dervish_candela|art corner

[dervish_candela]

I think you definitely could. I've always wanted to see such a scene illustrated, too-- the emotions flashing over her face, the tragedy and the triumph and the awe and the horror. Mir's exploits during the war are something that's rarely been expanded upon or drawn, and yet I think it's a fascinating period of her history. (It'd definitely look great in panel format, too, to capture both the vast scale of destruction and the personal details of her emotions....)

I won't guarantee much for emotions. I'm not very good with those. But I'll try. But, given that Mir has... issues, when it comes to emotions, it makes the challenge really interesting. I haven't still decided everything: it's a huge responsibility ^^;

By the way, Ayulsa, seeing that you're a kinda Mir fan and expert, you might've had some thoughts about her or her story written down or something? (I guess you most likely do in some threads) Could your share them? I'd like to have another perspective. It might not influence me much, but I might find some interesting little ideas/details, and those always turn to be more important than we think in the beginning. Also are there any details on her getting acquainted with Spica and their escape to Metafalss?

[Ayulsa]

Acquainted with Spica and the actual leaving for Metafalss, no. But the Jakuri drama CD does have some info on what happened just after that. viewtopic.php?f=10&t=81 How Jakuri and Spica actually got close (other than that Spica found her randomly wandering around in Firefly Alley with no clothes on... likely, she was feeling emotionally haunted and confused after how Lyner and co. helped her, and still trying to make sense of things and decide whether she could really live among humans again) is another topic that, sadly, the series doesn't say much about.

As for things written down about Mir-- why, yes, as a matter of fact I do. *flattered that you consider me any sort of an expert! Though I guess I have been fascinated with her for a very long time, and have done a lot of analysis of her character.... Still, I'm flattered.* Try the "mir" tag on my blog: http://execharmonious.blogspot.com/search/label/mir There are some random things in there, like Second Life photoshoots and things from my Reyvablog alternate-universe fanfic world, that won't be relevant to you, but if you skim and scroll far enough you'll find several essays in there deconstructing various aspects of Mir's character.

Here are a few to start with:
http://execharmonious.blogspot.com/2009 ... heart.html
http://execharmonious.blogspot.com/2008 ... esfel.html
http://execharmonious.blogspot.com/2008 ... ption.html
http://execharmonious.blogspot.com/2008 ... r-you.html
http://execharmonious.blogspot.com/2008 ... lower.html
http://execharmonious.blogspot.com/2008 ... nding.html

Hope that helps some!

Also, it's not critical analysis, but if you want my subjective perspective on what Mir is like, there are my various fanfics, which feature her quite a bit: http://execharmonious.blogspot.com/search/label/fanfic (the most recent thing there is an AI3 fanfic, but most of them are AT). And this: http://atwhistleblower.blogspot.com/ which is another fanfic of mine, in blog form, that talks about her early life (this was written before I played AT2, but it's surprisingly accurate to what was actually there).

I like Mir. You may have noticed.

[Eleinia]

Your pics are indeed a bit creepy, but I like the unique style.

[Nash]

Ohhh~ Your first image oddly enough, reminds me of .hack. I'm not entirely sure why but it does o A o

Dunno, I'm not acquainted with .hack much save for knowing Kajiura was involved and listening to the OSTs (I'm a fan, you see

Yeah, now that you mention it... it does resemble the fields of .hack.
Must've been the Replekia'd Infel Phira in the background blending with the horizon, reminiscent of those faraway old ruins one can see when traversing the plains area.

As for that Funblekia... I'm rather scared. >_<

[Denneldum]

maan~black and white is cooolll~~~

[dervish_candela]

Thanks everyone
Yes, the Replekia was supposed to be creepy. It haunted me ever since I've heard the song and read the text. And I'm happy that I was able to express this with the picture.
(I'd like to say something along the lines of «Was yea ra chs hymmnos mea», but sadly hymmnos doesn't seem to have words related to images).

As for things written down about Mir-- why, yes, as a matter of fact I do. *flattered that you consider me any sort of an expert!... Also, it's not critical analysis, but if you want my subjective perspective on what Mir is like, there are my various fanfics... I like Mir. You may have noticed.

Yes, thanks a lot. Seriously. I found many interesting things. More in your fanfics than in analysis, but hey, from the viewpoint of school for literary critique I belong to, fanfics would be more of actual critique than any analytic rationalizations I liked much of the details you cleverly inferred from the game, as well as the social image of Mir as controversial legendary figure that would inspire others.

Although I stumbled upon another largely lampshaded problem of AT1: why did they imprison her? why didn't they kill her? Shurelia, of all people, should know what «false kindness» is. And that... just may lead to another highly dramatic point in her history just waiting to become a good picture

Yes, I noticed

[aquagon]

I think that it's because they couldn't: with Mir predicting all of her movements through the Tower, Shurelia couldn't do anything to counterattack, much less try to kill her, until Tastiella came in and sealed her with Lune's help.
Afterwards, I think that Shurelia felt that she wouldn't be any better than Mir if she killed her while she was sealed, so she spared her.

[dervish_candela]

I think that it's because they couldn't: with Mir predicting all of her movements through the Tower, Shurelia couldn't do anything to counterattack, much less try to kill her, until Tastiella came in and sealed her with Lune's help.

*sigh* Overdose of plot magics detected (as you might've noticed, I'm not too fond of them ): . I can't help but feel that they somehow magically devaluate human efforts.
Why would they need Shurelia at all to get Mir? A teru commando squad had successfully sabotaged AT twice, against all the military power of Elemia. What kept them from a sudden attack? And the story goes that Tastiella had to sacrifice herself to stop Mir further when they basically run out of options, and I'm sure that Shurelia wouldn't chose to sacrifice her friend for her foe. I mean come on, they could've just destroyed her physically, along with the Silver Horn if needed.

It's almost like nobody actually considered constructing any sane plot for this part >_>
(Well, I guess since AT2 makes it clear that ultimately, reyvateils don't even need physical bodies, and can survive on song servers, my reasoning here is pretty much pointless, too )
Well, that's a pity. It seems I wouln't be able to get a nice Shurelia/Mir mexican standoff, since she's been sealed with magical crystals

Afterwards, I think that Shurelia felt that she wouldn't be any better than Mir if she killed her while she was sealed, so she spared her.

I don't think Shurelia, if pressed into the corner, wouldn't seriously try to kill Mir, since protecting people was her main imperative all along. It's not like Shurelia to be woried if she was better or not. In fact, I don't ever remember Shurelia worrying about herself at all. I can see her giving the order: not without hesitation, but without doubts.

[aquagon]

Because Shurelia was the one leading the war against Mir, to begin with. All the plans they already tested ended in complete failure, given that Mir could basically check anything that Shurelia could be thinking through the Binary Field of the Tower, and we already saw that shutting down the Tower or destroying any of its parts was already impossible (not to forget that the Silver Horn also was the source of magic for everyone in the Second Era, and Shurelia didn't took the decision of stop providing magic to the people until after the war), and debugging the Shadow virus from the Tower systems was an impossible task as well because of how quick it moved inside of the Binary Field, so they really didn't have other choice.

Plus, killing Mir after she was sealed away by Tastiella's song implied releasing her first to afterwards attack her body, and given that at the time she still had her full power (compared to the 50% she had in the final battle of At1), I don't think that battling against her was a quite brilliant idea.
(And I don't either that Shurelia considered either the use of Suspend, regardless of what reasons she might have had at the time).

[dervish_candela]

Because Shurelia was the one leading the war against Mir, to begin with. All the plans they already tested ended in complete failure, given that Mir could basically check anything that Shurelia could be thinking through the Binary Field of the Tower

*sigh* who designed their security systems... (reminds me how Jakuri herself was quite sarcastic about that in AT2, praising Metafalssians for being smarter than that)

Reyvablog alternate-universe fanfic world, that won't be relevant to you

I think it would be quite interesting to read that, too.

[dervish_candela]

When I was thinking of "how I would want to see Cocona back", I had this kick ass image of more adult version of her, in Jakuri-style armor suit and Elma, overlooking the third tower from above I finally managed to start sketching that. Ironically, at the same time I was in the middle of drawing it, the second trailer for AT3 came out (so the sketch now is largely pointless, I won't add any more details to the background or the Elma)

↓ full view, 1600px

orz
It's not that I dislike the old new Cocona we'll get in at3, it's just that she seems now kind of... generic T_T
(edits fix some typos, add some typos and fix them again)

[ilutiern]

S-so amazing Realistically drawn and shaded. I love how you did the shine on her suit, and her Heart of Gaea-esque necklace. If Cocona looked like that when she grew up, she'd have men falling over their feet for her.

[dervish_candela]

S-so amazing Realistically drawn and shaded. I love how you did the shine on her suit, and her Heart of Gaea-esque necklace. If Cocona looked like that when she grew up, she'd have men falling over their feet for her.

Yeah, we all hope her to become a heck of a good woman one day
and thanks when people give out praise like that despite all the mistakes and stuff, it really boosts my motivation to do more and do better

[Fusaō]

Hey, it's a pretty monochrome illustration regardless of all that. I myself like this

[Vermilion Sky]

when people give out praise like that despite all the mistakes and stuff, it really boosts my motivation to do more and do better

The image you drew in the first post was scaled down to 1280x1024 and used as my wallpaper, where it stayed for about a month.

[dervish_candela]

thanks people!
ok, I have 2 more themes left from AT2. The first is Infel / Frelia, the second being many things for Mir. Although the spotlight seems to have been stolen from the old gods. I wonder if I should catch the wave and cough up some NICE SAKI in spats, too

[Denneldum]

nicely done...i don't know how to say it but i love your art!

[dervish_candela]

thanks :>

[Chimera]

You certainly blow away anything I could do keep it up

[dervish_candela]

thanks, but don't be so self-deprecating. these are my few best works, y'know; I still have loads of 100% crap tucked away in hidden folders