#ardbert and derplander

[finalfantacee]

I had help from a hero of of this world

[nabaath-areng]

looked for something in my archive and instead found old things from when the ffxiv community here on tumblr had that weird pre-shb hate boner for male midlanders.

ive talked about it before but like. WHAT was up with that. like it astonishes me to this day because i have NO idea what caused it????? and what shocked me more back when shadowbringers dropped was the almost dizzying sudden shift to liking them instead???? because of ardbert presumably?? the guy everyone made fun of along with derplander as meteor was called?????? IT'S SO BIZARRE BECAUSE AGAIN WHAT EVEN CAUSED THAT WHOLE THING TO BEGIN WITH.

shadowbringers dropped and in an INSTANT the anonymous asks, the ingame tells, the backhanded comments both in and out of game? gone. evaporated. as if they never happened. post midlander men in 2025 and the crowd cheers. post midlander men in 2015 and the same less than 10 ish midlander maining bloggers like and/or reblog, while some random person jumps in and say midlander men smells like wet dog.

[voidsentprinces]

Battle of the Tits, the Breast Chests of Etheirys and Beyond!

Its like Ardbert all over again

[nyaawn]

Graphics Update & Derplander's face: A Research

or My Shallow Attempt to Make Sense Why That DT Derplander's Face Look So Oddly Different. For Science.

(Ok I know the benchmark has been out for more than a week and a lot has been said about it, but I was busy and only had time to mess around with it recently. Tho actually no I didn't have time and I really should sleep rather than spend my remaining braincells mulling over freaking fictional character's face. But pesky part of my brain would keep bothering me about it otherwise. So let me try putting my finger on it)

On last Live Letter broadcast they open with benchmark trailer. I thought, "Oh nice. Since I also play a Derplander I can just watch their trailer to see the graphic update on his fac---"

.

.

.

"... ...... .....Who is that?"

This Derplander was so confused and as Derplander main I was left deeply concerned.

What the heck happened?? Is it the update? Is it the new hair? Hair change can change his face so much? Why he look so off? Whhhyyyyyyyy-------

Benchmark downloaded, I embarked to find the truth *insert dramatic bgm here*

First thing in my mind, well we see that in livestream, of course streaming quality would made it look bad. Hence I start with running the benchmark right away with default character setting. The result, now I have better image quality, I can clearly see his skin texture etc and he does looks better, but still so different than what I used to. Oh dear am I doomed with this graphic update.... Well let's see how he fare in character creator next. I put in the usual Derplander/Ardbert face setting: Hyur, Midlander, medium build, Face type #5 or #7.... Hmm wait they touch up Face#7?

Yep, Face#7 isn't simply 'Face#5-with-stubble-slapped-on' anymore. There's plenty of contouring going on now. It's like make up, tho irl people use it to look flawless, here they use it to make him more flawed lol. Frown lines, dark and bright smudges to increase the rugged appearance. That highlight on his forehead almost distractingly so. It sure make his brow bones look like they jut out a lot more. Maybe that's why his forehead look so bright and prominent in that trailer? But all in all they do give the face more dimension and suitably older without changing the face model itself, which is smart. Other than contouring, they only change the eye shape a bit with sharper corner. Oh and thicker eyebrows, for some reason...

Alright, that cover the face type. Moving on with the rest of his face: Eye#1, Nose#1, Lip#1. No big change with them, at least none that I can see. Next, color: eyes blue, no lip coloring. Done!

The result... is still the Derplander that I know and familiar with. Older and more rugged, yes. But that's him alright.

WAIIIIT,,,, everyone else complain that their character look off in Character Creator but look alright in benchmark cutscene, why I'm the opposite?? I think he look okay in CC but look different in cutscene. Wth happened here?

Still scratching my head, I throw him into benchmark and...

Oh. Oooh, I see now.. Apparently, they didn't use that setting anymore...

I made wrong assumption that they use Derplander usual character setting as default WoL like in previous benchmarks. Then further assumed the change I saw was chiefly because of graphic update. But as you can see, for default they use different nose and jaw. Add those to the change with face type I mentioned above. It's not that the DT trailer Derplander's face feel different. It is different face.

*headdesk* OKAY PROBLEM SOLVED I GUESS (ﾉಥ▿ಥ）ﾉ彡┻━┻

.........

Naaah, I already staring at his face for so long only to reach such anticlimactic conclusion. Let's stare some more! *sunkcostfallacy*

Well, ignoring the new hairstyle and its floating sideburns (kek), now they use jaw#4 and nose#5, I think? And tho it can't be seen clearly in that gif quality, they also change his eye color. Before I thought it's just because of lighting, but they really change them to green hue rather than his previous blue (you got Mako-juiced bro?). I think I understand why they made those change tho. When paired with his old face, that new hairstyle can make his lower face look strangely short/squished (which was my concern when they unveil that hair in cg trailer. Even in real life that kind of hairstyle could mess with head balance). Hence the change to wider, longer jaw. And to balance that jaw, bigger nose. Dunno what with his eye tho.

It's not very noticeable but there's one more change they made, however it's one I completely onboard with: His skin color. After giving his CG counterpart a tan (hooray!), finally they also give his in-game model a (veeeeerrry sliiight) tan (still HOORAAY!). I've been saying for years that he look too pale. WoL supposedly running around under the sun all the time, why in tarnation he was still as pale as milk. This time, though I only eyeballed it, from various comparison pic I think I can say with some confidence they had moved quite a few step down that skintone table:

I would prefer they also take a step to the right (which is the skintone that I give to my own WoL, and even with that I still often think mine's too pale. But to change it I need to pay for another fanta, so I left him be), but hey baby step. At least he's more strawberry milk now rather than just milk.

Anyway, others might not think he look that different from before. But maybe since I played with him for thousand and thousand of hours, even a slight difference can cause uncomfortable sense of wrongness. This is also the case for numerous players who complained that their WoLs looks off, I guess. Though their case certainly isn't a dumb character setting mistake like mine, that graphic update sure can change character's vibe. Fortunately after scrutinizing it for some time, I think I can live with it? At least for most part..

The update change lighting and texture across the board, and maybe some modeling too? For characters, one of most visible overhaul is their skin. In that skin, well, look even more like skin, for better or worse. In face type#5 /#7 that Derplander use, his laugh lines and sunken cheek are fairly discernible now.

Same chara setting, very similar angle and lighting, across different builds. With the new lighting shadow falls more naturally, in effect giving a rounder, less dramatic impression. But more than that, those visible facial lines along with further detailed eye wrinkles make him seem a looot older. While the guy in the left might go "I'm going on an adventure!", the man in right look tired of all worldly affairs..

That said, I don't mind it that much. I want my WoL to look older with time, so I'm okay with this. Players who also use this face type but don't want their WoL to suddenly turn into middle aged man might feel different, however. Not to mention the more realistic facial lines could push it towards uncanny valley. Will need some time to get used to it, that's for sure.

But one graphic update quirk that I'm less enthusiastic with is: eyeline. I wonder, it seems there's something going on with how this new lighting interact with eye area, in that when eye rim fall under shadow of something the eyeliner immediately goes wild:

See his left eye? Nothing else change here, just his hair. But when his eye fall under shadow of sidebangs, bam. Thick eyeliner make its glorious appearance and suddenly he look super evil (Tho to be fair this shot is hardly flattering and most WoLs I saw look highly menacing there. It's just those dark rims brought him an extra malm). Maybe this is why many Viera players complained about weird eyelines? Thankfully in other lighting/ non-closeup those eyeliners seems to go away. In other scenes all version of him looks okay enough.

.............

So TL:DR I made mistake assuming the odd difference I saw was because graphic update, while in reality it's because they use different face setting altogether. I think I'm going to be fine just using Derplander's old setting going forward as thankfully the update didn't change him too badly. Imo for most part I think the new graphic looks superb even.

But yeah that eyeliner man. I hope they can tell it to chill down a bit. I'm looking forward to the further adjustment they said they'll do. Hopefully Derplander can retain his fairly nice guy, slightly derpy look that we know and love, and less looking like a guy who's ready to start his villain origin story.

........or maybe he already started? 🤔

oh well thanks for glancing at my TED talk. Ima going to sleep now...

[stonedrune]

I am having carnal thoughts about Clive. I haven't even played that FF game, I just know him from screenshots and crossovers and osmosis and threesome art with Ardbert and Derplander-kun

[artctrlcee]

It’s been a busy month so I literally spat this out while waiting for a plane. Just a little something for all my fav boys this Febhyurary

[ofthebleedingheart]

What if...

I wrote a bunch of Hanahaki FFXIV, some more Ardbert stuff, some shit about Ascians , and maybe even a MeteorxOC piece...

Haha just kidding...

Unless...?

[jadeandblood]

Patch 5.2 really went there huh

[talesofwight]

“How strange... after all this time -- though it is but a glamour, I feel whole.”

[finalfantacee]

I did that instance today

[autumnslance]

It came up in a Discord channel earlier, and also again this evening on Twitter, but there is actually a CGI Midlander woman that could be used in the cinematic trailers, instead of the familiar Midlander man often known as Meteor (or Derplander, when feeling silly).

Rumor is she was made first (along with a Lalafell man that was nixed in favor of the woman who became Lamitt’s base), but marketing being what it is, the Midlander man was used as the face of the game and the Midlander woman was quietly shelved.

When I discovered her existence a couple years back, that’s what I based Aeryn’s appearance on when I decided to make my own WoL for fanfic stories, rather than use my existing RP characters (Dark and C’oretta). I did make a few very minor tweaks, but Aeryn’s appearance, even her first haircut and initial job--Archer--are inspired by the original model. If a bunch of folks can make their own male Meteor WoLs, well, I could do the same with Lady Meteor. The above pic of Aeryn is the earliest shot of I have of her, from November 2017.

I also used this meta as a way to set up Aeryn’s backstory with her brother as the 1.0 WoL, and Aeryn feeling like a “replacement” for him since returning to Eorzea. Ardbert resembles her brother strongly, of course, and I headcanoned a sibling for him that Aeryn resembled, giving them a strange, uneasy connection/bond when they met in the Heavensward patch stories. I even wrote one of the 2018 FFXIVWrite prompts about it.

Then Shadowbringers came along and uh. Well. So much for meta “jokes” and it made my headcanons and backstory for Aeryn work even better. She doesn’t feel like she’s a replacement so much anymore, at least.

I still can’t help but wonder, though; what if they had used her in HW as the “Warrior of Darkness” and then again in ShB? Or vice versa; have Lady Meteor be the face of the game, and then use Ardbert the same way? Things to ponder, certainly.

[ghost-cheeks]

In order to chill myself out before an interview, I came up with some Headcanons(tm) regarding the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and their daily operations when there isn’t an Imminent Crisis:

Each of the archons (and Tataru) have their own crew of people that they work with and/or supervise. Y’shtola frequently forgets she has a small handful of people to help her with her aetherological research, while Tataru has a veritable army of subordinates to help run the Rising Stones.

Tataru’s crew consists of a few hand-picked individuals who then delegate tasks to literally everyone under their employ. She has a quartermaster, a lead bookkeeper, a logistics person, maintenance folks... even liaisons to the Grand Companies, Ishgard, Doma and Ala Mhigo. She basically runs the whole place.

This allows the Archons to kind of do their own thing, and as it’s been demonstrated many times they can just disappear and the day to day runnings of the Rising Stones aren’t generally affected. Which is good because Y’shtola fucks off for weeks at a time without telling anyone, Urianger holes up in the Waking Sands, and while Thancred stays local (he runs a lot of info-gathering and parses all his intel himself) he is absolutely no help.

In my headcanon land, Arbert and Ardbert are two different people. Ardbert is our loveable idiot from the First, while Arbert is his reflection on the Source. He looks like the Derplander from the cutscenes (who is our “canon” WoL) so why not. This is important for two reasons:

One: since the First is the literal first shard of the Source, it is extremely close in geographic layout, culture, and even historically to the Source. To the point where you absolutely have reflections of people (See: Ardbert and Arbert). Not all people are reflections, but it does happen. However, it’s not exactly one-to-one, and the further you get out from the Source the more different the shards are.

Two: having an Arbert on the Source means that he heads the Warriors of Light. The Warriors of Light are the more adventurer-centric part of the Scions (as opposed to the more research-centric side run by Krile, Urianger, and Y’shtola) They are the ones that are sent out to deal with Primals, general beast tribe conflicts, escort or guard jobs, etc. Arbert is the most well-known since he’s the strongest by far (for good reason), and has become the face of the group to the point where people refer to him as THE Warrior of Light. There are others in the Warriors—like Arenvald—who are strong in the Echo and/or Hydaelyn’s blessing, which is super helpful for non world-ending problems.

The Scions get a lot of their funding from the city-states (compensation for monitoring beast tribe activities, etc) as well as occasional donations, sending a Warrior or two to assist in some kind of work (see above), and of course Tataru’s monthly Music Night.

Keeping in contact with each of the grand companies, city states, and other political powers is important in order to a) stay funded, and b) remain neutral parties to allow any and all to see the Scion’s assistance.

Speaking of Politics, Alphinaud is officially the Resident Politician. He regularly drags Alisaie around on his trips (which she both loves and hates) to meet with Important People.

There’s probably more but that’s all I remember for now lmao

[whitherliliesbloom]

favorite picture of them (Illyanaud) / favorite thing about them (ardbert)

[send me a character - accepting]

THANK YOU FOR INDULGING ME

Favorite Illyanaud picture

This set in general? Especially the fireworks gif uwu BUT WOW DOES EVERY ILLYANAUD PICTURE FILL ME WITH SEROTONIN

Favorite thing about Ardbert

Bless his heart... he’s such a good character. I love how they turned this default derplander design into a character with so much depth and development. He’s at once an avatar for all warriors of light and also the best friend of our warrior of light, a tragic character who was punished for just doing what he thought was right. I miss him a ton but I feel like Shadowbringers really closed off his character arc perfectly. 

[ishgard]

Man I really hope that’s just Elidibus possessing Ardbert’s body and Not another hero from another shard who looks The Same suggesting that all of our shards look like derplander. 

Like, Emet told us that broken shards are identical, just halved in all other respects. I mean they did it with DRK quests they could theoretically have another character just Look Like Us if that were the case, which would be preferable, and I ‘get’ why they didn’t do that with Ardbert (and what a blessing is Joe Dempsie’s sweet, sweet voice)... But I want all of our shards to diverse and interesting not That One White Dude With Stubble x 13 - I love Ardbert!!! I love derplander!!! but please.

[gnbrkrs]

So I’ve read the Live Letter summary, and here's my impressions

- I am super excited for another Amaurot dungeon, as well as the MSQ. I’d love to know more about what happened to Amaurot and Amaurot in general, and looks like we’re going there. Emet and Hyth in a flashback, perhaps?

- I am still worried about G’raha; - More Ishgard Restoration for hardcore crafters only? *cries in newbie crafter* - FSH content looks interesting though. Might as well get my ass up and finally level it;

- I guess Diadem overhaul might help me finally finish leveling BTN and MIN, but I am not that excited about it because I never played Diadem that much( I literally started playing about 9 months ago); - Gaius getting a spotlight in the new sidequests? Yaaaay! My thirsty self approves of it greatly, but at the same time I am very cautious about it because I remember what happened to Regula in the Warring Triad questline( but more about that later). From what I understood, he’s in the trial questline, but I could be mistaken, and he might go to Eureka 2.0 instead, which brings me to my next point; - I thought OG Eureka was pretty unpopular. Why are they releasing more of it? As much as I am happy to see the Bozja Citadel and more lore on the Hrothgar, what little I have experienced of Eureka( which was post-ShB) gave me the impression it is extremely tedious to do, especially alone; - I am still not sure what are they doing with Ardbert/ the Derplander looking dude. I wrote my thoughts on it in a separate post while replying to ishgard, and I that’s about it. I am kinda wary about this particular plot point, but I’ll give the writing team a benefit of doubt, since I don’t know where they are going yet, and their writing hasn’t let me down yet.

[kitsune-kirei]

SHB Spoiler thoughts: 

So since launch I always had the thought, since Ardbert once was apart of your soul, then its possible that there is someone who shares your same soul on each division planet/realm. Because it makes sense if the souls of Aumarot all got divided between these new realms, all of these souls put together make up who you once were when you lived during the age of Amuarot. And if you consider our Derplander looks exactly like Ardbert, its safe to say these parts of your soul all look the same. 

TL;DR, there’s probably a different version of your characters on each different shard that was created in the great division.