It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? For four or five years, I updated Fashion Ninjutsu multiple times per week, with some gaps here and there, but early on in 2020, things got pretty derailed. The easy answer would be to say that the pandemic threw a wrench in things—and on some level, that’s probably true—but no, when it comes down to it, I just didn’t need this site and FFXIV the same way I had in the past. If you’ve followed me on Twitter (@sapphicvalkyrja) for long enough, you might already know where I’m going with this, but I never had a great sense of just how many readers followed me there, making an update on the site itself seem reasonable.

So, for the unaware: In April of 2020, I started feminizing hormone therapy and by now I have transitioned to female legally, medically, and socially. Over the last thirty-two months or so, I’ve learned a lot about myself that directly impacted my work on Fashion Ninjutsu. You see, as it turns out, this blog, and my glamour obsession in FFXIV more generally, were largely a coping mechanism for the fact that I was transgender and didn’t realize it. Growing up, I’d never had much interest in fashion or my appearance, but in FFXIV my interest in glamour got downright obsessive at times.

Once I began to transition, though, which included revamping my entire wardrobe outside of FFXIV, that obsession tapered off. Instead of putting together outfits and buying clothes for Alahra, I was doing so for myself, and I no longer needed glamour to pursue those interests. While I’ve continued playing around with glamour since transitioning, my approach to it is far more relaxed. Alahra, who once served as a subconsciously ideal self (and on some levels, still does), was now free to just be Alahra, rather than an avatar of personal copium.

And that meant that, over time, her style has largely settled. I don’t change her glamours anywhere nearly as often as I once did, and in fact, most of them are more or less using the same general look across most jobs and classes that I play. While Alahra will always, in some sense, be me, she’s a lot closer to just being my Warrior of Light these days, and that means my glamours are now mostly about perfecting her character design than they are about the outfits themselves.

So where is she now?

After completing Endwalker‘s Main Scenario during the 6.0 launch (which I did on my Shadowbringers main, Dark Knight), I started working on Reaper, which was the two of the new jobs that excited me most. I quickly fell in love with it in a variety of ways, from the aesthetics (which made my edgy little heart sing), to the lore (positioning them as assassins made them a better fit for Alahra than I’d ever have imagined) and gameplay (it’s hands down the best-designed melee in the game right now, if you ask me).

Since I wasn’t heavily enamored with the Endwalker iterations of Dark Knight or Ninja, I decided to main Reaper once I got it to 90, and so began the quest for a suitable glamour for my weary Warrior of Light, worn down by the events of the latest expansion. While I’ve tried a number of things (and maybe if I get back into a groove with this, I’ll post some of them), I ultimately settled on this look, which has more or less become Alahra’s look. Just about all of my “official” glamours feature the bandana, handwear, 2B bottoms, and thighboots, with the only thing that normally changes being the body piece.

The bandana has come to replace Alahra’s trademark glasses post-Endwalker, with my explanation being that the covered eye was wounded in the final battle with Zenos. The boots and the 2B bottoms are, of course, nothing new, with both having long been personal glamour staples. The only new piece is really the handwear, and I’m mostly wearing those gloves because I really enjoy having the nails match the rest of the gold in this and most of Alahra’s other outfits. Of all the pieces outside of the body, these are the most subject to change, but I still like to keep them when it makes sense.

And that about covers it! I’m not playing the game super heavily these days, with most of my interest being in the Main Scenario. We’re a year into the expansion and I’ve still got to finish leveling for just about everything, which is quite unusual for me, but that’s the way fixations go sometimes. With that in mind, I really don’t know how frequent updates are going to be from here on out. I’d like to say I’ll be posting the glamour backlog from the last couple of years as we move into a new year, but I also don’t want to make a promise I won’t keep!

If and when I do post, I’ll probably be playing around with formatting, with the goal of making spotlights less labor intensive (and to make use of the new layout options WordPress has added in my long, long absence). Cash Shop reviews may or may not make a return, but if they do, I don’t imagine I’ll be covering literally every new set again (largely because of how little I’m playing, but also because inventory space was getting to be a concern). I’ll probably still review sets I buy for my own use, because at that point, I might as well, right?

In any case, maybe I’ll see you all again soon! Enjoy the winter holidays!