#not maintagging

[reinapepiada]

silly isafrinloop headcanons

[sir-raz]

my take on gempearl 🙏

[finnitesimal]

Funniest possible situation I think

[riacte]

subjective + critical (NOT CRITICISM) wild life thoughts (no spoilers for winner, spoilers for finale gimmick)

Sorry for being back again. Anyways after watching Wild Life, I came to the conclusion that it's very... Grian. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING. In a way, it's always been very Grian (understandably so because it's his server and he picks the cast)— server wide event that gives everyone an opportunity to be involved, mechanics that toss you around haphazardly, random factor for funsies— I've watched Grian's minigames since HC6 Tag, Demise, etc, and there's a Grian-ness that I can't explain but I feel and recognise with my soul. This isn't Grian crit, I respect him massively for coming up with engaging gimmicks, I loved Demise 1, he definitely changed the scene of Hermitcraft 6, etc.

I previously talked about the experimental nature of Life series and how the emotional investment in Third Life was somewhat unintended. Wild Life is an experiment that's giving the expected results of Third Life— Grian-esque experimental gameshow about hanging out with friends and reacting to insane shit flung at you. The finale gimmick is all of the wild cards (seemingly individually chosen because of fun factor, no wider theme that connects them) together at the same time. It's fun! It's dramatic! It... doesn't have to have a deeper meaning!

Then comes the fandom's Swiftie tendency to connect everything (it's me, I'm the Swiftie), which is an inevitable and fun part of engaging with media. Famously, the LimLife winner symbolism debate. Coincidentally, the first three winners fit into celestial symbols, but it starts to fall apart with Martyn. But we love connecting stuff and making up symbols/blessings/curses, so we stuff Martyn and the following winners in anyway to honour them.

But there comes a point in which hyperanalysing everything sometimes feels like a stretch. This is a natural part of the life cycle I suppose. You can't recatch the lightning of 3L in a bottle, much like how All Stars Blue Bats doesn't hit the same as MCC9 Blue Bats. Wild Life is perfectly entertaining on its own, but to me it feels weird that it's tacked onto the Life series, like it's an afterthought. It has all of the cast so far, we get a lot of nostalgia bait, existing duos, but... it personally, subjectively doesn't feel like The Life Series TM. Like, it sure is A Sequel and Continuation of the plot but it feels like a Beach Episode. It's fun to watch! And... yeah!

And then you start to think. So maybe it's us who've been assigning a lot of Meaning to the first generations of Life series and now with Wild Life, it's finally reached its intended vibe of Fun Experimental Grian Gameshow. I remember someone said "what you're missing in the OG Life series was never there in the first place" and I see that viewpoint, it was like a collective hallucination. I'm gonna spitball if Wild Life was written by the fandom with attempts to "script coherent themes":

Fixed six sessions, first five gimmicks refer to previous five seasons, sixth sessions is every gimmick all at once

Clear "wild life" theme, which would keep the snails and superpowers probably, add possibly Origins, and cast members are encouraged to play into the theme (like BigB this season)

Dice theme, something about rolling 1-6, ties in with people starting with 6 lives

And we got the Gameshow. Individual gimmicks are quirky but don't seem really tied to each other. And there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you just have a bunch of fun ideas and throw them into a pot. But the fandom expects to have something to work with due to the meta starting from 3L. Even if it doesn't fit perfectly, it's fun to make it fit! That's why we do analyses and symbolism! It's the bread and butter of fandom!

This is where I bring up the Life Seriesification of Hermitcraft, which is probably related in ways I cannot fully explain. The Life series isn't just a fun gameshow, it's a JOB. It brings you clout and views and fandom relevance and fandom propaganda which brings you views and income. The Life hermits have generally become a closed circle, with exceptions like Ren who hangs out the most with non-Lifers. The fandom's desire to connect Life series meta becomes so overwhelming that it seeps into non-Life series stuff, prominently HC, and the non-Life hermits start to get sidelined. Okay, it's more like Life series meta is interesting, so your Lifers become more interesting, so you care about them more, so you care about their HC POVs more. It's a weird reinforcing circle. And if you step out of it for a while (Ren), your clout decreases (Ren), and even when you come back, you kind of.... don't get the same level of mainstream attention anymore even though your personal fanbase is going insane (Ren). (BigB also gets sidelined, although that is a different discussion.)

Anyways it Isn't That Deep and the main reason is probably The Novelty/Interest Is Gone. That and the segmentation of the HC fandom, which I am absolutely guilty of. I don't "need" to post or watch popular POVs because I get to know about them through osmosis anyway. So I end up only "caring" about a few POVs.

I am aware this doesn't make a good deal of sense and I'm sorry for being a party pooper of sorts. This is not criticism, just trying to analyse it through a critical lens.

Life series can keep on being a gameshow. It can be whatever it likes at this point. I'm just sick of it invading Hermitcraft fandom and tilting the balance overwhelmingly in favour of the Life hermits. It's suffocating.

Final reminder to myself, but replace "yourselves" with "Life series fandom":

[zundamind]

YOU WONT BELIEVE WHAT I DID TO THIS MCCHICKEN

[bugflies00]

Fine. yall get the fostering au c!tntduo art i was originally not gonna post

ref :

[ferretpajamapants]

stuff my family asked me to draw

[joeyclaire]

this is TOTALLY just me and i completely understand and respect why tma didn’t want to do anything with sexual violence. HOWEVER.

[jjcocker]

waow

[hibiscuslynx]

am i allowed to post this

[mapicccc]

There's something Zam's been wondering for a while now, a question itching at the back of his mind every time they got a moment of peace, maybe now is the time to ask.

Currently, Mapicc was sprawled out on the table of the Gucci Gang base, supposedly advising bacon on base design but really avoiding helping. A back and forth between the two made Mapicc break out into giggles, tail swishing. His ears flicked as Bacon jumped onto the table next to his head, Mapicc attempting to roll away.

Eventually, Bacon got back to work and left Zam to entertain the dog hybrid. He didn't know what to say, mind focusing on the one question he wanted to ask but not sure how to phrase. So he said it as bluntly as he could.

"Can I pet you?"

Mapicc half sat up to look at Zam on the other end of the room.

"You're weird y'know."

Zam held his arms up in defense, "it's just a question man! jeez…" As he trailed off he glanced back towards the other, "can I pleaseee pet them though?" His eyes were gleaming, hands held out in prayer to try and convince Mapicc.

He sighed, fully sitting up and covering his face with his hand.

"I guess you can. No touching my tail though!" He pouted as Zam walked over to stand in front of him, Mapicc still trying to hide his face but up close an embarrassed blush was obvious.

"I'll be gentle, don't worry."

With a nod from Mapicc, Zam reached up and scratched gently behind his left ear. His eyes closed as Zam moved his hand around Mapicc's head, trailing his fingers through his hair. As the hand went around and back towards his ears, Mapicc's tail betrayed him and started wagging despite his attempts to suppress it.

Meanwhile, Zam watched the other practically melt against his hand, subconsciously pushing and guiding him to wear it felt best. He felt warm, almost soothed by the repetitive circles being made in Mapiccs hair.

Their trance of comfort was broken by a loud crash, both pairs of eyes shooting towards the noise. Bacon was holding a leg close to his chest, glaring towards the ceiling.

He switched his gaze towards them, yelling, "Can you two stop being freaks already and help me with this base?!"

They giggled, Mapicc jumping to stand on the table before dashing over to Bacon. Zam smiled as he slowly made his way over.

With one question answered, he felt a little lighter than before. You can, in fact, pet angry violent dogs.

[canary-song]

Very unserious edit

(And a blank alt version under the cut. Happy thanksgiving)

[moonlarked]

not going to go into my life story for why I relate to this so hard but if you have a problem with me making death note about suicide you should probably unfollow me because I am deadly serious about it

[pistachi0art]

Because I don’t have 24/7 access to my computer I gotta make do with my sketchbook for future drawing ideas

[hectorthedoggo]

a silly little pixel art thing i created :D

[transrevolutions]

mouthwashing is such a great game. disappointing that the fandom seems to be a petri dish for developing various nasty forms of ableism