#because oh my GOD Brennan

[bigsexxorr]

Biggest understated joke from this episode was Fabian getting offered the dragon madness alert system. Famously, the curse that only affects people who *know* that their gold is from a dragon hoard.

[retrospectvve]

the thing that i cannot stop thinking about for never stop blowing up is how in a mentopolis adventuring party hank green admitted that brennan was so much louder in person than he thought. And then in an interview one of the audio engineers said that brennan has his own sound mixing channels because hes got such a strong set of pipes and judging by the trailer this seasons got A LOT of yelling

[protectorsoftheearth]

The clearing was incredible throughout. But my God did the sound design at the end when the marching drums of the citadel and the brass and the metal of it all swelled make me giddy with horror and understanding.

[sunburstsky]

So in this last episode we had confirmed:

1. Indri, who 2/3rds of the party is infatuated with, is Big BAD Lady in a very real way and can call down the memories of stars, including the ones shining into her library

2. If you “flee” (and i just feel that the definition of that might be a little squishy in this specific scenario) *within a mile* of Grimore, you are as good as dead

oh this is DELICIOUS

[twinstxrs]

i’m trying to catch up with as much dimension 20 as i can before fantasy high junior year, i’m currently on a starstruck odyssey, and can i just say: there is truly no greater example of ally beardsley’s dnd progress than the parallel of ally as kristen applebees willingly taking 36 points of damage, bringing kristen down to 3 hit points as kristen plummets multiple stories due to a failed attempt to use a ribbon dance as a way to fly down 10 stories, and ally as margaret encino willingly taking 11 points of damage, bringing margaret down to 3 hit points so margaret can fall 30 feet from a camera nest, walk up to a giant corn guy, and say “you suck” as all the intrepid heroes look on assuming this to be usual beardsley tomfoolery, only for margaret to walk away & trigger an attack of opportunity which gives murph as barry a chance to push this guy off a ledge & possibly win them the entire encounter & over 1 million credits. INSANE. ally beardsley i’m obsessed with your mind

[bajablastflavoredsaxreed]

quivering rn what the heck

baron from the baronies is something that can be so personal actually

ough

[wingedshadowfan]

GUYS OH MY GOD

Xaden fills the doorway like some kind of dark, avenging angel, the messenger of the queen of the gods. He’s fully dressed, his face a mask of veritable rage as shadows curl from the walls on either side of him, hanging in midair.

when xaden comes to save violet from the unbonded, he's described as "the messenger of the queen of the gods".

(...) a woman with a full pack, whose high cheekbones and oval face remind me of renderings of Amari, the queen of the gods.

in rhiannon's description, we learn that the queen of the gods is called amari.

Her eyes widen as her gaze sweeps over the town, each structure with its identical green roofs, then pauses on the Temple of Amari, which was the most noted landmark besides our library.

in xaden's pov, when violet wakes up after brennan mends her, she instantly guesses she's in aretia because she sees amari's temple.

xaden is from aretia.

which is known for the temple of amari, the queen of the gods.

and he's been going to aretia to deliver news from basgiath for the rebellion, as well as help rebuild it.

he's quite literally the messenger of the queen of the gods.

wow.

[littlebitofdnd]

I NEVER considered that Elody would have found Gerard's body. I thought maybe she would have assumed he was dead, but I literally forgot that they even left bodies?? was that brought up before??

That conversation my god. They weren't speaking to each other, really. Not communicating, at least.

Gerard was looking at her and seeing all the ways he failed as a husband, and Elody was looking at Gerard and seeing his corpse.

There is something so earth-shattering too about Elody saying "You were supposed to be eaten by a heron." Because that was probably the intention?? The intention of a curse like that is never to help them find true love, it's for them to die before they get there.

And FOR WHAT! Gerard could not have deserved that at age nine. It was cruel.

"There's a lot left in that ever after." Oh my fucking GOD Brennan. Bravo.

[rrat-king]

imagine for but a moment, that you are me:

last night me and my friends wanted to smoke, only to find we did not have a lighter in my apartment. all good. i keep a lighter in my car. so i went out to grab my car lighter and lo and behold there is a piece of paper stuck under my windshield wiper. i thought maybe it was a ticket from the towing company at my apartment cuz i had registered my car wrong.

it was not a ticket. it was in fact this piece of paper:

now. at first i thought oh, fun joke, my roommate must have stuck that there cuz we watch game changer together, so i grab my lighter and head back to my apartment. i make a comment about it to my roommate.

she did not leave the note.

now i'm spiraling. i understand brennan lee mulligan on deep personal level because what the fuck. why did someone leave that note on my car? am i in a secret game changer episode somehow? has sam been here the whole time?

thank god, my roommate pointed out that i have a dropout bumper sticker so someone in my complex must have seen it and left the note on my car as a little i see you moment.

all this to say, if you left this note on my car and see this know that you gave me an existential crisis and also! pls dm me. we can watch game changer together

[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.

[marywisdom]

Okay so I’m a physical conspiracy board away from turning into Riz, but there’s one thing I cannot get out of my mind and that’s

The Rogue teacher found Kipperlilly. Not the other way around. The Rogue teacher found Kipperlilly.

Which means that the Ratgrinders have at least one teacher in their corner (likely two if Ruben and Henry Hopclap don’t share a name by pure fucking coincidence). What does the Rogue teacher have against the Bad Kids?? Have we met them already?? Are there more teachers with taking issue with them? I actually don’t think Porter, he’s just a dick. But like, somebody wants the Ratgrinders to get revenge for something.

What I think is likely:

- Lucy Frostblade died at the end of Junior Year due to something related to the Bad Kids shenanigans.

- This turned Ruben emo -> is there a clue hidden in his song? “In space no one can feel you dying” - is this what happened to Lucy?? Did Lucy go to Astral Space, either to look for YES! or for another god and did she die there? Did she die because of Cassandra? Did she die because of YES!? Did she die because of the Night Yorb?

- side note, I am throwing it out there, I think the Rogue teacher is that little aviator goblin - I don’t trust him, also Brennan pointedly said that kid was like Riz in Freshman year, only into aviation instead of detective stuff, and with how the Ratgrinders are so clearly mirrored after the Bad Kids I am suspicious. Bonus points if Ecaf is somehow involved, being an actual mirror. (Oh god I’m this close to writing an essay about how Brennan is holding up a mirror to all of his PCs this season and what this symbolizes in terms of growing up and such)

- Anyway, Lucy’s death must have something to do with the Bad Kids. Why else would they specifically request a Cleric of Helio for their party, if not to mess with Kristen?

This list has gotten away from me - anyway I cannot wait to find out what the Ratgrinders High Five Heroes did for their Sophomore Year project. I’ve got a feeling it’s really important

[applebees4prez]

learning about dnd from stranger things then going on to actually get into it is so funny because it’s like oh my god the demogorgon and vecna are so scary but then you realize not only have i never and will i never play with either of these two villains, but i just watched brennan lee mulligan and lou wilson create chungledown bim and i have genuinely never been more fearful for a character i love. sure will byers might die but can you imagine a man in his 60s promising to shit in your mouth and stopping at nothing to do so? this man becoming a level 20 warlock and working with your own father to take you down?

[utilitycaster]

the war of godly aggression is SO fucking funny, oh my god, thank you for that. Also very apt not just for the calamity in general but specifically the fall of aeor. like my man. come on

Thanks!

I have been thinking about this a lot in relation to the article I linked, because the thing is, (obligatory caveat that this is coming from a good high school education but no advanced history studies) the way the American south was treated post-Civil War and the way Germany was treated post-WWI by the victors were both, unfortunately, radicalizing factors.

As I and others have said a lot before, a consistent theme from both Matt (and Brennan, notably in Fantasy High Junior Year) is that steeping ones' self in resentment and the belief that you were robbed of something is often the catalyst for becoming a hateful and violent person. And that is both unfortunately far too relevant in this day and age, and also, it's a rough lesson for many to hear. Because the thing is that it wasn't good that Aeor was destroyed by the gods. I'm sure we'll learn more with Downfall, but Matt's repeated comparisons to the Cold War evoke the last-ditch concept of mutually assured destruction and I would not be surprised if it were a case of "the Factorum Malleus would have ripped apart the world and killed even more people, but there was no good option here and no one is happy with the outcome" because that's how wars are! There is no win condition, not really, not even for the victors! There's just losing slightly less!

Ludinus's anger and trauma are on their own valid, as they typically are for most civilians of any losing side in a war. The Calamity wasn't his fault, and he did live in a notably harsher world with fewer opportunities because of it. But he is also figuratively flying a Confederate flag in figurative 2024 so I can acknowledge and be sympathetic to his pain and also say "well, you're a fucking terrible person who wants to inflict that same pain or worse on others and it won't even make your life better so like, I am rooting for the people trying to stop you."

[18catsreading]

Ally: cheese and grape jelly, are you fucking psychotic? Why would you do this to us?

Emily: it's just like the --

Lou: what the fuck is happening?

Emily: it tastes like the bacon is a little candied

Siobhan: I don't like grape-flavoured jelly

Ally: what is wrong with you?

Murph: Dude

Siobhan: oh my God he's crying

Lou: I'm not Murph, I don't stuff the whole thing in my mouth at one time. Brennan you've been silent.

Brennan: I move through life as a person, who I would say, for a person whose whole livelihood is based around adventures, I'm not a very adventurous person. Siobhan famously roasted me about I get the same hamburger every day. And in my head, sometimes I think --

Murph: every day?

Siobhan: every day, he gets the same hamburger --

Brennan: that restaurant closed down, so I don't --

Siobhan: yea because they made up, they pretended their meat was good, and in fact, it was bad.

Brennan: it was worse than they said it was, but I still liked how it tasted. The, uh, in my head I will imagine sometimes what a risk would be like, what a change would be like. And in my head I go "that change would be not my favorite." But then I go "am I a coward and closing myself off to new experiences?" And every time I expand my horizons, I get slapped in the face, and it is not fun. I will stick with plain breakfast sandwiches.

[melancholiaenthroned]

ok ive slept on it i feel like i can talk about the ep better now... basically whats craziest to me is that if any of it was intentional it could be so good. i dont think wed ever actually get a season where the bad kids r protrayed as in the wrong, but if they were a little more self aware the ways that theyve also been overtaken by rage could be seen. gorgug especially, and especially because it was channeled through porter's mentorship, who the bad kids can conceptualize as manipulating gorgug but not the rat grinders. its interesting because esp w/o their favorite npcs this season the bad kids have rlly closed in on themselves and become a lot more codependent, seeming to constantly suspect anyone new of possibly betraying them. which in a meta way makes sense, cuz its players v brennan, but in universe it comes across as crazy paranoid and cliquey and theyre just so unaware of it that any way it could have come across as interesting comes across as frustrating instead. like a lot of what they do and say to the rat grinders comes across as straight up bullying, and they genuinely seem to derive pleasure from putting them down. which again, in a meta way makes sense, but in universe it makes u wonder WHY were meant to find the rat grinders dislike of the bad kids so horrible when the bad kids hatred is justified. even kipperlily at her worst thoughts -- those are thoughts she shared in therapy. are we meant to begrudge a 17 year old girl speaking to her therapist about her feelings? not even actions, literally just thoughts in her head? that she was again sharing, and probably couldve worked through if not for magical interference, confidentially in therapy? were meant to hate ruben, who doesnt even LIKE kipperlily either, who didnt start becoming the person the bad kids seem to hate until AFTER he died and was magically resurrected changed. why? oh because hes an enemy and this is a battle episode and hes on the field. ruben acting in what is quite literally self defense and being told "you were a waste of time" and having no idea whats going on and responding "what do you mean? youre killing my friends!" i swear to god if that insight check on buddy hadnt been a nat 1 i think we honestly would have gotten a whole different episode

[kindlespark]

sam i didnt even watch fhjy but can you tell me more of ur thoughts abt kipperlilly? any thoughts even stream of consciousness, she seems so teenager rage gone wrong im so fascinated by her

HJBFESJBFEKSFS THIS IS SO FUNNY OFC ok this is going to be a range of thoughts about the reactions i've seen from both ends of the rat grinder Discourse™

i think it's fine to be like, yeah, what kipperlilly's anger stems from is like deeply unsympathetic and comes from a very privileged status. i think being like "no that's normal for a teen girl" is silly. she is very much not normal she's a little upper-middle class brat and i love her. i love that she's so deeply distasteful and unappealing to people LOL. hate when female characters have to be smoothed down to be liked! like we don't have to downplay her negative traits when people are obsessed with male serial killers all the time etc etc

BUT i also think people forget that like... the bad kids were reading private thoughts she shared with her therapist (which is a massive invasion of privacy)! like of course it was fucked up. that's why she was going to a therapist lmao!!! it stresses me out that people are this vitriolic about a teen character who is pretty explicitly mentally ill and trying to get better about it but is being manipulated by a deity of rage and possibly her adult vice principal like. you don't have to LIKE her but calling for her to be violently murdered is wild to me. the bad kids had never even HEARD of her before this season and you can metagame about brennan not having invented her character yet all you want but in canon u gotta assume she was successfully keeping that rage down until she got got and is now being actively corrupted by a powerful rage deity lmaoooo

and like! she got her narrative punishment!! the monkey's paw curled and she lost her best friend she's got her traumatic backstory now!!! she's already suffering and at her lowest i don't need her to die (again!)

i think brennan is past the point of making teen characters irredeemable so i can only hope that the cast follows through on that bc i feel like redemption and healing from trauma is one of the strongest themes in fantasy high like i bawled my eyes out in every aelwyn and adaine scene. which is why it's really funny to me that siobhan is kipperlilly's biggest hater because i feel like she's a great mirror to adaine's spite and aelwyn's redemption..... like siobhan's characters are all very appealing to me because of their rage. god im hoping and praying they don't kill the rat grinders in the finale god bless

oh final petty thing i think saying kipperlilly's name wrong was only funny the first 200 times <3 love u all mwa