#ree.queued

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Grian: Why wouldn't I come back? I made this game, I brought these people here. Of course I'd want to come back. I have the same desire as everyone else: I want to win.

Grian: Didn't I make that clear when I fought with Joel in his finale? Or how I teamed with Pearl and Gem now? I thought I did.

"Why go for a second win?"

Grian: [raises a brow, sighs] Why are people so hung up about this? [rolls his eyes]

Grian: Why not go for a second win? [grins, clasping his hands together, leaning forward] We're here to play the game, aren't we? While we can do whatever we want, might as well give it your best, don't you think?

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Scott: [raises a brow] Am I not allowed to just because I've won twice? [smirks] I'll admit, that first win? I've been wanting that. Who wouldn't want to win? After that though... I found more purpose in being a good teammate. It's joked about enough, how altruistic I can get for my team. No regrets at all. Though, if I ever find myself in the position again where I have no allies left, like the second time? [laughs] You bet I'll do my best, mostly to avenge my team, but partly because it is funny to watch the rest struggle. Sometimes. Just sometimes...

Scott: [smile falters] It's not funny when it's me though, like right now. Light, how did Cleo manage them –

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Pearl: Honestly, I'm just here for support. As thrilling as it was to win and play these different parts, I'm... yeah, pretty happy to be support. Why not? Didn't you see how happy it made the rest? They were all cheering when they found themselves the last people standing.

Pearl: Well... now that I think about it, maybe not Scar... I don't know how Grian was, I wasn't there to see it.

Pearl: But the point is, I want to help others get there. I want my allies to be certain that I'll always be at their side, no matter what. Least I can do now I'm here, y'know? Yeah...

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Martyn: For the story! [laughs] Who doesn't love a good story? The games are the perfect place to tell them, stories of friendship and betrayal and loss and victory. And unpredictability. Ohh, people love that stuff! People love to be on the edge of their seats, waiting for what comes next. It shouldn't be a surprise at this point, when I pull what the usual person would see as stupid. You know why? Because it's fun, it's entertaining, it makes people engage with the story more. That being said, I'm taking the opportunity this season to be silly. [laughs]

Martyn: Don't worry people, I'll play safer next session, promise. [grins]

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Scar: [silent, fiddling with his fingers]

"Excuse me?"

Scar: [looks up, blinks] Oh! Sorry, are we starting? I guess we are starting. I was just... [avoiding eye contact] Do you know how weird the sensation of dirt under your fingernails is? It's a problem for me. [laughs nervous, raises back of hands] Look at it! All stuck, no matter how hard I try to get it off! And I've tried so hard... so, so hard...

Scar: [clears his throat, smiles] Sorry, sorry, what was the question again?

"You've already won. Why did you come back?"

Scar: Come back? Why would I- oh... [laughs, trails off]

Scar: ...

Scar: To be honest, it wasn't my choice.

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Cleo: Because it's fun. [laughs] Oh, don't you know how freeing it is to play with the pressure of winning gone? Of course I still do my best to make it to the end – I'm a survivor, after all, and I take pride in that – but it feels... It's just... I can do whatever I want now. [laughs] I can, I can really do... As long as it's funny. That's- yeah, that's my main motivation right now. Ask yourself – like how I asked Ren and the rest – "Is it funny?" And if it is, why not do it then?

Cleo: Spite? Spite comes after... [nods] Spite comes after being funny right now. [laughs, grins] Don't worry, spite will come back when needed. It's me, after all.

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Joel: Oh please, they wouldn't be getting this many people interested in the games without me! [laughs] The people love me, didn't you know? How did you not know? That's weird. Pretty weird of you.

"So... you're here for the group?"

Joel: Wh- [snorts] I mean, sure I guess. If that's how you want to see it.

Joel: The thing is, the other people here are a bit pathetic. So bad, they need someone as strong as me to carry them. I guess I've now become one of those contestants others lean on, especially as a winner now. [smirks, leaning back] Winner. Ah, doesn't that title sound nice? I totally understand why people would want to achieve that because I'm so humble and understanding, so I'll do them a favor and get them started. It would be painful to see them fail all the time, after all.

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modded life - mostly empires smp members; one life, xlife, afterlife, new life, sos (honorary, the smp plays with a "life-respawn system" too anyways)

vanilla life - mostly hermitcraft members; third life, last life, double life, limited life, secret life, real life, wild life

my personal minecraft smp pipeline was xlife - empires - hermitcraft - last life (and the rest of the vanilla lifes), then i also watched afterlife and sos as they uploaded. just thought it would be nice to have a label to distinguish the two "flavors" of life series, if you will, in my head.

some stuff i found out after doing some digging on these SMPs and realizations:

people would prolly consider a life series a,,, "life series" if it has the word "life" in its name. personally, i like to think of a life series as hardcore with a twist which is why i consider sos as an honorary one.

main reason for the "vanilla" and "modded" titles: vanilla lifes mostly try to keep itself vanilla, while modded lifes are usually MODDED with new biomes, mechanics, mobs, etc.

it confused me a bit at first how the vanilla lifers managed to have a pretty consistent roster compared to the modded lifers, then it hit that the modded lifes are long-term SMPs that last for months to maybe over a year per "season", while the vanilla lifes are short-term, consistently taking 6 to 8 weeks (or 2 months max) only.

the modded lifes don't actually belong to the same "life series" unlike the vanilla lifes: they're all independent series. i just like to tack the "modded life" label on them for simplicity's sake + the creators involved have becone consistent anyways

limited life & sos are both similar in the sense that technically, there isn't a set number of times you could die compared to other SMPs on the list. your respawns in limited life depend on whether your 24 hours on the server is out, while sos depends on its own "life currency": fate coins. it would be fun to see the CCs play with these kinds of twists where whether you get a chance to respawn has a variable of sorts.

one life (season 1) was first published on May 15, 2016, making it 8 years old as of writing this and the oldest life series in this list

one life also had 3 seasons from May 2016 to March 2019, making it the longest life series

the shortest life series is double life, running for 6 weeks from June to July 2022

if you were to order all the mentioned life series by date started, you'll have: one (2016), x (2019), third (2021), last, afterlife (2022), double, limited (2023), new, secret, sos (2024), real, wild

the only modded lifers that have been in every "season" of the modded lifes are joel smallishbeans, joey graceffa, lizzie ldshadowlady, scott smajor, and shubble

lifers that have been in both modded and vanilla versions are scott, joel, lizzie, jimmy, gem, pearl, scar, & martyn (and oli, if you count his snail appearance on wild life)

with 12 "seasons" between both the modded and vanilla lifes, it's pretty amazing that a concept for a series has only been repeated once: afterlife & new life with the origins mod (didn't they repeat the concept because they wanted to see more origins?)

andddd i think that's all !! feel free to add more thoughts below, or correct me with any misinformation :]]