[Coldsaturn]

HELLO?????????????
CURRENTLY LOSING MY ENTIRE SHIT?????????????????

[ChicletPrime]

just... just the thumbnail is sending me. okay. okay. woooo!
/grab coffee and heads for it.

EDIT: i think i'm having a heart attack. jesus fucking christ on a skateboard, WOW WOW WOW

are you alive over there? did you expire? i think we're expiring. ours our ours did you SEE THE EVERYTHING?! we stabbed ourselves! we kissed over a pearl! HE WAS ALL TIED UP!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

EDIT EDIT

okay, going through this frame by frame. .NOTES:
-- he has shackles at throat, waist, end of his tail, wrists. large chains to neck and wrists.. shackles and main tethering have unknown markings in green. probably unimportant specifically, they don't seem to be cohesive enough to spell anything out.
-- the adornment chest decoration has a silver conch threaded on it. there's a pearl nestled into the conch. pearls threads on the silver chains.
-- his hair. /small eeeeeeee
-- i just noticed, how did i notice this before on previous incarnations: the scales under his eyes - tear tracks
-- the girlfriend, excuse me BRIDE, has pearl bracelets and two rings (pinky & middle finger). middle finger ring linked to the two pearl bracelets with pearls and blue gems.
-- looks like she pulls his dagger from his heart while he's bound. the dagger is his heart? (as an aside -- if that's the correct interpretation, does the fact that current Rafayel wield red fire daggers means vengeance or fury?)
-- she uses the formed dagger to break the main shackles
-- some truly breathtaking torso shots
-- as the shackles break, the central silver conch glows with power (red) as his skin light up with (blue) power trails..
-- his decorative arm bracelets also loop down and around his middle fingers - no jewel ornamentation on the fingers though
-- when his power is manifesting, his hair goes to glass
-- he breathed out the pearl. they spin during the kiss, i assume she swallowed it but its not seen
.-- there's a detail on the back of the bride's headdress that is echoed on the decorative chains on him
-- the bride does not have a mermaid tail, she's legs :P with SHOES. she does however have blue scales under her eyes.
-- his scales are grooved like scallop shells
-- the summoned trident calls lightning from the sky. the next screenshot shows him just grasping the lightning in his hand, no trident at all, which appears to be the front card art
-- his full design is asymmetric
-- the little fish around him are glowing bright yellow, just like the lightning strikes

(i am one minute into the trailer and 124 screenshots)

-- (my first at least) closeup shot of the design that's branded on Rafayel's chest as a carving on a stone slab. fish shape enclosing two.. pearls? large circle with small circle
-- large conch on a pedestal, pearl embedded in the opening
-- the bride hands the conch to the sea god
-- closeup on the conch as he goes to blow it, it has obvious gold plating on the edges and the interior pearl now looks like a faceted gem (blue). there are also smaller blue gems embedded around it in the conch whorls.
-- he teaches her a song to play on it which seems to command the sea around them

i'll be honest, the kissy kissy smoochy smoochy is really doing it for me. hopefully the actual card event won't feature the champagne cork sounds that Caleb's birthday card did because wow, so immersion breaking..

-- bond mark on the stone slab flares up red when the bridge and groom kiss
-- image of a sea shell necklace (possibly one of Rafayel's scales) on a necklace. the bride gives it to him (returns it to him?). she wraps his hand around it and kisses him. there's a big ass moon right over their shoulders which is both awesome and logistically weird, but still beautiful.
-- we manifest the dagger again, out of what looks like the necklace in his hand - was the scale/necklace his heart/source of his power?
-- he's distraught, tries to pull the dagger out of our grip
-- that has to be it. "with the sea god's power, i command you - reclaim this heart..." -- he did in fact give his heart away as a physical object and we're going to break it to give it back to him. ".. and end our everlasting bond."
-- we stab the dagger into our heart, hands cupped around his still so that its almost as if he's killed us
-- absolutely fanastic screenshot of disbelief and pain on the sea god's face, bond mark flaring on his chest
-- shades of general mermaid myths - we'll "become one with the sea" and stay forever. i guess we're dissolving to foam. yes, we break apart into sparks and he's left holding nothing.
-- he cries and a pearl falls into the ocean

well, that was indescribably sad for 12 seconds of trailer

okay the rest was tiny clips of myth, combat outfits, combat moves. final screenshot count: 289.

[Coldsaturn]

I can confirm I am not fine and currently typing this from the grave

I have watched it an insane amount of times, lost my marbles (pearls) every single time, and now I'm here trying to put thoughts in order.

First things first, the most important detail: 

- I've always said Raf's thrust game was the best one out of all the LIs because he's a merman and he's built for moving like that, and I was not wrong. Glad we cleared this out. Next.

- He looks aged up. And slightly beefed up. no i'm not fine why u ask

- There are different details and references baked into this cinematic masterpiece that are making its timeline placement a bit difficult. Some details seem to point to before God of Tides, others to after God of Tides. What seems to be certain is that we're before the story narrated in the card Fragrant Dream, and before Abysswalker. Both contain references to here. There are other callbacks/foreshadowings too (big important ones: Night Strolls, Ebb and Flow, his main story branch, Omnipotent Perception, and possibly Intertidal Zone)

- THE HUG WHERE HE TUCKS HIS ENTIRE HEAD IN MC'S NECK

- THE CHIN AND NECK KISS

- THE WHOLE DEATH SCENE AND RAF CRYING PEARLS (HIS JP VOICE ACTOR WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND - THE KOREAN TRAILER IS ALSO MELTDOWN WORTHY)
YOU CAN SEE HOW AFTER MC DISAPPEARS RAF'S SHADOW MOVES ALMOST FROM SIDE TO SIDE INDICATING THAT HE STAYED THERE AN ENTIRE DAY

- I can't deal with this

- All the Poseidon imagery, majestic

- THE MUSIC

- I don't know if you noticed, but in the combat preview we can see a new skill button we can use with him!

- Apparently this myth story will be unlocked by simply getting the card/s, no need to level them all up to 60 to enjoy the entire thing!

[ChicletPrime]

He looks aged up. And slightly beefed up. no i'm not fine why u ask

you know, i thought he looked younger! the eyes seemed rounder. yes, i noticed the, uh, proportion changes as well - way narrower waist, much more defined shoulders and pecs.

YOU CAN SEE HOW AFTER MC DISAPPEARS RAF'S SHADOW MOVES ALMOST FROM SIDE TO SIDE INDICATING THAT HE STAYED THERE AN ENTIRE DAY

oh my god i did not catch that! but i only watched it once at full speed and once frame by frame when i was capturing stuff.  /clutches heart, oh my god

I don't know if you noticed, but in the combat preview we can see a new skill button we can use with him!

didn't notice that either! i was busy trying to get unblurred pictures :P 

[ChicletPrime]

okay, just a handful of screenshots for sighing time: these are the full size 1920 x 1080 versions.

[Coldsaturn]

I don't know, maybe it's because I know that God of Tides is Raf right before his coming of age ceremony, and Sea God Raf looks like he graduated already 




...
your screenshots oh my god
he's so beautiful
will I ever recover from that damn trailer, I've been USELESS today because of it

[ChicletPrime]

yeah, i rescind my previous thought, that is DEFINITELY a guy in his college years.

oh, i am ecstatic. that trailer was sheer beauty: full of anger, love and tragedy, my trifecta of choice! reddit must be going ca-razy over it.

[Coldsaturn]

"hopefully the actual card event won't feature the champagne cork sounds that Caleb's birthday card did"
Absolutely losing it at this
you're so right
Fortunately for all of us, Raf is possibly #1 in terms of kissing sounds for the english VAs. Sylus' are also pretty good, Xav and Zayne depends on the cards but they also deliver quite consistently. Caleb needs to learn I'm begging, it makes me laugh every time.

---

Also, the sea shell necklace, the heart, and a good chunk of the lore around bonds and commands comes from God Of Tides. I so want to know if this myth happens before or after GoT, because in both cases it recontextualizes SO MUCH

[ChicletPrime]

okay, i think i've watched all the trailer reactions worth watching. love seeing other people freak out at the same moments i freaked out on. consensus: my GOD the Sea God is hawt. what do you mean WE DIE? press (F) for depression.

/sighs happily

okay, now to tackle my abyssal run for the weekend.

[Coldsaturn]

Same, I hit my usual suspects (Angel's Corner, Lexy, Lalafluffbunny, and a few vtubers based on the vibes of the moment) so I can mentally scream with someone, or hear someone scream when I can't because I have neighbors lol

Also, 24h passed but I'm still parked on this damn trailer, brain completely off