#magnus-mcelroy

[lithiumseven]

The Adventure Zone is so funny with regard to the boys’ interactions with Clint because sometimes they’re like “what do you think Daddy?” or “whoa Daddy that was so cool!” and other times it’s “I’ve told you this so many times old man you have a microphone, if you yell again I’m evicting you”

[its-your-mind]

ALWAYS rotating TAZ: Balance around in my brain like microwave but ESPECIALLY with the announcement of The Suffering Game graphic novel

The dope thing they can do (and are doing) with the graphic novel series is sprinkle in moments of foreshadowing and hints to the reader about what REALLY might be going on here, which is so cool and I’m a huge fan of it, especially when you’re telling a story in this form.

But what is REALLY FUCKING TASTY about Balance as a story is that none of the motherfuckers telling it had any clue what they were doing when they started

Gerblins is dick jokes and not knowing how dice work and making fun of each other for voices. LICHRALLY the scene where Taako grabs the Umbrastaff is immediately proceeded by Clint trying different voices for Merle while Justin begs him to stop, as Taako. Merle gets launched across the room cuz he failed his save, and now Taako has an umbrella. The scene moves on.

Griffin brought them up to the BOB, introduced them to the Director, and gave them memories of a war fought over nameless, lost, powerful but mysterious artifacts. The memory that Taako takes from it is the idea of soured cream (ya know, for his taco quest).

And then they’re off, on different adventures, making friends, saving lives, making more dick jokes, and Griffin is in the background, slowly building in the meta-plot, as all DMs do.

But this meta-plot was HUGE. It was ALL-CONSUMING. It completely changes everything we know about this world and these characters. It takes the moments of dick jokes, and arguments about character voices, and flirting with death, and adds a layer of tragedy and complexity that just wasn’t present the first time they told that story.

AND THAT’S WHY THIS STORY KICKS ASS. The vibe of the story changed as Tres Horny Boys grew closer and closer to remembering the lives they had lost, as Griffin upped the stakes, as people started dying. They still don’t know shit for most of The Suffering Game, but you absolutely could not have predicted the tone of that arc after just listening to Gerblins. It sounds like a completely different story. And so when the other shoe drops, when shit breaks bad, when it’s the end of the world… again, and they have to reclaim their Stolen Century…

It makes sense. The tone has shifted enough to accommodate that kind of change. The characters have grown (back) into themselves enough to make this work.

Because TAZ: Balance is a tragedy. But the tragedy happened before the podcast even started, and had been erased. So of course it started off with goofs and dildo jokes. Of course the three of them started being standoff-ish with each other and making light of every situation that should have had a lot more weight. They didn’t know what they had lost, and we, the audience, didn’t either. So it was easy to laugh and joke… until slowly, it wasn’t so much anymore.

Plenty of people have praised Griffin’s storytelling abilities, but I think the thing that was most impressive to me was how he took the disparate threads laid out behind the Boys on their adventures, and followed them backwards, into the story they had lost, and forwards, into the ending they earned. I fucking love that he settled on Istus as the deity to interact with them, because I don’t think there’s a better representation of the story Griffin was weaving behind the scenes of the arcs.

Story and Song wasn’t really an arc driven by dice rolls and role playing - but it wasn’t railroading either. Griffin took every story they had told, every happy ending they had fought for, and twined them around and through each other. The world was saved not because of a lucky nat 20 roll, but because every person they had helped through the story came out in force to fight beside them to save their world.

And so in the end, the Stolen Century was a tragedy. But The Adventure Zone: Balance was a story of hope, of family, of the power that just a few loveable doofuses can have when they move through the world, making friends and saving lives. So when the world was ending and they needed help, there were dozens of people waiting to hear the Story and the Song that would give them the push they needed to fight, and the hope they needed to win.

[tazanimated]

TAZ Animated is now LIVE!

This was a multi-animator project that spanned nearly 6 years from 2017 to 2023 with over 150 participants! The video covers an edited version of episode 4 of The Adventure Zone: Balance running about 34 minutes long.

Link to participant credits

[ask-taz]

The Adventure Zone: The Suffering Games will release July 16th, 2024

[manxmoss]

I miss

I wish I could hear TAZ balance for the first time again

{Image description: digital art of Magnus and Taako from The Adventure Zone.

The first image shows Magnus, a light-skinned and broad-shouldered human with reddish-brown sideburns. He's wearing a ripped red vest that looks like it came from an IPRE jacket, and holding a baby Voidfish, grinning towards the viewer. The background is blue, with white outlines of carved ducks.

The second image shows Taako, a skinny elf with light brown skin and straight, chin-length blond hair. He's wearing a purple wizard hat, lilac blouse, and long gray skirt with gold accents, clutching an umbrella with a frantic expression as sweat runs down his face.

The background is an orange sky, and a dialogue bubble reads: "These memories are fading, Taako, and they're nearly gone." End description.}

[rolaplayor101]

Can't resist the allure of He/They Magnus

[queer--oranges]

I went a little crazy and designed/re-designed (based off my old drawings) a whole bunch of The Adventure Zone’s characters!! I don’t know what happened but I watched the D&D movie and something just clicked in my brain and I decided I missed TAZ, so I’m back on my TAZ bullshit 🩵

Of everyone I’m most proud of Taako and Kravitz’s designs!

[emiko-matsui]

Guess who's been pondering a relisten lately...

[misza-dva]

Oh man, long time no post anything… After releasing Space Prison - the game I was working on - something in my brain switched on, and I started drawing traditionally in my small sketchbook :) Also, one day after watching a silly series from Monster Factory about The Final Pam, I told myself:

‚I really missed my McElroy Boys.’

Maybe I should relisten to The Adventure Zone ??

I was crying and producing big, big tears - it was my third time listening to The Balance, and well - it was the most emotional for me 🫠 Such a beautiful story.

These are the sketches I drew while listening to this podcast - I wonder WHY I’ve only drawn one piece of illustration in the past?? So here’s my love for this podcast, in my small sketches :)))

[dogs2shouldvote]

during my latest relisten of taz balance, i recorded every line i found even the slightest bit funny with zero context, not even who said it (though some are pretty obvious). here’s all my favorites!!

“i’m probably studying.. my cantrips”

“just say mastrubating, dad”

“don’t come in mom i’m studying my canteips!!”

.

“yeah you’ll do any dumb shit”

.

“it’s like a bag of holding! but for.. ass.”

.

“do we know how much damage we did to him?”

“six damage, you said it out loud with your mouth.”

.

“it should be in the player’s handbook! get your salty snack to enjoy while you play dnd”

.

“my grandpa says it’s rude to whisper. especially on a train!”

.

“i’m not going to go toe to toe with a crab while youre armed with a terrible scottish accent and travis doesn’t even have his sheild. i’m out! … did i say travis? i mean leman kessler.”

“nope! that was wrong all the way around.”

.

“i’m cosplaying taako right now, as a stupid man.”

.

“who’s just rolling dice? who is doing secret checks that i don’t know about?”

.

“i always waste my 20’s on perception checks. like i give a shit.”

.

“it’s completely conceivable he would have a name tag.”

“IN A GANG?”

.

“like a pelt??? like a bramble*pelt*?????”

.

“is there a math check? what are you talking about?”

“yeah it’s your fucking brain. you use your brain to add numbers together”

“16”

“what are you fucking doing??”

.

“griffin i love you youre my brother. but if my skill called history doesn’t literally help me with history trivia questions in a category called history what are we FUCKING doing here??”

.

“can i ask you a question? are you guys mean to everyone?”

.

“fus-ro-over dere”

.

“that one was actually a badass bernie sanders”

.

“hey thug! what’s your name? i’m about to tentacle your dick.”

.

“a d6 is like some dice ass dice. that’s some monopoly shit.”

.

“i thought you were saying merle, it’s his bread and his body, take 2d6 healing points”

.

“you two remind me of something… you remind me of the babe! and then i throw the glass sphere at them.”

.

“make a constitution saving throw to see if you can eat this fucking rock with your mouth.”

.

“dungeons and dragons is a. great game.”

.

“my name is magnus burnsides”

“marchins burchens”

.

“magnus would not say that. however, travis would.”

.

“can we please not talk about chekhov’s bush?”

.

“we’ve got a ball, a sack, and a tool!”

“everything is gross here in dnd.”

.

“only losers smoke, isaac.”

“i give isaac an hour long lecture about the dangers of smoking.”

.

“i’m just gonna put my mouth down there and go buck wild”

.

“there’s a lot of go cart tracks called the adventure zone and i’ve been working with my lawyer to shut them all down forever”

.

“does taako fish?”

“yeah taako fishes.”

.

“a rock hard-“

*justin, clint, and travis laugh*

“come ON, *really*?”

.

“taako rushes in!”

“what! magnus follows him.”

“merle’s good out here!”

“WHAT is going on?”

.

“how do you not have a d6 it comes with every board game”

“my daughter-“

“eats them for power???”

.

“uhhh how much health do you have.”

“im not gonna tell you.”

.

“let’s see… i am going to hurt jenkins. with a magical spell.”

.

“this is about to become the taako show starring taako.”

.

“BLUFF FUCKING BLUFF O’CLOCK?? WHAT IS THIS, HALF PAST PERSUASION TIME??”

.

“i’m not laughing in game” *justin fucking loses it*

.

“she’s the best at burning shit ever.”

.

“traaav griffin got to do his show for so long and now he’s gonna destroy yours.”

.

“fucking lup finds like. a gun.”

.

“for sure, keep it sleazy. we’re out, bye!”

.

“i have to believe…. i’m gonna get those fifteen dollars back from greg fucking grimaldis”

.

“based on the rules of the game, dad… you die.”

.

“dad’s making a jerk off motion at me”

.

“don’t play the pennywise card like you ALWAYS try to”

.

“should i talk slower so that everybody who has been complaining about us not playing dnd has time to nut?”

.

“i am a wizard. my name is taako. and i am pretty well fucked.”

.

“yeah i’ve got cumin who do you think i am?”

.

“hear that, babe? we’re *legends*”

.

“i’m clint mcelroy and i played merle hightower-“

“nope”

[mcelquotes]

What you call wrath, I call bravery. What you call pride, I call confidence. It's given me the strength to do the good that I have and accomplish the things that I've accomplished. To do otherwise would be to go against my own character, and that would be a far greater sin.

Magnus Burnsides

[yourbelgianthings]

reasons why travis’s pcs are neurodivergent

he said they are Or

just by virtue of the fact that he’s playing them Or

they’re devo.

[in-this-crystal-kingdom]

One thing I’m thinking about this morning is that one thing the novels do that the podcast doesn’t as much is show that Taako has always deep down had a distrust in Lucretia.

Like in the novels it doesn’t take much of anything for Taako to get angry with her, he demands answers from her and gets very angry when she can’t give them. He even throws it in her face when she DOES, like ‘See? That wasn’t too hard” or “Oh I guess you CAN be honest”.

And on one hand that just makes sense for his character but it’s making me feel way more emotions than it should because even if he doesn’t remember her what she did is still in there. He knows her, he really deeply knows her. He has an immediate and instilled distrust in her, and I don’t even think Taako realizes how much more defense he gets with her than anyone else. Hell, he’s more chill with the GRIM REAPER not being able to give him answers about how many times he’s DIED than when Lucretia gives them a task to do.

Imagine not remembering someone you love very deeply with everything you have. You would feel like something major is missing from your life, which Taako does. Now imagine not even remembering that someone did that to you and then needing to work for them. You would feel like something was up, but if you thought to hard about it all you might get is dull static. I feel like the confrontation in the novels is going to be even more emotional than the podcast because all of the sudden it will just make sense. It will make sense to Taako why he felt the way that he did about her and it will be so painful to know that he was right.

[canonically-asexual]

TAZ GRAPHIC NOVEL SPOILERS

Thoughts I jotted down as I read Suffering Game for the first time:

-I want BoB pajamas like Lucretia's. Get on that, DFTBA.

-TAAKITZ SMOOCH 🥰🥰

-Mookie fucking rules

-They changed Fisher's pronouns to she/her? 🤔

-Taako with an updo is so beautiful

-Griffin checking the rules in a book called "Dangers and Disasters" 🤌

- Seeing Taako get crushed was somehow worse than seeing Merle get disarmed in Crystal Kingdom. Taako my pookie no!

-42 year old Magnus looks incredible

-Oh fuck me they tried to take Julia

-Arms outstretched arms outstretched arms outstretched! Perfection! More beautiful than I imagined

-Oh my god Griffin they're losing him that is such a cool fucking story choice I'm obsessed!!!!

-Hell yeah I'm so here for agro Angus mage-handing doors and using the heck word!

-Barry popping out holding Ango's silverware?! Pure fucking gold.

-He remembers Lup 😭

-Four full pages of Naked Magnus was a helluva choice 😆

-Taako's angry crying face might kill me. How does @careydraws manage to capture anguish on the boys faces so exquisitely. She did it in Magnus's temporal chalice flashback and again now when Taako remembers Lup. You're killing me Carey. I already sobbed at these moments in the podcast how dare you make me cry over them all over again!!!!

-FIRST. LOOK. AT. LUP. LUP MY ANGEL! SHE'S SO BEAUTIFUL 😍😍😍

I'm sure I'll pick up on more amazing details on my next read-through (which will be happening immediately) but these were my first thoughts. 100000000/10 Perfect Flawless Immaculate Obsessed

[transformersweatpants]

Merle is introduced after Caroline’s greenhouse heart event - after the cutscene the player may click on a large bush in the corner and (similar to Krobus) a startled Merle emerges. You’re given dialogue options to either convince him to move somewhere else or keep squatting in the greenhouse. Random dialogue options include him searching in vain for Scuttle Buddy, sweet-talking the tea plant, and attempting to convert the player into a worshipper of Pan.

Magnus lives in the Adventurer’s guild and offers two services: Pet-walking (increases the players <3 with pet) and Protection in the mines (carries the player home if knocked unconscious, guarantee no lost items or medical bills). 2+ Heart Event is him coaxing Dusty (Alex’ dog) out of his pen with a treat. 4+ Heart Event is helping him name his new goldfish! Name options: the lord esquire goldfish, Steven q fletcher the goldfish, steven the goldfish. 8+ hearts with Magnus and he mails you a “questionable fried unicorn.. horn?”

Taako works part-time as the chef for the Pirate Bar on ginger island, and occasionally shows up to work at the Stardew Valley Saloon. When given fried calamari he sighs wistfully and exclaims “brings back warm memories” with a wink. Random dialogue options include him asking if a gift is secretly Gogurt, asking for directions to the wizard’s tower and explaining that he can’t have someone stealing his thunder. When given a Dinosaur egg he inexplicably cries “DUPREEEE”. He eventually teaches magic in the community center (library section) to the kids and the player if cajoled

[reallysleepymermaid]

My best friend got me the eleventh hour graphic novel!!!!!!! Ren is my favorite character and I’m SO happy with her design 🥺