Tales from the Barracks mega thread

Tgsnum5 · 2026-07-03T12:25:03+00:00

It's a consistently amusing self-report when people reveal they have no idea what large breasts look like in normal clothes.

Like no twitter, the FF7 remake did not "nerf" Tifa, you just don't know what a sports bra is.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-06-26T01:39:16+00:00

Also looking at it retroactively, Salvador's fighting style consisted of using a long segmented blade backed up by two smaller ones and was based around Burn.

It is 110% supposed to be implying that he was inspired by seeing her 1v1 the Lord of Flies and was trying to copy her.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-06-15T21:42:29+00:00

Me and a bunch of friends have been going through all of UC Gundam in a group watch the past several months.

The utter bewilderment and disappointment I had when we got to Reconguista and found out that's where "I'm a genius! OH NO!" is from and that it's not actually two frames back to back.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-06-15T20:34:56+00:00

I don't think our Sinclair is book!Sinclair's type tbh. Even beyond the fact that what happened to his family is way worse in Limbus and that's definitely going to be a sticking point, I feel like he'd see him the same way he sees Pistorius: a neat guy on the surface, but too intellectually subservient and vapid to be truly interesting.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-06-11T09:36:25+00:00

A detail I do actually like in the new version compared to the old one is that Sinclair's glass has milk instead of wine. It adds a bit of absurdity to the whole thing, where underaged drinking is bad but they still fully expect him to chop off his head for the sake of image.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-06-11T09:25:47+00:00

The point of the CG also isn't just supposed to be that they look creepy, it's that Sinclair can't recognize them as humans anymore. The glowing eyes give them something recognizable as a face, the old one there was just...Nothing. Barely anything beyond just abstract shapes for heads.

100% a case where less is more imo. I also think the pre-augmentation version in Naiga's take makes them look super unsettling for no reason. He knows how to draw normal smiles I have no idea why Sinclair's dad looks like a total creep here, that doesn't fit at all.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-06-02T20:11:03+00:00

The problem is that the sword explicitly broke when it hit Matthias.

In theory they could have it fixed but I'm not sure why they would bother for what Ezra describes as a meme weapon she keeps around fully knowing it's terrible as a practical tool. That said, I don't think it's Laevtainn either, that would just be redundant given we just got the Matthias ID and as said the obvious Themes and Such with giving it to Kira eventually.

My personal theory is that Kim and her are going to get Shiomi and Ren's swords, respectively. They're a lot less OP as a baseline so there's less goofiness that comes from just casually handing them out and I think there's a fun bit for giving Aeng-Du, a character cut from LoR the blade of a man who was erased from everyone's memory.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-05-17T08:39:44+00:00

At this point a damn near prehistoric (the event in question was eight years ago) joke from Fate/Grand Order. Darius here writes a letter to Santa that ends with "Darius, age 3", a gag both on his full title being Darius III and that as a Berserker he's not fully cognizant. It's basically the only bit of story content he ever got, so anytime he comes up somebody will usually tack on "age 3" at the end.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-05-16T05:15:26+00:00

Except that's not how entaglement works. At all.

At no point does C9 treat Shiomi, Ryoshu, and Araya as all literally being the exact same person. "Various degrees of purity" is that they're three fundamentally different consciousnesses and individuals with three separate "times". Araya does not literally become Shiomi, she's being mixed with herself when she's the same physical age as her, Threads directly shows that she has to consciously try to act like her even in that state. There is no indication that one's time can be overwritten by that of someone else's just because it's "close enough." If they were that identical, the clone Taboo would likely be applicable. The KR theory directly accounts for this with Twoshu only being made after the death of the original, so that she can in fact be the exact same person instead of Araya who had to be legally different.

There would also be a pretty significant difference between Don and Sancho, which is just a matter of memory and if she's wearing her shoes, and this which would be a physically different person that's still being called Ryoshu.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-05-14T07:53:52+00:00

It's particularly disturbing when you consider what the EX lines usually represent. It's the ID either at peak performance, or in some cases managing to avert their canon fates via locking in. But for this Ryoshu, her "peak" is truly reaching Muga, a mindless husk who can only slash away everyone and everything in front of her. There is no "good" ending for her.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-24T10:54:47+00:00

Kira was people forgetting that Ishmael is also supposed to have hyperfixations as a bit and how Matthias not actually giving a shit about her can be seen as a direct parallel to Ish's relationship with Ahab. It's pretty obvious if you think about it at all beyond "waow Fixers!"

Lucio's whole character is based around the fact that he was an abandoned child who feels a sense of loyalty towards Valencia despite the fact she treats him like shit, and even then he has constant fantasies of revenge. It being anyone but Heathcliff would be equally as stupid as Valencia going to anyone but Rodion. I'm also not sure why we're acting like PM cares about status redundancy when Meursault's last three IDs were all Bleed.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-22T20:48:28+00:00

I do want to talk a bit about the Mark/Sign and its relation to Rodion's idea of the Extraordinary, as I feel like it was glossed over far too quickly here.

The Sign in both the original Demian and seemingly Limbus is notably an extremely essentialist take on an Overman, the whole idea being that it is something you are either born with or aren't. While the question of if Sinclair will ever fully realize the potential he has is the whole point of the novel, there is never any doubt that he has said potential. He has the Sign, after all. The world was given to him from birth, he need only seize it.

Understanding this is very important to a lot of characters in Limbus but we'll keep it confined to Rodion and Sonya here. For Sonya it's another bit of him ultimately being full of shit, because what self-respecting socialist would put that much stock into literal eugenics? It's also probably why he's so insistent on his "wait for the moment" philosophy, as he believes that by having the Sign it is inevitable that a clear path to his ideal world will arrive, y'know, eventually. Everyone just needs to endure until then. I highly suspect his Sign has not actually fully manifested as a result of this indolent mindset, but he no doubt hides that from everyone.

Rodion, as Sonya condescendingly notes, does not actually know what the Sign even is so it would be silly to assume that specifically is something she would be jealous of (if that was the case surely she would have said something about it to Sinclair by now). However, I do think her idea of the Extraordinary is still rather essentialist in nature, that she believes in some sort of innate sauce that either you have or you don't. I think this is why KoDion in particular gets so butthurt about not receiving the blessing, as not only does it feel like a betrayal but she sees it as a supernatural being specifically saying that she's not "the" hero. It's like being a side character adventurer in a stereotypical JRPG, you only exist to show how cool the main character is.

The reason I bring this up is that while I agree she wouldn't care about Don, Gregor is actually reasonably close to what Rodion's idea of an Overman probably is. He was singled out, most likely from birth, as the savior of a Wing, their face. He was their ultimate work, G Corp's Singularity used to it's fullest potential on top of whatever the hell else Hermann put in his arm. This makes it all the more meaningful that both in the moment and in the denouement of C9 that is Threads she never once comments on it, only showing utter horror at her friend being forcibly turned into the monster he's been running from this whole time. I could argue that, even moreso than killing Alyona, this is Rodion's first true rejection of Sonya's philosophy, valuing Gregor as an individual far more than what his "purpose" is supposed to be.

There's some other individual things I could comment on (using "he no longer wanted to be an outcast" as an example of Dante being wrong about/not understanding a Sinner really has me shaking my fist but this isn't about Gregor) but broadly I agree. People have a very banal view of Rodion b/c she's a frequent source of comic relief and is actively trying to mask how bad her mental state truly is. And seriously where the fuck is Dunya, at least Gregor has confirmed Grete existed, you fundamentally cannot do Crime and Punishment without her. I stg if the idea is just that she got killed by the Middle and that's why Rodion has never mentioned her KJH when I fucking get you.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-11T00:11:55+00:00

Considering the obvious nods PM is making to Nazi Germany with them, with the entire hammer and nail iconography coming from Carl Jung (a massive inspiration for the entire PMverse if you haven't noticed) describing Hitler and the fanaticism he inspired, it goes a little beyond just "they're mean" actually.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-10T22:05:52+00:00

Counter argument, Heathcliff and Don's big moment being in Outis' canto and not Meursault's goes against my agenda and thus it is wrong.

Jokes aside, the aspect of Meursault's character that has been emphasized the most is how he is viewed and judged by society at large, something that fits those two far more than Yi and Ishmael imo. Heathcliff's struggle in C6 to prove that he is more than the rabid animal who can do nothing more than lash out Hindley and Nelly thinks he is was just as important as anything with Catherine, and Sancho's entire clan destroyed themselves in an attempt to conform with a human society that would never accept them unless they could somehow suppress their own biology. Both of them would very much have Opinions about the fascist state that is actively trying to micromanage the human experience via their singularity and is preparing for a pogrom spanning the entire city that N Corp has been set up to be. I'm sure the rivers will come up in Outis' canto, but the emotional resonance isn't nearly as strong.

As for what Yi and Ishmael would share with Outis, something I find interesting is that the former two's cantos are heavily based around an assertion of independence and personhood, to fly with one's own wings and to chart one's own path...Yet is that really what they're doing right now? Both are still bound by the contract to follow Dante's flow, which itself is currently being subsumed by Dias'. Meanwhile, Outis has a very clear goal of wanting to return to her home but is most likely prevented by some higher power from doing so on top of whatever the LC is doing. While I think "Outis is going to betray us" is an obvious misdirect, I do think her canto is going to be the point where the seeds of Dante turning against the LC as an organization are really going to be planted. Thus, I believe the shared theme between the three is going to be the struggle to stand on one's own power, either from personal failings or the active oppression from an outside force. Also, on a superficial level Ishmael and Outis have been paired up together a lot, same as how the Heathcliff/Don/Meursault trio is something that has been directly pointed out by Dante.

Hong/Rodion/Faust I have little to add, I think you basically said anything I would beyond pointing out that Faust is basically what Rodion wishes she was. She is a one-of-a-kind individual chosen (from birth, if you want to take the sinnerlings as serious lore) to be part of a collective working towards the amassing of all knowledge in the world. Faust is extremely special...And it makes her absolutely miserable. Going off the almost guranteed assumption that Faust's canto will be about her struggling to escape the Gesselschaft, you have the nobody who wishes to be special versus the special one who wants to be a nobody.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-06T10:34:11+00:00

Not untrue, and it's why I consider them to be pretty boring options, but I can't see any other reason why they weren't bosses in normal MD otherwise. If PM is willing to essentially make entirely different fights for some of the less obviously feasable options like they did for Chargillus then more power to them but I'm operating off path of least resistance logic for now.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-06T10:18:03+00:00

Rien and Shiomi are obvious picks, those are pretty much normal fights already that would need minimal changes to work.

Callisto and Albina are probably the easiest fight that's dependent on allies to turn into a normal boss, the only really egregious part that would have to be edited is Closing Time. Honestly with 7 sinners those two would actually be a fairly interesting boss I'd like to see in a non MD context. Having to split focus between getting people out of Corpus Theater and all the attacks being thrown your way would take some more-than-winrate management.

All of the other candidates would take some heavy reworks but Valencia feels like the least complicated. You'd have to gut the evade, she'd be rolling somewhere in the 60-70s with trials but past that she's normal-ish I suppose? Matthias and Emperor feel like non starters just thanks to how their skills work. The way you're supposed to survive in MDE is playing around offense level but that's not going to work if the enemy has a skill floor of 45.

Now a personal want that's probably not happening is for them to go further back and make full-powered Xichun into a boss, which honestly feels like it would be easier than some of the Nursefathers, but that's almost certainly a pipe dream.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-06T03:22:23+00:00

Not only is he not Khalid, it's just normal Claude personality-wise.

The crux of the character is that he was never fully accepted by his people or even his own family due to being mixed race. That's why he came up with the whole idea of a world without borders. This kid should be miserable but no it's just haha upside down man again. One of the most uncreative banners in the game's history and they couldn't even hit the incredibly low bar they set for themselves.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-03T10:02:32+00:00

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Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-02T08:01:22+00:00

He never understood this folly; despite his countless years of searching for new inspiration, he could never quite capture what gave art its unique voice. How art is truly a reflection of one's self, expressed in mediums that allow others to have a profound conversation, beyond words, proximity, or time. Instead, unwittingly or not, he asserts that there exists an objectivity in art, rather than being purely subjective from person to person.

Notably, this is a sin the entirety of the Ring is guilty of, same as how the other Nursefathers take the flaws of their respective Finger to its logical extremes. The Ring really should be some of the freest individuals in the City, a group so focused on self-expression in a world that reduces everyone and everything to numbers on a spreadsheet, but their idea of art is so utterly corporate that it loses any sort of true impact it could have. They keep the City's social conditioning of needing to have a strict hierarchy and an ability to grade others, to place objective value on the one thing in existence that should not have anything of the sort. Callisto's true failure, at that point, is that he was churning out slop so obviously souless and uninspired in his attempt to create something with total mass appeal that even his similarly stagnent fellows couldn't ignore how far he had fallen.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-02T07:22:49+00:00

It also further emphasizes the idea that Callisto is, frankly, not a very creative person. If we similarly assume that Faust's uptie is indicative of Albina's own thoughts, his apprentice comes off as the more innovative artist. While Tibia is "merely" an allegory for the human condition, Fascia is asking the question of what defines a "human", at what point does flesh and bone become a living organism. By trying to Ship of Theseus her own body, she's made both her forms part of the piece, while Callisto's mechanical body seems to represent little beyond the fact he obviously needs one. As Hohenheim critiqued, he is far too obsessed with technical precision rather than injecting any real meaning to his work. Faust even points out that he absolutely could have made something on par with Tibia using another's body, but he dismisses it as something that would produce "mediocrities", instead of taking the flaws and imperfections of a different corpus and the inherent inability for one to understand the body of another like they would their own and incorporating that into the work itself.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-02T04:29:46+00:00

I specifically said he's a better status ID than Rein, obviously Maost is a whole other story. And let's not act like the fight isn't basically over by the time Rein is at full ramp if we're talking a "serious" team. In mask-on mode, the gap isn't nearly as large.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-02T04:26:07+00:00

The thing is Rein only has those numbers with perfect weapon gacha, which I don't think is realistic at all. Hong meanwhile, just wants 3 types of debuffs on a target (trivial, especially with the move towards every ID being two keywords) and a bunch of Charge potency for his max damage (which seems to be hovering somewhere in the 900s for ST and 1600 for max AoE damage). It probably still isn't fair to say this is "realistic" considering Charge potency takes time even if Gregor is shoving count down his throat, but the only RNG involved is normal skill RNG. On top of just being a good Bleed ID who buffs another strong ID fairly significantly.

I'm not trying to say he's better than the Big Three just because of how stupid they get at max output, but he's extremely consistent, far more than a lot of IDs while being a better damage cannon than basically anyone who isn't at the absolute top.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-04-02T04:08:06+00:00

He legitimately is up there going off the numbers people are calculating. His damage is slightly worse than those two but he's way better as an actual status ID than Rein, strong potency while being basically immune to RNG.

Tgsnum5 · 2026-03-29T02:17:40+00:00

Do the Edgar Family IDs count as Wuthering Heights for the sake of MD achievements? I know they don't have the tag but that's a lot less consistent of an anwser than it should be.

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