enter jimbly

The ability to starve is a privilege humans have, that Jimbly didn't.

Jimbly was a normal man once. And that terrifies me. He was taken by these shadowy figures, and surgically mutilated, put into a box to be a singer forever. A sort of crude radio. A living song-box. Others were treated like this, and died. Was this some kind of punishment? A sadistic new fad, in a corrupt society? Was he meant to be an example to others? Or just a victim? Jimbly kept singing. Either out of fear, or just that he had nothing else he could do. He kept on singing, even when nobody was around. Nobody helped him. Nobody tried to get him out of there, nobody ended his life out of mercy. He sang on. Was it to keep himself sane? Was it to try and call out? Nobody seemed to take notice. Would they also be punished if they tried to help him? He must've been alone for years, his wooden box weathering away, even while he stayed alive. Through sun and rain and wind, he remained, unable to die. But perfectly able to sing. Even when the world came to a close, there was still Jimbly, the last voice that sang the requiem to our kind. Is he still alive? Is he dead?  I can only pray that God has taken him at last.

Fun fact: The song playing is titled "Petite Messe Solennelle: Crucifixus" by a man who was known commonly as "the Last Castrato" which is eerily fitting of jimbly's story. You may think it's just because a Castrato is another standard singing voice like "soprano" or "contralto", and he is the last of his kind. But no, it goes deeper than that. You see, Castrato is not the title of a singing range, but the position of a man who was castrated before puberty in order to retain a high pitched singing voice. It was a real practice in 16th century italy, fuelled partially by misogyny that refused to let women on stage despite the fact that women (some, not all) were capable of naturally having voices of high enough pitch for certain songs (aside from people with very specific conditions). Even castrato performers were berated for being "too feminine" by society, despite the fact that it was society that had done this to them before they even knew what was going on. The song in the video was quite literally being sung by one of the last living castrato singers, long after the practice of making them had died. Not only does this video represent the same kind of unknowing sacrifice for one's dreams leading to nothing but dispair, but also a loss of innocense and the struggle to hold onto it when it is already gone. (Thanks to @GirtheAlienGoldfish for correcting me on the song name, the youtube video i had found of the song was labelled incorrectly and I had misinterpreted "the Last Castrato" as the song's title.)

Truly, Jimbly was a head of his time.

At somepoint this "blender shitpost guy" is going to win an award.

i think this is your scariest work yet... this has a story

Okay actually had a deep dive and this song is sung by the only recorded "Castrati" singer. Young boys who were castrated by the church before puberty to preserve their upper registers and keep their singing voices intact. This is him in his middle age singing. Cannot imagine the sort of life and abuse and confusion he would have gone through as a child, particularly in the church. RIP Alessandro Moreschi and Jimbly

I find it kind of interesting how Jimbly smiles when he’s with the other heads, then returns to his normal expression once he notices they’ve passed away. I think many can agree loneliness is an aspect of this, there is something that feels so lonely about his existence, even when not alone, he’s the only person singing, and in the end he’s left rotting away abandoned and in isolation. My input as for why he’s singing… Perhaps it’s a way to cope with his state, he keeps doing it, even when he’s dying. I don’t think there’s necessarily anything about it being all he can do, being forced to do it, or trying to stay alive, I think this is just the only way he can find some sense of solace, and in the end it being the only way he can feel comfort before he finally decomposes.

Humans without noses is a weird concept that disturbs me. But having my head in a box, motionless, lonely, hungry, nothing but my singing to comfort me, is even more disturbing.

He deserved better. He deserved friends. Ones that were alive. You have deeply moved me beanbag

Every now and then I see a video of yours appear. Sometimes a shitpost, sometimes a story, yet somehow you capture the human spirit within every character you animate. Your sound design and song choices enforce a feeling of dread on every storybeat and I find it fascinating. Bravo to another beautiful animation, friend. 👏 👏 👏

his animation is getting better HIS ANIMATION IS GETTING BETTER

After watching this clip again (I think it's the third time), when I saw Jimbly's organs stuffed inside a glass jar, I am immediately reminded of the handymen from BioShock Infinite, which are large, steampunk cyborg enemies encountered throughout the game. Initially, the handyman project was conceptualized to aid the elderly, disabled, and terminally ill, but in the process of grafting only their head and internal organs into a large, rickety, mechanical suit. To make matters even worse, the suit doesn't help ail their illnesses or disabilities in the slightest, as it causes them constant pain and anguish, and due to the constant noise the suit keeps producing, handymen are unable to sleep, similar to the crawlers in BioShock 2.

jimbly: entered

i saw some comments saying that he singed to stay alive and stuff like that, but given the context of the song, i feel more like he had no choice but to be a living head, something like an "all tomorrows" or "i have no mouth, but i must scream" kind of scenario, he only sang to mitigate some of the pain that living for such a long time without being able to do anything caused him. the castrati had no choice but to be castrated, he couldnt have children or a normal life thanks to what an authority that no one with power questioned had done to him, his voice was that of a woman but singing and doing what he was born to do was the only thing he could do to be special, at some point, jimbly probably tought that singing on that cage would let him interact with someone, and he probably did, but given how long his life was and how short those interactions were that probably didnt matter at all. btw, can anyone send me the english version of the lyrics or at least the original ones? i cant find them

What's really sad is how happy he is when he realizes there are other heads beside him, only for that happiness to fade as soon as he realizes they're dead.

I kind of intepretated it that if the jimbly stops singing then it dies, since the two heads next to jimbly died when they didn't sing. So the question becomes, why did jimbly keep singing? The first reason could be that they simply enjoyed singing, they were happy to sing forever even if no one would listen or no one could listen. Although that doesn't explain why they needed (or wanted) to turn into basically an object to do that. The second reason that I think is more likely is that the jimbly was simply scared of death. In the beginning the person that would become jimbly didn't seem to struggle, they sat there and let those beings change them. Jimbly just sang through the pain, let them change jimbly from a person to an object. Even though jimbly wasn't a person anymore, they were still alive. They sung for as long as they could. Through grief, anxiety, loneliness, despair, insanity, and deformity jimbly sang to stay alive because it was still better than death. It only stopped singing when they couldn't sing anymore. Their fear of death was taken to their logical extreme. Immortality at any cost, to turn from human to an object to achieve that immortality. I imagine the jimbly wanted to stop singing many times, but their fear stopped them everytime until they didn't have a choice. The insanity of living to only stay alive and sing removed their fear, but removed any reason to stop singing. The singing only stopped when jimbly could no longer sing, though I believe jimbly themselves were gone long before that. Jimbly searched for immortality, and was given that. They lived through immense pain and sadness, but their fear of death was always stronger. This is the saddest video you've made bean, keep up the good work.

Despite it all he will keep singing until his last breath. I legit cried

Never thought I'd be on the verge of tears over the life of a singing head, but fuck, I guess we're here...

Congrats, you took one of the most emotionally resonent shitposts you ever done and made a sequel that outdone it in every aspect by a magnitude of power. This is Art.