#i was swimming in the lake and found a flying bug stuck in the water

[aviul]

benevolence

[diffractor]

So, I have found out about the Minecraft Manhunt series. Basically, there’s this guy, Dream, who was a speedrunner (yup, that guy who cheated in his speedrun attempts), and his task is to beat Minecraft. There are also several of his friends present, who are also good at the game, and have a special item which always points towards him (for tracking) and their task is to kill him once before he beats Minecraft. Apparently the creation process is “agree to pay money to friends if they kill me so they have an incentive, and if a hunt doesn’t come down to the wire, don’t publish it”. Given that full footage has been posted of some of the hunts, then even if it’s staged (which I highly doubt), they’re at least able to do the whole thing in one take, which is super-impressive. It is apparently a big internet thing and there are fans and antifans arguing about stuff, and.... The series is actually really good. It is unironically top-notch. It’s very popular and the popularity is deserved, I never thought I’d be saying this. I don’t even care if it’s staged. If you’ve played Minecraft before, you’ll be able to appreciate it. The main reason for the appeal is that, gameplay-wise, Dream is exactly what you’d get if [Favorite Action Movie Hero] had a baby with Bugs Bunny, and then that baby trained in Minecraft combat. The [Favorite Action Movie Hero] part comes in for two reasons. First, Dream is still a decent speedrunner (despite the whole cheating thing) and has the movement to match. Producing a few moments where you’re like “but that’s a sheer vertical cliff with lava below! Where does he go from here?!” and then... Huh, apparently since the cliff is vertical, you can place blocks on it. While running and jumping on those blocks at the same time. Effectively parkouring and building the parkour course at the same time. Damn, didn’t know that was possible. That sort of thing. The second reason is, when you die in Minecraft, you lose your stuff. If you have more stuff, you’re more of a threat. Therefore, despite being a 1 vs many fight, there is a very strong incentive for Dream to kill those hunting him, or else things are just going to snowball. The foes will be back eventually. But it buys some breathing room as they have to accumulate gear again. So there’s a whole lot of instances where our plucky hero [bursts out of a wall/jumps out of a tree/swims up from the ocean/attacks while they’re on the edge of a cliff] in a valiant attempt to defeat their multiple pursuers in unfair combat. Just like an action movie. Expect lots of screaming. Mostly from George. And then there’s the Bugs Bunny part. Minecraft has a whole lot of mechanics. Some of these interact with each other in unexpected ways. And, about once or twice a video, some absolute bullshit gets wielded to devastating effect, making every viewer go “that’s brilliant, I wish I had thought of that”. A very incomplete listing of these: 1: As your foes knock you off a tall cliff into an ocean of lava, chug a fire resistance potion in midair, and then you can just sink to the bottom of the lava ocean and safely escape by digging. “Wait, shouldn’t we have gotten the death notification already...???” 2: There’s a portal that you must to go through to complete the game. All foes are huddled around on the other side of the portal, with full armor and weapons and traps, to kill you the moment you step through. Send a dozen crates of lit TNT through the portal instead and savor the screams. 3: You are stuck up a very tall pillar above a lake, and they are pillaring up to reach you. Equip rare boots with a “freeze water” enchantment, and jump down to the lake below. Everyone else sees you jump, and they jump down too to kill you. You land safely in the water. Your boots promptly freeze the surface of the lake. Everyone else goes *splat* on the ice sheet. 4: Wear the same exact armor as the hunters, and go into the game settings to switch your skin to perfectly mimic that of one of the hunters. Successfully blend in with the hunting group. 5: You’re stuck on top of a mountain as the hunters close in. Use a glitch involving a boat to just... fly your boat off the top of the mountain, rowing through the air to safety. 6: Your foes have enchanted diamond armor and cannot be killed with the gear you have? Simple. Just...[insert 20 minute talk here about the physics of Minecraft nether portals to explain what the fuck happened]... and then your foes are permanently trapped on top of the Nether, which is an endless field of bedrock inaccessible without glitches. The only way to escape is to die and respawn, losing all items. Anyways, it’s unironically awesome, and you should check it out.