Did Amanda and Brandon know they were going to unmask? How does Eric feel after getting a taste of WTF medicine? And what will Julia say at the Julia press conference? All that and more on the Afterparty!
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Cast & Crew
- Dungeon Master, Co-Producer: Eric Silver
- Co-Host (Milo Lane), Co-Producer, Editor, Sound Designer, Composer: Brandon Grugle
- Co-Host (Aggie O’Hare), Co-Producer: Amanda McLoughlin
- Co-Host (Val Vesuvio), Co-Producer, Editor: Julia Schifini
- Multitude: multitude.productions
About Us
Join the Party is a Dungeons & Dragons actual play podcast with tangible worlds, genre-pushing storytelling, and collaborators who make each other laugh each week. We welcome everyone to the table, from longtime players to folks who’ve never touched a roleplaying game before. Begin with Campaign 2 (The Join Campaign) for a modern, sci-fi superhero game, or marathon all of Campaign 1 (The Party Campaign) for a high fantasy story. Whatever adventure you choose, hang out with us each month for our AFTERPARTY: a session held to discuss campaigns, joke around, and answer listener questions. New episodes three Tuesdays a month.
Transcript
Amanda: Hey, hi, hello and welcome to the after party where Julia was so mad at us for doing what we did that she… she left.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: No, we're kidding. Julia is on vacation. And one of the things we're trying to do in 2022 is let people take vacations.
Eric: It's pretty upsetting that Julia filed her PTO out of office before I was allowed to. So, now I have to fucking cover her shifts and listen to your fucking bullshit. You guys owned me so hard.
[Brandon laughs nervously]
Amanda: No, no. Julia is doing a special write in campaign. So, we're going... we have a little corner full of questions for Julia and Val.
Eric: I heard, yeah. Julia has a press conference she's gonna hold at the end of this episode.
Amanda: Yeah. She's going to come in for a later press conference. We're... we're going to have her at the end, so folks, don't worry. If you're coming at Join the Party just for Julia: one, I get it; two, don't worry. You'll --
Brandon: Same.
Amanda: -- get all the Julia you need at the end.
Brandon: I come for this --
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: -- show just for Julia.
Amanda: Tbh, same.
Eric: I come for me. It's actually me. This is my personal outlet, but I also like Julia. I would like to go on the record. I'm a fan of Julia.
Brandon: First is Eric because this show doesn't exist without what he does. And then it's Julia because Julia has all the best jokes.
Amanda: Yeah. Best jokes, best player, for sure. Most loved character, I would say.
Eric: Oh, my two... I forgot about these recordings is me with two Brandons.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Amanda and I are also extra saucy right now, because we recorded our party planning earlier today. So, if you listen to party planning, on Monday, when it comes out, and then you listen to this, you're like coming through Amanda and my, like our recording.
Amanda: You’re having our whole experience.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Of our Friday, December 3rd 2021.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: You're just been along with us at the whole ride.
Brandon: December 3rd, a day that we'll live in empathy -- [stutters] -- empathy is what I say.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: That's pretty good.
Amanda: So, Brandon, I love that you're doing that kind of intention and tone setting where Eric is really empathetic for you and I and our choices as players
Brandon: Exactly.
Amanda: Let's uh, let's address the elephant in the room.
Eric: Can I? Wait, can I... can I go? I would like to speak on behalf of all of our listeners and say to Amanda, what the fuck? And then subsequentially and then individually, Brandon, what the fuck?
[Amanda cackles]
Brandon: Amanda, would you like to respond to the first "What the fuck?"
Amanda: I would. I would like to say that we have been talking and planning behind the scenes here at Join the Party to lift... Lift the veil for a moment.
Eric: Yes. I wanted to know if we were going to talk about it.
Amanda: Oh, yeah. Listen, if... if people don't want it, we'll edit this out. But we've been talking about what we're going to do next. About what Campaign III is going to be like and saying, "Hey, we're telling a lot of story. We're approaching. in the episodes that we're playing. We're getting near kind of the number of episodes-ish that Campaign I took. And it feels like we are kind of rounding a corner. Like we're in a final stretch. Like it has been, you know, two acts of the three act movie, and we're in the third act now. And something that all of us have felt. And it's actually really exciting. Like, I... I was really sad to let Campaign I go. And I didn't know what will happen next, but I fucking love the story that we're telling. And I'm so excited to tell something else. Like, I'm just so jazzed on it. And so we had had that conversation a few days before we played this episode; episode 44. And in sitting there and just kind of thinking about what Aggie has been through and her, I don't know, what would be next for her, what she'd be feeling in that moment. I went with my gut and I made a character decision. And I actually took out a die like you heard on... on mic, that's what happened. And I rolled it and 0 to 10, I was not going to unmask and 11 to 20 I was. And the roll told me what to do.
Eric: Oh my God. I want to... Not to, like, refute your idea of events, but I would like to zoom in a little bit more minutes before we recorded episode 43. I said, "Hey, I wonder if," I would literally said this. Like, "Think about your capstone. Think about what your ultimate end game with your... with your players." And I was like, oh, maybe they'll start thinking about it, whatever. Did not know this is what would go and was going to happen. Did not know.
Brandon: Eric, I would like to x card the word capstone. It gives me so much anxiety.
[Eric laughs]
Brandon: Yeah,
Eric: I'm so... I'm sorry. Like, I couldn't. I wouldn't have called, like, the... I called it, like, the thesis project of your character after --
Brandon: Even worse!
Eric: -- I said that, though.
Amanda: But it was... it was in the air. Like, we're talking about. Like, what happens. Like, what are the beats? What are we going to be playing out? What is left for them to do? And I... I think Aggie had a lot of growth. And so --
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: -- this, you know. Aggie's character journey so far has been all about establishing her independence from her family, but I feel like the third act of it is, like, redoing her interdependence with her family. Like, she, you know, when we met her, was living a life that she had kind of stumbled into. Like, growing up, like, she knew what she was doing. She's taking care of her community, taking care for family, taking care of Laketown city. And, you know, what does it mean for her to be an adult, make her own choices, and, you know, embrace superhero-ing. How can she have an identity that is separate from and not totally dependent on, like, being a hero and being a savior. And so, this just felt like the biggest kind of commitment to integrating those two parts of herself and saying, like, this is my... this is my moment. This is my life. This is my identity and my purpose and, you know, probably some small part of her wants the same level of recognition that her... her siblings have. And some amount of like, "Hey, I can do interesting things too." So, that... that was my reasoning. I'm sorry just bringing on all of you. I wished to have it at the end of an episode. Instead, we had. It was... it was early and we had, like, the moment came and I was just like, "This is it." Like, I can't. I can't not do it.
Brandon: Well, ironically, I don't know if we talked about this yet. Ironically, I was already thinking about unmasking before you even did.
Amanda: I didn't know that!
Eric: Oh no! What?
Amanda: Brandon, I'm sorry if I took away your thunder.
Brandon: No, no, no. Because I... I also had the... the... I have the two thoughts. I was like, I'm gonna do something big. It's either gonna be throwing my dad into the mayor ring or unmasking or both maybe.
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: And I... I was cautious of that because I didn't want to, like, yeah, step on the press conference for everyone else. So, I'm glad you did it. So, we all had, like, a nice little unveiling and then... and then screw Julia over.
[Eric snorts a laugh]
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Oh, my God, you were thinking of, -- because, like, I was.
Amanda: I didn't know that. Tell me more.
Brandon: Oh.
Eric: I was very worried that me saying we were gonna think about your capstones. You... you two scrambled to think of something.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, I'm very happy that I didn't push this over the edge. I was very worried about that.
Amanda: No, no.
Brandon: No, no. Eric, you... you cannot tell. You cannot. You can't cage a rainbow.
[Amanda laughs]
Brandon: You can't imprison a butterfly.
Amanda: You can't bottle a dream.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Okay, you know, I'm not even going to totally dispute that. Please continue.
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: I mean, there's not much to say. I think Amanda said it all perfectly. Like, I do feel like, yeah, we're rounding the corner on, like, a third act. And Milo sort of needed, yeah, that third act growth part of his character arc, because I don't. I don't know that I've done a great job at, like, actually having a long arc yet.
[Eric hums]
Brandon: But we started introducing the birth parents thing. And so, that felt like, yeah, I was rounding the corner on a... on a character arc thing and I wanted to, yeah, push that a little further and... and make it so that Milo had felt the motivation to find his birth parents more so than be a superhero. Like in the anonymous public eye. The thought was that he wanted to have his face out there, his name out there. And also, do the thing that Julia brought up, which was brilliant and I really loved was the, like, big brothers, little sisters, superhero things, whatever it is. Because that, you know, it's a metaphor for adoption.
Amanda: It hits on those themes. Yeah.
Eric: Right. Big supers, little super.
Brandon: Yeah. So, yeah, not... not like a huge deep thought there. But I thought it was a nice little corner that Milo could take, so I took it.
Eric: Interesting. I find this very, not surprising, but I guess I'm just very interested in this, especially about how your relationship with Dr. Morrow has gone. It's like, this entire time, Dr. Morrow has made her problems, your problems. And now that her problems are no longer your problems, you can deal with your own shit.
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Eric: And I find that deeply interesting that as I've been, like, realizing Dr. Morrow to be more of... more of a selfish character, which like, I don't know, she's, she's great and interesting and weird. And [stutters] she... she's the second smartest person in the Laketown city. Like, that's very, that's quite interesting. But I... I've realized this, especially as she's like, made it her own choice to write herself out of this story. Or, as Milo laid out, she's... she is not doing everything nice to people, which is what I realized. Oh, I only realized that, Brandon, after you said that about Hank, comparing him to Dr. Morrow. And I was like, wow, yeah, Dr. Morrow really has been doing this shit, huh?
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: And, like, she only cares about herself and January, and maybe Dez, if he gives her that good good science juice she likes.
[Amanda laughs]
Brandon: But ...but I think with good intentions. Like, with no malice.
Eric: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brandon: Of course.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: No, she's just, like, very wrapped up in her own shit.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. And I think there is... there is a way to be a person that, like, dedicate your life to something. And there's... there's consequences. Like, there are people on the sidelines. You know, we... we are -- not to, like, zoom out too much -- but there are lots of examples of, like, the public figure or like the creative or the genius or, you know, whatever the leader. And just because they are helping a lot of people on a grand scale or attempting to doesn't mean that there's not a fallout in your personal life.
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: We could just. I'm right here. We could just say it's me. It's fine.
[Amanda and Eric laughs]
Amanda: Yes, Brandon. So, so committed to pro tools that his home is in disarray constantly.
Eric: Yeah. We call Brandon the Steve Jobs of Join the Party all the time.
Amanda: Oh no! Oh, no.
Brandon: Y'all, this is totally unrelated but I want to share. So, have you guys played the new Animal Crossing update yet?
Amanda: Not yet, but tell me about it.
Brandon: I just. Last night I was playing, and there is a, like, a gaming rig. Like, station, like, a desk and a couple monitors and stuff and customization options is a... is a DAW. It's a digital audio workstation that you can make.
Eric: Oh my god!
Amanda: What?
Brandon: Yeah. So, I have... I have a... I'm gonna get a DAW.
Amanda: For Brandon's only.
Brandon: I have, like, a rack of effects and, like, a pedal board and all that stuff says.
[Amanda and Eric laughs]
Brandon: I'm just make my real life room in Animal Crossing.
Eric: You need --
Amanda: Incredible.
Eric: -- to take screenshot of that. Someone made -- right when it came out -- someone made a Sunni Laketown city.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Sunni LTC.
Brandon: Oh, I didn't see that.
Eric: And sent it to us, it was very cool. And I didn't realize you could do such set pieces. And I was like, "How the fuck did you do this in Animal Crossing?"
Amanda: Please. Please share your Multitude inspired Animal Crossing content. Tag us at Multitude shows and our new community manager Ru, will put together a compilation of Animal Crossing content.
Brandon: Hell yeah.
[Eric hums in curiosity]
Brandon: And if you're the one that made the Laketown city Animal Crossing, tag me directly because I do not see it and I want to.
Eric: I'm going to look around. I shared it from the Join the Party twitter.
Amanda: We'll find it. We'll find it.
Eric: I'll share it to you after this.
Brandon: Okay.
Eric: But just... just one more point. I'm sorry to go back to what we we're talking about.
Brandon: I'm sorry.
Eric: Not Animal Crossing. Here's a fun thing, that's why Gutenberg doesn't like Dr. Morrow, right? It's literally this.
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: Is that she gets... she got a ton of shine while pursuing science totally, while not letting other people in and not being not caring for others. Obviously, he's a big old asshole. And he's so... he's also self involved in his own way and thinks that he is the greatest person of all time. So, like, he felt it for a bad reason but, like, the thing that Dr. Morrow was doing, from the discovery of Diaphorum forward is true. Like, that definitely happened.
[Brandon hums in affirmative]
Amanda: Like all good villains, there's a negative of something real there. And the... the response is disproportionate to this light.
Eric: Yeah. Remember, Gutenberg threatened Dr. Morrow by turning the blower up right in the beginning. And that's why she hired y'all in the first place; was to help protect her and figure that shit out.
Brandon: More like Gutenboom, was that nice?
Amanda: Hey!
Eric: Fucking nice.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Brandon. Brandon, let's go. So, so incredible.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Hey, can I reveal a secret to you two?
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Is it about the game or you'll just tell us the secret about your life?
Eric: It knows, yeah, the secret about me. Um, no, it's about the game. That session -- so, what... what we had done is we had ended, like, we had that big set piece finish to two episodes before this, the big fight with Gutenberg, right? And then, we had, Bro! You had to be There, that session. And then at the end of that was Carmen busting in and then we had I, we had kind of, I'd introduced this idea that there was gonna be a press conference outside. And I didn't know necessarily, what would happen. I had some ideas of what I wanted to ask you guys questions, but I was just like, "Yeah, this is the end of the arc. Let's see what happens, man." And you all surprised me. I wrote down absolutely nothing which is also why I was using an NPC generator to come up with names as that was happening because I wanted it to be what are questions I -- as representing Laketown city -- having the fight beamed into everyone's TVs. What do I need to ask these folks that they would know? So, I didn't write anything down. So y'all surprised me in general, and then you surprised me by doing these wild, wild choices. So I just want to say that, like, I was -- I didn't know what was going to happen.
Brandon: I think you. I think you did tell us that maybe, like, after the game or something. I remember hearing it as I was editing so I -- but I remember, you know me who likes to -- who gets stressed when you write down two sentences.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: When you write down nothing, I had a panic attack.
Amanda: Me as well your other Brandon I was also very panicked. And I know... I know being your partner and talking about, like, when you're preparing for Join the Party, you know, you don't share specifics with me, but you'll say things, like, you know, "I'm so excited for tomorrow, you're gonna get fucked up," and I'm like, Oh, no.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: I do not say that.
Amanda: That's usually not how it goes.
Eric: I do not say, Okay, I'm gonna fuck you up.
Amanda: No, no, no. Or you're, like, you'll go into the studio talk to Mischa for a few minutes or Sally or somebody, like, come back out and be like, "Fuck it dude." But you... you often get very nervous when there is not a lot for you to actively prepare.
Eric: Yes.
Amanda: Or not nervous but just, like, it makes you feel I think a bit off kilter when you don't have a lot of prep going into a session but those are my favorite sessions that we do.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: So, I, you know, I'm sorry to give you positive reinforcement of the thing that makes you feel antsy, but, you know, this turned out great.
Eric: I agree that it turned out great but, like, this is the... this is it, right? It's like either you... someone needs to prepare, someone needs to make the content. And this is not just for podcasting. This is all tabletop sessions, right? Like, someone needs to drive.
Brandon: That's why I'm so glad we have Julia on our team because she got everything. She's the one that preps for all of it. We don't do anything. It's perfect.
Amanda: No, just show up.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: Sometimes the DM drives, but sometimes the players drive and in this case, I'm like, "You guys are driving and I can't. Unfortunately, I can't prepare," so that... that's something that. That's all the only reason why it stresses me out. Luckily, all of you in your own way do drive. Julia drives the most, but sometimes Amanda drives and I don't know she's going to drive.
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Eric: Amanda, like, kicks me out of the driver's seat and be like, "No, we're doing this."
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Oh my god! I didn't know that.
Brandon: Editor Julia that was not sarcasm. Just so... just so you're aware, that was not me being passive aggressive towards you. Okay, cut that out. Thanks.
Amanda: Bray would like to know Eric how it felt to be on the receiving end of an Eric WHAT THE FUCK TM TM and for those who are not in our Discord, we have a full emoji for Eric WHAT THE FUCK as a... as a reaction that people have to new episodes of Join the Party. And it's one of my favorite parts of the week; is waking up on an episode Tuesday and seeing a bunch of Eric WTFs in the Discord, so that's a little context there.
Eric: I want to say to all of the listeners who reached out to us when this episode, particularly when 43 came out, both on the discord, through socials -- do that all the time.
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda: It's so, so nice!
Eric: Please reach out to us and tell us you're having a good time, please. It was so much fun watching the cascade of people listening to this episode over time, when, like, we knew for such a long time this was coming. It was incredible and it was great. Yeah, it was tight as fuck.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: It scared the crap out of me because I had to figure it out, but I think when it's a reveal like this, when there are people who would also be surprised by you saying it, I can embody that. And that's fine, right?
[Brandon hums in affirmative]
Eric: Because, like, what I... what was really good for me was that I was able to pivot the reporters questions as you each subsequently revealed stuff. And then when Brandon doubled down and said, "Also, my dad's running for mayor."
Amanda: It was so good!
Eric: Was like, unfortunately, I was like, "Okay, attention is on Amanda." I thought I was going into this and I was gonna pepper all of you with questions and blahblahblah, right? And we were gonna figure it out. And then, Amanda revealed and I got to pivot towards Amanda. And then Brandon revealed and then I pivoted towards Brandon.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: And I think that was all really exactly what would have happened, so I got to put my shock into the actual reporters over there. So, that was nice.
Brandon: Really youngest child energy coming in for me that day.
[Amanda and Eric laughs]
Amanda: But that's why I was surprised and delighted to know that it's something you were thinking about Brandon.
Eric: Yes.
Brandon: Yeah. I have nothing to say, it was just that was great.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Yeah, I want to say I was genuinely shocked. I had no idea that was coming, and it was fucking hilarious. It was great.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: Tipoff asks, "Now that everyone knows Aggie and Milo's identities, how are they dealing with paparazzi and/or fans?" We'll see some of this --
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: -- coming up in future episodes. But Brandon, any... any ideas? Any thoughts?
Brandon: Absolutely. Milo turns into a gaseous cloud.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah. Uh-huh.
Eric: Yeah. Confirmed.
Amanda: Exactly.
Eric: Canon.
Amanda: That sounds about right.
Brandon: You just see, like, what's the -- Daily Mail or whatever, which photo of a bunch of clouds and they're like, "Is that Milo? That one Milo? That Milo?"
Eric: See, now that's smog unfortunately. We had a scientist come in and test. This scientist tested 10 smokes to see if any of it is Kilonova. The results will shock you. Doctors hate him.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: Sorry Brandon was drinking when I said that.
[Amanda laughs]
Brandon: I mean they do, I can heal. So, I do put their entire profession out of business, I guess.
Amanda: That's true.
Eric: Yeah, that's true.
Amanda: @_facevalue, great username says, "How's Carmen holding up?" I would like to pause it --
[Eric laughs hysterically]
Amanda: -- before Eric opens his mouth to say something passionately.
Eric: Oh, wait, I want to say something before because we didn't get to touch on this at the end of 42. One of the hardest the three of you have laughed at any of my jokes this entire podcast is when I ran in as Carmen and screamed at you.
Amanda: Yeah. It was very good.
Brandon: You killed me. Like, I was dead. It was so funny.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: I just, like, I don't know if it was so unexpected because y'all were playing, "Bro, you had to be there" so hard. But like I knew Carmen was wait. [stutters] Because it's because of the Nat 1s. So now, because you guys rolled the Nat 1s because you couldn't find your phone and both of you rolled Nat 1s, so I needed to do something in response. So, I think that was why I was so excited to do that. And I must have caught you guys off guard. It was... I was so proud.
Brandon: It was a little bit of surprise and also the perfect delivery of exasperation.
Amanda: Yes.
Brandon: It was just... it was perfect.
[Eric huffs a laugh]
Amanda: It was perfect. What I was going to say is; I would love to posit the idea that Carmen has, like, a slack bot.
Eric: Sure.
Amanda: That she can just which is for anyone that uses the work space slack, you... there's, like, little, you know, automations you can set up. And so, I think that she has, like, an emoji that she can send to... to, like, the bot. And then, it gives her hazard pay for every time a preventable disaster happens that makes her do overtime.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: So, I think that's how she's holding up.
Brandon: That's phenomenal.
Eric: I'm int -- I don't know if Carmen works for y'all anymore.
Amanda: Yeah, I mean.
Eric: I think that speaking of hazard pay, this is incredibly intense communications job.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And I feel like that would have only.
Amanda: This is crisis communications now.
Eric: It would have only come from Dr. Morrow's random amounts of wealth that she's had from the various patents and the whatever the fuck that she did as both private and public servant for so long, so I wonder if she even works for y'all. That was something we touched on a little bit and we're going to keep thinking about is, like, what happened to the infrastructure surrounding the LT3 when Dr. Morrow isn't involved?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: It's where is... where is Dez?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Where's January? Where's Carmen? And where's Dr. Morrow?
Brandon: It's rare that you want to invite the audience's wrath upon you, Eric, by killing Carmen, but you know, whatever.
Eric: She's not dead. She has a better job. She has, like, a really popular TikTok, where she shows how to grind coffee while dancing in the back.
Brandon: That's got to exist, right?
Amanda: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Brandon: It's called beans and buns, because butts.
Eric: Is it just grinding and grinding?
Brandon: Grinding and grind -- well, yeah. That's like it's all, like.
Eric: It's r&b. It's r&b jams while she roasts coffee.
Brandon: From the early 2000s. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda: It sounds great.
Eric: Like, it's genuine. It's Omarion.
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Well, listen, Boys to Men thrown in there. Yeah.
[Brandon huffs a laugh]
Amanda: The Question Surgeon Michelle Spurgeon would like to know, "What platform is Aunt Min running on?"
Eric: Hey, don't worry about it.
[Amanda and Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Good question. And then this one, I think, is a good transition into Episode 44.
[Eric hums in curiosity]
Amanda: What challenges do you see for the unmasked supers in their private lives? Aggie's biggest one, I think, was reaction from family, and we got into that in episode 44.
Eric: Yes, for sure.
Brandon: Yeah, I think the same thing for Milo. He was mostly worried about his friends, either being taken advantage of or being targets. You know, the... the classic stuff that a comic book hero has to face with, you know, anything that spider man has dealt with. It's the same thing here.
Amanda: Kissing upside down, homework. Yeah.
Eric: And being -- being Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire.
Amanda: Or Tom Holland.
Brandon: Or Tom Holland. Yeah. But I think on the... on the benefit side, no, I think the museum is probably thriving with all the increased traffic so...
Amanda: Ditto, the national parks, I'm sure.
[Brandon hums in affirmative]
Eric: Absolutely. I will say, only to honor your choices, that is 100%. what Brandon said. Is something that we are -- I am considering and is a part of this. Like, no, no big choice goes on unchallenged. You know what I'm saying?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: So.
Brandon: I've also been thinking about along those lines, like, Milo being the anxious, you know, person that he is. Like, he's going to now be extra anxious, because anytime he makes a mistake in a public fight, or, you know, saving a cat, or whatever, it's going to be difficult.
Eric: Yeah, I mean, that was kind of something that I was trying to put forth in the thing at the end of 44, was that people have their eyes on you. And when there are things you can't control, people are going to be extra critical. Especially, like, when random citizens are just going to come up to you and be like, "Actually, uh, you're wrong. And this pixelated superhero is much better than you, so can you fucking get on Jack Hoover's level, please?"
Brandon: Can we just talk about how good your Julia's Terminator interaction was for a hot second?
[Eric laughs]
Brandon: Jesus Christ, I die.
Amanda: I've never seen Terminator, so I don't think I can even fully appreciate how good it was, but I'll have to do that in order to do so.
Brandon: I just love that we've been playing for so long that, like, like, there's a split second where, like, where, like, is this Eric talking or is this? Or like, when if someone says something ridiculous. We're like, "Has Eric really never seen Terminator?" And then it clicks and we're like, "Oh, no, no. We're into it. Let's go."
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: It's so wonderful.
Eric: There is -- what I was trying to do there and I -- sometimes I have this problem where I do my voice, but now I'm just like, when I'm me, I'm just a random citizen who doesn't have a goofy voices necessarily. So, like, I did that to Julia; one, because I know Julia has incredible-- has tons of opinions on this specific genre movies, because I know she watches them with Jake all the time. And I knew I could push on it, but then I'm like, I should have done a different-- a more, like, obvious voice. But I think that, like, hopefully, she would have just, like, realized that I was doing it. And then, like, some random citizen, because at one point, she says, "Who are you?" And I'm, like, "I'm just some guy. I'm just some guy in the world, who's bothering you." And I think that was kind of what I was trying to find in what we were talking about.
Amanda: For Brandon, you're totally right,. Like, our... our familiarity with each other and our, you know, relaxing into the play style. And I think also, Eric, you're performing for podcasting and your character voices and ability to, you know, use your tone to telegraph who's talking. I just realized that there's almost never been an example in Campaign II where we've had to say, like, "Who was that? or "Who's talking?"
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Amanda: Whereas that was definitely far more prevalent in Campaign I.
Eric: Absolutely.
[Brandon hums in affirmative]
Amanda: But that was a million years ago.
Eric: Yeah, seriously. I do want to say something very quickly before we move on about 43. About speaking of people's reactions to things. Amanda I'm sorry not sorry for giving you relationship problems immediately after you made a really good move. There's just something. We talked about this afterwards and...
Amanda: No, it made... it made total sense.
Eric: And first of all, shout out to Julia for bringing Rose Gold back. So funny.
Amanda: So good.
Eric: So deeply funny. But I wanted-- what I thought was really interesting about Aggie was that this is, like, the first time Aggie made a selfish I'm-doing-this-for-me move probably in her life. And I'm like, yeah, you know how the world just immediately punishes you when you do something like that?
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: And I wanted to do that so badly and it was a-- Tegan has strong emotional fortitude.
Amanda: Sure.
Eric: But having Rose Gold there gave me this advantage and Tegan rolled a 2.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: So, I just, like, I needed to play that out and I'm so sorry I dropped that on you.
Amanda: No!
Eric: But I thought it was so... I thought it would-- that was exactly what happens; is you do something you think is important and right, but of course it hurts somebody else even if it's the first time you ever do something that's just for you.
Amanda: No. I... I... I hated in the moment that that was happening. I felt such intense stakes.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: But I mean, that makes for a good play, right? Like, afterward it... it was great to listen to and I'm glad it happened. Like, I reflect on it and think that that's, like, a really earned and important character moment. And yeah, I don't know. I have no notes. You don't have to apologize. It made total sense.
Eric: Alright, good.
Brandon: I couldn't edit the episode because it wasn't clear what I was referencing, but in the episode while we were playing, there was a moment where I was like, please, I was so, like, hinging. Like, like just searching for the hope in that scene.
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: Between the couple there. And I thought Eric, I was hoping against hope that you were playing, like, a cute trick. Cute prank. Cute TikTok prank.
Eric: Right, right.
Brandon: Where, like, you put Multitool's stuff out on the lawn, because now Tegan is dating Aggie instead of Multitool, so I thought I was like a cute, like, --
Eric: Sure.
Brandon: I'm kicking Multitool out because now I'm embracing Aggie but no, you screwed me.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: I think it's very funny you say that because the 2 that I rolled, it was so low it had to be dramatic in the way that you-- it could have been a prank, it could have been a reversal. But instead it was real because the stakes felt that high because Tegan was that broken that you revealed your biggest secret in front of their ex-girlfriend. Whom they had a terrible toxic relationship with, that's established.
Brandon: I also want to say, I don't think anyone noticed or mentioned anything about the crossovers between slam and our regular comics.
Eric: No, no.
Brandon: That's fine.
Eric: No one mentioned it. I noticed it. I thought it was very funny that our old pal board was there but no one mentioned it.
Amanda: I think we also played the scene a few weeks after getting engaged in our real life, which was very funny, but that didn't... that didn't enter my brain at all.
Eric: No, I was just... I was just ruining you in a fictional level.
Amanda: We're in... in the fiction.
Brandon: Ruining all of us, Eric.
Amanda: That's true.
Eric: I was ruining Brandon and the fiction, but using you as the website.
Brandon: Except for Julia. Julia has a fortitude of a Golem. I don't know.
Eric: That was fine.
Brandon: Julia is the perfect being. Real threes, baby. That's three. Okay, I'm done.
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: Let's stay on Tegan. I have a question here from Afar Lit 10 who says, "Did our favorite teal jacketed reporter join the sleuths?"
Eric: Oh, maybe. I'm sure Tegan does... does work with them. I don't know if Tegan is a part of sleuth, but Tegan, again, is kind of just, like, floating... floating out there. There are a lot of NPCs in Campaign II, which is because it's a city. So, it's just as people come in and out so we'll see.
Brandon: So, wait, did Average Bear dissolve completely?
Eric: Yes. Average bear once Gutenberg. So this is the writing. So, this is my in response. I wrote a ton a going into Episode 44.
Brandon: Right. Alright. Well, my question is, if that's the case, is just -- me as Fan Brandon -- is Cameron out of a job? Or just Cameron?
Eric: Oh, yeah, Cameron... Cameron is out of a job. Definitely.
Brandon: Okay, great.
Eric: Yeah, Average Bear shut down because they didn't have any funding because, like, Movable Type was seized by the Feds kinda. Or at least John Press is out and then they had to pull out from all the moves that John Press did. And John Press literally aka Gutenberg literally just did that to make-- to fire Tegan and have an excuse to do that. So, I think their money got pulled out and then Average Bear. I said, "Went into hibernation," but yeah, it just shut down.
Amanda: Pretty good.
Brandon: I think you have a plot point for next off, season 2.
Eric: Ooh.
Amanda: Afar Lit also says, "Was Fritz outed as powered during the aftermath of the Gutenberg brawl?"
Eric: Interesting. I thought no.
Amanda: I think no.
Brandon: I don't think so, right?
Amanda: Yeah, I think it's really important to Fritz to hide his identity.
Eric: The thing that I guess I wanted to show about Fritz and shout out to Julia and Bard Watch, but Fritz isn't a bard.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Is that his powers could be subtle. So, although he descends from a line of divine touched Greek sportsman, no one knows necessarily because he doesn't show it. He's just very talented and very lucky and good at these things. So, although he was there, I don't think he didn't do anything necessarily during the fight that someone would even look at him and think he was super powered. In fact, as we've seen through this entire show is that no one knows he has powers because remember, he was at the anti-powers rally with Councilman Burdock.
[Amanda hums in agreement]
Eric: All the way back in the Join the Channel Arc. And so, he's just kind of, like, he's just kind of there. And it's quiet in the way that, like, you talk. You talk to someone loud enough and they're just, like, "Stop talking to me. I'll just– whatever you want us to do it." So, I think he's kind of just, like, a passive person like this. So, he's definitely still laying in the cut.
Brandon: He is definitely the Knight of Mirrors also, by the way. Thanks.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: You now, you know Brandon, you nailed it. Exclusive right now, Fritz is the Knight of Mirrors. I revealed it.
Brandon: I don't think it's Fritz. I am going to put my money down -- my nickel down today for all time. I think it is. Hmm.
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda: Real on the fly bet going on.
Brandon: I know. I think it's either. I think it's Tegan. I think it's got to be Tegan. It's Tegan.
Eric: Interesting.
Amanda: I think there's someone we haven't met yet.
Brandon: Who can say?
Eric: Interesting. Who can say?
Brandon: Who can say? Actually while... while we're on the topic, let me go into the kitchen and just get a random sampling of whatever shit is in the fridge because Julia normally does the appetizer prep so...
[Brandon and Eric laughs]
Brandon: Goddamnit Julia, we're lost without you.
Amanda: Let's see what we have. Okay, be right back.
[Midroll Music pings]
Amanda: Hey, it's Amanda. it might not surprise you to learn that I am a very nervous gift giver. When I give a present I'm just like, "Please. Please like this and therefore me. And if you hate it, then I think, probably you also hate me." And I know it's not true and I know it's not rational, but it is a thing that I feel. And so, every time I give a gift that goes over well, it is, like, the most surprising and lovely feeling that I can ever muster. So, I hope that you feel that feeling a lot this month, as you give or send presents to people who you love, whether it's digital or physical or homemade, or just an experience or a lovely note. I hope you get that feeling of, "Yes, I got it. I did it." Welcome to the midroll. And thank you and welcome to all of our patrons, particularly those of you who joined us over the last couple of weeks: Lexi, Richie, Brandon, Kat, Logan, Sara, Dyllan, Luisa, and Melanie, welcome. And listen, we talk a lot about our Patreon, how important it is, how it helps sustain our careers and our ability to make this as our jobs. But I also want to lay out everything that you get when you join the Patreon. Of course, you get our bonus podcast: Party Planning. All about being a better player and DM and also whatever Join the Party folks want to talk about. Eric and I just put one out yesterday as this episode is coming out all about different kinds of gifts that we love to give and receive. I made an origami spear as we were doing it and I got to show that off if you're on the video tier of the podcast, but all of our patrons get access to it. And hey, here's a special little treat that we're dropping. We're putting that out every two weeks. It's a new bi-weekly podcast just for patrons: Party Planning. So good. You also get, of course, the bonus campaign -- Join the Team -- based on a game that Eric wrote with some friends of ours. You get bloopers, you get playlists, of course discord access. We've said so much about the discord, but honestly, we can't say enough. There's so much waiting for you. Join us for as little as $5 a month today at patreon.com/jointhepartypod. It also makes a great gift. If you know somebody who loves Join the Party, you can get them an annual membership. Just pay one time upfront and they get a year of Patreon access. It's an amazing, amazing value and means the world to us. If you are looking for more to listen to, more shows to add to your podcast app, you got to check out the other shows that are a part of the Multitude collective. And I think you would really love Exolore. Whether you are a player or a GM or just a person who listens to this podcast. I know you love world building, and if you've ever wondered what life would be like on a planet different from our own, or how writers and creators make your favorite fictional worlds, you got to listen to Dr. Moiya McTier who's an astrophysicist and folklorist exploring fictional worlds by building them with a panel of expert guests, interviewing professional world builders, and reviewing the merits of worlds that have already been built. I promise you will learn something, you will laugh, you will gain an appreciation of how special our planet really is. Subscribe today by searching for Exolore in your podcast app or go into exolorepod.com today. This episode is sponsored by Brooklinen. Gifts giving; it's hard. It's anxiety inducing as we said already. And in between all of the, you know, gathering or the celebration or the rest that hopefully you're getting this year. You know, you don't want to add stress to that process of giving a good gift. And Brooklinen is a really, really great place to get high quality and affordable gifts for people that you love or people you like. The best gift is the gift of comfort, and I gotta say that the Brooklinen sheets, and blankets, and socks, and scrunchies, and sleep masks, and t-shirts. honestly feel like a hug. It is so amazing; the robes, the towels. I have Brooklinen end up in my whole life because I am very picky about my materials. My skin is very sensitive. I often get, like, a rash if it's a weird material. And the Brooklinen stuff has gone over so well in my home. So, check out their gift guide to find the perfect present at every price point. Go to brooklinen.com and use the promo code [jointheparty] to get $20 off with a minimum purchase of $100. That's B-R-O-O-K-L-I-N-E-N.com and enter promo code [jointheparty] for $20 off with a minimum purchase of $100. Once more brooklinen.com promo code [jointheparty]. Finally, this podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp online therapy. If you're anything like me, the holidays bring a lot up for you. And the best way to think about therapy is through a bunch of analogies. You don't just go and get your car serviced when something is wrong, you do it regularly to prevent bigger issues down the road. You don't see a dentist just when your teeth hurt, you go regularly to prevent cavities and other issues. And going to therapy all throughout the year and not just during stressful times can be like the above. It is routine maintenance for you and your mental and emotional wellness to help you build that resilience and to deal with issues when they do come up. Betterhelp is customized online therapy that offers video, phone and live chat sessions with your therapist, so you don't have to see anybody on camera if you don't want to. It's much more affordable than in-person therapy and you can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hours. Why invest in everything else and not your mind? Again, we are sponsored by BetterHelp and Join the Party listeners get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/jointheparty. That's B-E-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P.com/jointheparty. And now, let's get back to the after party.
[Midroll music pings]
Amanda: And we're back. I have two rinds of cheese, a single apple, some cucumber, and some... some leftover latkes which are delicious.
Eric: Good thing I made extra latkes just in case.
Brandon: I had a thought yesterday as I was watching some YouTube videos that not only do I think Judaism is, like, the smartest religion. Like, the one that has it the most correct but --
Eric: Agreed.
Brandon: -- but also they have a holiday where the whole thing is you eat fried food.
[Amanda hums in agreement]
Eric: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brandon: What the fuck?
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Why are we not all Jewish?
Amanda: It's like, it's like.
Eric: I, Brandon as a Jewish supremacist.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: That's great.
Amanda: It's like Adam was scared of the Winter Solstice or there was a military victory or perhaps people messed up an altar and then we rededicated it and then we celebrated. Regardless, eat fried foods please.
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Eric: I love -- and this is just my Christmas hot, hot take, right, -- like, I personally, Eric, loves holidays when it's cold outside. Thanksgiving and whatever gift giving shit Winter Solstice, the combination of Winter Solstice festival and gift giving in the winter it is. I love Hanukkah the most because it's just, like, yeah, also, eat some fried food.
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Eric: And like there is no gift giving. I'm glad that we've added this because I'm a gift giving person but, like, yeah, get on. I agree with Brandon. Get on my fucking level.
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Brandon: Eight days of latkes, and doughnuts, and, I don't know, chicken maybe?
Eric: Yeah, anything fried. The original latkes were fried cheese because it came from the Jews and, like, the Italian. Like, the Italy Sicily area, so, like, originally latkes used to be like fried cheese.
Brandon: Just like fried mozzarella sticks? Fuck.
Eric: Not even-- Like something closer to, what's the– that cheese you can grill?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Halloumi?
Amanda: Halloumi.
Brandon: Halloumi, yeah.
Eric: Like something closer to a dry cheese that gets fried like that. Yeah.
Brandon: Fuck, that sounds good.
Amanda: I also want that.
Eric: Yeah, Hanukkah is also fit in really nicely in the modern world because, like, I go home and I like candles and then I'm like, "I'm done. I can go do other stuff," which I find deeply funny. That's all guys.
Amanda: Holiday obligation check.
Eric: I was like, boom, I lit a candle and then I'm gonna go do some other stuff. I love it/
[Brandon laughs]
Brandon: Anyway, that's... that's our Jewish -- Judaism corner.
Eric: Brandon the real, as I said before canonically on Twitter, everyone is Jewish in Laketown city except for the player/character.
[Amanda and Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Here is a quick little clarification corner also from Afar Lit 10 who asks, "I may have misunderstood but was Hoover fully pixels, or did he just have kind of pixel enhancements at the end of the fight?"
Eric: Oh, great question. Hoover was fully pixelated but revealed their pixels as it happens.
Brandon: Right.
Eric: And as... as this went on. I think Gutenberg is something I kind of teased with. This is, like, my own head canon. Gutenberg working with Triplicate. Gutenberg has gotten much better at creating people. And I think that that's something that we're seeing now is that it's much harder to distinguish if a person is made out of pixels or not, because Gutenberg has made a lot of objects and monsters as it were. And then of course, a Fake January, but only two fake January ears. We didn't even see the full January.
[Amanda hums in agreement]
Eric: But now because of the... them... them working together, Gutenberg is much better at creating people.
Brandon: It wasn't even a hologram it was just like one of those headbands with bunny ears.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Yeah, it was. It totally was.
Amanda: This is from at Disney Yogi. "Does making all the copies of themselves ever cause problems for Triplicate? Like questioning their own reality or personhood, getting major MHA vibes -- My Hero Academia. I need to know more about their connection and relationship with Gutenberg please."
Eric: I think we'll see that now that we, Gutenberg has added more villains to his kind of, like, --
Amanda: Cabal?
Eric: -- villain preparation. Yeah.
Brandon: Cabal.
[Brandon huffs a laugh]
Eric: His LLC. His... his villain LLC. I think the only thing that's different from Twice for My Hero Academia is that every copy of Triplicate has a name which I think is different and hopefully keeps them separate.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: I'm not sure if they come out always in sequence or it's always a different end name whoever it is. But I think that, like, the true Triplicate has one name and then all the other ones have different names. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know if they always come out in the same order or if it's a different order but there is an original one and hopefully that original one holds on to their personhood.
Amanda: Yeah. They seem pretty blasé about the... about the whole situation at the... at the fight. Less, like, questioning their own reality and more of like, it's a gala, what do you want? I'm just gonna say yes to preserve my... my fiction.
Eric (as Triplicates): That doesn't sound like something I would do. It's probably one of my other siblings.
Brandon: Now, eagle-eared listeners will notice that Triplicate already seems a little bit unhinged from reality so...
[Eric laughs hysterically]
Amanda: Yeah.
Brandon: Maybe that's what already happened.
Eric: What do you fucking college -- Comic Book Review showing 10... 10 fucking easter eggs and not Triplicate?
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Hilarious.
Amanda: Here is a question from Abs Emmett wholesome question in all the madness. "What is the current LT3 group chat name?"
Eric: Great question.
Amanda: I think maybe after this, this might be maybe Julia will have something to say during her press conference. But I feel like Aggie might have just changed it to, like, oops or fuck or something.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: I would have thought after... after Emily Slaughter texted you all so much in the gala, around the gala. I would have thought it's still, like, not friends of Emily Slaughter.
[Amanda huffs a laugh]
Brandon: Yeah, I mean, it's gotta be something. Yeah, about Emily Slaughter.
Amanda: Yeah, or like Mario University alumni. Something like that.
[Brandon huffs a laugh]
Eric: That's very funny.
Amanda: Julia has a better idea. Doesn't normally, we just wait for Julia to come up to something. And then... and then say that one.
Brandon: Julia, yeah, popping here and tell us what the better answer is. I'm looking at rhymes of three. I don't know why.
[Amanda and Eric cackles]
Amanda: Yeah. Double, double, toil and trouble.
Eric: It's just three blind mice, but it's just three mice emojis.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: This is Julia popping in to say that the first thing that popped into my head was: "You, me, and LT -- [sutters] -- 3?" Okay, that's nothing. That's just nothing.
Amanda: This one's from a Tiamoth's bitch. "Has Dr. Morrow ever made another creature like January? Also, the training zone should be called Tartarus."
Eric: You're right. It should be called Tartarus.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Was... was Super Dangerous Fun Time Zone not on the nose enough for you?
Amanda: Isn't that good for you?
Brandon: Yeah, I don’t. I don't think so. I think... I think it's name is perfect. I think we nailed.
Eric: Ha, we got it in one. Good question. I don't know. I don't think -- I want to go with I don't think so, because I don't want to, like, --
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: -- touch on the implications of what this means.
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda: I think also their relationship would not be as special if January was not singular.
Eric: Sure. I agree with that.
Amanda: This one's from Evety on Insta. "Amanda said Aggie unveiled herself partly because the Multitool Aggie is less public of a person. Does that mean Preserver wouldn't have done it? And if we ever seen the other timeline, would a lot now be different because it seems like there's been a huge flow from Aggie’s impulse decision?"
Brandon: I would... I would say probably because I think in that universe, maybe if Preserver decided not to unmask Milo still would have. And then there'd be a rift between the LT3 and that'd be the LT2 and the LT1. And then, you know, it all unravels from there.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yeah, I think Preserver would have wanted to take the safer option and probably also keep Val company in that way. And not... not be… not have Vulcani be only masked here.
Eric: Yeah. It's interesting.
Amanda: Good question. This is from Lukaz Ritchie on Twitter. "Was it the first time Aggie's parents sneaked into her house or the first that she knew of?" Probably the first she knew of TBH. They also say, "Are the O'Hare parents aware of their kids' powers? If not, how did they hide it when they were kids?"
Eric: Yeah. Like, the whole hinge of this story is that the parents did know about their kids powers, but just had absolutely no experience to help them or --
Amanda: Yes.
Eric: -- anything relevant. Like, you know, like, when your parents tell you when you're looking for a job that, like, "Just shake hands and show up at their office, so to show you have initiative." It's kind of like that but for superpowers.
[Brandon huffs a laugh]
Amanda: Yeah, I think Aggie's parents are very much, like, laissez faire. I don't know, figure it out. Like, that explains a lot of... of Aggie's personality. And I think much of her childhood was spent, like, comically, you know.
Brandon: Comically?
Amanda: Yes, exactly. Like --
Eric: Nailed it!
Amanda: -- kicking over an empty bucket to make sure no one saw Quinn, like, sticking to the inside of a barn or whatever.
[Brandon giggles]
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I can... I can imagine lots of... lots of times like that.
Eric: 100%.
Brandon: God, I would love to do that.
Amanda: Jules 2.0 said, "Does one of your parents also frequently say, 'I'm taking this' when visiting you?"
[Eric laughs]
Brandon: I love that. Yeah. Where did that come from?
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Um, yeah.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: We were dealing a lot. Okay, my... Here this is gonna be a little bit of a sad story just because it's kind of, like, about families, but my grandma moved to, like, kind of her own development in upstate New York. She lived on Long Island for a very long time. And her house is now getting sold. So, there's a lot of stuff in that house. And while we've been realizing this, a lot of my cousins who are all older than me by at least five years, but I have, like, 40+. Like, I have a 45-year-old cousin.
Brandon: Oh my god.
Brandon: [Brandon laughs]
Eric: Yeah. Like, my mom is the youngest by far in her family, so my cousins and are much older. Like, they all just have a lot of ownership over that stuff. And it's very funny to me when someone goes into your space when they -- or a different space when they think it's theirs.
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Eric: And they have ownership over it. And I very much think that that's how Aggie's parents feel about her house, because it's in the bungalows of historic Laketown city. And especially because they just moved back. It's like, "Well, you've been holding on to the history. Like, the O'Hare family house, so your house is our house because it's ours. It's O'Hare's."
Amanda: Right. Or like, Aggie took the cutlery from the house that they grew up in. And so, mom's like, "Well, it's my butter knife, so I'm just taking it." And Aggie's like, "Not how it works, mom!"
[Brandon giggles]
Eric: Right. Like, it's entirely possible that they lived in a different bungalow as their house.
Amanda: I think they probably lived in a different one. Yeah.
Eric: Yeah. Like, the one across the lake, but now that her parents are back, they... their -- Aggie's house is now the de facto residential home of the O'Hare's.
Amanda: Right.
Eric: Which is so -- that I just felt like Aggie's mom has such an entitlement over Aggie's house that she does that all the time.
Amanda: Yeah. I've... I've definitely had something come up and be like, "I like the spoon. Can I take it?" And I'm like, "No."
[Amanda and Brandon laugh]
Brandon: It's such a, like, I think it's such like a fucking either northeast or like New York thing to just... just feel like you have ownership over your family things. I don't know. My --
Eric: I don't know.
Brandon: My family would never be like, "Hey, I love this." We... It's like as a southern thing maybe. Like, you're like, "Oh, I love this so much." And then you're like --
Amanda: And then you wait for the person to offer it to you.
Brandon: -- Yeah, I'll buy you one.
[Brandon laughs]
Eric: Yeah. It's, yeah. It is not like the because I think --
Amanda: It's the Ask vs Guess culture, right? Either you ask for the thing that you want or --
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: -- you, like, stand there and, like, wait and look at the person --
Brandon: Exactly.
Amanda: -- and offer it to you.
Eric: Right. Yeah. They just feel like because they have, like, the memories with it and they assume it's theirs. But I think Aggie's mom's, specifically, thinks that anything that her kids have or her is hers.
Brandon: Totally.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: They say, "Well, I raised you."
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah, well, I'm your mother, so it's fine.
Brandon: Yeah, I mean, she's right so...
[Eric laughs]
Amanda: Bray asks, "What is Sage Lance Leaf getting up to these days? How do they feel about one of their employees being a locally famous superhero?"
Eric: Sage Lance Leaf is patting himself on the back for hiring Milo in the first place.
[Amanda laughs]
Eric: Sage Lance Leaf to me is someone who doesn't actually do his job. Just, like, goes to galas and fundraisers --
Amanda: Probably, yeah.
Eric: -- before MMFK.
Amanda: Like a director about town.
Eric: Yes, exactly. So, that's, like, I feel like Sage Lance Leaf has somehow made this a way to raise his own profile.
Brandon: 100%. Yeah.
Eric: Ugh, I love Sage Lance Leaf.
Brandon: That little bubbly music does follow him around wherever he goes.
[Amanda hums in affirmative]
Eric: Yeah. I still think one of the funniest jokes we've ever made on this podcast is the joke about 911 the trailer.
[Everyone laughs]
Amanda: I'm sorry, it's all downhill from there, but that was a real high moment for me.
Eric: It felt like real Night Vale vibes from that and I was so proud of writing that.
Amanda: Yeah. Evety asks, "How's everyone enjoying winter? What are everyone's players and characters favorite winter things?" Eric's and my favorite winter thing is mulling cider and wearing sweaters.
[Brandon hums]
Eric: Yes, wearing layers is my favorite thing to do in the winter.
Amanda: I think Aggie also has some sick outdoor gear. She loves, like, the ritual putting on her snow tires and putting on the snow tires of, like, most people within her, you know, like, 400 foot radius of her house.
Brandon: I think Milo's favorite thing, you know, that kid in the middle school that wear that... that beanie and then you see him 20 years later, and he's like, 32 and he's still wearing the same beanie?
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Yup.
Brandon: I think that's Milo and he has... he has his favorite beanie.
Eric: He has, like, one winter hat?
Brandon: Yeah.
Eric: That's very good.
Amanda: Cute.
Eric: Is the ceremonial not wearing shirt? Oh no, wait, Milo only wears pants. He does -- he's not only-wear-shorts guy. It's the other way around.
Amanda: Never escaped that phase.
Brandon: Never want to see his legs. There's --
Eric: Yeah.
Brandon: There were ghosts before he was even ghosts, you know?
[Amanda laughs]
Amanda: Aiden says, "Because you record so far in advance, what's some of the hardest spoiler to keep so far?" This one was pretty big. I think the time loop was the hardest one for me.
[Brandon hums]
Amanda: Because it, like... it, like, broke the space and time conventions of the game in the most fabulous way. And I was just so excited to be playing it. And so, like, I would... I would, like, fall asleep at night thinking about ways to break the time loop that it was, it was hard to imagine that our campaign was ever anything but the time loop.
[Eric hums]
Eric: It might be Episode One, honestly, because we spent so much time doing the actual world building. And I really wanted a shot at doing Episode One again, especially after consuming large amounts of dimension 20 and reading a lot of stuff that hopefully I felt like I was being a better DM. So, like, getting another shot at introducing a campaign was very... was… was a lot for me. And also, you know, we recorded it before March 2020. So, I was very excited to put that out there and hopefully people would enjoy it even as the world was changing.
Brandon: Yeah, I think... I think it was this one about the unmasking that was the most difficult for me. But I think it's also important to note that I'm looking through my notes just to see if I was -- could find anything else. For some reason, I have the phrase "subs, duds and buds" written down.
[Amanda and Eric laugh]
Eric: That sounds like a laundromat and be-- shared beer.
Brandon: I think that's probably what it was actually.
Amanda: Yeah, it's probably what it was.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: I love that.
Eric: Was that from slam? That... that was the -- it was the laundromat. No, that was the sushi place. Sorry. I got confused.
Amanda: Yeah.
Eric: Yeah.
Amanda: Well, this brings us to... to a very special guest who's dialing in from oh, let me check my notes, elsewhere. It's Julia Schifini. It's Julia's press conference corner. So, Julia, thank you so very much for joining us.
Brandon: Julia, let me give you some... some nice mic foley. Hang on.
[Amanda hums]
Brandon: Is this thing--
[Brandon taps mic]
Brandon: Is this thing on?
[Brandon taps mic]
Brandon: Julia.
Amanda: Wow, it really hurts my heart to see you hit your microphone without a pop filter on it.
[Brandon laughs]
Julia: Hello, I'm calling in from a very secret location. Don't mind the crashing waves behind me. It's nothing, seriously. Brandon, stop doing that to your microphone.
Brandon (as Roger): I will start. Hey, Julia. Roger McPaper from The Newspaper Times. What the fuck were you thinking?
Julia: Okay. So, like, in the moment, I was pretty just flabbergasted. And I think that in terms of, like, what I was thinking in the moment, I had already discussed with Eric the idea of Val telling Hitomi about their secret identity. So, all of a sudden you two who I guess, like, I had been anticipating Aggie doing it just because of the relationship with Tegan, but I absolutely did not anticipate Milo doing it. And I was just blown away because all of a sudden, Val gets a question about revealing their identity. And then the two of you do it after Val vehemently had said no. I was just like, "Oh. Oh my God you two! Oh my God." And I appreciate it because in the moment, the two of you did check in with me being like, "Julia, is this okay? Are you mad at us?" And I was not. I was just perfectly in character upset, but not personally-player upset.
Eric (as Eric): Hi, this is Eric Silver from the Eric Silver Daily News. I have a question on behalf of Ralts. When do you think Hitomi figured out Val's superhero identity?
Julia: It had to be, like, the third Italian food emergency, right? Like, it couldn't have been any time earlier than that. I also think Hitomi's smart. She probably figured it out pretty early. Definitely didn't take that long to figure out. Val and Vulcani look the same. Hitomi knows better.
Amanda (as Men Velossom): Julia, Julia, Men Velossom from your childhood.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda (as Men Velossom): This question comes from the Love Fern. Now that Val has officially told Hitomi the truth behind their "Italian emergencies," will they tell the rest of Laketown city or are they going to stay "anonymous" indefinitely? (Looking at you, Leather jacket, Eyes emoji.)
Julia: Okay. So, I think this is a good question given that Aggie and Milo have revealed their identity. I don't think Val would be tempted to reveal their identity as Vulcani. Not only because they value their privacy, but also at the same time, Val's real name is associated with pretty well-known mob figures. And I think that there would be a certain lack of trust amongst the community if Val was to reveal who they are. And people are like, "Aren't they related to the mobster in New York and also Aunt Min?" So, I don't think Val is going to be tempted into revealing their personal identity. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
Brandon (as Regular Brandon): Do you think now that they -- this is a follow up question from Brandon, just the regular guy, Brandon.
Amanda: Oh, hi.
Brandon (as Regular Brandon): Do you think now that the Italian emergencies is, like, not a cover up thing do you think they're like, it's like a cute thing now and they're like, oh no an Italian emergency and, like, they... they do a bunch of kisses or something?
Eric: That's very cute.
Amanda: Pretty cute.
Eric: That's very good.
Amanda: It's pretty cute.
Eric: I also like the idea that now Hitomi uses Italian emergencies to get out of situations.
[Players laugh]
Amanda (as Hitomi): Sorry, babe. I love to join you around for dinner, but I have an Italian emergency. It's-- I need a pedicure.
Julia: Absolutely, and that is also adorable. So, yes to all of that.
Brandon (as Brampton): Julia. Julia, it's me. I'm Brampton from the Brampton Florida Gazette.
Eric: Nice.
Brandon (as Brampton): How did it feel to get that tram stopping Nat 20?
Julia: Oh, fucking incredible. I love when Val gets to do strong things that are aligned with their powers. It just-- it feels like I'm playing my character correctly whenever that happens, and the dice are rewarding me.
Eric (as Giuseppe Giuseppe): Hey, Julia. It's me, Giuseppe Giuseppe from House of Gucci News. I'm going to ask you a question. Here we go. How is Julia's or Val's-- This is Chris Pratt doing Mario.
Amanda: She can't even stop you because she's not here.
[Eric laughs]
Eric: I know she's not here.
Eric (as Giuseppe Giuseppe): Has Julia or Val seen House of Gucci? What do they think? I also want to include a quote from Patricia Gucci of the Gucci line who came forward to denounce the entire project, who said that the casting of Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci was rude because she said, "My grandfather was a very handsome man like all the Gucci's. And very tall, blue eyes, and very elegant. Being played by Al Pacino, who is not very tall already and the photo shows him as fat, short, and sideburns really ugly; shameful, because he doesn't resemble him at all. Please respond."
Brandon: Wow, that's really mean. Jesus Christ.
Eric: Al Pacino, the-- one of the greatest actors of the 20th century.
Amanda: Known Italian-American Al Pacino.
Eric: Yeah.
Julia: That is hilarious and they really did Al Pacino, dirty there, huh? I haven't seen the movie. And I don't think Val would and I don't have a good reason why. I think Val has strong opinions on Lady Gaga, and I can't tell if they're, like, positive or negative. It's kind of, like, you know when you were in a fandom as a child, or as a young adult, and now you look back at how cringe you were about that fandom. That's how Val feels about Lady Gaga, where it's just like, you look at that person and you're like, oh, no, I'm embarrassed about the way that I used to feel about you. It's like seeing an ex. Yeah, I don't think Val would see it. Not because Al Pacino is in it because Val fucking loves Al Pacino. He is a credit to all Italian Americans.
Amanda (as Amanda): And finally, Julia, Julia it's me. Amanda here from... from the Gritty Gazette. Um, this is from Jules 2.0. If you could curse an NPC to be mildly inconvenienced for the rest of their life, who would it be and how?
Brandon: If you say Milo, I'm quitting the show.
Julia (as Val): It would be Sour fuckin' Anthony. And whenever he went to a bar and they had his favorite beer on tap, the keg would always kick before they could serve him. That's the worst thing I can imagine for a person.
Amanda: Amazing. And oh, Julia. Hi, as your collaborators any... anything else that we said that... that is wrong or that you want to you want to--
Brandon: That is wrong.
[Brandon huffs a laughs]
Amanda: Feel free to do that now. A little... a little corrections corner.
Brandon: This is Julia as factcheck corner.
Amanda: Oh yeah.
Eric: It's very funny
Julia: If my friends are wrong, I don't want to be right. You guys, I love you. I love you guys so much.
Amanda: Well, Julia, thank you for doing that. Thank you for editing this after your vacation was done. We miss you and hope you had a good week. And to close us out, let's of course dip on in to spoil-y corner. Couple from Ralts. One, after Aggie was changed from Preserver to Multitool, Danny painted the Preserver, right? Will this come back into play now that his powers are outed?
Amanda: Who can say?
Eric: Who can say?
Brandon: Who can say?
Eric: Who knows?
Amanda: And a follow up, Does Gutenberg know about Aggie changing from Preserver to Multitool. I'd love to know.
Brandon: Who can say?
Amanda: Who can say?
Brandon: How did we not use the Enya song as the theme for this corner?
Amanda: Because we can't license it.
Eric: Sail away. Sail away. Sail away.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: Brax in Public on Insta asks, "How much of what's happened would change if Multitool went back to being Preserver?"
Eric: Good question. Remember a lot of this stuff still would be the same. Not to invalidate if they were to switch back but definitely some... some feelings would be... some stuff would be different.
[Brandon hums in agreement]
Amanda: Love Fern asks, "Is Hank the Knight of Mirrors? I just tried to think of the wildest possibility for why 'a lot of people' with these again really okay with a lot of stuff real quick and 'an app' that doesn't exist." Brain exploding emoji.
Eric: Lots of people in the Discord wondered what, what the hell Hank is talking about in the next episode. And y'all will find out next Tuesday. I promise.
Brandon: Yeah.
Amanda: You will. And finally, from the Question Surgeon, "Is Gutenberg flooding the market with powered folk to discredit supers?"
Eric: Interesting. Interesting, interesting, interesting.
Amanda: Who can say?
Brandon: I mean, yeah.
Amanda: Probably.
Brandon: I don't know that. I don't know that as a person in this podcast. I'm just saying it as a player and as a character that like, yeah, he's trying to discredit us for sure.
Amanda: Who can say?
Brandon: Who can say?
Eric: He's creating the Ubers of su-- the Uber of superheroes, Brandon.
Brandon: Yeah, exactly.
Amanda: Destabilizing and cheapening the whole industry and really, like, undervaluing labor of a skilled profession?
[Eric hums in agreement]
Amanda: Yeah, yeah? Okay, cool.
Eric: I want to give a special shout out to Bramble Strike who we didn't talk about in this episode. Like, one of the most fun NPCs I've ever played on the show.
Amanda: And listening back to the episode I said "fucking Bramble Strike" several times.
Eric: Bramble Strike. I just want to be helpful. Oh my God, when he... when the guy said, "Is this--" When he just put his hand on Milo's shoulder and said, "Your first time as well?" I was like... I was like, "That was rude. I shouldn't have done that."
[Eric huffs a laugh]
Brandon: Bramp tool strike is --
Amanda: Ooh.
Eric: Ooh.
Brandon: -- my college band.
Eric: Nice.
Amanda: It's pretty good.
Eric: I like that.
Brandon: Brample Strike and the Spares. Now it's a bowling reference.
Amanda: Ooh.
Brandon: Nailed it.
Eric: Oh, there you go. I like that.
Amanda: I like that.
Eric: Well, once again, this after party is off the rail. Even without Julia we still managed to--.
Brandon: We need to put on some bumpers. Put on some bumpers.
Amanda: You gotta use the bumpers next time.
Eric: Oh yeah, you gotta use the bumpers.
Amanda: There you, Brandon. Yes.
[Brandon laughs]
Amanda: On the same page. Well, everybody thank you again for joining us. We love you. We'll see you on the discord. We'll see you next Tuesday with a whole new episode. And that's it for us.
Brandon [in a high-pitch tone]: Bye guys!
Eric [in a high-pitch tone]: Byeee!
Amanda: May your rolls trend ever upward.
[JTP Outro Theme Music starts]
Transcribed by: JM Sarong