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.)

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.

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.

Late to the party but i see mechs on your table and i love it

I really wish we got more on Gelmora. It's shrouded in a surprising amount of mystery dispite it's descendants not be that far removed from it time wise. Also, the constant lack of any Duskwight and Seekers of the Moon characters in the game is a crime.

I probably like Dawntrail a little more than Stormblood due to how I handl the MSQ. I do the yellow quests as they popped up, so I wasn't as burnt out on Wuk Lamat as others were. Personally, she reminds me a lot of Naruto, and just like Naruto, I liked when the focus wasn't square on Wuk Lamat. They're both decent characters, but both fall into the typical shonen protagonist archetype, one that I've always had limited tolerance to. That's an entirely preference based opinion though. Addendum: just wanted to add the actual plot, the added lore, dungeons, and trials are some of my favorites in years. Plus, I'm a sucker all the native themes all throughout the expansion. Probably would put this above Stormblood and on the same level as Heavensward.

I wish we got more of Erenville with his mom. It reminded me of my mom, and knowing what Cahciua's fate was hurt me even more. I'm just glad he got to say goodbye considering my own circumstances

I honestly think the English VAs sound off across the board. Thancred in particular sounds the most off, to me at least. The only ones that sound consistent to me are Koana and Bakool Ja Ja. I even went back to some of the cutscenes in Endwalker, and it seems a bit noticable. It seems like a problem with voice direction vs the voice actors themselves. I could be completely off, but that's my two cents Addendum: I wish the siege was a solo duty. It would end around when Bakool Ja Ja came to help. We should have arrived shortly before/after the duel. I think less people would be mad if we just barely couldn't make it.

Valigarmanda is a fight I wish I did as a machinist. I went through all of Dawntrail as monk, and while I enjoy it, I just prefer scholar and machinist the most. I just refuse to do trusts as anything other than tank or dps.

I'm 3 quests into the role quests for most of them outside of melee, and so far, melee is the only one that feels like it should take place where it's supposed to. You could've placed the others anywhere, and so far, there wouldn't be any difference.

My main problem was that, with how much misdirection was involved in his character development, it needed to build toward something. We're slowly playing this story over the course of a RL week or more, and that gives the audience a lot of time to ruminate on what his "true" motivations could be. His motivations for leading Tural to war are immediately deflated by Alphinaud, but he's adamant in persisting; what could possibly make his belief in this philosophy so unflappable? Oh, later around the Feat of Pots I believe, he reveals that he doesn't give a damn about the land or goods procured through invasion; what could he possibly be after? He makes a pact with Sphene through the closed gate; why would he steal the key and backstab his father for this power, what is its purpose? Wow, he's been in a 30yr time skip; how has he grown and evolved? He's challenging Wuk Lamat to travel to his throne and defeat him there; is this some sort of weird twist where he actually wants Wuk Lamat to grow by striking him down, to make Tural hate war by becoming that very war? He had an heir somehow (I normally don't obsess over NPC parents, but like, there is not implied to be any Mamool Ja anywhere in Alexandria, so the biology of his birth at least raises some eyebrows), yet he openly scorns the son; was his son really just a dalliance or is there something more tragic going on? He's absorbing all of these souls to pervert the natural order and become an abomination of power; if he strikes down the WoL, what would he do next? And then in his dying speech (and bizarrely, in extremely insightful character deconstruction in optional dialogue by the Wandering Minstrel, after the credits), we discover definitively that it was all bullshit. Global war? He didn't care about it, it was only a means to one-up his father, and he was not married to any particular method of getting there. The bargain with Sphene and all subsequent violence? Just a salty gamer who lost a match and wants "to run it back" like you laid out. Thirty years in an alternate dimension? Zero change or evolution, he's still obsessed like that neighbor who won't shut up about their high school glory days. The distant son? He was ashamed about having nothing to offer them, which A) why would a laser-focused character like Zarool Ja produce an heir if he didn't think himself capable of leaving anything for him, and B) with his dying breath, he bequeaths his son with an embarrassing and pathetic legacy of... lemme check my notes... sole authority to reign over a futuristic city that outstrips even the Allagans, and an army of mass-produced soldier bots who don't feel fear or pain??? The lv99 trial was solely just to prove that the Rite of Succession was bullshit and he shoulda won? We played 40 hours of story and build-up, just to be told that dude was insecure for 30+ years? That's it? I'm not saying that we needed to continue FFXIV's trend of making every villain tragic and layered, but there's such a lack of complexity and nuance compared to his predecessors or even his contemporaries, Bakool Ja Ja and Sphene. If all the unreliable narrators and misdirections are striped away, he's rather flat, deliberately so. And I don't feel like "we shook things up by making flatter villains" is a healthy direction for the game.

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.

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.

When I got to Living Memory I was so caught offguard that I said to my FC mates "It's Disneyland."

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.

People: Why do people like this Bakool Ja Ja??? Us: We're into angsty baby girls and also furries

Thanks for the shoutout! Great video as always :D

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!

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.

imo origenics is more analagous to holminster switch

i hate it but hes popular because he's male in an expansion about failed fathers he gets to stand out.

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.

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!)

Poor lime-flavored G'raha

He’s a bad boy with a tragic backstory that’s actually a softie. It ain’t that deep.

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 to ask where you get that pilot cloak, cause I can't find it on Eorzea Collection and it looks so good I might give up my 2B+fishnets+witch hat+the new pvp boots look for it. Definitely lost my shit when we rode on top of the Dendrobium, seeing as I had gotten through 0083 by that point. The Ghost Attack is also something that Kateřina gets in Victory Gundam before she falls to Earth and loses her sight at the end of the series, and I get to write it that way because as a Czech girl I know Tomino named Karel and Tomáš' father Václav, not Battstraff. Definitely subscribing, gotta expand my network of transfem ffxiv players that like Gundam and build Gunpla, I know there's a lot of us but I don't see us so often.

instantly voice

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 don't mind him but idk why everybody seems to love him. Maybe this video will tell me ^^

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.

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

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.

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.

I don't believe for a second that Zenos ever had any remorse. I can see the arguement for Emet-Selch, but Zenos? Nah.

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.

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

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.

Silly Monster Lovers sneakin' into everything.

The real reason he is everyone’s boyfriend is cos he is the typical alpha chad douchebag with a tragic past that eventually comes around to become a good guy.

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

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.

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.

The Wuk Lamat part of the trial was peak doomed yuri

Two things: Zoraal Ja's boss fight was thematically INCREDIBLE!!! He gave me a lot of Vergil vibes and I thibk his second form is perfect, his other head being what would be the Head of Reason fits his character because up to this point he lacked reason behind his actions, always trying to best his father and prove himself worthy to live up to the image and expectations placed on him. But due to his failures and inability to let go of his grudges, his form becomes a effigy of the person he wanted to surpass. The Living Memory was really refreshing, but also incredibly melancholic. When we got to Namikka, the moment she shared with Wuk Lamat reminded me of my grandma, she was a wonderful woman who suffered from dementia before she died in 2012, she was a wonderful person and watching her lose herself was hard to watch. Seeing Wuk Lamat have a chance to talk to her one last time even if it's a memory of her was really bittersweet and lovely, and then there's Erenville and Cahcuia. I will admit, the thought of losing my mom is a nightmare to me, she did so much to take care of my grandma and the fear of her getting dementia too sits in a corner of my mind that I never want to come true. It makes me want to cherish all the time I have with her now, and seeing Erenville having to sit there with the memory of his own mom until he finally breaks down is a fear of the future for me, no one lives forever and the Living Memory is both a warning and a wake-up call.

I think the only thing you missed about the enduring appeal of Bakool (and understandably so) is that his popularity is an excuse for the monsterfuckers in the crowd to let their freak flags fly a little without having to feel shame for it, but other than that, I think you were pretty well spot on

I screamed when I clicked on the video. That was a shocker.

I would say I love him because he is antagonist towards Wuk Lamat. I'm forced to work with her annoying ass, I could only dream of getting to side with Bakool Ja Ja. Unfortunately they ruined him by trying to give a sappy backstory and coming around to her point of view. He should have stayed as the person who is just being a dick because the people around him deserve to be dicked on.

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.

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.