#I listened to the last TTAZZ so now all that's left is just

[sysig]

Welp

From here on out, I’ve only got the last episodes of TAZ: Balance

[ghosty-schnibibit]

one last amnesty liveblog :’)

i’m writing this literal seconds after it came out and i am hyped as all get out, let’s do this!!!!!

IT IS TWO AND A HALF HOURS LONG, NICE

they haven't announced more than that trav is dming and i'm hype for it

dang i wanna listen to those so bad

love ya griffin :')

... i don't remember there being distortion there???

WHY IS THE INTRO BREAKING DOWN

GRIFFIN WHAT THE FUCK I AM INSTANTLY TERRIFIED

... this isn't just old quotes, these are memories we haven't seen before now mixed in. i'm 90% sure that was just a memory from thacker's perspective of mama finally finding thacker possessed by the quell

was that little aubrey getting inspired to be a magician? sweet baby

aww aubrey :'(

and that was duck in class the day after minerva visited him

"wayne newton? that can't be real" pfff

DUCK MEETING AUBREY AWWW

who???

"this isn't how it happened" what the fuck is going on

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO NED DURING THE SHIFTER ARC

... THAT'S NOT REALLY BEACON IS IT

YEP, YEP, YEP, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO NED

it wasn't expecting him to grab beacon

... they're in the alien base aren’t they

this is terrifying holy shit

it's the rest of the pine gaurd

waAaAaynEeEeE

"we've a little bit of the griffin panic settin' in" mood

nice! first of those good good finale rolls this ep

oh thank god it didn't take dani again

WELL THAT'S NOT GREAT

at least sylvaine is okay then

i love beacon so fucking much

"i think we're pretty well fucked" bless duck

thacker is so good and i love him

SOMEONE HELP HER

never mind about those finale rolls holy shit

yeah aubrey's fucked for luck lol

what are you quoting

it is so fucking weird to hear people calling him wayne, and yet it works so well for him

griffin keeps pointedly calling him wayne to get him to react and justin's just not yes-anding him lmao

this is so fucking weird holy shit

aubrey no

bless you for still calling him duck aubrey

GOD DAMN TRAV

OH THAT IS EXTREMELY BAD, OH GOD

THE LATE THACKER ROLLED A FIVE

this is so weird holy shit

jesus i just looked at the timestamp and it's only been thirty minutes

this is more of what ned found with the shifter

NICE!

i love minerva so

it's barry

the sudden music scares an intrigues me

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK

it's making copies of their loved ones to scare them into not fighting

duck i love you so much

beacon is so horny for destruction and i love him

WAIT REALLY??? shit, we were all terrified for aubrey’s luck and forgot about duck’s completely

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST THEY ARE BEEFING IT

thank you for minmaxing so much trav

HOLY SHIT THACKER WHAT

"oooookay" griffin sounds so excited and i love it

NICE! GO THACKER :DDD

W H A M I E

... why do i have a feeling this is billy

oookay, that makes sense

direct and fair

reconciliation???

oh no, this is bad, this is very bad

PIZZA

"what that being represented" wtf

... they created a great filter. they created a great filter to keep themselves safe and killed off god knows how many worlds. holy fucking shit this makes so much make sense.

yes duck, it it aliens  -_-

not the most nuanced of takes there aubrey

i don't know if it's just me but i am having such a hard time mentally picturing this room

griffin loves his domes lmao

WELP, THAT'S NOT GREAT

this music griffin holy shit

bless griffin

oh fuck, very bad, this is very very bad

duck took a fuckin turn here at the end, damn

"FUCK YOU, C'MON" i love you duck holy shit

natural human chitin

oh fuck i forgot they were there holy shit

jesus we have more than an hour left

well that's not great!!!

HOLY FUCK, GO THACKER :DDDDD

i cry, ned ; _ ;

YEAH MAYBE DON'T LET THACKER DIE

nice nice nice

griffin i don't think you needed to specify that it wasn't literal whales

"duck, honey" mama ilu so

YEEEEEAH GO DUCK MY BOY

jesus fucking christ that's horrifying

what are you gonna do here trav

YES BRING BILLY BACK

OH NO, OH NO, OH NO

"you absolute ding dongs" griffin ilu

YEAAAAAH AUBREY

BILLY!!! MY BABY BOY IS BACK :D

god damn clint has been killing these rolls today

"you and your bunch of commodore 64's" thacker i love you

HOLY SHIT BILLY

what in the world did he do?????

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME IS THIS A FINAL FANTASY REFERENCE? DID BILLY FUCKING SUMMON SEPHIROTH???

THE AMNESTY THEME

I AM SO HYPE RIGHT NOW HOLY SHIT

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

HOLY SHIT THE FUCKING TIM CURRY ASS SWORD

...god damn, i need to take a moment to just... whoooo fuckin boy that was so good. that was so incredibly good. as soon as this is over i'm going back and doing an amnesty relisten because so much makes sense now, holy shit

yay billy can talk now :D

my god this is so good

i love how much billy is using y'all, you can tell he spent a lot of time with duck

fair lol

awww billy's gonna save everybody :')

... is anyone else remembering that stern is still in sylvain

i descended to your pairing??? oooh dissented, okay

prove em' wrong

... are we in the end game territory here

whomst clint???

a guest bivouac

i love thacker so freaking much guys, i love him so much

mama :'D

who is this person i am so confused

IT'S THE QUELL

aww thacker :')

this music is destroying me holy fuck

"hi honey!" jesus fuck they're so cute

god this is such pretty imagery

AWWWWW NED I CRY

i love these two girlfriends and their rabbit son

"i love the whimsy" janelle ilu

travis mcelroy you have murdered me

aww little mousies

aubrey my baby ilu so much

duck wtf my child

that hasn't happened yet technically tho? i’m pretty sure it's still 2017 i think in this canon but okay then? i might be wrong tho

i love these two so much 

MINERVA MY BABY

wait a god damn minute

DUCK x MINERVA HOLY SHIT, RIP INDRUCK LMAO

oooooh i am suddenly very much not looking forward to going into the tag later, oh boy. this right here is why i make a rule of not getting too invested in non-canon pairings.

minerva is a non-neurotypical mood

... god damn duck this is killing me right now

why are you quoting spiderman minerva

there are only ten minutes left holy shit

i have very limited comic knowledge here guys please help me here boys

justin i'm gonna cry here

oh good, stern made it back to kepler

griffin i weep

indruck may have been sunk but sternclay is sailing strong lol

I CRY GRIFFIN, I CRY

THEY MADE A NEW PORTAL :D

janelle fell off a pudding fruit tree lol

INDRID AND LEO WTF

THIS IS SO HAPPY AND GOOD I CRY

NED :')

I'M SOBBING

and that was it folks! there's the end of taz amnesty! it has been an amazing ride and, unlike balance, one i was actually here for from start to finish in real time. this finale more than lived up to my expectations as far as tying up loose ends and ending on a wonderfully happy note and i cannot wait to see all the art and fic that comes out of it. i love this amazing fandom that’s felt like a home to me these last three years, i can't wait to listen to the next amazing arc the mcelboys conjure up with all of you

see you all again when the ttazz comes out!

[echo-inthevoid]

So. Ep 29.

Generally, I was cool with it, I think it’s necessary so people don’t have to go back and listen to everything to remember and be able to understand what’s going on. And they added in some new stuff to sort of reorient the information, help you see it in the new light, as well as ending in their classic cliffhanger, while still giving us the necessary information.

That being said I think they perhaps didn’t think some things through. (read more to see me vent about ep 29 and the rules of good storytelling.)

First (and mostly a nit pick) from a writing perspective you really don’t want to just verbatim repeat stuff? If you want to remind people of important information have it brought up again in the story or have someone mention it off hand. Now, admittedly that can be hard in rpg format, and takes longer to orchestrate. And with the amount of stuff Griffin was wanting to remind us of he’d probably be hard pressed to pull it off. That being said, I really would much much rather him have done a ttazz, and be able to get some clarification on how he is thinking about some things. Often there are things the boys seem to think were obvious but caught me totally off guard, and just in talking about it he would probably firm some things up. Also the cuts between scenes were really confusing. I feel like there should be a better way to do that, but I know nothing about sound editing so I can’t really talk. And who knows, maybe that sort of vague dream-like vibe was intentional? It almost felt like this was all from someone’s point of view? As if, maybe, these were all of Ned’s memories or something? that’s what I kept thinking while listening to it. Or maybe that’s just me.

Two. This apparently uses up the interlude. The precious precious interlude, which is basically the only time we get proper character interaction and growth. And it’s for the most part stuff we already know, and at a time when we NEED character interaction! A main character has just died! we NEED them to react and process or it just feels like they didn’t care. This is a common problem I’ve noticed in amnesty, where things are just left undealt with. We need closure. And perhaps they’ll fix this in the next ep. Especially considering ducks lack of getting any reaction, or even seeing if he knows what happened? But in the past, more often than not, they haven’t ever brought that closure. Just rushing on past all of the stuff that, to me, is the most important. Basically, I’m not listening to this pod for the monster fighting, I’m here for the characters. just let the story Be. “Let the silences play just as much as the music.”

Three. It almost feels like there’s an episode missing? Like just because the monster died doesn’t mean the drama was over. Last we saw a mountain was basically falling on Aubrey, Leo was dying, and Pigeon had just shot a man. And then that was never even addressed?? Like??? I feel like I’ve missed something. You can’t just time skip in the middle of the sky falling. Almost quite literally.

And four. Really the whole reason I made this post to begin with. Griffin introduces Clint’s new main character by making us DISAPPOINTED TO SEE HIM?? That’s a terrible first impression? Like I get that it’s a twist and wow haha gotcha. But honestly it feels almost… kinda cruel?? Almost more to Thacker (and by extension Clint) than to the audience, but also, ya to the audience, because as far as I can see it’s pointless. Unless there’s some theme of disappointment (or similar) he wants to drive at with Thacker, there is no reason to do that other than to have a twist. And I’m sure when griffin thought of it he just thought it would be an excellent cliffhanger to end the episode on. But honestly it’s really damaging to our perceptions of Clint’s new character.

Tldr: ep.29 could have been done way better, Thacker’s intro immediately leaves a bad aftertaste, I love amnesty to death but I’m having a hard time trusting griffin to bring it all home. Too many things have been left unanswered.

[ghosty-schnibibit]

slightly shorter than usual liveblog for a shorter taz ep!

my thoughts going into this are that i'm a) still raw from the last ep, which i have not gotten a chance to relisten to yet, b) scared because of travis's "collaborative" tweet like what does that even mean trav, and c) tired from binging all of good omens last night, god it was so good guys please take this as my recommendation to go watch it. anyways, on to the new ep!

"one last lunar interlude" fear.jpg

already starting off with griffin then okay

so it's kind of like a ttazz? oh wait nm

hmmm... idk how to feel about this, this is kind of weird but i'm willing to trust griffin on this new format 

oh dang, new dude! i do not know who this dude is and i am worried!

oh straight into it with the new dude then

agent haynes? like the furniture store???

oh i do not like the villian vibes i'm getting from this guy

this is so bad, this is so fucking bad oh my god

aaand we're back to griffin, nice

where the hell did everyone go?????

i was gonna say this clip sounds familiar, this is from like ep. 2 or 3 if i remember right? the music laid over it is new though and it gives the scene a lot more of a sinister vibe

i was nervous at first but i'm liking the recontextualization of the old clips through the new music

oh and this clip is from the beginning of the water arc

and this one is from the first lunar interlude

... end of music, and back to new stuff :P

god i fucking love you duck newton

MINERVA! :D

h e l i c h o p t e r

drake? oh right sarah

and we're back to old clips... i think this was the vision from the tree arc? oh no wait it's from the water arc

okay, this is the flashback from the tree arc

and here's minerva's first appearance from ep. 1 or 2

and this is from the penultimate ep of the bear arc

all the clips with ned in them are making me sad :'(

and this is the bit at the end of the tree arc :'(

... i forgot about the disease, that's gotta be important

and here's the last lunar interlude

and the bits from the last two episodes :)

oh damn, i might... i might be able to go to the dc one, i'd have to check with my parents because of transport but that's only about 8 hours by greyhound bus... *sigh* probably won't be able too because of a combo of overprotective mom + financially abusive dad 

back to new dude :o

... so agent stern might still be on our side, interesting

good summation of the last ep lmao

i feel like 90% of this liveblog has been me identifying which clips are from what ep so i'm gonna stop doing that

WAIT A MINUTE... IS BILLY ONE OF THE LIGHT CREATURES THEN??? IS THAT WHAT IT MEANT BY PARTITION?????

god every clip with ned hurts so much after last ep :'(

the fact that it sounds like it's stopping to listen to someone after each clip of dialog is still feels super significant

this whole scene is still so surreal and i need to know more

more new content time :)

aww aubrey baby :'(

... was that indrid?

loving the folly work this ep

oh it's janelle nm

WAIT WHAT IS GOING ON

this music is both scarring me and getting me super excited

aww the clip with the mom :(

all the clips from the first two episodes stand out a lot because griffin had a cold at the time lmao

we've only got about 12 minutes left and i’m nervous

i forgot all about the interpreter stuff, dang

can i just acknowledge real quick that griffin has gotten so much better at audio mixing? because i remember when he used clips from moonlighting during ep 66 in balance you could hear music from the original scene under the new music and i'm hearing none of that here

god the thacker audio is still so creepy

OH DANG IT'S ALL ELECTRONIC LIKE THE LAST ABOMINATION

god that was creepy as shit

WAIT WHAT THE FUCK

CLINT'S GOING TO BE PLAYING AS THACKER!!!!!

final thoughts: i was a bit nervous of the idea of a clip show format type episode at the beginning but i think it was a really good thing in light of the up coming finale, i had forgotten a ton of stuff that (now that griffin has drawn attention to them) i know is going to be addressed and i needed to keep in mind for the most emotional impact. also super excited that clint is going to play thacker! i was worried how they were going to fit him back in now that ned is gone and this seems like a perfect fit!

[ghosty-schnibibit]

finally found time to listen to the first ep of graduation and holy shit!!! i love it so much!!!!! liveblog below ^u^

so i’ve stayed off tumblr for the last five days to avoid any spoilers and damn it was both hard and worth the wait, i am so hype for the rest of this season!!! i think this may be the longest liveblog i’ve ever done so apologies in advance to mobile users if the readmore doesn’t work.

oh dang! starting off with narration!

newa? oh cool we're not in faerun

“a blessing of unicorns” travis i am in love with your world already

loving the spookiness of the place names

trav i love it but this is so much lore so quickly bud i've had to pause to take notes like three times

"and our deaths become all but inevitable" jesus travis

i am so excited, this is going to be so much fun

this music is giving me such dreamworks vibes

AND A CAT :D

SPECTRAL CAT :O

and here's the other three boys!

griffin is getting out years of dm saltiness and i love it

a handsome half elf boy, neat

agro keen! nice name clint

his voice is like griffin put artemis sterling and indrid in a blender

sir fitzroy maplecourt, i love him already

clint no, i am too a ace for this

water genasi, that sounds fun

i cannot wait to see the fanart of this dude, he sounds so pretty

"you had me until the mustashe" same griffy, same

JUSTIN THIS CANNOT BE THE VOICE YOU USE FOR THE WHOLE CAMPAIGN, JUSTIN W H Y

clint started off vaguely crunchy and veered right into ned

this is untenable justin

just throwing this out there, just purely based on the voices, i think fitzroy is my fave so far

oh fun! like caduceus 

"that's an absolute unit!" mood

i need art of this dude so bad

... so the same name you gave the nitpicker lol

GARY THE GARGOYLE

fitzroy you precious baby boy

oh god this is bringing back memories

"what is a bunked bed?" says griffin 'every fantasy world i create contains elevators' mcelroy

"there is no shame in this" what does that mean justin

fitzroy is my sweet boy and i love him so much, my wee aristocratic dipshit

nice! 17 for the first roll of the campaign!

huh, nice! i like this mechanic

clint ilu

you mentioned maps in the ttazz trav, give me the maps

loving the verb usage lol

oh god its hagrid

i'm loving bud more and more each time he talks

"that's groundsy's place" that's where groundsy hides the bodies of students who displease him

ARGO WTF ARE YOU DOING

"both in different ways" dang

barn and battleground side... this sounds fun

does fitzroy want to be a knight? i love this

love the use of the word smooshed

hippocamp? oooooh horse mermaid, fun

BABY :D

nice, that sounds cool as hell

TRAVIS HOW HAVE YOU MADE ME CRY, THIS IS LITERALLY THE FIRST EP AND I'M LITERALLY IN TEARS OVER THIS BABY

y'know what, his voice has grown on me

justin you are crushing this entire scene and i love it

we're already getting some foreshadowing here and i am loving it

oh this music is so choice

YEAAAH first competent woman of the arc! :D

nice, go argo

"oooh, you're sir fitzroy" why does my boy have a reputation already

did my boy get kicked out of the hero tract without knowing it???

is he crying?????

"i had my feelings hurt by a strong man" b a b y  b o y

who's the asshole?

argo my sweet sarcastic boy

oh fun, new npc buddies :D

i'm getting some wicked malfoy vibes from this guy

argo is being a dick but in a very deserved way

travis was not kidding about the sheer volume of npcs, holy shit, i'm only about 45 minutes in and i think that's seven different npcs with names and distinct personalities

oh fun! fantasy wheelchair 0u0

make that ten named npcs

his full name is argonaut, cool!

i am so excited for her holy shit, i need to draw every single pc and npc but i want to draw her the most, i love her so much

fitzroy is a dipshit and i love him

ooooh i get it now, so it's almost more like an acting school, i am digging this setting so much trav

damn that is confident

... are they the only ones clapping?

higglemis is such a mood

justin ilu holy shit

i love leon so much already, he's so soft spoken and sweet

"you would not survive that" fair call lol

griffin no you're going to destroy me with second hand embarrassment

what are you doing fitzroy my dumb dumb boy

"i'm in heck" g r i f f i n

oh my sweet summer child. oh my poor baby :(

yes, what is your class my sweet failure boy

so he's a wizard boy, love it

thank you for trying bud ilu

f i t z r o y  2

druid boy!

rouge buddies :D

so we've got a druid, a wizard, and a rouge, nice balance, a little heavy to magic users but so was balance lol

... i am terrified to know what this squirrel thing is

never mind that is actually freakin adorable, and i love her so much

oh goody malfoy's back

... it's hazing. he's going to haze them.

trav’s doing a really good job of giving npcs with similar pitches of voice different cadences to their speech

the fuck griffin

"that would put me right off lemons" a r g o

oh he has a cape... i know i kept thinking of him as a sort of malfoy character but now i can't stop picturing eridan

i am genuinely loving all the hp digs, this is so good

SNEAKERY

oh nice! birdy teacher :D

griffin what owl character are you referring to??????

i love how mundane this is, no joke, it makes it feel really grounded

good to know since they don't really have a healer

they have a dedicated party class, i love this

are they actual skeletons??? holy shit travis i love this so much

he's such a nervous baby, awww

DAMN GRIFFIN NICE

i love how supportive these boys are

how did you manage that trav, dang

HE'S A WHAT GRIFFIN??? I'VE BEEN PICTURING HIM AS A LIL NERD BOY THE WHOLE TIME, HE'S A BARBARIAN????? H O W

"we don't talk about it" i love this

is that a spell? i need to look that up

i love this skeleton friend so much

clint's tradition of naming his weapons continues and i love it

clint what are you d o i n g

NICE! go argo :D

"fuck life lessons!" jesus fitzroy

so it's more of like... a vocational school, size-wise, which aligns with a lot of the background info trav's given us. nice, easy to mentally picture

blame taking???

"you're the one whose magic came and ruined everything!" i am so eager to know this magic barbarian boy's backstory

agro's going for a more errol flynn aesthetic lol

puppy :D

"we feel settled on bud" i just realized this is the second character justin's playing that we don't know the real name of lol

i am so eager to learn what the heck this is and i just know it's going to end in a cliffhanger with only 11 minutes left in the ep

"does a plant cry out? it is plant!" i love this sweet firbolg boy

awww, ranier is a sweety, i love her so much, she's my favorite npc so far

bud’s giving himself some larry bird boots lol

everyone but bud are dumb dumbs lol

this music is so good

i am so intrigued travis holy shit this is so good

a credit to trav, this is the first npc that's made me think of magnus in terms of vocal cadence and tone

oh groundsy

poor fitzroy lmao

I AM SO READY FOR THIS

in conclusion: i am so incredibly hype for the new season!!! i know this ep was mostly setup but i’m already super interested in everyone’s characters and the mystery of whatever’s going on in the spooky forest, and i’m loving the direction travis is taking with the world and how he’s combining the magical with the mundane to make a grounded yet fantastical setting! i can’t wait for the next ep and for all the great things to come this season with everyone ^u^