thinking about gill, kazarina and lena in s3ep17 and. . .
we are told that nurzak and gill's ships have trouble recharging their energy and as such, stoica, arizel and kazarina are the only ones capable of continuing the march towards the third shield. kazarina even uses this fact to taunt gill. so to make sure kazarina doesn't overtake him, gill approaches lena (who has been assigned to accompany kazarina on her mission) and warns her of kazarina's treacherous ways, which in turn makes lena anxious. this move by gill sets lena up for failure, not just by planting the idea in lena's head of taking out kazarina to save herself, but also by making lena desperate to perform well in fear of being used as a scapegoat, making her less trusting of her superior as well.
what's interesting to me is how gill, by setting lena up like this, actually contributes to their loss of the second shield. if lena wasn't so desperate to prove herself, she and kazarina could've teamed up to quickly defeat drago before dan had time to help shun. but instead, lena refuses any help and thus fails her mission, which suits gill just fine because it means kazarina will be blamed for retreating and allowing the neathians to reclaim their territory.
and if kazarina moves the way gill expects her to, lena will remember his warning and kill kazarina first (or die trying.) either way, gill stands nothing to lose on a personal level, but he seems just a tad too comfortable letting gundalia lose against neathia if it allows the emperor to bear witness to kazarina's incompetency.
gill's eventual assassination of kazarina just solidifies the fact that he'll always put his pride before gundalia's victory in the war.
Now you might be wondering âHani what are you talking about a dark power has been done before a lotâ and youâre right. On the surface it seems like every other evil power that makes people evil or whatever but the more you think about the more you realise that mfb actually has a unique take on this idea.
So the set up is the usual. Dark power exists -> people think they can control it -> they canât -> dark power takes over. Here is where mfb differs from the rest. Usually itâs always âyou have to fight the darkness inside youâ âI know youâre in there somewhereâ etc etc. and somehow the power of friendship brings them back.
Now there is no doubt the power of friendship plays a role here too but not in the way you think but letâs take one step at a time.
In Metal Fusion it seems like the generic evil force but metal masters expands it to be much deeper than originally expected by showing us the beauty that is Tsubasaâs arc.
When we meet Tsubasa he is calm and calculated never gets too emotional be it positive or negative emotions so youâd think the dark power would not have much to work here with right? WRONG!
The truth we learn is that Tsubasa represses some of his emotions to be rational and itâs clearly a struggle. And this inner struggle is what makes the dark power grow. Usually here shows would say âyou are not the negative emotions I know the light is in you somewhere you have to fight the darknessâ but like I said before mfb doesnât do that. IT DOES THE OPPOSITE.
Ryuga literally says âthe more you fight it the stronger it gets you have to give in to defeat itâ this seems like a really strange take at first but the more I thought about it the more I loved it.
The message isnât the usual âyour negative thoughts and emotions arenât youâ it says instead ânegative emotions are natural you donât have to repress them you have to let them run their course or theyâll eat you from the insideâ and I personally think thatâs a much better take. Not to get personal here but it took me so long to learn this that yes sometimes youâre angry sometimes youâre frustrated but it doesnât make you a bad person youâre allowed to feel these emotions. Itâs honestly such a beautiful take and it made me see the arc in a whole new light.
Also letâs not forget the power of friendship here. Itâs not the usual âyouâre in there somewhereâ situation itâs not âthey snap him outâ situation. Because well they donât. They donât manage to do it. In the fight against Wild Fang he completely snaps and nothing can calm him down. Instead itâs âyour friends are here for you to support you through these emotionsâ which reaffirms the point I made above. You are allowed to feel these things youâre allowed to just be you donât have to repress anything. You have to work through them and become at peace with them yourself. Your friends are on your side to support you while you yourself have to work through it And the moment Tsubasa realized this is the moment he realized he is part of team, thatâs when he realized he has people to fall back on instead of only counting on himself.
Honestly the more I think about it the more I love it and Iâm so happy and pleasantly surprised mfb gave us such a unique and important message through a trope that most people consider generic.
12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?
I headcanon that even though she seems like she doesnât care, she actually takes it to heart when people like Nurzak call her an ugly witch and that she is very self conscious and a little insecure about her looks. Thatâs why she is REALLY high maintenance; she would take two hours to get ready and would pay thousands for her beauty treatments. She is also obsessed with being skinny.
25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?
I actually didnât like her when I was a kid LOL! I actually loved to hate her. But now she is my fav character by far because she is so interesting, I love how strong she is. I love a good villain and I think she is one, and I wish she was written with more depth (but the fact that she wasnât gives us more room to play with :))) )
Fights with Nurzak everyday physically and losing. Slow walker, fast runner. Listens to rock music. Neglectful father to Ren. His hair was full purple as a kid. Has a cousin who is manlier than him and has a family that his father was always comparing him to
I know it's not one hc but oh well
Okay so for 14.
In work or some fancy occasion, i can see him wear something modernish suit but with a big coat and some kind of dragon pattern on it because he is rich
For everyday i see him wearing some kind of leather jacket but not the plain ones. Also some bandshirts. Oh and we can't forget the *rolex* watch