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Yeah, this isn't a review. Unlike my thing below... my thoughts here aren't quite as collected. I finished watching Fate/Zero about... 5 minutes ago, although it has been a long time coming.

So this is me providing my thoughts as well as helpful answers to questions like "what the heck is Fate/Zero", "Should I watch it?", "When should I watch it?", and "Why does Fate/Zero put Heaven's Feel so far to shame that it's kind of amazing that anyone, even the author of Fate/Zero, still views it as positively as they do?"

Okay, not that last one, it's just that Heaven's Feel is so bad and it could have been good and I can't let it go, but enough about my personal issues, let's talk anime.

Fate/Zero was originally a light novel or a light novel series or something (I... don't exactly know?) by Gen Urobuchi, sometimes known as "Uro the Butcher." I've already said all this, but I'm reiterating it just to remind you that Uro's MO is ripping your heart out and eating it in front of you while you cry tears of pain and sorrow. If you don't want to watch characters suffer, you've been warned.

Now, we're not actually talking about the light novel, because nobody reads that because light novels suck and the ones I want to read never get translated (Hurry up, fan translators, The El-Melloi II Case Files look amazing). No, we're talking about the anime adaptation by Ufotable that came out in 2011 and caused everyone to look up and go "whoa, that Studio DEEN adaptation of Fate Stay/Night was really rubbish, wasn't it?" But the plot's the same.

And seeing as this is the sixth paragraph and I still haven't gotten into it, I should explain what the plot actually is. Fate/Zero is the story of the Fourth Holy Grail War, directly preceding the events of Fate Stay/Night. Unlike the Fifth Holy Grail War, which is a massive clustershpx, the Fourth Holy Grail War is... probably one of the few that was relatively close to what was intended. Or maybe not. It's hard to say. The point is, there are seven masters, all mages, except this time around most of them aren't children or otherwise clueless, and while Kiritsugu Emiya is ostensibly our hero, we spend a bunch of time with every Master in the war and each one really gets a lot of development and fleshing out. We know why they're willing to risk their lives in a war this dangerous, and why we should care.

Also, while Kiritsugu Emiya is ostensibly our hero, are actual heroes are the Master Waver Velvet and his Servant Iskandar, of the rider class. Because they are just... the best, they have an amazing dynamic, and Iskandar in particular steals every moment he's onscreen and at least a few where he isn't.

Okay, that was a joke, but they actually ARE the best. I'm not even kidding, it's not up for debate. I mean, you're welcome to disagree, it's just that there's no way in a million years you're changing my mind on this, I wrote in Iskandar as my lust object on the official PPC census, that is how much you're not going to convince me otherwise.

But jokes and personal foibles aside, the war is very well balanced. Not to the point that you could root for anyone, but everyone has understandable reasons to do what they do. I never felt like I couldn't at least sort of understand a character, or at least the ideals that they represented. Because as always, Fate is all about ideals.

But since we've been on plot for awhile, I'd just like to take a moment and say one thing: This anime is beautiful. Ufotable is one of the few studios that's been able to consistently mix CG and traditional animation in a large-scale way and have it actually look not just passable, but actually good, and genuinely artful. Okay, it does fall down a little bit in a scene or two, but Cowboy Bebop at horrific cutaways to PS2-level CG animated space stations and that's still a classic. And most of the time, this show just looks so, so good.

So now that I've talked up how both amazing and gorgeous this show is, and I am just now mentioning that it's available on Netflix right now to watch and enjoy, here comes the Hard Question: When should I watch Fate/Zero?

Honestly, that's not as easy a question to answer as you might think. See, Fate/Zero is first on the timeline, but it somehow still manages to spoil bits of Fate Stay/Night, in particular major aspects of the Fate route that everyone's already had spoiled for them, and even more major elements of the Heaven's Feel route that you might not have had spoiled for you yet, as well as, of course, spoiling a lot of other minor things, and a pretty major aspect of Fate lore. Furthermore, while Ufotable did their best to make this show accessible to newcomers, the original light novel really didn't, and assumed you were already entrenched in Fate's world and lore. There's only so much someone adapting a work can do, especially when they already have to cut it down to fit into 24 episodes of video. So parts are somewhat confusing and may not make a whole lot of sense to people who haven't already had an introduction to the universe, even though they do their best to give you at least a good chunk of that introduction.

And of course, seeing as Unlimited Blade Works is based on a VN route that assumes you've already had a ton of exposition, it doesn't really give you that either, especially since the adaptation is set up as a sequel to Fate/Zero. Of course, you could watch Studio DEEN's 2006 Fate Stay/Night anime, but that was rubbish and everybody knows it.

So what I recommend, frankly, is one of two things. 1) Either invest the time in reading the visual novel, and then go watch this (and maybe Unlimited Blade Works, because man that adaptation is beautiful even if you already know what will happen), or 2) Just say "to hell with it", bite the bullet, and watch this adaptation. Maybe follow it up with Unlimited Blade Works or something else. Sure, you'll be confused, and this recommendation is tantamount to heresy in the Fate fandom, but you'll get the gist of everything, and honestly, I think Fate/Zero might just be the very best of everything Fate has to offer, so as much as I love Fate Stay/Night, flaws and all, if you are going to watch/read/play one and only one thing in the Fate universe, I think that Fate/Zero is what you should pick.

When she realized he was just playing, she relaxed, looking rather embarrassed at her startling. "I didn't know that, actually," she said quietly. "I'm not really much of one for singing—"

Charlotte looked up from her fried chilli peppers, slammed the nibbled end of one down onto her plate, and marched back to the group, not looking to see if Gall was following. "Did I just hear you say you can't sing?"

Ix's eyes went wide. "Um. I mean, I—I can't—"

"The first exorcism she ever did, she sang the wraith out of Elsa!" Charlotte said proudly, turning to the others. "You should have seen her, she was amazing."

((He sure sounds cool!))

He lived a good long life. I can only hope he's resting in peace now.

Both boys examined Sammy's figure with interest.

"I don't know if anybody plays that," Ian said. "We know about Gundam 'cause it's kind of a big canon with all the different series, so it gets a lot of badfic, but... Maybe some of the older kids? How old are you, anyway?"

Henry turned away and regarded Ialthos and particularly Ferrux. "By the way, what sort of dragon are you?"

(A/N: I apologize for this being un-betaed. I couldn't not do this, and I hope it delivers.)

Sarah looked away from the screen, tears pouring down her cheeks.

“What’s wrong?” her angel companion asked, instinct telling him that something was indeed very, very wrong.

Sarah was silent. Her partners looked up from whatever they were doing, worried expressions on their faces. Sarah Katherine Squall was virtually never silent. If she was… That was a cause for concern.

Lapis walked over to her, and patted her shoulder, almost expecting her hand to be swatted away, but the rebuke never came.

“It’s alright to let us know.” The blue-haired girl’s voice was kind, learned, sympathetic. “There’s no need to keep things quiet with us two. We are your partners, after all.”

The older girl sniffled, her head still bowed. “I never thought this day would come,” she said, forcing back a choked sob. “All my life, I thought that he was unchanging, forever, a constant force of goodness in this world.”

“He?” asked Cupid, beginning to sound worried. “Who’s he?”

“On an objective front, I knew the day would come when he’d finally leave this world,” the superheroine continued. “He was aging, and he had fought numerous illnesses before, and it was only a matter of time before he’d finally lose that internal fight. But that knowledge never made me ready for this, for the day, for the hour when his life would finally slip away.”

“And still the day came anyway,” Lapis finished. “But for whom?”

Sarah looked at her with a visage wracked with utter despair. “We were all blindsided. None of us could believe it at first, but then the truth finally began to sink in that it had happened. So many of us believed that we’d go through our entire life, and not know of it. And yet… Yet so many of us can now say that we lived to hear of it.

“Knowing that, knowing exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard of it… Knowing this fills me with a grief I can’t even begin to describe. Some would say that I shouldn’t care for losses outside of my own family. Believe me, I’ve heard that from some of my own family members. But it doesn’t change the fact that there’s been a hole blown in my heart that can never be filled ever again.”

Cupid realized that whomever she was talking about, it must’ve been very, very important to her. He tilted his head to notice that there was an article on the console screen. “Uh… Lapis? Could you read that? You guys know I can’t–”

“We do,” Lapis replied with an exasperated look. She glanced at the console, and once she saw the title of the article on the screen, her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with both hands, a gasp of horror resounding throughout the RC.

“He was a great man,” said Sarah. “He still is a great man. None of us will ever forget what he did for you and I. For us. For everyone. The world will be a much sadder place without him, and the worst part of all is that it was a much happier place with him. There is nothing in the world we can ever do to repay him, and all we can do now is remember his life, his legacy, his greatness. All we can do is remember him as he was, as he is, and tell our children and our grandchildren about the wholesome greatness that they never were around to experience.”

“Oh dear Arceus…” was all Lapis could say. She looked to Cupid and mouthed, “Sarah’s favorite comics artist in the multiverse has passed away.”

The angel said nothing. He was as speechless as the other two. But then he got to his feet and walked over to his taller partner. And then he hugged her, enveloping her with his arms and wings and resting his head next to hers’.

Sarah hugged him back with one hand, and spread the other arm for Lapis to join. She did the same, tears of her own now leaking from the corners of her eyes. The dark-haired Super promptly buried her face in their shoulders, and started crying in earnest. And her partners cried too, sharing in her pain and grief.

Eventually, Sarah finally managed to calm down, though she was still sniffling and shuddering. She finally lifted her head and looked into the eyes of her partners, recognizing their sympathetic expressions.

“Thank you,” she said simply.

“Words fail me right now,” said Cupid. “I guess I can say that I hope all of us can eventually cope with the loss we’ve sustained.”

“I can’t agree more with that sentiment,” added Lapis.

Sarah turned back to the console and smiled, wiping the tears from her face. “Godspeed, you amazing, wonderful person, and may you find peace and prosperity in the multiverse beyond. Excelsior.”

“Excelsior,” repeated the other two.

They were silent for a long moment. And then Cupid piped up with “…You guys wanna watch Ant Man and the Wasp for movie night tonight? I… I actually haven’t seen that one. And it’s only fair that we spend the evening honoring him. For Sarah’s sake.”

The girls looked at each other, and exchanged smiles in spite of themselves.

“I’d like that more than anything, I think,” replied Sarah.

R.I.P. Stan Lee
December 28, 1922 - November 12, 2018
Excelsior

"Haven't you seen enough Suefics by now to know that one's true love is usually a person for us mere mortals?" he said, grinning. "A girl, in this case. The fair country maiden Buttercup, loved by Westley, but desired and captured by the foul Prince Humperdinck during Westley's absence. Westley is gone so long that Buttercup becomes despondent and agrees to marry Humperdinck, but then Westley returns, and determines to save her with the help of a rag-tag band of misfits. Comedic shenanigans ensue. Thoth, I reckon you'd appreciate the battle of wits between Westley and the Sicilian outlaw Vizzini. And Inigo Montoya—surely you've heard someone quote him at some point?" He put on a fair imitation of Mandy Patinkin's Spanish accent: "Hallo! My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" His mock-lunge was lackluster due to needing to balance his plate in one hand. Addressing Ix, he added, "Did you know his actor was also a Broadway performer? Quite a good singer, too... for a tenor." He gave a partial wink, more a twitch of his cheek so as not to fully close his one good eye.

Gall regarded Charlotte with deep suspicion. "... Huh. I wonder if there's anything hotter. Some of these things have really goofy names and bottle designs that would fit in with all the skulls and stuff, like the Ass Reaper. Someone might've been sadistic enough to leave some lying around." She started searching the table, but was quickly distracted. "Ooh, pumpkin pie! That's got a vegetable in it, so it's technically healthy." She served herself a generous slice.

(( Mandy Patinkin is cool. {= ) ))

"We don't know where. Apparently, the canon is unpublished or something. But it was pretty nice! there were knights, and dragons, and kings..."

"Ferrux, I"m pretty sure they know all that already..." Ialthos sighed. "But yeah. Home was pretty beautiful, when I wasn't on duty off fighting things. Or stuck doing improv diplomacy... with orcs..."

"This man..." Thoth squinted. "What is his true love? Why did it drive him so? Was it knowledge? Power?"

Emiranlanoamar sat at the weapons bench, looking down at the staser carbine in front of him. Tools were neatly arranged by his left hand, a set of cleaning rags by his right, and various gardening supplies in front of him, behind his work mat.

“Let’s begin, shall we.”

The Time Lord began by checking the carbine’s magazine well, then the residual charge dampener. Wouldn’t be a good start if he were to blow a hole in the table with a chambered energy bolt. Satisfied that the weapon was safe to disassemble, he pushed out a few holding pins and pulled apart the carbine’s exterior casing.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to do this, Yannogarsil. It’s all your fault.” Emiran set aside the casing, turning his attention to the carbine’s internal dimensional compressors. “I’m sorry it took so long, old friend.” He took his laser screwdriver and unscrewed the barrel/condenser assembly, removed it from the carbine’s main body, then disabled the compressors. The assembly grew four times as large without the dimension-suppressing fields. The staser’s barrel was easily unscrewed from the condenser arrays; Emiran put it on a cleaning rag to keep it from rolling away. He opened the condenser box and found what he was looking for: the complex set of lenses used to generate, focus, and collimate the staser bolt.

“I remember. A long time ago, you asked me if weapons kept you safe. I said of course they didn’t: a weapon only brings death. A technically correct answer,” said Emiran, delicately withdrawing the lenses one at the time with a gloved hand. “My favourite kind of correct. But I digress. No, I said a weapon can only kill-- and I remember you disagreed. Hah, you even challenged me back then: after the whole War blows over, we find a way to use weapons to give life. Well...” He looked at the disassembled carbine. “I admit I cheated. I’m using its spare parts. But then again, isn’t that the whole point?” The lenses all removed, he set them aside and grabbed a plasma cutter. “We are at peace now, and we have rebuilt. From death, life. And so there is no need for weapons any more.”

He cut away large, circular cylinders from the carbine’s barrel with the cutter. Emiran then closed one end of the cylinders by bending the metal with a welda-clamp and added steel wires all around the pot slowly taking shape. Over the course of several hours he fashioned loops at the end of the wires and added the carbine’s focusing lenses in them, occasionally using a matter pen to add or remove layers of the lenses. He sighted down the new lens assembly, then used his laser screwdriver to shine light through the lenses. The focused beam was now a diffuse, gentle spot on the bottom of the pot. From the remainders of the carbine, he pulled the power transformer and mounted it on a pole made from the remains of the weapon’s barrel.

“You studied botany, as I remember,” continued Emiran. “Your entire graduation thesis was on the life cycles of plants only found megaflora worlds near high-radiation stars. That was a good talk, by the way. Brilliant thesis defence-- learned a lot. Enough to know that there exist rare flowers that grow on the forest floor who live off the patches of intense light that filter down from the tree crowns.” Emiran lined up the power source down his new series of focusing lenses. “Or should I say, light shooting down from above...?”

Emiran sighed and leaned back in his chair, looking up at the clock mounted over his bench. That late already? He glanced back at his project. “Sorry, Yan. Gonna have to leave you for tonight. Sleep, then work calls. But that’s how it goes.” He yawned and stood up, stretching as he did so. “It takes time to rebuild, you know. But it’s all worth it in the end. Life prevails.” As an afterthought, he reached towards the gardening supplies and tipped a bit of soil into the pot. He delicately smoothed out the surface with a finger, then placed a single bean-sized seed on the soil.

The Time Lord smiled to himself as he slowly walked out of the room, casting one last glance back at his plant incubator before making his way towards the RC's kitchenette for a midnight snack.

((Though, really, what did you expect, posting something like this when I'm around?))


"Hey, guys."

The Aviator sat on the ground in front of her crew's gravestones. The courtyard was full of red and gold leaves, and the wind was beginning to get a bit nippy. She pulled her dog tags over her head, running her thumb over each of the names in turn.

"I'm doing a lot better now than last time," she continued. "Finally got help for my drinking problem. Been going to therapy." The tags clinked between her fingers as she turned them over. "Elanor's going to be two in
just eleven days," she added. "She's growing up into such an awesome kid. You guys would love her. Gavin... you'd have been proud of her. Dee's proud of her, too. Even if he doesn't really say it."

The Aviator swallowed away the lump in her throat and smiled. "I think it's safe to say I'm... happy again. Or getting there. I did promise I wouldn't wallow anymore, didn't I?" She put the chain over her head, tucking the tags back down her shirt. "How long has it been since I came to visit, anyway? Three months? Let me think... Oh! Elanor's got almost all her teeth now. I'm starting to teach her addition and subtraction—I know, I really should have started nearly a month ago. Zeb's been excited to help out, he makes up little counting songs for her...."

For those that don't know, Citation Needed is a panel game show about strange things I found on Wikipedia; it was made famous by the Technical Difficulties, aka Tom Scott And Tom Scott's Mates. Some of you may remember (but most of you won't) that the Discord played Citation Needed about a year ago with Tomash being kind enough to record two episodes. We've now recorded two more! So, without further ado:

---

Episode 1: Jakob Haugaard and Danish Pyramids
Featuring: Alleb, Larfen, Tomash

Episode 2: Banjawarn Station and Nuclear Sheep
Featuring: Granz, Larfen, Tomash

Episode 3: The Indiana Pi Bill and Swamp Atlantis
Featuring: Granz, Larfen, Tomash

Episode 4: Prince Henry of Prussia and Hashtag Problematic Granz
Featuring: Granz, Larfen, Tomash

---

Thanks to the various people who've taken part in the game, and thank you all for listening. We hope we've been edutaining, which is like entertaining but you replace jokes with facts. Or possibly the other way around. =]

I'll say that it's definitely worth it if you can forgive some rather cringey romance. There's a lot to like, and while Nasu isn't the greatest writer, he's at least consistantly interesting.

If you're in an english-speaking country, you basically have to pirate the VN anyways. I'd consider setting up shares for my copy, but I'm... kinda lazy. So that isn't happening yet.

These prompts don't really fit Tiger's character and I couldn't think of a way to make either of them work with him. So you get something else!

Please don't ask me for context, because there isn't any.

Katie sat in the second row, hand in hand with Matthew, struggling not to cry.

They’d been a team, the five of them. Katie, Matthew, Lauren, Jimmy and Sarah, the best the Monster-Hunters had got.

Until one particularly nasty monster had killed Sarah.

It was Lauren who was reading the eulogy, voice trembling. Katie had been asked to do it, but refused. It was too painful.

“Sarah was one of the most talented members of the taskforce,” said Lauren, speaking quickly to avoid crying. “She was always analytical and thorough and knew exactly how to tackle each monster. One of my favourite memories of her was when we were training.”

Katie remembered that time too. It brought a lump to her throat just thinking about it.

Lauren, Katie and Jimmy had been trying to work through a complicated puzzle, but none of them could figure it out. Sarah had walked up and spent five minutes staring at the puzzle and working out what they were meant to do. Then she’d talked them all through the solution without making them seem like idiots.

“She brought a lot to the team, but she never asked for anything back. She always tried to help everyone else, however hard she was finding it herself. We all liked and respected her for it, and we were very close to her.”

Lauren hesitated. “She was killed by a Black Snake. It was attacking us, and we knew one of us had to stop it.”

Katie began to breathe shakily, hoping to keep the tears away. Lauren was struggling too.

“She got her knife and she just stepped in front of it and cut its tongue out. Without its tongue the monster couldn’t live, but in its dying throes it…” Lauren couldn’t hold back the tears any longer, and nor could Katie.

“It’s all right,” Matthew whispered.

“Thank you,” said Katie quickly, in a flat voice.

Lauren couldn’t keep going. She stumbled back to her seat, blinded by the tears streaming down her face.

Everyone applauded politely and Mr Crow, who was conducting the service, got to his feet.

“Thank you to Miss Watson for that moving eulogy. Next we have a song that was very special to the deceased…”

First Huinesoronic Long-Distance Mapping Expedition

Greetings! Far we have travelled, and long has been our return, but we bring word of many distant settlements and nations, scattered across the great ocean to the east.

Let it be known that this great expedition almost foundered ere it ever turned east. Our journey began with a traverse of the Central Rift, yet conditions have become rough in the rift of late, and worse! Overhead we sighted balloon-fleets of GMA and Aegis, joining forces with those of Scapegrace, Larfen, and Tomash in the west.

We were forced to break north, hoping for a break in the weather. A break we found - but it showed only forbidding rock, and the mountaintop fastness of Kaitlyn, only settlement on the land of the Magic Isle.

Swiftly we fled, braving the storms about Snowblaze to pass east at last. Many ships were lost in the thunderous weather, but almost we would rather have remained within than to emerge, for east of this land we call home, almost upon our very shores, rises the sea-city of Neshomeh. No succour we found there, under the blazing barrels of their guns, and we were forced to flee further into the east.

We finally made harbour in Hardric-Granz, and there we encountered travellers: a fleet of Matt Cipher, which we were told sailed the anti-Mana currents that flowed from the north-east. Indeed, at such a time of year they would normally be far out to sea, on their way to the underdome of Guardsman Tom amid the Boiling Seas - but a mysterious fleet had blocked them, swallowing up anti-mana and bringing a new Storm in its wake.

Suitably warned, we chose not to sail for Athena, but to continue east. Passing over the domes of the Uber Overlord, we found copious reserves of anti-mana, growing in strength as we continued our journey. Yet these, as with the northern flow, went not unclaimed: a fleet of ships we saw, armed with magical weapons and identified with the mystic number 61516.

We might have sailed further, yet a dire warning stood in our path: a black flag, and the name of the Badger. So we turned about, and passing to the south returned home by way of Iximaz and the southern harbour. We never saw the ruins of the ancient mountains, nor learned what became of the War-Queen of the elder days...

With yesterday being Remembrance Sunday, I found it fitting to base these prompts around Remembrance today.

Prompt 1: One of your characters honours a former friend/comrade

Prompt 2: One of your characters remembers and mourns.

Novastorme

I will say that your pretty spot on, and it's true that the fate/ series will give Homestuck a run for its money.
I would play the VN, but I need to see whether it's available in Australia.

Kinda funny that you hit the text limit as well, left me a bit confused till I saw your next post.

Ix stared up at him, looking more like a deer caught in the headlights than a dread pirate. She swallowed and re-tied her bandanna, wishing she had pockets she could shove her hands into. "Erm... he used to be a farmhand, and then set off to seek his fortune, and was captured by pirates... um. He ended up becoming the captain and one of the best duelists in the world and he returned home to find his true love?"

Charlotte laughed and nodded. "Let's see just what this body can do, huh?" she said, reaching for the extra spicy sauce. She poured some on her plate, dunked her food in, and took a bite.

There was a long silence while she chewed, and then she dunked another piece. "It's good," she said, shrugging.

"And Ireland in-universe. It's a somewhat obscure canon--not a proper Gundam series really, it's more like Digimon or Beyblade but with models of mobile suits," Sammy said enthusiastically. "Yeah, it was pretty quiet in my home too. Not much in the way of kings or warriors--just a big world to explore and good friends to play and battle by your side," he finished wistfully. He fumbled with a hard leather pouch at his side and pulled out a figure of some kind of war machine, the model about six or so inches tall and painted green and gold, wielding a flail. "One hundred and forty fourth the size of the real thing," he said. "Made it myself," he added proudly. "Gotta see if there's a Gunpla Battle system in HQ. Haven't looked into it much yet."

"I'm from Warhammer 40,000," Leonidas rumbled when Sammy was finished. "I was Master of the Fifth Company of the Dark Angels Chapter of Space Marines when I...left. I'd been on active duty for several centuries all told. I lived on a feudal world before that as a child; I proved worthy of recruitment by taking on a full Astartes in single combat."

... was apparently based on when he found out his grandmother was Welsh.

Considering Lovecraft's views perhaps that's for the best.

This is what I get for posting from my phone— it definitely got eaten.

Hopefully, this one will work.