Special Heroes - Like Clockwork

[Rinco]

I was really tempted to get FEHPass and spark on this banner for Duo with Pathfinder, but now seeing the units I'm not so tempted anymore. 
That's also good because I can stick to my plans with no remorse.

[GrandeRampel]

5 hours ago, Tybrosion said:

Every FEH original should not be entitled a seasonal alt just because they’re a FEH original, especially when they’re as woefully unpopular as Otr.

It’s also hella unfair to actually popular characters (Ayra, among many others, sends their regards) from the main series to keep getting denied alts just so the likes of Mirabilis, Hrid and Ylgr can all have one

You may as well be preaching to the choir, since I prefer variety in picks for seasonals too. But even if they don't "deserve" one I am totally sure they will all get one. I realized it with Pirate Surtr, Santa Mirabilis was just expected to me. It only make sense from a marketing perspective. While characters from other FE games were originally ment to be characters and they are just now trying to sell them, Heroes OCs are made to be sold, so it makes sense to try and sell them multiple times. And since each book gives us about two seasonal banners worth of characters, they can easily give alt to all of them and Heroes would still be the third or fourth game with the most alts for that year, which is acceptable (it's them being the game with most Mythics that people are up in arms about).

Though to be fair Otr is in a bit of a weird spot because no Heroes OC has ever been THIS unpopular. So they might not even bother trying to salvage him and just drop any plans for his alt.

I still believe it more likely for all the OCs to get an alt, but if not that I think it will be all the OCs minus him.

[Othin]

Personally, I have no problem with marking a few seasonal slots each year to give one to each OC. I certainly prefer it to piling more seasonals onto characters who already have previous ones. And I like completing patterns.

[SynthGreen]

I like a good pattern but I also think Janurary being the last book OC’s is the most inoffensive  just for CYL. 
 

If Chrom/Felix/Byleth/Seliph got their alt in the New Years banner 3 weeks before voting, they’d be screwed. (Male front runners) 

 

giving it to the heroes characters who are very unlikely to win doesn’t risk that. 
 

though there is still the new heroes banner and the other janurary seasonal, either of those could kill one of their chances. But still this makes it 2 chances not 3 I guess. 

[Kyokko]

I own both of the Japanese artbooks that have been mentioned in the discussion about Kyza.  Here's the Japanese.

 

20^th Anniversary

キサ

体は男、心は女？

普段は模範的な兵士なのだが、興奮するとなぜかオカマ口調になる。リィレとは、隊長であるライを巡ってライバル関係にある（もちろんライにその気はない）。

 

Radiant Dawn

キサ

ガリア王国、カイネギスに仕える獣牙族／虎（ビーストトライブ／タイガー）の戦士。ライは直属の上官、同隊のリィレは部下である。国王カイネギスの方針に従い、ラグズ連合軍の1人としてデイン王国軍と対峙する。

礼儀正しく誰に対しても丁寧な口調と態度で臨む紳士然とした人物。だが、その姿は公の場にあわせた「よそゆき」の姿で、親しい者の前では本来の性格（？）である女性のような口調と仕草に戻る。

上官であるライに対して特に好意を抱いており、リィレとはライを巡ってことあるごとに小競り合いを繰り広げている。

「あきらめなさい、リィレ。ライ隊長の愛はあたしのものよ！」

 

The 20^th Anniversary description says that they speak like an okama when excited.  Yikes.  To answer ARMADS!!!!, it says that their "body is a man's, heart is a woman's (?)."

The Radiant Dawn artbook's paragraph two basically says to me that their formal and polite manner is a facade they present in public, but with people they are close to their true nature (?) shows through, returning to more feminine speech and behavior.  It seems to suggest that they are hiding their naturally more feminine self.

My takeaway: 

The 20th Anniversary artbook is dated and unfortunate.  The Radiant Dawn artbook is probably indicative of how IntSys wants to portray Kyza moving forward.  Kyza's descriptions in Japanese feel like an AMAB trans person to me.  However, Japanese is not my first language and I may be missing something.

[Ice Dragon]

1 hour ago, Kyokko said:

The 20^th Anniversary description says that they speak like an okama when excited.  Yikes.  To answer ARMADS!!!!, it says that their "body is a man's, heart is a woman's (?)."

I'm personally not seeing anything particularly "yikes"-worthy in the wording there besides using out-of-date terminology that may now be seen as derogatory (though I am not convinced that it would be in context). According to Wikipedia, the current terminology appears to be オネエ口調 (onee-kuchō) rather than オカマ口調 (okama-kuchō), but regardless, it simply means that Kyza uses stereotypical gay male speech patterns and mannerisms (roughly analogous to the "gay lisp" and associated mannerisms in the English language).

 

1 hour ago, Kyokko said:

Kyza's descriptions in Japanese feel like an AMAB trans person to me.  However, Japanese is not my first language and I may be missing something.

I hesitate to conclude that Kyza is intended to be trans simply because the descriptions are too similar to descriptions of Leon, who, as far as I'm aware, is a gay male.

As I really only study the language and am not particularly embedded in the culture (beyond what I can pick up from anime and video games) and therefore aren't familiar with the current state of gender politics in Japan, I can't say if there even is a well-defined line between the perception and presentation of gay men compared to trans women in media, as there simply aren't enough examples of the latter to compare with. Given that the campy stereotype is coded as "gay" rather than "trans", I feel like it takes more than just "his heart is female" to justify an argument of being trans when that phrasing can simply refer to sexual orientation rather than gender identity (and especially considering that the Japanese language doesn't natively differentiate sex from gender).

The only trans woman I'm really aware of in modern media is Ladiva from Granblue Fantasy, who, from what little I've seen from Granblue Fantasy Versus and the voice lines on the Granblue Fantasy wiki, has the same mannerisms as the campy stereotypical gay male (but cranked up well past 11 and maybe past 12, even), and the only reason I even knew she's trans in the first place is the fact that English-speaking players of Versus refer to her as "she".

And even then, her Japanese descriptions are vague on her gender, referring to her as "彼(女)", which roughly translates as "(s)he", as "彼" (kare) is "he" and "彼女" (kanojo) is "she". It's only in English that she's definitively referred to with feminine pronouns from the few official sources I've seen. However, in spite of the ambiguity in the Japanese descriptions, that's still one step further than anything in Leon's or Kyza's descriptions.

 

Given that Radiant Dawn was released in 2007, I don't think Kyza was originally intended to be trans, and I don't think any of the Japanese supplemental material that has been released since then changes that position.

 

And again, I'm have virtually no expertise on the current state of GSRM issues in Japan, so take everything I say with a healthy dose of salt. All I can comment on is how representation is executed in the Japanese media that I consume and make inferences from that.

[Mercakete]

Man, I remember when I played through Radiant Dawn and totally did NOT pick up on Kyza's crush on Ranulf (I thought Kyza just looked up to Ranulf for his skill/strength, so a professional admiration and wanting to be recognized by him in that respect.) Someone else had to point it out to me.

Anyway, I'm glad that at least that part was clarified.

Edit: Now, onto the free book 5 seasonal summon banner. (This is for my own reference.)

Red: Pirate Naesala, New Years Fafnir (Got him!)

Blue: Summer Ogma, Pirate Surtr, New Years Reginn

Green: Plegian Tharja (her weapon, specifically), Bunny Inigo, Pirate Hinoka (low priority)

Colorless: Child L'Arachel, Wedding Saul (low priority), Halloween Fallen M!Robin, New Years Lyre (low priority)

Okay, so... Looks like Colorless is the color with the most plentiful units I'd like. That would give me 4/12 (or 1/3), which are the best odds of all the colors for me, I think. That said, of these units, my most wanted is probably Pirate Surtr. Since I would certainly not mind getting Reginn (unless I manage to pull her on her debut banner, though this is highly unlikely since I'll be focusing more on getting Fafnir) or Ogma, this color also has a bit of a safety buffer. That said, the odds are 3/13 for this color, which isn't quite as good as the odds for Colorless. Red's odds are only 2/14, or 1/7, and even then, that's only if I don't pull Fafnir on his debut banner. I don't feel enough of a draw for pulling Pirate Naesala to run those odds (even though it would be quite nice to get him.) So, I guess Red is out for me. Green's odds are the same as Blue's at 3/13, but I'm not as invested in pulling the units here as I am for the ones in Blue, so I guess Green is out.

That brings us to Blue vs Colorless. I may have to see how my summoning goes on this New Years banner (for example, if no red nodes appear on my summoning wheels and I happen to get Reginn or Lyre), but assuming that's not a factor and things remain as they are... Colorless has the numbers advantage, but Blue has more emotional investment. It's going to be a tough choice when this comes around (assuming IS continues this tradition.)

Edit: Okay, I managed to pull Fafnir and stopped pulling on the banner, so that puts red even further out for me. (Sorry Naesala!) Still tough between Blue and Colorless, though, since I like the blue units better but colorless has a better chance at getting me something I'll be happy with. But even if I get someone I like from colorless, will I always be wondering "What if I pulled blue?" Hmmm... 'Cause, the other side of it is if I pull someone I don't want (again) and get all "I should have gone for the one with the better odds!" Man, this is tough.

Edited January 2, 2022 by Mercakete

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Mercakete said:

Man, I remember when I played through Radiant Dawn and totally did NOT pick up on Kyza's crush on Ranulf (I thought Kyza just looked up to Ranulf for his skill/strength, so a professional admiration and wanting to be recognized by him in that respect.) Someone else had to point it out to me.

No big deal. 

I didn't pick up on more blatantly frisky feline guys invented around the same time.😅

[Mercakete]

@Interdimensional Observer

XD Okay, I think you win. Good to know I'm in good company!

[Ice Dragon]

My luck on banners never ceases to annoy me in one way or another, but this banner is brand new levels of wtf and can be divided into two halves because of the wtf.

I decided the 1 copy of Fafnir from the orb back was sufficient, so I pulled only blue, green, and colorless until I got Lyre to +10, then decided to keep going on blue and green because of my luck.

The first half was 326 pulls:

0 Fafnir
9 Reginn
9 Dagr (+1 from spark for a total of 10)
3 5-star Lyre
8 4-star Lyre
9 pitybreakers

6.4% focus rate, 9.2% overall 5-star rate.

The second half was 284 pulls:

4 Fafnir
2 Reginn
1 Dagr
0 5-star Lyre
10 pitybreakers

2.5% focus rate (1.1% focus rate if you count Fafnir as a pitybreaker because he basically was), 6.0% overall 5-star rate.

Total 4.6% focus rate (3.9% if you count Fafnir as a pitybreaker), 6.2% overall 5-star rate.

The gap between the last focus unit from the first half and the first focus unit from the second half was 172 pulls, which means I went through the first 60% of the second half with zero focus units, and 8 of the 10 pitybreakers from this half were during this gap.

And the most frustrating part is the fact that I'm still well above average on the focus rate and only slightly over budget, so I really can't even be mad.

 

And all of the extra pulls from this banner are coming out of my Christmas banner budget, which means I'm not pulling for anything else other than to +10 Manuela. I hope the next Mythic is a defense Mythic so I can not care about them.

[ARMADS!!!]

On 12/29/2021 at 9:17 AM, Ice Dragon said:

I'm personally not seeing anything particularly "yikes"-worthy in the wording there besides using out-of-date terminology that may now be seen as derogatory (though I am not convinced that it would be in context). According to Wikipedia, the current terminology appears to be オネエ口調 (onee-kuchō) rather than オカマ口調 (okama-kuchō), but regardless, it simply means that Kyza uses stereotypical gay male speech patterns and mannerisms (roughly analogous to the "gay lisp" and associated mannerisms in the English language).

 

I hesitate to conclude that Kyza is intended to be trans simply because the descriptions are too similar to descriptions of Leon, who, as far as I'm aware, is a gay male.

As I really only study the language and am not particularly embedded in the culture (beyond what I can pick up from anime and video games) and therefore aren't familiar with the current state of gender politics in Japan, I can't say if there even is a well-defined line between the perception and presentation of gay men compared to trans women in media, as there simply aren't enough examples of the latter to compare with. Given that the campy stereotype is coded as "gay" rather than "trans", I feel like it takes more than just "his heart is female" to justify an argument of being trans when that phrasing can simply refer to sexual orientation rather than gender identity (and especially considering that the Japanese language doesn't natively differentiate sex from gender).

The only trans woman I'm really aware of in modern media is Ladiva from Granblue Fantasy, who, from what little I've seen from Granblue Fantasy Versus and the voice lines on the Granblue Fantasy wiki, has the same mannerisms as the campy stereotypical gay male (but cranked up well past 11 and maybe past 12, even), and the only reason I even knew she's trans in the first place is the fact that English-speaking players of Versus refer to her as "she".

And even then, her Japanese descriptions are vague on her gender, referring to her as "彼(女)", which roughly translates as "(s)he", as "彼" (kare) is "he" and "彼女" (kanojo) is "she". It's only in English that she's definitively referred to with feminine pronouns from the few official sources I've seen. However, in spite of the ambiguity in the Japanese descriptions, that's still one step further than anything in Leon's or Kyza's descriptions.

 

Given that Radiant Dawn was released in 2007, I don't think Kyza was originally intended to be trans, and I don't think any of the Japanese supplemental material that has been released since then changes that position.

 

And again, I'm have virtually no expertise on the current state of GSRM issues in Japan, so take everything I say with a healthy dose of salt. All I can comment on is how representation is executed in the Japanese media that I consume and make inferences from that.

 Oh! That makes sense actually, tnx for sharing! I remember reading in SailorMoon wiki once that The autor(I dont remember her name..) once said that Haruka (in case youre not familiar with sailor moon, Haruka is a lesbian and a very masculine woman, Even mistook wIth a boy sometimes because of her appearence and the way she acts) "has the heart of a man" while she just states that Haruka's girlfriend Michiru (obviously also a lesbian since she has a gf) Is "more girlish" (And she is indeed), so maybe this whole "heart of a woman/man" thing only applies to when a character is both  homossexual and acts like a person of the opposite sex normally does rather than just being homossexual?(maybe this is where they cant differentiate sex and gender, because I cant see anyone saying that Michiru looks like a man in any way even knowing that she is lesbian, maybe gender for japanese people is more about the way you dress, talk, act, express yourself,... rather than what you indentify yourself as? so saying "has the heart of man/woman" might simply mean that someone of the opposite sex is boyish/girlish, as far as I could understand)

 At first I was confused with this thing because (aside from this example I gave from SailorMoon wiki, that I had forgotten until shortly ago) the only place that I heard this expression was on One Piece, when Kikunojo says that she is trans (saying something like "I am a man at a woman's heart") so it made me associate this with being trans and when I saw the expression being used about Kyza I got pretty confused (specially since he was just officially confirmed as non binary instead of a trans woman). So the expression probably applies to trans people too, but I also think that in Kyza's case that might not have been the intention (i mean, i think that he was suposed to be an effeminate gay dude like Leon too), but sure, if anyone thinks that that is the case I also think that it isnt actually wrong to say, its ambiguous enough I guess.

 it would be pretty cool if in a future Tellius reboot we had issues about LGBT+ people too instead of just racism (since its a game where prejudice is major theme anyway and nowadays is acceptable to deal with prejudice against  the LGBT+ comunity in children games(not that FE is only for children of course) as opposed as before where this kind  ting was usually censored), like we have Heather and Kyza already, letting us see them dealing with their struggles a little would be good.

[defensedefumer]

I attached my playthrough and I mainly talk about the history of beast units in Fire Emblem