#Three Plus Two

[dexjarxenoengage]

Three Plus Two: Xenoblade 2

Spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles 2:

Every JRPG is going to have its stories, some anime tropes, FANSERVICE, a crap ton of flaws (but when is anything perfect to begin with) and their ragtag bunch of misfits. And that is ok. We’re all going to like different things. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about concerning Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (one of my favorite JRPG games of all time).

And no, it’s not talking about the “problems” Xenoblade 2 “suffers” from, we could be here FOREVER discussing that. No, I want to talk about the party of Xenoblade 2. If you remember my post regarding the Five Man Band and how Fire Emblem Engage uses the trope https://www.tumblr.com/jaredxenoengage/753270910703828992/the-five-man-band-is-among-one-my-favorite-tropes

While Xenoblade 2 does follow the Five Man Band trope, as their are 5 party members (Rex, Nia, Tora, Mòrag and Zeke, with Vandham and ironically, Jin and Malos as guess party members). For most of the game, up until the end of Chapter 4, the team sticks with the Power Trio Rex, Nia, and Tora. This is the Three Plus Two trope (best seen in Power Rangers Dino Thunder, its predecessor Ninja Storm, Jungle Fury, and Power Rangers RPM (for the most part). It’s where a power trio in a team evolves in the typical Five Man Band.

The team would expand later with two main party members (both of whom served as Rex’s rivals throughout his journey). Mòrag, Special Inquisitor for the Empire of Mor Ardain. While Mòrag was never evil, Mòrag (like most Sixth Rangers) opposed Rex because she did what she felt was right (because she saw the Aegis, Pyra as a threat to the world, and an Artifical Blade who looked like Poppi was causing trouble). But eventually, Mòrag settles her differences with Rex and eventually becomes fully devoted to Rex’s cause.

Zeke Von Genbu. Yeah. Zeke Von Genbu. The same guy that Rex fought and became his own undoing. Zeke is very much like Mòrag. As he is also royalty of one of the Kingdoms of Alrest, as the prince of Tantal. Zeke fought Rex to test his strength and intended to join him so that he could eventually meet Amalthus, who the party were going to meet anyways at Mythra’s (Pyra’s sister/original) behest.

Mòrag and Zeke are both far more experienced than Rex is both as Drivers and as citizens of the world of Alrest. Both fought against Rex before eventually joining his party. And most of all, they both, in a way, serves as mentors to Rex. After seeing his potential and his character, they both eventually choose to trust him.

Now what dynamic do each of the party members serves?

Rex is the Leader and main protagonist of Xenoblade 2. As a Driver and someone who lives in Alrest, Rex is very inexperienced in comparison to all of his other friends (Tora included despite not being a Driver yet, cause he couldn’t be without Poppi). So Rex in a bit of a in a pickle in his leadership spot.

But what he lacks (initially) is skill, he makes up for it with his heart and strength of character. Rex serves as inspiration to others. Despite their initial backlash, during the brief time Torna was using Rex to retrieve Pyra, Nia does show a little bit kinship with him. So Rex (initially) dying at Jin’s hands and Malos threatening to dispose the Argentum Trade Guild’s Salvagers as “thanks” for helping them causes Nia to defect Torna. It’s also at Rex’s behest that convinces Nia to stay with him (and Tora) on the Journey to Elysium.

And all of this is WITHOUT talking about how much of an impact he has on Pyra and Mythra. Speaking of whom, as the Aegis of the team, Pyra (mainly Mythra) is the driving force behind the journey to Elysium. It was Mythra’s idea to take Fan La Norme (Haze)‘s invitation to meet Amalthus (they were already going to meet him anyways). And as the Aegis, Pyra and Mythra are one Alrest’s most powerful Blades.

And later in the game, Rex gets Roc (Vandham’s former blade), exclusive access to Nia as a Blade, as well as Pneuma and the Master Driver abilities (that gives Rex the ability to use the Blades of his fellow Drivers, save for Poppi). Despite Rex’s initial inexperience, by the end of the game, he has the most blades locked to him, and the ability to use every non Poppi blade).

Nia is the Lancer of the team. The Lancer the one who serves as the Leader/Hero’s second in command and/or foil. Nia is more of the pessimist compared to Rex’s optimist. Nia is the first to question Pyra’s quest to reach Elysium (which she was right about, for the most part). And (ironically) when Rex was going to give up the journey after Pyra and Mythra are kidnapped at the end of Chapter 6, at the start of Chapter 7, Nia is the very first person to give Rex a piece of her mind.

As far as being foils in their powers, Nia’s Blade is Dromarch, a Water Blade that serves as a parental substitute for Nia. Dromarch is more of the Advisor, and is one of (if not) the most knowledgeable party member. Making him more of the smart guy in terms of his role when talking about the Blades.

Not many Lancer type characters are healers (which would be more of The Heart’s role), but where Nia shines in being the Lancer to Rex AND the Aegis girls is that she is a Flesh Eater. Making their dynamic similar to Jin and Malos, a fellow Flesh Eater and Aegis Blade respectively.

Tora is more of a “smart guy” than what most make think. Say what you will about his perverse behavior towards Poppi, but Tora would have to be intelligent enough about Drivers and the tools need to make Poppi to be able to make her at all. In fact, Poppi’s role in Team Aegis as a whole is very crucial to success of Rex’s team.

For example, Tora teaches Rex about the elemental powers of the Blades. Helped him and Pyra escape from Brighid and form a plan to save Nia after she was captured in the aforementioned battle. Tora (albeit with Mòrag’s advice) was able to use Poppi to escape from a prison in Tantal that negates Blade arts in Chapter 6. In the trip down Spirit Crucible Elpys, Poppi being an Artificial Blade allows her to use Arts perfectly fine. And finally, Poppi is a key player in stopping Amalthus’s control over the Titans.

Poppi’s gameplay as a whole serves similarly to the smart guy because she is more customizable than any other Blade in the game. Her versatility gives her a use in battle no one else has. This is especially true in Chapter 7.

Poppi’s overall character is that of the Heart though. It’s Poppi who manages to succeed in reaching out to Rex when he was going to quit his journey to Elysium after the Aegis is taken away from him. Nia and Brighid were unable to cut deep into him, but Poppi succeeded. Poppi also convinces Jin to hear out Brighid’s request to learn about herself in Chapter 8, and she has the most emotional moments on the whole.

Now normally, Vandham’s role would be the Big Guy. His seize notwithstanding, Vandham is very much a Mighty Glacier that hits hard with his Wind Blade Roc. All of Vandham’s stats (save for agility) are really good in the brief time he’s at your side. Unfortunately, the Big Guy suffers from a Fatality Syndrome. And in the case of Vandham, it couldn’t be cured.

Vandham’s role in chapter 3 is to be the mentor. Vandham teaches Rex how to Topple with his Anchor Shot. Vandham teaches Rex about the world of Alrest through the harsh realities of the Blade System. And Vandham, above all else, taught Rex to fight his own war. A lesson that would stick with Rex for a long time.

The reason why this JRPG team is a Three plus two dynamic is because of Vandham’s death. Once he died, it was back to the Power Trio of Rex, Nia and Tora.

This is where Mòrag would fill the role Vandham left behind. Mòrag is every bit of the experience Driver as Vandham was despite being a mercenary in the grand scheme of things. If you don’t consider Tora to be the smart guy of the team, then consider Mòrag in chapter 6. Her knowledge over the events in Alrest leads her to be the one to question Amalthus’s role in the plot. In the same chapter, she was the first to realize that the King of Tantal may had different plans for them (her fears were proven right).

Mòrag’s experience and battle prowess makes her a Genius Bruiser. As the Flamebringer and with one of the twin jewels of Mor Ardain: Brighid, her prowess as a Driver and experience as Special Inquisitor of the Empire makes her an invaluable member of the team once she finally accepts her role as Rex’s ally.

In fact, Mòrag is the only Driver of the team (Vandham excluded) to not have some unique aspect about her as a Driver. Rex is the Driver the Aegis, Nia is a Flesh Eater, Tora is a Driver with an Artificial Blade, and Zeke is a Blade Eater. And even if Mòrag gains access to Aegaeon later on, awakening him is optional. So Mòrag is simply a powerful and effective Driver all on her own.

And then there is Zeke. While I say he is the heart overall as far as the Drivers are concerned (which is best exemplified late game), Zeke also has some Big Guy traits, as well as Sixth Ranger traits.

Zeke is undoubtedly the tallest member of Rex’s team. Zeke is also the most boisterous in terms of personality. And if it’s not Rex getting hit the butt monkey moments, or Tora and Nia in some cases, then it’s definitely Zeke. Unlike Vandham, some of the other tropes you find in the muscle characters (besides the fatality syndrome) are found in Zeke.

Now where does Zeke fit in terms of being the heart? IMO, Zeke has some of the most heartfelt moments and scenes in the game when he isn’t just being played for comedy. Zeke willing opening up about his Blade Eater status and backstory serves as the moment Nia finally comes clean with Rex about her own backstory (and her Flesh Eater form later). Zeke is one of the most caring members of the team and his relationship with Pandoria is really heartwarming and tragic with his backstory in mind.

And as for the Sixth Ranger trope, he would have played this straighter if Vandham was still alive. Even if his Eye of Shining Justice ability is NG+ only, Sixth Rangers often get some the cooler powers and abilities if the Red Ranger doesn’t have them, and this is no exception.

Now when we look at the Organization of Torna, they follow a similar team structure to Rex and his party members. Once it all comes together, you begin to see who serves as a counterpart to who. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThePsychoRangers

Jin to Rex: True, Malos is the Aegis, thus making him the evil counterpart to Pyra and Mythra. But in terms of roles in the team and their story, Jin is meant to be the foil to Rex. Jin represents the person Rex could have become if he was driven to despair.

Jin’s former Driver and love interest Lora died at the hands of Amalthus. On top of losing some of other friends in the Aegis war, and problems with the Blade system leads him to hate the world and wish to see it burn.

Because Jin is a Flesh Eater, he has some foils towards Nia as well. But again, Jin is more meant to be Rex’s counterpart. And their interactions throughout the story makes this clear.

Nia to Malos: Nia inadvertently became Rex’s second in command after their meeting and her eventually break up with Torna. Much like, or not, how Malos follows Jin’s lead, Nia is the one who always questions Rex’s every move. Whereas Malos tainted Jin with his despairing influence that also consumed Amalthus, Rex’s influence was slowly changing Nia for the better.

In chapter 7, Nia’s Flesh Eater healing powers serve as a direct counter Malos’s destructive capabilities when his Aegis powers are restored. She can act as Rex’s Blade together with Pyra and Mythra as well.

Malos is an Aegis who follows the lead of the Flesh Eater Jin, while the Flesh Eater Nia has to back the Driver of the Aegis: Rex up.

Akhos to Tora: Akhos and Tora don’t any interaction, but I’d say their roles are similar enough to warrant the comparison. Tora isn’t a master strategist guy like Akhos is,but he’s knowledgeable enough to allow Poppi to even exist and be a key player in Rex’s journey. Akhos serves as the eye in the sky for Torna and does it effectively.

Patroka to Mòrag: Both Patroka and Mòrag are both the female powerhouses. But Mòrag is more levelheaded and skilled, while Patroka is more brash and quick to lose her temper.

And Mikhail to Zeke: finally, both Mikhail and Zeke are the regular butt Monkeys of their respective groups. The two of them have more depth than their silly butt of jokes give them credit for. Lastly, but by far the most important part, they are both Blade Eaters with conflicts towards Amalthus. This becomes apparent in Chapter 9.

And that is my take on the team dynamic of Xenoblade 2.

[ryssbelle]

Drew a bunch of Marinettes in a bunch of different artists styles it was a lot of fun!!

Artists who's styles I mimicked: @buggachat @hamsternamedmarinette @ladybeug @sabertoothwalrus and @anna-scribbles all epic artists 🤟😎

[mabbbish]

sky bound doodles + jays five stages of grief

[samualcheese]

not expecting this to get as many likes as the old one but hey. i remade that lineup

Happy halloween btw ! i was locking in on this so i didnt have time to make something for it. sad

[clarasghosts]

Evil - intro threats (seasons three & four)

[awzominator]

Day 12 Donnie and Leo

Geeks in their natural habitat ✨ idk I just really loved the episodes where donnie geeked over space/alien tech and Leo gushed over living his Space Hero fantasies. I can’t stop imagining them gushing over constellations and space bodies despite viewing them from diff areas (Don via science and tech lens and Leo via scifi fan) I couldn’t stop thinking of the time I went into planetarium and how breathtaking it was. Figured they’d get a kick out of it as well and that Donnie could build something similar. Also they’re ninja so they could also just break into one but ayeeeee I wanted an escuse to draw a blanket fort sue me

[aroaceleovaldez]

What is the PR disaster in question that made Rick announce TSATS? I wasn’t active in the online fandom at that point

Of course! This was awhile ago so it figures people don't remember it/aren't familiar:

Basically a couple years back (2020) the fandom had some posts circulate discussing the ways different characters in the Riordanverse were written poorly or offensively. There was a masterpost that went around tumblr but the two major points people were particularly focusing on were Piper and Samirah (particularly because Piper had featured prominently again in Trials of Apollo recently and the third MCGA book had further emphasized and discussed Samirah being Muslim, since it was supposed to take place during Ramadan). Basically each had multiple posts breaking down the ways they were depicted incorrectly or offensively. The entire fandom for a little bit was VERY intensely discussing this (and it's around this time the "RR crit" tag got very popularized on tumblr - it did exist before, but suddenly was being used VERY frequently - cause it was that wide-spread - though the discussion took over basically every side of Riordaverse social media on different platforms). People really wanted Rick to respond to these criticisms, so he did!

He made two blog posts, one about Piper and one about Samirah. He has since deleted both so the links are to archived versions. The short version: he essentially tried to justify his poor research and double-down that he hadn't written them offensively, actually, people were just being mean to him. The fandom, of course, reacted poorly to this.

[Further elaborated events under the cut since this got a bit lengthy]

(Fun fact, this all happened within a month or so of the time i posted an open letter on aphobic tropes in the Riordanverse that Rick replied to, and then he immediately followed with announcing that Reyna was intended to be ace-coded [which cause a LOT of fandom debate] before Rick dipped for a couple of weeks, and then came back to post the blog posts in response to Piper and Sam stuff. So I like to jokingly refer to this as "The time I imploded the fandom/drove Rick off of twitter." Twas I that set the house ablaze.)

Rick fully left social media after this and the LT Musical social media manager became Rick's social media manager for the time being.

So this all happened June/July of 2020. Tower of Nero would end up being published in October of 2020 and a few months after that Rick would state that he was done with the series and wouldn't be writing any more series installments involving Percy, and also that he wouldn't be writing a Nico quest following Tower of Nero as it "wasn't his place to" and encouraged the community to write their own versions of Nico's story.

The community continued to circulate the tumblr posts and discuss the topics of Rick's offensive character depictions, and this is also where we see the dramatic shift in how the fandom depicts Piper in fanwork (though in most cases it is admittedly not an improvement 😬) because of all this discussion. This is also around the time when the fandom brought Viria under scrutiny claiming that she was whitewashing Piper as part of the same discussions, through the justification that she was drawing Annabeth as having tan skin (which she does canonically), and if Annabeth has tanner skin then Piper then that's whitewashing Piper? Except they were using completely separate images of not fully rendered Piper art versus Annabeth in dramatic lighting, so it's all very awkward and poor logic, and did actually get kind of racist. A lot of people were calling it "Tannabeth Blackchase" (yeah, i know) or similar and a common sentiment you'd see repeated is "Don't draw Annabeth as having darker skin than Piper, because that's offensive/racist/whitewashing." (Note: it was not phrased "don't draw Piper as having lighter skin than Annabeth" - we also won't get into certain offensive depictions of Native Americans, but I digress). But yeah, the Annabeth stuff in all that did not age well at all.

Anyways, in October of 2021 however Rick would announce that he was co-writing The Sun And The Star - with a lot of heavy emphasis on how Mark Oshiro works as a sensitivity reader, and some false advertising from the official social media that Mark Oshiro was the first time a non-Riordan author would be collaborating on the series (disregarding the ghostwriters completely). One of the big criticisms in the breaking down of issues in Rick's writing was his lack of ever seeking a sensitivity reader, and fans claiming that a sensitivity reader could solve a lot of the problems. This was basically Rick's "look! I totally listened!!!!" (though it did little to actually improve things, based on the book) and in TSATS as well Piper gets a large cameo at the end where the text very directly addresses a lot of points made in criticism of Rick's writing of her.

We also then of course got the CoTG trilogy later, explicitly stated to be for advertising purposes for the show.

So basically, short version: Rick came under scrutiny for a lot of offensive writing within the span of two months, made some bad blog posts doubling down about it, left social media. TOA ends. Rick says he wasn't going to continue the series/write what would become TSATS. Community celebrates the end of of the franchise but also continues to discuss Rick's poor writing and the blog posts at length. Rick suddenly announces TSATS and Mark Oshiro's involvement. Everybody gets distracted from being mad. Show announcement stuff also happens and the discussions peter out.

[nenoname]

Details in Stan's letter that still haunt me

(how long will I continue thinking about a two page letter that's technically not even that long because Stan's handwriting is fricking large? .....you don't need to worry about that.)

The bro code only shows up in the Lost Journal pages, and to me Stan's message feels like it purposely echoes Ford's "miss you" in the college photo (and for some reason the message doesn't appear in the website version of the photo?) ....or alternatively Stan simply noticed how distressed Ford was about this entire thing and wanted to support him in a way so he can be sappy but without the kids knowing, or both!

Stan's claim about the Oregon lottery contradicts what the Lost Legends website said about Tate McGucket's ability to predict the winning numbers!! ...but also breaking into the Lottery HQ is definitely a very Stan thing to do and it's not the first time small gags have been retconned

Despite spending most of his letter nonchalantly destroying him, the taunt about ripping a dollar bill in half is the only part where Stan is directly responding to Bill. Maybe it's the two of them having similar ways of thinking but it's rather specific considering Bill taunts the reader about it...

And after Bill spends an entire book calling Ford Sixer despite normally using a pretty wide range of nicknames for him, Stan then spends his letter mainly referring to Ford as Sixer, even though post-Weirdmageddon he tends to use a mix of nicknames. And it's not like he'd gotten to see Bill himself for long, let alone see him steal that childhood nickname (that is only used twice in the actual show btw!). Did Ford tell him what happened or...?

With all this and the website's "still on your mind" message, what I'm getting at is my tinfoil hat theory of Stan somehow seeing some of the pages the irl readers saw, even when it should be personalised to the specific reader, and he's been lying about it for some reason. Considering that the book flat out doesn't make an attempt at convincing Soos, I find it a stretch that whatever Bill was telling Stan via the book was an attempt to convince him either.

Wouldn't be the first time Stan's skimmed through a book and lied about what it meant to him.

(...Now I kinda wanna see a story about the family reading their versions of the book and making fun of it while Stan is improvising every single one of his pages and blatantly ignoring Bill's attempts to mock and taunt him)

But also I'm fascinated by the letters that only showed up on the website (aka the Soos+Wendy+McGucket+Pacifica ones). I'm assuming that Mabel had stuck them on after Stan's letter... but they were basically eaten by the book itself because seeing Stan's letter kick-started Bill's breakdown which takes up the rest of the book

[0m3n-0f-d3ath]

Otto in a pink sweater

100% doesn’t correlate to what I wore a couple of days ago

[fairyboygenius]

any fic that talks extensively about how “small” the reader insert is is being dnfed by me idc if ur my mutual. i’m not reading something made to be relatable that turns around and tries to mold me into something i’m not!! i’m a fat bitch and i’m working on being okay with that but do not be like “omg reader is so smol and petite 🥺 whatever will she do” build muscle at the gym oh my god

[awake-my-oceans]

Do you know what quietly devastates me? It’s the fact as soon as the traveler is awake to register that their twin isn’t here, before anything else they do in Teyvat…

…they stay exactly where they are, because the fact that their twin isn’t here means their twin has got to be searching for them if at all capable of it.

They stay put, for two months—sixty days—one-thousand-four-hundred-and-forty hours—because it’s easiest to find someone when the lost person stay put. The traveler doesn’t even attempt to travel until well past the time it’s clear that this world is horribly different. This world, their twin isn’t coming back. This world, they—the lost and disoriented sibling—are the one who must find their twin.

We have always had enough time. Always, before now. Always, until Teyvat. But now they have stayed at this lakeshore two entire months, and there has been nothing. Their twin is gone, and time is in free-fall.

Welcome to Teyvat.

[myokk]

eloise and her daughter🥺

[sapphiccyranodebergerac]

i really really love hybrid animation. whether it’s for comedic effect or ambiance or juxtaposition or whatever. i LOVE it. makes me kick my feet and giggle fr

[camellcat]

first xander brought her back with human breath and determination... then willow with supernatural power and love.... smth smth two halves to keep their third in balance from drifting too far into either side and losing herself.....

[brainrotcharacters]

Leo "may the best man win" Wyatt is so fucking petty against Dan that I'm starting to think if either of his sons ever got into a love triangle, they'd be worse.

I do want to see it, yes.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

In X2 Logan snuffs out his cigar in his hand in the cerebro room and POOR CHARLES HAS TO SIT THERE AWKWARDLY AND LISTEN TO LOGAN GETTING TURNED ON BY BURNING HIMSELF BRUH. Charles' face during that whole scene is just... "Come on man right in front of my salad?"

X2 is often regarded as the best movie of the original trilogy and bits like Logan Getting A Hard On In The Cerebro Room Because He's A Masochist While Charles Is Trying Really Hard To Work is definitely one of them