#mabthoughts

[onetruemab]

if you take both avid’s ending animatic and shelby’s/scott’s/drift’s endings as canon it paints a really funny picture

like

“We go to visit Avid’s grave every year.”

“Hey! Stop telling everyone I’m dead!”

“Sometimes I can still hear his voice…”

[onetruemab]

ok so wait the more people in vsmp reveal their secret backstories the more funny episode 1 gets

Avid: Vampires are real! You've gotta believe me!

Sausage, writing a vampire novel:

Shelby, actively searching for Bigfoot:

Pearl, whose parents were werewolves:

Cleo, whose parents were vampires:

Abolish, a vampire hunter:

Scott and Owen, literal vampires:

Everyone:

Cleo: sounds fake ngl

Everyone: yeah checks out

[onetruemab]

Was watching Legundo's POV of Vampires and the reveal that Avid thought he had been turned by a vampire and was staving that off recontextualizes so much of the episode 4 conversation prior to Avid committing arson

Particularly the following:

"You're the one who's said the most about all of this, who came in believing the most about all of this, expecting the most with all of this - what is it that all of your knowledge of- of vampire hunting says about them?" "I, for the longest time, was searching for some kind of potion or something that could...cleanse the darkness from just- monsters in general. Vampires...rare. I never really saw them, to be honest, but- "They're not monsters, though, Avid." "Kay. They are...what?"

Because at first glance I thought Avid was simply drawing from his past experiences with vampires, some of which have been traumatizing, most of which have involved physical threat, and all of which have been unpleasant at best.

But he isn't - he's drawing from his own experiences with an affliction he thought was vampirism. He isn't calling them monsters out of pure animosity - he's calling them monsters because he feels like one.

This revelation also makes important an earlier line by Avid from the same dialogue:

"She was the best of us. Got turned, and - she loves it. What- why- why even bother? We'll all just be vampires by the end of the week."

Avid's distress over Shelby is suddenly compounded. It's not just that Shelby is a vampire. It's that Shelby, one of the few people Avid felt like he could trust, is seemingly experiencing the same blind hunger that Avid is working so hard to stave off - and enjoys it.

(He's also definitely projecting a little in this line, but that's a conversation for another time.)

Legundo then defends Pyro, pointing out that Truffle is in town. And Avid's reply?

"Oh wow. That's... you know, that's...something."

Initially I understood this as sarcastic dismissal of Legundo's point, but now it isn't. Considering the hunger that drove Avid to slaughter animal after animal? It's a concession, albeit begrudging.

And finally the exchange that drove me to write this all out in the first place:

"They're hungry." "Yeah?" "I've seen what hunger can do to a person." "I know."

Since Avid immediately talks about offering Shelby food, I thought that's what he was referring to with the "I know". But he isn't - he's referring to himself.

Conclusion: we have made some new and impressive insights into How Low Can This Man Get

[onetruemab]

hey sbk s1 fans. was researching for avid limbo lore and. is there a single person in sbk s1 who hasn't had an outside agent acting on their free will and/or their body

bc here's what I've run into so far:

avid got turned into. a monkey. by some guy named olm

marmalade was making sacrifices to the void, whom she could apparently hear

several people had clones in avid's basement. unsure whether these clones were consensual but I'm leaning towards no.

leonsbu ate too much chorus fruit and turned into like half an enderman

what on earth is going on with rubyco. do I want to know.

every perspective I've watched so far is like this. how is sbk s2 so chill in comparison. this is like the empires smp s1 vs empires smp s2 difference but on crack. send help. or make things worse. either works tbh.

[onetruemab]

since I'm still giddy from episode 7: ranking the remaining vampires smp cast on how narratively satisfying an episode 8 permadeath would be

(disclaimer that I have not watched every POV so criticism is welcome)

Ren: Almost all the theatre kids have been turned into vampires. Ren is the last bastion of dramatic monologues and hefty accusations for the humans. If he died it wouldn't feel terribly meaningful AND the human effort would seem a lot more like a strategy game than a quest for the light.

Abolish: He just locked in last episode, and has established himself as a threat to the vampires - they shouldn't be able to kill him off that easily. The vampires now have to face the stakes he poses - both figurative and literal.

Cleo: Cleo has been playing both sides, but they're good at it. Neither side fully trusts her, but they're willing to work with her, which is all she needs. She acts as another threat to both sides - not the active threat that Abolish is, but the threat of information. That's a role I think is greater than the narrative significance her death would bring. Also, there are several people it would be narratively satisfying for them to outlive.

Legundo: Similar to Abolish, Legundo, having decided he will fight against the vampires, poses a tangible threat. However, having acted as a leader to the humans and a sympathetic face to the vampires, his death would likely have more people perturbed. Plus, the vampires want Abolish dead for tactical reasons. They want Legs dead for personal ones.

Shelby: In episode 7, she was killed without remorse by Abolish, and then learned that the people she considered her family killed Avid. Her rose-coloured glasses are gone. She, for better or for worse, has shown people the joy in undeath, has brought the brood together. Her death would be a tragedy, where, much like her initial turning, she realizes she's surrounded by monsters, and there's no escape. It would also deeply disturb the vampires, as evidenced by their reaction when they learned of Shelby's death to the hands of Abolish. But I think that her survival would be much more interesting. In terms of the human side, she hasn't posed a threat to most of the humans - most of them would likely be hesitant to kill her. As the number of actively hostile vampires dwindles, they should have to reckon with that. The vampire side is evidently quite fond of her, and it's here that I think her survival would have the most impact - after all, if she brought the brood together, maybe she can be the one to tear it apart.

Drift: She was the most recent person to be unwillingly turned. The vampires have convinced her that she can't go back to the town, and Abolish has really only cemented that. She, like Shelby, doesn't feel safe with the vampires, either, and, like Shelby, she presents a dilemma for both the vampires and the humans. However, her death would cement that just because you are a vampire doesn't mean that you're safe from them, and just because you haven't hurt any humans doesn't mean that they won't hurt you. It would reinforce a desire amongst the humans to not be turned, lest her fate befall them as well. It would also pair well with her vampirism - she feels stronger now, and less afraid. But maybe she should be afraid. Maybe, like Avid, she won't be afraid until it's too late.

Pearl: Pretty significant for the human side - with her gone, they've lost not one but two allies, as Cleo will likely protect her own interests above anything else. It's less significant for the vampire side, but still present, as they've likely gained an ally in Cleo and a renewed concern from Shelby and Drift, both of whom care about Pearl. However, her lore (which has a game mechanic, mind) is terribly interesting and I feel it would benefit tremendously from expansion, particularly if she's playing some sort of third role where she wins if neither the humans nor the vampires win.

Apokuna: Like Cleo, she's been playing both sides. Unlike Cleo, she hasn't been doing well. Neither side trusts her much, and she was nearly killed on sight by both humans and vampires. Their death at this stage would serve to reinforce the line in the sand between the castle and Oakhurst - you can't pick both sides. That being said, I think her killing Scott would also be incredibly narratively satisfying, so.

Martyn: The last human on this list. Martyn, being a member of the dwindling human side, stands as a threat to the vampires like any other human. But in the battles I've seen, he wanted to chase after the vampires even when it might have been wiser to pull back. So far, he hasn't given in to that impulse much, but that makes it tragic if he dies in a fight, whether he tries to fight back or tries to flee. It would act as a significant loss to the human side, reinforcing the threat the vampires pose. And if there's one thing I know about Martyn InTheLittleWood, it's that he can make a premature death into a really compelling ending.

Pyroscythe: After session 7, Pyroscythe has made himself an enemy of Scott, Shelby, and Drift. Pyroscythe's death would open up the option to cure Shelby, deal a blow to the core of the brood, and be as tragic as it would be cathartic.

Sausage: Sausage's death would be as relevant as Pyroscythe's for almost opposite reasons. He is probably the only turned person who wanted to be turned for the sake of being a vampire (Apo did it to protect people, Avid did it to cure himself.) But with Avid's death and Owen and Cleo's disdain for him, Sausage is about to deal with a reckoning. His death would send a message - turning at this stage, even voluntarily, is as good as death.

Scott: Scott has posed a threat to the humans this whole season. He is the direct sire of Pyroscythe and Drift, and the indirect sire of literally every other vampire. That, combined with the knowledge that the sire needs to die in order to cure a vampire, means that he is the ultimate target of any successful human plan. He also acts as a leader to the vampires, meaning his death would significantly unravel the vampire brood and create an uncertain path forwards for the remaining vampires.

Owen: He makes the parallel himself: The people of Oakhurst destroyed someone for being different, someone Owen cared about. In response, he killed everyone and razed their town to the ground. This, according to him, is just. Now, Owen has killed Avid, someone Shelby and Drift cared about, for the crime of once being human. What response, then, would be just?

[onetruemab]

whitepine 7 was ivory suffering

whitepine 9 was ivory going “no, i’m good actually” while everyone else was suffering

[onetruemab]

first POV I watched was shubble's, and from her perspective the whole legundo death thing seemed like it was his idea

watched legundo's and dang cleo and scott just talked him into suicide didn't they

i mean not that he needed much convincing but still

[onetruemab]

thoughts on deceit smp season 1, as seen from Legundo's POV:

funny that Legundo lamented the fact he was third impostoring as if he didn't spend half of every spare moment going "I mean, if, say, you were the traitor, our goals would still be aligned"

giving me real first watch of 3rd Life vibes, which is surprising bc I thought it would have given me Last Life vibes but no 2a. apparently I'm still not over 3rd Life bc when Legundo & Loony stopped at the desert longingly looking at the mountain I had a Moment

Taneesha is scary and I like the way she laughs during PVP

Loony is so normal actually. Yeah it's normal people activities to betray & kill two people, have the server rolled back, and then kill them again with them knowing what you're going to do. Full netherite and near-maxed gear when some people are still in iron is normal

thumbs up for the swamp base

I know there's several reasons why one wouldn't but I think Legundo should abuse his admin privileges a little more. as a treat. for funsies 6a. love that Loony and Taneesha were all "yay we won" and then Legundo was just "fight. fight. I'm making the weather dramatic. I want blood."

can you imagine if there had been a stronghold within the world border. Loony with elytra on the first session. oh my.

still don't know what Loony's plan was with all the resource farms. am slightly afraid to know.

anyway that was a neat little series so I'm looking forward to watching the second season!