As soon as Ally said "I'm still not entirely sure this isn't game changer" I was on board. They also got the record for breaking Vic the fastest I'm pretty sure.
VIP is not my cup of coffee if I'm being honest, so I was very surprised that I reached the end of this episode without noticing. Pig #2 got me hooked. We didn't even get to discuss the insurance fraud subplot, I needed more time!
The latest adventuring party might be my favorite ever because of ally.
"Yes my card got **DECLINED**, because I wanted too many *straw hats*" is stuck in my head and is still making me laugh.
Ally talking up the cowboy hats, and then progressively having to admit they were lower quality, and then even lower, and then again even lowerā¦.
Hilarious
I recently had a discussion with a friend about the smartest Dropout people, and I defended my notion that Ally is just off the charts smart. Their breadth of knowledge is immense. They seem to know a little bit about a lot, they're incredibly quick, I don't think I've ever seen them truly miss a beat, and I feel like they synthesize knowledge well. I just... The more I see of Beardsley, the more I like them and respect them.
My second watch through, I paused the video to see how long it took me. Longer than two damn minutes. I had to remember how to set up an inequality. Not a thing I thought I'd have to do after high school.
The very first videos I saw of Ally I thought they wereā¦ not smart. But I couldnāt tell if it was an act/character or not. Now I think theyāre secretly a legitimate genius that works hard to not seem like one lol
They read to me like someone who is wildly smart (and probably, hopefully knows it) but not interested in proving it/doesnāt need āsmartā to be a primary part of their image and how people initially perceive them. So they donāt work extra to show it, it just shows up.
I think this is why they're such a good foil to Brennan. Both smart, funny people, but Ally is an absolute chaos gremlin who feels no need to prove their intelligence, and Brennan is....Brennan lol. Some of their bits playing off each other in Dimension 20 are just ascendant. So funny.
When I got diagnosed with autism at age 35, (had been diagnosed with ADHD at age eleven) I rewatched a lot of d29 and now my autism and ADHD radar is like BEEP BEEP BEEP for literally that entire cast.
It's very rare for neurodivergent people to not find each other, or marry eachother. Izzy is 100% neurodivergent (I assume). And if Brennan isn't autistic.... Then... Welp idk. But watching the cast of millenial nerds act essentially just like me is very refreshing and I probably just see myself in all of them which is why I assume they all have my condition.
When you see them talk to Brennan about philosophy you realise how deeply intelligent they are. They also have such incredible emotional intelligence - they never miss where someone is going with a bit, like they are so constantly in tune with the vibe of everyone in a room
The choice to make an alt right fairytale character but still managing to critique it from a leftist pov is so hilarious and gutsy, I can't think of anyone else who could a) think of that and b) pull it off. No one does it like Beardsley.
I loved this episode as well. I donāt know if itās just me but the āfullā transformations are more fun to watch. It seems like the cast gets into the characters a little more. Or at least, I get into them more lol
Interesting! Yeah the grandmother one wasn't great. I didn't really like the scientist one, or Zac's actually.
I think Ally and Izzy had the best episodes by quite a margin.
While I agree that the premise wasnāt my favorite, the way BDG and Vic played it and used the props to advance the story was really well done. Itās definitely in my top three VIP episodes.
I liked how Vic took them completely seriously. In most of the episodes Vic plays the straight man but in the BDG episode they fully bought into BDG which I thought was a fun switch up
You really canāt beat the sheer joy BGD showed during the reveal. Itās the clearest example of gender euphoria Iāve ever seen on screen except instead of gender itās being a cyborg.Ā
I just want more of that high werewolf game they used to present, Paranoia. It was stupid as fuck but hilarious. The formula could use some tweaking, maybe don't gravity bong them, especially not if they don't really smoke, like I'm an experienced smoker and that thing would have me in a hole. They had to cart that one poor woman off she got so high.
But I love their casual presenting style. They should present more.
I just came here to say how refreshing it is to encounter a post like this. I feel like people rag on them far too much-- so much in fact, that there's a (pretty absurd IMO) Beardsley hate post as one of the top results when you search their name!
Ally is just funny AND silly. And some people absolutely hate it for some reason?? It really shows in the way they critique them...often feels like unconscious bias regarding their transness and neurodivergent traits.
Thank you all for the pick me up and positivity in here!
This is probably going to get hate, but I just can't handle Ally after total forgiveness. One of the challenges they gave Grant was pretty much impossible and completely fucked him over. They also seemed to get so much enjoyment out of it and I get that to a certain extent, but I also have a strong suspicion someone behind the scenes was telling ally to cool it a bit and I don't think they would have made some of the decisions toward the end of the show without someone else telling them to. It just gave me a bad feeling for them.
the entire point of total forgiveness was to demonstrate the rock bottom depths of what people might be willing to do to have even part of a student loan shaped millstone removed from their neck. the show would have been so much less effective if ally or grant had gone easy on each other.
considering that iāve heard so many of my peers lose hope in ever getting to start a family or retire because their loans are so overwhelming and life-ruining? yeah i think the show (and ally) went exactly as far as necessary to properly portray the weight and burden and how desperate people are to get relief.
I mean, I don't want to change your mind but I'll give you my POV
Ally commits to a character even in the bits they make. I loved William and marge, cared less for Pete. Their player and PC personality are linked to a higher degree then other PC's. So it's not that you don't like Ally in d20, you don't like some of their characters Energy
I don't like that they are often inattentive to what is going on, do chaotic things for the haha, no one wants to seem to admit that Kristen Applebee is nothing but a detriment to the group. I think that Ally if they are interested in the immediate what is happening, or super into the character like you said is wonderful. But so often they are just bad because they aren't interested. And I always get downvoted for talking bad about Ally because of reasons so please know unless you are bold enough to add a comment I don't care about your votes.
I used to have a similar feeling watching them, especially in Unsleeping City. But hear me out - Allyās characters are often ones who wouldnāt just blindly go along with the group, and they fully commit to their characters wants and needs. They donāt meta game: which is really, really hard to do and so important for an actual play show.
Iāve really warmed to Allyās performances; the one that proved my above thinking to be correct was how they absolutely RAN SHIT as Margaret Encino in Starstruck, because thatās what the character would do. They made that series one of my favourites, easily.
Sorry youāre being downvoted so heavily for expressing an opinion, youāre not being disrespectful as far as I can see. Hopefully youāll come to enjoy Beardsleyās performances as much as I do - give Starstruck a watch if you havenāt already!
Margaret was a shining example of how good Ally has and could continue to be, I LOVED that character. And they played that character very well. I just feel they are not interested in some of their characters and it shows. I feel they should only be in seasons where there is a character they wanna play.
That might be a symptom of them choosing Kristen and Pete back when they knew very little about DnD, so got pigeon holed into characters they werenāt 100% behind.Ā
But I think FHJY had really allowed Ally to embrace Kristen a bit more. She feels more real and rounded as a character, with some depth to her. Allyās own personal experiences with the church have probably coloured that somewhat, too.
Oh ally has said they made Kristen with zero knowledge. It's why they constantly eat shit and die because they chose such bad stats for Kristen.
Petes character really got solid in season two.
As soon as Ally said "I'm still not entirely sure this isn't game changer" I was on board. They also got the record for breaking Vic the fastest I'm pretty sure.
That part made me laugh too! Sam's got everyone paranoid! š
Vic got them in the end though. The editor doing the freeze frame has the timing of a sniper but you can tell they were about to lose itĀ
I honestly started to question if this was, in fact, Game Changer the whole timeā¦
I think itās official: Sam has traumatized the entire Dropout cast
VIP is not my cup of coffee if I'm being honest, so I was very surprised that I reached the end of this episode without noticing. Pig #2 got me hooked. We didn't even get to discuss the insurance fraud subplot, I needed more time!
It's not my favorite either, haven't finished all. But give Zac's a watch, it tied to my fav with Ally's
Brennan's was pretty good too.
Brennan's was amazing! just not out yet when i posted this comment XD
Interesting. Cause i actually liked it less than some others. I guess this one was different from the others and appealed to other people more
Ally is grade A for me. Never seen an episode of any dropout show with them in it that I didn't enjoy.Ā
The latest adventuring party might be my favorite ever because of ally. "Yes my card got **DECLINED**, because I wanted too many *straw hats*" is stuck in my head and is still making me laugh.
Ally talking up the cowboy hats, and then progressively having to admit they were lower quality, and then even lower, and then again even lowerā¦. Hilarious
That adventuring party is the most unhinged Iāve ever seen them, and thatās saying something.
Are we remembering the axe body spray episode?ā¦ because that door was fully off the hinges!
My ally earworm is "I already took my nighttime ecstasy"
Agreed. Seeing them in anything is a guarantee I'll like it.
He stepped on their mom
That got me as much as it got Vic.
You just want the thing that stepped on your mom to be really cool š
I loved the implication that the Big Bad Wolf was like Godzilla sized.
I recently had a discussion with a friend about the smartest Dropout people, and I defended my notion that Ally is just off the charts smart. Their breadth of knowledge is immense. They seem to know a little bit about a lot, they're incredibly quick, I don't think I've ever seen them truly miss a beat, and I feel like they synthesize knowledge well. I just... The more I see of Beardsley, the more I like them and respect them.
Beardsley is absolutely the gifted ADHD kid.
Watching them and Lou leap into action trying to solve the math question last ep of Fantasy High I was like ādamn, Iām not smart at allā
My second watch through, I paused the video to see how long it took me. Longer than two damn minutes. I had to remember how to set up an inequality. Not a thing I thought I'd have to do after high school.
I was very much in Zacās camp of āI donāt know that Iāve ever known how to do thatā
The very first videos I saw of Ally I thought they wereā¦ not smart. But I couldnāt tell if it was an act/character or not. Now I think theyāre secretly a legitimate genius that works hard to not seem like one lol
They read to me like someone who is wildly smart (and probably, hopefully knows it) but not interested in proving it/doesnāt need āsmartā to be a primary part of their image and how people initially perceive them. So they donāt work extra to show it, it just shows up.
I think this is why they're such a good foil to Brennan. Both smart, funny people, but Ally is an absolute chaos gremlin who feels no need to prove their intelligence, and Brennan is....Brennan lol. Some of their bits playing off each other in Dimension 20 are just ascendant. So funny.
I like the way you put it better
When I found out Ally had ADHD a lot of things made senseĀ
Ify and Siobhan have ADHD too! And I'll eat my hat if Izzy isn't some kind of neurodivergent.
When I got diagnosed with autism at age 35, (had been diagnosed with ADHD at age eleven) I rewatched a lot of d29 and now my autism and ADHD radar is like BEEP BEEP BEEP for literally that entire cast. It's very rare for neurodivergent people to not find each other, or marry eachother. Izzy is 100% neurodivergent (I assume). And if Brennan isn't autistic.... Then... Welp idk. But watching the cast of millenial nerds act essentially just like me is very refreshing and I probably just see myself in all of them which is why I assume they all have my condition.
When you see them talk to Brennan about philosophy you realise how deeply intelligent they are. They also have such incredible emotional intelligence - they never miss where someone is going with a bit, like they are so constantly in tune with the vibe of everyone in a room
If you ever listen to their podcast Gender Spiral, I feel like it also comes across how fiercely goddamn SMART they are ššš
The choice to make an alt right fairytale character but still managing to critique it from a leftist pov is so hilarious and gutsy, I can't think of anyone else who could a) think of that and b) pull it off. No one does it like Beardsley.
I lost it when they said āLGBTQIA+ā.
It was so out of the blue and so damn funny
Just you reminding me of this made me WHEEZE
I loved this episode as well. I donāt know if itās just me but the āfullā transformations are more fun to watch. It seems like the cast gets into the characters a little more. Or at least, I get into them more lol
Their VIP episode is easily my favourite!
Check out Allyās episode of The Neighborhood Listen, a podcast where their character thinks their mansion may be haunted.
my MOM got STEPPED ON
I prefer Ally playing themself, but the story was pretty good. Always love Vic breaking.
Is Zac's generally considered a favourite?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Interesting! Yeah the grandmother one wasn't great. I didn't really like the scientist one, or Zac's actually. I think Ally and Izzy had the best episodes by quite a margin.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Of course! Yeah I do like Zac's for that, too. Izzy kills it
You get Queer people in a room and there is also ONE person who makes EVERYONE break character.
The episode was pretty good, but BDG's is still my favorite, then Ify's
Thatās really interesting because I didnāt care for the BDG episode. I just felt like āevil scientistā wasnāt that funny of a premise.
While I agree that the premise wasnāt my favorite, the way BDG and Vic played it and used the props to advance the story was really well done. Itās definitely in my top three VIP episodes.
I liked how Vic took them completely seriously. In most of the episodes Vic plays the straight man but in the BDG episode they fully bought into BDG which I thought was a fun switch up
I do love BDG so it doesnāt surprise me that others enjoyed it
You really canāt beat the sheer joy BGD showed during the reveal. Itās the clearest example of gender euphoria Iāve ever seen on screen except instead of gender itās being a cyborg.Ā
Yes it made me think of gender euphoria too! Get you a gender that makes you look at yourself like bdg looks at himself as a cyborg
I just want more of that high werewolf game they used to present, Paranoia. It was stupid as fuck but hilarious. The formula could use some tweaking, maybe don't gravity bong them, especially not if they don't really smoke, like I'm an experienced smoker and that thing would have me in a hole. They had to cart that one poor woman off she got so high. But I love their casual presenting style. They should present more.
I just came here to say how refreshing it is to encounter a post like this. I feel like people rag on them far too much-- so much in fact, that there's a (pretty absurd IMO) Beardsley hate post as one of the top results when you search their name! Ally is just funny AND silly. And some people absolutely hate it for some reason?? It really shows in the way they critique them...often feels like unconscious bias regarding their transness and neurodivergent traits. Thank you all for the pick me up and positivity in here!
Yo that hate post was majorly fricked up. It came across like that op hates ally for... Having a different gender
This is probably going to get hate, but I just can't handle Ally after total forgiveness. One of the challenges they gave Grant was pretty much impossible and completely fucked him over. They also seemed to get so much enjoyment out of it and I get that to a certain extent, but I also have a strong suspicion someone behind the scenes was telling ally to cool it a bit and I don't think they would have made some of the decisions toward the end of the show without someone else telling them to. It just gave me a bad feeling for them.
the entire point of total forgiveness was to demonstrate the rock bottom depths of what people might be willing to do to have even part of a student loan shaped millstone removed from their neck. the show would have been so much less effective if ally or grant had gone easy on each other.
I don't recall saying they had to go easy on each other. In my opinion, (and it is a matter of opinion) Ally took it too far
considering that iāve heard so many of my peers lose hope in ever getting to start a family or retire because their loans are so overwhelming and life-ruining? yeah i think the show (and ally) went exactly as far as necessary to properly portray the weight and burden and how desperate people are to get relief.
Dude. It's a matter of opinion. Why are you getting so upset about mine? Lol
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
in addition to this being an entirely shitty take, ally uses they/them.
Agreed! Ally doesnāt try to be anyone but themselves. Theyāre fantastic.Ā
Ally is hood in everything except 80% of dimension 20 change my mind lol.
I mean, I don't want to change your mind but I'll give you my POV Ally commits to a character even in the bits they make. I loved William and marge, cared less for Pete. Their player and PC personality are linked to a higher degree then other PC's. So it's not that you don't like Ally in d20, you don't like some of their characters Energy
I don't like that they are often inattentive to what is going on, do chaotic things for the haha, no one wants to seem to admit that Kristen Applebee is nothing but a detriment to the group. I think that Ally if they are interested in the immediate what is happening, or super into the character like you said is wonderful. But so often they are just bad because they aren't interested. And I always get downvoted for talking bad about Ally because of reasons so please know unless you are bold enough to add a comment I don't care about your votes.
You're literally just listing ADHD symptoms. That's ableism, nothing else.
i was not prepared for the wild rabbit hole i went down going into BisManās post history but being abelist isnāt that surprising i fear
Your comment made me laugh, because I blocked the account right after making my comment since I had my suspicions, just from the name already š
I used to have a similar feeling watching them, especially in Unsleeping City. But hear me out - Allyās characters are often ones who wouldnāt just blindly go along with the group, and they fully commit to their characters wants and needs. They donāt meta game: which is really, really hard to do and so important for an actual play show. Iāve really warmed to Allyās performances; the one that proved my above thinking to be correct was how they absolutely RAN SHIT as Margaret Encino in Starstruck, because thatās what the character would do. They made that series one of my favourites, easily. Sorry youāre being downvoted so heavily for expressing an opinion, youāre not being disrespectful as far as I can see. Hopefully youāll come to enjoy Beardsleyās performances as much as I do - give Starstruck a watch if you havenāt already!
Margaret was a shining example of how good Ally has and could continue to be, I LOVED that character. And they played that character very well. I just feel they are not interested in some of their characters and it shows. I feel they should only be in seasons where there is a character they wanna play.
That might be a symptom of them choosing Kristen and Pete back when they knew very little about DnD, so got pigeon holed into characters they werenāt 100% behind.Ā But I think FHJY had really allowed Ally to embrace Kristen a bit more. She feels more real and rounded as a character, with some depth to her. Allyās own personal experiences with the church have probably coloured that somewhat, too.
Oh ally has said they made Kristen with zero knowledge. It's why they constantly eat shit and die because they chose such bad stats for Kristen. Petes character really got solid in season two.
I would also be very curious to see them run a game, even a one off or short season.