straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2018-01-15 05:38 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2018-01-15 05:38 pm
Entry tags:
177 | thoughts on The Adventure Zone
After getting caught up with Dragon Friends at the end of last November, I started listening to The Adventure Zone, and…yesterday the day before yesterday I finished it. Or—well, I finished the Balance Arc, which is what The Adventure Zone was up until now. (I haven’t listened to most of the live shows they put up yet, though, nor the switcheroo episodes—just the main story.)
The tl;dr version is: I kind of loved it? Also, aggghh, I really should have updated with my thoughts as I went, because now I have no idea where to begin. I did take a few notes along the way (starting with the end of the Petals To The Metal mini-arc), but I was pretty haphazard with it—like, I didn’t write down anything at all about either The Crystal Kingdom mini-arc (which was one I really loved), or throughout all of The Suffering Game and nearly all of The Stolen Century, so…I’ll have to work from memory there, I guess?
I enjoyed it the whole way through, and Taako was my favorite character pretty much instantly? (Which initially kind of reminded me of my love of Freezo in Dragon Friends, and I had to laugh, because amoral wizard elves are apparently my thing? Though Taako ended up being a better person than Freezo is, imo.) And Taako was still my favorite throughout the show (the way he evolved and grew was just gorgeous), but a few other characters ended up sharing that spot with him, because I am terrible at choosing favorites.
My love for Magnus was something that grew slowly, and caught me by surprise when I realized it—which, for the record, was during The Eleventh Hour mini-arc, specifically when he was interacting with June post-Chalice. He’s just so… good? Even when he does bad things, he’s just—such a good person. And he loves his friends so much? Like, his determination to protect them, even if it means his being hurt, makes me wibble so hard. (Also, his backstory made me cry, and I was really struck by that because, to be quite frank, it’s not really the most original backstory? But I felt like it was really well-done, and suited Magnus so well.) Also, he loves animals a lot, and I love animals a lot, and okay, I wanted basically nothing more than for him to get a dog from the first moment he mentioned wanting one, so there’s that too. But more on that in a bit.
The last of my favorites was Lup. I realized that she had to be Taako’s sister approximately thirty seconds before that was actually revealed, and that immediately fascinated, because siblings who have no one to depend on but each other is a Thing for me, and that’s basically what their backstory ended up being, so that was already promising. Then she actually got to speak her first line, and, okay, that was it, I was In Love.
Here Be Gerblins was definitely the weakest mini-arc, and nowhere near the excellent storytelling that was going on by the end, so I can see why some people suggest skipping it, but it was still entertaining, and the callbacks to it later on (THE RED ROBE, oh my goooood) definitely made it worth it. I also started shipping Taako/Magnus during this mini-arc, and that also never really went away. It was because of one specific moment: Taako lost all his hit points and went to death-saving throw time—so, basically unconscious—and in the next turn Merle did something—I don’t remember what; an attack, maybe? but not healing—but the first thing Magnus did when his turn came was to rush to Taako’s side and give him a healing potion, and, okay, I am so weak to those moments when one character saves another from permadeath in D&D stuff. (That might have also been the beginning of their teasing Merle about sucking at healing, now that I think about it.)
Also, I really love Killian, and I’m glad that she didn’t just disappear from the narrative. Actually, as far as I remember, no one who was introduced in the first Lunar Interlude really disappeared from the story? Not even the ones I definitely, 100% thought would be one-off characters, like Avi. Which is something I’m definitely grateful for.
I don’t think I have too much to say about the Murder on the Rockport Limited mini-arc specifically? I did figure out the mystery before the characters did, but not my much—maybe ten or twenty minutes before. It was definitely in the same episode as them. I also love Angus, much to my surprise—I usually dislike kid characters, but he’s just great. ♥ I was so delighted when he joined the Bureau, and the Taako & Angus relationship ended up taking me completely by surprise re: just how much I loved it. His teaching Angus magic was just—!
(Though, I just remembered that I was Super Suspicious of Angus when he first showed up—I definitely agreed with whoever it was who thought he might be the one behind the murders. Something about him just sent my Scooby Doo Camp Scare alert tingling at first. It’s kind of weird remembering that now though, haha.)
Most of my Petals to the Metal thoughts are about the ending. First: that blue-spotted octopus was the cutest, and it definitely survived its sojourn into the desert. No other answer is acceptable. Second, Hurley/Sloane holy shit??? I shipped them hard, and how their story ended in that arc was the first time that this podcast made me cry. It was gorgeous. (Though I also loved them coming back as dryads in the finale, because hell yes.)
The Crystal Kingdom min-arc was great—definitely a favorite. I love the crystalline aesthetic, I love the haunting Vocaloid song and how it tied into the story, I loved how the whole thing worked to start to pull the story together towards the direction we needed to go for the conclusion. I’d need to give it another re-listen, but my first impression was that this was one of the best constructed arcs.
Also, when I found out about the souls-in-robot bodies, I thought back to Lucas’ bug-bear experiments, and thought that I definitely should have seen that coming, considering that he’d already shown that he could be unethical in his experimentations. I also loved Luctretia’s “why did you talk to the red robe when I asked you to run if you ever say one? why don’t you trust me” reaction in the lunar interlude, and how they’re all, “...umm, actually, we just...forgot that you told us that.”
I also think that it was this Lunar Interlude where Magnus starts learning that art of the rogue from Carey, and their friendship starts? Which I was very into; their friendship ended up being so great.
I remember getting really excited when I first started listening to The Eleventh Hour, because time chalice + the way everything was going pretty wrong for them + the title made me pretty sure it was going to be a time loop and I LOVE TIME LOOPS, and then it was, and it was beautiful. Though one of the players—I’m not sure which one, but maybe Travis?—went, wait, is this going to be like Majora’s Mask?, and I super-appreciated that reference to my favorite Zelda game. ♥ I love how it ended, too, with the town of Refuge being freed from the loop, and the characters being able to reunite with them, and just have a whole denouement of them reconnecting with the people they connected with during their time there. It was sweet. ♥
Also, I appreciated the whole Taako and Ren thing? Both because it was genuinely nice to see Taako being appreciated for the thing that was most important to him up to this point—his career as chef—and his giving her that degree at the end was genuinely sweet. (Also, still laughing at Taako telling Sheriff Isaac that he would have done that cooking seminar if he had to, okay???)
This one was also where I started thinking that, okay, the red robes probably aren’t as evil as we think—not because of the Magnus reveal at the end, but because of the Red Robe/who-I-now-know-is-Barry’s reaction when he realized that they didn’t trust him. Something about that reaction just struck me as being really genuine.
The Suffering Game definitely lived up to its name, haha. I loved Rowan and Antonia and how they interacted with the group (and am so sad that Rowan and Magnus didn’t have a post-TSG chat like the others did), and I loved the contrast of Artemis Sterling before and after. He ended up being pretty great. On the other hand, Cam was another character I ended up being super suspicious of—I was convinced that he was just a trap that Edward and Lydia laid so that they could accuse the trio of “breaking the rules” somehow, and it honestly wasn’t until the reveal that Lucretia ditched him so that she could escape that I finally set those suspicions aside. (On that note, the trio telling him that Lucretia sent them to rescue him was surprisingly sweet for them, and I’m glad that he never found out that that was a lie.)
Magnus giving up the memory of Governor Kalen was an amazing moment, and I want all the fic about Taako and Merle hunting Kalen down for him. Also: his total disinterest in the dating show, and how he ends up—still not caring about the actual dating aspect of it, but his competitive nature rears its head. That was great. And Taako casting True Sight on him! Magnus willingly working with the Red Robe!
And then, that finale. *_* That was super excellent. Lydia and Edward suddenly totally and completely hit all my unhealthy-codependent-siblings button. But even more than that—the arms outstretched moment with the trio. asdfghjkl; That was fantastic and perfect, and I love, love, loved it. How Taako didn’t even hesitate to go after him—Taako! who likes nothing more than to talk about how self-serving he is, going after Magnus without even thinking about how he might be putting himself at risk—and how Merle didn’t even know what was going on when Taako collapsed, but still just threw himself head-first after them—gah. It gives me so many feelings.
About the lunar interlude, and beyond—I loved Angus having his own suspicions, and his being the catalyst that pushes Taako and Merle into deciding, okay, let’s do this, let’s see what’s going on. Carey being shattered over Magnus’ “death” was just, ugh, so heartbreaking in the best way. I loved the reveal that Garfield the Deals Warlock was cloning Magnus, wrapping up his desire for Magnus’ blood/hair/etc. into the story in a way that makes sense. I love how the Flaming Poisonous Sword was worked in. I loved all the moments with the Voidfish. Magnus and the Voidfish’s relationship is actually one of my favorites in the show—definitely in the top five, maybe even the top three. I just get so genuinely emotional over them. (That episode centering on them in The Stolen Century…)
And then, the reveal. Holy shit, I loved it. LUP, and how Lucretia connects with all of them, and just, it turns the show on its head in a way, but it also really made sense, and yes, I was all over it even before The Stolen Century happened. And then The Stolen Century did happen, and yessss, it was amazing. I want all the fic. Worldbuilding for the worlds we saw in the show, stories exploring all those years we didn’t see, and that’s not even touching on all the crossover potential those open years have. Seeing Taako and Lup’s relationship, and the way Magnus in particular grows, and Lucretia too, and just, all the bonds between the seven of them and how they just love one another, and ugh, I am dying, I am dead.
And Merle and John/The Hunger! That was such an excellent relationship, and the wrap-up to it in the finale was absolutely perfect. And Lucretia just fascinates me. That year alone, and how it affected her was so good. And— I don’t agree with the decisions she made at the end of The Stolen Century, not at all, and I think that what she did to Davenport is particularly horrifying (though what she did to Taako was the second-worst, imo, and I can see why he would be unwilling to forgive her), but I can see why she made those decisions, and it’s just, she’s such a great, fascinating character.
I’m basically moving on to Story and Song now—and it was really, really satisfying, for the most part. I did feel like the post-battle stuff was tied off a little too neatly for my tastes—it’s just not the kind of ending that I’m into, though I didn’t have a problem with the actual content of it—but otherwise I loved it. That scene where Magnus finds the injured Voidfish/Fischer is the hardest that I wept in the entire show—I was so entirely sure that it was going to die, and it shattered my heart. I’m so relieved that it didn’t—though I will say that I am Not A Fan of it going off into space with its baby instead of sticking around with Magnus. I don’t want them to be separated forever. ._. N0-3lle also made me tear up a bit, though I have to say, she found a really satisfying way to go.
Taako finding out where Lup was all this time was AMAZING. And what was even more amazing was that Lup’s first words to him—after a decade apart, during which she was trapped in an umbrella and he’d had his memories of her erased before getting them all back again, which she’d probably figured out by his reaction to that carving-her-name-in-the-wall incident—after all that, her first words to him are, “You’re dating the Grim Reaper?!” Just. It’s so perfectly them. ♥
I enjoyed the final battle too, and how the Judges were taken down, and the bond engine, etc. And I loved, loved, loved, all of their last words to the various people on the Moon Base (especially to Angus) before they went off to take down the Hunger, and I love the solution that they—that Taako found, to just reverse Lucretia’s spell so that it cover the Hunger rather than the world. Just—it was all really satisfying.
The tl;dr version is: I kind of loved it? Also, aggghh, I really should have updated with my thoughts as I went, because now I have no idea where to begin. I did take a few notes along the way (starting with the end of the Petals To The Metal mini-arc), but I was pretty haphazard with it—like, I didn’t write down anything at all about either The Crystal Kingdom mini-arc (which was one I really loved), or throughout all of The Suffering Game and nearly all of The Stolen Century, so…I’ll have to work from memory there, I guess?
I enjoyed it the whole way through, and Taako was my favorite character pretty much instantly? (Which initially kind of reminded me of my love of Freezo in Dragon Friends, and I had to laugh, because amoral wizard elves are apparently my thing? Though Taako ended up being a better person than Freezo is, imo.) And Taako was still my favorite throughout the show (the way he evolved and grew was just gorgeous), but a few other characters ended up sharing that spot with him, because I am terrible at choosing favorites.
My love for Magnus was something that grew slowly, and caught me by surprise when I realized it—which, for the record, was during The Eleventh Hour mini-arc, specifically when he was interacting with June post-Chalice. He’s just so… good? Even when he does bad things, he’s just—such a good person. And he loves his friends so much? Like, his determination to protect them, even if it means his being hurt, makes me wibble so hard. (Also, his backstory made me cry, and I was really struck by that because, to be quite frank, it’s not really the most original backstory? But I felt like it was really well-done, and suited Magnus so well.) Also, he loves animals a lot, and I love animals a lot, and okay, I wanted basically nothing more than for him to get a dog from the first moment he mentioned wanting one, so there’s that too. But more on that in a bit.
The last of my favorites was Lup. I realized that she had to be Taako’s sister approximately thirty seconds before that was actually revealed, and that immediately fascinated, because siblings who have no one to depend on but each other is a Thing for me, and that’s basically what their backstory ended up being, so that was already promising. Then she actually got to speak her first line, and, okay, that was it, I was In Love.
Here Be Gerblins was definitely the weakest mini-arc, and nowhere near the excellent storytelling that was going on by the end, so I can see why some people suggest skipping it, but it was still entertaining, and the callbacks to it later on (THE RED ROBE, oh my goooood) definitely made it worth it. I also started shipping Taako/Magnus during this mini-arc, and that also never really went away. It was because of one specific moment: Taako lost all his hit points and went to death-saving throw time—so, basically unconscious—and in the next turn Merle did something—I don’t remember what; an attack, maybe? but not healing—but the first thing Magnus did when his turn came was to rush to Taako’s side and give him a healing potion, and, okay, I am so weak to those moments when one character saves another from permadeath in D&D stuff. (That might have also been the beginning of their teasing Merle about sucking at healing, now that I think about it.)
Also, I really love Killian, and I’m glad that she didn’t just disappear from the narrative. Actually, as far as I remember, no one who was introduced in the first Lunar Interlude really disappeared from the story? Not even the ones I definitely, 100% thought would be one-off characters, like Avi. Which is something I’m definitely grateful for.
I don’t think I have too much to say about the Murder on the Rockport Limited mini-arc specifically? I did figure out the mystery before the characters did, but not my much—maybe ten or twenty minutes before. It was definitely in the same episode as them. I also love Angus, much to my surprise—I usually dislike kid characters, but he’s just great. ♥ I was so delighted when he joined the Bureau, and the Taako & Angus relationship ended up taking me completely by surprise re: just how much I loved it. His teaching Angus magic was just—!
(Though, I just remembered that I was Super Suspicious of Angus when he first showed up—I definitely agreed with whoever it was who thought he might be the one behind the murders. Something about him just sent my Scooby Doo Camp Scare alert tingling at first. It’s kind of weird remembering that now though, haha.)
Most of my Petals to the Metal thoughts are about the ending. First: that blue-spotted octopus was the cutest, and it definitely survived its sojourn into the desert. No other answer is acceptable. Second, Hurley/Sloane holy shit??? I shipped them hard, and how their story ended in that arc was the first time that this podcast made me cry. It was gorgeous. (Though I also loved them coming back as dryads in the finale, because hell yes.)
The Crystal Kingdom min-arc was great—definitely a favorite. I love the crystalline aesthetic, I love the haunting Vocaloid song and how it tied into the story, I loved how the whole thing worked to start to pull the story together towards the direction we needed to go for the conclusion. I’d need to give it another re-listen, but my first impression was that this was one of the best constructed arcs.
Also, when I found out about the souls-in-robot bodies, I thought back to Lucas’ bug-bear experiments, and thought that I definitely should have seen that coming, considering that he’d already shown that he could be unethical in his experimentations. I also loved Luctretia’s “why did you talk to the red robe when I asked you to run if you ever say one? why don’t you trust me” reaction in the lunar interlude, and how they’re all, “...umm, actually, we just...forgot that you told us that.”
I also think that it was this Lunar Interlude where Magnus starts learning that art of the rogue from Carey, and their friendship starts? Which I was very into; their friendship ended up being so great.
I remember getting really excited when I first started listening to The Eleventh Hour, because time chalice + the way everything was going pretty wrong for them + the title made me pretty sure it was going to be a time loop and I LOVE TIME LOOPS, and then it was, and it was beautiful. Though one of the players—I’m not sure which one, but maybe Travis?—went, wait, is this going to be like Majora’s Mask?, and I super-appreciated that reference to my favorite Zelda game. ♥ I love how it ended, too, with the town of Refuge being freed from the loop, and the characters being able to reunite with them, and just have a whole denouement of them reconnecting with the people they connected with during their time there. It was sweet. ♥
Also, I appreciated the whole Taako and Ren thing? Both because it was genuinely nice to see Taako being appreciated for the thing that was most important to him up to this point—his career as chef—and his giving her that degree at the end was genuinely sweet. (Also, still laughing at Taako telling Sheriff Isaac that he would have done that cooking seminar if he had to, okay???)
This one was also where I started thinking that, okay, the red robes probably aren’t as evil as we think—not because of the Magnus reveal at the end, but because of the Red Robe/who-I-now-know-is-Barry’s reaction when he realized that they didn’t trust him. Something about that reaction just struck me as being really genuine.
The Suffering Game definitely lived up to its name, haha. I loved Rowan and Antonia and how they interacted with the group (and am so sad that Rowan and Magnus didn’t have a post-TSG chat like the others did), and I loved the contrast of Artemis Sterling before and after. He ended up being pretty great. On the other hand, Cam was another character I ended up being super suspicious of—I was convinced that he was just a trap that Edward and Lydia laid so that they could accuse the trio of “breaking the rules” somehow, and it honestly wasn’t until the reveal that Lucretia ditched him so that she could escape that I finally set those suspicions aside. (On that note, the trio telling him that Lucretia sent them to rescue him was surprisingly sweet for them, and I’m glad that he never found out that that was a lie.)
Magnus giving up the memory of Governor Kalen was an amazing moment, and I want all the fic about Taako and Merle hunting Kalen down for him. Also: his total disinterest in the dating show, and how he ends up—still not caring about the actual dating aspect of it, but his competitive nature rears its head. That was great. And Taako casting True Sight on him! Magnus willingly working with the Red Robe!
And then, that finale. *_* That was super excellent. Lydia and Edward suddenly totally and completely hit all my unhealthy-codependent-siblings button. But even more than that—the arms outstretched moment with the trio. asdfghjkl; That was fantastic and perfect, and I love, love, loved it. How Taako didn’t even hesitate to go after him—Taako! who likes nothing more than to talk about how self-serving he is, going after Magnus without even thinking about how he might be putting himself at risk—and how Merle didn’t even know what was going on when Taako collapsed, but still just threw himself head-first after them—gah. It gives me so many feelings.
About the lunar interlude, and beyond—I loved Angus having his own suspicions, and his being the catalyst that pushes Taako and Merle into deciding, okay, let’s do this, let’s see what’s going on. Carey being shattered over Magnus’ “death” was just, ugh, so heartbreaking in the best way. I loved the reveal that Garfield the Deals Warlock was cloning Magnus, wrapping up his desire for Magnus’ blood/hair/etc. into the story in a way that makes sense. I love how the Flaming Poisonous Sword was worked in. I loved all the moments with the Voidfish. Magnus and the Voidfish’s relationship is actually one of my favorites in the show—definitely in the top five, maybe even the top three. I just get so genuinely emotional over them. (That episode centering on them in The Stolen Century…)
And then, the reveal. Holy shit, I loved it. LUP, and how Lucretia connects with all of them, and just, it turns the show on its head in a way, but it also really made sense, and yes, I was all over it even before The Stolen Century happened. And then The Stolen Century did happen, and yessss, it was amazing. I want all the fic. Worldbuilding for the worlds we saw in the show, stories exploring all those years we didn’t see, and that’s not even touching on all the crossover potential those open years have. Seeing Taako and Lup’s relationship, and the way Magnus in particular grows, and Lucretia too, and just, all the bonds between the seven of them and how they just love one another, and ugh, I am dying, I am dead.
And Merle and John/The Hunger! That was such an excellent relationship, and the wrap-up to it in the finale was absolutely perfect. And Lucretia just fascinates me. That year alone, and how it affected her was so good. And— I don’t agree with the decisions she made at the end of The Stolen Century, not at all, and I think that what she did to Davenport is particularly horrifying (though what she did to Taako was the second-worst, imo, and I can see why he would be unwilling to forgive her), but I can see why she made those decisions, and it’s just, she’s such a great, fascinating character.
I’m basically moving on to Story and Song now—and it was really, really satisfying, for the most part. I did feel like the post-battle stuff was tied off a little too neatly for my tastes—it’s just not the kind of ending that I’m into, though I didn’t have a problem with the actual content of it—but otherwise I loved it. That scene where Magnus finds the injured Voidfish/Fischer is the hardest that I wept in the entire show—I was so entirely sure that it was going to die, and it shattered my heart. I’m so relieved that it didn’t—though I will say that I am Not A Fan of it going off into space with its baby instead of sticking around with Magnus. I don’t want them to be separated forever. ._. N0-3lle also made me tear up a bit, though I have to say, she found a really satisfying way to go.
Taako finding out where Lup was all this time was AMAZING. And what was even more amazing was that Lup’s first words to him—after a decade apart, during which she was trapped in an umbrella and he’d had his memories of her erased before getting them all back again, which she’d probably figured out by his reaction to that carving-her-name-in-the-wall incident—after all that, her first words to him are, “You’re dating the Grim Reaper?!” Just. It’s so perfectly them. ♥
I enjoyed the final battle too, and how the Judges were taken down, and the bond engine, etc. And I loved, loved, loved, all of their last words to the various people on the Moon Base (especially to Angus) before they went off to take down the Hunger, and I love the solution that they—that Taako found, to just reverse Lucretia’s spell so that it cover the Hunger rather than the world. Just—it was all really satisfying.