i think the reason the ethersea crew is possibly my favorite main cast so far is that they’re all just fucking Weirdos. like. bard monk ranger. homeschooled ex-church guy + psychic conspiracy theorist shark warrior + sentient coral construct animated by a bunch of long-dead spirits that amalgamated into one. none of these guys slot into a generic Protagonist role and for all the love i have in my heart for taz balance my biggest issue with it was that magnus seemed to be treated so much like the Main Fella when taako and merle were equally compelling characters

there was for sure a lot of focus on devo in the infinite clam episodes, but that feels intentional and also just makes sense, because the whole Plot Area with the church of benevolence and related persons is kind of his thing so of course devo is the one who gets some deeper examination— but

even though it was largely related to the CoB! amber and zoox both also had significant character moments!! amber had an extended flashback to her days on the surface and her previous encounters with the trash hole anomaly and zoox fucking pacific rim drifted with the clam and realized something is off about his memory and his sense of being, both of which i personally am very excited to hear more about

and even when they’re not having Dedicated Scenes to individual players they still find ways to communicate more about their characters just in the ways they talk to each other, the approaches and reactions they have to different situations, the bases of knowledge they pull from, the beliefs they have about the world around them... they don’t hone in on one guy for extended periods of time and leave the other players in the drift until it’s their turn and i really really love that

some of all of that is just to do with the mcelroys becoming more experienced players/DMs, and, i would say, adapting their gameplay to be more narrative, but it doesn’t feel nearly so forced in this arc; the sense of just being Some Questers In The Ethersea instead of Destined Saviors or Chosen Ones is so wonderful to me because it escapes the need for an expected conclusion (at least while we’re early on), and while it may have been by design, it feels organic in a way that’s really refreshing (primarily i’m comparing to graduation; i genuinely enjoyed it a lot but my main knock on it is how travis in a ttazz said something about how he had planned out the majority of the arc beginning to end)

anyways. i love the main cast of ethersea . devo la main and amber gris and zoox anthellae my dearly beloved i am so excited to see where ur stories go