coffeegnomee

[coffeegnomee]

I'm reading through my s6 notes and like, Derapchu's ability to detective out what is going on correctly is like, scary.

And as a Zam main, that's so annoying bc when Zam goes sleuthing it's a slow build up and his natural naivety makes it delightful to uncover things, but Derap just instantly comes to a conclusion and it's right so many times. And he never doubts himself.

Derap is almost always wrong about the emotional motivations, the interpersonal reasonings for things, but when it comes to "who did this" or "what is this person planning" he's always right. Like a stupid amount of times. And even with the emotional motivators usually he ends up with the right conclusion but for the wrong reasons.

And that's so interesting to have a character like that. And it hurts him far more than it helps him. Like with the subz wardens, him detectiving out what subz was up to gave him such a big head that he was the one to solve everything that he failed to ever include or count anyone else's contribution to stopping the wardens.

Or realizing Zam gave Bacon hearts made him so much more paranoid of Zam, and the timing of that with the Truman show and Mapicc's creakings made it even worse. And then evidently he never properly allowed himself to process his thoughts on that reality, just let it sit pent up until he went to Minutetech.

And like, the most recent example of how much he was like "i told you guys spoke was up to something!! we should never have been fighting mapicc" (paraphrase) in the finale.

He has this massive need to be right, and it's backed up with a genuine ability to be right, but it shots himself in the foot bc he isn't the only member to be able to understand and read the flow of the server. And one of the marks of an old gen player is that they might know that someone is up to something but until that person logs on and actually does something, the sleuthing has no real outlet and that's okay. Instead of ego, it's just keeping it in the back of the mind.

So even if they know what might happen, they continue to play the server based on what is right in front of them, dealing with the conflicts that are actively brewing and allowing them to take their time even if it "makes more sense" to make up and be friends bc there's a bigger threat looming. None of that matters to old players.

It's just. I'm so intrigued as to how that skill of Derap's is going to continue. Bc his perceptiveness felt like a real detriment at times for the livelihood of the slow story. And I'm so curious to see if it'll be harnessed to make the story more interesting (now that he's lived a whole season) or if it will continue to cause conflict (which i also find interesting). Probably both tbh.

[coffeegnomee]

I can't think about Parrot helping Spoke end the world even after leaving the server entirely without feeling lighteheaded. This havoc duo shit is lethal, their friendship and love for each other despite all that they've been through, and done to each other means so much to me.

literally so lethal. takes two minutes before *head in hands* they mean so much to each other but neither can fulfill that love in story anymore, both pull each other back, but endlessly separated, except in momentary moments where one can show up for the other

[coffeegnomee]

has anyone else started thinking abt how spoke making himself into a god during the wormhole permanently changed how others view him, and robbed him of his ability to be seen as an actual person by a vast majority of other people— whether it be other lsers, fans, or spoke himself lately? or is that js me......

[coffeegnomee]

im here because of you

[coffeegnomee]

can i suggest "poppyrose" for mapicc and hannah's duo name? with poppies being originally roses, hannah still considering them roses, and poppies being mapicc's flower

[coffeegnomee]

baconwaffles is actually the best teammate you can have not because he himself is good but because he has a permanent buff of 90% chance of bringing Mapicc along with him and Mapicc's the actual best teammate you can have

[coffeegnomee]

The most important thing to remember about Lifesteal is that everything is about the Wormhole and because everything is about the Wormhole that means everything is about Planetlord, which means the first thing you should ask yourself whenever something happens on the server is ‘How does this relate to Planetlord?’ Of course, if everything is about Planetlord, naturally that means everything is about Season Four and if everything is about Season Four, then everything is about Vitalasy, so once you’ve answered the first question (and there is always an answer to the first question. Do not move on until you find it) then you can move on to the second question, that being ‘How does this relate to Vitalasy?’ Once you’ve cleared those two questions you’re free to move on to other important topics such as ‘How can I make this Mapicc’s fault?’ ‘What would ItzSubz think?’ and, of course, ‘Where is Spepticle in all of this?’

[coffeegnomee]

i wanna see a loser duo from you :3

hating (on something)

[coffeegnomee]

Minutetech has been a proper member of the server for two whole seasons and still has yet to do anything even half as cool as the time he withdrew all his hearts during the final few minutes of Wormhole and threw himself at 1-heart Planet in a desperate sacrifice that still wasn’t enough to save them

[coffeegnomee]

I would die for you. But then again, I like dying.

[coffeegnomee]

I feel like zam is often discredited when it comes to his actions on maintaining the server. It's kind of funny to me that even after all this time, the whole of season 5 even, trying to protect the server, people just still can't see that. That he has been trying to protect the server and that has always always encompassed the players along with the holy like entity zam devotes himself to.

Abyss started off as something fun to do, yeah, but it eventually did turn into something The Void Ponies used to encourage server activity. Every single action they made after Planet's death, after the solidification of their goal, was aimed at bringing more people online.

Every conversation they had throughout the scavenger hunt week was spent deliberating- did we get enough people on, will they log on after this, have we sparked any form of life back into the server? Questions questions questions.

They were constantly initiating the players to do more; off server on discord, guiding Red and his news crew towards Minute, and discouraging people from joining their side.

Yet once the arc was over, once they were betrayed and Jumper stood above them all and declared them "the bad guys" their motivations to create server activity were completely cast aside and their successes villainized.

They spent that entire season arguing with everyone, trying to prove that what they did was for the good of the server. That if anything Jumper was the "bad guy" for betraying them because their goal was righteous.

Ever since season 4 there definitely have been fourth wall breaks, off server activity has slowly integrated with on server activity. The lines are blurred. But not enough because in the end The Abyss were merely the villains who failed to destroy the server- even though their goal was to be stopped- they were the villains who got what they deserved in the end.

Zam never uploaded a video on his motivations that season. Most people viewed the void arc through Jumpers video. Their goals, their motives, the extent they went to to reignite the server- to produce those videos- none of that is shown and now all these months later Zam thinks of it as a "failure". I think the biggest argument to that idea is the fact videos were produced at all during this time.

The players thrived, the server thrived. That week lifesteal was alive, the weeks after were less dead than the weeks prior. They had maintained the server that season.

[coffeegnomee]

Mapicc: Wait- turn. Zam: Wait, turn? Okay. Mapicc: Let's have a rainy battle! Zam: Yeah, okay. Mapicc: They're gonna be making edits about this one. Zam: They better! Mane: Zam, are you out? 'cuz I just got out. Zam: Oh! Um.. [pause] Yeah, I'll do that! Mapicc: NOOO!!!! Zam: [Laughs] Mapicc: Come back!!!

can somebody kill them :[ </3

[coffeegnomee]

No I'm just so obsessed with Spoke talking about his time in his second season, how that was the first season he found what completed him, made him feel whole.

How minutes before he said SPOKE: “i wanted to make sure that there was someone that was gonna [end the season]"

His primary goal, core ideology, is world ender.

And it got solidified in his second season.

I've been talking forever about waiting for the new members to get to the end of their first season, that's no mystery. But I've also been sooo excited and delighted watching the s5 additions take on their second full season and thinking back I actually don't think I've ever written about it, whoops.

They were just getting so comfortable with lifesteal and with themselves. And so much of their ideologies just finally came through in the final weeks. Like unironically I've been excited for s7 since like one month into s6: All the s5 adds on their 3rd season, all the s6 adds on their 2nd. That's the kind of shit that made s4 imo.

And to list them out, Minute, obviously, just posted that video and it's looking like his ideology has solidified into basically what he said that one day early season when Zam asked him his goals MINUTE: "I want two things. I want fun. And I want hearts” 

And backing it up with the theme of the whole video of reconciliation with Clown, and Clown having his own growth moment realizing lifesteal without teammates is really lonely. And that both of them loved hanging out in the finale.

Minute isn't one to be perfectly good, but he isn't one to crave after the evil. He wants fun. With hearts. Friendship and redstone machines and some cool fights and small heavy hitting lore moments.

But destroying spawn, using exploits; that's not him.

But he gets blinded with the goal of hearts, loosing sight on the having fun. Oh my goodness seeing the clip again of him killing Rekrap when Rek was so clearly excited, how much time there was between Rek's excitement and when Minute loaded the cannon. Only realizing after that he regretted it. Offt stab me in the heart bro.

And 4c. In January he said “I feel like deep down i don't trust anyone completely, but i feel like to an extent i choose to trust people anyway. Because on lifesteal i feel like i have more joy of putting myself in those positions of trust because by the end of it you get to see people’s real characters”. And he did that with PRISMS, right until the end though it was a bit scuffed with him not being in the country. And he did it with the tunnel rats. But he will always be the player who puts his trust in others just to see what might happen down the line.

And Jumper, settling quite nicely into the role of psychological tormenter. Like need I say more.

By the end of their second season each one has staked a claim in what they are on lifesteal.

And then Wemmbu, since he banned himself off mid season 6, I count that as completing his first season, since he was added mid season 5. so he begins his second in s7.

Pentar was also mid season s5, so he's at 1.5 seasons and I think we're getting a really interesting look into his mind. I mean for goodness sake did anyone else watch the SB mace video and see him offer Ecorridor as his payment for the mace. What the fuck is wrong with him. But like... no, i don't have thoughts haha. I love him. Taking a separate plot point with Zam and presenting it to SB. like he's too ridiculous /pos I'll probably need 3 full seasons before I understand Pentar.

And then there's Squiddo, once again running the ring of a handmade hacked client, searching and testing and finding exploits. And in the end embracing it to cause chaos, but not necessarily the end of the season. She's also at 1.5 seasons, and I'm so intrigued where they'll go. She's definitely more teammate focused (lol) and oriented to silly things over anything else.

But then to go down memory lane, like Spoke was saying, his season 2 had him doing everything for his team but in the end he found himself in ending the server.

Planet was added s2, but only logged on at the end, so s3 was his first full season, and s4 his second. In both you see an embracing of being a chungus, 3ht, girl talk, changing the trajectory of player's lives through talking. There was so much subtle talking, so much passion for content that is effective. That changed s5, until he banned himself in the Abyss, and then changed back in s6.

Bacon was added halfway through s3, and you can see how by halfway through s4, which he talked about earlier this season, was the time when he got really really invested into lifesteal and started caring, like, a lot. Bro got passionate about the wormhole. But then it wasn't until season 5 that we really saw Bacon become Bacon, when he really started being the critiquer of plots and did his first patented do my tasks plots, when he got passionate about players caring about the server and and wanting to log on and putting in so much effort to make it happen.

Zam's second season was s3. Running from the PrinceZam Empire to Cleansers to the iconic season 3 finale with Spoke. Establishing he's the one who will repair spawn when nobody else does. Accidentally falling into being the hero and never giving up no matter what.

Rek's second season was also s3 which is when his trap escaping and paranoia really kicked off, as well as his willingness to be involved regardless of the moral tilt of his teammates (the cleansing/decimation). He just has a tilt of wholesome chaos that is very rekrap.

ok so eventually we get too into nuance based on player activity and if they skipped a season or not ect ect. but i love this trend. I love thinking about what shaped the lifestealers into what they are now, i love watching them grow and change. Normally in like normal tv/movie content I'm one to love an origin story, whatever the first movie is in a series or the first season of a show. But on lifesteal it genuinely gets better the longer they're online.

[coffeegnomee]

Mapicc is always cutting off emotionally charged moments from his lifesteal videos. So many lines that could ever evoke some kind of sadness or pain within the viewer towards these characters. He narrates it all detachedly. It makes me wonder how much of Mapicc that we see within lore is him playing into his character for the sake of his content or the sake of Zam's content or because to an extent it does hurt him. He can't put that into his videos.

[coffeegnomee]

gnomeeeee,,, minutes video,,,,, his convo w spoke in the finale 🥹🥹🥹 oh i am so Unwell . spoke talking abt parrot (or at least. telling minute abt HIS 2nd season in ls) and minute opening up abt how badly the pmc betrayal and loss at the end of s5 fucked him up...im gonna be thinking abt this forever and ever and ever 💔

-mcytegg :'DD

eeeEEEEEE I"M so excited we got so much of it!!! I have more thoughts about the second season concept in a separate post since the yap got long.

But like Spoke soo specifically saying, “i wanted to make sure that there was someone that was gonna do it” and that it links to the moment he felt "complete" in s2.

Complete!??! like what the heck. I could spend all day just thinking about that phraseology. How he found himself in the second season, saying that's when he too stepped away from his team to figure out what he wanted to be, and that's when he did discover what completed him.

But also, in a way, slightly ominous bc Spoke says he thought following a team would make him feel complete, but no. It that was the withers.

Whereas Minute did follow his team until the end. Except for when his teammate sold out the team for exploits and an orbital. But then again Minute has already experienced being all alone and abandoned by a team...

How Minute for his part talked about how he wanted to make his own journey, how he did arcs and attempted to do arcs, and needed to try his own thing.

The unspoken parts that we've talked about veni about how he's gone from hero to marring that heroism, and how it was metered by not going so far as to join Spoke. But how he does embrace following his heart right now.

Even though like, Minute was following Mapicc's lead for so much of the finale, and even in the beginning of the day joining Clown obby boxing Zam in the chunk ban, but then a little later really regretting that and wanting to let Zam out, but by that time Spoke got Zam the mods. He still does his fair share of following other's goals, and often falls into regrets, but he did really stake a claim in his goal and personal limits for the season and this convo just buttoned it up so beautifully.

Bc in this convo, Spoke is like doing what he did for Zam, what he always does. He makes an interesting situation for others to interact with, he finds out and knows their motivations and gives them what they desire. Often that is support in being who they are.

But now I'm thinking of the Spoke/Zam convo where Spoke said he thought Minute acted out of fear. That he was afraid and didn't have the will to fight against the crater. That Spoke scared him. He said that less than 24 hours before this convo.

And man oh man am I now thinking too much about it.

He said if you've truly found what completes you Minute, then drop everything and follow it.

And how that's such a beautiful line. Spoke isn't really asking Minute if he thinks he found what completes him, he's stating that he thinks Minute found what completes him. And that's not exactly the same thing.

It's inspirational, but it's also twinged with a little bit of a double edge when you think about it - is this what makes you feel complete or is this another layer you haven't explored yet? Spoke thought he was complete with the Poggies, and ran with it, but then upon betrayal realized that wasn't really completing him.

And I think that's the beautiful thing about Spoke. He has these thoughts about the other members that he says/processes behind their backs, beliefs and analysis he gathers, but when it comes to talking to them head on, everything is said in an inspirational tone. Genuinely uplifting them. And not, as that maybe implies, being two faced by talking behind their back, but from that mindset of, what the heck is motivating my friends and how do I help them be most fully themselves.

I'm thinking about how he said he "truly actually fully" thought that Minute would be the perfect person to ask to do the orbital. Solidifying what I was saying in that post after that convo that Spoke hand selected it for Minute as a gift. He really thought Minute would say yes.

That he thought that that was what motivated and inspired Minute then: making a big impact, changing lifesteal forever. But when Minute proved him wrong, Spoke looked for other reasonings, and landed upon Minute finding what completes himself. Maybe it was out of fear, maybe not. But what was important is Minute staked a claim in who he was.

And in that he realized Minute made the Empire, not to be, as Spoke said when Zam asked him their goals that, "death Death Death Death DEATH!" but because he was angry, in pain from the finale of s5.

And he only said that AFTER Minute brought up this is only his second season, and only then did Spoke start talking about his memories of his second season, which then prompted Minute to fully open up and admit it really was bc s5 hurt so badly.

Spoke was like live processing the depth of what Minute had said, it's only his second season. And Spoke was sent into a flashback of what his second season was like and how that made him realize who he is on lifesteal.

SPOKE: "and i was left with nobody after that"

Oh how devastating a line.

But also how devastating a memory for Minute. Yes, he had pb&j. But pb&j were the new team. PMC was his team. And he was left with nobody after they betrayed for $500.

SPOKE: "you've experienced just as much as any lifesteal player has"

And he has.

Minute's really been through a lot. And in parallel to what Spoke reminisced too, Minute in a way followed pb&j but then got blindsided by Clown saying that he could never be for peace. Like how Spoke did all the work for gear for players that never logged on, only to be blindsided by Parrot selling out the base in order to turn a profit before they disbanded the team bc Clown was hunting them down endlessly. (lmao Clownpierce parallels).

And it took him this season to figure out who he is. And that is not a world ender, at least not in the classic definition. He's much more team oriented, and like with pb&j, he will stick by the team that supports his ideals. He never begged to be back on PMC. "we were supposed to be brothers" but it was over. And here too, when Spoke said exploits and bombing spawn, Minute said no, that's not what I will do. And although he wanted to create a team with Zam to save spawn, in the end Mapicc was still the team, the chungpire was still his team, and their goals aligned. So he stuck with them until the end.

And, interestingly, (this is so out of order. whatever) Spoke opened the conversation talking about how he came back on to make sure someone ended the season, but he never said he thought Minute was doing that. And in a lot of ways Spoke just took that on for himself, right?, with the hacks. It doesn't look like he thought anyone did a good enough job on their own, but he's more than happy to take up what's lacking. There was a war, but Spoke stepped in and spiced it up.

And Spoke wanted to know how long ago Minute figured out there was no orbital. Was that also fishing for if Minute was going to be a world ender? Before even talking about s2 or the Empire. He was surprised Minute didn't blow up the base for a tactical advantage, and asked about the timeline. How long ago did Minute figure it out, bc if it's been days, then what have you done these past days knowing there was no threat. But if you didn't suspect at all, what does that say about your perceptiveness of the goings on of lifesteal. But if you did know and this is what you've been doing... then that says something else all together.

And from that the conversation lead to a lifestealer's second season.

SPOKE:" drop everything and follow it bro [...] im not going to stand in your way" and what did Minute do directly after? Kill and allow everyone else to kill Spoke, until he himself banned Spoke off the server.

(just like, ok I'm way to Zam coded at times, but just comparing that to Zam's s3 hill conversation. Where he BEGGED Spoke to not ban himself... They are not the same. <3 tehe! Minute caved to his bloody desires there. But got full permission to embrace it) Though on that "permission" concept. Just keep a pin in that one. Minute needs permission to do things. It's been an interesting thing to observe from the shadows and I'm fascinated for how it'll continue to play into his play style.

That's so much yappage, and I know it stopped making sense halfway through but just so many tiny thoughts. So many discoveries and I think both sides accepting each other more. They parted from the conversation understanding each other a lot more. From both sides.

[coffeegnomee]

Zam as a shelter dog snarling, snapping, biting at everything and everyone. Fighting whatever she can because it’s all she knows how to do. Clawing his way out of the light level ban

Spoke as a gentle voice: “We’re not gonna hurt you.” Looking at him softly. With more understanding than any of Zam’s teammates ever had. Holding his hand out to Zam not for her to join him, but for her to be happy. To let Zam’s anger be met with nothing but understanding. Because, somehow your first enemy will always know you better than your strongest ally. And Spoke will always know what to say.

[coffeegnomee]

I'm reading through my s6 notes and like, Derapchu's ability to detective out what is going on correctly is like, scary.

And as a Zam main, that's so annoying bc when Zam goes sleuthing it's a slow build up and his natural naivety makes it delightful to uncover things, but Derap just instantly comes to a conclusion and it's right so many times. And he never doubts himself.

Derap is almost always wrong about the emotional motivations, the interpersonal reasonings for things, but when it comes to "who did this" or "what is this person planning" he's always right. Like a stupid amount of times. And even with the emotional motivators usually he ends up with the right conclusion but for the wrong reasons.

And that's so interesting to have a character like that. And it hurts him far more than it helps him. Like with the subz wardens, him detectiving out what subz was up to gave him such a big head that he was the one to solve everything that he failed to ever include or count anyone else's contribution to stopping the wardens.

Or realizing Zam gave Bacon hearts made him so much more paranoid of Zam, and the timing of that with the Truman show and Mapicc's creakings made it even worse. And then evidently he never properly allowed himself to process his thoughts on that reality, just let it sit pent up until he went to Minutetech.

And like, the most recent example of how much he was like "i told you guys spoke was up to something!! we should never have been fighting mapicc" (paraphrase) in the finale.

He has this massive need to be right, and it's backed up with a genuine ability to be right, but it shots himself in the foot bc he isn't the only member to be able to understand and read the flow of the server. And one of the marks of an old gen player is that they might know that someone is up to something but until that person logs on and actually does something, the sleuthing has no real outlet and that's okay. Instead of ego, it's just keeping it in the back of the mind.

So even if they know what might happen, they continue to play the server based on what is right in front of them, dealing with the conflicts that are actively brewing and allowing them to take their time even if it "makes more sense" to make up and be friends bc there's a bigger threat looming. None of that matters to old players.

It's just. I'm so intrigued as to how that skill of Derap's is going to continue. Bc his perceptiveness felt like a real detriment at times for the livelihood of the slow story. And I'm so curious to see if it'll be harnessed to make the story more interesting (now that he's lived a whole season) or if it will continue to cause conflict (which i also find interesting). Probably both tbh.