For those who dont know this was the original concept before either Gen Urobuchi or Nasu told him to draw him as less human-looking, giving us the Magnificent Pillar Moth Man we got now.

Shebadotfr said:

For those who dont know this was the original concept before either Gen Urobuchi or Nasu told him to draw him as less human-looking, giving us the Magnificent Pillar Moth Man we got now.

Would've been much better.

We'd actually get someone who looks befitting of his authority for once.

Ya do know that the story mode one is just his first ascension, right? His third ascension looks very regal. Also, I would argue Gilgamesh, Ozymandias, Artoria (base) and Cleopatra all do have a similarly regal feel.

I pray for more fanart or real art of this version.

Garrus said:

Ya do know that the story mode one is just his first ascension, right? His third ascension looks very regal. Also, I would argue Gilgamesh, Ozymandias, Artoria (base) and Cleopatra all do have a similarly regal feel.

Don't forget Iskandar.

BTW, Headcanon: this is how Pan-Human Qin Shi Huang looks like.

Garrus said:

Ya do know that the story mode one is just his first ascension, right? His third ascension looks very regal. Also, I would argue Gilgamesh, Ozymandias, Artoria (base) and Cleopatra all do have a similarly regal feel.

I mean the artist was ordered to draw a bishie for bishie sake. Leads to a same face syndrome for almost half of all male Servants.

And I mean yea it's going to be hard to make a golden armor not look regal, but I'd argue that without the crook or the golden snake which are both symbols of pharaoh, Ozy and Cleo look like your average run of the mill Egyptian RPG character.

Shebadotfr said:

For those who dont know this was the original concept before either Gen Urobuchi or Nasu told him to draw him as less human-looking, giving us the Magnificent Pillar Moth Man we got now.

I think this is kinda looks better than the latter.

azurelorochi said:

Would've been much better.

We'd actually get someone who looks befitting of his authority for once.

The general reception from the Chinese community tells me otherwise. Whereas the Japanese were worried about the Chinese being offended, China seems to embrace the memes as much as we FGO players do.

Shebadotfr said:

The general reception from the Chinese community tells me otherwise. Whereas the Japanese were worried about the Chinese being offended, China seems to embrace the memes as much as we FGO players do.

Chinese FGO fans are pretty much laughing themselves to death when all of these revealed.
It doesn't help that two of these characters are horse shaped, and one of the hottest meme in circulation is an emoticon of a horse.

Shebadotfr said:

The general reception from the Chinese community tells me otherwise. Whereas the Japanese were worried about the Chinese being offended, China seems to embrace the memes as much as we FGO players do.

Acceptable =/= Better
Especially when it's acceptable "as a joke".

I'm fine with Qin Shi Huang being an almost naked pillar moth man, at the very least he isn't genderswapped just for the sake of it. But again, having him look like this would have been much better to communicate the historical character of Qin Shi Huang while having more of a distinct look because half of the male roster already has same face syndrome.

azurelorochi said:

Acceptable =/= Better
Especially when it's acceptable "as a joke".

I'm fine with Qin Shi Huang being an almost naked pillar moth man, at the very least he isn't genderswapped just for the sake of it. But again, having him look like this would have been much better to communicate the historical character of Qin Shi Huang while having more of a distinct look because half of the male roster already has same face syndrome.

It's not that bad.
After the novelty of these absurd designs wears off, this is still an Urobuchi Gen story. Quality is assured.

BarefeetChaser said:

It's not that bad.
After the novelty of these absurd designs wears off, this is still an Urobuchi Gen story. Quality is assured.

I like that Gen Urobuchi's Qin Shi Huang Di is one of the more heroic portrayals of the man, where even in China he is usually portrayed in a villainous way (guess its the Party playing a hand on it). Even with all of his flaws and the way he went about creating his utopia.

Guy is literally FGO Raoh, a towering charismatic tyrant-like character but ultimately well meaning, with good intentions.

With that kind of writing, him looking like FGO Kars with the voice of Lelouch and having moth x peacock x phoenix attributes is definitely secondary. Just keep him in third ascension if you want him to look regal.
Like how I am keeping Consort Yu in her first sprite.

First they made Napoleon French All-Might, which I like even better because he went against the expectations of people who wanted loli or shota Napoleon. Now we got Emperor Kars. After Dark Souls Ivan, Scathach-Skadi and Lelouch, India Lostbelt King gonna have a tough act to follow.

Shebadotfr said:

-snip-

I personally enjoy Gen's portral of Qin empire under this version of First Emperor. It is both extremely advaced and extremely primitive, both an utopia and a dystopia. The best part of this, in my personal opinion, is giving Jin Ke a legitimate reason for his (her) motive on the assassination of First Emperor.
When Higashide published his story about Jin Ke, he (she) is basically a sociopath, wanting to put an end of an utopia by assassinating the ruler of it, for pratically no reason. It also created some backlash among the Chinese FGO players, and his new work Fate/Apocrypha doesn't really help him either. Gen pretty much dealt with this mess single-handedly, and I have faith on his writing.

Some extra stuff:

BarefeetChaser said:

When Higashide published his story about Jin Ke, he (she) is basically a sociopath, wanting to put an end of an utopia by assassinating the ruler of it, for pratically no reason. It also created some backlash among the Chinese FGO players

To my understanding, that short story described the general peace as being unusual and unsettling which was why she was hired to kill him. And the Chinese fanbase were more upset that Qin Shi Huang sounded like a demon pillar host by the descriptions of him in it.

Looking back at it now with LB3 in mind, it's possible that this unsettling peace is the same, one gained through sheer ignorance of the masses. And that the descriptions that made him sound like a demon pillar were ancient machinery he was hooked up to in another attempt at immortality.

Shebadotfr said:

long stuff

I do wish there is a way that we can "change" their appearance to it's previous form even one is already at max ascension.

escav said:

To my understanding, that short story described the general peace as being unusual and unsettling which was why she was hired to kill him. And the Chinese fanbase were more upset that Qin Shi Huang sounded like a demon pillar host by the descriptions of him in it.

Looking back at it now with LB3 in mind, it's possible that this unsettling peace is the same, one gained through sheer ignorance of the masses. And that the descriptions that made him sound like a demon pillar were ancient machinery he was hooked up to in another attempt at immortality.

Exactly. Gen's new addon saved that story big time.

T34/38 said:

I do wish there is a way that we can "change" their appearance to it's previous form even one is already at max ascension.

Its possible to change sprites and portraits. Unless you mean scrapped design concepts like Adult-looking Helena. But for those, one can only pray for Costume Dress, and/or the character to be popular enough for that.

azurelorochi said:

I mean the artist was ordered to draw a bishie for bishie sake. Leads to a same face syndrome for almost half of all male Servants.

That's more an issue with Takeuchi specifically, who draws the same face for everyone and also copies their poses if he can.

Shebadotfr said:

Just keep him in third ascension if you want him to look regal.

For those curious, this is his Third Ascension

And this is his Final Ascension

I still find it very curious that they used his First ascension in the story, especially when his Third has such visual impact and would likely motivate even more people to roll for him (certainly did the trick for me, going to be saving for him).

It's still close to the bust we see here, the main difference I see in the face is the lack of facial hair and the expansion of his jade insets.