I just realized, did Mym get screwed out of her happy ending?

Everyone else is living their ideal life in the new world, like Elly and Alex working side by side in the church, Ranzal having a good relationship with his dad and also Volk is there for some reason, and Luca, Sarisse and MascuLaxi chilling at their village.

But Mym's perfect world would be her being by Euden's side. So whats her life now? is she just alone on her volcano again, or did she get some new person to love? Also if Midgardsormr remembers the events of the old world, do the other Primal Greatwyrms have their memories too thanks to their pact? Cause if so them Mym must be in absolute misery in the new world...

Unless, she encounters a certain wandering nobody that is.

funny

the guy squad

Some Dumbass: Are you a boy or a girl?

Masculaxi: I'm an android.

Some Dumbass: Yeah, but what's between your legs?

Masculaxi: Gears.

slowtember days 13-15:

masculaxi

I have a gazillion lingering feelings about mascula and laxi and how they’re handled (hint: I severely don’t like it) but I will never be able to let go of how the masculaxi chapter single-handedly destroyed my investment in the dl story because I think that chapter was the ultimate show of how the devs wanted to have their android and sacrifice it too. with the bait and switch of mascula not even dying when he sacrificed himself to non-violently bring laxi salvation, the use of that trope was 50% off to begin with (now it just cost mascula his autonomy rather than his whole life which can still be worked around... sure) but now that mascula just gets to have a body again for some reason, we went through this roundabout dynamic of them being glued together for a year, during which mascula ultimately gave up the pacificist ideal that led him to do that sacrifice in the first place (hrk), only to do a sharp u-turn back to square one (I know they’re still glued together but he controls a body autonomously) so what the hell was even the damn point of giving the illusion that laxi’s life costed anything at all

theory: mascula, laxi, and the archangels

Briefly touched upon in a previous post, I’ll dive into this topic a bit more.

(spoilers ahead!)

As we established before, the Star Tetrahedron shape reflects Mascula/Laxi as characters, and also indicates a potential link to Metatron. 

In sacred geometry, there are 5 shapes, or platonic solids, within Metatron’s Cube that maintain order and balance in the universe. However, there is a sixth shape: the Star Tetrahedron. And that is the shape seen above in the Mascula/Laxi 3rd anniversary countdown artwork.

As a refresher, here’s my analysis on that:

as for the "star tetrahedron" itself, it represents duality: physical body and spiritual self; male and female; and heaven and earth. this ties into mascula and laxi's characters: mascula controlling the "mind" in eden mode while laxi focuses on the attacking "body;" and mascula and laxi being of different genders. as for "heaven" and "earth," this could represent maestro coming from the sky city ark, and masculaxi being technology intended to aid humans. alternatively for "heaven" and "earth," the fact that the star tetrahedron is enclosed within "metatron's cube" may be a pointer to metatron in-universe. the archangels all have white hair, a trait shared by masculaxi. additionally, sandalphon is somewhat mechanical/technological herself. masculaxi being man-made (of the earth,) versus their potential connection to the angels (of the heavens.)

I thought that was it. There’s more.

I recently found another link between Masculaxi and Metatron -- first, let’s look at Gala Laxi’s skill names while activated in Eden Mode:

Eden Code 05: Gevurah and Eden Code 01: Keter.

“Gevurah” (strength) and “Keter” (crown) are sefirot, or two of the ten attributes of how the divine manifests himself in this world, in Jewish Kabbalah. These ten sefirot are part of the Tree of Life. Additionally, the numbers of each Eden Code correspond to their placement on the Tree of Life.

And in some interpretations, each sefirah has an archangel attributed to them. As luck has it, some of these archangels are mentioned in Dragalia Lost.

Keter - Metatron Tiferet - Raphael Hod - Michael Yesod - Gabriel Malkuth - Sandalphon

If you wish to read more on the Tree of Life and the sefirot, feel free to read up more, but I won’t go into more elaboration here. I think the key takeaway here is that Keter, Laxi’s skill, correlates to Metatron. 

And as another thing to note, “Eden” is a biblical reference as well, to the Garden of Eden -- with Adam and Eve, male and female... Mascula and Laxi...?

So, via the star tetrahedron and Keter, Mascula and Laxi have undeniable lore connections to Metatron in-universe, and have heavy religious/spirituality references as well. 

Who exactly is Metatron, though? We don’t quite know yet, but these connections give us something to look forward to beyond just a simple namedrop. 

As for what I think...? We’ve had hints that the next story arc after dealing with the Progenitor may be the Sky City Ark. Hinted at in Ageless Artifice and Gala Mascula’s story, our next destination after Grams may very well be above the clouds into the advanced civilization of the Ark. Given our current setting is Grams, and our focus is on the Apostles/Archangels, we previously had no connections between the Ark and Grams, so how could those plot points transition into each other? -- However, now that we know this, Mascula and Laxi could be the key to this plot transition.

And... That’s it for now. There might be more in the future... 

(long winded side note: My friends and I are still trying to work out the whole Orchis thing? Mascula and Laxi derive from “orchis masculolaxiflora,” and Eirene and Finni come from the “irene finney orchid;” both Mascula and and Eirene have been noted to reference their systems as an “Orchis System,” aaand there’s someone in GBF named Orchid/Orchis? That might be the extent of it for now but I feel like it might mean something more later on, especially given Mascula and Laxi are mimics of Eirene and Finni’s technology, but are somewhat more advanced due to the mana kiln implementation... And the whole mystery of Maestro too, it’s kind of a lot that we don’t know and thus cannot make a proper verdict on if it means anything specifically.)

Of course, this is all just speculation -- but I really do appreciate the amount of work and effort the Dragalia Lost team puts into their stories. It honestly is a bit too much for a mobile game (like what the hell.) But I really enjoy it a lot!! 

masculaxi character analysis/appreciation

it's been over a year since gala masculaxi's release and i'm still not over it

(heavy dragalia lost spoilers ahead)

(gala mascula does not exist btw) i just love how mascula and laxi are designed as two parts of a whole, basically one half of the same ideal/same person. you can't have one without the other. if you heavily favor one over the other i dont trust you... only half joking. when laxi went berserk and mascula had to save her by giving her his heart in their debut ch11, that was just... such a moment... it shows them at their most "separate" (laxi in berserk/annihilation mode, and mascula stopping at nothing to disengage combat.) which sets us up for their development as two hearts in one body. in masculaxi (flame blade)'s story, they're still at odds but they begin to learn to cooperate in the same body, and this is the beginning of their "convergence." in ch14 of the main story is when we see the beginnings of eden mode. when all the androids sacrifice themselves for euden and co to advance, mascula realizes it his empathetic heart that influenced them and led them to their painful deaths. he then shuts down his ego circuit out of guilt. when the team is in a tight spot, and only masculaxi can save the day (since their body is unaffected due to the miasma only affecting organic lifeforms,) laxi goes into their heart to search for mascula and plead him to help her. all this time, laxi had envied mascula's heart for being "more human," but realized that maestro had written the fear of death in all of the android's hearts, and as such, laxi understood the weight of their yearning for peace, with the act of their self-sacrifice for euden. (later we do learn with gala masculaxi that mascula had been influencing laxi more. here we see laxi's influence on mascula to urge him to fight.) laxi gets mascula out of the gay baby jail zone, releases her limiters, and activates annihilation mode hastily. mascula then guides her attacks to the correct targets, which is the first instance we see of mascula engaging in any sort of fighting. in this state of laxi's annihilation mode combined with mascula's guided assault, a new mode beyond annihilation mode becomes available to them: eden mode, when their hearts become one. this mode concentrates all the mana around them inside their body's mana kiln, and gives them even more power. mascula still dislikes fighting and does not want to do it as much, but has a newfound conviction and will not run away when he is needed. an interesting line here is mascula saying this: ▷It's as if he knew our hearts would one day become one. But how...?◁ indicating that from the start, they were truly two halves of a whole ideal. shortly after the release of ch14, we get the release of the flame dagger gala masculaxi unit, which contains eden mode in their gameplay, and expands upon the "two hearts acting as one" deal they have going on. laxi, mascula, and luca head to the ruins of maestro's lab in order to gain more clues on how eden mode works. laxi equips a new armament meant to accommodate eden mode (and demands praise of how good she looks, lol. also laxi is much more snarky in this story which is a treat. she's so funny. but also this shows mascula's emotional influence on her!!!!!) laxi learns of how eden mode works, and essentially it's a release of all limiters and rerouting all circuits to their internal mana kiln, but elimination protocol is activated automatically as well which does not make any distinction between friend and foe. it enhances laxi's combat ability, but mascula has to take care of elimination protocol since he has access and control of it. hence, in eden mode, laxi goes all out in attacking, while mascula controls the body's movements and targets. however this is only possible if their hearts act as one. the two are attacked by dyrenell forces and activate eden mode against them, but mascula temporarily loses the will to fight in the middle of the battle, destabilizing and deactivating eden mode. luca is captured and a villager shields them from an oncoming attack, believing in mascula's peaceful ideals. laxi engages tactical retreat and they escape. they engage in a plan to save luca but are attacked by imperials again. they try to go into eden mode but mascula once again disengages eden mode. mascula tells laxi of his regrets and frustrations that he keeps holding her back, but laxi tells him that she found herself synchronizing with him. with the villager (that mascula had saved before and in turn protected masculaxi earlier,) laxi found the value in mercy for enemies. by having laxi bend towards mascula's will, they're able to take on the imperials who chased after them with a truly synchronized eden mode. ▷Laxi, give me the strength to fight!◁ Granted. Now give me the kindness required to temper my actions. ▷Heh. Take all you need!◁ their system strain falls, and they're able to defeat the imperials. laxi, mascula, luca, and euden talk together after all is done. laxi takes interest in a cat, while mascula teaches her how to interact with it. Euden: Laxi and Mascula say the maestro who made them was a peace-loving man, but... Luca: No, I getcha. Why would some peacenik give something THIS much power? ch14 and their gala story really shows how the two embodied different sides of the same ideal -- "fighting for peace," and how they begin to converge upon that ideal. initially laxi only focused on "fighting" and mascula only focused on "peace," but A compassionate heart. ▷The courage to fight.◁ -Eden Mode, activate!- their character development after this is a bit wonky at times because it sets up for gala mascula who is really poorly written and doesn't necessarily align with the ideals established within ch14 and gala masculaxi, or even the development directly before it either. with ageless artifice and ch18 (when the team first enters the faerie kingdom and gets lost,) we get teasers of mascula with his own body. in ageless artifice, eirene steals mascula's body and intends to use it against masculaxi, but mascula takes control of his body and proclaims that his body isn't necessarily him, but what IS him is his resolve to fight for peace alongside his friends. (stays in line with gala masculaxi, right?) in ch18 we also see mascula having a "nightmare/illusion" in which he gains his body back but at the cost of laxi going berserk once more, showing that they truly cannot function at their "fullest ideal" without each other in the same body. laxi asks mascula if he wants his own body back, and mascula says he sometimes misses it but overall he wants to continue fighting with her the way they are. this is echoed in ch19, take this exchange for example: Mascula, I know you were thinking of your own body while lost in the mountain's illusions. You gave up your body to save me, and I owe you an apology for that. ▷Don't apologize—I wanted to do it. Plus, being with you makes me happy.◁ I want to see a peaceful world just as we are in this body now—together. ▷I feel the exact same way.◁ ▷No more hesitation. You and I are going to fight with Maestro as a team.◁ And together... ▷...we will bring peace.◁ reaffirming their ideals together and keeping in line with their development, right? mascula doesn't WANT his own body back. he wants to keep fighting with laxi, that's THE WHOLE POINT OF THEIR CHARACTERS. which does not make sense when we get the remote control BS IN THE SAME CHAPTER??? (teased from the ending of ageless artifice with chelle) and mascula has his own body again as a remote control system. now the portrayal in the main story wasn't AS bad but... the real problem comes to gala mascula as an adventurer with his stories and voice lines. this "mascula" proclaims of how much he loves/misses his body and how he "doesn't need laxi dragging him around anymore." like sure he sometimes feels being in laxi's body with her is bothersome but overall, at his heart, he wouldn't really say something like that??? mascula your voice lines are so contradictory to what just happened in the main story and what you said in ageless artifice what happened!!!!!!! his adventurer story lacks the cooperative laxi-mascula dynamic we knew and loved, and instead pushes mascula front and center to try to push him to do things himself. we didn't really need mascula getting his own body back anyways, but you COULD'VE AT LEAST written it so that they have more emphasis on cooperation with each other?? god im sorry i just. AUGH he's so OBVIOUSLY hastily pushed into their development arc and he loses his characterization. it's obvious gala mascula wasn't intended to be a thing in the initial plan for masculaxi... i am not forgiving every single one of you who sent in feedback for playable mascula. once again only half joking... maybe only a quarter joking. 1/8ths joking. radioactive decay graph joking. (also just a tiny nitpick: you can apparently run gala mascula and laxi/gala laxi on the same team. lore compliancy who? eden mode can't be activated while the remote control unit is active. but whatever) though another interesting plot point is brought up in his story though? maestro's origins, the writing of "seek peace" on mascula and laxi's bodies being in a language that only the sky city ark people would know.. with such an elaborate plan for such a complex android duo, and everything else mysterious about this man, just who is he? his master plan of masculaxi was really amazing to see come to fruition... maestro fought on the side of dyrenell, against dragons -- against elysium you could say. although ex machina seeks the destruction of terrestrial life because they "allied with the dragons" (a misconception,) on the contrary maybe maestro aimed to create an ultimate weapon for terrestrials to defend themselves against the dragons. however this weapon had to also understand the value of what it was fighting for -- learning for itself how to go about "fighting for peace." thus, the creation of the twins mascula and laxi; two halves of a whole. by having a compassionate and adaptable heart, they can change with the times, understand the people around them, and decide on their own what the best course of action is in various situations. i love love LOVE masculaxi and how they're written!! (for the most part.) two of my faves in the game and i love them and their characterization so much, i just wish more people could see the intricacies of their relationship and how they're literally like. 1/2 of the same thing. it's such a beautifully written dynamic and development, and i want others to appreciate it too.

a little bonus, in this character art, you can see the "star tetrahedron" shapes. in sacred geometry symbolism, the "star tetrahedron" is the sixth shape enclosed within "metatron's cube." these shapes, and this cube, are said to maintain the balance of the world itself and its flows/processes. as for the "star tetrahedron" itself, it represents duality: physical body and spiritual self; male and female; and heaven and earth. this ties into mascula and laxi's characters: mascula controlling the "mind" in eden mode while laxi focuses on the attacking "body;" and mascula and laxi being of different genders. as for "heaven" and "earth," this could represent maestro coming from the sky city ark, and masculaxi being technology intended to aid humans. alternatively for "heaven" and "earth," the fact that the star tetrahedron is enclosed within "metatron's cube" may be a pointer to metatron in-universe. the archangels all have white hair, a trait shared by masculaxi. additionally, sandalphon is somewhat mechanical/technological herself. masculaxi being man-made (of the earth,) versus their potential connection to the angels (of the heavens.)

Am I the only one who's bothered by the way Laxi is made to take a backseat so characters can talk to Mascula?

I understand that Mascula and Luca were able to bond while Laxi was still learning how to interact with people, but it's always bothered me that Luca will avoid talking to Laxi completely at times and talk through her to get to Mascula. Laxi even had to ask Luca to call her by her name and not "Masculaxi", which I feel is pretty sad for her.

It's not happening so much now, and I guess it won't be happening for much longer since it appears Mascula will get his body back soon, but that it happened at all was extremely poor imo. Laxi has come into her own as a really compelling character but it feels like she was just there to facilitate Mascula entirely and I feel for her. I hope that when Mascula does get his body back, she won't fade into the background entirely to make way for him.

having normal day

remember masculaxi are related to the archangels but we don't know how yet

Oh Fuck