Template:RavenCoven/June 2015

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Y'all bitches finally voted what you should have 3 issues ago. This month's coven will FINALLY introduce to you the last main character of the main 4, which is... GRAY FUCKING FULLBUSTER!
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Gray is one of the main characters, and has opposing Magic to Natsu's; he uses ice, Natsu uses fire. Also, their personalities clash often, which leads the two to a lot of fighting with each other, despite deeply caring about one another.

https://38.media.tumblr.com/087f30354f1647f85049bb171e62cdc9/tumblr_ne41pv6X701rfduvxo1_500.gif

This has become my official expression when an overused japanese manga trope appears

Yet again, how original! Anyway, you get the drill; Gray's the Gary to Natsu's Ash. The Sasuke to his Naruto. The Uryuu to his Ichigo. The Sanji to his Zoro. The Ino to his Sakura. The Orochimaru to his Jiraiya. The Vegeta to his Goku. The...

FT WIKI: Jesus, enough, we get it, we're not stupid ಠ_ಠ

Yeah, not all of you are ;D

Anyway, with that out of the way, let's see how high Gray would score as a character.

DESIGN There's nothing really striking in Gray's appearance. He's a typical(for manga)guy, with dark hair. His usual outfit consists of a long white coat with a dark colored shirt underneath, and black pants. He's had various changes, of course, like the one with the shirt he wore in the GMG, or summer clothes in the S-Class Trial, but usually those are the clothes of his choice...
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...is what I'd like to say, but I would be lying. Gray's typical outfit consists simply of this:



Which is a shame, because even though Fairy Tail is ecchi and Mashima-sensei is kind enough to give fanservice to both sides, Gray, for me personally, has the most interesting sense of fashion, and by far the best outfits, compared to the other males of the series. So it sucks that he's not dressed all the time. I mean look at this:







So yeah, I'm a fan of his outfits. As for his appearance itself, it has undergone some changes as well. In early Fairy Tail, his hair was longer and judging by the image, I think Mashima wanted to give him more of a "bad boy" attitude. See for yourself:



I may would've liked that Gray better over the current Gray, because the old one doesn't seem so...typical.

TL;DR: Awesome clothes, not-so-awesome hairstyle.

7/10 KINDA COOL(PUN INTENDED)

PERSONALITY

https://38.media.tumblr.com/7837a7cc3954ba7235866374fa8e5432/tumblr_n1eyf4OMTz1rqfhi2o1_250.gif

Hoo boy. Why is this the department that most Fairy Tail characters suffer? Lucky for Gray, recent developments make things slightly better for him.

Also, despite popular belief, Gray indeed DOES have a personality, so there's a lot to say about it. This will get a big longer than usual.

I like Gray. He's goofy, but not too goofy like Natsu. He can get serious, but not as serious as Erza. He takes no shit from anyone, which is good. However, as you can see, he shares all those traits with other characters. There's nothing... unique there, you know what I'm saying?

I thought that some development was what he needed. Then Galuna Island came, we learned his backstory, but still nothing really changed for me; still pretty bland.

For what I remember, Gray was not the focus until the Sun Village arc. That's the time that I gained some serious respect for the guy. I don't know how to explain it, but something about a terrified child overcoming his trauma and standing up to a fricking Demon felt really admirable to me.



Here you can't argue that other guys would do the same in his place. Natsu; canonically ran. Erza; was helpless and got her ass kicked, lectured enemy in the meantime. Lucy and Wendy; would probably run.

Then came Tartaros. An arc focusing mostly on Gray, once again, whose father survived, and who he had to face, and his last words to Gray were to kill E.N.D.

Then it dawned to me what Gray's character arc would be, since the beginning of the manga: Lost parents to a Demon -> lost beloved teacher to a Demon -> said teacher's daughter also "died" to protect him -> father died a second time -> feels indebted to all of those sacrifices -> hates Demons, wants to kill E.N.D. -> inevitable conflict with Natsu!

That arguably makes Gray a more complex character. That's why, an in-universe year later, when I saw this:



I felt like it was a natural transition of his character. I did not yell "yay, he finally got interesting" *side-eyes Rai damn hard*, I did not boo him because he abandoned Juvia/because he didn't care for his friends. It just seemed completely natural for me that his character was always meant to be an anti-hero, and that until the timeskip we saw his transition from hero to exactly that. And I thought that it was genius of Mashima-sensei to take a seemingly bland guy and craft him into such an interesting character. But then this came:



Most people's reaction:

https://38.media.tumblr.com/25d4e417a5c62b00e48c4e0e75bae3f9/tumblr_inline_nbyuqiAOkj1s74182.gif

My reaction:

https://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcs6e3JWAn1ro2d43.gif

At least he still wants to kill E.N.D. and avenge all those he has lost, which is good. However, I don't think Gray should be a *GOOD* guy, you know what I mean? And being smitten with Frosch, despite being funny, was SO DAMN OUT OF CHARACTER! >__>

6/10 I'm not giving up on him yet

ABILITIES

Gray be like

https://31.media.tumblr.com/81857a75d4dc237e1acdc18e03405f37/tumblr_inline_n0hr8lUWnh1r55n2h.gif

I may get subjective here, because ice is my absolute favorite. However, I think Gray has the best powers next to Erza, at least out of the main cast. He is an Ice Mage, specifically utilizing "Ice-Make" Magic.

It doesn't even have to do so much with the "Ice", as it does with the "Make". Gray does not simply use ice to attack, he is an artist. Creation magic is really interesting because the user can basically create anything they want out of the element they use. Admittedly, I like Lyon's better, because his creations are moving and mostly revolve around animals, whereas Gray mostly creates unmoving weapons (swords, cannons, arrows e.t.c.).

I guess the main reason I like Gray is because he actually uses his brains to fight. He is not like Erza and Natsu, whose motto is "attack until it's dead/not moving". Let's take Ultear for example. She far outclassed Gray in every possible way. Hand-to-hand? Got his ass kicked. Magic? Got his ass kicked. What does he do?

THE FUCKER CUTS HIMSELF lol emo AND FREEZES HIS OWN BLOOD TO BE ABLE TO HURT HER!



What does he do with Rufus? There must be a limit to how much he can memorize-LET'S JUST BREAK THIS DUDE BY CREATING EVEN MORE STUFF.

What does he do with Doriate? He outsmarts him every single time



Silver? same thing. Ice did not hurt him, so he threw a solid item, enhancing its speed with his ice.

Thinking about it, Gray might as well be the smartest fighter of the group, followed by Lucy. Because of that he would probably beat Natus in a fight and I'm not even kidding.

8/10 FUCKER CAN THINK

SIGNIFICANCE TO PLOT

I'd say Gray is significant enough. Definitely more significant than Erza, but less so than Natsu and Lucy. He is being set up as Natsu's nemesis, and I think he'll play a pretty important role when Natsu is revealed to be E.N.D. He is also the driving force behind another character, Juvia. So yeah, I guess that makes him pretty important.

7/10 Important-ish

ROLE IN THE MANGA

Gray's main role in the manga is to be Natsu's rival. That's important as it is but there's more to that. We rarely get a look at what's going on in Natsu's head, so that makes Gray the male character the audience can mostly feel relating to. And more importantly; he's the main source of fanservice for the ladies.

8/10 Main role in the manga

Overall as a character, Gray scores...  7.2/10!!! . Wow, and to think I never really liked the guy ;D Regardless, this surprisingly makes Gray the BEST CHARACTER IN THE COVEN SO FAR, overthrowing Wendy with a 7. But that's just my opinion, and I'm sure many fellow SMers will disagree :P

Like wine? Or is it the opposite? Probably the opposite.

...I see what you did there!

His fangirls/boys do, thank you very much.

Says who?

I guess it's...male fanservice targeted at the females? >_>

Rai's statement + God's statement = Umy's statement.

I'd say he's about, let's say, Jellal level of Great ;D

Aww, cut the guy some slack, it's tough to be the protagonist's rival..look at the other examples >_>

Well, there you have it, this month's coven. Next month I think I'll experiment on a brand new article for you guys, so bear with me and answer all the polls below:

Which Sabertooth character would you like in the coven? Sting Rogue Yukino Minerva Other(Rufus, Orga, Dobengal, Exceeds etc.)

I'd like to see... Erza Ultear Jellal Orga Bacchus

Fight against... Minerva Meredy Jura Cana Angel

Under what circumstances? Friendly Practice sparring Fight until one is exhausted/gives up Fight to the death

See you all next issue!