Traffic Smp - Blog Posts

Thoeries and Haedcannons Pt. 26

So new Life Series brings new biomes, new teams and new skins that brings new lore to the participants of the Life Series. With the first episode of Wild Life been aired about a week ago, two new developments regarding two contestant's skin has been made. Specifically Pearl's new transistional skin change and BigB's cross-hybrid development into a creaking-esque skin.

Starting with BigB's skin changes, ever since the 20th of October where he began reposting artworks depicting him as a creaking reminiscence of his basing location in the Creaking Forest, a new skin has been released depicting his change to a Creaker. Changes from his original Life Series skin includes desaturated and greyscaled skin, inclusion of muted greens and oranges and yellow to highlight mainly his eyes and the creaking heart lodged between his right ribcage. Similar to the Creaking, BigB also does have striking similarities to the actual biome with the oranges possibly representing resin and eyeblossom flowers arriving to the biomes in the next drop. It would be fitting because quite literally, his right arm has turned into wood, possibly because of the creaking heart that has mutated his body to acclimate to his new enviornments.

Next, Pearl's new provisional skin that seems to be a transistional period between her Hermticraft Season 8 skin and her 5am Pearl persona. An unusual break in trend as generally she would use her Scarlet Pearl skin during the last few sessions of the Life Series. Well in her twitter post that first leaked her new skin on the 23rd, she was seen with Impulse in his classic Life Series skin that seems to be the west of their base according to rough estimates for the Wild Life map. She and Impulse are also seen with torches so it's a safe estimate that they're lighting the area to prevent other mobs from spawning in the heavily darkened forests near their and BigB's base.

It could be just a temporary change because the most recent wildlife that resulted in the first demise of the server, but that would still leave her with five lives. Far from yellow or even red lives range where 5am Pearl would essentially control Pearl's mentality and sanity.

But reasoning could run deeper than that. Ever since her introduction to the Life Series back in Last Life, Pearl dawns her Hermitcraft Season 8 skin with majority of the colours being subsituted for red and her eyes also gaining red highlights to signify her red-life status. This pattern of wearing her red-life skin was kept throughout every season up to Secret Life but Double Life where certain events occurred.

Specifically the severing of her bond with her soulmate Scott, during the first few sessions resulting in the formation of the Divorce Quartet and the beginning of her torment and rampage as Scarlet Pearl. Her pain further continued from the death of her dog Tilly, and causing others to view her as crazy and demented from her irrational behaviour. Her relationship with the other members of the Divorce Quartet continued to waver until endgame where they all teamed for the benefit of their individual survival. It was until the second icarnation of Tilly was burned by Impulse where Pearl began on a true rampage by slaughtering both Impulse/Bdubs and Cleo/Martyn. Eventually being crowned victorious after Scott sacrificed himself.

This carries into Wild Life where Pearl allied with the Divorce Quartet but with the abscence of Martyn and the addition of Impulse. So perhaps her transitional skin could be Pearl's reminder of her troublesome past with her quartet. But as a transitional period, her Scarlet phases only remain as a irksome reminder about what she could became isolated again. She's now surrounded with healthier support network with a new ancestor of Tilly being around as Billy and as well others like her allies who she reconciled with and Impulse.

These support networks could halt the reappearance of early 5am Pearl through the supportive and healthy relationships surrounding her.

_____

AHH i was stressing to this out before episode 2

Links used:

/ https://namemc.com/skin/fb4a13c31f6d863e - Bigb's skin

/ https://namemc.com/minecraft-skins/profile/PearlescentMoon.1?page=1 - Pearl's skins

/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ThirdLifeSMP/comments/1gapkqi/everything_we_know_about_ep_2_so_far/ - grouped post about the episode 2 leaks

Theories and Headcannons Pt. 24

So a week ago we got a little teaser from Martyn about hints for the next Life Series season, around an hour after we got another subtle clue from Cherrifire, a commissioned arist of Martyn and Grian for their thumbnails. Moving onto four days later where in a Phasmo stream with GIGS, Grian althought not explicitly, teased the recording of a certain something. That something most likely being the next installment of the Life Series as he previously stated during the aftermath of the Ender Cup, that the next season was in development. So now four months later, and with the release of that little crumb of information you would think it would be the last. But approximately an hour ago (of the time writing this), Scar drops a bombshell of information as a GIF of traffic lights blinking.

Effectively reinforcing the possibility of the next season arriving extremely soon as traffic lights is a predominant symbol of the Life Series with the three-life system of green, yellow, and red matching with the known pattern of traffic lights. Hence traffiblr also referring to the Life Series.

With the date of the next season of the Life Series been generally confirmed, the twist of this subsequent still remains unknown. But by disecting each post from credible sources (Inthelittlewood, Cherrifire and GoodtimewithScar), it's possible to gain a sliver of understanding about the next gimmick for this upcoming season.

Starting with Martyn's post, his reponse to a question regarding the Life series were a series of rhyming verses otherwise known as a couplet. His reponse goes as:

"Nope. Not a slither, not a slice, not a hint, not a price,

not a right, not a wrong, not a verse, not a song,

not a fork, not a list, not a fog, not a mist,

not a shine, not a spree, not a thing from me"

With lines and words like not a slither, slice, hint, verse, list and not a thing from me commonly used in other media to express a concept that is left unsaid or unexplained to conceal or hide information. Other phrases like not a price, right, wrong, song, fork, fog, mist, shine and not a spree seem unusual and seem only used to act as rhyming words. But since this couplet's rhyming patterns goes like (word) (rhyming word) (word) (rhyming word), words like price, wrong, song, mist and spree can be eliminated only leaving right, fork, fog and shine used for clues.

Words like fog and shine can be connected easily with the concept of revealing something concealed by layers of dense things with the good or "light". Maybe uncovering the lore of the Watcher's to the rest of the participants as the right path taken since the Watcher has a lasting cameo in the previous Life Series. It would be poetic as the fifth installment of the Life Series that the Watchers would return as an antagonist force. The way fork is incoporated into this theory is the mannered and dignified repute it carries where in the eleventh century, it was considered prestigous or vain to use a fork. Similar to the Watchers and the means they present themselves.

Other theories like @strychninesss 's double life 2 utilises the couplet's use of repition and pairs to conlclude the return of the soulmate gimmick with its repeatability and new possibilities with the pairing of new soulmates.

Our second poem arrived from Martyn's accomplice Cherrifire, with her reply to his cryptid poem was to produce another poem herself and that being:

"Oh, well in that case you're not getting a peep, not even a taste of the secrets I keep.

Of course, I could tell you all I know, but it's way more fun to give you a show.

Or perhaps this is all a trick, and Martyn’s just being a— very mean person.

Whatever it may be, you'll just have to wait and see."

With this poem following the rhythmic pattern of (Rhyming) (Rhyming), the couplet mainly focuses on the information Cherri deliberately chooses to withold and the her dilemma to diclose her details to fandom. In the end, she decides to hold the spoilers and express her intrest into the chaos that can produced with limited clues given before the said show begins.

Well the structure and the style of the poem is reminiscient of how the Watchers approach and address the members of Evolution SMP back in 2017. With the Watchers depicted as this all-knowing beings that can see everything and perceive all things, they often speak in this entitled mannerisim due to their privileged abilities. And with the legacy of the Watchers being continued but altered with every iteration or headcannon of them, they have commonly been altered into these beings that revel in the chaos and angst produced by the participants of the Life Series. This message could be a warning to the fans that the Watcher's could play a more major role compared to the Secret Keeper in Secret Life as a tribute to the four seasons and three years of the Life Series.

These statements revealed by Grian, Scar, Martyn and Cherrifire has just almost confirmed the arrival of the season five for the Life Series be very soon. Although there is the possibility Grian could be hyping us up for an entirely different video that collaborates with other mcytbers, evidence piles to point towards the next installment coming hopefully, next week.

____

All links and references used are in the post and uh special thanks? regards? to @aethbeans and their twitter account that compiled messages from Scar's discord server regarding clues to the upcoming Life Series.

Oh COd I was scrambling to finish writing this one

Aight ranting time, can we appreciate how revolutionary Double Life was for the Life Series fandom.

The introduction of the soulbound mechanic introduced another potential method to interact and collaborate with different members of the community. In the previous canon Life Seires, most alliances were built of the members previously collaborating or being close friends (for majority of alliances, and this is not discounting that all the participants of the Life Series weren't already friends), but with the randomized pairing of Double Life, it forced new collaborations and interactions. Resulting in the mechanic transferring into the fandom's version of their Double Life, Woven Life.

Involving dozens of participants from authors, artists and animators such as rusty_courage, cherrifire, xmaruu, kitsuneisi, mudboowl etc.

(Non RPF)

But what stirred up the fandom into an absolute frenzy was the shipping potential of Double Life. We had Box Boys (Ren and BigB), the Homewreckers (Bdubs and Impulse) which were previously a ship in Hermitcraft and the Divorce Quartet (Pearl, Martyn, Scott and Cleo) which were pretty substanial new pairs but don't scale to the sheer amount of popularity the subsequent pairing recieved/s.

We got Scarlet Pearl which is not a ship but a fan favourite persona with her pairing with Tilly.

We got Boat Boys which are Joel and Etho which was a due no one initially expected but blew up to the fascinating dynamic they had.

Then we got Desert Duo again after the escapades of Third Life which produced lore upon lore of angst and tension which further fueled the shipping train for Scarian.

And finally we got the Ranchers, Team Ranchers or Rancher Duo consisting of Tango and Jimmy. Another pair the fandom did not expect but are instantly attached to. The amount of potential and ideas from this duo grew in number from their light-hearted dynamic to the angsty moments in the subsequent sessions was intense. Lore-wise, their pairings were eventually reunited during the Hermits x Empires Crossover in Season 9.

So basically Double Life was big for the Life Series fandom.

MoRe ThEoRiEs & HeAdCaNnOns Pt 16

So this weekly theory stems from two crucial events in Double Life; when Grian revealed himself to his soulmate and perma-killed his secret soulmate with the same item, a stalactite.

Stalactites (and stalagmites,) accumulate into a conical shape when minerals are dropped onto the floor from ceiling dripings over thousands of years. Stalactites and in definition, stalagmites are a symbol of time and endeavour taken to produce something apprecipated by others.

So with the concept of soulmates and secret soulmates in Double Life, it's poetic that Grian announced himself to Scar with a stalactite and killed his secret soulmate, Big B with a drop from a stalactite.

During Double Life, Grian isolated himself from his soulmate, Scar as an attempt to avoid dangers and risks whilst also cultivating his "secret" relationship with Big B who was currently bonded with Rendog. The first instance of the stalactite being used was Grian after an episode worth of escapades, finally revealing his shared bond with Scar. This specific moments and the ensuing events involving Grian and Scar are basically watered down to Grian attempting to detach himself from Scar as a defensive mechanisim to protect himself from emotional and physical danger, because of the tragic events of Third Life.

Another instance and the most prominent use of the stalactite was Grian's final kill on Rendog and by definition, killing Big B. Severing his ties (his "secret" relationship) with Big B. Breaking the intricate bond cultivated throughout the sessions with a weapon fabricated over centuries. So that's the importance of the stalactite in Double Life.

Theorious and Headcannous Pt. 15

So this Life Series theory is that Gem's and Lizzie's substitution as Cleo and Pearl respectively were a sort of testing by the Watchers for new contestants in Limited Life.

For some context, in session six, Limited Life, ZombieCleo and PearlescentMoon were unable to participate in that particular session and so GeminiTay and LDShadowLady substituted for them resulting in many shenanigans and deaths.

So this theory basically stems from the fact that both Gem and Lizzie become participants in the next season of the Life Series with Lizzie returning for her second season and Secret Life being Gem's first official season.

Through the amount of bloodshed, betrayal and overall chaos harvested throughout Limited Life, the Watchers decided to run a small experiment. To test new contestants without any context and transport them to the confined world of Limited Life and see how well they would adapt and generate chaos that the Watchers could feed of. So then these two subjects were Gem and Lizzie who sprouted and developed seeds of chaos by Gem being the Canadian gremlin she is and Lizzie with the Grian kill.

The Watchers deemed their presence worthy to summon them to the next installment of the Life Series, Secret Life.

Theories and Headconnans Pt. 12

So this theory is that Hermitcraft season 10 Scar and Secret Life Scar from the Life Series.

This thoery started during Scar's episode of building his nether portal that was equipped with deadly mobs as defense and joke mechanisim as an outlet for his destestment against nether portals. So basically the colour purple is often associated with nether portals and other dimensional portals but what also is associated with purple are the Watchers.

The colour purple dates back to Persian era as a symbol of royalty, suprege and superiority due to the intricate method to extract that colour naturally. And these attributes also fits the characterisitcs shown by the Watchers through canon or agreeded fanon events.

So the nether portal was the way (SL) Scar transported to Hermitcraft through the power of Watcher shenanigans hence the magicial properties and the physics-defying attributes the renovated (overworld) nether portal has. But the position the overworld portal is located suggests that the train has other plans for interdimensional trade but more of an attempt to rediscover the world that brought torture and anguish to his friends.

Another piece of evidence is his interaction with the other members of the Magic Mountain Crew and the mountain itself during the second meeting of the Magic Mountain Crew. During the meeting of excavating the volcano, Grian offered the idea of creating a "boogey situation" that has one person being killed every meeting on magic mountain. Scar (and the other members) encouraged this idea but also contributed the idea of sacrifices. Maybe like a sacrifice to cure some sort of bloodlust from Secret Life.

So maybe (HC 10) Scar is from Secret Life but he may be not but it can also be speculation.

Theories and Headcannons Pt.11

So this theory is basically how Real Life is Third Life created by the Watchers as a punishment for Grian and his group of friends or the other contestants.

After the success of the previous Life Series games that provived enough pain, anguish and drama to satisfy the Watchers, they decided to create a rendition of Third Life to torture Grian once again as afterall by lore standards, it was Grian who first created Third Life.

The twist the Watchers decided to implace onto Real Life where to incoporate compeititors such as Pearl who had a persona who would be easily influenced by bloodlust and dispose of the competitors that they had deemed too weak or ineffecient. This was all done in an attempt to replicate the feeling of torture and anguish at Grian and the other original contestants during Third Life.

But this ultimately failed as Real Life ended quickly through the combined efforts of the contestants crowning Cleo as the new victor. Completing the sextet of winners all linked together through their soul-link bonds. And having the Watchers fail in their endeavour to replecate Third Life as another death game punishment.

Theories More Pt. 6

So the members who currently interact and talk with Grian from the members of Evolution SMP include Jimmy (Solidarity Gaming), Martyn (InTheLittleWood), BigB (bigbst4) and Pearl (PearlescentMoon). And these listed people (their online personas ofc) all have connections and links to the lore of the Life Series and more specifically the Watchers who also originated from the Evo Smp who then migrated to the Life Series (Secret Life).

My theory is that through their efforts of the attempted retrival of Grian and restorement of Evo after the Ender Dragon fight, the Watchers cursed them with their curses revealing or unearthing themselves during the Life Series.

These curses include :

Jimmy - The Canary Curse, (a curse set into a player's code to remind them of the tradegy they bring and the warnings they provide)

Martyn and Pearl - Insanity (a curse brought upon those who protected the weak idk)

BigB - A Tragedy Upon Those Around Them (the curse for the one who cared too much)

A note for Martyn is that his insanity only occurs momentairily and in bursts when compared to Pearl because of his connections to the Listeners who rescued him during the stage when the curse was becoming permanent in the code. Only altering the curse to happen in weaker bursts and sporadically.

Adding into headcannony ideas, the curses established cant be removed either manually from an admin or a defective Watcher. This is because the curse or the code was established so long ago thats its been incorporated and permanetly embodied in the player's code.

So ye the curses of Evo on the remaining members. :D

Morious theories Pt.5

TW: Murder, Suicide, Influenced killing

So bloodlust in the Life Series is quite common and wellknown with the premise basically being that red-lives are splashed with this effect of a murderous rage to murder those around them. Regardless of their allies or opponments/rivals.

My headcannon or idea is that the only moment when Grian was enveloped or persuaded by bloodlust was during the final fight in 3rd Life. From the POV of Scar during the events of 3rd Life, it's inferred that bloodlust are more instinctual and a force of encourgement and the "kills" Grian committed, were more of an assistance and allyship to Scar.

Going more headcannon-omy, Grian's final fight against Scar had him receive an altered bloodlust as a final gift from the Watchers during that Life game. This kinda of bloodlust that would have Grian have tunnel vision onto escaping no matter how the deed is executed. In turn, killing his partner or ally, Scar, in his rampage for freedom but would end up trapping him. Until he ended his life to end his torment but also restart the cycle of the Life Games.

So basically Grian's only instance of bloodlust was during the final duel in 3rd Life against Scar where it was placed upon him by the Watchers as a final gift or punishment. That would result in him killing his ally.

:P that all for now.

some more theories pt.3

BUT ITS HERMITCRAFT SEASON 10 (mainly)

So the semi-battle arena Gem made back for practise for MCC season 4 in one of her latest episodes of terraforming the beaches had I believe TIES and Scar participate in the pvp pracitices with Gem. So there was a moment when Gem was versing Scar and he keeps repeating sorry and continously apologising just like in Third Life against the duel between Grian.

These moments were during where the persona of Scar had friends around or alliances during the dueling. Eg. Hermitcraft and Third Life with Grian.

But with Secret Life against Pearl, he was more unhinged due to the lack of alliances through the tasks the Taskmaster gave him. So the basic premise is then that Scar is a social creature that without the constant and positive interactions will gradually become unhinged.

:P

Another Theory Pt.2

Not sure if this theory or headcannon about secret life already exists but here it is.

Since the Taskmaster is a varient or a job set by the high council of Watchers to a Watch as a job, they are conscious and give deliberate tasks to the competitors. These tasks were chosen to either play with the competitors' mind, alliances, etc which would inturn benefit or impact them.

So with this in mind, the tasks given to scar which forced him to play an antangonistic role in the games were a punishment intended for Grian for his "disobedience" against the Watchers. Through Third Life and the following Life Games, it was shown to the Watchers that Grian deeply cared for Scar. Doing what he thought was best for him by either pushing him away to protect him. And through Scar's villanous tasks, they (the Watchers,) intended to hurt Grian through Scar as said punishment.

Ok but in all seriousness its so ADORABLE that they sleep in eachoter's beds on the different smps like i love the fanart that's spawned with the bamboozlers but desert duo still being there and now i want fanart of this too like its so CUTEE AAAAAHHHHHH