#mentopolis ep 3

[cuelovecrime]

everyone who's working on the subtitles is doing god's work, honestly

[ah0yh0y]

absolutely terrified that the artificial key from the psychometer is going to change The Fix - alter his function (and im concurred by that preview of the next ep where The Fix seems to uncharacteristically nervous) I think this is potentially very dangerous

who knows how they are going to change him?

[bestbluebouquet]

hm... contemplating the parallel between elias going to his boss seeking answers and getting thrown out a window and then the fix going to his boss seeking answers and getting maybe super-murdered

[yeehawpim]

after the match and your coach runs off

[lesbakerstuff]

i hope whoever is doing the lighting design for dimension 20: mentopolis is getting paid approximately one hundred million thousand dollars

[sea-buns]

i wanna say it was in episode 3 after the boxing match when i was struck with the intense need to savor every second of mentopolis.

the mental image of a conrad driving with so much reckless abandon that the car is like half off the ground as it speeds away, hunch and dan bumping around in the backseat on either side of ivana who in comparison looks bolted down to the seats, money flying out and trailing behind them as justin hangs his head out the window...

all i could think was "oh this is the best." like the best. and while i do agree that 6 episodes is a perfect length for the season, what with them running at the speed of thought and all, i could also fully see them working with a 15-20 ep season just as smoothly.

and i don't just mean that as "this season would have been better with more eps" cuz tbh i don't think it would have been better, so much as it just would have been different. they could never make anything more and i'd still be satisfied. what i'm saying is that i think it'd make a great length as a second season.

which would be a great opportunity for brennan to flesh out the world elias lives in, while also allowing for more in-depth character development from the pcs.

this first season could act as a prologue to the world of mentopolis. and then the second season immediately kicks off with elias dealing with the aftermath in some way. maybe witness protection wasn't enough and now he's on the run from gobstopper industries. or maybe it was but now he has to learn how to adjust to living as a person with needs again after being alone and overworked for so long.

and as he navigates this new relationship, the attention from the press, the looming question of what now what next— we get to see how our prefrontal pis are doing as their lives were also flipped upside-down by this change in elias' life. cuz regardless of how positive and welcome a change may be, there is still a rather difficult adjustment period as you attempt to decipher where your place is in this new-normal.

[galaxdora]

GOD the system metaphor in mentapolis. I know brennan, the PIs or even the crew didn't mean to make it so system-coded, but got did they do it and they did it well too. Like I don't think anyone can say any of the characters are bad or evil. Like everyone is a 3 dimensional character with hopes and dreams and I love that. God I love mentapolis.

[carelesscuriosity]

Now time to liveblog Burrow’s End >:3

[endtimers]

just watched mentopolis ep 3 and i have to say that it was one of my favourite d20 eps of all time. mostly for conrad hunch and dan fucks. absolutely incredible characters. literal tiny baby boy conrad schintz driving a car. dan fucks middle seat. hunch curio. Hunch Curio. my god

[detaia]

mentopolis ep 2 highlights:

1. The Fix with his animal facts is sheer poetry. "I don't think you're the tail of a swallowtail butterfly. I think you're the butterfly"?? holy shit?? thats so sweet and poetic and beautiful??

and everyone goin "aww" at everything The Fix does he's so beloved and its only ep 2 like Brennan said there's nothing fans of play love more than a murderer. ughh The Fix using his Protector and Loyalty features to help Conrad 🥺🥺 what a perfect character I love them

ALSO. "Did you know that more than half the bones in your body are in your hands and feet?" and "Whenever someone says I'm going to break every bone in your body I think thats ridiculous! It'd be way too much work! But I could break half the bones in your body"

2. Mike Trapp committing 1000% to being a student and farming so much moxie only to spend seven just to freak a guy out. his fuckin "I. am. a. STUDENT" fuckin killed me

3. Also so many moments in this ep where Brennan just fully exits standard play just to talk about how much he loves what his players are doing. Like when Conrad goes to hug Justin in combat and Brennan's like aww that's so sweet take a moxie. Or when Brennan comments on how Hank's facts are genuinely nightmarish and in Adventuring Party him saying that breaking his own fingers and going "just kill me man" was how he Brennan would react in that situation.

4. Conrad's "So...how long you've been fixing?". And the. the whole scene in Nostalgia's. Conrad's coffee grounds. Anastatia's room temp vodka. Hunch's the experience of a root beer float for the first time. Imelda and Novelty. Dan Fucks asking for pancake syrup. and The Fix just wanting a calzone. absolutely perfect.

5. the way they did the reveal with the giant screens ahsidifjfifi so cool

6. Hunch at the start IDing the goons by tasting their blood Mike Trapp everyone

7. Gods the whole thing with Wilton and Dan Fucks and the balls and Dan Fucks being like "keep it up one day it'll happen. I love you brother" and Freddie hearing blunt force trauma to the head and being like "Wilton you gotta get down to the balls ASAP"

8. udhhdjsjsgklgk the wordbuilding in Conrad's home with the memories and The Fix being challenged by memories and feelings that come from a place of conscience cos by design shame and guilt and memories when we didn't do right by others or ourselves are not pleasant. They force us to confront our behaviour and the consequences of our actions and it's not gonna be pleasant. but it COULD be. In the same way that conscience can make us feel bad when we don't follow it, it can also feel good to so the right thing despite how difficult it is and the idea that for Elias Hodge his conscience is a lil street urchin and their idea of a banner day would be if Elias held a door for an old lady.

9. Hank saying The Fix doesn't think the job of the mind is to control itself and Brennan's mind exploding and being like "this season's good for me in a lot of ways" eheheheheh crunchy

10. The Fix running his thumb along the ice skates and thinking of Ichabod a kid in the home for wayward interests that isn't there anymore wahh 🥺

11. awawaughh Conrad telling the story of how Elias stood up for his lil sis and got cut up by some bullies using the skates...and that's why Conrad keeps them and that's why he doesn't deserved to be listened to....and The Fix going "I think its time to unlearn that lesson" with somber sincerity and Conrad shaken to his core the captions say "(thoroughly impacted) Okay." as Conrad reacts ajdididjjd. The Brennan commenting about how they talked about balls so much this season and he legitimately almost wept then AJJAKAKSKSKDNBFJD

[ghostofavictorianbastard]

i'm currently watching curio, conrad, and fucks' arrival at the fight club in mentopolis ep 3 and when curio is about to introduce himself as stacy fakename yet again and trapp starts saying he knows what name he wants to give the only thought in my mind was that he was going to say punch curio and i'm almost a bit sad he didn't

[house-of-ivy]

mentopolis ep 5 vocab list

sorry this is late, was waiting for the AP and life is hectic rn!!

episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, episode 4

neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to heal itself by connecting previously non-connected nerve pathways

ATP - ("Adenosine triphosphate") a compound that provides energy to cells. the power made in the house that is the mitochondria.

hypothalamuseum - refers to the hypothalamus. links the endocrine system (which controls hormones) and the nervous system

[stephank]

I think I'd enjoy doing at least one more D20 animated thing specifically for Neverafter, since so far that's the one I've enjoyed the most.

I'm considering either making a small action sequence for the Ep. 3 fight or doing the Pinocchio and Candlewick scene.

I might favor the action sequence since it'll allow me to stretch some different muscles from the Mentopolis animation.

[t1r3dr3pt1l3z]

Spoiler warning for Ep 3 of Mentopolis and the Phobias anthology

Anyone think the psychometer (in the way it was used against Elias by Gobstopper industries specifically) is basically a reinvented lobotomy? /j

Jokes aside, it does sort of remind me of the Phobias anthology. Not the phobias themselves and each characters backstories, but how the psychometer was originally a chair and how the prisoners of Dr. Wright had the fear juice (?? It’s been a while since I watched that movie) in a chair like that.

Does anyone remember what kind of industry Gobstopper industries is? I don’t remember if it’s just something for inventing things (just Elias’ department ofc) or if it’s something else?

Anyways, I wanted to make a rambling post about Elias Hodge because he’s so sad and that’s horribly relatable. So many adults in America and every other country are horribly overworked, given bullshit deadlines, expected to do the impossible (i.e. putting a safeguard into something so small and portable it can no longer be secure), and then they deal with burnout, depression, anxiety, repression, trauma, etc.. Not to mention the amount of people who are not credited for their work in the long term because of corporate companies not wanting to pay or promote them even though they work for more than their wage.

Share some theories if you’d like 😋🫶🏻

[clownjacket]

Are there really only two episodes of Mentopolis left? No one seems to be acting like it on here and it seems like there’s way too much to resolve in 3 hours/2 episodes. Idk. Is the next ep the penultimate?

[kaylor]

as always you are so right on your opinions lmao.. cr will always have a special place in my hearth but since watching other (better) live plays and playing myself I cant sit through a single ep.. matt is great but he is almost too descriptive we dont need all of that matt please edit it down a little king, and the cast man i loved them but they are not decisive people like i feel like poking them with a stick (except travis thats my #1 rp on that table).. the most recent cr thing I watched was calamity and thats kinda cause brennan is great and the cast was stellar abria, lou travis! sam when he is actually playing of others <3 but idk it feels sad like I have outgrown them.. :/

anyway love your mind as always and what is your fave d20 season if you dont mind sharing? I have only watched A Court of Fey & Flowers and I loved it.. but I have no idea what to watch next hehe

calamity was SOOOOOO GOOD you're so right. brennan really rocked up at critrole HQ, showed everyone how it's done, killed 5/6 PCs and ruined the rest of CR forever because nothing will ever be that good ever again. the sexiest table we've ever seen. "this is going to be a to whom it may concern - i cast fireball" BITCH!!!!!!

i think campaign 3 would have really benefited from a more elaborate or expansive session zero because the vision matt has for the campaign does NOT align with the characters at all. it doesn't seem like they're on the same page at all. the mighty nein worked because they were all random people, they all had something unresolved or mysterious in their past, they all had secrets, and matt gave them a huge playground for them to develop those characters with plenty of scattered points of interest for them to choose. and even though it was just as chaotic as C3, it worked because they weren't on the clock.

i don't want to use the R word but bells hells are being railroaded into this predathos plot and NONE of them had ANY relationship with the gods, so it feels really unnatural for any of them to really pursue this beyond feeling like they should. orym and imogen have stronger motivations but orym is extremely passive and imogen just sits and whimpers about it making absolutely no decisions. it's very frustrating as a viewer and if i were DMing this i would be so frustrated with such indecisive players. but i think it's also on matt for inundating them with lore and plot so early on. all in all it's just not executed very well and it's disappointing.

oooh my fav d20 season i think is a court of fey and flowers or a crown of candy (not super keen on the ending, but i would have to rewatch and have a good think about what i would have done instead..). acofaf was just incredible, hats off to aabria for making me so invested in a fae bridgerton. WAIT ALSO MENTOPOLIS. i have never laughed so hard in my life. mike trapp and hank green were a DELIGHT. just absolutely incredible character choices all around. really enjoying fantasy high junior year so far, which is nice because sophomore year was a bit of a slog i'm ngl, probably because it was live and therefore unedited but i struggled sometimes to keep focused. junior year is fucking crisp though, everyone is on top form ❤️