#will have to relisten to the first arc at some point tho i had a hard time telling the voices apart at the start for some reason

[ruby-red-inky-blue]

random notes on naddpod c1 ep 1-45

shared here in lieu of chewing my very indifferent friends' ears off irl. For whom it may concern. also why do i keep thinking i could keep these to a single post. this campaign has a hundred episodes.

spoiler warning! you will get no context but still

Scoutmaster Denny *murdered* me. The voice, the whole deal. I started this podcast on a trainride and fully lost it over Denny in public

“Let’s cast waterwalking on the boat!” “…Emily, that’s just a boat.”

Hardwon on the dumb mating call idea: "can't we just break a bunch of sticks or something? why do we have to make it horny?" and Murph losing the fucking plot in the background

DM lightly threatens player’s pet, endangers his marriage, more at 10

JONAH

“The animals are going batshit. Even the bats.”

legit every time they describe someone and then land on "they're just hot" almost nothing they describe works for me, it's kind of hilarious

also a truly staggering percentage of the NPCs are naked

Moonshine is saved by an almost literal Deus Ex Machina as Pawpaw descends from the Heavens carried by a very helpful centaur

-

The reaction to the last remaining dude attacking Beverly in the Ezry lab cracked me up. “We’re trying to watch a cutscene! Read the room!”

-

whenever Emily shows the slightest hint of disappointment or frustration the world will immediately alter just a little to make her feel better (like retroactively making the stairs unsafe because Emily saved a whole spell slot to climb the wall of the tower). This is the cutest shit and also it took them TWELVE episodes to call Murph out on it

(I'm much further into the podcast now and i can't believe none of them have tried to weaponise this blatant weakness even once)

-

A BROOMBA is sweeping the floor

nothing is better than Murph doing Pawpaw but his fucked-up sounding seagull is a close second. Truly capturing the personality of those damn bastards, the man is the king of the garbage critters

Emily feels SO guilty about sending this dumb bird to die

Coming into this with the only prior experience of DnD being Brennan and Aabria is kind of wild. Like D20 campaigns you'll get the big philosphical speeches for the emotional beats and here's Murph with an equally heartfelt "Life just sucks ass, you know?"

Hardwon finding out about his parents is SUCH a good scene

“Are they bioluminescent?” “No.” “Can they be?” “Yeah, okay.” (16/17)

“Get out of town!” “I can’t, I’m a mushroom. I just stay here.”

Emily: “Oh, scrying means spying!” “It doesn’t, but-“ Murph, .2 seconds within Emily getting ‘um actually’-ied on dnd: “It does in this game, wiseass.”

Ol' Cobb’s big day!

When Hardwon goes down and the whole table has to watch Murph fight this intense squirmish against himself. Just a guy rolling dice and talking to himself. God that’s so funny (19/20)

Bev’s big day! Also Bev’s first kiss! (19-20)

-

they’re really going all out for Ol' Cobb. Now he has a tragic lovestory too! (21)

“The High Elves believe that they were banished because they were cousins who wanted to get married. The Crick Elves believe they were third cousins at most. The truth is somewhere in-between.” “Second cousins?” “They were second cousins.”

Not to be cheesy on main but the Crick is such a love letter. Like it’s so obvious how much care and heart went into this almagation of all the silly asides Emily has thrown out

I have one (1) American irl friend and they're from a smalltown in North Carolina so all I'm hearing is people approximating my friend's accent with varying consistency and success

the Crick sounds like paradise and my worst nightmare, simultaneously

having Pawpaw's mother speak and also speak in the most matter-of-fact serious tone (22) is the funniest thing to ever happen. truly inspired.

Hardwon swears fealty to a middle-aged possum? what is happening

Jake v Murph’s ice ban is priceless (23) - “I caught Jake downstairs shovelling ice into his drink out of a bucket with a scoop - you had a scoop! - and he tried to cover it up and hide it!” “It was a joke!” “It sounds like you got caught though! Can you get caught making a joke?” #lifttheiceban

“I’m sure people will get the expedited version of the puzzle solving section-“ “No, give them the nine-hour cut, with just a full hour of us screaming at Murph begging for the answer.” “Join us for our new podcast, Puzzle Dullards.” (23)

Increasingly chaotic openings: “I am furious and I am also Brian Murphy” “If you edit out all my binks, I swear to Melora I’ll… I’m gonna pants you in your sleep!” (24)

Moonshine describing marble as “polite rock”

Emily attempts some straight up gaslighting: “Can I summon Illuminate Mystery?” “…that’s not… that’s not a real spell, you jerk.”

“Murph, if you kill Meemaw regardless of what happens in the fog just because it’s narratively interesting, I will sleep on the couch. For months.” “If Murph sleeps on the couch, is that a Murphy bed?” “No, I’ll sleep on the couch.” “Okay, if Meemaw dies, Emily will be punishing herself.” (25)

Not Murph giving Moonshine crickrot only to be audibly distressed when Emily is sad about it (26)

And then channeling this distress through her fictional pet possum

Pawpaw really is the funniest self-insert character of all time

“Balnor, are you from WWI?” I adore this theory and wish it were canon. But also he talked about fridges a bunch so probably not?

Okay but in all seriousness the whole Marabelle arc is SO GOOD

And Hardwon’s earnest devotion to Mawmaw is actually oddly touching ngl

-

Murph as the voice of Hardwon’s drug addiction is *devious* (30)

That NPC casino employee making zero efforts at the pirate lingo

Siobhan’s character trying to talk to Pawpaw!! Pawpaw being described as Moonshine’s accountant!!

Literally my reaction whenever pawpaw makes an appearance:

Moonshine backing out of that threesome and opting back in like five times and also roping Balnor into it is GOLD

Genuinely the strategy to fake an immediate orgasm and sprint out in embarrassment is actually probably not the worst way to get out of a foursome? Maybe?

"And Siobhan Thompson as Apple Scrumper." "MVP! MVP! MVP!" "Yeah, Apple is the only one conscious right now." "Right now, MVP stands for Most Vertical Person."

Murph treating his Jersey accent like a full-on speech impediment

"Why are you writing that down? I haven't given you guys anything!" "This is Caldwell, out of character, trying to be helpful!" "No, this is Caldwell, out of character, wanting that money for Bev!"

(in)voluntary horse murder

Emily's thornwhip move!! her MIND

-

"So do we go and look for him or do I just cast Skywrite and make the clouds say something threatening to him?" "You're going to threaten him with clouds? Okay."

"LIAR! LIAR BOY! YOU'RE NOT A REAL GREEN TEEN!" "I would never lie! It's true! The stratosphere wouldn't allow for it, I'm sorry!"

Murph making a huge deal about how it would be impossible to see skywriting at night when the way bigger issue is that Moonshine is illiterate. They keep forgetting that and it's funny every time

Moonshine firmly believing that Pawpaw knows how to write and him just writing "MO" every time is my absolute favourite bit I hope it never ends

"Wait a minute, you're in the middle of a swamp and you summoned a big, beefy horse?" "Horses can swim! Horses can swim!" "We've all seen Neverending Story, okay?" [crowd boos] "I will kill your horse! I dare you to boo me!" "Don't boo, he thrives off of it..."

Murph is channeling so much rage at something workout related here. who hurt you

"You all killed my family! My friends!" "You also did that." "You might have killed more of them than we did." "Truly all I did was hold a door shut." This is vicious I forgot how off the walls fucked up the whole Josh thing was

"Shit now I gotta do math in front of people."

Caldwell's silly little poems are actually so fucking impressive tho

"What's the damage on that?" "Rolling still." that is SO ominous

-

Spent this entire fight thinking the Watchman was throwing I beams at the BOB. Deeply confused when Murph said his players would get mad at him if he didn’t count those as spells. They meant “eye beams” as in laser beams from his eyes, and bottom line is English sucks because you can’t communicate anything clearly

-

“Murph, you’re living it up in this city.” “Yeah, you’ve invented a city full of anti-goof robots.” “The anti-goof police is out in full force.”

Murph setting up a super high-stakes social environment where the cast cannot pull their usual shenanigans and then deciding this will also be the arc where all the NPCs relentlessly flirt at Moonshine is honestly hilarious

holy shit no punches are being pulled in first half of the Frostwind arc. yeesh

Their massively lame "Headgum does Red Wedding" bit

Emily's Melora bits finally went too far: "Oh, Melora is masturbating in the corner!" "... Jesus." "Eww! That's the worst one!" "That is some Blumhouse shit, Emily!"

I think this podcast is the first time I've ever heard the word “brazier” actually pronounced out loud, and I hate it! please stop saying it

Murph taking the occasional run up at the fourth wall to go 'hey this is pretty good! who wrote this' always amuses me. i get it, if I could do that with my own writing i would

the 'one big bed' bit warms my heart. They keep trying to make it weird but honestly i still mostly come away missing big sleepovers

"I'm not afraid of the elements! The nature of mushrooms is sort of -" "Moonshine... mushrooms don't grow here." *Moonshine's life flashes before her eyes*

I know Balnor just confirmed he was around post early 80s because he quoted ESB, but the way he reacted to that whole gnarly giant murder and disembowelment is *really* giving WWI vibes

Starting to suspect Murph also just learned how to pronounce brazier. There seem to be a weird amount of them around, nobody has a campfire or an oven or a hearth or a fireplace…

The life and times of Ram Daniel

“I can’t tell you what a bad place this was to do a blood ritual.” Oh what a good and reassuring thing to hear from your DM

Murph starting to rate their little intros and immediately getting "bullied" into changing Emily's grade to an A (43)

“I sing a quick Gashlight Anthem”

Emily rolling for her dream and dreaming about Pawpaw dissolving, “that’s a one roll you monster!”

Murph stop making fantasy meth sound fun challenge

This party being fifty percent functionally illiterate is somehow still funny

-

"Bev crit on finding Werther's one time, and then failed a check to see cannons coming at his house, and his mom, his boyfriend and his grandma almost died."

"Everyone is hot, everyone is horny, welcome to NADDPod" well at least he admits it

[cassyapper]

loving you may mean losing you but i dont mind (jotakak playlist)

dont talk to me about the title of this thing im embarrassed enough

anyway but okay so!!!! very excited to share this!!!! this has been in the works since september but my picky ass finally found an adequate amount of songs so here it is!!!!!! my jotakak playlist (:

special thanks to my lovely and wonderful friend jade for helping me finish this this thing <3

track list nd why i picked the songs that i did under the break!

1. the predatory wasp of the palisades is out to get us! by sufjan stevens i chose this song because it’s all about internalized homophobia and being in love with your best friend as a kid which RLLY resonates w jotakak imo. esp cause in the song, stevens’ friend ends up leaving abruptly, leaving stevens to wonder about what couldve blossomed if they had stuck together and worked through the difficulties together, which JOTARO....THAT IS JOTARO-CORE esp cause kak also “leaves” (dies). so this song was a v obvious choice for me and in fact this song is what inspired me to create this playlist in the first place

2. we are beautiful, we are doomed by los campesinos! this song is abt being in love with someone but you both have ur issues so it’s kind of a mess. considering jotaro and kakyoin’s (to point it quite frankly) trauma and the fact that both of them do jack shit to try and cope with it healthily, this song DEFINITELY fits them. esp cause this song mentions physical fighting and the imagery that goes with it (”he got his teeth fixed/im gonna break them”, “i’ve got a fist on fire”, etc) and the entirety of the bridge/last verse rlly gives me these two’s vibes so! ya (:

3. love love love by of monsters and men this song is the singer feeling like shes completely unworthy of being loved by this important person in her life, particularly because she has NO idea how to show affection and love the (for lack of better word) “acceptable” way, or any way at all really. this REALLY has jotaro vibes cause he is one repressed motherfucker and as we see the entirety of his story, jotaro is full of love he loves so much it’s just he has no idea how to properly express it cause he’s scared essentially. but that didn’t stop people from loving him, in this case, that being kakyoin. hhhhHHh

4. ribs by lorde this song is about being scared of growing up but due to the lyrics being written the way they are, i kinda spin the interpretation of it to be the fear jotaro and kakyoin had on the crusade to egypt, as they were the youngest and didnt know if they’d make it back and everything is just incredibly overwhelming there is so much going on all the time those 50 days. i can do a full analysis on why but that would be kinda long LMAO. for now let’s leave it at they have a very Unique fear of growing up but it still fits with the lyrics. particularly the last bit of the song with the “youre the only friend i need” verses,,,makes me think of these two...

5. can i call you tonight? by dayglow i interpret this song to be about trying to figure out what, exactly, your feelings are for this very specific and important person in your life. since jotaro and kakyoin r both repressed and also suckers of internalized homophobia, i think they fit that theme very well. particularly with the whole “i feel like we’re close, but maybe we’re not actually? what are we?” theme going on in the lyrics, this whole song makes me think of jotaro and kakyoin figuring out their intense and sudden (cause again only 50 days but also, those 50 days had So Much going on) feelings for each other. also the “now i’m no longer alone” line in the chorus HHHHHHH that’s them

6. la la la love song by toshinobu kubota ft naomi campbell SO I KNOW THIS SONG IS KINDA JUST FLUFF but we need some light-hearted moments in this thing hjgg;. ALSO toshinobu kubota is canonically jotaro’s favorite musician so i wanted to reference that and this was my fav love song of his that i’ve found so far so (: also the “you are my shining star” line,,,heh

7. truce by twenty one pilots so this song is very soft. it’s about tending to wounds and taking a moment before continuing to push on. it makes me think abt jotaro and kakyoin taking care of each other on the journey (for example the lovers arc/n’doul fight). also the whole “stay alive, stay alive for me/you will die, but now your life is free/take pride in what is sure to die” makes me go fucking nuts that is. that fits these two to a T fuck

8. this side of paradise by coyote theory this song has big “two lonely people are in love with each other for the first time” vibes and OHHHHHHHHHH THAT’S JOTAKAK.... there are a lot of little lines that make me specifically think abt these two, such as “love so strong it makes me feel weak” (jotaro-core...), “if you’re lonely come be lonely with me”, “i’ll be yours if you’ll be mine” (wanting some security while ur in love for the first time is common but especially for these two i think it works spectacularly) but yea this song as a whole is just...ohhh them. theyre in lvoe HK;FNJFL

9. i saw you in a dream by the japanese house EVERY. SINGLE. LINE. OF THIS SONG IS POST-EGYPT JOTARO. EVERY SINGLE LINE. and the ghost the singer talks about seeing? they hadnt changed at all? they were such a pretty vision, a perfect hallucination? BRUH... just listen i could do a whole analysis on this song it all just fits jotaro mourning kakyoin throughout the years so so so so well it makes me feel nuts holy shit i just. literally every line. every line fits i am not joking. i cried when i first heard this song LMAO

10. video games by the young professionals SO LMAO obviously kakyoin’s epic gamer moves are being referenced but beyond that i interpret this song to just be the fun parts of being in love esp when ur young (backed up with the “kissing in the blue dark” and the “watching all our friends fall” lines). also the chorus just makes me want to cry cause just, happy jotakak moments PLEASE. “the world was built for two only worth living if somebody is loving you, and baby now you do” THEYRE NOT ALONE ANYMORE THEY FOUDN EACH OTHER IM GONAN WAILLLLLLL oh my god. im nuts theynkjNJKNJF also “i heard that you like the bad girls” please. these two shitty teenagers

11. ikanaide by sohta ft. yuki kaai this song is abt not wanting someone u love to leave u cause youll miss them obviously but also ur scared of how the time will change you and if it’ll make you unrecognizable eventually. big post-egypt jotaro vibes 😔 especially cause one part of the chorus translates to “i shouldnt cry, i shouldnt cry, but the truth is i want to say dont go” and im jus like OHHHHH NO IT’S JOTARO FINDING OUT KAKYOIN DIED jkfnNKJFNJDhkld

12. therefore you and me by eve ALRIGHT. god this song is one hell of a doozy. i interpret this song to mean being sincerely in love but youre in the wrong place/wrong time. considering the uh Whole Situation in part 3 there were definitely better times to fall in love for these two. jotaro and kakyoin try to be happy w the moments they do have (i think the second verse in particular adds to this sentiment what with the selfish ghosts part) but they want a better environment understandably so theyre also just kinda ignoring things until they can properly care for a relationship. but well...who knows if theyll live to make it to that better environment ):

13. mayonaka no door/stay with me by miki matsubara this song is a v sweet sentiment abt like “it’s not just heat of the moment!! i do care about u a lot!!” and asking the person u have feelings for to stick around. big kakyoin and jotaro vibes as it would be easy to call what they have a fling considering how relatively short of a timeframe they had but i genuinely think their relationship was deeper than just that and this song nicely reflects such. “jotaro and i will share a room cause we’re both students” fuckin head ass

14. a thousand years by sting oh sting.... so since sting is kakyoin’s favorite musician canonically i had to add one of his songs here as well but beyond just that i do think this song fits them!! it kinda gives me big “if not in this life, then the next” vibes which is a big uhhh thing for jotakak. they may be doomed to tragedy but the moments they have together make the tragedy worth enduring ironically i feel like this song is mostly from jotaro’s pov considering i dont think he ever completely got over kakyoin and this song def has that kinda sentiment but hey it fits them...

15. mr loverman by ricky montgomery SO FUNNY STORY i actually REALLY. REALLY didnt wanna add this song at first cause i felt it wouldve been...idk too cliche? i guess? and i was ALL kinds of picky when choosing songs for this playlist HOWEVER. eventually i relistened to it and read the lyrics while thinking specifically abt jotakak and it actually rlly does fit quite well KJDFN; another jotaro mourning song ): it’s not just the chorus tho the whole song fits jotaro immediately post-egypt but also i feel like some time around part 4 this sentiment would come back to him cause Yknow. Gays In Morioh and the mess of his family life back in america. it just aches for him cause while he’s happy josuke is happy he wishes he couldve had that for him and kakyoin too but yea jus ... them

16. you by petit biscuit an instrumental?? in a ship playlist?? yes that’s right much like mr loverman i was hesitant to put this song in cause it’s harder to justify since i dont rlly know much abt music (and not to b controversial but interpreting lyrics and interpreting music r two different things) however i really think the vibes of this song fit jotakak. it’s got a somber melody but the keys of the piano are high which im taking to mean “light in the dark” which. jotaro and kakyoin (along w the rest of the crusaders) were each other’s lights in the dark. also the ending samples a conference/lecture talking about space flight and like. star platinum. space symbolism. jotaro. yeah

17. saturn by sleeping at last MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. this song is all about losing someone very close and important to you, but reflecting on the good they brought into your life rather than the pain of losing them. this song also has HEAVY space imagery which stardust crusaders is absolutely chalk fucking full of so also it’s a very philosophical song and considering that jotaro and kakyoin are both Nerds and both got a nice view of the stars/space in the desert with each other, im sure they had conversations similar to the one highlighted in the song. i think it’s a good note to end the playlist on cause kakyoin is dead and jotaro is the survivor but it’s not a mourning song so much as jotaro taking the love he had for kakyoin and pushing forward with it allll th way into part 6

but yeah that’s the tracklist! i might add or take away a song or two but this is mostly it (: hope yall enjoy!

[luobingmeis]

hey bitch dare u to answer all the questions from ur ask game xoxo

ur a coward if you think this is a dare, my narcissistic ass loves any opportunity i get to talk abt myself and my inability to love things to a normal amount means i can talk abt taz for hours!!!! get on my level, bitch!!!!!!!!

1) What/Who got you into TAZ?

my friends chris and mj @cabesmeadow !! i saw it a lot on tumblr and asked mj abt it and they were like “yeah it’s super fucking rad” and then my friend chris started listening to it over the summer so, mid-november, on a night that i had actually finished my homework early, i was like, “hey, fuck it, why not”

2) Who are you top 5 favorite characters?

(my top 5 list is not in any particular order)

taako

killian

lucretia

lup

davenport

3) What’s your favorite arc?

the eleventh hour!!!! it’s such a good fucking arc and had so many good moments oh my god

4) Favorite quote?

i have so, so, so many but my laptop is on low battery so i can’t list them all, so i’ll list the one i would most likely get tattooed:

“looking for new worlds to explore; looking for new stories to tell”

5) Favorite villain?

a tie between magic brian and edward & lydia!! i love brian so much and thought he was so funny and such a good first villain, but i also love my evil lich vogue twins

6) What was your favorite grand relic? Would you have been tempted by it?

my favorite is probably the animus bell, tho it wasn’t my fave until my most recent relistening. and oh yeah, something that would make me, essentially, immortal? i would’ve been super tempted

7) If you had to make a grand relic, what would it be? What power would it have?

i probably would have made something w/ jewerly, maybe a ring or earrings? or idk yet, i can’t think of anything cool, but ngl i think it would def having something similar to the animus bell. not That exactly, but something necrotic that, like, probably takes life energy to heal whoever is wielding it or takes life energy to feed their own

8) What moment/reveal shocked you the most?

UHHHHH “THE WORDLESS ONE” REVEAL HOLY FUCKING SHIT

9) Which “seven bird” would you have been? Or what would your role have been on the Starblaster?

ngl i think i would’ve been along the lines of “the lonely journal keeper” like!!! alligning with her role as the chronicler, i feel like that’s what i would have applied for

10) Would you have been able to make it through Wonderland?

oh definitely not. im ngl a bit… not selfish, but territorial of my things, idk what i would’ve been able to give up for the wheel, and i def wouldn’t have given up years of my life, and going for my looks would be a Hard Bargain and, even if i was in a world where i had magic, i don’t think i would’ve been strong enough to survive the challenges

11) What are some of the parts that made you the most emotional (whether it be crying, laughing, etc.)?

uhhh the magnulia cottage scene definitely, makes me sob every single time i hear it and, during my first time listening, that was what broke the damn and ended up having me cry for 30 solid minutes

12) Which track composed by Griffin was your favorite?

“madame director/lucretia/lucretia (reprise)” !!!!!

13) Which track not composed by Griffin was your favorite?

“salut d’amour” elgar!!!!!!!

14) Lucas’s Magical Institute or Taako’s Amazing School of Magic?

answered!!

15) What was your favorite cycle in Stolen Century?

not including the beach cycle bc i feel like that’s an obvi one, probably either the judges cycle or the conservatory

16) What were some of your favorite inventory items of tres horny boys?

the extreme teen bible, stephen the fish, chance lance, the umbrastaff, and the hole thrower!!

17) What animal would have been your “disguise” in Petals to the Metal?

answered!!!!

18) Are you more of a “Magnus rushes in,” “Merle follows along behind,” or “Taako’s good out here” type of person?

i think i’m a combination of “magnus rushes in” and “merle follows along behind” but tbh i Should be more “taako’s good out here”

19) Favorite Taako one-liner? Or favorites?

obviously “abraca-fuck you!”

“hey sheriff isaac, guess what time it is!” “what?” “fuck if i know!”

20) If you listen to the liveshows, do you have a favorite? Is there a particular liveshow you would love to see the McElroys do?

my favorite is a tie between san fran and new orleans!!!! and i would love to see them do something with carey and killian, like their bachelorette party or even a hangover-style live show where they lose one of the brides the day before the wedding akjskdk

21) In Wonderland, would you have been hesitant to “forsake” your opponents, or would you have done what you had to to get out?

okay ngl not to sound Terrible but if i was going up against strangers,,,,,, yeah i’d do what i had to do. it’s called the fucking suffering game not the fucking best friend game omfg

would i be able to betray my friends/companions tho??? i don’t think so, nope

22) Of the puzzles throughout the arcs, which one was your favorite?

answered!!!!

23) Would you have liked to see the dark timeline where Magnus took the chalice, or Magnus’s sidequest with Kravitz? Or are you happy with what actually ended up happening?

i love everything that happened in canon but i can admit that a magnus/kravitz sidequest would’ve been fucking sick

24) If given the option, would you have joined the Bureau of Balance? Would you have been a seeker, regulator, reclaimer, or something else?

tbh i think i would if i had to and i think i would have been a seeker

25) What magical item would you have made at the Arcaneum (from the Stolen Century)?

a cool sword!!!!! but, like, a magic sword

26) What is something, material or not, that you wouldn’t have been able to sacrifice in Wonderland?

i wouldn’t have given years off my life. i wouldn’t even have considered it

27) What would you have presented at the Conservatory?

i probably would have written something!!!!!

28) In Story and Song, many beloved NPCs made a return to take a final stand against the Hunger. Which one excited you the most?

HURLEY AND SLOANE!!!!

29) What was your reaction when Magnus was revealed to be a red robe, and then to the memories that followed?

i was so fucking confused but, like, in a good way, and so fucking shocked oh my god

30) What was your reaction when you found out who Lup was, and then to what happened to her?

answered!!!!

31) What was your reaction to Merle losing touch with Pan, and then to Pan’s return when the Planes were reconnected?

ngl it was pretty hard hitting and not for, like, any spiritual reason or anything, but just bc merle literally had Nothing at that point and i felt so bad for him and was so nervous but also “i’m not your pan, but you’ll always be my merle” is probably, without a doubt, one of my favorite taz quotes

32) Who are some characters that you would have liked to see interact more?

LUP AND LUCRETIA!!!!! @ GRIFFIN: LET THEM INTERACT MORE I DON’T GIVE A SHIT IF IT’S JUST AN HOUR OF YOU TALKING TO YOURSELF

33) Flaming Raging Poisoning Sword of Doom or the Umbrastaff?

the umbrastaff!!!!

34) Something you learned from Balance?

that very rarely are there ever easy decisions, and that you have to give yourself time to love and love without boundaries because, even with the years and years people have, so much time can be spent not loving the people you have

also it taught me the type of writer i want to be, and honestly taz has inspired me so much to keep pursuing writing, even when i feel like finally giving in

35) Who?

i̶͎͈̞͆̄̾̄̕'̷̛̮̄̒̓͘m̵͍̖̜͂̔͛͘͝ ̶̡̦͙͍͋̑̂̅͠d̵̟̖̭̳̄͌́a̵̻̎̍͂̃̍v̸̲͇̮͊̽͒̚͝ḛ̵̳͔͗̊n̷̻̳͓͎̠͐p̷̰̘̘̭̗̈́̒ơ̵̪r̸͔̝̈̇͘͠t̸̫̠̯͗ ̴̨̛̖͕̟̦̀̏̂̚ḯ̸̜'̶̨̨̖̮̃̃̈́̿m̸͖̰̙̉̏̔̄́ ̵̺̊̓̃̽̓d̸̝̣̈͊a̶̩̪̖̝̽̚ṿ̴̝̙̣͈̐̊e̷̢̛̦̫̓̇͋n̸̨̖̽͐͊͗p̴̡̥͖̞̈́ͅö̵̭̼̘́͋̿ṟ̶͎͍͙͇͑̇̈̉͝t̸̢͕͓͓̠̆͊ ̷̛̟͕̂̌͛ĩ̶̤̺͕'̸̹͓͙̥̺̀ṃ̵̢̻͇̓̈́̚ͅ ̴̜͙͉̯͌̋̐͝d̴͈̜̐̀͘͝a̷̗̹̪͈̿v̴͔͓͑̕͠ȇ̸̞̲̇͛̕ǹ̶̬͉̼̫͂͌p̸͕͐o̵̮͝ŗ̸̘͝ṱ̷̤̫̀̓̉͂̑ ̵̝̞̩̆̍i̶͖̗͔̥̬͐͌̚͝'̸͍̍̋͜m̵̦̼͂͒ ̴̯̈̽͌̕d̶̮̾̀́ǎ̵̢̹̋͊̉̈v̶̨̟̼͓̅ͅḙ̴̟̼̒n̴̝̬͂̍͊͂̀p̶͔̗͂ơ̸̲̰̬̎̀͛̌r̷̬̞̱̍́́̉t̸͙̏͗̎̓̕ ̵̣̅ḭ̶̱̮͓̈͛̑͑'̸̫̞̣̬̊m̵̢̥̀ͅ

[ghosty-schnibibit]

tumblr may be crumbling to the ground around us but i'll still be here, livebloging taz into eternity  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

for real tho, i’m extremely hyped to finally see the end of this arc and tumblr self destructing won’t keep me from that. also i started doing my fourth (fifth? i’ve lost count at this point) balance relisten and i’m about half way through MotRL r/n and i can’t wait to experience the massive tonal shift in those two arcs lmao

i am... extraordinarily worried about literally every character based on this previously on. i'm especially worried about "duck says goodbye" in the description, like... i quit watching cr2 because molly died, don't test me griffin, don't you kill my favorite boy

pfff love these boys so

well that resolved itself incredibly quickly :|

aww, that's precious 0u0

oh right, kirby still exists

... oh no, that's bad

i've never seen butterfly effect :/

ned you dipshit ilu

business goats

hey ned maybe don't equivocate sylvans with literal monsters?????

oooooh that sounds bad

jake :D

DOES STERN JUST FUCKING LIVE THERE NOW?

oooooh no, that's bad, that is extremely bad

duck is my favorite boy 0u0

what was that noise clint

aubrey what did you do in high school 

UMM??? NED WHAT THE SHIT?????

... didn't he just get a singular nail though? not a bunch of nails? i need to go back and listen to the last ep again, i must have missed that

god this music is so choice 

oh it probably will griffin, it probably will

oh eww :(

INDRED NO!!! NOT MY BOY!!!!! D:

oh shit, that sounds terrible

ned you fuckin coward

ooooh bad noise

BAD LUCK

nice! good plan!

flashback time :D

drugs and hockey roundhouse

OH SNAP

ewww :(((

"you're bad kids, you're peeing on the floor like dogs" jesus griffin

IT'S THE COPS

minerva what the fuck

BEACON! :D

wait... so who the fuck was that???

]B E E F  B O Y

WHY????? oh okay then

a crab-walking goat man is the best mental image ever

beacon is such a grouchy boy

what's minerva gonna say when she sees beacon busted???

oh jesus christ D:

nice, good roll :D

oh hell, that's fucked

duck is a very good boy

thb were kind of murder hobos lmao

poor duck has had his fill of head trama these last two arcs, hot damn

OH NO, THAT'S VERY BAD

ooooh no, there's griffin's ominous dm voice

"we haven't established what the timeline is" we're used to it griffin "it's been a few months" mcelroy jk griffy ilu

i would go to the pre-ned cryptonomica tbh

kirby origin story :D

... that's such a mundane but relatable detail, damn

aww, he calls her vicki :)

"i am not a man of faith" jesus, i know justin's playing duck as the anti-taako on purpose but ned is turning into the anti-merle

aww vicki :(

god this is deep as hell

ned stop putting your foot in your mouth i swear to christ

i'm gonna fucking cry :'(

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IS THE JET PACK THE FUCKING FORD ANGLIA?????

ned no

well that sounds sick af

the tree has no ass

SOMEONE HELP HER PLEASE

what was that noise

they've used help out multiple times griffin, is this going to be this season's version of "i think this is our first ever death saving throw"???

all i can picture is mannequin magnus

aww, baby aubrey :D

"i don't wanna characterize the dad like that" the dad is gonna show up at some point isn’t he

OH BABY

"do you need help? and don't cuss" that's so sweet 

wait what?????

HER NAME IS ALEXANDRA

is this because she touched the crystal??? or does this have to do with how she could hear alexandra's thoughts before????? also what in the world does the title "audience to divinity" mean??????????

oh eww :(((

"it has manifested an ass"

that was a cool ass accidental foley

aww, lil baby seed

IT'S THE GLOWIES AGAIN

what does this mean griffin i need to know

multiple candlenights shows! yay! :D

GRIFFIN YOU CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD WITH THE HAPPY LODGE MUSIC, THIS IS BAD

“we’ll keep the light on for you” we will be your tom bodett

god that's so cute, otp

... griffin really has forgot about aubrey's eye hasn't he

this is so good

at least travis hasn't forgotten lmao

well that's creepy :|

OH JESUS

THE SKIPPING IS SO CREEPY OH MY GOD

THIS IS FUCKING TERRIFYING

YOU CAN'T JUST END THE SCENE THERE GRIFFIN HOLY SHIT

okay i've relistened to the creepy voice section about five times and i swear to god something is being said backwards during the part where whatever it is says "aims to bring the planet back into balance," i don't know how to isolate that audio but damn if i'm not going to try

... so a bit of a raven and ram deal

i'm liking ned more and more as he develops, i think right now he’s still my least fave of the trio (which doesn’t say much because i love them all) but he’s warming on me

oh no, this isn't good

aww billy :)

THE PENDANT

HOLY SHIT NO

and griffin’s penchant for distressing notes appears once more

aww, minerva sounds so sad :(

oh minerva baby :(((

wait... hivemind??? like the thing that is possessing thacker?????

wait what???

MINERVA NO, OH MY GOD

I'M GOING TO FUCKING CRY

WHO IS SHE TALKING TO THEN

WAIT WHAT????? LEO????? IT'S FUCKING LEO??????????

in conclusion, hot damn that was one hell of an arc finale!!! i’m super glad we’re getting the next ep next week because i need some answers, and also i have so many questions. i’m starting to piece together bits and pieces of theory but i can’t wait to see what other theorists in the fandom have to say.

see you all next week!!!!! here’s hoping tumblr lasts that long lmao

[ouidamforeman]

Hello friend! Right, it unfortunately looks like I’ve been priced out of ever trying to get into Gallifrey but I do love the sound of Narvin (your responsible for that well done). So I’m gonna use Erasure as a bit of a jump on point. Give me all I need to know about Narvin and why I’m going to love him! (Because I know you love to talk about him!)

Oh Jesus……I fuckign……I love Narvin SO MUCH ok he’s the best and I will be GLAD to tell you why

So the Narvin telling the story of his younger self in Erasure is really far along in his character development so if you ever DO start Gallifrey from the beginning after this (PLEASE do) I will be REALLY looking forward to your reactions to early Narvin because his character arc is stunning and the difference between Erasure’s nerdy, romantic Narvin and Gallifrey series 1-2’s utter prick Narvin is amazing and almost hilarious.

And now, because you asked, I’m going to tell you everything I love about CIA Coordinator Narvinectralonum PLEASE BE PREPARED

Okay so first of all as a character he’s pretty brilliant in that he’s kind of a foil to EVERYONE because he’s the least over the top Time Lord in the history of Doctor Who. He’s not overtly expressive like Leela, he’s not big and grand like Brax and Romana, he’s not old and dusty or pathetic like many other Time Lords we see, he’s not even really self-important and arrogant once you start to understand his motives. He is, however, 1)religious when it comes to following rules, 2)grumpy and sarcastic as all hell, 3)ruthlessly intelligent, and 4)just trying to do his job for the planet he loves. While Leela and Romana are the central relationship of the Gallifrey series, Narvin could probably be considered the central lynchpin character because he’s really the only one who isn’t out for personal gain in any way and isn’t constantly in the midst of wrangling with personal and political issues. Everything revolves around him. He literally just wants to keep Gallifrey running smoothly and later keep himself and his friends alive and safe, and he doesn’t seek power, vengeance, or ANYTHING beyond what he needs in order to do those things. If I had to tell you the core traits that make Narvin who he is, I’d say duty, loyalty, and efficiency. His dedication to his job, his planet, and his friends never wavers even through the hell that’s constantly rained down on him. What I find fascinating is how drastically he changes as a person throughout the series while still being absolutely himself. His development is something you’ve probably heard a lot of fans rave about because it’s genuinely one of the best things Gallifrey has done. It’s stellar. He goes from being a slimy-seeming, conservative, snarky, asshole bureaucrat with xenophobic tendencies to a much kinder, open-minded person who lets his inherent goodness and morality shine through. The guy’s got a rock solid core. At this point he’s not hiding much anymore and he’s really just a soft nerd who’s shit at hiding his Major Feelings, enjoys aesthetic beauty, says sweet romantic things to unconscious Leela (OH ERASURE), and wants to help refugees. He’s still a major sarcastic grump tho. Bless him.

Each time I relisten to Gallifrey I’m struck by just how deeply Narvin cares about things as well. He’s the “never one to show personal feelings” type but he’s kind of terrible at not letting his passion overflow into his speech and actions. Especially when you relisten, you can tell from the beginning that he feels A Lot and cares deeply about his duty and the people he’s close to. “I don’t have feelings,” says Narvin, feeling everything.

More things about my boy:-He’s so in love with Romana and he’d do anything for her it makes me want to cry-Sometimes he tries to make fuckin awful jokes -MASSIVE romantic tension with Leela (Long story but Leela and Andred don’t stay together, you’ve probably noticed by now that Narvin/Leela is my biggest otp, you would never expect them to like each other but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ here we are. They flirt through verbal abuse and they love each other’s smiles, so there you go. Narvin surrounds himself with powerful women he’s too in love with for his own good.)-He and Brax hate each other to a hilarious degree and it’s wonderful -Scratch that, Narvin can’t be friends with ANYONE without there being some kind of animosity thrown in there-He’s from Patrex, the artsy nerd chapter-He’s arguably one of the most important and influential characters in the Doctor Who universe because of the massive events he’s caused through his horrific mistakes. He’s the definition of “I tried to make it better but I accidentally made it worse.”-He’s so stuffy and buttoned up and it’s endlessly endearing -Sometimes he tries to be loud and commanding but it doesn’t work because in reality he doesn’t have a big voice and instead of sounding imperious or scary his voice breaks and goes kind of squeaky and it’s pretty adorable -He has an almost word-for-word “Oh god, what have I done?” line but where in most cases it would automatically be somewhat hammy or cheesy, Narvin is so UN-hammy that it’s one of the most genuinely gut wrenching moments in the entire series -He gets hurt so badly all the goddamn time and it doesn’t seem to phase him beyond giving him another excuse to complain -He’s afraid of spiders and turns out to be really socially awkward when he doesn’t have a role to play or a script to follow -“You can’t let her stab me, K9! It’s not legal!” “Would anyone else care to join this conga over Rassilon’s grave?” and “Dear, sweet Leela” are all things he has actually said

Anyways I love Narvin thanks for listening and I hope you grow to love him too

[waveridden]

some other miscellaneous thoughts from the taz relisten (mostly aggregated from this thread on twitter, spoilers ahead)

i appreciate merle so much and i know this isn’t exactly news coming from me but like… he very nearly talked gundren down from a rage back in phandalin? he lost his arm because he thought taking the crystal would let him help his friends? he spent probably about half of the stolen century dead because he was parlaying with john over and over again? he found a world that he knew might be destroyed and made a church and stayed with them until he couldn’t stay any longer

“they probably didn’t sing much before you came here” is one of my favorite fucking lines in this entire show

the entirety of moonlighting is legitimately devastating if you know lucretia’s backstory like? taako calls himself “an idiot wizard” and she’s immediately like NO!! and magnus says something about killing red robes and she’s like DON’T!! i’m hiding this in the middle of a bulletpoint bc i don’t expect anyone will see it but hey magnus/lucretia is an excellent angst ship anyways let’s get back to moonlighting! and she has to be there next to her best friends, her family and they don’t even know her

lord does it make me uncomfortable how lucretia treats davenport tho

also? i’m not here to bash any faves but uhhhhhhh Lucas Owned Slaves And Inhibited Part Of Their Personality like…………. dudes

suffering game is IMMENSELY more enjoyable all in one go. i think i listened to the entire arc in one day and i loved it so fucking much

i have some damn thoughts and feelings about magnus’s fury w/ lucas for trying to bring back maureen versus magnus’s refusal to use the chalice to bring back julia

i wish we’d had more ipre interaction tho like. pairs that we could’ve seen more of that we didn’t: lucretia and taako! lup and magnus/merle! davenport and magnus/taako! barry and merle! and that’s just all the pairs with one pc in them like… these pairs had half a scene together, max, and that’s disappointing especially since canon keeps calling them a family

also i wanna know more about davenport in general he lowkey got shafted in the stolen century

i fucking miss johann

i can’t believe magnus and lucretia were, like, twenty-fucking-one. this changes everything

POINT OF ORDER: as of right now in canon (the end of stolen century) magnus has not been inoculated by the second voidfish

top five moments from this show (in no order): arms outstretched, madame director, merle’s ascension from the first church of fungston, who? (or, if it counts as a single moment, the entire sequence with all three thb), the tree scene from the end of pttm

top five episodes (also in no order): the finale of tsc, the finale of tck, the finale of pttm, reunion tour (both parts but if i had to just pick one then part 2), the beach episode of tsc

top five story arcs (5-4-3-2–1): the stolen century, petals to the metal, the crystal kingdom, the eleventh hour, the suffering game. although if reunion tour counts as an arc it’s fuckin’ absolutely my favorite

in conclusion: finale pt1 drops in like 36 hours or so, not that i’m counting, and i’m ready for it to kick my ass

[ladychraelix]

so out of boredom and because i’m a junkie jonesin’ for more sweet sweet taz content i’ve gone back through and been relistening to all of taz from top to bottom.

in that relisten i just started the suffering game today, for perspective, so i’m not quite done, but tbh most of the suffering game is much more recent in my mind so. details are a lil more fresh.

but man, between what i knew already from going through the suffering game the first time and stuff that i just straight up missed/forgot the first time through (makes direct eye contact with the crystal kingdom arc)

i am extremely worried and concerned about what’s gonna happen next. like i REALLY hope that chabois come out of this but uh. given what’s happened in this past arc i’m not 100% on that now either and im just. side eyein’ the whole mcelroy clan so hard. so so hard.

i’m gonna talk myself through some of the stuff i pieced together along with maybe a lil bit of theorizing about stuff that hasn’t been concretely proven yet. a lot of it may already be stuff you’ve figured out but bear with me. this is gonna have spoilers p much all the way up thru to today’s episode so beware and mobile users just uhhhh scroll really fast i guess? soz friends this is gonna be long

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

so with all this we’ve gotten several prophecies and visions:

what maureen saw in the cosmoscope

paloma’s first big prophecy

paloma’s second prophecy after the bubble around refuge comes down

the visions that the voidfish showed magnus; the most important probably being the one that had to be reduced quality and reduced quality until it was kid scribbles to see all of it

as well as some stuff that the red robe (not gonna be more specific than that since that’s a fairly recent and Pretty Big spoiler) has said in his various run-ins with THB. oh and also just straight up some stuff that’s happened that’s Significant when combined with this other knowledge

---

so like. ok. it’s gonna seem a lil weird to start here but im gonna start with the beginning of the suffering game with merle’s healing magic not quite working the way it should. as of the first episode in that arc, it’s just a minor effect- just that it doesn’t quite feel right and it heals for a few points less than it should have.

from what i remember through the rest of the arc tho, it gets less and less effective. given what we know about pan and his interactions with merle, he’s either a little peeved about merle following both him and istus, or he’s dead

in the temple of istus at refuge, istus said straight up that she and pan were friends, so i don’t think the former is likely. pan is dead. (or he’s really really super busy maybe possibly fighting off something that he can’t spare ANY attention for merle’s stuff but ehhh) what could possibly kill a god? well if there’s something out there that eats entire planes of existence then it stands to reason that if he was on the celestial plane - or wherever gods chill - when the hunger got there, then he got eaten with the plane itself.

jumping over to the voidfish’s kid scribble vision to magnus: the big takeaways here were twelve multicolour circles with a white light showing up in the middle, then a Big Honkin Black Circle moving in and absorbing the multicolour circles, growing bigger with each one it absorbed, and the white light shooting out and escaping, rinse and repeat.

jumping to the cosmoscope in lucas’s lab: how many different mirrors did he have set up that linked to the different planes of existence, including the one he broke? twelve. (also, given the most recent episode, that black opal one that lucas had thought was inert and one of thb pulled out of the trash? it’s worth remembering that they saw an eye/some eyes briefly in it before they closed soooooo that’s probably directly linked to that 13th plane from today...) each of these mirrors was, i think, made out of a different gemstone and all different colours.

twelve multicolour circles in the voidfish vision, twelve planes in different colours of mirrors. multicolour circles = planes of existence.

which makes that big black circle in the voidfish vision this living hunger, swoocing on in to eat everything in reality. maybe not all at once, maybe one plane at a time, i’m not sure yet how it makes its approach. given today’s ep it may be all at once and just sort of simultaneously leach everything in each plane away slowly but idk.

it’s probable that this living hunger has done a munch and crunch on the gods, especially with kravitz’s cutscene today and how he couldn’t contact the raven queen, and with how the red robe, at the eleventh hour, told thb that the hunger is almost here. also, in his eleventh hour epilogue, merle saw some of the stars wink out.

there’s no almost about it, boys, the hunger is here. it’s munchin’ and crunchin’ on everything, and garfield has it right when he says there’s an apocalypse gonna happen. it’s just a question of how soon it’s all gonna pop off.

---

i haven’t pieced together everything from the visions. a lot of it went towards that last bit about the hunger being here and the gods being dead - in fact a lot of these visions involve the hunger lmao - but here’s some other stuff.

maureen’s vision: the dark storm and living hunger eating it from within are pretty self explanatory. there’s a storm a-brewin’ over the prime material plane at the moment sooo yea. everything else, i’m not sure of yet. the brilliant light could be the silver ship that’s come up in a few other visions but i don’t really want to do a whole lot of guesswork with this yet.

paloma’s first big prophecy: the left-hand vision matches up almost perfectly with what magnus saw through the rift after getting kicked out of his body. it’s probable that this black tar is how the hunger eats the worlds- it destroys it, drowns it in the tar, and somehow digests it through that. the right hand vision, the gray and barren one, might be what a world looks like after it has been consumed. as for the choices, not sure yet.

everything else i’ve either already gone over (like the voidfish kid scribble one) or i just have no idea what to intuit from them yet.

i actually have another theory but i’m gonna post that separately.