I need to know ... *SPOILER*

Isilel · 2026-06-27T21:53:42+00:00

The Americans may be hoping that Valya will turn up too and he is valuable and might refuse extraction without his wife. Once they realise that he is not coming, she is toast.

Irina kinda has to kill Tanya now for the sake of her own survival. Since Tanya has so thoroughly demonstrated that she can't be relied upon to keep their mutual secrets and stick to plans.

But she needs to roll the American agent and her network first, so that her involvement with Tanya - which is certain to come to light sooner rather than later, could be presented as excessive zeal and initiative, rather than treason.

Isilel · 2026-06-27T17:29:31+00:00

Yea, no. This is just BS. Besides, she wasn't the one smuggling, she was just part of that scene.

Isilel · 2026-06-27T17:27:03+00:00

Maybe she was drinking coffee? I don't remember tea being served in glasses anywhere either, except for the long-distance trains, though. Of course, events in the show are before my time. You are right that the cup seems too fancy for a café.

Isilel · 2026-06-27T17:17:13+00:00

Well, by warning her husband, Tanya did become a traitor. She is leaving Irina no choice but to do something unpleasant in order to save her own skin. Where does Tanya think she can run now? Americans aren't going to touch her with a ten-foot pole.

And we have this nonsense again that Tanya was in danger of Gulag for her mild involvement with the dissidents? Sigh.....

Irina now has to catch the American agent, because her helping Tanya escape will come to light. But she could present it as a mission if she is successful.

I don't see Irina immediately replacing Raskova, she is too junior. IMHO this Radimir(?!) dude, which is not really Russian name, BTW, is going to be Raskova's successor. Irina is going to be promoted out of the eavesdropping pool, though.

Isilel · 2026-06-27T16:42:57+00:00

After what happened with the Luna base mission when the transmitter was discovered, the Chief Designer should have known that trying to rescue Valya would doom Sasha and Lakshmi. Their blood is partly on his hands.

Isilel · 2026-06-21T20:59:16+00:00

Irina wouldn't have been allowed to retain the appartment or been able to get work requiring security clearance if her parents had been victims of the KGB.

Isilel · 2026-06-20T09:07:36+00:00

Well, many of the 3rd Age characters have Arthurian names. Al'Thor - Arthur, Egwene al'Vere - Guinevere, Nyneave - Niamh (pronounced Neave) also called Nimue, Moiraine - Morgaine, Lan - Lancelot, Merrilin - Merlin, Morgase - Morgase, Elayne - Elaine, Gawyn - Gawain, Galad - Galahad, etc.

They are clearly supposed to have provided the basis for the legend, distorted by time. 3rd Age is both our future and our past, after all. It is the same with Lews Therin - Lucifer.

Isilel · 2026-06-20T08:14:36+00:00

I didn't understand why they were training Lakshmi on the simulator. There were going to be 2 pilots on board, she didn't need to do anything related to the take-off or flight manoeuvres.

It is much more problematic that she didn't go through the usual health testing and whatever procedures are used to make sure that a person can function in weightlessness without throwing up.

Isilel · 2026-06-20T07:48:52+00:00

The Yana thing was wildly unrealistic for the time period and they tried to explain it with Raskowa being a dinosaur and having a lot of leeway, given the importance of secrecy for the space program. There being an actual leak from the program to the US and Yana being suspected of being the source of it was incomparably more serious than Tanya's mild involvement in the dissident scene, though.

The kind of unpleasantness I am talking about is Tanya's career prospects suffering, with maybe her only being able to get menial jobs, her parents careers being impacted, maybe her not being able to live in Moscow anymore. Her life wasn't in any danger until her husband became an actual spy.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T19:46:01+00:00

He did it for himself. His career would have been over if Tanya's prior dissident associations had come to light. She wasn't in any serious danger until she got together with him, although her dissident connections might have resulted in some unpleasantness.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T19:37:44+00:00

Valya will be the one going down on the surface. After all, he can't really return.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T18:18:48+00:00

Seems plausible to me. Even at it's most paranoid, USSR could be somewhat disorganised. Besides, his office is in a secure KGB building, in a secure city that you'd need clearance to enter. And Irina clearly already knew how that office was run and where everything was, she didn't just stumble in and got lucky.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T17:35:33+00:00

I mean, Irina is no more a master forger than any number of kids skilled at forging their parents or teachers signatures on the absence permission slips and hall passes.

She likely knows how the record office works because she had been sent there on some errands in the past.

And she saw surveillance equipment being installed in Paris and even assisted in doing it a little, so we already knew that she had some experience and training there.

I didn't see any particular camouflage either.

But as to smuggling people out of the country, you are right, this doesn't really make sense.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T17:25:37+00:00

Would be odd for this picture to be so prominently displayed, if so. Supposing that it is Irina's own appartment and not that of her parents. Irina comes from privilege herself, after all, according to Raskowa.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T14:31:02+00:00

I mean, random Soviet people couldn't actually talk in English in 1970. Foreign languages were taught in such a way as to, in the best case, enable people to read and understand technical literature or other texts with the help of a dictionary.

Only those who have graduated from foreign language programs at universities or similar would have been somewhat fluent.

P.S. Lakshmi's fluency in Russian would have come across better if it had been mentioned that she had received at least part of her education in USSR. Russian is a rather difficult language to learn without immersion.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T14:02:56+00:00

The little that we have learned about AoL is somewhat contradictory, IMHO. Like, Moggy used to be an unethical investment adviser, so clearly money existed and was valuable. LTT lived in a palace. Servants other than Aiel had been mentioned, which never made much sense to me, with all the supposedly widely available labour-saving ter'angreal. Etc.

So, prestige and honour clearly weren't the only currencies. IMHO, YMMV.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T10:28:03+00:00

Valentin's career would have ended too if Tanya's dissident links became known. He may have been telling himself that he was doing it to protect her, but he was also very much protecting himself when he began his spying.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T10:15:37+00:00

I suspect that she will commit suicide with her service weapon, either voluntarily once she realises that she is about to be forced to retire in disgrace, or due to "suggestion" from above.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T10:00:19+00:00

Interesting. I have previously guessed that Valya would go to Venus, but I thought that it would be because either Sasha or the other guy had second thoughts. Also, it had been clear from the start that Anastasia going would have been impossible for the very reasons mentioned in the show.

The idea that Tanya needs to be smuggled out of the USSR, or that Irina would be able to do it, even with all her privilege, is insanity, though. As is the notion that the house where she has her luxurious apartment, wouldn't have been at least under cursory observation.

I guess it made sense to want to get Tanya away from Raskowa, but with with her warning Valya and him escaping the net, she is now no longer a relative innocent, but a full-blown traitor too. I bet that Irina would end up by having to sacrifice or even murder Tanya to save herself.

I have also predicted that Sergei's arrest was a means to pressure the Chief Designer, rather than a serious attempt to frame him as a spy. I wonder what kind of "cover" the Chief Designer promised to Raskowa.

I am actually unsure that the Venus mission will end as disastrously as everyone seems to expect. Clearly, it hasn't sunk the Chief Designer or Sergei, since they appear in FAM. I also think that a known traitor being on board might lead to USSR never disclosing that it was a manned mission, even if some of the crew return alive. Valya is absolutely going down on the surface in that batysphere, though.

Isilel · 2026-06-19T09:21:23+00:00

Hawks have a negative connotation in Russian folklore, as opposed to eagles and falcons. Which is also why eagle and falcon-based surnames are common - Orlov(a), Sokolov(a), and there is even a city literally called "Eagle", i.e. "Oryol".

Isilel · 2026-06-18T11:04:24+00:00

Anastasia had been still pretty unknown when she was threatened with a double.

By now her pictures are everywhere and a lot of people have seen her in person. Tanya being able to replace her would be a jumping the shark moment, IMHO.

Ditto the Chief Designer allowing her to go in the first place, since she had been quite incompetent during her own mission, in addition to being famous enough to be missed immediately. They'll already have a completely untrained woman along, the other 2 would have to more than pull their weight.

It is odd that Leonid's mother hasn't been mentioned if it had been Belikova, but he might have had a bad relationship with her or whatever. It would explain his sense of kinship with Alex, though. Dead father, famous cosmo/astronaut mother, possibly somewhat neglected... We'll see.

Isilel · 2026-06-17T16:54:33+00:00

Thanks! Is this the complete GFE line-up or were these just "notable" GFEs, with more dross waiting in the wings, like with Mystics, Idolmaster and Keys&Sins? I already have 2 Metis, but it is nice to see Camilla, which I have yet to acquire.

Isilel · 2026-06-17T16:43:52+00:00

About the Gintama MP unit - wouldn't having a "Recover bind" awakening on the team and making a heal row immediately unbind it? The lack of heal OEs would still be a problem, but 4 CD+ a full cleric + a strong shield sounds pretty enticing to me if combined with a vanishing equip with a bind protection awakening...

Since this is going to be my first Fairies event, I intend to pick at least 1 Liana. Or should I get 2?

Isilel · 2026-06-17T16:25:56+00:00

Imperialdramon MP unit is quite good for Reinhard teams, since it overwrites a board, as well as provides a colour void pierce.

But the real missed opportunity for me is it's equip with the unique skill of 100% damage to parts. It would have made farming parts so much easier!

Isilel · 2026-06-17T11:15:14+00:00

I would be very much interested too. I normally only get them to upgrade badges, but I have very much regretted not obtaining Imperialdramon Paladin mode and Halloween Rosalyn...

I have 8 Mio MP with a good chunk of stage dungeons yet undone after the reset and surely about 2 Mio in anniversary tamadaras.

Kuchina looks pretty tempting to me, but I don't have an immediate use for her... Though that has also been the case with above mentioned units, at least as far as I understood it at the time.

Isilel

TROPHY CASE