User blog:Derax-Pagani/The Spriggan 12: What Could Have Been Part II

Cześć whores! As promised, we shall continue where we left off yesterday. Discussing the Shield's - currently wasted - potential. So let's just get stuck right into it.

Before we kick off, as August, Irene and Larcade haven't really done too much in the grand scheme of things, we'll be leaving them for the time being.

Ajeel Ramal
The Desert King is actually the easiest one of the remaining nine Spriggans to discuss in my view, as there wasn't really much wrong with him to be honest. The main criticism for him is; what does he do within the Empire?

In the first part, it was noted what roles the 12 had within Alvarez when not at war. Most were fairly obvious and some required a little bit of thought. Ajeel was one of the few where even a bit of thought did not inspire any worthwhile results. Based on his surname, his magic, and his appearance in comparison with his subordinates Bakel and Kareem, one can only assume that Ajeel is some sort of tribal leader of a group of people indigenous to an area within Alvarez. Think along the lines of the Bedouins, Yazidis and the Touaregs of Arabia and North Africa.

Drawing this comparison raises two questions though: How prominent is this possible indigenous group in Alvarez, and how politically significant are they if the apparent leader holds such political, military, and aristocratic power?

In terms of Ajeel's magic, it'd be fair to say that sand magic isn't exactly... riveting. Having said that, Ajeel has arguably had one of the better fights of any of the 12 so far, against Erza of all people. In fact I'd say that was probably the most entertaining fight to read that Erza's had since Pandemonium. Had it not been for Lucy stomping on Marin, and Bisca pulling off that shot with Jupiter, Erza would have been killed by Ajeel.

The only necessary improvement would be during Ajeel's pursuit of Team Natsu and Makarov. Instead of the magic car thing being destroyed as rapidly as it was in Ant Lion's Pit, the situation would have been far more enjoyable to read if: Those that had been on the outside of the vehicle where close to the point of being totally submerged; those still within the vehicle were being crushed because of the sand pit acting like a compactor, rendering Wendy and Natsu incapable due to their weakness; and finally Makarov using giant to destroy the vehicle completely, thus allowing Natsu to do what he did anyway. Let's face it, in situations like that, Natsu just has to be the hero...

If Ajeel ends up losing to Elfman and Lisanna though... We shall be revisiting this.

Invel Yura
Much like Ajeel, Invel is a fairly straightforward case to go over though for different reasons. In the way that Ajeel was the compulsory hot-headed, obnoxious member of the group, Invel is instead the cool, calm, collected member. Despite this though, very little has been shown to explain why his persona is such. Obviously being a user of ice magic and holding the title of Winter General gives some explanation, but not enough to be thoroughly convincing.

Based off of what has been seen of Invel, we established in Part I that he was the Chief-of-Staff for the Alvarez military, an undoubtedly high rank in any military. We've also seen his ability to command a large number of troops too, being able to order the black carpet swiftly and confidently. What we have not seen though, is his tactical abilities, nor any underlings such as Major or Brigadier Generals to make up a 'Invel Squad.' This is more of a trivial matter that will be discussed in greater detail at a later date regarding the Squads.

Again, much like Ajeel, Invel's magic is pretty mundane; ice magic. He has been shown to be able to strategically alter the battlefield, as was shown when Fairy Tail's guild was shown atop an artificial glacier. However, his tactical ability could be further explored by creating further obstacles for Fairy Tail to get around in their assault on Magnolia. So far, tactical usage of his magic has been lackluster in that regard.

His abilities in individual combat have also proven to be underwhelming. After having frozen Juvia, Lucy, Natsu and Happy, as a means to provoke Gray, Invel could have used the encasing ice to destroy a limb - preferably Juvia's as she could likely restore it with her water body later.

Being able to induce freezer shock on ice is an impressive feat admittedly, however, Invel's limited display of this ability negatively impacts his perceived threat within the story. This is greatly evidenced by his usage of the True-Ice Kamui and how quickly it was beaten by Gray.

We Interrupt this Broadcast for Breaking News
Right folks, I appreciate this isn't complete, Ice Lock/Slave need to be addressed to finish up Invel, and then there's the rest of 'em to go through. However, I am off to the pub to catch up with some friends I've not seen for weeks because of university. Upon my return, we shall pick right back up where we left off. See you later people!