straightforwardly | 172 | catching up on Dragon Friends; also, Labyrinth and an unrelated crossover ship

► I’m now officially caught up on Dragon Friends! And have finished the third season in the process. (I’ve not listened to the special yet, though, mostly because I just saw that it existed when I started writing this post.)

I feel like I might have already said this, but in case I haven’t, this catching-up/marathoning thing has reminded me just how much I genuinely love this podcast. (And I’m sorely regretting not requesting it again for Yuletide). It is true that this season was probably my least favorite, just because it dealt with settings/window-dressing/etc. that I generally don’t care about, but I still laughed a lot and had a lot of fun with the characters themselves. (Well. Not most of the NPCs. But the NPCs were always pretty hit-or-miss with me, so I’m not bothered by that.)

Apparently, Freezo is anti-slavery? (/is more into personal feudal-style loyalty.) I loved the “wow, he has interesting code of ethics” comment. And we found out more about Philge’s backstory! Mainly, that her dad was a human who cheated on her (orc) mother with a fairy. ...Also something about a “don’t hate me” bribe with an...animal, I think?, but I don’t actually remember that part clearly. I’ll need a relisten for that.

Also, is it me, or is Baston somewhat less...moral than he used to be? ~~Apparently the Dragon Friends are a bad influence on him. :D~~

But most of my thoughts were actually about the finale! That reveal, with Hing? Blew my mind. The Tribe of Million Kings! The Tribe of a Million Hings! I was actually called away from my listening when I hit that part, and I spent a lot of time whispering “a million Hings” to myself under my breath and laughing. (I was at home, not in public, so that wasn’t quite as weird as it might’ve been.) But seriously, it blew my mind.

That being said… I was uncomfortable with how some parts of that boss fight were handled? So many of the “jokes” struck me as being mean rather than funny, and I just ended up feeling genuinely bad for the actual Hing. Idk. Maybe I’m taking it too seriously. (I say that because I had to stop listening to Hello From The Magic Tavern for similar reasons, and whenever I see other people talking about the relationships on that podcast, they always seem to see it as humorous/close/whatever, so. It could be a me-thing.)

ANYWAYS. Moving on.

I did find Freezo’s attempt to sacrifice himself for his friends really sweet and touching? That is, I know what the player-motivation for that was, but from an in-universe perspective...yeah. Freezo actually showing that he does care for his friends makes me ridiculously happy.

Finally, the resolution of Johnny Playstation’s character was so satisfying. I had some mixed feelings about what the Dragon Friends were doing (mainly because I got the impression that Playstation wanted to be with Vox-Saito, and not Horizon?), and this ending avoided all of that. He just seems so...genuinely happy with becoming an all-powerful AI-thing, AND the Dragon Friends didn’t have to die either!

(Plus, it makes for a great excuse for them to move on to the next world. Still crossing my fingers for an adventure on the high seas.)

► I watched/rewatched Labyrinth with my mom last Saturday (she’d never seen it before). I knew that Jareth was very glittery. But somehow, I’d never noticed how glittery the Labyrinth itself is before. Those walls in the beginning!

► A bit over a week ago, I read this Avatar: The Last Airbender fic:

such selfish prayers (Katara-centric, with a side of Zuko/Katara, 47K)
Katara's ambition, so long set aside for the good of others, breaks free and sets fire to her soul. Or, Katara has a vision of her canon future, casts it aside, and becomes a world-changing politician instead.

And I did enjoy it, but for some reason, I walked out of it craving Katara/Hermione? I think it was because this fic definitely concentrated on the “I will never turn my back on people who need me” aspects of Katara’s personality, and it reminded me of Hermione and her own crusades for political change, especially with the house elves. They’d understand one another, I think.

(I’m not sure what it is with me and f/f crossover ships this year. With a few exceptions, I’ve always been pretty indifferent to crossover ships, but this year I’ve been racking them up like crazy.)