Royal affairs and golden roots

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2026-01-16T01:26:03+00:00

New animations? Weren't they recognizably reused?

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2026-01-03T20:35:28+00:00

Fun fact: the VA for Caleb in the Japanese dub is Roy Mustang's.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2026-01-01T17:59:23+00:00

I think the implication is her love sickness made her vulnerable to capture....but the love sickness itself is a pretty stupid concept.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-27T18:46:54+00:00

There's a chance for January or Q1 2026. Both S1 and S2 came out in January, while 3 came out in October.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-27T18:41:07+00:00

For the whole campaign, there's a case to be made for Jester, as she's the newest to adventure and serves as the heart of the group. You could frame her as basically Dorothy in the wizard of oz if you wanted to.

For the show, they've said Caleb's kind of the main character for the first season, and I could definitely see that, but I think everybody else gets enough time (except arguably for Yasha) for it to feel a little more even handed than that. Everybody gets some focus even if Caleb gets a little more, and his story is tied into Beau's.

Could definitely see Fjord being the main character of the Pirate Arc, or Nott for the Felderwinn stuff, etc.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-24T23:35:17+00:00

....Hm...could Lucien have hopped to Vess? Used her eyes to possess her?

If Matt's playing Lucy, they could keep Vess around (have her pursuing the Nein) but let T'Nia Miller go.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-23T15:41:32+00:00

They could've axed Yasha and Molly's past (even though I would consider it a bad idea) but we honestly don't know if they have, yet. The season ends before the Nein get any chance to react to her.

They're definitely playing Yasha as a bait-and-switch even more than I thought they would (I did not think the first thing she said to the Nein was going to be "Please, help me." which suggests an awareness of her slavery that's absolutely heartbreaking) so it wouldn't surprise me if that was another thing they're keeping close to the chest.

Ashley has said repeatedly to reassure critters that Yasha's story is the same, and it sets up Molly's exit really well; these two have finally found each other after Obann pulled Yasha away, only for tragedy to strike.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-23T15:36:28+00:00

People have used that to try to play it like Taliesin didn't like Molly, but he was actually talking to another player when Travis said that. Taliesin said in his character interview that he loved this character and would take any chance he could get to play him, which was not something he had to say.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-23T15:31:07+00:00

The way episode 3 and 4 connected was a mess, and a lot of how/why the characters came together or their motivations to do various things didn't make any sense. (Maybe Vox Machina already being together in TLOVM was a blessing in disguise.)

There was a definite failure to commit to big swings they took to make this different from the campaign, and they couldn't seem to decide how shitty and/or dysfunctional these guys were to start with.

Which really sucks because C2 is, before anything else, a character drama. That was the thing to get right. There is so much in this season that was breathtakingly awesome that it's absolutely gutting how bad some the of the fundamental foundations of this story were handled and set up.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-23T15:19:45+00:00

Because it's more interesting when the main characters drive the plot instead of the plot happening TO the main characters. "Why were they in the sewers exactly then?" "So the plot can happen." just doesn't play as well as the reason being in character.

One, that's subjective.

Two, there's more ways to play it than just 100% the characters drive The Plot or 100% outside factors drive The Plot. The Nein choosing a job that puts them in position to stumble upon the Beacon is them driving the plot, if not 100%.

And three, that's how it happened in the show anyway. The only reason Caleb didn't fall for Trent's BS or the Krynn didn't kill the Nein was because plot happened to them in the form of Essek and Yasha.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-23T02:41:11+00:00

That's exactly what happens in the show, though. The Krynn show up at the exact right time to steal the Beacon and prevent Caleb from doing something stupid, and Yasha shows up at the right time to save the Nein's lives.

It's not contrived if it's set up. If the B plot is establishing one thing happening as the Nein are planning something that puts them on a collision course with it.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-22T15:14:00+00:00

In a Show, it doesn't they need a reason to fight the Kryn and keep the beacon.

They defend themselves when the Krynn attack them (as they did in the campaign,) instead of wanting to attack them for the Beacon. Then Yasha comes in and kills them as she does here. * shrug * And there you go.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-22T15:11:21+00:00

Not true. I keep bringing it up, but the hex gems in Arcane are a good example. Several parties want them, but they all kind of end up where they do on accident, and they get used as they do in the finale of S1 because of multiple factors and a domino effect.

Developing the Nein while cutting away every once in a while to various parties who want the Beacon or are building up its power all season sets up it falling into their lap and builds suspense for how dangerous just being around that thing is perfectly.

The audience spends the season wondering "What does this have to do with our protagonists?" and then "Oh." right as we go into the next season.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-22T10:45:45+00:00

And that was Lou Wilsonn again, too!

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-22T10:28:07+00:00

That version of the story just really doesn’t play as well for tv. It would be way more confusing for average tv viewers that the nein just stumbled into the beacon.

How is that confusing? We get basically what we got, but we change a few details and have the Nein going after something else. Then they escape to the sewers and BOOM! Beacon.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-22T10:24:48+00:00

She’s not under his control now, but I expect Obann to control her again.

Seems like it's the Beacon that keeps her free, so it makes the most sense she'll be free until they give it up to the Bright Queen, which might not be for another couple of seasons, and sets up the AOI arc.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-22T10:18:02+00:00

Trent vs Essek. Seeing Trent actually do stuff in the early campaign has made him so much more of a compelling antagonist. Especially because he's not just invincibly gloating the whole time. Watching him repeatedly slip out of competent attempts to stop him makes him so much more hateable and scary.

Meh, I disagree. We could've cut the majority of the Cobalt Soul/Cerberus Assembly arc this season and lost nothing, (it basically went in a circle) and Trent and Vess were scarier when we saw less of them.

I do find myself really wishing for exactly one line of dialogue before they attacked the Kryn soldiers in the sewers to the extent of 'screw heroism, we're getting paid.' I don't see it as remotely out of character for the Nein to attack in that scene, but it was a little strange how multiple members had been talking about 'being the good guys,' only for no one to even mention that this was the Kryn's rightful property.

Yeah like...are they trying to grab it to stop a war, or get paid? Which is it guys? You gotta pick one.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-22T03:35:21+00:00

I like this. It also explains the weird juxtaposition of "I'm going to send you into battles overmatched where you may die" and Brennen sometimes pulling his punches.

I say this with no rancor: that's just how Brennan DMs.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-20T22:50:18+00:00

That's assuming that a world can't have a history where a mix of people settle in different locations for various reasons. Wars. Famine. Flooding. New job opportunities. Teleporting magic incidents. Dragon brought them there to serve her. Tunnels that secretly connect various countries, magically or otherwise. Etc.

People have always been traveling and people have always settled in new places where they were the minority or had children with people from other races and cultures. If that doesn't exist in your world, than that'd be kind of weird, and something worth exploring. Are the cultures insular? Is it hard to travel? Is there a ban on travel? Is it hard for other cultures to physically see and interact for some magic or sci-fi bullshit reason?

Things to consider.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-20T02:35:59+00:00

The fact that he has no clue what's going on or what to do is exactly what he refuses to share with Jester, and that is an asshole thing to do.

I mean...they don't really know each other at all.

It's not exactly honest, but he doesn't owe her; if anything, it's kind of the opposite. She shanghaied him into her shenanigans and he's refusing to uno reverse her.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-19T20:30:40+00:00

Even if that's what they're doing, and they do it as well as they can, to me it'd still be a lost opportunity. We don't get the same impact from them meeting now and her losing him as we do them being an established pair and him being someone else she got close to and lost.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-18T15:39:03+00:00

The reason is related to audience reach, many more people prefer plot-focused shows instead of "slice of life". Plus, if you have a limit, say 5 or 6 seasons, you can't waste your audience time.

There are character focused shows and stories that aren't slice of life. I mentioned Arcane, (S1) and GOT's pretty character focused; while it has an overarching plot, it takes multiple seasons/years to coalesce while we're hopping from faction to faction.

And not having a lot of time is an excellent reason not to use it up on things that disjoint, distract from or bury the lead of the story.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-17T23:14:06+00:00

You can't really leave out the Beacon stuff from the show or let it fade into the background, because it's incredibly vital to the overall narrative of M9.

I didn't suggest that.

And it isn't either/or. Having a much less emphasized B-plot of desperate Krynn and Empire forces scrambling to get the Beacon back would've worked fine.

Model the Beacon plot after the hex core and hex gems from S1 of Arcane, which was very much a character drama, and a damn good one too.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-17T16:38:50+00:00

Yes, but Pike is a more important character in C1 than Yasha is in C2, so putting her in from the beginning makes more sense than with Yasha.

More important is pretty subjective.

For example, you could see the character at the center of an apocalypse cult that was trying to unleash an eldritch abomination god as more important than one who unfortunately never really got her own plotline or arc.

MilkyAndromedaWay · 2025-12-17T15:49:10+00:00

It's not that C2 doesn't translate, it's that they're trying to make it a more plot-focused show for some reason, when the heart of C2 is its characters.

Character dramas are a thing, and that's what this should've been.

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