#it's so funny how little mumbo knows about minecraft and I say that with all the love in my heart sjkdhkf

[correct-hermitcraft-quotes]

Iskall: I think we should find one of those drowned temples.

Mumbo: Wait, there are drowned temples? Is this a- is this a new thing?

Iskall: Yeah. In 1.13. 4 years ago.

[locusfandomtime]

Rating each hermit’s likelihood of being a furry

scar keeps getting furry allegations so i thought i’d make this post

Joe Hills - 7/10 he doesn’t really consider himself part of the community but he has a sparkledog sona and dresses up in his homemade diy fursuit sometimes. he respects furries deeply and does not tolerate hate towards them

Xisuma - 8/10 totally a furry he changes his skin all the time to dress up as the latest minecraft mob. he already has a “cringe” oc (evil x). he doesn’t even know what a furry is i think but he probably owns a fursuit anyway because he thinks its neat

Hypno - 3/10 he’d say no but give him cat ears to match with max and he’ll be wearing them every stream from now on

Keralis - 2/10 pretends to not know what a furry is but he does. he does.

Mumbo - 1/10 logically he would know of furries due to his young age and activeness online but i don’t believe he does, he has never heard of a furry and never will

Cleo - 6/10 with enough encouragement she’d wear a fursuit. maybe if joe made one for them. she’s got a vtuber avatar so this is just next in the pipeline i think

Jevin - 3/10 he isn’t one but he does have a non-human character which technically qualifies him as one. instead of a fursuit i think he’d have to coat himself in jelly or something

False - 3/10 she already dresses up as a banana on stream how far away is dressing up as an anthropomorphic animal you must ask yourself. plants and animals had their last common ancestor 1.6 billion years ago, keep this in mind

Tango - 7/10 his fursona is an evil ravager named “skadoodler evil the third” and mrs tango has a matching fursona and they do that furry couple thing of commissioning art of their ocs kissing

xB - 4/10 not one but I don’t think he’d be opposed to the idea of being a furry. i think ferks could be a furry

Impulse - 4/10 i was gonna say no but then i remembered the imp + skizz cat fursona thumbnail

Etho - 3/10 he isn’t a furry but he is a weeb. maybe he’d wear like a fox tail or something

Doc - 9/10 he has an oc which is half creeper half robot half goat and has butterfly wings and is an evil scientist. this guy knows cringe is dead and is living his life playing as his middle aged man Mary Sue fursona

Ren - 10/10 “ren the DOG” 🤨? this is confirmed his minecraft skin has fucking dog ears

Wels - 5/10 he is not a furry but i like to think he’s a LARPer irl and has a knightsona so he gets an honourable mention.

Iskall - 2/10 i could see him wearing cat ears, only as a joke though

Cub - 7/10 “cub”? “wolf pack”? furry cub just makes sense and he’d be an epic furry. the world isn’t ready for furry cub

Scar - 9/10 the other hermits call him a furry for a reason. his fursona is anthro jelly i guess. there are so many disney movies revolving around anthropomorphic animals this is natural

Beef - 3/10 he never truly becomes a furry but at night he daydreams about what his cool llama fursona would look like. he peaks a little at furry art but is never brave enough to venture further. in another lifetime maybe…

Bdubs - 8/10 he seems disproportionally offended at allegations he’s a furry and is incredibly obsessed with horses. furry with internalised furry hate i think

Stress - 2/10 i think she’d find the idea of furries cute and funny but wouldn’t be one

Zedaph - 9/10 you’d see him rocking up to furcon. his fursona would be a weirdass sheep worm hybrid

Grian - 4/10 i can see it. despite fan interpretation, i don’t think he’d be a parrot though i think he’d be a cat tbh

Gem - 7/10 she would have the cutest most cottagecore deer fursona of all time and it would have a beautiful design and outfit and bi flag. she’d get a vtuber model and a custom fursuit and art made. it is insane to me that this hasn’t happened yet

Pearl - 5/10 she isn’t but she does seem like the kind of woman who was obsessed with wolves at the age of 12 and has never outgrown that. also double life pearl deserves to be a beautiful silver wolf

[ballcrusher74]

hi. I'm interested to hear of the fellas.

🎥LCLethal Company/CCCleanup Crew bcs I'm curious

💔Roblox but I like hearing about stuff so any would do

💎Any, but I'd like to hear of Abstrakt or Metanoia if anyyyy— :³

💕Anything that might not get as much attention otherwise I guess

OK SO

🎥 I think for the base game, it was def the reveal of the nutcracker in the update trailer. That shit still affecting me to this very day. As for CC stuff, that's a really hard choice... There was a thing where Brain was outside the ship, Faux walked by and kinda flicked his head at him (like the kinda flick you do to say 'what's up') and then just.. walked away. I don't know why but that's a little funny to me, but for a GENUINE scene- I think it would have to be when Dopey and Inspector first fought on Offense, WAYYY back in the beginning of CC. 💔 I actually don't know for this one because there's a lot of characters that come from Roblox games, but then there's also weird like. Roblox lore relevant guys and a bunch of other baloney. I think least favorite here though would have to be Folly from Regretevator, maybe because it feels like she just kinda. came out of leftfield? Idk, I don't hate her, I just don't really hold much interest (but that also goes for the game in general now) 💎Did you know about Quasi stars being hypothetical stars that existed in the beginning of the universe and are cool ass stars powered by a fucking black hole in the center of it? It's when a protostar collapses into said blackhole, and the outer part of the protostar being so big enough to not immediately fall into the black hole or being blown away. There's a lot more mumbo jumbo that has to do with the blackhole at the core being the energy source of said star because of material falling into it and creating energy, but I feel like if I sit here and try to proper explain this with scientific terms then my head and your head will explode in due time. anyways I really like space and stars and stuff ( Also I think I've shared as much Metanoia and Abstrakt shit as I can rn so OOPS ) 💕HOOOUH. HOOUH OK. There's a couple that could go here honestly. Lewis Pepper (MSA), Herobrine (Minecraft), Null (BBIEAL), Red (BRC), KAngel (NSO), The Nutcracker (LC)- but really I do think one of these fellas take the cake.

Herobrine.

Despite the fact that his original story is literally just the play on the dead brother trope, despite the story being so short, literally despite everything- this guy has been sticking with me ever since I was a wee little creepypasta fanboy, lurking over my shoulder. It doesn't help with the discovery of White Eyes and the original Copeland stream being found that this has fueled the fire even more. There's something so alluring about the mystery behind him, but also with how malleable his character is because there... really isn't a canon way to portray him. Sure, he's just a little stalker, but that's all we really knew. He's just a husk to free form and I think that's why I like him a lot. I like seeing all different interpretations of him, I love seeing the creativity this white eyed freak brings, and I love seeing the stories people weave based on this crusty ass picture.

Sure, the other characters I listed have either better and more creative designs or well thought-out and complex stories and I still do adore them very dearly, but there's just something about Herobrine that I don't think any other character could do, and for him to stick around with me for this long is fucking wild dude.

[atherix]

HI ITS THE ANON THAT POINTED OUT TUBBO BEING IMMUNE TO MIMICS!! IM BACK AND IM SO INSANE!!!! IM LITERALLY SHAKING YOU IN A SNOW GLOBE RN. Everything about this new chapter is so AAAAA I LOVE IT SM!! also also ive decided to reread the whole series so i could take notes on everything- ive been having a wonderful time <3Something horrible ive realized with the fact that Mimics can read anything’s mind is that they can change into the Warden (if the wardens are actually alive still). (1/4)

HELLO ANON GOOD ON YOU FOR FIGURING THAT OUT!! <3 What kind of snow globe? Is it one of those cool ones you get from a zoo? :D

Thank yoouuuu <3<3 JFJSKJKSK that is a long read :o I wish you luck jgfddkgkfd please ignore any plot holes I may have forgotten to fill in along the way <3

:) Hehehehe now that's an idea isn't it... so this just in I quickly pulled up minecraft to make sure Wardens don't aggro on each other (since they aggro on literally everything else) so :) I'm just sayin, if there's a Warden or even something that looks like a Warden.... (of course, there's no telling if the Mimics can fool a Warden, since the Warden uses scent :) ) But gods, yeah, they would be pretty fucked if a Mimic mimicked a Warden- something intelligent and able to make choices and not run off instinct alone? Rip-

Half Fae is Fae enough but yes, if he was full Fae the backlash would probably have been much worse/outright killed him since full Fae are 100% made of Fae magic and Scar actually has a flesh and blood body alongside his magic so <3 That isn't to say his body isn't made of magic at all though... mm :)

hahahaha oh yeah, the water.... :) the Void-fog was foreshadowed by the "heavy" shadows Mumbo kept losing his own shadows in so <3 The smell of mold and water and Sculk........ That was honestly more to emphasize how long this place has been here, and was a very subtle hint (that won't be understood the first read through) that they're approaching an Ancient City. So the fun thing there isn't that Mumbo really doubts Scar loves him. Mumbo's real doubt is that he deserves to be loved by Scar, which the Mimic kind of twisted and then Mumbo started thinking about it, but he's stronger than that and has Tubbo there to reaffirm it <3 Lmao Scar would tell Tubbo little things that added up to Tubbo <3 Tis why Tubbo so easily trusted Mumbo the very first time he met him- because Scar holds Mumbo in high regard, he MUST be trustworthy!! :D lmao-

It's alright, I am no stranger to posting/messaging at 3 AM <3

I LIVE FOR MIDNIGHT!SCAR AND TUBBO'S RELATIONSHIP it is just so hjfsdjkhgfdjk I adore them <3 The funny thing is that line has actually already been revealed on my tumblr haha I won't reveal it now tho :) I don't feel like it's MAJORLY impactful tbh, it doesn't feel plot-essential to me, but. Ya know. It's fine <3

fhjsdfhjkgksd thank you so much!!! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!! <3 Hhhjjhgh <3

So the word count thing! If you're following me and you see me pop up on your dash (on desktop, idk about phone), you can actually hit my icon on your dash. It'll bring up a pop-up of my blog and if you hit ask on that pop-up blog, rather than going directly to my blog, it'll remove the character limit! It's how I have anons who send me essays <3

[lectern-fullcauldron]

A-Z hermit index

hermit summaries: looking for a hermit? here's some (all 26)

bdubs: perfect redstoner. artist. he'll build the most beautiful house you've ever seen as a backdrop for a joke he's doing. he'll see a rake lying on the floor and ask 'is anyone going to step on that so it hits them in the face?' and not wait for an answer. he'll shout at horses and hermits alike (don't tell etho). he's painting with blocks for fun rn

cubfan: he's insane. he takes on massive projects and completes them. he'll build a wall out of ancient debris if the aesthetic calls for it. he knows the game like a master, he'll use it to bemuse you. he's invented biomes, he's invented machines, he looked at parkour and decided it looked like fun. he'll drop anything to help a friend out

docm77: cower before this croc wearing dad. he really wants to be scary. pranking people makes him laugh so hard he snorts. he has the technical world in his ear and mojang's dev team on his heels. he doesn't know how to make a video shorter than an hour. he loves to roleplay to the sound of heavy metal. he'll rap at you. dork

etho: minecraft god. menace. interiors only. does what he wants. speaking of llamas... he won't turn up if it's work. he will if it's hanging out. his block palettes make a regular minecrafter cower in fear. he made a google-searchable storage system for fun. he avoids minecraft tax like the plague. has his own minecraft update

false: queen of heads, hearts, and body parts. the server's designated pvp-er. master builder. will dig down to bedrock. it calls to her, she can't help it. a little quiet, a little shy. dry sarcasm. mayor of falsewell, sheriff. always down for an unsuccessful shop if there's a pun

gem: gem is great! do you want a birch tree with that? people look at her and find themselves doing redstone for her and bringing her things. she's very sweet. she'll kill you. she's building a birch tree in someone's base right now, i can feel it. she's a landscaper, a builder, an artist

grian: this man is Trouble. half builder, half mischief machine. if he sees something he's not supposed to touch, he's got his fingers in it. he's stealing diamonds. he's starting wars. he plays the long game with his lore. he's desperate to resist authority. he will not build the back of anything. he'll break redstone. if he thinks something will be funny, he's convinced to do it

hypno: cryptid. menace. he's a little quiet because he's off figuring out how to get the others to sell him their souls. he's in charge of the website. he'll build a nice little home. he's great at hiding things

impulse: this man is in charge of villagers and sorting systems. he is rich with emeralds. he'll redo a build if he doesn't like it. he joined the server to build them a witch farm. buy his totems of undying. he is kind and generous. he's always willing to play along with whatever nonsense is happening. he loves to laugh

iskall: iskall has a whole catalogue of noises. he likes to montage them. he wants to build a big farm. he wants to say hallo to a block of gravel. he wants to laugh at mumbo. his shops are not about the profits, but about the redstone experience. he likes to domesticate biomes. he built a villager cannon. one day he'll finish a pvp arena. IskallMAN is hermitcraft's superhero. his hobby is making stress laugh

jevin: he covered a megabase with buttons once. jevin goes hard. he has a habit of building fidget spinners. he wants chaos. he will antagonise cleo. he has the energy of a small yappy dog whilst also being determined to help his friends and have fun

joe hills: poet. the guy who conquered death. it's fine. joe's channel is like watching a comedy of endless disasters. next problem. he's building block for block replicas of buildings. he's the original new guy. he's in charge of Hermits Helping Hermits. he'll label nether hubs and give out boats. he'll fight a war with poetry and prank with de-escalation. howdy y'all. keep adventuring

keralis: he's got those big eyes. he's building things too realistic to be in minecraft. he'll pull out his miette voice and make the joke about the German coast guard. need money? papa k's got you. want money? no he's got no diamonds. he's broke. so sorry. he wants to win everything. xb always beats him. he refuses to call anyone by their screen names. shashwammy and bubbles and brian and princess and bumbo

mumbo: it's quite simple, really. he wants to build redstone doors and industrial districts but people keep dragging him into trouble. he's got grian and iskall to drag him into mischief. he loves massive storage systems and control panels. he keeps ending up in charge of things. he will not come to meetings. nothing makes him happier than looking at redstone circuitry on coloured lines

pearl: running on not enough sleep, always. here to cause trouble. she'll turn things upside down. she's a master landscaper. she'll build something massive like it's nothing. she'll commit to the bit. what if the base was bigger? what if she turned it around? she likes doing interiors. she'll build a mountain for fun. unhinged

rendog: head of the drama club. he loves cinematic effects. he loves lore and using his brother's music. he's got a whole dressing up box of characters to play. he can sniff out a story happening and will dive over to throw himself into it. he'll build wonders off camera and pretend it was someone else. he's in charge of the log business, always

scar: landscaper. trouble maker. he doesn't know how to do things in moderation. every build has a story. his cat is in the game. he builds beautiful things and flies into them. he doesn't light things up. he dies again and again and again and again. he loves to put on the costumes and play a part. he's a conman. he'll buy your attic. he's ready to cause trouble. he's shooting people with his bow

stress: she's a builder. she makes things gorgeous. her favourite colour is magenta and her favourite volume is loud. she's shouting at her villager geezers. she's laughing at iskall. she's afraid of the nether. everything she does has an edge of unhinged-ness. she's bright and loud and happy

tango: he's a technical player. i'd call him a minigame maker, but they're bigger than minigames at this point. the tangler, boom box, decked out, among us. he looks at minecraft's mechanics and makes them fun. he launches anvils and builds piglin ferris wheels. he's in charge of iron farms. the rule is that they have to be funny. he wants to help his friends. he wants to make them laugh

tfc: he's deep in the mines. he's the server's hermit. he has a rumbling laugh. he's left in shock by the overworld when he rises. he plays slow. he indulges the others. he died laughing at cleo's ingenuity during demise when he could have easily saved himself. the hermits sent him a new computer. he's got prox mod now

beef: he likes to make maps!! he's very cheerful. nobody bought eternal sunshine. he's a NHO member: etho, beef, bdoubleo, doc. he's a determined builder. he'll make a story. he'll run from the mobs spawning in the city he's left dark for the aesthetic. he sells wool. he collects records

wels: he's a builder. he's a knight. he bites off more than he can chew. he takes his time and builds beautiful things. you think he's in hiding, he's just biding his time. he'll build medieval houses and rant about tennessee's driving conditions. he's cheerful and kind

xb: he's building shapes again. he's beating keralis at minigames. he's kind and helpful. there's gore in his bunker. he's moved so far away he's living on a whole other server. the world is ending but he's built a post-apocalypse anyway

xisuma: he has opinions. he's the admin. he's a little strange. he wants to design his own farms and buildings. he wants to have fun. cleo is going to bully him so bad at HHH. evil x turns up sometimes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. he wants to unravel the game and make new things and learn things. he watches over the others with fond confusion. cleo hasn't forgiven him for the fish

zedaph: mad scientist. he looked at minecraft and then decided to do his own thing. minecraft is the tool for his madness. he wants to fling objects. he wants to build gunk tanks. he wants to stare into the eyes of sheep. he'll build redstone machines that are effectively ineffective. he'll build a working clock. he'll study his friends like bugs. he'll build a golf course if the mechanics demand it

cleo: queen of puppets. the armour stand book is hers. she demands heads. she'll break joe's legs. her dioramas are in high demand. betray her and she'll burn the world down. she's soft really. she's always helping. she wants to build gore and monsters and laugh. joe is living in her base again. she'll kill him (she joined the server hiding behind him)

[hermitcrabrave]

What your favourite hermit says about you

except i didn't do all of them bc this was a low-effort idea and i am simply one person lol GeminiTay- you're really chill but have a knack for messing with people lightheartedly. you like the colour green to an unhealthy extent. but only natural greens. You're really into aesthetics and '-core's, and probably have an aesthetic wallpaper. If you've been watching hermitcraft since before season 8, Scar was probably your favourite.

PearlescentMoon- you've probably been watching Pearl for a really long time already, and are happy to see her get to collab with so many of the hermits. You're considered the 'responsible one' of your friend group but i would not trust you with a lighter or spray paint. If you're a 3rd Life fan as well, a third of your time is spent thinking about what Could have been if Pearl had been on the server...

GoodTimesWithScar- You have good taste in fanfiction. This has nothing to do with Scar, but every Scar fan i've met is like this. You understand how chaotic Scar can be, and you love it. you firmly hold the stance that Scar in 3rd Life did Nothing wrong, and you would be correct :) You seem like a person who would have a stance against cursing, so it absolutely floors me when i hear you casually say 'fuck'. Also, your day instantly gets better when Scar posts Jellie content on twitter, and that is very understandable <3

BdoubleO- you have adhd. but that's fine, because bdubs' energy keeps you entertained, and his voice seems to strike a chord in your brain that just makes you happy. Your favourite story arc is probably the nHo jungle one, and you really like his new moss skin. You make fun of him for being short, but you're probably 5'3 yourself. Despite what most believe, you don't have anger issues, but you find loud humor kinda funny sometimes.

Mumbo Jumbo- You most likely have no idea what half of the redstone-y stuff he says even means, and you probably don't eve have a desire to learn. But that's fine, none of us are judging. You wish mumbo would be less self-deprecating, but you also think confidence looks weird on him. When you found out he was younger than Grian you lost your mind. and if you didn't know already,, you're welcome <3

Grian- you're either pretty new to hermitcraft, or have been here awhile. You're not actually as feral or chaotic as you're made out to be, and you genuinely care about the people you're close to, even if you have a hard time showing it. You probably own minecraft merchandise from the 2012 Era. You watched minecraft youtubers for about a solid 6 months before you ever even played the game.

Rendog- I could tell you you're a furry, or get way too enveloped in lore, but these are things you've heard many many times already, if you didn't already know them. You're a little bit h*rny on main, but thats okay. 3rd Life is your favourite mini-series, and you instantly latched onto Martyn, despite having never watched yogs content ever. You love his voice, and chances are, if you aren't LGBTQ+, yes you are.

Xisuma- you are in desperate need of a father figure. it's ok bestie, me too

Iskall85- Based. no but really, lol. you probably say "hallo" at least sometimes because of him. You think his whole green vibe thing going on is so cool, and, if you haven't made/looked at a stimboard before, you probably should. You're most likely some form of trans or nonbinary, and possibly think there was a lot of missed opportunity for Archetechs/Sahara projects in season 7. Extra note: Iskall's season 8 so far has been so fun and entertaining to watch. you have a truly iconic fav.

VintageBeef- You miss old Team Canada videos. Like seeing Beef collab with other people, and you genuinely just wanna give him a hug. valid. he feels like he gives good hugs. You have a really confusing but also specific music taste, but i feel like you'd be really good at suggesting good songs for me to listen to. ((drug cw under the cut))

wouldn't surprise me if you've had weed, honestly.

[leadensparrow]

The Power of the Sandwich

https://archiveofourown.org/works/42818451

Grian was really tired of being summoned.

Blah blah do this.

Blah blah do that.

Ugh.

He was having lunch too.  Who summons someone during lunchtime!?  Scar and Jellie had made cucumber sandwiches and Pearl had brought clam chowder.  And someone had the gall to summon him!?

“Oh, crumbs!”  Grian blinks as he stops in the summoning circle and stares at a very tall man.  “Why are you in my kitchen?”

Grian stares at the tall mustached man in front of him.  “Why did you summon me?”  

“Summoned?”  The man asked.  “What are you talking about?”  He holds up a croissant.  “I was making a sandwich.” 

Now Grian had some weird summoning.  One only gets summoned by cults so many times before weirdness stops becoming a thing.  He looks down at the floor. But this?  This was weird. “Is this mustard?”  He bends down and looks at the yellow summoning circle on the floor.  He pokes it.

“Oh yeah.”  The man said bending down as well.  “My mustard exploded.”  

Grian sits down in his mustard summoning circle.  “You summoned me accidentally with mustard.”  He puts his head in his hands. “You summoned me accidentally with mustard!”  He yells, throwing his hands up in the air.  “Oh, Scar is never going to let me live this down.” He whispers.  “Oh, I’m going to get teased for the next three centuries.”

“I made a summoning circle?”  Oh yeah. The tall mortal.  “Who are you?”

Grian rubs his brow and as slowly as he could, climbed to his feet.  “I am a Watcher.  A fey.  May I have your name?”

The man hums.  “Well mate, only if I can have yours.”

Grian grins.  He loves the smart mortals.  He hates the idiots who summon him and sure this mortal is an idiot who summoned him accidentally but at least he knows better than to give Grian his name.  “Smart little mortal.”  He knows his grin to sharp.  “Shall we share names?”  

The man thinks for a second.  “Well, I’m Mumbo.”

“Grian.”  There’s a shudder of power through him.  They are sharing names now.  He wonders how long it will take the mortal to realize they now shared names.  

“Well, Grian,”  Mambo says with an oblivious smile.  “I got an extra croissant.  You want a sandwich?”

…

The funny thing about sharing names is that it isn’t the sharing of names that is important.  It's the fact that names hold power.  By sharing a name, the two have shared power over each other.  Neither can make the other do something.  But the power held in the name, well Grian now knew far too much about cinematography, Minecraft Redstone, and biking.  And Mumbo?  Grian is fifty percent sure he won’t grow wings but… well the fact that the man was currently wandering around the fey lands with a look of horror and wonder on his face speaks for itself.  

“Hello Mumbo.”  Grian swoops down from the air, allowing his sometimes green, sometimes purple, and right now brown wings to carry him in front of the man.  “What are you doing here?” “I don’t know!?”  Mambo cried out throwing his hands up in the air.  “I was reaching for my toothpaste and put my hand on the mirror and then I fell into it!”

Grian nods.  “Yes, that does tend to happen.”

Mambo tears at his hair.  “What do you mean that tends to happen?!”

“We share names.”

Mambo blinks and sinks to the ground.  “We share names.”  He repeats, rocking back and forth.  “Oh god, I share names with a winged person.”

“Fey.”  Grian corrects.

Mumbo laughs and it's a bit hysterical.  “So what?  I’m magical now?!”

“Course not,”  Grian dismissed.  “We share names.”

Mumbo nods as if he’s trying to make sense of all of this.  “Sure.  Sure.”  He nods again.  “Fantastic.”  He mutters to himself.  “I’m sharing names with a fae and he has wings and I can just come to the fey realm this is fine everything is fine.”  Mumbo nods and takes a long deep breath.  “May I go back to my apartment?”

“I mean yeah,”  Grian said with a shrug.  “Just find a pond or any reflection and you can come and go.”  He smiles with too many teeth.  “And so can I.”

“Oh.”  Mumbo said walking away from Grian to the nearest pond before face-planting into the shallow water and vanishing, Grian hears him mutter, “Well now I have a fey roommate… Oh, crumbs I’m going to need more sandwich materials.”  And then the man is gone.  

Grian hums, taking off into the sky again.  “He’s going to need to find Cleo.  She’s shared a name with that strange mortal for many years now.  Maybe she can tell him how one shares a name.  Or maybe she’ll laugh at him.  But either way, he’s taking advantage of sandwiches.  

…

Grian steps through the mirror that Mumbo had put in the kitchen.  “Hello Mumbo.”  He gets hit in the face with a slice of tomato.  

“You need to stop scaring me mate.”  Mumbo grumbles.  “Send a quick text.  Hey mate!  I’m going to be stepping out of the mirror in your kitchen in five minutes don’t get your pants scared off you when I step through!”

“Noted.”  That was something Cleo and Joe told him after they finished laughing at him.  Joe once scared Cleo so bad that she stabbed him and Joe although strange and possibly immortal, is still very stabbable.  So don’t sneak up on people unless you want to get stabbed.  Or get a tomato thrown at you.  

“So,”  Mumbo said, as he turned to the stove and threw a couple of slices of bacon on there.  “What do you need, Grian?”  There is always a certain thrill that happens when someone mortal says his name.  So many get it wrong.  He remembered ages ago that everyone who found writings of it pronounced it Grain.  But he is Lord Grian Dreamslayer thank you very much.  It does wonders when people get his name right.  

“I would like a sandwich,”  Grian said, remembering what Cleo said when he insisted they weren’t friends.   She’d laughed again and patted his shoulder.  Just wait.  She had said.  And she was right, as Mumbo bustles about his kitchen, muttering nonsense to himself, Grian knows, he made a friend.  

They end up sitting in Mumbo’s living room.  “So where do the wings go.”  He pokes at the air where Grian’s wings should be.

“Pocket dimension,”  Grian mumbles into his arms as he curls up on Mumbo’s incredibly comfy couch.  

Mumbo flops back against the ground.  “Course it is.”  He grumbles.  “You fae have anything normal?”

“Cookies.”  Grian mumbles.  “Our cookies are normal.”  

“Your cookies aren’t normal!”  Mumbo yells throwing his hands up in the air.  “I ate a purple one and I teleported!”  

“That happens.  Scar likes to experiment.”  He remembers when Scar and Pearl joined forces and tried to make a soup cookie (despite it being explained to them that a soup cookie is just cookie dough but they were insistent that cookie dough was a chowder) and ended up with something that had to cast into the void.  

“That’s not a normal cookie,”  Mumbo argued.

“Well, your cookies are just boring then,”  Grian said flatly, hiding his grin.

“Oh oh!” Mumbo crows pointing a finger in Grian’s face.  “I’ll show you boring cookies!”  And he was off.  Grian hides his smile on the side of the couch. Well, looks like Cleo is right.  He has made a friend.

…

He feels the familiar but annoying summoning and easily allows himself to be sucked into the spell.  “Listen,” he said as the spell ends and he knows he was in a summoning circle.  “I know I was ignoring your texts but me and Scar were having a staring contest…”

“Hello, Grian.”   That wasn’t Mumbo’s voice.  He whirls around and a man wearing a golden crown and a sharp grin stares at him.  “You are Grian.  Aren’t you?”  He tosses a diamond at Grian’s feet and his heart stops.  He was a revolutionary at heart, kinda his whole thing.  Centuries ago he’d allowed the idea to spread, those who revolt against the powers that oppress them could call upon him but if they give him a diamond he will help them.  “I need help resisting a resistance.”  He hates that those words make sense, the power settling in his veins.  

Grian groans and rubs a hand down his face as he pockets the diamond.  “I am obligated to agree to that.”

“Excellent.”  The man rubs his hands together wildly.  “Follow me.”  Grian lurched forward, walking as slow as he possibly could.  He couldn’t stop following but he could make this a pain.  “Now.”  They emerge in a large cavern and Grian knows.  This is another cult.  Great.  

“So what do you need from me.”  He shoves his hands in his pockets to hide the way they shake.  He hates cults.  And he especially hates people who aren’t actually resisting anything.  This man is doing both.  And Grian has to follow him because he paid the stupid fee.  

“Nothing much.”   The man said with a casual wave of his hand.  “Just success.”  Ooh, now Grian’s interest was peaked.  That was so vague.  He could get away with some real shenanigans under the parameters of ‘success’.  

“Success?”  Grian questions, shoving the Cheshire cat grin down.  They round the final corner of the seemingly endless maze that this place is to a room.  Where more guards watch from the shadows.  And three familiar mortals in the middle; snarls painted on their faces as they struggle against the cultists holding them.  He knows those mortals.  They had summoned him to stop…. Ah, shoot.  This is that blood cult or whatever they needed help resiting the magical effects of.  He had told these fools to be careful… obviously, he hadn’t made the warning strong enough.   

“Recognize them?” He hadn’t realized that the man had appeared behind him.  “Their little books lead me to you.  Resistance against the blood spell, fascinating.”

“It is,”  Grian said through gritted teeth as the struggling mortals recognize him, eyes lighting up.  He knows what they think.  He knows what he can’t do to help them.  He’d love to summon a blade and stab this man until he can’t anymore.  However, he can’t move, frozen till the next command.  Held still by an invisible chain.  

“Ha!”  One of the mortals yells.  “You're fucked now!”  Grian winces.

The leader pulls a knife from his pocket and lazily passes it to Grian.  “Kill them.”  His grin turns sharp.  “Guarantee me success.”  

He takes the knife as the three revolutionaries' face fall.  He steps forward, running every possibility, looking for any way around the words: kill them.  It's vague enough that he could instead kill every guard but then the second part.  Me in that line throws everything off.  The only success for this man is if these brave insurrectionists are dead or under his control… And Grian is currently under his control. 

“Why.”  The one closest to him.  The one he will have to stab first said, sounding so defeated.  “You helped us.  For what?  Some sick game?”

Grian can’t look them in the eye.  He needs an out.  A way around this… He reaches into his pocket and feels the diamond there.  The stupid diamond that started the whole thing.  He grabs it and presses it into the man's hand, eyes dead serious as they meet the watery brown ones.  This is his only shot at not stabbing these mortals.  The man’s eyes go wide and he takes ownership of the diamond before immediately pressing it back into Grian’s hands.  “I summon you.”  The man whispers as Grian raises the knife and then the man smiles.  “Guarantee me success.”  

Grian laughs, actually throws his head back as he turns from the terrified mortals and turns his attention to the man in the crown.  “What are you doing?!”  The man screamed.  “Kill them!  Now!”  The command hit like a brick.  And it felt like it too.  But the smile and cheers from those kept him moving forward instead of turning the blade back on them.

“No.”  He snarls, something inhuman leaking out.  He lets his wings out, allowing the normal two and then four more to spread out.  They’re purple right now.  Shining blinding purple and the eyes on them open.  Any humanity bleeds from him.  He is Lord Dreamslayer.  He is Xelqua.  He is Grian.  And he will not be cowed by this mortal.  The dagger grows to a pike in his hand.  Dull in places it shouldn’t be dull and sharp in ways that can’t be sharp.  

He drives the blade home.  Success is such an interesting word.  And has such interesting consequences.  He feels something shatter as he drives that pike home.  He’s never disobeyed an order like that.  Has never pulled this level of shenanigan and it hurts.  He’s never felt this level of pain before.  Not since he became a Watcher centuries and centuries ago.  He’s fairly sure he screams as the man dies on his blade.  He hears a cheer come up from behind him.  But all he knows is pain.  He disobeyed an order.  Sure there were two orders in contradiction to each other but that’s the only reason he isn’t a pile of ash on the ground.  He’s in pain and doesn’t know what to do about it.  

He smells the delicious scent through the breeze of his swirling panicked mind.  Of cookies and sandwiches.  Of warmth.  It's welcoming and it's an escape.  Grian turns towards the warmth and runs.

…

When Mumbo accidentally summoned a fey, well he wasn’t expecting a friend that’s for bloody sure.  And yet, here he is.  Wondering if Grian would prefer roast beef or ham.  He sighs.  It's obvious, both.  He sighs again, he knows Grian well enough to know that the fey would want both.  

Humming to himself, he prepares the sandwiches and keeps an eye on the oven.  Ever since the cookie debacle a couple of months ago they'd been sharing cookies from all over the human and fey worlds.  Today was snickerdoodle.  

He hears a thump behind him.  “Oh hi…” There is a pile of almost purple but not quite feathers.  He leans down to the pile and pokes it with his spatula.  “Grian?”  The pile sits up fast.  And it’s definitely Grian but… it's also not.  It’s Grian shaped is what it is.  Grian shaped with too many eyes and teeth and wings.  “Oh crumbs what happened?”  The thing looks at him and then spits far too much blood onto his kitchen floor.  “Alright,”  Mumbo said backing up slowly with his hands in the air from the not Grian.  “I’ve got you a sandwich here.”  He slides the plate with the roast beef and ham sandwich in front of the creature.   It eats it in one bit.  Plate and all.  And then it falls over on its side, completely passed out.  Mumbo blinks.  Well alright then.  

It takes two days for what he's 50 percent sure is Grian to wake up.  The being sits up and almost like one would shed a coat, it reaches a hand onto one of the smaller wings and pulls.  Suddenly it’s not a being with too much of everything laid out on Mumbo’s couch.  It's just Grian.

“What?”  Grian croaked out.  “What happened?” “I have no idea,”  Mumbo responds as evenly as he can.  “Scared the pants off of me.”

Grian falls back against the couch.  “Thank you for taking care of me.”  He said gesturing to the bandages that Mumbo’s sure are useless.  “When I’m like that.”

“What…”  He doesn’t know how to phrase this.  “What was that?”

“I’m fey,”  Grian said, not looking at Mumbo.  “I was summoned and paid my due fee… Didn’t follow it and paid the price.”  

Mumbo swallows tightly.  He doesn’t want to ask.  “What’s the price?”

“I found a loophole,”  Grian said far too naturally for someone saying that he’d broken like a law of the universe.  “The rules of the universe will correct themselves.  They are the Watchers and they don’t take kindly to my perfectly legal shenanigans.  So they’ll correct it.  Probably at my expense.”  He takes inventory of himself.  “Haven't lost anything yet.”  

Mumbo stares.  He can’t help himself.  The universe has rulers.  Grian is actively spiting them.  Sure.  Why not.  “You were bleeding.”  

“I suppose I was.”

“I didn’t know you could do that.”

“Neither did I.”

They leave it out.  Mumbo doesn’t push for what Grian was asked to do that he had decided was too far.  What was he willing to find a loophole and possibly die to get out of?  And Grian doesn’t seem all that interested to share.  

And that seemed to be that.  Until one-day Grian falls through the mirror, a harried look on his face.  And before Mumbo can even say they were all out of cheddar how about swiss, his friend grabs his arm and pulls him into the fey realm.

He without a word spoken hugs Mumbo tightly and it is nice but Grian is acting weird and Mumbo’s got to know what’s going on.  “What’s going on?” Grian looks away.  “I’m going to go… away for a while.”  

Mumbo snorts.  “Vague.”  

Grian huffs and shoves him lightly.  “It’s fine.”  He gets serious again.  “I may not come back for  a long time.”

Mumbo nods along.  “Did the universe cops catch up to you?”

And finally, Grian smiles.  “Yeah.”  He said, voice still sad and withdrawn.  “Yeah they’ve caught up to me and I…”  Something so human cracks in Grian’s voice.  “Mumbo I may not come back.  I don’t know their plan or if I can wiggle out.”  

Mumbo swallows tightly.  “Come back.”  He whispers, something hot building in his throat as he realized that he may never see his best friend again.  “I’ll make you all the sandwiches and cookies you want just please promise me you’ll come back!”  

And Grian just smiles and with a quick shove, Mumbo is falling back into the pond with a splash.  “Goodbye Mumbo.”

He lands in his kitchen.  “Promise!” He yells to an empty kitchen.  He runs forward and places a hand on the glass.  It doesn’t ripple the way it has for ages now.  It's just glass.  And Grian is gone.

…

He does not age.  It's been years now and he has not aged a day.  He prays that he won’t.  

He sets a sandwich and some cookies next to his mirror in his kitchen every afternoon.  And the next day when he replaced the previous day's uneaten sandwich he tries his best not to cry.  

He doesn’t like to think how long Grian was gone.  Or what horrors might be happening elsewhere.  

Until one day he does.  

He was in his bedroom doing something largely unimportant, folding socks probably, when he hears the crash in the other room.  A distinct crash that only Grian makes when he flies into the pond and crashes into Mumbo’s pots.  He drops the socks.  

“Grian?”  He calls, practically falling down the stairs.  “Grian?”

“Mumbo?”  He hears another crash.  

And then he sees his best friend.  Standing in the kitchen holding the sandwich in one hand and about five pots in the other.  But Mumbo doesn’t care.  He launches himself forward.  The sandwich and the pots go flying.  He feels Grian’s hands wrap around him and the wings follow.

“Crumbs,”  Mumbo said with a wet laugh.  He pulls away and slaps his friend on the shoulder.  “Don’t you ever do that to me again!”  He grabs Grian again and pulls him into a hug.  “I missed you so much.”  

“I’m getting incredibly mixed signals,”  Grian mumbled, face smashed against Mumbo’s shirt.  

“Shush,”  Mumbo said with a laugh, not planning on letting go of Grian anytime soon.

But eventually, they pull away, and the two stare at each other for a long moment.  “I'm sorry.”  Grian finally said.  “I'm so sorry Mumbo.”  

“I highly doubt you asked for any of this,”  Mumbo said.  He had been angry in the beginning.  But that was years ago at this point and he knows the anger is misdirected.  Grian didn’t ask to get ripped from his life.  He turns his attention to the sourdough he picked up from this quaint local bakery earlier in the week.  “Sandwich?”

“Yes but I—“ Grian stops.  “That’s it?  No… You're not mad at me?”

Mumbo waved his bread-cutting knife around wildly.  “For what, getting taken by some universe cops?  And doing… something…”

“Death game.”

“And…” Mumbo looks at his friend.  “What?”  

Grian sighs and settles in one of Mumbo’s barstools.  And that’s when Mumbo notices how frankly exhausted his friend looks.  There are dark bags under his eyes and the normally hidden away in a pocket dimension wings are dropping against his back.  “Troublemakers of the universe get swept up every once in a while.”  He sighs again.  “No one ever truly dies, that wouldn’t be entertaining for the,” he snorts, “universe cops.” 

The knife trembled in Mumbo’s hand.  He doesn’t even know how to respond to that.  “That’s…”

“Messed up?”  Grian said, snatching the words from Mumbo’s mouth.  “Definitely.”  He shrugs.  “Gotta keep us in line somehow.”  His face darkens.  “Lead a revolt once… Did not go well.”  

They leave it there.  Mumbo isn’t sure he’ll ever understand the way Fey work or their cruel laws.  And Grian doesn’t ask why Mumbo doesn’t let him out of his sight or why he would be in the fey realm far more than he had been previously.  They decided it was best not to talk about those things.  

And eventually, they healed.  Grian would still disappear every once in a while.  And Mumbo would be there to pick his best friend up.  And when Mumbo freaked about the fact that it had been fifty years and he hadn’t aged a day and people are going to be suspicious… Grian built him a cottage next to the giant boulder he lived in.  

It has been three hundred years… give or take a few decades.  (Mumbo had long since lost track) They had tea scheduled for noonish with Cleo and Joe and Mumbo was making cucumber sandwiches.  

His soul gives a particular tug as Grian flies in through the skylight and lands gracefully on the kitchen counter.  Mumbo smacks him with a dish towel.   “Claws off the table.”  He grumbles as Grian hisses at him.  

The afternoon sun flirts through the window.  And even three hundred years later, Mumbo can’t help but bask in the beauty of the fey realm.  Sure he knows what hides beneath it.  But the land is gorgeous.   He smiles at Grian as his friend smiles back.  This was gorgeous.  And no matter what, he was here to stay.

[roenais]

pls i would LOVE to hear about your hermits species headcanons

you know what im gonna elaborate on my headcanons for the ambiguous hermits because theres a lot of them.

grian is obviously inhuman, but his wings seem to change color and design in different seasons. people just assume he's an avian who occasionally glitches into new bird types (people respawning with new features isn't uncommon in the world of minecraft after all) and have never asked. those with keen eyes for magic might notice a trace of admin power and watcher magic on him and connect the dots further, but he won't talk about it.

keralis and joe often seem like they can be in multiple places at once. both of them have just... a spooky aura, but when asked tend to just say "i'm keralis :)" or "i'm joe hills from nashville tennessee." and not elaborate further. they're definitely some kind of cryptids and most people don't want to think too hard about it.

etho has pointed ears and refuses to take the mask off, but otherwise he's categorically human. years of respawns just tends to change people, like the server slowly forgets how to reshape you as a human. still, he thinks its funny when people claim he's some kind of cryptid or fantasy creature so he rolls with it. (tho i am a fan of legitimate cryptid or vampire etho so i keep rolling back and forth on this one)

scar will openly call himself a vex and a wizard and people either think he's joking or just magically forget about it by the time the conversation is over. even people who were there for the convex pranks think it was just a silly name they adopted. something about vex magic just makes people believe he's completely human even when he's trying to peddle magic crystals, so he doesn't bother bringing it up much anymore.

pearl's some kind of moon spirit/moon witch, but hasn't mentioned it much yet because she's new to the server and it's never really relevant. she's not hiding anything, just... hasn't had the need to talk about it, y'know? plus with the whole 'moon big' fiasco it's a little awkward to go around telling everybody on the server that you're linked to the moon.

mumbo was the vicitim of a server glitch, causing him to shift into what he eats. but it's okay! because he ate grian's soul, so he's human again. right? sure it's a little weird that he didn't get any of grian's bird features, but i'm sure everything is fine. he's definitely human. he's sure of it.

bdubs meanwhile... poor guy hasn't been human for 3 seasons now but refuses to admit it. he'll grow moss out of his skin and vines around his arms and still stubbornly insist that he is VERY MUCH A REGULAR HUMAN. maybe you guys are the weird ones. it's totally normal to wilt without sunlight. that's called getting TIRED AT NIGHT thank you get much.

thank u for coming to my ted talk this server is full of cryptids

[lightns881]

DTeam Tumblr Demographics Survey Results (Part 2):

What does DTeamblr look like, what does it have to do with MCYT history, and why does it look like a rainbow?

I’ll make an educated guess here and say y'all enjoyed my last post (totally unrelated to the way I gained almost 50 followers overnight). Anyhow, thank you so much for the overwhelming support! I’m so glad a lot of you felt you could relate to my deep-dive into the leading personality type on DTeam Tumblr. It took me so many hours to write and research, and as a math major and honors student, it’s no easy feat, so I’m so grateful for the attention it got!

Today we’re discussing the general demographics of DTeam Tumblr and why they might look the way they do. Number 8 will blow your mind! So make sure to keep reading and hit that little grey heart and arrow at the bottom if you like it, so more people get to see it! Thanks for your support! Now, let’s jump straight into the post!

Your Daily Dose of Data

From the 449 responses we received, these are some pie charts displaying the gender, age, and sexuality of all respondents.

Image Description: Female (52.8%), Non-Binary (37.4%), Male (9.8%)

Image Description: 16-17 (37%), 13-15 (31.4%), 18 and over (29.4%), 12 and under (2.2%)

Image Description: Bisexual/Pansexual (54.1%), Homosexual (16%), Asexual (14.7%), Other (7.8%), Heterosexual (7.3%)

Mmhm, delicious! Y'all ready to dig into these stats? Because I don’t know about you, but they certainly don’t strike me as what the general population looks like!

Welcome to Tumblr, the Only Community Where Straight Men are the Minority

So these statistics certainly didn’t take me by surprise. Mostly because the DNF Shipper Survey I took some time ago revealed a similar trend. Not to mention, Tumblr is probably the QUEEREST internet community on the planet. 

Funny enough, the survey revealed a shocking number of ZERO heterosexual males respondents. I’ll say it louder for the people in the back. ZERO straight males were recorded out of 449 respondents for this survey!

Now, this isn’t surprising for the Tumblr community by itself, but I can say I’m somewhat surprised in terms of the MCYT Tumblr community. (Obviously, the survey specified DTeam Tumblr, but there is a big overlap between both communities, so I will be using them interchengably when it seems relevant.)

Let’s break this down. The survey reveals the largest age population is 16-17, though it’s not by a great margin in comparison to 13-15 and 18 and older, which doesn’t surprise me either. Some of the major critics of the DTeam Fandom and other MCYT Fandoms love to claim the fanbase’s majority age range lies with children and pre-teens. While it’s an undeniable fact children are drawn to Minecraft, it’s also a misconception to paint it as solely a community for younger viewers.

In the MCYT Tumblr and DTeam Tumblr communities, specifically, we see this is not the case. Only 1/3 of the respondents of this survey are under the age of 16 (you could attribute part of it to the fact younger people might be less inclined to participate in this survey, but it is still a notable difference). I can’t say these age ranges are similar in other parts of the community like DTeam Twitter, Tik Tok, or Reddit, but if I had to make a guess, I’d say Tumblr lies toward the older of the bunch, with Reddit being the oldest and Tik Tok being the youngest (I do hope to perform this survey on some of the other communities, so please stay until the end if you want to help with that).

One of the likely explanations to why the ages for DTeam Tumblr look this way is the fact a big chunk of the community has likely been watching MCYT for a long time (even with breaks in between). I, myself, used to watch channels like PopularMMOs, Aphmau, and PrestonPlayz as a kid, and I presume many of you are familiar with them as well. With the resurgence of MCYT in the past year, it likely drew a lot of the older viewers in addition to the new ones.

But enough about age. What I really want to highlight on this post is the attraction of queer individuals to DTeam Tumblr and MCYT as a whole.

Why is the current MCYT Fandom so queer in comparison to the previous generations?

This is a huge open-ended question and considering I can only capture so much of the DTeam and MCYT community, the rest of this post should be taken solely as a theoretical analysis as opposed to fact.

With that out of the way, let’s start by discussing the shift MCYT has undergone over the years (I promise this will circle back to the question of queerness in the MCYT fandom, but we need some background before we can come up with a decent theory).

When Minecraft was first released, it proved to be a monumental change in the gaming industry. This simple little indie game took the world by storm. It was so vastly different from what the general population generally viewed gaming as (first-person shooters, story-driven games, action games, etc.) Not to mention, it didn’t exactly solely appeal to only a small margin of gamers, those being white cis males.

The gaming industry has notoriously been known in the past for its heteronormative community and general prejudice toward minorities. Though it has gone through a significant change over the decades, we certainly can’t say it’s fully gone.

Yet for whatever reason, the recent MCYT has taken the interest of so many queer people in comparison to other gaming YouTube communities. Why? Why are queer people so drawn to this community? And, more precisely, why does it feel so different than the old MCYT? Lastly, how does this relate to the conclusion about the leading personalities of this fandom we made in the last post?

The Niche Communities of MCYT Over the Years

MCYT has always been a huge, over-saturated genre of YouTube with content appealing to a variety of audiences. It’s dominated gaming content for years, and I think we can all safely say it’s never been bigger than it is today.

So why is it that just now it feels like the queerness of the fandom is popping off? Why now as opposed to say five years ago when MCYT was at another one of it’s strongest stages?

It seems like the community has made a tremendous shift in relation to breaking gender norms and LGBTQ+ subjects, not only in the fans but within the creators themselves. Was flirting and calling a pretty-boy streamer pet names as normal in the past as it is today? Were straight gamer guys putting on dresses and a full-face of make-up as supported back then? Were “marriages” and “pregnancies” within Minecraft boys an everyday occurrence like they are now? How is it that MCYT has dominated a Twitch dating show where flirting with the gay host and among straight contestants themselves is just another bit of entertainment? Where is this all coming from?

Recently, I watched a 2 hour documentary depicting all of the stages of Minecraft YouTube and how it has changed over the years. If you haven’t seen it and you have some time to spare, I HIGHLY recommend it! It’s very informative, and it honestly gave me such a strong sense of nostalgia that makes me choke up every time I think about it. I’ll link it below.

The documentary does a great job at exploring the different niche communities that dominated MCYT since it first took off. Some of such communities include the basic Let’s Players, the team-based Let’s Play channels like How2Minecraft, the roleplay story-centric ones like Aphmau and Samgladiator, the tutorial, building and technical side like Mumbo and Grian, the PVP-centric Bedwars or Hypixel channels, the Machinima community, the comedy side like ExplosiveTNT, the parody music videos, and so many more. All of the mentioned communities have dominated Minecraft at one point or another, many of them still having a rippling effect and/or a loyal community today. All of these communities have certain aspects that define them, some of which parallel the current overtaking content in the present.

How can we compare MyStreet to the Dream SMP?

Taking Aphmau as an example, her MyStreet series had a TREMENDOUS success a few years ago, racking in millions of views and bringing in a lot of money that eventually allowed her to hire voice actors and increase the production of mentioned episodes. The roleplay series was so successful it ran for six seasons!

Now, let’s compare that to the Dream SMP. It seems like a big comparison to be making considering they appear so different at first glance. For once, Aphmau is just one channel whose audience caters toward girls and younger people who enjoy romance. The series is set-up in an episodic-format that resembles more of a TV series than actual Minecraft videos.

Meanwhile, the Dream SMP is a collection of content creators with a mix of improvised storylines and the occasional regular video that resembles more of a Let’s Play series than a RP series.

You could say the only true comparisons to draw out of these two are the popularity they had/have and the profit they brought to their respective creators. 

However, there’s two other key similarities that you’ll find not only within these two specific examples, but many other channels and communities as well. Story and characters.

MyStreet’s story aspect is fairly obvious seeing as it’s a episodic series that focuses on a fictional story. The Dream SMP’s story aspect isn’t as clear, but it’s evident there is a story playing out in the foreground and background, whether intentional or unintentional, or improvised or not.

Character is where some of you might start to question me. It’s obvious MyStreet has characters. I mean, it is a fictional story, after all. But the Dream SMP? Light, they’re obviously people!

Well, my answer to that is yes and no--sort of. The Dream SMP’s story heavily relies on roleplay, bits as you might call them. Events that aren’t necessarily planned out as a fictional plot like the typical MyStreet episode is, but they aren’t exactly real. Schlatt is obviously not a villain in real life, he just likes to impersonate as one for the narrative. Wilbur isn’t crazy, but it’s a way to spice up the heroic story surrounding Tommy and him.

It’s video-game improv. Except the actors behind the content just so happen to be real people playing off the personalities and “brands” they have obtained. 

Brands. It all boils down to this. In the entertainment business, without a clear vision of your project and a clear way to brand what your consumer intakes, your project will likely not find a lot of success.

There’s a reason why Tommy plays off his loudness, using an overexaggerated laugh that although may not be completely fake, it is likely not the laugh he uses everyday. Or why BadBoyHalo is this supposed innocent muffin who doesn’t understand the crafting table meme and other references that are fairly easy to google and find the meaning of. Or why Sapnap is this chaotic being who loves starting pet wars and we love to paint as an arsonist in the Dream SMP. While all of these personality traits may be a part of their true selves, they’re played up for the camera--for the story. They act as the personas that define their characters in the narrative.

They have a clear brand and vision that appeals to the audience and makes them tune in on the daily to see how they all come together. It’s like roleplaying a more extreme version of yourself, one that brings home the money.

Story and characters run across every entertainment outlet. They define their brand. Aphmau has her characters and series. Hermitcraft has a set of memorable personalities and episodic videos that formulate its own story that is less like a narrative and more of a history of the server. ExplodingTNT has his recurring cast and comedic sketches. Most of these niche communities have a form of story and character defining them. It’s how they achieve a clear sense of branding and cater to a specific audience.

Queer Theory in MCYT

Having said all that, why does the MCYT of today draw in so many queer viewers?

Let’s think about this. In my last post, I ended by mentioning DTeam Tumblr is a sort of safe haven for INFP and INxx types who might be placed in the “other” category by society. INFPs, specially, are predisposed for escapism--one common form of it being fiction and entertainment. Not to mention, INFPs are feeling types who, as introverts, seek a personable connection. It’s why it’s so easy for them to obsess over book characters or fall in love with content creators.

Now, let’s imagine a whole community of LGBTQ+ INFP and INxx types. Actually, scratch that, we don’t even have to imagine it.

It’s what our community looks like today.

And why are so many so drawn to the DTeam and Dream SMP of all things? It’s a personable storyline that essentially forms a direct tie to the viewer. Unlike pre-recorded fictional TV series you tune into on your device, the Dream SMP is a whole load of chaos that blurs the lines between reality and fiction where fans can directly connect to creators and get to know them as people through a storyline that features sub-textual queer themes and non-conforming behaviors.

The MCYT content creator community of today is more non-conforming than ever before, and knowing this whole fact, knowing that many of them might place themselves in the “other” category or at the very least aren’t afraid to break the norms and be seen in that light, is a comfort in itself for LGBTQ+ INFP types. Once again, it’s a safe space that helps you escape from the troubles of real life, one you relate to.

Okay. So although this does answer why the fans look like they do, what about the creators themselves? Are we really supposed to believe this all came through naturally? That a bunch of straight guys suddenly decided wearing dresses was something they wanted to do?

I don’t mean to sound cynical here, and I’m in no way trying to insinuate creators have solely some sort of corrupt ulterior motive. Things are never as simple as they look. However, the truth is, a part of it lies on the attention it’s gotten.

I’ve talked a lot about DreamNotFound and the way Dream uses it as a marketing ploy. I stand by my point. However, he’s not the only one who does this in the MCYT community. Why did Finn suddenly go from wearing a dress to cross-dressing as a girl for a whole week? Why are so many creators suddenly deciding wearing dresses is fun? Why does every freaking straight MCYT actively want to flirt with George nowadays?

Let’s just let Techno’s favorite word answer this for us: clout.

It gets attention from one of the largest historically underserved minority community in the entertainment business. We might not be able to see gay flirting in every Netflix TV show or guys not minding dresses and getting fake marriages, but you are certainly going to get at least one of those in every Dream SMP stream and video you tune into. It gets attention. It brings home the money. And do I blame them? Not really.

Interestingly enough, there’s a lot of analytical posts on the MCYT Tumblr community that discuss the dangers of these tactics and why gay jokes and the way queer subtext is treated by MCYT creators is harmful. Despite this, it still attracts such a huge community of queers. So why exactly would queer people actively watch something that’s offensive or harmful to us?

I have a lot more to say about this topic and the morality behind Dream’s tactics, but I’m out of breath for today, so I’ll talk about it in my next post. What better way to start the conversation about the DNF and Karlnap questions of the survey than a good ol’ discussion on the morality of queerbaiting and the likes?

If you got this far, I’d appreciate it if you liked and reblogged this post if you enjoyed it and/or learned something new! Also, important news, I would really like to perform a similar study on the DTeam Twitter Community to measure the differences in demographics across platforms. I would REALLY appreciate it if you guys could go like, retweet and share the link I posted on my Twitter about it (tweet will be linked in the reblog below) so it reaches more of the DTeam Twitter community!

However, if you filled out the survey yourself here or you associate more with DTeam Tumblr than DTeam Twitter please DO NOT fill out the survey again! I’m trying to make sure it reaches the audience that mains on Twitter, but I need a little help with that since I don’t have as big of an influence on Twitter than on here for obvious reasons.

Anyhow, thank you so much for all your support! I really appreciate y’all and make sure to hit the follow if you want to lookout for the next demographics post! <3

(Pssst, I’m releasing a MCYT DNF superpower AU longfic next month... You should totally go check out the post on that if you’re interested in it...)

[riacte]

This is going to sound really stupid but I cannot for the life of me guess who’s popular in MCYT.

Exhibit A: I genuinely, genuinely thought Grian was the least popular member of Hermitcraft because he was new to the server. I thought I didn’t know the other extremely cool and talented hermits because I was stupid and Not Cool and still somehow following this random rustic house channel from 2017. This is so funny because Grian’s literally the fan favourite. I could NOT be more wrong.

Exhibit B: I LEGIT THOUGHT THE HERMITS WERE POPULAR IN MCC??? Like in the GoodTimes of early Season 7, Hermitcraft was super mainstream, you could see Hermitcraft memes outside of Hermitcraft, there were Hermitcraft jokes/references in Minecraft/YouTube videos. And then there was the whole Mumbo for Mayor feat. James Charles fiasco. So I thought all of the hermits were getting really popular. A little bit after that, MCC happened, and I remember looking at the players and knowing no one except for the hermits, Pearl (because friend of the hermits) and Technoblade (because he’s the PvP king). (Yes, I was/am extremely ignorant about modern MCYT.) I assumed the hermits in MCC would be pretty damn popular because they have their own fans and Hermitcraft fans. And Hermitcraft was popular so the hermits would be popular, right? And I knew Grian is in MCC and Grian is SUUUUPER popular, right? So if he plays, he’ll be one of the most watched streams, right? I literally thought Grian and Mumbo were the two most popular MCYT in our year 2020 (YES, MY BRAIN LIVES IN 2016/17 BAHXJAJDJSJ).

And then MCC9 happened.

As a hermitfan (and eventual Hbomb and Fruit fan btw I’m sorry I discovered them so late and I’m so glad I’ve been introduced to them), I was ECSTATIC. Hermitcraft community was RIOTING. Grian’s three kills in Survival Games trended in the hermitcraft tumblr tag for like a month. But then the most trending posts in the MCC tags weren’t about the winning team? (Like if I scroll down I would find a lot of posts about them, but still the top fifteen posts were about... Dream Team or smth. Idek.) And I was genuinely confused? Blue Bats won against all odds? Even if you don’t know anyone on the team, it would be common courtesy to acknowledge their unlikely victory? I thought the winning team would be trending after every MCC. I know Ren/False aren’t the most popular of hermits so I was kinda clinging onto The Supposedly Massively Popular Grian to make a splash, which he did, resulting in the Dreamslayer memes. But still... Grian wasn’t as popular as I thought. And that made me think: wait, if even Grian, Mr. Supposedly Massively Popular barely makes it to trending, then... what about the other hermits?

It was then I realised hermits started to get real attention from MCC9. Prior to MCC9, I wasn’t invested in MCC at all and just really adored hermit content. And apparently from Frostbyte Freeman’s “How the Blue Bats Won MCC9” video, the hermits were looked down as points to be grabbed.

So apparently the hermits were Not That Popular After All. That’s not to say they’re “underrated” or being “slept on” or “they don’t have fans”. Hermits have a gigantic and loyal fan base, and they’re definitely getting a lot of attention now, I just didn’t expect Dream SMP to be so massively popular lol. (Dream absolutely slayed the YouTube algorithm. Legend.) I legit didn’t know they existed until people starting simping for them on Instagram. Oh well I’m stupid.

To conclude I have extremely bad judgement and awareness of whatever’s going on in MCYT and do NOT ask me who’s popular in MCYT because I thought Grian and Mumbo were the most popular in 2020 I’m so ashamed of myself bye—

[autumnalsaffron]

This is a rambley post about how I found Grian/Hermitcraft and my first impressions. This is mostly because I want to just sit and type this out - I know that this is too long for anyone to actually bother reading :^)

So I only found Hermitcraft like a month ago. I had been watching Jack and Felix play Minecraft on their single player worlds and so Minecraft was in my reccomended.

I was reccomend Grian's video called 'I made a Mumbo Proof House in Minecraft' and I didn't know who he or Mumbo was, I ignored it. It kept popping up in my reccomended but I thought it seemed clickbaity and assumed he was one of those Minecraft channels that press F5 too much and are just too over the top for my taste. Anyway, I succumbed to the YouTube algorithm and watched it. It was confusing but I enjoyed it.

I remember I wasn't weirded out by the moustache-less Mumbo paintings in the house because I didn't know what he was supposed to look like! There were so so so many inside jokes in the video and it was very confusing but I just kind of went with it and enjoyed the wacky house. Anyway long story short, I watched Mumbo's reaction to his house next and again it had many inside jokes I couldn't follow but they seemed nice. I remembered Grian at one point when talking about his lack of a storage system saying "...if you know me from Hermitcraft... " and that's what prompted me to check it out to see if I could get some context for all the inside jokes I couldn't understand.

I remember I watched one of the more recent episodes that had come out and Mumbo was being killed by his own Zombie to promote Sahara Now (not that I knew what what was lol). When Grian went to rename the Zombie he said "It feels like the beginning of the season!" and I after watching him hide from Mumbo and almost being caught, I decided to check out the beginning of the "season" (not that I knew what that meant or that there had been 5 other seasons.) I remember being really surprised that there were 90+ videos in the Hermitcraft playlist but I decided to give it a go anyway.

The first episode was really really fun to watch. I was very impressed that his starter base was so creative and well executed that I immediately watched the next episode. Equally great. I'm sure I watched like 2 hours of Hermitcraft that day because every episode was just a joy to watch.

I think Hermitcraft Recap got reccomended to me pretty soon after that and I loved it too. The Recap is a fantastic way to keep up with everything happening on the island without watching 20+ different people's episodes (especially when you're a year and a half late to a series like I was lol).

As I watched more and more of Grian's episodes I would go back to that original Mumbo Proof House video that sparked my interest in Hermitcraft and I would understand more and more of the references and inside jokes that had previously gone over my head.

Around this time I had checked out a few other Hermit's channels, and had seen that their subscriber counts were in the hundreds of thousands. Because of this, when I looked at how many subs Grian had, I read the 4.22M as 422k. I thought Grian had 400k lmao. I was a bit surprised when I realised that I had misread that number by a few million.

At this point I was spending any moment I had available to watch Grian's Hermitcraft episodes, and I was determined to get up to date as fast as I could. I worked it out and the most I watched in one day was episodes 35-56 which came to about 8.8 hours!

I would often watch episodes in split screen mode while working on my iPad and so pages in my note taking app, Notability, have little doodles of things they said that I wrote cause I was bored. Just little phrases like "no one wants to be tagged", "don't clog your mail system with chickens", "INFINITE EGGS", "Punching obsidian takes 36 minutes" "they touched Ren and Doc's bush" and "sweed in shorts"! Also little doodles of things like moustaches, Phantoms, the Jangler's hat and Iskall in golf shorts!

I love looking through the Hermitcraft related hashtags and seeing all the fan art and posts about it - you can really feel the sense of community here.

I've made a few pieces of fan art only one of which I actually finished enough to post (it didn't get much traction so feel free to check if out here).

I really enjoyed watching/listening to Mumbo and Iskall's old End Busting livestreams while drawing - they have such a wonderful friendship and their voices are so calming 💕

Also the Salmon Pickle Ghost?? Is the most infuriating and confusing but also hilarious thing I've ever seen?! What??

Sometimes when I find a moment in someone's episode especially entertaining or funny and it doesn't need too much context, I screen record it and send it to my irl friend who barely knows what I'm talking about but it's nice to share it with someone :^)

I think that might actually be the end of my story. I doubt anyone has read this but it was such an amazing time taking a trip down Memory Lane (not that it was that long ago, I started on about the 14th and finished watching all 38 hours of Grian's Hermitcraft on the 25th of September.)

I missed out on being part of the fandom during the big events like the Civil War, the Great Build Off of 1.14, or Sahara opening, but I'm here now and I got to witness the tail end of the Area 77/Hippie scenario, Hot Potato mini game, and now Demise (which somehow found its way onto Tumblr too which was fun)!

I'm not such a huge fan of Grian as I was a month ago - In fact I am catching up on Iskall's videos from a few months ago because I quite like the way he does his episodes too.

I find Hermitcraft.com really helpful for keeping up to date with what's going on and who's live without having to be subscribed to every Hermit on the sever which would be a bit chaotic.

In conclusion, I really like Hermitcraft! I'm very glad I found it and the community surrounding it (it's the only reason I'm actually active on Tumblr at all). I'm excited for the Demise game Sahara and 1.15 and all future developments and events!

Please tell me if you actually read this, I'm really curious although I doubt anyone will because like 2 real people follow me lol.

Thank you!!