#elytra professionalism

[klm-zoflorr]

Holy shit this bird's got the MOVES

[solsearchingnights]

"Minecraft needs to be rebalanced! It's too easy to get mending! It's too easy once you have elytra! All the challenges and bosses are optional!"

Yes. That's the point. That's GOOD actually. My little brother needs to be able to play minecraft as much as I can. It's a sandbox game, not an RPG. You can create difficulty and add challenge and modify files! Those are features in the game and regularly adjusted for just that purpose. But the base game is meant to be accessible and universal.

Especially when a lot of "content" comes in the form of professionals, people who earn a living being good at the game and have hours a day to put into it, our perspective is skewed. I love the hermits, but any time they say a farm "only took two hours" to build? I cringe. When hypixel pvp creators talk about how lame netherite makes vanilla gameplay, I sigh. And when someone complains that it's too easy to cheese a mechanic or obtain a villager trade I kind of want to scream.

It's easy *for you*. It's boring *for you*. It's not that it needs to change drastically, you just need to approach it differently. You have a moral objection to how "easy" it is to get a mending villager? Make the rule for yourself that you can only get mending from the loot table. You think elytra take the fun out of travel? Don't use it.

And before you say "well can't they just use accessibility features to make it easier?" NO. That's not the point of those features. Accessibility features that disable quicktime events or remove puzzles aren't to make a game easier, they're to make a game PLAYABLE. Accessibility features in minecraft are to disable view bobbing, change the visual distortions, add directional subtitles....things that make the game playable to people who need them.

Basically, please chill the fuck out about minecraft being easy. If it's too easy and you can't come up with a solution for that, maybe it's just not a game you enjoy playing. Download a mod pack or go play something different.

[fluffypotatey]

okay so:

the year is 2021. the month is june. the new season of hermitcraft, season 8, has just started, and everything is great! the hermits are all messing around, having fun, building insane things within the first week of the server being active, and generally having a good time. everyone's collected themselves into little factions, pranking each other, and it's all the fun, lighthearted, mostly-vanilla content hermitcraft is known for.

and then the split between minecraft versions 1.18 and 1.19 is announced. the delay of new terrain, and especially of new mobs like the warden, considerably disrupt several of the hermits' plans. but it's fine, they'll figure something out, they're professionals, and it mostly goes unnoticed.

about two weeks later, on november 9th, grian turns to mumbo jumbo in one of his episodes, and asks the famous question that would seal hermitcraft season 8's fate:

"mumbo, is the moon... big?"

suddenly, the fans panic. they search back through videos and streams, and realize that the moon had been abnormally large and stuck in a full-moon phase since october 30th. the Moon Big event has begun.

this is where the roleplay really starts. once the moon's size has been brought up, the hermits start a weird combination of scrambling to figure out why the moon's growing, and how to stop it- but also of ignoring it, hoping it won't be a problem, hoping someone else will deal with it. the moon keeps getting bigger, more hermits start realizing it's going on, and a creeping sense of dread starts to grow. but it's fine. it's fine, right? they do little plotlines like this all the time. they'll figure something out, the moon will go back to normal, and we'll laugh about it when this is all over. it's fine.

and then, blocks start flying away. just floating up out of the ground, and falling right back down! like for a moment, a square meter chunk of dirt has decided it's a ballerina and leaped out of the ground! but it's fine, right? the blocks are coming back. no lasting harm is done. they're going to fix it all... right?

the moon gets bigger. it's growing every day- local hermit weirdguy joe hills measures it every stream. the blocks start flying higher. gravity starts getting... weird, with players getting the slow falling effect at random, and being lifted off of the earth themselves. the players form cults and rituals and whatnot to try and appease the moon, convince it to leave them alone, making plans to escape. nothing works. things keep getting worse, and the moon keeps getting bigger. but it'll be fine. these storylines never leave lasting harm, or at least they never have before. they'll be fine.

and then the blocks stop coming back, just floating into the sky forever. the players have the slow falling effect more than they don't now. the moon is now so big it's visible even during the day, and fills the entire sky at night. they start planning their escapes in earnest, and say their goodbyes. some hermits jump into a void hole in the overworld (it was the centerpiece of their village). some flee to the End, some to the nether, some just fly with elytras and hope they can get far enough away in time. one brave hermit, tango, flies himself to the moon in a futile attempt to blow the whole thing up before it can crash.

but in the end, the moon crashes into the server, and everything they'd built was destroyed. and the whole time, there'd been nothing any of them could've done. season eight was over, a full six months before anyone had expected it to end, and season nine wouldn't start until about three months later. and im still not okay about it.

(here's a cool animatic of the moon's crash! honestly i dont think you need too much hermitcraft knowledge to get the gist)

(also the moon crash happened on the day before my birthday lmao.)

….

holy shit

[errorryx]

unraveling — part three, season ten

read on ao3 | read part one | hermitcraft, 2.9k words

this is the third and final part of my fic for MCYTblr AUFest! once again, if you haven't read the first part, please check it out for more info about this AU. enjoy this infodump about plant-based fibers disguised as a minecraft fanfiction!

—

Ever since Pearl began expanding her original starter base, she’s been working on some kind of big secret project.

It probably has something to do with her choice of theme this season. Or maybe it's an even bigger, more spectacular redstone machine than the already very impressive Dyeduction. Whatever it is, Pearl’s determined to keep it a secret, which means Gem is even more determined to figure it out.

She watches Pearl from a distance, using her spyglass. Pearl’s base is developing into a labyrinth of different structures, with so many entrances and passageways wedged into tight corners, each building blending together into a larger whole. It’s getting big enough that Gem can get lost in it. She gets turned around even from afar, watching Pearl enter a building and emerge somewhere completely different a few minutes later.

This morning, Pearl seems to be harvesting some of the many different plants around her base. She clips back the fast-growing vines that crawl up the sides of her buildings, wades through dense fields of flowers to uproot entire plants, and even collects bark from the bushes and trees. Gem can’t imagine what she’s doing with it all, and she’s even more confused to see Pearl deposit her harvest into a large pool and leave it there.

After a while, Pearl spreads her elytra and rockets off in the direction of the shopping district. Gem takes the opportunity to poke around her base and investigate directly. She stops at the pool first, which has a small channel out to the river, not quite wide enough for a boat to pass through.

When Gem steps into the pool, the water only comes up to her knees. The bottom is full of different stems and leaves, weighed down by rocks to keep it from floating up to the top. Nearby is a small hut filled with shelves and shelves of the same plants in various stages of drying.

Gem has been toying with the idea of a proper scientific investigation for a while now, and clearly Pearl is the perfect subject. She takes a recording device out of her pocket and begins to describe her surroundings.

“This is Dr. GeminiTay in the field, reporting on my observations at PearlescentMoon’s base. Recently, I've observed several anomalies in Pearl’s behavior, and I came to the conclusion that I must analyze her natural habitat for hints as to what may be causing this…deviation.” Gem nods, proud of herself. She sounds so professional! “It appears that Pearl has been soaking plants in water, then letting them dry. The purpose of this behavior is as of yet unknown.”

Nearby the pool and the shed full of drying plants is a building that Gem knows has been here for a while, but she doesn’t think she’s ever been inside. The top floor is full of more plants in the next stage of the process, whatever process that is. One one side is a pile of fully dried plant material, and on the other side is a heaping pile of fibers and several chests stuffed to the brim with very tiny wood shavings.

Gem relays this information as best she can into the recording device, then takes a staircase down to the basement, which is much larger than the room above. The center of the room is taken up by several large spinning wheels, each hooked up to a redstone device that Gem doesn’t even bother to try and make sense of. Presumably they help automate the process, though they all seem to be shut off right now. Gem is tempted to flick one of the levers to see what happens, but she’s not Grian. She has more self-control than that.

Though, it would be really funny if she broke something.

Gem peeks outside to make sure Pearl isn’t back yet, before running back to switch the lever on, giggling to herself. The wheel starts spinning, but since there’s no fibers or threads on the spool, nothing else interesting happens. She’s disappointed, but also relieved that she didn’t break anything. She flicks the lever back off and moves on.

Pearl has hung several picture frames around the room, but instead of artwork, the frames contain embroidery projects. The largest of them reads live laugh love in familiar cursive lettering, surrounded by a border of leafy vines. Most of the others are textless, with designs of different plants and flowers.

A large table on the left side of the room is covered in dozens of small scraps of handmade fabric. Some are of higher quality than others. None of them look like the sort of crochet pattern that Gem’s used to seeing on Pearl’s body. Pearl must be trying to branch out with her projects, and these are some of her first attempts. There’s another embroidery project hanging right above the table, the only other one with any text, which reads, Start small.

Beside the table is an ordinary loom, and next to it, a larger, more intricate version constructed out of several different types of wood. Normal looms are only used for banners, but Pearl’s handmade loom seems to be built for broader purposes. On the other side of the loom, in the back corner of the room, is an iron door without any visible way to open it.

At this point, Gem can safely assume that she's found the room where Pearl keeps her mystery project. Clearly it's some kind of fiber art—or several different kinds at once, from the look of it. But all the things she's seen so far are just pieces of the puzzle, and she still can’t figure out what Pearl’s making.

Her only remaining option is to see what’s behind the locked door.

Now, Gem could easily go home and construct her own lever to open the door, or just break through the wall herself, but that’s no fun. She’d much rather figure out how to use this secret door the right way. Knowing Pearl, it’s not a special kind of lock that only she has the key to, but some kind of thematically relevant puzzle that anyone can figure out if they try.

So Gem tries. For a good long time, she looks around the room for hints. She stops in front of the table of scraps, looking at the embroidered message. Start small. It doesn’t quite fit with Pearl’s sense of interior decoration. The live laugh love one is clearly a joke, a reference to last season, but there’s nothing about Start small that holds any sort of meaning to Gem.

Unless it’s meant as a clue.

In a moment of inspiration, Gem stands on her tiptoes, reaching over the table to take the frame down from the wall. She looks over to the door, but it hasn’t moved. When she flips the frame around, she can see the messy backside of the stitching, plus a hand-written note from Pearl, reading, smaller than that.

Definitely a clue, then. Gem switches on her recording device and begins to narrate. 

“The wild Pearl is known for her cleverness,” she tells her imaginary peer-review science board. “One of the defining behaviors of a Pearl is to set up puzzles for her friends. It’s important to provide her with enrichment by participating, which is why I’m doing this, of course. Not because I’m nosy.”

She paces up and down the room, the reassuring rhythm of her footsteps against the floor helping to clear her mind. That is, until she steps down on a block that makes a strange metallic clanking sound.

Gem may not know much about redstone, but she knows a hidden hopper when she hears one. The spot where she’s standing is just a few blocks away from the door. All she has to do now is figure out what to throw into it.

“Pearls are practical creatures,” Gem says. “This Pearl would not choose something rare or difficult to access as the key to a door she uses all the time. It’ll probably be something inside this room.”

Start small. Smaller than that. The answer’s sitting right in front of her. Pearl doesn’t start a crochet project by jumping into it blindly and hoping for the best. She plans it out beforehand, making patterns and testing out stitches. All of the different test swatches on this table are her way of starting small, practicing for the big project she’s making.

Gem grabs one of the scraps of fabric, dropping it on the floor above the hopper. The door opens with a loud clank, and she enters the room, holding her breath in anticipation.

She’s not expecting Pearl to actually be inside. She knows for a fact that she saw Pearl fly off, though admittedly there was plenty of time for Pearl to sneak back into this room while Gem was wandering around her base. But the surprise of Pearl’s presence pales in comparison to the shock of what she’s making.

Pearl is hunched over a player-sized figure made up of many different kinds of fabric, lying on top of a large worktable. Only one of its arms are attached, the other sitting right beside the empty shoulder, and both legs end just below the knee, still unfinished. Most of the fabrics look coarser than the soft wool yarn that Gem is used to, but there’s no mistaking who it’s supposed to be.

“Oh. My. Gosh.” Gem blinks several times, unable to believe what she’s seeing. “Pearl, are you multiplying?”

Pearl laughs, sitting back and looking up at her. “Do you like it?”

Gem takes a few steps closer, taking it all in. The new Pearl’s plastic button eyes have been replaced with wooden ones, and her hair is a mixture of several different textures and shades of brown. She’s wearing a white postal jacket like the one Pearl’s wearing now, but this one is made out of a more refined version of some of the swatches in the previous room.

When Gem commissions new outfits to fit her themes, she doesn’t spend much time thinking about the work that goes into it behind the scenes. She just pays their exorbitant prices and assumes they must have worked very hard. Now, having seen all the steps in Pearl’s process, she’s baffled as to how her clothesmakers are able to deliver their finished products so quickly, or how Pearl herself has gotten so much done without anyone noticing.

“It’s beautiful, Pearl. It’s so detailed.” Gem can’t think of anything to say that doesn’t feel like an understatement. “Have you been working on this all season?”

“Only since I decided on my solarpunk theme,” Pearl says. “It shouldn’t take me much longer. I’ve processed most of the fibers that I need already, and that’s the slowest part.”

“I have so many questions,” Gem says. It’s a little disconcerting to see this new version of Pearl in an unfinished state, looking so much like Pearl does now, but lifeless and incomplete.

“I can explain it to you if you want!” Pearl looks excited at the prospect. “There’s a lot of steps, but if you break it down it’s actually pretty simple—”

“Have you been hanging out with Mumbo recently?” Gem asks. “None of what you’re doing is simple, Pearl. This is very complicated!”

“Already had a peek around my base, did you?” Pearl tuts in mock disappointment.

“It’s only fair! You don’t get to complain after what you did to my base with all those pickle messages.”

“Ah, well.” Pearl shrugs. “You may have a point.”

“What is it for, anyway?” Gem can’t help but notice that Pearl isn’t making these modifications to herself, but to an entirely different entity. “Why do you need another you?”

“Gem!” Pearl laughs at her. “You got all the way to this point and you still haven’t figured it out?”

“What do you—Oh. Wait.” Gem blinks. “Are you—you’re building yourself a replacement body?”

“There you go,” Pearl says. “We got there eventually.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense!” Gem says. “How do you get yourself into a whole different body? Can you turn back after you’re done? If you can just go around switching bodies, what’s stopping you from being a—a pig, or a sheep or something?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Pearl says, waving her hand dismissively. “I just, y’know…” She pauses, frowning. “Well, I—hm, okay. I’m not sure, actually.”

“You’re not sure?”

“I don’t know how it works,” Pearl says. “It just sort of happens. Like how everyone gets new outfits to stick through respawn.”

“That’s normal, though. Everyone does it!”

“Yeah, but how?”

Gem opens her mouth, then closes it again. She doesn’t know. How does she not know?

She feels a little dizzy from how fast her thoughts are racing. Gem pulls up a chair and plops herself down, trying to get her thoughts in order.

In this world, and in every world since she spawned, there have been rules. They vary from place to place, and they can be changed, too—even bent or broken. Gem knows people who break the rules—some of the most infamous rulebreakers in the world reside on this very server with her—but she’s never counted Pearl among that number.

And, now that she thinks about it, that seems like an oversight on her part. Gem has known Pearl for longer than most of the other Hermits, and she can’t remember ever questioning how Pearl came to exist in this form, this version of herself that Gem’s always known.

Gem has never broken the rules, or at least, she’s never knowingly attempted to do so. She’s happy where she is, building and mining and fighting the normal way, seeking out challenges from within the confines of what’s supposed to be possible. She’s amazed by the accomplishments of her reality-bending friends, but that sort of thing has never interested her.

Now, standing on the edge of what seems to be a rule-breaking realization, Gem wonders if this is how they felt—Etho, or Cleo, or Doc, or Pearl, apparently—any of the Hermits that ever asked the right questions, or put the pieces together, or stumbled upon a loophole in the rulebook.

She clings to the fabric of her lab coat in wonder. What kind of force tethers this silly costume she’s wearing to her own body? Why does it stay with her even after death? How does any of this make sense?

Is everything just a—

“See, you can't question these things,” Pearl says, bursting through her train of thought. “Or it all falls apart.”

“Falls apart?” Gem asks, alarmed. “What does that mean? That sounds bad. Is it bad? Have I broken the world?”

“No! No, of course not, don’t worry.” Pearl rests a soft hand on Gem’s shoulder. “Well, maybe a little bit, but it’s fine. Nothing that can’t be fixed.”

Gem puts her head in her hands, taking a deep breath. It helps, a little. “This is—a lot, Pearl.”

“Here, let me show you something.” Pearl holds up a swatch of fabric, which Gem is reasonably confident in identifying as crochet, though she doesn’t know the specific stitch. “It’s like this. The fabric holds itself together just fine if you leave it alone, but when you pull on the edges…” She does just that, and the first row collapses on itself, then the next, then the next. “Things start to go a bit wonky. But…” She pulls out a crochet hook and starts stitching, rebuilding the row she’d just unraveled. “You can make them right again, if you learn how. It can go back to normal. Or, well, normal enough.”

“But what about people who don’t want it to be normal?” Gem asks. “How do they deal with it?”

“You’ll have to ask them about it,” Pearl says. “That’s not how I do things. I prefer to patch the holes I find rather than explore what’s inside them.”

Gem leans her head against Pearl’s shoulder. “This really hurts my brain.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Gem. I didn’t mean to push you into this.”

“It’s okay,” Gem says. “The fact that I made it through two and a half seasons of Hermitcraft before getting here is probably pretty impressive, right?”

“It’s not for everybody,” Pearl says. “Like Grian, for example.”

“Grian?”

“He noped out of it even harder than I did, you know. Did it so well that I’m not sure he even remembers anymore. I don’t want to bring it up with him, because if he did forget, I think he meant for it to be that way.”

“Huh. I had no idea.” Gem lets out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know if I want to go his route or not. Or your route, or some other route. I feel like I know way less about the world than I did this morning.”

“You should probably talk to someone other than me about it,” Pearl suggests. “It’s different for everyone. But whatever you do, it should be your own way, not someone else’s.”

“My own way.” Gem smiles. “I like the sound of that, whatever it is.”

“Don’t stress yourself out over it,” Pearl warns her. “I know the way you are. Take your time, Gem. You have basically forever to figure it out.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.” Gem wraps her arms around Pearl. “Thank you, Pearl.”

“For what?”

“For explaining stuff,” Gem says. “For being my friend. For being so cuddly, too. You are so soft.”

“Aw, you’re welcome.” Pearl hugs her back. “Would you be mad if I got less soft, though?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Gem says. “I love every version of you.”

Pearl laughs softly. “I love every version of you too.”

—

if you read this all the way through and enjoyed, please consider reblogging!

<Previous part

[cactusringed]

I think the hermits and their attitude towards wardens really shows the perpetual dilemma and difficulty mojang faces whenever updating Minecraft in the sense that ther is truly two major camps within Minecraft's playerbase; the very very large casual playerbase, and the smaller but much louder professional and technical playerbase. And then ofc you have the divisions within those player bases in general (builder/redstoner/speedrunners etc). Because the warden is meant to be one of, if not The scariest thing you can encounter in Minecraft, it's not meant to be fought, when you see it you're meant to just up and run for your life, etc. And in casual gameplay, that works well. The amount of players who will actually farm wardens is very few when compared to the amount of players who will properly just avoid them at all costs. But then you've got professional players learning it's AI, using it to scare their friends, for pranks, luring the strongest most terrifying mob to the surface for the sake of a prank, or farming them as a simple mob switch, or using them in their masterpiece of a game within a game. And then these professional players will grow so accustomed to the warden they'll just decide one day oh hey I want a warden head to hear what it sounds like on a noteblock so they'll just kill it, early game - before even going to the end and getting an elytra they'll casually kill a warden. And this isn't a bad thing btw I'm not saying hermits are ruining the warden, far from it. It actually shows just how... Different hermits and other professional players approach Minecraft and it's mechanic - what was meant to be a mob that shouldn't be fought and should be avoided at all costs becomes the subject of pranks and games and farms. Even when mojang specifically made it so there would be little aim to farming it, technical players looked at them, laughed, and found a use for them anyway. Isn't that amazing. There's something beautiful about it.

But it's those very same unintended uses and consequences that makes it so hard to add content to Minecraft. Whenever people say that modders are able to do so much mroe than mojang are I kind of have to laugh because it is said with so much lack of knowledge as to why mojang has to be so extremely deliberate with all of their addition. There's a balance they have to try to strike each time between developing a game for the vast amount of casual players whilst being very aware of the very dedicated technical and professional playerbase that will have access to the very same features. And of course, both these player bases don't exist in a vacuum separate from each other. And that's the issue - something that is obviously useful and fun for professional video makers could potentially suck the fun out of the game for casuals or, worse, lead to malicious exploits within casual servers. Genuinely such a hard balance to strike

[wjbs-bonkle-au]

Lynn’s Bionicle Media Looking-At Thing Part 4.5: I Take Back Everything I Said About How City Of Legends Would Probably Have Been The Best Bionicle Game

Ok so this will be. An interesting one. Also my previous City of Legends post is here, go check it out, I reference it a couple of times.

Right so before I begin, I just want to say that I replayed the 2003 version of City of Legends, and it is still fun. I also, for professionalism(?) purposes, played the first 2004 version (there's two), and it's basically the same as the one I'll be playing in this post, which makes my life a lot easier. Anyway, on with the video and also the rant about how much I dislike this version.

Alright so first off; the movement feels. More awkward? I guess? Like you can't turn instantly; you have to go through an awkward turning animation every time. Also the little score popups are gone, which sucks.

There is proper combat this time; while you could throw kanoka in the 2003 build, this one also has melee, and it is. Kinda bad? Like you have an awkward, clumsily-animated punch, but also a fairly satisfying ground-pound that defeats enemies in an AoE radius but has weird timing, and a roll that also does damage. Also the Kanoka is really satisfying.

There's only one map this time around, which appears to be an expanded version of the "Ta-Wahi" map from the 2003 build (the aesthetic, theme and one of the floor textures are the same). It has a bunch of neat details (a big cargo lift thing going up and down and circling bird-like creatures that I didn't see moving until I recorded this, so when I noclipped up on my first run-through I assumed they flew backwards relative to how they actually fly, like I thought their tails were like manta ray flaps or antennae or something)

Unlike the 2003 build, enemies spawn constantly without the player having to spawn them manually from a menu.

Instead of jerboas, this time they're presumably meant to be Morbuzakh (this won't be the last time the Morbuzakh will come up in this series), and their designs and animations are simple but effective! They die in one hit and deal. "Damage". But not really, like you flash red when you get hit, but there's no health metre and you can't die. However, they swarm and stun you when you hit, so if this did have a proper health system, it would probably be painful.

Left stick moves the character (more on him later) and right stick moves the camera. Clicking in the left stick does nothing, and clicking in the right stick switches to a weird first-person view that doesn't aim where you're moving, but instead it has to be manually angled. Pain. In terms of actual controls, triangle throws a disk, circle is melee, X is jump and square is roll.

The D-pad does nothing. Start pauses the game, as you'd expect, but select does something interesting; it pauses the game and puts you into noclip. You can fly around with the left stick and aim the camera with the right stick, as you'd expect; the left shoulder button allows you to speed up. Triangle unpauses the game, allowing you to both control the character and move the camera, and right trigger teleports you to the camera's current position.

Finally, let's talk about the character you play as, because. It's Matau, but with an interesting design.

The whole design is very. Chunky in a way I like, and I love the Metru armour motif being stylised into thick X-shapes, and the Aero Slicers being reduced down to a pair of beetle-like elytra so they can be part of his design without being too big. However, I don't like how small his brainstalk is.

And then there's this game's interpretation of the Mahiki, which. I genuinely love (except for the weird beak-mouth).

Like, the "jaw" with "teeth" would make this work really well as, like, a shapeshifted Makuta version of the Mahiki, or maybe an earlier version of the Olisi before Karzahni started modifying it. Also it kinda gives me Miru vibes, and the roundel "headphones" being adapted into proper earpieces is really cool. My only point against it is that it loses the actual Mahiki's retrofuturistic (maybe even slightly Art Deco?) aesthetic in favour of 2000s neoretrofuturistic sleekness, but I can't really complain because I love that era of sci-fi aesthetics. I wish I could see what the other five masks would have looked like, but alas.

Anyway uhhhh yeah. This wasn't worth it, and might end up invalidating my upcoming post about the Xbox demo (depending on how different that might be, and also if I can even find an Xbox emulator). Oh well!

[aviculor]

Insect Pinning Tutorial

This is going to be a very surface-level lesson in insect pinning for display. Let's say you have captured an insect you wish to pin. One such as this Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula).

The first step is to create a killing jar. This tool dispatches your quarry using toxic fumes, giving you an intact corpse you can display. What you need is an airtight container, nail polish remover, and a tissue. Now, scientifically, the ideal chemical to use is ethyl acetate. But in the absence of that, nail polish remover works. The setup is simple: you make the tissue lightly damp using your dispatching chemical, place it inside the container, add the insect, and close it up. Now, because I am slightly rusty and the opening on this bottle is large, I used more than necessary and the tissue was soaked.

Ideally, you do not want to wait too long to perform the next step as you want your corpse to be fresh and pliable...but also not wait too short, as you want it to be dead and not unconscious. This is when you get out your pinning board and insect pins. The board is optional as long as you have a sheet of styrofoam, but the pins are a little less DIY. You will need to have insect pins ahead of time in order to pin an insect.

What you want to do here is position your corpse dorsal-side up (belly down) and push a pin through its pronotum, the "shield" behind its head. Traditionally, a hemipteran such as this should be pinned instead through its scutellum, the segment of the thorax after the pronotum which lies between the wings, but as previously stated I am rusty and also it's too late. If I were to re-do it, the hole would bother me. Incidentally, with beetles, the target for pinning is the right elytron (plural elytra), the hardened forewing characteristic of beetles which forms a hard cover over the flying wings.

The next step is to use more pins to pose the insect's limbs. Now, because I had to go to work, I did in fact wait a little long to pin my lanternfly. And as a result, its legs were not as pliable as I would have preferred. But as I said above, this is already imperfect. And perfection is overrated anyway.

Now, something a professional might do is spread its wings which would show off this species' bright red abdomen. However, this is an optional step which requires more precision and patience. And as mentioned, my subject was already becoming rigid. Come morning, it will have finished drying out and remain in this pose without the pins holding its legs.

And that is how you pin an insect. I am by no means a professional and it has been about a decade since I last performed this technique, but hopefully you have learned something.

[catmaidetho]

:0 i would love to hear how you write etho!

after making that post and going to bed i've realized that it's so hard for me to describe all the thoughts that go into it so

tl;dr: i have consumed an ungodly amount of ethoslab content to the point that writing him is kind of second nature

you could also probably go thru my archive for etho text posts i've rb'd, cuz those have also influenced me a lot and i'll link a few at the end. i also sincerely recommend watching and rewatching his hc7 because that is like, everything i love about etho in 40-smth episodes.

long and kind of complicated/messy answer under the cut. i tried to go as in-depth as i could w/o being overly rambly

when you think of etho, what do you think of? you probably think "mysterious cryptid redstone guy who is scary." that is the devil talking. he is not mysterious, a cryptid, or scary at all. he is just a guy who's reputation is bigger than him.

here's some (very basic) traits i'd assign to etho before any of those:

humble

reflective*

confident

competitive

friendly

mischievous

avoidant

*reflective in the sense that he mirrors other people's energy.

originally i had a whole rant typed up explaining these personality traits, but i realize you are probably a fellow ethogirl and a lot of these need no explanation. if you want an explanation/to better understand why i chose those personality traits, i am going to once again recommend his hc7, as well as checking out anything he's done with team canada (pick a series and just start watching. if you dont know where to start, one of my beloved mutuals has a neat little guide for ppl new to etho's content that includes some staple team canada content.)

some things i apply to my etho that make sense to me that might go overlooked by the casual enjoyer:

he is so incredibly neurodivergent coded. i am not going to make any assumptions on etho's brain structure, i dont think its my place, but seriously. give your etho some silly thing to be super passionate about on the side. make him easily distracted/get off topic easily. make his storage system start out well but quickly descent into chaos as he gets too lazy to use it.

he goes with the flow! this goes along with me describing him as a reflective person. he "yes, and"'s stuff like there's no tomorrow. he takes whatever energy is thrown his way, and he chucks it right back at you. he gets dragged into shenanigans and goes "oh this might as well happen! let's see how far we can take it."

he likes to avoid problems he doesn't see as immediately his own/aren't immediately affecting him. his response to moon big was literally "i'll let the other hermits deal with it. look this low gravity makes not having elytra so much easier! lets go build a bee farm." if it doesn't affect him right this instant, or there's nothing he can do about it, he will worry about it later (and probably forget to worry about it.)

he prioritizes the "fun" factor above all else. if you know what the bamboozler is, you understand this. also, the bee farm i just mentioned. if there is a very efficient/straight-forward way to do something or a very fun way to do something, he will go with the fun way most of the time. if the only option is boring, he'll find a way to make it fun.

his reputation precedes him, but his reputation is a little inaccurate to modern times. someone who doesn't know him very well might think he's menacing or scary, but the reality is that he's just a silly little guy. don't get me wrong, there is a reason he's seen as menacing, and if he wants to be he can be, but most of the time he's just here to chill.

his humor is very roundabout. he tells a very long story to get to the punchline, or he tells something that plays into stereotypes so much it's ridiculous. here are some examples. he is also a professional "your mom" joker, like i literally cannot link enough examples his staple joke is "your mom."

most importantly, i think, is that etho doesn't take himself too seriously. i think a lot about the quote from cleo that goes like, "etho doesnt say he's a grownup, he giggles and runs away." so dont make etho too serious!

HE IS LITERALLY JUST SOME GUY. i cant stress this point enough. he should have "just some guy" energy. tiny voice he's doing the best he can. things happen to him and he is mildly bewildered. something goes wrong and he needs like, one second dedicated to panicking before he does anything about it.

just for bonus content, some of my favorite posts/clips that heavily influence the way i interpret/write etho. he is so ^-^ | he calls food poisoning an adventure | evidence that etho's a former scene kid | obviously your mother never loved you 'cause you're some sorta monster :) | "you jerk" compilation | etho teasing scar in among us

[ogsoulless]

blinded golden - indigo sleep 2/?, 3k, ongoing. [FIRST] [PREV] [NEXT] [LAST] [ao3 upload]

Pearl's mail packages were unusually heavy today. She didn't have to deliver much anymore, now that they had made the post system automatic. She sometimes ran checks to see if anything got stuck and hand delivered them for a bit of fun. Pearl did not call hauling a parcel that was fifteen fucking kilos around Hermitcraft fun. Weirdly enough, it had started out as maybe half a kilo heavy, but it seemed to get heavier, dragging her down more with every step she took.

She checked the stamp on the package to check that yes, she really had to go all the way to Grian's base on Magic Mountain. Pearl didn't pay much mind to the fact there was no return address or name on the package. The mail had to have come from one of the Hermits, and anonymous snail mail was common enough. Pearl knew that better than anyone; Gem had been complaining about her abundance of sea pickles for weeks.

The sun beat on the back of Pearl's neck, and she wished her post office hat was a little more practical. It was early afternoon, and her feet wished for a pair of elytra, but she finally saw Grian's little fishing village in the distance. Passing Skizz's pyramid and a flipping few of Gem's trapdoors, Pearl collapsed on Grian's dock, grateful to be sitting.

"Why hello there, Pearlie," someone giggled beside her.

"Holy fu- what?" She launched to her feet, dropping the package and spun to see an incredibly smug Scar snickering, making a very poor attempt at hiding it. Pearl poked him in the chest in mock accusation. "What are you doing here, Mr. Goodtimes?"

Scar waved her off. "Just breaking and entering, the usual. "She raised an eyebrow. "Not really, I'm here to drop off some parrots. Grian's never home though, it would be so wonderful if he could answer my messages." Scar huffed. "Anyway. Whatcha got there? Oooh, Grian's mail. Can I hold it hostage? It would be really, really cool to hold Grian's mail hostage."

"No, you can't hold Grian's mail hostage, Scar. I'm just gonna drop it off and leave. Don't meddle with it, or I'll hold your mail hostage," Pearl threatened.

"You're no fun!" Scar pouted. "Do you even know what's in it?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Scar. I'm a professional. I don't snoop through people's mail. I have a reputation to uphold."

Scar was making grabby hands at the box. "Just one peek! It won't hurt him! I pinkie promise, I won't steal it." Pearl frowned, but in the end, she was as much of a mail snooping goose as Scar. Curiosity itched at her to find out what Grian could be getting that was so incredibly heavy.

"Fine," she conceded. "But if we get busted, it's your fault." Scar nodded like he didn't hear her, preoccupied by opening the package. Pearl stared as the flaps were peeled away, revealing-

"It's just a helmet, Pearl."

"It's just a helmet, Scar," she echoed. She blinked, focused again. "Well, I don't know what you were expecting. A stack of gold blocks? A letter from Technoblade? Honestly." She tsked at him, smiling.

"Let's pack this up, yeah?" She suggested, reaching for the box. Scar didn't respond. "What do you think?" She turned to face him, but Scar had lifted the helmet onto his head. He looked up, and his eyes-

Scar's eyes were an alarming purple, void-like and empty. He cocked his head mechanically, and Pearl stumbled backwards, baring her teeth in a snarl. Her canines burned, a reminder that Scott can't help now, you're on your own, Pearl.

Scar reached out, stiff and a joint at a time, to touch her shoulder. He was pale, the blood was draining out of his tanned face. She ducked to the side and pushed him away from her, knocking the helmet off his head. But the arm kept reaching towards her, and ears pricked at the top of her head. She was going to die, and Scar was possessed or something, and they were so fucked and-

He froze, arm stopping in place.

"Scar?" Pearl asked, on guard in case he did something again. His eyes moved to look at her, widened in horror, before they fluttered closed and he collapsed to Grian's dock. Pearl tasted salt on her lips and iron on her tongue. Gem was always trying to get her to stop chewing her cheek. Pearl picked up the helmet and threw it in the box, sealing it. The sooner it was away and gone, the better.

Scar shivered a little, the sun now in her eyes. "Scar?" She whispered again. All his prone form did was twitch. His palms opened, and then Grian's dock wasn't homely spruce anymore. It was coated in veins of black and blue with a pulsing heartbeat of teal. Skulk. Skulk, and it was coming from Scar.

What the fuck do I do? She stepped away from Scar. What the fuck?

Scar took a sharp inhale. Pearl slid to his side. 'Oh my God' seemed like the extent of her vocabulary, like a chant that could make her forget whatever the hell had just happened. He squinted at her.

"Oh, sweet baby Jellie, my head hurts." Scar muttered. "Hi, Pearl. Why am I on the floor?" He pushed himself up onto his elbows, scanning around him like he expected to be attacked. "Why… what happened?"

Pearl shook her head. "I don't know, Scar. How about we get you back to your own bed, in your train, yeah? We can talk about it later." A selfish part of her hoped Scar never ended up asking. He nodded tiredly.

Twilight blanketed Scar's train as they arrived from Grian's dock. Pearl's neck dripped with sweat from hurriedly walking back and her near transformation. She was still alarmingly close to wolfed up, high-strung and alert. Scar muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Pearl asked quietly. If it were someone like Grian, they would've said nothing and sent her home. But it was Scar. Scar was never afraid of saying too much.

"I've never lost control like that before," Scar admitted, like he was afraid if he said it too loud it would happen again. "Or at least, not in a long time." He stared at his lap, fiddling with the hat lying in it. "The last time I had an outburst like that was after I— I mean, after Double Life ended." The after I first died hung between them in the chilly air of Scar's train. "I don't know why it would flare up now."

They sat in silence for a few beats and watched the stars move past his window.

"I think… I think I'm going to speak to my Reaper," Scar said. Pearl nodded. She didn't seem to do much apart from agree silently these days.

☆

Grian had just finished stocking the Prismarine Palace. After he had dumped all of his empty boxes and bundles in a nearby barrel, he went to his dock. Fishing sounded like exactly what he needed after hauling prismarine bricks around all day. He stretched his wings, fishing rod in hand and bucket hat on his head, only to see his entire dock covered in… skulk? Was someone pranking him? Maybe there was a skulk sensor down there, rigged to play a music disc. He tentatively stepped over to where it appeared to have come from. Nothing. Nothing except his entire dock covered in skulk. Ugh.

"What is going on?" He hissed. Unfortunately, the dock did not have an answer for him. Accepting his fate of painstakingly scraping off the skulk and replacing the planks tomorrow, he spotted the parcel left at the end of his wharf.

He picked his way over to open it. Inside lay a netherite helmet, glistening with magic and mid morning sunlight. He lifted it consideringly, studying the sides. Grian already had a quite nice netherite helmet (he wasn't a loser), but this one had a trim he'd never seen before. He traced it with his fingers. Placing it back in the box, he checked for a stamp, or a note, or something. Nothing. It wasn't that surprising— the Hermits sent anonymous mail to each other often and he wasn't about to complain about a free netherite helmet. He would wear it for a day or two. If he didn't like it, he could go back to his other one.

Grian set the helmet on his head. Leaning over the edge of the dock to see his reflection in the water, he noticed that the indents along the helmet were glowing now, a deep violet. Strange, but it seemed to suit him. It reminded him of the Watchers, from another life.

He noted his arms locking next to his sides in the water's reflection. Surely I can't be that stiff from a little moving, right? His head cocked to the side, and his eyes flashed a dangerous, unnatural purple. Grian clambered to sit down, but a wave of dizziness swept over him. He fell backwards gracelessly, wings spreading to catch him, hitting the back of his head on the dock and his eyes slipped closed.

[yskcy]

Minecraft #199

Brief note

Minecraft building is fun.

Topics

A good time to visit Japan is during spring or autumn, as summer is too hot and the period before summer is too rainy, so it's better to avoid them. This is my opinion.

It was snowing and cold in reality.

I want to go get the last Elytra.

I am a professional in stone brick architecture.

Staircase psychology.

References

None

[taimio]

Conquering the Beetle Invasion: Effective Strategies for Beetle Control

Gardening can be a wonderful and rewarding experience, but it can also be frustrating when dealing with pesky bugs like beetles. Beetles can damage your plants, often making holes or eating the leaves, and they can also ruin your bounty of vegetables and fruits. The good news is that with a little bit of know-how, you can take control and effectively manage beetle populations in your garden. Keep reading to find out more about how to combat these unwelcome pests.

Hey there, Tumblr fam! Gather 'round as I introduce you to the quirky and oh-so-fascinating world of beetles. Yes, you read that right. Beetles. Those tiny yet mighty creatures that roam our gardens, invade our homes, and leave us scratching our heads and wondering, What on earth do we do with these little buggers?

The Beetle Conundrum

Ah, beetles. Those six-legged wonders that seem to have an uncanny ability to make their way into every nook and cranny of our lives. Whether you're battling an infestation or simply trying to coexist peacefully, dealing with beetles can be a real head-scratcher.

But fear not, my fellow beetle enthusiasts! I'm here to share some insightful, witty, and engaging tips on how to handle these little critters. So buckle up and get ready for an entomological adventure like no other!

Know Thy Enemy: The Beetle

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of beetle wrangling, let's take a moment to appreciate these fascinating creatures. Did you know that there are over 350,000 known species of beetles? That's more than any other group of insects on the planet! Talk about diversity, right?

From the dazzling iridescence of the jewel beetle to the intricate patterns adorning the elytra of ladybugs, beetles come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Not to mention, they play crucial roles in our ecosystems as pollinators, decomposers, and even as a vital part of the food chain.

Now that we have a newfound appreciation for beetles, let's move on to the burning question: How do we deal with them when they become a bit too much to handle?

Beetle Battle Strategies

1. Prevention is Key

As the old saying goes, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And when it comes to beetles, truer words were never spoken. To keep these little invaders at bay, here are a few preventive measures you can take:

Seal cracks and crevices: Beetles are masters of infiltration, so make sure to seal up any potential entry points into your home, such as gaps around windows, doors, and utility lines.

Store food properly: Keep your pantry free of beetle feasts by storing dry goods like flour, rice, and cereal in airtight containers.

Keep a tidy garden: Remove dead plant matter, trim overgrown foliage, and clear away any standing water to discourage beetles from setting up camp in your backyard.

2. Natural Remedies

When beetles persist despite your best preventive efforts, it's time to bring out the big guns – natural remedies! Here are a few tried-and-true methods to give those beetles a run for their money:

Neem oil: This natural insecticide derived from the neem tree is a beetle's worst nightmare. Dilute it with water and spray it on plants or directly on the beetles themselves.

Beneficial insects: Fight fire with fire, or in this case, beetles with beetles! Introduce predatory insects like ladybugs or ground beetles to your garden, and let nature take care of the rest.

Beer traps: Yes, you heard me right. Beetles have a weakness for beer, so set up some shallow dishes filled with the hoppy elixir to lure them away from your prized plants.

3. Seek Professional Help

If your beetle battles become a full-blown war and the natural remedies just aren't cutting it, it may be time to call in the professionals. Pest control experts have a plethora of tools and techniques up their sleeves to tackle even the most persistent beetle infestations.

Just remember, prevention and eco-friendly methods are always the way to go. But when all else fails, don't hesitate to seek assistance from those who know the ins and outs of beetle warfare.

Embracing the Beetles

When it comes down to it, beetles are an integral part of our world, whether we like it or not. Instead of viewing them as nuisances, we can choose to embrace their presence and learn from their remarkable adaptations and behaviors.

So next time you spot a beetle scurrying across your countertop or meandering through your garden, take a moment to appreciate their resilience and beauty. And if you're feeling particularly brave, maybe even offer them a tiny salute for their contribution to the intricate tapestry of life.

Conclusion

In the grand scheme of things, dealing with beetles is just another part of the wild ride we call life. By understanding their habits, implementing preventive measures, and resorting to eco-friendly remedies, we can coexist peacefully with our six-legged friends.

Remember, beetles may be small, but they are mighty. So let's tip our imaginary hats to these fascinating creatures and embrace the wonders they bring to our world – even if that means occasionally shooing them out of our homes or gardens.

That's all for today's entomological adventure, folks! Stay curious, stay beetle-aware, and until next time, happy bug hunting!

Learn more about gardening with Taim.io!

[randomwords247]

IT WAS SO FUN FLYING AROUND I DIDNT KNOW YOU COULD GO SO FAST

@randomwords247 got an elytra on Smokey's Origins server yesterday. (Random is blazeborn, I'm elytrian.)

[inaris-mage-of-storms]

This whole saga begins with this post.

Prev | Index | Next

Content warnings for perceived rejection, misunderstandings, and self-depreciating thoughts. If you struggle with similar issues or are in a bad headspace, consider skipping this one.

--

With a twitch of his elytra Scar swooped lower and banked to come around to the back of Grian's base, grinning and clutching the creeper hiss horn tighter in his hand. He could see a glimpse of his target's head bent over a multitude of chests, Grian's attention held by whatever he was searching for. As Scar landed on the planks as quietly as he could, he heard indistinct words from someone in a voice that wasn't Grian's. Two victims for the price of one? Even better.

" - ust don't put me with Scar, please."

Scar froze in place behind a column, moving further behind it as Grian turned his head to the side to look at the communicator laying on top of another chest.

"Are you sure?" came Scott's voice over the communicator speakers. "Like - to clarify, are we talking 'I'd rather be with anyone else ell-oh-ell jay kay'? Or are we talking - "

"No, this is a serious, official request," said Grian, pulling what sounded like a handful of bamboo out of the chest and contemplating it for a moment. "I can't do it, Scott. It's different being around him here at home, but after all of...that..."

Oh. Scar slipped the goat horn into his inventory and leaned heavily against the column while Grian went back to rummaging, not trusting himself to be able to get back up if he let himself slide to the floor. He knew it was something he would have to face sooner or later - had known it for a while. But sensing Grian's steadily increasing withdrawal from him and preparing himself for it didn't compare to actually facing it.

"I understand," said Scott sympathetically. "Are you sure that will affect MCC, though? You might be an absolute menace, Grian, but you've always been good at putting emotions aside for the sake of professionalism."

"Yeah, I - It's just getting to be too much, you know? And what if Build Mart gets chosen? You know how I am with that. And I was watching his debut. I know he thinks he wants to play it with me on his team, but god, Scott - "

"Ouch, yeah. Well, all of the requests are confidential," said Scott, "so if you're really certain. Is this a permanent request, or...?"

Grian closed the chest lid with a sigh. "I don't know," he said, and as hard as Scar was finding it to breathe and ignore the painful tightness in his ribcage, he didn't miss how sad Grian sounded - or the welling desire to drop everything and comfort him, to find any way he could to bring a smile to Grian's lips. "Let's call it a standing request for now."

"Got it," answered Scott. "So then! Any requests for who you do want?"

Scar snuck to the edge of the floor and stepped off, waiting until the last possible moment to activate a rocket and praying he was far enough away for Grian to not hear it. Of course you've gone and finally driven him away, he thought ruefully. Grian's amazing at MCC, he doesn't deserve having to babysit someone who can't even follow a template without choking under pressure. And he did just have to put up with my stupidity against his will in the most recent Life game, and blamed himself for losing when it was clearly because I can't...I can't...

His train of thought crumbled as he landed in the workspace under the theme park roads, all sense of coherency devolving into a vortex of every mistake he had ever made, every time his energy had been too much to handle, every disappointment he had subjected the people he loved to because of his own incompetence.

Through blurred vision Scar made his way to the makeshift sleeping quarters in his workspace and curled up under the blankets. Please don't stop looking at me, he had almost asked Grian in another world through a haze of pain and healing potions. He grimaced at the recollection of such a selfish request, before shoving it aside and seeking out the reprieve of slumber instead.

[pangur-and-grim]

I am SO excited for the entomology pin collection I ordered the whole set of witch moths immediately. Can I ask if you have ideas already for the next batch? If not, can I suggest locusts? They've got a really cool occult and spiritual history behind them, especially in the Middle East, and I bet you could do some REALLY cool designs based on how they're sometimes pinned with one elytra open to spread the wing!

If you have any questions abt insects/want any resources about insects/also want any info about the occult and also insects at the same time pls feel free to hit me up any time!

Sincerely, a professional occultist who also is a trained entomologist because my life has been like that I guess

oh you know what, I've actually been searching for inspo and this might be it!! starting next week look out for some locust sketches

[fictionfixations]

Inspirational Person Research Paper

bro i did a whole essay thing for Techno and I kind of just ranted for some of it because I really like talking about like the potato war especially and everything he did and just

A--- LOOK

“Technoblade never dies.” This is one of the most famous quotes from Technoblade ever, where he’s usually doing some cool thing in Minecraft, be it winning a duel, roleplaying in a server as an antagonistic-like character, or just saying it for the meme, it is likely that you have at least seen it once. Especially since according to YouTube’s tribute to Technoblade called “Technoblade Never Dies”, it’s stated that “an average of 300 new videos with ‘Technoblade Never Dies’ in the title are uploaded every day.” Technoblade, or Alex was born on June 1st, 1999, and died around June of 2022 at the young age of 23. He lived in San Francisco, California, and had three sisters and one brother, as well as a dog named Floof. He’s taken a fencing class before in middle school and was in California for the start of his career in YouTube until after his gap year in 2018 where he graduated high school, moved to Chicago, Illinois, started college and became an English major for over a year before dropping out and returning to San Francisco. An addition to this is that he’s been diagnosed with ADHD, yet it is unsure of when, but in a post on a Hypixel Forum from September 27, 2014, he states, “I have ADHD, that was a fully comprehensible and flowing paragraph of nonstop wisdom to me,” to a post with a long sentence that contains zero breaks or pauses. The first reason he is inspirational to me had to be back in July of 2020, where he was invited as backup for Calvin & xNestorio in Minecraft Ultimate because half of their team had dropped out, but since Technoblade is known as a professional at PVP, the organizer said that if Techno joined, then they would have to be the only 3-player team in a game with 56 other teams, equaling to 217 players not including their team according to the side bar in the video, but there might be less due to old members possibly still counting.

In this tournament, he absolutely nerfed everyone alongside his team, starting the Technoplane meme when he flew around with his elytra while his teammates rode on top of him, and breaking the old record of the highest number of kills in the tournament with a combined 116 kills, with the previous record being 19.

The event had raised $36,264 for charity, which almost a third of that he raised, the exact number being $11,625, which was donated to the Miracle Foundation, a charity that supports orphans. It's also ironic because it's been a running joke that his parents were killed by orphans, and in fact has a sword in the Dream SMP called "Orphan Obliterator". The second would have to be The Potato War (Late 2019-Mid 2020), when Technoblade had seen that he had been making a ton of potatoes (242,000/day) on Minecraft due to potato minions on a server called Hypixel, in one of its games called Skyblock, and decided to get the #1 rank on the potato leaderboard, which you get by having farmed the most potatoes. It was also because he was in the top 50 already, and the #1 was a guy called im_a_squid_kid.

With his goal confirmed, he decides to get to know his enemy by going through the forums on Hypixel.net and discovered a post from September where Squid Kid bragged about being rank #1 in potatoes, having 4 million during then. Technoblade went through his profile and found a post weeks later where he had stated that he was around 7 million, so then Technoblade put the two dates together and calculated the slope to estimate Squid Kid’s growth, but then later found out he could just go to his island and figure it out from there.

Basically, so on and so on where Technoblade tends to one-up Squid Kid, meanwhile Squid Kid is still a few steps behind. By around after the first video, I’m not sure if he already streamed before, but he was doing twitch streams as due to being in Techno’s video led to more viewers for him and helped grow his community.

In fact, in I believe the third video, Squid Kid actually complained about being unable to replant potatoes immediately after picking them up compared to melons or watermelons, which are much more efficient to farm because you don’t need to replant them, while for potatoes, with a huge multi-layer farm, half of that time spent on the potatoes is replanting them, and by the time you go back to the bottom, some of them have already regrown. But due to this, the admins added a new update where the potatoes replant when you have a hoe with the enchantment called “replenish”, which is a custom enchant.

The two had also been working hard on getting bonuses to help get even more potatoes farmed that included the legendary rabbit pet, which had a farming bonus where farming minions work 0.3% faster and leveling it up to 100 got a bonus of 30%.

In fact, in the second video, it is revealed that Technoblade has chests upon chests of materials for Flycatchers, which increases the speeds of minions by 10%. The problem with that is that it’s hard to create them in the first place, because they have less than a 1% chance to drop from a high-level tarantula boss, and then need over 10 million coins worth of tarantula silk. And despite having chests and chests full of materials, all of it combined could only make 24 Flycatchers, which you use for individual minions. 

That’s not even mentioning how since he needed to level his legendary rabbit pet in the same video, he grinded alchemy since they level based off skill experience, which is a rich man’s skill, meaning if you have the cash, then you can level quickly. By the end of it in fact, he ended up ranked #4 in Alchemy.

Technoblade had also been watching every one of Squid Kid’s livestreams on Twitch to where he amassed 9k channel points, which you get overtime for free by watching their stream.

He had also crawled through Squid Kid’s farm and timed all his minions with a stopwatch every day to calculate about the exact number of potatoes harvested.

The point is, there were a lot of tactics used to get one step ahead of the other, until it eventually ended in the 3rd episode, where they decided to end it at first person to earn 500 million potatoes, and the owner of the server Hypixel, who also goes by Hypixel pitched in, stating that the winner gets a surprise.

Of course, Technoblade won, and the surprise turned out to be 3 exclusive items, that being the Potato Talisman, given to anyone who spoke to the NPC labeled “Potato King” which had Technoblade’s skin. There was also Basket of Hope from the Great Potato War, which was for those ranked top #1000 in the Potato leaderboard, or Potato Collection according to the Hypixel wiki, as well as the Potato War Silver Medal for the player ranked 2nd, aka Squid Kid, and the Potato Crown for Technoblade.

Lastly, my third reason had to be in his fight against cancer and how he treated it. In the video titled, “where I’ve been”, posted August 27, 2021, he explains where he had been and what was going on. In fact, he says that his arm had been hurting, and when he got it checked out, the doctors said he had cancer. In fact, he had Sarcoma. According to curesarcoma.org, or the SFA (Sarcoma Foundation of America), which is a charity that Technoblade had started a fundraiser for back in February of this year (Minecrafters vs Cancer), which raised $119,420 according to the SBI wiki over the fundraiser, Sarcoma is a cancer that has many subtypes since it can be anywhere in the tissue, which is also everywhere on our body. It’s mainly in the limbs, and tend to be hidden deep inside the body, which means Sarcoma tends to be diagnosed when it is already too large to be able to be cured.

Sarcoma has a chance of being cured by surgery, or surgery with chemotherapy, which we know Technoblade took. In fact, in TommyInnit’s video called “100 Minecraft YouTubers VS Natural Disasters!” posted on March 5th, 2022, towards the end, Technoblade states that he must get chemo (short for chemotherapy) in fifteen minutes.

Despite all of this, he still makes a joke about it in his past videos where he talks about it, especially in his “I Almost Became An Amputee” video where he talks about where they trolled him because they say that the treatment’s going fine and so is his arm (which has the tumor). Then 3 days later he met up with his radiation therapist who talked to his surgeon, stating that they might need to amputate his arm next week because the tumor is swelling dangerously due to cells dying off, and that it might be too late.

A few days later, they’re in the waiting room with the reception and he must fill out this form such as if he’s ever had surgery before, and including dates, so then he goes onto his phone to see, and he sees a new procedure on November 8th called ‘Arm Amputation’. He found it funny and joked about it being called arm amputation, saying in the video, “why would they call the procedure arm amputation? Like- Like you’re gonna get the tumor as well, right? … Like I’m gonna wake up on the operating room table, and I’m gonna like push myself up with my one arm and I’m gonna be like, ‘Doc! Doc, did you get the cancer?’ and he's gonna be like, ‘You have cancer? Wow, that’s crazy, you should see a doctor about that.’”

Techno treated it lightheartedly, so when in June of 2022 the news of his death reached the internet, everyone was caught off guard.

Another thing he did that I wasn’t sure where to put was another charity for SFA, for his stream on YouTube labeled, “Minecraft But Viewers Control The Game [CHARITY EVENT]” where viewers could donate to either help or sabotage Techno as he plays Minecraft with his friends on September 25, 2021. There, he raised a total of $363,495, which according to SFA’s Technoblade Tribute, overall raised over 500k. My point is, is that Technoblade is an amazing and inspirational person who stayed strong throughout it all to the bitter end, and while he may be gone from this world now, “Technoblade Never Dies.” He will never die because he will live on from his friends’ memories and from their posts, from videos he’s been in, and new videos that are still coming out now about him, as well as any work of art. Therefore, while he may has left physically, his memory will forever be preserved on the internet. ----- Sources ----- (i was supposed to have only 3 lMfao)

YouTube. “Technoblade Never Dies.” YouTube, YouTube, 28 Oct. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_fZjGm2OrM.

“Technoblade.” Wikitubia, https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/Technoblade.

Lol Technoblade | Hypixel - Minecraft Server and Maps. https://hypixel.net/threads/lol-technoblade.185404/.

technothepig. “Absolutely Ruining a $36,000 Minecraft Tournament.” YouTube, YouTube, 2 Aug. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAACnDkKqFo.

“Minecraft Ultimate.” Sleepy Bois Inc Wiki, https://sleepy-bois-inc.fandom.com/wiki/Minecraft_Ultimate#Season_2.

technothepig. “Skyblock: The Great Potato War.” YouTube, YouTube, 13 Nov. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qjnDd1rsII.

technothepig. “Skyblock: Potato War 2.” YouTube, YouTube, 7 Mar. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAEqgfAts4.

technothepig. “Skyblock: Potato War 3 (Finale).” YouTube, YouTube, 13 July 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09CeBwGbCeg&t=73s.

“Rabbit Pet.” Hypixel SkyBlock Wiki, https://hypixel-skyblock.fandom.com/wiki/Rabbit_Pet#:~:text=Bonus%20stats%3A,%E2%9C%A6%20Speed%3A%20%2B0.2%20per%20level.

“The Great Potato War.” Hypixel SkyBlock Wiki, https://hypixel-skyblock.fandom.com/wiki/The_Great_Potato_War. automatic replanting potatoes | Hypixel - Minecraft Server and Maps. https://hypixel.net/threads/automatic-replanting-potatos.3023907/. technothepig. “Where I've Been.” YouTube, YouTube, 27 Aug. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9_aYyEDMD0.

“Patient Resources- What Is Sarcoma? Treatments & More.” Sarcoma Foundation of America, 5 Jan. 2022, https://www.curesarcoma.org/sarcoma-resources/patient-resources/.

“Minecrafters vs Cancer.” Sleepy Bois Inc Wiki, https://sleepy-bois-inc.fandom.com/wiki/Minecrafters_Vs_Cancer.

“100 Minecraft Youtubers vs Natural Disasters!” YouTube, YouTube, 5 Mar. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h61SlPZfWfw.

technothepig. “I Almost Became an Amputee.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 Dec. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG1Q1ouemVA.

technothepig. “So Long Nerds.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 June 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPMluEVUqS0.

technothepig. “Minecraft but Viewers Control the Game [Charity Event].” YouTube, YouTube, 25 Sept. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHKsjtB9Q30.

“Made for Fundraisers.” Tiltify, https://tiltify.com/+team-technoblade/tests35352.

Saunders, Cindy. “Technoblade Tribute.” Sarcoma Foundation of America, 31 Oct. 2022, https://www.curesarcoma.org/technoblade-tribute/.

[redwinterroses]

re: that post about being a fan as an adult from the other day? I'm at a work conference right now, and just spent 20 minutes chatting Hermitcraft, Minecraft, and DnD with one of my professional contacts (while holding the elytra, netherite sword, and netherite axe I made for our award banquet/costume dinner.)

And he mentioned he's going to start a server after 1.18 drops for a bunch of us from this circle of people.

Oh, and my client/best friend/carpool buddy and I spent the 3 hour drive here listening to Hermit timelapse music, rocking along to Hermitgang, and chatting 3rd Life and s8 shenanigans.

So like... yeah. It's good to be a fan/nerd as an adult.