#dndads discourse

[nick-close]

I’ve seen multiple times disliking scary being compared to misogyny and I don’t know how to express the fact that disliking a character who intentionally betrays her friends multiple times, belittles other people’s problems, who’s biggest struggle has been her mom finding a loving husband, who acts like that’s the most traumatizing thing that’s happened to anybody in the party, is perfectly reasonable.

Scary is being groomed and I understand that manipulation, I think it’s awesome storytelling. A really good chance for character growth. But she also read the journal with everybody else. She’s seen how her friends react. She intentionally HID who she was calling from her friends because she KNEW they’d disagree fundamentally. And as a woman who is a big woman fan, I think it’s important to have women who suck in media! And Scary sucks lmao.

That doesn’t even mean I don’t like her being in the show- I think she brings a lot to it and when I separate her from how she’s been acting? I love her and the party together I think they’re amazing. But I. Think we need to remember if someone doesn’t like our fav and talks about it, it doesn’t need to be horrible. We can just disagree. You can support women’s wrongs, I hope u do! Some people don’t <3

[vulcanscholar]

i know absolutely nobody cares about my opinion but as a pwdid, yes, beth shouldn’t have said what she said. yes, it was unnecessary and tone deaf. yes, her APOLOGY was BAD. but calling beth ableist genuinely seems a bit far..?? she’s uneducated and dipped her toes where they shouldn’t have gone.

to me this read less like “i’m fake claiming you!” and more like “that’s so stupid that didn’t happen”. which tbh i feel is a normal way to respond. I’M not saying that, because i understand that CAN happen, but i don’t think beth anticipated the amount of weight behind saying someone w did was lying about something . she admitted she was uneducated and also that it wasn’t her intent in a bad apology, but i don’t think this super warrants a long ass apology from her

yes critique people for being uneducated ALWAYS and call out something harmful when you see it, but this will not change my opinion on dndads. if this is the worst thing you have to say about the pod i think that’s a good thing.

[undefbug]

I honestly don’t get shipping in fandom half the time because like can’t they just all be friends with each other? closest i get is like yeah these two are literally inseparable best friends which yeah this is probably mostly an aro thing but also like friendships can be cool and close and intimate and you don’t have to explain your weird ass dynamic or whatever. leaves things uncomplicated. also being friends is just cooler

[officialgleamstar]

oughh peoples weird takes have shifted from my girl to ur guy i see 😭😭 i am so normal about bad takes i promise

in the masses' defense!! i understand where a lot of grant takes come from. hes been a bad father, he has a lot of improvements he has to make, and i think its really cool that matt is doing a plot line rn where linc is cutting his dad off. thats awesome! like, genuinely, i love it. it hurts my feelings a lot as a Wilson Enjoyer(tm) but i think it makes so much sense story-wise and im really enjoying seeing where the plot is going with it!

however i just think its really fucking weird of some fans to imply that mentally ill people arent allowed to have kids or try to love other people when they dont love themselves! maybe im just projecting though </3 i like to think that most people are just wording their takes poorly, or that theyre being dramatic, and i can recognize that i can be really overly sensitive about characters with intrusive thoughts/low emotions. i project onto them too much! i get it! but like, i dunno

i relate a lot to grant and while i dont want kids, i do crave connection with people despite my more... asocial aspects lol. i only recently have gotten to a point where i let myself have community instead of isolating myself for my constant intrusive thoughts, low emotions, lack of empathy, etc. so it just kind of sucks to have this turn in the story that have people acting as if grant is the worst for thinking that maybe he could love a son and have a family. definitely similar vibes to sparrow where people are like "he only had a kid for daddy magic!", which is a take i dislike for ALL of the kiddads but that i can start to understand-- but then also just genuinely, there are people seeming to say "you shouldnt have kids if youre mentally ill" which... no? no. like. i recognize the idea that you shouldnt have kids if you cant even take care of youself, but all evidence points to that grant was capable of having a kid when linc was adopted. linc was socialized well as a young kid, he had friends his age, he visited his grandparents, etc. it was only later that grant's mental health took a downturn again and i think thats fair when everything going on with the doodler/code purple was going on. by no means is grant a good dad. but i think its really harsh and verging on ableism to imply that his mental health makes him incapable of being a dad at any point in his life.

but i dunno!! thats just my thoughts!! lol <3

sparrow is always going to be taking the brunt of weird takes though, i think o7 she truly is taking on the worst of the worst. godspeed to my beautiful weirdgirl

[aelinox]

Isn't Birdie Oak the name of the parrot that Lark and Sparrow killed that Henry had as a pet?

I’m pretty sure that the parrots name was Beanie. It would be wild though if Henry gave his kid the same name as the pet the twins killed though.

[almondcroissantsandink]

Different anon, but honestly, the wild thing is dndads S1 vs S2 are different GENRES and I'd argue also made to appeal to different age brackets, whether they intended that or not.

I kinda wish the break was cleaner between seasons? Like completely unconnected stories, even if set in the same universe, so if you don't like one you can still enjoy the other?

YES! I 100% agree. The genre switch was a big thing that got me; besides dealing with the nauseating descriptions of stuff, I fully expected the grandkids to start at the school or whatever and then very quickly head back into the sort of medieval fantasy/traditional dnd/forest adventure setting the dads were in. And it was jarring that it stayed in this urban fantasy/slightly horror/scifi/uncanny valley setting.

You got it exactly right, thank you! That actually explains a lot. It also was jarring to obviously go from adults and their POVs and issues to the POVs and issues of young teenagers. I wish there was a cleaner break between the seasons, too--because I don't know if they've made a cameo or anything, but the whole time I was listening I was wondering more where the dads were/if they were still alive etc. than worrying about the actual new characters and their quest. It would be interesting to see if Anthony and everyone do a third season with a completely new story in a new universe, and what that would be when the time came.

[thirtyskeletons]

the reason mlm canon couples aren’t as common in actual play as wlw couples is because men simply aren’t as instinctually comfortable with having that kind of intimacy with their fellow man (even if it is fake) as women are with other women. and this is why caldwell tanner is the dnd player of all time

[watchingyoufromthestars]

Finally cleaned this up so here’s my DnDads ultimate ship opinions list. I was waiting until after s2 ended to clean this up in case I had any final opinion changes with the last few episodes. Please don’t bash me for any of these. The DnDads fandom is generally very nice but shipping discourse is something that can get heated no matter the fandom.

Dads

Henry Darryl: very neutral. I understand the ship I just never fully got on the boat

Henry Glenn: absolutely fucking feral about them do not get me started on Glennry

Darryl Glenn: feral in a different way that I don’t know how to describe other than toxic yaoi in the way that they’re damaged but refuse to talk about it so they kiss about it instead

Loveeeeeeee polydads but only as Henry/Glenn/Darryl. Not really a Ron shipper I love him and Samantha too much. Ron and Glenn’s friendship is very important to me though

In terms of Jodie, I don’t really ship him with any of the main dads, ESPECIALLY not Glenn. Even if Jimmy didn’t play Jodie I’d still never ship them. Wish Scamster was real and not completely a scam because they’re literally a crackship become real except it was never a crackship before canon. It’s surprising to me that they weren’t really shipped beforehand

Henry Mercedes: THE T4T OF ALL TIME BABEYYYYY. Absolutely iconic couple, fate was in their favor with how they met they were destined for each other

Darryl Carol: After hearing how Darryl talked about his family in Heaven, I was actually really happy they ended up not getting divorced. They clearly had a rough patch as seen in s1, but they genuinely love each other and I love how devoted to her Darryl is. The little finger puppet he made of her in the time out zone… :,)

Glenn Morgan: GLORGAN!!!!!!!!! Oh my god these two tear me apart. I am feral for Glorgan angst there’s too much to work with. More people need to start calling them Glorgan instead of Morglenn please please please please pretty please indulge me in my silly ship name

Ron Samantha: sobbing. They’re so sweet. The distinction that Samantha is also a little silly is very important to me. They love each other so fucking much

Kiddads

Nicky Sparrow: didn’t realize how much I love them for a good while but when I did oh god I love them so so much. T4T it’s so real to me that they’re both trans

Nicky Lark: used to like it but yall mischaracterize Nicky so much in fics. If yall want toxic yaoi just ship Grant and Lark I’m so serious

Nicky Terry: sobs. They were best friends. I don’t personally ship them but the fact that Terry said he was his best friend… that line rattles around in my brain so often

Nicky Grant: recently learned this might get shipped and has THE coolest ship name. Crossfire I love you but for the ship name alone

Sparrow Terry: I think I’ve seen this shipped a few times but only in the context of Terry/Nicky/Sparrow. Not my personal cup of tea though

Sparrow Grant: I don’t see this shipped too often but they have the worst ship name ever /aff. Wtf is a spant lol. Also I’m too much team transfem Sparrow to feel comfortable shipping this

Lark Terry: do not know the appeal of Gun Control but their ship name is fun

Lark Grant: toxic yaoi central. They both need intense therapy but them both being so fucked up is what makes them interesting not that that’s healthy though

Terry Grant: I see them more in a qpr place than anything romantic. I have one fic of them that’s bookmarked on Safari because I think about a part from it from time to time

Don’t have any poly ships for them

In terms of s2 spouses I so desperately wished we could’ve seen more of them. We barely get to see them

Nicky Cassandra: Telling Taylor his dad was a good man and that she misses him every day makes me think they parted on good terms. But then Nicky disappeared because of FBI shit. In another life maybe they could’ve worked.

Sparrow Rebecca: more ugly sobbing. I’m unsure on my sparroace thoughts if they’d end up getting divorced post-finale but I know they’re not fully separating or breaking up. They really are in love but it’s unconventional and messy.

Terry Veronica: I think the reveal that Terry is infertile is a nice touch to their relationship. It sounds weird to say and I feel like I might word this all weirdly. Him being unable to have bio kids but finding love in someone who wants to raise a kid with him anyways. Veronica finding new love again after a supposedly abusive relationship. Both of those combined is something I really love.

Grant Marco: Canon gays ftw. The Titanic episode was so generous in letting us get to see their dynamic. Obviously Grant still has a long way to go in finding self love but I’m so happy he found someone who can support him and loves him back like this.

Teens

Normal Scary: ugly sobbing over them I love them so much. Cradling my madomagi and tma aus with them as madohomu and jmart

Normal Taylor: yearning for the early s2 days like when they went to Sonic and made some devious plan off screen I wish they had more silly interactions together. Was truly fed with the kareoke intro and them bonding over costume making for a minute. Tayloak could be so interesting if there was more material to work with

Normal Link: Childhood BFFs to Lovers; I wish they could’ve hung out more as kids but all that happened

Normal Hermie: I get the hype but I have personal reasons for feeling neutral on them that I wish I could get over. Good soup though /ref

Scary Taylor: see them too much as a sibling dynamic to ever ship them

Scary Link: respect to all y’all shippers but I do not gothcleats and will leave it at that forever. I can only accept the finale with my transfem Link hc

Scary Hermie: I love Scene Partners. These stupid kids and reflecting each other /aff

Taylor Link: one that I can’t believe I didn’t ship sooner they’re so silly

Link Hermie: I think this one is very funny (/pos) but not my personal vibe

Love love LOVEEEEEEEE Marloakworthy AUGH. A giant triangle of everyone paralleling each other

Polywagon I love you; cannot believe you’re real and genuinely canon. This is just Homestuck again when Hussie said all ships are canon (DnDads never beating the Homestuck allegations from me)

Scary Erica: wish there were more interactions I love Erica so much but alas she’s a guest NPC. “You awaken a lightness in me” sapphic ass Scary I know what you are

[lemonofthevalley]

told my gf (the one who doesn't listen to dndads (yet)) about the terry discourse and doll is just as confused as we all are it's so fucking funny

[nick-close]

If the things u complain about in the dndads fandom come from the Reddit you aren’t complaining about the fandom ur complaining about Reddit and it’s your burden for using that god forsaken place tbh

[vulcanscholar]

can we genuinely go outside please. no, a player on a d&d podcast making a irresponsible comment on a twitter post is not doing irreparable damage to the fucking did community. what are we saying dude

[bad-ads]

can not believe dndads discourse is now “is terry a bad person for not leaving his wife bc scary didnt like him” like…. what

[raemeh]

Actually very curious about how much of the fandom saw that

@oakay I’m sorry I’m bringing this up again but I’m a man who loves statistics.

[isabelopaque]

ANYWAYS . sorry to always be your discourse mutual. this is why i had to step away from dndads during the polls before i never thought there would be blatant. lies. on main about pcs. ill be normaler now

[guess-how-i-stole-this-body]

Glad to know the DNDads family is big enough to get into discourse. How we doing, gang?

[podcastbrainrotdad]

Say dndads gets the critical role treatment, which characters do you think should be voiced by Anthony and which characters do you think should be given to different actors? I'm in the mood for harmless discourse