#dom nuntz

[hypahfixations]

You know there was something extra delightful for me when Brennan gave Dominic Nuntz the same voice as Guild Mage Morrow because all I could imagine in the moment was that lil marzipan candle of a man getting utterly walloped by national treasure Mike Trapp

[detaia]

ep 3 mentopolis highlights:

- "oh my god. we gotta get Elias to touch his balls!"

- Conrad releasing one of the eagle talons on his guilt

- Anastasia remembering her key is in her freezer from the four F's which is just referencing a different thing

- Conrad's personality shift as a hotshot driver

- the whole thing about M.Bition's speech where at first he frames it like their chance to feel good and flood the city with dopamine and all the good stuff was ruined because of Imelda. but then he says "we don't get to feel good until I say we get to feel good" where its like, oh. in the same way that ambition promises happiness from your success, it also denies you happiness in other areas of your life. you don't let yourself feel good about yourself because you're not meeting your expectations so you feel like you don't deserve it.

- the image of Foot Stuff as a kaiju wading through the fog approaching mentopolis

- Hunch Curio fucking killing it what a scene with the prize fight and the first appearance of the box of doom. plus Dan Fucks committing even more and betting his whole fortune. incredible

- the reveal of SD to be Self Doubt

- the legend of Stacy Fakename grows

- Conrad saying fuck and standing up for himself :))

- the mechanical thing that Brennan did for Dom Nuntz was really cool, I love that Trapp rolled high twice and we get to see the slow progression of Dom's sharp score going up and getting closer and closer, and Trapp spending his moxie to clutch at the last second....hell yeah

- the pressure system is really cool way to up the tension of the table as the stakes get higher in a tangible way that affects gameplay

- Ivana Popov, who is another addition to my list of fav NPCs of which there are MANY

- The Fix confronting the DA and the DA dropping all niceties and being like "how does that help us" in response to The Fix. and also calling fun facts fucking useless. and can I just say. I was so fucking offended on behalf of The Fix. It makes sense for ambition to be dismissive of whimsy and interesting things but still. fuck you. The Fix said your hair looked nice. He said you looked lovely. He's such a sweet guy who the fuck do you think you are you rat bastard fuckhead shithead cunt. M.Bition more like M.Barrassment I would hate to be seen walking down the street next to your joyless dismissive pathetic ass. get outta here. I'll kill you

- Again. So much ball talk.

- Hank discussing how The Fix is still a little on the fence in Adventuring Party and he's not like the rest of the gang which makes sense. Hyperfixation, logic, these are not so much motivations as they are a means to an end. The Fix is the how. Concepts like Conrad or Dan Fucks or Hunch Curio are the why. All this while The Fix has been working in service of M.Bition but it could change. and also I love Hank for choosing to confront the DA even though him personally would 100% not do that. he's acing this roleplay jazz

[sea-buns]

anyone else keep involuntarily bracing themselves for a deez nuts joke every time someone said dom nuntz?

i guess it's just hard to feel safe when u have the keeper of puns (trapp) and danny fucks work a scene together

[wilderebellion]

Mentopolis: Wordplay for Episodes 3 and 4

Spoilers through episode 4 of Mentopolis!

The Four Fs - Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn are instinctual, reflexive responses in a person when it comes to stress or trauma. In Mentopolis the Four Fs are siblings: a family of local officials (not from Cortex City) who had their own keys for the reflexive switchboard at Oblongata Station.

Ivana Popov - (Fight) I wanna pop off, a phrase meaning one wants to "fight/throw down/go all out." It usually refers to aggression or intensity, depending on the context. ("Art department really popped off this season" for example, means that production worked so intensely that it reflects in the final product in a powerful way. It does NOT mean "Rick Perry and team were literally boxing each other around the set.")

Ivana is Elias' Fight response, personified as a retired fighter turned coach. She listened to Conrad on the day of the ice skates incident, and used her key to have Elias stand up on his sister's behalf. This action was poorly received in the outside world by both the bully and by Elias's own sister.

Frank Freeze - (Freeze) He literally freezes up with fear and anxiety about making the wrong choice. He took over "driving" Elias just as the bully chose to retaliate against the big guy. He argued with his sister Fight after the incident, believing that listening to Conrad was a bad choice. He disappeared before the Four Fs were officially let go. (Side note: Someone mentioned the Four Fs were fired by Mayor Logic, whereas Ivana mentioned handing over her key to the DA). He masqueraded as a being of reason, but used his skill for What Ifs to avoid direct actions and to persuade others to maintain the status quo.

Fanny Fawnsworth (mentioned) - The Fawn response. She is known to work for Don Avaricci now. Given her inherent nature, she's likely a people pleaser.

Flight (mentioned) - Missing in action, allegedly skipped town after they were all fired. Current name unknown.

Las Vagus Casino - Play on Las Vegas, Nevada and the Vagus nerve. The vagus nerve affects both sensory and motor functions and is a very long nerve in one's body. It connects to digestion, heart rate, breathing, and more. In short look at it as a connective path between the brain and the gut.

The psychometer project - Psychometrics refers to science about measuring mental processes. Psychometry refers to object reading, usually. Basically clairvoyance through touching an inanimate object. In this case, we're actually touching the frequency of someone's brain. "There's an interaction, there's actually something from the machine touching the mind to be able to get an accurate reading. " Gobstopper Industries essentially wanted a way to sneak a peek at someone's brain - allegedly for the purpose of helping and diagnosing people, but if that was ever true, they've clearly changed their plan for more nefarious purposes. The psychometer affects Mentopolis through the appearance of the white key - a "key to the city", one might say.

Immanuel and Imogen Pulse - Imelda's parents. They are similarly named as they are all aspects of Impulse.

Dominick "Dom" Nuntz - (Dominance) Despite the powerful name, this concept is weak for Elias. He has the benefit of Ivana in his corner as a trainer, but both have been hindered in their functions

Self Doubt - Pretty explanatory. He's big and burly and intimidating because he gets a LOT of exercise from Elias.

Stacy Fakename - At first this was just an obvious alias introduced by Imelda, but it seems to have taken on a life of its own beyond the PCs. Max at Oblongata Station says that a Stacy Fakename has 300+ counts of skipping out on their train fares.

Jacques Ennui - (Ennui) The organ grinder that wanders Mentopolis, and the manifestation of weariness/dissatisfaction for Elias.

Officer Joie de Vivre - (Joy of Life) An easy-going guy who seems a little bit of out of place as a Shock Trooper. As an NPC, it's amusing that he keeps finding a sort of positive spin on things, but what about as a manifestation for part of Elias? Does this mean Elias has a misplaced tendency to find or ascribe meaning when there isn't one? Or is he lying to himself about what makes him happy?

UPDATE for Mr. H.V. Lance - Instead of Vigilance, it looks like the Deputy Chief of Staff to the mayor is actually Hypervigilance. He's on the lookout for threats, and tends to OVER-estimate them.

Pasha N. - (Passion) Another concept for Elias that is surprisingly not aggressive. His passions have quieted over the years, been refined and narrowed. Pasha herself is a forensic scientist, which lines up with Elias's scientific pursuits. Her current role seems more like the receptionist for the police evidence locker. Her knowledge of bird facts is going completely unused until the Fix strikes up a conversation with her and they hit it off. They have the slightly awkward mutual connection of Ichabod Ice Skates - Fix remembers him from the Hall of Interests in Episode 2. But Ichabod is Pasha's late brother.

Thalamus & Sons - The hypothalamus helps keep the body in balance through the sending and receiving of signals. In Mentopolis, this appears to be a business, presumably a family-run one. Norrell Ojiccle obtained the copper gun here. More may be gleaned in episode 5.

EDIT: I think the Thalamus is actually a specific part of the brain besides just the hypothalamus, so there may be more to that explanation.

[thisisnotthenerd]

it's time for little guys in a brain.

quick episode descriptions:

the scattered mind: the aftermath of the freeway collapse. nostalgia's diner. anastasia snooping and figuring out the head trauma. i think it's time to unlearn that lesson. at the university, hunch operates on cartoon logic. stacy fakename. intimidating someone into dying. elias is falling out of a window

f for freezer: the boxing encounter with the lads. stacy fakename. fighting dom nuntz. conrad punching the key out of ivana. hunch operating on cartoon logic once again as he takes comical hits. the fix in the da's office.

grappling with death: the ladies get to oblongata, order champagne, guide the response to the defenestration and get arrested. dan fucks gets shot the fuck up. the fix sees the figure and falls out of a window, much like elias. he then menaces a casino employee into causing the entire body to shit. the lads get fixed up by frozen steaks at hunch's office. the ladies & conrad escape the police with a paddy wagon, meet joie de vivre, crash into the mayor's office and expose him, and then prep the body to go through the window. the fix flirts with pasha n. dan fucks kills a man with handcuffs.

emergency powers: the party reunites and heads to thalamus & sons. after buying guns, imeldagoes to the switchboard to get elias moving. she bamboozles h.v. lance in the process. anastasia and dan fucks go to court to sue for emergency powers and win based on danielle's paralegal experience. the fix, hunch, and conrad go to the home of wayward interests and face down madam loathing, who keys justin. you're my best friend. dan and anastasia get wined and dined by the mafia, and anastasis chases down stacy fakename

case closed: the party converges on oblongata station once more. they're facing down the don and madam loathing, who can turn them against each other. imelda and dan flash the gangsters to wildly differing results. ivana rolls a 59 on hunch and he still comes back. elias punches his boss. dan goes down. the fix eats the key. conrad rolls a 57 [the number of heinz varieties] to bring down madam loathing. elias steals a birthday cake and runs out into the street.