TAZ Animatic: Merle's bugs [or; some rather questionable stealth choices]

Merle may not always make... the best choices, ,??, but his mishaps result in some very high quality Shenanigans™, that's for heckin sure 👌👌
the Nashville liveshow was.... very Very good. started this animatic as soon as i finished listening to it but other stuff got in the way so i could only finish it off now :0 !! tho that said i've been,, lowkey ridiculously prolific w making these things; i've made like 3 different animatics within a month ovo;; !
~~~
my tumblr: / fel-fisk
my deviant art: fel-fisk.deviantart.com/
my ko-fi page: ko-fi.com/1846XN3O9PKXV

[@elihere]

grif: "You cast an insect plague." merle: *nods* "insect plague." grif: ¿¿¿¿¿¿wwwwwwwheeeeeeEEEEREREREERE?????

[@biddodiggo2176]

Merle: Oooovver the wiiinndooow DM griffin: WHAT THE FUCK?!

[@wayverleesoulsong]

Eli Ark didn’t Griffin have a fuckton of energy in that liveshow? I liked it

[@prettypjohnson4970]

Magnus:AaaY! It's another one of those insect plaques!

[@jjju3]

_I cast punch dad_

[@blindseeing]

I want that on a tshirt

[@carolinemckee7009]

"It's insects! It's a plague! Who would want to walk into that willingly?" X'D

[@retronismaximus5534]

The thing is... he isn’t wrong.

[@Nionivek]

Yeah but the thing is, if you aren't inundated to SOME of this crazy crud then your useless as security. Though to admit if this was 3.5 or Pathfinder... NOTHING could get me outside with a swarm of bugs. It is their hallway now.

[@BeginswithPIE]

@@Nionivek Shouldn't he himself have taken damage running past the insect plague? I mean, he only summons the insects in a twenty foot sphere around a point, he doesn't get to control them. (Actually, the description of the insect plague spell is kind of lacking in the department of what the insects do once they are summoned. They last 10 minutes with concentration, but do they spread out, or cling to people in a story context? How aggressive are this insects?)

[@computerface4095]

Ooh it’s insects let’s stay in

[@NYChannelRS]

Clinton's obscenely terrible logic in this situation genuinely gives me life

[@Haunt_Demo]

The facial expressions of Taako and Magnus making fun of Merle with the “AHHH ITS SO NORMAL AT THIS POINT WE ARENT EVEN GONNA CHECK IT” and the mummy thing was so fucking funny I was just screaming laughing this is so good

[@mayam-f9697]

I SAW LUP’S DAB AT 1:43 YOU CAN’T HIDE IT BY HAVING IT BE A SINGLE FRAME

[@mayam-f9697]

But on a serious note I love this! You drew the characters and their movements in just the most perfect way! Also having Griffin ripping a portal through to this world to communicate with them and have them all respond to him was amazing! Just a stellar job all around!

[@justinmontana3710]

Oh shit, I didn't see that until you pointed it out. That's fresh as hell

[@emmagrace1812]

If Lup doesn't dab in an animatic that's what catches my attention at this point

[@MxMetalcore]

ive watched this so many times and only JUST NOW CAUGHT it

[@Pablo360able]

remember, Lup's first action upon becoming a lich was dabbing

[@RickyKingProductions]

I love seeing the ways people insert Griffin into the scene

[@wayverleesoulsong]

Ricky King Griffin the three-eyes DM

[@zevraluna1899]

The fact that Griff just lets everyone else pass after Merle makes his decision speaks volumes. Doesn't even need Magnus to say anything, just let's him have it cause this is gonna be good.

[@bentonic4998]

"you cast an insect plague *wheRRRRRRREE??* "

[@DeathnoteBB]

Clint's logic is me but also Taako's "i just turn invisible and walk over there" is how my rogue plays lol

[@ljc5277]

A solid rogue move!

[@EmerlyNickel]

I love Magnus' armless tux and Merle's torsoless tux.

[@RLmediashow]

the second of silence after merle announces his plans is beautiful, as are all of the squad's horrified faces.

[@justuspickle]

a good paradigm for D&D: if you have the choice of making the right decision or the funny decision, go for funny if that's how you're playing your campaign at least

[@biddodiggo2176]

That is a wise desicion

[@SamuraiFoochs]

Griffin's initial delivery of "What the FuCk?!" SENDS me every time.

[@kidyomu89]

Casino guard :* is covered with bugs * Casino Guard: oh nOoo

[@Antoon724]

I died at magnus and taako doing the mummy mouth in character, this rules

[@nerdpiggy]

i. fucking, LOVE the idea of all of that teasing being fuckin in-character. you’ve made this a million times funnier.

[@ArtisticCeleste]

1:13 omg I just noticed Lup facepalming in the background and slowly moving out of the shot behind Takko I'm dying XD

[@MichaelWacht]

I appreciate that Clint acts at the beginning of having a thought, instead of thinking it all the way through. And I appreciate that you thought out this scene, and animated it so well. Thank you for sharing!

[@Gormathius]

I love that «Oh nooo...» when they went outside. Sounded like Griffin just kinda gave up there. XD

[@jamiemaybe]

Tag yourself I'm griff's what the fUCk?1!!" At 1:10

[@masonjellison4319]

I'm Lup dipping out at 1:14

[@obsidianthe7th]

I'm Taako's "boy" face at 1:03

[@ajjerio3927]

I'm Taako walking across the hall at 1:35

[@idiotcube]

I'm the "Oh noOoo..." guy at 2:22

[@ajjerio3927]

@@marleytarver9759 Yes, just yes.

[@susannamills9251]

I've watched this many many times over the past month and I just realized how smoothly you go from their planning session to the heist with Lup's hand, and I just wanna say I love it. You obviously put a ton of thought into how to incorporate the setting shift and the McElroy banter, and it's just so fun to watch!

[@virginiamooney4105]

I love Griffin's little reality window, especially how he falls backward out of it at 1:27 Also, I absolutely adore how you can hear Magnus and Merle bickering in the background as taako walks invisible down the hallway 10/10 detail

[@BostonTerrierLOVE]

the reactions to merle's declaration of insect plague! griffin's dm bubble! taako's pirate shirt! magnus' bolo tie!lup's side boob! the nods to griffin when he tells them what they need to do! griffin falling into his dm bubble! the bugs coming out of their mouths! your art style! the purple background! all so very good!

[@flumpymaster]

2:12 The way he says "Oh no" is the funniest line delivery I've ever heard!

[@mitkitty]

comin in almost two years late to say that i relate to Merle here bc when my cleric was finally able to use insect plague i was so fuckin psyched i wanted to use it EVERYWHERE

[@TimeturnerJ]

That reminds me of that one time my party and I were sneaking past a hostile orc camp to get to a cave entrance, and had to get past one final guard. The whole encampment was still right there, off to the side, but we were already mostly past it. Someone fucked up their stealth roll then and made some noise, and the guard was like "huh?" and started moving in our direction to investigate, and in a moment of panic and absolute dumbess, I made my character throw a flash sphere in order to blind the guard. It only occurred to me a half-second later that this scene was taking place at night and that I had just created a bright flash right next to a huge encampment of enemies. It's been years and the others still won't let me live it down haha xD

[@tabbiethecat]

i love everything about this, from magnus grabbing the book from merle and griffin returning it, to how you did them poking fun at merle, how epic it looks then there's merle with the plague, all of the expressions oh my god i just love it.

[@moorr3403]

Loved this!!! I love your use of the music and I really love the expressions the characters made, especially griffins, it really suited the way they were speaking. this was such a great animation!!!

[@fel-fisk2541]

thank you ! editing the sound clip took a surprisingly long time so im glad you enjoyed it c: !!

[@willbrinton3787]

@@fel-fisk2541 What is that music anyway? I know i've heard it before and it is killing me trying to figure it out

[@quandolli]

@@willbrinton3787 not sure if you still needed this but it's 'doing some crime' from the first ep of the suffering game!

[@willbrinton3787]

@@quandolli Hey Thanks! Not sure if I needed it still, but I certainly appreciate it.

[@martijnvanweele6204]

It could have been worse... He could have cast Zone of Truth...

[@Bookworm676645]

I think I just woke my entire dorm with my loud hideous laughter at this beautiful animation

[@AnomGamerGirlPOTATO]

Shakespearean Bookworm Did someone cast Tasha's Hideous Laughter on you?

[@elfietheespeon9462]

@@AnomGamerGirlPOTATO I don't know who you are, I don't know where you come from; but as a random stranger on the internet, I want you to know that I am proud of you. You are an awesome person sent down from Elysium, and I appreciate you.

[@Frickll]

Griffins genuine reaction of "WHAT THE FUCK." Is hilarious.

[@sunsetsynth]

LMAAOOO THIS IS SO WONDERFUL 1:11 IS PERFECT

[@carolinemckee7009]

OH MY GOD THIS IS BEAUTIFUL! I AM IN LEGIT TEARS RIGHT NOW, PAN BLESS YOU! :) The bast part has to be Magnus and Taako's facial expressions when reacting to and making fun of Merle.

[@Grassuke]

HANDS DOWN I DIED

[@tobiaspaul1997]

haha, I love the way Griffin physically interacts with the scene in your animation 😄😄 well done!

[@givowl2160]

This is pandammed good, the expressions and movement of the characters is delightful! This made me actually laugh again at this scene, Good job!!

[@givowl2160]

Also at 1:43 Lup dabs for a second and that’s some good shit right there

[@sidereumcantor1525]

This happened with bees at my school once

[@Nylota]

Okay, SOO. You need to actually tell us how that happened. Like, if not, I know I'm going to be kept up at night wondering how that story worked out.

[@carolinemckee7009]

The first thing that came to mind would be this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gJK0nWdjj7ljntU (Just start at: 3:01)

[@sidereumcantor1525]

Okay. So, at the end of the school day in middle school, my last two classes were band and chorus, forty five minutes each. The band room leads to the chorus rooms hallway by way of a long corridor, with one wall of glass windows looking outside to the parking lot. One day, I was walking to chorus, glanced outside, and saw this huge cloud of swirly black things. I got closer- They were bees. They were all. Bees. There were so many bees I could not see out to the parking lot. They didn’t let us use the exits to the parking lot that day because we would have gotten stung.

[@BluesMoth64]

Abigail Storey So you didn't go outside into it, therefore clint's logic is proved! Haha

[@sidereumcantor1525]

Blue Bloodstains no one went into it the bees were very angry

[@Providence83]

Well, 2:02 is now one of my new desktop wallpapers.

[@BKupchuck57]

Objectively speaking this is my all time favorite animatic ever. It's just so incredibly top quality in every fucking regard. Thank you so much for making it!

[@fionascholar4126]

Glorious Pan, there is so much to love about this, the character designs, the goofs, Lup's fucking dab in, the expressions. Brilliant job!!!

[@quandolli]

i love the addition of 'doing some crime' as bg music, it really adds flavor to the whole thing

[@FunnyFany]

It has been so many years, and I still mentally go **security guard voice** "what the fuck.?" Occasionally. God I miss Balance so bad

[@oneeyedhusky]

this is so good. I love Lup's finger tracing on the map to transition to her fusing the door shut and griffin's adorable pose with "what do you do?" and OF COURSE Lup dabbing. I am so glad I watched this twice I didn't see that the first time and this is so good :) thanks for posting!

[@raebaer8580]

Griffin laughing himself out of existence is so godamn funny

[@fawkespryde9183]

Griffin is losing his mind so badly, he can't even stay in his fourth wall breaking dm bubble lol

[@skrang9671]

This is the first TAZ animatic I ever saw, and I just listened to this liveshow for the first time yesterday. What a freakin journey. :D

[@theWeaverofTales]

Literally every expression in this is on point

[@theotherghostgirl337]

I thought he was going to cast the plague on the casino floor

[@magixshiz2543]

God, I can’t go over this animatic. I’m not even kidding, the characters expression made this 10x better. Like I honestly was wheezing bc of taako and mangus’s perfect expressions

[@tristantries9211]

So 5th edition actually gives you inspiration points if you solve a problem creatively it's at the dms discretion and I have to say Merle/Clint probably should have got like 10 inspiration points through out the entire Balance campaign and probably for this big plague. Clint is very creative he is adorable I love his logic

[@hydroid542]

your framing, poses, expressions, and timing are perfectly spot on, i would sell my firstborn for a fully animated version of this

[@brodyflynn4314]

Merle was *exceedingly* lucky that Lup thought to jam the door, otherwise bugs wouldn’t be the only thing swarming the room.

[@supportive_rat]

words cannot describe how perfect this is. i'm laughing so hard this is rad 👌

[@randompasserbyer]

_I'M DYING OML!!! THIS IS THE FUNNIEST ANIMATIC I'VE SEEN YET!!!_ 2:14 had me rolling, aahhhh!!!! Thank you for making this, it is perfect!!!!

[@phoenixshipper4543]

This is absolute perfection , like this has to be what it look like in canon

[@SeymourDisapproves]

Thank you for this gift

[@king.m.crikey2480]

I love the pause, before the applause.

[@MillieTheSillie616]

I love the absolute misunderstanding in problem solving going in Clints head for this. I think he sees the problem as "How can we get past without them seeing us" not "How can we discretely get past without being detected?" Because YES this does allow you to get past without being seen and fails at every other part of that problem

[@kiah9085]

OK BUT MERLE WAS RIGHT I WOULDNT GO OUT THERE

[@k.whatever9046]

i have no context for this at all but this is the happiest ive been all week i love ur direction so much

[@Nepeta-Leijon]

that transition in the start with lups finger was rad

[@castor2029]

can we just please talk about the fact that the plot of this entire episode hinges on the fact that they made a FIFTEEN DOLLAR BILL

[@bee5016]

the facial expressions made me CACKLE especially while mags and taako were making fun of merle's magic choices. incredible work!!

[@aceisawesome_]

coming back to this one five years later. it still fucking rules holy shit LMAO

[@Scooblique]

THE TRANSITIONS AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS ANIMATIC ARE FUCKING G DUDE IM YELLING THIS IS SO G O O D

[@ulosthegame]

Yo i gotta say.... i fUCKING LOVE THE PURPLE AND SORTA GREEN TONES. They just FIT so well and i don't know WHY but they just DO

[@flightybroad7374]

The expressions in this killed me oml

[@fabiocunha5873]

It was this video that made me want to hear this podcast. Nice video!

[@aceisawesome_]

Holy shit this scene was amazing by itself but this animation just enhanced it by 100000%, I fucking love the transition from the planning to the heist and all the expressions and the designs and the very scared Brendan frasier. Bless

[@ferin111]

This is the 4th time I've watched this, god I just cannot get over this scene

[@Aurora-kt1co]

The live shows are the fucking best

[@dc8179]

this is mcfricking amazing

[@vazak11]

Genius!

[@GraeStar]

HI THE TRANSITION IN THE BEGINNING IS SO BEAUTIFUL GREAT JOB

[@MantisSage]

I heard this live show recently and remember thinking it funny but this makes it AMAZING. Holy shit, my dude, this animatic is so good! There's so much personality and liveliness through this, right from the beautiful opening plan, those transitions! And your little Griffin is perfect, I love everything about this, the faces kill me. Griffin's initial quiet 'fuck' when Merle first says it is priceless, and you make it from good to awesome

[@dottyContrarian]

i love taako's outfit!!

[@psyducktective]

Merle’s self satisfied smile as he announces the spell he’s gonna use 👌👌👌

[@sjminecraftian]

this is adorable and also i adore the expressions it's very very good

[@emmibee6326]

Literally cannot stop watching this.

[@ELee-zi8sn]

at about 0:22 magnus has eyebrows like a corgi 100/10

[@marsgil6610]

Ive had the hardest time envisioning this scene tysm

[@shyguypro9876]

Merle was trying to Skyrim it. Put the bucket on their head then rob them blind.

[@docdesi6652]

Aw dang this is amazing! You did everyone so well! I really love how Griffin interacts with them and just the entirety of this. Great job!!!!

[@raccoon_goth]

My DM just sent this to me, saying this is our party...She's not wrong

[@croctocto]

ahhh this is so good!!! The music is such a nice touch, and I love your designs for all the characters!!

[@UsotheMarshmallow]

this was incredible, i love your animation style and you really captured this excellent, excellent moment

[@Diam0nade]

Oh my god the art and editing is fantastic!! ❤️❤️ you’ve done an incredible job!

[@snail8148]

god im so happy someone made an animatic of this :0

[@mitchgosser2802]

This is so fluid and wonderful

[@odeliafrancescaroav9808]

That was absolutely hilarious. Thank you so much for making this.

[@jasperholm3083]

THIS WAS THE VIDEO THAT GOT ME INTO THE TAZ FANDOM, THANK YOU SO MUCH ASDFHL

[@wayverleesoulsong]

I loved this live show Edit: omg this animatic makes it even better

[@Ant43215]

Eccelent composition! Beautiful artwork! I love every second of this and have watched it like 40 times!

[@pseudoregalia]

I honestly can't breathe. I love these boys so much.

[@keaton5101]

this animation is seriously so ridiculously expressive like how do you make every frame look so good

[@clottedscream]

I wanna watch Clint rob an actual casino

[@turtlebunny9386]

Dang, what an awesome style!!

[@hawyee9090]

this is my favorite taz animatic

[@lolacool98]

This entire show was absolutely bonkers, this captures that beautifully