Joel Smallishbeans - Blog Posts

I’ve drawn a Joel. I’m not quite sure how that happened, as I set out to make a portrait of my new DnD character, but I was just drawing along and then I was like, huh, that looks an awful lot like the mezalea (did I spell that right?) king.

so, anyway

I did not look at a reference at any point in the process so sorry not sorry if it’s inaccurate.

Hi guys! Good news, I hucked my broken pencil at a wall in frustration, and it un-broke itself (mostly…), so I spent many hours making a boat boys animatic. Bad new, I don’t know how to sync audio, so I just had to record my iPad and play the song on a separate device. Its really bad quality guys (big sad), but I still think the actual animatic turned out pretty well, even if it’s still in the sketching phase. Anyway, the song is I Was an Island by John-Allison Weiss, go listen to it it’s so hilariously boat boys coded I can’t. Anyway, disclaimer, this is all for sillys and giggles. Also beware the angst.

some super silly Joel doodles!

Also, in smallidarity news:

Why. Why are they like this. /j

edit: blame the terrible quality of the drawings on my broken pencil. I take no responsibility. Unless you think it’s cool, in which case I take full responsibility.

another wip! I’ve had this idea in my head for years now, but I’ve finally decided to draw it. I haven’t added color yet, and perhaps I will later, or perhaps I won’t, but I’m super proud of what I have so far!

Every time I hear the song Immortals by Fall Out Boy all I can think of is how perfectly it fits Limited Life. This, just the line art, took me three hours, and I was just like “screw this, I’ll post this as it is anyway” because I was bored out of my skull and my brain was melting out my ears. Also, I don’t recommend looking at the tags because there are about three hundred of them because apparently everyone has to have a name, a gamer tag, three nicknames, and their name next to the smp they’re in.

The song (even if this snippet doesn’t include most of the part of the song I’m focusing on here):

You might have heard this song in the movie Big Hero 6!

edit: for some reason it only lets me have a certain amount of tags before it deletes the rest, so I guess everyone will have to settle with just one or two tags per person. Seriously. They have so many different tags that tumblr had to cut me off. Why is this fandom like this!?!!??!!? /j (but still I had to cut down on ALL the tags and it was a pain, and there’s still a bunch even majorly reduced)

I was listening to How to Be a Heartbreaker by MARINA and I realized it fit the boat boys perfectly

I might go back and add color later, but for now; behold…whatever the hell this is. Go listen to the song please this will make more sense I think?

This is, of course, all in silliness, I just thought it was funny. Also it’s a fun song.

Joel Smallishbeans is my favorite YouTuber, so I thought it a good idea to draw him.

I loved @lunarcrown’s drawing of him ripping his wings in double life, so I included the torn wings in the design.

(Also the pin says “#1 Etho Girlie”, which I head cannon that he wears around just to piss of Bdubs)

It's interesting how like each of the winners in each iteration of the Life Series can be simplified into caricatures of themselves from the PoV of us the viewers or the deities that I'm not bothered to name but is essential to the lore (cough cough). From each victor and their tragedies forms stories intertwined across participants and other seaons.

Starting with Grian, as the first victor and the organiser of sorts he is like one of isakei tropes but he doesn't get hit by a truck. He is like the playtester or control experiment to see if the games are a success or not, and considering the amount of attention the Life Series garnered during its first season, he was the successful victor pathing for the next to come.

Scott, the winner of Last Life, is the like the poster child of rebellion to the Watcher's perspective. A nuisance that challenges the boundaries of the game but also a player who is still under their influence and can be replaceable in a way. Someone who despite keeping his alliances and promises with his the other participants still wins fairly.

PearlescentMoon on the otherhand is a tragedy in Double Life. With a gimmick that's supposed to pair you with someone compatible and then being rejected by that one someone who was once your teammate would be the first blow to Pearl. But then been surrounded by others who seemingly have their soulmates figured out, it just emphasises the loneliness that you seem to carry. When you finally team again, it's more out of an obligation to survive and conquer over the others. Eventually ending in a dillema where it's only you can win but not both. So essentially Pearl's season was a tragedy of loneliness and isolation that caused by the distrust of others towards her being an omen of death and chaos.

Martyn's arc, compared to Scott was that he was stuck in history. From his time in Dogwarts with Ren influencing his playstyle and his clothing to his time back in Evo, his history just parts Martyn's storyline through Limited Life. Even as he slaughtered the others in the finale in a mindless bloodlust, it was because of his involvment with the Watchers and Listeners that caused him to become the poster-child for the Watchers. A moldable victor for their entertainment.

GTWScar in Secret Life is the misunderstood villian. An antagonisitc force because of the involvement of the Secret Keeper. A playtoy that the uppermanagement used and quickly discarded because of his involvement with Grian. An ever-hopeful force that drags Grian back onto the orbit and away from the Watchers. Yet to him, Grian is the Sun that he captivates him.

Finally Joel or Smallishbeans, he is the uncontrollable and rebellious comedian of sorts that did what Scott couldn't do. He was able to push and persist against the boundaries and didn't fall under the Watcher's influence. He was almost a complete pacifist towards others and his teammate and alliances and only then like the other victors, did he win.

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pt.39 lmao 13 more to go of thoeries and headcannions I haven't really watched scotts pov yet so most of my information is like hedacannons and stuff oof unfortunately idk what to write for real life as it kinda being short gives me barely enough information and I havent ven watched cleos pov so even bigger oof

So Joel's car, beating all other celestial beings and other representations has become the defining symbol of his victory by outbeating the other depictions that include Jupiter (black hole too) from celestial beings and charriot from tarot cards (I'm not sure). Compared to all the other symbols of previous winners, Joel's theme is outlandish against all the other astral bodies.

But besides this contradictory stylisation, Joel's symbol does fit his and the cast of the Life Series' rebellion against the higher beings or the Watchers. With Wild Life being more passive compared to seasons like Limited Life or Last Life, the main objective could be boiled down to surviving against the enviornment/nature compared to surviving against players. With these wildcards that proved to be deadly even when peaceful, the players objectives were mainly on surviving together then compared to antagonizing each other until around the last sessions where PvP was mandatory to win. This would've angered the Watchers with the disruption of their eight week-long feast. So the symbol could be a lasting effect of a Fuck-you to the Watchers by playing unprecedentedly but still winning.

But another instance of definace is earlier in the Life Series where death and betrayal was rampant in Last Life yet Scott still remained loyal and disregarded the laws of the Boogeyman. And yet even as the Watchers tried to punish him, he still won fairly gaining him the representation of not just a singular star, but whole star systems. Him being an embodiment of the possibility of the players to rebel against the system that brought them there. Him being the person that planted the seeds of rebellion that sprouted into Joel with depictions of his car in multiple fanarts (I can't find rip) of essentially crashing the Watchers and leaving them in disarray.

___

pt 37 thrs and hdcnns im back

Ever since Third Life, Joel has be considered as the madman or wildcard of the Life Series considering his polar behaviours ranging from domestic to deranged whilst remaining isolated as a solitary team for the majority of the first few seasons. But where did his madness originate from for the subsequent seasons followig Third Life?

While watching Marytn's Third Life collection of combined episodes, Joel ever so states "If you're the red king then I can turn into the mad king" during the recruitment of Dogwarts pioneered by Ren ad Marytn. Possibly kickstarting his descent into madness when he joined the Desert Alliance breaking the seal that released the curse of insanity.

The following season of Last Life only insinuated his madness due to his drive to team alone and the introduction of the Boogeyman and premature bloodlust.

But yet as the seasons progressed, his amount of teammates grew from his duo with Etho as the Boat Boys, his trio of "brothers" of the Bad Boys and finally the Mounders which included Pearl, Bdubs, Mumbo and himself.

This all leads to Wild Life where although his faction only consists of Gem and himself, Joel has managed to succeed through countless obstacles through his journey overcoming his madness and channelling it into motivation to win whilst also protecting his "family".

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pt 35

Headcannons and Theories Pt. 31

So the finale of Wild Life finished around a week ago and essentially Joel pummeled through the final five remaining contestants and ultimately taking the crown as the victor for the sixth (seventh) season of the Life Series and with the final wild card being a culmination of all the previous wildcards except the randomized hunger, it's a safe assumption that the Watchers considered this season a delicious successor to Secret Life.

With 18 members participating that garnered over 180 deaths (186), those dieties who watch over each and every season of the Life Series called the Watchers feast upon the chaos and grief emanating from the pain originating from the players and the multitude escapades caused by the series of wildcards and the improptu angst and interactions between alliances and allies. Although the Watcher's prescence isn't as prominent as Secret Life, (cough cough Taskmaster) there's still details and other aspects of the Watchers incorporated into Wild Life.

Some of these aspects could include the wildcards. As Grian the creator or constructor of the Life Series in general, as control and power over the orchestrated aspects of the Life Series. Like the wildcards, tasks and twists similar to the power of the Watchers. As watchers, the Watchers are able to probe and instigate but not directly influence the players like Scar and his tasks in Secret Life.

Take the immortal snails. Beings of incapable power able to break the player constraints and move in unncanny ways all in the conquest to murder the linked player taken in the form of a snail. An animal nortorious for its slowness and naivete commonly portrayed by popular media has the highest kill count throughout the whole season. Inspired by the theory from the Rooster Teeth Podcast in 2014 that was later popularised by a Reddit post in 2016, the whole premise is that you gain immortality and one million dollars in exchange for an immortal snail that indefinately hunts after you as it itself is also immortal. Tying in with greed and the gain of money all in trade for the eternal worry of death that lurks all around you. Threatening your legacy built from one step of carelessness.

Yet other aspects of the Watchers continue to persist into the subsequent sessions of Wild Life. Like the Trivia Bot. A gameshow-like bot that is most likely inspired by Mettaton from Undertale, suits with the Watchers' polar behaviour of sparking fun, distrust and a precursor to the chaos to the finale. Yet all this fun cluminates to the finale where the chaos continues to rise to the pinnicle of the season where all but one wild card are mushed together for one minute and 45 sec where it stops. And a message of "The ending is yours... Make it WILD" would be the second season in a row of the Watchers or some other external force signifying the beginning of the end.

____

so ye here my summary of the watchers influence over wild life

(write side tangent about spider grian later )

Aight ranting time, can we appreciate how revolutionary Double Life was for the Life Series fandom.

The introduction of the soulbound mechanic introduced another potential method to interact and collaborate with different members of the community. In the previous canon Life Seires, most alliances were built of the members previously collaborating or being close friends (for majority of alliances, and this is not discounting that all the participants of the Life Series weren't already friends), but with the randomized pairing of Double Life, it forced new collaborations and interactions. Resulting in the mechanic transferring into the fandom's version of their Double Life, Woven Life.

Involving dozens of participants from authors, artists and animators such as rusty_courage, cherrifire, xmaruu, kitsuneisi, mudboowl etc.

(Non RPF)

But what stirred up the fandom into an absolute frenzy was the shipping potential of Double Life. We had Box Boys (Ren and BigB), the Homewreckers (Bdubs and Impulse) which were previously a ship in Hermitcraft and the Divorce Quartet (Pearl, Martyn, Scott and Cleo) which were pretty substanial new pairs but don't scale to the sheer amount of popularity the subsequent pairing recieved/s.

We got Scarlet Pearl which is not a ship but a fan favourite persona with her pairing with Tilly.

We got Boat Boys which are Joel and Etho which was a due no one initially expected but blew up to the fascinating dynamic they had.

Then we got Desert Duo again after the escapades of Third Life which produced lore upon lore of angst and tension which further fueled the shipping train for Scarian.

And finally we got the Ranchers, Team Ranchers or Rancher Duo consisting of Tango and Jimmy. Another pair the fandom did not expect but are instantly attached to. The amount of potential and ideas from this duo grew in number from their light-hearted dynamic to the angsty moments in the subsequent sessions was intense. Lore-wise, their pairings were eventually reunited during the Hermits x Empires Crossover in Season 9.

So basically Double Life was big for the Life Series fandom.

BRO GUYS I JUST WATCHED DOC's NEW EPISODE and it seems like this theory is standing up. Framing Scar seems like Joel. Joel putting the sign claiming it wasn't him seems like Joel. Etho tinkering with the alarm seems like Etho. IT'S THE BOAT BOYS

Theoreisiosous and Headcannonous Pt. 13

So before Doc or the other hermits reveal who the ore snatcher was, I want to explain my theory that Etho and Joel or the Boatboys were the real culprits when stealing Doc's deepslate diamond ore.

My reasoning is that Etho being the technical or redstone genius he is, just wants to have some fun poking the goat as he's rarely seen online or posts anymore. And why Joel is also included, is his ability to imitate or emulate the styles and characteristics of other hermits. Take example of him posing as Etho when creating the simplistic statues of different hermits and keeping that facade for a few weeks.

So with this duo, it's possible for both of them to be capable of being the ore snatcher. With Etho's technical genius of swapping the ore with empty deepslate WITHOUT breaking the machinery and Joel's imitative techniques by framing hermits such as Scar as the ore stealer.

But there are some holes or intricacies in this theory that contradict what is considered to be cannon information in Hermitcraft. Some of these being that Etho would be careful or downright avoiding intricate redstone technology and he's being spending less time on Hermitcraft, and that the sneaky or stealthy style of the oresnatcher doesn't match Joel's style of messing with other hermits.

But it's still a theory.

Thank you to at_sage and Swiftflame15 documents on reddit.

(r/HermitCraft)

https://www.reddit.com/r/HermitCraft/comments/1dnealn/second_draft_of_ore_snatcher_thing_thoughts/ - at_sage

https://www.reddit.com/r/HermitCraft/comments/1dmx7zj/the_master_document_pun_lol/#lightbox - Swiftflame15

Theoreisiosous and Headcannonous Pt. 13

So before Doc or the other hermits reveal who the ore snatcher was, I want to explain my theory that Etho and Joel or the Boatboys were the real culprits when stealing Doc's deepslate diamond ore.

My reasoning is that Etho being the technical or redstone genius he is, just wants to have some fun poking the goat as he's rarely seen online or posts anymore. And why Joel is also included, is his ability to imitate or emulate the styles and characteristics of other hermits. Take example of him posing as Etho when creating the simplistic statues of different hermits and keeping that facade for a few weeks.

So with this duo, it's possible for both of them to be capable of being the ore snatcher. With Etho's technical genius of swapping the ore with empty deepslate WITHOUT breaking the machinery and Joel's imitative techniques by framing hermits such as Scar as the ore stealer.

But there are some holes or intricacies in this theory that contradict what is considered to be cannon information in Hermitcraft. Some of these being that Etho would be careful or downright avoiding intricate redstone technology and he's being spending less time on Hermitcraft, and that the sneaky or stealthy style of the oresnatcher doesn't match Joel's style of messing with other hermits.

But it's still a theory.

Thank you to at_sage and Swiftflame15 documents on reddit.

(r/HermitCraft)

https://www.reddit.com/r/HermitCraft/comments/1dnealn/second_draft_of_ore_snatcher_thing_thoughts/ - at_sage

https://www.reddit.com/r/HermitCraft/comments/1dmx7zj/the_master_document_pun_lol/#lightbox - Swiftflame15

Its the Green Geckos :D

THEY GOT THIRD PLACE LESSGOOOO