Title: Fantasy High: Junior Year
GM: Brennan Lee Mulligan
Players: Emily Axford (she/her) as Fig Faeth (she/her). Zac Oyama (he/him) as Gorgug Thistlespring (he/him). Siobhan Thompson (she/her) as Adaine Abernant (she/her). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Fabian Seacaster (he/him). Ally Beardsley (they/them) as Kristen Applebees (she/her). Brian Murphy (he/him) as Riz Gukgak (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout

If you missed it, catch our review of the first and second episodes!

Our Intrepid Heroes return to Aguefort Adventuring Academy for their first day or junior year. Exhausted and defeated despite their recent victory, the group faces the changes which occurred while they spent their summer saving the world.

Riz plots how to ensure they all are able to continue together, figuring out how to prevent Fig and Kristen from being expelled. Working with Adaine, he attempts to trick Fig into going to class and plots to hack the system if necessary to ensure she’s multi-classed in the actual courses she attends. However, the jokes quickly come to a stop as multiple new students are introduced, providing foils for Fig and Kristen.

For Kristen, who is debating running for Student Body President in as part of her bid to ensure she’s back in good academic standing, we meet Kipperlilly Copperkettle, who wishes to run on a campaign of fairness while clearly putting a target on the Bad Kids by implying favoritism. She’s Type A and hits as a less magically adept Aelwyn.

As a foil to Fig, Kipperlilly’s adventuring party also includes Ruben Hopclap, who had the breakout hit of the summer while the Bad Kids were away saving the world. His success likely hits hard when compared to the pressure Fig is under to produce her long-awaited sophomore album. When Fig attends bard class, she even discovers her manager represents him too.

To ice the cake, in place of the chaotic Aguefort, we meet his temporary replacement. Principal Arcturus Grix clearly has no patience, using his time magic to end any questions to his authority when Riz implies he’s the big bad for the year.

The Bad Kids agree to take a break from their party activities in order to get their lives back in order and deal with their personal problems. Riz and Adaine have their classes handled. The rest of the four achieve mixed success.

Fabian heads to multi-class, meeting with the bardic dance teacher and excelling while Gorgug confronts the barbarian professor who rejected his multi-class application due to concerns about his ability to progress as a barbarian with his attention split. Neither goes entirely according to plan.

Jawbone lets slip to Riz that Kipperlilly expressed interest in Kristen, wanting more details about how her god died. If ever there was a need for Kristen to update the forms, this underlined it how crucial it would be.

To add to the already intense pressure Kristen is under, she learns her brother Bucky is now attending the academy. Cassandra whispers in her ear, and with a clear target on her back from Kipperlilly, Kristen’s dismissiveness toward her god becomes all the more worrisome. I wouldn’t be shocked to see another cleric stepping in to steal Cassandra’s support away at Kipperlilly’s behest as she’s already found a way to inform Cassandra about the fate of Kristen’s previous god, leading to the return of Kalina.

Highlights

While we were lucky enough to get a documentary on Rick Perry and the rise fo the Dimension 20 art department, the incredible projections hammered home how much we need more behind the scenes videos on what they do and how they do it. With so many people being introduced this episode, they definitely went out on character art.

Riz immediately honing in on the rogue professor folder. When he goes to steal it, Jawbone immediately stops him. The werewolf heavily implies that rather than hunting the rogue professor down, Kipperlilly forced the professor to have to come to her. This also leads to a deeper conversation, which we normally don’t get between those two. Ultimately, Riz brushes off his concerns, but it is nice to see the pair interact.

Final Score (3 out of 5 Stars)

Kristen’s repeated dismissal of her god after all the effort put into finding her in sophomore year is quickly growing old. While it isn’t surprising that someone pushed into fanatical worship as a child would swing too far the other way when discovering how to stand on their own feet after escaping that cult, the self-destruction is rather concerning. It was a relief to see her own up to that. However, it may be a little too late.

We’re three episodes in, and it still feels like we’re laying groundwork. Fantasy High often has a great deal of chaos and mystery underlining each season, so the slow discovering of possible enemies and allies isn’t unusual, but for the amount of diversions and inside jokes filling each episode, the series toes the line of being too slow to develop.

Will the Bad Kids spend the year on side quests? Is there even a big bad? Or will we see the worst enemy for our Intrepid Heroes is themselves? Let us know what you think in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.

Featured Image: Dimension 20

The Boss Rush Podcast: The Flagship Podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network

The Boss Rush Podcast – The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and the Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, Stephanie, LeRon, and their friends from around the internet come together with other creators, developers, and industry veterans to talk about games they’ve been playing, discuss video game and entertainment based topics, and answer questions solicited on social media and the community Discord. 

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