#overanalyzing

It’s curious to me not because of names or anything like that (I don't imagine anyone on the production team in charge of seating them actually remembered or ever knew what their last names even were), but because they smushed Max in between the only three known popular/jock characters, and then proceeded to do absolutely nothing with that.

There's a shot of some random guy when Dustin mentions the jocks in his speech about everyone coming together— not either of the two jocks sitting on either side of Max. We never get a closeup shot of Stacey at all in this moment, only seeing her up close for the first time when she comes over to talk to the party.

So why did they put these three right there next to Max and in front of Lucas? I wonder if there'd originally been some plan for making a bigger deal about all the cliques fading away and everyone learning to coexist, and then they just did away with it in the end. Probably not, and in all actuality it was likely just a matter of "oh hey, we've seen these guys' faces before, put them in frame (but not really).” But then if that were the case, why put them there next to Max and not over by Will or Mike? Why put the three of them in a clump and not scatter them around? Why anything??

"Lifis was once a pirate" -> Confirmed recruited Lifis. To be clear, she says "once a pirate that had that continent under control" but the "once" made it seems like a certain laps of time happened though, so he could be in his middle of his redemption arc here and that the title of "pirate" wouldn't be associated with him normally.

"I suppose the pirate festival must have rekindled his love for bucaneering" -> I had to google what "bucaneering meant". Such a pirate term, omg, I love this. xD But, yeah, REKINDLED HIS LOVE, so he was indeed getting rehabilitated and on the right track! He was on the road of recovery... but he relapsed... Omg, guys, take his pirate stuff awaaaaay!

"Though I have to say, this outfit makes it look like he's more concerned about gathering treasure rather than being a swashbuckling pirate." -> Yup, you don't say!? Tbh, Heroes rarely does a bad job at potraying the characters even if they're old almost disowned characters (like Lifis). But I love this detail of mentioning that he is more about gathering treasure than anything else and make it reflect in his PIRATE outfit. Because, yes, he is a pirate, but there's a very open and clear reason why his class in Thracia is "thief" and not "pirate" or "brigand" (the latters being classes that exist. The pirate classes have an ability to "swim" (traverse water tiles) too, Lifis cannot do that nor does he has a personal skill to do so. So, hehe, he doesn't know how to swim most likely, lol.) Lifis kills would be assassin like kills, and having your character a "thief" or its upgrades in Fire Emblem basically means that for a character. Myrmidons are the hired bounty hunter, those who will kill in the open, thieves are the assassins those who will kill in the dark. But, even there, Lifis isn't much of a assassin even. Because, I got to say that 'cause it's extremely funny, HE DOESN'T HAVE A WEAPON! He's the boss of a map, and he does not have a weapon! He rellies so much on others doing his biding he didn't even think to have anything to defend himself. He is a captain, he has some leadership, but he has little to no skills himself. He's just here to find a way to hoard more treasures. Imagine a fairy tale dragon captured a princess, you get a the end of the dungeon and you have to fight a tough big dragon to get into the treasure room where the dragon who captured the princess is and you enter and see that it's like a cute little thing, like so little you can just quickly grab it and put it in a jar and you get your princess and a bunch of stolen treasures for doing so while the little thing in the jar acts all angy and bumps its nose against the glass and tries to bite with its venomous fangs through it, but to no avail. Well, Lifis is that little thing. And the guys working for him are that other bigger and tougher dragon that just so happen to live in the same dungeon or something. xD

"Lifis seems happy to be returning to the pirate's life after for so long, but I hope he doesn't get too carried away!" -> I love that line, cause it's confirming all I was saying. In Heroes, we indeed have a Lifis that is supposed to be redeemed or on the road of redemption. Sharena says "after so long" so he isn't a Lifis that got recruited recently, he's even maybe a endgame Lifis, where he becomes a...government official!? (Leif, what the fuck– He got a criminal record! Oh well, I guess you need everyone's opinions, even the crooked...) But he's got back a taste of pirating and went back to his old ways. Recovered Alcoholic got a bit of spiked punch at a party, he's having fun, but I hope he doesn't start drinking the entire bowl or even the day after and after. That can happen, but most recovered alcoholics can have a few drinks without problems but it does higher the risk of relapsing.