In Praise of SquishBabbies

[mark_asphodel]

We all have our "types."  Some people like peppy mages, some like dark mages, some like "noble" paladins, some like thieves, some like swordmastery-myrmidon types even though any continuum with Navarre at one end and Mia at the other makes no sense.

And one thing I am absolutely a sucker for, apparently, is a particular kind of FE squishy boy.

It started with Roshea, pretty much.  After my initial negative reaction to him for not being female (I had him confused with Cecil) and not being a good unit, I ended up developing a minor obsession for the youngest, squishiest member of the Wolfguard.  He was the second FE character whose name I learned to recognize in Japanese, FWIW-- I find that telling. Numero Uno, of course, being Marth.

So what's the appeal?  Well, Roshea isn't just an outright squishbucket whose act consists of being young and vaguely girly.  This is the guy who decides to stand up against his lifelong companions and join up with Marth. Oh, it's all done with minimalist SNES characterization, but it's effective nonetheless.  After he joins you in Book Two, his death quote changes from "Lord Hardin" to "Glory to Orleans!" as he places the welfare of his nation above personal loyalty to his benefactor Hardin.  And then his character ending implies he never gets over it, as he goes him to "offer prayers for Hardin."  IIRC his FE12 ending was even worse but I can't find the text of it at present.   

Awww.

[Still a terrible unit though.] 

IDK.  There is something about the little pink-haired faildin that just hit the sweet spot of my affections.  Some balance of squish and an actual spine makes me a happy fangirl.  And then FE4 almost went one better with its own resident squishbabby, Azel. It took a while for me to warm up to Azel (I think a lot of the early 'fic I read mostly conveyed the squish and not the "spine" part that makes Azel worthwhile, but some digging around in the conversations and the designers' notes indicate that Azel is not intended to be ALL squish and inferiority.  His heroically pointless trek to go talk some sense into Big Brother demonstrates that, but you get a taste of it even in his Chapter 5 conversation with Tiltyu.   

I don't think any of the Gen2 character quite hit Mark's Ideal SquishBabby zone; Corple is too well-adjusted and not tragic enough.  I like him for what he is (which is, again, NOT a good unit) but he's not in Roshea/Azel territory.  Leif's too damn angry and only got squished up significantly for FE5 (see below).  

[Digression: Finn's starting point is arguably squishbaby territory, but not for long.  Look, he's offering a pep talk to Sigurd by Chapter 4 and commanding an army by Chapter 5.  That's not squishy.  Tactician!Oifaye-- the girly blond in the center-- might qualify, though.  But the point with these guys is they stop being squishy little kids.  And no, Shanan isn't squishy.]

I don't think FE5 really gives us a proper squishbabby to appreciate.  I think they're trying to do that with Robert, but who the hell cares about Robert, really?  If anything, the squishbabby is front and center, our hero, Retcon Leif (now with 20% less reckless'n'crazy).  Well, y'all can see how I feel about Leif. <3

After that, nothing in FE has really satisfied my squishbabby fix aside from FE8's glorious double team of Franz and Amelia.  Even they don't quite fit, though, as they don't have the same aura of tragedy hanging over them as Roshea and Azel.  Franz'n'Amelia can get married, have a little daughter, and live fulfilling lives in the rare FE world that doesn't get nuked by another war within the active lifetime of the main crop of characters.  Yes, Grado's a mess and Amelia probably isn't too happy about that, but overall things are pretty good for the golden-haired duo of youthful plucky goodness. 

TL;DR, I really like Roshea and Azel.  SquishBabbies forever.
 

Comments

[lyndis]

I think it's fascinating to figure out what kinds of characters people really like in a series like FE, or focus on. I tried to find a correlation/connection for myself andddddd there isn't much of one. -_-

[mark_asphodel]

Overall I don't have much of one.

Just because I like one Baby Mage or Clingy Troubadour or Red Knight or Angsty Wyvern Rider in no way guarantees I'll like the rest. And the more they seem to be pure archetype, the less I like them.

[samuraiter]

My first thought was that you'd invented another name for Scrabblebits, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Heh!

*thinks* I would say I'm drawn to staff-users, considering Serra and L'Arachel, but I get the feeling I'm drawn to anything female when it comes to this series. And the rakes. And the axe-wielders.

[mark_asphodel]

Yeah, those are really broad categories, though. This, for me, is one specific weird little niche.

[sain]

I think my current running theme is the 'florid annoyers,' since I'm partial to Sain, Johan, and Virion. Probably stems from my love of wordplay/witticisms combined with 'chaos characters' who are/can be a nuisance to their companions. Gaius sideways falls into the category with his snarking, but more for my historic appreciation of 'honorable thieves' and characters with orange hair. xD;

Kent's an oddball though. He only has the orange hair thing going. But I think he started my general affection for the red knights.

[raphiael]

I feel like there's a certain tragedy to Azel's squish that draws me to him. Even with the spine he grows, in the end, he still ends up dying helpless, still Alvis' little brother.

I really like characters with major loyalty issues, myself. And stoic characters with just a tiny glimpse into vulnerable territory, which I think is what sold me so hard on Perceval.

[mark_asphodel]

Even with the spine he grows, in the end, he still ends up dying helpless, still Alvis' little brother.

That's a huge part of it, I think.

And stoic characters with just a tiny glimpse into vulnerable territory, which I think is what sold me so hard on Perceval.

Heheh. Well, overall, I like the pragmatic and competent sort. I certainly do not favor Innes over any trace of squish. But I do have this odd little niche interest.

[amielleon]

I'm not sure I even need to point out my overwhelming love for slightly ("slightly"?) maladjusted teens/young adults with pervasive continuous childhood trauma. I like maladjusted or tragic well enough by themselves, but in particular there's something about frightened sad children with nothing certain in their lives that really tickles me.

This probably sounds sadistic but I swear it comes from the matronly part of me.

[amielleon]

Btw, is your fondness of Inigo in this squishbaby vein?

Also I think you'll like Pelleas.

[raphiael]

Am I the only one who really didn't care for Pelleas much until second-game material, though? I mean, he's my favorite, but I spent most of part one scowling at him, even though I knew the basic outline of his story.

[amielleon]

No, I think that's a reasonable reaction. First game Pelleas is all squish and fail. His spininess only comes in second game.

(Note to Mark: If you don't care to replay it yourself, I can direct you to all the differences.)

[mark_asphodel]

Btw, is your fondness of Inigo in this squishbaby vein?

Not really. I think Yarne is supposed to be angling for proper squishbabby territory, but... eh. No.

[mark_asphodel]

Well, overall I favor the competent and pragmatic sort, as I said above to Raphi-- or people who are at least trying to be competent in spite of themselves. Squishbabbies are not my absolute favorite thing, but I have a deep if narrow affection for them nonetheless.

[amielleon]

Yeah -- though it doesn't make itself as explicit as the things above, in my own favorites there's certainly a trend of these characters being a master of their craft. I'm not sure I can quite comment on how much that matters vs how much that merely tends to co-occur (damaged genius/rags to riches trope anyone?). Needs moar data.

[thenicochan]

Isn't Soren kind of a squishybaby, then? I mean, a really cold and intellegent one but with all the inner angst and woe?

Either way, Pelleas is major squishbaby material. And one of the most awesome dudes in the series.

[mark_asphodel]

Isn't Soren kind of a squishybaby, then? I mean, a really cold and intellegent one but with all the inner angst and woe?

Eh, not really. Not in the same way. If inner angst and woe were enough there's other characters I'd like.

Pelleas sounds promising.

[kyusil]

I'm not sure I have a type... then again, maybe I just don't pay enough attention to this sort of thing. I have felt interested the idea of a more general FE character trope list independent (well, somewhat) of the specific character archetypes, though.

[mark_asphodel]

have felt interested the idea of a more general FE character trope list independent (well, somewhat) of the specific character archetypes, though.

That would be interesting. Probably maddening, though. Archetype lists generally lead to the desire to throttle the list-compiler. Especially when the list-compiler is General Banzai.

[kyusil]

Hmm, yeah... maybe a list isn't the right approach. Perhaps a meta series on these umbrella tropes? I know we've at least talked briefly about differentiating between different lord "types," so that might be an interesting start.

[mark_asphodel]

I have felt interested the idea of a more general FE character trope list independent (well, somewhat) of the specific character archetypes, though.

That'd be cool. Discussion is certainly better than one more damn list claiming that Priscilla is the Lena to Raven's Navarre or something else equally slap-worthy.

I personally love how the whole "Jagens vs Oifayes" archetype argument has fallen apart now that people are playing FE1 and realizing that Original Jeigan turns in a better performance over the length of the game than Oifaye does. LOLOLOLOL.

[raphiael]

I love spotting archetypal stories in weird places, myself - figuring out what mirrors what can be really cool! (I may or may not be super partial to my theories of Pelleas Is Micaiah's Nyna and Percival Is Totally A "Camus", here.) But I'm with you on the feeling that characters who just seem to check off archetype boxes being pretty uninspiring.

[amielleon]

Pelleas totally is Micaiah's Nyna.

[raphiael]

I guess this is another case of genderswapped tropes that delight me :P (I like Pelleas for reasons that go a lot further than that, but I'd be lying if I claimed I didn't like dudes in "damsel" roles.)

[the_geek]

I like funny characters myself. That's why I've attached to characters like Johan or Henry. They don't add much to the story, but they keep the story from getting too dark. Admittedly, Awakening kind of went over the top with this, which was one of its downfalls in the story department.

Oh, and cute girls too, especially ones that kick loads of ass. (Caeda, Lilina, FE9!Astrid, etc.)

[mark_asphodel]

Actually Henry, while not plot-important, is arguably one of the better characters in FE13. Johan, however, fails to keep the story from getting dark when you kill him as I always do.

Admittedly, Awakening kind of went over the top with this, which was one of its downfalls in the story department.

Also the basic plot was awful and the mechanics thereof feel like a rough draft produced by drunken interns.

[the_geek]

I didn't think it was so much awful as simply poorly done and comprised of plot points that had all been used in previous FE games.