I love Evan but also I love how Aabria's NPCs absolutely NAIL how neurotypicals react to autistic people

OOF the apologizing for raising his voice because he didn’t realize he was yelling gets me

"Whenever I just honestly report the facts of my life, people get emotional" HOW DARE YOU HIT SO CLOSE TO HOME BRENNAN

“That’s not a bird?” Everyone turns to Evan 😆

"Autistic rambling" Or as l call it "Overexplaining to get my point across, because if l hurt someone unintentionally by not explaining enough about how l meant it, l WILL absorb it as a painful memory, even if they're a stranger." (Case in point, l literally edited this comment to be a bit longer before posting. Misunderstandings WILL NOT happen as long as l can help it.)

I love Brennan as a GM, I love Brennan as a player, I love Brennan as a comedian, it may be that I simply honestly love Brennan

The fact that they say he’s bad at words but his vocabulary is insanely busy and well thought out is so me

I love how he plays him as extremely scholarly, a mix of "public libraries are a safe place that do not require money" and "that cursed life requires a lot of insights to be navigated"

"ThErE's No SuCh ThInG aS nOrMaL!" Anyone whose brain works in a discernibly different way than the average: Yes there is, and I'm not it, and that's hard.

As soon as I heard his first words identifying a bird as not from the region he's in, I knew I would never relate to a character more.

I'm a simple man. I see a Kelmpilation, I click.

“I’m not doing anything to make you uncomfortable so why are you reacting that way?” Is so painfully relatable. Like my facial expressions tend to be a bit wonky or completely neutral or just not match up with what I’m feeling at all. And when it’s neutral people get so uncomfortable and it’s like why? I’m not doing anything

Brennan taught me that "brevity is the soul of wit" can sometimes be just a guideline.

5:16 this is funny because Brennan wasn't even playing that as a flaw for Evan, he legit believed that's how the world works and Erika inadvertently called him out on it without even trying

“This is my normal face” hits a little too close to home tbh

“ITS CALLED A MURMURATION :DD” is my favorite evan moment

the way evan explains tracking like he's confused nobody else is having this realization

"Absolutely me when an allistic says there's no normal" Yo we're telling that to *ourselves* more often than to others. Very few things feel as unintentionally exclusionary than conflating "normal" with "expected." It's like saying the mean is the median is the mode. Also, you can definitely see that Brennan is pulling from hundreds of experiences with kids from the roleplay camps for Evan Kelmp.

thinking about how all the info dumping bits are just things Brennan knows like mans is a walking trivia generator

3:22 Absolutely I get it. The frustration with neurotypicals not taking the obvious solution when it is so clear what needs to be done (for instance, remove the child from the flaming construct thingy).

i see a lot of brennan in evan and vice versa. the line where he’s like “i’m not a character. i’m a real person” to k and then it takes a few seconds before he’s like “wow i’m just hearing myself say ‘i’m not a character’ as evan, that’s trippy” or whatever, if he hadn’t said that i probably wouldn’t have thought it was weird that evan was saying he was a real person even though he’s literally a character because he does feel so real and connected to reality, and i can only assume brennan is tapping into a lot of himself to make evan feel so real for me. i mean brennan just is a bird facts repository, so he and evan at least share that. also i see a lot of myself in evan, but i was diagnosed with adhd so like i can’t tell how much of what i relate to with this video as examples of autistic traits are just common traits that autistic people and people with adhd share

YES Thank you for noticing this! I (also autistic) noticed some of these, too, but a lot of people dismissed my thoughts because "Oh, he's just been on the streets for a while." And... No, living on the streets does not change your neurotype.

The volume control is something I deal with a lot, and watching Brennan portray it in a, honestly, real way (or at least how it is for me) hit me harder than it should've

Me: “I love Evan because I identify a lot with him” Me watching this video: 😄🤔😶😮

i’m an adult who only recently discovered im autistic, and this makes me feel so…seen. i was ridiculously good at masking and also very eloquent growing up, it’s so wild seeing all these behaviours i had in retrospect and realising exactly why i felt and behaved the way i did. finally affirmed that i *am* in fact missing something, just as i’ve always suspected, and now i know the reason why (will say this comment was not eloquent at all, i am very sleepy and wanted to comment more to satisfy the emotional urge to connect and less to satisfy the need to communicate effectively)

Oh, yeah, "not supposed to", that's a rough one. There are so many compliments l want to give, but sometimes they end up in stuff like "You'll mean well by telling this person this, but you'll say it in a way relating to a special interest or with a unwitting tone that'll cause offense, so better stay quiet." I'm so happy clothes exist so l can compliment that, instead of getting a "whatever" response to "Nice hair tonight!" instead of the "Oh, thank you!" I was hoping for.

Evan rambling about buying Dream a drink was honestly so damn cute and adorable i love him

Brennan is so good at roleplaying. It's like the entirety of his being goes into playing his role.

Might be because my husband and I are both Autistic, but I absolutely failed to clock Evan's autistic traits (I always miss them irl as well, but my husband doesn't...) However, I DO remember laughing in commiseration with the "I had to write an entire long explanation in blue pen on the end of this permission slip/keep all my belongings in a sack because I'm not going home any time soon" part, at which point my husband looked at me in horror as I realized, once again, that due to missed social cues I never quite know what parts of my childhood people will find depressing 😆. I relate to Evan like any fellow member of the child-neglect-chain-gang.... we just sort of shrug and stand awkwardly with our bags full of socks, and that's how we acknowledge one another 😅

I HAVE BAD VIBES. PLEASE CONTINUE. I feel this on the deepest level.

The velocipede moment got to me because when Teddy was explaining it i was like ":o a velocipede!" And then Brennan said it and i was like "Yeah!!! :D"

“you’re doing me a favor by helping me be normal” -me to my also clearly neurodivergent best friend when we’re wandering aimlessly through the toy section of target and infodumping to each other

2:53 I always forget that he knows what misophonia is and it makes me feels *amazing* every time he acknowledges it

I thought Evan reacted the most normal of any NPC. So there's another point in the "I'm def autistic" column. I love him

brennan reached into my soul and pulled the words ‚i‘m not gonna drink alcohol because i value self control‘ right out of it.

the editing of this was so chefs kiss, the little captions/explanations for each clip gave it another layer of care and interest and it was really cool!!!

lou’s “hey, do this later” at 4:22 made me laugh myself into a coughing fit holy shit

he just like me fr, because of evan kelmp i now have a bird facts folder on my phone to infodump more easily tot hosei care about

Me, newly diagnosed w/asd, throughout the video: YES👏YES👏YE- Oh thats an autism thing? That explains it... YES👏YE- That too? Omg how did I not realize sooner?

Evan reaching into the flaming person reminds me of sometimes not feeling pain to the same degree but at the same time I know it's also just his condition/curse saying "yeah no"

I HAVE BAD VIBES, PLEASE CONTINUE will always be funny to me

Brennan and his bird knowledge my beloved It always makes me sad when the other Dropout members cut him off or make fun of him for it. I know they're just doing a bit and Brennan doesn't seem to mind, so it's probably fine. But I really hate it when people cut me off or tell me they're not interested in what I have to say. Let Brennan tell his bird facts!! I want to hear them!!!

I'm Autistic and this is AMAZING. I can't believe I never made the connection that Evan is on the Spectrum. Holy shit. (also your edits are fantastic, currently binging.)

also the “this is my normal face :|” hit way too close to home

Evan truly is "what if the Antichrist was just the saddest guy" and I love him. That kid needs a hug, if he's comfortable with physical contact

2:22 it's not just the info dumbing, it's also standing up to what you think is right at an inappropriate time! 😂😂😂 Also bleeds a bit into the 'not understanding social norms' of it all God I need to get myself a dropout subscription

Every video I see that describes a character as autistic or of someone talking about their autism experience always rings a bell in my head like "Wait I thought that was normal" and I'm progressively starting to think I might be on the spectrum.

Lmfao, I love this so much… especially the part where he jams his hand into a chest, and the “no i will not explain” And me nodding the whole time.

Okay between this, a comment about overexplaining yourself to not hurt anyone, another comment about raising your voice when you didn't mean to and just a ton of research I've been doing I feel like I could be autistic or at least I share a lot of common trauma from growing up different in a world that doesn't understand you. I was diagnosed as a highly sensible person (also known as empath, although I hate how the term has been desvirtualiced from it's original meaning, empathy itself is not a good thing it is what you make of it and a lot of empathy gives you paralisys) and maybe that is why I feel this way too. But it seems like only autistic media (media creates by autistics, not things like "music" of course) or media that resonates with autistic people resonates with me and gets me. I don't know if I am explaining myself correctly or why I am writting this comment. I cannot get a formal diagnosis for now and I don't even know how it would work here (I'm from Spain) so, I guess I don't really need anything it would just be a nice confirmation, I am going to keep searching for what resonates with me regardless and if it happens to be autistic, oh well. If you read this far, besides how desperate this seems, the positivity on this comment section alone is so inspiring and worth it all. Drink a lot of water, stay safe and take care of one and other. Also I hope I got my point across this is really rambly

"There is no 'normal'..." "There is." Also a fan of *panicked silence* ".....These feel like 3 mutually exclusive pieces of advice"

Just watched the bit where brennan talked about how he genuinely thought that kemp’s thing about existing to be useful was normal and it makes the scene that follows that so much more special

What got me was the constant bringing up of issues that he wants to get better at. I don’t want to be normal though. I want to be irrevocably ME. The only things that I want to be normal about are things that will benefit me and those I cherish. Like paying attention to cues, not forcing issues, keeping my temper chilled out. Y’know… good things. My big thing is that when I am excited or when my emotions fluctuate, my voice will project itself beyond what is normal.

he’s just like me fr

The laughter slowly subsides and is replaced with a "Hm" as I slowly realize I relate. I caME HERE FOR FUNNIES, NOT REALIZATIONS

Evan is a huge mood, very relatable. I can start rambling about mythology or plant care just like he rambles about birds. I like him a lot.

'This is my normal face.' Me and what my wife calls my Resting Stormy Eyes: OOF

brennan is so good at playing autistic characters fr, first ayda then evan and definitely others but i cant remember them rn

I felt “There’s no normal” “There is” so deeply All I want is a neurodivergent guidebook on shit like how normal social interactions should go or how does eye contact work 😅

oh so THATS why i found evan so relatable!!! side note: how did nobody clock that im autistic until i was 17

"Thats not a bird?" *Everyone else eagerly awaits the bird knowledge hes about to drop on them*

Evan desperately needs a visit with a certain werewolf student counselor

I had never felt so seen as when Evan Kelmp came into our lives. Also, speaking of birds, there are some AMAZING collective nouns associated with them. You can say a group of birds, sure, but you could also say an exaltation of larks, an ostentation of peacocks, a murder or parliament of corvids, a rookery or a weight of albatrosses, a screech of gulls, a rouge of robins, a museum of waxwings, a wisdom or a stare of owls, a convocation of eagles, and I'm going to stop now because I have some things to get done today. *deep breath* Thank you for listening.

Got notifaction for the upload of this video, saw the words Evan Kelmp and just started watching it. Thought huh those scenes are oddly relatable, rechecked title... Very interesting to me as an undiagnosed person /hj

I think I'm learning stuff about Evan and myself today.

I genuinely just thought he was playing an intensely relatable character.

A lot of these behaviors also come from heavy institutionalization. Isolation is (or was when I was a child) often used as punishment and that tends to severely hamper social development as well as develop sensory issues. Evan resonated with me because he felt like someone with a severe psychotic disorder who wants desperately to have a sense of routine and control.

It's moments like this that make me think I might be autistic. Because to me these were all just funny, relatable, and kind of charming. It never occurred to me that they were autism things.

Yeah i love him. Also because making facial expressions is a communication tool and a conscious effort for me. Like i have to smile when i laugh or its creepy. And i came from a small town where everyone knew everyone so everyone knew when i was joking and i get to college and no one does and i realized im not as good at masking as i thought.

Brennan as always is amazing, but also why does Evan Kelmp feel like the most oddly comforting character ever?

I've recently established I'm autistic and have been trawling the internet for ways to understand myself and I felt very seen watching this, thank you! Also all the wholesome interactions in this comment section are great, 10/10

This is awesome! I'm not autistic and I never read Evan this way but now I totally see it!! So interesting, glad that even if it was subconcious on Brennan's part (he's talked about how Ayda was initially unintentionally autistic bc he based her on his autistic friends) this kind of representation came through! In my experience that kind of unintentional rep can be the most relatable bc it is less likely to be based on stereotypes or common depictions of identities. I've been meaning to make a comp of acespec D20 characters (looking at you, Riz and Adaine) bc I feel that way about them! Thank you for this!!

I love that Brennan in other interviews has complained about how cruel it is to use owls as a delivery method. Love that Evan got to put those complaints into an actual session.

evan talking about the aviation laws in alaska and the birds got me so hyped. neither are spinterests but... lovely character. never saw him autistic but it makes a lot of sense honestly.

idk why i kept getting hyped when BIRD SPECIAL INTEREST popped up

Uh oh, I think I relate a little too much to this

i love how jammer and evan are just kinda like. Evan is using jammer to double check whats normal and whats not and jammer trusts evan and accepts his oddities enough to not make a deal out of it and just kinda. Help him out. Im screaming. aaa.

i feel so daft for not realising that Evan giving off the tism vibe is why he was so relatable 😭😭

I feel like Evan Kelmp may just be Brennan going 'What would I have been like as a teenager if I'd been unhoused and haunted by real darkn entities?'

Jammer mentioning him and Evan lifting weights together warms my heart

Gosh hes such a mood, I wish I knew as many bird facts

“Have u ever been near this place” “No” “Oh okay” the most interaction 1:00

I loved Evan! Brennan is absolutely amazing! I love him!

I have ADHD but the masking and RSD moment with the "I'M FEELING UPSET, I'M GOING TO BURST OUT, oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, please don't be mad" hit so fucking close to home. Neurotypical folk really do be missing the difference sometimes, huh 😂

I didn’t realize he was autistic coded 😭😭😭 I thought he was just really relatable

Brennan "I eat the same burger every day" Lee Mulligan.

just to let you know, this compilation convinced me to watch misfits & magic, AND i think i kin evan kelmp now, thank you very much. goat house!!

the rambling over-clarification is me

God I'm going to have to rewatch this soon

I only just noticed that Brennan’s actually physically muting his mannerisms, I think! Like he’s not moving his face as much, he’s not gesturing or moving around as much as he normally does (though maybe that’s just because he’s not DMing), and I think I’m like that some of the time! (I am also the other pole of moving/gesturing too much so I relate to that too, but if it’s purposeful it’s so good!)

i never felt more seen than when everyone is assuming he's bringing a negativity but he just has bad vibes and actually wants to bring neutrality/positivity and be present. truly really thats so real

i love evan kelmp deeply, personally, emotionally, sincerely-

This... it makes so much sense. This makes SO MUCH SENSE. OH MY GOD IT MAKES SO INCREDIBLY MUCH SENSE

Yeah, I am totally feeling 100 percent seen, represented, and understood. The worst part is always trying to explain to people that I'm not staring at them, I'm observing my surroundings; I'm not upset or angry or sad or "needing a friend", this is just my face; I'm not being anti-social, I'm just terrible at social interactions because it's next to impossible for me to understand where the other person is coming from or what they're trying to say; I'm not an insufferable know it all who enjoys making people feel dumb or rubbing their faces in their lack of knowledge or whatever, that's how I try to relate/be social, by picking up on a minor thing they said and going "hey, I know things about that, let me share"; I'm not a rude asshole who doesn't want to talk to anybody ever, I'm just not good at/don't understand small talk and I think you're the rude asshole for being somebody I don't personally know coming up to me, somebody you don't personally know, and just randomly talking about the weather or the local sports team or any other subject that I couldn't care less about; I'm not needlessly moving or fidgeting, I talk with my whole body because I know my face isn't very emotive; I'm not being rude by not looking directly at you, direct prolonged eye contact makes me extremely uncomfortable and self aware, etc. I could go on, but I won't. Thank you, Brennan, for creating and perfectly embodying one of the most relatable characters I have ever seen. And thank you, mushroompoet(great name, btw. Fallen London reference, perhaps?) for putting together this wonderful compilation. Cheers!!!😁

i found out i was autistic recently and this just hit the nail in the coffin HARD for me omfg 😭

I periodically come back and watch this video to feel validated

I know you’re not really supposed to diagnose yourself but I swear to god every time I watch complications like this I feel like I’m discovering something about my self.

never read evan as autistic because apparently my asd is so prevalent that i thought literally everyone experienced, like, most of these

Given his limited access to internet I imagine he must have just read alot in the library

This is a big reason I love him so much, he's very similar to many of my favorite people

"I have bad vibes. Please continue." God, I had forgotten about that, but I need it on a fucking shirt or something