Nothing like a broken heart to bleed ink

I've seen people say things about Amalia not being queen material because she was always far from her kingdom, and I can't help but think they're taking everything at face value. Like they assume that just because the plot takes place while Amalia is usually away on an adventure, that's all there is to it and her circumstances, when in reality nothing is further from the truth.

First of all, back in season 1 the show didn't exactly shy away from confirming Amalia essentially spent her early life confined in the Sadida Kingdom and most likely never stepped foot outside of it until she decided to run away. Hence why she failed to understand the chamberlain wouldn't be able to pay for her expenses when she was in Bonta.

And why did she run away in the first place? That's right. Because her family insisted she remained cooped up in the palace ever since the queen's death. And considering Queen Sheran Sharm died when Amalia was little, that all means she had spent 13 years "trapped" in her kingdom as early as season 1.

Now, I don't think we have an exact date for the Brotherhood's adventures, how long they lasted. But I'm gonna go with my gut and say each journey they took place in the span of several months to a year, tops.

That would mean the first time Amalia left home she wasn't away for that long, anyway.

Not to mention, after dealing with Nox and before Eva herself ran away to get Pinpin back in season 2, it was established the Brotherhood of the Tofu spent several weeks, maybe a month or two, in the Sadida Kingdom. With Yugo and Adamaï helping Amalia with her duties because she was swamped with them, to the point she somewhat reverted back to her brattier days (which is not excusable, but it does show that, at 13-14 at the least, Amalia was already in charge of many administrative duties and responsibilities and under a lot of stress).

In fact, the only reason she didn't stay in her kingdom for the entirety of the season, besides her wanderlust, is the fact that trouble kept popping up. Originally, they only left to get Eva back after she ran away in search of Pinpin, and once they returned from that, the only reason they left the kingdom again was because of Qilby's appearance and his lies deceiving them into helping retrieve his Dofus by painting it as a humanitarian mission for the sake of the Eliatropes.

And before you point out Amalia was supposed to stay in her kingdom that time around but chose to run away again, let's not forget how, technically speaking, she didn't sneak away at all, shall we?

In season 2, the roles had been reversed. Amalia thought she was sneaking away again, but not only was Eva in the know and totally in favour of it (as opposed to her reluctance from season 1), but so was King Sheran Sharm. Remember? He went as far as to have Renate and Canar prepare plenty of provisions for her. Meaning, that time around, Amalia had her father's approval, which implies she didn't actually do anything wrong.

And again, their adventures kept them away from several months up to a year, but not much longer. In fact, the only time it was confirmed they spent a year away was during the post-season 2 manga, and that was an accident because they didn't account for time flowing differently in Emrub.

Now, let's add the time of the OVAs. The special episodes are stated to take place 6 years after season 2, with Flopin and Élely being little kids but not babies or toddlers anymore; Yugo stuck in his childish body despite being, what, 19(?); and Amalia being old enough to marry—given she is 22 in seasons 3 and 4, that would make her roughly 20-21 years old.

Six years had gone by between the second season and the OVAs, and if we add the year away from the manga, that means that Amalia dutifully spent 5 years in her kingdom, carrying out her royal duties and most likely only leaving for a few days at a time at most in order to visit her friends for important occasions like their birthdays. Though this is speculation on my part based on the events of the manga. Days she got to spend away because she probably had her father's permission to, as he wholeheartedly approved of her friendship with the Brotherhood of the Tofu. Meaning, once again, that Amalia wasn't doing anything wrong.

Then the OVAs came, and she had to leave for Frigost, and this time indefinitely since she was to marry Count Harebourg, therefore becoming his Countess and needing to remain by his side in his realm. And, again, because that was a marriage of convenience for the sake of her kingdom, she wasn't just allowed to leave but expected to. But even when it was revealed Count Harebourg planned to either exploit Yugo and the Eliatrope Dofus or the Sadida forests to benefit Frigost and the wedding didn't come to pass, it wasn't like Amalia stayed around to sightsee either.

As soon as they freed Joris, Atcham, and Kerubim and got some exposition on Tristepin from Rubi, realising she had the means to save her kingdom by having Pinpin help, the group split up in two and they turned back around towards the Sadida Kingdom. And all that in just a few days, a week or two at most.

Then comes season 3, taking place a year, year and a half, after the OVAs, with Amalia now 22 and confining herself to the palace more than ever because she's watching as her father withers away each passing day and she's trying to avoid Armand and Aurora since all they seem to care about is getting her hitched and out of their hair.

To be honest, I'm not sure how long they're supposed to have spent in Oropo's dimension and Inglorium, since it feels like only a few days, but then Armand reveals in season 4 that he had only been king for a few weeks and the timeline gets kinda wacky. Because... Amalia just returned the day prior? And she spent the whole time by their father's grave?? What, did he leave her be to the point of risking malnourishment and dehydration for several days??? It just doesn't make sense.

Anyway, confusing timeline aside, what does this tell us? Simple, it tells us that Amalia was only away from home for about 2-3 years, which isn't all that different from when our parents send us to study abroad in real life. Which, at the same time, means that out of 22 years of her life, she remained 19 in her kingdom, performing her duties. And that's even without taking into account the fact that 90% of season 4 took place in the Sadida Kingdom, or the four months between Yugo and Amalia's wedding and the events of The Great Wave, where Amalia (and Yugo) stayed in her kingdom, ruling it.

Unlike Armand, Amalia might have been more interested in adventure than power and politics, and she might not have had the same kind of training as he did as heir apparent, but she is in now way, shape, or form incompetent or unprepared when it comes to ruling her people. Now try to tell me she was always away or that she is irresponsible. I dare you.

The interesting thing about Gobbowl culture in Ankama media (and probably the aspect that most resembles irl football) is the fact that the interest it draws comes less from the sport itself and more from there being players the fans can idolise and obsess over.

Khan Karkass summed it up best: people don't come to matches to watch them play, they come to watch him.

Gobbowl fans care more about their favourite player than the sport itself. In fact, for the most part they care more about their favourite player putting on a show for them than them playing well.

And this is something that's been present in all iterations of the franchise, in the different eras (except for Waven, but the game's not quite there as far as I'm concerned).

Back in Wakfu season 1, there was Kriss Krass, who was massively popular, even when I seem to remember he didn't even play in the first division back then.

Moreover, his main flaw was being a complete showboat, but it was precisely because he knew his fans cared more about him putting on a good show than about the actual outcome of the game. I mean, the man held back from utterly cursbtomping the opposite team just so he could keep the game going for as long as possible and his fans wouldn't get bored!

Then season 2 introduced Maude as the Masked Gobbowler. In Brâkmar. Where women aren't even allowed to watch Gobbowl.

And, sure, one of the main reasons she hid her identity was precisely because if she was found out, the lightest sentence would be her being banned from ever playing again, with the highest sentence being... Well...

You know...

But that doesn't change the fact that Brâkmar holds their best player in such a high pedestal the Masked Gobbowler had a say in legal procedures and how to deal with the accused party of a trial. With no one, not even the Prince of Brâkmar, daring to refute.

And in the end, after Maude proved just how amazing her technique is by saving the city alongside Kriss from the Mmmmmporg's rampage, Brâkmar started treating having a girl as their best player as a badge of honour (if only because they thought it proved their superiority over Bonta).

And then we have the Dofus Era with Khan Karkass.

Khan, who was introduced looking for new team members with the sole purpose of making himself look better, because that's what the fans wanted. They wanted Khan. Everybody else was little more than a living prop meant to make him shine.

His fame was so great that you could say it overshadowed even Jashash's. Because even though the match was supposed to commemorate him and his sacrifice, what everyone really came to see was Khan play. Even the announcer gave so much more importance to Khan's presence over Jahash's feats.

And, again, the fans seemed to care much more about Khan as an icon than they did his actual skills. Now, don't get me wrong, Khan genuinely was a talented player, more importantly, one that recognised true talent. And Marilyn possessing his body and playing bad on purpose was a great factor in the fans' disillusionment over him during the climax.

However, it should be pointed out that what horrified them first was Marilyn shaving Khan's hair. Because that simple action shattered their ideal image of him. If they truly cared more about the sport, they wouldn't have even batted an eyelash.

(Again, this is a reflection of real life, where the moment a famous player makes a drastic change to their appearance, social media is already flowing with comments about it).

But no. They were horrified because they idolised Khan as a source of entertainment much more than they liked the actual sport, and his hair was his trademark. Getting rid of it was getting rid of what made Khan an object of envy and desire. And Marilyn, as fellow Khan Karkass Stan and scorned admirer, knew that. He knew it better than anyone. That's why he did it.

And I don't know wny I chose to fixate on this today and overanalyse a relatively small aspect of the franchise. I just guess this is all a neat piece of world building.

Wakfu Season 4 Artbook: Evangelyne

If there's any TV Troper in the Wakfu fandom, please, let me know!

TV Tropes is my Bible and it breaks my heart to see it hasn't been updated in months, not even after The Great Wave dropped. Is there something I'm missing? Are there rules about when it's appropriate to update?

Because I know for a fact there are shows that update their information within hours of a new episode dropping.

Please, I've been obsessing over Wakfu and the different tropes that could be applied to both old and new characters for months! If you'd like to know in order to update the site yourself, then hit me up! We can discuss tropes and see if they actually fit or not, but for the love of everything good, update the damn character sheets!

Seriously, I'm pretty sure the only characters who've received a notable update in the last few months are Oropo and Echo, but mostly Oropo.

I'm sorry, I'd gladly do it myself, but I don't know how and if it requires to write in HTML or Python or that kind of language, I have no idea. So please, if anybody here has access to TV Tropes and is willing to edit the Wakfu page, don't hesitate to reach out to me 🥹🥹🥹

Okay, so my Wakfu Season 4 artbook should arrive tomorrow, and if anyone's interested, I'll gladly share some pictures. However, for those who prefer to wait until they can either buy their own copy or are waiting for their own copies to come and don't want to be spoiled, I will be using tags such as "wakfu artbook", "wakfu season 4 artbook", and "wakfu artbook spoilers". So feel free to blacklist those tags so you won't have to see my posts and get spoiled.

Let me know what you guys think and, if you want me to post some pages, what you're most interested in ❤️❤️❤️

Okay, so it's been a hot minute since I watched season 3 and I might be forgetting a few things, but it has literally just hit me how the writers could have made Echo being both an Eniripsa and Oropo's closest ally and the person he trusts the most make more sense (beyond the lovers angle, I mean).

And that is by having Echo be the one to heal Oropo whenever he started phasing out of existence and thus prolonging said existence instead of him just getting over it mostly on his own like they were nothing but dizzy spells.

At least, I don't remember she ever assisted Oropo with those or used her powers on him.

For an Eniripsa demigoddess, Echo herself doesn't do a lot of healing. The only thing really reminiscent of a healer in her is the fact that her room was filled with bubbles capable of treating all wounds and her acting as Eva's midwife. But in neither of those instances does Echo directly use her powers to heal. She mostly just assists one way or another, though mostly indirectly.

On the contrary, whenever Echo did use her powers, they were often physical attacks that she employed offensively. Such as when she attacked Toxine or when she spread her wings menacingly after seeing Oropo kissing Amalia.

Which is why her acting as Oropo's personal nurse would have greatly benefitted their characters and their relationship with each other.

After all, if Echo had been helping Oropo whenever he started to phase out of existence, she would have effectively been the one to postpone his demise. Likewise, Oropo was a very secretive person, who only let a select few in on the most personal and vulnerable aspects of his life.

Making Echo the one to heal him whenever his time threatened to run up would further enforce the trust they had for each other, as well as highlight their closeness and justify Echo being his second-in-command beyond her being the demigoddess he's known the longest and his lover.

Are we really going to sleep on the development that is Amalia eventually mastering the Explosive Doll technique???

As I always say, I haven't played Waven, so I don't know how far in you gotta be to have these quests, but I'm getting really peeved seeing you get to interact with Pinpin, Pin, Eva, Ruel, Elaine and Encre Noir, and even Lotie, while Yugo and Amalia remain nowhere to be seen.

I'm warning you, Ankama, if anything happens to them in The Great Wave or you break them up, next time I see you it's on sight.

Even though we all know it's eventually going to bring disastrous consequences for Amalia, I'm so glad she didn't just control her fight with Aurora since the very beginning, but that she got to call her out on her foolishness and undeserved arrogance. I was really getting ready to call bullshit had Aurora at some point gained the upperhand by some sort of "legitimate" skill of hers.

Because Amalia is absolutely right! She never stood a chance because, realistically speaking, she never should have!

Ever since she was first introduced in season 3, there has never been any indication that Aurora knows how to fight. In fact, I'd say there's never even been any indication that anyone in her family is actually skilled at combat. Ashdur seriously looked more like a bodybuilder or circus strongman than a warrior, for example.

(See?)

But Aurora especially seems to have been raised to be married off to some other nation's heir to act as his arm candy rather than an actual queen and partner capable of running a kingdom in her husband's absence. During the entire time we've known her, she's never displayed any leadership, diplomacy, or tactical skills, let alone battle prowress. We all know it; for the entirety of season 4 and the webtoon, she's done nothing but quietly and passively follow Armand around and then act snide towards Amalia alongside her father.

And how could we forget the one time she took proactive action, she immediately had to retreat because she was lightly struck by lightening, which, and I cannot stress this enough, amounted to a small burn on her hand?

(Most dramatic bird I've ever seen, I swear to God...)

Not to mention that at the first sign of things not going her way or taking a direction she doesn't approve of, her first instinct is either to stand powerless and cry about it or throw a tantrum and recklessly and impulsively throw herself headfirst into things without thinking about the possible consequences.

All the while treating Amalia like nothing but a spoiled brat that is beneath her and who she can easily dispose of. But as Amalia pointed out, due to her complete and utter lack of experience in the real world and inability to let go of her self-perceived importance and worth or even acknowledge her own mistakes and privileges, the only spoiled brat here is Aurora.

Meanwhile, Amalia's adventures have allowed her to grow in ways no other royal can even fathom. She learned to let go of her prejudices when she worked with Pandiego; learned to refuse to be cowed into submission and fight for what she believes in when she went against Armand's orders; aside from the ocassional tantrum that is mostly played for laughs, she values the people around her as much more than mere servants or how she can benefit from them; she's fought wars, faced monsters, dragons, and demigods, and an undead, unbeatable army of Wakfu-vampires; and, if that weren't enough, her position as Sadida Princess and later Queen, hence protector of the Tree of Life and Sadida Kingdom, already implies the entirety of the Sheran Sharms are taught the art of combat in order to fulfill their duties to their kingdom.

Which can be seen when Armand and King Oakheart were the first in line during the war against Nox back in season 1, and again against the Nécromes (in Armand's case). As opposed to the Osamodas King, who didn't just neglect to send troops to help the supposed allied nation his daughter ruled over, but said daughter went as far as confirming he barely ever leaves his cave, always delegating everything on members of his court.

In other words, even before she met Yugo, Amalia already was a Warrior Princess by virtue of her family and their devotion to their kingdom, while Aurora never evolved from spoiled princess. And the fact that she failed to take Amalia's real world experience into account, besides how vastly she overpowers her and her father, only highlights how her own ego and pride blind her to reason: she really never stood a chance.

In short? Will Amalia's bludgeoning of the Osamodas bring unfortunate consequences? Yes, most definitely. Did they deserve it? Abso-fucking-lutely.

I sincerely hope Amalia frees herself from Aurora's grasp by headbutting her Percedal Family style, pretty please.

If we end up getting a season 5 of Wakfu, I hope we get a completely revamped version of the intro. I don't mean they change Sur tes pas, no, that's a perfect theme song.

I mean I hope they stop reusing the same frames as always, only changing the final one with the bad guys or big developments. I want to see adult! Yugo from the very beginning, I want to see Amalia out of her season 2 princess outfit and into her queen outfit. Bonus points if they appear together from the get go since they're supposed to already be married in that timeframe.

Naturally, they can't reuse the same scenes with the Percedal family since Flopin is no longer there with them, either. Maybe they can even include Goultard.

👏The👏intro👏needs👏an👏update👏

I deeply respect the fact that the Ankama crew saw how only Amalia was going to get a redesign during the OVAs and not only did they give her a look that slaps, but they actually went the extra mile and gave her three different outfits. God bless.

If you think about it, Oropo really is the harbinger of his own misfortune. Not only because he manipulated the events that would shape the World of Twelve into the state it was in when Yugo accidentally created him and the other Eliotropes, thus beginning his unintentional abandonment and neglect of them which would them fuel Oropo's grudge against him and the gods he himself sent into hiding, but because he is the main reason the Brotherhood of the Tofu came to be in the first place.

In season 3 Oropo admitted to being all but tormented by memories and feelings of companions he couldn't be alongside with and of a woman that wasn't his to love, which in turn caused him to look for a replacement in his own brotherhood and in Echo. But the thing is, Yugo most likely would have never met the Brotherhood and he would have never fallen for Amalia if it weren't for Oropo's machinations bringing them together in the first place.

In other words, it's proven once again that, although Yugo might have created him and his race, Oropo had no one to blame but himself for all the misery he endured and forced upon others.

Yeah, it's pretty unfair the way the show's been treating Eva after season 2.

The main reason I complain about them not updating her model when they already had the one from the kickstarter is that, let's face it, she looks goddawful with her oversized blouse.

Again, it makes sense she wore it during season three as she was heavily pregnant. At least it makes more sense than her wearing her super tight leotard from season 2 like in the manga Les Tranches de vie de Wakfu (not sure if I got it right), but as soon as she returned home they should've changed her.

I get their budjet literally came from their fans, but if they could afford temporary models in seasons 1 and 2 to have the characters dressed as cheerleaders, genderbent, and to have makeovers be featured in the show (Tristepin's new look at the end of season 1 and Eva's update in early season 2), then they should've been able to afford creating two models for Eva.

In a way, I get that now that she's a married woman and a mother, she can't exactly look like she did back when she was in her late teens. I'm not saying they turn her back into a thirst trap like in season 2, but at the same time her new status and maturity should be reflected through the way she dresses.

Her looking like this doesn't reflect maturity. As my friend @alittlebookdust pointed out, it reads as if women should just stop caring about looking good once they become mothers. And that is not the kind of message you want to send to people.

Besides that, as I mentioned in the tags, by not updating her model they're robbing the audience of some visual keys meant to explain her character and role in the story.

Her previous outfits followed a very specfic aesthetic: Eva is meant to be the archer of the group, a long-ranged combatant alongside Amalia. It's literally in her genes precisely because she is a Cra! And yet, with her current model, the only way to be able to tell she's an archer instead of some farmer is by seeing her with her bow in hand. Otherwise, the only way you'd be able to tell is if you followed the stereotypes and immediately assumed her elf-like appearance automatically means she shoots arrows.

Like I mentioned in the tags, Season 4 Eva doesn't give off the feeling of her being a skilled archer who also happens to be a wife and a mother. It gives off the impression of her family life having consumed everything about her character from the first two seasons and leaving nothing behind but your typical responsible wife tasked with raising both her children and her husband.

But then again, that is pretty much what happened, but that's a topic for another day.

I just know I'll never get tired of saying her outfit in season 4 is a crime against her character.

Tag yourself, I'm both Yugo and Amalia at the same time.

You have no idea how much it means to me that they kept him adorable and goofy despite everything. God bless.