For some reason, I latched onto Bakool because of a Naruto Meme of all things. The moment he had a heel turn, I just said outloud "He's the Bakoolest guy" and It was all over from there.
While everyone was still on the Bakool Hate Train early on, I was hooked on him for a pretty shallow reason. They made his model beefy as heck, and I'm a sucker for buff dudes, and funnily enough, I don't have a Twitter/X, so I had no idea the memes were going on. But while everyone else was saying "He stomped our tacos! what an ass!", I was like "But...look at those back muscles. I can always get more tacos, but this view is fleeting." lol. When I finally reached the part in the story where we learned about his past and what sacrifices were made, I immediately knew he was my favorite character from DT because they added a cherry on top and gave me an even deeper reason to be supportive of him as a character. I don't care how many people say his story is generic, lazy, or whatever, it was good enough for me to solidify his number 1 spot for me personally, and my enjoyment of him has been expanded beyond just how he looks and I'm happy for that.
Personally, I think his act of taco destruction served to save us from the budget blowout that would've been the FFXIV cutscene team trying to animate the messiest food on Earth.
Something else... Bakool Ja Ja didn't kill anyone during his heal phase. He harmed a bunch of people, but he never killed anyone. Emmet-Selch and Zenos were both war criminals and more.
That is actually funny that for all Bakool Ja Ja was the obvious villain at the start, all he did (in Dawntrail and in the perspective of the Warrior of Light) was release Valigarmanda in desperation, then cooled his heels and came to an agreement with Wuk Lamat; the otherwise seeming serious Zoraal Ja was actually the problematic one.
@@gothicshark Yeah, his relative lack of crimes lets him go down easier for me, but I couldn't in good faith add that to the greater reasoning because... well, that's clearly not a barrier for a lot of other people!
What do you define as Heal Phase? Releasing the most dangerous Animal anyone has known on that Continent for the last 80 years sounds like being very ok with mass death(though I guess technically he's not the one delivering it directly) and he just got lucky the others took it down before that happened
@@vincentbeton Since no one was hurt, he got lucky we were there. He was being dumb, and made a bad choice, but it is forgivable because he didn't do any worse than causing minor damage.
When his dad started yelling at him and calling him useless, I immediately went "Oh." He was fun to watch as a Saturday morning cartoon villain, bumbling but still dangerous. And then, very very abruptly, he's a child again. I like how both Zoraal Ja and Bakool Ja Ja have massive expectations put on them by the circumstances of their births and so both seek to justify their existences by becoming Dawnservant. Bakool Ja Ja one ups Zoraal Ja by letting go of the *need* to do so in the first place and just being himself. While Zoraal Ja couldn't let go of it and let it fester.
@@SchrosDinger They're both essentially plqying off Wuk Lamat's relationship with legacy, but in a way that does make a strong subtle contrast with each other, too.
Bakool Ja Ja isn't even the hottest blessed sibling, Galool Ja Ja is. Hot dad, battle scars on his scales, and has a biological son even though blessed siblings are so called sterile.
@@Otacanthus Agreed, and similarly one of my favorite Emet moments was him going 'I'm still right and I'm literally going to die mad about it' in Ultima Thule. But I've still heard it about both, and I overall think that more important than if they actually felt bad was that Bakool clearly DID.
I love your use of heel here! I made a Bakool Ja Ja spotify playlist and the first song was "heel turn" by the mountain goats because that is EXACTLY his vibe!! Great essay!
"I wanted to discuss all the claimants, but didn't have much to say about Koana." getting preemptively hyped by the implication that a Wuk Lamat video is coming
I was in the boat keeping the Valigarmanda event on their permanent record from being fully redeemable. However, he feels like the opposite of Yotsuyu. In a way that is enlightening. We know the full scales of his actions and have to hold him to the fire to change but the rest of the world only sees him at face value suddenly becoming a bigger hero and protector. While we sympathize towards Yotsuyu because of the full picture but society still has much ill against her, sometimes justifiably so. It takes good writers to take tropes to flesh them into different perspectives because people see others through contextual disparities. What matters is that Bakool didn’t fall back into his past hubris and descend to full delinquency after saving a few people, he decided to be a landsguard and might have some more story to explore his rise more. Your mention of Koana sorta made me keel from self realization. He is kinda of a cookie cut but yet the community pushes that he should be in the MSQ more, despite his personality and purpose teetering into retread. I still adore him and his performance and micro aggressions to be unique enough for him. But I’m looking forward to a possible Wuk Lamat vid, or Erenville. I think the latter fulfilled his role in character yet I get confused over people saying he didn’t do enough. This sort of betrays what they actually want. He needed to go and do something “action hero” like, to not be the guide anymore in such a role
@@AverageAspie I feel like the reason Valigarmanda doesn't get into 'irredeemable crime' territory is because it basically just refused to go on the rampage he was betting on. Valigarmanda broke out and then immediately went to go eat some rocks, so even Bakool's biggest evil turn doesn't add a single death to his name. And I have been thinking of covering Krile and Erenville in one video, talk about what their stories were and why we didn't get more.
@@EinDose true. I forgot to elaborate that I “was” in past tense putting that incident over his head as unforgivable, but time and a new perspective made me leave it alone. However, I appreciate the perspective. It reminds me that despite how high we put Vidrials on a pedestal, they are creatures with cunning complexity as any natural animal. Being constantly frozen by its own magiks expunging and exhausting its aether for 80 years would reasonably lead a creature to seek rest and refuel before being back to its prime once released
Bakool worked for me as a really effective way to comment on the effects society has on it's people. The guy was basically a saturday morning cartoon villain as a persona, and he consistently didn't give a genuine f* about anyone or anything other than the piles of dead siblings before him, and putting a stop to the whole thing. His narcissistic attitude really clicked when you realize how much he despises the system and culture he's stuck in and the harm it does, but feels trapped to work within it to stop it.
For me, the reason I like Bakool Ja Ja is because on the inside he's just like a sad scared child, which appeals to my motherly instincts lol. It just makes you want to comfort him
It helps that he's one of the rare FFXIV characters with a visible--and good--mom, I think. Lets you know that's a relationship you can have with his character.
Thanks for another vid! Regarding Koana as a lime-flavored G'Raha: It's funny you should bring up how similar they are, and why you probably won't make a video on him! My FC mates and I actually had a (very unserious) roleplay fight night to determine which of the catboys was superior. It was super fun, but thinking about who in my group particularly liked Koana (at least in my circle) - it was straight cis men. When chatting with them about their feelings on G'Raha and on Koana, I discovered two important factors that informed their preference: 1) They weren't receptive to the romantic undertones that are part of G'Raha's character. Their reactions to him ranged from "he's a buddy" to "this guy gives me unwanted attention". (That's not to say that ALL cis men arent receptive. There's a huge number of straight cis men out there who like G'Raha regardless.) 2) They found Koana both relatable and admirable. The guys I talked to who really liked Koana said that they loved how hard he tried to be stoic while masking his temper and protective affection for Wuk Lamat. By contrast, they had a hard time taking G'Raha seriously because he has fanboy moments. They acknowledged G'Raha's accomplishments for his role in the narrative, but clearly weren't fans of how he looks at the WoL like an idol. On top of that, Koana appeared like a competent lone wolf for much of the story. Even though he WAS taking council, it was from Thancred and Urianger - some of the most stoic and secretive men among the Scions. Looking at it like that, it feels like Koana DOES have a certain distinction from G'Raha that is especially appealing to masculine audiences.
This is really interesting, because that second one was something that's come up when talking about Koana in my discord server, but as an estimated negative. The person bringing it up suspected that the fact Koana's attention is focused on someone else rather than us, but it sounds like that might actually be a point in his favor; for people who don't like, or even directly dislike, characters being into us, him being a completely platonic person who just thinks we're pretty good is a breath of fresh air for that sort of character type.
I do like Bakool Ja Ja at the end but after Mamook I only really did a 120 degree turn with the remaining 60 degrees gradually turning over through the rest of his appearance. It’s kind of sad his entourage didn’t really get as much attention other than that one slacking member. Also, I’m partly upset it’s him we get to see more than Zoraal Ja, but again it really wasn’t his story and we’re not privy to that like you said I think? It certainly was a choice
I love a good heel and especially love a good heel turn, so Bakool Ja Ja was always going to be one of my favorites. I saw his potential turn since I first saw him, but it doesn't diminish his character for me.
Great exploration of the Character. I'd have preferred if he had been less of a over the top Bully and more of a 'have to do whatever it takes to win' kind of guy. Those behaviors overlap to an extent of course, but it would've made me more sympathetic with him when he releases Valigarmanda seemingly for the lols
Personally, i like him because of both in game characterization (yeah he is an arse for a good part of the game but his ark is fine. He did realize he messed up, even if honestly, i got no idea what he was expecting to achieve with how he was handling things, and he did turn his cloak around. He went from being an alpaca's *** to being someone you WANT in your party and by your side) and how the XIV community and his VA are/reacted to him. Some people in the community are just so much fun to watch when it comes to our young two headed Mamool Ja. I really hope to see more of him in the patch story.
I have so many thoughts on particularly Bakool Ja Ja and the "request" for a "Shadowbringers (I'd also add Endwalker) 2". In terms of the former, I have an issue with there being relatively little connective tissue between the different versions of him and I think Mamook's issues and his arc were probably a little too easily "solved". The sarcastic/hyper-critical nerd meme here is that we "solved racism" in an afternoon and him releasing Valigarmanda was a slap on the wrist. But despite these issues, I find him to be an incredibly entertaining character that I still felt for. I think the subtext of him being a desperate bully (and also not reverting back to being that bully) explained him and softened the issues I had with him enough where I still think the character is fun. I think the personalities (aided by the fantastic va) of the two different heads are a lot of fun and I think Wuk's empathy towards him was so welcome because I didn't believe in her empathic nature for a while. I also like the idea of taking the first step to fix a broken system and an attempt to find an alternative to a solution with bloodshed, which earlier FF14 often didn't address as an option. Sometimes you have to take the harder option (as with Sphene), but maybe sometimes you can indeed find a better one. And post-redemption, he just has the fun "supportive rival" vibe. I actually think they could easily fill in the issues with Bakool in the upcoming content by just giving a little bit more focus to Mamook and maybe adding to one of those blue quests, which showed the change was actually pretty drastic and turned some people's whole world upside down. Maybe just straight-up use the Valigarmanda incident to just explore his character more? And this actually leads to the latter element. Out of all of the feedback I've seen given to Dawntrail, I hope they ignore people wanting a "Shadowbringers 2" or "Endwalker 2" the most. Experiment with, develop and explore the new elements and characters you just built up instead of getting cold feet and going back on your ballsy move of ending a story in a media environment where remakes and dragging out and redoing iconic imagery for short-term gain is so popular. Especially don't start repeating iconic imagery again without ryhme and reason because that is a shortcut to ruining the impact of it. I actually think Dawntrail was already cutting it a little too close. Living Memory was a little too close to being Amaurot and Ultima Thule, but just done again. We now have four different "ending" dungeons explaining the motivation/backstory of a villain. And Solution 9 was incredibly similar to the 13th. It's all still different "enough", but I hope they just straight-up do something new in terms of story formula for 8.0. Use the key with the Azem symbol to maybe lead to an entirely new villain group or even main big villain. And I so vividly remember so many people wanting them to do new stuff. Yet now people want a "Shadowbringers 2" or "Endwalker 2", from the start of a new story? I think it's great it's not Allagans again. I think it's great we're back to being an adventurer and support after being the main hero for like 10 years of content. Ascians were only mentioned a few times (though obviously still important since we are still dealing with Reflections and the like). (In fact, maybe any of the Ascians still out there could actually become allies against a new threat? Would be a fun twist. We had Gaia, but I think it would be fun if one of the remaining actually sundered ones would maybe become one.) So much of DT was so refreshing to me because of the new elements. I don't want ShB or EW again because this would lessen their impact. Obviously this reaction also exists because some just disliked Dawntrail and just default to ShB and EW for the sake of comparison. But I personally would rather have them go forward and let them just take their time for now. I started truly warming up to DT when Mamook hit and absolutely adored the last third, so I don't need convincing, but my true buffer is 7.x + 8.0. I'll be worried if they don't have something compelling in the big picture by 8.x. Because despite the explosive ending for ARR, it actually also took me a while to like HW. At the same time, at this point, I also kind of just really enjoy FF14 from a gameplay perspective. So even if the story ultimately won't be as good as it was so far, if they keep DT's gameplay quality, I'll be around for a while.
I already did not like the part that were reminiscent of the Shadowalker extended story. It is not to say that Queen Sphene does not have unlikable parts, but it really rankled of Shadowalker 2.0 even if she were a meaningful contrast to Emet-Selch, Elidibus, and Meteion all at once
@@PipoPoppy I think some of the things that cut weirdly close are more functional than anything. Yeah, we've fot a lot of the 'villainous monoligue' final dungeons, but they're also just functionally really good ways to do storytelling alongside gameplay, which the game often has to separate.
@@EinDose Yeah, I think those dungeons are fantastic in terms of "storytelling functionality", but to me getting old as part of "the formula". If they do that the 5th time in row for 7.x I'd just about would have enough of it and just be tired of it. I would even enjoy this beat more if it wasn't reserved for a "final" dungeon. I kind of want another Aetherochemical Research Facility or Ala Mhigo to switch things up. Dungeons which just lead to the final confrontation and we, for example, just fully learn everything we need to know before the final dungeon. (Not Praetorium, though, that's just the worst of both worlds.) And the UT/Amaurot (and now Living Memory) trope is kind of that way to me, as well. It's great, but has gotten old. I definitely don't want another one of those for 8.0. I even think about The Ghimlyt Dark and how that was a fantastic cap-off to Stormblood without another monologue to tell you everything about how you should feel about the villain in said dungeon.
@@PipoPoppy exactly- it’s that Alexandria does all of Lunat Subterrane variations on the Amaurot/Dead Ends beats and info dumps *in the exact same story point*. Ikuykatumu has the first mobs on the moving vehicle, same as Anyder and Lapis, but that’s not the guaranteed design of a first arc/expansion’s dungeon. Which now has been entrenched for arc ends.
you touched on something that i couldn't put my finger on for the longest time: i do feel like the main problem i have with Dawntrail is that i kept forgetting that Koana existed, even after becoming dawnservant. they would cut to him and i would have a split second of confusion before remembering his character.
You know I hadn’t considered how Bakool Ja Ja is like a mix of Emet-Selch and Zenos but with a twist and now I can’t unsee it. Bakool Ja Ja wasn’t one of my favorite characters from DT but I did quite like how his character is being given time to grow and repent. Very fun way handling a side antagonist like this. Reminds me of Fordola but more condensed since her redemption journey was more prolonged and pushed sort of behind the scenes for a while
There's also a value in Fordola having had a lot of 'post-credits' runway that Bakool hasn't, yet. If we look at Fordola as just someone who existed in 4.0 she doesn't have much of a journey, but afterwards we can add in Return of the Bull and the Shadowbringers/Endwalker stuff.
@@EinDose yeah Fordola has retroactively become my favorite Stormblood side character I think. Seeing her in SHB/EW made me more invested in her character
@@mindinversions4487 and gave them all those extra polygons! I love every chance to use the Molaal Ja Ja scenes because they still haven't upgraded his model, which was FFXI Gulool Ja Ja.
The thing I really like about Bakool Ja Ja is that he and Zoraal Ja are Subversions of tropes already seen in the MSQ. Bakool comes across like a thuggish, cheating bully, a lot like many of the Ascien or Garlean villains, While Zoraal comes across as a sort of Archetypical "Dark Knight," doing brutal things to help his people, kind of like Estinien or ARR Thancred. Except once you get know them, you realize that Bakool is a desperate fool, torn between his father's crooked ambitions, and his mother's desire for reformation. Zoraal, by contrast, is a Self-righteous, callous, jerk who has isolated himself from his siblings and and become obsessed with War-mongering, not to help his people, but just to prove he is superior to his father.
Main tangentially quibble is that I don't see how Sphene *remotely* qualifies as a new character to XIV. She's a variation on a few things, but the combination of Primal!Elidibus and Zodairk, fanon whitewashing of Emet and his motivations (and the WoL's forced sympathy for him reflected in Wuk lamat), and the moe teenage girl facade over a world-destroying haywire AI of Meteion means that he fundamental reaction of the fanbase that we've seen her before has a strong base. Sphene especially hits that Emet feels remorse for his villainy (but if you look at canon he doesn't). Which is part of BJJ's appeal- he's a heel because his villainy is mostly nonthreatening; he's never a real threat, and when he has his face turn it's genuine and he puts in effort over the course of half the game to redeem himself, where he's an ally onscreen as long as he was a rival. Which is ...pretty rare for XIV. Ysayle, Fordola, arguably Ardbert. But he never hit 'variation on Emet' when Sphene *screams* that - and he's enough dissimilar to Zenos that the Zenos fans were arguing not over his perceived fanbase overlap but Zoraal Ja. Re: repeating themselves. it's telling that the true weaknesses of DT to me are where they copied the formula to a painful and boring extent - Alexandria and Interphos.
@@CH-dr1ds I think Sphene's another example of 'repeat what worked but not what LOOKED like it worked'. You can see internal components of Elidibus especially, but the way that it manifests staunchly refuses to fit easily into any boxes. I know I definitely like Sphene a lot more than you do, though.
@@EinDose my distaste is also driven by fear of getting a repeat of what happened to Emet in the ShB patches and EW. And because her colonization aspects are so blatant I don’t see how they can be denied, but also like Emet it’s angles of her I see SE fumbling. Sphene recombines enough of the elements and does fresh angles of what XIV has done like the paternalistic justification and white woman purity for colonial exploitation, and the amping up SF machine elements in Omicron and Primals. She’s not as formulaically boring as a lot of the final parts of DT (Origenics, Alexendria, LM, Interphos). But it’s telling which dungeons and story elements are getting the bulk of fan accusations as opposed to the first dungeon doing the conveyor platform trash start. Or that BJJ rarely got Zenos comparisons (though he does scratch the itch for those that wanted fun frienimies redeemed Zenos)
Not a lot to say that wasn't covered in the video itself (surprisingly or un-) but I just wanted to say that 1: I'm really happy that this particular The Guy survives and thrives, it's a good vibe overall, and 2: the longer one I'm happy that you dropped the "bulk and skull" tagline in your description because those two have a special place in my heart. One of the predictive factors for whether any given season of Power Rangers (not Super Sentai in this case, specifically) is going to be "good" or even "great" is the double question of "do they have a Bulk and Skull" and "did they just try to mash them in, or are the performers giving it a heartfelt go". Every season with the original Bulk and Skull clears this bar, for the record. There's something about that archetype, which clearly exists in-world and in-story, characters who obviously think like they're the protagonists of their own series but that series isn't as far removed from the actual show we're watching as, say, Emet-Selch's protagonist vision was from the actual game of FF14 (to the point where he just straight-up plays his own death flags and sets up the dominos for our textual hero to knock him all down) and so they're constantly at odds with one element of the main characters, whether as "villains" or just rivals, but never so much as to actually flip into Real Villains, Real Antagonists, and even to seamlessly work together when push comes to shove. And the partial-comic-relief Bully is a big part of that too, and... yeah, this is the first FF14 expansion where I think we actually get a Bulk And/Or Skull in the main story, and I think they work really, really well. (We might have gotten our Bulk XOR Skulls in class and job quests, I'd have to dig in for that archetype, don't have the data on hand.) I really like this guys.
@@AmaranthWitch I think he wound up bigger than the 'school bully' comparisons, which is why I didn't use them in the video itself, but it really was the earliest comparison I had.
Part of it may be a reception to characters in general. Wuk Lamat, love her or not, has had a mixed reception. And is around almost the entire MSQ without really changing all that much in terms of personality. The returning scions we adventure with through most of the story take more of a back seat and rarely have much of interest to say or do beyond filling trust slots. Where as Bakook JaJa has these intermittent spikes of entertaining charisma whether he's heel or face. He steals every scene he's in. And he's not on screen long enough for people to get sick of him.
I think when it comes to liking characters, traits are more important than writing or plot armor for the community. While I do think that they were able to make a bullish character have a meaning behind his actions I feel that the getting there wasn't really done well. During our time in Ok'Hanu we get to know that treatening an elector's life is an instant disqualification and our initial moment in Mamook shows us that is true, however in between those moments Bakool commits 2 crimes worthy of disqualification yet nothing comes out of them and even if the story says he's not forgiven, the next scenes have him quickly become a hero to the ppl. Realistically I could go on and say that the whole Mamook has problem with the writing being a bit unfocused but I don't have time to make a good concise statement on it
I think you could make a case that perhaps Zereel Ja is the only person using the rules specifically because he wants to wield them against people other than Bakool. Or maybe he made up that rule; it's kinda hard to tell.
@@EinDose It is a safe assumption to make, especially because it goes hand in hand with what was the real point of mamook, however the rule was first enstablished in Ok'Hanu when Bakool'Ja Ja tried to just steal the keystone.
Legit, even as someone who loves both Emet Selch and Zenos, I really didn’t make the connection of those shared traits tbh. That is wild and I do think you’re onto something lol. I definitely hope we get to see more of Bakool Ja Ja’s arc continue in the patches. Would make a nice balance to Solution Nine and their inevitable integration with the Source. (Tho it does baffle me that people think Emet had regrets at the end. Even at the end of Endwalker where he has ALL of his memories back, he isn’t expressing anything of the sort, just entrusting the future and essentially Azem’s mantle to us. I don’t even buy the tempered by Zodiark thing tho, even if I’ll still read fic with that headcanon. Ah well. Reasons why I continue to rotate well written characters under microscopes and find different details I guess.)
@@Caterfree10 My read on the tempering question is that he is tempered, but not nearly to the degree we think of as 'tempered', and is probably using it as an excuse.
@@EinDose yeah I can definitely agree with that reading imo. Even at the end, it’s at best him saying we had the stronger will and should use that to protect the Star. Not regretful, just seeing us off as he and Hyth go to their next lives finally. And also giving us a laundry list of things to clean up in the form of shiny new places to visit as I suspect Solution Nine ultimately was lmao.
oh one extra thing I wanted to say about the blessed siblings. I think the writers idea of the problem with Mamook was that in truth Mamook was the biggest failure of Gulool'Ja Ja. What I mean by that? He's a blessed sibling that unified the entirety of Tura, thus giving credit to the idea that the blessed sibling are this de facto ruler and conqueror, he pretty contributed to the radicalization of the fanatics. Sadly I feel the writing isn't upfront enough with it, you can get this front the words of Zereel'Ja but we focus too much on the Sharlayan seeds solution that the weight of us defeating the shade of the strongest of the blessed sibling isn't really felt
I think a large part of Koana falling short is just that we don't really get as much of him as we do every other claimant. When we got to that the mid-point of the story where we have two Vows and one is clearly coming with us, I was really really really hoping we would see the other half of the coin in terms of the leadership we helped appoint, taking Koana because he knew more about tech and had every reason to venture out as much as Wuk Lamat did otherwise. I wanted his insights on what we in for, a lot of which we knew from spoilers would involve the mass societal impacts of tech gone too far and the toll it would take on souls and people. I still feel it was a missed opportunity that we didn't take him and leave Wuk Lamat to guard the city. I think the "two cakes" thing does hold some truth, moreso between Koana and Erenville than with G'raha which is much much more of a different character archetype (I don't even know how G'raha is in the same category as Koana/Erenville when it comes to attitudes and outlook). That said, I wouldn't call the "two cakes" thing a problem or reason to not have swapped Koana out. By the time we get Otis, we have the same situation of "two cakes" as he is so close to mold Wuk Lamat already fills. I don't think including Otis makes Wuk Lamat's inclusion suffer any. The only argument I could see for keeping Wuk Lamat with us for the second half of the story is her relationship moments with Sphene... but couldn't we have gotten that with Koana? The love for one's people and willingness to embrace diplomacy for unknown cultures.... Wouldn't it have been such an opportunity to see that side of Koana since we already knew it was there with Wuk Lamat? I just can't help but think we had a real missed opportunity. Oh, and adding: I think Bakool Ja Ja's redemption works a lot better if we have cutscenes of him saving civilians in Tuliyollal while alongside someone he actually wronged, like Wuk Lamat. Scenes where it is clear they have fully put their history aside and growing a bond through saving the city together, fighting back-to-back instead of face-to-face. That would have been a very good cutscene.
@@lobete I will say, I expect Koana and Alexandria to be a patch story thing. There's a clear possible dynamic there that would be an obvious pick to explore, even if I think it was ultimately a better pick for Wuk Lamat to be there for the first trip and have her contrast with Sphene. Koana could've made a much better partner for the first Shaaloani trip than Erenville, too.
@@EinDose I had a badly-timed edit that was probably missed in that post. >< Something more topical to Bakool Ja Ja Anyway, yeah I do get the need to contrast them, but I don't think anything we see of Wuk Lamat through that contrast is new to us, is it? She kind of acts fully as expected? That was part of why I was trying to add that we'd get more out of seeing that side of Koana. I do hope you are right about the patch content. I guess there is a lot of potential there I'm not thinking about. They did lay the groundwork with Koana that he, too, feels the need to learn about his continent in ways he's overlooked. The new city-state Tural is... reclaiming? That is as much an opportunity as anything and learning about their innovations fulfills his initial goals. *fingers crossed*
@@lobete I intend to make both a Sphene video and a Wuk Lamat video at some point, but I think they key elements of her being in that second half are her putting her experience in the rite into practice--not so much 'learning new things' as showing that what we already learned had value--and to especially contrast her with Sphene, a woman who espouses much the same things but refuses to truly extend the hand of peace. Zoraal Ja's also a valuable contributor, being someone who puts forward a very fervent, exact opposition to Wuk Lamat's outlook. None of that's to say that Koana going to Alexandria wouldn't have value, but it would hold less of it--as well as being more evergreen value. Koana can have this journey post-credits without losing anything, while Wuk Lamat could only have had those moments against Sphene and Zoraal Ja.
@@EinDose thinks for the reply. Got to watch the cutscenes again and I am pretty happy with Wuk Lamat's contribution with the Zoraal Ja fight. Another viewing did make me less critical as I thought more on it. Anyway, I look forward to your thoughts and video on these subjects. Have fun!
I agree that we shouldn't get a Shadowbringers Part 2. As fun as that could be, they could easily slide into tropes or plot points that would feel too familiar, and i feel like it would be a waste to jump to another shard when we have plenty of the Source left to explore or revisit. One part i liked about Endwalker, though it was a shame it didn't happen much in the main story, was bringing together all the peoples we have helped so far. (At least there was some visiting and problem solving done in the class quests). I would love to go back and be involved with the hundreds of characters we've met so far rather than meet 50 new ones. (Please let me have a speaking cutscene with Aymeric again, I beg of you!)
As much as I respect wanting a speaking cutscene with Aymeric: Give it to Hien first, his fans have been waiting since Shadowbringers to hear him again!
I love him as a character but not THAT way. I got Gulool Ja Ja for that he’s fine as hell if I need Blessed Siblings. He just has a very simple reason why he wants to win. It’s bad yeah. But then you peel it back more and more and realize how bad it really is. He had 0 friends his age, idk if they had kids in the village as a WHOLE, people couldn’t marry who they wanted, he was seen as a second coming of a god and then not even a living being but the savior of his people else all failed children before him died for nothing. It’s insane and I see people saying “okay kids dying sucks but he is a terrorist” FIRST OF ALL ZORAAL JA + HIS DISNEY SIDEKICK 100% MADE THEM FREE VALLEY GIRL BAKOOL WOULD NOT KNOW SHIT ABOUT THE TWIN FIRES. AND SECOND ITS MORE THAN DEAD BABIES anyways I can’t have anymore ffxiv boyfriends Vrtra is more than enough. When your 2800lbs boyfriend decides when the hug ends
I think due to my playing in Japanese I think I got spoiled on the whole he really isn't bad twist. In Japanese he still calls her a baby kitten, but during the one time he's talking about Wuk Lamat where she's not in his presence he goes and calls her a cute baby kitten. And that's when I went oh you can't be a complete dick if you just called her cute. That and in Japanese his laugh from the fighter head sounds like a mix between a donkey and a monkey noise. Which I took as subtle commentary on his character. I think a Koana video could work if we got a little bit more about him. As we do get hinted at his past life in two spots. That and once he went full protective big brother after Wuk Lamat's kidnapping he definitely gained some more interesting characteristics. I think he sort of suffers in a Y'shtola kind of way. Though I did initially see a lot of fan art of him and Bakool Ja Ja even before the embargo lifted.
@@tazersmurf4689 There might be a tonal thing I'm missing, but 'cute baby kitten' feels if anything even more belittling than English Bakool's uses if 'kitten' and 'house cat' for Wuk and Krile.
@@EinDose It tends to be a thing in a few anime where the use of cute when combined with a name you use to insult or tease another character is a hint to the audience that the person might have a softer side in them. Just that they can't or won't show it. They also won't add cute to said insult if the person is within sight or hearing range. It's kind of like when the protagonist says something like "That person is a real jerk, but they're kinda hot." or they tack on some kind of positive quality the antagonist has. As I said he only uses cute the one time and it's the one time Wuk Lamat isn't around to hear it. Otherwise yeah he uses his nickname as an insult.
The writers heard our pleas of “I can fix him/her!” with many of the tragic sympathetic villains from past expansions, and they delivered with one we actually get to fix. Also while we’re at it, I feel like Bakool Ja Ja and the Mamook nation’s sordid past of breeding for Blessed Siblings begs a lot of questions about Gulool Ja Ja’s own past before he began traveling and uniting the tribes of Tural. What compelled Gulool Ja Ja to leave Mamook in the first place? Surely he must be aware of the dark history of the Blessed Siblings? Why did Gulool Ja Ja allow Mamook to continue to flounder ecologically and be xenophobic supremacists after he became Dawnservant? Did Gulool Ja Ja harbor shame and resentment towards his own people? All I’m saying is that I think Bakool Ja Ja feels like he could be a foil in some ways to Gulool Ja Ja, because they must have had very similar upbringings or cultural contexts. Or maybe Gulool Ja Ja was kidnapped from his tribe at a very young age and wasn’t raised in Mamook, but that feels like a cop out in writing.
One tiny disagreement from a side comment you made: You said that Sphene doesn't fit into any of the archetypes we have thus far, and with that I disagree. In my view, she's a lot closer to the recreation of Emet than Bakool Ja Ja is, just with... a less interesting base personality. A never dying entity whose entire compelled focus is on preserving and restoring the lives of their people - who is happy, without regret, to do monstrous things in order to accomplish it. She's just not as much fun to be around, though. As such, she feeds into that idea of a litmus test you mentioned: Do you really like the beautiful, morally reprehensible villains with a tragic backstory for that sake? Or do you like someone who does wrong and can wrestle with what it means to make it better. Bakool Ja Ja himself would be enough to be a resounding yes to the second, but Sphene's weirdness/failure in juxtupositon to him really drives the point home.
I'm planning to do a Sphene video in the future, but in brief, I think that she's an example of individual components of other characters comprising a different whole. She's probably borrowing most from Elidibus, but in such a way that would have so many asterisks that doing so isn't really a helpful comparison.
I very much get the feeling that not only is bakool ja ja the youngest of the contestants, but also either the same age or younger than the twins if you compare his model size to gulool ja ja's model size, it's about the same size difference between adult and child elezen at least releasing valigarmanda didn't get anyone killed, y'know?
One thing the FF14 writers have historically done extremely well is writing sympathetic villains. I can think of maybe 2 in the game that don't get some kind of reasonable explanation as to why they "broke bad." Even ARR Lahabrea gets a sympathetic backstory, albeit much later. The only ones I can think of are that Garlean guy from the Werlyt quests and Zenos. And even Zenos at least has a lot of character development over the story. But Emet, Fordola, Elidibus, Hermes, even Asahi to some extent, all have sympathetic traits. Edit: Also, there's a reason Koana is jokingly referred to as G'Raha Blast. Edit 2: A youtube comment is 100% not the forum to fully explain this, but I think most of Dawntrail's problems stem from the fact that a lot of it IS Shadowbringers part 2, or part 3 if you count EndWalker as really just an extension of that xpac like I do. What makes it even worse is that we are relegated to being a side character in what is effectively a rehash of things we've already done. Zoral is just a knockoff Zenos and Sphene is Emet ordered from Wish. It feels like the 14 equivalent of a clip show.
For Emet, a lot of people, who I think mostly just want him to actually be right or redeemable on some level. Zenos doesn't get it often enough for me to string together a cohesive argument or ideal behind claiming it, but I have seen it.
I think ita much more simpler. He was a saturday cartoon villain, and then broke kayfabe and turned face. Everyone loves an antagonist to hate, and these characters are also easily to turn that hate into adoration with simplicity, such as simply rejecting their past actions. It happens in pro wrestling all the time, and i believe Bakool Ja Ja was intentionally created to fit the heel turnes face role.
@@SuperRamos619 I do think this is true, and that there's value in talking simple that I didn't take and probably should have. But I also don't think going deeper is necessarily wrong; he is borrowing from a playbook the game's used before, and I think talking about that approach is also plenty valid.
You know what I feel l need to preface this comment with an apology, so I'm going to talk about Bakool as a sexy, because there is something there as well. The only point in this wonderfully put together essay is the argument that Bakool JaJa isn't "traditionally sexy". The thing is he has a traditionally sexy body type for a certain demographic, if you're only looking at his torso. There's a large contingent of folks who are in to very muscular big guys, and that group is large enough, and with enough history to say yeah it's "traditionally sexy", even if it is not the one default body type. You can make the same argument for Emmet, where he is not what every guy or gal wants, but he is still sexy. He's Arnold as Conan the Barbarian, but with a second head and claws. Wuk is still sexy even if she's got whiskers, the xiv community can have a little furry/monster folk as a treat.
I feel like the whole 'two heads' thing is plenty unconventional! He's at the very least the most unconventionally attractive character with a big following like that. Before him the most unconventional we got was Emet and his 'Tumblr would go nuts over this slightly weird British man' face.
I think releasing Valigarmanda make sense, consider it rarely bother the lower land so his people wouldn't be effecting the consequences much, not to mentioned I think Bakool Ja Ja believed that he could take on Valigarmanda. At the worst he just reversed everything back to before Gulool Ja Ja united the nation which seems to be the overall theme of what Bakool Ja Ja represent.
I feel your observations are correct, but just how fast he speed ran the entire redemption arc threw me off. Took Emet-Selch a full expansion and Zenos three. Still his "this is why I'm bad" story is still better than Zenos who had very weak reasons for causing the damage he did.
@@SarahExpereinceRequiem He did say that and I believe him, but I also remember an interview where he talked about Hermes that was similar. They expected people to like him, but not as much as we did. Bakool was likely similar; you don't write his big scene without expecting people to like him, but HOW MUCH people like him might surprise you. Also the interview might've mentioned him being considered hot, if I recall? If so, that one would blindside.
Personally I don't see a single likable aspect about Bakool Ja Ja. He is introduced as an unlikable jerk, proceeds to continue being an unlikable jerk, endangers *countless people* by releasing Turali Bahamut, kidnaps no less than two people, threatens violence and/or death on multiple people, and in only a single scene we are expected to forget all of that in an instant? The only thing Bakool Ja Ja deserves is to be thrown into whatever the Turali version of a gaol is.
I was in basically the same position as you're describing for Emet, but I was clearly in the minority on that, so I think it's fair to ask 'why' on this sort of thing. And for Bakool I think the big part is that we DIDN'T actually forget that. Our only dialog options when he gives us the sob story are to tell him that doesn't excuse anything he did. He's not damned for it, but he's not immediately forgiven, he has to walk the talk.
@@EinDose Because they had a choice. Because they still have a choice. It was told directly to the player that some of the Mamool Ja left Mamook to go to Tuliyollal, and we see they are living much, muuuch happier lives for having done so. But this group chooses to stay in the death forest where nothing grows. So I have to ask... How many more people need to get hurt for their stubbornness? People who have absolutely nothing to do with the struggles of the people of Mamook. What on Etheirys did they do to Mamook to deserve that? I will not condone the harming of innocents!
I compared them to Naruto when they said they had no plans for after when becoming Dawn servant. As in all his life problems will be fixed by having a fancy title and everyone will love him. With no odea for an economic planning as ruler. And that is why I don't care for them. And people have used wrestling terms for them and that makes it worse for me. Wrestling was always boring to me. Now they're turn to help people was nice but if we never see them ever again I'd be fine. Also yes as fellow ace might be why I ignored the meme thus so I tuned shit out.
@@ProfessM I'm actually not a wrestling fan, but I've picked up a lot about it from others. And it's got a lot of really useful terms, especially for this scale of character who's mostly just a big talker and dirty fighter. Bakool's not a villain, he doesn't reach that bar, he's just a heel.
I don't get "his story is well written." He's a giant petty wangrod until the WoL finds the hidden switch behind the panel in his back and flips it from "Evil" to "Good." You can strain under high expectations without releasing what from all reports was a world-wrecking Godzilla or even just being a petty bully who stomps on somebody's tacos. A random face/heel turn is not a well-written arc, it's just a random face/heel turn.
Yeah, that's largely my take as well. I actually largely enjoyed Bakool Ja Ja until they tried to face turn him. He was just loud and blatantly, stupidly evil in the sort of way FF doesn't usually allow it's villains to be. He was refreshing and enjoyable in that way, especially in comparison to Zarool Ja who was just more quiet and calculating (in the beginning at least). And I even liked the way they explained the root of Bakool Ja Ja's insecurity and trauma. That much worked for me. I can even buy him trying to start to redeem himself. The issues came in when you started to see how other people reacted to this redemption. With all he did, you can't just save one person and be forgiven of all your sins. Maybe you can be partially redeemed in the eyes of that one person and/or their close relations but not just instantly redeemed wholesale. I only hope we've just been shown the surface level of all that so far and that there will be some sort of grander reconning later. If anything, the whole thing brings to mind the story we had for Yotsuyu where she was only really ever redeemed in the eyes of those who knew her full story, and we were still dealing with society at large hating her even into the EW role quests (which still didn't totally resolve people's feelings towards/about her).
@@Strider_Shinryu I think the difference in Bakool's case is that for the wider public, they never *saw* his sins. The only people who really knew he was doing anything other than be kind of a bit of a jerk were all major npcs, almost all of who were present for his backstory reveal. I highly doubt more than a handful of people knew he'd broken the seal on valigarmanda. And for the few people who did know, I read it more a case of them seeing him make a genuine effort and giving him the chance to redeem himself. Wuk Lumat's whole thing is understanding people and then working with them - it'd be horribly out of character for her to reject giving him that chance. Keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't backslide, and give positive reinforcement when he does well. And as long as Wuk Lumat and Koana are willing to at least give him a shot, I can't see anyone else even having a strong enough opinion on his misdeeds in the first place to actually care.
@@kjelfalconer Also timing wise I don't really think those who do know care enough to bring up him waking a birb that just burned a few people then got gibbed by the WoL when a few days later they were dealing with the attempted soul harvest of everyone
@@thegneech See, I think his story is well-written, it does actually make a lot of emotional sense why he does everything he does. I just don't think he's the ONLY thing that's well-written.
For some reason, I latched onto Bakool because of a Naruto Meme of all things. The moment he had a heel turn, I just said outloud "He's the Bakoolest guy" and It was all over from there.
i love him as a character because he has the whole struggling to meet expectations problem and it is by far my FAVORITE flaw for a character to have
@@kaizerslinkard4832 It's an ongoing theme of Dawntrail, I like it!
While everyone was still on the Bakool Hate Train early on, I was hooked on him for a pretty shallow reason. They made his model beefy as heck, and I'm a sucker for buff dudes, and funnily enough, I don't have a Twitter/X, so I had no idea the memes were going on. But while everyone else was saying "He stomped our tacos! what an ass!", I was like "But...look at those back muscles. I can always get more tacos, but this view is fleeting." lol. When I finally reached the part in the story where we learned about his past and what sacrifices were made, I immediately knew he was my favorite character from DT because they added a cherry on top and gave me an even deeper reason to be supportive of him as a character. I don't care how many people say his story is generic, lazy, or whatever, it was good enough for me to solidify his number 1 spot for me personally, and my enjoyment of him has been expanded beyond just how he looks and I'm happy for that.
Personally, I think his act of taco destruction served to save us from the budget blowout that would've been the FFXIV cutscene team trying to animate the messiest food on Earth.
@@EinDose fr tho XD
Something else... Bakool Ja Ja didn't kill anyone during his heal phase. He harmed a bunch of people, but he never killed anyone. Emmet-Selch and Zenos were both war criminals and more.
That is actually funny that for all Bakool Ja Ja was the obvious villain at the start, all he did (in Dawntrail and in the perspective of the Warrior of Light) was release Valigarmanda in desperation, then cooled his heels and came to an agreement with Wuk Lamat; the otherwise seeming serious Zoraal Ja was actually the problematic one.
@@gothicshark Yeah, his relative lack of crimes lets him go down easier for me, but I couldn't in good faith add that to the greater reasoning because... well, that's clearly not a barrier for a lot of other people!
What do you define as Heal Phase? Releasing the most dangerous Animal anyone has known on that Continent for the last 80 years sounds like being very ok with mass death(though I guess technically he's not the one delivering it directly) and he just got lucky the others took it down before that happened
@@vincentbeton Since no one was hurt, he got lucky we were there. He was being dumb, and made a bad choice, but it is forgivable because he didn't do any worse than causing minor damage.
When his dad started yelling at him and calling him useless, I immediately went "Oh."
He was fun to watch as a Saturday morning cartoon villain, bumbling but still dangerous. And then, very very abruptly, he's a child again.
I like how both Zoraal Ja and Bakool Ja Ja have massive expectations put on them by the circumstances of their births and so both seek to justify their existences by becoming Dawnservant. Bakool Ja Ja one ups Zoraal Ja by letting go of the *need* to do so in the first place and just being himself. While Zoraal Ja couldn't let go of it and let it fester.
@@SchrosDinger They're both essentially plqying off Wuk Lamat's relationship with legacy, but in a way that does make a strong subtle contrast with each other, too.
Bakool Ja Ja isn't even the hottest blessed sibling, Galool Ja Ja is. Hot dad, battle scars on his scales, and has a biological son even though blessed siblings are so called sterile.
@@UltimateTrainer I feel like the whole 'half-dead' thing is points away from him, though.
I hear you but he has a dead body attached to him
@@EinDose he's a grateful dead fan. they call them "deadheads"
Zenos wans't remoreseful and that's the best part of his character. He just wanted to fight and that's why I love him, consequences be damned.
@@Otacanthus Agreed, and similarly one of my favorite Emet moments was him going 'I'm still right and I'm literally going to die mad about it' in Ultima Thule. But I've still heard it about both, and I overall think that more important than if they actually felt bad was that Bakool clearly DID.
I love your use of heel here! I made a Bakool Ja Ja spotify playlist and the first song was "heel turn" by the mountain goats because that is EXACTLY his vibe!! Great essay!
"I wanted to discuss all the claimants, but didn't have much to say about Koana." getting preemptively hyped by the implication that a Wuk Lamat video is coming
@@TDOTCRFH4 Wuk Lamat has the opposite problem, I need to figure out what I want to focus on saying!
It’s because the scene with the tablets hit too close to home for too many people. We need to mine more of that delicious childhood trauma.
I was in the boat keeping the Valigarmanda event on their permanent record from being fully redeemable. However, he feels like the opposite of Yotsuyu. In a way that is enlightening. We know the full scales of his actions and have to hold him to the fire to change but the rest of the world only sees him at face value suddenly becoming a bigger hero and protector. While we sympathize towards Yotsuyu because of the full picture but society still has much ill against her, sometimes justifiably so. It takes good writers to take tropes to flesh them into different perspectives because people see others through contextual disparities. What matters is that Bakool didn’t fall back into his past hubris and descend to full delinquency after saving a few people, he decided to be a landsguard and might have some more story to explore his rise more. Your mention of Koana sorta made me keel from self realization. He is kinda of a cookie cut but yet the community pushes that he should be in the MSQ more, despite his personality and purpose teetering into retread. I still adore him and his performance and micro aggressions to be unique enough for him. But I’m looking forward to a possible Wuk Lamat vid, or Erenville. I think the latter fulfilled his role in character yet I get confused over people saying he didn’t do enough. This sort of betrays what they actually want. He needed to go and do something “action hero” like, to not be the guide anymore in such a role
@@AverageAspie I feel like the reason Valigarmanda doesn't get into 'irredeemable crime' territory is because it basically just refused to go on the rampage he was betting on. Valigarmanda broke out and then immediately went to go eat some rocks, so even Bakool's biggest evil turn doesn't add a single death to his name.
And I have been thinking of covering Krile and Erenville in one video, talk about what their stories were and why we didn't get more.
@@EinDose true. I forgot to elaborate that I “was” in past tense putting that incident over his head as unforgivable, but time and a new perspective made me leave it alone. However, I appreciate the perspective. It reminds me that despite how high we put Vidrials on a pedestal, they are creatures with cunning complexity as any natural animal. Being constantly frozen by its own magiks expunging and exhausting its aether for 80 years would reasonably lead a creature to seek rest and refuel before being back to its prime once released
I see the background footage at 15:35 and I just started crying. I haven't even played the game and I'm already sold on this man.
Oh, Bakool's story definitely doesn't pull his punches here!
Bakool worked for me as a really effective way to comment on the effects society has on it's people. The guy was basically a saturday morning cartoon villain as a persona, and he consistently didn't give a genuine f* about anyone or anything other than the piles of dead siblings before him, and putting a stop to the whole thing. His narcissistic attitude really clicked when you realize how much he despises the system and culture he's stuck in and the harm it does, but feels trapped to work within it to stop it.
For me, the reason I like Bakool Ja Ja is because on the inside he's just like a sad scared child, which appeals to my motherly instincts lol. It just makes you want to comfort him
It helps that he's one of the rare FFXIV characters with a visible--and good--mom, I think. Lets you know that's a relationship you can have with his character.
Thanks for another vid! Regarding Koana as a lime-flavored G'Raha: It's funny you should bring up how similar they are, and why you probably won't make a video on him! My FC mates and I actually had a (very unserious) roleplay fight night to determine which of the catboys was superior. It was super fun, but thinking about who in my group particularly liked Koana (at least in my circle) - it was straight cis men.
When chatting with them about their feelings on G'Raha and on Koana, I discovered two important factors that informed their preference:
1) They weren't receptive to the romantic undertones that are part of G'Raha's character. Their reactions to him ranged from "he's a buddy" to "this guy gives me unwanted attention". (That's not to say that ALL cis men arent receptive. There's a huge number of straight cis men out there who like G'Raha regardless.)
2) They found Koana both relatable and admirable. The guys I talked to who really liked Koana said that they loved how hard he tried to be stoic while masking his temper and protective affection for Wuk Lamat. By contrast, they had a hard time taking G'Raha seriously because he has fanboy moments. They acknowledged G'Raha's accomplishments for his role in the narrative, but clearly weren't fans of how he looks at the WoL like an idol. On top of that, Koana appeared like a competent lone wolf for much of the story. Even though he WAS taking council, it was from Thancred and Urianger - some of the most stoic and secretive men among the Scions. Looking at it like that, it feels like Koana DOES have a certain distinction from G'Raha that is especially appealing to masculine audiences.
This is really interesting, because that second one was something that's come up when talking about Koana in my discord server, but as an estimated negative. The person bringing it up suspected that the fact Koana's attention is focused on someone else rather than us, but it sounds like that might actually be a point in his favor; for people who don't like, or even directly dislike, characters being into us, him being a completely platonic person who just thinks we're pretty good is a breath of fresh air for that sort of character type.
Poor lime-flavored G'raha
I do like Bakool Ja Ja at the end but after Mamook I only really did a 120 degree turn with the remaining 60 degrees gradually turning over through the rest of his appearance.
It’s kind of sad his entourage didn’t really get as much attention other than that one slacking member.
Also, I’m partly upset it’s him we get to see more than Zoraal Ja, but again it really wasn’t his story and we’re not privy to that like you said I think? It certainly was a choice
The fact that Bakool has a largely true speech in him, and Zoraal doesn't, is a really interesting divide.
Thanks for the shoutout! Great video as always :D
I love a good heel and especially love a good heel turn, so Bakool Ja Ja was always going to be one of my favorites. I saw his potential turn since I first saw him, but it doesn't diminish his character for me.
Great exploration of the Character. I'd have preferred if he had been less of a over the top Bully and more of a 'have to do whatever it takes to win' kind of guy. Those behaviors overlap to an extent of course, but it would've made me more sympathetic with him when he releases Valigarmanda seemingly for the lols
I don't believe for a second that Zenos ever had any remorse. I can see the arguement for Emet-Selch, but Zenos? Nah.
@@MalzraAirwynn Yeah, that's not a common argument for Zenos, although I have seen it.
Personally, i like him because of both in game characterization (yeah he is an arse for a good part of the game but his ark is fine. He did realize he messed up, even if honestly, i got no idea what he was expecting to achieve with how he was handling things, and he did turn his cloak around. He went from being an alpaca's *** to being someone you WANT in your party and by your side) and how the XIV community and his VA are/reacted to him. Some people in the community are just so much fun to watch when it comes to our young two headed Mamool Ja. I really hope to see more of him in the patch story.
I have so many thoughts on particularly Bakool Ja Ja and the "request" for a "Shadowbringers (I'd also add Endwalker) 2".
In terms of the former, I have an issue with there being relatively little connective tissue between the different versions of him and I think Mamook's issues and his arc were probably a little too easily "solved".
The sarcastic/hyper-critical nerd meme here is that we "solved racism" in an afternoon and him releasing Valigarmanda was a slap on the wrist.
But despite these issues, I find him to be an incredibly entertaining character that I still felt for.
I think the subtext of him being a desperate bully (and also not reverting back to being that bully) explained him and softened the issues I had with him enough where I still think the character is fun.
I think the personalities (aided by the fantastic va) of the two different heads are a lot of fun and I think Wuk's empathy towards him was so welcome because I didn't believe in her empathic nature for a while.
I also like the idea of taking the first step to fix a broken system and an attempt to find an alternative to a solution with bloodshed, which earlier FF14 often didn't address as an option. Sometimes you have to take the harder option (as with Sphene), but maybe sometimes you can indeed find a better one.
And post-redemption, he just has the fun "supportive rival" vibe.
I actually think they could easily fill in the issues with Bakool in the upcoming content by just giving a little bit more focus to Mamook and maybe adding to one of those blue quests, which showed the change was actually pretty drastic and turned some people's whole world upside down. Maybe just straight-up use the Valigarmanda incident to just explore his character more?
And this actually leads to the latter element.
Out of all of the feedback I've seen given to Dawntrail, I hope they ignore people wanting a "Shadowbringers 2" or "Endwalker 2" the most.
Experiment with, develop and explore the new elements and characters you just built up instead of getting cold feet and going back on your ballsy move of ending a story in a media environment where remakes and dragging out and redoing iconic imagery for short-term gain is so popular.
Especially don't start repeating iconic imagery again without ryhme and reason because that is a shortcut to ruining the impact of it.
I actually think Dawntrail was already cutting it a little too close.
Living Memory was a little too close to being Amaurot and Ultima Thule, but just done again.
We now have four different "ending" dungeons explaining the motivation/backstory of a villain.
And Solution 9 was incredibly similar to the 13th.
It's all still different "enough", but I hope they just straight-up do something new in terms of story formula for 8.0.
Use the key with the Azem symbol to maybe lead to an entirely new villain group or even main big villain.
And I so vividly remember so many people wanting them to do new stuff.
Yet now people want a "Shadowbringers 2" or "Endwalker 2", from the start of a new story?
I think it's great it's not Allagans again. I think it's great we're back to being an adventurer and support after being the main hero for like 10 years of content. Ascians were only mentioned a few times (though obviously still important since we are still dealing with Reflections and the like).
(In fact, maybe any of the Ascians still out there could actually become allies against a new threat? Would be a fun twist. We had Gaia, but I think it would be fun if one of the remaining actually sundered ones would maybe become one.)
So much of DT was so refreshing to me because of the new elements. I don't want ShB or EW again because this would lessen their impact.
Obviously this reaction also exists because some just disliked Dawntrail and just default to ShB and EW for the sake of comparison.
But I personally would rather have them go forward and let them just take their time for now.
I started truly warming up to DT when Mamook hit and absolutely adored the last third, so I don't need convincing, but my true buffer is 7.x + 8.0.
I'll be worried if they don't have something compelling in the big picture by 8.x.
Because despite the explosive ending for ARR, it actually also took me a while to like HW.
At the same time, at this point, I also kind of just really enjoy FF14 from a gameplay perspective.
So even if the story ultimately won't be as good as it was so far, if they keep DT's gameplay quality, I'll be around for a while.
I already did not like the part that were reminiscent of the Shadowalker extended story. It is not to say that Queen Sphene does not have unlikable parts, but it really rankled of Shadowalker 2.0 even if she were a meaningful contrast to Emet-Selch, Elidibus, and Meteion all at once
@@PipoPoppy I think some of the things that cut weirdly close are more functional than anything. Yeah, we've fot a lot of the 'villainous monoligue' final dungeons, but they're also just functionally really good ways to do storytelling alongside gameplay, which the game often has to separate.
@@EinDose Yeah, I think those dungeons are fantastic in terms of "storytelling functionality", but to me getting old as part of "the formula". If they do that the 5th time in row for 7.x I'd just about would have enough of it and just be tired of it. I would even enjoy this beat more if it wasn't reserved for a "final" dungeon.
I kind of want another Aetherochemical Research Facility or Ala Mhigo to switch things up.
Dungeons which just lead to the final confrontation and we, for example, just fully learn everything we need to know before the final dungeon.
(Not Praetorium, though, that's just the worst of both worlds.)
And the UT/Amaurot (and now Living Memory) trope is kind of that way to me, as well. It's great, but has gotten old. I definitely don't want another one of those for 8.0.
I even think about The Ghimlyt Dark and how that was a fantastic cap-off to Stormblood without another monologue to tell you everything about how you should feel about the villain in said dungeon.
@@PipoPoppy exactly- it’s that Alexandria does all of Lunat Subterrane variations on the Amaurot/Dead Ends beats and info dumps *in the exact same story point*. Ikuykatumu has the first mobs on the moving vehicle, same as Anyder and Lapis, but that’s not the guaranteed design of a first arc/expansion’s dungeon. Which now has been entrenched for arc ends.
People: Why do people like this Bakool Ja Ja???
Us: We're into angsty baby girls and also furries
And realistically we should not have been surprised
you touched on something that i couldn't put my finger on for the longest time: i do feel like the main problem i have with Dawntrail is that i kept forgetting that Koana existed, even after becoming dawnservant. they would cut to him and i would have a split second of confusion before remembering his character.
You know I hadn’t considered how Bakool Ja Ja is like a mix of Emet-Selch and Zenos but with a twist and now I can’t unsee it. Bakool Ja Ja wasn’t one of my favorite characters from DT but I did quite like how his character is being given time to grow and repent. Very fun way handling a side antagonist like this. Reminds me of Fordola but more condensed since her redemption journey was more prolonged and pushed sort of behind the scenes for a while
There's also a value in Fordola having had a lot of 'post-credits' runway that Bakool hasn't, yet. If we look at Fordola as just someone who existed in 4.0 she doesn't have much of a journey, but afterwards we can add in Return of the Bull and the Shadowbringers/Endwalker stuff.
@@EinDose yeah Fordola has retroactively become my favorite Stormblood side character I think. Seeing her in SHB/EW made me more invested in her character
I'm still trying to figure out who the hell smuggled some of these guys out of Aht Urgan and wiped their memories...
@@mindinversions4487 and gave them all those extra polygons! I love every chance to use the Molaal Ja Ja scenes because they still haven't upgraded his model, which was FFXI Gulool Ja Ja.
The thing I really like about Bakool Ja Ja is that he and Zoraal Ja are Subversions of tropes already seen in the MSQ. Bakool comes across like a thuggish, cheating bully, a lot like many of the Ascien or Garlean villains, While Zoraal comes across as a sort of Archetypical "Dark Knight," doing brutal things to help his people, kind of like Estinien or ARR Thancred. Except once you get know them, you realize that Bakool is a desperate fool, torn between his father's crooked ambitions, and his mother's desire for reformation. Zoraal, by contrast, is a Self-righteous, callous, jerk who has isolated himself from his siblings and and become obsessed with War-mongering, not to help his people, but just to prove he is superior to his father.
Main tangentially quibble is that I don't see how Sphene *remotely* qualifies as a new character to XIV. She's a variation on a few things, but the combination of Primal!Elidibus and Zodairk, fanon whitewashing of Emet and his motivations (and the WoL's forced sympathy for him reflected in Wuk lamat), and the moe teenage girl facade over a world-destroying haywire AI of Meteion means that he fundamental reaction of the fanbase that we've seen her before has a strong base. Sphene especially hits that Emet feels remorse for his villainy (but if you look at canon he doesn't).
Which is part of BJJ's appeal- he's a heel because his villainy is mostly nonthreatening; he's never a real threat, and when he has his face turn it's genuine and he puts in effort over the course of half the game to redeem himself, where he's an ally onscreen as long as he was a rival. Which is ...pretty rare for XIV. Ysayle, Fordola, arguably Ardbert. But he never hit 'variation on Emet' when Sphene *screams* that - and he's enough dissimilar to Zenos that the Zenos fans were arguing not over his perceived fanbase overlap but Zoraal Ja.
Re: repeating themselves. it's telling that the true weaknesses of DT to me are where they copied the formula to a painful and boring extent - Alexandria and Interphos.
@@CH-dr1ds I think Sphene's another example of 'repeat what worked but not what LOOKED like it worked'. You can see internal components of Elidibus especially, but the way that it manifests staunchly refuses to fit easily into any boxes. I know I definitely like Sphene a lot more than you do, though.
@@EinDose my distaste is also driven by fear of getting a repeat of what happened to Emet in the ShB patches and EW. And because her colonization aspects are so blatant I don’t see how they can be denied, but also like Emet it’s angles of her I see SE fumbling. Sphene recombines enough of the elements and does fresh angles of what XIV has done like the paternalistic justification and white woman purity for colonial exploitation, and the amping up SF machine elements in Omicron and Primals. She’s not as formulaically boring as a lot of the final parts of DT (Origenics, Alexendria, LM, Interphos). But it’s telling which dungeons and story elements are getting the bulk of fan accusations as opposed to the first dungeon doing the conveyor platform trash start. Or that BJJ rarely got Zenos comparisons (though he does scratch the itch for those that wanted fun frienimies redeemed Zenos)
Not a lot to say that wasn't covered in the video itself (surprisingly or un-) but I just wanted to say that 1: I'm really happy that this particular The Guy survives and thrives, it's a good vibe overall, and 2: the longer one
I'm happy that you dropped the "bulk and skull" tagline in your description because those two have a special place in my heart. One of the predictive factors for whether any given season of Power Rangers (not Super Sentai in this case, specifically) is going to be "good" or even "great" is the double question of "do they have a Bulk and Skull" and "did they just try to mash them in, or are the performers giving it a heartfelt go". Every season with the original Bulk and Skull clears this bar, for the record.
There's something about that archetype, which clearly exists in-world and in-story, characters who obviously think like they're the protagonists of their own series but that series isn't as far removed from the actual show we're watching as, say, Emet-Selch's protagonist vision was from the actual game of FF14 (to the point where he just straight-up plays his own death flags and sets up the dominos for our textual hero to knock him all down) and so they're constantly at odds with one element of the main characters, whether as "villains" or just rivals, but never so much as to actually flip into Real Villains, Real Antagonists, and even to seamlessly work together when push comes to shove. And the partial-comic-relief Bully is a big part of that too, and... yeah, this is the first FF14 expansion where I think we actually get a Bulk And/Or Skull in the main story, and I think they work really, really well. (We might have gotten our Bulk XOR Skulls in class and job quests, I'd have to dig in for that archetype, don't have the data on hand.)
I really like this guys.
@@AmaranthWitch I think he wound up bigger than the 'school bully' comparisons, which is why I didn't use them in the video itself, but it really was the earliest comparison I had.
Part of it may be a reception to characters in general. Wuk Lamat, love her or not, has had a mixed reception. And is around almost the entire MSQ without really changing all that much in terms of personality. The returning scions we adventure with through most of the story take more of a back seat and rarely have much of interest to say or do beyond filling trust slots. Where as Bakook JaJa has these intermittent spikes of entertaining charisma whether he's heel or face. He steals every scene he's in. And he's not on screen long enough for people to get sick of him.
I think when it comes to liking characters, traits are more important than writing or plot armor for the community. While I do think that they were able to make a bullish character have a meaning behind his actions I feel that the getting there wasn't really done well.
During our time in Ok'Hanu we get to know that treatening an elector's life is an instant disqualification and our initial moment in Mamook shows us that is true, however in between those moments Bakool commits 2 crimes worthy of disqualification yet nothing comes out of them and even if the story says he's not forgiven, the next scenes have him quickly become a hero to the ppl.
Realistically I could go on and say that the whole Mamook has problem with the writing being a bit unfocused but I don't have time to make a good concise statement on it
I think you could make a case that perhaps Zereel Ja is the only person using the rules specifically because he wants to wield them against people other than Bakool. Or maybe he made up that rule; it's kinda hard to tell.
@@EinDose It is a safe assumption to make, especially because it goes hand in hand with what was the real point of mamook, however the rule was first enstablished in Ok'Hanu when Bakool'Ja Ja tried to just steal the keystone.
Legit, even as someone who loves both Emet Selch and Zenos, I really didn’t make the connection of those shared traits tbh. That is wild and I do think you’re onto something lol. I definitely hope we get to see more of Bakool Ja Ja’s arc continue in the patches. Would make a nice balance to Solution Nine and their inevitable integration with the Source.
(Tho it does baffle me that people think Emet had regrets at the end. Even at the end of Endwalker where he has ALL of his memories back, he isn’t expressing anything of the sort, just entrusting the future and essentially Azem’s mantle to us. I don’t even buy the tempered by Zodiark thing tho, even if I’ll still read fic with that headcanon. Ah well. Reasons why I continue to rotate well written characters under microscopes and find different details I guess.)
@@Caterfree10 My read on the tempering question is that he is tempered, but not nearly to the degree we think of as 'tempered', and is probably using it as an excuse.
@@EinDose yeah I can definitely agree with that reading imo. Even at the end, it’s at best him saying we had the stronger will and should use that to protect the Star. Not regretful, just seeing us off as he and Hyth go to their next lives finally. And also giving us a laundry list of things to clean up in the form of shiny new places to visit as I suspect Solution Nine ultimately was lmao.
oh one extra thing I wanted to say about the blessed siblings. I think the writers idea of the problem with Mamook was that in truth Mamook was the biggest failure of Gulool'Ja Ja. What I mean by that? He's a blessed sibling that unified the entirety of Tura, thus giving credit to the idea that the blessed sibling are this de facto ruler and conqueror, he pretty contributed to the radicalization of the fanatics. Sadly I feel the writing isn't upfront enough with it, you can get this front the words of Zereel'Ja but we focus too much on the Sharlayan seeds solution that the weight of us defeating the shade of the strongest of the blessed sibling isn't really felt
I think a large part of Koana falling short is just that we don't really get as much of him as we do every other claimant. When we got to that the mid-point of the story where we have two Vows and one is clearly coming with us, I was really really really hoping we would see the other half of the coin in terms of the leadership we helped appoint, taking Koana because he knew more about tech and had every reason to venture out as much as Wuk Lamat did otherwise. I wanted his insights on what we in for, a lot of which we knew from spoilers would involve the mass societal impacts of tech gone too far and the toll it would take on souls and people. I still feel it was a missed opportunity that we didn't take him and leave Wuk Lamat to guard the city.
I think the "two cakes" thing does hold some truth, moreso between Koana and Erenville than with G'raha which is much much more of a different character archetype (I don't even know how G'raha is in the same category as Koana/Erenville when it comes to attitudes and outlook). That said, I wouldn't call the "two cakes" thing a problem or reason to not have swapped Koana out. By the time we get Otis, we have the same situation of "two cakes" as he is so close to mold Wuk Lamat already fills. I don't think including Otis makes Wuk Lamat's inclusion suffer any. The only argument I could see for keeping Wuk Lamat with us for the second half of the story is her relationship moments with Sphene... but couldn't we have gotten that with Koana? The love for one's people and willingness to embrace diplomacy for unknown cultures.... Wouldn't it have been such an opportunity to see that side of Koana since we already knew it was there with Wuk Lamat?
I just can't help but think we had a real missed opportunity.
Oh, and adding: I think Bakool Ja Ja's redemption works a lot better if we have cutscenes of him saving civilians in Tuliyollal while alongside someone he actually wronged, like Wuk Lamat. Scenes where it is clear they have fully put their history aside and growing a bond through saving the city together, fighting back-to-back instead of face-to-face. That would have been a very good cutscene.
@@lobete I will say, I expect Koana and Alexandria to be a patch story thing. There's a clear possible dynamic there that would be an obvious pick to explore, even if I think it was ultimately a better pick for Wuk Lamat to be there for the first trip and have her contrast with Sphene.
Koana could've made a much better partner for the first Shaaloani trip than Erenville, too.
@@EinDose I had a badly-timed edit that was probably missed in that post. >< Something more topical to Bakool Ja Ja
Anyway, yeah I do get the need to contrast them, but I don't think anything we see of Wuk Lamat through that contrast is new to us, is it? She kind of acts fully as expected? That was part of why I was trying to add that we'd get more out of seeing that side of Koana. I do hope you are right about the patch content. I guess there is a lot of potential there I'm not thinking about. They did lay the groundwork with Koana that he, too, feels the need to learn about his continent in ways he's overlooked. The new city-state Tural is... reclaiming? That is as much an opportunity as anything and learning about their innovations fulfills his initial goals.
*fingers crossed*
@@lobete I intend to make both a Sphene video and a Wuk Lamat video at some point, but I think they key elements of her being in that second half are her putting her experience in the rite into practice--not so much 'learning new things' as showing that what we already learned had value--and to especially contrast her with Sphene, a woman who espouses much the same things but refuses to truly extend the hand of peace. Zoraal Ja's also a valuable contributor, being someone who puts forward a very fervent, exact opposition to Wuk Lamat's outlook.
None of that's to say that Koana going to Alexandria wouldn't have value, but it would hold less of it--as well as being more evergreen value. Koana can have this journey post-credits without losing anything, while Wuk Lamat could only have had those moments against Sphene and Zoraal Ja.
@@EinDose thinks for the reply. Got to watch the cutscenes again and I am pretty happy with Wuk Lamat's contribution with the Zoraal Ja fight. Another viewing did make me less critical as I thought more on it. Anyway, I look forward to your thoughts and video on these subjects. Have fun!
I agree that we shouldn't get a Shadowbringers Part 2. As fun as that could be, they could easily slide into tropes or plot points that would feel too familiar, and i feel like it would be a waste to jump to another shard when we have plenty of the Source left to explore or revisit. One part i liked about Endwalker, though it was a shame it didn't happen much in the main story, was bringing together all the peoples we have helped so far. (At least there was some visiting and problem solving done in the class quests). I would love to go back and be involved with the hundreds of characters we've met so far rather than meet 50 new ones.
(Please let me have a speaking cutscene with Aymeric again, I beg of you!)
As much as I respect wanting a speaking cutscene with Aymeric: Give it to Hien first, his fans have been waiting since Shadowbringers to hear him again!
@@EinDose that’s fair, Hein can go first. Or maybe do both at once?
I screamed when I clicked on the video. That was a shocker.
I don't mind him but idk why everybody seems to love him. Maybe this video will tell me ^^
I love him as a character but not THAT way. I got Gulool Ja Ja for that he’s fine as hell if I need Blessed Siblings. He just has a very simple reason why he wants to win. It’s bad yeah. But then you peel it back more and more and realize how bad it really is. He had 0 friends his age, idk if they had kids in the village as a WHOLE, people couldn’t marry who they wanted, he was seen as a second coming of a god and then not even a living being but the savior of his people else all failed children before him died for nothing. It’s insane and I see people saying “okay kids dying sucks but he is a terrorist” FIRST OF ALL ZORAAL JA + HIS DISNEY SIDEKICK 100% MADE THEM FREE VALLEY GIRL BAKOOL WOULD NOT KNOW SHIT ABOUT THE TWIN FIRES. AND SECOND ITS MORE THAN DEAD BABIES
anyways I can’t have anymore ffxiv boyfriends Vrtra is more than enough. When your 2800lbs boyfriend decides when the hug ends
I think due to my playing in Japanese I think I got spoiled on the whole he really isn't bad twist. In Japanese he still calls her a baby kitten, but during the one time he's talking about Wuk Lamat where she's not in his presence he goes and calls her a cute baby kitten. And that's when I went oh you can't be a complete dick if you just called her cute. That and in Japanese his laugh from the fighter head sounds like a mix between a donkey and a monkey noise. Which I took as subtle commentary on his character.
I think a Koana video could work if we got a little bit more about him. As we do get hinted at his past life in two spots. That and once he went full protective big brother after Wuk Lamat's kidnapping he definitely gained some more interesting characteristics. I think he sort of suffers in a Y'shtola kind of way. Though I did initially see a lot of fan art of him and Bakool Ja Ja even before the embargo lifted.
@@tazersmurf4689 There might be a tonal thing I'm missing, but 'cute baby kitten' feels if anything even more belittling than English Bakool's uses if 'kitten' and 'house cat' for Wuk and Krile.
@@EinDose It tends to be a thing in a few anime where the use of cute when combined with a name you use to insult or tease another character is a hint to the audience that the person might have a softer side in them. Just that they can't or won't show it. They also won't add cute to said insult if the person is within sight or hearing range. It's kind of like when the protagonist says something like "That person is a real jerk, but they're kinda hot." or they tack on some kind of positive quality the antagonist has. As I said he only uses cute the one time and it's the one time Wuk Lamat isn't around to hear it. Otherwise yeah he uses his nickname as an insult.
The writers heard our pleas of “I can fix him/her!” with many of the tragic sympathetic villains from past expansions, and they delivered with one we actually get to fix.
Also while we’re at it, I feel like Bakool Ja Ja and the Mamook nation’s sordid past of breeding for Blessed Siblings begs a lot of questions about Gulool Ja Ja’s own past before he began traveling and uniting the tribes of Tural. What compelled Gulool Ja Ja to leave Mamook in the first place? Surely he must be aware of the dark history of the Blessed Siblings? Why did Gulool Ja Ja allow Mamook to continue to flounder ecologically and be xenophobic supremacists after he became Dawnservant? Did Gulool Ja Ja harbor shame and resentment towards his own people? All I’m saying is that I think Bakool Ja Ja feels like he could be a foil in some ways to Gulool Ja Ja, because they must have had very similar upbringings or cultural contexts. Or maybe Gulool Ja Ja was kidnapped from his tribe at a very young age and wasn’t raised in Mamook, but that feels like a cop out in writing.
One tiny disagreement from a side comment you made:
You said that Sphene doesn't fit into any of the archetypes we have thus far, and with that I disagree. In my view, she's a lot closer to the recreation of Emet than Bakool Ja Ja is, just with... a less interesting base personality. A never dying entity whose entire compelled focus is on preserving and restoring the lives of their people - who is happy, without regret, to do monstrous things in order to accomplish it. She's just not as much fun to be around, though.
As such, she feeds into that idea of a litmus test you mentioned: Do you really like the beautiful, morally reprehensible villains with a tragic backstory for that sake? Or do you like someone who does wrong and can wrestle with what it means to make it better. Bakool Ja Ja himself would be enough to be a resounding yes to the second, but Sphene's weirdness/failure in juxtupositon to him really drives the point home.
I'm planning to do a Sphene video in the future, but in brief, I think that she's an example of individual components of other characters comprising a different whole. She's probably borrowing most from Elidibus, but in such a way that would have so many asterisks that doing so isn't really a helpful comparison.
@@EinDose I hadn't made the Elidibus connection. Brilliant!
Silly Monster Lovers sneakin' into everything.
I very much get the feeling that not only is bakool ja ja the youngest of the contestants, but also either the same age or younger than the twins
if you compare his model size to gulool ja ja's model size, it's about the same size difference between adult and child elezen
at least releasing valigarmanda didn't get anyone killed, y'know?
One thing the FF14 writers have historically done extremely well is writing sympathetic villains. I can think of maybe 2 in the game that don't get some kind of reasonable explanation as to why they "broke bad." Even ARR Lahabrea gets a sympathetic backstory, albeit much later. The only ones I can think of are that Garlean guy from the Werlyt quests and Zenos. And even Zenos at least has a lot of character development over the story. But Emet, Fordola, Elidibus, Hermes, even Asahi to some extent, all have sympathetic traits.
Edit: Also, there's a reason Koana is jokingly referred to as G'Raha Blast.
Edit 2: A youtube comment is 100% not the forum to fully explain this, but I think most of Dawntrail's problems stem from the fact that a lot of it IS Shadowbringers part 2, or part 3 if you count EndWalker as really just an extension of that xpac like I do. What makes it even worse is that we are relegated to being a side character in what is effectively a rehash of things we've already done. Zoral is just a knockoff Zenos and Sphene is Emet ordered from Wish. It feels like the 14 equivalent of a clip show.
Lol what who is out there saying emet or Zenos were remorseful. Lol! Lmao even! They were absolutely not! Thats part of why I like them as characters.
For Emet, a lot of people, who I think mostly just want him to actually be right or redeemable on some level. Zenos doesn't get it often enough for me to string together a cohesive argument or ideal behind claiming it, but I have seen it.
I think ita much more simpler. He was a saturday cartoon villain, and then broke kayfabe and turned face.
Everyone loves an antagonist to hate, and these characters are also easily to turn that hate into adoration with simplicity, such as simply rejecting their past actions. It happens in pro wrestling all the time, and i believe Bakool Ja Ja was intentionally created to fit the heel turnes face role.
@@SuperRamos619 I do think this is true, and that there's value in talking simple that I didn't take and probably should have. But I also don't think going deeper is necessarily wrong; he is borrowing from a playbook the game's used before, and I think talking about that approach is also plenty valid.
You know what I feel l need to preface this comment with an apology, so I'm going to talk about Bakool as a sexy, because there is something there as well.
The only point in this wonderfully put together essay is the argument that Bakool JaJa isn't "traditionally sexy". The thing is he has a traditionally sexy body type for a certain demographic, if you're only looking at his torso. There's a large contingent of folks who are in to very muscular big guys, and that group is large enough, and with enough history to say yeah it's "traditionally sexy", even if it is not the one default body type. You can make the same argument for Emmet, where he is not what every guy or gal wants, but he is still sexy. He's Arnold as Conan the Barbarian, but with a second head and claws. Wuk is still sexy even if she's got whiskers, the xiv community can have a little furry/monster folk as a treat.
I feel like the whole 'two heads' thing is plenty unconventional! He's at the very least the most unconventionally attractive character with a big following like that. Before him the most unconventional we got was Emet and his 'Tumblr would go nuts over this slightly weird British man' face.
I think releasing Valigarmanda make sense, consider it rarely bother the lower land so his people wouldn't be effecting the consequences much, not to mentioned I think Bakool Ja Ja believed that he could take on Valigarmanda. At the worst he just reversed everything back to before Gulool Ja Ja united the nation which seems to be the overall theme of what Bakool Ja Ja represent.
I feel your observations are correct, but just how fast he speed ran the entire redemption arc threw me off. Took Emet-Selch a full expansion and Zenos three. Still his "this is why I'm bad" story is still better than Zenos who had very weak reasons for causing the damage he did.
i hate it but hes popular because he's male in an expansion about failed fathers he gets to stand out.
I don't know that they designed him based on a formula, Yoshida said he was surprised that people liked him didn't he? Unless he was lying.
@@SarahExpereinceRequiem He did say that and I believe him, but I also remember an interview where he talked about Hermes that was similar. They expected people to like him, but not as much as we did. Bakool was likely similar; you don't write his big scene without expecting people to like him, but HOW MUCH people like him might surprise you.
Also the interview might've mentioned him being considered hot, if I recall? If so, that one would blindside.
@@EinDose Oh, I see. 🤔
imo origenics is more analagous to holminster switch
instantly voice
Personally I don't see a single likable aspect about Bakool Ja Ja. He is introduced as an unlikable jerk, proceeds to continue being an unlikable jerk, endangers *countless people* by releasing Turali Bahamut, kidnaps no less than two people, threatens violence and/or death on multiple people, and in only a single scene we are expected to forget all of that in an instant? The only thing Bakool Ja Ja deserves is to be thrown into whatever the Turali version of a gaol is.
I was in basically the same position as you're describing for Emet, but I was clearly in the minority on that, so I think it's fair to ask 'why' on this sort of thing.
And for Bakool I think the big part is that we DIDN'T actually forget that. Our only dialog options when he gives us the sob story are to tell him that doesn't excuse anything he did. He's not damned for it, but he's not immediately forgiven, he has to walk the talk.
@@EinDose Because they had a choice. Because they still have a choice. It was told directly to the player that some of the Mamool Ja left Mamook to go to Tuliyollal, and we see they are living much, muuuch happier lives for having done so.
But this group chooses to stay in the death forest where nothing grows. So I have to ask... How many more people need to get hurt for their stubbornness? People who have absolutely nothing to do with the struggles of the people of Mamook. What on Etheirys did they do to Mamook to deserve that? I will not condone the harming of innocents!
I compared them to Naruto when they said they had no plans for after when becoming Dawn servant. As in all his life problems will be fixed by having a fancy title and everyone will love him. With no odea for an economic planning as ruler.
And that is why I don't care for them. And people have used wrestling terms for them and that makes it worse for me. Wrestling was always boring to me.
Now they're turn to help people was nice but if we never see them ever again I'd be fine.
Also yes as fellow ace might be why I ignored the meme thus so I tuned shit out.
@@ProfessM I'm actually not a wrestling fan, but I've picked up a lot about it from others. And it's got a lot of really useful terms, especially for this scale of character who's mostly just a big talker and dirty fighter. Bakool's not a villain, he doesn't reach that bar, he's just a heel.
@@EinDose Ah. Likely heard that before but forgot. I need room for Kamen Rider forms and Gundam names.
He’s a bad boy with a tragic backstory that’s actually a softie. It ain’t that deep.
I don't get "his story is well written." He's a giant petty wangrod until the WoL finds the hidden switch behind the panel in his back and flips it from "Evil" to "Good." You can strain under high expectations without releasing what from all reports was a world-wrecking Godzilla or even just being a petty bully who stomps on somebody's tacos. A random face/heel turn is not a well-written arc, it's just a random face/heel turn.
Yeah, that's largely my take as well. I actually largely enjoyed Bakool Ja Ja until they tried to face turn him. He was just loud and blatantly, stupidly evil in the sort of way FF doesn't usually allow it's villains to be. He was refreshing and enjoyable in that way, especially in comparison to Zarool Ja who was just more quiet and calculating (in the beginning at least). And I even liked the way they explained the root of Bakool Ja Ja's insecurity and trauma. That much worked for me. I can even buy him trying to start to redeem himself. The issues came in when you started to see how other people reacted to this redemption. With all he did, you can't just save one person and be forgiven of all your sins. Maybe you can be partially redeemed in the eyes of that one person and/or their close relations but not just instantly redeemed wholesale.
I only hope we've just been shown the surface level of all that so far and that there will be some sort of grander reconning later. If anything, the whole thing brings to mind the story we had for Yotsuyu where she was only really ever redeemed in the eyes of those who knew her full story, and we were still dealing with society at large hating her even into the EW role quests (which still didn't totally resolve people's feelings towards/about her).
Cope. Bakool Ja Ja stocks will only keep rising. Undefeated #1.
@@Strider_Shinryu I think the difference in Bakool's case is that for the wider public, they never *saw* his sins. The only people who really knew he was doing anything other than be kind of a bit of a jerk were all major npcs, almost all of who were present for his backstory reveal. I highly doubt more than a handful of people knew he'd broken the seal on valigarmanda.
And for the few people who did know, I read it more a case of them seeing him make a genuine effort and giving him the chance to redeem himself. Wuk Lumat's whole thing is understanding people and then working with them - it'd be horribly out of character for her to reject giving him that chance. Keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't backslide, and give positive reinforcement when he does well. And as long as Wuk Lumat and Koana are willing to at least give him a shot, I can't see anyone else even having a strong enough opinion on his misdeeds in the first place to actually care.
@@kjelfalconer Also timing wise I don't really think those who do know care enough to bring up him waking a birb that just burned a few people then got gibbed by the WoL when a few days later they were dealing with the attempted soul harvest of everyone
@@thegneech See, I think his story is well-written, it does actually make a lot of emotional sense why he does everything he does. I just don't think he's the ONLY thing that's well-written.