prideofduskwall

[prideofduskwall]

Im relistening to Vamps in the Village, my most favorite April fools special in the entire podcast, and I’m so excited. I love this episode so much. Vamps in the Village!Trevor you will always be famous to me.

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theyre going to teach my posts at schools and universities

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There are many cons to having a niche interest that no one else posts about but there is the pro that I had no competition for getting the prideofduskwall url so. One must have priorities I guess.

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The scene in episode 36 where Drix and Andrel have to work so hard to talk Pip into helping save the hollows from the church is heartbreaking. Like first of all while relistening to it I was just struck so strongly by the fact that all of this is improv. It’s this incredible moment of begging someone who is apathetic by choice to acknowledge the suffering of others and actually do something about it, and none of them had the chance to plan this scene ahead of time. They just had to know in the moment how their characters should respond.

When people talk about improv they’re usually talking about comedy but it’s honestly way more impressive to me to be able to improv an intense dramatic discussion with high stakes, and they pull it off seamlessly. Iconic.

And also just everything about Pip trying to paint Andrel as naive here, despite knowing where she comes from. Pip trying to play the “you don’t know what I’ve been through” card when he chose to not tell others about what happened to his family. To Andrel, Pip grew up as a spoiled little rich kid and as far as she knows his parents could have died when he was an adult, while she grew up in an orphanage and stole to feed both herself and others. It is incredibly unfair of him to try and act like he has some high ground over her for her not knowing what he went through, as if his unknown traumas outweigh her entire life. She is completely in the right to call him out on that; of course she thinks his childhood was easy when she’s never been told otherwise and knows he’s from a noble house.

And then when he asks her how long she thinks they should look after the hollows, how long this whole situation should be their responsibility, as if she hasn’t thought through what she’s suggesting, and she responds by saying “I took care of the other kids in the orphanage my whole life.”

Pip had everything and then lost it. Andrel came from nothing and has never had anything to lose and everything to win. The fact that he sees that as her being naive is crazy to me. She is not naive. She’s also just not a quitter, and Pippin McKeel absolutely is.

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You ever think about how distressing it is for Andrel to see what happened to Jamie (in the most literal sense having his individuality stripped away and forced to spend his life in service of others at the expense of his own well-being) when she was forced into indentured servitude in a high risk career that assigned her a name that isn’t her own. When she has to protect others but knows that she could easily be replaced. She may not have literally given up her soul but they aren’t that different, are they?

Thinking about the parentification of Andrel Anderson. Thinking about how it’s not just her but all of the kids in the orphanage.

Textually the orphanage kids were basically left to fend for themselves. The older kids would steal food to feed the younger ones and comic books to keep them entertained. Andrel specifically mentions that most of the staff didn’t actually care about them and those that did were overworked and unable to actually have any lasting impact. They didn’t have an education; If I remember correctly she specifically says that it was older kids who taught her how to read, not the staff. These kids were just on their own.

Andrel spent a lot of her life being cared for by young teenagers and had to be that for the kids who came after her. When Pippin helps that kid get away from the blue coats and then kid says he’s pulling “an Anderson maneuver,” so we know he learned this from her. Andrel is interesting because she has a relatively generic “Dickensian street rat” backstory but it’s complicated by the fact that she wasn’t just stealing to feed herself. She was looking after others, and we actually see evidence of that on podcast.

And it shows in the ways she acts when she recognizes people as needing help. She sees it as her job when it’s right in front of her and as something that should be someone else’s responsibility when it isn’t.

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Here’s to another year of being the only person on this site even semi-regularly posting about Andrel Anderson

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I’m finally caught up on Shrimp and Crits!

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Any Ghosts on a Train fans ever think about how Andrel went directly from the orphanage to the Pride. She has literally never known anything else. She went from the orphanage, where the kids didn’t even have their own individual birthdays, onto the rails, where she wears a badge with a name that is not her own. Y’all ever think about how Andrel has only ever been part of institutions that take away her individuality and identity.

[prideofduskwall]

Thinking about the parentification of Andrel Anderson. Thinking about how it’s not just her but all of the kids in the orphanage.

Textually the orphanage kids were basically left to fend for themselves. The older kids would steal food to feed the younger ones and comic books to keep them entertained. Andrel specifically mentions that most of the staff didn’t actually care about them and those that did were overworked and unable to actually have any lasting impact. They didn’t have an education; If I remember correctly she specifically says that it was older kids who taught her how to read, not the staff. These kids were just on their own.

Andrel spent a lot of her life being cared for by young teenagers and had to be that for the kids who came after her. When Pippin helps that kid get away from the blue coats and then kid says he’s pulling “an Anderson maneuver,” so we know he learned this from her. Andrel is interesting because she has a relatively generic “Dickensian street rat” backstory but it’s complicated by the fact that she wasn’t just stealing to feed herself. She was looking after others, and we actually see evidence of that on podcast.

And it shows in the ways she acts when she recognizes people as needing help. She sees it as her job when it’s right in front of her and as something that should be someone else’s responsibility when it isn’t.

[prideofduskwall]

This is a slow fandom zone

None of that "Oh no they bomb-dropped all the episodes in a week 1 month ago, I'm late!" "The tag hasn't been active all week is the fandom dead?" "I only got a hundred shares the first hour no one cares about my art"

Slow down

Take a deep breath and slow down

Fandom is YOU. And me and everyone. If we doodle stick figures for a show that ended 30 years ago we aren't "late" or "doing too little", we're playing dolls in our own time and having fun with works of art that mean a lot to us

You can literally watch and engage with something that aired in 2004 as if it aired yesterday

If the tag hasn't been active for 14 months guess what? If YOU post there, it isn't dead. Literally you can talk about anything you want whenever you want there is no weird law against watching things that people aren't actively talk about

Let's be deranged about stories together

[prideofduskwall]

i love it when characters are codependent. i love it when losing someone feels like losing a limb. i love it when two people "complete" each other so wholly and terribly that one can barely function without the other. i love it when the fear of losing the only person who understands them is so all-consuming they'll destroy anything to stay together, including themselves.

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Starting to realize that my favorite actual play characters all have similar vibes. Like no one can tell me that Sasha Rackett, Andrel Anderson, and Cord don’t have similarities.

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“…to me” is one of the most powerful disclaimers we have on here… is this character analysis accurate? debatable. but it’s real… to me.

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the rqg fanbase as it stands is so funny a good half of us are lying dormant until someone says Sasha Rackett

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What is the most "these people aren't and shouldn't be playing 5e" you've ever seen? I imagine with all your time around, there's gotta be one that haunts you at night.

Honestly, I feel most major D&D actual plays would actually benefit from playing something other than D&D 5e, but I also appreciate the fact that their choice to play 5e also ties into the economic realities of producing content that people want to watch (D&D 5e brings in the numbies). But like, Brennan Lee Mulligan is a funny guy and he can obviously make even D&D 5e sing, so imagine if he took off his limiters and ran a game that actually supports the type of storytelling he clearly wants to showcase in his work instead of fighting against it. The man would be unstoppable. (Not really but like I think it would only elevate his work.)

[prideofduskwall]

Fun gift ideas!!

1. The Ghosts on a Train soundtrack

2. The ability to stream the original score for the podcast Ghosts on a Train

3. Music by Sebastian Black written for Ghosts on a Train, a podcast with the Faustian Nonsense Network

4. An album with all the music from Ghosts on a Train

5. A functioning economy in which I will be able to afford a home

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Just remembered Andrel’s sleeveless leather jacket spacesuit in Off Da Railz and how much I love this episode