#hermpires

Introduction

Now, before I really get into it, this all started off as a conversation about how marginalized genders tend to be underrepresented within fandom spaces and I think this shift in the conversation due to avid's streams is really redundant. I'm sorry, just because your yaoi stock plummeted after these 2 streams shouldn't turn the conversation away from that original topic at hand. It just shouldn't. Period. There are plenty of amazing people who don't get the attention they deserve on the basis of gender, and that as a conversation is WAY more important than any of this.

Shipbaiting in the mcyt community

With all that out of the way, let's talk about "shipbait" in the mcyt community.

Shipbaiting, as I'm using it, talks about the phenomenon within the mcyt community where people, often men, flirt or just in general act romantically with one another as a means to tease the fandom or gain an audience. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, I should note, this is a widespread behavior that has happened for literal years and I'm not attacking anyone for doing it, even if I use more negative words to describe it. Also I have heard people refer to this as "queerbaiting" which while yes it oftentimes overlaps with queerbait, I find even openly queer people do this and to call queer people flirting with one another queerbaiting feels cringe so...... I'm not doing it!

I honestly find shipbait to be a foundational pillar to this age in the mcyt community starting all the way back in the days of... sigh Dreamnotfound, the ship between, the now mutually controversial, Georgenotfound and Dreamwastaken. (I even argue the seeds predate that with the popularity of Septiplier specifically showing a shift into shipping gaming youtubers in general, but that's semantics)

And on some level I think the rise of shipbait is only the logical conclusion of mcyt smp content. I say this because within the modern day of mcyt the content you're selling isn't really Minecraft itself, but rather what you do with minecraft. What story are you telling with minecraft? Who's your character? And what are your dynamics, relationships?

And that's where you get shipbait from.

I mean in the eyes of a fandom romantic relationship have always been the end all be all, and if you're selling your character and relationships, why not flirt with your friends?

And I should mention my definition of shipbait includes everything, yaoi, yuri, and everything in-between. This entire section talking about shipbait, what it is, why it is, and simple analysis... though there is an elephant on the room because, fandom wise, not all shipbait is equal, is it?

YAOI...

In the modern day fandom, mlm in general is... prominent, to say the least. This is due to the historically poor female representation within media. Oftentimes the given love interest (a woman more than not) in a media was given more a token status and thus wasn't given any interesting character traits, meaningful relationships, or any real impact on the story. Due to this, many people began finding relationships in other places... by shipping guys together.

This is fine on its own, but as female representation has improved, the fandom treatment of women and general nonmen hasn't. This is a problem widespread throughout all fandom, but for mcyt this has the added yikes that these people are real people, actors, and storytellers. These aren't side characters because inherently within smp content no one is a side character, every pov, even ones that don't address the "main plot" of an smp matter.

Furthermore with the divide of mlm shipbait vs shipbait of marginalized genders, is that in an smp with either the mlm ships get way more attention! If you don't believe me look at the amount of cryptidclues (shubble x infinitedrift) vs aviscott (avidmc x smajor1995). Or hey! You're likely in this fandom if you're reading this, compare whatever yuri ships exist in your smp of choice vs yaoi ships and see what comes out of it.

Not all mlm ship content is bad however, I'm not saying that. There is just an objective divide between mlm and everything else. I like plenty of yaoi ships, I mean look at damn blog for fucks sake, for a year my @ was "mean-gills", not mentioning, well...

...SLOP!

This section is where we have to make the very important distinction between shipbait, intentional romance, and fanon romance as ideas within mcyt. Shipbait, of course, is flirting or general romantically inclined action between 2 content creators as a way to tease an audience, most of what I've talked about falls into this. Intentional romance is when 2 content creators explicitly make a romantic relationship between their characters this is more common within lore focused smps, however if 2 content creators are dating irl it can fall into this too. And lastly fanon romance is where 2 content creators never do anything explicitly romantic per say, but fandom ship them anyway, I think most older smps fall into this category, but honestly category purely depends on content creator awareness of Fandom.

Now that I've given you 3 fun categories to play with........ particularly disregard them because the overlap is CRAZY!

When talking about the entire idea of "slop" within the mcyt community I find these distinctions to be important as it gives quantities to what is a more subjective read. An explicitly romantic relationship will always feel less like slop than a more ambiguous relationship, however if the content creator's explicitly motivated by fandom input it can feel more like slop. On the flip side a more ambiguous relationship can be less slop if the two creators involved aren't really motivated by fandom input. (There is also an audience factor here, a ship is more likely to be read as slop if its popular no matter the other factors)

The power of Audience

Within any media, audience holds a lot of power, but in content creation with platforms like YouTube, TikTok, ect, the audience holds a LOT of power, and even give power...

Content creators with larger audiences hold power over those who have smaller audience. Period.

This is a relevant detail to any dynamic between content creators. Even if irl they are good friends, on camera one side has more power over the other. For how small this seems, it does matter. For this essay's sake, it effects fandom perception.

Oftentimes, in shipbait terms, the smaller of the 2 creators will be defined by the ship with the bigger creator by the fandom. (This is true about any dynamic romantic or not) In the worst cases, you'll see fans bombard the smaller creator with ship content to the point of harassment.

Again, to ignore this is to ignore a very important of on screen dynamics.

AvidMC

This is where this essay turns from a broad analysis of the fandom to a specific example. I completely understand if this is where you stop reading, I've managed to keep it pretty broad up to this point. And if you do, goodbye, have a nice day and hope you liked my analysis. If you want a lesson from all of this then I'd say please be more aware of your behaviors, appreciate the amazing nonmen within this community, and don't fall into the fanon hivemind.

When it comes to Avid's vampires pov I understand why people who were either attached to aviscott as a ship or avid's narrative of queer acceptance would dislike what Avid has came out about his vampires smp pov on stream.

I had conflicted feelings myself.

With this said, in media literacy, the author's intent is integral to understand the meaning of the story being told. And Avid outright confirmed his narrative went the way it did due to fandom motivation.

...Which sucks, but that doesn't make it any less true. And on some level that makes aviscott more "slop-like" by my definition.

“Hope you don’t have a thing against avians,” the guy says brightly, a tad sheepishly, as he approaches the bed and carefully sets the pitcher of water he’d been carrying on the cluttered sidetable. He holds an already-filled glass out to Tango, who takes it with shaking hands. Tango brings it to his lips without hesitation, the blessed feeling of cool water down his throat a voiddamn relief after the sandpaper sensation he’d been dealing with until now.

It’s only afterward that he thinks he probably should have checked to see if it was poisoned or something…but frankly, if the guy had wanted him dead, he would’ve done it long before now.

“Nah, nothin’ against avians,” Tango denies with a quirked smile, his speech not nearly as taxing as it had been before. “I’ve got a couple o’ bird-brained friends back on–” His breath catches and his smile wavers, and against his better judgment he clears his hoarse throat.

Back on a planet that no longer exists. Tango swallows thickly and brings the glass to his lips again, avoiding the stanger’s curious eyes.

“Back home?” the guy guesses, his voice sounding warm and intrigued alongside the dull dispondance churning in Tango’s chest. Tango’s heart squeezes, and he hums noncommittally. He doesn’t need to talk about it with a complete stranger, no matter how kind. Not right now.

Tango takes another slow sip and avoids the guy’s gaze, feeling the bubble of awkwardness build in the silence. Until his host decides to pop it.

“Er - I’m Jimmy, by the way,” he says, just as brightly as everything else he’s said so far. “Sheriff of Tumble Town.”

He holds out a hand to shake, and Tango squints at him, one of his ears flicking. Sheriff, huh? The guy certainly looks the part, with his cowboy boots and large-buckled belt and the trademark brown leather vest. The gold star-shaped badge on his chest glints slightly in the morning light. Tango hesitates before offering his own hand to shake in return. The Sheriff’s hand is slightly calloused, like he’s a man used to manual labor, but not so dry that he spends most of his time that way. Interesting.

“Uh - Tango,” he mutters. “Of the Tek variety.” Something alights behind the guy’s - Jimmy’s - eyes, something like recognition or intrigue, but it’s stifled almost as quickly as it comes. Tango does his best to turn the analytical part of his brain elsewhere. There’s no reason to be so suspicious of his host…yet. He withdraws his hand and fiddles with the water glass he’s still holding. “...Tumble Town?” he asks instead.

Jimmy’s expression brightens tenfold and he smacks his own forehead lightly.

“Right! O’ course! You’re not from around here, you wouldn’t know–” He chuckles sheepishly and his wings puff up slightly, rustling at his back. The feathers around his ears (have those always been there?) flare, and he grins. “You’re in Tumble Town right now. ‘S my Empire! Town. My town.” He rocks back on his heels and steps back from the bed a bit, casting a glance out the nearby window. Tango’s eyes flick in the same direction, curious. “We’re in the mesa right now,” Jimmy carries on. “S’ppose that’s a good place for a netherborn, eh?”

Tango knows he really doesn’t feel up to standing right now. Despite his earlier temptation to just flee the scene and find his ship, he probably wouldn’t have made it far in his current state, not without help. But he’s curious. Sue him. He sets the half-empty glass of water on the table beside the bed and he eases himself to his feet, wincing at the way his left ankle protests having weight put on it. The Sheriff looks concerned. Tango, to his credit, does fairly well for the first few steps.

It’s the fifth one that does him in.

His ankle buckles just enough to send him off kilter, and it’s only thanks to the Sheriff that he doesn’t go down completely. Jimmy’s quick, catching him by the elbows with a startled chirp and letting Tango cling to his arms in a desperate attempt to keep himself upright.

“Oh my gosh–” Jimmy’s wings have flared out for balance and he tugs Tango toward him, looping one of Tango’s arms over his shoulders to better support his weight. “Geez buddy, you alright?”

“Ngh–” Tango lets out a pained, wheezing little sound of frustration in response, his hand shaking slightly where he’s clutching the Sheriff’s shoulder. His ankle is throbbing now where it hadn’t been before, agitated from his stupid attempt at mobility before he was ready. Idiot.

“Mate…?”

“Fine,” Tango grumbles, his ears pressed back against his hair. He holds his left foot gingerly just above the ground, splitting his balance between his host and his uninjured leg. Void. Okay. Don’t do that again. Noted. His tail darts out behind him to help keep him stable.

“I wanna see outside,” he says, his voice slightly raspy, and Jimmy makes a quiet sound that Tango can’t identify.

“You sure you don’t wanna sit down–?”

“In a minute,” Tango huffs. He doesn’t know where he is, hasn’t seen anything beyond this room since his ship crashed. He needs to know. Needs to get his bearings in a foreign world. A smokey wheeze whisps from the back of his throat. “Please. Just - wanna see.”

The Sheriff seems to think about his request for a moment, but eventually he seems to acquiesce, sighing softly as he folds his golden wings neatly against his back. He takes it slow, helping Tango to the window and keeping him upright all the while.

Jimmy wasn’t lying. The sight outside the window is as sandy as Tango expected it to be, the world seeped in a dusty red-brown that screams mesa more than anything else could. They’re enclosed in a bowl of red rocky cliffs, wooden structures built into the walls of the canyon and scattered across the flat ground at the bottom of the basin, buildings pulled straight out of an old western movie. There’s a barn in the distance, and pens for animals, and fenced-in crop gardens - and a tunnel, a tunnel cut right through the cliff wall with a train track leading off to who-know-where. Out of town, Tango supposes, though he doesn’t know for sure.

Tango lets out a breath, taking it all in. Suddenly Jimmy being a Sheriff feels extremely fitting for the place he’s found himself in.

“Glad I crashed here,” he finds himself saying, the smallest hint of amusement and gratitude lacing his words. “I don’t wanna know what woulda happened if I’d gone down in an icy tundra or something. Me an’ cold don’t exactly get along.”

Something about that sentence tickles his brain the wrong way, like he has been on friendly terms with the cold before. A mental image dances across his mind of freezing caves and an icy castle, blue soul flames dancing out of the corner of his eye - but it’s gone between one blink and the next.

“I can’t imagine why,” Jimmy says lightly, jokingly. It’s an awkward thing, like he’s trying to test the waters. His wings shuffle and fidget at his back, tickling Tango’s arm. He coughs. “Er - right! Well. Let’s get you off your feet, eh? I think I’ve still got a healing potion ‘round here if you want one. We only did topical stuff last night. Didn’t exactly wanna go force-feeding you potions when you weren’t even awake, did we?”

Tango blinks, turning his attention to his host.

“We?”

“Me an’ Shelby!” Jimmy says, brighter this time. He’s already easing Tango back toward the bed as he talks. “She’s our local witch. She’s great with potions, as long as she’s not in a creative mood. Gettin’ better at it though! I called ‘er over last night when you fell out of the sky. I didn’t have anything left to help you, mind, so I’m just glad she was still awake.”

Tango settles back on the edge of the bed with a relieved sigh as Jimmy starts clinking through the bottles cluttering the bedside table, eyeing their colors in the light from the window. He hands a rich red one over to him with a smile, looking a little victorious at his discovery.

(Tango’s not dumb enough to blindly drink whatever some random stranger has given him in an unlabelled bottle, but it sure smells like spiced melons when he pulls out the stopper. It’s familiar enough for him to sip at it cautiously, and when the familiar taste of a healing potion touches his tongue, the relief he gets from it is palpable. His ankle is already starting to hurt a little bit less when he finally caves and starts to down the potion properly.)

“I’ll fix up some food for you, if ya like,” Jimmy is saying now, and Tango is so fuzzed by the warm comfort of the potion’s healing properties that he only now notices that his host is already at the door to leave. “D’you like eggs an’ bacon? It shouldn’t take long to make, if that sounds alright.”

Tango’s nodding before he can really stop himself - but then he pauses.

He’s going to be left alone in this room again. It isn’t that big of a deal - he knows he needs the rest - but he’s feeling antsy. He’s feeling claustrophobic, the window doing little to help with that. He wants to get out, even if it’s just for a little while.

A part of him is itching to get back to his ship. The food Jimmy is offering is so tempting - he hasn’t eaten real food since his ship left Hermitcraft for its lunar mission - but he’s starting to get impatient. He doesn’t know if his friends - his family - are even–

He needs to know. Needs to find a way to contact them. His ship might be in ruins, but it might not…and the Schrödinger status of his spacecraft is making his brain itch. Alone he wouldn’t have been able to make the trip, but with Jimmy’s help he could.

Food does sound good though, and if Tango wanted to leave the room and eat downstairs instead of in bed, surely Jimmy wouldn’t mind…

Tango sets the empty potion bottle aside just as Jimmy opens the door to leave. He clears his throat, his hair sparking, and he opens his mouth to speak.

[A/N: I've officially moved into my new place and gotten through the holidays! My writer brain is FINALLY working again, which I'm very excited for! Sorry for the long wait, but welcome back to the adventure! Tango's going through it a bit, isn't he? Poor guy. Don't worry, Jimmy's here for him, even if he's a "stranger" right now.]

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