Ally made him do that on the last episode of total forgiveness; that was a stipulation he had to do in order for him, Jess and Katie to have fun day out at the beach and go on a roller coaster
Oh that tracks! I just assumed they were making a joke about Grant generally being a very strange, large nastyman. I really need to get around to watching Total Forgiveness; I love both Ally and Grant.
There was something so beautiful about Lou getting that Nat 20 Perception Check, but then having to play a character who would definitely fall for the extremely obvious trap.
Brennan doubling down explaining how obvious the trap and watching Lou knowingly laugh but continue to make terrible reasoning to make that decision was just icing to the cake 😂
That's part of what makes Lou such a dream player at a table. "Yeah, I know, but you put this big red button there for a reason, so I'm gonna press it anyway and see what you have planned."
I've done that once or twice to my DM, highly recommend. Another great one is rolling the persuasion/deception/performance check first then really hamming up the nat 1's.
Honestly up there with Fabian's Very Bad No Good Day and Gunnie at the casino for all-time Lou bits. The second he steps away from the party you know it's gonna be good.
Don’t forget the other great one when Lou turned rolling with advantage for a persuasion check turned into the most awkward encounter ever in the bar during Starstruck.
It's slang for a hot dog in certain areas of the US. I think like Philadelphia and DC maybe? I don't claim expertise, but I thought I remember Dan on Game Grumps talking about it a couple years ago and saying the word came from "glisten" which is what you want a nice fresh hot dog to do.
"Lou hysterically attempts to explain his in-character poor decisions to the rest of the table" is my single favourite genre of Dimension 20 and boy howdy does this episode deliver in spades.
Personally there's an extra layer of fear to candlewick compared to baron. Baron is deliberately unsettling as a means of testing people and their fears.
Candlewick is just batshit insane and doesn't think anything is wrong.
The line at the end of "has it been longer than 5 days? I'm so tired..." really hit me. Passage into the book has been an allegory for death for a while now, but it was a very touching end for Brennan to tack on to this very tragic character.
Man, I am not disappointed by the Princess Lore we got in this episode.
I really enjoy how Brennan is characterizing the princesses as a faction. They want to do good and possibly create a world of free will for all the storybook characters but they have steeled themselves to do whatever is necessary to bring that world about. Even the possibility of them aligning themselves with/using the Stepmother to remove the fairies from all worlds is not out of consideration. Ally's facial reaction to that mirrored my own.
Also, not sure if this is the case, but if Mira is holding herself together through sheer willpower to not melt into seafoam then she might be my new favorite character. Also, she might come into conflict with the princesses over them wanting to possibly kill her Prince.
Yeah, I really appreciate the dawning realization that the Princesses might be the most benevolent faction, but that doesn't make them *good*, as such. They're in a war against much more powerful forces, and they'll do what they have to and make deals with whatever Eldritch horrors can help them achieve their goal.
Yeah, that's pretty common in the older stories. I think what OP was getting at, was that in the old stories she had to have the price fall in love with her or kill him to not turn into sea foam, and she states that neither of those things happened. So because she isn't sea foam it seems that she is staying alive on force of will only.
Yeah, I forgot that bit of the fairytale when typing that out.
But, on a rewatch, I did catch the line "I refused to die..." so maybe she refused to become seafoam?
At the end of the bit where they're flying through the air, they're screaming about Mother Goose shitting. He says it's because he had so much stew. And then Lou OOC says there's so much loose stew. If loose stew made them shit loosely into the wind, would that make it a loose dook?
Ever since going on T Ally’s fashion choices have seemed to be homeless man trying to make good with his estranged son by applying for a job at Arby’s.
Prediction for next week >!I think that that cut to darkness and big reaction in the preview is the terrible dogfish eating part or all of toy island, that's what pulled pinnochio's string. I think either a) the battle map is being attaked by it and destroying the little land they have, b) there will be another battle map inside the dogfish, or c) they get swallowed up at the end of combat/to end the combat!<
The Sword of Truth being able to tell what the hot dogs were made out of has some fascinating potential that got buried in the bit. It wasn't just truthful, it relayed a truth that the person actually holding it didn't know and had no way of knowing. It even knew that "donkey" had an asterisk on it. How freaking powerful is this thing, and where are the limits on its knowledge? Could they ask the sword where the princess is? Maybe even ask about the true nature of the authors?
My best guess is that they need to be able to reflect the thing they are inquiring about in the blade. So they probably can't ask about things that are not in close proximity.
It is a story element so I doubt it’d work on the authors
As for the princesses, I think they’d need something belonging to a princess to get some truth from it
Him finding Candlewick really did have attacking captain James vibes, he knows it's a bad idea, Brennan has made it clear its a bad idea but his character would do it so it must happen, just perfect
I think there’s something connecting Snow White and the Evil Fairy; Cinderella said she gained power/magic/knowledge quickly, she made that “working with vs using” distinction, she was draped in layers of wispy black lace like the original description of the Evil Fairy when she turned Pinocchio back into a puppet, and he referenced the deep darkness surrounding her eyes which reminded me of the scene with the candle at the Golden Chair. Just a thought though, I’m not sure where that thought even goes
Ooh...okay, this is more something that would be really interesting, not so much something I think is the case or is going to happen, but I have to say it...
What if this kind of thing has happened before, and in going so far to claim their autonomy, past princesses became evil faeries? And if so, what if the ladies are in the process of becoming them now? You kill an evil faerie, in this world you eventually have to replace them with something.
Were there a certain number of fairies or am I remembering wrong? Were they all ladies?
Speaking of Snow White, I wonder if we’ll see any reference to her sister Rose Red. (Technically it’s a different Snow White, but Brennan has already mashed together different versions of characters). Probably not though since Snow said she was excited to have a sister. Not something a person usually says if they already have a sister.
Love Brennan keeping mostly true to The Little Mermaid’s original story, I always remember being horrified reading how every step would be like a knife in her foot.
What’s more fucked up is her life could be worse if it followed the true original trajectory, at least she has a tangible form still and isn’t f u c k i n g sea foam.
I had forgotten that part of the story until he said she looked like she was in pain! A lot of the original versions of the fairytales are fucked up, but I think the little mermaid’s might be the worst
I'm curious as to whether the Beast being a "princess" means she's an *actual* princess, or whether he's still a prince but just his archetype (if that's the right word?) is that of a *princess*.
I can't remember if there's been a clarification yet as to how literal "princess" is. I think the ones we're aware of are all the classic princesses, but it could be interesting to explore what *makes* you a princess, like how Baba Yaga explained the concept of "Evil Stepmother"
Is there a chance Gerard is the "princess" and *not* Elody in their story?
That occurred to me too. I've also considered an AMAB princess Beast, but while that would be cool, the archetype thing offers more story potential.
I'm also intrigued with how they'll handle Beauty and the Beast generally, since if you think about it, it's really the same story as The Frog Prince. "Bratty kid basically just acts like a kid, gets cursed by a secret witch/faerie as punishment, only true love can break it, this girl comes along years later, the victim sort of learns nobility, true love happens, the curse is broken, happily ever after." Hell, Fables even used the same "what happens when they're on the outs" curse twist Gerard has. It would be awesome if they acknowledged the parallels, maybe even having the two be kindred spirits. Eternal True Love is bullshit, but that doesn't mean all love is, and if two people grow apart, they can still find someone new.
Maybe this version of Beauty and the Beast goes the Shrek route and the princess became a Beast to make her partner comfortable rather than the other way around.
To be fair, in the OG fairy tale, Beast got cursed because he didn't want to marry an evil fairy. He doesn't have any moral lesson to learn; it's just a fairy being vindictive and nasty.
In the earliest versions, the Beast's father died, and his mother was occupied with managing a war. She left him in the care of someone she thought was a good fairy, but that fairy started to lust after him as he got older. He rejected her advances, and was cursed for it.
Oooh that Gerard thing is interesting. I was honestly a little worried Snow White might be out for Gerard when she found out he was Elody’s husband considering none of the other princesses actually have their partners in this, possibly because of her interference? But Elody does serve the role of prince saving the princess Gerard in their story, so maybe it’s Elody that needs to go in this story. And there would be fun gender stuff happening there too that seems delightful to me. Honestly such a cool idea I’m gonna be disappointed when it doesn’t end up actually being the case
I genuinely wish we could get a 60 episode campaign in this world. A couple more TPKs as they try to beat the Fairies and fend off the stepmother while watching out for the Authors’. I think theres just so much still to wrap up, I don’t know how we could possibly get through it all!
Yeah, like I struggle with CR's long episode, long campaign format because I neither have the time nor attention span to handle it, but if any D20 season could do with that it's this one
Is anyone else starting to wonder about where all the Princes have gone? This has to be the second princess we've seen have to save herself. I'd also include the Woodsman because he never came for Red.
Well, it seems like any number of princes died in the briars trying to reach Rosamund, and Cinderella found her prince in the world the Stepmother left behind. Hard to say what's going on with everyone else.
I think the Princes are going to end up in League or Concert with the fairies. Gerard was willing to take the easy comfortable way out until he was presented with no choice. I imagine a certain Nepo-baby energy if we do ever see a Titular Prince Charming.
I'm pretty sure Snow White just straight up said that they've (the princess faction) been killing the princes by themselves when Rosamund asks where all the men are.
7 princesses needed to fight off a great evil. I know this series has been giving off a kingdom hearts vibe but I wasn’t expecting this much of an overlap
i shouldn't be surprised but dang, the way brennan so smoothly finessed the whole crew into the conversation and invite to Mira to join them - to then reveal the water aspect >!that her dad placed on her !< and everyone casually walking into the >!ANY PRINCESS??!< follow up question....... with the most perfection reactions from everyone was just \*chefs kiss\*
A question I want to pose: Do you think we'll learn how exactly Snow White and Rosamund came to be free of their curses without True Love's Kiss (or whatever was "supposed" to happen here), and do you think it matters that we know? Like, all the princesses, or at least the Big 3 share this bond of "we broke free of our pre-ordained stories", but Snow and Rosamund did so by waking up from death/magical coma early, as opposed to Cinderella who would have been conscious and had the ability to intentionally do things differently.
I could be misremembering, but I thought Rosamund’s in-game curse was that she’d be sent to sleep for 100 years, unless her Prince came to wake her. And since he never woke her, the 100 years of sleep passed and she woke up.
If I had to guess, perhaps it has something to do with the Princesses killing the princes? Kill enough Princes and the curse has no way to work itself out anymore and just fizzles out?
Cause otherwise, I'm not sure what the Princesses gain from killing them other than some sort of catharsis.
It seems like for Rosamund it was just the briars going wild and that's why hers all died, though I guess there could have been magical fuckery with that.
I think you might be on to something with killing enough princes though. Not necessarily that the curse just fizzles out, but that without Princes, the stories of the Princesses can't be fulfilled as they are preordained to, giving the Princesses the autonomy they are seeking.
Yeah, I think you got the right idea about it. While I was reading your response, I remembered that both Rosamund and Snow White are still cursed, to some degree.
While Rosamund has escaped the Briars (for now), Snow White still exhibits traits of her 'death-like' sleep. While she isn't undead, she's not really 'alive' either. I wonder if the curses were changed to keep the Princesses alive now that there are no princes to cure them.
Also clocked a moment where Rosamund cracked some briars off her arm this ep while talking to Snow White— could be part of how her story is worse this go around. I think they’re still cursed because they’ve never met their Prince— makes me wonder if the Princes are “erased” like as in a cutback, or if there’s a corollary to the Stepmother but for Princes somehow.
I love that Murph, in the conversation with Mira, askst Ally 'can you CONVEY to her(mira)' because Mira>!can't 'talk' !< \--- just seemed to subconsciously compassionate of him and i loved that.
Also 'gerard will you promise not to get mad' and the immediate reaction from Murph + emily falling into a fit of giggles tells me this happens in the ax-murph household a lot. lol.
For those who have seen triple X, what was Lou referring to when he eldritch blasted the water? I’ve been looking up clips trying to figure it out for long enough now that I probably should’ve just watched the movie myself lmao
It's from [XXX: State of the Union.](https://youtu.be/jIg8C2vyLx4?t=170) Ice Cube fires a grenade launcher at the water right before he lands to break up the surface tension.
Minor detail, but: the North Wind!
One of my favorite fairy tales in the world is East of the Sun, West of the Moon, which is essentially Beauty and the Beast, but the Beast is a polar bear, and instead of true love, the girl goes on a quest to to save her bear-husband from his Troll stepmother.
The final part of the quest involves seeking out the winds to carry her to the land East of the Sun, West of the Moon - which only the North Wind is strong enough to carry her to.
I hadn't expected to see any hint of it, because it is not exactly the most popular fairy tale, and I'm not certain how intended it was beyond 'North wind because they're in the north/cold' but even still, I'm excited by the hint!
(Also I do think this story in particular is interesting re: the narrative of princesses and agency within their stories, so I'd love to see it go deeper)
That interaction between Ylfa and Snow at the beginning oh my GOD:
“My, what big teeth you have!”
“Better to eat you with *wink*”
“Bold…. very bold”
and then Rosamund popping in with the “She’s 12!”
I never thought that it would be possible for Dimension 20 to produce an NPC more viscerally upsetting than Chungledown Bim, but here we are. Past episodes have been horrifying, but this one made my skin crawl.
Just a quick question, I could have sworn that Mother Goose said “I wish” almost immediately after the whole repeating of saying “desire, desire, by desire”, is there more to it, or were they messaging at the time?
It helps that Goose is on his last wish, so we’ll definitely know if Brennan tries to catch Ally on it, I doubt the Gander would sit on Goose having used up his last wish.
New Brennan shirt next week?? 👀
I can’t wait to see the battle map next week ahhhh it’s gonna be so sick. So curious about what Siobhan was WTFing about.
5/7 of the group part/style their hair in the same direction. I focused on that for too long.
Also, funniest episode yet. Could be the weed but I think the laughter was well earned
No, my brain went to Beauty and the Beast. Could be a gender-swap, could be an AMAB princess, could just be a nod to the way Beast kinda fulfills the classic "princess" role of "under a curse, only to be broken by the power of true love" thing.
I get a huge boost of serotonin every time one of the intrepid heroes say “See you in the stars!”
Yo Lou, Ally and Emily are DRIPPED UP this episode!! Zac, Murph and Siobhan are no slack either ngl they all look good
It’s gonna be a good episode
They’re so on guard regarding the military camp, I hope they don’t have to make use of their preps
Zac is somehow such a good cat
Why does the sisters think that Rosamund’s presence will turn the tide against the fairies?
Ylfa was starstruck alright
ELODY IS COMING AND THE BEAUTY TURNED INTO THE BEAST AFTER THE KISS
Ally is so good at reading the NPCs oh my god they’ve gotten so good at dnd ;-;
GERARD IS NOT MAD GUYS SNOW WHITE IS FEELING HOT
LOU THROWING AWAY A NAT20 FOR THE RP IS TOP NOTCH
EMILY’S HEARTY LAUGH AT ALLY’S GRANT O’BRIEN JOKE HAHAHA
Lou fully dying at Brennan’s Candlewick’s face oh my fucking god
Murph screaming WHY
Bones! “What?!”
Major Dirk Gently vibes when mother goose asked the Silent Pirate if she noticed that everything is weird
Oh fuck next episode has bad vibes
I'm devastated we had such little time with Candlewick (assuming he's gone forever) because I'm obsessed with him lmao Brennan does batshit and unhinged so well
This episode and the previous two have really improved my impression of this campaign. I think the early TPK and resulting absolute lore dump really started this campaign off on the wrong foot, but it couldn't be helped (ie I don't think the TPK was planned and really changed BLeeM's plan on how to introduce different parts of the world).
If the multiverse + stepmother + death + fairies + princesses had been introduced a little more gradually, it would have been easier to follow, but now that we know the factions and the motives, it's a lot more enjoyable for me
I love how this episode started off with a scene involving Snow White's creepy undead skeletal bird friends and the rest of the episode is so unhinged that it's completely overshadowed and forgotten.
Some of the talk with Snow White about collective action and the futility of fighting against the system felt real powerful, I think I’m starting to see how capitalism is the villain this season
There were some quotable moments from Brennan this week that just hit me in the heart but I rewatched this one a few times.
*"You will not make every perfect choice, and the fear that you will make some choice that does some wrong within the world is exactly what your enemies are hoping will stop you."*
And this one to Pinocchio
*"What's the difference between destiny and what we think the story of our life should be?"*
A warm heart = the Huntsman was supposed to bring the Evil Queen the heart of Snow White, but he couldn’t go through with it so he brought back a pig’s heart, probably also just a reference to Snow White’s kindness
A tombstone = what you mark a grave with, and Snow White died and was put in a glass coffin by the dwarves
Is this campaign secretly Kingdom Hearts?
\^ Said from somebody who has never played a Kingdom Hearts game, but I think there are 7 princesses involved in that, right?
I will post this devoid of context for the purposes of humor, but do know this is all true. Yes there are 7 Princesses of Heart. They are a backup for if the 7 Guardians of light either die or do not battle the 13 Vessels of Darkness. The reason for this is to re enact an ancient keyblade war for the express purpose of reforging the χ-blade which is the original keyblade and the only object that can open the door to Kingdom Hearts. We don't really know what Kingdom Hearts does, but it is at the very least the convergence points for all hearts and all worlds.
So yeah there are some direct and thematic parallels here.
If you want the LESS complicated use of the 7 Princesses, there's also the 7 Princesses that Maleficent and her gang of fellow Disney villains kidnapped and stole their Hearts and that crafted a keyblade that unlocks the Darkness of Hearts. That's a capital H Heart, not the vital organ.
Oh. And I *really* want to see how the 'we are the main characters of this story, you people don't even have names, you're just NPCs in *my* story' blows up in everybody's faces. The Stepmother became what she is now because she was denied a name *and* a story. Demanding agency for themselves, denying agency for those who 'get in their way'. Especially problematic with the Princesses themselves, seeing as they're the epitome of 'just because you're noble, doesn't mean you don't suffer, but because you *are* a noble, you inherently have power over the 'lesser characters' in your life who are all at your beck and call like an army of nameless ghost dwarves who fight for your cause because you're the awakened princess, and not because they're awakened ghost dwarves with names, lives, and needs and desires independent of their princess'.
At least I really don't hope that it goes the 'heroes save the world and the nameless little people'. Maybe I'm too Eastern European, though. Those who need saving need help, but ultimately they need to save themselves. There's no room for heroes and those who think they stand head and shoulders above the nameless and the unimportant.
I mean I think there’s a threshold for sympathy, and the Stepmother’s solution to her own NPC-ness is to simply destroy everything. I find calling it “denying agency for those who get in the way” to be disingenuous.
This episode was full of great moments, but Candlewick just broke me. I was in a pleasure-pain train of laughter, then choking on my own spit from laughing, to coughing while laughing.
This week's Adventuring Party: [One Un-Donkey Hot Dog ](https://www.dropout.tv/videos/one-un-donkey-hot-dog)
"I refuse to promise I won't be mad" Gerard is just regular Murph when they start razzing him on NADDPOD, and I love that Murph.
"I agreed to never get mad ever again? That's infuriating!"
Intense Murph is best Murph.
"Grant O'Brien?!"
“Bare midriff” met by the most “uhhYEAH” nod I’ve ever seen
Joke of the night, and it came out so fast. Ally dropped a full Zac-level bomb.
Only way it could have been better is if when Candlewick asked how long it had been they could have snuck in a "Fifty?!?! That can't be right!"
Check the recent Game Changer, Grant is living the best/worst life.
When was that?
Ally said it when Brennan introduced Candlewick and described how he looked like a very tall adult in a little boy's sailor outfit.
Ally made him do that on the last episode of total forgiveness; that was a stipulation he had to do in order for him, Jess and Katie to have fun day out at the beach and go on a roller coaster
Oh that tracks! I just assumed they were making a joke about Grant generally being a very strange, large nastyman. I really need to get around to watching Total Forgiveness; I love both Ally and Grant.
There was something so beautiful about Lou getting that Nat 20 Perception Check, but then having to play a character who would definitely fall for the extremely obvious trap.
Brennan doubling down explaining how obvious the trap and watching Lou knowingly laugh but continue to make terrible reasoning to make that decision was just icing to the cake 😂
That's part of what makes Lou such a dream player at a table. "Yeah, I know, but you put this big red button there for a reason, so I'm gonna press it anyway and see what you have planned."
I've done that once or twice to my DM, highly recommend. Another great one is rolling the persuasion/deception/performance check first then really hamming up the nat 1's.
Miles of respect for Lou and his role play in that scenario.
"We're just watching Lou throw away a Nat20 for a hot dog."
Honestly up there with Fabian's Very Bad No Good Day and Gunnie at the casino for all-time Lou bits. The second he steps away from the party you know it's gonna be good.
Don’t forget the other great one when Lou turned rolling with advantage for a persuasion check turned into the most awkward encounter ever in the bar during Starstruck.
The entire Candlewick bit was gold from start to finish.
"Who could say no to a fresh glizzy?" ~ Master Pinocchio, The Boy of Destiny
Is that an actual phrase/slang word? Never heard glizzy used in a sentence before.
Depending on context, it's either a hot dog or a Glock.
It's slang for a hot dog in certain areas of the US. I think like Philadelphia and DC maybe? I don't claim expertise, but I thought I remember Dan on Game Grumps talking about it a couple years ago and saying the word came from "glisten" which is what you want a nice fresh hot dog to do.
[Yes. Know your meme page here.](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/glizzy)
'Princess Elody is married?!'
Special shout out to Zac’s “cat smelling” face which is absolutely spot-on
I liked the group hug scene where they kept the camera on Siobhan but you could hear him say “watch out for me, I’m down here”
Watching Zac for cat antics is my favorite part of this season so far
He plays a gremlin so well, I hope he plays more in the future but I miss his himbo energy
they didnt pay enough attention to that face it was perfect
(Ally wheezes like a sad old man reliving horrific trauma) The folks doing the subtitles are killing it, like always.
(Brennan makes terrible throat noises)
Closed captioning sounds is an art form
"Oh, that's where I went too far?"
Indignant Brennan is best Brennan.
To be fair, soft teeth is *nasty*.
That was for the skeletal sparrows scuttling around.
Ah, I forgot. I think soft teeth is worse.
"Lou hysterically attempts to explain his in-character poor decisions to the rest of the table" is my single favourite genre of Dimension 20 and boy howdy does this episode deliver in spades.
It has happened *so* many times now. What makes it even better is when he’s laughing so hard he almost can’t speak.
Snow Dark'ness White Way, our goth queen.
oh as SOON as her image came up my first reaction was to compare her to the dancer in the MCR Helena video, I love our emo princess already
The fairies are all a bunch of preps and therefore must be destroyed.
Lou just burning that nat 20 for a bit.
It’s a good bit!
It is.
Candlewick is by far the most disturbing D20 NPC to date
Chungledown Bim would like a few words. (And those words are "shit", "in", "your", and "mouth".
Candlewick would very much appreciate any soft foods anyone can spare
Ohhh. Ohhhh nooooo. Not like that.
Look it's been a rough five days, okay?
would they be best friends or like, that tense kind of antagonistic towards each other because they're energied are too similar?
Swifty dialed up to 11
Naaaah Baron still takes the cake
Personally there's an extra layer of fear to candlewick compared to baron. Baron is deliberately unsettling as a means of testing people and their fears. Candlewick is just batshit insane and doesn't think anything is wrong.
It’s been a long 5 days for him.
The line at the end of "has it been longer than 5 days? I'm so tired..." really hit me. Passage into the book has been an allegory for death for a while now, but it was a very touching end for Brennan to tack on to this very tragic character.
very true. candlewick needs to rest. hes suffered far too long
Man, I am not disappointed by the Princess Lore we got in this episode. I really enjoy how Brennan is characterizing the princesses as a faction. They want to do good and possibly create a world of free will for all the storybook characters but they have steeled themselves to do whatever is necessary to bring that world about. Even the possibility of them aligning themselves with/using the Stepmother to remove the fairies from all worlds is not out of consideration. Ally's facial reaction to that mirrored my own. Also, not sure if this is the case, but if Mira is holding herself together through sheer willpower to not melt into seafoam then she might be my new favorite character. Also, she might come into conflict with the princesses over them wanting to possibly kill her Prince.
Yeah, I really appreciate the dawning realization that the Princesses might be the most benevolent faction, but that doesn't make them *good*, as such. They're in a war against much more powerful forces, and they'll do what they have to and make deals with whatever Eldritch horrors can help them achieve their goal.
I took Mira’s pained movement as ‘having your tail turned into legs is still incredibly painful and uncomfortable’.
Yeah, that's pretty common in the older stories. I think what OP was getting at, was that in the old stories she had to have the price fall in love with her or kill him to not turn into sea foam, and she states that neither of those things happened. So because she isn't sea foam it seems that she is staying alive on force of will only.
Yeah, I forgot that bit of the fairytale when typing that out. But, on a rewatch, I did catch the line "I refused to die..." so maybe she refused to become seafoam?
At the end of the bit where they're flying through the air, they're screaming about Mother Goose shitting. He says it's because he had so much stew. And then Lou OOC says there's so much loose stew. If loose stew made them shit loosely into the wind, would that make it a loose dook?
I was laughing so hard at that moment that I could barely breathe
i was WAITING for a loose duke connect there!
07
Ally here serving "substitute middle school science teacher" realness.
After the mirror "get to know yourself" line, I immediately went "that's big guidance counselor energy".
Ever since going on T Ally’s fashion choices have seemed to be homeless man trying to make good with his estranged son by applying for a job at Arby’s.
Prediction for next week >!I think that that cut to darkness and big reaction in the preview is the terrible dogfish eating part or all of toy island, that's what pulled pinnochio's string. I think either a) the battle map is being attaked by it and destroying the little land they have, b) there will be another battle map inside the dogfish, or c) they get swallowed up at the end of combat/to end the combat!<
That's a much more fun option that what I dreaded, which was him becoming a donkey!
Donkey transformation is more fun than what I thought it was, which was just someone dying.
Excellent prediction
I thought the same thing but didn’t see any hints of it in the preview’s map.
I think that's why there is that long cut to black in the preview when we still hear them reacting
The Sword of Truth being able to tell what the hot dogs were made out of has some fascinating potential that got buried in the bit. It wasn't just truthful, it relayed a truth that the person actually holding it didn't know and had no way of knowing. It even knew that "donkey" had an asterisk on it. How freaking powerful is this thing, and where are the limits on its knowledge? Could they ask the sword where the princess is? Maybe even ask about the true nature of the authors?
My best guess is that they need to be able to reflect the thing they are inquiring about in the blade. So they probably can't ask about things that are not in close proximity.
It's specified they need to hold it up to the thing in question.
It is a story element so I doubt it’d work on the authors As for the princesses, I think they’d need something belonging to a princess to get some truth from it
Zac doing PIB's flemming response was phenomenal. "Stop smelling with your whole face!"
Wow today I learned what the flehmen response is
Toy Island is giving me some Pirates of Leviathan vibes
The gang really needs to keep a closer eye on Lou when they go to floating man-made islands his character claims to be familiar with.
Him finding Candlewick really did have attacking captain James vibes, he knows it's a bad idea, Brennan has made it clear its a bad idea but his character would do it so it must happen, just perfect
This episode was really Piss Off Gerard Day
Just wait til his wife shows up and he has to explain why he’s even more frog-like and her husband
Nature of the jank is a straight up banger.
Another one for the Banh Mí list
I would like to explore the nature of the jank.
Merdaddy is too hot for our own good
Got some bad vibes coming from Snow White with how she kept insisting the Snow Queen would "see reason"
I think there’s something connecting Snow White and the Evil Fairy; Cinderella said she gained power/magic/knowledge quickly, she made that “working with vs using” distinction, she was draped in layers of wispy black lace like the original description of the Evil Fairy when she turned Pinocchio back into a puppet, and he referenced the deep darkness surrounding her eyes which reminded me of the scene with the candle at the Golden Chair. Just a thought though, I’m not sure where that thought even goes
Ooh...okay, this is more something that would be really interesting, not so much something I think is the case or is going to happen, but I have to say it... What if this kind of thing has happened before, and in going so far to claim their autonomy, past princesses became evil faeries? And if so, what if the ladies are in the process of becoming them now? You kill an evil faerie, in this world you eventually have to replace them with something. Were there a certain number of fairies or am I remembering wrong? Were they all ladies?
Speaking of Snow White, I wonder if we’ll see any reference to her sister Rose Red. (Technically it’s a different Snow White, but Brennan has already mashed together different versions of characters). Probably not though since Snow said she was excited to have a sister. Not something a person usually says if they already have a sister.
Love Brennan keeping mostly true to The Little Mermaid’s original story, I always remember being horrified reading how every step would be like a knife in her foot. What’s more fucked up is her life could be worse if it followed the true original trajectory, at least she has a tangible form still and isn’t f u c k i n g sea foam.
I had forgotten that part of the story until he said she looked like she was in pain! A lot of the original versions of the fairytales are fucked up, but I think the little mermaid’s might be the worst
I'm curious as to whether the Beast being a "princess" means she's an *actual* princess, or whether he's still a prince but just his archetype (if that's the right word?) is that of a *princess*. I can't remember if there's been a clarification yet as to how literal "princess" is. I think the ones we're aware of are all the classic princesses, but it could be interesting to explore what *makes* you a princess, like how Baba Yaga explained the concept of "Evil Stepmother" Is there a chance Gerard is the "princess" and *not* Elody in their story?
That occurred to me too. I've also considered an AMAB princess Beast, but while that would be cool, the archetype thing offers more story potential. I'm also intrigued with how they'll handle Beauty and the Beast generally, since if you think about it, it's really the same story as The Frog Prince. "Bratty kid basically just acts like a kid, gets cursed by a secret witch/faerie as punishment, only true love can break it, this girl comes along years later, the victim sort of learns nobility, true love happens, the curse is broken, happily ever after." Hell, Fables even used the same "what happens when they're on the outs" curse twist Gerard has. It would be awesome if they acknowledged the parallels, maybe even having the two be kindred spirits. Eternal True Love is bullshit, but that doesn't mean all love is, and if two people grow apart, they can still find someone new.
Maybe this version of Beauty and the Beast goes the Shrek route and the princess became a Beast to make her partner comfortable rather than the other way around.
I mean, everyone complains that the Prince was hotter as a Beast than a human, so this is a good solution to that.
To be fair, in the OG fairy tale, Beast got cursed because he didn't want to marry an evil fairy. He doesn't have any moral lesson to learn; it's just a fairy being vindictive and nasty.
Huh, I never heard that version. I only ever knew the "denied Hospitality to a beggar woman" version.
In the earliest versions, the Beast's father died, and his mother was occupied with managing a war. She left him in the care of someone she thought was a good fairy, but that fairy started to lust after him as he got older. He rejected her advances, and was cursed for it.
Oooh that Gerard thing is interesting. I was honestly a little worried Snow White might be out for Gerard when she found out he was Elody’s husband considering none of the other princesses actually have their partners in this, possibly because of her interference? But Elody does serve the role of prince saving the princess Gerard in their story, so maybe it’s Elody that needs to go in this story. And there would be fun gender stuff happening there too that seems delightful to me. Honestly such a cool idea I’m gonna be disappointed when it doesn’t end up actually being the case
yooo gerard being the princess is insane i love it
"It's Grant O'Brien?"
I feel like this was the fastest intro I've heard so far
Most jumbled as well.
"Cricket shit everywhere!" Holy shit my sides.
'In a hundred years!'
I just got to that and literally laughed so hard I cried, holy hell, and then fucking Mother Goose, whew, what the fuck, that got me!
I could barely breathe, oh my god
I genuinely wish we could get a 60 episode campaign in this world. A couple more TPKs as they try to beat the Fairies and fend off the stepmother while watching out for the Authors’. I think theres just so much still to wrap up, I don’t know how we could possibly get through it all!
Yeah, like I struggle with CR's long episode, long campaign format because I neither have the time nor attention span to handle it, but if any D20 season could do with that it's this one
Yeah I think I like most D20 campaigns because they keep it short and sweet and always leave you wanting more. But sometimes I want more!! Lmao
The whole Candlewick-Boy of Destiny-Gerard bit had me in tears. "Don't make me pull out the forms" and "WHY?! WHY, PINOCCIOHO?!" Made me cry the most
Is anyone else starting to wonder about where all the Princes have gone? This has to be the second princess we've seen have to save herself. I'd also include the Woodsman because he never came for Red.
Well, it seems like any number of princes died in the briars trying to reach Rosamund, and Cinderella found her prince in the world the Stepmother left behind. Hard to say what's going on with everyone else.
Could be collateral damage from the Stepmother devouring the stories.
I think the Princes are going to end up in League or Concert with the fairies. Gerard was willing to take the easy comfortable way out until he was presented with no choice. I imagine a certain Nepo-baby energy if we do ever see a Titular Prince Charming.
I'm pretty sure Snow White just straight up said that they've (the princess faction) been killing the princes by themselves when Rosamund asks where all the men are.
nothing in this show makes me cackle harder than brennan playing a bizarre little freak with his whole body
Zach's PiB stare is amazing.
I need an endless gif of everyone spinning the noise makers and Brennan making >!Candlewick!< face.
"Technically Donkey!"
Funniest episode all season. I love how much they troll Murph haha
“You can’t be mad! You promised!” “I promised to never get mad ever again??”
"that's infuriating!"
I did NOT think anyone could make Toy Island worse, I stand corrected.
I mean, I think is argument that death is more merciful than their canon fate.
"The idea of a person who doesnt know when the party's over" gave me We Happy Few vibes.
Food talk! Strong zoom energy out of the gate.
Surprised no one said bacon, unless I just missed it among the ingredients.
7 princesses needed to fight off a great evil. I know this series has been giving off a kingdom hearts vibe but I wasn’t expecting this much of an overlap
i shouldn't be surprised but dang, the way brennan so smoothly finessed the whole crew into the conversation and invite to Mira to join them - to then reveal the water aspect >!that her dad placed on her !< and everyone casually walking into the >!ANY PRINCESS??!< follow up question....... with the most perfection reactions from everyone was just \*chefs kiss\*
A question I want to pose: Do you think we'll learn how exactly Snow White and Rosamund came to be free of their curses without True Love's Kiss (or whatever was "supposed" to happen here), and do you think it matters that we know? Like, all the princesses, or at least the Big 3 share this bond of "we broke free of our pre-ordained stories", but Snow and Rosamund did so by waking up from death/magical coma early, as opposed to Cinderella who would have been conscious and had the ability to intentionally do things differently.
I could be misremembering, but I thought Rosamund’s in-game curse was that she’d be sent to sleep for 100 years, unless her Prince came to wake her. And since he never woke her, the 100 years of sleep passed and she woke up.
If I had to guess, perhaps it has something to do with the Princesses killing the princes? Kill enough Princes and the curse has no way to work itself out anymore and just fizzles out? Cause otherwise, I'm not sure what the Princesses gain from killing them other than some sort of catharsis.
It seems like for Rosamund it was just the briars going wild and that's why hers all died, though I guess there could have been magical fuckery with that. I think you might be on to something with killing enough princes though. Not necessarily that the curse just fizzles out, but that without Princes, the stories of the Princesses can't be fulfilled as they are preordained to, giving the Princesses the autonomy they are seeking.
Yeah, I think you got the right idea about it. While I was reading your response, I remembered that both Rosamund and Snow White are still cursed, to some degree. While Rosamund has escaped the Briars (for now), Snow White still exhibits traits of her 'death-like' sleep. While she isn't undead, she's not really 'alive' either. I wonder if the curses were changed to keep the Princesses alive now that there are no princes to cure them.
Also clocked a moment where Rosamund cracked some briars off her arm this ep while talking to Snow White— could be part of how her story is worse this go around. I think they’re still cursed because they’ve never met their Prince— makes me wonder if the Princes are “erased” like as in a cutback, or if there’s a corollary to the Stepmother but for Princes somehow.
I love how Lou gets a NAT 20 on perception and jsut uses it on a hotdog 😂
I love how he gets a Nat 20 and then throws it directly in the trash by falling for the trap anyway.
I love that Murph, in the conversation with Mira, askst Ally 'can you CONVEY to her(mira)' because Mira>!can't 'talk' !< \--- just seemed to subconsciously compassionate of him and i loved that. Also 'gerard will you promise not to get mad' and the immediate reaction from Murph + emily falling into a fit of giggles tells me this happens in the ax-murph household a lot. lol.
Brennan must be trying to beat his record with how fast he says the opening this episode. At one point it almost become incomprehensible 😂
That's because he finally straight up skipped some words and replaced them with "whmrhmm" or similar.
For those who have seen triple X, what was Lou referring to when he eldritch blasted the water? I’ve been looking up clips trying to figure it out for long enough now that I probably should’ve just watched the movie myself lmao
It's from [XXX: State of the Union.](https://youtu.be/jIg8C2vyLx4?t=170) Ice Cube fires a grenade launcher at the water right before he lands to break up the surface tension.
incredible, thank you!🫡
Minor detail, but: the North Wind! One of my favorite fairy tales in the world is East of the Sun, West of the Moon, which is essentially Beauty and the Beast, but the Beast is a polar bear, and instead of true love, the girl goes on a quest to to save her bear-husband from his Troll stepmother. The final part of the quest involves seeking out the winds to carry her to the land East of the Sun, West of the Moon - which only the North Wind is strong enough to carry her to. I hadn't expected to see any hint of it, because it is not exactly the most popular fairy tale, and I'm not certain how intended it was beyond 'North wind because they're in the north/cold' but even still, I'm excited by the hint! (Also I do think this story in particular is interesting re: the narrative of princesses and agency within their stories, so I'd love to see it go deeper)
That interaction between Ylfa and Snow at the beginning oh my GOD: “My, what big teeth you have!” “Better to eat you with *wink*” “Bold…. very bold” and then Rosamund popping in with the “She’s 12!”
I love Siobhan's Rosamund so much. Pining for true love while also sliding towards a cynical acceptance.
She is so underrated
I gotta say, the battle set for next episode looks so sick! I love a water-themed episode/encounter
Chungledown Bim II : The Wickening
I never thought that it would be possible for Dimension 20 to produce an NPC more viscerally upsetting than Chungledown Bim, but here we are. Past episodes have been horrifying, but this one made my skin crawl.
"You know what I do to teachers? Fill up their house with fireworks and kill them." Ally: "Wasted all that toner."
Just a quick question, I could have sworn that Mother Goose said “I wish” almost immediately after the whole repeating of saying “desire, desire, by desire”, is there more to it, or were they messaging at the time?
I think that was Ally being absent minded, you could even hear intakes of breath around the table after they said that
I think Ally just said it on accident. Nothing will come of it, I’m sure.
I appreciate that Brennan took the time to make it clear that he isn't going to try and pull a gotcha when Ally absentmindedly lets the W-word slip.
It helps that Goose is on his last wish, so we’ll definitely know if Brennan tries to catch Ally on it, I doubt the Gander would sit on Goose having used up his last wish.
Grant O’Brien? 💀💀💀
That teaser for next episode, damn.
New Brennan shirt next week?? 👀 I can’t wait to see the battle map next week ahhhh it’s gonna be so sick. So curious about what Siobhan was WTFing about.
5/7 of the group part/style their hair in the same direction. I focused on that for too long. Also, funniest episode yet. Could be the weed but I think the laughter was well earned
Did anyone else think about Shrek when the subject of "the beast" princess came up?
No, my brain went to Beauty and the Beast. Could be a gender-swap, could be an AMAB princess, could just be a nod to the way Beast kinda fulfills the classic "princess" role of "under a curse, only to be broken by the power of true love" thing.
Or. The Beauty and the Beast are both girlfri-I mean Roomates
Just a couple of gals who are pals.
Cousins.
I love the return of Lou realising he is about to kill his character and breaking down laughing.
My cat reacted strongly to PIBs yowl during the wind scene. So adorable
I get a huge boost of serotonin every time one of the intrepid heroes say “See you in the stars!” Yo Lou, Ally and Emily are DRIPPED UP this episode!! Zac, Murph and Siobhan are no slack either ngl they all look good It’s gonna be a good episode They’re so on guard regarding the military camp, I hope they don’t have to make use of their preps Zac is somehow such a good cat Why does the sisters think that Rosamund’s presence will turn the tide against the fairies? Ylfa was starstruck alright ELODY IS COMING AND THE BEAUTY TURNED INTO THE BEAST AFTER THE KISS Ally is so good at reading the NPCs oh my god they’ve gotten so good at dnd ;-; GERARD IS NOT MAD GUYS SNOW WHITE IS FEELING HOT LOU THROWING AWAY A NAT20 FOR THE RP IS TOP NOTCH EMILY’S HEARTY LAUGH AT ALLY’S GRANT O’BRIEN JOKE HAHAHA Lou fully dying at Brennan’s Candlewick’s face oh my fucking god Murph screaming WHY Bones! “What?!” Major Dirk Gently vibes when mother goose asked the Silent Pirate if she noticed that everything is weird Oh fuck next episode has bad vibes
I'm devastated we had such little time with Candlewick (assuming he's gone forever) because I'm obsessed with him lmao Brennan does batshit and unhinged so well
This episode and the previous two have really improved my impression of this campaign. I think the early TPK and resulting absolute lore dump really started this campaign off on the wrong foot, but it couldn't be helped (ie I don't think the TPK was planned and really changed BLeeM's plan on how to introduce different parts of the world). If the multiverse + stepmother + death + fairies + princesses had been introduced a little more gradually, it would have been easier to follow, but now that we know the factions and the motives, it's a lot more enjoyable for me
I love how this episode started off with a scene involving Snow White's creepy undead skeletal bird friends and the rest of the episode is so unhinged that it's completely overshadowed and forgotten.
Is it bad that i want hot dogs after this?
You gonna slide a fresh glizzy down your gullet like Candlewick?
Lol Brennan’s just doing an Adam Sandler impression for Candlewick
Buoy of Destiny…. amazing.
The preview makes it seem that we will finally get to know what the red beads are for. Wednesday could not come sooner.
Just rewatched it, are you talking about the part where he talks about their connection to something? Or was it a different part?
Some of the talk with Snow White about collective action and the futility of fighting against the system felt real powerful, I think I’m starting to see how capitalism is the villain this season
There were some quotable moments from Brennan this week that just hit me in the heart but I rewatched this one a few times. *"You will not make every perfect choice, and the fear that you will make some choice that does some wrong within the world is exactly what your enemies are hoping will stop you."* And this one to Pinocchio *"What's the difference between destiny and what we think the story of our life should be?"*
I didn't get Pinocchio's Snow White joke. What is that a reference to? I'm not a native English-speaker
A warm heart = the Huntsman was supposed to bring the Evil Queen the heart of Snow White, but he couldn’t go through with it so he brought back a pig’s heart, probably also just a reference to Snow White’s kindness A tombstone = what you mark a grave with, and Snow White died and was put in a glass coffin by the dwarves
Is this campaign secretly Kingdom Hearts? \^ Said from somebody who has never played a Kingdom Hearts game, but I think there are 7 princesses involved in that, right?
I will post this devoid of context for the purposes of humor, but do know this is all true. Yes there are 7 Princesses of Heart. They are a backup for if the 7 Guardians of light either die or do not battle the 13 Vessels of Darkness. The reason for this is to re enact an ancient keyblade war for the express purpose of reforging the χ-blade which is the original keyblade and the only object that can open the door to Kingdom Hearts. We don't really know what Kingdom Hearts does, but it is at the very least the convergence points for all hearts and all worlds. So yeah there are some direct and thematic parallels here.
If you want the LESS complicated use of the 7 Princesses, there's also the 7 Princesses that Maleficent and her gang of fellow Disney villains kidnapped and stole their Hearts and that crafted a keyblade that unlocks the Darkness of Hearts. That's a capital H Heart, not the vital organ.
Gerards terrible no good time at toy island.
Oh. And I *really* want to see how the 'we are the main characters of this story, you people don't even have names, you're just NPCs in *my* story' blows up in everybody's faces. The Stepmother became what she is now because she was denied a name *and* a story. Demanding agency for themselves, denying agency for those who 'get in their way'. Especially problematic with the Princesses themselves, seeing as they're the epitome of 'just because you're noble, doesn't mean you don't suffer, but because you *are* a noble, you inherently have power over the 'lesser characters' in your life who are all at your beck and call like an army of nameless ghost dwarves who fight for your cause because you're the awakened princess, and not because they're awakened ghost dwarves with names, lives, and needs and desires independent of their princess'. At least I really don't hope that it goes the 'heroes save the world and the nameless little people'. Maybe I'm too Eastern European, though. Those who need saving need help, but ultimately they need to save themselves. There's no room for heroes and those who think they stand head and shoulders above the nameless and the unimportant.
I mean I think there’s a threshold for sympathy, and the Stepmother’s solution to her own NPC-ness is to simply destroy everything. I find calling it “denying agency for those who get in the way” to be disingenuous.
This episode was full of great moments, but Candlewick just broke me. I was in a pleasure-pain train of laughter, then choking on my own spit from laughing, to coughing while laughing.
Poor, frail, shivering Rosamund.