Imagine This: A Wild Card That Makes Everyone’s Hybrid Instincts Go Into Overdrive.

my favourite headcanon when dealing with whatever the hell mcyt’s names are is that everyone just has a fucking universe assigned string of characters (the username) which everyone knows and is what the universe calls you by, but serves no actual functional purpose by itself

in society, the username is used as the legal name because its convenient - at any given point a username is unique to one person and you can easily identify someone by username

but obviously, the username is random and as a casual name it may not work - “Grian” is a fine name but “BdoubleO100” is a nightmare to say, so people develop nicknames based off these. some people go as far to have nicknames completely divorced from their username - e.g. “Jimmy” for “SolidarityGaming”

usernames probably bring up a lot of questions. they seem random, not affected by environmental or genetic factors in any discernible way. they’re more likely to contain words - or things that are kind of like words - than a truly random string of letters. I imagine there being a lot of meaning ascribed to them - like certain numbers symbolising certain things or certain words detailing something for your future. example: people with “7” in their name are more serious (supposedly. it’s kind of equivalent to our zodiac signs. belief varies)

I like to think about all the implications of this naming system. xB off-handedly said that Joel’s username is “SmallishBeans” so he’ll only be calling him “Beans” and not “Joel”, does this imply that some people believe your nickname must be derived by your username and consider nicknames that aren’t illegitimate? what about people that want to change their username? there’d be less name changes than our world (since names aren’t family or gender related) but it’s certainly possible (as you change the username of your minecraft account), but is there a stigma against it? rejecting the very name the universe gave you? are “rare” names (such as with small character count or palindrome etc) considered lucky or unusual?

(using the term “nickname” for ease of understanding because that’s our closest equivalent but in-universe this isn’t really what they are. better term “casual name”? “nickname” implies it isn’t your real name or is a cute shortening, whilst this would definitely be considered your name, just one of two types)

i just have… thoughts.

Flower Court is the best polycule.

Spring 🌿 Summer ☀️ Autumn 🍂 Winter ❄️

I'm never leaving this website:

I’m so hungry. Why am I so hungry? I tried looking it up, but I don’t have anything pointing towards diabetes or thyroid issues, I know I’m not pregnant, and I doubt I have hypoglycaemia either. I genuinely don’t know what’s happening to me. I’m just so hungry.

I’m so hungry.

Random linguistic worldbuilding: A language with six sets of pronouns, which are set by one's current state of existence. There's a separate pronoun for people who are alive, people who are dead, and potential future people who are yet to be born, and the ambiguous ones of "may or may not be alive or aleady dead", "may or may not have even been born yet", and the ultimate general/ambiguous all-covering one that covers all ambiguous states.

The culture has a specific defined term for that tragic span of time when a widow keeps accidentally referring to their spouse with living pronouns. New parents-to-be dropping the happy surprise news of a pregnancy by referring to their future child with the "is yet to be born" pronoun instead of a more ambiguous one and waiting for the "wait what did you just say?" reactions.

Someone jokingly referring to themselves with the dead person pronouns just to highlight how horrible their current hangover is. A notorious aspiring ladies' man who keeps trying to pursue women in their 20s despite of approaching middle age fails to notice the insult when someone asks him when he's planning to get married, and uses the pronoun that implies that his ideal future bride may not even be born yet.

A mother whose young adult child just moved away from home for the first time, who continues to dramatically refer to their child with "may or may not be already dead" until the aforementioned child replies to her on facebook like "ma stop telling people I'm dead" and having her respond with "well how could I possibly know that when you don't even write to us? >:,C"

The way literally every single player in Third Life except Jimmy got to see how hard Scott fell apart after Jimmy died. Everyone else saw, talked, whispered with pity, as Scott became reckless and dazed with grief only to die uncharacteristically early in the finale. Except for Jimmy.

When Jimmy saw Scott for the last time in Third Life, Scott was in control as he always was, and when Jimmy saw Scott again in Last Life, Scott was in control again.

I always get the sense that Jimmy still sees Scott as unshakable, or something close to it, to this day. Jimmy always expects Scott to be in control of any given situation, to be level headed, observant, diplomatic, and on top of things. Even up to the most recent season.

Because Jimmy is the only person in the life series (who was present for third life, at least) who doesn't fully understand how hard Scott can shatter under the right circumstances, who didn't get to see it with his own eyes (and did anyone even tell him?), despite the fact that Scott's biggest moment of weakness was over Jimmy.

It's just fascinating to me guys.

I've seen a few people now say that people won't be able to make dramatic winner art/animations out of Joel, and that couldn't be further from the truth

Yes, Joel doesn't take anything seriously. That what makes him terrifying.

Think about it. He's stuck in a death game and he is having fun. When everyone is chasing him down in the finale, he easily uses the teleport power to evade them while barely trying. He can taunt and laugh at them, confident he can't be caught, and he's RIGHT.

Joel feels no fear. He plays the game. He revels in the chaos with a smile on his face. If that is not an epic setup for a villain I don't know what is. It also creates a fun dynamic between him and the other winners. He doesn't care, he can taunt them with memories he's now regained ("Weren't you and Scar friends Grian? How's your soulmate Pearl?") and it throws them off because never has a winner been untouchable like this before. He has no guilt to grapple with, but everyone else does. That gives him innate power over the others

Joel himself is a wildcard. He enjoys the game as much as the watchers. He can adapt to anything, as proven by the series he won in. He has loyalties, sure, but in the end he didn't really care about killing Grian. He thrives when others struggle to survive, and he LOVES chaos.

In conclusion, Joel is the life series equivalent of Bill Cypher. In this essay I will-

Imp and Skizz weren’t born, exactly. They spawned into existence as adults (which isn’t unique to them, as there are plenty of players - other Hermits included - that spawned out of thin air).

The thing is, it wasn’t just a coincidence that Imp and Skizz spawned in the same place at the same time. They’re what’s known as Heartbounds, where two beings are connected in every way besides physical. They have their own language that only they can understand, and they can pretty much read each other’s minds.

The mindreading doesn’t allow them to know each other’s exact thoughts, and they can’t completely control it, but it does let them ‘speak’ to each other without having to actually say anything. It also works long distances, so if Skizz is causing trouble on the other side of the map, Impulse will know that he’s doing something stupid (it also works across servers).

They can also telepathically send each other their intents (like if Impulse thinks they should prank Tango and wants to tell Skizz without anyone else knowing).

Their language is made up of random gestures and incomprehensible yelling. They know exactly what the other is saying, but to anyone watching they look insane.

.

I just saw a post talking about how Scott always goes after Joel and Joel has never done anything to Scott and “if you watch Joel’s perspective, it’s totally uncalled for”.

First of all, it’s a death game. They don’t need a reason to kill each other. Scott and Joel are very close friends outside of the game. They used to be neighbors. The people who are closest tend to go after each other the hardest, because they’re the most comfortable with ending each other’s seasons.

Secondly, it is not at all uncalled for. Joel’s whole thing is being a menace. He was upset when someone on reddit said that he’s “lawful good” in the Life Series. He said that his goal is to be “chaotic evil”. Joel is a constant menace to Scott and many of Scott’s allies. As a Joel viewer, you might see that as Joel being clever or powerful, but he is just a menace to almost everybody else and that is literally his goal. Of course Scott would want to push back a little.

Third, sure. Joel often doesn’t effectively do much to Scott. This is NOT due to a lack of effort. Joel tries incredibly hard to irritate Scott. It’s his love language. Joel and Scott are close, and Joel thinks it’s hilarious to get Scott riled up. It’s like targeting your brother in a game for the crime of being your brother. Joel failing to do harm to Scott is not the same as Joel doing nothing to hurt Scott. Joel has repeatedly made his intentions clear.

Fourth, the poster specifically mentioned that Scott killed Joel in Secret Life “without a reason”. Joel spent a whole episode of Secret Life recruiting three people to kill Scott. I think their rivalry is a pretty good reason, but, again, they don’t really need a reason. It is a death game. They are friends. They were on different teams. They are bound to attack each other. That’s how the game works.

Joel fans, you don’t ever have to defend Joel from Scott. If you were a real Joel fan, I think you would know that Joel loves Scott dearly and that’s why he’s such a menace to him. Don’t attack Scott for his mutual friendship with Joel. They know each other’s boundaries and have never stepped on them. The members of the Life Series have stated again and again that everyone in the Life Series shows a healthy and mutual respect and love for everybody else in the series and that, if it made it into a video, everyone is okay with it. Joel and Scott literally take time out of their day to excitedly talk about their sessions with each other by themselves. Take a chill pill. Scott and Joel are just fine.