Fate/Grand Order

Green Kitchen part sure was a ride. We get some serious talk from X about her relationship with Ex-chan and how they had to fight to the death because their paths were on crash course... and then we jump to Gawain the Masher antics. Whew.

Space Gawain was fun. His cooking tries to eat people, so that's a new low even for him. Not all Space British food is like that tho (says X).

Speaking of which, Space Britain is apparently weird even by Servantverse standards.

Only MHX could fail a cooking class by just eating the food raw instead. Not even Beni-enma saw anything like that before.

Beni-enma acting all serious and dramatic, only to then reveal she just didn't read a fine print was funny.

Darth Ishtar is a penny pincher, how dastardly.

Man, this event is such a blast, the writing is so good.

@Molay: I've seen people reacting to her being voiced by Shiki Aoki as both a positive and a negative. I guess it all depends on what people think of Saber Molay.

Ph right, her voice actor is trans.

I'm honestly not sure if I'll finish the event, the grinding is a bit tedious and the story isn't doing it for me

They should have ended the debacle before it could start by casting him as both Saber and Foreigner version, but we don't really know about the voiceacting process because things like "King Hassan had his voice in the game since the original datamine" and "Ganesha got voiced since 2015".

Edited by AlaAlba on Oct 22nd 2021 at 8:19:56 PM

I'd say Molay being claimed by trans people is a side effect of:

1. As mentioned, VA being trans

2. The fact that she denies Jacques existence in her first bond line which might resonate with some people even if it's obvious that she's just lying.

3. The fact that she got genderbent in the first place. If you don't read the whole creepy implication that the outer god turned Jacques into a woman so that he can "embody all the vile slander with a lascivious body that can corrupt men" at least.

Whether or not I agree is a different matter since they also claim Mordred and Astolfo but if they're getting something positive out of the character ┐(￣ヘ￣)┌. That I read the implications of the character negatively doesn't mean everyone else is going to.

Edited by Mami on Oct 23rd 2021 at 8:08:27 PM

I've seen mixed reactions, yeah. Personally I'm glad there are folks who view de Molay in a reclamatory light; Fate tripping over its own feet and ending up transphobic isn't uncommon (to say nothing of the times when it's actively, intentionally transphobic), so if trans people can wring some positivity out of it, more power to them.

A friend of mine pointed out that her line about leaving the Church to embrace heresy also struck a Then Let Me Be Evil chord that I empathize with - not being trans myself, but certainly having my own issues with the Church as a queer man.

Mmm, I feel it's a stretch. Ditto with most characters, though, so that's nothing new.

I should probably actually look at Molay's art/NP, since I got lucky.

It's not my place to tell people what they can or can't feel about it, really. Though if nothing else, Riyo shows that when the series wants to be transphobic, they tend to be more obvious about it.

I'm not going to tell other people what to feel, just that I don't feel it. D'Eon? Yeah, obviously. And Clytie's got a lot of the sentiment involved. Astolfo... definitely not, and I think Mordred's problems really head in another direction.

I've read Jacques profile to see what's the deal even is. So Foreigner Jacques is an embodiment of all the vile accusations that were thrown at templars. Basically, she's the evil that the original was slandered to be. Also, Shub-Niggurath is involved.

So she's kinda like Vlad, influenced by her dark legend, twisted into something evil and antiethical to what she stood for in life, except even more so. What a cool setup.

I find "embodiment of all evil rumors also turned him female" rather... unfortunate.

Yeah, it's dumb and doesn't really make a lot of sense. I was going to say it was still possible that this de Molay was from an alternate world where she was female from the beginning (a la Arthur or Musashi), but unless she's lying in her bond lines, where she connects it to serving Shub-Niggurath, then yeah, it's weird and stupid.

Isn't Foreigner-Molay a woman because Baphomet (The demon he was falsly accused of worshiping) most common depiction is with a woman's torso? (and very long legs but that is beside the point)

Essentially allowing his "Innocent Monster" skill to turn him into Baphomet physically?

Edited by TitanJump on Oct 23rd 2021 at 2:33:18 PM

That could be it. Though this particular demon appears to be some kind of... 'Baphomet is an alias for Shub-Niggurath' thing going on, so who can really say. The most direct statements we get on it are that "the false slander that defamed the Knights, as well as the hearsay that grew out of it in later years, corrupted de Molay into a seductive body suited for pleasure" and de Molay's own line about how her goddess "is female in sex, and was once also male".

Basically, it's weird and clunky.

If the "Baphomet = Shub-Niggurath" is to be believed, then that is a whole other can of worms waiting to be opened, considering how the name "Baphomet" itself is the slandered form of "Mahomet" aka "Muhammad", aka the Prophet of Islam, which was used by the Church and the Templars during that time to demonize muslims and their faith for personal and vile reasons.

And this is a worm-can I rather not open at all...

...

Reading up on the Mythos further, I came across this little tidbit in regards to Shub-Niggurath in regards to how it handles its "worthy" worshipers...

"When the deity deems a worshiper most worthy, a special ceremony is held in which the Black Goat of the Woods swallows the initiate and then regurgitates the cultist as a transformed satyr-like being"

(Looks at Molay's third ascension)

Seems legit...

Edited by TitanJump on Oct 23rd 2021 at 3:15:55 PM

Surprisingly, Fate!Baphomet is rather standard demon◊.

One thing I'd like to mention that of all of the Foreigners, Molay seems to be the most demon-like in her Third Ascension form.

With this alternate gender Servant counterpart from arcade to mobile shtick, I wonder if this means Setanta will have a female Servant slotting in for him in mobile

Edited by TPPR10 on Oct 23rd 2021 at 4:34:08 PM

The closest I can think of in that aspect, would be Aife. (Scathach's rival/sister and the mother of Cu's only son Connla.)

(Not to mention so fierce as a warrior that Scathach herself tried to put Cu under with a 24-hour lasting sleeping potion and stash him out of sight in order to keep him away from the fight. Too bad for her that said potion only worked for one hour in Cu's case and he ended involved in it anyway...)

Edited by TitanJump on Oct 23rd 2021 at 3:42:50 PM

Clearly the Manga with Onee-chan Shub Niggurath was an influence.

Also, now i noticed it sounds like N@#$% in the name.

Oh Lovecraft, you racist son of a b!tch.

Pretty much every transfem person retweeted into my TL is singing extremely high praise for Molay's profile and lines. Making her gender situation as anti-catholic as possible is a thing that really resonates with people. Trust me, she's well-loved in her niche.

Well...good for them I guess? I don't really get it either, not being a transperson myself, but I suppose its good they found something positive in all of this despite the clunkiness of it all.

...sure would be nice if Fate gender bent in reverse for once, but yea, sex sells and "nobody cares" about male fanservice apparently according to DW.

brb I'm gonna hop in a time machine to tell Chica Umino that Oberon's shirt needs to have several buttons unbuttoned

x5 Scathach has seemingly lived long enough that I wouldn't be surprised if she was also some other mythological character in the past.