#favorite activity

[katblazeparttwo]

listening to season five shenanigans

Inspired by (and og pics at) this post !

[thy-fucks-runneth-dry]

Inktober day 11! It's not rlly a snack I guess but whatever 😭 I'm tired okk

[agavegator]

my favorite activity

[not-actually-a-fox]

I love realizing things about myself and then going ‘I don’t want to deal with that’ so I don’t

[charlieshorseshirt]

charlie suit gifs part 2 of 2

1

[calamity-unlocked]

Sigh. I accidentally posted my half-finished answer to a really kind ask and then in a panic deleted all of it.

So! Rewriting it all. (Hope you'll see this, anon <3) I unfortunately don't have a copy of the ask, but what anon basically asked for were my reasons why I stopped listening to dndads.

There are a couple, mostly boiling down to that I felt increasingly frustrated with Anthony and the waste of potential in season 2. I'll elaborate on this - really happy someone asked me about this actually, I've been looking for an excuse to write out my thoughts on the matter.

Dndads negativity under the cut (aka hater hours)

First of all prefacing this with saying that the most important factor was probably my personal mental health. But we're not here to talk about that, we're here to rant!! So, here is my little wordspew which I've been wanting to write for literal months:

Rejecting the Storytelling Medium You Use and Ignoring the Consequences

Let's start on a positive note; I love the comedy of this show and the cast's chemistry. Every time I listened to an episode, I laughed so hard my jaw hurt. They are incredibly funny people.

However, every time as the credits rolled after "On My Way," a sense of nervous disappointment lingered. The problem sat in season 2's story. Every episode is funny, but the narrative steps that were taken were just frustrating, going in a direction that lead either to meaningless conflict or another fetch quest with minimal results.

Dungeons and Daddies should not be a Dungeons and Dragons podcast.

People struggling with the rules and deciding to do their own thing with it can have its charm - it never annoyed me in the first season of the Adventure Zone. But with dndads it actively hinders the show and the storytelling.

It's just... Anthony isn't that good of a DM.

He knows the rules of d&d 5e. He just doesn't want to use them. He gets frustrated when his players take creative actions that undermine the story he planned out. An example is the confrontation between the teens and Willy. Lots of really creative actions and high-level spells were used, but Anthony consistently shut those down and in the end it all went according to how he wanted it to go.

They frequently rerecord scenes when they feel it didn't work out. That's not exactly letting the dice decide, which is what the whole genre is based on!

My sister and I used to speculate on where the story could go, and we often jokes 'this is good stuff, Anthony Buch take notes', and those jokes turned from (affectionate) to (derogatory) once it became clear to us that the direction Anthony was taking really didn't sit right with us.

Season 2 truly had so much potential. We have a set of really interesting PCs who have a strong relationship with a set of equally (if not more) interesting NPCs. The setup of the Doodler as a bbeg was great - and so was the reveal of the Doodler's true feelings.

But the story dragged out, didn't grow, the jokes detracted and distracted from the narrative, emotional beats were unearned, etc. I was bored with the characterization of the kiddads and their actions. The return of the og dads was messy and took away from the story. The three month time skips during a period in which there were supposed to be stakes made me want to rip my hair out.

There's a whole other essay I can make about how d&dads undermines it own stakes, but this is already getting too long so that's for another time.

Also, and I'm so sorry to use Anthony as a punching bag this much, but the man verbally undermines himself so much. He constantly says he doesn't like the second season, negatively compares both PCs and storybeats with the first season, and disses his own capabilities. I understand anxiety well, believe me I do, but continuously saying that you don't think this thing you've created is any good to your fans on your own podcast gets frustrating. This seems to me something you share your personal circle or your therapist, not to your thousands of fans who probably listen to the podcast because it brings them joy!

I have so much more to say, talking about this truly sparks joy in me. But all that matters I suppose is that I've happily divorced. Sadly writing about Lark Oak genuinely helps me cope with all the stuff that's going on, so I'll be tied to this podcast for a while longer.

[manicpixiestardust]

sometimes i like to pause reanimator or bride for a while just to get these messages. they're so silly and they make me feel special. me?? jeffrey combs is waiting for lil ol me??? :3

[midnightmoonbeams]

B3P51 drew their inkling, captioned, "Today is Thursday, which means that Amelia gets to inhale Carbon Monoxide. It is her Favorite Activity." Pearl drew their inkling dressed up as a Black cat, captioned, "Why are my wife and my daughter SO ADORABLE?" For Black cat day! Star drew a smiling anime girl. Judithan drew a smiling couple.

From October 27th, 2022

[inkskinned]

probably time for this story i guess but when i was a kid there was a summer that my brother was really into making smoothies and milkshakes. part of this was that we didn't have AC and couldn't afford to run fans all day so it was kind of important to get good at making Cool Down Concoctions.

we also had a patch of mint, and he had two impressionable little sisters who had the attitude of "fuck it, might as well."

at one point, for fun, this 16 year old boy with a dream in his eye and scientific fervor in heart just wanted to see how far one could push the idea of "vanilla mint smoothie". how much vanilla extract and how much mint can go into a blender before it truly is inedible.

the answer is 3 cups of vanilla extract, 1/2 cup milk alternative, and about 50 sprigs (not leaves, whole spring) of mint. add ice and the courage of a child. idk, it was summer and we were bored.

the word i would use to describe the feeling of drinking it would maybe be "violent" or perhaps, like. "triangular." my nose felt pristine. inhaling following the first sip was like trying to sculpt a new face. i was ensconced in a mesh of horror. it was something beyond taste. for years after, i assumed those commercials that said "this is how it feels to chew five gum" were referencing the exact experience of this singular viscous smoothie.

what's worse is that we knew our mother would hate that we wasted so much vanilla extract. so we had to make it worth it. we had to actually finish the drink. it wasn't "wasting" it if we actually drank it, right? we huddled around outside in the blistering sun, gagging and passing around a single green potion, shivering with disgust. each sip was transcendent, but in a sort of non-euclidean way. i think this is where i lost my binary gender. it eroded certain parts of me in an acidic gut ecology collapse.

here's the thing about love and trust: the next day my brother made a different shake, and i drank it without complaint. it's been like 15 years. he's now a genuinely skilled cook. sometimes one of the three of us will fuck up in the kitchen or find something horrible or make a terrible smoothie mistake and then we pass it to each other, single potion bottle, and we say try it it's delicious. it always smells disgusting. and then, cerimonious, we drink it together. because that's what family does.

[lesbagel]

i was a 9-year old spelunker!!!!!!! i loved it!!! it was so fun i loved the part where we all turned our flashlights off and it was the darkest dark we had ever experienced!!!! I saw the throne of god and found it empty. i also saw lots of bats.

caving as an extreme sport is sooo unfathomable to me why are u as a creature of the daylight doing that. were u born without the dread in ur bones or something

[garpen]

12 yrs old Jason having just been dropped off at Wayne Manor: Do you just take in every orphan you meet off the street?

Bruce: No, you're the first kid I picked up off the street. I picked up my last one at the circus.

Jason: Is that a joke? I can’t tell if that’s a joke.

Bruce: My son's name is Richard, but he insists on going by Dick.

Jason: And he’s…from the circus?

[starryechoesworld]

Whispers of Autumn

I remember the way the seasons would turn,

How autumn arrived with its soft, gentle burn.

The leaves would fall, golden and bright,

Like whispers of secrets that fade with the light.

It was months before the trees turned red,

I saw you then, but you turned your head.

I lingered, hoping for that fleeting glance,

And when you caught me, it felt like a chance.

Not just once, but again and again,

Our eyes would meet in that silent refrain.

People talked, their voices a soft rustle,

But we stayed quiet, lost in the subtle.

Outside the classroom, you’d be near,

Your presence behind me, always clear.

We never spoke, but your eyes said enough,

In that autumn air, we shared something tough.

Thirteen years since those moments we knew,

And still, your shadow lingers, so true.

Your gaze, your silence, it shaped my past,

A memory that echoes, meant to last.

You’ve built a life now, with love and a home,

And sometimes I wonder, when I’m alone—

Was our silence a blessing or a curse left behind?

A story untold, a love undefined?

If you had wanted, you would’ve made it clear,

But perhaps the quiet was all we could bear.

Maybe it was the silence that held us tight,

A love that was felt but never took flight.

As autumn returns, I feel the same weight,

The brush of the wind, the threads of our fate.

The leaves still fall, they don’t whisper your name,

But in the rustling, I hear echoes of the same.

Perhaps it’s the autumn, or the memory we keep,

That binds me to moments I still silently reap.

We were always the season that never quite came,

A fleeting love, lost in autumn’s soft frame.

[bilerthetired]

The creature is very eepy

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

weird hearing "were you a Theatre Kid" "were you a Sports Kid" "were you a Choir Kid" "were you a Dance Kid" bc no? i mean i did all of that and more but resented ever minute of it? actively avoided sticking with anything? i was a "In This Family After School Activities Are Mandatory Kid"

[maiooo-0]

This is the kind of artist I am. Sorry to disappoint 🧍

[temporary-tats]

A ko-fi request for a Bumbleby wedding outfits design! Thank you for the support! <3 This was an incredibly fun prompt! I pulled a bit of inspiration from Beauty and the Beast for their outfits, while putting a Bees spin on it. I absolutely adore how this one turned out.

As usual, do not reupload without credit/permission. Thank you folks!

(My Ko-fi, should you wish!)