#eyes and ears theory

[askdacast]

Life Series SMP/Eyes and Ears AU Thematic Discussion + Theorycrafting (pt. 1)

WARNING: Extremely long post

Kachow what’s poppin fellas, I’m back at it again talking about boomer block Youtubers and their surprisingly in-depth improv series. Now that the Life Series’ 5th season has finally concluded, I’m back on the lore train and poor Scar is left to suffer the consequences, and Martyn’s concluded yet another lore stream, I decided to compile a long master post of lore notes and theories about what we have so far.

Obviously all the ‘lore’ of the Life Series is purely unofficial; Grian has not approved any of it as being actually official/set in stone for what he intended the series to be. Most of it has been us in the crazy fandom extrapolating their really good storytelling, and also “semi-canonized” by Martyn in what he calls the Eyes and Ears AU (and this post assumes you are familiar with it). As someone who’s been a fan since the beginning way back in 3rd Life, I’ve pretty much hopped on the lore train since the beginning as well (if casually) and enjoying all the different extrapolations/analysis/angst written around the players. Rather than just theorizing lore details in a vacuum, however, I’ve always liked imagining the lore based around the reoccurring themes, symbolism and arcs we’ve seen across the series. I’d been bouncing my various thoughts and theories around these themes for a while, and finally I decided to compile my notes together.

This post is basically my imagining what the Life Series/Eyes and Ears AU story is “about,” as if it were a fleshed-out, long-running and story-driven tv show. Initially this post started as simply a gigantic “Eyes and Ears Theory,” me trying to sus out my own theories/ideas of what the Life Series’ mysteries were based on Martyn’s lore. However, considering that Martyn is ALSO writing the lore on the fly, and I have some details I would interpret differently or change, this ended up less a ‘theory’ and more ‘me writing an entire AU/interpretation of the Life Series as a whole.’ My intention is NOT to ‘correct’ Martyn’s lore, nor to claim my theory as the ‘right’ interpretation; rather, this is my personal interpretation of what the Life Series story is about, based on information shown in the original SMP and in Martyn’s AU.

One last disclaimer: I am ONLY drawing on lore details from the Life Series, Martyn’s lore streams, and Minecraft EVO, and also references to the iRL creators. I am not drawing on any story from other SMPs such as Pirates or Empires; there may be some Hermitcraft references here and there.

This is going to be very long, and a multi-parter, because I can’t summarize to save my life. And I promise I’ll come up with a proper name for my series of posts another time. If you’ve stuck around to read, I thank you.

Part 1: The Overall Plot + Understanding the Watchers

Recap of official lore details

Although Martyn hasn’t given specific details on the Watcher + Listener species (he hasn’t come up with a name yet), we know the following details for sure (from EVO, lore streams etc.)

Watchers + Listeners + The Council are all deity-like beings of the same species, and they all consume human emotions

The Council are the upper ranks/possibly leaders, whereas the Watchers + Listeners are separate factions

The Watchers are at LEAST two high-ranking members of the species (the two dots being outcast from the wider circle, as is their logo)

The Watchers were behind Minecraft EVO, where they gave all the players tasks (much like Secret Life) and eventually ending in them fighting the Ender Dragon separately

While the Watchers may not have been evil in EVO, they certainly became so AFTER, when they began to crave more negative human emotions, viewing them as “tasty” (Martyn’s words), s p i c y

They first kidnapped Grian at the end of EVO season 1, turning him into a Watcher to possibly have him join their ranks, but he’s gone rogue after realizing what their plans for the Life Series were, and plans to rescue his friends from them

The Life Series was the Watchers’ ploy to trap the players in an infinite death game where they betray and cause each other pain, all to harvest their negative emotions. Grian, in defiance to this, takes control as the ‘game master’ to make the whole thing…well, a game, so that his friends can enjoy, have fun and ease their anguish. In Martyn’s words, this is like “pouring ketchup all over the Watchers’ sundae.”

The Listeners (EVO season 2) are an opposing faction to the Watchers who disagree with their methods, although why is unknown. They’ve attempted to contact some players (e.g. Jimmy) before back in EVO in order to oppose the Watchers, but it’s not known how successful they were. They’ve also tried to swap in players in the Life Series before (e.g. subbing Lizzie and Gem for Pearl and Cleo in Lim. Life) in order to sneak them in and try to subvert the game. The Watchers kidnapping Gem for Secret Life is partially in retaliation to the Listeners. The Listeners may not be good and may have nefarious intentions also, it is as yet still unknown.

There’s potentially a third faction, the Speakers, but very little is known about them and Martyn doesn’t want to elaborate on them yet.

Okay, but what are the Watchers even after?

"Accept your fate."

From here on out is my real conjecturing/theorizing. The main question on my mind has been why are the Watchers doing what they’re doing? Obviously Martyn has confirmed that they are malicious deities who find negative human emotions tasty, but this raises further questions. Why exactly do they desire such emotions, or need them to survive (if they do, anyway)? Why do they favour negativity, when the other members of their species consume a wide range of emotions? They were confirmed to be outcast in some way from the other factions for this ploy, so what does that say about them then?

The whole species fundamentally do not understand human emotions (or perhaps do not even possess them)

This seems to me the most logical conclusion. These are powerful deities who can create miniature worlds/dimensions, life, and time to an extent (death loop). They should theoretically be self-sufficient, so I doubt that their consumption of human emotion is for survivability reasons (i.e. I don’t think Watchers will literally die if they don’t consume emotions, the same way humans die without food). What seems more likely is that human emotions bring them some benefit to their intelligence or power that they’d otherwise be quite non-functional without. (Think like the demons in The Promised Neverland, who regress to feral natures/lack of sapience if they don’t eat humans)

The Watchers’ powers and their lab-rat experimentation on the players gives a huge vibe of not being able to understand human emotions in an involved way, but only from a distance. They know methodically things like murder and betrayal cause panic and anguish, so they enforce these experiences through the game, mechanics like the Boogeyman, the Secret Tasks etc. But they don’t really know internally why these emotions come about the way humans do. Being above time, they probably don’t understand why the funny small animals have so much attachment to their transitory experiences and memories (more on this later).

world's angriest pumpkin

The Watchers are Losers, Actually

Going further, don’t you think the Watchers have a very misanthropic mindset all around? “Anguish and panic are s p i c y.” They conversely have a complete disgust for positive emotions, and can’t stand Grian making things fun for everybody. It almost feels like they have the mindset that only things like hatred and fear are exciting, bringing motivation and life to the humans, whereas things like happiness and fun are ‘useless’ because they don’t bring about the same results. Let’s also not forget their name – Watchers – and that Martyn’s confirmed them to be symbolically based off us, the audience. It’s almost like a commentary of the worst of the entertainment industry, of an audience who crave watching anything and everything to satisfy their own desires, even at the expense of the privacy and safety of the entertainer. Given the current state of the internet and social media, I don’t think I need to elaborate how awful things can get.

In other words, I believe the main motivation the Watchers are eating humans emotions is because they WANT to understand and ‘take into themselves’ such emotions. I don’t think they’re totally emotionless – Martyn does portray them with moments of glee and anger. But their understanding of emotions is superficial (self-centered, if you will) at best. As deities with no needs, being above time, they have nothing to be afraid of and nothing to feel sad or anguished over. It’s a boring, dull and empty existence. And that’s precisely why they’ve set up the Life Series game: by kidnapping a few humans and putting them through the artificially constructed wringer of panic and betrayal, they think they can create a human farm of such rich, complex and exciting emotions, all for themselves to enjoy at their own pleasure and fill the void they have.

(Listeners’ side note: If all that is the philosophy of the Watchers, it’s probably not difficult to see how/why the Listeners oppose them. The Listeners likely disagree that negative emotions are the most optimal state of humans, and unlike the Watchers do not think human suffering is just tasty popcorn one can eat at one’s pleasure. Their name – Listeners – implies they’re a more sympathetic faction, as in they listen to one’s troubles and heart rather than take delight in suffering at a superficial level. But if they are the same species, it’s very likely they have the same lack of instinctive understanding of human emotions that the Watchers do, and this could cause…problems.)

Why turn Grian?

All this is also why I believe the Watchers kidnapped Grian + turned him into a Watcher in the first place. Firstly, if they were going to concoct their plan to trap humans, they needed a collaborator from the humans in the first place. Secondly, and most importantly, this collaborator was going to be their only direct source of how human emotions work/feel like, and therefore what were the most optimal conditions needed to ensure their death game would generate the most pain and anguish. They picked Grian because he’s always the ‘leader’ of the SMP players, the person gathering and organizing everyone, so logically, he is the most ‘representative’ of the humans, and the one with the greatest ability to control them.

Of course, it’s also true that Grian was a little $#@% throughout EVO and actively rebelled against the Watchers’ tasks, so making him their collaborator might seem strange. Ignoring the meta reason that the ending was written to explain Grian’s exit from the series. But I figured in this case, they considered the benefits more than the costs. Grian’s chaotic nature is not unlike the Watchers’, considering how much he loves causing pranks and trouble to others. So, as a huge oversight, they think Grian is just like them: he loves to see people suffer, so they think. Additionally, the Watchers are desperate to understand how Grian gets his fellow humans to follow him and do what he asks with little effort. You’ll notice the Watchers have very direct, authoritative ways of trying to wrest control (e.g. the tasks, “do this or you fail”), and they get very petty and upset when people rebel against them (re: Scott’s refusal to be the Boogeyman, their motto is a very demanding “OUR WILL BE DONE.”) They see Grian’s charisma as yet another aspect of human emotions they fail to understand and thus WANT to possess for themselves.

Pictured above: The Watchers, coping and seething

Of course as we know, the Watchers believing Grian would help them is a major oversight. Becoming a god doesn’t just fundamentally change who Grian is, and he definitely doesn’t want to consign his friends to an infinite death loop of suffering. That being said, I don’t think Grianhas truly gone ‘rogue’ so much as taken as much advantage as possible of his ‘deal’ with the Watchers. We can guess the Watchers promised to him some kind of control/leadership over his friends’ circumstances as long as he worked for them, which led to them giving him the keys to the Life Series. In other words, so long as he fulfils their requirements of things being a death game that will generate ‘food’ for them, and lets them revive everyone each loop, he gets to decide how the games go.

And we know exactly what Grian’s done with this: he created the green-yellow-red lives system, he creates a fun gimmick each season, he inserts himself into the game as a player, all to bring out the best and most creative side of his friends rather than the worst. The Boogeyman probably is the only gimmick the Watchers added on their own initiative (re: Martyn’s POV in Last Life) in order to make things more spicy. Probably Grian’s conversation with the Watchers each time goes, “hey, I got an idea on how to bring out the most creative ways for everyone to cause pain in each other, [comes up with some bullcrap justification for the game’s fun mechanics].” I like to think the Watchers were going to make the death games even more vicious, cruel and competitive, but because of Grian’s wrangling he’s convinced them that a slow burn from joy to horror creates better results, and they tolerate it as long as they see him useful.

Memories and Emotions

There is also one BIG detail of the Watchers’ plan I’d like to mention: Martyn claims that the Watchers do NOT erase the players’ memories. At the end of each season, they consume everyone’s emotions so that there’s no more angst/ill will towards each other, and they start each season afresh. The players remember what’s happened in past seasons, but they don’t continue to hold the pain and negative feelings they had towards each other.

I don’t buy this, for numerous reasons.

For one, Martyn has confirmed the Watchers ARE capable of removing people’s memories. The one memory they have outright altered was the ex-EVO players’ (Martyn, Jimmy, BigB etc.) memory of what happened to Grian: they don’t remember that Grian was taken to be turned into a Watcher, and instead remember it as him either going missing or dying after the Ender Dragon fight. All this presumably to not give away the Watchers’ schemes and to ensure they still listen to Grian as if nothing ever happened.

More importantly, however, memories are vital to humanity’s emotional experience and mental health. I am not an expert by any means, but there are studies showing how people with amnesia, PTSD or other conditions affecting memories have flashbacks/emotional reactions to trauma they don’t remember consciously. The Watchers have (supposedly) done something far more simplistic yet fantastic by just eating up everybody’s emotions. All this, even though they see humans as emotion factories, constantly able to generate emotions just by existing, by their ability to draw and create meaning through emotional experiences, and by creating memories – the clearest embodiment of a mortal’s attachment to time (which if you remember, I believe the Watchers have no concept of).

You cannot just tell a human to stop feelingcompletely (under normal circumstances anyway), but especially not if they remember something very very traumatic.

Besides, there ARE clear instances when some of the players remember the events of past seasons and are STILL not over them! Impulse and Tango still being bitter/distrustful after Bdubs betrayed each of them separately, Cleo distrusting BigB for the same reason, Scott referencing Flower Husbands a lot, Pearl feeling betrayed by Cleo/Scott when they supposedly broke up the Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss trio at the start of DL, Bdubs’ “I wanna be your favorite son” in Secret Life, the list goes on. Note that I’ve only listed negative/bittersweet instances; there are plenty more cases of the players remembering past seasons and alliances positively which the Watchers may have ignored. The point is, if the Watchers truly consumed everyone’s emotions to the point of a clean slate, they haven’t exactly been thorough. Nor do I think it’s very conducive for them either – don’t they want players to have enduring, unending, unresolved pain, the sweetest of all (to them)?

No, I think the Watchers HAVE been erasing/suppressing the players’ memories – they’ve just been very selective which ones. Martyn’s said that the Watchers do not care what families or connections they separate so long as they get the people they want and the plans they want. I’m going to assume the players in my theory/the Eyes and Ears AU are exactly the same as their CC counterparts. In other words: they’ve stolen Grian away from his wife. They stole Martyn away from his and his daughter. Ditto with Skizz, Impulse, Tango etc. They stole Scar away from his family. Joel and Lizzie are the only couple they didn’t separate, perhaps because they needed both for their plans, and also so they can inflict the most torture on them by ripping them away from each other, over and over again. And in order to ensure the complete submissiveness of the players to the game, the Watchers have taken away their memories of their past lives, their families, basically anyone who isn’t a fellow player in the game. The Watchers don’t erase the memories of bonds between seasons, because it’s a pain to have to teach the humans how to play all over again, but they erase any memories they find disadvantageous to keeping the game running.

They might even go one step further: while they haven’t erased the players’ memories of who each other are (so as to not cause confusion), they do try to suppress important memories. Things like how they met, the times they confided in each other after a bad day, cried on each other’s shoulder, laughed in each other’s successes, the times they hung out with each other’s families. Imagine the different alliances constantly gravitating to each other, but never being able to remember why they care about each other so much. Imagine Bdubs’ “Come on, you know you and I go way back!” when trying to justify taking Cleo’s stuff, and Cleo laughs back, even though she can’t quite remember what exactly Bdubs has done to warrant that. Imagine Joel or Lizzie trying to remember why they loved each other so much.

They fight and kill some of their friends, and protect others, because…because why again? It’s for survival value, surely, so the Watchers whisper. It’s because the strong must congregate with the strong and leave the weak to die, surely. It’s because Martyn’s always been a loner, and always will be, and should remain so. So they tell him. So they whisper, this is a deathmatch for a reason.

Grian’s Fundamental Rebellion

I think all this is the real reason Grian is rebelling against the Watchers. The most immediate reason is obvious: he wants to free his friends from this death loop. But the deeper reason as to why he’s rebelled is that the Watchers are torturing and robbing his friends of their humanity. They’re taking a tight-knit group of friends who love and would do anything for each other, and turning them against each other in a cruel and unescapable death game. On TOP of this, the Watchers have constantly messed with their heads in order to make them obedient and submissive to their schemes and the worst of their human nature, trapping them in fear, pettiness and paranoia. Of course Grian is upset. Of course he wants to save them from this fate. It’s an insult to who he knows these people to be.

This all leaves Grian in a pretty precarious position. While outwardly the Watchers want to make him a lackey as the “game master”, both he and they know he really wants to save his friends (they probably see it as their ‘cattle’ showing a bit of resistance, which once again they need to suppress). And while on one hand he’s making the games fun to ease his friends’ pain and bring the best out of them, this is just a hotfix rather than a real solution. In order to really rescue the players, Grian’s got to get them to rebel against the Watchers as well. Refuse to play by the rules, by the expectation that they must murder and kill without mercy, without any attachment to their alliances or past friendships. Make everyone like Scott refusing to be the Boogeyman, or Skizz constantly trying to be wholesome (until the bloodlust gets the better of him anyway).

Ironically in order to achieve this, Grian’s best bet is to try to jog everyone’s lost memories of each other and the things they lost, both good and bad. But ultimately, this is going to make them (in the short term) suffer more. This is where you can insert all your Desert Duo/Flower Husband/whatever alliance you like most angst. But more practically, I like to imagine when “the cameras” are not watching, when Grian knows no one will notice or catch him, he sneaks around to the different alliances, even the ones he’s not part of, to ask them how they’re doing, if they remember anything from the past etc. (in a meta sense, the players edit and cut stuff from their videos all the time; who’s to say he isn’t trying to catch a quick chat while everyone’s mining?!) It also reflects in why Grian is constantly trying to make alliances with different people instead of just gravitate to one person, he needs to check on everyone and capitalize on every single opportunity. (besides the meta reason, being that cc!Grian wants to be creative, and sticking to the same person all the time isn’t very entertaining from a content creator perspective)

One last detail about the winners: I don’t have much to say about the fragments yet, because Martyn (sneaky boi) hasn’t yet revealed the significance of the fragments nor of their healing, although he has hinted Bad Things™ will happen if a player gets too fragmented. But I do think the winners are important: with the game finished, they give Grian a very short window of time to talk to one person directly, without Watcher interference. They’re always the last to be killed/swept away/revived by the Watchers, and I can imagine there’s a brief period of time when their souls are being transferred to The Void w/e where Grian can step in and interfere. In my theory, Grian passes on some sort of clue/push to the winners, as like a subtle message about what they can do to stand up to the Watchers. I’ll detail on what I think these individual messages were in part 2. Needless to say, 3rd Life was a traumatic experience for Grian for many reasons, but the nail in the coffin was the fact that he won, and therefore there was no way for him to pass a message onto anyone.

Conclusion

Hooooooo jeepers that was long @A@; Thank you so much for your patience reading this if you made it to the end, I really appreciate it. As I said, I’ve had these lore ideas bouncing in my head for a LONG time, and with the end of Secret Life I couldn’t get out of my head the different trends/symbolism that was popping out of an improv series. It honestly speaks a lot to how genius our favorite block dudes are at improv, that they can turn their improv nonsense into a coherent narrative. I really wanted to try my hand at fleshing out such a narrative, and with Martyn constantly drip-feeding lore to the fans, I had more than enough material to not just put out guesses but construct something a full XYZ. As I mentioned, I enjoy workshopping themes and characters a LOT more than just worldbuilding or “what if this or that” details in a vacuum, hence why I’ve written all that I have, so this was a fun exercise for me all around!

Next time in part 2 I talk about Character Development™, or character specific notes and details I’ve noticed and extrapolated from what we’ve seen of each individual player, as well as what their different arcs across the seasons mean for them within the lore. Stay tuned for another wordbarf!

Bonus list of works I was inspired by for this loredump:

Log Horizon

The Promised Neverland

Danganronpa (ironic as I’m not really a fan of this franchise, but the first game has an otherwise solid premise which I found really similar to the Life Series)

The Fate franchise (when Martyn asked “what’s Fate?” on the latest lore stream, let me tell you I couldn’t stop laughing; NO MARTYN DON’T GO INTO THE WEEB RABBIT HOLE)

Various amazing animatics from the Traffic fandom: Earth, Bang!, most of Melloz Heist’s works, and of course all the amazing fanart

Way too many conversations with my friends about fantasy species

[askdacast]

HECK YES

“Person desperately trying to cling onto their humanity and compassion in spite of the horror of being physically mutated into something very inhuman and violent” is a trope very near and dear to my heart [looks at fantasy anime and Kamen Rider]

I need to see more of this Grian in fan content, his being a Watcher raises so much more complex emotions and dilemmas beyond just ‘ooo he’s scary and eldritch now’

For those who read my very long eyes and ears theory post (I’m sorry) this is a VERY IMPORTANT POINT in the whole thing and I’ll elaborate on it a bit more in part 2

"Grian as amoral/immoral deity figure-" sure but have you ever considered the thematic implications of a human pulled into a state of being they were never meant to inhabit? Having a million eyes and burning like the sun but possessing a human heart that was never meant to be and can never become anything but human? Loving every moment of mortality they can grasp onto? Willingly competing in death games? Willingly refusing to use the powers they possess? Willingly loving? Because ones form of existence doesn't change who they are, and Grian didn't ever stop being human, he just lost the right to comfortably call himself one, and that's a worse fate than any of the pains of living.

[jula483]

for the rhink shippers

[tarydarrington]

i am never in my life going to be over these two looking at each other like this

[lovingshadowpeaches]

Not dead just fucking unmotivated

Cooking something up very slowly

[saddybildaddy]

More Time Duckery

If you're a Best Not to Speculate™️ fan, instead of a It's A Clue!™️ fan, please keep scrolling!

*Please do not ask Neil about fan theories.*

So I've noticed many things in my rewatches and read tons of great metas. But I just realized something that adds to my belief of the weird Jeremy Bearimy time fuckery going on in Season 2.

I'm certain many of you have already noticed this, but I only watched the show a few months ago and my brain is utter chaos at any given moment, so bear with me:

We know that Mr. Brown is holding a newspaper with a very specific headline in Episode 2 at the pub. Even on my first watch of Season 2, I noticed the adorable duck and the headline.

And when he enters the bookshop for the "meeting"/ball, he isn't holding the newspaper. Fair. Why would he bring that? Isn't Episode 5 (the ball) happening on Thursday (I think), whereas Episode 2's events are at least a couple days prior?

Why is it that when Nina walks in and interacts with him, he somehow has it? WHY?

Why does he have it when he steps up to confront Shax??

He is holding a chewed up/destroyed version the next morning outside the coffee shop when Crowley brings him back from wherever the demons took him.

His outfit in this Episode 6 scene is also the same as Episode 2, but their clothing did change when they entered the bookshop for the ball. However, aren't Episode 2 pub scene and Episode 5 ball supposed to be on different days?????

Great meta here on Pub Guy/Hawaiian Shirt Guy who is one of the many odd extras this season and is seen wearing different outfits in the Episode 2 pub scene vs. the Episode 6 morning scene.

This is actually why I even noticed this in the first place. I recently wondered if Aziraphale ever gave the guests the books he promised them, and ended up going back to see if they walked out of the shop with the books - and they did. Out of the blue (because brainrot), I went from wondering why Mr. Brown was holding something when he wasn't given a book, to remembering his newspaper with the duck, to realizing that the pub scene was likely on a different day.

Please speculate away!

It's ok if you don't like metas - just ignore this! I'm interested in speculating, so I don't want to write this off as a continuity error. This is far more noticeable than some oddly specific things they discuss in BTS videos.

[justatree75]

welcome to: posts that are literally only for me

these are the same image and i know they're probably unrelated but i can never unsee it

[quitealotofsodapop]

una vez leí que en viaje al oeste SWK tiene problemas de vista por el horno de tiagramas por las cenizas que le entraron en los ojos, como que necesita lentes como Tang ¿Que piensas de eso?

translated via Google:

"I once read that on a trip to the west SWK has vision problems due to the tiagram furnace due to the ashes that got into his eyes, he needs glasses like Tang. What do you think about that?"

It's a really cool concept!

One of my favorite au fics is called "Molten Iris" on ao3 (link here!), and it deals with SWK sight being permanently damaged by the Furnace, and how he might interact with the world around him because of it.

One of the aspects of Sun Wukong in the book is how "true" fire damages him; in the Furnace, by Red Boy, and briefly in Chapter 75 when he's trapped in the "Yin-Yang Twin-Energy Vase" by the Roc King/Peng. The last instance made him panic so badly that he pulled out a lifeline (magic hairs) Guanyin gave him at the start of the journey in order to escape.

Theres also a scene in "Journey to the West" where Monkey is blinded by the smoke made by Red Boy.

I like the idea of Wukong being fairly short-sighted, and the Gold Vision helps him find things without squinting too badly. I feel like his pride is the main obstacle for him to get glasses, makes him feel "damaged/mortal".

In the AU; since Wukong is living as a mortal, he actually gets a pair of glasses to help him read better (and cus of Mac's nagging). He was just goofing around one day with Tang and tried on the scholar's glasses, only to notice;

SWK, trying on Tang's glasses: "Uh... How am I seeing better with these? Pigsy made it sound like you were using a fish eye lens." Tang, realising: "...I'll give you the number of my optemertrist." SWK: "Is that some kinda wizard?"

Macaque ends up laughing the first time he sees Wukong wearing glasses, joking that his sight has started failing cus of age. Later he admits that he honestly didn't know Wukong's sight was truly that damaged from the Furnace. Wukong says no big deal, and makes a comment about being able to look at Mac more clearly now. Both monkeys are blushing messes by the end of the conversation.

Macaque makes a point of kissing Wukong's eyelids as a gesture of affection.

It also adds to Wukong's look as a "normal monkey demon dad" compared to the buff juggernaut he once was.

Compare: How the legends make Sun Wukong the Monkey King sound (Smite SWK) VS What he looks like to MK in the au (Hank Hill).

In the extended "Wukongverse"; the other SWKs likely have similar eyesight problems. The only ones who don't are Cherry/Netflix!SWK, and Shihou/Meihouwang!SWK since they were never trapped in the Furnace - though it would be funny if they still needed reading glasses.

Fun Monkey Fact! The imagery of SWK having "Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils" comes from real life macaque monkeys, where during mating season; the skin around their eyes becomes red making their irises appear golden.

[thedailyvio]

Day 137 - 138

WIP Below:

[cobaltfluff]

also... lookin at the OP again... did our boy Ara-chan also give Matakara a Love Forever Stone????? Back in their buddy buddy days??

(more yelling in tags i swear im sane)

[familyofpaladins]

finally figured out why this shot always gave me weird vibes

WHAT'S UP WITH THE EYE SHAPE?????

Like.... why aren't they glow-y LEGO eyes? why are they like actual eye shape here?

The only other times i think we see this shape is with Macaque's shadow?

I mean, it could simply be that who ever animated this scene drew them that way and no one bothered to change it (looks a little more sinister maybe, and where this is Azure talking about how Monkey King fought against him, maybe that was the goal) Zhu Bajie's (sorry if that's spelled wrong) eyes also look like they maybe has this shape in the same scene.

maybe it's just an animation choice. maybe it's not (idk what it means tho)

[askdacast]

Martyn has stated numerous times the Watchers/Listeners/Speakers trio is a pretty obvious “hear no evil see no evil speak no evil” reference

As someone who has to study Japanese religion/history as part of her degree and roughly knows the origin of that phrase, that one factoid has been sending my brain at 120 km/h

Yet I STILL cannot think of a good name for my funny mcyt death game theory “orz

[phlying-squirrel]

So We All Know the Canary Curse. But What About Scott?

I've had this thought since Jimmy wasn't the first death in secret life. If he has an established curse where he is meant to die first, could there also be blessings?

It was always in the back of my head that "Oh yeah Jimmy is cursed to die first, Scott is blessed to make it close to the end." Scott or his allies almost always get right up to the end of the game (Top 3 usually). Is it out of the realm of possibility that the listeners or some other power looked at Scott during 3rd life and said "Damn sorry, his ally/husband died. Maybe next time buddy." Or they at least saw his potential and gave him a blessing? This could be an extra explanation as to why Lizzie was the first final death. Maybe Scott's blessing overpowers the canary curse? So when Lizzie tried to kill Scott in the end, the blessing kicked in and protected him, which in turn killed Lizzie. I'm also wondering if there are any other patterns/curses/blessings known of, or bestowed upon players?

It just seems like a fun tidbit or a possibility to play with :]

[jyushirolldaily]

baby jyushi daily 16 baby jyushi and distance cousin shu?

[vintage-bentley]

Here’s my theory about the kiss. They kiss because they love each other. The end.