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wonda-cat · 2 years

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What do you think about the difference in support for Dream and Quackity? There's the whole thing about Dream not being The Villain (which- valid until he decided to gaslight gatekeep girlboss a literal child), but despite that opinions on him seem to swing wildly between "NO HES TOTALLY NOT WRONG" and "HES LITERALLY ONLY WRONG", no in between. On the other hand Quackity had a poor tragic backstory and then went on to torture Dream but has way more sympathizers despite this which seems strange.

I don't see the difference as anything all that strange once you break down the fundamental divergencies of their characters and compare them—especially from a narrative perspective. The reason c!Dream is seen from a wholly negative perspective by most people (although he's well-loved as a character) is because he passed the Moral Event Horizon; c!Quackity has not.

The Moral Event Horizon is essentially the final action that renders a character 'morally irredeemable.' Dream flew past this line, and gleefully so, when he decided to orchestrate a legal kidnapping through political blackmail, all to isolate and abuse a child to the point they attempted suicide to escape it. No other character has ever, or will ever, hit that level of abhorrent again.

Despite this, c!Dream has also managed to dig himself even deeper by killing and torturing two innocent people, trying to murder many more, and continuing to stalk and torment his abuse victim. In contrast to this, we have c!Quackity, whose most despicable action to date is the torture of another person for an egregious amount of time. But wouldn't this also cross the Moral Event Horizon?

It doesn't—here's why:

Quackity shows both empathy and remorse, c!Dream does not.

In the aftermath of every mistake and hurtful thing c!Quackity has done, he's shown immense guilt, apologized, and tried to make up for what he's done. He's done this with Tommy, Tubbo, Purpled, Fundy, Wilbur, Foolish, Niki, and many others—even when something wasn't necessarily his fault.

Sometimes what he offers in his apologies isn't enough to absolve him of responsibility or guilt, and he isn't forgiven (specifically regarding c!Purpled.) He still tries regardless and continues trying, even if he's turned down. It's important to him that the people he's hurt know that he regrets it, which he's openly stated to those he objectively hurt the most; Purpled and c!Foolish.

The only people he doesn't care to show remorse for are c!Techno and c!Dream, two people who've hurt him and the people he loves relentlessly, and with total moral abandon. In contrast to this, c!Dream has only ever apologized if it makes him look good or if he knows he can gain something from it. At every opportunity to learn and improve his behavior, he turns away from it and continues hurt others.

He's been confronted with multiple opportunities to confess guilt or remorse for what he did to c!Tommy, to c!Wilbur, to c!Tubbo, and he chose not to. Despite better judgment, he still chooses not to.

c!Quackity cares for innocents, Dream does not.

One of Quackity's most defining character traits is his protective nature—whether for loved ones or naive strangers, this habit is the same. If he finds someone he sees himself in; someone who's defenseless, hurt, or optimistic, his first instinct is to teach them how to protect themselves. He teaches them how to be self-sufficient, guarded, and well-prepared for the horrors of life.

And if they have trouble with this, like c!Charlie or c!Tommy, then he offers them a safe place to stay. With little to no hesitation, he's jumped into dangerous situations, specifically to save the people he loves, at the potential cost of his own life.

Dream, however, revels in being untouchable for cutting all attachment to other people. Even before that moment, he's treated the people he claimed to care about terribly, using them for his own self-gain and then dropping them when they cease to be of use to him. The naive and the helpless are seen as a potential to him—things to prey on, control, triangulate, and destroy.

From his own mouth, he likens everyone, innocent and guilty alike, to a collection of dolls who should stay in their proper rooms and not move.

The victim in Quackity's scenario is c!Dream, not an innocent.

An act of cruelty is only made crueler if it's done against someone who doesn't deserve it. Most people who've been hurt in the story do not deserve the suffering which befell them, but c!Dream is not one of those people. Up until season two's end, Dream has done nothing but destroy communities, deceive his friends, and hurt others.

In fact, a good part of the reason c!Dream ends up in his predicament with Q is because he murdered someone Quackity deeply cared for, who was an innocent.

c!Quackity's actions are framed, narratively, in a polar opposite fashion to Dream's.

Dream's torture, both when it's first revealed and when it's expanded upon, is presented as narrative catharsis for the audience. It's the ultimate karmic retribution for every action c!Dream took to get to that point, and it's made clear through c!Quackity explicitly mentioning c!Tommy's death directly to Dream when he first confronts him.

It's executed with a similar purpose to someone like Joffrey's fate from Game of Thrones. Joffrey's end is a result of his long-standing cruelty to innocents, his cowardice, and his callous brattiness. The method of his death, despite being horrific, is meant to make the audience cheer, and the person responsible for his fate isn't looked at in a bad light, because finally, Joffrey has met a fate fitting to his actions. If anything, there is fondness, because it's a narrative 'justice.'

While c!Quackity's primary motive is retrieving the Revival Book, this is not a source of anger for him, because it's not his initial idea (it was c!Schlatt's.) Quackity's anger comes from his secondary motive, which is personal revenge, for every person c!Dream has hurt; especially for c!Tommy's death. Quackity's relationship with revenge is generally portrayed to be self-destructive, yet it's hard for many not to root for him.

There's a reason people cheer on John Wick, despite the objective abhorrence of his actions, and it's because the audience comes to feel just as much anger at the unfairness of his situation. Therefore, there's catharsis when he finally succeeds in killing the man who took away his last connection to his late wife. c!Quackity is in a similar predicament to this, but he's eternally an underdog, whose greatest triumph also turns into his greatest regret.

Dream's torture is also played for laughs during the Las Nevadas episode two montage, where the editing follows the conventions of dark comedy films, with snappy, quick cuts set to upbeat classical music. This jarringly contrasts the way c!Tommy's abuse is portrayed. Where Tommy's is grounded, startlingly real, and takes its time to show the horrors of his situation, c!Dream's torture is short-lasting and unexplored.

He isn't even the focal point of his own suffering—Quackity is. Without Dream's perspective, most of the audience lacks the equipment to empathize with c!Dream's situation and are therefore more likely to view Q in a favorable light, especially with reference to the despicable nature of Dream's previous actions.

With all this in mind, it seems perfectly natural to root for c!Quackity over c!Dream in practically every fashion. There are even more key differences between these two situations, but this'll go on for Way too long and it's already long as it is. Cheers!

#asks #dsmp #dream smp #quackity #dreamwastaken #dsmp analysis #tw suicide #tw abuse #tw torture #obligatory warning: I'm biased #long post #I'm borderline a c!Quackity apologist lol

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doodlebloo · 2 years

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Ok breaking my silence it's mildly upsetting how much of season 4 cTubbo is ruled by meta issues (? That's the wrong term but you'll see what I mean)

1. Has to go look for his missing son and gets called a terrible father because Sapnap (whose character wouldn't know Michael exists) broke into c!Tubbo's house (while Tubbo was literally live doing an IRL stream) threatening to kill Michael_B (no character motive given + as we have established that's a real ass toddler he's trying to kill) and Eret to moved him to keep him safe. This was likely meant to be an ooc stream but it got turned into a plot point Later to help with

2. c!Ranboo's death, which is now being used to say c!Tubbo is a Bad Husband for not trying to revive him. Like I get it if Ghostboo is meant to be an unreliable narrator but the unreliable narrator trope doesn't work if we aren't ever shown that the narrator is wrong. The explanation for why cTubbo hasn't visited or interacted is bc PLANS CHANGED and cRanboo went from "he'll be revived in a week" to now, it's because of meta reasons and there isn't really an in-character explanation that we have been given, only speculation from fans

3. cTubbo just got his first canon kill because he was messing around with cAimsey and the death got canonized after the fact. Not trying to accuse anyone of anything & I'm sure ccTubbo doesn't mind, he can speak for himself when it comes to lore. I'm not trying to say he's a victim here or that the ccs aren't allowed to make this kind of writing decision but it sucks to see such a huge moment like that which does not make sense for his character (unless it was an accident) come out of nowhere.

Not to mention his alliance with cTechnoblade was also set in motion by the Michael thing, + how c!clingyduo is notably and confusingly missing from the current plot purely because cc!clingyduo just Don't do lore together, & there hasn't been any in-universe explanation for that.

I'm not saying the dsmp has never run into problems like this before, I'm not saying that this is anyone in particular's fault, and I'm not saying that ccTubbo is bothered by this or trying to victimize him or whatever. All I'm saying is that as a long time fan it's hard to watch this character who has been fairly consistent have ooc thing after ooc thing pop up in canon and for it to seem to largely be caused by a lack of communication. If you can think of perfectly logical explanations for each of the things on this list that's awesome for you, but the point I'm trying to make here is that even if we as fans can come up with in-universe explanations for why it may make sense it kind of sucks to know from an out of universe standpoint how much of it has been at least partially accidental and therefore mildly ooc for c!Tubbo.

#LORE TALK ON THE DASH HAS MADE ME BRAVE ENOUGH TO POST THIS. I drafted it like right after the c!Aimsey death stream #THIS IS A DRAFT FROM BEFORE THE GOODBYE MR PRESIDENT STREAM BTW!!!!!!#also this is not cc critical. someone making writing decisions i dont agree with or not having great rp ettiquette #does not make them a bad person.#negativity #dsmp critical

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steppingstonesuniverseguide · 9 months

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One More Step Out of the Pit: Chapter 9/26

Summary: It had been Tommy and Tubbo for practically forever. They clawed their way out of hell together. They discovered their superpowers together. They started working for the Superhero Guild together before even coming of age. Tommy probably owed Tubbo his life ten times over. So, when the three supervillains he'd been assigned to bring in managed to take Tubbo hostage, well, there was really only one thing to do.

He knew, of course, he was signing himself up for torture and death by offering that trade, but that was okay.

It'd have to be okay.

AO3 Link (See AO3 for Warnings.)

(This story is finished and has been posted on AO3 for a while, but I'm posting it on Tumblr so it's somewhere else too (considering the day AO3 was down a bit ago). The author notes will all be kept as well. If you are following the blog and don't want to see these posts, block the tag #backlog.)

Author Note: There are needles, drugs, and medical things in this chapter fyi. This stuff starts at “He is biting me now," and goes to "A hand fell on Phil’s shoulder."

Adrenaline once again proved itself to be one hell of a drug, because the moment Phil brought attention to Tommy’s wound, the boy went from sleepy, cuddly kitten to injured, cornered wildcat. It was simultaneously less and more worrying. Less because it had been strange and confusing behavior coming from the usual rather boastful superhero. More because that was a lot of blood in the sheets and the little fucker wasn’t letting him get close enough to see why and was possibly injuring himself more in the process.

“Tommy,” Phil said in exasperation. The boy looked like a murder victim in the white blood covered outfit, didn’t have his powers, and was locked in a room with him, but he was also fucking fast even injured and smart enough to know if Phil managed to lay a hand on him, that was the end of it. Phil took the time to mash the ‘get the fuck here’ button on his watch while trying to back Tommy into a corner. Tommy was not having any of that, however, weaving around the couple of chairs and the bed while matching every one of his steps. “Calm down, I just want to see it.”

“Fuck you!” Tommy responded. Fantastic.

“Mate…”

“I’m your prisoner, not your slave. I don’t gotta do what you say!”

“You are literally bleeding all over my floor.”

“And you. Are. A. Bitch!”

Phil understood why Will wanted to throttle this kid.

As though his thoughts had summoned him, the door to the cell beeped and then started to open. Phil put his body between Tommy and the door when he saw him notice the noise. The last thing they needed was for him to get out of the room when Phil couldn’t even catch him in it.

“What the fuck?” Will said immediately on entry, seeing the red stained twisted bedsheets half on the floor, the trails of blood all over the tile from where Tommy had been weaving back and forth across the room and the bloody handprint on the wall next to Phil’s head.

“Close the door,” Phil ordered. Will did and it clicked, autolocking behind him.

“What the fuck?” Will repeated.

“If you even think about opening your bitch mouth, I’m going to start stabbing shit. I will stab you. I will stab you in the face.”

“Does he have a knife?!” Wilbur asked, alarmed and completely confused.

“No, he doesn’t have a knife.”

“I do have a knife,” Tommy claimed. “It’s a huge knife, and if you come anywhere near me or try to use your stupid screamy powers on me, I will bring it out and use it!”

“Tommy, I just want to help you,” said Phil with a frown. He was half hidden behind a chair, his eyes bopping between the two of them. His hand had come out to steady himself with the back of the chair since he was fucking woozy with blood loss. It left an imprint of red on the fabric.

Luckily, the door beeped again, and Technoblade entered the room. Wilbur was still standing in front of the door, so Tommy didn’t have a chance to bolt. Will reached over to close the door behind him. Techno’s eyes took in the scene for a moment and then met eyes with Phil. As always, Techno immediately knew exactly what Phil needed and was prepared to provide.

He turned to Tommy. “You are going to come over here, or I am going to come get you,” he informed Tommy.

To the credit of Tommy’s survival instincts, his eyes did widen, and he paused for a long moment. And yet… “Fucking try it asshole.”

He took a stumbling step away from the chair ready to play the same game of ring around the rosy with Techno as he’d done with Phil, but Technoblade simply hopped onto the seat and then over the back of it to land in front of him in two swift movements. Tommy went to scramble away, but Techno snagged his arm. The boy came around swinging, but Techno didn’t even have to dodge because it went wide.

Techno swept him off his feet eliciting a squeak of protest somewhere between indignant and in pain. Phil winced, but it got the job done.

Techno easily carried him over to the bed despite him still trying to fight. He set him down and pinned him with one arm over the chest. Techno then looked over at Phil expectantly.

Phil blinked and then was over at the bedside a second later. Tommy was still cursing them out and fighting, but his movements were getting more sluggish by the moment.

Now that he was finally relatively still, it was clear where the blood was coming from since the entire right side of his torso was soaked. Phil reached out and carefully peeled the once white shirt away from it. There was a piece of fabric tied around his waist, covering the wound, though if it had been red before or not could not be decerned.

He was trying to figure out the best way to get that off when a hand with a pair of scissors came into view. Phil looked over to see Wilbur digging through the first aid bag already. There was one stored in the observation room next door and he must have slipped in to grab it without them noticing.

Phil took the scissors and quickly snipped through the fabric to access the wound. He recognized what it was immediately: a stab wound. It wasn’t horribly long, and Phil knew it probably looked worse than it actually was because of the blood considering Tommy was still conscious and had been putting up a fight a moment ago, but it still made him freeze.

Wilbur nudged him out of the way to get a look for himself. “He’s not going to die,” Wilbur reassured Phil after a moment, but then pressed his lips together to peer up at the pinned boy’s face. “Despite his best efforts.”

The boy hissed and seemed to remember that while his upper half was restrained, his legs still worked.

“Little fucker!” Wilbur spat as he jumped away from the foot aiming at his face. “You know, I was going to ask if you wanted to be numbed or put under, but I don’t trust you to keep still.”

“He is biting me now,” Techno notified them blankly. He used his free arm to press his forehead back into the bed.

“I’ll get the needles,” Wilbur said. He pushed Phil again, leading him to take a step back from the bed.

He could hear Tommy saying something to Techno but it turned to a garbled mess in Phil’s ears. His eyes tracked Wilbur as he sifted through the medical bag to find the needles and drugs he needed. Wilbur knew what he was doing around medical stuff far more than Phil or Techno. Learning how to prevent death had been a bit of a special interest to him for decades. He knew plenty about wounds and how to fix them. Techno moved to hold one of Tommy’s arm down and the needle went in.

Wilbur had been scared of needles when he was 7. Things had changed.

It didn’t take long for Tommy’s body to still. Except for the breathing. Still breathing. Wilbur was already back digging in the med bag as Techno stood up straight, no longer needing to keep the boy from struggling.

“Uh… Phil?” Techno asked.

Will’s eyes flashed to Phil, and he paused in his gathering of medical equipment, seeing more than most people ever could. Most of his existence was spent just observing after all. “Techno, get him out of here.”

Techno hesitated. “Don’t you need…”

“I can handle a suture on my own,” Will said. “Bastard’ll be fine. Go.”

A hand fell on Phil’s shoulder and Phil looked up. Techno was taller than him. He’d been right, drinking coffee as a child hadn’t stunted his growth at all. He didn’t quite realize his feet were going anywhere until a door snapped shut behind him.

There was silence.

“Who’d you call?” Techno asked.

“Hmmm?”

“The phone call, Phil. You went to make a phone call earlier.”

“Oh,” Phil said. “Puffy.”

“Wanted to make sure Clinanthium got back alright?”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

“Yeah,” Phil said. “Yeah, she’d already picked him up.” He and The Captain had been friends back in the day. They were still friends in a way. He’d offered her a place with them again at the end of the phone call and she’d refused once more, but there’d been more hesitation this time. She’d asked about the Red Glider. He guessed he’d lied to her when he’d said he was fine.

“Phil?”

“Why the fuck was he bleeding, Technoblade?”

Techno leaned against the wall and frowned at him. “If you’re asking if it happened here,” he said, “Obviously not. You could see it’d already been sewn up once before. He ripped his stitches. I had eyes on him the whole time and there wasn’t anything that could’ve made them rip, so he must have pulled it before he got here.”

“He changed clothes,” Phil said.

“I didn’t watch him,” Techno explained. “He was wearing red before so none of us saw and then he probably couldn’t bleed enough before getting here to notice. Then he was under the bed covers.”

“But why would he hide it?” Phil asked.

“It’s a weakness,” Techno said without hesitation, as though he knew. As though it made perfect sense really. “He’s probably worried it’ll be used against him.”

And Phil forgot sometimes after having fought back-to-back with him for so many years, after watching how Will could cajole him with puppy dog eyes into letting him play with his hair until he inevitably fell asleep on the delighted man’s lap, after all the times he’d fallen asleep on the couch and didn’t stir when Phil carried him to his room, after all the experiments he patiently let Will do on him with his voice, he forgot that Techno did know. He knew what it was like not to trust people to have so much as basic human decency let alone anything more.

Phil’s mind flashed back to a fifteen-year-old Technoblade who’d broken a glass and sliced his hand to shit when Phil had been away from their hideout. He’d managed to hide it for a week before Phil had finally noticed he’d been using his right hand for things he normally used the left.

It had been a battle of wills that spanned hours to get the boy to show it to him. When he finally had, he’d sat as tense as a bowstring as though he expected Phil to treat the already damaged skin roughly, to hurt him more for fun. It had been infected despite Techno having done his best to keep it clean on his own and he’d had to lance it before sewing it back up and providing antibiotics. It had been a horribly emotionally taxing experience that he had not wanted to repeat ever.

Yet here he was again.

God. Tommy had been shaky and pale and he looked like a child. And he’d leaned against Phil woozy as he’d bled out from a stab wound.

Here he was again.

“Phil,” Techno said, and Phil’s eyes snapped back to him. “Will’s got him, yeah?”

“Right,” Phil said. “Wilbur is in there and patching him up.”

“So, he’ll be fine. What can we do in the meantime for when that’s done?”

Phil thought. “He’ll need clean sheets and clothes,” he said, “maybe more blankets since he might be cold while recovering, and we’ll need cleaning supplies for the floor and furniture. He’ll need a lot of fluids and he wasn’t able to eat most of the macaroni and cheese, so maybe broth or soup?”

“Blankets, bleach, and broth,” Techno said. “Sounds doable.”

“Alliteration?” Phil asked mildly.

“It makes it easier to remember,” he claimed.

“Or the Blade’s just a poetry nerd,” he teased lightly.

Techno bumped shoulders with him. “Shut it old man. What are you? 75?”

“Something like that,” Phil said, rolling his eyes.

Wilbur was humming when they returned, which in one way was not a surprise because the boy could rarely manage to shut up with or without using his powers. But also, this was the kid he supposedly wanted to drown in a lake he was humming an achingly soft tune to. He was already long done with the stiches judging by the fact that he’d started an IV drip and cleaned up the medical supplies he’d used. Now he was just seated on one of the chairs, one leg tucked under him and humming a song that reverberated through the room like windchimes in the breeze.

“What?” he asked, cutting off the song when he noticed Techno was staring at him.

“Going soft, Will?”

“Fuck off, it’s for medical purposes.” Techno continued to look at him and he bristled. “I don’t have to like him to not want him to die.”

“Is he at risk of dying?” Techno asked. “That doesn’t look like a blood transfusion.”

“He doesn’t need a blood transfusion. He hadn’t lost enough blood to be anything other than woozy.” He did not answer the actual question, Phil noted. “I see you brought a change of bed sheets. We should probably change them.”

Will had already taken the ruined white shirt off of him and used a rag to clean off the worst of the blood on his skin before moving him to the least blood-soaked part of the bed. They went ahead and changed him into a new set of clothing, and then Phil held him while the other two changed the bedsheets.

“He’s very light,” Phil said with a frown. He knew he had superstrength, but that just meant he was more used to carrying healthy, full-grown adults than most people.

“Oh, no, here we go,” said Technoblade under his breath.

Wilbur reached over and smacked him upside the head without even looking. “You were malnourished.”

“He would put butter in my coffee.”

“I like butter in coffee,” Will said.

“If I was going to let you put coffee in your six-year-old body, you were at least going to get some nutritional benefit from it,” Phil said.

“You are both horrible people for different reasons,” Techno replied. “You can put him down now.”

Phil looked down at the boy’s sleeping face and squeezed him lightly.

“…Phil?”

Phil settled him down onto the clean sheets and reached out to carefully move a strand of hair out of his face.

“He’s not as fucking annoying when he’s asleep,” Wilbur commented, sounding royally pissed about this fact.

“Wish I could say the same about you,” Techno mumbled and got a glare in return.

“I should have drowned you in the bathtub the day Father brought you home.”

“Because I’m sure that would have worked out for you,” Techno drawled.

“…Do you want to go Blade?”

“No,” Phil said.

“I could take him, Phil,” Wilbur claimed.

“Since when?”

“You fuckers destroyed my shed last time. No.”

Author Note: Inconsistencies in the timeline? Nah, we call that plot seasoning. ;)

#backlog

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maxanite · 1 year

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I’m sorry but I’m done ranting in tags I’m ranting here instead. I’ll tag as discourse to be nice. But Tubbo’s “statement” on the dream shit is so. Bad. The “I’ll do my research and make my own opinion” there’s literally two roads to go down and only one is a good path. You either side with the victim or you side with dream. Literally Aimsey’s statement on it is SO much more believable and like. Understandable. Like he stated that he’s a victim himself and that he ISNT allowed to speak on it. Which I think is a misfits thing. And I don’t blame them for that, if I’m right then I’ll blame misfits and hate them even more. But there’s no good excuse for these creators to be quiet about things and still make content about it. Tubbo’s excuse is bullshit and I’m gonna stand by that. Do I think they should’ve confronted him via donos? Absolutely not. Do I think his statement is a hopeful one? Not really. Am I worried that the trend of creators staying silent on this issue will continue because of pressure? Yes.

I’m at work so my thoughts are scattered I’m sorry. I might make another post soon

#max talks #discourse #dream situation

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merrinpippy · 2 years

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c!punz's motivators

c!punz is so fascinating to me bc he seems to have three general motivators that once picked up upon shine a really intersting light on what he and c!dream may have in store.

the first: when he's on the server and acting of his own volition he seems to be a staunch advocate for fairness. when a fight breaks out nearby with the intent to steal from the ambushed party, for example, he will join on the side of the victim. (swear to god i remember this happening but i cannot find a clip rip.) when c!tubbo mentions not having much stuff to his name c!punz immediately gives him iron blocks and netherite ingots completely for free. i also think it's worth noting that c!dream absolutely could have saved c!technoblade from execution on his own but presumably chooses c!punz to go in his stead to distance himself from acting against l'manberg in the public eye. this suggests that acting in c!technoblade's defense wouldn't be seen as out of character for c!punz in hindsight had c!quackity not spotted c!dream helping out, which contributes to my belief that c!punz is motivated by (and known for being motivated by) fairness on the server.

much later, when c!hannah, c!bad, and c!tina appropriate his tower he gets angry and evicts them immediately, but his problem with it seems to be a little more complicated than on first appearance. he doesn't have an issue with the people in an i-need-revenge kind of way that characterises a lot of conflicts on the server, but takes issue with them claiming to have made something that he made. he is amenable to trading with c!hannah to convince her to leave rather than fighting her, a fight which he would provably win, and lenient with the deadline by which she must move. violence for the sake of violence doesn't drive him to vengeance here, and personal loyalty neither saves c!hannah from his ire nor increases it towards c!tina who doesn't already have a good working relationship with him. despite being within his rights to react larger and louder, after his first outburst he seeks to resolve the situation in a way that is fair to all parties equally (even if it means demeaning himself to do so).

the second and third are more obvious: money and personal loyalty. before the disc finale, in the privacy of his own home c!punz admits that the money c!tommy offers him to betray c!dream is 'the biggest payment [he's] ever seen' and 'more than dream has ever given [him]'. he says he is 'torn' about the choice even though if going only by money siding with c!tommy is clearly the right choice, which illustrates his personal loyalty to c!dream. yet neither motivation seems to be one c!punz sticks to as an absolute rule, since if that was the case we'd see him easily switch sides for the money or stoutly refuse to betray his partner.

of course, as we see later, he does refuse to betray c!dream after all. c!tommy's offer to him wasn't part of their plan. before this c!punz thought he'd already done enough to distance himself from c!dream to sell the 'betrayal' and is surprised by c!tommy's message. so c!punz easily could have betrayed c!dream for real here in exchange for what c!tommy gives him, and maybe even more if he convinced the other members of the server they owe him for all the info he surely has on c!dream at this point. but he doesn't.

this demonstrates to me that c!punz has a code of fairness that he abides by, and though he is a mercenary his individual loyalty ultimately matters more to him than money. my question for c!punz then becomes: what is this plan c!dream has that not only passes his fairness rule but also motivates him more than the vast amounts of personal riches that gave him pause before the disc finale? what makes him more loyal to c!dream than literally the entire rest of the entire server? what, in c!punz's mind, is worth everything both of them are putting themselves through: lying to all his friends, being completely isolated from everyone else, acting as exaggerated villains and hurting people c!punz seems to genuinely care about to cover up what they're really doing (not to mention the torture and starvation in c!dream's case)... i just find it really fascinating all round. and i honestly cannot wait for the payoff!

/rp /dsmp

#long post #dream smp #dsmp #punz #dream #dreamwastaken #stagedduo #sorta question mark #mcyt #hannahxxrose #tommyinnit #shakes c!punz like a snowglobe to unearth more of his super interesting character #drunz #also sorta question mark

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projectdreamcatcher · 2 years

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Okay rapid fire c! Tubbo takes here we GO /dsmp /rp ya da ya da ya da

Tubbo is consistently the most dehumanized dsmp character but it’s not because he got called “government” like twice but instead how he was treated more as a tool to achieve a goal of some sort than an actual human being

Tubbo was the happiest in early lmanburg and has yet to really replicate that happiness, he chances the nostagia anyway.

Tubbo is a victim of circumstance but this shouldn’t be used as an excuse to deny any and all agency he has. Tubbo being a victim doesn’t negate the fact he hurt people with his actions.

“Safety” and “Order” mean the same thing in tubbo’s eyes and you can see it in the way he treats himself, his environment, and others around him

His utilitarian mindset is like intristic to tubbo as a character especially during s2 and parts of s3 and a tubbo analysis that doesn’t include it is missing some huge nuances

Tubbo is self absorbed not in the fact he’s super selfish way (absolutely not he’s so selfless he doesn’t have a self anymore) but in the way he doesn’t really understand how what he says and does can effect other people. He’s too caught up in his own head a lotta the time to see that.

A huge part of tubbo’s character is line delivery. I feel like a lot of tubbo’s more “off color” or just mean/violent moments are written off as bits because of the way the lines are delivered in a joking, playful apathetic way as if that just isn’t a tone of tubbo voice.

Cont from before it’s frustrating cuz. It’s basically how tubbo gets away with so much screwed up stuff in universe cuz he joked enough about it. Fuck, Tubbo counts on the fact that nobody takes him seriously, so nobody sees him as a threat (he’s blatantly said this too with the LN outpost)

Tubbo is nice but he is not kind. This doesn’t mean he’s incapable of kindness, though.

Almost nobody knows how to deal with tubbo’s paranoia let alone himself and tbh that’s more of a Chekov’s Gun waiting to happen more than the nukes are.

Kinda more of a Meta take than anything else but I stand by it anyway: Tubbo is living proof that “narrative concequences” on the dsmp not only aren’t real, but if they were real, literally never work.

I do genuinely think c tubbo has a good heart deep down and it used to be obvious in how he gave it out to everyone so freely before but, definitely not anymore. Been hurt too much. His moral compass is defined by what his purpose is and what side he’s on. So no wonder he turned out like that

#long post #if this needs a readmore lemme know I kinda went Crazy on this one #tubbo stashpile

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enderwoah · 3 years

Text

ORIGINS SMP HEADCANONS (because i love them): SEASON TWO EDITION BAYBEEE

(this is really long ENJOY :gun:)

tommy

he is phil's son smile

phil's most recent son at least

he's got like one more somewhere

he picked this one up off the dangerous streets a few years ago and he's been sticking with phil ever since

his wings are small- not too small to fly, but they're untrained to the point where it would take a lot or work to get him off the ground

but at first, he didn't really seem to want to learn all that much?

(he has three scars on his face- all from trying to learn how to fly when he was younger)

(he gave up after the third one)

("if at first you don't succeed; try, try again" is his motto, and he tried all three times)

but!! phil and wilbur are very persuasive :) and now that he knows he can fly, he's not going to rest until he does

he's a little manipulative to get what he wants sometimes, but can you blame someone that lived on the street for so long?

he had to do that to survive! it's not his fault.

(it's a great excuse.)

he laughs like a kookaburra amen

he squawks when he gets scared

he chirps. he tries not to because it makes phil go absolutely bird-brained but he does sometimes and he hates it.

tubbo

NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A B[GUNSHOTS]

god he is. so fucking annoying (/rp)

he simply does not know when to stop

he ignores social cues to see when someone is annoyed

(see: he can read social cues. he does read social cues. when you get annoyed that's when he starts being more annoying, because you're more likely to give him what he wants to get him to shut the fuck up.)

he loves talking to (at) people, especially people he doesn't really know that well

so he's trying to be friends with ranboo, but the absolute prick keeps trying to avoid any actual conversations, so that's not working

he buzzes when he gets excited-happy

his fingertips are completely blackened and horrendously sharp, functioning as ten individual stingers

they don't do any actual damage but he's working on that

techno

wither hybrid (??)

how can you be a wither hybrid?? nobody got down and dirty with the wither

he's an experiment

the reason we haven't seen him yet? he's staying away from the main area of the smp

he doesn't want to ruin its natural beauty with his withering effect, so he keeps to himself on the outskirts of the smp

which sucks

withers get health from killing things

he's not fully a wither, so he gets energy from being around people and sort of draining their life force a little bit

he feels terrible when he's with just one person because they are Literally his life support and it makes the person feel like shit

when he's with a big group of people its great!! he only has to take a little bit from everyone and its barely noticable!!

but then there's the wither part. so he has to stay away.

he's always tired

always exhausted

he's a farmer, so taking it from animals works, but god does he miss people

but he can only visit a few times and for very short

(he's afraid that one of these days he'll get so bad that the next time he sees someone he'll accidentally kill them)

(it already happened once. he's blessed that he's been forgiven, even made friends with by the victims, but he doubts he'll be able to pull that off again with no consequences like last time)

wilbur

phantlings are dead elytrians, and given that wilbur was phil's son...he's a phantling

he died in the late 50s and was a librarian when he was alive, so he's very possessive (ha) over all of his things

you should never ask to "borrow" anything from him, he will hound you about it until you give it back

it's best to just say that you want something from him to keep

even if youre going to give it back

just for your own peace of mind

phantlings can feel fear and get a genuine feeling of elation from scaring people

of course, sometimes its unwelcome (feeling large amounts of fear from someone they care about in a bad way just makes them pissed)

but for the most part, wilbur loves appearing in the corner of people's visions just to jumpscare them a few minutes later

all in good fun, of course!! it's just hilarious :)

being the lighthearted, fun guy he is, he's not particularly secretive about his method of death

"how did i die? well, it all started -- ended -- on november 16th, 1958!"

"i walked out of the library late, since i took the shift for my wife since she was feeling sick and i worked there anyways,"

"the streets were dark and only lit up by gaslamps...and out of an alley...appeared..........."

techno.

he didn't mean it. wilbur isn't at all mad at him (anymore)

he was starving. he didn't know that one touch would be enough to fully revitalize him...

and murder wilbur where he stood.

sneeg

has details on everyone on the server

you Cannot Hide Shit From Sneeg

its impossible

if you find of his any shittly little mouse holes then you're doomed

you find one and there are twenty more

he's under your floorboards while you're having your important discussion about trapping the nether roof

sucks to suck ig??

he seems to be the favourite of many, which is weird since he rarely goes out of his way to actually talk to many people

he's the only person that tubbo doesn't actively try to annoy (or maybe he just doesn't find tubbo's antics all that annoying)

he's the only person that ranboo stays around (or maybe he stays around ranboo- he and Phil seem to be the only ones not off-put by his slightly sadistic and whiny demeanour (not counting tubbo, who annoys him anyways)

phil seems to be more protective of him than he thinks is normal (he lets sneeg ride on his shoulder while travelling, so he doesn't really complain)

niki is completely protective over him (again, not complaining)

contrary to popular believe, he does not get high from sugar

if anything he gets

high-per

(get it)

(high-per)

(hyper)

he's literally just a nine-year old getting a sugar rush leave him alone

phil

take the normal "bird-brain" headcanons and multiply it by like sixty-four

and you've got origins phil

he can't see glass- or, rather, he can, but it doesn't register that 'hey, this is a solid surface i am going to slam into'

its very funny for everyone else but he's pretty sure he has permanent brain damage from the blunt force trauma

if there is ANYONE on the server who dares to chirp, bird or no, they must understand that they are signing away their privacy and giving phil the right to go absolutely bonkers over them momma bird style

(shoutout to tommy, wilbur, ranboo, and fundy for having to suffer through this)

"oh??? you don't have wings?? you don't have feathers?? omg?? then what's this im preening?? what do you mean im just braiding your hair?? nono this is preening smile"

god help you if you dare to have wings

poor tommy, wilbur, sneeg, and tubbo

phil can't help himself alright

do you think he wants to be any sort of protective over sneegsnag?

no!! but he cant stop himself!! sneeg might damage his wings if he keeps flying those super long distances!!! nnnno! carry the bug man!!!

it's weird, he's always had that protective sense over ranboo, too

but ranboo very obviously doesn't have wings, so he doesn't get it...

ranboo

yes ur a peasant

yes ur poor

yes im cooler than u

what r u gonna do about it

the enderdragon's son! partially a dragon, partially enderman, partially human (don't ask, his other mom is a hybrid), all spoiled brat!

given that he has a ton of dragon genes, he's extremely possessive over his stuff and Yes He Does Do The Hoarding Thing

he has a pile of rings and gold chains and necklaces and most of his jewellery hidden underneath his bed

(if you ask him, no, he doesn't)

not to wear

just to Have

one time, fundy stole one (1) bracelet from the hoard and ranboo was sent into a panic for a good 24 hours

he wouldn't leave his cave and kept counting and recounting as if that'd make the missing piece reappear

(when fundy had to give it back because of the guilt, he expected to get his face bitten off)

(instead, he just watched as the prince was flooded with relief, telling him to get the hell out and nothing more)

it's weird, he has so much gold and even a crown, and yet here he is

living with all those people ^^^

truth be told, the enderdragon isn't a very nice dragon

nor is she a very kind queen

nor was the other queen

nor was her son

there was a mutiny in the end, leading to the dragon queen and her wife being killed brutally by the crowd of angered people

they went after their son next, who had ordered executions and worked servants to the bone just as much as they had

they cut off his wings in the middle of the square

he was sure he was going to die until a random person (a peasant) jumped up and yelled at them for publicly torturing a child

but ranboo didn't really catch all of it, given he was delirious from pain

he got to get some stuff quickly and escape with his life

this wasn't too long ago, either, so he's still trying to...adjust...to people talking rudely to him

(he's also trying to adjust to not having wings)

(hence why he hurls himself off the edges of cliffs and then has to teleport to the bottom instead of glide. he keeps forgetting.)

#this is so long #origins smp #originssmp #ranboo #tubbo #philza #philza minecrft #sneegsnag #wilbur soot #technoblade #tommyinnit #help this is so long

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stellocchia · 2 years

Text

And, finally, here I am with the final part of my little Overly Long Analysis 3 parter!

You can find part 1 on Sapnap's stream [Here] and part 2 on Tommy's stream [Here]

As always I'm talking about the characters unless explicitly stated otherwise, and the dialogue is color-coded, so we'll have: Jack, Niki

Analysis under the cut!

This time we're talking about Jack's stream THE DARKEST DAY | DREAM SMP LORE because my boy popped off and deserves the highlight.

The stream starts a bit after Jack's meeting with Tommy. All the colors in the stream are muted, and the music is somber, most likely to indicate both Jack's feelings on what has just occurred and his overall mental state.

He starts off by explaining that he never expected Dream to actually get out. That he thought the man would forever be in prison.

"Why the fuck would someone break him out? It's like everyone on the server, all at once, seem to forget how bad that he was. Everyone at once just kinda didn't care! I was the only one who chased after him! Everyone else ran for a bit, hit him a couple of times and went 'Well I did what I could'"

First thing: to Jack it's literally inconceivable that anyone would want Dream free with how much hurt he's caused. And for the rest, we know that he isn't right. Sapnap kept chasing after Dream and even confronted him again alone n Tubbo's vault. Sam kept looking for him as well, and Hannah and Boomer did too as far as I know. But Jack split up from them in the Nether after Eryn refused to tell anyone which direction Dream had gone in, so of course, he wouldn't know that. And his frustration at everyone only grows.

"And this isn't like Tommy, you know? Where everyone seems to see him as some sort of god, or some sort of hero, or the person we should protect, despite everything he did. Everyone is aware that Dream was the enemy! No one's on his side! Some people are neutral but... everyone knows what he did! And yet someone went in there and broke him out!"

It's interesting to see the difference between how Jack sees Tommy and how he sees Dream. Because obviously he hates both, and his view on both is rather distorted. But the main difference is that his hate for Tommy is personal. He hates him because he feels like he was abandoned by him and because Tommy killed him. The harm Tommy caused was mostly personal to himself, despite how he tries to spin it most of the time. Meanwhile, his hate of Dream is mostly dependant on the man harming everyone else. And hate for Dream should be a given in his mind, because, unlike with Tommy, everyone should be aware of what he's done.

He then heads towards the crater of L'Manburg.

(Bad and Puffy left a statue as a present)

The statue they left him was really appreciated by Jack. Especially considering how abandoned and forgotten he feels.

"It's like everywhere you go on this server someone's watching" (paranoia?)

"I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay. Which is stupid! 'Cause no one would have done it for me!" (more resentment and feelings of abandonment)

"But I look back on places like this [L'Manburg's crater] if it would render and *sigh* it's like... despite everything, I can't let anything to happen to them. Despite them letting everything- everything happen to me I can't stand back and let people fall victim to their own poor choices! It's like- it's like I'm- I'm the only one whom I'm allowing to deal with consequence. Every time someone else is in danger I... I- I step in"

This is Jack having the revelation that he's been trying unsuccessfully to be a hero all this time. Perhaps not so explicitly, but he's always been trying to help and save people in his mind, by either fighting by their side (like on Doomsday or the 16th) or by trying to fight against those he views as dangerous individuals (trying to kill Tommy and now fighting against Dream once more). And this ties back in the fact that no matter how resentful he is Jack still cares, and he feels extremely conflicted about that.

"If I could save everyone like I tried to I'd at least feel fulfilled, but... I don't feel even remotely fulfilled, I feel stupid" (lack of fulfillment and self-isolation are his biggest problems from a mental health perspective)

Coming back from the crater Jack stops for a while to watch Phil, Ghostboo, and Tommy move around.

"Tommy's screaming about how he's in danger and now everyone stops what they're doing and helps him, like they always do" (This seems to be truer for how Jack treats Tommy than for how the rest of the server treats him. Jack was the one who put aside his resentment to help out both on Doomsday and the Disc War Finale. I wonder who Jack's resentment here is truly aimed at...)

Jack also seems to have a distorted view of how the initial war went down. Thinking that Tommy took a whole "nation of people who didn't know what they were getting into" to war, one they couldn't win, for "two pieces of vinyl" which really never happened. Once L'Manburg began Tommy always tried to keep the Disc War personal. He only ever gave up his discs for the Nation, never put them above it. It's interesting to see how twisted Jack's view of the events is. Jack's also under the impression that Tommy started the war himself, which, again, wasn't the case.

"And even this time! After all he did to me, after I told him what he did to me, he turns to me and asks for my help. And I'd be stupid if I did it! Stupid! Because, at the end of the day, I'll just get dragged into the next battle. Dream's coming for him, he's made that clear. I don't- he's not crazy, he knows what he's getting into"

Honestly, this is why I was saying that Jack's frustration feels more directed at himself than at anyone else. He's the one who keeps hesitating when it comes to Tommy asking him for help. He's the one who's unsure of what to do. Because, from his perspective, it would be stupid to help. Helping Tommy only results in war, death, and destruction in Jack's mind, and yet he can't just outright refuse to either. And it's also interesting that Jack interpreted Tommy's request for help as him asking Jack to help him against Dream when it was actually a request for Jack to help him build the walls.

"Dream made it clear he's never gonna kill Tommy. That was apparent. That was the whole reason I was gonna kill him a while ago! To get back at Dream and Tommy at once" (character recognizing Dream's obsession with Tommy in canon once more)

"I wish they'd [Tommy and Dream] leave everyone else out of what they're doing, you know? That's Tommy and Dream's battle and if they want to go off and fight, they can go off and fight. But no one else should have to deal with it" (again, he has a pretty distorted view of things, thinking that Dream would leave everyone else alone if Tommy fought with him by himself. Which, for one thing, Tommy right now simply can't do, and for another, wouldn't stop Dream from going after everyone else for power)

"Yet saying all of that, every single thing I said, everything I just said tells me not to go and help him. But in that moment when he turned around and said 'Jack i need your help'... I still don't know if I'm wrong in not saying yes" (And here it is. The admission. The reason why he's so frustrated and so conflicted despite everything)

"You know I don't remember Tubbo ever going to war with anyone" (Disc war, L'Manburg independence, Pogtopia, Butcher army, Doomsday, Disc War Final, Cookie Outpost conflict, Jack has quite the warped vision of Tubbo as well)

"Or Technoblade deciding that he really has it in for Niki" (Not for Niki specifically, but he did go to war against L'Manburg on two occasions. Definitely hated Tubbo in particular for a while too)

"Then there's that, isn't there? Niki. You know what? When I went into exile when I took myself off to New Manifoldland and decided I'd never come back here, there was always this idea- this... I don't know what it was but... I kinda hoped that being the person I was closest to she'd notice I was gone, you know? And- and search and- I don't know- show up in the middle of the desert and say 'Hey Jack, come home'. I don't even know where home is anymore. It's not there and it's definitely not here anymore. And then, during all of it, all of it, the one person I kinda hoped that I could trust, I hear them say that she set off the withers! That she was there to help Dream get out of the fucking prison?! Like- like she doesn't remember what we spoke about!"

Needless to say, Jack is also extremely conflicted about Niki. He feels abandoned once more, possibly since she joined the Syndicate. He was hoping that at least she would go searching for him, because, despite Jack's tendency to self-isolate, there's nothing he wants more than a community. And, of course, she didn't. He also feels betrayed because of her participation in Dream's escape, especially since it used to be him and her against Tommy and Dream. That's how it all started for them. It feels like a betrayal of his trust, despite how long they haven't spoken in.

After that Jack gives a speech about how no one should decide on their own who gets to live and die and that people should think more about doing their own thing.

"You can't agree with me that Tommy was the problem and then not see that Dream was the problem too! They're two sides of the same fucking coin, I've always said it!" (Reiteration of Jack's peculiar world view)

Jack decides that he needs to go speak with Niki. On the way, Jack mentions how he doesn't understand Niki since she's been "starting on that anarchy bullshit" as he put it. Because she switched from doing certain things with him to doing the exact opposite.

He also comes across Kinoko Kingdom and marvels at its beauty, and at the fact that it's not in ruins. Past that he arrives at Niki's secret city and finds her there.

"What were you doing at the prison?" "I- Just what I was told, Jack. I had to help Techno, Ranboo was stuck in prison. Trust me, I- I didn't want it to happen, it was the last resort. We- we- it was the last resort! I- I didn't-I-" "But why does any of that matter?! It doesn't matter who goes to jail, Dream is number one priority" "Ranboo is dead! Ranboo is dead!" "Ranboo is dead?" "We had to save him! We tried to save him!" "And how did that go?" "No one- no one-" "Nothing is more important- nothing is more important than keeping Dream in there, and you know that! You know that! If you were with me on Tommy of course, you gotta be with me on Dream!"

A few things to talk about here:

1) For the people thinking that the Syndicate freed Dream because they cared about how corrupted the prison was, you have the proof here that at least one of the members couldn't give a f*ck about that. She literally only cared about Ranboo being in there. (We also know that Phil's reason wasn't that either, because he made that clear).

2) To Jack, Ranboo should have stayed in prison if it meant also keeping Dream in there. As a matter of fact, to him, there's nothing more important than keeping Dream in there. A failed rescue mission especially shouldn't take priority over keeping him locked up in his mind. Meanwhile, for Niki it's the opposite.

"Who knows if we were right with Tommy...? I don't know anymore Jack. I don't- I-" "What do you mean? Maybe we shouldn't have killed him, but you can't- you've got to agree that- you got to agree that he was in the wrong!"

Niki mostly moved on from their old way of thinking. She was hurt in the period of time when she agreed with Jack, and she was misdirecting her anger. Jack didn't realize that though, and it hurts him to know that they can't see eye to eye anymore.

"Dream had a favor. He held a favor over Techno. We had to-" "Great, that's between them!" "But he's my friend" "Was I? Was everyone?" "You're still my friend Jack" "You have any idea where I've been? At all? For the past, like, three months?" "No, I was waiting"

Jack's philosophy is pretty much everyone for themselves. And it tends to clash a lot both with his desire to help others and with his desire to be helped by others. It's an interesting internal conflict. It's also what causes him to think that Niki should have left Techno to deal with his favor alone, but he still wishes that she didn't let him deal with his own problems alone.

"How was I supposed to find you? Because you just disappeared. You disappeared out of-" "But did you even try?" "No, I didn't. I didn't. But I had my own things to deal with Jack, you know?" "What, like breaking Dream out?" "You- Jack you think that you are The Person and that everyone else is selfish, but- think about the things I had to do, I had to go through things too"

This is a core part of their conflict. Jack has abandonment issues, and he was only really close to Niki before leaving. So her admitting that she didn't try to search for him hurts him. But Niki had already established her own friendships when he left. As she said, she had her own things to deal with (her feeling on Wilbur's revival, possibly Techno's imprisonment, her own mental health). It's an interesting conflict of "when should you put yourself above the need of others"?

They keep talking about this and Niki explained that she didn't act with the intention of helping Dream break out, she was only there for Ranboo. Niki also mentions that Jack could have been there, to which he responds that being there never did him or anyone else any good.

"I made this place so that people like us have a home, that people like us have a family, Jack" "Well, what happens next time? What happens next time, when Technoblade has to call in another favor? Will you run off and help him again?" "Probably" "Then I don't want a part in that!"

This time we have another conflict of ideology. Jack doesn't want to be involved in any more conflict, and he knows he would be if he was involved with Technoblade, even second-hand involvement. Because, at least from his perspective (which, as always, isn't quite correct) in the Dream smp you are judged based on the actions of those you associate with. Niki seems to want to change that, which is why she insists that Jack wouldn't need to be associated with Techno just because he's staying in her city.

They talk some more and Niki brings up the fact that governments are the problem on the server (which, at this point makes very little sense considering that there aren't even any governments left?). Jack entirely disagrees with that, even mentioning how the anarchist group making laws against governments is turning into another government by itself (which, by the dsmp definition of government as a small group of people making laws isn't even wrong).

"The amount of times that you will run away from yourself is okay! But please, please remember that there's always a place that you can come back to, and I'm so incredibly sorry that I hurt you" (I think this was a nice quote to sum up Niki's offer)

"Jack you're my friend, you're my best friend, and you will always be, okay? I will always be on your side. Even over Techno's side! Even over- over- I don't know, I don't have many allies" (Rocket Duo moment for the soul)

"I'm sorry too. I- I didn't think about anyone else when I was leaving and to preach about everyone else being selfish is- well it's- I don't know. It makes me a hypocrite I guess" (Self-reflection and healthy communication, honestly these two may have one of the healthiest dynamics on the server)

Niki then gives Jack a book, so he can write the coordinates of where he is staying and give them to Niki, so she can always know where he is, since he already knows where she is.

"Please don't share these [the coordinates] with anyone. Even- Tommy still wants me to help him and- look, I don't know if I should but I- I wanna make that choice by myself" (Recognizing his own tendency to easily get pressured into things, Jack has done quite a bit of self-reflection this stream)

Jack leaves after this to get the coordinates for Niki.

"I'm still mad but, I don't feel like I can blame her anymore. I wasn't there for her, I guess. And the Syndicate were and I- I guess when you're that lonely it's- it's enticing regardless of what they stand for. I can't- I can't blame her. It doesn't mean I agree with what she did! She's wrong and she's put all of us in fucking danger"

Oh, this is a neat little parallel to Tommy's situation with Phil I hadn't noticed before! Both Tommy and Jack forgave the other person on a personal level after coming to an understanding of them. They forgave the other person for harming them specifically but without forgiving the incident as a whole. Tommy doesn't forgive Doomsday, he forgives Phil. And Jack doesn't forgive Dream's escape, he forgives Niki.

"I can't remember the path home. If I can call this home. It never really felt like it" (Again, lacking a sense of belonging)

"I still don't know what to do about Tommy. And it's really eating me up inside, 'cause I know I'd be stupid to help him, but every time he asks I feel bad if I don't" (I wonder how long it'll take him to understand that the reason why he feels so conflicted is that he still cares. Really a nice honest talk between these two would benefit Jack so much)

Jack arrives in New Manifoldland after quite a long travel through the Nether. He doesn't find Jessbee, the pet he was living with there, though. Through the grief for the loss, he realizes that out there isn't where he belongs and he decides to actually write down the coordinates of the place for Niki.

"I feel quiet but there's just- there's so much on my mind, you know? I don't know whether to help Tommy, I don't know- I still don't fully know whether I'm right in trusting Niki but... I got no one else left" (this is basically a summary of all of his internal conflict this stream, nice)

"Peace is all I want" (another parallel between him and Tommy. Always looking for peace, but never able to find it)

Jack goes and gives the book to Niki and then the stream ends.

#dream smp #jack manifold #niki nihachu #long post #stream analysis #rocket duo #this was really fun to do!#jack is always a really interesting character to me #and he's pretty much the only one who questions the syndicate's ideology #so you know #he's special to me

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dreamsmp-au-ideas · 3 years

Text

Archetype au but its things I think they would say

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Sapnap, trying to get people aware with him: Dude you got to be self-aware now, it sucks!

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Techno: I’m not sure if I should be relieved or offended that I’m a side character and antagonist for Ranboo and Tommy respectively.

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Phil: So your telling me that we’re in a soap opera/adventure comedy and I’m actually not only Wilbur’s dad, but also yours, Tommy’s and Tubbo’s despite having no memory of any of this.

Techno: Well if you say it like that it sounds like I’m crazy but yeah.

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Tubbo, about Techno: I’ve been seeing Techno a lot recently.

Tommy: Really? Is he bothering you or anything?

Tubbo: No all he was doing is just looking nervous and awkward. About a week ago he just went and said sorry and gave me a bunch of Redstone.

Tommy: He’s definitely planning something.

Tubbo: Oh yeah definitely.

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Techno, trying to get the bees: Wait no come on pspspspsps. Come on just come here. I need you so that I can give all of you to Tubbo. Wait nO! NO DON’T GO TO THE CREEPER! NO!

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Phil: Techno why do you have all those bees?

Techno:

Techno: Insurance.

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Deadbur: BUT HE’S IN YOUR BED, I’M IN YOUR TWITCH CHAT!

*guitar rift

XD: I regret keeping you.

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Foolish: You know there’s something wrong with this server.

XD, panicking and making more plot points: OH would you look at that! The Eggpire is attacking you!

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Tubbo: My life has been a lie!

Techno: Uh…

Tubbo: Did I even love Ranboo in the first place? Did I even care for him? Do I even care for Michael? Was all the feelings and everything just something made up for some story?

Techno: I mean I find Ranboo neat even after I got my memories back so probably not.

Tubbo: HOW DO WE EVEN KNOW THAT’S HIS ACTUAL PERSONALITY!?

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Karl: You know when I saw the Other Side, I expected knowledge and more for this. Instead there’s a chaotic goddess with a fork, a pun-loving god, and Callahan. Honestly this is better than I was expecting honestly.

-------

Jack: Hey Tommy do you ever get a feeling like someone is watching you?

Tommy: Kind of? Why?

Jack: I don’t know I just keep on feeling like that whenever I’m doing something like Detective work.

Tommy: Okay that’s weird because it feels like I’m being watched whenever I’m doing something to prevent Dream from escpaing.

Jack: Also, have you ever noticed that the events are really linear? Like I don’t know why but it really feels scripted most of the time.

Tommy: Actually yeah. And sometimes I feel like some things are timed. When I was hiding in Techno’s base, he found me right on the day of the Butcher Army after three days of squatting down there. And thinking about it now, I was not being careful.

Jack: Yeah! And then sometimes you can see green little Xs over people’s eyes!

Tommy: That’s so weird! Do you go and see weird little things from people too? Like how Niki kind of looks like an Enderman hybrid and looks a bit Ranboo?

Jack: What? No. I don’t see that. I just kind of see a bunch of strings on everyone sometimes. It’s creepy.

XD: *sweating and trying to distract them

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Sapnap, before he finds out about Techno and Tubbo: Hey. How you’re doing, I’m doing just fine. I lied, I’m dying inside.

------

Ant, after seeing Velvet: I was going to propose to you!

Velvet: Well you couldn’t anyways because you went missing and apparently forgot about me!

Ant: Yeah and I hate myself for it! Now I need to propose to you now and fall in love with you at the same time!

Velvet: It’s too late, I did it first.

Tubbo, not knowing Velvet but is interested: You can just fight for it.

Ant: Tubbo, you’re right. Everyone clear the room. I’m going to sword fight my boyfriend for his hand in marriage.

Velvet: Not if I do it first.

Ant: You’re on.

---------

Puffy: So Sapnap, how did you deal with being the only one aware for a long time?

Sapnap: Well first I tried to get everyone else aware but then things kept happening and the guy controlling all of us started making Dream more cruel and George more apathetic and then eventually I just gave up. There’s not much I can do against a literal god so damage control it is. Sometimes I go and cry in a pillow at night when things get too much and I started thinking about how all of us are literally trapped here for eternity.

Puffy: That’s a really bad way to process your emotions.

Sapnap: I mean. Who else would believe me about this?

--------

Ranboo: Hey Tubbo, since I’m End Royalty, and we’re married, that kind of means that your also royalty.

Tubbo: Oh my god.

Ranboo: I know right?

Tubbo: I can now use not only your savings, but also the ROYAL savings! :D

-------

Dream, getting awareness in the middle of prison: Oh god, I wasn’t even mind controlled. I was doing everything on my own free will!

Alivebur, after getting revived: Your an idiot Dream. Our memories were both manipulated with.

Dream: I’m a terrible person!

Alivebur: Well that would make me a terrible person as well considering that I blew up a country.

Dream: I influenced that! I encouraged you to do all of that and I-

Alivebur: And you were as much as a victim as we were. Now shut up. You can either sulk or we can go with the script.

Dream: What’s the third option?

Alivebur: Well that involves you escaping on your own. I would go and say fuck you to you and you would go and sneak through the bridge.

Dream: ...I’ll take option three then.

Alivebur: I’ll make sure that Sam isn’t in the prison during that time then.

-------

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a-wild-rosette · 3 years

Note

Hey saw your 'Ranboo Negative' post about how you don't think he's a good character? (i'm sure that's what you said) and i was wondering if you wanted to expand on that?

(no pressure i'm just not the biggest fan of him either and like hearing people who agree with me lmao)

Hi anon my beloved.

I don't usually write crit but I'm mad enough today so :D here we go :D

So I'll admit that his entire like, enderwalk mystery and such doesn't engage me as much because mystery isn't my most favorite genre and I just feel like there are too many questions and mysteries keep piling up on top of each other. But like, that's probably just a personal preference thing.

But like on a character development, especially emotional and the way the character interact with the world? Yeah not into that. Here's why.

1. People excuse his actions too much and there is literally no consequence on Ranboo for his actions whatsoever.

c!Ranboo is the type of person who is nice, but not kind. The kind of person that stands for nothing and therefore falls for nothing. Instead, other people suffer the consequence of his actions.

Like Ranboo gave Techno back his weapons and stood by and watched at people were tortured by Techno and Tommy. Twice, may I add, with Fundy - one of Ranboo's supposedly closest friends, and Connor - an innocent bystander. No one ever calls him out on it, and he can go on and deny what he did (or didn't do, more like) was not bad. Or like the whole ordeal with Doomsday. He basically talks a big game of being loyal and choosing people, but in Doomsday the only person he chose was himself and his own safety.

He betrayed L'Manberg. He left Tubbo and Tommy to fight for their death even though he said he was going to fight with them. He abandoned every other person who cared about him, only to go and team up with the people who destroyed the country of the FOUR PEOPLE who had always wanted to protect him (Tubbo, Tommy, Niki, Fundy). He refused to pick a side, and by that, he picked the side of the tyrant. In the face of injustice, inaction is an action in itself. But yeah, while everyone else lost everything, Ranboo has everything to gain. He has powerful allies, a home that he can fill to the brim with richness, and in the end, everyone who he has hurt? Tubbo goes out of his way to protect him against Quackity's (reasonable, albeit quite harsh) criticism. He's still friends with Tommy, you know, despite being friends with one of the dudes who blew up Tommy's country. Even Fundy and Niki still care about him in the aftermath. He didn't lose anything - everyone else in L'Manberg did.

Somehow, he never had to stop and reconsider his stance on everything and who he supports, he never had to stop and considered "hey, maybe i'm not as good of a person as I want to be". AND HE COULD DO IT because no one calls him out on his action (or inaction, more like). It's always "oh no he's a victim because he has memory issues". Cool motive, still murder :) He's still a person with autonomy, and "peer pressure" is still not a good enough excuse to hurting people. And you know for sure that, even if Ranboo hurt someone *again*, it's gonna still be "justified" by whoever he didn't hurt :) (Not naming names here but it starts with Ranboo and ends with apologists). Actually, just look at the outpost situation with Las Nevadas right now :D

You see, Ranboo can do things that are really just... frustrating at best and downright annoying at best, and the amount of people going hearteyes at him still is enough to overwhelm any meaningful criticism in character :)

2. In fact, the consequence of Ranboo's actions fall onto other people. Or like, people justify Ranboo’s actions by demonising other characters. C!Ranboo does this too.

Not just other people blaming Ranboo's actions on him being "peer pressured", Not just like, people getting hurt because Ranboo didn’t support them. But Ranboo himself pushing the blame on other people to maintain the view that he was blameless.

c!Ranboo wants to be a “good” person so bad that he went to a lot of length to justify himself, blaming any wrongdoings on other characters, putting himself in the victim role to explain away his actions. He wants to be a good person, a “reasonable person” who would bring “peace” to the server and resolve conflict, but he refuses to actually do the hard things, because being “good” means taking a stance, being “good” is hard and needs effort, efforts that Ranboo does not have the drive to put in. So instead, he chose the easier thing: explain his actions away. He wasn’t bad, he couldn’t control other people’s actions. He was just a victim. Oh no!

Like when he called Fundy a coward for wanting to team up, for “choosing people, not sides” - the exact things Ranboo preached. Like when he yelled at Tommy for when his plan to kill Dream failed, even though he and Tubbo helped Tommy without ever trying to stop him or make him more well prepared. He denied any of his involvement in any plan that went wrong and pushed the blame onto the people around him. And even in the Las Nevadas dispute just now? He also subtly hinted that Tubbo was the one who made the decision, not him. He’s the reasonable one here. As if he didn’t help Tubbo. As if he didn’t antagonise Las Nevadas right along his partner.

And I would be more lenient with this trait if it weren’t also supported by literally everyone around Ranboo. Like, take the time when Phil told Fundy he had “a lot of redeeming to do” and expressed that Tubbo also had things to make up for, and then compared Ranboo with them as the poor, manipulated victim. Deliberation or no, that comparison push a narrative between Ranboo and Tubbo and Fundy, between the “good” victim and the “evil” perpetrator. Or, like, take the times where everyone blames c!Dream for manipulating c!Ranboo, even though there is no hint about that actually happening. Ranboo’s “victim” narrative keeps being reinforced, which, again, gives him no space and no dissonance to actually reconsider his stance.

3. There's no stake for c!Ranboo's character.

When L'Manberg was still around, Ranboo clearly showed his loyalty didn't lie with the country. He had no emotional connect to the place, and he failed to see how the country meant so much to the people who built it and fought for it and saw it rise and fall. Even his emotional connection to Tubbo and Tommy was chalked up, by himself, as "they were nice to me, so i'm nice back". Relationships, in season 2 at least, were just a tradeoff of favors and niceties to Ranboo, and whether it was the case or not, Ranboo convinced himself that was the case. This gave him a detachment from *everyone*, because at the end of the day, the emotional stake wasn't there, loyalty was not in ss2!Ranboo's vocabulary.

And right now? Ranboo is in full life, he has a whole chest of totems. The closest thing he has to a stake is Tubbo and Michael, but like, meta-wise? I don't think Tubbo is dying anytime soon, and Michael is also probably safe because no one would be cruel enough to use Michael as a plot, when cc!Ranboo and cc!Tubbo are clearly really attached. Ranboo is rich, powerful, with a powerful husband, and a whole fucking lot of plot armor. And while, yes, his attachment to Tubbo and Michael is a positive development (and the *only* positive development actually), it's also paled a bit when Ranboo is still allied with the people who destroyed Tubbo's home, not to mention he was there against Tubbo when the Syndicate threatened him. The emotional connection between him and Tubbo was still not strong enough for Ranboo to reconsider the people he supports.

I’m gonna be patient for now, but honestly the way the character is being excused over and over both in canon and by the fandom is really frustrating to watch.

#dream smp #dream smp analysis #c!ranboo critical #long post #rose's analysis

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starsandsoulmates · 3 years

Text

Disclaimer - I no longer support Wilbur or anyone who does. Believe victims and support Shelby at this time.

Chaos Runs in the Family

Wilbur Soot x Reader

Request - hi can you please do a wilbur x reader sleepy boi au where wilbur introduces the reader to his family? :))))

Summary - Meeting Wilbur’s family all at once was never going to happen. This is your experience meeting each member of the SBI family plus a bonus family dinner at the end. (This takes place post Dream SMP vs L’Manburg)

Word Count - 1.8k

A/N - This literally made me say aw out loud when I saw this request, I hope that you like it anon!!

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You and Wilbur never had the best timing. The best example was the fact that you had finally confessed your feelings for each other practically in the middle of battle. The war had drained everyone on both sides and as the final battle approached, you had just spit the words out.

“Will, no matter what happens I need to say this,” Your hands had been shaking when you had pulled him aside after a meeting with the council of L’Manburg, Tommy’s angry ranting to Tubbo about Eret could be heard from the next room over.

Wilbur had completely softened at your tone and you watched him go from leader of the revolution to the man you had fallen for.

“After all this is over I want to be with you, Will. I am falling for you,” You had admitted timidly.

Wilbur had sat there for only a moment before a small smile had spread over his face. He slowly pulled you in for a soft kiss. You practically melted into Wilbur’s touch as his hands gently cupped your cheeks. The two of you slowly pulled away with smiles on your faces.

“Don’t make it seem like we aren’t going to make it out of this. We are going to be a country and you will be my first lady,” Wilbur said confidently before the sound of yet another explosion shook the van.

The two of you had locked eyes before the hard leader was back in Wilbur’s demeanor and the two of you marched into battle.

Tommy and Honorary Brother Tubbo

You had met Tommy and Tubbo before you and Wilbur even started dating, but Wilbur had insisted that you needed to meet him again as his partner. You had rolled your eyes at the dramatics of your boyfriend but of course, you accepted to meet Tommy and Tubbo once again. Wilbur set up a whole trip for the four of you to go on. He refused to tell you anything about it other than to pack enough food for a few days.

You would find out later that Wilbur had refused to tell Tommy and Tubbo much more than he had told you. Tubbo would later recount that Wilbur had simply told them to pack for a few days away from L’Manburg and that Wilbur was going to introduce them to someone special. Wilbur did tend to have a flair for the dramatics.

Once the day rolled around Wilbur insisted that you met them at the prime path. You had taken your pack of things and walked slowly over to the group with a mixture of excitement and nerves for the trip and what your boyfriend could have possibly planned this time. As you approached the group, you could see the confusion on Tommy and Tubbo’s faces.

“Will you said you were going to introduce us to someone. We know Y/N,” Tommy said with an air of annoyance to his voice, already fed up with his brother’s antics.

Wilbur had just grinned back at his younger brother before motioning you closer, “Tommy and Tubbo, I would like you to meet Y/N. They are my partner.”

“Oh my god Will yes we know Y/N, did you really drag us out here for all of this,” Tommy said before trailing off for a moment, “Wait did you say, partner?”

You blushed slightly as Wilbur slung an arm around your shoulders and nodded happily.

“Yes, they are my partner now,” Wilbur said with pride overpowering his tone.

Tubbo grinned, “Congratulations, it’s nice to meet you.” He said playing along with Wilbur and shaking your hand as if he was just meeting you for the first time.

Tommy rolled his eyes, “You guys are f*cking weird. Let’s just get on this trip.”

Despite Tommy’s lackluster response to meeting you, he really was happy for Wilbur and even more happy once he saw the way that you two interacted during the trip. You had successfully gained the approval from Tommy and Tubbo.

Phil

The meeting with Phil hadn’t even been planned. One day there was a knock at the door and Phil was there. You had been the one to open the door to a grinning Phil.

“Hello, sorry to barge in like this, I decided to surprise Wilbur,” Phil said as he looked at you, very obviously happy to be back in the company of his son.

“It’s no problem, Wilbur is at a cabinet meeting right now but you are welcome to come in. I’m Y/N, I don’t know if Wilbur has mentioned me at all,” You said as you welcomed Phil into your house.

Phil chuckled softly as he took off his shoes and set his bag aside, “Wilbur has written about you a few times in his letters but I’m so happy to finally be meeting you. He has only said the nicest things about you.”

You blushed slightly and cursed your boyfriend for not being there when you were meeting his dad for the very first time.

“He has been talking about trying to get me out to see you and finally meet with you. I’m sorry it’s taken so long, but you know Wilbur. He has too many big plans and never enough time in the day,” You smiled softly at the thought of your boyfriend.

Phil chuckled and nodded, “That sounds like my son alright.”

You and Phil spent the rest of the afternoon trading stories until the moment Wilbur finally burst through the door. You smiled softly as you watched father and son reunite. After Phil had left, Wilbur would tell you about a conversation he had with his father that night.

“Y/N seems good for you Wilbur. Keep them close and don’t let them go, you hear me,” Phil had practically commanded his son.

Wilbur looked over at you in the kitchen as you prepared dinner, “I’m not letting go of this one anytime soon, I promise.”

Techno

Meeting Techno was the thing you dreaded the most. It wasn’t that you didn’t like the man, from what Wilbur had told you about his twin, Techno seemed lovely. The man still terrified you. Techno had quite the reputation that followed him around and not even Wilbur’s praises of the man were enough to quell your nerves this time.

Wilbur came in one day and told you that Techno would be in town the next week and insisted that you meet him when he was. You had of course agreed but that didn’t stop the feeling of nausea from filling your body. Wilbur was the closest to Techno out of everyone in the family. Techno’s approval of you would mean more to Wilbur than Tommy, Tubbo, and Phil’s combined. You were an absolute wreck. The days leading up to the meeting were the worst as you imagined the monotone man looking you up and down with disapproval before pulling his twin to the side and asking him to reevaluate.

Finally, the day came and you could not be less prepared to meet Techno. Wilbur smiled widely and rambled stories of Techno and him as children. The walk to the dock where you had agreed to meet had felt like seconds rather than minutes. You felt like a man walking to his death. Wilbur was completely oblivious to your nerves as he laughed at yet another story of trouble that Techno had caused back when they were kids. Then Techno entered your sightline. The way he held himself was even menacing. Techno held himself and was dressed like royalty. As the bile rose in your throat you briefly considered throwing yourself off the side of the docks before Wilbur called Techno’s name and the man looked over at the two of you.

Wilbur grabbed your hand and sped up his walking to make it over to Techno a bit quicker. You seriously considered jumping into the ocean one more time before you were right in front of the man. Wilbur pulled Techno into a tight hug despite how uncomfortable the other man seemed. You stood back slightly and let them have their moment to catch up a bit.

After a moment Wilbur pulled away and turned to you, “Techno, I want you to meet Y/N, my partner.”

You raised a hand and gave him an awkward wave as Techno quirked up an eyebrow at you.

“Nice to meet you, Wilbur won’t shut up about you in his letters,” Techno said with absolutely no indication as to how he felt about you.

You forced a laugh and glanced at your boyfriend, “Yeah I’ve been told that he does that a lot. Quite clingy this one if you ask me.”

The next sound that left Techno’s mouth made you jump a little. Techno laughed loudly and looked at his twin.

“You are quite clingy, they have you pinned down,” Techno said with one of his rare smiles.

And just like that, you felt all the tension drain from your body as you laughed with Techno. Wilbur had just grumbled about how mean the two of you were and how he was going to replace you. The rest of the day was filled with you and Techno teasing Wilbur and stories of the past. Wilbur honestly couldn’t have been happier that his two favorite people had gotten alone. And you couldn’t believe how easy it was to talk to Techno, you had survived the meeting after all.

Family Dinner

When Wilbur had brought up the upcoming family dinner, you had been surprised. From what Phil had told you, it was basically impossible to get all of his boys in the same room at the same time anymore. The boys had grown up and they all had their own things to do. You were more than excited at the prospect of finally being able to see all of Wilbur’s family in the same room at the same time, Wilbur mirrored your excitement times 10. As the day approached, you could see that Wilbur was slowly getting more and more excited.

Once the day finally arrived, your boyfriend was practically bouncing off the walls as you walked up the door of the house that he had grown up in. The second the door opened, you were overwhelmed with sounds. Tommy was already yelling about something with Tubbo. Techno was sitting in a chair with a hand reaching up to rub at his temples. Phil was buzzing around the kitchen as he prepared dinner, only stopping to remind Tommy to keep his voice down. The decrease in volume would only last for a few moments before the yelling resumed. Wilbur immediately went to help Phil in the kitchen and you sat down next to Techno. He glanced up at you and then glared at Tommy before resuming his temple. You were home.

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morning-glory215 · 3 years

Text

a small Discussion

(Please assume that I am referring to characters throughout this post - as a blanket statement here)

I’ve (+ many of my discord friends, hello Home Home) noticed something. Tumblr isn’t safe from Dream apologism; it’s got a different brand from Twitter, and it takes the form of my high school English essays. Y’know the ones, where you need two thousand words and you’re only at 500. So you crack open the good ol’ thesaurus and throw out any narrative discussion, in lieu of bullshitting your way through it.

Add in some condescending fuckery and ta-da! Your run-of-the-mill Dream apologist Tumblr/Twitter take.

Joking aside, there’s this idea I’ve seen arching across nearly every Dream apologist post; that he had/has little to no control from around the Revolution, up to now. That he was the puppet being controlled (by who? Wilbur? Tommy?) and that he never meant anything he did! He was being forced into it! Dream, to many, was a hapless victim being pulled along by the whims of his servermates. He isn’t a villain (he is), he isn’t a tyrant (he sure wanted to be!) and his hand was forced to punish L’Manburg/Tommy/Tubbo/whoever-the-’villain’-of-the-week-is (it was never forced).

This all just so… reductive of his character?

Dream is, narratively (and yes, the SMP has a narrative that is driven by conflict) the villain. He is the overarching force the protagonists fight/fought against. Actions made by Dream, of his own volition, drive the plot along - even without him present his actions are felt. In the most literal sense, Dream is the villain. He tried to become a tyrant through using attachments against people.

How quickly one forgets, willingly or not willingly, the Hall of Attachments (evil) in his Stereotypical Evil Villain Lair (evil).

Depriving the villain of nuance, that he had full control of his actions, by claiming his critics/antis deprive him of nuance by assigning him a narrative role is counterintuitive. Dream apologists claim they’re winning his nuance back, while in the same breath taking it away. Dream is interesting because he’s so sinister and evil and fucked up; what makes him so interesting is because he’s so calculating. I roleplay Dream pretty regularly, and I hate him because he’s so slimy. Don’t take it away by framing him as the victim, when he made it pretty clear (before the Prison, because I think he’s trying to garner sympathy) that he was Top Dog. He was the predator, everyone else was his prey.

He has always seen himself as the apex predator. Everyone else is his little game.

So let’s move onto my OTHER gripe with Dream apologists. They often have to put every character under the sun against him, in apparent attempts to highlight how victimized he is. Everyone is against him and that must mean he is being targeted for no reason. This post won’t even touch upon Tommy’s Exile with Dream much, but I think that whole plotline could eviscerate that point on the spot. Most Dream apologists like to employ what I call Higher Level Headcanons (coined by me, please pay me royalties if used! /j); they take the in-betweens of canon, extrapolate to such a degree it isn’t canon, and then call it canon. They take moments of “weakness” Dream has shown, often to win sympathy and make his victims try to placate him, and use that to show that other characters have wounded him to such degrees he’s just forced to hurt them.

Tommy gets this treatment the most (and arguably, George and Sap too) but who’s next?

Wilbur.

Dream apologists love to mix these two up. Wilbur is the manipulative villain, and Dream is the one backed into corners. Who was it that took a look at an obviously erratic exiled man and decided to arm him? Was it Wilbur? No, it was Dream; Dream has always hated L’Manburg, Dream has never liked them because they growled at his bite during the Revolution. Who has always held the physical upperground, who punched when he was called names? If there was a weakness to exploit, Dream dug his grimy fingers in and pulled. Wilbur is, and I say this lovingly, a coward.

When he was backed into a corner, Wilbur often floundered. He doesn’t like violence and only resorted to it in his darkest moments. Wilbur did, and does, the things he did because he felt caged and cornered and his entire world was crumbling before him. He says fucked up shit now because he has nothing to lose but Tommy now. Wilbur is a scared, lonely and broken soul. He's a modern tragedy in the way that he had little control over his fate.

Dream is a Classical tragedy in the sense that he set himself fully up for failure. He saw the warning signs, he knew the full scope of his actions and cursed the Gods anyways. This isn’t to say you’re a bad person for seeing yourself in some of his actions or that him being a villain demonizes you for liking him. How often do we see people upholding other traditional villains in media?

Overall, this post is less telling Dream apologists they’re terrible people and more so about picking apart some iffy shit I’ve been seeing floating around in that community. Thank you for reading!

#long post #c!dream critical #tommyinnit #wilbur #analysis #calls this a short discussion. puts long post. kekw #from my friend on tumblr and i quote #excluding a bunch of privileged american white men from your privileged british nation isn't xenophobia. it's white on white violence.#amne astro #dream smp #c!dream crit

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