#I need Zam to win

[chimsartblog]

I hope you keep winning.

[crowskullls]

Zam wants to be ♠️ with Minute SOOOOO bad. And Minute has no idea why. He’s so confused by it. Reluctant and honestly pretty tame Kismesissitude

[hoodie02]

guys

guys im scared. im so scared guys please

im scared im so scared guys

[mcytegg]

its kinda crazy to me how many people i seen call kab manipulative and treating it was entirely malicious in its intent, yet i see very few people pointing out that derap is also. being manipulative and expecting so much of the people he trusts— like "trust me or you just die" is such an insane test to do and its crazy bc i do nawt believe he'd react well if pangi or zam or whoever tested him like he tests them constantly

im not saying kab isnt manipulative or that shes faultless bc she has done a lot wrong and a lot to hurt the people around her— esp zam. but its interesting bc her and derap just dont seem to be held to the same standards by the wider fandom even though they both seem to default to manipulation and attempted control so they feel secure w their friends and allies.

it isnt done w malicious intent, but they are still hurting the people around them and expecting far too much from the people theyve latched onto. they dont seem to understand unconditional loyalty is something that doesnt ACTUALLY exist, and it is not the exact same as having a friend u know u can rely on consistently no matter what. even having a friendship like mapicc and zam, mapicc and ro, vi and subz, or any of the likes ISNT abt never disagreeing or never acting against them in any situation ever.

its trust built over time and from experiencing lifesteal together. its about winning together, losing together, fighting side by side, and knowing when to stand up for urself and to fight against them if they are doing smt that truly hurts u and/or goes directly against your own morals and beliefs. it isnt abt "youll trust me no matter what and just accept it even if im doing smt i know will upset u", its abt knowing that u can still be friends at the end of the day. that, come a new season, or a new arc, they are still someone u can have fun w and rely on to continue to be themselves w you.

their attempts to force a bond like that will only hurt themselves and their relationship w the people around them in the long run, but i feel like this is a lesson theyll need to learn w time and by experiencing it themselves bc theyre too lonely and desperate to be by someones side currently to realize it yet.

edit : had a funny realization that there is ONE relationship on the server that seems to be exactly what kab and derap are searching for, and its mane and flame. they want and expect the same loyalty from their teammate that flame has for mane. flame goes directly against his own morals and and beliefs bc mane asks it of him, and passively follows down manes path of destruction simply bc theyre teammates. he doesnt even think mane is right, but that doesnt matter simply bc the only thing he cares abt on LS is mane. he likes other people like pangi, pentar, and zam but he would kill just abt anyone if it was part of manes plan simply bc he has no path of his own— he hasnt found himself yet, so hes following mane nd his ideals.

[coffeegnomee]

I finally finished the vod and BRO. derap just reminds me so much of eclipse zam. I think that's why i forgive all his wrongs. his leading questions, his wanting proof of change of zam choosing him over mapicc.

Derap has found himself on a team that he loves dearly. That he never wants to leave. That he refuses to leave. That was there for him at his lowest, and accepted him in when he had nothing. (and he feels like the anchor to keep zam from going evil, feels like he's making positive change on zam whom he was (and still is) convinced will go insane and evil if he doesn't take care of himself)

And every conversation he thinks zam will be the one to leave him. kick him out.

Every damn meeting in eclipse zam left being like "yippee im so glad they didn't kick me off the team!" completely, completely missing the concept that vi and subz desperately loved him and didn't want him to leave. the last thing they wanted was for eclipse to fall apart. they would change and adjust the plan as much as necessary to make zam know they wanted him to stay. that they wanted him to love the project they were working towards. and every time zam said he was okay with the plan again, they breathed a sign of relief.

But every day zam swallowed his own opinion and kept moving forward with the team. and freaking derapchu is doing the same thing. there have been so many instances of this, i could never list them all. zam thought of bringing his tree from spawn to zaun and derap almost said he hated how it looked and zam shouldn't build it, but swallowed that and said if zam wanted to build it he could. he said he wanted to start going on a murder spree and zam said he didn't want that at all, and next thing you know derap is saying he doesn't want to kill anymore. There's a hundred little instances of derap realizing his opinions differ from zam's wants and he shoves his own opinions away. if he doesn't, he will be kicked off the team.

And as derap tries to bring up what his concerns are, he shoves the responsibility for deciding the fate of the team on zam. Just like zam did. zam could not tell eclipse he wanted to leave, he wanted them to choose for him.

eclipse was doomed because zam had to face the fact that he couldn't put his needs last. that he couldn't just ignore what mattered most to him. period. and because he was terrible at confrontation and communication.

and somehow derap, despite founding this team precisely upon making zam realize he needs to put himself first and be selfish, doesn't realize he needs to do that too. and that he's not doing it. even if he rebuttled zam when zam brought that up. tbh imo he switched it up fast when zam brought that point up.

it does help that zam isn't lying to derap: unfortunately eclipse was keeping secrets from zam. big secrets.

But derap is convinced zam is still lying to him. he said it and then immediately went back on it.

And fundamentally, it was not so much that eclipse lied to zam about the wormhole, and more that zam thought they were lying when they said they weren't going to be the villains. he didn't believe that it was about protecting the three of them, not taking over the server. and it was always about protecting them. vi proved that in the end with banning himself and letting spoke completely take over the project.

There is a massive conflict of interest and a deep insecure distrust. and derap cannot admit how much that bothers him. he says he's fine with zam doing things with mapicc. he says he's just wants zam to be happy. but he is so desperately unhappy. no matter how much he insists on the opposite.

devotions only got their win (yipppe!!!) because zam refused to stop talking to mapicc and mapicc felt comfortable enough saying exactly what he thought. and then zam felt comfortable saying exactly what he thought too. both aired their real grievances, not shooting hypotheticals and asking only for the other to make choices about wether or not they would stay teamed. and it earned apologies and resolution all around. devotions w.

and mapicc compromised with zam, he didn't change his opinion for him. he still thinks mawn was good, did do good, doesn't want to let it go, but thinks it's done what it was meant to do. so he is letting it fade away. zam compromised with mapicc. he still thinks mawn was too much, that he can't join it, that he won't go against it, but thinks maybe it wasn't all bad. so he's going to help mapicc if mapicc needs help. W being secure in having your own opinions.

derap keeps changing his opinion for zam.

maybe they don't fall apart. derap is not zam. everybody is unique. but damn if the parallels aren't here and aren't looming like a storm cloud over it all.

[djevelbl]

It's looking like we're gonna double what we had 2 days ago, too!!

It's so funny scrolling the polls in mcyt gender showdown because it's like 1.2k, 999, 12K VOTES???

Zam voters and Techno voters either keep going or stop because we are making each other suffer HELP

[chair002]

My favorite moment so far in S6 has been the spacewaffles conversation after Mapicc & Jepexx kill them. What makes it really special for me is the way Planet is so adamant about turning down any negativity whatsoever from Bacon. Bacon keeps saying how they just let them win and they're now on low hearts and everything is fucked and Planet just goes "Nope! Errr Error!!" and tells him they'll make it despite everything. Made me think back to how Zam & Bacon reacted to Planet's suicide back in S5. 'Cause initially Zam was kinda chill about it, his reaction was literally just "damn well that just happened" but then Bacon rolled up like PLANETLORD IS DEAD! FOREVER! and that reaction made Zam panic as well. Meanwhile here instead of giving in to Bacon's as always extremely pessimistic view of the situation or ignoring it Planet just shuts it down immediately and even makes sure Bacon looks him in the eyes while he's doing it. And after watching his pov of the Planet Revival stream, it's a similar situation for him, i think it's interesting Bacon's lowest points are often when Planet dies and cannot log back on, i guess because then there's no one to snap him out of it. this is not something exclusively Planet does (Kaboodle tries to cheer Bacon up after he dies during her and Red's duel, to no avail) but Planet is just such a close, naturally positive presence in Bacon's life, and so his absence is felt the strongest. Even if most things Planet says seem naive or sometimes just simply untrue.

Like, when they went to retrieve the hearts Kaboodle stole from Planet that one time, Bacon keeps insisting they're gonna get killed, meanwhile Planet innocently goes "noo why would anyone do that? dont worry," and obviously Bacon's the rational one here, because theyre naked at spawn and there was a huge commotion there earlier - but nothing ends up happening. they don't get killed. and so even if sometimes Planet is actively choosing to be gullible and naive about people being kind and everything being fine, he's not always wrong. it's very deliberate. He's not stupid, he knows violence first-hand, from both ends of it, but that doesn't break his generally good nature. and i think that's the counterweight Bacon's negative outlook needs

[aipurjopa]

okay wait i've been thinking about all the what-ifs since that fight...

without focus as double agents bfb would've probably been more inclined to fight closer to spawn. they'd assumed the zam-kab team had traps, sure, but they probably wouldn't expect something like the chorus bombs (i'm assuming the reason why they were so adamant about fighting at spawn is because the chorus bombs make it so they can't escape). being closer to spawn puts all the traps in use...

being near spawn would also but the cannon with the preloaded coords in use. they wouldn't have needed to stall for 10 minutes for the coords to be loaded.

not having focus as walking restocks would mean bfb runs out of exp and pots significantly earlier into the fight which at a minimum would force them to run earlier. and since the whole point of the chorus bombs was to trap them when they'd run, there would probably be a decent chance of the chorus bombs working.

also just thought it was interesting how both mapicc and zam note that mane tends to fight pretty aggro in 1v1s. and then during the pre-fight prep mapicc mentions how spoke's fighting style is a direct counter for mane's (with spoke being extremely defensive while fighting). Even if everything played out the same and we still ended up at that final 1v1 situation, I wonder if a spoke (on some borrowed hearts) v mane fight would've ended up with a zam-kab win. or even if Minute had fought on a full 20 hearts.

or maybe even without focus as informants bfb still refuses to fight at spawn and cannon is still useless and they still run before dying just earlier and having gotten less drops. maybe this entire fight was doomed to end the way it did lol.

[arceoptryx]

okay so like. imo rn its pretty obvious in the arc that zam is winning the joker war. because the point is very clear, if you are not able to stop a villain with extremely simple schemes, extremely simple outward motivations (i am blowing up bases because i believe in violence for violence's sake), something that everyone can agree is wrong, why would anyone believe you could handle any other threat that comes your way. it was the same way for the void arc, they couldn't meaningfully stop abyss even with a traitor, abyss had to set the terms of defeat. so how would they win against a wormhole, how would they win if they were in s3 with every player being banned off. If even with their considerable strength advantage in terms of pvp and hearts, if they're not able to win against someone who is mostly acting solo, unironically doing a joker arc, why would anybody be convinced they could win against a larger threat. Their morals against banning have to go, which is what their enemy wants, or they need to step up and start a plan that works instead of just reacting and trying to be like "why wont you see reason!!!" after, because why would someone who is by all means getting their way and proving their point be convinced their reasoning is wrong and flawed. why would anybody trust they could win. zam doesn't need to have a big plan or goal because his current way is working, they wont have a peaceful ending at this rate, and it doesn't seem like they're trying anything meaningful to get their peaceful ending instead of being ideological. if all you do is react then your opponents are just going to outpredict you. its like. at least when the solar union had to resort to philosophical debates only it was actually just an impossible situation. they dont have that excuse here. (i love yapping though i dont mean they should stop yapping)

[lifesteal-headcanons]

Omega ClownPierce who deliberately hides it and pretends to be an Alpha bc god forbid he has any fucking weakness (🙄 /aff)

Omega Branzy who don't give a fuck and actively uses societal ideas of how Omegas act in his own favor, kinda like how he uses people's perceptions of his capabilities to go under the radar in terms of his bloodlust and ability to kill. also yes he uses his heats as THE excuse to dip out of work for a whole week, payed 🫡🫡🫡

Alpha Kaboodle bc 1) I find it funny that the little sibling in the Killerbunnies dynamic is the Alpha,,,,,,,, 2) they can help each other with instincts and shit and honestly I don't think there's anybody else Clown would be comfy with. untrusting motherfucker /aff

Omega Zam as his story of never giving up even through misery and unending struggle so the good can prevail over the bad is very relatable and I just think he's very Omega coded

Beta Mapicc bc idk bro I don't watch his shit he just gives me Beta vibes 🫡

Alpha Derapchu bc the concept of simp Derapchu following Zam kinda like a lost puppy is the hottest thing to ever be beamed into my head and I CANNOT let go of it, and him being an Alpha just elevates it to 100000000nth degree to me,,,,,,,,,

Beta/Alpha/Omega Squiddo as they transcend whatever tf all the others got going on. nobody knows what she is and they don't give a fuck to clarify either lol nobody is doing it like them fr fr

Alpha ashswag bc I just think it's neat — also. overinflated sense of ego (he's called himself God like THREE TIMES in videos before????) and idk I just think it fits. also he's the only one who knows what tf Squiddo's got going on but he's forgor, so

Alpha Reddoons bc I need Alpha on Alpha hatecrime swagdoons to be real <3

Alpha Jumper bc Alpha girlies are my dream <33

On that vein EITHER Alpha MinuteTech OR Omega MinuteTech — either way it's kinda unconventional HopperClock/MinuteJump/however their duo/ship name is called idk it so I'm ALL IN for it

All of this ofc leads to situations like:

Killerbunnies huddling together in Kaboodle's base bc after a battle Clown was in that Kaboodle heard about, her inner was going WILD and wouldn't leave her alone — anxious, jumping off the walls, making her wanna claw at something or even tear hair out; anything, anything so long as the feeling goes away — so she dragged him down there and kept him in a headlock + koala hug for hours at a time

Clownzy having a rare moment in their casino season 3 where Clown finally allows himself to listen to his inner, finally allowing himself to tear down his walls and be simply a man, scenting with Branzy and building a nest with him. That's probably one of the only nests he's allowed himself to ever have

Devotions having increasingly shoutier and dumber arguments over like. heat suppressants and what's better to make a nest with and the best brand of scent blockers. They never seem to win one way or another on any topic

Sunkissed trading clothes around for one reason or another, enjoying the bliss of having each other's scents constantly at reach, the calm that that brings

Swagdoons are always on a power struggle, and it's such a surge of ego whenever they get the other to submit — this doesn't mean they don't enjoy submitting as well (they have whatever fucked up worship play going on after all /silly), it just means that the thrill of their inner preening over the other's submission is a strong feeling, hard to ignore

HopperClock flabbergasting people bc Alpha girl on Alpha boy/Alpha girl on Omega boy and finding the reactions funny as hell

Really rambly thing but enslamzmamsll I love omegaverse sorry

.

[connor6sex]

I havent seen enough of jumper/ash perspective to have the fullest view. But i'm pretty happy with this ending. It fucking better be over by now, god willing.

It was largely bullshit, but ya know. I don't mind that. Idk why Squiddo gets to be god, but maybe Squiddo can just do that, have we checked? Maybe they've had this power the whole time. I don't really like that Ash was immortal, but it didn't really matter.

Yes the fish fight was annoying, but it was impressive. It wasn't a test of skill, it was a test of endurance, and neither side gave in. It was awesome (from a viewer perspective) How many lifesteal fights have lasted days like that? It's something memorable.

Sure pb&j had shitty motives, but like. It's lifesteal, no one is Actually Moral. Sure pb&j won the war on banning people for the side of banning people. But ya know, they won. For a moment. This was a rollercoaster stream, both sides had so many moments going for them.

Roshambo and Clown fought amazingly. Clown was locked the fuck in, and he deserved this win. No one but Clownpierce could have done the shit he did. Did he need to use crystals? No. Should he have used crystals? Idk, not up to me. I think it doesn't matter if he breaks that rule because he and his broke way less rules overall.

I loved Ash's plan of a suicide area ban. That was awesome. That was Ash making a sacrifice for the greater good, that was an act of Heroism. That was what he wanted to do, and he found a way to do it. Sure his sacrifice didn't work out, but he was willing to do it. And intent matters here.

Im really happy with the Players win here. They wanted people banned, and now the server is dead. They won. PB&J ended with wanting to get rid of the Players, and they didn't. There was a clear vicotry here, and I'm glad in the end they sorta accepted that.

Branzy was so great here, he was on teh Players side the whole time, always has been. He was recruited a long while ago by Mapic and Zam. He agreed to work with them. PB&J not knowing that was great.

Branzy won this. Branzy took the season dub. Branzy and Clown won this world. Love Wins. Not peace, not death, but Love wins. And Roshambo. Love and Roshambo.

[farm-lust]

Cycles, kaboodle, and World Enders: A slightly disorganized collection of thoughts

I have thoughts that I fear Kaboodle Twitter is not ready for. However, I realized there are people on here who would maybe appreciate my take on this. Please chat I need to get this into the world.

-Kaboodle almost gets it. Not in the way Mapicc almost gets it, not in the way Zam gets it, but in a new way.-

Kaboodle has always been the one to betray, the one to hurt, the one to backstab. But when Red betrayed her and broke up the mice, Kab had a moment of clarity. Not unlike S4 Zam and the breaking down of his morals until he understood how cruel the world was, Kab had the first nail driven into her coffin (metaphorically, stick with me here). If Kab had not isolated, I don't think she would be as close as she is. She had all of this time to be forced to reckon with the fact that maybe Red isn't a bad seed, maybe trust can't exist in this world.

There's this quote from Consequences 2 that really illustrates what Kab gets.

"Limbo, upon limbo, upon limbo. Cycle upon cycle upon cycle. Thats all there is".

- In Kab's head, the world only ever ends in revenge and a supernova.

In Kab's head, trust always leads to betrayal. -

However, thats is really all that Kab does get, that trust is futile. There's this morality piece that I don't know if she will ever get. Kab's morals are so 'for the plot' that I don't think that she will ever have to acknowledge the fact that morality leads to death just as much as trust does.

-The second thought I have is that Kab will be the next world-ender.-

Teaming with Wemmbu is not the catalyst that ignites her spark to end the world, I think teaming with Woogie in the past was.

When Kaboodle built Woogie's room in her box, instead of a flower, she put rotten flesh and said, 'Here, your future corpse.' Red may have betrayed Kab, Red may have killed her in cold blood, but Woogie dared to question her ability. And that was a death sentence for the world.

Kab isn't good at PVP, can't find a base, can't win wars with her fists, but she is smart. And Woogie dared to question the one thing Kaboodle was proud of, the one thing she felt like she could hold over people.

If Woogie questions Kab's capabilities once more I think she will snap.

I can't remember the exact quote, but after a conversation with Wemmbu once about Red and Mane Kab said she wanted to do something 'Game ending'. If Woogie gets added to that list I think that idea will cross her mind, and now that she's in with Wemmbu she has a way to end the world.

In her money SMP stream today (09/30), Kab mentioned wanting to find more loopholes in LS and exploits, I think the edge of the cliff is approaching steadily, once we fall off, the world will be over.

Okay post over feel free to ask me questions I have so much more to say on this

[mcyt-gender-showdown]

im a zam fan and not really a fan of oli but I need him to win so that he carries on zams (and technos) legacy. go oli theorionsound

go oli theorionsound… i’m biased but you should watch him. he’s quite silly

[nicoandindy]

draw zam pls :3

so i loved zam's e girl skin so much i got a little distracted and may have made this the best out of the three bribes i've done so far

ALSO WE'RE WINNING KEEP VOTING ZAM KEEP VOTING ZAM KEEP VOTING ZAM !!

THIS HAS GIVEN ME LIFE PLLSSSSS I WILL DRAW UR MCYT BLORBO JUST COMMIT VOTER FRAUD I NEED HIM TO WIN THIS

[paddysol]

unstable universe is unstabling my universe p1

Everyone say thank you Pluto for encouraging my insanity! Please note I'm solely discussing Wemmbu’s character (and PrinceZam somewhat) in Unstable Universe from a lore standpoint. (This will be a mix of my own hc and how Ive perceived the events on the server- also i've literally only watched Wemmbu and am doing this from memory so bear with me)

God I have so many thoughts on UU!Wemmbu (and Mutiny Duo) dear lord. Like, the necessity of constantly being forced to put up a front due to the hunger games-esque environment of the server, the paranoia that has you looking over your shoulder, presenting yourself as a threat, making sure that you can back that statement as much as you can because if you’re seen as weak then you’re might as well dead. 

We see this in Wemmbu who, let's all be honest with ourselves, cares about the people around him (obviously to a degree, bc of the nature of the server) and the struggle between showing that care and taking care of himself. Like, the amount of times Wemmbu has threatened to ban someone and yet never followed through is Crazy. This man literally has never carried through with a death threat, and the reason why no one realizes that is because of the “infallible” persona he plays up, and his team-up with Zam’s crusade where they chunk-banned several players. Chunk-bans!! A temporary removal!! Someone needs to call him out for his empty threats. This man literally jumped into an arena to save Roshambo from FlameFrags because it was a losing battle and Roshambo was in danger of getting death-banned. He didn't need to. He already confirmed ManePear’s information and solidified their allyship. He didn't need to stick around. He didn't need to put himself in danger. Wemmbu knows he can't fight Flame and win, he actively compensates for those situations and avoids them without extensive planning Because he knows that. 

(Note: I am aware that he killed Tyrad, but consider that was a 3? 4? vs 1 fight on a server where players expect you to fight tooth and nail to live whether it be through totems, stasis chambers, escape, etc. When Wemmbu drops Tyrad there was genuine shock, muted or not. He didn't expect someone to Actually die. Reflecting on it is obviously not an option, he’s in the middle of breaking into a prison with several guards on his tail. Guards, who mind you, are stocked with the necessary effects for a fight. Additionally, when engaging in pvp Wemmbu tends to fight with the intention of escape, not actually killing his opponent.)

Of course, despite the violent nature of UU, developing a genuine relationship with other players is inevitable. Wemmbu makes several comments about ‘if he wanted to play alone, he'd load a single-player world.’ (Obviously a bit meta, but you know what I’m getting at.) And we see him do that. I’m mostly going to be focusing on PrinceZam and Eggchan as those (at least to me) are the most developed relationships, but there are hints of thought and care aimed at players we don't see too often. 

As I mentioned before, there's a struggle to show genuine care for a person on a server that will see that as a weakness and immediately exploit it. And we see that struggle between Zam and Wemmbu, who, despite consistently being at odds with each other, find satisfaction in that relationship. Sure, both of them are walking red flags, but there is genuine care in how they feel about each other, even if they're constantly holding back in order to maintain whatever image they've created for themselves. They're rivals. They constantly snarking, they're at each other's throats, they call out for each other in a fight, they make sure they have a full inventory (potions, gaps, enchant bottles, etc). They dress their worry with a lackadaisical attitude and are steadfast in believing that it's just that, even when their actions become entirely unnecessary. Wemmbu had a monopoly on the elytra, makes a point about it, yet easily gives one to Zam at the most logical opportunity (and then proceeds to give literally all of them to him sir wtf?? Crazy behavior I would never). Zam allows Wemmbu to treat him as someone other than a king, he lets him use the mace even if he was the one who got the heavy core; he trusts Wemmbu to have his back. Wemmbu traded the mace for Zam’s life not even knowing if it would work. They show love in the only way the server allows. And sometimes that care becomes too genuine, and they force themselves to pull back. 

“I’d never betray you- unless it's convenient.”

To reiterate, both Wemmbu and Zam have a plethora of issues, both are incredibly unreliable narrators who barely trusted each other but got very close. “I’d never betray you,” Wemmbu was too honest, that’s dangerous. “Unless it's convenient,” while definitely holding a modicum of truth, the statement feels so tacked on. Letting players know that you're attached to someone or something? Hell no. But even if he didnt mean it entirely and was mostly trying to save face (dare I say warn Zam from getting close?) he still said it. And of course Zam, who came from nothing and has built an empire, who has successfully worked to become someone who cannot be taken advantage of, who knows exactly how soft his underbelly and how to ensure no one else finds out, fixates on that. How can’t he? This is a man who, with every step, is looking back and allowing his history to haunt him. This is something that clashes so loudly with Wemmbu, who can't afford to think about the past, who can only change the present, who must persevere forward. Until Zam blows up the kingdom he asked Wemmbu to build. 

(Note: This analysis? Idk what im doing anymore im just yapping- Is more focused on Wemmbu than Zam, but I am aware that he likely has own complicated perspective that plays into his actions.)

At first the change in their relationship is subtle, small shows of power from Zam, a reminder that he is a king. Then it becomes sickly familiar tactics, tactics that Wemmbu has always accompanied, never faced. Their rivalry turned sour, every interaction they have haunted with what used to be. Wemmbu, who cares so much, watches the physical manifestation of his loyalty to Zam be blown up and thrown in his face, ‘my sweet, sweet Wemmbu’. He was used, manipulated, underestimated by someone who he, against all odds, cared for. Hate begins to fester, Wemmbu calls it a betrayal. You can't betray someone who didn't mean anything to you first. 

And then we’re able to witness unfiltered care between Wemmbu and Eggchan. We watch the pretense of the “infallible” player fall as he dresses himself in diamond, giving the netherite to his friend instead. As he ensures Egg’s safety in his schemes, as he trusts Egg to have his back, takes fights he knows he cant take so that Egg has more time to get out. And that loyalty is reciprocated tenfold. Egg is allowed numerous opportunities to leave, yet he chooses to stay despite the hardships. It's everything that was just out of reach for Zam and Wemmbu. (There's definitely a lot more to talk about but this is already gonna be so long). Egg won't stand by as his friend begins to come undone at the seams. He wont play into the cutthroat game this server has spun itself into. Which of course has consequences. While off on their chunk-banning crusade Zam and Wemmbu inevitably learned what made the other person tick. Kidnapping Egg was just another move on the chessboard bc god forbid that even if they hate each other, they take their eyes off each other for a second. 

This functions as the last straw, one last ditch attempt from Wemmbu in his war with Zam, he can't promise success but he sure as hell makes sure that he hits where it hurts. He blows his kingdom sky-high. And eye for an eye and a debt settled.

And then Zam apologizes. It's not necessarily out of the blue, for all the hurt he’s enacted on Wemmbu he's kept him alive for one reason or another (they are emotionally constipated dumbasses who care about each other and refuse to admit it). This changes everything and nothing. Despite the genuine admittance of grief and regret, the two don't pull their punches. They can only guess how many totems they've popped and how many are left. They switch foils. For a brief moment Zam does not allow his past to haunt him, ‘I don't want to accidentally kill you.’ Wemmbu, for all his persevering, for all his ability to focus on what he can do now, cannot let go of their past. For the first time, Wemmbu does want to kill a player. 

We’ll never find out if he wouldve carried through.

(ending this now bc this is too long and i have even more to say about the prison eps tbh, havent written in out yet tho T-T)

[coffeegnomee]

This conversation with Mane has got me thinking about what it is about Spokeishere that made him such an incredible villain.

And I realized that Spoke never cared about player activity. That wasn't his main goal.

All his plots were around doing the plot with whomever was around, and usually, since it was server ending, he actively didn't want players to be active. (the cleansing is interesting and i'll get to it later)

Like, season 3 Spoke wanted to ban everyone off the server. And here was a PrinceZam actively trying to stop him. Spoke didn't care if everyone else gave up, that was the point. He wanted everyone to give up. But Zam would just NOT give up.

The finale therefore revolved around getting Zam in particular to give up, and trying to ban everyone else off the server.

Spoke needs players to care about his plots, but it's not about generalized player activity.

In s4, over the whole season, but specifically once he got the wormhole barrel on lifesteal, he started doing little stream events with each player that he could get to long on. Individually inviting them to be active.

Vortex and Mapicc hide and seek that won them wormhole items. (bro got vortexdragon to log on I mean come on) Going on Zam's stream and making poopies, bringing poopies to Bacon's streams and Planet's streams and making a playhouse for players to try and survive. Making Peepees the warden during Zam's fight with Mapicc partially on Mapicc's request, then making a maze for players to go through and survive. Joining Zam's stream to splash the po potion on him. Telling Planet to stream and showing off some of the wormhole items. Joining Zam's stream when Branzy logged on and giving Branzy the dolphin potion.

Just so many little events played with the members who already were active, or asking specific members to log on and doing something with them.

And that got a huge roster of members who were mildly aware of what was going on so as things ramped up they understood the context.

But it was never about getting people to care about the server again, he just created an environment where they had fun and therefore did care about the server.

And as the season approached its end, he told Parrot that if he and 3ht could survive the wormhole they would win.

And the people who were inactive who logged onto the event were presented with absolute chaos but it was clear they were opposing spoke so they naturally gravitated to asking Parrot what he needed and that got them involved.

The wormhole was a protect the president event, with clear sides. But if you didn't show up it didn't matter to Spoke. It was on 3ht and Parrot to convince people to help them, they would be hunted down regardless.

And that event showed just how good Spoke is at keeping an eye out on hopelessness and pressing forward or laying off or keeping op items in reserve or asking parrot what items to ban so that there was no way for 3ht to be banned before at minimum the final hour.

He is phenomenal at understanding hope and making sure it stays high.

The Cleansing was a little different, it was started, iiuc, because players weren't active and out of the conclusion that that was because there was a heart discrepancy.

So the end goal was to make it easier for player to be active, but that wasn't the goal of the arc. The goal of the arc was to kill every player once. They didn't have the goal to get everyone to care about lifesteal again, they just killed you once if you logged on, and in one day killed, what, 6 players? By doing such a scandalously brutal first day (and with an exploit) it created an intrigue to everyone else and an opposition formed. And because the cleansers wanted more players to log on to harvest hearts from, they were perfectly happy to oblige the dirties with the fights they wanted in retribution for the hearts they had already taken.

They didn't just want the members active, they needed them to be active so they could engage in a fight and kill them.

And when a member logged on that wasn't normally active, everyone knew they would be targeted by the cleansers and worked to save them. It was clear they were in danger.

And that engagement brought more interest, and that interest created a large group and before you knew it Clown was getting bloodthirsty and created a side team to get all the hearts and now there were three teams and everyone ganged up on decimation and Clown got bed trapped and the cleaners won and the hearts were distributed and it was lifesteal's most highly rated event.

But this event-based plot that will work with just whoever is active, and whoever is active will naturally get whoever is not active to be active, and that will get the whole server active without you trying, is a wholly unique mindset that Spoke has that is different from any member who has tried to be the villain.

The abyss, to their credit, once they became a scavenger hunt event, saw wildly more player activity than when they were just a hole to the void. And Medusa and the s4 prison were both events as well, and they saw a good amount of intrigue.