#and yes that is a baby griffin mcelroy

[mxalexwhat]

That bedrock got bottom.

[63]

BREAKING NEWS: Griffin McElroy has talked about DIE AS I LIVED on his hit podcast "My Brother, My Brother, and Me"!

Griffin (coming off of a giggle): Um, I wanted to share a, a uh, delectable find that I was introduced to through Tumblr. This is a webcomic, uh, about a group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse-

Justin: DAIL!

Griffin (laughing): Yes, Dail! Did you- you know of this already?

Justin: Oh, I know about it. I've known about it for a while now

Griffin: What and you never- You never let me know? You just hid this from us, kept it to yourself? You know I love zombies!

Justin: I know, I know, I just thought that maybe, you wouldn't be able to handle its uhh... Its zest, shall we say

Griffin: What? What, do you mean when the baby explodes?

Justin breaks down laughing, voice strained through wheezing: I love that that fucking baby explodes, it brings me such unbridled joy

Travis (who has been silent): Uh, okay, I'm looking at this right now, and it says there's something called a Zaxon?

Justin and Griffin in unison: The virus

Justin, continuing: Yeah it's the- it's the virus that starts the like, apocalypse and all that

Travis: Ohhh, so it isn't Zack's Son (pauses for laughter)

(beat of dead silence)

Justin: I heard that if you, um, reach out to the creator and befriend her, he'll put you in the story as a character. Now, I- Do- Do you think that if I reached out, um, I could convince her to add me in as... As another exploding baby?

All three go into laughing fits. Animatic ends

[griffin-mcelroy-is-your]

Griffin McElroy is your

classic car enthusiast! I love these old hot rods; gotta get myself in one of these!

[legionofpotatoes]

we decided to watch all story cutscenes from the new resident evil village videogame on a whim, since it’s not really our cup of tea gameplay-wise but seems to be this massive zeitgeist moment that made us morbidly curious. And I know how much everyone cares about my thoughts on things I know very little about, so. let’s get into it huh gamers. and yeah spoilers?

for context, I’ve only played resident evil 4 and a small portion of 5. I also read the wikipedia entry for 7’s plot recently. all this to say I was only vaguely aware of how tonally wacky the series was going in

I also completely gave up following the plot of the mutagens’ soap opera, so that paid off in spades here as you might imagine

anyway so that baby in the intro. that baby’s head is just massive. humongous toddlerdome. when ethan finds the baby’s head in a jar later on. there is no way that head would fit into that jar. bad game design. no not even game design. basic stuff. one hundred years in prison for jar modeler

if I see a single functional hetero marriage in video games I will cry tears of joy. I understand their misery is kind of The Point irt them badly working through the hillbilly romp trauma but like. sheesh. at least set that up as an emotional story goal the plot will help resolve. but nope they start off miserable and it goes nowhere

I know I know the mia thing has a huge wrinkle in it but like. not really in terms of dramatic function?? set up a happy end to the re7 nightmare (miranda can keep up appearances for all she cares) and then take that all away from angry griffin mcelroy for manpain. it will still absolutely work to set up the dramatic forward momentum. why throw in this cliche Hollywood Tension in their marriage if you’re not going to address it oh maybe because it’s normalized as automatically interesting because nuclear families are a self-propagating pit of a very narrow chance at emotional happiness relying on social stigma to preserve their empty function oops my baggage slipped in yikes abort mission

I called him griffin mcelroy because I saw his face on twitter and. yeah. I will continue to do this occasionally. my house my rules

... fuck the reason I’m hung up on this is specifically because the rest of the game is so tonally dexterous (which is a shining point to me! more on that later!), and yet they felt weirdly compelled to create the aesthetic trapping of a family-at-odds trope without following it through too well. a sign of both the good and the bad stuff to come

but listen the real reason why I wanted to talk about any of this is to nitpick the fascinating backwards-engineered nucleus of the entire thing; in that this game essentially creates a melting pot of just SO many disparate horror tropes and then makes a no-holds-barred unhinged effort at weaving thick lore to piece them all together. it is truly a sight to behold. like straight up you got your backwoods fright night situation, your gothic castle vampires, your rural-industrial werewolves, and don’t forget your bloated swamp monsters over there, with then a hard left turn into robotic body horror, and the entire ass subgenre of Creepy Doll writ large, and the bloodborne tentacle monsters, and a hellboy angel bossfight, which rides on the coattails of a mech-on-mech pacific rim bonanza, and just jesus henry christ slow down

almost all of these are textural hijack jobs that don’t really get into the metaphor plain of any of those settings but the game sort-of makes an argument that the texture IS the point and revels in it. It is kind of admirable almost. The same reason why the intro felt boxed in and unmotivated is also why the rest of the game just blasts off of its hinges to the point of complete and self-indulgent tonal abandon. I kinda loved that about it. lady dimitrescu made sure to hold her hat down as she bent forward in mahogany doorways and then suddenly she’s a giant gore dragon and you settle in your temp role as dark souls man with Gun to take her ass down. Excellent??

this rhino rampage impulse to gobble up every horror aesthetic known to man comes to head when the game wrestles with its FPS trappings in what is the most hilarious solution in creating visceral player damage moments. Since most cinematics and the entire game is in first person, that leaves precious little real estate for the devs to work with if they really want to sell griffin’s physical crucible. To wit. This dude’s forearms. Specifically just the forearms. They are MASSACRED throughout the story. The poor man lives out the silent hill dimension of a hand model. by the end cutscene he looks like a neatly dressed desk clerk who had decided to stick both his grabbers into garbage disposal grinders just a few hours prior. like in addition to everything else it manages to rope in that tinge of slapstick violence into its general grievous genre collection except this time it IS for a lack of trying! truly incredible

but wait his miracle clawbacks from everything his poor paws go through are retroactively explained away, yes, but far too vaguely and far too late to console me as I sat and watched everyone’s favorite baby brother reattach an entirely severed hand to his wrist stump by just. placing it on there. and giving it a lil twist ‘n pop terminator-style. and then willing his fingers back into motion right in front of my bulging eyes. this game just does not care. it does not give a shit. and boy howdy will it work to make that into one of its strongest suits

cause generally speaking resident evil was THE premiere vanilla zombie content destinaysh for like a decade, right? and as the rest of the world and mainstream media started encroaching and bloodying its blue ocean it went and just exploded in every single conceivable horror trope direction like a smilodon on catnip. truly, genuinely fascinating franchise moves

yeah the big vampire milf is hot. other news; grass... green. although I do love the implication that her closet is just identical white dresses on a rack. cartoon network-level queen shit

apropos of nothing I’ve said there’s also this hobo dante-devimaycry-magneto man, and I can’t believe this sentence makes sense. anyway he made that “boulder-punching asshole” joke referring to chris redfield and it was probably the only easter egg that really landed for me and boy did it land hard. I have not seen him punch the boulder in re5, mind. I had only heard about how funny it is from friends. and here this dude was, probably in the same exact mindset as me, trying to grapple with that insane mental image. with you on that ian mckellen, loud and clear

I advocate vehemently against the shallow pursuit of hyper photorealism in art direction but I gotta admit it works really in favor of immersive horror like this. the european village shacks especially gave me super unchill flashbacks to my rural countryside retreat in western georgia. I could smell the linoleum dude. not cool

faces are weird in this game. can’t place it. nice textures, good animation, but the modeling template is... uuh strange? and the hair. it has that clustered-flat-clumpy look that harkens to something very specific and unpleasant but I just don’t know what. sue me

griffin’s mental aptitude to take all this shit in stride and end every seemingly traumatizing bossfight involving some fucking eldritch being yet unseen through mortal eyes by essentially throwing out an MCU quip is just. What the fuck dude? I mean that was funny how you casually yelled the f-word at a god damn werewolf that you considered a fairy tale an hour ago but are you like, all right?? it was swinging a sledgehammer the size of a bus at you, ethan

oh oh the vampires are afraid of cold and your last name is winters. I get it haha

Pro Gamer Nitpick: boss fights seemed a bit unnecessarily long?? idk why the youtuber we picked decided the ENTIRE propeller man fight counted towards the vital story scenes he was stitching together, but man mr big daddy lite there really had some get up and go huh??

why are they saying dimitrescu.. like that. is it really how you say that word or is the english language relapsing into its fetish for ending every single word with a consonant at all costs

I’m not saying it’s a dramatic miss of a twist in context of all that’s going on, but the “you died in the last game actually and have been DC’s clayface ever since” revelation is low-key. it’s. it’s just funny to me, I dont know what to say. century-old god-witch fails her evil plan after she mistakenly removes heart from what was definitely NOT just some white guy with eight fingers after all

chris realizing he’s about to become the player character and immediately swapping out his tsundere trenchcoat for the muscletight sex haver sweater

the little bluetooth speaker-sized pipe bomb he taped to his knife was nuclear?? really??? I must have missed something because that is just too good. I buy it though I totally buy it. chris just got them fun-sized nukes in his car trunk for, you guessed it, Situations

anyway this is all for now just wanted to briefly touch on how unexpectedly funny and tonally irreverent this seemingly serious game turned out to be. did not articulate any cathartic story beats whatsoever but my god it had fun connecting those plot points. he just fucking put his severed hand back on his stump and it Just Worked todd howard get in here

[brinnanza]

me about anyone younger than me

[jelloopy]

Taz Grad Ep 25

I know I’m a day late and I Skipped last episode im sorry. I got caught up with some stuff. But here we go!

Ranier Jesus, please don’t break your chair.

Argo and Firby just like disappointed “alright let’s go get our idiot (That’s a sign of an honest friendship right there)

Fitz in the Crypt! (Band name called it!)

JUSTIN AND CLINT PLAYING THE SKELEBROS OMFG (That’s v good on Travis’ part so he doesn’t have to talk for so long and also J&C don’t have to sit in silence for large swaths of time either!)

Gurkin is in his idle animation (I don’t actually know how to spell it so we’re going with that.... But still…)

Tibia was a vampire and has gold teeth!

So polite Fitz. Fuckin waving at the skeletons

”We can go by coco rules here!” (Thank you for clearing that up because I see it both ways from time to time when the training skeletons come in to play)

Tibia hugs Fitz (Clint I love you… jfc adorable.)

”I am inside you for sure, for sure!” “Oh, I don’t care for the phraseology of that at all” “I don’t like the physiology of it at all but here we are” (Very gross but very nice convo here I like the quick wit boys I was cracking up laughing)

God I love that they are doing this digitally so they aren’t in the same room and also it’s a podcast so they have to narrate everything they do “thumbs up”

”I nod knowingly” “he throws both of his hands in the air like ‘weeee!’”

Fitzroy is really sacrificing it all for these skeletons. He’s taking the shittiest route possible to make sure Tibia and Gurkin are safe (Now that’s a man who is worthy of being King!)

”Ohhhh, Golly. Ohhh Gosh” (Fitz p l e a s e just say fuck.)

OH THANK GOD good job Fitz using your magic as you should I’m v v proud of you (I was so worried he forgot he had magic)

”magic never goes wrong for me!” (Says the man who turned into a plant last time but sure go ahead and believe that)

Firby summons Breeze through the Willows and asks for transportation help!

Woah Ranier’s chair can shrink! (Classic. Magnus Burnsides and Taako working together I love it)

YO THE FOREST GUARDIAN IS DELIVERING A MESSAGE FROM FIRBY TO FIRBY? WTF (what does this actually imply for future visits with the “forest guardian”?)

Oooo splitting up the party that’s pretty scary guys (I don’t think Travis will do you dirty but good lord you’re all apart)

”Choose. *and justify*”

Good god this is comical I want to animate this (The scene with Tibia and Gurkin pointing and being loveable fools)

Gurkin takes the Helmet key and wears it on his thumb out of the room. (This is a very good merch opportunity boys please take it I will buy it you have no idea)

”Stairs! *gasp* could be a mimic!” “yep could be a mimic!” “Nah I’m just playing I go up the stairs I’m not afraid of no mimic” (sir... yes you should be, please be careful)

”May I interest you in a scone?” (Travis... is this your reference to Klarg and how he didn’t have scones?)

HOW DARE YOU FUCKING CALL FIRBY A THIEF I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU MOTHERFUCKER (Sorry got a little heated there but the threat still stands)

awe my fucking god Travis bringing baby Dot into the Ad read I’m s o f t (I live for any McElroy + their kid content like it’s so cute)

RANIER’S DAD IS DARK SKINNED WITH VITILIGO OMFG YESSS!!!!!!! HIS NAME IS Gordy? (So good I adore this. The name is so funny. Plus all the people who were dead set on Barry being Ranier’s dad are sad lmao)

”it’s a half-elf thing anyway” (Fitz please)

”Can I be a dad for a second?” (melted my heart)

”this seems very unfair to you!” (Felt that ok keep going)

”I’m up for the task but I need help and every time I ask for it there’s all these hoops I have to jump through” (OK FELT THAT KEEP GOING)

Travis, you are explaining the US/world today I hate you jfc stOPPPP (Please it’s too meta I can’t)

NOOOOOO FIRBY’S DAD IS DYING NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

”You do not look ill to me” (Pulling a fucking dad joke right off the bat huh Justin? I like your style)

”I am dying so what do I care” (Me in the situation of our world today)

AWE AWE AWEEEE FIRBY THINKS OF THE BOYS AS HIS NEW CLAN MY H E A R T

“I have been alone since I’ve left here. Be we are alone. Together.”

”Sleep well we will talk about this more in the morning” “and your father closes his eyes for the last time.” (JFC I’m CRYING OVER A NEW CHARACTER WHO doesn’t EVEN MAKE IT HALF AN EPISODE)

Firbolg SINGING IN HONOR OF HIS FATHER I’m SOBBING LEGIT RN (This isn’t a joke. Justin’s voice. Him singing in Firbolg’s voice too? OH my god. The talent, the emotion.)

ARGO AND RANIER TO THE RESCUE!!!!

Fitz is so worried about Firby right away (omfg my crops are watered, my acne is cleared)

Argo n Tibia  (Yes.)

”No magic except for mine can get in or out of here”

TRAVIS WHAT DO YOU FUCKING MEAN THE FIRE IS FLICKERING IN SPOTS

NO OH FUCK. OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK. THAT’S NOT. JFC

GREY FUCKING GO AWAY.

”I told you that if you left without my permission that I would kill ten students a day until you come back.” (I didn’t even… consider… the implications…)

HOLY FUCK HELL HOUNDS? FITZ FUCKING SAVE THOSE BITCHES OH DEAR GOD GORDY YOU FUCKED THIS UP DIDN’T YOU?

Griffin, I need this music out ASAP, please. I swear to god.

In other news, I really am excited about next week’s episode. Bc, I think it’s going to be “Hello everyone! Welcome back! Roll for initiative” And those are my fave types of dnd sessions.

[infinitefinalsweek]

- Taz episode 27 -

WHAT THE FUCK

oh okay it was a dream

griffin said "I want my nat 20" 😤

argo is not okay,, argo is not okay

argo has social anxiety cannon

the firbolgs voice is so soft, I love him

I love graduation...every character is like "trauma time" 🥰🥰

FESTO!!!!!!!!!!

Fitzroy goes to a rave episode please

AH!! THE LICH KING!!!!

so Fitzroy was always a sorcerer and chaos just like??? THINKS they gave him magic?? what???

fitzroy jumps out the window. he just does it. hello???

clintoris...I hate this bit

I don't care about ads I only care about baby dot noises, babies cute

fuck!!!! fuck!!!!! I don't even know what else to say!!!!! argo I care u so much

"when I write graduation the musical" mr mcelroy you can't just say things like that then I will want them deep in the depths of my soul

mr wiggenstaff!! "who looked happier as a dog" remember when I was talking about trauma earlier. yeah

this music is so good

the wiggenstaffs I love them. hieronymus good

GOD I LOVE GRAD SO MUCH. all of the characters are!!! people!!!

I know it's a glass vial but it's funny to imagine heiro looking at like the serving size on like a gatorade-esque bottle

WHAT THE FUCK

I'm gonna cry. holy shit. "this is escalating wildly" no kidding. holy shit.

YES HIT HIM!!!! FUCK GREY!!!! YES!!!! HES SCARED!!!! FUCK GREY!!!!

I would play firbolg baseball

they care each other...

"festo wouldn't do anything to hurt me" and travis doesn't say anything. that's so funny

meet them????

WHAT

[missfay49]

So... Thoughts on the new episode? :)

Nonnie, I could write an essay on this episode.  And i just might.

There I was, just “supes caszhj” as Griffin McElroy would say, watching Patton sincerely trying to be less strict, pleasantly surprised that everyone was not at each other’s throats...  

C!Thomas busting in all hotheaded was a bit of a misdirect, but it let us know he was actually really upset about it, so the rest of the characters could be more measured.

Then Logan pops in, trying to be “less distracting” and failing completely because, honestly, were any of us anywhere able to read any of those speech bubbles without pausing?  Roman knew it, he couldn’t even keep up while narrating.  It was extremely distracting!

I was not quite getting the theme yet, but I could see that they kept dead-ending at each example.  It was like (and turned out to be) Patton wasn’t addressing the problems that were being presented.  I actually got pretty frustrated, because it felt like they were stuck in a loop (you can say that again).  

He kept pushing the complicated problems aside for more clear cut problems, and trying to extrapolate from there.  But it never worked, the answer was never satisfying.  Because some problems just can’t be simplified.

The Trolley Problem was really the sign, for me, that things were getting out of control.  The most accepted answer (I think) is that you should pull the lever, because 5 lives are more important than 1 life, and choosing to not act is still a choice.  They never even got to that conclusion.  And that’s because solving the Trolley Problem didn’t actually matter.  What mattered was seeing the extremes to which Patton would go to put others first, because he couldn’t let go of his black and white view of the world.  His views literally (in game) knock C!Thomas out.  His views were symbolically self-defeating.

And I, a fool, foolishly thought it was wild enough when LilyPadton’s video game attack K.O.’d video game C!Thomas.  But Then!  THEN!  Deceit puts all his cards on the table.  In a throwback to the courtroom scene, he raises his right (human) hand and speaks the truth.  His name.  

(Yes I thought there was something written on his hand and yes I thought he said Janice, I am only human, so sushi.)

If you recall, Janus never really swore to tell the truth back then.  He says “I know I do,” but he himself had not put a hand on a book to swear by.  (Fun side note: neither does Virgil.  He never touches the book offered and just says “whatever.”)  So, symbolically, this moment is the first time we see him make a conscious effort to be honest.

I. Died.

Or at least I would have, if Roman had not immediately pushed the scene forward again.  (seriously, could someone make a video edit where, instead of being mocked, there’s just silence, and pictures of random movie scenes where ppl are smiling and saluting?)  And while the words that followed were unanimously heartbreaking, the timing of their responses was more important to the video.  

The constant pushing, rushing, struggling that all the characters were going through was so true to form for emotional turmoil.  You’re trying so hard to figure it out, but each possible solution comes up short and you just keep leaping to the next option, looking for the answers.  All these thoughts keep popping in unannounced (Logan), and your mind is a mess.

That’s not necessarily a bad approach, because without going through so many examples, they may never have reached their realization. The reason why nothing was working: It was because they were trying to fit complicated problems into simple boxes.  But you have to stop and step back eventually.  It took the shock of Roman and Janus’ exchange to make everyone realize how far off track they’d gotten, and really take a look at the whole approach instead of just the individual problems.

Patton did suddenly side with Janus, but it wasn’t out of nowhere.  Patton has known for weeks that he’s missing the mark.  Months, if you count his smaller interactions with Virgil.  Upon Janus appearing in the Megaman sequence, he continued his normal behavior of arguing against whatever Janus stated, up until he saw he had hurt C!Thomas himself.  

This is the climax of the show.  Not anyone’s individual arc, but the entire series.  C!Thomas’ moral backbone, a thing which is arguably our first and most strongly instilled cultural support, was shaken.  Patton could not waste time.  He saw he had hurt C!Thomas so he immediately changed.  He saw in that moment that Janus was protecting C!Thomas, and changed how he spoke to Janus.

As shown clearly in SVS, Patton will do just about anything to get his way, including bribary.  He is not lawful in his approach to morality.  He is an “ends justify the means” type of person, just like Janus.  The difference was just in what ends they want to accomplish.  But, seeing the video game results of his means, he realizes that the ending wasn’t going to be a good one if he kept going that route.  He has now decided that in order to “win” the game, his means must change, and he aligns himself with Janus because Janus was visibly in the position of C!Thomas winning.

In conclusion!

We have the Stated Theme: It is not wrong to prioritize your mental health, even when it means putting yourself before others.

But we also have the Unstated Theme: Trying and Failing and Why that’s Okay

Every. Single. Side. In. This. Episode. Fails.

Logan fails to be either convincing, inconspicuous, or detached.  His arguments sway no one, he’s very noticeable, and he gets upset at the end.

Patton fails to be more flexible.  His strict viewpoint gives him an actual breakdown. 

Roman fails to be the ‘hero’.  Although the rest might still happily give him that title, his actions did not match up to the role.  He mocks a part of C!Thomas in a moment of vulnerability, and believes they would openly, knowingly lie to him.  He does not act with faith in himself or others.  

And Janus.  That sweet baby.  He fails to tell the truth.  And it’s not because he wasn’t telling the truth in this episode.  I firmly believe his nod was meant to encourage Roman and indicate that C!Thomas meant what he said.  But Janus failed to take into account the effects of his past actions.  They are suffering now for his past mistakes and, careful planner though he is, he didn’t see that coming.  You can’t just Start being honest one day and expect everyone to go along.  

But it’s okay.  

It’s okay because a person cannot undergo drastic, necessary change without first falling apart.  And please understand that this is all in a metaphorical sense.  A person doesn’t need to have an actual mental breakdown to change, but the structure, that is, the strict mental guidelines that we have erected for ourselves and are desparately clinging to cannot stay standing if change is to take place.

Patton, Roman, and C!Thomas experience a complete change in their worldview in this episode.  They each react to that change in their own way:

Roman is angry.  He’s mad at the time spent trying to follow a path that was eventually determined to be wrong.  He doesn’t yet see the value in the time spent.  He’s a man of action, after all.  He’s focused on the past.

Patton is sad.  He already misses the times when things were simpler.  He’s nostalgic for the past even as he tries to make things right, right now.  He’s focused on the present.

And C!Thomas?  He is all of us after the dust settles.  Tired, yet hopeful.  Resigned to face another day, another sunrise, after a much deserved break.  

He’s focused on the future.

[mspainttaz]

hey fuck you for that 'and then he was alone' kravitz post i was just chilling earlier today and remembered it and almost started crying. like. fuck. feels. (but thank you for it also bc it puts Emotions into Words in such a good way im just a sensitive baby and cry when i think about the skullsband too much)

im sorry for hurting you but also Huge same. griffin... ugh im going to make myself cry anyway Griffin Mcelroy (and all of them really) did a beautiful job with beautiful characters, he made us all trust him. trust the story. trust that even when we, even when HE, didnt know what was going to happen next, that it would be worth it.that didnt make it any less terrifying when kravitz crawled out of a sea filled with strange waters and locked himself into a small dark space, and we could all almost feel the cold stones under our own hands. it didnt change that yes. merle had been slowly losing his connections to pan and this was meant to show that Something Was Very wrong, but griffin going on and expanding on that message with kravitz. truly alone. truly desperate. truly helpless in a way our heroes werent. it drove it all home for us. that this was Bad and this was only getting Worse.it hurt so badly and in that moment this reaper was us. unsure and uncertain and cut off, knowing that somewhere out there was three insane heroes that MIGHT be okay but we didnt KNOW and outside the door was something scary we couldnt face on our own. we trusted griffin. we trusted the story. we had hope. but trust and hope in the face of certain uncertainty is a small comfort. its a flame in a dark room that comforts while also showing just how thick the darkness really is all around.

[piplupod]

21 questions game!

tagged by @candescentcurio tysm this is so fun aaaaa!! 💙

nickname? june bug, junobear, tiny bastard, acorn, pip

real name? Juno Pippen! I'd like to legally change it to that one day!

zodiac? Virgo sun, cancer moon, leo rising/ascendant LOL i used to be somewhat into astrology but not anymore! it basically means im a big emotional baby w good brain tho

favourite music artists? ohhh this is a difficult one bc i like a lot! my general favs are hozier, david bowie (as of recently), mother mother, aurora, and the crane wives!

favourite sports team? i do not know anything abt sports, so I'll just say the local Special Olympics soccer team bc my brother is in it LOL

other blogs? too many!!! the main ones i keep up with are @grimirror (horror and barghest aesthetic), @dandelionpath (pagan/occult blog), @dandylion-fluff (lovecore, softcore, and recovery), @dandelionsquad (writeblr and character aesthetics), @forthesakeofoddities (literature, poetry, and original poems!), @forest--walker (gardening and environmental/nature info!) and a nsfw blog 🤫 (i just rb cool lingerie and some text posts LOL)

do i get asks? sometimes but not too often! its all good tho, i dont consider myself to be a popular blog LOL and i have friends to talk to shfjdjkl, i used to care a lot more but now im just vibin

how many blogs do i follow? as of this moment.... 1789..... too many ......

tumblr crushes? uwu

lucky numbers? hmmm. 13 maybe? just to be edgy?

what am i wearing? my classic overalls, a bry merch shirt (the irish singer/songwriter/youtuber), and bumblebee jar earrings that i made! no socks for this hobbit!

dream vacation? ummm idk I'd mostly like to visit my friends tbh 😭💙

dream car? smth eco-friendly and long-lasting!! i hate how many vehicles ppl buy UGH

favourite food? tbh.... its pizza LOL, i just love it a lot 😂

drink of choice? water or gingerale! cream soda is ALSO very good! or rootbeer LOL, but generally just water makes me very happy 😊

instruments? in order of how good i am at them: piano, flute, melodica, ukulele, accordion, alto sax, fiddle. i stop being very good at flute, but im decent up until alto sax LOL

languages? english, cereal box french (just a few keywords), and a little bit of Norwegian!

celebrity crushes? 🤔🤔 idk any celebrities tbh,,, it's more fictional characters dbdhdjl, but uh. yea i honestly cant think of any?? I'm trying bc i KNOW theres probably one,,,,, i just cannot think of who it'd be?? WAIT OMG NVM ITS A FICTIONAL CHARACTER AS WELL SMH (howl.......) fun fact tho, i used to crush on griffin mcelroy for a while LMAO (if david bowie counts..... he's dead 😭 but i think he's very pretty,,,,,,,)

random fact? um ... accordions were first invented to tune pianos! travelling piano tuners would carry them around since accordions stay in tune so they'd be able to use it to base the piano off of!

favourite ecosystem? OWO THIS IS AN INTERESTING ONE!! i honestly rly like my ecosystem where I live! forested area with river!! its very beautiful and there are lots of interesting animals and ways that it works!

i think a lot of ppl care abt "foreign and exotic" ecosystems more than their local one, and I'm trying to change that! we've got to take care of what we've got before we care for others! 💙

favourite cat? calico for sure!!!

OOF OKAY WE'RE DONE. IS THAT EVEN 21 QUESTIONS?? yes it is i just counted sbdhdkl

anyways I'll taaaaag.... @dxveyjacobs @wormchester @warpy @richardsikenpdf @rosewyrms @autistic--zuko aaaand anyone else who wants to do it!!! pls tag me tho so i can see 👀💗💗💗

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

Changes ~ preface

A/n: ...So I’m, uh, starting something new. I’m genuinely so sorry I never finish anything. Sighhhhhh. Here’s a platonic little fic where the Macebros have a younger, nonbinary sibling. So like it’s platonic :) Please enjoy.

Note: Ugh I hate reader inserts, especially for nonbinary/trans characters because there’s just too much information and shit doesn’t work. I’m really so sorry, I hate reading fanficiton with OC’s too... I tried to be as vague as possible I’m sorry.

MASTERLIST

Ember Mcelroy was odd, in terms of their family.

Amidst cis, straight men, Ember was both nonbinary and also queer. They were a few years younger than Griffin, but the running joke of Griffin being the “littlest brother” held since Ember wasn’t a brother. They were a sibling. Sometimes when he irritated them though, they teased him about who was actually the baby of the family. If there ever were arguments that got too intense, that joke usually changed the mood and calmed everyone down.

Weirdly enough, Ember also wasn’t too into D&D, which became a huge gap in knowledge only when their older brothers started a D&D podcast called the Adventure Zone. They’d invited Ember of course, but they were busy with college and work and just wasn’t interested in podcasts and RPGs. The boys were disappointed and kept trying to pull Ember into it, but it never really stuck.

The podcast quickly blew up and as the story progressed, MBMBAM fans wanted to see Baby Mcelroy, as they all called Ember. Ember had shown up a few times there and having all the Mcelroy siblings in one place always made for the best episodes. Having Clint join the party and not Ember was kind of a disappointment.

Travis finally found a way to reel Ember in. “Hey, you know, Griffin kind of has a hard time keeping track of all of the NPCs.” Griffin rolled his eyes but Justin nudged him, picking up on Travis’ expression and realizing his goal. Griffin kept quiet, a smile growing on his face. “Maybe you could try it out. No commitment, and if you hate it you don’t have to play again. You could play test an NPC. They don’t even show up that often.”

Ember tilted their head back and forth, considering. The family was all together for a family dinner, catching up since they hadn’t seen each other in a while. “I don’t know. Won’t your fans be annoyed to have some random pop into the podcast out of nowhere and then just disappear again?”

“You’re not random,” Justin pointed out.

“And they ask about you all the time,” Griffin jumped in. Ember had been listening to the podcast religiously, and had been getting into the characters and storyline. They always listened to the boys’ podcasts, supporting and such like that. This time though, they made inside jokes and references and even quoted the brothers teasingly. They seemed more involved than usual. Unfortunately, they had a problem admitting when they were wrong or when they wanted to do something, after saying they didn’t. 

“MBMBAM fans too, actually.” Justin grinned. “We need you on more often. They love you.” Ember smiled.

For now, the conversation dropped. Ember hated feeling like they were being coerced or forced or pressured to do something. Their brothers had long since learned to hint and move on, letting Ember mull over it. They usually gave in eventually, if they played their cards right.

By the end of the dinner, Ember approached Griffin. “I get to play Angus.” They were playing with one of the kids, not looking over at Griffin. Thank goodness, because Griffin’s excited grin would have totally made them roll their eyes and crack some joke about Griffin acting like a child.

The next episode with Angus, Griffin called up Ember and they hopped on Skype too. They kept quiet, allowing the boys to introduce them rather dramatically. “Today, we have a special guest! Little Mcelroy, say hello.”

Ember snorted, rolling their eyes. “Yeah, sure thing Babyiest Brother.”

The other boys laughed while Griffin feigned offense. “Hey, I’m a treasure.”

“Made of gold,” Ember teased. 

“Okay okay,” Justin sighed, amused. “We gonna get started, or do you two need a moment to out baby each other?”

Griffin piped up. “Ah yes, the actual reason we’re here today. We heard your rioting and have brought Ember in to test out playing some good good D&D as Angus. I made up a character sheet for him so you can follow along. I’m assuming you know the basic idea?”

“Yeah,” Ember confirmed. “I listen to the podcast.”

“Of course.” Griffin was excited. It was going to be a little odd not to play Angus, but he liked the idea that he’d get more of a chance to focus on world building and other NPC’s.

Once Ember did it once, they had to do it again. Soon, Ember was playing Angus constantly. They came up with their own character voice for him - not far from where Griffin originally set it - and even started to create more of backstory for him. Griffin started to try to fit Angus in the story more, allowing a little more development for him as well. He was more than the cute bu sassy sidekick to Taako or the Kid Detective genius that was constantly helping the Bureau. He also developed a knack for trouble, getting into the funniest shenanigans with Magnus and diving into surprisingly deep conversations with Merle and even sometimes Lucretia, separately.

By the final battle, saying goodbye to Angus was really hard for everyone. Of course they’d miss the other characters, but Ember had given him a little more dimension, his position in the Bureau often allowing the same deep dives on NPCs as well. It was an entire world...

Then Griffin made a whole new world.

And this time, Ember wanted to be completely submerged in every second of it.

“Um, okay so how about you Ember?”

They’d gone last, letting the others tell about their characters, Ned Chicane, Aubrey Little, and then Duck Newton. Ember got excited. “So, I actually chose the Changeling as a character. Basically, they grew up thinking they were human but uh... plot twist! They’re not.” A bit of laughter that caused Ember to grin. “So, the idea is that their powers like triggered at puberty. Realizing they’re not quite human or that they’re different or weird or whatever, they’ve kind of been drawn to Keppler’s... constant odd happenings.” They cringed. “Uh, Griffin said it would work.”

“Yeah, so there’s this little group. You’ll see. It’ll make more sense once we start playing. What’s their name?” Griffin encouraged, knowing that Ember was really nervous about putting themself out there with an original character they made themself, instead of depending on Griffin’s experience. It was a little easier since this was probably just going to be a one shot.

“Win Astaire.” Ember fidgeted with the paper. They talked a little about Changelings, going into the idea that Win still doesn’t quite know what they are, even though they suspect they’re something odd, and came to get answers where most odd things came to... happen. It was explored that Win is nineteen and therefore separate from their family, as well as very close to Ned. Since they’re an artist, Ned often employs them to do drawings of creatures, or even ads. Sometimes using the Krytonomica simply as an art gallery is good enough for Ned who needs the customers anyway.

The net time they were together, they were playing. And Ember fell into the world of Keppler, West Virginia and the clueless Wen Astaire, who’s whole world was about to change.

[ghosty-schnibibit]

one last amnesty liveblog :’)

i’m writing this literal seconds after it came out and i am hyped as all get out, let’s do this!!!!!

IT IS TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG, NICE

they haven't announced more than that trav is dming and i'm hype for it

dang i wanna listen to those so bad

love ya griffin :')

... i don't remember there being distortion there???

WHY IS THE INTRO BREAKING DOWN

GRIFFIN WHAT THE FUCK I AM INSTANTLY TERRIFIED

... this isn't just old quotes, these are memories we haven't seen before now mixed in. i'm 90% sure that was just a memory from thacker's perspective of mama finally finding thacker possessed by the quell

was that little aubrey getting inspired to be a magician? sweet baby

aww aubrey :'(

and that was duck in class the day after minerva visited him

"wayne newton? that can't be real" pfff

DUCK MEETING AUBREY AWWW

who???

"this isn't how it happened" what the fuck is going on

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO NED DURING THE SHIFTER ARC

... THAT'S NOT REALLY BEACON IS IT

YEP, YEP, YEP, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO NED

it wasn't expecting him to grab beacon

... they're in the alien base aren’t they

this is terrifying holy shit

it's the rest of the pine gaurd

waAaAaynEeEeE

"we've a little bit of the griffin panic settin' in" mood

nice! first of those good good finale rolls this ep

oh thank god it didn't take dani again

WELL THAT'S NOT GREAT

at least sylvaine is okay then

i love beacon so fucking much

"i think we're pretty well fucked" bless duck

thacker is so good and i love him

SOMEONE HELP HER

never mind about those finale rolls holy shit

yeah aubrey's fucked for luck lol

what are you quoting

it is so fucking weird to hear people calling him wayne, and yet it works so well for him

griffin keeps pointedly calling him wayne to get him to react and justin's just not yes-anding him lmao

this is so fucking weird holy shit

aubrey no

bless you for still calling him duck aubrey

GOD DAMN TRAV

OH THAT IS EXTREMELY BAD, OH GOD

THE LATE THACKER ROLLED A FIVE

this is so weird holy shit

jesus i just looked at the timestamp and it's only been thirty minutes

this is more of what ned found with the shifter

NICE!

i love minerva so

it's barry

the sudden music scares an intrigues me

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK

it's making copies of their loved ones to scare them into not fighting

duck i love you so much

beacon is so horny for destruction and i love him

WAIT REALLY??? shit, we were all terrified for aubrey’s luck and forgot about duck’s completely

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THEY ARE BEEFING IT

thank you for minmaxing so much trav

HOLY SHIT THACKER WHAT

"oooookay" griffin sounds so excited and i love it

NICE! GO THACKER :DDD

W H A M I E

... why do i have a feeling this is billy

oookay, that makes sense

direct and fair

reconciliation???

oh no, this is bad, this is very bad

PIZZA

"what that being represented" wtf

... they created a great filter. they created a great filter to keep themselves safe and killed off god knows how many worlds. holy fucking shit this makes so much make sense.

yes duck, it it aliens  -_-

not the most nuanced of takes there aubrey

i don't know if it's just me but i am having such a hard time mentally picturing this room

griffin loves his domes lmao

WELP, THAT'S NOT GREAT

this music griffin holy shit

bless griffin

oh fuck, very bad, this is very very bad

duck took a fuckin turn here at the end, damn

"FUCK YOU, C'MON" i love you duck holy shit

natural human chitin

oh fuck i forgot they were there holy shit

jesus we have more than an hour left

well that's not great!!!

HOLY FUCK, GO THACKER :DDDDD

i cry, ned ; _ ;

YEAH MAYBE DON'T LET THACKER DIE

nice nice nice

griffin i don't think you needed to specify that it wasn't literal whales

"duck, honey" mama ilu so

YEEEEEAH GO DUCK MY BOY

jesus fucking christ that's horrifying

what are you gonna do here trav

YES BRING BILLY BACK

OH NO, OH NO, OH NO

"you absolute ding dongs" griffin ilu

YEAAAAAH AUBREY

BILLY!!! MY BABY BOY IS BACK :D

god damn clint has been killing these rolls today

"you and your bunch of commodore 64's" thacker i love you

HOLY SHIT BILLY

what in the world did he do?????

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME IS THIS A FINAL FANTASY REFERENCE? DID BILLY FUCKING SUMMON SEPHIROTH???

THE AMNESTY THEME

I AM SO HYPE RIGHT NOW HOLY SHIT

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

HOLY SHIT THE FUCKING TIM CURRY ASS SWORD

...god damn, i need to take a moment to just... whoooo fuckin boy that was so good. that was so incredibly good. as soon as this is over i'm going back and doing an amnesty relisten because so much makes sense now, holy shit

yay billy can talk now :D

my god this is so good

i love how much billy is using y'all, you can tell he spent a lot of time with duck

fair lol

awww billy's gonna save everybody :')

... is anyone else remembering that stern is still in sylvain

i descended to your pairing??? oooh dissented, okay

prove em' wrong

... are we in the end game territory here

whomst clint???

a guest bivouac

i love thacker so freaking much guys, i love him so much

mama :'D

who is this person i am so confused

IT'S THE QUELL

aww thacker :')

this music is destroying me holy fuck

"hi honey!" jesus fuck they're so cute

god this is such pretty imagery

AWWWWW NED I CRY

i love these two girlfriends and their rabbit son

"i love the whimsy" janelle ilu

travis mcelroy you have murdered me

aww little mousies

aubrey my baby ilu so much

duck wtf my child

that hasn't happened yet technically tho? i’m pretty sure it's still 2017 i think in this canon but okay then? i might be wrong tho

i love these two so much 

MINERVA MY BABY

wait a god damn minute

DUCK x MINERVA HOLY SHIT, RIP INDRUCK LMAO

oooooh i am suddenly very much not looking forward to going into the tag later, oh boy. this right here is why i make a rule of not getting too invested in non-canon pairings.

minerva is a non-neurotypical mood

... god damn duck this is killing me right now

why are you quoting spiderman minerva

there are only ten minutes left holy shit

i have very limited comic knowledge here guys please help me here boys

justin i'm gonna cry here

oh good, stern made it back to kepler

griffin i weep

indruck may have been sunk but sternclay is sailing strong lol

I CRY GRIFFIN, I CRY

THEY MADE A NEW PORTAL :D

janelle fell off a pudding fruit tree lol

INDRID AND LEO WTF

THIS IS SO HAPPY AND GOOD I CRY

NED :')

I'M SOBBING

and that was it folks! there's the end of taz amnesty! it has been an amazing ride and, unlike balance, one i was actually here for from start to finish in real time. this finale more than lived up to my expectations as far as tying up loose ends and ending on a wonderfully happy note and i cannot wait to see all the art and fic that comes out of it. i love this amazing fandom that’s felt like a home to me these last three years, i can't wait to listen to the next amazing arc the mcelboys conjure up with all of you

see you all again when the ttazz comes out!

[sheriffofmagic]

do i have a crush on griffin mcelroy? yes. do i hate myself everyday for it? also yes. he's white bread come to life but also..... funney and Nice

look,,, in a an abstract sense I get it okay? he's my emotional support baby brother. but I'm going to make fun of yall for having a crush on the human equivalent of a funko pop

[hellyeahheroes]

WAR OF THE REALMS: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #1 (OF 5) Clint, Justin, Travis & Griffin MCELROY (W) • André Lima Araújo (A) Cover by VALERIO SCHITI & DAVID CURIEL CONNECTING REALMS VARIANT COVER BY MARKO DJURDJEVIC VARIANT COVER BY JOE QUINONES VARIANT COVER BY GERALD PAREL The creators of the blockbuster podcast The Adventure Zone bring their talents to Marvel for a wild romp through THE WAR OF THE REALMS! Earth is at war, besieged by an army of Frost Giants, Trolls and Fire Goblins — and the mighty Thor is nowhere to be found! But could it be that the key to turning the tide is…Thor’s baby sister? Journey into Mystery with Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Wonder Man, and Balder the Brave as they go on an epic quest to save Earth’s only hope! (And, yes, deal with diaper duty.) 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

[maychorian]

Paladin Theme Songs

I made a playlist and said I would explain it later, so here I am explaining.

Here’s the playlist. Lock in your guesses about which song goes with which Paladin now. Also, I count Kuron as a paladin, so there are seven songs.

I should also note that these are not necessarily songs the various paladins would choose for themselves. Nor are they particularly cinematic or appropriate for background music in a TV show. The question was what I would pick as the theme song for each paladin, so this is what I would pick.

It’s also kind of early-canon rather than late canon, because that’s where my mind tends to go when I think about these characters. These might not necessarily be appropriate for the person I associate them with at the end of the show, or even near the end. The characters did develop, all of them. They had arcs and resolutions. So yeah, think peak-angst time. Also, some of the songs could definitely apply to more than one paladin. “Hero” by Family of the Year could be for any of the Earthlings, really.

Buckle in for some maychorian meta. I don’t do it very often.

For Lance: Waterbound by The Fretless

These is definitely an early-canon song, from when Lance was homesick and missing his family and wondering if he would ever get home. Also, the theme of water and the Blue Lion, of course. It’s about Lance feeling trapped by his duty, wistful and a little lonely. 

It's I'm gone and I won't be back  Don't believe me count my tracks River's long and the river's wide I'll meet you boys on the other side 

So say my name and don't forget Water still ain't got me yet Nothing but I'm bound to roam Waterbound and I can't get home 

For Kuron: Weighty Ghost by Wintersleep

I got pretty choked up listening to this song and thinking about Kuron. His body was basically stolen before he was dead, and it’s sickening. Worst is how no one even seems to realize that they did that to him. He’s just a bodiless ghost.

Worse is the second verse, which to me is about Kuron just wanting to get rid of the voices in his head and be left alone. And treated like a person. For God’s sake, treat this boy like a person. He is one.

Are you some kind of medicine man? Cut the demons out of my head You can't kill something that's already dead So leave my soul alone I don't need no surgery Take those knives away from me I just wanna die in my own body A ghost just needs a home 

For Allura: Voidfish (Plural) by Rachel Rose Mitchell and Griffin Mcelroy

This is the only instrumental in my playlist, so it’s definitely the most abstract, but that’s fitting, since Allura’s story definitely felt very abstract. But still, close your eyes and listen to this song and think about Allura, and try not to cry or get goosebumps. I hear the emptiness of space, the mystery of magic, swooping and crying noises that remind me of the rift creatures that became bound to Allura and her fate. The beautiful harp of her feminity, the war-like drums of her determination to fight, it’s all there. You can imagine her spreading out through multiple dimensions, making them grow and thrive and shine brightly. And then the fading at the end, with the lonely howl of something unknowable.

For Hunk: Hero by Family of the Year

This is early-canon Hunk, sure, but I think it also holds true through the rest of his story. Even after he accepts the burden of fighting for the universe, he doesn’t want to be a solo hero. He wants to fight with his team. He loves people and bringing them together. That was one thing I liked about the ending, actually, was how Hunk’s food was shown bridging cultural divides and helping the new universe after the fall of the Galra Empire prosper and grow.

And we can whisper things Secrets from my American dreams Baby needs some protection But I'm a kid like everyone else

So let me go I don't wanna be your hero I don't wanna be a big man I just wanna fight like everyone else

For Pidge: Summer Skeletons by Radical Face

To me, this is the ultimate sibling song. Maybe the singer met it about childhood friends, but this is the song that my younger siblings really strongly adopted as an anthem. My youngest sisters sang it at another sister’s wedding rehearsal, crying and shaking the whole time. Obviously not every moment in the song will resonate with every set of siblings, but it’s just a beautiful encapsulation of what it means to be young and free and enjoying each other’s company in the endless heat of halcyon summer, and it makes me think of Pidge and Matt and how close they are. And how much she missed him. And how happy they were to get each other back.

When all we knew wasn't stolen There was nothing real to lose When our heads were still simple We'd sleep beneath the moon You were something That would always be around When regrets were nowhere to be found

Lost out among the trees Our hands scraped the bark You still had bloody knees From your spill in the dark We were both laughing then While carving bad words in the wood We had no need to speak

For Keith: Raging Fire by Phillip Phillips

Tumblr won’t let me add anymore videos, but here’s a link.

Yeah, yeah, maybe it’s a little on the nose for me to pick a song about fire for Keith and a song about water for Lance. Still, this song feels appropriate for Keith, for his passion and the way he begins to open up to those around him. His relationship with Shiro is especially poignant in these lyrics, I think. Especially when he was fighting for “Shiro” in that confrontation at the end of Season 6, begging him to hear him and respond to him and fight against the programming. If only he had managed to save Kuron as well as Shiro. But he tried, he really did.

You know time will give and time will take All the memories made will wash away Even though we've changed, I'm still here with you If you listen close, you'll hear the sound Of all the ghosts that bring us down Hold on to what makes you feel Don't let go, it's what makes you real

For Shiro: Soldier’s Eyes by Jack Savoretti

Here’s another link.

Shiro is a fighter. A gladiator. A champion. He’s a soldier, literally and figuratively. And he never stops fighting. But his eyes are definitely haunted by the things he’s seen and things he’s done, and that’s not something he’ll ever be able to escape, even after he goes home at last.

Cause like the enemies that we are battling I am nothing but a human alien Left with nothing else but to keep wandering Down this path whilst stopping my hands trembling Because I know that I'll be coming home soon And yes I know that I'll be coming home soon with a soldier's eyes

[biggoonie]

WAR OF THE REALMS: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY TPB

Written by CLINT, JUSTIN, TRAVIS & GRIFFIN MCELROY Penciled by ANDRÉ LIMA ARAÚJO Cover by VALERIO SCHITI The creators of blockbuster podcast The Adventure Zone bring their talents to Marvel! Earth is under siege — but could the key to turning the tide be…Thor’s baby sister? Journey into mystery with Miles “Spider-Man” Morales, Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop, Wonder Man, Balder the Brave, Sebastian Druid and Death Locket for a wild romp through the War of the Realms as they embark on an epic quest to save Earth’s only hope! (And, yes, deal with diaper duty.) But Ares, the Greek God of War, is hot on baby Laussa’s trail. Plus: Marvel’s long-dead Western heroes join the War of the Realms! But how? Whose side are they on? And what if our unlikely crew stumbles upon…a convention of super villains? Brace yourself for truly legendary adventures in babysitting! Collecting WAR OF THE REALMS: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #1-5. 112 PGS./Rated T+ …$15.99 ISBN: 978-1-302-91834-7