#high school dropouts

[fishyfos]

[spaghetti-machete]

just finished fantasy high junior year. relate to mary ann skuttle painfully as someone who had no sense of fashion a hyperfixation and a flat affect as a teenager. you can't tell me she isn't three years away from having a gender crisis

[autiebiographical]

While education is important it's less important than your own wellbeing.

I feel no shame in the fact that my mental health was put first, and that I didn't get my high school equivalency until later in life.

[thepringlesofblood]

the vibe im getting from FHJY is that this is the season where they really lean into the high school aspect. that probably sounds bonkers since its called Fantasy High, but like. hear me out.

Freshman year, they come at high school from the "John Hughes" "80s teen movie trope" vibe, which is to say different from the real-world experience of high school.

it works great! operating in that frame of reference makes everything flow really well, and hits all the high-school-related-media notes in a very satisfying way while putting its own spin on it and not getting bogged down by the actual slog that is high school in reality.

there's still a lot of more modern inspo, but it stays in the kinda expectation-suspension-tropey area of how 80s movie high school works.

Sophomore year is spring break! I believe in you! They're not at school! They're on an adventure!

They lean into being a teenager and coming-of-age themes a lot (obvs), but the only big reference point to the institution of high school is that it'll be worth 60% of their grade.

A huge point, to be sure, and the exact kind of objectively unfair but somehow not against the rules shit that happens in high school, but not the main driving force of the season.

arthur aguefort also does a bunch of wack shit but it's more fantasy than it is high school although its a lot of both.

they lean into adventuring as a set career path much more, with the school giving money for hirelings and offering a basic incentive for other students to go, so that's a loose connection to the real-world career counseling high schools have, but again, not the main thing.

VERY Important though: we are now very much in the present. The viral shrimp party, livestreaming Kalina, online banking, the epic of Gorgug building a cell tower? this isn't john hughes 80s town anymore, this is now. (at least in Solace).

Junior year

almost everything in the trailer is about academia

we've got the cool doodles-in-the-margins style art and intro

in the interviews and BTS (so far), the cast have talked a lot about what they were like in high school (not the 80s)

and the precedent that The Seven set where the MacGuffin was getting their GED? It's time.

we're getting into what is actually hell about high school - the institution itself. the arbitrary standards that academia in the US holds, and how it leaves behind, punishes, and fails its students in its extremely important role of preparing them for life as an adult.

i could talk about this all day, but personally for me the quote from the trailer that shot me back to my junior year of high school was "You have perfect grades, and it still might not be enough for you to graduate"

riz's arc this season is shaping up to punch me in the academia trauma and personally i can't wait for the catharsis

Brennan has shown time and time again that he Gets and wants to tell stories about the ways in which the US education system affects, hurts, shapes, traumatizes, changes people, and how they survive and recover from it and make their own lives. I for one am so so ready to see that reflected with the bad kids.

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[pieofdeath]

"I'm wearing a sports bra and a g-string and I want to be closer to all of you" ok kristen. thanks. thanks for telling us. okay.

[plant-ago]

Riz not being able to roll lower than a 21 on his downtime checks and acing his classes and acing his extracurriculars but not putting anything towards relationships… uh… hitting a little close to home, fellas.

[blimeygate]

She’s writing another love song about Ayda probably

This is just a sketch, please ignore how messy this is, but I worked hard on it lol

[ddreamteamies]

dream has been in labor with the new project for so long i’m gonna have to help him give birth like do u need an epidural sir perhaps a c section i can help i am a nurse

[haaam-guuuurl]

It occurred to me that this season's been a little different than the first years (especially Sophomore Year) because it seems like the Bad Kids aren't forming as many relationships to NPCs - not bringing them along on adventures or talking that much outside of getting information (at least not friendly NPCs, they're interacting with the Rat Grinders plenty) and then I noticed that in downtime, they've basically been ignoring rolling for the Relationships track. It's almost like being in a constantly stressful and results-focused environment really destroys your interpersonal relationships

[worldstoforge]

Shout out to Terpsichore Skullcleaver, bard teacher and dance instructor at Aguefort Academy for taking a full shit to the chest from one of her students and doing THE MOST THEATRE TEACHER thing I’ve witnessed since grad school.

She made sure no one laughed, not just because it was “natural” but because I genuinely believe she knows two things as a teacher:

1. True Art can not be created within a sphere of judgement and setting a precedent of judgement in your class is just asking for trouble.

2. Fabian obviously didn’t do that on purpose and if a 18 year old student shits themselves during your class. That’s cause for major concern.

Here is to you Terpsichore Skullcleaver. You’re one of the real ones!

[johnnythundercop]

I know Balthazar by Fig & the Sig Figs is canonically a parody of How Bizarre but in my heart of hearts it’s a 12 min doom metal song w no vocals

[slaymynamebitch]

I want to make sure that any young high schooler understands that they don’t have to have their college applications and all of that stuff done during their junior year. I love the gang but they are wrong about this. As someone who literally graduated early I did not have any of my applications done until my senior year and I do not know a single person that did. You should make sure you are taking your classes seriously and start beefing up your extra curriculars and do your college essay. Also during your junior year maybe check out a couple of colleges that interest you and do some research especially during the summer. The mindset that everything has to be done in your junior year is unrealistic. No hate to the gang but I want to make sure that nobody gains unrealistic and unreasonable expectations for themselves and their goals. ❤️❤️❤️

[tricoufamily]

just to watch him die

[proselles]

Uraume despawned???

[duckinhoodies]

who do i have to bribe to get fantasy high senior year next year so i can have had freshman year during my freshman year, junior year during my junior year and their senior year with mine