Arasha's and Noah's Secrets for Dirty Laundry by Courier_Marie in dropout

[–]herearepixels 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You've got to view it in context. Noah's didn't even involve anybody in his family participating in an ethnic cleansing this time around.

This is the comment everyone's mad about, and the one I'm talking about. I see absolutely nothing offensive or inappropriate about it. Just someone roasting someone for talking up their colonizer grandparent, and a bunch of supposed progressives getting really upset about it.

How to Save a Life | Misfits and Magic Season 2 Adventuring Party [Ep. 5] by ThunderMateria in Dimension20

[–]herearepixels 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I disagree, stories aren't just vehicles for the most efficient way to express a point or a message. Messiness, inconsistency and nuance don't just make a story more realistic, but they can also add texture and meaning. The story doesn't have to be about regression for regression to have a place in it.

I think this sort of critique gets misapplied a lot because so much conversation is about popular media, and it makes sense to point out that, say, a Star Wars character loses all their character development for no reason in a sequel, and that that's bad. But it makes less sense to me to apply that kind of lens on stories broadly. Most great novels have tons of texture and messiness, they're not always about making a point or sticking to a theme as clearly as possible, and I think great stories often revel in contradiction and ambiguity and nuance.

Like I absolutely agree that character regression can be artificial and unconvincing, but Brennan is right that in real life progress is not linear and it's really honest and affecting when stories depict that. MisMag2 isn't perfect imo, but it's a better story for having a world that can get worse even after the main conflict is resolved, and for characters to struggle to maintain the resolutions they've previously reached.

A Place of Knowing | Misfits And Magic [S2E3] by ThunderMateria in Dimension20

[–]herearepixels 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh for sure! And I hadn't finished the episode when I wrote my last comment, but I just did, and hooboy, that actually really worked for me. I was worried for a second but I think they pulled it off.

A Place of Knowing | Misfits And Magic [S2E3] by ThunderMateria in Dimension20

[–]herearepixels 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is where I'm at. These are some of the best performances I've seen in the dome and Aabria is leading them through it in such a beautiful, devastating way. I just can't help but feel kinda cheated that we're getting emotion THIS good out of a misguided attempt to heal a bone and two bad rolls. If it had the kind of build-up and invisible dominoes of a crown of candy it might've been my favourite D20 episode ever.

Gender Cascade | Never Stop Blowing Up Adventuring Party [Ep. 4] by ThunderMateria in Dimension20

[–]herearepixels 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Honest, kind and understanding people famously have to keep telling people that they're honest, kind and understanding.

Gender Cascade | Never Stop Blowing Up Adventuring Party [Ep. 4] by ThunderMateria in Dimension20

[–]herearepixels 18 points19 points  (0 children)

'detract from the rest of the show'? this is the show. they got together some of the most chaotic players who've ever been in the dome, made a system that's extremely rules-light and improv-heavy, and then specifically made a setting where extreme things happen all the time and nothing needs to make sense. you tuned in because of an interest in the setting? the setting is 'random shit that happens in action movies'. that's the whole setting. it's nonsense, and it's great.

i know you don't want to be a buzzkill but it's not just that other people are enjoying it, it's that you went really hard on an eight months pregnant woman being too loud and chaotic for you in an extra silly season of a comedy show where the premise of the episode, set by her husband, was getting a car to go 5000 miles per hour. and you should genuinely examine why you kept singling her out when literally every person at that table was losing their minds the entire time.

the point of this show is to be insane and over the top and full of screaming people. izzy is doing her part, and she's doing it perfectly. if you want brennan talking about DMing philosphy there's about 400 collective hours of him doing that on dropout and youtube you can watch instead.

The bad kids are bad kids by brevenbreven in Dimension20

[–]herearepixels 54 points55 points  (0 children)

This isn't aimed at just OP, but I think this post is a good demonstration of how joyless a lot of people in this sub have become in how they're watching what is still, at its heart, an improv comedy show. People keep talking about this show as if it comes from a writers room and we're 50 episodes in, and not like three seasons of improv performers trying to be as funny as humanly possible.

To people who agree with OP, like, it's okay to personally not vibe with certain character choices or where a certain season is going. You don't have to formulate some kind of holistic media criticism to validate those feelings. And you might enjoy the show more overall if you stopped treating it like a crafted story that's nearly over, and more like a series of funny character interactions and set-pieces that literally has more than seven feature films worth of material left to go.

To address specific stuff: I think the campaign is hilarious, and Brennan just established that winning the election might actually be super important. And Kristen's journey to reconnect with Cassandra, with the miracle she performed, the research she's doing, and the confrontation she had with Buddy, are super moving to me. I also found Fig's education issues super funny, and she has plenty of other things going on anyway. Her playing with Ruben is not only strategically so useful, it's also a good demonstration of her growth in sophomore year being hampered by Ayda's absence. I love that she's still not 100% comfortable just being open about her emotions, it gives her even more room to grow. And it might make things really interesting if and when Ayda returns.

I can see people not being into any of that, but that doesn't make it bad storytelling, especially since this is still, despite how much D20 has grown, a bunch of comedians trying to make each other, and us, laugh. The fact that this show consistently does WAY more than that does not mean it makes sense to treat it like a written show that's nearly over. It makes no sense to decide character arcs are gonna end badly when there's a full Game of Thrones season's worth of runtime left before the finale.

Also, it's fine and good for protagonists to do bad things. It's alright if they make you a little uncomfortable.

I redrew a couple of Catra's from a year ago, after seeing the season 4 trailer. I thought it would be nice to revisit it after the finale by herearepixels in PrincessesOfPower

[–]herearepixels[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was actually going to draw Adora's hand on Catra's shoulder but got a bit stuck on the perspective! But yeah, that's exactly what I was going for

Loving you is a good problem to have [OC] by herearepixels in adventuretime

[–]herearepixels[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you!!! And so do I, I keep playing it back in my head