schneefink

I've barely scratched the surface of the massive MCYT AUfest Battleship works bounty, but I'll be leaving for a week-long vacation with my gf at my grandparents' tomorrow so here's part 1 of recs. 11x fic, 1x webweave, 3x comics/art; a wild mix of AUs and genres and pairings, mostly for Hermitcraft, some Life Series, DSMP, QSMP.

( 11x fic, 1x webweave, 3x art )

It's one of those no-brain days, but it's almost the end of the month and I appreciated the excuse for "productive procrastination": it's monthly recs time. Four excellent Hermitcraft fics.

attempt thirty-three by Bee_4
13.6k, Joe &Cleo&Cub& Scar gen, time loop
Summary: A glimpse at the thirty-third time Joe Hills has woken up on Monday at 6:00 AM, and the attempt he makes to stop doing that, ideally, or at least get closer to a state where he doesn't have to live these four days ever again.
Why I love it: Heartbreaking, with just enough funny moments to make it better/worse and just enough hope at the end not to make it a tragedy, and a fantastic Joe voice.

fault lines by januarymorning
24.8k, Xisuma/Evil X (background polyhermits), NSFW
Summary: For a moment Xisuma feels as though the world has dropped out from under him— as though he has been sundered from it, and there is nothing below or around him as far as the eye can see— as though there is no anchor and nothing to grab hold of, only himself and a vastness on all sides. This world that he has built, the world his players have built— negligible, at best, hardly realer than a flicker on a silver screen. It would crumple like wet paper, if he told it to.
He is the universe cradling his players, holding them in his palm above a silence that’d claim them if he let it claim them. It would have had Scar. It would have had Cleo. It would have Joe, now, if he allowed it. They are so terribly fragile.
-
aka 4 times xisuma gets propositioned by his players who are expecting him to make use of certain admin privileges, and he is really not whatsoever interested in hurting them even though he theoretically should be according to some people. and 1 time that is, uh, NOT what happens.
Why I love it: Exploration of and different takes on admin powers on Minecraft servers are always interesting, and this one is great and gave me many Xisuma feelings.

so enlist every ounce of your bright blood by springbeetle
5.3k, Grian/Scar&Cub, captivity
Summary: “Actually, I was thinking of building a permit office,” Scar said carefully, and Grian’s feathers bristled up. “Don’t freak out, though, okay? I’m not reusing ideas, never, perish the thought. We’re free thinking men, I’m taking inspiration. Opening doors to new experiences, really— digging deep.”
The basement, then. Grian skittered his gaze away from Scar’s, stared at one of their shulker boxes and envisioned the contents with gusto. He’d gotten fantastic at counting his inventory if he was having trouble thinking correctly, within the boundaries their new admins preferred. He had to keep his thoughts in order if he was going to come up with phrases like well, batter my fish sticks and fry me at the fair— the one time he’d tried that one out, Scar had laughed so hard that he’d fallen off a battlement and died, and One had punished Grian for the delay. Clearly he needed better material.
“And here I thought vex didn’t need to open doors,” he said lightly.
“Oh, we don’t, really,” Scar said, and alright, that was Cub. Cub was here. Cub was here.
Why I love it: Grian and Scar are captives of the Watchers and they do their best to make it through; Cub ~attempts a rescue. Hurts so good.

Snapshots from a Hermitcraft Wedding by Vanyel
2.3k, Ren/Doc, fluff
Summary: Making it official. Because they can.
Why I like it: Something light and sweet to end the list on.

mcytrecursive had author reveals. I wrote three fics! I have periods of feeling very insecure about my writing, so it was especially nice that I had a good time writing all three, felt very positively about them, and then got very nice comments.
The first two are probably readable without knowledge of the fic they are based on, but all of those are great and you should read them anyway.

cut your chains in shining blue for strifetxt, Hermitcraft
Recursing: Untamed Beasts by WhisperNorBury
1.6k, Cub & Scar gen, prequel
Summary: Five times Cub killed Scar's summoner.
AN: My assignment, and the hardest one to write. Especially to settle on the five things, for a good progression and to make each of them different and interesting. I think it turned out very well! I was almost done when I remembered that Minecraft has respawns so now most of it takes place on hardcore worlds.

Etho's Escort Service From Hell for alice_not_alice, Hermitcraft
Recursing: MailDemon AU by azzayofchaos
1.5k, Cleo & Etho gen, demon AU
Summary: Cleo has fallen into Hell again, and this time she might need the help of a friend to get out.
AN: I wanted to write a treat for Alice, discovered this AU in the prompts, and wrote it basically in one go. Cleo and Etho are so much fun together, and I was reliably informed that I did achieve "funny."

(watch) where fears and dreams come true for Odaigahara, Hermitcraft/Life series
Recursing: lost in the dark (he's got a heavy heart) aka Hunger AU by definitelynotshouting
2.2k, Grian & Scar & Cub gen, canon divergence
Summary: Scar came with Grian when he left Hermitcraft and figured out a different way to keep him fed.
Cub finds them.
AN: Tagged as "downright fluffy compared to the original (a low bar)," but it does still have some angst, it would not be Hunger AU Grian otherwise (at least not without changing the premise.) Hunger AU is very angsty which is great but also made me want fix-it fic (at least partially...) and when I remembered that it's set in season 8 and thus pre-Scarland I got the idea for this, and I think it works.

I also got a fantastic gift:
star of the west horizon by Odaigahara, Hermitcraft
Recursing: a rare talent indeed by these_godforsaken_halls
6.7k, Grian & Cub & Scar gen, fairy AU post-canon
Summary: “I’m leaving for a while,” Grian tells Xisuma, who goes very still indeed at the suggestion that a fairy might spend the night outside of the hollow. “Just for a few days, now that I’m healed– I won’t be going far, and I’ll be extremely careful, I swear it, you don’t even know careful until you’ve seen how careful I’ve been, and Scar’s saying I’m much better at hiding than I was, anyway, so there’s no need to worry on that account.”
“Goodness, er, well–”
“And I’ve already packed, including all the pixie dust I’ll need,” Grian says firmly, “but you can look through what I’m bringing with me, if you’d like. To be sure I haven’t taken anything I’m not supposed to.”
“I’m not sure that’s necessary,” Xisuma says, and this is good, because it means Grian successfully diverted him from the main thing he was likely to object to. Grian can fly circles around Xisuma if he’s devious enough. He used to dodge scouts all the time, before–
Before.
He used to bait hawks.
Why I love it: Gorgeous. Fantastic character voices and relationships, perfect post-canon road to recovery, beautiful backstory flashbacks, wonderful atmosphere, just, so good.

I had such a good time with this exchange, I already look forward to mcytblraufest, which is doing a Battleship format this year and I'm excited.

My first time signing up for the MCYT Excursive Exchange and I'm very excited! All of these stories are great and I'd love to read some more in those worlds, I hope you have fun playing in them :D

( General likes and DNWs )

( Dead Hometowns and Undead Machines )

( a rare talent indeed )

( Untamed Beasts )

Back in 2017 I made advent calendar recs for DD and I have thought about doing them again since but never really found the right incentive, and especially recently because most of what I read is MCYT, a fandom few people here are into.
Then I got the idea to do it on Tumblr instead since the MCYT fandom there is a lot bigger, and I enjoyed that a lot. Sometimes I could even tag the author of a fic directly, that was nice too.
I slightly underestimated how much effort it took. Fortunately I could copy many recs I'd made here before, that made it easier. The others I'll now copy over here.
Complete list on Tumblr

( 2024 MCYT advent calendar recs, ft. 8 new recs )


I also signed up to rec Life Series art for fanart_recs in the last month of assigned fandoms before it switches to open posting in 2025. Copying those here too:
( 4 Wild Life fanart recs )


Additionally I also did FIAB recs in December, the last of my regular once monthly rec posts, so overall I'm very happy with myself for how many recs I did in 2024, and December in particular. Fingers crossed I'll be able to keep it up in 2025!

I had a busy week and then I got so distracted by MCCI fishing that I didn't even post about FIAB yet (nor read or commented as much as I wanted, or do Christmas shopping...)

I got two great gifts:
somewhere a clock is ticking by Odaigahara, Life Series SMP
10.9k, gen, Grian & Cleo & Etho, space AU
Summary:
Scar had sounded friendly, over the comm. Delighted to hear Grian’s voice, the longing of a terraformer who’d been stuck away from living planets for ages creeping into his tone. Wait, Grian, are you coming in person? Can’t you stretch your delivery window a little? We could always say there were asteroid beasts trying to eat us. Etho would back me up, and it’s not like they could extend our contracts–
If there’s asteroid beasts, I’m staying right in my pilot’s seat where I can flee them in style, Grian had retorted.
No, no, only good things here, Scar had protested, the reports of beasts have been greatly exaggerated, and you know, we have algae, we all like algae, we’re all about eating your greens–
Scar had aimed for Grian’s center of mass. His stunner had been set one level below lethal. If it had hit where he was aiming, Grian would’ve had worse heart palpitations than this, bordering on deadly. Trouble breathing.
Certainly trouble escaping.
Why I love it: The worldbuilding is very smart and cool, the action and tension work so well, the character voices are excellent, the mix of serious and banter is great, the writing is so good and so is the pacing, many feelings. (Do mind the "ambiguous ending" tag!)

How to tell if Etho likes you? Asking for a friend by alice_not_alice, Hermitcraft SMP
1.2k, Etho & Scar & ensemble, Hermitcraft season 10
Summary: “I have a question. Don’t ask me why I need to know, that knowledge lies beyond the realm of any mortal mind. My question…is this: how do you tell whether or not Etho likes you?”
Why I love it: This is very sweet and touching, so many of the answers and interactions were absolutely perfect, and the ending is great.

So it has been a very good FIAB for me. I got a very nice comment from my recip on one of my stories; not yet on the other work but I did get some comments from other people which helped me rein in my anxious impatience.


Plus, some recs for FIAB works not for me: ( 2x Hermitcraft, DSMP, 2x Star Wars, Naruto )


I don't really understand why I got so into MCCI fishing (but at least it happened to many people.) ( MCCI fishing )

I recced the HotGuy Comics Zinethology last month, and that reminded me that there are other similar projects in the Hermitcraft/Life series fandom (if not quite at the same scale.) They are all so cool! I don't recall these being such a big thing in any other fandom I've been in. Maybe that's a coincidence of which fandoms I've been in or maybe they really are especially popular in this corner, but either way I enjoy it.
Have a few recs for some of my other favorites, in addition to HGCZ. They're all made by many, sometimes dozens of people, so I'm not mentioning authors.
As for canon knowledge required, yes to fully enjoy it but the art is gorgeous either way. With the exception of the Scarland art book I think, I would be curious to hear impressions from people unfamiliar with the fandom.

The Art of Scarland – A Community's Imagination
An art book for the theme park Scar built on Hermitcraft season 9. Scarland is a gorgeous build and this is a fantastic art book that covers so many things from history to architecture to festivals to merch. It's so pretty and so well thought out! I want to visit. Finding all the other Hermits (and others from MCYT) with their own roles and/or as visitors was also fun.
You can download it for free, but they even made a physical version benefitting charity that's now on my bookshelf (with bonus pretty stickers and a postcard!)

The Hermit Arcana
A fan-made Hermitcraft tarot deck! The art is gorgeous and very cool and the subject choices are inspired. Each card comes with an explanation of why the motive was chosen. I showed a fannish tarot deck (Hades-inspired iirc) to DD once, who's into tarot, and she said that while it was very pretty the subjects for the cards were chosen for the names of the cards and didn't fit the meanings at all; I don't know enough about tarot to judge these ones but the explanations make sense to me.
(They just started an interest check for a physical edition here.

Hermitzine 9: H is for Hermitcraft
The 9th (!) and latest edition of Hermitzine, a project that has been ongoing since 2019. This edition is structured like a children's alphabet book and features beautiful and cute art from several seasons as well as stories, and poems (!), and more.
For both this one and the next one I haven't read most of the older editions yet but I'm sure they're also very cool.

Traffic Zine 5th Edition | Secret Life
The fifth and latest edition of the Traffic Zine (started back when the series was still more often referred to as Traffic rather than Life series), featuring absolutely fantastic art and good stories about the best moments from Secret Life.

Hermitcraft Season 9 Zine
Absolutely fantastic art and good stories (yes I'm repeating myself but so what), this time about the best moments and builds etc. from Hermitcraft season 9.

There are more than these, e.g. the GeminiTay fanzine, the Hermit Horror Zine and the Hermitcraft Colouring Book - I just discovered these and have not had time to properly look through it yet but they look very cool, especially the horror one. And more are currently being worked on, e.g. HermitPost. So many talented fans in this fandom (including many people great at organizing, clearly, which is a very important skill), it's great.

Wdym leaving fic comments does not count as being productive when I should be studying or doing chores, mean.


For my August recs, first 4 recs of my favorite stories from the MCYTBLR AU Fest Summer 2024, and then the Hotguy Comics zinethology, all of which require no canon knowledge.

( a faerie AU, a mech AU, a cyberpunk AU, and a zombie apocalypse AU walk into a fandom... )


The HOTGUY COMICS Zinethology by the hgcz team and contributors (Hermitcraft)
410 pages of comics fics and art, gen, Scar & Grian et al, superhero AU
Summary:As with all tales, this one is a labor of love; inspired by the character Hotguy from GoodTimesWithScar, HOTGUY COMICS is an original Hermitcraft au told seamlessly across nearly 60 separate contributors. In it, we give you a peek into the life of Scar Goodtimes, a B-list actor aiming for vigilante fame. With his trusty bow in hand, Scar is ready to take on the dazzling metropolitan streets of Hermitopia—and the villains within—while meeting a few allies along the way.
Why I love it: It's finally out!! They decided to call this a zinethology when it became far too big to be called a zine and that was a good decision imo. It's in turns hilarious, warm, exciting, and/or angsty, with great worldbuilding and storytelling and fantastic art and writing, and just overall excellent. I really love the in-universe social media too.
(My new icon is from the additional merch folder btw.)

Only two more weeks until Worldcon! I'm really looking forward to it. A bit anxious because a lot of my travel planning has been very late (I definitely paid stupidity tax for not booking my flights earlier) and a lot of it is still very vague, but I'm sure it'll be fine. Afterwards I'll meet up with LB and we'll travel for a few days, I look forward to that too.

I'm sad I completely forgot about the ribbons I wanted to make, but I hope I can still collect some fun ones. I'm also still considering if it's worth taking my Hermitcraft TCG cards in the hopes of finding someone to play/trade with - probably not because nobody replied on the Discord when I asked, but it would be super cool if it did happen. (I still need to decide how many of the new series I want to buy. They're so pretty! And I can afford a treat! Unfortunately I have to decide before I'll know how much I'll spend on vacation...)


The Magnus Protocol up to ep 23 "A New You": still not many stories of the week I enjoyed, but some more intriguing bigger picture things. ( spoilers )

Dungeon Meshi: LB, F, and I finally finally managed to find some time to sit down together and finish the first season! After a break of several weeks. We all enjoyed it, but not as much as previous episodes, and I suspect a lot of that is a pacing issue: compared to some other places we'd left off, the actual season finale felt sorta lukewarm in comparison, though there were some intriguing developments. Sadly I'd seen spoilers for ( Spoilers ), otherwise I'm sure it would have been an even bigger o.o moment.

I signed up to rec Hermitcraft fanart in April for fanart_recs, so I'm going to use those for my monthly rec post. I picked four illustrations of scenes from season 10, which has been running for just about twelve weeks now and I'm enjoying it so much.

9000 Fish #2 by floweroflaurelin
acrylic and gold foil on canvas, ft. Grian
Why I like it: ink-ghoul made the original art for Grian to use on Hermitcraft (and later re-painted it in not-pixel-style.) For the Gamers Outreach charity auction Grian commissioned three fanartists to each make a version of the painting: #1 by belmarzi, #2 by floweroflaurelin, and #3 by sevenchiart. All three of them are great, but #2 is my favorite because of the intense and warm colors.

Wither: Ascend by zhukzucraft
digital art, ft. FalseSymmetry, Welsknight, Rendog, Xisuma, and Joe Hills vs. wither
Why I like it: A great illustration of a wither fight that happened on Hermitcraft s10 a few weeks ago that did not quite go as hoped. I love how the artist chose to give each Hermit a different mode of flight that fits them so well, from rockets to a pegasus to wings to balloons. The composition and color gradient make the whole scene suitably dramatic.

magic mountain, any similarities to any past mountains is purely coincidental by cocoabats
digital art, ft. the Magic Mountain crew: Grian, Scar, Mumbo, Skizz, Impulse, Gem, Joel
Why I like it: Magic Mountain looking truly magical, with all its inhabitants assembled around the bell. I love the colors and the tiny characters.

A salmon? by arett1
digital art, ft. Pearl
Why I like it: Pearl walking around with a salmon head in episode one of the new season became slightly more notable in hindsight with all the ominous water/ocean imagery appearing soon after. This fanart does a great job with the ominous/creepy imagery, depicting Pearl with a human body and a pixelated Minecraft salmon head, and it manages to make it fit together very well. It might be a mask! It is probably a mask! Probably.