So Fate/Grand Order has been an excellent gateway drug, dragging me into the franchise wholesale. I had watched the Fate/Zero anime a few years ago and liked about 40% of it but felt like too much of the story was focused on the things that interested me least, and that was that... and then I got into FGO and started driving all these losers around and wanting to know more about them, and. yep.

I've now read the four available volumes of Fate/strange fake, I'm working on a playthrough of the first route of Fate/stay night, I've read the first volume of the Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, and I'm watching the Fate/Apocrypha anime as it comes out.


The short version of my reaction is I love every Servant in this bar, and some of the Masters can come along too. Holy shit. Each writer who takes a stab at Fate seems to have a different focus, and the writer for Apocrypha is into a lot of shit I love, about the nature of personhood and free will and who has the right to self-determination and how that's gained or lost. Plus bonus gender ambiguity.

Anyway yeah -- Sieg's journey is wonderful. Astolfo's brave determined optimism deserves all the hugs. Having Jeanne face off against Tokisada as martyred teenage zealots who have the same faith but very different goals was a fantastic choice. Watching each of the servants in the Red and Black factions try to negotiate how they're going to face this unconventional war is so neat, with all the things it reveals about each one's priorities and moral code. I can't believe this show had me going oh no, augh, poor thing about Vlad the motherfucking Impaler. A+

And then there's MORDRED. HOLY SHIT. Mordred is the Saberface of my heart, no question—from the moment they drew first drew their sword on Sisigou to warn him not to gender them again I was dead. (I have been told that according to fandom it is "correct" to gender Mordred female anyway but FANDOM CAN BITE ME.) I haven't asked for Mordred/Sisigou in exchanges yet because I think what I want is the version I would write myself, but goddamn. They have this amazing relationship of "I trust you to be badass, so don't fuck up," and then he goes and sneaks in a little extra pettins for their brittle ego and they try not to get too overwhelmed by how good that feels and I LOVE THEM TOGETHER? Also I love the kind of guy who brings a shotgun to a mage fight, especially when he then fires dead men's fingers out of it.


I don't even know where a body goes to get DW icons anymore but I really want some Fate/ ones.