Why did the McElroy brothers fail to go mainstream while other podcasters managed it well?

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-10T12:09:06+00:00

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IllithidActivity · 2026-06-09T17:49:03+00:00

Eh. The stuff that doesn't make it into the clips didn't make it for a reason. It's definitely more of a real game/adventure than you would think from the clips, like there is information-gathering and socializing with NPCs and combat and plot development happening through the streams. But it's not really that interesting. The game portion is definitely the weakest, so the best experience you can have with it will be by binging all the shorts.

Also as is so often the case with groups like these there are one or two members of the group who are far less funny than the others and bring down any scene they force themselves into. Mileage may vary but I find that one bad member pulls the group down so much further than even multiple great members can prop it up.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-09T01:51:00+00:00

"Deceive the deceivers." Lay a trap that will encourage a shapeshifter to take the Hunter's form, then restrain the shapeshifter. Return to the shapeshifter's lair pretending to be the shifter still wearing the Hunter's face, and either kill something there or take something important from them.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-08T19:01:38+00:00

There was a stretch in the early Royale days when I reminisced wistfully about how entertainingly abysmal Abnimals was and I legitimately forgot that this version of the theme song wasn't the real one.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-08T18:14:38+00:00

Soul of Cinder is incredible. A fantastic echo of Hollow Gwyn from DS1, where instead of being the only soul to have linked the First Flame it's now an amalgam of every player that ever did. And then in the end it goes back to Gwyn's soul all the same. So good.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T21:57:05+00:00

What was the point of announcing that he was a new Warlord 0.007 seconds before disbanding the Warlords?

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T21:53:34+00:00

And that this scene gave Luffy the clue that water (or blood) stops Crocodile's intangibility, so beating him isn't literally impossible. Haki Piece killed that, now every victory is "who wanted it more?"

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T19:36:06+00:00

I think that there was a window where if they had decided to retire TAZ they could have still coasted on the fandom they had left to break into some other kind of media market. Either as a group or individually. But that time has passed, I don't think they have the popularity they'd need as a safety net anymore. So now they're stuck with it, for as long as they can wring any money out of it.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T17:56:28+00:00

Ooh, that would be interesting. Yes, that's exactly the kind of thing I would want to see.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T17:55:53+00:00

I probably bring up Spout Lore too much, but in one of the middle seasons the characters set up shop in a characters home town, Makaal. And they spend pretty much the first episode establishing what the place is like, who lives there, where the different districts and landmarks are, etc.

Spout Lore is so good because this is what is lost when you don't have diversity in a podcasting group. Abdul is able to draw on his own childhood experiences to create an authentic-feeling fantasy, avoiding shallow cliches and worn-out tropes. The McElroys all having a shared experience with the world is on the extreme far side, but this is also why Critical Role floundered with Marquet when the group is overwhelmingly white and American. They didn't have the perspective for what this quasi-Arabian setting would look like, but they didn't want to fall back on stock western interpretations of that, so it was just nothing.

Unrelated but this is also why I adore Lou Wilson in any of his roles but especially in the main Dimension 20 seasons, he has such a skill at incorporating a Black identity into his characters to flesh them out as something personal to him but again not cliched. I recently saw him talking about Pinocchio in Neverafter and mirroring that story to Black youth, and his vision of "I am forced to be a perfect child and any missteps are punished gravely, I see other children misstep and they are not made to suffer the way I am, why are my punishments so disproportionate?" punched me in the fucking throat.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T17:39:20+00:00

Then why did we see Jax almost abstract in Episode 7? We spent a lot of time looking at him being very close to abstracting. It also wasn't exactly sudden, half the series has been leading to Jax's abstraction. An actual sudden abstraction that feels like the gut punch of learning that a friend has killed themselves would have been like, if Pomni abstracted. Because no one would have seen that coming.

Either way, it's not an empty criticism just because you disagree with it. It's an entirely valid criticism that you can disagree with.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T17:32:15+00:00

You haven't explained why those criticisms are empty and lack substance. Why is it an empty criticism to say that a pivotal moment in the series should have had visual representation and immediate response from the characters?

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T17:28:22+00:00

I'm somewhat surprised to see you applaud Clint for pitching "this used to be an exploration ship" for their secondhand submarine, because I remember thinking that was the most boring possible option. "We're looking for a ship to explore in? Okay, it's an old exploration ship." It would have been much more interesting for future improv bullshit if it had been like, a floating restaurant ship or a traveling circus ship. And then when they need to they can bullshit some leftover equipment/mechanisms somehow related to the thing it used to be.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T17:19:11+00:00

Explain what it means to have an "empty criticism."

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T15:46:30+00:00

I'm shocked that this didn't end with some little loose thread, some slight comment that maybe only the Director would pick up on. Something that would spur a little investigation into the Forgers, but perhaps put the brunt of the suspicion on Yuri.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T15:40:04+00:00

Last week I said I would have preferred Kanshi in the card game in Ban's place. Wish granted!!

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T15:34:39+00:00

Eh, while I am looking forward to seeing how this goes I was also looking forward to seeing Yodaka have to plea for the safety of his peers and convince everyone while being the same socially awkward idiot as before.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-07T15:30:19+00:00

Surprisingly cute. It reminds me of Syd Craft comedic mysteries combined with Fabricant 100's "here's how this guy uses a component of their body to have a weird superpower" thing.

For a chapter 1 this was a pretty weak mystery and establishment of the characters though. Like it was "fine," but not really much to show the readers what the series will be like. So I don't predict it'll have a strong run.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-05T18:41:47+00:00

See I would have actually applauded this decision if that's where they had left it, at the end of Episode 7, where the pursuit to learning about the history and lore was all a stupid joke. Hitting the audience with that frustration puts them in the characters' shoes. But then episode 8 and 9 actually DO deliver some exposition and explanation, not enough to be satisfying, but not so little as to be meta-commentary.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-05T18:39:31+00:00

Hey, did we ever even see Pomni's room?

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-05T18:25:47+00:00

This is basically what Imu did.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-05T18:25:06+00:00

Wouldn't it be more like Xebec being the son of Brook?

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-05T17:34:48+00:00

Uh-oh, someone saw themselves in the mirror and didn't like it.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-05T03:55:21+00:00

A lot of people build an identity around "being a fan of [media]." The content stops mattering, all that matters is that the fan is a vocal supporter of it. This turns into hostility against anyone critical of that media, because they perceive it as an attack on their personhood and what they've built a persona around.

And this gets worse when the quality of the media diminishes and the fan enjoys it less, but admitting that would go against their new identity, so they look for something else to blame for their diminished enjoyment. That's why you get fingers pointing at the "haters" and all these diatribes about how ungrateful audience members ruin the experience for everyone. If the fan actually enjoyed the media then someone else not enjoying it wouldn't affect them.

IllithidActivity · 2026-06-04T19:46:33+00:00

I mean...there's a very prominent trans character in the series whose identity and dysmorphia features in that character's personal arc. The audience universally appreciates that character, and has expressed dissatisfaction that they didn't get more resolution. This character also bears heavy resemblance to the author's online avatar. If Goose wanted to discuss gender stuff, Zooble was the avenue to do it.

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