#Life series analysis

[allay-uxini]

^ Amazing tags from my lovely mutual @/reblog-house, completely agree

Okay but people actually view Lizzie as the braincell of the Bamboozlers? I thought it was common knowledge that all three of them can be equally as stupid as each other?

However I do think that the reason for why Lizzie is characterised as that isn’t just misogyny (though that still plays a part) but also because Jimmy and especially Scar aren’t seen as very competent in the fandom with people overplaying how supposedly ‘bad’ they are at the games so they use Lizzie as a point of contrast. I think the more outspoken, rash and loud a character is the more likely the character is viewed as dumb (Scar, Bdubs, Jimmy etc.) even if they do a lot of smart and incredible things. Lizzie’s personality isn’t something that I consider “loud” or very overt unlike say Joel who is known for getting angry quickly, being full of himself etc. Lizzie on a surface level is very snarky and occasionally deadpan so people just characterise her as the ‘compotent’ one of the bamboozlers even though there is SO much more to her like how she gets paranoid quickly and gets very jumpy, she sometimes like being silly, sometimes she doesn’t pick up on other people’s jokes, she enjoys playing the villain, all of that just gets thrown away from her character because it’s simpler to view her as just ‘the rational one’. All these bamboozlers are competent, they just can sometimes make mistakes in their judgement and not be very situationally aware, just like the rest of us.

Also I find it weird that the fandom likes to say Lizzie “saved Jimmy from the canary curse” when it’s really just a situation of wrong place, wrong time. Lizzie was at her lowest in secret life because even though in last life she lost her home and dealt with Cleo’s betrayal, in secret life she was completely alone and didn’t have anyone she truly could call her friend with the slumber party being the final nail in the coffin as it showed that in her server, most people forgot about her. Because of this loneliness she makes some irrational decisions like the invisible skeleton horse that got her killed by Jimmy and she clung onto the only person who was there for her sleep over, her husband Joel so she agrees to help him with his task and because she never realised Joel failed early, she went after Scott and got herself killed.

Lizzie didn’t get first out because she was trying to save Jimmy but because she became just as reckless as Jimmy because Jimmy was in a safer position this season with a steady ally and his ally being the only other red so he didn’t have to worry about traps.

Lizzie being reckless and dying first doesn’t make her incompetent but it means she’s flawed. The fandom should acknowledge Lizzie’s more interesting flaws in the life series because only then can you truly understand her character.

My thoughts on the women being the brain cell thing is that men are "supposed" to be like. Hyperactive and goofy so when they do it it's normal. Even when they're not acting that way, they're purposely interpreted that way (I see this a lot with Grian). This creates a contrast between them and women, making women seem reasonable even if they're not being reasonable (Pearl is often very reckless in the life series, but people like to see her as motherly for some reason). Therefore, they're labeled as the brain cell.

I am at school and have only skimmed your posts so I'm sorry if I've literally just repeated what you or someone else has already said lol

Nods nods. It is a weird double standard but it's even weirder that the women are simultaneously largely presented as more competent and smart by the fandom, for feats that I'd argue are not exclusive to them, ignoring their flaws and failures, while also letting those failures define them, but almost exclusively to further the sisterly or motherly notion. Biggest victim of course being Lizzie "taking on the canary curse". Like isn't is so weird that people paint ONE early death of hers as having literally anything to with Jimmy, to the point that most characterization I've seen of her is the "curse", how she fell into the void, how Jimmy was saved thanks to her. I am THE Jimmy guy man and yet it drives me nuts because it's such a disservice to the both of them. How her death isn't about her but treated as honorable to the benefit of a guy, as if she was an unwilling or willing sacrifice for Jimmy. Makes me feel icky. Her character in SL has so much to say about her. Same with WL but most I see is "haha thats the braincell of the loser trio!"

Sorry it takes literally so little to make me go on tangents about Lizzie's characterization lol but yeah. The women are most definitely just treated inherently different from the male players by a large chunk of the fandom which just deepens the misogyny

[mcytmetazine]

What's this? A new zine?! That's right! :D

Welcome to the MCYT Metazine! This project will focus on analysis across MCYTblr, with the aim of celebrating the work people have done within the fandom. There's plenty more to come, so stay tuned and give us a follow!

But for now...

OUR INTEREST CHECK IS OPEN!

(It'll be open until the 1st of February!)

[astronomodome]

(link to twitter post)

This is so right though… I feel like this is a feature of the ‘new’ kind of life serieses (NOT to make that a term or to imply any stage of the life series is any better or worse than another) where things are more well understood. It’s not Grian’s experimental miniseries anymore; it’s its own thing with expectations behind it, one of those being that players will separate out into teams as units through which the season will be understood. And I feel like, especially in later seasons*, this has led to a sort of unnatural drive during the first session or two to sort themselves and each other out into teams. Instead of the players being separated in (often fluid) allegiance based on interaction and genuine points of conflict it feels noticeably more arbitrary, based on the understanding that they should have a (marketable) team dynamic ready to go day one.

Not to be all hurr durr new life series bad, I feel as though this not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s something I think should be understood from an analysis standpoint. Especially as we look at arcs like sl!scar and the heart foundation where they were very much shaped by (failure or struggle to) sort themselves into a coherent unit

*I feel as though this really started in limlife though I think this may be a personal bias thing since that’s the first season I watched live

If anyone has further thoughts on this I’d love to discuss with the class :3

[crystaljellie]

Scott and Pearl analysis moment

Because I’m sick and tired of people mischaracterising C!Scott he is not evil!! Pearl does not hate him!! She’s bitter sure but she doesn’t hate him.

Starting with them in last life Pearl and Scott always sticking by each other always being there for each other, I’ve seen so many “Scott was using Pearl” because he wanted a life from her. Like he’s trying to live?? It’s different from Grian stealing a life from Scar and then tormenting him and giving him nothing in return. Scott does his absolute best to protect Pearl protect their house and spend time with her.

He’s a good friend. And he’s absolutely heartbroken when she dies, because Scott knew she was going to but he didn’t want her to go before him. And he definitely keeps his cool because Scott isn’t the kind of guy to go if the rail easily, the way you can tell Scott is angry is by how reckless or determined he gets. In third life he’s distraught by Jimmy’s death and then rushes in and dies quickly because he doesn’t want to be alone. And in last life he kills Ren because he killed Pearl. He’s doing it to avenge her.

He’s glad when he wins but he’s not upset when he dies either. He’s annoyed that he didn’t get to choose his own death but. He celebrates winning because he doesn’t have to lose anybody else.

And so jump to double life and all of a sudden the person he loves so much and has gone out of his way to protect doesn’t even take the time to go looking for him, so you can see why he’s upset. And it’s the biggest miscommunication moment ever because Pearl is expecting to go back and have Scott waiting with open arms for her, and she can’t explain to him and doesn’t understand what she did wrong, which tbh is nothing but that doesn’t make the way Scott feels invalid either.

And then it kind of all goes to shit, Scott’s more snappy and on edge this season because he won the last one and ya know winners trauma. And he honestly doesn’t want to win again so when Cleo suggests tormenting Pearl (I think that’s how it happens I don’t remember it might have been scar with the snow buckets first) he’s all for it!! Because he’s hurting!!

And pearl on the other hand is left alone and has no idea what to do with herself, because sure she can handle being alone but she can’t handle being alone like this, where’s she’s forced into isolation, she’s going crazy because she feels like everyone she loves has left her, she’s mad at Scott and she’s more mad at Cleo because she feels like Cleo has stolen him from her. And so she lashes out because it’s all she knows how to do here, and in a death game what’s a better form of communication than violence?

But she doesn’t want Scott to die not because she wants to live but because she still cares even if she doesn’t want to care. She wants Scott to hurt because she’s hurting, but like Scott in last life she can’t bare to see him die before her.

She’s winning this to prove herself to be someone who doesn’t need Scott. But she still cares so much and she hates it, that’s why she spends the first couple sessions trying to win him back.

And Scott is with Cleo but he feels alone too, because Cleo’s relationship with Martyn isn’t as strained as his is with Pearl. And he knows it’s his fault, he does. That’s why he starts trying to sabotage other relationships, so he doesn’t have to feel as bad.

That’s why he’s careful to stay alive, so he can make it up to Pearl in some way.

He avoids everything he can that might make him face that guilt. But he’s hurt and is stuck with all the blame placed on him. Everyone KNOWS it’s Scott’s fault Pearl is the way she is. But no one but Cleo acknowledges this which makes Scott more bitter, and honestly he’s a little bit scared of Pearl not that he’ll admit that to anyone ever.

But him feeling this guilt is why he kills himself at the end that and because he’s scared of winning again. But he knows he doesn’t deserve getting to where he’s gotten to, and with his self sacrificial nature he’s trying to make it up to her. If she watches him hurt and hurt and die, maybe she’ll feel better.

AND SHE DOES FORGIVE HIM!!! NOT BECAUSE SHE LIKES SEEING HIM HURT!! SHE HATES THAT PART!! SHE FORGIVES HIM BECAUSE SHE CAN SEE HOW MUCH HE CARES! And obviously she’s still a little bit bitter because like who wouldn’t be. But she forgives him and she can see he’s trying that he feels awful about it, so awful that actually kills himself.

And you can see how double life effects both of them moving forward, mainly Scott, he’s scared of hurting anyone the way he hurt pearl, so he goes out of his way to let his friend and allies kill him over and over so he can be of use to them, because he’s realised that his life, lives can be used as currency as friendship as a way to get people not to hate him. He’s putting himself on sale.

He does it in secret life too giving up his lives his hearts his safety, just to be of use. He can’t even bring himself to really care when people betray him, because hey he betrayed Pearl worse right?

Pearl is so much more unhinged after double life too so much more reckless. Because why try and stay hinged when you’re going to loose everything anyways?

And coincidentally all of pearls allies start dying before her, and Everytime it happens she’s just reminded of double life, of that tower, of everything bad that ever happened. And because of that she can’t bring herself to forgive Scott yet. Because she doesn’t feel loved yet.

And then wild life comes, and they team together again, and yes it starts with some bickering and fighting but they needed to get that out they needed to bring it up so they can let it go.

Pearl has her own issues with Gem that season sure, but she gets something close to closure with Scott. Not proper closure, because they’re in a death game, they don’t have enough time they never will. But she gets a real end, and gets a chance at a real friendship with Scott again. She even gives him her hoodie when he turns red. They stick together they’re friends again.

Pearl doesn’t hate him!! He doesn’t belittle her!! I keep seeing “oh Scott didn’t trust Pearl oh he’s treating her badly because he’s keeping her on a leash and not enabling her chaos!!” HES WORRIED ABOUT HER??? HE WANTS HER TO BE SAFE AND KEEP THE TEAM SAFE AND THE ONLY WAY IN SCOTTS BRAIN IS TO CONTROL??? HE DOESNT NOT BELIEVE SHE CAN DO IT HES JUST WORRIED FOR HER FUCK OFF MAN

Anyways, and then Scott dies before Pearl and she doesn’t have the time for a reaction.

It’s not over for them, it’s not close to being over, but it’s getting better. And they’re BOTH getting a chance to heal, not just Pearl, because Pearl wasn’t the only fucking person that got hurt.

Sometimes I wonder if people watch the series with their eyes closed and volume off because how could you ever believe that Pearl truly hates Scott?

[allay-uxini]

The wild life finale has made me insane over Traffic!Lizzie and I’m now working on a super long life series Lizzie analysis!!!! Here’s a screenshot of my unhinged outline for the thing

Full analysis coming soon! (Maybe)

[fei-rest]

Short Analyses of Every Life Series Finale: How Each Finale Is Connected to Respective Season Themes/Gimmicks

Analysed through the lense of Watcher lore/Martyn’s EaE AU (Real Life not included because it’s an April Fools special but Cleo’s win still counts)

Very general analysis, I just noticed some kind of connections/coincidences and wanted to write them down.

3rd Life 🏜️

The first season. Intended to hopefully be a fun, collaborative game, but turned into an epic drama filled with both tragedy and comedy (as the Watchers meant it to be, a death game). Grian’s final duel with Scar sets the tone for the entire series and the seasons to come, being that while this series is comedic in elements, but it’s ultimately a tragedy from all perspectives.

Last Life ⚔️

A season centred around deception and the breaking of alliances from paranoia and betrayal. Scott rejects the Boogeyman curse and the honourable PvP duel at the end is a great antithesis to this season’s entire tone and theme, suggesting that hope and honour can still be held onto even with all this uncertainty and betrayal. (Crudely speaking: Last Life finale is a big fuck you to the Watchers)

Double Life 💔

A season centred around relationships and bonds. Pearl is isolated and rejected by not just her soul bound, but the entire server. At the end, forgiveness is achieved with sacrifice, an action that could be considered the ultimate act of love within a death game, reinforcing the theme of bonds, love and honour in the face of suffering.

Limited Life ⏳

A season centred around the desperation for time. The clock is constantly ticking. When every player will die anyway, it’s just a matter of who dies last. Martyn’s final betrayal emphasises the ambition to win and desperation for time in this season. He tells us that honour actually means little in the Life Series and it is still every player for themselves, thus breaking the “return to honour” pattern established previously.

Secret Life 📜

A season centred around secrets and keeping secrets can have dire consequences. Scar was made a villain by the secrets and subsequently isolated from the server. In the end, he embraces this villain persona and claims victory with no secret to keep, as the final task was “Win Secret Life”. One that is truly alone has no secrets to keep from others, as who is there left to care about their secrets?

Wild Life 🎲

A season centred around unpredictability, with many patterns established in the previous seasons broken. In a season where player agency centred around the wildcard gimmick, the final fight gave the final players back that choice to take charge of their journey and fight for victory. Joel, the wildest player of the cast, seizes his victory with confidence. Having held in his typical wild and chaotic self for the entire season, he embraces whatever fun that the death games have at the end. His win tells us that the players are starting to truly have fun with the situation they are in and are now playing for themselves, and no longer for the prying eyes of the Watchers, no longer obeying patterns inflicted onto them.

[notquitesummer]

I think the biggest appeal of the third life desert duo storyline to me is the fact that they broke all the established rules.

Scar turns red and he doesn't turn on Grian like he's supposed to. Grian, a green life, kills three people under Scar's name. Even in the end, they still claim it as a double victory despite the very rules of the game stating that there can only be one winner.

Idk I'm probably not articulating it as clearly as I'd like to, but it's still just so insane to me how the entire course of the life series could have been very different depending on how the first game played out, and yet Grian, the maker of the game, bent, if not broke the rules for Scar multiple times. Scar himself laid the grounds for how yellow/red lives should act because he was the first in the entire history of the life series to reach them. Together, they blurred the lines between "rules" and "suggestions" and I think that has contributed so much to this series we've all come to love.

I mean, we all know and love the lilacs and poppies moment, I'm pretty sure the line "can we still be friends?" is all but etched in our minds at this point, but just talking a second to imagine what could've happened had Scar not returned to the ravine with flowers in hand is mind boggling. Bamboozling, even.

Would all red names from that point on play solo? What then would happen to the Red King? His Hand? What of double life? Would soulmates split up? Would soulmates have even been a twist in the first place? idk its just crazy that we've gotten so many interactions and beloved moments all because someone broke the rules at the very start.

And idk you can kinda see that repeating trend of bending/breaking rules a little bit more with each season, in different interactions, even in how different the twists to each game are, becoming less and less uniform and more and more open to creative input, allowing the creators to weave and tell their own stories, to bend the rules whichever way suits them to fit their storyline.

Take Martyn's Eyes & Ears AU for example-- according to his storytelling, the emotions the Watchers hate the most are love and trust, so for a character that is trying to rebel against the Watchers, what better way is there to do so than to stick with their closest ally even on their red life? To break Their rules?

And Grian and Scar aren't the only ones to break the rules either! Scott's refusal to conform to the boogeyman curse in Last Life set a precedent as well! As did his and Cleo's refusal to team with their soulmates in Double Life. I'm so interested to see how this trend of breaking rules continues throughout the series... who knows! Maybe we'll get someone just start killing right off the bat as a green life! Maybe Scar wears that helmet on purpose! Maybe someone will win without ever spilling a drop of someone else's blood! The possibilities are endless and yet ever-expanding.

And idk maybe it was all bound to happen this way anyway, maybe it didn't really even matter that Scar brought back flowers, because someone was going to break a rule somewhere along the line regardless, but it's interesting food for thought, wouldn't you agree?

[mleemwyvern]

Life Series Solar System- a Winner's Symbolism Ramble

So we all know the winners of a life series get assigned space motifs, right? We've got sun, stars, and moon solidly covered. What about the planets?

I'm Mleem, I go feral about symbolism in an unscripted block people series, and here's the list of which lifer I would assign to each of the planets. This list does not contain all lifers. I do not have ideas for all lifers. I have planets and I'm a space nerd.

MERCURY- SCAR

All planets but Earth are named after Roman deities. Some domains of the god Mercury include trickery, thievery, and commerce. Sound like anyone? GoodTimesWithScam himself is right at home with all of that. It's also the closest planet to the sun [gestures at desert duo] and its very high temperature seems fitting for HotGuy.

VENUS- SKIZZ

Venus is the goddess of love. Love is stored in the Skizz. He's been the kindest person throughout his series, and puts his love for his friends over all else. Plus, Heart Foundation. Venus as a planet, however, is an extremely brutal and deadly place, just like how Skizz can easily succumb to bloodlust. He may be loving, but he is not harmless.

EARTH- GEM

Gem is extremely associated with nature, with her cottagecore aesthetic being one of the reasons. But Gem also embodies the darker parts of nature- she is deadly and predatory. She is life in all its parts, fitting for our living planet. She's also a great duo with Pearl, our local moon!

MARS- MARTYN

Listen, I know Martyn's cosmic motif is debated, but I really think Mars fits him. First off, his name means "devoted to mars". Secondly, the hand of dogwarts and the victor with the most brutal win works very well with the planet named for the god of war.

JUPITER- IMPULSE

The biggest planet, named for a god of storms and lightning. Electrical impulses, perhaps? True to its name, Jupiter is a stormy planet, with its very well-known Great Red Spot being a storm that never stops. Seems fitting for the guy who never, ever lets a grudge go. Also, fun fact- Jupiter has a nearly identical composition to that of a star. And they're both Scotts.

SATURN- BDUBS

Yes, I know he built the earth, but hang on a second. While Saturn, in Roman mythology, is most well known for. uh. something horrible, he was also the titan of time. Something Bdubs is very, very associated with. Saturn as a planet is known for it's beautiful rings, which. Just feels very Bdubs to me. Maybe it's the canonical marriage in Double Life.

URANUS- JOEL?

This is the one I'm least certain on. The Joel association is mainly vibes, pulling from the fact that Uranus in mythology was a sky god (the first one, before Jupiter showed up) and so was Joel in Empires. But really, it's mostly because he'd find the name funny. Someone had to be it.

Uranus is also sideways. The planet is on its side compared to everything else in the Solar System. This doesn't help the Joel vibes, I just wanted to mention it.

NEPTUNE- LIZZIE

What better lifer for the planet named after the god of the seas, than the Ocean Queen herself? An incredibly distant planet, and a player that hasn't joined many series, Neptune also has a very interesting trait to its orbital path- very rarely, it will cross that of Pluto, making Neptune the most distant. And that brings us to...

PLUTO- JIMMY

Who else but our canary in the coal mine, first to fall all but once, to take the (dwarf) planet named for the god of the underworld. Death, and the underground. Demoted once-planet with cringefail swag, yet still beloved by many. The furthest away from the center of our solar system, and perhaps thats why he's so vulnerable to dying first. Maybe Lizzie and him crossed orbits, and that's why she fell first instead.

[allay-uxini]

Ok so there are a lot of thematic parallels and subversions in scar’s ending and I highly doubt I will be able to scratch the surface of all of them but here are the main ones (warning this is a lot):

3rd life parallels

-Before the final dual Pearl asked Scar to take her out for the hearts but Scar refused as he wanted a fair fight which is similar to how Scar told Grian to kill him but he refused

-The final dual was a 1v1 between Scar and Pearl reminiscent of the cactus ring where the loser died from falling from a height however this time scar was the victor

-The person in chat who let Scar know that he won was Grian which can be interpreted as Grian congratulating a former ally and him showing scar his sympathy as they now share the same pain of killing an ally and being left complete alone

-Grian won on a cliff during the day, Scar won in a ravine at night

Double life

-Scar won without any proper allies which is very similar to Pearl’s win in double life where she was completely alone and abandoned by everyone with both of them vilified by the rest of the server and not being in the best mental state because of it

-In double life Scar was the only person who consistently cared for Pearl and supported her in her crazy antics and he never tried to seriously hurt her even after he turned red, sure she did end up forming the broken hearts alliance with you and Ren but only after you both left her. Pearl letting Scar into the mounders alliance feels like Pearl’s way of repaying him back for the kindness he gave to her

-Pearl letting Scar join her alliance can also be seen as her making sure Scar doesn’t go through the same thing as her allowing him to have some form of friends, to not feel so alone like how her victory was even if for a short time and she also let’s Scar have his dual as a way to not repeat Scott’s sacrifice

-Pearl is said to have “left the tower” as she has proper allies now who she loves and is loved by and people are now saying that Scar has “left the desert” as he fought in a 1v1 and won and he never teamed up with Grian finally letting him go. They have left their trauma and can now heal.

-The fact that the final battle was between Scar and Pearl makes the Scarlet Pearl parallels much sadder

limited life

-You and Scar both only won when you weren’t with your 3rd life ally (Ren and Grian) and you both won with the main symbol of your 3rd life alliance (dogwarts banner for you, lilacs and poppies for scar)

-You both defied a main convention of winners in the life series with you winning by not having a fair battle and going insane and Scar being the only winner not to die

-Scar killed both Cleo and Etho who were his “parents” in limited life

-Scar's response to being accepted into the mounders was "so you're saying I have a family now" which is reminiscent of the clockers family which was arguably his happiest and healthiest alliance

Non-specific

-Scar was the only winner who chose to not die in the end and is still alive. He could have died by letting the zombie that was attacking him kill him but he didn’t. Is trapped by the watchers or has he escaped them, is he eternally alone or is he the only one free? Who knows but the fans will go insane about it regardless.

-The first one out, Lizzie, and Scar the winner were both the ones without allies and were completely alone in the series

-The mounders alliance that he joined has Bdubs who was his limited life ally and Joel who was his Last life ally

-Scott didn’t want Scar and Jimmy to team up initially because of Jimmy’s curse and Scar's notorious bad habit of not paying attention to how much damage he taken, out of fear that they'd get each other out but the canary curse was broken and scar won

-Earlier in the episode Scar said "who cares, really, know, at the end? we all just die, and then it's just nothing, after this" however he never died in the end subverting his own line

-Scar was alone and isolated for the whole series yet he has the thematic parallels to 3 out of the 4 winners (I only watched last life in Lizzie’s perspective so I got nothing for Scott)

Rn now these are only ones I can think of. If I missed any then everyone else will have you covered. Inthelittlewood if you have read all of this then I hope this was entertaining. I absolutely loved this series and everyone did such a fantastic job. I hope you have a wonderful day and can hopefully endure the insanity that has descended onto this fandom.

how you feeling about scars ending? there were so many little nuggets of stuff that what really kinda poetic- whether it was purposeful or not

Please elaborate on the poetic bits, I've yet to watch his episode yet. I'm actually clueless as to what happened after I died because life has been none stop for me since that session!

Would be good to have those deets ahead of my lore chat stream in a few days

[nerdyenby]

Sorry, your boyfriend got reincarnated. Yeah, he doesn’t remember that time you murdered him with your bare hands. He doesn’t know how much you love him. He doesn’t know that you’ve killed for him. He doesn’t know that you’ve killed him. He doesn’t know it’ll happen again. As he takes your hand and your heart, and you laugh from atop an animal the two of you ride together, he doesn’t know you’ve been here before. He doesn’t know it’ll happen again.

[hermitcraftx]

Joel winning the Life Series where he centered his entire gimmick this season around Family under the guise of "Joel Toretto" makes me insane because he was alone for so long in the Life Series and it works out so perfectly that the guy who was allergic to allies for the start of the life series and had to be forced into it with soulmates wins the season he focuses on Family. Poetic cinema.

1. Third Life Joel. No friends. No allies. He joined up with Monopoly Mountain last minute and died out of sight of either of them, mostly alone. He had a house full of dogs, not full of friends (and where is that familiar?), and nobody really mourned him when he was gone, offhand comments and brief "Oh No!s" following his death. Being alone got him nothing.

2. Last Life Joel. No friends. He's alone again, for the most part. In Last Life there's a lot of unknowns, a lot of instability- people can get back in yellow or green, or they try, so Joel has temporary red alliances with the likes of Scar and Grian but they don't last. He's alone. Again. Joel laments it, in one of his videos, IIRC, that he's bad at making allies, and "look at where it got him". The closest person he had to an ally in Last Life was Grian when they were both red, Grian seeing first hand how insane and blood thirsty Joel becomes on red. They call themselves the Deadliest Duo, and they kill people, and they laugh when they die. But Joel dies, still, killed by Scott, shortly after Grian permadies.

3. Double Life. Now it's different. Now we're seeing some changes. Joel gets put with Etho, who off the bat immediately considers him a liability, a notion he rejects and fights against to get Etho to respect him. He builds Etho a ship to try and impress him. Etho purposefully takes fall damage to remind him of what's at stake. He's not just a lone wolf, anymore, Etho's life is in his hands and he's not happy about it. Joel hates it, being treated fragile and like a bomb to go off. Eventually, they find out they work together well, they get killed, they go red and Joel goes crazy. Red rage is a real, definable, re-occuring phenomenon for Joel, he IS angry and he DOES want to make people pay. Etho in the life series is usually more reserved, and he holds Joel back, yes, but Joel also helps Etho out of his shell and pushes him to do things he wouldn't normally do. The ship burns everything burns. And then they burned. And Joel's first real alliance goes up in flames, literally.

4. Now Joel has a taste of what it's like to not be alone the entire season. He teams up with Jimmy and Grian, his Bad Boys, and he's fiercely loyal to them, and then to him. (Even Grian by his standards is FIERCELY loyal to the Bad Boys- I mean, he doesn't even kill one of them! I think. Not permanently?) He changes his skin, matching leather jackets, these are his people. And he'd die for his people. Joel and Grian try their best to keep Jimmy alive, Joel going so far as to say he'd have sacrificed himself to keep Jim alive, but it wasn't enough, he wasn't quick enough, and he died right afterwards, leaving Grian alone. But he wasn't alone. And he didn't go out alone.

5. Secret Life is.... weird. He has allies, yes, but it's a bit of a strange situation, he allies with the Mounders and he lives a bit of a ways away from them, not quite in the group but not quite out of it. But he doesn't want to be alone again. He knows what happens when you're alone in this game, and he doesn't ever want that to happen to him again. Mumbo goes out almost immediately following Jimmy, the third to go out. Pearl IIRC betrays the Mounders and messes around with Gem, which is really funny given the events of Wild Life. It's only him and Bdubs at the end, both murdered by Scott.

6. Now. Wild Life. Again. Joel knows what happens if you're alone in this series, and he never wants it to happen to him again. So he bases his persona around a movie character, one that everyone knows and likes, he thinks. He makes himself someone that he thinks people will want to befriend, one where he won't have to be alone. He makes himself look strong, fake muscles clumsily attached to his arms, quoting about family and the importance of it, a vast difference from the lonely man in 3rd Life and Last Life who couldn't be assed to find allies. And it works. He has Gem- and everyone fears them, for once. Everyone already knows Joel is insane, but with Gem behind him, he's a significant threat. Gem keeps him grounded, and from doing stupid shit that gets him killed. They have Etho, and he comes and visits, which is nice. Everyone struggles a lot with the Wild Cards early game but them, neither of them losing lives for several sessions. Joel even comments that normally he's red by session 4, and he doesn't know what to do with himself without all that anger. He lives his best life, with Gem, with his car.

And then Grian's allies die, and isn't that familiar, and Joel lets him into the Family, because of course he would, allying with Grian is like second nature to him at this point. Maybe he feels guilty for leaving him in Limited Life, or maybe he just knows what it's like to be alone and doesn't want that for him. Who knows. He tries and fails at building traps. As soon as he's yellow he gets a double kill on Scott and Pearl, and Grian and Jimmy scream with him like old times. And it's okay, I mean it's stressful and it's like the end of the world but Joel's doing okay, he has his family, he's not alone.

And then the finale comes and it's so hectic and so many people are trying to kill him and Grian saves him, Grian tries so hard to save him, and isn't that something. Being worthy of being saved by Grian. And Gem goes out, not even to a player, to a vex, one of his family members is gone and it's so hectic Joel can't even stop to mourn or he, too, will die. And then he finds Grian and he stumbles to him screaming "Thank God you're alive!" because it had gotten so crazy, so wild that Joel didn't truly even know if Grian was alive, but he was, he still had Family, he wasn't alone again, not this time. And Grian says that he thinks Joel can win, Joel can win, that he'll give Joel his life, that it's about time he wins and Joel gets flashbacks to wanting to die for Jimmy, and Scar wanting to die for Grian and what that did to him, and he doesn't want that, but GOD he wants to win. So badly. And then Grian got knocked off the tower with Bdubs, ender pearling off, screaming how he refused to go like Mumbo, like Skizz, not on his tower and Joel's running, EVERYONE is targeting him, Grian takes out Pearl and Joel takes out Cleo and Ren.

And then it's just them, then it's just Joel and Grian, and Joel can't even find Grian, he just heard the arrows as Grian tries to shoot him, going back on his word as expected, which Joel-- Joel is glad for. Because he wanted to win this on his own terms, he wanted to win because he won, he would not be given anything. He's not alone this time. And he charges up the tree, and he kills Grian, kills his Family, his Bad Boy, his red friend, his ally in the sand, screaming that he's sorry, and Joel laughs.

Joel laughs, and laughs, and laughs.

[crystaljellie]

There's gonna be a big long post coming later today, got really inspired by all the love on my song analysis post so I've decided I'm going to take every song in my Scott playlist (There's 46) and go through and do a mini analysis for each of them! This'll be a bit of a project since I'll try to do this for every lifer of course some playlists are much shorter than others with my smallest playlists (BigB, Mumbo, Impulse and Bdubs) only having 8 songs, but this is something really fun for me and I hope it's enjoyable!

[allay-uxini]

YOU PEOPLE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS

One is the champion of the stars and the other the champion of the moon

One dances at the top of the world and the other used to reside there

One who had to accept a sacrifice and the other who refused it

One surrounded by friends and companions, revered and respected by all and the other alone, forgotten and underestimated

One who's feared by all during secret life and the other who was feared during 3rd life yet deep down they're both kind souls who just want to have fun and be free

Scar was once like Gem, bold and adventurous, didn't care for the rules placed upon him, viewing the world as nothing but a silly game, always taking everything for granted..... That is, until he couldn't anymore

Until he had to learn what it's like to be alone, unable to escape the rules of the game forcing him to fall into solitude

Perhaps he sees his past self in Gem, bold, naive, not a single care in the world

Perhaps that's why he can spot Gem's trap, because he too was once unafraid of taking risks and overconfident, willing to take his chances even if they don't work out

Perhaps that's why he had to kill her, to finally kill a version of himself long gone, a version who would choose to create a sand monopoly rather than mine for resources that would actually help him, a version who isn't afraid to step on the toes of the members of the server with the strongest enchantments, a version who was willing to start an entire war for the sake of a llama, a version who took his only companion for granted

save me sl!gem and sl!scar as character foils save me

[allay-uxini]

Thinking about the blue sword boys and the fact that even though they were one of the first alliances in the entire series the three of them never teamed up together with only two of them ever teaming up and the third being an enemy.

In 3rd life Grian was serving Scar and was opposing Martyn and BigB of the red army

In last life Grian and Martyn were teamed up as the southlanders with BigB in the fairies of the castle alliance (hilariously Martyn then betrayed the southlanders to join BigB and become the shadow alliance)

In double life Grian and BigB were secret soulmates with Martyn joining Ren (the guy BigB was cheating on) and Pearl to become the broken hearts club. Grian and BigB were part of the red team and Martyn the yellow team.

In limited life after Grian lost his bad boys he joined BigB's alliance of the nosy neighbours who were enemies of the Mean Gills, Martyn's alliance (not 100% sure I haven't finished watching the finale)

Somehow it was only until secret life that the three of their paths (at least in terms of actually being allies/enemies) never crossed which hilariously means that this alliance has a more convincing "bound by faith" narrative than desert duo, renchanting or box boys (not to throw any hate to them I LOVE those duos don't worry)

Something also needs to be said about how back in 3rd life BigB was the ONLY one to still use a diamond sword with Grian switching to a netherite sword (he no longer uses diamond, he's no longer by their side but he's still the same Grian from day one, a Grian who still loves BigB) and Martyn a diamond axe (he's still blue, he's still by BigB's side but their dynamic has changed into something unrecognisable, no longer two blue boys but rather a hand and a soldier in a brutal war).

I just think there's a lot of untapped potential with this trio that the fandom is sleeping on.

[astrowarr]

i feel like there's this really common misconception that since 3rd life, scar has repeatedly been some helpless victim to grian as he yearns for him but is disregarded at every turn. but honestly, watching and analyzing both their povs especially from LL and DL, this is really untrue

you know, last life DOES have the whole "grian stealing scar's life" thing, but after scar takes yellow snow it's marked as water under the bridge for him. for GRIAN though...

there's this whole conversation early in the series where scar, unprompted, Immediately starts denouncing sand, talking about how annoying and disgusting it is. if i were grian, i would absolutely take that as him denouncing their past together, and everything they stood for in the desert. there's so much vitriol in his voice that it's actually jarring. there's more, too, like scar going back on the soul crystal deal.

throughout the rest of the season, the two of them keep gravitating around each other. it's especially grian though, where you blink and suddenly he's at scar's side. there's this strange scene from scar's pov where they're at the top of magical mountain, and the southerners are on their way out after enchanting as red joel comes in. as joel talks to scar, grian lurks threateningly and protectively in the doorway, sword and crossbow in hand and trained on joel. he wasn't told to. his team has left him as he stands there dutifully. he watches from the background and helps in the subtle ways he feels comfortable, because he's so hurt by scar's casual cruelty and disdain toward 3rd life.

even if you don't think grian particularly cared about scar in last life though, something to consider is that grian is a character highly motivated by guilt. it overwhelms him. it is his tragic flaw in so many scenarios. a character this prone to guilt hearing scar's hatred for what represented the two of them would absolutely take that as "he hates me for what i did to him; he can't forgive me for killing him."

now double life is a BEAST to tackle because there's so much. but the most important stuff happens in episode one, because— and genuinely no one acknowledges this— scar spends the entire thing declaring his hatred for soulmates. all he does is proclaim his unwillingness to participate in it all, to the point where he's not planning to find his soulmate at all, and says, and I quote, "i don't care about my soulmate."

he doesn't just do this when he's by himself, but he says it directly to grian. several times. he even says, after grian's reveal, "do we need to base together?" and ignores grian's heartfelt, sentimental plea of "We don't have to but… i-it might be nice. If I can… look out for you…” to instead run away and take damage on purpose.

he continues throughout the season to be much more devoted to the jellies than anything else. scar is the one who invents soulmate torture! and he thinks this up before grian is even considering the secret soulmate thing, and when he starts doing it, it's when grian is entirely innocent of any wrongdoing. he starts it when grian says the jellies can't stay inside the base, but conveniently in his first episode, he cut out the part where grian outright says "no" to letting them stay. scar brings them anyway, and then villainizes grian for holding firm on the boundary he already blatantly set earlier... he even tells pearl she's lucky she doesn't have to deal with having a soulmate?

idk there's so much to their relationship especially in double life that i didn't cover here that shows that, as much as grian verbally played the role of "unwilling partner" in double life, from the jump he was devoted and loving. you can never go by what grian says, you can only go by his actions!! and his actions said over and over that he loved scar and wanted to be with him even if he was afraid, but scar (albeit unknowingly) denounced their bond at every turn. and his mind didn't change on soulmates, even after he found out his was grian.

this is something i can talk about for a million years and i have so much textual evidence but yeah ANYWAY scarian is mutually so toxic and weird and in love and im obsessed with them

[ceratedfish24]

(This post has been altered to be more general. Please respond to replies and reblogs accordingly. Thank you.)

If I see one more post that villainizes Scott for attacking Joel, or anyone else, for that matter, I’m going to flip my lid.

First of all, it’s a death game. They don’t need a reason to kill each other. Scott and Joel are very close friends outside of the game. They used to be neighbors. The people who are closest tend to go after each other the hardest, because they’re the most comfortable with ending each other’s seasons.

Secondly, it’s not at all unreasonable. Joel’s whole thing is being a menace. He was upset when someone on reddit said that he’s “lawful good” in the Life Series. He said that his goal is to be “chaotic evil”. Joel is a constant menace to Scott and many of Scott’s allies. As a Joel viewer, you might see that as Joel being clever or powerful, but he is just a menace to almost everybody else and that is literally his goal. Of course Scott would want to push back a little.

Third, sure. Joel often doesn’t effectively do much to Scott. This is NOT due to a lack of effort. Joel tries incredibly hard to irritate Scott. It’s his love language. Joel and Scott are close, and Joel thinks it’s hilarious to get Scott riled up. It’s like targeting your brother in a game for the crime of being your brother. Joel failing to do harm to Scott is not the same as Joel doing nothing to hurt Scott. Joel has repeatedly made his intentions clear.

Fourth, the poster specifically mentioned that Scott killed Joel in Secret Life “without a reason”. Joel spent a whole episode of Secret Life recruiting three people to kill Scott. I think their rivalry is a pretty good reason, but, again, they don’t really need a reason. It is a death game. They are friends. They were on different teams. They are bound to attack each other. That’s how the game works.

Joel fans, you don’t ever have to defend Joel from Scott. If you were a real Joel fan, I think you would know that Joel loves Scott dearly and that’s why he’s such a menace to him. Don’t attack Scott for his mutual friendship with Joel. They know each other’s boundaries and have never stepped on them. The members of the Life Series have stated again and again that everyone in the Life Series shows a healthy and mutual respect and love for everybody else in the series and that, if it made it into a video, everyone is okay with it. Joel and Scott literally take time out of their day to excitedly talk about their sessions with each other by themselves. Take a chill pill. Scott and Joel are just fine.