#text analysis

While Grian is not necessarily a villain himself, he finds himself tied to the Bamboozlers. Aiding them is a crime, yet he does it willingly.

During this we see what exactly it is like to understand more of the villains and stop falling for the heroes' propaganda.

It turns the role on its head. If this story was being told in the perspective of someone who was connected to the heroes and not the villains, we would've seen why they were heroes much more than we do. Including the black and white thinking of society. We would see the idolization and selfless acts of these heroes, like Joel, Gem, or any of the G's. Instead we see how they're flawed. How Joel's relationship with Lizzie makes his hero work messier than it had before. How the G's are willing to hurt a civilian badly enough that he's half dead just to gain their independence from the Agency.

Instead, Grian has connections to the Bamboozlers. If this fic was written from the perspective of a hero, we would likely have felt the inclination to dislike these characters. Instead they feel so much more human. They still joke around, they still go to the grocery store, they have pets that they're willing to take to the vet to get checked out. They still have moments of weakness, they can still get badly hurt. And they can still absolutely fall in love. Even despite their past with murder, torture, and disrupting the peace, these people still feel like humans just like everyone else.

Not to mention how entertaining it is to read about a villain who has fallen in love. Or really gotten deep into any type of relationship, whether that be romantic or platonic. Scar was willing to drop the killing and torture because Grian asked him to, even though that was something the group did frequently. He remained a criminal, but changed his habits regardless.

And he still doesn't have the morals of a hero.

Which is the most interesting part to me. In stories, if the hero were to fall in love, they would eventually have to make a decision. Save the person they love, or save the city (or whatever the stakes are). In most cases, they somehow manage to save both things. But, in some they do not. If they were to choose their love over the city, they would be called selfish and in turn villainized. If they saved the city, they would be adored by the population, but they would have lost the one person they had a deep connection to.

Villains don't have to abide by those morals. They don't have to make that choice. In fact, if their loved ones got hurt, they would likely lash out to a harsher degree. And, they would continue until that person is returned to them alive. Preferably unharmed.

That's apparent in Scar. In all the Bamboozlers really, but especially him. In this newest chapter when he called up the G's and threatened them? Endangering innocent civilians until they agreed to his terms? Then learning that they hurt Grian, and now he'll likely hurt the G's back? Assuming Grian doesn't continue to ask him to stop killing people, i honestly predict at least one of the G's will be the one to die, given the character death tag in the description.

And I personally cannot wait to see that. The finale will be fantastic I just know it.

First of all, I was surprised to be greeted with an article style story as a first impression and then further surprised with the bait and switch into the blog style the story is seemingly known for.

Second of all, I looked at everything, obviously. All the pictures and videos, because I was so enamored and eager to understand more. There were a lot of really interesting details, which I'll get into now.

Throughout the story, it's reiterated that people are thousands of years old because they stopped aging. You see that sentiment, and you might think, 'Oh wow, that's interesting.' And move on, because it's just words.

But then there's these score cards with the details (and scores) of a person, with one of the details being the year they were born. I don't think any of them were in the 2000's. And, as the name of the story suggests, the story takes place in the year 17776.

Seeing the actual numbers gave me this hard to explain deep, almost gut sinking sensation. Because I would do the math in my head every single time and sort of pause in horror as I realized just how LONG these people have been conscious and alive. For me, numbers have always meant more than phrases, and this REALLY hit the mark for me.

I think I remember reading something once that said that IF humans had longer lifespans or lived forever, our brain, as it is, would be unable to hold and process all of the information that comes with that. A majority of people forget more of their life the longer they live it, and that's only 80 years of information on average. (Not taking into account infantile amnesia.)

It's impossible to imagine living 197 times our current average lifespan, with that multiplier only increasing since, as it's presented in the story, time is infinite. If you're curious about where I got that number, here's my process:

17776-2026= 15,750 years. 15,750/80≈ 196.875

round to the nearest whole number= 197

Another thing that really stood out to me was the reiteration of the lack of children. Throughout the story, it's this sort of devastating thing that humanity has come to terms with, almost. I say almost because there was this a segment where this girl was recounting to her boyfriend about a time she was diving in the partially submerged city of New York City and she saw a mural where a mother was holding her infant child. They both got quiet and seemed sad about it and pivoted onto another topic, that being the 500 game (I think? I was too fixated on their reactions to the mural)

Another example of this is when the space probes were talking about the Bee ballroom. JUICE got on the topic of sidewalks and how, now, people just. walk in the middle of the street. JUICE seemed confused as to why sidewalks were needed in the first place until they all remembered: children.

I think my biggest question, besides the obvious one of why humans stopped aging and dying, is why children stopped being a thing. Aging and dying, I understand, those are both things that are commonly eliminated in many stories with sci-fi elements. But children is a new one that really catches my attention because children are how we evolve. They're how we not only develop new physical features but cultural features as well.

Each generation is shaped by the way the previous generation was raised. Without that, there's stagnation, which is exactly what happened in 17776. Humanity has settled into an infinite stalemate due to the lack of change and not needing to worry about the future with the fact they eliminated all of their issues like disease, food, housing, etc.

There's nothing and no one to combat, nothing and nowhere to explore, nothing to learn or discover, just nation-sized, cross-country football games that go on for thousands of years at a time and various other sports, hobbies, and obsolete jobs.

The concept of immortality, especially one this boring, is a terrifying concept to me. If I was told I would live forever from this day forward, I think I'd break down and go crazy. I can barely handle the fraction of the lifespan I've lived already, much less 197 times that with no end in sight.