Who is the best Avatar?

[Espinosa]

Chris and Corrin don't get Galeforce.

[The DanMan]

Robin, by a long shot- for not being as much of a Mary Sue as the other two and being able to solo the game. I can't speak of Kris from personal experience, and Corrin is a pretty straightforward sword lord- bland on Birthright, weak-willed on Conquest (which may have been okay if the game bothered to call them out on it).

Corrin represents everything that can go wrong with a self-insert or an avatar in general. Way too bland, way too much player worship, twists the narrative to extents I haven't seen since I read Naruto and far too many Mary Sue qualities than I'm comfortable with. As Sunwoo has already said, I share the sentiment that Conquest Corrin is one of the worst fictional characters I have seen in any media ever, while Revelation is one massive Corrin circlejerk.

Robin wins, as someone aptly put it, by process of elimination.

Though I may not fully agree with other parts of your post, basically this.

Conquest Corrin would be decent of the game analyzed their actions more and called them out; as-is, I have no real hate for the character and their actions as much as the way the game handles them and generally glosses over what they do.

Where's the "I want all of them to die in a car fire" option?

Like, this poll is basically asking me which piece of shit smells the least, but I still wouldn't put it on a cracker.

Because they can't die, as they're fictional characters and not human beings. I understand you take your fictional entertainment very seriously, but most people don't.

I guess it's just me; I never hate characters themselves. I only dislike their execution.

[Jave]

I'm not a fan of any, but I think Corrin is the least offensive of the trio so I voted him. Sure, all three Avatars are worshipped by almost the whole cast, but with Corrin it's at least more tolerable since he is the intended protagonist. His worship is also somewhat well-founded since he has years of being part of a royal family.

Robin I can give credit for actually doing impressive shit that catches everyone's eye so the worship is also somewhat understandable ("Swords AND Tomes?! Woah!").

Kris is probably my pick for worst FE character ever. He represents everything I hate about any type of character. He butts into a story that isn't rightfully his, he's worshipped by everyone for no reason (unlike Robin and Corrin, Kris is a complete noob, yet for some reason even Jagen is impressed by what he does), he makes everyone else look bad (the prologue maps with the other cavaliers are almost painful to watch), and ends up getting credit for things Marth did in the original. The fact that at the end of the game Kris insists that Marth should get sole credit for all the heroic things that happened in the game is almost insulting.

[Anomalocaris]

Robin all the way.

I haven't played with Kris so I can't judge, but I've heard mostly bad things.

Corrin I feel fails as a player avatar in comparison to Robin.

Robin is a tactician; this is reflected in the fact that the player is the one issuing commands and devising the strategy in each battle. It's a perfect fit. While Robin has reign over the battlefield, they're subordinate to Chrom in other respects, so their choices rarely extend beyond general gameplay choices.

Corrin is not a tactician; in fact, Leo outright tells Corrin their tactics suck in their support. This is just plain silly since we're supposed to believe Corrin is our stand-in, making all these awesome tactical decisions. Corrin is a lord, and ultimately the one in charge of everything in your army. This gets frustrating whenever Corrin does something stupid in the plot, since if we were Corrin we'd be making different decisions possibly. Not that Chrom makes any particularly awful choices during Awakening, but at least if he did we could justify it with "Well, he's the boss so I can't overrule him", whereas in Fates we're left with "Why the hell am I not getting a choice in how my avatar acts?" in every case except the big Chapter 6 decision.

Robin is a fairly humble individual with no real special abilities beyond a gift for tactics, which if you're playing FE you likely have yourself. Corrin is a dual-royalty Lindbergh baby literal demigod who can turn into a dragon and was chosen by a sacred chainsaw sword. It's completely ridiculous and breaks any real immersion or ability to put yourself in Corrin's (lack of) shoes. It's like reading someone else's fanfic starring a Mary Sue; as much as I hate the term "relatable" in regard to media, Corrin is unrelatable to the point that they might as well not be an avatar at all, just a fixed character. The whole avatar-fellating is also a lot worse with Corrin than it was Robin; EVERYONE defers to Corrin and makes them the center of their life, and you have eight siblings and three attendants who are singlemindedly devoted to you, to the point that it starts to get kinda creepy interacting with them, like they have no choice but to bend to your authority, let you pet their faces bond with them, and marry you if you so desire it. And on the opposite side, Garon and Iago make you the center of their universes too, to the point that their massive hate-ons for Corrin just make them come across as petty strawmen designed to make Corrin look better in comparison.

While there is the endgame reveal that Robin's a chosen vessel of Grima, this comes AFTER generally riding backseat and giving the player about 21 chapters' worth of time to settle into the role of Robin, so it comes across as genuinely shocking yet not immersion-breaking (Unless you really can't fathom the idea of your father being a giraffe monster, which is genetically a tough sell). Corrin's super-speshul from the start and it just doesn't work.

Robin makes me feel like I'm actually in the game, kicking names and taking ass. Corrin makes me feel like throwing up.

Edited April 5, 2016 by Anomalocaris

[Etrurian emperor]

I can't say I dislike Chris as much as most people do but I don't like him either. Generally I just close my eyes and pretend he isn't there. The most damming thing about Chris is that he isn't allowed to be great by his own merrits. For his achievements he has to steal from Jagen and Marth. I can see why that makes people hate him.

Robin is probably the best avatar. He has great plot relevance but I don't think the plot caters to him to a great extend. He is important but only because he is an incredibly skilled strategist and because Chrom puts his faith in him. The cast putting their faith in Robin is properly explained. In his supports he shows plenty of insights and he really is depicted as the skilled strategist the game claims he is.

I also have the feeling Robin is actually allowed to make mistakes, he doesn't make any as far as I recall but the reason for that isn't that the plot is written in a way to make him always in the right.

Personality wise Robin is a bit more subdued but that probably works in the favor of an avatar unit.

I don't dislike Corrin as much as I think that he is a victim of poor writing. As the self insert he just HAS to be in the right at all time, praised for everything and given the lead spot fairly quickly. But that doesn't work in the favor of anyone.

Unlike Robin I really can't picture why anyone would follow Corrin's lead. He is inexperienced, far to naive and needs a lot of handholding. The charisma the cast says Corrin has really strikes me as them just feeling bad for Corrin and doting on him as a result.

Corrin being in the right all the time does the rest of the cast no favors. Anyone who crosses Corrin gets depicted as a mustache twirling villain with no redeemable points to him. Because of this the villain lineup is very, very bare.

[majora_787]

Generally I think Kris is the closest to how avatars should be implemented. I feel like they work best as a "generic self-insert character". I don't have much issue with Robin or Corrin, but I feel like they would have honestly worked better if they simply were normal characters instead of avatars. I can't really say the same for Kris. who would mostly work better by either not being present (to some people) or by just functioning better as an avatar (to some people). Mark is just another mark on FE7's long list of mistakes.

So if we keep getting avatar characters I'd prefer having some secondary role where the avatar helps with the main plot, has their own subplot, and everything is good to go from there.

[rexcalibur]

Kris, solely because Kris can have an afro and a monocle. Robin and Corrin ain't got nothing on that.

[TheSilentChloey]

I wouldn't be so quick to judge. I didn't think too highly of Corrin at first either, but he/she is pretty awesome in Birthright at least. And others seem to agree that Birthright Corrin is the best written. If I were you, I'd have waited to vote until I played Fates. But that's just me.

Well I tend to go with my gut more than anything else when I'm playing a game so that is why I've judged Corrin/Kamui so harshly. Also Birthright leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth so it's best not to bring it up with me...

[mikethepokemaster]

Kris because :

- He doesn't interfere with the story in any way.

- He doesn't steal that much of the lord's spotlight (who is Chrom already?).

- The story is not modeled about him not having to feel guilty for any of his decisions. (hello, Corrin)

Robin is what happens if the strategist could fight and had a voice. Actually this could have been good if he wasn't made so much plot relevant and if that wasn't for any character to have to glorify him. (why did the Virion -male- support ended up that way already?)

As for Corrin, he's pretty much more a victim of the writing than anything else.

When Robin steal Chrome stoplight I mean for what the final battle. Grima and Robin are link, if Robin killed Grima than he finish Chrome just putting to sleep that it.

[Roflolxp54]

Robin because of his having more customization options overall (Corrin is stuck with the constraint that he HAS to be the middle sibling of each royal family, which can screw with immersion for some players who enjoy self-insert avatars). Robin is also massively stacked when it comes to growths and stats when compared to Corrin (Character statues? Bitch please, I have Limit Break) and also doesn't have to go through the trouble of having to collect supports for more class options (male Corrin has it hard because he can only get all possible class options in Revelation route and only if he has Oni Savage or Apothecary talent and marries Midori or Rinkah). Robin also doesn't need a dragonstone or some uber-special deus ex machina weapon to become a gameplay god.

From a combination of story and gameplay, Awakening!Robin (not Smash/amiibo!Robin) would easily maul Fire Emblem Fates thanks to his stats and his weapons having none of Fates' weapon debuffs (weapon durability is a non-factor due to Armsthrift + Limit Break). Corrin and his group would be throwing money at him as if he were some MLG god just so they can buy Awakening-brand weapons and Armsthrift skill if that were to be possible. Plus, he's an amnesiac tactician trope -- he knows his stuff while Corrin's been playing Rapunzel for much of his life.

And in terms of stats and skills, Apotheosis (especially secret route) makes Grima and Anankos look like a bunch of pussies, so Robin is a tactical god for being able to command the party to victory without any casualties on that as well as the RNG hell that is Lunatic+, which is something that Corrin will never face (and most likely wouldn't be able to survive in).

Edited May 8, 2016 by Roflolxp54