#taz

[a-train-nowhere]

It's so interesting to me how vastly different tres horny bois are in terms of how they're played, and I think that adds to the appeal of the Balance arc overall. Especially with Merle.

Travis plays Magnus like the big hero, the main character. He's loud and confident and boastful, he's incredibly talented and has plot armor out the ass that keeps him alive through everything. He's equipped with a tragic backstory, the loss of his home and wife and yet through everything he tries his best to be a good person.

Taako is the comedic side character. He starts as the joke character beginning with the name. He's Taako! The magical chef from TV! I assume Justin didn't truly expect TAZ to take off as much as it did so he made a silly guy for the one off episode they planned. But then TAZ just kept going. And of course he does get his own tragic story with the loss of his sister, the poisoning at Glamor Springs, and everything else. But that underlying silliness is always somewhat there!

But then there's Merle! Merle is the most human of the three. He's messy and he's relatable in some ways, and he's done bad things. He abandoned his wife and his children to go adventure. He's a deadbeat dad and he's not there for his family emotionally. His faith is loose and he's cynical. But at the same time? He's down to earth, he's a comforting figure and he knows how to help. He's trying his best to be there for his kids and to fix his mistakes, and he ADORES his kids. He wants to be a better father, a better man. And he does! He grows and learns and even though he fucks up he keeps trying. Merle's inherent caring nature shines through so well especially in regards to his children, and that's 100% Clint McElroy's influence.

[amnestyzine]

🍁 It's time to start introducing our contributors, starting with our wonderful guest artist: @itsscaredycat!

👻 Their art is full of character and energy that will perfectly showcase the spectacle and vibe of Kepler!

[yardsards]

the problem with taz balance is you first listen to it as a naive high schooler like "oh, funny dnd podcast made by those mcelroy guys i see in tumblr memes all the time! and they apparently have gay characters too! let me check this out! haha his name is taco that's so random XD" and nobody could have warned you that a decade later you'll still periodically think about lucretia and her martyr complex and be stricken with the urge to start gnawing your own limbs off

[jerreeeeeee]

i’ve written about this before and i will again probably but like ourggh the way lup views lucretia’s mistakes… augh… she forgives lucretia so easily because she doesn’t think she has anything to begrudge her for. she views lucretia’s decisions as an extension of her own because lucretia was working with what she left her. she pushed lucretia to feel the need to override the others’ agency by not listening to her and shutting her down when her plan was first discussed. lucretia hurt taako by making him feel so alone. he would never have been alone if lup hadn’t abandoned him. lucretia forced barry into a decade of isolation. he wouldn’t have panicked and died if lup had stayed. neither of the boys would have been in such a griefstricken state lucretia felt the need to rectify if she’d only stayed. lup never would have left at all if it weren’t for her own disastrous plan she insisted on, put lucretia down in order to act out. she can’t blame lucretia because she sees a reflection of herself, her commitment to doing the right thing and her own selfish, proud nobility. she made a promise on the robot cycle and she broke it. everything else, her guilt, her family fractured, her decade of imprisonment, was something she had coming to her for becoming cold and ruthless in the way she always feared. and she dragged everybody else down with her. everybody else got to know madame director, but lup can only see lucretia. of course it’s easy to forgive her. she was only trying to clean up lup’s mistakes.

[krowtesque]

some more assorted taz b doodles from my relisten

[bigboyhammerhead]

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

And somewhere inside of that living plane, we see a smile flash across someone’s face.

[nillial]

HAPPY BELATED LESBIAN WEEK have some amber gris ^-^ now we must prepare for lesbophobic halloween (this is a real event)

[cherriielle]

having a personal taz balance renaissance in the year 2024?!? 🌂✨

[pigeon3gg]

griffin mcelroy is so funny because youll see clips of him talking and its always either something like "my names sprite pepsi and im abstinence until i DIE" or its something like "that was the last conversation you ever had with your sister. when someone leaves your life those exits are not made equal. some are beautiful and poetic and satisfying, others are abrupt and unfair, but most are just unremarkable." and theres no in between

[anistarrose]

[ID: art of Lup and Barry from The Adventure Zone. Barry wraps his arms around Lup from behind, and she leans her head against his chin, as they both smile with their eyes closed. A red heart floats above their heads. Lup is a skinny elf with light brown skin, straight blond hair in a ponytail, and red lipstick. Barry's a chubby human with pale skin, short and curly brown hair, stubble and glasses. End ID.]

Lup and Barry as C1 on that one reference sheet 💕

[orykorioart]

Here’s a Kravvy for Octobies

[jerreeeeeee]

there are always like fandom specific “subgenres” of fic where there are a few really specific questions or big events in canon that a large percentage of fics want to explore. there are a few of these for taz balance fic but one of if not the biggest is “lucretia forgiveness”—which is usually about the question of how taako specifically feels about lucretia’s decisions post canon, and especially whether he forgives her. and while that’s definitely an interesting question, it tends to dominate, and it’s unfortunate because i find barry’s, davenport’s, and especially lup’s responses to lucretia’s decisions far more interesting

[crystallizedkingdoms]

ID: An edited screenshot of a tweet. johann the bard, @bestviolinistever, tweets: My boss told me the Relics keep eating her Reclaimers so I asked how many guys she has and she said she just goes to the surface and gets a new guy afterwards so I said it sounds like she's just feeding random guys to the Relics and then her gnome started crying. End ID.

mfw no relics after nearly a year of the BOB operating

join johann appreciation week you might find more of my weird johann&lucretia BOB fics/posts in the near future

[acmeoop]

Whirling Dervish

Taz

Art by Brian Shearer

[vnberry]

The twins