, with the exception of that circlet on his head, he's the same Owain as ever. He looks like the kind of guy in an anime who would be so hip that he'd get all the best stuff for some cool new card/collectethon game (and even some early access stuff), and he'd either be the protagonist's opponent somewhere down the line or the friend who introduces the protagonist to this game. Another thing: no one can convince me that Spark of Pokemon Go's Team Instinct wasn't at least a little inspired by Owain after seeing this.

We got dupes, bro!

Anyway, he's the flashiest mage I've ever seen as far as his own animations are concerned. I'm not just talking about FE, here; I'm pretty sure I've never, in my life, seen a mage move so much and with such flair.

The voicework remains outstanding; better, even, since he actually names his attacks instead of just his weapons, so you can actually hear him shout these ridiculous names. Such enthusiasm, and absolutely amazing lines and names for his attacks. All the critical quotes are fantastic, and I love his rather childlike "My darkness was darker than yours!" Seriously, it sounds like a bunch of preteen edgelords on Deviant Art arguing about their OCs. I mean, the tone doesn't, but the line itself exudes that feeling. In any case, he seriously would make a fantastic wrestler. He'd kick everyone's asses with his Eldritch Smackdown.

Nile Thornberry

His design is simply SMASHING. I really dig the Outlaw design. They look real shady and rough. The Adventurer design is a little odd, IMO, but still fairly neat. I like that his shirt has a low-cut, V shaped collar that exposes a little bit of his pecks and, if it weren't for his cape, his collarbones.

Everyone notes the contrast between his dark skin and white hair, and I, too, enjoy that. His eyes are close to the same shade of blue that his cape is, which reinforces the color scheme in his face. His expressions are almost always either nefariously happy or condescending, which are about the only states of being he's ever in when conversing with most people.

His animations aren't too impressive. Though I do like that the thieves of this game get bows; it's a unique, yet sensible choice, given that many archers used improvised arrows (e.g. a stick and a rock) when out of regular arrows, and that'd be an economically viable option for lowborn fighters. Though I do miss thieves who used just regular knives; Volke was totally killer.

I'll describe his voice in his own words: "Oh, yes~...!"

Azama

This guy is really fuzzy. He's got fuzz balls on his clothing, and his hair is one big fuzz ball. He's got the priest look down pretty well. There aren't too many Hoshidans with a black/white design, but I like it, since it reminds me of the Yin-Yang symbol, which would tie in with Azama's philosophical nature. The Great Master class is a little odd, with the beast feet, but it still manages to look priest-like.

I have to wonder why he never opens his eyes, though. I mean, one might think it'd be to hide his star-shaped pupils, but Mitama always has her eyes opened, so that explanation doesn't cut it. Didn't he say something about how it helps him disguise when he's asleep? Or am I thinking of one of the 4Koma Kings strips?

I think the Great Master borrows some animations from the Spear Master class while also mixing things up with some unique animations. Hey, I'm always down for Spear Master animations; the extra ones are just the icing on the cake.

His voice captures Azama's gleeful nihilism very well. I particularly love when he says "Death comes for everyone!" It's like he was part of the cast for a children's education show (like Teletubbies or whatever), and they come upon the topic of death for whatever forsaken reason. And they had to talk about death in a cheerful way, so they just brought Azama in to sing about death. Also, he's voiced by Mister Mercer, so he's basically Chrom as a nihilistic cult leader.

Snoop Lion

So now there's the female Archer, which, for the most part, shares the same color scheme as Azama's outfit. Except the tights and gloves are the same color as Setsuna's hair. And Setsuna's the only female character to get tights for the Archer and Sniper classes.

I like her hair; it's kind of cute. Her primary color is a very mellow color, which obviously reflects her personality. Her face also seems to capture that dazed personality, as she always looks vacant.

Her VA does an excellent job of making her sound like she's really high all the time. In fact, I'd be surprised if she wasn't told to imitate someone who was high off of the Rope o' Dope.

[Naturesshadow]

Right, I figured as much. I myself am a stickler for consistency in a collection like this. I mean, I wouldn't chastise or criticize you for not using portraits from various different artists - after all, it can sometimes be difficult to find an artist who draws all the characters from a game like this - but it can really irk me if I come upon, say, a little indie game where character sprites are of wildly varied artistic styles. And when I create stuff, I'll go out of my way to make things relatively consistent.

With that said, out of curiousity what's your opinion on the Cipher cards having various artists doing each character with varying styles?

Also I just realized I forgot to mention the Monk's animations for Azama. While his monk animations are standard, his promoted class is pretty fun to watch. Very much in a similar style to the Spear Masters and I really like his finisher and critical moves, stylish and satisfying. And as for the Archers, they do what you expect but I find the snipers crit animation rather funny, just that little twirl around to the shot gets me a giggle.

[Naturesshadow]

Camilla's retainers are up next, Selena/Severa and Beruka:

#27 - Selena/Severa

In comparison to her mercenary design from Awakening she's got alot more black/white going on and the shirt looks alot more thicker. The little touches like the different ribbons on her twin-tails are a nice touch and the little skirt over the pants is cute. I also like those little gold diamonds on her chest, I imagine her getting them during one of her shopping sprees. Her voice is pretty similar to her previous one but a little more matured, I wasn't expecting the maniac laughter as one of her victory quotes though but it's quite amusing. Also her support victory lines are less bitchy, which reflects well on her change of character.

#28 - Beruka

One of my favourite designs from Nohr's side. I'm digging her hairstyle and the headband compliments it and the mixture of black cloth and armour gives her the look of a tough fighter and someone of a rough background (appropriate considering her background). It's funny that Beruka doesn't get the Outlaw or Ninja class as her secondary class considering her role. Wyvern animations are what I expected, but the victory animation is cute, gotta give your mount praise for it's job well done.

Edit: Also forgot to mention her voice acting and another curious note. Her voice has a funny mixture of serious, emotionless delivery while also being rather cute in some cases. Also her hairstyle almost reminds me of Kjelle from Awakening, but alot better.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Naturesshadow

[NekoKnight]

Part two of catch up. Almost at the finish line.

Do you even lift, bro?

Fates has some of the best Knight/General outfits in the series, in my opinion, and the female variant looks both strong yet slim. A shame IS gave her an ass-window, but you can't see it in her artwork. Some don't like the boob-plate but I think it's feminine without being too silly. I also like the gold star on her chest. Her feminine hairdo and face go well with the "doesn't understand how freakishly strong she is" personality. She's the pink juggernaut we all hoped Wendy/Amelia would be.

Justice League

Normally I'd think spandex would look silly on a Fighter, but somehow it pulls his look together. It's still silly, but he's a silly guy. The belt is a nice 'hero' touch and I like the gorget he wears. It would be nice to see them on other classes. I'm totally okay with Japan's phenotype stereotype of Americans as blonde, blue eyed and having lantern-jaws. JUSTICE was done for this design

Naruto's Waifu

I like the royal purple colors and how the strings attaching his arm guards match his scabbard in color. The gold designs on the breastplate, you can definitely feel this guy is close to royalty. The bare arms and scar on his cheek also give him a rough and tumble feeling.

Mai Waifu

Best Grill! Impeccable fashion! Best faces! Oboro is love.

But more seriously, she has a really lovely design with only the odd diamond cut-outs on her leggings being a detractor to me. Her chest armor is unique and I like how prominent the Hoshido symbol is. Orange and navy blue is a charming combination and goes well with her hair. 10/10, would waifu every time.

It's kind of interesting how the 4koma art gave her black hair as opposed to her in game navy blue. She's gone full Japanese.

Tome Hand Tingles

*Oboro Scowls* Eeeeeehhhhhhgh. I really don't like this. I'll give the design credit for using a bold yellow on a DARK mage but I dislike pretty much everything else. He looks more like a male model (of Zoolander tier weirdness) or circus performer more than a fearsome magic user. Shaman robes > Dark Mage robes

It was me, Dio!

He the outfit makes him look like a scoundrel and the neckless and gold belt make me think he's a vain theif. I like how the eyepatch hints at a shady past. It's also refreshing to have a tanned Fire Emblem character. Cheeky look and rather dashing. I want to run my fingers through his hair. No homo

Brock

Actually a pretty good design. The white and black robes contrast well and I like how his pants and tucked into his boots. The prayer beads and fluff balls are a nice touch. I just wish his personality matched his friendly appearance.

Admiral Ackbar

No strong opinions here. It's another archer outfit, this time in default blue. It's kind of nice how her headband matches the collar of her class outfit. The lips and half covered face make a slightly sensual appearance. Props to the 4koma artist for her pose. It seems to suit her personality.

Nightman, fighter of the Dayman

I can totally imagine Odin trying (unsuccessfully) to get Leo to sing that with him. Alternatively, that would be Hinoka's song to Nohrrin. Ryoma is the Dayman.

[Book Bro]

Azama

Doesn't really stand out as particularly good or bad to me.

Setsuna

The Archer outfit looks better on her than Takumi. Must be the colours.

Selena

The updated Mercenary design is a lot better than Awakening's take.

Beruka

Cool assassin type design.