Griffin McElroy

Petals to the Metal is one of my favorite mini-arcs within The Adventure Zone's Balance campaign. Fast and Furious references, a race, not burying your lesbians plus starting to get snippets of the broader plot with the Hunger and the Red Robes... really fascinating to continue watching how an audio narrative gets translated into a visual, and how plot and hints can be better organized knowing what's to come/smoothing over continuity errors/etc.

I'm curious as to how TAZ goes for someone experiencing it first through the graphic novels instead of the podcast! Certainly faster to get through.… (més)

It's the good good boys, but in visual form! It makes me want to relisten to the podcast as I haven't done that yet, but if you have friends who aren't podcast people (I commute 45 minutes each way so I'm all about some pods but I understand some people don't want to or can't commit the time), this is an excellent way to introduce Tres Horny Boys to them.

I do miss the asides and goofs, though some of that comes from format (here, Griffin addresses the characters from his DM position- there's no banter between brothers, though). Continuity errors and retcons are cleaned up, however (Merle is an acolyte of Pan from the start now, instead of whatever short-lived faith he had with another god).

I do feel like Wizards of the Coast would've been ok with using the names Phandalin and other named proper nouns from the Lost Mines of Phandelver (the Rockseeker dwarves, Klarg), but perhaps they wanted to avoid any potential copyright snafus in the future? oh well.

The other caveat I should probably mention is that as something that started as a podcast, there aren't really canon depictions, and the McElroys intend for there to not be- this came up earlier during production because fans felt a green-skinned Taako erases the possibility of representation in a Latinx Taako. Their statement, I feel, is pretty nuanced.

Recommended for: fans of TAZ, friends of fans of TAZ who don't want to commit to podcasts, fans of fantasy & tabletop… (més)

A classic train job mashed with a murder mystery, and the best Greatest Boy Detective! Angus McDonald is definitely one of my all time favorite TAZ characters, and he's great here.

Turning these into graphic novels after the Balance arc is finished also allows for hints of what's to come, what's going on behind the scenes, and ironing out early installment weirdness as they got into their groove in the podcast. Garfield the Warlock is still a mysterious being and we don't know what he looks like (kinda, in nods to fan theories sure, but still unknowable)

Neverwinter is Eversummer here, presumably for the same avoidance of Wizards of the Coast names.… (més)