Fate/Zero

Oh, I am not surprised at all about Rider's position. And I guess Waver gets many points by osmosis. Lancer was a bit of a surprise, however. He is cool and all, but not all that present.

Well, I guess Kotomine haven't shown much of himself for this season, but I would think he would carry some fans from Fate Stay Night. Although I guess he doesn't do much in the anime either, and the Visual Novel fans are not in enough number to compete.

Of course, being evil might have something to do with it. Lelouch is the nastiest person I recognise in that list, and he's still (mostly) the hero of the series. Kotomine's an out-and-out villain.

What's precedent ever done for us?

But everyone knows the villains are always cooler than the heroes! D:

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

Not according to Japanese popularity charts, apparently.

What's precedent ever done for us?

And everyone knows Kotomine is always cooler than anyone in existence or non existence, since it's fiction.

I wouldn't expect him to place high. He hasn't done much so far. His two biggest scenes were beating up girls (which will probably go over poorly in Japan) and an extended conversation with Gilgamesh where he didn't come off as a particularly threatening figure so much as lost and confused.

Fair enough. I was probably thinking as a Kirei fanboy.

I still find Lancer popularity surprising, however.

Lancer is probably the most boring Fourth War hero.

I would say Saber is (though it may look like insolence from me)

Not going to argue that point, though I don't agree. However, she happens to be a cute girl, so she's going to be popular on that basis alone.

Yeah, Lancer's kind of a standard nothing special hero, which is pretty hard to come by. Come to think of it, FSN Lancer was a standard nothing special hero compared to the other servants. Of course, he had Gae Bolg which made up for it a bit.

Good I am not alone with that. I find him a nice character, but he is a bit pale compared to everyone else. It doesn't help he is somewhat too similar to 5th Lancer.

5th Lancer's personality was more distinctive, however.

In anime yes, but it may be just cause he didn't get much screen time. His legend is great as much as his personality (though it weren't much showed he it match said legend).

I somewhere read he could be also summoned as berserker, that would send his points up enormously

edited 7th Jan '12 2:05:49 PM by Tenzen12

Talking about the VN too. Compared to the unique things with all the other servants, the Lancers just seem kinda bland.

Fifth Lancer was pretty good, I'd say. His fights are a little bland, but his personality puts him above Fourth Lancer at least. At least he manages to be more interesting than his War's Berserker. How do you end up less interesting than someone who can't talk?

Okay, that's probably not really fair, but still.

5th Lancer trolls Shirou, Rin and Saber, beats up Archer and is a total bro all around. He's not particularly deep, but still definitely one of the most entertaining FSN characters.

This. In a way, he might be blander then most of the other servants. He is still so cool it doesn't matter.

Also, thinking now, the title of "most boring" servant of both wars must go to Assassin instead.*

^^; Have totally forgot about them, which just states how bland they are.

edited 7th Jan '12 3:43:35 PM by Heatth

I like 4th assasins, though 5th were good only for runing gag in Carnival Phantasm...

I wonder how you can like 4th Assassin. I mean, his Noble Phantast is awesome, true, but he has no more personality then your average rock.

About 5th Assassin, err, I wasn't talking about that one. This Assassin, Sasaki Kojirou is interesting enough. And a Badass Normal, which make him cooler. I was talking about Hassan i-Sabbah, is about as interesting as 4th Assassin, except with a much less cooler NP (I mean, it is just a generic Gae Bolg, but weaker).

I was talking more of their abilities rather than their traits. A split personality with a seperate body for every single body. That's pretty cool. 5th True assassin isn't that unique but his class is so much different from the others that he's still pretty cool. What I mean is that if we were to take the most normal servant from either of the wars, it'd probably be the Lancers in both wars.

Well, 5th Lancer is sort of explicitly the most generic Servant. He shows up early in the story to help clarify exactly what a Servant and a Noble Phantasm is.

edited 7th Jan '12 4:20:04 PM by Clarste

He also had the poor luck of not getting the opportunity to fight with his actual master.

I'd like to see an alternate story where Lancer and Bazzet were partners like she had wanted to be.

I bet it would rock hard.

One Strip! One Strip!

Hmm I would deem lancer's popularity because of his voice actor. Every time he spoke Korean nico nico was commenting on his voice and I would assume Japanese niconico was the same.

I do hope Kotomine gets higher in the ranking in the second season though I think Rider and Gil will probably end up rising

Also agreed about 5th Lancer being a bro. He was hilarious in UBW, especially when he trolled Rin.

That would be kinda awesome. Also I remember a quote from Lancer where he won in some fate game and he was like did you see that Bazzet? The servant you summoned is the best one after all. Somewhat of a tearjerker to me.

edited 8th Jan '12 12:51:33 AM by moonmeh

I consider it my duty to ensure that, should you be surprised by a bear in your library, you will have ample ammunition to beat it to death.

Something ive been thinking about -a while back F/Z rider confirmed his masters statement that the general rule is that a heroic spirit only has one noble phantasm. However i really can't think of any one of them that has only one noble phantasm. A lot have one major one they use in combat but they have at least 2 or more the only one i can think of with one are both of the casters medea and the f/z one i forget his name.

Made me think that its a rule that only exists to be broken. Personally think it should be a trope because when ever they set rules their usually so something is so powerful because it breaks that particular rule.

^ In the fourth war, assassin and caster have only one noble phantasm. In the fifth war, Assassin, Assassin, Lancer kind of (since he has one weapon), Caster and Archer only have one.

So about half.

edited 8th Jan '12 12:10:32 PM by neobowman

Some heroes appear to have three or four, and maybe some have even more than that. Saber noted at one point in FSN that some heroes might have two, but that would be the limit. Considering she uses three herself and had Caliburn once, she almost certainly means only one for direct combat.