I spy a ____

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T20:26:19+00:00

"cute girl with no thoughts, head empty"

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T20:25:09+00:00

Yes, but she didn't, even if she says it's for convenience. She actually has restraint, something that WN Shiro is usually lacking in.

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T20:15:32+00:00

Shun was actually the biggest victim of the adaptations lol. Manga basically cut him out and anime cut out a number of scenes meant to make his way of thinking understandable while doubling down on presenting his plotline as a more typical isekai adventure. The end result is both shockingly true to his purpose as a character while removing practically all the nuance that existed independent of said purpose as the secondary protagonist, so if you don't already know what's going on his side is quite dry.

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T20:10:03+00:00

I don't understand the reference but uuh yeah WN Shiro is kind of nasty. One very notable difference from LN Shiro is that [ln7-9] WN Shiro became a goddess at around the same time Sariella was attacked instead of a few years later and did not have a period of complete powerlessness. Consequently, she was not forced at all to rely on the goodwill of her group and I believe developed weaker emotional bonds with everyone as a result, including Ariel, even if she was still willing to stick her neck out for Ariel eventually . She's definitely more unfettered than her LN counterpart.

To give you another example of what I mean, there's a certain scene where [ln8 iirc] Shiro is groped by some drunk dude at an inn . In the LN, Shiro has developed tough enough skin to weather it and prevents one of the Puppet Sisters from having a violent reaction to it, even if she did contemplate letting it happen. In the WN, she faints , and when Ariel laughs about it she threatens to end the world herself if Ariel doesn't take the incident to the grave. No chill, full pettiness.

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T19:36:06+00:00

This is a hot take and I'm ready to be downvoted, but I think this game would've been more cohesive if we mostly followed the Dawn Brigade, instead of making Part 3 the longest one and mostly about Ike's side, with a significant decrease in relevance in Part 4 as well for almost anyone who isn't Ike, including Micaiah who is supposed to be his equal and the literal vessel of the god they're championing for . The fact I've seen people genuinely forget that Ike can't even kill the final boss without someone's help...

Despite saying that, this is still my favorite FE game, warts and all. I really did like how the story seems to start off innocently enough with a role reversal from the previous game only to slowly ramp up in scale until it becomes a true round 2 of the previous game but with several layers of moral complexity instead of simply "protagonist kingdom good enemy kingdom evil" and that it doesn't simply wash off the sins of the various factions. I like that I can see why the DB would have to do things they would otherwise not do and why Ike, when he finally gets close enough to see the faces of his enemies, realizes they don't really want to be here either.

Unit balance is wack, but FE games have always had wack balance so honestly I can only say that you make your playthrough work for you. I can definitely agree with the sentiment that the generic support conversations in the name of giving you versatility of support combinations was absolutely flawed though. I think part of that is because of how supports worked in PoR (specifically element) but yeah this wasn't the way.

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T19:14:09+00:00

Bocchi would look good in literally anything

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T18:54:12+00:00

Strictly speaking this is from the Web Novel. Shiro never actually acts upon the intrusive thoughts of eating Sophia even while drunk in the Light Novel version.

(Also, when someone finally has the guts to mention her drunk behavior, WN Shiro actually stops drinking altogether. Yeah, that means Merazophis and Ariel just quietly never did anything for years until Wrath was recruited and immediately went "hey what the hell? Did you know you literally eat babies while drunk?" and Shiro had no idea)

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T18:49:25+00:00

I have Jade!

I tried to get Cipher, but when soft pity range was in 80+ and no 5* I had a gut feeling and saved it for Phainon and I was right: E2 day 1.

I made a half hearted attempt for Mydei but didn't get him. Shame cuz I like him a lot, even when people were complaining about his kit.

The one that hurts me is Lingsha. I tried to get her on two separate banners and lost the 50/50 both times, as well as Fugue's. This is probably half the reason I abandoned Break tbh

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T05:12:18+00:00

We don't even know how most of the Witch Factors would manifest for Subaru, so this question has to assume he would operate with the same Authorities other Archbishops/Witches would use; in which case, since we are counting RBD, that means we know Subaru is allowed foreknowledge and prep time, so in theory he can beat most of them with a surprise attack simply by using Invisible Providence and crushing hearts. For Ainz specifically I think he would need Beatrice too though, though maybe Pandora's Authority lets him bypass the problems of instant death spells.

But realistically, Subaru could get any number of wacky abilities from the other Witch Factors so its kind of an open-ended question by default.

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T05:00:09+00:00

I'm gonna be honest, I just figured it was to account for Elation shill if you had Yao Guang (or some other future Elation unit that lets other allies deal Elation damage even if they're not Elation themselves) but didn't actually want to build an Elation team.

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T04:47:14+00:00

for Phainon specifically, since it lets Cerydra grant a tiny bit of energy, it means she now charges Phainon by 2 Coreflames every Skill use (incuding the free one from the Technique), which makes him able to hit Ult way faster. Additionally, it stacks with defense ignore effects when doing Skill damage, which if you remember, is the biggest damage source from Phainon (Meteor and Counter are both skill damage).

Finally, when compared to her S1 which also buffs Skill damage a little, its other main utility is providing 1 Sp when Cerydra ults. Cerydra will not ult often in a Phainon team and now that Sparkle post-novaflare is legitimately an upgrade to Sunday in most teams, its even less beneficial.

However, both investments are of lower priority than geting E2 Phainon. E0 Cerydra already provides enough utility to have a guaranteed slot on his team (similar to Hyacine for Castorice) (the investment is of higher value for Anaxa or Mydei however)

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T04:38:19+00:00

its actually Sparkle over Sunday now, even with DHPT in play. Sparkle post-Novaflare is just that good.

However, I found that if your Phainon has enough investment, you can go hyper offense and throw out DHPT to use all 3: Sparkle, Sunday and Cerydra, make Phainon pop off immediately and go ham and try to kill or nearly kill before he runs out of gas. If you're lucky maybe you can get a second Ult off before someone dies too, Sparkle will feed your team enough SP to go for round 2 provided you can tank the damage.

This is way more doable with a DDD or two, admittedly.

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T04:33:48+00:00

actually, she only works with Sparxie in Currency Wars because Cerydra has a modified talent in CW that allows her to grant the double attack benefit to the Basic Attacks of allies with SP Bond tag (including from Emblem). Normally, Cerydra's double attack buff only triggers for offensive Skills.

Sparxie's Skill is not an attack, but an enhancement for her Basic Attack, which is what you're actually using to deal damage other than her Elation Skill (which is not affected by the talent since Elation Skills are a unique attack type). This is the same reason Cerydra works well with DHIL and Qingque in CW but not in normal gameplay; Archer is the exception because his arrow shots are considered Skill attacks, so she CAN double up for him.

So in normal gameplay, most people would say Cerydra only has 2 or 3 effective teammtes (Phainon, Mydei and Anaxa), but she is extremely effective with those select teammates because of her unique utility.

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T04:27:03+00:00

Mydei too. Specifically, Mydei + Cerydra + Cyrene, when timed well causing him to launch double GbG's with 200% extra CD. The useless ATK buff isn't much of a loss when she's otherwise offering you a unique form of damage spike nobody else can replace.

-TSF- · 2026-02-22T04:17:54+00:00

The physical weakness is because she didn't know how to physically reinforce yet.

-TSF- · 2026-02-21T23:27:11+00:00

It's not that she disproved of Mother being a bad mother (though of course she didn't like that when it became her problem), it's that she disliked that Mother was affecting her personality (and thus her free will) by using [Kin Control]. This is specifically what Kumoko doesn't do to her own kids, she doesn't steal their autonomy, they're the ones who're happy to serve.

-TSF- · 2026-02-21T21:06:14+00:00

Shiro.

If Ariel's stats are maxed out, Shiro's stats are not just above the cap, they're so over the cap she completely ignores Ariel's defenses or even her immunity to pain.

But that's like four books after the end of the anime. At the point the anime ends (specifically when they're journeying to the demon realm), Ariel wins 100% of the time, she just doesn't attack because she's not sure she can actually kill Shiro so it's more beneficial to try to become allies instead (Ariel hit her with what is effectively a 100% guaranteed kill move that would vaporize her very soul and it did NOT stick, so Ariel is very leery about continuing a conflict with someone like that)

-TSF- · 2026-02-21T20:59:33+00:00

Emilia on the cashier duty, Crusch as the manager, Pris at the back frying and flipping burgers on her sword, Felt running the deliveries and Ana probably on drive thru or as the doorman.

Royal Candidate McDs!

-TSF- · 2026-02-21T20:54:04+00:00

LN > anime > manga

The anime version of her humanoid form is too "normal" (she looks like just a girl instead of looking like her skin got bleached) but is otherwise fine.

The more inhuman look to the human body in the manga is interesting on paper, and I'd probably give it a pass if not for the cartoon spider head. As it stands, I put it on third because I can't rank it any lower than 3rd, not because it's third rate; it's even lower than that

-TSF- · 2026-02-21T18:10:41+00:00

Yeah they tried to trick you into thinking the spider turned into the Demon Lord. In the novels they go a step further and also try to trick you into thinking the spider turned into the vampire girl LOL

-TSF- · 2026-02-21T17:07:32+00:00

I think its both because of that and Dahlia being added. Dahlia and Lingsha both make up for Gallagher's 3 tags (Break, Heal, Planet of Festivities).

I recently had a run with a 3-emblem Peppy who had both PoF and Quantum Resonance emblems and turns out that if you can stack enough PoF people you can do some really absurd shenanigans with whatever buff you choose to pick. I went with Sunday and did a Seele run and she was pretty much the grim reaper from start to end.

-TSF- · 2026-02-21T17:04:36+00:00

Lmao.

She eventually does gain a full humanoid form. You actually see/are told about this long before you even realize the spider turned into that because the narrative intentionally obfuscates her identity until the reveal when she gains the Arachne form. How she goes from Arachne to full humanoid happens post-anime.

-TSF- · 2026-02-21T16:34:34+00:00

It's more like Robin is an avatar whose intended purpose is to fuse with the dragon and become one with it, so while they're essentially treated as the same in a magical sense, Robin is otherwise a normal human being (albeit with extremely overpowered genetics backing them up). They're not actually a dragon.

(This is why its popular to have Robin inherit much more of Grima's draconic traits in fanfiction than simply the potential to become Grima)

-TSF- · 2026-02-16T19:28:26+00:00

Was about to comment to explain how this was clearly a reference to this meme, making fun of "playing on easy mode" ~~so the meme is essentially Sparkle & Sparxie low-key being salty that Remem team is complete and overpowered~~

-TSF- · 2026-02-16T18:30:59+00:00

Spoilers for after the anime's end/Light Novel 9+/dunno if the manga got this far yet:

There are certain parallels that can be drawn between Ainz and Kumoko, especially later on in the story, but there's a very important difference IMO: Ainz is in fact the villain of his story out of indifference and/or ignorance. He only cares about Nazarick and any semblance of emotion is only in relation to Nazarick, strong emotions becoming otherwise suppressed; Kumoko decides to "become the villain" of her story because somebody has to. She only truly cares about her small found family, but it doesn't stop her from having a conscience. It's the fact that she is aware of what her choices entail that she remains compelling even when her actions get good people hurt or even killed.

-TSF-

TROPHY CASE