#and of course roleplay for dream is in the dreaming where an ACTUAL war is staged and he's like 'go my knight' and hob is like dream ily but

[wanderingdream]

"you need not have come to my defense" except dream LOVES it because in that moment Hob is a knight protecting his king and Dream hasn't had anyone fight on his behalf before because he doesn't wage wars, he doesn't reap he creates but to have someone stand up and fight for him even though HE DOES NOT NEED IT makes him smile that little smile and realize that he loves seeing someone fight for him, seeing HOB fight for him, defending him in a way no one has before even though he need not come to his defense. he need not!! but he does. in this essay i will

#dreamling #hob gadling x dream #GOING FERAL OVER THAT TBH #might write a fic about dream wanting to roleplay hob fighting wars for him #and of course roleplay for dream is in the dreaming where an ACTUAL war is staged and he's like 'go my knight' and hob is like dream ily but #the fuck #anyway #the sandman

[tobi-smp]

you know, I think the thing that made c!phil's writing kind of janky and discordant is Also exactly what makes cc!phil's Strength as a roleplayer

the best way to put it is that phil is the epitome of Yes And. wilbur tells him to kill him and it was a Choice, there was no script that told him that wilbur Had to die that night. but wilbur asked him to and so he did.

wilbur Also asked him to look after tubbo and tommy, So He Did. he fought for l'manberg on the 16th (fought Against dream and techno), and agreed to become a part of l'manberg's government as a mentor figure.

but techno was his friend and they wanted to spend time together when they were online so why be anything else in lore? of Course they're old friends, of Course they spend time together.

the problem arise when there's Conflict between these two groups. because phil Must choose what to do and say and believe at any given moment, to justify Why he would choose to do whatever it he is about to do. but at the end of the day that choice Mostly comes down to what would be cool or fun or interesting in the moment.

and I think ! that there's absolutely nothing wrong with this, and it's actually a Really good mindset to have in the context of this kind of roleplay. and it worked really well early on. it's Interesting that phil Would have a completely uncomplicatedly loyal relationship with techno right away when he Did explicitly stand against him on that first day. it Says Something about their relationship. maybe even implies that they've fought each other before, but it doesn't impact their relationship with each other.

the problem is when it starts contradicting and Twisting and being weird. mainly when it comes to characters that he Both has major conflict with And want to have a positive relationship with him. it becomes a question of Why phil would do something that would hurt them if he cares about them.

after all, it's not just hurt feelings, it's war. even if they had no Intent on killing anybody, it still Could Have ended with people dead.

and again ! that's not an inherently Bad Thing. it actually opens to the door for a lot of interesting character conflict and introspection !

phil is a Very old being, his best friend is famous for being unkillable, his wife is Actually Death who casually possesses him sometimes. having phil be somewhat out of touch with humanity in a way where he doesn't Really understand the emotional weight and Danger of what he's done would make sense ! and of course, that's just one possible explanation that could be replaced with or coincide with another reading.

but it's all complicated Further by there being a very strong ideological bend to the conflicts he's involved with. because it Feels like for him to engage with said conflict Meaningfully he must weigh in with his own take on the ideological conflicts. he's playing a supporting role to technoblade after all, and on paper his entire character Is one big ideological conflict.

but what phil's ideology actually Is shifts to suit whatever story line he needs to support at a given moment, rather than being set in stone First with his role in those story lines being chosen based on a preexisting belief.

and honestly I really Don't blame cc!phil for this, because On Paper the jump in justification for these supporting roles he's played don't look very different. and in fact, you can See where one follows the conclusion to another.

but "choose people" above all else, to the point of being Shocked that tommy might hesitate in the conflict with dream that has the weight of protecting the entire server riding on it, really Does Not gel with whatever happened on doomsday or with letting dream out of prison.

moreover, it only highlights a conflict in ideology between phil and techno. the use of violence as default Even Against active allies or people who'd been considered allies 5 minutes ago doesn't seem to gel with whatever phil had going on in the post-prison break out era.

having phil enable dream to torment tommy during doomsday feels very contradictory to phil's shocked offense that dream would torment A Child the first chance he got after breaking out.

and again ! none of this is inherently a Flaw, it could all be very interesting as set ups for character conflict and as an examination for phil's Own character flaws. having contradictions like this isn't inherently Bad writing when it can so easily be Interesting. open up the door for Richer character writing.

the problem isn't even that none of this was intentional at the time that it was happening, but rather that nobody really seemed to notice it at all. so rather than it being used as a tool to bounce off of For that character examination and conflict. it just kinda. Is.

I think ! what phil needed, and what the server As A Whole needed, was stronger Direction. it's what made the early arcs work as well as they did, because Everyone knew the what the core story Was and could figure out ways to cohesively bounce off of them.

the revolution, the elections, the civil war, they were all Strong skeletons with clear factions and ideologies at play. and so even when people were doing their own things it all Felt Cohesive.

and of course, the dream smp Stopped having a key writer for the those big plot moments with the intent of giving people more personal freedom in their writing. but I think it only served a Lack Of Identity. people who didn't already have a stake in the key conflicts that were already on the server struggled to find their way into them. and struggled to find relevancy Without them.

and I think this was felt the most in the way that people were both afraid of stepping on anybody's toes while Also getting in each other's way like a football field.

like, I Loved tommy's death and resurrection arc. and the sheer Surprise of it and the aftermath was truly incredible to see.

but it was also Weird that people weren't given the chance to react to it on their own terms. like, why did they plan the syndicate meeting months in advance just to have it dropped on them with no way to prepare for or modulate their responses?

phil and techno's reactions to tommy's death are So Weird when we consider their relationship with him both before And After. and it's difficult to reconcile because it's Understandable that the cc's didn't want to derail their planned lore to make it About tommy's story line. But It's Not Like We Can Pretend It Didn't Happen Either.

and there's lots of ways that people have tried to reconcile this, lots of ways that I've even personally Enjoyed. but in terms of what's actually In the source material It Just Kind Of Is.

phil cares about tommy, he wants to guide him and protect him because he recognizes that he's a child in a dangerous position, but he also laughs when he hears dream beat him to death in prison and he also laughed while dropping bombs on tommy's head with dream at his side. and these all just kind of Are.

I can't even tell if this is all weirder before or after canon sbi was retconned.

and so these inconsistencies tug at all of the major story beats that phil's character is involved with, all while all of them Mostly work well in isolation. and it's so easy to see how this could've been avoided with stronger direction and story planning.

in other words, It's Dream's Fault.

#long post #dream smp #dsmp #philza #philza neg #I mean #Not Really #but people who have that tag blocked probably won't want to read this #take two on that long philza rambling from earlier kjlasdjklfasd

[angie-j-kay]

First Sentences Tag

Rules: Share the first sentence of your last ten fics/stories. If you haven't written ten fics, share as many first sentences as you have. (It should be noted that the character of Tracey Rutledge has been through several different incarnations, and has been shoehorned into a plethora of attemtped and abandoned fanfictions and goofy roleplay games before coming to What You Cast Out. Actually, she started out as a Phantom of the Opera fic I was doing as a joke back in '04, but whatever. Also, these are so not in order.)

1: Unwilling Messiah (Dragon Age/Tracey)

Ow.

2: Saving Prince Charming (Original Fic, same universe as What You Cast Out but otherwise independent)

Some say that this is the sort of story that should start with “Once upon a time,” or something like that.

3: (This one doesn't have a title, it's based on Norse Mythology.)

It was Yule.

4: (Same series, still no title.)

It was long enough ago that he couldn't be completely certain, but as far as Loki was aware he had always known he wasn't entirely Aesir.

5: Hannah (Original Fic, completely independent and SOMEDAY I will bring it to fruition. I'm actually super-proud of this story, so y'all can have a whole paragraph.)

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Hannah who lived in the dark. Not that she knew that she lived in the dark, of course. There were plenty of candles all over the tunnels, so she thought she lived in the brightest, happiest place in existence. She didn’t even have a word for sad, or for pain. She had lived there forever, if you asked her. She couldn’t remember anything before the darkness, or exactly when it started, so it must have been forever.

6: Pass the Popcorn (Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover, back when Matt Smith was the Doctor.)

“Q, I demand that you return us all to our ships immediately!” Picard shouted, infuriated.

7: Mulcahy's Miracle (MASH/X-Men crossover written as a dare, I think it might actually still be on Fanfiction.net somewhere.)

There were so many bodies in the truck... so many.

8: "Nicole Goes to the Republic" is the file name. This one's OLD, like over a decade old. It's a Star Wars Prequel fic based on a freaking awesome dream I had once.

I popped a stick of Winterfresh into my mouth, laughing at the crack the dude sitting next to me had made.

9: Tracey and the Hobbits (Written PURELY to squick my husband out, and because things like sex sort of went unmentioned in Lord of the Rings. For context, you're gonna need the whole paragraph.)

It started with a Hobbit. Two hobbits, actually. If you asked her, however, Tracey would say that it started about three days before, with ale. That was when Pippin had said it.

10: This one's labelled "Soulmate AU Crackfic," and it's based on a joke. I was sent a dare to write Tracey and the MCU Loki in one of those soulmate AU things, and this is the chaos that ensued.

No one knew where Loki vanished to after his failed attack on New York City.

I've got to go make dinner, but I'm just gonna offer this one to anyone who wants it.

#first sentence game #writeblr

[poisoned-peppermint]

Incorrect dsmp quotes that will wiggle their way into your gay little heart

Rather long post

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bad, using a knife to unscrew a screw: You know, they say use a Philips head screwdriver, but they also say you should pay attention in your social studies class. But that didn't happen! Now I don't know where New Mexico is. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranboo: Tubbo is a homicidal maniac. And you’re not.

Tommy: Oh, we don’t know that yet. I’m still young!

~~~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: [rings doorbell]

Bad, from inside: I HAVE A GUN!

Skeppy: [sighs] No, Bad, it’s Skeppy!

Bad, opening the door: [cheerfully] Hello, Skeppy!

~~~~~~~~~~

Sapnap: It feels like a dream, you know?

Quackity: You’re a dream.

Sapnap: :)

Quackity: Send nudes.

~~~~~~~~~

Ranboo, singing to Michal: My grandpa has a nose and my grandma has a nose, everyone you know has a nose, nose, nose!

Tubbo: My grandfather’s nose was blown off in the war so that song is a filthy lie.

~~~~~~~~

Bad: Who wants to have a sleepover at my house?

Punz, immediately standing up and raising their hand: I do.

Everyone else: [staring at Punz questionably]

Punz: Oh, come on! You guys don’t wanna see where this lunatic lives?!

Bad:

Punz, eyeing Bad up and down: No offense.

Bad: It’s alright, Punz. I savor your bitterness like a sweet, rancid cream sauce.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Karl, roleplaying with Sapnap: *Eats every bit of pork from your pork and beans, transforming it into Beans.*

Sapnap: *Kisses you on the mouth.*

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bad: I’m sick of this. Ice cream reminds me of my childhood.

Ant: You didn’t have a happy childhood?

Bad: My favorite toy was a hammer. You finish the puzzle.

~~~~~~~~~

Bad: Did you wash the dishes?

Skeppy: I thought... you.. wanted to.. do.. that...

Bad: [chuckles wickedly]

Bad, with a cheerful tone: You were wrong!

~~~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: Bye, Bad! Bye, Dream! Bye, George! Bye, Sapnap! Bye, Bad!

Techno: You said “bye, Bad” twice.

Skeppy: I like Bad.

~~~~~~~~~

Techno: This is a crazy idea. Insane. Stupid. It doesn’t make any sense.

Phil: …so you’ll do it?

Techno: For you? Of course.

~~~~~~~~~~

Ranboo: I’m so risky now! Last night I went to a crazy club! And this morning I ate yogurt that was 2 days past the “eat by” date. I am like a maniac!!!

~~~~~~~~~~

Bad: I’m wanted in a couple states.

Bad: Fifty, actually.

~~~~~~~~~

Foolish: The next person who says 'owo' or 'uwu' is under arrest for crimes against humanity.

Bad : Cwimes against huwumanity.

Foolish: I am going to break your fingers.

~~~~~~~~~

Sapnap: Can you please keep it down? I’m trying to think.

George: Don’t worry. Trying anything for the first time is hard.

~~~~~~~~~

Dream: I'm a God.

Sapnap: You yelled “shut up” at a thunderstorm and it happened to dissipate. It was purely coincidence. You have no power.

George: Shut it. They're a God.

~~~~~~~~~

Ranboo: [arm around Tubbo, standing on a particular property] Perfect for a wedding.

Tubbo: I know, right?

Tommy: THIS IS A FUNERAL HOME-

~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy: Thanks for letting me stay here.

Tubbo: Of course! As they say in France, 'mi casa es tu casa'.

Tommy: That's Spanish.

Tubbo: People speak Spanish in France!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Karl: I enjoy pizza very much. Except for the cheese part. And the sauce part. And the crust part.

Quackity: What part do you like?

Karl: The box! And the little plastic table thingy in the middle. It makes me feel like a giant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Techno: I always get the vibe that you like, hate me or something.

Dream: What? Me, hate you?

Dream, softly: You're right.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Punz: What makes a human a human?

Foolish: Nipples.

Boomer: NEXT QUESTION.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tubbo: I’m sorry I ate your skittles.

Ranboo: [smiles] I’m sorry I pushed you off the bench.

Tubbo: It’s okay.

Tubbo: Wait. When did you-

Ranboo: [pushes Tubbo off the bench]

Tubbo, getting up from the floor: I deserved that

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bad: Thanks for being suckers! I had a blast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dream: I call shotgun!

 Bad: I call Nine Millimeter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Techno, staring at Skeppy with a horrified expression: Do NOT call the DEMON a Milf!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quackity, after explaining the plan: Any questions?

Karl: Who would win in a race between a snail and a worm?

Quackity: I meant- [sighs] The worm.

Karl: Yes! Worms rule!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bad: Skeppy, you probably wanna head to college forever, so I snuck into your apartment and packed a bag for you. Bye.

Skeppy: This is just a bunch of underwear and knives. And loose onions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bad: *holding a stick* I call it The Shusher.

Skeppy: Why do you call it the Shusher? 

Bad: *smacks Skeppy on the head with stick* SHUSH!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tommy: What are your pronouns? So I know what kind of monarch to call you.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranboo: We're trying to be gay.

Tommy: Go be gay somewhere else.

Tubbo: YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAME IN HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bad: If Olive Oil comes from olives... where does Baby Oil come from?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranboo: Tubbo, I need your help!

Tubbo: Are we gonna commit a crime?

Ranboo: No, something better!

Tubbo: Nothing's better than a crime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ranboo, to Tubbo: I wanna order takeout and watch Twilight with you.

Tommy: That’s relationship goals.

Tubbo, putting their arm around Ranboo: Everyone wants what I have.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dream: I’ve invited you here because I desire to play the deadliest game-

Karl, nodding: Knife monopoly.

Dream:

Dream: I was actually going to hunt you for sport but now I’m really interested in whatever knife monopoly is.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Gumi: Hey, what goes on?

Velvet, gesturing to Ant: We’re gonna get some iced coffee.

Gumi: I thought caffeine made you vibrate.

Velvet, shrugging: Sometimes it’s nice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Puffy: There’s a fifty-fifty chance you’re gonna kill yourself!

Bad: Those are the best odds I’ve had in years!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skeppy: I wish you’d just admit when you’ve made a mistake.

 Bad, stirring their coffee serenely: I prefer it with salt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ya’ll better like this or I’m never making another one

#incorrect quotes #dsmp #dsmp incorrect quotes #dream smp incorrect quotes #ranboo #skephalo #like a lot of skephalo #skeppy #badboyhalo #tommyinnit #tubbo #karlnapity #karl jacobs #sapnap #quackity #pummel party saturday #technoblade #georgenotfound #bench trio

[uwusenpaiuwu]

Baji Being A Menace To Society (And Your Relationship) 2.0

Sequel to: Baji A.K.A. The Worst (Best) Matchmaker

Summary: Baji’s at it again, acting out-of-pocket and creating chaos for absolutely no reason, other than to see you suffer. In his own Baji-esque way, of course.

Pairing: Sano Manjiro | Mikey x Male Reader

Warning(s): Boku no Pico is mentioned, but there is absolutely nothing graphic; mentions of masturbation

Note(s): I am so sorry if it isn’t funny. Sadly, I am but an amateur writer, not a comedian. Still, I hope you all enjoy! ^^

"(Y/n), want some ice cream? My treat."

Usually, you'd be the first to jump at an offer for a sweet treat, especially when you don't have to pay. However, as of now, the word 'ice cream,' when said by Baji, instantly triggers your fight-or flight-response. Paired with the fact that he’s broke as hell, your suspicions only increase for the sudden indulgence.

Since you know you're no match for the long-haired menace, your body automatically prepares to flee, legs twitching to lurch into a sprint. Unfortunately for you, just before you can get the fuck out of there, your hand is being grabbed by Mikey, who leisurely begins to tug you along to claim your dessert.

“You like ice cream, right?” he turns to ask, eyes unbelievably soft when looking at you.

And because you’re weak for him, all you can do is nod stiffly, trading in your sanity for the pleased grin that spreads across his face, his confident strides thereafter likely a result of him successfully remembering another miscellaneous fact about you, as has been the case since you officially started dating him. From the most trivial of things, like which brand of pens and pencils you prefer, to the slightly more important stuff, like ice cream being one of your favorite desserts; he’s made the effort of remembering them all.

He really doesn’t need to do any of that, ‘cause you’ll love him either way, but the conscious decision to do so is what makes you love him even more.

Zoning back into reality, you shake your head to reorient yourself. It isn’t the time to be going over the reasons why you’re such a lovesick puppy.

No, there are other things to worry about, mainly Baji.

You squeeze Mikey’s hand as you’re led to the nearest ice cream parlor to try and calm yourself. It works for the most part, especially when you get a reassuring squeeze back.

‘Right,’ you tell yourself, ‘it’s going to be okay.’

After all, Baji wouldn’t do anything too drastic, right?

~~~

You were wrong. So, so wrong.

Despite nothing having transpired yet, every alarm in your head is going off, pounding at the door of reason to get you to wake up and realize that it’s Baji you’re talking about, the same person that sets cars on fire when hungry and punches the first unfortunate soul he passes by on the street when sleepy.

You really should’ve listened to your survival instincts and ran. Alas, it’s much too late to escape, leaving you to wallow in your anxiety, while you wait for misfortune to strike.

And strike it does.

“Please, don’t sit next to me. You make me nauseous.”

“That’s cruel. I bought you ice cream, and you treat me like this?”

Yeah, he may have bought it, but you refuse to eat it because of how intensely Baji is staring at you. Fucking weirdo.

"Oh, do you want some of mine instead, (Y/n)?" Baji accentuates his question with a sensual lick to his ice cream from the edge of the cone to the finessed peak, making you extremely uncomfortable as he stares you down with the full motion.

As slowly as he licks his frozen treat do you slowly raise your middle finger, eliciting chuckles from the other occupants of the table.

You think you won that mini battle, though?

Ha! Nope.

Baji mirrors the vulgar action, not once breaking eye contact as he dips the tip of his finger directly into his ice cream, pulls it out, and proceeds to lick that, too.

Disgusted, you promptly avert your attention elsewhere, praying that Baji won’t continue being, well, himself.

Your prayers fall on deaf ears.

"It's cold!" As soon as the exclamation leaves your mouth, your blood runs glacial, knowing that you've unintentionally played into Baji's trap. The appearance of a sly, almost feral, smirk when you whip your head around to glare confirms what you already know.

The curtain has risen, and you’re standing center stage in a performance you can’t break free from.

"Aw, can't let it go to waste,” Baji continues, reaching over to scoop the ice cream you’re 100% certain he purposely spilled on the front of your shirt, with his fingers.

Then, to your horror and everyone else’s shock, he asks, without an ounce of virtue to his name, "Want me to lick it off with my mouth?"

Chifuyu is seated on the other side of the table, hiding his face in his hands. “Baji-san...”

"It'll stain if it dries like that." Dear God, how you wish to un-see Baji batting his eyelashes at you.

“I don’t care!” At this point, you’ve resorted to clumsily scooting your chair as far away from him as possible, which isn’t actually as far as you’d like considering your surroundings. Hell, so long as you put some distance between yourself and the crazy bastard that wants to see you suffer, you don’t mind having to force yourself halfway onto Mikey’s lap. (The firm hand that keeps you steady by the waist proves that your presence isn’t unwanted either.)

"Geez, (Y/n), you're such a scatterbrain."

Seeing Baji sell the line with a slow tugging of his hair behind the ear has you torn between laughing and dying a little more. Truthfully, his acting is frighteningly impressive, and you would’ve applauded his performance, if not for the fact that the role he’s playing still haunts your dreams.

By this time, most of who accompanied you to the ice cream parlor have figured out what kind of drugs Baji is on this time, which also means that those fuckers have seen, or are at least aware of, the cursed trilogy of questionable porn that’s being reenacted before their eyes, with you as an unwilling co-star. Those that are puzzled as to why people are shoving their fists in their mouths to refrain from laughing are obviously God’s favorites.

“The fuck is going on? I wanna laugh at Baji’s dumbassery, too.”

“Pah-chin... I think it’s best you don’t know.”

Interestingly enough, the one you’re most concerned about hasn’t said anything yet, splitting his attention between observing the scene unfolding and eating his portion of a deluxe sundae.

Then, out of nowhere-

“I understand.”

You and Baji freeze where you are, each of you grasping the other’s collar, you to shove him away, and him to draw you closer.

“(Y/n),” Mikey says, your name rolling silkily off his tongue in a tone much too fond for his next words, “if you like roleplay, just tell me.”

...

“Huh?”

“I’m fine with pissing, remember? So, roleplay shouldn’t be a problem.”

Heat rises to your face at an alarming pace, and it continues to climb as Mikey takes your free hand in his, which serves not to comfort but to unintentionally remind you of the humiliating experience from a few months back. And just when you convinced him that you didn’t want anything to do with getting freaky with the body’s excreta, too.

“You’ve got it wrong! I don’t- arfghfgh?!”

Your prayer to help cool down your flushed cheeks must have been heard, but you’re pretty damn sure you didn’t ask for Baji to shove his ice cream in your mouth!

“Oh, yeah. (Y/n)’s a fuckin’ geek when it comes to roleplay,” the unhinged bastard speaks in your stead, indifferent to the nails clawing at his hand clamped over your mouth. “You should try it with him. We were doing a scene from his favorite anime.”

Mikey tilts his head, interest positively piqued. “Which one is that?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, leader?”

Mikey raises an eyebrow.

Baji opens his mouth.

You lunge.

It’s a series of events that happens in the blink of an eye and ends with loud crashing as you tackle Baji to the ground.

“Listen up, Baji Keisuke. We took an oath that day, and if you dare utter a word of what went down, I’ll consider that a breach of the code of secrecy and take you down, making sure you drown in a pit of your own shame and despair.”

Surprised to have been pinned down so quickly, it takes a while for Baji’s brain to catch up, but when it does, he’s frustratingly unfazed at the threat.

“Oho~ How scary. Too bad for you, I have no shame.”

“Not even if I tell Mama Baji where your porn stash is?”

That has the great Baji tensing up.

“You wouldn’t dare use an underhanded tactic like that.”

Your lips turn into a wicked grin. “Are you sure? I have as much dirt on you as you have on me, and like you, I won’t hesitate to use it to my advantage.”

If your grin is wicked, Baji’s is downright evil, showing off his sharp, gritted canines and all.

“You got balls, (Y/n),” he snarls, “but mine are bigger.”

The boy beneath you opens his mouth, and faster than you can stop him, he just...does it.

“(Y/n) (L/n) watched Boku no Pico and liked it!”

Silence.

Silence is all that’s heard for a good, long minute following the booming roar of the revelation.

You dare not look up to gauge everyone’s reactions, instead keeping your icy glare fixated on Baji, who looks smug as shit for having caused the glorious eruption of heat to spread like wildfire across your entire body, from the tips of your ears down to where your skin disappears under the collar of your jacket.

This...

This is war.

Taking in a deep breath, you answer his uncalled for declaration with your own thunderous shout of, “Baji watched Boku no Pico and jacked off to it! Twice!”

Baji laughs. “Oh, pray tell, saintly (Y/n), how many times did you jack off to it?”

“None of your fucking business, asshole.”

“Pretty fucking sure it is, since we were in the same room.”

Someone chokes, while you choke Baji.

“We. Swore. To. Secrecy. You. Asshole,” you practically growl, with each of your words accompanied by a ruthless back-and-forth shaking of the other boy’s person.

“Let up on the choking, dude. I’m not into that. You, however-”

Unable to take the ceaseless slander to your name anymore, you reel your fist back, but, upon seeing Baji’s cheek turned to you, jaw jutted out, as if inviting you to take your best shot, you hesitate. You know you wouldn’t be able to pack enough of a punch to actually leave an impact on him, which is terribly upsetting.

On the bright side, there’s still one tactic you can use that’ll be just as effective, a technique courtesy of your health teacher, who happily taught it to the class to use in case of an emergency.

Technically, it’s meant to be used to assess a person’s level of consciousness, but you suppose it can be used to get back at inconsiderate idiots, too.

“Ow! Ow! What the fuc-! Ow!”

You keep a straight face as you continue to rub your knuckles against his sternum, fully intent on delivering the worst possible pain to the current bane of your existence. It brings a sort of sadistic satisfaction to hear the ever prideful Baji’s screams of pain, and while it doesn’t completely undo the damage done, it does help soothe your wounded self-esteem.

“You want me stop? Beg for it.”

“Pissing, roleplay, choking, and begging? Goddam- OW!”

Your reign of terror comes to its untimely end when you’re lifted up into the air by the armpits, and through the haze of your power trip, you realize that Baji’s saving grace is Draken, who proceeds to carry you out of the parlor with ease.

“People are staring,” he coolly explains when you protest to having unfinished business.

Pouting, you cross your arms over your chest. “It’s his fault.”

Once outside, Draken doesn’t immediately put you back on your feet, until Mikey strolls out of the parlor. Only when the gang leader has his arms outstretched to you are you promptly deposited on the ground and taken into his embrace.

“Are you done letting off some steam?” is the first thing he asks you. Even though you can’t see his expression, the way he holds you and the way he cradles the back of your head, handling you with the utmost care, is indication enough that there will be no reprimand for, essentially, assaulting your division commander. (You would argue that it was an act of self defense against verbal harassment, but whatever.)

There’s just an overwhelming amount of love. So, so, so much love for each other.

“Yeah, I am,” you eventually answer, followed by a content sigh.

“Good.”

Naturally, that’s the perfect time for the tinkling of the bells above the parlor door to pilfer your attention. Baji’s appearance causes your face to morph into a scowl.

You cling tighter to Mikey, peeking over his shoulder to flip the ravenet off and mouth, ‘Go to Hell.’

As always, Baji answers your attempt to appear opposing with an obnoxious smirk.

‘See you there.’

~~~

“Boku no Pico, huh?”

“Draken, don’t laugh! Baji forced me to watch it!”

“All 3 episodes?”

“Twice.”

“...”

“...”

“Favorite scene...?”

“As if I’d have one.”

"Actually-"

“Ahh! Shut up! Why are you here, stupid Baji?! You live in the other direction!”

~~~

“Hey, (Y/n). Want to try doing the same thing with me?”

You look up, perplexed. Mikey literally just walked into the room, and that was the first thing he said to you.

“Do wha-?”

Your breath catches in your throat when you turn your head, only for you to come centimeters from bumping noses with him. And because he can, he lovingly knocks your foreheads together, too.

“It’s okay. I promise it’ll definitely be fun.”

You should feel ashamed for recognizing the same sequence of lines from Boku no Pico so quickly, though any coherent words are overtaken by an incomprehensible, high-pitched screech, a feat achieved solely by a teenage boy going through puberty.

A combination of shock and amusement crosses over Mikey’s features then. He’s never heard you make that sound before.

It’s cute. Strains the ears quite a bit, but cute.

While Draken lurks beside him, questioning Mikey’s standards of what constitutes as ‘cute,’ you’re sprinting across the room, red-faced, to Baji, who’s already grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Stop tainting my boyfriend, you piece of shit! Give him back his innocence!”

(Unbeknownst to you, whilst immersed in your fit of hysterics, your use of the word ‘boyfriend’ has a certain blond beaming.

“Did you hear that, Ken-chin? He called me his boyfriend.”

“Wow, congrats.”

Mikey either doesn’t give a shit or is simply too smitten to acknowledge Draken’s apathetic response.)

Baji blinks, unable to believe what you’re trying to insinuate. “Innocent? That little gremlin motherfucker?”

Both of you look in Mikey’s direction. When he sees you staring, he breaks out in a smile and throws a wave.

Your heart involuntarily skips a beat at the sight, and, okay, you’re convinced. Mikey deserves better than knowing of that cursed series’ existence.

Clearly, you’re down bad for Toman’s leader, and as such, Baji figures he can use that to quench his boredom for the day.

“Ooh, if only you knew what he gets off to.”

The tone in his voice instantly rouses suspicion. You narrow your eyes at him. “I don’t care what kind of porn he gets off to.”

“Porn? Nah, ya silly goose-”

“Don’t call me that.”

Baji ignores your comment as he moves to sling one arm around your shoulders, the other raising up to mimic an obscene tugging motion that no teenage boy is a stranger to.

“He jerks it to yo-”

BAM!

One second, Baji is lazily hanging off of your person, the next, he’s sprawled out on the floor, face down, and groaning in pain. You expect nothing less after witnessing him receive a rather impressive flying kick to the chest from Mikey.

Before you can assess the full damage, your view gets obscured by a pair of keys.

“Wanna take my bike out for a spin?”

Yes, you know Mikey is trying to divert your attention from whatever Baji was going to say, and, yes, you probably should check on the figure that has yet to get up.

But do you really care?

You take one glance at Baji’s concerningly unmoving body and quickly come to a conclusion.

You do not.

That being said, you quite literally drag Mikey and, by extension, Draken out of there, chanting an excited, “Let’s go!” on your way, abandoning Baji to wither on the ground.

Baji?

Baji feels betrayed.

~~~

"Chifuyu?”

“Hm?”

“Y’know, I was joking.” Baji flips onto his back with a grunt. “Man, who knew Mikey was all grown up?”

The vice captain of the first division hums, seemingly uninterested in his commander’s musings.

It goes quiet for a few minutes, the sole instigator of noise being Chifuyu flipping the pages of his manga.

Unpredictable is Baji, and the same goes for his train of thought.

“I should punch Mikey for kicking me.”

“No, you’d get beat up.”

“...”

“I should punch (Y/n) for Mikey kicking me.”

Truly, unpredictable and senseless.

“You’d still get beat up.”

Baji opens his mouth to argue.

“By Mikey.”

He promptly closes it.

“Fuck it. I’ll keep spicing up their relationship as payback.”

Sighing, Chifuyu closes his book to crouch down next to him. “Baji-san, with all due respect, you’re an asshole.”

Baji Keisuke has experienced betrayal twice today.

And he deserved it both times.

#mikey x male reader #sano manjiro x male reader #sano manjirou x male reader #mikey x reader #tokyo revengers x y/n #tokyo revengers x male reader #tokyo revengers x reader #Tokyo Revengers #Sano Manjirou #sano manjiro #manjiro sano #manjirou sano #i tried #im so sorry #pls dont cancel me #PSA: don't masturbate in the same room as baji

[cregla]

Okay. I can’t believe it’s been months since that part of season 2 and I have to make this post. Tommy wasn’t really exiled. Tommy was, basically, kidnapped. “Hold your phone, Nate!” You will say. “What are you talking about? Are you mad??” I am not. Believe me, I am not. I know that technically he was exiled. I’m not talking about that. Stick with me for a bit. So. Technically, exile in its most simple form is banishment from your country. You aren’t allowed to come back at all but you are, otherwise, free to live anywhere else that will accept you. When Wilbur and Tommy were exiled from L’M... pardon, Manberg, they could have technically gone anywhere in the SMP, could have built an home and just lived there and no one could have said anything about that. Of course it didn’t happen for obvious reasons but even so, Shlatt had literally no saying in what they could do outside Manberg, because the exile was only from that place. When Tommy was exiled at the beginning of the SMP (but they weren’t roleplaying at the time, so take what I'm telling you with a grain of salt), he was technically left there in the wildness with just the instruction to not come back to the SMP.     Now, of course, there are cases where the exiled person is forced to stay in one place only. Napoleon is one of the most famous examples- but bear in mind: it usually happens when, if left free, those people could come back and try to overthrow whoever exiled them. It’s actually a form of imprisonment, mixed with exile. Which is exactly what Dream claimed he was doing: that he was trying to stop Tommy for trying to do what Wilbur had done with Pogtopia (and in part he had been right in fearing so, since he and Techno had started to go on that route after).  However, mind this: Dream had never said anything about that until after Tommy was taken away from New L’Manberg. The terms of the Exile were just... exile. Exile from both New L’Manberg and the Dream SMP lands. Never (and If I’m wrong, I will correct myself, I promise) it was said, both in the first discussion between the cabinet and Dream and later when Tubbo made his decision, that Tommy would have to be stuck in a place, as if he was a prisoner. Never it was said that Dream would check on him and basically force to give him away all his stuff everyday in case he tried “something”. Never it was said that privileges as visits from his friends or access to the Nether could be taken away if Tommy “misbehaved”. Heck, people in New L’Manberg tought that Tommy was fine especially because they didn’t know about all of this! Now, of course everything Dream did was literal abuse, but I’ve seen some post claim that it was Dream just “crossing the lines” but that some things, like the fact that Tommy couldn’t run away from Logstedshire (which he could not do. Tommy was legit scared of being killed from running away from there for a reason. It was before he decided to ally himself with Techno, it was the mere tought of leaving his prison), were actually “rightful rules of the exile”. No. No they weren’t, because they were never discussed before. Because they weren’t what Tubbo had agreed with. Because Tommy was not a prisoner, but Dream’s plan was, of course, still treating him like that. Dream did not abuse someone he was rightly supervising. He wasn’t, as I’ve seen someone saying, doing the same thing Sam’s doing right now, abusing his power as a “guard” for his own motives. Dream tricked L’Manburg in believing Tommy was going to be exiled while he, instead, made himself his captor. Dream found an excuse to be able to take Tommy away freely and to lock him up in something that didn't look like a prison but actually keeping him a prisoner, dictating rules that he had no right to dictate in any way, preventing him from leaving, from contacting people directly, manipulating not only Tommy but everyone around him to try to isolate him as much as possible, deciding what he could have and what he could do. His next plan was actually to put Tommy’s in Pandora’s Vault and even there, he would have no right to do so! Because it wouldn’t have been part of Exile. Because Dream wasn’t part of L’Manberg cabinet, its president, and whatever change in the Exile terms (that were basically non-existent, as all the rules were established by Dream after Tommy was already exiled, like the fact that everyday he had to give Dream his armor) should have been first talked about with Tubbo. But of course, then Tubbo and the others would have never accepted, right? Because those weren’t right rules. That was abuse. Yes, Tommy was exiled. But immediatly after Tubbo’s decision, Dream took him away and basically trapped him both physically and psychologically.  If Tommy had tried to escape, he would have suffered consequences if captured again. If anyone had tried to help Tommy in any way, which actually happened, Dream would have intervened. If Tubbo had decided, as was in his rights, to withdraw Tommy's exile, technically Dream would have had to let Tommy return to L'Manberg and then declare war or build walls or whatever. But 100% he wouldn't have done that. He wouldn't even let him return even if the Exile was officially over. Yes, Tommy was exiled. And then, after mere minutes, he was kidnapped by Dream.  (”But Nate, why is this important? Dream still abused Tommy. What does it change?”  Virtually nothing, yes. Tommy was still traumatized no matter what happened. What it changes, however, is the perception of what Dream did. Because there is a difference, if Dream didn’t even have the power of deciding to take Tommy’s armor away. Because there are people who claims that those rules could have still been applied, if Dream had just been “kinder”. That if Dream had just taken away his weapons without the TNTs, if he had said clearly that he couldn’t have a party because he was exiled instead of manipulating Ghostbur and Tommy about it, then he would have been right. That Dream could have actually stopped people from visiting. No. No, because he didn’t even have that right. Because Tommy wasn’t a prisoner. And Dream had no right, not even a single one. Sam has rights to stop Dream from receiving visitors, no matter if it’s a good or bad decision, because he’s Dream’s guard and Dream’s a prisoner. Dream, in that moment, was nothing to Tommy but his kidnapper.) 

#tommyinnit #dream smp #mcyt #dreamwastaken #c!dream #c!tommy #tommy exile #tubbo #as someone who was actually kidnapped but people don't want to call it like that because it wasn't a normal kidnapping #this actually hits a way too close to home

[ohmygeese]

Hi! Welcome to our new segment called "The SMP has morally gray storyline so stop treating it like everything is black or white: Rant Edition"

The reason why Tubbo was compared to Schlatt in the first place was because he didn't inform his cabinet of his decision of exiling Tommy. This is a valid reason for his cabinet to be upset but unfortunately, they took the situation as an opportunity to manipulate Tubbo to do their bidding.

Knowing the full story, Tommy had no right to call Tubbo "a monster" but looking at purely Tommy's perspective, he was pretty valid in saying so (allegedly kicking Wilbur out of NLM, putting Phil in house arrest, planning to execute Techno, and of course, his entire exile). Same goes to the times Tubbo called Tommy "selfish and a liability." Both are unfair portrayals of each character's actions but are completely understandable since their relationship has been tainted by miscommunication and "hear-says" from biased/unrealiable sources.

During the El Rapids storyline, Dream had the right to call Quackity a terrorist although we know it wasn't purely because of the fake strike and the siege of the throne but as a political tactic for his own benefit. However, Karl also had the right to call Dream a tyrant because why else would you get yourself involved in an affair of two nations of which you aren't even a part of and go as far as to speak over the king and use your godly powers as a threat. Like :D

Tommy, Tubbo, and Ranboo are the only ones who actually care about maintaning peace and justice in the server. I could not stress this enough: "The fate of the entire server rests on their hands." Quackity? On a power high. Fundy and Niki? Running away from their problems and building a new country to sastify their own desires. Phil? Protecting Techno is his #1 priority, anything else nada. Techno? On a revenge arc and owes a favor to a person who goes against the very core of his anarchic (?) ideals. These three are the only ones willing to call out bullshit eveb if it means a loss in power or comfort but, currently, they're all facing difficulties to do so. Tommy is literally overloaded with trauma and is questioning the world as he knows it. Tubbo is being manipulated by Dream and his cabinet. Ranboo has memory issues, is easily peer-pressured and is isn't really taken seriously by the wide majority. The SMP is fucked if they don't pull their shit together.

Tommy has the right to say that nobody cared about him during his exile because he has said multiple times in passing how depressed and tired he has been since living in Logstedshire. He even has mentioned Dream's manipulative tendencies multiple tomes. But even after all that, Ranboo was the only to actually recognize and do something about it (Sapnap as well but he's too pre-occupied with El Rapids). Not even his own father did.

Canonically, Phil is a terrible father and grandfather. He calls out bullshit but never makes an effort to fix them. Old man disowned his furry grandson for wanting to kill Techno but doesn't explain to him Techno's reasoning with the war crimes in the first place. Old man also did nothing to save Tommy from exile even after witnessing the shit his son is going through. (I know its not in the script and I respect that but we gotta call out bs. Hope they give Phil redemption other than being a good pal to only Techno :D)

Both Pogtopia and Techno are at fault for the government clash incident. Pogtopia has expressed multiple times of how they want to reclaim L'manberg. It was Techno's mistake to not infer that it included the government especially since the heads of the operation were the ex-president and vice president of the nation. Additionally, Techno kept saying stuff like "We'll burn the bridge when we get there," whenever he gets asked on his opinion about the revolution. And that is called miscommunication at its finest. However, this does not discredit the fact that Pogtopia did use Techno as a literal weapon without further inspecting his stance whatsoever.

On the topic of Pogtopia and Techno, in the moment where its revealed that Techno is going to betray Tommy, don't say its karma. They were both used as weapons during that era, Tommy far beyond that. He wasn't even the one to institute the government when they won, it was Wilbur. Think of it as Tommy as the handle and Techno was the blade. It fits perfectly to their dynamic during that era. Also, don't try to reason out manipulation wth.

Last point, to the people who were disappointed that Tommy never got to "learn his lesson" after he escaped from Dream, do not become parents. Just don't. You really expect a literal teenager who just escaped from an abusive relationship to think about that? Bitch, Tommy never had time to even think about his trauma and you expect him to be like "ye, i was irresponsible," in a snap? If anything, the exile just showed him that he and his discs are being used a political leverage (he even said that he's the only one Dream is scared of) so of course, Tommy is going to try to take his discs back as a way to end the bullshit he and everyone he holds dear has gone through. We don't even know if he's going to put it in an e-chest or burn it (probably the latter). Guys. Please. The child literally went through hell and back. Give him therapy before lecturing him about being "selfish." (Again, you have no right to call him that in the first place.)

Appreaciate the storyline for what it is and stop trying to fight each other over who was right and who's in the wrong like please. The only redeemable (by redeemable i mean saints amongst men y'know maybe should not have used that word to begin with but ahhhhhh) characters here is Ranboo (Edit: Also Niki haha woops, thank you for reminding me) if I'm completely honest. (I am going against everything I stand for to not include Tommy and Tubno in that sentence but I said what I said.)

/dsmp /roleplay /nm

#dsmp #dteam smp #l'manburg #l'manberg #new lmanburg #pogtopia #logsted #logstedshire #tommyinnit #tubbo #ranboo #techno #technoblade #philza #quackity #karl jacobs #dreamwastaken #fundy #nihachu #just wanted to rant #the reason why dream smp is so good in the first place is because its grey #you can understand and sympathize with characters but they are flawed #that is the point #you don't have to give reason to their actions and defend like its war or smthng #guys please jakdjejejjens

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

The First Two Weeks of Dream SMP Season 2: In Review

So two weeks of Dream SMP Season 2 have passed, and so far it’s been unlike any post-war period before. Far from being a peaceful lull, Season 2 has been perhaps the most chaotic, tension-filled, dramatic “peacetime” the SMP has ever had.

Let’s summarize!

---

Overall, the tone of Season 2 has been both similar to Season 1 while taking on some new changes. For one thing, there’s a far greater emphasis placed on lore, backstories and family dynamics. 

Questions from the ridiculousness of Season 1 are being answered in Season 2, sometimes with some strange or cursed-sounding results. For example, the circumstances of Fundy’s birth were mostly a joke in Season 1 (I’m pretty sure they went literal months without even mentioning Sally’s name once), but now that there’s effort being made to explain it, as well as the birth of certain other Sleepy Bois, we’ve gained some...interesting...developments...*cough* Phridge *cough*

Since Season 1, Tommy’s become a Sleepy Boi and is therefore incorporated into the SBI family dynamic, especially now that Philza’s joined the server. Ranboo may or may not be Niki’s brother? Fundy and Dream are getting married soon, and Puffy and Niki have a romance as well.

New Members:

In one of the largest waves of new members in SMP history, several new people have been added to the server in a very short amount of time. 

Philza

Captain Puffy

Connoreatspants

Vikkstar

Lazarbeam

Ranboo

---

Schlatt’s Funeral

Schlatt’s funeral, overseen by Badboyhalo, was held at the edge of New L’manberg. His organs were looted by the citizens. Everyone keeps hinting at possibly reviving Schlatt somehow. Currently, Schlatt’s remaining organs are kept on sale in Puffy’s L’Targay, a new structure on the server replacing Purpled’s Walmart.

Ongoing/New Building Projects

Some important ongoing building projects / new builds include: Karl’s Party Park, HBomb’s L’Cast, Vikkstar and Lazarbeam’s Boomerville, the Prime Path Shops, Purpled’s Skull Base, Awesamdude’s Place of Business, Punz’s house and Eret’s Museum

Important Plotlines/Character Updates: 

Tommy’s done his best to make everyone on the server angry with him, which has currently led to the border skirmish plotline going on right now. He’s destroyed Puffy’s house, George’s house, griefed Fundy’s house and moved Ponk’s tower, leading to some animosity with all of them. His griefing of George’s house especially has  led to Tommy being on probation. Will Tommy be exiled? Or will this lead to another war? L’manburg is looking awfully flammable right now.

One of the other main plotlines that’s been going on has been Fundy’s character arc with Wilbur. Now that Philza’s on the server, and Wilbur’s perma-dead and ghosty, Fundy’s family drama can finally come to a head and break some hearts. Fundy reprises his role as the “main character” of the story for this particular plot, something that hasn’t really happened since the Pet War. This arc started at the very beginning of Season 2 when everyone was rebuilding L’manburg.

Related is the arc of Ghostbur in particular. Wilbur’s stuck around after death, seemingly for some “unfinished business.” He doesn’t remember any negative memories, and continually forgets them whenever somebody tries to hold him accountable for his past crimes. Will Ghostbur ever settle his issues and gain a peaceful rest?

There’s been some talk of the Disc War Continuation in the future, especially concerning the Badlands. Skeppy still has one of Tommy’s discs, but who knows when that drama will sort itself out. Dream brought up the discs when talking with Tubbo about exiling Tommy. While Skeppy has one of the discs, Dream wants to put Tubbo in a tough enough position that Tubbo has to give Dream the other disc, which would put both discs functionally in his hands.

The Dream Team has been a lot more active on the SMP recently, which is interesting. George, the new king, is actually on the server! So far he’s mainly participated in multiple dress-up roleplay sessions, cosplaying Simpsons characters, Professor Snape, and Dream himself. Sapnap has streamed recently as well, continuing his ongoing relationship drama with fiancés Karl and Quackity. Dream has gotten himself into some shenanigans, including vandalism and muggings, and is currently reprising his role as the main Big Bad of the server. It’s almost strange seeing them so active on the server again, but a welcome change! Even Callahan’s dropped by to join in - the SMP’s funniest reindeer, everyone!

Quackity may or may not be possessed? Puffy’s mentioned that Quackity wants to bring back Schlatt, but Puffy is currently in possession of all of Schlatt’s body parts. She’s also mentioned that Connor is looking to revive Schlatt as well. Connor hasn’t gotten super involved in the storyline yet, mostly just vibing on his own, but perhaps he will eventually. Quackity has also taken the role of honorary vice president in Tommy’s absence. 

Tubbo’s been acting a little strangely as well too, recently. While he’s been the most responsible president of L’manberg by far, he’s shown that he’s not immune to corruption, to the point where even Philza’s started questioning loyalties to L’manberg. Tubbo’s handling of the situation with Tommy shows maturity, but when he’s put between a rock and a hard place, what will come first? Tommy or L’manburg? And is Tubbo prone to the same corruption that Wilbur and Schlatt went through?

Meanwhile, Techno’s almost nowhere to be seen. He terrorized Fundy a bit at the beginning, and he’s logged on to say his own name of course, but besides that the Blade has been remaining as mysterious as ever. Wanted posters bearing his image have sprouted up all over New L’manburg.

One side effect of Fundy’s adoption plot is the plotline’s relation to Eret, who has been dethroned. Will Eret try to take power back from Dream? What will their relationship be as father-in-law and son-in-law, if the adoption goes through? 

The newest members - Phil, Puffy, Connor, Vikk, Lazar and Ranboo, have all gotten started settling into the server. Who knows what their relations will be to the plots? Will they get involved, or stick to the sidelines where there’s peace? 

So far, besides Phil of course, Puffy and Ranboo have been the most involved in the main plot. Dream seems to like getting into chaos on Puffy’s streams in particular, having her as a “witness” to his actions. Puffy is an agent of chaos herself and has unofficially “adopted” Dream as a sort of pet, driving her loyalties towards the Dream Team. Despite this, she has also been on a date and promised herself to Niki, who is of course loyal to L’manburg. If Puffy ends up siding with Dream, will Niki be able to keep her loyalty to L’manburg, or will she switch sides to be with Puffy?

Meanwhile, Ranboo has been suggested to be Niki’s brother and was an accomplice to Tommy’s crimes against George. Tommy defended Ranboo from consequence, but considering how short of a time it took Ranboo to get wrapped up in the plot, who knows what will happen in the future?

Vikkstar and Lazarbeam have also joined the SMP as a pair, and similar to Connor, they’re currently just vibing doing their own thing in a new town called Boomerville.

The Elytra Challenge should be happening soon? Maybe? Whoever gets the elytra will have a huge bargaining chip on the server, an item as valuable as the discs or Spirit’s leather. What that also means is, there’s the possibility of them also having a target on their back...

In Summary: 

We really need that beach episode.

#mcyt #dream smp #dream smp recaps #long posts

[lnterjection]

About the whole Hermit Tommy AUs

So as someone who watches both DSMP and Hermitcraft I’ve been seeing a lot of the whole Hermit Tommy concept where Tommy ends up on Hermitcraft in one way or another and gets Therapy TM or whatever. What’s really funny to me is that realistically, while the Hermits would try to not be jerks, especially around him, I highly doubt they would go all mother bear or whatever like a lot of people assume. 

Y’all forget that the Hermits kinda (jokingly, of course) act like jerks sometimes too, just in a different way than people on the DSMP. Just because you’re not allowed to grief, steal, or kill without permission doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to be a bad person, and I’d argue the Hermits get really creative with it. Like if you consider the lore implications of a lot of those Turf War bets some of them are really unsettling. For example, the whole Bdubs being Etho’s employee and the power imbalance it creates, combined with the way Etho seems to gleefully take advantage of that with what could be argued is very demeaning and threatening behavior is like, bad. And considering how abusers are often victims themselves in the past, and how it echoes Beef’s previous treatment of Etho, it doesn’t bode very well. And let’s not forget the time Scar and Grian literally did HUMAN ORGAN TRAFFICKING for Cleo’s Head Hunt. Not even just that, they literally bred up a whole society of people just to kill them all for a single organ like they’re cattle or something. Like lore wise these are not good people. 

So like they all care about each other, but the really, really closed off attitude they have towards outsiders (again, just going by roleplay and lore, we can assume story Hermitcraft follows the same rules as actual Hermitcraft) means that I don’t think Tommy would last very long on the server, especially with his stealing and griefing tendencies, unless he learns to adapt super quickly. For example, Hermitcraft has a “no children” policy, I believe (adapted sometime after Mumbo joined, of course), and in order to be whitelisted you have to have the approval of every active member. No exceptions. So if Tommy shows up out of nowhere, even if he begs to not be sent back off to DSMP. to avoid any trouble from both Tommy and Dream the Hermits would most likely ship him off to some other world and say something like “not our problem, please keep us out of your drama, we very much would like to continue living our Hermit existences in peace.”

Sooooo cue Tommy getting passed around various SMPs like a hot potato because no one wants to be the cruel server to send him back to Dream, but none of them want to deal with Dream either because let’s be real here, why would you fuck with Dream for the sake of some teenager who steals all your stuff, most people are not that nice, so Dream goes on this wild goose chase through various servers to try and find Tommy while Tommy keeps trying to get him off his trail by convincing members of various servers to let him in and hide for a bit. He goes from HC to Vault Hunters to X-life to Legacy to Truly Bedrock and gradually learns about relationships and worlds and just things outside DSMP in the process. Which honestly has the potential for a really good character arc. 

#where was I going with this again #hermit!tommy au #hermit tommy au #tommyinnit #hermitcraft #dream smp #hc x dsmp

[lucemferto]

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PH1LZA (or Why Philza is a Victim of Narrative Circumstance)

Heyo! Per request I am posting the script to my video of the same name here on tumblr. I must warn you that just reading the script will probably not give you the full experience, so I would encourage you to watch the video (linked above).

There might also still be a lot of grammatical errors in the text, because I don’t proofread.

Intro

LAST TIME ON LUCEM FERTO

Okay, so! I don’t want this to turn into a reaction channel OR a Dream SMP channel for that matter! [echo]

Well, I lied.

[Intro to “Luc is pretentious about the funny blockmen. Episode 2”]

I swear, I’m working on other stuff. It’s just that my dumb lizard brain has only capacity for one interest at a time!

So, something you might not know about me, is that I am on tumblr – who am I kidding, most of you will know me from tumblr. Before starting this whole YouTube thing, I thought that website died years ago – but as per usual reality proves me wrong. I’m also on Twitter and Reddit, but I get the most engagement on tumblr – by far! – and I need those sweet, sweet numbers for the serotonin!

Anyways, one of my favourite past-times on tumblr is to razz Philza Hardcore Minecraft – that’s his full name – for being a frankly awful father [clicking away] – wait, wait, no! Philza fans, this isn’t a hit piece on him, I promise! Please come back!

This is video is meant to be a companion piece to my previous video about Technoblade and the Doomsday event – you can tell by the shared nomenclature – so you should probably watch that one before you proceed. Unless you don’t want to, which is also perfectly understandable.

DISCLAIMER: This video is mostly about the character Philza plays on the Dream SMP. Whenever I talk about the content creator Philza, I will say so properly. Also, Spoiler Warning for Dream SMP Season 2.

… What is that? You’re wondering what the Dream SMP is? Well, if you had just watched the other video like I told you to do, you would know, because I explained it pretty well there. But in case you don’t know, here’s the cliff notes.

Dream SMP is the hottest New Media Series on Twitch right now! It has it all: gaslighting, child soldiers, Machiavellian political intrigue, Hamilton roleplay, desecration of the dead, shounen protagonists, SO! MUCH! AMNESIA! Filicide, furries, a red egg that’s definitely homophobic and teenagers inventing nuclear warfare. And it’s all done in Minecraft – yes, the funny block game where the only way to emote is to crouch.

And you say the perfect brief doesn’t exist!

Now, you might be wondering, why do I want to talk about this? Well, it’s because Content Creator Philza is one of least controversial internet personalities that I can think of. That man exudes pure comfort. So, it’s just very, very amusing to me that his character became one of the most controversial figures on the SMP, only outshone by Tommy and Technoblade.

And it’s not just amusing, it’s also extremely interesting! I want to dig deep to uncover and discuss the dynamics behind why that is. How did it come to this point? How did a man who appears genuinely so pleasant create a character that inspires so much discourse!

Now, if you watched that Technoblade video – like I told you to twice now! – you might know, that I am the resident character analyses hater of fandom! And that impression is false and slanderous! Don’t tell other people that I hate character analyses! I love them!

It’s just that, in the Dream SMP in particular, there is an abundance of character analyses! Every streamer has at least two very good essays written about them, exploring every possible angle to view their characters and backgrounds and everything. All I’m saying is: I don’t have anything to add on that front.

So, instead I want to pursue a different approach – something, that I feel is a bit underrepresented in the fandom! And I’m not just talking narrative analysis – that’s right, this episode we’re going even more pretentious! – I’m talking Transtextual Analysis!

Now, what is Transtextuality? Well, unfortunately it has very little to do with actual Trans people – #transrights, just in case that wasn’t obvious – but instead describes a mode of analysis with which to put – to quote French literary theorist Gérard Genette – “the text in a relationship, whether obvious or concealed, with other texts”.

Basically, you know how the L’Manburg War of Independence heavily quotes and borrows from the hit musical Hamilton? That’s transtextuality! A lot of the analyses surrounding how Tommy mirrors the Greek hero Theseus, who was invoked by Technoblade multiple times in the series, are already doing transtextual analysis! So, it’s really not something that’s new to the Dream SMP fandom.

But how does this apply to Philza and how he is looked at and judged by his parental skills? Well, there are multiple forms of transtextuality, two of which we will discuss today.

But before we continue, I gotta do that annoying YouTuber thing. I know these videos don’t look like much, but I spend a really long time making them. I work fulltime and I try my best to keep up, but sometimes I can’t. So please, like, subscribe, comment to give me some algorithm juice – I really need it – and most importantly share it! Share it with your friends, share it with your family – I’m sure Grandma is very interested in what I have to say about Philza Minecraft.

And I’m trying to be better! If I sound at all different for this video, it’s because I finally bought a new pop filter, so I can hit my plosives without it sounding like there’s a thunderstorm in my room. I hope it makes a difference; it was a very cheap pop filter, so maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it sounds worse – that would be bad!

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, CHILD NEGLEGT!

 Intertextuality: Why is Dadza?

You know what’s really interesting about the Dream SMP – aside from, you know, most things about it? Very few of the characters have concrete, fleshed-out backstories – and that’s pretty weird! In no other medium or genre could you get away with something like that – at least for long-form storytelling!

So, how does Dream SMP get away with this? Well, it’s because every character on the Dream SMP is basically a self-insert – and I don’t mean that in the “This character is based on me”-kinda way, but in the “This character, for all intents and purposes, is me!”-way. This, like many things that are fascinating about the Dream SMP, is owed to the fact that this series didn’t start off as a continuous drama – it started off as a Let’s Play.

And while we can talk about how someone’s on-camera/on-mic persona is in some ways a character, it’s still miles off of being an actual, fully-realized, separate character in a storyline.

This is where Intertextuality comes in.

Intertextuality is a subset of Transtextuality. It describes how the hypertext, which is the text, you’re currently engaged with, uses another text, the hypotext, to supplement itself. The interconnection the hypertext establishes with the hypotext, through stuff like allusion for example, uh-hum [Hamilton], can colour how an audience interprets the hypertext. Basically, Hamilton and Theseus are the hypotexts; the Dream SMP is the hypertext.

So, what does this have to do with backstory? Simple: The backstories of the characters in the Dream SMP consist basically of nothing but intertextual references. Through intertextuality their content effectively substitutes their character’s backstory.

You can see it everywhere. Wilbur’s and Schlatt’s relationship and rivalry is hugely enriched, if you are aware of their shared history like SMPLive, for example – I think anyway. I haven’t watched SMPLive, because … there’s only so many hours in the day and I cannot keep up with the Dream SMP and catch up on SMPLive and live a healthy life – which I already don’t do, so…

BadBoyHalo’s and Skeppy’s relationship, which has become the crux of the Crimson-Storyline of Seasons 2 and 3, is hugely supplemented if you know that they’re also very close as streamers and in real life.

Another great example of intertextuality is basically Technoblade’s entire deal. If you just look at him completely within the text of the Dream SMP and try to transplant his entrance to any other medium: It would be extremely weird! Like, he’s just this guy that comes in in the middle of a very climatic arc, no build-up, no explanation what his deal is, and he’s treated like he has always been there. In any other medium that just wouldn’t work – at least not without a flashback or some sort of exposition!

But because of stuff like Minecraft Mondays, the Potato Wars, his Duel against Dream and SMPEarth, we understand that he is a Big Deal!

Anyways, to bring all of this back to Philza Minecraft: What kind of hypotext informs how the audience sees his character? Well, this is where I will have to talk about SBI.

SBI is an acronym that stand for State Bank of India, the 43rd largest bank in the world and…

It also stands for Sleepy Bois Incorporated. Sleepy Bois Incorporated is a loose assembly of content creators, consisting of Philza, Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit and Technoblade. It is most well-known for its very endearing family dynamic – a dynamic that is frequently acknowledged and played up by the creators involved. Tommy is the youngest brother, Wilbur and Techno are the two older brothers and Philza is of course the dad. And when I say, it’s played up, I really mean it! Wilbur seems to be especially enamoured with the idea and leaves no opportunity untaken to bring it up – which we will come back to.

And I’m not saying that they’re faking this and this is somehow an act. While I know none of these people personally, it appears to me, that this is genuinely how they interact – if a little exaggerated for the streaming experience. Even when they’re not consciously playing into the family dynamic, their interactions still very much lend themselves to that interpretation by the viewers.

Philza especially just radiates Dad-Friend energy – so much so that it has become a huge part of his brand identity – yay, I can bring that back (check out my Christmas video if you want to hear me ramble about that). The nickname Dadza stuck even before SBI was a thing.

So, even if we completely disregard SBI – which we shouldn’t for reasons I’ll get back to – Philza has cultivated an image of strong paternal guidance. He is, in my opinion completely deservedly, regarded very positively. He is highly respected and in turn seen as a voice of reason.

All of this would eventually inform the hypotext of the character Philza within Dream SMP.

 Interlude: Before Dadza & November 16th

Okay, so now we have established that a) Dream SMP heavily hinges on intertextual readings by the audience to supplement character backstory and b) that Philza’s entire deal is that he’s the dad-friend – more specifically that he’s the dad of SBI (not the bank). I think you know where this is going.

So, yeah, ever since it was on the table that Philza could join the Dream SMP, it was immediately assumed that he would take on the paternal guardian role all these traumatized people on that server so desperately needed – and with good reason! Like I said before, the audience at this point was trained to take intertextual interpretations as basically canon or at the very least canon-adjacent.

I want to emphasize that this is most likely not done deliberately. I’m sure content creators Wilbur and Philza didn’t sit there and said: “Yes! We will rely entirely on the audience’s inclination to interpret our characters intertextually to define character Philza!”. Like, obviously that did not happen.

But it’s also important to remember that unlike with traditional media and the fanbases cultivated there, the separation between the Dream SMP and its audience is almost non-existent – and purposely so. The story events are streamed live, Chats are acknowledged in canon and even outside of livestreams creators are extremely involved with the fandom. So, the weight of fan-expectations is equally amplified and will more likely be incorporated into the writing process. Case in point:

[Wilbur “I miss Philza”/Philza about Wilbur]

During Wilbur’s villain arc, even before his official involvement, Philza became a prevalent point of discussion. The hope that he would be the one to snap Wilbur out of his downward spiral was not only wish-fulfilment on behalf of the fans; it also very much played off of the intertextual reading of the SBI-dynamic in relation to the Dream SMP.

Of course, this still doesn’t make Philza and Wilbur canonically blood-related – but it definitely used the “paternal”-dynamic of SBI to build-up tension and drama.

And that ultimately brings us to November 16th. The Grand Finale of Season 1 and Philza’s first canonical appearance on the SMP.

Now, for this I want to pull back from the transtextual analysis and talk about simply narrative analysis: What is Philza’s narrative purpose on November 16th?

Philza serves as the last threshold on Wilbur’s Villain’s Journey – to appropriate Vogler’s version of the monomyth for a minute here – he is what Vogler calls the “Threshold Guardian”. He is the last enemy the Hero faces before completing his quest – in this particular case Wilbur’s quest is to blow up L’Manberg. Multiple people have at this point tried to dissuade him from this course of action: Tommy, Quackity, Niki and others. So how come this Philza moment is not redundant in terms of dynamics compared to these prior scenes?

Well, it’s through our intertextual understanding of Wilbur’s and Phil’s relationship. Because Philza does not just occupy the role of the Threshold Guardian – he is also implicitly the Mentor. Before Phil there was no character in the storyline that held a higher position of moral authority than Wilbur – Dream and Schlatt, while at points more powerful in terms of actual authority, were never positioned by the narrative as Wilbur’s superiors in the same way as Wilbur was to Tommy, Tubbo or even Niki.

Before November 16th all challenges Wilbur faced were from people narratively subordinated to him. But that trend is broken with Phil. That is why he is the Threshold Guardian, why this confrontation is at the climax of Wilbur’s arc. Because Phil is the last thing tethering Wilbur to whatever morality he held before his villain arc; Phil is the last, moral obstacle Wilbur has to discard before gaining his reward.

And, just a quick sidenote, because I’ve seen it around the fandom a bunch: When I’m referring to Wilbur denouncing his morality, I’m using that in terms of narrative analysis. I’m mentioning it, because Wilbur’s character can very easily be read as mentally ill or neurodivergent and some people have – rightly! – pointed out that the excessive vilifying when talking about his character is … problematic, to say the least.

So, I just want to make clear, this isn’t a character analysis, I’m being purposely broad when talking about Wilbur and Phil.

In the end, Wilbur takes that final step and gets his “reward”: As his final request his mentor takes his life and vanquishes the evil – the dragon of Wilbur’s story slays the dragon of L’Manburg. It’s very Shakespearean in its tragedy – but beyond the larger theatrics it’s not really used to further characterize Phil – at least in the context of Season 1. There’s not a lot of focus on his characters internal conflict during November 16th.

Phil, like Techno, is very utilitarian in how content creator Wilbur writes him: He serves as a moment of hype; an obstacle Wilbur has to face; a participant in the tragic climax of Wilbur’s character and ultimately takes on his implicit and expected role of mentor and guiding figure to the rest of L’Manburg.

I think not a lot of people talk about how Philza does not join Technoblade during November 16th. He takes the side of L’Manburg – he fights against the withers and he joins Tommy, Tubbo and the others at the L’Mantree, thus framing him as loyal to the L’Manburg administration – even though Season 2 would make his loyalty to Techno central to his character. But more on that later.

What’s also important about November 16th is that this is the day when the general intertextual interpretation became canonized text.

[You’re my son!]

Wilbur is made Phil’s canonical, biological son. The intertextual interpretation of SBI as it pertains to these two characters on the SMP was completely reinforced by the narrative. Or to put it in Fandom terms: The headcanon became actual canon. At least when it came to Wilbur … but what about Philza’s “other” children?

Well, that leads to our second form of transtextual analysis:

 Paratextuality: Is Dadza?

These titles are just getting better and better.

The Paratext is defined as all those things in a published work that accompany the text. It comes in two forms: One of them is the Peritext, which are non-diegetic elements directly surrounding the text – like chapter titles, author’s notes, and stuff like that. Translated to the medium of the Dream SMP, it would be stuff like this:

[Examples]

And, trust me, I could make a whole separate video about how people on the SMP use their peritext as a tool for storytelling – I’m looking at you, Ranboo – but that’s not what we will talk about in the context of Dadza.

Instead, we will focus on the second form of Paratext, the Epitext, which consists of all authorial and editorial discussions taking place outside of the text. That’s stuff like interviews, private letters or J. K. Rowling’s Twitter Account – you know, before she decided to become a full-time asshole.

[Wilbur: Transrights]

After Season 1 ended, Wilbur indulged pretty heavily in providing epitext for the Dream SMP, something he had not done prior to November 16th. His paratextual additions ranged from the playful, like assigning DnD alignments to various SMP members, to the extremely impactful, like the whole three lives system!

You probably think, you know where this is going. Wilbur provided some epitext about how Tommy and Techno either are or are not biologically related to him … and I have to be honest I thought that too. But then I began looking into the impenetrable web that is the SBI-canon on the Dream SMP and found this!

[Ghostbur explains family]

So, it wasn’t paratext, it was just straight text. Said in character, in canon, without any implication that we the viewers should question this. The text of the SBI family dynamic was explicitly linked to Dream SMP-exclusive lore, namely Fundy being Wilbur’s and Sally the Salmon’s son. This is as clear as Philza’s anguished declaration on November 16th in establishing the intertext as text. And because Wilbur also had a very heavy hand in the discussion of paratext around that time, it gave his character’s words even more “canonical” weight. Metatextually speaking, this very much read like the author giving exposition through his character – exposition that we should understand as reliable.

And, by the way, before I continue, I need to give a huge, huge shoutout to kateis-cakeis on tumblr, I hope I pronounced that right, who was just so quick in providing me with these crucial clips. Without him I would have looked for days because these people don’t archive their shit! And the Dream SMP Wiki was NO help, by the way! I love what you guys do, but stuff like this belongs in the Trivia section on characters’ pages!

Anyways, basically during the entirety of early Season 2 the SBI family dynamic was basically canon to the SMP. Sometimes it was only alluded implicitly, again letting the intertext fill out the rest.

[Philza clips]

But just as often it was just explicitly talked about – both in the text and in the paratext.

[Fundy clip/Wilbur “Twins” clip/Tommy clip]

So, I know what you’re thinking: “Why is this part called paratext, if the entire family tree is just textual”. Well, that last clip might give you a hint, as to what I will talk about. Notice how Tommy, one of the people most directly impacted by the canonization of SBI lore, is both unaware of and seems generally unenthused about it, to put it nicely? Well, that would soon turn out to be a much bigger deal than anyone could have imagined as he wasn’t the only one.

[Technoblade decanonizes SBI]

Yeah …

This happened on 20th of December. Regular viewers of this channel will remember that I put out a 90-second joke video, where I complain about this very development. And while I was mostly kidding around, the core idea is still true. The paratext provided by Technoblade and established text were in direct contradiction with one another – and that brought a lot of confusion into the fandom. Confusion, that would soon be followed by frustration.

Because Techno only decanonized himself as part of the SBI family dynamic – but what about Tommy and Tubbo, the latter of which was incorporated into the dynamic exclusively within the lore of the Dream SMP. Was this still canon or wasn’t it?

What followed was a muddled mess of contradictions, intertextual implications, text and paratext in conflict with each another. It was for the most part inscrutable to figure out how Tommy and Philza related to one another. I’ll spare you every comment made about this – mostly because I want to spare myself from looking for all of them.

In the end, the current status is that their familial relationship is … unclear. Philza said, again in paratext, that it’s ultimately up to the writers to decide, whether or not Tommy is his son … which, I personally think he and Tommy should be the ones to establish that, but I’ll come back to that later.

But why is all of this important anyway? Why would this ambiguity create such an uproar, such controversy – especially when it comes to Tommy’s character? What makes Tommy’s and Philza’s relationship such a target for discussion in the fandom?

Well … this is where we will have to talk about the storyline of Season 2.

Interlude II: Tommy’s Exile and Dadza in Season 2

Okay, Season 2. This is where the spoilers are, so I will just sneakily drop this again. It took me five seconds to google this gif and I will milk it for every penny it’s worth!

At the beginning of Season 2, Philza’s narrative role has not changed much from where Season 1 ended. He is in L’Manburg dispensing earthly wisdom, being a paternal figure to Fundy, Ghostbur and Tubbo, helping with the nation’s rebuilding efforts; just generally occupying the role of the mentor.

[clips]

And then came … the Exile. The Exile Arc took place between December 3rd and December 15th during Season 2 of the Dream SMP. It revolves around TommyInnit getting exiled from L’Manburg and slowly getting psychologically tortured and broken down by Dream. It’s a really great arc, at least in my opinion, that explores and deepens a lot of Tommy’s character relationships, whether that be Tommy and Dream, Tommy and Tubbo or Tommy and Ranboo. One relationship, however, is noticeably missing.

So, yeah, Philza spends basically the entirety of the exile doing pretty much nothing of consequence. And that’s not a problem specific to him – One big criticism I would levy against the Exile Arc is that a lot of characters are left spinning their wheels. Which is why we get zany stuff like El Rapids, Drywaters, Eret’s Knights of the Roundtable, Boomerville – anyone remember Boomerville, that was a thing for 5 seconds, wasn’t it? – basically a lot of storylines are started and then unceremoniously dropped. Now, I will talk more about this, when I make a video about Season 2 of the Dream SMP … in ten years, look forward to it.

In the case of Philza, this inaction was especially damning, because at this point it was still a considered canon that he was Tommy’s dad. So, the fans were left with a situation, where just a few weeks prior Philza was occupying a paternal role for Fundy and Ghostbur … but now, that his youngest son was in a very concerning predicament – to put it lightly – he was nowhere to be found.

So why is that?

Well, the most obvious answer is that Dream and Tommy didn’t write him into the storyline. We’ve seen that Tommy wasn’t particularly interested in exploring a familial relationship to Philza, at least at the time. And it would just not fit in with what Dream and Tommy tried to do with the Exile Arc: they wanted to tell the story of Tommy being isolated, completely under Dream’s mercy, slowly worn down and manipulated. If Philza had been constant presence for Tommy during that time, it would have definitely shifted the narrative focus. That doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have done that, it’s just a matter of fact that they didn’t.

This also reveals another truth about content creator Philza’s character work, that I think is extremely crucial: He takes what the writers give him. Outside of a few choice moments, he doesn’t seem particularly interested in expanding or even solidifying his character on the SMP.

What I’m saying is that he is very go-with-the-flow: Wilbur wants to enact a Shakespearean tragedy? Philza’s up for it. Fundy wants him as a parental figure and mentor? Philza’s here for him. Tommy, conversely, doesn’t want him as a paternal presence, even though it would make sense for Philza’s character, as it was established so far, to be there? Philza will oblige.

The reason I’m mentioning this is because, while Tommy and Dream were unwilling to utilise Philza in their storyline, someone else was more than happy to. Which leads us back, like it always does, to everyone’s favourite Porky Pig-kinnie in a crown: Technoblade.

Technoblade and Philza, from everything I’ve seen of them, seem to be very good friends – and they share a lot of history even outside SBI. So, it’s commendable that they would collaborate on a storyline together.

A consequence of that, however, is that Philza’s narrative purpose shifts completely with very little transition. His entire character changes from being the Mentor-figure of L’Manberg to being pretty much exclusively defined as Technoblade’s ally; his man on the inside. It is a very sharp turn from the end of Season 1. Their relationship is once again informed via intertext – this time the Antarctic Empire on SMPEarth serves as the hypotext – but there isn’t a huge effort made to smoothly integrate that aspect of Philza’s character into the larger narrative framing around him.

How much the narrative utilisation of Philza has shifted can be very easily observed through the Butcher Army event on December 16th, a story event that I like less and less the more I think about. Here Philza is used to show just how corrupt and violent Tubbo’s administration has becomes. He is no longer the respected mentor, he is now the stand-in for the oppressed populace, similar to Niki’s role in Season 1. On a narrative level, he is here to prove a point.

If you’ve seen my Technoblade video, you know how I feel about … just that entire storyline, so I will not reiterate too much on it. I just want to make clear that I’m not principally against this development – if they wanted to truly explore Tubbo going down a dark path and getting corrupted by power, so much so that he would even treat the person who effectively raised him like a prisoner, I would be extremely here for it, I cannot stress that enough.

The problem I have is that it’s just so sloppily done. It is not coherent with how these characters behaved and, more importantly, how they were narratively framed prior to the Butcher Army event. Fundy gets one token line about Phil being his Grandfather – a far cry from the very emotionally complex relationship they had established at the beginning of Season 2 – and Phil then callously disowns him.

The major problem simply is that we don’t see how Philza changes from Mentor-figure to embittered, oppressed citizen. And there was enough time to build to that. During the entirety of Tommy’s exile Tubbo was pretty much spinning his wheels and Quackity and Fundy were opening up plot cul-de-sacs that didn’t end up going anywhere. This is time they could have spent on developing their relationship to Philza and the dark path they were going down – but again, Season 2 video.

There is not much to say on Philza’s narrative purpose and framing beyond the Butcher Army event. He remains pretty much exclusively Techno’s consigliere with his role as Mentor to L’Manburg a distant memory. He has some cute character moments with Ranboo, because content creator Philza is just big dad-energy whether he wants to or not, and whenever he and Ghostbur share a scene suddenly the narrative remembers that there are people other than Technoblade that should exist in Philza’s inner world. But aside from that, Philza’s storyline in Season 2 remains … pretty definitive is the nicest way I can put it.

Most importantly his relationship with Tommy continues to be completely unexplored – whether by chance or choice – and that combined with ever vaguer paratext leaves “Dadza” in a very peculiar situation.

 Conclusion: Is Dadza a Good Dadza?

So, the question to end all questions. The big, obnoxious text, that I will probably have put in the thumbnail – I haven’t made it yet, but I know myself. The honest answer is: I couldn’t tell you.

I have, in the past, been expounding the virtues of narrative analysis. That is because I feel that Narrative Analysis and Textual Analysis, like in this video, can provide certain tools that Character Analysis lacks. Often times I see people trying to get at a writing problem or query and getting frustrated because they’re not using the toolset, they need to figure out what they want to figure out.

But I’d be a hypocrite if I pretended like everything could be solved through the modes of analysis I prefer. And I think the Dadza-issue is exactly such a case.

I set out to explore why the Philza-Tommy-“Dadza”-relationship has become so controversial. It’s a combination of expectations build up through intertextual readings, that were partly canonized – something that is very common for the Dream SMP – conflicting pieces of paratext, which only serve to muddle the issue further and a text that is not only completely uninterested in actually exploring Tommy’s and Philza’s relationship – as it stands right now they might as well be strangers, narratively speaking – but also completely changes Philza’s narrative purpose as it relates to characters like Fundy or Tubbo about half-way through with little to no transition.

That is why I say, that Philza’s character is a victim of narrative circumstance. Because unwittingly, through all of these factors and decisions, there is not coherent reading of Philza that frames his parental skills in a particularly kind light.

The question of how we can judge Phil as a paternal figure ultimately falls within the purview of the character analysis – and that’s a very multifaceted issue, highly dependent on which POV you focus on and how you interpret the other characters in that POV’s periphery.

To put my cards on the table, I think that Philza is a very flawed father/father-figure – and I find that absolutely okay. Flaws are the spice of character building. He is not Cinderella’s Evil Stepmother – but he’s also definitely not Mufasa. If we were to read Philza as a paternal figure, then he would have made a lot of mistakes and decisions to the detriment of his “children” – least of all everything that happened on Doomsday.

But I also have sympathies for Philza fans who are tired of the Dad-Debate and would like to have his character judged independent from his relationship to Ghostbur, Fundy, Tubbo and Tommy.

Ultimately, to bring it all to a point, I’d like to end with saying, that I think that Philza, out of all the characters on the SMP, has the potential to be on of the most intriguing, multifaceted ones. There are all of these different patches of story, character moments and narrative and transtextual implications, that, if brought together, could create a beautiful tapestry of the character Philza.

You have his relationship with Techno, which holds the potential for so much emotional conflict and vulnerabilities, you have his time as mentor of L’Manburg, which is just criminally underused; the complex relationship between him and Ghostbur/Wilbur; and – for me, personally – most intriguingly this weird, almost uncomfortably distant non-relationship with Tommy. That last one is intriguing to me, because it contrasts just so much with our intertextual understanding of the characters and streaming personas – and it just holds the potential for so much conflict, so much drama, so much angst. Which I live for!

And, yes, I do believe that most of this is narrative happenstance, that this was largely not intended by Philza or really any of the writers. It’s just what happens when hybrid-roleplay-improv a long-running, livestreamed storyline in Minecraft.

But I want them to realize the potential they have on their hands, because it could – with barely any adjustments – turn Philza from a victim of narrative circumstance to a champion of it!

 Outro

Thank you so much for watching this video. Usually, I don’t record outros this standard, but after this beast of a video I felt it necessary. I hope that whether you’re a Philza fan or a Philza critical or just completely uninvolved in the whole thing, there is at least a little entertainment you could get from this.

I want to take this opportunity to say that my next few videos will probably not be Dream SMP related – a sentence which undoubtedly lost me a bunch of subs – simply because I don’t want to burn out on it. I genuinely enjoy watching the SMP and being exhausted by it would be something I wouldn’t want to force on myself.

But who knows what will happen? The Karl Jacobs video was something I did spur of the moment because the idea just came to me – so I can’t guarantee that the next video won’t be a three-minute joke about Purpled or whatever.

Anyway, my concrete plans for future Dream SMP videos are essays on Season 1 and Season 2 as well as one for Tales from the SMP.

Before that I have a longer video in the works, which I’ve already teased a bunch, so I hope it will finally be finished sometime. And I also may be working on something … eboys-related? Maybe. I’m not making any promises!

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[kazuhasbunny]

"you want me to read you the entire timeline of a video game roleplay?"

"if that's what you want, my liege"

He clears his throat and focuses on the text

"We first start off at the beginning of the server where the only members were Dream and GeorgeNotFound. After a few days, they decided to add a couple of their friends to the server which include Sapnap, Awesamdude and ItsAlyssa. They built concepts on the server, such as the community house, that are still around today. Everything was running pretty smoothly and well until TommyInnit joined the server on July 4th of 2020. Tommy caused problems breaking the server rules such as griefing, murdering, and overall starting a lot of fights. This would go on to affect the entire history of the server, and spreading an outbreak and wars to come.

The Disc War

The first war we come across is the Disc War. The Disc War was between Dream and TommyInnit. The two discs are Tommy’s prized possessions on the server. Dream however wanted to get a hold of them, so he could have complete control over Tommy. They have been going back and forth, using the discs as leverage over one another all until January 21st of 2021 where Tommy and Tubbo fought Dream to the death. Dream ended up losing 2 of his 3 cannon lives that day and was placed in Pandora’s Vault, a prison built on the server by Awesamdude. Dream would have lost all three of his cannon lives that day, but the only thing that kept Tommy from taking all of them was the fact that Dream could revive people after they had lost their third cannon life. So, with Wilbur dead and hopes to bring him back to life, they just locked up Dream for later use.

The L’amanburg War

The second war we see happen on the server is the L’amanburg War. After the addition of WilburSoot joining the server he had decided to create a nation known as L’amanburg. This nation consisted of himself, Tommy, Fundy, Tubbo, Eret, and Fundy. The war first sparked off when Wilbur and Tommy announced their independence as a nation. Dream did not want this to happen, because he would no longer have control of those people anymore. But, it wasn’t looking too good for L’amanburg as Eret betrayed them leaving them in the dust. There wasn’t any other option, or anything L’amanburg could do at this point so Tommy challenged Dream to a duel. If Tommy won, L’amanburg would get to have its independence. However, if Dream won, he would get one of Tommy’s discs. Tommy did end up losing the war but it wasn’t over just yet. Tommy made yet another deal with Dream that he would give him both of his discs for L’amanburg’s independence. The negotiation was a success, and L’amanburg was born.

The Railway War

The next war is the Railway war. This was a very small and anticlimactic war. Tommy had accidently killed Dream with a minecart, but ultimately tried to benefit from it. He stole Dream’s loot in hopes of making a trade with it to get his discs back. However, Dream saw no point in this and could simply get new gear. So, he killed Tommy’s pet horse and the war came to an end as Tommy returned Dream’s items.

The Pet War

As another small war, the Pet War didn’t really end well. Dream SMP member Sapnap had begun the pet war by killing Nihachu’s pet fox as well Fundy’s enderman. Niki got hurt and sought revenge. With Tommy’s help, he stole Sapnap’s two pet fish, Beckerson and Mars, and with the help of Fundy, killed one of Sapnap’s foxes. Sapnap then decided to blow up the gravesite for Niki’s pet, which resulted in a duel between Fundy and Sapnap. Ultimately, Fundy had lost and the war just ended, as neither side had leverage over one another.

The Manberg Rebellion

Wilbur, President of L’amanburg, decided to hold an election since there was no vote giving him his leadership. Four parties were then created. Pog2020 with Wilbur and Tommy, Swag2020 with Quackity and GeorgeNotFound, Coconut2020 with Niki and Fundy, and Schlatt2020 with JSchlatt running solo. A vote was held on Twitter to have viewers determine the outcome. Pog2020 ended up having the most votes, but before the election started, Quackity made a deal with Schlatt saying that if neither of them were the victors, they would combine their votes. As a result, both parties combined votes so that JSchlatt was voted the new President of L’amanburg, with Quackity as his Vice President. Immediately JSchlatt made his first decree to revoke the citizenship of WilburSoot and TommyInnit.

The War of the Burning Eiffel Tower

Another small war on the server was the War of the Burning Eiffel Tower. This war kicked off when Sapnap had accidently killed Tommy’s pet cow Henry. Tommy plotted his revenge recruiting Dream and Technoblde to fight against Sapnap, BadBoyHalo, Skeppy, Punz and Antfrost. Overall Tommy’s team was stronger, and they ended up winning this war.

Manberg vs. Pogtopia

Manberg vs Pogtopia is arguably one of the best wars and the biggest war to have ever happened on the server. This war took place on November 16, 2020. There was a lot of preparation going into this war as Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, Technoblade, Fundy, and Nihachu built an underground city known as Pogtopia. With help from Technoblade they received some of the best gear on the server that prepared them for war. Along the way they recruited other members to fight against JSchaltt and his new found nation, Manberg. Schlatt received help from Dream along with some others to fight back, until Dream gave up the location of Schaltt where he was hiding. As Tommy was about to take Jschlatt’s last cannon life, he died from a stroke. But, it wasn’t over just yet. Wilbur and Tommy could regain their spots as President and Vice President, but they ended up giving leadership over to Tubbo with Tommy as his Vice. However, this entire time Dream had warned them that there was a traitor among the members Pogtopia. When Schlatt died he admitted to this being a lie, but he was in fact not telling the truth. Wilbur was the traitor. He had been having thoughts of blowing L’amanburg up for the longest time and it had happened on that date. He was caught right before pushing the button by Philza, but after the deed was done, he requested to die, and Wilbur had lost his final canon life. Yet again, it wasn’t over just then. Technoblade, being an anarchist, did not like the idea of rulers or any higher power. When Tubbo became their new leader and felt betrayed since he had helped them regain L’amanburg from Schlatt. So, he unleashed multiple withers, and once they were defeated, he had become an enemy of the state of the New L’amanburg.

The Doomsday War

This war by far was one of the most devastating. Dream, Technoblade, and Philza went against all the members of L’amanburg. The war was supposed to take place at 3:00 P.M., but they attacked earlier and unexpectedly from above, raining thousands upon thousands of explosives on the nation, and unloading a total of 15 withers. L’amanburg was not prepared for this and was destroyed, leaving behind a huge crater of all the history left behind.

Exile Arc

The Exile Arc kicked off when a new member of the server, Ranboo, joined. Ranboo had been goofing around with Tommy and both decided to burn down and grief George’s house. Dream being George’s very close friend was not happy with this at all, and with Tubbo being the new leader of L’amanburg he had demanded that something be done. Over the course of a couple days Dream was like a gnat in Tubbo’s ear trying to get him to betray Tommy. This eventually did happen when Tubbo exiled Tommy from L’amanburg, and he couldn’t walk on any of the grounds of the SMP that had already been discovered. Dream took Tommy far away and would visit him every week, making sure he stayed put. Tommy’s lore from they’re got pretty dark diving into topics that were pretty serious. Eventually he started to wake and realize that he could just run away while Dream was gone. So, he did just that. On his journey away from exile, he discovered a house in one of the snow biomes of the server. This ended up being Technoblade’s house. From here Techno would provide for Tommy until one day he returned to L’amanburg to confront Tubbo. In their altercation Tubbo gave Dream one of Tommy’s discs. Somehow Tommy also ended up turning on Technoblade and becoming friends with Tubbo once more. This is what kicked off the Doomsday War.

The Imprisonment

The Arc ties a lot into the Disc War. Towards the end of the Disc War, Dream was put in Pandora’s Vault for later use, claiming he could revive the dead. Since then Dream has been in this prison with no way of escaping. The prison system, run by Awesamdude, was thought to be very safe and inescapable. Overtime people have visited Dream including Tommy, Sapnap, BadBodyHalo, and Ranboo. One day Tommy vowed that this would be his last time visiting Dream. Everything was going smooth until unexpected explosions were heard right outside of the prison. With security being so tight and strict in Pandora’s Vault, Tommy would have to remain in prison with Dream until the security situation was resolved. The situation was in fact not resolved for over two weeks. Tommy had been annoying Dream constantly with their time together. One day Dream snapped and killed Tommy taking his last cannon life. Tommy’s next stream we see a pitch black screen, and Tommy is heard talking to Wilbur in the afterlife. Wilbur’s voice all of a sudden gets very faint, to the point of where it vanishes. Tommy’s screen then flashed back to him inside the prison with Dream. Tommy had been brought back to life. With this Tommy was able to escape the cell notifying Sam. Viewers were able to learn that Dream actually had the power to bring people back to life and we are left to wonder what he will do with it.

Ranboo’s Memory

Ranboo’s character has memory loss. He is also half Enderman, and the other half is still yet to be revealed. As Ranboo starts going about his day to day time on the server, we see a voice starting to talk to him. This voice is believed to be Dream. These voices keep appearing in Ranboo’s head, and as a result he builds a panic room. Ranboo also started to journal everything he did in a book so he wouldn’t forget anything. Ranboo also has a condition called an Enderwalk. Certain things trigger his Enderwalk such as when anyone types “:)”. From there he won’t remember anything of what happens when he wakes up, and is able to cause serious damage. If we take a look back to when there was a security issue and Tommy got stuck in the prison. The only person on the server who wasn’t doing anything at the time was Ranboo. It is said that he was the one who planted explosions near the prision and trapped Tommy inside. However, he couldn’t recall what he did that day, so many believe that he was in an Enderwalk state. A little before this event even occurred, Ranboo was thought to have visited Dream. When Ranboo visited the prison, everything seemed a little off. Things started to get really weird when Dream had multiple copies of Ranboo’s journal with him. The screen ended up getting all swirly, and eventually blacked out, only with a “:)” left.

Tales of the SMP

A couple months ago in one of Karl’s streams, we learned that he was able to time travel. Since then he has traveled numerous times to places like The Town That Never Was, The Village That Went Mad, The Beach Episode, The Lost City of Mizu, The Masquerade, The Wild West, The Haunted Mansion and The Pit. All of these streams include little bits of lore from the future and the past. But, when his traveling is done, he returns to a place called The Inbetween. Here we first learn that it was a place meant for time travelers to rest and take a break. It is a beautiful white castle in the sky, and doesn’t seem to have a problem in the world. This is until we see some books that pop up in random places. It is as though one person is telling him this place is safe, and another that is telling him he needs to hide and get out of there. Up until Karl’s most recent Tales stream “The Pit”, Karl wasn’t able to leave The Inbetween, aside from being able to return home. But, there was a portal that we had learned of in the Inbetween, and the gate blocking the portal was no longer there. As Karl raced to the portal, words popped up on the screen that kept telling him to get and and that he was almost there. Once through the portal, we enter a world called The Other Side. In this world there is a black castle. And with a book inside, it assures him that this is a safe place. However, when Karl eventually returns home, he keeps getting weaker. He loses his memory and begins to write down all the adventures he goes on.

The Egg

After the Doomsday War, we see a red type of vine coming from deep below in the crater. It leads to a giant red egg. The egg has taken over people’s minds, and whispers to them in a language that the controlled can only understand. With this a group called the eggpire was formed, with the egg controlling multiple people such as BadBoyHalo, Skeppy, Punz, Antfrost and Hannah. The egg has spread all over the server and up till now has been a nuisance. Recently, however, the egg allowed its followers to destroy the egg vines across the server since it didn’t want to make the other people of the server upset. Members of the eggpire such as BadBoyHalo, AntFrost and Punz have been pushing people to go see the egg and join the empire. Although most of their attempts have been unsuccessful, on April 25, 2021, we are expected to see something called the Red Banquet. Multiple people outside of the eggpire have been invited, and several theories are being churned up for what might happen.

Las Nevadas

SMP member Quackity has been working on a project called Las Nevadas for the past month. Since then, we have gotten two streams building up more and more of Quackity’s lore. In his first lore stream, we see Quackity confront BadBoyHalo to express his desire of wanting his friend back, since he has been corrupted by the egg. We also see a very big moment in which the Awesamdude has allowed Quackity to enter the prison everyday, and tourture Dream until he gets the revive book on how to bring people back to life, but to no avail just quite yet. The final installment that is shown in this first lore stream is all of the memories of El Rapids. El Rapids was a country created by Quackity that included members such as George, Sapnap, and Karl. Participants are led to believe that the three other members just abandoned Quackity, but we see in his next lore stream that wasn’t exactly the case. During his next lore stream we see a “prequel” of the first stream involving Las Nevadas. We see an interaction with Quackity and George after everyone else left El Rapids. Quackity explained how he was building Las Nevadas and would make money with his casinos, hotels, and many more attractions. Then we get a hard hitting question about what happened to El Rapids. George explains that he, Karl, and Sapnap went to go build a new county called Kinoko Kingdom However, Quackity was supposed to be included in all of this, but Karl forgot to tell him. Viewers expect that Karl forgot due to his time traveling problem, hence why it is so hard-hitting.

Overall, the history of the Dream SMP is very long, to say the least. There are definitely more bits and pieces of lore that were not included that can be seen on some of the vods correlated to whichever streamer was streaming a certain event on Twitch or on Youtube. If you plan on watching the Dream SMP or plan on catching up on some of the lore you may have missed, reading this article should put you up to date as of publication time. I also recommend going to watch “SAD-ist” on YouTube. The animatics she has ranging from “Warriors” to “Hog-Hunt” cover the majority of events and wars that have occurred on the server. "

He finishes reading then looks at you to see your reaction, but find out you've passed out and is snoring.

-xingqiu

HELP I /J WHAYTAHS 😭😭😭 HELEPPPP

#eli.replies #xingqiu anon #XINGQIU I /J #HELP

[boatemhole]

crossfire | a hermitcraft x dreamsmp crossover

ohhh boy oh boy. remember that hc x dsmp crossover i was talking about a while back? the one with ranboo and zed? well, i finally finished writing it! i can be found here on wattpad, or if you don’t have it you can read it under the cut :D

this is actually more hermitcraft-centered than dsmp, so heads-up for that. i don’t watch too much dsmp so i tried to keep it as vague as possible for ranboo’s parts. i had a lot of help from my friends on that bit

word count: 2115 tws: swearing, mentions of wars

Ranboo wasn't sure where he was, but it definitely wasn't the Dream SMP.

The place he found himself in had buildings that seemed to stretch upwards forever. There was no consistency in the block palettes; each build had its own distinct style. Some were larger than the others--one build that looked like a town hall seemed to overlook the rest of the builds. Ranboo could even see more buildings that were in the background and seemed to have their own islands.

What was this place? Was this someone's base? It was huge. It seemed to go on forever.

For some reason, the grass hadn't spread around the island completely yet. He noticed some large patches of dirt that looked freshly dugout. Little sprouts of grass had started to grow, but it hadn't completely covered the dirt yet.

As Ranboo wandered the area, he heard a small moo. Turning around, he saw a lone mooshroom, its red and white hide looking out of place among the green grass. He vaguely remembered that mooshrooms are supposed to be in mycelium islands, not regular ones like this.

How did this one get here, then? Poor thing.

Had this place been a mushroom island before? It would explain the still-spreading grass. Whoever owned this place must have put in so much time and effort here between the builds and the replaced mycelium. It was incredible. The look of this place was chaotic--so many different styles crammed together--but, at the same time, there was a certain harmony it had.

Ranboo slowly walked up to the mooshroom as to not scare it. When the cow approached him, he held out a hand and petted it a bit, feeling surprising sympathy for the animal. It was taken out of its natural habit and was alone now.

Kind of how he had found himself here, in this place he had no idea how to navigate.

As he petted the mooshroom, he thought he heard a firework sound off in the background. When he looked around, though, there was nothing.

Oh, yeah. Where were all the people? Where was the person that built this place?

Then, he looked up and saw someone flying above him.

Flying...?

Ranboo didn't recognize the grayish-purple wings strapped onto the man's back. They looked light, but they managed to catch the wind so the person who had the wings strapped to them glided around easily. Instead of feathers, these wings had a more silky, transparent look to them. There were only two main parts of the set, and they functioned pretty simply. The two parts just expanded whenever the person was in flight.

The person noticed Ranboo, too, and he landed on the ground. It wasn't anyone Ranboo recognized. They had light blonde hair, violet eyes, and a brown tunic. He was wearing diamond armor--no netherite. And instead of a chestplate, he was wearing those wings.

From the look on his face, he didn't recognize Ranboo, either.

The guy gave Ranboo that confused once-over, like he wasn't sure who--or what--he was looking at. He must have looked very odd compared to the other person's attire.

"Um...how did you get here?" he said after a moment. "I, uh, haven't seen you around before."

Ranboo sighed inwardly. "Honestly, I don't even know myself."

He reached into his inventory for his memory book, but after a few moments of digging around for it...he didn't find it. He opened his backpack all the way to look for it, but it wasn't there.

He started to panic a bit. He didn't like going anywhere without his memory book--he tended to forget things a lot, and he wrote them down in his book so he didn't forget. Without it, he constantly forgot important things...like how he'd gotten here.

...Shit.

The other person noticed his panic and hurriedly gave him a "calm-down" gesture. "Hey, don't worry about it," he said quickly. "I'm sure there's a reason why you're here."

"I'm Zedaph, by the way," he added as an afterthought. "You can call me Zed. For now, why don't I take you to Xisuma? He might know something about all this."

Zedaph? Xisuma? Who the hell were these people?

"Listen, I don't think I'm supposed to be here--" Ranboo said, looking around as if he could somehow find an exit out of this place. "I'm part of a different SMP, not...whatever this one is. I don't even know what this place is--I belong to the Dream SMP."

Zed paused as something occurred to him. "Wait--hold on, you're a part of the Dream SMP?"

Ranboo was a bit confused at Zed's sudden curiosity. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

Zed leaned against a shop's storefront, petting the mooshroom Ranboo found earlier idly. "What is it like?"

Ranboo was really confused now. Zed had changed topics at the speed of light. "Uh, what is what like?"

"The Dream SMP."

When Ranboo raised an eyebrow, Zed continued.

"Well, we've heard some things about that SMP. It's kind of infamous. Big reputation. I don't really know how to explain this, but uh...we've heard that conflicts on that server are more...major?" His voice went up an octave. "More serious? Than other SMPs, at least."

"Oh, um. Yeah." Ranboo was careful choosing his words, knowing he was treading on a ground littered with landmines. "What about it?"

"Well, compared to a place like here--Hermitcraft--we have more, uh, lighthearted conflicts. Not entirely serious, you know?" Zed cleared his throat awkwardly and glanced to the side.

So this was Hermitcraft. Just like how Zed said the DSMP was well-known, people knew the Hermitcraft server well, too. Specifically their big, grindy builds. Ranboo should have known that's where he was. This place definitely did Hermitcraft justice.

Zed was still looking at him curiously. Ranboo knew he wasn't going to let this go until he said something about it--he seemed like that kind of person.

"Well, I'm probably not the best person to turn to for this kind of stuff," Ranboo started.

"Hey, you're the only DSMP member who's appeared in our server randomly," Zed joked with a little laugh. "You're my only source. You can probably say something ridiculous that would never happen here and I'd have to believe you."

"Okay. A place called L'Manburg was blown up three times by three different people at three different times." Ranboo put on his best deadpan face, though Zed probably couldn't see it behind his mask and sunglasses.

Zed stared at him for a count of five. "...You're not joking, are you?"

"Nope. Actually happened."

"Um...wow. Okay." Zed didn't seem to know what to do with that info. That kind of stuff was probably unheard of in a place like this. "H-how did that happen anyway? What prompts someone to blow up this place thrice? What did it do to deserve that?"

Ranboo went stiff. Zed had hit a sensitive spot. "Wars. Conflict in the server. So many sides taken, the SMP is split in half."

"And...what side are you on?" Zed asked softly.

"...None."

Zed leaned back, surprised by the answer. "Oh, um...can I ask why? If you're comfy saying it, of course."

"No, it's okay." Ranboo took a deep breath before continuing.

"I have this policy. 'Choose people, not sides.' Every conflict on this server has started out because of two conflicting beliefs. Then, people start taking the side of one belief. Then, it just...escalates from there. I don't choose a side because that's going to solve nothing. Instead, I choose people. Of course, I want all this conflict to be over.

"But it never stops."

He trailed off as he realized he'd started rambling. "Uh, crap, you probably didn't want to hear all that, though--I'm sorry--"

"No, no, it's okay," Zed said quickly. "It's just...y'see, on Hermitcraft, our wars are more...lighthearted. Not as serious. I've said this before. There's no real conflict, just servermates messing around with each other."

"I wish I could experience that kind of thing," Ranboo muttered. It made sense that a place like this didn't have a lot of real conflict. It was like a haven of some sort to Ranboo. A special place that was unachievable in his own server.

"...I can't imagine going to actual war when it's my friends who are on the opposing side," Zed continued. "I mean, sure, we've had wars before, but it's always lighthearted roleplay. We're not actually mad at each other, y'know?"

He was silent for a moment before adding on one last bit. "Though some...recent wars...have gotten a bit more out of hand."

"How about you?" Ranboo asked. "What side are you on for these wars?"

"Would you believe me if I said 'none', too?" Zed said with a smile.

"Wait...really?"

"Not for the reasons you are. It's just...not my thing. I don't usually get involved in big server events. I have my own projects I want to work on. Though I have these two friends—Tango and Impulse—who always get involved. And they always end up on opposite teams."

"What's that like after the war is over?"

"Weird. It didn't use to be like this, but there's this...lingering tension now. Like I said earlier, the wars are getting a bit more serious, and it takes me a while longer to break the ice again between 'em. It's not like immediately after the war things go back to normal. Not anymore."

Ranboo let out a small puff of laughter. "Seems like we each have our own problems, huh?"

"...Yeah. Seems like it."

Ranboo's smile faded, and he sighed. "I wish I could be a part of a really close server like this. It seems fun."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...let's just say I don't really have any close friends on the DSMP."

"...You don't?"

Ranboo instantly regretted oversharing with Zed. The reason why he never told people about this is that they tended to go "Oh, poor you"! and baby you afterward.

Why did he share this with Zed, anyway? Out of all the people he could have confessed to...why a Hermit? They had it easy over here. How could he understand? Why not talk to someone on the DSMP who could?

But...Zed continued to surprise him with what he said.

"If you want...I can be your first real friend."

Ranboo did a double-take. Out of all the things Zed had said—and some of them had seemed downright foreign to him—this is what surprised him the most. He didn't go "Poor thing! Do you want a hug?" or awkwardly change the subject...he listened. More importantly, he understood.

And that was something Ranboo wasn't used to.

He realized Zed was waiting for an answer, and he awkwardly cleared his throat. He couldn't say anything that could properly convey the...happiness he felt when Zed offered to be his friend. Yes, that was it. He didn't realize how lonely he'd felt before.

Even if he did have people he hung out with more on the DSMP, he never felt close to them. That wasn't something he felt with Zed. For whatever reason, in the short time he'd talked to him, Ranboo felt like he could relate to him. A lot. They had to deal with the same kind of problem, even if their conflicts were on opposite ends. They were two sides of the same coin.

"...Yeah," he said after a moment longer. "I'd like that."

Zed smiled a bit, and Ranboo did have to read too deep into it to know that he was thinking along the same lines as he was right now. He was that kind of person.

After a moment of silence, Zed cleared his throat. "Um. Though...you know you can't stay here forever. You have your own server, and the whitelist will kick you out sooner or later. You belong in the Dream SMP. Not here. As much as I'd like you to stay."

Ranboo laughed as a thought occurred to him. "It was never meant to be, huh?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"But--before the whitelist kicks you out, we should make the most of the time left. I don't know if I'll see you again, y'know? And I want to hear about everything in the DSMP."

Ranboo felt a smile grow on his face. Zed delivering bad news, then immediately following with a hopeful smile afterward was something he'd do. He was glad he met Zed today...even if it was under the weirdest circumstances he'd ever encountered. And he'd seen some pretty odd things.

"Yeah. C'mon, let's go find somewhere to sit." Zed got up from his sitting spot, brushed off the dirt, and gestured for Ranboo to follow him. "I'll tell you what's happening in my server, and you can tell me about yours!"

#hermitcraft #dream smp #ranboo #zedaph #addylia.fic #thank you guys for all the enthusiasm on this concept!! it really kept me going #<333 #hc x dsmp

[tobi-smp]

you might be able to expand on this in a way that’s smarter then me, but honestly; i think technoblade apologists rely far too much on word of god for their analysis.

like, it feels like every time technoblade (the character) is analyzed in the context of the Text Itself, the fans will say “that’s not what techno intended” or “he didn’t think that when acting techno”.

this is probably because cc!techno cares so little for the the fourth wall. but as someone who analyzes techno it also annoys me. “cc!techno didn’t plan to kill anyone canonically during doomsday, cc!jack just challenged him” regardless of what your cc intends, c!techno still bombed a country and shot at other characters, and for him to think there would be no casualties in that is ridiculous.

this fourth-wall-breaking honestly gives quite a few issues like this; techno acts like killing tubbo was unimportant or even funny because “it’s minecraft” and anyone still angry at him about that is just irrational. obviously, because c!tubbo still has to live with the scarred body and the huge amount of trauma, this makes c!techno seem like a Huge Dick. but pointing that out always gets so many angry responses.

rivals duo enthusiasts make so much “techno heals and cares for dream” content, but in actuality techno wants his lore to be only funny so he says “i’m not getting tortured. that seems like a you problem.”

i’m not saying that techno isn’t nice— because he is, to ranboo and phil and niki— but because he participates is HUGELY SERIOUS topics (bombing a nation twice, tommys exile, terrorism and taking hostages, dreams torture) and then acts like he doesn’t care, it just makes him look…. Bad.

i dont really know where i was going with this. basically i just wanted to complain about how one of the most argued about characters doesn’t even seem to be serious about the serious parts of the lore.

perhaps you can somehow expand on this in a way that’s smart T_T

Honestly, techno apologism takes techno's word as absolute truth Way too often in general (both in character and out). which isn't unique to techno fans by any means, but it's particularly bothersome because it leaks out into how they talk about other characters, All The Time.

a quick example would be techno arguing that l'manberg was corrupt because tubbo was given presidency without an election. the reality of the situation was that they were in the middle of a crisis (a war that just came to an end, the death of the president with no one to take his place, and the destruction of the entire nation), so it Wasn't under normal circumstances. l'manberg would've then held elections every couple of months had they not been exploded before that could happen. (there's also the fact that nearly everyone that'd be a part of l'manberg was there and could've voiced their concerns, instead the crowd cheered. they didn't get a ballot but they still expressed their approval).

and of course things that he says about other characters being taken as word of god (him wholesale inventing the character flaw that tommy sees himself as a hero with the theseus speech despite the fact that tommy denied it right then and there. or cc!techno making the joke that tommy's only facing the consequences of his own actions, Twice.)

but more on the topic, there Is a massive tonal difference between techno's viewpoint and everyone else's, and that's completely on purpose ! but that creates some of the worst discourse this fandom has to offer Because techno involves himself in serious lore while still insisting on carrying his non-serious roleplay style.

when you take his word on it and Only his word on it it strips other characters of their nuance because he doesn't see or Care about their motivations or the context behind them. that's why it's so easy to paint the butcher army as purely evil from his perspective. Technoblade doesn't care about releasing withers on l'manberg, Technoblade doesn't care about having shot tubbo, Technoblade doesn't care that quackity is terrified of him, so why should they? why should anyone?

people refuse to see the butcher army as a response to technoblade's actions because technoblade doesn't treat his actions as if they have weight. and so quackity is taken to the fandom alter to be sacrificed as an uncomplicated villain (either alongside tubbo or while painting quackity as a manipulator who coerced the rest of the butcher army), and this Long before las nevadas was a part of the lore.

but then of course, if you look at his actions and attitude from any other perspective (minus philza) he just looks, Cold.

he's bombing l'manberg because of a failed execution and philza's house arrest but he won't even acknowledge that tubbo's execution or his destruction of l'manberg was something that he should've apologized for. he painted tommy as a dehumanizer because tommy chose to stand by his best friend, but techno is risking the lives of people who haven't wronged him without remorse because philza (his best friend) got hurt. he's angry at tommy for betraying him (to the point that he's indifferent to his literal death), when he refused to take tommy seriously over feeling betrayed with tubbo's execution and when He was the one who lied to tommy during their partnership.

he refuses to engage with other characters on an emotional level because that would suck the dumb fun out of his actions (and I don't mean dumb fun as an insult here, I love his roleplay style when it Isn't tonally dissonant from everything around it). but from the other perspective that comes across as indifference to suffering, willful ignorance, hypocrisy, or just outright cruelty.

which just isn't how his character Should be read with how its being acted, but it's the only way To read it in context.

techno wants his character to be the comic relief on the server but he still wants to involve himself with heavy lore, which would still be Possible if he was fine playing a villain (just look at jack and niki with their team rocket arc). but the problem is that he presents his character as emotionally disconnected from everyone around him outside of a select handful of people (and even then, he won't engage with certain things seriously for fear of being pulled into serious lore) while still wanting his character to be read as good (or at least lighter on the gray morality scale).

the solution to this would be a more careful implementation of techno's involvement with the lore. keeping him involved in conflicts in a way where his character doesn't bump elbows with the darkest aspects of the server. either by having him Not involved with things like doomsday or having him involved in a way where he isn't an instigator, Or by technoblade the content creator taking the L and taking his roleplay more seriously when he involves himself in serious lore.

instead we have the insistence that it's not technoblade's fault that people died when he killed them because it doesn't fit with how cc!techno wants to engage with those events.

#long post #dream smp #technoblade #c!technoblade critical #c!techno critical #tubbo #quackity #tommyinnit #I don't know if I added anything smart here #but I Did add 13 paragraphs so go team

[zeta-in-de-walls]

Hey guys, I was having thoughts on the meta-side of the Dream SMP. Okay, so we know that Technoblade has done much of the scripting for this present arc, Tommy, Dream and Quackity have also done some in collaboration, presumably doing each of their own characters and motivations, and Tubbo and Fundy have also been involved too. Uh, this will be rambly as it’s a lot of unsorted observations.

Obviously these are my thoughts, and ideas purely based on my observations as a viewer but you can definitely tell that they’re all very aware of the fanbase and are likely very influenced by them. I could see this even in the Pogtopia arc where Tommy started reusing phrases before when debating ethics with Wilbur, eg ‘let’s lose as winners, not win as losers.’ or something along those lines and how Techno made a callback to his only universal language is violence speech in his wither monologue. 

But wow, the scripting is definitely becoming a lot more obvious in this new season of the SMP. Not a bad thing at all, by the way, it’s just a difference. Clearly they’ve gotten more detailed plans and are more ambitious with what they convey in minecraft, with more players taking inspiration from Wilbur after how well he executed it. It’s also the difference in how the various people write, I’m sure. 

Tommy and Tubbo have streamed the SMP for the longest and have very gradually evolved into the roleplaying and their respective approaches to it are very interesting. Tubbo’s streams are typically chill and usually involve him working on some sort of project - he’s very chaotic when with other people but is usually very reactionary when it comes to the roleplaying - doing most of his best stuff when bouncing off Tommy, or occasionally Quackity. On his own he doesn’t like to lead bits but is among the best at making other people’s bits work. Same with the RP! His character’s in a weird spot right now as the other writer’s seem to be writing him in quite an unflattering way and he doesn’t do solo, emotional performances all that much meaning he’s less sympathetic right now then he really should be. Like, Tommy garnered loads of sympathy during his exile as he gave a very expressive performance where Tubbo’s character also presumably feels very isolated and alone and he’s being manipulated by the people around him but he gives a lot less. This has made it easier for the audience to start siding more with Technoblade, the literal mass-murderer, over the traumatised kid who was manipulated into exiling his best friend and continues to face terrible choices with no good options.

 While I can of course make less meta theories on why Tubbo should be appreciated more and what it says he’s got no real support and is compartmentalising his problems, in the end it’s how his streams work. Tubbo does plot related streams, and he does streams where he simply vibes - and even in the serious streams, he can joke around and cheerfully lampshade the goofiness by doing things like joking about wanting a good review from Techno while kidnapping him - that stuff is priceless and does not fit into the melodramtic scripts but it adds so much to the SMP and why it is so much fun to watch. Tubbo’s really good at making content better! He’s not afraid to look ridiculous, he will also unapologetically avoid engaging in too much melodrama himself when he doesn’t feel like it. I consider his character highly underrated in the plot right now.

Tommy knows what he’s doing. Even before the roleplaying really took off, Tommy liked to play a character and lead bits and the SMP shifting in a more scripted direction suited him exceptionally well. Tommy focuses heavily on streams with lots of content, only rarely doing more chill stuff - especially more recently. He has always approached streams with a plan - but usually their extremely loose and he has said that he’d sometimes just come up with an idea 10 minutes before the stream and improvise from there. Tommy’s good at improvising and seems to work best with a very loose plan. Where I think Techno likely came up with the plan for Tommy to get exiled from L’Manburg and then join forces with him, Tommy likely filled in how to play his character and - wow.

Tommy’s writing seems to be incredibly simple - each exile stream had no major plot points or anything and the plans that are there don’t even make logical sense (let’s throw a party in one day and let’s invite everyone but have Dream not send out the invitations so no one shows up - and I’m going to do this even with Philza and Fundy literally in the call.) but Tommy pulled every one of them off very well and proved to be compelling enough that no one cared at all whether the plot made sense nor did Tommy make much effort to justify that sort of thing - ‘cause he knows how the SMP works and how much the audience will go along with it. And instead, Tommy focused entirely on his characterisation and spent all his time exploring it. That’s how Tommy works - very simple plans, then improv in character into an engaging bit. He’s managed to pull off the most ridiculous things like that, and has confidence that the other streamers will support it - that’s how he’s prepared to try insane things like pretending to be Clarencio the llama. And, like Tubbo, he’s always willing to throw for content. 

Then there’s Technoblade. He’s streamed the SMP a lot less - though he’s done so much more recently - but he’s spent a lot more time playing on the SMP, doing tons of grinding. He here for the RP but is also committed to playing the game itself very optimally. He seems to have a much larger view, taking in the bigger picture, of the story where Tommy has a very personal view. His approach to content is all about the fanservice. 

He’s always trying to create big epic, moments, that both look and sound awesome. Like the butcher’s army plotline which let him both seem like an underdog, a victim against a mean group, and also an incredible badass figure who outplayed them all and came out as victorious. The butcher’s army were really given an antagonists role there, and were really made to seem unlikeable. Then he met up with fan-favourite Tommy and suggested a team-up with him. (This is also leading to the ultimate fanservice that is the Sleepybois team-up.) Techno’s got a very, dry self-aware sens of humour too and he’ll often make simple meta observations about the SMP - like noting that the pacing’s fast or teasing in the chat in the middle of wars. He’s also made himself into a bit of a meme what with logging just to say his name and leave. 

I don’t know how much it’s just Techno of course, but the plot really seems to be heading in a direction that suggesting that Technoblade was Right. L’Manburg’s seeming corrupt, and Tommy is being seen as Theseus. At the time Techno first made the Theseus speech, I felt like the comparison seemed unfair - but now it’s like the plot itself has bent over to make the comparison make sense, and Techno’s one of the writers of the script. Techno also of course, prepared a vault to show Tommy so he could say ‘welcome home Theseus dramatically - total fanservice as fans were indeed talking about how cool saying a line would be, and then he absolutely did. The way Techno calls his viewers chatting as the voices in his head is also fanservice. It’s not like actually true, as Techno ignores the chat if they tell him information his character doesn’t know and meanwhile all the streamers interact with their chat too - so all chats have always been a part of the story and calling them canon is absolutely meaningless. Not a bad thing though - it is nice and makes the fans happy and makes them feel included. I don’t know if this sounds critical by the way - it’s not meant as such at all - all the streamers love engaging with the fandom, and Techno’s approach to giving lots of fanservice by providing so many epic moments is great. I just wanted to highlight it. 

And those were some meta thoughts on the SMP right now and its writing. I don’t really think I had a point or argument. I just wanting to make some observations and my impressions. If you’re curious I am course a Tommy fan first. I love how he’s evolved with the SMP most of all and I appreciate his character-driven storytelling. His main weakness is probably getting too into bits and going too far and it’s so nice that the SMP is a place where even his weaker ideas are supported rather than shut down. I like how he’s able to improv so well and simply how he streams. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I love Tubbo best when he’s with Tommy as they bring the best performances out of each other. I find Techno interesting as a contrast to both of them, as he approaches so many things in such a different way. 

#dream smp #tommyinnit #tubbo #technoblade #meta #analysis #long post #i don't know what this was #i should just ask for asks #so i can ramble with more direction #like i have a lot of thoughts #but they're not all as coherent as i'd like

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

Tommy’s (and Tubbo’s) Character /rp /dSMP

This is a bit of a rant so like be warned. I have nothing against any CCs mentioned in this, this is all roleplay, lighthearted, and just a bit of fun analysis. Mostly this is a ramble about how I see certain people analysing Tommy’s character on tumblr and twt, and why I think they’re wrong. This isn’t directed at anyone specific, just a trend I’ve been seeing that kinda irks me. I don’t dislike the fandom, just a few ‘takes’ have been really weird for me.

TW for everything below: analysing the effects of trauma, abuse, manipulation, gaslighting, and lack of therapy.

I’m not really liking how victim-blamey everyone is getting currently in the dSMP, both in fandom and canon. In canon with certain characters but especially in fan analysis posts and especially about Tommy and Tubbo. People legitimately celebrating that Tommy might start ‘apologising’ for his actions more and 'growing as a person' somehow don’t realise that hes been made this way through a tonne of negative reinforcement. abuse, and gaslighting. And people blaming Tubbo for actions he had no choice in, rather than the actions he did choose.

Currently, as I see it, Tommy is so scared that anyone would find a reason to be pissed off at him that his fighting spirit has been completely crushed. He was exiled and abused when he should have been helped and given an understanding figure to guide him and teach him how to deal with things non-violently. In everyone’s eyes, the problem was that Tommy was creating violence with no real reason, acting recklessly and commiting crimes. Tubbo, having made him a part of his cabinet, knew that this would only harm the country. So instead of talking to him reasonably, he got angry, put him on trial, and punished him with the logbook (humiliating him by making him report back to Fundy, which he obviously hated). Tommy’s actions were, of course, bad, but did he deserve everyone ganging up on him? No. Especially when Tubbo was supposed to be in his corner, helping him out like he always said he would (”It’s me and you vs Dream” etc). This is the first betrayal of trust from Tommy’s POV. He doesn’t understand what he did wrong to its full extent, and no one can explain it to him. 

However, Tubbo was under a lot of pressure from Dream and George, and he’s a literal child President, so his ‘safety over friendship’ actions are understandable. I don’t believe Tubbo is solely to blame for anything he’s done in season 2, but it can’t all be excused. If you are to blame Tommy for his recklessness, you have to blame Tubbo, at least partially, for his disregard for Tommy’s feelings and mental state. There were other ways to go about the entire thing, including the trial, which was just horrible to watch, and agreeing to give Dream the disc, something Tommy gave him in pure confidence that it would be safe with Tubbo. Yikes moment.

At that time, Tubbo knew a lot of things about Tommy. In fact, he probably knew the most about Tommy out of anyone on the server. He knew the discs were incredibly important and a comfort item for Tommy. He knew Tommy had trauma from being exiled in the past. He knew Tommy was abused, or at least manipulated by Wilbur, in addition to growing up in war. Wilbur once told Tommy to stop being reckless, and Tommy listened, changing his attitude because he looked up to Wilbur so much. Then Wilbur said ‘let’s be the bad guys’ and stopped trying to mentor Tommy. There’s a conflict here, because Tommy was told by Wilbur that he wasn’t good enough to be President (links to the idea of ‘not being strong enough’) but he knows that Wilbur was a bad person. But Tommy is never given the chance to reconsile his feelings surrounding Wilbur, both because of Ghostbur and because of the conflict he starts with George. So he is harbouring a mixture of emotions about his mentor and brother, not understanding how to untangle the ‘real Tommy’ from the manipulated boy he became. 

What was going through his head when he stole from George and griefed him? Perhaps the thought that he needed to show he was still the same old Tommy. Maybe the need to ‘prove himself’ as a strong person? It could have just been an outlet for his trauma. He’s grown up in a world where everyone is either a friend or an enemy. George isn’t a friend. How was he supposed to know that hurting him was bad?

Tubbo was pressured into the actions he took against Tommy, but he was pressured far too easily. There is no moment where Tubbo turns to Tommy and makes sure he’s okay, he views him as ‘selfish’ and overdramatic, and sees his actions that way. This makes sense from Tubbo’s POV, he’s struggling to be President in ways that Wilbur *knew* he would, but in Tommy’s eyes this is the worst betrayal he’s ever known. The moment Tubbo (rightfully, but poorly executed) defies Tommy’s plan to hire Technoblade (ahem, seeing Techno as a weapon again) and exiles Tommy is the moment their friendship shatters. They’re two people who don’t understand each other anymore. Two people who are technically in the right, but only hurt each other. 

What Tommy needed was a therapist, instead he had Dream, who put out the fire of rebellion that made him so strong, and Techno, who was trying to help but doing it in the wrong way. 

People see tommy's change post-exile as a good thing because he's not as rebellious anymore and he’s thinking things through a lot before he does them, but they will soon realise that his rebellion was one of his best traits and the fact that no one saw it as anything but a problem really shows. He now second-guesses himself so much and is so scared of being wrong that everything seems too difficult and too dangerous. Every trait can have a positive and negative side. Tommy's defiant nature would have made him the perfect negotiator with a little practise. In fact, he had plenty of good ideas before he was exiled (using spirit against Dream, though it didnt work in the end, for example). The negative side of this was recklessness and the desire to cause problems on purpose, but what he needed was a friend (looking at you Tubbo) who understood that hes been through several wars, was manipulated by Wilbur, and hasnt known a time of peace where everyone who wasnt on his side was out to kill him. Now that ‘fight’ is gone he's just become easier to manipulate.

He may be getting better (see: telling Dream to go fuck himself) but there hasn't been any long-term growth because he was never told what kind of rebellion was good and what was bad. He was just told it was all bad. By Dream (and by Tubbo). Who he doesn't trust. So he's just going to revert back to his old ways because no one told him what was bad in a way that didn't make him feel like everyone was against him. Dream is the enemy (though Tommy’s feelings towards him are complicated, they make his brain go all ‘flippy floppy’) and Dream told him that rebellion was bad, so rebellion must be good always, right? 

And then there's Techno. Techno did nothing wrong except for when he did. Techno is 100% right except for when he isn’t. He doesn't understand Tommy because Tommy was never fully open about what Dream had done and how it affected him. That's not Tommys fault though, because who the fuck openly talks about their trauma? So neither of them are to blame for pretty much anything up until the confrontation at the community house. 

However, Techno's methods and ideology were not what Tommy needed. He was thrown from one extreme to another over and over again, from complete subservience to total rebellion. Neither of these inforce good attitudes in Tommy. One, as stated before, makes it so that he will regain his negative traits again. The other reinforces those violent traits as good, just like Wilbur did. The only difference is that Techno had good intentions, he wasnt trying to use Tommy, which is why he feels so used when Tommy 'betrays' him (Techno doesnt realise that he himself betrayed Tommy by teaming with Dream, he sees it more as a transaction than a personal thing). Techno feels so hurt by Tommy ‘viewing him as a weapon’ that he goes on with his no-mercy attack, completely dropping Tommy at his lowest point. 

Tommy says he doesn't want to be like everyone he's hated. In fact, he say's he is 'worse' than all the villains. This is very obviously untrue, though he was clearly going down a dangerous path with Techno's influence (see: bullying Fundy, spawning wither, kidnapping Connor, and saying that the discs are more important than Tubbo, more on that later). He's not a villain but who exactly has said he's not a villain. Dream? Techno? Neither of them can be trusted in his eyes. They say he's a good guy, Wilbur wanted to be the bad guy, who's right? He doesn't know. He has a crisis of morality. 

And? Some people want to point at that and say 'aha! Character development! He's finally realising his actions have a negative affect on others!' OH GOD NO??? He's a *child* who thinks that he is worse than his abuser. Does that sound like positive character growth to you? 

Lastly, the discs. We know theyre a comfort item blahblahblah. He hates himself for valuing them more than he values Tubbo. He's literally innocent in this. He’s been horribly manipulated by Dream to believe that the discs are worth anything. Theyre really not worth anything if they are being used as tools rather than, yknow, discs. My poor boy. He doesnt trust people, so what can he trust? The discs. But then he says it out loud and realises he misses Tubbo and he wants to be with his best friend again and and and WAHHHH. This also isnt really character growth its just fucking sad leave me alone. 

Anyways what the fuck guys. @ Niki and Jack what the fuck. Yeah we get it it’s miscommunication but wtf. Kinda worried that the actual lore will make Niki and Jack’s hatred of Tommy justified in some way and take on a big victim-blamey vibe, but I’m hoping that everyone is smart enough to not do that. I cannot praise Tommy enough for how he’s portrayed his character. I’m currently hoping that he himself understands the true complexity of it all. I’m sure he does.

Mostly though im actually pissed off at all the people praising tommy's character for 'maturing' when hes literally just got trauma. Nice one, tumblr and twt users. Thanks. Great job. He hasnt 'learnt his lesson', he’s traumatised. What the fuck.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk, leave your responses in the reblogs and comments.

#dreamsmp #dream smp #character analysis #dreamsmp analysis #analysis #critical #tommyinnit #tubbo #dream #technoblade #wilbur soot #tw trauma #tw abuse #tw gaslighting #tw manipulation

[woniepop]

girly girls

Pairing: Kang Taehyun x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2.3K

Warnings: bullying, cursing

Genre: slice of life; fluff; angst

Summary: Three times a popular girl and a nerd were enemies, and one time where they weren’t

a/n: this fic was inspired by my all time favorite movie, Legally Blonde. I enjoyed writing this fic and I really hope you enjoy reading it :)

Y/N L/N has never been someone who liked to be cast in the shadows. Always being the center of attention, y/n has become one of the, if not the most, popular girls in her town. Homegirl is always dressed like an icon even when doing mundane tasks. Girls like her have never really been into anything “nerdy.” She associates herself with more of the bimbo kind, if you will. It was never really a secret, but she studies incredibly hard to get the chance to go to her dream school and become a great computer scientist. Being in such a large friend group of female fashion icons, there was never really anyone who wanted to talk about topics with math or computer science. 

Kang Taehyun, however, is this awkward and incredibly smart boy. Never really associated with popularity, he’s only had about four friends in his life and absolutely no dating experience. He’d always been one to shy away from attention. At most times, he found himself quietly observing others. All this, and he’s still what you would consider the teacher’s pet. He gets all his assignments done, A’s on every test, and raises his hand for every question. As a computer science enthusiast, he has worked his butt off his entire life, filling his schedule with robotics clubs, different languages of code, and coding camps. Senior year was his year. He had finally got into his dream school, TXT Tech, and had already created a very very detailed plan for the future.

Currently, Y/n’s mother was constantly trying to persuade her about fashion school. Having an incredibly fashionable mom wasn’t always the best for situations like these. TXT Tech results were coming out, and even though Y/n was confident she was getting in, there’s still the chance she might have not. Nervously waiting in front of her laptop, she sits impatiently refreshing the page for her results. Within one sentence she hops up from her chair in awe. Obviously attending the school was going to be a big turning point for her, and she was so excited to have been admitted to TXT Tech. 

As Y/n got settled on campus, she finds no one else that looks like her. Obviously, because she stands out, all attention is drawn to her. She’s confident, stylish, and hot. In a sea of gray and tan business outfits, Y/n wears a nice pink pantsuit. She’s relishing in all the attention, not seeming to mind that it’s not good, because she knew she looked good. 

Her first encounter with Taehyun couldn’t have gone worse. Walking to her class, pink drink in hand, she struts confidently to the lecture hall for her computer engineering class. Not paying attention to where she was going, she bumps into a tall figure. This clearly wasn’t the best way you could go about your first day, but all Y/n could do was apologize. 

“I’m so sorry, sir. I didn’t see where I was going and-” she rambled. Pausing in the middle of looking up, a very handsome and slightly awkward boy stands there, obviously pissed off and very annoyed. He scoffs and continues on his way to his next class.

Her second encounter with Taehyun was not great either. Clicking her high heels against the floor, she walks to her first class of the day. She had to get there early, she always had to sit in the front of the class. Taehyun on the other hand, nose buried deep in his book, walks directly to the middle. Despite loving programming, he could only handle so much attention. The class had started off well for Y/n, reviewing the class syllabus of “Principles of Programming Languages.” Taehyun, however, was pissed. He had not been called on once and was so frustrated. 

“Y/n, can you tell me the five most commonly used languages of code?” the professor asks smugly. Y/n knew what he was doing. She was being set up. She knew he thought she didn’t know and that lit a fire in her. 

“Python, Java, Javascript, C#, and C” she answers confidently. Hearing this, the professor nods his head. He wasn’t expecting that. 

Taehyun saw this as a perfect opportunity. His hand shoots up and he comments, “Sir, that’s actually incorrect. C++ is actually more popular because although C  has served as the foundation for writing languages like Python and Ruby, C++ is a newer language of code and therefore is compatible with more technology.” Taehyun confidently looks down to wear Y/n sits and smirks. Of course she wouldn’t know that. She’s only the popular rich girl that got in with Daddy’s money. She didn’t actually know anything, right?

It had been a few months since school had started, and finals were just about to come around. For this class’ final, they had to submit a partner project and code a simple game. At this point, it had been very blatantly established that Y/n and Taehyun were enemies. They despised each other. Always competing with each other in class, snickering when the other person got annoyed. It was a silent war between the two of them and everyone could feel the tension in the air. Obviously, it was no surprise they always came up at the top of the class, interchanging the first spot every test. What was surprising, however, was seeing their names together on the partner project roster. 

Taehyun was furious. College was supposed to be his bitch, but now he’s acting like Y/n’s bitch. He was so pissed off. Computer science was supposed to be where he had the upper hand. The one place he could feel himself. Where he was finally better than the stupid popular kids. And yet, he’s here, competing with one of them. It wasn’t fair. She was a girly girl, she wore bright colors everyday, she even had a sparkly notebook. How was she so smart? There was no way, it’s just the laws of the universe. You had to choose between looks and intelligence. That’s just what the gods above said. There’s no take backsies. 

It’s no secret that Y/n is a fashionable girl and having a female centric hobby isn’t really something applauded at this university. Knowing of Y/n’s insecurities, let’s talk about Taehyun’s. Having always worn non adventurous, boring, clothing, he’s known from the very beginning that Y/n’s beauty has helped her in life. Life is never fair, and it shows. Taehyun never ever got those advantages, and now here he is competing with someone just as smart as him. 

 As his jealousy grows in the back of his mind, he decides to use this time to take revenge. The next few days are spent typing away in the library, collaborating and researching for hours upon hours. Knowing that this project was worth 40% of their grade, they spent all their time trying to make this game perfect. 

The day of the presentation of their near perfect game rolls around and Y/n was confident. She had spent countless nights coding this with Taehyun and on her own. Starting the presentation off, Taehyun pulls up a game completely different to the one Y/n coded with him. “In this day and age, gaming has become a hobby more popular than it’s ever been. With platforms like twitch and youtube, all different types of games can catch the eyes of a wide audience. With this in mind, I’d like to present to you Jackbox Party Pack 8. Roleplay games have become the genre of choice for many gamers to play, and viewers to watch.” 

This was not the first person shooter Y/n had coded with him. What was he doing? Y/n stood there, not really knowing what to say. Opening and closing her mouth, she couldn’t form any words. She should have known this was a set up. “Ms. L/n, please continue.” The professor says. She couldn’t. She felt like she was frozen. She was so embarrassed and she should’ve seen it coming. With cheeks welling up in her eyes, she runs out of the classroom. 

With a smirk, Taehyun continued on, explaining how the game worked and how he had coded it. He had spent the past few nights coding it by himself and he was incredibly proud. Paying no mind to Y/n, he stood tall and smiled throughout his entire presentation. Obviously, like any normal person, guilt started growing quickly in the back of his mind. He finally realized he had fucked up. 

Running after Y/n, Taehyun felt incredibly guilty. He had taken the competition too far, and now he’d made someone innocent fail a required class. After running for what felt like hours, he found Y/n crying under a tree. He knelt down and offered her some tissues. Aggravated, she smacks the tissues away and tells him to leave.

Y/n, on the other hand, felt so angry. How could he do this to her? She hadn’t done anything wrong, and if he didn’t like the way she dressed or the way she conducted herself that was fine. All she needed was her to believe in herself and that got her into TXT Tech. While thinking about all the ways she could end Taehyun, she feels arms wrap around her. They’re 🤮Taehyun’s. Before she can rip his arms off, he speaks up. 

“Look Y/n, I’m really sorry about that whole thing I pulled back there. I’ll talk to the professor and give him the real project. I really took it too far and I’ll do anything to make it up to you.” He begs. 

“Um,, no? I don’t care? That was literally so embarrassing. If you really wanted to make it up to me you’d leave me alone.” Y/n pushes him off her harshly and storms off. How dare he? It probably took his two seconds to come up with that half assed apology. This was unbelievable. 

Y/n started trudging through the grass back to her dorm. All she wanted to do was take a warm shower and cry in her bed. She hated everyone. She wanted him to suffer just as much as she did, but she couldn’t do that. 

After two whole days of sobbing in her bed, she decided she was craving her signature pink drink. She really didn’t feel like going out, but delivering one drink would cost like $15. Y/n throws on a casual pink outfit. It’s very different from what she wore at the beginning of the school year, but the one thing that never changed was the color pink. Even in her depressive mood, she still wanted to dress up. She felt most comfortable wearing stylish clothing, that was her home. 

Stepping into the store, she sees Taehyun sitting at a table alone. You know when you see old people sitting along and you feel so bad for them you start tearing up? Like what if they lost their spouse or something :(((((. So anyway, Taehyun gives her lonely old people energy and regardless of what he did to her, she decides to keep him company. 

“Hey, um, can i sit here?” Y/n asks. Taehyun was so surprised. She wanted to sit with him? But he was so mean to her? He nodded his head and sat quietly. The past two days she could tell Taehyun had done a lot of thinking. She could tell he did it because he felt threatened. That wasn’t enough to forgive him, but at least she was being nice about it. 

Taehyun gets up and leaves. He comes back with a pink drink in hand, maybe as an apology. “I really want to apologize to you again, Y/n. Yesterday I don’t know if you saw, but the professor graded the actual project instead, and I had told him everything and that I’d deserve it if he failed me instead.” Y/n wanted to be happy but she wasn’t. She didn’t want him to fail after helping her code the game with her. Maybe she was so nice to him because she had matured, or maybe because she felt something different in Taehyun. Even so, a little embarrassment, she thought, wasn’t enough to cause a person to fail their whole class. Holding his hand on the table, she nods, a silent way she decided to forgive him. 

“Well, at least we’re not the worst team. I think group 7 coded a Niki Minaj roblox world.” Taehyun jokes. 

She laughs. “That’s so funny, what the heck? I guess we just have some hardcore barbs in this class.” People like Taehyun and people like Y/n were never meant to be friends in the first place, but maybe now they were starting to. Y/n, who was always challenging the term “girly girl.” Who always stressed that you have to believe in yourself when the rest of the world is against you. Y/n who became successful, without changing who she was. Y/n, who was feminine and wanted to show that was never a weakness. And Taehyun, who was always unadventurous. Who was never into fashion but still managed to pull off his nerdy outfits with his cute face. The passionate Taehyun whose only hobby seemed like studying. Gossiping for hours at the cafe, they realized this. They were starting to become friends. No one ever expected them to even be able to hold a friendly conversation, but here Y/n was, challenging everyone again. 

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