- How do you feel about Maschenny?
- What do you like about her?
- What do you think of her?
- What do you dislike about her?
- What Do You Want From Her?
How I Feel About Maschenny
She's by a large margin my favourite character in the series, and is one of my all time favourite characters in fiction. I think I love every aspect of her character that's been introduced so far (I've written several essays on them) and I want her to remain her devious, scheming, haughty, bloodlusted self.
What I Like About Her
I love that she has a very strong internal locus of control and high personal agency. She finds the current status quo of the Tower extremely boring and desires change. Unlike Jinsung she doesn't stagnate and wait for someone to bring about the change she desires. She seizes it for herself. With her own hands, she'll forge the future she desires. That boldness and strong agency is very appealing. She's audacious to the point of overconfidence and I love every second of it.
What I Think About Her
Like her Data self, she's a blood-knight, but unlike her Data self, there's more to her than excellence in and a love for combat. She is willing to plot, scheme and be extraordinarily patient to get what she wants. Since her first appearance in the series we've seen Adult Maschenny gradually executing a meticulously laid out plan to engineer a Tower wide war. This extra facet of her, that deviousness is something I find extremely appealing.
Another change between Data Maschenny and Adult Maschenny is her self image. Data Maschenny was an unprecedented prodigy. She completed the Hell Train at an extremely young age, and was by far the strongest Khun child to make it to the Hidden Floor. However, she was very bashful about praise for her abilities. Whenever people pointed out her exceptional status, she got pretty flustered and told them to stop. As a High Ranker, Maschenny has no reservations. She's incredibly exceptional, and she not only knows it, she revels in it. She has supreme confidence in her abilities (combat and otherwise), and feels no hesitation about playing with "Ancient Beasts" and an irregular. Adult Maschenny's confidence in her own person is so wonderful to see.
She has a mean streak and sarcastic sense of humour. From asking her subordinates if she should apologise for attacking them to cruelly teasing Jinsung as she said she'd give him a painless death only to grant no such mercy (torturing him into unconsciousness before imprisoning him). She seemed to regularly tease Jinsung on panel while she kept him prisoner (her taunts about Baam, joking that he was useless alive, etc.), and probably amused herself at his expense over the timeskip. She seems to have taken great joy in teasing Yuri on the two occasions they interacted.
She expressed hope that Baam would come charging into the Nest riding a vast wave of anger so that she can have her fun destroying him.
Her cruelty and sadism are just yet another aspect of her character. I like her as she is, and wouldn't want that to be removed from her.
She seems to be very savvy in interpersonal interactions. Most of the interactions she's had on character seem to have gone her way, and she's generally read her interlocutors accurately allowing her to steer (or tease as the case may be) them accordingly.
She's remained in control and generally retained the initiative throughout. Her extremely high people skills are welcome. She's not just an exceptional combatant, she's an exceptional manipulator. I think I adore such characters.
What I Dislike About Her
I don't really dislike anything about her. I would probably like Maschenny more if she was higher up in the power hierarchy, more deeply involved in the events of the story and generally had more focus and importance in the plot. However, those aren't dislikes per se.
What I Want From Her
Particular things I want from her:
- Competent schemes and plots: she played Jinsung and Yuri like chess pieces and seems to have been directing the events of the Nest as she pleases. I would like to see more plots and intrigue from her. In the Princess arc and the Khun arc, I'd love to see her strut her political acumen to bend other High Rankers to her will. She intends to engineer a Tower wide war and pit all of the powers of the Tower against each other, I'd love to see her deliver on this. Bonus points of she is able to manipulate people stronger than her and not just those at her level or below her.
- Excellence in Combat: Maschenny's combat ability has been hyped a lot by SIU:
- She is one of the strongest 13 month princesses.
- There are only 8 13 month princesses, and given that she's weaker than Adori and Enne (#7 for the both of them), she has to be the 3rd of 4th strongest princess. This would place her either above or just behind Hagipherione (and stronger than Garam, An, Alphid and Yuri).
- Garam herself was able to force a high ranker with the combat ability of a top 500 to submit with raw shinsu pressure.
- She was one of the princesses that participated in the capture of Enne.
- Of the four confirmed to have participated, she's one of only two that survived.
- Given that she was the only 13 Month Princess there, she was probably the strongest princess in the battle.
- Her Maschenny Style Lightning Spear Technique
- It has been said to be an "ultimate technique".
- Her spear technique is said to be vastly stronger than ordinary high rankers.
- Her standing in the Khun family:
- She was one of only 3 regulars (of the countless Khun children that reached the Hidden Floor) whom Eduan recognised. She was the strongest of the lot and massively stronger than the runner up (Asensio).
- Asensio was called a small fry in comparison.
- Asensio said he was a cockroach who could never keep up with her skills.
- Princesses from the 10 Families are said to be exceptionally influential and powerful becoming the central power of the family in the future.
- She's over 5,000 years old and is likely mature as a princess.
- She's the only Khun princess to ever be awarded a 13 Months weapon.
- Her counterpart in the Arie Family (Hagipherione) is ranked #36, and she should be close.
- She's much older than Hagipherione (5,000+) and given that she has been said to be one of the strongest princesses she may be even stronger.
- The Khun and Arie families share a fierce rivalry.
- Eduan and Hon are neighbours in rank and Eduan resents Hon for ranking a bit above him.
- She was an exceptional prodigy.
- Her bloodline is exceptional even in the Khun Family.
- Over all, I feel like if she isn't in the among the top 50 high rankers when she fights for real, she'll disappoint the exceptional hype she has received.
- She is one of the strongest 13 month princesses.
- Devoted Antagonist/Foil: I'd love to see her remain a firm antagonist of Baam's and foil of Yuri's going forward. She is oh so very different from Yuri despite their similar background and I find the contrast interesting. Watching Yuri and Maschenny's conflict/competition in the Princess Arc would be interesting.
- Related to the above, Lilial, Shilial and Maria are allied with her. The former two were responsible for the events of the Name Hunt Station arc. I would love if that was at Maschenny's direction and if she intended to have Baam confront Kaiser as part of his growth. I'd also love to see her try and undermine Baam by attempting to compromise Khun through Maria.
- That said, I don't expect her to remain an antagonist forever. She has demonstrated that she's not loyal to Zahard. I can see her defecting if she expects to have more fun doing so. I expect Baam to truly impress her, surpassing her wildest expectations in the Nest.
- Humanity: I'd love if it's revealed that there are people Maschenny does genuinely care for (because the individual is precious to her and not just because of what they can do for her). Back on the Hidden Floor, Data Asensio was absolutely devoted to Maschenny (willing to put down his life at her command) and she in turn trusted him absolutely with her own life. I would love if Adult Maschenny had such a relationship of absolute trust with Asensio. I'd also like it if she cared for Ran in her own way.
- Going Out in A Blaze of Glory: For her final act, I'd love it if Maschenny went out in a blaze of glory a la her battle vs Data Zahard. Watching Maschenny lay down her life at the altar of combat while having the time of her life and perhaps satisfying some noble goal, e.g. holding back Adori to give some of our protagonists the opportunity to escape (especially if say Ran or Yuri were among the group) would feel like a satisfying conclusion to her character arc.