#MARTYN AND JIMMY FRIENDSHIP!!!!! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ooooo-mcyt · 2 months ago

Note

no wait ur right. wait can u elaborate on desert duo + box boys + divorce quarter queer-codednees PLEASE ur right but i cannot put it into words

For me it's a matter of nonconformity.

The root of the queer coding in Double Life to me lays in the Double Life societal expectations. Soulmate relationships were held above all other relationships and there was an immense pressuring expectation to both be interesting in/prioritize the soulmate bond and to be with the "right" person, the person who you are assigned to and who it is "correct" to be with, who you are supposed to want to be with. To me this reads as a very strong standin for both amatonormativity and heteronormativity.

Scott and Cleo have always been the ones who immediately struck me as being very obviously queercoded with how they presented their narrative. Choosing each other and the joy they find together despite the expectations on them, and talking at length about how invaluable it is to find your own path and choose the kind of love that's true for you even if people think it's wrong and even if it's hard. It's also no surprise to me that the characters with the most explicit queer themes happen to be played by cc's who are both queer irl. It's also worth nothing how much the reaction of other players to their relationship adds to these themes- confusion, discomfort, even judgment. BigB tries to console Scott that there's still time to connect with his real soulmate. Jimmy repeatedly calls their relationship 'fake' to their faces. Nobody quite seems to understand.

The themes are less spelled out with Ren+Martyn and Grian+BigB, but they're still there. Ren and Martyn are both outwardly fixated with the people they're 'supposed' to be with, but at times it feels almost forced, like their minds are more on doing what is expected of them than on the actual people who are their soulmates, meanwhile they're frequently drawn toward each other in the background, because love doesn't care about the bounds of strict societal expectations. BigB and Grian have a very open struggle between what's expected of them and what they really want, because they want each other, regardless of what they're expected to want, and they're constantly torn between these two factors, trying to be together in secret because they don't feel like their relationship can be accepted publicly.

Scar is slightly different from the others in that he doesn't seem to want a relationship at all, which in of itself is a form of nonconformity. He's 'supposed' to want his soulmate, but instead Scar seems focused on himself, on his own projects, and on his connection with animals. This lack of concern with what is supposed to be the most important and special relationship is framed, by most people, as ridiculous, a failing on Scar's part, because of course anyone would care more about finding their soulmate than about the things Scar is focused on. Scar's desires conflict very strongly with the societal expectation for relationships in Double Life, and he struggles with the outside pressure to prioritize a relationship he never really wanted, just because he's expected to want his soulmate.

I'd say Pearl is the one I don't read queer themes as explicitly from. I always got the feeling she did want her soulmate, and that she did value soulmate relationships strongly, her isolation coming from circumstance rather than Pearl having fundamentally divergent desires. That being said! Pearl is also very very negatively impacted by societal standards of Double Life! I've said it many times, but Pearl wasn't isolated because Scott rejected her, Pearl was isolated because it was impossible to form a real support system in Double Life. Because the soulmate relationship was seen as so deeply important and was centered in everything, Pearl could never feel like she belonged anywhere, always an outsider looking in when she tried to form friendships with soulmate pairs. Pearl was also frequently either pitied or viewed as if there was something wrong with her for not having a soulmate, which reinforced how lonely, bitter, and hurt she was. Pearl doesn't have queer themes to me, but I view her as the symbolic standin for how amatonormativity and heteronormativity can be extremely damaging even for people who aren't queer through shaming and pitying people who don't have relationships, making them feel defective, and isolating them through making non-romantic connections seem less real or meaningful (in many cases this also disproportionately impacts women- who are in many cases valued solely through their relationships- and disabled people- who in many cases have a harder time making connections and are more likely to be viewed as 'defective' generally.)

Anyways sorry for rambling but Double Life is truly a story about amatonormativity and heteronormativity to me and I'm kinda insane about the themes.

#trafficblr #traffic smp #life series #double life smp #goodtimeswithscar #grian #bigb #rendog #martyn inthelittlewood #zombiecleo #scott smajor #pearlescentmoon

149 notes · View notes

genevawrenn · 2 months ago

Text

I've come to the conclusion Hermitcraft members each have an emotional support person they are certifiabley normal™ about and it's a little funny to me seeing them slowly pair up over the years.

Cause of course there is the classic Grian & Mumbo, or Grian & Scar, or some odd combo of the trio who have shared many silly times together, often causing chaos.

Then we have Etho & Bdubs, who will betray who they are with in a mere *heartbeat* if it would benefit the other.

Then there's whatever the hell Martyn & Rendog got going on, who find each other no matter the universe and are utterly devoted to the other. Even a wild card like Martyn has his heart, and it lies with a clever and charming soul who he once swore a vow to in tall cobblestone walls.

Cleo and Scott, of course, and their widows alliance regardless of server or series. Or Cleo & Bdubs, who never quite left that Crastle of stone fade into their memories and trust each other without question.

Then you have duos like Gem & Pearl or Skizz & Impulse who have been friends for years and have a very comfortable and bantering bond. Despite the teasing and tormenting, there is no question of their loyalty to one another.

Finally Tango & Jimmy who just today proved they will toss it all to the wind if it benefits the other and we have been so fed with content lately [3rd imposter Tango for Jimmy, like okay, betray *all* the hermits cause Jimmy said "please"].

Warms this corvid's heart seeing the friendships bloom over the years of content I've been catching up on and now following. It's sweet 💕

#wrennrambles #team rancher #crastle #renchanting #divorce duo #shinyduo #desert duo #hermitcraft #life series #mcyt #hermitblr

167 notes · View notes

thegremlininyourcloset · 8 days ago

Text

in my head jimmy and martyn are that one like. mildy toxic homoerotic teenage best friendship that permanently changed your brain chemistry that you will never truly be over

and for the record its mutual. martyn hides it better.

but jimmy haunts him

he tries to ignore the ghost

#martyn itlw #martyn inthelittlewood #jimmy solidarity #property police #solidwood

71 notes · View notes

th3-c0ll3ct3r · 2 months ago

Text

7 Deadly Sins Life Series Winner Additions from my twitter

Pride - Grian: because he always want to do the best and be the best. He'll put Jimmy down to be on top, be reluctant to work with Scar because it'll hold him back and complains when things don't go his way. The correct way. He has too much pride to accept when he's wrong but will blame anyone for anything when it doesn't go right

Lust - Smajor: have you seen his husband collection? 3rd Life he had Jimmy wrapped around his finger. Last Life he was on a flirty mission. Double life was double life. Limited Life he was with Martyn and I would like to offer my condolences to the editor that had to cut out half the recording of those 2 verbal sexting jokingly. Secret Life with Jimmy big Jam, and Scar who he was the only friend Scar had properly till the end. Wild Life and Jimmy, BigB, Impulse, Scar and arguable Etho. We'd be here all day

Gluttony - Martyn: To be gluttonous is to overindulge in something. And Martyn does this very often, with friendship, enemies, drama, gossip etc...

Envy - Pearl: Watch Double Life

Wrath - Joel: Watch any one of his POVs

Sloth - Cleo: they often rely on others, avoiding any of the heavier lifting at any chance. If they do not have to do something than they will not do it. Making connections is easier than doing things yourself and this is exactly what they do. Even simple things like mining for iron or food, if they don't have to do it then why bother?

Scar - Greed: He's a scam artist round the clock. Always wanting leverage and to keep resources and gain more. An example being the Enchanting Table or Sugarcane.

#mcyt #trafficblr #life series #grian minecraft #grian mc #scott smajor #smajor1995 #mcyt martyn #martyn inthelittlewood #inthelittlewood #pearlescentmoon #pearl life series #joel smallishbeans #smallishbeans #life series zombiecleo #zombiecleo #goodtimeswithscar #gtwscar #3rd life gtws

89 notes · View notes

elven-kisses · 1 year ago

Note

can we get some martyn and jimmy art looks at you with my large eyes pleadingly … they’re friendship is so silly to me

big dogs RUFF RUFF 🐶 🐶 🐶

#martyn inthelittlewood #itlwart #jimmy solidarity #property police #big dogs #(woof woof)#secret life #kit art

426 notes · View notes

freelancedeity · 1 month ago

Text

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals performed by the Life Series/Hermitcraft members

Please tell me your thoughts on my silly lil casting. Also if you haven't seen TGWDLM it's a musical about the zombie apocalypse, where all the zombies sing and dance. 10/10 would recommend to everyone.

Paul - Smallishbeans

He will not participate in the bit, and yet he IS the bit. A little deranged in a way that makes a compelling protagonist.

Emma - Grian

There's no difference between the permit office and a shitty coffee shop. Grian could absolutely embody a cynical and tired character whose customer service experience has taught them how to survive the apocalypse.

Bill - ImpulseSV

The Minecraft dad, and heart of the group. A character defined by friendship, and their support of others.

Ted - Martyn InTheLittleWood

Ted being the asshole character makes him hard to cast. But in the Life Series, Martyn has dropped some top tier trash talk and done some underhanded things to survive and win, which makes him a very fun fit for Ted.

Charlotte/Zoe - SolidarityGaming

I remember someone in the fandom once described Jimmy as a "wet paper bag of a man" which could also describe Charlotte well. We love them, even when they end up dying first.

Mr. Davidson/Sam/McNamara - Skizzleman

There is something manic in Jeff Blim's eyes that I truly believe only Skizz could match and I can't explain much more than that. But also the Poe Poe and Show Me Your Hands.

Alice/Greenpeace Girl/Nora - GeminiTay

This track has some varied characters. But all the characters have this confident (slightly violent) air that Gem could really embody. Also Alice being Bills daughter mirrors Gem calling Impulse her Minecraft dad.

Professor Hidgens - GoodTimesWithScar

Who else? Only Scar could perform Show Stoppin Number and I won't change my mind on that.

Thoughts? Feelings? (Also God I hope I embedded those gifs correctly where they credit the original poster)

54 notes · View notes

raticalshoez · 10 months ago

Text

I just feel the need to get this out there because this has been sitting in my Google Docs brainrot document:

I will always believe that Scar is the saddest, most tragic Life Series character.

I'm unsure whether this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I feel like if I were to ask people who they think the most tragic member is they might say Grian, or Martyn, or Jimmy simply because of #lore implications, but when I'm bored I like to reflect on the Life Series characters and...like...

3rd Life had Grian indebted to Scar, creating a narrative based around loyalty that inevitably had to end in tragedy when they were the last two standing, neither one of them wanting to be to one to lead to the dekise of the other. Everyone knows the origin story of Desert Duo, come on now. I'd argue this is one of Scar's less tragic seasons though because throughout the entire thing, he had the unfaltering loyalty of a person, and that loyalty didn't waver on his end either. One might be tempted to bring up the Bdubs friendship pass, but that was all part of a plan Scar formulated, and Grian just never happened to see the secret message sent to him. All in all, a story of companionship that's only tragic towards the end.

Then, Last Life comes, and he is lonely. People are really quick to point to Joel for being lonely this season, but if anything, I'd describe Joel as manic over just lonely. This whole season, Scar tries to make friends after losing his only one to the curse of a red life. Time and time again he's seen trying to help people, he acts as a life dispenser, and at every turn he us either dismissed and never truly seen as an ally, or he faces death, whether by natural causes or by the hand of another player. In fact, instead of making friends, he seems to make a sworn enemy out of Team BEST. This season is really what kickstarts Scar's progression into being one of the staples of Lonely Characters ™️ of the Life Series, for even his final death is practically alone, with no happy reunions with allies, and no boos from any sworn enemies either.

I could argue this is another case of Scar being faced with lonliness because his once closely knit ally in Grian, has now shown scorn for their new fated bond. Scar is left behind as Grian goes to be with BigB, and out of them two, BigB has the guilt to tell Ren the whole secret soulmate ordeal, but Grian keeps his mouth shut. Scar finds out about the whole situation on his own, bitterly offering gifts for Grian to give, and hanging out with Pearl, the girl who is quite literally the commonly accepted poster child for all aspects of loneliness depicted in the Life Series. In this series, I think Scar gets some sort of closure in Grian and him working together again towards the end of the season, but even so, the two of them die apart, in a way symbolizing the disconnect they had all season long.

Limited Life is quite possibly Scar's happiest season, and therefore I don't really have anything to say about it. I think to some degree, everyone in the Life Series has the ability to be an asshole, and I think every single character is morally grey, and with all that being said I think the person Scar needed most was Cleo. Sure, they enable him to be as chaotic as possible, and yeah, being around Ckeo thus season quite possibly made Scar the snarkiest he's been, but the connection he had with her, and just the Clockers overall was so strong. Yes, there's the whole Etho dad thing, and you could argue that's another tally for Scar's abandonment board, but really, that whole bit has always been more comedic to me than it has been entirely dramatic or angsty.

And everyone knows Secret Life. Once again, Scar finds himself in the role of the lonely merchant, running a shop solo, and constantly trying to make friends, but there is always something stopping him from doing so because something in this world HATES him. Scar doesn't make friends, no, in fact, the Secret Keeper screws him over so much that by the end of this season he is literally embracing the role of a villain. He goes on a killing spree, more successful than he's ever done before, and he finds himself face to face with Pearl, who wants him to take her life. He calls it lame, and not fair because if Pearl's good at the game, she should own it and between me and you personally, I think Scar's just got a soft spot for a fair fight between the last two standing. I think the saddest part of Secret Life is the lack of closure Scar gets because he is the only winner that doesn't get to die and meet in this sort of afterlife where everyone reunites and talks like friends again, as if they all hadn't caused each others' demise. Scar doesn't get that, and is instead stuck in, at least in Martyn's interpretation, an endless loop of pressing that succeed button over and over as he goes mad.

This is a ridiculously long post, but I just NEEDED to get it out of my system. I feel like people could argue the curse of having allies is more tragic because you have to witness their deaths, or you can make the argument that maybe trying to fund the most tragic Life Series character is redundant because with how this game is, everyone is bound to be tragic either way, and to which I say true. I just feel like in a game where it's so natural for people to split up into groups of 3, 4, sometimes even 5, Scar's a character that has ended up alone so many times. It's honestly quite insane. I will always say that Pearl and Joel are the lonely dog girl and lonely dog boy of the series, but if there was ever just...the Lonliest, that title would probably go to Scar.

#trafficblr #life series #3rd life smp #last life smp #double life smp #limited life smp #secret life smp #goodtimeswithscar #to me? this needed to me said just for my own good #i don't consider myself the most insane person when it comes to gtws but considering i wrote all of THIS just for his character?#i think i need to reconsider how insane i am about c!gtws

163 notes · View notes

thecoolerliauditore · 11 months ago

Text

Very Long Post about Flower Husbands, Interpretation and Character vs Content Creator

This is a toxic flower husbands post. Btw.

I'm not sure when or why it happened but somewhere between limlife and the 24th joelshipping discourse cycle, "flower husbands is toxic" became a mainstream opinion on both here and traffictwt, usually sourcing Scott's ingame words and actions as evidence.

This interpretation has existed within the fandom for a fairly long time, although the words "toxic" and "abuse" were often omitted. Here's one example of a popular post that implied FH was less than ideal for Jimmy.

This does not mean the interpretation was widely accepted, however - hell, I even put this under a cut and warning for a reason. For every toxic FH believer that comes crawling out of the woodwork there comes another post defending their legacy.

For the record, despite what some threads on twt I've read seem to imply: There is nothing morally wrong with liking a mcyt ship regardless of what discomforts other people see in it. There is no explicit "wrong" way to interpret the series. There is no canon. It's fandom shit. It's not that serious.

However, I'm unfortunately abnormal about this series and possibly mcyt as a whole. So I'm forced to grapple with the fact that most non-toxic flower husbands posts seem to either self-contradict or come off as purposefully trying to incite some sort of culture war. As such, here's a list of common arguments I see proposed against the toxic flower husbands interpretation and why I personally don't find them convincing:

The CC Side of Things

Alot of anti-toxic flower husbands posts will accuse toxic flower husbands fans of disliking Scott, the content creator IRL guy, and often imply the interpretation is born out of homophobia -- usually through some variation of the phrase that the interpretation villainzes "the only openly gay CC in the series"

I take issue with this. While Scott is the only homosexual CC in the series, Cleo and Martyn have both been here since 3L and are both very openly queer. Gem has also since joined. You could argue that Scott is The Gayest but that's opening a can of worms in terms of queer discourse I don't think I want to go touching anytime soon.

Even if he was the Only Queer CC In the Series, applying different standards of fanon to Scott just because he is gay feels.. wrong to me. In the same way it's often argued that Jimmy does not need to be babied from his friendship dynamic, Scott too is a grown man who can simply choose to not look at fanart/fanfic if it upsets him, which from what I have personally observed, he hasn't shown any sign of feeling "uncomfortable" by more intimidating or villainous portrayals in the past.

Here's an example of him liking my art that did not paint him in a completely morally good light.

Why can't gay people be calculating? Controlling? Abusive? Why are we applying a higher standard of morality to the gay CC when the rest of the fandom is having the time of their life calling Grian a homophobe, a murderer, calling Scar an arsonist, calling Martyn a loser and pathetic, so on and so forth. Is telling a story about an abusive gay relationship any more "problematic" than telling a story about an abusive straight relationship?

I don't want to imply anything about peoples intentions but it feels sometimes, to me, that the "homophobia" card is being played out of some obligation to protect Scott and his brand rather than out of genuine concern for homophobia in the fandom -- because then, I ask, where is that energy for critiquing the homophobic humour prevalent in CC circles?

I've certainly heard Jimmy make jokes about Scott's sexuality in videos before. Where's the breakdowns of the infamous "I am a straight man and would like to be represented as such" incident from Pirates? Where's that energy for referring to shipping as a "bit" or Etho "gagging" at fanart of him and Bdubs?

I'd even go to argue, in terms of homophobic caricatures, Martyn and Iskall are both often more akin to the classic "gay guy in love with you who won't take no for an answer" stereotype than Scott has been. Martyn at least we know is queer, does it simply not matter in his case? Despite the fact that Martyn is very much more villainized than Scott is, to the point where his Limlife win is often portrayed as maniacal and cackling rather than with the solemn acceptance of Scott's LL win or the heartbreak and regret of Grian's 3L win? Please know that I personally Do Not find these portrayals homophobic (although the Iskall side of things has peeved me in the past), I'm just questioning why homophobia in the fandom seems to start and end with one guy only.

In addition: "internalized homophobia" is certainly a thing, but the vast majority of toxic FH fans in my circle at least are very much gay. We're on Tumblr. Fork found in kitchen. I've seen more than one person express that Scott's behaviour in one or several of the seasons was reminiscent of a toxic or abusive ex, or reminded them of some other trauma. It just seems unkind to me to claim "homophobia" and then turn and tell very gay people talking about their very gay experiences that they are somehow The Problem.

Jimmy Likes It, Though

Often in response to toxic flower husbands posts, people will cite the many times Jimmy has said in the past that he actively requests to be bullied, as part of his youtuber persona, since he finds it funny.

I've always found this kind of strange, since unlike the homophobia claims which 99% of the time are unambiguously about the content creators, this is often said in response to people talking about the series as a story with characters first and foremost.

While the area of interpretation differs for all of us, most people do not choose to include behind-the-scenes youtube talk as part of their storyline, since this detail changes Jimmy's character drastically and impacts the tone of the series overall. So what, they were dropped into a death game arena and Jimmy... told everyone they should bully him, cus he thought it'd be funny? Offscreen, with no interactions or monologue in the series itself even alluding to it? It's kind of awkward to work in and there's really no reason to if what you are invested in is viewing the series as essentially an ultra meta theatre performance.

Now, I personally do work in some out-of-series material into my headcanons and interpretation, so let's say that Is a canon part of Jimmy's character -- maybe he knew the group beforehand and this was their established dynamic, or he simply offscreened it all. Now we have to deal with the fact that this is interpretation and the unreliable narrator aspect of the series.

Jimmy (the character) might've asked for this, but under what circumstances? Why does he want this? Is this really healthy behaviour or is it self-destructive? I never see this explored and instead "Jimmy says it's okay" is treated as word of god, which I find to be painful to deal with when it comes to this series (I'll get to this later).

Even if we throw out the character side of things completely, there are perfectly valid issues to have with this dynamic. I've seen people debating the ethics of presenting this type of humour to a young impressionable audience, I've seen people who find it upsetting because it reminds them of their own toxic friendships. CCs have no authority here, Jimmy does not decide where peoples discomfort starts and ends.

I admit this is a far reach, but indulge me and imagine for a second if the roles were switched and the homophobic jokes about Scott were what was leaned in to but Scott claimed he "liked being bullied". Would that be okay too?

People are Allowed to Dislike the Real Guy, it's Okay

There are plently of reasons to dislike CC!Scott that aren't rooted in homophobia, I can assure you.

Let's put it this way: Scott does not have to read this post if he doesn't want to. In fact, he'd have to actively go out of his way to see it in the first place. The fanfic writers are not calling him an abuser in his youtube comments section. This fandom bullshit is not clogging his notifications.

I don't dislike CC!Scott, I don't love him either but I think he's just kind of your average kind of a loser youtuber guy. But even if someone truly did find him to be the most abhorrent human being to walk the earth, talking about it on tumblr should not hurt him. You often see reminders that Jimmy is a grown man who can speak up if he finds things in videos hurtful, and I'd go on to argue that the same logic is never given to Scott who is, also, a grown man who can control his internet usage.

It's all just Minecraft and jokes

The most buzzkill of all rebuttals, in my opinion, is this argument that toxic flower husbands is "taking it too seriously" and that they are just "friends playing Minecraft".

Like when people bring up Jimmy's behind the scenes request, this confuses me because it is brought up 99% of the time to rebut posts that treat the series as a storyline rather than a youtube playthrough. You can't have the grief of Scott losing his husband and Grian's despaired suicide and Pearl's sanity slippage and still acknowledge that it is all "friends playing minecraft".

In fact I'd even argue flower husbands is pretty non-toxic if you look at it Purely from a friends playing Minecraft perspective, but that is never the case. Scott's grief over Jimmy's death is treated with utmost seriousness, but Scott hitting Jimmy for not listening to him or wanting to "whittle him down to nothing" never is. It's this pick-and-choose that drives me insane more than anything else.

In addition to this, while I might be mistaken, it seems like most FH fans are not super accepting of RPF so I wonder what the intent is in the first place.

Furthermore, I do find it odd when it seems like the issue is that abuse specifically is "taking it too seriously" in a series where murder is pretty much the main theme. Adultery is mentioned multiple times in Double Life. Martyn even says the words "toxic relationship" in Double Life regarding himself and Cleo. It's clearly something that is referenced directly in the series and not any darker than what is already commonly accepted in fanon, so I don't understand why it's such a taboo and gets hit with the "no fun allowed" stick more than Scar being a cannibal serial killer.

With the same logic, I could argue that Scott was serious when he said Jimmy was useless, redundant, etc. and joking when he said he was sad his husband died but. I don't do that. Because that'd be insane

But Scott Loved Jimmy

Onto the stuff that's more purely in-universe, the argument is more uncommon now but I used to see alot of claims that flower husbands couldn't have been toxic because Scott "loved" Jimmy, usually citing the positive interactions the two do have throughout Third Life.

I think this is kind of difficult to talk about because, to me, it comes from a genuine misunderstanding of how abusive relationships work and what they look like. I won't lecture the reader on the theory behind abusive relationships and the trauma bonding cycle but I will say that the good does not balance out the bad and sometimes, context is severely lacking.

E.g. the cake. Late in the series Scott bakes a cake for Jimmy and hides it for him to find. This is a moment that I think is fascinating because it showcases both Scott's genuine care for Jimmy and the sadism he gets out of Jimmy's suffering at the same time. Jimmy is actively afraid of the cake, says to Scott that he thinks it's a trap and tries to get Scott to try it instead because Scott was still on green. Scott simply laughs and pushes Jimmy to try it, later mocking Jimmy for being scared at all.

Scott not taking Jimmy's fear seriously in this scene always seems to get cut out, or is paired with the usual insistence that it's okay because it's a "joke", and the cake itself is what is focused on.

Long story short: Abusers can love and care for their victims, abusers can be romantically attracted to their victims, abusers can feel trapped in the cycle just as much as the victim (e.g. the classic "look what you made me do" wifebeater excuse).

"Home?" "Home." and Word of God

In a similar vein, lots of people point to Scott's Third Life ending as proof their relationship had a happily ever after. This is one example of a trend I see within rebuttals where Scott's word is often treated as canonical Word of God.

Word of God, for those unaware, is the concept in storytelling of communicating definitive, unbiased information to the audience. Some iconic examples would be the Star Wars intro scroll, or any of the "once upon a time..." set-ups in fairy tales. Sometimes a character will temporarily possess Word of God and lose it later, such as Katara's intro narration in ATLA.

The subversion of Word of God would be Unreliable Narrator, where the person telling you the information is, in some way, not to be trusted. Some media play entirely on this concept, the Stanley Parable being one iconic example.

My personal interpretation of the traffic series is that every POV is unreliable narrator, with some being worse offenders (e.g. Scar and Martyn). I feel like it does a disservice to other POVs if you simply take one as Word of God, since some characters really do seem different until you see their side of things (some poignant examples would be Last Life Joel, Last Life Scar and Double Life Pearl). However, I must say again, this is not Correct nor is taking one POV as Word of God Wrong. That's just the rules I'm used to operating under.

So first off, operating within my rules: the "home?" "home." scene only appears in Scott's POV and is never acknowledged outside of that one scene. Jimmy clearly remembers the events of Third Life but never says a thing about him and Scott's shared afterlife (more on Jimmy's behaviour post-3L in a bit) and neither does Scott himself. To me this scene has always been either a tragic dying hallucination or an outright lie Scott invented to cope with the events of Third Life. I don't think there's any reason for me to believe the Jimmy in this scene is really Jimmy.

With that being said: taking the scene at face value as something that actually happened and it being a real afterlife Jimmy and Scott were sent to, there are still sinister elements that go entirely unacknowledged. Scott specifies that the flower valley was decorated to his plans, never mentioning Jimmy's, the same valley he previously insinuated he designed specifically so that he'd be "over" Jimmy.

Including Last Life and beyond as part of canon: this is very much not the "happily ever after" for Scott and Jimmy as. Well. They don't stay there and end up getting thrust into another death game where, again, this scene is never spoken about again and Jimmy only acts more and more antagonistic towards Scott as the seasons progress.

Disregarding Last Life and beyond: there is so much ambiguity that it's hard to take it all at face value, are there any other players in this place? Are Scott and Jimmy doomed to die knowing no one and nowhere else? Can Jimmy walk 15 minutes westward and come across the home of the guy who murdered him? Or is this a paradise where all the players can remain? What about Scott, is he going to go back to treating Jimmy the same way he did when they were both alive? How does he deal with the fact that his dead husband is suddenly back?

I do think this last one (taking Scott's POV as word of god + disregarding everything past this point) is the closest you're gonna get to an entirely non-toxic reading of this scene, but even then you'd have to work with the previous episodes of Scott hitting and berating Jimmy continuously.

Finally, one last issue I take with the "Scott's word = Word of God" interpretation is that it is, once again, inconsistent. If Scott ever says anything to contradict his "good husband" persona it's written off as a joke, but him saying that Pearl "cheated on him" is treated as if she really did commit adultery. There's also things that are just ignored, such as Scott saying "You guys (the audience) are obsessed with flower husbands, when really it's just been me and Pearl," in Secret Life -- words that would imply he really did not care that much for Jimmy.

"Nuance."

I see people just saying the word "nuance" or "scott isn't abusive it's more nuanced" like that's an actual sentence with worth really often. I'm sorry this section is harsh but "nuance" is not an argument, abusers can have nuance, real people are always nuanced and real people can be abusers. To imply that abuse cannot be "nuanced" is a little insulting to me.

Please just say "idgaf" and move on this isn't politics we don't need flower husbands centrism

Jimmy is the Abusive One

This one drives me insane but I see it fairly often and I. honestly don't know what to make of it. Sometimes it's coupled with an insistence that you can make anyone in the cast abusive if you try hard enough which... yeah I, I agree. We're agreeing here.

Seemingly most prominent during Limited Life, there's some claims that people are unfair towards Scott and that Jimmy is the real abuser, but I find the examples of his behaviour weak more often than not because they are usually 1. in direct response to something Scott did, 2. using psychic powers to sense characters motives (such as claiming he is guilt tripping people when he apologizes when nothing suggests that is the case) or 3. behaviour that not only is not toxic, but is very much harmless

Examples of the third one include things such as him refusing to say "love you" back to Scott during Limited Life and Secret Life, which he is not obligated to do. Some people insist he "owes" it to Scott somehow for Third Life which I find not only overestimating how much Scott aided Jimmy during Third Life (Jimmy Did die first, after all) but kind of. Dangerous? To say that you can somehow "owe" another person love and affection if they perform enough chores for you.

Another is the claim that Jimmy acts overly flirtatious with other men which hurts Scott which. I feel like needs an essay or two on slutshaming to make my point clear.

What really does me in is that this point is often paired with the insistence that Flower Husbands Would Be perfect if Jimmy just stopped "acting out" and did what Scott wanted him to. I don't really know how to explain why I find that kind of bad.

To me, it seems as if it's almost an admission that the further away from Third Life you get, the more clear it becomes that Jimmy does not have the highest opinion of Scott and in order for the non-toxic interpretation to still apply you need to stretch things, which often comes with the unfortunate side effect of saying some historically not awesome things about people like Jimmy.

Why Only Scott?

This often comes in hand with the first point about homophobia, with claims that Scott is the only one accused of being abusive to Jimmy, when others like Grian and Joel are the same if not worse.

This is another take that's strange to me because.. It's just untrue? I think it might be the shock of the culture shift of toxic fh that's spearheading this, but most of the smallidarity stuff I've seen, for example, come with some level of acknowledgement that Joel is a massive bitch. Sometimes it's through bully x victim AUs or storylines where he learns the error of his ways, but he's a bitch to Jimmy like. Most of the time.

Solidarian is a much lower sample rate ship for a character with a way too high sample rate but Grian characterization ranges from "pure evil watcher who feeds off suffering" to "previous abuse victim with trust issues". Very few times have I seen Grian presented as purely good in interpretations.

MOST of the jausage stuff I've seen is straight up sausage being. Weird.

There was a hilarious confessions blog anon awhile back that tried to claim shipping scarian was somehow morally wrong because Scar(???) abused Grian(???). It happens.

To add to this: very few of Jimmy's other romantic interests were literally calling himself his "husband" while hitting and berating him. The only other "canon" couple I can think of that come close is Jizzie and the way Lizzie will sometimes hit Joel, but that is primarily outside of the life series and their crimes against eachother in the series are always capstoned by almost cartoonish antics of "still love you, tho" (e.g. Joel putting Lizzie's stuff in a chest after she gets killed by a zombie or them choosing to team up Despite it All near the end of Last Life) -- I have more thoughts regarding them but this isn't the toxic jizzie post so I'll leave it at that.

Very, very rarely will I see someone who believes flower husbands is toxic but thinks joel/grian/fwhip/sausage/etc. are Completely fine. I also think it might just be that people talk about Scott more since Flower Husbands is the Iconic Ship and that gets numbers biased into people Only thinking Scott is bad for Jimmy.

It could also be argued that some of the Double Life pairings have the same level of toxic married couple energy that Flower Husbands does, but I'd argue that the soulbounds have enough variety that interpreting them as wholly romantic is difficult to do. There was also less hype overall with some of the most "toxic" pairings in DL, such as Impdubs or Box Boys, which makes it hard to find content for them -- I did a whole little liveblog of it calling Impdubs toxic as fuck. Y'all just didn't see it. Most of DL's toxic relationship themes also come from divorce quartet but admitting that those four have romantic tension in-universe gets you sniped in this economy.

To end: I talk about Scott more than the other guys because. I like him more. I like talking about people I like.

Conclusion (AKA who fucking cares)

I feel the need to restate my intro: no one actually fucking cares.

I've been talking about inconsistency in the "rules" of interpretation throughout this and I stick by my word but I think I'd have to mention that, in order to view this series as a storyline in the first place, you'd have to make some exceptions. I don't listen to the lines about youtube or viewers or when Grian talks about planning the series. I don't think it'd be Wrong to view Scott's POV as Word of God, disregard everything that implies he's a bad husband, not consider anything past "home?" "home." canon, so on. It would not be an interpretation I, some random asshole on tumblr, enjoy personally but if you're having fun you really should not give a shit about me.

However that doesn't mean people can't be rude or just straight up wrong or hypocritical when they claim toxic flower husbands interpretations are "homophobic" despite being antagonistic towards the gay people writing them in the first place (I've seen a ridiculous amount of middle school level namecalling for like no reason??) or claim that the interpretation is for people who "haven't watched their POV" as if a certain takeaway of a minecraft series presents you with some sense of superiority for understanding the cube guy harder than those horrible, horrible HATERS who think Scott killing himself over and over is sad to watch.

Oh and don't mention Pearl's role in all of this the only time I've seen someone try to bring her up I had to read it like five times and I'm still not quite sure I understand

#discourse #toxic flower husbands #random thoughts

180 notes · View notes