goldenboydisaster

[goldenboydisaster]

Instead of watching Cloudward Ho I’ve just been rewatching the fhsy finale again cause it’s the best one

[goldenboydisaster]

you cannot look like THAT and make facial expressions like THIS and expect me not to COMBUST are you KIDDING me

[goldenboydisaster]

I was so worried going into Fantasy High Sophmore Year with them not having battle sets and doing theatre of the mind, but in hindsight and having now watched most other seasons of D20, sophmore year was by far the most immersive experience I ever had watching the show. Theatre of the mind is definitely how I personally perfer dnd, because I kinda like lived through sophmore year, like I was there. It was basically a guided lucid dream. 10/10

[goldenboydisaster]

i'm gonna just rant about gorgug for a second and like. nobody has to read this. this can just be a thing that nobody reads. but basically the beginning of sophomore year was really getting to me and i think it stems from brennan and zac trying to set up gorgug's season arc. naturally second season arcs are going to feel a little bit more clumsy, and i think this is a particular struggle that happens with zac characters (the limited data points we have coming from gorgug and ricky) but they're using zelda to try and give gorgug something to worry about. and she's pretty much finding reasons to be mad at him for like the whole first four episodes.

and here's the thing: it doesn't make sense!! he gets back from tour (which is happening during the school year? okay?) and the bus pulls up to fig's house so she can see her family, and when zelda shows up she's like ummm hi why didn't you come see me. brother this is the first stop home. gorgug's parents came to mordred, he didn't even go home. and then she's like omg you're going away again >:( zelda girl the entire party found that out forty five seconds ago when aguefort showed up and made them rich and told them they'd fail if they didn't find this crown. ALSO you're going to the red waste!!! you also will be gone!!!!!

but whatever. fig and riz get kidnapped. they rush out of town and there's the whole narrative of gorgug forgetting to say goodbye and there are a couple of reasons that whole plotpoint made me mad both in game and out of game. first of all, zac is not the kind of player to call for scenes like that, and when he is, they're usually mystery focused and made to advance the story for everyone. if you want someone to go call for a one-on-one scene with an npc, you're going to have to ask emily. second, zelda keeps listing all these things that they "had time" to go and do as a way to say gorgug could've said goodbye to her (you went to the mall, you picked up cathilde, etc). but girl. the mall was a lead to try and find fig. cathilde was someone who was GOING ON THE ADVENTURE WITH THEM. can you imagine if they were racing out of elmville to find fig and gorgug turned to sandra lynn and went "hang on, i need to stop by my girlfriend's house and say goodbye," not to mention that the only significant other was coming with them. you're stopping a van full of nine people to go to the other side of town. that feels crazy. and the thing about gorgug is that he can't articulate that, and he's trying to be understanding, so he's like "yeah you're right i should've stopped" - no dude!!!! you shouldn't have!!!! that would've felt crazy!!!! the only thing he missed the ball on was getting the generator, but again, they had to leave in kind of a hurry.

and i'm not saying i can't see what the purpose behind this was. it sets up gorgug trying to build a cell tower, which brought into question his intelligence and helped create in him the drive to become an artificer, and it also highlighted this logical fallacy that i think brennan was really stuck on after season one which is this idea that they're still acting like the underdog kids when in fact there's no way they're not the coolest kids in school. and so zelda is like "dude you act like nobody would ever like you when in fact you're popular and a rockstar and on the sports team" which i think makes sense, but gorgug is the only character who's facing this pressure. i would've loved to have adaine grappling with the fact that she's just as popular as her sister once pretended to be. where's the version of kristen that's dealing with the fact that everyone at school loves the performance of her just like people at the church of helio used to? where's riz handing out business cards and people actually taking them and blowing up his phone? (i left out fig and fabian because i think they're actually fine with it and thriving).

it just really bothers me to have a lot of gorgug's energy and scenes at the beginning of fhsy spent trying to make up for a mistake that to me as a viewer it really didn't seem like he made, and so any character growth or solutions he arrives at don't feel satisfying or meaningful because of that. and that's the whole rant. needed to get it off my chest and hope you didn't make it this far.

[goldenboydisaster]

The interpretation of “rowdy” as a slur is so funny in battle.

Maxwell going “call off your rowdies” is the equivalent of telling the guy pointing a gun at your head that all his friends are faggots. I don’t think that’s going to do what you think it’s going to do, mate.

[goldenboydisaster]

Production and editing i love you guys 4ever

[goldenboydisaster]

Absolutely howling at the juxtaposition of calling the use of weapons uncivilized while shoving anyone possible off the side of a ship

[goldenboydisaster]

this gay ass, grew up in a gated community, went to a private school so he could learn to fight like a gentleman rich kid, self proclaimed rowdy, has a waxed mustache, runs across the deck of a ship, punches a man in a fully metal suit off the side of said ship, then turns and leaps through the air onto what is basically a helicopter attacking the ship, punches into the glass of the cockpit, picks up the pilot and throws him into the fog, jumps BACK onto the ship, lands gracefully, then just goes “hup!”

[goldenboydisaster]

I love the idea of the older crew seeing Maxwell and thinking like yeah this kid calls himself a rowdy and has some of his grandfathers spirited blood in him but like he’s still not particularly up to speed with us and the Maxwell just starts chucking guys off the ship like it’s nothing and straight up jumps on one of the wasps

[goldenboydisaster]

kind of obsessed with rowdy as a euphemism for queer in cloudward ho. you're rowdy. you're too loud. you cause trouble. you make me uncomfortable. you're not being how i want you to be. you go places and you do things that i don't think are proper. you don't live how i think you should live. and you're so in my face about it. you're one of those..... rowdies. like come ON that's so good.

[goldenboydisaster]

Oh Maxwell is for sure my favorite pc

[goldenboydisaster]

A gentleman fister aka a faggot

[goldenboydisaster]

so... Maxwell longs for the company of rough, burly, rowdy, men, and travels, apparently at all times, with mysterious vials of nonspecific oil....... 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

[goldenboydisaster]

Help, nothing about this sounds straight.

[goldenboydisaster]

why does maxwell want to get rowdy with naked oiled men so bad 🤨 happy pride to him i guess

[goldenboydisaster]

I know in my brain the implication of maxwell sensing the blood and the sweat and the manly energy of the rowdy town is that he's a boxer or whatever but. in my heart it's that and ALSO cuz he's gay <3

[goldenboydisaster]

(creds to @natjennie for the idea)