Notes and Errata of Mark of the Asphodel

I have seen the light.

I have converted to the side of "Bring Back Roy!" for the sole reason that advocates of Sigurd, Lyndis, and random Tellius characters have driven me to it.

[Well, that and I understand Roy and his significance to Elibe and Fire Emblem now, and didn't in 2008.]

I mean, the sole reason I got a GameFuqs account is to screw with people who still parrot the hivemind assertion that Sigurd is the most popular and beloved Lord in Japan.  I think the evidence stacked against that claim is bleedingly obvious at this point, so I'll just point out that fan polling indicates that, the last anyone checked, Sigurd wasn't even the most popular blue-haired mounted lance user in his own game, much less more beloved than, uh, Marth.

Also, I've soured on Krom and FE13, so I kind of hope Sigurd 2.0 doesn't make it in, either.  :/

-x-

How 'bout them Tigers?  Right now it's 6-0.

Can't gloat in advance, but I will point out that the Yankees with their bloated zillion-year contracts have the oldest average age of any major league baseball team (33) and that most of the Yanks' stars are quite a few years above that.  So you've got a team made up of broken-down warhorses who can't do what they did five years ago (especially now that some of 'em aren't juicing), and these no-name kiddies who've been brought into the playoff roster now that the big names are benched, injured, or out to lunch.

The wheels were gonna fall off sooner or later, and this turned out to be the year.  Even Boston's laughing now, fercryingoutloud... mostly because A-Rod ain't on their payroll.

I'm not gonna laugh until nine innings are over.  Mercy rule, anyone?

I'm so glad I waited to write this one.

I was having second thoughts, you see.  Spending a great deal of time comparing the merits of "favorites" and the reasons why they rank can lead to second-guessing.  I was starting to wonder if poor Leaf really belonged "below the cut," down at #12, and if I shouldn't rearrange a few other things while I was at it.  But then, something happened yesterday that affirmed that yeah, I really do adore this character.

#4: Marth

( Fire Emblem's Pikachu. And then some. )

#1 How did you find Fire Emblem?

Well, let's see. My brother-in-law, who had not yet graduated from high school, had come over to Grandma's place (where my husband and I lived at that time). He brought along a copy of Super Smash Bros Melee to play on our GameCube. I was thoroughly squeeing over Fox and Falco and discovering that I loved Jigglypuff to bits, but to my displeasure, "Cale" switched characters. He started playing as some brightly-colored mop-haired swordfighter named "Roy" from some game called Fire Emblem. Roy came as a bit of a surprise after all the furries and Pokeymanz and Mario characters, so I demanded to know more about him. Cale pointed me to the trophy descriptions, IIRC. Then he switched to the other Fire Emblem character.

( You knew this was coming )

So, I popped in on the SSB4 board to LOL at the silliness (Guys?  Pent will not be playable in this game.  I promise.), and somebody suggested Caeda as a playable character, and the inevitable sparring over Shiida vs Sheeda vs Caeda came up.

And then someone claimed that her name was an adaptation of the Irish name Sioda... which apparently is a genuine Irish name that is also rendered as "Sheeda."  It means "silken-haired" and there once was some hero called Sheeda MacNamara who was 'excellent with the spear.' This particular Sheeda was a guy, btw-- Sioda/Sheeda is a boy's name.

So, yes, she's faux-Irish.  But her father's still faux-Welsh, so Talys is just all pan-Celticy... which is pretty much what I thought.

No, I never did look it up before, because 'Sheeda' always struck me as a silly-ass name.  Still sounds like a genie in a bottle to me.

-x-

Someone else suggested Camus as a playable character in the new game.  That's an idea I can actually get behind.  He's got a lance.  A BIG lance.  And he's hot.  And he's in a lot of FE games.  So, yes.  Camus for SSB4!  I should make a little banner or something...

-x-

I still want a female FE rep, and I'd rather have her not use a sword, kthx.

 Part Two: When Pairings Eat A Fandom

( Now it's time for FE9/10... )

Stay tuned if you like for Part III: Canon, What Canon?  In the meantime, recs for good Ike/Soren stories are appreciated, and feel free to pimp your own.

 Below are some more essays I wrote circa 2008 regarding Super Smash Bros. and its fandom.  I had nowhere to post these at the time, so I may as well stick 'em up here if anyone wants to visit the fandom Wayback Machine.  There is probably something in here to offend everyone, so be warned if you do have a look.  

Hah.  Looking back, at some points I address an imaginary audience, cross-referencing other essays that also weren't posted.  


( I don't care if he's immortal, it's still gross. )

( In which I hate on 'fic cliches circa 2008 )

( In which I again blame Gundam Wing for everything )

( In which I take aim at an overused plotline )

The year these were written, I was working full-time, traveling cross-country for work, and going to school in the evenings.  I burned off ALL my excess energy in SSB and Pokemon Pearl.  It was my way of staying sane.

Now that I've landed on everyone's B.S. radar for the title...

( Cut for fandom navel-gazing )

So, dear f-list-- what fandom paradigms do you plan to subvert in the new year?  

 I spent yesterday afternoon in the fandom toilet, and goshdarnit I had a good time.

See, one of my favorite movies EVER is There Will Be Blood, so when I heard of a Nintendo-themed parody, I was obliged to check it out.  Well, There Will Be Brawl has nothing to do with the film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, aside from that characters in both works get their heads bashed in.  It's a lot more like Watchmen as filtered through the Nintendoverse-- complete with a few well-placed and deliberate shout-outs to the graphic novel.  And it's brilliant.  Seriously, this thing is well-scripted, well-acted, and has production values.  I'd rather rewatch this than sit through a half-hour of any broadcast TV show I can think of right now.  Sure, it's dark-- the makers are not kidding when they say that it's for those aged seventeen and up.  It's gritty noir in which Our Heroes, most of whom aren't particularly heroic, drink, use drugs, have affairs, swear, beat one another up, and die horribly.  But there is an actual plot-- three plot threads, all of which are actually resolved-- and it's clearly done out of the same perverse love that makes any of us write or re-read darkfic.  If your fanboyism can stand to see your childhood favorites filtered through a black lens, and if you can recognize the likes of Jill Dozer, Barbara the Bat, and Saki from Sin and Punishment on sight-- watch it.

PS-- the Italian accents are so-so, but the Russian accents are brilliant.  I've lived with native speakers of Russian and Ukrainian for years, and the syntax is spot-on.  Everything that comes out of Fox's mouth is a riot.  And Fox was awfully attractive for a furry....

PPS-- I swear to god, the characterization of Marth in Episode 10 is the closest I've seen to canon in any SSB-derived work that features him.  

( Cut for spoiler if you're inclined to watch the thing.... )