#This vid is my journey (and maybe yours) into how I came upon and loved this show

[wanderingfandoms]

For Word of Honor’s 2nd Anniversary

Special thanks to the shl archive carrd

[a-singing-carebear]

Thank You Critical Role - My D&D story

“The adventure begins, they were always beside you. Your nerdy best friends and the DM to guide you”. Critical role, what more can I say?

I started playing dungeons and dragons when I was around 4\5th grade, playing with a group as an afternoon group\class. 4E, and I don't remember much besides my halfling ranger and a lot of glances and readthrough of my still existing Player's Handbook. (Well the first half of the book, the miniatures section didn’t really speak to me) Finding out my father was a DM when he was younger, and I even went to some events. I can't at all recall why I stopped, but the happiness and creativity wonder I felt still lingered in my mind. 

I had the love for fantasy, I had things like LOTR, “hey! it’s just like D&D”, and a lot of creativity and storytelling crafting.

After that, I kinda moved on I guess, felt lonely, and like geekness and role-playing was a bad and childish thing (though it made me feel so spectacular). The closest I got was some lively Avatar OC with some new friends.

Fast forward to 2015, The episode “Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons” from gravity falls. All those feelings rose again and I remembered how much I loved playing.

(also enjoy role-playing and with LARP being mentioned there too, when I went to some Cons I had a blast with the foam swords there).

I took out the 4e Player's Handbook, made with my brother (who got in and out of d&d by that time) a carved foam platform and a cubes map - thus started a made-up game by the name of "D&F" (Dungeons & Fandoms), using his found old dices and it's a 1 on 1 encounter magic arena with no distinct roles. What started as "let's make Ability Scores to characters from shows" became a random "I cast a tree of pancakes on you! -no, I burned it with fire-bending you’re dead". A game that also slowly died as we grew up and apart (“I mean, they used to be best friends, but then they got all stupid. Can you promise me you won't get stupid?”)

(FOUND IT!!!) A mild discovery of the ingenious song “Never Split The Party”, an actual d&d song I discovered after watching Semblance of Sanity and figuring out that their ditty “don’t you know you never split the party” is an actual song their singing.

[This video is just a d&d podcast they had, but kinda sums up everything I feel about why I enjoy D&D!]

Then another tiny spark 3 years later when the Voltron episode “Monsters & Mana” came out (BTW, a great d&d parody episode). Which mostly came to an end after a glance in the book and dices and helping a friend with ideas to craft his own RPG game.

We arrive at the date when everything changed (well, almost), December 7th, 2018. The day I discovered the “Mighty Nein Animated Intro - Your Turn To Roll” and my life were never the same.

Stumbled upon it by complete accident. I was at a loss for words, I heard the name “Critical Role” thrown about many times on tumbler’s trending list and saw pictures and art of mostly Jester. I didn't even know what is it - a tv show? a game? well, it looks like D&D. The song was incredible and brought me back, I started writing a full-fleshed out character - a human ranger taught by an elf, but the idea was quickly shifted to another fantasy story by me (it’s heard sticking to it when you know it’s just backstory and character info and you will not play and you have no one). But I continue watching this video on repeat (haha not even knowing what it actually is), scouting tumbler for info and watching some random animatics, learning it's probably a podcast d&d\rpg or something. It could have been amazing as a tv show (XD)… and then another video got released, same incredible essence of d&d song but different animation, and different characters That was my first introduction to Vox Machina.

I had to check this out. Tried to get into the fandom but got lost, even though the interest was there. Stepping upon the awesome cosplay OP and even found out about a hamilton album parody - and my musical loving self was ecstatic.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIDuJAvTTRc&list=PL39vwIwCtLi3l4J6IMV6rS2HaLCujNzRT -  Vox Machina: An Exandrian Musical)

Found the full podcast list of champion 1 and started this May. But it was hard following just by voice, and I wanted to see what was happening, every episode was 3-4 hours long, with me in my military base it was impossible. (also I thought to myself “it looks cool, but what so investing and amazing about watching some people play D&D - boy I was wrong).

Then my unexpected savior arrived, miss Corona the pandemic.

I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands and the Critical Role vids got suggested again on YouTube, yes indeed, I discovered there are actually filmed episodes. Towards the end of May, I started the journey and the flame reignited. I started talking to a good friend of mine about his interest in d&d and we started crafting characters - I resurrected my charter into a half-elven ranger with a full backstory. Down the road, I asked another two friends of mine about their interest in d&d (because maybe I can join together an actual party), one of them said, and I’m quoting “no I don’t have experience playing…but I swear I wanted to talk to you about D&D”. Unfortunately, the two friends groups didn’t mix but we made an improved first session with me as the fucking DM, simply magical. Later that week I started a 1on1 campaign with the other friend, with him as the DM and a marvelous start of an adventure (and helping him learn the rules as an ADM, with the past faded expirations I had).

All while fangirly, hyperfixation way continuing with the journey of Vox Machina, it’s amazing because as opposed to other shows I can also completely see the fandom growing along with the show and cast (i just hope I can catch up to the Mighty Nein before the inevitable 3rd campaign, 198 episodes to go - happy 100th ep!). It’s also difficult to get into the Critters fandom right now because most of the community is focused and recognized by Mighty Nein. Also burning up creativity slots and making more various characters then I could ever use - I’m enjoying myself so muchhh. Diving headfirst into this beautiful crazy of the mess that is D&D.

Nothing’s never too late and it’s ok if you have hiatus. It doesn’t make you any less worthy and I don’t need to feel bad about this journey of that a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons got me back to loving, playing and caring about the world of d&d, it’s part of the intent. As a fantasy lover (spells, costumes, items, structures, creatures, you name it), aspiring creative writer and an untalented lover of acting theatrical and role-playing, along with the incredible mechanism of RPG and the vast community, the amazing time with friends, its the game for me, it always had been. So thank you Critical Role for igniting that flame once again - even if I will lose it again I will always have you guys. “Can you answer the call? Dig in deep in your soul. As the legend unfolds, now it's your turn to roll!”

(sorry for the lengthy length, it was meant to be much shorter)

[auiyoncesmind]

Look, I know I said I was going to have to take a break from this site to focus on school or whatever, but since Gotham’s final episode is on tonight, I felt as though I wanted to get all of this off my chest. This may or may not be pretty long, so all of my thoughts are under the cut.

Gotham is pretty much the reason why I joined the DC fandom in the first place. It may seem pretty hard to believe, but it’s most definitely true.

I was watching Shameless at the time (as I’m sure a lot of people who joined the fandom at the time were as well), and about a week or so before Cameron’s first episode came on, I saw vids/gifs of what he looked like on the show, and it looked creepy as shit to me (almost like I’m watching a live-action version of the goddamn Chucky doll or something), so then I was like, “okay, maybe I’ll catch this episode and see what’s going on.” Mind you, I didn’t know much about Gotham (the city or the show) at the time I started watching this episode; the most I knew about DC back then were some of the household names like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, etc. Then I found out that Selina, Oswald, and Edward were on the show, which was pretty interesting, but judging by the way the show looked in the first season, I thought it wasn’t going to be a thing that I was going to stick with long term.

Boy, I was so fucking wrong.

[Spoilers if you haven’t seen 1x16 I guess, though it’s been out for years so idk wtf you’re doing if you haven’t] I remember seeing Jim and Lee towards the beginning of the episode being all cute and stuff, and idk how, but Lee just became my favorite character from there, because she was just a huge ray of sunshine with lots of kindness in her heart and everything, and all she wanted was to do cute couple things with Jim or whatever, and she’s very smart/intelligent and all of that. I think about all of the screen time she’s had since then and wonder why people still hate on this woman, because she’s not right all the time, but she shouldn’t be burned at the stake compared to some of these other characters (literally the villains are running this town, so it’s crazy to even think about).

Anyways, my Lee Thompkins appreciation rant aside, they brought up Dick Grayson’s parents (the dude wasn’t even born yet in the universe, and I thought about Dick and Bruce meeting at some point later on, only to realize that it probably won’t even happen), Fish Mooney trying to escape that prison she was in for most of the episode, Jerome killing his mother, etc., and all of this made me wonder what happened next. Obviously, Cameron wasn’t in anymore episodes after that one, but I still wanted to check out the other stuff going on in Gotham because it seemed genuinely interesting at the time. Sometime during the hiatus between season 1 and season 2, I caught up with the entire show to check out the main plot of the first season, holding on to some of the highlights of the season (e.g. Edward going mad towards the end, Barbara getting hypnotized by The Ogre, Selina and Ivy hanging out in Barbara’s apartment, the whole mob plot, etc.) until the next one came on. By then, I was hyped for the show and tuned in for every episode, and it’s been that way ever since. I found myself loving more things about it that previous episodes didn’t have (e.g. Tabitha Galavan, Hugo Strange, the Maniacs breaking out of Gotham, more mad Edward Nygma, etc.), and it instantly became one of my top favorite shows.

Some of that joy and happiness may have gone away with new episodes, whether it be because of the writing or the lack of suspense or whatever with some of the plots or the lack of interest in others, but I still kept going because I learned more about the DC universe through that show than I ever would have expected. Every time I heard a name drop on the show or a reference to a comic book story that I was interested in, I would look up some of that stuff online and get more information on it. Gotham, in a way, got me into watching the DCEU as well, especially with all the fan edits I saw going around on here and on Vine when it was still active. Around the show’s second season, I found out that one of my favorite actresses (Viola Davis) was gonna be in Suicide Squad, which had some familiar characters in it that I recognized as I continued my journey with Gotham (namely Joker and Harley), so I ended up watching it in theaters. The movie came out at around such a difficult time for me. I had lost my great grandmother a couple of weeks before its official release, and while things didn’t get much better after watching that particular film (my mental health was so fucked up to the point where my GPA dropped significantly that fall), I appreciated what that film gave me, despite flaws in the script and the ways in which people were talking about it online.

That following year, Wonder Woman came out. I wasn’t sure what I expected, really, because I didn’t watch that many trailers at the time, so I went in with literally no expectations, yet I came out with it being one of my favorite solo comic book movies ever. Then I found out that she was gonna be in Justice League and ended up watching it, too (though I didn’t know too much about the behind-the-scenes stuff at the time; all I knew in relation to that was the Henry Cavill face debacle, and tbh, that was one of the things about that movie that made me cringe). And then after that, I watched Batman v Superman and Man of Steel on my own time before I started glancing over some other DC-related media. I even caught a couple of episodes of some other DCTV shows (e.g. Supergirl and The Flash). This is what I mean when I say that Gotham got me here in the first place, and honestly? I haven’t been more grateful. I’m typing all of this as I’m wearing one of the Shazam shirts that I got from my school, just reminiscing on all the experiences I have shared with so many wonderful people in the DC fandom, which wouldn’t have been possible had I not tuned into that one episode of Gotham in 2015. So to know that this show’s series finale is right around the corner is a bittersweet feeling — but mostly bitter, because it ended under unfortunate circumstances and that I’ll never see all of these cast members together again.

It didn’t hit me for weeks leading up to this moment, too. Like, I was upset that the show got cancelled, but I wasn’t very emotional or anything just yet. And then Camren made that one Twitter post saying that 5x11 was her last appearance on the show. I was literally out in public reading all of the heartfelt words she put into her post, and I remember feeling like I was gonna cry in front of everyone. It was slightly embarrassing because I hate crying in public, but if we’re being honest, I didn’t give a shit. I’ve spent so much time dedicating at least an hour a day to a show I’ll never get to see again after April 25th, and that shit hurts me, you know? I’m sure we’ve all felt something like that when one of our favorite shows ended (and you’re probably coming up with a list of names as we speak). No matter what the circumstances are, we’re all mourning the loss of a show that meant so much to us at one point in life or another. Once upon a time, I didn’t think Gotham would be one of those shows, and yet here we are, and I am forever grateful for what the writers, the directors, the cast, and the rest of the crew has given its small little nest of DC/Batman fans.

With that being said, I want to thank everyone who was directly involved with this show and put hours upon hours of labor into creating something unique and interesting for new comic book fans. I want to thank the writers and directors for bringing so many wonderful DC characters to life. I want to thank all of the supporting / guest cast members, regardless of how much screentime you had while you were on this show. I want to thank Chris Chalk, Morena Baccarin, Jessica Lucas, Erin Richards, Cameron Monaghan, Sean Pertwee, Donal Logue, Robin Lord Taylor, Cory Michael Smith, Camren Bicondova, Ben McKenzie, David Mazouz, etc. for being probably one of the best TV show main casts a fan could ever ask for, as well as some of my favorite portrayals of your respective characters. I want to thank all of the wonderful people whom I’ve met on this wonderful journey throughout the past five seasons. Overall, I want to thank this show for everything it’s introduced me to within the DC universe. Your legacy within the DCTV universe will not be forgotten.

[kroncreative-blog]

Top 10 Saviours of 2016

I’d like to start off 2017 by taking a brief trip down the 2016 section of memory lane. 

2016 was a mind trip of a year. From the stacks of shocking political moves, across the globe, to the sheer number of legends taken from us, this year has been a lot.  On a personal level, the trials and tribulations of the year were made a little easier because I started dabbling in a little self care. It wasn’t a conscious decision: it just kinda happened. Some of my fav artists dropped gems, lost a little weight, started sleeping a little more. These all helped pull me through. They were so helpful in fact that I am bringing some into 2017. So here is a list of my top 10 saviours of 2016. 1. Lemonade by Beyoncé Unless, it has not yet been made clear, I am a HUGE Beyoncé fan.  This album and accompanying film was easily one of the highlights of my life never mind year. The album itself is a stunning showcase of Beyoncé’s range and ability - not that we needed any more reminding. ‘Freedom’ and ‘Sorry’ are two of my personal favourites from the album. The visual element of this album is simply beautiful. The way Warsan Shire’s words and the imagery were weaved together was just out of this world.  One of my absolute favourite things about this Bey project though? Was seeing the joy and elevation it brought to the Black women in my life and those I follow online. It was genuinely a heart warming thing to see.  2. ANTI by Rihanna The release of Rihanna’s eighth album at the top of the year was an absolute delight.  One of the highlights of this album was actually the way the album was promoted. The launch of ANTIdiaRy in November and all of the rooms really helped build up hype which this album DEFINITELY followed up on. “Higher”,  “Love on the Brain” and “Kiss it Better” are my jams.  A particular shout out to the opening track “Consideration” with SZA. The way their vocals merge together is like honey.  This album really made me feel like Rihanna is an artist who even with eight studio albums behind her has not yet peaked.  3. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin Embarrassingly, despite having a degree in English Lit, 2016 was the first time I had picked up this book by Baldwin. And flipping heck! Why this book is not taught as part of the school curriculum is a down right mystery to me.  The way Baldwin writes is simply astounding. In Giovanni’s Room he deals with the complexities of David’s relationship with Giovanni and others around him in such a palpable way. His articulation of David’s immersion in French culture, his love for Giovanni and in particular Giovanni’s love for David are highly emotive. I felt as if I was going through these experiences with David. Such is the capability of Baldwin.  “I thought of the people before me who had looked down at the river and gone to sleep beneath it. I wondered about them. I wondered how they had done it--it, the physical act. I simply wondered about the dead because their days had ended and I did not know how I would get through mine.”  4. 6,741, S05E04, Person of Interest I could, and perhaps at some point will write an entire in depth blog post on this exhilarating episode, but it was too important to miss out of this list. This was one of the most highly anticipated episodes of this season as it marked the return of Sameen Shaw (played by Sarah Shahi). 

6741 is a mind bender and mirrors the episode If-Then-Else which marked Shahi’s temporary departure from the show.  The way this episode was directed by Chris Fisher and written by Lucas O’Connor and Denise Thé and the concept of it is just phenomenal. Also shout out to Shahi’s fantastic acting skills which heightened the impact of this highly emotive hour of tv. One of the most beautiful aspects of it was the exploration of the depth of Shaw’s feelings for Root. The use of simulation to expose the audience to this was not only creative AF but inline with Shaw’s type II personality disorder.  “Do you know where we are? What they did to me? The torture? I told you I couldn’t escape it. But when things got to be too bad there was one place I would go to in my mind. Here. With you. You were my safe place.” 5. Grayish Black by Devyn Springer I received this poetry collection as a present from a good friend. And my days! What a present it turned out to be.  Everything about this poetry collection is stunning. The cover is black which is intentional. “Your fingerprints are all over this book now. It is all you can see across all the cover.” There is something about this notion that personalises the collection straight away and immediately makes it feel more intimate.  Something which builds upon this intimacy, is the photographs. When I first flicked through, the photographs took me surprise. I don’t think I’ve ever seen photographs in a poetry collection before. There’s also photocopies of some of Springer’s poetry/stream of consciousness/drawings which again add to the intimacy of this collection. The actual poetry though? I found it to be very raw and extremely evocative. There were a few instances where I had to close the book and set it down and come back to it later because the feelings brought to the surface were just too much (in a good way). But such is the power of Springer’s writing. Just so damn beautiful and breathtakingly honest. Again this is probably another piece where I will have to do an in depth blog post just to encourage people to go out and buy this piece and read it. 

“It seems all of the things I hate about myself have latched their claws into my skin, planted seeds in my bone marrow,  built hones in between my ribs, and decided to stay for a while.” 6. Dreamland by Mic Righteous This is one of my many musical highlights of 2016. Not only because I have been waiting for this album for the longest time but because it was entirely worth the wait. Straight out of Margate, Mic Righteous has an undeniable talent. His flow is effortless and his wordplay is genius. And his storytelling ability is insane. Every track on this album tells a story, just a tiny segment of different aspects of his journey. Highlighting his difficult childhood in Margate to his outsider status in the UK Scene.

This album also has a strong set of accompanying videos. Not every track has a video but some of my personal favourites are the passion filled ‘Gone’, party vid, ‘I Turn Up’ and the highly personal ‘Kids’. Stand out tracks are ‘All Dressed Up’ and anthem ‘Tempo of the Dance’. This is an album that you’ll just have to check it out for yourself. 

“My family don't get why I'm dead broke I'm deffo on my arse I guess that's the tempo of the dance I'm certain of my future like a psychic read a palm Maybe it's the patience that's ringin' red alarms I don't wanna see a sceptic have the last laugh Nearly spent seven years to perfect my every part Thinkin' of my examples and I don't get very far Because not many of them last or achieve What they set out from the start Selling out, dwellin' on what could be I live to prove people wrong because they overlook me I live to see my son smile, father livin' cushty” 

7. The Friendzone Podcast Hosted by Dustin, Assanté and Fran, this is one of my favourite podcasts and it’s one that just keeps getting better and better.  As is no secret to anyone, 2016 was hard. But this endearing yet hilarious podcast was something that helped keep me grounded and not get too consumed by the nonsense of this year.  This podcast is primarily concerned with “mental health, mental wellness and mental hygiene because who in the hell wants a musty brain?” Every weekend brings a wellness segment brought to you by Fran of Hey Fran Hey fame which aims to help you increase your wellness. One of the coolest things about this wellness segment is that everything that is recommended is trusted and used personally by Fran. Not only that the segment is well informed providing scientific research where necessary. Some of the things I have incorporated from the show are Palo Santo, weighted blankets, journal work and the Forest Productivity app.  Assanté is the musical maestro bringing us musical recommendations and has put me onto some flames music including Isaiah Rashad and Xavier Omär. His vulnerability adds an extra layer of familiarity to the show. 

Dustin. Sir Dustin is a law unto himself and keeps the show real and hilarious. His speciality segment is reality tv. Every week he gives the lowdown on shows such as Married to Medicine Atlanta and the Real Housewives franchise. His knowledge is encyclopaedic. Also the intro freestyle every week has a special place in my heart. Its literally lit every week and I haven’t heard a dud one yet.  8. Coloring Book by Chance The Rapper Listen. I was BEYOND hype about ‘Chance 3′ since I first heard ‘Ultralight Beam’. Which was also a freaking bop! It was so much of a bop in fact that I am yet to listen to the rest of TLOP. And my favourite part about it was Chance’s verse. Anyway, back to Coloring Book.

Coloring Book is beyond amazing. I am in love with the mixtape, the cover, Chance’s voice, the beats, the production, EVERYTHING. Chance even had me singing along with Bieber in ‘Juke Jam’.

Even though I’m not a Christian I really love the Gospel influence and features on the mixtape. Although the presence of Gospel in Hip-Hop/Rap is not new, I feel like Chance really elevated it. And his level of faith is inspiring.  Every single track is astounding. And to be honest, I know that I’m going to be listening to this for a very long time. I also know that there are not enough words for me to do this mixtape justice.  9. The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla With Brexit and the election of Donald Trump largely played to the tune of ‘fear the foreigner’ 2016 has taken a toll on this particular second generation immigrant.  Just when the rhetoric of British Values began to feel like almost like a vaguely defined threat, this little gem came along. This collection of 21 essays hit me right in the heart. These essays represent and validate the breadth of the experience of immigrants in this here United Kingdom. The blurb boldly asks “What’s it like to live in a country that doesn’t trust you and doesn’t want you unless you won an Olympic gold medal or a national baking competition?” Although it is worth noting that even these people have been exempt from racism.  Anyway, pretty much every essay in this book was relatable and made me feel some form of validation and acceptance. One essay which resonated with me deeply in particular is ‘Going Home’ by Kieran Yates. Yates details her perspective of the British Asian experience and learning how to navigate society, family and personal spaces and all the spaces within these spaces. The difficulties which sometimes arise like the ability to make a round roti. Yates highlights how she doesn’t feel a split between her Indian culture and British culture when she can take the best bits of both. “But for me, there is no neat duality; no neatly sliced elements of my identity that are in opposition. There is no hollow insecurity about rootlessness because these additional details and stories I’ve learned are additions to our identity, not losses.” This is something that took mea long time to realise and I’m still learning to be entirely honest.

10. The Get Down, Netflix Oh My Goodness. 

This series yeah? This series is already one of my fav tv shows ever.  Anyone, who knows me, knows I love Hip-Hop. This musical series loosely explores the origins of this spectacular and beautiful art form including, DJing, Graffiti, B-Boying and of course rap. It stars Justice Smith, Shameik Moore and Jaden Smith. The show was created by Baz Luhrmann and Stephen Adly Guirgis. I can’t lie, as soon as I heard Luhrmann’s name I was sceptical. I mean I love Moulin Rouge and his adaptation of Romeo and Juliet but I wasn’t sure how this would translate to 70s South Bronx. I was wrong, this series is visually gorgeous.  The raps in this series are largely written by Nas. Not only does this make the series feel more genuine but it made me fall in love with Nas’s own discography again. It also reminded me of the poetic nature and roots of Hip-Hop. There is a scene of Zeke’s teacher reciting one of his pieces to him in the opening episode and it is just breath taking. One of my favourite things about this series though, even though it deals with some really heavy social issues, it is infectiously hopeful. It can’t help but inspiring hope and looking forward. I feel like, in the coming months, this is something we will all need more of.