One of my favorite things about this show is how great at storytelling the players are as well. You’ve got these self-contained little arcs going on alongside the big DM-led moments, and that adds so much depth to what’s going on and really speaks to the improv skills of everyone involved. Like in last night’s episode:

In the middle of battle, Nott spots a coinpurse on Shakäste’s belt.

When Shakäste’s distracted in familiar mode, Nott steals the coinpurse.
Shakäste notices but opts not to say anything to her right away.

Completely taking everyone by surprise, Nott is the one to sneak up to the manticore’s nest and kills her cub in front of her.

At the end of the battle, Shakäste creates a fog cloud and looms out of it to tell Nott that she’s probably earned that gold, but that she should watch where she puts her fingers in the future.

…and on their way back to town, when a traumatized Caleb grabs Nott’s hand, she sneaks the coinpurse into his pocket and tells him she got him some money for books.

It’s just such a great little narrative thing that intersects obliquely with the main plot and adds so much depth to the characters and their interactions, and it just keeps happening again and again (and man oh man did Khary Payton ever take to that rhythm, can we have him back all the time please, thank you for listening to my TED talk). It’s hard to put a nice narrative bookend on a little mini-story like that when you don’t have full control over the flow of the story, but they pull it off week after week. What a good.

doctorwho:

The TARDIS is back.

doctorwho:

TADA!

Possible Spoiler about Total Dramarama

I just watched the first 4 episodes of Total Dramarama, and I liked it. I liked it a lot.
Since I started loving Total Drama long ago in late Spring 2008 as a 10-year-old, I just had to check out this adorable spin-off.

1. I love the addition of Jude. He was always my favorite of the boys on 6Teen, narrowly beating out Wyatt. I just love a laid-back demeanor.
2. I love how Chef is finally getting the spotlight. I enjoy Chris (I’m really hoping for a cameo for him), but it’s nice to see the sidekick become the main adult.
3. Izzy😜. Izzy just steals the show in every scene she’s in. I liked her as a teen in Total Drama (my favorite being her in Action with all of her alter egos), but her preschooler identity with that sense of wonder in her eyes is just too precious💖💖💖 (I love cute things that make people smile)

And finally, my absolute favorite moment from what I’ve seen so far:
4. Nikki’s cameo.
In the second episode, the kids are talking about what happened the last time Chef didn’t get his Rainbow Juice Starbucks drink. The scene goes to a flashback in what reminds me of Owen’s art style (which I love the goofiness of😆) and it shows Chef going on a rampage, when he spies a kid with purple hair sitting on a chair. He picks up the kid and the sequence ends. Then Owen goes “and we never saw Nikki again. I think her family moved”.

The moment I saw that hairstyle, my first thought was ‘is that Nikki? Is that really her?’
Then once Owen confirmed it I started chuckling. But then once he said “I think her family moved”, I completely lost it and had to pause the episode. They really did a call back to the finale of 6Teen, and I was out of commission for a good 8 minutes. I love call backs.

This is definitely a show I’m going to enjoy after I’m done enjoying the Adventure Time finale.