mxllocros

the smell of the Lemon fragrance is better than the smoke isn't it~?

also the Han brothers:

I don’t think They can get away with this

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-"They left buttons on the floor, Jimmy!"

-"And why did you press them?!"

-"BECAUSE I'M ME!!"

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-"Cleo, you dont know what its like..."

-"I really dont, but at least I know I wouldn't betray my closest ally if I did."

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-"It's the ultimate betrayal..."

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"Skizz, I appreciate you, you're an upstanding guy, I love everything about you... I just wish you were better at the game"

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"You just have to wreck everything, don't you son!!"

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After Jimmy dies, Joel kinda snaps. He goes off it, trying desperately to get kills, to avenge Jimmy. And even Grian points out “Joel reaches a point where he just loses his mind, completely, and he— he was way past that a while ago. Jimmy’s death has kind of had an adverse effect on him.”

And I just— I look at the way Joel says he was gonna sacrifice himself so that Jimmy wouldn’t be out first. Not that he was just gonna give Jimmy time. It was so that Jimmy wouldn’t be out first. As if he was gonna just… let Jimmy take all his time, maybe? I don’t know. But…

Martyn always acts nonchalant and independent and gossipy in these series, he goes around the entire server, he is in everyone’s business but also detached from everyone’s business at the same time. In every season (except this one), Martyn ends up gravitating towards Ren and never truly betrays him.

But this time? Martyn has Scott, who in all honesty is a wonderful and selfless ally, and despite all that Scott does, all the forgiveness and aid and asking for Martyn to kill him, Martyn still wanders around. In the finale episode, Martyn sets off before Scott can even say a word to him. And while Martyn couldn’t manage to betray Ren in 3rd Life, he betrayed Scott here (although he killed Scott first so Impulse couldn’t get the time).

Traffic Martyn is unhinged. He’s a loose canon. He can’t trust the rest. He likes hanging out around people, but he constantly lies and escapes to get himself out of trouble. He has his allies, but he still wanders. He goes around the four corners of the world, and he finds nothing but walls and edges. He’s independent. Martyn places his own survival first, vs the selfless Scott who repeatedly sacrifices time for people whom aren’t even his closest allies.

But Ren historically has always been the exception. Dogwarts. The Red Army. Hand of the King. Martyn could’ve betrayed Ren. He had multiple chances. He never did.

And now Limited Life Martyn is wrapped up in a Red Winter scarf from the old times and there’s no Ren to hold him back, to soften him, to guide the unguided hand. Martyn has Scott, but he was never as loyal to Scott as he was to the Red King.

Remember people pointing out that when Martyn and Ren team up, they always land in the middle of the pack? 3rd Life, Hermit Raiders, MCC15. And now, in Martyn’s first season without Ren, he girlbosses and betrays his way to victory. He finally achieved his Spring.

specifically, this ask from martyn regarding watchers feeding on negative energy.

i'm not focusing on the feeding aspect so much as i am about how martyn says "[grian's] chaotic / mischievous nature actually takes the edge off for a lot of players. Helping them revel in the twists and turns, adopting a more 'the games the game' mindset actually sours the soup so to speak." this is in reference to the watchers feeding on negative energy, and implying that grian disrupts that by trying to make people have fun.

and somehow. THIS HAS JUST BEEN SITTING IN MY MIND FOR DAYS. it's the way that grian isn't, at least at this point, able to break them out of the games, but he is able to cause the watchers annoyance and disrupt their plans. it also dovetails very nicely between the rp "this is a death game loop everyone is trapped in" and the irl "this is a game the creators choose to participate in."

it's a death game but grian's there, smile on his face and pain behind his eyes, trying to coax everyone into having as much of a good time as they can instead.

we also tend to view a lot of grian's more....violent and chaotic incidents in the traffic series as a flaw or negative trait when we do more serious-readings of the series. but this concept, and martyn's wording of "helping [the players] revel in the twists and turns of the game" really imply otherwise. sure, grian kills gleefully and takes a lot of joy in causing trouble, but he is far from the only one. if everyone is encouraged to have fun making traps and scheming, giving in to some of these worse desires--and they are and they do--then they're actively going against the watcher's expected outcomes. they all die in the end, either way. if they can take some fun from dropping tnt minecarts on each other, then at least they died AND pissed off the watchers right?

idk idk it's the tiny bit of control over a hopeless situation that's getting me with this. martyn notes that grian is consistently been an annoyance to the watchers and they haven't been able to stop him, but grian is also clearly unable to stop the death games. (of course the meta reason is the CCs like making them, but from an rp standpoint he would gave ended it by now if it were an easy task.) it's like a stand-off. he can keep causing them problems. they can keep the games going. he can't break everyone out of the games, but he can ensure the games don't go the way they want them to. the players in the games don't have much control over their situation, but if they can find some fun in not taking it so seriously, then that's just a tiny bit more control that they have.

so it's just....a watcher!grian doing the best he can in a bad situation. finding a bright spot in it and trying to make others enjoy it too. and thus the traffic series is goofy and silly, filled with laughter that covers and undercurrent of despair.

Martyn won by being independent. He lied, betrayed, killed, and prioritised himself. He knows this is a death game, is fed up of it, and goes for it.

This isn’t some sappy poetic end in which love and friendship win. We don’t get a coherent continued narrative of the sun, the moon, the stars because Martyn took that narrative thread and chopped it. He wanted to win. He just wanted it to end.

Martyn is the sea, everchanging and salty. He’s also the woods, fresh and green and lively. He’s Mars, a warrior for his red planet. He’s a meteor, crashing and burning. He’s everything all at once, like how he goes everywhere and meets up with everyone. He’s everything, but at the same time, he’s the void. Space. He’s nothing.

☀️ 🌟 🌙 🌊