#I LITERALLY HAVE A FIC DEDICATED TO GRIAN AND THIS IS ME TRYING

[insomnya777]

elaborating because i can and a couple people asked me to and we all know that all i need is a little encouragement to get me going

under the cut because i'm a grade-a yapper and this is going to be LONG. like super long. i've pulled up lyrics and songs and everything. <- your final warning

1. joel as sabrina

so no one really disagreed with me on this one and i don't think anyone will just because of the fact that he references her in his videos but like. i'm still going to talk about it because i want to and this is my blog and You Can't Stop Me!!!!!

if you don't know sabrina carpenter, basically just know that she's charismatic & confident & hilarious & gorgeous. plus like all of her songs are sooo him! they're fun and light and always a hit!!! but also can be scathing if they need to be!!!! her humour especially reminds me of him (as a character) because it's like ironic and self-aware but also flirty and silly but also a little twisted and a little mean. in particular i think that the cocky (not the word that describes it best but it's the only one i can think of) side of herself that she shows during her concerts reminds me a lot of joel with his whole "oh i'm so tall and handsome" bit he's got going on

literally like i don't know what more i can say to this. my dude has multiple of her songs in his playlist, he used espresso in his video, and also one of his tools on hermitcraft is named after a lyric. it's canon guys 🙏

songs that i think are the most him + specific lyrics:

espresso — i can't relate to desperation, my give-a-fucks are on vacation

read your mind — oh, i'll be laughing when you say that you really have changed, finally found your way, 'cuz i'm close to your face

tornado warnings — i deserve an hour in a week to focus on my thoughts, not so obsessed with yours i can't hear myself speak

lonesome — if i fall in love with all my problems, will they leave me too?

things i wish you said — nobody gets my jokes, everyone here thinks i'm fucking rude

bed chem — who's the cute boy with the white jacket and the thick accent?!

don't smile — don't smile 'cuz it happened, baby, cry because it's over

good graces — baby, you say you really like it, being mine, so let me give you some advice!

2. grian as taylor

okay this one is VERY personal to me. i am so unhealthily attached to him as taylor. you're probably thinking: but, nya, he literally canonically has an alter ego named after ariana grande! and i raise you this point: i simply do not care

all jokes obviously. i can see why people see him as ariana! especially in her new album, i've listened to it a lot, and i definitely can see some songs that remind me of his character - cough, cough, we can't be friends (wait for your love) - but i've got to say that ariana to me has always been scar (or maybe even a bit of jimmy? undecided) but that's a post for another time

now why i see grian as taylor! i have three main reasons for this actually. as an og swiftie and an og grian fan i may be a little bit biased but just. ignore that. thanks

first of all, i think that they're both kind of starting points, if you get what i mean. most hermitcraft/life series fans start with grian, and then eventually branch out to other creators. similarly, a lot of people listen to taylor swift/know her songs the best out of the genre she specializes in/within the audience her content is aimed towards

secondly, they're also both the most popular within their own branch, and i think they're both the type of artists/channels that you can enjoy without really being a Fan of. almost mainstream (? don't know if that's the term that would work for grian but you get my point). like you don't have to be a diehard grian fan to enjoy his videos, you can just decide one day to pick up one of them, watch it, then never think of it again. does that make sense?

third, i think they both have a lot of variety within their content. taylor's music ranges between emotions and styles, just like the videos that grian makes fluctuates in theme. he's on servers like hermitcraft, where we see him interact with other people and show off his building skills and just be silly. then he's in the life series, which is the total opposite, and then he was also in evo, which is also very different, and so on. his characterization also is very different from author to author, which is, of course, to be expected, but i haven't really seen other people in this particular fandom get characterized so differently to this degree. (it's not a bad thing!!!! i love it i think it's actually sooo fun & interesting that we can take this character and morph it into what we want. like most people don't even realize they're doing it you can only really pick up on it if you're looking for it)

songs that i think are the most him + specific lyrics:

castles crumbling — and you don't want to know me, i will just let you down

begin again — thinking all love ever does is break, and burn, and end

22 — happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time

call it what you want — and i know i make the same mistakes every time, bridges burn, i never learn, at least i did one thing right

the archer — 'cuz all of my enemies started out friends, help me hold on to you

don't blame me — for you, i would cross the line, i would waste my time, i would lose my mind

hoax — stood on the cliffside, screaming "give me a reason"

this is me trying — and my words shoot to kill when i'm mad, i have a lot of regrets about that

my tears ricochet — you know i didn't want to have to haunt you, but what a ghostly scene

mad woman — what did you think i'd say to that? does a scorpion sting when fighting back? they strike to kill, and you know i will

the prophecy — please, i've been on my knees, change the prophecy. don't want money, just someone who wants my company

3. jimmy as olivia

i'll be real with you, i have considerably less reasons for why i've chosen this. it relates a lot around his interactions with other characters instead of just him as a character + i've taken a few creative liberties here so. cut me someeee slack!

my main reason for this is that jimmy is just the epitome of teenage girl to me (just like olivia). that's probably a little bit of projection on my side because i, myself, am a teenage girl (which i don't know if many of you know? but yes i am a teenager) and jimmy's probably my favourite which leads to me kind of distorting his character a little. but. i don't know. something about the not being taken seriously, the refusal to give up, the insistence that this time will be different just hits me so hard/is relatable. not to get all serious on you

i will say this, though - while sabrina as joel was about both sabrina carpenter the person (or the person that the world knows) and also her music, i think for olivia as jimmy, it's mainly about the music. but you can also relate her relationships with other people (what we know of them, at least) to jimmy's with scott tango grian whatever. i think they do parallel each other pretty well, but, again, that's another post

i also think that jimmy's a lot more sour, not so much guts. olivia's first album revolves around that idea of heartbreak, jealousy, angst. i think his character usually revolves around themes like that. guts, olivia's second album, to me, is a little different. she's grown as a person, reflecting, and she's a lot more confident, too. it shows in her music. i think that jimmy (especially in the life series) is overall very, very sour coded, but then again, there are many songs on guts that definitely can be related to him too.

songs that i think are the most him + specific lyrics:

love is embarrassing — jesus, what was i even doing? 'cuz now it don't mean a thing, god, love's fucking embarrassing

ballad of a homeschooled girl — each time i step outside, it's social suicide

the grudge — i'm so tough when i'm alone, and i'll make you feel so guilty, and i fantasize about a time you're a little fucking sorry

teenage dream — when are all my excuses of "learning my lesson" gonna start to feel sad?

brutal — all i did was try my best, this the kind of thanks i get?

jealousy, jealousy — their win is not my loss, i know it's true but i can't help getting caught up in it all. comparison is killing me slowly

favourite crime — one heart broke, four hands bloody

1 step forward, 3 steps back — i hate that i give you power over that kind of stuff

THE END!!!!! i hope you enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed writing this and let me know your thoughts 🫶 always up for some debate!!!

if joel is sabrina carpenter coded (& he is trust) then grian is taylor and jimmy is olivia rodrigo. no i will not be taking criticism but i am fully willing to elaborate

[definitelynotshouting]

ok i read lost and have to confess that i uh, read hunger GAMES au the first time i saw the fic and kept waiting for the plotline to show up, and eventually just accepted hey, unusual spin on the au. it took me a reread of the fic to realise it was just ‘hunger au’ with no games. well maybe some mental games and illness but hey, shrug

thought it was funny enough to share, loved the fic and wanted to let you know :D i love how you characterise the hermits and the beyond impressive world building behind it all

(quick q, when grian’s pulling out the ‘connections’ (forgot how you describe it but the emotion feedin tethers things) between him and the hermits, is that a physical thing he can see or a mental connection? if so, does he visually imagine snapping em?)

ALDJAJDKQJDKEJWJSKWKSDJDKS HELPPPP YEAH I CAN SEE THE CONFUSION THERE..... THATS SO FUCKING FUNNY IM LOSING IT HELP MEEEE JDSBDJSJDNAKSJSK IM SO SORRY FOR THE DECEPTION KING 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

Actually i run into this problem all the time when i try to sneakily see if i have any indirects 😔😔😔😔 me when tumblr conflates hunger au with hunger games au and i have to suffer for world's silliest choice in au name

Ooooh im actually really glad you asked this question!!! So the whole thing about "hooks" and "tethers" is that theyre entirely metaphorical, theres nothing physical there and nothing to really see from either perspective, it was just one of the best ways to sorta get the concept of the way Watchers feed across that i could think of at the time. I do think i leaned a little too heavily on it unfortunately 😔😔 so im trying to see if i can dial it back a smidge so it doesnt feel quite so literal every time its mentioned.

The way i actually picture Watcher feeding is as a type of resonance-- theyre almost vibrating at a code level with the correct hertz frequency that lets them repair any damage theyve sustained to their code structure. Its not something really visible, but i like to think when Watchers in their true forms feed, their glowing underbellies brighten significantly, and visible light trails from their fluked tails as a way to shake off any excess. Theres something to be explored there in the process of converting ELF waves into visible light and what that means for them as a species, especially ones that camouflage themselves as adeptly as they do, and what that additionally means for the relationship between light/the electromagnetic spectrum and code itself, but i havent fully dedicated the time to tease that out just yet 😂😂😂😂😂 that may require several physics textbooks, who knows

But yeah to answer your question more directly, its not a physical connection or something that can be directly seen, just more of a way to visualize the concept using inexact metaphors. I do think Grian visualizes them like this because of the natural gap between Watcher and Player minds, and that being how he manages to bridge it for himself personally; so yeah i think he does mentally visualize himself snapping them or pulling them back in, when in reality its just him trying to shut off or pull back a form of extrasensory perception :]

[thecoolerliauditore]

I... cannot agree less, if I'm totally honest.

For the starters, the team-ups this season I'd argue aren't any more unexpected than any other season. In fact, most of the discussion following episode 1 was regarding the repeat team-ups of dynamics we'd seen dominate previous seasons -- tuff guys (ethubs, team BEST/TIES), GGGG (literally named after GGG), Renwood Mound (treebark) and, while grumbo wasn't exactly the force of nature the previously mentioned groups were, they did previously team together in LL through the Southlanders.

This is not a bad thing, and most of us were very excited to see some of our favourite dynamics team up when episode 1 dropped, but they are definitely "what usually happens". I think the fact that Pearl explicitly made a community post about people saying "not them again" about her team says enough on its own.

The creators themselves also make more than just a handful of callbacks this season, I'd even say much more than usual. Bdubs referencing what happened between him and Tango in LL, even including a clip, Scott directly saying Pearl villainizes him for DL, Gem and Pearl referencing the end of SL and murder camel, Cleo I don't think directly mentions LL but her calling Bigb untrustworthy and bringing up "grudges" certainly feels like it's carried over from the Fairy Fort, Scar literally ends his series IN SL, etc.

(^ just saw your additional reply to another set of tags re: this. I think it really comes down to a matter of opinion what constitutes as a callback vs a "continuation", I personally don't see a difference. Every "storyline" is interpreted anyway. Although I will say Pearl at least very much came off to me as purposefully trying to tell a story, judging by her continued dedication to her character as well as literal mention that she had "plans" early on in the series)

I don't think? Many of us expected the CCs to follow the same plotlines we saw, in fact most people I know are the types who would they much rather not over-reference fandom.

The dissonance between the series and the fandom's interpretation of it has always existed -- that post where fanon is depicted as liberty leading the people and the actual series is a scooby doo screenshot comes to mind.

If the series getting too goofy for the fandom's angstier tastes was an issue, I don't think it would've formed in the first place at all, 3L was distinctly unserious right from the get-go. I don't think anything in WL is any goofier or more """out of character""" compared to say. the Clocker family shenanigans during LimL (ethubs shippers certainly weren't leaving en masse when they decided they were father and son) or Martyn's property-value-decreasing heart house in DL or any of the many sillier final deaths -- one of the permadeaths I saw spawning the most angsty fanart/fics was Jimmy in LimL who did not have the most. dramatic exist lmao.

I'm not asking for everyone to have purposeful, narratively compelling storylines. I'm not asking for dramatic, heart-touching performances. I certainly am not "crushed" by the "realization" the CCs care less for the dramatics. I've always seen that as the fandom's job, to work with what we get, and to put it simply, I felt disappointed with what we got which felt to me forced and uncomfortable to watch at points.

And that's great that you liked WL! ALOT of people liked WL! It's not objectively incorrect to like WL!

But I do think it's a bit. troubling to me that we've been observing a shift in Grian's approach to the life series since SL and now we're turning it around and saying it's the fandoms fault for being too invested in the wrong way, or blaming the disappointment we feel on our own investment in the series rather than the fact that the series is very clearly making an active decision to move away from its roots and thus what made a lot of people like it in the first place (which is -- once again -- fine and good, just disappointing if you're one of said people it's moving away from).

And if I'm totally honest I do feel a bit? peeved that we are on my non-maintagged vent post where I talk about moving on from one of my favourite things. I understand you somehow happened upon it but I'm not here to convince people WL was objectively bad, I'm just a bit sad.

on one hand, very glad my suspicions of burnout and gimmicks as a result of fear of losing viewership were wrong at least as far as we know. im glad the CCs are having fun and their enjoyment is being prioritized, even if i am still not entirely convinced everyone's on the same page.

on the other hand, it's melancholic but this is pretty much the nail in the coffin in me having any interest left in future installments of the series. for those of you concerned: I am forever haunted by my brain diseases and will be continuing to post, write and draw 3L - SL for the rest of my forseeable life (plus completely disconnecting from any need I feel to interact with WL and beyond leaves me with more time to work on. certain larger scale projects I have had plans for)

i respect grians decision-making and he would know better than me how to run a youtube series, however I do question how much of an oxymoron it is to not care about viewer feedback for a youtube series run on viewership (and when so many of the recent behind the scenes decisions we've been privy to - such as Scar and Grian's hesitancy to team up based on comments calling them "boring" -- imply the opposite regarding the cast's mindset). it makes me concerned for the longevity of the series going forward, since those not happy with the direction that I've seen have all been very passionate and old fans, but I've also seen an equal if not louder support for this season, so I digress.

Part of me wonders how much of the "we want last life 2" sentiment (<-- something I've previously spoken about how I don't agree with) the cast has been exposed to, since it felt strange to me that it was even bought up. I have had a thought about this and the consequences of "don't maintag your negativity" e.g. the reasonable people know to hide their critical posts, and what that leaves a creator with are the unreasonable people, and if it's only that feedback that gets processed, then inevitably things tend to go in weird directions. Were any of us actually "tired" of Desert Duo interacting? Were any of us mad at Gem for killing Grian in SL?

It's frustrating to see crit posts get flagged down with accusations of disrespecting or attacking the CCs, or "we don't want you here anyway, just leave," when myself and all the people I've spoken to being not avid haters but rabid fans who feel frustrated and actively want to continue liking the series. Not to mention most of the people also being active members of the fandom ontop of that -- we claim that fanart is important and makes the series even more special than it already is, yet people seem more than happy to sacrifice that just for the sake of not seeing critical opinions.

t-shirt that says blah blah blah. but I reserve the right of feeling disappointed.