Who is Archer-ko, you might ask? If you don’t spend long periods of time looking into Type-Moon minutia that is not a name that would be familiar to you. But she is a semi-popular fanon character that as far as I can tell originally comes from the Sword Dancers doujinshi series. She is a version of Illya from the future who becomes a counter-guardian in an alternate timeline instead of Shiro. Therefore in that timeline she is Archer in the place of EMIYA. This alternate future Illya is then summoned to the present with all the standard powers we know for Archer but in the form of a cute girl.

That is either an explanation that makes perfect sense to you or something that requires charts and footnotes to even get something close to as partial understanding of.

Sufficed to say she is a fan made character whose atheistic appeal and odd back story hooked her a small fan following, But now that she has essentially appeared in an official work she has crossed that thin but important line from popular fan creation to official part of the universe. It sort of reminds me of the whole Fionna and Cake deal from Adventure Time. It is really only a matter of time before she start appearing in things like Carnival Phantasm or Fate/Extra.

Actually the random thought that just popped into my head was: “Wait! EMIYA has all the powers he does because his origin is Swords not because he became a counter-guardian. Therefore Archer-ko should have a completely different set of powers as a counter-guardian more probably aligned to the Third Magic.” Then I remember the MST3K mantra and the fact that the character was mostly made because someone thought dressing Illya up as Archer was hot.

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  I’m going to start with a tangentially related intro for this post. I think that is acceptable as this episode is mostly one long fight with the corrupted King of Knights so I can ramble a bit.

I admit it. It is partially my fault. If it were not for my constant Saber talk we would probably not have Sakura Saber to add to the pile of Saber variations (That includes Saber, casual Saber, Saber Alter, casual Saber Alter, Realta Nua Extra Ending Saber, Saber Lion, Lily Saber, Fate/Zero Saber, Bathing Suit Saber, Swimsuit Saber, Bathing Suit Saber Alter, Volks Saber Alter, Saber Maid, Red Saber, Saber Bride, Emperor Saber, Santa Saber, casual Red Saber, this shamelessness, Heroine Sanctuary Red Saber, Saber of the Red, Mordred, Master Artoria, Archetype Saber, Joan of Arc, Heroine Sanctuary Joan of Arc, Saber Dress Code, Yakuta Saber, and Mysterious Heroine X among others.) And they seem to be attempting to make each of the distinct enough that they can be marketed on their own as well as in groups. They keep making them because I keep getting interested in them. My bad.

And then Mysterious Heroine X has to hunt them all down.

In a way it is almost quaint for them to go back to plain vanilla Saber Alter with no bells and whistles. It is not Prisma Illya Princess of Darkness Saber, Big Bang Punch Saber, Idol Saber, or Saber von Lohengramm. Just the classic Saber variation. It has been awhile. Enjoy it while it lasts.

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You know that guy. In fact you might BE that guy. The person who watches something and then continually points out major and minor errors with everything they watch. They also tend to comment either on how they would have written things if they were in charge or how things would be different if they were in the show. And they do it all the time. If that pistol in a show is actually semi automatic instead of automatic they have to point that out and give you a lecture on how the gun actually fires. If an explosion underwater works differently they will mention it complete with their version of a full Bill Nye the Science Guy episode. If CDC’s procedures during a quarantine are different they will talk over the dialog to explain to you how the show is clearly inaccurate.

We all do it from time to time. Unless your are a silent monk while you watch things with friends you will make such comments on occation. The thing is “that guy” does it all the time. It turns out Miyu Edelfelt is not so secretly “that guy.” Unfortunately for Miyu being an accuracy obsessed nitpicker might make you a good employee (depending on the job) it does not make you a good viewing companion or magical girl.

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