There are a few games where a major point of enjoyment for players are the emergent stories that arise from a wild mix of mechanics. RimWorld, Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead, Dwarf Fortress, and the subject of this post Battle Brothers.

A new channel, Dead Toothbrush, showed up on my recommended list not too long ago and the first video I saw (above) made the channel an instant subscribe. Like I said, these games are made for emergent storytelling but to be able to edit down hours of gameplay and recount those tales into something enjoyable is an absolute talent. This story in particular had me tearing up a few times.

Selfishly, I only wish there was more of this kind of content out there.

I think most children’s TV media is terrible. But not in the “I hate children” kind of way, in fact, I think kids rule. For that reason, kids deserve better shows that respect their intelligence, emotional and otherwise. Batman:TAS was a show that I loved as a kid, even though after watching as an adult I know I was not understanding the full nuance of that show. It never patronized it’s audience and I got to enjoy it on many levels as I grew up.

And for me, there is no show that perfected that tone like Avatar: The Last Airbender.¹

I don’t recall why I started watching this show (sometime around the start of it’s second season) but I was instantly drawn in by it’s smart scripting and rich characters. I was so obsessed that I even torrented the last two episodes of the season 3 before it aired.²

I am currently rewatching with my partner who has never seen an episode and a few things stand out that I want to praise it for.

Avatar is the perfect example of a show that grew with its audience. In this rewatch I am really blown away at how the first season is much more childish and obviously aims for a younger audience. It never talks down the audience just keeps it’s themes fairly surface level. The later seasons steadily amp up it’s darker themes as it’s audience went from 10 year olds to teenagers.

The characters are great. This is highlighted by the treatment and growth of the character Sokka. Sokka is a brash 15yo boy at the start of the show and has many, many things to learn about the world. He is allowed to fail, he is allowed to be a shitty teenage boy and most importantly he is allowed to be wrong and change. Also, as the main crew’s only non-bender, Sokka could have easily been forgotten in the show’s action sequences. But instead he is shown to be clever and brave in ways that only his character can be.

Lastly, these scripts are absolutely great. Every scene has a reason to be there and are full of set-ups and call-backs that don’t feel obvious as a viewer. The season 1 episode Bato of the Water Tribe has so many set ups that, even though these are kids shows and they could probably get away with being lazy, they all pay off in satisfying ways.³ There’s even an episode in season 3, The Beach, that is set up as the prototypical anime “filler episode” but somehow ends up being a razor sharp character study of the main cast in ways totally unexpected.

Overall, this first series has the feeling of being made by people who love the world, characters and stories they created.

It’s been said many a time in Metal Monday that I love reading Warhammer 40k books. I usually just read what I find for cheap on Ebay or at the library. Though if I can’t find the book anywhere I will try to listen to the audiobook and they are regularly available on their proprietary app Black Library. The audio books are great: Well produced, great voice acting and often have radio play-ish elements (sound fx, vocal modulation, etc).

The only draw back is that most of their audiobooks are nearly $40. Not usually a problem, I rent audiobooks from the library all the time, but Black Library does not lend their audiobooks to libraries. I try to support creators and libraries as often as I can but when you hoard your books and never discount them⁴ you have to expect some frustration from your customers. So it’s off to the high seas!

So, while looking through freemediaheckyeah I came across resources to procure these books and a DRM-free audiobook player. Starting with the BookPlayer app. I wanna give mega props to this service, it’s simple, no ads and makes adding audio files so easy. I was listening to books within seconds of sharing them from my Google Drive. Books that I got from AudioBook Bay. I could spend hours on this site checking out audio books that are hard to get or demonstrably overpriced. My listening backlog just became miles longer.

Two books I found on there are no longer available through Black Library, so this is media preservation as well. I love what people will do to save media they love for future moochers like me.

** I am not one of them…

** My favorite Let’s Player Chip Cheezum returns with his LP for FFVII: Rebirth!

** hnnng