This was illustrated to go with Aqua’s fic RIGHT HERE about bdubs making his way through his last lonely day on s8 before the moon hit :,,)
I actually have a few more I did to go with it but whittled it down to this for the zine! I’ll be sure to post the others when I get them all cleaned up a bit!
Word count: 1,937
Warning: Implied death
A/N: Finally got around to uploading my piece for the @bdubszine (which y'all should def check out if u haven't already). This was a different approach for me and a lot of fun, loved the chance to write abt Bdubs's season 8 finale. Hope y'all enjoy, please reblog/comment if u do <3 - Aqua
The Time King
~*~
It’s the end of the world, and Bdubs is doing fine.
Why wouldn’t he? He’s the fuzzy, cozy, mossy Time King! Uh- King of the Server, in fact. If he may be so bold. Everyone else is- they had a meeting, and everyone else is leaving. Everyone’s leaving, he’s the only one left- last man standing! Oh, or uh- floating? He float- he’s flyin’ all over the place, now, uh- it’s fine! This is fine, he likes it.
(The Time King is a liar.)
Oh, so the moon is big. Hah, yeah, that- it’s been happening for a while now, Bdubs supposes. But he didn’t see it ‘til just- just recently ‘cause, um- of course, whenever night comes, he- he’s the Time King! And the Time King… changes the day- uh, changes night to day. Right. Right, right, right, right, right, of course. He’s gotta sleep, okay, so he hasn’t seen the moon for- for forever, and it’s big now.
And it’s comin’.
Blocks are flyin’ up everywhere, all over the place, and uh… they aren’t comin’ back. Some of these builds, oh boy, okay, they look rough. They’re getting pretty shambled. And then there’s the- the ground shaking, every so often. Shaking real bad. And then- yes, of course, the flying! Bdubs floats now, he flies- it doesn’t last long. He’s gotten used to it.
But everyone else got… uh, they got real nervous, it seems. Nobody else is on the world, currently, and- and nobody’s been on since their meeting, so. Yeah.
(The Time King is alone.)
So everything in the world can belong to Bdubs. Ah hah! That’s- he’s pretty sure that’s how it works. He thinks- the rest of the Big Eye Crew, Tango, Keralis- they gone. Oh, yeah. They- Tango went on a little uh… space mission, to the moon, okay, so- so Bdubs doesn’t think he’ll be back on this world again. He did… uh, send Tango a little message… you know, just to let him know that… well, things are floatin’ and flyin’ all over the place, it’s a mess here, everything is in shambles. So Tango really… really shouldn’t come back.
Oh! And Keralis, that sweetie, he’s got a- a- big ol’, uh… space… station? Space ship? So that’s- yeah, that’s how he’s leaving. Oh, but his house is so- oh, what a beauty! What gorgeous- it’s a shame, really, but- but hey, good for Bdubs! Right? Oh, that’s amazing. Keralis’s house and private island, Tango’s cyclops under the mountain, the Big Eye shopping district- sure enough, Bdubs can claim it all!
Isn’t this beautiful? This is- he feels like he could stay here forever. You know, for as much forever as he’s got left.
(The Time King is running out of time.)
See, Ol’ Bdubs- he ain’t no fool! He knows. He knows that, uh, there’s a good reason everybody’s leaving. It’s… this isn’t the kinda problem that can be fixed, you know? Of course, they’d respawn. Players respawn, when they get killed. But the moon is comin’ and he thinks there won’t be much of anything left, after. And who- who’d want to stick around for that, right? Right, okay… uh, well him, he supposes. But someone has to leave last, right?
That’s- that’s the thing about uh, you know, the end of a world. Someone is always the last one to leave.
Bdubs has played on a lotta different worlds, over the years. And someone will always be the- the last person to ever, uh, exist in a world... as everyone gradually fades out and uh, you know, ventures forth into new adventures… and stuff. That’s what usually happens, okay. So when a world ends, someone is always the last person to see it- to actually load the chunks.
And then they leave, and the world is held in a sort of uh, a sort of stat- uh, status? In stasis. So it’s still there- all their old worlds- waiting for them, if they ever wanna visit. Like, if they want to look at old builds, or look at old redstone. Or you know, just take a stroll down memory lane. So, the Hermits- they’ve had plenty of worlds end, but they’re never really gone.
This time is different. This time, there’ll be nothing to come back to.
So uh… it’s only right, Bdubs thinks, that someone be here to witness it.
And you know, there’s… part of Bdubs doesn’t like the thought of leaving his pets here alone. There’s Squawkers, of course, and Lulu, his faithful companion. Pets get left behind all the time on old worlds, it’s- it’s just how things are. They can’t travel between worlds. But Bdubs is always comforted by the thought that no matter what… they’re still there, waiting for him.
And he knows they aren’t real, okay, not in the way players are. They’re just- uh, little bundles of code and data that exist only on this world. They don’t have a- a unique, sort of… con- conscience? Or- no, um… consciousness. Something that can, uh… persist… beyond this world. That’s just how the universe designed ‘em.
Oh, there’ll be other horses, of course, in other worlds. Maybe uh… maybe even ones made of the same data and codes as Lulu. Like… the same- same color, the same stats. Like a- ‘oh, look here, this is a standard white horse with eleven hearts, eleven-point-nine block speed, two-and-a-half snow jumpin’ horse!’ Physically identical in every way, sure enough, but- you know, it- it won’t be Lulu.
Animals don’t respawn. Of course. So- so when the moon comes down, and uh… you know, blows everything to kingdom come… they aren’t gonna… um. It’ll- you know. So he just- he doesn’t want them to be alone, for that. Yes, yes, okay, Bdubs is a big ol’ softie, sure…
(The Time King is… sentimental.)
He’s not sure what’ll happen to him, exactly, after respawning. He’s never- can he even respawn in a world that gets destroyed? Or- or will it be like, um… the ultra- ultra hardcore? Worlds? Hardcore worlds where after you die, you just… can’t go back. It doesn’t exist anymore. Deleted. Gone. Bye-bye. Go back to another world. Yeah, maybe it’ll be like that.
But, you know, until that happens, Bdubs is making the most of it. Having a nice tour around the world, the beautiful world- seein’ what everyone built. Oh, it’s amazing- it all belongs to him, now! And that’s- there’s something really nice, about that.
‘Cause there’s all of Boatem, of course- Grian’s magical alley, Scar- sweet Scar- his uh, Swaggon… place? The Swaggons. There’s Impulse’s candy factory, Pearl’s mountain range, Mumbo’s sort of… mountaintop village… shrine? Yes, lovely. Oh, it’s all lovely. So the Boatem people left, down through the uh, the Boatem Hole, of course- those sillies. So it all belongs to Bdubs, now! Amazing.
Then there’s Octagon, too- and oh goodness, how amazing is Octagon! Doc and Ren, those two guys really… uh, really outdid themselves. Giant praying mantis… that’s- oh, that looks like some pretty impressive redstone, there- uh, for Doc, that is! For Bdubs, it’s- he can understand that, all too easy. Of course. Maybe he’ll improve on it, later. Yeah.
Oh goodness, there’s so much here… Bdubs could go on and on, really. Etho and Iskall’s savannah, Cleo and Joe’s big ol’ castle, Jevin’s slime pit and custom swamp, Cub’s humongous dripstone canyon, Beef’s spaceship, Xb’s bunker, Zedaph’s lab, Xisuma’s village, Hypno’s mushroom, Wels’s house, TFC’s mine, and the forest shared by False, Stress, and Gem. Oh, yes! Oh, baby, it’s all property of Bdubs, now! What- what a paradise this is! Even… even if not everything got finished. That’s okay. Uh- he can work on it, later. Maybe.
And of course, Bdubs checks on all the profits from the Big Eye shopping district. And sure enough, they’ve got sales! They’ve got- he’s practically rolling in diamonds, now! Richest Hermit on the server, by far! Isn’t that fitting, for the Time King? Oh, their beautiful shopping district- there’s still some wool scaffolding, though, around the place. Some outlines of buildings he never got to build. That’s okay, he- oh, didn’t get to build yet, he’ll say instead. Yeah, he likes that better.
(The Time King is great at pretending.)
And finally, there’s… oh, right. Hollow Hills. The horse course he was building with Etho. Right. He forgot about that. Right, right, right, right, right. Okay. It’s finished, it is, just- they had some ideas about cool things to add, power-ups and stuff, but the course is rideable! It’s- look, he can take Lulu for a race right now- perfect riding, of course, world record- and it’s all complete and- and functional! And he said- he and Etho, they always- every time they start a project together, they just go too big, okay, and never finish. But not this time! It’s finished! They did... it’s just, they never got around to holding a proper race on it, is all.
Um…
That’s the other thing, about the end of a world. Usually, they have more time.
They get to choose when they’re done, you know? And that’s- that’s not to say that they always finish every project, okay, but usually they’ve done everything they wanted to. Projects are left unfinished ‘cause of a lack of inspiration, not a- not a time limit. They usually have time to do whatever they need to before the end. But uh, right now.. all Bdubs can think about is everything he still had left to do, all the life he still wanted to live on this world.
So he’s not really sure if he’s still here because he’s brave enough to stay, or just too scared to say goodbye.
(Oh, Time King, did you get everything you needed?)
It’s the end of the world, and Bdubs is afraid.
He’s finished his tour, finished seeing all the amazing builds that he laid claim to, for- hah, for all of one day. He’s collected his profits, collected all the wonderful diamonds that he earned for his hard work makin’ and stockin’ the shops- even though it’s uh, it’s too late to spend ‘em anywhere. He’s completed his race, completed a perfect run on the racetrack, first try, of course, and- and he can claim the world record because the world’s ending, anyway, so no one could beat it even if they tried. No one will ever get the chance.
So as the moon bears down on the world, Bdubs stands outside his starter base- and that’s uh, that’s kinda funny to think about, you know? Calling it a starter base when he never really moved on from it. It’s just his base, his one and only base, and sure enough, it’s a moon, of all things. He’s got Squawkers on his shoulder, lil’ claws or uh, talons, gripping through the mossy cloak, still squawkin’ an imitation of a zombie they passed earlier. And he’s got Lulu at his side, lead rope in one hand as he pets her velvety soft nose with the other, tryin’ to keep her calm because he thinks… uh, he thinks she can tell.
And as the moon- oh, it’s beautiful. As the moon- the humongous moon, swallow the whole sky moon- bears down on the world, ringed with flames and blazing a- a yellow so bright it’s painful to look at, Bdubs can’t help but think that it uh, it looks an awful lot, actually, like the sun.
Isn’t that fitting?
(The Time King changes night to day, one last time.)
Here are both my pieces for the @bdubszine !!!!!
Such a great opportunity to run with it and just have fun with detail work.
I am in love with sungod bdubs and very proud of this piece with the improv class^^
Down below is some in depth talk for the first piece with bdubs and all his clocks :D
The one on his chest is a regular minecraft clock - he always carries one in his offhand. In the background his his big tower from his "building with bdubs" series. He is wearing his moss cloak.
On his wirst:
A clock with a horse: he loves horses. also it actually is inspired by the horse-mountain he build in season 9 of hermitcraft
A purple clock with ears: a purple panda clock. He joined one mcc (minecraft championship) and one it first try on the team called purple pandas)
A tnt block-clock: Season 7 of hermitcraft he had, alongside impulse and tango, a company called "the boomers" who would explode stuff with tnt for diamonds - bdubs stick was he would die in every blow up they do (there are compilations)
in his jacket:
The clock looking like a ring: reference to double life. He was soul-bonded to impulse and they lowkey roleplayed as a married couple and impulse gifted him a clock as a sign or marriage. therefore it looks like a ring. it also has "i" pointers because impulse always puts "i"s on his stuff
A regular alarm clock: Basically that - maybe a reference for him always sleeping through the night.
The red glasses clock: reference to season 8. He, tango and keralis based together and called themself "big eyes crew" and they all wore red glasses
Emerald shaped clock: season 9 as the right hand to king rendog (theres also a crown inside the shape) emeralds because rendog and bdubs wanted to change currency to royal emeralds which started a war on the server and led to rendogs execution. bdubs stayed loyal till the end
"hep" clock: Season 7. He plays right hand man to mayor scar. There was a turfwar between two groups - one wanted their main island to be mycelium the other wanted it to be grass. HEP was the group who wanted grassblocks so its a grassblocked shaped clock. they lost the war
clock with a snake: 3rd life reference. Inside the clock theres a castle "the crastle" which was his and cleos base in 3rd life. The snake stands for cleo. the heart is part of the logo for the traffic series (same btw count for the heart in the impulse ring)
sundial: reference to the hermitcraftxempires smp crossover. bdubs came to empires smp and announced himself as "the sungod" and basically became a god and gem, oli, fwhip and sausage were his followers for the short time. the shape is after a build sausage made in his name
the "B" sign: reference to last life. He was part of team B.E.S.T. and they had shields with their initials aka Bdubs, Etho, Skizzlman and Tango. The four hearts are the lifes he was given at the start of the series
half tnt clock: reference to ethoslab who is his best friend on hermitcraft and they are just unnormal about each other
messed up steam punk clock: reference to the create series he did with keralis, tango, scar and zedaph who unfortunatly was short lived
mcc coin: the coin he got for winning mcc
broken heart monitor clock: limited life. there's a heart monitor and digital clock. the clock is broken because bdubs didnt uploaded his view for limited life (at the time of drawing this piece) so we never new how much time he had left (we know now)
small pocket watch with snake and wings: also limited life. he teamed up with scar (the wings) and cleo (the snake)
tree clock: the tree of whimsey. one of his first builds of season 9. he crowned tango as parkour king, cub as royal magican/dragonslayer and ren as king under it
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
The fic I wrote for @bdubszine! This is a bit different to the sort of thing I usually write, but I had fun with it and I quite like the finished product! The zine was so much fun to be a part of and you should totally go and check out all the awesome art and fic in it!!
Lil' Summary thing for the fic;
Decked Out 2 is well under way, and everyone is having a great time with it. Bdubs is determined to do well, but the dungeon is a terrifying place and making it out alive is never easy!
[AKA, a fictional Decked Out 2 run featuring Bdubs trying very hard not to get slaughtered by the dungeons ravagers.]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Cleo picked up a diamond and held it up to the light of one of the soulfire torches. “Have you ever thought of taking some for yourself?”
“No! Never!” Bdubs lied.
Of course he had been tempted by the riches. Who wouldn’t be, with the ways the gems sparkled and shone, almost beckoning? But he had resisted. And didn’t that prove his devotion even more than if the thought had never crossed his mind?
Cleo just smiled. “Of course you wouldn’t. Perfect, loyal, Bdubs.”
The words sounded like acid in her mouth.
My piece for the @bdubszine! Some King arc Cledubs
a wonderful collaboration illustration i got to with @boxbug for @bdubszine !! i sketched and inked, he coloured! it came together so well, and so did the whole zine!! :D
My parts for the @bdubszine ! Love that guy to death it’s been a pleasure to work on such a project ^_^!!! These pieces come in a set and are dedicated to his Hermitcraft S7 POV (left page) and 3rd Life POV (right page)
[ ZINE LINK ]
[ notes undercut ]
HOW DID I GET HERE (hcs7)
This page was the winner of 6 other compositions (censored — one day they will be posted in their own time). It takes direct inspiration by the theming of Bdubs’ HCS7 thumbnails in the comic-book style, particularly the episode Bdubs get his iconic big beautiful eyes and smile x]
IN THE NICK OF TIME (3L)
In another universe- the right portion of the set would have been a continuation of the S7 theme, imitating that of an actual magazine spread with recaps and shit (rejected— too much research u_u)
The happenings of HCS7 and 3L overlap, and I wanted to visually show that mirror transition between the two series. The 3L page for that reason was harder to manage without being too different or too underwhelming to its HC37 counterpart. This page is dedicated to his season finale POV of 3rd Life ft Day 1 Crew (and Tango)
I can finally share the artwork I did for the @bdubszine ! Knew what I wanted to do from the start, and I learned a lot about composition, lighting and monorails lol
This is definitely one of my favourite pieces I did in 2023 :]
Also make sure to grab the full zine here! It's free and it has a ton of other creative works made by amazingly talented people :D
blakekathryn
tangentwithtanner
andulkaphoto
jacobvanloon
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
