Being as the season of spooks is upon us, it is fitting that today, we showcase the Les Revenants fanzine. While the Fire Emblem Heroes franchise tends to celebrate this time of year with special summonable units and a few entertaining one-liners, this time, an artist collective came together to put out an issue highlighting the more…somber and scary side of Fire Emblem (Awakening and Fates specifically).
Preorders for this are open for one week from today, and you can hop onto their web site to take a look at anything that might interest you from this batch. If you’d like to track their activity or support them on social media, definitely consider checking out their Twitter.
You can score a PDF copy of the 100 page zine for $15, or upgrade to various other bundles up to $60, that depending on the package, could include a hard copy of the book, acrylic or wooden charms, bookmarks, stickers, and even tarot cards). There’s a lot to consider here, especially if you’re a fan of a horror-focused theme, which is definitely something rare in the fanart project community.
To compliment this fanzine, Rena Strober (voice of Azura from Fire Emblem Fates and her other appearances) is going to sign a preordered zine copy and Azura tarot card as part of their raffle. If you’d like to take advantage of this, then you have until 11:59 pm on Saturday, September 20. She’s been involved in many appearances and collaborations, both here on Serenes Forest and through other endeavors, and she’s a wonderful person. Take a look here for the rules on the chance to win this signed copy; I recommend taking advantage of this chance if you can!
Across social media, you may have seen a project or two from the Fire Emblem fanbase showing off cool creations like bookmarks, -zines, acrylic charms and more. Fans certainly are capable of creating projects with cool themes and unique elements! One such project happened across my desk recently, and it definitely met both of those criteria, and I’m here to share it with you; the Fire Emblem Three Houses Color Zine, Nacre.
Nacre boasts a theme of limited color palette character studies, by simulating a color wheel within its pages. It’s not every day that you see art in a fan-zine sorted and grouped by color, but this idea immediately caught my eye, and I hope it catches yours as well.
The project itself can be viewed at their BigCartel page and, what’s more, preorders for this zine are open until September 13. Additionally, their social media options include Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram.
There are three options for purchase; the straight digital book [PDF] (for $25) the Book Bundle (for $35, and includes the PDF, as well as an artbook and a bookplate), and the Full Bundle (for $50, and includes the Book Bundle contents, plus washi tape and a charm).
Additionally, two stretch goals were met, allowing the inclusion of a holographic cover and a gorgeous enamel Sothis pin. Regardless of what you order, it’s expected that you will have something in-hand by the end of November!
I’ve been graced with another truly unique fan project this time, and I’d be remiss to let it slide by unnoticed by the masses. Today, we’re taking a look at the Fódlan Cuizine project, a zine with more than just its print, that celebrates the food lover’s experience of the Three Houses installment. This project is led by Pear, and includes efforts from over 50 talented artists across the Fire Emblem fanbase. What’s special about this zine, you ask? Why, it’d not only be the stickers, acrylic charms, washi tape and memo pad, but also the tea towels, ceramic coasters and recipe cards.
Inspired by the everlasting bonds deepened through the sharing of teatime and meals at Garreg Mach Monastery, Fódlan Cuizine is a safe for work fanzine and cookbook celebrating the food, friendships, and families of Fódlan. Spanning 120 plus pages of original content produced by over 50 contributors, the zine includes 8 stories, 30+ pieces of artwork, and 40+ original, tested recipes along with exclusive merchandise items. Six tiers of book and merch bundles can be found on the zine’s Big Cartel.
The theme of Fódlan Cuizine is warmth and community. The zine highlights the various relationships in Fire Emblem Three Houses, raising a toast (or two!) to family, friendship, and everlasting bonds.
Preorders for Fódlan Cuizine are available from now until August 2, with expectations to ship around October of this year, and can be processed through their official web site (linked above). These bundles are available to ship out of the US, where everything is being produced. All proceeds from the sale of the zine will be donated to the charity Action Against Hunger, an international organization that works to treat and prevent malnutrition in 45+ countries.
If you’re a fan of Fire Emblem, then you’re familiar with the franchise’s many notable features; a tile based combat system, a diverse and colorful cast, weapon triangles, and permanent unit death. The franchise has been around for decades, celebrating its 30th anniversary not even one full year ago, and has celebrated its successes with its increasing fanbase across the globe. As the games have developed in quality and complexity over time, we’ve seen changes that pretty much everyone can agree on, that being the inclusion of character voicing within gameplay. Voice-over showcasing really picked up with the release of Fire Emblem Path of Radiance for the Nintendo Gamecube in 2005, but between the future releases, notably Awakening, Fates, Shadows of Valentia, Heroes and Three Houses, the explosion of popularity with the games can definitely be in part, attributed to the quality of the voice talent found within these many games.
Whether you’re a fan of the new direction that the games have taken or prefer the more classic and traditional feel of the games themselves, the voice over work has been universally praised, and for good reason. The voice actors themselves have been extremely involved with the community, helping out with charity drives, social activity awareness, promoting and teaching the ins and outs of the field, and even just being friends with each other and those that support them.
Cormag, drawn by Fire Emblem character and Cipher artist Soeda Ippei
One such figure in the community, who had been handling voice-over work since 2004 in general, before diving into the world of Fire Emblem in 2019, is Brad Venable. If you’re not familiar with his work, he joined the Three Houses cast as Kostas, the game’s first boss enemy, as well as Nader, an extremely important instructional master to Claude, with a plot element that I won’t get too into. If you haven’t played the award-winning Switch release, you can also find him voicing Fire Emblem Heroes’ Merlinus and Cormag (a surefire memory to those who celebrate the Game Boy Advance days of Fire Emblem). I personally love his performance as Merlinus, though I think he had a soft spot for the “True Protagonist of Three Houses” (Kostas).
Despite the nature of my work, I myself did not get to interact with him, but I did have him on a short list to get to know him, as he definitely seemed like a well-respected member of the voice acting community as a whole. Seeing his Twitter account quickly helped me realize just how much he loved his career, and the people he worked with, and if you do a search for recent posts featuring him on Twitter, you’ll see just as much support from not only peers in his field, but fans of his many roles. My time on the Serenes Forest team has truly helped me learn to appreciate and want to get to know the people behind the games that have improved my life, and I’m fortunate to have had the chance to be a part of this community, because seeing this much love and respect has put a small smile back on my face.
Kostas
Nader, on Right (with Claude)
It’s always hard to see someone that you respect pass away, and it’s especially hard when you connected with them on more than just a professional level, but not only Brad’s work but Brad’s heart has touched the lives of many, and I only hope that if there’s one thing that you can take away from this, it’s that you connect with those that matter to you, and let them know that you appreciate them. Whether it be a friend, family member, or just an acquaintance or idol that you look up to or have a good memory with…let them know that you’re proud to be a part of their lives.
