#vffinurants

[vffinu]

chrisdrew as a concept

chrisdrew as a ship fascinates me so much not in the way of "chris and andrew both like each other current story" but the possbilitiy of if they had the time to actually connect further than just online friends, meet up irl, and get to know each other even better, it could have happened.

especially with everything that happens in both of their lives, even in canon, there isn't even time to think about the possbility because there are more important things to be done. andrew especially. not only is he dealing with the stress of college but also the constant nightmares that plague him about the minecraft world and his experiences. it's not something he'd want on his mind all day, chris included. i feel like andrew outside of the game does try to numb his emotions to it, putting on a mask that goes "hey! there's nothing wrong with me!" and try to live life the best way he knows.

chris on the other hand, we dont exactly know how time works within the world of minecraft. though from what weve been show, i believe it works exactly like the real world time. though this brings the question, do chris and/or smile actually work behind the scenes to set things up? do they actually have conciousness when andrew is away from the laptop? do they have the time to actually think about their actions and words? its different from andrew because he actually has things to distract himself from the well world but for chris, he is stuck in that world, forcing him to face every problem and issue as it is happening.

however, i do think whatever way time decides to pass in the wonderful world of minecraft, the two just dont actually know each other well(haha) enough for anything to happen. at most a few moments to make either hearts flutter just for a second.

thats kinda the tragedy of their relationship too, no matter how someone wishes to interpret them. in canon, they just arent given enough time. all their talks have been shorter than they should have due to time restraints. No matter what, canon chris and andrew can never happen. I mean, one of them's literally dead, but we're not even sure the chris we are seeing is actually Chris. and if it is, we can't be so sure that if andrew does die, he will end up in the minecraft world too.

also theres my own idea of a possible event where chris sacrifices his life in some shape or form to save andrew and therefore create a bittersweet ending because andrewgaming67 will 100% not have a fully happy swet ending

anyways i think andrew should take some notes from colinlock and i think i should actually work on my assignments instead of procrastinating them by writing a mini thinkpiece on minecraft media

[vffinu]

ag67 and breaking the boundaries of minecraft

iposted this somewhere i think??? im not sure if i posted it here so if i did, please forgive me (i wrote this pre-slipping through the cracks so not everything will be accurate to that episode!)

something i dont see a lot of stories that use minecraft as a medium of storytelling do often is address the question of "it's just a game"/"why dont you just log off?" and it's one of the reasons i REALLY like ag67

andrew himself addresses this, its where most of his confidence to continue going comes from because at the end of the day "its just a game" and what's the worst that can happen? he loses all his "little health points"?

of course, that's not all, because at the end of the day, andrew can just "quit" and decide to never come back. of course, a lot of series uses the idea that something about the world "compels them". yes ag67, does use this too, but(and this is something ive seen someone point out before) it uses it in such a symbolic format. he starts off a good amount of his videos going "life's been rough lately." as we all know, the well is a symbol of depression/suicide, the call of the well being just that, falling back into depression, yearning for an end, yearning to drown endlessly and remove yourself from the real world, yearning to die. whenever andrew starts to be depressed irl, he comes back to the minecraft game because the well is calling for him, whether he realizes it or not.

and it isn't just the call of the well, chris is also a factor that wants him to keep coming back. at the end of the day, chris is still one of his closest friends, arguments or not, and personally, i believe andrew has known that chris is dead for quite some while, he just refuses to believe it, constantly pushing it away, not wanting to have that as an option for his sudden disappearance. he comes back to the game because its the only place where he gets to see and talk to chris.

now, this isn't the only "minecraft boundary breaking" part there is to the series. its so interesting how the in game world is starting to affect andrew outside of the game. the biggest and first instance of this that weve seen is the world inside the well. andrew physically cannot speak while inside the well, almost as if he was drowning and when coming up, he gasps for breath. another example, the most obvious one, is of the video, canary in a coal mine. the title itself of course refers to coal miners bringing canaries with them because in any case toxic gas travels up into the cave, the canary dies first, a sign that the miners need to leave immedieately. the canary in question is andrew, and he is literally breathing in toxic gas irl(not as literally like toxic gas is in his room but more he is connected to the character, breathing in whatever his character is probably breathing.

quick appreciation paragraph for ohster here cause holy shit his acting is so natural its insane. its what makes this boundary breaking work so well because andrews reactions to everything are so natural, almost as if andrew is a real character uploading videos, reacting to everything as he goes through it.

the other boundary breaking minecraft whatever blah blah blah is the fact that smile or whatever has access to probably everything in andrew's computer. as ive said in my previous rants, this control has only gotten worse. aka, as soon as andrew is on his computer, and boots up minecraft, smile is literally in full control which is not very good.

now, what does this mean for andrew? one, we know his in game character link to his irl self decently heavily. two, we do not know what will happen when he dies in game. previously, he has died before, even in the well world(purification thing), but now that the link has gotten stronger, what will happen? he doesn't have his totem anymore, leaving him no escape once his character starts to lose hearts. three, as we know, the person still kinda has to die by their own terms(everette's whole backstory + if we assume into the mind is about chris), so what smile probably wants to do is get andrew to a low enough point where he will willingly kill himself.

going a bit topic but id also like to mention how good smile is at manipulation like genuinely its one of the reasons why hes not the type of villain i would throw pitchforks at because its so smart. hes desensitized andrew to violence, therefore making him more violent, more angry, literally using :O to ragebait him to bring out his emotions. smile is fully aware that andrew is REALLY close to snapping, especially with all the mind fuckery smile has put on him and hes is taking advantage of that really well. thats the dangerous part about the chris and andrew argument because it does temporarily sever the tie between the two, isolating andrew and basically leaving him vunerable for smile to do whatever he wants. and we all know how being alone with smile went for chris.

additionally, its the fact that smile took advantage of chris and andrew's strong relationship to pull him into this, and then using their shaky weaker relationship to pull andrew into this tunnel even further.

tldr: its over for andrew

additional notes(post slipping through the cracks add-in):

interesting how andrew seems to be taking bigger gasps of air everytime he exits the well world(or at least the section where he is unable to speak), really does show how much he is connected to the world itself.

althought we shouldnt really be trusting everything smile says(smile did lie about him being the one to activate lethe on andrew, presumably) BUT andrew's "soul" being connected to the world is definitely true. makes me wonder how much worse can it get from here LMFAO

[vffinu]

some scattered ag67 thoughts after the new ep

the contrast between chris(the dog) freezing to death and right after chris's house(and presumably himself) being burnt down

remember what andrew said in a previous video about "do you ever wonder when you're in the ice cold freezing waters if your minecraft feels how cold it is? or do you feel nothing?"

(^well(pun may or may not be intended) i think this has even more relevance now cause andrew is literally his minecraft character. now, its more like "do YOU feel the cold when you're character is in an ice cold biome")

other thoughts(from some discord server discussions): it has never been stated that chris drowned in a well, only his body was FOUND at the bottom of the well. my theory is that chris, being sick of the hallucinations, anxiety, and basically everything going on, so desperately wanted to end the suffering. however, near the end of the process(not too sure how he wanted to end it), he started to regret his actions, however, being stuck at the bottom of the cold, dark, and damp well in the middle of the night, he didnt have the energy to call for help, nor was anybody going to find him, and therefore, he froze to death.

i mean, the chris dog could have died in any other way, etc. fall damage, suffocation, drowning, BUT it was "freezing to death" sooooo ! if you think about it too, during the into the mind episode, when andrew passes by the well in the courtyard, he peeks down it to find a dead body(skeleton head, bones, "blood"). That was Probably Chris.

next ep predictions: probably exploring the so called "somehwere thats further below"(the sign we saw behind the locked door) i feel like its going to be somewhat of an infodump ep? idk, vibes are giving omori underground library section.

^adding on, chris mentioned that he felt the "well" pull him deeper the further he explored as well as what we know from "metempsychosis"(the supposed transmigration at death of the soul of a human being or animal into a new body of the same or a different species.), andrew does have to DIE for the plan to work aka the end of the tunnel is near for our dear main character uhmmmm.

thumbnail mention: the only other times weve seen andrew in the thumbnail are the unlisted chris videos also: the recent ep really feels as if it follows right after the previous video. theres no "its been a while"(we know ag67 follows time just like real life), he just gets straight into it. my theory is that andrew did NOT upload this video. ofc this wont make sense of how carnival was uploaded(idk how to explain that one yet so theory may be disproved?) kinda on topic with previous ramble? carnival, memory construct, and what friends are for are the only all caps titles. just something to note, idk what it means. small thought is it all has something to do with everette's final plan? or something??? cause memory construct was done to desensitize andrew to violence and carnival was to sever his ties with chris(idk im just rambling nonsense)

hopes for the series: - really hope andrew somehow gets the idea that everette is smile, i think exposure to that would be REALLY interesting to see. of course, i feel like andrew would not hate smile less with that info, he would probably call everette out for his actions, maybe even use that info against him(due to andrew's deteriorating mental state of not being able to think properly, as seen in recent ep, yes im calling him stupid) - EXPANSION ON EVERETTE AND OLIVER PLEASE, i NEED to see the parallels between them & chris and andrew - possible smile and chris interactions?? we havent really seen them come in contact in the current storyline, never even in the same room(hmmmm.....). we know that they HAVE interacted previously but i do hope to see them actively speak to each other(that does depend on chris actually being chris tho)

god forbid i do actual school work oh my god

[vffinu]

i haven't stopped thinking about desert apollo

hope we get some sort of flashback to jr apollo and sr apollo in future videos cause god damn i need some confirmation to my own theories on how sr apollo treats his son

in my own theories based off of what weve seen, sr apollo is def a irresponsible parent, dismissing jr apollos achievements and probably treating him just as if he was a regular member of the fleet. although he'd def have even higher expectations for jr apollo to keep up sr apollo's face of being a highly respected and powerful figure.

hes always pushing for jr apollo to "do better" which in response causes jr apollo to constantly chase for that approval

it's even worse when you realize that sr apollo is NOT a good person outside of his shit father shenanigans like putting regular people through the trials of hell? most likely running a dictatorship and reducing peoples individuality?

the fact that jr apollo does have a good moral compass is making me think that he might just suppress/deny/or justify his father's actions(or just be entirely unaware) to keep on his father's good side which is genuinely so heartbreaking like, what if one day hes forced to choose between finally obtaining his fathers approval vs sticking to his moral compass like that could 100% be a breaking point for jr apollo where he finally "embraces" the collective and starts to become just like his father

just imagining jr apollo literally pleading to go on a mission to prove his worth makes me so unbelievably depressed(and then basically died for a year)

hes so mentally vunerable especially to his father and its such a disgusting use of power like fuck this guy

i love jr apollo/desert apollo lots please spare him mr apollotv i want him to be a happy guy :(

[vffinu]

smile/everette as a character(+others)

SMILE EVERETTE FOCUSED RANT

(Note: i'll be referring to his character in the well world/post death as Smile and his pre death self as Everette)

Timeline headcanons(or general theory) ill be referring to:

2016/2017 - Everette Dies(11-12)

2021 - 2023 - Chris(15-16?) gets tormented by Smile + dies

ill be going over 3 main sections in this rant

1: Everette's trauma and its affect on Smile

Everette was presumably 10-12 during/around the events of his POV videos(what friends are for/my house/minecraft lets play), known from his mention of being in 5th grade during the house showcase. He has a dog, a caring mother, a grandmother(? i think he has one that bought him minecraft??? idk i may be hallucinating details here). However, his father isn't the nicest, verbally and physically abusive towards everette, causing everette to hide in the bathroom to avoid him. (dog died too? i think? dont remember by what means) Later on, his mother dies, an unknown reason to everette but to us, it is assumed that she was murdered by everette's father, possibly buried in the well in their basement. Not only is his home life traumatizing, but he is lonely at school. His "friends" destroying a minecraft world that was so precious to him, most likely a form of escape from the tragedy in his life, exploding the builds he worked so hard on. Everything added up, causing him to end his life(by drowning in a well?).

Everything that has happened in his life has always been out of his control. Never once was he able to change the course of his life(whether for the better or for the worse) or have the ability to stand up against what happens to him. How does this trauma reflect onto his later form, Smile? As the leading entity of this minecraft world, he holds power to do whatever he wants.(under certain assumptions of how the entities work when we dont see them through video, for ex. time works linear(a year irl is a year in minecraft world), smile is possibly in creative mode? stuff like that. idk. weird worldbuilding. hope that gets expanded on or given some info abt) Smile is able to create whole office buildings, govern over hundreds of little minions that do his bidding. In this world, he is given control, he is able to choose what happens to him AND other people. However, it doesnt change how lonely he is. Sure, the minions exist, but (to our knowledge), they can't speak, can't offer much to Smile other than silent company. We assume that during the Smile - Chris era, the smilelings did NOT exist as chris never mentions them(which hell usually do in one of his journals). I think that Smile was trying to take over Chris' body but wasnt able to as he had hid the bones all over in differnt worlds.

Though, why would Smile want to seize another person's body? From what we know of Everette, it doesn't exactly seem to me that he wanted to die just to die. moreover, i feel that he wanted to be somewhere different, away from his current life. And with what power he had, the only "different" place he could go was death. His house isnt friendly, his safe space got ruined, what more did he have? Due to his loneliness in the well world, he probably figured he wanted more. Even though we don't know Chris' full backstory or family relations, I personally assume he had similar situations to Andrew, having friends(mentioned by chris) and family that cared for him. Smile most likely knows this, and with potential power(?) to be able to take over someones body, someone who has a loving family and friends who genuinely care, why wouldnt he try? He doesn't have anything to lose anymore so as soon as Chris appears, he will snatch that chance and do everything in his power to succeed. Being tormented previously, he knows what hurts people, he knows how to take someones darkest fears and turn them into reality, breaking victims bit by bit. He puts on this fake persona, pretending to be an evil villain with no ulterior motive other than to torture and toy with his victim.

2: Smile's manipulation tactics

Expanding on the previous point on how Smile REALLY breaks down his victims.

Andrew has a secure life, he has caring family, good friends, the stress from school being his only major worry.(or as weve been told, as andrew said, he did have a period of time where he struggled a lot with his mental health(?) and chris was his escape from all of his problems). However, at the start of the story, he seems to be doing alright, maybe not the best, but not as bad as Everette had it. He's mentally stable. However as the story goes on, he is broken down bit by bit by Smile, going from someone who was simply reminiscing of past times to someone with frequent nightmares, neglecting his own health, and losing control of his emotions.

Smile REALLY takes advantage of chris' death to the max, using their close connection as andrew's breaking point. He lets them reconnect again, reforming their distant friendship just to crash it all down by revealing Chris' traumatizing and horrifying death. However, due to the previous reconnection, Andrew has motivations to keep going forward, unable to quit as he had already promised Chris he'd do this for them. At this point, andrew is starting to get REALLY annoyed by everything going on, sick and tired of Smile's constant mind games. He desensitizes Andrew to violence in MEMORY CONSTRUCT, making him believe that violence is necessary to proceed. He starts to become more unstable, slowly breaking under the pressure of everything happening in the game. It's not like he can leave anymore, he's gone too far to stop now. However, Chris is still an issue, so, knowing Chris' opinions on using violence, he puts the two against each other, breaking their relationship, completely isolating Andrew from any outside support. From here on, it's kinda easy, Andrew's already nearing his lowest, all Smile needs is to just get him to complete the final goal of giving him the bones.

Andrew's only weakness is Chris, and Smile horrifyingly used that for his downfall. Could also take in to consideration the possible theory(i think other people have thought about this) that the Chris we see isnt the REAL Chris. Just a bullshitted version Smile created to fuck with andrew even more. What if chris didnt die the way we thought he did? what if it was ALL an act? As the viewer, we actually don't know alot about chris' personality. We know he's good at tech, he was a bit of a prankster with Andrew, he has fascination over the creativity of minecraft, and hes has perseverance, following through the journey that andrew is currently going through right now. (going a little off topic here please be kind with me im just a guy who goes on tangents….) Chris really reminds me of Connor Murphy from the Dear Evan Hansen Musical. A guy who dies at the start of the series, only for a fabricated and imagined version of him to appear throughout the show. No one really knew him, but from the details of the book, we learn that he is aggressive, impulsive, and not the "kind" and "caring" figure the main character describes him to be. Of course, i'm not suggesting that chris IS like him, i think chris is definitely in a more stable mental state than him, but it still carries that same idea of, is the chris that is presented to us ACTUALLY an accurate representation of his true personality.

3: Personal Theories about pre-death Everette

Always wondered what Everette meant by (paraphrasing here) "If you're reading this, that means I've succeeded." That implies that he KNEW a way to get into the minecraft world which is quite insane. I can see it working by like him testing the wells —> child imagination thinking it could work with the well in his house —> it actually working. but still, he also mentioned (paraphrasing once again) "it was so beautiful there". not sure if thats referring to the minecraft world? its very strange and ive been thinking about it a lot.

Another thing i've sorta been thinking about is what andrew's reactions to finding out smile = everette.

Based on what we know of his character, i definitely think he'd feel guilty or at least have sympathy for what happened to everette but i wouldn't blame him if he completely lashed out on Smile.

What i think would happen is andrew yelling at Smile and basically trying to give him a wake up call. He knows Smile is traumatized, and maybe by bringing up his past trauma(not a good thing btw, entire situation is very complex), he could break down that fake persona he is putting up as means to protect himself. i do see it possible for smile to deflect all of andrew's comments because allowing himself to be vulnerable and show guilt for his actions = loss of power which i believe is smile's biggest fear in all of this.

end note: holy fucking shit have we entered yap continent or what cause this is an entire city of words

this is 1550 words btw, what am i doing with my life

[vffinu]

i love war crew i love them my little guys i still havent stopped thinking about them campfire scene i love you i love you all so so so so so much

aughhhhhh started making an animatic of warcrew and fuuuuuuuuggghhhhhhhh i miss themmmm i so dearly miss them am i a war crew addict? am i? ammmm iiiii?????? idk silly guys found family in another universe possibly, lukas introducing his new friends to wisp, sunny and borger the Gfs, they are happy forever, commande rapolllo dies

next video prediction

lukas: we finally killed comannder apollo!

wisp: im free now!

joe: nice to meet you!

borger: omg hi sunny!

sunny: hiii im backk

jr: hey guys i took a reallyyy long nap im alright now tho!

jei: heyyy anyone wanna see my new bombs

i miss war crew. i miss desert crew. i miss them. come back to me. i miss you. am i a war crew addict? goddddddddddddddddd i need them to be okayyyyy pleaseeeeeee all four of them pleaseeee spareee themmmmmm fuckkkgkkggghgh holding them dearly in my hands

If war crew has a million fans, then I am one of them. If war crew has ten fans, then I am one of them. If war crew has only one fan then that is me. If war crew has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth. If the world is against war crew, then I am against the world.

am i okay? no. ill only be okay if war crew comes back to me all in one piece aka im never going to be okay.

my silly guys. augughhhhhhh if only commander apollo was dead 6 ft under buried cremated forever gone can he die already why is he genuinely torturing my favourite character and my favourite group like leave them alone??? leave jr alone??? leave war cre alone??? get out?? no one wants u here btw. please. spare some happiness??? rights for happiness?? can we please??

i might be going insane i might. i think i am actually. i need them to be happy(non existent in the world of apollotv) but it will happen whether its in story(again, not possible) or in an alternate universe. let them be happy little guys. Please.thrwos them gently at the wall. stay safe, i love u.

look at emmmm lookkkk :C lookkkkkkkk

they r just little guysss free themmm FREE THEMMMM

im sure ghostly and borger will come around eventually and also start to hate commander apollo and then they reunite and take down the asf together

im sure nothing bad will happen to them right? Right? right? Right? Right? Right???????

okay i think thats enough today i will get myself to bed so i can stop being so absolutely insane and off the rails

[vffinu]

sooo i finished the apollotv cinematic universe binge yesterday and i have not been able to stop thinking about it. holy moly. AND its not even close to being finished. i just got the hyperfixation of the decade. oh my god.

personally, i enjoyed winter apoc, desert civ, zomb apoc, and horror hotel the most and im so not ready for future episodes i think i will genuinely explode.

after lurking in the discord lore channel and going thru everything, ive concluded that i hate commander apollo and i am going to strangle him to death! i dont like his ass! i hate him actually, i hate him lots and the only thing keeping him alive is the screen between me and the video. beware.

i am also a 100% believer of winter frisk jei reuniting...please....my siblings....please....bring them back together :( i was so heartbroken by the ending like "you will not enjoy how this ends" you are unfortunately right about that one mister apollotv

(im also slightly hoping winter apollo is alive....i also love him lots.....)

before reading the discord i was like oh! i bet commander apollo is some awesome guy(<- i was not paying attention to the skins cause i was multitasking, doing assignments + binging videos) and then i actualy go back and look and is like okay. nevermind. not only he is an evil villain and possibly an even bigger bad than scientist apollo but hes also a shitty father! awesome! great! okay! i take back everything nice i hypothesized about you. you can just die!

the scene in apoc where frisk just beats up ethan, punching his head into the concrete was so good like in the "holy shit thats horrifying" way. the complete 180 turns this series does sometimes like theyll go from the most brainrot funny bit ever to "oh yea everyone dies and big angst" like okay. can i get some mental preparation beforehand...

anyways...yippee! love this guy(totally dont want to strangle him...) im gonna do another rewatch probably after this week/during this week(as my school schedule does not look the nicest) and ill be looking closer into each video and leaving my thoughts soo :> yay!

[vffinu]

a little ramble about the war video based off a few thoughts ive had while drawing the war quartet

i think the purpose of sending those 4 onto the planet was a test of obedience to commander's authority, the starting frames stating "tbd" etc. were the results of that test.

commander is completely capable of wiping the planet himself. he knew where the bunker was and could have had it easily activated without needing to send anyone onto the planet. this is what makes the whole video kinda weird, why would he waste resources on a mission that could have been WAY easier.

as we know, the ASF is heavily focused on obedience/submission to authority with one of its catchphrases being "obedience is freedom". to maximize efficiency, each cadet must be fully dedicated to their work, obeying commands without a second thought.

the war video is a test of not only obedience but the strength of the character's morals when facing power.

lukas fails the test not only because of his previous grudges with commander(wisp, etc.) but he is directly disobeying commands, protecting joe and not wanting the planet to be exterminated even with a friend(wisp) on the line. he will NEVER submit to commander, proving him to be a failure of the obedience test

ghostly passes because he follows orders without hesitation. killing on sight. he seems to have much more experience with the asf, with no mention of this being his first mission(unlike borger), most likely somewhat trustworthy in commander's eyes.

borger is still TBD because this IS her first mission, she may be obedient to commands now but as time goes on, her stance is still vulnerable to change

now, joe is the only one im kinda conflicted on. imo i think hes TBD because the ASF still has some sort of strong grasp on him. (we still dont know what specifically happened in that bunker to be so traumatizing to him). we know his memory was erased so maybe theres some sort of previous agreement etc.?

uhmm idk thoughts i guess