#AvM analysis

[fantasma-de-la-cueva]

Hey guys, I was rewatching AvM and I have a question: does anyone else feel like Purple is younger than the other stick figures? I ask this because I feel “odd” about his attitude compared with the CG, as if he was still a kid. But before starting I want to point that this idea not only is due to Purple’s behaviour, I see this too because sometimes he looks a few inches shorter than the color gang. Now we can start:

In the “Villangers” episode he seems to be very fast into jumping in conclusions, in this episode he jailed Blue and Green for trading with the villagers and thinking he got replaced. While this is a traumatic response the fact that the decision was to jail them shows that he was having a bad time with learning how to deal with his emotions, something that in fiction gets relationed with teenangers and troubled kids tropes to show that they are troubled. To reinforce this idea: before we were given Purple’s past this scene seemed like a trantum from a brat, or, a kid with no emotional control and full of impulses.

In the next episode the way he resigned to give back the dragon’s egg. I don’t feel like it was genuine at all (specially with all the traumatic stuff), but felt more like a scolded kid that learned a lesson by force and has to live with it now. With this in mind, we can see that at this point Purple still kept some of the kindness his mother showed to him, but was slowly sliping into his “dark side”. This changes in behaviour and creation of personality are usually related to teenanger years and characters due to the importance of this life phase in the molding of the future adults. In narrative levels we should point that this struggle between selfishness and kindness attitude are often related to teen characters that will either grow out of it and mature or become antagonists in the future.

All his attitude in the AvLoL short. What can I say about this? I’m not going to center on the “he hacked and ate the champions’ data to win” stuff because this, from my perspective, can be saw as a massive tantrum without the context of ep 29. Rather I want to point that while this was a tantum, it came from a very emotionally wounded child that recently lost a chance to see a father that didn’t cared about him due to high expectations and lack of appreciation in the “trying” part, of course he was bitter and angry with the gang, specially given that he wasn’t cool-headed. After this I want to point that he did a very novice (and stupid) thing: instead of destroying the gang’s tower he rushed to protect his tower, losing the game, showing again that while he is still cunning and sneaky he still had a lot to learn and it showed that he was childish prideful and reckless, not able to make priorities or sense with his actions. The second thing I want to point in this is the sore loser attitude: this attitude is often associated with kids; he also sits down with the head hidden in his knees, posture that is associated with childish behaviour too, reinforcing this “toxic child player” profile of the character and the gang has to comfort him after this.

In “The witch”, when he tells the gang what he wants to do with them he is very excited and starts to move his arms like crazy, and being honest, after the other sad points I want to say that this is very childish in a cute way. In “parkour” the way he laughs at the gang’s panick after Yellow falling and returning and the way he shows the gang that it was a “safe” environment seems like a kid showing older people that they don’t need to worry. Later, in the same episode, King headpats him like a child and he seems very happy, an interaction usually showed between an older and younger character and in this case is a way to manipulate him with affection, usually a toxic trait that is often showed when a kid is being manipulated by toxic adults (keep in mind that before ep 29 and 30 we thought king was a psycho). Purple also claps in exciment at King’s plan, like a kid celebrating a good idea they had or a plan that they really like and want to do.

In “the ultimate weapon” episode we can see that when he tries to take the staff he really looks like throwing a tantrum in a very “I want to have it too” way, another behaviour that is often relationated to childish behaviour, specially from kids that are often seen as selfish, troubled or that lack social skills/ettiquete. In the real-time version we can see that while TSC and King were fighting Purple was in fear and having a mental breakdown. How he expressed this?: By curling up against the wall with head against the knees and hands covering his head, then grabs his head and hits it with his hands. This is used in fiction to show scared kids in a very dangerous situation.

In the “note block universe” there is a theory that the rythm types used can be readed as an introduction to Purple’s introspection. Is also interesting that the first rythm we see is a very childish song sang by talking animals, tropes very used in animation; animation is a very stigmatized media due to “is for kids” stereotype, but if this “theory” is something really took in mind in the production of the episode then the stereotype is used to point that Purple is still a kid, which just makes his story more heartbreaking than what alredy is. But despite the heartbreaking stuff it makes the hug between him and Green as something really beatiful and heartwarming, like a big brother comforting and cheering his little sibling.

In “The king” when he shows King his capacities and abilities he waves his arms and points at himself to get his attention and approval, his hole body screaming “look at me, I’m very good! Did I impressed you? Did you liked it?”, very common in kids that try to prove themselves to adults. When King suffers his introspection we see Gold turning into Purple as he started to see Purple as a new adopted child, idea reinforced by the flashbacks we get during the blast scene. When he is trapped in that black space we can see him crying with his “head on knees” stance again. And when he gets adopted by king we can see some childish exciment, in the credits this new family are in the same park King and Gold used to go in the past, which ends the parallelism of a hurted father adopting someone that ressembled his kid.

In the shorts we can see more of Purple being a kid by doing things like offering King a cookie as a surprise, inviting him to skate while spinning in a very “Lets do something cool” way and waving hands in exciment while King chuckles at this. In the “piggie love” short he is the only one that reacts like a kid: he covers his eyes with both hands to not see what’s going on.

After pointing all of this I would say that I believe Purple is even younger than the color gang. This leaves us with a character that had to met his father’s expectations as a very young kid and suffered an abandoment, then he had to bury his mother a few years later (I headcannon that he was probably even younger than his actual age) and had to grow up very fast to survive completly alone in a world where he didn’t had any support and ended up turning into a sneaky backstabber with emotional troubles and no control over impulses due to lack of guiadance and the trauma scars, which is just heartbreaking for anyone to go thru. At the end he ended up getting acepted and adopted by people that cares about him, but the fact that this painful story repeats itself is way too common in our society and makes it more sadder, but also serves to move us and remember that we have to make our part too.

[roseverdict]

How Can AvM Be Canon Within AvM? (Analysis/Headcanon)

Alright, so it's been, what, two, two and a half weeks since The King came out and downright imploded the fandom? There's so much going on during every second and every little detail counts. There've been revelations of Mango and Purple's narrative foiling, of what Mango's backstory means for the ages of the rest of the cast, and of what this means for the Beckerverse at large.

However, one odd little loose end continues to nag at a lot of us, it seems.

How is it possible for the original AvM video to exist within the continuity of the AvM "Shorts"?

I've seen a lot of speculation about whether in-universe Alan just has his screen recorder on all the time or not, and what this means for the apparent father figure to the very sticks in the video. Are the videos like vlogs in-universe? Do the sticks know they're being watched by millions of strangers?

I'd like to think I've figured it out. See, a post like this almost could have been made months ago, back when Green first saw Mango's explanation of the plan to Purple…except we didn't have one key factor then that we do now.

And that key factor…

…is Herobrine.

Lemme explain.

See, a lot of pieces of the puzzle fall into place once you work out Herobrine's whole deal. For context, in the original AvM video, he possesses Red and forces them to battle the rest of the Color Gang for seemingly no reason. When he next appears in Monster School, he's…

…a teacher?

Now, I'm not going to talk too much about the ins and outs of Monster School- that's not a canon I'm familiar with. What I am familiar with, though, is the previous Animation Vs. videos. Why on earth would a Minecraft cryptid who, by all appearances, should have a grudge against ROYGB…not have a grudge?

I mean, you've seen him in action.

If Red wasn't an unexpected-but-welcome visitor, we would have known. Instead, we got Herobrine making Red come to class. Almost like saying "Get in here- you might actually learn something."

And while he's pretty insistent that Red sticks around for class, as visibly Not A Mob as Red is, he's also a pretty chill teacher, all things considered.

At least, until his students are endangered.

Now, how does this characterization of Herobrine mesh with that from the original AvM, when the characterization for everybody else is so rock-solid that we're able to associate Minecraft proficiencies with stick figures who are visually indistinguishable save by color?

Simple: it doesn't.

Now, I'm not saying we've got two Herobrines running around, I'm saying that the Herobrine we meet in Monster School is, as it were, Beckerverse Herobrine's natural state.

The original AvM was an acting gig.

I'd even go so far as to suggest that almost all the "Animation Vs" videos that aren't AvM "Shorts" were planned out in-universe, and there's a simple way to tell which ones would have been planned and which ones weren't.

Does it happen on Alan's desktop (or an expansion of it)? It was most likely planned.

This goes for Vs. Youtube, Vs. Mario, Vs. Arcade Games, and Vs. Minecraft. An argument could even be made for AvM S1E1- The Rediscovery.

It does not go for Vs. League of Legends.

(Don't worry, I'll be coming back to Herobrine later. I'm not through with him yet.)

Now, Vs. League of Legends, while originally teased at the end of Vs. Minecraft, does not actually pick up from where Vs. Minecraft left off. It takes place sometime after season 1 of the AvM shorts, and it takes place within League itself.

It also features Purple.

I won't go into too much detail, but suffice it to say that the bit of character development we get here does seem to translate directly to the Parkour episode of AvM S3- in the previous AvM short with Purple in it, the rainbow squad leaves on less-than-friendly terms with Purple, what with Blue and Green being left to fall to their deaths and Purple being tossed in Minecraft jail, and all. In Vs. League, however, we get a good, old-fashioned stick fight between ROYGB and Purple, and it would be expected for the two sides to part as frustrated acquaintances at best…

…and then they go for another round, this time switching up who the 'villain' is and getting Purple to play with them.

Then, in Parkour, Purple uses this newfound trust to get them into the parkour trap. (And I could yell (hyperfixation) about Purple here, too, but I'm trying to focus purely on the meta right now so skdjskdjdk)

See, season 1 of AvM originally takes place on Alan's PC, but it does take a detour through the Nether and out through multiple different Minecraft worlds before the sticks finally get back.

Season 2, short as it is, takes place entirely on the desktop. (Or desktop-adjacent, in the case of the Lucky Blocks episode. Even in that trippy Lucky Block Dimension, the sticks can still influence the desktop directly.)

Season 3…well.

Season 3 takes us out of Alan's PC right from the get-go, and while there is a brief return or two before the end, it's still a direct continuation of what's been happening on the other side of the portal.

And what a happening it's been!

We've got the squad being split up multiple times, we've got a looming threat on the verge of deleting Minecraft, and we've even got a brief detour through somebody else's copy of the game.

But how does all this mesh together?

Well, like I said, if my theory is correct, the Animation Vs. videos (minus Vs. LoL) were all staged, at least to some degree. That means that, for all intents and purposes, Herobrine's original possession of Red was planned out beforehand and given the green light.

Maybe some of the other AvM videos were too, maybe they weren't. Unless we see them within the context of new AvM videos themselves, I don't think we'll ever know for sure.

But the videos that follow the sticks off the desktop are almost certainly videos that just don't exist in the Beckerverse. If in-universe Alan has a screen recorder trained on his desktop for funsies, he likely doesn't send his digicameras to follow the sticks around as they leave to do who-knows-what.

So what does this mean for the father figure to our favorite stick figures?

I propose that the Animation Vs. videos that could have been filmed using just Alan's screen recorder were, while videos that involve the sticks leaving to go who-knows-where weren't. The build battles, the first two music-related episodes, the first rollercoaster video, those were all done with at least the knowledge that what they were doing was being recorded. (I personally like to think in-universe Alan runs any "hey remember this? let's make it a video!" ideas past the sticks before uploading, but that's just me.)

Blue and Green leaving for the Nether the first time and ending up on Purple's Macbook, and everything that comes directly of it? That happens "off-camera" and probably isn't uploaded to in-universe Youtube.

The events of S3 as a whole, taking place almost entirely off of Alan's PC, wouldn't have been recorded, either.

Which brings us back to Herobrine. His first appearance, his acting gig, was definitely on Alan's desktop. In this context, it'd be like if you managed to successfully get Bigfoot to shoot a video with you- you shoot the video, you bid Bigfoot farewell, and you never expect to run into him again.

Except Red did.

When Herobrine sees Red in the halls, his first instinct is not to tell Red to get lost, the way it would be if he'd recognized Red and left ROYGB on bad terms. He squints at Red- and I would bet money that he does recognize them, because how many stick figures would a Minecraft Creepypasta brought to life even know?- and invites Red to class.

That's not something you do with somebody you dislike, especially when kids you care about, your students, are on the line and you've got the means to protect them.

Now, we know from Monster School and The King that Herobrine is perfectly capable of what we saw in the original AvM, but that he's also capable of so much more. The Doylist explanation is just that Alan and the crew came up with more abilities to show off after growing their skills for years on end.

The Watsonian explanation is that, well, in a scripted video, Herobrine didn't need to pull out all the stops. The original AvM was plenty entertaining as it was, and the sticks are durable enough to do things, like, say, brawl with each other in a website without end. If the first AvM was scripted, who's to say they were even really endangered?

(The AvA videos and the actually-short shorts…kinda hurt my brain to think about in this context. So I won't. At least, not yet.)

But they were definitely endangered in The King, and when Herobrine is in danger of getting pulled into the staff, nobody moves…

…except for Red.

Red was possessed in the seemingly-scripted original AvM video and, if they'd had a bad experience with being possessed for a video, they likely wouldn't have brought attention to themself right at this moment. If they hadn't, they might have beaten themself up over not doing so later, but their first thought in the moment wouldn't be to get closer.

But it was. They did.

And we all know what happened next.

We know that plot points from the original AvM are still true in-universe, scripted though the video may be.

Herobrine's abilities...

...the power of the Minecraft icon...

...that's all stuff that comes back later on.

Which brings us to the Mango man himself and the moment that's breaking all of our brains.

In-universe, if the only videos that exist are the ones that take place solely on or around one guy's desktop, who's to say stick figures in the interspace believe that anything that happens in them could be real? They don't go on that guy's PC. As evidenced by the Minecraft booth from Mango's backstory, they need a whole Star Trek holodeck-on-steroids setup to even get into Minecraft without using Minecraft mechanics directly, and this likely goes for other games as well.

Mango, however, was desperate enough to turn to Minecraft myths for his revenge plan. He's already considering things outside the box- who's to say he can't get the Minecraft icon from wherever the ROYGB sticks are?

So when he puts up his posters declaring that he wants to find the sticks who most people probably consider to be actors, who else would respond than the one stick we on the outside have seen before, the one stick who knows that the videos may be scripted but the abilities are certainly real?

When Purple sees Mango's Minecraft basement, they're looking around in awe, sure, but given that the use of Minecraft mechanics seems to be restricted outside of Minecraft, to the point that Mango needed to make a shady alleyway deal to get his hands on a command block…well, I'd be surprised too.

But they recognize the Nether portal for what it is, and they don't hesitate to follow Mango through.

There's probably a lot to be said regarding Purple's motivations at this point- given the assumption that Vs. LoL happened off-camera, for Purple to then turn around and lure the sticks into the parkour trap for Mango…there's something more going on there, there's gotta be. Something that might have been expanded on in a musical number, perhaps?

however this post took several hours of thinking to do and the better part of a day to make legible for tumblr, and i wound up passing out at one point, so i think i'm done for now wodjskdkd. i'd like to think i've at least clarified which videos would be available in-universe and why.

now if anybody needs me, i'm gonna go rewatch s3 and cry again :',D

[inksandpensblog]

spoilers beneath the cut for AvM31

I saw all these names and I wondered something

Yep, that's consistent

But

Hmm, interesting. My friend @luizastarry suggested that maybe commands are perception-based, rather than based on the actual filenames. Which would explain this difference too

But wait

then

does that mean it's not his actual name it's just how he sees himself-

[karimationkat]

Ages are a weird thing in alan becker stickverse.

I can accept that the hollow heads are immortal and that the fight site gang don't age because of them being bound to a site where they can respawn. But Purple, Purple is always a weird case. Somehow got to an Apple Computer, even in AvLoL somehow got to Alan's PC but couldn't find their way to the nether portal in avm season 3 real time. Another weird thing is the aging.

Purple first debuted in avm 8 which was published June 2018. Now, we know that Outernet sticks age and grow. Purple is a Outernet stick, at least from what we know and their parent's grave and avm season 3 takes place in June 2021. So 3 years passed. Purple didn't change physically at all. Purple has been the same height. We don't know much about the sticks anatomy and biology but it seems to be very similar to that of humans. People usually grow a lot/fast till the age of 15-18, this is round about the age range we have for Purple in their first appearance.

What we also know is that Purple is just as tall as/taller then their parents. This was before of their debut. If we now add the 3 years so that we're up to date with Purples latest appearances, we would get an age range of 17-21.

Now, what confuses me is how KO/MT sees Purple as the same as Gold. This either means that Purple just looks very young or is the same age as Gold. But Gold couldn't be a legal adult, since KO/MT had to sign that waver in avm ep 30 flashback. Plus Gold is shorter than KO/MT (if we assume that Gold inherited the tall genes from KO/MT).

In short: I'm trying to figure out the age of a stickfigure based on their height.....

Spoiler alert: There are no set ages and it's hard to set one since barely have any references besides Alan commenting at one point that the CG would be like 12 year old children AND ISN'T NOT HELPING.

[aannonn]

a lil' headcanon of mine that I couldn't include in my last post...

Welp- At the same time this is a headcanon, this is also a lil' analysis of how the drawn StickFigures are pretty different compared to the StickCity StickFigures when u think about it...

Okayyy... Almost this whole thing is just me rambling about it.... So let's start-1!

Honestly.. I was thinking about the ColorGang's ages yesterday at night and- A thought suddenly crossed my head;

"What if the StickFigures that are drawn in art programs don't have ages?"

aand I know that sounds crazy but- bear with me

We all know that The Second Coming and the RYGB were never kids, right..? Like- They didn't come from a mother.. They never had a mother in the first place. Much less a father.

The Second Coming (and the other HollowHeads that Alan created) was drawn while the RYGB came from an site; They never were actually born, they were just created. (Does that make sense? lol)

And, even after many years have passed ever since their creation.. They still look the absolute same. Because drawings do not grow up like normal human beings would. They are drawings.

Unlike with Purple and Gold; They both were kids at some moment in their lifes. They both had a mother and a father. They both had lives the moment they were born.

While with the StickFigures.. They are simply drawings who came to life.

They never grew up, because there was nothing to grow up. They don't have ages, as they were never newborns to start a life-long.

They were never kids, teens, adults- Or anything like that. Once again, they are drawings.

This proves that; The drawn StickFigures are pretty different from the StickCity StickFigures, even though they are all StickFigures.

While the StickCity StickFigures did went through all the stages of life; ChildHood, TeenHood, AdultHood, then Old-AgeHood (idk what else to call it lol), the drawn StickFigures didn't.

They never had a life to begin with, they just came to life somehow. But in reality, they don't really have a life where they will go through old-age. The only thing that can make them disappear from existence itself is if all of their files are permanently deleted.

The only thing that can make them change is if the artist changes something in their design. Otherwise, they will remain the same.

They aren't younger nor older; They are drawings, and they are how old they are ever since their creation.

Nine(9) years have passed ever since Second's creation, which means that he's nine(9) years old, right? The Second Coming is a drawings that is now currently nine(9) years old.

Does that mean that Second is supposed to actually be a nine(9) years old? No.

Nine(9) is how old he is ever since he was created. Nine(9) years of him existing doesn't determine his actual age, but rather his age of creation and existence.

Thing is; None of the drawn StickFigures are actually meant to have ages. They can be a hundred years old but that still will change absolutely nothing. Because they are drawings, and drawings do not grow up or go through all the stages of life.

Maaaaanyyyyy years may have passed and they will still remain the same.

However; As much as drawings do not have an actual age, it is up to us (and the creator) to imagine them with ages if we wish for them to have ages.

It's like- An cartoon character, you know? A cartoon character is just a drawing that is animated in a way that it makes it seems like it's alive, when in reality it isn't.

A cartoon character will be how old it is ever since their creation, but it's also up to the creator of the character to determine how old the creator wishes the character to be.

Like- For example;

Rainbow Dash can just be eleven(11) years old ever since her creation, since she was created in 2003, but does that mean that she's actually eleven(11)? No.

The creator said that she's in her adult years, even though Rainbow Dash was created only eleven(11) years ago and, therefore, is eleven(11) years old.

So basically; A drawing do not have an determined age, so it is up for own interpretation.

So another basically; My headcanon is that the ColorGang (+ The HollowHeads sticks created by Alan) do not have ages, so they aren't actually kids, but they like to think they are around 9-13 years old, since being around 10-13 years old is how Alan views them, while being around 9-10 is how old they are ever since their creation.

So yea- That's my headcanon. And lil' analysis. Hope you didn't get too confused about it! ;')

Welp! I think that's it..? xD

Cya u all in my next post! <3

[kaycapo]

Spoiler alert! ↓

We have a new villain? 😶

It's definitely not chosen or victim, because neither of them have a white space in their head. Also this stick is grey, while cho and vic are black

So this is someone new! Interesting 👀

They are also seen to be chasing (well probably trying to kill) after second. I'm assuming they are part of the team rocket organization, and are after second and chosen. I think second was probably seen defeating dark, and is wanted too along with chosen

Also

Chosen glitching while heading towards Alan's PC?

I think that means the new stick villain got him with his gun (I kinda wanna call him striker, cuz he strikes people with his gun)

And chosen decided to go to Alan for help

I kinda hope that second is already in the internet, so the fighting sticks have to help chosen instead (idk, I just like the thought of them interacting without second there)

[illmamnim]

Going insane over AvM for a moment

I'm the opposite of a math person, I can't even visualize numbers properly, but I REALLY want to talk about Animation vs. Math from a storytelling and animation perspective, utilizing my recent math knowledge (literally had a math test 3 days ago, that's mad).

The obvious, as with "Animation vs." usually, is the build-up and delivery of story, character and themes with no language (unless you count growls as language) and no expressions- just acting and sound design. However, what shined about Animation vs. Math specifically, is that there is, well, math. A language on its own, and with it's own logic. The utilization of this logic creates the entire premise of the video and they undoubtedly used it creatively.

Second is playing around with numbers and finally reaches 100, a minor, unintended goal. We all know that numbers are infinite, but seeing the minimal space that 100 takes, conveys the feeling of infinity to a T. We get introduced to the antagonist, ie^(iπ), and the goal- a way out, supposedly.

He plays some more and is slowly reaching squares and roots. Here's where you can start to understand that this isn't a flat world of calculations, not like a notebook or whiteboard. This is mathematics visualizing before him- the numbers reaching a 3 dimensional space we can't even see. But fret not, they still don't just throw you into the deep end. Second continues to explore and unravels numbers based in letters and calculations. With a little more testing he managed to summon ie^(iπ) (a real "true-name magic" moment) and to chase it.

In this action scene we see the mechanics we've learned so far being used with things that are not numbers, showing that they too can be broken and reconstructed, and we are introduced to how those mechanics can lead into reactions that are translated in to in-universe physics. All leading us towards a more multi-dimensional understanding that'll help the later scenes not feel overwhelming.

The space continues to be manipulated as ie^(iπ) escapes. Accidentally, Second stumbles into an i and the dot falls, helping him discover the short-hand into visualizing the graph they exist in. X and Y axis let him create a circle and play with its mechanics as well, leading to yet another summon of e^(iπ) and a battle, only now Second can manipulate calculations in a 3d space more efficiently.

At this point, I have no idea what any of the references mean even in concept, so I'm just going to focus on story.

Second fights e^(iπ) to a breaking point and they decide to work together so that Second may finally leave and e^(iπ) can fix things. We see all the things we've learned so far used to create a circle and fill it to the brim so that no point is un-calculated, a portal sending Second home. Coming full circle (haha) back to e^(iπ)=-1, just as we first learned at the start of the video.

A creative, epic, satisfying animation full of care, creativity and enough nerdiness to kill me. All I have to say is-

WHAT WERE THESE SHAPES? WHAT IS א?? THAT'S A HEBREW LETTER! WHAT?!

[chaosoftheages]

Drop a song that gives you Purple vibes and why.

Mine: I Don't Smoke by Mitski

Analysis: The lyric "I am stronger than you give me credit for" is a good representation of the "don't give up" attitude somewhere inside of Purple that brought him to where he is now. Back when he was a child, Navy always thought of him as weak because of his inability to win their sparring matches. Navy thinks of him as a weak, helpless child. The lyric represents the fact that he isn't a weak and helpless little kid anymore. He's a person with feelings and emotions and thoughts, and he is strong. He's stronger than Navy thinks he is.

[stick-named-figure]

AVM episode 30 spoilers. analysis essay of a musical part from the episode and it's story implications.

look i'm writing an essay about the music in episode 29 (for fun, yes actually) but the scene where king is blasting purple in episode 30 uses purple's motif and i have many things to say about that. i'm sure it's been pointed out before but this is my analysis.

as soon as purple stands up the arpeggio synth from episode 29 starts.

green reaches out to purple and a faint clarinet melody plays (which bears a passing resemblance to the first thing green "says" to purple in episode 29). it fades right into purple's response, a quiet low note on a (presumably) solo violin which is then joined by a section to complete the "call" of purple's motif.

there's a repetition of that call in the transition as purple approaches king before being hit by the black hole beam or whatever, and then as king aims the beam at purple, their full motif plays.

this is the motif that plays during the "breakdown" scene in episode 29, when purple is recalling their attempt at ascent. i don't think that purple's elytra are thrown from them just because. it puts purple on the ground.

obviously it was necessary that purple lost their elytra for king to see this and realize what purple is and could be to them. i'm sure i'll write another essay about it in a bit. either way, purple can't ascend here. they can't meet their parent's expectations.

that's kinda the point from this scene forward. they're never going to meet their expectations. they're walking forwards on the ground because it's not their parent on the other side of the staff, it's king.

the motif isn't just purple's motif, it's the motif for when purple is trying to show that they're strong. i don't think purple is trying to prove to their dad that they're strong here, or even to king. it's either to prove it to themself or to green.

the motif develops as king starts to realize what they're doing to purple. it starts to shift towards the same ascending melodic shape as the scene king's remembering. there's that same swell in the music as the stick figure on the other side of king is swept away, and that same silence as they leave king's sight.

again, the music returns because king is doing something about what just happened.

king's reaction is different because this time what happened is entirely their fault, and this time, they can do something about it.

[softgaychild]

AvM’s Multiverse

The AvM Nether is a gateway realm to the Multiverse. Season 1 kept things pretty close to how Minecraft actually is with minor/tiny hints of things not being 100% vanilla here and there. However, “The Nether” was where things began to get crazy. By the way this is gonna be a long post cuz I’m bad at condensing my analysis.

For example, Blue, Green and Purple’s adventure in “The End”. That should’ve been the first sign that this was a multiverse with varying levels of reality. Firstly, the working end city ship, then the dragon going through the end portal, and lastly the dragon egg hatching. These were signs of a fact that worlds connected to desktop Nether portals have different worldly functions than others. The Skyblock world with the sentient mob civilizations (Spider Colony, Sea Kingdom, Drowned Pirate Crew) was another case where certain things just didn’t line up with what we see in Vanilla Minecraft. Also the killer bunny.

Then after the Season 1 experience with the the Nether, this allowed season 2 to become more wild and crazy with what happens because the multiverse showed that things can get wilder. And so they brought that wildness to the desktop. The Redstone contraptions completely violating any laws existing with Minecraft Redstone. Green making a working robot. The drugged chicken music battle with functioning guitars. And the big kicker, the lucky blocks, that being a mod of it’s own.

And let’s not forget the absolute amazing cases of reality breaking that is Season 3. Firstly, a more subtle reality break is the all out war that occurs with the Piglins, I won’t comment on mass mob sentience as season 1 already showcased those existing. However the war wouldn’t occur within Minecraft as Piglins flee from Zombie Piglins, and Zombie Piglins are neutral towards Piglins. However the war happens nonetheless. 

Then of course there’s the ending of the episode with the witch. And oh boy does that witch break reality so much. I’ll just summarize the witches reality breaking as, transfiguring living objects into inanimate objects while they still retain their ability to live and move, just with whatever limitations exist within the new form, alongside animating inanimate objects. 

Moving onto the infinite parkour trap, which I think is very possible due to the command blocks used. But we can’t ignore the elephant in the room that is the beacons and their ability to teleport things. This is a popularized idea for another use for beacons and has been used as such in other medias, however it’s not Vanilla, far from it actually. And then the multiple beacons being used to transport themselves between levels of the trap and even into the actual game of Minecraft itself. 

And this is where a distinction has to be made. Alexcrafter28′s Minecraft is just straight Vanilla Minecraft. No mods, no reality breaking, no nothing. Their world is the basis of what Minecraft is. Not to mention the fact that this is the one and only time we see a player character (not counting Herobrine or the Steves he spawns willy-nilly.)

Moving on from that, we have the Titan Ravagers world, which has Kaijus, villager civilizations that can develop jobs beyond the Vanilla ones and Pillagers that function on a more violent militia/gang mentality (as opposed to show up and genocide the villagers.) That world in all reality is a lot more basic when you think about it on a larger scale with the rest of the Multiverse. 

Then we’ve got the biggest smack in the face to Minecraft logic. King Orange and his Command Block staff. The capabilities of this single weapon is phenomenal. The ability to use any Minecraft command and even fake commands (like the force hold, bounded, and electrified commands) at a users whim is fascinating and very much outside of the realm of possibility within Minecraft. 

And another titanic moment that turns it’s back on vanilla, the Icon blocks themselves. They give whoever holds them creative mode and can summon damn near anything within the multiverse. Combine that with the staff (a custom creation that breaks logic once more) and you’ve got an absolutely unstoppable weapon. Not to mention the fact that it can create a black hole. But why stop at one? Go to another desktop, create a portal and boom, now you’ve got yourself two Icon blocks in the space connecting the multiverse, what a great idea. Let’s hope they don’t fall into the hands of a vengeful vilomah wearing a crown. Oh wait, that happened. And now you’ve got the fused Icon blocks. Combine that behemoth of a thing with the staff and you’ve got the most powerful creation in all of the multiverse. So strong that it was the cause of the multiverses destruction (but only temporarily.) This thing can do everything. And if you’re a creation of Minecraft itself? Get absorbed chump! Wanna stop the creation of the new and more powerful black hole? Get blasted and your very body destabilized nerd! There was literally no stopping this weapon once it got activated.

Now let’s go back to the Minecraft worlds that defy vanilla and look at the literal best version of the classical series, the Monster School world. A world not only with mob sentience, but the very internet cryptid that haunted most Minecraft players’ dreams, Herobrine, is their teacher. What does he teach? Many things. A truly powerful being hidden behind a mere Nether portal. His ability to summon Steves controlled by him and his moment patterns make you question what even are the bounds and limits to his powers. The world itself is fairly basic, however it containing the minor deity that is Herobrine is what catapults it far from Vanilla.

Next up is the Warden, and this is the one that first allowed me to realize that the Nether was a multiversal space. Once again, this is a fairly basic world, however, the backstory and lore of the Warden in this world, compared to what we’re given in terms of Vanilla, is what draws this away from your normal Minecraft world. In Vanilla it’s implied that the Warden is from a different dimension and that it’s a part of the skulk as a defense mechanism. The ancient city was an underground base that got attacked and overrun by the skulk/Warden. However in this world, the flashback we see tells us that the Warden acted as a golem of sorts, being a gentle giant that befriended and defended the villagers of the underground civilization. What happened to this civilization? We don’t know, but the playing of a flute helps calm it down in it’s (literal) blind rage against Second Coming.

Lastly, we’ve got the Note Block Universe. First, the name supports my claim. Second, mobs flying, singing, and communicating through song. All of this is the stuff I’m talking about. Not to mention the usage of the Note Block that Green held and how the lever stretched out the notes. All further evidence towards the multiverse housing worlds with varying levels of Vanilla breaking content. 

To close this post out, I’d like to give my own personal prediction for the final boss of Season 5 (since Season 4 looks like it’ll progress how Season 2 did, acting as the calm before the storm.) Since we got a hint of mods’ existence in Season 2 with the lucky blocks (both regular and Emerald,) I believe that the final boss will be the Wither Storm from Minecraft: Story Mode. Here’s why I believe this to be the course of the future. It would completely shift the setting for the final battle as 9 times out of 10, they’ll make the fight occur within the Overworld of another world. The existence of mods and the recent popularity of the Wither Storm mod would shoot up an interest in this specific creature. Plus, we’ve only seen the Wither twice, but have never seen the group face off against it together, let alone fight it. Plus this would further cement the idea of the Nether being a Multiverse because then modded content would simply be in another universe separated by a Nether portal.

That’s it folks. If anyone read this all the way to the end, thank you for suffering through my ramblings. This post took me a couple hours to write due to ADHD and trying to have Youtube going in the background but getting too invested in what was playing. (Probably should’ve turned on some lo-fi in hindsight.)

[chorda-tendinea]

the very odd assortment of things that king does and doesn't know

so. i've been thinking about this forever and now i've realised thanks to a post by @/itzcomedia (link in notes) that i never typed this theory up!! therefore it's now time to speedrun before ep 30 comes out

firstly, we all know that king knows things that they shouldn't. here's a list for posterity: 1. from the mission briefing scene in parkour, we can see they knew that the colour gang had a minecraft block 2. they knew where the block was supposed to be on their desktop 3. they knew about yellow's fascination with command blocks, and blue's addiction to netherwart

now, the question is how they got this information.

theory 1: youtube

in the parkour mission briefing scene they had one map that played a clip taken directly from the original avm. therefore, they could have access to youtube, or at least a way to emulate it.

hence, they could've watched the avm shorts in order to gain information on the colour gang. in particular, they likely watched ep 6 (command blocks) and ep 4 / ep 20 (potions / piglin war) to gain the information they have on blue and yellow.

however, in the same scene, their map diagrams also show the block in the taskbar, instead of in the start menu.

the thing is, if they'd indeed watched ep 6 (command blocks), they would have known that the block was in the start menu, since it gets shown in literally the first 10 seconds of the video.

in addition, they would've also known if they'd watched ep 1 (the rediscovery) since that episode starts with second finding the block in the start menu.

then the conclusion would be that king only watched the original avm, and not any of the subsequent shorts, right? WRONG LOL

the map diagram they drew for purple showed the colour gang's desktop with the windows 10 interface, instead of the windows 7 interface that was used in the original avm.

so, while this theory is still a fair possibility, i think that most of their info might not have come from stalking the colour gang on youtube, since if they had, they wouldn't have given purple the wrong location.

but yknow what would've been a source of information on the lads but not on the location of the block? purple.

theory 2: purple

after vs league of legends, purple became friends with the colour gang, although we never got to see much of it. however, i'm willing to bet that if they had more time to interact outside of what we saw in vs league / the witch / parkour, they probably could've learnt a lot about the colour gang organically. like!! they're all so excitable that i don't think they'd be guarded about their interests at all, yknow?

also in vs league, the desktop used the windows 10 interface, so if purple had reported the events back to king, king could've known about the interface change, but not the block being in the start menu (assuming they only watched the original avm).

this would also imply that most of purple's friendship with the colour gang took place offscreen, which i honestly don't know how to feel about.

so!!! in conclusion, i think both explanations are still plausible? honestly the inconsistency in mango's knowledge could be explained away as a continuity error but that's not fun to think about, so i'm assuming that isn't the case for the purposes of this theory.

[fantasma-de-la-cueva]

I was watching Alan Becker AvM and I have the need to talk about the fact/detail that Purple compensates his lack of raw force with brains and cunning. Hell, I think this cunning is a trait underrated by the fandom; we know and talk of his backstabber tendencies, his treacherous side, his ambitions and now his daddy issues, but I don’t see too much people talking about how smart he is

I mean:

—Slips his way to a computer and becomes the ruler of a village, a ruler loved enough that his subjects made a statue of him. Also the fact that he knew about the ender dragon egg and how to avoid an enderman attack, which would allow him to fight without risking to suffer an attack from them. This means that collecting the ender eyes was more likely stealling them since if they didn’t sensed him they never knew what killed them.

—Manipulated Green and Blue by making them co-dragons once he found out their potential as rivals and stairs to his goal. He drags them into fighting the ender dragon, limiting to observe and wait until he could steal the egg. And even if the plan had a little turn he still obtained the egg. I have to say that when he obtained his elytra he was searching for any trap until he was secure it wasn’t any (it kinda backfires, but also noted he ignored the chest to go for the elytra)

—In AvLoL he hacked the game programing, that required some brains. When he got caught and his clones destroyed; did he engaged on a fight knowing he is physically weak? Yes, but first he obtained all the champion’s powers by eating their data. Second was shocked when he did it. And why to battle a fight with a moral code if it means a clear lose? He just went onto the most pragmatic and smart decission there (also, it’s seems that the baron responded to its own code)

—He manipulates the gang into falling into a trap. Maybe planned by King Orange and citating tv tropes “It seems thanks to the videos that they knew about their competitive tendencies, always getting more intense when some competition happens”. So the fact is that they still didn’t trusted him if AvLoL is cannon, yet they fell in the trap is impressive and shows his charisma and ability to easy win others’ trust while exploting their flaws.

—How do you fight the Second Comming, the succesor of The Choosen One and one of his friends that is the one that throws himself to battle with no fear? How can you steal one of their most valuable treasures in the PC while they are watching you? Only pretend that you aren’t up to nothing and try to approach the minecraft cube. If you have to battle against them don’t engage into a battle; just use the environment and a few punches at your favor. This sequence for me is fascinating, Purple, after trying to fight SC and Red unsuccessfully just goes into a more aggresive strategy for someone like him: he just threw a few punches to confuse and keep them away from him, used the start menu to make the strongest back off and while they got up and lunged he only sliped towards the cube from the menu while jumping off into the portal. The cube was his target, engaging in a fight would had made him fail since he isn’t strong enough, so he just used his brains to slip out while accomplishing his mission. And it worked at least until the scene where Red was following him with the Piglin kid and his hoglin.

Purple is very smart and cunning and it makes sense since he had to be on his own, he was the one caring for his mother in a hostile world, his father made clear he is physically weak and when “Orchid” died he had to travel, maybe from PC to PC and maybe the internet (and if it’s true this means he had to escape from foes stronger and more dangerous than him, also the chaos of TCO and TDL going on. It would be worst if he comes from the internet since he would had lived it as a child, hardly a teen); all alone, being a weak fighter and only his brains to protect him and helping him to survive.

But let’s remember that he has ambition and determination, so this three traits combined let him slip and escape from dangerous situations and, in consequence survive. He probably learned skills not only from his father, but also from observing his surroundings and elements in it, analyzing the best ways to use them in practical means rather than just throw himself into some “epic stickman fight”. Jokes on “Indigo”, his son became stronger in his own way.

Sadly Purple doesn’t seems to see this due to his dad influence and his flaw of trusting and willness to impress authority figures by proving himself to be strong and useful, with addition of his own poor self-steem he didn’t had time or will to improve this side of himself until reaching a peek point in any positive way; maybe he sees his cunning as a fiendish flaw product of his past, abandonment, loneliness and need to survive in a world that would had teared him alive if he didn’t used it in the way he did. If the series continue after this season I hope to see him getting closer to the stick gang, as they are willing to accept him as how he is and maybe help him realize that his brains aren’t a flaw, but something wonderful and then teaching and letting him improve and become stronger in his own unique, fascinating way.

[wowieeitsisa]

I find it funny that some of my "freshly baked thoughts in the heat of the moment" are smart af but god i'm dumb af when it comes to being consistent

[inksandpensblog]

We completely misinterpreted the hug scene

I was going to make this into a nice, well-composed essay, with each section talking about a different aspect of the episode's construction or execution, and about narrative theming and character arcs, and about why so many people thought this scene was enough to ruin the episode for them. I was going to do that, but then it took me eleven hours to try and narrow down what the actual problem with the scene was, when taken into context with the entire rest of the episode and episode 29; and then another three hours to realize what the actual intent of the scene had probably been and why nobody, including myself, seemed to have picked up on it (except for Lui and @k1ttyadventurer apparently-). So instead of the nice essay, you're getting a conceptual overview of my entire thought process, from beginning to end, as I tried to figure out the deeper reasons behind why everyone hated this scene so much, and then why we all had it wrong. You're welcome.

For the sake of internal consistency, I'm invoking author's bypass and using the names my server-mates and I have picked up for these characters. King shall henceforth be known as Mango, his child as Apricot, Purple's dadfigure as Cobalt, and Purple's momfigure as Orchid.

--

What started me on this path, was this thought: We didn't like Mango's reconciliation with Purple, but aside from pacing issues, Mango's arc (thematic, character, narrative, etc.) is pretty solid. So if the problem isn't with Mango's side, it must be with Purple's.

So, what was wrong about the way Purple's arc was written? Was it just that reconciliation scene in episode 30, or was it something from back in episode 29 that didn't show its full implications until now?

But, again, Purple's arc in episode 29 alone is pretty solid. So, the problem was just the reconciliation scene. And, again, for Mango's arc the scene works, it's only for Purple's that it doesn't.

So, what's wrong with it? Does this scene contradict episode 29 in some way? That's how a lot of us felt, at first, I think. Purple learned last episode that he didn't need acceptance from Cobalt, and he follows through on that in this episode, choosing to do what HE thinks is right and not what he thinks will earn him approval, and his reward is...symbolic acceptance from Cobalt? It didn't make sense, and sat wrongly with many of us.

--

But I still couldn't pin down why this didn't work, so I circled back. Maybe it was the relationship dynamics? Was that why many of us didn't like the idea of Mango being Apricot's father instead of their older brother, at first?

--

But then I noticed something amazing: if you watch the episode while viewing Apricot as Mango's sibling, and then watch it while viewing Apricot as Mango's child...nothing about Mango's arc actually changes, on a thematic level. It all still works, no matter which interpretation you go with.

Why, then, is the distinction given so much emphasis? Why is it important that we know that Apricot is canonically Mango's child, if it doesn't change anything about Mango's story either way?

Because what it DOES change, is the implied dynamic between Mango and Purple, and the number of inverse parallels in their stories.

--

I also think that at this juncture it's important to note that Mango seeing Apricot in Purple is something nobody seems to have had a problem with, even people who didn't like the episode. It's literally just Purple seeing Cobalt in Mango that people had issues with. Purple's side of the story, again, is the one that seems to be flawed in either its construction or its execution.

--

Now, while the status of who Apricot is, to Mango, doesn't influence Mango's story much, something about Apricot that does hold heavy sway over Mango's story is Mango seeing Apricot in Purple. And, since this seems to be paralleled by Purple seeing Cobalt in Mango,  we'd naturally expect this element to have an equally weighty effect on Purple's story. But what does Purple seeing Cobalt in Mango actually DO, for Purple's story?

--

@kikoqueenofrats and @luizastarry mentioned how after seeing Mango's backstory, seeing him be likened to Cobalt felt wrong. Specifically, that if Mango was meant to become a new parental figure for Purple, then having him become the new Cobalt, instead of, say, the new Orchid, felt really wrong, given how poorly Cobalt treated Purple (and, in my opinion, given how well Mango appears to have treated Apricot, whom he had recently likened to Purple earlier in the scene).

This is when Lui first brought up the idea that maybe the hug scene wasn't supposed to be a comparison after all, but was actually supposed to show how Mango and Cobalt were different. @iluvylalevu brought up pacing issues again, as a possible reason why the idea wasn't communicated clearly enough to the audience. Then they both discussed how some different body language from Purple in reaction to Cobalt's approach would've gotten this story point if it was indeed the intended point of the scene across to the audience a lot better; made the irreconcilable differences between Cobalt as Purple knew him and Mango as whoever he became over the course of this episode a lot clearer. 

I missed what Lui had already figured out, though, because my eyes caught on the body-language conversation, and it made me remember something: Cobalt, again and again, no matter what, forcing Purple to get up again when he fell.

--

So, I muted the video, and watched the hug scene again, and observed Purple's body language. He doesn't look like he's expecting he'll need to fight, but...in my opinion, it doesn't look like he's expecting a hug, either.

--

...maybe what he was seeing, during that moment in episode 30, hadn't been Cobalt turned around and returning to accept him, like he'd learned to stop yearning for in episode 29. (And really, would it be in-character for Purple to imagine his dad doing that? I think he knew his father better than that.) Maybe he’d seen Cobalt coming to admonish him, again. He had just defied Mango, after all, and then failed to stop him. And Green and the others weren’t here, to accept him regardless of his failure. And Orchid wasn’t here to catch him, all that was left were petals. And when it wasn’t Orchid standing over him to shelter him, it was always Cobalt, looming. But he knows it’ll be worse, if he stays on the ground. So he gets up.

And then the hug closes in, and Cobalt is gone, and it’s Mango.

--

The episode isn’t trying to compare Mango to Cobalt, like some questionable construction and execution choices for the scene led audiences the web over to believe. Instead, it’s contrasting them. Mango isn’t “the better Cobalt,” he isn’t “who Cobalt should’ve been.” He isn’t “the Cobalt Purple needs,” because episode 29 established that what Purple NEEDS is to get out from under the shadow of Cobalt’s expectations. Mango isn’t Cobalt. Mango is Mango. And Mango accepts Purple, not because of anything Purple did, and not even because he saw Apricot in Purple; the only time Mango saw Purple as Apricot was in the wall drawing, never when they were looking directly at each other, never the same way that Purple mistook Mango for Cobalt. Mango accepts Purple, because he’s Purple. Just like Green said his friends would.

Which is much less of a rancid vibe than what we’d all thought we were seeing, when all of us most of us first saw the episode.

--

I'd like to thank my server-mates for letting me figure this out, and for asking me to make sure it's shared.

[zkylearnstherope]

In a place where the past and future exists at the same time, I caught a glimpse of you, you who are a parallel of me, we who are so similar, but will never meet...

Waving At Stars [AvPhysics] - AvA / AvM Fan-Made

Original character by Alan Becker

Authors Note

Was only supposed to draw a demo image for the last part of the Analysis. But I got too carried away again.

Tried something different for the background.

Horse reference image from Canva.

Loved this episode so much, I'm probably making at least two more comics.

[darubyprincx]

something i have realized about myself is that i love character analysis and getting into the bones of a story almost more than i love the work itself sometimes. i will dissect the plot, the themes, the details, EVERYTHING and sometimes i'll slap it back together and continue watching and sometimes i'll use bits and pieces and rearrange them while writing fic.

that's part of why i love AvA and AvM so much, i think, because the series is so well made and has so much time and love and details and effort poured into it that diving in and picking apart every little detail is as natural as breathing. id probably write a serious, properly formatted essay on each character's characterization if i liked writing essays! this series Does Not Miss. i love this SO much. ough