#Dropout Media

[natp20]

i'm going to lose my mind

[brionbroadway]

everybody say thanks zac

[kael-writ]

The gradual degradation of Brennan's costume in Never Stop Blowing Up is a common environmental story telling trope in 80s action movies where the main character get progressively more injured but doesn't let it slow him down as he keeps fighting.

In a horror movie, these injuries would be slowing the character down, putting them in more peril, showing weakness and anguish.

In Action, it (at least) borders on comical how little injuries can matter - as Brennan showed in the hospital scene. Action is defiance of and triumph over death, it's about feeling like you're insanely tough, a badass who can defeat and overcome anyone and anything (physically).

The art and make up team here are telling a story. This is a character who exists parallel to our main story who is going through his own action journey, patching himself up when he can as he goes but bleeding through those bandages later as he rips a wound open that probably needed stitches but he doesn't have TIME to get a much needed blood transfusion, goddamnit, he's gotta get to the thing with the thing before the bad thing happens.

There's so many little interesting details unraveling in the story the make up is telling, like having one side of the body clearly have gotten exposed to an explosion. Meanwhile the cut on his left arm goes from open, to cleanly bandaged, to bleeding through the bandage. The latest episode brings us to the point in the movie where he finally just throws off the torn and bloodied dress shirt.

Which is part of action stories too, where the main character moves further and further from someone who was trying to be a Business Adult in the Real World before shit hits the fan and the battle can't be fought by a civilized man in a suit and tie, it's gonna get fuckin messy.

(as always please be mindful and respectful anytime you think about commenting on a performer's appearance).

[radiocmyk]

I feel like taking advantage of a timeloop to say the exact same original sentence at the exact same time as the person who's saying it is something Mike Trapp always secretly wanted to do and by god he was not going to let this opportunity go

[echosfandoms]

I just finished this most recent fantasy high episode (I'm late, I know.) and so much shit happened, but I'm such a sucker for how tracker and Kristen's relationship has evolved, I'm gonna hyper focus on that for a second. And how fucking tragic this separation truly is, and how their dynamic has changed.

They're so awkward in a way thats so realistic. And actually, I think breaking up has helped them communicate with each other more effectively. Both Kristen and Tracker call each other out on their religion bullshit, in a way that's maybe not the nicest, but is truthful. And it's so upsetting that this truly was probably the best thing for both of them.

I think what fucks me up the most though, was actually the conversation between Nara and Kristen this episode. That comment Brennan made about Naradriel being exactly like Kristen, if Kristen had money. That hit something in me and I can't quite articulate why. It could just be a comment about how Tracker has a type, or perhaps alluding to how Tracker has an unhealthy tendency to try and "fix" people, just like she's trying to do with galicea even. But there's something in there to me, of Kristen possibly having this moment of "this girl is so similar to me, whats so different about her then? Why am I not good enough, but she is? Would Tracker have stayed with me if I had x y z" and just.. the fact that some part of Tracker is still attracted to Kristen, because fucking of course. Kristen is a great person, but Kristen's also a mess. Makes you wonder if she's going to do it all over again with Nara, and what happens to wolfsong when Naras family takes away that help.

So many parallels between characters this season, it has me going feral oh my god.

[youling-the-ghost]

Guys, the ao3 team responded to my email!

(there's more but this is the really important part)

TLDR: since the longforms themselves are unrelated and ao3 no longer does tags for works from a specific creator (such as a disney fandom tag for all disney films for example), redirecting the Shoot From The Hip - Fandom tag to British Comedy RPF is the best that the tag wranglers can do. Also, Beetroots & Murder is essentially the wrangling team's trash bin for all tags that are evidentally sfth but haven't been wrangled yet.

So it seems like a sfth fandom tag isn't possible after all :( it makes sense in hindsight since the boys are just considered actors in the longforms. I know I mentioned a Shoot from the Hip - All Media Types fandom tag as a possibility, but with this explanation that's probably not possible either.

I think our current system is the best solution (tagging it as Shoot from the Hip - Fandom and using the tag filters) and of course @i-may-be-an-emu's incredible fanfiction masterlist (btw love ya buddy) is also a great resource.

But this also means that following the tagging conventions is especially important now, so please check out my ao3 tagging guide or canon sfth ao3 tag masterlist if you need help with it :]

[ribbittrobbit]

a wizard and her paramour

[avaisdramatic]

Every time online discourse starts, I can only think of the fact that like, wouldn’t everyone be happier right now if we weren’t doing this?

We could actually just move on. And I think a lot of people would have been able to avoid getting their feelings hurt. What if next time we just, like, didn’t?

——

That was just a general feeling, but this is definitely inspired by the new D20 Misfits and Magic discourse. All I’m going to say about that specifically is, I think a lot of the time, you guys overthink things, and accidentally ruin media for yourselves. That’s okay. But you don’t need to ruin it for everyone else, I think.

You don’t need to make a post saying how adamantly you don’t want to watch something, when nobody was telling you that you had to watch it. Nobody cared at all until you condemned others for enjoying it, and made it an issue of morality. People don’t like that. When you tell people they are upholding the institution of trans-misogyny just by watching an internet show, they usually don’t like it. Usually people get mad when you say things like that. Sometimes they will even disagree!! as is the nature of the internet. I think if you don’t like that happening, you probably shouldn’t make a post. Just my opinion though I guess.

Feel free to disagree, just promise me you’ll take a big, long, meditative deep breath before you reply.

[captaincleverusernamehere]

I think that Barsimmeon is so old because he uses NSBU as functional immortality, avoiding dying in the film means being unable to die in real life, and that this is an unsubtle way of saying that if we keep using physical media "we" (this generation's culture and history) can never die.

It's funny to symbolize that with an extremely old white man though. That type of person (especially in a Brennan-run D20 season) would typically be seen as a villain, or at least someone with incredibly unsympathetic and outdated ideals, however in NSBU, he's a main supporter of the ideology that surrounds the season (physical media good, digital capitalism hell bad). Though of course he's going about showing his support for this idea in a very forceful, anti-heroic way.

I'm curious to see to what extent this season ends up agreeing with Higgs/what nuance will be added by the time he explains himself and the whole season resolves.

[name-pending-i-promise]

Kinda curious how much crossover there is between fans of Cool Zone Media and Dropout. They've got similar vibes, a lot of former employees of a big 2000's comedic media company (Cracked and CollegeHumor, respectively) that fell apart and the employees just kinda started their own thing that's half company and half friend group. Both exist as companies but go out of their way to prioritize consumer satisfaction over profits. Both are very anticapitalist and left-leaning. Jamie Loftus and Vic Michaelis follow each other on Instagram.

Anyway I think they should do a crossover. Get Brennan on BtB. Get Robert Evans, Prop, and Margaret Killjoy on Game Changer.

[inkstainedhair]

[elfcow]

Dropout should commit to the bit and release Never Stop Blowing up on physical media. Do it, you won't

[heliza24]

Being a physically disabled Dimension 20 fan breaks my heart sometimes

I’ve been thinking about this since last Wednesday’s episode when we finally got a real scene with Lydia, one of the few physically disabled characters in the entire canon of the show. It was nice, but it was really just a lore dump. An excuse for exposition. A moment for Kristen to look good by expending sympathy/pity. (I’m a little frustrated about how that interaction went down. Extending the help action was nice but patronizingly touching the neck of a full-ass adult without consent was not. It was weird and not something she would have done to a nondisabled character).

I have watched almost all of D20 (still missing a couple of seasons) and as far as I know here’s where our list of canon physically disabled characters stand: Lydia Barkrock, Jan de la Vega (who feels pretty problematic to me, maybe more on that in a later post), one of the Dwarven statues in the temple in The Seven (who is not given the dignity of being brought to life like Asha), and Pete’s coworker in TUC2 who is in exactly one episode and is so unimportant I have forgotten his name. I guess you could make an argument that Gunny is disabled, but I don't feel that Lou or Brennan really talk about him or play him through that lens. So in terms of canon physically disabled PCs-- that leaves us with 0.

We do a bit better with neurodivergent characters and characters with mental health problems; Ayda (my beloved) is very well developed and Adaine is a PC. There have been some openly neurodivergent players, like Omar and Surena, whose characters also read ND to me. But that isn’t labeled or discussed in canon, so it's hard for me to know where to class that. I am going to focus the rest of this post on physical disabilities, since that is my area of lived experience. If another fan wants to write about their perspective of neurodivergence rep in the show, I would love to hear that, and will happily amplify.

There has never been a character with a sensory disability or a limb difference or a chronic illness (not a fantasy one, a real one) on Dimension 20. The only NPCs we have are nondescript, similar wheelchair users. And there has never been a physically disabled player at the table. On the flagship show of Dropout, a company founded on diversity and inclusion. It feels extremely pointed to me.

In fact as far as I can tell there has only been one (1) physically disabled performer on any of Dropout’s shows. (Shout out to Brett, you were great on Dirty Laundry.) Obviously I haven’t seen every episode of everything they have produced. If I have missed someone, please do let me know in the comments/reblogs. But it’s a problem. And Sam Reich even agreed with this criticism when I asked him directly about.

I do really hope they’re working on it, as Sam says. But why has it taken so long?

Dimension 20 has had trans and nonbinary and queer players. It has had players of many different races. I’m not saying that the diversity here is perfect; there should always be more POC in the dome, more queer people. We should keep pushing for that. (And we should also push for performers at the intersections of these identities!) But we’ve seen the ways this diversity has expanded and improved the different seasons, because diverse players create sensitively drawn, diverse player characters. They add details to their PC’s experiences that make them feel rich and alive. I’m thinking about each of Ally’s PC’s incredible capital G gender and Aabria “all my characters (even the stoats) are Black” and how excellent they all are. D20 would not be the show it is without this input.

And yet. And yet.

There are 1,000 interesting and complicated themes to explore around disability. Dealing with access. Dealing with ableism. Dealing with compassion and community care. Dealing with none of it and just being a cool fantasy or sci fi character that happens to be disabled. We don’t get any of it.

I watch my favorite show and I see myself in the ace rep and the female characters. But I don’t see all of me. I see a silent but ever present message: you aren’t quite welcome here.

I have this fantasy that I play in my brain sometimes that someday I’ll get to talk to Brennan in person, like maybe if I buy a VIP ticket and risk Covid to go to a live show or we run into each other on the street or something. I am able to look him in the eye and articulate why he NEEDS to include a physically disabled player in an upcoming season. I reference the ways he’s talked about inclusion and writing diversely on Adventuring Party. Maybe I hand him a handwritten letter, or hell, a printout of this post. And because he really cares about diversity and his shows and his fans he would listen to me, and cast a physically disabled performer in the next season.

But I think that might be giving that nondisabled man (whose work I adore, who I respect so much) too much credit. Because he’s had Jennifer Kretchmer, a physically disabled actual play performer, on adventuring academy to talk about access in gaming. He’s hired disability consultants. He knows about physically disabled people, enough to give us shoutouts as inconsequential npcs. And he still hasn’t thought to include us at the table. In over 20 seasons. None of that other stuff matters if we aren't given a seat at the story telling table, and the agency to craft our own narratives equal to other participants in the game.

When Lydia was telling her story in the last episode, I kept wishing for a prequel, where she is more than a plot delivery device and a kind but unimportant parent. I want to know about her adventures with her adventuring party. I want to see a talented, wheelchair-using actor play out the scene when she decides to put the gem in her chest. I want to hear about what happened after. I want to know how she survived. I want it so badly it hurts.

I am in the process of trying to find new indie actual plays that feature more disabled talent. I am learning how to GM myself so I can tell these kinds of stories. But it’s not the same as being a fan of something. Sometimes I don’t want to have to make my own representation. Sometimes I just want to turn on my favorite tv show, the one that I have cosplayed from and written metas about and loved whole heartedly, and see myself included.

If you’re another disabled or neurodivergent fan I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. If you’re not, I’d love for you to reblog this. I would love for the absence of physical disability in this show to be a topic of fandom conversation, at the very least.

[dramaqueer-commie]

im so glad the intrepid heroes addressed the fact that Kalina is a hot villain bc omg

idk what it is about these sassy mean girl villains but Kalina and Aelwyn Abernant have a special place in my heart

the scene in hell where Riz is taking every precaution and Kalina goes "man, kid. i got you rattled!" *chefs kiss*

its so cool, a villain going "are you scared of me? why are you so scared? anyway, im gonna kill you"

shes just so *evil* and enjoys it so much and thats absolutely perfect

and Aelwyn is the same, she *loves* being mean and sarcastic and doing fucked up and ill-advised shit. and she still loves being evil even when shes not evil anymore. thats just her personal spark

there are a lot of hot women villains but so many of them are so obviously made to be hot to men, and in a way thats not *really* threatening bc shes a woman. we need more of *this* kind! just really, really evil women, that are hot bc of it

acoc spoiler:

and i just realized Calroy Cruller falls into that same category too. like the scene where he stabs Amathar is absolutely heartbreaking and hurt my soul, but it was just *so* perfect! like OF COURSE this guy thats so kind and helpful and the Kings closest friend is a traitor. its just so perfectly EvilTM and i think thats just it

honorary mention of the amazing improv that goes into all of these characters. like when Kristen scratches Kalina and she goes "can I scratch you? I have before..." absolutely perfect timing and.... yeah, i love hating her

[theresearchrobin]

"Everybody do the wenis" has 8 syllables and "the wenis is a dance" has 6, which are the values of x and y. And that sequence of syllables is repeated twice, the value of z. Is this anything?

[applebees4prez]

an idea just for me that nobody else will care about: ever after high but it takes place in hapley (from neverafter) so it's absolutely completely different