I’m watching Dimension 20 Fantasy High: Sophomore Year and it’s really just getting to me the compassion that all of these character show for others and for themselves.
Before getting to spoilers, I just gotta say the character development is so so good and they play them all so well I have cried and will cry again during this campaign.
Shoutout to Riz’s:
“Is my greatest fear sleeping on the job? I’m so lame!”
Spoilers for the end of the campaign/season below the break (to be clear, I’m just going off about how much I love this campaign)
The fact that Kristen is literally killed by the Unnamed Goddess and still, when offered her choice of the deities she knows, turns back to that Goddess and just prays to her, asks for understanding, asks to learn from her. It’s so much compassion that the Goddess barely understands it, but she responds.
Adaine, after everything, sees Aelwyn and sees the truth of her upbringing, how Aelwyn was just as hurt as she was, and she chooses over and over to reach out to her, to talk to her, to save her, to offer her another option. (And on this note, she does not give compassion to her parents - they don’t deserve it and she has enough love and respect for herself to not give it to them.)
Fabian tries to be his dad, tries to be a pirate, tries to be a leader, and from his understanding of those things, in many ways he fails. It made me so anxious in the moment but I really appreciate Lou’s decision to change his subclass in response to Fabian having an existential crisis and how he has to learn to have compassion for himself and allow himself to be someone he never realized was an option for him. Shoutout of course to:
“Toxic masculinity is dead! I dance now!” - Fabian
And then we have the parallel with Fig and Ayda, these two deeply insecure people who’ve been hurt and who have hurt others and they both make a choice to believe in each other but also in themselves that:
“I hope that [Ayda] finds something that I didn’t know was there.” - Fig
And
“The fact that I have not found such a quality in myself does not mean that someone as brilliant as Figueroth couldn’t find something in me worthwhile.” - Ayda
Also, as an aroace person, Riz’s fear-storyline of ‘all his friends will get partners and move on without him’ really hit and I am so grateful that he came to the resolution that he was valued and loved by his friends and family and that he’s allowed to be his own person and live his own life.
“I don’t need to be like them, they love me.” - Riz
I’m glad that it wasn’t a “late bloomer” or “I’ll find someone eventually” but a “I don’t have to find someone, I love them and they love me, and it has nothing to do with that.” (Also I love that he’s like “… I can’t do this self-reflection right now… but your trick is wrong.”)
I also like Gorgug’s endless quest to get in contact with Zelda. I was worried at the beginning of the campaign when he didn’t talk to her before leaving, and then when he got past the point of contact. But he didn’t just try to make a cell tower as a joke when he realized. That became a constant journey, the new “Are you my dad?” (Another side quest that resolves because of Grogug’s kind and patient persistence.)
And he actually does it! He uses what he’s learned from his family, he makes connections with the tinkerers, and finds a work around so he can actually contact Zelda! And he doesn’t just ask for praise, he’s so excited that he figured it out, he doesn’t hesitate at all to call her immediately even if she won’t pick up, because he promised that he would find a way to talk to her again and apologize and he did! And she sees it for the act of absolute care and devotion that it was and sees how Gorgug has not forgotten about her or his promise and he made it work when by all accounts it should’ve been impossible.
Tl;dr
God I love Dimension 20 and the Intrepid Heroes/Bad Kids, they’re truly something else and they tell such gorgeous stories.
