As Always, The Irish Speak Nothing But Facts.

figueroth and sandra lynn faeth; daughter and mother // dimension 20: fantasy high

fantasy high: junior year - a very merry moonar yulenear // lady bird, 2017 // ijeoma umebinyuo - questions for ada // alexuma // wych elm - susan smith // joan tierney - the elektra complex // fantasy high: sophomore year - hellbound // imma_slytherin - fig the unfaithable and the summer sads // nora kasten // honeytuesday // fantasy high: junior year - untapped rage // ethel cain - family tree (intro) // lynn emanuel - single girl. one room flat.

A Crown of Candy

I literally just finished ACOC just a moment ago and I couldn't wait to write about it. Holy shit, I fucking loved this season. There were a couple of times where I was nearly crying along with some of the PCs.

First of all, this has been the first time I have witnessed a full character death and no way of returning in DnD that didn't have a real-world explanation. (Hero Squad was the first one I witness but the PC wasn't able to continue playing with them due to family things) Not even in my own campaign that I've been playing have we come close to even losing anyone yet. So, those moments of Amethar dropping multiple times, Lapin's death, and especially Jet's death was so emotional and I felt like I was right there with them.

The lore and the world-building of this world was so insane. I watched the behind-the-scenes episode as well and finding out just how much Brennan and everyone put into this season makes my little writer's heart sing. I have done that, I do that, and being able to see how others do that in their mediums is so inspiring. Even when Brennan was not pulling any fucking punches, it felt right for the world that was surrounding the characters cause in those moments, punches wouldn't be pulled.

This season was so crazy and I hung on to every moment of it. It's not one of my favorites but it's one of the most inspirational campaigns I have ever watched.

Now, I do believe it is time for me to watch the second season of The Unsleeping City. Wish me luck.

Fantasy High: Sophomore Year

I finally watched and finished the second season of Fantasy High. I had watched the first season on youtube before I gotten the dropout subscription. So, I was quite excited to start it up early last week. I finished it up just the other day and my heart.

From the very start, I could not have guessed that the story was going to the places and ways that it ended up going. This image of the Unnamed Goddess being reborn into deity-hood. It was so moving and it really tied everything beautifully.

The various NPCs added or expanded upon were such wonderful bits of the story to be all added in. Adya became a fast favorite of mine. She was an amazing addition and I love how fast she was able to bond with Adaine and Fig.

All of the characters had such amazing moments throughout this entire campaign. Everyone got such cool and moving moments that delved into and developed their own individual backstories. I literally can't choose a favorite moment from this entire season.

Side note: I love that all of the fanmade Fig and the Cig Figs songs were uploaded on Spotify. They were made so well and really capture the feelings of the campaign.

Something so profoundly fucked up between the inverse ratio of shrinking middle class and ever increasing aggression of advertisement

Obviously Velma sucks but if we do ever make a more adult Scooby Doo I want a semi realistic period piece from the late 60s where the Scooby Gang are draft dodgers and hippies that just happen to stumble into the crime fighting business because there is just a fresh stream of con artists when you’re drifting town to town in a van.

Freddie and Daphne start it all. Instead of showing up at boot camp when drafted, Fred Jones got the van he bought with his summer job and ran off. Daphne, his girlfriend (who frankly has the least strong feelings about Vietnam but for gods sake are they not taking Freddie there) runs along to be supportive and to get away from her strict, stuffy family.

Velma catches wind of Fred and Daphne’s plan a few days before it happens. They invite her along but she has to consider it. A staunch feminist and the brightest girl in school, she has the most to lose if she leaves. However, she grows embittered by the fact she’s never gonna get into her dream college since it doesn’t admit women, and decides to go along. Besides, if Fred and Daphne leave without her, there won’t be anyone like minded in their hometown for Velma to be friends with.

Shaggy wasn’t originally part of the group, but they find him and Scooby hitchhiking and pick him up. The gang learn he has similar circumstances to Fred for running away from home, being a conscientious objector who ran off when they tried to put him in a non combative position instead. He opposed even this as it still meant he would be part of the war machine. He comes bearing plenty of 8 track tapes and some real good pot, so he’s welcomed along happily.

Along the way they become friends and use their combined skills to solve cases of supposed hauntings. Every single one is shown to be some kind of capitalist fraud.

Neverafter: Trouble in Tuffeton

Before the episode tonight, I wanted to get my thoughts out for last week's episode.

Wow, so much happened and I think we got some really interesting answers but also very much nowhere near having enough.

There were some really wholesome moments in this episode. Like Gerard trying to guard Miss Muffet from the reality that happened to the people in the cocoons. And his moment with Ylfa and trying to reassure her that she wasn't some monster. Plus the absolute fondness that his voice held when speaking of Elody and her strength. My heartstring strung up tight. I was so unsure of Gerard when we first met him but I shouldn't have doubted Murph. He is such an interesting and complex character that it takes a second to really appreciate and look at him wholely.

And Mother Goose's little pep talk to Miss Muffet even while Brennan was having too much fun with the soundboard, it just shows that these adults, though Gerard's adulthood was unnatural in some means, recognize that these are still two very young girls who are still kids and shouldn't have to be so emotionally and mentally aware of the horrors that the world has around them but have to for survival. But here comes Mother Goose and the ever-growing and developing Gerard helping them shoulder it all that they can.

I'm quite curious about the like twig construct-like creatures and if we will be seeing more of them. If I understood correctly, they came from The Great Fairy but our sneaky little Pib ruined her plan. Maybe we'll even see a briar construct-like creature eventually. I'm not sure about that one but at this rate, I wouldn't even be surprised anymore. (Yes, I would but nonetheless.)

Now, for the ending of the episode...

Holy...

Shit...

So much happened so fast. THE ART!!! The absolute rawest statement from Brennan. "The face of a divinity you don't worship, the fucking smile of a devil that you never believed in." The best move of Gerard throwing Pinnochio that sword of truth. Mother Goose quickly and I think a smart move too, of shoving Rosamund in the closest cause we all know The Stepmother wants her. And the image of this Fairy, something that is so powerful and induces fear, being so afraid of seeing The Stepmother that she ripped out her own eyes!!!! And then of course, "reality shatters." I can't even imagine where the fuck we are going next. I'm so glad Scheherazade was able to grab them and seemingly pull them somewhere safe.

I can't wait to watch the next episode. It drops in last than 30 minutes for me so I will be watching it very soon. I still need to put my reaction to Misfits and Magic up but that is next. I'm still in the stars so I'll talk to you guys later.

“Ygraine, is our honored friend still where he was before?”

Sir Curran of the Hawthorn, inspired by Brennan’s Dungeons and Drag Queens look & visionary Aabria “the knight is Brennan” Iyengar.

oh to smoke a joint with the intrepid heroes. talk about a dream rotation my god

The Wizard + The Witch + The Wild One

The Children's Campaign + Arc 1 + Arc 2 + Arc 3

Had some thoughts about the themes emerging in Neverafter so far in another post’s notes that I may as else clarify in my own.

(BBEG is Capitalism truthers beware ig, there’s a lot of me talking about why I don’t like that theory and find it reductive.)

Ok. So. I guess I’d like to start saying that I get why people enjoy a good “haha bad guy is capitalism” joke, because everyone who plays dnd hates capitalism—especially right now, considering current controversies. BUT, I find the common posts of “OMG Neverafter’s bad guy has GOT to be capitalism/Disney” very irritating because it feels less like people picking up on the clues the narrative is putting down and more hammering their own biases of what they want the series to be about into the narrative.

Like, some people keep saying the moral is that Disney sanitizing everything is bad but like… literally nothing about the setting (aside from some fairy tales Disney used appearing) suggests that. The stories are getting worse, darker, closer to their older versions. And the characters don’t want that! Non-Disney versions of the stories aren’t framed as better like you’d think a “Disney Bad” narrative would—in fact, several characters would much prefer to be in their Disney versions right now, whether or not they should be. That kinder versions of the story—which would include the Disney movies—are vanishing due to the carelessness of a select few is presented as a bad thing.

If the theme of the story was that sanitation of fairy tales is bad, don’t you think we’d start off in more “Disney” style versions of the stories? You could easily make a horror story about the dread of being trapped in a “perfect” world. But that’s not what’s happening.

One of the horrors of the Neverafter, courtesy of Cinderella’s visit, is that bad things keep happening no matter what you do. Cinderella’s mother always dies. She always becomes a servant to her Stepmother. Over and over again. Why? What is making this so?

It’s the horror of predestination, of bad things happening to you because someone has decided they should no matter what you want. It’s a much bigger and baser concept than Historic Versions vs Disney Versions, or even Characters vs Disney.

As the conversation with the Librarians and Mother Goose’s encounter with the Inkwell seem to suggest, the conflict is moreso Characters vs Authors.

The question Brennan seems to be posing through Neverafter’s world and story isn’t “Isn’t Disney So Awful?”, it’s “In a reality where storybook characters are real people, is it moral or ethical to make those characters suffer for a good story?”

Or, removed from the trappings of the setting, the question is: “Is it moral or ethical to make real people suffer to make a good thing?”

Good children, good spouses, good futures, good ideals, good communities—and, in a Capitalist society, good profits. But what is good enough to sacrifice people for? And what is “Good” at all?