I just started writing the reboot of my own series, The Legion, and it’s A Process. Like … seriously. I think I have put so much more work into this go-round than I did the first time, and I was in no way slacking on that front. And while I’m still proud of the original novellas I wrote years ago, they’re no longer indicative of the type of story I’d like to tell the world, and a great deal of the inspiration to do that was because of The Adventure Zone.
Continue reading 28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 28: How The Adventure Zone Inspires MeMonthly Archives: February 2019
28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 27: What I’d Like to See Next
As of right now, the McElroys are already about midway through their second “season” of The Adventure Zone, this time called “Amnesty,” and I’m enjoying the hell of it. It was a bit of a slow start, and honestly, I was missing the Tres Horny Boys like whoa. I even started a relisten right after Amnesty started, but now I’m as addicted to the new game as I was to “Balance.”
Continue reading 28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 27: What I’d Like to See Next
28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 26: Favorite Music
There is just something about the music challenge day that gets me excited, and Griffin is just a master. I own the majority of The Adventure Zone OSTs through Bandcamp, even though I could technically listen to them for free, because I truly believe in his talent. He can move you to tears or pump you up; it just depends on what his evil end goals are, I suppose.
But without further ado, here – in no particular order – are my favorites:
Continue reading 28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 26: Favorite Music28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 25: Something that Didn’t Happen I Wish Did
For today’s challenge, I have the same difficulties as yesterday, but it comes a bit easier, as there was one thing I had hoped to see a bit more. I always felt that Merle wasn’t treated as well as Magnus or Taako in terms of a life outside of the BoB. Sure, he was a shitty father and a mediocre cleric (at best), but Taako was selfish and vain, while Magnus was single-minded and arrogant. It was the the latter two that seemed to get that wholesome ending, a true epilogue to their 100+ year journey. Merle got a … town? And set up an adventuring company with his kids? I don’t know; it just didn’t seem as profound as the other two.
I’m sorry for the short answer to this, but I’m still exhausted, and I have a whole work week ahead of me. So off to bed I go.
Art Credit: Maximum Fun
28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 24: Something that Happened I Wish Didn’t
So sorry I’m late on getting this published, but after six days straight of working, I needed to get some sleep. Plus, I was worrying myself about how I was supposed to answer this question, and I am literally at a loss at how to complete today’s challenge topic. You’d think that nearly a month of thinking of practically nothing other than The Adventure Zone, I would be able to zero in on one thing. I know this podcast isn’t perfect, but damn. I gotta give it a try, though.
Continue reading 28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 24: Something that Happened I Wish Didn’t28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 23: Inclusivity in The Adventure Zone
When I was younger, I didn’t really pay attention to things like inclusiveness or diversity. It wasn’t something I thought about because, you guessed it, I had a ton of privilege. For much of my youth, I was a young, white cis-het woman in a very conservative environment, and the great majority of what I saw (at the time) reinforced the idea that what I experienced was what everyone experienced.
Continue reading 28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 23: Inclusivity in The Adventure Zone28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 22: Favorite Taako Tacco Moment
Taako has so many memorable moments, courtesy of Justin McElroy, that it’s difficult to pick just one. From his “abraca-fuck you!” to his previously mentioned reunion with Kravitz, it really does seem like it’s a nonstop barrage of hilarity and/or poignancy. I mean, mostly hilarity because he can’t stay serious for more than a few moments, but still.
Continue reading 28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 22: Favorite Taako Tacco Moment28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 21: Favorite Merle Highchurch Moment
Out of the boys, Merle is my favorite. Sure, I adore Taako and Magnus, and it does seem like Merle isn’t the most consistent or prominent of the three. He doesn’t have the same type of tie-in story as the others do, with Taako and his sister, Lup, and Magnus and his path to discovering the true meaning of strength. But his journey is no less important.
Continue reading 28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 21: Favorite Merle Highchurch Moment28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 20: Favorite Magnus Burnsides Moment
Magnus Burnsides, the protection fighter, was definitely my least favorite of the Tres Horny Boys at the beginning. Maybe it was the bravado or maybe it was Travis McElroy’s delivery, I can’t really be sure. He played him well, understanding the initial core of his character – “Magnus rushes in” – but it just seemed like he was a typical fighter. Weirdly enough, he was the most fleshed out and consistent of the three, which is normally something I really appreciate, but it just didn’t seem to give him the room to grow that Merle and Taako had.
Continue reading 28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 20: Favorite Magnus Burnsides Moment28 Day Challenge: The Adventure Zone, Day 19: Least Favorite Villain
I kind of gave myself away yesterday with my least favorite villain, so I’ll just put it above the cut: the Hunger.
Yes, yes, I know. It’s the ultimate villain in the Balance series of The Adventure Zone, and its defeat (spoiler alert?) at the hands of the IPRE/BoB folks brings about a peace the main characters had not known for over 100 years. I get it. “The Stolen Century” did give us John, the physical representation of the Hunger, which was a great move by Griffin, but it wasn’t enough for me to really latch onto this giant, looming threat.
I mean, it was there at the Midsummer Festival, just the literal blink of a thousand eyes, and it was ominous, for sure. But like I said yesterday, it was almost too big, too monstrous for me to fathom. I couldn’t really see it like I could with other things Taako, Magnus, and Merle battled. Even when characters from “The Stolen Century” whose worlds had been overtaken by the Hunger returned to fight the main three boys, it didn’t have the same impact as when Marvy, Magic Brian, and Jenkins were revived into robots in “Crystal Kingdom.”
This is not to say that I wasn’t on the edge of my seat during the finale, wondering how they would manage to defeat the Hunger, because dear gawd, I was. I was just certain Magnus would die during the final battle, heroically saving the lives of those he held dear, or that Lucretia would be consumed by the Hunger, her greatest fear coming to life: fighting her friends. And I’m not certain if this could have been done differently, but that doesn’t mean that I have to be a rabid fan of it.
Art Credit: Maximum Fun
a little more juju 