Solidarity REACTS To "How One Player made the Best Minecraft Server"

[@Ani]

glad you enjoyed :D

[@mallowanimationsyt4646]

:0 It’s Animagician! The video rocked m8 :]

[@SolidarityShorts]

SO GOOD!

[@oldsoldier4209]

@@SolidarityShorts Yes, Timmy, the chaos is part of why Life works better than the crossover. Another reason is that most members of HC and Empires paused their main story lines during the crossover, and that broke immersion for viewers.

[@Indykathoris]

Say Animagician, Have ever heard of the EVO SMP?

[@Raven543o_o]

YOU MISSED LIZZIE

[@jtswartz1672]

In my opinion, the reason the life series was and is more popular than the crossover episode between Hermitcraft and Empires is because no one has to catch up to enjoy the life series. Everyone is starting from scratch and playing together all at the same time with no one being able to be on the server by themselves to do their own thing. There was so much LAW to catch up on between the crossover episodes that it made it sort of difficult to keep up if you weren't fully invested into learning about the "other server"

[@josephmitts8438]

Agreed. I feel that to alot of people, they might feel a bit of cringe when a server of full lore, and a server with not so much lore clash and have to act like it's somewhat believable. For example, when keralis started in sausages area. Sausage goes on saying things like "what's a youtube " and similar stuff like that. I understand that some want to keep lore in mind, but when it's a crossover, lore kind of goes out the window

[@WorldWeave]

@@josephmitts8438 yeah…the crossover was cool…but if you didn’t keep up with both series, it would be really weird…and in addition…the crossover was pretty much just the hermits and empires doing their usual thing…just, on another server…still enjoyed it tho

[@medianoche3]

Aye, I enjoyed the novelty of the crossover, but the best part was seeing all the hermits working together. In the same note, it was pretty much just a hardcore grind to build everything they would normally spread across a season in a few weeks. Then when it came time for Empires to go to Hermitcraft it lasted what, two weeks? And they built a small village? It just wasn't worth it. I'd have rather seen both servers enjoy the other server for what it was rather than trying to push lore into it all. It would have been fine for them to break character for the crossover and would have been better recieved. Even in D&D people break character to enhance their enjoyment.

[@Red_Sand]

In addition, most still kind of kept to their own server bubbles. Like the hermits spent a lot of their time in Hermitopia. There was also less drama than the life series.

[@jamesbaird1608]

I agree but also each episode was so far from the next episode which made it long and kinda boring also the way it ended seemed a little rushed like the ending was cool and all but the way one day jimmy was like I need to get scar back then that’s kinda what started it to lead to the ending which more time and events that would happen make it less boring,another thing is that it seemed way too stretched than it needed to be such as when the empires menbers went to hermitcaft that’s the life series is better and in life series there was always the thought of like who would be out first or what betrays would happen such as the castle alliance

[@Thatonekidkit]

Jimmys giving protective little brother vibes with the “AND LIZZIE… and Lizzie, they just forgot Lizzie”

[@Daughter_of_Hecate_here]

Hahaha yeah

[@appleinxed]

I mean they WERE seablings at one point, makes sense he'd still have a bit of little brother vibes with her

[@Thatonekidkit]

@@appleinxed very true very true, I just always see little brother vibes with him and Joel and/or Lizzie and I love it

[@Iris.moon61]

Wait they are siblings???

[@lunawei3285]

no, this was empires season 1 lore... SEAblings (Codfather and Ocean Queen)@@Iris.moon61

[@poptartzgaming5545]

Jimmy screaming "I AM HBO!!" made me lose it 🤣

[@sokin-24]

The realization

[@HowToMineC]

"You either die the hero, or watch yourself become the villain"

[@1.-ulysses334]

He has betrayed himself.

[@Jaydenddms]

man was saying hAte ch b o😂

[@infintelifez7309]

IRK!!!

[@firdausikhatoon2413]

The timing of "but it did " was insane

[@twigbranch4556]

honestly i watched the video before i saw this and i did the same thing 😂😂😂😂😂

[@lanamihajlovic3716]

Yeah that was epic!!!

[@lightning_11]

Agreed!

[@ef1876]

The multi-pov aspect is definitely my favourite part. You can see so much in the creators style and understanding of it all and it adds a degree of unreliable narration to it all. I came into the series through Cleo and then jumped to watching Grian and Martyn as well and the difference in perspective is kinda shocking. My favourite example was with scar who from Grian's pov was kinda goofy and then from Martyn's pov was low-key terrifying

[@ERNesbitt]

Yes! Being able to pause a video when something amazing/shocking/hilarious happens, and then open up one of the other people's videos and go see it from their perspective back to back. e.g. The TNT Cart triple kill from Third life.

[@NiTeHaWKnz]

Totally agree.

[@StronkPenguino]

Which one was that

[@aubreyhuff46]

Or watching the chaos of Grian being AFK in week 3 of Limited Life

[@mckenzie2423]

I usually don’t like to branch out to other creators even tho I like them, I have a hard time leaving my comfort zone, but hermitcraft and the 3rd life series definitely helped me branch out more, even if it was by 1 or 2 creators.

[@stretchedmuppet5236]

my personal favourite was double life, purely because no matter how many perspectives you watch and how well you know what happens watching pearl go nuts is still hilarious

[@TheAuron32]

5 AM Pearl is a totally terrifying person...

[@zaydmerhab6167]

The biggest problem imo is that the nature of the series is that there is more deaths. Specifically ones without any drama where someone just randomly dies. This meant that a lot of the drama of a battle for your life was pretty much cut in half.

[@overbeb]

​@@zaydmerhab6167 I agree, double life was a fun experiment but I think the ruleset from Last Life is the best and should be the model.

[@ipolinalts]

Ikr??

[@ProfTricky3168]

Pearl was the MVP of Double Life, I’m glad she won

[@medinakhaliqi5944]

At 10:08 to answer your question I think it was because for the crossover the Empires players were playing a certain character and had to act a certain way (and maybe it's the same for the Hermitcraft players, I don't really know), but for the life series all the players got to just hang out and be their normal selves. They didn't have to act out and stay in character or follow some sort of script. That's just my take on your question.

[@simic0racle157]

yeah basicaly comes down to lore baggage, for the crossover you have to understand hermitcraft and empires lore for it to be exciting. But for the life series the cannon is basicly a clean slate and the small map size and eveyone being logged in at the same time creates more of what the viewes actually want to see, player interaction.

[@runedoom]

@@simic0racle157 and if you do want some juicy lore, you can watch Martyn or Ren.

[@diegonayahernandez6801]

69 likes ... NICE

[@michielfrankema8281]

The life series feel more natural to

[@dvotion5819]

I admit I quit during that time for the hype of other games and knowing I could rewatch the videos, I.e. Pokémon SV and I wonder if others were in the same mindset

[@Marlin123]

I think the reason Last life surpassed third life (besides all the new mechanics) is that everyone had thier own story, thier tragic journey till demise.

[@benjaminwalker9873]

Yes! I also think in this respect Double Life surpassed even Last Life, though maybe not in gameplay.

[@Predated2]

@@benjaminwalker9873 thb, I think Double Life was creatively limited due to being partnered with someone. I do think in a lot of cases it ended up working out, forcing colabs where people might not naturally colab(let alone Grian's "nooOoOoOoOOOOOOO!!!!"). I think Double Life would have been a lot better if people knew who they were linked with, but they might have been linked to completely seperate people(aka, Scar taking damage would hurt Grian, but Grian taking damage wouldnt hurt Scar, but instead hurt someone else). It would take a bit more coding to ignore the linked damage, otherwise the entire server would get hurt at the same time, but it would allow non-natural colabs to arise without forcing them. I havent seen Limited Life yet, but I am almost guaranteeing that its better than Double Life.

[@TheMrWiggglez]

@@Predated2 Interesting concept. Chained Life!

[@NickAndriadze]

To be fair 3rd life also told a unique story from everyone's perspective, but Last Life damn outdid its predeseccor in that regard.

[@dragonace7211]

I think this did better than the crossover is because with the crossover, you had the empires fans and the hermitcraft fans. With this, you had a mix of individual people's fans, their respective smps' fans, AND literally anyone else unattached. Even someone who had never watched hermitcraft or empires or xlife or whatever could come in and enjoy the ride, which made it newcomer friendly.

[@liquidminds]

crossover also had bad timing. happened at a time when a lot of hermits took a break and just didn't participate. Others had big plans for lore, but not enough time to let it play out. All in all, it felt incomplete. The life-series always had a clear start, a goal and a clear end. That helped making it feel more whole.

[@apoorvverma602]

​@@liquidmindstbh I didn't even watch any activity of empires players on hermitcraft. Like I have no idea what went down when they were around

[@honeyblazeyt261]

As a Grian fan, I deeply agree with this.

[@deusvult6920]

​@Apoorv Verma I didn't watch anything empires related from hc players. Wasn't interested in it. Quite frankly don't care about empires and don't watch any empires at all. I in fact took a break from hermitcraft in general bc I have 0 interest in empires

[@ZCisCool]

Exactly

[@wafflecat32]

12:00 tumblr terms. This is my understanding of them: Scrunkly: adorable yet feral. Gives you the cuteness agression and also possibly rabies. Squish their cheeks at your own risk. Eg Bdubs Scrimblo: underappreciated character who deserves better. Eg you and Lizzie Have a bonus term - blorbo: your ultimate personal favorite character. They are what makes the series/smp/movie/book great in your opinion. Can be a general fan fav or underrated character. For a good example of blorbos refer to the tumblr sexyman poll that happened last month.

[@calebevans3690]

I'd love to see a variation on double life where soulmates are randomized every session, so you might have to cooperate with your worst enemy in the last episode. Or perhaps if you are on green or yellow, and they're on red, you could sacrifice a life to nock them off the server. The possibilities are endless

[@catkat9901]

Ooooo that could be pretty cool!

[@Tub123]

That is one of the coolest ideas I have heard for a new 3/last/double or limited life

[@ipolinalts]

Oh my god that's incredible

[@drakephysecron6775]

This should be spread

[@somerton4383]

Hohohooo!!! That'd be brilliant! Imagine if one episode you're actively working against someone, and then the very next episode you're paired with that nemesis. Would be unlikely to happen, but I can think of so many entertaining scenarios

[@senshinotenno]

I think with the crossover, there was expectations for creators to stay in their boxes. Like people expected the empires to stay in character, and the hermits to do hermit stuff. While Life Series, they are free to be themselves, to have fun, and it's not about the pressure of making the next big thing or expanding what they have already.

[@FinleyAmrynn3459]

For the questions jimmy had about the empires/hermitcraft, with empires it’s full of lore and the characters acting as if they didn’t know each other. But in the life series you don’t have that lore and get to see the friendships they have outside of the lore in the other smp.

[@emryspaperart]

yeah this, and also timing imo especially with the second half of the crossover - the hermitcraft server was pretty sluggish with inactivity relative to earlier in the season and it was just before xmas so the urgency to wrap up rlly didnt help the vibes lol

[@JustABlackCat]

On the topic of popularity comparison - I think that the crossover felt like a... Visit, which it was. Of course all of people did something they can defy as their own thing, but in general - not much of a creation itself. In Life series it's always fresh new, and every idea feels personal. You can be a king one time and a shadow assassin the next, or ally with someone your viewers would've never guessed. That's why it's always such a great time watching these or waiting - the sheer excitement of seeing something crazy new and unexpected.

[@aji_esa8606]

9:55 my problem with the crossover was,that it felt detached bcthe hermits doing their own thing,its suupose to be like the first day of the crossover where everyone from hc spread and help different empires

[@The_BlOb]

I like Double Life the most out of the series, and purely for the interactions. We got the duos we never expected but we secretly needed all along. The Ranchers, The Dessert Duo, The Boat Boys, Team Girlboss, Broken Hearts Club will forever remain some of my favourite group collabs ever

[@yuki97kira]

Same..also I enjoyed how differently they accept their partners, and the hijinks ensued. Like Etho and joel may bicker but theyre happy getting one another But then we turn to pearl "obsessing" psychotically over scott who chose to partner with cleo...and martyn who have his own ways of "obsessing" over cleo

[@l1zziebear]

How I love the ranchers 🫶 they can do no wrong, trust

[@imaginethat-wz1sn]

3rd Life introduced me to so many KZbinrs - thats how I started getting invested in Jimmy, Bdubs, Etho, Joel, etc. Last Life was even better because I got more interested in Mumbo and Lizzie, too! These life series are amazing.

[@reaganharder1480]

The rare "new etho fan"... i've been watching etho for years and I swear 80% of his fanbase has been fans for at least 5 years. Etho was my entry into the life series, and although i had at least heard of most of the creators before, the series got me watching their perspectives

[@SFTNOUVE]

Thats true but knew joel,lizzy,jimmy ect. I only know grian and mumbo but then i know all of these awsome creators.

[@UltraAryan10]

​@@reaganharder1480 I have now also become a Etho fan. I first watched him due to Last Life/Double Life and finally subbed at Limited Life.

[@alenec]

Tru, the life series made me get invested in Lizzie, Joel and Scott (somewhat Scar as well).

[@chocolate251]

fr, the only people I knew were Joel, Scott, Lizzie, Jimmy, & Pearl. Got introduced to so many cool mcytbers from that series.

[@keemorg3997]

10:00 Maybe because in the Life Series, all members start from scratch, and they do it all in one session, so everyone actually participates. The cross-over was great, but people usually did their own thing with some collaborations sprinkled here and there. And because the border is small, everyone will have to compete for the resources, hence there's actually an alliance.

[@It-b-Blair]

Secret Life is quickly becoming my favorite. I want to watch every perspective, where as with past series I felt I could watch my favorite of the teams and I’d understand what happened.

[@anjisarv]

Same here!! Every pov I watch just leaves me with even more questions. And then I want to watch everyone else to find out why they were acting weird haha

[@MuppetMayhem]

The Life series feels more like a reality show filled with actors. Yeah we love your produced works but we also want to see you all just having genuine fun.

[@nightfury3135]

As a student in college I don't have a lot of time for You Tube, this means I am only able to pick a few favorite people to watch here and there. This is especially difficult when lore gets added in, even more so when it is compounded over multiple seasons. The nice thing about the Life Series was that I could jump in without having to watch everyone's side, or where they came from lore wise, to fully understand what was happening. I was able to just enjoy it.

[@misskat2817]

Last Life is definitely my favorite. (This may sound weird) but I love the story of all the suspicion and betrayal. And of course, I love the Southlands.

[@amethyst8314]

lAHAst life you mean

[@JinnynotJenny]

​@@amethyst8314 Alright, spyglass. Hand it over

[@amethyst8314]

@@JinnynotJenny awwww but i sent this message in the pAHAst

[@ThatCheeseonYT]

​@@amethyst8314 I have come from af-aha-r to speak on your b-aha-lf to say, welcome to minecr-aha-ft.

[@skizzpulse]

@@amethyst8314 what a menAHAce

[@Abi_144]

I think part of the reason why the life series did better is because there are set recording and posting times. So when you watch episodes from multiple creators, you know what's going on with the whole server and you aren't getting confused about the time lines of episodes. Like with hermitcraft and empires you constantly don't know how many days it was filmed over or what parts of the episode are filmed on the same day. Then you have the fact that every creator records, edits, and posts at different times. So even if you watch multiple perspectives, it's hard to get fully immersed in it.

[@eddog6666]

I think the reason why the life series was better then the empires hermits cross is because the crossover was too close to Christmas and all the big name youtubers always take a month long break in January. So it was rushed and there wasn’t enough time for interaction between the two servers members. I think the crossover should have waited until March, April or May of 2023. Besides the Tagged game was too short. It didn’t get passed around a lot. I notice ever since Grian started the tag game it always increases the views. So I do hope the rift opens again. So you guys can finish tagged. But I think it might with what’s happened. With evil sausage running amuck and Shubble being possessed by the Sculk it is only a matter of time that Grumbot has to be restored. And with Mumbo back in hermitcraft it is the perfect time to do so

[@TheAHuman]

I love the multi-perspective aspect. Seeing the different sides of, say, the Red Winter War is amazing. Seeing just Grian and Scar’s perspective takes away from the slow decent into madness of Ren and how Dogwarts went from a enchanting business to a kingdom. Or you might miss 5AM Pearl to understand why she is feared.

[@hyunshine17]

“I am HBO!! I’ve become something i never wanted to become. omg we’re HBO” was too funny 15:11

[@vaguelyhailey]

I loved the crossover, the reason I like the Life Series more is there are way more interactions. Take your POV of the crossover. It was often just you and scar. The Life Series you are usually getting at least 5 people all interacting from each POV each episode. And each POV is super unique. The Life Series is hands down my favorite series on KZbin. Loving Limited Life so far!!

[@maulikjain48]

15:26 it was at this moment solidarity realised that he had become the one he swore to destroy

[@pusheenelis_]

18:31 “wild card element” foreshadowing wild life a year before it started 😭

[@fridyaliii]

The multi pov's are DEFINITELY one of the best things about the life series. It not only gives a lot of content to watch but also makes you see the events in a completely different manner. For example I started watching the life series with Lizzie on Last Life and it all seemed very calculative and sudden and sneaky, then (sticking with last life) I watched Scott that showed the side that was getting attacked quite a lot while still surviving and it showed the suspicion and paranoia and calculation that goes into it and a lot of the logistics of things. Grian showed a completely different storyline and made everything way more interesting as he was part of a big group where trust was vital factor and the way he was losing and gaining lives showed the foundations of how the server worked and the differences between how each life is treated and how one action could completely gain or lose peoples trust in you. Joel's was a different story, he was on red practically the entire series and lasted longer than everyone expected him to on red, it was very cool and new to see his pov and how his murder attempts were desperation and frustration because everything kept going wrong. Everywhere else Joel was the sneaky red name trapping and trying to kill everyone and made you side against him while his videos made you (slightly) pity him and side with him and to cheer for him at every trap even if you know the outcome. All the pov's showed a lot of emotion and true feeling and even the viewer can feel the adrenaline rush which is just absolutely amazing. The life series is definitely the best and I am definitely enjoying making my way round and watching the different pov's! And it's amazing to watch Jimmy reacting to videos like this as it can reveal details and things he may or may not comment on and uncovers secrets and explanations for things, it also helps to figure out who's pov to watch next if any of their clips are shown more. An amazing series and this comment turned out way longer than intended haha

[@andrewtimothy1937]

10:07 I can tell you why. The Hermits x Empires crossover was treated more like a funny haha drama with pranks and fun times. The Life series is all about betrayal and vile murders and fun kills. Every week people are watching with a sense of silly bloodlust like “who’s raging today?” I for one can say I was watching Last Life solely for the Cleo and Bigb drama, and I threw my fist in the air when she finally killed him. There was just no moments of triumph in the Crossover event. The most dramatic thing that happened was the battle of Fort Riftless, and that was played more as silly and joking conflict more than actual consequences. And that’s what it’s all about. Consequences. The higher the stakes, the better the story will do with the viewers.

[@foxpokemonforever4775]

I feel like I've gotten so used to Tumblr lingo that I forget that regular people don't know what words like "Scrunkly" "scrimblo" and "blorbo" mean ^^; And Animagician's description of the layered way you can watch episodes since they all get released at the same general time perfectly described my experience watching episode four of Double Life. I managed to hit this golden order of watching so that my experience only improved with each episode I watched, gathering bits of new information which recontextualized everything that came before it. It was IMMACULATE

[@eantwic]

15:00 "you've become the very thing you swore to destroy"

[@andydirk88]

I started watching so many more members of the community because of the life series, that's the reason I started watching you!

[@khushijannat7273]

SAME

[@sandiz83]

​@@khushijannat7273 and the we are 3

[@someguy5085]

​@@sandiz83 4

[@lathakaimal7968]

15:37 you either die a hero or you live long enough to become your worst enemy

[@blockgamepirate3481]

The crossover was good! I think it's natural that it wouldn't be as popular as the Life Series (as other people already pointed out it's way more beginner friendly) but it was a treat to those of us who are fans of both servers. I think that was worth it. And I think people did end up finding new creators to watch through it too. I feel like it's fine to sometimes do things that aren't as popular (although I know it's kinda stressful if your income depends on popularity) because it helps keep things fresh and fun

[@_kaleido]

agreed!!

[@maubeerbluffin4552]

i feel like the life series worked better, in part because it takes place in a much smaller frame and everyone is online at the same time. which forces people to interact way more than they normally did on empires or hermitcraft. there, even with the crossover, players still played by themselves a lot of the time.

[@notchpoodles5864]

The emotion of Jimmy being eliminated first in all three of them. How is it even a coincidence anymore

[@Its-just-Zoe-179]

17:55 oh yea, I forgot! Grian is in the series, right. (But really he is amazing at pvp totally by accident! Have you seen his MCC triple kill, it’s an amazing moment

[@andy_mir]

9:55 i think the life series also broke the expectations of the community about the collab, noone imagined all these people to come together for a frickin' BLOODBATH and loving it so much

[@TasjaDH]

10:20 Imo the reason its so popular other than its short and easy to follow - you guys interact more in the lives series, than on Hermitcraft for an example - and have lots of fun, making people laugh. And the chaos is glorious.

[@epicgamer5026]

That’s so true that’s why I love it more i wish I saw more interactions on hermit craft

[@DriftDweeb]

The crossover interrupted story lines, but the life series is a fresh start server and despite needing to have their guards up, everyone kinda lets their guard down and relaxes quite a bit 😂

[@lilly09_YT]

Did that "who's cutting onions?" Advancement made by impulse is everywhere, like I seen it in every episode of that session I've watched and now it's in this?!

[@ERNesbitt]

8:06 "They're literally naming the series just to annoy the community." This seems on-brand for anything involving Grian. XD

[@Lokkiii]

The only thing I’ll say Ani didn’t touch up on much was the built stereotypes of each member. As he explained as Etho is quite a down to earth guy but you could hear the joy as he had murderous intent as the boogeyman. Take GoodTimesWithScar as an example. He is such a sweet, kind and clumsy soul. No one in their kind would expect Scar to live long in the series let alone win one (spoiler to Secret Life!) So the series keep people on edge showing different sides of the members and broke down stereotypes, and I think that’s really cool! :)

[@jesuschristbutafab9923]

im CRYING grian rlly did put all the skrunklies and scrimblos in one little cardboard box

[@naomikriege1955]

Last year, what my friend and I called “Last Life Tuesday” is what got us through senior year. We would legitimately count down the days to it and celebrate at lunch when the episodes came out.

[@ZCisCool]

17:00 EXACTLY! I’ve watched the life series’ from Mumbo, Grian, Joel, Jimmy, Lizzy, Etho, Impulse, BigB and even more people’s povs

[@nicjoy4407]

I think the main thing that separates the life series from something like the dream smp and lifesteal smp is that the players interact regularly enough that EVERYONE is interconnected. I followed some of the lifesteal smp and dream smp, and every person's perspective felt like it wasn't even the same series. Events didn't feel connected, the plot was completely different depending on who you watched, and every person felt like they were trying to be the main character of the server, and alliances felt like they were just made and broken for literally no reason.

[@theforestrobin]

I do not mind the timed releasing, because I know you guys are all working on the new episode each week, whereas big corporations who release weekly (like HBO) generally have the episodes done, but withhold them to deliberately build suspense. I'm honestly impressed you all manage to get the content out together on Fridays - that's so much work!

[@Theresa-uj4le]

My theory on the crossover vs. Life series success, is that the crossover was too much information! There were so many people and you didn't necessarily know what everyone's deal was. And, since there were so many people, it was hard to keep track and hard to choose who to watch. Whereas the Life series, you didn't need to know who ANYONE was. You knew how many episodes you were in for and there were clear enough alliances to keep track of everyone. I imagine there were a lot of new viewers who came along for the ride.

[@folklaur]

I think there are many reasons why the life series worked better than the Hermit/Empires crossover, and a lot of them have been mentioned in the comments and the video already. Another one that I haven’t seen mentioned yet is I feel 3rd Life was released at a critical time, when DreamSMP was around its peak and still active. So you have this large viewer base that’s already been introduced to Minecraft server improv with some role playing that doesn’t take itself too seriously (at least that’s how dsmp used to be). 3rd life fit perfectly into the interests of that fanbase, so convert videos boosted the numbers alongside regular viewers of the creators involved and people who were completely new to all of it. Personally, I was a dsmp fan, and a friend who was also into dsmp at the tme recommended 3rd life. I watched Grian’s POV, then a bunch of others, and then I started watching hermitcraft. Now I’m a huge hermitcraft fan and it and the life series are 95% of the Minecraft content I consume.

[@WillowWispFlame]

In addition to Knives Out, the Life Series reminds me a lot of the early days of the Dream SMP. Everyone playing at the same time, with their own perspectives - that's the REASON why the dsmp was so good for so many creators. Everyone, on some level, is nosy. They want to know what's going on with the other group, and with multiple perspectives, they can see that!

[@UltraAryan10]

Yep. What made DSMP succeed was everyone's own story from their own perspective. And Last Life had exactly that.

[@musicalsportsgirl3075]

1. I agree. Out of the first three Last life was the best (although that might be because I really like the Scott and Pearl duo) and I can't really judge a series with only two episodes. 2. I think maybe the life series did better than the crossover because people interact *way* more, also it's just so different.

[@ki11ershark]

Grian's Life series was actually inspired from his mini-game Demise in Hermitcraft Season 6. Most people don't know Demise was the precursor.

[@The-EJ-Factor]

For me the life series was at its best at third life and last life, and then peaked again at secret life. And wild life is still pretty good but didn’t have the effect of me watching a lot of different perspectives like in secret life.

[@mollyhaymore7319]

See I think the reason the Life series works so well is because there aren't many other series that have all the players on at the same time. It creates a space to see everyone interact which doesn't happen on servers like hermitcraft. Most times on hermit craft there are very few points when all the players are together and because of that it doesnt feel like a group, whereas the life series creates this group atmosphere and you get to see players interact that dont get to interact much spend time together.

[@XenophonSoulis]

Last life was awesome, and so was limited life, but for me nothing tops the story of Scar and Grian from Third Life. When they had to duel it was tear-inducing... After all they had been through together...

[@TheL-vc4od]

15:18 "you were meant to destroy the weekly shows, not join them!" Jimikin Solidywalker

[@lukevandevenis9780]

10:24 for me personally with hermitcraft, I am mostly just interested in at most a few individual creators, mostly just Grian. So when there is a crossover, I don’t really pay attention to it. But when you’re in a series like last life, it’s great to see multiple point of views of different people cause of the events that play out. That’s great, but hard and not viable to replicate in for instance hermitcraft.

[@loganwilliams4157]

10:30 I think the crossover didn't do as well because we want to see everybody together from start to finish, which the life series does. The crossover episodes happened very late into both empires/hermitcraft seasons.

[@timeless712]

There’s many amazing things about the life series. I think it being so short makes sure no one can be bored of it because it doesn’t get repetitive, and having it uploaded once a week means people can’t get ahead and it makes fans wait. Another thing is we are deprived for so long that we are desperate for the slightest news of a new life series even though we know it likely won’t last long. Also I really like the names and I assumed it was common knowledge that they were meant to be numbered in random orders and generally confusing to new fans.

[@Taffoman]

The Hc/Empires cross over did not work because it sort of interrupted story lines on both servers. Like let's say Impulse is like "all right we are working on the mcguffing factory, I got cool plans. Next week I make the roof and the week after that I work on the mcguffinator... Oh Grian just send me a message to meet me at the rift..." And then people are flown off to the Empires for four weeks. It just interrupted the expected progress somehow. What I would love to see is more cameos and collabs on both servers. Like "I'm working on my castle and I would need a magical terraforming... What's this, a Wizard Scar appears!". So have a visiting stars between servers bring their own expertise on projects. On Hermitcraft there would be less of character play, but on empires the hermits could do characters.

[@lightning_11]

4:16 Can we appreciate how amazing this timing was?

[@MaddyB823]

Yessss it gave me chills

[@Avarstia_Owain]

Jimmy actually acknowledged it! The crossover between Empires and hermitcraft I think is less so an idea of the worlds not being compatible with different concepts, I think it is more so a factor of doing it without a start so you see a lot more individual content and it didn't mesh well as Empires is more structured while Hermitcraft plays more loose and fluid with how things are played so having it not start together was already a sort of lukewarm start and the factor that neither side really played to one world or another. The Crossover is also fairly fanon inspired as its one of those things the fandoms would only think of happening without expecting it, possibly thinking of people adapting different personas on Empire while everyone got to be themselves on Hermitcraft.The Life serieses have everyone start together as one group instead of mashing two seperate groups together. Like the personalities in idea can work and the idea of story crossover can work, I should know, I love writing Multiverse shit. In the Hermit Empires crossover my ideal way of how to do it would be a storyline built too unlike an aspect of everyone going together after barely resolving another loose plot on Hermitcraft. I would have structured it as more of a trickle through like the King's Minigame would have been ending, Ren escapes and the Diamonds are gone so everyone goes after him, some people find him at the Rift and it would be that Ren and another member or two from Hermitcraft would go through with a portal being opened for a moment before it closed, leaving the glass fade. What would come after would have been on the Empires side (KingRen being lost for a bit in multiverse shenanigans) with the hermits that came through being discovered by the empires and they get to start their own small empires for a few episodes before others come through, playing into characters instead of being the Hermitcraft version of themself, like maybe Cleo is one of the first and could have still gone with Joey, giving a mutiny before others came through like she did with X before Hermitopia. And again, Hermitopia was my biggest gripe as it felt like the Hermitcraft members mostly tried to stay with eachother instead of interacting with the wider server. Ultimately it would culminate in Emperor Grumbot fixing the polarity of the portal and allowing people to go to Hermitcraft. Both series are more long form series over short form so having the crossover being over the course of like 2 - 3 months instead of just over one month of hermits on empires would have been more creatively driven IMO. The Empires on Hermitcraft I see why it was just a month as the Empires side has a more continual storyline idea so the draw back has the allure to go back and if one of the members go through, most should as well. That is just my opinion of it, just the factor of it being a lot more condensed in what the HermPires stuff did. The Life Series had a different dynamic and has a similar reality aspect as Hermitcraft without having the storied anchor of Empires.

[@robertwiacek271]

my take on why the Life series went better than HC/EMP crossover: in Life you started with no story line. We, the viewers, had nothing to catch up on. With the crossover, there were elaborated story lines, sometimes spanning multiple series (Pearl+Sausage, Grumbot arc) that left some of us confused.

[@ChaosMaker335]

Hihi! Love the video. I do have my own opinion for your question in the video btw. The crossover between HC and Empires didn't really had much impact like Last Life Series. There wasn't much interactions, cooperative between both servers far as LL would do. LL makes everyone has to interact with each other more often, creating short story each episode with overall plot that is mostly still undecided until near the end. Really, I did find the crossover to be sort've lacking really too in story-wise thought process for me. I did expected Mumbo to be the one that brought them back, regardless of how many month and watch HC just absolutely overturn the balance in the Empire even further with their own project. I did want to see they make like a shopping center where the Empires would eventually take over after crossover because of how useful it would be for them, or just make them go raze it down because they don't like it. And I thought that Empire would band together and create something that is like god-like to leave their mark on the HC server, banding together to get all the materials as well diamonds to buy from the HC shops to do so. I wouldn't be surprised if there's drama in them doing that too and Hermits has to be the one that send them back home because they're just naughty. Also, there's another factor about the cross over. It's really short from HC side I usually watch since I'm not Empire watcher. Either way, this is just my own opinion. I just want to state it for some consideration.

[@trianglburger19]

14:52 “you ether dye a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” -Star Wars

[@darkroselight3835]

I adore the Life series. The multiple pov's make the journey so much fun. You can hop around and see different pov's in different styles to catch all the drama. The shorter length makes it more approachable than something like Hermetcraft, which can feel overwhelming if you fall behind. I also enjoy how relaxed everyone seems to feel not having to worry about making mega builds and getting to have some fun planning silly traps and killing each other. Double-life was my favorite! I loved the dynamic of everyone pairing up and having to take care of each other while still fighting the others.

[@chanelleright]

"It was a gamble" For me it wasnt. I would literally watch anything grian does, because i know it will be quality and fun to watch no matter what it is.

[@RisingRose]

To the crossover question, I know tons of people have already answered this but I think a lot of it is the length, and to give a concrete example here: My hyperfixation of this corner of youtube, to my own dismay, went away for a while and it has just returned recently. I'm really feeling now how much easier it is to get into the life series seasons than it is anything hermitcraft related or empires related, _especially_ story wise. Think about it. Hermitcraft and Empires are both long-form series with longer storylines; even when Hermitcraft doesn't do actual storylines and plots it still has ongoing prankwars and building projects and server events that usually need context, a context that is built on so so many episodes across multiple POVs. Now double that context and number of Episodes, because suddenly two of these servers have temporarily merged. On the other hand, the Life series is much shorter and thus easier to get into and catch up on, technically requiring not as much context of prior seasons, but if you really want it that won't take too long either. Plus, it's shorter stories, so it's a lot of drama pretty quickly. Don't get me wrong, i love the idea of the crossover!! Still haven't watched it, but even when my brain wasn't cooperating and I was out of the fixation, I still screamed when the first mentions of it crossed my radar!! But now that I'm back here, I'm seeing how much easier it is catching up or getting into anything life series related. I came back like, what, a week ago? And I'm already up-to-date on 3 Secret life POVs, have started a fourth, have begun to rewatch 3rd Life from another POV, and am considering soon watching Limited Life _(because I entirely missed that one, I had literal hundreds of hours of Critical Role to watch, which is what ripped me out of my fixation on the Life Series in the first place whoops-)_ Meanwhile I also really want to get back into hermitcraft but it's just. such an undertaking, even as someone who has consumed literal hundreds of hours of long-form content via Critical Role. Same with rewatching Empires s1 or finally continuing my watch of s2. anyhow, that's just what i think, but what do i know

[@Dazzled_Rose]

10:36 He said it and it happened. We got Martyn on New Life!!!!

[@_Kamura_]

18:00 I didn't even notice that! That's actually a really good point!

[@Hailoow]

I find the Life series so fricking good because if you think about it, it's basically a improv roleplay tv show that releases every week, but you can choose a perspective or multiple to watch which makes it like an ongoing crossover... AND IT'S ALL MINECRAFT

[@lelgamers419]

ive never cried from laughing but 15:32 had me in tears

[@gamercool4922]

The life series showed me a bunch of people I’ve never heard of until that point, at the time I only knew Grian, Joel, Scott and BigB and I didn’t really watch them that much but I was hooked after watching the first episode from Grian’s POV

[@katlock17]

I think the collabs via life series work out a little bit better than the empiresxhermitcraft crossover has a lot to do with scheduling. Since you’ve all got to record at the same time in such a small and undeveloped map it forces the interactions With the crossover you guys were pretty much going into another’s territory that you may not be as familiar with and no one wants to step on anyone’s toes

[@heartwarmlucy642]

9:50 - for me it took so long to want to watch EVERYONEs POV, as cool as it was I had to catch up on a lot more episodes and POVS so I think that's probably similar to everyone else as well

[@lisaplante6385]

The Life series is a separate entity, I feel this is why it works better than a crossover. I watch both Hermitcraft and Empires. I felt the crossover took away from the story lines of both.

[@andrewbloom7694]

1:19 I absolutely agree 10000%. The life series is an absolute all-star team of talent, and the sheer drama and hilarity of the storylines that play out is so captivating for a minecraft series. The fact that there are almost no rules, and that to win you absolutely have to betray everybody every one else makes it increadibly tense. And the chemistry of the group still keeps the actual community pretty peaceful and engaged is also part of it. Also only about 10-14 eps. a year, its not hard to keep up with.

[@Justdo13]

4:52 jimmy standing up for my girl!!!!

[@Doublethizzle]

'Life' series is its own entity. While the crossover was a jumbling of two separate entities. it's like mixing fajitas with a bowl of Capn' Crunch. They are both great on their own, . . . but I would sure hate to have to eat them together.

[@_Kamura_]

14:45 I had rewatch it to understand what he was saying- I heard it but forgot to understand.. lol

[@Quoxz]

My personal tinfoil hat theory is that the Life series confusing naming convention will eventually let me create a chronological timeline in a similar way that people created a timeline for the Legend of Zelda series. ??? ‐ Double Life - 3rd Life - ??? - Limited Life - ??? - Last Life

[@xynthymr]

I think the appeal of the Life series is that it's professional Minecraft players doing the early game, but badly. People enjoy watching their favourite MCYT CC's mingling, but also with the risk that anyone can die a stupid death at any moment due to not having OP end-game gear. Plus there's a real synergy between this group of creators, despite coming from differemt SMP's, they all seem to gel really well in an entertaining way. As enjoyable as long-term SMP's are (totally agree that Martyn needs to be a part of a bigger SMP), the main appeal of the Life SMP is that it's all about survival, and less about who can build the biggest mega base or most efficient mob farm. It's just raw survival. No overly complicated lore, just a bunch of players trying not to lose their lives. Everything a Hardcore series should be.

[@theamazing1569]

I believe the life series evolved from the “One Life” series which was hardcore and was mostly the empires group. That series was 3 seasons

[@samantha1190]

15:05 you’re HBO, but free. And arguably with some better content

[@Soapscomputerscreen]

the way that everyone on the life series are so different is very amusing to me. like compare etho and joel together, or jimmy and tango, they are not duos that could've been expected but worked out amazingly! that's probably why double life was my favourite, just such unique unexpected duos that made me love it so much

[@abigailhedderly4978]

Great video, he makes a lot of great points in that video, and I laughed way too hard at 15:13

[@micky2be]

Definitely have a TV show aspect to it. Generally speaking most SMPs do, but having all Minecrafters be connected at the same time as a bigger effect to it. Imagine a TV show, released weakly on different networks (HBO, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, ...). But each network features a different character, and follows that person only. A show I've been dreaming about for over 30 years.

[@Mefs.]

You either die a Hero or live long enough to become HBO

[@It-b-Blair]

😂😂😂

[@zilver76]

The reason the Life Series is more popular than the Empires x Hermitcraft crossover is because there wasn't an established storyline anywhere at the beginning. It was a brand new and fresh world with a story that began at the very first episode and developed from there. Not only that, but despite the fact some storylines and development carried on to the next series between content creators, it's wasn't all of them, nor was it difficult to understand the backstory for those storylines

[@linahasdo6681]

15:16 this is literally the funniest thing he said in the video,he’s become his mortal enemy lol-

[@XxPlansvsawesomexX]

i feel the two reasons this was better then the crossover was because 1. the catch up.. they had to catch up on a LOT for both smps. and 2. the hermitcraft and empires are too different, empires has too much lore for casual hermitcraft viewers. but this was different because there was no catch up and it was a good mix of lore stuff and just people playing minecraft.

[@llamma2863]

I joined in double life, then I watched Scott’s POV of 3rd life, I guess I gotta start watching others now 😊

[@jojyjay61]

I’d absolutely recommend last life, all the series are good but it’s the peak of all the seasons

[@xyinc5621]

Proposal: Half Life. It's Last Life, but with a twist. When you die on your red life, you respawn as a zombie. As a zombie, you can't wear or use armor/tools iron or above. You also can't use things zombies can't use; potions, bows, flint n steel, etc. You're goal is that of a red life. All you want to do is kill, and cause chaos. As a possible additional twist, the zombies would be able to see who the boogeyman is by pressing tab (their name would be highlighted in purple), and can team up with them. Naturally, the zombies could team with one another. Please add anything that would make this idea better in the comments, and tell Grian to take a look.

[@_Kamura_]

12:40 OH MY GOD YES AGREED

[@PTUBE101_]

Here’s what I think the key factor to The Life Series’ success is EVERYONE IS ALWAYS ONLINE AT THE SAME TIME IT MEANS THE COLLABS HAPPEN MORE OFTEN THAN THEY WOULD HAVE IN THE HERMEMPIRES CROSSOVER

[@alexmendezander]

Secretly! 7:50 Secret Life…