It’s always great to see the Fire Emblem art community show off their immense talents, and this time is no different, with a passion project touching on a subject I never even thought possible, aroma. Enter the Fire Emblem Allure III Zine, a project by Enmoire, Lunacerra, and Sitraxis.
This is a charity project, aimed to support the Rainforest Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization devoted to support indigenous and traditional peoples of the world’s rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfill their rights by assisting them in securing and controlling the natural resources necessary for their long term well being and managing these resources in ways which do not harm their environment, violate their culture or compromise their future; and
developing the means to protect their individual and collective rights and to obtain, shape and control basic services from the state.
What would be a scent associated with Celica? What would an advertisement look like for this? The bottle?
These were the questions asked, and I’ll be darned if I wasn’t thinking about it while putting this article together. As for the project itself, again, this in the third of its series is a fan-zine featuring an aromatic theme, centered on the idea of fragrances suited for the Fire Emblem cast. Enmoire and her team did a wonderful job fulfilling the aesthetic of this project, bringing to life many quality pieces, and even creating something tangible in the charms, washi tape and especially the toiletries bag, something I’ve never seen before produced out of the FE fanart community.
The team includes other members that have shown great success assisting with the EmblemCon event, so I not only trust the creators but also the team that makes up this fabulous zine. That said, if you are as interested as I am, and want to visit your nearest Item Vendor to get your hands on this tome and its accessories, look no further than their online shop, which features past issues I and II as well as the current volume III and its many bundles. Orders are up only until June 30 (with shipping expected in August), however, so do consider acting fast to lay your hands on a goodie out of this batch.
If you want details on the project itself, such as what the various bundles would include (and a quick Q & A I had with one of the heads), click Read More.
Here’s some details on the bundles, which you have access to order until June 30!
Tier 1 Bundle: Woody
• 1 A5 PDF of Allure III
• $10 of Add Ons: Digital Emotes Wallpaper
Tier 2 Bundle: Floral
• 1 A5 Physical Zine
• 2 Stickers
Tier 3 Bundle: Citrus
• 1 A5 Physical Zine
• 6 Stickers
• 2 Bookmarks
• 1 Washi Tape
• 1 Shaker Charm OR 1 Pillow Charm
Tier 4 Bundle: Aromatic
• 1 A5 Physical Zine
• 6 Stickers
• 2 Bookmarks
• 1 Washi Tape
• 1 Shaker Charm
• 1 Pillow Charm
• 1 toiletries bag
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I had a chance to inquire on some details with project head Enmoire, and got some neat insight on the behind the scenes…
Elieson: What is the inspiration for this project happening?
Enmoire: Back in college, I had a course that was similar to advertising and created a perfume ad for my assignment.
Fast forward years later, I got hooked on Fire Emblem, and joined community projects before I decided to organize another zine. (Prior to the Allure zine series, I had organized some collaboration zines among friends and interested peers.) While I was pondering on a unique theme for the zine, I remembered that assignment I made and thought to myself, what if the zine had illustrations styled like advertisements? Wouldn’t it be interesting to imagine what kind of fragrance suits your favorite Fire Emblem characters?
Elie: I see that this zine is being produced with a charity in mind. Why the Rainforest Foundation?
En: Since most scents from perfumes and fragrant products are tied with nature, we think it’s just right to support foundations that are active in protecting it. For Allure II, we’ve donated its profits to the Ocean
Conservancy. This time, we’re focused on donating to organizations dedicated to forest preservation. While I was inquiring Kotaline about which of them were reliable, the Rainforest Foundation was brought up. The moderators and I had other potential organizations in mind, however, the Rainforest Foundation won the most votes among contributors. Notably, this organization supports the rights of the indigenous people who reside in the rainforest. They’ve also teamed up with a partner indigenous organization to raise awareness about the current pandemic. This is what we appreciate most about them.
Elie: What other projects have you and the crew been involved in? I know I’ve seen your name around, and Kotaline has let me know quite a bit about your talents, but it’s great to see people active in the community doing more than just one shot of work.
En: As stated earlier, Allure was not the first fan zine project I’ve organized. Among them was a foodthemed Fire Emblem fanzine called Scorpacciata that I and Lunacerra made back in 2017 along with 3 other main artists and several guests. I was surprised when I noticed someone made a page on Fanlore about this project which you can find here: (Thank you, Anon!)
The other projects I’ve participated in were Emblem Arcana (by FE Compendium), Anna’s Roundtable (by Brother Ming) and FE Tea Houses (by Team Nuggies: Kotaline Jones, Soojin Paek, kyousa38, Saerinn_, ramyeonguksu, Pikiinoue, and Keru_chii) to name a few. You can find more about the other projects I was a part of here in this link:
Aside from Scorpacciata and the Emblem Arcana, Lunacerra also participated in fanprojects like the Annette & Felix Calendar, the Marianne Zine, the Annette Zine, and the Mercedes Zine. She also organized a Ragnarok zine that I’ve also contributed to. I invited her as a graphic moderator for the zine because of her experience as a lead artist in her job.
Sitraxis was a guest artist in Allure II before I invited her to assist me as a PR Moderator for this run, yet we’ve known each other since 2016 when we met on Instagram. She works as a freelance UI and graphic designer for visual novels and mobile applications. Her experience in public relations is backed up by doing copywriting work for her game dev team’s visual novel, Cinderella Phenomenon:Evermore, her previous job as Community Manager, and editing the manga scripts of the second volume of Blizz-Mi’s Artastic Artbook series. Though, even before that, she always had a way with words to make anything she presents enticing. She began moderating fan projects frequently this year.
She told me that my FE collab zines (Scorpacciata) were what got her into Fire Emblem in the first place. And a few of her close friends have been convincing her to play Awakening for a long time prior to that. When the first dancer banner dropped on Fire Emblem Heroes, the rest was history.
Elie: If others in the future want to be part of the Allure project, is there a way that you recommend that they contact you or the team, in order to apply?
En: We’ll have to see if we’ll push forward for a 4th volume so we suggest that anyone interested in applying to follow our Twitter account for any news regarding our future projects and their potential applications.
