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johnchurch · 5 years

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Happy TAZ anniversary 2! So, it’s the second TAZ anniversary and I drew a piece for each of the boys! I’m gonna open up a little bit below. The image ID is LONG so this time I put it under the cut as well.

The Adventure Zone quite literally changed my life for the better and saved me from my depression. I’m genuinely so happy I started listening to the podcast. I start listening while I was going through a phase of being constantly sad and having horrible self-esteem, coming to terms with my own identity, and nothing to look forward to in my near future, with a bunch of stuff going on in my life that I still, to this day, don’t really talk about. Family problems, extremely personal issues, and some bad depressive episodes; I thought I would never make it to the point I wanted to be in my life and didn’t really see any more point in trying.

In December I started listening to The Adventure Zone. I had seen some art floating around and enjoyed the fantasy aspects, the cute Taakitz stuff I had seen, and heard Lup was trans; I was still coming to terms with my own identity at the time and felt very doubtful of myself. As I listened more I found myself laughing a lot more, having a much joyous mood overall, and it inspired me to get back into art and design and writing.

The first listen to TAZ was a phenomenal experience. I was smiling and laughing so much at their antics, I realized the potential around Petals, fell in love with the characters during Crystal Kingdom and cried over the Maureen story-which is very important to me, as someone whom’s relationship with his mother is so much to me; I cried a lot during Eleventh Hour and still remember the chills I got during ‘the clock ticks down’ scene and the backstories. The Suffering Game plot twists were amazing and then everything that came after? The metaphors with John Hunger, Johann-whose life had been dedicated to creating and wanting his creations to inspire others and be loved…it all meant so much.

I finished the podcast in May and the characters had grown so close that they felt like family, the music felt like returning to another home. The representation in it helped me grow to truly love myself and be confident again; The parallels with John and The Hunger and depression and the line ‘You’re going to have to fight, and you’re going to win!” all resonated deeply within me and gave me hope for myself I didn’t know I had. It feels weird to say this, but these aspects may have genuinely saved my life, or at least prevented me from going down some really dark slopes. 2017 was a really hard year for me, so discovering this podcast helped me so much.

I think it’s the positive outlook the Mcelroy’s just naturally emit? Their content has literally pulled me out of that dark hole I was in and I will literally forever be thankful for the Mcelroy’s and the content they create.

I am so SO grateful that I discovered them because I have no idea where I’d be if I hadn’t begun listening. Thank you boys!

[ID: Four drawings of the Mcelroy family featuring the boys interacting with their characters. The first drawing is of Traviz Mcelroy, with a pineapple shirt, a beard, glasses, and slicked purple hair giving his character, Magnus Burnsides, a fist bump. Magnus is much taller than he is, with a heavy beard and lots of battle scars. He is a tall man with brown skin and a crop top, revealing his abs. His IPRE robe sleeves are pulled up, revealing his bracer. They are in front of a yellow background.

The next drawing is Justin’s goddamn wizard, Taako, who has Justin underneath his arm playfully. HE is the big brother now. Justin has black hair, jeans, and a red flannel. Taako is a taller elf with light brown skin and brown hair and a floppy purple wizard hat. His metal bracer is over white sleeves and he has on a purple vest and ribbon over that. He’s dressed in purple pantaloons and high thigh socks, with some gray stilletos.

The third drawing is Clint Mcelroy, with his hands on his hips, looking down at his Dwarven cleric character, Merle Highchurch. Clint has a beard, square glasses, a purple shirt with a black open vest, and black jeans. Merle is a dwarf with brown skin and curly gray hair with pink, blue, and yellow pan flag colored flowers decorating it. He has one wooden arm, which is propped up with one finger up as if he is saying something. He has green cleric robes and a long green stole hanging down his shoulders.

The final drawing has a LOT going on. Griffin Mcelroy, a man with brown hair and glasses, is smiling up front with some dice wrapped in one hand and the other rolling them in the air. Davenport, a small gnome with beige skin and ginger hair, and a big mustache is smiling up front the camera on the left. Angus Mcdonald, a black boy with curly hair and freckles is smiling at the front on the right, a big front-gapped smile. Lucretia is standing directly behind Griffin, smiling. She has one arm down and the other on her hip. Lucretia is a black woman with short white hair and a Bureau of Balance uniform. Kravitz is a black man with red glasses, curly hair, and reaper robes behind her, floating in the air and holding his scythe as a cane.

Behind Griffin on the other side is Lup with her arm wrapped around a lich Barry-whose glasses are floating inside the robe over black shadow. Lup, however, has a body; she has light brown skin and a dark mullet, with the tips dyed red. She has a dark tux, earrings, and a ruby gem on her neck. She is doing a rocker pose and sticking her tongue out. Immediately behind and towering above is a cherry blossom tree in a river and blowing the leaves across the frame.

Killian, a green orc woman with long brown hair and muscles, is flexing in the middle background, with her girlfriend Carey-who is a small blue dragonborn- sitting on her shoulder and giving Avi a fistbump. Avi is a tall Japanese-Korean man with a Bureau of Balance uniform, brandy in one hand, and pale skin and a dark ponytail. Next to them in the far right, is Upsy, Your Lifting Friend, a genuinely terrifying elevator with a clown face; he has big red eyes and a tight smile with rosy cheeks. Each tooth has shiny detail on it. The scientist, Lucas Miller, is sitting cross-legged atop it. He is a thin Indian man with big glasses, brown skin, a bandage on his cheek, and his dark hair pulled up with a ponytail. He is smiling and tipping his head, as if enjoying some music coming from an unseen source. Lucas is wearing a blue vest, has a bright green tie, pink sleeves, and has light-up heelies on.

Behind him is Johann’s face; Johann is depicted as Mexican here, with brown skin and chin-length dark hair, which is flowing. He is frowning and seems a bit emotionless, if not for the tears floating from his eyes. The bright blue tentacles from the Voidfish-Fisher- float behind him. John Hunger is the final character pictured. He is an older man with pale skin and graying hair. He is smiling a wicked grin as the eyes of the Hunger open up around everyone; his face is flecked with black scars and orange, blue, yellow, and green lights from the gem Black Opal. He has a wacky green bow tie, blue undershirt, and striped tuxedo. There is also an eye opening up on his hand. His body is disintegrating and forming into the black background, and the eyes pictured. There is a bright light of Johann’s song flowing behind Johann, and going through the crowd, until it reaches Griffin’s ears. END ID.]

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