#the whole of her saying the real Minfilia is just. YEAH

[meowww-ffxiv]

ARR Maedwyn and Alphinaud... akfhskfj <- the thing going through Mae's head.

At first, Maedwyn regarded Alphinaud and Alisaie as young foreigners who were going through Eorzea, perhaps trying to find the reason why their beloved grandfather gave his all for this land.

He was way too distraught after the massacre in the Waking Sands to care about Alphinaud being annoying, and put up with him through Garuda just fine. Maedwyn had a rare kind of patience around huffy youngsters, let's just say -- he had tutored his fair share of noble and/or royal brats, after all. And Alphinaud was on the more sufferable side of the lot. At least he was wholly independent in decisions making. Or so Maedwyn told himself.

But into the patches? Whew.

As delicately as he could, Maedwyn told Minfilia that there was no POSSIBLE way in HELLS it could be a good idea to have the 16 year old with the PoliSci degree raise his private militia and attach it to the Scions in any sense.

Minfilia shrugged helplessly and said she was sure not much would come of it. She agreed that what Alphinaud said about the three Grand Companies/largest city-states needing a third party, neutral force to settle dispute was true.

Maedwyn told her she was an excellent antecedent and coordinator in peace times, but when blood was poised to be shed -- and it ever shall be, as soon as a militia of any size entered the scene -- someone would seek to take advantage of it.

Nor did he trust Teledji. Even if his own investigations turned up nothing, Maedwyn felt he owed it to the Doman refugees to try.

He and his sources did discover unsavory clues about the bastard, but when Maedwyn weighed their implications against the very real aid and resources Teledji was providing to the refugees, he reluctantly acknowledged that it was more important they continued to receive it.

But he did tell Yugiri, though knowing it was a risk that she would take offense and cease to trust him.

She was...not happy to hear. But she took Maedwyn's evidence under advisement, and was unsurprised when Teledji turned on the Scions.

He did completely fuck up on missing Lolorito though, which. Yeah. Things that kept Maedwyn up at night even now.

As for Alphinaud. What could Maedwyn do but follow him around and try his best to guide the boy? At least Alphinaud wasn't wholly unreceptive to Maedwyn's opinions, but he staunchly brushed him off on his doubts about whether or not the Crystal Braves were as immune to outside influence as he thought.

Alphinaud told Maedwyn that he was so paranoid. Ilberd had the vouch of everyone and Raubahn. Maedwyn replied that it was not Ilberd's trustworthiness that was in question, but your second-in-command, unless he was born to serve you as in he was your royal retainer, should never exceed you in both skill and experience. Nor should you treat him so flippantly!

Ilberd for his part liked Maedwyn better than he let on. He also pitied him, with the amount of care and work he was putting towards who Ilberd saw as a dumb, insufferable spoiled brat who would likely die before he learned better. He appreciated that Maedwyn chastised Alphinaud whenever the boy bossed Ilberd around too disrespectfully, though there wasn't nearly enough love and respect between them for Ilberd to hesitate dropping the whole Bloody Banquet on his head.

After everything had exploded in their collective face, Alphinaud told Maedwyn he was very sorry, though now he wondered where he got all those morsels of wisdom.

Maedwyn told him that it was experience and that he wished Alphinaud needed not have earned his own wisdom at so steep a price. Yet not everything was lost, yet. Alphinaud had his life, and the staunch support of friends who cared nothing for his power or wealth, but for him as a person. And he needed to regain his footings. First, by taking control of himself.

In the months waiting to enter Ishgard, Maedwyn gave Alphinaud a crash course of real, actual politics and news from Eorzea that he himself had gathered while traveling and talking to others. They spent time with Haurchefant poring over the etiquettes and expectations of Ishgard itself, strategizing how to put their best foot forward, what gain or leverage they could get out of their connection. The pressure of their uncertain future helped keep Maedwyn's mind off the weeping, bloody, Raubahn- and Nanamo-shaped wound in his heart.

Though he never blamed Alphinaud, Maedwyn must have been slipping up in his old age, because Alphinaud actually seemed to sense that he was grieving. And he was veeeery nice to Maedwyn throughout the rest of their time together.

Even to this day he sought his advice, or would spend long hours discussing the finer points of governance and politics with him. A bond that made Alisaie a little jealous, though Maedwyn also went absolutely out of his way to make her feel included.

He was kinda pressed about it, tbh. Usually, or rather back in the days, Maedwyn would have his own counterparts to look after the other sibling if it was a pair they were teaching. But there was only him, and the twins equally wanted his attention, even if nowadays they rarely needed his opinion to form their own.

So he and Urianger divided the work best they could, as Urianger was closer to Alisaie. Ostensibly. Maedwyn switched over to talking with Alisaie more during Stormblood, as he felt she would benefit more than her brother from martial knowledge of the tactical variety.

[motheatenscarf]

Story spoilers for FF14, I was largely unimpressed with the Scions until it suddenly didn't matter anymore lol.

So, the Scions aren't very interesting yet, and I was hoping they'd get the chance to make more of an impression, but I guess they're all dead now except maybe a few of the main guys. So... lol.

As a whole, this group kinda gave big "bored nepo baby brunch club to make political connections" energy where they sit and talk about big goals but don't, aside from Y'sthola, have like... plans?

Gideon Emery's voice is wasted on Beard-Elf, who had like 2 lines and is maybe I think dead now. Elf Twin boy annoys me and is Sam Riegel who is a fully grown ass man and it is deeply unsettling, Elf Twin girl is fine, I guess. Thancred is also fine, he made no real impression on me, and Bunsen and Beaker... they have names, I forget them, they're Bunsen and Beaker, are kind of annoying, but also fine. Nobody here has a strong personality and it really shows the weak writing and weaker acting in a lot of places, sorry Taliesin Jaffee, but even you are only as good as what you're given and he wasn't given much to work with. The strongest characters were all the goons and chuds who hung out in the supply room, which is uh... well, I mean, I liked them, but it's saying something when those are your most likable characters in the hero organization. Their leader, Minfilia, had also been previously languishing in mediocrity, with her writing not standing out as anything other than "boring" and her voice acting as "wow, that had to be the casting director's niece or something."

But BOY, has Minfilia made an impression on me now! Just... GOD that is some weak writing, she immediately surrenders WHILE her people are being slaughtered behind her, does not wait for them to accept her terms of surrender before they put handcuffs on her, and they immediately go back to slaughtering her people in front of her and her only reaction is "Confound it!"

So, she, effectively, immediately surrendered under no protest with no resistance in order to save only herself.

Where I come from we call that cowardice, and it is generally frowned upon in one's leaders, and if they don't execute her or torture her to death, I'm going to kill her myself.

The little BABY Slyph who showed up to be a personal envoy to the Scions did more to protect these people and this organization than Minfilia did and she died for it. She got her tiny tiny body punted into a wall by a roundhouse kick from the lone woman among The Bad Guys, and it was kinda awesome and very unintentionally funny, but also very sad and heroic from my poor little Slyph friend.

Anyway, I'm going to go find my buddies now, I guess, and maybe the game will make me rescue Minfilia. I accept this only on the condition that the game let me loot her corpse for tokens of office so I can give them Y'shtola who should clearly be in charge. She's a frumpy nerd who is very smart and competent and has no patience for tact or decorum or the politics of busywork, I LIKE her, she's the ONLY one I like, she's the only character so far who's made an impression on me aside from the Slyphs for being tiny and cute or the bad guys for being hammy and scene stealing.

So yeah, I guess Y'shtola is my favorite character so far

[thecat-inthehat]

I’m trans. And that affects how I play and interact with XIV. 

I always hesitate to talk about my trans-ness, or trans characters, and I usually feel weird about it when I do, or that I’m somehow indulging in a way. I always feel like I never have anything important to say, or that I’m being a whiny entitled brat about it, or that no one cares. So I think I’ll try and talk a little about it.

I’ve seen some really good trans wols or adventurers, and it makes me really happy to witness, seeing more people Like Me out in the world. It’s not often that I feel lonely being trans, but it really does lift my heart to see others around and enjoying the world that love.

That being said, XIV fandom, and fandom as a whole, still isn’t that kind to trans “headcanons” about canon characters. Fandom’s been pretty okay about trans WoLs, though the erp’ers in the Quicksand have a serious problem with their transphobic ‘futa’ or ‘femboy’ shit. I don’t have Helisent’s gender in her search info, because I don’t want her to be called slurs in game while I’m just trying to do my damn roulettes. More often than not though, it’s the little comments here and there, or worse, the indifference. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen rare art or fic for trans xiv characters, only to have comments about how “that character is cis” or “is this a girl/boy version of x?” Those comments hurt, and those comments are transphobic. (Genderbends are their own post, but by and large they are transphobic as well.)

I say “headcanons” because there’s very little textual evidence that any particular character is cis. It’s just assumed to be that way, that cis is the default, and people thinking that a particular character is trans is a headcanon. Sometimes adding trans!(character) can be ... othering. I understand that sometimes people use those tags as a flagship, a way of saying “hey, it’s safe over here, come join us”, and I appreciate those. But sometimes it’s just exhausting to deal with the idea that cis is always the default, nevermind the fact that there’s sometimes mean comments about “but that character isn’t trans”. Damn it, we don’t really have evidence for one or the other a lot of the time, we only see that character’s gender presentation. 

And sure, you can say that that’s largely because XIV is built and developed around the idea that Eorzea operates on the gender binary -- it’s not exactly pushing the boundaries on gender, or made by openly trans or queer people. While I’m sure that there are trans or queer people that work on XIV, the goal of XIV isn’t to be “Eorzea trans adventure”. I get that. Most of the media I consume is made under the assumption that the fictional world is cis, and I’m not surprised that the characters therein are presumed to be cis. I understand the reasons why it is the way that it is. 

Fiction, and by and large fandom, is a transformative experience. The Devs for XIV have gone on record saying that they keep a lot of things ambiguous to let players have fun, especially in regards to shipping, or the timeline. That should, and does, extend to trans or cis headcanons about characters or how you interact with them. I’m not saying you have to go out and view particular characters as trans (though that would be nice), more ... be mindful of the fact that everyone experiences the game differently, and that cis isn’t the default setting, just a common one.

I guess I don’t really have a point here, just some thoughts that have been knocking around in my head, especially after seeing some unintentionally cruel and transphobic comments on friend’s art. So just... I dunno, be kind. Think critically about a trans “headcanon”, and what it might mean to someone, or how it might influence a character’s arc, or the way they interact with the world. Yeah, there’s some real bad fetishization out there with regards to trans headcanons, but that’s not really what I’m talking about here. Just keep an eye out, and look at things with an open mind.

Anyways, Ardbert’s trans. Lucia is too. So is Minfilia. Thancred is “I’m a man (I think???)”. Alphinaud is trans, and I have the most evidence for that one. 

Sadu’s canonically genderfluid -- her last three lives were male. Urianger is canonically gender non-conforming, and I’m willing to bet that he’s got some interesting ideas about gender. All the Ascians have the ability to mold and shape the flesh of their host, so in what world would they be cis? 

Just... think about it, I guess. I’m happy to talk about it if anyone’s curious. 

[ahlis-xiv]

Thancred!

First impression

I honestly did Thancred real dirty in my first play through of ARR. What happened is that I quit around level 30-31 and instead of starting fresh when I came back, like I should have, I picked up the same character from where I left off. So when it came time to the BIG REVEAL of Lahabrea having taken over Thancred’s body, I did a big fat “wait…who is this guy again??”. Yeah…needless to say his first impression was quite forgotten lmao.

Impression now

I love this dumb man, even more so now after Shadowbringers 5.0. He’s gotten a lot of character development–not all of which was positive, let’s be real–but that in itself isn’t a bad thing. For me, along with Minfilia, he is a significant pillar in the Scions and a big proponent in the circle of support Ahlis has. 

Favorite moment

I have to pick one?? hmmmm. Well, there’s always my fave dialogue moment were, to paraphrase, he says “well there you have it, our friend is just too stubborn to die” which is *ok hand* thx Thancred you got our back lol. And let’s not forget the moment where he comes out, daggers blazing, to face off one-on-one with Ardbert. That was very cool *sweats*. 

Idea for a story

I entertained a bad ending!AU for Ahlis where Thancred has to put her out of her misery hahaha I can’t but I can’t forget that I, too, have a low-key need for a secret crack ship drabble for the pair (these two would maaaaybe have some great hatesex-but-not-really-it’s-just-tension-why-you-so-dumb-UGH).

Unpopular opinion

I think his ladykiller/romance savvy ways are all a ruse. Sure he can play the game but he’s all flash and no substance. 

Favorite relationship

With the coming of ShB I’d have to say his relationship with…everybody! Kinda cheating I know, but hear me out: the guy was absent for a lot of Stormblood doing the usual spy/tracking business he’s so good at (and not long after his whole stint in Heavensward where he his aether just got borked to hell) only to get drop-kicked over to the First, gets stuck there for FIVE YEARS, and has to handle the whole thing involving the “Oracle of Light” Minfilia is his new ward jumbled together with all his complex feelings for the OG Minfilia/Ascilia like…the guy’s had a rough time of it and hadn’t handled it well at all over all that time. But, by the end of 5.0, I’d like to think he reached his resolution and could make some measure of peace with himself and the hand he’d been dealt, as it affected all of his relationships. 

Favorite headcanon

I like the idea of Ahlis being 100% Not Impressed with Thancred, which leads to a lot of snark, sass and overall one-upping the other which evolves into an actual caring relationship but they never outwardly say it, haha.

(send me a character)

[motheatenscarf]

I beat the base-game story for FF14! Yaaay! \o/

I have... SO many thoughts, I just kinda powered through the last bit after the Scions got got, most of my thoughts are relatively positive, but also I have some very mean, very stupid opinions about some of the writing choices happening here.

I'll probably make a few posts in greater detail later, but for now my strongest opinions can be summed up as follows;

Holy fuck, I hate Minfilia, the literal child was a better leader than her. She's weak and indecisive and written as a terrible leader without the narrative addressing that fact at all. So it's not just irresponsible misogynistic writing, it's just lazy and laughably incompetent writing.

I wound up liking the villain quartet more than I thought I would, namely the big dude you have to kill first. His devotion to his men and belief in the empire due to his ability to rise to his station really stood out. That was probably the most nuanced this game has been so far, I was impressed, I genuinely felt bad I had to kill him. He was written from a perspective of empathy with the full breadth of emotion, like a real human being.

I had not come to expect that from this game!

Namely because all of our villains until this point were cartoons who wanted to blow up the moon and all of our heroes were made of unflappable cardboard. That's not to say they don't have their charms, I love a good "Mua ha ha!" as much as the next person, but y'know, largely forgettable. The worst example of this comes from Cid and Thancred. Like. Hey, Cid, these are your childhood friends we're slaughtering. You really gonna no thoughts, head empty your way through this?

Yeah?

Okay... cool...

god forbid someone have an interesting reaction.

The WORST example of that, however, is Thancred. I really thought we'd get something out of Thancred being possessed by Lahabrea. Like, even if he didn't make a choice or a deal to get possessed and had no agency in that, he would at least have a reaction to knowing he'd gotten his people killed or tortured. That's going to at the very least cause reflection in a character and an interesting change in his perspective if not outright trauma he's going to have to work through, and that's a good emotional hook to have someone your character needs to look out for. Real vulnerability, maybe, if we're lucky.

Haha,

NOPE!

Like. I've played Kingdom Hearts. I'm getting big Organization XIII vibes from the Ascians, and I'm looking at Thancred like, oh, okay, you're just... older Riku. Sure. I can work with that, that's a good source of angst, at least someone's feeling SOMETHING in the narrative at that point.

But fucking lol, no, he's just like "Thanks for saving me, I've been a real inconvenience, I should take some time off to recover so nobody has to help me again."

ANd like...

Buddy, that is the reaction you have when you're hangry and you get kinda snippy before somebody hands you a candybar and tells you to calm down. You're REALLY not gonna talk about this?! I have a whole subsequent sidequest to help Minfilia find her MOMMY so she can grow the moral fortitude to refuse bribes, but Thancred spends months being possessed by THE bad guy and gets the Scions nearly wiped out and he's FINE and we're MOVING ON!

REALLY?!

I know I JUST compared it to Kingdom Hearts, but it's not even that! Kingdom Hearts, for being TERRIBLE, at least understood that the way to get people invested in a narrative was to give them characters who CARE about things and react accordingly! Oh my god, Kingdom Hearts was more competent than this! OH MY GOD, it's so bad, I'm so ANGRY! It was starting to show promise, how did it turn around and do itself this dirty, who was responsible for this?!

GOD.

That said, the things I like are, like, everything else about this game so far. My god was I frustrated the entire time I was sitting through some of this shit storywise, but the gameplay was very fun. The game is otherwise the single most functional, deep, and FUN mmo I've ever played gamewise. I'm ASSURED the story gets better, and like, frankly, it wouldn't take much effort for that to be true, but if they can also make the story GOOD, I will be pleasantly surprised because right now we're in "so incompetent I burst out laughing" territory.

And then after all that they called it the 7th Astral Era like, job's done, go home team, ignore the multiple other looming threats! We're admitting Lahabrea isn't dead even in-text among the Scions and there's still countless Primals being summoned and I'm pretty sure somebody needs to talk about these giant talking crystals, but NOPE, 7th Astral Era here we go!

I give it ten months.

Anyway, I'm gonna go read up on how to kill the Moogle King so I can progress this narrative, but I'm in like, humorously SHOCKED disbelief at how bad this was. Like, the FUNNY kind of angry, not legit angry, the "Oh, here's a new rant I could go on about for ten minutes EASY" kind of angry, it was so bad.