man FUCK i was really rooting for Buddy Dawn :((

a dænce of roëmænce

depictions of the ace experience never seem to include the nightmare-borne skeleton creature from hell so kudos to the dimension 20 team for their commitment to accurate rep

i love that even in an otherwise pretty serious and heavy season, Brennan still makes time for bits like the vulture dimension. like fantasy high is naturally pretty goofy, but a lot of the emotions are very real and relatable, and it's a good way to ease the tension in the campaign. anyway i'll be thinking about the vulture dimension until i die and i cannot believe it happened in the same episode as the reveal about Lucy and Yolanda being dead

the supreme accuracy with which every member of The Bad Kids depicts the insanity of high school....... like Gorgug getting angrier the more stressed-out he gets, Riz constantly being on the verge of a breakdown but just powering through because what else can he do, Adaine being tired of literally everything and struggling to make ends meet, Fig being absolutely burnt out but simultaneously trying a million different things, Fabian being super cool but deeply lonely and (let's be so fr) losing the ability to socialize, and most of all Kristen just doing whatever the hell she's doing. like i experienced all of these phases concurrently while in high school, truly nobody is doing it like them

my favourite thing about the fucking vulture dimension is that the preview for next episode has just no mention of it. like we return to the thistlespring tree and then it’s back to school for more good ol teen shenanigans. there is drama and plot happening completely unrelated to the fact that there is a whole dimension for vultures (or this specific vulture?) that are pissed as hell about this 3 year long teen friend group bit. and there’s a battle set/maxi already made. i feel like this is all just a mass hallucination, what the fuck do you mean this episode ended with the bad kids going to the vulture dimension.

Boutta be a carbon monoxide leak in the

fantasy high junior year episode 8. hello?????

like there's so much to unpack and i am genuinely inclined to believe Zac when he said there was a carbon monoxide leak in the dome. all i can imagine is Brennan carefully crafting lore for the goddamn VULTURE DIMENSION and passing it off to the art team to build the SET and BATTLE MAP for it, then discussing the visuals of it with the PROJECTION TEAM to create custom art for the dome walls. like what was the process. dozens of people looked at the vulture dimension and knew that there was a nonzero chance that it wouldn't get used at all and still decided that it was funny/important enough to go all in on, and that's the quality that i come to D20 for. 10/10 no notes.

Look I love fig paladin of Cassandra, iconic, slay, Emily axford the woman that you are. HOWEVER I am still emotionally attached to Bucky Applebees, paladin of Cassandra. His sister is a cleric he’s a paladin sibling duo of Cassandra healing their bond as they spread the doctrine of doubt together and hold each other’s hands in the dark,,,, I gotta go call my brother

Buddy Dawn Thoughts

cautiously fuckin stoked for Buddy Dawn. i've been reading a bunch or theories about Kristen going back to Helio, and if that happens then i'm so curious as to what Buddy Dawn will do as her foil. does he stay with Helio? is he an unwavering blind follower or does he have some secret complicated religious feelings? he strikes me as the type of religious person who projects that they have it all together, but in reality is an absolute mess of doubt and insecurity. i'm just so eager to see where both him and Kristen go. also i love his little Southern accent it's so pleasant to listen to :)

My favorite low quality children!

That first day back to school is always a doozy, huh?

some Gorgug fanart!!! junior year is giving me brainrot for him...

the lyrics in the back are from The Carpal Tunnel of Love by Fall Out Boy bc i think the Cig Figs would sound a lot like FOB :)

Ep 3 Not All Who Wanda Are Lost

First day of school.

Like how can anyone believe that Arthur Aguefort would ever create a lawful replacement?

Ep 2 || Ep 4

when brennan said "i think you become aware of the absence of the eldest daugher in that home."

and ally said: "as like, a shield."

REAL AS FUCK!!!!!!!

Porter slander is a go actually

Most people agree that he is being a dick about this, but I've seen some other people say that even if Porter is being a dick, he's actually fair here because Gorgug is struggling in his class.

But, um, case in point- He fucking isn't!

During Riz's 30 we learn that Fabian and Gorgug are doing well academically. They're not excelling like Riz or Adaine, but they're also not struggling like Kristen and Fig. The point is they're perfectly average students with beefy transcripts already because of their extracurricular with the Owlbears.

So Gorgug. Is not. Failing.

This narrows down Porter's reasons for denying Gorgug solely on his preconceived notions of Gorgug as a student and Barbarian, and here's the thing: Porter's only in-game mechanical basis might be the cold hard truth that you can't concentrate on spells through rage, but check it out, Gorgug is not multiclassing into a wizard! He's multiclassing into an artificer! The only spellcasters that are known for making shit that helps in battle and not necessarily casting spells.

If Gorggug had to multiclass into any spellcasting class, artificer is the one that makes the most sense!

There is no front that Porter is defensible on! He's sucking as a teacher because he's failing a student before even giving them a chance to show that they can do this (“You know we start the year with an A, and it’s ours to keep, not a 0, it’s up to you actually”), and he also sucks in general. Just as Siobhan described in the AP, why do you care? What do you mean you were offended? That's weird asf. Why are you this weird about a student's personal choices?

And even without going in-depth about just how right and beautiful it is for Gorgug's character to multiclass like this and without going into too much depth as to just how shitty Porter is here, the point is, Porter is just wrong.

Also, Porter accurately assesses Gorgug's rage as protective. But then dismisses it like Gorgug is just plain wrong for interpreting his rage like this? Like, I'm sorry, but as a neurodivergent kid, teachers forcing their way of doing things onto me without explaining why my way of doing it was wrong, even if it got the job done, will forever be a gripe of mine. And Porter is just pressing all my buttons on that and- FUCK! HE JUST FUCKING SUCKS OKAY?

episode 3 thoughts :)

i think it's such a good choice that almost all of the main couples broke up/are separated for junior year. high school in general is when you do a lot of self-discovery, especially junior year, because like the cast has been saying in Adventuring Party, junior year is when shit gets REAL.

like don't get me wrong, i want everyone to be happy, but for character development reasons i think it's best for everyone to go out on their own, get bodied by life, then come back together stronger (and solve the time quangle, probably). it also just makes sense that kristen and gorgug's first relationships don't work out, because that's high school.

everyone is already so busy, so not having significant others in the plot allows more room for growth and different plot threads. i'm especially excited for gorgug to tell porter to go fuck himself and for kristen to talk with her brother more, because that one scene already broke my heart and i need more immediately.

everyone already has big wet cat energy this season, i'm really looking forward to it. it's going to be one big corn battle but for, like... life lmao