#leviathan chronicles

[liarsandleechespod]

Liars & Leeches was just featured on Leviathan Presents (made by the creators of the Leviathan Chronicles), a show that features the first episode of an audio drama, as well as interviews with that audio drama's creators. Three of our Liars & Leeches crew members gave a detailed look behind the scenes of the show, ranging from the show's creation, script writing, and sound design. You can listen to the episode here!

[feedergoldfish]

Oberlin: What did he say?

Tully: He said they're going to take the boat.

Oberlin: That's all he said?

Tully: He said they're going to cut our hands and feet off, let us bleed to death and then take the boat.

Oberlin: I liked it better the first time.

------

Leviathan Chronicles, chapter 4

[littlepodcastcorner]

Leviathan Chronicles

Does anybody else know of the Leviathan Chronicles? Its a forking baller podcast, and I listned to it a few years ago and just remember how RAD IT WAS.

If you have listened to it, let me know.

If yoy haven't, leave this site now and go find it.

I'm not kidding. go. now.

[reikiajakoiranruohoja]

Whitt Roberts and the importance of cause and effect

I ranted about Leviathan Chronicles before. However, like the idiot I am, I've continued to listen to the radiodrama. And one series of events basically stood out as a great example of how to not write reactions to a character's actions.

Whitt Roberts is an ultra secret spy working for a group even beyond Black OPs. He has just fallen from a burning blimp, and survived. His ear also has been sliced cleanly off. He calls for a super secret medical organization ambulance to take him to a very super secret facility for all criminals and agents who can pay for it. Generally, the rule there is to not start shit, because it is neutral ground where people get treated safely.

Well, Whitt comes from surgery, still missing an ear. Then, due to plot reasons, he decides to break the cardinal rule of the hospital and outright kills a nurse.

I should note here, that Whitt's actions themselves aren't the problem. A character should be allowed to act stupid and foolish in writing.

It is how the setting reacts to him. Instead of Whitt being drugged to all hell to avoid him running about just after surgery, he is as clear-minded as he can be. And despite the place being secret and highly funded, this one guy post-sugery is managing to defeat most of the security. Also, given the nature of the hospital, the fact that there are no protocols to deal with a paranoid and delirious patient, is strange.

It doesn't help that the person responsible for cutting off his ear and in the company of another super secret spy from the same organization Whitt belongs to, -is- there. And is the only person able to deal with the spy, despite the hospital being constantly toted as a super secret and super safe place for criminals and spies to stay at while injured and that the (female) spy he is with is also a badass.

The plot then manages to force these three to work together, despite the podcast spending episode after episode showing why that would be pretty impossible beforehand. It seems that the writer liked Whitt so much as a character, that he wanted to use him more. Thus this contrived mess of a plot.

The huge issue of showing vs telling is obvious here. No matter how you explain something away, if you don't show it being so, we believe what we see (or hear, in this case). The push for Whitt to ally with the two other characters is also just plain groan worthy. Uneasy allies are one thing, but there is no actual reason for these characters to ally nor want.

Whitt here might actually be the best example of what a Mary Sue character is to me, a character that the universe bends backwards for to survive and succeed to showcase how badass they are. Instead, it just seems they are given everything on a gold platter. Whitt is challenged, but he isn't actually tested by these challenges in any meaningful way.

The podcast is long dead, but I hope this little rant at least was interesting.

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Leviathan Chronicles, reaction finale

Final post from my reactions to Leviathan chronicles last year!

Spoilery feelings summary:

Things I like: -i am SOOOO glad there was no stupid love triangle between macallan/tulley/anton. -soooo much tension & epic blockbuster action. -i was mentally gripping my chair 90% of the time. ofc that meant that after i finished the series, i was kinda drained/exhausted and this is the first time i've ever felt winded by a piece of media. -im glad as the show moved on, there was less narration and more sound design action -all the 2008/2009 shoutouts

problems: -too many straight people. my gaydar is obsessed with trying to figure out if anyone might be even a lil bit queer. i settle on seinshen & nathaniel possibly being gay, harlequin/astrid/lorelei possibly being bi/pan & lorelei also being genderqueer. oberlin & tulley i believe must've experimented together at some point so they're possibly bi too. theres no proof for any of this, except lorelei's appearance, and harlequin saying he was "with reverends". -horrible bad asian accents by both asian & white people. temujin & moonface was better. -some plotholes and plot armor/should not have survived and super fast travel coincidences. -the intro music is cool cuz i like rock music, but didnt match the theme. -there are many times where people are trying accomplish the SAME DAMN THING except their opinions of each other are totally opposite.

Things i REALLY wanna know: -what happened to mai lee? what happened to toshi? how is oberlin actually doing? -what was all that spanish in the post credit scene of the epilogue?

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Leviathan Chronicles - reaction part 3?

These are more mixed reactions from last year when I listened for the first time.

Spoilers ahoy!

Lol that news intro song, i personally used it myself. ooh i hope these 2 hackers are some of the immortals that macallan was hoping to bring back to leviathan. OOH this is v interesting, no narrator this time? i LIKE IT. nvm the narrator is back. ok so this is gonna be harlequin. im curious how he's gonna get back into the main story. lol defcon. lol shrillex. lol pwned. ooh i like lazette tipping that waittress. LOL lazette complaining about dyed hair & punk fashion cracks me up. but i wish leviathan chronicles wasnt so ridiculously straight. thats why im hoping seinshen be bi. "hackers are not the most socially adjusted people" LMFAO LMFAO. ok so harlequin & lazette are smart to try to get a hacker to go down to leviathan to undo the virus. thats smarter than anything macallan attempted lol. is deepfaking really the best form of hacking? lmfao, i wonder if whiteegg is a discount apple. hmm, 2 episodes focused on harlequin already? lol, i love lazette's pickpocketing people. what WTF lazette just up and told him everything??? yea lazette you revealed too much. "what this isnt the test? i can hold my breath! i like the fishies!" its a great coincidence that cluracan knows about sanctuary. does that mean he's part of blackdoor or formerly? LOL I LOVE LAZETTE BREAKING INTO DR WHATSHISFACE. oooh elevator lock picking. her scene is fun. as much as i dislike any of the hetero ships, i think cluracan & lazette do work well together. i’m v glad that harlequin actually got rest & recovery??? SIGH, i wish harlequin or cluracan were girls so that A) girl hackers and b) lesbians. so cluracan can just take this much time off work? that said, macallan's employer's arent looking for her either? no missing persons report? ok thank god harlequin cleared his name phew. um HARLEQUIN YOU NEED TO INTRODUCE LAZETTE & CLURACAN. btw all those other scientists & programmers cant figure it out, how do you expect a mortal whose never seen this tech before, figure it out? LMFAO at this time, macallans team, tulley, seinshen's team are galloping around new york, arent they?

ooh flashback. but yeah i have a concern that tulley/toshi/anton wont go as smoothly. huh i noticed that season 1 & 2 used actual chinese/japanese VAs, but not there anymore in season 3. OH WAIT shitshitshit jason was actually freaking eaten by a crocodile? oh nvm. lol if jason was eaten by a crocodile that wouldve been lame. lol whit: wait, these esuits are our camp wtf? yo leviathan have created so many different suits/mechas. ok so what is going on with jason? and what did jason do to toshi? OMG FREDDY? lmfao tulley. uhhh christof does freddy's voice? that feels awkward... im glad toshi didnt do anything weird or escape. ooh oberlin is back. ok yeah its a real good thing tulley brought along anton xD omg death by fugu? xD ooh this is a good way to release toshi from his dad too. poor innocent oberlin has been thru so much im glad he has revenge. aha. i had a feeling evangeline would prioritize the lives of the people over the location of leviathan. "i hope you can steal this virus away." clever.omg shit did harlequin stab her to sleep? wait... macallan you seriously havent showered even tho tulley & anton were recovering for days when they first arrived at leviathan? alright, so team macallan & team seinshen are gonna meet up again at the aliens. im curious where anton is gonna go now. esp since he think seinshen has betrayed them & vice versa. lol whoever is sound designing seinshen's team needs to have a good bank of insect foley lmfao. ok whit, if the wall shocked you the first time, why would you touch it again. oh leviathan's flag features real leviathan i think? ooh team seinshen got to the aliens. oof so bennu & black door were exchanging leviathan tech. damn this world building is tasty. jesus, fiiiiinally whit & jason are fiiinally answering questions. and dammit. poor rebecca's VA has to do a LOT of distressing noises. omgomgomg poor seinshen & rebecca. ok alexander is still nearby right? what is the pen writing thing gonna be? dang this keyhole took a long time to close. i guess as long as christof is voicing seinshen, he gonna have plot armor. yo this computer virus is creepy as hell. what the FUCK was bennu capable of? i dont really understand this tech hacking plan. but lol at lazette shading the mayor. i dont really like this mayor. oh no im really worried. but i suppose at least everyone in leviathan is working together instead of bad allyship of seinshen's "team". lol "ew my clothes gonna be gross" "i'll do your laundry". omg this is super claustrophobic and she was climbing. "get wrekt" (ep madax) LOL. omg poor lazette id be terrified.

#personal#audio drama#podcasts#reaction#leviathan chronicles#the leviathan chronicles

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Leviathan Chronicles- reaction part 2?

So I wrote these things WAAAAY back last year when i listened to Leviathan chronicles for the first time. Here are my live reactions.

Spoilers ahoy!

wow it continues to date itself. "wow! we are the first podcast to feature a kungfu scene!" "after i finish this podcast, i can become a real writer!" oh how times have improved. one of the characters "the beijing olympics happened a few months ago" "if you want, we can give you CDs at our comic con booth!"

yo it had some CREATIVE solutions to chase scenes that i dont think i've seen in recent podcasts. ugh its annoyingly straight

ooh gregor vs rebecca tracking ok im sorry, but i think macallan's crew should head back to leviathan and maybe have anton radio seinshen to figure out what he's doing since gregor know whats going on. ooh tulley is going back to nyc. and macallan's crew is (ill advisedly) going back to Nyc too. hendersen: you in bed with seinshen. ok seinshen bi confirmed? 8D LOL, one of seinshen's aliases is "kristoff laputka" as in the creator's name? xD LOL there's another member that uses alias nobi nakisomething, whose the other co-creator xD seinshen has authentic letters from charlie dickens... which means that dickens is one of the immortals, possibly allied with the rebels. damn toshi is totally different than how tanaka perceives him. also his english doesnt have an awkward japanese accent. WAIT TOSHI HAS BLACK DOOR TRAINING WHAT. HE'S FUCKIN 6 YEARS OLD WHAT? ok that was clever, but why couldnt they have used one of the adults? why is seinshen explaining all of  his secrets to whit & jason (and toshi)? how is this steam elevator operating normally? oh shit 0.0 also there is so much janky gerryrigging in this story LOL aww poor tulley :( if only you hadnt gotten caught up with yakuza or macallan. lol, what a coincidence that the police just happened to be announcing the exact breakin you needed to know. how'd the aliens wind up in africa if the portal was between tibet & leviathan? how the FUCK is jason swinging around the tracking device? why does toshi want to protect jason? i love how this is set in multiple urban cities and unlike other blockbuster movies, the characters attempt to avoid property damage. except for that one scene in india :( why is jason's blood black? WAIT WHAT THE HECK HOW DID MACALLAN CATCH UP SO QUICK BEFORE TULLEY. THEY WERE IN HAWAII. Poor Tulley. im on team Tulley cuz he's mostly innocent. ahh macallan are you still team seinshen? i hope anton is still faithful to seinshen :( "hold onto your hula skirts" lmfao. omg toshi doesnt want to go back to his dad. poor oberlin. lmfao, tulley conveniently sees both helicopters xD and lol clever plan to steal the taxi xDDD damn the driver got those hot dogs fast. lmfao tulley has some serious plot armor & convenience. man and i was just saying this show doesnt commit urban city property damage... i take it back after this helicopter chase scene. ooh this reunion will be fun bc everyone is on opposite sides. oh no i hope rebecca will be faithful to seinshen so that he can stay alive. OH NO GREGOR. OH NO TULLEY. OH NO ANJALI. NOO ANJALI. dammit! yay macallan found the star stone inside the frickin tracker. damn this whole time there was a star stone & seinshen's group had no idea LOL. some tracker you are rebecca. ooh tulley coincidentally show up now! oh wait jason didnt make it to alex's submarine? and wait toshi didnt leave either? PLEASE DONT SHOOT TOSHI! fuck jason and yay tulley! OMGOMGOMG ok tulley pick up toshi pick up toshi.OMGOMG SO MUCH ACTION IS HAPPENING. OH NO ANTON AND SEINSHEN? i wonder if they realized that toshi & jason were still on the ground? shoot. LOL harlequin spent this entire time in a las vegas. but i think he deserves it, hes not focused on either side of the war after all.

[zizz-asdf-re-r-o-u]

Leviathan Chronicles Audio Drama - Reactions, part 1

So these are some of the reactions i had when listening to it for the first time last year:

I’m still listening to Leviathan Chronicles and it turns out it’s one of the earliest internet audio dramas from 2008. It’s not perfect since some of the concepts are a lil outdated but the blockbuster-style sound design & voice acting is amazing for its time. (This was still the era of flip phones, myspace, & geocities! Youtube was only 1years old.)

The creator is so precious bc you can tell it was created in 2008. There’s no patreon promos yet lol & in one of the outros he said “I got my first iPhone!” “Thanks for talking about us on AIM!” 🥺 He also jokingly blames President Bush for making one of the episodes late xDDD now that definitely dates this show lol.

Nowhere near as annoyingly straight as We're Alive. It does the female characters better than We're Alive. but omg the straightness is pungent. but yeah, if you like 2008 callouts and like crazy action (like think Black Widow "you should have died how are you still alive" action), and can withstand annoying straightness every 5 episodes, its an audio drama that stands the test of time so far.

Actual plot spoilers ahead!

one selling point tho is... its very very DELICIOUSLY violent 8D like on par with or more than darkest night & blood crow stories. altho the characters all have plot armor so no one important really dies :// some of the humans should be lying in hospital beds for 6months. or with major disabilities this is one of those audio dramas that rely on a narrator + voice cast, so there's clear descriptions of whats going on. but for a tasty preview of what happens so far (i havent finished s1 yet... its a HEFTY BOI. thats another downside.): there is a blimp fight, at least 4 submarine crashes & fights, there's been 2 mecha bot fights so far, there is a hospital shoot out, a boat shoot out, lab explosions, monster fights, human torture & testing, the most RIDICULOUS multi-vehicle chase scene in any media i've encountered, and the equivalent to a marvel movie finale battle Ooh it is so fun & stressful & adrenaline-pumping. Altho the characters tend to have an annoying amount of plot armor, so you lowkey know the important ones will survive no matter what shit is going down

Some more leviathan chronicles reactions: Holy moly a shout out to the 2008 Beijing olympics in the story “I think we’re the first podiobook to include a kungfu fight!” Story is written by a white guy & there is no “kungfu” fight. There is a LOT of gun fights tho! And it’s deliciously violent 8D “Hey come to our comic con booth & get free CDs!” “After I finish this podiobook I can be a real writer!”

holy moly am I listening to a marvel movie plot? This is probably the most extravagant motorcycle chase scene that is only matched by that one gang chase scene in Under the Electric Stars. This motorcycle chase scene in the middle of New York City would absolutely crash the characters xD it’s impossible unless you have Marvel movie plot armor I am frustratingly annoyed at how straight this show is tho. It’s nowhere as bad as We’re Alive at least. If this was written today, I’m sure several characters would’ve been genderflipped or queer. 

omg there are sooo many twists & backstabbing going on. I think some people may hate it, but I actually find it fun! Oberlin & Whitt: having a flirting 3way fight Mai Lee: what’s going on here O&W: uh guy talk Mai Lee: I’m glad I don’t have a penis Me: DAMMIT WHITT IS SO OBSESSED W ALL THE GUYS THAT HE SHOULD BE GAY. Oberlin & Tulley would totally be an estranged gay couple if it was written today. Mai Lee & Lorelei have super lesbian or at least bi energy too. Same with Evangeline. Harlequin shouldve been a girl. I’m so pissed at Oberlin/Mai Lee … NOOO NATHANIEL!!! First main character death I guess I wish there was an queer audio drama today with as much action & mix of international settings/characters as Leviathan Chronicles (edited)

OMG THIS SEASON FINALE IS SO EPIC I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS. PLOT ARMOR SUDDENLY NO LONGER EXISTS. woohoo. This is like stranger things cuz finally everyone is united and sharing information. Note, I'm still team Evangeline. I have not listened a season finale this stressful since Blood Crow Stories or Primordial Deep or Penumbra. Altho it’s worse cuz it’s like 3hrs of adrenaline

#personal#audio drama#podcasts#reaction#leviathan chronicles#the leviathan chronicles