I've got episode 8 available for your reading pleasure as part of my holiday writing routine. However, the special surprise for AESIR is that I actually wrote 3 episodes and leaning towards writing episode 11 and 12. I had plans to write something else for the vacation and started work on it. But I ended up not really feeling it at the moment and wanted much more to write more of this. So I started and got sucked into it. I also watched all of Victory Gundam as my mecha fuel for AESIR. It's one of the many new Gundam series I now own. I actually have X, ZZ and Turn A that I need to watch as well. But that's a lot of Gundam and I wanted to write. I can totally watch all of it, but I'll probably do more writing.

The original plan for episode 8 turned out a bit differently. I have all the episodes written out in a fairly detailed plot summary. And one of the bigger things for me was the all important cliffhanger moment at the end of many of the episodes. As a result, the way episode 8 was planned to end, was to be when Aerona shoots down Noinel as the opening attack and first blood. Then episode 9 is the actual battle in the city and after math. However, when I reviewing the episode summary I realized there was just not enough material to make an episode out of it. So I combined the plot of 8 and 9 together to make the new episode 8. Which I think turned out for the best. I didn't want the fight drag out too much and it still makes up the middle whole section of the episode. That does mean I'll be looking around to other episodes to expand or grow them. There are a few that I worry may be too dense, especially near the end in the last 10 episodes. So there may be some expansion going on there to make up the difference. The goal still remains that AESIR is a 50 episode series. Though if I have to force it then I won't do it. Right now there is exactly as much plot as things need without going into unwanted or fluff material and I don't want to do fluff. So I'll be sure that I handle it smartly. And since I already combined two episodes, I will continue to evaluate and look at the episodes to make sure that they correctly packed with content.

The nice thing about this chapter is that is a very busy chapter for only have a few things happening. The main that happens is the first real battle and important as the first mecha battle. It is technically the second, since the first was in the first episode and there was a mock battle, but this is the first real battle. The first time that the completed AESIRs went into a life and death battle against the enemy. Though the enemy was not prepared for them. Which is one of the things that's going to be important in the third battle to come. How planning and understanding changes things. The AESIR completely dominate the battle due to superior machines and being totally unknown to the enemy. How that will change going forward is the important factor to watch. Because the AESIR are designed for large scale battles, not these smaller ones. They are meant to fight in pairs against an overwhelming force and be able to stand their ground. They are not unlike the Gundam Wing and Gundam 00 series Gundams, very high performance mecha. Though as the enemy gets used to them, it changes.

And the setting is designed around that in mind. Earth is a place that's completely unfamiliar with war and largely not even used to conflict. In what is a little ironic for a setting in the similar series like Gundam, the people on the Earth actually have a harder time living and surviving than those in space in the colonies, where is more common to have them viewed as the struggling and overcoming hardship. That's not to say the colonies are not without their share, as will become apparent over time as I explore the history of the colonies, they've had a lot of troubles of their own. But the people of Earth are trying to recover and focused on that. So they're ill-equipped for fighting any real force that wants war, while the colonies are very practiced in war. That meant focusing on few numbers and making a superior force to deal with what the colonies has. So the AESIR are larger more powerful units that can fight to hold off dozens of enemies. But that's not always going to be the status quo, things will naturally change. The evolution of the war is going to be fun part and all of the secrets.

Looking back at the battle, one of the things I work one is showing the resourcefulness and cleverness of the Terra Team. Finding ways to fight something that is vastly superior is the struggle. And how they'll end up looking worse off at times, the AESIR. The AESIR are very durable, but they have inexperienced fighters, while the Terra Team has been through war. So they know how to use their machines to the fullest. And Cal shows up the reason he is the commander of the team. He gets some shining moments.

The episode also continues to tease some of the bigger mysteries in the series and highlight some of them. There's going to be a number of somewhat odd behavior I know in the future. And I have characters point that fact out at times. Some things just don't add up. Something is wrong. And it doesn't really make a lot of sense until things start to unravel. And then the series starts hitting into from fridge horror, which is what makes up a heavy amount of the weirdness going on. Fridge horror, if you're unfamiliar with the trope, is something that either seems normal or something that's got some unexplained quality to it at the time you see it. Then later after thinking about it or having new knowledge about things, you realize that what was normal or unexplained was actually really horrific when you think about the reality of the situation. There are some very dark and scary things going on in the background, which is part of the fun that I have as I start writing deeper into the series.

Things will shift for the next episode and cool down for a moment. But we're finally reaching that point where there is going to be a fairly consistent and constant mecha battle going on in each episode. And the big episode with the first true start to the Earth-Colonial War will be on its way soon. I may even get to write it before my vacation ends.

Enjoy!