Nanoha StrikerS

[Valles]

I really like Yesy's little wisecracks on the sponsor screen. ^_^
I couldn't really hear what the engine-room computer was saying, but I don't think it sounded like German... And if this is the achy-arthritic-watered-down Vita, she must have been an unholy nightmare in her prime.
IV is a truly astonishing piece of literary achievement. I didn't think it was possible for a character to earn this much hate. And her reactions to the fact that, one, Nanoha had outthought her and two, was just going to take the direct route? Priceless. I'm giggling like a madman. ^_^
And Vivio? Ow. For her sake, just... ow.
The 'ways of mothering' scene makes much more sense, now.
And the thought of what Vivio must be capable of to survive that when she's not even trying to resist is... sobering.
The Strikers riding to the rescue of the Cradle crew is, IMHO, a good payoff for the entire arc of their growing and coming into their own.
But, um, isn't what the Cradle's complaining about that it doesn't have someone with the proper gene code in a place where it can be recognized? And wasn't the entire point of growing Vivio that she'd have that needed gene?
The solution seems fairly obvious, unless my memory is dropping something critical.

===============================================
"Reseeestunce ees fiutil. Yoo weeel bee Useemooletud. Borg Borg Borg."
===========

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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[crimsonsun]

I couldn't really hear what the engine-room computer was saying, but I don't think it sounded like German... And if this is the achy-arthritic-watered-down Vita, she must have been an unholy nightmare in her prime.
>>> it sounded german to me, although very heavily accented...
IV is a truly astonishing piece of literary achievement. I didn't think it was possible for a character to earn this much hate. And her reactions to the fact that, one, Nanoha had outthought her and two, was just going to take the direct route? Priceless. I'm giggling like a madman. ^_^
>>> Indeed. When I saw Nanoha turn to the wall, I had the same reaction as #4... "Oh, no way is she going to try... OMG she is!" A very nanoha-like thing to do
But, um, isn't what the Cradle's complaining about that it doesn't have someone with the proper gene code in a place where it can be recognized? And wasn't the entire point of growing Vivio that she'd have that needed gene?
>>> Differnt gene codes for different purposes. Like vivio said, she was made to power the ship and protect the throne room, not to be in charge. Its why we dont give one person the ability to fire nukes....

[CattyNebulart]

parts of it were german, but parts of it didn't. This might be because I'm listening to it quietly because it's midnight, or they might be using one of the near german languages or dialects.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[CattyNebulart]

midfont.refy.net/index_e.php
Magic device font!
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[robkelk]

Megami magazine (best known for its pretty-anime-girl "cheesecake" posters) occasionally includes a pencilboard. This September's issue has one, with characters from Nanoha StrikerS.
Here are the scans. I'll start with the girl on the front - you know, the one that the show's named after:


Of course, if she's on the front of the board, we know who's on the back:


(I want to make an In Nomine joke here about embracing Fate, but I don't dare...)

Edit: changed links to a more persistent copy of each image
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Morganite]

Okay, this may sound like an odd question, because it is an odd question...
Does Lindy ever show up with wings in StrikerS? I've been seeing art of that in several places, and I'm wondering if it's actually connected to something, or if it's just something that randomly occurred to people.
-Morgan, should start downloading that anyway. '.'"Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

[ECSNorway]

No.
In the original proposal for the first series, Lindy was a faerie of some sort who apparently helped Nanoha. It was a much more stereotypical magical-girl plot.--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Morganite]

Hmmm. I suppose that could be the inspiration for it, since it was fairy type wings. But she was dressed the way she usually is in the show. '.'
-Morgan."Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

[firvulag]

She has them briefly in the first season, when she's in the Garden of Time, trying to contain the damage Precia's done. Episode 12 I think.
--
If a nut positively has to be loosened, the bolt will shear. And it'll
be a hard-to-obtain size.
-- Malcolm Ray in ASR

[Morganite]

That's it!
But, why does she have wings? Okay, so I can't complain, since I'm a wing girl obsessed pervert, but... why?
And while we're at it, what are those marks on her forehead for? '.';
-Morgan."Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

[Berk]

Lindy's Intelligent Device probably manifests as wings when its deployed. As for the marks on her forehead, it's probably something ethnic. Admiral Leti has the same set of marks, and she and Lindy are as thick as thieves sometimes.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Morganite]

So, I finally started watching StrikerS.
I'm trying to figure out what Tea did during the mock battle in 8 that's so wrong.
I'm not succeeding. '.'
-Morgan.
"Sew What: The Craft Magazine For People Who Don't Know What They're Doing"

[The Hunterminator]

I'm not completely sure, but I think it's something along the lines of a sniper rushing at the enemy.
In other words, it might be a very good surprise strategy, but the instructor who keeps teaching him to stay in the back and, well, snipping is going to be pissed at said sniper.

[Berk]

The short version is, Tea is trying to tip the vessel of knowledge. Nanoha herself has had SERIOUS problems in the past with trying to push herself too far, too fast, and will not allow any student of hers to take the same path.
Both Tea and Subaru were taking risks that would've gotten them killed in a real fight against a dangerous mage out to kill them. But she was especially disappointed in Tea because she knew Tea had put Subaru up to it.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Morganite]

That's not really what it looked like to me.
Tea's problem was that she was spending too much time practicing and not enough time sleeping. That seemed to be more what was being addressed by the whole burnout lecture.
The strategy Tea and Subaru were using though looked like something that has proven to be successful often in the Nanoha series - having people appear from unexpected places. And what *Nanoha* did in response is what I'd expect to be the fatally wrong move in a real fight. (Of course, no one ever uses Barrier Burst as often as I would. '.' )
The logic Nanoha produces late in episode 9 - that since they're an operational unit, for now it's best for Tea to focus on improving her strong points - makes sense, but it has me screaming "Why didn't you explain this two episodes ago???" (Yes, two episodes. Even if screaming "Why didn't you explain this last episode???" sounds more dramatic. '.' )
But instead of just explaining things, first they had to smack Tea around and mess with her emotional state, smack Tea around and mess with her emotional state *again*, and *then* they could explain things. Frankly it's a bit surprising that Section Six didn't suddenly have a Tea-and-Subaru shaped hole in it's organizational charts after that.
And I'm tired and my eyes hurt, so for now I'm going to have to hope I managed to write what I actually *meant*. >.> *hits send*
-Morgan."Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

[Berk]

Nanoha herself stinks at relating things in words.
She's a shower, not a teller.
As for the strategy holding up in the Nanoha series, well, if you've read the comics like a good fan (multimedia projects, yay) you would be aware... those tactics don't work anymore.
On one cold, snowy evening...- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Morganite]

She did pretty good there at the end of episode 9.
In any case, what she did seems to me like about the most wrong way possible to handle a person with serious confidence issues who's currently having some sort of hysterical episode.
As for the comics, if I knew where they were, I might read them. '.'
-Morgan."Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

[Valles]

I think that the key may be Signum's comment about Tea's attitude and actions being brattish and attention-seeking.
Which, IMNSHO, is completely off the mark.
Since we know that Signum isn't what you'd call the malicious sort, the effect of that, for me, is to call to mind that what is known to and seen by the audience is not necessarily anything any given character is aware of. In other words, Nanoha and the others knew that there was clearly something going wrong inside Tea's headspace, but what, how, why, and to what extent was probably more than anyone save Subaru could guess until well after The Training Incident - and she didn't have the experience or practical context to know of a better response than Tea was giving already.
Ja, -n

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"Reseeestunce ees fiutil. Yoo weeel bee Useemooletud. Borg Borg Borg."
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Morganite]

Tea actually strikes me as more attention-avoiding around that time...
Well, Nanoha's never claimed to be infalliable. '.' I'm not sure I really understand her actions during that scene, since it seems like she hadn't really made her intentions clear before. (To her credit, it seems like she realized quickly then that things weren't quite working like she expected...)
But the way she acted during the mock battle reminds me more of something the Mean Nanoha would do. Mean Nanoha isn't someone I like seeing in fanwork, let alone in canon. And I can't imagine anyone thinking that was the right way to react with someone who looked like Tea did there, especially not Real Nanoha who's always seemed fairly sensitive to other's emotions to me.
In any case, Shari gets massive love for getting everyone to just calm down for a bit. Without that, I can't imagine things would have turned out well.
-Morgan."Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)

[CattyNebulart]

The problem with what Tea is doing is threefold, and as far as I can tell Nanoha almost didn't notice the third.
1) Risky Maneuver; the tactic Tea and Subaru are using is taking a huge gamble, and ignores everything Nanoha has been teaching them. Any teacher would be slightly miffed about this, now you are going to send these kids into combat and the lives of them and their teammates are going to depend on them functioning well as a whole.
2) 110% effort; Tea is straining her powers dangerously to get the kind of performance she thinks needs, much like in military ships (at least the space opera ones) you have your normal max speed, and you an go faster by shrinking the safety margins to the minimum, and hoping that the engine doesn't blow and the gearbox doesn't melt. Now it's one thing to do this in combat, and she has already been told not to take that kind of risk in combat if she can avoid it, and now she does it during a fricking training exercise?
These two points are IMHO why Nanoha gives her the beating, to drill it into her head that what she is doing is stupid because just talking apparently didn't work. Clearly this was a failing of Nanoha as a teacher, she should have explained it better.
and to finish up:
3) Tea has been missing out on sleep and overdoing it in general, just like with Athletes, doing exersizes beyond a certain point does more harm then good. But I don't think that Nanoha noticed that Tea was practicing after the training sessions and missed this one completely till after the beating. At that point Tea is of course taken off the list as active duty combat personnel and told to get some rest, and Nanoha at that point doesn't have to explain the why, and how what Tea was doing was extremely dangerous.
That should hopefully explain Nanohas actions a bit better.
Oh and some people in the Animesuki forum noted a resemblance between the midchilda armed forces and the armed forces of ... dang, can't remember which one, but I think it was Singapore's, where there is a profusion of young Majors and the requits being beaten by the instructors is normal, as well as some other parallels. They made quite the convincing argument about the parallels, which puts it in a slightly different light, if that is part of the way most instructors teach I imagine that Nanoha uses it more as a method of last resort, but it puts quite a different light on that chain of events.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[katreus]

Meh.
Tea was so stuck in her head with the 'woe is i; i don't have special powers; my gun fighting sucks' that I don't know she would have listened to Nanoha talking about it. I mean, Nanoha is one of those 'aces,' no? She isn't really the epitome of normal magic power.
I'm -sure- Nanoha explained why you don't do crazy stuff in practice and to avoid it in real battle if possible but this seemed more like the case of in one ear, out the other.
Btw, did you notice that Nanoha made it a point to use Tea's own attack against her? To show how effective it could be with work? --

[Morganite]

Except talking *did* work, when they finally got to it.
It's pretty obvious that blasting Tea accomplished absolutely nothing; it didn't take her long after she woke up to get back to the exact same way of thinking, except at a somehwat higher emotional pitch. (I'd guess if that ~attack hadn't happened, she would have ended up not saying much but overworking herself even more until she collapsed in the middle of a practice. Unless Shamal noticed or Subaru realized things were getting out of hand. Both of which are probably likely.)
(I really don't get this idea of talking not working. For some people, talking not only works, it's the more effective option. (People like, say, me. >.> ))
What it seems like may have been the root problem is that Tea didn't really understand what the training she was doing was supposed to accomplish. She couldn't get any idea by comparing herself to other members of the "class", because everyone's practicing entirely different things. She probably didn't even realize how much she really was improving. In such a case, trying something else doesn't seem like an unreasonable choice of action.
And, as I've said before, I think it all could have been avoided if Nanoha had explained the stuff she did at the end of episode 9 sometime during episode 7. *shrug* I really like Nanoha, so it's disappointing to see her mess something up like this...
-Morgan. Oh, and something else I don't have time to figure out tonight. '.'
"Watermelons are not immune to gravity."

[katreus]

It worked after she got blasted. And one of the main points was that Tea's attack hurts when used correctly. (Keyword: used correctly)
Anyway, I disagree. I think Nanoha did mess up, but that the blast was an important part in shocking through it. I don't think the talk would have half as much impact if Tea hadn't been on the receiving end of her own attack because otherwise, she disregards the words as nice platitudes and goes back to her 'i'm normal; my gun attack sucks.'--

[Valles]

StrikerS 26 is out

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"Reseeestunce ees fiutil. Yoo weeel bee Useemooletud. Borg Borg Borg."
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[crimsonsun]

Curse you! I was about to post that!