It’s Tuesday which means it’s time for Crossroads Comics!
This week we’re taking a look at Ask Eden by Mod Jazzy. Yes I did just review another one of their ask blogs about a month ago but I’ll stop reviewing their blogs when they stop being good, which is never. Ask Eden is another one of my favorites and is the main blog that Mod Jazzy is updating at the moment due to their participation in the Poke Ask Sleepover Event. It follows a Mew named Eden (he/they/fae), a nervous character with internalized shame due to the circumstances of his birth. I’ll go into more specifics later, but let’s just say, speaking vaguely, with so many blogs out there containing fairly powerful Mews, it’s an interesting change of pace to see a Mew that’s a little less special than the rest. Plus, as someone with general social anxiety, there are many times when I relate to Eden on a spiritual level, and the fact that their species is a Mew makes them ripe and prime for many quality crying cat faces.
Spoilers Ahead
There’s not a lot I can talk about for Ask Eden without delving into major spoilers so let’s just get right into it. As previously mentioned, Eden is a Mew, but fae are no ordinary Mew. By the character’s own admission, he cannot fly, transform, teleport, or do anything normal Mew can. In fact, Eden is so different from their Mew counterparts, that fae don’t even have a typing! Instead their typing is listed as the infamous “???” that moves like Curse, Wide Slash, and Vacuum-Cut used to be listed as depending on the games you played prior to Generation V.
From the onset, this is a super interesting concept. Many stories and ask blogs hold Mew in a very high regard, and for good reason. They’re the supposed ancestor of all Pokemon who can learn every TM move, why wouldn’t they be powerful? Other blogs like Ask Another Clone and Ask Omni are great examples of Mews with immense amounts of strength, powers, and reverence (and I highly recommend them as well because they’re very good stories); but it’s not very often we get a story where a supposed “god” is powerless and has to deal with the societal pressures and expectations that are still thrust upon them regardless.
A recent update also revealed exactly why Eden is powerless as well, with the cause centering around Eden’s twin brother: Alaxia (he/him). As Alaxia explains himself they essentially underwent the magical equivalent of absorbing your twin in the utero. Since Mew are born from energy, the theory is Alaxia absorbed most of Eden’s power, granting him the power of two Mew, while Eden was left with none. According to Alaxia, it is possible for Eden to become a half or full Mew if fae wanted to, but they seem mostly content work in retail instead, aside from their harbored insecurities surrounding their lack of powers.
Eden and Alaxia also have a very interesting dynamic that I look forward to seeing more of in the future. The two seem to care quite a bit about each other, but also lack proper communication, leading to some misconceptions about how one feels about the other. That said, part of me is inherently a bit suspect of Alaxia. While they seem very genuine and caring based on what we’ve seen so far, there are small nuggets of information we’ve received that seem like red flags. The first one comes in Eden’s very first post, where fae mention that if you’re looking for alimony, you have the wrong Mew. They go on to explain that it’s Alaxia who typically engages in this behavior, not Eden. This coupled with a later update where Alaxia can be seen speaking about Eden with a seemingly corrupted Celebi leaves us with more questions than answers. If a later post is to be believed, these sick/corrupted legendaries are dangerous, so I can only assume with time we’ll know more about why Alaxia was speaking with this Celebi. Still, if they are as dangerous as they’re said to be, I fear Alaxia’s motives are not nearly as caring or genuine as they might appear.
Speaking of other legendaries though, I’d be remiss if I did not mention the latest addition to the blogs cast: Berry (she/they/fae). Berry is, by far, my favorite character on the blog so far for totally unbiased reasons and I cannot get enough of her. As you can see in the previous post, Berry is an extremely stressed individual, and for good reason. Fae are currently serving as Alaxia’s bodyguard at the sleepover, in the hopes of protecting him from any sort of threats he might face as Arceus’s new Mewsistant (Mew Assistant). With Legendaries disappearing or falling ill, it seems very integral that Alaxia does not befall the same fate, so I can understand why Berry seems rather short with people. They have the weight of the world on faer shoulders, so she has every right to be a bit curt or rude. That said, while this so-called “Mean Min” isn’t the friendliest of the bunch, this is part of her appeal to me. Shaymin are so often portrayed as cutesy and kind creatures, since they’re the Gratitude Pokemon and all. But many people forget that Shaymin’s debut into the Pokemon franchise was via Giratina and the Sky Warrior, in which the starring Shaymin was actually quite an entitled and arrogant individual. So not only is Berry’s personality another addition to the unique characters that are part of this blog, but it’s also pretty accurate to Shaymin’s original on-screen portrayal. That said, they’re definitely not one to one and Berry is very much her own character, but it has been interesting to see people get so riled up about her attitude. Berry’s profile states that it’s possible that this is not faer true personality, which we’ve started to see a little bit of in recent updates, but either way, I love this little mean Shaymin.
Spoilers End
I covered a lot here already so I won’t keep y’all for too much longer, but just trust me when I say the characters and story for the blog so far are very good. Ask Eden is still fairly new so its plot is only just starting to kick off, but based on the foundation that’s been laid so far, I’m very excited to see where it goes next. As the author has stated, Ask Eden is a love letter to all their other ask blogs, so older fans of Mod Jazzy‘s works can expect to see some familiar faces making their return on the blog, and for those of us that are newer, we can still enjoy the diverse cast and excellent story just as well. To Mod Jazzy, if you’re reading this, you’re doing a great job with this blog as well as all your others so far. Keep up the amazing work, because I can’t wait to see what all you do.
And without further ado, let’s check out the rest of this week’s comics lineup!
Crossroads Comics
Land-Shaymin The blep chain continues.
PMD: Chanterelle Complaints can be filed with the complaint department, located inside that nearby Ursaring’s belly.
PMD: Crossroads Research time!
PMD: Explorers of Life A ghostly helping hand!
PMD: Fragmented Memories Well that escalated quickly.
PMD: Rangers of Sky Ohhh Poppy poppy…
PMD: Sky High We’ve got their trail!
Pokemon X Adventures Shouldn’t have done that.
The Shaymin Café The shooting star’s name has been revealed!
The Spaced Out Rangers Looks like they’ve been found out!
Vee! Oopsy.
ComicFury Comics
Across the Divide Got get em, Nutmeg!
Autumn in Sinnoh Turtle on its back!
Charismata I’m sure it’ll be fiiine.
Devil Waltz Fair complaint I suppose.
In Blood We Rise Poor thing has such a warped perspective.
Pokemon Across Dimensions I guess it is a bit hard to believe.
Pokemon Shine Off they go!
Deviantart Comics
French’s FireRed Nuzlocke Glad to see Gary hasn’t changed.
Ghostlocke Poor Dread…
Monty and Millie Do Absol even have ears?
Penumbra We’re back and with a new friend!
PMD: Explorers of Shadows Is he too far gone?
PMD: Turncoats Looks like things are progressing, as fragile as they might be.
Rabbit Hole Been a long time since we’ve seen this scene.
The Essence of Being Bleh, that’s just awful.
Off-site Comics
Ask the Isle Stylish!
Boyfriends Bonding time! Bonding time!
Cain and Mabel Introductions all around!
Cursed Princess Club Hm that does not bode well.
Daughter of the Lilies Oh it’s Gwen.
Lil Char and the Gang Sometimes you can get invested in a movie even if it’s bad.
Team Next-Gen Seems Lucifer spooked Eugene a bit there.
The Glass Scientists He’s got a right to be bitter though given he kinda saved all of you from poverty.
