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CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Since the start of the pandemic, been really enjoying CH's output. It's kind of like the "little video production company that could" in that they've spun off a few successful careers and shows, but maintain a pretty small presence. I'm rooting for them to rebound from the layoffs + pandemic one-two punch, and hopefully the boundless engine of Brennan Mulligan carries them through.

Game Changer is a hole lotta fun and I was happy to see they just kept making more episodes following the initial run for the current season.

sexpig by night posted:

Speaking of, should I binge Unsleeping City? Obviously I know the cast is good and all but hearing Brennon describe the 'spirits of New York' involving 'just the actual man Andrew Lloyd Sullivan, with a big anime sword' thanks to Grant made me go 'oh yea I should watch that'.

There are no bad seasons of D20, so if ya have twenty hours to kill, go for it my man.

I hope they go back to a Crown of Candy at some point, while it sounded like that was terribly stressful for everyone involved gently caress there's so much to explore in that space yet. Particularly if they run one where they're nowhere near the royalty of that world.

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CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Crown towards the end loses a bit of momentum, but I'd argue the first half of it is just as griping as early Game of Thrones was. Man what a ride.

Ending the first episode on one of the characters – one of the young starry eyed protagonists – getting shot through the neck was just *chefs kiss*.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

For me it's that she comes in so late and becomes The central character. I like the conflict she has with the Rocks family, but that plot kind of usurps their whole deal in a way that feels just slightly too tangential to the initial struggles. Her character has a dope backstory and the dragon stuff is great. I just don't like how much air it takes out of the beat up family, to the point where they almost feel like after thoughts by the finale.

...it's still all really really good tho. Praise be, Brennan.


Blood Keep also has Hamhead! And that apparently the final battle was supposed to be PVP, but they all decided to be best friends around the newborn baby the episode before so he had to scrape that and make a Gauntlet encounter instead!

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

I must have missed them advertising this, but Mice & Murder is 10 episodes!

In the Adventuring Party Brennan mentions that had someone rolled a nat 20 this episode, they would get to the point they got to on episode 9 – which hell yeah! I thought this was following the general template of side quests being just six.

I had figured things were coming to a head following this episode, looking much forward to how things unravel for another six.

AP keeps on giving. On mouse butts:

"You never know which side you kiss and which you put more cheese in"
"Hey hey on a good night switch it up"

CatstropheWaitress fucked around with this message at 06:00 on May 7, 2021

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Wowie zowie, they've already made 17x their original ask. Have wondered if CH was going to throw in the towel, but there's clearly enough of an audience for them to cater to.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Jaxts posted:

I decided to subscribe, and I know about D20, um actually, and the other shows people talk about.

What are the hidden gems? There's a lot of content here.

Gamechanger is still being made, but all the eps of that are great. Will mimic the calls for Total Forgiveness and Paranoia.

Badman is a delight. Otherwise, honestly a lot of it is pretty cliche sketch comedy, but if you like the people making it, they can still be fun to watch. Shows like 'Heist Night' aren't comedy gold, but they're enjoyable enough for some background viewing.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Roll of Quarters posted:

Last episode of mice and murder!

what the gently caress Rekha

Watching Brennan trying to help her save face was a highlight of all of Dimension 20. Christ Rekha!

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

tsob posted:

Having finally watched the last episode and accompanying cast chat for Mice & Murder, I have to echo the earlier "what the gently caress, Rehka"? She was probably feeling a lot of pressure despite Brennan's best intentions when he was saying "do what you think your character would do, and we'll work out the rolls afterwards" since she was on the spot for a really important beat, and had to come up with something on her own. Still, between that and Gangie calling Buckster "dad" despite having almost no relationship with the character it did feel like the cast let the humor and silliness get the best of them right at the finish line, and it undercut the finale just a little. It was still a really strong showing regardless, minor gripes aside.

Agree, though I can't say I mind it. Crown of Candy is probably the first game they've done in which they actually got away from the straight up comedy tone – the first half goes to a dark place where there's still comedy, but there's a real investment there.

The other obvious example is [spoilers for Bloodkeep] where Brennan meant for the final battle to be PvP, but the episode before one of the characters has a baby and they all swear allegiance to being best friends forever. It's hard as hell to break the organic conclusion of players who know they need to work together, let alone players who know they have to help bring the train into the station for a broadcast show.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Social Studies 3rd Period posted:

While I can totally understand the concern about the finale of Mice and Murder, it's as Brennan says at one point during all the madness: "This is the season with the all CollegeHumor cast. No, this is how it was supposed to end." :v: And, I mean...

That said, totally enjoyed the absolutely rollercoaster of a finale. Some very excellent moments.

Will say in his defense, it's pretty clear he intended for Sylvester to die at that one point, after they rolled for crap. He miscalculated how much falling damage does and had plotted out how Sylvester dying would work out only to have that yoinked away from him.. The nature of the show and players means everyone's kind of working towards a light romp of an ending, for better or worse.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

DeathSandwich posted:

So now that I've got Dropout I'm going to start working my way through d20 stuff and the newer Breaking News and Game changers. What else should I be lookin at while I'm here. Any of the podcasts worth getting into?

Emily and Murph's dnd podcast is pretty adjacent to d20, so that might be worth checking out. Otherwise, closet other podcast stuff are going to be the talkback programs d20 does.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

I'm still hoping they do a second season of Crown of Candy – the world building is so solid and we only see half of it. And the story, while darker than other seasons, is fuckin' great. In all the talk back shows they note how stressful it was, so imagine we're still a few seasons away from them tackling it again, but drat was it good storytelling.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

They aren't wrong, but it's definitely a byproduct of Brennan designing a character with such a huge character trait. It's interesting that if they noticed it happening at the end of episode three, wonder what different decisions were made about what happened in the fourth. I'd be curious to read how he wrote it, sucks that he felt the need to take it down.

Also hell yeah new season!

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017


At the end of the episode, Zak officially wins 'Make Some Noise', which implies that they're ending it...

But on the Discord, Sam mentioned to folks being sad at that:

quote:

let's just say it's the end of "make some noise" as you know it, and not the end of "make some noise" as you don't yet know it.

...which maybe means they're going to make it into a show? Would love to see it if so.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Fifty!

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

That was basically just Off Book in video form, and that's A-OK. They're so wildly good at what they do.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

They have to keep having Amy on until she finally breaks 100 laughs in one episode. She's come painstakingly close at least once, would bet money they have a trophy prepared for that occasion when it inevitably occurs.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

I forget where they said it (I think in a talk back on the D20 series with Sam) but -

[behind the scenes spoiler for Yes/No episode]
Apparently Brennan did correctly guess it way earlier than they showed. But they needed him to not get it for the episode to still work, so they carried on and edited that out.

Still crossing my fingers they just turn the Sound Effects Game Changer into a series.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

enki42 posted:

One thing I miss from the earlier game changers is the ones where contestants had to figure out what the game was a bit.

Agree, tho they're having enough fun with it I don't mind them breaking that format.

Favorite example of 'what the gently caress is this' is their Jeopardy game, which was so freaking brilliant.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Mi Scusi

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

I'm convinced they're having Amy on so much because they made a trophy for when she laughs 100 times in a single Breaking News episode. Believe she hit high 90's in one episode. Rooting for her to hit the triple digits with each appearance.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

They're doing Game Changer Survivor, and it is good.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

It's hard to see him winning, given every vote he's eligible for, people are gonna take their shots. But finding two immunities right off the bat, hot drat, not it's a game.

Also lol Grant voting Sam to try to force a tie.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

lemonadesweetheart posted:

Who do you think put in Katie? I don't think it was Sam like everyone else seems to. I'm guessing Brennan

Agree. Could be editing, but he's quick to suggest an underline on it means it had to have been production, vs. the occam's razor that it was just one of them. Feels uncharacteristic to not try to suss out who did that as a distraction from the target on his back... unless hew as the one who did it.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Xand_Man posted:

honestly I think it's art dept. because underlining the name JUST to use it to throw off suspicion later is some 5-D chess bullshit even for Brennan

I mean if anyone was playing 5D chess it'd be him. Tho I wouldn't discount underlining for the heck of it and improvising the art dept accusation later.

It's actually a genius concept to take Survivor and do it with a bunch of people who are awkward comedian pals. It's gonna be lol's for the first few episodes and then get real (for most of them), real fast.

Rooting for Grant or Raff.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Gaz-L posted:

Also, did I misunderstand or did Brennan get the art department to literally make him up an idol?

No, he was just checking with them to confirm the bit in front of the voting urn was a legit one and not just using the same symbol.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Sam's doing an AMA where they announced a full run of 'Make Some Noise'. Will be excited to see if they can top making the sound of stirring mac n' cheese.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

blackcross posted:

I think it was this AMA (and not the one from last year but I just read them both so I could be mixing them up) where Sam said they're making way less money now than they were a few years ago but they're also SPENDING way less money. So it's working out pretty well for them and they don't have to deal with corporate people pushing stupid stuff. They can just make whatever they want.

He's been pretty open about it. They were apparently just treading water the first year, and haven't grown much, but also have managed to keep their audience. So like Blackcross said, they finally are in the black and can start trying out new stuff.

It does continue to suck that the bulk of the cast is no longer salaried, but it's nice that they've kept hiring them whenever possible it seems.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Hiro Protagonist posted:

I just started watching Dimension 20 with my girlfriend. I've seen Fantasy High S1, so we started with Mice and Murder, and goddamn, how are they all so good at this?!

Good news friend, there are no bad seasons. Crown of Candy is my personal favorite, as it starts as lol candy Game of Thrones and very quickly becomes legitimately as enthralling and serious as Game of Thrones at it's peak.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

It's perfect. Game Changer Survivor is perfect.

Brennan is literally untouchable as he wins every challenge and scoops up the most immunities, and even when Lou shoots himself in the foot making that last statement, the people have to side with the underdog.

It's perfect. Chef's kiss.

I do wish they had a physical challenge to mix things up. But otherwise, perfect.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

tsob posted:

Honestly, I just wonder why Brennan expected no-one would care about that, given the relative import of what he was doing to the original story.

iirc it was serendipity in that the analogue character rolled a 20 on a stealth check to escape with the crown. I think once that happened, he decided "well this is now a thing".

quote:

even if I fell off the last few episodes of A Crown of Candy because I didn't like Emily's new character, and how she basically seemed to be hijacking the plot from everyone else despite appearing so late in the show)

I actually agree with this, which is a shame. The first half of it is as good as D20 gets, and while I still like the second half, it does suffer greatly for that exact reason. Zach's character never really re-integrates with the cast too, tho he is hilarious and a fun one.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Grant as the sidekick / wise cracking bartender is very good.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

It definitely feels looser than other seasons, which is great. Most epitomized by Lou adding a gas-station-quality casino to their ship. Just wonderful stuff.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

MikeJF posted:

The ep of Breaking News where Brennan goes full Tim Curry for the entire back half of the episode and breaks everyone about thirty times each without cracking once may be the best episode of the series.

Which one is this? Intrigued by 'goes full Tim Curry'

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

I was surprised Brennan won. Seem to have arbitrary points, but also a reward at the end? I would have liked to see more "actually mimic this sound" ala' "stirring a bowl of mac & cheese", but yeah, delight all around.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Sure, but then they actually do have a trophy. It's just an odd bit the way it was handled is all.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Xand_Man posted:

There's a reason Game Changer has an episode specifically devoted to a game rigged against Brennan and his descent into madness

Unfortunately they came out in one of the follow-up shows that Brennan did technically win that episode by figuring it out first, but they kept it going so they'd have an episode.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Yeah, never seen that guy before but man he kills it pretty much every time.

Also Coffin Run is my favorite side quest in a hot moment. Squing might be my favorite player character in a good while, just a horrid old man baby. Never seen Jasmine before, but she also brings it with the early hollywood accents.

CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Big week for butts on Dropout between this and that recent dirty laundry.

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CatstropheWaitress
Nov 26, 2017

Coffin run finale is a lot of fun, and also feels possibly inspired by the vampire level in Conker's Bad Fur Day.

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