#taz balance spoilers

[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

#not an art #taz #the adventure zone #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #mcelroys #griffin mcelroy #egg talks

[herbgerblin]

Garfield the deals warlock: got some straight gas 🔥😛 this strain is called “voidfish ichor” 😳💊 you’ll be knowing what they don’t want you to know 💯👨‍💻

Tres horny boys: yeah whatever. i don’t feel shit.

5 minutes later: dude we gotta stop the hunger from eating the universe

The red robe hovering ominously in the corner: Lucretia is lying to you

#had this already been done? #taz balance #the adventure zone #taz spoilers #taz balance spoilers

[very-small-giant]

it’s the parley room…the parlor room? the parley parlor.

#the adventure zone #taz #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #merle highchurch #taz merle #john hunger #i rotate their dialogues in my head constantly now #you choose joy in life….

[acadieum]

[holds them gently] i offer.. blupjeans....

#adrien rambles #adrien doodles #in love w their love fr... #the adventure zone #the zone cast #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #lup #barry bluejeans #taz lup #blupjeans

[its-your-mind]

ALWAYS rotating TAZ: Balance around in my brain like microwave but ESPECIALLY with the announcement of The Suffering Game graphic novel

The dope thing they can do (and are doing) with the graphic novel series is sprinkle in moments of foreshadowing and hints to the reader about what REALLY might be going on here, which is so cool and I’m a huge fan of it, especially when you’re telling a story in this form.

But what is REALLY FUCKING TASTY about Balance as a story is that none of the motherfuckers telling it had any clue what they were doing when they started

Gerblins is dick jokes and not knowing how dice work and making fun of each other for voices. LICHRALLY the scene where Taako grabs the Umbrastaff is immediately proceeded by Clint trying different voices for Merle while Justin begs him to stop, as Taako. Merle gets launched across the room cuz he failed his save, and now Taako has an umbrella. The scene moves on.

Griffin brought them up to the BOB, introduced them to the Director, and gave them memories of a war fought over nameless, lost, powerful but mysterious artifacts. The memory that Taako takes from it is the idea of soured cream (ya know, for his taco quest).

And then they’re off, on different adventures, making friends, saving lives, making more dick jokes, and Griffin is in the background, slowly building in the meta-plot, as all DMs do.

But this meta-plot was HUGE. It was ALL-CONSUMING. It completely changes everything we know about this world and these characters. It takes the moments of dick jokes, and arguments about character voices, and flirting with death, and adds a layer of tragedy and complexity that just wasn’t present the first time they told that story.

AND THAT’S WHY THIS STORY KICKS ASS. The vibe of the story changed as Tres Horny Boys grew closer and closer to remembering the lives they had lost, as Griffin upped the stakes, as people started dying. They still don’t know shit for most of The Suffering Game, but you absolutely could not have predicted the tone of that arc after just listening to Gerblins. It sounds like a completely different story. And so when the other shoe drops, when shit breaks bad, when it’s the end of the world… again, and they have to reclaim their Stolen Century…

It makes sense. The tone has shifted enough to accommodate that kind of change. The characters have grown (back) into themselves enough to make this work.

Because TAZ: Balance is a tragedy. But the tragedy happened before the podcast even started, and had been erased. So of course it started off with goofs and dildo jokes. Of course the three of them started being standoff-ish with each other and making light of every situation that should have had a lot more weight. They didn’t know what they had lost, and we, the audience, didn’t either. So it was easy to laugh and joke… until slowly, it wasn’t so much anymore.

Plenty of people have praised Griffin’s storytelling abilities, but I think the thing that was most impressive to me was how he took the disparate threads laid out behind the Boys on their adventures, and followed them backwards, into the story they had lost, and forwards, into the ending they earned. I fucking love that he settled on Istus as the deity to interact with them, because I don’t think there’s a better representation of the story Griffin was weaving behind the scenes of the arcs.

Story and Song wasn’t really an arc driven by dice rolls and role playing - but it wasn’t railroading either. Griffin took every story they had told, every happy ending they had fought for, and twined them around and through each other. The world was saved not because of a lucky nat 20 roll, but because every person they had helped through the story came out in force to fight beside them to save their world.

And so in the end, the Stolen Century was a tragedy. But The Adventure Zone: Balance was a story of hope, of family, of the power that just a few loveable doofuses can have when they move through the world, making friends and saving lives. So when the world was ending and they needed help, there were dozens of people waiting to hear the Story and the Song that would give them the push they needed to fight, and the hope they needed to win.

#taz #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #taako adventurezone #merle highchurch #magnus burnsides #McElroys #griffin mcelroy #the adventure zone

[entguarde]

Something about the inherent anger in optimism.

[Id: A fully rendered digital drawing of Merle Highchurch from The Adventure Zone.

He is a fat, Black dwarf man with long, wavy gray hair and a full beard. He has a nicked ear and a small scar on his shoulder as well as otter-like whiskers and a protruding fang.

He is sitting in an office chair, his elbows resting on a table. He is glaring at an off-screen character (John), pointing down at the table as if to emphasize a point. A text queue underneath him says: “- You can apologize to me and tell me you were wrong”. End description.]

#ent’s art #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #stolen century #the adventure zone #the adventure zone balance #merle highchurch #taz merle

[anistarrose]

to me, the most fascinating (and utterly unintentional) feature of TAZ Balance's narrative structure is the way that on the first listen, Tres Horny Boys are the audience surrogates because they, much like us, have no idea what the fuck is going on, but on all subsequent relistens, then Lucretia, and sometimes Barry, and arguably especially Lup in the umbrella become the new audience stand-ins, because just like us, they are, in fact, painfully aware of what the fuck is going on :)

#taz #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #lup taaco #barry bluejeans #lucretia taz #and i really cannot say *especially* lup enough times #like lucretia and barry have their own meta roles in the story within the story #the meta-narrator and the meta-narrator's chosen meta-villain #but lup is the meta-audience #whenever thb wear red or joke about bringing barry back and we as the savvy audience get incredibly sad about it #lup is right there with us #she knows the twists and she knows the backstory and she is an observer who cannot tell anyone or save anyone #until she finally *can* #i love stories about stories and i love lup!

[voidfishing]

LOVE.

#IM SO. NORMAL #taz #taz balance #taz gn spoilers #taz spoilers #taz balance spoilers #toon talking #the macmillan listing has preview pages if ur wondering where this is from lol #& btw my main spoiler tag will be ‘taz gn spoilers’

[scoupsahoy]

thinking about how tres horny boys, at the beginning of the crystal kingdom when asked to pick colors for their null suits, all picked shades of red. burgundy, burnt umber, cinnamon

merle (well, clint) asked for burnt umber to be funny without even realizing what color it was

it's hardly a joke, it's hardly touched on, though i'm sure it's more obvious in the graphic novel. but to me it was more shocking than their jokes about living for hundreds of years, of always having their memories, of never forgetting barry bluejeans

they were red because they were always going to be red. because they were red for a hundred years.

#taz balance #the adventure zone #taz balance spoilers #the adventure zone balance #im rambling but i couldnt stop thinking about this today #and like i know all of it was unplanned and no one knew but like. this is such an insane accident

[nillial]

could not stop imagining this post as magnus n fisher . thats his neurodivergent voidfish

[Image description: uncolored digital art of characters from The Adventure Zone, based off a Reddit thread. Magnus is a broad-shouldered human in an IPRE hoodie, while Davenport is a skinny mustached gnome in a fancy jacket, and Lucretia is a skinny human wearing glasses and a robe.

In the first panel, Magnus holds a baby Fisher up to his cheek, squishing them against his face lovingly. Magnus says: "my pet jellyfish, Mike, who is neurodivergent. he is 1 year old today."

With an incredulous expression, Davenport asks: "Where did you get that?" and Magnus, smiling, replies: "ocean." Lucretia pokes Fisher with a pencil and asks: "I have to ask, out of genuine curiosity, how is it determined that a jellyfish is neurodivergent?" Magnus replies: "I filled out an online quiz using his answers." End description.]

#taz #taz balance #magnus burnsides #voidfish #the adventure zone #lucretia taz #davenport taz #voidfish taz #magnus taz #lucretia #davenport #ipre #stolen century #taz balance spoilers #my art #also i have like 8 episodes of ethersea leftim gonna AAAAAAAAAAGHGHGHGHHHHHHHHHH

[t-w-i-l-l-e-r]

one of my (many) favorite things about Barry being a dick when he’s first introduced is that like. He is totally a fridged wife guy. He’s a fighter and a bodyguard for hire. He’s brooding and shitty and traumatized and ~too damaged to make friends~ (and then dies horribly oops). HIS WIFE IS LITERALLY DEAD. but like he also. Isn’t that. He’s literally called The Lover. He blushes when he drops his glasses and the woman he likes gives them back to him. He’s lactose intolerant. He doesn’t know how to swim until Taako teaches him. He makes hot chocolate for Lup while she schemes. His wife is also not dead !!!! (I mean, she is but how much does death rly mean in taz? plus they’re not even technically married but how much does marriage rly mean in taz?) He’s basically that one post about an angsty dude and everybody assumes his wife died tragically but then u find out she’s actually fine and he just rly missed her and is actually pretty normal when she’s around. I know I’m not saying anything about him that has not been said before but sometimes I just. I’m struck by him

#taz spoilers #taz balance #the adventure zone #barry bluejeans #blupjeans #taz lup #he’s just such a great character and he was kind of an accident and I just #u couldn’t pay for this kinda characterization!! he’s tumblr’s dream guy!!! #taz balance spoilers

[cowardishh]

when taako drops his glamour for Kravitz on the day of story and song. he is so scared. his beauty is all that he had. for so long. he gave it up when it was the last sense of self he had left. the last bit of Lup that he had, even though he didn't know it then. he hides it. from everyone. wastes a spell slot every day to hold on to the beauty of a sister he doesn't know he has. hides himself even from Merle and magnus, the people who know him better than anyone in the world. and he drops the glamour for Kravitz. and he is terrified. and Kravitz tells him he loves him. that it would be impossible not to. and taako jokes. says "that was a test" but he feels so much lighter than he did a second ago.

#this is just rambling but #my god #taako taaco the character that you are #taako taaco #taako #taz balance spoilers #taz #taz balance #taz kravitz

[therealslimshady]

LUCRETIA WEARING RED AURGHHHHHHH

#LOOK AT HER AHHHHH #AHHHHHHHH #taz #Taz Balance #the suffering game #taz balance graphic novel spoilers #Taz balance spoilers #taz graphic novel #Taz graphic novel spoilers #taz lucretia #id in alt text

[omegas-reincarnation]

Griffin, DMing Balance: okay so you guys are heroes sacrificing your own comfort and safety to defend the multiverse from a planet-devouring lovecraftian horror

The boys, instantly: actually we are murderers who place very little value on life. We will save the universe but we are also going to push this guy off a cliff to save spell slots and play keep-away with this child's posessions. And Travis is going to rip the arms off so many robots.

Justin, DMing Steeplechase: okay so you guys are bad people who do bad things. Criminals who do whatever it takes to get rich.

The boys: actually we are only petty theives and are deeply moral people who draw the line at killing and refuse to fight children. Clint is going to have a character arc around the nature of personhood and Griffin is going to adopt this kid.

#taz balance #taz balance spoilers #taz steeplechase #taz steeplechase spoilers #the adventure zone

[softgaycontent]

I love Lucretia as a character because you first meet her and she’s in her mid-50s and she’s so funny and cool and you’re like wow... milf...

and then you learn that she actually lost 20 years of her life in a moment in wonderland, so she’s really a lot younger than she looks

and then you learn that she was stuck at the same age for 100 years, so she’s really a lot older than she looks... and you’re like wow... milf...

#lucretia #the director #taz balance #taz balance spoilers #taz #the adventure zone balance

[ducknewtonistrans]

Not sure if someone has pointed this out yet but. If Taako is casting the water and Lup is next to him. Taako is putting out a flame Lup made. This is a memory of him teasing his sister and she's not even in it anymore I'm SICK.

#taz balance #taz graphic novels #taz balance spoilers #taako taaco #lup taaco #rannbles #the zone cast #the zone cast spoilers