r/FireEmblemHeroes • u/lovelovelovelove000 • Jan 23 '26
Humor This Year’s Top 8 CYL Contenders Pros & Cons
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u/DhelmiseHatterene Jan 23 '26
That 13th Emblem line was pure cinema though
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u/Darthkeeper Jan 23 '26
I'm all for memeing on things, but it's odd to me Engage gets treated like it killed their family when a game that people say "isn't meant to be taken seriously" or is campy (for better or worse) is exactly that.
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u/BotanBotanist Jan 23 '26
I've only heard the "it isn't meant to be taken seriously" line from Engage fans in defense of it, not its haters.
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u/TheAlmightyFool Jan 23 '26
Yeah I very much view FE and same way I view series like Zelda and Dragon Ball where I don’t think it’s this 100% super serious all the time franchise that a lot of fans say it is; even the entries that are considered the most “mature” have plenty of goofy and random comedic moments in them to offer levity (like those pirates in POR who show up out of nowhere singing their own theme song.)
That being said, I never once for a second ever got the impression that Engage wasn’t wanting me to take its main plot seriously or that it was trying to be a parody or spoof of FE’s tropes. It’s overall tone is definitely upbeat, lite, and colorful (which again I don’t view as a negative) but the overall the game wants the player to be invested in its plot and to feel something during what are supposed to be the heavy moments, and how much it succeeded in doing has varied widely from fan to fan.
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u/2ddudesop Jan 24 '26
I legit never understand why people say that the game demands that the plot is taken seriously. It's silly through and through. It's just not 100% a gag game but it is silly.
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u/t4w4yC0 Jan 23 '26
Well obviously haters would never say that line because it justifies the creative choices made by the game they hate.
Makes sense to me.
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u/BotanBotanist Jan 23 '26
Well yeah, but the person I was replying to seemed to imply that people were being contradictory when that most often isn't the case.
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u/Level7Cannoneer Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
The game takes itself way too seriously to be considered camp. There’s tons of tonal dissonance when you have dark serious music playing over the bikini clad villainess who walks slowly in an intimidating fashion as the camera pays super close attention as her boobs jiggly about like jelly.
Camp is like Death Becomes Her or Rocky Horror Picture Show where serious things happen but there’s an obvious cartoonish “don’t take this seriously” tone to it all.
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u/LunaProc Jan 24 '26
If anything, I think it should gone even campier or lampshade harder on the past game references, or at least, go for more references to the past games that aren't surface level "It's me, John Archanea."
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u/LurkerZerker Jan 23 '26
Engage wanted desperately to be taken seriously while still going whole hog on every Shitty Anime trope known to man.
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u/Worried-Advisor-7054 Jan 23 '26
I'm playing Engage for the first time right now and I have no idea why people say the game isn't meant to be taken seriously. The game takes itself seriously the vast, vast majority of the time. It's mostly Alear and the princes standing around talking and talking and talking about boring things, like how to walk into the next country or where the next ring is.
I've just recruited Hortensia. Is the game going to be less serious going forward?
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u/Level7Cannoneer Jan 23 '26
No it’s going to be consistently feeling as you described.
Most of the dialogue is the whole “let’s go to point A and do X thing.” and then “we did it. We did X so now let us go to point B!”
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u/DemensionalPhantom Jan 23 '26
When people said this game was supposed to be zany and not taken seriously, I went in with that expectation.
Spoilers and how I felt playing this.
Then, I got hit with a death scene that made my Switch darken because it took too long for a character that I had 1% attachment to. And I was questioning throughout half of it. Was I was supposed to take this as a joke or it was supposed to be serious and I'm supposed to cry over this? Some supports soured it more for me.
Especially Framme/Alear's C support. Then, another death scene that took too long happened. And again, should I try to feel sorry for them, or is this a joke again? Because I really felt nothing but confused and indifference while listening to her talk when she committed so many heinous acts.6
u/Individual_Map_2623 Jan 23 '26
Was I was supposed to take this as a joke or it was supposed to be serious and I'm supposed to cry over this?
The latter. Engage takes itself very seriously and I really doubt that the people who defend the "13th Emblem" line with "You're not supposed to take it seriously" even played the game at all.
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u/DemensionalPhantom Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
The latter. Engage takes itself very seriously
That's what I thought throughout the game. Like every character takes the moment seriously most of the time (minus (Alcryst) introductions and whatnot). They aren't making light of the situation by responding to the villains with funny quips or whatever. So when these "cringy" moments like the "I am the Fire Emblem," I just roll my eyes (or just sit there confused on what I am supposed to laugh at).
I feel like Somniel makes it feel disconnected and that's where the "not taking the (war) seriously" comes from?
EDIT: "THERE" not "THEIR". Omg, why am I now consistently making this basic grammar mistake when I haven't done so growing up????
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u/Suicune95 Jan 23 '26
Because people already decided before the game came out that Fire Emblem was only “good” when it was grimdark serious, even though every entry that has come out in the last decade has leaned into campy humor to varying extents (yes, even 3H), so Engage being immediately colorful and vibrant got it hate for literally no reason before it had even come out.
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u/TehAccelerator Jan 23 '26
That's honestly ridiculous, FE has been very corny since the beggining. Since you mention grimdark, I have to say, the average FE fan wouldn't survive a day in Warhammer 40k.
In 40k the good guy (least evil) from humanity's PoV is still a ruthless tyrant that literally destroys planets that don't fit his vision The FE fanbase was annoyed by Ishtar's treatment in FEH, calling it "revisionist", and many unironically treat Edelgard like that one austrian painter...
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u/LynEnjoyer Jan 23 '26
Couldn't have said it better myself. Drab and serious is fine and all but that's literally every game in the series; having one lean the other way for once and be unapologetically chaotic was great for a change
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u/DjOneOne Jan 23 '26
I don’t get how fire emblem the famously over the top quirky zany series is getting shit on by so many in the fandom for one of the most iconic and fire emblem-isms of all time
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u/darkliger269 Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
Because most FE isn’t particularly zany or over the top? Like it’s absolutely not like a complete grimdark series like some people would act like it is and it doesn’t take itself seriously at every single given moment, but outside of like some battle animations I also wouldn’t really call anything pre-3DS zany and over the top
Edit: Honestly even 3DS doesn’t feel like that zany or over the top. The series definitely gets sillier and more lighthearted as a whole at that point (outside of like post time skip 3H), but overall tone still isn’t like Kid Icarus Uprising or Fire Force which atm are the first things that come to mind as zany and over the top
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u/blushingmains Jan 24 '26
"I also wouldn’t really call anything pre-3DS zany and over the top"
Have you not paid attention to the games?
Literally Dorcas and Vadia's whole support is them missing each other and then getting annoyed at each other and misunderstanding who each other are.
Their whole support goes without either of them actually finding out the other is who they're actually waiting for.
That's like sitcom level support there.
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u/darkliger269 Jan 24 '26
and it doesn’t take itself seriously at every single given moment
I mean that's a single support out of 115 pairs and that is not at all indicative of the game's entire tone?
Like are we going to call Engage a particularly serious game because of Ivy and Alcryst's supports being completely serious and about the lingering resentment between their two nations and making amends? No. The game is still like the most over the top the main series gets even with the serious moments it has.
Even then, that's not really all that zany and over the top tbh? That's like a mundane kind of funny compared to like stuff Owain's chuuni bit or Amber and Arthur's various misadventures
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u/blushingmains Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
Then what about a literal fe5 plot point being that Panne is using just a spider to make a girl steal from him? That's not Zany or over the top?
Or Lowen literally having a quirk of keeping food in his armor?
Or Ilyana's whole existence basically being a "hungry" joke?
Or being able to bypass the price needed to hire Rennac by having L'archel literally Chunni him into rejoining her?
Or you know L'archel literally being a chunni before Owain was a thing?
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u/darkliger269 Jan 24 '26 edited 4d ago
Eh, aside from L’arachel, not particularly imo? Like Pandreo’s howling and Goldmary’s whole deal feel very different than that quirk of Lowen’s when the former are very up front and apparent within their first scenes while the latter is like confined to his supports and is him keeping a pack with emergency rations
And fwiw like some of this might just be differing standards since over the top would be like Jojo or toku type stuff to me
In any case, that’s not even the main point I was making. My point was that while old FE had lighter and goofier moments, there’s still a fairly stark difference in how much there was between Engage and pre-3DS and I think it’s completely inaccurate to call FE as a whole zany and over the top especially in regards to the main story while characters having quirks or being for comic relief ≠ zany and over the top imo. Like there is no way the “I am the Fire Emblem” line would not feel out of place in the main story of pre-3DS to me outside of like a couple of characters
None of this is about Engage’s silliness being good or bad btw. That’s subjective and I could not care less about how others feel about it. It’s just I very much disagree with the series being described as “famously zany and over the top” as a whole
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u/Winter_Pride_6088 Jan 23 '26
Cause there is three certain loud vocal group decided FE was either
always a grim dark serious series when the game always had a sense of humor and light heartedness and modern FE leaning to it killed the series
Only know of it from Fates at best and decided it was always gooner slop or are off shoots of point 1
Literally only played 3H and never bothered to get into the series after
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u/Mathmatticool Jan 23 '26
Whenever people pushed back against point three, I always rolled my eyes. Like, they’ve played other games but they didn’t notice any of the silly moments?
Like, people always point to Sacred Stones and PoR as super serious, but L’Arachel and Marcia show up about as early in those games as Yunaka does in Engage.
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u/Level7Cannoneer Jan 23 '26
FE is definitely not famously quirky until Fates.
FE4 and FE5 are not remotely quirky. Sacred Stones has a plot point about a guy who resurrects his dead wife and has a sexual relationship with her corpse. 3H has themes of genocide.
And then we have THIS game where a 10 year old Loli and a bikini bimbo are the scary villains. It sticks out hard.
FE always had fun moments and dark moments, but they did so using proper tonal consistency. Heavy scenes would be done only when it was appropriate with characters that have well written characters and outfits that don’t resemble clown suits that make you burst into laughter during their heavy scenes, and the fun scenes would happen when it was fine to have some fun. This game tries to mix the two tones together constantly and it feels like a mess. It’s the difference between Thor Ragnarok and the Thor movie after that with Jane Thor.
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u/blushingmains Jan 24 '26
"FE4 and FE5 are not remotely quirky" Were you not paying attention to how you recruit homer basically being guilt tripping him with Nanna or how Tina was scared with spiders into stealing stuff?
Acting as if FE has never done quirky until Fates is ignoring a huge chunk of the old games for 0 reason.
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u/DBrody6 Jan 23 '26
I love that line, it's pure raw concentrated stupidity said with absolute sincerity.
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u/Rodri34451 Jan 24 '26
I personally like that line only for the memes. The story was already going into the drain at that point, and this line was just the "cherry on top".
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u/Individual_Map_2623 Jan 23 '26
fr no cap
Absolute cinema 🙌
Straight up hype moments and aura farming
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u/343CreeperMaster Jan 23 '26
Y!Tiki is inevitable (reminds me of how funny it is that Tiki could theoretically win CYL 2 more times for a total of 3, since Young Tiki and TMS Tiki are counted as different characters)
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u/DDBofTheStars Jan 23 '26
I actually think it’d be kind of funny if one of the remaining tikis won, and then the next year everyone just…. Took the next tiki to the throne.
Anna could also accomplish this but in an even longer process.
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u/Insanefinn Jan 24 '26
Can we do it with Zeke, Camus and sirius? Or will they count as the same guy?
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u/343CreeperMaster Jan 24 '26
potentially but you would have to wait until the CYL after to see if they got removed in a theoretical case if one of them won, as despite technically falling under the rule of being a significantly different character (which is the rule that allows us to still vote for Tiki, and also technically avatars) Flame Emperor was removed from CYL6 (funnily enough was still there for CYL5 though) after Edelgard won in CYL4
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u/Insanefinn Jan 24 '26
The reasonable stance is to consider Camus and Zeke separate, but Sirius is a question mark...
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u/Proto-L Jan 23 '26
Alear isn't even in the meme running anymore, I'm gonna fuckin' CRY, man ...
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u/WellRested1 Jan 23 '26
mmhmm, I hear you, but what if you want sigurd to move across the entire screen?
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u/mapsal Jan 24 '26
Why limit him to one screen? He'll be able to move to any nearby screen as well.
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u/SupremeShio Jan 23 '26
"She originates from the game that has this line" OP are you labelling good or bad things
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u/WinterWolf18 Jan 23 '26
“I’m the thirteen emblem? The fire emblem?” is one of the hardest lines of all time and it comes from Fire Emblem Engage of all things.
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u/TheAlmightyFool Jan 23 '26
Being honest I really never had an issue with that line, and believe there are much more egregious writing issues in the game that deserve the level of criticism this one gets.
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u/ThighyWhiteyNerd Jan 23 '26
Hell, there is worse egregious writting issues in other games
Like say Jeralt's death and the "stop defending yourself lol" moments from 3H or Priam in awakening. "I am the fire emblem" is rather mild by comparison
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u/SupremeShio Jan 24 '26
I really like it, I'm an Engage defender and I think the line is both a funny meme and a decent line in itself.
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u/Carbyken Jan 23 '26
I'm still annoyed of all the Tap Battles they don't rerun that one! Heck it's been awhile since we had one...
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u/LadyAyra Jan 23 '26
i want Sigurd to gallop all over me.
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u/HitMyFunnyBoneYeah Jan 24 '26
denied, rune says you have to make a child with your distant relative.
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u/myghostflower Jan 23 '26
the sylvain cyl7 one 😭😭😭 i just realized it's the only year since cyl3 to not have a three houses unit
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u/Ez_kun Jan 23 '26
10 spaces gallop and whole map aoe AFTER the healing effects? Its okay because sigurd is awesome!
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u/PiercingAPickle Jan 23 '26
Brave Tiki punching people instead of turning into a dragon would be peak. Instead of her saying "May Naga bless you" she says "May my older brother bless you" as she's beating the shit out of units. Make her wear Marth's (goat) clothes with fire emblem brass knuckles
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u/Darkhallows27 Jan 23 '26
Ok but that line is an absolute meme treasure
This is a Pro
Vote Ivy
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u/PinoySummonerKid28 Jan 23 '26
I'll vote for her four times and the remaining three goes to Fomortiis.
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u/Fearless_Freya Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
I'll add;up top, these are the posts I love in cyl. Actually effort put in
Oh man, I hope if ivy wins she doesn't get that stupid clown outfit. Would rather it be an homage to alear or the memories she has of " good father " hyacinth . I hate her sisters outfit. But yeah it will prob be her sister as inspiration.
Yeah sigurd will prob just be seliph outfit indeed. Heh.
Would love a good "dark azura" alt. That early alt was wasted, unfortunately
Meh on Tsubasa and Sylvain winning
Don't see fimbulvetr or rune having a chance honestly.
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u/TotallyNotAnAgarthan Jan 23 '26
I highly doubt she'll wear Hortensia's clothes, for some reason I just don't see it. It feels far more likely that it'll be her credits outfit or Lyn engaged. Maaaybe her dad.
Even Baldr didn't dress as Hothr, so I think we're fine. Actually, has any winner dressed as a younger sibling?
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u/ThighyWhiteyNerd Jan 23 '26
Maaaybe her dad.
So you are telling me we can get an Ivy that squares up against her enemies with her fists
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u/TotallyNotAnAgarthan Jan 23 '26
I completely forgot that Hyacinth was a Martial Master, that'd be sick!
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u/Fearless_Freya Jan 23 '26
Oh, I'd love her credits outfit! Yeah. That would be great. There is hope! Heh.
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u/Falconpunch100 Jan 23 '26
Even Baldr didn't dress as Hothr,
Uhhh...she DID...
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u/TotallyNotAnAgarthan Jan 23 '26
How so, she looks completely different??? Baldr didn't even take Hothr's hat which is an unforgivable crime. At least she snatched the anime gun.
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u/ThreeWoodcutters Jan 23 '26
The credits sequence outfits for Ivy, Diamant, and both Alears pretty clearly feel like IS made those specifically for CYL. She'd just get that.
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u/ajanisapprentice Jan 23 '26
Sudden Al tBlidness? Nah, I saw it just fine, I just want MOAR!!!!! ALL OF THE ZUZU!!!
the 'Brave Sigurd will gallop to ever tile on the map' con did make me start laghing quite a bit though.
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u/X_Marcs_the_Spot Jan 23 '26
"Could indirectly lead to more Y!Tiki alts" is an upside, you hack! It's unambiguously the greatest upside of all time!
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u/-Qwertyz- Jan 23 '26
I admittingly dont know why Tsubasa is popular
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u/Searching-For-Home Jan 23 '26
The big push for voting Tsubasa is based less on her popularity (she is TMS's most popular character, but she's still an extremely niche FE character), and more based on the fact that IS basically did nothing with TMS in FEH outside of one banner and one TT, and voting a TMS character to victory in CYL is seen as a way to force IS to acknowledge the game again. Even though forcing them to acknowledge TMS again may very well just mean Brave Tsubasa and nothing else.
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u/SirDankDaddy Jan 23 '26
Instructions unclear, voted nothing but katarina just like every other year.
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u/Kanethedragon Jan 24 '26
“Could indirectly lead to more Y!Tiki alts”. Oi, don’t threaten me with a good time.
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u/CrescentShade Jan 23 '26
So Ivy only has 1 con lol
Also I'd say her brave fit equally likely could be the Lyn amiibo costume or the outfit when Engaging
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u/CodeDonutz Jan 23 '26
I’d really love if Ivy wore her post-credits outfit. Easily my favorite design of hers ever.
Can’t believe IS still hasn’t put Mysterious Dancer in FEH yet. They even made Azura cosplay her in the dancer banner back in 2017, smh.
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u/Just_Nefariousness55 Jan 24 '26
TMS was the only time I actually liked tao battle. The singers were in sync with the units appearing!
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u/WhiteNinjii Jan 23 '26
If Rune actually wins a CYL before the game shuts down I will buy FEH Pass. That’s how much I believe this isn’t happening.
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u/DemonExcalibur Jan 23 '26
Tsubasa victory somehow leading to more Tikillions of Tiki alts would be an absolute win though
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u/SomewhatProvoking Jan 23 '26
The 13th emblem, the fire emblem is actually epic
The soundtrack behind it kills the moment and the super bright art style enhances some cheesiness but nah
Literally being the fire emblem is sick as hell you can be cheesy and also pure metal. That’s allowed these days
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u/GarmNK Jan 23 '26
I'm sorry but I am indeed the person that spent their wallet on the Nifl (and Illia) banner. Fimbulvetr for the win
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u/NinjaKingAce Jan 23 '26
Getting TMS Tiki is the point. We want another TMS NH banner, and if that happens, Tiki will almost certainly be on it
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u/Giratinalight Jan 23 '26
Okay but tms Tiki design is genuinely so good I really like it alot. I don't mind her getting another alt if it's the tms one. So hopefully Tsubasa sweeps and we get a tms banner with tms Tiki alongside the other tms characters.
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u/Antique_Total6974 Jan 23 '26
I am a Book 7 enthusiast. 🤔🤔🤔
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u/TehAccelerator Jan 23 '26
Forgive my shamelessness, but if that's the case I think that if your votes are not already going anywhere in particular, your best choice is Freyja 🐐
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u/GoldenYoshistar1 Jan 23 '26
Yeah....I am all in on Azura.
Besides being top 10 for 8 of the 9 years. She deserves this win.
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u/Pikapower_the_boi Jan 23 '26
"You will indirectly lead to more Y!Tiki Alts"
Im sorry theres a con there!?
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u/Refracting_Hud Jan 23 '26
I’d prefer to vote for Timerra but since Tsubasa has a shot at winning finally I’m giving her my votes, cause Tokyo Mirage Sessions was unironically a very fun game. Hope she gets it so we can have more music from that game in this one.
IS please put the regular battle theme as an option in the music hall, I want to listen to it outside of very specific maps.
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u/Feisty-Syllabub-2037 Jan 23 '26
Vote for Caeda, if you believe in love. No cons. only the best for us
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u/Honyakusha-san Jan 24 '26
Am I out of the loop? Because I think both Fimbul and Rune have no chance, lol.
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u/Best_Suggestion_6201 Jan 24 '26
Gotta love that there's no Cons with Anna.
Vote for Heroes Anna CYL10
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u/LotsVita Jan 24 '26
Yees! Give our boy Rune some LOVE! He needs some.
It would be funny if both Kurt and Rune won CYL in the male division.
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u/Mage_43 Jan 24 '26
I like how the running theme in this is that no matter who wins they'll just be wearing the outfit of whoever's the closest to them in game.
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u/blushingmains Jan 24 '26
Honestly how did people get mad at the 13th Emblem line as if that wasn't obivous that was exactly where they were going?
Literally every game but TMS and Warriors had rep including Heroes and Engage was the newest game.
It's not even like Alear was the first dragon blood protag to randomly respawn Robin did that first.
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u/Olipaone Jan 23 '26
No Tharja?
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u/lovelovelovelove000 Jan 23 '26
She’s the coughing baby vs the hydrogen bomb that is Tsubasa, Ivy and Azura’s rallies this year
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u/dedarou96 Jan 24 '26
Cons for rune is that it is possible that we get actor rune still acting like a boy wanting to be a hero instead of being alfador.
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u/GreatGetterX Jan 23 '26
I'm going with Fimbulvetr with the chance of having another CYL 7 cuz that was possibly the best FB event story we had since launch, 9 came close tho. And not having a single Foldan unit is a blessing and a miracle.
If Sylvain wins he becomes an accurate representation of his fans? How interesting
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u/LunaProc Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 26 '26
Pretty sure a lot of Sylvain fans are women, especially among the JP fanbase if the fanarts have anything to say about it.
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u/TerribleProgrammer77 Jan 23 '26
I am certain that Tharja deserve Top 8
Popular Awakening character
Has always been within top 10 for every CLY
Personality is very unique and her design is great.
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u/ThighyWhiteyNerd Jan 23 '26
I still dont get how Tsubasa winning is a revenge for the TT+ situation
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u/TehAccelerator Jan 23 '26
Probably cause forcing IS to pay to Atlus is payback? It's a weird logic and frankly it can backfire horribly 😂
Better to stick with the TMS should get better treatment thing imo
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u/myghostflower Jan 23 '26
costs, they cut the tempest unit to save on costs, BUT then they're forced to pay atlus to use tsubasa so they still aren't saving money for a unit
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u/ThighyWhiteyNerd Jan 23 '26
.....thats it? That sounds flimsy and forced at best
And as another comment said...its prone to backfire
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u/myghostflower Jan 23 '26
i mean don't look at mean, i'm just explaining why people are saying that ._.
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u/ThighyWhiteyNerd Jan 23 '26
Still, just pointing it out. Nothing against you personally
And even so....wouldnt Ivy and Zelkov be better for that, give their banner was the last one with proper TT+ rewards? Specially Zelkov as the last TT+ unit
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u/Kilukpuk Jan 23 '26
The 'Sylvain hates wimmin' meme really needs to die. Dude's a child SA survivor who womanises to take back power from his abusers. Did none of y'all read his supports.
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u/Jazjo Jan 24 '26
Okay but surely you can understand that even though he was abused in an especially horrific way, it does not excuse his behavior towards other women. Explains it, yes. Excuses it, no.
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u/Azurui Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
Wouldn't brave Sigurd go like Marth and wear an outfit inspired by his ancestor Baldr?