Solidaritygaming

Name:
Also Known As:	Solidaritygaming, Jimmy Solidarity, Jimmy
Occupation:	YouTuber
Medium:
Works:	Evolution SMP, MC Championship, Life SMP Series, Empires SMP
Official Website(s):
Fan Website(s):
On Fanlore:	Related pages

Solidaritygaming, or also known as Jimmy Solidarity or Jimmy, is the name of a Minecraft YouTuber, as well as a name for several "roleplay" characters he plays (see the article C!), who is known for his gameplay on several SMPs, namely Evolution SMP, the Life SMP Series, and Empires SMP.

See also SolidarityGaming/Smajor1995.

Fandom

Canary!Jimmy

In fandom, Jimmy is often called a canary and portrayed as a canary or a canary hybrid in fanart, animatics and fanfiction. He is sometimes called cursed or the headcanon is called "canary curse", cursing him to die first in the Life SMP Series. These deaths are believed to be bad omens. The canary association is based on the "canary in a coal mine", which is the practice of bringing the bird into a coal mine, as it dies when conditions become dangerous for the miners, warning the miners.

Fanworks related to canary!jimmy can be found in the tag Canary Jimmy | Solidarity on AO3. There is also a Canary in a Coal Mine Jimmy | Solidarity tag.

History

The headcanon started based on Jimmy being the first to die permanently in the first two seasons of the Life SMP Series, 3rd Life and Last Life. After his permanent death in Last Life, fans began calling him cursed to die first as a "warning shot for the end of the world". Another Tumblr post described Jimmy as "a herald of war or death". vyeoh, the author of that post, then drew canary!Jimmy fanart that directly referenced the "canary in a coal mine" phrase. Later, vyeoh said that they were inspired by art of Jimmy "as a little drummer boy" which also featured the "canary in the coal mine" phrase and referenced vyoeh's first post. The art by vyeoh is believed to be the first instance of art that features Jimmy as canary, thus they are considered the originator of the canary!Jimmy headcanon.

In early 2022, after Last Life, Jimmy joined as a guest for an episode of the 100 Hours Hardcore SMP and Grian died in that episode. This further solidified the headcanon in the fandom, leading to posts explaining the headcanon as well as more fanart from vyeoh. After the 100 Hours Hardcore SMP episode, some fans posted about hoping that the headcanon would become so widespread in the fandom that Jimmy would acknowledge it. A few days later, Jimmy tweeted about Canary!Jimmy fanart that was based on a poem, officially acknowledging the headcanon for the first time and likely contributing to the spread of the headcanon in the fandom.

Criticism

Some fans criticize the headcanon of the canary curse that is associated with canary!Jimmy as stripping Jimmy of agency or being a reductive portrayal of his character.

Canary curse really does drive me crazy.. people are so addicted to stripping Jimmy of any and all agency they can't even let him suck shit without giving someone else the credit for it

Tumblr Post by megabuild 

oh also. canary curse right. well id like to see some analysis on jimmy that isn't incredibly reductive but when i see canary curse talk my eye twitches and i endure.

Tumblr Post by boatemlag 

Example Fanworks

Vids

• Canary in a Coal Mine | Life Series SMP animatic by three-eyed hex! (Sep 2, 2022)
• AO3 sings canary in a coal mine except it's all life series fanfics titles by CopperOsmanthus (Jun 18, 2023)

Fanfic

• we have eldritch horror at home,on AO3^{Archived 2024-07-13 at the Wayback Machine} by WinterEnchantress. An Empires SMP/Hermitcraft crossover fic about Jimmy being an eldritch horror. (Nov 1, 2022)