20th Anniversary Artbook Spam

[mark_asphodel]

OK!

So, my latest acquisition arrived in the mail today.  First impressions:

Dude, Magvel got shafted.  Its section just feels less substantial than anything other than Valencia (surprise, surprise), likely because there wasn't as much canonical material to harvest.

Presenting each section as integrated "continent sagas" instead of discrete games was a nice choice.  Archanea is high on the compare/contrast visuals from different hardware eras, which can be jarring.  Elibe is very appealingly presented, with all the generational links underscored nicely.  Jugdral doesn't feel as inviting, perhaps because I really, really don't like the way a lot of the characters are drawn (the weird angular faces and bizarro hair).  The Tellius section is also very inviting visually.

The little bonus sections (a page on red/green cavs, a page on Triangle Attackers, a page on SSB) are also nice-- but it looks like Kein and Alva from FE5 are officially not a red/green duo in light of this artbook.  Neither are Rody and Luke, or Cecil and Rody, or any combination of the FE3/12 cavs.

I didn't see a tribute to crutch characters, but there should've been!

***
Second impressions:

Mall Rat Elice.  A pale blue miniskirt and a ruffled pink blouse... with a red bib?  Poofy hair and lipstick?  Saucy hand gestures?  There's a big sister to give you a complex, oh yes.  White-robed Saint Elice didn't come along until FE3.

Dude, was Darros originally supposed to be black?  A lot of the FE1 characters have dark skin compared to their later evolutions, but his facial characteristics also seem reminiscent of certain FE9/10 characters.  And he sure doesn't look that way now...

I notice a lot of FE1 characters had blue eyes that later mutated into more exotic hues (Est, Maria, etc.).  But what's with all the blue-eyed white horses?  Pegasi, maybe, but regular landbound horses?

Speaking of dark characters, I'm glad the modern-day depiction of Gharnef erased the ethnic iffiness of previous generations by making him an inhuman zombie gray instead of any shade of brown.

I keep forgetting Minerva's dragon is supposed to be green.  That feels wrong, somehow.

I also forgot about Tiki's white-feathered wings, as she hasn't any wings in the FE11 art.  Neither does Nagi.

All female characters posing with birds are officially ripping off Caeda.  I forgot she also had a pet cockatoo in the card game art.

I do love that card game art style...

Hair color is so iffy in Valencia.  Definitely lends credence to the hypothesis that nobody really has green hair or pink hair.  Either that or they're all Metamorphmagi.

Earth dragons circa FE3 really are creepy-looking critters.

They made sure to include all the gut-punch CGs from FE7, didn't they?

Roy just looks so bland compared with Eliwood.  Sigh.

Have I mentioned lately that even Magvel's geography is half-assed and suck compared with the other continents?

Comments

[amielleon]

For what it's worth, Tellius's geography is only minorly consistent with climate patterns.

I like the 20th Anniversary Book but I was a bit disappointed by the lack of exclusives. I was hoping for more concept art and director babbling. (Even if it is in Japanese!) It is a pretty little thing though, and I like having it.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Well, Elibe's is all jacked up, too, if you think about it. And I spend a lot of time wondering how Altea has a northern range of snow-capped mountains when across the channel to the north is a blazing hot desert.